Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

On Smarkets its a 55% chance that Scotland will vote for Independence – politicalbetting.com

1456810

Comments

  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,889

    stodge said:

    Indeed - a lot of uncertainty with the weather. I'm far from convinced Newcastle will survive - if it does, the ground will likely be a lot softer. That won't help SCEAU ROYAL or SILVER STREAK but gives MONMIRAL a chance against EPATANTE. In the Rehearsal, I think GLEN FORSA each way at 7s might be a good shout.

    At Newbury, we're again guessing with the weather. It's a really trappy card and one I'm swerving with all the unknowns.

    With no Lingfield this week, I've had a quick look at Wolverhampton and my eye is drawn to DARAKAH, a newcomer for Charlie Hills in the 5.30. 5s in a fillies maiden.

    Brilliant thank you. 👍🏻

    So are you on MONMIRAL Stodge.

    Out of all those suggestions which one would you NAP and definitely be on yourself
    I've backed GLEN FORSA and will probably have a bet on DARAKAH but I'll wait for the morning to see what the conditions are and if, for example, they can get MONMIRAL from the west country to the track.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,098

    pigeon said:

    Unpopular said:



    I guess count me in as genuinely liberal! Threats of sending a bunch of migrants EUwards will only be an effective tactic if the EU demonstrate that it can harm them. They do this by wetting the bed or letting people die in the cold. Or both. The EU has ~500 million people, it can't accommodate a few million more if need be?

    In theory yes. In practice no-one wants them. Why would they?

    So, how are you going to go about selling your position to European electorates? There's room, but so what? Simply to reach the same population density as the UK, Poland, for example, would need to accept approximately fifty million migrants. It doesn't follow that this is a good idea.
    The only recent example of acceptance of large-scale migration was Merkel's decision on the Syrian migrants. Thst did cause considerable controversy for a while, and various people here predicted that it would send far-right (AfD) support through the roof. There were reports of women being harassed which attracted enormous coverage and not a little barely-concealed Schadenfreude in right-wing circles.

    But what happened in the end? The Christian Democrats lost votes heavily to the SPD, with no strong position on the issue, and the Greens, who favoured having more migrants. The AfD drifted downwards. By and large, the new arrivals settled down and most seem to have caused little trouble.

    Some people get really worked up by this stuff, and clearly it was a significant factor in Brexit. Others do feel concerned, but then get distracted, as with many other issues (sleaze is one). As Tony Blair said, what disturbs people more seriously is not migration itself, but the sense of loss of control. Most people are up for a reasonably liberal policy, so long as they feel it's a deliberate, managed policy rather than a stampede.
    There is no doubt though AfD support is higher now than it was before the Syrian refugees started to arrive in Germany in 2015.

    The AfD got only 4.7% in 2013 which had risen to 12.6% in 2017 and 10.3% in 2021
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,676
    It's snowing in Chesterfield. Sleet half an hour ago now definitely snow. 2.5c
  • South Africa's health minister says, based on a small sample of Omicron cases, the majority of hospital patients are unvaccinated: "It indicates that the vaccines are providing protection"
  • MonkeysMonkeys Posts: 757
    edited November 2021
    Andy_JS said:

    "Left harms black people with woke anti-racism dogma, says US academic John McWhorter

    A black liberal author has waded into America’s culture wars by arguing that “anti-racist” ideology has effectively become a religion that stifles debate and actually harms black people. The left, argues John McWhorter, a newspaper columnist and linguistics professor at Columbia University, has grown obsessed with “performing” virtue, not for the betterment of society but rather conformity and a sense of purpose." (£)

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/left-harms-black-people-with-woke-anti-racism-dogma-says-us-academic-john-mcwhorter-sq98cmspk

    I don't think it helps at all. Structural racism implies that our behaviours that are racist come out of social structures, and we won't necessarily know that we are contributing to racism, that is, we might not know that we are racist. Then, the oversight of our behaviours, through anti-prejudice laws, has to be governed, by a structure, which has been built by people, who can't know that they're racist, but don't worry - they're not! So the anti-racist laws cannot be governed by racist people! Don't look behind the curtain though!!!

    At the root is a silly idea - that only bad people are racist. We don't think that about murder laws. I'd bet Most people would accept that almost everybody could be pushed to murder if the right buttons are pushed, and the murder laws are there at least partially to dissuade us from doing the murder. It would be better if we thought, as we might think "we're all murderers, what are we going to do about that," that "we're all racist, what are we going to do about that?" To say that we're all potentially murderers but only bad people are racist and good anti-racists can stand up to them is to say that racism is worse than murder. Maybe one of you can crunch the numbers but I don't think it is.

    EDIT: Maybe not "worse," but "less human."

  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,865

    South Africa's health minister says, based on a small sample of Omicron cases, the majority of hospital patients are unvaccinated: "It indicates that the vaccines are providing protection"

    That's not surprising. If that holds then it's panic over, even if it's more transmissive I don't see how we end up with lockdown.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,512
    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    Indeed - a lot of uncertainty with the weather. I'm far from convinced Newcastle will survive - if it does, the ground will likely be a lot softer. That won't help SCEAU ROYAL or SILVER STREAK but gives MONMIRAL a chance against EPATANTE. In the Rehearsal, I think GLEN FORSA each way at 7s might be a good shout.

    At Newbury, we're again guessing with the weather. It's a really trappy card and one I'm swerving with all the unknowns.

    With no Lingfield this week, I've had a quick look at Wolverhampton and my eye is drawn to DARAKAH, a newcomer for Charlie Hills in the 5.30. 5s in a fillies maiden.

    Brilliant thank you. 👍🏻

    So are you on MONMIRAL Stodge.

    Out of all those suggestions which one would you NAP and definitely be on yourself
    I've backed GLEN FORSA and will probably have a bet on DARAKAH but I'll wait for the morning to see what the conditions are and if, for example, they can get MONMIRAL from the west country to the track.
    Very good point. We have some ideas but hold off the bets till the morning going sticks and weather reports.

    I may bet a bit less this week, considering the conditions and moneys running out. Without good winners for a while.

    Thank you.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,202

    The pharmaceuticals manufacturer Novavax has begun work on a new version of its Covid-19 vaccine, aimed at targeting the Omicron variant.

    It says it hopes the vaccine will be ready for testing and manufacturing within a matter of weeks.

    Did Novavax actually managed to get their previous Covid vaccine actually manufactured?
  • rcs1000 said:

    The pharmaceuticals manufacturer Novavax has begun work on a new version of its Covid-19 vaccine, aimed at targeting the Omicron variant.

    It says it hopes the vaccine will be ready for testing and manufacturing within a matter of weeks.

    Did Novavax actually managed to get their previous Covid vaccine actually manufactured?
    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/24/novavax-expected-to-be-approved-as-fourth-covid-vaccine-in-uk
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,428

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Calm down thread...

    I include myself here.


    Robert Dingwall
    @rwjdingwall
    ·
    1h
    WHO has assigned the label omicron rather than nu - but otherwise this is written with Chise's customary authority.


    https://twitter.com/sailorrooscout/status/1464222680731820043

    That’s all well and good, and I have myself posted the hopeful hospital data from SA… But why are so many politicians and scientists alike reacting - worldwide - to THE GREAT OMICRON with such urgent fearfulness? And using words like ‘huge concern’? Why is Israel entering a ‘state of emergency’ and enacting its Omega war plan for a terrible variant?

