When did this competition start, during the first lockdown? Bader Ginsburg and Connery have both been gone for over a year.
The start of 2020 when covid first hit as far as I can remember about the time that it wasn't absolutely clear if we were all going to be dead or not by St Swithin's day. If somebody wins it I will close the competition and restart it, open to new entrants. I've made a trophy out of a broken piston that was in a turboed BMW M52 motor that I blew up by wiring the wastegate closed to try and win a YouTube burnout competition.
Ah, OK. You lost me after the broken piston bit but I get the gist.
I'm not sure whether to describe the fact that nobody has actually won the fabulous star prize yet - given the length of the list - as very fortunate or deeply disappointing...
He appears to start every week with the premise that whatever the government has been up to is wrong and evil, and works backwards from there. He’s making the usual pundit mistake, of thinking that sarcastic slogans are an acceptable substitute for actual reasoned analysis.
Perhaps he's starting from the premise the only articles less likely to be read than those criticising the Government are those praising it.
As an aside, other European countries face the same migrant problem - Spain for example has a huge problem with boats crossing to the Canaries from the African coast. It may be time to order a couple of large portions of humble pie, put away the jingoist rhetoric and look at some co-ordinated responses.
Priti Patel's problem is all Conservative Home Secretaries have to be uncompromising and "tough". Her chances in any future leadership election will be much improved if she can rely on the support of the "headbangers" (to use that awful term). Any "softening" of approach weakens her politically and leaves her without a core of support.
The other side of the coin is the mixed emotions pictures of migrant/refugee people evoke. Sympathy and anger seem to exist in fairly substantial measures. As with so many issues, immigration defies simple or simplistic responses.
Might be a blessing if everyone could just hurry up and get it. We haven't had it despite one child at Uni, one at school and me not being particularly careful.
A friend living with a husband and two children, all down with it simultaneously, probably wouldn't agree. Another says that the situation at her (sick) daughter's school is insane, with staff and pupils both going down like ninepins - little serious education is taking place because of lack of continuity.
so its not really the illness bu the over reaction to it that disrupts the education.
We should've desisted from bothering to test children at all before the new school year started in September (by which point all adults, including logically all school staff, had been offered vaccination.) The kids themselves are all but invulnerable to serious illness; almost all children will suffer more from yet more cycles of hokey-cokey self-isolation than they will from catching Covid.
No child should be sent home from school for having Covid unless actually poorly with it. Contacts of those children shouldn't be sent home full stop.
They aren't being. That came to an end in July. As it happens, what was defined as a 'contact' even before that was subject to such wide interpretation as to be more or less meaningless, although it did cause a huge amount of disruption.
As for LFTs, they aren't very good at picking up illness anyway.
AIUI, whilst the class and year group bubbles have been scrapped, an awful lot of children are still being pulled from classes because of Covid. Forgive my lack of persistence in not bothering to look for really recent numbers, but this is what was reported as going on last month:
The number of children out of school with a confirmed case of COVID-19 topped 100,000 in England last week, according to government figures.
The Department for Education (DfE) found the number of pupils out of school for coronavirus-related reasons increased by two thirds in a fortnight.
More than 204,000 - 2.5% of all pupils - were not in class for reasons connected to COVID-19 on Thursday last week.
This is up from 122,300 children, or 1.5% of all pupils on 16 September - a 67% rise from two weeks ago.
The figures come as heads reported "a high level of disruption", with a school leaders' union warning that self-isolation rules are "actively contributing" to the spread of the virus in schools.
100k kids off with Covid, plus about another 100k off "for reasons connected to Covid". I'd be very surprised if all of the first category were too ill to go to school, and the second category sounds suspiciously like contact self-isolation. Besides which, isn't there also a big brouhaha going on at the moment about a new Government edict that they want the entire school population tested when they get back after Christmas?
The corrosive effect of Covid rules on education would appear to be ongoing.
Yes, to your last question, but it isn't going to happen as they've not provided the money to do it.
As for contacts, that's not happening any more. What is happening quite a lot in my admittedly anecdotal experience is that older siblings are having to take time off to help care for younger siblings because their parents have Covid.
Another problem - and it is a big problem - is that it is a nightmare finding supply staff when teachers are ill. There just aren't enough to go round. One primary school in Tamworth has had to send year groups home because they literally can't staff them, even after they pressed the lunchtime supervisors into service.
In any event, I will do my LFT this morning, and head off to a carol service in Ambleside. As a vaxxed and recently recovered individual, I don’t think I pose much of a threat to anyone right at the moment.
At the main church? Fabulous organ they’ve got there. Also very historic - one of the earliest experimental tubular pneumatic actions, and one of the few not to have been electrified.
Edit - on checking, it has recently been electrified. Understandable but also regrettable. There’s an organ in Stafford undergoing the same process. Soon there will be few examples left (Cannock being one, ironically).
Looks a good instrument, albeit I wouldn't care to try and change the register on the Great while playing with that console layout!
The first organ I played had a fully electrical action, but then I played one in Aber that was a tracker (mechanical) action basically unaltered since 1899. Very robust. Only ever once had a problem with it when the Swell to Great coupler stopped working, right in the middle of Evensong. A pin had come out. Unfortunately the coupler was on at the time...
Where’s the organ in Aber, St. Michael’s or the Old College?
In any event, I will do my LFT this morning, and head off to a carol service in Ambleside. As a vaxxed and recently recovered individual, I don’t think I pose much of a threat to anyone right at the moment.
At the main church? Fabulous organ they’ve got there. Also very historic - one of the earliest experimental tubular pneumatic actions, and one of the few not to have been electrified.
Edit - on checking, it has recently been electrified. Understandable but also regrettable. There’s an organ in Stafford undergoing the same process. Soon there will be few examples left (Cannock being one, ironically).
Looks a good instrument, albeit I wouldn't care to try and change the register on the Great while playing with that console layout!
The first organ I played had a fully electrical action, but then I played one in Aber that was a tracker (mechanical) action basically unaltered since 1899. Very robust. Only ever once had a problem with it when the Swell to Great coupler stopped working, right in the middle of Evensong. A pin had come out. Unfortunately the coupler was on at the time...
If Omicron is as transmissible as suggested, BUT is also not particularly harmful (even possibly less so than existing variants) then it is going to cause big problems in the U.K. because of the ongoing crude way we calculate hospitalisations and deaths.
There will be a huge spike in positive tests which will automatically lead to huge spikes in reported hospitalisations and deaths (every heart attack, stroke, cancer victim etc etc will be a Covid case). The nuance isn’t there is the reported stats and most will conclude that a struggling NHS is being overwhelmed by Covid. And then restrictions which have no basis in reality would follow.
I was wandering about how other nations report hospitalisation compared to ourselves.
We are repotting a reasonable number of cases compared to our EU friends, that is presumably because we are doing a lot more testing than they are.
But if you you at ICU occupancy the pitcher changes, France has more people in ICU than we do, (despite less than half the number of 'cases', and Germany nearly 4 times more in ICU despite having only slightly more cases than the UK.
The ratio of hospitalisation numbers however look closer to the cases numbers than the ICU numbers. (at least according to Our Would in Data) which feels strange.
Are EU nations recording hospitalisation differently to the UK?
I think actually there may be a simpler explanation - they've been much less effective at vaccinating vulnerable groups than we have despite the higher headline figures, and they've used vaccines where immunity wanes faster, administered in such a way that there was less immunity to start with.
So the same number of cases leads to more people who are vulnerable getting ill.
Yes but the same facters that keep UK people out of ICU should also keep people out of hospital, so why is that not reflected in the Hospital numbers?
Perhaps they are not testing people who go in for unrelated conditions?
In any event, I will do my LFT this morning, and head off to a carol service in Ambleside. As a vaxxed and recently recovered individual, I don’t think I pose much of a threat to anyone right at the moment.
At the main church? Fabulous organ they’ve got there. Also very historic - one of the earliest experimental tubular pneumatic actions, and one of the few not to have been electrified.
Edit - on checking, it has recently been electrified. Understandable but also regrettable. There’s an organ in Stafford undergoing the same process. Soon there will be few examples left (Cannock being one, ironically).
Looks a good instrument, albeit I wouldn't care to try and change the register on the Great while playing with that console layout!
The first organ I played had a fully electrical action, but then I played one in Aber that was a tracker (mechanical) action basically unaltered since 1899. Very robust. Only ever once had a problem with it when the Swell to Great coupler stopped working, right in the middle of Evensong. A pin had come out. Unfortunately the coupler was on at the time...
Where’s the organ in Aber, St. Michael’s or the Old College?
There isn't an organ in the Old College and the one in St Michael's has stopped working after years of neglect.
There's a very historic one in Santes Fair (on your left up the hill as you come out of the station) but the one I played was in Holy Trinity which is the one you can see if you look to the right as you come out of the station, next to the School of Art.
Might be a blessing if everyone could just hurry up and get it. We haven't had it despite one child at Uni, one at school and me not being particularly careful.
A friend living with a husband and two children, all down with it simultaneously, probably wouldn't agree. Another says that the situation at her (sick) daughter's school is insane, with staff and pupils both going down like ninepins - little serious education is taking place because of lack of continuity.
so its not really the illness bu the over reaction to it that disrupts the education.
We should've desisted from bothering to test children at all before the new school year started in September (by which point all adults, including logically all school staff, had been offered vaccination.) The kids themselves are all but invulnerable to serious illness; almost all children will suffer more from yet more cycles of hokey-cokey self-isolation than they will from catching Covid.
No child should be sent home from school for having Covid unless actually poorly with it. Contacts of those children shouldn't be sent home full stop.
They aren't being. That came to an end in July. As it happens, what was defined as a 'contact' even before that was subject to such wide interpretation as to be more or less meaningless, although it did cause a huge amount of disruption.
As for LFTs, they aren't very good at picking up illness anyway.
They are very good indeed at detecting infectious illness. And vastly more convenient than PCR.
In any event, I will do my LFT this morning, and head off to a carol service in Ambleside. As a vaxxed and recently recovered individual, I don’t think I pose much of a threat to anyone right at the moment.
At the main church? Fabulous organ they’ve got there. Also very historic - one of the earliest experimental tubular pneumatic actions, and one of the few not to have been electrified.
Edit - on checking, it has recently been electrified. Understandable but also regrettable. There’s an organ in Stafford undergoing the same process. Soon there will be few examples left (Cannock being one, ironically).
