Sir John Bell - Regis Professor of Medicine, Oxford on R4 - disease is now relatively mild (among the vaccinated) and is a serious illness very largely only among the un-vaccinated. Also can rely on public to be sensible. Doesn’t see much point of continuing with legal restrictions. Testing cannot rely on commercial only testing - need to scale back to where testing is required and ONS surveillance needs to continue. Masks reduce transmission a bit, but don’t stop it - mandating it not necessary, rely on individual choice.
Sounds entirely reasonable.
Yes, it sounds reasonable but is it? The masks bit might bear more thinking about. If their function is to reduce transmission of the virus and not infection by it, then my health depends on other people doing the right thing voluntarily. It is not like vaccination, where I am protecting myself, and others' choice is less significant. As for testing, we need to be careful not to wind down capacity so far that we cannot ramp it back up should a more virulent strain appear.
The Government decision to move from free to paid for Covid testing is illogical. Either it's worth doing, in which case they pay for it as they do for any other diagnostic testing on the NHS, or we no longer need to know who has Covid, in which case government advises against the test.
It raises the suspicion that the real reason for making testing more costly/difficult is stop incidents being reported. so it can be covered up.
I assume the cost will still be subsidised. So it's a subsidised facility for people to find out if they are positive and act accordingly. Seems sensible even if the majority of seroprevalence data will come from other sources.
Why isn't it free in that case, as with all other diagnostic tests on the NHS? It is either useful or it isn't.
Well, at the moment, 99% of tests are negative. Which isn't very helpful, and suggests a lot of tests are done by people, with few symptoms, who do not need them. They can't be blamed for making use of them, because they are there.
The idea of asymptomatic testing was always to try to reduce the spread. Now that the consensus is that generally we don't need to stop, and importantly cannot stop transmission, then asymptomatic testing should be stopped. Use testing for the ONS to track the general situation and use it for diagnosis on hospital admission to help with securing the best treatment strategy.
That's right, but the second part is having that future capacity ready for any further waves (of symptomatic patients). Therefore the marginal cost of some testing is limited, because we'd still be paying the cost of the capacity, used or not.
This is really about the NHS surge capacity though. For too long the NHS has been run like a business, trimming the fat (excess capacity) and then struggling when demand increases. I don't know how we do it different, but every winter there will be increased demand, so perhaps there needs to be a plan for that, that isn't just cancelling elective surgery.
Sir John Bell - Regis Professor of Medicine, Oxford on R4 - disease is now relatively mild (among the vaccinated) and is a serious illness very largely only among the un-vaccinated. Also can rely on public to be sensible. Doesn’t see much point of continuing with legal restrictions. Testing cannot rely on commercial only testing - need to scale back to where testing is required and ONS surveillance needs to continue. Masks reduce transmission a bit, but don’t stop it - mandating it not necessary, rely on individual choice.
Sounds entirely reasonable.
Yes, it sounds reasonable but is it? The masks bit might bear more thinking about. If their function is to reduce transmission of the virus and not infection by it, then my health depends on other people doing the right thing voluntarily. It is not like vaccination, where I am protecting myself, and others' choice is less significant. As for testing, we need to be careful not to wind down capacity so far that we cannot ramp it back up should a more virulent strain appear.
If not now, when? Covid is endemic. This needs to be accepted.
Sir John Bell - Regis Professor of Medicine, Oxford on R4 - disease is now relatively mild (among the vaccinated) and is a serious illness very largely only among the un-vaccinated. Also can rely on public to be sensible. Doesn’t see much point of continuing with legal restrictions. Testing cannot rely on commercial only testing - need to scale back to where testing is required and ONS surveillance needs to continue. Masks reduce transmission a bit, but don’t stop it - mandating it not necessary, rely on individual choice.
Sounds entirely reasonable.
Yes, it sounds reasonable but is it? The masks bit might bear more thinking about. If their function is to reduce transmission of the virus and not infection by it, then my health depends on other people doing the right thing voluntarily. It is not like vaccination, where I am protecting myself, and others' choice is less significant. As for testing, we need to be careful not to wind down capacity so far that we cannot ramp it back up should a more virulent strain appear.
The 'doing the right thing' is what gives me pause. When would that ever stop? I think I'd be happy to wear a mask if I have symptoms AND need to go out. But for 99% of the time I don't.
Perhaps I would have more sympathy for many of those objecting to the lifting of remaining restrictions today, had they not fought against easing of restrictions at every previous opportunity, including predicting a series of dire consequences which never came to pass.
A couple of weeks ago we discussed the regional GDP figures, which were hopelessly out of date. The slightly less out of date (end of June 2021) figures have been published.
Previously noticable was the lack of GDP grwoth in the West Midlands, which suggested a future Red Wall problem for the Conservatives. There is an interesting update. WM stays far behind, but it would be difficult to see a trend anywhere else. WM up 5.1%, similar to other regions - so no change in the gap.
Compared to Q4 2019:
North East 99% North West 98% Yorkshire and The Humber 99% East Midlands 97% West Midlands 92% East of England 97% London 99% South East 96% South West 99% England 97% Wales 101%
Everywhere else pretty consistent - these figures always carry a pinch of salt because of the way that the ONS has to determine where GDP is generated.
Noticeable that the North's GDP figures are all better than the English average, as are the Welsh figures. Plenty of redwall seats there, so some good news for the Tories. London also better than the English average which might help reduce Tory losses in the capital. The East Midlands and East of England figures are spot on the English average.
