But for the greater good. Perhaps a test can be administered after a few days to see if they do have it?
Christ - wait until the lockdown snitch Stasis get a load of that- the curtains will be twitching and the hotline to the Covid Police buzzing.
"He's going to the shop after 6.34 days ! "
My prediction: the people who have been whining the loudest for the lockdown to be relaxed will also whine the loudest about the tracing and isolation operation that's necessary to relax it.
Tracking and tracing and ADVISING people to stay home is fine.
Putting them under house arrest is not.
I'm afraid Mr Cummings has just given us ample proof that you can't trust people to put the public good above their own - even when they wrote the bloody rules!
Yes - we cannot trust people to work for the glorious revolution - hence why we must spy on them and "re-educate" them in special camps if required.
Can you explain to me why it is wrong for the Scots to do that and right for the English to do that? I'd really like to know.
Find people, test them - if positive they stay in.
Scottish approach seems to be - have a different system because TOARIES - find people, cant test them because testing rates are so low - so lock everyone up.
Don't restart construction Don't open retail Don't open schools Don't open golf courses Don't open flipping garden centres.
It's like January in Wuhan - but without the exotic cuisine.
Actually from Friday golf courses, garden centres and construction all re-open albeit construction is phased with it fully re-opening in phase 2 (hopefully in 3 weeks time). Schools are due to start the summer holidays in 4 weeks and are going to go back a week earlier in the Autumn so they have decided not to re-open just now.
As for retail I am totally with you. We could be another 6 weeks before we see non-essential large retailers open having been put into phase 3 of the Scottish government's plan. In many ways they have an easier path to keep social distancing than smaller retailers who hopefully get to re-open in 3 weeks time ie on the Friday after shops open in England.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
" I get that, but everything about the response is pushing us closer to the rotting cadaver that is American political debate. Partisans frightened to live in certain areas because they have become so tribal; institutions such as the civil service and Church being dragged into politics and so wrecking the power of social institutions; journalists losing all sense of proportion or pretence at even-handedness as the media heads towards hyper-partisanship."
The great irony of course is that few people have done more to nurture a US-style culture war in the UK than Cummings with the crass populism of Vote Leave. The culture war is central to US right wing politics because it is the means of winning majority support for policies benefiting a wealthy elite. It was only a matter of time before it was imported to the UK, especially since a fair amount of US billionaire money is involved here too. Personally I didn't like the sight of him being jeered by his neighbours and certainly hope he comes to no physical harm, but I understand and indeed share their rage.
Not to mention Farage and Banks kissing Trump's arse every chance they got, although I suspect they are frantically trying to pretend that never happened now.
Interesting piece in the Times this morning about the test and trace capability in Germany, apologies if already discussed. Essentially consists of proven processes, low technology, managed by teams of decentralised, Public Health professionals who have worked together supplemented by public sector staff on secondment. As opposed to trying to invent something bespoke, unproven, using public sector IT procurement to stitch together inexperienced developers with centrally decreed requirements, manned by call centre staff answering anonymous adverts who arrive for training in advance if process or system. But at least it will be world class.
A Scottish Green MSP has lodged a complaint with Durham Police in England?
Wow, that's genuine and locally driven and not a partisan politician witch hunt at all (!)
I think it's a mistake. The last thing they want is for the police to say "not worth the hassle."
Yes - Labour have been much smarter - keeping the thing on a long slow simmer. When the Durham Constabulary replies "no further action" Cummings defenders will shout that from the rooftops. And the Guardian will put it on p19 bottom left (if at all).
Fighting like tats in a sack! Although that being so Ellwood is an urbane, rather agreeable rodent.
Number 10's contempt for democratic norms is shameless.
No yours is. The electorate returned the conservatives with a big majority, why should they behave like the media that clearly hasn't accepted that result want them to?
IF the electorate want Boris & co out that is their privilege.
The people upset the most now with Boris etc are the same losers who were upset when he won the election. Funny that.
That is clearly rubbish. The upset crosses party lines and you well know it. Denying it will not make that fact go away.
Irony alert! Person who spends his time 24/7 on a political blogging site refers to others as "losers". Take the beam out of thine own eye Mr Thompson. lol.
Do you have any hobbies? Discussing politics online is a hobby of mine. And we won, not lost.
