“3) The mutations in Omicron which seem to wipe out the majority of neutralizing antibody epitopes are very worrisome. Combined with the apparent fitness of the virus, this could be a problem. There is now a lot to do to get a better idea of the risk this virus variant poses.”
Not sure I can stand another lockdown but if it’s necessary…
Can somebody tell me how bad things are?
Don’t worry, it’s fine.
New variant which is growing rapidly - scientists saying they don’t know yet whether it’s a worry
Media spinning that into an “we’re all going to die” story
Politicians taking precautionary action as they get no plaudits for no action if they are right and they get castigated if they are wrong
I bet the questions from the media at 5pm are going to be a peach....
Can I call bingo on the “will we all have to cancel our Christmas skiing/beach holiday” questions?
If Boris cancels ski holidays, the mediarati will explode.....if he does, then in Feb when cases are high, they will be outraged why he hasn't.
Welcome back I have missed your sanctimonious curtain twitching.
Lovely welcome back....You realise I am not suggesting he should, more that the media will get outraged if he does or doesn't, especially anything that effects their ski holidays.
You obviously missed my post saying we are all going to get COVID. That's just the reality of the situation.
I really should not have have presented myself as tipster but as lover of the sport. The only thing left on my slip today is not so sleepy which really was a fanciful idea.
Did you see the TV coverage from Newcastle. Absolutely wild weather.
And Malcolm has tipped another winner on PB. In the last week I think he has only mentioned 2 he fancied, and they both won. 👏🏻
Nothing wrong with loving a sport - there are plenty on here.
I've stood at a rain-lashed Plumpton and on the terrace of the Eclipse Stand at Lingfield in a blizzard watching a Class 6 Seller as though it was the greatest race ever run.
If that's not love - I'll have to ask Mrs Stodge for a second opinion !
I have just about recovered. I don’t know what to say. I made a case for not so sleepy on the site yesterday, can’t do the distance but has history in this weather.
Have I technically tipped a long odds winner? Technically as paddy power have paid out as dead heat.
I’ve never had any sort of dead heat before. At 18-1 and only getting half odds I feel postily pipped.
At least not so sleepy knew what it was doing, pushing it’s nose out as far as it could.
The other halfs out playing volleyball. Last slice of cold pizza. Empty the wine glass and reach for the sofa blanket 🙋♀️
Not sure I can stand another lockdown but if it’s necessary…
Can somebody tell me how bad things are?
Don’t worry, it’s fine.
New variant which is growing rapidly - scientists saying they don’t know yet whether it’s a worry
Media spinning that into an “we’re all going to die” story
Politicians taking precautionary action as they get no plaudits for no action if they are right and they get castigated if they are wrong
I bet the questions from the media at 5pm are going to be a peach....
Can I call bingo on the “will we all have to cancel our Christmas skiing/beach holiday” questions?
If Boris cancels ski holidays, the mediarati will explode.....if he does, then in Feb when cases are high, they will be outraged why he hasn't.
Welcome back I have missed your sanctimonious curtain twitching.
Lovely welcome back....You realise I am not suggesting he should, more that the media will get outraged if he does or doesn't, especially anything that effects their ski holidays.
I do realise that. We absolutely need a meta-analysis of the bleedin' obvious.
“3) The mutations in Omicron which seem to wipe out the majority of neutralizing antibody epitopes are very worrisome. Combined with the apparent fitness of the virus, this could be a problem. There is now a lot to do to get a better idea of the risk this virus variant poses.”
“3) The mutations in Omicron which seem to wipe out the majority of neutralizing antibody epitopes are very worrisome. Combined with the apparent fitness of the virus, this could be a problem. There is now a lot to do to get a better idea of the risk this virus variant poses.”
“3) The mutations in Omicron which seem to wipe out the majority of neutralizing antibody epitopes are very worrisome. Combined with the apparent fitness of the virus, this could be a problem. There is now a lot to do to get a better idea of the risk this virus variant poses.”
