As Zoe daily cases hit 330,000 - we see cases rising in all areas in all ages to record levels and super infectious omicron BA.2 now over 93 percent of U.K. cases. Hitting schools and hospitals again and still no public health messaging!
Who gives a f**k that its hitting schools, or hospitals? We have vaccines. It doesn't matter a jot how many cases there are, let the vaccines do their jobs and move on already.
When the people in Schools and Hospitals are off sick in sufficient numbers it matters. And that is happening no matter how much you want to "move on already".
Yes that makes it no different to an outbreak of norovirus. But just as you can't "move on already" and still have people in school with arse-spraying mayhem you also can't have people in school who feel like absolute crap can't teach and are mobile virus sprayers.
If people feel like absolute crap they should stay home whether it be norovirus, flu, common cold or Covid.
If people are fit and healthy but have a positive line on a test they should not be taking the test and should be going in to work.
Not difficult. Too many people are isolating because they're "infected" or "positive" not because they're "sick".
Good heavens, Bart, I had no idea you were a medical man.
Cases - UP. But R is coming down, quite strongly. I suspect that we will back to R=1 in the next week or so. In Hospital - UP MV Beds - slightly UP Admissions - UP. R is steady. Deaths - Flat(ish)
I've lost track of how many colleagues, friends and relatives either have it or have just had it, None of them have died, most say it was moderately nasty but over in 1-2 weeks.
OK, we can cope. But what's striking is how it's changing behaviour. For example, when my organisation plans an event, we now have two organisers living in different places, to allow for the possibility that one of them will go down with it. I'm visiting elderly relatives next week, so a friend who I was planning to dine with on Friday suggested that it's best if we postpone till after my holiday. We're "living with Covid", as they say, but it's changing the way we arrange our lives, less day to day and more mapped out in advance.
I don't think even this behaviour will continue ad-infinitum. Everybody is going to get this, probably once a year, but natural immunity + vaccines + antivirals (for the most vulnerable) + better hospital treatment / procedures, I don't think even these kind of behavioural changes will be common come this time next year.
I suspect they will slowly fade away - but for more vulnerable (and particularly older) people, I would expect mask wearing in crowded spaces to continue for some time.
I think we'll see masks on public transport from a decent section of the population for a while. I am still masking up, if nothing else to reduce the risk of getting a cold
Tracking the numbers on Oryx, the proportion of tanks to total vehicles destroyed seems to have dropped a bit in the last few days. I am sure part of that is the Russians are no longer attacking so much and are digging in more, presenting fewer good tank targets. But I wonder if another part of it is that the Ukrainians are prioritizing hitting Russian artillery, anti-aircraft and logistics assets more now.
Oryx did a big catch up on Ukrainian equipment that was lost around Kherson in the early days so I think it was a factor of bookkeeping. Post-that, the ratio looks to be back to the 4:1 level
Also, the Russians have adjusted tactics to have more screening infantry, jamming, active protection etc since the early days.
Just in: Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels tomorrow, as per two sources.
SNAP POLL: % of Britons who think the policies announced in the spring statement will benefit people like them...
A great deal: 2% A fair amount: 11% Not very much: 42% Not at all: 24% Don't know: 20%
It unravelled quickly
That depends on what the usual rating is from such polls. It may well be that every time people say not very much. If they don't trust the top team then they'll probably say that even if it was good, or vice versa.
What would make a lot of sense would be to ask in advance whether people expected the policies to benefit people like them and then ask again afterwards. Gauge of disappointment.
Interesting on page 63 of the OBR book - "since 2019 the UK appears to have become a less trade intensive economy with trade as % of GDP falling 12% since 2019 - two and a half times more than any other G7 country".
I think we'll see masks on public transport from a decent section of the population for a while. I am still masking up, if nothing else to reduce the risk of getting a cold
Or, more accurately, to reduce the risk of the rest of us getting your cold. I’m not bothering to return the favour but I appreciate your efforts.
I think we'll see masks on public transport from a decent section of the population for a while. I am still masking up, if nothing else to reduce the risk of getting a cold
Or, more accurately, to reduce the risk of the rest of us getting your cold. I’m not bothering to return the favour but I appreciate your efforts.
I think we'll see masks on public transport from a decent section of the population for a while. I am still masking up, if nothing else to reduce the risk of getting a cold
Or, more accurately, to reduce the risk of the rest of us getting your cold. I’m not bothering to return the favour but I appreciate your efforts.
