If a company is expecting to be trading at say 90% in the New Year but back to 100% by this time next year after vaccines have become available then is keeping its staff on, on a Part Time basis a bad thing?
You don't think London "taking a hit" will have any effect on the rest of the country?
Yes, the economy will eventually adjust, one hopes. But London pays more tax than anywhere else in the UK by a distance and if that tax money goes AWOL then we will all suffer. That is certain.
And there is a non-trivial risk that the shutdown of central London will cause a hideous chain reaction, the likes of which have not been seen in peacetime.
A business can be shut down in a day. Starting a new viable business takes years.
I'm sure all those tourists who used to crowd into central London and spend £££ will seamlessly shift into visiting the world-class attractions of places like Oldham, Hartlepool, Reading and Bognor Regis.
Yes. If London is cancelled, that's basically the end of Britain's international tourist industry.
People come to the UK mainly to see London. We don't have the Riviera, the Alps, Renaissance Tuscany, or oodles of Soanish sunshine. We don't have jungles, deserts or pyramids.
Take out London and foreign people just might not bother at all.
That's a tremendous blow to UK PLC.
You have it the wrong way round. It is international tourism that has vaporised, with silent Covent Garden as the outcome. Ditto the tourist traps of most cities.
Restaurants that people can walk or drive to will be the first to revive. I am off to the Isle of Wight for the weekend. Shall report back on pubs etc
I`ll be keen to read your report, Foxy. Please estimate the proportion of pubs/cafes/shops that are now open. If you meet a shop-owner I`d be interested to know where this 2 metre sineage is coming from - I can`t figure this. Aside from the point that it is now 1 metre yet the signs I saw still say 2 metres, who is telling shops to do this in the first place? I may be wrong, but I think they are doing it off their own bat. What would happen if they left it to customer discretion? Could they get sued?
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Best thing about Hartlepools? A lot of roads out.
Forgive him. Southerners don't know any better.
Since when has Yorkshire been in the south?
University friends from Bolton and Leeds considered Sheffield to be the gateway to the South.
Am like 30 minutes alway from Holmfirth, where they filmed Last Of The Summer Wine, you can't get more Northern than that.
Had big crane collapse in Seattle a year or so ago, at new building being constructed for Google at their campus/complex.
Happened because crew disassembling the crane had gotten into the habit of pre-loosening most of the bolts, against safety protocol but saved time. And no problem - until the day that a line of thunderstorms (rare for Seattle) moved though, and a mico-burst blew the half-attached crane down, killing several people and doing considerable damage.
If a company is expecting to be trading at say 90% in the New Year but back to 100% by this time next year after vaccines have become available then is keeping its staff on, on a Part Time basis a bad thing?
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Best thing about Hartlepools? A lot of roads out.
Forgive him. Southerners don't know any better.
Since when has Yorkshire been in the south?
University friends from Bolton and Leeds considered Sheffield to be the gateway to the South.
Am like 30 minutes alway from Holmfirth, where they filmed Last Of The Summer Wine, you can't get more Northern than that.
If you live south of the Tyne you’re a southerner. End of discussion.
Although Holmfirth is very nice, if you pretend it’s not in Huddersfield.
That's not abuse, that's the system working exactly as the government intends. The incentive is to minimise the number of heads claiming the dole.
Government will be over the moon if companies put their staff on 80/80 contracts, basically four days a week for four days' pay - as opposed to laying off 20% of the workforce.
Dodds performance very poor, and Sunak has demolished it in response.
Labour has a better leader than Corbyn now but a worse Shadow Chancellor than McDonnell (even though personally as a Tory I would prefer Dodds)
McDonnell, the best Chancellor we nearly but never had?
Certainly a case can be made.
That has to go on a list.
- Go for it.
As to THE list. Now 8 fold. Will soon need a new sheet of paper at this rate.
From memory only 2 of the 8 were things I've actually said rather than you misrepresenting me.
No. They are all 100% pukka except - arguably - that you said Boris Johnson was "very muscly". That does have a slight element of exaggeration. The exact words were that he was "17 and a half stone but it's mainly muscle".
I absolutely never said "mainly muscle" that is a categorical lie you are saying.
Not a lie. But happy to move on and not mention it again for ages.
It is a complete and utter fabrication and lie. You put in quotation marks that I said "mainly muscle", please quote me using those words or be prepared to admit that you fabricated that and I never said it and you are lying.
It will be a hell of a faff to go back and fish it out. I can't recall the exact date and I have not got it on floppy.
But my clear recollection is of a surprising comment which stressed the high muscle/fat ratio of the Prime Minister. Is your recollection materially different?
Maybe it's on your floppy in which case ... ??
Whats wrong with "manly muscle". OK so I am bisexual so expressing my admiration for manly muscles may not be everyone's preference. But Shagger likes to do exercise (historically at least) and I know from my recent cycling obsession that biking makes for toned muscles. At least that was the public excuse when I started shaving my arms / legs...
Are you 50/50 or more of a 75/25?
75/25 which way? I'm married to a woman and we have 2 kids together. The leg shaving thing? A fad. I grew a lockdown beard as well, depends on what mood I am in
LadyG: just been reading your excellent posts about London. I`m with you . It is very concerning indeed.
May be nationwide too, I think. I`m just back from a few nights in Dorset/Devon border. I was surprised and disappointed that only, I`d say, 25% of pubs were open. Maybe more have opened since I`ve got back? A higher proportion of cafes, though, are open - maybe 75%.
Many shops are closed. Some have notices on the door saying lack of staff!
We fancied having a browse round a particular clothes shop. It was of decent size. There was a queue outside with a notice saying "maximum four people in store at any time". If we had entered, my family of four would have stopped anyone else from entering, whilst we were merely having a browse with no real intent to buy anything. In the end we walked away. Businesses can not operate in this way. Many people (I have to say many on the left) seem to think things will magic back to normal.
I`ve got friends who are no nearer coming out of hiding than they were a month ago. I have others who say they are "shielding" but have no clue that their ailments do not nearly qualify them for that status.
Many were keen to hector about civic duty in (over)complying with lockdown, but don`t follow that through with a civic duty to get things going again in un-lockdown.
Exactly.
All the people saying "oh, it's only London, London can cope, besides this will be good for the rest of the country", do not seem to realise that
1. if the London economy collapses that means real financial pain for all Britons
and
2. what is maybe happening to London, now, is quite likely to be repeated in many places across the UK, albeit on a smaller scale
Think of tourist reliant cities like Bath, Cambridge, Edinburgh... then busy office-rich cities like Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff....
Anyway I'm doing my bit. We're going to London on Saturday and I've booked a table at one of the few decent restaurants which have reopened. More are re-opening soon.
Anyway I'm doing my bit. We're going to London on Saturday and I've booked a table at one of the few decent restaurants which have reopened. More are re-opening soon.
If a company is expecting to be trading at say 90% in the New Year but back to 100% by this time next year after vaccines have become available then is keeping its staff on, on a Part Time basis a bad thing?
No, as I just said it's arguably a good thing.
Thanks I completely agree. Your later post wasn't there when I clicked to reply to the one I'd quoted.
Anyway I'm doing my bit. We're going to London on Saturday and I've booked a table at one of the few decent restaurants which have reopened. More are re-opening soon.
I assume the wine menu will be satisfactory
You're not old enough to drink yet, don't get any ideas
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
We lived in Central London for 30 years and loved it, now retired back to Cheshire. I think what you are seeing may be worse but not too different about what is happening everywhere in the UK on a smaller scale. Lots of local places are shutting for good.
Part of the problem seems to me to be that a substantial minority of the public don't really give a shit about the virus spreading or the safety of others so it keeps others away.
To give you an example we went into town on public transport today for the first time. We assumed that as it is compulsory to wear a mask we would be happy to do so only to find people on the bus without masks. I mentioned it to the driver who told me "we're not the police mate". So what is the point of making it compulsory if nobody enforces it? We won't be going into town to a restaurant again for a good while.
