oaksoft

That was simply magnificent sport. Unbelievable that he can perform like this with a metal hip. It really is incredible. Anything else he does in this tournament is a bonus but it's a joy to watch him back on court.

I used the phrase "to an extent". I then made it crystal clear that I was responding to his comment about deaths and hospitalisations being the only thing that mattered.

I certainly did not say that.

I'm not really keeping up with this stuff anymore but I thought they were getting rid of screens because they prevented good ventilation?

As long as they make masks a recommended thing that won't be an issue going forwards. It can't stay legally enforceable for much longer. Short of mass civil disobedience, it might need us to be isolated amongst other western countries who are not forcing their populations to wear useless face nappies to force the issue. BUT, we do like to follow orders in this country so who knows.

Cookie has it correct here to an extent baz. The only thing which matters is deaths and hospitalisations. That's the only thing which has ever mattered and we've had almost nobody in hospital or dying from this for the vast majority of the last year. That's the source of frustration. How many cancer patient are we going to tolerate being sacrificed for nothing? We've had all these restrictions for well over a year now, we've had something around 90% compliance and we are still seeing massive spikes in cases so clearly none of this is working. We are very fortunate to have vaccines because herd immunity was absolutely our only other practical alternative. So we should all be grateful for that. Yes I would have opened up in May last year and I wouldn't have re-introduced any restrictions unless deaths and hospitalisations put the NHS at risk. I certainly wouldn't have introduced a legal requirement to wear a face nappy and then deliberately lie to people that it was to keep them safe rather than as a simple and effective reminder to everyone to keep the pandemic in mind. That was a quite unforgiveable example of treating people in the country like idiotic children. I really don't understand why people in charge continually do that. Anyway, f**k it. It looks like we're pretty much at the end point now. We'll live with covid and take the consequences as part of being a free society. Cookie, there is no way masking in public will remain a permanent thing.

It doesn't matter what any of us think. Barring a disaster, we're opening back up fully within weeks. I'm simply saying that you and the others who have let fear dominate your life over the last year are going to have to find a way to cope.

Loved his post-match interview. Was asked what he did in the locker room to recover. "Had a shower..........went to the toilet.........it was just a number 1". Brilliant. His wife's reaction to that was great.

There's a substantial number of families of cancer victims out there who would disagree with your confident assertion that lockdowns caused no deaths.

Another reason why the number of cases doesn't really matter. What counts is hospitalisations and deaths. If we published daily flu cases people would be shocked to see the numbers.

Baz, you have been shitting your pants over this for more than a year now. I think you're just going to have to find a way of coping with your fear because unless some new variant appears which evades our vaccines or hospitalisations and deaths start rising, we'll be moving towards removing all restrictions within the next few weeks. The country is about to move on wther you are ready or not.

What on earth are you wittering on about? That report is for potential links to vaccines which need investgating. None of it is confirmed. That wasn't the point of the report system. This is people essentially calling in and reporting things.

Not our night. Croatia have deserved their win and 3-1 is a fair reflection. Can't fault the effort of our players but we've been given a wee lesson tonight in class. Sometimes you've just got to hold your hands up.

Why the first game and not this game? It was a big ask last week too. You're making no allowances for the nerves brought on by 23 years of expectation.

I said it's 99% excellent news slarti. The end is very much nigh. I'll need to tolerate the minimal risk of getting fined every time I go in for milk for a wee bit longer but thankfully I'm very wealthy so it's not an issue and well worth the freedom .

Who exactly is missing that you'd want to see play tonight?

I've re-read the 47, yes 47 page document itself and you're right. It's legal physical distancing which is being removed. Silly me thought that masks were a physical distancing restriction. Seriously though. 47 bloody pages. On top of a 41 page one for physical distancing itself. No wonder so many simply switch off to these politicians.

Yes. Up to 9th August. Social distancing is expected to be phased out before that date. Masks is the one thing they want to cling onto for some reason. The guidance states that we are aiming at no restrictions at all on 9th August though. If you're reading differently then I'm happy to be persuaded otherwise.

So 9th of August it is for removal of all covid restrictions subject to 2 conditions. 1) All over 40s are fully vaccinated. 2) A final review. So, subject to those 2 conditions, no more masks, social distancing indoors or outdoors and a return presumably to football. Obviously a lot can happen in 6-7 weeks but for the first time we have a specific end goal from Sturgeon. Not nearly normal. Not new normal. Fully normal. No more Jason Leitch on Off the Ball. No more Devi Sridhar lying about our vaccines being ineffective against variants. No more scientists on the TV. No more bleating about masks. No more dodgy graphs - from me or anyone else. No more Biology teachers pretending to be able to understand scientific research. No more Sue Denim. No more Karens on facebook wittering on about rule breakers causing Lockdown X. And this thread can finally go straight into the f**king sea with all the government's scientific advisors and their computational modelling software.

On the subject of masks ya numpty!!!

So it should be. It's been crystal clear for weeks that this new "deadlier" Indian variant is nothing of the sort and that vaccinations are the answer. UK governments need to stop this endless panicking over case numbers and variants. We should only be re-introducing restrictions in the future if and when the NHS starts to struggle to cope. No other reason.

Yep. Those results last night mean we are guaranteed to qualify if we win even by a single goal. Still hopeful of finishing second but let's be honest, we'll be playing a top team no matter where we finish. We should be very confident of getting through tonight. At home. In front of our own fans. Don't get many better chances than this at this level.

And I imagine Ethan won't be on £300 either.

Sigh! FFS!

That's my masks in the bin as of tonight. Enough is enough. If I'm politely asked to leave a shop I'll be happy to leave without kicking up a fuss but I'm done with being ordered around like a schoolchild and I'm done being forced to wear a mask I know for a fact won't protect me or anyone else from covid. And from my experience in Asda tonight, I'm far from the only person who is done with this shite. Social distancing? No problem. Vaccination? Absolutely - done both and my whole family including the youngsters have dates in the next week for their 1st jab. Agreeing with lockdown as a control measure? Within reason yes. To protect the NHS yes. To prevent even a single death? No. Don't be so bloody childish. Masks and endless surface cleaning and obsessive hand-washing? To stop an airborne virus spread through microscopic aerosol when 99.999% of our breath in and out goes through the unsealed and unprotected sides of the mask? f**k right off and insult someone else's intelligence - perhaps you'll find someone who lacks the appropriate science background - a Biology teacher for example. It's honestly like a weight off. An absolute joy to shop without one tonight. That'll be my last rant on the subject. It's other people's problem now.