There are some more measured points in that thread. Stop trying to spread panic.
You should see some of the tweets I could have posted. This is deeply ominous. No two ways about it
.....it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....
is up the spout!
Watch the gold price.
Who cares about gold these days, its all about the crypto....
It's strange that they're both used as hedges against inflation when they both have no yields.
I don't fancy my money being stored in a password so if I had to pick I'd choose gold.
You can get yields from crypto...in fact that is a big element these days, the whole DeFi space and staking.
I can understand how you might get yields from mining the space coins.
I've watched Max and Stacy for ten years - and they said if you aren't getting it by now you ain't ever going to get it - so I stopped watching.
"mining" is so last year. There are a number of routes you can earn yield, a lot of which is tied to decentralized equivalent of traditional finance e.g. the way you earn interest on peer to peer lending of FIAT or being involved in being a market marker. There is also staking, in which you are effectively getting a fraction of transaction fees.
There are also regulated opportunities e.g. BlockFi, where you can earn boring regular interest, ~5%, as they lend out crypto to big financial institutions to trade.
“3) The mutations in Omicron which seem to wipe out the majority of neutralizing antibody epitopes are very worrisome. Combined with the apparent fitness of the virus, this could be a problem. There is now a lot to do to get a better idea of the risk this virus variant poses.”
There are some more measured points in that thread. Stop trying to spread panic.
You should see some of the tweets I could have posted. This is deeply ominous. No two ways about it
.....it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....
is up the spout!
Watch the gold price.
Who cares about gold these days, its all about the crypto....
It's strange that they're both used as hedges against inflation when they both have no yields.
I don't fancy my money being stored in a password so if I had to pick I'd choose gold.
You can get yields from crypto...in fact that is a big element these days, the whole DeFi space and staking.
I can understand how you might get yields from mining the space coins.
I've watched Max and Stacy for ten years - and they said if you aren't getting it by now you ain't ever going to get it - so I stopped watching.
"mining" is so last year. There are a number of routes you can earn yield, a lot of which is tied to decentralized equivalent of traditional finance e.g. the way you earn interest on peer to peer lending of FIAT or being involved in being a market marker. There is also staking, in which you are effectively getting a fraction of transaction fees.
“3) The mutations in Omicron which seem to wipe out the majority of neutralizing antibody epitopes are very worrisome. Combined with the apparent fitness of the virus, this could be a problem. There is now a lot to do to get a better idea of the risk this virus variant poses.”
“3) The mutations in Omicron which seem to wipe out the majority of neutralizing antibody epitopes are very worrisome. Combined with the apparent fitness of the virus, this could be a problem. There is now a lot to do to get a better idea of the risk this virus variant poses.”
There are some more measured points in that thread. Stop trying to spread panic.
You should see some of the tweets I could have posted. This is deeply ominous. No two ways about it
.....it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....
is up the spout!
Watch the gold price.
Who cares about gold these days, its all about the crypto....
It's strange that they're both used as hedges against inflation when they both have no yields.
I don't fancy my money being stored in a password so if I had to pick I'd choose gold.
You can get yields from crypto...in fact that is a big element these days, the whole DeFi space and staking.
I can understand how you might get yields from mining the space coins.
I've watched Max and Stacy for ten years - and they said if you aren't getting it by now you ain't ever going to get it - so I stopped watching.
"mining" is so last year. There are a number of routes you can earn yield, a lot of which is tied to decentralized equivalent of traditional finance e.g. the way you earn interest on peer to peer lending of FIAT or being involved in being a market marker. There is also staking, in which you are effectively getting a fraction of transaction fees.
If you want to do that or not is another matter.
I ain't ever gonna get it...
The way I think about the whole space is it is a bit like the very early internet There is something in a lot of this, but it isn't necessarily what there is now. There is huge amounts of crap and scam, but some of the ideas are highly innovative, but just like pretty much every early internet business they will fail and lots of people will lose a lot of money.
e.g the NFT stuff, right click save a jpeg of a stupid monkey. 99.9% of all that is absolute nonsense. The idea of proof of ownership and that it is real, and which can be traded instantly, now that is interesting for things like ticketing.
