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.
100%, as the youth like to put it. The former is about the moral authority to govern, the latter is a serious failure of administration. Given the choice, I'd rather have immoral competents than moral incompetents.
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.
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
Yesterday was "Stop Brexit - Get Cummings" interviews.
Todays briefing is on Covid and the whole nation - not the pet obsessions of the FBPE crowd.
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.
But considering the relentless and consistant message that Nicola has been putting out it is very difficult now to change tack and go for "lets get re-opening and the re-start the economy" without it jarring with the previous message.
The problem is that she has helped make the a lot of the Scottish public genuinely scared about this virus due to the effective yet quite draconian message. This means that even when prompted it is going to take a very long time to unwind back to something close to what people hope the new normal to be.
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.
100%, as the youth like to put it. The former is about the moral authority to govern, the latter is a serious failure of administration. Given the choice, I'd rather have immoral competents than moral incompetents.
Sadly, we seem to have the worst of both worlds.
It is exact repeat of the testing balls up. PHE / government decided that PHE lab could do enough and that antibody tests were definitely going to work (despite being unproven and from China, who already had a dodgy rep during this crisis). Then the antibody tests didn't work and left with piss poor capacity via the PHE lab.
Eventually they have got there with public / private partnership, and despite massaging the figures, they are now definitely testing a lot of people and doing the right thing, but a month too late.
This app will be the same. They have gone all in on NHSX approach, it isn't going to work. They will then pivot and use the Google / Apple approach and we will get a decent app, a month too late.
I would be very pleased if he came out publically demanding it
He should demand the PM's resignation. He's one of the few MPs who may understand how well the Far East has done, having a Chinese wife.
Japan is perhaps the most striking ... the world's oldest population, not much testing or tracing, no locking people up - they actually have more regard to liberty than England - and 7 deaths per million population despite 25% of them being pensioners.
The UK? 540 deaths per million, I've been locked up for months and the economy is kaput.
Madness. Literally changing the rules because one of them got caught. I normally don't have much sympathy for the "one rule for us..." crowd, but they've got a point here.
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
Yesterday was "Stop Brexit - Get Cummings" interviews.
Todays briefing is on Covid and the whole nation - not the pet obsessions of the FBPE crowd.
You are just being idiotic.
Posters on here will tell you how much I have argued for brexit and I want Cummings gone and Boris has lost my support. I have been accused on here of being Boris's lapdog or fanboy, sometimes both, and I am now demanding Cummings goes.
This has united leave and remain voters with a chorus 'be gone'
I think the solution here is clear - have vicars pose all the questions to Hancock from now on, at least Martin the Vicar got a result.
Could open the flood gates.
If I was a parent who suffered extreme stress with childcare whilst I was ill with virus and staying at home can I now seek damages as I was misinformed and I could in fact travel to my parents or in laws or whatever to seek help?
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
Yesterday was "Stop Brexit - Get Cummings" interviews.
Todays briefing is on Covid and the whole nation - not the pet obsessions of the FBPE crowd.
You are just being idiotic.
Posters on here will tell you how much I have argued for brexit and I want Cummings gone and Boris has lost my support. I have been accused on here of being Boris's lapdog or fanboy, sometimes both, and I am now demanding Cummings goes.
This has united leave and remain voters with a chorus 'be gone'
You wanted Mrs May to stay on - sorry if I don't concur with your analysis ...
As I said, fine him the same as everyone else - the equivalent of a parking ticket
Broke the lockdown to pop round my parents earlier, sat in the garden for an hour,,, they're both 73 and my 76 yr old uncle was there. When I asked about Cummings, my Dad said "hate him", when I disagreed my Mum had to go inside out of disgust! Their take was that he should be the last person to break the rules, having had a hand in creating them.
I pointed out that we were all breaking lockdown rules at that very moment, but it didn't cut any ice. My Tory voting uncle agreed with me and thought it was a storm in a teacup, but the conservatives cant count on persuading my 100% Labour voting parents to change the habit of a lifetime in 2024
He's still got an Everest to climb, but Sir Keir appears to have played a blinder during all this. The minimalism - sticking to the lofty heights of public health whilst ignoring the playground stuff - strikes an admirable note. Quite professional.
Yes, he's done a good job of mostly reacting to what's actually important, ignoring the Westminster tittle-tattle and not gratuitously opposing every government action for the sake of it.
He's correctly playing the long game, and knows that the point of discomfort for the government will be the forthcoming management of the recession and withdrawal of all the exceptional support measures.