However the South East figures are poor, almost as bad as the West Midlands, which suggests the LDs could benefit in the Home Counties as much as Labour in the West Midlands
Northern Echo Poll of Polls
Every red wall local 2019 Tory MP will lose their seat except in Berwick.
Sir John Bell - Regis Professor of Medicine, Oxford on R4 - disease is now relatively mild (among the vaccinated) and is a serious illness very largely only among the un-vaccinated. Also can rely on public to be sensible. Doesn’t see much point of continuing with legal restrictions. Testing cannot rely on commercial only testing - need to scale back to where testing is required and ONS surveillance needs to continue. Masks reduce transmission a bit, but don’t stop it - mandating it not necessary, rely on individual choice.
Sounds entirely reasonable.
Yes, it sounds reasonable but is it? The masks bit might bear more thinking about. If their function is to reduce transmission of the virus and not infection by it, then my health depends on other people doing the right thing voluntarily. It is not like vaccination, where I am protecting myself, and others' choice is less significant. As for testing, we need to be careful not to wind down capacity so far that we cannot ramp it back up should a more virulent strain appear.
We live in the society we live in. By which I mean (as though it needed an explanation....) that people don't want to wear masks. We all know it is to protect others but we don't want to do it. Or rather 97% of us don't. And because that is the case it means that those who feel vulnerable must come to some accommodation with this.
And of course when I say "those who feel vulnerable" this also needs examination. I keep hearing the number of 500,000 as those who are vulnerable. They must do whatever they used to do before, but a bit moreso. And talking of vulnerable, 85-yr old father of a friend (yes, I know) has severe COPD whatever is the bad stage. Asked his GP about those pills that are used to treat Covid. Was told he is no longer categorised as vulnerable.
A couple of weeks ago we discussed the regional GDP figures, which were hopelessly out of date. The slightly less out of date (end of June 2021) figures have been published.
Previously noticable was the lack of GDP grwoth in the West Midlands, which suggested a future Red Wall problem for the Conservatives. There is an interesting update. WM stays far behind, but it would be difficult to see a trend anywhere else. WM up 5.1%, similar to other regions - so no change in the gap.
Compared to Q4 2019:
North East 99% North West 98% Yorkshire and The Humber 99% East Midlands 97% West Midlands 92% East of England 97% London 99% South East 96% South West 99% England 97% Wales 101%
Everywhere else pretty consistent - these figures always carry a pinch of salt because of the way that the ONS has to determine where GDP is generated.
Noticeable that the North's GDP figures are all better than the English average, as are the Welsh figures. Plenty of redwall seats there, so some good news for the Tories. London also better than the English average which might help reduce Tory losses in the capital. The East Midlands and East of England figures are spot on the English average.
However the South East figures are poor, almost as bad as the West Midlands, which suggests the LDs could benefit in the Home Counties as much as Labour in the West Midlands
Northern Echo Poll of Polls
Every red wall local 2019 Tory MP will lose their seat except in Berwick.
Surprise that their nativist, heritage obsessed government isn’t promoting the lance as an appropriate answer to enemy armour.
You are aware that the "Polish cavalry charging at German tanks with lances" thing was nearly entirely Nazi propaganda?
The Polish government at the time, which was fairly poor, was trying to mechanise as fast as it could. Being caught without enough tanks is a long remembered thing there....
Polish cavalry fought as mounted infantry. One one occasion, at least, they gave a German Panzer unit a nasty surprise, while they were stopped to refuel and re-arm.
I think the incident that you're referring to was in fact a Wehrmacht infantry unit the Poles caught by surprise and charged successfully, but were then themselves caught by armoured cars losing about a third of their number.
Cracking incidental knowledge. Even for PB.
If knowledge were power, this place would run the country...
Not sure it is always great for judgment though...
Surprise that their nativist, heritage obsessed government isn’t promoting the lance as an appropriate answer to enemy armour.
You are aware that the "Polish cavalry charging at German tanks with lances" thing was nearly entirely Nazi propaganda?
The Polish government at the time, which was fairly poor, was trying to mechanise as fast as it could. Being caught without enough tanks is a long remembered thing there....
Polish cavalry fought as mounted infantry. One one occasion, at least, they gave a German Panzer unit a nasty surprise, while they were stopped to refuel and re-arm.
I think the incident that you're referring to was in fact a Wehrmacht infantry unit the Poles caught by surprise and charged successfully, but were then themselves caught by armoured cars losing about a third of their number.
Cracking incidental knowledge. Even for PB.
If knowledge were power, this place would run the country...
Not sure it is always great for judgment though...
Surprise that their nativist, heritage obsessed government isn’t promoting the lance as an appropriate answer to enemy armour.
You are aware that the "Polish cavalry charging at German tanks with lances" thing was nearly entirely Nazi propaganda?
The Polish government at the time, which was fairly poor, was trying to mechanise as fast as it could. Being caught without enough tanks is a long remembered thing there....
Polish cavalry fought as mounted infantry. One one occasion, at least, they gave a German Panzer unit a nasty surprise, while they were stopped to refuel and re-arm.
I think the incident that you're referring to was in fact a Wehrmacht infantry unit the Poles caught by surprise and charged successfully, but were then themselves caught by armoured cars losing about a third of their number.
Cracking incidental knowledge. Even for PB.
