TB1

This just goes to prove how effective government propaganda can be? Unfortunately large swaves of the population will currently believe any ole crap that is peddled by Downing street. I'm not being flippant but surely if a virus WAS as deadly as stated that why are not permanently under house arrest? Not popping to the shops for a sandwich etc but proper locked down, where you are not allowed to leave your house for anything. I afraid we've been sold a dud and it's working!

I would say disastrous for many organisations not just sports clubs. Once again more mixed messaging bollox from the government. I think george Orwells 1984 is slowly becoming a reality as they assimilate control of us all. I get that some people are afraid and will do as they are told however if Putin was about to invade and the government said we must all bear arms then would people actually follow this advice?

I've heard sales of wheelbarrow are going to go through the roof next year, as we will all need them to carry our cash when inflation goes through the roof!

14th july sounds positive and I guess that way we will know one way or the other. Unfortunately HM Government have done a splendid job of convincing most of the population that we are all going to die in a fire pit of hell that some tracks might struggle to get punters in. After it is already evidently clear that a great number of watering holes are close to collapse due to struggling numbers!

Lockdown is a term used in an American penitentiary when prisoners are rioting. It's a bloody awful term like social and distancing. Presumably it's the media that have started the use of these god awful words?

Local police authorities must have saved an eye watering amount these last few months not having to police town centres and major sports events and the like. Its interesting how the media never seems to report this.

Absolutely spot on! The government has made mistakes that generations after us will pay for. In times gone by most of us have seen recessions but not many living have seen a depression! What does it look like, maybe like a scene from mad max? More worryingly now the government has control of our lives they'll want to keep it that way!

Asked on Facebook when fans could look forward to seeing him back in British speedway, Holder told the Australian Speedway Championships: “I definitely want to be racing back in England. Without the GPs it opens up your schedule a lot more. “The past couple of years I have been battling to get hold of a visa. “I finally got one for this year and was planning to start the year. “Because the visa didn’t come in until the last minute at the end of February, I didn’t have time to get bikes and I had nowhere to live in England. This is an interesting piece from Chris Holder in the Bournemouth echo! I guess there are some things we may never know!

All very good and very valid points. What I would like to see from government is some kind of financial modelling for the road ahead, ie what kind and type of tax rises will be needed to fund this lockdown. Some estimates for furloughling millions of staff is around 60 billion. Then there is the huge cost of lost business. Even a successful business may struggle further down the line if their suppliers have gone bust. It was mentioned earlier on that BA may have to make a quarter of their pilots redundant, but it doesn't end there. If pilots are made redundant so will plane crews, ground staff, check in staff, cleaners caterers and the list goes on. Looking at a speedway scenario,if multiple tracks disappear it is the riders without a job, the track staff, the suppliers ie the companies that supply the methonol, the shale, the spairs, the maintenance people, the programme printers, the caterers, the track shop and so on. The way I see it the longer this goes on the more likely that the economy WILL never recover or at least in some kind of form that we know. And given what we have seen from Government I really think they don't know which way to turn. Let's just hope we get out of lockdown as quickly as possible and salvage what we can otherwise the current horrible death toll could be much much higher as a result of the lockdown itself.

Going slightly off topic but I noticed over the weekend ( and not much about it in the press) but the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has accused the Chinese of being less than transparent over their reporting of the virus! Me thinks he's stuck his hand in a hornet's nest.

I hope will can all share that optimism. How companies get off the ground is going to be the big tellar. Unfortunately these days the proportion of income spend on leisure activities is much higher than it was years ago. For example 18- 20 pounds admission to a premiership meeting when say the average take home pay is 300 to 400 pound is a much higher average than many years ago. I remember as a kid going to Foxhall in the early 80s and the adult admission was around 50p. Not bad considering the average take home wage was probably about 50 to 60 pounds.

I can see sponsorship or indeed the lack of it being a huge issue. I get the point of showing events on tv, even on a pay per view basis. However if or when we get through this then thousands of companies will be reliant on trying to survive the aftermath and keep afloat. Sponsoring sports events will probably be last on the agenda.

