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Post by alec on May 16, 2022 10:24:43 GMT
And here - www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.10.22274866v1 - we see the relentless shift of evidence towards a covid causal factor for childhood liver disease. The connection to an adenovirus was always tenuous, at least for exclusive causality, but many within established reporting of medical research and policy are now heavily invested in looking the other way on covid, and so willing to misreport uncertainties as showing covid is harmless. |
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Post by Mark on May 16, 2022 10:25:35 GMT
I can't say I'm much of a football fan, but, I reckon any fan of the sport will appreciate this, from Half Man Half Biscuit, "The Referees Alphabet"... "The G is for the gnarled face of someone whos on £90,000 a week and reckoned he should have had a throw in..." www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqpJ6XYykHE |
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2022 10:29:32 GMT
Pedant alert : I believe Stockport County's home ground is known as Edgeley Park (without an 'r'). And by way of embracing robbiealive 's footie indulgence above, I offer a little football trivia question for Monday morning to sharpen the little grey cells. I believe this still to be accurate, but will gladly acknowledge if it is not. Which two teams played in front of the biggest postwar FA Cup crowd outside of Wembley? Was it Gillingham v Stockport at Priestfield Stadium? |
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Post by eotw on May 16, 2022 10:30:10 GMT
As previously indicated, I have a suspicion that SF/RoI/EU are quite happy for the NIP to push NI nearer to RoI economically as a route to unification within EU. I wonder whether the IEA authors of the above Report are correct in saying that " the parties" did not intend this. One "party" might have foreseen it-whilst the other didn't think it through properly. Does the current RoI government truly want Irish reunification any time soon? SF undoubtedly does. Not so sure if the other FG and FF are so keen to take on the money pit that is NI economy or the possibility of Orange men putting on balaclavas. To me, the beauty of the GFA is that everyone hates/resents it pretty much equally whereas the NIP is only hated by loyalists. |
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2022 10:34:45 GMT
Pedant alert : I believe Stockport County's home ground is known as Edgeley Park (without an 'r'). I was based near Manchester for a while, in my guitar playing and singing days, and around 1970 my brother and I played a big nightclub in Stockport where we were on performing our spot, just before Max Wall appeared. Even that long ago he already seemed a very old fashioned act with his speciality walking etc. I have vague memories of Gillingham v Stockport matches in the ‘60s in the old fourth division, when all the Northern teams had, what I thought of at the time, funny Northern accents. Blimey, @crofty, on the same bill as Max Wall! I can imagine his 'Professor Walloffski' persona was a bit passé by 1970, harking back to the great days of music hall, which were long gone by then. I think he morphed into a quite respectable character actor at the end of his long career. |
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Post by alec on May 16, 2022 10:37:08 GMT
And to think some people actually believed that leaving the EU would allow enhanced environmental protection. Poor saps.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2022 10:37:24 GMT
Pedant alert : I believe Stockport County's home ground is known as Edgeley Park (without an 'r'). And by way of embracing robbiealive 's footie indulgence above, I offer a little football trivia question for Monday morning to sharpen the little grey cells. I believe this still to be accurate, but will gladly acknowledge if it is not. Which two teams played in front of the biggest postwar FA Cup crowd outside of Wembley? Was it Gillingham v Stockport at Priestfield Stadium? Sooo close! |
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Post by leftieliberal on May 16, 2022 10:42:08 GMT
steamdrivenandy About equidistant. Luton is one of of the only two fooball clubs where I've actually paid to attend ,the others all occurred when I was being paid to be there. If you were being paid to shoot football club owners, many of whom deserve it, then you haven't been doing a good job.  |
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Post by jimjam on May 16, 2022 10:44:18 GMT
Steve - my childhood memory of watching the boat race when it was considered a meaningful event suggests Craven Cottage should be the answer.
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on May 16, 2022 10:45:54 GMT
Oh yeah, I think Joe Boyd said in one of the Floyd documentaries something along the lines of Roger was all “yay, I’m back!”, while the others were flinching a bit. here's Waters and Gilmour a year later bumping into each other having accidentally rented rehearsal rooms in the same complex. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR_5KS-bFEQ |
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Post by leftieliberal on May 16, 2022 10:53:01 GMT
@jimjam Without cheating which football club is closest to the Thames. Anyone closer than Fulham? I always remember the Boat Race going past Craven Cottage although I've never visited the ground. |
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Post by crossbat11 on May 16, 2022 11:04:20 GMT
Max Wall was very good in Crossroads if I remember rightly. He was a good mate of Miss Diane and Benny.