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.
I'm sure falling downstairs can really f8ck you up too, and many people are more likely to die of this than COVID.
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.
100%, as the youth like to put it. The former is about the moral authority to govern, the latter is a serious failure of administration. Given the choice, I'd rather have immoral competents than moral incompetents.
Sadly, we seem to have the worst of both worlds.
It is exact repeat of the testing balls up. PHE / government decided that PHE lab could do enough and that antibody tests were definitely going to work (despite being unproven and from China, who already had a dodgy rep during this crisis). Then the antibody tests didn't work and left with piss poor capacity via the PHE lab.
Eventually they have got there with public / private partnership, and despite massaging the figures, they are now definitely testing a lot of people and doing the right thing, but a month too late.
This app will be the same. They have gone all in on NHSX approach, it isn't going to work. They will then pivot and use the Google / Apple approach and we will get a decent app, a month too late.
Part of it is this weird obsession with everything having to be world class. There are 200 nations in the world, we will not be in the top 10 at everything.
Often good enough, at a fair price and on time is what we need to aim at.
Sounds like the English track and trace system will be voluntary.
Good.
Track and trace is effectively dead, owing to Dominic Cummings. This is yet another major policy abandoned to save his neck.
And potentially thousands of lives and billions of pounds in additional lockdown cost. It's time for Tory MPs to step up and force Boris' hands on this or force him to step aside.
As I said, fine him the same as everyone else - the equivalent of a parking ticket
Broke the lockdown to pop round my parents earlier, sat in the garden for an hour,,, they're both 73 and my 76 yr old uncle was there. When I asked about Cummings, my Dad said "hate him", when I disagreed my Mum had to go inside out of disgust! Their take was that he should be the last person to break the rules, having had a hand in creating them.
I pointed out that we were all breaking lockdown rules at that very moment, but it didn't cut any ice. My Tory voting uncle agreed with me and thought it was a storm in a teacup, but the conservatives cant count on persuading my 100% Labour voting parents to change the habit of a lifetime in 2024
My mother (with whom I have also broken lockdown laws) wants him gone too. I think this is at least as much because she considers him smarmy as because he's done anything wrong.
Laura avoids Covid at the Covid briefing and sticks to Dom.
Move on love.
I think your last sentence is demeaning and misogynistic
There is only one thing that allow us to move on
The fact this has been running for 5 days without resolution is disgraceful.
We are agreeing BJO
Cummings goes or Boris does, or even both
I am furious over this
Big G - you are a passionate Tory but:
* You were furious about May's EU deal not passing
It never ceases to amaze me that Leavers were so happy to tear up a painfully negotiated deal the EU were dubious about, in favour of the EU’s preferred option, just because it was Johnson that did it.
Those of us that would like the Conservative Party returned to being a broad church, with grown ups in charge, hope that when the inevitable "resignation on the grounds of boredom, sorry I mean, ill health", comes from Bozo, Jeremy Hunt will be able to step up the plate. Slight problem of the swivel-eyed membership will more likely give us Raab though, ffs!
As I said, fine him the same as everyone else - the equivalent of a parking ticket
Broke the lockdown to pop round my parents earlier, sat in the garden for an hour,,, they're both 73 and my 76 yr old uncle was there. When I asked about Cummings, my Dad said "hate him", when I disagreed my Mum had to go inside out of disgust! Their take was that he should be the last person to break the rules, having had a hand in creating them.
I pointed out that we were all breaking lockdown rules at that very moment, but it didn't cut any ice. My Tory voting uncle agreed with me and thought it was a storm in a teacup, but the conservatives cant count on persuading my 100% Labour voting parents to change the habit of a lifetime in 2024
Do your parents know about this website and what it's done to you?!
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
Yesterday was "Stop Brexit - Get Cummings" interviews.
Todays briefing is on Covid and the whole nation - not the pet obsessions of the FBPE crowd.
These are mainstream journalists. If 71% of the population wants Cummings to go, it is hardly a pet obsession. I have no idea what FBPE is, but I am pretty sure I am not part of it. It is a frequent and justified complaint that there isn't enough material to fill a briefing every day, so it's nice to have something new to discuss. If Cummings does not wish to figure in future briefings there is a rather obvious solution to the problem.
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.
Told by whom?
Neither Apple nor Google are building an app. They are providing an API.
I had a chat with a friend at Imperial - interestingly, the core of track and trace *isn't* the app. It's the tracing organisation.
