Good morning dear reader on this beautiful frost laden winter’s morn. This is the last of the drivel before Christmas and the penultimate before 2022 arrives.

The rugby pages are dominated by the ludicrous, power driven decision by Mark “the power” Drakeford and Wee Jimmie Sturgeon to close down sport to the public with immediate effect. This will be another nail in the coffin of all ready cash strapped sports clubs. Let us not kid ourselves this has absolutely nothing to do with the Irish variant; O’Micron, this has everything to do with power. These two jumped up megalomaniacs see this as an opportunity to keep the people subjugated via Orwellian decrees in the hope the brainwashing makes the people forget all the other problems in their relevant serfdoms. Unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and I could go on. This is exploitation and opportunism at its very worst.

If you don’t believe me then read Sturgeon’s announcement. Right at the end there is more than a hint of Orwellian thinking. Relating to the curbs she has introduced she goes on to say “although it is guidance, do not think of it as optional…” (Thanks my friend Chart Fest)

Bruce Craig is standing down as Chairman with ex-Saracens chief Ed Griffiths coming in to take over the reins. It is stated Craig will still be funding much of Bath’s activities.

Many sports pages cover the death of Spain international Kawa Leauma who tragically passed away at the age of 32 after a fall from a building in the Netherlands.

Dai Young is back in circulation after suffering a double whammy of quarantine following the covid outbreak in South Africa. He has gone on record saying he and the club will take a lot of convincing before they go back to South Africa. This comment alone throws the whole concept of the URC back into doubt. It was always a questionable project due to the cost implications but add this into the mix and you have to ask will it survive.

Domestic rugby returns, allegedly, on Boxing Day. That said Ospreys v Dragons and Munster v Leinster are already off. In the Premiership Bath v Gloucester should be good. Will Leicester slip up at Bristol. The game of the Christmas period is on Monday when Harlequins host Northampton. The BIG question is: will this be behind closed doors? Glasgow v Edinburgh definitely is.

By the way, how clever is Wee Jimmie. She has said that up to 500 fans can attend sporting events in Scotland. This is totally unviable for clubs so clubs will say games are behind closed doors. “Not me” says the wicked witch of Alba.

If you like your sport then the Big Bash is on from down under. Some cracking T20 cricket. Liverpool vs Foxes tonight in the league cup.

So Boris hasn’t thrown us into an official lockdown. No need, it has happened by stealth. By the way when did Chris Whitty become PM and decide on government policy. I obviously missed that. Not often heard but Boris is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.

We simply cannot go on like this. The virus has become politicised and we are being misled and in many respects shooting ourselves in the foot. STOP MASS TESTING is the only way forward. We test 500% more than most EU countries so are bound to find more cases. We also have the ludicrous measure of any death within 28 days of a positive covid test is counted as a covid death. Germany only count those proven to have died OF covid following a postmortem.

The rate of spread of the new variant in South Africa is already slowing and a study in Hong Kong indicates yes, this variant does spread incredibly fast but is significantly less severe. As I said recently surely this is a good thing. Protect the truly vulnerable and let it rip everywhere else. It is a proven fact that naturally acquired antibodies are much more effective than vaccine induced antibodies.

Right, I am about to take my blood pressure so must go.

All that is left is to say THANK YOU for continuing to read this drivel, that’s mum and you other two, and to wish you and yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. Keep safe, stay well and I’ll be back on Dec 30th for an end of year review.

Tuesday 21st Dec: 09:05

Blogging on a Tuesday has been a rarity as we are normally on grandparenting duties. We are still on grandparenting duties today but in a different way and I wanted to exercise my brain by misspelling words, ignoring punctuation and randomly throwing words on to a page, as I normally do…….. a bit like your average university graduate!!!

Anyway, so to rugby. As rumoured last week Johnny Hill is heading north via the M5 and M6 to Sale. A bit of a surprise but I am guessing Exeter are trying to balance their books in the wake of the salary cap. Stirring the pot a little having both Hill and Ford arriving next season might be raising a few eyebrows, especially in that stadium near Hendon.

Whilst on the exercise bike yesterday I watched the highlights from the Champions Cup. Well done Cardiff for sticking at it. Try of the day in that game from young Cabango. Boy has he got some gas. Plenty of other good tries on offer across the games. It is a real shame the tournament is in chaos.

Rules & regs are there for a reason but it seems bizarre the blazers have it hit Leinster and Ospreys with 28-0 losses but the following day all the other games vs French sides were p-p. This as a result of Napoleon’s closure of the borders only coming into effect at midnight Friday.

Here we go. The Welsh Stasi have decreed that from Boxing Day all sporting events will be behind closed doors. This due to the paranoia about the virus. So it is spreading like wildfire but it seems very few people are getting ill and even fewer are needing treatment, especially in hospital. Surely then if that is the case isn’t it better to let the damn virus rip. Get as many people infected as possible. Having it and having the booster surely gives you a huge number of anti-bodies. Please tell me that is a good thing. Not for the pharma industry of course but for us surely it is.

There’s a good piece in the Irish Times by Owen Doyle where he refers to the decline in standards when it comes to respect for the match officials. In recent weeks referees have had to stamp down on dissent in several high profile games. Like Doyle I agree we need to nip this in the bud. Even at our level it is a growing problem so old farts like me need to step up and put our arm round players and spectators alike just to remind them of the values of the game.

No rugby now until Boxing Day but how many of those games will go ahead. Ospreys v Dragons has already been called off due to covid. That might prove to be a good thing as it will be hoped the game will be played later after the unwarranted and draconian rules on crowds.

Moving on. What is it with English test cricket? To be fair there are probably plenty of answers but at the moment we having to watch men against boys.

Well done Emma Raducanu, BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Deservedly so? I have no idea.

New Orleans Saints are still in the hunt for a play-off spot after beating Tom Brady’s Buccs. Hoorah!

I was going to rant but I think more and more people are waking up to the fact we are being led by the nose down the garden path to oblivion by evil trolls. The Buffoon has quite rightly not introduced further restrictions as clearly they are being implemented by stealth and the data manipulated by white coated horror movie scientists. The doomsday forecasts are clearly flawed with at least 50% of patients in London hospitals WITH covid only being diagnosed AFTER arriving with another ailment. I have been saying this all along. We need to be told the co-morbidity rate of patients and more importantly deaths. We are not being told this because it is NOT very scary.

