Vesper

We now have almost 5000 deaths if we had the same population as the US, over 1300 pop-adjusted the last 2 days. 'They are leading us to catastrophe': Sweden's coronavirus stoicism begins to jar There’s a surreal calm in the last country in Europe to hold out against lockdown. But the death toll is rising and some are voicing dissent https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/30/catastrophe-sweden-coronavirus-stoicism-lockdown-europe The Øresund Bridge – yes, that bridge – is an engineering marvel linking the Swedish city of Malmö and Copenhagen that normally transports 70,000 people daily. It has fallen eerily silent. Denmark is under coronavirus lockdown, and the Danes have imposed strict border controls. On the Swedish side, the Øresund remains open, although, understandably not many are making that journey. It feels surreal in Sweden just now. Working from my local cafe, I terror-scroll through Twitter seeing clips of deserted cities, or army trucks transporting the dead in Italy, surrounded by the usual groups of chatty teenagers, mothers with babies and the occasional freelancer. Outdoors, couples stroll arm in arm in the spring sunshine; Malmö’s cafe terraces do a brisk trade. On the beach and surrounding parkland at Sibbarp there were picnics and barbecues this weekend; the adjoining skate park and playground were rammed. No one was wearing a mask. The global pandemic has closed down Europe’s economies and confined millions of people across the continent to their homes. But here, schools, gyms, and (fully stocked) shops remain open, as do the borders. Bars and restaurants continue to serve, and trains and buses are still shuttling people all over the country. You can even, if you wish, go to the cinema (it smainly indie fare: The Peanut Butter Falcon and Mr Jones were on at my local arthouse over the weekend). The precautions that Swedes have been advised to adopt – no gatherings of more than 50 people (revised down from 500 last Friday), avoid social contact if over 70 or ill, try to work from home, table service only in bars and restaurants – seem to have allayed public fears that the shocking images from hospitals in Italy and Spain could be repeated here. The prime minister, Stefan Löfven, has urged Swedes to behave “as adults” and not to spread “panic or rumours”. Panic, though, is exactly what many within Sweden’s scientific and medical community are starting to feel. A petition signed by more than 2,000 doctors, scientists, and professors last week – including the chairman of the Nobel Foundation, Prof Carl-Henrik Heldin – called on the government to introduce more stringent containment measures. “We’re not testing enough, we’re not tracking, we’re not isolating enough – we have let the virus loose,” said Prof Cecilia Söderberg-Nauclér, a virus immunology researcher at the Karolinska Institute. “They are leading us to catastrophe.” Strong words, but stoicism is a way of life here, as is unflappability. A 300-year history of efficient and transparent public administration, and high levels of trust in experts and governing officials, have left the public inclined to believe what they are told, and that those doing the telling have their best interests at heart. “I trust that the doctors working with the government know what they are doing, so I suppose we’re as well prepared as we can be,” Robert Andersson, 50, a vendor manager in IT who lives in Södermalm, Stockholm, said. “This ‘hysteria’ that the media is launching is far more dangerous than the virus itself.” Simon Strand, 30, a business consultant in Östermalm, Stockholm, agrees. “There is no reason to believe the authorities are not paying attention,” he said. Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s chief epidemiologist, who is leading the government’s handling of the crisis, advocates a strategy of mitigation: allow the virus to spread slowly without overwhelming the health system, and without recourse to draconian restrictions. Just don’t call it “herd immunity”, a phrase that Tegnell, and the authorities, have steadfastly refused to use. It says much for the transparency and accountability that Swedes expect from public figures that Tegnell remains so accessible to the media. With criticism of Sweden’s response to Covid-19 mounting, he has the slightly exasperated tone of a man tired of repeating the obvious when asked what he thinks of the growing concern and calls for a city-wide quarantine of Stockholm, given the very recent spike in cases there. On Monday, Sweden said it had recorded 3,700 cases and 110 deaths. “Yes, there has been an increase but it’s not traumatic so far. Of course, we’re going into a phase in the epidemic where we’ll see a lot more cases in the next few weeks, more people in the ICU, but that’s just like any other country – nowhere has been able to slow down the spread considerably.” Sweden’s nearest EU neighbours – the Danes, Finns, and Norwegians – have accepted a lockdown strategy, closing schools, workplaces, and borders weeks ago. “The problem with that approach is you tire the system out,” Tegnell said. “You can’t keep a lockdown going for months – it’s impossible.” But such a situation may become inevitable. “The government thinks they can’t stop it, so they’ve decided to let people die,” Söderberg-Nauclér said. “They don’t want to listen to the scientific data that’s presented to them. They trust the Public Health Agency [Folkhälsomyndigheten] blindly, but the data they have is weak – embarrassing even. “We are seeing signs of a higher doubling rate than Italy, Stockholm will soon have an acute ICU shortage, and they don’t understand that by then it will be too late to act. All of this is very dangerous.” Tegnell gives such criticism short shrift: “There is no evidence whatsoever that doing more at this stage would make any difference. It’s far better to introduce stringent measures at very specific intervals, and keep them running for as little time as possible.” While there is a constant reappraisal of the situation, Tegnell says Sweden has the crisis under control. “We believe we have the most important measures in place already. Of course, we might have to do more things, but we’re not there yet.” For now, Swedes seem to believe him, going about their daily routines wondering if – not when – that point might be reached. Tegnell and the government have set their course, and while it is hard to doubt their sincerity, it is difficult to reconcile Sweden’s response with efforts across the rest of Europe. Perhaps other Swedes privately feel the same, but so far are unwilling to give voice to such concerns. Orla Vigsö, a professor of crisis communications at Gothenburg University, sums up the dilemma. “People are starting to ask: are others stupid and paranoid? Or is Sweden doing it wrong?” motherfuckers!!!!

