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For the Tories Bexle & Sidcup could not have come at a worse time – politicalbetting.com

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  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    edited November 2021
    eek said:

    AlistairM said:

    Worth a read although I disagree with almost all of it. Written by a TV Producer so clearly an expert epidemiologist. The only part I agree with is that they should have started jabs for secondary school kids earlier.
    https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2021/11/how-the-uk-sleepwalked-into-another-covid-disaster

    The article is entirely predicated on the basis that we should have as few cases as possible when kids went back to school. He seems to have completely missed the fact that we have been living our lives as normal and building up a good level of immunity. He also seems to have had this article published just as countries who did what he wanted are having massive Covid spikes which risk overwhelming their health systems and going into lockdown.

    I suspect the preferred plan would have been to vaccinate school children in July but there simply wasn't the capacity to do so then.



    That's total jabs given per day. We had capacity in July.
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    Monkeys said:

    On going outdoors, I saw Suede a week or so ago. Brett Anderson's preening narcissism and arrogant showmanship was the perfect end to COVID. He was as high as a kite.

    As did my wife in Manchester, she also caught Covid there but claims it was worth it.

    The front half of the house is now out of bounds for everyone house (the house is big so it doesn't really impact anyone).
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,633
    eek said:

    AlistairM said:

    Worth a read although I disagree with almost all of it. Written by a TV Producer so clearly an expert epidemiologist. The only part I agree with is that they should have started jabs for secondary school kids earlier.
    https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2021/11/how-the-uk-sleepwalked-into-another-covid-disaster

    The article is entirely predicated on the basis that we should have as few cases as possible when kids went back to school. He seems to have completely missed the fact that we have been living our lives as normal and building up a good level of immunity. He also seems to have had this article published just as countries who did what he wanted are having massive Covid spikes which risk overwhelming their health systems and going into lockdown.

    I suspect the preferred plan would have been to vaccinate school children in July but there simply wasn't the capacity to do so then.

    Other than that the only thing that could have gone differently would have been a 4 - 5 month window for booster shots not 6 months, but that really is a pedantic point more than anything else.

    The truth is that since March 2020 the only solution to Covid is via herd immunity and praying that it doesn't mutate into something else while we get there.
    There was capacity. JCVI was holding things up

  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,865

    kinabalu said:

    On the Yorkshire "Kevin" use, I'd guess that it was used due to it sounding quite similar to "Kaffir", another word that Ballance is alleged to have used (and presumably picked up due to his Zimbabwean background).

    No idea how they got "Kevin" but you just know it comes with a 'looking down upon'. I'm a massive unfan of nicknames in general, racist or not. Your name is an important thing and shouldn't be messed with by other people. Ok, so sometimes a person will like a nickname they're given, but usually they won't. Also they'll sometimes pretend to like it so as to fit in and look a sport. This can then get internalized and they feel even worse about themselves for not being firm and true to themselves. Hence these "why are you speaking about this now when you didn't then?" scenarios. Eg the female Tory MP humiliated by Stanley "slap a filly" Johnson back in 2003. Much of this stuff is about power imbalances and bullying imo rather than innocent banter. And as for names, I really do recommend the simple approach of calling people by their actual name with no arsey riffing around.
    I think the similar sounds thing is important. It means once the nickname is established it can be exchanged for the racial slur with plausible deniability - "I didn't say Kaffir, I said Kevin - it's his nickname"

    Did you ever wonder why John Barnes got the nickname "Digger"?

    Was it really just because there happened to be a (old white man) character in Dallas called Digger Barnes?
    Yes, probably so. I didn't actually know JB had that nickname but, yep, I'm sure you're right about why he did. Oh dear.

    As I was arguing yesterday I don't view words as being inherently and always less serious than actions. Eg, a bullying scenario, somebody coins a contemptuous nickname for you and gets it widely used versus somebody puts your stapler in a jelly. The first could quite easily be way more hurtful and damaging. More 'violent' in fact than a punch in the face, depending.
  • Sir K going on HS2 and rail.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,775
    Sandpit said:

    HYUFD said:

    House of Lords reform polling.

    Should it be:

    Abolished 22%
    Entirely elected 30%
    Partly elected 15%
    Entirely appointed 9%
    DK 25%
    https://twitter.com/SavantaComRes/status/1460930969062543361?s=20

    Why has HoL reform popped up again?

    People who want it “entirely elected” don’t appear to know what its purpose is.
    The first question needs to be, what is the HoL *for*, why is it there? Answer that question, then think about how it should be formed.
    Well it used to be to represent different interests, so that the negotiation between different interest groups would happen explicitly between chambers. If you were to reform it to do that for the modern world you might have a House of Men and a House of Women, or a House of Landlords and a House of Renters, Young/Old, etc.

    There are some upsides to making those tensions and divisions explicit, and some downsides. It also represents a complete upending of the current constitutional settlement based on the primacy of the Commons.

    If you want to retain an upper chamber as a revising chamber, one with a weaker partisan divide so that the prospect of a government majority was remote, and it could act as a reality check on a wayward government with a large Commons majority, then I'd favour using the jury system to create Lords for a year of citizens chosen by chance.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,165

    "House prices soared to a record high in the final month of the stamp duty holiday after the average property gained £7,000 in the space of one month."

    Telegraph

    Given that Tory sleaze has made a comeback, what odds on a return of Tory boom and bust?
  • kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    On the Yorkshire "Kevin" use, I'd guess that it was used due to it sounding quite similar to "Kaffir", another word that Ballance is alleged to have used (and presumably picked up due to his Zimbabwean background).

    No idea how they got "Kevin" but you just know it comes with a 'looking down upon'. I'm a massive unfan of nicknames in general, racist or not. Your name is an important thing and shouldn't be messed with by other people. Ok, so sometimes a person will like a nickname they're given, but usually they won't. Also they'll sometimes pretend to like it so as to fit in and look a sport. This can then get internalized and they feel even worse about themselves for not being firm and true to themselves. Hence these "why are you speaking about this now when you didn't then?" scenarios. Eg the female Tory MP humiliated by Stanley "slap a filly" Johnson back in 2003. Much of this stuff is about power imbalances and bullying imo rather than innocent banter. And as for names, I really do recommend the simple approach of calling people by their actual name with no arsey riffing around.
    I think the similar sounds thing is important. It means once the nickname is established it can be exchanged for the racial slur with plausible deniability - "I didn't say Kaffir, I said Kevin - it's his nickname"

    Did you ever wonder why John Barnes got the nickname "Digger"?

    Was it really just because there happened to be a (old white man) character in Dallas called Digger Barnes?
    Yes, probably so. I didn't actually know JB had that nickname but, yep, I'm sure you're right about why he did. Oh dear.

    As I was arguing yesterday I don't view words as being inherently and always less serious than actions. Eg, a bullying scenario, somebody coins a contemptuous nickname for you and gets it widely used versus somebody puts your stapler in a jelly. The first could quite easily be way more hurtful and damaging. More 'violent' in fact than a punch in the face, depending.
    I've discovered another reason given for the "Digger" nickname - his initials are JCB.

    I think that's slightly better 'cover'
  • John Rentoul
    @JohnRentoul
    ·
    47m
    Want to feel old? This is the question
    @tylercowen has to answer now: “Why is inflation so bad?”

    Partly this is the young being naive. But partly it is also inflation isn't necessarily so bad for the young, it hits older people harder.
    Well indeed I've made the point many times before that inflation has existed for the past few decades - its simply inflation that's benefited the old while punishing their grandchildren.

    The average rate of inflation in housing costs has been 6.2% from 1999 to 2019 and its actually been higher since I just don't have the average figure for since. In the same time CPI and wages have averaged just 2.1%

    So to have CPI of 5% and RPI of 6% now may sound high compared to the past, but its still less than the average inflation rate that housing costs the young have to pay have been for the past few decades.

    I'd have more sympathy for those worried about inflation, if they'd been worried about it as I have been for the past couple of decades and aren't just self-interested.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    Mr. Sandpit, the Government twice tried to bring in vaccine passports but thankfully were headed off. Don't believe in an instinct for liberty that isn't there.

    The UK is one of very few countries that hasn’t implemented such a scheme, which is to the credit of everyone who opposed it.

    In most countries, the authoritarians in the civil service and Parliament won the argument.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,865

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    On the Yorkshire "Kevin" use, I'd guess that it was used due to it sounding quite similar to "Kaffir", another word that Ballance is alleged to have used (and presumably picked up due to his Zimbabwean background).

