sadoldgit

When in doubt, drag up Brexit. You know you are in trouble.

Nothing to see here. Dominic is above us normal plebs so the rules don’t apply to him. There will be calls for him to resign but of course he won’t, he is the power behind the throne.

I don’t know about wetting myself about Starmer’s performance so far, but it makes a pleasant change to see someone with such a Prime Ministerial gravitas on the front bench at last. The fact that he so easily punctured Johnson’s usual winging it, bluster and waffle style came as no surprise. At last the opposition have someone who can paint a picture, hold it up and say to the electorate, this is what you voted for. This is your fault. Don’t make the same mistake in the next election. Starmer has only been in the job 5 minutes and already he looks more capable than the whole of the Tory front bench put together. Granted, he lacks charisma, but give me competence and authority over a circus clown when it comes to running the country any day.

Game, set and match!

I saw a picture of Steve Williams a few years ago and barely recognised him as he had put so much weight on. I remember Ron Davies being a big guy in his playing days and most of them used to be big drinkers and no one looked after their diet much in the 60s and 70s so there probably wasn’t much of a change for many of them when they stopped playing then.

If Jose was so desperate to stay, why didn’t he sign the new contract? If Reed was so desperate to get rid of him, why did he offer him a new contract? If Jose was happy, why employ an agent who is know for playing hard ball. Where did the stories about the interest from Manchester United come from? Reed? I didn’t want Fonte to go, but I don’t believe for one minute that he was blameless in what transpired. The fact that he ended up at West Ham rather than a “big club” shows us what the real interest was behind the scene and even at West Ham Jose failed to live up to his post Euros hype.

Indeed it isn’t Whelk. And I’m afraid that my days of noticing girls in marketing, or even Tescos for that matter, are long gone. Well, that’s not strictly true. I may occasionally notice, but my cardio- vascular problems mean that even wishful thinking fails to kick in (for self-preservation purposes).

Yes Whelk, do tell. I’m intrigued!

Got his timing wrong there!

Deny what Whelk?

What on Earth are you talking about Whelk?

They are but perhaps the format of the programme is all wrong. Watching a bunch of knackered old men stroll around isn’t edifying. What is interesting is hearing about how some of the veterans are struggling with life after football.

What has been particularly interesting is the insight into ‘Arry’s managerial skills and technical and tactical insights. My old Sunday team manager showed more nous. It could have been a decent programme if it had been made shortly after the players had retired rather than being completely knackered and past it.

I’m not sure that you are “Reedist” to have a balanced point of view. It wasn’t all bad under Reed, in fact we had some of our best years when he was here and he should take some credit. As for Fonte, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle and I doubt if him and us agent were completely blameless for the way the situation played out.

For someone who has never voted Tory Weston, you make a hell of a job of being a Tory apologist!

Unfortunately the balls of steel are situated in his head rather than hanging between his legs.

You can’t criticise Tories on here mate, you will just end up being followed around and slagged off by the Boris Bullies. Apparently they can do no wrong and centrist or left party’s can do no right. It’s a shame that some of them feel the need to make it personal. Perhaps it some deep rooted guilt thing they have going on?

Easy. We are allowed to catch the fish with blue passports.

Finally given in to the hype and have started bingeing on BBC’s Normal People. It lives up to the hype and is well worth watching.

It sounds like you should volunteer to teach teachers how to control their pupils if you think it is that easy.

I love the argument against PPE because of not wanting to scare the children - as if having their teacher die of covid wont scar them for years! Good luck mate. I hope that they can sort out a situation where you are as safe as possible given the circumstances.

I have finally finished reading JG Ballard’s book “Crash”. It has only taken me 3 years as I kept picking it up and putting it down again. I like Ballard as an author but found this hard going. I have nothing against pervy sex but this is a bit freaky. The film was good though.

I have an old friend who would probably describe himself as a Marxist and was a staunch Corbyn supporter from day 1. He has not said a peep about Starmer. He has the air of someone who could get Labour elected and you would think that would be a good thing! I think the far left worry that he is another Blair but I think he will carve out his own place in the party. If they are going to get elected they need to appeal to middle England and those who shy away from more centrist politics will just have to compromise otherwise it will be another 5 years in the wilderness.

There is word going round that the government have chosen the years to go back based on the weaker unionisation of that teacher group. The unions are there to protect people. It is a shame that there wasn’t so much protection in other areas before the virus took a group. If we are speaking of anecdotal evidence, I know of several teachers who do not want to go back until safer conditions are agreed and who can blame them? They sign up to teach children, not to put their life on the line. Schools closed for a reason. There is no proper test, trace, isolate programme yet and the death rate is still depressingly high. What has changed other than the need to get more people back to work for the sake of the (already f*cked) economy). The worse thing we can do right now is allow another spike in infection rates. Yes, we do need to find a way to live with this virus for some time to come, but any return to a kind of normality needs to be properly managed and it has been a proper shambles here so far.

Clearly I don’t know all teachers, but the ones I do know do not want to go back until they feel that both the children and themselves are going to be relatively safe. The fact that it appears that the government have not consulted with either scientific experts or the unions seems to suggest that they are right to be concerned about the current plans to return.