What we do know is containing this is basically impossible. One bloke goes for a night out in South Korea and now got 100+ cases and rising.
Do we know that?
I think there's a good chance that the South Korean contact tracing system will be able to contain this latest outbreak as they did with the earlier outbreak from the religious community.
A contact tracing app based on the Google/Apple APIs using bluetooth may be even more effective if supported by rapid testing.
I don't see why this can't be used to prevent both another wave of >50,000 deaths and the lockdown measures we used to restrict fatalities to that level.
That's exactly the point I'm trying to make. If you have systems in place, you can try things without risking having to go back into full lockdown if they go seriously wrong. We seem to be nowhere near that yet.
I was reasonably reassured by reading the government plan. But the implementation - with the inevitable delay to the contact tracing app, testing not configured to fit the plan (it needs to be local and fast), etc, does not inspire confidence.
It also looks like the government will push ahead anyway, before delayed elements are ready. I see no evidence that lessons are being learned from previous mistakes.
I will happily take the risk and do stuff for all those too frightened to put their heads out the door. My charges will be modestly steep but affordable
Yes - it is a very nasty bug, but it is not Ebola, Smallpox or Typhoid. A hundred years ago our ancestors all lived with far worse bugs.
Anyway, not much change around this place - Boris's supporters kissing his a*se whilst outside this forum everyone treats Boris and his Sunday Pronouncement as beyond a joke. Do not think that the general public did not spot Boris's abdication of leadership. They did.
Interesting. The approval ratings are still positive.
Just as long as the ↓ isn't a trend, eh?
That's not really the point, Bev was discussing the current situation, not what it might be like in the weeks or months to come.
The virus will either mutate out (Likely to something less harmful) or we'll find a vaccine if it doesn't. We won't live this way forever but we might for a couple of years.
Not even a couple of years. Eventually we'll have to live with the excess deaths and go for a herd immunity strategy.
The Gov't can't force people out if they don't feel safe. And lots of the demand in the economy is from people who aren't going to head out any time soon.
They can if the furlough scheme is phased out and people are asked to live on UC.
If reports are accurate that Rishi Sunak is about to announce an extension to the furlough scheme but cutting wage support to 60% without employers making up difference it means the government has adopted the basic principle of a time old policy of starving workers back to work.
Employers to "share" costs of furlough scheme. Not sure I like the sound of that depending upon the details. For companies with cash reserves that can open for part time work and furlough part time that seems fine. For companies that are completely shut down with no revenues coming in then that's going to be a deal breaker for many. Devil will be in the details.
These measures cost around £14bn per month by my calculations, that's in additional spend and lost tax revenue. That figure should get lower as more sectors go back to work but it's still very expensive. I think October is too long as well, it lets companies off the hook in trying to relaunch their businesses.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
Unless it's an Albanian cab driver saying it it's meaningless.
I should have also mentioned that care home workers are dying at twice the rate of NHS workers. It is a scandal. Some of the people doing the most valuable work, poorly paid and little valued are being denied the PPE they need and are dying because of this. They are also a vector for retransmission into the wider community.
The whole purpose of lockdown was to protect the vulnerable. If we can’t even do that, really what is the point of it all?
If anything positive comes out of this it may be that people think twice about sending Mum off to a care home where greedy owners and (some) negligent staff are paid to see her through her dying days
What on Earth are you talking about?
I'm talking about more elderly people being cared for at home rather than being abandoned
Interesting approach - blame the families.
I seem to remember someone with similar viewpoints disappeared off this site last week.
As we said then dealing with dementia is something that requires trained people who are detached from the family - otherwise it's beyond painful.
Unfortunately TGOHF is still with us - his view was that families put relatives into care homes because they smell a bit and interfere with their holiday plans.
To be fair, there are some horrible people out there. Who would do exactly that.
There are also many, many people living in a sleep deprived hell, caring for someone who is literally fighting them.
If such people do exist I doubt there are many of them and they don't sound like the type of people who would willingly give up £5000 a month of their inheritance to pay for it. In any event the holiday issue is easily resolved with the use of respite care.
You already have to sell your house to pay for residential care, it is the government taking your home after death to pay for at home care voters opposed
We are dealing with a once in a hundred year pandemic.
The Government managed to persuade people to accept the largest reduction in freedoms in the history of the country and the people have 99.9999% complied with it.
They have instigated an astonishing and generousFurlough Scheme to keep peoples livelihood's going, probably the most generous in the world.
The NHS has dealt comfortably with the pandemic.(No one gave it a chance in ealry March)
They have provided detailed advice and guidance throughout the lockdown. It was easily accessible and clearly written.
Their major error has been the carehome issue, they got carried away with discharging people from hospital when they should have been isolated.
Now, they are making a tiny change to the lockdown to give people a tiny bit more freedom and have provided a plan on the way forward and people are claiming they don't understand what seems simple to me. In terms of returning to work for those on Furlough I have just had an email from a marble supplier telling me that following Boris's chat they are re-opening tomorrow. They have said they have spent the last six weeks changing their factory and putting into place the following procedures.
