My teammate had a meeting of his cut short this afternoon because a person reporting into the lady he was meeting (on the 2nd floor of the building I work in) has had to self-isolate. He was on the list of people a known infected coronavirus person had interacted with recently.
Other than the problems in making such a map from such small numbers, this (and probably many coronavirus heat maps looking at absolute numbers of infections) will look like a population density map.
This article has prompted an argument between two people I quite like - namely Andrew Doyle, creator of Titania McGrath, and Peter Hitchens, who isn't a fan. He also usually seems to dislike Nick Cohen, so something for everyone here!
Titania McGrath has had a couple of good moments but there's a lot of dross. Nick Cohen's comments about the quality are fair enough.
I don't agree with his rationale as to why the right has produced such poor satire of the left. I think it's simply a matter of the quality of the writers.
A piece of advice I once got was that I should take on my opponents strongest argument, rather than caricature their weakest, when debating. Obviously I don't follow it all the time, the opportunity for a piss take is often too tempting, but I reckon political commentators, & politicians themselves, could do with adhering to it.
The James O'Brien critique of "Patriotic Breakfast" earlier this week is one that bugged me. I dont know of anyone who really thinks Brexit means the UK becoming a self sufficient nation like Tom and Barbara from The Good Life, where any non UK products are prohibited. I reckon O'Brien is probably clever enough to know that, his schooling cost enough, yet he went in feet first in the manner of a Brexiteer convinced that remaining a member of the EU meant compulsory German lessons, and people lapped it up
O'Brien is educated but not intelligent. His MO is to find and counter the worst arguments for Brexit then generate a social media reaction. He's good at it, I grant you.
This article has prompted an argument between two people I quite like - namely Andrew Doyle, creator of Titania McGrath, and Peter Hitchens, who isn't a fan. He also usually seems to dislike Nick Cohen, so something for everyone here!
Titania McGrath has had a couple of good moments but there's a lot of dross. Nick Cohen's comments about the quality are fair enough.
I don't agree with his rationale as to why the right has produced such poor satire of the left. I think it's simply a matter of the quality of the writers.
A piece of advice I once got was that I should take on my opponents strongest argument, rather than caricature their weakest, when debating. Obviously I don't follow it all the time, the opportunity for a piss take is often too tempting, but I reckon political commentators, & politicians themselves, could do with adhering to it.
The James O'Brien critique of "Patriotic Breakfast" earlier this week is one that bugged me. I dont know of anyone who really thinks Brexit means the UK becoming a self sufficient nation like Tom and Barbara from The Good Life, where any non UK products are prohibited. I reckon O'Brien is probably clever enough to know that, his schooling cost enough, yet he went in feet first in the manner of a Brexiteer convinced that remaining a member of the EU meant compulsory German lessons, and people lapped it up
I've heard Peter Hitchens pine for the days when we made our own shoes.
The whole article is interesting, and well worth reading. If the conclusions drawn from China are correct, then it does strongly suggest that this thing can be brought under control by public health measures (mainly avoiding infection via touch, and a certain degree of social distancing).
This article has prompted an argument between two people I quite like - namely Andrew Doyle, creator of Titania McGrath, and Peter Hitchens, who isn't a fan. He also usually seems to dislike Nick Cohen, so something for everyone here!
Titania McGrath has had a couple of good moments but there's a lot of dross. Nick Cohen's comments about the quality are fair enough.
I don't agree with his rationale as to why the right has produced such poor satire of the left. I think it's simply a matter of the quality of the writers.
I would suggest that a lot of political comedy from all parts of the spectrum is pretty poor simply because too many writers reprieve jokes that ought to be cut on the basis that, whilst not that funny, they are "important for people to hear". The writing consequently very often gets very flabby.
That just doesn't happen to the same degree in other areas - sure, jokes still get left in that aren't that good if the writer has poor judgment or just can't write many funny jokes - but jokes don't get a free pass. There are few comedy writers of knob gags who say, "well, it's not laugh out loud funny, but makes a very pertinent point about knobs so I'll leave it."
Doyle/McGrath is a case in point - as you say, it has its moments, but is very, very flabby.
Interesting. Of course many people's identification of "class" is largely quixotic, and is about as daft as those that naively accepted the BS that Boris Johnson is not part of the "establishment".
As for the Tories, they are simply an anti-intellectual populist party now in the mould of Donald Trump. A kind of fascism-lite for the 21st century, with policies aimed at the reactionary and generally less well educated.
A very real danger to the health of Americans and the rest of us
And the rest of us......
Indeed.
I wonder whether, despite the impending consequences of Trump's ostrich approach not having cut through to Americans yet, whether this could turn so quickly that Trump is unseated by his own party before November, even though the base looks solid as of today.
Remind me, is the 25th amendment, potentially on both Trump and his VP, the sole practical means of doing this?
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
This article has prompted an argument between two people I quite like - namely Andrew Doyle, creator of Titania McGrath, and Peter Hitchens, who isn't a fan. He also usually seems to dislike Nick Cohen, so something for everyone here!
Titania McGrath has had a couple of good moments but there's a lot of dross. Nick Cohen's comments about the quality are fair enough.