As you know I have been monitoring the data and it remains very consistent. The more you test the more positives you get but the proportion of NEGATIVE tests remains between 94% and 96% of all tests. The same applies to the numbers in hospital. The admission number is totally misleading. The number that counts is the total in hospital and the number in ICU. Whilst there are fluctuations they remain pretty constant just under 8000 and 1000 respectively. Yesterday it was 7,562 and 862 up 155 and 5 from the previous day.

Ok that’ll do for today. Apologies to the Friday Club has they have already seen today’s quiz question……
Part 1. If you could sacrifice one country to save the rest of the world from covid which country would you choose?
Part 2. Explain why it is France!

Monday 20th Dec: 08:10

Not much rugby to report on but a couple of games did go ahead last weekend. In our league, London 2 South East, Ashford beat Folkestone 23-13. Ashford are now in 11th and just 5 points behind us in 10th. Folkestone are propping up the table some 12 points further adrift. Thanet Wanderers v Deal & Betteshanger also went ahead with the home side winning 21-17. All other games were postponed.

In London 3 South East the all Sussex clash went ahead with Pulborough, like many clubs before them, putting Crawley to the sword. 60-10 the margin there. One other game was played with Aylesford Bulls coming away from Gillingham Anchorians with a 20-11 victory. The Bulls go 2nd as a consequence.

Of all the teams in all the other leagues I usually comment on only Stourbridge and Canterbury played. Stourbridge lost at Luctonians, Canterbury beat Guernsey.

All very depressing really but the virus is rife and like the film of the same name it was right to “save Christmas”.

On Friday Saints poor European form continued losing to Ulster, who looked mighty impressive. On Saturday Glasgow beating Exeter stands out and that second half burst by Harlequins in putting Cardiff away pleased those with Quins affiliations no end. Yesterday Leicester Tigers continued their fine run of form beating a gusty Connacht side. Even without a beer in hand I enjoyed this one. Yes, yesterday was An Alcohol Free Day.

The headline that catches the eye is the very sad news that Osprey’s Ifan Phillips has had his right leg amputated above the knee following the awful motorcycle accident some weeks ago. Whilst this is tragic he is alive and reading the reports he is “up for the challenge” that he now faces. We wish him well for the future.

I am not surprised that Brad Shields was successful in his appeal against the recent red card. When I saw it I had my doubts and the appeal panel clearly thought the same. It should have been mitigated down to a yellow.

Will Muir has no grounds for appeal and he is now banned for 4 weeks following contact with the eye are of Josh van der Flier to Leinster.

Two interesting articles in The Guardian. The first is how the USA is desperate to host the 2031 World Cup. The second relates to the ongoing issue of head injury and trauma. This is quite a sobering piece and highlights the enormous challenge for rugby. Tweaking the laws is achieving very little, in some cases one might argue lowering the tackle height is putting the tackler more at risk. I still say one law change could make a big difference and that is reduce the number of subs from 8 to 3 across the entire game. Watching Leicester v Connacht and seeing a plethora of pumped up wildebeest come on with 20 minutes to go is terrifying.

Chris Foy in the Daily Fail has suggested, quite rightly, that if the pompous twit (my words) Macron continues to keep his borders closed to the irritating UK hoarders (my words) then the two European tournaments should be cancelled. The new streamlined format was fraught with risk from the start. Already theses cancellations have thrown the tournament into chaos. Mr Foy, you are spot on. Sadly however the clubs will be screaming about the lost revenue.

Today will be another “c” free day. I will say however that the SAGE committee should be put with the onion committee and stuffed where the sun don’t shine. Self-serving, scaremongering, crackpots.

I might have a rant tomorrow in the absence of any rugby news, simply because I can. Please do remember to go online and do your own research. Read beyond the headlines and listen to those front line doctors and hospital administrators who are standing up and saying things are nowhere near as bad as is being made out. In fact highlighting that many of the naysayers are hyping up the gloom for their own benefit, e.g. funding. I’ll leave that thought with you.

Oh, except to say, I support those who are shouting loudly about lockdown but cannot support the anti-vaxx brigade.

Sunday 19th Dec: 09:45

Just a few words this morning as me and my mate Sav had a very long day in the saddle yesterday. Disappointing to see so few at the Christmas Lunch but hey I guess that is what happens when paranoia and anxiety become the norm in society. Those who did go were treated to a truly magnificent lunch. The food was outstanding and the company enjoyable. Thanks Jacqui and Louise.

Obviously no games at Steel Cross, in fact very, very few games anywhere in the South East. I’ll look at what happened across our great game tomorrow.

Champagne, Cheese & Carols today at the club. Sadly we won’t be there. A family commitment.

Right, that’ll do as I am giving the “c” word a rest today. I guess much to the relief of many. By the way thank you to those who took the time to write in support of my alternative presentation of the ***** situation. Very much appreciated.

I also guess I received zero complaints because people who oppose my view have stopped reading this guff. Let me be an arrogant ar** “your loss”.

Remember if you can AND you want to get your jabs done, take the virus seriously but please don’t panic. Do your own research.

Back tomorrow less shabby as today has been deemed AAFD.

Saturday 18th Dec: 09:15

I don’t normally blog on a Saturday but with virtually all local games and many senior games off I thought I would. Very quickly yesterday the “P-P” appeared against most fixtures. It is not surprising as the paranoia and anxiety inducing news reports continue plus of course the scaremongering of the scientists. As a consequence I thought I would give my own take and some alternative facts, ALL of which are taken from the government’s own data or the ONS.

Before I give you my version of a press release can I stress two things………

We must take the virus seriously but we also need to take control of our own lives.

There are many more than valid reasons for people to go into self imposed lockdown…….
“My baby son needs constant medical care as it is. I can’t afford to add this on top”
“I am doing something this Xmas I haven’t done for 20 years. I am not going to take the chance of being pinged”
“I am about to have a medical procedure and am not willing to see that cancelled”
….. and I fully understand and support those making these decisions but we are now being driven into lockdown by stealth and that isn’t right, in MY opinion.

====================

Bleater’s Blog Commentary

Yesterday it was announced that 93,000 people tested positive for Covid. The good news is 94% of all tests were negative. Even though there was a slight increase in cases it is reassuring the vast majority of tests remain negative.

The other good news coming out of the data is the number of people in hospital with covid remains below 8,000 with an increase of only 14 over the previous day. The better news is there were 13 fewer people in ICU. The numbers remain relatively constant highlighting the wonderful way any new admissions are compensated for by discharges.