    This is new. This feels different.
    Just maybe they have finally learned the lesson? Act before you think you need, just in case? I’m not remotely worried about this variant. Not enough evidence yet to provoke worry.
    I’m sorry but that’s just foolish. I understand people who refuse to worry because ‘it doesn’t change anything’ - that’s a pretty sensible attitude in some ways. But refusing to worry about Omicron ‘because there’s not enough evidence’ is simply blinkered.
    What would my worry achieve? Nothing. I know you’ve kept up with the progress of the pandemic, so I know you have seen other variants come and go. This may be similar. It may not be. We don’t know right now. Well have a better idea in a few weeks. The early evidence, posted by your good self, suggests vaccination is holding pretty well against omicron. That’s excellent news.
    I know you love the drama, but right now there is no need for me to worry.
    Yes, right now there is a reason for you to worry

    "EU’s ECDC says of the B.1.1.529 variant

    “Based on the available evidence, this variant is likely to be associated with very high transmissibility and significant immune escape. So far, there is no evidence for changes in infection severity.” https://ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/communicable-disease-threats-report-week 47-2021.pdf

    https://twitter.com/faisalislam/status/1464282553641312269?s=20

  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,378

    It's snowing in Chesterfield. Sleet half an hour ago now definitely snow. 2.5c

    I blame Starmer!
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,202
    Monkeys said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Left harms black people with woke anti-racism dogma, says US academic John McWhorter

    A black liberal author has waded into America’s culture wars by arguing that “anti-racist” ideology has effectively become a religion that stifles debate and actually harms black people. The left, argues John McWhorter, a newspaper columnist and linguistics professor at Columbia University, has grown obsessed with “performing” virtue, not for the betterment of society but rather conformity and a sense of purpose." (£)

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/left-harms-black-people-with-woke-anti-racism-dogma-says-us-academic-john-mcwhorter-sq98cmspk

    I don't think it helps at all. Structural racism implies that our behaviours that are racist come out of social structures, and we won't necessarily know that we are contributing to racism, that is, we might not know that we are racist. Then, the oversight of our behaviours, through anti-prejudice laws, has to be governed, by a structure, which has been built by people, who can't know that they're racist, but don't worry - they're not! So the anti-racist laws cannot be governed by racist people! Don't look behind the curtain though!!!

    At the root is a silly idea - that only bad people are racist. We don't think that about murder laws. I'd bet Most people would accept that almost everybody could be pushed to murder if the right buttons are pushed, and the murder laws are there at least partially to dissuade us from doing the murder. It would be better if we thought, as we might think "we're all murderers, what are we going to do about that," that "we're all racist, what are we going to do about that?" To say that we're all potentially murderers but only bad people are racist and good anti-racists can stand up to them is to say that racism is worse than murder. Maybe one of you can crunch the numbers but I don't think it is.

    EDIT: Maybe not "worse," but "less human."

    I presume when you said 'bad people', what you actually meant was 'white people'.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,865
    rcs1000 said:

    The pharmaceuticals manufacturer Novavax has begun work on a new version of its Covid-19 vaccine, aimed at targeting the Omicron variant.

    It says it hopes the vaccine will be ready for testing and manufacturing within a matter of weeks.

    Did Novavax actually managed to get their previous Covid vaccine actually manufactured?
    No. Significant manufacturing difficulties. The shareholders were very upset.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,428

    pigeon said:

    Unpopular said:



    I guess count me in as genuinely liberal! Threats of sending a bunch of migrants EUwards will only be an effective tactic if the EU demonstrate that it can harm them. They do this by wetting the bed or letting people die in the cold. Or both. The EU has ~500 million people, it can't accommodate a few million more if need be?

    In theory yes. In practice no-one wants them. Why would they?

    So, how are you going to go about selling your position to European electorates? There's room, but so what? Simply to reach the same population density as the UK, Poland, for example, would need to accept approximately fifty million migrants. It doesn't follow that this is a good idea.
    The only recent example of acceptance of large-scale migration was Merkel's decision on the Syrian migrants. Thst did cause considerable controversy for a while, and various people here predicted that it would send far-right (AfD) support through the roof. There were reports of women being harassed which attracted enormous coverage and not a little barely-concealed Schadenfreude in right-wing circles.

    But what happened in the end? The Christian Democrats lost votes heavily to the SPD, with no strong position on the issue, and the Greens, who favoured having more migrants. The AfD drifted downwards. By and large, the new arrivals settled down and most seem to have caused little trouble.

    Some people get really worked up by this stuff, and clearly it was a significant factor in Brexit. Others do feel concerned, but then get distracted, as with many other issues (sleaze is one). As Tony Blair said, what disturbs people more seriously is not migration itself, but the sense of loss of control. Most people are up for a reasonably liberal policy, so long as they feel it's a deliberate, managed policy rather than a stampede.
    And a load of women were raped, but, you know, whatever, MultiKulti Ist Gut
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,428
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Calm down thread...

    I include myself here.


    Robert Dingwall
    @rwjdingwall
    ·
    1h
    WHO has assigned the label omicron rather than nu - but otherwise this is written with Chise's customary authority.


    https://twitter.com/sailorrooscout/status/1464222680731820043

    That’s all well and good, and I have myself posted the hopeful hospital data from SA… But why are so many politicians and scientists alike reacting - worldwide - to THE GREAT OMICRON with such urgent fearfulness? And using words like ‘huge concern’? Why is Israel entering a ‘state of emergency’ and enacting its Omega war plan for a terrible variant?

    This is new. This feels different.
    Just maybe they have finally learned the lesson? Act before you think you need, just in case? I’m not remotely worried about this variant. Not enough evidence yet to provoke worry.
    I’m sorry but that’s just foolish. I understand people who refuse to worry because ‘it doesn’t change anything’ - that’s a pretty sensible attitude in some ways. But refusing to worry about Omicron ‘because there’s not enough evidence’ is simply blinkered.
    What would my worry achieve? Nothing. I know you’ve kept up with the progress of the pandemic, so I know you have seen other variants come and go. This may be similar. It may not be. We don’t know right now. Well have a better idea in a few weeks. The early evidence, posted by your good self, suggests vaccination is holding pretty well against omicron. That’s excellent news.
    I know you love the drama, but right now there is no need for me to worry.
    Yes, right now there is a reason for you to worry

    "EU’s ECDC says of the B.1.1.529 variant

    “Based on the available evidence, this variant is likely to be associated with very high transmissibility and significant immune escape. So far, there is no evidence for changes in infection severity.” https://ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/communicable-disease-threats-report-week 47-2021.pdf

    https://twitter.com/faisalislam/status/1464282553641312269?s=20

    Reason for you to worry then. I’m not. Other data is coming out, such as the vaccination status of those in SA hospitals.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,889
    HYUFD said:


    There is no doubt though AfD support is higher now than it was before the Syrian refugees started to arrive in Germany in 2015.

    The AfD got only 4.7% in 2013 which had risen to 12.6% in 2017 and 10.3% in 2021

    11% on the latest Forschungsgruppe poll which has the CDU/CSU at just 19%. Perhaps the presumed dominance of the Union in opposition shouldn't be taken for granted just as ACT is challenging National in New Zealand despite the ousting of Judith Collins earlier in the week.

    Also worth noting we are still to see a French poll where Macron loses a run-off to any other candidate. The latest polls show a 55-45 win over Marine Le Pen and LR candidates struggling to make any impact. Bertrand scores 13% and is in a battle for third with Zemmour but well behind Le Pen on 20% and Macron on 25%.

  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,421

    It's snowing in Chesterfield. Sleet half an hour ago now definitely snow. 2.5c

    At the moment it's raining here in Cannock, but the wind's in the north and it's bitterly cold. Sleet is forecast for later but I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually to be snow.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,512
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    kinabalu said:

    Roger said:

    Most impressive French spokeswoman on BBC News. It really is time this country rid itself of this quite dreadful Prime Minister and Home Secretary. They are well beyond embarrassing.

    Macron and Boris are equally dreadful and both are embarrassing
    Thank goodness you could only vote for one of them otherwise the embarrassment would be excruciating.
    Just accidentally caught Neil Oliver on GBNews. Rocking the double denim.
    Definite whiff of occupant of cult compound under siege by the FBI about him nowadays.
    He’s an arse. What is it about historians? Oliver, Sharkey!
    Oi!
    Are you an historian?

    I read a proper history book about the real Merlin by Gordon Strachan, and was a very wise man, but also apparently a bit haughty though could be very light and funny too.

    And I have also looked up you name “ydoethur “ in an old book.

    https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1jnBa3UwmgwC&pg=RA3-PA121&lpg=RA3-PA121&dq=doethur+similar+words+in+welsh&source=bl&ots=aYw8Y2921t&sig=ACfU3U3qO11WtqpXw50xDzc5fAKIFUIufw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAucaKqKD0AhUO_KQKHa0KAiEQ6AF6BAgTEAM#v=onepage&q=doethur similar words in welsh&f=false

    So I have done the detective work and put two and two together. Have I outed a big secret hidden in your name?

    Are you in fact a descendant of Merlin?
    No, I'm a PhD in History and a former lecturer before I went into teaching.
    I was wrong then. 😕

    But being a teacher is still good though, 👍🏻

    What would you say is your specialism?

