Just got the Test and Trace phone call. They are clearly worried. Have been told to isolate for 10 days from peak symptoms, not first, as the official guidelines state. They were far more bothered about timings, symptoms and about the date and type of vaccine I'd had than contacts. He sounded concerned that I had tested negative from first sore throat (Saturday) through to peak (Tuesday), only positive LFT on Wednesday. This was similar for the folk I very strongly suspect I caught it from. They were both also largely recovered and 4 and 6 days in by the time they recorded a positive test. Implying that the LFT may not function well for this variant. A 4 or 6 or maybe more day window between symptoms and a positive isn't great. Neither for controlling the spread, nor for the economy if everyone with a cold is now a suspected case. Have received an immediate follow up saying I am suspected omicron. Which fits with the facts, as I was, if anything, more careful in the week leading up to my booster than before. Really didn't engage in any risky close contact. It was sitting a couple of metres apart chatting for half an hour. In a group of half a dozen rather than exclusively with the infected. And we were side by side, not facing. Not great really.
Dixiedean. Your man on the infected spot.
'A 4 or 6 or maybe more day window between symptoms and a positive isn't great. Neither for controlling the spread, nor for the economy if everyone with a cold is now a suspected case.'
Thanks for that. Very concerning, especially in view of our family's Christmas arrangements.
Yep. Our small cluster of 4 linked cases all had the same experience. Cold symptoms. Runny nose, sore throat. Multiple negative tests ranging from 4 to 6 days. Feel rough at the peak at the peak of it. Then test positive as we have turned the corner. There was a span of 8 days between the first of us positive and the last, so we knew to keep testing as we all had similar staggered symptoms.
Did you get contacted via Test and Trace and/or the NHS app?
Just got the Test and Trace phone call. They are clearly worried. Have been told to isolate for 10 days from peak symptoms, not first, as the official guidelines state. They were far more bothered about timings, symptoms and about the date and type of vaccine I'd had than contacts. He sounded concerned that I had tested negative from first sore throat (Saturday) through to peak (Tuesday), only positive LFT on Wednesday. This was similar for the folk I very strongly suspect I caught it from. They were both also largely recovered and 4 and 6 days in by the time they recorded a positive test. Implying that the LFT may not function well for this variant. A 4 or 6 or maybe more day window between symptoms and a positive isn't great. Neither for controlling the spread, nor for the economy if everyone with a cold is now a suspected case. Have received an immediate follow up saying I am suspected omicron. Which fits with the facts, as I was, if anything, more careful in the week leading up to my booster than before. Really didn't engage in any risky close contact. It was sitting a couple of metres apart chatting for half an hour. In a group of half a dozen rather than exclusively with the infected. And we were side by side, not facing. Not great really.
Dixiedean. Your man on the infected spot.
'A 4 or 6 or maybe more day window between symptoms and a positive isn't great. Neither for controlling the spread, nor for the economy if everyone with a cold is now a suspected case.'
Thanks for that. Very concerning, especially in view of our family's Christmas arrangements.
Not good, but the fact that your friends recovered easily is great.
Indeed. We are all double vaxxed. One boostered too. And in good health which helps. Does suggest breakthrough is an issue, mind.
633 additional confirmed cases of the #Omicron variant of #COVID19 have been reported across the UK. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 Omicron cases in the UK is 1,898.
633 additional confirmed cases of the #Omicron variant of #COVID19 have been reported across the UK. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 Omicron cases in the UK is 1,898.
Do we know how many of the Omicron cases in UK have resulted in hospitalisation?
Yes, they are obsessed. Whereas you, booming like a typhlotic prophet, trying to list the 999 names of Omicron before al-qāri'ah, are definitely not obsessed with anything.
633 additional confirmed cases of the #Omicron variant of #COVID19 have been reported across the UK. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 Omicron cases in the UK is 1,898.
Do we know how many of the Omicron cases in UK have resulted in hospitalisation?
Zero...but it is very early days and hardly any cases are getting sequenced. Tim Spector estimates it is now 8000 a day getting Omicron, so we should start to get an idea in the next couple of weeks if it is going to be a problem.
633 additional confirmed cases of the #Omicron variant of #COVID19 have been reported across the UK. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 Omicron cases in the UK is 1,898.
Do we know how many of the Omicron cases in UK have resulted in hospitalisation?
John Humphreys: “ His problem is that many of his own MPs can’t stomach him. I was often stunned by the contempt leading figures showed for him when we were ‘off mic’ outside the Today studio.”
“But then again, politics being the brutal game it is, that doesn’t necessarily matter. Most MPs have one single requirement of their leader — that he helps them keep their seat. And he’s been good at that so far. But the latest opinion polls show the ‘Boris effect’ is fading.”
“This Christmas parties saga is only the latest in a long list of calamities. He gave Dominic Cummings his support after his flagrant breach of the Covid rules last year. It ended only when their personal relationship broke down. He tried, too, to keep Matt Hancock in his job after the then health secretary conducted an affair in his office — again, breaking Covid restrictions.”
“And now ‘Wallpaper-gate’ is rearing its ugly head again, with more questions being raised about Johnson’s honesty after the Electoral Commission fined the Conservative Party £17,800 for breaking the law over its recording and reporting of who paid for redecorations at the PM’s personal flat. Just look at that trivial, pathetic list. If Johnson fears the verdict of history he’s right to do so.”
Hunting the unvaxxed is the new national sport - hasn't Ellwood heard?
Ridiculous comment. No one's 'hunting' them - just preventing their stupidity impacting the sensible. A bit like the smoking regs.
Well, I exaggerate for comic effect.
There is no doubt that this group are being relegated to second-class citizens. Vax Passports will be popular despite vaccination always being set-up as a personal choice. An example of the tyranny of the majority if you like. It is disingenuous because our route out of this - vaccine discovery - was never predicated on everyone agreeing to take the vaccine (which was never going to happen and we knew it).
I think someone deciding not to get vaccinated is making a big mistake and will try to persuade them otherwise by looking at all evidence and the pros and cons. But I truly dislike current mass sentiment over this issue, it's a nasty atmosphere.
Apols for my over-reaction - took you too seriously.
I'd be interested to know if/where you think my smoking analogy falls down?
I think it's a pretty good analogy. I disagree that smoking should be banned wholesale but agree that it is acceptable that smoking shouldn't be allowed in a pub for example and, instead, an outside area can accommodate them.
But if I'm totally honest with you I was opposed to the smoking ban in the first place. Just as when I was young I was opposed to mandatory seat belts. I've come on-board on both these issues given time, though I still don't think that the odd fag in a pub or trip to the shops unbelted should be policed draconianly.
I am regularly grateful that it is.
I gave up going to pubs in the 90s because I got fed up of coming home with my clothes, hair, and skin stinking, never mind the (probably low but not zero) passive-smoking risks.
