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  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163
    RobD said:

    IanB2 said:

    RobD said:

    IanB2 said:

    dr_spyn said:
    Well, it clearly doesn’t work anyway.
    I think you might be underestimating how important it is for some people. Maybe not the service itself, but the social aspect, especially amongst the elderly.
    That’s going to do for the Americans, if they aren’t careful
    I understand why they are stopping it, just trying to say it probably isn't necessary to be flippant about it.
    I suspect he meant that praying does not change anything, but your point about the social side of it is completely correct.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609

    Pulpstar said:

    I went to the local pub for lunch, to show some solidarity. It was deserted.

    Later on, I shall be walking to the fish and chip shop. Whether I get the usual minicab back has yet to be determined.
    I wouldn't personally, minicab drivers are going to be the last people to self isolate.
    Although the Albanian one we heard about the other day was a model of good practice - deep cleaning his cab, refusing customers with violent coughs.
    My black cab driver the other day was very grateful that he only has a tiny slit to pass money through between him and his passenger in the back.

    Funny, I didn't think I looked that peaky....
  • Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,218

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
  • BannedinnParisBannedinnParis Posts: 1,884
    RobD said:

    ClippP said:



    I thought we had stopped testing, so really we have no idea. The Conservative politicians who are supposed to be in charge just do not have a clue. My hopes are pinned on the competent experts in the civil service, whom the Conservative politicians despise.

    Testing has not stopped.
    Its actually increased markedly.
  • One for HYUFD

    UK 'may have up to 55,000 coronavirus cases already'

    There could be as many as 55,000 coronavirus cases already in the UK, the government's chief scientific adviser has suggested.

    Appearing before the health select committee, Sir Patrick Vallance was asked by whether the expected death rate was one fatality for every 1,000 cases, which would mean that there is "potentially 55,000 cases".

    Asked if that felt right, Sir Patrick said: "We've tried to get a handle on that in Sage (the scientific advisory group for emergencies) and if you put all the modelling information together, that's a reasonable ballpark way of looking at it.

    "It's not more accurate than that."

  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609
    rcs1000 said:

    rpjs said:

    I went to the local pub for lunch, to show some solidarity. It was deserted.

    Just had a forlorn message from my personal trainer. Poor girl she is self employed and has worked hard to build up a client base.

    I'm going to keep at it to try to help her.
    We told our fortnightly cleaner she was still welcome to come if she felt comfortable doing so (after all, a cleaner is going to be cleaning everything he or she touches so unless she was exhibiting symptoms we'd have no qualms about her coming), but if she wasn't we'd still pay her. She said she would but now my wife is unwell, with symptoms that might tally with COVID, but by no means a perfect fit. We told the cleaner to stay away for sure and sent her her usual payment. Hopefully we should be able to keep that up indefinitely.
    We paid our cleaner for the next two weeks and told her not to come in.
    Same here. She may be armed with gloves and bleach, but she is going to be going into a variety of houses - and must be at a higher risk of exposure as a result.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,935

    One for HYUFD

    UK 'may have up to 55,000 coronavirus cases already'

    There could be as many as 55,000 coronavirus cases already in the UK, the government's chief scientific adviser has suggested.

    Appearing before the health select committee, Sir Patrick Vallance was asked by whether the expected death rate was one fatality for every 1,000 cases, which would mean that there is "potentially 55,000 cases".

    Asked if that felt right, Sir Patrick said: "We've tried to get a handle on that in Sage (the scientific advisory group for emergencies) and if you put all the modelling information together, that's a reasonable ballpark way of looking at it.

    "It's not more accurate than that."

    The stories from Iceland and from the Italian town give me hope that there is a huge asymptomatic group.
  • Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Useless Tories, protecting big business and the corporations.

    Meanwhile people risk losing everything but at least the finance houses and insurers are protected.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,482
    RobD said:

    SandraMc said:

    eek said:

    Balrog said:

    Alistair said:

    Private Landlords are going to be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. And when they grovel and ask why them they will be slreninded of how they acted during the corona virus.

    Some of the emails and tweets I've seen I've had to quadruple check to make sure they are not parodies. The callusesness is beyond appalling.

    I suspect that depends on the landlord. If asked by a tenant in current
    SandraMc said:

    The government is going to have to sort out supermarket deliveries for those self-isolating. Tesco's delivery slots are booked up 2 weeks in advance and so are click and collect.

    I know there are other supermarkets but Waitrose isn't taking new registrations.

    Or people set up volunteer groups to home deliver to people that need it
    Yep - we will be doing any shopping our next day neighbour (cancer) and the m-i-l need. There are a couple of other OAPs we need to check on but I will do that later.
    There are plenty of local volunteers saying things like: "I'll buy some milk and bread for the elderly" but how many of them are prepared to do a full week's shopping? Some might on top of their usual shop but it's getting difficult with supermarkets rationing certain products.

    This is were I feel that it shows that Boris doesn't do detail. "Oh, yes. The supermarkets say they have plenty of food. They do home deliveries so up to a third of the population can stay in. Oh, they are now running out of food and there are no home delivery dates."
    I hate to be harsh, but the market will intervene here. There *is* plenty of food and loo roll. In fact, there is a vast overabundance of food (and probably loo roll) to the extent that thousands of tonnes is wasted each week. People want it and have money. Producers want to sell it to them. Supermarkets, other food shops, and to some extent restaurants, need to, and will, find the best way to manage those transactions, and keep their customers satisfied, through trial and error. Not sure why you think Boris wading in is going to help.
    But if imports dry up that surplus won't last very long. How many tonnes of food are eaten each day?
    Why exactly should imports dry up when, again sorry to be harsh, we have a pandemic that disproportionately attacks a minority of the vulnerable and elderly, but manifests in the young and healthy as a bad flu or nothing at all?