I have just been talking to my neighbour who used to work in the Heath Service and is still very well connected there. She tells me that there are currently 13, repeat 13 Covid patients in Tayside, population roughly half a million. All of the doctors and nurses who were conscripted into a front line that barely even came are being returned to their normal duties on Monday.
There is indeed a scandal here and its got F all to do with Cummings. The local economy is being trashed, businesses are collapsing, jobs are being lost, the future tax base is being destroyed and for what? On Thursday we will be allowed to have contact with another household provided it is outside and social distancing is being maintained. Shops remain closed, hundreds of thousands of Scots are on furlough being paid by the government for doing nothing and debt is spiralling out of control.
A political class too pusillanimous to make a decision in case someone holds them responsible are doing absolutely untold damage to this country. Enough. End the lockdown now while there are still some jobs to go back to.
Fighting like tats in a sack! Although that being so Ellwood is an urbane, rather agreeable rodent.
Number 10's contempt for democratic norms is shameless.
No yours is. The electorate returned the conservatives with a big majority, why should they behave like the media that clearly hasn't accepted that result want them to?
IF the electorate want Boris & co out that is their privilege.
The people upset the most now with Boris etc are the same losers who were upset when he won the election. Funny that.
That is clearly rubbish. The upset crosses party lines and you well know it. Denying it will not make that fact go away.
Irony alert! Person who spends his time 24/7 on a political blogging site refers to others as "losers". Take the beam out of thine own eye Mr Thompson. lol.
Do you have any hobbies? Discussing politics online is a hobby of mine. And we won, not lost.
This letter published in The National - basically the SNP house newspaper - is just typical of the unctuous self-regarding anti-English sentiment that now openly permeates Scottish society after 12 years of SNP government. Don't think Southrons really understand the terms of trade up here.
I can't read the whole letter because I don't subscribe to the National. I assume that means you do which is...funny.
It seems to be about Neil Oliver who isn't afaicr English. I guess it's hardly going to be complimentary about someone who called the possibility of a second indy ref 'cancerous'.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
As a foreigner who's lived in London for more than 2 decades - and occasionally loves it - I'm now going to sound like I'm running it down.
The city is a problem. The over-packed Tube, the hordes of tourists, they're all going to cause a big second wave if one happens. You need it reopen it slowly and carefully. (i.e. We're a bunch of special snowflakes!)
This letter published in The National - basically the SNP house newspaper - is just typical of the unctuous self-regarding anti-English sentiment that now openly permeates Scottish society after 12 years of SNP government. Don't think Southrons really understand the terms of trade up here.
I can't read the whole letter because I don't subscribe to the National. I assume that means you do which is...funny.
It seems to be about Neil Oliver who isn't afaicr English. I guess it's hardly going to be complimentary about someone who called the possibility of a second indy ref 'cancerous'.
I'm English, and living in Scotland, don't subscribe to the National and am not a member of the SNP - Neil Oliver is a right pillock.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
Yes but we can bet on whether said overpromoted twerp will still have a job next week. Best prices are 4/9 yes; 5/2 no. I've backed Cummings both to stay and to go. My betting is pro having cake and pro eating it, as a wise man once said.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
Getting out of lockdown is simple. 1 Get case numbers down to manageably low. Lockdown is achieving this, but it takes time. Tough. 2 Have an effective test'n'track system. That's eminently doable, but the best way to get there is Keep It Simple. People, not apps- at least to start with. 3 Have lots of masks and handgel available. 4 Work out what to do with tricky situations. If lots of people meet indoors and sing loudly, they shouldn't. Which activities can't happen, and how does the community help people working in them?
It's simple but boring stuff. Less fun than "let's make an app" or "reopen shops in 3 weeks" but it's the way out.
I have just been talking to my neighbour who used to work in the Heath Service and is still very well connected there. She tells me that there are currently 13, repeat 13 Covid patients in Tayside, population roughly half a million. All of the doctors and nurses who were conscripted into a front line that barely even came are being returned to their normal duties on Monday.
There is indeed a scandal here and its got F all to do with Cummings. The local economy is being trashed, businesses are collapsing, jobs are being lost, the future tax base is being destroyed and for what? On Thursday we will be allowed to have contact with another household provided it is outside and social distancing is being maintained. Shops remain closed, hundreds of thousands of Scots are on furlough being paid by the government for doing nothing and debt is spiralling out of control.