I don't agree with his rationale as to why the right has produced such poor satire of the left. I think it's simply a matter of the quality of the writers.
A piece of advice I once got was that I should take on my opponents strongest argument, rather than caricature their weakest, when debating. Obviously I don't follow it all the time, the opportunity for a piss take is often too tempting, but I reckon political commentators, & politicians themselves, could do with adhering to it.
The James O'Brien critique of "Patriotic Breakfast" earlier this week is one that bugged me. I dont know of anyone who really thinks Brexit means the UK becoming a self sufficient nation like Tom and Barbara from The Good Life, where any non UK products are prohibited. I reckon O'Brien is probably clever enough to know that, his schooling cost enough, yet he went in feet first in the manner of a Brexiteer convinced that remaining a member of the EU meant compulsory German lessons, and people lapped it up
O'Brien is educated but not intelligent. His MO is to find and counter the worst arguments for Brexit then generate a social media reaction. He's good at it, I grant you.
Actually a lot of the time his MO is to misrepresent through selective quoting or just outright make stuff up. He is an utter scumbag with no redeeming features what so ever.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
The GE was an anti-Corbyn election. If Labour elects Starmer we are about to see politics return to a greater degree of normality as we will have a LoTO who looks electable. We will continue to have a PM that looks and sounds like a gameshow host at best and clown at worst.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Allegedly subjected several of its workers to egregious bullying?
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
A very real danger to the health of Americans and the rest of us
And the rest of us......
Indeed.
I wonder whether, despite the impending consequences of Trump's ostrich approach not having cut through to Americans yet, whether this could turn so quickly that Trump is unseated by his own party before November, even though the base looks solid as of today.
Remind me, is the 25th amendment, potentially on both Trump and his VP, the sole practical means of doing this?
You cannot 25th Amendment the VP, and to do it to the president requires the VP's consent - which as Pence is a lapdog, will not be forthcoming.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
Are you saying that Carrie is not pregnant due to HMG?
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
A Home Sec in an employment tribunal for bullying? Your tribal loyalty is as quaint as your belief in the fairytale of Brexit.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It is a view but not shared in the polling and maybe 'alleged' should be included
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
Are you saying that Carrie is not pregnant due to HMG?
Can you explain - Carrie being pregnant is a private matter, not HMG
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It is a view but not shared in the polling and maybe 'alleged' should be included
Alleged would not be necessary in that context. It does not say that she has been bullying, it says that she will be in a tribunal for (ergo to investigate allegations of ) bullying
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
A Home Sec in an employment tribunal for bullying? Your tribal loyalty is as quaint as your belief in the fairytale of Brexit.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
A Home Sec in an employment tribunal for bullying? Your tribal loyalty is as quaint as your belief in the fairytale of Brexit.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
I'm B+ rather than 10/10, but it is still doing a fine job. Try and remember how politics was 6 or 9 months ago by comparison.....
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
A Home Sec in an employment tribunal for bullying? Your tribal loyalty is as quaint as your belief in the fairytale of Brexit.
A renegotiated deal that is going to add 25-50% to the wholesale price of a 40ft container of food when delivered to Northern Ireland...
I am interested in the recollections from older posters about the 1957 and 1968 flu epidemics. In each of those cases some 80,000 people died in Britain from the flu. Having been born in 1965 I am too young to remember either but looking at the history of the country I certainly don't remember it being portrayed as such a crisis as we are now seeing in the media.
This is not to play down the seriousness of the Covid-19 but I just wonder whether those who were adults at that time remember it being such a huge thing as this has turned into?
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
Are you saying that Carrie is not pregnant due to HMG?
Can you explain - Carrie being pregnant is a private matter, not HMG
We have local elections on 7 May, including London Assembly/Mayor. That may well be at the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic. How is that going to affect the election? Lower turnout, particularly among the old? Reduced campaigning? A focus on health issues?
We have local elections on 7 May, including London Assembly/Mayor. That may well be at the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic. How is that going to affect the election? Lower turnout, particularly among the old? Reduced campaigning? A focus on health issues?
We have local elections on 7 May, including London Assembly/Mayor. That may well be at the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic. How is that going to affect the election? Lower turnout, particularly among the old? Reduced campaigning? A focus on health issues?
Who will be doing the counting of results? I thought the 8th May was a Bank Holiday.
Coronavirus is unlikely to disappear in summer, says WHO Speaking at the World Health Organization's daily briefing, Dr Mike Ryan said it is "a false hope" that coronavirus will just disappear in the summer like flu.
Well, it isn’t summer “everywhere” in “the summer” in the northern hemisphere. But the so far lower infection rates in currently warm countries may give some cause for possible optimism.
To summarise a lot of stuff on this. An increase in humidity affects air transmission of viruses in a similar way across all influenzas and coronavirusses, seasonal or pandemic. In particular, 18-21° at temperate humidities sees a fairly sharp tail off in air transmission. A lot of the outbreak centres: Wuhan, Qom, Lombardy have had the very odd day up at such temperatures, but are generally struggling at 10°.
