One of our London offices held a staff Christmas party on Friday. Looks like it was a super spreader event.
Every event is now a superspreader event, especially in London, unless one is very lucky.
And yet the remaining few pray-the-pox-away advocates insist there should not only be no advice for people to Be Careful but all these events should happen regardless.
Of course they should!
Don't pray the pox away. Accept it, embrace it. Its here, its endemic, get your vaccine and take your chances.
So people who are ill with Covid should go out and party. Or people who's immediate family or colleagues are ill.
Riiiiight.
If they want to, if they'd party with a cold or cough, why not?
We're all getting it anyway.
You seem to have totally gone, Philip. Not a man to have alongside in the trenches. No longer picturing you as Christian Bale. What I'm seeing now is a chicken minus its head.
I think Philips's been pretty consistent that lockdowns do more harm than good. This isn't him losing his head, this is him reiterating the same point more and more insistently. To use the trenches analogy, he's in favour of leaving the trench despite the presence of enemy fire because the trench is filling with acid. He's simply taking a different view to you about which of two not particularly attractive options is the wrong one.
Instinctively I agree with him. I have to be careful, because emotionally it's the answer I want - I have kids who will be hurt by lockdowns and no-one in my family is in ill-health - am I deciding on the answer I want and then selecting the arguments to justify it? (Everyone does this to some extent). And I am also in danger on settling on this position because I have previously been against lockdown - am I simply placing too great a premium on consistency? Again, everyone does this to some extent. But thinking it through, I think I am in still in Philip's boat. To me, the main argument in favour of NPIs at the moment is the danger that we all get it at once, which would be, er inconvenient. But Chris Whitty seems(?) to be suggesting it will peak early (early Jan?) then fall quickly (we hope). To all extents and purposes we are all going to get it at once anyway. NPIs will flatten the sombrero almost not at all. But I am also glad not to be the one to have to make the decisions. It's easy for me and Philip to anonymously (or nonymously, in his case) opine on the internet on what should happen - harder when you have a job and a reputation at stake. And while it's not great to be in a state where outcomes are being dictated by what makes the decision-makers least likely to look bad, better that than being in the situation where decision-makers don't care at all what the public think.
When he was a paid up Johnson fanboi he was up for lockdown 1 as I recall.
And I've put my hand up and said I was wrong to support it.
We all make mistakes, I'm happy to own mine.
Had I known it would last for years, I wouldn't have.
OMG!
Did no one tell you, we could go back to work circa Easter? No wonder you've been getting more and more frustrated banging away on your angry keyboard 24/7 instead of working.
You might have left it too late this time before the next lockdown however.
Interesting Israel not seeing any real uptick in cases. Now is that their booster programe or restrictions or got lucky not much omicron (yet)?
Probably the later - evidence now very strong that it spreads like nobodies business.
But the evidence that it's not causing a big healthcare problem where it becomes dominant is also sufficiently strong that if it pointed in the other direction we would all be under house arrest.
How many "cases" would we not know about if people weren't taking tests?
We're having a casedemic because we're looking for cases, not necessarily because people are very sick with it.
Tim Spector is quite positive about the situation and doesn't believe the horror predictions from the government models in terms of million cases a day and many 1000s of hospitalisations per day.
Very strong rebuke from Chris Whitty to people who say Covid lockdowns have somehow set back cancer or other care - common trope in right-wing press. Whitty says they have "no understanding of health", and that the claim is a "complete inversion of reality". https://twitter.com/joncstone/status/1471437931118219264/photo/1
Did Whitty really say common trope in right wing press ?
Sorry but Whitty is talking bollocks. The official figures from the NHS show that waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment have increased massively, as have treatments for just about everything else - a lot of it due to people being unable to see their GPs during lockdowns.
I have a lot of time for Whitty generally but on this he is clearly losing the plot.
Because of the pandemic. Not because of lockdowns. Lockdowns -> less COVID pressure -> more NHS capacity -> more ability to treat cancer/other care.
Wrong. Social distancing -> Less NHS capacity -> Less ability to treat cancer/other care.
Had there been no lockdown, there'd have been less capacity reductions, more deaths, and the NHS would now be running at full capacity and with less demand as there's zero demand from the dead.
Go back and reread your posts from when Boris introduced the lockdowns, if I remember rightly you understood then that the purpose was to protect NHS capacity & save lives.
That was indeed the purpose and of course it is legitimate to say that it probably did given death rates would have been far higher without the lockdowns. But to do as Whitty did this morning and claim there have been no adverse effects from lockdown on cancer rates just doesn't fit the facts.
Edit. I got caught by a phone call and posted before I had finished.
Moreover I would suggest it is entirely possible that as Philip suggests we may come out the other side of this and find that the 'cure' including lockdown has killed more people than the virus itself.
You're mixing up pandemic & lockdown. The pandemic has harmed cancer service provision. The lockdown has helped cancer service provision. I really can't think of more ways to say this.
Yes, I think we need to get on with this. I personally don't think Brand Boris is going to be withdrawn from the market but there has to be a chance it is, and that it'll be replaced by Brand Rishi. Therefore it's important to make sure that brand is tarnished and now is the time to be doing it. I hope Team SKS are on to this. If not, I'm available on a consulting contract.
Just a point about focussing on London hospitalisation, which went up a bit earlier in the week. Given the London specific graph on delta vs Omicron shows delta was growing in London over the last 3 weeks, and that nationwide only 15 omicron hospital cases have been announced so far, I think we have to assume the current increase is delta driven.
If it accelerates signficantly in the next 5-7 days then that will be fair enough to attribute to Omicron, but we're not there yet.
Interesting Israel not seeing any real uptick in cases. Now is that their booster programe or restrictions or got lucky not much omicron (yet)?
Probably the later - evidence now very strong that it spreads like nobodies business.
But the evidence that it's not causing a big healthcare problem where it becomes dominant is also sufficiently strong that if it pointed in the other direction we would all be under house arrest.
How many "cases" would we not know about if people weren't taking tests?
We're having a casedemic because we're looking for cases, not necessarily because people are very sick with it.
The ONS tracker series gets round that problem, but I don't know how up to date it is.
Londoner who hasn’t got COVID here! I did have a bad cold three weeks - tested negative LFT and PCR at the time. Weird thing was I lost my sense of taste/smell which still hasn’t returned. Can a cold do this to you?
Anyway, plus side is that my wife’s cooking has never tasted better! 😂
Very strong rebuke from Chris Whitty to people who say Covid lockdowns have somehow set back cancer or other care - common trope in right-wing press. Whitty says they have "no understanding of health", and that the claim is a "complete inversion of reality". https://twitter.com/joncstone/status/1471437931118219264/photo/1
Did Whitty really say common trope in right wing press ?
Sorry but Whitty is talking bollocks. The official figures from the NHS show that waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment have increased massively, as have treatments for just about everything else - a lot of it due to people being unable to see their GPs during lockdowns.
I have a lot of time for Whitty generally but on this he is clearly losing the plot.
Because of the pandemic. Not because of lockdowns. Lockdowns -> less COVID pressure -> more NHS capacity -> more ability to treat cancer/other care.
Wrong. Social distancing -> Less NHS capacity -> Less ability to treat cancer/other care.
Had there been no lockdown, there'd have been less capacity reductions, more deaths, and the NHS would now be running at full capacity and with less demand as there's zero demand from the dead.
Go back and reread your posts from when Boris introduced the lockdowns, if I remember rightly you understood then that the purpose was to protect NHS capacity & save lives.
That was indeed the purpose and of course it is legitimate to say that it probably did given death rates would have been far higher without the lockdowns. But to do as Whitty did this morning and claim there have been no adverse effects from lockdown on cancer rates just doesn't fit the facts.
Edit. I got caught by a phone call and posted before I had finished.
Moreover I would suggest it is entirely possible that as Philip suggests we may come out the other side of this and find that the 'cure' including lockdown has killed more people than the virus itself.
You're mixing up pandemic & lockdown. The pandemic has harmed cancer service provision. The lockdown has helped cancer service provision. I really can't think of more ways to say this.
What evidence do you have of that?
Lockdown just dragged out cases so that the NHS was dealing with Covid for longer, and at reduced capacity.
Had there been no lockdown then we'd have smashed through NHS capacity with Covid cases, more of whom would have died, but then for the rest of the time the NHS could have been doing its actual job.
Honestly the government should, with permission from the family, be spreading the message about this fool dying of stupidity as far and wide as possible. They're making such a big deal about big Omi being able to kill just the same as Delta and are making such a huge deal about vaccines, showing that the only known death from Omicron is a stupid antivaxver conspiracy who died from his own stupidity.
Anyone interested in posting their predictions for the North Shropshire by-election? We had one 2 weeks ago for Old Bexley & Sidcup, with NP-MP compiling the entries on that occasion.
Lib Dem - 45 - winning here Tory - 38 Labour - 7 Re-whatever - 5 The rest - 5
But why? First of all, .25% is hardly likely to turn spenders into savers. Secondly, this is not classic inflation but is largely driven by Covid disrupting supply chains and fuel prices going through the roof. Thirdly, there is risk of skewering economic recovery.
Surely your first and third points are inconsistent?
What this is about is the direction of travel and future intentions. And an economy with over 1m job vacancies arguably doesn't need that much stimulation.
When did you get your third jab? Take a week to kick in.
The 3rd
Well fingers crossed you system should be absolutely pumped and primed to fight it off.
I feel under the weather so probably that's why. But a long cry from "you won't get ill if you have the jab" like we heard from a few muppets at the start
Anyone interested in posting their predictions for the North Shropshire by-election? We had one 2 weeks ago for Old Bexley & Sidcup, with NP-MP compiling the entries on that occasion.
Lib Dem - 45 - winning here Tory - 38 Labour - 7 Re-whatever - 5 The rest - 5
No. I’ve just had enough. I’m sitting in the sunlit garden next to my Antony Gormley statue in this billionaire’s garden in the Balearics, sipping an early cocktail, and then I come on here and it’s WHINGE WHINGE WHINGE WHINGE Oh property ladder this Oh my pension that Oh my hamster’s got AIDS in his perineum and I am Scottish WHAT CAN I DO WHY WON’T THE GOVERNMENT HELP BLAH BLAH BLAH
Enough. Get up off your pimply bottoms, go to the drinks cabinet, pour yourself a stiff one, sit down, sip your drink, then get up again, go to the drinks cabinet and pour yourself a second, and then finally sit down and think about everything and get it all in perspective and then stand up again and go to the drinks cabinet and pour yourself the entire bottle
I've just been swimming. Omicron didn't stop me. It's the sort of man I am. Live is for living not cowering away under the duvet.
