I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
Boris Johnson holds nothing back in attacking 'narcissistic defections and praising Kemi Badenoch [daily mail]
Any hope by the Boris disciples now in Reform of him joining them is for the birds
It’s much better now. 🙂
She is listening to what I told her to do today.
She said it yesterday and poured scorn on Jenrick for talking the country down
In politics the mood music is the important thing. I think we Tories will survive the 2026 Local Elections and continue to make minor progress. Farage is someone who grates the more you see him. The Tories are about even with Labouur at the moment sometimes above them in the opinion polls. The question we will need to ask in about 12 months time is when will the first opinion poll be that puts the Tories above Reform. That will be good.
My aunt, 95, has just been discharged from hospital after a stoke. Assessed that she could cope at home with care visits. In fact she can't so could she go into respite care? No you can only go into respite directly from hospital and there is no case to admit her to hospital.
Contact the stroke team. The stroke rehab ward at St Lukes in Market Harborough is very good, assuming she is local to you.
Thanks but Barrow-in-Furness driving up the M6 tomorrow.
Best of luck, and you have my sympathies.
It is difficult at distance, I was down in Romsey last weekend to support my 90 year old Dad look after my 88 year old mum after she was discharged. They are just about coping but it is a very fragile as a situation.
I think govt should be making it easier for people to move closer to their parents (or move their parents closer to them). I feel it would resolve so many challenges in social care/health to have younger, motivated relatives around to help out.
Yet another positive from abolishing stamp duty, reforming or abolishing IHT, and introducing a flat property tax. We have too many old people languishing is large family homes miles away from their relatives. That's largely a cultural thing, but it's also the case that our tax system encourages it too.
What is a "flat property tax"?
For me, this is 0.5% of last sale value adjusted for changes to local HPI. So if you bought your flat for £200,000 in 2018, and house prices in your LA have increased by 10% since then, your tax is £1,100.
Not healthy to tie government revenue to hpi - it would encourage them to push for higher house price increases. Just link it to an annual cpi uplift
For those with an interest in the Scottish Parliament elections, a very interesting discussion on the recent polling on the Holyrood Sources podcast. Geoff Aberdein (former chief of staff of Alex Salmond) reckons SNP position may be more fragile than it seems. He also reckons that Sarwar is a better natural campaigner than Swinney and that SLAB has a substantial war chest. As I say, interesting to those considering betting. And also the sensitivity of the list return of MSPs.
Boris Johnson holds nothing back in attacking 'narcissistic defections and praising Kemi Badenoch [daily mail]
Any hope by the Boris disciples now in Reform of him joining them is for the birds
It’s much better now. 🙂
She is listening to what I told her to do today.
She said it yesterday and poured scorn on Jenrick for talking the country down
In politics the mood music is the important thing. I think we Tories will survive the 2026 Local Elections and continue to make minor progress. Farage is someone who grates the more you see him. The Tories are about even with Labouur at the moment sometimes above them in the opinion polls. The question we will need to ask in about 12 months time is when will the first opinion poll be that puts the Tories above Reform. That will be good.
To get elected the Tories need to find a couple of issues that'll look good. I think the stamp duty abolition is a really great policy for example. So more like that.
However, if and when they do get elected they'll pick up the legacy of nearly 30 years of bad government. No matter how wonderful you are as a government now the economic straightjacket is going to see you fail.
I think that the Tories know this. So what's really interesting is whether they might take the risk of coming up with a proper economic plan. Politically that's tricky, but also finding an economist or two that'd actually talk sense is a struggle too. (Possibly more 'gravy train' than politics)
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
I’m not an impartial commentator but they knew the demographic the virus most affected. The old; the infirm, those with pre-existing conditions, the chronically over-weight, chronically unfit. It’s almost like a virus takes out a level of humanity that perhaps is unhelpful to Darwinian progression (as viruses have always done!)
Anyway, in our new enlightened age where Viruses can be controlled by the overarching authority of the State, it’s good to see that, in retrospect, we all give ourselves a collective pat on the back for a job well done in defying evolutionary nature. Or at least; the evolution achieved in a Chinese lab.
'EXCLUSIVE: MP Andrew Rosindell has reached an agreement to defect to Reform UK.
The Romford Member of Parliament has come to an arrangement with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage regarding his defection to the party.
Negotiations between the two have been ongoing for several months. Mr. Rosindell was expected to switch parties a few months ago but had to postpone due to an issue concerning his constituency office.
The MP is working to secure ownership of his constituency office, a process he nearly completed several months ago, but the agreement was ultimately not finalised.
The property is currently owned by the Conservative Party and holds significant importance for him. Mr. Farage has agreed to make an exception, allowing Mr. Rosindell to finalise his defection after the May 7 deadline if he has not secured ownership of Margaret Thatcher House by that date.
This story is difficult to reconcile with my albeit limited knowledge of Conservative Party Trusts for real estate. Normally an office will be held in a trust and the MP will pay rent. His tenure would only be while he was a Tory MP, which he won't be as soon as the whip is withdrawn.
The author appears rather slim on genuine objective research data and heavy on the subjective.
He owns a house in London. You?
TBF I think Pete was just explaining why the article was so popular with Spectator readers rather than criticising as such.
Nowadays it’s all about clickbait. The Daily Express knows that anything to do with house prices will drag in the clicks. A follow up article could be about Princess Di, or the next incoming snowstorm?
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
It has killed millions globally, at least 7 million. Maybe 30 million.