The difference from a normal seasonal virus is twofold:
1. Pandemic strains start with nobody immune to them. This means they can defy seasonal effects to higher temperatures, as they start with higher transmissibility in the first place. Nevertheless, even most pandemics bubble along and struggle to go exponential in summer, even if they are not killed off. Second thing is that a cool UK spring can happily support transmission until May/June.
2. Seems COVID is not so good at air transmission over distance anyway. If most transmission is close contact, season is less relevant. That, however, should be more than countered by the fact that close contact transmission is easier to control - it should not spread anywhere near as widely as a more efficient air spreading flu. That does seem to be borne out by what we have seen so far.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
A Home Sec in an employment tribunal for bullying? Your tribal loyalty is as quaint as your belief in the fairytale of Brexit.
I am afraid that it is you who continues to display your normal tribal bias. You hate this current government and the whole Brexit scenario so much they will never be able to do anything that would satisfy you.
The rest of us have moved on whilst you continue to sink in the mire of the past.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
And yet the ungrateful voters, or at least the ungrateful opinion poll respondents, are not happy.
Boris might be regretting staying away during the floods. Gordon Brown got a boost from wearing wellies and looking serious. People might have lost their homes but at least the Prime Minister seemed to care. This Prime Minister seemed not to care.
It might be significant that Boris fronted the Corona virus announcement himself. So far, so good. But if the chips come down then voters might start looking for those 40 new hospitals and 50,000 more nurses, because we'll need them.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
And yet the ungrateful voters, or at least the ungrateful opinion poll respondents, are not happy.
Boris might be regretting staying away during the floods. Gordon Brown got a boost from wearing wellies and looking serious. People might have lost their homes but at least the Prime Minister seemed to care. This Prime Minister seemed not to care.
It might be significant that Boris fronted the Corona virus announcement himself. So far, so good. But if the chips come down then voters might start looking for those 40 new hospitals and 50,000 more nurses, because we'll need them.
I am interested in the recollections from older posters about the 1957 and 1968 flu epidemics. In each of those cases some 80,000 people died in Britain from the flu. Having been born in 1965 I am too young to remember either but looking at the history of the country I certainly don't remember it being portrayed as such a crisis as we are now seeing in the media.
This is not to play down the seriousness of the Covid-19 but I just wonder whether those who were adults at that time remember it being such a huge thing as this has turned into?
Back then they had their daily newspaper and an evening news. They did not have to fill a need for a 24 hours cycle with "stuff".
The world should agree to put out one set of information each day at 6.00 am GMT. The "OMG! Another 289 in Italy" type statistic every couple of hours just fuels a sense of rolling doom.
We have local elections on 7 May, including London Assembly/Mayor. That may well be at the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic. How is that going to affect the election? Lower turnout, particularly among the old? Reduced campaigning? A focus on health issues?
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
A Home Sec in an employment tribunal for bullying? Your tribal loyalty is as quaint as your belief in the fairytale of Brexit.
I am afraid that it is you who continues to display your normal tribal bias. You hate this current government and the whole Brexit scenario so much they will never be able to do anything that would satisfy you.
The rest of us have moved on whilst you continue to sink in the mire of the past.
Turns out Boris did have a brilliant plan. He spoke to the Chinese government and said Release a bug that kills 15-20% of all people over 80, and quite a few incurables. Ta.
Bingo. Social care is fixed.
Do you have elderly parents or relations who would read that comment and thank you
"Former Scottish government worker claims a coronavirus pandemic 'would be quite useful' in killing off NHS bed blockers in the wake of the first UK death
Professor June Andrews admitted to MSPs that her comments sounded 'horrific' But insisted they were an honest assessment of consequences of a pandemic She blamed politicians for not properly funding hospitals with higher tax rates "
Brexit kind of looks prophetic now that everyone is going to be a little more Brexity after this outbreak and repatriate a little bit more of their supply chains.
There may still well be just-in-time supply chains but they will also have a strong just-in-case factor to them as well.
I have a few days holiday coming up thanks to our event in Dublin being called off. There are some options, but I’m genuinely not sure what to do: 1. Use the tickets paid for and non-refundable to go to Dublin anyway and have a look around Ireland for a few days. 2. Write the tickets off and do a British trip instead 3. Stay at home because now is not the time to be travelling.
I figure that hotels, restaurants and other places need people to still be out and about, but I worry that right now it’s not the right thing to do.
Trump is a very real danger to the peoples across the continents and it must be hoped that this does for Trump, but at what cost to peoples lives and economic damage ?
South Korea is a source of encouragement. They've done more reliable tests than anyone and their mortality rate is just 0.6%, six times nastier than flu but not Doomsday. Some experts are heartened
On the other hand there are dissenters who say this is because they are catching so many cases very early, and a lot of these cases will eventually succumb, raising the CFRatio.
South Korea (like ourselves) is a very well organised state.
I have a few days holiday coming up thanks to our event in Dublin being called off. There are some options, but I’m genuinely not sure what to do: 1. Use the tickets paid for and non-refundable to go to Dublin anyway and have a look around Ireland for a few days. 2. Write the tickets off and do a British trip instead 3. Stay at home because now is not the time to be travelling.
I figure that hotels, restaurants and other places need people to still be out and about, but I worry that right now it’s not the right thing to do.
