ariotofmyown

Always backed Southgate. I never understood why people thought he was a bad manager. 

I'm presuming some may have seeing as he was called everything from a yes-man to tactically naive prior to the Euros.
When I lived in t he US I didn't watch much Premiership and very few England games so I really didn't have much of an opinion and was on the fence.
But I was worried that he'd taken Boro down and not managed/coached at this level, but I thought the last WC looked promising.
Then I thought the open letter he wrote prior to the start of the tournament was utterly brilliant.
Of course that didn't mean he'd do well here, but it did show a real awareness of stuff other than the football, most importantly his players.
Then when I have seen interviews with other people who have known him from way back and who have talked about his approach to every level of the England organisation in terms of making it inclusive whilst giving autonomy for people to do what they do best, my admiration shot up.
That is how you lead rather than just manage.
He's also incredibly gutsy and not at all swayed by the media and fans clamouring.
Sir Alf was like that with Hurst over Greaves. He stuck to what he thought was the best thing to do even when millions disagreed.
To bring Grealish on and then take him off again required gonads of biblical proportions.
I also love that this team is almost egoless in an era where that is so unusual. That's not an accident.
So I've gone from ambivalence to thinking I don't care what happens today, I'll still be glad we have him going into the World Cup and I think this team will be a real force for years to come.
Anybody else changed their mind?
More importantly, anybody else still not impressed?

Hope you remember some of it!

Parents have really got into footie in the last year or so. Were never fans of it before. Same with sis in law and neice. Watched all the England euro games.

Well I hope the footballing gods work in your favour. ?

When originally buying the tickets it was just to experience a final at Wembley.
Never really thought /believed  England would make the final! 

It’s coming home!!!!!!!! ???

UEFA didn’t think the laser pen and booing was all that bad. 
We got worse for doing our accounts a different way to the rest.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57788267

England coach is scheduled to leave St. George’s park about 4pm & through Burton. People heading down to wave them on. 

That will be very comforting to someone worried about an older parent with lung cancer.
A colleague knows someone in hospital with Covid. Had two jabs but also has underlying health issues. May I forward your post on so they know it's all being exaggerated for reasons you have still never been able to reveal.

Maybe cos the 37bn figure was bought up by Corbyn as per the fact link check I posted earlier;
https://fullfact.org/health/test-trace-march-2021/
and another one here;
https://fullfact.org/online/37bn-test-trace-spending/
“...if £37 billion can be found to pay Serco for a failed track and trace system, the money must be available to pay NHS staff properly.”
JEREMY CORBYN MP, 8 MARCH 2021.
 
Also according to the Fact Check link;
 
 
Budget vs cost
Finally, much talk in recent weeks has revolved around the £37 billion earmarked for Test and Trace.
This comprises £22 billion in 2020/21 and a further £15 billion in 2021/22.
However, this should be understood as the budget for Test and Trace, not how much has been spent so far on Test and Trace. 
Again, we don’t have up-to-date figures on this. When the NAO reported on the programme in late 2020, it noted that, as of October 2020, Test and Trace had spent £4 billion despite budgeting to have spent £6 billion.
It noted that the largest underspend was related to laboratories, machines and mass testing.  
Earlier this year, senior health official David Williams told the Public Accounts Committee that the spend to November was £5.7 billion and that it expected that the eventual spend for Test and Trace in 2020/21 would be in the “low 20s, or maybe the very high teens.” He added that testing “continues to be the principal driver of cost.”
 
But lets not get facts get in the way of a good story ?  And I can pretty much guarantee that despite evidence to the contrary 37bn will continue to be thrown around in the thread as stick to beat the Tories with.  We have more than enough actual things to criticise them for without falling for media distortions.

37BN, is a lot entire NHS budget pre Covid was c. 150BN.
It thats enough context. It would cover the club's debt, buy back the stadium, get us 2 a couple of decent wingers. Not sure about the plaza though.
 

Would probably just have been easier to admit that you'd repeated something that has been proven to be complete nonsense?

