Rob you may be a bit old for it now but I remember the first jab I ever had (at least the first I can remember having) I forced myself to watch the needle go in. Got rid of any fear.

SB - I only had the Covid jab because I wanted/needed to go abroad. I would have happily not had any if not

Can’t disagree OI even though I was in favour that ST holders should be members considering they are paying at least £300 per season for a ST and provide a bigger financial injection than the previous £25 DT membership.

REPD - do follow OI's advice. The do treat virgins carefully ....

REPD - oh FFS man up!!! You probably couldn't get a needle in your arm quick enough when Covid destroyed so many innocent lives

Warn them then Rob, they'll take special care of you. I had needle phobia till after the first Covid jab.

Stu - unfortunately, the extra 4,000-5,000 members are all probably blissfully ignorant of their membership and what is going on

Alan/RK - thanks. Only need to do it once (I hope) for four separate samples, so I'll grin and bear it

That's a shame Stu as it's only as good as we all make it.

Just read through the manifestos and respectfully, none excite me and all pledges in the manifesto can be ignored when you read Simon Hood’s manifesto of the roads blocks he encountered.

Possibly the only course open may be legal action - initially to halt the elections

Rob, one usually in one of your arms by the joint. If they need to send to more than one lab, they'll just use n number of vials to collect from same needle. Advice is remember to hydrate properly, which makes it easier for nursey to extract blood. If it's difficult, she will start to look at other access points like hand and feet, which are quite painful

Are any of us surprised by all this around the elections. I still need to read all the manifestos but have read Simon Hood’s and it’s very much what I have heard and concerned me. I don’t understand why he did nothing about it during his time on the board and if he gets a 3 year term, do we have to wait until the end of the term to see what he thinks. He is probably better fighting on the outside and campaigning for change, or at the very least linked up with similar minded candidates to create a group of people on the DTB who can stand up to change collective responsibility which I hate.

I can only use three votes this time around. I can see why some people don't agree with Simon Hood but at least he is straightforward with his beliefs.

Rob, usually 1 and they fill an number of (pint) pots from that

But what's to be done? Angus hasn't replied to a single email. The ESG independent scrutineer hasn't replied either. The Rule 121 appeal from last year is still open and inactive - I have raised another Rule 121 appeal for this one but not exactly expecting that to be resolved before the election.

Morning all. So, a new bunch of mods in town...

Thanks Bert, good luck to the mod team

Point 1: The ESG are there to serve the members not the DTB, this really needs to be clearer and, possibly, better understood. Point 2: The election rules are for the benefit of the members, it would be nice but impracticable for the members to approve them but there can be no possible reason for redacting any discussion about election rules in DTB minutes. The members deserve to know about rule changes.

Trouble is with Rule 10 more than one board member had never heard of it when I discussed it with them. And I understand that there are people who have spoken with the Secretary who told them that they did not seek approval from the board.

Thanks to Bert for all his moderating work, thanks to Meadow for continuing with it, and thanks to AIoW and OI for joining the moderating team!! 🥳👏

Laurence: From my time on the DTB, I would say that "figment" is unfair. They are of course very summarised, and the nuance can be lost. It would be careless of the secretariat not to have minuted a decision by the DTB to approve the election rules, and careless of DTB members not to spot that, but I suppose it could happen.

SW, indeed. As you know everyone is my puppet! Mwahahaha!

Favouritism towards TBK!!

Dundonald - the minutes are an abbreviated figment of what is actually discussed.