As I matured(sic) I hated smoking in pubs to the extent I rarely went in one. I was eternally grateful when the smoking ban came in. My wife and I are now very regular pub meal goers. Cannot understand how anyone(and I am an ex smoker) can enjoy someone puffing away next to them.
I'd support a total legal ban on cigarettes. It's the only way to get me off the things and I bet that applies to many other addicts.
I assume then you are against legalisation of cannabis?
No, that's fine. All I do is Marlboro Golds.
So you are for a ban on cigarettes but think that cannabis should be legal?
Well I'd vote for a ban on cigs through sheer personal interest. But on the principle, I do think the case for smoking being illegal is far stronger than for soft drugs or alcohol. Smoking has absolutely zero benefit or utility to anybody. It's 100% downside. On every level it's a bad thing. There are no redeeming factors. The one and only reason for it being legal is that it's legal now. If it were invented tomorrow it wouldn't have a chance of being allowed.
Zero utility? You don't think people enjoy smoking?
We (I’m a smoker) enjoy satiating the craving. It’s not really enjoyment. We look forward to the calm, pleasant sensation after getting our fix.
It’s a stupid, nasty, dangerous habit. Despite what I said in my previous post, I still wish smoking had been illegal when I was growing up. I almost certainly wouldn’t be addicted now.
I just think there’s something wrong with the way NZ is going about it.
Yes, there’s a fair amount of research showing it’s as hard to quit as the most addictive hard drugs, but far less pleasurable.
It's an insidious addiction. You mention hard drugs and funnily enough I'm toying with an idea atm whereby what I'll do is pretend I AM on hard drugs and I'll take appropriate action - go rent somewhere quiet for 2 weeks, take no cigs and none of those bullshit replacement things like patches and lozenges and gum (which are still nicotine) and then I'll go Cold Turkey as if it really were Heroin I was needing to get off to save my life. I think that might work for me. But then must not NOT slide back on return to orbit. Which is the issue, of course. A Marlboro Gold doesn't look like a needle or a spoon. It looks far less dark and dangerous. As I say - insidious. That's the word.
I would argue that smoking is far less of a problem to society than drinking or gambling (I do all three in moderation which I think leads to a perfect existence!)). An addict at smoking is far less of a societal/family problem than an alcoholic or out of control gambler.Yes costs on NHS might be higher but less pension paid to a heavy smoker on average . Can people stop trying to ban fun FFS
Smoking isn't fun - that's the fatal delusion - but I agree the damage to others is much greater from heavy drinking and gambling. That can be fun but it can also wreak havoc on people around and close to you. Smoking's no fun but you're in the main only hurting yourself.
633 additional confirmed cases of the #Omicron variant of #COVID19 have been reported across the UK. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 Omicron cases in the UK is 1,898.
Do we know how many of the Omicron cases in UK have resulted in hospitalisation?
Zero...but it is very early days.
How do you know that? Is it reported somewhere?
Yes it was, I don't have the link to hand. But it is meaningless really. It is a tiny sample, it is early days, and 1000s of Omicron cases aren't being labelled as such.
What we do know is 2-3 weeks time most cases will be Omicron, then it will be pretty clear how many hospitalisations it results in.
Yes, they are obsessed. Whereas you, booming like a typhlotic prophet, trying to list the 999 names of Omicron before al-qāri'ah, are definitely not obsessed with anything.
Which is why Hunt is in with a shout, as one of the tiny number of possible PMs who is not mad, and unassociated with this government.
He has also had a "good COVID". Yes the criticism of why weren't better plans during his time at DoH (although it seems most expert stuff was about flu related outbreak), but during the past 18 months, he has done a better job than the opposition of constructive criticism.
Hunt would be the "cut the losses" candidate- he'd be a better PM than BoJo or the cabinet alternatives, but he would lose in 2024, because he couldn't attempt to keep the 2019 coalition going.
I suspect he'd lose by less than BoJo or Truss, and it would start the clock on the post Johnson era, but he'd lose.
And the Conservatives don't seem ready to start on that journey yet.
(My guess- the problem will be seen as Boris, not Johnsonism, which points to Truss getting the job. Which would be unwise.)
Once Boris is out there is no candidate who is a clear and obvious 'win'. Rishi may be the nearest chance of one, but his close association with the Boris regime - which looks like losing its wheels - could be fatal. My suggestion of Hunt is not that he would win the next election - I still think that is even money between Tory and centre left alliance - because that isn't true of anyone once it isn't true of Boris.
It is that of those untainted by association with the government Hunt is the stand out candidate. And it is quite possible such a person will be needed.
Apart from getting Brexit over the line there is no such thing as Johnsonianism. At the point where we are, as now, maxed out on taxation, public spending, borrowing, further spending promises and debt it is hard to know where Johnson goes next.
To be fair, I was the casino in Bristol for a poker tournament a few years ago and it kicked off like that....the huge dispute, somebody cheating? refusal to pay out on a big win? no, apparently regulars got comp'ed free pizzas, but the management said they wouldn't that night because a big tournament was on.
Hunting the unvaxxed is the new national sport - hasn't Ellwood heard?
Ridiculous comment. No one's 'hunting' them - just preventing their stupidity impacting the sensible. A bit like the smoking regs.
Well, I exaggerate for comic effect.
There is no doubt that this group are being relegated to second-class citizens. Vax Passports will be popular despite vaccination always being set-up as a personal choice. An example of the tyranny of the majority if you like. It is disingenuous because our route out of this - vaccine discovery - was never predicated on everyone agreeing to take the vaccine (which was never going to happen and we knew it).
I think someone deciding not to get vaccinated is making a big mistake and will try to persuade them otherwise by looking at all evidence and the pros and cons. But I truly dislike current mass sentiment over this issue, it's a nasty atmosphere.
Apols for my over-reaction - took you too seriously.
I'd be interested to know if/where you think my smoking analogy falls down?
I think it's a pretty good analogy. I disagree that smoking should be banned wholesale but agree that it is acceptable that smoking shouldn't be allowed in a pub for example and, instead, an outside area can accommodate them.
But if I'm totally honest with you I was opposed to the smoking ban in the first place. Just as when I was young I was opposed to mandatory seat belts. I've come on-board on both these issues given time, though I still don't think that the odd fag in a pub or trip to the shops unbelted should be policed draconianly.
I am regularly grateful that it is.
I gave up going to pubs in the 90s because I got fed up of coming home with my clothes, hair, and skin stinking, never mind the (probably low but not zero) passive-smoking risks.
As I matured(sic) I hated smoking in pubs to the extent I rarely went in one. I was eternally grateful when the smoking ban came in. My wife and I are now very regular pub meal goers. Cannot understand how anyone(and I am an ex smoker) can enjoy someone puffing away next to them.
I'd support a total legal ban on cigarettes. It's the only way to get me off the things and I bet that applies to many other addicts.
I assume then you are against legalisation of cannabis?
