Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
It was posted here by SO. Just thank him and move on?
Agree. God we can turn anything in to an argument.
It's not an argument. It's a discussion.
If you post something on here with a controversial assertion you should expect it to be challenged.
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all theoutlet.
The ignored or totally re-written.
Marvellous. The right will not game is to play?
Nope. Not at all.
Your objection was on views of the past - period - so you've already surrendered on that argument.
I’m afraid that makes absolutely no sense at all. I had no objection. I was observing that the US Ambassador’s view of England was nostalgic and backward looking. That is not a rewriting of history. It is not a judgement of history. It is an observation.
It's how we are generally seen abroad, especially in the US, as anyone who has travelled around there will know. We should be grateful he didn't come across any videos of violent English football fans and the like.
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all the stuff he likes in England and then is scolded by woke lefties for not “liking” the right stuff.
He’s giving the future tourist industry a boost that it wouldn’t get if he tweeted a video of Luton high street, the Durham miners rally or an XR demo outside of a chainsaw outlet.
The Left are only interested in history and heritage to the extent it can be leveraged to support their present day political objectives.
Otherwise it should be dismissed, ignored or totally re-written.
History is always about interpretation, and the first slice is in the editing, choosing what to look at in the first place.
Personally, I marked St Georges Day in that most English of English ways. I ignored it.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
It was posted here by SO. Just thank him and move on?
Agree. God we can turn anything in to an argument.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
It was posted here by SO. Just thank him and move on?
Agree. God we can turn anything in to an argument.
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all the stuff he likes in England and then is scolded by woke lefties for not “liking” the right stuff.
He’s giving the future tourist industry a boost that it wouldn’t get if he tweeted a video of Luton high street, the Durham miners rally or an XR demo outside of a chainsaw outlet.
Can you point me to any criticism in my original post?
" It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past"
I can hear the sneer from here - "its so passe darling"..
I repeat - he was doing a good thing - showcasing stuff normal Americans would like to see in England.
And your first instinct is to call our American guest out for being old fashioned.
At best its snobbery..
If I went America I'd want to see it's great national parks, its scenery, its nature, experience jazz in New Orleans, the casinos in Las Vegas and go and see Hollywood in LA. I'd want to go to monument valley. I'd also want to see battlesites of the revolution and civil wars, see original colonial towns, and visit the beautiful old quarters of Savannah and Charleston.
So yes, I'd say history, landscape and heritage would be high on my list of visiting America too - it's what allows you to get under the skin of what really made a country.
Charleston is superb , we used to go down as often as possible when we lived in North Carolina.
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all the stuff he likes in England and then is scolded by woke lefties for not “liking” the right stuff.
He’s giving the future tourist industry a boost that it wouldn’t get if he tweeted a video of Luton high street, the Durham miners rally or an XR demo outside of a chainsaw outlet.
The Left are only interested in history and heritage to the extent it can be leveraged to support their present day political objectives.
Otherwise it should be dismissed, ignored or totally re-written.
History is always about interpretation, and the first slice is in the editing, choosing what to look at in the first place.
Personally, I marked St Georges Day in that most English of English ways. I ignored it.
I bet you "ignore" everything else English as well.
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all the stuff he likes in England and then is scolded by woke lefties for not “liking” the right stuff.
He’s giving the future tourist industry a boost that it wouldn’t get if he tweeted a video of Luton high street, the Durham miners rally or an XR demo outside of a chainsaw outlet.
The Left are only interested in history and heritage to the extent it can be leveraged to support their present day political objectives.
Otherwise it should be dismissed, ignored or totally re-written.
History is always about interpretation, and the first slice is in the editing, choosing what to look at in the first place.
Personally, I marked St Georges Day in that most English of English ways. I ignored it.
Like most I think never saw anything about it and did not even know it was St Georges Day.
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all theoutlet.
The ignored or totally re-written.
Marvellous. The right will not game is to play?
Nope. Not at all.
Your objection was on views of the past - period - so you've already surrendered on that argument.
I’m afraid that makes absolutely no sense at all. I had no objection. I was observing that the US Ambassador’s view of England was nostalgic and backward looking. That is not a rewriting of history. It is not a judgement of history. It is an observation.
It's how we are generally seen abroad, especially in the US, as anyone who has travelled around there will know. We should be grateful he didn't come across any videos of violent English football fans and the like.
Why would we want to use those to celebrate St. George's Day?!
You highlight what is distinct and unique in the country - what there is positive to celebrate. It's not a warts and all exercise.
Is it true that Biden is delegating responsibility for his pick to a committee that's going to report back to him in a couple of months with 2-3 options?
Despite being deeply weird it's also a total abrogation of leadership so I hope (for his sake) it's not true.
It could lead to the accusation he can't even put his own socks on without help.
If he can't make a simply (although important) decision like that, why should he be President?
Many Presidential candidates do that. George W. Bush did, for example. It was chaired by Dick Cheney...
Not that Bush is necessarily a good example. But I think Reagan did it too.
Quite amusing that the Chair decided it should be.. err.. himself then!
Yes.
Even better when you realise they were both from Texas so they had to do some fancy footwork on Cheney’s registration to make him eligible!
Kamala Harris was kind of a bubble IMHO, there was no good reason for her to be that strong a favourite. She's competent but doesn't deliver a swing state, her campaign was pretty flat, and she's not particularly popular among black voters. There's an argument that Biden may have promised Jim Clyburn that he'd pick a black woman, but if you believe that then maybe look at some of the other black candidates.
I don't really see the point in picking Warren, the Bernie Bros have an enduring grudge against her and the rest of the left should get behind Biden anyhow. Gretchen Whitmer is starting to look like value, she's coming out well in the battle against her obliging comedy-villain Trumpist protestors.
Whitmer has been governor for one year. It would be a transparently electoral pick, which seems questionable. Biden needs someone on the ticket voters are going to be comfortable seeing in the presidency, given his age. I'm not entirely convinced that's Whitmer, but we'll see.
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
This is a really fascinating insight into how we are seen inside the Trump administration. It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past. It will resonate with many here, too. https://twitter.com/usambuk/status/1253229648546324480?s=21
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Not really, but it's clearly well-meaning and nice of him to make the effort - I wouldn't criticise him for that myself. The fact that we have lots of attractive landscape and historic buildings is one of our many strengths, though we don't want to be seen as a historical theme park and have more to offer than that. I'm afraid, though, that SO is right that it's how we're seen in the US, and not just by the administration.
Most people have a mental sketch of other countries which they can't be bothered to nuance, like the idea that the US is New York+Hollywood+rednecks. or Russia is Moscow+peasants. Britain's USP for many tourists is that we have loads of visual history - that's why London is such a draw and you don't see many foreign tourists wandering round the Highlands.
Yes, but we already know there's nothing patriotic about you.
It's the most objectionable part of your rather bizzare "suite" of political views, IMHO.
A rude and intemperate response to a mostly harmless and well argued post.
And clearly incorrect, at the end. Lack of shame for former communism despite all the atrocities and misery it inflicted trumps anything else.
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all theoutlet.
The ignored or totally re-written.
Marvellous. The right will not game is to play?
Nope. Not at all.
Your objection was on views of the past - period - so you've already surrendered on that argument.
I’m afraid that makes absolutely no sense at all. I had no objection. I was observing that the US Ambassador’s view of England was nostalgic and backward looking. That is not a rewriting of history. It is not a judgement of history. It is an observation.
It's how we are generally seen abroad, especially in the US, as anyone who has travelled around there will know. We should be grateful he didn't come across any videos of violent English football fans and the like.
Why would we want to use those to celebrate St. George's Day?!
You highlight what is distinct and unique in the country - what there is positive to celebrate. It's not a warts and all exercise.
That's for the guidebooks and analysts.
Be a struggle finding much positive nowadays apart from jingoism.
Trump absolutely should be the first volunteer to have an injection of Toilet Duck into his veins or to have UV light shone inside his body (I have some thoughts as to choices of suitable entry orifice).
with me and is deeply moving. Does it not for you too?
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all theoutlet.
The ignored or totally re-written. M will not game is to play?
Nope. No.
I’m afraid that makes absolutely no sense at all. observation.
I don't see anything backward looking about it. That's how much of the English landscape looks today, and will do so (hopefully) long into the future. It's rather sad that you do.
For me it’s a very one dimensional view of the country I am from. I think there’s a whole lot more to us. I thought it was interesting that the US ambassador chose to highlight what he did. That doesn’t mean I dislike our landscape, our history or England as a whole. I am English. My family is English. My friends are largely English. I live in England. It is my home. I will die here. I just see it differently to you. In my England, that is permissible!!
This is a really fascinating insight into how we are seen inside the Trump administration. It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past. It will resonate with many here, too. https://twitter.com/usambuk/status/1253229648546324480?s=21
I've always thought that the VP market was one of the daftest to play because there are no rules and no necessary rationale to it as has been shown by multiple VP picks passim. At the end of the day the key must be a candidate that the nominee trusts and can work with, that is not particularly opiniated and hasn't expressed contrary views to the policies of the nominee in trenchant terms. Pence is a remarkably good choice in that respect.
Biden has been around Washington forever. He will have long histories with the favourites for good or ill and it is very difficult to get insight into that. Playing this market, other than the obvious lays, is a mugs game.
EiT - what is actually going on in Japan? There’s the fact they declared a “national emergency”. The very low levels of testing. “Reports” that hospitals are being overwhelmed with sick patients. Lack of PPE. And yet the numbers of recorded COVID deaths continue to bump along at pretty low levels.
