The powerful picture that perfectly sums up Mike Ashley’s soul-sucking spell at SJP

If there’s a picture that ever summed up Mike Ashley’s time on Tyneside, it’s a big Newcastle United gate that leads to nothing other than a brick wall.

These are the sentiments shared by protest group Toon For Change, who’ve just perfectly summed up Mike Ashley’s miserable time on Tyneside with the following tweet:

Gates represent an opening and an opportunity, yet Mike Ashley’s lead to nothing and go absolutely nowhere – and that’s summed us up during his time on Tyneside.

If we’ve not been going backwards – thanks to two relegations and a countless number of relegation battles – we’ve remained stagnant, with him often happy providing we survive by the skin of our teeth.

His errors have been huge and constant, but it’s been his lack of investment and constant neglect that have infuriated so many, turning what was once a side capable of competing to a zombie club settling for nothing other than Premier League safety.

Shameless lies, PR stunts and awful appointments aside, we’ve seen St James’ Park get left to rot (literally), the training ground continue to look light years behind that of ambitious Premier League rivals and our playing squad controlled via a tedious transfer policy.

Hopefully the Saudis can immediately break the chains he tied to our club 13 years ago, bringing some hope and ambition back to that sleeping giant that is St James’ Park.

(Fancy writing for us? Get in touch at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

533 thoughts on “The powerful picture that perfectly sums up Mike Ashley’s soul-sucking spell at SJP

  1. Kimtoon: Charlie Bennett has an article saying we could get Ighalo and he is valued at 20 million. That was then, this is now! I don’t believe any of these valuations. Nobody has any money. If Barca and Real are hurting then everybody will be.

    We will have to wait and see where the transfer market resets. I cannot see anybody in the bottom half of the PL and down through the lower leagues spending anything at all. Can you really see the Mackems doing any business in the state they are in. And all the lower leagues rely on gate money and we are probably a minimum of 6 months away from fans being allowed back.

    After being on here today I am getting worried that I might not be flying on a trip I booked for 5 months time. But the airline is still flying, even now and it is within the US so no foreign restrictions to deal with.

      (Quote)

  2. Stuart79:
    I do have to say, what’s the point in football if no supporters are allowed to watch?

    Are you going to get all – if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it….

      (Quote)

  3. Eric Sykes: Are you going to get all – if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it….

    No, Eric. But supporters are the thing that makes footballer watchable and playable.

      (Quote)

  4. I get up last night to watch UFC 249. It was a bit weird there being no crowd there – but the fights were as good as any I’ve seen with a crowd.

    Football wouldn’t be the same without fans attending, but I’d sooner have football than not.

    Plus, footballers are employees as well. There are lots out of contract and risk loosing their livelihood.

    Maybe it’s down to football to develop a way to safely test fans before entering grounds.

      (Quote)

  5. Stuart: you may think I am mad but I think they should pipe crowd noise in or overlay it in the TV coverage. Spain, and specifically Barca and Real Madrid, are thinking about playing in smaller capacity stadia so it doesn’t FEEL as empty. They are talking about 6,000 capacity.

    I have said before that they should have card board cutouts of people like they have in movies like Gladiator. I thought I would get shot down for that 🙂

      (Quote)

  6. It maybe that we have immunity certificates. Or if people want to go to mass gatherings only those who can prove they have had a negative test within the last 48 hours can attend.

    Same for travelling abroad too.

      (Quote)

  7. 5 have tested positive in Spanish divisions 1 and 2. Can they work around that? The Germans seem to be willing to do it. I have no idea. The more I think about this the more confused I become. I honestly do not know my own mind on this CV-19 thing.

      (Quote)

  8. Isn’t Boris supposed to speak in an hour or so. Be interesting to hear what he says since he has had CV-19. Not sure if slogans do any good, but I am willing to hear him out.

      (Quote)

  9. Having watched Netflix and Amazon Prime I am convinced they will be bidding on the PL. They are desperate for content. I watched a couple of their original series and they were terrible. Tiger King is animal cruelty as reality TV. Hollywood is probably the worst thing I have watched in a couple of years. And Hunters with Al Pacino about Nazi chasers in New York is unbearable. I couldn’t take any more after episode 2 of 9. They were doing a serious subject in a comic book genre action movie sort of way.

    If this is the **** they do themselves then they NEED the PL.