Looks a good instrument, albeit I wouldn't care to try and change the register on the Great while playing with that console layout!
The first organ I played had a fully electrical action, but then I played one in Aber that was a tracker (mechanical) action basically unaltered since 1899. Very robust. Only ever once had a problem with it when the Swell to Great coupler stopped working, right in the middle of Evensong. A pin had come out. Unfortunately the coupler was on at the time...
... I sense that was signficant - but have absolutely no idea how or why.
The range of expertise on PB.com still regularly surprises me.
Might be a blessing if everyone could just hurry up and get it. We haven't had it despite one child at Uni, one at school and me not being particularly careful.
A friend living with a husband and two children, all down with it simultaneously, probably wouldn't agree. Another says that the situation at her (sick) daughter's school is insane, with staff and pupils both going down like ninepins - little serious education is taking place because of lack of continuity.
so its not really the illness bu the over reaction to it that disrupts the education.
We should've desisted from bothering to test children at all before the new school year started in September (by which point all adults, including logically all school staff, had been offered vaccination.) The kids themselves are all but invulnerable to serious illness; almost all children will suffer more from yet more cycles of hokey-cokey self-isolation than they will from catching Covid.
No child should be sent home from school for having Covid unless actually poorly with it. Contacts of those children shouldn't be sent home full stop.
They aren't being. That came to an end in July. As it happens, what was defined as a 'contact' even before that was subject to such wide interpretation as to be more or less meaningless, although it did cause a huge amount of disruption.
As for LFTs, they aren't very good at picking up illness anyway.
AIUI, whilst the class and year group bubbles have been scrapped, an awful lot of children are still being pulled from classes because of Covid. Forgive my lack of persistence in not bothering to look for really recent numbers, but this is what was reported as going on last month:
The number of children out of school with a confirmed case of COVID-19 topped 100,000 in England last week, according to government figures.
The Department for Education (DfE) found the number of pupils out of school for coronavirus-related reasons increased by two thirds in a fortnight.
More than 204,000 - 2.5% of all pupils - were not in class for reasons connected to COVID-19 on Thursday last week.
This is up from 122,300 children, or 1.5% of all pupils on 16 September - a 67% rise from two weeks ago.
The figures come as heads reported "a high level of disruption", with a school leaders' union warning that self-isolation rules are "actively contributing" to the spread of the virus in schools.
100k kids off with Covid, plus about another 100k off "for reasons connected to Covid". I'd be very surprised if all of the first category were too ill to go to school, and the second category sounds suspiciously like contact self-isolation. Besides which, isn't there also a big brouhaha going on at the moment about a new Government edict that they want the entire school population tested when they get back after Christmas?
The corrosive effect of Covid rules on education would appear to be ongoing.
Yes, to your last question, but it isn't going to happen as they've not provided the money to do it.
As for contacts, that's not happening any more. What is happening quite a lot in my admittedly anecdotal experience is that older siblings are having to take time off to help care for younger siblings because their parents have Covid.
Another problem - and it is a big problem - is that it is a nightmare finding supply staff when teachers are ill. There just aren't enough to go round. One primary school in Tamworth has had to send year groups home because they literally can't staff them, even after they pressed the lunchtime supervisors into service.
Have they vaccinated the pupils at your school yet? Most of ours were done back in October with the last couple of year groups just after half term.
In any event, I will do my LFT this morning, and head off to a carol service in Ambleside. As a vaxxed and recently recovered individual, I don’t think I pose much of a threat to anyone right at the moment.
At the main church? Fabulous organ they’ve got there. Also very historic - one of the earliest experimental tubular pneumatic actions, and one of the few not to have been electrified.
Edit - on checking, it has recently been electrified. Understandable but also regrettable. There’s an organ in Stafford undergoing the same process. Soon there will be few examples left (Cannock being one, ironically).
Looks a good instrument, albeit I wouldn't care to try and change the register on the Great while playing with that console layout!
The first organ I played had a fully electrical action, but then I played one in Aber that was a tracker (mechanical) action basically unaltered since 1899. Very robust. Only ever once had a problem with it when the Swell to Great coupler stopped working, right in the middle of Evensong. A pin had come out. Unfortunately the coupler was on at the time...
... I sense that was signficant - but have absolutely no idea how or why.
The range of expertise on PB.com still regularly surprises me.
@ydoethur has long waxed lyrical about his organs.
In any event, I will do my LFT this morning, and head off to a carol service in Ambleside. As a vaxxed and recently recovered individual, I don’t think I pose much of a threat to anyone right at the moment.
At the main church? Fabulous organ they’ve got there. Also very historic - one of the earliest experimental tubular pneumatic actions, and one of the few not to have been electrified.
Edit - on checking, it has recently been electrified. Understandable but also regrettable. There’s an organ in Stafford undergoing the same process. Soon there will be few examples left (Cannock being one, ironically).
Looks a good instrument, albeit I wouldn't care to try and change the register on the Great while playing with that console layout!
The first organ I played had a fully electrical action, but then I played one in Aber that was a tracker (mechanical) action basically unaltered since 1899. Very robust. Only ever once had a problem with it when the Swell to Great coupler stopped working, right in the middle of Evensong. A pin had come out. Unfortunately the coupler was on at the time...
... I sense that was signficant - but have absolutely no idea how or why.
The range of expertise on PB.com still regularly surprises me.
Because it meant I couldn't play the Great on its own unless I got rid of all the stops on the Swell. Which was not the work of two seconds.
For Evensong we usually had a small congregation of around 20 so we were all in the choir stalls. Therefore, as the organ was designed to support a choir of 60 and a congregation of around 300, I had to be a bit careful how much noise I made. Great and Swell played together would have been too much.
I think in the end I got round it by closing the Swell box completely (which muffles the sound) when I was playing the Great, but it was still rather a nuisance.
Fortunately, as I said, because of the nature of the beast it was easy to fix.
Might be a blessing if everyone could just hurry up and get it. We haven't had it despite one child at Uni, one at school and me not being particularly careful.
A friend living with a husband and two children, all down with it simultaneously, probably wouldn't agree. Another says that the situation at her (sick) daughter's school is insane, with staff and pupils both going down like ninepins - little serious education is taking place because of lack of continuity.
so its not really the illness bu the over reaction to it that disrupts the education.
We should've desisted from bothering to test children at all before the new school year started in September (by which point all adults, including logically all school staff, had been offered vaccination.) The kids themselves are all but invulnerable to serious illness; almost all children will suffer more from yet more cycles of hokey-cokey self-isolation than they will from catching Covid.
No child should be sent home from school for having Covid unless actually poorly with it. Contacts of those children shouldn't be sent home full stop.
They aren't being. That came to an end in July. As it happens, what was defined as a 'contact' even before that was subject to such wide interpretation as to be more or less meaningless, although it did cause a huge amount of disruption.
As for LFTs, they aren't very good at picking up illness anyway.
AIUI, whilst the class and year group bubbles have been scrapped, an awful lot of children are still being pulled from classes because of Covid. Forgive my lack of persistence in not bothering to look for really recent numbers, but this is what was reported as going on last month:
The number of children out of school with a confirmed case of COVID-19 topped 100,000 in England last week, according to government figures.
The Department for Education (DfE) found the number of pupils out of school for coronavirus-related reasons increased by two thirds in a fortnight.
More than 204,000 - 2.5% of all pupils - were not in class for reasons connected to COVID-19 on Thursday last week.
This is up from 122,300 children, or 1.5% of all pupils on 16 September - a 67% rise from two weeks ago.
The figures come as heads reported "a high level of disruption", with a school leaders' union warning that self-isolation rules are "actively contributing" to the spread of the virus in schools.
100k kids off with Covid, plus about another 100k off "for reasons connected to Covid". I'd be very surprised if all of the first category were too ill to go to school, and the second category sounds suspiciously like contact self-isolation. Besides which, isn't there also a big brouhaha going on at the moment about a new Government edict that they want the entire school population tested when they get back after Christmas?
The corrosive effect of Covid rules on education would appear to be ongoing.
Yes, to your last question, but it isn't going to happen as they've not provided the money to do it.
As for contacts, that's not happening any more. What is happening quite a lot in my admittedly anecdotal experience is that older siblings are having to take time off to help care for younger siblings because their parents have Covid.
Another problem - and it is a big problem - is that it is a nightmare finding supply staff when teachers are ill. There just aren't enough to go round. One primary school in Tamworth has had to send year groups home because they literally can't staff them, even after they pressed the lunchtime supervisors into service.
Have they vaccinated the pupils at your school yet? Most of ours were done back in October with the last couple of year groups just after half term.
We've just finished Year 9, still waiting on Year 8.
They did remember the vaccines on the second occasion...
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
In any event, I will do my LFT this morning, and head off to a carol service in Ambleside. As a vaxxed and recently recovered individual, I don’t think I pose much of a threat to anyone right at the moment.
At the main church? Fabulous organ they’ve got there. Also very historic - one of the earliest experimental tubular pneumatic actions, and one of the few not to have been electrified.
Edit - on checking, it has recently been electrified. Understandable but also regrettable. There’s an organ in Stafford undergoing the same process. Soon there will be few examples left (Cannock being one, ironically).
Looks a good instrument, albeit I wouldn't care to try and change the register on the Great while playing with that console layout!
The first organ I played had a fully electrical action, but then I played one in Aber that was a tracker (mechanical) action basically unaltered since 1899. Very robust. Only ever once had a problem with it when the Swell to Great coupler stopped working, right in the middle of Evensong. A pin had come out. Unfortunately the coupler was on at the time...
... I sense that was signficant - but have absolutely no idea how or why.
The range of expertise on PB.com still regularly surprises me.
@ydoethur has long waxed lyrical about his organs.
Particularly the massive 16 foot horn I have at full swell.
Might be a blessing if everyone could just hurry up and get it. We haven't had it despite one child at Uni, one at school and me not being particularly careful.
A friend living with a husband and two children, all down with it simultaneously, probably wouldn't agree. Another says that the situation at her (sick) daughter's school is insane, with staff and pupils both going down like ninepins - little serious education is taking place because of lack of continuity.
so its not really the illness bu the over reaction to it that disrupts the education.
