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The public remain very supportive of the government’s timetable for ending lockdown – politicalbetti

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Comments

  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Prince William wades in. All we need is the Pope and it's a full house

    This is his latest tweet - pretty sure it is a coded message, it even talks about Gabriel Jesus, Man City striker, and how we should not give up on the game, I assume.

    God does not give up. You are close to His heart, you who do not yet know the beauty of His love, you who have not yet welcomed Jesus as the center of your life, you who cannot overcome your sin.

    https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/1384107009117593602
    Super league fans will read it as coded support for Jesus Gil, owner of one of the 12 breakaway clubs.
    And lo, the great schism has begun.
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905
    ridaligo said:

    The public paused long enough to complete the poll to say the timetable is about right before they welcomed the overnight visitors into their homes.

    I find that poll staggering. I simply cannot believe it reflects majority opinion. What's going on? Is it that some people are not that badly inconvenienced by the restrictions or are they simply ignoring them? Or maybe they don't want to register a protest and are keeping quiet in case the government clamps down further? Whatever is going on it seems remarkable that the people's patience is holding firm when we are down to almost zero daily deaths.
    Some folk are still very frightened, some are willing to make a deal with the Government (we plod on a little longer, you get rid of the masks and all the other shit when you say you will in return,) and some people just trust the Government and are content to be directed for their own safety.

    I belong to the middle category. I am also being a little more careful than I otherwise might because my vaccine appointment is imminent and there's stuff I'm allowed to do that I'm avoiding, until I've had the jab and given it time to work - but fundamentally, I'm playing their little game for the time being. That way, one will feel completely entitled to call them out for it if, as I suspect, the goalposts get moved yet again the Summer and a lot of the shit isn't jettisoned after all.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,410

    dixiedean said:

    This idea is the least popular corporate wheeze since New Coke.

    I guess the clubs (well, owners) gamble is that its popular enough in Asia that it doesnt matter whether locals like it or not. The other day someone on here asked what is a policy that the whole country would actually support, opposing this is pretty much it.
    You see. This confuses me.
    Midweek games with 8 pm kickoffs are 1 am in India 4 am in China.
    You couldn't pick a worse schedule if Asia was the target market.
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,468
    edited April 2021

    TimT said:

    England CFR

    image
    image

    Is the CFR uptick due to the vagaries of reporting processes and low numbers of deaths, or is something else going on?
    Well, MaxPB has the following theory

    - the CFR measures the ratio of deaths to cases.
    - The older groups are now pretty much vaccinated.
    - So cases are going to come, more and more from the *unvaccinated* oldsters
    - Who are unprotected.
    - So more likely to die.

    Sort of - the tide goes out and leaves the rock behind....

    It's not unlikely, I think.
    Doesn't quite make sense to me. If 90+% of over-50s are vaccinated, surely the bulk of new infections are in the under 50s, with very, very low fatality rates. Sure, as more and more of the under 50s are vaccinated, the percentage the unvaccinated oldies are of the whole unvaccinated population increases. And that does suggest that, at some stage, the CFR should tick up. But it doesn't seem that we should - with pretty much the whole of the under 50s still to do - be at that inflection point yet.
  • Brom said:

    Pretty much the whole country will be supporting Leeds tonight.

    Marching on together!

    I won't be watching but I hope Leeds win and I don't like Leeds at all. It comes to something when they're not even one of the least liked clubs in the league!
    Why would Liverpool be bothered if they lose as they have decided to award themselves automatic right to the Champions League every year, and as a founding member cannot be relegated
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,827
    dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    This idea is the least popular corporate wheeze since New Coke.

    I guess the clubs (well, owners) gamble is that its popular enough in Asia that it doesnt matter whether locals like it or not. The other day someone on here asked what is a policy that the whole country would actually support, opposing this is pretty much it.
    You see. This confuses me.
    Midweek games with 8 pm kickoffs are 1 am in India 4 am in China.
    You couldn't pick a worse schedule if Asia was the target market.
    You are assuming the games will be played locally. Why?
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Andy_JS said:

    Not interested in football, but I can't see on what grounds you can stop football clubs from doing whatever they want to do.

    Top level football clubs operate in the world of high and shady finance plus have weekly massive public gatherings with associated public order distrubences.

    There's a lot national and local government could do to make a club's life intolerable.
  • dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    This idea is the least popular corporate wheeze since New Coke.

    I guess the clubs (well, owners) gamble is that its popular enough in Asia that it doesnt matter whether locals like it or not. The other day someone on here asked what is a policy that the whole country would actually support, opposing this is pretty much it.
    You see. This confuses me.
    Midweek games with 8 pm kickoffs are 1 am in India 4 am in China.
    You couldn't pick a worse schedule if Asia was the target market.
    You are assuming the games will be played locally. Why?
    As the clubs want to continue in the Premier League they would have fixtures at the weekend here in the UK to fulfil
  • EndillionEndillion Posts: 4,976
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Prince William wades in. All we need is the Pope and it's a full house


    The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
    @KensingtonRoyal
    ·
    4m
    Now, more than ever, we must protect the entire football community – from the top level to the grassroots – and the values of competition and fairness at its core.

    I share the concerns of fans about the proposed Super League and the damage it risks causing to the game we love. W

    He is the President of the FA to be fair.
    Yes, I know. And good for him


    Also One Direction REALLY hate the Superleague

    Louis Tomlinson
    @Louis_Tomlinson
    ·
    23m
    Fuck the super league and the greedy fuckers at the top!


    Might not seem important but...... he has 36 million followers and the tweet has been retweeted 220,000 times

    Incredible social media power
    Oh, well. If the Super League has lost the core demographic of American teenage girls, it truly is over.
  • sarissasarissa Posts: 1,993

    tlg86 said:

    Here’s a problem for ESL. I don’t see how the games can go ahead in this country without serious trouble outside the grounds.

    I’ve never been on a demo, but I’d picket the turnstiles and shout scab any scum bags entering the grounds.

    Well the Boris Johnson has banned the right to protest.

    You'll probably get a rubber bullet for your troubles.
    Just as well the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 was repealed.....Oh never mind.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,206

    dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    This idea is the least popular corporate wheeze since New Coke.

    I guess the clubs (well, owners) gamble is that its popular enough in Asia that it doesnt matter whether locals like it or not. The other day someone on here asked what is a policy that the whole country would actually support, opposing this is pretty much it.
    You see. This confuses me.
    Midweek games with 8 pm kickoffs are 1 am in India 4 am in China.
    You couldn't pick a worse schedule if Asia was the target market.
    You are assuming the games will be played locally. Why?
    As the clubs want to continue in the Premier League they would have fixtures at the weekend here in the UK to fulfil
    They don't really want to remain in the PL. They are just saying they want to, to try and make FIFA, etc. look like the unreasonable ones.
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905
    TimT said:

    TimT said:

    England CFR

    image
    image

    Is the CFR uptick due to the vagaries of reporting processes and low numbers of deaths, or is something else going on?
    Well, MaxPB has the following theory

    - the CFR measures the ratio of deaths to cases.
    - The older groups are now pretty much vaccinated.
    - So cases are going to come, more and more from the *unvaccinated* oldsters
    - Who are unprotected.
    - So more likely to die.

    Sort of - the tide goes out and leaves the rock behind....