Apparently in South Korea et al only a portion of the contact tracing work relies on mobile data, and much of that is not from bluetooth proximity data.
Credit card data is apparently a much bigger helper.
Apparently this relates to the fact that casual contact isn't the big source of infection. Passing by someone for x seconds, 1 meter away isn't the issue. It's who you talked to, apparently.
So the people you talked to. Who was in the shop you went to at the same time etc...
This would explain the reports that Scotland is not going down the route of using an app.
Laura avoids Covid at the Covid briefing and sticks to Dom.
Move on love.
I think your last sentence is demeaning and misogynistic
There is only one thing that allow us to move on
The fact this has been running for 5 days without resolution is disgraceful.
We are agreeing BJO
Cummings goes or Boris does, or even both
I am furious over this
Big G - you are a passionate Tory but:
* You were furious about May's EU deal not passing
It never ceases to amaze me that Leavers were so happy to tear up a painfully negotiated deal the EU were dubious about, in favour of the EU’s preferred option, just because it was Johnson that did it.
Like the Great Bullshitter himself, they don't do detail. The difference is that Boris Johnson is intelligent enough to understand the detail, but can't be bothered, whereas his supporters...
I feel sorry for Hancock. He seems like a decent straight talking chap, and I have no doubt that he has worked incredibly hard over the last few months. Now he is having to defend the behaviour of someone he may not like, who has clearly broken the rules, and it undermines the message Hancock and his colleagues have been consistently repeating. I suspect that Hancock is privately furious about what has gone on.
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.
Otherwise known as a good betting strategy, you don't care which horse wins if you make money on either!
Down from the dizzy heights of 55% a few weeks ago.
And higher than the lead that won the election resoundingly.
Honestly, it's as if if almost everyone has gone insane. This nothing story is going to end in a damp squib, as the media's over-egging bores the living shite out of everyone and they move on to something - anything - else.
We're got the re-opening of the economy, we've got Remdesivir on the NHS, we've got sewage monitoring as an early warning system, we've got plummeting daily death rates...
I refuse to believe this nonsense is going to Dominate (see what I did there?) the news forever. Let it goooo, let it goooooooooooo!
I feel sorry for Hancock. He seems like a decent straight talking chap, and I have no doubt that he has worked incredibly hard over the last few months. Now he is having to defend the behaviour of someone he may not like, who has clearly broken the rules, and it undermines the message Hancock and his colleagues have been consistently repeating. I suspect that Hancock is privately furious about what has gone on.
Fuck him. If he had the stones he would resign. But he doesn't, so he continues to debase himself on live TV in service of a blogger who wears his clothes inside out (H/T Marina Hyde)
NEW Survation Poll – Westminster Voting Intention: CON 46% (-2) LAB 33% (+3) LD 8% (-) GRN 4% (-1) SNP 5% (-) BXP <1% (-) OTH 4% (-)
Nearly all fieldwork post Cummings
Great result for Tories</p>
It's already been covered, but frankly I feel pretty good to know that 46% of the public are taking a similar view to me, who might otherwise seem to be a lonely voice in the wilderness judging by the almost complete lack of perspective on here...
Tearing up its guidance to defend Cummings and they now expect the public to self isolate for 14 days if they get an alert from the new track and trace app.
Now reviewing any fines due to childcare needs .
The governments authority to tell the public what to do is shot to pieces.
"Political authority is a lot like virginity, once it goes it is very hard to get back, so why has Boris Johnson wasted so much capital on Dominic Cummings? Does the Prime Minister think the party and country will find out he’s a political eunuch with his human codpiece gone?"
NEW Survation Poll – Westminster Voting Intention: CON 46% (-2) LAB 33% (+3) LD 8% (-) GRN 4% (-1) SNP 5% (-) BXP <1% (-) OTH 4% (-)
Nearly all fieldwork post Cummings
Great result for Tories</p>
We discussed this about 4 hours ago
Did you what was the conclusion?
That I had expected the gap to have closed more although Chris from YouGov said to wait for more polls so I am awaiting those taken entirely post speech to make a judgment.
I also said that I would expect polling parity by the end of the year and the usual suspects laughed at me, so I am clearly doing a great job
NEW Survation Poll – Westminster Voting Intention: CON 46% (-2) LAB 33% (+3) LD 8% (-) GRN 4% (-1) SNP 5% (-) BXP <1% (-) OTH 4% (-)
Nearly all fieldwork post Cummings
Great result for Tories</p>
It's already been covered, but frankly I feel pretty good to know that 46% of the public are taking a similar view to me, who might otherwise seem to be a lonely voice in the wilderness judging by the almost complete lack of perspective on here...