Thoughts?
The chances of getting the bug in the UK at a restaurant or hotel at the moment are absolutely minuscule, and not necessarily any higher than staying at home and going out to do the shopping or meeting friends. A trip around Ireland would also be very safe.
A very real danger to the health of Americans and the rest of us
And the rest of us......
Indeed.
I wonder whether, despite the impending consequences of Trump's ostrich approach not having cut through to Americans yet, whether this could turn so quickly that Trump is unseated by his own party before November, even though the base looks solid as of today.
Remind me, is the 25th amendment, potentially on both Trump and his VP, the sole practical means of doing this?
The convention delegates in late August will choose the party's candidate.
The bottom could fall out of the Trump image VERY fast when it dawns on people that he can't provide any leadership whatsoever regarding the coronavirus, and that all he can do instead is to praise officials who remain in his favour as "great" while denouncing whatever he doesn't like as "fake", rather like a troubled teenager on his way to being sectioned under the Mental Health Act. That could happen within a few weeks even.
Mechanism doesn't matter much. A way was found to oust Theresa May even though under her party's rules she was supposed to be safe for a year.
From a betting point of view: who would become the Republican nominee?
Usually when an "iconic leader" falls without a coup or violence, it's one of his own regime's figures who takes over, which would suggest Mike Pence. Mitt Romney will not be in the running, because too many from the Trump regime would be worried he might cause them problems, given how he voted for impeachment. Going back to 2016 I always thought Paul Ryan was a possibility. There is an obvious space for a young male candidate to defeat whoever the Democrats choose.
Oil is down 8% today. Maybe a fuel duty rise won't be noticed after all?
If airlines keep being hit like they are, and if new cases keep spreading at anything like the current rate then they surely will be, I wonder if oil won't fall further. I don't for the life of me see how we don't get through this summer without a bloodbath of airlines if the virus spreads as many experts are now openly warning.
Likewise, if we do keep having even nearly exponential growth then the elections and Olympics planned in 2-4 months don't stand a chance. The worst possible timing for the way this is panning out. Later primary elections might be disrupted too.
Obviously you can't always extrapolate out, but for the last week or two a bunch of developed economies have completely failed to stop rapid exponential growth. I'm becoming increasingly expectant of a pretty bad situation with a sizeable minority or more of the country affected. Even if it is 'only' 10-20% of people that will be disruptive enough.
Back then they had their daily newspaper and an evening news. They did not have to fill a need for a 24 hours cycle with "stuff".
The world should agree to put out one set of information each day at 6.00 am GMT. The "OMG! Another 289 in Italy" type statistic every couple of hours just fuels a sense of rolling doom.
Yes, I think I agree. I just look once a day at the global monitor. ATM it says -
100,686 cases 55,753 recovered 3,411 deaths
So compared to the figs quoted in the header, I have 356 more cases, 59 more recovered, and 3 more deaths.
I have a few days holiday coming up thanks to our event in Dublin being called off. There are some options, but I’m genuinely not sure what to do: 1. Use the tickets paid for and non-refundable to go to Dublin anyway and have a look around Ireland for a few days. 2. Write the tickets off and do a British trip instead 3. Stay at home because now is not the time to be travelling.
I figure that hotels, restaurants and other places need people to still be out and about, but I worry that right now it’s not the right thing to do.
Thoughts?
I'd stay closeish to home just in case you want/need to return at short notice, and wouldn't want to be anywhere I'd struggle to get back from without flying. But it's a tough one and I appreciate your dilemna.
A very real danger to the health of Americans and the rest of us
And the rest of us......
Indeed.
I wonder whether, despite the impending consequences of Trump's ostrich approach not having cut through to Americans yet, whether this could turn so quickly that Trump is unseated by his own party before November, even though the base looks solid as of today.
Remind me, is the 25th amendment, potentially on both Trump and his VP, the sole practical means of doing this?
The convention delegates in late August will choose the party's candidate.
The bottom could fall out of the Trump image VERY fast when it dawns on people that he can't provide any leadership whatsoever regarding the coronavirus, and that all he can do instead is to praise officials who remain in his favour as "great" while denouncing whatever he doesn't like as "fake", rather like a troubled teenager on his way to being sectioned under the Mental Health Act. That could happen within a few weeks even.
Mechanism doesn't matter much. A way was found to oust Theresa May even though under her party's rules she was supposed to be safe for a year.
From a betting point of view: who would become the Republican nominee?
Usually when an "iconic leader" falls without a coup or violence, it's one of his own regime's figures who takes over, which would suggest Mike Pence. Mitt Romney will not be in the running, because too many from the Trump regime would be worried he might cause them problems. Going back to 2016 I always thought Paul Ryan was a possibility. There is an obvious space for a young male candidate to defeat whoever the Democrats choose.
Trump has cleverly put Pence in full charge of virus and the president is now concentrating on campaigning as far as I can see.
Pence will get all the blame under Trump's cunning plan.
I have a few days holiday coming up thanks to our event in Dublin being called off. There are some options, but I’m genuinely not sure what to do: 1. Use the tickets paid for and non-refundable to go to Dublin anyway and have a look around Ireland for a few days. 2. Write the tickets off and do a British trip instead 3. Stay at home because now is not the time to be travelling.