    No idea how they got "Kevin" but you just know it comes with a 'looking down upon'. I'm a massive unfan of nicknames in general, racist or not. Your name is an important thing and shouldn't be messed with by other people. Ok, so sometimes a person will like a nickname they're given, but usually they won't. Also they'll sometimes pretend to like it so as to fit in and look a sport. This can then get internalized and they feel even worse about themselves for not being firm and true to themselves. Hence these "why are you speaking about this now when you didn't then?" scenarios. Eg the female Tory MP humiliated by Stanley "slap a filly" Johnson back in 2003. Much of this stuff is about power imbalances and bullying imo rather than innocent banter. And as for names, I really do recommend the simple approach of calling people by their actual name with no arsey riffing around.
    I think the similar sounds thing is important. It means once the nickname is established it can be exchanged for the racial slur with plausible deniability - "I didn't say Kaffir, I said Kevin - it's his nickname"

    Did you ever wonder why John Barnes got the nickname "Digger"?

    Was it really just because there happened to be a (old white man) character in Dallas called Digger Barnes?
    Yes, probably so. I didn't actually know JB had that nickname but, yep, I'm sure you're right about why he did. Oh dear.

    As I was arguing yesterday I don't view words as being inherently and always less serious than actions. Eg, a bullying scenario, somebody coins a contemptuous nickname for you and gets it widely used versus somebody puts your stapler in a jelly. The first could quite easily be way more hurtful and damaging. More 'violent' in fact than a punch in the face, depending.
    I've discovered another reason given for the "Digger" nickname - his initials are JCB.

    I think that's slightly better 'cover'
    Ah ok. Maybe that then. Not quite so bad if so. Can't see much wrong with "John" though.
  • glwglw Posts: 9,535
    edited November 2021
    Sandpit said:

    Mr. Sandpit, the Government twice tried to bring in vaccine passports but thankfully were headed off. Don't believe in an instinct for liberty that isn't there.

    The UK is one of very few countries that hasn’t implemented such a scheme, which is to the credit of everyone who opposed it.

    In most countries, the authoritarians in the civil service and Parliament won the argument.
    There doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence that vaccine passports even work, as with delta it is all too easy to still get infected even if fully vaccinated. Proof of a recent LFT might be more useful than vaccine status. Of course that even assumes you are checking the vaccine status of everyone entering a premises, not all places are, and doing so correctly as well.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,865

    kinabalu said:

    stodge said:


    My grandson and his father had a positive test on monday and today my daughter has succumbed though their daughter in Leeds University has tested negative

    They do feel quite rough with lots of coughing and are self isolating until 26 November

    However, I would argue case rates may well be higher but the vaccines are mitigating the effects to a bad cold/ cough that is not resulting in increasing hospitalisations and deaths, specifically because of that success with not only the vaccines but also the boosters

    Indeed and we are now at the stage of "living with" the virus in terms of having (for the most part) reduced its personal impact via vaccinations. Were we still absent a vaccine, I'd argue we'd be staring at a new round of restrictions but we aren't and that's entirely (I would argue) down to the vaccines.

    Those who get ill and require hospitalisation are largely the unvaccinated and while I accept those with weakened immune systems and other health problems need to continue to exercise caution, for the majority of the vaccinated (and especially those triply dosed), life can carry on much as normal.

    The priority must be to continue to vaccinate - whether first, second or third doses. Every vaccination helps no matter where it sits in the order.

    The next stage will then be to continue to observe efficacy levels of the third vaccine - initial results are very good but the longevity of such levels of immunity remains to be seen and while it would be helpful if we could go a year before the fourth vaccination, the possibility must be we will need a further round of boosters in the spring but we'll see.

    The other aspect is getting normal flu vaccinations done - for all coronavirus grabs the headlines, influenza hasn't gone away and can be just as serious.

    My wife and I received our flu vaccines last week following our boosters the week before
    I'm having the both in one go tomorrow. Can I cope with 2 pricks at the same time? Yes, I think so. Done it before, more than once.
    Almost every day on here, surely?
    :smile: - That was in silent brackets.
  • “A coward not a leader” says Keir. And not many MPs behind the PM to object. Weirdly empty Tory benches: at least 30 empty seats.

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1460943123585064965?s=20
  • Quite a scrap between Speaker Hoyle and the PM who has tried to ask Starmer the same question three times - Johnson's not very good on his feet...
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,351

    algarkirk said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Speaking of religious conversions-of-convenience, can someone run through the logic of Boris's annulled marriages again? Or Tony Blair's undercover Catholicism?

    Boris was baptised a Catholic but abandoned it and was confirmed into the CoE. His previous two marriages were not in church so under canon law his marriage to Carrie was his first proper one. Quite why they ignored his adultery - and hers - and his procuring abortions for his mistress beats me. But there you go.

    On names, I have a complicated name which hardly anyone ever gets right. Same for both my parents. I have never been called by the first name on my birth certificate but this seems to follow a family tradition. All my Irish aunties had lovely names but when we were doing a family tree a few years back we discovered that their given names were very different and that my grandparents had simply recycled the same two names using them alternately.

    Kevin on the other hand is a lovely name in Ireland and Brittany. It is the name of an Irish saint and, over there, does not have the same connotations that the snobby English have assigned to it.

    Finally, on politics, I do think that the decision to scrap the rail improvements in the North - a manifesto commitment - is going to hit the Tories much harder than sleaze and will not do much for Sunak's chances. Typical "penny wise, pound foolish" policies from the Tories coupled with a broken promise. A bad move.
    Cyclefree is quite right about the convoluted RC Canon law which makes Boris's marriage possible in an RC church. At the same time millions of lifelong catholics are denied the sacrament because they have remarried after a divorce. All this is, of course, absurd.

    What is not absurd is marrying people in church who have a past and lots of baggage. This is pretty universal and is called the human condition. The church exists to forgive and help people move on.

    Boris has many faults, and so does the church. What is never a fault is people seeking and the church offering forgiveness.
    I have absolutely no problem with the holy mother church giving the PM absolution and marrying him in church. I do have a problem that they don't do the same for anyone who isn't the PM.
    Quite.

  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,865

    kinabalu said:

    stodge said:


    My grandson and his father had a positive test on monday and today my daughter has succumbed though their daughter in Leeds University has tested negative

    They do feel quite rough with lots of coughing and are self isolating until 26 November

    However, I would argue case rates may well be higher but the vaccines are mitigating the effects to a bad cold/ cough that is not resulting in increasing hospitalisations and deaths, specifically because of that success with not only the vaccines but also the boosters

    Indeed and we are now at the stage of "living with" the virus in terms of having (for the most part) reduced its personal impact via vaccinations. Were we still absent a vaccine, I'd argue we'd be staring at a new round of restrictions but we aren't and that's entirely (I would argue) down to the vaccines.

    Those who get ill and require hospitalisation are largely the unvaccinated and while I accept those with weakened immune systems and other health problems need to continue to exercise caution, for the majority of the vaccinated (and especially those triply dosed), life can carry on much as normal.

    The priority must be to continue to vaccinate - whether first, second or third doses. Every vaccination helps no matter where it sits in the order.

    The next stage will then be to continue to observe efficacy levels of the third vaccine - initial results are very good but the longevity of such levels of immunity remains to be seen and while it would be helpful if we could go a year before the fourth vaccination, the possibility must be we will need a further round of boosters in the spring but we'll see.

    The other aspect is getting normal flu vaccinations done - for all coronavirus grabs the headlines, influenza hasn't gone away and can be just as serious.

    My wife and I received our flu vaccines last week following our boosters the week before
    I'm having the both in one go tomorrow. Can I cope with 2 pricks at the same time? Yes, I think so. Done it before, more than once.
    ..


    Great pic. And I've been mulling a new avatar ...
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,351
    Cyclefree said:

    algarkirk said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Speaking of religious conversions-of-convenience, can someone run through the logic of Boris's annulled marriages again? Or Tony Blair's undercover Catholicism?

    Boris was baptised a Catholic but abandoned it and was confirmed into the CoE. His previous two marriages were not in church so under canon law his marriage to Carrie was his first proper one. Quite why they ignored his adultery - and hers - and his procuring abortions for his mistress beats me. But there you go.

    On names, I have a complicated name which hardly anyone ever gets right. Same for both my parents. I have never been called by the first name on my birth certificate but this seems to follow a family tradition. All my Irish aunties had lovely names but when we were doing a family tree a few years back we discovered that their given names were very different and that my grandparents had simply recycled the same two names using them alternately.

    Kevin on the other hand is a lovely name in Ireland and Brittany. It is the name of an Irish saint and, over there, does not have the same connotations that the snobby English have assigned to it.

    Finally, on politics, I do think that the decision to scrap the rail improvements in the North - a manifesto commitment - is going to hit the Tories much harder than sleaze and will not do much for Sunak's chances. Typical "penny wise, pound foolish" policies from the Tories coupled with a broken promise. A bad move.
    Cyclefree is quite right about the convoluted RC Canon law which makes Boris's marriage possible in an RC church. At the same time millions of lifelong catholics are denied the sacrament because they have remarried after a divorce. All this is, of course, absurd.

