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Staggered that the "reward" Nicola Sturgeon promised us off the back of the longer lockdown in summer has turned out to be a household visiting ban, which became a three week 'circuit breaker' lockdown, which then became a levels system with tight restrictions, and now a three week lockdown to maybe be able to eat a meal with our parents on one day, and people are happy with this.

..

About ten years ago, me and a mate caught up for a few pints in Middlesbrough town centre. He’d been working away for a few years, so we thought it would be pleasant to shoot the shit for the first time in ages, and generally check in to see how each other was doing. And that was exactly what happened - good few pints in some of Middesbrough’s finest pubs and a few laughs along the way. It was around half elevenish at night and my mate was a little boozy, and we were crossing Linthorpe Road to get to a final pub and then order a taxi home. As we were crossing the road, my slightly inebriated friend stumbled slightly and I quickly put my arm around his shoulder to make sure it wasn’t a more catastrophic/ hilarious spill. As he regained his balance, we heard some uproarious laughing from the side of the road we had just crossed, followed by a broad Middlesbrough accent declaring “fuckin’ hell, take a look at those batty boys!” We both shook our heads in a ‘just ignore them’ type of way, and proceeded to cross the road. It was when we took another look back we noticed that we were being followed by a group of young adults - about 5 lads and 3 girls - all who looked to be around 18/ 19 years old. They weren’t hanging around and then started to get their mobile phones out - taking pictures of us as they began to throw their McDonald’s chips at us. I wasn’t worried about this - but I could tell my mate was feeling a bit of trepidation about this brewing situation. I was cool, calm and collected as I said: “Alright guys, you’ve had your fun now, let’s just go our separate ways now.” (Or words to that effect.) This only seemed to rile up the guy who considered himself to be the head honcho. He was considerably shorter than me, but he was stupid enough to try and get as close to me as he could, saying “f**k you. Now you and your mate are going to give us your phones and all your money, or we will f**k you up.” He took dramatic pauses between the last three words in an attempt to intimidate us. I looked at my mate again, he was still looking worried. I knew it was up to me to deal with this situation, my first instinct was to try and defuse it. “Just leave us be, mate. We’ve got no money and our phones are shit. It’s not worth getting in trouble for.” I implored to the lad, who was starting to get worked up now. It didn’t work, though. And he tried to ram his head in my chest, his next best move to a straight headbutt considering that he was a lot shorter than me. I stumbled back a bit, as I wasn’t on my toes nor expecting the young hoodlum to attack. His little posse started laughing, and I then said “big mistake, kid.” It was at this point the lad took his top off and started bouncing round like a boxer - I could tell that he had clearly had some form of training. I said to myself that keeping cool was the key to prevailing in this situation - the lad was far too emotional to keep his head on straight. His friends were cheering him on: “Go on, Joey lad!” and “Do him in, Joe” I heard them yelling. This clearly spurred him on as he went on the offense immediately. Thankfully for me, his punches were telegraphed from a mile away, and with some simple footwork and blocks I was easily blocking the kid’s assaults. This went on for a few minutes and the young chav was getting nowhere close to me, and I could tell he was starting to get tired. My relaxed, easy jabs were finding the target and he had yet to lay a glove on me. I put my hands down and said “we can just end this now, kid, no harm done.” However, he was having none of this, clearly wanting to impress the female members of his primitive tribe. With my hands still down, he threw an uppercut targeted at my jaw. I ducked to my left, and when he was stumbling forward after the force of his final punch, my right hand connects with his body and he starts to crumple towards the floor. Even worse for him, my instincts have taken over and my left hand is already moving to clock him square in the face as he continues his fast descent to the cold, hard pavement. He lands in an awkward heap - and commotion erupts amongst their group whilst my mate shouts: “Shot, fella!” A few of the other lads start posturing towards me, but I know that even they are not that stupid after witnessing the brutal knockout. I tell them that they better call an ambulance if they want to save the few brain cells the kid had, and then me and my mate continued to walk towards the pub we were heading to initially. We were disrupted again about ten seconds later, though. A Mercedes Benz with blacked out windows pulled up beside us. The window came down to unveil some bald guy wearing a leather jacket and mirrored sunglasses. He said “Good hands, kidda. If you ever consider going pro, keep me in consideration will ya?” as he handed me a business card declaring that he was a pro boxing agent. I said I would, then me and my mate went into the pub and had our final drink of the evening.

I would really like to never play Israel again.