I figure that hotels, restaurants and other places need people to still be out and about, but I worry that right now it’s not the right thing to do.
Thoughts?
The chances of getting the bug in the UK at a restaurant or hotel at the moment are absolutely minuscule, and not necessarily any higher than staying at home and going out to do the shopping or meeting friends. A trip around Ireland would also be very safe.
Yep, I know that, I’m just wondering if it’s good form.
This article has prompted an argument between two people I quite like - namely Andrew Doyle, creator of Titania McGrath, and Peter Hitchens, who isn't a fan. He also usually seems to dislike Nick Cohen, so something for everyone here!
Titania McGrath has had a couple of good moments but there's a lot of dross. Nick Cohen's comments about the quality are fair enough.
I don't agree with his rationale as to why the right has produced such poor satire of the left. I think it's simply a matter of the quality of the writers.
I would suggest that a lot of political comedy from all parts of the spectrum is pretty poor simply because too many writers reprieve jokes that ought to be cut on the basis that, whilst not that funny, they are "important for people to hear". The writing consequently very often gets very flabby.
That just doesn't happen to the same degree in other areas - sure, jokes still get left in that aren't that good if the writer has poor judgment or just can't write many funny jokes - but jokes don't get a free pass. There are few comedy writers of knob gags who say, "well, it's not laugh out loud funny, but makes a very pertinent point about knobs so I'll leave it."
Doyle/McGrath is a case in point - as you say, it has its moments, but is very, very flabby.
The problem is that good comedy writing is difficult, and surprisingly doesn’t lend itself to Twitter very well - which is the opposite of what you’d expect.
Writers and performers of standup comedy usually work alone, work through a premise then perform it dozens of times to audiences in clubs while iterating the material, changing a word, phrase or pause here and there and watching the reaction. By the time they’re touring theatres or recording TV specials, they’ve been working on the material for a year or more and it’s tight and polished.
The TV panel show is a bunch of comedians with a vague agenda and then lots of editing afterwards, they’ll film for two or three hours to get a 25-minute show. It’s the editing that makes the show, most of the jokes they make off the cuff are not very good.
Then we have scripted sitcom, where usually a group of writers work together to produce something which is read through dozens of times, editing and iterating as they go, before they finalise what’s going to be performed.
Twitter, well that takes the worst bits of all three styles above, and combines them together. A Tweet is usually written quickly by one person, maybe read back once and then published to the world. It’s no surprise that a lot of Twitter jokes don’t land well.
Without looking at the details, I am not surprised. What's the government done?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
Your last sentence is just nasty.
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
I think it was meant to satirical, so I think you may need to do the growing up.
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
It's very early days in this government but so far it has been 10/10 great.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented. The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with. HS2 decision made. The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
A Home Sec in an employment tribunal for bullying? Your tribal loyalty is as quaint as your belief in the fairytale of Brexit.
I am afraid that it is you who continues to display your normal tribal bias. You hate this current government and the whole Brexit scenario so much they will never be able to do anything that would satisfy you.
The rest of us have moved on whilst you continue to sink in the mire of the past.
South Korea is a source of encouragement. They've done more reliable tests than anyone and their mortality rate is just 0.6%, six times nastier than flu but not Doomsday. Some experts are heartened
On the other hand there are dissenters who say this is because they are catching so many cases very early, and a lot of these cases will eventually succumb, raising the CFRatio.
South Korea (like ourselves) is a very well organised state.
Have you ever been there? I have. They are better organised than us. Albeit with a somewhat lower GDP per capita.
"Former Scottish government worker claims a coronavirus pandemic 'would be quite useful' in killing off NHS bed blockers in the wake of the first UK death
Professor June Andrews admitted to MSPs that her comments sounded 'horrific' But insisted they were an honest assessment of consequences of a pandemic She blamed politicians for not properly funding hospitals with higher tax rates "
Brexit kind of looks prophetic now that everyone is going to be a little more Brexity after this outbreak and repatriate a little bit more of their supply chains.
There may still well be just-in-time supply chains but they will also have a strong just-in-case factor to them as well.
That's what lots of people are saying - but in many cases, the manufacturing capacity and skills just don't exist in developed countries any more. And in Britain's case, Brexit will make them even tougher to find.
And what would be the point of putting all our sources in one place? Italy (and IMHO the US) may well turn out to be harder hit by Covid 19 than China - and it's pure fluke that Johnson's not messed up our anti-plague defences as massively as the Italians and Americans. If he had, we'd be in an even worse mess if we relied on collapsing UK suppliers for our clothes, our technology - or our sanitiser dispensers.
The crucial thing is learning the right supply chain lessons from the Covid19 crisis. We won't know what they are till this outbreak's run its course.
I have a few days holiday coming up thanks to our event in Dublin being called off. There are some options, but I’m genuinely not sure what to do: 1. Use the tickets paid for and non-refundable to go to Dublin anyway and have a look around Ireland for a few days. 2. Write the tickets off and do a British trip instead 3. Stay at home because now is not the time to be travelling.
