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Whatever you think about the best way to deal with the obesity crisis, I’m sure we can all agree that "stay at home, strictly only one piece of exercise allowed a day, going to the supermarket may kill your granny, but here’s all the takeaway available at the tip of your fingers - happy lockdown!" might be some of the worst public health advice in recorded history. As soon as we began to understand that outdoor transmission was very low risk, promoting exercise should’ve been the very first thing the UK + Scot gov did. Instead they put the fear of god into people and, to the surprise of absolutely fucking no c**t, they’ve stayed on their sofa and possibly widened the parameters of Britain’s obesity crisis.

Reduce working hours and increase the minimum wage for a start. There's no reason we should be working longer than a 30 hour week at this point in history.

In all seriousness, you did superbly well to type that through floods of tears, so fair fucks for that. [emoji23]

I would absolutely love to be able to understand the thought process whereby you can decide that a woman who joined and has been a member of the Scottish National Party in 1986 - a full 28 years before becoming First Minister - that has been a proponent of Scottish Independence for at least 34 years, who was one of the most prominent members of the campaign team in 2014, and who has support for Scottish Independence at an all time high, isn't actually interested in Independence. Not sure "Galaxy brain" quite covers that. The Yes Da's are some laugh.

I always hate political whataboutery but it really is remarkable that in this week of all weeks, the Scottish Conservatives are going tonto about someone breaking the ministerial code and losing money on legal challenges: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/04/priti-patel-reaches-six-figure-settlement-with-ex-home-office-chief-philip-rutnam Can we expect UK Government legal advice to be released? How long has it been since they knew they couldn’t win the case? Will Douglas Ross lodge a vote of No Confidence in the Home Secretary? When did Boris Johnson find out about these allegations?

I know we talk a lot about cigars and all that at this point and good for us, but on a serious note, it's still not really sinking in just how impressive and downright miraculous this vaccine creation and rollout has been so far, think it won't really hit me properly until a good few years down the line. Every previous thing that we (the people on the street not the eggheads) typically thought possible regarding timeframes has been ripped up and completely rewritten. God bless the nerds.

The SPFL don't impose anything on us. They're literally letting us sort it out and if we can't sort it out we will play what we originally agreed. Please god for my own sanity, start to understand how things work.

Quite. In fact I'll be taking this banner along with me to Easter Road for the first game we're allowed back.