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
The idea that no lockdown should have happened at all I think is fanciful in face of the scale of the threat and limited mitigations at the time (the vaccines had not yet arrived for example). More lessons learned and better decisions on later measures, around schools etc, I think is far more reasonable to ponder, as well as the necessity or not of later lockdown measures, and what should be required in terms of process to enact them. I always reflect that had the government wanted to keep going with lockdowns it would not have been unpopular, and was criticised at the time by the opposition, led by someone I cannot recall.
Re Lockdown, I found the whole experience demoralising and depressing. I suffered from terrific clinical depression, during the Winter of 2021/22.
I’m so sorry to hear that, and if it helps, as did I. You are not alone. Lockdown also saw the end of my 15 year marriage, the loss of my house and losing day to day contact with my son. And I was lucky in that I still had a job and could afford to adapt and pay the bills.
But everyday I thank those who know much more than me, are more intelligent, more compassionate that thousands of those who were due to die soon anyway were saved.
Never again. Never again.
I went from being locked down with an volitile and controlling ex girlfriend (which gave me mild PTSD), back to self enforced isolation for the best part of a year at my family home where one of my parents had a weakened immune system due to recent cancer treatment. Surprised in retrospect I didn't go down the online covid denial rabbit hole as I was pretty f'd over by the whole thing. Just bad timing really, and many people had it worse.
Jenrick’s effectiveness has now been exposed. This was not even a competent defection. It was chaotic and leaked by his own acolytes before he could do it himself. He couldn’t even arrive to his own defection press conference on time!
The Conservative Party is stronger without people who don’t believe in teamwork, loyalty or discipline.
The public are not interested in this soap opera. They are tired of Westminster drama. They want politicians talking about the cost of living, national security and the future of their country, not indulging in endless plots and personality clashes. I am stopping the nonsense.
The Conservative Party is now a stronger and more united team. We are focused on talking to voters, not talking about ourselves. We have drawn a line under the mistakes of the past and we are clear about where we are going next.
This is the difference between politics as performance and politics as delivery.
Yes, Britain’s problems are real, and in some cases getting worse. But Britain is not broken. We are a great country with deep reserves of strength, talent and resilience.
What has failed is a system that too often rewards process over outcomes and intervention over results. Labour’s answer to every problem is another consultation, another review, another layer of state control. That does not make people richer. It makes them poorer.
Being angry is easy. Anyone can point out what is wrong. Fixing it requires discipline, competence and hard thinking. I am an engineer. I believe in diagnosis and solutions. That is the mindset now shaping the Conservative Party.
We are not a repository for frustration. We are a serious, optimistic, outward-looking party that believes Britain’s best days are ahead, not behind us. Conservatives are getting on with the work of making that a reality for you.
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
The idea that no lockdown should have happened at all I think is fanciful in face of the scale of the threat and limited mitigations at the time (the vaccines had not yet arrived for example). More lessons learned and better decisions on later measures, around schools etc, I think is far more reasonable to ponder, as well as the necessity or not of later lockdown measures, and what should be required in terms of process to enact them. I always reflect that had the government wanted to keep going with lockdowns it would not have been unpopular, and was criticised at the time by the opposition, led by someone I cannot recall.
If we’d taken better measures earlier, we might have avoided lockdown, or some lockdown. Johnson’s prevarications kept meaning we locked down, when we did, too late, which meant longer lockdowns were needed.
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
I’m not an impartial commentator but they knew the demographic the virus most affected. The old; the infirm, those with pre-existing conditions, the chronically over-weight, chronically unfit. It’s almost like a virus takes out a level of humanity that perhaps is unhelpful to Darwinian progression (as viruses have always done!)
Anyway, in our new enlightened age where Viruses can be controlled by the overarching authority of the State, it’s good to see that, in retrospect, we all give ourselves a collective pat on the back for a job well done in defying evolutionary nature. Or at least; the evolution achieved in a Chinese lab.
“as viruses have always done”
Not true! The 1918 flu pandemic disproportionately affected the young & healthy. The reasons are unclear, but one possibility is that their stronger effective immune systems reacted to the infection & they drowned in their own lung secretions as a result.
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
I’m not an impartial commentator but they knew the demographic the virus most affected. The old; the infirm, those with pre-existing conditions, the chronically over-weight, chronically unfit. It’s almost like a virus takes out a level of humanity that perhaps is unhelpful to Darwinian progression (as viruses have always done!)
Anyway, in our new enlightened age where Viruses can be controlled by the overarching authority of the State, it’s good to see that, in retrospect, we all give ourselves a collective pat on the back for a job well done in defying evolutionary nature. Or at least; the evolution achieved in a Chinese lab.
We didn't know that though. And the off the shelf plans were for a pandemic that didn't target that particular demographic. Cos they were derived from the 1918 flu.
Jenrick’s effectiveness has now been exposed. This was not even a competent defection. It was chaotic and leaked by his own acolytes before he could do it himself. He couldn’t even arrive to his own defection press conference on time!
The Conservative Party is stronger without people who don’t believe in teamwork, loyalty or discipline.
The public are not interested in this soap opera. They are tired of Westminster drama. They want politicians talking about the cost of living, national security and the future of their country, not indulging in endless plots and personality clashes. I am stopping the nonsense.
The Conservative Party is now a stronger and more united team. We are focused on talking to voters, not talking about ourselves. We have drawn a line under the mistakes of the past and we are clear about where we are going next.
This is the difference between politics as performance and politics as delivery.
Yes, Britain’s problems are real, and in some cases getting worse. But Britain is not broken. We are a great country with deep reserves of strength, talent and resilience.
What has failed is a system that too often rewards process over outcomes and intervention over results. Labour’s answer to every problem is another consultation, another review, another layer of state control. That does not make people richer. It makes them poorer.