I figure that hotels, restaurants and other places need people to still be out and about, but I worry that right now it’s not the right thing to do.
Thoughts?
The chances of getting the bug in the UK at a restaurant or hotel at the moment are absolutely minuscule, and not necessarily any higher than staying at home and going out to do the shopping or meeting friends. A trip around Ireland would also be very safe.
Yep, I know that, I’m just wondering if it’s good form.
As long as you're well it's okay to travel and the next couple of weeks will be the safest/most socially acceptable for at least the next couple of months.
That said, there is a risk that you'll find you've travelled to somewhere which has subsequently had many cases identified.
Turns out Boris did have a brilliant plan. He spoke to the Chinese government and said Release a bug that kills 15-20% of all people over 80, and quite a few incurables. Ta.
Bingo. Social care is fixed.
But the demographic that voted Leave isn't.
If only the Opposition had held back from supporting an election. And then pressed for a new Referendum instead.
We're about two weeks away from the total suspension of almost all international air traffic.
Airlines are really suffering, lots of business travel has been curtailed, exhibitions, conferences and sporting events cancelled or played in empty stadia.
My wife and I decided today not to book a trip to a sporting event at the end of this month, no-one is going to book travel for an event that could end up being cancelled.
I have a few days holiday coming up thanks to our event in Dublin being called off. There are some options, but I’m genuinely not sure what to do: 1. Use the tickets paid for and non-refundable to go to Dublin anyway and have a look around Ireland for a few days. 2. Write the tickets off and do a British trip instead 3. Stay at home because now is not the time to be travelling.
I figure that hotels, restaurants and other places need people to still be out and about, but I worry that right now it’s not the right thing to do.
Thoughts?
The chances of getting the bug in the UK at a restaurant or hotel at the moment are absolutely minuscule, and not necessarily any higher than staying at home and going out to do the shopping or meeting friends. A trip around Ireland would also be very safe.
This is pretty sensible advice. Yes you can still go somewhere in the UK or Ireland. (The UK if you want to help the British tourist economy)
The further abroad you go the greater the chance of being marooned there, or excluded from home, if there is a sudden change in quarantine/lockdown wherever you are, or wherever your home is.
And you don't want to go anywhere with a crap health system.
I'd do Cornwall, the West Country, or the Irish West Coast, Connemara maybe.....
I agree, and should stress my advice was assuming your trip was in a couple of months. We don't know that the outbreak will keep getting worse exponentially, but in case it does I'd be wary of making any foreign plans more than 4-6 weeks ahead (possibly even then), and obviously the longer in the future the more uncertainty.
Turns out Boris did have a brilliant plan. He spoke to the Chinese government and said Release a bug that kills 15-20% of all people over 80, and quite a few incurables. Ta.
Bingo. Social care is fixed.
But the demographic that voted Leave isn't.
If only the Opposition had held back from supporting an election. And then pressed for a new Referendum instead.
I have a few days holiday coming up thanks to our event in Dublin being called off. There are some options, but I’m genuinely not sure what to do: 1. Use the tickets paid for and non-refundable to go to Dublin anyway and have a look around Ireland for a few days. 2. Write the tickets off and do a British trip instead 3. Stay at home because now is not the time to be travelling.
I figure that hotels, restaurants and other places need people to still be out and about, but I worry that right now it’s not the right thing to do.
I have a few days holiday coming up thanks to our event in Dublin being called off. There are some options, but I’m genuinely not sure what to do: 1. Use the tickets paid for and non-refundable to go to Dublin anyway and have a look around Ireland for a few days. 2. Write the tickets off and do a British trip instead 3. Stay at home because now is not the time to be travelling.
I figure that hotels, restaurants and other places need people to still be out and about, but I worry that right now it’s not the right thing to do.
Thoughts?
The chances of getting the bug in the UK at a restaurant or hotel at the moment are absolutely minuscule, and not necessarily any higher than staying at home and going out to do the shopping or meeting friends. A trip around Ireland would also be very safe.
And you don't want to go anywhere with a crap health system.
This is the key point in my view. Travelling doesn't look inherently more dangerous than staying in Britain in the medium term for picking up the infection. So the only question is whether you will get adequate healthcare if you catch it wherever you're going.
We have local elections on 7 May, including London Assembly/Mayor. That may well be at the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic. How is that going to affect the election? Lower turnout, particularly among the old? Reduced campaigning? A focus on health issues?
Postponed. Almost a certainty now I would say.
Something last done in 2001, during the Foot and Mouth outbreak. Required primary legislation at the time, I wonder if that’s still the case now?
South Korea is a source of encouragement. They've done more reliable tests than anyone and their mortality rate is just 0.6%, six times nastier than flu but not Doomsday. Some experts are heartened
On the other hand there are dissenters who say this is because they are catching so many cases very early, and a lot of these cases will eventually succumb, raising the CFRatio.
South Korea (like ourselves) is a very well organised state.
Have you ever been there? I have. They are better organised than us. Albeit with a somewhat lower GDP per capita.
No, I haven’t.
Sorry. I forgot no-one was as well travelled or as knowledgeable as you.