All employees have a temperature check upon arrival each morning. Strict 2 metre distancing on the factory floor and at workstations Staggered breaks Hand sanitiser stations Face masks to be worn at all times Visitors to the factory/showroom are strictly by pre appointment only
I wonder how they managed to do this seeing as the only Government advice is so muddled and confusing.
Come October we're going to be looking at heading into the winter flu season. Seems hard to believe the lockdown will be lifted over winter if it isn't by the autumn.
If you are being optimistic then you could argue that the furlough scheme will still be available in October, but the government might hope that use of it will be low.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
Unless it's an Albanian cab driver saying it it's meaningless.
We're all Albanian cab drivers now!
No. We are are all SeanT. We were all in the back of the Albanian's cab the other day.
Must be bigger than The Balcony or The Blind Beggar.
What we do know is containing this is basically impossible. One bloke goes for a night out in South Korea and now got 100+ cases and rising.
Do we know that?
I think there's a good chance that the South Korean contact tracing system will be able to contain this latest outbreak as they did with the earlier outbreak from the religious community.
A contact tracing app based on the Google/Apple APIs using bluetooth may be even more effective if supported by rapid testing.
I don't see why this can't be used to prevent both another wave of >50,000 deaths and the lockdown measures we used to restrict fatalities to that level.
That's exactly the point I'm trying to make. If you have systems in place, you can try things without risking having to go back into full lockdown if they go seriously wrong. We seem to be nowhere near that yet.
I was reasonably reassured by reading the government plan. But the implementation - with the inevitable delay to the contact tracing app, testing not configured to fit the plan (it needs to be local and fast), etc, does not inspire confidence.
It also looks like the government will push ahead anyway, before delayed elements are ready. I see no evidence that lessons are being learned from previous mistakes.
It gives me no pleasure to say this stuff. I'd be delighted if they had all the testing and systems up and running; it's my business and future on the line, too. Frustrating.
These measures cost around £14bn per month by my calculations, that's in additional spend and lost tax revenue. That figure should get lower as more sectors go back to work but it's still very expensive. I think October is too long as well, it lets companies off the hook in trying to relaunch their businesses.
If 23% of the employed workforce is furloughed, then 77% are either working or have been made redundant.
The virus will either mutate out (Likely to something less harmful) or we'll find a vaccine if it doesn't. We won't live this way forever but we might for a couple of years.
I don't think the media or the public fully appreciate that the above is the most likely best case scenario. I think most people think if they just hide away for another month, then things will be safe again. I am not sure how useful the hyping up of the Oxford vaccine is, in relation to getting people back out of their homes.
We have become so accustomed to our every day lives being incredibly safe. Lots of H&S rules and regs at work, violent crime against random members of the public is by historic standards very low, etc.
The new reality is that every day there will be an increased element of risk. Now for most under 40s that risk is tiny, but the government can't honestly with hand on heart say we can make this 100% safe in the way you can basically can when it comes to best practice when operating a piece of machinery in a prescribed way.
People have been conditioned to governments saying they can, and on the odd occasion there is a failure, it is normally because a flaw in the rules which can be fixed or not obeying them.
The government can't really say it, but people have to go out again but it will be riskier and there is only a limited amount anybody can do.
Expecting life to be 100% safe is ridiculous.
It is, but that is the mindset of most people. Go on Facebook and see parents reaction to the thought of sending the rugrats back to school. They are shit scared for the tiny tots, when the science says they are at near zero risk.
Hence Whitty was ramming home the message last night that the virus is only very dangerous for a minority.
Expect to see this message repeated over the next week.
The tide of opinion is already turning from Sunday - soon everyone will be adapting to the next phase.
Biggest push to restart school will be kids - mine would go back tomorrow - and I'd let them - hellish to keep them in solitary confinement.
I don't think there is enough consideration being given to the potentially disastrous impact for some kids of having their education disrupted. Some, in supportive middle-class homes with access to laptops etc - will be OK. Many others will simply never properly get back into the routine. Life prospects severely compromised.
Very easy for some politicians to go for a "safety first" approach and lock down everything and then criticise others for introducing measures which relax the lockdown (which, inevitably, leads to the potential for grey areas, compared to the black and white of "Stay at Home").
While I initially thought Sturgeon was behaving responsibly, unfortunately she is now being opportunistic in being so critical. Easy for her just to sit up here and do nothing and let someone else pioneer the moves needed to get the country on the road again.
I made this point yesterday. Scottish kids going back to school in August will have been out of education for 5 months. For many, whose engagement levels were tenuous at best, that will be fatal to their further education. I would like to see kids get a few weeks before the summer break. Even if they don't learn much they will get the social interaction, the routine of schooling, the discipline of sitting in class for 40 minutes at a time. Without that I fear that many will suffer permanent damage. And the more disadvantaged their background the bigger the problem.
The SNP record on education has been truly catastrophic across the board. Given that Sturgeon and Swinney are pretty smart operators I really can't understand how they have messed it up so much. I think this is why it is very unlikely they will seek to delay next year's election. If it is rolled into 2022 public attention will likely re-focus on their record. Much better to fight an election on the back of coronavirus and Sturgeon's much improved personal ratings.
A disgrace how the SNP have not been previously challenged on this by the media and opposition parties.