“3) The mutations in Omicron which seem to wipe out the majority of neutralizing antibody epitopes are very worrisome. Combined with the apparent fitness of the virus, this could be a problem. There is now a lot to do to get a better idea of the risk this virus variant poses.”
WFH where possible and compulsory face coverings on public transport?
Or just some waffle and 'brum-brum' noises?
Free tickets to Peppa Pig world....
In all seriousness, given his previous track record, I think will we get wait and see, keep calm and carry on, get your booster. Brum Brum, hair dryer pigs, not really thought it through more than that, I'm off for a curry.
“3) The mutations in Omicron which seem to wipe out the majority of neutralizing antibody epitopes are very worrisome. Combined with the apparent fitness of the virus, this could be a problem. There is now a lot to do to get a better idea of the risk this virus variant poses.”
There are some more measured points in that thread. Stop trying to spread panic.
You should see some of the tweets I could have posted. This is deeply ominous. No two ways about it
.....it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....
is up the spout!
Watch the gold price.
Who cares about gold these days, its all about the crypto....
It's strange that they're both used as hedges against inflation when they both have no yields.
I don't fancy my money being stored in a password so if I had to pick I'd choose gold.
You can get yields from crypto...in fact that is a big element these days, the whole DeFi space and staking.
I can understand how you might get yields from mining the space coins.
I've watched Max and Stacy for ten years - and they said if you aren't getting it by now you ain't ever going to get it - so I stopped watching.
"mining" is so last year. There are a number of routes you can earn yield, a lot of which is tied to decentralized equivalent of traditional finance e.g. the way you earn interest on peer to peer lending of FIAT or being involved in being a market marker. There is also staking, in which you are effectively getting a fraction of transaction fees.
If you want to do that or not is another matter.
I ain't ever gonna get it...
The way I think about the whole space is it is a bit like the very early internet There is something in a lot of this, but it isn't necessarily what there is now. There is huge amounts of crap and scam, but some of the ideas are highly innovative, but just like pretty much every early internet business they will fail and lots of people will lose a lot of money.
e.g the NFT stuff, right click save a jpeg of a stupid monkey. 99.9% of all that is absolute nonsense. The idea of proof of ownership and that it is real, and which can be traded instantly, now that is interesting for things like ticketing.
As I said, I watched Max and Stacy for ten years.
Once BTC got over 40k USD I was pretty sure it wasn't for me.
Just out of interest - how heavy is you BTC wallet?
“3) The mutations in Omicron which seem to wipe out the majority of neutralizing antibody epitopes are very worrisome. Combined with the apparent fitness of the virus, this could be a problem. There is now a lot to do to get a better idea of the risk this virus variant poses.”
WFH where possible and compulsory face coverings on public transport?
Or just some waffle and 'brum-brum' noises?
Free tickets to Peppa Pig world....
In all seriousness, given his previous track record, I think will we get wait and see, keep calm and carry on, get your booster. Brum Brum, hair dryer pigs, not really thought it through more than that, I'm off for a curry.
That's exactly what we should get.
If we get anything other than keep calm and carry on then he needs to be removed from Downing Street.
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
Someone on here used to say that's akin to looking in the rear-view mirror.
WFH where possible and compulsory face coverings on public transport?
Or just some waffle and 'brum-brum' noises?
Free tickets to Peppa Pig world....
In all seriousness, given his previous track record, I think will we get wait and see, keep calm and carry on, get your booster. Brum Brum, hair dryer pigs, not really thought it through more than that, I'm off for a curry.
That's exactly what we should get.
If we get anything other than keep calm and carry on then he needs to be removed from Downing Street.
But I don't think I want to go to Peppa Pig world...
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
Someone on here used to say that's akin to looking in the rear-view mirror.
Its a bit more than that when you look at the very clear trends we have had over the last month.