A political class too pusillanimous to make a decision in case someone holds them responsible are doing absolutely untold damage to this country. Enough. End the lockdown now while there are still some jobs to go back to.
The numbers have dwindled to super low levels in some areas David. Yet this is barely being discussed because of the Cummings row. The row is perfect for Lockdown Extremists because it distracts from the numbers!
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
I'm not sure you can sling the accusation of dullness around since your every post appears to boil down to you wanting a pint. I can sympathise with the urge, but it's, well, not very interesting.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
Getting out of lockdown is simple. 1 Get case numbers down to manageably low. Lockdown is achieving this, but it takes time. Tough. 2 Have an effective test'n'track system. That's eminently doable, but the best way to get there is Keep It Simple. People, not apps- at least to start with. 3 Have lots of masks and handgel available. 4 Work out what to do with tricky situations. If lots of people meet indoors and sing loudly, they shouldn't. Which activities can't happen, and how does the community help people working in them?
It's simple but boring stuff. Less fun than "let's make an app" or "reopen shops in 3 weeks" but it's the way out.
The numbers are already at manageable lows. My three NHS mates tell me there is nothing to do on Covid wards. Get on with the rest.
Ban churches and singing indoors. Keep nightclubs shut. Open pubs with beer gardens.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
I'm not sure you can sling the accusation of dullness around since your every post appears to boil down to you wanting a pint. I can sympathise with the urge, but it's, well, not very interesting.
If it helps anyone dealing with the pubs being closed, abstemiously is one of my favourite words, because it has all the vowels in alphabetical order. I'm not saying this facetiously.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
I'm not sure you can sling the accusation of dullness around since your every post appears to boil down to you wanting a pint. I can sympathise with the urge, but it's, well, not very interesting.
It's boiled down to:
"I want to go to the pub, therefore lockdown must be wrong because...
- There's not a problem - Sweden's done it fine - Some professor says it's all over and the maximum death toll will be under seven thousand - I'm all right Jack, pull the ladder up (what do you mean, under 60s might be reasonably likely to be so ill, they'll be hospitalised - no, they almost always recover so they're practically immune) - Oh, I'm just bored, open the pubs"
This letter published in The National - basically the SNP house newspaper - is just typical of the unctuous self-regarding anti-English sentiment that now openly permeates Scottish society after 12 years of SNP government. Don't think Southrons really understand the terms of trade up here.
I can't read the whole letter because I don't subscribe to the National. I assume that means you do which is...funny.
It seems to be about Neil Oliver who isn't afaicr English. I guess it's hardly going to be complimentary about someone who called the possibility of a second indy ref 'cancerous'.
It is indeed about Dr Oliver. The complaint is not about the English but about the letter-writer's perception that the NTS has too often picked from a highly specific sector of society - often highly Anglicised upper middle classes, disproportionately English-born. It's not that they are English per se, but the worry that the country's culture is being run from overseas, so to speak.
That is, however, a letter in the letter column, so not necessarily what he editor thinks. And it's not so different in its spirit from the commentator on PB (a Tory, I think) who praised Mr Ross MP for not coming from the usual upper middle classes of Scottish Tory society (IIRC or am I getting confused)?
As Mr Burgessian should know full well, there are plenty of English-born and bred Scots in the SNP and in the independence movement. And I wouldn't call the National the SNP house journal. It's more like the Greens/RISE one at times, and the letter was in response to an article by Michael Fry - a right wing pro-indy commentator.
I have just been talking to my neighbour who used to work in the Heath Service and is still very well connected there. She tells me that there are currently 13, repeat 13 Covid patients in Tayside, population roughly half a million. All of the doctors and nurses who were conscripted into a front line that barely even came are being returned to their normal duties on Monday.
There is indeed a scandal here and its got F all to do with Cummings. The local economy is being trashed, businesses are collapsing, jobs are being lost, the future tax base is being destroyed and for what? On Thursday we will be allowed to have contact with another household provided it is outside and social distancing is being maintained. Shops remain closed, hundreds of thousands of Scots are on furlough being paid by the government for doing nothing and debt is spiralling out of control.