Since Jackson has made an official complaint against the BBC regarding this dereliction of duty, perhaps he should consider similar ones against the Mail, Express, Sun, Herald, Scotsman, STV etc, and indeed the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party?
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
Unless it's an Albanian cab driver saying it it's meaningless.
We're all Albanian cab drivers now!
No. We are are all SeanT. We were all in the back of the Albanian's cab the other day.
Must be bigger than The Balcony or The Blind Beggar.
I had that Daniel Kawcyzinski in the back of my Albanian cab the other day.
These measures cost around £14bn per month by my calculations, that's in additional spend and lost tax revenue. That figure should get lower as more sectors go back to work but it's still very expensive. I think October is too long as well, it lets companies off the hook in trying to relaunch their businesses.
Many businesses aren't allowed to! Hook or no hook!
We are dealing with a once in a hundred year pandemic.
The Government managed to persuade people to accept the largest reduction in freedoms in the history of the country and the people have 99.9999% complied with it.
They have instigated an astonishing and generousFurlough Scheme to keep peoples livelihood's going, probably the most generous in the world.
The NHS has dealt comfortably with the pandemic.(No one gave it a chance in ealry March)
They have provided detailed advice and guidance throughout the lockdown. It was easily accessible and clearly written.
Their major error has been the carehome issue, they got carried away with discharging people from hospital when they should have been isolated.
Now, they are making a tiny change to the lockdown to give people a tiny bit more freedom and have provided a plan on the way forward and people are claiming they don't understand what seems simple to me. In terms of returning to work for those on Furlough I have just had an email from a marble supplier telling me that following Boris's chat they are re-opening tomorrow. They have said they have spent the last six weeks changing their factory and putting into place the following procedures.
All employees have a temperature check upon arrival each morning. Strict 2 metre distancing on the factory floor and at workstations Staggered breaks Hand sanitiser stations Face masks to be worn at all times Visitors to the factory/showroom are strictly by pre appointment only
I wonder how they managed to do this seeing as the only Government advice is so muddled and confusing.
But this is politics. Governments get punished for presiding over tough times. Gordon Brown brought the developed world together after the GFC and was instrumental in mitigating the damage. Fat lot of good it did him.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
For some people going to the bank is a social activity, an opportunity to chat to people.
That is my single biggest beef with current government guidance - it says absolutely nothing about what plans they have in place to control the resurgence of the virus as lockdown is eased.
The traffic light thing is fatuous.
So 67% of parents do plan to send their children back to school then
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
I thought everybody on here had a personal banker? No? They let anybody post on here these days.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
For some people going to the bank is a social activity, an opportunity to chat to people.
My wife was like that - finally gave in to online banking, just before this started.
When I insisted she pay in a cheque by post, it was as if I was destroying something.
These measures cost around £14bn per month by my calculations, that's in additional spend and lost tax revenue. That figure should get lower as more sectors go back to work but it's still very expensive. I think October is too long as well, it lets companies off the hook in trying to relaunch their businesses.
I disagree. Sunak appears to have left himself considerable wiggle room to modify the scheme going ahead. Plenty of time to debate the details over the next couple of months; in the meantime, it's keeping a lot of businesses afloat. Added to that, if the rest of the administration get their act together, there ought be much more accurate information available on which to formulate policy in even a month's time.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
I thought everybody on here had a personal banker? No? They let anybody post on here these days.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
For some people going to the bank is a social activity, an opportunity to chat to people.
These measures cost around £14bn per month by my calculations, that's in additional spend and lost tax revenue. That figure should get lower as more sectors go back to work but it's still very expensive. I think October is too long as well, it lets companies off the hook in trying to relaunch their businesses.
If 23% of the employed workforce is furloughed, then 77% are either working or have been made redundant.
Do we have a number for redundancies?
Remember lots of people who work for Local Authorities and in Schools are not on Furlough but are not working.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
We are dealing with a once in a hundred year pandemic.
The Government managed to persuade people to accept the largest reduction in freedoms in the history of the country and the people have 99.9999% complied with it.
They have instigated an astonishing and generousFurlough Scheme to keep peoples livelihood's going, probably the most generous in the world.
The NHS has dealt comfortably with the pandemic.(No one gave it a chance in ealry March)
They have provided detailed advice and guidance throughout the lockdown. It was easily accessible and clearly written.
Their major error has been the carehome issue, they got carried away with discharging people from hospital when they should have been isolated.
Now, they are making a tiny change to the lockdown to give people a tiny bit more freedom and have provided a plan on the way forward and people are claiming they don't understand what seems simple to me. In terms of returning to work for those on Furlough I have just had an email from a marble supplier telling me that following Boris's chat they are re-opening tomorrow. They have said they have spent the last six weeks changing their factory and putting into place the following procedures.
All employees have a temperature check upon arrival each morning. Strict 2 metre distancing on the factory floor and at workstations Staggered breaks Hand sanitiser stations Face masks to be worn at all times Visitors to the factory/showroom are strictly by pre appointment only
I wonder how they managed to do this seeing as the only Government advice is so muddled and confusing.