    It's not unlikely, I think.
    Doesn't quite make sense to me. If 90+% of over-50s are vaccinated, surely the bulk of new infections are in the under 50s, with very, very low fatality rates. Sure, as more and more of the under 50s are vaccinated, the percentage the unvaccinated oldies are of the whole unvaccinated population increases. And that does suggest that, at some stage, the CFR should tick up. But it doesn't seem that we should - with pretty much the whole of the under 50s still to do - be at that inflection point yet.
    Going back to the graphs, it looks very much like statistical noise, doesn't it? The daily numbers for the oldies are flopping about wildly in a manner they simply weren't back in January and February, when deaths were very high.
  • Brom said:

    Pretty much the whole country will be supporting Leeds tonight.

    Marching on together!

    I won't be watching but I hope Leeds win and I don't like Leeds at all. It comes to something when they're not even one of the least liked clubs in the league!
    Booooo! Dirty Leeds Liverpool
  • DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    There's a lot of England players in that squad who will be seriously concerned about whether they will be at the Euros or not.
    Of course they will be at the Euros. Nobody is talking about punishing players before the Super League launches and, if it ever happens (spoiler - it won't), that wouldn't be before 2023.

    The players' concerns won't be about international competitions in the short term. They will worry about the longer term; they will have heard from friends and family who loathe the idea; they won't like it themselves; and the smarter ones will realise it's very bad for their wages in the longer term (the big bucks come from extreme incentives for clubs to make the top four, which the ESL would remove).
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,351

    TimT said:

    TimT said:

    England CFR

    image
    image

    Is the CFR uptick due to the vagaries of reporting processes and low numbers of deaths, or is something else going on?
    Well, MaxPB has the following theory

    - the CFR measures the ratio of deaths to cases.
    - The older groups are now pretty much vaccinated.
    - So cases are going to come, more and more from the *unvaccinated* oldsters
    - Who are unprotected.
    - So more likely to die.

    Sort of - the tide goes out and leaves the rock behind....

    It's not unlikely, I think.
    Doesn't quite make sense to me. If 90+% of over-50s are vaccinated, surely the bulk of new infections are in the under 50s, with very, very low fatality rates. Sure, as more and more of the under 50s are vaccinated, the percentage the unvaccinated oldies are of the whole unvaccinated population increases. And that does suggest that, at some stage, the CFR should tick up. But it doesn't seem that we should - with pretty much the whole of the under 50s still to do - be at that inflection point yet.
    Going back to the graphs, it looks very much like statistical noise, doesn't it? The daily numbers for the oldies are flopping about wildly in a manner they simply weren't back in January and February, when deaths were very high.
    There is that - on the other hand, the upticks are in the vaccinated populations - 65+
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,221
    Apparently Mr Macron is proposing EU-Reform from the Bottom-up.

    That is, starting with the Rs.

    A punlimited evening.

    Now, where's Lorimer's Ghost?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,689
    The German foreign minister calls for "both sides" to avoid provocations or escalations over Ukraine.

    https://www.rnd.de/politik/maas-sorge-auch-nach-nawalnys-verlegung-in-gefangniskrankenhaus-weiter-gross-HECS4JV5MJCATFMZYFJRLOBOII.html
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    I wonder if clubs realise they have bitten off more than they can chew and will now be eager for a face saving compromise.

    Is UEFA able to make a face saving compromise?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,200

    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    The government is having a very good couple of months, no doubt about it. It's hardly surprising that their opinion poll lead is opening up again. No wonder SKS is trying to get into a pub!

    And calling someone a bigot by the sounds of it

    History repeating itself
    Did he really? It was so word for word what Brown said that I assumed @williamglenn was joking!
    Yes I was joking. Sorry for any confusion. :)
    Lesson for you there, William.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,410

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    There's a lot of England players in that squad who will be seriously concerned about whether they will be at the Euros or not.
    Of course they will be at the Euros. Nobody is talking about punishing players before the Super League launches and, if it ever happens (spoiler - it won't), that wouldn't be before 2023.

    The players' concerns won't be about international competitions in the short term. They will worry about the longer term; they will have heard from friends and family who loathe the idea; they won't like it themselves; and the smarter ones will realise it's very bad for their wages in the longer term (the big bucks come from extreme incentives for clubs to make the top four, which the ESL would remove).
    I thought the stated launch date was August?
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,827

    dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    This idea is the least popular corporate wheeze since New Coke.

    I guess the clubs (well, owners) gamble is that its popular enough in Asia that it doesnt matter whether locals like it or not. The other day someone on here asked what is a policy that the whole country would actually support, opposing this is pretty much it.
    You see. This confuses me.
    Midweek games with 8 pm kickoffs are 1 am in India 4 am in China.
    You couldn't pick a worse schedule if Asia was the target market.
    You are assuming the games will be played locally. Why?
    As the clubs want to continue in the Premier League they would have fixtures at the weekend here in the UK to fulfil
    The franchises will move abroad to enhance their revenues. Or just play the kids in the meaningless PL if the PL are weak enough to allow them to continue.
  • This is quite the PR disaster for the greedy 6. My money is on the fact they don't care though.

    They'd love to be kicked out of the EPL (even though that shouldn't stop them being so)
    They'd love it if forced to move their business elsewhere to enable them to compete in their global freak fest.

    Americans have a very strange view of sport and the fact it should be a closed shop. They've made their move and I suspect there is no going back.

    Which leaves a totally burst model of domestic football behind. Then only option is a reset. Introduce German model of ownership and maybe we get a competitive domestic competition where we can earn the right to play other storied Euro clubs who have been left out of the freak show. They could call the competitions the Champions Cup and Cup Winners Cup.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,827
    The PL/FL/FA should set an ultimatum, withdraw or you will be permanently expelled as of now. Then offer tenders for 6 new clubs in the same locations to start from the Championship.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,531

    ridaligo said:

    The public paused long enough to complete the poll to say the timetable is about right before they welcomed the overnight visitors into their homes.

    I find that poll staggering. I simply cannot believe it reflects majority opinion. What's going on? Is it that some people are not that badly inconvenienced by the restrictions or are they simply ignoring them? Or maybe they don't want to register a protest and are keeping quiet in case the government clamps down further? Whatever is going on it seems remarkable that the people's patience is holding firm when we are down to almost zero daily deaths.
    Some folk are still very frightened, some are willing to make a deal with the Government (we plod on a little longer, you get rid of the masks and all the other shit when you say you will in return,) and some people just trust the Government and are content to be directed for their own safety.

    I belong to the middle category. I am also being a little more careful than I otherwise might because my vaccine appointment is imminent and there's stuff I'm allowed to do that I'm avoiding, until I've had the jab and given it time to work - but fundamentally, I'm playing their little game for the time being. That way, one will feel completely entitled to call them out for it if, as I suspect, the goalposts get moved yet again the Summer and a lot of the shit isn't jettisoned after all.
    Exactly. I'm (usually) anti-Government and pro-lockdown, but I recognise the steady progress and am visiting friends in gardens etc. Seems to me the pace is about right, and so long as it keeps going in the same direction I think most people will be fine with it. The complaint in the early days was the way the guidance kept changing as Johnson vacillated. Seems to me he's struck the right note for quite a while now.
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556
    Andy_JS said:

    Not interested in football, but I can't see on what grounds you can stop football clubs from doing whatever they want to do.

    On what grounds? Well, the Emirates, Stamford Bridge, Anfield, the Etihad, Old Trafford, and White Hart Lane for a start...



    Yay, I made a football joke! :sunglasses:
  • dixiedean said:

    This idea is the least popular corporate wheeze since New Coke.