We should've desisted from bothering to test children at all before the new school year started in September (by which point all adults, including logically all school staff, had been offered vaccination.) The kids themselves are all but invulnerable to serious illness; almost all children will suffer more from yet more cycles of hokey-cokey self-isolation than they will from catching Covid.
No child should be sent home from school for having Covid unless actually poorly with it. Contacts of those children shouldn't be sent home full stop.
They aren't being. That came to an end in July. As it happens, what was defined as a 'contact' even before that was subject to such wide interpretation as to be more or less meaningless, although it did cause a huge amount of disruption.
As for LFTs, they aren't very good at picking up illness anyway.
AIUI, whilst the class and year group bubbles have been scrapped, an awful lot of children are still being pulled from classes because of Covid. Forgive my lack of persistence in not bothering to look for really recent numbers, but this is what was reported as going on last month:
The number of children out of school with a confirmed case of COVID-19 topped 100,000 in England last week, according to government figures.
The Department for Education (DfE) found the number of pupils out of school for coronavirus-related reasons increased by two thirds in a fortnight.
More than 204,000 - 2.5% of all pupils - were not in class for reasons connected to COVID-19 on Thursday last week.
This is up from 122,300 children, or 1.5% of all pupils on 16 September - a 67% rise from two weeks ago.
The figures come as heads reported "a high level of disruption", with a school leaders' union warning that self-isolation rules are "actively contributing" to the spread of the virus in schools.
100k kids off with Covid, plus about another 100k off "for reasons connected to Covid". I'd be very surprised if all of the first category were too ill to go to school, and the second category sounds suspiciously like contact self-isolation. Besides which, isn't there also a big brouhaha going on at the moment about a new Government edict that they want the entire school population tested when they get back after Christmas?
The corrosive effect of Covid rules on education would appear to be ongoing.
Yes, to your last question, but it isn't going to happen as they've not provided the money to do it.
As for contacts, that's not happening any more. What is happening quite a lot in my admittedly anecdotal experience is that older siblings are having to take time off to help care for younger siblings because their parents have Covid.
Another problem - and it is a big problem - is that it is a nightmare finding supply staff when teachers are ill. There just aren't enough to go round. One primary school in Tamworth has had to send year groups home because they literally can't staff them, even after they pressed the lunchtime supervisors into service.
Have they vaccinated the pupils at your school yet? Most of ours were done back in October with the last couple of year groups just after half term.
We've just finished Year 9, still waiting on Year 8.
They did remember the vaccines on the second occasion...
The numbers missing from my lesson seem to be much lower; I’m even getting fairly regular full houses. Unless there is a test due that day, for some reason…
Might be a blessing if everyone could just hurry up and get it. We haven't had it despite one child at Uni, one at school and me not being particularly careful.
A friend living with a husband and two children, all down with it simultaneously, probably wouldn't agree. Another says that the situation at her (sick) daughter's school is insane, with staff and pupils both going down like ninepins - little serious education is taking place because of lack of continuity.
so its not really the illness bu the over reaction to it that disrupts the education.
We should've desisted from bothering to test children at all before the new school year started in September (by which point all adults, including logically all school staff, had been offered vaccination.) The kids themselves are all but invulnerable to serious illness; almost all children will suffer more from yet more cycles of hokey-cokey self-isolation than they will from catching Covid.
No child should be sent home from school for having Covid unless actually poorly with it. Contacts of those children shouldn't be sent home full stop.
They aren't being. That came to an end in July. As it happens, what was defined as a 'contact' even before that was subject to such wide interpretation as to be more or less meaningless, although it did cause a huge amount of disruption.
As for LFTs, they aren't very good at picking up illness anyway.
AIUI, whilst the class and year group bubbles have been scrapped, an awful lot of children are still being pulled from classes because of Covid. Forgive my lack of persistence in not bothering to look for really recent numbers, but this is what was reported as going on last month:
The number of children out of school with a confirmed case of COVID-19 topped 100,000 in England last week, according to government figures.
The Department for Education (DfE) found the number of pupils out of school for coronavirus-related reasons increased by two thirds in a fortnight.
More than 204,000 - 2.5% of all pupils - were not in class for reasons connected to COVID-19 on Thursday last week.
This is up from 122,300 children, or 1.5% of all pupils on 16 September - a 67% rise from two weeks ago.
The figures come as heads reported "a high level of disruption", with a school leaders' union warning that self-isolation rules are "actively contributing" to the spread of the virus in schools.
100k kids off with Covid, plus about another 100k off "for reasons connected to Covid". I'd be very surprised if all of the first category were too ill to go to school, and the second category sounds suspiciously like contact self-isolation. Besides which, isn't there also a big brouhaha going on at the moment about a new Government edict that they want the entire school population tested when they get back after Christmas?
The corrosive effect of Covid rules on education would appear to be ongoing.
Yes, to your last question, but it isn't going to happen as they've not provided the money to do it.
As for contacts, that's not happening any more. What is happening quite a lot in my admittedly anecdotal experience is that older siblings are having to take time off to help care for younger siblings because their parents have Covid.
Another problem - and it is a big problem - is that it is a nightmare finding supply staff when teachers are ill. There just aren't enough to go round. One primary school in Tamworth has had to send year groups home because they literally can't staff them, even after they pressed the lunchtime supervisors into service.
Have they vaccinated the pupils at your school yet? Most of ours were done back in October with the last couple of year groups just after half term.
We've just finished Year 9, still waiting on Year 8.
They did remember the vaccines on the second occasion...
The numbers missing from my lesson seem to be much lower; I’m even getting fairly regular full houses. Unless there is a test due that day, for some reason…
Three years to go. Boris is too busy sorting out COVID. He is not bothered by polls.
He has been found out. In hindsight it was inevitable. As a Prime Minister you have nowhere to hide and for someone who has employed this tactic since he first became an MP he's finding it impossible to cope. Put your house on him not being PM a day after the next election. The sigh of relief will only be matched by 1997 when Blair rid us of the detritus of the Thatcher/Major years
I now look back with fondness at the Thatcher/Major years.
After just two years of a Johnson Government culminating in Peppa Pig day, I wistfully recall Mrs Thatcher's callous but competent authoritarianism.
Maybe PM Priti in her jackboots and General's uniform, after reintroducin' hangin' and floggin' may change my mind. I may then look at Johnson's hilarious but troubling antics in a more positive light.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
Might be a blessing if everyone could just hurry up and get it. We haven't had it despite one child at Uni, one at school and me not being particularly careful.
A friend living with a husband and two children, all down with it simultaneously, probably wouldn't agree. Another says that the situation at her (sick) daughter's school is insane, with staff and pupils both going down like ninepins - little serious education is taking place because of lack of continuity.
so its not really the illness bu the over reaction to it that disrupts the education.
We should've desisted from bothering to test children at all before the new school year started in September (by which point all adults, including logically all school staff, had been offered vaccination.) The kids themselves are all but invulnerable to serious illness; almost all children will suffer more from yet more cycles of hokey-cokey self-isolation than they will from catching Covid.
No child should be sent home from school for having Covid unless actually poorly with it. Contacts of those children shouldn't be sent home full stop.
They aren't being. That came to an end in July. As it happens, what was defined as a 'contact' even before that was subject to such wide interpretation as to be more or less meaningless, although it did cause a huge amount of disruption.
As for LFTs, they aren't very good at picking up illness anyway.
AIUI, whilst the class and year group bubbles have been scrapped, an awful lot of children are still being pulled from classes because of Covid. Forgive my lack of persistence in not bothering to look for really recent numbers, but this is what was reported as going on last month:
The number of children out of school with a confirmed case of COVID-19 topped 100,000 in England last week, according to government figures.
The Department for Education (DfE) found the number of pupils out of school for coronavirus-related reasons increased by two thirds in a fortnight.
More than 204,000 - 2.5% of all pupils - were not in class for reasons connected to COVID-19 on Thursday last week.
This is up from 122,300 children, or 1.5% of all pupils on 16 September - a 67% rise from two weeks ago.
The figures come as heads reported "a high level of disruption", with a school leaders' union warning that self-isolation rules are "actively contributing" to the spread of the virus in schools.
100k kids off with Covid, plus about another 100k off "for reasons connected to Covid". I'd be very surprised if all of the first category were too ill to go to school, and the second category sounds suspiciously like contact self-isolation. Besides which, isn't there also a big brouhaha going on at the moment about a new Government edict that they want the entire school population tested when they get back after Christmas?
The corrosive effect of Covid rules on education would appear to be ongoing.
Yes, to your last question, but it isn't going to happen as they've not provided the money to do it.
As for contacts, that's not happening any more. What is happening quite a lot in my admittedly anecdotal experience is that older siblings are having to take time off to help care for younger siblings because their parents have Covid.
Another problem - and it is a big problem - is that it is a nightmare finding supply staff when teachers are ill. There just aren't enough to go round. One primary school in Tamworth has had to send year groups home because they literally can't staff them, even after they pressed the lunchtime supervisors into service.
Have they vaccinated the pupils at your school yet? Most of ours were done back in October with the last couple of year groups just after half term.
We've just finished Year 9, still waiting on Year 8.
They did remember the vaccines on the second occasion...
The numbers missing from my lesson seem to be much lower; I’m even getting fairly regular full houses. Unless there is a test due that day, for some reason…
I have the same problem.
Funny, that.
I solved the problem last week with one of my Y13 classes by not telling them there was a test before the lesson. They seemed to think that was not in the spirit of the game.
Might be a blessing if everyone could just hurry up and get it. We haven't had it despite one child at Uni, one at school and me not being particularly careful.
A friend living with a husband and two children, all down with it simultaneously, probably wouldn't agree. Another says that the situation at her (sick) daughter's school is insane, with staff and pupils both going down like ninepins - little serious education is taking place because of lack of continuity.
so its not really the illness bu the over reaction to it that disrupts the education.
We should've desisted from bothering to test children at all before the new school year started in September (by which point all adults, including logically all school staff, had been offered vaccination.) The kids themselves are all but invulnerable to serious illness; almost all children will suffer more from yet more cycles of hokey-cokey self-isolation than they will from catching Covid.
No child should be sent home from school for having Covid unless actually poorly with it. Contacts of those children shouldn't be sent home full stop.
They aren't being. That came to an end in July. As it happens, what was defined as a 'contact' even before that was subject to such wide interpretation as to be more or less meaningless, although it did cause a huge amount of disruption.
As for LFTs, they aren't very good at picking up illness anyway.