But this is politics. Governments get punished for presiding over tough times. Gordon Brown brought the developed world together after the GFC and was instrumental in mitigating the damage. Fat lot of good it did him.
You know full well that's not what Brown is blamed for. Gordon Brown screwed up the economy before the crash and paid the price when the GFC exposed what he had already done.
If he hadn't been so hubristic as to think he had "eliminated boom and bust" he wouldn't have left the nation so exposed to see the deficit blow up because it was already high pre-crash.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
I thought everybody on here had a personal banker? No? They let anybody post on here these days.
"They are also being asked to wait for others to get off before boarding and to be prepared to queue or use a different entrance or exit at stations."
Have they ever been on the Tube? That's going to last all of about 5s.
They will only be allowed on platforms on small groups
This is London and the tube, people are pre-programmed to rush the door as soon as it opens.
I always wait for passengers to get off first before getting on, when so many get off at once you cannot really force your way on first anyway unless the carriage is half empty
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
Unless it's an Albanian cab driver saying it it's meaningless.
We're all Albanian cab drivers now!
No. We are are all SeanT. We were all in the back of the Albanian's cab the other day.
Must be bigger than The Balcony or The Blind Beggar.
I had that Daniel Kawcyzinski in the back of my Albanian cab the other day.
We really should have used the balcony at the former Iranian Embassy and the Blind Beggar for the Olympics.
Timber........there can't be many more magic money trees left in the forest.
The BoE clerk just had to add an extra zero to a cell in the Excel spreadsheet... no bother.
Beginning to get seriously f*cked off that employees who have the brute bad luck to be unable to work because of the virus get 80% of salary for months, but someone falling into disability through brute bad luck has to last years on £74 - £113 a week.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
I take it you've never stepped into a bank then?
I think the last time I was in a branch was to start a currency account - which my bank didn't do online. That would be 6 years ago.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Going to have to make some hard decisions in a couple of months' time, though.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Your partisanship is truly impressive. Labour were at least the party of Tax & Spend whereas your lot just seem to be the party of "Spend"
Do any of you even remember what Maggie said about spending other people's money?
You oppose the current policies of business support and wage subsidies? Virtually every other country is doing the same thing, it's not a left/right issue.
Timber........there can't be many more magic money trees left in the forest.
The BoE clerk just had to add an extra zero to a cell in the Excel spreadsheet... no bother.
Beginning to get seriously f*cked off that employees who have the brute bad luck to be unable to work because of the virus get 80% of salary for months, but someone falling into disability through brute bad luck has to last years on £74 - £113 a week.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
For some people going to the bank is a social activity, an opportunity to chat to people.
My wife was like that - finally gave in to online banking, just before this started.
When I insisted she pay in a cheque by post, it was as if I was destroying something.
Try telling her she can use her smartphone to do it...
Timber........there can't be many more magic money trees left in the forest.
The BoE clerk just had to add an extra zero to a cell in the Excel spreadsheet... no bother.
Beginning to get seriously f*cked off that employees who have the brute bad luck to be unable to work because of the virus get 80% of salary for months, but someone falling into disability through brute bad luck has to last years on £74 - £113 a week.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
Compassionate One-Nation Conservatism in operation.
They'll still think we eat babies, even after this.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
For some people going to the bank is a social activity, an opportunity to chat to people.
Social Activities of such nature are not allowed during a pandemic
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
The one downside is that it does tend to reduce the pressure on the rest of government for another couple of months. That is not good.
The NHS has dealt comfortably with the pandemic.(No one gave it a chance in ealry March)
Only by exporting elderly patients to death camps "care homes" and cancelling most of their non-covid workload, which in turn will lead to more deaths.
The great unwashed of Bridgend are furious at Drakeford for keeping us in lockdown. Drakeford's 'indecision' does not compare well to Boris' 'deciseveness' 'Boris gets things done' was the clarion call.
So PB Tories are at one with the proles.
The morons are queuing for a bank.
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
Listening to Nicola Sturgeon I have a feeling that the virus is much more prevelant in Scotland than it is in many parts of England. Where I am in Hampshire hospitals here are returning to normal. Operating theatres have opened, normal operations are being carried out, there are hardly any Covid-19 admissions, yet in Scotland yesterday there was a 165 increase in the number in Hospital with suspected Covid-19
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
Being Chancellor is easy when you're dishing out the money. Let's see how he does if he ever starts making painful decisions.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
The one downside is that it does tend to reduce the pressure on the rest of government for another couple of months. That is not good.
I have to say I have been quite confused by the choice of the members of the cabinet to articulate the message / face the press. Raab is bloody useless time and time again, but they send him out yesterday for one of the most important round of interviews.
Protect the NHS. And there is the issue, EVERYTHING was about stopping the NHS acute care being overwhelmed and by doing so reducing the body count. That appears to have left holes elsewhere in response, in how care homes were addressed.
The decision was partially science but it was also partially political, because the NHS has sainted status. The NHS is a massive institution with a large budget as any sizeable public health service will be but the idea that it is all heroes is balls. There are bound to have been poor decisions there, just as the politicians, the white lab coats and the civil servants in Public Health made mistakes.