    Ironically, New Coke was ultimately very successful for Coke. It was launched because Coke was under pressure from the very effective Pepsi Taste Challenge, and falling share. New Coke tasted more like Pepsi but generated a backlash. It lead to panic purchases of "traditional" Coke, and ultimately a u-turn whereupon everyone welcomed back the original recipe and forgot all about the fact they'd quite liked Pepsi in taste tests. It probably wasn't planned, but would have been genius if it had been.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,749

    This is quite the PR disaster for the greedy 6. My money is on the fact they don't care though.

    They'd love to be kicked out of the EPL (even though that shouldn't stop them being so)
    They'd love it if forced to move their business elsewhere to enable them to compete in their global freak fest.

    Americans have a very strange view of sport and the fact it should be a closed shop. They've made their move and I suspect there is no going back.

    Which leaves a totally burst model of domestic football behind. Then only option is a reset. Introduce German model of ownership and maybe we get a competitive domestic competition where we can earn the right to play other storied Euro clubs who have been left out of the freak show. They could call the competitions the Champions Cup and Cup Winners Cup.

    What league would Phoenix teams start off in do you think?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,689

    dixiedean said:

    This idea is the least popular corporate wheeze since New Coke.

    Ironically, New Coke was ultimately very successful for Coke. It was launched because Coke was under pressure from the very effective Pepsi Taste Challenge, and falling share. New Coke tasted more like Pepsi but generated a backlash. It lead to panic purchases of "traditional" Coke, and ultimately a u-turn whereupon everyone welcomed back the original recipe and forgot all about the fact they'd quite liked Pepsi in taste tests. It probably wasn't planned, but would have been genius if it had been.
    Perhaps that was the inspiration for New Labour, but it got out of hand.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,421
    eek said:

    Leon said:

    ping said:

    Leon said:

    Another way the government might fight back. Legal?

    "Government will come under pressure not to award work permits to Premier League’s breakaway six for new foreign signings if the ESL comes to fruition. Would effectively prevent them from recruiting overseas players."

    https://twitter.com/SamiMokbel81_DM/status/1384165919740465163?s=20


    If HMG finds a way to do this, that collapses the Superleague

    Or they just up sticks & move to Riyadh, or Dubai, or wherever.

    I wouldn’t put it past them.
    We've been through this, it just won't happen. Liverpool are never leaving Liverpool, and never going to Dubai or Shanghai. The clue is in the name

    I'm not sure any of the Terrible Twelve could move, they are all so firmly attached to their home cities, and famous grounds, the San Siro, the Bernabeu, White Hart Lane - one of the joys of football, of course

    What you could do is create an entirely new ESL team from scratch - Dubai Dildos? - and all the players from Arsenal or Spurs move there, but that's pretty bloody difficult, practically and logistically
    No. You are wrong. People have tried starting new teams from scratch and it's too hard, as we've seen from MLS and the recent Chinese attempts.

    But you can take someone else's football club and move it, as with MK Dons. Chelsea could be moved to a gleaming new stadium pretty much anywhere, and, as they'd take all their players, their membership of the Super League, and the vast majority of their recently acquired global support with them it could be pretty successful.

    That's where this will end up. Some of the teams will stay put, but others will move.
    How many NFL supporters continue to support a team when it leaves for a new city?
    I think a lot of the global support would continue. We've seen with F1 how much governments are willing to pay for large sporting prestige projects. I would imagine there would be a lot of money from China to bring several football franchises over there.

    That's the future that makes it imperative that the closed shop, franchise element of this project needs to be ruthlessly killed.
  • SirNorfolkPassmoreSirNorfolkPassmore Posts: 7,152
    edited April 2021
    dixiedean said:

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    There's a lot of England players in that squad who will be seriously concerned about whether they will be at the Euros or not.
    Of course they will be at the Euros. Nobody is talking about punishing players before the Super League launches and, if it ever happens (spoiler - it won't), that wouldn't be before 2023.

    The players' concerns won't be about international competitions in the short term. They will worry about the longer term; they will have heard from friends and family who loathe the idea; they won't like it themselves; and the smarter ones will realise it's very bad for their wages in the longer term (the big bucks come from extreme incentives for clubs to make the top four, which the ESL would remove).
    I thought the stated launch date was August?
    Firstly, that doesn't affect the Euros. Secondly, will it balls launch in August.

    Edit: the statement also refers to "an August start" not August 2021 - i.e. the matches will begin at the same time as domestic league seasons, not that it will start this summer. Indeed, the separate briefings refer to 2022 (cobblers) or 2023.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,865
    TimT said:

    TimT said:

    England CFR

    image
    image

    Is the CFR uptick due to the vagaries of reporting processes and low numbers of deaths, or is something else going on?
    Well, MaxPB has the following theory

    - the CFR measures the ratio of deaths to cases.
    - The older groups are now pretty much vaccinated.
    - So cases are going to come, more and more from the *unvaccinated* oldsters
    - Who are unprotected.
    - So more likely to die.

    Sort of - the tide goes out and leaves the rock behind....

    It's not unlikely, I think.
    Doesn't quite make sense to me. If 90+% of over-50s are vaccinated, surely the bulk of new infections are in the under 50s, with very, very low fatality rates. Sure, as more and more of the under 50s are vaccinated, the percentage the unvaccinated oldies are of the whole unvaccinated population increases. And that does suggest that, at some stage, the CFR should tick up. But it doesn't seem that we should - with pretty much the whole of the under 50s still to do - be at that inflection point yet.
    But the CFR among over 80s will now be among the majority unvaccinated cohort now that they have had both doses the vast majority won't even get COVID in the first place.
  • moonshine said:

    This is quite the PR disaster for the greedy 6. My money is on the fact they don't care though.

    They'd love to be kicked out of the EPL (even though that shouldn't stop them being so)
    They'd love it if forced to move their business elsewhere to enable them to compete in their global freak fest.

    Americans have a very strange view of sport and the fact it should be a closed shop. They've made their move and I suspect there is no going back.

    Which leaves a totally burst model of domestic football behind. Then only option is a reset. Introduce German model of ownership and maybe we get a competitive domestic competition where we can earn the right to play other storied Euro clubs who have been left out of the freak show. They could call the competitions the Champions Cup and Cup Winners Cup.

    What league would Phoenix teams start off in do you think?
    Step 3 or 4 if history is any guide. It might not be in this case and maybe they could step into Step 1 (Vanarama National) but there would be the small matter of stadia and funding (perhaps not that difficult for the bigger phoenixes).
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,221

    I cannot think of a single event in recent times that has caused more outrage amongst ordinary voters, and the whole political class unite to defend a national treasure, that is football

    Outraged?

    Or outwaged?

    Sven O-Clock and time for tea.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,200

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-weight-loss-vegan-b1812467.html

    He got the headline he wanted in March, then immediately gave up.

    What a charlatan.

    It was actually worse than this. He overstated by miles his pre Covid weight - claimed it was 17.5 stones lol - so as to be able to exaggerate to great sympathy how much weight he'd lost due to the disease.

    Only Philip Thompson swallowed this - and it ultimately (after a tumble with me) led to him having to make the ludicrous claim that Johnson (at just 5 feet 7) was as heavy as that due to being "all muscle and very little fat".
    You are a liar.

    I never said that he had "very little fat" so please stop telling lies.

    You claimed that he wasn't fat enough to be 17.5 stone, I said I entirely believe it is plausible he is 17.5 stone. I said he'll have a mix of muscles (which is denser than fat) and fat (which he clearly has) to make it plausible to be 17.5 stone.

    And quite frankly 17.5 stone isn't "that" much.

    I think he's fat enough to be 17.5 stone, you don't. That's the difference.
    17.5 stone for a short man is ginormous. Maradona at the nadir of his weight problems wasn't much more than that. And I'm afraid that in seeking to explain the inexplicable you did advance the notion of him being mainly muscle. It wasn't your finest hour.