All good points and I think that speedway like many other sports will need a rethink after this. However it can depend on your point of view. If you were a Swindon or Leicester fan in 2020, then things were good. On the other hand if you supported Peterborough then you might view things differently. Personally as an Ipswich fan I throughly enjoyed the season back in the top flight where I think we belong. And this season whilst initially i was sceptical about signing Jason Crump i do think the rest of the team is solid and I really hope we see something this season and the Crump signing will have my support. As far as the witches are concerned I fell like last year the club got its mojo back like days of old. Looking forward I strongly think that finances will dictate a lot and some things including sport will just not be the same. Just look at sponsorship, are companies going to be laying out money if possibly after upto 3 months of shutdown they are trying to rebuild business if indeed they are lucky enough to still be in business?

I agree totally with what you say. I don't think any form of spectator sport will take place in the UK this year. However in speedway terms if this is the case I would like wherever possible to see this years teams effectively transferred to next year. In effect the 2020 season taking place in 2021 with the same declaration of teams.

Serious question but is it true there is hardly any wildlife in Vietnam because they have eaten everything?

Who thinks this is a Chinese conspiracy to rule the world. It is interesting that cases in China are well down from previous weeks? Firstly there's the politician in Brazil who thinks the Chinese have deliberately unleashed this to take over the world economy and secondly and possibly more importantly, there is the war of words between Trump and the Chinese over trade which has been going on over trade in the last couple of years. As I stated in a previous post somewhere, what would we have if the supply of goods from china stopped? Probably rusty cranes at the Port Of Felixstowe and all of us living in houses with just the 4 walls!

If we go back to work in a few weeks that's good. But if social distancing is in place for many months to come, then many many sporting institutions will go to the wall despite what some say. The government will need a ' functioning' economy which means just that food on the table and essential services which means sporting clubs and the leisure industry could cease to exist, probably unpalatable for a lot of people but the government will probably say it's a necessary evil!

I agree totally it certainly won't stop me going anywhere but just imagine pubs that were packed at weekends could be quiet with many choosing not to be in crowded locations. In terms of government cash they have in effect hospitalized (pardon the pun) the economy without knowing if they have enough aftercare when the patient finally leaves the hospital. In addition given the UK has only a very small manufacturing sector left, the knock on effect of decimating the leisure and service industries could leave millions unemployed for years to come.

Well said and I could not have put it better myself a number things that I thought but did not put in my post. Many thanks for that.

Around 500000 people die in England alone every year. What I'd like the hear from at least one hack who is questioning the daily briefing is that how many people in total have died in England on any given day. It could be a useful tool to disseminate the numbers and find out just how many are succumbing to the virus. At the moment all the hysteria is assuming that anyone who has died must have caught the virus. On the sporting front, I don't see anything happening for months as the ban on mass gatherings will be in place for a long time I think. The problem then will be will people want to go to sports events and be surrounded by lots of other people? If that is the case then low crowds could kill certain venues quicker than the current shutdown.

People believe all sorts of conspiracies and it's up to them. However it's worth noting that at the end of last year there was a massive war of words between Trump and China. Given the enormous trade deficit of over 300 billion which the US owes to China it's understandable that people will look at conspiracies. After all where would we be without Chinese goods? Just saying!

Given rider availability is going to be a huge issue right across Europe I think any kind of meetings including open ones will be the way forward once things are up and running again. Itll be upto the riders where they wish to earn their bread but yes most will just want to see any kind of racing.

Absolutely spot on the social and mental fallout of people possibly older folk starving or freezing to death in their own homes could have implications for many many years to come.

Personally if it's over in a month or so we may be ok. Up to 6 months or a year of disruption I think speedway like many other businesses will go to the wall. The government cant just print an endless pot of money otherwise hyper inflation will kick and it'll probably cost you about 50 quid or more to get into a meeting. The cost alone of a basic bailout will have severe consequences in years to come. We could be looking at 25 percent income tax and vat.

I think we all hope we are wrong regarding Crump, however I just feel he has been out of the sport way too long. Perhaps the theory is if the other 6 riders give an extra 5 per cent then it may cover for any deficiencies that Crump may have such as fitness and State of mind having been out for so long. And IF this goes wrong then who do we turn to then?