Misreporting, or misrecording (or stricter definitions for recording)? Or a bit of both?
OK, here goes. The story is too complicated for Western media, so they're mostly writing cultural fluff and bollocks. Here goes:
Phase 1 (Feb): Cruise ship clown-shoes. Quarantine chaos, inspectors get infected and aren't tested, forget to test some of the passengers, put negative-testing people on trains home then they test again as infected. Phase 2 (Mar 1st-ish): Early action. About 100 non-cruise-ship cases, move fast with WFH restrictions and voluntary call to cancel events, pass a law allowing the declaration of a state of emergency (but don't declare it). My town sent me a pack of masks with pictures of frogs and road safety messages on them. Phase 3: (Mid-to-late March): Complacency. Phase 2 worked. Cases are flat around 50 per day. Schools to reopen. People take that as a sign the crisis is over. Unrestricted incoming travel from EU/US. Phase 4: (Late March / Early April): Cases from the Complacency phase now getting detected all over the place, especially big/international cities. Olympics cancelled, ambitious Tokyo governor immediately flips from "everything is fine" to "this is a terrible crisis and I will save you". Govt calls state of emergency, which gives some extra powers to local government, but the response is still almost entirely voluntary. In practical terms we've got a lot more working from home, some restaurants are changing to takeaway only, some shops are reducing their hours. Pachinko places are still open, the Tokyo government is trying to shame them into closing, good luck with that. The central government is sending every household two (2) washable masks, with no pictures of frogs, many of which are apparently moldy.
Here's the data showing Tokyo traffic changes, which shows you these phases with actual data (as opposed to the preferred metrics used by the NYT or BBC journalists, walking around and seeing if you can see a lot of people in the park).
[1\2]
Thanks for the analysis, insightful and different to the headlines we're getting over here.
Just looking at mobility in Sweden and there are some startling falls there - Stockholm over 40% down for transit stations and workplaces, retail 27% down, parks and residential up. There may be no lockdown in Sweden, but people are still taking steps that will be reducing infection.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embraced and managed multiculturalism better than almost any place on earth. I am proud of that. If others aren’t, so be it. You asked me what I thought was missing.
I don't think we've done it any better than Canada or Australia and parts of the US. Indeed, it's probably still easier to get on in the US from a multicultural background (although wealth can be a barrier) than here.
We're better than most European countries - certainly.
Either way my point is that you can only include it in a video like that for St. George's Day where the multiculturalism has fused into making something distinctive new and culturally unique to England.
Otherwise it's just politics and tickboxing and doesn't really mean anything.
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all the stuff he likes in England and then is scolded by woke lefties for not “liking” the right stuff.
He’s giving the future tourist industry a boost that it wouldn’t get if he tweeted a video of Luton high street, the Durham miners rally or an XR demo outside of a chainsaw outlet.
The Left are only interested in history and heritage to the extent it can be leveraged to support their present day political objectives.
Otherwise it should be dismissed, ignored or totally re-written.
History is always about interpretation, and the first slice is in the editing, choosing what to look at in the first place.
Personally, I marked St Georges Day in that most English of English ways. I ignored it.
I bet you "ignore" everything else English as well.
The self hatred on the Right for things English is very marked. Anything that doesn't fit their blinkered view of what Englishness is.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embraced and managed multiculturalism better than almost any place on earth. I am proud of that. If others aren’t, so be it. You asked me what I thought was missing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
The bizarre thing is that Trump appears to be hearing, or at least thinking about, the facts being presented at his own press conference for the very first time. No pre-briefing, rehearsal, premeet?
with me and is deeply moving. Does it not for you too?
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all theoutlet.
The ignored or totally re-written. M will not game is to play?
Nope. No.
I’m afraid that makes absolutely no sense at all. observation.
I don't see anything backward looking about it. That's how much of the English landscape looks today, and will do so (hopefully) long into the future. It's rather sad that you do.
For me it’s a very one dimensional view of the country I am from. I think there’s a whole lot more to us. I thought it was interesting that the US ambassador chose to highlight what he did. That doesn’t mean I dislike our landscape, our history or England as a whole. I am English. My family is English. My friends are largely English. I live in England. It is my home. I will die here. I just see it differently to you. In my England, that is permissible!!
Strawman. I'm not closing you down so please don't play the victim.
I am disagreeing with you.
In any event, I've seen you post on here before on how much you love our landscape and history so I think you're just being a bit of a devil's advocate this morning.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embraced and managed multiculturalism better than almost any place on earth. I am proud of that. If others aren’t, so be it. You asked me what I thought was missing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
One of the silliest, potentially dangerous statements on here, If we are going for cultural purity, who decides the one true culture?
This is a really fascinating insight into how we are seen inside the Trump administration. It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past. It will resonate with many here, too. https://twitter.com/usambuk/status/1253229648546324480?s=21
I've always thought that the VP market was one of the daftest to play because there are no rules and no necessary rationale to it as has been shown by multiple VP picks passim. At the end of the day the key must be a candidate that the nominee trusts and can work with, that is not particularly opiniated and hasn't expressed contrary views to the policies of the nominee in trenchant terms. Pence is a remarkably good choice in that respect.
Biden has been around Washington forever. He will have long histories with the favourites for good or ill and it is very difficult to get insight into that. Playing this market, other than the obvious lays, is a mugs game.
Though it's already a profitable one for some of us.
So. NI, Scotland, and likely Wales are about to set out a pathway to an end to the lockdown.
Meanwhile, Boris remains nowhere to be seen and England has to wait until he feels up to the job of being PM before we hear a squeak about government policy.
This is a really fascinating insight into how we are seen inside the Trump administration. It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past. It will resonate with many here, too. https://twitter.com/usambuk/status/1253229648546324480?s=21
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Not really, but it's clearly well-meaning and nice of him to make the effort - I wouldn't criticise him for that myself. The fact that we have lots of attractive landscape and historic buildings is one of our many strengths, though we don't want to be seen as a historical theme park and have more to offer than that. I'm afraid, though, that SO is right that it's how we're seen in the US, and not just by the administration.
Most people have a mental sketch of other countries which they can't be bothered to nuance, like the idea that the US is New York+Hollywood+rednecks. or Russia is Moscow+peasants. Britain's USP for many tourists is that we have loads of visual history - that's why London is such a draw and you don't see many foreign tourists wandering round the Highlands.
Yes, but we already know there's nothing patriotic about you.
It's the most objectionable part of your rather bizzare "suite" of political views, IMHO.
A rude and intemperate response to a mostly harmless and well argued post.
And clearly incorrect, at the end. Lack of shame for former communism despite all the atrocities and misery it inflicted trumps anything else.
Nick has posted on here before that he longs for the abolition of the UK and all other nation states.
It's a fact. Nothing rude or intemperate about it.
It's interesting that was your first instinct though which says a lot about you.
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all the stuff he likes in England and then is scolded by woke lefties for not “liking” the right stuff.
He’s giving the future tourist industry a boost that it wouldn’t get if he tweeted a video of Luton high street, the Durham miners rally or an XR demo outside of a chainsaw outlet.
Can you point me to any criticism in my original post?
" It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past"
I can hear the sneer from here - "its so passe darling"..
I repeat - he was doing a good thing - showcasing stuff normal Americans would like to see in England.
And your first instinct is to call our American guest out for being old fashioned.
At best its snobbery..
If I went America I'd want to see it's great national parks, its scenery, its nature, experience jazz in New Orleans, the casinos in Las Vegas and go and see Hollywood in LA. I'd want to go to monument valley. I'd also want to see battlesites of the revolution and civil wars, see original colonial towns, and visit the beautiful old quarters of Savannah and Charleston.
So yes, I'd say history, landscape and heritage would be high on my list of visiting America too - it's what allows you to get under the skin of what really made a country.
Charleston is superb , we used to go down as often as possible when we lived in North Carolina.
I agree. I lived in Wake Forest for a few years, and one of the joys of that part of America in particular is the way that most of it is a little pieces of modernity scratched tenuously into this vast, implacable, beautiful chunk of nature.
Where we are now is that detected cases are flat again, around 400 against a very short peak of 700. Testing is pretty weak, but it's been belatedly ramping up, and the increased number of tests doesn't seem to be showing an increased number of cases, so it doesn't look like there were absolute *loads* of infected people who weren't in the numbers for lack of testing. (Japan does a *lot* of CT scans which seem to be a good way to filter for covid19, so it may be that they were already quite good at getting the right people to PCR tests.) There was a law that said that if you were found infected you had to be hospitalized, which risked flooding the hospitals with infectious-but-not-sick people, but at least in Tokyo they've now started putting these people in hotels, which may have been reducing the incentive to go easy on testing.
Hospitals are short of PPE, like everywhere else, since demand has gone up and supply has gone down. Some hospitals are hurriedly setting up wards for covid19, most of the others won't accept covid19 cases. This means that if someone gets covid19, it can be hard to find a hospital that can take them nearby. There was always a little bit of chaos in Tokyo and some other places when someone gets picked up in an ambulance (which is a free, public service run by the fire brigade) and they have to find a (independently-run) hospital that will take them, which seems to be a ridiculous manual process involving phoning around, and that's now worse both for covid19 patients (since most hospitals won't take them) and for regular patients (since some of the capacity is being cleared out to handle covid19). Some doctors in Tokyo and Osaka have been saying things like "if this crisis keeps getting worse hospitals won't be able to cope", which is true and is the whole point of the social distancing stuff, and the western media obviously report as "Japanese medical systems on the brink of collapse" or something.