On the football trivia, yes, isa, it is indeed Edgeley Park without the 'r'! I'm blaming predictive teckst again!
Steve's little poser. Fulham is the obvious answer, but is the little tinker slipping us a tricky one here and it's a small town club outside of London, a little more upstream Thames? I'm going for Lechlade Rovers.
😂👍
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Post by moby on May 16, 2022 11:05:04 GMT
steve As you know, I hardly ever mention football either, but since you've broken your self-imposed purdah, I will do so too! A word about the other Hatters; Stockport County. I have two reasons for being pleased about their long overdue return to the Football League yesterday, and neither of them have anything to do do with any connection I have to the club, either emotionally or geographically. The first reason is entirely a sentimental one. Since their relegation to the Conference 14 years ago, they have plumbed depths and indignities that few former long standing members of the Football League have. They slipped down to the sixth tier of the game for a while and flirted many times with insolvency, yet they have survived it all and, along with their large and loyal band of fans, now have their just rewards for their long endurance and perserverence. They had over 10,000 packed into their famous old Edgerley Park ground yesterday, there to witness the securing of promotion and the National League Premier title with a comfortable win against another venerable old league side, FC Halifax. The second reason for my delight is that my youngest son, a resident of Stockport, now has a Football League club on his doorstep. He lives about a mile from Edgerley Park and I fully expect invitations, and tickets too, to join him for a few matches next season. The derby against Salford City should be a banger! A toast to both Hatters then but, like johntel, I'm rooting for Forest in the play offs. No shades of Roy Dwight either. Joe Lolley, a Forest player, is a mate of one of my sons. A Redditch born lad and Villa fan to boot too. Come on Joe! Yes they pipped my home team Wrexham to the title. We did spank them 3-0 a couple of weeks ago though. Its the play offs for us and a trip to Wembley against Bromley. |
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Post by steamdrivenandy on May 16, 2022 11:18:52 GMT
@jimjam Without cheating which football club is closest to the Thames. Anyone closer than Fulham? I always remember the Boat Race going past Craven Cottage although I've never visited the ground. I was there when Martyn Busby had his leg broken in '72. He was an amazing young prospect, who eventually recovered, but was never the same scintillating player. |
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Post by crossbat11 on May 16, 2022 11:20:47 GMT
moby
It's all gone a bit Hollywood down at the Racecourse Ground these days, hasn't it?
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on May 16, 2022 11:25:50 GMT
c-a-r-f-r-e-w - "Upper-middle-class children become upper-middle-class adults." I know that quote wasn't from you, but much of what you posted rings true to me. It's one of those absurdities in life that I always feel whenever I hear people talking about 'increasing social mobility'. The unspoken rule is always that this means more people moving up, whatever that means. But, in terms of relative performance, at least, if some are going up, some must be going down. Increased social mobility ultimately has to mean that some of those upper middle classes who lack the talent or work ethic must slide down the ladder, making way for the better people to climb past them. It's an uncomfortable truism. Yes, there is a real point at issue, not least because one is given to wonder how many of those losing position on the ladder do so because of a lack of ability or application. How many might maintain position by playing the system rather than achieving or contributing more. Quite a few have benefited in recent times through windfall gains. For those where it is achieved through talent and effort, others like Richard Reeves (I think it’s Reeves) have written that it tends to involve an exhausting regime of continually working and striving to stay there. Part of the problem of an overpopulated elite is that a lot of competition results, which can be to the detriment of society. Another issue, is that even if some don’t lose their place on the ladder, they might still be worse off, because the idea is that more of the middle class will slip into a world of struggling, while only the ten percent or so at the top get the spoils. So even if you’re in the top quartile, you might still wind up struggling. Then some have questioned whether a meritocracy is such a good thing, e.g. Lord Young’s concerns about the rise of the Meritocracy in his book. His book was supposed to be a satire and he was trying to suggest a meritocracy might present problems for the Labour Party; he didn’t seem too chuffed when Blair embraced the idea of meritocracy. www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/29/comment‘Down with meritocracy Michael Young The man who coined the word four decades ago wishes Tony Blair would stop using it” |
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Post by bardin1 on May 16, 2022 11:26:12 GMT
I'll go for Griffin Park (not sure if brentford are still there but last time I was there, with a bunch of Germans over for the World darts event, we nearly fell in the Thames on our way back from the pub)
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Post by jimjam on May 16, 2022 11:29:03 GMT
FWIW, while we await the R&W, I like it when 'proper' teams get promoted.