What I find ironical is the very people who aren't giving a shit now will be the very ones whinging most loudly when the pubs close down again, the shops shut and businesses collapse.
A big London bus went past my study window about 20 minutes ago. It had six people on it (at rush hour). Two were wearing masks. The driver wasn't one of the mask wearers.
It's pathetic. Even the staff aren't bothering
An economic whirlwind approaches, and we can't take basic precautions
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
Inevitable - very few people live in Central, Central London anymore. All the shops, restaurants etc are priced and setup for millions of people who come into the very centre each day.
Now they are not - perhaps 90% down.
It feels almost inevitable. Soho might be alright as its still THE nightlife destination.
But somewhere like Covent Garden, which is mainly retail and restaurants and tourist traps? - fecked. It is very sad.
And this pain will start in central London, but then it will ripple out....
Why would it ripple out?
A bit less of an obsession about London could be good for the rest of us.
Are you just a bit dim?
Central London in all its glory - restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, cafes, theatres, galleries - generates enormous amounts of money, and of course employment. But nearly all of this biz comes from workers who commute in, and tourists, it is not self sustaining.
Now take away most of the commuters and most of the tourists and most of those businesses will go under very quickly.
That means tens of thousands of unemployed people, who live all over London: and now they can no longer afford to spend money in THEIR neighborhoods. The ripple has begun, and it is spreading beyond the centre.
The closure of all these businesses also means a collapse in the tax take - for councils, and for the Inland Revenue. That means rates have to go up elsewhere in London, to compensate.
Thus. More businesses go under, London becomes less attractive, rich people move out entirely, taxes have to go up even more as these taxpayers depart. And so on.
An advanced economy like the UK is highly interconnected. It is a complex machine. Collapsing central London is like taking a hammer to the engine of that machine. It might still work, but it will go slower, and make weird noises, and maybe catch fire.
Read what happened to New York City's economy in the 1960s and 70s. We could be about to see that replayed, but speeded up, in London (and New York, for that matter)
So London may be about to take a hit. It can afford to do so.
There's plenty of space in the rest of the country. If people aren't travelling into Central London and aren't spending in Central London shops they will be working somewhere else instead. If they are working in their own LOCAL area and spending within their own LOCAL area that is a good thing. It is not a bad thing.
That’s a good point. Imagine if much of the more frothy activity in London is replaced by more grounded and value added activity in the likes of Nottingham. Perhaps we get that oft touted rebalancing of the economy by default. Or at least a step in that direction.
Colour me unsurprised, that a lefty is really happy that we are all going to be poorer, as long as we are all poorer together
I'm talking about a levelling UP - of Nottingham et al.
It was in the Tory manifesto.
Yeah, like that's ever going to happen to Shottingham!
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
Inevitable - very few people live in Central, Central London anymore. All the shops, restaurants etc are priced and setup for millions of people who come into the very centre each day.
Now they are not - perhaps 90% down.
It feels almost inevitable. Soho might be alright as its still THE nightlife destination.
But somewhere like Covent Garden, which is mainly retail and restaurants and tourist traps? - fecked. It is very sad.
And this pain will start in central London, but then it will ripple out....
Why would it ripple out?
A bit less of an obsession about London could be good for the rest of us.
Are you just a bit dim?
Central London in all its glory - restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, cafes, theatres, galleries - generates enormous amounts of money, and of course employment. But nearly all of this biz comes from workers who commute in, and tourists, it is not self sustaining.
Now take away most of the commuters and most of the tourists and most of those businesses will go under very quickly.
That means tens of thousands of unemployed people, who live all over London: and now they can no longer afford to spend money in THEIR neighborhoods. The ripple has begun, and it is spreading beyond the centre.
The closure of all these businesses also means a collapse in the tax take - for councils, and for the Inland Revenue. That means rates have to go up elsewhere in London, to compensate.
Thus. More businesses go under, London becomes less attractive, rich people move out entirely, taxes have to go up even more as these taxpayers depart. And so on.
An advanced economy like the UK is highly interconnected. It is a complex machine. Collapsing central London is like taking a hammer to the engine of that machine. It might still work, but it will go slower, and make weird noises, and maybe catch fire.
Read what happened to New York City's economy in the 1960s and 70s. We could be about to see that replayed, but speeded up, in London (and New York, for that matter)
So London may be about to take a hit. It can afford to do so.
There's plenty of space in the rest of the country. If people aren't travelling into Central London and aren't spending in Central London shops they will be working somewhere else instead. If they are working in their own LOCAL area and spending within their own LOCAL area that is a good thing. It is not a bad thing.
That’s a good point. Imagine if much of the more frothy activity in London is replaced by more grounded and value added activity in the likes of Nottingham. Perhaps we get that oft touted rebalancing of the economy by default. Or at least a step in that direction.
Colour me unsurprised, that a lefty is really happy that we are all going to be poorer, as long as we are all poorer together
I`ve said before that I`m convinced that some (not kinabalu) WANT the nation to suffer. For their own political / ideological ends. I think it`s connected to wanting to weaken the country in comparison with other countries, an utter disdain for the private sector and wealth creation, and using this dreadful situation to forward their own agendas.
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Best thing about Hartlepools? A lot of roads out.
Forgive him. Southerners don't know any better.
Since when has Yorkshire been in the south?
University friends from Bolton and Leeds considered Sheffield to be the gateway to the South.
There is a sign in my village directing people to Darlington and the South. Anything Lancashire or Yorkshire is "Down South".
Only spent a week in Poland, in February, mostly in Łódź. Which is pronounced (something like) "Woojz"
Which is VERY similar to the Native American Coast Salish pronunciation of their name for what we today call Puget Sound, which sounded (something like) "Wulge"
PBers may have heard of the myth of the Welsh Indians. But Polish Indians?
LadyG: just been reading your excellent posts about London. I`m with you . It is very concerning indeed.
May be nationwide too, I think. I`m just back from a few nights in Dorset/Devon border. I was surprised and disappointed that only, I`d say, 25% of pubs were open. Maybe more have opened since I`ve got back? A higher proportion of cafes, though, are open - maybe 75%.
Many shops are closed. Some have notices on the door saying lack of staff!
We fancied having a browse round a particular clothes shop. It was of decent size. There was a queue outside with a notice saying "maximum four people in store at any time". If we had entered, my family of four would have stopped anyone else from entering, whilst we were merely having a browse with no real intent to buy anything. In the end we walked away. Businesses can not operate in this way. Many people (I have to say many on the left) seem to think things will magic back to normal.
I`ve got friends who are no nearer coming out of hiding than they were a month ago. I have others who say they are "shielding" but have no clue that their ailments do not nearly qualify them for that status.
Many were keen to hector about civic duty in (over)complying with lockdown, but don`t follow that through with a civic duty to get things going again in un-lockdown.
Exactly.
All the people saying "oh, it's only London, London can cope, besides this will be good for the rest of the country", do not seem to realise that
1. if the London economy collapses that means real financial pain for all Britons
and
2. what is maybe happening to London, now, is quite likely to be repeated in many places across the UK, albeit on a smaller scale
Think of tourist reliant cities like Bath, Cambridge, Edinburgh... then busy office-rich cities like Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff....
It's scary.
Tourism is taking a hit but no its not bad for the rest of the country if jobs get dispersed through the country and not absorbed into Central London like some black hole.
If people are working throughout the country rather than all being in Central London that's not a bad thing or a disaster for the country.
You don't think London "taking a hit" will have any effect on the rest of the country?
Yes, the economy will eventually adjust, one hopes. But London pays more tax than anywhere else in the UK by a distance and if that tax money goes AWOL then we will all suffer. That is certain.
And there is a non-trivial risk that the shutdown of central London will cause a hideous chain reaction, the likes of which have not been seen in peacetime.
A business can be shut down in a day. Starting a new viable business takes years.