AIUI, whilst the class and year group bubbles have been scrapped, an awful lot of children are still being pulled from classes because of Covid. Forgive my lack of persistence in not bothering to look for really recent numbers, but this is what was reported as going on last month:
The number of children out of school with a confirmed case of COVID-19 topped 100,000 in England last week, according to government figures.
The Department for Education (DfE) found the number of pupils out of school for coronavirus-related reasons increased by two thirds in a fortnight.
More than 204,000 - 2.5% of all pupils - were not in class for reasons connected to COVID-19 on Thursday last week.
This is up from 122,300 children, or 1.5% of all pupils on 16 September - a 67% rise from two weeks ago.
The figures come as heads reported "a high level of disruption", with a school leaders' union warning that self-isolation rules are "actively contributing" to the spread of the virus in schools.
100k kids off with Covid, plus about another 100k off "for reasons connected to Covid". I'd be very surprised if all of the first category were too ill to go to school, and the second category sounds suspiciously like contact self-isolation. Besides which, isn't there also a big brouhaha going on at the moment about a new Government edict that they want the entire school population tested when they get back after Christmas?
The corrosive effect of Covid rules on education would appear to be ongoing.
Yes, to your last question, but it isn't going to happen as they've not provided the money to do it.
As for contacts, that's not happening any more. What is happening quite a lot in my admittedly anecdotal experience is that older siblings are having to take time off to help care for younger siblings because their parents have Covid.
Another problem - and it is a big problem - is that it is a nightmare finding supply staff when teachers are ill. There just aren't enough to go round. One primary school in Tamworth has had to send year groups home because they literally can't staff them, even after they pressed the lunchtime supervisors into service.
Have they vaccinated the pupils at your school yet? Most of ours were done back in October with the last couple of year groups just after half term.
We've just finished Year 9, still waiting on Year 8.
They did remember the vaccines on the second occasion...
The numbers missing from my lesson seem to be much lower; I’m even getting fairly regular full houses. Unless there is a test due that day, for some reason…
I have the same problem.
Funny, that.
I solved the problem last week with one of my Y13 classes by not telling them there was a test before the lesson. They seemed to think that was not in the spirit of the game.
They want you to revise your strategy going forward?
When did this competition start, during the first lockdown? Bader Ginsburg and Connery have both been gone for over a year.
The start of 2020 when covid first hit as far as I can remember about the time that it wasn't absolutely clear if we were all going to be dead or not by St Swithin's day. If somebody wins it I will close the competition and restart it, open to new entrants. I've made a trophy out of a broken piston that was in a turboed BMW M52 motor that I blew up by wiring the wastegate closed to try and win a YouTube burnout competition.
Ah, OK. You lost me after the broken piston bit but I get the gist.
I'm not sure whether to describe the fact that nobody has actually won the fabulous star prize yet - given the length of the list - as very fortunate or deeply disappointing...
Forcing the wastegate to remain closed on a turbo car causes it to overboost as it has no way to relieve excess pressure in the inlet system. This results in massive boost leading to lots of power until you hit the limits of the fuel injectors' duty cycle or the flow rate of the fuel pump. For a bit until it blows up.
Might be a blessing if everyone could just hurry up and get it. We haven't had it despite one child at Uni, one at school and me not being particularly careful.
A friend living with a husband and two children, all down with it simultaneously, probably wouldn't agree. Another says that the situation at her (sick) daughter's school is insane, with staff and pupils both going down like ninepins - little serious education is taking place because of lack of continuity.
so its not really the illness bu the over reaction to it that disrupts the education.
We should've desisted from bothering to test children at all before the new school year started in September (by which point all adults, including logically all school staff, had been offered vaccination.) The kids themselves are all but invulnerable to serious illness; almost all children will suffer more from yet more cycles of hokey-cokey self-isolation than they will from catching Covid.
No child should be sent home from school for having Covid unless actually poorly with it. Contacts of those children shouldn't be sent home full stop.
They aren't being. That came to an end in July. As it happens, what was defined as a 'contact' even before that was subject to such wide interpretation as to be more or less meaningless, although it did cause a huge amount of disruption.
As for LFTs, they aren't very good at picking up illness anyway.
AIUI, whilst the class and year group bubbles have been scrapped, an awful lot of children are still being pulled from classes because of Covid. Forgive my lack of persistence in not bothering to look for really recent numbers, but this is what was reported as going on last month:
The number of children out of school with a confirmed case of COVID-19 topped 100,000 in England last week, according to government figures.
The Department for Education (DfE) found the number of pupils out of school for coronavirus-related reasons increased by two thirds in a fortnight.
More than 204,000 - 2.5% of all pupils - were not in class for reasons connected to COVID-19 on Thursday last week.
This is up from 122,300 children, or 1.5% of all pupils on 16 September - a 67% rise from two weeks ago.
The figures come as heads reported "a high level of disruption", with a school leaders' union warning that self-isolation rules are "actively contributing" to the spread of the virus in schools.
100k kids off with Covid, plus about another 100k off "for reasons connected to Covid". I'd be very surprised if all of the first category were too ill to go to school, and the second category sounds suspiciously like contact self-isolation. Besides which, isn't there also a big brouhaha going on at the moment about a new Government edict that they want the entire school population tested when they get back after Christmas?
The corrosive effect of Covid rules on education would appear to be ongoing.
Yes, to your last question, but it isn't going to happen as they've not provided the money to do it.
As for contacts, that's not happening any more. What is happening quite a lot in my admittedly anecdotal experience is that older siblings are having to take time off to help care for younger siblings because their parents have Covid.
Another problem - and it is a big problem - is that it is a nightmare finding supply staff when teachers are ill. There just aren't enough to go round. One primary school in Tamworth has had to send year groups home because they literally can't staff them, even after they pressed the lunchtime supervisors into service.
Have they vaccinated the pupils at your school yet? Most of ours were done back in October with the last couple of year groups just after half term.
We've just finished Year 9, still waiting on Year 8.
They did remember the vaccines on the second occasion...
The numbers missing from my lesson seem to be much lower; I’m even getting fairly regular full houses. Unless there is a test due that day, for some reason…
I have the same problem.
Funny, that.
I solved the problem last week with one of my Y13 classes by not telling them there was a test before the lesson. They seemed to think that was not in the spirit of the game.
They want you to revise your strategy going forward?
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of successive poor harvests. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references, too, to the language spoken being similar to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
If none of them ,given their age of most, have died from covid since its incept it shows how unfatal this illness is compared to the over reaction and complete society obsession about it
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
They’re rather unlucky, in that they’re the only country for several thousand miles around, gene sequencing the virus. It’s likely all over most of the southern half of Africa already, and will have been for several weeks. Which is actually good news, because we haven’t seen reports of the often primative healthcare systems in Africa becoming strained.
The “Kent Variant” likely didn’t originate in Kent either, but the UK were also doing a shedload of sequencing at the time.
Yes, if the reproduction rate is so high, it’s pretty much a waste of time imposing travel restrictions for much more than a couple of weeks. That time, though, could be quite useful in terms of assessing the variant (we’ll know much more about hospitalisations) and setting policy before it really takes off here.
Yes ... and no.
If Pfizer are correct that they can develop a vaccine in 100 days then every week really does count. The more this can be delayed the fewer people will die and the less the strain on public health.
I did notice in the press conference yesterday that everyone went out of their way to thank South Africa.
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
If none of them ,given their age of most, have died from covid since in incept it shows how unfatal this illness is compared to the over reaction and complete society obsession about it
Alternatively, it shows famous, rich people are better able to isolate themselves for long periods from society by getting others to do their shopping, and as they generally have nice houses feel less need to go out?
For fans of fantasy I highly recommend Amazon's Wheel of Time TV series.
This is my favourite book series I've ever read, so was a bit dreading whether Amazon would do it justice or not - especially if they tried to turn it into 'tits and dragons' which it isn't.
But just seen the four episodes that are out (they're releasing a new one a week) and so far its good, and they've not remade it to be 'tits and dragons'. No spoilers but they've changed some elements from the books which is kind of inevitable, some in quite surprising ways, but its working.
I'm pleased to see they seem to have really interpreted the book well so far.
So better than the "Foundation" then....
Just reading, apparently Amazon spent $10 million per episode. No wonder the BBC are down the shitter. And I bet Amazon pump out a new season every year.
Its a great series to have the rights to if they can do it well. Won't run into the problem of it being unfinished (like Game of Thrones) and there's 14 books in the series so if they turn each book into a season then that's plenty of material to work with.
No reason to drag it out five years between seasons like some BBC shows.
I've never read WoT, but Mrs J has. She is a bit of a connoisseur of sci-fi/fantasy, and she hates the books.
Just shows how different people can have different views on the same art.
My wife has said similar, immense worldbuilding but the female characters read like they are written by someone who has only read about them in books.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Does anyone know when the Oxford Principle trial of ivermectin is going to give any results?
If????
The trial will give results. Likely negative, but there will be results.
(That said there was a plausible theory that someone posted the other day in that it is actually treating undiagnosed fluke worm cases in covid patients hence the false signal)
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
Three years to go. Boris is too busy sorting out COVID. He is not bothered by polls.
He has been found out. In hindsight it was inevitable. As a Prime Minister you have nowhere to hide and for someone who has employed this tactic since he first became an MP he's finding it impossible to cope. Put your house on him not being PM a day after the next election. The sigh of relief will only be matched by 1997 when Blair rid us of the detritus of the Thatcher/Major years
I now look back with fondness at the Thatcher/Major years.
After just two years of a Johnson Government culminating in Peppa Pig day, I wistfully recall Mrs Thatcher's callous but competent authoritarianism.
Maybe PM Priti in her jackboots and General's uniform, after reintroducin' hangin' and floggin' may change my mind. I may then look at Johnson's hilarious but troubling antics in a more positive light.
The thing is that Johnson's government is like a badly-constructed building. It stands up for now, it can look impressive. But if you know what to look for, it's obvious that it will collapse in a spectacular way. The only question is when.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
NO ONE should ever apologise for preferring Radio 3 to Classic FM!
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
If none of them ,given their age of most, have died from covid since its incept it shows how unfatal this illness is compared to the over reaction and complete society obsession about it
I can't see any avowed vaccine hesitants on the list. Alex Jones is such a fat fuck he's got to be screwed if he gets it although he is the type that would be publicly and volubly antivax while actually having it in secret.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
Three years to go. Boris is too busy sorting out COVID. He is not bothered by polls.