Sadly people are still passing away with Covid. Yesterday another 111 people passed within 28 days of a positive test. However many of these will be as a result of co-morbidity and sadly an increasing number being those who have chosen to be unvaccinated. It is worth noting the total of 147,048 is a very long way from Prof Ferguson’s outlandish prediction of 500,000. Whilst saying death can deliver good news is wrong the 907 covid deaths this week represent just 7% of all deaths. More good news comes with the fact total deaths for the UK are now in line with the top end of the 5 yr average pre-covid.

The good news doesn’t end there as the vaccination program, despite a few hiccups continues apace. More importantly early indication from South Africa where the new strain first emerged indicate it does spread rapidly but the impact on health and health infrastructure is significantly less than previous strains.

We at the Bleater’s Blog won’t be bringing you the latest outlandish prognostications from Prof Ferguson nor the deliberate scaremongering of the self-serving scientists. No wild guesses of what will happen just the facts from official sources for you to make your own decisions.

There are many positives we can take from the latest data indicating lockdown by stealth or enforced lockdown is totally unnecessary. People can make their own mind up but certainly shouldn’t panic.

Do take the virus seriously, do take whatever steps to protect your loved ones and your plans intact but don’t panic and certainly don’t cut yourself off from society.

Release ends

==================

Friday 17th Dec: 09:00

URGENT UPDATE

Tomorrow’s game against Gravesend is POSTPONED.

It will now be played on February 5th ‘22

The Christmas Lunch tomorrow and Champagne, Cheese & Carols on Sunday are going ahead as planned.

I’ll see you at the club tomorrow.

========================

Many of you will have been concerned about the news reports of yesterday relating to Covid cases.

Please note that to get to c.90,000 cases over c.1,640,000 people were tested. This equates to 95% of all tests being NEGATIVE.

The more you test the more cases you find BUT remember you are not being told how many of these people are asymptomatic.

Please also remember that yesterday it was announced another 849 people were admitted to hospital and the number of admissions was going up.

What you weren’t told is the number of people in hospital went DOWN again yesterday by 108.

Finally it is painfully obvious that the scientists, media and government are deliberately not telling us anything about the one death believed to be WITH the latest variant. I say to you that if it was something to worry about they would have had it on BBC quicker than Matt Handcock giving contracts to his mates.

Please do your own research but my message is you need to do what is best for you and take whatever action you believe is appropriate. Do take the virus seriously but in my mind there is no need to panic.

Complaints to bleater@crowboroughrugby.com

Thursday 16th Dec: 10:20

Well I certainly ruffled a few feathers yesterday but I’ll get to that in a minute. First let me look at rugby and the upcoming fixtures. We host Gravesend and having been given quite a beating at their place, and them being top I am sure they will be seeing this as a nice easy pre-Xmas run out. I am equally sure our boys will be wanting to set the record straight after last week and after the earlier game against Gravesend. Kick off 14:00. Our 2s are away at Rye and the 3s are over at Crawley facing the Bulldogs.

In our league the big game of the day is Ashford v Folkestone with the bottom two going head to head. Old Colfeians take on Old Alleynians which should be interesting. The Becks face each other with Beccehamian hosting Beckenham. Elsewhere Dartfordians host our friends Charlton Park and Thanet welcome Deal & Betteshanger. Nice short journey’s all round.

In 3 South East Heathfield & Waldron v Cranbrook should be a cracker. Pulborough host Crawley. Table topping Bromley take on Vigo.

Yes there are fixtures in Harvey’s Sussex 1 this weekend and yes East Grinstead will travel to Burgess Hill. Eastbourne v Seaford, Hellingly v Uckfield and Lewes v Hove II make up the remaining fixtures.

Across Sussex Bognor host Chichester II. That should be a tasty local derby. Hove are at Old Reigatian, never an easy place to go.

Another local derby is the game of the day in London 1 South with Chichester opening their doors to welcome Horsham. Up in the Premier Inn Tunbridge Wells are off to Sidcup, Brighton down the A27 to Havant and Sevenoaks go the short distance north to Westcombe Park.

Can I say league secretaries often come in for some stick but seeing plenty of “localish” derbies in the fixture lists is good.

Finally TJs don’t have far to go with Roslyn Park their opponents. Worthing host Esher in National 2 South.

The European stuff continues with Montpellier v Leinster and Ulster v Saints my Friday picks. On Saturday Glasgow v Exeter could be fascinating as could Quins v Cardiff. I fear as the days tick by more games will go the way of Pau v Saracens. That is “off”

In other news Brad Shields was given a four week ban following last week’s red card. Wasps intend to appeal. Good luck!!

So Van Graan wasn’t going home he was going to Bath. He has been appointed Head Coach for next season. Change was always on the cards but this seems a little brutal with no mention of what is happening to Stuart Hooper in the press release.

I guess the big story is another high profile name is to leave Leicester Tigers at the end of the season. Yes Ellis Genge the recently announced Tigers captain is rumoured to be heading to Bristol. This has caused quite a stir at Welford Road and I am sure many like me are raising their eyebrows and thinking “mmmm Bristol and salary cap, salary cap and Bristol”

For those who follow England and have generous amounts of disposable income you will be able to enjoy your boys face, Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa next autumn. Sort out your new mortgage now.

Talking of England Steve Borthwick is already being tipped to replace Eddie Jones. Not a bad shout. Also rumours abound that Sale are looking at Johnny Hill and Jonathan Joseph as acquisitions for next season. Wow!

Right so who have I upset. Well some of those who are vehemently opposing covid vaccines. It is their choice. We still, but only just, live in a democratic society. The idea of charging them if they go into hospital with covid has not gone down well, unsurprisingly. I have been sent the suggestion that if that is to be the case then why not charge the obese too, especially as many of the covid cases/deaths have been amongst those who are morbidly obese. Well in response to that I say “good idea”. Anyone who has read this guff for any length of time knows I have suggested the NHS should stop trying to meet demand but reduce demand. One of my many suggestions over the years is, and I stick by it, to charge anyone who uses any form of NHS service as a result of alcohol misuse. Friday and Saturday nights A&E is often clogged up with drunks. Therefore anyone who makes a lifestyle choice that has a negative impact on the services available to help the sick needs to pay. So yes, if you fill your face with junk food everyday and drink 3 litres of Coke per day then perhaps you too should be charged for the services of the NHS. People should have the freedom to choose but life is not fair and those who make certain life choices might not be rewarded with the benefits of those who go down a different path.