Being angry is easy. Anyone can point out what is wrong. Fixing it requires discipline, competence and hard thinking. I am an engineer. I believe in diagnosis and solutions. That is the mindset now shaping the Conservative Party.
We are not a repository for frustration. We are a serious, optimistic, outward-looking party that believes Britain’s best days are ahead, not behind us. Conservatives are getting on with the work of making that a reality for you.
It's a decent statement and she's been able to handle the situation about as well as you can with a high profile defection, but it is funny to me that she uses the normal line of the public not being interested in the soap opera-ness of it, when she has to hope they will be, since she is using it to make herself look better!
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
It has killed millions globally, at least 7 million. Maybe 30 million.
Which in the context of previous viral, or bacterial, outbreaks is nothing. When did humanity become so entitled and arrogant that it doesn’t believe its sheer existence is contingent upon and thankful to viral and bacteriological grace
The important thing about Covid is to prepare for the next pandemic so that we don't face the same choices as we did in 2020 - and as a bonus reduce the severity of the annual flu season.
For example, I think the number one thing we should be doing is to install ventilation and filtration systems in public places like pubs, supermarkets and public transport.
At the moment it looks like Britain (and Ireland and elsewhere) will be having the same debate and the same tradeoffs for the next pandemic - except potentially with a more deadly virus.
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
It has killed millions globally, at least 7 million. Maybe 30 million.
Which in the context of previous viral, or bacterial, outbreaks is nothing. When did humanity become so entitled and arrogant that it doesn’t believe its sheer existence is contingent upon and thankful to viral and bacteriological grace
Jenrick’s effectiveness has now been exposed. This was not even a competent defection. It was chaotic and leaked by his own acolytes before he could do it himself. He couldn’t even arrive to his own defection press conference on time!
The Conservative Party is stronger without people who don’t believe in teamwork, loyalty or discipline.
The public are not interested in this soap opera. They are tired of Westminster drama. They want politicians talking about the cost of living, national security and the future of their country, not indulging in endless plots and personality clashes. I am stopping the nonsense.
The Conservative Party is now a stronger and more united team. We are focused on talking to voters, not talking about ourselves. We have drawn a line under the mistakes of the past and we are clear about where we are going next.
This is the difference between politics as performance and politics as delivery.
Yes, Britain’s problems are real, and in some cases getting worse. But Britain is not broken. We are a great country with deep reserves of strength, talent and resilience.
What has failed is a system that too often rewards process over outcomes and intervention over results. Labour’s answer to every problem is another consultation, another review, another layer of state control. That does not make people richer. It makes them poorer.
Being angry is easy. Anyone can point out what is wrong. Fixing it requires discipline, competence and hard thinking. I am an engineer. I believe in diagnosis and solutions. That is the mindset now shaping the Conservative Party.
We are not a repository for frustration. We are a serious, optimistic, outward-looking party that believes Britain’s best days are ahead, not behind us. Conservatives are getting on with the work of making that a reality for you.
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
I’m not an impartial commentator but they knew the demographic the virus most affected. The old; the infirm, those with pre-existing conditions, the chronically over-weight, chronically unfit. It’s almost like a virus takes out a level of humanity that perhaps is unhelpful to Darwinian progression (as viruses have always done!)
Anyway, in our new enlightened age where Viruses can be controlled by the overarching authority of the State, it’s good to see that, in retrospect, we all give ourselves a collective pat on the back for a job well done in defying evolutionary nature. Or at least; the evolution achieved in a Chinese lab.
We didn't know that though. And the off the shelf plans were for a pandemic that didn't target that particular demographic. Cos they were derived from the 1918 flu.
We should also remember that in March 2020 we went from no deaths to lockdown in just a month. There was less hindsight available, except from watching the progress of the disease as it crossed Europe from Asia.
Re Lockdown, I found the whole experience demoralising and depressing. I suffered from terrific clinical depression, during the Winter of 2021/22.
I’m so sorry to hear that, and if it helps, as did I. You are not alone. Lockdown also saw the end of my 15 year marriage, the loss of my house and losing day to day contact with my son. And I was lucky in that I still had a job and could afford to adapt and pay the bills.
But everyday I thank those who know much more than me, are more intelligent, more compassionate that thousands of those who were due to die soon anyway were saved.
Never again. Never again.
I'm really sorry to hear this.
Me too
The one and only time I have been genuinely seriously suicidal was Lockdown 3
Re Lockdown, I found the whole experience demoralising and depressing. I suffered from terrific clinical depression, during the Winter of 2021/22.
I’m so sorry to hear that, and if it helps, as did I. You are not alone. Lockdown also saw the end of my 15 year marriage, the loss of my house and losing day to day contact with my son. And I was lucky in that I still had a job and could afford to adapt and pay the bills.
But everyday I thank those who know much more than me, are more intelligent, more compassionate that thousands of those who were due to die soon anyway were saved.
Never again. Never again.
I'm really sorry to hear this.
Me too
The one and only time I have been genuinely seriously suicidal was Lockdown 3
Never again. Never ever ever ever again
If you feel suicidal in Lockdown 4 will it be 'never ever ever ever ever again'?
The author appears rather slim on genuine objective research data and heavy on the subjective.
He owns a house in London. You?
Hmm. I thought in a recent article written by the author in question he had relocated to Cali in 2011, or 11 years ago. I can't remember which. You may be confusing him with Leon who restored a flat in Camden and reported his progress on here some months ago.
Anyway I live in a modest abode in a part of the World to where Spectator contributors bolt at the first sight of a pandemic.
