LongTimeLurker

I would ask myself what Jim Baxter would have done and then proceed to sit on the ball the next day in the latter stages of a famous victory.

28th or 29th according to the Torygraph based on unnamed Whitehall sources. How they would even know that if the process is supposed to be independent and at arms length from government is the question that will never get asked in mainstream media terms.

Having a consistent set of policies is the more sensible way to go rather than alternating between stricter and laxer rules like the other three British nations have. It's moronic to expect to be able to reverse an unfolding epidemic peak doing that with schools and workplaces still open in the absence of mass vaccination to achieve herd immunity. Having the numbers all too obviously going the wrong way with OxfordAZ not approved yet to enable a massive ramp up in vaccination locations means BJ messed up his carefully choreographed saving Christmas script. I guess putting Kent into lockdown helps clear space for all the stranded lorries though.

Daniel Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners pushed that idea very hard about 25 years ago but it got a mixed reception in scholarly circles. Think more recently Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands does a better job of examining the dynamics of what was going on at the time by reframing what happened more towards what the einsatzgruppen did in the east where most of the murders unfolded in what Snyder referred to as the "bloodlands" (pre-1939 Poland, the Baltics, and parts of Ukraine and Belarus). His argument being that the complete breakdown of a functioning state's legal system away from the core German Reich was very important to create the environment where the Holocaust could unfold along with local people (not the Poles, more western Ukrainians and Baltic nationalities) participating as a way of proving their usefulness to the new powers that be after previously collaborating with the Soviets in 1939. How did the COVID thread get into this? Cannae be bothered looking back to check and won't be posting any follow ups.

Could be February on emergency approval if phase 3 interim results look good apparently and key advantage is it only needs one dose.

Johnson&Johnson is probably the next important one for western countries:

So this was probably deliberately held back to provide lots of plucky Britain goes it alone headlines just before a no deal Brexit. Now Moderna is approved by the FDA with nothing coming in the UK's direction until the Americans have their own situation sorted out and Brexit could complicate Pfizer delivery once EUA approval goes through for that, the MHRA approval of OxfordAZ is absolutely pivotal in enabling the UK to keep pace with what's happening elsewhere.

This appears to be completely seperate from the £30 million for all of Scottish football from the Scottish government given it is the Secretary of State for Scotland that is quoted.

Scone Thistle might be one to watch as the only Perth area club outside the EoS at this point in a single north division where they are likely to be severely out of their depth a lot of the time.

Definitely doesn't look like they have licensing in mind with those plans when that last part is taken into consideration. Looks like the absolute bare bones of what would make a ground suitable for the EoS lower tiers (more than a couple of busloads for the away team = good luck), so their main focus appears to be the youth side of things. Nothing wrong with that but perhaps the wrong thread to be discussing this in.

gonnae no dae that

initiating conversation by poking somebody in the back and saying "haw mister" tends to make you stand out in the east.

Maybe shouldn't talk this up, but if they were able to use Starks Park again it's arguably easier to televise and less likely to be postponed than some of the other options. Hopefully the lights issue rules them out and it's the BU's game though.

...true but the cranky irrational curtain twitcher brigade won't see it that way and Nicola consistently dances to their tune. The silent majority need to stop being apathetic and make their voices heard on this. Once the most vulnerable 20% or so who have had the vast majority of fatalities have been vaccinated or at least have had the chance to be and knocked it back, it will be absurd to be at higher than Level 0.

If Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts, Crossgates Primrose and Blackburn can feature in the east premier, it's difficult to try to argue that the bar is set as high as was the case with the east superleague. Think the larger clubs that can get licensed reasonably easily like Whitburn, Armadale and Bathgate will bounce back OK everntually in EoS terms but have put a serious dent into their chances of ever getting to the LL. The main question mark is probably more what happens with Syngenta and the Bo'ness United and Sauchie tribute acts (the Lithgae one seems to have already folded) as the former has already been knocked back once when Little Kerse was viewed as unsuitable and reserve teams don't appear to be viewed too favourably (or in Sauche's case likely to even be possible) in the latter. Will be interesting to see what happens with the Tayside clubs. There were mainstream media quotes from an EoS official in 2018 that made it sound like the Club 42 boundary applied, but patriot who is linked to St Andrews United has more recently made it clear that clubs are being told in EoS meetings that there is no geographical limit on who can apply and have their application voted on by the existing membership. Given the way the rules are written that was arguably always the case, if any club had wanted to test out what would happen as Luncarty subsequently did earlier this year.