He has been found out. In hindsight it was inevitable. As a Prime Minister you have nowhere to hide and for someone who has employed this tactic since he first became an MP he's finding it impossible to cope. Put your house on him not being PM a day after the next election. The sigh of relief will only be matched by 1997 when Blair rid us of the detritus of the Thatcher/Major years
I now look back with fondness at the Thatcher/Major years.
After just two years of a Johnson Government culminating in Peppa Pig day, I wistfully recall Mrs Thatcher's callous but competent authoritarianism.
Maybe PM Priti in her jackboots and General's uniform, after reintroducin' hangin' and floggin' may change my mind. I may then look at Johnson's hilarious but troubling antics in a more positive light.
Yeah. You can cope with callous if its done competently and efficiently. Its when its callous and crap that it starts to wind people up - the Tories too if you look at how incensed they are at Priti Vacant
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
If none of them ,given their age of most, have died from covid since in incept it shows how unfatal this illness is compared to the over reaction and complete society obsession about it
Alternatively, it shows famous, rich people are better able to isolate themselves for long periods from society by getting others to do their shopping, and as they generally have nice houses feel less need to go out?
Whilst I admire your argument , i would counter that as they are in the public eye they are more likely than most of their age peers to encounter the public. Given people their age are generally retired , these are generally not
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
If none of them die of Covid by [a date to be agreed] perhaps you could award the prize for the candidate who spent longest in hospital from Covid? I suspect @Paristonda is leading that one.
Point of order: doesn't selecting 'David Mitchell' offer two for the price of one?
When did this competition start, during the first lockdown? Bader Ginsburg and Connery have both been gone for over a year.
The start of 2020 when covid first hit as far as I can remember about the time that it wasn't absolutely clear if we were all going to be dead or not by St Swithin's day. If somebody wins it I will close the competition and restart it, open to new entrants. I've made a trophy out of a broken piston that was in a turboed BMW M52 motor that I blew up by wiring the wastegate closed to try and win a YouTube burnout competition.
Ah, OK. You lost me after the broken piston bit but I get the gist.
I'm not sure whether to describe the fact that nobody has actually won the fabulous star prize yet - given the length of the list - as very fortunate or deeply disappointing...
It's a reminder, in one were needed, that the IFA for Covid is under 1% and has probably fallen further with vaccines and mutations. For all the panic this virus is not even going to put a dent in global population growth.
For fans of fantasy I highly recommend Amazon's Wheel of Time TV series.
This is my favourite book series I've ever read, so was a bit dreading whether Amazon would do it justice or not - especially if they tried to turn it into 'tits and dragons' which it isn't.
But just seen the four episodes that are out (they're releasing a new one a week) and so far its good, and they've not remade it to be 'tits and dragons'. No spoilers but they've changed some elements from the books which is kind of inevitable, some in quite surprising ways, but its working.
I'm pleased to see they seem to have really interpreted the book well so far.
So better than the "Foundation" then....
Just reading, apparently Amazon spent $10 million per episode. No wonder the BBC are down the shitter. And I bet Amazon pump out a new season every year.
Its a great series to have the rights to if they can do it well. Won't run into the problem of it being unfinished (like Game of Thrones) and there's 14 books in the series so if they turn each book into a season then that's plenty of material to work with.
No reason to drag it out five years between seasons like some BBC shows.
I've never read WoT, but Mrs J has. She is a bit of a connoisseur of sci-fi/fantasy, and she hates the books.
Just shows how different people can have different views on the same art.
My wife has said similar, immense worldbuilding but the female characters read like they are written by someone who has only read about them in books.
His wife was also his editor, so he knew at least one.
According to wiki 'Jordan often claimed that all major female characters in the Wheel of Time series (and some of the minor female characters) have at least one trait that was inspired by [his wife]'
Given the common instances of people being spanked or threatened with being spanked in the books, one could choose to believe that provides certain insights.
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
If none of them ,given their age of most, have died from covid since its incept it shows how unfatal this illness is compared to the over reaction and complete society obsession about it
I can't see any avowed vaccine hesitants on the list. Alex Jones is such a fat fuck he's got to be screwed if he gets it although he is the type that would be publicly and volubly antivax while actually having it in secret.
Or get the same treatment they gave Trump last year: works but far too expensive for mass use I think?
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
I understand (?believe) that very old churches are often in places which were previously pagan worship sites. And, again AIUI, "Norman' churches were built on older Saxon sites. Perhaps an effort to gain hearts and minds!
I used to live in place whose name translated as 'The grove in the forest where Thor was worshipped'. Or something like that. The village church was on about the highest point in the area.
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
If none of them ,given their age of most, have died from covid since in incept it shows how unfatal this illness is compared to the over reaction and complete society obsession about it
Alternatively, it shows famous, rich people are better able to isolate themselves for long periods from society by getting others to do their shopping, and as they generally have nice houses feel less need to go out?
Whilst I admire your argument , i would counter that as they are in the public eye they are more likely than most of their age peers to encounter the public. Given people their age are generally retired , these are generally not
Lots of them haven't though. Clarkson shut himself up in his farm. Several others have cut their commitments dramatically (have you seen Attenborough during the pandemic until COP26)? Weinstein of course is in prison and allegedly in solitary so that's a bit different.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
I have a couple of relatives who occasionally feature on Radio 3 so I feel bound to support it. I’ll also listen to most things: even Phillip Glass.
I feel like Omicron might be just the spark the Dead Pool needs.
A reminder of your runners and riders. …
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
If none of them ,given their age of most, have died from covid since in incept it shows how unfatal this illness is compared to the over reaction and complete society obsession about it
Alternatively, it shows famous, rich people are better able to isolate themselves for long periods from society by getting others to do their shopping, and as they generally have nice houses feel less need to go out?
Many of those of fame and means, found it easy to isolate themselves for months at a time - with deliveries for everything they might need, and social media to help with the narcissistic extrovertism.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
That's weird. I would have thought that a classical music channel was barely troubled by licence fees. Mozart, to take an example, is definitely out of copyright. Why didn't they just play older records?
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
If none of them ,given their age of most, have died from covid since in incept it shows how unfatal this illness is compared to the over reaction and complete society obsession about it
Alternatively, it shows famous, rich people are better able to isolate themselves for long periods from society by getting others to do their shopping, and as they generally have nice houses feel less need to go out?
Whilst I admire your argument , i would counter that as they are in the public eye they are more likely than most of their age peers to encounter the public. Given people their age are generally retired , these are generally not
Lots of them haven't though. Clarkson shut himself up in his farm. Several others have cut their commitments dramatically (have you seen Attenborough during the pandemic until COP26)? Weinstein of course is in prison and allegedly in solitary so that's a bit different.
Well in the case of Clarkson , after seeing the (excellent ) TV programme of his farm , he seems to encounter quite a lot of folk in his farm shop and the local villagers
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
I understand (?believe) that very old churches are often in places which were previously pagan worship sites. And, again AIUI, "Norman' churches were built on older Saxon sites. Perhaps an effort to gain hearts and minds!
No - a deliberate effort to obliterate Saxon culture, with the helpful by-product of stealing the money of the churches for the new Norman overlords.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
That's weird. I would have thought that a classical music channel was barely troubled by licence fees. Mozart, to take an example, is definitely out of copyright. Why didn't they just play older records?
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
I understand (?believe) that very old churches are often in places which were previously pagan worship sites. And, again AIUI, "Norman' churches were built on older Saxon sites. Perhaps an effort to gain hearts and minds!
I used to live in place whose name translated as 'The grove in the forest where Thor was worshipped'. Or something like that. The village church was on about the highest point in the area.
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
If none of them ,given their age of most, have died from covid since in incept it shows how unfatal this illness is compared to the over reaction and complete society obsession about it
Alternatively, it shows famous, rich people are better able to isolate themselves for long periods from society by getting others to do their shopping, and as they generally have nice houses feel less need to go out?
Whilst I admire your argument , i would counter that as they are in the public eye they are more likely than most of their age peers to encounter the public. Given people their age are generally retired , these are generally not
Lots of them haven't though. Clarkson shut himself up in his farm. Several others have cut their commitments dramatically (have you seen Attenborough during the pandemic until COP26)? Weinstein of course is in prison and allegedly in solitary so that's a bit different.
Well in the case of Clarkson , after seeing the (excellent ) TV programme of his farm , he seems to encounter quite a lot of folk in his farm shop and the local villagers
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it. Just think of all the people who have helped be inspired by programmes Attenborough has fronted, when by his own admission he'd never have had the patience for dedicated scientific study.
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
I understand (?believe) that very old churches are often in places which were previously pagan worship sites. And, again AIUI, "Norman' churches were built on older Saxon sites. Perhaps an effort to gain hearts and minds!
I used to live in place whose name translated as 'The grove in the forest where Thor was worshipped'. Or something like that. The village church was on about the highest point in the area.
Quite interesting to think whether the road was built to a newly built Roman religious site or was an existing right of way to a Celtic era religious site that the Romans paved. I’ve shoved my spade in the ground a few times but haven’t managed to get much further back than late Victorian with what I’ve found.
For fans of fantasy I highly recommend Amazon's Wheel of Time TV series.
This is my favourite book series I've ever read, so was a bit dreading whether Amazon would do it justice or not - especially if they tried to turn it into 'tits and dragons' which it isn't.
But just seen the four episodes that are out (they're releasing a new one a week) and so far its good, and they've not remade it to be 'tits and dragons'. No spoilers but they've changed some elements from the books which is kind of inevitable, some in quite surprising ways, but its working.
I'm pleased to see they seem to have really interpreted the book well so far.
So better than the "Foundation" then....
Just reading, apparently Amazon spent $10 million per episode. No wonder the BBC are down the shitter. And I bet Amazon pump out a new season every year.
Its a great series to have the rights to if they can do it well. Won't run into the problem of it being unfinished (like Game of Thrones) and there's 14 books in the series so if they turn each book into a season then that's plenty of material to work with.
No reason to drag it out five years between seasons like some BBC shows.
I've never read WoT, but Mrs J has. She is a bit of a connoisseur of sci-fi/fantasy, and she hates the books.
Just shows how different people can have different views on the same art.
My wife has said similar, immense worldbuilding but the female characters read like they are written by someone who has only read about them in books.