We are not troubled in this neck of the woods by property values. A two bedroom terrace can be snaffled at auction in somewhere like Ogmore Vale for the price of a reasonably well used Fiat 500 or a pair of TSE's shoes.
The important thing about Covid is to prepare for the next pandemic so that we don't face the same choices as we did in 2020 - and as a bonus reduce the severity of the annual flu season.
For example, I think the number one thing we should be doing is to install ventilation and filtration systems in public places like pubs, supermarkets and public transport.
At the moment it looks like Britain (and Ireland and elsewhere) will be having the same debate and the same tradeoffs for the next pandemic - except potentially with a more deadly virus.
The number 1 thing has to be a generally fitter and healthier public. Even small changes across 70 million people will have a marked impact on the strain the health service comes under in that circumstance. The fatality rate was over 2x higher with a BMI of 30 or over compared to the non-obese population (and that includes lots of overweight people), after adjusting for age etc etc. IIRC, the hospitalisation rate was an even bigger difference.
Only a passing reference to this so far in the COVID inquiry reports, which is remarkable and pathetic.
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
It has killed millions globally, at least 7 million. Maybe 30 million.
Which in the context of previous viral, or bacterial, outbreaks is nothing. When did humanity become so entitled and arrogant that it doesn’t believe its sheer existence is contingent upon and thankful to viral and bacteriological grace
When we kicked nature's ass (for a time).
One of the less noted differences between the Covid pandemic and previous pandemics is that this time we had intensive care, and there were real medical interventions that could be made to improve the odds of survival, provided you had access to high-quality medical care - and Britain was at the forefront of working out improvements in the care provided, something that should be celebrated. Along with the vaccine development it was one of the great success stories of the pandemic.
But this creates a new dynamic - a benefit to keeping infection rates at a low enough level that everyone who becomes seriously ill can receive medical treatment. It's very different to how we've imagined pandemics in the past, where there's no treatment.
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
It has killed millions globally, at least 7 million. Maybe 30 million.
Which in the context of previous viral, or bacterial, outbreaks is nothing. When did humanity become so entitled and arrogant that it doesn’t believe its sheer existence is contingent upon and thankful to viral and bacteriological grace
When we kicked nature's ass (for a time).
It’s amazing isn’t it. We all think, as humans, we’re the top tier of evolution. We’re the business with our consciousness, our reasoning, our control of the planet and its resources. Our politics. This site. All our history, our civilisation, our knowledge, every thing we are - religion, literature, art, music, love, war, hate - all our human knowledge and experience the pinnacle of what life is.
But it isn’t. It’s subject to, and always has been subject to, something we can’t quite define. The virus. Neither alive nor dead. Not life but it is. It can help us. But then destroy us. Mutating, evolving in days. When all other species take millennia. Evades us. Fools us. Taunts us. Kills us.
Who is the true owner of this planet? Us or the virus?
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
It's almost impossible to look at Covid without hindsight.
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
The idea that no lockdown should have happened at all I think is fanciful in face of the scale of the threat and limited mitigations at the time (the vaccines had not yet arrived for example). More lessons learned and better decisions on later measures, around schools etc, I think is far more reasonable to ponder, as well as the necessity or not of later lockdown measures, and what should be required in terms of process to enact them. I always reflect that had the government wanted to keep going with lockdowns it would not have been unpopular, and was criticised at the time by the opposition, led by someone I cannot recall.
I am almost certain that if there had been no lockdowns, a very voluble group would have laid all deaths at the door of government - because no lockdowns.
It was almost impossiblde to win. The slight chance was removed by the actions of the man at the top at the time.
Once again I had my phone out on display and wore an expensive watch and still wasn’t mugged in central London.
What am I doing wrong?
Your shoes scared them off?
Today’s shoes.
I admire the confident vulgarity, I’m prone to it myself, it’s more the Dad jeans that concern me
You should buy Paul Smith dark tapered, they flatter the older gent without looking like “egregious middle aged man in IKEA”
Have those but went for Hugo Boss this morning.
It was chucking it down in Sheffield this morning so went for practically over style.
Ah apologies
i too often forget that, in your admirably determined attempt to style yourself as a king of fashion, and a swaggering alpha male, you suffer from the awkward but fundamental handicap of LIVING WITH YOUR MUM. IN SHEFFIELD.
Re Lockdown, I found the whole experience demoralising and depressing. I suffered from terrific clinical depression, during the Winter of 2021/22.
I’m so sorry to hear that, and if it helps, as did I. You are not alone. Lockdown also saw the end of my 15 year marriage, the loss of my house and losing day to day contact with my son. And I was lucky in that I still had a job and could afford to adapt and pay the bills.
But everyday I thank those who know much more than me, are more intelligent, more compassionate that thousands of those who were due to die soon anyway were saved.
Never again. Never again.
I'm really sorry to hear this.
Me too
The one and only time I have been genuinely seriously suicidal was Lockdown 3
Never again. Never ever ever ever again
If bird flu crosses the species barrier and becomes a pandemic among humans with a high enough death rate you will lock yourself down out of fear.
All the people resolving never to lockdown ever again will be sharing tips on how to disinfect groceries and all the rest of it in no time.
The important thing about Covid is to prepare for the next pandemic so that we don't face the same choices as we did in 2020 - and as a bonus reduce the severity of the annual flu season.
For example, I think the number one thing we should be doing is to install ventilation and filtration systems in public places like pubs, supermarkets and public transport.
At the moment it looks like Britain (and Ireland and elsewhere) will be having the same debate and the same tradeoffs for the next pandemic - except potentially with a more deadly virus.