No, that's fine. All I do is Marlboro Golds.
So you are for a ban on cigarettes but think that cannabis should be legal?
Well I'd vote for a ban on cigs through sheer personal interest. But on the principle, I do think the case for smoking being illegal is far stronger than for soft drugs or alcohol. Smoking has absolutely zero benefit or utility to anybody. It's 100% downside. On every level it's a bad thing. There are no redeeming factors. The one and only reason for it being legal is that it's legal now. If it were invented tomorrow it wouldn't have a chance of being allowed.
Zero utility? You don't think people enjoy smoking?
I know they don't. It's quelling nicotine withdrawal pangs, hitting the clock on the next lot building up until they must be quelled again. The 'pleasure' is simply relief at the temporary removal of the twitchy anxious gnawing sensation the addiction itself creates. Smokers are rats on a wheel. Ruining their health, stinking up the place, throwing their money away. Many try to convince themselves otherwise for self-esteem purposes. But it's bollocks.
Nicotine is such a pathetic addiction. Smelly and dirty, and almost zero pleasure, apart from a tiny buzz early in the habit and then just the relief of the craving. Smokers are twats
Heroin makes much more sense, in terms. Heroin brings an intense sensual and mental pleasure, the relief of all pain and anxieties, a true bliss which has been compared to a prolonged, refined orgasm. Of course the problem is the addiction which will put you on your back in a urinous stairwell within a decade, or in the grave, or in prison, unless you are lucky, but even at the end the pleasure of the hit is greater than that of a stupid fag
I never dared try harder drugs for just that reason. Agree about the idiocy of cigarettes. If I could never have started I’d have taken that - difficult to quit if you started young.
633 additional confirmed cases of the #Omicron variant of #COVID19 have been reported across the UK. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 Omicron cases in the UK is 1,898.
Do we know how many of the Omicron cases in UK have resulted in hospitalisation?
Zero...but it is very early days.
How do you know that? Is it reported somewhere?
Yes it was, I don't have the link to hand. But it is meaningless really. It is a tiny sample, it is early days, and 1000s of Omicron cases aren't being labelled as such.
What we do know is 2-3 weeks time most cases will be Omicron, then it will be pretty clear how many hospitalisations it results in.
It will become meaningful soon. Of these 1898 cases what percentage go on to need hospital treatment? How does this compare with other variants? It will be important to know this.
633 additional confirmed cases of the #Omicron variant of #COVID19 have been reported across the UK. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 Omicron cases in the UK is 1,898.
Do we know how many of the Omicron cases in UK have resulted in hospitalisation?
Zero...but it is very early days.
How do you know that? Is it reported somewhere?
Yes it was, I don't have the link to hand. But it is meaningless really. It is a tiny sample, it is early days, and 1000s of Omicron cases aren't being labelled as such.
What we do know is 2-3 weeks time most cases will be Omicron, then it will be pretty clear how many hospitalisations it results in.
It will become meaningful soon. Of these 1898 cases what percentage go on to need hospital treatment? How does this compare with other variants? It will be important to know this.
The zero figure I saw came from a report when much fewer Omicron cases. Obviously it is doubling every couple of days now. I am sure we will get some new stats shortly.
Hunting the unvaxxed is the new national sport - hasn't Ellwood heard?
Ridiculous comment. No one's 'hunting' them - just preventing their stupidity impacting the sensible. A bit like the smoking regs.
Well, I exaggerate for comic effect.
There is no doubt that this group are being relegated to second-class citizens. Vax Passports will be popular despite vaccination always being set-up as a personal choice. An example of the tyranny of the majority if you like. It is disingenuous because our route out of this - vaccine discovery - was never predicated on everyone agreeing to take the vaccine (which was never going to happen and we knew it).
I think someone deciding not to get vaccinated is making a big mistake and will try to persuade them otherwise by looking at all evidence and the pros and cons. But I truly dislike current mass sentiment over this issue, it's a nasty atmosphere.
Apols for my over-reaction - took you too seriously.
I'd be interested to know if/where you think my smoking analogy falls down?
I think it's a pretty good analogy. I disagree that smoking should be banned wholesale but agree that it is acceptable that smoking shouldn't be allowed in a pub for example and, instead, an outside area can accommodate them.
But if I'm totally honest with you I was opposed to the smoking ban in the first place. Just as when I was young I was opposed to mandatory seat belts. I've come on-board on both these issues given time, though I still don't think that the odd fag in a pub or trip to the shops unbelted should be policed draconianly.
I am regularly grateful that it is.
I gave up going to pubs in the 90s because I got fed up of coming home with my clothes, hair, and skin stinking, never mind the (probably low but not zero) passive-smoking risks.
As I matured(sic) I hated smoking in pubs to the extent I rarely went in one. I was eternally grateful when the smoking ban came in. My wife and I are now very regular pub meal goers. Cannot understand how anyone(and I am an ex smoker) can enjoy someone puffing away next to them.
I'd support a total legal ban on cigarettes. It's the only way to get me off the things and I bet that applies to many other addicts.
I assume then you are against legalisation of cannabis?
No, that's fine. All I do is Marlboro Golds.
So you are for a ban on cigarettes but think that cannabis should be legal?
Well I'd vote for a ban on cigs through sheer personal interest. But on the principle, I do think the case for smoking being illegal is far stronger than for soft drugs or alcohol. Smoking has absolutely zero benefit or utility to anybody. It's 100% downside. On every level it's a bad thing. There are no redeeming factors. The one and only reason for it being legal is that it's legal now. If it were invented tomorrow it wouldn't have a chance of being allowed.
Zero utility? You don't think people enjoy smoking?
I know they don't. It's quelling nicotine withdrawal pangs, hitting the clock on the next lot building up until they must be quelled again. The 'pleasure' is simply relief at the temporary removal of the twitchy anxious gnawing sensation the addiction itself creates. Smokers are rats on a wheel. Ruining their health, stinking up the place, throwing their money away. Many try to convince themselves otherwise for self-esteem purposes. But it's bollocks.
Nicotine is such a pathetic addiction. Smelly and dirty, and almost zero pleasure, apart from a tiny buzz early in the habit and then just the relief of the craving. Smokers are twats
Heroin makes much more sense, in terms. Heroin brings an intense sensual and mental pleasure, the relief of all pain and anxieties, a true bliss which has been compared to a prolonged, refined orgasm. Of course the problem is the addiction which will put you on your back in a urinous stairwell within a decade, or in the grave, or in prison, unless you are lucky, but even at the end the pleasure of the hit is greater than that of a stupid fag
I never dared try harder drugs for just that reason. Agree about the idiocy of cigarettes. If I could never have started I’d have taken that - difficult to quit if you started young.
15.
You say there is no utility in it. I bet there was back then - you felt grown up, fashionable and cool, attractive to girls maybe.
Hunting the unvaxxed is the new national sport - hasn't Ellwood heard?