    What is not absurd is marrying people in church who have a past and lots of baggage. This is pretty universal and is called the human condition. The church exists to forgive and help people move on.

    Boris has many faults, and so does the church. What is never a fault is people seeking and the church offering forgiveness.





    Yes - but to be forgiven they are meant to sincerely repent. And have the sacrament of confession. Maybe Boris has and intends being a faithful husband etc.

    Repentance and forgiveness are meant to involve some hard self-analysis and a change of behaviour not be the equivalent of a group hug to make you feel better.

    Boris's marriage in church stinks because of the Church's utter hypocrisy. There is little evidence of Boris ever having attempted to be a good Catholic. He is a twice divorced man. And yet Catholics who have tried to do their best but are divorced are denied what he so freely got. And don't talk to me about its attitude to gay Catholics. Grrrrr..... 🤬
    it would be impossible to disagree.

  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415

    Do current Delta waves in Europe correlate with temperature change?

    Here's a graph for all 35 countries with > 1M population Thread, 1/

    Blue is the 7-day mean outdoor temperature.
    White is the 7-day case ratio (i.e. new cases detected on a given date, divided by new cases detected 7 days earlier). This ratio can also be used as a rough estimation of R (i.e. the number of persons infected by a single case).




    https://twitter.com/flight_behav/status/1460718654383960068?s=20

    Interesting - also "spot the liars"

    As an artist can I say this graph should hang somewhere, it’s aesthetically very beautiful and beguiling
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,165

    “A coward not a leader” says Keir. And not many MPs behind the PM to object. Weirdly empty Tory benches: at least 30 empty seats.

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1460943123585064965?s=20

    Picked up by Blackford.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 10,469
    Oh dear I think there are going to be ramifications from the speaker after that.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,257
    kinabalu said:

    stodge said:


    My grandson and his father had a positive test on monday and today my daughter has succumbed though their daughter in Leeds University has tested negative

    They do feel quite rough with lots of coughing and are self isolating until 26 November

    However, I would argue case rates may well be higher but the vaccines are mitigating the effects to a bad cold/ cough that is not resulting in increasing hospitalisations and deaths, specifically because of that success with not only the vaccines but also the boosters

    Indeed and we are now at the stage of "living with" the virus in terms of having (for the most part) reduced its personal impact via vaccinations. Were we still absent a vaccine, I'd argue we'd be staring at a new round of restrictions but we aren't and that's entirely (I would argue) down to the vaccines.

    Those who get ill and require hospitalisation are largely the unvaccinated and while I accept those with weakened immune systems and other health problems need to continue to exercise caution, for the majority of the vaccinated (and especially those triply dosed), life can carry on much as normal.

    The priority must be to continue to vaccinate - whether first, second or third doses. Every vaccination helps no matter where it sits in the order.

    The next stage will then be to continue to observe efficacy levels of the third vaccine - initial results are very good but the longevity of such levels of immunity remains to be seen and while it would be helpful if we could go a year before the fourth vaccination, the possibility must be we will need a further round of boosters in the spring but we'll see.

    The other aspect is getting normal flu vaccinations done - for all coronavirus grabs the headlines, influenza hasn't gone away and can be just as serious.

    My wife and I received our flu vaccines last week following our boosters the week before
    I'm having the both in one go tomorrow. Can I cope with 2 pricks at the same time? Yes, I think so. Done it before, more than once.
    My record (for needle-delivered immunisations, for avoidance of doubt!) is five in one session - three in one arm, two in the other. Needed for a field-trip to Patagonia during my PhD. I was expecting one or two, but when I turned up the GP said my childhood GP had lost my records so they'd give me everything relevant to make sure :open_mouth:
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    glw said:

    Sandpit said:

    Mr. Sandpit, the Government twice tried to bring in vaccine passports but thankfully were headed off. Don't believe in an instinct for liberty that isn't there.

    The UK is one of very few countries that hasn’t implemented such a scheme, which is to the credit of everyone who opposed it.

    In most countries, the authoritarians in the civil service and Parliament won the argument.
    There doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence that vaccine passports even work, as with delta it is all too easy to still get infected even if fully vaccinated. Proof of a recent LFT might be more useful than vaccine status. Of course that even assumes you are checking the vaccine status of everyone entering a premises, not all places are, and doing so correctly as well.
    I don’t think it particularly unreasonable to discriminate by vaccine status or require testing, but the vast majority of the methods used so far require both the vaccinated population and small businesses to adjust their behaviour in negative ways, as well as the system being backed up with a large database, with all the privacy implications that entails.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,865
    Sandpit said:

    Mr. Sandpit, the Government twice tried to bring in vaccine passports but thankfully were headed off. Don't believe in an instinct for liberty that isn't there.

    The UK is one of very few countries that hasn’t implemented such a scheme, which is to the credit of everyone who opposed it.

    In most countries, the authoritarians in the civil service and Parliament won the argument.
    I don't think it was ever a serious government intention here. The purpose was twofold - to look like they were considering all bases and (the main one) to encourage people to get vaccinated.
  • I thought Mishcon-duct was quite a clever quip from Johnson, but not a clever time to be making quips..
  • NEW Over half of UK adults say MPs' salaries are too high. Just one in ten say they are too low.Banknote with pound sign

    Too high 56%
    About right 30%
    Too low 9%

    2,207 UK adults, 12-14 Nov


    https://twitter.com/SavantaComRes/status/1460944671014854661?s=20
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,165
    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 39,756
    edited November 2021
    tlg86 said:

    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.

    A minor detail I know, but is that true?
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,092
    edited November 2021

    Do current Delta waves in Europe correlate with temperature change?

    Here's a graph for all 35 countries with > 1M population Thread, 1/

    Blue is the 7-day mean outdoor temperature.
    White is the 7-day case ratio (i.e. new cases detected on a given date, divided by new cases detected 7 days earlier). This ratio can also be used as a rough estimation of R (i.e. the number of persons infected by a single case).




    https://twitter.com/flight_behav/status/1460718654383960068?s=20

    Interesting - also "spot the liars"

    As an artist can I say this graph should hang somewhere, it’s aesthetically very beautiful and beguiling
    But somewhat incredible, no? Not one of the 35 blue "mean outdoor temperature" lines is falling over the September to November period.

  • tlg86 said:

    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.

    Is that true?
    Yes
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.

    The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.

    Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.

    The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.

    The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/17/church-fire-wake-liverpool-suicide-bombing-helping-asylum-seekers/

    That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
    My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
    Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay? :)
    Like your religion, they *have* to take your word for it. Which is why it is such a handy method of claiming asylum.

    Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....

    One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.

    Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
    Christ himself of course came from the Middle East, he was not Western. This man being a Syrian refugee who came to this country via Merkel and Cameron's refugee policy, grew up closer to the lands of the Bible than those Christians in Liverpool are
    What has that got to do with the price of fish?

    Do you really think that this man was a Christian?
    He willingly converted to Christianity, so no reason to suspect otherwise.

    As Eek correctly says, it is the immigration service (and the government's) job not to let security risks into this country and to deport those who turn out to be security risks.

    That is not the Church's job. The Church's job includes converting souls to Christ
    Your God bloke must be a pretty vain snowflake if He cares so much about which church us little people go to when He can't even be bothered to make an appearance more than once every couple of thousand years.
    It is conversion to Christ which is key for Christians, not to God alone. It was Christ who appeared 2000 years ago as the Messiah.

    If you just convert to God rather than to Christ you could be Muslim or Jewish not just Christian.

    Ever since Adam and Eve humanity has largely been responsible for its own condition on earth rather than God
    My friend who is a padre and counsellor I was talking to today thought it was really unfair Priti Patel trying to blame the Church of England for what is responsibility in her own her own job performance, and he’s not even in the Church of England! He said CoE people like me must be very cross about her. But I calmly replied Patel has not even been in post 2 years and it’s probably a lot more nuanced in the bigger picture. I’m now thinking maybe he has got a point, Patel has not been in the job 2 years, but the governing party has been in for, what now feels like forever.
  • NEW Over half of UK adults say MPs' salaries are too high. Just one in ten say they are too low.Banknote with pound sign

    Too high 56%
    About right 30%
    Too low 9%

    2,207 UK adults, 12-14 Nov


    https://twitter.com/SavantaComRes/status/1460944671014854661?s=20

    Something I've been saying here while most others here have been saying they're not high enough.

    One thing about this site is its biased towards those who are well off. So too many here think £81k is anything other than a very good starting salary.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 10,469

    I thought Mishcon-duct was quite a clever quip from Johnson, but not a clever time to be making quips..