      (Quote)

  10. Eric, I’m very surprised the PL haven’t set their up their own Premier League football channel. £30 a month 10m subscriptions and its quids in.

      (Quote)

  11. Glad to see GNev taking down High-Horse Delaney. I still think he is falling into the Piers Morgan trap of if you have an opinion on everything and everybody some of it is bound to be ill-informed ****. And I don’t know when Delaney suddenly became this human rights crusader international statesman. I thought he was a sportswriter. Oh, he was you say, until NUFC were involved then he piled on like all of the rest of the National Press and most ex-players.

      (Quote)

  12. I notice Nicola Sturgeon is confusing the issue by going g against the UK government. Shameful politicking. But let’s be honest, it’s easy for Scotland to be on lockdown early as it’s us who will be lying for them.

      (Quote)

  13. Looks like a gradual phase out of this now. Probably the only thing we can do. I don’t see the problem with doing it slowly. If the R number starts to ruse slam the brakes on. Better than just stuck with the handbrake on going no where.

    We desperately need to be looking at innovative ways to get back to normal ASAP though.

      (Quote)

  14. At least Boris seems flexible and there is some sort of national plan coming together.

    I have no idea what is happening over here. Trump wants to push it all onto the states and is continuing to govern by twitter and is only talking to the ultra right wing Fox News. His press conferences are all over the place so I stopped watching. Now he is changing the subject to Obama. This is way, to deflect and ignore. But he got his tax cut through for his billionaire pals and that is all that matters. He’s a coward and the rest are no better and seem to just want to do political point scoring as Rome burns (like Corbyn, how is he still Labour leader?).

    I think most of the states will try to do what the European countries are doing and open gradually. I would like them to allow younger and healthy people to get back to work/normalcy quicker. To really tell people that certain groups are at less risk and can be doing more of their regular routines. And above all, stop scaring people. Inform, do not scare!!!!

      (Quote)

  15. I read the transcript of his speech.

    Boris did say that he wants manufacturing and construction to resume but to keep up with social distancing. Not sure how they can do that. And I don’t see that anything he has said will help the PL and EFL to come up with any plan. I think they have to come up with something and then submit it to the Govt because they are being given no guidance.

    I fully expect the EFL below Championship to be cancelled, probably tomorrow and with a very sketchy, if any, plan to save clubs from financial ruin. I think the Mackems are on the brink but there must be value there for somebody as long as Stuart Donald keeps his greed in check.

      (Quote)

  16. A more in-depth explanation is out tomorrow so people can have a good read through. But basically it said exercise as much as you want, go to the park as much as you want and go back to work if you’re in construction or manufacturing.

    The fact is, Sharpy – I don’t think they can be as clear as some want because they just don’t know!

      (Quote)

  17. Bit meh really, go to work, but otherwise as you were . Maybe more detail tomorrow .

      (Quote)

  18. I see the R value has gone above 1 in Germany. This really does show there’s no way half way houses with this. Either shutdown for a whole year around the world or work on a herd immunity process.

      (Quote)

  19. Stuart79:
    A more in-depth explanation is out tomorrow so people can have a good read through. But basically it said exercise as much as you want, go to the park as much as you want and go back to work if you’re in construction or manufacturing.

    The fact is, Sharpy – I don’t think they can be as clear as some want because they just don’t know!

    Stu – if you work in manufacturing or construction and have kids who aren’t going back to school.

    If you work in either but get to your work place by public transport.

    If leaves more questions than anything else.

    You can exercise more, go to a park, but we are increasing the fine for a breach – what constitutes a breach.

    I feared this when Boris was making his speech. It may be more detailed tomorrow – so then just do it tomorrow!!. Why address the nation with half ar$ed information.

      (Quote)

  20. So I see a valid link to Cavani. I know he is 33 but we could offer a 2 or 3 year deal. I think Messi is 33 this year and Ronaldo is 35. Cavani is the aging superstar free agent I would want and I would stop there. We don’t want a whole team of players looking for a last payday. I have watched him quite a bit at PSG and he is brilliant. Worth the gamble on his age and I don’t think he likes Neymar.

    The economics of the deal make the same sense as a Coutinho loan. Not paying the transfer fee is the key because that limits the FFP hit and we can spend money on others as we build up the commercial side and ideally get into the UEFA League.