I guess the next question is whether the current, apparently successful voluntary response can be sustained, or whether we go into another Complacency phase and the whole cycle repeats.
Good morning. Despite the limitations to the testing, I think the critical additional measure is the requirement to isolate in a secure place away from your household and family. South Korea has done something similar with success.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England. I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embracedmissing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
I think you and I have very different definitions of multiculturalism.
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
There is no ludditism here.
I am at the forefront of new tech in my industry, including leading on nuclear fusion for my firm.
EiT - what is actually going on in Japan? There’s the fact they declared a “national emergency”. The very low levels of testing. “Reports” that hospitals are being overwhelmed with sick patients. Lack of PPE. And yet the numbers of recorded COVID deaths continue to bump along at pretty low levels.
Misreporting, or misrecording (or stricter definitions for recording)? Or a bit of both?
OK, here goes. The story is too complicated for Western media, so they're mostly writing cultural fluff and bollocks. Here goes:
Phase 1 (Feb): Cruise ship clown-shoes. Quarantine chaos, inspectors get infected and aren't tested, forget to test some of the passengers, put negative-testing people on trains home then they test again as infected. Phase 2 (Mar 1st-ish): Early action. About 100 non-cruise-ship cases, move fast with WFH restrictions and voluntary call to cancel events, pass a law allowing the declaration of a state of emergency (but don't declare it). My town sent me a pack of masks with pictures of frogs and road safety messages on them. Phase 3: (Mid-to-late March): Complacency. Phase 2 worked. Cases are flat around 50 per day. Schools to reopen. People take that as a sign the crisis is over. Unrestricted incoming travel from EU/US. Phase 4: (Late March / Early April): Cases from the Complacency phase now getting detected all over the place, especially big/international cities. Olympics cancelled, ambitious Tokyo governor immediately flips from "everything is fine" to "this is a terrible crisis and I will save you". Govt calls state of emergency, which gives some extra powers to local government, but the response is still almost entirely voluntary. In practical terms we've got a lot more working from home, some restaurants are changing to takeaway only, some shops are reducing their hours. Pachinko places are still open, the Tokyo government is trying to shame them into closing, good luck with that. The central government is sending every household two (2) washable masks, with no pictures of frogs, many of which are apparently moldy.
Here's the data showing Tokyo traffic changes, which shows you these phases with actual data (as opposed to the preferred metrics used by the NYT or BBC journalists, walking around and seeing if you can see a lot of people in the park).
[1\2]
Thanks for the analysis, insightful and different to the headlines we're getting over here.
Just looking at mobility in Sweden and there are some startling falls there - Stockholm over 40% down for transit stations and workplaces, retail 27% down, parks and residential up. There may be no lockdown in Sweden, but people are still taking steps that will be reducing infection.
And, conversely, there is still going out and interaction in those countries that have imposed apparently fierce lockdowns. The gap between policy and reaction is different in different countries. Perhaps the outcomes aren't that different (certainly the medical data so far suggests as much) and different governments are simply wise enough to know how far they have to go to prompt their citizens to change behaviour?
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
Whether anybody cares about multiculturalism or not, it's inaccurate to say it's totally indistinctive. Try finding diwali celebrations or a decent masala dosa in Germany.
You may as well say other countries have beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline, modern architecture and history, so all these things are totally indistinctive.
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all theoutlet.
The ignored or totally re-written.
Marvellous. The right will not game is to play?
Nope. Not at all.
Your objection was on views of the past - period - so you've already surrendered on that argument.
I’m afraid that makes absolutely no sense at all. I had no objection. I was observing that the US Ambassador’s view of England was nostalgic and backward looking. That is not a rewriting of history. It is not a judgement of history. It is an observation.
It's how we are generally seen abroad, especially in the US, as anyone who has travelled around there will know. We should be grateful he didn't come across any videos of violent English football fans and the like.
Why would we want to use those to celebrate St. George's Day?!
You highlight what is distinct and unique in the country - what there is positive to celebrate. It's not a warts and all exercise.
That's for the guidebooks and analysts.
Be a struggle finding much positive nowadays apart from jingoism.
Nothing is more positively English than a raucous mob heckling pompous nostalgic self importance.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England. I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embracedmissing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
I think you and I have very different definitions of multiculturalism.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England. I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embracedmissing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
I think you and I have very different definitions of multiculturalism.
No, you just ignore the bits you don't like.
My definition of multiculturalism does not include allowing gang rape to occur. Yours clearly does. Thus, we must have different definitions.
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
There is no ludditism here.
I am at the forefront of new tech in my industry, including leading on nuclear fusion for my firm.
Either you’ve moved on from Crossrail and I didn’t notice, or now we know why it cost so much.
To understand Britain you have to get into the mindset of the people who built the cathedrals, fought for rights, explored the world, designed the spitfire, setup the NHS. They were not driven by conservatism or nostalgia.
Where we are now is that detected cases are flat again, around 400 against a very short peak of 700. Testing is pretty weak, but it's been belatedly ramping up, and the increased number of tests doesn't seem to be showing an increased number of cases, so it doesn't look like there were absolute *loads* of infected people who weren't in the numbers for lack of testing. (Japan does a *lot* of CT scans which seem to be a good way to filter for covid19, so it may be that they were already quite good at getting the right people to PCR tests.) There was a law that said that if you were found infected you had to be hospitalized, which risked flooding the hospitals with infectious-but-not-sick people, but at least in Tokyo they've now started putting these people in hotels, which may have been reducing the incentive to go easy on testing.
Hospitals are short of PPE, like everywhere else, since demand has gone up and supply has gone down. Some hospitals are hurriedly setting up wards for covid19, most of the others won't accept covid19 cases. This means that if someone gets covid19, it can be hard to find a hospital that can take them nearby. There was always a little bit of chaos in Tokyo and some other places when someone gets picked up in an ambulance (which is a free, public service run by the fire brigade) and they have to find a (independently-run) hospital that will take them, which seems to be a ridiculous manual process involving phoning around, and that's now worse both for covid19 patients (since most hospitals won't take them) and for regular patients (since some of the capacity is being cleared out to handle covid19). Some doctors in Tokyo and Osaka have been saying things like "if this crisis keeps getting worse hospitals won't be able to cope", which is true and is the whole point of the social distancing stuff, and the western media obviously report as "Japanese medical systems on the brink of collapse" or something.
I guess the next question is whether the current, apparently successful voluntary response can be sustained, or whether we go into another Complacency phase and the whole cycle repeats.
Good morning. Despite the limitations to the testing, I think the critical additional measure is the requirement to isolate in a secure place away from your household and family. South Korea has done something similar with success.
True - and it should be noted that S. Korea's testing capacity isn't that great; they've just directed it far more effectively.
I think the government appears to be slowly finding their way towards emulating a strategy which was clearly demonstrated a couple of months ago.
Yesterday the number of deaths in the US caused by the virus exceeded 50K. By Monday it will exceed 60k. The US response has vividly demonstrated the ridiculous inefficiency and inefficacy of US medicine with the best treatment on the planet for the favoured minority and complete neglect of the majority.
Trump spent most of his first 2 years trying to deconstruct Obamacare which was a modest sticking plaster on this gaping sore. I suspect that Biden will adopt a lot of Bernie's policy on health and that it will resonate very loudly in the current carnage. All Americans have an interest in the health of their fellow citizens. Surely even Republicans can now see that.
Biden should pick Whitmer, currently 4th in the betting, a Biden Whitmer ticket would have a strong chance of taking the swing state of Michigan and also she is a governor not a Senator so no risk of giving up a Senate seat if elected.
Harris and Warren add little to the ticket representing safe Democratic states at presidential election level and the black vote is already with Biden anyway now Obama is on board and Warren could turn off moderate and independent voters Biden needs to win
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
There is no ludditism here.
I am at the forefront of new tech in my industry, including leading on nuclear fusion for my firm.
Still fifty years off ? (Despite the snark, for which apologies, I'd be interested in your answer.)
This is a really fascinating insight into how we are seen inside the Trump administration. It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past. It will resonate with many here, too. https://twitter.com/usambuk/status/1253229648546324480?s=21
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Not really, but it's clearly well-meaning and nice of him to make the effort - I wouldn't criticise him for that myself. The fact that we have lots of attractive landscape and historic buildings is one of our many strengths, though we don't want to be seen as a historical theme park and have more to offer than that. I'm afraid, though, that SO is right that it's how we're seen in the US, and not just by the administration.
Most people have a mental sketch of other countries which they can't be bothered to nuance, like the idea that the US is New York+Hollywood+rednecks. or Russia is Moscow+peasants. Britain's USP for many tourists is that we have loads of visual history - that's why London is such a draw and you don't see many foreign tourists wandering round the Highlands.
Yes, but we already know there's nothing patriotic about you.
It's the most objectionable part of your rather bizzare "suite" of political views, IMHO.
A rude and intemperate response to a mostly harmless and well argued post.
And clearly incorrect, at the end. Lack of shame for former communism despite all the atrocities and misery it inflicted trumps anything else.
Nick has posted on here before that he longs for the abolition of the UK and all other nation states.
It's a fact. Nothing rude or intemperate about it.
It's interesting that was your first instinct though which says a lot about you.