I went to watch Leyton Orient v Barrow a couple of months ago and the Orient fans we talked to wished us well for the rest of the season and the club only charged a fiver for away fans which is classy.
It's great that Stockport are back and that Accrington, and until last year Rochdale, managed several seasons in league 2; a second season for Morecambe is pleasing.
Forest Green, Salford, Harrogate and Fleetwood are the lower league equivalents of Chelski/Sportwash City and most other fans pull for other teams against them.
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Post by crossbat11 on May 16, 2022 11:34:49 GMT
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Post by lens on May 16, 2022 11:39:00 GMT
Despite these compelling findings, any mention of masking to reduce risk of COVID-19 in children is harshly rejected on social media, usually by anonymous trolls who deny existing scientific evidence and cite imagined or grossly exaggerated risks associated with masking." Quite. Pots, kettles, black, Alec? Couldn't we maybe draw attention to those on social media who cherry pick the "studies" they quote to reflect the most pessimistic view? Who cite grossly exaggerated risks due to Covid? (And before you say it, I'm not denying the real and terrible effects Covid genuinely has caused - just pleading for some perspective and proportion.) Where I will agree with that link is on the real and undeniable benefits given by vaccination. But even if the figures given for mask benefits should be true, it conveniently ignores the downsides: much poorer communication and negative effects on learning. It also doesn't take account of any effect of such measures being to delay cases rather than prevent them - meaning no benefit overall, just that the misery is prolonged. Disagree? It's not just me saying it. Even from the Guardian, which has taken one of the most cautious approaches over the last two years: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/12/ending-englands-covid-restrictions-was-divisive-but-the-data-shows-we-were-right Quote: "But what will perhaps be surprising to many is that England has actually had a similar rate of infection and a lower rate of Covid deaths during the Omicron wave – and since 19 July 2021, England’s “freedom day” – than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, despite having far fewer mandatory restrictions, and none after 24 February. This “natural experiment” shows that having more mandates did not lead to better outcomes." (My emphasis.)
And your scepticism about "excess deaths" just doesn't stand up to criticism. So what if a given death is down to Covid or some other respiratory disease? Do you seriously think it would bother me on my deathbed if the doctor said "well, I'm afraid you are going to die shortly, but the really good news is that it's not Covid!!) Does it really surprise you that the UK has a higher than world average death rate for respiratory illnesses, given the climate? You may be surprised to hear that conversely we are well off for such as a low rate of malaria deaths? |
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2022 11:46:43 GMT
@jimjam Without cheating which football club is closest to the Thames. Anyone closer than Fulham? I always remember the Boat Race going past Craven Cottage although I've never visited the ground. I think Johnson is planning a footy ground that spans the river Thames, somewhere close to his garden bridge project. Sounds like a jolly good idea to me, plus you can get there by boat so it will also reduce traffic on the roads. Anyway, that’s the plan and I recommend it to the house. |
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on May 16, 2022 11:59:49 GMT
Re-Labour policy. That Labour's policy aims need to be posted on a board that consists entirely of people who follow politics closely says a lot in itself. Let's take one Labour policy where they have got the communication right - in regard to dealing with the cost of living crisis - a one off windfall tax on the energy companies, to be redistributed to those most in need. Yes, it's a short term policy but, IMO a very good one. More to the point, anyone that is paying the slightest bit of attention knows what it is. The meat and bones of the policy hasn't been announced (exactly how much will this indfall tax be, in what manner will it be taxed, does one-off mean on one occasion, or is it a short term policy of, say 2 years), nor does it need to be this far from an election - that is what a manifesto is for, but, the general policy and policy aim is announced and everyone knows what it is. So, the question becomes, why is it that the public know THIS policy/policy aim, but not others? It is there that Labour needs to step up. And even if one went searching and found the list of policy aims, it doesn’t include things like Starmer’s interest in preventative health care, which I just happened across later by accident in January I think. I am really quite keen on preventative health care but am not sure what Starmer means by it, there’s a bit about a “hospital at home” thing I found, and it would be quite handy if activists could help with filling in more details if possible, for eggers. For this they also need to be provided with some info. themselves of course. Regarding the windfall tax, while it might be better than nothing, it’s a more typically right wing solution in that as you say it provides a temporary respite, while maintaining the dominance of capital and associated problems, rather than seeing a more left wing approach of greater state involvement in the market to try and bring prices down longer term. With a windfall tax the problem may remain long term, and indeed many were struggling with energy prices before the recent price hikes. |
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Post by domjg on May 16, 2022 12:16:11 GMT
Max Wall was very good in Crossroads if I remember rightly. He was a good mate of Miss Diane and Benny. On the football trivia, yes, isa, it is indeed Edgeley Park without the 'r'! I'm blaming predictive teckst again! Steve's little poser. Fulham is the obvious answer, but is the little tinker slipping us a tricky one here and it's a small town club outside of London, a little more upstream Thames? I'm going for Lechlade Rovers. 😂👍 I don't normally comment on matters fussball as I know little on the subject but Abingdon Town football club in Oxon is almost next to the Thames, or Isis as you might want to call it round here. |
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on May 16, 2022 12:17:13 GMT
Ah, I wasn’t aware of that book, sounds worth checking out, thanks muchly Crossbat. edit: the Guardian article you linked is well worth a read too IMO. E.g.