What he should be saying (but won't) is that I am delighted that our plan of opening up the economy and removing NPIs has resulted in cases going up to more than 50k a day now. This is going to do us even more good in the long run than our magnificent booster program. Far better people catch it now than in late December/January. Go out and enjoy yourselves and in so doing save the NHS! (BTW if you are looking for a great day out, Peppa Pig land...)
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
Tells the story - cases are up in the young, but flattening out. Cases in the older groups are falling slowly, but steadily. Which is why hospitalisation and deaths are falling.
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
Someone on here used to say that's akin to looking in the rear-view mirror.
All COVID data is delayed - so all decisions based on COVID data are made looking in the review mirror.
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
Tells the story - cases are up in the young, but flattening out. Cases in the older groups are falling slowly, but steadily. Which is why hospitalisation and deaths are falling.
So you think cases are about to peak? That would be a pity but I suppose there is a limit to the extent to which even Whitty can fine tune things. I think Christmas parties, such as @moonshine's should be positively encouraged in early December though.
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
I'm no fan of China and despise President Xi but skipping a person's name isn't pathetic.
For storms, often causing loss of life, we use nothing but people's names.
Generic names deliberately not associated with anyone.
A bit different to naming a Covid variant with the President of China's name.
I doubt for some reason storm Arwen is going to be followed with Boris. I certainly don't expect a hurricane Joe any time soon.
You do feel sorry for people who get their names appropriated, for one bad reason or another. Ask anyone called Alexa, or Karen.
Or X Æ A-Xii.
Its poor Noonoo I feel sorry for at the moment. A harmless hoover whose name is being simultaneously appropriated by a lethal virus and @Leon's ex's naughty bits. Harsh.
PB pedantry: was it not rather Leon's ex who appropriated the name for his nether bits? But one might be wrong. One did not look more closely when he came out with that snippet of data.
I am honestly not sure. Or interested.
Has anyone ever met a real Arwen?
The closest I have ever known was a Steam Train.
(Aha - checking it is Welsh added into Sindarin by JRRT.)
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
The Cons seem to have an endless supply of MPs of whom I've never heard until they crawl out from under a rock with some ghastliness or other (and/or enter the cabinet).
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
And the rising cases are STILL in the kids...
Numbers are out: 39,567
Down week on week after yesterday's blip.
Using the reporting day data, it look as if cases a flat(ish) at the moment.
Nobody hospitalised by this variant is fully vaccinated
There is virtually zero chance that this variant was detected within days of it emerging. Much more likely it has been in Southern Africa for months before South Africa picked it up. Death rates are not sharply up in Southern Africa.
I am standing the site down to defcon 4. Enjoy your weekend.
The Cons seem to have an endless supply of MPs of whom I've never heard until they crawl out from a rock with some ghastliness or other (and/or enter the cabinet).
Just think if iScot comes about as you want you can let anyone from anywhere in the world enter.
Hasn't Vaughan been dropped because he is part of a major and highly controversial cricketing story and so would not be able to provide disinterested coverage and comment on it? His political views are not the reason - as he has been expressing those very clearly and very publicly for a number of years.
And if it is proved that he was entirely innocent of the comments made - or at least there is no supporting evidence that he did make them and so should not have been dropped - do you think it would be reasonable that he should be compensated for lost earnings? Or should the BBC be able to operate without consequences based on their own bias?
There are now three witnesses to the comments. How much evidence is required?
As I think Rafiq has said, it is easy to believe that the comments were made out of ignorance of how they would be received, and with no conscious malicious intent. As a result it is not surprising that Vaughan does not remember making them - why should he? There must be some way of allowing a reconciliation between the two accounts, that allows Vaughan to carry on with a broadcasting career, without having to imply that Rafiq (and the other two witnesses) were lying.
All good points but not really relevant to what I was saying, particularly given I made absolutely no implication that Rafiq was lying, exactly for the reasons you wrote here. The question is whether the BBC, as a public funded body, should be able to operate with impunity in attempting to destroy the careers of people for whatever reason - particularly bearing in mind they have a long record of doing this.