A political class too pusillanimous to make a decision in case someone holds them responsible are doing absolutely untold damage to this country. Enough. End the lockdown now while there are still some jobs to go back to.
Totally agree with this, but the reality is that Nicola seems very risk adverse (as many of the more passionate "get independance now" part of the SNP will attestify)
Therefore we are going to see the slowest re-opening of any part of Europe taking place here. We are probably on track to reach phase 3 of the Scottish government's plan in mid-July but parts of it will not be reached until August.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
I'm not sure you can sling the accusation of dullness around since your every post appears to boil down to you wanting a pint. I can sympathise with the urge, but it's, well, not very interesting.
Well maybe so, and in which case, I apologise, but there’s a big problem brewing here (excuse the pun), and we need to sort it out.
We can’t keep the catering sector shuttered, nor can we shutter holiday lets in the middle of summer.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
I'm not sure you can sling the accusation of dullness around since your every post appears to boil down to you wanting a pint. I can sympathise with the urge, but it's, well, not very interesting.
It's boiled down to:
"I want to go to the pub, therefore lockdown must be wrong because...
- There's not a problem - Sweden's done it fine - Some professor says it's all over and the maximum death toll will be under seven thousand - I'm all right Jack, pull the ladder up (what do you mean, under 60s might be reasonably likely to be so ill, they'll be hospitalised - no, they almost always recover so they're practically immune) - Oh, I'm just bored, open the pubs"
I have just been talking to my neighbour who used to work in the Heath Service and is still very well connected there. She tells me that there are currently 13, repeat 13 Covid patients in Tayside, population roughly half a million. All of the doctors and nurses who were conscripted into a front line that barely even came are being returned to their normal duties on Monday.
There is indeed a scandal here and its got F all to do with Cummings. The local economy is being trashed, businesses are collapsing, jobs are being lost, the future tax base is being destroyed and for what? On Thursday we will be allowed to have contact with another household provided it is outside and social distancing is being maintained. Shops remain closed, hundreds of thousands of Scots are on furlough being paid by the government for doing nothing and debt is spiralling out of control.
A political class too pusillanimous to make a decision in case someone holds them responsible are doing absolutely untold damage to this country. Enough. End the lockdown now while there are still some jobs to go back to.
Great post, in the majority of areas hospitals never even got close to struggling, and now they are sitting empty with thousands of closed wards throughout the nation. The clap on Thursdays is now for health workers who have never done so little at work in their lives. My wife worked yesterday and on her ward by 11.30am they had no patients. 9 trained staff and no patients!!
The problem with politicians making a decision is that the press will do everything possible to undermine that decision, as with Boris just gently reducing the lockdown three weeks ago. The press went mad, "experts" were bought in, polls showing the public did not support the loosening were done. If Boris had not reduced the lockdown then the press would have been equally as angry and would have interviewed different "experts" who would have said the opposite.
People have definitely got too used to Furlough, which while a great scheme, has introduced a false sense of security. People need to return to work now or they will not have a job to go back too.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
Getting out of lockdown is simple. 1 Get case numbers down to manageably low. Lockdown is achieving this, but it takes time. Tough. 2 Have an effective test'n'track system. That's eminently doable, but the best way to get there is Keep It Simple. People, not apps- at least to start with. 3 Have lots of masks and handgel available. 4 Work out what to do with tricky situations. If lots of people meet indoors and sing loudly, they shouldn't. Which activities can't happen, and how does the community help people working in them?
It's simple but boring stuff. Less fun than "let's make an app" or "reopen shops in 3 weeks" but it's the way out.
The numbers are already at manageable lows. My three NHS mates tell me there is nothing to do on Covid wards. Get on with the rest.
Ban churches and singing indoors. Keep nightclubs shut. Open pubs with beer gardens.
Get on with it.
Sort out test'n'track, and I'd agree with you. The WHO were saying that back in February, and it's depressing how slow the progress on tracking infrastructure has been.
Trouble has been the focus on gimmicks that haven't really worked over unglamorous stuff that will.
I have just been talking to my neighbour who used to work in the Heath Service and is still very well connected there. She tells me that there are currently 13, repeat 13 Covid patients in Tayside, population roughly half a million. All of the doctors and nurses who were conscripted into a front line that barely even came are being returned to their normal duties on Monday.