Ridiculous comment. No one's 'hunting' them - just preventing their stupidity impacting the sensible. A bit like the smoking regs.
Well, I exaggerate for comic effect.
There is no doubt that this group are being relegated to second-class citizens. Vax Passports will be popular despite vaccination always being set-up as a personal choice. An example of the tyranny of the majority if you like. It is disingenuous because our route out of this - vaccine discovery - was never predicated on everyone agreeing to take the vaccine (which was never going to happen and we knew it).
I think someone deciding not to get vaccinated is making a big mistake and will try to persuade them otherwise by looking at all evidence and the pros and cons. But I truly dislike current mass sentiment over this issue, it's a nasty atmosphere.
Apols for my over-reaction - took you too seriously.
I'd be interested to know if/where you think my smoking analogy falls down?
I think it's a pretty good analogy. I disagree that smoking should be banned wholesale but agree that it is acceptable that smoking shouldn't be allowed in a pub for example and, instead, an outside area can accommodate them.
But if I'm totally honest with you I was opposed to the smoking ban in the first place. Just as when I was young I was opposed to mandatory seat belts. I've come on-board on both these issues given time, though I still don't think that the odd fag in a pub or trip to the shops unbelted should be policed draconianly.
I am regularly grateful that it is.
I gave up going to pubs in the 90s because I got fed up of coming home with my clothes, hair, and skin stinking, never mind the (probably low but not zero) passive-smoking risks.
As I matured(sic) I hated smoking in pubs to the extent I rarely went in one. I was eternally grateful when the smoking ban came in. My wife and I are now very regular pub meal goers. Cannot understand how anyone(and I am an ex smoker) can enjoy someone puffing away next to them.
I'd support a total legal ban on cigarettes. It's the only way to get me off the things and I bet that applies to many other addicts.
I assume then you are against legalisation of cannabis?
No, that's fine. All I do is Marlboro Golds.
So you are for a ban on cigarettes but think that cannabis should be legal?
Well I'd vote for a ban on cigs through sheer personal interest. But on the principle, I do think the case for smoking being illegal is far stronger than for soft drugs or alcohol. Smoking has absolutely zero benefit or utility to anybody. It's 100% downside. On every level it's a bad thing. There are no redeeming factors. The one and only reason for it being legal is that it's legal now. If it were invented tomorrow it wouldn't have a chance of being allowed.
Zero utility? You don't think people enjoy smoking?
We (I’m a smoker) enjoy satiating the craving. It’s not really enjoyment. We look forward to the calm, pleasant sensation after getting our fix.
It’s a stupid, nasty, dangerous habit. Despite what I said in my previous post, I still wish smoking had been illegal when I was growing up. I almost certainly wouldn’t be addicted now.
I just think there’s something wrong with the way NZ is going about it.
Yes, there’s a fair amount of research showing it’s as hard to quit as the most addictive hard drugs, but far less pleasurable.
I heard somewhere that the 'capture rate' of cigarettes - i.e. the percentage of casual users who go on become hardcore addicts - is actually worse than heroin.
As a late teens/early 20's I had two strokes of luck, smoking-wise, although I didn't think one of them was at the time. At nineteen or so I had a girl-friend who smoked; one of the activities we enjoyed together. Sadly she went off to Uni and MET SOMEONE ELSE, and in trying to get over her I stopped smoking for about six months. However, when I went off to study and started again an older fellow student advised that if I didn't smoke until after 11am I probably would be able to give it up easily when I wanted to. And indeed, so it proved.
Nice one and - yes - lucky. I bet you'd have kicked it anyway in middle age but it would've been harder.
And if you hadn't you probably wouldn't now be OLD King Cole.
You could well be right! Mrs C has never smoked, although of course for a short while she had to endure passive smoking. Of course by the time I was 25 or so the pressure not to smoke in Health Care environments was becoming high; we'd got well over the nonsense that anti-smoking was somehow pro-Nazi.
To be fair, I was the casino in Bristol for a poker tournament a few years ago and it kicked off like that....the huge dispute, somebody cheating? refusal to pay out on a big win? no, apparently regulars got comp'ed free pizzas, but the management said they wouldn't that night because a big tournament was on.
There's a small, strange part of my brain that refuses to acknowledge Atlantic City is a real place. Perhaps because it sounds a little like Atlantis, but every time I see it written down my head says "no, that's from a comic book or a near-future apocalypse movie"
633 additional confirmed cases of the #Omicron variant of #COVID19 have been reported across the UK. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 Omicron cases in the UK is 1,898.
Do we know how many of the Omicron cases in UK have resulted in hospitalisation?
Zero...but it is very early days.
How do you know that? Is it reported somewhere?
Yes it was, I don't have the link to hand. But it is meaningless really. It is a tiny sample, it is early days, and 1000s of Omicron cases aren't being labelled as such.
What we do know is 2-3 weeks time most cases will be Omicron, then it will be pretty clear how many hospitalisations it results in.
It will become meaningful soon. Of these 1898 cases what percentage go on to need hospital treatment? How does this compare with other variants? It will be important to know this.
Warnings I read earlier this year about mass use of a 'leaky vaccine' were apparently correct:
John Humphreys: “ His problem is that many of his own MPs can’t stomach him. I was often stunned by the contempt leading figures showed for him when we were ‘off mic’ outside the Today studio.”
“But then again, politics being the brutal game it is, that doesn’t necessarily matter. Most MPs have one single requirement of their leader — that he helps them keep their seat. And he’s been good at that so far. But the latest opinion polls show the ‘Boris effect’ is fading.”
“This Christmas parties saga is only the latest in a long list of calamities. He gave Dominic Cummings his support after his flagrant breach of the Covid rules last year. It ended only when their personal relationship broke down. He tried, too, to keep Matt Hancock in his job after the then health secretary conducted an affair in his office — again, breaking Covid restrictions.”
“And now ‘Wallpaper-gate’ is rearing its ugly head again, with more questions being raised about Johnson’s honesty after the Electoral Commission fined the Conservative Party £17,800 for breaking the law over its recording and reporting of who paid for redecorations at the PM’s personal flat. Just look at that trivial, pathetic list. If Johnson fears the verdict of history he’s right to do so.”
Hunting the unvaxxed is the new national sport - hasn't Ellwood heard?
Ridiculous comment. No one's 'hunting' them - just preventing their stupidity impacting the sensible. A bit like the smoking regs.
Well, I exaggerate for comic effect.
There is no doubt that this group are being relegated to second-class citizens. Vax Passports will be popular despite vaccination always being set-up as a personal choice. An example of the tyranny of the majority if you like. It is disingenuous because our route out of this - vaccine discovery - was never predicated on everyone agreeing to take the vaccine (which was never going to happen and we knew it).
I think someone deciding not to get vaccinated is making a big mistake and will try to persuade them otherwise by looking at all evidence and the pros and cons. But I truly dislike current mass sentiment over this issue, it's a nasty atmosphere.