    Fun history fact: did you know God made the earth design all the churches based on the curves of the female nude?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,428

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    kinabalu said:

    Roger said:

    Most impressive French spokeswoman on BBC News. It really is time this country rid itself of this quite dreadful Prime Minister and Home Secretary. They are well beyond embarrassing.

    Macron and Boris are equally dreadful and both are embarrassing
    Thank goodness you could only vote for one of them otherwise the embarrassment would be excruciating.
    Just accidentally caught Neil Oliver on GBNews. Rocking the double denim.
    Definite whiff of occupant of cult compound under siege by the FBI about him nowadays.
    He’s an arse. What is it about historians? Oliver, Sharkey!
    Oi!
    Are you an historian?

    I read a proper history book about the real Merlin by Gordon Strachan, and was a very wise man, but also apparently a bit haughty though could be very light and funny too.

    And I have also looked up you name “ydoethur “ in an old book.

    https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1jnBa3UwmgwC&pg=RA3-PA121&lpg=RA3-PA121&dq=doethur+similar+words+in+welsh&source=bl&ots=aYw8Y2921t&sig=ACfU3U3qO11WtqpXw50xDzc5fAKIFUIufw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAucaKqKD0AhUO_KQKHa0KAiEQ6AF6BAgTEAM#v=onepage&q=doethur similar words in welsh&f=false

    So I have done the detective work and put two and two together. Have I outed a big secret hidden in your name?

    Are you in fact a descendant of Merlin?
    No, I'm a PhD in History and a former lecturer before I went into teaching.
    I was wrong then. 😕

    But being a teacher is still good though, 👍🏻

    What would you say is your specialism?

    Fun history fact: did you know God made the earth design all the churches based on the curves of the female nude?
    His main specialism is puns. Some history teaching as a hobby...
  • It's snowing in Chesterfield. Sleet half an hour ago now definitely snow. 2.5c

    Is this a new PB test of where the North starts?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,428
    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wasn’t Macron right that AZ turned out to only be quasi effective?

    Even the UK’s given up on it now.

    Is that a serious comment? Because he was not even close to being right, and his comments were an absurdity rooted in absurd political distraction going on at the time.
    Not a serious comment.
    Except…there was a grain of truth in it. Just a grain.
    No, there wasn’t. I genuinely don’t know what you are referring to.
    Yes you do.
    It’s considered to have inferior efficacy to Pfizer and Moderna, which is why we no longer use it in the U.K.
    Considered by whom? Handelsblatt? Macron? The WHO?

    It may have lower initial anti-body response - but that's only half the story - there is evidence of a stronger T-cell response - which is what our bodies rely upon longer term.
    The FT has done lots of nice charts on real world efficacy from the UK"s own data, and if you are going single vaccine type, AZ is not as good as Pfizer. Indeed, if you are using a two dose of the same vaccine type, it's about twenty percentage points worse than Pfizer at every point on the chart.

    That being said, AZ followed by Pfizer seems to offer the very best protection of any two-dose regime, and it's highly likely that AZ-AZ-Pfizer will prove to be significantly more efficacious than Pfizer-Pfizer-Pfizer.
    Also there is already evidence that AZ is better against Omicron
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,080
    edited November 2021

    It's snowing in Chesterfield. Sleet half an hour ago now definitely snow. 2.5c

    Is this a new PB test of where the North starts?
    Somewhere at about Watford....I've seen in on the motorway signs.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,428

    It's snowing in Chesterfield. Sleet half an hour ago now definitely snow. 2.5c

    Is this a new PB test of where the North starts?
    Anywhere past the M4. They talk funny up there.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,428
    MaxPB said:

    South Africa's health minister says, based on a small sample of Omicron cases, the majority of hospital patients are unvaccinated: "It indicates that the vaccines are providing protection"

    That's not surprising. If that holds then it's panic over, even if it's more transmissive I don't see how we end up with lockdown.
    It's a really small sample. Caution advised
  • Monkeys said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Left harms black people with woke anti-racism dogma, says US academic John McWhorter

    A black liberal author has waded into America’s culture wars by arguing that “anti-racist” ideology has effectively become a religion that stifles debate and actually harms black people. The left, argues John McWhorter, a newspaper columnist and linguistics professor at Columbia University, has grown obsessed with “performing” virtue, not for the betterment of society but rather conformity and a sense of purpose." (£)

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/left-harms-black-people-with-woke-anti-racism-dogma-says-us-academic-john-mcwhorter-sq98cmspk

    I don't think it helps at all. Structural racism implies that our behaviours that are racist come out of social structures, and we won't necessarily know that we are contributing to racism, that is, we might not know that we are racist. Then, the oversight of our behaviours, through anti-prejudice laws, has to be governed, by a structure, which has been built by people, who can't know that they're racist, but don't worry - they're not! So the anti-racist laws cannot be governed by racist people! Don't look behind the curtain though!!!

    At the root is a silly idea - that only bad people are racist. We don't think that about murder laws. I'd bet Most people would accept that almost everybody could be pushed to murder if the right buttons are pushed, and the murder laws are there at least partially to dissuade us from doing the murder. It would be better if we thought, as we might think "we're all murderers, what are we going to do about that," that "we're all racist, what are we going to do about that?" To say that we're all potentially murderers but only bad people are racist and good anti-racists can stand up to them is to say that racism is worse than murder. Maybe one of you can crunch the numbers but I don't think it is.

    EDIT: Maybe not "worse," but "less human."

    Its time to get off the drugs.

    We're not all murderers. I'm not a murderer. I expect most people here are not murderers so no having an attitude of "we're all murderers" is completely psychotic and delusional. If that's your line of thinking, you're absolutely crackers.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,428
    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    South Africa's health minister says, based on a small sample of Omicron cases, the majority of hospital patients are unvaccinated: "It indicates that the vaccines are providing protection"

    That's not surprising. If that holds then it's panic over, even if it's more transmissive I don't see how we end up with lockdown.
    It's a really small sample. Caution advised
    The whole flap is small sample though, which is why I’m not worried yet.
  • so is omicron pronounced oh-mi-cron or oh-me-cron?

  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,512

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    kinabalu said:

    Roger said:

    Most impressive French spokeswoman on BBC News. It really is time this country rid itself of this quite dreadful Prime Minister and Home Secretary. They are well beyond embarrassing.

    Macron and Boris are equally dreadful and both are embarrassing
    Thank goodness you could only vote for one of them otherwise the embarrassment would be excruciating.
    Just accidentally caught Neil Oliver on GBNews. Rocking the double denim.
    Definite whiff of occupant of cult compound under siege by the FBI about him nowadays.
    He’s an arse. What is it about historians? Oliver, Sharkey!
    Oi!
    Are you an historian?

    I read a proper history book about the real Merlin by Gordon Strachan, and was a very wise man, but also apparently a bit haughty though could be very light and funny too.

    And I have also looked up you name “ydoethur “ in an old book.

    https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1jnBa3UwmgwC&pg=RA3-PA121&lpg=RA3-PA121&dq=doethur+similar+words+in+welsh&source=bl&ots=aYw8Y2921t&sig=ACfU3U3qO11WtqpXw50xDzc5fAKIFUIufw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAucaKqKD0AhUO_KQKHa0KAiEQ6AF6BAgTEAM#v=onepage&q=doethur similar words in welsh&f=false

    So I have done the detective work and put two and two together. Have I outed a big secret hidden in your name?

    Are you in fact a descendant of Merlin?
    No, I'm a PhD in History and a former lecturer before I went into teaching.
    I was wrong then. 😕

    But being a teacher is still good though, 👍🏻

    What would you say is your specialism?

    Fun history fact: did you know God made the earth design all the churches based on the curves of the female nude?
    His main specialism is puns. Some history teaching as a hobby...
    Lol. I will have to watch out for them. Maybe I should have asked what is specialism in puns, not in history.

    PS. Shh - he still might be a Merlin just denying it
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,585
    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,428

    so is omicron pronounced oh-mi-cron or oh-me-cron?

