Archive for April, 2021
Good News From UK
The Telegraph reports that Britain is no longer in a pandemic, as new data showed the vaccination programme is reducing symptomatic Covid infections by up to 90 per cent.
In the first large real-world study of the impact of vaccination on the general population, researchers found that the rollout is having a major impact on cutting both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases.
Sarah Walker, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at Oxford and Chief Investigator on the Office for National Statistics Covid-19 Infection Survey, said that Britain had ‘moved from a pandemic to an endemic situation’ where the virus is circulating at a low, largely controllable level in the community.
The new research, based on throat swabs from 373,402 people between December 1 last year and April 3, found three weeks after one dose of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca jab, symptomatic infections fell by 74 per cent and infections without symptoms by 57 per cent.
By two doses, asymptomatic infections were down 70 per cent and symptomatic by 90 per cent.
Back to normal – a short-lived slogan
In the FA Cup semi-final 4,000 supporters were allowed back into the stands at Wembley. But this “back to normal” was very short-lived because only one day later the plan of twelve clubs to found the European Super League turned European football upside down (from The Telegraph).
Six English clubs together with Real, Barcelona, Atlético, Juventus, Inter and Milan declared that they had founded a new competition in European football called European Super League. The new league would play in midweek and its members would pull out of next season’s European Cups. As an immediate consequence, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City were in danger of being thrown out of the Champions League and Europa League semi-finals on Monday night as football authorities, fans and the Government declared war on the European Super League.
The four remaining English clubs in Europe were warned they could be expelled from their respective competitions as soon as Friday, while the likes of Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford were facing a ban from playing at this summer’s European Championship.
Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur were also rendered footballing outcasts, along with Real Madrid, Barcelona and the rest of the “Dirty Dozen” clubs behind a plot that has sparked arguably the biggest outcry in the history of the game.
The backlash against the largely-closed competition has intensified as:
- The Government vowed to do “whatever it takes” to stop the Super League, which was also denounced by the Duke of Cambridge.
- The Premier League called a meeting of its remaining 14 clubs that could see action taken against the so-called ‘Big Six’.
- Bruno Fernandes became the first player from a Super League club to cast doubt on it while Mesut Ozil and Ander Herrera spoke out against it.
- United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward was branded a “snake” by the president of Uefa, who described the rebel tournament as “a spit in the face of all football lovers”.
- Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Porto refused to sign up for it and the Champions League reforms were passed by Uefa.
- A YouGov poll found 79 per cent of football fans opposed a Super League and just 14 per cent supported it.
- The Super League began legal action to prevent the competition being killed off before it began.
That action failed to stop unprecedented steps being taken to do just that, including to ban what Ceferin dubbed the “Dirty Dozen” from the Champions League and Europa League – potentially even from the rest of this season’s competitions.
“My opinion is that as soon as possible they have to be banned from all our competitions and the players from all our competitions,” he said.
West Ham United also expressed vehement opposition to the proposal for a Super League after consulting with the club’s Independent Supporters’ Commitee.
UPDATE: “Power to the people” – the Super League seems to be off before it has started.
The move of six Premier League clubs to join the “cartel” of 12 European clubs has been unanimously condemned by the FA, the rest of PL clubs and especially by the fans! Manchester City and Chelsea were the first to pull out of the ESL on Tuesday, and later in the evening it was announced that all the Super League clubs were about to disband the Super League.
It also emerged that Andrea Agnelli had resigned at Juventus and that Ed Woodward would resign from his role as executive vice chairman of Manchester Utd. This man of confidence of the Glazer family, who was very much in favour of the ESL, will be gone and so is the idea of a Super League.
This could be a “watershed moment”in football. Coming together and fighting against the “big six” and the “cartel – that achieved victory within one day. This could be the beginning of smaller clubs and the real fans winning back power from the big money clubs, and football could change for the better maybe.
Tonight the football fans have won a battle – but how are they going to win the war? (talkSPORT)
The seismic but ultimately farcical attempt to launch a super league will be remembered as a pivotal moment in the sport’s history. The moment when many in football, having seen the wealthiest clubs consolidate more power and wealth over years, finally said ‘enough’ and fought back. But the game is not yet over, and future battles lie ahead (BBC).
Prince Philip’s Send-Off At St George‘s
The Duke of Edinburgh who died on 9 April, on Saturday found his temporary rest (until the day when Queen Elisabeth dies and they will be buried together and join the late King George VI in their tomb) in St George’s Chapel within the perimeter of Windsor Castle.