“But a sense of frustration is palpable, as Sandel charts the rise of what he sees as a corrosive leftwing individualism: “The solution to problems of globalisation and inequality – and we heard this on both sides of the Atlantic – was that those who work hard and play by the rules should be able to rise as far as their effort and talents will take them. This is what I call in the book the ‘rhetoric of rising’. It became an article of faith, a seemingly uncontroversial trope. We will make a truly level playing field, it was said by the centre-left, so that everyone has an equal chance. And if we do, and so far as we do, then those who rise by dint of effort, talent, hard work will deserve their place, will have earned it.”
The recommended way to “rise” has been to get a higher education. Or, as the Blair mantra had it: “Education, education, education.” Sandel homes in on a 2013 speech by Obama in which the president told students: “We live in a 21st-century global economy. And in a global economy jobs can go anywhere. Companies, they’re looking for the best-educated people wherever they live. If you don’t have a good education, then it’s going to be hard for you to find a job that pays the living wage.” For those willing to make the requisite effort, there was the promise that: “This country will always be a place where you can make it if you try.”
Sandel has two fundamental objections to this approach. First, and most obvious, the fabled “level playing field” remains a chimera. Although he says more and more of his own Harvard students are now convinced that their success is a result of their own effort, two-thirds of them come from the top fifth of the income scale. It is a pattern replicated across the Ivy League universities. The relationship between social class and SAT scores – which grade high school students ahead of college – is well attested. More generally, he notes, social mobility has been stalled for decades. “Americans born to poor parents tend to stay poor as adults.”
But the main point of The Tyranny of Merit is a different one: Sandel is determined to aim a broadside squarely at a left-liberal consensus that has reigned for 30 years. Even a perfect meritocracy, he says, would be a bad thing. “The book tries to show that there is a dark side, a demoralising side to that,” he says. “The implication is that those who do not rise will have no one to blame but themselves.” Centre-left elites abandoned old class loyalties and took on a new role as moralising life-coaches, dedicated to helping working-class individuals shape up to a world in which they were on their own. “On globalisation,” says Sandel, “these parties said the choice was no longer between left and right, but between ‘open’ and ‘closed’. Open meant free flow of capital, goods and people across borders.” Not only was this state of affairs seen as irreversible, it was also presented as laudable. “To object in any way to that was to be closed-minded, prejudiced and hostile to cosmopolitan identities.”” |
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domjg
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Post by domjg on May 16, 2022 12:23:59 GMT
As previously indicated, I have a suspicion that SF/RoI/EU are quite happy for the NIP to push NI nearer to RoI economically as a route to unification within EU. I wonder whether the IEA authors of the above Report are correct in saying that " the parties" did not intend this. One "party" might have foreseen it-whilst the other didn't think it through properly. Does the current RoI government truly want Irish reunification any time soon? SF undoubtedly does. Not so sure if the other FG and FF are so keen to take on the money pit that is NI economy or the possibility of Orange men putting on balaclavas. To me, the beauty of the GFA is that everyone hates/resents it pretty much equally whereas the NIP is only hated by loyalists. "Does the current RoI government truly want Irish reunification any time soon?" - No way, I would reckon or any RoI government probably even including a Sinn Fein led one. Whatever umbrella it eventually ends up under the polity known as 'Northern Ireland' and it's devolved political institutions are likely to remain in existence for a very long time. |
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Post by robbiealive on May 16, 2022 12:47:42 GMT
I don't normally comment on matters fussball as I know little on the subject but Abingdon Town football club in Oxon is almost next to the Thames, or Isis as you might want to call it round here. Knowing nothing about a subject is hardly a disqualification for posting on here. Note the recent armchair generalship. I used to spend much time in Abingdon -- pretty ghastly place -- but never realised it was a mile or two from Sutton Courtenay where Orwell is buried. I know it's wacky but I would have liked to have gone to his grave. You get two for the price of one, as Asquith is buried there. I also visited Marcel Carnet's grave in Monmatre. He is buried next to his long-time partner. People leave metro tickets on the grave for a quirky reason. Identifying allied war graves in churchyards has been good for tourism, |