    If he can get away with that anyone can get away with anything. Eg lying bastard becomes lie in bar steward.
  • tlg86 said:

    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.

    Is that true?
    Yes
    Link?
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,775
    geoffw said:

    Do current Delta waves in Europe correlate with temperature change?

    Here's a graph for all 35 countries with > 1M population Thread, 1/

    Blue is the 7-day mean outdoor temperature.
    White is the 7-day case ratio (i.e. new cases detected on a given date, divided by new cases detected 7 days earlier). This ratio can also be used as a rough estimation of R (i.e. the number of persons infected by a single case).




    https://twitter.com/flight_behav/status/1460718654383960068?s=20

    Interesting - also "spot the liars"

    As an artist can I say this graph should hang somewhere, it’s aesthetically very beautiful and beguiling
    But somewhat incredible, no? Not one of the 35 blue "mean outdoor temperature" lines is falling over the September to November period.
    The temperature axis is inverted, so that colder temperatures are higher, to match an increase in case rates.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415
    geoffw said:

    Do current Delta waves in Europe correlate with temperature change?

    Here's a graph for all 35 countries with > 1M population Thread, 1/

    Blue is the 7-day mean outdoor temperature.
    White is the 7-day case ratio (i.e. new cases detected on a given date, divided by new cases detected 7 days earlier). This ratio can also be used as a rough estimation of R (i.e. the number of persons infected by a single case).




    https://twitter.com/flight_behav/status/1460718654383960068?s=20

    Interesting - also "spot the liars"

    As an artist can I say this graph should hang somewhere, it’s aesthetically very beautiful and beguiling
    But somewhat incredible, no? Not one of the 35 blue "mean outdoor temperature" lines is falling over the September to November period.

    It’s been a mild Autumn in Northern Europe? All change next week!
  • kjh said:

    I thought Mishcon-duct was quite a clever quip from Johnson, but not a clever time to be making quips..

    If he can get away with that anyone can get away with anything. Eg lying bastard becomes lie in bar steward.
    I think they should be allowed if original.

    Boris fails!

    @davidallengreen
    3m
    'Mish-conduct'

    Johnson now resorting to re-using stale lawyers' in-jokes

    Remember that line thirty years ago

  • Paul Waugh
    @paulwaugh
    ·
    1m
    Very noticeable how few MPs on the Tory benches for #PMQs, particularly behind the PM. A message from the backbenches to their whips?
    As
    @Ianblackford_MP
    said: "Look at the gaps! The rebellion has started."
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,409
    kinabalu said:

    stodge said:


    My grandson and his father had a positive test on monday and today my daughter has succumbed though their daughter in Leeds University has tested negative

    They do feel quite rough with lots of coughing and are self isolating until 26 November

    However, I would argue case rates may well be higher but the vaccines are mitigating the effects to a bad cold/ cough that is not resulting in increasing hospitalisations and deaths, specifically because of that success with not only the vaccines but also the boosters

    Indeed and we are now at the stage of "living with" the virus in terms of having (for the most part) reduced its personal impact via vaccinations. Were we still absent a vaccine, I'd argue we'd be staring at a new round of restrictions but we aren't and that's entirely (I would argue) down to the vaccines.

    Those who get ill and require hospitalisation are largely the unvaccinated and while I accept those with weakened immune systems and other health problems need to continue to exercise caution, for the majority of the vaccinated (and especially those triply dosed), life can carry on much as normal.

    The priority must be to continue to vaccinate - whether first, second or third doses. Every vaccination helps no matter where it sits in the order.

    The next stage will then be to continue to observe efficacy levels of the third vaccine - initial results are very good but the longevity of such levels of immunity remains to be seen and while it would be helpful if we could go a year before the fourth vaccination, the possibility must be we will need a further round of boosters in the spring but we'll see.

    The other aspect is getting normal flu vaccinations done - for all coronavirus grabs the headlines, influenza hasn't gone away and can be just as serious.

    My wife and I received our flu vaccines last week following our boosters the week before
    I'm having the both in one go tomorrow. Can I cope with 2 pricks at the same time? Yes, I think so. Done it before, more than once.
    I once had to have three travel vaccines at the same time. After running out of arms, it was time to drop my trousers and bend over.
  • tlg86 said:

    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.

    Is that true?
    Yes
    Link?
    You clearly have no idea just how close communities are in the Welsh Borders and it is accepted this happens frequently
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,092

    geoffw said:

    Do current Delta waves in Europe correlate with temperature change?

    Here's a graph for all 35 countries with > 1M population Thread, 1/

    Blue is the 7-day mean outdoor temperature.
    White is the 7-day case ratio (i.e. new cases detected on a given date, divided by new cases detected 7 days earlier). This ratio can also be used as a rough estimation of R (i.e. the number of persons infected by a single case).




    https://twitter.com/flight_behav/status/1460718654383960068?s=20

    Interesting - also "spot the liars"

    As an artist can I say this graph should hang somewhere, it’s aesthetically very beautiful and beguiling
    But somewhat incredible, no? Not one of the 35 blue "mean outdoor temperature" lines is falling over the September to November period.
    The temperature axis is inverted, so that colder temperatures are higher, to match an increase in case rates.
    Ah, I see. Should pay even more careful attention to the axis labelling. Well spotted.

  • Very noticeable how few MPs on the Tory benches for #PMQs, particularly behind the PM. A message from the backbenches to their whips?
    As @Ianblackford_MP said: "Look at the gaps! The rebellion has started."


    https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1460947578997166087?s=20

  • Paul Waugh
    @paulwaugh
    ·
    1m
    Very noticeable how few MPs on the Tory benches for #PMQs, particularly behind the PM. A message from the backbenches to their whips?
    As
    @Ianblackford_MP
    said: "Look at the gaps! The rebellion has started."

    The vote later today could be interesting
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    edited November 2021

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.

    The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.

    Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.

    The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.

    The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/17/church-fire-wake-liverpool-suicide-bombing-helping-asylum-seekers/

    That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
    My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
    Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay? :)
    Like your religion, they *have* to take your word for it. Which is why it is such a handy method of claiming asylum.

    Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....

    One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.

    Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
    Christ himself of course came from the Middle East, he was not Western. This man being a Syrian refugee who came to this country via Merkel and Cameron's refugee policy, grew up closer to the lands of the Bible than those Christians in Liverpool are
    What has that got to do with the price of fish?

    Do you really think that this man was a Christian?
    He willingly converted to Christianity, so no reason to suspect otherwise.

    As Eek correctly says, it is the immigration service (and the government's) job not to let security risks into this country and to deport those who turn out to be security risks.

    That is not the Church's job. The Church's job includes converting souls to Christ
    Your God bloke must be a pretty vain snowflake if He cares so much about which church us little people go to when He can't even be bothered to make an appearance more than once every couple of thousand years.
    It is conversion to Christ which is key for Christians, not to God alone. It was Christ who appeared 2000 years ago as the Messiah.

    If you just convert to God rather than to Christ you could be Muslim or Jewish not just Christian.

    Ever since Adam and Eve humanity has largely been responsible for its own condition on earth rather than God
    My friend who is a padre and counsellor I was talking to today thought it was really unfair Priti Patel trying to blame the Church of England for what is responsibility in her own her own job performance, and he’s not even in the Church of England! He said CoE people like me must be very cross about her. But I calmly replied Patel has not even been in post 2 years and it’s probably a lot more nuanced in the bigger picture. I’m now thinking maybe he has got a point, Patel has not been in the job 2 years, but the governing party has been in for, what now feels like forever.
    2 big areas where the Government spending hasn't reflected what they claim to send is Justice and Immigration.

    And that lack of spending has resulted in backlogs so bad they are probably impossible to fix without some very embarrassing decisions.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,165

    tlg86 said:

    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.

    A minor detail I know, but is that true?
    I can't find anything online, but I seem to recall that it is the case. Probably wouldn't have been a great answer as areas close to the border should be compensated for within the English NHS (no idea if they actually are).
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,162
    kinabalu said:

    stodge said:


    My grandson and his father had a positive test on monday and today my daughter has succumbed though their daughter in Leeds University has tested negative

    They do feel quite rough with lots of coughing and are self isolating until 26 November

    However, I would argue case rates may well be higher but the vaccines are mitigating the effects to a bad cold/ cough that is not resulting in increasing hospitalisations and deaths, specifically because of that success with not only the vaccines but also the boosters

    Indeed and we are now at the stage of "living with" the virus in terms of having (for the most part) reduced its personal impact via vaccinations. Were we still absent a vaccine, I'd argue we'd be staring at a new round of restrictions but we aren't and that's entirely (I would argue) down to the vaccines.