Nearby to the Chapel is the building of St George’s House. It was there where Prince Philip co-founded an organisation which is not known so well as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an other NGO the Prince had helped to found in the sixties:
In 1966 the Duke and the then Dean of Windsor Robin Woods founded “St George’s House” which takes its name from the building and is committed to “effecting change for the better by nurturing wisdom through dialogue”. The organisation brings together people of responsibility and influence in business, government, society and the church to consult on contemporary issues with the purpose of investigating means of overcoming challenges in contemporary society through dialogue.
St George’s House featured, albeit in a fictionalized series of events, in the seventh episode of the third series of the Netflix series The Crown; “Moondust”.
West Ham v Leicester
In Mark Noble’s 400th Premier League game and 524th for West Ham in all competitions, two goals from Jesse Lingard in the first half and one from Jarrod Bowen at the beginning of the second one meant that West Ham again had a three goal lead.
This was the third game in a row in which the Irons had a three-nil advantage, and we knew that if they were able to hold on to their lead, they would be back in a Champions League spot – above Chelsea and Liverpool!
But it got very very tight again, when Leicester pulled two back courtesy to Iheanacho, but West Ham could see the game out – and won again with 3:2, like they had done on Monday against Wolves.
Now with an other win within seven days, the Hammers continue to be fourth and sit just one point behind Leicester in third.
Jesse Lingard’s stunning form since his loan move in January helped David Moyes to set his sight on taking West Ham into the Champions League for the first time, but it will be a tough task with Declan Rice out with a knee injury until May. Antonio is injured too and this afternoon Cresswell and Noble had to be substituted due to injury in the second half.
Match report (BBC): https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/56629084
Premier League pays tribute
The Premier League is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
As a mark of respect, players will wear black armbands, flags at clubs will fly at half-mast and there will be two minutes of silence before kick-off at all Premier League matches played across the weekend.
West Ham will play Leicester at home on Sunday afternoon.
Prince Philip 1921-2021
The Duke of Edinburgh’s peaceful passing with the Queen by his side at Windsor Castle in the morning of 9 April 2021, just two months before his 100th birthday, “reflects a remarkable life lived in quiet and self-effacing dignity,” as The Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey put it in her article paying tribute to Prince Philip (extracts below). My thoughts and prayers are with the Prince and the Royal family and I will watch the 41-gun salute held from 12 p.m. BST on Saturday.
The Duke of Edinburgh was born on 10 June 1921 in Corfu, as Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. He married Princess Elizabeth on 20 November 1947 whom he had first met in 1934 and had been corresponding with her all the time during his military service in the Royal Navy in World War II.
Elisabeth became Queen in 1952. When Prince Philip died yesterday, 9 April 2021, at Windsor Castle he was the longest-serving consort of a reigning British monarch and the longest-lived male member of the British royal family.
Although Buckingham Palace declined to “go into any specifics” about the nature of the Duke’s passing, it is thought the 94-year-old Queen was at her husband’s bedside when the time came late yesterday morning.
Since his retirement from public life in 2017, the Duke had grown used to spending most of his days in blissful solitude at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate, whiling away his days reading, writing and painting.
When the onset of Covid-19 required him to relocate to join the Queen at Windsor Castle, an “unexpected bonus” was that they spent more time together in the past 12 months than they have done in years.
Described as “very happy” to have been able to lunch and dine with her husband most days as they both awaited the further lifting of restrictions, the Queen remained in daily contact with the royal doctors monitoring the Duke’s progress. The Duke had been advised to rest after his discharge from the King Edward VII’s hospital on Mar 15, where he was convalescing following a successful procedure for a heart condition at another London hospital, St Bartholomew’s.
According to one well-placed source: “He spent most of the four weeks he was in hospital trying to get home.
“They operated on his heart in a bid to give him a little longer, maybe with the 100th birthday in mind. But he didn’t really care about that. He just wanted to be back in his own bed. There is no way he would have wanted to die in hospital.”
Upon hearing the news of the Duke‘s death, the Prince of Wales drove from Highgrove, his Gloucestershire home, to be with his mother.
At 12.01pm, Windsor Castle issued a 58-word statement confirming: “It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.” Within seconds the statement had made it on to the airwaves and messages popped up on smart phones all over the world.
My thoughts and prayers are with the Prince and the Royal family.
It has not yet been decided when the funeral will take place, but it has already emerged that due to Covid guidelines only 30 mourners will attend the ceremony. The funeral is expected to take place next Saturday at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. There is likely to be a short procession within the castle grounds. Buckingham Palace confirmed last night that the Queen was considering the revised plans, which will be announced in the coming days.
The Duke would have turned 100 in June and the royal household were busy trying to put plans together for a modest celebration to mark his century. However, the Duke desired no such fuss. Having once declared he “couldn’t imagine anything worse” than living to 100, he was described by aides as “a rather reluctant celebrant”.