Nah its political pointscoring pish from both SG and Westminster. Please suffer for another month so as you can see your loved ones over the festive period. They know people will do what they want at Xmas anyway so it makes it look like they're in control and saving Christmas for everyone. The thickos will lap it up as per. Meanwhile business crumble in tier 4 despite being nowhere near tier 4 locations. Mental health continues to suffer but alas the schools stay open The science yet again being ignored when it suits but you can bet when tighter restrictions are needed the much vaunted science comes to the fore. Its all contrary pish and quite frankly insulting to anyone with half a brain. Just be honest ffs.

They seethe on here instead

There's some folk on here who seem to have the emotional maturity of a toddler given the wild over reactions tonight and on Thursday. Some folk had us in the quarter finals of the Euros Thursday night and some folk have us getting absolutely pumped in every game now. Tonight was disappointing and fairly poor, but we've still a long way to go and plenty of time to sort things. Calm it down.

Fraction odds >>> decimal odds.

If we actually come away from scientific advice to facilitate Christmas, it might just be the dumbest decision to date in this entire pandemic. Saying that, I know plenty of normally reasonable people who have already declared they'll ignore Christmas restrictions, just because it's Christmas. I despair.

There's just no real narrative thread. As someone said after the first episode it was like... Narrator: "This is the Hearts treatment room. Defender Craig Halkett has a sore leg." Craig Halkett: "I've got a sore leg." *cut to hospitality* Typically in these types of programmes you'll get scenes like that, but they'll link through to the end. So, for example... Episode One: You find out all about young goalkeeper Harry Stone who wants to be a doctor if he doesn't make it. Episode Two: Harry Stone is called up to train with the first team but has to withdraw through injury, potentially ending his season. Episode Three: Injuries to the other goalkeepers mean a half-fit Harry Stone is thrown in at the deep-end in a relegation clincher. Now, that third event obviously didn't happen, and there's no way for anyone to know what will happen when they start filming a series like this. But that's why they go and speak to as many people as possible, get as much footage as possible, and then build narratives with the benefit of hindsight. This programme doesn't do that, instead it feels like we're getting 30 seconds with every single person the producers happened to bump into. I just don't know who the intended audience is. Some of the voiceover is pitched at such a level it might be for children who've never seen football before. "The transfer window is an opportunity for Hearts to buy and sell players" stuck with me for some reason. And that goes back to my previous post. I think they wanted to make a nice, safe "behind the scenes" football documentary that stayed away from all the interesting stuff and just focused on the girls who sell the 50/50, but they found themselves in the middle of a total shitstorm without the remit or the desire to cover it properly.

I don't think you will ever have to worry about being a parent. This is probably a good thing.

I'd have loved Sainsbury's to have initially responded with:- "We are not apologising for our advert because we are not horrible racists. If our advert means 'certain' people won't shop in our stores then so be it. Come shop at Sainsbury's. We don't have the lowest prices but racists refuse to shop here, so swings and roundabouts really" The seethe would be incredible.

Do you feel like the onset of such a momentous season was a bit of a hindrance for the filmmakers? Like they'd have been happier just filming... St Johnstone a few of seasons ago. Nice mid-table finish, some characters around the club to interview, a few wee vox pops out in Perth town centre.

Socially distanced christenings.

73% approval for yesterday's measures suggests your in the Stevie Wonder camp yourself ! Despite your stance the vast majority approve of the way it's being handled and both Sturgeons approval ratings, Indy support and SNP voting intentions continue to soar. That you can't see / appreciate that is no in the slightest surprising. I don't agree with every decision made, virtually no one does but the vast majority clearly do approve with the overall approach and reaction. You have so far disagreed with every single iota of advice and regulation. But to think that the majority see it your way is Stevie Wonder X 10.

Party Membership stood at less than 200,000 in 2015. In April this year, membership stood at 552, 000. How many of those joined because of Sir Keir Starmer? Whether it was the youth who wanted to be part of something, or those, like me, rejoining because there was finally a left-wing leadership candidate to vote for, one thing we didn't want was a return to Blair's Third way scam - that <200k figure tells its own story. Did we all sign up - or re-sign - because we saw a way to legitimise our Nazi viewpoint? Don't be fucking ridiculous. Corbyn was never going to be everyone's cup of tea, but the Manifesto both in 2017 and 2019 blew one argument out of the water - for the first time in a generation, "they're all the bloody same" was demonstrable bullshit - and call me old-fashioned, but the manifesto is what should influence votes, not the Mail and Scum. A year down the line, the leaders of the two traditional opposition parties are Knights of the Realm, and the Government is like an Etonian reunion. You had a choice, Britain, and you royally fúcked it - all because you think Rachel Riley and David fúcking Baddiel have got anything, any fucking thing, to contribute to the debate. And don't get me started on Hodge or Blair's lad's ex-girlfriend. I don't know any Jews - or at least, I don't know anyone who has made their faith known to me. Outside of the sky-fairy nonsense where they gain the same level of disdain from me as Muslims or Christians, I've got no axe to grind one way or the other. But when B-list celebrities and Right-wing niche newspapers tell me I'm an anti-semite because I think killing innocent civilians is a wee bit inappropriate, they can go fúck themselves. I believe in an inclusive, respectful society where everyone has their rights respected. I do not believe in a society where minorities can scream "oppression!" and have their complaint accepted without proper scrutiny, because they have the right connections.

