Erih Shtrep

Point accepted. I'm certainly not a SNP fanboy and I'll be voting SNP/Green. But you know Boris will use the "Majority of seats, not the majority of votes" line and I don't want to give him a hook he can wriggle off.

And very healthy and low in carbs, which is excellent for shredding. Try making that sort of food (lean mean/veg) for lunch and dinner and berries for breakfast and you'll lose weight very quickly. Well done.

No idea why you'd laugh at that.

The same people bumping their gums about "incompetence" from Nicola Sturgeon - as she announced we had the highest vaccine rate in Europe last week - were only a few weeks ago complaining about government "incompetence" because the government had quite rightly prioritised care homes. I understand the frustrations on here from certain posters about not having a beer with friends. But you can still meet with a pal outside and play all day long and have a beer when you come home. There will be a point after vaccines are complete where the level of government control we're currently under won't be accepted by the population - but that's a few months away. Nicola Sturgeon gets a A- for me for her performance during this, and is miles ahead of Boris, DRoss et all. I look forward voting SNP/GREEN in May for the good guys.

Douglas, are you in favour of increased pedestrianisation of Moray town centre ? Douglas, do you play backgammon?

I don't understand why people find this hard to understand. We MUST get the SNP vote north of 50% on the constituency vote and that will be a very hard thing to do. In 2015 when the SNP swept the board they polled 49.7% technically not enough for a mandate. The SNP is currently polling between 51% and 54% and will require their best ever election result to poll in excess of 50%. Not voting for your MSP because you don't like them in a safe seat will only result in them being returned but no mandate for Indref2. There's no logical reason at all to do this.

Must be utterly horrible to be a No voter. Where you genuinely hope Scotland fails at things. It could be hospital waiting times, school performance, covid deaths. Here’s what actually happened and why the treaty came about: (All of this is readily available in Scottish history books. I would recommend Scotland’s Story by Tom Steel, where (pages 143 to 148) refer particularly to the Actions of William of Orange in respect of the Darien Company and demonstrate how, by his aggression against Scotland he almost succeeded in bankrupting us.) During the period prior to 1695, all overseas colonies were designated English and trade was restricted to English Merchant Companies. Scottish Merchants were not allowed to trade with them, despite the fact that Scotland was part of the United Kingdom, (although without a United Government), and despite the fact that it was mainly Scottish explorers who opened the English colonies up for colonisation. In 1695 the Scottish Merchants petitioned King William of Orange and were granted his Royal Assent for “The Scottish Africa and India Company”, which would be allowed to trade with the colonies. Immediately the English East India Company reduced its charges making it impossible for the new Scots Company to compete. The Scots were forced to look for an alternative. They decided on a scheme to run mule trains between a port on the Pacific and another on the Caribbean, across the Isthmus of Panama using land that they thought, had not been colonised by any other country. (This was disputed by Spain who claimed it as theirs.) Effectively this would greatly reduce the travelling time between China, India and Scotland and save massively on shipping costs. In 1698 the Scots changed the Company name to “The Darien Company” and opened it for investment. Many English Merchants, who were now receiving much less in bonuses from the East India Company’s reduced rates, withdrew their money from it and invested in the Scottish Company. The Scots raised £400,000.00 in only 2 weeks! That’s £40 million in today’s money! The English House of Lords complained to King William of Orange, who reneged on his Royal Consent and withdrew it. He threatened the English Merchants with being charged with treason if they didn’t withdraw their money from the Scottish Company and re-invest it in the English Company. They withdrew their money. William also prevented European investors from taking part by making it known that any investment in the Scottish company would be treated as an act of aggression and they would respond. (Spain today?) Scotland went ahead on its own. £300,000.00 was raised by public subscription and two “Dutchmen Heavy Cargo Ships” were bought from Holland. 1200 settlers with supplies were sent to Darien Land. William of Orange immediately sent the English Navy to blockade the Caribbean colonies thereby denying the Scots access or assistance. The Spanish Navy joined the English and between them they prevented food and medical supplies reaching the Scottish base. During a skirmish one of the two Scots boats was attacked and sunk. The Scottish settlers were forced to leave, and travelled home via New York. Of the original 1200 settlers, some 800 never made it back home. There is no record to show how many died in Darien Land, or on the journey to New York, or on the way back across the Atlantic. Disease was a significant factor but the assertion that the failure was entirely Scotland’s fault due to a bad choice of site, and the subsequent illness, is not well founded. It’s more likely the deliberate action of the English Parliament and King William, by means of the English Naval blockade, caused its failure, and nearly bankrupted Scotland. Although the venture cost Scotland between ¹/3 and ½ its National Assets, it wasn’t bankrupt and continued to trade successfully for the next 7 years.