Public opinion takes time to catch up on general trends. It takes a while for the man on the Clapham omnibus to chat with his mates, particularly as he currently has to sit 2 metres away from them.
NEW Survation Poll – Westminster Voting Intention: CON 46% (-2) LAB 33% (+3) LD 8% (-) GRN 4% (-1) SNP 5% (-) BXP <1% (-) OTH 4% (-)
Nearly all fieldwork post Cummings
Great result for Tories</p>
It's already been covered, but frankly I feel pretty good to know that 46% of the public are taking a similar view to me, who might otherwise seem to be a lonely voice in the wilderness judging by the almost complete lack of perspective on here...
Why was there a question about Cummings where 46% agreed with you?
The big drop in approval for Johnson and the government in the Sevanta poll happened following the "Stay Alert" fiasco. The Cummings affair has only reinforced a negative trend and doesn't seem a game changer in itself. My suspicion is that a general awareness of a government not in control of events is playing out rather than a particular outrage.
Down from the dizzy heights of 55% a few weeks ago.
And higher than the lead that won the election resoundingly.
Honestly, it's as if if almost everyone has gone insane. This nothing story is going to end in a damp squib, as the media's over-egging bores the living shite out of everyone and they move on to something - anything - else.
We're got the re-opening of the economy, we've got Remdesivir on the NHS, we've got sewage monitoring as an early warning system, we've got plummeting daily death rates...
I refuse to believe this nonsense is going to Dominate (see what I did there?) the news forever. Let it goooo, let it goooooooooooo!
We don't know the 4 UK governments are actually sampling the shite on a regular basis. Unless I have missed something?
Right now, Keir seems to be popular despite the Labour Party, hence why his popularity seems to go up more than Labour's does. His job is to convert his approval into votes.
Er, I don't see how "nearly all the fieldwork" was post-Cummings when it was 22-26th May? If you're being generous you might just stretch to saying 50% but realistically his statement in Downing St was less than 24 hours ago.
I'd hold fire you true blues before crowing.
And remember that, as TSE says, the slide following Black Wednesday took 6 months to reach its nadir. I mentioned the other day that I expect Labour to take opinion poll leads in the next 3 months, a position I stick to. It could be sooner.
Down from the dizzy heights of 55% a few weeks ago.
And higher than the lead that won the election resoundingly.
Honestly, it's as if if almost everyone has gone insane. This nothing story is going to end in a damp squib, as the media's over-egging bores the living shite out of everyone and they move on to something - anything - else.
We're got the re-opening of the economy, we've got Remdesivir on the NHS, we've got sewage monitoring as an early warning system, we've got plummeting daily death rates...
I refuse to believe this nonsense is going to Dominate (see what I did there?) the news forever. Let it goooo, let it goooooooooooo!
I think you have made that point sufficiently. Now toddle off and have a good laugh at the whining numpties who are moaning about their spouse or parent dying alone, why don't you?
Neither Apple nor Google are building an app. They are providing an API.
I had a chat with a friend at Imperial - interestingly, the core of track and trace *isn't* the app. It's the tracing organisation.
Apparently in South Korea et al only a portion of the contact tracing work relies on mobile data, and much of that is not from bluetooth proximity data.
Credit card data is apparently a much bigger helper.
Apparently this relates to the fact that casual contact isn't the big source of infection. Passing by someone for x seconds, 1 meter away isn't the issue. It's who you talked to, apparently.
So the people you talked to. Who was in the shop you went to at the same time etc...
This would explain the reports that Scotland is not going down the route of using an app.
Exactly. The "app" is a red herring. The places doing best at track and trace have thrown privacy out the window and are letting health authorities use CCTV, ANPR, credit card data, mobile phone signalling data, and public transit data. You don't need a bloody app, people leave an electronic trail of everywhere they go as it is. The flakey "app" approach is only really interesting to western countries that get het up about privacy. Singapore, Israel, South Korea, Taiwan, and I dare say others, are much more relaxed about letting the state surveille the population.
If I had been in any doubt whether this has achieved cut-through, my elder sister who never discusses politics ever (she can talk for England about classical music and non-conformist church minutiae) has stuck up a bad joke about Dominic Cummings on Facebook.