The number 1 thing has to be a generally fitter and healthier public. Even small changes across 70 million people will have a marked impact on the strain the health service comes under in that circumstance. The fatality rate was over 2x higher with a BMI of 30 or over compared to the non-obese population (and that includes lots of overweight people), after adjusting for age etc etc. IIRC, the hospitalisation rate was an even bigger difference.
Only a passing reference to this so far in the COVID inquiry reports, which is remarkable and pathetic.
I am sure there are lots of useful things that should be done, but I think something that doesn't require behaviour change from millions of people is easier to achieve than something that does.
Recently, senior executives at Salesforce have admitted, both internally and publicly, that they massively overestimated AI’s capabilities. They have found that AI simply can’t cope with the complex nature of customer service and totally fails at nuanced issues, escalations, and long-tail customer problems. They even say that it has caused a marked decline in service quality and far more complaints.
But the problems go far deeper than that.
Both employees and executives have said that the company is wasting countless resources on firefighting to stabilise operations since the mass AI layoff. Employees have to spend so much time stepping in to correct the wildly wrong AI-generated responses that AI is wasting more time than it saves. In other words, this AI reduces productivity, not increases it.
But there is also a huge problem here with expertise and skill debt. On top of the firefighting to correct the AI, executives have also highlighted how they are also having to firefight to stabilise their systems from problems that were previously easily solved by staff who had the required experience and skill. However, these staff were fired in the AI layoffs.
Recently, senior executives at Salesforce have admitted, both internally and publicly, that they massively overestimated AI’s capabilities. They have found that AI simply can’t cope with the complex nature of customer service and totally fails at nuanced issues, escalations, and long-tail customer problems. They even say that it has caused a marked decline in service quality and far more complaints.
But the problems go far deeper than that.
Both employees and executives have said that the company is wasting countless resources on firefighting to stabilise operations since the mass AI layoff. Employees have to spend so much time stepping in to correct the wildly wrong AI-generated responses that AI is wasting more time than it saves. In other words, this AI reduces productivity, not increases it.
But there is also a huge problem here with expertise and skill debt. On top of the firefighting to correct the AI, executives have also highlighted how they are also having to firefight to stabilise their systems from problems that were previously easily solved by staff who had the required experience and skill. However, these staff were fired in the AI layoffs.
Re Lockdown, I found the whole experience demoralising and depressing. I suffered from terrific clinical depression, during the Winter of 2021/22.
I’m so sorry to hear that, and if it helps, as did I. You are not alone. Lockdown also saw the end of my 15 year marriage, the loss of my house and losing day to day contact with my son. And I was lucky in that I still had a job and could afford to adapt and pay the bills.
But everyday I thank those who know much more than me, are more intelligent, more compassionate that thousands of those who were due to die soon anyway were saved.
Never again. Never again.
I went from being locked down with an volitile and controlling ex girlfriend (which gave me mild PTSD), back to self enforced isolation for the best part of a year at my family home where one of my parents had a weakened immune system due to recent cancer treatment. Surprised in retrospect I didn't go down the online covid denial rabbit hole as I was pretty f'd over by the whole thing. Just bad timing really, and many people had it worse.
My very clever but schizophrenic brother, who lives in a shed in Peru, called it right from about June 2020
He crunched the numbers, the lethality, the health system risks, the virality, and he concluded:
“We are shutting down the entire global economy, at vast cost, to save a load of really fat, really sick and really really old people, who are going to die soon, anyway. And the price of this will be the end of many much more deserving lives, down the line, plus a huge devastating increase in debt and poverty”
He was completely right, in retrospect. I confess I told him at the time he was far too categorical and far too brutal, but he was RIGHT
I still believe none of the lockdowns should have happened, with vulnerable people being able to choose to stay at home if they so wished.
You do realise you are criticising the uncriticisable Boris Johnson.
I detest Johnson with a passion, but without lockdowns an awful lots of people who are still with us today would have otherwise died. Big Dog called it right, except for the timings.
I respectfully apologise to those who suffered mental anguish. Nonetheless the potential alternative was significantly worse.
Re Lockdown, I found the whole experience demoralising and depressing. I suffered from terrific clinical depression, during the Winter of 2021/22.
I’m so sorry to hear that, and if it helps, as did I. You are not alone. Lockdown also saw the end of my 15 year marriage, the loss of my house and losing day to day contact with my son. And I was lucky in that I still had a job and could afford to adapt and pay the bills.
But everyday I thank those who know much more than me, are more intelligent, more compassionate that thousands of those who were due to die soon anyway were saved.
Never again. Never again.
I went from being locked down with an volitile and controlling ex girlfriend (which gave me mild PTSD), back to self enforced isolation for the best part of a year at my family home where one of my parents had a weakened immune system due to recent cancer treatment. Surprised in retrospect I didn't go down the online covid denial rabbit hole as I was pretty f'd over by the whole thing. Just bad timing really, and many people had it worse.
My very clever but schizophrenic brother, who lives in a shed in Peru, called it right from about June 2020
He crunched the numbers, the lethality, the health system risks, the virality, and he concluded:
“We are shutting down the entire global economy, at vast cost, to save a load of really fat, really sick and really really old people, who are going to die soon, anyway. And the price of this will be the end of many much more deserving lives, down the line, plus a huge devastating increase in debt and poverty”
He was completely right, in retrospect. I confess I told him at the time he was far too categorical and far too brutal, but he was RIGHT
In June 2020 your brother had imperfect knowledge of the scale of deaths. The Chinese and Russians, for example, massively understated the scale of the deaths.
US President Donald Trump has announced a new set of tariffs for a swathe of countries that export goods to the US, beginning on 1 February.
Trump says these will remain in place until "such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the US.