    It's understandable to feel like this - we're all in a very odd world at the moment, but as things move forward, things will feel less like the sky is falling in.
  • contrariancontrarian Posts: 5,818

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Does Sunak realise what he is doing here?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,486
    dr_spyn said:
    Archbishop of Canterbury admits that Coronavirus just about “wraps it up for God”.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,119
    edited March 2020
    Re testing, the confusion comes because Witty last week said they were stopping testing the public at large, stopping contact tracing and concentrating on hospital admissions.

    It is clear they didn't want to make a Trump style promise of if you need a test, you can have a test.

    His Scottish counter-part sort of let it slip, that they are still sampling the community.

    However, this still isn't what the WHO want to see, they want every case possible picked up. The Uk government appears more keen to using sampling to keep a track of spread / estimate numbers AND what to roll out post disease testing.

    I think they want to concentrate capacity on those that need to know if they are positive or not, while sampling enough to know if hotspots are building up.

    It was clear with the statement that London was 3 weeks ahead that privately they still have data rolling in from all sorts of sources.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,935

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Dedicated phone line? We're saved!

    Let's hope it's more than that.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,208
    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Patients that are very ill potentially may die anyway. It's the difference between dying of CV and dying with CV.

    I don't think the number difference is huge nor that it is "non standard" as MM insinuates.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,767

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Useless Tories, protecting big business and the corporations.

    Meanwhile people risk losing everything but at least the finance houses and insurers are protected.
    They wont be able to hold this line long. We were are finally let out again there will not be a single pub, cafe or restaurant to visit.
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,680
    edited March 2020

    dr_spyn said:
    Archbishop of Canterbury admits that Coronavirus just about “wraps it up for God”.
    42 years since the original radio play.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,935

    RobD said:

    SandraMc said:

    eek said:

    Balrog said:

    Alistair said:

    Private Landlords are going to be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. And when they grovel and ask why them they will be slreninded of how they acted during the corona virus.

    Some of the emails and tweets I've seen I've had to quadruple check to make sure they are not parodies. The callusesness is beyond appalling.

    I suspect that depends on the landlord. If asked by a tenant in current
    SandraMc said:

    The government is going to have to sort out supermarket deliveries for those self-isolating. Tesco's delivery slots are booked up 2 weeks in advance and so are click and collect.

    I know there are other supermarkets but Waitrose isn't taking new registrations.

    Or people set up volunteer groups to home deliver to people that need it
    Yep - we will be doing any shopping our next day neighbour (cancer) and the m-i-l need. There are a couple of other OAPs we need to check on but I will do that later.
    There are plenty of local volunteers saying things like: "I'll buy some milk and bread for the elderly" but how many of them are prepared to do a full week's shopping? Some might on top of their usual shop but it's getting difficult with supermarkets rationing certain products.

    This is were I feel that it shows that Boris doesn't do detail. "Oh, yes. The supermarkets say they have plenty of food. They do home deliveries so up to a third of the population can stay in. Oh, they are now running out of food and there are no home delivery dates."
    I hate to be harsh, but the market will intervene here. There *is* plenty of food and loo roll. In fact, there is a vast overabundance of food (and probably loo roll) to the extent that thousands of tonnes is wasted each week. People want it and have money. Producers want to sell it to them. Supermarkets, other food shops, and to some extent restaurants, need to, and will, find the best way to manage those transactions, and keep their customers satisfied, through trial and error. Not sure why you think Boris wading in is going to help.
    But if imports dry up that surplus won't last very long. How many tonnes of food are eaten each day?
    Why exactly should imports dry up when, again sorry to be harsh, we have a pandemic that disproportionately attacks a minority of the vulnerable and elderly, but manifests in the young and healthy as a bad flu or nothing at all?

    It's understandable to feel like this - we're all in a very odd world at the moment, but as things move forward, things will feel less like the sky is falling in.
    That's true. I've not yet seen any figures on the impact on international trade. I can't imagine everything is running as smoothly as before.
  • GideonWiseGideonWise Posts: 1,123
    Been doing some actual work from home today. What have I missed?
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,935

    Been doing some actual work from home today. What have I missed?

    we're all doomed... dooooooooomed
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,119

    One for HYUFD

    UK 'may have up to 55,000 coronavirus cases already'

    There could be as many as 55,000 coronavirus cases already in the UK, the government's chief scientific adviser has suggested.

    Appearing before the health select committee, Sir Patrick Vallance was asked by whether the expected death rate was one fatality for every 1,000 cases, which would mean that there is "potentially 55,000 cases".

    Asked if that felt right, Sir Patrick said: "We've tried to get a handle on that in Sage (the scientific advisory group for emergencies) and if you put all the modelling information together, that's a reasonable ballpark way of looking at it.

    "It's not more accurate than that."

    The Imperial bods last night said they are working on there been between 35-50k at the moment.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,482

    dr_spyn said:
    Archbishop of Canterbury admits that Coronavirus just about “wraps it up for God”.
    Hopefully that's a bad paraphrase of what he said - 'exploring innovative new ways to worship together whilst at home' would have sounded a bit better.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,653
    If that Peston story is accurate - and, thankfully, that has to be in doubt given it is Peston - then the UK economy is heading for a major catastrophe. The Tories will not be forgiven. I refuse to believe they could be so stupid.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,482
    Not even if she has a good cough.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,935

    If that Peston story is accurate - and, thankfully, that has to be in doubt given it is Peston - then the UK economy is heading for a major catastrophe. The Tories will not be forgiven. I refuse to believe they could be so stupid.