Good man. I do not say that lightly. Or, indeed, particularly truthfully
I've just tested positive so that's Christmas probably fucked
Don't worry, once every one in the country has it on the 24th we can then end quaranteen as a pointless load of bollocks.
One of my daughters had to train somebody who had a negative LFT. After a few days the trainee had another test and showed positive. At this point she admitted that initially she had had TWO tests, one positive, one negative and decided that the negative one was right.
So now my daughter's Xmas may well be stuffed thanks to this thoughtless moron...
The Gov't need to REALLY REALLY emphasise that if you get a positive LFT - even if you have other negative ones that you really really will be positive. The "accuracy" of LFTs is all about false negatives.
That was my understanding as well and I sought and obtained the adjournment of a jury trial on that basis. There is a non minimal chance that a negative result is wrong, especially if self administered, but there is almost no chance that a positive test is wrong.
28% of negs are false negs, only about 1% of positives are false.
Three anecdotes from the outside world: 1) Took the car for an MOT on Tuesday. As requested by the sign on the door, put my mask on as I went into the garage office when I went to pick it up. 'No need for that' the proprietor cheerfully assured me. 'You're the only one all day who's bothered'. He was cheerfully belligerent in his opposition to any more covid measures 'or this place won't be running any longer'. He'd had his booster jab because his dad had told him he had to or he wouldn't be coming for Christmas dinner.
2) Conversation with a friend of mine at school drop-off yesterday. He embodies the red wall. Historically labour from a working class family, he's been less and less enamoured of them over the last ten years and was repelled by Corbyn. Thinks Starmer is a berk. But his view on the current shenanigans was as follows (read this in a broad, incredulous, Mancunian accent): "do you not think they've gone absolutely way over the top to this latest one? Is he [Boris] just trying to get sacked? He's just doing f*ck-up after f*ck-up."
3) My youngest's infant school did her nativity play yesterday. I cannot conceive of anyone who could care more about the edcuation, welfare, wellbeing and happiness of the children in his care than the headmaster of this school. It is really, really important to him that normality continues for the children in that school. Anyway, I was really pleased it went ahead: it is my tenth, and last, nativity play as a parent - they don't do it in the junior's. And it was brilliant. And my youngest - who is a complicated little character: neither the competent, reliable demeanour of my oldest or the confident, outgoing character of my middle daughter - had one line, and was barely audible, and fidgeted throughout, but despite her nerves she did it, and she sang the songs and followed the cues, and I was prouder of her than I ever was of either of the older two's objectively much better performances. So anyway, well done to the school for going ahead regardless. Parents had to be masked (much to the apologies of the head, who reported it as a condition from DfE and TRafford public health for these to go ahead) but a small price to pay for such a momentous event. But I reported my joy at this to colleagues later in the day, and there was quite a lot of surprise and some disapproval that the event had been allowed to take place. It's a public sector organisation, with quite a lot of keenness for lockdown, and I didn't getthe impression that hostility was aimed at me personally - but there was more than a bit of the hint that the school were being selfish and/or self-indulgent in going ahead with a nativity play. Which I think is a shame.
On the MOT garage. God bless the small businesses, the bedrock of Britain.
Interesting Israel not seeing any real uptick in cases. Now is that their booster programe or restrictions or got lucky not much omicron (yet)?
Probably the later - evidence now very strong that it spreads like nobodies business.
But the evidence that it's not causing a big healthcare problem where it becomes dominant is also sufficiently strong that if it pointed in the other direction we would all be under house arrest.
How many "cases" would we not know about if people weren't taking tests?
We're having a casedemic because we're looking for cases, not necessarily because people are very sick with it.
Yep, outside of London case growth is considerably behind test growth. In London there does seem to be a wave of 20-40 year olds getting colds which test positive.
Numbers likely to go through the roof between now and xmas as that effect spreads, but still waiting for evidence it will cause any real problems to healthcare, and once we hit xmas and people lose the incentive to test, we could see a very spectacular fall.
Johannesberg cases are now falling, 30% down on last week yesterday, but not sure how far behind them we are.
We're all going to get it you bleeding idiot. Chris Whitty said that six months ago, so I'm not saying anything Chris Whitty hasn't already said. But I forget you're the moron who expect an "exit" from Covid.
But yes, liberty is worth more than death.
"Idiot", "moron" and no doubt more in other posts from you that I can't be bothered to read - can't you discuss the issue as though you weren't drunk? You come across like George Galloway on speed.
No.
You snipped out the post I was responding to which was "Which as usual is you advocating that Other People die so that you can have "liberty"."
If Rochdale wants to keep falsely claiming I am advocating that Other People die, then I'm content to call him a moron in reply. I'll be civilised with anyone that is civilised themselves.
I note you don't call him out, only me for responding to him. Funny that!
Didn't see that and I agree he goes OTT too (he's an LD, innit ). But attributing barmy views to people is marginally less bad than calling them names.
I thought he was now supporting the SNP as of the last week or so.
1. I'm a member of the LibDems 2. I'm tactically voting SNP in the GE 3. Have been given the OK to still be in the party and vote against the party. By an impeccable authority on such matters
My PT needs his second COVID jab in order to compete in an international sports competition in the USA in the New Year. He had his first 5 weeks ago, and cannot go to the local GP immediately because he has just moved house and needs to register etc. A GP could probably refer him.
Walk-ins won't do him as it requires an 8 week interval.
How to do this, and get jab 2 this side of Christmas/New Year? Are there any routes through the system?
(I can't comment on why the first one waited until November, except to note that he is fully pro-vax, and will have a good reason.)
I've just tested positive so that's Christmas probably fucked
Don't worry, once every one in the country has it on the 24th we can then end quaranteen as a pointless load of bollocks.
One of my daughters had to train somebody who had a negative LFT. After a few days the trainee had another test and showed positive. At this point she admitted that initially she had had TWO tests, one positive, one negative and decided that the negative one was right.
So now my daughter's Xmas may well be stuffed thanks to this thoughtless moron...
The Gov't need to REALLY REALLY emphasise that if you get a positive LFT - even if you have other negative ones that you really really will be positive. The "accuracy" of LFTs is all about false negatives.
That was my understanding as well and I sought and obtained the adjournment of a jury trial on that basis. There is a non minimal chance that a negative result is wrong, especially if self administered, but there is almost no chance that a positive test is wrong.
28% of negs are false negs, only about 1% of positives are false.
Interesting Israel not seeing any real uptick in cases. Now is that their booster programe or restrictions or got lucky not much omicron (yet)?
They reported the first Omicron cases at basically the same time we did, and all their vaccine doses have been Pfizer, which is supposedly the worst position to be in. They are way ahead on boosters (started administering them about the same time we were finishing up with first doses and are now pretty much done) but they have a significant percentage of people totally unvaccinated, and a smaller-but-still-significant percentage who refused the booster.
Three anecdotes from the outside world: 1) Took the car for an MOT on Tuesday. As requested by the sign on the door, put my mask on as I went into the garage office when I went to pick it up. 'No need for that' the proprietor cheerfully assured me. 'You're the only one all day who's bothered'. He was cheerfully belligerent in his opposition to any more covid measures 'or this place won't be running any longer'. He'd had his booster jab because his dad had told him he had to or he wouldn't be coming for Christmas dinner.
2) Conversation with a friend of mine at school drop-off yesterday. He embodies the red wall. Historically labour from a working class family, he's been less and less enamoured of them over the last ten years and was repelled by Corbyn. Thinks Starmer is a berk. But his view on the current shenanigans was as follows (read this in a broad, incredulous, Mancunian accent): "do you not think they've gone absolutely way over the top to this latest one? Is he [Boris] just trying to get sacked? He's just doing f*ck-up after f*ck-up."
3) My youngest's infant school did her nativity play yesterday. I cannot conceive of anyone who could care more about the edcuation, welfare, wellbeing and happiness of the children in his care than the headmaster of this school. It is really, really important to him that normality continues for the children in that school. Anyway, I was really pleased it went ahead: it is my tenth, and last, nativity play as a parent - they don't do it in the junior's. And it was brilliant. And my youngest - who is a complicated little character: neither the competent, reliable demeanour of my oldest or the confident, outgoing character of my middle daughter - had one line, and was barely audible, and fidgeted throughout, but despite her nerves she did it, and she sang the songs and followed the cues, and I was prouder of her than I ever was of either of the older two's objectively much better performances. So anyway, well done to the school for going ahead regardless. Parents had to be masked (much to the apologies of the head, who reported it as a condition from DfE and TRafford public health for these to go ahead) but a small price to pay for such a momentous event. But I reported my joy at this to colleagues later in the day, and there was quite a lot of surprise and some disapproval that the event had been allowed to take place. It's a public sector organisation, with quite a lot of keenness for lockdown, and I didn't getthe impression that hostility was aimed at me personally - but there was more than a bit of the hint that the school were being selfish and/or self-indulgent in going ahead with a nativity play. Which I think is a shame.
On the MOT garage. God bless the small businesses, the bedrock of Britain.
When did you get your third jab? Take a week to kick in.
The 3rd
Well fingers crossed you system should be absolutely pumped and primed to fight it off.
I feel under the weather so probably that's why. But a long cry from "you won't get ill if you have the jab" like we heard from a few muppets at the start
You won't get seriously ill has been the claim. 90-95% reduction in hospitalisation was always the claim against previous variants. Even when released AZN 70% efficacy against infection and Pfizer / Moderna numbers were agains symptomatic infection.
Yes, I think we need to get on with this. I personally don't think Brand Boris is going to be withdrawn from the market but there has to be a chance it is, and that it'll be replaced by Brand Rishi. Therefore it's important to make sure that brand is tarnished and now is the time to be doing it. I hope Team SKS are on to this. If not, I'm available on a consulting contract.