There is indeed a scandal here and its got F all to do with Cummings. The local economy is being trashed, businesses are collapsing, jobs are being lost, the future tax base is being destroyed and for what? On Thursday we will be allowed to have contact with another household provided it is outside and social distancing is being maintained. Shops remain closed, hundreds of thousands of Scots are on furlough being paid by the government for doing nothing and debt is spiralling out of control.
A political class too pusillanimous to make a decision in case someone holds them responsible are doing absolutely untold damage to this country. Enough. End the lockdown now while there are still some jobs to go back to.
Totally with this, but the reality is that Nicola seems very risk adverse (as many of the more passionate "get independance now" part of the SNP will attestify)
Therefore we are going to see the slowest re-opening of any part of Europe taking place here. We are probably on track to reach phase 3 of the Scottish government's plan in mid-July but parts of it will not be reached until August.
It just won't do. Boris is not much better. We need to get a grip on risk. Maybe one way of ending this interminable distraction would be the passing of a retrospective pardon for everyone breaching these frankly absurd lockdown regulations.
I have just been talking to my neighbour who used to work in the Heath Service and is still very well connected there. She tells me that there are currently 13, repeat 13 Covid patients in Tayside, population roughly half a million. All of the doctors and nurses who were conscripted into a front line that barely even came are being returned to their normal duties on Monday.
There is indeed a scandal here and its got F all to do with Cummings. The local economy is being trashed, businesses are collapsing, jobs are being lost, the future tax base is being destroyed and for what? On Thursday we will be allowed to have contact with another household provided it is outside and social distancing is being maintained. Shops remain closed, hundreds of thousands of Scots are on furlough being paid by the government for doing nothing and debt is spiralling out of control.
A political class too pusillanimous to make a decision in case someone holds them responsible are doing absolutely untold damage to this country. Enough. End the lockdown now while there are still some jobs to go back to.
Great post, in the majority of areas hospitals never even got close to struggling, and now they are sitting empty with thousands of closed wards throughout the nation. The clap on Thursdays is now for health workers who have never done so little at work in their lives. My wife worked yesterday and on her ward by 11.30am they had no patients. 9 trained staff and no patients!!
The problem with politicians making a decision is that the press will do everything possible to undermine that decision, as with Boris just gently reducing the lockdown three weeks ago. The press went mad, "experts" were bought in, polls showing the public did not support the loosening were done. If Boris had not reduced the lockdown then the press would have been equally as angry and would have interviewed different "experts" who would have said the opposite.
People have definitely got too used to Furlough, which while a great scheme, has introduced a false sense of security. People need to return to work now or they will not have a job to go back too.
If PB is anything to go by, people are massively overestimating the risks of Covid compared to other risks we all face in our daily lives. The media is almost certainly to blame for whipping up extreme fearfulness. It’s very hard to get people back to some sort of rationality and balance.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
Getting out of lockdown is simple. 1 Get case numbers down to manageably low. Lockdown is achieving this, but it takes time. Tough. 2 Have an effective test'n'track system. That's eminently doable, but the best way to get there is Keep It Simple. People, not apps- at least to start with. 3 Have lots of masks and handgel available. 4 Work out what to do with tricky situations. If lots of people meet indoors and sing loudly, they shouldn't. Which activities can't happen, and how does the community help people working in them?
It's simple but boring stuff. Less fun than "let's make an app" or "reopen shops in 3 weeks" but it's the way out.
The numbers are already at manageable lows. My three NHS mates tell me there is nothing to do on Covid wards. Get on with the rest.
Ban churches and singing indoors. Keep nightclubs shut. Open pubs with beer gardens.
Get on with it.
Sort out test'n'track, and I'd agree with you. The WHO were saying that back in February, and it's depressing how slow the progress on tracking infrastructure has been.
Trouble has been the focus on gimmicks that haven't really worked over unglamorous stuff that will.
Agree with that completely. The much vaunted app on June 1 is likely to be a bust I am told. Get Apple to build one and bloody well get moving.
Today will be the second day in a row where none of the top 5 in new deaths are in Europe (USA, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, India). Possibly even top 6 today, with Ecuador/Peru still to report.
Also, UK just overtook Germany/Spain on total test count.