Archied if you have lung cancer you are already very ill, you really really do not want to get covid. You should take every possible measure to avoid it regardless of the fact you know nobody that has been seriously ill within your circle. 
 
More than 300 thousand people a week are testing positive and that figure is still rising. We are also trying to achieve herd immunity. It is extremely likely that anyone who is not shielding will contract covid at some point if they haven’t already. We should personally take every possible measure to protect those that need protecting. 
 
I understand your annoyance with the general government message of fear.

However replying to someone who is quite obviously extremely concerned for their clinically vulnerable family member in the way you did was in my opinion done in poor taste.
I mean you could of posted that message anytime to anyone but you chose to directly reply to the one person suffering from lung cancer. 

Erm my mistake ,, your right ,how could I have possibly picked up from the antics of the last 1 and a half years that we are all possible killers and everyone is at high risk of death rather than a balanced view that an elderly person with co morbidity s is at high risk whilst the vast vast vast majority of people ( around 99 percentage? ) will get minor or no symptoms, explains the massive ad campaign 
explain the vids that were put out to us at the very start of Chinese people falling flat on their faces in the street being surrounded and picked up by people in hazmat suits ,, phoney garbage which is nothing like the virus we have seen 
we are now being prepped for the FOURTH WAVE ( third over ?) and yet I still do not know a single person who has died from or been seriously ill covid and neither do the fairly large circle of our friends and workmates ,,,, that does not mean there’s no virus or that said virus doesn’t kill some but it certainly doesn’t reflect the virus being pumped out day after day 

EFL charge sheet meeting.

I am not in principle against this suspended sanction, and it just serves as a reminder to ensure we don't let it happen again.
However, I fail to see how it is fair for us to be deducted three points for a second breach, when Sheffield Wednesday have not been deducted any points for four consecutive breaches. Where is the consistency in that? 
I don't want to see SW being deducted points either, but this does seem to me like Derby being treated more harshly than another club.

That is the choice we have. Never wear a mask again after a week on Monday, or have one stapled to your face for eternity. 

Would you go and visit an elderly relative if you had a bad cold or the flu?
Ever since I was young I knew it was common sense not to be near the vulnerable whilst infectious. 

Why does it have to be 'the rest of your life'? Rather than just sometimes, when it seems necessary!

That is the choice we have. Never wear a mask again after a week on Monday, or have one stapled to your face for eternity. 

FWIW
https://fullfact.org/health/test-trace-march-2021/
 

Yeah you definitely don’t have to spend the rest of your life wearing a mask. 

For the limited time you may spend around the vulnerable whilst cases are still rising and folk are still being vaccinated it makes complete sense to wear a mask though. 
 

Having a father in law who is currently recovering from his second lung cancer operation is the exact time you should fear covid and take all possible precautions to prevent passing on an infection to him. 

Let’s be honest Archied if you had lung cancer then you really don’t want to be getting Covid. 
 
I would be distraught if I passed on an infection to a clinically vulnerable person because I didn’t take simple precautions.
 

 
 

Why do the elderly and vunerable get offered flu jabs every year then? What have they to fear? Look at the figures for the stats on the majority of those who died from covid - it's not the young! And covid isn't flu it's worse!

Granny killa!
I know the track and trace app isn't great, but look, it hardly cost anything right?
I really want to know how it's possible to spend so much on something that looks fairly basic.
It's budget is 37 billion over 2 years.
If the people working on it were being paid a ridiculous salary of 250k per year, or 500k over 2 years, then they could afford to employ 74,000 people on that salary.
Can anyone see any reason why the costs are so high? Just need to keep a record of devices a person has been close too via blutooth with a few metrics like time and distance.
Then when one of those devices links to a positive test, run a model to decide who to ping.
37 billion! As this government report says, the annual budget for transport is 22 billion. Building and repairing transport infrastructure seems like it would be a pretty expensive business. Building an app like this seems trivial in comparison.
https://committees.parliament.uk/work/906/covid19-test-track-and-trace-part-1/news/150988/unimaginable-cost-of-test-trace-failed-to-deliver-central-promise-of-averting-another-lockdown/
Is this the biggest scandal of Covid?