Maybe he couldn't hear the No 10 Chrimbo parties last year in the room below his flat because he...er...was 6000 miles away.
Three anecdotes from the outside world: 1) Took the car for an MOT on Tuesday. As requested by the sign on the door, put my mask on as I went into the garage office when I went to pick it up. 'No need for that' the proprietor cheerfully assured me. 'You're the only one all day who's bothered'. He was cheerfully belligerent in his opposition to any more covid measures 'or this place won't be running any longer'. He'd had his booster jab because his dad had told him he had to or he wouldn't be coming for Christmas dinner.
2) Conversation with a friend of mine at school drop-off yesterday. He embodies the red wall. Historically labour from a working class family, he's been less and less enamoured of them over the last ten years and was repelled by Corbyn. Thinks Starmer is a berk. But his view on the current shenanigans was as follows (read this in a broad, incredulous, Mancunian accent): "do you not think they've gone absolutely way over the top to this latest one? Is he [Boris] just trying to get sacked? He's just doing f*ck-up after f*ck-up."
3) My youngest's infant school did her nativity play yesterday. I cannot conceive of anyone who could care more about the edcuation, welfare, wellbeing and happiness of the children in his care than the headmaster of this school. It is really, really important to him that normality continues for the children in that school. Anyway, I was really pleased it went ahead: it is my tenth, and last, nativity play as a parent - they don't do it in the junior's. And it was brilliant. And my youngest - who is a complicated little character: neither the competent, reliable demeanour of my oldest or the confident, outgoing character of my middle daughter - had one line, and was barely audible, and fidgeted throughout, but despite her nerves she did it, and she sang the songs and followed the cues, and I was prouder of her than I ever was of either of the older two's objectively much better performances. So anyway, well done to the school for going ahead regardless. Parents had to be masked (much to the apologies of the head, who reported it as a condition from DfE and TRafford public health for these to go ahead) but a small price to pay for such a momentous event. But I reported my joy at this to colleagues later in the day, and there was quite a lot of surprise and some disapproval that the event had been allowed to take place. It's a public sector organisation, with quite a lot of keenness for lockdown, and I didn't getthe impression that hostility was aimed at me personally - but there was more than a bit of the hint that the school were being selfish and/or self-indulgent in going ahead with a nativity play. Which I think is a shame.
On the MOT garage. God bless the small businesses, the bedrock of Britain.
Garages are just licenses to print money.
Still amazed the same business can do test and repairs. I pay for a service just as insurance against them screwing me.
I am actually under the weather, just thought it was a cold.
Coughing and feeling unwell in general, not the worst thing I've had
Sounds like Omicron. Have you ordered a PCR test? Unless you've got a car the testing centres around London are a mission to get to.
Love this - thought it was just a cold, not the worst you've had? Sounds like Omicron!
It is amazing the powers of diagnosis some people possess. Without even a face to face meeting or a triage.
Absolutely. I can tell you from here that lump of blue mold growing on your back, like you are turning into a silvery scaled alien bug, is merely Plaque psoriasis. Nothing to worry about.
Interesting Israel not seeing any real uptick in cases. Now is that their booster programe or restrictions or got lucky not much omicron (yet)?
Probably the later - evidence now very strong that it spreads like nobodies business.
But the evidence that it's not causing a big healthcare problem where it becomes dominant is also sufficiently strong that if it pointed in the other direction we would all be under house arrest.
How many "cases" would we not know about if people weren't taking tests?
We're having a casedemic because we're looking for cases, not necessarily because people are very sick with it.
It's definitely the case that there's been a sharp uptick in testing - presumably not least because people are testing before social interactions much more (I'm seeing my sister-in-law and her partner on Saturday, just prior to them going to Australia so her partner can see her parents for the first time in two years - REALLY don't want to kaibosh that).
What we need is the ONS figures, which always come after a small delay. It will be interesting to see them when we next get them.
I am actually under the weather, just thought it was a cold.
Coughing and feeling unwell in general, not the worst thing I've had
Sounds like Omicron. Have you ordered a PCR test? Unless you've got a car the testing centres around London are a mission to get to.
Love this - thought it was just a cold, not the worst you've had? Sounds like Omicron!
It is amazing the powers of diagnosis some people possess. Without even a face to face meeting or a triage.
Absolutely. I can tell you from here that lump of blue mold growing on your back, like you are turning into a silvery scaled alien bug, is merely Plaque psoriasis. Nothing to worry about.
Thanks for that, it is reassuring, I wonder if I will get a part in the new reboot of Doctor Who coming up ?
Three anecdotes from the outside world: 1) Took the car for an MOT on Tuesday. As requested by the sign on the door, put my mask on as I went into the garage office when I went to pick it up. 'No need for that' the proprietor cheerfully assured me. 'You're the only one all day who's bothered'. He was cheerfully belligerent in his opposition to any more covid measures 'or this place won't be running any longer'. He'd had his booster jab because his dad had told him he had to or he wouldn't be coming for Christmas dinner.
2) Conversation with a friend of mine at school drop-off yesterday. He embodies the red wall. Historically labour from a working class family, he's been less and less enamoured of them over the last ten years and was repelled by Corbyn. Thinks Starmer is a berk. But his view on the current shenanigans was as follows (read this in a broad, incredulous, Mancunian accent): "do you not think they've gone absolutely way over the top to this latest one? Is he [Boris] just trying to get sacked? He's just doing f*ck-up after f*ck-up."
3) My youngest's infant school did her nativity play yesterday. I cannot conceive of anyone who could care more about the edcuation, welfare, wellbeing and happiness of the children in his care than the headmaster of this school. It is really, really important to him that normality continues for the children in that school. Anyway, I was really pleased it went ahead: it is my tenth, and last, nativity play as a parent - they don't do it in the junior's. And it was brilliant. And my youngest - who is a complicated little character: neither the competent, reliable demeanour of my oldest or the confident, outgoing character of my middle daughter - had one line, and was barely audible, and fidgeted throughout, but despite her nerves she did it, and she sang the songs and followed the cues, and I was prouder of her than I ever was of either of the older two's objectively much better performances. So anyway, well done to the school for going ahead regardless. Parents had to be masked (much to the apologies of the head, who reported it as a condition from DfE and TRafford public health for these to go ahead) but a small price to pay for such a momentous event. But I reported my joy at this to colleagues later in the day, and there was quite a lot of surprise and some disapproval that the event had been allowed to take place. It's a public sector organisation, with quite a lot of keenness for lockdown, and I didn't getthe impression that hostility was aimed at me personally - but there was more than a bit of the hint that the school were being selfish and/or self-indulgent in going ahead with a nativity play. Which I think is a shame.
On the MOT garage. God bless the small businesses, the bedrock of Britain.
Garages are just licenses to print money.
As is being a plumber. £230 quid to replace an expansion vessel. Bloody useless Baxi junk
Interesting Israel not seeing any real uptick in cases. Now is that their booster programe or restrictions or got lucky not much omicron (yet)?
Probably the later - evidence now very strong that it spreads like nobodies business.
But the evidence that it's not causing a big healthcare problem where it becomes dominant is also sufficiently strong that if it pointed in the other direction we would all be under house arrest.
How many "cases" would we not know about if people weren't taking tests?
We're having a casedemic because we're looking for cases, not necessarily because people are very sick with it.
It's definitely the case that there's been a sharp uptick in testing - presumably not least because people are testing before social interactions much more (I'm seeing my sister-in-law and her partner on Saturday, just prior to them going to Australia so her partner can see her parents for the first time in two years - REALLY don't want to kaibosh that).
What we need is the ONS figures, which always come after a small delay. It will be interesting to see them when we next get them.
Unfortunately this time (or fortunately if you need to distract an electorate), the cycle time for Omicron means this whole thing will be done before ONS publish data on a relevant time period.
Anyone interested in posting their predictions for the North Shropshire by-election? We had one 2 weeks ago for Old Bexley & Sidcup, with NP-MP compiling the entries on that occasion.
With zero knowledge of the ground game;
LDs 42 Cons 38 Lab. 10 Others 10
Turnout a low 30%. If turnout is high, Cons just scrape through.
Question for those who know more than me. A colleagues wife has had lingering covid fatigue (about 6 weeks after the infection). She received a flu jab and within 24 hours began to feel much more normal. My colleague asked if it could be a kick to the immune system (the flu jab) aiding the covid recovery, to which replied that I had no idea... Is it possible?
We're all going to get it you bleeding idiot. Chris Whitty said that six months ago, so I'm not saying anything Chris Whitty hasn't already said. But I forget you're the moron who expect an "exit" from Covid.
But yes, liberty is worth more than death.
"Idiot", "moron" and no doubt more in other posts from you that I can't be bothered to read - can't you discuss the issue as though you weren't drunk? You come across like George Galloway on speed.
No.
You snipped out the post I was responding to which was "Which as usual is you advocating that Other People die so that you can have "liberty"."
If Rochdale wants to keep falsely claiming I am advocating that Other People die, then I'm content to call him a moron in reply. I'll be civilised with anyone that is civilised themselves.
I note you don't call him out, only me for responding to him. Funny that!
Didn't see that and I agree he goes OTT too (he's an LD, innit ). But attributing barmy views to people is marginally less bad than calling them names.
I thought he was now supporting the SNP as of the last week or so.
1. I'm a member of the LibDems 2. I'm tactically voting SNP in the GE 3. Have been given the OK to still be in the party and vote against the party. By an impeccable authority on such matters
Three anecdotes from the outside world: 1) Took the car for an MOT on Tuesday. As requested by the sign on the door, put my mask on as I went into the garage office when I went to pick it up. 'No need for that' the proprietor cheerfully assured me. 'You're the only one all day who's bothered'. He was cheerfully belligerent in his opposition to any more covid measures 'or this place won't be running any longer'. He'd had his booster jab because his dad had told him he had to or he wouldn't be coming for Christmas dinner.
2) Conversation with a friend of mine at school drop-off yesterday. He embodies the red wall. Historically labour from a working class family, he's been less and less enamoured of them over the last ten years and was repelled by Corbyn. Thinks Starmer is a berk. But his view on the current shenanigans was as follows (read this in a broad, incredulous, Mancunian accent): "do you not think they've gone absolutely way over the top to this latest one? Is he [Boris] just trying to get sacked? He's just doing f*ck-up after f*ck-up."