    That's the sliver of hope I am holding onto.
  • rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Nope, I can authoritatively confirm that we lying toerags are in fact 'cheating' and 'fiddling the numbers'. Hard habit to break, we're Germans, after all.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,119

    If that Peston story is accurate - and, thankfully, that has to be in doubt given it is Peston - then the UK economy is heading for a major catastrophe. The Tories will not be forgiven. I refuse to believe they could be so stupid.

    It does seem that this finding in the last few days that the UK will have twice as many hospitalizations as the initial model was based on as thrown a giant spanner in the works all round.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,653

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Useless Tories, protecting big business and the corporations.

    Meanwhile people risk losing everything but at least the finance houses and insurers are protected.
    They wont be able to hold this line long. We were are finally let out again there will not be a single pub, cafe or restaurant to visit.

    Any u-turn will be too late. It's now or never. I cannot believe that Fuck Business is genuinely the Tory philosophy now.

  • AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340

    dr_spyn said:
    Archbishop of Canterbury admits that Coronavirus just about “wraps it up for God”.
    Hopefully that's a bad paraphrase of what he said - 'exploring innovative new ways to worship together whilst at home' would have sounded a bit better.
    He should have said: "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,482
    RobD said:

    RobD said:

    SandraMc said:

    eek said:

    Balrog said:

    Alistair said:

    Private Landlords are going to be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. And when they grovel and ask why them they will be slreninded of how they acted during the corona virus.

    Some of the emails and tweets I've seen I've had to quadruple check to make sure they are not parodies. The callusesness is beyond appalling.

    I suspect that depends on the landlord. If asked by a tenant in current
    SandraMc said:

    The government is going to have to sort out supermarket deliveries for those self-isolating. Tesco's delivery slots are booked up 2 weeks in advance and so are click and collect.

    I know there are other supermarkets but Waitrose isn't taking new registrations.

    Or people set up volunteer groups to home deliver to people that need it
    Yep - we will be doing any shopping our next day neighbour (cancer) and the m-i-l need. There are a couple of other OAPs we need to check on but I will do that later.
    There are plenty of local volunteers saying things like: "I'll buy some milk and bread for the elderly" but how many of them are prepared to do a full week's shopping? Some might on top of their usual shop but it's getting difficult with supermarkets rationing certain products.

    This is were I feel that it shows that Boris doesn't do detail. "Oh, yes. The supermarkets say they have plenty of food. They do home deliveries so up to a third of the population can stay in. Oh, they are now running out of food and there are no home delivery dates."
    I hate to be harsh, but the market will intervene here. There *is* plenty of food and loo roll. In fact, there is a vast overabundance of food (and probably loo roll) to the extent that thousands of tonnes is wasted each week. People want it and have money. Producers want to sell it to them. Supermarkets, other food shops, and to some extent restaurants, need to, and will, find the best way to manage those transactions, and keep their customers satisfied, through trial and error. Not sure why you think Boris wading in is going to help.
    But if imports dry up that surplus won't last very long. How many tonnes of food are eaten each day?
    Why exactly should imports dry up when, again sorry to be harsh, we have a pandemic that disproportionately attacks a minority of the vulnerable and elderly, but manifests in the young and healthy as a bad flu or nothing at all?

    It's understandable to feel like this - we're all in a very odd world at the moment, but as things move forward, things will feel less like the sky is falling in.
    That's true. I've not yet seen any figures on the impact on international trade. I can't imagine everything is running as smoothly as before.
    Well there's a lot of spare air freight capacity now, that's for sure.
  • fox327fox327 Posts: 370
    I've just come back from the shops. There is a lot of tension out there, shortages of items, and long queues. The government has got a lot more to worry about than just the virus, because society is in a state of spasm right now. I have a feeling that things could get much worse. One problem is that we have our ways of doing things. If the government tries to change everybody's behaviour overnight there are a lot of ways in which it could go wrong. Things feel ominous, and people are very worried. Maybe the government should be trying to reassure people instead of frightening them.
  • contrariancontrarian Posts: 5,818

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Useless Tories, protecting big business and the corporations.

    Meanwhile people risk losing everything but at least the finance houses and insurers are protected.
    They wont be able to hold this line long. We were are finally let out again there will not be a single pub, cafe or restaurant to visit.

    Any u-turn will be too late. It's now or never. I cannot believe that Fuck Business is genuinely the Tory philosophy now.

    Its acually more like 'f8ck tory voting small entrepreneurial business'
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,868

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Useless Tories, protecting big business and the corporations.

    Meanwhile people risk losing everything but at least the finance houses and insurers are protected.
    They wont be able to hold this line long. We were are finally let out again there will not be a single pub, cafe or restaurant to visit.

    Any u-turn will be too late. It's now or never. I cannot believe that Fuck Business is genuinely the Tory philosophy now.

    Its acually more like 'f8ck tory voting small entrepreneurial business'
    I thought their voters were all retired? ;)
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,119
    edited March 2020

    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Nope, I can authoritatively confirm that we lying toerags are in fact 'cheating' and 'fiddling the numbers'. Hard habit to break, we're Germans, after all.
    Maybe because the outbreak has been worst in Italy, but I haven't heard any German professors on the UK media explaining what appears to be their best practice.

    On CH4 news last night they interviewed some Italian medical staff and said the despite following recognised best practice for those with similar issues i.e. need ICU with chronic pneumonia etc, it didn't appear to be effective at all and in general people weren't really recovering.

    This wasn't about these particular patients not having access to state of the art ICU treatment, it was the treatment wasn't working.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,464

    RobD said:

    RobD said:

    SandraMc said:

    eek said:

    Balrog said:

    Alistair said:

    Private Landlords are going to be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. And when they grovel and ask why them they will be slreninded of how they acted during the corona virus.

    Some of the emails and tweets I've seen I've had to quadruple check to make sure they are not parodies. The callusesness is beyond appalling.