Indeed, "nothing patriotic about you" is a great compliment, even if not intended as one
Yesterday the number of deaths in the US caused by the virus exceeded 50K. By Monday it will exceed 60k. The US response has vividly demonstrated the ridiculous inefficiency and inefficacy of US medicine with the best treatment on the planet for the favoured minority and complete neglect of the majority.
Trump spent most of his first 2 years trying to deconstruct Obamacare which was a modest sticking plaster on this gaping sore. I suspect that Biden will adopt a lot of Bernie's policy on health and that it will resonate very loudly in the current carnage. All Americans have an interest in the health of their fellow citizens. Surely even Republicans can now see that.
Yet to be fair the UK, France, Spain and Italy all have higher death rates per head than the US still
Good morning. Despite the limitations to the testing, I think the critical additional measure is the requirement to isolate in a secure place away from your household and family. South Korea has done something similar with success.
Yup, for people who haven't seen it Daniel Falush talks about it here - out of all the tricky problems the government is dealing with right now, you wouldn't have thought renting some of the many empty hotels and making them available for infectious people to stay in was particularly difficult.
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
There is no ludditism here.
I am at the forefront of new tech in my industry, including leading on nuclear fusion for my firm.
Either you’ve moved on from Crossrail and I didn’t notice, or now we know why it cost so much.
To understand Britain you have to get into the mindset of the people who built the cathedrals, fought for rights, explored the world, designed the spitfire, setup the NHS. They were not driven by conservatism or nostalgia.
Indeed, as we know from the Olympic opening ceremony, the Industrial Revolution was marked by the speed with which the country threw itself into abandoning centuries old ways of life.
Incidentally I see the latest conspiracy theory doing the rounds of obscurer parts of the internet believes the opening ceremony foresaw the virus crisis as part of some wider global conspiracy
This is a really fascinating insight into how we are seen inside the Trump administration. It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past. It will resonate with many here, too. https://twitter.com/usambuk/status/1253229648546324480?s=21
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Not really, but it's clearly well-meaning and nice of him to make the effort - I wouldn't criticise him for that myself. The fact that we have lots of attractive landscape and historic buildings is one of our many strengths, though we don't want to be seen as a historical theme park and have more to offer than that. I'm afraid, though, that SO is right that it's how we're seen in the US, and not just by the administration.
Most people have a mental sketch of other countries which they can't be bothered to nuance, like the idea that the US is New York+Hollywood+rednecks. or Russia is Moscow+peasants. Britain's USP for many tourists is that we have loads of visual history - that's why London is such a draw and you don't see many foreign tourists wandering round the Highlands.
Unless they are very rich and a) shooting things or b) playing golf.
The 10 or so people who were starting a stretch of 15-hour days and fitful sleep were not experts in making masks; most knew little about any aspect of medical equipment. Instead, they were from a clutch of machine tool companies -- making the machines that help Taiwan's industrial wheels turn. And what they were about to accomplish would reinforce their often underappreciated role in the island's economy.
In less than a week the team had grown to about 40 people, turned the warehouse into a temporary manufacturing plant and harvested the first fruit of their labor: a mask-making machine, built from scratch. On Feb. 16, a Sunday, a team of engineers delivered the machine to Sumeasy Enterprise, a small mask-maker 40 km away in the port city of Keelung.
"We did not have any reference designs for the mask machine and we did not know what exact parts we needed. We just had to try to figure it out one by one. ... Every second counted as the whole Taiwanese public was really panicking that they did not have enough masks to live through the global pandemic," Winston Dai, the general manager of Taiwan Takisawa Technology, a leading listed precision machinery maker, and the onsite project leader, told the Nikkei Asian Review.
After delivering the machine to Sumeasy, Dai and his team fine-tuned the new production line until 11 p.m. -- then went back to work. By 4 a.m. they had formulated a plan to build around 90 more machines in less than a month. True to the plan, those machines are now up and running.
As a result, within a month Taiwan went from producing fewer than 1.9 million masks a day to making nearly 10 times that number....
Kamala Harris was kind of a bubble IMHO, there was no good reason for her to be that strong a favourite. She's competent but doesn't deliver a swing state, her campaign was pretty flat, and she's not particularly popular among black voters. There's an argument that Biden may have promised Jim Clyburn that he'd pick a black woman, but if you believe that then maybe look at some of the other black candidates.
I don't really see the point in picking Warren, the Bernie Bros have an enduring grudge against her and the rest of the left should get behind Biden anyhow. Gretchen Whitmer is starting to look like value, she's coming out well in the battle against her obliging comedy-villain Trumpist protestors.
I don't think the Senate vacancy thing is an issue - CA would elect a donkey with a blue badge, MA should also be safe despite that special election with the "this is my truck" dude which was a bit of a freak result, and either MI is a safe enough Dem state not to worry or it's a serious swing state, and if it's a serious swing state then Biden needs KLOBUCHAR on the ticket to make sure he holds it.
The swing state argument is overblown. Did Obama really need Joe Biden to win in Delaware that had previously voted for Gore and Kerry? Did GHW Bush need Dan Quayle to win Idaho? GW Bush need Dick Cheney for Montana? McCain and Sarah Palin for Alaska? Regardless of whether presidential candidates should pick running mates from swing states, is there any evidence they actually do?
JFK likely only carried Texas because of LBJ, Bill Clinton carried Tennessee helped by having Gore on the ticket, as Hillary carried Virginia helped by having Kaine on the ticket
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England. I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embracedmissing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
I think you and I have very different definitions of multiculturalism.
No, you just ignore the bits you don't like.
My definition of multiculturalism does not include allowing gang rape to occur. Yours clearly does. Thus, we must have different definitions.
Whether or not your definition of it allows it, it's happening and it's from an imported culture. You're like those people who say Mussolini wasn't so bad because the trains ran on time, or that the empire wasn't so bad because it did some good somewhere. Multiculturalism has been a disaster for our society women all over the country are being oppressed and having their rights curtailed. We should never have accepted that cultural value. Sex selective abortion is still rife in certain communities, we should never have allowed that cultural value. We have girls and women being murdered by their brothers and uncles for having the temerity to date whoever they want, we should not have important that cultural value either.
There's literally hundreds of issues that come with accepting multiculturalism, those who suffer the worst are those groups you claim to stand for on the left - gay people, women and children. They are who are getting abused and oppressed, but because you feel like you can't speak out about the oppressers it gets swept under the rug.
Yesterday the number of deaths in the US caused by the virus exceeded 50K. By Monday it will exceed 60k. The US response has vividly demonstrated the ridiculous inefficiency and inefficacy of US medicine with the best treatment on the planet for the favoured minority and complete neglect of the majority.
Trump spent most of his first 2 years trying to deconstruct Obamacare which was a modest sticking plaster on this gaping sore. I suspect that Biden will adopt a lot of Bernie's policy on health and that it will resonate very loudly in the current carnage. All Americans have an interest in the health of their fellow citizens. Surely even Republicans can now see that.
Yet to be fair the UK, France, Spain and Italy all have higher death rates per head than the US still
US now has more cases as a proportion of population than we do. So its death rate should catch up over time, unless they get something right that we do not.
I think a lot of people have joined the adminstration thinking they can "serve my country" by guiding Trump. They can't, they are enabling a lunatic, there is no honour in serving in his administration. I'm certain that ultimately most of them will be ashamed at having played any role in what Trump has done.
This is a really fascinating insight into how we are seen inside the Trump administration. It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past. It will resonate with many here, too. https://twitter.com/usambuk/status/1253229648546324480?s=21
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Not really, but it's clearly well-meaning and nice of him to make the effort - I wouldn't criticise him for that myself. The fact that we have lots of attractive landscape and historic buildings is one of our many strengths, though we don't want to be seen as a historical theme park and have more to offer than that. I'm afraid, though, that SO is right that it's how we're seen in the US, and not just by the administration.
Most people have a mental sketch of other countries which they can't be bothered to nuance, like the idea that the US is New York+Hollywood+rednecks. or Russia is Moscow+peasants. Britain's USP for many tourists is that we have loads of visual history - that's why London is such a draw and you don't see many foreign tourists wandering round the Highlands.
Indeed, most foreign tourists who come to the UK visit central London, maybe Oxford, Canterbury, Bath, Stratford upon Avon and Blenheim palace and Edinburgh on ciach tours and that is about it
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Poor old US ambassador - makes a video of all the stuff he likes in England and then is scolded by woke lefties for not “liking” the right stuff.
He’s giving the future tourist industry a boost that it wouldn’t get if he tweeted a video of Luton high street, the Durham miners rally or an XR demo outside of a chainsaw outlet.
The Left are only interested in history and heritage to the extent it can be leveraged to support their present day political objectives.
Otherwise it should be dismissed, ignored or totally re-written.
History is always about interpretation, and the first slice is in the editing, choosing what to look at in the first place.
Personally, I marked St Georges Day in that most English of English ways. I ignored it.
I remarked to my wife yesterday that in our early teens, as Scouts and Guides, we'd have gearing up for a big Church Parade on Sunday.
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
Actually, few things are more illustrative of England's long history than the Luddites, and related social movements such as the Swing rioters, Chartists , Tolpuddle Martyrs etc.
In many countries such social changes and tensions led to civil war, revolution and slaughter. With rare exceptions such as Peterloo, that never happened.
Indeed the Luddites presage many modern tensions, in the impoverishment of skilled artisans by a globalised system of industrial manufacturing.