If knowledge were power, this place would run the country...
Not sure it is always great for judgment though...
If you're dissing Radiohead again, then goodbye and it was nice knowing you.
I read that as you suggesting what the Poles really require are think-tanks.
They have their place. Something like “institute of Putin studies” perhaps. We have more than enough spare think-tanks we could happily export to them if needed.
Surprise that their nativist, heritage obsessed government isn’t promoting the lance as an appropriate answer to enemy armour.
You are aware that the "Polish cavalry charging at German tanks with lances" thing was nearly entirely Nazi propaganda?
The Polish government at the time, which was fairly poor, was trying to mechanise as fast as it could. Being caught without enough tanks is a long remembered thing there....
Polish cavalry fought as mounted infantry. One one occasion, at least, they gave a German Panzer unit a nasty surprise, while they were stopped to refuel and re-arm.
I think the incident that you're referring to was in fact a Wehrmacht infantry unit the Poles caught by surprise and charged successfully, but were then themselves caught by armoured cars losing about a third of their number.
Cracking incidental knowledge. Even for PB.
If knowledge were power, this place would run the country...
Not sure it is always great for judgment though...
There's a range...!
Quite so
Wrong, very wrong, dear gods what's the matter with you why would you even suggest that you lunatic?
Surprise that their nativist, heritage obsessed government isn’t promoting the lance as an appropriate answer to enemy armour.
You are aware that the "Polish cavalry charging at German tanks with lances" thing was nearly entirely Nazi propaganda?
The Polish government at the time, which was fairly poor, was trying to mechanise as fast as it could. Being caught without enough tanks is a long remembered thing there....
Polish cavalry fought as mounted infantry. One one occasion, at least, they gave a German Panzer unit a nasty surprise, while they were stopped to refuel and re-arm.
I think the incident that you're referring to was in fact a Wehrmacht infantry unit the Poles caught by surprise and charged successfully, but were then themselves caught by armoured cars losing about a third of their number.
Cracking incidental knowledge. Even for PB.
If knowledge were power, this place would run the country...
Not sure it is always great for judgment though...
If you're dissing Radiohead again, then goodbye and it was nice knowing you.
I have never and will never diss Radiohead. I believe silence on the matter speaks for itself.
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have asked Putin to recognise their independence because "Ukraine has chosen a military solution to the conflict".
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have asked Putin to recognise their independence because "Ukraine has chosen a military solution to the conflict".
I guess that is the solution here? Nothing changes on the ground, but Putin formally recognises those as 'sovereign' states whilst everyone else carries on seeing them as part of Ukraine, and no one tries to retake them militarily?
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have asked Putin to recognise their independence because "Ukraine has chosen a military solution to the conflict".
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have asked Putin to recognise their independence because "Ukraine has chosen a military solution to the conflict".
I guess that is the solution here? Nothing changes on the ground, but Putin formally recognises those as 'sovereign' states whilst everyone else carries on seeing them as part of Ukraine, and no one tries to retake them militarily?
Let's hope so. What is clear is Putin would have no compunction destroying a neighbouring state and killing a large part of its inhabitants. Catastrophe averted even if only for the interim.
Surprise that their nativist, heritage obsessed government isn’t promoting the lance as an appropriate answer to enemy armour.
You are aware that the "Polish cavalry charging at German tanks with lances" thing was nearly entirely Nazi propaganda?
The Polish government at the time, which was fairly poor, was trying to mechanise as fast as it could. Being caught without enough tanks is a long remembered thing there....
Polish cavalry fought as mounted infantry. One one occasion, at least, they gave a German Panzer unit a nasty surprise, while they were stopped to refuel and re-arm.
I think the incident that you're referring to was in fact a Wehrmacht infantry unit the Poles caught by surprise and charged successfully, but were then themselves caught by armoured cars losing about a third of their number.
Cracking incidental knowledge. Even for PB.
If knowledge were power, this place would run the country...
Not sure it is always great for judgment though...
There's a range...!
Quite so
Wrong, very wrong, dear gods what's the matter with you why would you even suggest that you lunatic?
I think maybe we extend that to a raised eyebrow and "Maybe...." at one end and shit-being-lost by the Flint-knapper-Formerly-Known-as-Byronic at the other...
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have asked Putin to recognise their independence because "Ukraine has chosen a military solution to the conflict".
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have asked Putin to recognise their independence because "Ukraine has chosen a military solution to the conflict".
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have asked Putin to recognise their independence because "Ukraine has chosen a military solution to the conflict".
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have asked Putin to recognise their independence because "Ukraine has chosen a military solution to the conflict".
The “Leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics”, being the Russian rebels inside Ukraine.
All this false flagging gets tiring.
I think the only point of note is that clearly they don't feel Putin is entirely behind them.
Putin fondly remembers the days of the USSR. Perhaps he is forgotten that even the puppets don't always tow the line.
The point of note when I go to that page is the ad promoting Slovenian passports to Russians. A lack of confidence in Putin may be more widespread and the domestic reaction might be the only thing holding him back. Let's hope so.
Second order effects of the Ukraine situation, which might prove consequential. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/21/ukrainian-american-voters-eye-on-russia-00010148 ...He and Marko both consider themselves Republicans, and they’re the kind of Ukrainian-Americans who now find themselves conflicted. Both told me they’re satisfied with Biden’s response to the crisis so far, and both admire Marcy Kaptur, the Democratic co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, whose district includes Parma.