I'm sure all those tourists who used to crowd into central London and spend £££ will seamlessly shift into visiting the world-class attractions of places like Oldham, Hartlepool, Reading and Bognor Regis.
Yes. If London is cancelled, that's basically the end of Britain's international tourist industry.
People come to the UK mainly to see London. We don't have the Riviera, the Alps, Renaissance Tuscany, or oodles of Soanish sunshine. We don't have jungles, deserts or pyramids.
Take out London and foreign people just might not bother at all.
That's a tremendous blow to UK PLC.
Yes, while London is the 3rd most visited global city, the UK is only the 10th most visited country
The economy won't revive until people feel confident enough to go out to shop, eat and drink. Currently, people are reasonable confident they won't catch the virus outside - hence packed beaches, parks and scenes of street drinking. But many people are fearful of doing inside activities - shops, restaurants, inside pubs - because they are not confident that they won't catch the virus there. The exception may be the young (e.g. under 40s), but there's not enough of them, and they don't have enough money, to revive the economy or on their own.
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
Wanting to buy a house in London and the stamp duty cut makes it appealing but am going to hold off for a few months to get a clearer idea on where the market is going
For some reason I had formed the view that the polish government remained popular enough their candidate would be a slam dunk. Interesting that it is expected to be a nailbiter, that's always fun.
Dodds performance very poor, and Sunak has demolished it in response.
Labour has a better leader than Corbyn now but a worse Shadow Chancellor than McDonnell (even though personally as a Tory I would prefer Dodds)
McDonnell, the best Chancellor we nearly but never had?
Certainly a case can be made.
That has to go on a list.
- Go for it.
As to THE list. Now 8 fold. Will soon need a new sheet of paper at this rate.
From memory only 2 of the 8 were things I've actually said rather than you misrepresenting me.
No. They are all 100% pukka except - arguably - that you said Boris Johnson was "very muscly". That does have a slight element of exaggeration. The exact words were that he was "17 and a half stone but it's mainly muscle".
I absolutely never said "mainly muscle" that is a categorical lie you are saying.
Not a lie. But happy to move on and not mention it again for ages.
It is a complete and utter fabrication and lie. You put in quotation marks that I said "mainly muscle", please quote me using those words or be prepared to admit that you fabricated that and I never said it and you are lying.
It will be a hell of a faff to go back and fish it out. I can't recall the exact date and I have not got it on floppy.
But my clear recollection is of a surprising comment which stressed the high muscle/fat ratio of the Prime Minister. Is your recollection materially different?
Maybe it's on your floppy in which case ... ??
Yes. It is different.
I said repeatedly that I'd never said that and even requoted my original post in full. But you got off on banging on about Muscles Johnson when I never said that whatsoever.
It's a lie, a fabrication. You're putting words into quote marks that I never used and that's just not on.
I would never invent such a thing. But I am happy to consign it to the status of fond memory. I will not refer to Muscles Johnson again in any way that implicates you. That is a solemn promise.
But in return will you agree to call him Johnson when you and I are talking?
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Best thing about Hartlepools? A lot of roads out.
Forgive him. Southerners don't know any better.
Since when has Yorkshire been in the south?
University friends from Bolton and Leeds considered Sheffield to be the gateway to the South.
Am like 30 minutes alway from Holmfirth, where they filmed Last Of The Summer Wine, you can't get more Northern than that.
London and the South East has to start somewhere. All I can say is these people were "proper" Northerners. They even owned a "big coat"
You don't think London "taking a hit" will have any effect on the rest of the country?
Yes, the economy will eventually adjust, one hopes. But London pays more tax than anywhere else in the UK by a distance and if that tax money goes AWOL then we will all suffer. That is certain.
And there is a non-trivial risk that the shutdown of central London will cause a hideous chain reaction, the likes of which have not been seen in peacetime.
A business can be shut down in a day. Starting a new viable business takes years.
I'm sure all those tourists who used to crowd into central London and spend £££ will seamlessly shift into visiting the world-class attractions of places like Oldham, Hartlepool, Reading and Bognor Regis.
Yes. If London is cancelled, that's basically the end of Britain's international tourist industry.
People come to the UK mainly to see London. We don't have the Riviera, the Alps, Renaissance Tuscany, or oodles of Soanish sunshine. We don't have jungles, deserts or pyramids.
Take out London and foreign people just might not bother at all.
That's a tremendous blow to UK PLC.
Yes, while London is the 3rd most visited global city, the UK is only the 10th most visited country
So are many things that, nevertheless, are on balance sensible despite that risk. Benefits are at risk of being abused, but few people suggest they are bad in principle.
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Best thing about Hartlepools? A lot of roads out.
Forgive him. Southerners don't know any better.
Since when has Yorkshire been in the south?
University friends from Bolton and Leeds considered Sheffield to be the gateway to the South.
There is a sign in my village directing people to Darlington and the South. Anything Lancashire or Yorkshire is "Down South".
That must make Sheffield almost on the South Coast then.
I confess I don't understand the criticism here. Do you get extra credit for submitting a nomination a day before deadline rather than 15 minutes before?
I cannot say I'd like to leave it that late, and I am perfectly content to believe the government in general runs things badly, but is 'what we should expect' here that the government successfully met a deadline? When they submitted the application seems like neither proof or disproof of incompetence, even if journalists are known for leaving things till the last minute.
The economy won't revive until people feel confident enough to go out to shop, eat and drink. Currently, people are reasonable confident they won't catch the virus outside - hence packed beaches, parks and scenes of street drinking. But many people are fearful of doing inside activities - shops, restaurants, inside pubs - because they are not confident that they won't catch the virus there. The exception may be the young (e.g. under 40s), but there's not enough of them, and they don't have enough money, to revive the economy or on their own.
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
This is where I am with it.
All the incentives to go out and spend work in normal downturns but when there’s a risk to your life, simply nothing will help. Not tangibly.
I am keen to go the pub but I am simply not going to take the risk for some time. I definitely won’t be eating out for some time either.
Going to get my hair cut is slightly stressing me out.
The economy won't revive until people feel confident enough to go out to shop, eat and drink. Currently, people are reasonable confident they won't catch the virus outside - hence packed beaches, parks and scenes of street drinking. But many people are fearful of doing inside activities - shops, restaurants, inside pubs - because they are not confident that they won't catch the virus there. The exception may be the young (e.g. under 40s), but there's not enough of them, and they don't have enough money, to revive the economy or on their own.
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
"Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high" - how low do they need to be for goodness sake? Currently we are at fewer than 30 per day in whole of NHS England! Well under 1000 new infections per day in a population of 67 million.
Dodds performance very poor, and Sunak has demolished it in response.
Labour has a better leader than Corbyn now but a worse Shadow Chancellor than McDonnell (even though personally as a Tory I would prefer Dodds)
McDonnell, the best Chancellor we nearly but never had?
Certainly a case can be made.
That has to go on a list.
- Go for it.
As to THE list. Now 8 fold. Will soon need a new sheet of paper at this rate.
From memory only 2 of the 8 were things I've actually said rather than you misrepresenting me.
No. They are all 100% pukka except - arguably - that you said Boris Johnson was "very muscly". That does have a slight element of exaggeration. The exact words were that he was "17 and a half stone but it's mainly muscle".
I absolutely never said "mainly muscle" that is a categorical lie you are saying.
Not a lie. But happy to move on and not mention it again for ages.
It is a complete and utter fabrication and lie. You put in quotation marks that I said "mainly muscle", please quote me using those words or be prepared to admit that you fabricated that and I never said it and you are lying.
It will be a hell of a faff to go back and fish it out. I can't recall the exact date and I have not got it on floppy.
But my clear recollection is of a surprising comment which stressed the high muscle/fat ratio of the Prime Minister. Is your recollection materially different?
Maybe it's on your floppy in which case ... ??
Yes. It is different.