    I suspect that depends on the landlord. If asked by a tenant in current
    SandraMc said:

    The government is going to have to sort out supermarket deliveries for those self-isolating. Tesco's delivery slots are booked up 2 weeks in advance and so are click and collect.

    I know there are other supermarkets but Waitrose isn't taking new registrations.

    Or people set up volunteer groups to home deliver to people that need it
    Yep - we will be doing any shopping our next day neighbour (cancer) and the m-i-l need. There are a couple of other OAPs we need to check on but I will do that later.
    There are plenty of local volunteers saying things like: "I'll buy some milk and bread for the elderly" but how many of them are prepared to do a full week's shopping? Some might on top of their usual shop but it's getting difficult with supermarkets rationing certain products.

    This is were I feel that it shows that Boris doesn't do detail. "Oh, yes. The supermarkets say they have plenty of food. They do home deliveries so up to a third of the population can stay in. Oh, they are now running out of food and there are no home delivery dates."
    I hate to be harsh, but the market will intervene here. There *is* plenty of food and loo roll. In fact, there is a vast overabundance of food (and probably loo roll) to the extent that thousands of tonnes is wasted each week. People want it and have money. Producers want to sell it to them. Supermarkets, other food shops, and to some extent restaurants, need to, and will, find the best way to manage those transactions, and keep their customers satisfied, through trial and error. Not sure why you think Boris wading in is going to help.
    But if imports dry up that surplus won't last very long. How many tonnes of food are eaten each day?
    Why exactly should imports dry up when, again sorry to be harsh, we have a pandemic that disproportionately attacks a minority of the vulnerable and elderly, but manifests in the young and healthy as a bad flu or nothing at all?

    It's understandable to feel like this - we're all in a very odd world at the moment, but as things move forward, things will feel less like the sky is falling in.
    That's true. I've not yet seen any figures on the impact on international trade. I can't imagine everything is running as smoothly as before.
    Well there's a lot of spare air freight capacity now, that's for sure.
    My son, who is trying to get a LOT of kit back from Oz says there isn't. I was surprised.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,935
    IanB2 said:

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Useless Tories, protecting big business and the corporations.

    Meanwhile people risk losing everything but at least the finance houses and insurers are protected.
    They wont be able to hold this line long. We were are finally let out again there will not be a single pub, cafe or restaurant to visit.

    Any u-turn will be too late. It's now or never. I cannot believe that Fuck Business is genuinely the Tory philosophy now.

    Its acually more like 'f8ck tory voting small entrepreneurial business'
    I thought their voters were all retired? ;)
    Well the plan is to sacrifice all the fit and healthy to protect the elderly and inferm... hmmmmm
  • dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,300
    Robert Peston and that Northern Rock Bank run, not his finest hour.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/feb/27/banking-credit-crunch

  • StereotomyStereotomy Posts: 4,092

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Useless Tories, protecting big business and the corporations.

    Meanwhile people risk losing everything but at least the finance houses and insurers are protected.
    They wont be able to hold this line long. We were are finally let out again there will not be a single pub, cafe or restaurant to visit.

    Any u-turn will be too late. It's now or never. I cannot believe that Fuck Business is genuinely the Tory philosophy now.

    Its acually more like 'f8ck tory voting small entrepreneurial business'
    I don't have much sympathy for small business owners who are stupid enough to believe the Tories are on their side.
  • Last day in the office for the duration. Have shredded a significant amount of crap out of my drawers, we're all set up on Skype / Team Viewer etc etc. A real end of days vibe.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,191
    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Germany is not "cheating". For example, yesterday in Cologne (population 1 million) there were 3 people in intensive care with coronavirus, over 300 cases, and so far as I know no deaths yet. The national death numbers seem entirely credible. (As an aside, there are 350 intensive care beds in Cologne.)

    I believe Germany has done a lot more tests than the UK (haven't got national figures), which would explain some of the difference.
  • logical_songlogical_song Posts: 9,914
    Have the Chinese authorities announced a ban on these 'wet' markets where COVID-19 and SARS are belived to have begun?
    Surely they must.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,767
    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Germany is not "cheating". For example, yesterday in Cologne (population 1 million) there were 3 people in intensive care with coronavirus, over 300 cases, and so far as I know no deaths yet. The national death numbers seem entirely credible. (As an aside, there are 350 intensive care beds in Cologne.)

    I believe Germany has done a lot more tests than the UK (haven't got national figures), which would explain some of the difference.
    What are they doing that is different? This seems massively important.
  • Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Useless Tories, protecting big business and the corporations.

    Meanwhile people risk losing everything but at least the finance houses and insurers are protected.
    They wont be able to hold this line long. We were are finally let out again there will not be a single pub, cafe or restaurant to visit.

    Any u-turn will be too late. It's now or never. I cannot believe that Fuck Business is genuinely the Tory philosophy now.

    Its acually more like 'f8ck tory voting small entrepreneurial business'
    Its not even protecting big business. One example - Cineworld close down tomorrow. For how long will they continue to pay their staff not to come in and pay off monies owed for buildings / film / stock etc etc before they do a Laura Ashley? How about easyJet?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,486

    dr_spyn said:
    Archbishop of Canterbury admits that Coronavirus just about “wraps it up for God”.
    42 years since the original radio play.
    Ha! If that is true, that's superb.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,601
    "Data modelling suggests UK will suffer 20,000 coronavirus deaths"

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/17/will-20000-coronavirus-deaths-uk-data-modelling-suggests/
  • rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Not exactly debunked, but nobody who has made this claim has actually provided any evidence for it, as far as I can see.
  • rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Nope, I can authoritatively confirm that we lying toerags are in fact 'cheating' and 'fiddling the numbers'. Hard habit to break, we're Germans, after all.
    Maybe because the outbreak has been worst in Italy, but I haven't heard any German professors on the UK media explaining what appears to be their best practice.

