Steven W

Very sad news. A real pity that his funeral will have to be such a small affair.

I find SG's comfortableness with dishing out restrictions troubling

I despair reading that from Leitch. We'll all be round the twist if restrictions are to last that long. That said entirely predictable reading.

Trucks at Dover barely moving as the testing of the drivers is slow (according to Sky News) Doesn't instill much confidence for rolling out the Oxford vaccine in a speedy manner

1) Fuchs; a player I was quick to judge - and in fairness didn't look fit when he first arrived - well, what a turnaround. Sensational performance. 2) Great way to finish up for Christmas. 4-4-2 was so much better, but something we all knew already. With a 4-4-2 for 130 minutes v Hibs and Kilmarnock that's a three - nil scoreline. And enjoyable football at that too. Happy Christmas Arabs!

I thought viruses mutated all the time? Is it not the case that there must be hundreds of strains of the virus? And how come we've arrived at the point that one particular strain belongs to a certain country. Bit confused to be honest

Agree wholeheartedly. If it was a football game, going into a match with that kind of attitude would have beaten before a ball was kicked. The effort that will be required to roll this out needs to be on a scale never seen before. Sadly I tend to think it'll be a 'Mon-Fri 9am-5pm (hour for lunch), shut on bank holidays' type operation.

We need the money. But Celtic also need a keeper. Would be disappointed if we just accept their first bid. There'll be other teams interested too.

I think he probably wrote that at the same time as me. Made sense to me, but ultimately I'm no expert. A professor on the telly there just now suggesting it would be too risky without the proper analysis.

That is only at the point efficacy starts too kick in. The reports suoposedly say that at the time the second jag takes effect. Say 6 weeks from original jag. The 1st jag efficacy has climbed from 50% to 91% anyway. Which is 50% to 91% better than zero. It surely stands to reason that, for instance, Margaret Keenan has more immunity at the minute than any other 90 year olds still waiting on their first dose

Ah f**k them

This new strain - supposedly more transmissible than before. But also no evidence to suggest it'll make people any more I'll than before. I wonder if (trying to be optimistic here) it might in fact prove to be milder than before (ultimately for a virus to survive and multiply it can't afford to be too deadly). Is it possible that in a couple of months this may actually prove to be a positive turn of events? Or am I trying too hard!

A look at social media this morning is eye watering stuff. Imagine letting the football team you support dictate your thoughts and opinions on a deadly virus that's sweeping the planet.... (Sadly Rangers/Celtic stuff is in every fabric of society. This is why there won't be significant crowds at football in Scotland until such a time as those two can have significant crowds. The grief and ramifications would be too much. Old firm fans make me sick)

At times I've been fairly critical of NS during this, but that's embarrassing from that rag of a newspaper. Wonder how long the photographer spent stalking her to get the 'money shot'

Nothing on TV tonight?

Good grief

Correct

Define "short term leave" If my son took ill we'd muddle around or use annual leave. It would most probably only be a day or two. Given we both work to put food on the table and a roof over our heads, I can assure you, in our household I and my wife are both very much "key workers". Feel free to note that too.

I'm not National Office of Statistics FFS.

In March - June I was on furlough so that solved my childcare problem. My wife was working from and has done so for the duration. This time round, as I work in manufacturing / construction, at present I'll be back at work after the holiday and my wife will be back at work too. Unrealistic to expect her to work from home and school our son. Neither of us are considered "key workers" (although that's something I'd challenge!) We have no family nearby, and are really struggling to think of what to do. This situation will be repeated many times over across the whole country surely?

Correct. If it goes ahead, they should throw EVERYTHING at it. Should be vaccinating from 6am-10pm (we do for elections) every day. It needs to be a monumental effort - nothing else will do

I've posted some Armageddon stuff on this thread over the past few months. But tonight is the worst. Utterly depressing

It'll get approved when it's been fully studied and is ready to be approved. People look for conspiracy theories in everything

Correct. The 'holding back' of the vaccine news to act as some sort of sweetener is fanciful.

Is Johnson & Johnson the same one as the "Janssen" one that is being trialled in Dundee? A single dose vaccine would be big news if successful