    Not that I go on about it to embarrass you. I'm not like that. First mention for at least 6 months.
    17.5 stone is not ginormous. Its obese but guess what so is Boris. Its not even exceptionally obese.

    Entirely feasible, he's a fat man who cycles. Entirely plausible he's that fat and you're rather ignorant in thinking he couldn't be that fat.
    It's more than SIX stone overweight. C'mon. Get real. He was never that. He lied about it.
    Yes that's entirely plausible. He's clearly at his biggest been very obese. Quite clearly. Do you deny that?

    That gives him a BMI of 36. Obese but not morbidly obese (40+).

    Entirely plausible. I would call him obese. I would call him obese today, and he's been bigger than he is now. I would say he's been very obese in the past.

    So yes 36 BMI is entirely believable. Heck it could have been higher.
    It really isn't. He never looked remotely as gross as that. Check the photos. He looked about 3 stone overweight not 6. You're perception is way off on this.

    And as for your theory of it being due to his high muscle to fat ratio, that's also a clear fail. Even if he looked like Charles Atlas he wouldn't have weighed 17.5 stone.

    No, Philip, this is one where your best bet is to drop it and hope everyone forgets the whole thing. I'm happy enough to do that, big old softy that I am.
  • dixiedean said:

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    There's a lot of England players in that squad who will be seriously concerned about whether they will be at the Euros or not.
    Of course they will be at the Euros. Nobody is talking about punishing players before the Super League launches and, if it ever happens (spoiler - it won't), that wouldn't be before 2023.

    The players' concerns won't be about international competitions in the short term. They will worry about the longer term; they will have heard from friends and family who loathe the idea; they won't like it themselves; and the smarter ones will realise it's very bad for their wages in the longer term (the big bucks come from extreme incentives for clubs to make the top four, which the ESL would remove).
    I thought the stated launch date was August?
    Firstly, that doesn't affect the Euros. Secondly, will it balls launch in August.
    This might be quite the flaw in the greedy boys plan given the level of opprobrium being levelled at them. In fact they could find themselves kicked out of the CL (less likely your EPL) and without an alternative if launch is delayed.
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905

    TimT said:

    TimT said:

    England CFR

    image
    image

    Is the CFR uptick due to the vagaries of reporting processes and low numbers of deaths, or is something else going on?
    Well, MaxPB has the following theory

    - the CFR measures the ratio of deaths to cases.
    - The older groups are now pretty much vaccinated.
    - So cases are going to come, more and more from the *unvaccinated* oldsters
    - Who are unprotected.
    - So more likely to die.

    Sort of - the tide goes out and leaves the rock behind....

    It's not unlikely, I think.
    Doesn't quite make sense to me. If 90+% of over-50s are vaccinated, surely the bulk of new infections are in the under 50s, with very, very low fatality rates. Sure, as more and more of the under 50s are vaccinated, the percentage the unvaccinated oldies are of the whole unvaccinated population increases. And that does suggest that, at some stage, the CFR should tick up. But it doesn't seem that we should - with pretty much the whole of the under 50s still to do - be at that inflection point yet.
    Going back to the graphs, it looks very much like statistical noise, doesn't it? The daily numbers for the oldies are flopping about wildly in a manner they simply weren't back in January and February, when deaths were very high.
    There is that - on the other hand, the upticks are in the vaccinated populations - 65+
    Leaving aside the fact that you'd probably still get a shallow downwards trend if you plotted a least squares regression line or some such thing through the 75-84 data, the death numbers in general are now so low that we surely shouldn't be surprised to see odd fluctuations in indices such as CFR that are derived from them? The 85+ CFR may have suddenly ticked upwards a little, but who's to say it won't tick back down again in another few days if we just wait?

    Above all, and most importantly, the simple death numbers are still trending downwards. There's no particular reason to suppose at this stage that Covid-19 has somehow, suddenly, become more lethal.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,206

    dixiedean said:

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    There's a lot of England players in that squad who will be seriously concerned about whether they will be at the Euros or not.
    Of course they will be at the Euros. Nobody is talking about punishing players before the Super League launches and, if it ever happens (spoiler - it won't), that wouldn't be before 2023.

    The players' concerns won't be about international competitions in the short term. They will worry about the longer term; they will have heard from friends and family who loathe the idea; they won't like it themselves; and the smarter ones will realise it's very bad for their wages in the longer term (the big bucks come from extreme incentives for clubs to make the top four, which the ESL would remove).
    I thought the stated launch date was August?
    Firstly, that doesn't affect the Euros. Secondly, will it balls launch in August.

    Edit: the statement also refers to "an August start" not August 2021 - i.e. the matches will begin at the same time as domestic league seasons, not that it will start this summer. Indeed, the separate briefings refer to 2022 (cobblers) or 2023.
    It will launch this year, or not at all.

    A year without revenues or games for an Arsenal or Spurs would be an utter disaster.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    moonshine said:

    This is quite the PR disaster for the greedy 6. My money is on the fact they don't care though.

    They'd love to be kicked out of the EPL (even though that shouldn't stop them being so)
    They'd love it if forced to move their business elsewhere to enable them to compete in their global freak fest.

    Americans have a very strange view of sport and the fact it should be a closed shop. They've made their move and I suspect there is no going back.

    Which leaves a totally burst model of domestic football behind. Then only option is a reset. Introduce German model of ownership and maybe we get a competitive domestic competition where we can earn the right to play other storied Euro clubs who have been left out of the freak show. They could call the competitions the Champions Cup and Cup Winners Cup.

    What league would Phoenix teams start off in do you think?
    Maybe the Phoenix clubs could be sponsored by Pro Evolution Soccer.

    We could finally get Merseyside Red, West London Blue etc.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,486
    Leon said:

    The UK, Spanish and French governments have all come out strongly against this, and the German football authorities are incensed

    How does it survive? Can't see it. The teams may need to start rowing back very soon before more damage is done. Pressing on is foolhardy

    You’re learning!

    It’s not going to happen.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    edited April 2021
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-weight-loss-vegan-b1812467.html

    He got the headline he wanted in March, then immediately gave up.

    What a charlatan.

    It was actually worse than this. He overstated by miles his pre Covid weight - claimed it was 17.5 stones lol - so as to be able to exaggerate to great sympathy how much weight he'd lost due to the disease.

    Only Philip Thompson swallowed this - and it ultimately (after a tumble with me) led to him having to make the ludicrous claim that Johnson (at just 5 feet 7) was as heavy as that due to being "all muscle and very little fat".
    You are a liar.

    I never said that he had "very little fat" so please stop telling lies.

    You claimed that he wasn't fat enough to be 17.5 stone, I said I entirely believe it is plausible he is 17.5 stone. I said he'll have a mix of muscles (which is denser than fat) and fat (which he clearly has) to make it plausible to be 17.5 stone.

    And quite frankly 17.5 stone isn't "that" much.

    I think he's fat enough to be 17.5 stone, you don't. That's the difference.
    17.5 stone for a short man is ginormous. Maradona at the nadir of his weight problems wasn't much more than that. And I'm afraid that in seeking to explain the inexplicable you did advance the notion of him being mainly muscle. It wasn't your finest hour.

    Not that I go on about it to embarrass you. I'm not like that. First mention for at least 6 months.
    17.5 stone is not ginormous. Its obese but guess what so is Boris. Its not even exceptionally obese.

