The viral infection is spreading widely, more clearly seen in some countries than others, as a result of looking and testing- or not.
France is in ‘lock- down as is Italy. Slowly the UK response is in keeping with other countries. It had tried yo delay the imposition of social control- banning meetings. sports and art events. By default is if happening now.
In comparison the street’s of Paris are now nearly empty.
Things are going to become more restrictive and worrying here soon I think.
The supermarkets have already had a run on certain types of food and toilet paper!
Travel has been limited by many countries- EQ could be stuck in Germany.
This pandemic is going to be a huge problem for a long time to come.
At 23-00 today the UK leaves the EU- after all this anst, anger and division. All of which is likely to continue. As many have said this is the end of the beginning, there is much to decide and clarify from now and there is again a time pressure to have many major decisions made by the end of the year- the transition period. There is a major decision point in June I believe which is to decide if an extension of the transition period is wanted and to apply. Already BJ has said there will not be one. As before the UK is boxing itself into a corner regarding the timetable, which result in pressure and more so on the UK side I expect. It would seem that this lesson has not been learned from the last 3 years of negotiations.
The newspapers have big editions today. Brexiters should be happy. I expect they will not be in future when things do not turn out swimmingly. They will look for someone else to blame.
A taste of the headlines, very positive in the Torygraph and how they beat the ‘establishment’. Enough to make you laugh:
and the future is clearly bright!more sanguine from the other side
Brentford made it to the 4th round of the FA Cup and played Leicester City at home. The ‘Foxes’ are going well, currently third in the Premier League. So no fools.
Brentford put out a B team again essentially, as per the against Stoke in the 3rd round. Leicester were not at their strongest as they have lots games on currently including a League Cup semi- on Tuesday.
In the end Brentford played pretty well after a nervous and bad start.
But the line-up shows their perspective on the competition really. And charging full price for the game!
“In England you've two cup competitions – one of the only countries in the world that have that. I love the tradition & culture but sometimes I don’t get it." #BrentfordFC's Danish boss Thomas Frank after his reserves lost to #LeicesterCity reserves in the #FACup. #Bees#Foxespic.twitter.com/k2ZVdhgtlZ
The long running LesMis production has just moved to the Sondheim theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. So Joe’s and my return to the show was at a different venue to the one that Shaz and I watched in last year.
As with these it events it was full. We were near the top rung again but not so high and uncomfortable as with other shows.
The show was great and the apparent innovations introduced worked very well in my eyes. The projection of the sewers and the falling off the wall of the policeman to his death.
A wonderful experience for both of us. I would happily see again.
Wed 18 Dec 2019 11.00 GMTLast modified on Wed 18 Dec 2019 11.22 GMT
Bryan Mbeumo wheels away after scoring the only goal in Brentford’s win over Fulham on Saturday. Photograph: Andrew Fosker/BPI/Shutterstock
“The BMW is still running fast,” said Thomas Frank, the Brentford head coach, referring to Saïd Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins after watching his three-pronged attack combine to devastating effect against Fulham at Griffin Park on Saturday. Watkins carried the ball to the edge of the box, where Benrahma took over, buying a yard of space before scooping a cross towards the back post for Mbeumo to fire the only goal of the game, his eighth of the campaign. Brentford will leave their 115-year-old stadium at the end of this season and have designs of going out with a bang.
Mbeumo, a £5.5m club-record signing, has scored in Brentford’s past four matches, including a 7-0 demolition of Luton. The 20-year-old winger is the latest Brentford player to make a seamless transition from Ligue 2 to the Championship after joining from Troyes in the summer, following in the footsteps of Benrahma and Neal Maupay, the striker who moved to Brighton in August for £16m after two prolific seasons.
Benrahma was a £2.7m signing from Nice after impressing on loan at Châteauroux, and Maupay a £1.6m arrival from Saint-Étienne after shining at Brest. The defender Julian Jeanvier, in effect John Egan’s replacement 18 months ago, joined from Reims, while Maxime Colin, now of Birmingham, piqued Brentford’s interest at Troyes. Yoann Barbet, now of Queens Park Rangers, joined in 2015 after a season at Chamois Niortais.
It is not only in the French market where Brentford have found joy; Watkins was a £1.8m buy from Exeter City in 2017, and in the summer they paid Barnsley £3m for Ethan Pinnock, who was playing for Dulwich Hamlet three years ago. Pinnock has been paired in central defence with Pontus Jansson, who was made captain after arriving from Leeds United in July. The pair in effect replaced Ezri Konsa and Chris Mepham, who this year sealed Premier League moves to Aston Villa and Bournemouth respectively, bringing in £27m.
Brentford have sold almost £100m of talent since 2014 and sales are vital to countering the club’s £10m-£20m annual operating loss. At 28, Jansson represented a noticeable shift, being the oldest outfield player to join since Lasse Vibe four years ago, but strengthening the defence was a priority.
The Christmas binge goes on and Friday night was Panto night at the Questors in Ealing.
A trio for five that was fully enjoyed. It was a different style of performance from last year when Shaz, Joe and I went to Wimbledon Theatre to see Paul Merton among others.
The actors were mainly children from the Questors young person’s school. There were lots of their mums and dads in the audience I think.
The Pantones was funny, good fun and beautiful. Very different from last years but good all the same and still the same classic format.
This was a second time visit and this time with the boys.
It is quite a different event with readings interspaced with music both of the easily recognised and the less typical.
The reading came from the Bible but also thought pieces on believe and religion. There readers were well known – in particular Celia Imrie and Clive Myrie ( BBC journalist) who both clearly are well practised in delivering words.
Mostly beautiful music in Latin, German and English. The traditional carols in English and a selection of others sung by the choir with a very beautiful combined voice. The German version of Silent Night, Holy Night in German (Stillest Nacht) was great. Not all the offerings worked but that is how it goes.
One more event in our procession of Christmas orientated events. Keep it going.