Before I go today’s update on stats. Yes there were close to 80,000 positive covid tests yesterday but that was from 1,300,000 tests. So if my maths is correct 1,220,000 people tested negative or 94% of all tests. Fascinating on the day the headlines screamed “Panic” not one of them mentioned all this was on the same day people in hospital with covid went DOWN by 14. Not many but DOWN all the same!

Back on Sunday for sure and hope to see many of you at Xmas lunch on Saturday. Oh and thanks PK for the Torygraph article. Yes this is no worse than flu when strangely enough we don’t close down society.

Wednesday 15th Dec: 09:15

I don’t think I am a fool. Yes I write a lot of drivel at times. Yes, I make mistakes. Yes I can be very irritating but I am not some dolt who thinks the only news is what can be found on Faceplant or Twister. The media and the government are taking us for fools and quite frankly lying through their hind teeth. I will give you a simple fact………..

1,240,000 people tested NEGATIVE for any form of coronavirus yesterday. That is 95% of ALL tests were NEGATIVE.

Project Fear VII has gone to a new level of deceit. The headlines screamed that one person has now died with the Star Trek strain. It was blatantly obvious that the facts surrounding the death such as age, vaccinated or unvaccinated, underlying health conditions, where the virus was contracted and many more KEY questions were BLATANTLY absent from the press report. This is complete and utter bull.

I have never bought into the many conspiracy theories and I have never been anti-vaxx but right now I genuinely believe this knee jerk and totally unnecessary panic is perfect for deflecting attention from the criminal activities e.g. Hancock and Raab, of this government. I also think we continue to take larger and larger steps into an Orwellian totalitarian state run by power hungry, ill qualified clowns.

Rant over.

So to what I should be writing about; rugby. I watched some of the highlights of the weekend’s Champions Cup and quite frankly some of it was sensational. Some of the tries were simply outstanding. Yes there were mismatches e.g. Leinster v Bath and yes there were some games of attrition; Bordeaux v Leicester but from what I saw the tournament has delivered some great entertainment. I fear we won’t see it through to the end but for now lets hope the entire tournament and its baby brother the Challenge Cup continue to deliver.

A special mention for Cardiff. They could have pulled out. They didn’t. Despite the scoreline they stuck at and a bit like good old Crowborough if luck had gone their way the scoreboard could have looked significantly different.

Just a reminder we host Gravesend on Saturday, kick off 14:00. It is also our Christmas lunch. Places might still be available but you’ll need to be quick. louise@crowboroughrugby.com.

Will Chris Ashton after a glittering career hang up his boots. He has left Worcester with mutual consent.

Joey Carberry suffers another injury blow now requiring surgery on a fractured elbow. All of Ireland are hoping for a speedy recovery.

Talking of Ireland Munster’s Head Coach Johann van Graan will leave the province at the end of the season having declined a two year contract extension.

Another South African Janse van Rensburg joins Bath as defence coach. Defence has been the Achilles heel of Bath so for some this is good news.

England 7s men and women are set to have contracts reinstated after the cuts of the summer. If as I fear new draconian lockdowns are implemented and we return to empty stadiums those contracts might become as worthless and useless as Matt Handcock!!

Hidden away in The Guardian I read that Quaide Cooper is setting out on his latest attempt to become an Australian citizen. The Australians are strange aren’t they. Now there is a country run by power hungry fools. Dictatorship is already alive and kicking in Western Australia!!

Right, that’ll do. I’m about to enjoy the delights of the M25, M40, M5 and onto Bridgnorth. Before I set off can I also say some of these pathetic knee jerk reactions to the Star Trek strain are also intended to get the anti-vaxxers to change their attitude. Sorry Boris those views are so entrenched stopping people going to the football, rugby or shaking their booty in the nightclub will change absolutely nothing. Where will pain be felt most? In the pocket. Why not follow Singapore’s example and tell anyone who is unvaccinated who goes into hospital to hand over their credit card as they are now paying for their care and the care of those they are adversely affecting.

Back tomorrow with a quick run around the local leagues.

Monday 13th Dec: 10:00

Where to start? Abu Dhabi I guess. That last Grand Prix of the year was something else wasn’t it. Let’s make up the regulations as the race progresses and see what happens. If every race was as exciting as this one F1 would be drawing many more millions to TV screens to watch each week. Sadly it isn’t so let’s look at the weekend’s rugby results.

Obviously our 36-12 defeat, which should have been 36-19 as we were denied a try at the death, was disappointing but not overly so. In parts we played some very good rugby against a very good side. With Ashford losing 34-3 at Beckenham and Folkestone losing 36-8 at Charlton Park we stay in 10th place. Deal & Betteshanger beat Beccehamian 30-8 and Thanet beat OAs by 36-17 highlighting what a competitive league this is. Gravesend were held by Dartfordians 19-19 but stay top. OCs are hot on their heels. Let’s see if we can do OCs a favour by beating Gravesend next weekend. A huge ask but you never know.

In London 3 South East H&WRFC’s fixture against Vigo was postponed due to covid/injury/unavailability. I understand from my good friend Liberty that the blazers took some convincing to allow a postponement despite a very compelling case. This also against the backdrop that Leeds Tykes were allowed to postpone against Plymouth despite just one covid case. Hey ho! In the games that did go ahead the eye-catching result was Pulborough beating Dover. Bromley stay top after their win over Maidstone. Crawley oh so nearly got a “w” on the board losing 18-19 to Southwark Lancers. Our friends at Cranbrook were held to a 14-14 draw by Gillingham.

Nothing to report from Harvey’s Sussex 1 as there were no games.

Elsewhere Hastings & Bexhill came home from Faversham with a fine win. Two of the four games in Kent 1 were postponed. In Hampshire Bognor were also successful beating Locksheath. Hove were resting.

In London 1 South Horsham will have enjoyed their win over Faversham. Chichester on the other hand lost away at London Welsh, who remain top. Our friends at Medway lost to second place Camberley. Medway are somewhat adrift of London Welsh now sitting in 4th.

Tunbridge Wells endured another tough day in London & South East Premier losing 41-17 at Havant. Sevenoaks on the other hand put Maidenhead to the sword with their comfortable 43-0 victory. Brighton lost 26-43 to Westcombe Park. Dorking are still clear at the top with Oaks now in 4th.