Wins over Netherlands, France, Ukraine, South Ireland at home would be up there.

...and he wins his seat but the SNP only poll 49% of the popular vote and DRoss and Boris say no majority of votes= no referendum. This is the last time I will probably vote SNP but everyone who wants independence must give their first vote to the SNP.

I should qualify that if Greer had correctly stated that the arse cheeks should be prohibited from having fans back long after the rest of us have returned to our routine of shite pies and abuse, he would have my vote plus that of anyone I could successfully bully into it. bullying is never acceptable. It's very easy to feel down at the minute but you can only look forward to better times ahead. Imagine how good it will be when fans are back at the football. The atmosphere will be great and attendances will be up. The next time at a live music gig. The night out with mates. I'm just back from my daily steps and it's great to feel the relative warmth in the air today and how bright it feels.....and it's 4 months till the Euros.

Is it really? I actually quite like wearing it outside if the weather is cold. The last maybe 20 times if exited the supermarket I rather than taking it off, if kept it on till I reach the Car.

I'm hearing unconfirmed reports that the SG vaccinated less that150 people on Sunday. If true Sturgeon MUST GO.

Was Berger offered in the Fantasy golf team?

I wasn't being entirely serious. I played college golf in the states we had Chad Campbell in our team between him and the coach we managed to get a game after playing Ross Bridge in the NCAA's. The first is fairly normal but the 2nd is like about 10 times more downhill than the TV shows. It's a proper sledging hill. Other things the TV doesn't show is number 9 is ridiculously hard unless you can hit it 300 yards. It's a green that needs a wedge not my 7 iron. Number 13 is an easy 5 but I wasn't talented enough to play baseball from 230 yards. Number 18 is a slog of slogs. I hit driver 4 iron ( and I'm not short) Loch Lomond is a far better golf course, as indeed was Ross Bridge and many others we played stateside.

I think he's too wild for that tbh. Assuming the Open goes ahead St George's in benign conditions could be a shout. Of course he could win at Augusta. He nearly did. Pebble is a course you can spray it a bit - as it Augusta - It's no surprise Phil Mickelson likes both. Augusta isn't remotely hard apart from the green complexes.

You're quite a nasty man. I'm glad he hit a nice drive down 18, hopefully he holes for eagle and enjoys a some New York strip for dinner.

Hopefully Rangers points total goes back to Old Kent Road.

Since you're online I've a medical question. Is it true that cycling more that 15 miles a day increases the risk of type 2 diabetes?

Guineans will be pissed off if they can't go to IKEA.

What's the best thing about fingering a gypsy on her period? You get your palm red for free...

Roses are red Violets are red I wrote you a poem That have have just read.

Roses were red I need to remind of all the colours before I went blind.

Throw the blanket over the top 20 at Pebble Beach. Absolutely anyone's to win. I've Casey in my FG team so he's ma man for tonight.

Douglas Ross is doing another FB live session. The last one was absolute gold with people trying to outdo each other thinking up the daftest questions imaginable. Some of the silly questions he answered were - "Does Nicola Sturgeon like Ikea?" "Do you think Gino D'Acampo has improved Family Fortunes?" So.....as every it's open to the P & B masses to think up the silliest questions we can use to spam DRoss's FB session.

Thankyou Arsenal. X