I have just been talking to my neighbour who used to work in the Heath Service and is still very well connected there. She tells me that there are currently 13, repeat 13 Covid patients in Tayside, population roughly half a million. All of the doctors and nurses who were conscripted into a front line that barely even came are being returned to their normal duties on Monday.
There is indeed a scandal here and its got F all to do with Cummings. The local economy is being trashed, businesses are collapsing, jobs are being lost, the future tax base is being destroyed and for what? On Thursday we will be allowed to have contact with another household provided it is outside and social distancing is being maintained. Shops remain closed, hundreds of thousands of Scots are on furlough being paid by the government for doing nothing and debt is spiralling out of control.
A political class too pusillanimous to make a decision in case someone holds them responsible are doing absolutely untold damage to this country. Enough. End the lockdown now while there are still some jobs to go back to.
Great post, in the majority of areas hospitals never even got close to struggling, and now they are sitting empty with thousands of closed wards throughout the nation. The clap on Thursdays is now for health workers who have never done so little at work in their lives. My wife worked yesterday and on her ward by 11.30am they had no patients. 9 trained staff and no patients!!
The problem with politicians making a decision is that the press will do everything possible to undermine that decision, as with Boris just gently reducing the lockdown three weeks ago. The press went mad, "experts" were bought in, polls showing the public did not support the loosening were done. If Boris had not reduced the lockdown then the press would have been equally as angry and would have interviewed different "experts" who would have said the opposite.
People have definitely got too used to Furlough, which while a great scheme, has introduced a false sense of security. People need to return to work now or they will not have a job to go back too.
If PB is anything to go by, people are massively overestimating the risks of Covid compared to other risks we all face in our daily lives. The media is almost certainly to blame for whipping up extreme fearfulness. It’s very hard to get people back to some sort of rationality and balance.
The problem with furlough is that it is basically welfare - and it is very difficult to get people off welfare due to the 'I want something for nothing' mentality which is so prevalent
The government needs to show greater leadership and decisiveness here to get people and economy back to work
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
Getting out of lockdown is simple. 1 Get case numbers down to manageably low. Lockdown is achieving this, but it takes time. Tough. 2 Have an effective test'n'track system. That's eminently doable, but the best way to get there is Keep It Simple. People, not apps- at least to start with. 3 Have lots of masks and handgel available. 4 Work out what to do with tricky situations. If lots of people meet indoors and sing loudly, they shouldn't. Which activities can't happen, and how does the community help people working in them?
It's simple but boring stuff. Less fun than "let's make an app" or "reopen shops in 3 weeks" but it's the way out.
The numbers are already at manageable lows. My three NHS mates tell me there is nothing to do on Covid wards. Get on with the rest.
Ban churches and singing indoors. Keep nightclubs shut. Open pubs with beer gardens.
Get on with it.
Sort out test'n'track, and I'd agree with you. The WHO were saying that back in February, and it's depressing how slow the progress on tracking infrastructure has been.
Trouble has been the focus on gimmicks that haven't really worked over unglamorous stuff that will.
Agree with that completely. The much vaunted app on June 1 is likely to be a bust I am told. Get Apple to build one and bloody well get moving.
Although I think Big Dom should have gone straight away, all the wibbling about if he touched a petrol pump or stopped for a whizz at the side of the road could be "endangering lives", is basically bollocks compared to weeks of delay on the app. That is genuinely endangering lives every day it isn't out there.
The last two or three days on here have been utterly dull.
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
I'm not sure you can sling the accusation of dullness around since your every post appears to boil down to you wanting a pint. I can sympathise with the urge, but it's, well, not very interesting.
It's boiled down to:
"I want to go to the pub, therefore lockdown must be wrong because...
- There's not a problem - Sweden's done it fine - Some professor says it's all over and the maximum death toll will be under seven thousand - I'm all right Jack, pull the ladder up (what do you mean, under 60s might be reasonably likely to be so ill, they'll be hospitalised - no, they almost always recover so they're practically immune) - Oh, I'm just bored, open the pubs"
Really, that’s not the case.
Daft post.
Dude, that's the impression you give. You keep insisting that it's not a problem for under-sixties, despite the issue of them getting so ill they can be hospitalised (and the concerns about letting it rip overloading the hospitals).