Apols for my over-reaction - took you too seriously.
I'd be interested to know if/where you think my smoking analogy falls down?
I think it's a pretty good analogy. I disagree that smoking should be banned wholesale but agree that it is acceptable that smoking shouldn't be allowed in a pub for example and, instead, an outside area can accommodate them.
But if I'm totally honest with you I was opposed to the smoking ban in the first place. Just as when I was young I was opposed to mandatory seat belts. I've come on-board on both these issues given time, though I still don't think that the odd fag in a pub or trip to the shops unbelted should be policed draconianly.
I am regularly grateful that it is.
I gave up going to pubs in the 90s because I got fed up of coming home with my clothes, hair, and skin stinking, never mind the (probably low but not zero) passive-smoking risks.
As I matured(sic) I hated smoking in pubs to the extent I rarely went in one. I was eternally grateful when the smoking ban came in. My wife and I are now very regular pub meal goers. Cannot understand how anyone(and I am an ex smoker) can enjoy someone puffing away next to them.
I'd support a total legal ban on cigarettes. It's the only way to get me off the things and I bet that applies to many other addicts.
I assume then you are against legalisation of cannabis?
No, that's fine. All I do is Marlboro Golds.
So you are for a ban on cigarettes but think that cannabis should be legal?
Well I'd vote for a ban on cigs through sheer personal interest. But on the principle, I do think the case for smoking being illegal is far stronger than for soft drugs or alcohol. Smoking has absolutely zero benefit or utility to anybody. It's 100% downside. On every level it's a bad thing. There are no redeeming factors. The one and only reason for it being legal is that it's legal now. If it were invented tomorrow it wouldn't have a chance of being allowed.
Zero utility? You don't think people enjoy smoking?
I know they don't. It's quelling nicotine withdrawal pangs, hitting the clock on the next lot building up until they must be quelled again. The 'pleasure' is simply relief at the temporary removal of the twitchy anxious gnawing sensation the addiction itself creates. Smokers are rats on a wheel. Ruining their health, stinking up the place, throwing their money away. Many try to convince themselves otherwise for self-esteem purposes. But it's bollocks.
Nicotine is such a pathetic addiction. Smelly and dirty, and almost zero pleasure, apart from a tiny buzz early in the habit and then just the relief of the craving. Smokers are twats
Heroin makes much more sense, in terms. Heroin brings an intense sensual and mental pleasure, the relief of all pain and anxieties, a true bliss which has been compared to a prolonged, refined orgasm. Of course the problem is the addiction which will put you on your back in a urinous stairwell within a decade, or in the grave, or in prison, unless you are lucky, but even at the end the pleasure of the hit is greater than that of a stupid fag
Yep. I'll be having some on my deathbed. Win/Win because I'll get the buzz but without the challenge of trying to quit afterwards.
Just got the Test and Trace phone call. They are clearly worried. Have been told to isolate for 10 days from peak symptoms, not first, as the official guidelines state. They were far more bothered about timings, symptoms and about the date and type of vaccine I'd had than contacts. He sounded concerned that I had tested negative from first sore throat (Saturday) through to peak (Tuesday), only positive LFT on Wednesday. This was similar for the folk I very strongly suspect I caught it from. They were both also largely recovered and 4 and 6 days in by the time they recorded a positive test. Implying that the LFT may not function well for this variant. A 4 or 6 or maybe more day window between symptoms and a positive isn't great. Neither for controlling the spread, nor for the economy if everyone with a cold is now a suspected case. Have received an immediate follow up saying I am suspected omicron. Which fits with the facts, as I was, if anything, more careful in the week leading up to my booster than before. Really didn't engage in any risky close contact. It was sitting a couple of metres apart chatting for half an hour. In a group of half a dozen rather than exclusively with the infected. And we were side by side, not facing. Not great really.
Dixiedean. Your man on the infected spot.
'A 4 or 6 or maybe more day window between symptoms and a positive isn't great. Neither for controlling the spread, nor for the economy if everyone with a cold is now a suspected case.'
Thanks for that. Very concerning, especially in view of our family's Christmas arrangements.
Yep. Our small cluster of 4 linked cases all had the same experience. Cold symptoms. Runny nose, sore throat. Multiple negative tests ranging from 4 to 6 days. Feel rough at the peak at the peak of it. Then test positive as we have turned the corner. There was a span of 8 days between the first of us positive and the last, so we knew to keep testing as we all had similar staggered symptoms.
Did you get contacted via Test and Trace and/or the NHS app?
Test and trace. After we received PCR results back.
Hunting the unvaxxed is the new national sport - hasn't Ellwood heard?
Ridiculous comment. No one's 'hunting' them - just preventing their stupidity impacting the sensible. A bit like the smoking regs.
Well, I exaggerate for comic effect.
There is no doubt that this group are being relegated to second-class citizens. Vax Passports will be popular despite vaccination always being set-up as a personal choice. An example of the tyranny of the majority if you like. It is disingenuous because our route out of this - vaccine discovery - was never predicated on everyone agreeing to take the vaccine (which was never going to happen and we knew it).
I think someone deciding not to get vaccinated is making a big mistake and will try to persuade them otherwise by looking at all evidence and the pros and cons. But I truly dislike current mass sentiment over this issue, it's a nasty atmosphere.
Apols for my over-reaction - took you too seriously.
I'd be interested to know if/where you think my smoking analogy falls down?
I think it's a pretty good analogy. I disagree that smoking should be banned wholesale but agree that it is acceptable that smoking shouldn't be allowed in a pub for example and, instead, an outside area can accommodate them.
But if I'm totally honest with you I was opposed to the smoking ban in the first place. Just as when I was young I was opposed to mandatory seat belts. I've come on-board on both these issues given time, though I still don't think that the odd fag in a pub or trip to the shops unbelted should be policed draconianly.
I am regularly grateful that it is.
I gave up going to pubs in the 90s because I got fed up of coming home with my clothes, hair, and skin stinking, never mind the (probably low but not zero) passive-smoking risks.
As I matured(sic) I hated smoking in pubs to the extent I rarely went in one. I was eternally grateful when the smoking ban came in. My wife and I are now very regular pub meal goers. Cannot understand how anyone(and I am an ex smoker) can enjoy someone puffing away next to them.
I'd support a total legal ban on cigarettes. It's the only way to get me off the things and I bet that applies to many other addicts.
I assume then you are against legalisation of cannabis?
No, that's fine. All I do is Marlboro Golds.
So you are for a ban on cigarettes but think that cannabis should be legal?
Well I'd vote for a ban on cigs through sheer personal interest. But on the principle, I do think the case for smoking being illegal is far stronger than for soft drugs or alcohol. Smoking has absolutely zero benefit or utility to anybody. It's 100% downside. On every level it's a bad thing. There are no redeeming factors. The one and only reason for it being legal is that it's legal now. If it were invented tomorrow it wouldn't have a chance of being allowed.