Certainly questions about how this strategy seemed to to overwhelmingly focus on acute care in what appears to have been the exclusion of other areas are fair. In many ways the provision of massive additional capacity has been an achievement but I'd wonder where it, and indeed testing would be, if it wasn't for military logisticians and 25 year old squaddies.
Strangely I haven't seen figures for deaths of military personnel working on all this. I hear about transport drivers, i hear about NHS staff and so on. Why is that? Have none died or does it just not make a good story.
A poster noted on last last thread that the government is in a no win position on easing restrictions when it comes to people going back to work. They are right, I get the distinct impression that a lot of people are enjoying the time off, some on full salaries. If we are going to see significant resistance the support via employee furlough needs to be cut sooner and people need to understand their jobs involve being paid to work. The public sector personnel who are on downtime is going to have to be dealt with forcefully as well if they start putting up the walls.
We can do what we can but it is not just business or government. Individuals need to take responsibility for managing risk themselves but we cannot live without risk. We can mock or condemn other countries for how they approach this but they have gone for a different trade off. At some point its going to be this simple, go to work or lose your job. I work in a organisation that has been affected, there is a clear downturn of revenues that will continue, we have furloughed the minimum and in stages but we have also identified those who appear to taking the rise with what can be best described as somewhat lower productivity. How do you think we will ultimately deal with such people?
I find the idea that people have been putting off seeking medical help genuinely baffling. I have recently needed medical help, and as it turned out an early diagnosis was very important. The Corona situation played no role in my decision to seek medical help or not. Although I am in Germany, I don't thiink I would have done anything differently had I been in the UK and I am horrified by the idea that I would delay getting a diagnosis because of not wanting to get in the way of medical staff.
GP surgeries have closed here so it's hard to get seen.
Really! Wow. So I would have had to call a GP out to my house, had I been in the UK?
No house calls. You would have had to have been very assertive and/or charming on the phone and persuaded the surgery to open up just for you - with a Dr coming in specially.
Credit where it's due, Sunak has done the right thing today. I've been much more impressed with him than with any of his colleagues, certainly including his boss. He will probably be the only member of the Cabinet to emerge from the current situation with his reputation enhanced. If he replaced Johnson and Cummings were given his marching orders I'd be a lot more ready to trust the government would do the right thing.
Surge of plastic surgeries cuts into medical supplies in virus-hit Japan https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/12/national/plastic-surgery-coronavirus/ ...While the coronavirus pandemic has led to school closures and people working from home, some see this as a good time to try something they have always wanted to — plastic surgery.
This has worried many medical professionals who have asked people to “refrain from nonessential treatments” to prevent further spread of the virus, as the number of cosmetic surgery applications in Japan has recently increased.
Demand shows no sign of weakening, largely due to the prevalent use of face masks to prevent infection but which can be also used to hide potential post-surgery swelling.
“There are many people who want eye surgery or face lifts,” said a female nurse, 23, who works at a major clinic. “Some parents and children come together to get double eyelid surgeries.”
The clinic tends to receive more reservations from the end of January, when universities take a two-month break at the end of the academic year, but has seen more bookings than usual this year, she said....
I have to say I have been quite confused by the choice of the members of the cabinet to articulate the message / face the press. Raab is bloody useless time and time again, but they send him out yesterday for one of the most important round of interviews.
BoZo can't afford anyone to appear more competent than him.
Genuine good news about a Furlough extension to October - another Huge step.
Question - the 60% rumour. He says "employers will share the cost to 80%. Does that mean the government will provide only 60%? If so how will the government force employers to pay the other 20%? Cue news stories of "if I pay the furlough we go bust"
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
Being Chancellor is easy when you're dishing out the money. Let's see how he does if he ever starts making painful decisions.
Indeed, I think when shops are allowed to reopen under covid safe measures he's going to have to cut the scheme to those sectors otherwise people will be happy to sit at home and companies won't be pressured into reopening fully.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
Being Chancellor is easy when you're dishing out the money. Let's see how he does if he ever starts making painful decisions.
He knows these eye-watering amount have to be repaid. He knows this is going to hamper the economy for many years. These ARE painful decisions he's making.
Genuine good news about a Furlough extension to October - another Huge step.
Question - the 60% rumour. He says "employers will share the cost to 80%. Does that mean the government will provide only 60%? If so how will the government force employers to pay the other 20%? Cue news stories of "if I pay the furlough we go bust"
Is there any element of truth to that rumor? It might instead be that for companies where a worker can work part time the government would only pay the remainder.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
Being Chancellor is easy when you're dishing out the money. Let's see how he does if he ever starts making painful decisions.
Yes, that's a fair point. But in addition to the scheme being decent, and he / his department appears to formulate it with some competence, his delivery at the press conferences have had the right tone, clear and with a human touch.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
Being Chancellor is easy when you're dishing out the money. Let's see how he does if he ever starts making painful decisions.
Yep - that is when it gets interesting. And the longer it goes on, the closer it gets to an election and the harder it will be to make hard decisions. But for now that is very much a secondary issue. Sunak has done what he had to do.
He was merely agreeing with @MaxPB. That a way to get people back to work would be to cut the furlough scheme.