Lucas Tomlinson @LucasFoxNews · 4m NATO estimates up to 15,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine. That means in just one month, Moscow has potentially matched its number killed in decade-long Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s
===
With 3x that injured perhaps, that is a massive hit for RU military. Heads will roll. Or they will take Putin away.
I think we'll see masks on public transport from a decent section of the population for a while. I am still masking up, if nothing else to reduce the risk of getting a cold
Or, more accurately, to reduce the risk of the rest of us getting your cold. I’m not bothering to return the favour but I appreciate your efforts.
Depends, tbf. FFP2 or 3 would be good both ways.
You are, of course, right but I’m a superstitious man and I only got Covid in the end after three jabs and whilst frequently wearing an FFP3. I am therefore internally convinced they are magic Covid magnets.
Interesting on page 63 of the OBR book - "since 2019 the UK appears to have become a less trade intensive economy with trade as % of GDP falling 12% since 2019 - two and a half times more than any other G7 country".
I think we'll see masks on public transport from a decent section of the population for a while. I am still masking up, if nothing else to reduce the risk of getting a cold
Or, more accurately, to reduce the risk of the rest of us getting your cold. I’m not bothering to return the favour but I appreciate your efforts.
You sound like a lovely fellow.
I’ll let you in a secret - sometimes jokes are based on playing up one’s own cruelty so as to be the butt of it.
Interesting on page 63 of the OBR book - "since 2019 the UK appears to have become a less trade intensive economy with trade as % of GDP falling 12% since 2019 - two and a half times more than any other G7 country".
I think we'll see masks on public transport from a decent section of the population for a while. I am still masking up, if nothing else to reduce the risk of getting a cold
Or, more accurately, to reduce the risk of the rest of us getting your cold. I’m not bothering to return the favour but I appreciate your efforts.
You sound like a lovely fellow.
I’ll let you in a secret - sometimes jokes are based on playing up one’s own cruelty so as to be the butt of it.
Tracking the numbers on Oryx, the proportion of tanks to total vehicles destroyed seems to have dropped a bit in the last few days. I am sure part of that is the Russians are no longer attacking so much and are digging in more, presenting fewer good tank targets. But I wonder if another part of it is that the Ukrainians are prioritizing hitting Russian artillery, anti-aircraft and logistics assets more now.
They don't really need to take out tanks. They can simply use lower-capacity weapons, not capable of penetrating full armour, to take out fuel trucks and supply vehicles. The tanks can't operate for long without fuel, and they need a hell of a lot of it.
Spanish property. Investment. Hedge against inflation?
Is Spain the best place to be buying in investment property if the world economy might take a dump? Serious question, I don't know, just instinctively doesn't feel so.
Go Portugal, then you can get the citizenship.
Haven't they recently changed those laws, so that the path to citizenship via the property buying route is restricted to buying properties in only certain shall we say less fashionable areas i.e. not the Algarve, which has a very solid property market.
When I last looked, it seemed they had just suspended it for Russia and Belarus.
(Checks)
Most countries seem to be described have temporarily halted it for Russians. Which sounds like leaving a backtrack open depending on circs.
Interesting on page 63 of the OBR book - "since 2019 the UK appears to have become a less trade intensive economy with trade as % of GDP falling 12% since 2019 - two and a half times more than any other G7 country".
Heard Rachel Reeves earlier. She was very good. A little work on her presentation and Labour have a star in the wings. Her stats on this government's performance were breathtaking
Sounds cataclysmic. Martin Lewis on radio 4 is predicting disaster for most. Plus a wonderful headline for tomorrows papers. "WE Are at the Edge of a Personal Finance Precipice"
What a line!
He was hammering some hapless minister or other on GMB earlier in week.
Edit: A drastic cut back of most people's discretionary spending means a big recession in a service-led, consumer economy. The shit is coming...
I think we'll see masks on public transport from a decent section of the population for a while. I am still masking up, if nothing else to reduce the risk of getting a cold
Or, more accurately, to reduce the risk of the rest of us getting your cold. I’m not bothering to return the favour but I appreciate your efforts.
You sound like a lovely fellow.
I’ll let you in a secret - sometimes jokes are based on playing up one’s own cruelty so as to be the butt of it.
I was joking...
And this is why written communication is dangerous. Putin was probably tipped over by Zelensky’s 2021 Christmas card.
Heard Rachel Reeves earlier. She was very good. A little work on her presentation and Labour have a star in the wings. Her stats on this government's performance were breathtaking
For what it's worth, I think this is one of the worst budgets I can remember.
Simply appalling judgment and failure to recognize how people are struggling/will struggle and making it even more attractive to have unearned rather than earned income.