    I saw Cavani mentioned on another blog and the person was ridiculed. Being told to take it slowly, were deluded etc. I am not sure some people realise how ambitious these people are that are taking us over. First order of business though is still to sack Bruce. Here’s your 2 million payoff Steve now go work on expanding your gut in the Bahamas when flights resume. I think The Mirror had him topless in the Caribbean last time he was sacked.

      (Quote)

  21. Sharpy17: Stu – if you work in manufacturing or construction and have kids who aren’t going back to school.

    If you work in either but get to your work place by public transport.

    If leaves more questions than anything else.

    You can exercise more, go to a park, but we are increasing the fine for a breach – what constitutes a breach.

    I feared this when Boris was making his speech.It may be more detailed tomorrow – so then just do it tomorrow!!.Why address the nation with half ar$ed information.

    Sharpy: If you want obfuscation, vagueness, backtracking, passing the buck and downright lies you are welcome to Trump.

      (Quote)

  22. Sharpy: I agree with what you say. Just wanted to get a dig in at Trump. Still not sure if you can make hard and fast rules yet but Boris was very vague.

      (Quote)

  23. How come Germany only has 7,500 deaths? Hotels and Restaurants can reopen as of yesterday.

    I thought Corbyn had been replaced but saw a tweet earlier before BJs speech referring to him as Labour Leader. Not even sure why they were even asking him. He seems a bit of an irrelevance after the election performance.

      (Quote)

  24. I have to say I am gobsmacked! Just been told that 84% of care homes in this country are private. I’m shocked that they take the millions every year and then absolve themselves of all responsibility when their “customers” health is under serious threat and blame the government.

    Pitiful.

      (Quote)

  25. Stuart79:
    I have to say I am gobsmacked! Just been told that 84% of care homes in this country are private. I’m shocked that they take the millions every year and then absolve themselves of all responsibility when their “customers” health is under serious threat and blame the government.

    Pitiful.

    I sell Long Term Care Insurance (as well as other things like investments). The quality of care varies wildly and most is private. It is mega-expensive as well. It is actually a relatively easy sale to the well off. Every single person has had a relative in care and have visited them. They also want to stay at home as long as possible and associate care homes with places where people go to die. I just explain to them that most people are too proud or fargone to ask for help and it ends up on the family. The next step is to explain that with the insurance they have already paid for the home help so are much more likely to use it. Then a light bulb goes off when they realise that the care is just what they have already pre-paid. Just about everybody with this type of insurance ends up using it. Most people don’t just drop dead. The average stay is 2 years so you want something nice.

      (Quote)

  26. Much less hopeful of PL resumption now without any guidance from Boris. Hopefully there is something in the full release tomorrow or at least the sports or health minister say something. The bottom 6 are looking after their own interests and you can hardly blame them. They are sending Barber from Brighton to preach their case everywhere he can find a pulpit. They only need one more club to flip to kill the season and that means all that is needed is one team to have a few players say they are against it.

    It takes a 14-6 vote to pass and a 13-7 vote kills it. Doubt anything will be decided in the meeting tomorrow and they will kick the can down the road until probably Thursday. They have to come to a decision by May 18 which is a week tomorrow. It is pretty much **** or get off the pot for the PL. And then of course we have our takeover. Should be an interesting week.

      (Quote)

  27. I think we can all agree that a careful return to work is necessary. Slowly seems like a very sensible way to go.

    Maybe we can reshape the economy as we go and make it more equitable, more responsible as far as the planet is concerned. Let’s make the economy about people rather than corporate profits.

    If we just go back to how it was, we’ll be forever going into lockdown … sometimes for pandemics, sometimes because of climate catastrophes.

    Life should be about people not money.

      (Quote)

  28. NUFC.com are saying the deal is done and will be announced next week. They don’t normally stick their neck out so I think we have new owners lads and lasses. Let the good times roll and let me out of this fckin house.

      (Quote)

  29. So, Richard Keys has had another moan about NUFC but this time with a twist. He is now blaming his good Pal Ashley for selling out to the Saudis and of course getting on his soap box about piracy. Not sure how he will twist it for the next 2 years when Qatar have the PL rights but it will be funny to watch him squirm if the Saudis bid next go around.

    Funny how he and Andy never mentioned the Man U deals with the Saudis. Kimtoon put links up and it has been over 10 years plus another deal in the last 3. Same with all the other rent-a-gobs on Sky, Talksport etc.