    Those who get ill and require hospitalisation are largely the unvaccinated and while I accept those with weakened immune systems and other health problems need to continue to exercise caution, for the majority of the vaccinated (and especially those triply dosed), life can carry on much as normal.

    The priority must be to continue to vaccinate - whether first, second or third doses. Every vaccination helps no matter where it sits in the order.

    The next stage will then be to continue to observe efficacy levels of the third vaccine - initial results are very good but the longevity of such levels of immunity remains to be seen and while it would be helpful if we could go a year before the fourth vaccination, the possibility must be we will need a further round of boosters in the spring but we'll see.

    The other aspect is getting normal flu vaccinations done - for all coronavirus grabs the headlines, influenza hasn't gone away and can be just as serious.

    My wife and I received our flu vaccines last week following our boosters the week before
    I'm having the both in one go tomorrow. Can I cope with 2 pricks at the same time? Yes, I think so. Done it before, more than once.
    Hmm, we got the booster and flu at the same time (nice to be exposed to lots of people only once). One in each arm. But a university lecturer friend insisted on both in the same arm, not his computer mouse arm.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 10,469
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.

    The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.

    Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.

    The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.

    The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/17/church-fire-wake-liverpool-suicide-bombing-helping-asylum-seekers/

    That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
    My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
    Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay? :)
    Like your religion, they *have* to take your word for it. Which is why it is such a handy method of claiming asylum.

    Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....

    One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.

    Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
    Christ himself of course came from the Middle East, he was not Western. This man being a Syrian refugee who came to this country via Merkel and Cameron's refugee policy, grew up closer to the lands of the Bible than those Christians in Liverpool are
    What has that got to do with the price of fish?

    Do you really think that this man was a Christian?
    He willingly converted to Christianity, so no reason to suspect otherwise.

    As Eek correctly says, it is the immigration service (and the government's) job not to let security risks into this country and to deport those who turn out to be security risks.

    That is not the Church's job. The Church's job includes converting souls to Christ
    Your God bloke must be a pretty vain snowflake if He cares so much about which church us little people go to when He can't even be bothered to make an appearance more than once every couple of thousand years.
    It is conversion to Christ which is key for Christians, not to God alone. It was Christ who appeared 2000 years ago as the Messiah.

    If you just convert to God rather than to Christ you could be Muslim or Jewish not just Christian.

    Ever since Adam and Eve humanity has largely been responsible for its own condition on earth rather than God
    Couple of questions HYUFD that I'm interested in:

    a) In the past the church actively carried out conversions particularly in colonies. This is not so much the case now and conversion is more of the willing. Do you think the church should be more active or stay as it is now.

    b) Do you believe in Adam and Eve?
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,098

    Do current Delta waves in Europe correlate with temperature change?

    Here's a graph for all 35 countries with > 1M population Thread, 1/

    Blue is the 7-day mean outdoor temperature.
    White is the 7-day case ratio (i.e. new cases detected on a given date, divided by new cases detected 7 days earlier). This ratio can also be used as a rough estimation of R (i.e. the number of persons infected by a single case).




    https://twitter.com/flight_behav/status/1460718654383960068?s=20

    Interesting - also "spot the liars"

    A connection I have been arguing since last autumn. It seems too much of a coincidence that both the timing and the geography of the autumn uptick has been so similar, two years running.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,408

    NEW Over half of UK adults say MPs' salaries are too high. Just one in ten say they are too low.Banknote with pound sign

    Too high 56%
    About right 30%
    Too low 9%

    2,207 UK adults, 12-14 Nov


    https://twitter.com/SavantaComRes/status/1460944671014854661?s=20

    Something I've been saying here while most others here have been saying they're not high enough.

    One thing about this site is its biased towards those who are well off. So too many here think £81k is anything other than a very good starting salary.
    It's a lot more than I get, but I still think they should get a bit more (with allowances cut back). I don't think those arguing MPs should get more ever claimed they were in the majority of the public either.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,098
    geoffw said:

    Do current Delta waves in Europe correlate with temperature change?

    Here's a graph for all 35 countries with > 1M population Thread, 1/

    Blue is the 7-day mean outdoor temperature.
    White is the 7-day case ratio (i.e. new cases detected on a given date, divided by new cases detected 7 days earlier). This ratio can also be used as a rough estimation of R (i.e. the number of persons infected by a single case).




    https://twitter.com/flight_behav/status/1460718654383960068?s=20

    Interesting - also "spot the liars"

    As an artist can I say this graph should hang somewhere, it’s aesthetically very beautiful and beguiling
    But somewhat incredible, no? Not one of the 35 blue "mean outdoor temperature" lines is falling over the September to November period.

    Which is the hint you need to look more closely at the axes….
  • Very pointed question from Jake Berry MP (Con) on whether voters in the north can trust Johnson over rail.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415
    eek said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.

    The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.

    Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.

    The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.

    The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/17/church-fire-wake-liverpool-suicide-bombing-helping-asylum-seekers/

    That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
    My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
    Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay? :)
    Like your religion, they *have* to take your word for it. Which is why it is such a handy method of claiming asylum.

    Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....

    One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.

    Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
    Christ himself of course came from the Middle East, he was not Western. This man being a Syrian refugee who came to this country via Merkel and Cameron's refugee policy, grew up closer to the lands of the Bible than those Christians in Liverpool are
    What has that got to do with the price of fish?

    Do you really think that this man was a Christian?
    He willingly converted to Christianity, so no reason to suspect otherwise.

    As Eek correctly says, it is the immigration service (and the government's) job not to let security risks into this country and to deport those who turn out to be security risks.

    That is not the Church's job. The Church's job includes converting souls to Christ
    Your God bloke must be a pretty vain snowflake if He cares so much about which church us little people go to when He can't even be bothered to make an appearance more than once every couple of thousand years.
    It is conversion to Christ which is key for Christians, not to God alone. It was Christ who appeared 2000 years ago as the Messiah.

    If you just convert to God rather than to Christ you could be Muslim or Jewish not just Christian.

    Ever since Adam and Eve humanity has largely been responsible for its own condition on earth rather than God
    My friend who is a padre and counsellor I was talking to today thought it was really unfair Priti Patel trying to blame the Church of England for what is responsibility in her own her own job performance, and he’s not even in the Church of England! He said CoE people like me must be very cross about her. But I calmly replied Patel has not even been in post 2 years and it’s probably a lot more nuanced in the bigger picture. I’m now thinking maybe he has got a point, Patel has not been in the job 2 years, but the governing party has been in for, what now feels like forever.
    2 big areas where the Government spending hasn't reflected what they claim to send is Justice and Immigration.

    And that lack of spending has resulted in backlogs so bad they are probably impossible to fix without some very embarrassing decisions.
    Isn’t the point though, since tired old New Labour were dragged out of power in 2010 we have had three different governments who all blame the previous one for mess and they will sort out with fresh start?

    Surely we should acknowledge how brilliantly clever one party to play this and get away with it so long!
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,865

    kinabalu said:

    stodge said:


    My grandson and his father had a positive test on monday and today my daughter has succumbed though their daughter in Leeds University has tested negative

    They do feel quite rough with lots of coughing and are self isolating until 26 November

    However, I would argue case rates may well be higher but the vaccines are mitigating the effects to a bad cold/ cough that is not resulting in increasing hospitalisations and deaths, specifically because of that success with not only the vaccines but also the boosters

    Indeed and we are now at the stage of "living with" the virus in terms of having (for the most part) reduced its personal impact via vaccinations. Were we still absent a vaccine, I'd argue we'd be staring at a new round of restrictions but we aren't and that's entirely (I would argue) down to the vaccines.

    Those who get ill and require hospitalisation are largely the unvaccinated and while I accept those with weakened immune systems and other health problems need to continue to exercise caution, for the majority of the vaccinated (and especially those triply dosed), life can carry on much as normal.

    The priority must be to continue to vaccinate - whether first, second or third doses. Every vaccination helps no matter where it sits in the order.

    The next stage will then be to continue to observe efficacy levels of the third vaccine - initial results are very good but the longevity of such levels of immunity remains to be seen and while it would be helpful if we could go a year before the fourth vaccination, the possibility must be we will need a further round of boosters in the spring but we'll see.

    The other aspect is getting normal flu vaccinations done - for all coronavirus grabs the headlines, influenza hasn't gone away and can be just as serious.

    My wife and I received our flu vaccines last week following our boosters the week before
    I'm having the both in one go tomorrow. Can I cope with 2 pricks at the same time? Yes, I think so. Done it before, more than once.
    I once had to have three travel vaccines at the same time. After running out of arms, it was time to drop my trousers and bend over.
    Gosh! I'm hoping to offer arm and no more but I suppose once I'm there I'll do as I'm told.
  • Speaker requested Starmer to apologise for calling Boris a coward which he did

    The HOC is a very fractious place
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,162
    kjh said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.

