alanjjohnstone
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/31/football-teams-retain-home-advantage-no-crowd-study
“I was always convinced that me being at the games and supporting the team, at least changed something, sometimes. But what can you do? It is science and the large data set of more than 40,000 games, which were considered for the study, cannot be ignored. Social support does not seem to be a key factor for the home field advantage.”
Under normal circumstances home teams receive fewer disciplinary sanctions and are able to create more offensive actions compared with away teams. But, in line with previous research, the authors found the difference in disciplinary sanctions disappeared – or was even slightly reversed – when the crowd was absent,
“If a team asked me what to do to gain an advantage, I would need to tell them to put as much social pressure on the referee as possible. The problem is that that’s not fair play, so I don’t really want to say that – although I think it’s true and that’s what’s in this study,” said the lead author, Fabian Wunderlich of German Sport University Cologne,
The official policing inspectorate showed repeated bias in favour of the police and against peaceful protesters as it compiled a report which backed a government clampdown, a whistleblower has alleged.
The complainant says a report on protest released in March this year was skewed in favour of the government view, with conclusions reached before evidence was gathered and assessed.
Contrasting analysis from Peter Ford, former UK ambassador to Syria and Robert Ford, former US ambassador to Syria
Although China still consumes 28% of the world’s meat, including half of all pork, and boasts a meat market valued at $86bn (£62bn), plant-based meat substitutes are slowly making its presence. Vegetarianism and veganism is gaining in popularity.
A less confrontational approach may have been able to save something but it looks as if they have now lost everything.
I recently watched a video from Australia interviewing young mainland Chinese studying at university and the general response of them to the Hong Kong situation was surprisingly unsupportive, accusing their compatriots of seeking special privileges and being disloyal. The spirit of Tiananmen Square was noticeably absent.
I did read an analysis from way back that the protests were not resonating with mainland Chinese and it wasn’t because of social media censorship by the government.
“including one clearly unable to resist doing so on each and every conceivable topic. On other fora of which I’m a member, individuals are restricted to the number of messages they can post in a given time period.”
If this is in reference to myself (apologies if it is not), it is compensation for the majority of Party members including office holders who distain from posting on the forum for whatever reason they may hold.
It is not a particularly well visited popular website compared with many others but for those who do drop by, it should have amply coverage to retain their interest and attention.
I view this forum as an alternative news outlet for the members use of on their own social media. For the SOYMB blog i do an extensive survey of websites and inevitably come across items of interest.
I also seek to update older posts when more recent information very often contrary to my own personal positions which i still post here so that the forum looks and feels contemporary and relevant to current affairs.
Another purpose of the forum is to encourage debate and discussion among members and sometimes posts should be purposefully provocative.
An older now redundant discussion list we once hosted did have posting limits for individuals. I felt it interrupted the exchanges and interactions. If the frequency of my contributions annoy, they are very free not to click on to them or read them.
How refugee children are being “processed”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/30/crowded-us-border-facility-in-texas-opened-to-reporters
A promising trend in the USA, people are deserting the churches
https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-census-2020-8d7aab3ff29f3480a0662386b03b1725
For the first time since the late 1930s, fewer than half of Americans say they belong to a church, synagogue or mosque. 47% of Americans now say they belong to a house of worship, down from 70% in the mid-1990s and 50% in 2019.
The decline in membership coincides with the rise of the so-called “Nones” — those who claim no religious affiliation. Gallup reports about one in five Americans (21%) is a None — making them as large a group as evangelicals or Catholics. Other polls put the number at closer to 30%.
Placing the comment here because i think the Covid investigation is being politicalised by the West.
I’m had an uneasy feeling when i read the international response to the WHO Covid investigation which i felt was using rhetoric reminiscent of the Iraq WMD search.
Would the US permit any foreign nation “unfettered access”
I have no doubt that a bureaucratic-bound country like China balls-up its coronavirus action and are trying to cover-up its incompetence. But a conspiracy concerning a lab-leak – sufficient evidence is still lacking.
Do the [Scottish]parties support a universal basic income?
Willie Rennie says yes, and the Scottish Liberal Democrats argued for it during the pandemic.
Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross is not convinced of the argument for it.
Lorna Slater says the Scottish Greens are committed to working towards it and will support trials of it in the next parliament.
Anas Sarwar says yes, Scottish Labour supports it and the pandemic was a missed opportunity to trial it.
Nicola Sturgeon says the pandemic has made her more supportive of it, but the reality of not having full control over tax and social security is that it cannot be done fully in Scotland.
What i find galling, Matt, is all those left-nationalists who always go on about internationalism but are justifying independence because Scotland is more or could be more prosperous than other regions in the UK if it goes it alone.
They are happy to desert our fellow-workers in England to fight their own battles against the austerity policies of right-wing Tories and Labour parties weakened by no contribution from Scottish workers, who most likely would be rubbing their hands in anticipation of taking advantage job-wise of their English fellow-workers misfortunes.
Where is their spirit and sense of solidarity? Have they forgotten their own chant, you and i heard so many times…’United the Workers Cannot be Defeated’.
Yet another ominous development which i have cautuioned against’
Three armed rebel groups in Myanmar, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army (AA), in a joint statement said if the military continued to “kill the people, we will cooperate with the protesters and fight back”
If such groups take up arms, Debbie Stothard at the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) told AFP the situation could turn into civil war.
As we always suspect the public statements of a sharing, caring pharmaceutical industry offering generous discounts at cost price was always done on the understanding that in the future with the need for boosters there was always going to be a steady growing better business opportunity.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/30/new-covid-vaccines-needed-within-year-say-scientists
The planet could have a year or less before first-generation Covid-19 vaccines are ineffective and modified formulations are needed, according to a survey of epidemiologists, virologists and infectious disease specialists.