It was a splendid day for Worthing coming home from Westcliff 52-12 winners. Canterbury were well beaten by Esher. In National 1 TJs suffered another narrow defeat losing to Taunton 21-24. Plymouth Albion v Leeds Tykes was postponed as I said earlier.

To round off the results Stourbridge beat Hull, Bridgnorth won at Sheffield and Salisbury won at Dorchester.

From the European games I watched Wasps v Munster which, that was never a red card, or was it, was pretty entertaining followed by Castres v Harlequins. A great win for the London side but it must be said against a pretty much second string Castres outfit. The stand out result was Connacht beating Stade Francais, and by plenty. Sale held off a spirited Ospreys fight back for their win down in Swansea.

In other sport Leicester City 4 Newcastle Utd 0 was satisfying. The F1 was enthralling and the debate will rage on for days to come. The New Orleans Saints get back to winning ways with a win at New York Jets.

That’ll do for today except to ask: isn’t it odd how the ramping up of “Project Fear VII” has taken the Foreign Office disgrace, the sleaze, the PPE scandal and the No 10 Xmas party off the front pages??

It is also terrifying that the media and the government are willing to peddle dodgy statistics as stone cold facts. We ARE being taken for fools which most of us are not. I say again STOP MASS TESTING and this all goes away.

Sunday 12th Dec: 10:10

Not many of us endured the journey to Old Colfeians yesterday but I hope those who did will agree with me that 36-12 doesn’t reflect the game itself. OCs are a good side and deserved to win but we made them look very good at times thanks to our unnecessarily high penalty count and a string of basic handling errors. When we got it right we looked like the side that beat Thanet and OAs in recent weeks. It didn’t help that we allowed them a score within a few minutes of the opening whistle. Soon after our defence parted like the Red Sea and OCs were 12-0 to the good and an England cricket like collapse was on the cards.

Thankfully it wasn’t to be as we kicked into gear playing some solid “joined up” rugby. OCs are a sizeable side, and I mean big, and are particularly well organised in defence. Despite our concerted pressure we couldn’t break them down. On the occasions we did get in behind them the decision making was often not the best. After the early scores I for one was very happy with 12-0 at half time.

The second half started well and we had the large and sometimes tiring OCs pack on the back foot. The outcome was a well deserved forward try. With the conversion it was game on! Sadly rather than putting our foot on the accelerator and maintaining the discipline we went back to where we were at the start: too many penalties and too many basic errors. If there was one other significant difference it was pace. OCs had pace to spare out wide, and I mean genuine pace that would grace any ground across the land. Aimless kicking ending up in the hands of either wing was all too often punished and on two occasions punished by exhilarating tries, one from 75 metres out.

The one thing that has made it all worth while despite the defeats is the boys never give up, heads don’t drop and even when giving up the occasional soft try we keep going. The scoreboard looked grim but we weren’t going to be denied so much so we scored a nice try with time still on the clock. I think it is fair to say the final 15 minutes was all Crowborough and at the final whistle were denied a third try thanks to “creative” defending and the referee being totally the wrong side to see the ball clearly grounded. The final score and a 36-12 defeat to mull over during the journey home.

The Bard and I weren’t despondent for a range of reasons. We lost to a very good, well organised and physically commanding side. The boys stuck at it and when they got it right it looked good. Yet again it was a much changed side with a number of key absentees and this on top of what remains a long injury list. Not sure if any of the lads read this guff but if they do I say this: well done, stick at it. We are NOT a bad side, we simply need to focus on our penalty count and basic mistakes.

The pressure is unrelenting as next week we face table topping Gravesend who interestingly were held at home to a 19-19 draw.

At a very soggy Steel Cross our 2s hosted East Grinstead. I continue to misread the fixtures on a Thursday as East Grinstead 1st XV didn’t have a game this weekend and enjoyed a HWO the previous weekend. I have no idea how many of their 1s turned up at Steel Cross yesterday but we came off second best losing 25-5. For the record I have absolutely no problem if EGs played several 1st XV players. They are rising from the ashes of misfortune and their priority has to be to get out of Sussex 1. I would do the same thing as a strong EG outfit is good for the game locally.

Just one game at the club today as the others have been cancelled.

The European games got off to a great start on Friday with Racing 92 putting on a master class against Northampton. I understand the Clermont Auvergne v Ulster game was a cracker. The Dragons almost pulled off a shock at Perpignan. Bath were put to the sword by Leinster but Leicester kept their excellent form going with a great win at Bordeaux. I watched Exeter power past Montpellier last night and will watch Cardiff v Toulouse later. I would suggest Saracens losing at home to Edinburgh wasn’t a result I saw coming.

Full round up of the local results tomorrow as normal.

Plenty of rugby today with five tasty looking match ups. Castres v Harlequins is my “appointment to view”. Before that there is soccer including the Mighty Foxes (not so mighty right now) vs Newcastle but I’ll be like millions glued to the F1 showdown. Will it go beyond the first lap? Will there be any dirty tricks? Who will lift the title. It should be a cracker but of course it could be a damp squib!

There is so much in the news to scream about. I am likely to go off on one later this week. In the meantime as “Project Fear VII” is ramped up and the wild guesses of the scientists is put in front of us by the pathetic media as gospel PLEASE do your own research. Go to the government’s own website site and look at the actual data. My number one suggestion is if the number of positive cases troubles you then be reassured that to get to an increase the number of tests taken will have increased by a much higher number. STOP MASS TESTING and this all goes away!!

Thursday 9th Dec: 09:50

There is only one place to start and that is with the excellent Friday Club Xmas lunch at the Kings Arms, Rotherfield. If the post event emails are anything to go by the 28 loyal Friday Club members had a superb time. Great food, great company and a seriously good laugh. I for one am so glad we got it in before the moron of a Prime Minster and the peddlers of doom unjustifiably close the country down ….. again!!!!!

Not only did we have a great afternoon we raised £135 for the Wooden Spoon charity.

Anyway back to the future and a look at what is coming up this weekend. Let us do Crowborough first. Our 1st XV are at Old Colfeians (BEWARE of the “ULEZ”), our 2s are at Steel Cross hosting East Grinstead 2s, that should be good. On Sunday our Colts host Eastbourne, sorry guys I’ll be watching the F1, our 16s host Cranbrook, the 14s travel to East Grinstead and East Grinstead Under 12s travel in the opposite direction to us. Good luck to all. Pitch management will be crucial this weekend.