Marko told me he voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020, but struggled with the decision because of Trump’s rhetoric; many of his Ukrainian-American acquaintances ultimately supported Trump over Biden. But he also recalls customers telling his father they would stop being Republican because of Trump. During the 2020 election, he says, one client, during what started as a friendly chat about politics, got agitated and called the then-president an idiot...
Surprise that their nativist, heritage obsessed government isn’t promoting the lance as an appropriate answer to enemy armour.
You are aware that the "Polish cavalry charging at German tanks with lances" thing was nearly entirely Nazi propaganda?
The Polish government at the time, which was fairly poor, was trying to mechanise as fast as it could. Being caught without enough tanks is a long remembered thing there....
Polish cavalry fought as mounted infantry. One one occasion, at least, they gave a German Panzer unit a nasty surprise, while they were stopped to refuel and re-arm.
I think the incident that you're referring to was in fact a Wehrmacht infantry unit the Poles caught by surprise and charged successfully, but were then themselves caught by armoured cars losing about a third of their number.
Cracking incidental knowledge. Even for PB.
If knowledge were power, this place would run the country...
Not sure it is always great for judgment though...
If you're dissing Radiohead again, then goodbye and it was nice knowing you.
I have never and will never diss Radiohead. I believe silence on the matter speaks for itself.
It was a smaller incident, IIRC, a platoon of German tanks had stopped for refuelling and rearming. A Polish mounted cavalry unit saw this, and covered the ground between them at a gallop, dismounted and took on the Germans before they could get their tanks up and running.
"Universities must ditch online lectures when all remaining Covid restrictions are lifted, minister says
MP Michelle Donelan said there is 'no excuse' for keeping lectures online when all legal restrictions to curb coronavirus are lifted in England on Thursday It comes as several universities admitted they plan to continue remote learning "
We did online lectures before COVID; we will do so in the future too. It’s an efficient way to deliver teaching to NHS staff who take our educational courses. But I suspect such subtlety and an understanding of how we can use a range of educational technologies to best suit different student groups is lost on the Daily Mail or Conservative MPs…
Quite a lot of students really like online lectures. If the lecture is well done, and the students can watch when they want, and pause etc it can work well. Last thursday I gave three 1 hour (well 50 minutes - there is a 10 min change-over gap) to the same cohort. The last lecture was their seventh hour of the day. I think many would have rather had the option to watch when ready.
However some stuff for me doesn't work online - tutorials and workshops work best wandering round the room and interacting with the students.
And clearly practical classes have to be in person.
So really the best thing is probably a mix or a blend.
And lastly - in previous times last Friday would have been a write-off for my Uni - red warning so closed campus, but most teaching was able to switch to online.
Properly used online lectures can be valuable, but in other situations they are not appropriate
Some institutions are abusing them with the result there is a lower quality education overall
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have asked Putin to recognise their independence because "Ukraine has chosen a military solution to the conflict".
"Universities must ditch online lectures when all remaining Covid restrictions are lifted, minister says
MP Michelle Donelan said there is 'no excuse' for keeping lectures online when all legal restrictions to curb coronavirus are lifted in England on Thursday It comes as several universities admitted they plan to continue remote learning "
We did online lectures before COVID; we will do so in the future too. It’s an efficient way to deliver teaching to NHS staff who take our educational courses. But I suspect such subtlety and an understanding of how we can use a range of educational technologies to best suit different student groups is lost on the Daily Mail or Conservative MPs…
Quite a lot of students really like online lectures. If the lecture is well done, and the students can watch when they want, and pause etc it can work well. Last thursday I gave three 1 hour (well 50 minutes - there is a 10 min change-over gap) to the same cohort. The last lecture was their seventh hour of the day. I think many would have rather had the option to watch when ready.
However some stuff for me doesn't work online - tutorials and workshops work best wandering round the room and interacting with the students.
And clearly practical classes have to be in person.
So really the best thing is probably a mix or a blend.
And lastly - in previous times last Friday would have been a write-off for my Uni - red warning so closed campus, but most teaching was able to switch to online.
I think it's a slippery slope to doing most things online, which I personally think would be a bad thing. Rubbing shoulders with people you wouldn't necessarily choose to be with is one of the key ingredients of civilisation.
Even if you take all the current Russian claims at face value, they're pretty small beer. You could justify some airstrikes on Ukrainian army positions in the Donbas, maybe a peacekeeping buffer zone between the two sides, but nothing that would make taking Kyiv, or the Black Sea coast, as anything other than wildly disproportionate.
So it would seem likely that we'd have quite a bit more in the way of pretexts and provocations being ramped up over several days or longer to justify a full invasion.
Kyiv is portrayed as claiming borscht is exclusively the Ukraine national dish (which I believe it is anyway). If hummus is anything to go by that could really kick things off.
Claiming to be the originator of Hummus will kick off a fight in a large chunk of the world....
The Government decision to move from free to paid for Covid testing is illogical. Either it's worth doing, in which case they pay for it as they do for any other diagnostic testing on the NHS, or we no longer need to know who has Covid, in which case government advises against the test.
It raises the suspicion that the real reason for making testing more costly/difficult is stop incidents being reported. so it can be covered up.
That doesn't make any sense.
Its not free as its not necessary anymore, but if anyone chooses to go to a pharmacy or elsewhere for the service they should have the right to pay, if that's their free choice.