    Entirely feasible, he's a fat man who cycles. Entirely plausible he's that fat and you're rather ignorant in thinking he couldn't be that fat.
    It's more than SIX stone overweight. C'mon. Get real. He was never that. He lied about it.
    Yes that's entirely plausible. He's clearly at his biggest been very obese. Quite clearly. Do you deny that?

    That gives him a BMI of 36. Obese but not morbidly obese (40+).

    Entirely plausible. I would call him obese. I would call him obese today, and he's been bigger than he is now. I would say he's been very obese in the past.

    So yes 36 BMI is entirely believable. Heck it could have been higher.
    It really isn't. He never looked remotely as gross as that. Check the photos. He looked about 3 stone overweight not 6. You're perception is way off on this.

    And as for your theory of it being due to his high muscle to fat ratio, that's also a clear fail. Even if he looked like Charles Atlas he wouldn't have weighed 17.5 stone.

    No, Philip, this is one where your best bet is to drop it and hope everyone forgets the whole thing. I'm happy enough to do that, big old softy that I am.
    17.5 stone isn't "gross".

    You're overestimating how obese people can look.

    More than a quarter of all adults are obese.
  • dixiedean said:

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    There's a lot of England players in that squad who will be seriously concerned about whether they will be at the Euros or not.
    Of course they will be at the Euros. Nobody is talking about punishing players before the Super League launches and, if it ever happens (spoiler - it won't), that wouldn't be before 2023.

    The players' concerns won't be about international competitions in the short term. They will worry about the longer term; they will have heard from friends and family who loathe the idea; they won't like it themselves; and the smarter ones will realise it's very bad for their wages in the longer term (the big bucks come from extreme incentives for clubs to make the top four, which the ESL would remove).
    I thought the stated launch date was August?
    Firstly, that doesn't affect the Euros. Secondly, will it balls launch in August.
    This might be quite the flaw in the greedy boys plan given the level of opprobrium being levelled at them. In fact they could find themselves kicked out of the CL (less likely your EPL) and without an alternative if launch is delayed.
    They'd have a good legal case against being kicked out BEFORE they'd launched. Very hard to justify preemptive action.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176

    dixiedean said:

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    There's a lot of England players in that squad who will be seriously concerned about whether they will be at the Euros or not.
    Of course they will be at the Euros. Nobody is talking about punishing players before the Super League launches and, if it ever happens (spoiler - it won't), that wouldn't be before 2023.

    The players' concerns won't be about international competitions in the short term. They will worry about the longer term; they will have heard from friends and family who loathe the idea; they won't like it themselves; and the smarter ones will realise it's very bad for their wages in the longer term (the big bucks come from extreme incentives for clubs to make the top four, which the ESL would remove).
    I thought the stated launch date was August?
    Firstly, that doesn't affect the Euros. Secondly, will it balls launch in August.
    This might be quite the flaw in the greedy boys plan given the level of opprobrium being levelled at them. In fact they could find themselves kicked out of the CL (less likely your EPL) and without an alternative if launch is delayed.
    They'd have a good legal case against being kicked out BEFORE they'd launched. Very hard to justify preemptive action.
    https://mobile.twitter.com/sgevans/status/1384179503191117830

    Clear the decks at the CAS!
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,486
    Andy_JS said:

    Not interested in football, but I can't see on what grounds you can stop football clubs from doing whatever they want to do.

    Nick Palmer all over again!

    Where do people get this idea that the government is powerless? Was it some other government that closed every pub in England for four months, stopped people seeing their own grandchildren for five months, and presided over the state broadcaster putting the identical rolling obituary of a middle-ranking royalster on all its 156 channels?

    Governments, as we really ought to have learned by now, can do what the F they like.
  • rcs1000 said:

    dixiedean said:

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    There's a lot of England players in that squad who will be seriously concerned about whether they will be at the Euros or not.
    Of course they will be at the Euros. Nobody is talking about punishing players before the Super League launches and, if it ever happens (spoiler - it won't), that wouldn't be before 2023.

    The players' concerns won't be about international competitions in the short term. They will worry about the longer term; they will have heard from friends and family who loathe the idea; they won't like it themselves; and the smarter ones will realise it's very bad for their wages in the longer term (the big bucks come from extreme incentives for clubs to make the top four, which the ESL would remove).
    I thought the stated launch date was August?
    Firstly, that doesn't affect the Euros. Secondly, will it balls launch in August.

    Edit: the statement also refers to "an August start" not August 2021 - i.e. the matches will begin at the same time as domestic league seasons, not that it will start this summer. Indeed, the separate briefings refer to 2022 (cobblers) or 2023.
    It will launch this year, or not at all.

    A year without revenues or games for an Arsenal or Spurs would be an utter disaster.
    They wouldn't be kicked out of competition pre-emptively. It isn't a breach of any rules to consider leaving a club, and ganging up to expel them for thought crimes won't fly under competition law.

    I don't think this thing will happen at all - fully agree with Anabobazini on that. But I guarantee you that there won't be a situation where they are chucked out before a ball is kicked in the Super League - that's a non-starter.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,392

    moonshine said:

    This is quite the PR disaster for the greedy 6. My money is on the fact they don't care though.

    They'd love to be kicked out of the EPL (even though that shouldn't stop them being so)
    They'd love it if forced to move their business elsewhere to enable them to compete in their global freak fest.

    Americans have a very strange view of sport and the fact it should be a closed shop. They've made their move and I suspect there is no going back.

    Which leaves a totally burst model of domestic football behind. Then only option is a reset. Introduce German model of ownership and maybe we get a competitive domestic competition where we can earn the right to play other storied Euro clubs who have been left out of the freak show. They could call the competitions the Champions Cup and Cup Winners Cup.

    What league would Phoenix teams start off in do you think?
    Step 3 or 4 if history is any guide. It might not be in this case and maybe they could step into Step 1 (Vanarama National) but there would be the small matter of stadia and funding (perhaps not that difficult for the bigger phoenixes).
    Step 3 or 4 would be appropriate based on history. The entertaining bit will be watching 3 teams in both the North West and South East / London compete for 2 promotion places until they got to the National League where 4 of them will be competing for 2 spaces.

    It would make grass roots football very entertaining for a few years.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176
    It's a popular view on here that the Tories have stolen Labour's clothes. Would they countenance nationalising the Big 6?
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    edited April 2021
    Incidentally @kinabalu Johnson is 5'9" and 14.5 stone isn't even obese for someone 5'9".

    More than one in four British adults are obese. I would definitely count Johnson within that 1 in 4, wouldn't you?
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,207
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-weight-loss-vegan-b1812467.html

    He got the headline he wanted in March, then immediately gave up.

    What a charlatan.

    It was actually worse than this. He overstated by miles his pre Covid weight - claimed it was 17.5 stones lol - so as to be able to exaggerate to great sympathy how much weight he'd lost due to the disease.

    Only Philip Thompson swallowed this - and it ultimately (after a tumble with me) led to him having to make the ludicrous claim that Johnson (at just 5 feet 7) was as heavy as that due to being "all muscle and very little fat".
    You are a liar.

    I never said that he had "very little fat" so please stop telling lies.

    You claimed that he wasn't fat enough to be 17.5 stone, I said I entirely believe it is plausible he is 17.5 stone. I said he'll have a mix of muscles (which is denser than fat) and fat (which he clearly has) to make it plausible to be 17.5 stone.

    And quite frankly 17.5 stone isn't "that" much.

    I think he's fat enough to be 17.5 stone, you don't. That's the difference.
    17.5 stone for a short man is ginormous. Maradona at the nadir of his weight problems wasn't much more than that. And I'm afraid that in seeking to explain the inexplicable you did advance the notion of him being mainly muscle. It wasn't your finest hour.