    On CH4 news last night they interviewed some Italian medical staff and said the despite following recognised best practice for those with similar issues i.e. need ICU with chronic pneumonia etc, it didn't appear to be effective at all and in general people weren't really recovering.

    This wasn't about these particular patients not having access to state of the art ICU treatment, it was the treatment wasn't working.
    My guess would be that the UK media feeds its customers what they want to be fed with.
    Why that wouldn't include an interview with, let's say someone from the RKI, I am unable to explain.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,464
    Sky says we had 407 cases in the last 24 hours.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,486
    RobD said:

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Dedicated phone line? We're saved!

    Let's hope it's more than that.
    Cones Hotline reborn?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609
    I wonder, if we are wanting to keep our favourite pubs and restaurants open, couldn't we just send them the money as if we had been out for a meal. You know, pretend we'd had a lovely evening.

    In return, your pub can note your lovely gesture and say give you 25% off the next couple of meals you do turn up for? When "normality" resumes.

    Just a thought.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,935

    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Nope, I can authoritatively confirm that we lying toerags are in fact 'cheating' and 'fiddling the numbers'. Hard habit to break, we're Germans, after all.
    Maybe because the outbreak has been worst in Italy, but I haven't heard any German professors on the UK media explaining what appears to be their best practice.

    On CH4 news last night they interviewed some Italian medical staff and said the despite following recognised best practice for those with similar issues i.e. need ICU with chronic pneumonia etc, it didn't appear to be effective at all and in general people weren't really recovering.

    This wasn't about these particular patients not having access to state of the art ICU treatment, it was the treatment wasn't working.
    My guess would be that the UK media feeds its customers what they want to be fed with.
    Why that wouldn't include an interview with, let's say someone from the RKI, I am unable to explain.
    Because the media in general is interested in where things are going wrong, not right!
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,359
    IanB2 said:

    Alistair said:

    Private Landlords are going to be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. And when they grovel and ask why them they will be slreninded of how they acted during the corona virus.

    Some of the emails and tweets I've seen I've had to quadruple check to make sure they are not parodies. The callusesness is beyond appalling.

    Landlords have to make payments to banks, their tenants have to make payments to landlords, their employers have to make payments to tenants...

    Why should everyone else get bailed out except for them?
    Because they don’t deserve it?
    so maybe your pay should be stopped then , same reasoning
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,601

    Have the Chinese authorities announced a ban on these 'wet' markets where COVID-19 and SARS are belived to have begun?
    Surely they must.
    They have but are still allowing exotic animals to be used for traditional Chinese medicine.


    "The National People’s Congress released new measures on Monday restricting wildlife trade, banning consumption of bushmeat and sales of wildlife for meat consumption at wet markets between now and the time the Wildlife Protection Law can be amended and adopted. Untouched however, are breeding operations for traditional Chinese medicine, fur and leather, lucrative markets known to drive illegal poaching of animals including tigers and pangolins."

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/25/coronavirus-closures-reveal-vast-scale-of-chinas-secretive-wildlife-farm-industry
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,359
    RobD said:

    IanB2 said:

    Alistair said:

    Private Landlords are going to be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. And when they grovel and ask why them they will be slreninded of how they acted during the corona virus.

    Some of the emails and tweets I've seen I've had to quadruple check to make sure they are not parodies. The callusesness is beyond appalling.

    Landlords have to make payments to banks, their tenants have to make payments to landlords, their employers have to make payments to tenants...

    Why should everyone else get bailed out except for them?
    Because they don’t deserve it?
    And if the employers will be getting money to give to the tenants to give to the landlord they won't actually need it.
    Landlords have to pay the bills for the house , they are not all rolling in it. Be as well advocating they take your savings and give them to people with no savings.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,208

    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Germany is not "cheating". For example, yesterday in Cologne (population 1 million) there were 3 people in intensive care with coronavirus, over 300 cases, and so far as I know no deaths yet. The national death numbers seem entirely credible. (As an aside, there are 350 intensive care beds in Cologne.)

    I believe Germany has done a lot more tests than the UK (haven't got national figures), which would explain some of the difference.
    What are they doing that is different? This seems massively important.
    My guess, and it's only a guess, is that the actual number of cases is roughly the same at this point in Germany and the UK, but more are being recorded in Germany. Germany has a better treatment of the seriously ill, at least it has much better provision for that treatment.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,119
    edited March 2020

    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Nope, I can authoritatively confirm that we lying toerags are in fact 'cheating' and 'fiddling the numbers'. Hard habit to break, we're Germans, after all.
    Maybe because the outbreak has been worst in Italy, but I haven't heard any German professors on the UK media explaining what appears to be their best practice.

    On CH4 news last night they interviewed some Italian medical staff and said the despite following recognised best practice for those with similar issues i.e. need ICU with chronic pneumonia etc, it didn't appear to be effective at all and in general people weren't really recovering.

    This wasn't about these particular patients not having access to state of the art ICU treatment, it was the treatment wasn't working.
    My guess would be that the UK media feeds its customers what they want to be fed with.
    Why that wouldn't include an interview with, let's say someone from the RKI, I am unable to explain.
    Hopefully UK (and other European countries) are talking with their German counterparts, because clearly they are doing something right, which Spain, France and Italy aren't.

    Its gone way beyond the initial fact that the first cluster in Germany was a load of youngsters.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,767

    I wonder, if we are wanting to keep our favourite pubs and restaurants open, couldn't we just send them the money as if we had been out for a meal. You know, pretend we'd had a lovely evening.