    I’d go with the latter.
  • MonkeysMonkeys Posts: 757

    Monkeys said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Left harms black people with woke anti-racism dogma, says US academic John McWhorter

    A black liberal author has waded into America’s culture wars by arguing that “anti-racist” ideology has effectively become a religion that stifles debate and actually harms black people. The left, argues John McWhorter, a newspaper columnist and linguistics professor at Columbia University, has grown obsessed with “performing” virtue, not for the betterment of society but rather conformity and a sense of purpose." (£)

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/left-harms-black-people-with-woke-anti-racism-dogma-says-us-academic-john-mcwhorter-sq98cmspk

    I don't think it helps at all. Structural racism implies that our behaviours that are racist come out of social structures, and we won't necessarily know that we are contributing to racism, that is, we might not know that we are racist. Then, the oversight of our behaviours, through anti-prejudice laws, has to be governed, by a structure, which has been built by people, who can't know that they're racist, but don't worry - they're not! So the anti-racist laws cannot be governed by racist people! Don't look behind the curtain though!!!

    At the root is a silly idea - that only bad people are racist. We don't think that about murder laws. I'd bet Most people would accept that almost everybody could be pushed to murder if the right buttons are pushed, and the murder laws are there at least partially to dissuade us from doing the murder. It would be better if we thought, as we might think "we're all murderers, what are we going to do about that," that "we're all racist, what are we going to do about that?" To say that we're all potentially murderers but only bad people are racist and good anti-racists can stand up to them is to say that racism is worse than murder. Maybe one of you can crunch the numbers but I don't think it is.

    EDIT: Maybe not "worse," but "less human."

    Its time to get off the drugs.

    We're not all murderers. I'm not a murderer. I expect most people here are not murderers so no having an attitude of "we're all murderers" is completely psychotic and delusional. If that's your line of thinking, you're absolutely crackers.
    Well, psychosis and delusion withstanding, I do think it's reasonable to think that everyone could be pushed to murder under the right circumstances - if someone hurt their offspring, and they had the weaponry, and they knew who did it and there wasn't anything to stop them. There does seem to be a moral differential between the expectation of how we might think and feel about killing someone, and how we might have a prejudice, which is also thinking and feeling for the most part. I can explain more if I neck more olanzapine through the acid flashback.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,512

    Count Binface @CountBinface
    The WHO has given the nasty new variant the Greek letter “omicron”, presumably missing out the previous letter “Xi” to avoid an unfortunate link with China’s President. Because to be associated with such a horrific, unstoppable blight on humanity would be very harsh on Covid-19.

    https://twitter.com/CountBinface/status/1464296507981578240

    Didn’t someone in this thread already say that about 5 hours ago? 🤔
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,421

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    kinabalu said:

    Roger said:

    Most impressive French spokeswoman on BBC News. It really is time this country rid itself of this quite dreadful Prime Minister and Home Secretary. They are well beyond embarrassing.

    Macron and Boris are equally dreadful and both are embarrassing
    Thank goodness you could only vote for one of them otherwise the embarrassment would be excruciating.
    Just accidentally caught Neil Oliver on GBNews. Rocking the double denim.
    Definite whiff of occupant of cult compound under siege by the FBI about him nowadays.
    He’s an arse. What is it about historians? Oliver, Sharkey!
    Oi!
    Are you an historian?

    I read a proper history book about the real Merlin by Gordon Strachan, and was a very wise man, but also apparently a bit haughty though could be very light and funny too.

    And I have also looked up you name “ydoethur “ in an old book.

    https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1jnBa3UwmgwC&pg=RA3-PA121&lpg=RA3-PA121&dq=doethur+similar+words+in+welsh&source=bl&ots=aYw8Y2921t&sig=ACfU3U3qO11WtqpXw50xDzc5fAKIFUIufw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAucaKqKD0AhUO_KQKHa0KAiEQ6AF6BAgTEAM#v=onepage&q=doethur similar words in welsh&f=false

    So I have done the detective work and put two and two together. Have I outed a big secret hidden in your name?

    Are you in fact a descendant of Merlin?
    No, I'm a PhD in History and a former lecturer before I went into teaching.
    I was wrong then. 😕

    But being a teacher is still good though, 👍🏻

    What would you say is your specialism?

    Fun history fact: did you know God made the earth design all the churches based on the curves of the female nude?
    His main specialism is puns. Some history teaching as a hobby...
    Lol. I will have to watch out for them. Maybe I should have asked what is specialism in puns, not in history.

    PS. Shh - he still might be a Merlin just denying it
    Witch would be amusing in its own way.
  • Worth remember South Africa is moving into summer.....
  • Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wasn’t Macron right that AZ turned out to only be quasi effective?

    Even the UK’s given up on it now.

    Is that a serious comment? Because he was not even close to being right, and his comments were an absurdity rooted in absurd political distraction going on at the time.
    Not a serious comment.
    Except…there was a grain of truth in it. Just a grain.
    No, there wasn’t. I genuinely don’t know what you are referring to.
    Yes you do.
    It’s considered to have inferior efficacy to Pfizer and Moderna, which is why we no longer use it in the U.K.
    Considered by whom? Handelsblatt? Macron? The WHO?

    It may have lower initial anti-body response - but that's only half the story - there is evidence of a stronger T-cell response - which is what our bodies rely upon longer term.
    The FT has done lots of nice charts on real world efficacy from the UK"s own data, and if you are going single vaccine type, AZ is not as good as Pfizer. Indeed, if you are using a two dose of the same vaccine type, it's about twenty percentage points worse than Pfizer at every point on the chart.

    That being said, AZ followed by Pfizer seems to offer the very best protection of any two-dose regime, and it's highly likely that AZ-AZ-Pfizer will prove to be significantly more efficacious than Pfizer-Pfizer-Pfizer.
    Also there is already evidence that AZ is better against Omicron
    If that is the case, is there a German (or even better French) word for buckets and buckets of schadenfreude?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,421

    Count Binface @CountBinface
    The WHO has given the nasty new variant the Greek letter “omicron”, presumably missing out the previous letter “Xi” to avoid an unfortunate link with China’s President. Because to be associated with such a horrific, unstoppable blight on humanity would be very harsh on Covid-19.

    https://twitter.com/CountBinface/status/1464296507981578240

    I think everyone knows my opinion of London :smile:

    But one definite upside of living there would be the opportunity to vote for Count Binface.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,388
    edited November 2021
    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    Typical misleading headline. They are well paid, but there's no need to over-egg it - except to demonise them, of course. Go beyond the headline, and it says:

    Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements. Three London Underground train operators or instructors are listed as being in the £80,000 to £99,999 category of total remuneration, with an impressive 3,085 between £70,000 to £79,999.

    So in fact none are paid £100k unless you add in pensions etc. And only 3 are paid over £80k. And the reference is actually to Tube staff - not drivers. The highly paid may not actually be drivers. Shit reporting.
  • Count Binface @CountBinface
    The WHO has given the nasty new variant the Greek letter “omicron”, presumably missing out the previous letter “Xi” to avoid an unfortunate link with China’s President. Because to be associated with such a horrific, unstoppable blight on humanity would be very harsh on Covid-19.

    https://twitter.com/CountBinface/status/1464296507981578240

    Didn’t someone in this thread already say that about 5 hours ago? 🤔
    Possibly.

    We're on the 8th page of the thread with 100 posts per page. I haven't read all 800 posts, have you?

  • Tom Newton Dunn
    @tnewtondunn
    ·
    3h
    [Sir John] Bell: "I've been saying this for nine months, that the biggest threat to us is the emergence of variants. We were pretty slow at trying to get more people vaccinated, particularly in Africa. And guess what's happened, it's come back to bite us".
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,041
    Hunkering down tonight and watching Broadway Melody of 1940. In Begin the Beguine we have probably the best dance routine in history. Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell drive each other on - as Fred said she was the only one who could out-dance him. But I still prefer Ginger for dancing and acting.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,428

    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    South Africa's health minister says, based on a small sample of Omicron cases, the majority of hospital patients are unvaccinated: "It indicates that the vaccines are providing protection"

    That's not surprising. If that holds then it's panic over, even if it's more transmissive I don't see how we end up with lockdown.
    It's a really small sample. Caution advised
    The whole flap is small sample though, which is why I’m not worried yet.
    It's not. The sample is South Africa, and they got lucky with PCR tests catching so many

    The number of officially sequenced cases is low, but the PCR tests indicate thousands
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,030

    so is omicron pronounced oh-mi-cron or oh-me-cron?

    O'Micron

    An Irish unit of measurement.
  • Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    Typical misleading headline. They are well paid, but there's no need to over-egg it - except to demonise them, of course. Go beyond the headline, and it says:

    Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements. Three London Underground train operators or instructors are listed as being in the £80,000 to £99,999 category of total remuneration, with an impressive 3,085 between £70,000 to £79,999.

