Aladdin
-
Posts
2,010 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Store
Posts posted by Aladdin
-
-
Poor from Patterson but at least plenty of time to salvage it.
0 -
Happy with that line up, especially the 2 up front.
2-1 Scotland in a game that should be even more comfortable.
0 -
Doing themselves no favours and probably damaging the environmental cause. Go and blockade the tory party conference, not public roads where you don't know what emergency access could be needed.
3 -
1 hour ago, Granny Danger said:
Maybe I should only be looking forward rather than looking back but the performances of players like Pawlett and Harkes call into question Mellon’s management style.
I think bringing Levitt in has made a massive difference to Harkes. With Jeando buzzing about taking all responsibility for winning the ball and Levitt happy to sit fairly deep and actually play a forward pass, it's freed up Harkes to play closer to the front 3 with whom he's shown some nice interplay.
Pawlett too has been deployed almost as an inside forward and looks a lot better for it however he is also looking fit for the first time in 3 years.
0 -
First half we played some good stuff and should have been further ahead.
Holding on a bit second half but will take 1-0 wins week in week out.
1 -
The Heineken "experience" in Amsterdam is utter shite.
1 -
I'm another that managed to get through the biometrics only to have no record to show of.
Shambles.
0 -
Connolly off to Dunfermline on loan until January. Given he must be behind Mulgrew, Edwards, Reynolds, Smith and even Butcher the decision to give him a new contract looks inexplicable.
Re the season tickets, would be good to see a definitive answer. Don't have COVID but might have a night out on Friday and wouldn't fancy dragging myself through to Dundee on Saturday.
0 -
Although we are scoring hardly any goals, I'm not actually too worried. We are creating enough and seem fairly tight at the back to win games like this.
1-0 united with anyone apart from a striker getting the winner.
0 -
Thought Kerr Smith had a decent game, as has been said, a bit hesitant about going forward but to be expected from a 16 year old in his first derby.
I thought Pawlett and McNulty were good first half, McNulty was working hard for everything but the problem we have with him dropping deep and wide is that nobody is left in the box.
Second half I thought was atrocious in terms of going forward for the 20 minutes before we scored. Levitt looks like a footballer but I dont really get playing him that deep where he isnt going to create anything.
Fuchs worked his socks off as usual and was the best midfielder on the part. Edwards and Mulgrew are about the most solid defensive pairing we have had in 10 years. McMann also looks strong in defence even though he possesses the worst step over in world football.
1 -
Fuchs winning the ball with a header about 12 inches off the ground leading up to the goal gets him MOTM.
Love the wee man.
3 -
Regarding the existence of not of long Covid, is the issue not just what constitutes it? A few months after the pandemic began, there were reports of patients suffering from lung and neurological abnormalities a significant period of time after there diagnosis. Whilst prevalence appeared to be extremely low and linked to the severity of the symptoms at their onset, there was something to suggest long Covid was a thing.
Feeling a bit tired a month later and any other symptoms seen in Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome should not, in my entirely non-medically qualified opinion, be classed as long Covid. I had glandular fever in my late 20s and was still feeling the effects 4-6 months later. I did not have long glandular fever.
Howling at the moon about how its all made up or that 1 in 7 kids are going to be permanently disabled are contributions, about as worthless as each other, to a debate that lost all semblance of nuance a long time ago.
1 -
As has been pointed out, although tremendous, Jaffa Cakes are not a biscuit and are therefore ineligible for the competition.
Party Rings deserve their solid second tier status. Chocolate bourbons shouldn't be anywhere near the top.
Whilst regular rich teas are a generally shite biscuit, the chocolate variety (which I think only exist in the Co-op nowadays) were an absolute game changer and better, dare I say, than the establishment chocolate digestive.
2 -
Buckland has gone to make room for a Raab or Patel demotion imo. He hasn't actually done anything to merit a sacking but wasn't towing the tory party line on attacking lawyers and the courts.
0 -
I believe there's a small number of large cats left over that were released when the legislation banning the keeping of them came in to force in the 1970s.
Although near extinction, I dont know anyone who has ever seen a Scottish wildcat outside of captivity so it surely isn't too much of a stretch to imagine that a handful of nocturnal lynx and puma can evade attention.
0 -
1 minute ago, ddfg said:
With regards to the sustainability of the NHS is it not time to build in a degree of personal responsibility with regards to what services are made available. If we as a country are willing to accept banning people from pretty basic activities such as going to the football or on holiday because they have made a choice not to be vaccinated is it too much to consider the need for private insurance to cover treatment required as a result of personal choice?
Should sporting injuries or circumstances where an individual has received treatment and advice on how to reduce risks to themselves and not acted upon that advice resulting in additional treatments being required be included in the free at the point of delivery ethos of the NHS? An AA advert on TV yesterday had the caveat that repeated call outs for the same problem were not covered, essentially if you dont take any action yourself dont expect us to bale you out, maybe a bit harsh in a health setting but if the NHS is in crisis mode maybe some radical action is required.
Or what about a reduction in NI Contributions in return for taking out private health insurance to encourage people who are in a position to do so arrange their own health provision and free up capacity in the NHS whilst still making a payment towards its maintenance.
I am not necessarily in favour of such a move but simply pumping in more money has been tried before and not really made that much of a difference.
I think anything that discourages people from taking part in sport or exercise is the wrong move. Whilst there is likely a frustratingly high number of presentations relating to avoidable, repeat issues, adding in another layer of bureaucracy to determine eligibility for a service is unlikely to bring down the cost.
Savings on NI in return for taking out private health insurance and other ideas like this are interesting but you would have to have an environment where these could be discussed sensibly. I dont think we are there.