In our league Ashford and Folkestone are both on their travels to Beckenham and Charlton Park. Table topping Gravesend welcome Dartfordians. That could be the game of the day. Deal & Betteshanger host Beccehamian and Thanet welcome Old Alleynians. Plenty to play for.

In London 3 South East the games to watch out for are Vigo v H&WRFC, The Greenies have asked me not to make any forecasts this week, Pulborough v Dover and Crawley v Southwark Lancers. Leaders Bromley should beat lowly Maidstone.

Some good match-ups in Harvey’s Sussex 1 with Burgess Hill v East Grinstead topping the list. Uckfield travel to Hellingly.

FYI Hastings & Bexhill are at Faversham, Bognor visit Locksheath Pumas and Hove appear to be resting actually.

Where to next? London 1 South I guess where Horsham find themselves against Farnham and Chichester at London Welsh. Camberley v Medway could be the game of the day here.

In the Premier Inn (other hotel chains are available but not for much longer as we go into Project Fear phase XV(b) ) we find Tunbridge Wells at Havant, Brighton welcoming Westcombe Park and The Oaks at home to Maidenhead. Looking at the table Sevenoaks are likely to have the easier day.

Up onto the savannah where the big boys roam Worthing are at Westcliff, Canterbury travel to Esher. In National 1 TJs welcome Taunton Titans. That is a short 174 mile journey for them then.

With regard to the Crowborough games the two Saturday fixtures are 14:00 kick offs. With more rain forecast it would be well worth keeping an eye on this website for changes to the plans.

A couple of snippets from the rugby pages. Ospreys hooker Ifan Phillips, 25, is in hospital with life changing injuries following a motorcycle accident in Swansea. Terrible news highlighting how life can be so cruel. The Guardian are suggesting John Mitchell’s sudden departure from the England setup had something to do with a falling out with Eddie Jones. Mitchell denies that to be the case but it wouldn’t surprise me if there was more than a scintilla of truth in the story. The Premiership are facing another reduction in the salary cap. The Fez Heads will not miss the opportunity to point out that Exeter are first out of the blocks in whinging about that move. Gloucester and Leicester will host England Women’s 6 Nations games.

Right that’ll do for now. I am not ashamed to say after a brilliant afternoon that I blew a casket when I heard what that moron Boris had done with regard to new restrictions, but that wasn’t the end of it. I was tipped over the edge when the devious, slime-ball Ferguson came onto the TV with his supercilious projections of doom. Think what you will of me but do not forget it was not me that said 500,000 people will die of covid. We are nowhere near that number yet the BBC have the temerity to continue using the useless arse who made that prediction as an expert. I’ll give you a hypothesis: if there was a general election today this government would quite rightly be blown out of the water. Even those with the blue of Conservatism coursing through their veins are turning against this bunch of clowns!!

Wednesday 8th Dec: 09:35

Where to start. I guess with Sadiq Khan’s money making scam known as “ULEZ”. Let us not kid ourselves into thinking this is a great climate change initiative. It is a ruse to fleece hardworking people of their money only for him to waste it on bureaucracy and vanity projects. I mention this only to remind the travelling faithful that Old Colfeians Sports Ground falls within the said zone. Don’t get caught out!

The European stuff starts this weekend but not for Scarlets and Bristol. Scarlets have reluctantly had to accept a 28-0 loss as they cannot field a team due to the pathetic knee-jerk reaction of our, and other governments to the Star Trek version of covid. Most of the West Wales outfit are still in quarantine in Belfast.

Cardiff on the other hand have cobbled together at least 15 fit bodies and will take on Toulouse on Saturday. Actually this could be a stronger than expected side as many of Cardiff’s internationals didn’t fly out to South Africa for the ill-fated URC game.

It all starts on Friday with Northampton v Racing 92, that should be good. In the lesser tournament Newcastle host Worcester and Gloucester travel to Lyon. The tournaments really gets under way on Saturday with some classic European match-ups such as Leinster v Bath and Clermont v Ulster.

Whilst glancing through the fixtures I spotted that in the Energia All Ireland League Division 1B Navan RFC host Naas on Friday, kick off 20:00. I only mention this as I played against Navan in 1984 whilst on tour. It was my last game for Crumlin RFC before moving to Southampton. Crumlin were a top notch side then. Sadly they have slipped a long way down the leagues since that time.

I see that the signing of Handre Pollard has been completed. As said already he will fit in at Leicester Tigers very nicely indeed.

Congratulations Simon Middleton, England Women’s coach. He has been named world coach of the year. It is a fantastic achievement and great for the women’s game. I don’t want to rain on his parade however but we can’t ignore the fact that the gap in terms of resources and therefore results between England and everyone else is enormous. Yes Simon has been amazing but take away the money and would things be as good. No, they wouldn’t.

Sky Sports carry an interesting piece on Maro Itoje and Eddie Jones view that he IS captaincy material. Yes Eddie I think we all know that. He still has some of the rough edge to be smoothed over but yes I think that is the thinking of many. We are saying so because we can see for ourselves NOT because we are pushing a book on “Leadership”.

Rather than reading Jones nonsense can I draw your attention to a very good piece by Andy Bull in The Guardian about how Alex and Mel Popham are coping with his early onset dementia. It makes interesting reading and reinforces the view that our great game has to continue the challenge of improving player safety. Head trauma is no laughing matter.

Any way back to the European stuff. Jumping ahead to Sunday I notice a couple of fascinating contests; Ospreys v Sale and La Rochelle v Glasgow. The game of the weekend could be Castres v Harlequins.

In other sport the Ashes have got off to a flier….. if you are an Aussie. England all out for 147 is pretty woeful.

There is plenty of soccer to immerse yourself in but the sporting highlight has to be the F1 finale from Abu Dhabi. I never thought Scaletrix would be the highlight of any sporting weekend but after last weekend’s crash, bang, wallop and the world crown on a knife edge this has to be your Sunday lunchtime viewing. It is fascinating that all the talk is about whether Max Verstappen will simply take Lewis Hamilton off the road. Whilst I for one cannot believe any sports star would want to win a world crown by cheating, you simply never know. 1pm Sunday I think the lights go out…. “ and they’re off!”

Well, it took a few days but finally he is back. Prof Neil “ffffnnnn” Ferguson with his prognostications of doom. This guy should be locked up for his falsehoods, self serving forecasts and for spreading unnecessary paranoia and anxiety through the land. Freedom of speech is important but this guy is just a publicity seeking who..!!!