    So in fact none are paid £100k unless you add in pensions etc. And only 3 are paid over £80k.
    Why wouldn't you count pensions etc?

    Pensions come out of gross wages for many people. So if people are getting pensions on top of gross wages, then of course they should be counted!
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,030
    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,098
    edited November 2021
    stodge said:

    HYUFD said:


    There is no doubt though AfD support is higher now than it was before the Syrian refugees started to arrive in Germany in 2015.

    The AfD got only 4.7% in 2013 which had risen to 12.6% in 2017 and 10.3% in 2021

    11% on the latest Forschungsgruppe poll which has the CDU/CSU at just 19%. Perhaps the presumed dominance of the Union in opposition shouldn't be taken for granted just as ACT is challenging National in New Zealand despite the ousting of Judith Collins earlier in the week.

    Also worth noting we are still to see a French poll where Macron loses a run-off to any other candidate. The latest polls show a 55-45 win over Marine Le Pen and LR candidates struggling to make any impact. Bertrand scores 13% and is in a battle for third with Zemmour but well behind Le Pen on 20% and Macron on 25%.

    Yes but the FDP, the German equivalent of ACT is also in government alongside the SPD and Greens. The Union will therefore have opposition almost to itself bar the extremes of the AfD and Linke (and note in NZ the Nationals are still ahead of the ACT even if the ACT have benefited from an anti lockdown and libertarian line).

    45% for Le Pen would be 12% more than she got in the runoff in 2017, if the trend continued to 2027 Le Pen would be elected President
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,512

    Count Binface @CountBinface
    The WHO has given the nasty new variant the Greek letter “omicron”, presumably missing out the previous letter “Xi” to avoid an unfortunate link with China’s President. Because to be associated with such a horrific, unstoppable blight on humanity would be very harsh on Covid-19.

    https://twitter.com/CountBinface/status/1464296507981578240

    Didn’t someone in this thread already say that about 5 hours ago? 🤔
    Possibly.

    We're on the 8th page of the thread with 100 posts per page. I haven't read all 800 posts, have you?
    Either they copied bin face or bin face copied them…

    Or one of you IS Count Binface? Posting on this forum.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,080
    edited November 2021


    Tom Newton Dunn
    @tnewtondunn
    ·
    3h
    [Sir John] Bell: "I've been saying this for nine months, that the biggest threat to us is the emergence of variants. We were pretty slow at trying to get more people vaccinated, particularly in Africa. And guess what's happened, it's come back to bite us".

    Its a good job a perfectly good vaccine ideally suited for deployment in Africa wasn't trashed for political reasons...
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,428
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    South Africa's health minister says, based on a small sample of Omicron cases, the majority of hospital patients are unvaccinated: "It indicates that the vaccines are providing protection"

    That's not surprising. If that holds then it's panic over, even if it's more transmissive I don't see how we end up with lockdown.
    It's a really small sample. Caution advised
    The whole flap is small sample though, which is why I’m not worried yet.
    It's not. The sample is South Africa, and they got lucky with PCR tests catching so many

    The number of officially sequenced cases is low, but the PCR tests indicate thousands
    We won’t agree on this. Fair enough. Let’s check back in a week.
  • France reports 34,436 new coronavirus cases, the biggest one-day increase since April
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,428


    Tom Newton Dunn
    @tnewtondunn
    ·
    3h
    [Sir John] Bell: "I've been saying this for nine months, that the biggest threat to us is the emergence of variants. We were pretty slow at trying to get more people vaccinated, particularly in Africa. And guess what's happened, it's come back to bite us".

    Except - how often does this have to be repeated - South Africa has ample jabs. They gave away or sold their AZ yet they STILL have 17m doses in warehouses. They can't find arms to accept them

    "The psychology of vaccine hesitancy and refusal - Once South Africa secured adequate amounts of vaccines, we were faced with a baffling dilemma. Not everyone wanted to take it"

    https://twitter.com/mailandguardian/status/1449268983778185219?s=20

    Re South Africa, it is an entirely bogus narrative
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,098

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,080
    edited November 2021
    Leon said:


    Tom Newton Dunn
    @tnewtondunn
    ·
    3h
    [Sir John] Bell: "I've been saying this for nine months, that the biggest threat to us is the emergence of variants. We were pretty slow at trying to get more people vaccinated, particularly in Africa. And guess what's happened, it's come back to bite us".

    Except - how often does this have to be repeated - South Africa has ample jabs. They gave away or sold their AZ yet they STILL have 17m doses in warehouses. They can't find arms to accept them

    "The psychology of vaccine hesitancy and refusal - Once South Africa secured adequate amounts of vaccines, we were faced with a baffling dilemma. Not everyone wanted to take it"

    https://twitter.com/mailandguardian/status/1449268983778185219?s=20

    Re South Africa, it is an entirely bogus narrative
    Like bog roll and fuel shortages....it will be pushed and become "fact" within a few days just like the FT claims on government spending on COVID testing.
  • Count Binface @CountBinface
    The WHO has given the nasty new variant the Greek letter “omicron”, presumably missing out the previous letter “Xi” to avoid an unfortunate link with China’s President. Because to be associated with such a horrific, unstoppable blight on humanity would be very harsh on Covid-19.

    https://twitter.com/CountBinface/status/1464296507981578240

    Didn’t someone in this thread already say that about 5 hours ago? 🤔
    Possibly.

    We're on the 8th page of the thread with 100 posts per page. I haven't read all 800 posts, have you?
    Either they copied bin face or bin face copied them…

    Or one of you IS Count Binface? Posting on this forum.
    That's a load of rubbish! :lol:
  • so is omicron pronounced oh-mi-cron or oh-me-cron?

    O'Micron

    An Irish unit of measurement.
    No, Indian!

    "Om Icron!"
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,388
    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    Read the article linked to. No tube drivers are 'pocketing 6 figure salaries'.
  • Leon said:


    Tom Newton Dunn
    @tnewtondunn
    ·
    3h
    [Sir John] Bell: "I've been saying this for nine months, that the biggest threat to us is the emergence of variants. We were pretty slow at trying to get more people vaccinated, particularly in Africa. And guess what's happened, it's come back to bite us".

    Except - how often does this have to be repeated - South Africa has ample jabs. They gave away or sold their AZ yet they STILL have 17m doses in warehouses. They can't find arms to accept them

    "The psychology of vaccine hesitancy and refusal - Once South Africa secured adequate amounts of vaccines, we were faced with a baffling dilemma. Not everyone wanted to take it"

    https://twitter.com/mailandguardian/status/1449268983778185219?s=20

    Re South Africa, it is an entirely bogus narrative
    Did this latest start in Botswana?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,585
    "BBC News (UK)
    @BBCNews

    Chris Whitty: I worry people won't accept more Covid curbs"

    https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1464296034306297856
  • Is there a reason why the likes of Pfizer haven't already tweaked their vaccine for Delta variant? That has been about for nearly 12 months now and clearly the dominant variety. I presumed like flu, each winter we would be getting an "updated" version to best match what is out there.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,873
    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,512
    slade said:

    Hunkering down tonight and watching Broadway Melody of 1940. In Begin the Beguine we have probably the best dance routine in history. Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell drive each other on - as Fred said she was the only one who could out-dance him. But I still prefer Ginger for dancing and acting.

    I saw Two Way Stretch for the first time on old movies channel the other day. Have you ever seen an old comedy series called Porridge that is absolutely brilliant? But I am beginning to think it’s not that original as the characters in the film were just the same, especially the chief prison officer.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,428

    Leon said:


    Tom Newton Dunn
    @tnewtondunn
    ·
    3h
    [Sir John] Bell: "I've been saying this for nine months, that the biggest threat to us is the emergence of variants. We were pretty slow at trying to get more people vaccinated, particularly in Africa. And guess what's happened, it's come back to bite us".

    Except - how often does this have to be repeated - South Africa has ample jabs. They gave away or sold their AZ yet they STILL have 17m doses in warehouses. They can't find arms to accept them

    "The psychology of vaccine hesitancy and refusal - Once South Africa secured adequate amounts of vaccines, we were faced with a baffling dilemma. Not everyone wanted to take it"

    https://twitter.com/mailandguardian/status/1449268983778185219?s=20

    Re South Africa, it is an entirely bogus narrative
    Did this latest start in Botswana?
    No one knows. Could be anywhere in southern Africa. But given the HIV aspect and the sheer size of SA compared to its emptier neighbours, SA is highly likely
  • so is omicron pronounced oh-mi-cron or oh-me-cron?