    Not that I go on about it to embarrass you. I'm not like that. First mention for at least 6 months.
    17.5 stone is not ginormous. Its obese but guess what so is Boris. Its not even exceptionally obese.

    Entirely feasible, he's a fat man who cycles. Entirely plausible he's that fat and you're rather ignorant in thinking he couldn't be that fat.
    It's more than SIX stone overweight. C'mon. Get real. He was never that. He lied about it.
    Yes that's entirely plausible. He's clearly at his biggest been very obese. Quite clearly. Do you deny that?

    That gives him a BMI of 36. Obese but not morbidly obese (40+).

    Entirely plausible. I would call him obese. I would call him obese today, and he's been bigger than he is now. I would say he's been very obese in the past.

    So yes 36 BMI is entirely believable. Heck it could have been higher.
    It really isn't. He never looked remotely as gross as that. Check the photos. He looked about 3 stone overweight not 6. You're perception is way off on this.

    And as for your theory of it being due to his high muscle to fat ratio, that's also a clear fail. Even if he looked like Charles Atlas he wouldn't have weighed 17.5 stone.

    No, Philip, this is one where your best bet is to drop it and hope everyone forgets the whole thing. I'm happy enough to do that, big old softy that I am.
    So the big Labour attack line on Boris is he is overweight?

    That's it?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,200
    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    He faced the press after being thrown under a bus?

    I'd have baulked at that. Told them to eff off.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,585
    Has Keir Starmer taken a position on the football super league?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,351

    TimT said:

    TimT said:

    England CFR

    image
    image

    Is the CFR uptick due to the vagaries of reporting processes and low numbers of deaths, or is something else going on?
    Well, MaxPB has the following theory

    - the CFR measures the ratio of deaths to cases.
    - The older groups are now pretty much vaccinated.
    - So cases are going to come, more and more from the *unvaccinated* oldsters
    - Who are unprotected.
    - So more likely to die.

    Sort of - the tide goes out and leaves the rock behind....

    It's not unlikely, I think.
    Doesn't quite make sense to me. If 90+% of over-50s are vaccinated, surely the bulk of new infections are in the under 50s, with very, very low fatality rates. Sure, as more and more of the under 50s are vaccinated, the percentage the unvaccinated oldies are of the whole unvaccinated population increases. And that does suggest that, at some stage, the CFR should tick up. But it doesn't seem that we should - with pretty much the whole of the under 50s still to do - be at that inflection point yet.
    Going back to the graphs, it looks very much like statistical noise, doesn't it? The daily numbers for the oldies are flopping about wildly in a manner they simply weren't back in January and February, when deaths were very high.
    There is that - on the other hand, the upticks are in the vaccinated populations - 65+
    Leaving aside the fact that you'd probably still get a shallow downwards trend if you plotted a least squares regression line or some such thing through the 75-84 data, the death numbers in general are now so low that we surely shouldn't be surprised to see odd fluctuations in indices such as CFR that are derived from them? The 85+ CFR may have suddenly ticked upwards a little, but who's to say it won't tick back down again in another few days if we just wait?

    Above all, and most importantly, the simple death numbers are still trending downwards. There's no particular reason to suppose at this stage that Covid-19 has somehow, suddenly, become more lethal.
    I don't think it has become more lethal.

    MaxPB though (and said so before this appeared on the graph) that he expected an uptick because the vaccinated would drop out of the running (as it were) leaving the numbers for unvaccinated elderly.

    I think that is at least possible. But it could just be noisy data...
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,080

    I cannot think of a single event in recent times that has caused more outrage amongst ordinary voters, and the whole political class unite to defend a national treasure, that is football

    The decision of CH4 to use the Indian commentators for their coverage?
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,410
    Dear me. Liverpool players booed.
    Usual form is to have the bus smashed up.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176
    Utterly pathetic from Jurgen Klopp.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,410
    Klopp heard about it yesterday as did the players same as all of us.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176
    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.
  • SNAP POLL: 79% of British football fans oppose the creation of the European Super League, with 68% 'strongly' opposed

    75% of football fans say they're not interested in watching the European Super League when it begins. This is the case among 65% who support a 'big six' team

    https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1384208733002104836
  • eekeek Posts: 28,392
    tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    who is?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,585
    "Whose football is it, anyway?
    The proposed European Super League is the logical endpoint of the takeover of ‘the people’s game’.
    Mick Hume"

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/04/19/whose-football-is-it-anyway/
  • MortimerMortimer Posts: 14,127

    Incidentally @kinabalu Johnson is 5'9" and 14.5 stone isn't even obese for someone 5'9".

    More than one in four British adults are obese. I would definitely count Johnson within that 1 in 4, wouldn't you?

    Is it not? I'm 5'9" and nearly 3 stone lighter than that. I'm not exactly thin.....
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    What did he say?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,486

    Incidentally @kinabalu Johnson is 5'9" and 14.5 stone isn't even obese for someone 5'9".

    More than one in four British adults are obese. I would definitely count Johnson within that 1 in 4, wouldn't you?

    He must be on the very short side of 5-9 then.

    I am 5-11 on a tall day and absolutely towered over him. I was surprised by how short he was.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,200
    edited April 2021
    Floater said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-weight-loss-vegan-b1812467.html

    He got the headline he wanted in March, then immediately gave up.

    What a charlatan.

    It was actually worse than this. He overstated by miles his pre Covid weight - claimed it was 17.5 stones lol - so as to be able to exaggerate to great sympathy how much weight he'd lost due to the disease.

    Only Philip Thompson swallowed this - and it ultimately (after a tumble with me) led to him having to make the ludicrous claim that Johnson (at just 5 feet 7) was as heavy as that due to being "all muscle and very little fat".
    You are a liar.

    I never said that he had "very little fat" so please stop telling lies.

    You claimed that he wasn't fat enough to be 17.5 stone, I said I entirely believe it is plausible he is 17.5 stone. I said he'll have a mix of muscles (which is denser than fat) and fat (which he clearly has) to make it plausible to be 17.5 stone.

    And quite frankly 17.5 stone isn't "that" much.

    I think he's fat enough to be 17.5 stone, you don't. That's the difference.
    17.5 stone for a short man is ginormous. Maradona at the nadir of his weight problems wasn't much more than that. And I'm afraid that in seeking to explain the inexplicable you did advance the notion of him being mainly muscle. It wasn't your finest hour.

    Not that I go on about it to embarrass you. I'm not like that. First mention for at least 6 months.
    17.5 stone is not ginormous. Its obese but guess what so is Boris. Its not even exceptionally obese.

    Entirely feasible, he's a fat man who cycles. Entirely plausible he's that fat and you're rather ignorant in thinking he couldn't be that fat.
    It's more than SIX stone overweight. C'mon. Get real. He was never that. He lied about it.
    Yes that's entirely plausible. He's clearly at his biggest been very obese. Quite clearly. Do you deny that?

    That gives him a BMI of 36. Obese but not morbidly obese (40+).

    Entirely plausible. I would call him obese. I would call him obese today, and he's been bigger than he is now. I would say he's been very obese in the past.

    So yes 36 BMI is entirely believable. Heck it could have been higher.
    It really isn't. He never looked remotely as gross as that. Check the photos. He looked about 3 stone overweight not 6. You're perception is way off on this.

    And as for your theory of it being due to his high muscle to fat ratio, that's also a clear fail. Even if he looked like Charles Atlas he wouldn't have weighed 17.5 stone.