Believe me, I want it over with. I have to explain again and again to a distressed severely autistic boy why he's not at school, why McDonalds is closed, why we have to be so careful when we're outside, why we can't go and see Nanna.
Again and again and again and again.
And Christ, I want to go to a restaurant with my family. We used to love eating out.
But 60,000+ people have died. The disease can really fuck people up, even younger ones (I know of a half-dozen people who've had it, and the one we're closest to is 26, ultra-fit, and no underlying health concerns - and took well over a month to be close to all right again. Albeit still with some breathing issues). And I would find it hard to live with myself if we got it and passed it on, and in the chain we passed it onto, someone died. Or multiple people died.
It's not about us, or our freedom, anymore than drink-driving should be up to ourselves to judge and take the risk (and we could note that cars are so much safer these days that if we get drunk and crash, the driver's far more likely to be okay).
We're getting there. Cases are well down, and if we get a reliable test-and-trace app, or a twenty-minute reliable self-contained test, we can get so much more going.
The worst thing to happen - after all this - is for us to face a second spike and need to lock down again. I really don't know how I'd be able to explain it to my son that sorry, after getting things sort of back to normal, we've got to go back to this.
Hancock making these tunnel vision journos look daft.
So says a poster who has such a broad view of the world that he swallows any old crap that the current government serves up for his gullible consumption
Comments
Schools are due to start the summer holidays in 4 weeks and are going to go back a week earlier in the Autumn so they have decided not to re-open just now.
As for retail I am totally with you. We could be another 6 weeks before we see non-essential large retailers open having been put into phase 3 of the Scottish government's plan. In many ways they have an easier path to keep social distancing than smaller retailers who hopefully get to re-open in 3 weeks time ie on the Friday after shops open in England.
However at the moment while damaging to the Tories this story does not look fatal
https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1265301558734073862?s=20
Instead of yakking on about some overpromoted twerp who went for a drive, and utterly pointless early-term opinion polls, can we discuss how to get out of lockdown?
Especially in London where new cases / deaths are at trace levels.
There are pubs to be opened, hotels to visit and places to go.
Get us out of this lockdown!
Wow, that's genuine and locally driven and not a partisan politician witch hunt at all (!)
K-E-I-R
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/may/15/rushed-uk-coronavirus-laws-led-to-wrongful-convictions-say-police
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/germanys-corona-detectives-led-way-out-of-lockdown-2wkrwtfdv?shareToken=f547a58e558159c92cea3bea00b1ff78
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/historical-polls/voting-intention-1992-1997
There is indeed a scandal here and its got F all to do with Cummings. The local economy is being trashed, businesses are collapsing, jobs are being lost, the future tax base is being destroyed and for what? On Thursday we will be allowed to have contact with another household provided it is outside and social distancing is being maintained. Shops remain closed, hundreds of thousands of Scots are on furlough being paid by the government for doing nothing and debt is spiralling out of control.
A political class too pusillanimous to make a decision in case someone holds them responsible are doing absolutely untold damage to this country. Enough. End the lockdown now while there are still some jobs to go back to.
It seems to be about Neil Oliver who isn't afaicr English. I guess it's hardly going to be complimentary about someone who called the possibility of a second indy ref 'cancerous'.
So, Cummings' statement yesterday having put his bizarre actions to bed, what have you been talking about all day?
The city is a problem. The over-packed Tube, the hordes of tourists, they're all going to cause a big second wave if one happens. You need it reopen it slowly and carefully. (i.e. We're a bunch of special snowflakes!)
Keir Ends In R
1 Get case numbers down to manageably low. Lockdown is achieving this, but it takes time. Tough.
2 Have an effective test'n'track system. That's eminently doable, but the best way to get there is Keep It Simple. People, not apps- at least to start with.
3 Have lots of masks and handgel available.
4 Work out what to do with tricky situations. If lots of people meet indoors and sing loudly, they shouldn't. Which activities can't happen, and how does the community help people working in them?
It's simple but boring stuff. Less fun than "let's make an app" or "reopen shops in 3 weeks" but it's the way out.
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/18475228.bradford-mp-calls-philip-davies-calls-dominic-cummings-resign/?ref=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Ban churches and singing indoors. Keep nightclubs shut. Open pubs with beer gardens.
Get on with it.
"I want to go to the pub, therefore lockdown must be wrong because...
