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It's actually Zander that did the turn, he was playing poorly but no arguments this season.

Deaths might be lower because of Omicron but cases are still high - its more transmissible than other variants and therefore although as a %age of the infected you're less likely to be in hospital because of the increased transmissibility the numbers in hospital will rise - thats why we've got the restrictions - its not complicated. Scotland has got off lightly this winter because we kept the mask restrictions etc - England and its NHS are in such a mess because they let the variant run wild with the corresponding impact on healthcare staff etc - thats why they have the big queues at A&E. Businesses might be struggling but they've not been totally closed down - and the way things are going the likes of mask-wearing / table service will be the norm for a long time yet. Its not great but as an alternative to watching / risking family members lives its preferable.

How can you say Omicron is “next to no threat to the NHS”? That’s patently utter, utter nonsense. Do you have a TV? The Scottish Government took £200 million from the rest of the budget for these businesses, which is being paid right now. The UK Government eventually caved and is now contributing some as well. If McD qualifies, they’ll get some of it. St Johnstone also got a £1.5 million zero-interest, pay it back in several years time loan - from the Scottish Government. Again, the “no compensation” statements are patent nonsense. If you mean furlough, only the UK Government can offer that, as they have most of our money and they won’t let us borrow. They have refused. There’s feck all we can do about it. There’s no reason at all to assume all the restrictions will be repeated every winter if the COVID risk is minor. None whatsoever. No one in Government has said that, no one is calling for it, they didn’t do it with flu. You’re just making shit up.

I’m not an SNP supporter, and even if I was, would absolutely not feel any “need” to defend them on every issue. If we go back to my original post today, there’s actually little between us. We clearly are at the point where we can BEGIN to think about living with COVID. Some people think we are already there, others think we are not quite yet. You clearly begin in the former camp, which is fine. When we look back in a few years, this difference will be of no importance whatsoever to the big picture. What is not fine is using that position to then fire out ridiculous, almost hysterical exaggerations and sweeping statements about the current position. Do a couple of shifts in A&E and then tell us how silly restrictions are. Folk in parts of unrestricted England are being told to call a taxi if they have a heart attack, and 20 hospital trusts, covering a larger population than Scotland has, have declared a critical situation. That isn’t happening to the same extent here because of the restrictions, which since Omicron arrived has seen the infection rate in Wales, NI and Scotland around a third lower than England. Figure are now dipping down south because that’s where they are in the infection cycle - it started in London - they will fall here too in due course. Until the next wave. England has throughout the pandemic been less restrictive than the norm across the world. As a result, it has the fifth highest death toll in the world, and very close to the highest per capita death rate in the world. That was their decision, and that’s fine - it’s not for us to criticise. But what is utterly baffling is why we are somehow at fault for not more closely following their example? I mean, why would you simply copy another country exactly anyway in formulating your pandemic response, without taking into account your own circumstances? What other country in the world has done that? And even if you somehow convinced yourself that that was the best way forward, why would you choose to copy a country exactly that is very close to being the world’s worst performer? It’s nothing to do with politics, it’s just bonkers on every level.

This bollocks is an anti-vaxxer myth that has been debunked endlessly. If you die falling down stairs, your death certificate does not show you died of a virus. Grow up.

It’s in Tayside. It’s everywhere. It’s just not hospitalising people in the same numbers as Delta.

Its just a bit weird to mewl about us "not finding gems like Cambridge" when the gem youre on about is shite, tbh. It takes like 2 seconds to see his figures fwiw.

Chit chat. Where topics go to die. with the forum traffic these days, we shouldn’t have multiple topic categories. Just lowers the chances of anyone interacting with a thread.

Still think you should be going to Inverness the end of February though

Dunno if this rules still applies, think it was put in place due to covid issues...as usual I'm probably wrong

For some clubs it’s make it up as you go along

“Severe restrictions” = table service in pubs. The horror…..the horror……

I disagree, I think this will be our last winter with any notable restrictions but I do expect mask wearing to continue much like it has in Asia over the last 20 years. Mask wearing and hand washing has massively reduced cold and flu spread, I think that might influence people going forward. I can understand governments jumping the gun with Omicron, rather than move too late like the Tories did in March 2020. I think they had to move quickly and it was a case of “better safe than sorry”, but with annual booster / variant vaccines combined with widespread antibodies, hopefully things shouldn’t get worse than they are now and we’ll continue to improve treatments and understand more about virus spread in the coming months and years.

Yes, but how many just for Covid? You realise other illnesses are still happening don't you? They've been recording hospital trips and deaths as "covid cases" as long as the person has tested positive within 28 days of going in. As in, I could test positive today, then fall down a set of stairs next month and be rushed to ICU, and that would be classed as Covid related. It's a farce now and there's no need for restrictions to be as severe as they are as its literally helping nobody.

It always is.

I wonder?

Tell him what he mean dude he’s a bampot

Yes , let’s keep fishing .

Exactly. Think it put them in the lead at the time. Scored at the end that housed the Saints fans. (Ha ha. Predicted text showed "hosed") We were refreshed in the Club in Beveridge Park prior to k .o. , therefore didn't need hosed.

Brian Graham helping him, might be a double act worth looking at

Surely Clark would be looking at OF or championship level down south? Utd or Aberdeen is the same as playing for us standard wise but I’m sure the bump in wages would be a considerable jump

No mention of the Rotherham whippet shaggers yet ?

Losing Clark would be suicide. Expecting Parish to be number 1 next season would be stupid regardless of what division we end up in.

For clarity, I don’t think Crawford was our greatest signing ever. But no way does he deserve the extraordinary outbursts of venomous hatred he has received on here and, to an even greater extent, elsewhere. I hope there will be apologies aplenty if he turns out to be a decent pro.

You went to the Grammar so you obviously used a calculator , Does it show how many games of FIFA he’s played when he should’ve been training .

Good footballer, carrying a wee niggle, skill and goals a plenty.

Yeah, I've also got a computer. Handily it can tell me that, per head of the population, the current situation of people going to hospital solely for Covid is just slightly higher than we had for the flu 8 years ago. Folk need to remember we're not in the same situation as when this first started. Covid can no longer kill folk at will and the majority of vulnerable people are now more than protected due to the virus. The majority of people are vaccinated yet we're still having our lives restricted for no discernable benefit. We've got worse infection rates than countries with no restrictions. How does that work? What's the actual benefit to refusing to allow more than 500 people to sit outside but allowing 200 people to sit inside an enclosed room? It's just random, made up, bollocks at this point by people out of their depth.