There is so much in the news to get the blood boiling but the incompetence and downright despicable behaviour of Dominic Raab and the civil service mandarins in the Foreign Office is criminal. Mandarins isn’t the right name for them, “rotten lemons” is more appropriate. This truly is a scandal of a monumental scale.

Back tomorrow with a preview of the local leagues and review of the event of the year: the Friday Club Xmas lunch. Yes are following Boris’s instructions and Downing Street’s fine example and yes we are having a party.

Monday 6th Dec: 10:15

I must have had a very senior moment, or more likely I was my normal stupid self yesterday. It could also be that when watching Crowborough this season I can’t recall us ever scoring first. Let me correct that right up front. Andrew Orchard put us ahead with a well worked try before Thanet equalised later in the half. I think the rest of the stuff I wrote about the game was right……… possibly!!!

Anyway, so to the rest of the games in our league: London 2 South East. The two teams below us both lost, Ashford at home to table topping Gravesend and Folkestone very narrowly to Beckenham. We are in 10th. Next week’s opponents Old Colfeians won 29-11 at Beccehamian. An ominous sign for us perhaps, or an encouraging one. Old Alleynians put last week’s disappointment behind them stunning our friends Charlton Park 60-19. Dartfordians also had a comfortable win beating Deal & Betteshanger 43-3. There is quite a gap between top and bottom but with 12 games still to play nothing is impossible, as we are finding out.

In London 3 South East The Greenies must have been disappointed losing at home to Dover 13-27. H&WRFC find themselves in 4th some fourteen points adrift of Bromley who beat Pulborough in the leafy environ of Mid-Sussex. Crawley had another bad day at the office losing heavily, 86-12, at Gillingham Anchorians. Cranbrook are having an excellent season with their away win at Aylesford moving them into second spot in the table.

In Harvey’s Sussex 1 it is disappointing to see East Grinstead get a HWO over Hellingly. Not a great advert for Sussex rugby! Uckfield beat Eastbourne with both Lewes and Burgess Hill earning away wins at Seaford and Hove II

Here are some of the other Sussex results before going into London 1 South. Hastings & Bexhill move to third in their league, Kent 1, after beating Old Williamsonians, Bognor endured a HWO with Fordingbridge pulling out, and Hove sadly lost to Winchester in London 2 South West. By the way in Bognor’s league, Hampshire Premier, there were three, yes three HWOs!!

So to London 1 South and Horsham. They lost narrowly in a high scoring game to Hammersmith & Fulham. Chichester flew the flag for Sussex beating Battersea Ironsides 29-19. London Welsh are still top but suffered their first loss away at Guildford. Medway beat Cobham to stay in second spot.

In the Premier division it was a good day for Sevenoaks coming home from Tring with a comfortable win. Sadly Tunbridge Wells lost, albeit narrowly to high flying Wimbledon. Brighton lost at Hertford and not so narrowly. Dorking are top and CS Stags who cried off again are bottom.

In National 2 South Worthing lost by a single point to Clifton. Canterbury put 50+ points over Westcliff in their win. In National 1 Tunbridge Juddians were oh so unlucky losing 21-19 to Leeds Tykes. It is a very long way to go to lose, especially by such a narrow margin. TJs stay bottom.

Just three more results to bring you. Stourbridge lost to Fylde, Bridgnorth beat Scunthorpe by a lot, and Salisbury beat Devizes. Salisbury are 1 point off top spot in third.

I’ll start looking ahead to next week on Wednesday but confirm we travel to Old Colfeians. FYI on Dec 18th we host Gravesend when we will be having our Xmas lunch. Places are going FAST!!!!

I watched the Leicester Tigers v Harlequins game yesterday. It was slightly disappointing but on a gloomy Sunday afternoon it was better than nothing. The Tigers have shown themselves to be genuine title contenders and will head into the European contests with confidence high.

The F1 was highly entertaining by comparison. Great stuff.

It is truly pathetic that the RFU are cancelling their Xmas parties due to fear of the Star Trek virus. This is the sort of paranoia that is causing the world to collapse. Yesterday I turned the radio on whilst doing the veggies for lunch and almost after every record there was a doom-laden message about the virus. It is absolutely ridiculous. We are not being given the facts…….

To get to 43,000 positive cases 1.13m people had to be tested. The official data tells you 812 people were admitted to hospital which is strange when the official figure you don’t see says there was a ZERO increase in the number of people in hospital with covid. Nor have they told you that the number of people in hospital is actually declining!!!!!!! Finally I have had several mails supporting my comments on mask wearing, including comments from health professionals that says unless you are wearing them properly and they are of surgical grade and you are changing them at least every half an hour then you are wasting your time!!!

On this subject my view is MY view and everyone needs to make their own decision but I would suggest that it shouldn’t be as a result of paranoia and anxiety inducing mis-direction.

By the way I had my booster on Saturday at Saxonbury House. Amazingly efficient. I don’t support the anti-vaxxers but they have the right to voice their opinions as much as the self-serving politicians and scientists.

Sunday 5th Dec: 09:30

Yet another splendid day at Steel Cross yesterday and not just because of the result. The place was buzzing with many former players present and there was a good representation from the Friday Club. The clubhouse looked a picture and as you would expect the food and the service were great. Thanks Louise and Jacqui.

It was also good not only to welcome Thanet Wanderers back but also to say “Hi” to Eastbourne 3s and Plumpton who were playing our 3s (The Crows) in a triangular tournament down on what we call the D Pitch.

Most attention was focussed on the A pitch where the boys hoped to continue their exploits of last weekend. Anticipation was high amongst the faithful too and they weren’t to be disappointed. The contest started fairly evenly matched, in fact Thanet looked marginally the better side. They were rewarded with an early well taken try but from then on the game started to turn in our favour.

Unlike many of the earlier games we were putting in crunching first up tackles, the ball was sticking in hands and when kicked it was bouncing the right side of the touch line. We had our fair share of luck for the first time this season too. As the game wore on we took more and more control. The support lines were excellent, the decision making was spot on and the overall skill levels were where they should be. It wasn’t all one way traffic and Thanet worked hard to keep the ball in hand and get it wide. Our defensive work was superb regardless of the number on the shirt. This first up tackling allowed us to contest the tackle areas dynamically with us winning many of the 50/50 referee calls.