Daily Infections per 100K in 7 days Update: A little late as the reporting portals have been down all day. A simply brilliant day as we drop below 4,000 infections in Scotland and the infectivity rate plunges to 3.6%. We are down to 72.2 cases per 100K. We are now down 76.08% since 4th January. Falkirk again so close to dropping a place as it's neighbour Clackmannanshire surges. Alva the new most dangerous destination in Scotland Both the posh and manky ends of Dunbartonshire are todays trend setters. The UK figures are a 2 day update due to the lateness of my reporting. They are truly amazing drops down double digits. Scotland peaked at 301.9 for figures 29th Dec to 4th Jan, Cases that day were 16,496 and test rate was 11.9% Total cases 7 days from 23rd Feb to 1st March are down from 4181 to 3944. The positive test rate goes from 3.8% to 3.6%. Cases per 100k goes from 76.5 to 72.2 down 5.62% Because I am so late the UK figures are last 48 hours. England 97.1 to 86.4 down 11.02% in last 48 hours. Wales 62.1 to 54.6 down 12.08% in last 48 hours , Northern Ireland 94.9 to 84.6 down 10.85% in last 48 hours. UK Average is now 94.9 to 84.4 down 11.06% in last 48 hours. In Europe (Above 2 Million Population) the Czech republic is still rising at 792, next worst is Serbia at 353. Hungary 304, Sweden 269, France 222, Italy 212. NHS FIGURES : Forth Valley 150.0 to 141.9 , Lanarkshire 107.1 to 101.5 , Greater Glasgow & Clyde 105.3 to 98.0 , Lothian 84.2 to 81.1, Ayrshire & Arran 64.7 to 63.9, Tayside 58.0 to 54.9, Fife 57.6 to 51.7, Highland 26.1 to 24.9, Grampian 25.1 to 24.4 ,Western Isles 33.7 to 22.5, D&G 29.6 to 22.2 , Borders 19.0 to 18.2 , Orkney 0.0 to 0.0 & Shetlands 0.0 to 0.0 Council progress in last 24 hours as follows. Click cases by neighbourhood to see the spread on the geographical map. https://public.tableau.com/profile/phs.covid.19#!/vizhome/COVID-19DailyDashboard_15960160643010/Overview Falkirk 161.0 to 143.6 Hamlets are still on hold but a great 10.81% drop Clackmannanshire 122.2 to 141.6 The new bad boys. Alva now most dangerous place in Scotland Stirling 146.5 to 139.1 West Lothian 125.1 to 121.2 Renfrewshire 121.7 to 114.5 North Lanarkshire 118.1 to 109.9 Glasgow City 114.0 to 106.0 Well done the major city with sustained drops now. Over 7% last 24 hours Sub 100 Club West Dunbartonshire 120.3 to 99.0 Astonishing 17.71% drop and joins sub 100 club Midlothian 95.2 to 96.3 South Lanarkshire 94.8 to 91.7 East Lothian 99.9 to 91.5 The worst performing council in February hopefully turned corner down 8.41% East Renfrewshire 76.4 to 82.7 East Ayrshire 80.3 to 78.7 NOW ALL BELOW SCOTTISH AVERAGE of 72.2 North Ayrshire 65.3 to 69.8 Dundee City 69.0 to 67.0 East Dunbartonshire 70.9 to 62.6 3rd great 10% plus day in a row. City Of Edinburgh 63.6 to 61.7 Inverclyde 52.7 to 52.7 Fife 57.6 to 51.7 Back in the game with a 10% drop Perth & Kinross 57.3 to 50.0 Brilliant 12.4% drop and North Inch drops down the charts. Angus 44.8 to 45.6 South Ayrshire 47.1 to 40.8 Another monster 13.38% drop. Cigars and Pints still in play Moray 37.6 to 36.5 Aberdeen City 27.6 to 28.9 Highlands 28.0 to 25.9 Western Isles 33.7 to 22.5 Dumfries & Galloway 29.6 to 22.2 Huge 25% drop Argyll & Bute 18.6 to 21.0 Scottish Borders 19.0 to 18.2 Aberdeenshire 18.8 to 16.1 Orkney Island 0.0 to 0.0 Shetland Islands 0.0 to 0.0

Its absolutely staggering that people can be so entrenched in their support for political parties that they would argue night was day just because people dare to criticise their wee view of the world.

Yea, nah, sorry on balance I think Greer is a positive to the parliament. He's a roaster but he winds up the right people and broadly has good politics.

Yes imagine letting the people who have been heavily influencing the government response to this pandemic which has been categorically fucking shite from the fucking get go annoy me. Imagine me having an issue with Leitch who thought we shouldnt worry about wearing masks and that it was a good idea to have an old firm game and lewis capaldi concerts when a new virus we knew nothing about was spreading. The same man who is gunning to get churches open back up as a priority yet folks can’t even meet their parents in the park for a coffee. Then yes also Devi, yes the same ‘make your own sunshine’ numpty making light of the significant mental health cost of this pandemic with utterly enraging shite like zero covid, when actual scientists and epidemiologists are saying there is no realistic chance of that. Yet they are absolutely lauded by the SNP fan boys, staggering. They absolutely are impinging on peoples rights and freedoms longer than necessary. I’ll qualify that by saying I am not asking for everything to be dropped right now, far from it, but we need a realisation that all the havering is unacceptable and we need to know the exact criteria they are looking at the lower and end restrictions, a government should be accountable and they are far from such right now. We have treatments that work and vaccines, when the most vulnerable are vaccinated then there is no justifiable excuse to keep these things in place, especially when the Scottish government seems to be actively adopting a ‘lets go harsher than England just to make it look like we’re more thorough’ approach. Anyone but the most dedicated of SNP supporters can see through the absolute fucking farce of the response to this pandemic. Promised ‘an adult conversation’ yet spoken to like a naughty toddler at every turn. Unable to justify why their very stringent measures are at odds with well for one wee example the scientific research that shows for example that its perfectly safe to meet up outside with social distancing observed. Ill qualify this by saying if a vaccine resistant variant emerges that will cause significant harm emerges then i fully support taking measures to deal with it. I dont oppose the first or indeed this lockdown, I simply disagree with the proposed length and extent of it, thats not an unreasonable position to take. But even remotely criticise the SNP on here and you get labelled a ‘tory’ and even a fascist. I think its reasonable to suggest even in the context of football that the SNP have got their approach to it in the pandemic absolutely wrong and should be clarifying very quickly just what their roadmap or conditions for a return to grounds will be. I am surprised that on a Scottish Football forum there are people who seemingly couldnt give a f**k about the harm a government who clearly dont really give a f**k about football is doing to the game.