Trump is so jelly.

Pastor Who Claimed Covid-19 ‘Hysteria’ Was Plot Against Trump Dies From Virus https://www.newsweek.com/virginia-pastor-dies-coronavirus-after-previously-saying-media-pumping-out-fear-about-pandemic-1494702 A Virginia man who downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus as merely the media "pumping out fear" has died after contracting the virus. Landon Spradlin, 66, a pastor and traveling musician, died on Wednesday, March 25, at a hospital in North Carolina after testing positive for COVID-19. As first reported by Patch, nearly two weeks before his death Spradlin shared a meme on his Facebook page suggesting the media "can manipulate your life." The post compared the "mass hysteria" surrounding the number of deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. while Donald Trump has been president compared to the deaths from H1N1 under Barack Obama's administration. In the comments section underneath the March 13 post, Spradlin wrote that while he knows COVID-19 is real, the "real issue" is "the media is pumping out fear and doing more harm than good. "It will come and it will go," he added. Facebook has since flagged the post as displaying "partly false information" after being reviewed by independent fact-checkers. snip Friendly Atheist reports Spradlin went to New Orleans to “wash it from its Sin and debauchery.”

Coronavirus restrictions ‘likely to last six months’ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-lockdown-must-last-until-june-says-top-adviser-s6p0lcxk2 Michael Gove thought GDP meant Great Drugs Party https://newsthump.com/2019/06/08/michael-gove-thought-gdp-meant-great-drugs-party/ Prime Minister in waiting, Michael Gove, had a very different idea of the Gross Domestic Product after spending the nineties whacked off his tits on beak. Friend, Penny Mordant, says Britain’s next Prime Minister should not be ashamed of his love affair with freebasing the ching. “He used to line up two bowls side by side filled to the brim with the finest Colombian marching powder,” she said. “He called it The Double Dip.”

skål!

his distribution last year was really good this year, not so much the problem is also that we are so spoilt with keepers over the past 15 plus years Cech was the best EPL keeper ever and Cuntois was WC at times