There is undoubtedly a conversation to be had at the next meeting to review the season so far, and what it looks like going forward. I think most clubs were prepared to give the season a chance with the hope that dressing room access and fans would be allowed by the end of the year. If no fans, then at least some prospect of Govt support. It was the right thing to do IMO. We've made progress on the first point ie dressing room access (but still no showers), on the second point of fans it has been clarified that unless your area is Level 0 or 1 there wont be any however some areas are at Level 3 with some having moved to Level 4 for at least three weeks. On Govt monetary support, clubs have heard very little. There wont be fans this year. Will there be Govt support? it doesn't seem like it, certainly not imminently. It does seem wrong somehow that clubs at our level can travel here, there and everywhere, from Level 2 to Level 4 areas whilst people are being asked to largely stay at home and not travel in Level 3 and 4 areas. Some big decisions to be made.

f**k the moral high ground we should use every dirty trick in the book as they absolutely will, Last time they were quite happy to bully pensioners and EU citizens and that was when the polls were in their favour. Westminster certainly won’t give us our independence and they’ll do everything they can to prevent it.

Indeed. She's a natural. I sometimes tweet her things like "You looked great tonight " and "Haha I like football too xx" She never replies.

As a teacher, I can assure you there is much more to it than that, frankly cynical view. Online learning ticks the box as far as keeping kids busy goes but the effect on them is much deeper than that. I know the term "mental health" has become a bit of a watch word through this crisis but for our young people it really is a concern. Where I am, we have middle school and secondary students online learning at the moment and although we are covering the curriculum, the young people are visibly suffering. Not mixing or seeing their pals is hellish for them. School is more than just lessons, it's essential during our formative years. Although teaching and auxiliary staff and the kids themselves are at risk, we would rather have the weans at school than sitting at the kitchen table or in their bedroom glumly. ETA- All of this is caveated with the agreement that schools must be huge breeding sites for the virus.

Brilliant contribution

My two highlights from episode two: Despite having five (FIVE) shots, Hearts couldn't score in the derby. Liam Boyce has been to a gym before. This is an absolutely dreadful programme quite simply because it is completely boring.

12 week scan this morning. All good and healthy so far. Was half expecting to turn up and there be nothing in there! Think this is actually happening.

Who cares if they sent a Hindu, a Muslim or a Klingon. There handling of this whole debacle has been shambolic that's what should be remembered. Now both them and the SG are desperate to save one day for the kudos at the expense of everything else. Embarrassing. By the way religion is for absolute moon howlers.

"The only people who can work from home is our accountants" might be the best take of a long and winding thread.

Jimmy Bell likes his tea hot was my Highlight, staunch tea drinker.

Criminal not to win that group but we're lacking a goalscorer and some depth. Can't blame the manager for that. Too many poor decisions with the final ball. A harsh lesson learned. We're miles better than we were this time last year. Loads calling for Clarke to get punted on twitter. Why I detest social media right there.

Absolute pisser to fail to win the group from the position we were in, with the worst performance since Czechia away. Everyone would have taken going through v Serbia then losing the next two games if given the choice, but it didn't have to be one or the other. We were gifted this group through the Czech's bad luck and still managed to throw it away. Winning these games would have put us in a tremendous position for both 2022 & 2024, we had a chance here to make ourselves a pot two side and be in a great position for tournaments to come. It's a wake up call about how good we actually are after the euphoria of Thursday, and how much work we have to do to compete at the tournament. The system is a work in progress, but we've had three objectively bad results which would have killed us in qualifying groups with it, the kind of results which did kill us in every qualifying group for the last 20 years. That needs to stop if we're going to get through a World Cup group, and we've thrown away the Nations League route that gives us a second chance if we do have those f**k up in a group over the last four days.

He was the same in the first half in Belgrade, it just got forgotten because of what followed.