    O'Micron

    An Irish unit of measurement.
    No, Indian!

    "Om Icron!"
    Its a unit of measurement for how exasperated you are with the French President.

    "Oh Macron!"
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,428

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    Read the article linked to. No tube drivers are 'pocketing 6 figure salaries'.
    No Tube drivers should be pocketing any salaries. The entire network could be automated and made driverless tomorrow. No more strikes. It is only union power that means they cling on, like the print workers in Fleet Street in the 70s
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,421
    Andy_JS said:

    "BBC News (UK)
    @BBCNews

    Chris Whitty: I worry people won't accept more Covid curbs"

    https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1464296034306297856

    Quite a lot of them didn't accept the first one.

    *looks pointedly at Cummings, Duffield, Ferguson, Hancock, Staatz...*
  • OK. BBC saying it is oh-me-cron.

  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,873

    so is omicron pronounced oh-mi-cron or oh-me-cron?

    I’d go with the latter.
    The former. The latter would confound the iota with the eta or even epsilon.
  • rural_voterrural_voter Posts: 2,038
    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wasn’t Macron right that AZ turned out to only be quasi effective?

    Even the UK’s given up on it now.

    Is that a serious comment? Because he was not even close to being right, and his comments were an absurdity rooted in absurd political distraction going on at the time.
    Not a serious comment.
    Except…there was a grain of truth in it. Just a grain.
    No, there wasn’t. I genuinely don’t know what you are referring to.
    Yes you do.
    It’s considered to have inferior efficacy to Pfizer and Moderna, which is why we no longer use it in the U.K.
    Considered by whom? Handelsblatt? Macron? The WHO?

    It may have lower initial anti-body response - but that's only half the story - there is evidence of a stronger T-cell response - which is what our bodies rely upon longer term.
    The FT has done lots of nice charts on real world efficacy from the UK"s own data, and if you are going single vaccine type, AZ is not as good as Pfizer. Indeed, if you are using a two dose of the same vaccine type, it's about twenty percentage points worse than Pfizer at every point on the chart.

    That being said, AZ followed by Pfizer seems to offer the very best protection of any two-dose regime, and it's highly likely that AZ-AZ-Pfizer will prove to be significantly more efficacious than Pfizer-Pfizer-Pfizer.
    Also there is already evidence that AZ is better against Omicron
    The Pfizer trial featured statistically the same all-cause mortality in the experimental group as in the control group. It's a strange definition of 'efficiency' if statistically as many people die if they receive it. But pharma companies are good at complying with the letter of the rules (to avoid litigation) and ignoring all else, like saving lives.

    Discussion to this effect between doctors on social media, when the people concerned are senior enough not to get censored or expelled for it (which is absurd ).

    https://twitter.com/DrAseemMalhotra/status/1462363528065597440
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,030
    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    They won't be getting paid if they are on strike. And as established down thread, they don't receive six figure salaries.

  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,667

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    Typical misleading headline. They are well paid, but there's no need to over-egg it - except to demonise them, of course. Go beyond the headline, and it says:

    Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements. Three London Underground train operators or instructors are listed as being in the £80,000 to £99,999 category of total remuneration, with an impressive 3,085 between £70,000 to £79,999.

    So in fact none are paid £100k unless you add in pensions etc. And only 3 are paid over £80k.
    Why wouldn't you count pensions etc?

    Pensions come out of gross wages for many people. So if people are getting pensions on top of gross wages, then of course they should be counted!
    Employer's pension contributions are not normally counted tbf.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,098
    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
    Even £56,496 puts them in the top 10% of earners and most Tory MPs have to work part of the weekend on constituency visits as well as often long days and part of the evening in the House in the week.

    Plus 'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements' so in total some earn more than Tory MPs do
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,428

    Is there a reason why the likes of Pfizer haven't already tweaked their vaccine for Delta variant? That has been about for nearly 12 months now and clearly the dominant variety. I presumed like flu, each winter we would be getting an "updated" version to best match what is out there.

    Is there a reason why the likes of Pfizer haven't already tweaked their vaccine for Delta variant? That has been about for nearly 12 months now and clearly the dominant variety. I presumed like flu, each winter we would be getting an "updated" version to best match what is out there.

    No need, and not easy to pick the one you need to match. Ultimately you might need a cocktail.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,421

    slade said:

    Hunkering down tonight and watching Broadway Melody of 1940. In Begin the Beguine we have probably the best dance routine in history. Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell drive each other on - as Fred said she was the only one who could out-dance him. But I still prefer Ginger for dancing and acting.

    I saw Two Way Stretch for the first time on old movies channel the other day. Have you ever seen an old comedy series called Porridge that is absolutely brilliant? But I am beginning to think it’s not that original as the characters in the film were just the same, especially the chief prison officer.
    Lionel Jeffries in surely his most atypical role, and a very youthful Bernard Cribbins.

    But it was Wilfred Hyde White's con artist that made that film.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,676
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
    Even £56,496 puts them in the top 10% of earners and most Tory MPs have to work part of the weekend on constituency visits as well as often long days and part of the evening in the House in the week.

    Plus 'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements' so in total some earn more than Tory MPs do
    Unless you also add Pension Contributions allowances and perks to what Tory MPs earn then they don't
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,030
    Leon said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    Read the article linked to. No tube drivers are 'pocketing 6 figure salaries'.
    No Tube drivers should be pocketing any salaries. The entire network could be automated and made driverless tomorrow. No more strikes. It is only union power that means they cling on, like the print workers in Fleet Street in the 70s
    Gosh. A union looking after the interests of its members.

    How very dare they.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,873
    edited November 2021
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
    Even £56,496 puts them in the top 10% of earners and most Tory MPs have to work part of the weekend on constituency visits as well as often long days and part of the evening in the House in the week.

    Plus 'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements' so in total some earn more than Tory MPs do
    You're changing the goalposts again. YOu said SIX FIGURE SALARY.

    56,496 is , let me count very clearly for you,

    one
    TWO
    three
    four
    AND fIVE

    digits.

    The same number of digits (geddit?) as one of youir hands and feet, unless you come from Norfolk I suppose.

    And that is only 57% of the smallest possible six figure salary. Which is 100,000.

  • Neil Henderson
    @hendopolis
    ·
    24m
    MAIL: Keep calm & don’t let new Covid ruin Xmas #TomorrowsPapersToday

    No threat to Xmas
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,667
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    kinabalu said:

    Roger said:

    Most impressive French spokeswoman on BBC News. It really is time this country rid itself of this quite dreadful Prime Minister and Home Secretary. They are well beyond embarrassing.

    Macron and Boris are equally dreadful and both are embarrassing
    Thank goodness you could only vote for one of them otherwise the embarrassment would be excruciating.
    Just accidentally caught Neil Oliver on GBNews. Rocking the double denim.
    Definite whiff of occupant of cult compound under siege by the FBI about him nowadays.
    He’s an arse. What is it about historians? Oliver, Sharkey!
    Oi!
    Are you an historian?

    I read a proper history book about the real Merlin by Gordon Strachan, and was a very wise man, but also apparently a bit haughty though could be very light and funny too.

    And I have also looked up you name “ydoethur “ in an old book.

    https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1jnBa3UwmgwC&pg=RA3-PA121&lpg=RA3-PA121&dq=doethur+similar+words+in+welsh&source=bl&ots=aYw8Y2921t&sig=ACfU3U3qO11WtqpXw50xDzc5fAKIFUIufw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAucaKqKD0AhUO_KQKHa0KAiEQ6AF6BAgTEAM#v=onepage&q=doethur similar words in welsh&f=false

    So I have done the detective work and put two and two together. Have I outed a big secret hidden in your name?

    Are you in fact a descendant of Merlin?
    No, I'm a PhD in History and a former lecturer before I went into teaching.
    I was wrong then. 😕

    But being a teacher is still good though, 👍🏻

    What would you say is your specialism?

    Fun history fact: did you know God made the earth design all the churches based on the curves of the female nude?
    His main specialism is puns. Some history teaching as a hobby...
    Lol. I will have to watch out for them. Maybe I should have asked what is specialism in puns, not in history.