You could keep £70k in an ISA, you could buy £70k of premium bonds and make £25 every three months, and you could watch the value of your cash depreciate by 8% a year
OR you could buy a pleasant whitewashed 3 bed town house in a charming village in the green hills of Andalusia
You could keep £70k in an ISA, you could buy £70k of premium bonds and make £25 every three months, and you could watch the value of your cash depreciate by 8% a year
OR you could buy a pleasant whitewashed 3 bed town house in a charming village in the green hills of Andalusia
As Zoe daily cases hit 330,000 - we see cases rising in all areas in all ages to record levels and super infectious omicron BA.2 now over 93 percent of U.K. cases. Hitting schools and hospitals again and still no public health messaging!
Who gives a f**k that its hitting schools, or hospitals? We have vaccines. It doesn't matter a jot how many cases there are, let the vaccines do their jobs and move on already.
When the people in Schools and Hospitals are off sick in sufficient numbers it matters. And that is happening no matter how much you want to "move on already".
Yes that makes it no different to an outbreak of norovirus. But just as you can't "move on already" and still have people in school with arse-spraying mayhem you also can't have people in school who feel like absolute crap can't teach and are mobile virus sprayers.
If people feel like absolute crap they should stay home whether it be norovirus, flu, common cold or Covid.
If people are fit and healthy but have a positive line on a test they should not be taking the test and should be going in to work.
Not difficult. Too many people are isolating because they're "infected" or "positive" not because they're "sick".
It's only anecdotage I know. But I know a lot of people who have been floored by BA2, triple jabbed and already had previous variants not stopping them being ill enough to be off work.
You keep saying "move on already" but you can't when there is a nasty virus that makes a lot of people ill enough to be off work, even if only for a few days. So your school and your hospital that you mention get pockets of staff availability issues caused by BA2 tearing through the staff.
So why would they ignore your directives and want people to be off who are positive and not ill? Because they are the exception rather than the rule, and one person off is a lot better than 10 people off.
Sounds cataclysmic. Martin Lewis on radio 4 is predicting disaster for most. Plus a wonderful headline for tomorrows papers. "WE Are at the Edge of a Personal Finance Precipice"
What a line!
He was hammering some hapless minister or other on GMB earlier in week.
Edit: A drastic cut back of most people's discretionary spending means a big recession in a service-led, consumer economy. The shit is coming...
Big time! I've not heard such doom laden ordure poured over a budget before. Words like 50 years...70 years....this century....since the 60's....
If Putin is increasingly isolated, and seen to be so, would his minions do his bidding if he did press the big red button?
I'm finding news coverage of the war very poor now. I want to know whether the Russians are gaining or losing ground...what their strategy is etc.. instead its pictures of bombed buildings and emoting about refugees
Yes, this has been broadcast news since about 1992. A tiny bit on what happens and masses on how we should be feeling about it. I remember the first time I saw an interview on the news with someone who cried at the end. I remember feeling shocked - not at the crying per se but that the broadcasters had shown this and not allowed the poor fella some dignity. It didn't really strike me that showing someone crying was the whole point.
If Putin is increasingly isolated, and seen to be so, would his minions do his bidding if he did press the big red button?
I'm finding news coverage of the war very poor now. I want to know whether the Russians are gaining or losing ground...what their strategy is etc.. instead its pictures of bombed buildings and emoting about refugees
This guy, ex US military sniper, does daily videos on this. It is very informative, 20 mins each day where he annotates maps of the current territory and fighting. That is if you can put up with a Yank butchering Eastern European town names.
The "Yank" in question regularly makes a point about his own ability to pronounce these names, its a bit of a running joke in his videos.
How bad is he?
He doesn't bother to try.
He has lots of maps coloured in red showing the 'Russian controlled' areas. But, as that article in The Atlantic pointed out, many of these are simply areas the Russians have driven through, and aren't controlling in any meaningful sense.
Just took a VERY quick look at his YouTube channel. Initial impressions unfavorable, thanks to
> Name of channel; in my humble experience, those who trumpet their truthfulness are to untruthful, or unable to tell what's truth and what ain't.
> Coors ball cap, if THAT's his preferred brew then MUST question his taste AND judgement
Looks like just another YouTube instant "expert"?
True. Although very many YouTube experts, in all sorts of subjects, are really good.
And the amount of video clips he has, together with background information about them, suggest he is doing a fair bit of research.
This pre-announcement of a tax cut over two years away is making it difficult for government spokespeople to use future uncertainty as a reason for not being able to answer pointed questions about their intentions.