    I am absolutely positive that we will be accused of trying to buy the league and there will be calls for FFP investigations even though those are based on a 3 year aggregate.

      (Quote)

  30. Seems to be universal condemnation of BJs speech mainly because it was muddled and replaces a pathway to action with a slogan. Does he not have any advisors or writers? This is not just Boris, it is a collaborative effort and they seem to have ended up with something that is neither nowt nor summink and p!sses everybody off.

    When I first read it I thought there was really not much he could say that would take the UK forward but after looking at what is happening in Germany I think they bottled it. On the other hand if it backfires in Germany then the UK Govt might be praised later. A very difficult situation but you would think they could write him a better speech given the time they had.

    This 14 day flight quarantine seems to have messed up European competitions for UK teams. Why is it necessary? Where are they going go put them up? Seems like a roundabout way of stopping all incoming flights. Couldn’t they just be put up in a hotel for a couple of days and tested at their own expense?

    Everything is so confusing at the moment. Just saw UEFA have a May 25 deadline for FAs to give them a start date. Hope the selfish bottom 6 (and 1 other) dont kill it.

      (Quote)

  31. Long article from a Sunderland Blog. They have finally woken up. I have ranted a few times on here about what Chancer Donald and his Pals were doing and everything I said was correct. I don’t even take much notice of Sunderland but it was obvious that they were paying for the club with its own money (parachute payments) and betting on promotion to make a quick buck. The Mackems would have none of it and treated them like saviors. Now they are saying they are worse than Ashley, and they are.

    I still think Donald grew to like the club and supporters but that doesn’t mean he was not just in it for the money from the get go.

    I am not sure they will survive and neither is the author of this piece.

    It is amazing to see the divergent paths the 2 big NE Clubs are taking. I don’t want to see the Mackems go bust but I think it is 50/50 at best, especially with CV-19 meaning they have no income for the forseeable future.

    http://wisemensay.co.uk/the-truth-will-out/#more-3097

      (Quote)

  32. Just seen a professor on the news telling us that there’s no guarantee of a vaccine. The common cold is from the same corona family and we know there’s no vaccine for that…

      (Quote)

  33. Sharpy: is it you that work with some Mackems who were making fun of us when we were relegated? You should read the article. Not to rub their face in it but to know what is coming for them. A little gentle p!ss taking may be in order though 🙂

      (Quote)

  34. Stuart79:
    Just seen a professor on the news telling us that there’s no guarantee of a vaccine. The common cold is from the same corona family and we know there’s no vaccine for that…

    Is anybody really expecting a vaccine? Not in the near future anyway. From the beginning I always thought it was about minimizing the risk and keeping the death count as low as possible. Indefinite lockdown for all is about the worst plan I could think of. We have to get out of this isolationism as soon as possible whist at the same time doing all we can to protect the most vulnerable. Not an easy task, and there will be many more deaths.

    I still haven’t seen anybody really say that the numbers for CV-19 are a small portion of the usual annual deaths in all countries and there may be some being vaunted who would have died anyway. The political outcry if someone says this would make it political suicide. It may be true but they cant say it.

      (Quote)

  35. Greame Souness absolutely spot on just now. He’s basically saying there’s no easy decision, no good or bad decisions, it doesn’t matter what PL or government decide there will be many who say you shouldn’t have done this or that.

      (Quote)

  36. Eric – nobody has ever explained to me the way forward for the next 3,6,9,12 months or two years without a vaccine. It’s not possible to go on like this for that long. At what point do the government say “**** this, we can’t go on like this. We must protect the vulnerable but the rest can get on with life”?

    Are there enough test kits manufactured in the world to make it realistic for people to get o. With their lives?

      (Quote)

  37. I’m just about done with all these b loody confusing messages now. Does nobody in this government talk to each other ffs.
    Dominic Raab has been on bbc breakfast and said you can meet your parents but stand 2 meters apart. 3/4 hour later, there is an update and apology from government saying actually , sorry that’s incorrect, you cannot go meet your parents !

    I give up, how can we expect them to communicate with us if they don’t communicate with each other. Sorry but they are a f ucking shambles.