As such, the man who the Queen famously described as being owed a debt “greater than he would ever claim” may not have wanted Westminster Abbey to go to the trouble of tolling its tenor bell once every 60 seconds, 99 times from 6pm last night or the military’s 41-gun salute that will be held today at royal parks across the country today to mark the Duke’s death.
The government issued guidance that all official flags, including the Union Flag, are to be half-masted on all UK government buildings until the morning following the Funeral.
Any non-official flags currently flying or due to be flown should be taken down and replaced with a Union Flag at half-mast. Half-mast means the flag is flown a third of the way down the flagpole from the top, with at least the height of the flag between the top of the flag and the top of the flagpole.
In his final wishes, the Duke who hated “fuss” and took a no-nonsense approach to life, left strict instructions that he should have a relatively low-key funeral, swapping a formal lying-in-state for commemorations and focusing instead on his military ties and charity patronages. However, Buckingham Palace confirmed yesterday that coronavirus restrictions meant the arrangements had been completely revised and public will be asked to stay away owing to coronavirus restrictions.
The Queen, perhaps as a sign of her growing uncertainty over the Duke’s health, or to help her get through the Harry-Meghan-Crisis, took household staff by surprise in March by acquiring two new puppies – despite previously saying she did not want to take on any more dogs when her most recent pet corgi had died in 2018 and was left with only one dog after having had more than 30 dogs over the years.
The Queen was said to be delighted with the extra company at Windsor Castle, having had only one since the end of last year. The pets brought in a lot of noise and energy into the castle while Philip was in hospital.
Nostalgically naming the dorgi, a cross between a corgi and dachshund, Fergus after her maternal uncle, and the corgi, Muick, after Loch Muick in Royal Deeside, there was a sense that the Queen had decided life was too short as she took on the pets ahead of her 95th birthday on 21 April. Now they will keep her company in the Queen’s new role as a widow.
Back to normal
From Monday 12th April stage 2 of easing the lockdown in England will begin. That means that outdoor seating areas are reopening in London and life starts to return to normal.
Fourth Again After Easter Weekend
Despite missing Declan Rice who got injured on international duty and losing Michail Antonio because of muscular problems after half an hour, the Hammers lead 3:0 after 38 minutes. Jesse Lingard scored a brilliant solo goal, Fornals doubled their lead and Antonio’s substitute Bowen scored a third before Wolves pulled one goal back before halftime.
Lingard had been instrumental in West Ham’s second and third goal as he produced a brilliant flick on the byline to find Arthur Masuaku, whose low cross was turned in first time by Pablo Fornals, before Lingard led a quick counter to tee up substitute Jarrod Bowen to drive in the third.
In the second half West Ham held off the Wolves fightback and conceded only one more goal to secure a victory that moves them into the top four of the Premier League.
This time David Moyes’ side didn’t let slip a 3-0 lead as they had done in their previous game against Arsenal to draw 3-3, though they looked in danger of a repeat when they dropped deep as they tried to hold onto their slender advantage.
With Chelsea having surprisingly lost 5-2 to West Brom at the weekend, this win moves West Ham up to fourth with 52 points. Next Sunday afternoon the Irons will host third placed Leicester (56 points) at the London Stadium.
Bar-o-meter Until April 12th
The government has set out a roadmap for lifting lockdown in England thanks to the coronavirus vaccine programme going to plan. Coronavirus infections in Britain are lower than in all the main EU nations as the number of second vaccine doses administered reaches a record high.
Last week outdoor sports facilities were allowed to reopen in England, but pubs and restaurants remained closed for two more weeks.
From 12 April stage 2 of easing the lockdown restrictions will see all shops and also hairdressers and beauty salons reopen, and from this date food and alcohol can be served outdoors by restaurants and pubs! The Sun had a Bar-o-meter to “colour in each day until you fill your pint”.
Starting from Friday everyone in England will be offered two rapid COVID-19 tests per week, in order to curb outbreaks as the lockdown is eased.
Stage 3 shall start from 17 May when indoor entertainment will be allowed and pubs and restaurants can serve customers indoors. Hotels can open and international leisure travel may resume. Also sports fans may be allowed back to stadiums, not too late for attending the games of the last round of the Premier League which will be played by 23 May.
There will be some pilot sports events with fans prior to this date that were announced on Sunday, including the FA Cup semi-final between Southampton and Leicester City on April 18, the World Snooker Championship from April 17, the Carabao Cup Final (Manchester City v Tottenham) on April 25, and then a planned 21,000 crowd for the FA Cup final on May 15.
Finally Stage 4 (no earlier than 21 June) could see all restrictions on social contact removed if vaccine programme continues to go to plan.
EXTRA TIME 
Recent Comments