Brexit kind of looks prophetic now that everyone is going to be a little more Brexity after this outbreak and repatriate a little bit more of their supply chains.
There may still well be just-in-time supply chains but they will also have a strong just-in-case factor to them as well.
That's what lots of people are saying - but in many cases, the manufacturing capacity and skills just don't exist in developed countries any more. And in Britain's case, Brexit will make them even tougher to find.
And what would be the point of putting all our sources in one place? Italy (and IMHO the US) may well turn out to be harder hit by Covid 19 than China - and it's pure fluke that Johnson's not messed up our anti-plague defences as massively as the Italians and Americans. If he had, we'd be in an even worse mess if we relied on collapsing UK suppliers for our clothes, our technology - or our sanitiser dispensers.
The crucial thing is learning the right supply chain lessons from the Covid19 crisis. We won't know what they are till this outbreak's run its course.
That’s going from one extreme to another. That’s no what I’m saying.
I’m saying in future there’ll be a variety of factors (this is just one) leading companies to make their supply chains resilient as well as efficient.
I have a few days holiday coming up thanks to our event in Dublin being called off. There are some options, but I’m genuinely not sure what to do: 1. Use the tickets paid for and non-refundable to go to Dublin anyway and have a look around Ireland for a few days. 2. Write the tickets off and do a British trip instead 3. Stay at home because now is not the time to be travelling.
I figure that hotels, restaurants and other places need people to still be out and about, but I worry that right now it’s not the right thing to do.
Thoughts?
The chances of getting the bug in the UK at a restaurant or hotel at the moment are absolutely minuscule, and not necessarily any higher than staying at home and going out to do the shopping or meeting friends. A trip around Ireland would also be very safe.
And you don't want to go anywhere with a crap health system.
This is the key point in my view. Travelling doesn't look inherently more dangerous than staying in Britain in the medium term for picking up the infection. So the only question is whether you will get adequate healthcare if you catch it wherever you're going.
Or are prepared to be quarantined abroad or here when you come home
Comments
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1235964491181015041?s=20
I’m guessing they’re not going to call it the “Trump pandemic”
So it’s two degrees away from me now.
A very real danger to the health of Americans and the rest of us
Indeed.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/06/were-learning-a-lot-about-the-coronavirus-it-will-help-us-assess-risk/
The whole article is interesting, and well worth reading.
If the conclusions drawn from China are correct, then it does strongly suggest that this thing can be brought under control by public health measures (mainly avoiding infection via touch, and a certain degree of social distancing).
BA have suspended half their LHR SIN 380 flights
That just doesn't happen to the same degree in other areas - sure, jokes still get left in that aren't that good if the writer has poor judgment or just can't write many funny jokes - but jokes don't get a free pass. There are few comedy writers of knob gags who say, "well, it's not laugh out loud funny, but makes a very pertinent point about knobs so I'll leave it."
Doyle/McGrath is a case in point - as you say, it has its moments, but is very, very flabby.
As for the Tories, they are simply an anti-intellectual populist party now in the mould of Donald Trump. A kind of fascism-lite for the 21st century, with policies aimed at the reactionary and generally less well educated.
Remind me, is the 25th amendment, potentially on both Trump and his VP, the sole practical means of doing this?
Well, oven-ready Brexit but that's not improved anyone's life and if it turns out a lot of Brexit voters were not really voting on Brexit but against decline in general -- and Arron Banks and Dominic Cummings would agree with that -- then where are we? Any genuinely hardcore Brexiteers might see that we are still in a transition period so they won't be happy either. And that is betting without the natural Labour voters in the red wall seats.
So what has the government done? It's got Carrie pregnant and exiled Harry and Meghan but what else?
https://twitter.com/DailyMailUK/status/1235968989517541381?s=20
Perhaps “BA” is a coincidence? It would be very worrisome if the virus could survive on luggage for any length of time...
Carrie being pregnant and Harry and Megan have nothing to do with HMG
Some people need to grow up
The achievements of this government are pretty difficult to identify. We have a blustering PM who is in thrall to a very unsavoury "advisor" and a Home Sec who is likely to find herself in an employment tribunal for bullying. This is a government that already stinks of incompetence, which for a supposed Tory government is not a good look.
A renegotiated deal that was supposed to be impossible has been negotiated and implemented.
The threat of Corbyn has been dealt with.
HS2 decision made.
The coronavirus outbreak has been dealt with well so far.
Early days still but nothing to criticise so far.
Virus dealt with?
This is not to play down the seriousness of the Covid-19 but I just wonder whether those who were adults at that time remember it being such a huge thing as this has turned into?
Anyway, we know see his planned line of attack: Biden has dementia and is unfit to be president.
God, this is going to be brutal.
The difference from a normal seasonal virus is twofold:
1. Pandemic strains start with nobody immune to them. This means they can defy seasonal effects to higher temperatures, as they start with higher transmissibility in the first place. Nevertheless, even most pandemics bubble along and struggle to go exponential in summer, even if they are not killed off. Second thing is that a cool UK spring can happily support transmission until May/June.