      (Quote)

  38. Ramp up the efforts for an antibody test, get everyone on it. This is the single most important tool we can hope for. Once we have it, and we are close to one, ship it out to all GP surgery’s and start mass testing of the population. Anyone positive for antibodies gets a symbol of some sort on their NHS record at GP which is then sent to a national database, perhaps DWP or HMRC. Employers can be issued with an email from said dept as a safe to work pass. That would stop any fraud by way of copying cards or certificates.
    If you test positive, then crack on back to work, if not you stay home if vulnerable. The rest of us will have to hope we don’t get it.
    No mass gatherings for at least a year, hopefully the virus fizzles out, a vaccine is found or workable drugs to combat it ( Anti virals ) .

    Quarantine incomings for next 6 months with the hope people comply. At the very least make it mandatory they take a test or cannot enter the UK AND give a registered address.
    I know that’s extreme but so is expecting the elderly and vulnerable to stay in lockdown indefinitely just so the money men are happy.

      (Quote)

  39. kimtoon:
    I’m just about done with all these b loody confusing messages now. Does nobody in this government talk to each other ffs.
    Dominic Raab has been on bbc breakfast and said you can meet your parents but stand 2 meters apart. 3/4 hour later, there is an update and apology from government saying actually , sorry that’s incorrect, you cannot go meet your parents !

    I give up, how can we expect them to communicate with us if they don’t communicate with each other. Sorry but they are a f ucking shambles.

    I’m sure they’re finding it one of the easiest situations they’ve even come across, Kim.

      (Quote)

  40. So tonight Boris will be taking, PRErecorded questions ! Oh boy, they really don’t trust him to answer an off the cuff question do they ?

    Last nights speech to the nation was a bunch of confused waffle, ministers running round like headless chickens trying to clarify what he said today.
    He needs to get it spot on tonight .

      (Quote)

  41. kimtoon:
    So tonight Boris will be taking, PRErecorded questions ! Oh boy, they really don’t trust him to answer an off the cuff question do they ?

    Last nights speech to the nation was a bunch of confused waffle, ministers running round like headless chickens trying to clarify what he said today.
    He needs to get it spot on tonight .

    Easy as you like. Has our PM turned into the pope? I thought he was the only one who was infallible? Now you expect everyone in government to be pope like.

      (Quote)

  42. Stuart79: I’m sure they’re finding it one of the easiest situations they’ve even come across, Kim.

    Bs Stu, that is a kop out .
    NZ have done ok, so has Aus, S.Korea, Singapore.
    They should of consulted the likes of S.K who have immense experience having dealt with Sars and Mers and learned from it.
    No one is saying this is easy but is it really too much to ask for concise and clear communication ?

      (Quote)

  43. PL footballers playing in European competitions are to be exempt from the new 14 day quarantine after flying. They are just making all of this stuff up as they go along 🙂

    There aren’t any easy decisions here and as Souness and many others have said there will be criticism whatever path is taken. It doesn’t have to descend into a circus like it seems to be doing. Give it a few more days and it might be like the Trump Clown Show.

      (Quote)

  44. So majority of teams in bottom half want to scrap relegation. Well of course they do! If the season is finished, even at neutral venues – then relegation should stand. Nobody would be disadvantaged because every club will be in the same boat.

    This thread is about 390 years old btw. Give us a new one Olly! ?

      (Quote)

  45. Stuart79: Easy as you like. Has our PM turned into the pope? I thought he was the only one who was infallible? Now you expect everyone in government to be pope like.

    WHAT, THAT makes no sense what so ever.
    No not pope like whatever that means, just clear honest messages .
    Noone has a clue what is going on that much is clear.

      (Quote)

  46. The message is , and always has been to stay 2 meres apart.
    You can now go and sit in the park or sit on a beach either on your own or with members of your own household provided you and your group are at least 2 metres away from others.
    It was a pretty clear message to me.
    When Boris was telling construction and manufacturing workers to go back to work he was forgetting that this would confuse a lot of people not in these industries. These industries were contacting their workers last week and telling them to return to work, A young relative of mine returned to his construction job early this morning. The message from Boris last night was to these workers asking them to go back to work if they could get to their workplace safely.
    I would imagine that when these workers were contacted last week their employers would have advised them accordingly on how they would get to work .
    Hope that helps to clear up some of the confusion.