    The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.

    Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.

    The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.

    The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/17/church-fire-wake-liverpool-suicide-bombing-helping-asylum-seekers/

    That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
    My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
    Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay? :)
    Like your religion, they *have* to take your word for it. Which is why it is such a handy method of claiming asylum.

    Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....

    One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.

    Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
    Christ himself of course came from the Middle East, he was not Western. This man being a Syrian refugee who came to this country via Merkel and Cameron's refugee policy, grew up closer to the lands of the Bible than those Christians in Liverpool are
    What has that got to do with the price of fish?

    Do you really think that this man was a Christian?
    He willingly converted to Christianity, so no reason to suspect otherwise.

    As Eek correctly says, it is the immigration service (and the government's) job not to let security risks into this country and to deport those who turn out to be security risks.

    That is not the Church's job. The Church's job includes converting souls to Christ
    Your God bloke must be a pretty vain snowflake if He cares so much about which church us little people go to when He can't even be bothered to make an appearance more than once every couple of thousand years.
    It is conversion to Christ which is key for Christians, not to God alone. It was Christ who appeared 2000 years ago as the Messiah.

    If you just convert to God rather than to Christ you could be Muslim or Jewish not just Christian.

    Ever since Adam and Eve humanity has largely been responsible for its own condition on earth rather than God
    Couple of questions HYUFD that I'm interested in:

    a) In the past the church actively carried out conversions particularly in colonies. This is not so much the case now and conversion is more of the willing. Do you think the church should be more active or stay as it is now.

    b) Do you believe in Adam and Eve?
    Add c) does he agree with Bishop S. Wilberforce or Messrs C. Darwin and T. Huxley?
  • eek said:

    We

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/17/most-people-who-risk-channel-boat-crossings-are-refugees-report

    Most of those crossing the channel are genuine refugees not economic migrants.

    That kind of thing assumes that people are only one or the other.

    Plenty of people live in a shitty country *and* want a better life in economic terms. They could *survive* where they are (possibly), but want something better. So you could have someone whose immigration decision was 60% asylum and 40% economic (say)

    And this is why it is a complex issue.
    91% of those crossing the channel are from just 10 countries, which all suffer from civil wars, violence and/or repression. There are many many more "shitty" countries in the world than those 10 countries, but their citizens are not the ones showing up on our beaches.
    Mainly because they can get to the French beaches without much (or any) air travel.

    If we had any kind of land connection with Central and South America, you'd find a lot more people from that part of the world claiming asylum here.

    Mexico, for example....
    If people were simply looking for economic opportunities, you'd have huge numbers arriving from poor and populous countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Nigeria. Instead, you are getting 91% coming from just 10 countries who we know are major sources of refugees owing to civil war, violence and repression.
    We are getting plenty of applications from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria. And you can make a case for asylum for all of those countries, at least for some groups.

    The people on the beaches at Calais are a small sub-group of asylum seekers/immigrants.
    The point is the government is saying the people arriving in these boats are mostly economic migrants, and the facts seem to contradict this assertion. Most are genuine refugees.
    What facts can you point to? I find it strange that given a choice between refugee status in Germany / France "refugees" spend £000s getting a dangerous boat into England/
    Thats the point, are Germany & france dangerous places?
    Obviously not since circa ten times the number of refugees that come to the UK/England go to Germany and more than three times as many to France.
    That's an important statistic (which I for one didn't know). A LOT of people think that we take more migrants than Germany and France.
    Be careful with statistics that count only non-EU migration. But migration is also uneven. It is estimated that half migrants end up in London so there must be vast tracts of the country where there are hardly any.
    Anyone with any sense ends up in London. Meanwhile the areas with few migrants are usually the ones where people say they're getting swamped.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    Off topic

    Everyone in my office thought Jesy Nelson of Little Mix was black till a minute ago.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,162
    tlg86 said:

    tlg86 said:

    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.

    A minor detail I know, but is that true?
    I can't find anything online, but I seem to recall that it is the case. Probably wouldn't have been a great answer as areas close to the border should be compensated for within the English NHS (no idea if they actually are).
    There used to be a reciprocal arrangement in the Scottish borders, but the English side pulled the plug - now much more hassle for the Berwickers, I am told by my local contacts.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,165
    Carnyx said:

    tlg86 said:

    tlg86 said:

    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.

    A minor detail I know, but is that true?
    I can't find anything online, but I seem to recall that it is the case. Probably wouldn't have been a great answer as areas close to the border should be compensated for within the English NHS (no idea if they actually are).
    There used to be a reciprocal arrangement in the Scottish borders, but the English side pulled the plug - now much more hassle for the Berwickers, I am told by my local contacts.
    Do you mean the English want to get treated in Scotland?
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797

    Very pointed question from Jake Berry MP (Con) on whether voters in the north can trust Johnson over rail.

    Questions to which the answer is NO. Number 1
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,165
    Pulpstar said:

    Off topic

    Everyone in my office thought Jesy Nelson of Little Mix was black till a minute ago.

    I didn't realise she was white (rather than mixed ethnicity) until the argument happened.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415
    edited November 2021
    kjh said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.

    The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.

    Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.

    The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.

    The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/17/church-fire-wake-liverpool-suicide-bombing-helping-asylum-seekers/

    That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
    My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
    Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay? :)
    Like your religion, they *have* to take your word for it. Which is why it is such a handy method of claiming asylum.

    Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....

    One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.

    Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
    Christ himself of course came from the Middle East, he was not Western. This man being a Syrian refugee who came to this country via Merkel and Cameron's refugee policy, grew up closer to the lands of the Bible than those Christians in Liverpool are
    What has that got to do with the price of fish?

    Do you really think that this man was a Christian?
    He willingly converted to Christianity, so no reason to suspect otherwise.

    As Eek correctly says, it is the immigration service (and the government's) job not to let security risks into this country and to deport those who turn out to be security risks.

    That is not the Church's job. The Church's job includes converting souls to Christ
    Your God bloke must be a pretty vain snowflake if He cares so much about which church us little people go to when He can't even be bothered to make an appearance more than once every couple of thousand years.
    It is conversion to Christ which is key for Christians, not to God alone. It was Christ who appeared 2000 years ago as the Messiah.

    If you just convert to God rather than to Christ you could be Muslim or Jewish not just Christian.

    Ever since Adam and Eve humanity has largely been responsible for its own condition on earth rather than God
    Couple of questions HYUFD that I'm interested in:

    a) In the past the church actively carried out conversions particularly in colonies. This is not so much the case now and conversion is more of the willing. Do you think the church should be more active or stay as it is now.

    b) Do you believe in Adam and Eve?
    b - I’m not Gustav Klimt, and it’s a pedantic point, but Lilith came first from same clay as Adam, but she refused to be subservient to him, that’s all, therefore she is known as Witch and Devil.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,865
    Selebian said:

    kinabalu said:

    stodge said:


    My grandson and his father had a positive test on monday and today my daughter has succumbed though their daughter in Leeds University has tested negative

    They do feel quite rough with lots of coughing and are self isolating until 26 November

    However, I would argue case rates may well be higher but the vaccines are mitigating the effects to a bad cold/ cough that is not resulting in increasing hospitalisations and deaths, specifically because of that success with not only the vaccines but also the boosters

    Indeed and we are now at the stage of "living with" the virus in terms of having (for the most part) reduced its personal impact via vaccinations. Were we still absent a vaccine, I'd argue we'd be staring at a new round of restrictions but we aren't and that's entirely (I would argue) down to the vaccines.

    Those who get ill and require hospitalisation are largely the unvaccinated and while I accept those with weakened immune systems and other health problems need to continue to exercise caution, for the majority of the vaccinated (and especially those triply dosed), life can carry on much as normal.

    The priority must be to continue to vaccinate - whether first, second or third doses. Every vaccination helps no matter where it sits in the order.

    The next stage will then be to continue to observe efficacy levels of the third vaccine - initial results are very good but the longevity of such levels of immunity remains to be seen and while it would be helpful if we could go a year before the fourth vaccination, the possibility must be we will need a further round of boosters in the spring but we'll see.

    The other aspect is getting normal flu vaccinations done - for all coronavirus grabs the headlines, influenza hasn't gone away and can be just as serious.