3) My youngest's infant school did her nativity play yesterday. I cannot conceive of anyone who could care more about the edcuation, welfare, wellbeing and happiness of the children in his care than the headmaster of this school. It is really, really important to him that normality continues for the children in that school. Anyway, I was really pleased it went ahead: it is my tenth, and last, nativity play as a parent - they don't do it in the junior's. And it was brilliant. And my youngest - who is a complicated little character: neither the competent, reliable demeanour of my oldest or the confident, outgoing character of my middle daughter - had one line, and was barely audible, and fidgeted throughout, but despite her nerves she did it, and she sang the songs and followed the cues, and I was prouder of her than I ever was of either of the older two's objectively much better performances. So anyway, well done to the school for going ahead regardless. Parents had to be masked (much to the apologies of the head, who reported it as a condition from DfE and TRafford public health for these to go ahead) but a small price to pay for such a momentous event. But I reported my joy at this to colleagues later in the day, and there was quite a lot of surprise and some disapproval that the event had been allowed to take place. It's a public sector organisation, with quite a lot of keenness for lockdown, and I didn't getthe impression that hostility was aimed at me personally - but there was more than a bit of the hint that the school were being selfish and/or self-indulgent in going ahead with a nativity play. Which I think is a shame.
On the MOT garage. God bless the small businesses, the bedrock of Britain.
Garages are just licenses to print money.
The big ones are all rip offs, KwikFit probably the worst. Good small independent garages are worth their weight in gold though.
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
The interest rate rise probably closes the door on a lockdown, would be weird for the Bank to be simultaneously raising rates and printing money to fund another round of fiscal support.
Boris really is boxed in now, he's got to hope that big Omi is no more than a paper tiger and the doom monger scientists are as wrong as they were in July. Can't see Rishi going for £40bn per month in open ended economic support measures if the Bank has shut the door on free money and simply no way the party will fund £100bn+ in a support package funded by tax rises.
Next BoE rate hike (to 0.5%) now priced in to happen as soon as 3 February and likely 1% by the end of 2022.
This all increases the interest paid on the BoE's stock of nearly £900bn gilts (which is paid at the BoE base rate). That means a 1% rise in rates increases government spending by c.£9bn a year.
We're all going to get it you bleeding idiot. Chris Whitty said that six months ago, so I'm not saying anything Chris Whitty hasn't already said. But I forget you're the moron who expect an "exit" from Covid.
But yes, liberty is worth more than death.
"Idiot", "moron" and no doubt more in other posts from you that I can't be bothered to read - can't you discuss the issue as though you weren't drunk? You come across like George Galloway on speed.
No.
You snipped out the post I was responding to which was "Which as usual is you advocating that Other People die so that you can have "liberty"."
If Rochdale wants to keep falsely claiming I am advocating that Other People die, then I'm content to call him a moron in reply. I'll be civilised with anyone that is civilised themselves.
I note you don't call him out, only me for responding to him. Funny that!
You repeatedly say that you want people to die. As a consequence of having no restrictions on your personal liberties. OK, you've said "if I die, I die". But you aren't expecting it. You aren't looking at your daughter thinking "my actions / approach may kill her. But if she dies she dies, liberty is worth more than [her] death" Or if you are you have a very different way to deal with immediate loved ones than most especially when you say you take a bullet for her.
So you clearly aren't expecting her to die or wanting her to die - you'd take a bullet to protect her. So therefore it is *other people* you expect to die. Someone else's daughter/son/parent/partner.
You can't claim civility when that is your approach.
If Lib Dems take this seat, I'm going to make a prediction that 2024 will lead to them making a significant number of gains and likely going into C&S with Labour
I am actually under the weather, just thought it was a cold.
Coughing and feeling unwell in general, not the worst thing I've had
Sounds like Omicron. Have you ordered a PCR test? Unless you've got a car the testing centres around London are a mission to get to.
Love this - thought it was just a cold, not the worst you've had? Sounds like Omicron!
It is amazing the powers of diagnosis some people possess. Without even a face to face meeting or a triage.
Absolutely. I can tell you from here that lump of blue mold growing on your back, like you are turning into a silvery scaled alien bug, is merely Plaque psoriasis. Nothing to worry about.
One (and perhaps the only) good thing about this plague is that thanks to all the toys @Foxy told us to buy at the start, I was able to upload temperature, pulse, blood pressure, lung flow, and blood oxygen to my GP's web site for an instant diagnosis. Saved at least an hour schlepping over there and hanging about in a germ-filled waiting room.
Sounds like some sort of deal done behind the scenes again, really not good for the sport.
No, I think they had little option but to take the high road. Carrying on with the action would have been a disaster for them, win or lose.
Definitely. It would have looked OTT and any 'win' wouldn't have been. They played it spot on. Consensus that it was unfair is established. Sport is littered with such. It's a perverse part of the attraction in a sense. F1 21 will be talked about for years.
Yes, poor sporting decisions need to be left on the track, field or racetrack. The one exception is cheating found after the event - where the winner should be stripped; unless it's horse racing. Never understood why Camelot wasn't retrospectively awarded the triple crown tbh.
He damn well should have been. I was there to see it and my dad - they live next to the track - had baked a special cake with "Camelot Leger Triple Crown 2012" on it. What a sad 'tea' that was when we got back to the house. Sitting in total silence picking at this cake.
There was precedent in racing too. The Aga had an Oaks win nullified. It led to him boycotting English racing for years, all his horses going to Ireland and France.
As for the F1, it would be different if Race Control had fixed it for MV/RB due to corruption. But this wasn't the case. They bent the rules in order to put a dramatic finish on for the watching world. If it'd been mid season, or the title had've been already decided, they wouldn't have done it. It was that, not a specific desire for Ham to lose and Ves to win.
If Lib Dems take this seat, I'm going to make a prediction that 2024 will lead to them making a significant number of gains and likely going into C&S with Labour
I'm sure they'll feel loads of confidence and be willing to offer plenty of supply to a party that has been leafletting that the Lib Dems are in 3rd.
Next BoE rate hike (to 0.5%) now priced in to happen as soon as 3 February and likely 1% by the end of 2022.
This all increases the interest paid on the BoE's stock of nearly £900bn gilts (which is paid at the BoE base rate). That means a 1% rise in rates increases government spending by c.£9bn a year.
True - though not on debt owned by the BofE. Do we know how much debt is actual debt - i.e. money we have to pay someone else?
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
Fits the only person I know hadn't had the vaccine - an engineer who attended our site. Hadn't got round to it. Even had a booking but didn't go. Muppet.
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
Its total bullshit....1000s of covid vaccination centres have been open 6-7 days a week for long hours for 12.months. anybody claiming i didn't get round to it / couldn't fit it in, it just lying. It takes 30 mins max and you can take your kids in if you need to. There is no way among those same people they haven't been shopping during that time etc.
If Lib Dems take this seat, I'm going to make a prediction that 2024 will lead to them making a significant number of gains and likely going into C&S with Labour
I'm sure they'll feel loads of confidence and be willing to offer plenty of supply to a party that has been leafletting that the Lib Dems are in 3rd.
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
"Hadn't got round to it yet" is such a mealy mouthed response to not having got it and covering up a well of antivax sentiment in those who say it. Chris Whitty being far too kind, IMO.
The interest rate rise probably closes the door on a lockdown, would be weird for the Bank to be simultaneously raising rates and printing money to fund another round of fiscal support.
Boris really is boxed in now, he's got to hope that big Omi is no more than a paper tiger and the doom monger scientists are as wrong as they were in July. Can't see Rishi going for £40bn per month in open ended economic support measures if the Bank has shut the door on free money and simply no way the party will fund £100bn+ in a support package funded by tax rises.
Agreed. Monetary stimulus and printing money to support spending when inflation was <2% was easy enough to justify. Almost impossible at 5% inflation given the BoE's mandate is very much focussed on managing inflation.
When did you get your third jab? Take a week to kick in.
The 3rd
Well fingers crossed you system should be absolutely pumped and primed to fight it off.
I feel under the weather so probably that's why. But a long cry from "you won't get ill if you have the jab" like we heard from a few muppets at the start
You won't get seriously ill has been the claim. 90-95% reduction in hospitalisation was always the claim against previous variants. Even when released AZN 70% efficacy against infection and Pfizer / Moderna numbers were agains symptomatic infection.
We’re STILL waiting for the efficacy of the vax (x1 and x2) against hospitalisation/death re Omicron. And the booster too?
This seems to be crucial info. We know OMICRON THE SLIMMER OF THE YEAR has overwhelmed the vaxxed in terms of infection, but beyond that?
We're all going to get it you bleeding idiot. Chris Whitty said that six months ago, so I'm not saying anything Chris Whitty hasn't already said. But I forget you're the moron who expect an "exit" from Covid.
But yes, liberty is worth more than death.
"Idiot", "moron" and no doubt more in other posts from you that I can't be bothered to read - can't you discuss the issue as though you weren't drunk? You come across like George Galloway on speed.
No.
You snipped out the post I was responding to which was "Which as usual is you advocating that Other People die so that you can have "liberty"."
If Rochdale wants to keep falsely claiming I am advocating that Other People die, then I'm content to call him a moron in reply. I'll be civilised with anyone that is civilised themselves.
I note you don't call him out, only me for responding to him. Funny that!
Didn't see that and I agree he goes OTT too (he's an LD, innit ). But attributing barmy views to people is marginally less bad than calling them names.
I'm not sure I agree Nick. I think attributing barmy views to people is worse. It's what the ten commandments calls 'bearing false witness'. It's habitually viewed as one of the less fashionable commandments along with coveting the neighbour's ox; but I'd actually say it's the biggie. Tarnishing someone's reputation. I'd rather be showered with malcolmg's creative abuse - which people understand for what it is - than have someone saying that my views were what they were not. Of course, there are matters of degree, and sometimes these things are said in fun or sport, and on this board what we say is of little consequence (though we should treat those with the confidence to use their real-world names with a little more respect). It's not like taking out a double page advert in the Times. But nor is it something we should treat too lightly.