Yesterday the number of deaths in the US caused by the virus exceeded 50K. By Monday it will exceed 60k. The US response has vividly demonstrated the ridiculous inefficiency and inefficacy of US medicine with the best treatment on the planet for the favoured minority and complete neglect of the majority.
Trump spent most of his first 2 years trying to deconstruct Obamacare which was a modest sticking plaster on this gaping sore. I suspect that Biden will adopt a lot of Bernie's policy on health and that it will resonate very loudly in the current carnage. All Americans have an interest in the health of their fellow citizens. Surely even Republicans can now see that.
Yet to be fair the UK, France, Spain and Italy all have higher death rates per head than the US still
Whilst that is currently true many of the outbreaks in the US are still early of the curve with death a lagging indicator. There is a frightening quantity of death in the existing cases and yesterday the US had over 30K new cases. Unless we get a vaccine by November the US death toll may will be over 250k.
Yesterday the number of deaths in the US caused by the virus exceeded 50K. By Monday it will exceed 60k. The US response has vividly demonstrated the ridiculous inefficiency and inefficacy of US medicine with the best treatment on the planet for the favoured minority and complete neglect of the majority.
Trump spent most of his first 2 years trying to deconstruct Obamacare which was a modest sticking plaster on this gaping sore. I suspect that Biden will adopt a lot of Bernie's policy on health and that it will resonate very loudly in the current carnage. All Americans have an interest in the health of their fellow citizens. Surely even Republicans can now see that.
Yet to be fair the UK, France, Spain and Italy all have higher death rates per head than the US still
US now has more cases as a proportion of population than we do. So its death rate should catch up over time, unless they get something right that we do not.
I think US testing is much more widespread, they are catching milder cases.
EiT - what is actually going on in Japan? There’s the fact they declared a “national emergency”. The very low levels of testing. “Reports” that hospitals are being overwhelmed with sick patients. Lack of PPE. And yet the numbers of recorded COVID deaths continue to bump along at pretty low levels.
Misreporting, or misrecording (or stricter definitions for recording)? Or a bit of both?
OK, here goes. The story is too complicated for Western media, so they're mostly writing cultural fluff and bollocks. Here goes:
Phase 1 (Feb): Cruise ship clown-shoes. Quarantine chaos, inspectors get infected and aren't tested, forget to test some of the passengers, put negative-testing people on trains home then they test again as infected. Phase 2 (Mar 1st-ish): Early action. About 100 non-cruise-ship cases, move fast with WFH restrictions and voluntary call to cancel events, pass a law allowing the declaration of a state of emergency (but don't declare it). My town sent me a pack of masks with pictures of frogs and road safety messages on them. Phase 3: (Mid-to-late March): Complacency. Phase 2 worked. Cases are flat around 50 per day. Schools to reopen. People take that as a sign the crisis is over. Unrestricted incoming travel from EU/US. Phase 4: (Late March / Early April): Cases from the Complacency phase now getting detected all over the place, especially big/international cities. Olympics cancelled, ambitious Tokyo governor immediately flips from "everything is fine" to "this is a terrible crisis and I will save you". Govt calls state of emergency, which gives some extra powers to local government, but the response is still almost entirely voluntary. In practical terms we've got a lot more working from home, some restaurants are changing to takeaway only, some shops are reducing their hours. Pachinko places are still open, the Tokyo government is trying to shame them into closing, good luck with that. The central government is sending every household two (2) washable masks, with no pictures of frogs, many of which are apparently moldy.
Here's the data showing Tokyo traffic changes, which shows you these phases with actual data (as opposed to the preferred metrics used by the NYT or BBC journalists, walking around and seeing if you can see a lot of people in the park).
[1\2]
Thanks for the analysis, insightful and different to the headlines we're getting over here.
Just looking at mobility in Sweden and there are some startling falls there - Stockholm over 40% down for transit stations and workplaces, retail 27% down, parks and residential up. There may be no lockdown in Sweden, but people are still taking steps that will be reducing infection.
Meanwhile, we're still debating whether masks should be worn. Two and a half months later.
Incidentally, the news that there is significant coronavirus in saliva reinforces the case for wearing even the most rudimentary masks to prevent spread. (Think Roy Hattersley for a graphic demonstration.) We are still basing our scientific advice on what we know about the infectious routes for influenza. Like our whole pandemic plan.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England. I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embracedmissing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
I think you and I have very different definitions of multiculturalism.
No, you just ignore the bits you don't like.
My definition of multiculturalism does not include allowing gang rape to occur. Yours clearly does. Thus, we must have different definitions.
Whether or not your definition of it allows it, it's happening and it's from an imported culture. You're like those people who say Mussolini wasn't so bad because the trains ran on time, or that the empire wasn't so bad because it did some good somewhere. Multiculturalism has been a disaster for our society women all over the country are being oppressed and having their rights curtailed.
We should never have accepted that cultural value. Sex selective abortion is still rife in certain communities, we should never have allowed that cultural value. We have girls and women being murdered by their brothers and uncles for having the temerity to date whoever they want, we should not have important that cultural value either.
There's literally hundreds of issues that come with accepting multiculturalism, those who suffer the worst are those groups you claim to stand for on the left - gay people, women and children. They are who are getting abused and oppressed, but because you feel like you can't speak out about the oppressers it gets swept under the rug.
As I say, your definition of multiculturalism is not mine.
Biden should pick Whitmer, currently 4th in the betting, a Biden Whitmer ticket would have a strong chance of taking the swing state of Michigan and also she is a governor not a Senator so no risk of giving up a Senate seat if elected.
Harris and Warren add little to the ticket representing safe Democratic states at presidential election level and the black vote is already with Biden anyway now Obama is on board and Warren could turn off moderate and independent voters Biden needs to win
Is there in fact evidence that Warren would attract disaffected Bernie voters? To progressives she may well look like the person who tripped up Bernie by taking some of his votes and preventing him getting clear early victories. Picking her to attrract Bernie supporters might be like picking a LibDem deputy to appeal to Labour voters.
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
Actually, few things are more illustrative of England's long history than the Luddites, and related social movements such as the Swing rioters, Chartists , Tolpuddle Martyrs etc.
In many countries such social changes and tensions led to civil war, revolution and slaughter. With rare exceptions such as Peterloo, that never happened.
Indeed the Luddites presage many modern tensions, in the impoverishment of skilled artisans by a globalised system of industrial manufacturing.
You cannot stop time. The world moves on. You either lead the change or like Cnut try to resist it.
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
Actually, few things are more illustrative of England's long history than the Luddites, and related social movements such as the Swing rioters, Chartists , Tolpuddle Martyrs etc.
In many countries such social changes and tensions led to civil war, revolution and slaughter. With rare exceptions such as Peterloo, that never happened.
Indeed the Luddites presage many modern tensions, in the impoverishment of skilled artisans by a globalised system of industrial manufacturing.
It is noteworthy that England generally avoided civil wars and revolutions. Obviously "the" civil war is an exception.
You are highlighting the most radical there though. Much more was achieved by gentle and progressive reform over a period of time.
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
Actually, few things are more illustrative of England's long history than the Luddites, and related social movements such as the Swing rioters, Chartists , Tolpuddle Martyrs etc.
In many countries such social changes and tensions led to civil war, revolution and slaughter. With rare exceptions such as Peterloo, that never happened.
Indeed the Luddites presage many modern tensions, in the impoverishment of skilled artisans by a globalised system of industrial manufacturing.
Interestingly, most of the reform movements such as the Chartists presented themselves as partly conservative - the Magna Carta (mythological version) etc... Electoral reform was framed as returning electoral rights that had been eroded by the innovation of rotten buroughs.
The phrase "Things must change, so they can stay the same" comes to mind.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England. I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embracedmissing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
I think you and I have very different definitions of multiculturalism.
No, you just ignore the bits you don't like.
My definition of multiculturalism does not include allowing gang rape to occur. Yours clearly does. Thus, we must have different definitions.
Whether or not your definition of it allows it, it's happening and it's from an imported culture. You're like those people who say Mussolini wasn't so bad because the trains ran on time, or that the empire wasn't so bad because it did some good somewhere. Multiculturalism has been a disaster for our society women all over the country are being oppressed and having their rights curtailed.
We should never have accepted that cultural value. Sex selective abortion is still rife in certain communities, we should never have allowed that cultural value. We have girls and women being murdered by their brothers and uncles for having the temerity to date whoever they want, we should not have important that cultural value either.
There's literally hundreds of issues that come with accepting multiculturalism, those who suffer the worst are those groups you claim to stand for on the left - gay people, women and children. They are who are getting abused and oppressed, but because you feel like you can't speak out about the oppressers it gets swept under the rug.
As I say, your definition of multiculturalism is not mine.
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
Actually, few things are more illustrative of England's long history than the Luddites, and related social movements such as the Swing rioters, Chartists , Tolpuddle Martyrs etc.
In many countries such social changes and tensions led to civil war, revolution and slaughter. With rare exceptions such as Peterloo, that never happened.
Indeed the Luddites presage many modern tensions, in the impoverishment of skilled artisans by a globalised system of industrial manufacturing.
You cannot stop time. The world moves on. You either lead the change or like Cnut try to resist it.
Surely, Cnut was also demonstrating that things cannot be resisted?
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
Actually, few things are more illustrative of England's long history than the Luddites, and related social movements such as the Swing rioters, Chartists , Tolpuddle Martyrs etc.
In many countries such social changes and tensions led to civil war, revolution and slaughter. With rare exceptions such as Peterloo, that never happened.