Writing on social media, Trump says countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland will be "charged a 10% tariff" on "all and any" goods sent to the US.
On 1 June, this will be increased to 25%, he writes on Truth Social.
US President Donald Trump has announced a new set of tariffs for a swathe of countries that export goods to the US, beginning on 1 February.
Trump says these will remain in place until "such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the US.
Writing on social media, Trump says countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland will be "charged a 10% tariff" on "all and any" goods sent to the US.
On 1 June, this will be increased to 25%, he writes on Truth Social.
Re Lockdown, I found the whole experience demoralising and depressing. I suffered from terrific clinical depression, during the Winter of 2021/22.
I’m so sorry to hear that, and if it helps, as did I. You are not alone. Lockdown also saw the end of my 15 year marriage, the loss of my house and losing day to day contact with my son. And I was lucky in that I still had a job and could afford to adapt and pay the bills.
But everyday I thank those who know much more than me, are more intelligent, more compassionate that thousands of those who were due to die soon anyway were saved.
Never again. Never again.
I went from being locked down with an volitile and controlling ex girlfriend (which gave me mild PTSD), back to self enforced isolation for the best part of a year at my family home where one of my parents had a weakened immune system due to recent cancer treatment. Surprised in retrospect I didn't go down the online covid denial rabbit hole as I was pretty f'd over by the whole thing. Just bad timing really, and many people had it worse.
My very clever but schizophrenic brother, who lives in a shed in Peru, called it right from about June 2020
He crunched the numbers, the lethality, the health system risks, the virality, and he concluded:
“We are shutting down the entire global economy, at vast cost, to save a load of really fat, really sick and really really old people, who are going to die soon, anyway. And the price of this will be the end of many much more deserving lives, down the line, plus a huge devastating increase in debt and poverty”
He was completely right, in retrospect. I confess I told him at the time he was far too categorical and far too brutal, but he was RIGHT
In June 2020 your brother had imperfect knowledge of the scale of deaths. The Chinese and Russians, for example, massively understated the scale of the deaths.
And yet, I believe he was right. We should have toughed out lockdowns 2 and 3, told people to choose for themselves, reined in the absurd furlough lending, re-opened the schools (and told teachers to suck it up, or quit)
More would have died. But it would have been fat old fuckers who would be dead by now anyway. Life undeserving of life, as Hitler correctly phrased it
The state should have discovered its inner Nazi. Shamefully, it has chosen to discover it now, by hating Jews, ending free speech and promoting suicide for everyone
He can get fucked. Turnberry and Balmedie should revert to the Crown if he goes ahead with this.
It goes to show that any agreement with Trump is completely worthless. There seems to be very little point in engaging with him, except as a short-term defensive measure.
Recently, senior executives at Salesforce have admitted, both internally and publicly, that they massively overestimated AI’s capabilities. They have found that AI simply can’t cope with the complex nature of customer service and totally fails at nuanced issues, escalations, and long-tail customer problems. They even say that it has caused a marked decline in service quality and far more complaints.
But the problems go far deeper than that.
Both employees and executives have said that the company is wasting countless resources on firefighting to stabilise operations since the mass AI layoff. Employees have to spend so much time stepping in to correct the wildly wrong AI-generated responses that AI is wasting more time than it saves. In other words, this AI reduces productivity, not increases it.
But there is also a huge problem here with expertise and skill debt. On top of the firefighting to correct the AI, executives have also highlighted how they are also having to firefight to stabilise their systems from problems that were previously easily solved by staff who had the required experience and skill. However, these staff were fired in the AI layoffs.
I can believe it and not just because I know someone who works there, and not just because, like all of us, I have struggled with helpdesk chatbots.
Just this morning I used Copilot (Microsoft's ChatGPT-derived AI) by giving it a list of MPs and asking it to check their Wikipedia pages. In a few seconds I had my answer. In a few minutes I realised Copilot had missed at least one case and so I would need to check each page myself.
Any Brit who supports or defends Trump is a traitor.
I think UEFA need to start floating a boycott of the World Cup if Trump does not stop demanding Greenland. If UEFA pull out it will cut the tournament of most of its top sides and completely kill the spectacle and the status.
He can get fucked. Turnberry and Balmedie should revert to the Crown if he goes ahead with this.
It goes to show that any agreement with Trump is completely worthless. There seems to be very little point in engaging with him, except as a short-term defensive measure.
Pushing back by threatening to nationalise his golf courses may well be the only thing that works.
This surprised me... but it does make some sense. junior doctors strike helped with winter crisis... because more senior doctors were more decisive and moved people out of a and e quicker... https://www.ft.com/content/c9282c14-2f43-4801-a5cd-cffc64aa2fd5
I was very annoyed at the time with junior doctors but perhaps I was wrong!
US President Donald Trump has announced a new set of tariffs for a swathe of countries that export goods to the US, beginning on 1 February.
Trump says these will remain in place until "such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the US.
Writing on social media, Trump says countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland will be "charged a 10% tariff" on "all and any" goods sent to the US.
On 1 June, this will be increased to 25%, he writes on Truth Social.
Any Brit who supports or defends Trump is a traitor.
Are we allowed to support him on grounds of Entertainment Value? And, also, the supreme discomfort he is gonna cause to a bunch of loathsome European quislings?
US President Donald Trump has announced a new set of tariffs for a swathe of countries that export goods to the US, beginning on 1 February.
Trump says these will remain in place until "such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the US.
Writing on social media, Trump says countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland will be "charged a 10% tariff" on "all and any" goods sent to the US.