    No, Philip, this is one where your best bet is to drop it and hope everyone forgets the whole thing. I'm happy enough to do that, big old softy that I am.
    So the big Labour attack line on Boris is he is overweight?

    That's it?
    No. That he exaggerated how fat he was. Lied about it so as to make out he'd lost more weight than he had through getting Covid. Not the gravest crime in its own right but yet another piece of mendacity - and the mark of the man.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,080
    tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    JFC ?
  • rcs1000 said:

    dixiedean said:

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    There's a lot of England players in that squad who will be seriously concerned about whether they will be at the Euros or not.
    Of course they will be at the Euros. Nobody is talking about punishing players before the Super League launches and, if it ever happens (spoiler - it won't), that wouldn't be before 2023.

    The players' concerns won't be about international competitions in the short term. They will worry about the longer term; they will have heard from friends and family who loathe the idea; they won't like it themselves; and the smarter ones will realise it's very bad for their wages in the longer term (the big bucks come from extreme incentives for clubs to make the top four, which the ESL would remove).
    I thought the stated launch date was August?
    Firstly, that doesn't affect the Euros. Secondly, will it balls launch in August.

    Edit: the statement also refers to "an August start" not August 2021 - i.e. the matches will begin at the same time as domestic league seasons, not that it will start this summer. Indeed, the separate briefings refer to 2022 (cobblers) or 2023.
    It will launch this year, or not at all.

    A year without revenues or games for an Arsenal or Spurs would be an utter disaster.
    They wouldn't be kicked out of competition pre-emptively. It isn't a breach of any rules to consider leaving a club, and ganging up to expel them for thought crimes won't fly under competition law.

    I don't think this thing will happen at all - fully agree with Anabobazini on that. But I guarantee you that there won't be a situation where they are chucked out before a ball is kicked in the Super League - that's a non-starter.
    That's very confident of you.

    There's an Extraordinary General Meeting of UEFA on Friday when, so it is being reported, the three respective semi finalists (Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid) will be pre-emptively expelled from the upcoming Champions League semi-finals. Leaving just PSG.

    Jesper Moller, head of the Danish FA, told broadcaster DR: "The clubs must go, and I expect that to happen on Friday. Then we have to find out how to finish (this season's) Champions League tournament."

    https://news.sky.com/story/breakaway-super-league-a-spit-in-the-face-of-football-lovers-uefa-chief-says-12280398

    I don't agree with those of you saying this won't happen. I think it will. It's Kerry Packer all over again and now they've set out their stall they will go for it.


  • Andy_JS said:

    Has Keir Starmer taken a position on the football super league?

    Yes. He's against it.

    This is a stark change from the approach in the Corbyn years, when any such move would have been met with a lengthy statement on the position of the trades unions in Venezuela prior to the Bolivarian Revolution.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,200

    Incidentally @kinabalu Johnson is 5'9" and 14.5 stone isn't even obese for someone 5'9".

    More than one in four British adults are obese. I would definitely count Johnson within that 1 in 4, wouldn't you?

    17.5 not 14.5.

    And he's five nine in his Cubans.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176

    tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    What did he say?
    Basically not happy that the fans are taking down banners. His view is that they need to stick together at times like this and says that he and the players are not to blame.
  • FenmanFenman Posts: 1,047
    The government can easily stop the Soccer Six. "Policing priorities will no longer allow local forces in Merseyside, Greater Manchester and London to assist at Super League games."
  • eekeek Posts: 28,392
    edited April 2021

    rcs1000 said:

    dixiedean said:

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    It's all falling apart. I hope


    Mike Keegan
    @MikeKeegan_DM
    ·
    18m
    EXCLUSIVE: Ed Woodward held emergency briefing with 'seriously unimpressed' Manchester United players at Carrington this morning.
    - Some angered they found out about ESL via media
    - Belief Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrown under bus & left to face press

    There's a lot of England players in that squad who will be seriously concerned about whether they will be at the Euros or not.
    Of course they will be at the Euros. Nobody is talking about punishing players before the Super League launches and, if it ever happens (spoiler - it won't), that wouldn't be before 2023.

    The players' concerns won't be about international competitions in the short term. They will worry about the longer term; they will have heard from friends and family who loathe the idea; they won't like it themselves; and the smarter ones will realise it's very bad for their wages in the longer term (the big bucks come from extreme incentives for clubs to make the top four, which the ESL would remove).
    I thought the stated launch date was August?
    Firstly, that doesn't affect the Euros. Secondly, will it balls launch in August.

    Edit: the statement also refers to "an August start" not August 2021 - i.e. the matches will begin at the same time as domestic league seasons, not that it will start this summer. Indeed, the separate briefings refer to 2022 (cobblers) or 2023.
    It will launch this year, or not at all.

    A year without revenues or games for an Arsenal or Spurs would be an utter disaster.
    They wouldn't be kicked out of competition pre-emptively. It isn't a breach of any rules to consider leaving a club, and ganging up to expel them for thought crimes won't fly under competition law.

    I don't think this thing will happen at all - fully agree with Anabobazini on that. But I guarantee you that there won't be a situation where they are chucked out before a ball is kicked in the Super League - that's a non-starter.
    That's very confident of you.

    There's an Extraordinary General Meeting of UEFA on Friday when, so it is being reported, the three respective semi finalists (Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid) will be pre-emptively expelled from the upcoming Champions League semi-finals. Leaving just PSG.

    Jesper Moller, head of the Danish FA, told broadcaster DR: "The clubs must go, and I expect that to happen on Friday. Then we have to find out how to finish (this season's) Champions League tournament."

    https://news.sky.com/story/breakaway-super-league-a-spit-in-the-face-of-football-lovers-uefa-chief-says-12280398

    I don't agree with those of you saying this won't happen. I think it will. It's Kerry Packer all over again and now they've set out their stall they will go for it.


    The great unknown is can you play in an international (European) league not sanctioned by UEFA / FIFA while also playing in a national league that is sanctioned by UEFA?

    I suspect the answer is that you can't
  • tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    What did he say?
    Who is JFC
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176
    JFC - Jesus....
  • eekeek Posts: 28,392
    Fenman said:

    The government can easily stop the Soccer Six. "Policing priorities will no longer allow local forces in Merseyside, Greater Manchester and London to assist at Super League games."

    Football clubs already pay for their policing...
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,468

    tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    What did he say?
    Who is JFC
    "Jesus F*cking Christ" I assume.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Mortimer said:

    Incidentally @kinabalu Johnson is 5'9" and 14.5 stone isn't even obese for someone 5'9".

    More than one in four British adults are obese. I would definitely count Johnson within that 1 in 4, wouldn't you?

    Is it not? I'm 5'9" and nearly 3 stone lighter than that. I'm not exactly thin.....
    https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/bmi-calculator/

    BMI isn't entirely reliable of course but its a reasonable average rule of thumb.

    11.5 stone is BMI 23.8 which is in the "healthy" range.
    14.5 stone is BMI 29 which is in the "overweight" range. Most adults in this country are overweight.
    17.5 stone is BMI 36.2 which is in the "obese" range. 28% of adults in this country are obese.

    To be "morbidly obese" would require a weight of 19 stone 4 lbs. Nearly 2 more stone than said.
  • Well the LFC fans are happy with Klopp's interview, the ire aimed solely at the owners.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176
    eek said:

    Fenman said:

    The government can easily stop the Soccer Six. "Policing priorities will no longer allow local forces in Merseyside, Greater Manchester and London to assist at Super League games."

    Football clubs already pay for their policing...
    Local HSE can ban them.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    edited April 2021
    kinabalu said:

    Incidentally @kinabalu Johnson is 5'9" and 14.5 stone isn't even obese for someone 5'9".