Indeed the Luddites presage many modern tensions, in the impoverishment of skilled artisans by a globalised system of industrial manufacturing.
You cannot stop time. The world moves on. You either lead the change or like Cnut try to resist it.
This is a really fascinating insight into how we are seen inside the Trump administration. It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past. It will resonate with many here, too. https://twitter.com/usambuk/status/1253229648546324480?s=21
Yes, England is an old country with a lot of history and heritage. America doesn't have that. And a lot the rest of world also value that here too - it's why tourists come here in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
Not really, but it's clearly well-meaning and nice of him to make the effort - I wouldn't criticise him for that myself. The fact that we have lots of attractive landscape and historic buildings is one of our many strengths, though we don't want to be seen as a historical theme park and have more to offer than that. I'm afraid, though, that SO is right that it's how we're seen in the US, and not just by the administration.
Most people have a mental sketch of other countries which they can't be bothered to nuance, like the idea that the US is New York+Hollywood+rednecks. or Russia is Moscow+peasants. Britain's USP for many tourists is that we have loads of visual history - that's why London is such a draw and you don't see many foreign tourists wandering round the Highlands.
Indeed, most foreign tourists who come to the UK visit central London, maybe Oxford, Canterbury, Bath, Stratford upon Avon and Blenheim palace and Edinburgh on ciach tours and that is about it
Innovation is rarely what tourists think of, or are interested in.
Who goes to Silicon Valley for a tour round 1 Infinite Loop? Who goes to a Foxconn plant, in China?
I think a lot of people have joined the adminstration thinking they can "serve my country" by guiding Trump. They can't, they are enabling a lunatic, there is no honour in serving in his administration. I'm certain that ultimately most of them will be ashamed at having played any role in what Trump has done.
Fauci has demonstrated that it's perfectly possible - providing that you don't live in fear of your job. Basically most of those who work for Trump are unprincipled wimps.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embraced and managed multiculturalism better than almost any place on earth. I am proud of that. If others aren’t, so be it. You asked me what I thought was missing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
One of the silliest, potentially dangerous statements on here, If we are going for cultural purity, who decides the one true culture?
Do give over there is a difference between an abhorrence of multiculturalism which says all cultures are equal and a desire for cultural purity.
I very much want as a country to be thinking we should be saying "If you come here don't bring that part of your culture here it is neither acceptable nor wanted and it most definitely something we don't consider equally valid"
Examples would be the attitude to women or gay people that some cultures hold. There are many more
Good morning. Despite the limitations to the testing, I think the critical additional measure is the requirement to isolate in a secure place away from your household and family. South Korea has done something similar with success.
Yup, for people who haven't seen it Daniel Falush talks about it here - out of all the tricky problems the government is dealing with right now, you wouldn't have thought renting some of the many empty hotels and making them available for infectious people to stay in was particularly difficult.
Yes, testing and tracing without proper isolation and quarantine is just looking at the speedo without touching the brakes.
The most effective way to support the hotel industry, and to quarantine people, is to use them as isolation units, alongside the Nightingales for sicker (but not ventilated) patients.
The Wuhan funnel system is the way to control a relaxation of lockdown.
The 10 or so people who were starting a stretch of 15-hour days and fitful sleep were not experts in making masks; most knew little about any aspect of medical equipment. Instead, they were from a clutch of machine tool companies -- making the machines that help Taiwan's industrial wheels turn. And what they were about to accomplish would reinforce their often underappreciated role in the island's economy.
In less than a week the team had grown to about 40 people, turned the warehouse into a temporary manufacturing plant and harvested the first fruit of their labor: a mask-making machine, built from scratch. On Feb. 16, a Sunday, a team of engineers delivered the machine to Sumeasy Enterprise, a small mask-maker 40 km away in the port city of Keelung.
"We did not have any reference designs for the mask machine and we did not know what exact parts we needed. We just had to try to figure it out one by one. ... Every second counted as the whole Taiwanese public was really panicking that they did not have enough masks to live through the global pandemic," Winston Dai, the general manager of Taiwan Takisawa Technology, a leading listed precision machinery maker, and the onsite project leader, told the Nikkei Asian Review.
After delivering the machine to Sumeasy, Dai and his team fine-tuned the new production line until 11 p.m. -- then went back to work. By 4 a.m. they had formulated a plan to build around 90 more machines in less than a month. True to the plan, those machines are now up and running.
As a result, within a month Taiwan went from producing fewer than 1.9 million masks a day to making nearly 10 times that number....
It shows the benefits of having a vibrant industrial base. It is the sort of thing that the US managed for the same reasons early in WW2. Allowing much of our manufacturing base to be off-shored whilst boasting about falling CO2 emissions has proven to be sub-optimal.
out of all the tricky problems the government is dealing with right now, you wouldn't have thought renting some of the many empty hotels and making them available for infectious people to stay in was particularly difficult.
That rather assumes that reducing transmission was the primary goal rather than a means to an end (which was to avoid overloading the health system).
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
Actually, few things are more illustrative of England's long history than the Luddites, and related social movements such as the Swing rioters, Chartists , Tolpuddle Martyrs etc.
In many countries such social changes and tensions led to civil war, revolution and slaughter. With rare exceptions such as Peterloo, that never happened.
Indeed the Luddites presage many modern tensions, in the impoverishment of skilled artisans by a globalised system of industrial manufacturing.
It is noteworthy that England generally avoided civil wars and revolutions. Obviously "the" civil war is an exception.
You are highlighting the most radical there though. Much more was achieved by gentle and progressive reform over a period of time.
Even the Civil War wasn't >that< bad. Compare, for example, with the Thirty Years' War...
EiT - what is actually going on in Japan? There’s the fact they declared a “national emergency”. The very low levels of testing. “Reports” that hospitals are being overwhelmed with sick patients. Lack of PPE. And yet the numbers of recorded COVID deaths continue to bump along at pretty low levels.
Misreporting, or misrecording (or stricter definitions for recording)? Or a bit of both?
OK, here goes. The story is too complicated for Western media, so they're mostly writing cultural fluff and bollocks. Here goes:
Phase 1 (Feb): Cruise ship clown-shoes. Quarantine chaos, inspectors get infected and aren't tested, forget to test some of the passengers, put negative-testing people on trains home then they test again as infected. Phase 2 (Mar 1st-ish): Early action. About 100 non-cruise-ship cases, move fast with WFH restrictions and voluntary call to cancel events, pass a law allowing the declaration of a state of emergency (but don't declare it). My town sent me a pack of masks with pictures of frogs and road safety messages on them. Phase 3: (Mid-to-late March): Complacency. Phase 2 worked. Cases are flat around 50 per day. Schools to reopen. People take that as a sign the crisis is over. Unrestricted incoming travel from EU/US. Phase 4: (Late March / Early April): Cases from the Complacency phase now getting detected all over the place, especially big/international cities. Olympics cancelled, ambitious Tokyo governor immediately flips from "everything is fine" to "this is a terrible crisis and I will save you". Govt calls state of emergency, which gives some extra powers to local government, but the response is still almost entirely voluntary. In practical terms we've got a lot more working from home, some restaurants are changing to takeaway only, some shops are reducing their hours. Pachinko places are still open, the Tokyo government is trying to shame them into closing, good luck with that. The central government is sending every household two (2) washable masks, with no pictures of frogs, many of which are apparently moldy.
Here's the data showing Tokyo traffic changes, which shows you these phases with actual data (as opposed to the preferred metrics used by the NYT or BBC journalists, walking around and seeing if you can see a lot of people in the park).
[1\2]
Thanks for the analysis, insightful and different to the headlines we're getting over here.
Just looking at mobility in Sweden and there are some startling falls there - Stockholm over 40% down for transit stations and workplaces, retail 27% down, parks and residential up. There may be no lockdown in Sweden, but people are still taking steps that will be reducing infection.
This is a really fascinating insight into how we are seen inside the Trump administration. It is dripping with nostalgia, laden with the past. It will resonate with many here, too. https://twitter.com/usambuk/status/1253229648546324480?s=21
Is it an insight or just a piece of diplomatic fluff? I mean I'd like it if others saw us positively, we should do more of it ourselves, but ambassadors to allies are bound to be positive most of the time.
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
Actually, few things are more illustrative of England's long history than the Luddites, and related social movements such as the Swing rioters, Chartists , Tolpuddle Martyrs etc.
In many countries such social changes and tensions led to civil war, revolution and slaughter. With rare exceptions such as Peterloo, that never happened.
Indeed the Luddites presage many modern tensions, in the impoverishment of skilled artisans by a globalised system of industrial manufacturing.
You cannot stop time. The world moves on. You either lead the change or like Cnut try to resist it.
Surely, Cnut was also demonstrating that things cannot be resisted?
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England. I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embracedmissing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
I think you and I have very different definitions of multiculturalism.
No, you just ignore the bits you don't like.
My definition of multiculturalism does not include allowing gang rape to occur. Yours clearly does. Thus, we must have different definitions.
Whether or not your definition of it allows it, it's happening and it's from an imported culture. You're like those people who say Mussolini wasn't so bad because the trains ran on time, or that the empire wasn't so bad because it did some good somewhere. Multiculturalism has been a disaster for our society women all over the country are being oppressed and having their rights curtailed. We should never have accepted that cultural value. Sex selective abortion is still rife in certain communities, we should never have allowed that cultural value. We have girls and women being murdered by their brothers and uncles for having the temerity to date whoever they want, we should not have important that cultural value either.