- There's not a problem
- Sweden's done it fine
- Some professor says it's all over and the maximum death toll will be under seven thousand
- I'm all right Jack, pull the ladder up (what do you mean, under 60s might be reasonably likely to be so ill, they'll be hospitalised - no, they almost always recover so they're practically immune)
- Oh, I'm just bored, open the pubs"
That is, however, a letter in the letter column, so not necessarily what he editor thinks. And it's not so different in its spirit from the commentator on PB (a Tory, I think) who praised Mr Ross MP for not coming from the usual upper middle classes of Scottish Tory society (IIRC or am I getting confused)?
As Mr Burgessian should know full well, there are plenty of English-born and bred Scots in the SNP and in the independence movement. And I wouldn't call the National the SNP house journal. It's more like the Greens/RISE one at times, and the letter was in response to an article by Michael Fry - a right wing pro-indy commentator.
Therefore we are going to see the slowest re-opening of any part of Europe taking place here. We are probably on track to reach phase 3 of the Scottish government's plan in mid-July but parts of it will not be reached until August.
We can’t keep the catering sector shuttered, nor can we shutter holiday lets in the middle of summer.
A plan is required, sharpish.
Daft post.
https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1265315930806136836
https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1265315930806136836?s=20
Why’s this? Did he drive from Edinburgh to Inverness to quarantine and then decide to drive to Fort Augustus to check his eyesight was OK?
The problem with politicians making a decision is that the press will do everything possible to undermine that decision, as with Boris just gently reducing the lockdown three weeks ago. The press went mad, "experts" were bought in, polls showing the public did not support the loosening were done. If Boris had not reduced the lockdown then the press would have been equally as angry and would have interviewed different "experts" who would have said the opposite.
People have definitely got too used to Furlough, which while a great scheme, has introduced a false sense of security. People need to return to work now or they will not have a job to go back too.
Trouble has been the focus on gimmicks that haven't really worked over unglamorous stuff that will.
Unlucky
Move on love.
And of course LauraK goes on a Cummings question....and gets the standard reply and we're no wiser...
I would be very pleased if he came out publically demanding it
The issue is what happens next.
*Well, apart from Cummings, Johnson and our supremely supine AG, obviously.
Peston goes back to the same boring old topic - and gets swatted.
LBC bore on regardless..
This is like the Trump administration.
He says Cummings had no child care options in London
Cummings said he hadnt asked anyone
Inform the public you tossers.
Hancocks sentance should be
"We had childcare available and Mr Cummings didn't" bother to ask
How has it come to this
Sack him Boris or resign yourself
Also, UK just overtook Germany/Spain on total test count.
The government needs to show greater leadership and decisiveness here to get people and economy back to work
All we need is a bit of homophobia and he will have ‘House.’
Hancock relaxed for a second as he thought it wasn't about Cummings and his famous instincts
Good.
https://twitter.com/BritIslesTales/status/1264965357447581698?s=09
You keep insisting that it's not a problem for under-sixties, despite the issue of them getting so ill they can be hospitalised (and the concerns about letting it rip overloading the hospitals).
Believe me, I want it over with. I have to explain again and again to a distressed severely autistic boy why he's not at school, why McDonalds is closed, why we have to be so careful when we're outside, why we can't go and see Nanna.
Again and again and again and again.
And Christ, I want to go to a restaurant with my family. We used to love eating out.
But 60,000+ people have died. The disease can really fuck people up, even younger ones (I know of a half-dozen people who've had it, and the one we're closest to is 26, ultra-fit, and no underlying health concerns - and took well over a month to be close to all right again. Albeit still with some breathing issues). And I would find it hard to live with myself if we got it and passed it on, and in the chain we passed it onto, someone died. Or multiple people died.
It's not about us, or our freedom, anymore than drink-driving should be up to ourselves to judge and take the risk (and we could note that cars are so much safer these days that if we get drunk and crash, the driver's far more likely to be okay).
We're getting there. Cases are well down, and if we get a reliable test-and-trace app, or a twenty-minute reliable self-contained test, we can get so much more going.
The worst thing to happen - after all this - is for us to face a second spike and need to lock down again. I really don't know how I'd be able to explain it to my son that sorry, after getting things sort of back to normal, we've got to go back to this.