One of the reasons that I post pseudonymously here, rather than with my real identity, is that with a fairly standard employment contract my employer reserves the right to terminate my employment if I make any statement online that they decide reflects badly on them by association. Public reputation matters.
One of the reasons that Vaughan was employed by the BBC is because of his public standing as a former England captain. It's much more relevant to his employment in such a public role that he maintains a good reputation than that I, an obscure nobody, does so. It's perfectly legitimate to question whether having such harsh potential employment consequences for speaking freely on the internet is legitimate, but the BBC are not at all out of line in doing so. Very middle of the road orthodoxy.
This is an area that I genuinely struggle with. I worry about people having their lives ruined for one momentary indiscretion. But then, on the other hand, if people do not want to associate with, or work with, or consume media featuring people who make them uncomfortable, because of said indiscretion, are they not free to exercise that choice? And if the BBC know that some of the players Vaughan might interview would be unhappy about that, or if many listeners might refuse to listen to Vaughan, is that not something they are allowed to react to?
I don't like the idea of creating social outcasts, and of course everyone should worry about social disapproval making them outcasts if it is allowed too free a rein - this was the fate of many to be unjustly ostracised in the past - but social approval/disapproval is one way for us to democratically mediate what we think is an acceptable level of behaviour that avoids involving the state and law in the minutiae of our lives, so I believe it must have a role to play.
The danger is that it gives an incentive to organisations to campaign for boycotts of companies who employ people they don't like. That seems more of a feature of the USA than this country, but it's a strategy employed by both Right and Left over there, and is hardly healthy.
The Vaughan question - like all of these - is a matter of fact and degree.
As we have it, the BBC have acted to punish Vaughan and leave him swinging in the wind when there is only an allegation and a denial, and the allegation from an individual who forgot his own record, before the BBC investigation has even reported back aiui. Is that account wrong?
That seems to me to be the antithsis of due or fair process.
I think the BBC needs to be held to account for that.
There are two separate questions.
1. Is the allegation credible? Two other witnesses who were there have corroborated the account given by Rafiq. For most reasonable people that would be enough.
2. To what extent is the BBC obliged to continue its employment of Vaughan? We have laws to protect people from wrongful dismissal for good reason, but appeals to due process seem a bit overblown at times like this, and it is for circumstances like this that a clause of bringing an employer into disrepute exist - it's a catch-all that allows for you to be fired for bad publicity alone, not necessarily bad conduct. There are some people who are generally in favour of absolute freedom for employers to hire and fire at will - for the good of the economy - but then make very po-faced appeals to due process when someone is fired due to racism.
I'm no fan of China and despise President Xi but skipping a person's name isn't pathetic.
For storms, often causing loss of life, we use nothing but people's names.
Generic names deliberately not associated with anyone.
A bit different to naming a Covid variant with the President of China's name.
I doubt for some reason storm Arwen is going to be followed with Boris. I certainly don't expect a hurricane Joe any time soon.
You do feel sorry for people who get their names appropriated, for one bad reason or another. Ask anyone called Alexa, or Karen.
Or X Æ A-Xii.
Its poor Noonoo I feel sorry for at the moment. A harmless hoover whose name is being simultaneously appropriated by a lethal virus and @Leon's ex's naughty bits. Harsh.
PB pedantry: was it not rather Leon's ex who appropriated the name for his nether bits? But one might be wrong. One did not look more closely when he came out with that snippet of data.
I am honestly not sure. Or interested.
Has anyone ever met a real Arwen?
The closest I have ever known was a Steam Train.
If last night is anything to go by she would give you a hell of a blow job.
Nobody hospitalised by this variant is fully vaccinated
There is virtually zero chance that this variant was detected within days of it emerging. Much more likely it has been in Southern Africa for months before South Africa picked it up. Death rates are not sharply up in Southern Africa.
I am standing the site down to defcon 4. Enjoy your weekend.