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Post by shevii on May 16, 2022 12:59:03 GMT
steve As you know, I hardly ever mention football either, but since you've broken your self-imposed purdah, I will do so too! A word about the other Hatters; Stockport County. I have two reasons for being pleased about their long overdue return to the Football League yesterday, and neither of them have anything to do do with any connection I have to the club, either emotionally or geographically. The first reason is entirely a sentimental one. Since their relegation to the Conference 14 years ago, they have plumbed depths and indignities that few former long standing members of the Football League have. They slipped down to the sixth tier of the game for a while and flirted many times with insolvency, yet they have survived it all and, along with their large and loyal band of fans, now have their just rewards for their long endurance and perserverence. They had over 10,000 packed into their famous old Edgerley Park ground yesterday, there to witness the securing of promotion and the National League Premier title with a comfortable win against another venerable old league side, FC Halifax. The second reason for my delight is that my youngest son, a resident of Stockport, now has a Football League club on his doorstep. He lives about a mile from Edgerley Park and I fully expect invitations, and tickets too, to join him for a few matches next season. The derby against Salford City should be a banger! A toast to both Hatters then but, like johntel, I'm rooting for Forest in the play offs. No shades of Roy Dwight either. Joe Lolley, a Forest player, is a mate of one of my sons. A Redditch born lad and Villa fan to boot too. Come on Joe! A third reason is that Owen Jones comes from Stockport :-) There seem to be about 20 different train options going from Wigan to Stockport and it's a bit pot luck which one is going to end up quickest after delays and missed connection etc but the way back is easier as you just get on the first train going anywhere which decides your route. Last time I went they had one end behind one of the goals fenced off so not sure if they have completed it all now. Also looking forward to Wrexham getting up- they do have Hollywood money behind them now but sometimes a club deserves a bit of luck and one of the owners is certainly well into his sport and possibly a Bernie bro too. Luton has to be the worst ground in the league I think- last time I went I was mighty relieved there weren't allocated seats because I needed an aisle seat for my legs to stretch out- I don't think it would even have been possible to have sat in a random seat as my knees would have needed to stretched behind my back to fit on those seats at the away (former home) end. |
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oldnat
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Post by oldnat on May 16, 2022 13:05:07 GMT
steve "which football club is closest to the Thames"Probably the UConn Huskies. Their stadium is close to the Thames (pronounced as spelt) River in New London, Connecticut. (You didn't specify what kind of football by which Thames River!)
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domjg
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Post by domjg on May 16, 2022 13:06:51 GMT
I don't normally comment on matters fussball as I know little on the subject but Abingdon Town football club in Oxon is almost next to the Thames, or Isis as you might want to call it round here. Knowing nothing about a subject is hardly a disqualification for posting on here. Note the recent armchair generalship. I used to spend much time in Abingdon -- pretty ghastly place -- but never realised it was a mile or two from Sutton Courtenay where Orwell is buried. I know it's wacky but I would have liked to have gone to his grave. You get two for the price of one, as Asquith is buried there. I also visited Marcel Carnet's grave in Monmatre. He is buried next to his long-time partner. People leave metro tickets on the grave for a quirky reason. Identifying allied war graves in churchyards has been good for tourism, Abingdon suffers from being so close to Oxford, why stay there when you could be in Oxford in 15 mins. It's improved in recent times though. Nice pub on the river. Re Orwell, he lies not 30 mins walk from me (don't live in Sutton Courtenay though). I'm sure he'd be very proud to know that a new housing estate on the outskirts of that village is called 'Orwell Park'.. There's a nice pub, the Swan, next to the chuchyard if you ever feel the need to visit him and leave coins on his headstone as people do for some reason. |
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oldnat
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Post by oldnat on May 16, 2022 13:20:53 GMT
Rosie Holt must be in real danger of being selected to become a Tory MP!
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