The incentive to get people back to work is that employers will be wanting to make money again. Paying 80-100% of their staff costs means that, at best, they are haemorrhaging money at a reduced rate.
The people I know on furlough, think that it is redundancy with a stretched notice period.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Your partisanship is truly impressive. Labour were at least the party of Tax & Spend whereas your lot just seem to be the party of "Spend"
Do any of you even remember what Maggie said about spending other people's money?
You oppose the current policies of business support and wage subsidies? Virtually every other country is doing the same thing, it's not a left/right issue.
No - I oppose the prolonging of it. There should be an active push to get as much of the economy moving as possible and as soon as possible. Instead there seems to be an idea that things can continue to slide without consequence.
P&O made 1,100 redundant recently. They will not be an isolated event. Business infrastructure needs to be used and maintained.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
Being Chancellor is easy when you're dishing out the money. Let's see how he does if he ever starts making painful decisions.
He knows these eye-watering amount have to be repaid. He knows this is going to hamper the economy for many years. These ARE painful decisions he's making.
No, the difficult decisions will come when he needs to put 2p on the basic rate and bring the 45p rate down to £70k to pay for all of this and the generally increased spending needed in a post virus economy.
The Times obtained information from Google and two other private companies that use location data from apps on millions of cell phones to determine whether people are socially isolating.
Each company’s data works differently. But it all showed the same thing: In every county in the state, significant decreases in movement began before shutdown orders were issued.
Miami-Dade has had the largest outbreak in Florida. But in the five days preceding the county’s March 26 stay-at-home order, more than half the phones tracked by one of the firms never traveled more than a mile. That represented a drop of more than 80 percent compared to data the firm, Descartes Labs, collected from mid-February to early March.
Data from another company, Unacast, showed that the average distance traveled in the county had been cut nearly in half. Visits to businesses Unacast classified as nonessential, based on guidelines issued by various state governments, dropped at least 65 percent...
We are dealing with a once in a hundred year pandemic.
The Government managed to persuade people to accept the largest reduction in freedoms in the history of the country and the people have 99.9999% complied with it.
They have instigated an astonishing and generousFurlough Scheme to keep peoples livelihood's going, probably the most generous in the world.
The NHS has dealt comfortably with the pandemic.(No one gave it a chance in ealry March)
They have provided detailed advice and guidance throughout the lockdown. It was easily accessible and clearly written.
Their major error has been the carehome issue, they got carried away with discharging people from hospital when they should have been isolated.
Now, they are making a tiny change to the lockdown to give people a tiny bit more freedom and have provided a plan on the way forward and people are claiming they don't understand what seems simple to me. In terms of returning to work for those on Furlough I have just had an email from a marble supplier telling me that following Boris's chat they are re-opening tomorrow. They have said they have spent the last six weeks changing their factory and putting into place the following procedures.
All employees have a temperature check upon arrival each morning. Strict 2 metre distancing on the factory floor and at workstations Staggered breaks Hand sanitiser stations Face masks to be worn at all times Visitors to the factory/showroom are strictly by pre appointment only
I wonder how they managed to do this seeing as the only Government advice is so muddled and confusing.
But this is politics. Governments get punished for presiding over tough times. Gordon Brown brought the developed world together after the GFC and was instrumental in mitigating the damage. Fat lot of good it did him.
You know full well that's not what Brown is blamed for. Gordon Brown screwed up the economy before the crash and paid the price when the GFC exposed what he had already done.
If he hadn't been so hubristic as to think he had "eliminated boom and bust" he wouldn't have left the nation so exposed to see the deficit blow up because it was already high pre-crash.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Your partisanship is truly impressive. Labour were at least the party of Tax & Spend whereas your lot just seem to be the party of "Spend"
Do any of you even remember what Maggie said about spending other people's money?
You oppose the current policies of business support and wage subsidies? Virtually every other country is doing the same thing, it's not a left/right issue.
No - I oppose the prolonging of it. There should be an active push to get as much of the economy moving as possible and as soon as possible. Instead there seems to be an idea that things can continue to slide without consequence.
P&O made 1,100 redundant recently. They will not be an isolated event. Business infrastructure needs to be used and maintained.
Interesting, I wouldn't have put you on the so-called hawkish side of things in this. Makes sense to have a taper where support is gradually withdrawn rather than a sudden change.
I find the idea that people have been putting off seeking medical help genuinely baffling. I have recently needed medical help, and as it turned out an early diagnosis was very important. The Corona situation played no role in my decision to seek medical help or not. Although I am in Germany, I don't thiink I would have done anything differently had I been in the UK and I am horrified by the idea that I would delay getting a diagnosis because of not wanting to get in the way of medical staff.
GP surgeries have closed here so it's hard to get seen.
Really! Wow. So I would have had to call a GP out to my house, had I been in the UK?
No house calls. You would have had to have been very assertive and/or charming on the phone and persuaded the surgery to open up just for you - with a Dr coming in specially.
My doctor was working from the surgery - with most of the staff WFH. The receptionists were at home, working on diverted phones.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
The one downside is that it does tend to reduce the pressure on the rest of government for another couple of months. That is not good.
I have to say I have been quite confused by the choice of the members of the cabinet ...