Zero utility? You don't think people enjoy smoking?
I know they don't. It's quelling nicotine withdrawal pangs, hitting the clock on the next lot building up until they must be quelled again. The 'pleasure' is simply relief at the temporary removal of the twitchy anxious gnawing sensation the addiction itself creates. Smokers are rats on a wheel. Ruining their health, stinking up the place, throwing their money away. Many try to convince themselves otherwise for self-esteem purposes. But it's bollocks.
Nicotine is such a pathetic addiction. Smelly and dirty, and almost zero pleasure, apart from a tiny buzz early in the habit and then just the relief of the craving. Smokers are twats
Heroin makes much more sense, in terms. Heroin brings an intense sensual and mental pleasure, the relief of all pain and anxieties, a true bliss which has been compared to a prolonged, refined orgasm. Of course the problem is the addiction which will put you on your back in a urinous stairwell within a decade, or in the grave, or in prison, unless you are lucky, but even at the end the pleasure of the hit is greater than that of a stupid fag
I never dared try harder drugs for just that reason. Agree about the idiocy of cigarettes. If I could never have started I’d have taken that - difficult to quit if you started young.
15.
Yes, I was similar. Not too late to quit, though. The health benefits are massive even if you’ve been smoking for many decades.
Reimagining yourself as a non smoker is a lot of the battle.
Anyways. The advice from me is GET YOUR BLOODY BOOSTER ASAP! Of the 4 cases connected with me, one was boostered. The other 3 of us were coming right up to the 6 months or thereabouts. Two of us had bookings to get the jab the week we got infected. The other one was in the process of thinking about sorting it out. Don't be like him my friends.
Something a bit more cheering. A boffin who predicted US Covid deaths very accurately early on, and was also unpopularly pessimistic about variants, is more upbeat about Omicron. Reckons it is probably mild, maybe very mild
Caveat: he also admits he knows even less about this disease then he did a year ago, which is a pretty big pinch of salt
Otherwise there is almost nothing about Omicron on the CNN website. @moonshine is right. It is absent from much international media, even tho it dominates ours. Why is this?
Maybe it is just timing. Omicron has arrived here first (thanks to our many international links, and better sequencing) so we are alerted first. Also, lots of other countries - esp Europe - are still focused on Delta, and their own battles with that
But look at Le Monde. It's not even talking about Delta. Poignantly, for those Scot Nats and Remoaners who believe we think constantly about them while they are barely aware of us, its most read story is about Boris Johnson's party, and one of its main stories if the Brexit fishing squabble. They are obsessed
The UK seems to have got itself into a complete nonsense panic with Omicron. So far there's little to no evidence that it hospitalised any significant number of vaccinated or naturally immune people. The modellers are just randomly inputting numbers into their shit models to get the desired outcome of lockdown forever.
And hopefully the Tories will be aware of my £20 bet at 250/1 on Sunak being the next PM
I'm sure Ladbrokes are!
I wonder how many people followed the tip and got on at 250/1?
Out of interest, can you see your bet in Lads unsettled bets history or is it not visible because it was over a year ago?
Not visible.
A bit disconcerting? Did you keep a record of date and stake placed?
I had that issue with some of my politics bets at BrokeLads (before they binned me) but it turned out ok - I rang up and asked them for a listing from their system and they emailed it to me. All present and correct. Ditto with a couple of other firms. It's unlikely a big bookie would have 'lost' a valid online bet.
So, PB brains trust. I've had two letters and a txt now in last couple of weeks asking me to book a booster as I am eligible and "our records show you have not had the vaccination booster".
I had my booster at GP a month ago.
Is this just a case of everyone is getting letters regardless or do they have my vax status incorrect?
In which case I may have problem if vaxports includes must have the booster.
Something a bit more cheering. A boffin who predicted US Covid deaths very accurately early on, and was also unpopularly pessimistic about variants, is more upbeat about Omicron. Reckons it is probably mild, maybe very mild
Caveat: he also admits he knows even less about this disease then he did a year ago, which is a pretty big pinch of salt
Otherwise there is almost nothing about Omicron on the CNN website. @moonshine is right. It is absent from much international media, even tho it dominates ours. Why is this?
Maybe it is just timing. Omicron has arrived here first (thanks to our many international links, and better sequencing) so we are alerted first. Also, lots of other countries - esp Europe - are still focused on Delta, and their own battles with that
But look at Le Monde. It's not even talking about Delta. Poignantly, for those Scot Nats and Remoaners who believe we think constantly about them while they are barely aware of us, its most read story is about Boris Johnson's party, and one of its main stories if the Brexit fishing squabble. They are obsessed
CNN has long since become about proper news who role is to educate the Americans about important news from around the world. It is increasingly become a left of centre Fox News e.g. the other day they were banging on about the Fox News Christmas tree being burned down by some nutter tying it in with the Capitol Hill riots....
Anyways. The advice from me is GET YOUR BLOODY BOOSTER ASAP! Of the 4 cases connected with me, one was boostered. The other 3 of us were coming right up to the 6 months or thereabouts. Two of us had bookings to get the jab the week we got infected. The other one was in the process of thinking about sorting it out. Don't be like him my friends.
I was booted a couple of weeks ago, my wife (mid forties) three days ago. Both daughters have had 1 and 2 jabs now.
Do we have any proposals for how the Foreign Office reductions will be distributed, yet?
Here's a Euro-type jumping to conclusions and wandering out on a plank:
The UK government is so deeply committed to building a global role for Britain that it is cutting its diplomatic service by 20% A 20% cut after several waves of previous cuts means prioritisation of UK diplomatic resources on a handful of key partners and adversaries at expense of a minimum to negligible UK diplomatic presence in large parts of the world, many of which are crucial to global development The FCDO is on track to becoming just another middle power diplomatic service, with the same reach and ambitions as Canadian or Italian counterparts. Which is still pretty OK in global comparison but does jar with FCDO and UK elite self image. It would all look a little less ridiculous if UK government and media rhetoric was willing to adjust to the actual extent of UK military capabilities and diplomatic resources https://twitter.com/APHClarkson/status/1469614560185307136
The claim I don't believe without evidence is "cutting diplomatic service by 20%". Particularly as it is the weekend Times.
I read that this morning. It occurred to me we should have a CANZUK diplomatic service
That would be a pretty beefy diplomatic corps with ample resources worldwide. Annoyingly I guess we’d have to use a bit of French to appease the Quebecois
There's certainly something to be said in building some bilateral or network alliances outside purely European networks, and with some of the more outward looking European countries.
Hunting the unvaxxed is the new national sport - hasn't Ellwood heard?
Ridiculous comment. No one's 'hunting' them - just preventing their stupidity impacting the sensible. A bit like the smoking regs.