    In return, your pub can note your lovely gesture and say give you 25% off the next couple of meals you do turn up for? When "normality" resumes.

    Just a thought.

    Nice idea.

    Or the Government could get a bloody grip of a problem that has been obvious for days and days.
  • RobD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Nope, I can authoritatively confirm that we lying toerags are in fact 'cheating' and 'fiddling the numbers'. Hard habit to break, we're Germans, after all.
    Maybe because the outbreak has been worst in Italy, but I haven't heard any German professors on the UK media explaining what appears to be their best practice.

    On CH4 news last night they interviewed some Italian medical staff and said the despite following recognised best practice for those with similar issues i.e. need ICU with chronic pneumonia etc, it didn't appear to be effective at all and in general people weren't really recovering.

    This wasn't about these particular patients not having access to state of the art ICU treatment, it was the treatment wasn't working.
    My guess would be that the UK media feeds its customers what they want to be fed with.
    Why that wouldn't include an interview with, let's say someone from the RKI, I am unable to explain.
    Because the media in general is interested in where things are going wrong, not right!
    That kind of 'news' seems to sell better, indeed.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,898
    fox327 said:

    I've just come back from the shops. There is a lot of tension out there, shortages of items, and long queues. The government has got a lot more to worry about than just the virus, because society is in a state of spasm right now. I have a feeling that things could get much worse. One problem is that we have our ways of doing things. If the government tries to change everybody's behaviour overnight there are a lot of ways in which it could go wrong. Things feel ominous, and people are very worried. Maybe the government should be trying to reassure people instead of frightening them.

    Yes that was my experience as well in lowland East London. At the weekend, the empty shelves were limited to a few items (pasta, tins of tomatoes and toilet roll) but today many more shelves are much emptier and while there's still plenty of some items to be had (meat, fish) more items are in shorter supply than 48 hours ago.

    Johnson's statement last night, while no doubt well meaning, was not thought through and has had considerable unintended consequences. A woman working in my local Tesco told me people had come in throughout the night filling up by the car-load. Every time new deliveries came in they were taken almost at once.

    The store has now cut back its trading hours but at lunchtime there were still people with huge trolleys full of items which you might expect at a weekend but not on a Tuesday lunchtime.

    On a personal note, my brother has tested positive for COVID-19. He felt unwell on Sunday, called NHS Direct and they sent a mobile testing unit round to his place in deepest Kent yesterday and he got the results this morning. He is in his mid 50s and is currently okay but it's a concern.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,359
    Alistair said:

    malcolmg said:

    Alistair said:

    Private Landlords are going to be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. And when they grovel and ask why them they will be slreninded of how they acted during the corona virus.

    Some of the emails and tweets I've seen I've had to quadruple check to make sure they are not parodies. The callusesness is beyond appalling.

    Bit of a sweeping statement there methinks, you looking to get free rent
    Own my own home and have been a landlord in the past.
    Still a sweeping statement , why not take your savings and give them to someone who has not saved a penny, that would be fair.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,226
    I don't particularly want to hear from the Queen.

    Am I odd in this respect?
  • Sky says we had 407 cases in the last 24 hours.

    How many did we have yesterday ?
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,767
    God knows why FSTE is only down 0.15%
  • OllyTOllyT Posts: 5,006
    Quick question to the PB financial gurus. We have over 12,000 euros spread across 2 fair fx currency cards intended for a 5 week European trip now cancelled.

    What protection does the money have and what is the best way of transferring it back? Fair FX cut me off on the phone and not even the usual "we will respond in 24 hours" response to my email.

    Apologies if this seems trivial compared to what others are having to deal with right now but any info would be much appreciate. Can't seem to get anything definitive from their website or google searches.
  • dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,300
    https://twitter.com/BBCHughPym/status/1239923897920884737

    Mid April, May June - non urgent ops suspended.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,935
    stodge said:

    fox327 said:

    I've just come back from the shops. There is a lot of tension out there, shortages of items, and long queues. The government has got a lot more to worry about than just the virus, because society is in a state of spasm right now. I have a feeling that things could get much worse. One problem is that we have our ways of doing things. If the government tries to change everybody's behaviour overnight there are a lot of ways in which it could go wrong. Things feel ominous, and people are very worried. Maybe the government should be trying to reassure people instead of frightening them.

    Yes that was my experience as well in lowland East London. At the weekend, the empty shelves were limited to a few items (pasta, tins of tomatoes and toilet roll) but today many more shelves are much emptier and while there's still plenty of some items to be had (meat, fish) more items are in shorter supply than 48 hours ago.

    Johnson's statement last night, while no doubt well meaning, was not thought through and has had considerable unintended consequences. A woman working in my local Tesco told me people had come in throughout the night filling up by the car-load. Every time new deliveries came in they were taken almost at once.

    The store has now cut back its trading hours but at lunchtime there were still people with huge trolleys full of items which you might expect at a weekend but not on a Tuesday lunchtime.

    On a personal note, my brother has tested positive for COVID-19. He felt unwell on Sunday, called NHS Direct and they sent a mobile testing unit round to his place in deepest Kent yesterday and he got the results this morning. He is in his mid 50s and is currently okay but it's a concern.
    Another PBer with a friend or relative with it. 50k seems awfully low.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,482

    dr_spyn said:
    Archbishop of Canterbury admits that Coronavirus just about “wraps it up for God”.
    Hopefully that's a bad paraphrase of what he said - 'exploring innovative new ways to worship together whilst at home' would have sounded a bit better.
    He should have said: "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
    That sounds a bit Biblical for the CofE. :lol:
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,767

    Sky says we had 407 cases in the last 24 hours.

    How many did we have yesterday ?
    In two days we have gained 578 (i.e. since 15th)
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,119
    edited March 2020

    Sky says we had 407 cases in the last 24 hours.