This pre-announcement of a tax cut over two years away is making it difficult for government spokespeople to use future uncertainty as a reason for not being able to answer pointed questions about their intentions.
There’s quiet a lot in Boris government that shouldn’t be there, but Whatley must be near top list for losing votes with every media appearance. More than a touch of Gavin Williamson about her.
This pre-announcement of a tax cut over two years away is making it difficult for government spokespeople to use future uncertainty as a reason for not being able to answer pointed questions about their intentions.
She was terrible!
'If you'll just let me finish avoiding anwering your question..'
If Putin is increasingly isolated, and seen to be so, would his minions do his bidding if he did press the big red button?
I'm finding news coverage of the war very poor now. I want to know whether the Russians are gaining or losing ground...what their strategy is etc.. instead its pictures of bombed buildings and emoting about refugees
Yes, this has been broadcast news since about 1992. A tiny bit on what happens and masses on how we should be feeling about it. I remember the first time I saw an interview on the news with someone who cried at the end. I remember feeling shocked - not at the crying per se but that the broadcasters had shown this and not allowed the poor fella some dignity. It didn't really strike me that showing someone crying was the whole point.
Heard Rachel Reeves earlier. She was very good. A little work on her presentation and Labour have a star in the wings. Her stats on this government's performance were breathtaking
.....and not in a good way!
She looks OK
You mean she’s got big tits? I don’t think you’ve moved your eyes from them have you?
Cases - UP. But R is coming down, quite strongly. I suspect that we will back to R=1 in the next week or so. In Hospital - UP MV Beds - slightly UP Admissions - UP. R is steady. Deaths - Flat(ish)
I've lost track of how many colleagues, friends and relatives either have it or have just had it, None of them have died, most say it was moderately nasty but over in 1-2 weeks.
OK, we can cope. But what's striking is how it's changing behaviour. For example, when my organisation plans an event, we now have two organisers living in different places, to allow for the possibility that one of them will go down with it. I'm visiting elderly relatives next week, so a friend who I was planning to dine with on Friday suggested that it's best if we postpone till after my holiday. We're "living with Covid", as they say, but it's changing the way we arrange our lives, less day to day and more mapped out in advance.
I don't think even this behaviour will continue ad-infinitum. Everybody is going to get this, probably once a year, but natural immunity + vaccines + antivirals (for the most vulnerable) + better hospital treatment / procedures, I don't think even these kind of behavioural changes will be common come this time next year.
Are they even commonplace now? Life is pretty much back to normal in London, covid little more than background noise. I'm very surprised to read these accounts.
Tracking the numbers on Oryx, the proportion of tanks to total vehicles destroyed seems to have dropped a bit in the last few days. I am sure part of that is the Russians are no longer attacking so much and are digging in more, presenting fewer good tank targets. But I wonder if another part of it is that the Ukrainians are prioritizing hitting Russian artillery, anti-aircraft and logistics assets more now.
Oryx did a big catch up on Ukrainian equipment that was lost around Kherson in the early days so I think it was a factor of bookkeeping. Post-that, the ratio looks to be back to the 4:1 level
Thanks, Ed. But I think we are talking at cross purposes. I was talking only about Russian losses, not Ukrainian ones.
And the ratio of Russian tanks to other Russian vehicles lost. Proportionately, in the last few days since the earliest hints of the Russians digging in, it seems they are losing fewer tanks relative of other vehicle types.
Nothing Sunak has said today will significantly lighten anyone's financial load. It will, though, consign a lot of people to absolute penury.
Sunaks married to a billionaire...compared to him Boris Johnsons on minimum wage
This is a witty elephant 🙂 hope you got more like these up your trunk.
Ivory about your puns....
Tusk tusk.
Welcome to the circus droll elephant.
Are you also a heffelump?
"The heffalump ate my honey. Well actually, I did, but it made me do it."
Maybe we can call the droll Elephant which has wandered in here Brompet?
PB is a bit like an imaginary story book land for grown ups isn’t it?
Part Winnie the Pooh, part The Clangers.
Maybe Hollywood will turn all this into a movie.
Have you spent some time in America? I notice you used the phrase 'take out' for 'take away' earlier, and now movie.
Never been to America. But so much of our culture is now American. The films we watch American. Our social media is turning us all American, don’t you realise Lucky?
This pre-announcement of a tax cut over two years away is making it difficult for government spokespeople to use future uncertainty as a reason for not being able to answer pointed questions about their intentions.