    More than one in four British adults are obese. I would definitely count Johnson within that 1 in 4, wouldn't you?

    17.5 not 14.5.

    And he's five nine in his Cubans.
    Yes I would think he was a liar if he said he was 14.5 stone at his heaviest. He was definitely obese at his heaviest and 14.5 stone is not obese.

    17.5 stone is believable. 14.5 stone is not.
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172
    It is the Guardian. They have difficulty with adding.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,080

    tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    What did he say?
    Who is JFC
    "Jesus F*cking Christ" I assume.
    I thought he got fired from Spurs this morning....
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,052
    tlg86 said:

    It's a popular view on here that the Tories have stolen Labour's clothes. Would they countenance nationalising the Big 6?

    Nationalising activities is a great way to wreck them so I think they should nationalise all sports.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,531
    Interesting that the LibDems hsve picked up a bit.after a long period deep in the doldrums. Getting some reward for making dubious noises on lockdown, or just more visible as there are elections going on?
  • The Super League has shocked lots of people but it's been brewing for many years. Big clubs stopped being local years ago. Even though there are academies most players and managers don't come from the vicinities of their clubs and a lot of supporters nowadays don't either, especially considering the global fan bases.

    I'm not supportive of the commercialisation of football* but the Super League is logical and for those clubs it's probably commercially sensible. It also has little to do with the Government who should keep out of this. Unless you're a Corbynite we're supposed to live in a free market economy. And that's what this is. It's business I'm afraid. I know it's appalling but the time to complain was when their clubs got taken over by massive overseas investors, not now.

    * For the record, I gave up my season ticket two years ago when I saw how commercial my beloved club had gone. But this Super League is in many ways just the logical extension of that process which began a long time ago.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176

    Well the LFC fans are happy with Klopp's interview, the ire aimed solely at the owners.

    Funny, all I heard was him attacking the fans. I don't like Adrian Durham much, but I think his point about Liverpool fans being quite important in all this is a good one.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    tlg86 said:

    tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    What did he say?
    Basically not happy that the fans are taking down banners. His view is that they need to stick together at times like this and says that he and the players are not to blame.
    So he wants to stick together with the fans and is saying he's not to blame, ie the owners are to blame?

    Sounds reasonable.
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,706

    dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    This idea is the least popular corporate wheeze since New Coke.

    I guess the clubs (well, owners) gamble is that its popular enough in Asia that it doesnt matter whether locals like it or not. The other day someone on here asked what is a policy that the whole country would actually support, opposing this is pretty much it.
    You see. This confuses me.
    Midweek games with 8 pm kickoffs are 1 am in India 4 am in China.
    You couldn't pick a worse schedule if Asia was the target market.
    You are assuming the games will be played locally. Why?
    As the clubs want to continue in the Premier League they would have fixtures at the weekend here in the UK to fulfil
    The funniest bit of the whole thing for me is these clubs saying "yeah, screw you guys, we're bigger than you and we'll do whatever the hell we want....psst we'll see you at the weekend for our normal league fixtures, thanks".
  • QuincelQuincel Posts: 4,042

    It is the Guardian. They have difficulty with adding.
    I think it depends a bit on what you count as 'obscure', but I fear The Guardian are right. We who discuss forecasts and gambling routinely are familiar with it, but I suspect the proportion of the public who could even vaguely accurately summarise Bayes unprompted is pretty low.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,392
    edited April 2021

    The Super League has shocked lots of people but it's been brewing for many years. Big clubs stopped being local years ago. Even though there are academies most players and managers don't come from the vicinities of their clubs and a lot of supporters nowadays don't either, especially considering the global fan bases.

    I'm not supportive of the commercialisation of football* but the Super League is logical and for those clubs it's probably commercially sensible. It also has little to do with the Government who should keep out of this. Unless you're a Corbynite we're supposed to live in a free market economy. And that's what this is. It's business I'm afraid. I know it's appalling but the time to complain was when their clubs got taken over by massive overseas investors, not now.

    * For the record, I gave up my season ticket two years ago when I saw how commercial my beloved club had gone. But this Super League is in many ways just the logical extension of that process which began a long time ago.

    I believe in competition - which means no club has a right to always be in the league. Currently you will have a situation where there are 20 clubs and the 4th and 5th placed teams are facing relegation....

    It's either that or this season's guest stars are....
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176

    tlg86 said:

    tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    What did he say?
    Basically not happy that the fans are taking down banners. His view is that they need to stick together at times like this and says that he and the players are not to blame.
    So he wants to stick together with the fans and is saying he's not to blame, ie the owners are to blame?

    Sounds reasonable.
    They should have refused to play tonight.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,275
    The 6 English clubs seem to think that the football world revolves around them and that supporters will just moan for a week and then just accept this football non-competition.

    This also denigrates the PL and destroys the dreams of other clubs hoping for their moment in the sun. Without fear of being relegated from the SL you effectively lose what makes sport sport .

    As an Arsenal fan I’m utterly disgusted by this SL. If the 6 clubs think the supporters will just put up with this crap then they’re clearly delusional !
  • tlg86 said:

    Well the LFC fans are happy with Klopp's interview, the ire aimed solely at the owners.

    Funny, all I heard was him attacking the fans. I don't like Adrian Durham much, but I think his point about Liverpool fans being quite important in all this is a good one.
    I'll let you into a little secret.

    Liverpool fans will do whatever Klopp tells them to do.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,821

    Interesting that the LibDems hsve picked up a bit.after a long period deep in the doldrums. Getting some reward for making dubious noises on lockdown, or just more visible as there are elections going on?

    I think it is possibly fair to say we are takung liberal democracy for granted less these dats. The LDa are the onky ones unambiguously opposed to id cards and handing powers directly ti government. I wouldn't call this 'dubious'.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    tlg86 said:

    tlg86 said:

    tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    What did he say?
    Basically not happy that the fans are taking down banners. His view is that they need to stick together at times like this and says that he and the players are not to blame.
    So he wants to stick together with the fans and is saying he's not to blame, ie the owners are to blame?

    Sounds reasonable.
    They should have refused to play tonight.
    That's not an option, be realistic.
  • Interesting that the LibDems hsve picked up a bit.after a long period deep in the doldrums. Getting some reward for making dubious noises on lockdown, or just more visible as there are elections going on?

    Primarily, I think they are beneficiaries of Starmer coming under pressure. Starmer initially made gains from Lib Dems by not being Corbyn. But that honeymoon is over, and quite a few centre left types are reassessing options.

    It's also probable that they are getting noticed more now people can shove leaflets through doors more easily - they are competitive in a fair number of council areas.
  • QuincelQuincel Posts: 4,042
    eek said:

    Fenman said:

    The government can easily stop the Soccer Six. "Policing priorities will no longer allow local forces in Merseyside, Greater Manchester and London to assist at Super League games."

    Football clubs already pay for their policing...
    I think they pay a contribution, but far from the total cost.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45837613
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176

    tlg86 said:

    tlg86 said:

    tlg86 said:

    JFC - he's attacking Liverpool fans. Good God, I hope he has good security at home.

    What did he say?
    Basically not happy that the fans are taking down banners. His view is that they need to stick together at times like this and says that he and the players are not to blame.
    So he wants to stick together with the fans and is saying he's not to blame, ie the owners are to blame?

    Sounds reasonable.
    They should have refused to play tonight.
    That's not an option, be realistic.
    They're multi millionaires. They have so much power. They can put a stop to it.

    Tuchel was equally pathetic in his press conference today.
This discussion has been closed.