This story came up yesterday in a variety of different places - the one I saw was in the Irish Examiner claiming that Dublin was basically finished and that Glasgow and Bilbao were both at risk. Given the very well placed sources, I think there's a lot of truth in it, and it is certainly not a BBC "anti govt scare story". UEFA will very clearly want to have games in front of fans, because it's better for absolutely everyone than the continued nonsense of behind closed doors football. These are large events which require tickets to be sold, and therefore host cities are being asked to provide a plan for getting fans in so that these logistics can be carried out reasonably. Various other governments across Europe, including those who are currently in a much worse state than us, appear to have no issues with making these plans. It's not about concrete absolute facts, but it's about saying "here's what we think we'll be doing". If the Scottish government are so risk-averse or blinkered that they can't even put forward a plan then that is absolutely a failure on their part and they deserve to be criticised for it.

You're a genuinely confused individual. The only consistent feature of your own worldview appears to be spite.

The fact the UK BBC news have barely mentioned it this morning suggests Nicola did alright.

Yes, astonishing that people are getting increasingly pissed off after three fucking months* of lockdown. Cases, hospitalisations, deaths all flying down. 30% of the UK's population has had at least one dose of the vaccine. Increasing evidence that the vaccines work being published. The good times are coming back soon. *three months minimum. Some have been living under harsher restrictions for longer.

The reactions to every rumour, speculation, social media post and press article appears to get more extreme by the day. Anything positive is lauded with cigars and anything negative gets the P&B equivalent of a pile on. All this whether the actual article generating the reaction is factually right, wrong or indifferent. The recent pattern has been one of the pile on only for everyone to pick themselves up off said pile one at a time, dust themselves down and then light up a cigar as the initial story turns out to be just that, a story. It must be the light getting brighter and bigger at the end of the tunnel effect.

Aye, UEFA are doing this to discredit the SNP government.

Shocked that the SNPs hatred of all things football is causing them to be viewed less favourably on *checks url* a Scottish football forum tbh.

As soon as I read the words "fatty prodders" this was the first thing that popped into my mind.

Preparing myself for the biggest minter in world history when Wales leave then we vote to stay.

Mark Drakeford really is a peculiar looking guy. He looks like an 80 year old woman.

“Better not achieve the primary political objective of my entire life in case I get voted out afterwards” I’m not convinced. Because it’s an absolutely fucking insane notion.

I fully accept that this is really important to some people but I'm sorry, I just couldn't care less to be quite honest.

*Clears cigar smoke out the road* 24 deaths of people who had tested positive for Covid have been registered in Scotland since yesterday. 500 new cases (2.5% tests), 726 people in hospital (-24 ), 69 patients in ICU (-1)

I've got more than enough on my plate.

No one is saying "The Scottish Government has fucked this" What we're saying is "If the Scottish Government f**k this, it will be unforgivable"

So restricting peoples right to freedom and movement is not a massive restriction? That’s an interesting point of view.

Banning 500ml plus sized cans and bottles of " energy drinks" would be a start. Number of kids never mind adults you see with a can of that calorie laden shit permanently glued to their hand is unbelievable.

Nobody seems terrified of pointing that out in this thread, in fact many people have gone far, far further than that and indulged in outright abuse towards overweight people.

Just a wee thought on the way in which this issue is belittled... This board is pretty understanding of the problems faced in poorer communities where people are generations deep into unemployment and social issues. There are clearly people who are generations deep into unhealthy eating habits so clearly, blaming them with no thought about re education is a bit silly. This is a huge re-education/cultural shift job. Sneering at fatties is borderline tory chat. Not in every individual case, but at a societal level, It absolutely is.

In the vast majority of cases, it is.

A lot of stress going on here. I'm not getting it. This is in no way angst inducing for me. Maybe it's because for a change, we're not looking over our shoulder for other teams to do us a favour. Maybe it's because the idea of potentially missing top six isn't anywhere near as troubling as finishing in the bottom two places. Either way, we're going to finish anywhere between 5th and 8th this season. Even in the worst case scenario, we've made progress.