His wife was also his editor, so he knew at least one.
According to wiki 'Jordan often claimed that all major female characters in the Wheel of Time series (and some of the minor female characters) have at least one trait that was inspired by [his wife]'
Given the common instances of people being spanked or threatened with being spanked in the books, one could choose to believe that provides certain insights.
I thought the series started quite well and is getting better. I watched episode 4 last night and it was definitely the best to date. Rosamund Pike in particular is adding a layer of class to proceedings.
I was slightly ambivalent about the books. They were way too long and repetitive, even worse than GoT but had some clever elements too. I have never quite made it to the end.
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
I understand (?believe) that very old churches are often in places which were previously pagan worship sites. And, again AIUI, "Norman' churches were built on older Saxon sites. Perhaps an effort to gain hearts and minds!
No - a deliberate effort to obliterate Saxon culture, with the helpful by-product of stealing the money of the churches for the new Norman overlords.
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it.
Not really the case judging by the rate at which archaeological departments are closing:
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
I understand (?believe) that very old churches are often in places which were previously pagan worship sites. And, again AIUI, "Norman' churches were built on older Saxon sites. Perhaps an effort to gain hearts and minds!
I used to live in place whose name translated as 'The grove in the forest where Thor was worshipped'. Or something like that. The village church was on about the highest point in the area.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
That's weird. I would have thought that a classical music channel was barely troubled by licence fees. Mozart, to take an example, is definitely out of copyright. Why didn't they just play older records?
The performers are not out of copyright...
They could be if you used old enough records. I am just surprised.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
That's weird. I would have thought that a classical music channel was barely troubled by licence fees. Mozart, to take an example, is definitely out of copyright. Why didn't they just play older records?
Even if Mozart was in copyright, any radio station would only need to buy the one recording; it doesn't really matter which.
For fans of fantasy I highly recommend Amazon's Wheel of Time TV series.
This is my favourite book series I've ever read, so was a bit dreading whether Amazon would do it justice or not - especially if they tried to turn it into 'tits and dragons' which it isn't.
But just seen the four episodes that are out (they're releasing a new one a week) and so far its good, and they've not remade it to be 'tits and dragons'. No spoilers but they've changed some elements from the books which is kind of inevitable, some in quite surprising ways, but its working.
I'm pleased to see they seem to have really interpreted the book well so far.
So better than the "Foundation" then....
Just reading, apparently Amazon spent $10 million per episode. No wonder the BBC are down the shitter. And I bet Amazon pump out a new season every year.
Its a great series to have the rights to if they can do it well. Won't run into the problem of it being unfinished (like Game of Thrones) and there's 14 books in the series so if they turn each book into a season then that's plenty of material to work with.
No reason to drag it out five years between seasons like some BBC shows.
I've never read WoT, but Mrs J has. She is a bit of a connoisseur of sci-fi/fantasy, and she hates the books.
Just shows how different people can have different views on the same art.
My wife has said similar, immense worldbuilding but the female characters read like they are written by someone who has only read about them in books.
His wife was also his editor, so he knew at least one.
According to wiki 'Jordan often claimed that all major female characters in the Wheel of Time series (and some of the minor female characters) have at least one trait that was inspired by [his wife]'
Given the common instances of people being spanked or threatened with being spanked in the books, one could choose to believe that provides certain insights.
I thought the series started quite well and is getting better. I watched episode 4 last night and it was definitely the best to date. Rosamund Pike in particular is adding a layer of class to proceedings.
I was slightly ambivalent about the books. They were way too long and repetitive, even worse than GoT but had some clever elements too. I have never quite made it to the end.
Yeah, the wife being the editor probably didn't help with trimming them to acceptable lengths. I sometimes tell people that if you do start to flag you can pretty much go from, say, book 8 to book 12. Yes, it'll miss a lot, but that takes you up to the first of Sanderson's wrapping up trilogy and it focuses back on.
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it.
One of the things I liked about Time Team was that, other than Tony Robinson, the rest of the “presenters” were actual trained archaeologists. Professor Mick Aston was always good value, particularly when explaining why they were doing what they were doing.
Edit: I wonder if Leon knows the work of Dr Phil Harding? Edit of edit: and it’s only just occurred to me how appropriate that name is for what Leon does…
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
Reminds me of the time when we were woken up at 6:00am the first morning in a gîte by a cat walking across the piano keyboard.
Turned out that the previous occupants had set the radio alarm for 6:00am tuned to an avant-garde French classical radio station. No cat or piano involved (in the gîte at least).
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
That's weird. I would have thought that a classical music channel was barely troubled by licence fees. Mozart, to take an example, is definitely out of copyright. Why didn't they just play older records?
The performers are not out of copyright...
They could be if you used old enough records. I am just surprised.
It would have to be from before 1951. Limited number of really good digitised tracks from that era...
If you have an age, health or disability reason for not wearing a face covering you do not need to show:
any written evidence of this an exemption card This means that you do not need to seek advice or request a letter from a medical professional about your reason for not wearing a face covering.
However, some people may feel more comfortable if they are able to show something that explains why they’re not wearing a face covering. This could be in the form of an exemption card, badge or even a home-made sign.
Carrying an exemption card or badge is a personal choice and is not required by law.
So unless they decide to change this - which I doubt if they can in practice given GP services are in effect moribund - they can pass what laws they like, nobody will have to wear a mask.
As a vulnerable disabled person I challenge people on public transport who aren't wearing masks. I do it politely at first (they might be exempt) but if they're just been obdurate or freedom loving (i.e. self-centred) I give them a piece of my mind.
Lots of you won't like it that I do but I'm afraid I'm not a self-centred tory. I think about other people. If you don't have a bloody good reason for not wearing a mask you should bloody well wear one until we've got this thing beat. Which we haven't yet.
And, yes, despite being disabled and vulnerable I DO wear a mask.
How do you manage to travel carrying such a burden of self-righteousness?
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it.
Not really the case judging by the rate at which archaeological departments are closing:
That might be because time team is not popular anymore, or indeed stopped for many years?
In any case it didnt counter the point, since that was that they are very important, not that every single example of them will sucessfully inspire. The ones that do so, or where teh zeitgeist makes their subjects more interesting, are worth it.
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it.
One of the things I liked about Time Team was that, other than Tony Robinson, the rest of the “presenters” were actual trained archaeologists. Professor Mick Aston was always good value, particularly when explaining why they were doing what they were doing.
Edit: I wonder if Leon knows the work of Dr Phil Harding?
Well if he doesn't I think we can say @Leon's certainly been caught knapping.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
I have a couple of relatives who occasionally feature on Radio 3 so I feel bound to support it. I’ll also listen to most things: even Phillip Glass.
A couple of weeks ago on ‘Private Passions’ the guest chose a piece by Stockhausen. You don’t get that on ‘Desert Island Discs’.
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it.
Not really the case judging by the rate at which archaeological departments are closing:
That might be because time team is not popular anymore, or indeed stopped for many years?
In any case it didnt counter the point, since that was that they are very important, not that every single example of them will sucessfully inspire. The ones that do so, or where teh zeitgeist makes their subjects more interesting, are worth it.
With the exception of Sheffield, I suspect it has more to do with a lack of numbers doing A-Level archaeology (or Classics/Ancient History) and the uncapped Russell Group unis hoovering up what there is.
Similar problem with university History departments.
If you have an age, health or disability reason for not wearing a face covering you do not need to show:
any written evidence of this an exemption card This means that you do not need to seek advice or request a letter from a medical professional about your reason for not wearing a face covering.
However, some people may feel more comfortable if they are able to show something that explains why they’re not wearing a face covering. This could be in the form of an exemption card, badge or even a home-made sign.
Carrying an exemption card or badge is a personal choice and is not required by law.
So unless they decide to change this - which I doubt if they can in practice given GP services are in effect moribund - they can pass what laws they like, nobody will have to wear a mask.
As a vulnerable disabled person I challenge people on public transport who aren't wearing masks. I do it politely at first (they might be exempt) but if they're just been obdurate or freedom loving (i.e. self-centred) I give them a piece of my mind.
Lots of you won't like it that I do but I'm afraid I'm not a self-centred tory. I think about other people. If you don't have a bloody good reason for not wearing a mask you should bloody well wear one until we've got this thing beat. Which we haven't yet.
And, yes, despite being disabled and vulnerable I DO wear a mask.
How do you manage to travel carrying such a burden of self-righteousness?
It can't be any heavier than your burden of self-important pomposity @Charles.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
That's weird. I would have thought that a classical music channel was barely troubled by licence fees. Mozart, to take an example, is definitely out of copyright. Why didn't they just play older records?
The performers are not out of copyright...
They could be if you used old enough records. I am just surprised.
It would have to be from before 1951. Limited number of really good digitised tracks from that era...
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
Hope she’s ok. This virus is weird in how and when it infects others
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it.
Not really the case judging by the rate at which archaeological departments are closing:
That might be because time team is not popular anymore, or indeed stopped for many years?
In any case it didnt counter the point, since that was that they are very important, not that every single example of them will sucessfully inspire. The ones that do so, or where teh zeitgeist makes their subjects more interesting, are worth it.
With the exception of Sheffield, I suspect it has more to do with a lack of numbers doing A-Level archaeology (or Classics/Ancient History) and the uncapped Russell Group unis hoovering up what there is.
Similar problem with university History departments.
Looking back it might have been fun to have done some geophysics. Archaeology is certainly a subject where art and science meet.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
That's weird. I would have thought that a classical music channel was barely troubled by licence fees. Mozart, to take an example, is definitely out of copyright. Why didn't they just play older records?
Even if Mozart was in copyright, any radio station would only need to buy the one recording; it doesn't really matter which.
The point about T-cells is well made. While we don’t know anywhere near as much about their interactions with the virus (they’re rather more difficult to study in the lab than antibodies), we do know that their recognition of the spike protein is much more comprehensive, and so way more difficult to evade.
Thanks for this.
Do you know, or have you seen from reputable sources (emphasis), any early indicators of whether the 'traditional' vaccine method (AZ) or the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna) might work better against this particular mutation?
AZ is not a 'traditional' vaccine, viral-vector vaccines are just as 'new' as mRNA vaccines. In both cases the technology dates back to the 1970s but only very recently have they started being used clinically.
Viral vector vaccines have been in use for more than 15 years.