I am actually under the weather, just thought it was a cold.
Coughing and feeling unwell in general, not the worst thing I've had
Sounds like Omicron. Have you ordered a PCR test? Unless you've got a car the testing centres around London are a mission to get to.
Love this - thought it was just a cold, not the worst you've had? Sounds like Omicron!
It is amazing the powers of diagnosis some people possess. Without even a face to face meeting or a triage.
Absolutely. I can tell you from here that lump of blue mold growing on your back, like you are turning into a silvery scaled alien bug, is merely Plaque psoriasis. Nothing to worry about.
One (and perhaps the only) good thing about this plague is that thanks to all the toys @Foxy told us to buy at the start, I was able to upload temperature, pulse, blood pressure, lung flow, and blood oxygen to my GP's web site for an instant diagnosis. Saved at least an hour schlepping over there and hanging about in a germ-filled waiting room.
Brilliant 👍🏻 Good old Foxy.
If Leicester start winning again though, he’ll be financially ruined 😕
Very strong rebuke from Chris Whitty to people who say Covid lockdowns have somehow set back cancer or other care - common trope in right-wing press. Whitty says they have "no understanding of health", and that the claim is a "complete inversion of reality". https://twitter.com/joncstone/status/1471437931118219264/photo/1
Did Whitty really say common trope in right wing press ?
Sorry but Whitty is talking bollocks. The official figures from the NHS show that waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment have increased massively, as have treatments for just about everything else - a lot of it due to people being unable to see their GPs during lockdowns.
I have a lot of time for Whitty generally but on this he is clearly losing the plot.
Because of the pandemic. Not because of lockdowns. Lockdowns -> less COVID pressure -> more NHS capacity -> more ability to treat cancer/other care.
Wrong. Social distancing -> Less NHS capacity -> Less ability to treat cancer/other care.
Had there been no lockdown, there'd have been less capacity reductions, more deaths, and the NHS would now be running at full capacity and with less demand as there's zero demand from the dead.
Go back and reread your posts from when Boris introduced the lockdowns, if I remember rightly you understood then that the purpose was to protect NHS capacity & save lives.
That was indeed the purpose and of course it is legitimate to say that it probably did given death rates would have been far higher without the lockdowns. But to do as Whitty did this morning and claim there have been no adverse effects from lockdown on cancer rates just doesn't fit the facts.
Edit. I got caught by a phone call and posted before I had finished.
Moreover I would suggest it is entirely possible that as Philip suggests we may come out the other side of this and find that the 'cure' including lockdown has killed more people than the virus itself.
You're mixing up pandemic & lockdown. The pandemic has harmed cancer service provision. The lockdown has helped cancer service provision. I really can't think of more ways to say this.
This is an idealised view of the world based on what "should" have happened. It isn't true in reality, because: - Lockdown changed people's behaviour, and therefore lots of people who should have sought medical help, didn't, because they (somewhat understandably) misunderstood, misinterpreted or just didn't see the Government advice to still go to a hospital if they felt they needed to. The outcomes for those people will now be worse than if they had sought advice in the first instance. - Large numbers of people found it almost impossible to see their GPs for referrals during lockdown, even at times when there were very few Covid cases around and there was no obvious reason for the GPs to not be seeing patients. We can only speculate on the reasons for this, but in general Covid provided an easy excuse for many individuals and organisations to simply not do their jobs for a while ("we can't do that right now because of the pandemic"), and it seems plausible that some GP surgeries were included in that trend.
Anyone interested in posting their predictions for the North Shropshire by-election? We had one 2 weeks ago for Old Bexley & Sidcup, with NP-MP compiling the entries on that occasion.
Lib Dem - 45 - winning here Tory - 38 Labour - 7 Re-whatever - 5 The rest - 5
We're all going to get it you bleeding idiot. Chris Whitty said that six months ago, so I'm not saying anything Chris Whitty hasn't already said. But I forget you're the moron who expect an "exit" from Covid.
But yes, liberty is worth more than death.
"Idiot", "moron" and no doubt more in other posts from you that I can't be bothered to read - can't you discuss the issue as though you weren't drunk? You come across like George Galloway on speed.
No.
You snipped out the post I was responding to which was "Which as usual is you advocating that Other People die so that you can have "liberty"."
If Rochdale wants to keep falsely claiming I am advocating that Other People die, then I'm content to call him a moron in reply. I'll be civilised with anyone that is civilised themselves.
I note you don't call him out, only me for responding to him. Funny that!
You repeatedly say that you want people to die. As a consequence of having no restrictions on your personal liberties. OK, you've said "if I die, I die". But you aren't expecting it. You aren't looking at your daughter thinking "my actions / approach may kill her. But if she dies she dies, liberty is worth more than [her] death" Or if you are you have a very different way to deal with immediate loved ones than most especially when you say you take a bullet for her.
So you clearly aren't expecting her to die or wanting her to die - you'd take a bullet to protect her. So therefore it is *other people* you expect to die. Someone else's daughter/son/parent/partner.
You can't claim civility when that is your approach.
Death is part of the Circle of Life.
I suggest you sit down, shut up, watch the Lion King and then come back to me. Hakuna Matata.
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
When I had my first jab, there was a long queue but you could see people dropping out as the school day ended. And many people are in jobs where they can't just nip out for a couple of hours but have to book a whole day off to get jabbed. Things are a bit better now with extended hours and weekends but it is still not ideal.
Anyone interested in posting their predictions for the North Shropshire by-election? We had one 2 weeks ago for Old Bexley & Sidcup, with NP-MP compiling the entries on that occasion.
Three anecdotes from the outside world: 1) Took the car for an MOT on Tuesday. As requested by the sign on the door, put my mask on as I went into the garage office when I went to pick it up. 'No need for that' the proprietor cheerfully assured me. 'You're the only one all day who's bothered'. He was cheerfully belligerent in his opposition to any more covid measures 'or this place won't be running any longer'. He'd had his booster jab because his dad had told him he had to or he wouldn't be coming for Christmas dinner.
2) Conversation with a friend of mine at school drop-off yesterday. He embodies the red wall. Historically labour from a working class family, he's been less and less enamoured of them over the last ten years and was repelled by Corbyn. Thinks Starmer is a berk. But his view on the current shenanigans was as follows (read this in a broad, incredulous, Mancunian accent): "do you not think they've gone absolutely way over the top to this latest one? Is he [Boris] just trying to get sacked? He's just doing f*ck-up after f*ck-up."
3) My youngest's infant school did her nativity play yesterday. I cannot conceive of anyone who could care more about the edcuation, welfare, wellbeing and happiness of the children in his care than the headmaster of this school. It is really, really important to him that normality continues for the children in that school. Anyway, I was really pleased it went ahead: it is my tenth, and last, nativity play as a parent - they don't do it in the junior's. And it was brilliant. And my youngest - who is a complicated little character: neither the competent, reliable demeanour of my oldest or the confident, outgoing character of my middle daughter - had one line, and was barely audible, and fidgeted throughout, but despite her nerves she did it, and she sang the songs and followed the cues, and I was prouder of her than I ever was of either of the older two's objectively much better performances. So anyway, well done to the school for going ahead regardless. Parents had to be masked (much to the apologies of the head, who reported it as a condition from DfE and TRafford public health for these to go ahead) but a small price to pay for such a momentous event. But I reported my joy at this to colleagues later in the day, and there was quite a lot of surprise and some disapproval that the event had been allowed to take place. It's a public sector organisation, with quite a lot of keenness for lockdown, and I didn't getthe impression that hostility was aimed at me personally - but there was more than a bit of the hint that the school were being selfish and/or self-indulgent in going ahead with a nativity play. Which I think is a shame.
On the MOT garage. God bless the small businesses, the bedrock of Britain.
Indeed. If the small (and indeed large) businesses had taken the approach to covid that the public sector has we would have starved to death three weeks into this.
Almondsbury Creative @AlmondsburyCre1 Gone from 120 booked for Christmas Afternoon tea this Saturday to 0, yes zero. The industry is being devastated yet again with absolutely no support.
Another selfish pig who isn't willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES.
When did you get your third jab? Take a week to kick in.
The 3rd
Well fingers crossed you system should be absolutely pumped and primed to fight it off.
I feel under the weather so probably that's why. But a long cry from "you won't get ill if you have the jab" like we heard from a few muppets at the start
You won't get seriously ill has been the claim. 90-95% reduction in hospitalisation was always the claim against previous variants. Even when released AZN 70% efficacy against infection and Pfizer / Moderna numbers were agains symptomatic infection.
We’re STILL waiting for the efficacy of the vax (x1 and x2) against hospitalisation/death re Omicron. And the booster too?
This seems to be crucial info. We know OMICRON THE SLIMMER OF THE YEAR has overwhelmed the vaxxed in terms of infection, but beyond that?
I was talking to covidHorseBattery about the claims that people were saying you never got covid due to vaccination (in the past). That was never the claim. It was made absolutely clear in terms of efficacy against infection vs hospitalisation, time and time again. And made clear what efficacy /effectiveness meant i.e. 90% doesn't mean 9/10 won't, it versus unvaccinated.
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
"Hadn't got round to it yet" is such a mealy mouthed response to not having got it and covering up a well of antivax sentiment in those who say it. Chris Whitty being far too kind, IMO.
Three anecdotes from the outside world: 1) Took the car for an MOT on Tuesday. As requested by the sign on the door, put my mask on as I went into the garage office when I went to pick it up. 'No need for that' the proprietor cheerfully assured me. 'You're the only one all day who's bothered'. He was cheerfully belligerent in his opposition to any more covid measures 'or this place won't be running any longer'. He'd had his booster jab because his dad had told him he had to or he wouldn't be coming for Christmas dinner.
2) Conversation with a friend of mine at school drop-off yesterday. He embodies the red wall. Historically labour from a working class family, he's been less and less enamoured of them over the last ten years and was repelled by Corbyn. Thinks Starmer is a berk. But his view on the current shenanigans was as follows (read this in a broad, incredulous, Mancunian accent): "do you not think they've gone absolutely way over the top to this latest one? Is he [Boris] just trying to get sacked? He's just doing f*ck-up after f*ck-up."