So much talk wasted on Radiohead when the correct answer is Stephen Wilson.
I was at school with a Stephen Wilson.
I'm fairly sure he isn't the correct answer to anything.
The Steven Wilson I have in mind is the creative genius behind Porcupine Tree / no-man / Blackfield / Bass Communion / Storm Corrosion / Incredible Expanding Mindfuck and not dismissing the stuff released solo.
If there is such a thing as a musical polymath, it is he...
Customer service done right: Customer not in when DHL try to deliver. Customer has a pre-existing issue with her local DHL reps and arranges to collect from the depot rather than try for another delivery. That takes too long and the products are defrosted. Cue complaint about us using DHL.
Not our fault, not DHL's fault. But she still gets an apology, a full refund and a voucher off a replacement order. Because its better to lose a bit of money making up for a poor experience than lose their business entirely plus anyone else they speak to about how badly we treated them plus their friends who pass o the story etc etc.
So how do bigger companies not get this? A computer says no approach where you are in the wrong even when its clearly the other way round and a grudging "gesture of goodwill" if you're lucky? Those three words do trigger me I confess, especially (as I once had) the company was legally in the shit and I was threatening to take them to court.
Apologise. Refund. Make right. Next customer please. It's not difficult.
Yodel 'lost' a box of wine that I'd ordered from Majestic. Driver said he'd left it, we were in all the time, no-one knocked etc. Clearly addressed to me, neighbours know me etc. Have to check with driver; no, nothing to add. No photo. Sorry, end of. Contacted Majestic; Oh dear, send us the answer from Yodel. Did, and was told to go to local Majestic branch who sorted out a replacement, in fact to higher value. Majestic 10 Yodel nil. IMHO
The supplier (Majestic in this case) will be very happy to have received the feedback on their courier. One can imagine how much ‘shrinkage’ they must suffer on deliveries of things like wine.
I had a case of wine go missing before Christmas, which they claimed to have delivered; it took me over a week to get a copy of the delivery photograph sent to me, of the box sitting in someone else's doorway.
I cancelled my Amazon Prime because they kept leaving parcels on other people's doorsteps. Several items went missing and then the final straw was something turning up on my doorstep two days later with all of the contents carefully removed.
DPD are in my experience the best delivery firm. They do what you ask, have a brilliant real time tracking system and are super efficient.
Through the pandemic Hermes have been terrible, closely followed by Royal Mail and Amazon.
I found DPD crap, 3 times tehy failed to pick up a parcel and evrey time it was signed off as customer refused. When they finally sent someone he said he knew who the lazy barsteward was who could not be bothered going so far to pick it up.
I agree with our Malcolm about the uselessness of DPD. I recently sent a small package to the HQ of an international bank. The building was one of the largest in the city. The message came back that they could not find the building, and so it had to be returned to me.
I chatted to a beefeater once… dominos pizza delivery driver “couldn’t find the Tower of London”
Three job vacancies have been put up on the civil servants’ portal, all for the Downing Street data unit – a £60,000 “Data Scientist”, a £60,000 “Data Architect/Engineer” and a £60,000 “Front End Developer”.
They are probably looking for an HYUFD style analyst who can find and publicise numbers that fit the politics rather than someone to do anything complex.
Go for it, young HY!!!!!! You are well qualified..... with lots of experience....
Surprise that their nativist, heritage obsessed government isn’t promoting the lance as an appropriate answer to enemy armour.
You are aware that the "Polish cavalry charging at German tanks with lances" thing was nearly entirely Nazi propaganda?
The Polish government at the time, which was fairly poor, was trying to mechanise as fast as it could. Being caught without enough tanks is a long remembered thing there....
Polish cavalry fought as mounted infantry. One one occasion, at least, they gave a German Panzer unit a nasty surprise, while they were stopped to refuel and re-arm.
I think the incident that you're referring to was in fact a Wehrmacht infantry unit the Poles caught by surprise and charged successfully, but were then themselves caught by armoured cars losing about a third of their number.
Cracking incidental knowledge. Even for PB.
If knowledge were power, this place would run the country...
Not sure it is always great for judgment though...
There's a range...!
Quite so
Wrong, very wrong, dear gods what's the matter with you why would you even suggest that you lunatic?
Even if you take all the current Russian claims at face value, they're pretty small beer. You could justify some airstrikes on Ukrainian army positions in the Donbas, maybe a peacekeeping buffer zone between the two sides, but nothing that would make taking Kyiv, or the Black Sea coast, as anything other than wildly disproportionate.
So it would seem likely that we'd have quite a bit more in the way of pretexts and provocations being ramped up over several days or longer to justify a full invasion.
Kyiv is portrayed as claiming borscht is exclusively the Ukraine national dish (which I believe it is anyway). If hummus is anything to go by that could really kick things off.
Claiming to be the originator of Hummus will kick off a fight in a large chunk of the world....
So much talk wasted on Radiohead when the correct answer is Stephen Wilson.
I was at school with a Stephen Wilson.
I'm fairly sure he isn't the correct answer to anything.
The Steven Wilson I have in mind is the creative genius behind Porcupine Tree / no-man / Blackfield / Bass Communion / Storm Corrosion / Incredible Expanding Mindfuck and not dismissing the stuff released solo.
If there is such a thing as a musical polymath, it is he...
I have just wikipedia'd him. I must confess the only one of those I am even vaguely aware of is No-Man. I shall give him a listen this evening.