I said repeatedly that I'd never said that and even requoted my original post in full. But you got off on banging on about Muscles Johnson when I never said that whatsoever.
It's a lie, a fabrication. You're putting words into quote marks that I never used and that's just not on.
I would never invent such a thing. But I am happy to consign it to the status of fond memory. I will not refer to Muscles Johnson again in any way that implicates you. That is a solemn promise.
But in return will you agree to call him Johnson when you and I are talking?
I appreciate you not making up fabrications about me regardless of what I say.
Not making any promises, I use both names and don't overly think it like you do.
I've noticed if I'm thinking of him alone I tend to use Boris, whereas if I'm referring to him in the context of naming multiple people I tend to use Johnson. But I'm not making promises.
LadyG: just been reading your excellent posts about London. I`m with you . It is very concerning indeed.
May be nationwide too, I think. I`m just back from a few nights in Dorset/Devon border. I was surprised and disappointed that only, I`d say, 25% of pubs were open. Maybe more have opened since I`ve got back? A higher proportion of cafes, though, are open - maybe 75%.
Many shops are closed. Some have notices on the door saying lack of staff!
We fancied having a browse round a particular clothes shop. It was of decent size. There was a queue outside with a notice saying "maximum four people in store at any time". If we had entered, my family of four would have stopped anyone else from entering, whilst we were merely having a browse with no real intent to buy anything. In the end we walked away. Businesses can not operate in this way. Many people (I have to say many on the left) seem to think things will magic back to normal.
I`ve got friends who are no nearer coming out of hiding than they were a month ago. I have others who say they are "shielding" but have no clue that their ailments do not nearly qualify them for that status.
Many were keen to hector about civic duty in (over)complying with lockdown, but don`t follow that through with a civic duty to get things going again in un-lockdown.
Exactly.
All the people saying "oh, it's only London, London can cope, besides this will be good for the rest of the country", do not seem to realise that
1. if the London economy collapses that means real financial pain for all Britons
and
2. what is maybe happening to London, now, is quite likely to be repeated in many places across the UK, albeit on a smaller scale
Think of tourist reliant cities like Bath, Cambridge, Edinburgh... then busy office-rich cities like Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff....
It's scary.
Tourism is taking a hit but no its not bad for the rest of the country if jobs get dispersed through the country and not absorbed into Central London like some black hole.
If people are working throughout the country rather than all being in Central London that's not a bad thing or a disaster for the country.
You still don't seem to understand.
I'll give it one more go.
If half of the theatres in London shutter for good, and all the jobs go, those jobs are GONE. London theatreland is not going to "disperse" to Devon, or Huddersfield, or a meadow in Powys. Shaftesbury Avenue is not going to rematerialise in Sheffield.
Same for galleries, restaurants, bars, cafes, clubs. Same for the people that service THOSE firms. This is an entire ecosystem: the centre of a global city.
It won't just magically shift to Swindon. If it disappears, it disappears.
The economy won't revive until people feel confident enough to go out to shop, eat and drink. Currently, people are reasonable confident they won't catch the virus outside - hence packed beaches, parks and scenes of street drinking. But many people are fearful of doing inside activities - shops, restaurants, inside pubs - because they are not confident that they won't catch the virus there. The exception may be the young (e.g. under 40s), but there's not enough of them, and they don't have enough money, to revive the economy or on their own.
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
This is where I am with it.
All the incentives to go out and spend work in normal downturns but when there’s a risk to your life, simply nothing will help. Not tangibly.
I am keen to go the pub but I am simply not going to take the risk for some time. I definitely won’t be eating out for some time either.
Going to get my hair cut is slightly stressing me out.
The government has certainly done a first rate job in scaring the bejesus out of folk. Even you, CHB, have got to give them that!
Wanting to buy a house in London and the stamp duty cut makes it appealing but am going to hold off for a few months to get a clearer idea on where the market is going
Dear CHB
From previous thread.. if you want me to spell it out for you, you made a comment about Scottish call centres and people trusting the Scottish accent. I was just pointing out the disaster that was Royal Bank of Scotland that had to be rescued and that I wouldn't trust a Scottish Bank under any circumstances, or any bank that gets too big for its boots.
Secondly, I just wanted to point out that I seem to recall you have made several predictions on here that appear to be way off the mark, ever since your first where you professed to be an amateur and new to the site and called the GE too close to call. Of course it might have been someone else who made this prediction and I would be happy to apologise if I have got it wrong.
Dodds performance very poor, and Sunak has demolished it in response.
Labour has a better leader than Corbyn now but a worse Shadow Chancellor than McDonnell (even though personally as a Tory I would prefer Dodds)
McDonnell, the best Chancellor we nearly but never had?
Certainly a case can be made.
That has to go on a list.
- Go for it.
As to THE list. Now 8 fold. Will soon need a new sheet of paper at this rate.
From memory only 2 of the 8 were things I've actually said rather than you misrepresenting me.
No. They are all 100% pukka except - arguably - that you said Boris Johnson was "very muscly". That does have a slight element of exaggeration. The exact words were that he was "17 and a half stone but it's mainly muscle".
I absolutely never said "mainly muscle" that is a categorical lie you are saying.
Not a lie. But happy to move on and not mention it again for ages.
It is a complete and utter fabrication and lie. You put in quotation marks that I said "mainly muscle", please quote me using those words or be prepared to admit that you fabricated that and I never said it and you are lying.
It will be a hell of a faff to go back and fish it out. I can't recall the exact date and I have not got it on floppy.
But my clear recollection is of a surprising comment which stressed the high muscle/fat ratio of the Prime Minister. Is your recollection materially different?
Maybe it's on your floppy in which case ... ??
Yes. It is different.
I said repeatedly that I'd never said that and even requoted my original post in full. But you got off on banging on about Muscles Johnson when I never said that whatsoever.
It's a lie, a fabrication. You're putting words into quote marks that I never used and that's just not on.
I would never invent such a thing. But I am happy to consign it to the status of fond memory. I will not refer to Muscles Johnson again in any way that implicates you. That is a solemn promise.
But in return will you agree to call him Johnson when you and I are talking?
I appreciate you not making up fabrications about me regardless of what I say.
Not making any promises, I use both names and don't overly think it like you do.
I've noticed if I'm thinking of him alone I tend to use Boris, whereas if I'm referring to him in the context of naming multiple people I tend to use Johnson. But I'm not making promises.
There should be a compilation of the exchanges between you two.
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
Inevitable - very few people live in Central, Central London anymore. All the shops, restaurants etc are priced and setup for millions of people who come into the very centre each day.
Now they are not - perhaps 90% down.
The population of central London has risen dramatically in the last 20 years, as offices and retail space have been converted to flats and new residential towers have been constructed.
Go to Euston or Paddington or fitzrovia or Victoria, they are full of new flats.
They are, but the population density is still lower than inner city burbs like Islington or Brixton etc. And lots of these new flats are buy to let, second homes for rich Brits or foreigners, occupied by rich foreign students, and so on.
Many of those people have fled London, because plague, and many have not yet come back, hence the still-deserted streets. Lots might not come back for a looooong time
Of course they are.
But look at the raw population numbers (i.e. excluding second homes, straight from the census) for the inner London boroughs 1991 to 2018:
LadyG: just been reading your excellent posts about London. I`m with you . It is very concerning indeed.
May be nationwide too, I think. I`m just back from a few nights in Dorset/Devon border. I was surprised and disappointed that only, I`d say, 25% of pubs were open. Maybe more have opened since I`ve got back? A higher proportion of cafes, though, are open - maybe 75%.
Many shops are closed. Some have notices on the door saying lack of staff!
We fancied having a browse round a particular clothes shop. It was of decent size. There was a queue outside with a notice saying "maximum four people in store at any time". If we had entered, my family of four would have stopped anyone else from entering, whilst we were merely having a browse with no real intent to buy anything. In the end we walked away. Businesses can not operate in this way. Many people (I have to say many on the left) seem to think things will magic back to normal.