    How many did we have yesterday ?
    152 yesterday, day before 330.

    Its a big jump, but so has the number of tests. A few days ago they were doing 1500 tests a day, how 6000.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,218

    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Not exactly debunked, but nobody who has made this claim has actually provided any evidence for it, as far as I can see.
    By which I mean someone posted the German yesterday, and a translation.

    My guess, FWIW, is that the Germans are picking up a lot more asymptomatic infections than we are. Which somewhat supports the iceberg theory.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,191
    edited March 2020
    kamski said:

    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Germany is not "cheating". For example, yesterday in Cologne (population 1 million) there were 3 people in intensive care with coronavirus, over 300 cases, and so far as I know no deaths yet. The national death numbers seem entirely credible. (As an aside, there are 350 intensive care beds in Cologne.)

    I believe Germany has done a lot more tests than the UK (haven't got national figures), which would explain some of the difference.
    What are they doing that is different? This seems massively important.

    I would say intensive care treatment is generally high standard in Germany, which might help. The health system is not yet overwhelmed.
    But it's probaby a combination of:
    having found more cases because of more testing
    + a lot of cases have not had time to get seriously ill yet (so the death rate will rise) .
    + some "luck" - eg I guess not many already seriously ill people got infected yet.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,226
    @stodge

    Best to your brother.

    And so it appears that we ARE testing people outside hospital.
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 9,167
    edited March 2020

    Sky says we had 407 cases in the last 24 hours.

    How many did we have yesterday ?
    In two days we have gained 578 (i.e. since 15th)
    Yes, but what was the per day figure yesterday ?
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,767
    kinabalu said:

    I don't particularly want to hear from the Queen.

    Am I odd in this respect?
    If she said stop panic buying it might help.
  • rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Nope, I can authoritatively confirm that we lying toerags are in fact 'cheating' and 'fiddling the numbers'. Hard habit to break, we're Germans, after all.
    Maybe because the outbreak has been worst in Italy, but I haven't heard any German professors on the UK media explaining what appears to be their best practice.

    On CH4 news last night they interviewed some Italian medical staff and said the despite following recognised best practice for those with similar issues i.e. need ICU with chronic pneumonia etc, it didn't appear to be effective at all and in general people weren't really recovering.

    This wasn't about these particular patients not having access to state of the art ICU treatment, it was the treatment wasn't working.
    My guess would be that the UK media feeds its customers what they want to be fed with.
    Why that wouldn't include an interview with, let's say someone from the RKI, I am unable to explain.
    Hopefully UK (and other European countries) are talking with their German counterparts, because clearly they are doing something right, which Spain, France and Italy aren't.

    Its gone way beyond the initial fact that the first cluster in Germany was a load of youngsters.
    The second cluster in Heimsberg comprised a carnival club of 30 people which skewed numbers to the younger than average.
    That was weeks ago. Case numbers have multilied by several hundreds since.
    The Heinsberg carnival party is not of any statistical relevance anymore.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,868
    First available home delivery slot at Waitrose now 31 March
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,935

    kinabalu said:

    I don't particularly want to hear from the Queen.

    Am I odd in this respect?
    If she said stop panic buying it might help.
    Suspect she may be deployed when things get worse.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,119

    Sky says we had 407 cases in the last 24 hours.

    How many did we have yesterday ?
    In two days we have gained 578 (i.e. since 15th)
    But they have done 10,000 tests over those 2 days. Basically 20% of total tests so far.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609
    stodge said:

    fox327 said:

    I've just come back from the shops. There is a lot of tension out there, shortages of items, and long queues. The government has got a lot more to worry about than just the virus, because society is in a state of spasm right now. I have a feeling that things could get much worse. One problem is that we have our ways of doing things. If the government tries to change everybody's behaviour overnight there are a lot of ways in which it could go wrong. Things feel ominous, and people are very worried. Maybe the government should be trying to reassure people instead of frightening them.

    Yes that was my experience as well in lowland East London. At the weekend, the empty shelves were limited to a few items (pasta, tins of tomatoes and toilet roll) but today many more shelves are much emptier and while there's still plenty of some items to be had (meat, fish) more items are in shorter supply than 48 hours ago.

    Johnson's statement last night, while no doubt well meaning, was not thought through and has had considerable unintended consequences. A woman working in my local Tesco told me people had come in throughout the night filling up by the car-load. Every time new deliveries came in they were taken almost at once.

    The store has now cut back its trading hours but at lunchtime there were still people with huge trolleys full of items which you might expect at a weekend but not on a Tuesday lunchtime.

    On a personal note, my brother has tested positive for COVID-19. He felt unwell on Sunday, called NHS Direct and they sent a mobile testing unit round to his place in deepest Kent yesterday and he got the results this morning. He is in his mid 50s and is currently okay but it's a concern.
    Best wishes for your brother making a speedy and full recovery.

    The number of people here with direct experience of family members getting this thing would suggest the nasty genie is well and truly out the bottle.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,359

    malcolmg said:

    Gabs3 said:
    This guy just cannot be as stupid as he makes out on a daily basis. How did anyone employ such a fool.
    We have a whip round, malc, just so he can wind you up on a daily basis....
    As long as I get the whip round Mark that sounds a brilliant idea, let me know when first instalment is in.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,898
    First, looks as though there will be some recovery on the markets as some had expected. It has been asked this will be another dead cat bounce but we'll see.

    The suspension of horse racing until the end of April has surprised me in terms of the longevity - France has shut down only until April 15th. Ireland continues behind closed doors for now and South Africa is still going on At The Races.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,767

    Sky says we had 407 cases in the last 24 hours.