Sir John Bell - Regis Professor of Medicine, Oxford on R4 - disease is now relatively mild (among the vaccinated) and is a serious illness very largely only among the un-vaccinated. Also can rely on public to be sensible. Doesn’t see much point of continuing with legal restrictions. Testing cannot rely on commercial only testing - need to scale back to where testing is required and ONS surveillance needs to continue. Masks reduce transmission a bit, but don’t stop it - mandating it not necessary, rely on individual choice.
Seems eminently sensible from Sir John, unlike several other submissions I have heard today.
And (yes, I know, I know) but WTF is it with BBC and voxpops?
Do they not even test Joe Public's contributions for basic sanity before they broadcast them?
Three job vacancies have been put up on the civil servants’ portal, all for the Downing Street data unit – a £60,000 “Data Scientist”, a £60,000 “Data Architect/Engineer” and a £60,000 “Front End Developer”.
They are probably looking for an HYUFD style analyst who can find and publicise numbers that fit the politics rather than someone to do anything complex.
Go for it, young HY!!!!!! You are well qualified..... with lots of experience....
iSage do that for free - all you need to do is to spoof them that the government is doing f, they will provided data proving that f-1 is the correct answer. Then do f-1 as planned.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
The Government decision to move from free to paid for Covid testing is illogical. Either it's worth doing, in which case they pay for it as they do for any other diagnostic testing on the NHS, or we no longer need to know who has Covid, in which case government advises against the test.
It raises the suspicion that the real reason for making testing more costly/difficult is stop incidents being reported. so it can be covered up.
That doesn't make any sense.
Its not free as its not necessary anymore, but if anyone chooses to go to a pharmacy or elsewhere for the service they should have the right to pay, if that's their free choice.
Indeed. One might as well argue that prescriptions are only chargeable because the government wants to 'cover up' people's illnesses. What an absolutely bonkers contention. I have seen so many today.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
Only if all NATO forces combined together.
The Russian army is still the 3rd most powerful in the world after the US and China's
So much talk wasted on Radiohead when the correct answer is Stephen Wilson.
I was at school with a Stephen Wilson.
I'm fairly sure he isn't the correct answer to anything.
The Steven Wilson I have in mind is the creative genius behind Porcupine Tree / no-man / Blackfield / Bass Communion / Storm Corrosion / Incredible Expanding Mindfuck and not dismissing the stuff released solo.
If there is such a thing as a musical polymath, it is he...
I have just wikipedia'd him. I must confess the only one of those I am even vaguely aware of is No-Man. I shall give him a listen this evening.
Starter for 10 albums: Porcupine Tree: Fear of a Blank Planet Steven Wilson: Hand. Cannot. Erase. no-man: Flowemouth
Its funny. He can have sold out multi-night shows at the Albert Hall and the reaction of most people is "who?" Under the radar doesn't quite cover it. And its just how much stuff he puts out, and its all good, much is great, some is epic.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
There would be a lot of body bags along the way, though. We, the UK that is, certainly doesn't have the appetite for that.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
Only if all NATO forces combined together.
The Russian army is still the 3rd most powerful in the world after the US and China's
Why would all of NATO combined be necessary when the US alone is more powerful than Russia?
And Russia's "power" is vastly overrated. Most of the 150k "troops" are poorly disciplined conscripts.
Sir John Bell - Regis Professor of Medicine, Oxford on R4 - disease is now relatively mild (among the vaccinated) and is a serious illness very largely only among the un-vaccinated. Also can rely on public to be sensible. Doesn’t see much point of continuing with legal restrictions. Testing cannot rely on commercial only testing - need to scale back to where testing is required and ONS surveillance needs to continue. Masks reduce transmission a bit, but don’t stop it - mandating it not necessary, rely on individual choice.
Seems eminently sensible from Sir John, unlike several other submissions I have heard today.
And (yes, I know, I know) but WTF is it with BBC and voxpops?
Do they not even test Joe Public's contributions for basic sanity before they broadcast them?
Modern style news. You ask a random person and they something controversial. This makes it news.
That fact that the "voxpop" resembles the bottom right hand example in the following, is irrelevant...
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
Only if all NATO forces combined together.
The Russian army is still the 3rd most powerful in the world after the US and China's
Why would all of NATO combined be necessary when the US alone is more powerful than Russia?
And Russia's "power" is vastly overrated. Most of the 150k "troops" are poorly disciplined conscripts.
If Trump got back in in 2024 he would abandon NATO as he is pals with Putin and just concentrate on containing China.
Europe would be left to defend itself. Russia could beat each individual European army on its own, it could not beat them if the French, German, Italian, Polish, UK militaries combined however. So increasing defence spending by all NATO members in Europe is vital.
Customer service done right: Customer not in when DHL try to deliver. Customer has a pre-existing issue with her local DHL reps and arranges to collect from the depot rather than try for another delivery. That takes too long and the products are defrosted. Cue complaint about us using DHL.
Not our fault, not DHL's fault. But she still gets an apology, a full refund and a voucher off a replacement order. Because its better to lose a bit of money making up for a poor experience than lose their business entirely plus anyone else they speak to about how badly we treated them plus their friends who pass o the story etc etc.
So how do bigger companies not get this? A computer says no approach where you are in the wrong even when its clearly the other way round and a grudging "gesture of goodwill" if you're lucky? Those three words do trigger me I confess, especially (as I once had) the company was legally in the shit and I was threatening to take them to court.