Well, I exaggerate for comic effect.
There is no doubt that this group are being relegated to second-class citizens. Vax Passports will be popular despite vaccination always being set-up as a personal choice. An example of the tyranny of the majority if you like. It is disingenuous because our route out of this - vaccine discovery - was never predicated on everyone agreeing to take the vaccine (which was never going to happen and we knew it).
I think someone deciding not to get vaccinated is making a big mistake and will try to persuade them otherwise by looking at all evidence and the pros and cons. But I truly dislike current mass sentiment over this issue, it's a nasty atmosphere.
Apols for my over-reaction - took you too seriously.
I'd be interested to know if/where you think my smoking analogy falls down?
I think it's a pretty good analogy. I disagree that smoking should be banned wholesale but agree that it is acceptable that smoking shouldn't be allowed in a pub for example and, instead, an outside area can accommodate them.
But if I'm totally honest with you I was opposed to the smoking ban in the first place. Just as when I was young I was opposed to mandatory seat belts. I've come on-board on both these issues given time, though I still don't think that the odd fag in a pub or trip to the shops unbelted should be policed draconianly.
I am regularly grateful that it is.
I gave up going to pubs in the 90s because I got fed up of coming home with my clothes, hair, and skin stinking, never mind the (probably low but not zero) passive-smoking risks.
As I matured(sic) I hated smoking in pubs to the extent I rarely went in one. I was eternally grateful when the smoking ban came in. My wife and I are now very regular pub meal goers. Cannot understand how anyone(and I am an ex smoker) can enjoy someone puffing away next to them.
I'd support a total legal ban on cigarettes. It's the only way to get me off the things and I bet that applies to many other addicts.
I assume then you are against legalisation of cannabis?
No, that's fine. All I do is Marlboro Golds.
So you are for a ban on cigarettes but think that cannabis should be legal?
Well I'd vote for a ban on cigs through sheer personal interest. But on the principle, I do think the case for smoking being illegal is far stronger than for soft drugs or alcohol. Smoking has absolutely zero benefit or utility to anybody. It's 100% downside. On every level it's a bad thing. There are no redeeming factors. The one and only reason for it being legal is that it's legal now. If it were invented tomorrow it wouldn't have a chance of being allowed.
Zero utility? You don't think people enjoy smoking?
I know they don't. It's quelling nicotine withdrawal pangs, hitting the clock on the next lot building up until they must be quelled again. The 'pleasure' is simply relief at the temporary removal of the twitchy anxious gnawing sensation the addiction itself creates. Smokers are rats on a wheel. Ruining their health, stinking up the place, throwing their money away. Many try to convince themselves otherwise for self-esteem purposes. But it's bollocks.
Nicotine is such a pathetic addiction. Smelly and dirty, and almost zero pleasure, apart from a tiny buzz early in the habit and then just the relief of the craving. Smokers are twats
Heroin makes much more sense, in terms. Heroin brings an intense sensual and mental pleasure, the relief of all pain and anxieties, a true bliss which has been compared to a prolonged, refined orgasm. Of course the problem is the addiction which will put you on your back in a urinous stairwell within a decade, or in the grave, or in prison, unless you are lucky, but even at the end the pleasure of the hit is greater than that of a stupid fag
I never dared try harder drugs for just that reason. Agree about the idiocy of cigarettes. If I could never have started I’d have taken that - difficult to quit if you started young.
15.
You say there is no utility in it. I bet there was back then - you felt grown up, fashionable and cool, attractive to girls maybe.
Did nothing on the girls front but, yes, it felt edgy and glam. I can still convince myself even now that there are benefits. This is what I mean by 'insidious addiction fed by a fatal delusion'. The delusion is so powerful that even somebody who sees right through it can at the same time fail to throw it off.
Just got the Test and Trace phone call. They are clearly worried. Have been told to isolate for 10 days from peak symptoms, not first, as the official guidelines state. They were far more bothered about timings, symptoms and about the date and type of vaccine I'd had than contacts. He sounded concerned that I had tested negative from first sore throat (Saturday) through to peak (Tuesday), only positive LFT on Wednesday. This was similar for the folk I very strongly suspect I caught it from. They were both also largely recovered and 4 and 6 days in by the time they recorded a positive test. Implying that the LFT may not function well for this variant. A 4 or 6 or maybe more day window between symptoms and a positive isn't great. Neither for controlling the spread, nor for the economy if everyone with a cold is now a suspected case. Have received an immediate follow up saying I am suspected omicron. Which fits with the facts, as I was, if anything, more careful in the week leading up to my booster than before. Really didn't engage in any risky close contact. It was sitting a couple of metres apart chatting for half an hour. In a group of half a dozen rather than exclusively with the infected. And we were side by side, not facing. Not great really.
Dixiedean. Your man on the infected spot.
'A 4 or 6 or maybe more day window between symptoms and a positive isn't great. Neither for controlling the spread, nor for the economy if everyone with a cold is now a suspected case.'
Thanks for that. Very concerning, especially in view of our family's Christmas arrangements.
Yep. Our small cluster of 4 linked cases all had the same experience. Cold symptoms. Runny nose, sore throat. Multiple negative tests ranging from 4 to 6 days. Feel rough at the peak at the peak of it. Then test positive as we have turned the corner. There was a span of 8 days between the first of us positive and the last, so we knew to keep testing as we all had similar staggered symptoms.
Sorry you're crook DD. I suspect we're similar to you. Daughter RP tested positive on a LF last Saturday. She had a positive and the rest of us negative PCRs on Monday. Daughter recovered by Wednesday. Wifey feeling ropey late Thursday, worse yesterday but functional.
To add to the fun she works in a primary school and was at work Thursday and Friday following negative LF tests both days.
Hunting the unvaxxed is the new national sport - hasn't Ellwood heard?
Ridiculous comment. No one's 'hunting' them - just preventing their stupidity impacting the sensible. A bit like the smoking regs.
Well, I exaggerate for comic effect.
There is no doubt that this group are being relegated to second-class citizens. Vax Passports will be popular despite vaccination always being set-up as a personal choice. An example of the tyranny of the majority if you like. It is disingenuous because our route out of this - vaccine discovery - was never predicated on everyone agreeing to take the vaccine (which was never going to happen and we knew it).
I think someone deciding not to get vaccinated is making a big mistake and will try to persuade them otherwise by looking at all evidence and the pros and cons. But I truly dislike current mass sentiment over this issue, it's a nasty atmosphere.
Apols for my over-reaction - took you too seriously.
I'd be interested to know if/where you think my smoking analogy falls down?
I think it's a pretty good analogy. I disagree that smoking should be banned wholesale but agree that it is acceptable that smoking shouldn't be allowed in a pub for example and, instead, an outside area can accommodate them.