There's literally hundreds of issues that come with accepting multiculturalism, those who suffer the worst are those groups you claim to stand for on the left - gay people, women and children. They are who are getting abused and oppressed, but because you feel like you can't speak out about the oppressers it gets swept under the rug.
I think what you really want is to integrate the best cultural traditions (the best, not all, and certainly not those that conflict with our values) of incomers into the host nation. And for that host nation to move to being colour-blind. The new cultural traditions should enhance, and not displace, threaten or denigrate the existing culture, as that way social division lies.
So you get a more visually-mixed populace and enriched host nation culture but it is still a unique and distinct national culture, with a unifying set of values, and not a plethora of competing ones all of which have equal status.
Actually, few things are more illustrative of England's long history than the Luddites, and related social movements such as the Swing rioters, Chartists , Tolpuddle Martyrs etc.
Nobody is suggesting that our history should avoid the embarrassing and stupid bits.
Biden should pick Whitmer, currently 4th in the betting, a Biden Whitmer ticket would have a strong chance of taking the swing state of Michigan and also she is a governor not a Senator so no risk of giving up a Senate seat if elected.
Harris and Warren add little to the ticket representing safe Democratic states at presidential election level and the black vote is already with Biden anyway now Obama is on board and Warren could turn off moderate and independent voters Biden needs to win
Is there in fact evidence that Warren would attract disaffected Bernie voters? To progressives she may well look like the person who tripped up Bernie by taking some of his votes and preventing him getting clear early victories. Picking her to attrract Bernie supporters might be like picking a LibDem deputy to appeal to Labour voters.
Yes if he wants to appeal to Bernie voters he should pick Bernie not Warren
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embraced and managed multiculturalism better than almost any place on earth. I am proud of that. If others aren’t, so be it. You asked me what I thought was missing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
One of the silliest, potentially dangerous statements on here, If we are going for cultural purity, who decides the one true culture?
Do give over there is a difference between an abhorrence of multiculturalism which says all cultures are equal and a desire for cultural purity.
I very much want as a country to be thinking we should be saying "If you come here don't bring that part of your culture here it is neither acceptable nor wanted and it most definitely something we don't consider equally valid"
Examples would be the attitude to women or gay people that some cultures hold. There are many more
You’re arguing for multiculturalism. Just a different form of multiculturalism to the one we currently have.
out of all the tricky problems the government is dealing with right now, you wouldn't have thought renting some of the many empty hotels and making them available for infectious people to stay in was particularly difficult.
That rather assumes that reducing transmission was the primary goal rather than a means to an end (which was to avoid overloading the health system).
I don't think it does, because no matter what the end goal, the government is currently doing all kinds of much more economy-damaging and freedom-reducing things to reduce transmission, so if it could reduce transmission by renting out hotels but felt the cumulative effect was too much then it could stop doing those other things instead.
'In 1888, the first medical use of H2O2 was described by Love as efficacious in treating numerous diseases, including scarlet fever, diphtheria, nasal catarrh, acute coryza, whooping cough, asthma hay fever and tonsillitis (Love, 1888). Similarly, Oliver and collaborators reported that intravenous injection of H2O2 was efficacious in treating influenza pneumonia in the epidemic following World War I (Oliver et al., 1920). Despite its beneficial effects, in the 1940s medical interest in further research on H2O2 was slowed down by the emerging development of new prescription medicines.' https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3417441/
Britain is killing itself with nostalgia and history. It is important to note we wouldn’t have any history to speak of if we had taken that view in the past. We must not let the Luddites win. Britain is more than a museum.
There is no ludditism here.
I am at the forefront of new tech in my industry, including leading on nuclear fusion for my firm.
Still fifty years off ? (Despite the snark, for which apologies, I'd be interested in your answer.)
So difficult to say. But it looks promising. The spherical tokamaks at Culham look very interesting.
Maybe this is self-interest but I think it's now advanced enough to take its programme management off the academics and scientists (who will take 50 years, and some) and hand over to engineers/project and programme management professionals.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England. I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embracedmissing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
I think you and I have very different definitions of multiculturalism.
No, you just ignore the bits you don't like.
My definition of multiculturalism does not include allowing gang rape to occur. Yours clearly does. Thus, we must have different definitions.
Whether or not your definition of it allows it, it's happening and it's from an imported culture. You're like those people who say Mussolini wasn't so bad because the trains ran on time, or that the empire wasn't so bad because it did some good somewhere. Multiculturalism has been a disaster for our society women all over the country are being oppressed and having their rights curtailed. We should never have accepted that cultural value. Sex selective abortion is still rife in certain communities, we should never have allowed that cultural value. We have girls and women being murdered by their brothers and uncles for having the temerity to date whoever they want, we should not have important that cultural value either.
There's literally hundreds of issues that come with accepting multiculturalism, those who suffer the worst are those groups you claim to stand for on the left - gay people, women and children. They are who are getting abused and oppressed, but because you feel like you can't speak out about the oppressers it gets swept under the rug.
The real problem is multiculturalism vs Multiculturalism.
What I mean by this is that the lower case version is the toleration and acceptance of multiple cultures, with a common theme of shared values. This is what people, in general, in the UK accept.
The capitalised version is the one with the grievance matrix, the cultural cringe etc. This means differing standards applied to different groups. This ultimately leads to Rotheram et al - if you have differential standards in law enforcement, the bad people will fill the space.
The garbage that is then pulled is to say that if you don't like Multiculturalism, you are against multiculturalism and are a BNP member.
Yesterday the number of deaths in the US caused by the virus exceeded 50K. By Monday it will exceed 60k. The US response has vividly demonstrated the ridiculous inefficiency and inefficacy of US medicine with the best treatment on the planet for the favoured minority and complete neglect of the majority.
Trump spent most of his first 2 years trying to deconstruct Obamacare which was a modest sticking plaster on this gaping sore. I suspect that Biden will adopt a lot of Bernie's policy on health and that it will resonate very loudly in the current carnage. All Americans have an interest in the health of their fellow citizens. Surely even Republicans can now see that.
Yet to be fair the UK, France, Spain and Italy all have higher death rates per head than the US still
US now has more cases as a proportion of population than we do. So its death rate should catch up over time, unless they get something right that we do not.
Italy, Spain and Belgium though still have more cases as a proportion of population overall than the US does
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
It was posted here by SO. Just thank him and move on?
Agree. God we can turn anything in to an argument.
It's not an argument. It's a discussion.
If you post something on here with a controversial assertion you should expect it to be challenged.
I agree. Not a lot of point coming here otherwise
But you, like me, took the original post at face value without any controversy. It was artificially stirred up.
Yes, England is an old country with a lothere in their droves and we have so much soft power and cultural influence.
Much of that does reasonate with me and is deeply moving.
Does it not for you too?
I see a lot more in England than that. But I do think nostalgia is deeply ingrained in the English psyche.
You've spoken before of your love for England, with examples.
So what's missing for you?
Our cities, our people, our invention, our entrepreneurialism, our multiculturalism, for starters. There is a whole lot more to us than our past.
Let me let you into a little secret: no-one cares about multiculturalism. It's an obsession of sociologists and politicians but every major Western nation has it and it's totally indistinctive.
I saw clips of beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline and fishing villages. I also saw modern architecture in the Shard.
It was an aesthetically pleasing tour of what's beautiful in England.
I think you're reading too much into it because it was posted by Trump's ambassador.
I think England has embraced and managed multiculturalism better than almost any place on earth. I am proud of that. If others aren’t, so be it. You asked me what I thought was missing.
It hasn't. Rape gangs from a certain ethnic background were and still are able to operate with impunity because police were afraid of being seen to upset them or being seen as racist. Multiculturalism is a cancer that needs to be eradicated.
One of the silliest, potentially dangerous statements on here, If we are going for cultural purity, who decides the one true culture?
Do give over there is a difference between an abhorrence of multiculturalism which says all cultures are equal and a desire for cultural purity.
I very much want as a country to be thinking we should be saying "If you come here don't bring that part of your culture here it is neither acceptable nor wanted and it most definitely something we don't consider equally valid"
Examples would be the attitude to women or gay people that some cultures hold. There are many more
Another example upheld very strongly by certain folk was face covering. That's looking a bit puerile now.
Yesterday the number of deaths in the US caused by the virus exceeded 50K. By Monday it will exceed 60k. The US response has vividly demonstrated the ridiculous inefficiency and inefficacy of US medicine with the best treatment on the planet for the favoured minority and complete neglect of the majority.
Trump spent most of his first 2 years trying to deconstruct Obamacare which was a modest sticking plaster on this gaping sore. I suspect that Biden will adopt a lot of Bernie's policy on health and that it will resonate very loudly in the current carnage. All Americans have an interest in the health of their fellow citizens. Surely even Republicans can now see that.
Yet to be fair the UK, France, Spain and Italy all have higher death rates per head than the US still
Whilst that is currently true many of the outbreaks in the US are still early of the curve with death a lagging indicator. There is a frightening quantity of death in the existing cases and yesterday the US had over 30K new cases. Unless we get a vaccine by November the US death toll may will be over 250k.
The US has a higher testing rate than we do and France does however
Nick has posted on here before that he longs for the abolition of the UK and all other nation states.
It's a fact. Nothing rude or intemperate about it.
It's interesting that was your first instinct though which says a lot about you.