    My wife and I received our flu vaccines last week following our boosters the week before
    I'm having the both in one go tomorrow. Can I cope with 2 pricks at the same time? Yes, I think so. Done it before, more than once.
    My record (for needle-delivered immunisations, for avoidance of doubt!) is five in one session - three in one arm, two in the other. Needed for a field-trip to Patagonia during my PhD. I was expecting one or two, but when I turned up the GP said my childhood GP had lost my records so they'd give me everything relevant to make sure :open_mouth:
    Wow, I'd doubt anybody can beat 5. Tomorrow's 2 will, I think, be a 1st for me. Just hope I don't get a bad reaction. My 1st 2 covid jabs were ok on that score. A light flu for 48 hours.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,162
    tlg86 said:

    Carnyx said:

    tlg86 said:

    tlg86 said:

    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.

    A minor detail I know, but is that true?
    I can't find anything online, but I seem to recall that it is the case. Probably wouldn't have been a great answer as areas close to the border should be compensated for within the English NHS (no idea if they actually are).
    There used to be a reciprocal arrangement in the Scottish borders, but the English side pulled the plug - now much more hassle for the Berwickers, I am told by my local contacts.
    Do you mean the English want to get treated in Scotland?
    The public transport links make that quite favourable for some parts of the borderland.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,408

    Speaker requested Starmer to apologise for calling Boris a coward which he did

    The HOC is a very fractious place

    I was actually wondering if coward was acceptable in parliamentary terms. I'm a little surprised it isn't, since it is much more about Keir's perception than an objective matter, and is not an accusation of telling an untruth which may not be provable, as with calling someone a liar.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 10,469

    kjh said:

    I thought Mishcon-duct was quite a clever quip from Johnson, but not a clever time to be making quips..

    If he can get away with that anyone can get away with anything. Eg lying bastard becomes lie in bar steward.
    I think they should be allowed if original.

    Boris fails!

    @davidallengreen
    3m
    'Mish-conduct'

    Johnson now resorting to re-using stale lawyers' in-jokes

    Remember that line thirty years ago
    Agree. Sadly I missed the subtleness of the joke. He should have saved it for a day the speaker wasn't at the end of his tether with him. It would have gone down better.

    I don't understand why Boris pushed the question asking issue. All PMs do it occasionally but the speaker was livid he kept doing it after each warning. It made him look an idiot and gave a win to Starmer and made the misconduct joke look like the straw to break the camels back with the speaker rather than a clever joke.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    Speaker requested Starmer to apologise for calling Boris a coward which he did

    The HOC is a very fractious place

    As we see with online discourse becoming more fractious over time, there’s definitely something to be said for the Parliamantary language rules. It makes people engage with discussion around the actual policy, rather than focussing on the personal.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,165
    NEW THREAD
  • Leon said:

    Some horrendous case rates coming out of Central Europe, as @another_richard says

    Peak Pandemic, there

    No doubt iSAGE will be telling us soon that this wave will smash over UK unless we do a pre-emptive lockdown now etc etc.
    My grandson and his father had a positive test on monday and today my daughter has succumbed though their daughter in Leeds University has tested negative

    They do feel quite rough with lots of coughing and are self isolating until 26 November

    However, I would argue case rates may well be higher but the vaccines are mitigating the effects to a bad cold/ cough that is not resulting in increasing hospitalisations and deaths, specifically because of that success with not only the vaccines but also the boosters
    I hope they all feel better soon. Even double vaxed it's not fun at all, I feel really grim. One thing I don't know is whether we run the risk of catching this repeatedly or whether having it confers additional protection on top of the vaccines. I can accept catching this once but if I risk getting it every time I leave the house I'm not sure I would be contemplating a return to "normal life".
  • kjhkjh Posts: 10,469

    kjh said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.

    The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.

    Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.

    The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.

    The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/17/church-fire-wake-liverpool-suicide-bombing-helping-asylum-seekers/

    That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
    My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
    Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay? :)
    Like your religion, they *have* to take your word for it. Which is why it is such a handy method of claiming asylum.

    Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....

    One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.

    Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
    Christ himself of course came from the Middle East, he was not Western. This man being a Syrian refugee who came to this country via Merkel and Cameron's refugee policy, grew up closer to the lands of the Bible than those Christians in Liverpool are
    What has that got to do with the price of fish?

    Do you really think that this man was a Christian?
    He willingly converted to Christianity, so no reason to suspect otherwise.

    As Eek correctly says, it is the immigration service (and the government's) job not to let security risks into this country and to deport those who turn out to be security risks.

    That is not the Church's job. The Church's job includes converting souls to Christ
    Your God bloke must be a pretty vain snowflake if He cares so much about which church us little people go to when He can't even be bothered to make an appearance more than once every couple of thousand years.
    It is conversion to Christ which is key for Christians, not to God alone. It was Christ who appeared 2000 years ago as the Messiah.

    If you just convert to God rather than to Christ you could be Muslim or Jewish not just Christian.

    Ever since Adam and Eve humanity has largely been responsible for its own condition on earth rather than God
    Couple of questions HYUFD that I'm interested in:

    a) In the past the church actively carried out conversions particularly in colonies. This is not so much the case now and conversion is more of the willing. Do you think the church should be more active or stay as it is now.

    b) Do you believe in Adam and Eve?
    b - I’m not Gustav Klimt, and it’s a pedantic point, but Lilith came first from same clay as Adam, but she refused to be subservient to him, that’s all, therefore she is known as Witch and Devil.
    Gosh you learn something every day
  • TimSTimS Posts: 9,169

    eek said:

    We

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/17/most-people-who-risk-channel-boat-crossings-are-refugees-report

    Most of those crossing the channel are genuine refugees not economic migrants.

    That kind of thing assumes that people are only one or the other.

    Plenty of people live in a shitty country *and* want a better life in economic terms. They could *survive* where they are (possibly), but want something better. So you could have someone whose immigration decision was 60% asylum and 40% economic (say)

    And this is why it is a complex issue.
    91% of those crossing the channel are from just 10 countries, which all suffer from civil wars, violence and/or repression. There are many many more "shitty" countries in the world than those 10 countries, but their citizens are not the ones showing up on our beaches.
    Mainly because they can get to the French beaches without much (or any) air travel.

    If we had any kind of land connection with Central and South America, you'd find a lot more people from that part of the world claiming asylum here.

    Mexico, for example....
    If people were simply looking for economic opportunities, you'd have huge numbers arriving from poor and populous countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Nigeria. Instead, you are getting 91% coming from just 10 countries who we know are major sources of refugees owing to civil war, violence and repression.
    We are getting plenty of applications from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria. And you can make a case for asylum for all of those countries, at least for some groups.

    The people on the beaches at Calais are a small sub-group of asylum seekers/immigrants.
    The point is the government is saying the people arriving in these boats are mostly economic migrants, and the facts seem to contradict this assertion. Most are genuine refugees.
    What facts can you point to? I find it strange that given a choice between refugee status in Germany / France "refugees" spend £000s getting a dangerous boat into England/
    Thats the point, are Germany & france dangerous places?
    Obviously not since circa ten times the number of refugees that come to the UK/England go to Germany and more than three times as many to France.
    That's an important statistic (which I for one didn't know). A LOT of people think that we take more migrants than Germany and France.
    Be careful with statistics that count only non-EU migration. But migration is also uneven. It is estimated that half migrants end up in London so there must be vast tracts of the country where there are hardly any.
    Anyone with any sense ends up in London. Meanwhile the areas with few migrants are usually the ones where people say they're getting swamped.
    One of those interesting paradoxes. The more ethnically uniform an area, the more noticeable any change in the area's mix. (And the same is true for social mix too - a uniformly posh area will notice a new council estate, or a deprived area will notice a new gentrifying development, much more than an already socially mixed area would).

  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,684

    We

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/17/most-people-who-risk-channel-boat-crossings-are-refugees-report

    Most of those crossing the channel are genuine refugees not economic migrants.

    That kind of thing assumes that people are only one or the other.

    Plenty of people live in a shitty country *and* want a better life in economic terms. They could *survive* where they are (possibly), but want something better. So you could have someone whose immigration decision was 60% asylum and 40% economic (say)

    And this is why it is a complex issue.
    91% of those crossing the channel are from just 10 countries, which all suffer from civil wars, violence and/or repression. There are many many more "shitty" countries in the world than those 10 countries, but their citizens are not the ones showing up on our beaches.
    Mainly because they can get to the French beaches without much (or any) air travel.

    If we had any kind of land connection with Central and South America, you'd find a lot more people from that part of the world claiming asylum here.

    Mexico, for example....
    If people were simply looking for economic opportunities, you'd have huge numbers arriving from poor and populous countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Nigeria. Instead, you are getting 91% coming from just 10 countries who we know are major sources of refugees owing to civil war, violence and repression.
    We are getting plenty of applications from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria. And you can make a case for asylum for all of those countries, at least for some groups.