But if I'm totally honest with you I was opposed to the smoking ban in the first place. Just as when I was young I was opposed to mandatory seat belts. I've come on-board on both these issues given time, though I still don't think that the odd fag in a pub or trip to the shops unbelted should be policed draconianly.
I am regularly grateful that it is.
I gave up going to pubs in the 90s because I got fed up of coming home with my clothes, hair, and skin stinking, never mind the (probably low but not zero) passive-smoking risks.
As I matured(sic) I hated smoking in pubs to the extent I rarely went in one. I was eternally grateful when the smoking ban came in. My wife and I are now very regular pub meal goers. Cannot understand how anyone(and I am an ex smoker) can enjoy someone puffing away next to them.
I'd support a total legal ban on cigarettes. It's the only way to get me off the things and I bet that applies to many other addicts.
I assume then you are against legalisation of cannabis?
No, that's fine. All I do is Marlboro Golds.
So you are for a ban on cigarettes but think that cannabis should be legal?
Well I'd vote for a ban on cigs through sheer personal interest. But on the principle, I do think the case for smoking being illegal is far stronger than for soft drugs or alcohol. Smoking has absolutely zero benefit or utility to anybody. It's 100% downside. On every level it's a bad thing. There are no redeeming factors. The one and only reason for it being legal is that it's legal now. If it were invented tomorrow it wouldn't have a chance of being allowed.
Zero utility? You don't think people enjoy smoking?
We (I’m a smoker) enjoy satiating the craving. It’s not really enjoyment. We look forward to the calm, pleasant sensation after getting our fix.
It’s a stupid, nasty, dangerous habit. Despite what I said in my previous post, I still wish smoking had been illegal when I was growing up. I almost certainly wouldn’t be addicted now.
I just think there’s something wrong with the way NZ is going about it.
Yes, there’s a fair amount of research showing it’s as hard to quit as the most addictive hard drugs, but far less pleasurable.
I heard somewhere that the 'capture rate' of cigarettes - i.e. the percentage of casual users who go on become hardcore addicts - is actually worse than heroin.
As a late teens/early 20's I had two strokes of luck, smoking-wise, although I didn't think one of them was at the time. At nineteen or so I had a girl-friend who smoked; one of the activities we enjoyed together. Sadly she went off to Uni and MET SOMEONE ELSE, and in trying to get over her I stopped smoking for about six months. However, when I went off to study and started again an older fellow student advised that if I didn't smoke until after 11am I probably would be able to give it up easily when I wanted to. And indeed, so it proved.
Nice one and - yes - lucky. I bet you'd have kicked it anyway in middle age but it would've been harder.
And if you hadn't you probably wouldn't now be OLD King Cole.
You could well be right! Mrs C has never smoked, although of course for a short while she had to endure passive smoking. Of course by the time I was 25 or so the pressure not to smoke in Health Care environments was becoming high; we'd got well over the nonsense that anti-smoking was somehow pro-Nazi.
Amazing (in a bad way) to think about the money made by the likes of Philip Morris and BAT over the years off the back of it.
Anyways. The advice from me is GET YOUR BLOODY BOOSTER ASAP! Of the 4 cases connected with me, one was boostered. The other 3 of us were coming right up to the 6 months or thereabouts. Two of us had bookings to get the jab the week we got infected. The other one was in the process of thinking about sorting it out. Don't be like him my friends.
I was booted a couple of weeks ago, my wife (mid forties) three days ago. Both daughters have had 1 and 2 jabs now.
Just booked mine at the local vaccine hub, for tomorrow. It is only just 28 days since I had Covid, which coincided with the 6 month anniversary of my second jab, so about as soon as I could get it
Comments
Does suggest breakthrough is an issue, mind.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 Omicron cases in the UK is 1,898.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-59617249
“But then again, politics being the brutal game it is, that doesn’t necessarily matter. Most MPs have one single requirement of their leader — that he helps them keep their seat. And he’s been good at that so far. But the latest opinion polls show the ‘Boris effect’ is fading.”
“This Christmas parties saga is only the latest in a long list of calamities. He gave Dominic Cummings his support after his flagrant breach of the Covid rules last year. It ended only when their personal relationship broke down. He tried, too, to keep Matt Hancock in his job after the then health secretary conducted an affair in his office — again, breaking Covid restrictions.”
“And now ‘Wallpaper-gate’ is rearing its ugly head again, with more questions being raised about Johnson’s honesty after the Electoral Commission fined the Conservative Party £17,800 for breaking the law over its recording and reporting of who paid for redecorations at the PM’s personal flat. Just look at that trivial, pathetic list. If Johnson fears the verdict of history he’s right to do so.”
https://twitter.com/BeatinTheBookie/status/1468693497020571648
What we do know is 2-3 weeks time most cases will be Omicron, then it will be pretty clear how many hospitalisations it results in.
From that 552 number, 33 are currently in ICU. This is 7 fewer than yesterday, and 17 fewer than a week ago.”
Good news re: Omicron or the lull before the storm? Or the NHS clearing the decks?
It is that of those untainted by association with the government Hunt is the stand out candidate. And it is quite possible such a person will be needed.
Apart from getting Brexit over the line there is no such thing as Johnsonianism. At the point where we are, as now, maxed out on taxation, public spending, borrowing, further spending promises and debt it is hard to know where Johnson goes next.
To be fair, I was the casino in Bristol for a poker tournament a few years ago and it kicked off like that....the huge dispute, somebody cheating? refusal to pay out on a big win? no, apparently regulars got comp'ed free pizzas, but the management said they wouldn't that night because a big tournament was on.
Interesting argument from SLAB ...
Michael Marra MSP
@michaeljmarra
"If we are going to get rid of this Tory government us Scots now need to do our bit and back Keir as the next PM.
Backing the SNP, however well intentioned, only jeopardises Labour support in other nations."
Of course by the time I was 25 or so the pressure not to smoke in Health Care environments was becoming high; we'd got well over the nonsense that anti-smoking was somehow pro-Nazi.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/most-reported-us-omicron-cases-have-hit-fully-vaccinated-cdc-2021-12-10/
Not too late to quit, though. The health benefits are massive even if you’ve been smoking for many decades.
Reimagining yourself as a non smoker is a lot of the battle.
GET YOUR BLOODY BOOSTER ASAP!
Of the 4 cases connected with me, one was boostered. The other 3 of us were coming right up to the 6 months or thereabouts. Two of us had bookings to get the jab the week we got infected.
The other one was in the process of thinking about sorting it out.
Don't be like him my friends.
I had my booster at GP a month ago.
Is this just a case of everyone is getting letters regardless or do they have my vax status incorrect?
In which case I may have problem if vaxports includes must have the booster.
Going out down into the village now to the pub 🙋♀️
"A day in the life of a Socialist citizen."
To add to the fun she works in a primary school and was at work Thursday and Friday following negative LF tests both days.
What do PBers think of Mme Pécresse?
Can she beat Macron?
Are the French prepared to elect a lady pres?