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
We're witnessing a pragmatist in the Treasury who also appears to be competent. In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Mr Yorkshire Tea is both on top of his brief, but also has a human way about him, compared to say Gove, who is on top of his brief, but at best has the tone of a teacher scolding children.
Being Chancellor is easy when you're dishing out the money. Let's see how he does if he ever starts making painful decisions.
He knows these eye-watering amount have to be repaid. He knows this is going to hamper the economy for many years. These ARE painful decisions he's making.
No, the difficult decisions will come when he needs to put 2p on the basic rate and bring the 45p rate down to £70k to pay for all of this and the generally increased spending needed in a post virus economy.
All that is factored in to taking these decisions now.
The employees will come off furlough as their employers go bust due to cash flow issues.
Listening to the HOC support is unanimous from across the house and even Caroline Lucas
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Getting people off this is going to be like lifting the lockdown, Going to be very difficult and there will be plenty of losers. There isn't an easy answer.
We are witnessing a conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor moving into the centre left space left by labour's surrender to Corbynism and reminiscent of the SNP in Scotland when they effectively made labour redundant
Strange days indeed
No we're not.
I respectfully disagree and it is the reason I support Boris and HMG
We are dealing with a once in a hundred year pandemic.
The Government managed to persuade people to accept the largest reduction in freedoms in the history of the country and the people have 99.9999% complied with it.
They have instigated an astonishing and generousFurlough Scheme to keep peoples livelihood's going, probably the most generous in the world.
The NHS has dealt comfortably with the pandemic.(No one gave it a chance in ealry March)
They have provided detailed advice and guidance throughout the lockdown. It was easily accessible and clearly written.
Their major error has been the carehome issue, they got carried away with discharging people from hospital when they should have been isolated.
Now, they are making a tiny change to the lockdown to give people a tiny bit more freedom and have provided a plan on the way forward and people are claiming they don't understand what seems simple to me. In terms of returning to work for those on Furlough I have just had an email from a marble supplier telling me that following Boris's chat they are re-opening tomorrow. They have said they have spent the last six weeks changing their factory and putting into place the following procedures.
All employees have a temperature check upon arrival each morning. Strict 2 metre distancing on the factory floor and at workstations Staggered breaks Hand sanitiser stations Face masks to be worn at all times Visitors to the factory/showroom are strictly by pre appointment only
I wonder how they managed to do this seeing as the only Government advice is so muddled and confusing.
But this is politics. Governments get punished for presiding over tough times. Gordon Brown brought the developed world together after the GFC and was instrumental in mitigating the damage. Fat lot of good it did him.
You know full well that's not what Brown is blamed for. Gordon Brown screwed up the economy before the crash and paid the price when the GFC exposed what he had already done.
If he hadn't been so hubristic as to think he had "eliminated boom and bust" he wouldn't have left the nation so exposed to see the deficit blow up because it was already high pre-crash.
No it wasn't. HTH.
I remember when Ed Balls made that comment about eliminating boom and bust.
The traders I knew, bailed out of the market on their personal accounts that day...
Comments
It also looks like the government will push ahead anyway, before delayed elements are ready. I see no evidence that lessons are being learned from previous mistakes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52630367
Have they ever been on the Tube? That's going to last all of about 5s.
We are dealing with a once in a hundred year pandemic.
The Government managed to persuade people to accept the largest reduction in freedoms in the history of the country and the people have 99.9999% complied with it.
They have instigated an astonishing and generousFurlough Scheme to keep peoples livelihood's going, probably the most generous in the world.
The NHS has dealt comfortably with the pandemic.(No one gave it a chance in ealry March)
They have provided detailed advice and guidance throughout the lockdown. It was easily accessible and clearly written.
Their major error has been the carehome issue, they got carried away with discharging people from hospital when they should have been isolated.
Now, they are making a tiny change to the lockdown to give people a tiny bit more freedom and have provided a plan on the way forward and people are claiming they don't understand what seems simple to me.
In terms of returning to work for those on Furlough I have just had an email from a marble supplier telling me that following Boris's chat they are re-opening tomorrow. They have said they have spent the last six weeks changing their factory and putting into place the following procedures.
All employees have a temperature check upon
arrival each morning.
Strict 2 metre distancing on the factory floor
and at workstations
Staggered breaks
Hand sanitiser stations
Face masks to be worn at all times
Visitors to the factory/showroom are strictly
by pre appointment only
I wonder how they managed to do this seeing as the only Government advice is so muddled and confusing.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/12/stacey-abrams-endorses-joe-biden-251081
Must be bigger than The Balcony or The Blind Beggar.
It applies across the UK and is the best scheme in the world
Frustrating.
If 23% of the employed workforce is furloughed, then 77% are either working or have been made redundant.
Do we have a number for redundancies?
Since Jackson has made an official complaint against the BBC regarding this dereliction of duty, perhaps he should consider similar ones against the Mail, Express, Sun, Herald, Scotsman, STV etc, and indeed the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party?
Why?
Do they not have phones, computers or a functioning brain?
I see they think Boris is decisive so its a no on the functioning brain front.
When I insisted she pay in a cheque by post, it was as if I was destroying something.