    The people on the beaches at Calais are a small sub-group of asylum seekers/immigrants.
    The point is the government is saying the people arriving in these boats are mostly economic migrants, and the facts seem to contradict this assertion. Most are genuine refugees.
    Serious question, where do we see facts vis a vis who are refugees and who are economic migrants. I thought they always destroyed / lost their papers or passports etc so they could not be returned anywhere. How do they tell who are genuine and who are not. It always seems odd that majority of refugees appear to be young men. We never get any realistic or honest information on the topic that I have ever seen, it always seems to be black or white opinions.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,719
    edited November 2021
    kjh said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.

    The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.

    Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.

    The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.

    The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/17/church-fire-wake-liverpool-suicide-bombing-helping-asylum-seekers/

    That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
    My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
    Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay? :)
    Like your religion, they *have* to take your word for it. Which is why it is such a handy method of claiming asylum.

    Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....

    One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.

    Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
    Christ himself of course came from the Middle East, he was not Western. This man being a Syrian refugee who came to this country via Merkel and Cameron's refugee policy, grew up closer to the lands of the Bible than those Christians in Liverpool are
    What has that got to do with the price of fish?

    Do you really think that this man was a Christian?
    He willingly converted to Christianity, so no reason to suspect otherwise.

    As Eek correctly says, it is the immigration service (and the government's) job not to let security risks into this country and to deport those who turn out to be security risks.

    That is not the Church's job. The Church's job includes converting souls to Christ
    Your God bloke must be a pretty vain snowflake if He cares so much about which church us little people go to when He can't even be bothered to make an appearance more than once every couple of thousand years.
    It is conversion to Christ which is key for Christians, not to God alone. It was Christ who appeared 2000 years ago as the Messiah.

    If you just convert to God rather than to Christ you could be Muslim or Jewish not just Christian.

    Ever since Adam and Eve humanity has largely been responsible for its own condition on earth rather than God
    Couple of questions HYUFD that I'm interested in:

    a) In the past the church actively carried out conversions particularly in colonies. This is not so much the case now and conversion is more of the willing. Do you think the church should be more active or stay as it is now.

    b) Do you believe in Adam and Eve?
    a) If you believe in Christian evangelising then yes that includes seeking converts to Christ, though of course of the willing.

    b) Yes.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415
    kjh said:

    kjh said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    I retract my previous criticisms of the Church of England, I'm sure @HYUFD will now be espousing disestablishing the Church of England.

    The Church of England is facing questions over its role in converting hundreds of asylum seekers, including the Liverpool suicide bomber, to Christianity in an attempt to help them avoid deportation.

    Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.

    The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.

    The Home Office believes changing religion is now "standard practice" among asylum seekers from countries including Iraq "to game the asylum system", as converts claim they are at risk of persecution in their home countries.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/17/church-fire-wake-liverpool-suicide-bombing-helping-asylum-seekers/

    That and being told to say they are gay are the two most obvious routes to asylum from shithole but not specifically dangerous countries.
    My ex, who worked in immigration law, described the comedy (on occasion) as er.... aggressively homophobic clients would get very worried that, when claiming to be gay, that might have to prove that they were gay.
    Which begs the question, how do you prove you are gay? :)
    Like your religion, they *have* to take your word for it. Which is why it is such a handy method of claiming asylum.

    Mind you, given the efforts to claim that physical things like age can't be checked....

    One point in this - if the church did go through with a fake conversion, they may have fuelled the self-loathing of the individual in question.

    Apparently a big thing in radicalisation is the element of "you have corrupted yourself with Western indulgence" - forsaking your faith with a lie would have fed into that.
    Christ himself of course came from the Middle East, he was not Western. This man being a Syrian refugee who came to this country via Merkel and Cameron's refugee policy, grew up closer to the lands of the Bible than those Christians in Liverpool are
    What has that got to do with the price of fish?

    Do you really think that this man was a Christian?
    He willingly converted to Christianity, so no reason to suspect otherwise.

    As Eek correctly says, it is the immigration service (and the government's) job not to let security risks into this country and to deport those who turn out to be security risks.

    That is not the Church's job. The Church's job includes converting souls to Christ
    Your God bloke must be a pretty vain snowflake if He cares so much about which church us little people go to when He can't even be bothered to make an appearance more than once every couple of thousand years.
    It is conversion to Christ which is key for Christians, not to God alone. It was Christ who appeared 2000 years ago as the Messiah.

    If you just convert to God rather than to Christ you could be Muslim or Jewish not just Christian.

    Ever since Adam and Eve humanity has largely been responsible for its own condition on earth rather than God
    Couple of questions HYUFD that I'm interested in:

    a) In the past the church actively carried out conversions particularly in colonies. This is not so much the case now and conversion is more of the willing. Do you think the church should be more active or stay as it is now.

    b) Do you believe in Adam and Eve?
    b - I’m not Gustav Klimt, and it’s a pedantic point, but Lilith came first from same clay as Adam, but she refused to be subservient to him, that’s all, therefore she is known as Witch and Devil.
    Gosh you learn something every day
    Your welcome 👩‍🎓
  • Some idiot reporter on BBC News "prices have shot up by 4.2% in October". No they haven't.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,591
    kle4 said:

    Speaker requested Starmer to apologise for calling Boris a coward which he did

    The HOC is a very fractious place

    I was actually wondering if coward was acceptable in parliamentary terms. I'm a little surprised it isn't, since it is much more about Keir's perception than an objective matter, and is not an accusation of telling an untruth which may not be provable, as with calling someone a liar.
    Challenged in the intestinal fortitude department ?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,789

    Some idiot reporter on BBC News "prices have shot up by 4.2% in October". No they haven't.

    No doubt when CPI goes down, they'll say "the cost of living has fallen".
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,684

    tlg86 said:

    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.

    Is that true?
    Yes
    Link?
    You clearly have no idea just how close communities are in the Welsh Borders and it is accepted this happens frequently
    So anecdotal then rather than factual
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,257
    malcolmg said:

    tlg86 said:

    Ed Davey going on health in North Shropshire. Boris should say that there's pressure there caused by the Welsh going across the border because things are so bad in Wales.

    Is that true?
    Yes
    Link?
    You clearly have no idea just how close communities are in the Welsh Borders and it is accepted this happens frequently
    So anecdotal then rather than factual
    I have worked on studies of healthcare in Wales using hospital and other records from the SAIL databank at Swansea. These have also necessitated obtaining records from England as it is not at all uncommon for patients resident in Wales to be treated in England.

    I'm not saying that is "because things are so bad in Wales" but there are certainly parts of Wales for which the most accessible major centre for treatment is in England. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,257
    kinabalu said:

    Selebian said:

    kinabalu said:

    stodge said:


    My grandson and his father had a positive test on monday and today my daughter has succumbed though their daughter in Leeds University has tested negative

    They do feel quite rough with lots of coughing and are self isolating until 26 November

    However, I would argue case rates may well be higher but the vaccines are mitigating the effects to a bad cold/ cough that is not resulting in increasing hospitalisations and deaths, specifically because of that success with not only the vaccines but also the boosters

    Indeed and we are now at the stage of "living with" the virus in terms of having (for the most part) reduced its personal impact via vaccinations. Were we still absent a vaccine, I'd argue we'd be staring at a new round of restrictions but we aren't and that's entirely (I would argue) down to the vaccines.

    Those who get ill and require hospitalisation are largely the unvaccinated and while I accept those with weakened immune systems and other health problems need to continue to exercise caution, for the majority of the vaccinated (and especially those triply dosed), life can carry on much as normal.

    The priority must be to continue to vaccinate - whether first, second or third doses. Every vaccination helps no matter where it sits in the order.

    The next stage will then be to continue to observe efficacy levels of the third vaccine - initial results are very good but the longevity of such levels of immunity remains to be seen and while it would be helpful if we could go a year before the fourth vaccination, the possibility must be we will need a further round of boosters in the spring but we'll see.

    The other aspect is getting normal flu vaccinations done - for all coronavirus grabs the headlines, influenza hasn't gone away and can be just as serious.

    My wife and I received our flu vaccines last week following our boosters the week before
    I'm having the both in one go tomorrow. Can I cope with 2 pricks at the same time? Yes, I think so. Done it before, more than once.
    My record (for needle-delivered immunisations, for avoidance of doubt!) is five in one session - three in one arm, two in the other. Needed for a field-trip to Patagonia during my PhD. I was expecting one or two, but when I turned up the GP said my childhood GP had lost my records so they'd give me everything relevant to make sure :open_mouth:
    Wow, I'd doubt anybody can beat 5. Tomorrow's 2 will, I think, be a 1st for me. Just hope I don't get a bad reaction. My 1st 2 covid jabs were ok on that score. A light flu for 48 hours.
    As far as I remember, all I had was one arm a bit sore. Still, I'd almost certainly had all or at least most of the vaccinations before, so I guess little reaction should have been expected.
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