    PS. Shh - he still might be a Merlin just denying it
    Witch would be amusing in its own way.
    So your specialism is spelling?
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 4,939
    ydoethur said:

    kinabalu said:

    Roger said:

    Most impressive French spokeswoman on BBC News. It really is time this country rid itself of this quite dreadful Prime Minister and Home Secretary. They are well beyond embarrassing.

    Macron and Boris are equally dreadful and both are embarrassing
    Thank goodness you could only vote for one of them otherwise the embarrassment would be excruciating.
    Just accidentally caught Neil Oliver on GBNews. Rocking the double denim.
    Definite whiff of occupant of cult compound under siege by the FBI about him nowadays.
    He’s an arse. What is it about historians? Oliver, Sharkey!
    Oi!
    Welsh historians excluded.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,873

    Leon said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    Read the article linked to. No tube drivers are 'pocketing 6 figure salaries'.
    No Tube drivers should be pocketing any salaries. The entire network could be automated and made driverless tomorrow. No more strikes. It is only union power that means they cling on, like the print workers in Fleet Street in the 70s
    Gosh. A union looking after the interests of its members.

    How very dare they.
    And it's mince to suggest that the network could be automated all of a sudden. There was an excellent article posted by one of us quite recently to point out the many problems with that notion.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,667


    Neil Henderson
    @hendopolis
    ·
    24m
    MAIL: Keep calm & don’t let new Covid ruin Xmas #TomorrowsPapersToday

    No threat to Xmas

    That's it then - Christmas is off.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,512
    ydoethur said:

    slade said:

    Hunkering down tonight and watching Broadway Melody of 1940. In Begin the Beguine we have probably the best dance routine in history. Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell drive each other on - as Fred said she was the only one who could out-dance him. But I still prefer Ginger for dancing and acting.

    I saw Two Way Stretch for the first time on old movies channel the other day. Have you ever seen an old comedy series called Porridge that is absolutely brilliant? But I am beginning to think it’s not that original as the characters in the film were just the same, especially the chief prison officer.
    Lionel Jeffries in surely his most atypical role, and a very youthful Bernard Cribbins.

    But it was Wilfred Hyde White's con artist that made that film.
    That’s it that’s the one! Bernard Cribbins was in Dr Who in 1960s and more recently. And he was in carry on films as well I think.

    Everything 60’s and 70s I am all over it. They stopped making good TV Sitcoms before I was born. Also Dr Who was in every way relatively and dimensionally better in 1970s than now. Not than I’m agreeing you can’t have a female Dr Who, problem with Jody Whittaker’s Dr Who isn’t she is a woman so poor as role model, but firstly the type of “character” they are asking her to play. Secondly the team of woke writers more interested in writing about Rosa Perks than science fiction and something scary aren’t they? It is a bit better this year. But they are still making Jody play it like a scatter brain granny trying to find her reading glasses under the bed. Why shouldn’t a lady top scientist be cool like the man scientist in 1953 war of the worldsfilm, or man scientist from the 1960s quatermass in the Pit film? Have you seen those? Regardless what sex, I think Who fans prefer cool but quirky Dr like that rather than a clown from a circus.
    Rant over.

  • Neil Henderson
    @hendopolis
    ·
    24m
    MAIL: Keep calm & don’t let new Covid ruin Xmas #TomorrowsPapersToday

    No threat to Xmas

    We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
  • Evening all. Hope that Arwen isn't treating you too badly - the best/worst storm I can remember. Have only ever heard wind roar on tornado chaser programs until tonight, now I have video of it outside my house.

  • Neil Henderson
    @hendopolis
    ·
    24m
    MAIL: Keep calm & don’t let new Covid ruin Xmas #TomorrowsPapersToday

    No threat to Xmas

    That's it then - Christmas is off.
    Its only confirmed to be off when Boris does a press conference saying Christmas is definitely not cancelled.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,030
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
    Even £56,496 puts them in the top 10% of earners and most Tory MPs have to work part of the weekend on constituency visits as well as often long days and part of the evening in the House in the week.

    Plus 'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements' so in total some earn more than Tory MPs do
    You do know that tube drivers work shifts? The idea that MPs have more antisocial working hours is laughable.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,098
    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
    Even £56,496 puts them in the top 10% of earners and most Tory MPs have to work part of the weekend on constituency visits as well as often long days and part of the evening in the House in the week.

    Plus 'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements' so in total some earn more than Tory MPs do
    You're changing the goalposts again. YOu said SIX FIGURE SALARY.

    56,496 is , let me count very clearly for you,

    one
    TWO
    three
    four
    AND fIVE

    digits.

    The same number of digits (geddit?) as one of youir hands and feet, unless you come from Norfolk I suppose.

    And that is only 57% of the smallest possible six figure salary. Which is 100,000.
    'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary....'

    one
    two
    three
    four
    five
    AND SIX digits
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,873

    ydoethur said:

    kinabalu said:

    Roger said:

    Most impressive French spokeswoman on BBC News. It really is time this country rid itself of this quite dreadful Prime Minister and Home Secretary. They are well beyond embarrassing.

    Macron and Boris are equally dreadful and both are embarrassing
    Thank goodness you could only vote for one of them otherwise the embarrassment would be excruciating.
    Just accidentally caught Neil Oliver on GBNews. Rocking the double denim.
    Definite whiff of occupant of cult compound under siege by the FBI about him nowadays.
    He’s an arse. What is it about historians? Oliver, Sharkey!
    Oi!
    Welsh historians excluded.
    Historians about Wales, in Welsh, or of Welsh birth or residence? Tricky.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,202

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wasn’t Macron right that AZ turned out to only be quasi effective?

    Even the UK’s given up on it now.

    Is that a serious comment? Because he was not even close to being right, and his comments were an absurdity rooted in absurd political distraction going on at the time.
    Not a serious comment.
    Except…there was a grain of truth in it. Just a grain.
    No, there wasn’t. I genuinely don’t know what you are referring to.
    Yes you do.
    It’s considered to have inferior efficacy to Pfizer and Moderna, which is why we no longer use it in the U.K.
    Considered by whom? Handelsblatt? Macron? The WHO?

    It may have lower initial anti-body response - but that's only half the story - there is evidence of a stronger T-cell response - which is what our bodies rely upon longer term.
    The FT has done lots of nice charts on real world efficacy from the UK"s own data, and if you are going single vaccine type, AZ is not as good as Pfizer. Indeed, if you are using a two dose of the same vaccine type, it's about twenty percentage points worse than Pfizer at every point on the chart.

    That being said, AZ followed by Pfizer seems to offer the very best protection of any two-dose regime, and it's highly likely that AZ-AZ-Pfizer will prove to be significantly more efficacious than Pfizer-Pfizer-Pfizer.
    Also there is already evidence that AZ is better against Omicron
    The Pfizer trial featured statistically the same all-cause mortality in the experimental group as in the control group. It's a strange definition of 'efficiency' if statistically as many people die if they receive it. But pharma companies are good at complying with the letter of the rules (to avoid litigation) and ignoring all else, like saving lives.

    Discussion to this effect between doctors on social media, when the people concerned are senior enough not to get censored or expelled for it (which is absurd ).

    https://twitter.com/DrAseemMalhotra/status/1462363528065597440
    And yet all the actual, real world evidence is that people who get seriously ill with Covid are much, much more likely to be unvaccinated.

    Weird how you aren't interested in that evidence.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,667
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
    Even £56,496 puts them in the top 10% of earners and most Tory MPs have to work part of the weekend on constituency visits as well as often long days and part of the evening in the House in the week.

    Plus 'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements' so in total some earn more than Tory MPs do
    Geoffery Cox didn't seem to be doing too many long days or evenings in the House. Not not on parliamentary or constituency business at any rate.
  • HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
    Even £56,496 puts them in the top 10% of earners and most Tory MPs have to work part of the weekend on constituency visits as well as often long days and part of the evening in the House in the week.

    Plus 'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements' so in total some earn more than Tory MPs do
    You're changing the goalposts again. YOu said SIX FIGURE SALARY.

    56,496 is , let me count very clearly for you,

    one
    TWO
    three
    four
    AND fIVE

    digits.

    The same number of digits (geddit?) as one of youir hands and feet, unless you come from Norfolk I suppose.

    And that is only 57% of the smallest possible six figure salary. Which is 100,000.
    'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary....'

    one
    two
    three
    four
    five
    AND SIX digits
    How many of them are paid "up to £100K"?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,428

    Evening all. Hope that Arwen isn't treating you too badly - the best/worst storm I can remember. Have only ever heard wind roar on tornado chaser programs until tonight, now I have video of it outside my house.