I don't think I've ever said I long for it? And it's a slightly different point. In the long run I favour world government for global issues, with everything decided at the lowest level possible (as the EU is supposed to work, though doesn't always). Some issues, like the virus, really need to be globally addressed.
But that's different from feeling affection for one's own country, which I do, in the same way that Scots may feel affectionate about Scotland irrespective of their views on independence. It's unusual to dislike the envirnment you're used to. I don't disagree with your view of British landscape and historical appeal, though I expect we differ in emphasis. As you said in another post, it's our of our strengths that we don't squabble over differences in preference.
Comments
If you post something on here with a controversial assertion you should expect it to be challenged.
History is always about interpretation, and the first slice is in the editing, choosing what to look at in the first place.
Personally, I marked St Georges Day in that most English of English ways. I ignored it.
https://twitter.com/forwardarc/status/1252810102089715716
You highlight what is distinct and unique in the country - what there is positive to celebrate. It's not a warts and all exercise.
That's for the guidebooks and analysts.
Even better when you realise they were both from Texas so they had to do some fancy footwork on Cheney’s registration to make him eligible!
Biden needs someone on the ticket voters are going to be comfortable seeing in the presidency, given his age. I'm not entirely convinced that's Whitmer, but we'll see.
And clearly incorrect, at the end. Lack of shame for former communism despite all the atrocities and misery it inflicted trumps anything else.
Sweden doesn't have corona virus. Stockholm does.
The county Skåno, which contains Malmo, has a population of 1.2 million people and has had 57 deaths.
Stockholm County has a population of 2.3 million and 1128 deaths.
2 times the population but 20 times the deaths. Same for the rest of Sweden, basically negligible covid deaths outside of Stockholm.
Biden has been around Washington forever. He will have long histories with the favourites for good or ill and it is very difficult to get insight into that. Playing this market, other than the obvious lays, is a mugs game.
Just looking at mobility in Sweden and there are some startling falls there - Stockholm over 40% down for transit stations and workplaces, retail 27% down, parks and residential up. There may be no lockdown in Sweden, but people are still taking steps that will be reducing infection.
https://www.gstatic.com/covid19/mobility/2020-04-17_SE_Mobility_Report_en.pdf
We're better than most European countries - certainly.
Either way my point is that you can only include it in a video like that for St. George's Day where the multiculturalism has fused into making something distinctive new and culturally unique to England.
Otherwise it's just politics and tickboxing and doesn't really mean anything.
He's as transparent as hell.
Meanwhile, Boris remains nowhere to be seen and England has to wait until he feels up to the job of being PM before we hear a squeak about government policy.
And this is all good, right?
It's a fact. Nothing rude or intemperate about it.
It's interesting that was your first instinct though which says a lot about you.
I am at the forefront of new tech in my industry, including leading on nuclear fusion for my firm.
You may as well say other countries have beautiful scenery, towns, villages, coastline, modern architecture and history, so all these things are totally indistinctive.
To understand Britain you have to get into the mindset of the people who built the cathedrals, fought for rights, explored the world, designed the spitfire, setup the NHS. They were not driven by conservatism or nostalgia.
I think the government appears to be slowly finding their way towards emulating a strategy which was clearly demonstrated a couple of months ago.
Trump spent most of his first 2 years trying to deconstruct Obamacare which was a modest sticking plaster on this gaping sore. I suspect that Biden will adopt a lot of Bernie's policy on health and that it will resonate very loudly in the current carnage. All Americans have an interest in the health of their fellow citizens. Surely even Republicans can now see that.
https://twitter.com/Politics_Polls/status/1253178626864021505?s=20
Harris and Warren add little to the ticket representing safe Democratic states at presidential election level and the black vote is already with Biden anyway now Obama is on board and Warren could turn off moderate and independent voters Biden needs to win
(Despite the snark, for which apologies, I'd be interested in your answer.)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/isolate-isolate-isolate-chinas-approach-covid-19-quarantine/
Incidentally I see the latest conspiracy theory doing the rounds of obscurer parts of the internet believes the opening ceremony foresaw the virus crisis as part of some wider global conspiracy
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Industry-in-focus/Taiwan-s-hidden-champions-help-coronavirus-fightback
...TAOYUAN, Taiwan -- The small group of engineers and executives who met in a deserted warehouse in northern Taiwan on Feb. 10 had a simple yet daunting mission: help the country massively ramp up its output of face masks to deal with the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
The 10 or so people who were starting a stretch of 15-hour days and fitful sleep were not experts in making masks; most knew little about any aspect of medical equipment. Instead, they were from a clutch of machine tool companies -- making the machines that help Taiwan's industrial wheels turn. And what they were about to accomplish would reinforce their often underappreciated role in the island's economy.
In less than a week the team had grown to about 40 people, turned the warehouse into a temporary manufacturing plant and harvested the first fruit of their labor: a mask-making machine, built from scratch. On Feb. 16, a Sunday, a team of engineers delivered the machine to Sumeasy Enterprise, a small mask-maker 40 km away in the port city of Keelung.
"We did not have any reference designs for the mask machine and we did not know what exact parts we needed. We just had to try to figure it out one by one. ... Every second counted as the whole Taiwanese public was really panicking that they did not have enough masks to live through the global pandemic," Winston Dai, the general manager of Taiwan Takisawa Technology, a leading listed precision machinery maker, and the onsite project leader, told the Nikkei Asian Review.
After delivering the machine to Sumeasy, Dai and his team fine-tuned the new production line until 11 p.m. -- then went back to work. By 4 a.m. they had formulated a plan to build around 90 more machines in less than a month. True to the plan, those machines are now up and running.
As a result, within a month Taiwan went from producing fewer than 1.9 million masks a day to making nearly 10 times that number....
There's literally hundreds of issues that come with accepting multiculturalism, those who suffer the worst are those groups you claim to stand for on the left - gay people, women and children. They are who are getting abused and oppressed, but because you feel like you can't speak out about the oppressers it gets swept under the rug.
In many countries such social changes and tensions led to civil war, revolution and slaughter. With rare exceptions such as Peterloo, that never happened.
Indeed the Luddites presage many modern tensions, in the impoverishment of skilled artisans by a globalised system of industrial manufacturing.
Incidentally, the news that there is significant coronavirus in saliva reinforces the case for wearing even the most rudimentary masks to prevent spread. (Think Roy Hattersley for a graphic demonstration.)
We are still basing our scientific advice on what we know about the infectious routes for influenza. Like our whole pandemic plan.
Is there anything unique that defines Englishness? I should bloody well hope not or we'd be a right funny bunch.
Anyway, I don't live in England, I live in Yorkshire. Possibly the most parochial place on the planet.
You are highlighting the most radical there though. Much more was achieved by gentle and progressive reform over a period of time.
The phrase "Things must change, so they can stay the same" comes to mind.
Me, I've been implementing a few of the garden tips.
https://twitter.com/mattwardman/status/1253593546252324864
Who goes to Silicon Valley for a tour round 1 Infinite Loop? Who goes to a Foxconn plant, in China?
Basically most of those who work for Trump are unprincipled wimps.
I very much want as a country to be thinking we should be saying "If you come here don't bring that part of your culture here it is neither acceptable nor wanted and it most definitely something we don't consider equally valid"
Examples would be the attitude to women or gay people that some cultures hold. There are many more
The most effective way to support the hotel industry, and to quarantine people, is to use them as isolation units, alongside the Nightingales for sicker (but not ventilated) patients.
The Wuhan funnel system is the way to control a relaxation of lockdown.
Compare, for example, with the Thirty Years' War...
Although whoever voted that as the UK's (not sure if England only) catchphrase had never spent any time on PB.
So you get a more visually-mixed populace and enriched host nation culture but it is still a unique and distinct national culture, with a unifying set of values, and not a plethora of competing ones all of which have equal status.
Lots of English kings faced armed rebellions, although they were mostly aimed at changing policy rather than usurpation.
'In 1888, the first medical use of H2O2 was described by Love as efficacious in treating numerous diseases, including scarlet fever, diphtheria, nasal catarrh, acute coryza, whooping cough, asthma hay fever and tonsillitis (Love, 1888). Similarly, Oliver and collaborators reported that intravenous injection of H2O2 was efficacious in treating influenza pneumonia in the epidemic following World War I (Oliver et al., 1920). Despite its beneficial effects, in the 1940s medical interest in further research on H2O2 was slowed down by the emerging development of new prescription medicines.'
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3417441/
One nil to Trump?
Maybe this is self-interest but I think it's now advanced enough to take its programme management off the academics and scientists (who will take 50 years, and some) and hand over to engineers/project and programme management professionals.
What I mean by this is that the lower case version is the toleration and acceptance of multiple cultures, with a common theme of shared values. This is what people, in general, in the UK accept.
The capitalised version is the one with the grievance matrix, the cultural cringe etc. This means differing standards applied to different groups. This ultimately leads to Rotheram et al - if you have differential standards in law enforcement, the bad people will fill the space.
The garbage that is then pulled is to say that if you don't like Multiculturalism, you are against multiculturalism and are a BNP member.
But you, like me, took the original post at face value without any controversy. It was artificially stirred up.
But that's different from feeling affection for one's own country, which I do, in the same way that Scots may feel affectionate about Scotland irrespective of their views on independence. It's unusual to dislike the envirnment you're used to. I don't disagree with your view of British landscape and historical appeal, though I expect we differ in emphasis. As you said in another post, it's our of our strengths that we don't squabble over differences in preference.
Pax!