Stu

Dunno if anyone listens to the Autosport podcast but some incredible stuff from their F1 editor. Seemingly while he was sleeping, law enforcement battered his door down and demanded to know if he had illegal fire arms. Said he was not the only person this has happened to and is even aware of it happening to drivers.

Fully expected articles about how Mackay has been hard done by (despite County only staying up because Thistle imploded), and Holt is obviously a good pal, but even so that article is absolutely wild

Authorities calling bullshit on Dr Jo's excuse for using a car and then claiming a trophy after finishing third: www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/15/leading-ultra-marathon-runner-joasia-zakrzewski-banned-after-using-car-in-a-50-mile-race-athletics Brampton to Carlisle race for me on Sunday, last race of the year then into marathon training proper after Christmas.

For the most part the reaction to yesterday seems to be fairly measured and reasonable, aside from a few fannies on Twitter as usual. We didn't deserve to beat St Johnstone 4-0, it was a bit of a freak result, and I'm willing to put yesterday down to the same (although we definitely deserved the nil). I remember years ago we beat Ross County 4-0 one week then promptly lost at Dens by the same scoreline the following week. These things happen. Robinson's interview on Wednesday about it being the best performance of the season struck me as one of those occasions where the manager says one thing in public and another in private - and after defending them once he wasn't doing it again yesterday, not even using the illness as an excuse. Hopefully the break does us good and allows us to get some players back to fitness.

Could see this coming as soon as Hibs lost the semi-final on Saturday! Improved a bit towards half-time but nowhere near good enough. Poor mistake from Gogic for the goal.

Correct. What's next week's challenge? Roasting a chicken in 20 minutes. Right person booted out. Final will surely be Dan, Josh and Tasha. Can't believe Josh only has one star baker - maybe his love of rugby is counting against him. Also, with my pedantic hat on, am I the only one annoyed next week is called the quarter-finals?

Alonso warning of "consequences" over the rumours this week. Tremble tremble, wee man.

Be a shame if Alonso leaves Aston Martin as we can't be far away from him describing his latest non-descript drive to 12th place as the greatest race of his career. Still, we have at least had a return to him whining about the nasty TV man being selective with which radio messages he plays, despite being more than happy to use that as a way to spout sycophantic nonsense about the boss' idiot son earlier in the season.

Thumping the bottom side 4-0 at home is not the St Mirren Way. Robinson must go… … and renew his passport. At this rate, he’s gonna need it.

Yeah it's a shock to say the least. I reckoned Small coming in or Bolton starting and one of him and Fraser playing RWB. At a push McMenamin moving back - Flynn never crossed my mind. And Clark making his first appearance of the season (according to the BBC). Wonderful.

A nice throwback to the 1990s when I'd get up for school on a Monday morning and my dad would tell me who'd been disqualified from the previous day's race.

Did Penrith Rotary 10k today - hill at the start of each lap was great "fun": https://www.strava.com/activities/10085634527

Nonsense that no one was booted out last night. Previously, when someone has been ill their previous performances hadn't been great and they'd have been in danger of going home. Tasha had won two star bakers on the bounce and was clearly Hollywood's home - she'd only have been a contender to leave if she'd decided to use tofu instead of chocolate.

Ha! Proving my point that I don't bother checking my work

Will try to answer a few things without getting myself into trouble with my bosses! You would think it is done a matter of course, but getting journalists to check their work is a pain in the arse. The plea to check your copy and proof your work is probably the most repeated words from my editors over the years - and not just directed at me. That was long before we had to worry about firing stuff online with any great urgency so it's not a new phenomenon, and you can imagine between the internet and the fact newsrooms are even more poorly staffed than before means stuff is checked even less than before. I very, very rarely right only for the web but I think the majority of the time stuff going straight to web will only be checked by the person that wrote it without anyone else seeing it - if it's checked at all. That's a combination of the issue I started off with (we don't want/like to read our own stuff) and we just don't have the time. That's why there's stuff on this thread which I put down to typos and don't really see as terrible journalism, rather than the nonsense like the Dundee postponement mistakes from the weekend. Would definitely agree with the BBC point. Everyone else is out for clicks to drive ad revenue, which isn't an issue the BBC has so they should be able to take a few minutes to check that. However, their bosses are probably putting themselves under as much pressure as the rest of us even though they are ridiculously well resourced - I know someone who is doing shifts there to provide holiday cover. In more than 15 years in my job I can't remember when we ever had someone (other than the odd work experience person who wasn't paid) to come in while folk were on holiday. As for the first part of your post...

Would guess it's in the constitution that votes at an SGM have to be in person/by proxy rather than an online vote, although bit ironic considering SMiSA put forward a candidate for director who'll presumably be doing a lot of his work virtually given where he lives. Not bothered either way on that issue but should at least have been included with the spiel they sent out about him. Is there a minimum turnout required at the SGM? Would be a bit ridiculous if the motion carries because the only ones who turn up are Alan Wardrop's friends (and that's from someone who only thinks he should have been banned for claiming to The Herald folk call him Mr St Mirren rather than anything else). I'm assuming that it only needs 5% of members to call an SGM is in the constitution so no issue with SMiSA over that one, however a few things have started cropping up that have me considering my membership again. There were a few things I didn't particularly like in the last update (marriage of convenience etc), I don't like the identity of the person they chose as their media consultant and this bit on Twitter regarding the loan for the executive boxes sits uncomfortably with me - partly because it wasn't included in the original email about the vote. For clarity I'm not the Stuart being referenced, that's total coincidence!

William Storey of Rich Energy/Haas fame trying to buy Reading FC. That'll go well.

No problems flying to or from Canada - plane was late both ways but that was the airline's fault. FastPark was great, checked in and through security no problem and no delays at customs or baggage this morning. Amazed at how thick people seem to act in airports and on planes but that's a rant for another day.

I see Beverley Turner, who was part of ITV’s F1 coverage back in the day, now earns a living talking pish on GBNews and has been defending Russell Brand. Between her and Jake “High Performance” Humphrey, it would appear Grand Prix car exhaust fumes can melt brain cells.

Which one of you lot didn't keep your fingers crossed? https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/lee-looking-more-likely-to-impact-maritimes-1.6962968 Hurricane will hit Sunday. We're due to fly into Nova Scotia via Toronto on Monday. Can't see a problem with the first flight but who knows after that - will depend what hasn't been blown away.

Really looking forward to flying out of Edinburgh on Monday morning after reading the last few pages.

I have just signed up for Manchester Marathon in April. Anyone else done it?

Think Gus won a couple of manager of the month awards just before we left Love Street, can't think of one since then when we've been in the top flight. Last player of the month? I vaguely remember Stephen McPhee maybe winning the young player of the month award (is that award even still a thing?), not sure of anyone since then.

Strain and Baccus in the Australia squad again.

Learning the lessons of last week, combined with the field being less than a tenth the size so absolutely no congestion, resulted in a time of 41.40 (41.37 chip time) - only time I’ve been quicker on a 10k was the same race in 2017 when I got under 41 minutes. Definitely a lot happier than last week and justifies my decision to miss the Saints game later, regardless of how we do.