ariotofmyown

Sunak? What the guy did to those millions he made ineligible for furlough payments after refusing to move an arbitrary cut off date is still an absolute disgrace.
And the Eat Out to Help Out scheme which caused a spike in the Covid cases wasn't the cleverest move either. 

I fear another mini lockdown, mainly so the government can say they acted swiftly to fight the Indian variant.  Even though we probably don’t need one, but they can then say, “Arh but we did act swiftly in June 2021!” At the enquiry in 2030.

Yeah I am still really angry with the way the media have behaved throughout the pandemic but I've made the point, no need to keep mentioning it in every post.
I've never said they are the real problem though and have been very critical of the Government when I think they have made mistakes, I find that is more objective than just jumping on every decision they make as a way to attack Boris Johnson (who I actually think has been a terrible leader throughout the pandemic).
 

Haven't you got some media outlet to be furious about? We all know they are the real problem!

Ziggy, your self-sacrifice is so much appreciated in these austere times.

I’d keep Knight. He’s good at football. Eventually we’ll get a manager who realises this.

Im surprised that any of you actually still believe that @ariotofmyownposts are actually Covid related and not just thinly veiled policital posts!
In fact they arent even veiled, 4 out of the last 6 posts have been direct attacks on Boris Johnson.

I think the argument is that relaxing restrictions will increase infection rates and, whilst the mortality rate might not increase significantly, hospitalisations might which would hinder the current plan to clear the massive backlog of non Covid cases/operations. 

I might have to take the baton here, I think he is in London and won’t travel outside, ever again. I will rack up in his front garden on one of those plastic patio chairs and put him right.

Australia has bought itself time. Imagine what could have been achieved in this country if we'd started with Australia levels of infection and kept it low with strict measures, and topped it off with the kind of vaccination regime the NHS has rolled out? 

Few more random picks buddy - some daft as hell but great fun binge material like The Punisher and Banshee. Very watchable without being worthy in any way.  Others are really strong shows and deffo worth checking out IMO. I've starred the latter. 
Narcos*
Narcos Mexico*
Animal Kingdom*
Peaky Blinders
The Boys
Fargo*
Better Call Saul*
Boardwalk Empire
Snowfall*
McMafia*
Oz*
Banshee 
The Punisher
Warrior

A mate of mine has just opened a bar/restaurant in Swadlincote called The Balearic Eye. And somehow he’s got Peter Hook (New Order/Joy Division), Mr C from The Shamen, Mark Archer (Altern8) and DJ Trevor Fung to play there on July 1st. Should be fun! 

Two festivals now cancelled/delayed til next year ?. Arctangent and Rebellion. Two in Moseley left.. Hopefully they'll go ahead as they're in late August and early September.

Uh oh. Another book about behind the scenes at Derby County?
In all seriousness, good luck with the book.

Thanks for the recommendation. Enjoying this a lot.

I have a strong dislike for Cummings and I'm sure he is vindictive, but people in government rarely take out against government whilst they're in government, no matter what they thought/think at the time.
We can remember people like Michael Heseltine and John Nott (if you're old enough) because grand gestures and resignations like that are so rare.
Even opponents of Trump like Mattis, Tillerson and Cohen waited until they were on the outside before speaking up.

Once you do speak out you lose your influence, so 99% of people in politics prefer to stay quiet and try to make changes from the inside.
Even Obama spoke of the need to sometimes just keep your mouth shut.
That sounds like it should be true, but from the news reports I have read, it isn't.
I've only followed the BBC and The Guardian and they have just been reporting what Cummings has been saying.
In fact, that is pretty much what the BBC always do to the chagrin of right and left.

I never heard them say Cummings was lying then, and I have never heard them say he is being truthful now - they're just reporting.
They reported what he said then and they are reporting what he says now.
Lots of people took what was reported at the time and thought Cummings was clearly lying - me included - but I don't remember the media spending months telling us Cummings was lying then any more than they are telling us what he is saying is gospel now.
It just feels that way because of what other people say about the media.

Ah, but we were expressly told that he was not the de facto leader of the government, nor was he shaping SAGE and COBRA directives in relation to Covid, as our erstwhile leader was fulfilling that role. Odd given he can only pass the buck if the buck was his to pass in the fist place. Fully agree that he's as culpable but having said that, he's been fired whereas the other fella is sat keeping schtum on the subject in number 10 whilst warbling sweet nothings about the NHS. He must be too busy to respond I suppose... ?‍♀️
Which bits, if any, do you think he's lying about? For all that he's a grotesque, scheming little toad, he's a very intelligent man and I'd venture that there's documentation that will back up his claims. He seems to infer there is. 
Meanwhile, Hancock is to be grilled in the commons this morning and we've yet to hear so much as a squeak from Downing Street.
Doesn't look great, does it?

That was my thought in a nutshell. Where was his principles when he was of the opinion Johnson wasn’t fit to hold office ? Too busy milking the gravy train that’s where. He just comes across as vindictive as well as bitter to me so while I’ve no doubt shocking mistakes were made I don’t give yesterday’s bile much credence because as the number one advisor to Johnson he’s got to have played a part in the decisions made surely so by definition he’s as culpable. Buckpassing twot. 

Don't know whether to laugh or cry to be honest. So much for all the politicising the virus BS that was so prevalent on these threads. The stream of near hysterical denunciations looks even more silly now than it did at the time.
As for Cummins, has he really told us anything we didn't know already, or has he simply confirmed that much, if not all of what was being suggested by some on here, was in fact absolutely true?
Led by donkeys indeed ?

This in Spades.
I stopped counting at 8 deaths of people I knew or had worked with in the past. It got very depressing and I eventually deleted my old LinkedIn and other work-related networking accounts (it's not as if I was going to be using them to get a job anyway). None of those who died were younger than me and most were considerably older, but it was difficult to not think that the net was closing in.

"Cummings says the real problem was the the PM would not come up with a policy and stick to it. He was changing his mind every time the Daily Telegraph wrote a leader on the subject. He was “just like a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”."
I was always concerned that Johnson would pay too much attention to one particular section of the media.

I'm not sure about that actually. I've never liked him, but he comes across today as someone who wants government to work much better than it currently does.
He's putting the boot into Johnson and friends as his clearly thinks they are hopeless, but I'm not sure if he really has much loyalty to any party.
I imagine he would rather have competent leadership than one that believes in a particularly ideology.
Though his comment about Johnson and Corbyn both being bad choices was interesting. I imagine he now regrets the way Brexit has played out. Competent leadership could have delivered on some of the Brexit promises but he surely has no faith Johnson can do this.
 

Hi all
Have bought my 10 year old an Xbox one for his 10th birthday. His first games console and mine since the Spectrum 48k ( which I still have in the loft!)
Anyway, any recommendations on easy to play games suitable for a beginner? Looking for something we can play together offline, get used to the controls etc. We like Star Wars, he loves Lego, I am really tight and both of us now hate football. Any suggestions for games based on these parameters? Maybe good two player games or something?
I considered Battlefront, which I pretty muck know nothing about, but was worried it would be too complicated for a beginner and possibly age inappropriate. Squadrons seems a little tricky as well although, again, this is only based on what I have read.
Any advice welcome. 
 

They’re going to release a new Lego Star Wars game later this year - the Skywalker Saga. That will be the one to get, as it will incorporate all 9 films. The original Lego Star Wars is quite dated now, originally being released on the PS2. I would go for the Force Awakens game, it’s short but good fun and has loads of replay value. Lego games on console are much better than handheld/iPad versions!
In terms of other Lego games, my 8 year old enjoys Lego Marvel Superheroes 2, Lego Harry Potter and Lego City. There are other Lego games that are worth looking into, but some are better than others.
Lego Worlds is similar to Minecraft but not as good. Minecraft is def worth picking up just for replayability.
Other than that, I would say try Game Pass and check out the family section. It has a bunch of games to try and see which ones stick. My 2 like building zoos on Zoo Tycoon which we found on there. Hope that helps