I actually believe TM deal should have gone through and many now regret that it did not
Nothing in my 76 years, apart from the poll tax, has annoyed me more in respect of my party than this indefensible decision to keep Cummings in post
It is now at the point that Boris sacks him, or his own position will become untenable
FWIW, my friend, I agree May's Deal should have got through the Commons and those who voted against from some sort of tactical standpoint are wholly to blame for the current mess.
I argued the LDs should have supported the May Agreement in the interests of enacting the democratic wish of the electorate (and Stephen Lloyd did) but another eleven would have made no difference.
There were respectively 115, 75 and 34 Conservatives who voted against the Government in the three attempts to get the WA in mid January and then twice in March last year.
Had they voted with the Government, the WA might have passed first time and would have passed second time and I suspect Theresa May would still be Prime Minister.
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.
Not that I have anything against Byron Taylor personally - although as somebody who promoted Corbyn’s leadership bid his judgement must be considered suspect.
But anybody will surely be an improvement on Jennie Formby.
If I had been in any doubt whether this has achieved cut-through, my elder sister who never discusses politics ever (she can talk for England about classical music and non-conformist church minutiae) has stuck up a bad joke about Dominic Cummings on Facebook.
No such thing as a bad joke about Dominic Cummings.
If I had been in any doubt whether this has achieved cut-through, my elder sister who never discusses politics ever (she can talk for England about classical music and non-conformist church minutiae) has stuck up a bad joke about Dominic Cummings on Facebook.
It's featuring on US political Sites too, which is quite unusual for a domestic UK issue.
The big drop in approval for Johnson and the government in the Sevanta poll happened following the "Stay Alert" fiasco. The Cummings affair has only reinforced a negative trend and doesn't seem a game changer in itself. My suspicion is that a general awareness of a government not in control of events is playing out rather than a particular outrage.
Agreed. I have always thought that Boris Johnson was out of his depth. Unfortunately he has surrounded himself with others who are having even more trouble treading water than he does. We will see more scandals, more cock ups. As someone who was once a Tory activist, I find it excruciating, but a highly predictable outcome given the character of the person that the current membership was stupid enough to give the highly inappropriate title "leader".
If I had been in any doubt whether this has achieved cut-through, my elder sister who never discusses politics ever (she can talk for England about classical music and non-conformist church minutiae) has stuck up a bad joke about Dominic Cummings on Facebook.
really? If it’s a worse joke than Cummings himself, it must be bad.
Comments
Sadly, we seem to have the worst of both worlds.
The fact this has been running for 5 days without resolution is disgraceful.
Todays briefing is on Covid and the whole nation - not the pet obsessions of the FBPE crowd.
The problem is that she has helped make the a lot of the Scottish public genuinely scared about this virus due to the effective yet quite draconian message. This means that even when prompted it is going to take a very long time to unwind back to something close to what people hope the new normal to be.
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1265319395653541890
Cummings goes or Boris does, or even both
I am furious over this
Eventually they have got there with public / private partnership, and despite massaging the figures, they are now definitely testing a lot of people and doing the right thing, but a month too late.
This app will be the same. They have gone all in on NHSX approach, it isn't going to work. They will then pivot and use the Google / Apple approach and we will get a decent app, a month too late.
Or could you be asked to stay at home for weeks on end arbitrarily.
That’s why, although he should resign and from the point of view of good governance it’s very desirable he resign, I expect him to cling on.
Japan is perhaps the most striking ... the world's oldest population, not much testing or tracing, no locking people up - they actually have more regard to liberty than England - and 7 deaths per million population despite 25% of them being pensioners.
The UK? 540 deaths per million, I've been locked up for months and the economy is kaput.
Hancock was suggesting you should stay away from people as your "civic duty" - its all about reducing the spread.
For Dominic Cummings it’s utterly unbelievable. We come back to my theories on hypnosis.
I think if Cummings goes Tories will continue a healthy lead in the polls
Boris would only go if Labour took the lead in the polls and polling showed Sunak, for example, would regain the lead for the Tories
* You were furious about May's EU deal not passing
* You were furious re May facing a leadership contest
* You were furious when May stood down
All of which were shown to be good things in the long term.
Posters on here will tell you how much I have argued for brexit and I want Cummings gone and Boris has lost my support. I have been accused on here of being Boris's lapdog or fanboy, sometimes both, and I am now demanding Cummings goes.
This has united leave and remain voters with a chorus 'be gone'
Ah, my coat...