Has Henry Dunigan not been quoted as saying that when Talbot enter the pyramid they will be in it to win it? The obvious way to avoid progression would be to have no floodlights, but this happened over the summer:

Has anybody actually been trying to argue that since the Fife clubs all left? Haven't seen or heard that happening anywhere, presumably becuse everybody knows it would by patently absurd. Not entirely clear why the West Lothian clubs hung in there for the extra season, but maybe they mistakenly believed they could hook up with a faction in the west somehow and were not expecting an LL organised WoS to have 63 out of 63. The EoS will definitely benefit from having Whitburn, Bathgate, Armadale and Fauldhouse on board once they do their self-inflicted stint at tier 8. A seventh tier next season looks a bit short on quality compared to the way things were at the comparable level in the old east region with very few West Lothian and no Dundee/Angus clubs around and Bo'ness, Kelty and Bonnyrigg having moved on to bigger things at tier 5.

The Swedish approach of finding a new normal that is sustainable and can be explained with a consistent set of public health advise messaging was the better way to go in strategy terms, although you can definitely find fault with some of what Sweden did at the tactical level especially with care homes. Wales have shown why trying to stop an epidemic wave from unfolding in its tracks with a set of policies that cannot be sustained is futile and potentially counter-productive.

Or finally come to terms with the fact that in the absence of closing down the economy and education there isn't much you can do to stop an epidemic peak from unfolding until vaccination is in full swing and encourage the media to stop obsessing over the numbers so much now that the IFR is known to be around 0.2% rather than the initially feared 2%. A lot of old people die every winter from viral infections, so what is unfolding now is nothing like as out of ordinary as it is being portrayed. By all means minimise what is legitimately non-essential and high risk such as having pubs open late at night serving alcohol until vaccination of high risk groups has been achieved but don't close down inherently low risk activities like watching nonleague football while socially distanced outdoors just to be seen to do something to placate a minority of hysterical curtain twitching cranks. The problem is decisions are often being made based on what polls best (the rush to reopen pubs, still OK to go to Shagaluf, and let's have a Christmas free for all etc) rather than what really makes sense in COVID terms.

Only a matter of time before we have a subtropical but partially submerged Scotland, if the likes of Greta are to be believed. Where fish are concerned are Hector Brocklebank and co not viewed as the key to a lot of the Tory revival in Scotland? Think the reason it is taking so long for Boris to blink and compromise on fish in the same sort of way as happened during EEC entry is what it potentially does to Yes numbers on independence.

Your club are in the EoS now and are highly unlikely to ever feature in the LL again unlike Kelty Hearts, Bonnyrigg Rose and Bo'ness Unied and many more former east and west superleague clubs that will follow the trail they have blazed in the years ahead.

Hard to see past Dundonald Bluebell vs Queen's Park for a nonleague vs SPFL angle that involves a quirky name, a famous club from where the final will be played and the SPFL2 league leaders that just turned full-time. Think you need to be familiar with junior football over the years to see Bonnyrigg Rose vs Bo'ness United as a big game like most people posting on here would and the people making the decisions probably won't be, unfortunately. Agree Berwick vs Stirling might be a dark horse contender given the Scotland vs England angle and Berwick still being recently relegated. Albion Rovers vs Buckie Thistle could also maybe be promoted as the club from the Bucky triangle hosting a teuchter club called Buckie but doubt the TV people would be keen to talk that up and who wants to visit Coatbridge, if they can avoid it?

Looks like the Oxford approval is being kept back a bit to provide a good news story in the aftermath of Brexit talks breaking down completely or maybe I'm too cynical...

Doubt the TV people will be able to see past Dundonald Bluebell vs Queen's Park. Wee club with a quirky name up against famous club from Hampden that are top of SPFL2 and have recently turned full-time.