Didn't the slides show they have been doing sequencing pretty continuously, and it was almost all Delta until now?
The Cons seem to have an endless supply of MPs of whom I've never heard until they crawl out from under a rock with some ghastliness or other (and/or enter the cabinet).
I have never, ever heard of him. I am not sure that being aware of his existence has done much for my future happiness to be honest.
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
Tells the story - cases are up in the young, but flattening out. Cases in the older groups are falling slowly, but steadily. Which is why hospitalisation and deaths are falling.
So you think cases are about to peak? That would be a pity but I suppose there is a limit to the extent to which even Whitty can fine tune things. I think Christmas parties, such as @moonshine's should be positively encouraged in early December though.
Running the latest numbers now, but yesterday we had
Given that the weekly peak is now "old" enough that we are not going to get much more update on it....
Nobody hospitalised by this variant is fully vaccinated
There is virtually zero chance that this variant was detected within days of it emerging. Much more likely it has been in Southern Africa for months before South Africa picked it up. Death rates are not sharply up in Southern Africa.
I am standing the site down to defcon 4. Enjoy your weekend.
Defcon 4 sounds right, assuming you didn't mean Defcon 2.
[This is another positive/negative feedback commonly misunderstood expression]
WFH where possible and compulsory face coverings on public transport?
Or just some waffle and 'brum-brum' noises?
No change to restrictions, reminder of current guidance, and the steps we are taking over the VOC.
What’s the point in a Saturday presser to say that? Could just have had the Saj say the same to Andy Marr tomorrow morning.
Nobody watches Marr.....if he doesn't, the media will claim he is slacking again, not on the job, confusing messaging etc etc etc.
The PM: “Hello Britain. I am pulling you away from your Saturdays to say don’t panic.”
Leon: “Wait did he just say panic? See I told you it’s time to panic”.
That’s a bit like 5 Live and the petrol stations. “Hey, we are hearing reports of a few petrol stations running out of fuel, but they say it’s nothing serious and not to start panic buying”
Did you hear that, no PANIC BUYING, PANIC BUYING, PANIC BUYING…
Nobody hospitalised by this variant is fully vaccinated
There is virtually zero chance that this variant was detected within days of it emerging. Much more likely it has been in Southern Africa for months before South Africa picked it up. Death rates are not sharply up in Southern Africa.
I am standing the site down to defcon 4. Enjoy your weekend.
Defcon 4 sounds right, assuming you didn't mean Defcon 2.
[This is another positive/negative feedback commonly misunderstood expression]
The Cons seem to have an endless supply of MPs of whom I've never heard until they crawl out from a rock with some ghastliness or other (and/or enter the cabinet).
Just think if iScot comes about as you want you can let anyone from anywhere in the world enter.
Apart from England of course.
We'll certainly need a steady inward flow to replace all those squawking Yoons promising to leave in the event of Indy. Would probably need to get down to ex Isis members before we should start worrying about qualitative like for like.
Nobody hospitalised by this variant is fully vaccinated
There is virtually zero chance that this variant was detected within days of it emerging. Much more likely it has been in Southern Africa for months before South Africa picked it up. Death rates are not sharply up in Southern Africa.
I am standing the site down to defcon 4. Enjoy your weekend.
Defcon 4 sounds right, assuming you didn't mean Defcon 2.
[This is another positive/negative feedback commonly misunderstood expression]
“Step up to red alert." "Sir, are you sure? It does mean changing the bulb."
Hasn't Vaughan been dropped because he is part of a major and highly controversial cricketing story and so would not be able to provide disinterested coverage and comment on it? His political views are not the reason - as he has been expressing those very clearly and very publicly for a number of years.
And if it is proved that he was entirely innocent of the comments made - or at least there is no supporting evidence that he did make them and so should not have been dropped - do you think it would be reasonable that he should be compensated for lost earnings? Or should the BBC be able to operate without consequences based on their own bias?
There are now three witnesses to the comments. How much evidence is required?
