The Kraken

Invites come by letter, not text or email, don’t they?

Yep. My dad is getting his at Boyatt Wood, my mum in Millbrook, both are temporary vaccine centres that have been set up and not surgeries. Just need to Europe to catch up and the chance of a foreign holiday could even be possible by the end of summer. Spain have said they want 70% of their population vaccinated before they open up to tourism again. God knows what’ll be left by then though, unemployment on the costa was running at 20-30% in the years before COVID alone.

Just been speaking to my parents on the phone, both in their 70s and both have got their jabs booked for next week. They said that pretty much all their friends of similar age have been done already or are booked in for next week. If you had told me just in December that they would be in line for a vaccine before Easter, I’d have been delighted with that. The speed of the rollout has been extremely impressive. Just hope the bloody thing works.....

While it would be an extremely Boris thing to do, and a big sticking up of the fingers to the EU, I think we know that right now it’s not something that is likely. UK Gov has consistently said that the only thing holding back getting jabs in arms is the supply rate; and that the UK has a priority to get the top 9 categories of people vaccinated as soon as possible (which is basically all risk groups and the over 50s). Boris would lose significant political capital from his base if he now prioritised European citizens over his own risk groups. But you’re right that if we get a massive increase in supply capability, Boris will be on board the very first truck in to Ireland wearing his high viz and grinning like a loon.

An almighty ricket by the EU here.

We got a (loan) fee for Cedric, and he left a few months before his contract ended.

Final ball tonight has been very poor. Defence looks like it could concede at any time, which is predictable as on paper it’s shite.

Fuck me. McCarthy, give your head a wobble.

I miss miltonroader. He was mental. I mean, maybe a little bit too mental when he started PMing me asking me if I wanted a fight. But he was funny in his own way. Does Dig Dig post any more? He was a good lad. Nineteen Canteen / Sundance Beast was a loony.

Stephens you twat.

No, apparently all Brexiteers knew exactly what they were voting for.

It does. But the system is ripe for manipulation. What classifies a critical worker is at this link. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision Importantly, there’s a stipulation that a child can be considered “vulnerable” and therefore eligible for school if they are classed as “those who may have difficulty engaging with remote education at home (for example due to a lack of devices or quiet space to study)”. Really, you could likely make that argument for many families where the parents WFH.

I remember seeing a briefing around Xmas time with Boris and his acronym buddy JVT. JVT said that the vaccine needs 2-3 weeks in the body before it actually becomes effective. From that article, Norway only began vaccinations on December 27. So, if the 2-3 week theory is indeed correct, people who got the jab then will only be seeing benefit now. And presumably that is only jab 1 of the 2 required. It seems like we know any realistically accurate information for quite some time yet. Edit: basically, what WG said. Edit again. It seems I missed the point of the article itself.....

I think the 2m per week target is already on schedule, yesterday had more than 300,000 vaccines administered, think it was similar Friday too. 👏

I can still call Boris a cunt though, right? 😉

It depended what you class by some sort of normality, but I’m not so sure myself. Certainly a loosening of restrictions but nowhere near normal imo. From what I gather this latest strain is seeing much more significant impact on younger people. Probably not enough data yet to call it, but i can see it being autumn or winter before we get back to anything like normal, and even then I think we’re going to have various sorts of lower level restrictions in place for some time to come yet.

I’d be the first to criticise this lying shitshow of a government, but you have to say that the vaccine rollout so far has been astonishingly good. If it keeps to schedule my folks (in their 70s) should get the jab by the end of February, which is better than I could have hoped just a few short weeks back.

Not sure myself right now. All the talk of getting vaccines by a certain date is for the first of two required shots of the vaccine. Data is sparse at the moment but it’s reckoned only around 60-70% efficacy after the first dose rising to 90% after the second dose. The second shot is recommended around 12 weeks after the first for maximum efficacy. So even for people getting their first shot now, they’re perhaps not at full protection until April. It goes without saying that 60% is better than 0% of course. I think we’ll see a gradual loosening of restrictions by end of March but can’t see us getting anywhere close to the old normal by summer.

Is that a promise?

Actually, I’m not sure that’s quite what he said. In particular the fella on the left, ‘JVT’, seemed to say that it was the ambition for vaccination to only be limited to the vaccine production numbers. He didn’t actually say how much was being produced though, and and what rate it will be provided. It could well be that the government’s ambition comes to pass and they keep up vaccination with the full production numbers, in which case the priority system should absolutely take all available vaccines (and private healthcare gets none). On the flip side, it could be that we end up with a big excess of production and not enough vaccination centres to keep pace with that; in such a case I wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with private vaccines being available, so long as it doesn’t hinder the actual priority queue in any way.

Hummel produced two or three of our best kits. Doing some good stuff these days too. Good news if true.

People on the M27 (50 mph limit with average speed cameras) who have no ability to regulate their speed. Slow down to 45, ok I’ll overtake you. Oh, you’ve speeded up to 55, I’ll pull back in behind you. Oh I see, you’ve slowed down to 45 again, great. Rinse and repeat.

We’ve really not got much depth behind the first 12 or 13. I think Redmond gives us more in defence than Djnepo, not seen enough of Diallo to see if he’s a genuine decent replacement for Romeu or JWP if they’re unavailable. Aside from that there’s no one banging on the door to get in (Ings aside obvs) so we really need to keep fingers crossed for no injuries and players maintaining form. Personally I think the performances against Wolves and United weren’t great outside of a few bright moments. I think we’ve got enough about us for top ten, top 8 maybe, but anything above that would be a big bonus. There’s only 4 points between us and Palace in 15th, so the table is incredibly condensed.

More than happy with a point, as Theo said in his pre-match, almost feels like a win. McCarthy kept us in it no doubt, really good from him. Didn’t think the whole side were at their best tonight, a bit sloppy. And Djenepo still struggles IMO. But overall cannot complain, they put in a shift and ground out a very good result.

Green, according to our late 80s away kit trim.