      (Quote)

  47. sidekick:
    The message is , and always has been to stay 2 meres apart.
    You can now go and sit in the park or sit on a beach either on your own or with members of your own household provided you and your group are at least 2 metres away from others.
    It was a pretty clear message to me.
    When Boris was telling construction and manufacturing workers to go back to work he was forgetting that this would confuse a lot of people not in these industries. These industries were contacting their workers last week and telling them to return to work, A young relative of mine returned to his construction job early this morning.The message from Boris last night was to these workers asking them to go back to work if they could get to their workplace safely.
    I would imagine that when these workers were contacted last week their employers would have advised them accordingly on how they would get to work .
    Hope that helps to clear up some of the confusion.

    Well I thought Boris said back to work on Wednesday ? see what i mean.

      (Quote)

  48. And why did Raab tell millions watching bbc breakfast you can go see your parents, only to have to say sorry i got it wrong 3/4 hour later. Was he confused too ?

      (Quote)

  49. Shamrock:
    So majority of teams in bottom half want to scrap relegation. Well of course they do! If the season is finished, even at neutral venues – then relegation should stand. Nobody would be disadvantaged because every club will be in the same boat.

    This thread is about 390 years old btw. Give us a new one Olly!

    Majority in bottom half means 6 out if 10. Majority of clubs 14-6 want to keep relegation. Bottom 6 may flip one though, you never know.

    I think I am in the minority on here in wanting the season finished however they figure it out. No relegation is supposedly off the table because TV doesn’t want a series of friendlies/dead rubbers. It would be like that Germany/Austria game where they would both progress in the WC with a draw and they ended up just passing it around the back 4 for 90 minutes.

      (Quote)

  50. If they don’t have relegation it will be like having 22 Paul Pogbas on the field with nobody making a tackle and doing little pirouettes in the centre circle (I know that he is talented but you have to admit he looks like he cant be arsed a lot of the time).

      (Quote)

  51. Like I said Kim , the workers were not confused because their employer told them when to return.
    It is likely that when the Government gave these companies the green light to start work this week some of them might have needed to bring some workers in today to ensure that the worksite was was made ready for the main workforce to return on Wednesday and to work at a safe distance from each other.

      (Quote)

  52. I really don’t understand why people find what PM said was complicated? What’s not to understand? People desperately trying to find fault it’s sad.

    It’s all pretty clear.

    Kim – don’t compare us to NZ, Australia or East Asian countries. It makes your argument even worse. It’s like asking why Newcastle aren’t winning the league but Liverpool are…

      (Quote)

  53. kimtoon:
    And why did Raab tell millions watching bbc breakfast you can go see your parents, only to have to say sorry i got it wrong 3/4 hour later. Was he confused too ?

    Is he not allowed to make a mistake?

      (Quote)

  54. Being 4,000 miles away I haven’t really seen enough of Boris to make a decision on him. I thought he was a bit snakey on Brexit but that is done now. The knives were out for him whatever he said last night. I know this is the way politics works but I am fed up with them trying to score points on the back of a pandemic and death.

      (Quote)

  55. And the sympathy for BJ being in intensive care with CV-19 didn’t take long to wear off.

      (Quote)

  56. Stu , you are making excuses for them.
    Raab should of known what we can or cannot do, was he not watching Boris or privvy to the instructions laid out. He should be fully converse with the details.

    I wasn’t comparing us to SK i was saying the government should of looked at how they prepared and handle it as they have vast experience of outbreaks having dealt with Sars and Mers previuosly.

    You compare us with Sweden all the time, a country with just 10 million and totally different from us with no previous experience of outbreaks unlike SK. How is your comparrison any better than mine ?

      (Quote)

  57. Eric, the fact he was ill and in intensive care is neither here nor there. Are we supposed to let things go and give him a free pass because he was ill.

      (Quote)

  58. Advice seemed pretty straight forward to me. There will need to be a degree of common sense by individuals and businesses alike. The government can’t be expected to spoon feed everybody.

    The cranky up North is clearly out on her own political agenda too. Political point scoring during a pandemic is pretty classless.

    Olly any chance those advert videos can be turned off for the main conversation threads? They get right in the way of the text box.

      (Quote)

  59. Good to see you back on Sham! You still wearing the helmet man? In the South West still?

    I agree with what you say “Advice seemed pretty straight forward to me. There will need to be a degree of common sense by individuals and businesses alike. The government can’t be expected to spoon feed everybody.” However they shouldn’t be delivering a 15 minute , confusing ramble on TV either. 50 words would have done it. Fools.