2001 v Belgium (H) - Billy Dodds (2) 2001 v San Marino (H) - Colin Hendry (2) 2002 v Canada (H) - Stevie Crawford (2) 2005 v Norway (A) - Kenny Miller (2) 2006 v Bulgaria (N) - Chris Burke (2), Kris Boyd (2) 2006 v Faroes (H) - Kris Boyd (2) 2012 v Luxembourg (A) - Jordan Rhodes (2) 2015 v Gibraltar (H) - Steven Fletcher (3), Shaun Maloney (2) 2015 v Gibraltar (A) - Steven Fletcher (3) 2016 v Malta (A) - Robert Snodgrass (3) 2017 v England (H) - Leigh Griffiths (2) 2018 v Albania (A) - James Forrest (2) 2018 v Israel (H) - James Forrest (3) 2019 v San Marino (H) - John McGinn (3) 2019 v Kazakhstan (H) - John McGinn (2)

Incredible to think with patter like this that you're not in primary school tbh

https://greens.scot/news/scottish-labour-standing-in-the-way-of-scotland This is from today, I think it’s pretty clear where the Greens stand on independence. To be honest, if Andy Wightman isn’t enough for you to vote Green then I don’t think we have anything further to discuss.

Goalkeeper Campbell Forsyth, who sadly left us at the weekend aged 86, jogs alongside matchwinner Alan Gilzean on a lap of honour following his international debut, a 1-0 victory over England at Hampden in 1964. Campbell would go on to pick up a league championship medal with Kilmarnock the following season, although injury ruled him out of the title decider at Tynecastle. Unfortunately injury had also robbed him of a Scottish Cup medal with St Mirren in 1959. In a bizarre bit of trivia he would go on to concede the only goal Peter Shilton scored in his long career, playing for Southampton against Leicester City in 1967.

Koko who is now 2.5 years old. Love Staffies. Some of the most affectionate dogs around.

I've some bad news for you...

Renton delighted with his new sofa:

Didn't realise that philpy was your stepson tbh. What is it about a global pandemic anyway that compels so many people to make bullshit insider takes based on a place of work? The 'Falkirk's going into lockdown coz ma wife works at the hospital' exchange was even more ludicrous from start to finish.

St Johnstone match statistics. Thank you.

George Foulkes was it?

A pressure group made up of parents who advocated in the summer for schools to return full-time with no blended learning that has now morphed into a group full of anti-science sceptics who believe that children are immune to Covid and are not transmitters so can't pass it on to adults.

It's unbelievable that care home management and employees who are so seething about this employee's conduct are also going to overlook their own statutory requirement to report this misconduct and therefore put *their own* heads on the block if it comes out, absolutely. Particularly as our source didn't actually mention any of these rather important details in his sweetie wummin account in the first place. It hardly takes Columbo to work out that we're just dealing with a standard, ten a penny workplace gobshite then. Just like all the hospital staff and bin lorry workers who think that the SG runs their lockdown announcements past them every week, only to be proven wrong with their bullshit claims every single time.

The poster you’re responding to has a history of ‘did ye aye’ tales that clearly didn’t happen. Just add this to the list. In other news, John Swinney on BBC Scotland radio this morning again emphasising that schools are safe (repeated it several times). The seethe from a lot of teachers phoning in to say how blatantly unsafe it was and how they were desperate for schools to close was good though, hopefully enough will group together to force some sort of action on it. Feel really sorry for school staff who are being hung out to dry (and potentially die) by the government.

Sainsbury's seem to have upset the racists. Pleasing. https://metro.co.uk/2020/11/17/sainsburys-defends-christmas-ad-as-shoppers-threaten-to-boycott-store-13606542/

If your stepson is aware then he would be duty bound as a SSSC-registered worker to notify the Care home bosses about the night out, and to report that to SSSC if the employers don't. The situation in care homes has been horrific and reckless action like that has to be dealt with appropriately. If he knows, but doesn't do anything, then he's almost as bad.

I call BS on this. Care home would have had to notify the Care Inspectorate and SSSC of any staff member testing positive, if recklessness behaviour is determined on the part of the employee then SSSC would remove that worker's registration and they would no longer work in social care. Decision gets taken out of the hands of the care home in that instance, assuming due process is followed in terms of COVID notifications.

Millions of peoples Xmas ruined coz they are being forced off their work, while 48 guys go down the local park ( or travel across the country ) for a game of football coz they are "professional" Madness.....all while only 20 mourners are allowed to bury their loved ones.

“I was today years old when I found out....” f**k. Off.

Smoking a dater.