I`ve got friends who are no nearer coming out of hiding than they were a month ago. I have others who say they are "shielding" but have no clue that their ailments do not nearly qualify them for that status.
Many were keen to hector about civic duty in (over)complying with lockdown, but don`t follow that through with a civic duty to get things going again in un-lockdown.
Exactly.
All the people saying "oh, it's only London, London can cope, besides this will be good for the rest of the country", do not seem to realise that
1. if the London economy collapses that means real financial pain for all Britons
and
2. what is maybe happening to London, now, is quite likely to be repeated in many places across the UK, albeit on a smaller scale
Think of tourist reliant cities like Bath, Cambridge, Edinburgh... then busy office-rich cities like Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff....
It's scary.
Tourism is taking a hit but no its not bad for the rest of the country if jobs get dispersed through the country and not absorbed into Central London like some black hole.
If people are working throughout the country rather than all being in Central London that's not a bad thing or a disaster for the country.
You still don't seem to understand.
I'll give it one more go.
If half of the theatres in London shutter for good, and all the jobs go, those jobs are GONE. London theatreland is not going to "disperse" to Devon, or Huddersfield, or a meadow in Powys. Shaftesbury Avenue is not going to rematerialise in Sheffield.
Same for galleries, restaurants, bars, cafes, clubs. Same for the people that service THOSE firms. This is an entire ecosystem: the centre of a global city.
It won't just magically shift to Swindon. If it disappears, it disappears.
If it disappears it disappears. Shit happens.
People will still want entertainment, they will still want restaurants, bars, cafes and clubs. If its not in London it will be elsewhere.
The West End will remain in London but there's restaurants in every part of the country and its a pathetic joke if you think there's not going to be restaurants outside of London.
Wanting to buy a house in London and the stamp duty cut makes it appealing but am going to hold off for a few months to get a clearer idea on where the market is going
Dear CHB
From previous thread.. if you want me to spell it out for you, you made a comment about Scottish call centres and people trusting the Scottish accent. I was just pointing out the disaster that was Royal Bank of Scotland that had to be rescued and that I wouldn't trust a Scottish Bank under any circumstances, or any onees that gets too big for their boots.
Secondly, I just wanted to point out that you have made several predictionson here that appear to be way off the mark, ever since your first where I seem to recall you professed to be an amateur and new to the site and called the GE too close to call. Of course it might have been someone else who made this prediction and I would be happy to apologise If I have got it wrong.
I never made a single comment about Scottish call centres, you absolute liar.
For some reason I had formed the view that the polish government remained popular enough their candidate would be a slam dunk. Interesting that it is expected to be a nailbiter, that's always fun.
Law & Justice (meaning the opposite) has rural, small town, rust belt, conservative base as opposed to Civic Platform which wins in Warsaw, Gdansk & similar urban, suburban, more prosperous, better educated locales.
The economy won't revive until people feel confident enough to go out to shop, eat and drink. Currently, people are reasonable confident they won't catch the virus outside - hence packed beaches, parks and scenes of street drinking. But many people are fearful of doing inside activities - shops, restaurants, inside pubs - because they are not confident that they won't catch the virus there. The exception may be the young (e.g. under 40s), but there's not enough of them, and they don't have enough money, to revive the economy or on their own.
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
This is where I am with it.
All the incentives to go out and spend work in normal downturns but when there’s a risk to your life, simply nothing will help. Not tangibly.
I am keen to go the pub but I am simply not going to take the risk for some time. I definitely won’t be eating out for some time either.
Going to get my hair cut is slightly stressing me out.
The government has certainly done a first rate job in scaring the bejesus out of folk. Even you, CHB, have got to give them that!
In a sense their terrible initial handling of it and then the strong lockdown (which I did support very much), did a very good job. Well done Johnson.
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
Inevitable - very few people live in Central, Central London anymore. All the shops, restaurants etc are priced and setup for millions of people who come into the very centre each day.
Now they are not - perhaps 90% down.
The population of central London has risen dramatically in the last 20 years, as offices and retail space have been converted to flats and new residential towers have been constructed.
Go to Euston or Paddington or fitzrovia or Victoria, they are full of new flats.
They are, but the population density is still lower than inner city burbs like Islington or Brixton etc. And lots of these new flats are buy to let, second homes for rich Brits or foreigners, occupied by rich foreign students, and so on.
Many of those people have fled London, because plague, and many have not yet come back, hence the still-deserted streets. Lots might not come back for a looooong time
Of course they are.
But look at the raw population numbers (i.e. excluding second homes, straight from the census) for the inner London boroughs 1991 to 2018:
At least I can string a coherent sentence together @squareroot2, all you post is completely irrelevant, pointless, stupid, pathetic, inane responses to my posts.
You add a ground total of sweet F all to this site and are by far the most moronic poster here. I get a good laugh at every one of your posts, they are terrible.
And like I said above, so you are a liar. Or you can't read. Or you are an idiot. Which is it?
The economy won't revive until people feel confident enough to go out to shop, eat and drink. Currently, people are reasonable confident they won't catch the virus outside - hence packed beaches, parks and scenes of street drinking. But many people are fearful of doing inside activities - shops, restaurants, inside pubs - because they are not confident that they won't catch the virus there. The exception may be the young (e.g. under 40s), but there's not enough of them, and they don't have enough money, to revive the economy or on their own.
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
"Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high" - how low do they need to be for goodness sake? Currently we are at fewer than 30 per day in whole of NHS England! Well under 1000 new infections per day in a population of 67 million.
I take your point, but it's perception that counts, not reality. People perceive the virus to be still fairly rampant. Government and its agencies are to blame for this - too many different data sources, too slow to collect and record data, and ineffective track and trace. If the numbers are really that low, effective government communications should be able to tell us exactly where is safe and where isn't. I know the data is there, and some of it appears on here - but the great British public is unaware of what's going on in their towns/cities, I'm sure.
Wanting to buy a house in London and the stamp duty cut makes it appealing but am going to hold off for a few months to get a clearer idea on where the market is going
Dear CHB
From previous thread.. if you want me to spell it out for you, you made a comment about Scottish call centres and people trusting the Scottish accent. I was just pointing out the disaster that was Royal Bank of Scotland that had to be rescued and that I wouldn't trust a Scottish Bank under any circumstances, or any onees that gets too big for their boots.
Secondly, I just wanted to point out that you have made several predictionson here that appear to be way off the mark, ever since your first where I seem to recall you professed to be an amateur and new to the site and called the GE too close to call. Of course it might have been someone else who made this prediction and I would be happy to apologise If I have got it wrong.
I never made a single comment about Scottish call centres, you absolute liar.
You are in the lion's den and on this excitable day when the "New Deal" has been heralded with fanfare, filleted socialist is on the menu.
The economy won't revive until people feel confident enough to go out to shop, eat and drink. Currently, people are reasonable confident they won't catch the virus outside - hence packed beaches, parks and scenes of street drinking. But many people are fearful of doing inside activities - shops, restaurants, inside pubs - because they are not confident that they won't catch the virus there. The exception may be the young (e.g. under 40s), but there's not enough of them, and they don't have enough money, to revive the economy or on their own.
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
"Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high" - how low do they need to be for goodness sake? Currently we are at fewer than 30 per day in whole of NHS England! Well under 1000 new infections per day in a population of 67 million.
I take your point, but it's perception that counts, not reality. People perceive the virus to be still fairly rampant. Government and its agencies are to blame for this - too many different data sources, too slow to collect and record data, and ineffective track and trace. If the numbers are really that low, effective government communications should be able to tell us exactly where is safe and where isn't. I know the data is there, and some of it appears on here - but the great British public is unaware of what's going on in their towns/cities, I'm sure.
Agreed. Public perception of the stats is awful. Woefully ignorant and mathematically inept. I`ve criticised the government before for not effectively communicating the steady reductions in cases and deaths. I don`t understand why they have been so poor at this.