      (Quote)

  60. Sham – We don’t live in a common sense country apparently. It gets more obvious to me that people can’t take simple instruction or maybe they can but they would rather make politic points instead and act like they can’t understand. It’s quite bad actually.

    Kim – I don’t compare us to Sweden. I always mention Sweden as a example of a country doing what I would have liked to have seen us do. That’s not a comparison.

    I’m also still surprised you seem to think the government shouldn’t be allowed to make mistakes.

    It’s never truer that you can’t seem to please everybody.

      (Quote)

  61. Common sense…. Mmm. Does it really matter what the government say? If people don’t feel comfortable or safe then don’t go out. It really is a simple as that. Don’t go congregating in parks where hundreds of people are if you feel it’s not appropriate. Saw a picture of a park in London this weekend – looked like a normal Saturday. Same as the streets of Shoreditch. Governments can’t be held responsible for those people.

      (Quote)

  62. Just looked at a poll asking if you were confused by the new coronavirus rules Boris rolled out last night.
    65% said they were not confused by these new rules and 35% admitted to being easily confused.

      (Quote)

  63. georgio:
    Good to see you back on Sham! You still wearing the helmet man? In the South West still?

    I agree with what you say “Advice seemed pretty straight forward to me. There will need to be a degree of common sense by individuals and businesses alike. The government can’t be expected to spoon feed everybody.” However they shouldn’t be delivering a 15 minute , confusing ramble on TV either. 50 words would have done it. Fools.

    Hiya bud, yes and yes!
    I’m massively into spearfishing, so all I needed to know was I can get back out there later this week ?

      (Quote)

  64. It’s got nothing to do with a political agenda and some of the questions are perfectly valid – the instruction may be obvious to some if the answer to those questions don’t effect you personally.

    He mentioned about certain age groups going back to school. If you are a key worker with a child NOT in those year groups, can your child still go in for example?.

    The instructions he gave were perfectly clear – but the changes have ramifications for some people. Now I understand he can’t address and appease an entire nation in just 10 mins. But there are some people who have made big life changes in the last 7 weeks – key workers and their kids at least deserve to know where they stand going forward don’t they?.

    That may well get addressed today.

      (Quote)

  65. Sharpy17:
    It’s got nothing to do with a political agenda and some of the questions are perfectly valid – the instruction may be obvious to some if the answer to those questions don’t effect you personally.

    He mentioned about certain age groups going back to school.If you are a key worker with a child NOT in those year groups, can your child still go in for example?.

    The instructions he gave were perfectly clear – but the changes have ramifications for some people.Now I understand he can’t address and appease an entire nation in just 10 mins.But there are some people who have made big life changes in the last 7 weeks – key workers and their kids at least deserve to know where they stand going forward don’t they?.

    That may well get addressed today.

    Exactly.

      (Quote)

  66. Stu , you keep saying we should look to Swedens reaction and i keep saying we should look to SK to learn from them.
    What’s the difference.

    I have plenty of common sense as well thank you, but this government needs to be much clearer about things regarding social distancing measures and who you can and can not see.
    One minute they are saying you can meet your parents but only one of them, then it’s not at their home but in a park or something . Then Raab says no you can meet both then the government corrects him and says no you can’t meet them at all. I mean ffs it makes no sense at all.

    I have just driven to a trading estate to get some wipers as my drivers side is broke, it’s mental, place was packed with people going into all the stores there. It looks like everyone thinks we are back to normal for most. He should not of changed that slogan to stay alert, now that stay at home is gone, no ones bothering.

      (Quote)

  67. sidekick:
    Like I said Kim , the workers were not confused because their employer told them when to return.
    It is likely that when the Government gave these companies the green light to start work this week some of them might have needed to bring some workers in today to ensure that the worksite was was made ready for the main workforce to return on Wednesday and to work at a safe distance from each other.

    That’s a lot of assumption there mate, you reckon they rang or emailed all the manufacturers and construction companies ahead of last night. !!

      (Quote)

  68. Yes Kim I suppose they must have seeing that the construction firm rang my relative last week to tell him to go to work today.

      (Quote)

  69. sidekick:
    YesKim I suppose they must have seeing that the construction firm rang my relative last week to tell him to go to work today.

    That’s a lot of companies to ring .

      (Quote)

  70. Funny thing is there are flats being built around the corner from me and work has never actually stopped on it.

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *