Red-Robbo

First line - absolutely correct. Second line - not so. Even if you simply looked at billionaires, the UK gained 24 new ones in 2020. The combined wealth increase of the UK's billionaires last year was 22%. If even half that amount was taxed away, you could raise the budget of the NHS by 60%. Of course, it's not easy. Taxing the super-rich and multinational corporations requires international co-operation, which is difficult when the super-rich control the levers of power in many countries. In fact, some entire countries economy is twisted to allow them to be the sink depository of hidden trillions. See the excellent film The Laundromat for an example of how at least $36tn - nearly half the world's GDP - is entirely hidden from any fiscal reckoning. It annoys me that I see a bigger percentage of my income taxed away than Roman Abramovitch does and my company sees more of its income taxed than Amazon.

I'd be stunned if they overturned the race result - and remember Mercedes did still win the constructors championship. You've got to question Michael Masi's future at FIA though.

They're never going to overturn the result, but I imagine lawyers are being consulted by Merc. It really highlights how vague the FIA rules are. There should be cast-iron regulations to decide on situations like this. It shouldn't be left to the race director and stewards to interpret things how they wish.

You've reminded me of the time I was in Finland and went to a Lap dancing club only to be disappointed to find a bunch of rosy-faced blokes wearing chunky knitwear and reindeer-skin hats doing some tribal chanting.

We need to re-entice back the EU doctors and nurses we've lost - and that means allowing their families to settle and work as well (many aren't single); we need to re-introduce the nursing bursary, despite Johnson's lies, the scheme that replaced it is nowhere near as generous; we need to increase NHS pay-rates at junior rates. France gave the health-workers involved in fighting Covid generous above-inflationary increases; granted citizenship to foreign health-workers involved in this work and introduced extra pensions and provisions (such as scholarships for children) for the families of health-workers who died due to Covid. Here there had to be a major fuss kicked up to get them to exempt nurses and junior doctors from the 1% state employee wage cap. Nightingale Hospitals are just big useless buildings unless they have sufficient staff. As both doctors and nurses need 4 years to qualify, this year's increased placements are going to take a while to filter in.

To be fair, Borehamwood are absolutely flying this season. It was a very tough game for a mid-table side.

When I used to play amateur football my side literally didn't turn up once. The manager/captain/minibus driver had misread the fixture list and drove us to the wrong game in a different part of London. I knew who we were meant to be playing, but thought he was just taking an unusual route to get to the ground.

Pearcey's Cornish, but his family moved to Bristol when he was a kid so his dad could work for City and JP had a few schoolboy trials with the club. He wasn't good enough to be a professional, so decided to pursue a career talking about football instead. I know he lived in East London for a time, and has talked about "also" supporting West Ham, but I know a lot of people have second teams, so I wont slam him for that. When I met him we had quite a long chat about the Alan Dicks era, and he certainly knows his stuff there. Living in Sussex and working most match-days obviously cuts down his current City watching capacity.

I beg to differ, as at least one walrus was living in the Isles of Scilly until recently, and I think another has been spotted in Tyneside. https://inews.co.uk/news/arctic-walrus-size-fridge-spotted-northumberland-on-hunt-food-1302143 Penguins also live in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Patagonia, not to mention the Falklands and its dependencies. Also regarding Santa's workshop. As the North Pole is covered in moving pack ice for much of the year these days, does he only set up during the winter months when it is frozen solid? If so, it's a hell of a feat of R&D for the elves to develop new toys, source the materials and build production lines in only a few months.

Kind of have to agree. He has his moments and can deliver a killer pass, but ultimately he switches off, doesn't track back, loses the ball easily, rarely tackles, and doesn't seem to keep up with play for long periods of the game. The killer passes that impress come far too irregularly to justify either his wages or the money we paid for him. I honestly think if he hadn't had that bloody awful song we'd have let him go back to Chelsea. "Oh he's a fans' favourite, let's buy him"....

Good point, Mr P. I speed-read the new regulations and got the PCR thing stuck in my head after reading the foreign travel rules.

Most indicators are Omicron is a bit less virulent but a hell of a lot more infectious. If a lot more people catch a slightly less dangerous variant that still equals more in hospitals. @LondonBristolian made an excellent point on the politics board when he said the only real endpoint of these continual crises is ramping up UK hospital capacity so we can cope with repeated coronavirus waves caused by mutations, as well as winter flu surges. Running NHS hospitals at 92-96% bed capacity isn't sustainable. We had wintertime capacity worries even before Covid. Of course, this isn't a quick fix and requires the political will to reverse the various changes that make it difficult for the UK to recruit student nurses and doctors. But it's something to think about when people cast their votes.

I can answer that. Deaths within 28 Days of Positive Covid test is the measure the government uses in its press conferences. It's quicker than analysing actual death certificates, which tend to lag numerous days after the actual death. So, while it is possible the mythical bus crash victim would be counted in the government announced figures, it wouldn't say Covid on his or her death certificate. The small numbers of people dying due to non-Covid reasons within 28 days of a Covid test would be more than balanced by the many people who die from Covid more than 28 days after testing positive. 20 days is the average infection-to-death period, but plenty have succumbed after months of treatment: the singer John Prine for example. It is possible to see the figures for actual deaths recorded for, or partly attributed to, Covid here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/26november2021 It's worth noting that this way of counting Covid deaths gives a higher total than the government's "28 Days" method. 146,000 Britons are counted as having died from Covid "within 28 days" but 170,000 Brits have Covid on their death certificate,

The answer is likely vastly fewer than the many millions around the world who have suffered the condition as a result of a Covid infection. Covid viruses migrate to the heart wall and in a severe infection are actually present in greater numbers in the heart than in the lungs. More than 1,200,000 Britons suffer from Long Covid symptoms - defined as debilitating symptoms more than 3 months after first infection. Sufferers include Nigel Pearson, Steve Cotterill and a friend of mine from Frome, who 11 months after infection, still isn't well enough to work. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1257373/long-covid-sufferers-in-the-uk-by-region-country/ By contrast, the majority of the myocarditis reports after vaccination were fleeting and resolved in less than a month: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/study-investigates-covid-19-vaccines-and-myocarditis#Link-between-vaccine-and-myocarditis

If only he had JET's scoring record.

Don't think he's even waiting at the depot. I agree with you, that he has to all intent and purposes already left.

What's discrimation? Unvaccinated people can still go to watch City. They just need to get a PCR test. Grow the **** up and stop being such big tantrum-throwing baby.

Re: BBC . Not dubious H. I left journalism in 2011. This is a commercial contract with my company still in dispute. Public face = Auntie Beeb; Private behaviour = absolute c****. Details on PM for anyone interested. The reason I said your stance is this season's "I WILL BOO" is I honestly don't see it forcing City or any other club affected to do anything. As far as the vast majority of fans go, downloading a straightforward app and flashing a green tick at turnstiles is pain-free and a trivial inconvenience. For most companies- like mine for example - the new restrictions are also pain-free and a minor inconvenience. Nothing will change. You'll watch 4th tier football, but nothing will change. In your your heart you know I'm right.

I would say the fact that restrictions are being put back in place is precisely because vaccination isn't infallible and infection levels are high. And, hey, I hold no brief for the BBC. Why not write to them to complain - with suitable examples, of course. You can append "...and pay Red-Robbo Ltd the £84,000 you've owed them since 2017" to your note. ? All joking aside, what do you expect Bristol City to do about this government edict? You're a fan, so I guess you want the best for our club, but staying away may not only rob them of a bit of match day revenue, but if enough people do it would diminish spend available next season. The club doesn't really have an option other than to bring this in. If they "took a stand" they'd be penalised and potentially shut down

Does anyone really think that? Anyone said that here, or are you just imagining it? Anyoldhow, here's the new forum for you to discuss football and your vaccine theories. They even have a Coronavirus sub-forum. I'm sure you'll win a legion of fans: https://forum.fgr.co.uk/

You'll be safe up at Forest Green. You're up against Mansfield, Saturday week and I think you've a big West Country derby v Exeter City to cheer soon. ? I even believe there's a Covid vaccination centre at their stadium - the Fully Charged New Lawn as it is now known for sponsorship reasons. ??

I was in the Army. I'd say they are variable.

I heard about this later, I was not in the same car. Still this guy could have been anyone. The squaddies (plural) were not doing their job. Didn't care about others' safety. I wonder if they are anti-vaxxers now?

I'll never forget a time I was shown round a big military base in the company of lots of other journalists. It was top security as it was in the early 90s when the IRA were still active in England, and there were lots of Top Brass and other VIPs at this event. You had to flash a special pass with photo ID at the gate to be allowed in, then show it again to meet the generals and ministers in attendance. A friend of mine who I'll keep anonymous for his own good had pasted a picture of a gorilla from Planet of the Apes on his pass instead of his own photo. He was waved through the perimeter gates without a qualm by two banks of sentries. Ah, the good old British squaddie.

But all the UK requires is holidaymakers coming back from abroad test and potentially isolate if they've been in certain high-infection countries: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-abroad-from-england-during-coronavirus-covid-19 If any country requires all visitors to be vaccinated, then that is their policy, not the UK government's. I'm unaware of any country that requires proof of vaccination for under-12s, certainly Greece and Spain do not, so your friends can still have a foreign holiday.