3) My youngest's infant school did her nativity play yesterday. I cannot conceive of anyone who could care more about the edcuation, welfare, wellbeing and happiness of the children in his care than the headmaster of this school. It is really, really important to him that normality continues for the children in that school. Anyway, I was really pleased it went ahead: it is my tenth, and last, nativity play as a parent - they don't do it in the junior's. And it was brilliant. And my youngest - who is a complicated little character: neither the competent, reliable demeanour of my oldest or the confident, outgoing character of my middle daughter - had one line, and was barely audible, and fidgeted throughout, but despite her nerves she did it, and she sang the songs and followed the cues, and I was prouder of her than I ever was of either of the older two's objectively much better performances. So anyway, well done to the school for going ahead regardless. Parents had to be masked (much to the apologies of the head, who reported it as a condition from DfE and TRafford public health for these to go ahead) but a small price to pay for such a momentous event. But I reported my joy at this to colleagues later in the day, and there was quite a lot of surprise and some disapproval that the event had been allowed to take place. It's a public sector organisation, with quite a lot of keenness for lockdown, and I didn't getthe impression that hostility was aimed at me personally - but there was more than a bit of the hint that the school were being selfish and/or self-indulgent in going ahead with a nativity play. Which I think is a shame.
On the MOT garage. God bless the small businesses, the bedrock of Britain.
Indeed. If the small (and indeed large) businesses had taken the approach to covid that the public sector has we would have starved to death three weeks into this.
Quite - Food retail is a real emergency service, far more necessary to the preservation of life than hospitals, and thank goodness the government doesn't run it.
When did you get your third jab? Take a week to kick in.
The 3rd
Well fingers crossed you system should be absolutely pumped and primed to fight it off.
I feel under the weather so probably that's why. But a long cry from "you won't get ill if you have the jab" like we heard from a few muppets at the start
You won't get seriously ill has been the claim. 90-95% reduction in hospitalisation was always the claim against previous variants. Even when released AZN 70% efficacy against infection and Pfizer / Moderna numbers were agains symptomatic infection.
We’re STILL waiting for the efficacy of the vax (x1 and x2) against hospitalisation/death re Omicron. And the booster too?
This seems to be crucial info. We know OMICRON THE SLIMMER OF THE YEAR has overwhelmed the vaxxed in terms of infection, but beyond that?
2x AZ or Pfizer comes in at ~65% depending on age and time since vax against hospitalisation, that's at least 6 months post second dose as well for the early sample. No word on single dose or triple dose just yet. I expect triple dose efficacy to be very, very good.
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
Its total bullshit....1000s of covid vaccination centres have been open 6-7 days a week for long hours for 12.months. anybody claiming i didn't get round to it / couldn't fit it in, it just lying. It takes 30 mins max and you can take your kids in if you need to. There is no way among those same people they haven't been shopping during that time etc.
30 minutes max plus a couple of hours to get there and back on the bus, with half-day or even a full day off work because not everyone's an upper middle class professional who can take a long lunch at the drop of a syringe.
Almondsbury Creative @AlmondsburyCre1 Gone from 120 booked for Christmas Afternoon tea this Saturday to 0, yes zero. The industry is being devastated yet again with absolutely no support.
Another selfish pig who isn't willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES.
Almondsbury Creative @AlmondsburyCre1 Gone from 120 booked for Christmas Afternoon tea this Saturday to 0, yes zero. The industry is being devastated yet again with absolutely no support.
Another selfish pig who isn't willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES.
*BREAKING NEWS
Rishi Sunak has resigned from the Tory Government, and joined the Beach Boys (as a second MP job)
Almondsbury Creative @AlmondsburyCre1 Gone from 120 booked for Christmas Afternoon tea this Saturday to 0, yes zero. The industry is being devastated yet again with absolutely no support.
Another selfish pig who isn't willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES.
What? Go bankrupt for the good of the country?
That's what a certain poster on here would do, if that's what it took.
Lets spin the question on its head. Lets say this wave is allowed to rip through the population. What is the realistic worst case scenario? Don't just say "the NHS might collapse", how many excess deaths are we talking about caused by the NHS collapsing? A thousand? Five thousand? Ten thousand? Two million?
How much QALY are we talking about? Lets quantify it. How does that compare to natural deaths that would occur anyway?
Then lockdown restrictions and screwing over the livelihoods of people like Miss Cyclefree Jr and millions more like her. How much damage is that? How much pain and suffering is that causing?
We've triply-vaccinated the vulnerable already. Either the vaccines work, or they don't. Hundreds of thousands die every single year anyway. Since the virus started close to a million have died from natural causes, the last years of which have been messed around with by lockdown. Those final years are never going to be brought back, the education disrupted, the businesses disrupted, none of that is coming back either.
Let die whoever dies. Let live whoever lives.
But you are saying that as an absolute, which is barmy. Suppose it were to turn out that Omicron has a nasty kick to it, not yet evident because it only shows up a few weeks after infection, which has the effect of making it very dangerous to children. Are you seriously suggesting that, as an absolute thing, irrespective of the avoidable death of thousands of children, we should just 'Let die whoever dies'?
You are just being bonkers. No sane person can be absolute about this, it all depends on the degree of danger.
Yes I am absolutely 100% saying that. Unequivocally and unabashedly.
No matter the danger. People die, get over it already. We fucked over 3 academic years of education. We have destroyed two years of business. For 67 million people we've had two years of damage.
Even if you believe the badly-calculated claim that the average 'death' had 10 years life expectancy left (I don't) two years lost for 67 million people is 134 million years of damage. We'd have had to have 13 million excess deaths to make up for that and its nowhere close to that.
Pre-vaccinations restrictions were borderline justifiable to me, but if I'd known they'd have dragged on for two years I'd have said they were not justifiable at all. Post-vaccinations it is madness. The damage of restrictions is worse than a fraction of 1% of people dying.
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
Its total bullshit....1000s of covid vaccination centres have been open 6-7 days a week for long hours for 12.months. anybody claiming i didn't get round to it / couldn't fit it in, it just lying. It takes 30 mins max and you can take your kids in if you need to. There is no way among those same people they haven't been shopping during that time etc.
30 minutes max plus a couple of hours to get there and back on the bus, with half-day or even a full day off work because not everyone's an upper middle class professional who can take a long lunch at the drop of a syringe.
They don't know anybody with a car, nobody....not a friend... relative...nobody....and you could book way into the future, at your convenience, over the course of 12 months, even younger adults been 6 months. So you could plan to get it around work. Also very few people live or work more than a handful of miles from one.
You might be able to find the odd edge case, but 3-5 million, bullshit. That isn't the reason the vast majority haven't got jabbed.
When did you get your third jab? Take a week to kick in.
The 3rd
Well fingers crossed you system should be absolutely pumped and primed to fight it off.
I feel under the weather so probably that's why. But a long cry from "you won't get ill if you have the jab" like we heard from a few muppets at the start
You won't get seriously ill has been the claim. 90-95% reduction in hospitalisation was always the claim against previous variants. Even when released AZN 70% efficacy against infection and Pfizer / Moderna numbers were agains symptomatic infection.
We’re STILL waiting for the efficacy of the vax (x1 and x2) against hospitalisation/death re Omicron. And the booster too?
This seems to be crucial info. We know OMICRON THE SLIMMER OF THE YEAR has overwhelmed the vaxxed in terms of infection, but beyond that?
2x AZ or Pfizer comes in at ~65% depending on age and time since vax against hospitalisation, that's at least 6 months post second dose as well for the early sample. No word on single dose or triple dose just yet. I expect triple dose efficacy to be very, very good.
Ta. Against omicron specifically? I haven’t seen that data. Highly encouraging if true. Link?
If Lib Dems take this seat, I'm going to make a prediction that 2024 will lead to them making a significant number of gains and likely going into C&S with Labour
I'm sure they'll feel loads of confidence and be willing to offer plenty of supply to a party that has been leafletting that the Lib Dems are in 3rd.
Them or the Tories
I would be very surprised if the LDs were to offer C&S to a Tory party before hell freezes over!
Three anecdotes from the outside world: 1) Took the car for an MOT on Tuesday. As requested by the sign on the door, put my mask on as I went into the garage office when I went to pick it up. 'No need for that' the proprietor cheerfully assured me. 'You're the only one all day who's bothered'. He was cheerfully belligerent in his opposition to any more covid measures 'or this place won't be running any longer'. He'd had his booster jab because his dad had told him he had to or he wouldn't be coming for Christmas dinner.
2) Conversation with a friend of mine at school drop-off yesterday. He embodies the red wall. Historically labour from a working class family, he's been less and less enamoured of them over the last ten years and was repelled by Corbyn. Thinks Starmer is a berk. But his view on the current shenanigans was as follows (read this in a broad, incredulous, Mancunian accent): "do you not think they've gone absolutely way over the top to this latest one? Is he [Boris] just trying to get sacked? He's just doing f*ck-up after f*ck-up."
3) My youngest's infant school did her nativity play yesterday. I cannot conceive of anyone who could care more about the edcuation, welfare, wellbeing and happiness of the children in his care than the headmaster of this school. It is really, really important to him that normality continues for the children in that school. Anyway, I was really pleased it went ahead: it is my tenth, and last, nativity play as a parent - they don't do it in the junior's. And it was brilliant. And my youngest - who is a complicated little character: neither the competent, reliable demeanour of my oldest or the confident, outgoing character of my middle daughter - had one line, and was barely audible, and fidgeted throughout, but despite her nerves she did it, and she sang the songs and followed the cues, and I was prouder of her than I ever was of either of the older two's objectively much better performances. So anyway, well done to the school for going ahead regardless. Parents had to be masked (much to the apologies of the head, who reported it as a condition from DfE and TRafford public health for these to go ahead) but a small price to pay for such a momentous event. But I reported my joy at this to colleagues later in the day, and there was quite a lot of surprise and some disapproval that the event had been allowed to take place. It's a public sector organisation, with quite a lot of keenness for lockdown, and I didn't getthe impression that hostility was aimed at me personally - but there was more than a bit of the hint that the school were being selfish and/or self-indulgent in going ahead with a nativity play. Which I think is a shame.