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
Inevitable - very few people live in Central, Central London anymore. All the shops, restaurants etc are priced and setup for millions of people who come into the very centre each day.
Now they are not - perhaps 90% down.
The population of central London has risen dramatically in the last 20 years, as offices and retail space have been converted to flats and new residential towers have been constructed.
Go to Euston or Paddington or fitzrovia or Victoria, they are full of new flats.
They are, but the population density is still lower than inner city burbs like Islington or Brixton etc. And lots of these new flats are buy to let, second homes for rich Brits or foreigners, occupied by rich foreign students, and so on.
Many of those people have fled London, because plague, and many have not yet come back, hence the still-deserted streets. Lots might not come back for a looooong time
Of course they are.
But look at the raw population numbers (i.e. excluding second homes, straight from the census) for the inner London boroughs 1991 to 2018:
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
Inevitable - very few people live in Central, Central London anymore. All the shops, restaurants etc are priced and setup for millions of people who come into the very centre each day.
Now they are not - perhaps 90% down.
The population of central London has risen dramatically in the last 20 years, as offices and retail space have been converted to flats and new residential towers have been constructed.
Go to Euston or Paddington or fitzrovia or Victoria, they are full of new flats.
They are, but the population density is still lower than inner city burbs like Islington or Brixton etc. And lots of these new flats are buy to let, second homes for rich Brits or foreigners, occupied by rich foreign students, and so on.
Many of those people have fled London, because plague, and many have not yet come back, hence the still-deserted streets. Lots might not come back for a looooong time
Of course they are.
But look at the raw population numbers (i.e. excluding second homes, straight from the census) for the inner London boroughs 1991 to 2018:
Islington +40% Camden +46% Westminster +38%
About to go into reverse, I fear
Hmmm... as I own an apartment by Covent Garden and a house in Hampstead, that isn't entirely good news for me.
The economy won't revive until people feel confident enough to go out to shop, eat and drink. Currently, people are reasonable confident they won't catch the virus outside - hence packed beaches, parks and scenes of street drinking. But many people are fearful of doing inside activities - shops, restaurants, inside pubs - because they are not confident that they won't catch the virus there. The exception may be the young (e.g. under 40s), but there's not enough of them, and they don't have enough money, to revive the economy or on their own.
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
"Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high" - how low do they need to be for goodness sake? Currently we are at fewer than 30 per day in whole of NHS England! Well under 1000 new infections per day in a population of 67 million.
I take your point, but it's perception that counts, not reality. People perceive the virus to be still fairly rampant. Government and its agencies are to blame for this - too many different data sources, too slow to collect and record data, and ineffective track and trace. If the numbers are really that low, effective government communications should be able to tell us exactly where is safe and where isn't. I know the data is there, and some of it appears on here - but the great British public is unaware of what's going on in their towns/cities, I'm sure.
Agreed. Public perception of the stats is awful. Woefully ignorant and mathmatically inept. I`ve criticised the government before for not effectively communicating the steady reductions in cases and deaths. I don`t understand why they have been so poor at this.
Because they are as crap as maths as the general public is....
Wanting to buy a house in London and the stamp duty cut makes it appealing but am going to hold off for a few months to get a clearer idea on where the market is going
Dear CHB
From previous thread.. if you want me to spell it out for you, you made a comment about Scottish call centres and people trusting the Scottish accent. I was just pointing out the disaster that was Royal Bank of Scotland that had to be rescued and that I wouldn't trust a Scottish Bank under any circumstances, or any onees that gets too big for their boots.
Secondly, I just wanted to point out that you have made several predictionson here that appear to be way off the mark, ever since your first where I seem to recall you professed to be an amateur and new to the site and called the GE too close to call. Of course it might have been someone else who made this prediction and I would be happy to apologise If I have got it wrong.
I never made a single comment about Scottish call centres, you absolute liar.
You are in the lion's den and on this excitable day when the "New Deal" has been heralded with fanfare, filleted socialist is on the menu.
To be honest, I am very supportive of what has been announced. I think there are areas that can be abused and I am happy to point those out but I think the general ideas and suggestions that have been put into place, are good.
On a purely selfish basis, the stamp duty one is potentially great for me. But then I am a filthy capitalist.
Most people will know by now that I don't stand for bs. If you lie and make up stuff about me, or attack my posts for no good reason, I am coming for you. End of story.
The economy won't revive until people feel confident enough to go out to shop, eat and drink. Currently, people are reasonable confident they won't catch the virus outside - hence packed beaches, parks and scenes of street drinking. But many people are fearful of doing inside activities - shops, restaurants, inside pubs - because they are not confident that they won't catch the virus there. The exception may be the young (e.g. under 40s), but there's not enough of them, and they don't have enough money, to revive the economy or on their own.
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
"Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high" - how low do they need to be for goodness sake? Currently we are at fewer than 30 per day in whole of NHS England! Well under 1000 new infections per day in a population of 67 million.
I take your point, but it's perception that counts, not reality. People perceive the virus to be still fairly rampant. Government and its agencies are to blame for this - too many different data sources, too slow to collect and record data, and ineffective track and trace. If the numbers are really that low, effective government communications should be able to tell us exactly where is safe and where isn't. I know the data is there, and some of it appears on here - but the great British public is unaware of what's going on in their towns/cities, I'm sure.
Agreed. Public perception of the stats is awful. Woefully ignorant and mathmatically inept. I`ve criticised the government before for not effectively communicating the steady reductions in cases and deaths. I don`t understand why they have been so poor at this.
Totally agree.
Your chances of catching the Rona now are really very low, unless you're in a hotspot like Leicester, and even there it's hardly rampant
The government should now be stressing this every day. Yes be alert, but don't be cowed. We need to get the economy shifting, ASAFP
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
Inevitable - very few people live in Central, Central London anymore. All the shops, restaurants etc are priced and setup for millions of people who come into the very centre each day.
Now they are not - perhaps 90% down.
The population of central London has risen dramatically in the last 20 years, as offices and retail space have been converted to flats and new residential towers have been constructed.
Go to Euston or Paddington or fitzrovia or Victoria, they are full of new flats.
They are, but the population density is still lower than inner city burbs like Islington or Brixton etc. And lots of these new flats are buy to let, second homes for rich Brits or foreigners, occupied by rich foreign students, and so on.
Many of those people have fled London, because plague, and many have not yet come back, hence the still-deserted streets. Lots might not come back for a looooong time
Of course they are.
But look at the raw population numbers (i.e. excluding second homes, straight from the census) for the inner London boroughs 1991 to 2018:
The economy won't revive until people feel confident enough to go out to shop, eat and drink. Currently, people are reasonable confident they won't catch the virus outside - hence packed beaches, parks and scenes of street drinking. But many people are fearful of doing inside activities - shops, restaurants, inside pubs - because they are not confident that they won't catch the virus there. The exception may be the young (e.g. under 40s), but there's not enough of them, and they don't have enough money, to revive the economy or on their own.
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
"Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high" - how low do they need to be for goodness sake? Currently we are at fewer than 30 per day in whole of NHS England! Well under 1000 new infections per day in a population of 67 million.
I take your point, but it's perception that counts, not reality. People perceive the virus to be still fairly rampant. Government and its agencies are to blame for this - too many different data sources, too slow to collect and record data, and ineffective track and trace. If the numbers are really that low, effective government communications should be able to tell us exactly where is safe and where isn't. I know the data is there, and some of it appears on here - but the great British public is unaware of what's going on in their towns/cities, I'm sure.
Agreed. Public perception of the stats is awful. Woefully ignorant and mathmatically inept. I`ve criticised the government before for not effectively communicating the steady reductions in cases and deaths. I don`t understand why they have been so poor at this.
Totally agree.
