Off Topic Other Stuff (anything you want to share)

Is it just me who is confused at the clarity on wearing face masks. I say confused but not about the when or where to put them on but the why if it's so important it isn't imposed now rather than over a week away. More to the point how come it is so important in July yet it wasn't seen as important in March when all this kicked off. This Government is a mess when it comes to handling this pandemic. They say so many different things at different times and then react to panic measures when picked up on it. They caused so many deaths in Care Homes with their policy of getting rid of old folk from Hospitals and not putting anything in place in these places when they should have. Then of course have the nerve to call the people hero who work there on one hand and blaming them for the problem on the other. This is the group of people who are going to handle Brexit. You can almost smell the intent of a no deal Brexit from here. When all this is done they will then have to sort out the economy. We are well and truly fecked for years to come with Boris at the helm.

 

Just watch the news when they do one of those "look at all the empty shops" items. Medical staff are trained to use this stuff properly but 1 in 5 of the ordinary public have either got the mask pulled down which means they've touched it, or are actually touching it in front of the camera. So the mask has collected all the stuff coming out of their mouths and noses and they've now smeared it all over their hands. What's the point of that?

 

So we've been bullied by Trump into removing Huawei equipment from our communications infrastructure. It really doesn't matter whether you think that's a good thing or not, because the point is that our Government decided not to and have now been forced to change that decision. Although the Chinese government previously claimed it had nothing to do with Huawei, it now says it will act to protect its own interests, which presumably means trade sanctions.

Certainly under Xi Jinping, China has become a very aggressive and disruptive force in the world, what with colonisation and militarisation of the South China Sea, brutality towards Muslim minorities in China, reneging on the Hong Kong treaty and cyber attack on Australia, but a lot of Trump's antagonism towards it is motivated by commercial and trade considerations - "Bring American Jobs Home" etc.

This is the brave new world we will emerge into as we exit the EU. Great timing I must say.

 

Burnley v Wolves on the BBC tonight I think. Wolves are well worth watching.

 

Not sure what is best...Crowd sound on or off.

 

Neither plym. It's just plain naff without a crowd. The game was a bit of a yawn notdistant after all that buildup. The goal was a cracker but what a time to have to wait for something to happen. I wouldn't have given the penalty but the rules say any touch to the hand then it's a penalty so Ref didn't et it wrong. Could have given dangerous play because the defender did look like he was half protecting himself. Burnley got a reprieve they maybe didn't deserve. Still can't get that enthused though for the games.

 

I didn't watch this one: so many games at present, two or three per day. However, Adama Traore has been an absolute star at Wolves all season: a bull of a player down the left hand side. I was hoping he'd put on a show for you!

 

He played all match down the right wing.....certainly has that instant acceleration over a few yards to get his crosses in behind the defender.....allows other players to have space because of the extra defenders he draws to cover him.

 

Did I say left? How can you pick the wrong one out of two?

 

He was impressive with his pace. Would not like him playing against our lot who probably wouldn't pass him coming back the other way.

 

Thanks Mr S i can always count on you before your bedtime.

 

Thought the bears had got you BC....you've been laying low again......

 

Talking of Bears, we have 2 of them here in the valley, they just wander around not causing any trouble.
Mind you 3 cats have gone missing...

 

You couldn't send one of them over here could you BC. I have a problem with cats myself.

 

Another one in the same style is Michael Antonio, who scored 4 against Norwich on the week. TBH I'd rather watch players like that than the highly artistic types.

 

Oh, and a third one is Allan Saint-Maximin at Newcastle, if you get the chance while there are matches going out free. He wasn't fit against Spurs on Wednesday so whether he will pay again this season I don't know.

 

The..."Black People Matter" campaign is becoming sidelined by that other movement of the age...."Political Correctness".....and I think that at the end of the day not much will change.....accept the re-writing of history and in time the forgetting of the past and what really happened centuries ago.