In chickens, obviously. And in pigs for about 6-7 years (I forget exactly when PEDV spread to North America). But it’s a proven technology.
There is a cognitive dissonance in the government’s thinking about refugees. An eagerness to celebrate immigrant success stories, like that of Mr Zahawi, is accompanied by a system of managing asylum seekers designed to place huge and often treacherous obstacles in the path of anyone hoping to replicate his story. The result is a regime that neither displays compassion towards those seeking refuge nor gives voters confidence that the government has migration under control.
Viewed from Greece or Italy, which have seen much greater flows of migration, what Britain calls a “crisis” is a relatively modest challenge. It is not so much the numbers of those trying to cross the Channel as the visibility of them that has turned this into a political crisis.
The prime minister is...angrily exasperated by what he sees as Priti Patel’s failure to “grip” the issue. The home secretary, in turn, has spent her time blaming the French. They shouldn’t take it personally, because she also blames her own officials and legal advisers. Her efforts to shift culpability elsewhere are no longer working with her party.
One senior Tory remarks: “The trouble is all the political pressure on Boris is coming from hopelessly unrealistic headbangers on the right of my party saying, ‘Just send them back’. This is leading Boris and Priti in exactly the wrong direction because it will only increase French intransigence and make it even more difficult to solve.”
France is the country Britain most needs to be talking to. Neither the plight of the refugees nor public confidence in the management of migration will be improved without cooperation. Unfortunately, it is one of the least well-kept secrets in diplomacy that Anglo-French relations are dreadful.
Which points to a glaring and tragic irony. A Brexit sold with the slogan “take back control” has left the UK with a border that is now harder to control. Our country is even more dependent on collaboration with European neighbours who have much less incentive to be cooperative. There will be an empty chair where Britain should be sitting. Puerile point-scoring and phoney posturing have to stop before more people perish in the icy waters of the Channel.
I shall continue to challenge anyone not wearing a mask on public transport or in shops.
Just buy yourself a proper mask and leave everyone else alone
My husband and I tested positive for COVID last night after nearly 2 years of following the rules and doing the right thing. That same day we took my very vulnerable mother out for a drive in the car. This morning I'm beginning to find anti mask rhetoric just a bit annoying.
I'm so sorry - hope your mother is OK and you both recover as quickly as possible.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
I think it would be a very good idea to have a few adverts like we do for speeding or smoking prevention, hammering home the idea that not getting vaccinated is massively increasing your chance of ending up dying in hospital and gumming up the NHS in the process.
Classic FM is running them morning, noon and night.
I didn’t know that. My fault for being a Radio 3 listener.
I switched to Radio 3 last year, because Classic FM were desperately short of money due to lack of advertising. They were only running really bad government adverts which told us all to get spaced out (they just don't understand double meanings) and running the same five pieces over and over again because they couldn't afford the licence fees for the others.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
That's weird. I would have thought that a classical music channel was barely troubled by licence fees. Mozart, to take an example, is definitely out of copyright. Why didn't they just play older records?
The alternative theory is that Classic FM were trying to help everyone relax by playing nothing of any novelty or interest whatsoever.
Much like the rest of the time.
(For all that they play a lot of stuff that isn't remotely classical music, and there's a lot of chat, Scala is a more interesting listen.)
Three years to go. Boris is too busy sorting out COVID. He is not bothered by polls.
He has been found out. In hindsight it was inevitable. As a Prime Minister you have nowhere to hide and for someone who has employed this tactic since he first became an MP he's finding it impossible to cope. Put your house on him not being PM a day after the next election. The sigh of relief will only be matched by 1997 when Blair rid us of the detritus of the Thatcher/Major years
I now look back with fondness at the Thatcher/Major years.
After just two years of a Johnson Government culminating in Peppa Pig day, I wistfully recall Mrs Thatcher's callous but competent authoritarianism.
Maybe PM Priti in her jackboots and General's uniform, after reintroducin' hangin' and floggin' may change my mind. I may then look at Johnson's hilarious but troubling antics in a more positive light.
This is the moment for a forensic attack on Patel. The sort that Robin Cook used to excel at. She's got to be the most hated emblem of this ugly incarnation of Torydom. Her treatment of the refugees is the ideal cause to bring the Labour left back on board and for SKS to show his backbone. He's got to go in with all guns blazing and simply trample on the racists and bigots on the right....
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it.
Not really the case judging by the rate at which archaeological departments are closing:
That might be because time team is not popular anymore, or indeed stopped for many years?
In any case it didnt counter the point, since that was that they are very important, not that every single example of them will sucessfully inspire. The ones that do so, or where teh zeitgeist makes their subjects more interesting, are worth it.
With the exception of Sheffield, I suspect it has more to do with a lack of numbers doing A-Level archaeology (or Classics/Ancient History) and the uncapped Russell Group unis hoovering up what there is.
Similar problem with university History departments.
Looking back it might have been fun to have done some geophysics. Archaeology is certainly a subject where art and science meet.
How marvellous it would be if we could develop geophysics to the accuracy and precision of say CT or MRI scans.
Think of all the artefacts that are there under the ground but that will never be found with current technology.
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it.
Not really the case judging by the rate at which archaeological departments are closing:
That might be because time team is not popular anymore, or indeed stopped for many years?
In any case it didnt counter the point, since that was that they are very important, not that every single example of them will sucessfully inspire. The ones that do so, or where teh zeitgeist makes their subjects more interesting, are worth it.
With the exception of Sheffield, I suspect it has more to do with a lack of numbers doing A-Level archaeology (or Classics/Ancient History) and the uncapped Russell Group unis hoovering up what there is.
Similar problem with university History departments.
Given how low the cost of teaching an extra humanities student is, it's a no-brainer for a university that is being entrepreneurial.
Science students, even if you can find them, are expensive to teach.
Three years to go. Boris is too busy sorting out COVID. He is not bothered by polls.
He has been found out. In hindsight it was inevitable. As a Prime Minister you have nowhere to hide and for someone who has employed this tactic since he first became an MP he's finding it impossible to cope. Put your house on him not being PM a day after the next election. The sigh of relief will only be matched by 1997 when Blair rid us of the detritus of the Thatcher/Major years
I now look back with fondness at the Thatcher/Major years.
After just two years of a Johnson Government culminating in Peppa Pig day, I wistfully recall Mrs Thatcher's callous but competent authoritarianism.
Maybe PM Priti in her jackboots and General's uniform, after reintroducin' hangin' and floggin' may change my mind. I may then look at Johnson's hilarious but troubling antics in a more positive light.
This is the moment for a forensic attack on Patel. The sort that Robin Cook used to excel at. She has got to be the most hated emblem of this ugly incarnation of Torydom. Her treatment of the refugees is the ideal cause to bring the Labour left back on board and for SKS to show his backbone. He's got to go in with all guns blazing and simply trample on the racists and bigots on the right....
And say what he would do instead, is the tricky bit.
There is a cognitive dissonance in the government’s thinking about refugees. An eagerness to celebrate immigrant success stories, like that of Mr Zahawi, is accompanied by a system of managing asylum seekers designed to place huge and often treacherous obstacles in the path of anyone hoping to replicate his story. The result is a regime that neither displays compassion towards those seeking refuge nor gives voters confidence that the government has migration under control.
Viewed from Greece or Italy, which have seen much greater flows of migration, what Britain calls a “crisis” is a relatively modest challenge. It is not so much the numbers of those trying to cross the Channel as the visibility of them that has turned this into a political crisis.
The prime minister is...angrily exasperated by what he sees as Priti Patel’s failure to “grip” the issue. The home secretary, in turn, has spent her time blaming the French. They shouldn’t take it personally, because she also blames her own officials and legal advisers. Her efforts to shift culpability elsewhere are no longer working with her party.
One senior Tory remarks: “The trouble is all the political pressure on Boris is coming from hopelessly unrealistic headbangers on the right of my party saying, ‘Just send them back’. This is leading Boris and Priti in exactly the wrong direction because it will only increase French intransigence and make it even more difficult to solve.”
France is the country Britain most needs to be talking to. Neither the plight of the refugees nor public confidence in the management of migration will be improved without cooperation. Unfortunately, it is one of the least well-kept secrets in diplomacy that Anglo-French relations are dreadful.
Which points to a glaring and tragic irony. A Brexit sold with the slogan “take back control” has left the UK with a border that is now harder to control. Our country is even more dependent on collaboration with European neighbours who have much less incentive to be cooperative. There will be an empty chair where Britain should be sitting. Puerile point-scoring and phoney posturing have to stop before more people perish in the icy waters of the Channel.
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it.
Not really the case judging by the rate at which archaeological departments are closing:
That might be because time team is not popular anymore, or indeed stopped for many years?
In any case it didnt counter the point, since that was that they are very important, not that every single example of them will sucessfully inspire. The ones that do so, or where teh zeitgeist makes their subjects more interesting, are worth it.
With the exception of Sheffield, I suspect it has more to do with a lack of numbers doing A-Level archaeology (or Classics/Ancient History) and the uncapped Russell Group unis hoovering up what there is.
Similar problem with university History departments.
Given how low the cost of teaching an extra humanities student is, it's a no-brainer for a university that is being entrepreneurial.
Science students, even if you can find them, are expensive to teach.
Whether the students themselves get decent value for money given the restrictions on the time of faculty staff, leading too many to be fobbed off with being taught by untrained and unprepared PhD students, is a very different question.
There is a cognitive dissonance in the government’s thinking about refugees. An eagerness to celebrate immigrant success stories, like that of Mr Zahawi, is accompanied by a system of managing asylum seekers designed to place huge and often treacherous obstacles in the path of anyone hoping to replicate his story. The result is a regime that neither displays compassion towards those seeking refuge nor gives voters confidence that the government has migration under control.
Viewed from Greece or Italy, which have seen much greater flows of migration, what Britain calls a “crisis” is a relatively modest challenge. It is not so much the numbers of those trying to cross the Channel as the visibility of them that has turned this into a political crisis.
The prime minister is...angrily exasperated by what he sees as Priti Patel’s failure to “grip” the issue. The home secretary, in turn, has spent her time blaming the French. They shouldn’t take it personally, because she also blames her own officials and legal advisers. Her efforts to shift culpability elsewhere are no longer working with her party.