Apologise. Refund. Make right. Next customer please. It's not difficult.
Yodel 'lost' a box of wine that I'd ordered from Majestic. Driver said he'd left it, we were in all the time, no-one knocked etc. Clearly addressed to me, neighbours know me etc. Have to check with driver; no, nothing to add. No photo. Sorry, end of. Contacted Majestic; Oh dear, send us the answer from Yodel. Did, and was told to go to local Majestic branch who sorted out a replacement, in fact to higher value. Majestic 10 Yodel nil. IMHO
The supplier (Majestic in this case) will be very happy to have received the feedback on their courier. One can imagine how much ‘shrinkage’ they must suffer on deliveries of things like wine.
I had a case of wine go missing before Christmas, which they claimed to have delivered; it took me over a week to get a copy of the delivery photograph sent to me, of the box sitting in someone else's doorway.
I cancelled my Amazon Prime because they kept leaving parcels on other people's doorsteps. Several items went missing and then the final straw was something turning up on my doorstep two days later with all of the contents carefully removed.
DPD are in my experience the best delivery firm. They do what you ask, have a brilliant real time tracking system and are super efficient.
Through the pandemic Hermes have been terrible, closely followed by Royal Mail and Amazon.
I found DPD crap, 3 times tehy failed to pick up a parcel and evrey time it was signed off as customer refused. When they finally sent someone he said he knew who the lazy barsteward was who could not be bothered going so far to pick it up.
I agree with our Malcolm about the uselessness of DPD. I recently sent a small package to the HQ of an international bank. The building was one of the largest in the city. The message came back that they could not find the building, and so it had to be returned to me.
I chatted to a beefeater once… dominos pizza delivery driver “couldn’t find the Tower of London”
I once got into a cab in NYC. The driver had apparently recently arrived from Haiti. "West 54th Street please'" said I. "Where's that?" came the reply.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
Only if all NATO forces combined together.
The Russian army is still the 3rd most powerful in the world after the US and China's
Why would all of NATO combined be necessary when the US alone is more powerful than Russia?
And Russia's "power" is vastly overrated. Most of the 150k "troops" are poorly disciplined conscripts.
If Trump got back in in 2024 he would abandon NATO as he is pals with Putin and just concentrate on containing China.
Europe would be left to defend itself. Russia could beat each individual European army on its own, it could not beat them if the French, German, Polish, UK militaries combined however. So increasing defence spending by all NATO members in Europe is vital.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
Not to mention the West’s combined forces armchair general division. Probably outnumbers Russian groundforces on numbers AND bellicosity.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
Only if all NATO forces combined together.
The Russian army is still the 3rd most powerful in the world after the US and China's
Why would all of NATO combined be necessary when the US alone is more powerful than Russia?
And Russia's "power" is vastly overrated. Most of the 150k "troops" are poorly disciplined conscripts.
If Trump got back in in 2024 he would abandon NATO as he is pals with Putin and just concentrate on containing China.
Europe would be left to defend itself. Russia could beat each individual European army on its own, it could not beat them if the French, German, Italian, Polish, UK militaries combined however. So increasing defence spending by all NATO members in Europe is vital.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
Only if all NATO forces combined together.
The Russian army is still the 3rd most powerful in the world after the US and China's
Why would all of NATO combined be necessary when the US alone is more powerful than Russia?
And Russia's "power" is vastly overrated. Most of the 150k "troops" are poorly disciplined conscripts.
If Trump got back in in 2024 he would abandon NATO as he is pals with Putin and just concentrate on containing China.
Europe would be left to defend itself. Russia could beat each individual European army on its own, it could not beat them if the French, German, Italian, Polish, UK militaries combined however. So increasing defence spending by all NATO members in Europe is vital.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
Only if all NATO forces combined together.
The Russian army is still the 3rd most powerful in the world after the US and China's
Why would all of NATO combined be necessary when the US alone is more powerful than Russia?
And Russia's "power" is vastly overrated. Most of the 150k "troops" are poorly disciplined conscripts.
If Trump got back in in 2024 he would abandon NATO as he is pals with Putin and just concentrate on containing China.
Europe would be left to defend itself. Russia could beat each individual European army on its own, it could not beat them if the French, German, Italian, Polish, UK militaries combined however. So increasing defence spending by all NATO members in Europe is vital.
The French and Germans, and even the Spaniards, Italians and Greeks, have all actually got quite large militaries, at least in terms of numbers.
None individually bigger than the Russians, so Russia could defeat them all individually
Obviously not. The French and Americans are also increasing their military presence in the areas of the Mediterranean towards the Black Sea at the moment, however, which would still mean the Russians having to confront major NATO forces in central Europe for the foreseeable future.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Its not sounded good for a while. Like the Grand old Duke of York he's marched his troops to the top of the hill, but I don't think he can march them back down again, so it will have to be a conflict.
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
Only if all NATO forces combined together.
The Russian army is still the 3rd most powerful in the world after the US and China's
Why would all of NATO combined be necessary when the US alone is more powerful than Russia?
And Russia's "power" is vastly overrated. Most of the 150k "troops" are poorly disciplined conscripts.
If Trump got back in in 2024 he would abandon NATO as he is pals with Putin and just concentrate on containing China.
Europe would be left to defend itself. Russia could beat each individual European army on its own, it could not beat them if the French, German, Italian, Polish, UK militaries combined however. So increasing defence spending by all NATO members in Europe is vital.
