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Beyond the pale... With most fans patience having been tested to the limit, we head into the first of two difficult away games starting at Tannadice on Saturday to be followed the week after by a visit to Firhill. Zero points from these two fixtures is a distinct possibility given our current predicament and the repercussions of that are horrendous. The only thing in our favour is that both are away fixtures as our home form has been abysmal. Clutching at straws, all three previous games this season have been close encounters. And now for the wake up call. ONLY FIVE GAMES LEFT TO SAVE OUR SEASON AFTER THESE TWO AWAY GAMES. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Arabs Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 35 10 10 15 35 45 -10 Away 29 7 11 11 37 43 -6 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 64 17 21 26 72 88 -16 United have always held the Indian sign over us. More recently, it's ten games since we beat them. That was a televised Scottish Cup game in 2019 when Joe Chalmers curled in a beauty to give us an early lead before Nicky Clark levelled from the spot. However, Aaron Doran scored a deserved winner after 92 minutes to send us off to Hampden for a semi-final date with the Jambos. (That ended in a 3-0 defeat for the Caley Jags) Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Dundee United 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 0 - 3 (H) 1 - 4 (A) 0 - 3 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 0 - 2 (H) 2 - 1 (A) Last time out We slumped badly once again at home. In fact our last two matches were home games against the only two teams we have beaten in the Championship this season. Airdrie was played out as a scoreless draw. Against Ayr we looked well off the pace and were fortunate to go in level at the break when we were gifted an unlikely penalty on the stroke of half time. That squared the game after Stanger had given Ayr the lead with only five minutes gone. Ayr took all three points when Bryden scored on the hour with the home defence floundering. We didn't lack effort, but we were sadly lacking in quality and managerial direction at a stage in the season when we need it most. Last Five: D D W D L United faltered badly a week after thrashing Arbroath 4-0. On the telly last Friday they went down 3-1 to a resurgent Dunfermline who were all over them like a rash at East End Park. All United had to show for their effort was a late consolation goal, and that was an og from Benedictus. Oh well, that shows that they can be got at although you have to attack in the first place to make something happen. You have to be in it to win it as they say. Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin said this on BBC Sport after last weeks defeat: "We didn't start the game well enough, it's as simple as that. The first 45 minutes is one of our worst performances, there's no doubt about it. We didn't offer anything going forward. "We didn't carry a threat at all in the final third and we weren't at the races in the first half. Dunfermline looked as if they were a little bit more energetic than us, picking up a lot of second balls. I can have no arguments about the result." Last Five: L D W W L Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Airdrie in Challenge Cup final on Sunday - that makes Raith Rovers idle as well. 1. Dundee Utd 29 17 7 5 56 20 58 2. Raith Rovers 29 17 7 5 49 36 58 3. Partick Thistle 29 11 10 8 55 49 43 4. Airdrieonians 28 11 6 11 33 32 39 5. Morton 28 10 7 11 35 33 37 6. Dunfermline 29 9 8 12 33 39 35 7. Ayr United 28 10 5 13 40 51 35 8. Queens Park 29 8 9 12 41 47 33 9. Inverness CT 29 7 10 12 33 34 31 10. Arbroath 28 6 5 17 30 64 23 Championship games on Saturday 23rd March Arbroath v Partick Thistle Ayr United v Queen's Park Dundee Utd v Inverness CT G Morton v Dunfermline Latest Team News Inverness' injury problems are no better. Still a whole team of players missing or carrying knocks. Here's Dunc ahead of the Arab's game. Nathan Shaw will reluctantly be thrust back into the squad as will Nicola Ujdur and Morgan Boyes. Dundee United have the biggest squad of luxury players available in the Championship yet they are still struggling to break free at the head of the table. Maybe Jim Goodwin should try another job. United team beaten last week at EEP Walton Thomson Gallagher Holt McMann Tillson (Middleton 45) Sibbald Docherty (Mochrie 64) Greive Moult (Fotheringham 64) Watt Subs Not Used: Newman; Cudjoe, Meekison, Grimshaw, Graham, McLelland

Of course it is. But it doesn't mean its wrong, or surprising, when a bunch of folk stand up and say "here, I don't really like this new risk..... so what are you going to do about mitigating it?" "chemical factories, oil refineries, nuclear power plants" don't get planning permission on protected green space in the middle of houses (well the ones that haven't burnt down due to all the statistical fire risks).

This is false equivelance. Is that statistically plausible when there's probably more houses in Dingwall (apparently they have some) than there are BESS installations around the world?

Mains gas though? And don’t get me started on cars and lorries, mobile bombs laden with explosive fuel! And then we have chemical factories, oil refineries, nuclear power plants and so on, which all obtained planning permission. Risk is everywhere you look.

Of course one BESS on its own will make a minimal contribution to addressing climate change. The problem is that for almost every one of these applications a coterie of NIMBYs propagate the same scaremongering arguments which need to be challenged, otherwise none of these facilities would ever be built and we'd make even slower progress towards addressing climate change than we currently are. On the safety point: fire services in the UK attend 22,000 house fires in an average year. Should we stop building houses? Obviously not, because the societal benefit outweighs the negligible risk. Even for the Melbourne BESS you cite, which is an extremely rare incident, nobody was injured, as was the case at the only recorded BESS fire in the UK in Liverpool.

Another perspective: "The WHO conservatively projects 250,000 additional yearly deaths by the 2030s due to climate change impacts" https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health This image shows the number of BESS faciilities granted planning permission in the UK in the last five years. One event in Liverpool several years ago, where no one was harmed, is not an adequate basis for forming a judgment on the safety of these facilities. Nor is the list in the Word document which generally relates to very small scale incidents in countries where the facilities are less regulated than in the UK.

battery-storage-press-release-v2.docxAnother perspective on the battery storage proposal

We might get a better game of football

Which suggests we are in real trouble financially. More so now after the Council decision. Some transparency re what happens now would be welcome

The most relevant bias being displayed here is cognitive bias from people who understand that climate change is happening, but believe that an absolutely miniscule risk to themselves is worth scuppering this project over. The largest recorded wildfire in UK history occurred 26 miles west of Inverness just last year. That's a fire that we should be concerned about.

The only relevant comparison is that living in a house is statistically more dangerous than living close to a battery farm. Totally agree that ILI's application was clearly done on the cheap, however.

For all vocal dissenters nobody is proposing how given our finances and likelihood the club are not directly paying for Ferguson (and assume Bollan) we as a club would afford a new manager and who they expect to turn us into world beater given the situation. Since the season started the club have shed wages and liabilities from the manager, DoF, backroom staff, senior players and parted out on loan almost all fringe players. That's a pretty comprehensive list of cost cutting measures.