On 1 June, this will be increased to 25%, he writes on Truth Social.
objectively funny to suck up to Trump as hard as Starmer has done only to get whacked with 25% tariffs for sending a single (1) military officer to Greenland
US President Donald Trump has announced a new set of tariffs for a swathe of countries that export goods to the US, beginning on 1 February.
Trump says these will remain in place until "such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the US.
Writing on social media, Trump says countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland will be "charged a 10% tariff" on "all and any" goods sent to the US.
On 1 June, this will be increased to 25%, he writes on Truth Social.
Any Brit who supports or defends Trump is a traitor.
I think UEFA need to start floating a boycott of the World Cup if Trump does not stop demanding Greenland. If UEFA pull out it will cut the tournament of most of its top sides and completely kill the spectacle and the status.
If UEFA invited the top South American sides to an alternative competition in Europe they'd probably avoid the US too, I would have thought.
US President Donald Trump has announced a new set of tariffs for a swathe of countries that export goods to the US, beginning on 1 February.
Trump says these will remain in place until "such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the US.
Writing on social media, Trump says countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland will be "charged a 10% tariff" on "all and any" goods sent to the US.
On 1 June, this will be increased to 25%, he writes on Truth Social.
Any Brit who supports or defends Trump is a traitor.
Are we allowed to support him on grounds of Entertainment Value? And, also, the supreme discomfort he is gonna cause to a bunch of loathsome European quislings?
Any Brit who supports or defends Trump is a traitor.
Are we allowed to support him on grounds of Entertainment Value? And, also, the supreme discomfort he is gonna cause to a bunch of loathsome European quislings?
You can but I’ll change your username to ‘Trump catamite and traitor’.
Any Brit who supports or defends Trump is a traitor.
Are we allowed to support him on grounds of Entertainment Value? And, also, the supreme discomfort he is gonna cause to a bunch of loathsome European quislings?
US President Donald Trump has announced a new set of tariffs for a swathe of countries that export goods to the US, beginning on 1 February.
Trump says these will remain in place until "such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the US.
Writing on social media, Trump says countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland will be "charged a 10% tariff" on "all and any" goods sent to the US.
On 1 June, this will be increased to 25%, he writes on Truth Social.
US President Donald Trump has announced a new set of tariffs for a swathe of countries that export goods to the US, beginning on 1 February.
Trump says these will remain in place until "such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the US.
Writing on social media, Trump says countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland will be "charged a 10% tariff" on "all and any" goods sent to the US.
On 1 June, this will be increased to 25%, he writes on Truth Social.
ONCE upon a time (a few months ago) a group of over-excited British commentators argued that one Brexit benefit was that the UK would not be involved in a trade war between Trump and the EU.
Let's have the world just put a billion % tariff on everything American until Congress impeaches Trump. Let's all play hardball. Over to you, Congress.
Meanwhile, a total travel ban on Americans outside the US, whilst we buy Chinese.
We can at least say that the ridiculed decision to send symbolic numbers of military personnel from European countries was at least noticed in the White House, and so to one extent it had the desired effect.
Comments
We were facing a virus which - in its initial stages - could have killed millions from respiratory diseases, across all age groups - and destroyed all health care. The economy could have crumbled. Governments were obliged to take a pessimistic view.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8KDGAfzjeE
However, if and when they do get elected they'll pick up the legacy of nearly 30 years of bad government. No matter how wonderful you are as a government now the economic straightjacket is going to see you fail.
I think that the Tories know this. So what's really interesting is whether they might take the risk of coming up with a proper economic plan. Politically that's tricky, but also finding an economist or two that'd actually talk sense is a struggle too. (Possibly more 'gravy train' than politics)
Anyway, in our new enlightened age where Viruses can be controlled by the overarching authority of the State, it’s good to see that, in retrospect, we all give ourselves a collective pat on the back for a job well done in defying evolutionary nature. Or at least; the evolution achieved in a Chinese lab.
Once again I had my phone out on display and wore an expensive watch and still wasn’t mugged in central London.
What am I doing wrong?
(Restaurants try very hard now, but also charge very hard - at least in London)
(well, they pretend they can anyway)
Jenrick’s effectiveness has now been exposed. This was not even a competent defection. It was chaotic and leaked by his own acolytes before he could do it himself. He couldn’t even arrive to his own defection press conference on time!
The Conservative Party is stronger without people who don’t believe in teamwork, loyalty or discipline.
The public are not interested in this soap opera. They are tired of Westminster drama. They want politicians talking about the cost of living, national security and the future of their country, not indulging in endless plots and personality clashes. I am stopping the nonsense.
The Conservative Party is now a stronger and more united team. We are focused on talking to voters, not talking about ourselves. We have drawn a line under the mistakes of the past and we are clear about where we are going next.
This is the difference between politics as performance and politics as delivery.
Yes, Britain’s problems are real, and in some cases getting worse. But Britain is not broken. We are a great country with deep reserves of strength, talent and resilience.
What has failed is a system that too often rewards process over outcomes and intervention over results. Labour’s answer to every problem is another consultation, another review, another layer of state control. That does not make people richer. It makes them poorer.
Being angry is easy. Anyone can point out what is wrong. Fixing it requires discipline, competence and hard thinking. I am an engineer. I believe in diagnosis and solutions. That is the mindset now shaping the Conservative Party.
We are not a repository for frustration. We are a serious, optimistic, outward-looking party that believes Britain’s best days are ahead, not behind us. Conservatives are getting on with the work of making that a reality for you.
https://x.com/KemiBadenoch/status/2012542675610710481?s=20
Not true! The 1918 flu pandemic disproportionately affected the young & healthy. The reasons are unclear, but one possibility is that their stronger effective immune systems reacted to the infection & they drowned in their own lung secretions as a result.