Putin: Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner. US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
"did"
Doesn't sound good
Source is the Russia Today ticker. Which is the best source for the Russian 'perspective'
Somewhat related - but it seems alt-right/qanon/definitely-not-russian-trolls-world is ablaze with tomorrows date marking 'the return of Pluto' and that being the date everything kicks off. Something to do with Pluto doing the same thing at the 'founding of the United States' in 1776 (ymmv). And something else to do with the fall of the Roman Empire. I gave up trying to wrap my head around it.
It's very strange, even by that worlds standards. But they are certainly quite excited about it and convinced it relates to Ukraine and all-round family values tough guy Putin's timing of events.
Three job vacancies have been put up on the civil servants’ portal, all for the Downing Street data unit – a £60,000 “Data Scientist”, a £60,000 “Data Architect/Engineer” and a £60,000 “Front End Developer”.
Three job vacancies have been put up on the civil servants’ portal, all for the Downing Street data unit – a £60,000 “Data Scientist”, a £60,000 “Data Architect/Engineer” and a £60,000 “Front End Developer”.
Comments
https://twitter.com/skepticalzebra/status/1495708249064099843?s=21
Every red wall local 2019 Tory MP will lose their seat except in Berwick.
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/19937746.electoral-calculus-predicts-labour-wins-north-east/
And of course when I say "those who feel vulnerable" this also needs examination. I keep hearing the number of 500,000 as those who are vulnerable. They must do whatever they used to do before, but a bit moreso. And talking of vulnerable, 85-yr old father of a friend (yes, I know) has severe COPD whatever is the bad stage. Asked his GP about those pills that are used to treat Covid. Was told he is no longer categorised as vulnerable.
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/homepage.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election#Graphical_summary
Hexham, Middlesborough South and Cleveland East would certainly stay Tory on the latest polls, maybe Bishop Auckland too
They have their place. Something like “institute of Putin studies” perhaps. We have more than enough spare think-tanks we could happily export to them if needed.
Wrong, very wrong, dear gods what's the matter with you why would you even suggest that you lunatic?
https://ria.ru/20220221/dnr-1774105558.html
All this false flagging gets tiring.
https://www.rt.com/on-air/
Putin fondly remembers the days of the USSR. Perhaps he is forgotten that even the puppets don't always tow the line.
*not actual warfare or with actual submarines.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/21/ukrainian-american-voters-eye-on-russia-00010148
...He and Marko both consider themselves Republicans, and they’re the kind of Ukrainian-Americans who now find themselves conflicted. Both told me they’re satisfied with Biden’s response to the crisis so far, and both admire Marcy Kaptur, the Democratic co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, whose district includes Parma.
Marko told me he voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020, but struggled with the decision because of Trump’s rhetoric; many of his Ukrainian-American acquaintances ultimately supported Trump over Biden. But he also recalls customers telling his father they would stop being Republican because of Trump. During the 2020 election, he says, one client, during what started as a friendly chat about politics, got agitated and called the then-president an idiot...
It was a smaller incident, IIRC, a platoon of German tanks had stopped for refuelling and rearming. A Polish mounted cavalry unit saw this, and covered the ground between them at a gallop, dismounted and took on the Germans before they could get their tanks up and running.
Some institutions are abusing them with the result there is a lower quality education overall
Government speech’s don’t deal in shades of gray.
I'm fairly sure he isn't the correct answer to anything.
Its not free as its not necessary anymore, but if anyone chooses to go to a pharmacy or elsewhere for the service they should have the right to pay, if that's their free choice.
If there is such a thing as a musical polymath, it is he...
Russia did all it could to resolve Ukraine crisis in a peaceful manner.
US can rip up security commitments it gives us.
Doesn't sound good
And (yes, I know, I know) but WTF is it with BBC and voxpops?
Do they not even test Joe Public's contributions for basic sanity before they broadcast them?
The mad thing is Russia could never defeat the West if we allied against him and were willing to back it up with force to protect Ukraine. Russia's army is decrepit, weak, ill-mannered and ill-equipped. NATO could easily stop him into the ground if it came to a conventional war.
That's OK, then. Vlad will have taken note. Them SNPers not to be taken lightly.
This is not a spoof. See:
https://twitter.com/Markgsparrow/status/1495410986253262853
The Russian army is still the 3rd most powerful in the world after the US and China's
Porcupine Tree: Fear of a Blank Planet
Steven Wilson: Hand. Cannot. Erase.
no-man: Flowemouth
Its funny. He can have sold out multi-night shows at the Albert Hall and the reaction of most people is "who?" Under the radar doesn't quite cover it. And its just how much stuff he puts out, and its all good, much is great, some is epic.
The floor is gorgeous.
And Russia's "power" is vastly overrated. Most of the 150k "troops" are poorly disciplined conscripts.
That fact that the "voxpop" resembles the bottom right hand example in the following, is irrelevant...
Europe would be left to defend itself. Russia could beat each individual European army on its own, it could not beat them if the French, German, Italian, Polish, UK militaries combined however. So increasing defence spending by all NATO members in Europe is vital.
Russia actually has 1,014,000 professional troops and 2 million reserves
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Armed_Forces
It's very strange, even by that worlds standards. But they are certainly quite excited about it and convinced it relates to Ukraine and all-round family values tough guy Putin's timing of events.