Your chances of catching the Rona now are really very low, unless you're in a hotspot like Leicester, and even there it's hardly rampant
The government should now be stressing this every day. Yes be alert, but don't be cowed. We need to get the economy shifting, ASAFP
Perhaps Sunak should give us incentives to get things going. Buy a pint and get a free packet of pork scratchings. That sort of thing.
At least I can string a coherent sentence together @squareroot2, all you post is completely irrelevant, pointless, stupid, pathetic, inane responses to my posts.
You add a ground total of sweet F all to this site and are by far the most moronic poster here. I get a good laugh at every one of your posts, they are terrible.
And like I said above, so you are a liar. Or you can't read. Or you are an idiot. Which is it?
I misread the comment , it was the next one up, for which I apologise, the rest I am sure I was right.
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Best thing about Hartlepools? A lot of roads out.
Forgive him. Southerners don't know any better.
When in my youth, I used to stand on the Holgate End at Ayresome Park, ignorant visitors from southern clubs such as West Ham, Charlton etc would regularly and predictably break into a chorus of ‘we hate geordies etc’, only to be drowned out by the home support joining in.
To be followed by a somewhat pedantic chorus of ‘Tee, Tee, Teessider’.
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
Inevitable - very few people live in Central, Central London anymore. All the shops, restaurants etc are priced and setup for millions of people who come into the very centre each day.
Now they are not - perhaps 90% down.
The population of central London has risen dramatically in the last 20 years, as offices and retail space have been converted to flats and new residential towers have been constructed.
Go to Euston or Paddington or fitzrovia or Victoria, they are full of new flats.
They are, but the population density is still lower than inner city burbs like Islington or Brixton etc. And lots of these new flats are buy to let, second homes for rich Brits or foreigners, occupied by rich foreign students, and so on.
Many of those people have fled London, because plague, and many have not yet come back, hence the still-deserted streets. Lots might not come back for a looooong time
Of course they are.
But look at the raw population numbers (i.e. excluding second homes, straight from the census) for the inner London boroughs 1991 to 2018:
Islington +40% Camden +46% Westminster +38%
About to go into reverse, I fear
No bad thing if it happens.
Indeed. The other side of the coin is that estate agents in what you might call some of England’s neglected beauty spots are recording record levels of interest from Londoners wanting to escape from big city life.
At least I can string a coherent sentence together @squareroot2, all you post is completely irrelevant, pointless, stupid, pathetic, inane responses to my posts.
You add a ground total of sweet F all to this site and are by far the most moronic poster here. I get a good laugh at every one of your posts, they are terrible.
And like I said above, so you are a liar. Or you can't read. Or you are an idiot. Which is it?
I misread the comment , it was the next one up, for which I apologise, the rest I am sure I was right.
Keep taking the pills.
You're right and so what? Do you have short term memory loss or something, I already admitted weeks/months ago I got it wrong.
The same response to every post I make from you is along the lines of "huhuhah another prediction". Usually unintelligible nonsense surrounding it, woeful punctuation and crap but that is the general gist. We can add liar, moron and inability to read, to your list of traits.
It makes you look like a proper saddo, that in effect your contributions to this site are following me around and telling me about predictions I made 6 months ago.
Wanting to buy a house in London and the stamp duty cut makes it appealing but am going to hold off for a few months to get a clearer idea on where the market is going
Dear CHB
From previous thread.. if you want me to spell it out for you, you made a comment about Scottish call centres and people trusting the Scottish accent. I was just pointing out the disaster that was Royal Bank of Scotland that had to be rescued and that I wouldn't trust a Scottish Bank under any circumstances, or any onees that gets too big for their boots.
Secondly, I just wanted to point out that you have made several predictionson here that appear to be way off the mark, ever since your first where I seem to recall you professed to be an amateur and new to the site and called the GE too close to call. Of course it might have been someone else who made this prediction and I would be happy to apologise If I have got it wrong.
I never made a single comment about Scottish call centres, you absolute liar.
You are in the lion's den and on this excitable day when the "New Deal" has been heralded with fanfare, filleted socialist is on the menu.
To be honest, I am very supportive of what has been announced. I think there are areas that can be abused and I am happy to point those out but I think the general ideas and suggestions that have been put into place, are good.
On a purely selfish basis, the stamp duty one is potentially great for me. But then I am a filthy capitalist.
Most people will know by now that I don't stand for bs. If you lie and make up stuff about me, or attack my posts for no good reason, I am coming for you. End of story.
I can see the shortcomings, but best not to mention those on here!
Wanting to buy a house in London and the stamp duty cut makes it appealing but am going to hold off for a few months to get a clearer idea on where the market is going
Dear CHB
From previous thread.. if you want me to spell it out for you, you made a comment about Scottish call centres and people trusting the Scottish accent. I was just pointing out the disaster that was Royal Bank of Scotland that had to be rescued and that I wouldn't trust a Scottish Bank under any circumstances, or any onees that gets too big for their boots.
Secondly, I just wanted to point out that you have made several predictionson here that appear to be way off the mark, ever since your first where I seem to recall you professed to be an amateur and new to the site and called the GE too close to call. Of course it might have been someone else who made this prediction and I would be happy to apologise If I have got it wrong.
I never made a single comment about Scottish call centres, you absolute liar.
You are in the lion's den and on this excitable day when the "New Deal" has been heralded with fanfare, filleted socialist is on the menu.
To be honest, I am very supportive of what has been announced. I think there are areas that can be abused and I am happy to point those out but I think the general ideas and suggestions that have been put into place, are good.
On a purely selfish basis, the stamp duty one is potentially great for me. But then I am a filthy capitalist.
Most people will know by now that I don't stand for bs. If you lie and make up stuff about me, or attack my posts for no good reason, I am coming for you. End of story.
I can see the shortcomings, but best not to mention those on here!
Anyway don't let the b******* grind you down.
You're one of the few nice posters on here. Thanks for the support.
No it isn't - but then I am sure the Government must know that so why take any credibility hit?
Well it was already unpopular, so returning to the status quo would have limited additional impact perhaps. At the least, it was already an unpopular situation they felt must or could be bourne, so may continue to assume that notwithstanding Covid.
You don't think London "taking a hit" will have any effect on the rest of the country?
Yes, the economy will eventually adjust, one hopes. But London pays more tax than anywhere else in the UK by a distance and if that tax money goes AWOL then we will all suffer. That is certain.
And there is a non-trivial risk that the shutdown of central London will cause a hideous chain reaction, the likes of which have not been seen in peacetime.
A business can be shut down in a day. Starting a new viable business takes years.
I'm sure all those tourists who used to crowd into central London and spend £££ will seamlessly shift into visiting the world-class attractions of places like Oldham, Hartlepool, Reading and Bognor Regis.
Yes. If London is cancelled, that's basically the end of Britain's international tourist industry.
People come to the UK mainly to see London. We don't have the Riviera, the Alps, Renaissance Tuscany, or oodles of Soanish sunshine. We don't have jungles, deserts or pyramids.
Take out London and foreign people just might not bother at all.
That's a tremendous blow to UK PLC.
You have it the wrong way round. It is international tourism that has vaporised, with silent Covent Garden as the outcome. Ditto the tourist traps of most cities.
Restaurants that people can walk or drive to will be the first to revive. I am off to the Isle of Wight for the weekend. Shall report back on pubs etc
Yes, I think if anywhere's set up to get through this it's pubs situated in large villages and small towns in rural areas, where a lot of the usual custom consists of locals arriving on foot or driving short distances, and which have escaped being whacked hard by the virus.
I've not been all round town being nosy, but I know from walking past them on Saturday that the local 'spoons and the hotel are both open again and, whilst they didn't look as if they were thronging, they were attracting punters. And then on Sunday, when we were out for a picnic at the local beauty spot on the edge of town, the cafe-bar there had put two decent-sized marquees up outside and looked to be doing a very good trade - the marquees were mostly full, as were the outdoor tables, and quite a lot of folk sat on the grass as well.