As has been covered about a million times a narrative such as the one you harp on about is not conducive to people losing weight and should it be ever become a main stream opinion would contribute to enormous mental health pressure on the NHS and if their mental health is fucked they are hardly likely to be successful in tackling their weight. I would have expected some understanding from someone who didn't exactly take kindly to having your own looks put to public trial on here before you got them erased from the site.

Yes, imagine letting the policy advisers who have been wheeled out by the government at every turn annoy you. Hahahahaha should totally grow up and learn to read between the lines eh

Dictators in one party states are also famously keen on explaining themselves to inquiries.

Wait, so Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t want independence because she’s paid money to be FM? Is that it? Will she not be paid money to be FM after independence?

Anyone else just waiting on some GRA stuff for Yes da' bingo?

Will probably get bad rep for this but theres a massive problem in society health wise in general. Working long hours in stressful jobs Dealing with stress by over eating, eating shite and drinking excessively Being tired and worn down by the above so can't exercise Those three things create a perfect recipe for getting overweight. Then add on the ease to buy junk food and alcohol and how people make money out of it all. No wonder people find it difficult, they also see social media fitness people trying to sell them quick fix pills or fad diets and get depressed when they don't look like a supermodel or arnie overnight. That said the only real way to change is to see all this and fight against it. Find a motivation that's life long, not a fad. Small steps like drinking less, stopping crisps, only one takeaway. Go for a small walk. Over a year that makes a huge difference then push harder. To change things I would make all exercise subsidised, keep gyms, fives and classes dirt cheap. Stop building fast food shops everywhere. Ban just eat and delivery services. Educate kids to eat well and cook properly. Not just a few weeks of home economics. Get them almost brainwashed into eating healthily. Expand programs like jamie Oliver did. There's going to be a health crisis with this and doing the above is far cheaper than a massive nhs bill. Society needs to change though, going back to the first point. Work too long hours, eat shit, don't exercise and repeat = unhealthy

Good for them aye but hardly likely to keep younger folk on side considering the sacrifices and rules the majority have made and played by the last year. To be honest god help any younger folk who are to still following this pile of lazy, hastily-written, rushed through shite that we call restrictions. If people aren’t bending/breaking them even a little bit then I worry about their critical thought facilities.

My opinion is worth hee-haw but from what i heard from both sides i've taken the view that Salmond told NS, she said nowt at the time so as not to prejudice anything. It all kicked off and led to the legal action, that was only pulled when the advice was it wasn't in the pursuers interests - this led to cash being paid out and folks complaining that NS should have actually intervened. Meanwhile Salmond is in the cream puff because his old pal didn't brush it under the carpet and acted on Me Too to update an old policy to include former ministers which is why he ended up being huckled. She may have inadvertently breached one code by following another about not disclosing about being told (preventing potential prejudicing of anything). Slap on the wrists and an apology likliest outcome IMHO. Completely appreciate some will have completely opposite views but i just can't see what she had to gain from acting as they are claiming.

Mental that we are this far in to the pandemic and still there are folk who don't understand how transmission and isolating works.

Despite it being an 'open secret', Mitchell confirmed there a big part of what this farce was actually about. It's not a farce that the First Minister, or anyone else in parliament, face an enquiry, but the way this has been handled shows it to be an utter farce with an achingly obvious goal, and it looks like they've totally blown it when they might actually have had a chance to do some of the damage they were hoping to. They thought they were rolling the big guns on to the lawn, but when fired all that happened was that a wee flag saying 'Minter' popped out.

The Tories have unveiled their secret weapon in defence of the union; the random word generator.

So as it turns out, its all "may, possible, could" speculation from the BBC that UEFA are distancing themselves from but that on here some people are so entrenched in their opposition of certain political parties and personalities that advise them, that they're willing to pounce on any speculative fragment of news criticising them with big heads gone energy because it fits their wee view of the world.

I'm surprised the Scottish Government is more cautious than countries that are nowhere near the level of vaccines administered that Scotland is, yes. Quite frankly, the Scottish Governments caution is not warranted. Everyone is supposed to have a first jab by the end of May, so the overwhelming majority of people will have COVID antibodies by the start of the Euros. If Scotland loses the chance to see its own national team play games at home in the Euros, simply because the Scottish Government have bottled it, then it's unforgivable and the fallout will be enormous.

Amazed that UEFA aren't willing to accept 'data not dates!!!111!!!' as a credible answer from the SG in trying to organise their own tournament, if only the dentist could take a week off Off the Ball and jet out to Switzerland to persuade them.