    There is something primal about the power of nature. I have some treasured memories of storms, such as 1987, and also of the best snowfalls. Hope you are well and no damage to your house!
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,873
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
    Even £56,496 puts them in the top 10% of earners and most Tory MPs have to work part of the weekend on constituency visits as well as often long days and part of the evening in the House in the week.

    Plus 'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements' so in total some earn more than Tory MPs do
    You're changing the goalposts again. YOu said SIX FIGURE SALARY.

    56,496 is , let me count very clearly for you,

    one
    TWO
    three
    four
    AND fIVE

    digits.

    The same number of digits (geddit?) as one of youir hands and feet, unless you come from Norfolk I suppose.

    And that is only 57% of the smallest possible six figure salary. Which is 100,000.
    'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary....'

    one
    two
    three
    four
    five
    AND SIX digits
    Staff. Not drivers.

    I'm glad I am not examining your political science PhD thesis. I'd need to order a catering pack of red pens.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,421
    edited November 2021

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    kinabalu said:

    Roger said:

    Most impressive French spokeswoman on BBC News. It really is time this country rid itself of this quite dreadful Prime Minister and Home Secretary. They are well beyond embarrassing.

    Macron and Boris are equally dreadful and both are embarrassing
    Thank goodness you could only vote for one of them otherwise the embarrassment would be excruciating.
    Just accidentally caught Neil Oliver on GBNews. Rocking the double denim.
    Definite whiff of occupant of cult compound under siege by the FBI about him nowadays.
    He’s an arse. What is it about historians? Oliver, Sharkey!
    Oi!
    Are you an historian?

    I read a proper history book about the real Merlin by Gordon Strachan, and was a very wise man, but also apparently a bit haughty though could be very light and funny too.

    And I have also looked up you name “ydoethur “ in an old book.

    https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1jnBa3UwmgwC&pg=RA3-PA121&lpg=RA3-PA121&dq=doethur+similar+words+in+welsh&source=bl&ots=aYw8Y2921t&sig=ACfU3U3qO11WtqpXw50xDzc5fAKIFUIufw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAucaKqKD0AhUO_KQKHa0KAiEQ6AF6BAgTEAM#v=onepage&q=doethur similar words in welsh&f=false

    So I have done the detective work and put two and two together. Have I outed a big secret hidden in your name?

    Are you in fact a descendant of Merlin?
    No, I'm a PhD in History and a former lecturer before I went into teaching.
    I was wrong then. 😕

    But being a teacher is still good though, 👍🏻

    What would you say is your specialism?

    Fun history fact: did you know God made the earth design all the churches based on the curves of the female nude?
    His main specialism is puns. Some history teaching as a hobby...
    Lol. I will have to watch out for them. Maybe I should have asked what is specialism in puns, not in history.

    PS. Shh - he still might be a Merlin just denying it
    Witch would be amusing in its own way.
    So your specialism is spelling?
    No, puntuation.

    And according to @MoonRabbit also gramarye.
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,590
    Andy_JS said:

    "BBC News (UK)
    @BBCNews

    Chris Whitty: I worry people won't accept more Covid curbs"

    https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1464296034306297856

    He can't be that stupid. All the available evidence is people lap it up. Would love him to be right but can't see it.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,585
    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
    Even £56,496 puts them in the top 10% of earners and most Tory MPs have to work part of the weekend on constituency visits as well as often long days and part of the evening in the House in the week.

    Plus 'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements' so in total some earn more than Tory MPs do
    You're changing the goalposts again. YOu said SIX FIGURE SALARY.

    56,496 is , let me count very clearly for you,

    one
    TWO
    three
    four
    AND fIVE

    digits.

    The same number of digits (geddit?) as one of youir hands and feet, unless you come from Norfolk I suppose.

    And that is only 57% of the smallest possible six figure salary. Which is 100,000.
    Whoops, I didn't intend to start a mega-argument on here.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,202

    Is there a reason why the likes of Pfizer haven't already tweaked their vaccine for Delta variant? That has been about for nearly 12 months now and clearly the dominant variety. I presumed like flu, each winter we would be getting an "updated" version to best match what is out there.

    There's nothing very different about Delta, except that viral loads are much bigger. You get 'escape' because people recieve much bigger initial loads of it.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,098

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    If you think they are (a) getting six figure salaries and (b) being paid while on strike, you are confusing them with Tory MPs. And I have a bridge to Free Antrim to sell you.

    'Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by MyLondon to Transport for London in early 2021, the annual wage of a full-time Tube driver was revealed as £56,496.'

    https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/incredible-salaries-earned-london-underground-21829201
    Even £56,496 puts them in the top 10% of earners and most Tory MPs have to work part of the weekend on constituency visits as well as often long days and part of the evening in the House in the week.

    Plus 'Transport for London has now admitted that Tube staff are paid up to £100k a year in salary, pension contributions, allowances and perks including season ticket reimbursements' so in total some earn more than Tory MPs do
    You do know that tube drivers work shifts? The idea that MPs have more antisocial working hours is laughable.
    Drivers usually work 36-hour weeks and have 43 days of annual leave,
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7422750/how-much-are-tube-drivers-paid-and-what-are-the-average-hours-working-on-the-london-underground/#:~:text=Drivers usually work 36-hour,17 weekends in a row.


    Past studies have found that an MP might typically work between 60 and 70 hours per week
    https://www.nationalworld.com/news/politics/is-being-an-mp-a-full-time-job-hours-members-of-parliament-work-as-almost-ps10m-earned-from-extra-jobs-3448011
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,531

    Leon said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Steerpike
    Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/mind-the-gap-striking-tube-drivers-on-up-to-100k

    The politics of envy?
    Fine if they work for it, not fine when they are on strike like today and holding up commuters from getting to work while still pocketing 6 figure salaries
    Read the article linked to. No tube drivers are 'pocketing 6 figure salaries'.
    No Tube drivers should be pocketing any salaries. The entire network could be automated and made driverless tomorrow. No more strikes. It is only union power that means they cling on, like the print workers in Fleet Street in the 70s
    Gosh. A union looking after the interests of its members.

    How very dare they.
    I have a right-wing Tory friend who says cheerfully that if he'd been a Tube driver he's have voted for Bob Crow - "He understands how the free market works - not his job to be popular but to make his members rich."
  • AslanAslan Posts: 1,673
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wasn’t Macron right that AZ turned out to only be quasi effective?

    Even the UK’s given up on it now.

    Is that a serious comment? Because he was not even close to being right, and his comments were an absurdity rooted in absurd political distraction going on at the time.
    Not a serious comment.
    Except…there was a grain of truth in it. Just a grain.
    No, there wasn’t. I genuinely don’t know what you are referring to.
    Yes you do.
    It’s considered to have inferior efficacy to Pfizer and Moderna, which is why we no longer use it in the U.K.
    Considered by whom? Handelsblatt? Macron? The WHO?

    It may have lower initial anti-body response - but that's only half the story - there is evidence of a stronger T-cell response - which is what our bodies rely upon longer term.
    The FT has done lots of nice charts on real world efficacy from the UK"s own data, and if you are going single vaccine type, AZ is not as good as Pfizer. Indeed, if you are using a two dose of the same vaccine type, it's about twenty percentage points worse than Pfizer at every point on the chart.

    That being said, AZ followed by Pfizer seems to offer the very best protection of any two-dose regime, and it's highly likely that AZ-AZ-Pfizer will prove to be significantly more efficacious than Pfizer-Pfizer-Pfizer.
    Also there is already evidence that AZ is better against Omicron
    The Pfizer trial featured statistically the same all-cause mortality in the experimental group as in the control group. It's a strange definition of 'efficiency' if statistically as many people die if they receive it. But pharma companies are good at complying with the letter of the rules (to avoid litigation) and ignoring all else, like saving lives.

    Discussion to this effect between doctors on social media, when the people concerned are senior enough not to get censored or expelled for it (which is absurd ).

    https://twitter.com/DrAseemMalhotra/status/1462363528065597440
    And yet all the actual, real world evidence is that people who get seriously ill with Covid are much, much more likely to be unvaccinated.

    Weird how you aren't interested in that evidence.
    The ability of some people to start with the conclusion they want and work backwards always amazes me.
This discussion has been closed.