Locked Up

especially as GM was a huge Everton target surely we can get £40m or so for Zouma, he has 5 prime years left at least, he is only 25yo, Brighton wants £40m for Lewis Dunk who is 29yo in November in the right system he can be a very good EPL centre backback, he just is not a Lamps style player

Worse than that Until COVID-19 (who the hell knows what the financial shape of the top 100 clubs in Europe will be post crisis) it was on track for us to be the only top 32 European clubs with no new or large, renovated stadium within 2 to 3 or so years I comment on each this list is ordered per player total value, not in terms of quality of club 1 Manchester City modern, giant stadium 2 Liverpool FC adding even more new expansions 3 Real Madrid soon, along with Barca, will have the biggest football only brand new billion euro renovated stadium, I have document both multiple times 4 FC Barcelona see Real Madrid 5 Paris Saint-Germain massive new renovation part of a billion euro overall upgrade of all their physical plant 6 Bayern Munich modern, giant stadium 7 Atlético Madrid recently opened monster new stadium 8 Tottenham Hotspur recently opened monster new stadium 9 Chelsea FC fucked 10 Manchester United panning huge renovation and expansion of OT 11 Juventus FC recently opened monster new stadium 12 Arsenal FC renovation planned for the Emirates 13 Borussia Dortmund more renovations planned, already is a HUGE stadium 14 Inter Milan brand new huge stadium planned to start soon, along with AC Milan 15 SSC Napoli brand new stadium to be soon built finally, they had THE WORST stadium (despite the atmospherics and intimidation factor) on this list, it was a true shithole 16 RB Leipzig modern, large newer stadium 17 Valencia CF brand new stadium finally will be finished soon 18 Everton FC brand new stadium to open in a couple years 19 Leicester City modern stadium, planned expansion to well over 40,000 with far more luxe boxes 20 Olympique Lyon giant new stadium built several years back 21 Bayer 04 Leverkusen soon a large renovation/expansion of BayArena 22 Ajax Amsterdam renovation already coming 23 AS Roma brand new stadium, Stadio Della Roma, soon started 24 AC Milan see Inter (I understand the money situ, but I still find it insane these two monster clubs will still share a pitch) 25 SS Lazio giant new stadium, Stadio delle Aquile soon built 26 SL Benfica renovated huge stadium 27 Sevilla FC complete renovation and massive expansion (entire new third tier and massive luxe boxes) soon starts 28 FC Porto renovated huge stadium 29 Olympique Marseille recently renovated and another planned expansion coming 30 FC Schalke 04 modern, huge stadium, and total renovation/expansion planned 31 Villarreal CF brand new stadium, Estadio de la Cerámica, being built 32 Hertha BSC renovated Olympiastadion a couple years back, then will move to a new giant one other notable clubs Sporting CP large, modern stadium, renovation coming once their financials are sorted Real Sociedad New Anoeta opened in 2019 Wolverhampton Wanderers massive new ground up renovation expansion soon started West Ham United not ideal but they do have a huge stadium, a new one, with tonnes of luxe boxes Borussia Mönchengladbach modern stadium, expansion/renovation on the books soon ACF Fiorentina Nuovo Stadio Fiorentina, over 40,000 cap, soon started Real Betis Balompié recently renovated and increased to 61,000 capacity Athletic Bilbao new modern, 52K cap stadium recent built VfL Wolfsburg modern large stadium, with renovations coming Eintracht Frankfurt massive expansion to over 60,000 soon started Zenit St. Petersburg huge new stadium from WC CSKA Moscow huge new stadium from WC Spartak Moscow huge new stadium from WC Wolves are getting a 50,000 seater renovation with many luxe boxes Nuovo Stadio Fiorentina (I love this design, and ffs, even Fiorentina is getting this done)

Happy Birthday N'Golo Now, Time to sell

Trump Sent 170 Broken Ventilators To California As An Insult, What A Cunt, But...........

great article

my next COVID posi-pool candidate