2. Seems COVID is not so good at air transmission over distance anyway. If most transmission is close contact, season is less relevant. That, however, should be more than countered by the fact that close contact transmission is easier to control - it should not spread anywhere near as widely as a more efficient air spreading flu. That does seem to be borne out by what we have seen so far.
The rest of us have moved on whilst you continue to sink in the mire of the past.
Boris might be regretting staying away during the floods. Gordon Brown got a boost from wearing wellies and looking serious. People might have lost their homes but at least the Prime Minister seemed to care. This Prime Minister seemed not to care.
It might be significant that Boris fronted the Corona virus announcement himself. So far, so good. But if the chips come down then voters might start looking for those 40 new hospitals and 50,000 more nurses, because we'll need them.
Somebody was wondering earlier on here why it had been so quiet over there.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GvO77Q1O49d0m4lQdBNdus3H8wdf3s-vLPE8c4cntsI/edit#gid=0
The world should agree to put out one set of information each day at 6.00 am GMT. The "OMG! Another 289 in Italy" type statistic every couple of hours just fuels a sense of rolling doom.
I want my money!
Professor June Andrews admitted to MSPs that her comments sounded 'horrific'
But insisted they were an honest assessment of consequences of a pandemic
She blamed politicians for not properly funding hospitals with higher tax rates "
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8082899/Doctor-says-pandemic-quite-useful-killing-bed-blockers.html
People. Take. Time. To. Die.
There may still well be just-in-time supply chains but they will also have a strong just-in-case factor to them as well.
1. Use the tickets paid for and non-refundable to go to Dublin anyway and have a look around Ireland for a few days.
2. Write the tickets off and do a British trip instead
3. Stay at home because now is not the time to be travelling.
I figure that hotels, restaurants and other places need people to still be out and about, but I worry that right now it’s not the right thing to do.
Thoughts?
https://www.bloomberg.com/energy
The bottom could fall out of the Trump image VERY fast when it dawns on people that he can't provide any leadership whatsoever regarding the coronavirus, and that all he can do instead is to praise officials who remain in his favour as "great" while denouncing whatever he doesn't like as "fake", rather like a troubled teenager on his way to being sectioned under the Mental Health Act. That could happen within a few weeks even.
Mechanism doesn't matter much. A way was found to oust Theresa May even though under her party's rules she was supposed to be safe for a year.
From a betting point of view: who would become the Republican nominee?
Usually when an "iconic leader" falls without a coup or violence, it's one of his own regime's figures who takes over, which would suggest Mike Pence. Mitt Romney will not be in the running, because too many from the Trump regime would be worried he might cause them problems, given how he voted for impeachment. Going back to 2016 I always thought Paul Ryan was a possibility. There is an obvious space for a young male candidate to defeat whoever the Democrats choose.
Likewise, if we do keep having even nearly exponential growth then the elections and Olympics planned in 2-4 months don't stand a chance. The worst possible timing for the way this is panning out. Later primary elections might be disrupted too.
Obviously you can't always extrapolate out, but for the last week or two a bunch of developed economies have completely failed to stop rapid exponential growth. I'm becoming increasingly expectant of a pretty bad situation with a sizeable minority or more of the country affected. Even if it is 'only' 10-20% of people that will be disruptive enough.
100,686 cases
55,753 recovered
3,411 deaths
So compared to the figs quoted in the header, I have 356 more cases, 59 more recovered, and 3 more deaths.
Pence will get all the blame under Trump's cunning plan.
Will it work?
Writers and performers of standup comedy usually work alone, work through a premise then perform it dozens of times to audiences in clubs while iterating the material, changing a word, phrase or pause here and there and watching the reaction. By the time they’re touring theatres or recording TV specials, they’ve been working on the material for a year or more and it’s tight and polished.
The TV panel show is a bunch of comedians with a vague agenda and then lots of editing afterwards, they’ll film for two or three hours to get a 25-minute show. It’s the editing that makes the show, most of the jokes they make off the cuff are not very good.
Then we have scripted sitcom, where usually a group of writers work together to produce something which is read through dozens of times, editing and iterating as they go, before they finalise what’s going to be performed.
Twitter, well that takes the worst bits of all three styles above, and combines them together. A Tweet is usually written quickly by one person, maybe read back once and then published to the world. It’s no surprise that a lot of Twitter jokes don’t land well.
And what would be the point of putting all our sources in one place? Italy (and IMHO the US) may well turn out to be harder hit by Covid 19 than China - and it's pure fluke that Johnson's not messed up our anti-plague defences as massively as the Italians and Americans. If he had, we'd be in an even worse mess if we relied on collapsing UK suppliers for our clothes, our technology - or our sanitiser dispensers.
The crucial thing is learning the right supply chain lessons from the Covid19 crisis. We won't know what they are till this outbreak's run its course.
I think you misplaced the decimal point.
That said, there is a risk that you'll find you've travelled to somewhere which has subsequently had many cases identified.
My wife and I decided today not to book a trip to a sporting event at the end of this month, no-one is going to book travel for an event that could end up being cancelled.
But Trump is toast anyway.
Sorry. I forgot no-one was as well travelled or as knowledgeable as you.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
I’m saying in future there’ll be a variety of factors (this is just one) leading companies to make their supply chains resilient as well as efficient.