    How many did we have yesterday ?
    In two days we have gained 578 (i.e. since 15th)
    Yes, but what was the per day figure yesterday ?
    Dunno. I am logging every two days to see if we are doubling every two days. I may stop as it is depressing me further.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,119

    rcs1000 said:

    And the Germans are cheating using a non-standard formulation on the number of dead affected by Covid-19.

    Are they? I thought that was debunked yesterday.
    Nope, I can authoritatively confirm that we lying toerags are in fact 'cheating' and 'fiddling the numbers'. Hard habit to break, we're Germans, after all.
    Maybe because the outbreak has been worst in Italy, but I haven't heard any German professors on the UK media explaining what appears to be their best practice.

    On CH4 news last night they interviewed some Italian medical staff and said the despite following recognised best practice for those with similar issues i.e. need ICU with chronic pneumonia etc, it didn't appear to be effective at all and in general people weren't really recovering.

    This wasn't about these particular patients not having access to state of the art ICU treatment, it was the treatment wasn't working.
    My guess would be that the UK media feeds its customers what they want to be fed with.
    Why that wouldn't include an interview with, let's say someone from the RKI, I am unable to explain.
    Hopefully UK (and other European countries) are talking with their German counterparts, because clearly they are doing something right, which Spain, France and Italy aren't.

    Its gone way beyond the initial fact that the first cluster in Germany was a load of youngsters.
    The second cluster in Heimsberg comprised a carnival club of 30 people which skewed numbers to the younger than average.
    That was weeks ago. Case numbers have multilied by several hundreds since.
    The Heinsberg carnival party is not of any statistical relevance anymore.
    That's what I was saying :-)
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547
    Peston must be wrong. He must be. Even if the Government were 100% cynical, it would be politically impossible to do nothing.
  • At the risk of going all eadric, if the government don't get a handle on this now, civil unrest and general skullduggery is bound to happen.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,359
    nichomar said:

    JM1 said:

    Is there a book on when marshal law is implemented?

    I'm not joking either.

    This is an over-reaction, surely? They haven't had to do this in Italy or Spain, so why would that be necessary here???
    No not marshall aw but there are military police on the streets in big cities helping out. Spain has over double the number of police officers that the UK has so it’s additional resource. There is evidence, again in the larger cities of panic buying, am off shortly to do some shopping. There is, I think, a greater respect for authority out here and a willingness to comply with the law and authorities after all its for our own good.

    plus they tend to beat you up big time over there as well so people more wary of them, certainly if you are a Catalan for sure.
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 9,167
    edited March 2020
    It does seem as if continuous food supplies aren't significantly disrupted in any serious way for the moment, so there may just have to be more measures from supermarkets to intermittently manage demand.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,225

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Reminds me of a couple of days ago, when Trump retweeted a picture showing him playing the violin....
    (rapidly taken down, when someone told him what it was supposed to signify).
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,226
    FF43 said:

    My guess, and it's only a guess, is that the actual number of cases is roughly the same at this point in Germany and the UK, but more are being recorded in Germany. Germany has a better treatment of the seriously ill, at least it has much better provision for that treatment.

    That would be my guess too. More capacity so more testing and better treatment. Mainly the first - more testing.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,767

    At the risk of going all eadric, if the government don't get a handle on this now, civil unrest and general skullduggery is bound to happen.

    Yep.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,119
    How come there isn't any national testing numbers for Germany?

    It seems now we are doing 5000-6000 a day now, SK at peak was doing about 14,000.
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 9,167
    edited March 2020
    Nigelb said:

    Prediction for this afternoon's presser - the government will champion their waiver on business rates and access to SSP as being what will save businesses and individuals from penury. When pressed Boris will waffle and try and bluster his way through the increasingly detailed and angry questions from the media pool.

    Yup. As I predicted, the government propose to do Fuck All.

    https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1239910681886982144
    Reminds me of a couple of days ago, when Trump retweeted a picture showing him playing the violin....
    (rapidly taken down, when someone told him what it was supposed to signify).
    If that's all the government announce now, they're going to have to add to it in the near future.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,148

    One for HYUFD

    UK 'may have up to 55,000 coronavirus cases already'

    There could be as many as 55,000 coronavirus cases already in the UK, the government's chief scientific adviser has suggested.

    Appearing before the health select committee, Sir Patrick Vallance was asked by whether the expected death rate was one fatality for every 1,000 cases, which would mean that there is "potentially 55,000 cases".

    Asked if that felt right, Sir Patrick said: "We've tried to get a handle on that in Sage (the scientific advisory group for emergencies) and if you put all the modelling information together, that's a reasonable ballpark way of looking at it.

    "It's not more accurate than that."

    I was going on confirmed cases, Italy, Spain, France and Germany likely have even more cases than 55 000 once you count those yet to be confirmed
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,218

    God knows why FSTE is only down 0.15%

    Because it was down 13% yesterday, and has now lost almost 40% of its value in a month. (38%, I think, in US dollar terms. Which given how many British companies are dollar earners is extraordinary.)
  • FenmanFenman Posts: 1,047
    RobD said:

    kinabalu said:

    I don't particularly want to hear from the Queen.

    Am I odd in this respect?
    If she said stop panic buying it might help.
    Suspect she may be deployed when things get worse.
    Send your servants to the shops. Or, I can lend you Andrew.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609

    Sky says we had 407 cases in the last 24 hours.

    Actually, we found 407 cases. If that only that was all we had.....
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,880
    stodge said:



    On a personal note, my brother has tested positive for COVID-19. He felt unwell on Sunday, called NHS Direct and they sent a mobile testing unit round to his place in deepest Kent yesterday and he got the results this morning. He is in his mid 50s and is currently okay but it's a concern.

    Hope he gets well soon.
This discussion has been closed.