As I think Rafiq has said, it is easy to believe that the comments were made out of ignorance of how they would be received, and with no conscious malicious intent. As a result it is not surprising that Vaughan does not remember making them - why should he? There must be some way of allowing a reconciliation between the two accounts, that allows Vaughan to carry on with a broadcasting career, without having to imply that Rafiq (and the other two witnesses) were lying.
All good points but not really relevant to what I was saying, particularly given I made absolutely no implication that Rafiq was lying, exactly for the reasons you wrote here. The question is whether the BBC, as a public funded body, should be able to operate with impunity in attempting to destroy the careers of people for whatever reason - particularly bearing in mind they have a long record of doing this.
One of the reasons that I post pseudonymously here, rather than with my real identity, is that with a fairly standard employment contract my employer reserves the right to terminate my employment if I make any statement online that they decide reflects badly on them by association. Public reputation matters.
One of the reasons that Vaughan was employed by the BBC is because of his public standing as a former England captain. It's much more relevant to his employment in such a public role that he maintains a good reputation than that I, an obscure nobody, does so. It's perfectly legitimate to question whether having such harsh potential employment consequences for speaking freely on the internet is legitimate, but the BBC are not at all out of line in doing so. Very middle of the road orthodoxy.
This is an area that I genuinely struggle with. I worry about people having their lives ruined for one momentary indiscretion. But then, on the other hand, if people do not want to associate with, or work with, or consume media featuring people who make them uncomfortable, because of said indiscretion, are they not free to exercise that choice? And if the BBC know that some of the players Vaughan might interview would be unhappy about that, or if many listeners might refuse to listen to Vaughan, is that not something they are allowed to react to?
I don't like the idea of creating social outcasts, and of course everyone should worry about social disapproval making them outcasts if it is allowed too free a rein - this was the fate of many to be unjustly ostracised in the past - but social approval/disapproval is one way for us to democratically mediate what we think is an acceptable level of behaviour that avoids involving the state and law in the minutiae of our lives, so I believe it must have a role to play.
The danger is that it gives an incentive to organisations to campaign for boycotts of companies who employ people they don't like. That seems more of a feature of the USA than this country, but it's a strategy employed by both Right and Left over there, and is hardly healthy.
The Vaughan question - like all of these - is a matter of fact and degree.
As we have it, the BBC have acted to punish Vaughan and leave him swinging in the wind when there is only an allegation and a denial, and the allegation from an individual who forgot his own record, before the BBC investigation has even reported back aiui. Is that account wrong?
That seems to me to be the antithsis of due or fair process.
I think the BBC needs to be held to account for that.
There are two separate questions.
1. Is the allegation credible? Two other witnesses who were there have corroborated the account given by Rafiq. For most reasonable people that would be enough.
2. To what extent is the BBC obliged to continue its employment of Vaughan? We have laws to protect people from wrongful dismissal for good reason, but appeals to due process seem a bit overblown at times like this, and it is for circumstances like this that a clause of bringing an employer into disrepute exist - it's a catch-all that allows for you to be fired for bad publicity alone, not necessarily bad conduct. There are some people who are generally in favour of absolute freedom for employers to hire and fire at will - for the good of the economy - but then make very po-faced appeals to due process when someone is fired due to racism.
I'm no fan of China and despise President Xi but skipping a person's name isn't pathetic.
For storms, often causing loss of life, we use nothing but people's names.
Generic names deliberately not associated with anyone.
A bit different to naming a Covid variant with the President of China's name.
I doubt for some reason storm Arwen is going to be followed with Boris. I certainly don't expect a hurricane Joe any time soon.
You do feel sorry for people who get their names appropriated, for one bad reason or another. Ask anyone called Alexa, or Karen.
Or X Æ A-Xii.
Its poor Noonoo I feel sorry for at the moment. A harmless hoover whose name is being simultaneously appropriated by a lethal virus and @Leon's ex's naughty bits. Harsh.