We scored a nicely worked try in the first half and should have scored again on the stroke of half time. The referee, who I thought was excellent from start to finish, deemed the ball to be held up and that was that.

I think it is fair to say the game was much less evenly matched in the second half. We took control playing some terrific rugby putting Thanet’s resolute defence under pressure all over the pitch. The scoreboard ticked over with a couple more tries, the highlight was a short range effort by Richard Tasker. It was a highlight not because of the quality but because he rarely scores and he and his lovely wife Katie are spending a lot of time with their daughter in the care of the NHS right now, who have been amazing for them by the way. The score could have been more if we had a kicker of quality but that is a bit churlish, and it is also churlish to say a fourth and therefore bonus try would have been justified based on our quality, especially in that second half.

The Bard and I discussed man of the match. There wasn’t one. All 18 players played their part and played it with skill and commitment. Andrew Orchard was outstanding and Dave Bennett and Alex Purnell led from the front. If I was to pick one aspect of the game that summed us up it was our ability to link as backs and forwards at pace.

We have not, except for a couple of the games, played badly, and when the luck, the tackles and decision making goes for you then this is the outcome: a 20-5 win over a good side. We don’t gain any league places but the gap between us and those above us has lessened.

It is disappointing and frustrating to read about a shortage of referees and worse the ones who give so much to our great game are being abused more frequently than ever before. I caught some of the Exeter v Saracens game yesterday. Even Luke Pearce had to overturn decisions and march both sides back ten metres because of “back chat”. It is unacceptable. Can I reiterate for the record, our referee yesterday was top notch. The game was thoroughly enjoyable with him being the catalyst that enabled that to happen.

In the mini tournament Eastbourne took the spoils and I chatted to a couple of guys who implied it was good fun regardless of outcome.

A full league round-up tomorrow.

In the Premiership Exeter edged past Saracens. London Irish strolled past Newcastle, Bath’s woes continue with a heavy defeat at Northampton. The game of the day appears to be Worcester 32 Wasps 31. On Friday I enjoyed the Gloucester v Bristol game. It only got going in the second half but in the absence of anything is else it was fine for me. What has gone wrong with Bristol? Today it is Leicester v Quins.

In the URC Ospreys beat Ulster but the Dragons lost up in Glasgow.

Finally a word for our Head Groundsman Drew and his elves (aka The Friday Club). Despite the torrential rain on Saturday morning the pitches held up amazingly well allowing for some terrific rugby. Well done guys.

Thursday 2nd Dec: 08:30

For those who read yesterday’s drivel early I made a schoolboy error. Yes we are playing Thanet Wanderers, yes there is a league lunch but we kick off at 14:00. It should be a good game.

The 3s, our “Mighty Crows”, are also at home facing a combined Plumpton & Eastbourne 3s. This also licks off at 14:00.

What else is happening? Ashford host Gravesend, Folkestone host Beckenham. Other than our game the pick of the fixtures in London 2 South East is probably Old Alleynians v Charlton Park. That said Dartfordians v Deal & Betteshanger and Beccehamian v Old Colfeians look close contests.

In London 3 South East The Greenies welcome Dover. That looks like a home win to me. Crawley travel to Gillingham and Pulborough have Bromley to contend with. Sadly I don’t see these Sussex clubs having a great deal of success but I hope to be very wrong.

In Harvey’s Sussex 1 East Grinstead are at home to Hellingly. The game of the day is Uckfield v Eastbourne.

Out of interest Hastings & Bexhill are at home to Old Williamsonians, Bognor host Fordingbridge, and Hove welcome Winchester actually.

Onwards and upwards. Chichester play Battersea Ironsides with Horsham passing them on the way to Hammersmith & Fulham. Two tricky games for the Sussex sides.

In the Premier Inn will Tunbridge Wells enjoy a second consecutive win against Wimbledon. Brighton and Sevenoaks have tricky trips to Hertford and Tring respectively.

In the big boys leagues Worthing welcome Clifton and Canterbury face Westcliff. I have it on good authority that Worthing are playing some really good rugby right now but with Clifton one place behind them in the league this could be close.

Here is a question. Should Cardiff with all their Covid difficulties concede the European game against Toulouse and incur a 28-0 penalty OR should they as they intend to field a team filled with academy players and anyone they can drag off Cardiff’s Queen Street risking a 50 or 60 point drubbing? For the integrity of the game the latter for me.

It looks increasingly likely Handre Pollard will replace George Ford at Leicester. A very good fit I think.

Sale wing Byron McGuigan gets a three week ban for his act of stupidity. Fair enough.

The world is going mad. Jonathan Davies and Dylan Hartley are being threatened with lawsuits after their criticism of the late cancellation of the Barbarians game v Samoa. Jiffy, Dylan, you were absolutely spot on. It was a shambolic disgrace, however the blame should lie at the feet of the morons who are insisting on continued mass testing. It is a waste of time and resource!!!

I also read the South African comedian aka Rassie has withdrawn his appeal but intends to tell his side of the story in a documentary. Dear Rassie, what is there to tell. We already know you brought disgrace on yourself and your nation by your pathetic rant.

What else is happening. Plenty of soccer. The Foxes came away from Southampton with a draw last night. It was a good game. Leicester’s defence needs some work though.

The F1 is on a knife edge with Hamilton and Verstappen both within reach of the title. Two races to go and much to race for. That said over the season there has not been much racing but lots of processions. It is sad when the highlight is a serious crash. To be fair there has been a little more excitement this season than in previous ones.

Right that’ll do except for a Covid rant. We cannot live in a permanent state of anxiety and paranoia. We have to live with this virus. It is not going to go away. I continue to scream when the media go on about cases. WHY don’t they tell you that every time cases go up it is a result of increases in testing. Nearly 50,000 cases yesterday but over a million tests. You don’t have to be Einstein to work out that 950,000 tests were therefore negative. They also don’t tell you that the vast majority of tests are with young people who DON’T get ill. It is awfully convenient with governments across the globe in turmoil for them to jump on this new Star Trek virus to deflect attention from their incompetence.

By the way mask wearing, despite what you are being told is a waste of time unless you are wearing surgical grade masks correctly. As is all to often the case the mask from the 10 for £1 bag is useless, especially when you wear it incorrectly, and you don’t change it at least once an hour, and of course your altruism and sensitivity for others is more than offset by the potential harm you are doing to yourself.

Off to the club for some pitch-marking therapy and no I won’t be wearing a ffffnnnn mask!!!!!!!