For example, I think the number one thing we should be doing is to install ventilation and filtration systems in public places like pubs, supermarkets and public transport.
At the moment it looks like Britain (and Ireland and elsewhere) will be having the same debate and the same tradeoffs for the next pandemic - except potentially with a more deadly virus.
You should buy Paul Smith dark tapered, they flatter the older gent without looking like “egregious middle aged man in IKEA”
It was chucking it down in Sheffield this morning so went for practically over style.
'Stopping the nonsense' also might work as a sub slogan. I don't think it is positive enough for a main slogan though.
The one and only time I have been genuinely seriously suicidal was Lockdown 3
Never again. Never ever ever ever again
Sorry to disagree, and I really don't like to criticise places, but in this instance I will.
Anyway I live in a modest abode in a part of the World to where Spectator contributors bolt at the first sight of a pandemic.
We are not troubled in this neck of the woods by property values. A two bedroom terrace can be snaffled at auction in somewhere like Ogmore Vale for the price of a reasonably well used Fiat 500 or a pair of TSE's shoes.
Only a passing reference to this so far in the COVID inquiry reports, which is remarkable and pathetic.
But this creates a new dynamic - a benefit to keeping infection rates at a low enough level that everyone who becomes seriously ill can receive medical treatment. It's very different to how we've imagined pandemics in the past, where there's no treatment.
But it isn’t. It’s subject to, and always has been subject to, something we can’t quite define. The virus. Neither alive nor dead. Not life but it is. It can help us. But then destroy us. Mutating, evolving in days. When all other species take millennia. Evades us. Fools us. Taunts us. Kills us.
Who is the true owner of this planet? Us or the virus?
It was almost impossiblde to win. The slight chance was removed by the actions of the man at the top at the time.
i too often forget that, in your admirably determined attempt to style yourself as a king of fashion, and a swaggering alpha male, you suffer from the awkward but fundamental handicap of LIVING WITH YOUR MUM. IN SHEFFIELD.
All the people resolving never to lockdown ever again will be sharing tips on how to disinfect groceries and all the rest of it in no time.
But the problems go far deeper than that.
Both employees and executives have said that the company is wasting countless resources on firefighting to stabilise operations since the mass AI layoff. Employees have to spend so much time stepping in to correct the wildly wrong AI-generated responses that AI is wasting more time than it saves. In other words, this AI reduces productivity, not increases it.
But there is also a huge problem here with expertise and skill debt. On top of the firefighting to correct the AI, executives have also highlighted how they are also having to firefight to stabilise their systems from problems that were previously easily solved by staff who had the required experience and skill. However, these staff were fired in the AI layoffs.
https://www.planetearthandbeyond.co/p/reality-is-breaking-the-ai-revolution
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jun/17/mcdonalds-ends-ai-drive-thru
He crunched the numbers, the lethality, the health system risks, the virality, and he concluded:
“We are shutting down the entire global economy, at vast cost, to save a load of really fat, really sick and really really old people, who are going to die soon, anyway. And the price of this will be the end of many much more deserving lives, down the line, plus a huge devastating increase in debt and poverty”
He was completely right, in retrospect. I confess I told him at the time he was far too categorical and far too brutal, but he was RIGHT
I detest Johnson with a passion, but without lockdowns an awful lots of people who are still with us today would have otherwise died. Big Dog called it right, except for the timings.
I respectfully apologise to those who suffered mental anguish. Nonetheless the potential alternative was significantly worse.
Hindsight is a marvellous skill.
He can get fucked. Turnberry and Balmedie should revert to the Crown if he goes ahead with this.
Trump says these will remain in place until "such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the US.
Writing on social media, Trump says countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland will be "charged a 10% tariff" on "all and any" goods sent to the US.
On 1 June, this will be increased to 25%, he writes on Truth Social.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1j8kw866p3t
Why? Why bother wasting money like that?
The moron's threats against Iran evaporated quickly enough.
More would have died. But it would have been fat old fuckers who would be dead by now anyway. Life undeserving of life, as Hitler correctly phrased it
The state should have discovered its inner Nazi. Shamefully, it has chosen to discover it now, by hating Jews, ending free speech and promoting suicide for everyone
Just this morning I used Copilot (Microsoft's ChatGPT-derived AI) by giving it a list of MPs and asking it to check their Wikipedia pages. In a few seconds I had my answer. In a few minutes I realised Copilot had missed at least one case and so I would need to check each page myself.
https://www.ft.com/content/c9282c14-2f43-4801-a5cd-cffc64aa2fd5
I was very annoyed at the time with junior doctors but perhaps I was wrong!
Is this on top?
objectively funny to suck up to Trump as hard as Starmer has done only to get whacked with 25% tariffs for sending a single (1) military officer to Greenland
What have you to say on your best buddies plan to tariff us for having the audacity to support ally Denmark?
Will he even remember he said it when he wakes up tomorrow?
One can hope, I suppose.
Come along, hints of a backbone surely?
They sold a bunch of oil and the proceeds are in an offshore bank account. Sorted.
I need a TV drama, out here in Bangers, and jeez the well is running dry
ONCE upon a time (a few months ago) a group of over-excited British commentators argued that one Brexit benefit was that the UK would not be involved in a trade war between Trump and the EU.
Well.
Not season 3 Picard brilliant but engaging and episode 2 had one scene that made me squee.
Meanwhile, a total travel ban on Americans outside the US, whilst we buy Chinese.
You can all come round to the 1906 restaurant for a free dinner
It is about wells running dry though I think. Or not running dry maybe
FIFA could end up inviting Solomon islands and Antigua and Barbuda if it gathers steam