On the MOT garage. God bless the small businesses, the bedrock of Britain.
Indeed. If the small (and indeed large) businesses had taken the approach to covid that the public sector has we would have starved to death three weeks into this.
Quite - Food retail is a real emergency service, far more necessary to the preservation of life than hospitals, and thank goodness the government doesn't run it.
Indeed. Though some of us can remember PB Tories assuring us that the gaps on the shelves weren't there, or that only stupid people bought bottled water or toilet paper, or that we should simply shop around for flaked parmesan.
Almondsbury Creative @AlmondsburyCre1 Gone from 120 booked for Christmas Afternoon tea this Saturday to 0, yes zero. The industry is being devastated yet again with absolutely no support.
Another selfish pig who isn't willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES.
What? Go bankrupt for the good of the country?
I think the final comment was supposed to be read as ironic.
Lets spin the question on its head. Lets say this wave is allowed to rip through the population. What is the realistic worst case scenario? Don't just say "the NHS might collapse", how many excess deaths are we talking about caused by the NHS collapsing? A thousand? Five thousand? Ten thousand? Two million?
How much QALY are we talking about? Lets quantify it. How does that compare to natural deaths that would occur anyway?
Then lockdown restrictions and screwing over the livelihoods of people like Miss Cyclefree Jr and millions more like her. How much damage is that? How much pain and suffering is that causing?
We've triply-vaccinated the vulnerable already. Either the vaccines work, or they don't. Hundreds of thousands die every single year anyway. Since the virus started close to a million have died from natural causes, the last years of which have been messed around with by lockdown. Those final years are never going to be brought back, the education disrupted, the businesses disrupted, none of that is coming back either.
Let die whoever dies. Let live whoever lives.
But you are saying that as an absolute, which is barmy. Suppose it were to turn out that Omicron has a nasty kick to it, not yet evident because it only shows up a few weeks after infection, which has the effect of making it very dangerous to children. Are you seriously suggesting that, as an absolute thing, irrespective of the avoidable death of thousands of children, we should just 'Let die whoever dies'?
You are just being bonkers. No sane person can be absolute about this, it all depends on the degree of danger.
Yes I am absolutely 100% saying that. Unequivocally and unabashedly.
No matter the danger. People die, get over it already. We fucked over 3 academic years of education. We have destroyed two years of business. For 67 million people we've had two years of damage.
Even if you believe the badly-calculated claim that the average 'death' had 10 years life expectancy left (I don't) two years lost for 67 million people is 134 million years of damage. We'd have had to have 13 million excess deaths to make up for that and its nowhere close to that.
Pre-vaccinations restrictions were borderline justifiable to me, but if I'd known they'd have dragged on for two years I'd have said they were not justifiable at all. Post-vaccinations it is madness. The damage of restrictions is worse than a fraction of 1% of people dying.
Almondsbury Creative @AlmondsburyCre1 Gone from 120 booked for Christmas Afternoon tea this Saturday to 0, yes zero. The industry is being devastated yet again with absolutely no support.
Another selfish pig who isn't willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES.
*BREAKING NEWS
Rishi Sunak has resigned from the Tory Government, and joined the Beach Boys (as a second MP job)
When did you get your third jab? Take a week to kick in.
The 3rd
Well fingers crossed you system should be absolutely pumped and primed to fight it off.
I feel under the weather so probably that's why. But a long cry from "you won't get ill if you have the jab" like we heard from a few muppets at the start
You won't get seriously ill has been the claim. 90-95% reduction in hospitalisation was always the claim against previous variants. Even when released AZN 70% efficacy against infection and Pfizer / Moderna numbers were agains symptomatic infection.
We’re STILL waiting for the efficacy of the vax (x1 and x2) against hospitalisation/death re Omicron. And the booster too?
This seems to be crucial info. We know OMICRON THE SLIMMER OF THE YEAR has overwhelmed the vaxxed in terms of infection, but beyond that?
2x AZ or Pfizer comes in at ~65% depending on age and time since vax against hospitalisation, that's at least 6 months post second dose as well for the early sample. No word on single dose or triple dose just yet. I expect triple dose efficacy to be very, very good.
Ta. Against omicron specifically? I haven’t seen that data. Highly encouraging if true. Link?
Yeah specific to big Omi, about 25 points lower than against Delta so some dilution on two doses but not anywhere as bad as we initially feared. It was just shared in a whatsapp, let me see if there was a link. I trust the source not to BS though.
When did you get your third jab? Take a week to kick in.
The 3rd
Well fingers crossed you system should be absolutely pumped and primed to fight it off.
I feel under the weather so probably that's why. But a long cry from "you won't get ill if you have the jab" like we heard from a few muppets at the start
You won't get seriously ill has been the claim. 90-95% reduction in hospitalisation was always the claim against previous variants. Even when released AZN 70% efficacy against infection and Pfizer / Moderna numbers were agains symptomatic infection.
We’re STILL waiting for the efficacy of the vax (x1 and x2) against hospitalisation/death re Omicron. And the booster too?
This seems to be crucial info. We know OMICRON THE SLIMMER OF THE YEAR has overwhelmed the vaxxed in terms of infection, but beyond that?
2x AZ or Pfizer comes in at ~65% depending on age and time since vax against hospitalisation, that's at least 6 months post second dose as well for the early sample. No word on single dose or triple dose just yet. I expect triple dose efficacy to be very, very good.
Ta. Against omicron specifically? I haven’t seen that data. Highly encouraging if true. Link?
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
"Hadn't got round to it yet" is such a mealy mouthed response to not having got it and covering up a well of antivax sentiment in those who say it. Chris Whitty being far too kind, IMO.
This is why vaccine passports will probably increase uptake to a degree. Suddenly not being able to do stuff means people will get round to it
Question for those who know more than me. A colleagues wife has had lingering covid fatigue (about 6 weeks after the infection). She received a flu jab and within 24 hours began to feel much more normal. My colleague asked if it could be a kick to the immune system (the flu jab) aiding the covid recovery, to which replied that I had no idea... Is it possible?
Not answering your question, but ....
There was an article going about some months back about interactions between flu and covid. IIRC, it said that because many flus and colds are caused by a coronavirus the immune response is similar. It put forward the possibility that giving people flu could protect against covid.
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
"Hadn't got round to it yet" is such a mealy mouthed response to not having got it and covering up a well of antivax sentiment in those who say it. Chris Whitty being far too kind, IMO.
This is why vaccine passports will probably increase uptake to a degree. Suddenly not being able to do stuff means people will get round to it
How many 70 year olds who 'haven't gotten around to it' will do so in order to be able to get into Ministry of Sound?
If Lib Dems take this seat, I'm going to make a prediction that 2024 will lead to them making a significant number of gains and likely going into C&S with Labour
I'm sure they'll feel loads of confidence and be willing to offer plenty of supply to a party that has been leafletting that the Lib Dems are in 3rd.
Them or the Tories
I would be very surprised if the LDs were to offer C&S to a Tory party before hell freezes over!
Both previous experience and the gulf in approach to the EU post-Brexit make this impossible.
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
"Hadn't got round to it yet" is such a mealy mouthed response to not having got it and covering up a well of antivax sentiment in those who say it. Chris Whitty being far too kind, IMO.
I think unvaccinated people "on the wards" aren't going to be typical, not only because being hospitalised might make you change your mind a bit, but also because you might not want to piss off people responsible for maybe saving your life.
I personally know quite a few unvaccinated people. Some are not "anti-vaxxers" - but are worried about side-effects and/or they are willing to take their chances with "natural" infection. Some are proper anti-vaxxers including some who believe bizarre things that to me seem so obviously completely implausible, and some who have been "radicalised" - they start by saying they want the right to refuse a medical treatment, and end up sharing seriously far-right memes. Actually quite scary.
There aren't many left who "haven't got round to it".
I've just tested positive so that's Christmas probably fucked
Don't worry, once every one in the country has it on the 24th we can then end quaranteen as a pointless load of bollocks.
One of my daughters had to train somebody who had a negative LFT. After a few days the trainee had another test and showed positive. At this point she admitted that initially she had had TWO tests, one positive, one negative and decided that the negative one was right.
So now my daughter's Xmas may well be stuffed thanks to this thoughtless moron...
The Gov't need to REALLY REALLY emphasise that if you get a positive LFT - even if you have other negative ones that you really really will be positive. The "accuracy" of LFTs is all about false negatives.
That was my understanding as well and I sought and obtained the adjournment of a jury trial on that basis. There is a non minimal chance that a negative result is wrong, especially if self administered, but there is almost no chance that a positive test is wrong.
28% of negs are false negs, only about 1% of positives are false.
Three anecdotes from the outside world: 1) Took the car for an MOT on Tuesday. As requested by the sign on the door, put my mask on as I went into the garage office when I went to pick it up. 'No need for that' the proprietor cheerfully assured me. 'You're the only one all day who's bothered'. He was cheerfully belligerent in his opposition to any more covid measures 'or this place won't be running any longer'. He'd had his booster jab because his dad had told him he had to or he wouldn't be coming for Christmas dinner.
2) Conversation with a friend of mine at school drop-off yesterday. He embodies the red wall. Historically labour from a working class family, he's been less and less enamoured of them over the last ten years and was repelled by Corbyn. Thinks Starmer is a berk. But his view on the current shenanigans was as follows (read this in a broad, incredulous, Mancunian accent): "do you not think they've gone absolutely way over the top to this latest one? Is he [Boris] just trying to get sacked? He's just doing f*ck-up after f*ck-up."
3) My youngest's infant school did her nativity play yesterday. I cannot conceive of anyone who could care more about the edcuation, welfare, wellbeing and happiness of the children in his care than the headmaster of this school. It is really, really important to him that normality continues for the children in that school. Anyway, I was really pleased it went ahead: it is my tenth, and last, nativity play as a parent - they don't do it in the junior's. And it was brilliant. And my youngest - who is a complicated little character: neither the competent, reliable demeanour of my oldest or the confident, outgoing character of my middle daughter - had one line, and was barely audible, and fidgeted throughout, but despite her nerves she did it, and she sang the songs and followed the cues, and I was prouder of her than I ever was of either of the older two's objectively much better performances. So anyway, well done to the school for going ahead regardless. Parents had to be masked (much to the apologies of the head, who reported it as a condition from DfE and TRafford public health for these to go ahead) but a small price to pay for such a momentous event. But I reported my joy at this to colleagues later in the day, and there was quite a lot of surprise and some disapproval that the event had been allowed to take place. It's a public sector organisation, with quite a lot of keenness for lockdown, and I didn't getthe impression that hostility was aimed at me personally - but there was more than a bit of the hint that the school were being selfish and/or self-indulgent in going ahead with a nativity play. Which I think is a shame.