PB pedantry: was it not rather Leon's ex who appropriated the name for his nether bits? But one might be wrong. One did not look more closely when he came out with that snippet of data.
I am honestly not sure. Or interested.
Has anyone ever met a real Arwen?
The closest I have ever known was a Steam Train.
If last night is anything to go by she would give you a hell of a blow job.
They seem to be holding back the 4pm update for Boris. But in the last 7 days cases are up 10%, admissions down 10.5% and deaths down 15.5%. I am currently not seeing any reason for panic.
And the rising cases are STILL in the kids...
Numbers are out: 39,567
Down week on week after yesterday's blip.
Using the reporting day data, it look as if cases a flat(ish) at the moment.
Comments
You obviously missed my post saying we are all going to get COVID. That's just the reality of the situation.
If the politicians were serious about wanting to keep variants out they'd red list the entire planet like New Zealand.
Its not going to happen. We need to live with Covid.
The other halfs out playing volleyball. Last slice of cold pizza. Empty the wine glass and reach for the sofa blanket 🙋♀️
But better you're in the tent...
I've watched Max and Stacy for ten years - and they said if you aren't getting it by now you ain't ever going to get it - so I stopped watching.
"Indian government set to ban cryptocurrencies"
There are also regulated opportunities e.g. BlockFi, where you can earn boring regular interest, ~5%, as they lend out crypto to big financial institutions to trade.
If you want to do that or not is another matter.
Stand by for "Why aren't you locking us down Prime Minister".
e.g the NFT stuff, right click save a jpeg of a stupid monkey. 99.9% of all that is absolute nonsense. The idea of proof of ownership and that it is real, and which can be traded instantly, now that is interesting for things like ticketing.
Divisions, one Winnie = 100 Xi.
WFH where possible and compulsory face coverings on public transport?
Or just some waffle and 'brum-brum' noises?
In all seriousness, given his previous track record, I think will we get wait and see, keep calm and carry on, get your booster. Brum Brum, hair dryer pigs, not really thought it through more than that, I'm off for a curry.
Once BTC got over 40k USD I was pretty sure it wasn't for me.
Just out of interest - how heavy is you BTC wallet?
If we get anything other than keep calm and carry on then he needs to be removed from Downing Street.
Leon: “Wait did he just say panic? See I told you it’s time to panic”.
What he should be saying (but won't) is that I am delighted that our plan of opening up the economy and removing NPIs has resulted in cases going up to more than 50k a day now. This is going to do us even more good in the long run than our magnificent booster program. Far better people catch it now than in late December/January. Go out and enjoy yourselves and in so doing save the NHS! (BTW if you are looking for a great day out, Peppa Pig land...)
Purely coincidence honest.
They had no sherry though.
Tells the story - cases are up in the young, but flattening out. Cases in the older groups are falling slowly, but steadily. Which is why hospitalisation and deaths are falling.
Which is for my the sign of end times. What kind of ghastly excuse for a human would use pre-flaked parmesan?
With careful application of an explosive lens, you could flake a couple of tons of parmesan in a millisecond or so...
39,567
Down week on week after yesterday's blip.
Pecorino for mammoth dishes.
The closest I have ever known was a Steam Train.
(Aha - checking it is Welsh added into Sindarin by JRRT.)
The Cons seem to have an endless supply of MPs of whom I've never heard until they crawl out from under a rock with some ghastliness or other (and/or enter the cabinet).
Nobody hospitalised by this variant is fully vaccinated
There is virtually zero chance that this variant was detected within days of it emerging. Much more likely it has been in Southern Africa for months before South Africa picked it up. Death rates are not sharply up in Southern Africa.
I am standing the site down to defcon 4. Enjoy your weekend.
Apart from England of course.
Given that the weekly peak is now "old" enough that we are not going to get much more update on it....
[This is another positive/negative feedback commonly misunderstood expression]
Did you hear that, no PANIC BUYING, PANIC BUYING, PANIC BUYING…
"Sir, are you sure? It does mean changing the bulb."