Plenty of time to debate the details over the next couple of months; in the meantime, it's keeping a lot of businesses afloat. Added to that, if the rest of the administration get their act together, there ought be much more accurate information available on which to formulate policy in even a month's time.
Strange days indeed
If he hadn't been so hubristic as to think he had "eliminated boom and bust" he wouldn't have left the nation so exposed to see the deficit blow up because it was already high pre-crash.
Full time carers even worse off.
Your partisanship is truly impressive. Labour were at least the party of Tax & Spend whereas your lot just seem to be the party of "Spend"
Do any of you even remember what Maggie said about spending other people's money?
In sharp contrast with much of the rest of the cabinet.
Going to have to make some hard decisions in a couple of months' time, though.
They'll still think we eat babies, even after this.
That is not good.
death camps"care homes" and cancelling most of their non-covid workload, which in turn will lead to more deaths.I have a partially functioning brain!
Awaits confirmation of the contrary!
The decision was partially science but it was also partially political, because the NHS has sainted status. The NHS is a massive institution with a large budget as any sizeable public health service will be but the idea that it is all heroes is balls. There are bound to have been poor decisions there, just as the politicians, the white lab coats and the civil servants in Public Health made mistakes.
Certainly questions about how this strategy seemed to to overwhelmingly focus on acute care in what appears to have been the exclusion of other areas are fair. In many ways the provision of massive additional capacity has been an achievement but I'd wonder where it, and indeed testing would be, if it wasn't for military logisticians and 25 year old squaddies.
Strangely I haven't seen figures for deaths of military personnel working on all this. I hear about transport drivers, i hear about NHS staff and so on. Why is that? Have none died or does it just not make a good story.
A poster noted on last last thread that the government is in a no win position on easing restrictions when it comes to people going back to work. They are right, I get the distinct impression that a lot of people are enjoying the time off, some on full salaries. If we are going to see significant resistance the support via employee furlough needs to be cut sooner and people need to understand their jobs involve being paid to work. The public sector personnel who are on downtime is going to have to be dealt with forcefully as well if they start putting up the walls.
We can do what we can but it is not just business or government. Individuals need to take responsibility for managing risk themselves but we cannot live without risk. We can mock or condemn other countries for how they approach this but they have gone for a different trade off. At some point its going to be this simple, go to work or lose your job. I work in a organisation that has been affected, there is a clear downturn of revenues that will continue, we have furloughed the minimum and in stages but we have also identified those who appear to taking the rise with what can be best described as somewhat lower productivity. How do you think we will ultimately deal with such people?
Surge of plastic surgeries cuts into medical supplies in virus-hit Japan
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/12/national/plastic-surgery-coronavirus/
...While the coronavirus pandemic has led to school closures and people working from home, some see this as a good time to try something they have always wanted to — plastic surgery.
This has worried many medical professionals who have asked people to “refrain from nonessential treatments” to prevent further spread of the virus, as the number of cosmetic surgery applications in Japan has recently increased.
Demand shows no sign of weakening, largely due to the prevalent use of face masks to prevent infection but which can be also used to hide potential post-surgery swelling.
“There are many people who want eye surgery or face lifts,” said a female nurse, 23, who works at a major clinic. “Some parents and children come together to get double eyelid surgeries.”
The clinic tends to receive more reservations from the end of January, when universities take a two-month break at the end of the academic year, but has seen more bookings than usual this year, she said....
Question - the 60% rumour. He says "employers will share the cost to 80%. Does that mean the government will provide only 60%? If so how will the government force employers to pay the other 20%? Cue news stories of "if I pay the furlough we go bust"
The people I know on furlough, think that it is redundancy with a stretched notice period.
?????
P&O made 1,100 redundant recently. They will not be an isolated event. Business infrastructure needs to be used and maintained.
She might have got her boots on earlier, but as to a wholly different approach? I doubt it...
How Florida slowed coronavirus: Everyone stayed home before they were told to
https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/05/10/how-florida-slowed-coronavirus-everyone-stayed-home-before-they-were-told-to/
...They severely cut back on going out in public before any government forced them to, according to a Times analysis of cell phone tracking data.
The Times obtained information from Google and two other private companies that use location data from apps on millions of cell phones to determine whether people are socially isolating.
Each company’s data works differently. But it all showed the same thing: In every county in the state, significant decreases in movement began before shutdown orders were issued.
Miami-Dade has had the largest outbreak in Florida. But in the five days preceding the county’s March 26 stay-at-home order, more than half the phones tracked by one of the firms never traveled more than a mile. That represented a drop of more than 80 percent compared to data the firm, Descartes Labs, collected from mid-February to early March.
Data from another company, Unacast, showed that the average distance traveled in the county had been cut nearly in half. Visits to businesses Unacast classified as nonessential, based on guidelines issued by various state governments, dropped at least 65 percent...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8311425/Labours-Anneliese-Dodds-says-REFUSE-send-son-Freddie-six-school.html
The traders I knew, bailed out of the market on their personal accounts that day...
The government that couldn't announce a piss up in a brewery without correcting the statement 3 days in a row is thinking months ahead...
That hilarious.