It will not only be centuries ago that will be re-written....by that I refer to the tombstone of a dog that died over 70 years ago... whose name has already been "whitewashed"....(sorry not meant to be a pun) from the internet.... and only in one report can you find an hint to the black labrador's name......N*****.

I of course refer to Guy Gibsons dog who became a lucky mascot for Gibson's 617 Squadron known as the "Dambusters" who with their bouncing bombs destroyed those dams in Germany.

Just as the Squadron were preparing to take off for the raid....N***** got run down and killed by a car....and this was kept from the crews....who could have seen it as a bad omen just before such an important mission....ironically the code word for a successful raid that would be sent back to RAF Scampton was......yes you've guessed it ...N*****.

The dog was buried at RAF Scampton and a gravestone with his name on it was erected in his memory....it stood there for over seventy years.....until yesterday...because the dogs name has been seen as a racist slur and had to be erased from history.

The fury over Edward Colston's statue in Bristol we are all well aware of.....and the pulling down of it and throwing into the dock has been well documented....the council was going to replace it with something they saw as more appropriate.....in the meanwhile a figure of one of the "Black People Matter" protesters was made and illegally put on the plinth.....which the council removed 24 hours later....to the fury of the protesters and in particular Labour MP Diane Abbott....in case people hadn't noticed this replacement "Statue" had a raised fist (nothing wrong with that) which had a black glove on it....which could be seen as a symbol of the "Black Power" movement....which goes far further than "Black People Matter".

My thoughts.....I feel that there will an hardening of positions and instead of bringing people together...a division will take place and "Black People Matter" will be misused and the only winner will be those that push the claims of the "Political Correctness" brigade......and a dogs resting place being disturbed because of his name not being kosher for this ridicules age that we live in.....(Oh dear should I have used the word "Kosher"....that might upset the Labour Parties Corbyn sympathizers)......

 

I was lucky to have seen an aging Stanley Matthews playing for Blacpool at Scunthorpe in a cup match back in 1961 whilst I was doing my trade training during national service.....they had to kick his zimmer frame away from him to stop him even at his age....people still wanted to see the master of his trade whatever age he was......but they still lost to Scunthorpe (6-2)......who were a good side back then

 

I just can't get into watching football on TV at the minute. All these matches being shown free and I can't be bothered most of the time. I need to get back to my Saturday afternoon routine with football to engage the interest again. Sounded promising with the latest announcements.

 

You just don't quite get it do you plym. It is not politically correct to object to the use of that word even if it was the name of a famous dog. Just ask yourself why he called his dog that. If the labrador had been a white dog or a golden colour would he have used that name? No he wouldn't so you have to wonder why he did and the obvious answer is it was a black dog. The fact that this was 1940 something is no excuse just because people thought it was ok then. Just because the man led a flight of planes into a dangerous mission does not make it any less racist.

The one thing that the Black Lives Matter movement is wrong in is that you cannot force racism out of any society. Governments can legislate all they want to and it may stop people from writing things or saying it out loud but it does not make it go away. It's people's attitude towards it that needs to change and genuinely not just in lip service. It is also true that you cannot change history or re-write it just because you don't like it anymore. It needs to be said that slavery was there, some countries grew rich on the back of it but also that Africans also played their part in keeping it going for their own gain. It's not the only bad thing in history however and there are loads of examples of the crimes of man unto man and many of which were perpetrated by their own kind. You can't make any of it go away and you can't make amends for it either. It's too late once it's done and the secret is to try to ensure it doesn't happen now although slavery still exists as we know but in a slightly different form than a cotton farm.

I can never get my head around the concept of disliking or even hating a colour or a nationality. If I have a dislike it is for an individual not where they come from. Some people are complete prats so to dislike them is a reasonable feeling. Some people seem to do as they please without regard for anyone else or their property. Nothing wrong with disliking that either. But, unless society changes it's attitude towards others then it is never going to go away with or without rules. That applies to all of us wherever we come from and whatever religious following we have. Don't know about you but I've met all kinds in my lifetime and from all manner of places. Most have been fine to meet.