One senior Tory remarks: “The trouble is all the political pressure on Boris is coming from hopelessly unrealistic headbangers on the right of my party saying, ‘Just send them back’. This is leading Boris and Priti in exactly the wrong direction because it will only increase French intransigence and make it even more difficult to solve.”
France is the country Britain most needs to be talking to. Neither the plight of the refugees nor public confidence in the management of migration will be improved without cooperation. Unfortunately, it is one of the least well-kept secrets in diplomacy that Anglo-French relations are dreadful.
Which points to a glaring and tragic irony. A Brexit sold with the slogan “take back control” has left the UK with a border that is now harder to control. Our country is even more dependent on collaboration with European neighbours who have much less incentive to be cooperative. There will be an empty chair where Britain should be sitting. Puerile point-scoring and phoney posturing have to stop before more people perish in the icy waters of the Channel.
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
I can't remember if I failed to submit a name for this because I thought it was in poor taste or if I was just disorganised. Anyway, I suppose I'm glad that nobody has won yet.
King Cole, I'm not persuaded by that, to be honest.
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Current thinking, AIUI, is that large swathes of land had been depopulated by plagues and the consequence of poor harvest. Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references to the language spoken being similar;aer to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
I would love to be able wind back the clock and see what was going on. I’ve got an old Roman road buried under my garden that heads up the hill to a Norman church. Interesting to think what was there at the time the road was built. Perhaps a fortification looking towards the south coast. Or a pre Christian religious site. And what was going on there between 400AD and the Church being built 700 years later?
Did you ever watch Time Team? I’m sure it made proper historians cringe, but for those of us with an amateur interest it gave a fascinating insight into exactly that sort of thing.
Popular science and history communicators are hugely important of course. They may not be experts themselves, or they may have just had to simplify matters a great deal, but if it inspires people to look into the subject more, and a small percentage of those then go on to that field it is well worth it.
Not really the case judging by the rate at which archaeological departments are closing:
That might be because time team is not popular anymore, or indeed stopped for many years?
In any case it didnt counter the point, since that was that they are very important, not that every single example of them will sucessfully inspire. The ones that do so, or where teh zeitgeist makes their subjects more interesting, are worth it.
With the exception of Sheffield, I suspect it has more to do with a lack of numbers doing A-Level archaeology (or Classics/Ancient History) and the uncapped Russell Group unis hoovering up what there is.
Similar problem with university History departments.
Looking back it might have been fun to have done some geophysics. Archaeology is certainly a subject where art and science meet.
How marvellous it would be if we could develop geophysics to the accuracy and precision of say CT or MRI scans.
Think of all the artefacts that are there under the ground but that will never be found with current technology.
You can use those, if only on the bits you dig up.
Ground penetrating radar is probably the best bet for that. I would like to see the effect of using multiple wavelengths on the same bit of ground.
He appears to start every week with the premise that whatever the government has been up to is wrong and evil, and works backwards from there. He’s making the usual pundit mistake, of thinking that sarcastic slogans are an acceptable substitute for actual reasoned analysis.
Perhaps he's starting from the premise the only articles less likely to be read than those criticising the Government are those praising it.
As an aside, other European countries face the same migrant problem - Spain for example has a huge problem with boats crossing to the Canaries from the African coast. It may be time to order a couple of large portions of humble pie, put away the jingoist rhetoric and look at some co-ordinated responses.
Priti Patel's problem is all Conservative Home Secretaries have to be uncompromising and "tough". Her chances in any future leadership election will be much improved if she can rely on the support of the "headbangers" (to use that awful term). Any "softening" of approach weakens her politically and leaves her without a core of support.
The other side of the coin is the mixed emotions pictures of migrant/refugee people evoke. Sympathy and anger seem to exist in fairly substantial measures. As with so many issues, immigration defies simple or simplistic responses.
Interesting article from Matthew Parris yesterday arguing the 1951 Convention is outdated and needs to be scrapped. He’s very much on the centrist wing of the Tory Party.
Phil the Greek, Olivia de Havilland and the Notorious RBG have already died but not of covid so hard luck Union Divvie, Foss and Max. That's the risk you take with goal hanging.
I can't remember if I failed to submit a name for this because I thought it was in poor taste or if I was just disorganised. Anyway, I suppose I'm glad that nobody has won yet.
Certainly it's poor taste, and I thought the last time it was discussed - during the worst of the crisis - many PB'ers thought it should be put aside.
Comments
I'm not sure whether to describe the fact that nobody has actually won the fabulous star prize yet - given the length of the list - as very fortunate or deeply disappointing...
As an aside, other European countries face the same migrant problem - Spain for example has a huge problem with boats crossing to the Canaries from the African coast. It may be time to order a couple of large portions of humble pie, put away the jingoist rhetoric and look at some co-ordinated responses.
Priti Patel's problem is all Conservative Home Secretaries have to be uncompromising and "tough". Her chances in any future leadership election will be much improved if she can rely on the support of the "headbangers" (to use that awful term). Any "softening" of approach weakens her politically and leaves her without a core of support.
The other side of the coin is the mixed emotions pictures of migrant/refugee people evoke. Sympathy and anger seem to exist in fairly substantial measures. As with so many issues, immigration defies simple or simplistic responses.
As for contacts, that's not happening any more. What is happening quite a lot in my admittedly anecdotal experience is that older siblings are having to take time off to help care for younger siblings because their parents have Covid.
Another problem - and it is a big problem - is that it is a nightmare finding supply staff when teachers are ill. There just aren't enough to go round. One primary school in Tamworth has had to send year groups home because they literally can't staff them, even after they pressed the lunchtime supervisors into service.
Perhaps they are not testing people who go in for unrelated conditions?
There's a very historic one in Santes Fair (on your left up the hill as you come out of the station) but the one I played was in Holy Trinity which is the one you can see if you look to the right as you come out of the station, next to the School of Art.
And vastly more convenient than PCR.
The range of expertise on PB.com still regularly surprises me.
For Evensong we usually had a small congregation of around 20 so we were all in the choir stalls. Therefore, as the organ was designed to support a choir of 60 and a congregation of around 300, I had to be a bit careful how much noise I made. Great and Swell played together would have been too much.
I think in the end I got round it by closing the Swell box completely (which muffles the sound) when I was playing the Great, but it was still rather a nuisance.
Fortunately, as I said, because of the nature of the beast it was easy to fix.
They did remember the vaccines on the second occasion...
Great Britain slid back enormously when the Romans left, but they* idea swathes of good farmland was just given up freely to migrants (Saxons) is not something that feels in accord with human nature of** history. I cannot believe the Celts thought it was fine to just hand over power over the majority of the island to a load of incomers.
Edited extra bit: *the, and **or
Funny, that.
After just two years of a Johnson Government culminating in Peppa Pig day, I wistfully recall Mrs Thatcher's callous but competent authoritarianism.
Maybe PM Priti in her jackboots and General's uniform, after reintroducin' hangin' and floggin' may change my mind. I may then look at Johnson's hilarious but troubling antics in a more positive light.
In a similar vein, a sober report on my local NextDoor this morning:
"My wife collapsed at about 11.30 Saturday morning. She has early onset Alzheimer’s. 999 operative was very apologetic as no ambulance would be available for up to 6 hours. I drove my wife to hospital and was told by a nurse that they were being swamped by COVID patients nearly all unvaccinated. We are both triple jabbed and suggest that if you aren’t jabbed yet, maybe it’s time to consider getting done, if not for yourself then perhaps for your neighbour."
6 hours!!
Further, that much of South and East 'England" was populated by a mixture of Celts, Angles and Saxons from pre-Roman times. There are odd references, too, to the language spoken being similar to that in what we now call the Low Countries. The lack of 'Celtic' names in that area is an indication.
(That said there was a plausible theory that someone posted the other day in that it is actually treating undiagnosed fluke worm cases in covid patients hence the false signal)
It stands up for now, it can look impressive. But if you know what to look for, it's obvious that it will collapse in a spectacular way. The only question is when.
And that could still be 10 days or 10 years.
But I switched back when Radio 3 played something that sounded like a cat being trodden on. No idea what it was but it came in the middle of my morning commute and was so bad I actually turned the radio off.
Point of order: doesn't selecting 'David Mitchell' offer two for the price of one?
According to wiki 'Jordan often claimed that all major female characters in the Wheel of Time series (and some of the minor female characters) have at least one trait that was inspired by [his wife]'
Given the common instances of people being spanked or threatened with being spanked in the books, one could choose to believe that provides certain insights.
And, again AIUI, "Norman' churches were built on older Saxon sites. Perhaps an effort to gain hearts and minds!
I used to live in place whose name translated as 'The grove in the forest where Thor was worshipped'. Or something like that. The village church was on about the highest point in the area.
I was slightly ambivalent about the books. They were way too long and repetitive, even worse than GoT but had some clever elements too. I have never quite made it to the end.
https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/archaeology-future-multiple-uk-courses-jobs-face-axe-funding-cuts-1202853
Edit: I wonder if Leon knows the work of Dr Phil Harding?
Edit of edit: and it’s only just occurred to me how appropriate that name is for what Leon does…
Word of the day, on repeat, is ‘latibulate’ (17th century): to hide in a corner until the situation improves.
Turned out that the previous occupants had set the radio alarm for 6:00am tuned to an avant-garde French classical radio station. No cat or piano involved (in the gîte at least).
In any case it didnt counter the point, since that was that they are very important, not that every single example of them will sucessfully inspire. The ones that do so, or where teh zeitgeist makes their subjects more interesting, are worth it.
Similar problem with university History departments.
Could be eggsplosive.
Word of the Day: AGNOTOLOGY — the study of ignorance and of deliberate spreading of ignorance, confusion, and deceit.
In chickens, obviously. And in pigs for about 6-7 years (I forget exactly when PEDV spread to North America). But it’s a proven technology.
Much like the rest of the time.
(For all that they play a lot of stuff that isn't remotely classical music, and there's a lot of chat, Scala is a more interesting listen.)
Think of all the artefacts that are there under the ground but that will never be found with current technology.
https://unherd.com/2021/11/the-calais-crisis-cant-be-solved/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=b90ae24a10&mc_eid=836634e34b
Whatever happens, there is one certainty: the present situation — Britain relying on France while insulting the French — is untenable.
Science students, even if you can find them, are expensive to teach.
Ground penetrating radar is probably the best bet for that. I would like to see the effect of using multiple wavelengths on the same bit of ground.