There’s quiet a lot in Boris government that shouldn’t be there, but Whatley must be near top list for losing votes with every media appearance. More than a touch of Gavin Williamson about her.
You must have missed Priti on one side and Boris on the other.
It made the Addams family look like a supermodels away-day.
Covid is playing havoc at work right now, working on a key project and the team have not been at full strength due to absences for about a month.
Today I got the dreaded feint line. Hope I do better than my fully vaccinated 50yr old sister in law who ended up yo-yo-ing out of hospital and is still not recovered.
Tim Montgomerie not a fan of the Budget. Says Sunak is the richest MP but has done nothing for those on benefits given the cost of living increase and the below inflation benefits rise
Covid is playing havoc at work right now, working on a key project and the team have not been at full strength due to absences for about a month.
Today I got the dreaded feint line. Hope I do better than my fully vaccinated 50yr old sister in law who ended up yo-yo-ing out of hospital and is still not recovered.
Covid isn’t done.
Sorry to hear it. Causing a lot of absences in my teams too. No one seriously unwell, but all felt very rough for a week or so, and really fatigued for a fortnight.
It's so infectious though that I doubt any measures can stop it spreading. 25% of the cases in my hospital caught it after admission, despite precautions still being compulsory in hospital.
Comments
https://twitter.com/StuartKLau/status/1506670809556955138?
Presumably he means that the 12% fall is 2.5x more than others - it could be read two ways?
@LucasFoxNews
·
4m
NATO estimates up to 15,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine. That means in just one month, Moscow has potentially matched its number killed in decade-long Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s
===
With 3x that injured perhaps, that is a massive hit for RU military. Heads will roll. Or they will take Putin away.
(contains chart).
https://twitter.com/alfie_stirling/status/1506646585802907656?s=21
A cartoon by @AliCoaster. #NewYorkerCartoons https://twitter.com/NewYorker/status/1506684060499914754/photo/1
Amounts remain the same; geographical restrictions will apply. Residential properties in Lisbon, Porto, or along the coast won’t qualify
https://getgoldenvisa.com/portugal-golden-visa-changes
.....and not in a good way!
Edit: A drastic cut back of most people's discretionary spending means a big recession in a service-led, consumer economy. The shit is coming...
New thread
Simply appalling judgment and failure to recognize how people are struggling/will struggle and making it even more attractive to have unearned rather than earned income.
Shocking.
OR you could buy a pleasant whitewashed 3 bed town house in a charming village in the green hills of Andalusia
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/96311798?currencyCode=GBP#/?channel=OVERSEAS
Even if the house depreciates as much as your cash, you have a HOUSE to enjoy as a bolthole, especially if the bomb drops. Hmm
You keep saying "move on already" but you can't when there is a nasty virus that makes a lot of people ill enough to be off work, even if only for a few days. So your school and your hospital that you mention get pockets of staff availability issues caused by BA2 tearing through the staff.
So why would they ignore your directives and want people to be off who are positive and not ill? Because they are the exception rather than the rule, and one person off is a lot better than 10 people off.
"The heffalump ate my honey. Well actually, I did, but it made me do it."
And the amount of video clips he has, together with background information about them, suggest he is doing a fair bit of research.
PB is a bit like an imaginary story book land for grown ups isn’t it?
Part Winnie the Pooh, part The Clangers.
Maybe Hollywood will turn all this into a movie.
This pre-announcement of a tax cut over two years away is making it difficult for government spokespeople to use future uncertainty as a reason for not being able to answer pointed questions about their intentions.
'If you'll just let me finish avoiding anwering your question..'
And the ratio of Russian tanks to other Russian vehicles lost. Proportionately, in the last few days since the earliest hints of the Russians digging in, it seems they are losing fewer tanks relative of other vehicle types.
It made the Addams family look like a supermodels away-day.
But it turns out it's the memorial to a 'Gypsy King', complete with a solar powered Juke Box, and all the rest.
Built in Shiregreen Cemetery in Sheffield. Where the maximum monument size is 75mm thick and 1.3m high.
Wouldn't like to be a Planning Enforcer in Sheffield.
Today I got the dreaded feint line. Hope I do better than my fully vaccinated 50yr old sister in law who ended up yo-yo-ing out of hospital and is still not recovered.
Covid isn’t done.
https://twitter.com/montie/status/1506726896079446034?s=20&t=cL4RX6m4oudOwmoyiZRG8A
It's so infectious though that I doubt any measures can stop it spreading. 25% of the cases in my hospital caught it after admission, despite precautions still being compulsory in hospital.