Just now, Abdul_Latif said:Without an increase in taxes they will have no choice.
Sadly, many of those opposed to the tax increases needed to fund the NHS properly are the ones who will be most effected by services being cut, and they will not be able to afford the additional private care required in that situation.
It’s a short sighted view that has become too politicised and many will end up poorer in the end if services are cut.
Taxes should be increased if the current range of services is what the NHS is to offer. The problem with the NI increase is it doesn't share the burden equally.
0 -
26 minutes ago, Michael W said:
The health budget was just over 25% of the total UK tax take in 2019/20. In 2020/21 it was a lot higher due to a big increase in spending a sharp reduction in tax revenues. We'll go with 25% since 2020/21 is an outlier.
UK tax takes - https://www.statista.com/statistics/284298/total-united-kingdom-hmrc-tax-receipts/
UK spending - https://www.statista.com/statistics/301992/health-spending-uk/
It always comes back to the NHS being underfunded and under resourced, but how much money does it need? Is the NI increase going to cut it? It doesn't seem like it will given that money is changing to a ring-fenced social care levy after two years. So then what do we do - are we just going to wave our hands and say it's fucked again, better raise another tax?
On the resourcing point, the NHS has over 1.3 employees (over 1.19m FTE). We are always hearing about shortages and the waiting lists would back this up even before covid hit, but how many employees does it need? I know it's not as simple as that as the figure includes many, many people that are not clinicians or medical staff, but you start to question what staffing level is adequate. The UK total workforce is just under 31m, so 4% of the UK workforce is employed by the NHS. One in 25 people in Britain is employed by the NHS - why on earth isn't that enough? It ought to be.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/281998/employment-figures-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/
So, 25% of the tax take the country brings in and also 4% of its workforce. That should be more than enough to sustain a workable system and it seems inexcusable, frankly, that this isn't enough. We need to have a serious conversation about exactly what the NHS needs to function because its resources certainly seem like they ought to be sufficient, but they're not. This will never happen, though, because everyone gets far too defensive when the NHS is criticised and a whole load of strawman arguments about Americans going bust because of healthcare bills will be raised. Fine if we're arguing it should be abolished, but anyone doing so is acting from a very fringe perspective. Saying we should give it more money and hire more nurses is the simple way of avoiding this difficult conversation.
I value the NHS, don't get me wrong, but object to the way that it appears to be sacrosanct. Criticising it is, in some quarters, the closest thing we now have in the UK to blasphemy.
I think there are two separate issues there in terms of the funding and the staffing/bed levels.
As with any public organisation, there will always be waste in terms of spending. The NHS can probably be rightly criticised for some of it but other wastage, such as misuse by patients, will be out of its control.
Understaffing etc is simply a result of increased demands, caused, in part, by the population living longer and, in some groups, simultaneously becoming unhealthier. There is also the increased demand on mental health services. As far as I can see, that can only be solved by employing more staff, which comes with a greater cost, at better rates of pay in order to retain them.
The alternative would be to cut the services the NHS provides, turning it into an emergency service. I doubt that would be popular.
0 -
22 minutes ago, flyingscot said:
Why are cases so much higher in Scotland than around Europe? Why is Scotland at 800/100k where as other European countries are down in the 60-80s?
These are the questions that the public health experts should be looking at going forward. What are the environmental, social, health and economic factors that have made the UK susceptible? Why have the rates in Scotland and the rest of the UK diverged so much (I know we have had schools open longer)?
0 -
4 minutes ago, Thereisalight.. said:
I'm 36 and in good health. I've never taken it before and I wont start now. If that makes me a selfish kunt then so be it
Given that you are hardly the target market for a flu jab and the Covid vaccination was not mandated, what makes you think you are going to be forced to have it?
0 -
Cracking down on tax avoidance by the wealthy is obviously needed.
It also has to be recognised that our population has changed and health and social care needs have increased, costing more. A combination of more progressive taxation/NI increases, a wealth tax and abolition of the triple lock on pensions (perhaps leaving it linked to CPI inflation rates) are likely needed.
0 -
I remember seeing Janey Godley at a stand up night years ago and she was alright. The voice overs and whole "what are we like" Glasgae patter routine is shite.
0 -
1 hour ago, Suspect Device said:
I'll be interested how that will work with our government in charge of income tax bands but Westminster in charge of NICs. Will cause a lot more complications particularly if it's perceived that the increase isn't fully passed on through Barnett.
Even apart from that the increase in NICs instead of income tax is totally wrong imo. Again clobbering the younger and poorer and protecting the old and better off.
Increasing NIC contributions is, in practice, the worst way for the Tories to break their manifesto commitments as it hits their red wall seats.
They can't go anywhere near a wealth tax and capital gains increases which would both be fairer than that suggested. It's great seeing them between a rock and a hard place.
0 -
Testing isn't a problem in itself as, as has been said, it allows you to compare rates of serious illness and hospitalisation to the case numbers etc to see the full impact of the vaccines.
The problem is if it spooks the politicians and decisions start being made on the testing data alone rather than the rates of hospitalisation and deaths.
1 -
1 hour ago, Left Back said:
Going to a gig in England at the weekend. Just received an email saying we need to either prove vaccination status, provide evidence of a negative LFT from that day or natural immunity by providing evidence of a positive PCR within the last 180 days.
Welcome to the new normal. Didn't think these rules were kicking in until the end of the month in England.
That will just be the venue's own policy. Quite a few places up here are doing similar. With the option to demonstrate a negative test, there isn't really too much that can be done about it.
0
Scotland v Israel
in Tartan Army Ramblings
Posted
That half was one of biggest acts of self sabotage I've seen from scotland.