On the MOT garage. God bless the small businesses, the bedrock of Britain.
Garages are just licenses to print money.
Still amazed the same business can do test and repairs. I pay for a service just as insurance against them screwing me.
How can only one person in the UK have died with omicron?
There must be 1600 people dying every day.
Over three weeks of omicron that is 34000. And only one had tested positive for it?
Alongside the reduction in severity and the reduced propensity to end up in hospital, it’s likely that there’s a lower death rate even among the serious cases.
Three anecdotes from the outside world: 1) Took the car for an MOT on Tuesday. As requested by the sign on the door, put my mask on as I went into the garage office when I went to pick it up. 'No need for that' the proprietor cheerfully assured me. 'You're the only one all day who's bothered'. He was cheerfully belligerent in his opposition to any more covid measures 'or this place won't be running any longer'. He'd had his booster jab because his dad had told him he had to or he wouldn't be coming for Christmas dinner.
2) Conversation with a friend of mine at school drop-off yesterday. He embodies the red wall. Historically labour from a working class family, he's been less and less enamoured of them over the last ten years and was repelled by Corbyn. Thinks Starmer is a berk. But his view on the current shenanigans was as follows (read this in a broad, incredulous, Mancunian accent): "do you not think they've gone absolutely way over the top to this latest one? Is he [Boris] just trying to get sacked? He's just doing f*ck-up after f*ck-up."
3) My youngest's infant school did her nativity play yesterday. I cannot conceive of anyone who could care more about the edcuation, welfare, wellbeing and happiness of the children in his care than the headmaster of this school. It is really, really important to him that normality continues for the children in that school. Anyway, I was really pleased it went ahead: it is my tenth, and last, nativity play as a parent - they don't do it in the junior's. And it was brilliant. And my youngest - who is a complicated little character: neither the competent, reliable demeanour of my oldest or the confident, outgoing character of my middle daughter - had one line, and was barely audible, and fidgeted throughout, but despite her nerves she did it, and she sang the songs and followed the cues, and I was prouder of her than I ever was of either of the older two's objectively much better performances. So anyway, well done to the school for going ahead regardless. Parents had to be masked (much to the apologies of the head, who reported it as a condition from DfE and TRafford public health for these to go ahead) but a small price to pay for such a momentous event. But I reported my joy at this to colleagues later in the day, and there was quite a lot of surprise and some disapproval that the event had been allowed to take place. It's a public sector organisation, with quite a lot of keenness for lockdown, and I didn't getthe impression that hostility was aimed at me personally - but there was more than a bit of the hint that the school were being selfish and/or self-indulgent in going ahead with a nativity play. Which I think is a shame.
On the MOT garage. God bless the small businesses, the bedrock of Britain.
Garages are just licenses to print money.
Still amazed the same business can do test and repairs. I pay for a service just as insurance against them screwing me.
I suspect the MOT is a loss leader.
They just add the balance onto the cost of replacing the brake pads afterwards.
Comments
Did no one tell you, we could go back to work circa Easter? No wonder you've been getting more and more frustrated banging away on your angry keyboard 24/7 instead of working.
You might have left it too late this time before the next lockdown however.
We're having a casedemic because we're looking for cases, not necessarily because people are very sick with it.
But why be sorry? Philip wants you to go out and infect as many people as you can.
If it accelerates signficantly in the next 5-7 days then that will be fair enough to attribute to Omicron, but we're not there yet.
Anyway, plus side is that my wife’s cooking has never tasted better! 😂
Lockdown just dragged out cases so that the NHS was dealing with Covid for longer, and at reduced capacity.
Had there been no lockdown then we'd have smashed through NHS capacity with Covid cases, more of whom would have died, but then for the rest of the time the NHS could have been doing its actual job.
What this is about is the direction of travel and future intentions. And an economy with over 1m job vacancies arguably doesn't need that much stimulation.
LD45, Con 28, Lab 17, oth10
But, good man
https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/how-likely-positive-lateral-flow-test-covid-19-be-wrong
Numbers likely to go through the roof between now and xmas as that effect spreads, but still waiting for evidence it will cause any real problems to healthcare, and once we hit xmas and people lose the incentive to test, we could see a very spectacular fall.
Johannesberg cases are now falling, 30% down on last week yesterday, but not sure how far behind them we are.
Hamilton's a big star but Verstappen is too. Russell also has great potential on the track (his Sakhir stand in was excellent).
The cars next year matter the most so it remains to be seen how things stack up, but the idea any one driver is essential to F1 is nonsense.
2. I'm tactically voting SNP in the GE
3. Have been given the OK to still be in the party and vote against the party. By an impeccable authority on such matters
My PT needs his second COVID jab in order to compete in an international sports competition in the USA in the New Year. He had his first 5 weeks ago, and cannot go to the local GP immediately because he has just moved house and needs to register etc. A GP could probably refer him.
Walk-ins won't do him as it requires an 8 week interval.
How to do this, and get jab 2 this side of Christmas/New Year? Are there any routes through the system?
(I can't comment on why the first one waited until November, except to note that he is fully pro-vax, and will have a good reason.)
That could only possibly work in an environment where prevalence is at least 28%, in which case game over already.
So if we tested the whole country, 99% of the positives and 28% of the negatives would have covid?
Who knows?
What we need is the ONS figures, which always come after a small delay. It will be interesting to see them when we next get them.
A tie LD Tory +/- one percent.
Is it possible?
The cricket team would be better looking for someone to play down at their own level.
Whitty says that very few unvaccinated are anti-vaxxers. As well as convincing them that jabs work and don't have serious side effects, he says convenience is key.
When he was last on the wards and treating unvaxxed, "an awful lot of them said they hadn't got round to it yet"
https://twitter.com/Smyth_Chris/status/1471440412153896961?t=amP94u8D6WCbyeqqAc8NZA&s=19
Obviously, "haven't got round to it" is a rubbish excuse, but is there more that could have been done? The rollout seems to have lost oomph somewhere, albeit picked up again now.
Boris really is boxed in now, he's got to hope that big Omi is no more than a paper tiger and the doom monger scientists are as wrong as they were in July. Can't see Rishi going for £40bn per month in open ended economic support measures if the Bank has shut the door on free money and simply no way the party will fund £100bn+ in a support package funded by tax rises.
This all increases the interest paid on the BoE's stock of nearly £900bn gilts (which is paid at the BoE base rate). That means a 1% rise in rates increases government spending by c.£9bn a year.
So you clearly aren't expecting her to die or wanting her to die - you'd take a bullet to protect her. So therefore it is *other people* you expect to die. Someone else's daughter/son/parent/partner.
You can't claim civility when that is your approach.
Either English or Australian team from 2005 would 5-0 batter both these sides.
There was precedent in racing too. The Aga had an Oaks win nullified. It led to him boycotting English racing for years, all his horses going to Ireland and France.
As for the F1, it would be different if Race Control had fixed it for MV/RB due to corruption. But this wasn't the case. They bent the rules in order to put a dramatic finish on for the watching world. If it'd been mid season, or the title had've been already decided, they wouldn't have done it. It was that, not a specific desire for Ham to lose and Ves to win.
This seems to be crucial info. We know OMICRON THE SLIMMER OF THE YEAR has overwhelmed the vaxxed in terms of infection, but beyond that?
Of course, there are matters of degree, and sometimes these things are said in fun or sport, and on this board what we say is of little consequence (though we should treat those with the confidence to use their real-world names with a little more respect). It's not like taking out a double page advert in the Times. But nor is it something we should treat too lightly.
If Leicester start winning again though, he’ll be financially ruined 😕
- Lockdown changed people's behaviour, and therefore lots of people who should have sought medical help, didn't, because they (somewhat understandably) misunderstood, misinterpreted or just didn't see the Government advice to still go to a hospital if they felt they needed to. The outcomes for those people will now be worse than if they had sought advice in the first instance.
- Large numbers of people found it almost impossible to see their GPs for referrals during lockdown, even at times when there were very few Covid cases around and there was no obvious reason for the GPs to not be seeing patients. We can only speculate on the reasons for this, but in general Covid provided an easy excuse for many individuals and organisations to simply not do their jobs for a while ("we can't do that right now because of the pandemic"), and it seems plausible that some GP surgeries were included in that trend.
I suggest you sit down, shut up, watch the Lion King and then come back to me. Hakuna Matata.
C 35
L 17
Ref 5
Oth 4
Almondsbury Creative
@AlmondsburyCre1
Gone from 120 booked for Christmas Afternoon tea this Saturday to 0, yes zero. The industry is being devastated yet again with absolutely no support.
Another selfish pig who isn't willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES.
Simply a lie, or he is a gullible lefty fool
Rishi Sunak has resigned from the Tory Government, and joined the Beach Boys (as a second MP job)
You might be able to find the odd edge case, but 3-5 million, bullshit. That isn't the reason the vast majority haven't got jabbed.
There must be 1600 people dying every day.
Over three weeks of omicron that is 34000. And only one had tested positive for it?
There was an article going about some months back about interactions between flu and covid. IIRC, it said that because many flus and colds are caused by a coronavirus the immune response is similar. It put forward the possibility that giving people flu could protect against covid.
They do seem to be interlinked in some way
I personally know quite a few unvaccinated people. Some are not "anti-vaxxers" - but are worried about side-effects and/or they are willing to take their chances with "natural" infection. Some are proper anti-vaxxers including some who believe bizarre things that to me seem so obviously completely implausible, and some who have been "radicalised" - they start by saying they want the right to refuse a medical treatment, and end up sharing seriously far-right memes. Actually quite scary.
There aren't many left who "haven't got round to it".