If I was a parent who suffered extreme stress with childcare whilst I was ill with virus and staying at home can I now seek damages as I was misinformed and I could in fact travel to my parents or in laws or whatever to seek help?
Broke the lockdown to pop round my parents earlier, sat in the garden for an hour,,, they're both 73 and my 76 yr old uncle was there. When I asked about Cummings, my Dad said "hate him", when I disagreed my Mum had to go inside out of disgust! Their take was that he should be the last person to break the rules, having had a hand in creating them.
I pointed out that we were all breaking lockdown rules at that very moment, but it didn't cut any ice. My Tory voting uncle agreed with me and thought it was a storm in a teacup, but the conservatives cant count on persuading my 100% Labour voting parents to change the habit of a lifetime in 2024
He's correctly playing the long game, and knows that the point of discomfort for the government will be the forthcoming management of the recession and withdrawal of all the exceptional support measures.
If he continues to be the issue for the rest of the week completely drowning out the crucial messages?
Often good enough, at a fair price and on time is what we need to aim at.
I doubt it will change her vote though.
46/33/8/4
https://twitter.com/henrymance/status/1265319846302175232?s=20
I had a chat with a friend at Imperial - interestingly, the core of track and trace *isn't* the app. It's the tracing organisation.
Apparently in South Korea et al only a portion of the contact tracing work relies on mobile data, and much of that is not from bluetooth proximity data.
Credit card data is apparently a much bigger helper.
Apparently this relates to the fact that casual contact isn't the big source of infection. Passing by someone for x seconds, 1 meter away isn't the issue. It's who you talked to, apparently.
So the people you talked to. Who was in the shop you went to at the same time etc...
This would explain the reports that Scotland is not going down the route of using an app.
Nothing in my 76 years, apart from the poll tax, has annoyed me more in respect of my party than this indefensible decision to keep Cummings in post
It is now at the point that Boris sacks him, or his own position will become untenable
https://twitter.com/ILoveGlosUK/status/1265321573524930560?s=20
CON 46% (-2)
LAB 33% (+3)
LD 8% (-)
GRN 4% (-1)
SNP 5% (-)
BXP <1% (-)
OTH 4% (-)
Nearly all fieldwork post Cummings
Great result for Tories
Honestly, it's as if if almost everyone has gone insane. This nothing story is going to end in a damp squib, as the media's over-egging bores the living shite out of everyone and they move on to something - anything - else.
We're got the re-opening of the economy, we've got Remdesivir on the NHS, we've got sewage monitoring as an early warning system, we've got plummeting daily death rates...
I refuse to believe this nonsense is going to Dominate (see what I did there?) the news forever. Let it goooo, let it goooooooooooo!
https://twitter.com/BarristerSecret/status/1265324890233675776
Tearing up its guidance to defend Cummings and they now expect the public to self isolate for 14 days if they get an alert from the new track and trace app.
Now reviewing any fines due to childcare needs .
The governments authority to tell the public what to do is shot to pieces.
Refund all fines if there was a child in the car
I also said that I would expect polling parity by the end of the year and the usual suspects laughed at me, so I am clearly doing a great job
Apologies if you discussed it 45 mins ago
I'd hold fire you true blues before crowing.
And remember that, as TSE says, the slide following Black Wednesday took 6 months to reach its nadir. I mentioned the other day that I expect Labour to take opinion poll leads in the next 3 months, a position I stick to. It could be sooner.
Do Peston's bosses really think that was what the public most needed to know today?
https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1265326747643412480
Newcastle takeover in serious doubt as WTO rules pirate TV channel is Saudi
Saudi Arabia is behind satellite TV service beoutQ, WTO rules
‘Breach of international law’ threatens £300m deal for club
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/may/26/newcastle-takeover-in-serious-doubt-as-wto-rules-pirate-tv-channel-is-saudi?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
I argued the LDs should have supported the May Agreement in the interests of enacting the democratic wish of the electorate (and Stephen Lloyd did) but another eleven would have made no difference.
There were respectively 115, 75 and 34 Conservatives who voted against the Government in the three attempts to get the WA in mid January and then twice in March last year.
Had they voted with the Government, the WA might have passed first time and would have passed second time and I suspect Theresa May would still be Prime Minister.
PHE / Hancock don't seem to.
Not that I have anything against Byron Taylor personally - although as somebody who promoted Corbyn’s leadership bid his judgement must be considered suspect.
But anybody will surely be an improvement on Jennie Formby.
So whilst it's delightful to see the truest blue tories having a celebratory jig I'd be careful ...