It'd be no wonder, on the other hand, if the urban cores were finding this tough going. Precious few tourists or commuters left, a lot of attractions either opening tentatively (with reduced hours and pre-booked tickets) or still shuttered, meaning that there's not much to travel in for but the shopping - and you have to slog into the city and around it on plague-incubating public transport in a horrible mask in order even to do that. If you're shopping for clothes in particular then, given that you can't try anything on anyway, you might just as well buy online for home delivery and save yourself the hassle.
Anyway, we've a table booked for dinner at the hotel on Saturday night, so it'll be interesting to see how many tables they've been obliged to sacrifice to social distancing, and how many other people have decided to take the plunge.
@squareroot2 recent post, since he likes to bring up what I've said before:
"I have been reading up on Whatsapp as i couldn't work out why i kept being thrown off the network. That nice Mr Zuckerberg (who owns it along with Facebook) or whatever his name is throws you off the network if the lines get busy. not sure how arbitrary it is, but as soon as I switched to using data instead of wireless, the problem vanished."
I take it back, not a suspected moron. Definitely is a moron.
And with that, I won't be wasting any more of my time with that one.
Our new infection rates have been trending down for weeks, now, yet our death rate continues to tick along at modestly stable levels - it is odd that we haven’t yet seen the significant falling away of death rates that we see in Spain and Italy.
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
We lived in Central London for 30 years and loved it, now retired back to Cheshire. I think what you are seeing may be worse but not too different about what is happening everywhere in the UK on a smaller scale. Lots of local places are shutting for good.
Part of the problem seems to me to be that a substantial minority of the public don't really give a shit about the virus spreading or the safety of others so it keeps others away.
To give you an example we went into town on public transport today for the first time. We assumed that as it is compulsory to wear a mask we would be happy to do so only to find people on the bus without masks. I mentioned it to the driver who told me "we're not the police mate". So what is the point of making it compulsory if nobody enforces it? We won't be going into town to a restaurant again for a good while.
What I find ironical is the very people who aren't giving a shit now will be the very ones whinging most loudly when the pubs close down again, the shops shut and businesses collapse.
A big London bus went past my study window about 20 minutes ago. It had six people on it (at rush hour). Two were wearing masks. The driver wasn't one of the mask wearers.
It's pathetic. Even the staff aren't bothering
An economic whirlwind approaches, and we can't take basic precautions
No it isn't - but then I am sure the Government must know that so why take any credibility hit?
Well it was already unpopular, so returning to the status quo would have limited additional impact perhaps. At the least, it was already an unpopular situation they felt must or could be bourne, so may continue to assume that notwithstanding Covid.
Yes but them taking it away is going to generate headlines and cause them some damage, even if tiny. It seems like a pretty cheap thing to keep - just like the school meals - and is something I just find it odd as a hill to die on.
It honestly confirms to me, that this Government is lacking a human touch. And that works against an enemy in the EU, not so sure it works with well respected nurses and doctors.
Something really BAD may be happening in central London. Businesswise
Close friend just went to Charing Cross Rd. Half the bookshops are still shut, also the restaurants, bars, etc.
Why? Presumably there isn't yet enough passing traffic and footfall to make it profitable to open. But when will it ever be? So many people are going to WFH for months to come, which means these places will stay shut, which means even fewer people - eg tourists - will come in to town, as there are even fewer reasons to make the journey, which means even more places shut down for ever.
We could be witnessing the start of a hideous chain reaction of default and bankruptcy, hollowing out a global city in a few months.
I pray I am wrong.
Inevitable - very few people live in Central, Central London anymore. All the shops, restaurants etc are priced and setup for millions of people who come into the very centre each day.
Now they are not - perhaps 90% down.
The population of central London has risen dramatically in the last 20 years, as offices and retail space have been converted to flats and new residential towers have been constructed.
Go to Euston or Paddington or fitzrovia or Victoria, they are full of new flats.
They are, but the population density is still lower than inner city burbs like Islington or Brixton etc. And lots of these new flats are buy to let, second homes for rich Brits or foreigners, occupied by rich foreign students, and so on.
Many of those people have fled London, because plague, and many have not yet come back, hence the still-deserted streets. Lots might not come back for a looooong time
Of course they are.
But look at the raw population numbers (i.e. excluding second homes, straight from the census) for the inner London boroughs 1991 to 2018:
Islington +40% Camden +46% Westminster +38%
About to go into reverse, I fear
No bad thing if it happens.
Indeed. The other side of the coin is that estate agents in what you might call some of England’s neglected beauty spots are recording record levels of interest from Londoners wanting to escape from big city life.
Being an early person to get out of London could make a lot of sense.
@squareroot2 recent post, since he likes to bring up what I've said before:
"I have been reading up on Whatsapp as i couldn't work out why i kept being thrown off the network. That nice Mr Zuckerberg (who owns it along with Facebook) or whatever his name is throws you off the network if the lines get busy. not sure how arbitrary it is, but as soon as I switched to using data instead of wireless, the problem vanished."
I take it back, not a suspected moron. Definitely is a moron.
And with that, I won't be wasting any more of my time with that one.
No it isn't - but then I am sure the Government must know that so why take any credibility hit?
Well it was already unpopular, so returning to the status quo would have limited additional impact perhaps. At the least, it was already an unpopular situation they felt must or could be bourne, so may continue to assume that notwithstanding Covid.
Yes but them taking it away is going to generate headlines and cause them some damage, even if tiny. It seems like a pretty cheap thing to keep - just like the school meals - and is something I just find it odd as a hill to die on.
It honestly confirms to me, that this Government is lacking a human touch. And that works against an enemy in the EU, not so sure it works with well respected nurses and doctors.
Our new infection rates have been trending down for weeks, now, yet our death rate continues to tick along at modestly stable levels - it is odd that we haven’t yet seen the significant falling away of death rates that we see in Spain and Italy.
We have though. Also worth pointing out that there may be difficulty in international comparisons. I`m hearing that if someone dies testing positive for covid, covid is routinely put on death certificates. I`ve heard it`s to ease bureauocracy, but I`m not sure this is true.
No it isn't - but then I am sure the Government must know that so why take any credibility hit?
Well it was already unpopular, so returning to the status quo would have limited additional impact perhaps. At the least, it was already an unpopular situation they felt must or could be bourne, so may continue to assume that notwithstanding Covid.
Yes but them taking it away is going to generate headlines and cause them some damage, even if tiny. It seems like a pretty cheap thing to keep - just like the school meals - and is something I just find it odd as a hill to die on.
It honestly confirms to me, that this Government is lacking a human touch. And that works against an enemy in the EU, not so sure it works with well respected nurses and doctors.
No it isn't - but then I am sure the Government must know that so why take any credibility hit?
Well it was already unpopular, so returning to the status quo would have limited additional impact perhaps. At the least, it was already an unpopular situation they felt must or could be bourne, so may continue to assume that notwithstanding Covid.
Yes but them taking it away is going to generate headlines and cause them some damage, even if tiny. It seems like a pretty cheap thing to keep - just like the school meals - and is something I just find it odd as a hill to die on.
It honestly confirms to me, that this Government is lacking a human touch. And that works against an enemy in the EU, not so sure it works with well respected nurses and doctors.
Our new infection rates have been trending down for weeks, now, yet our death rate continues to tick along at modestly stable levels - it is odd that we haven’t yet seen the significant falling away of death rates that we see in Spain and Italy.
We have though. Also worth pointing out that there may be difficulty in international comparisons. I`m hearing that if someone dies testing positive for covid, covid is routinely put on death certificates. I`ve heard it`s to ease bureauocracy, but I`m not sure this is true.
Aren't the Spanish basically fiddling their stats?
Wanting to buy a house in London and the stamp duty cut makes it appealing but am going to hold off for a few months to get a clearer idea on where the market is going
Dear CHB
From previous thread.. if you want me to spell it out for you, you made a comment about Scottish call centres and people trusting the Scottish accent. I was just pointing out the disaster that was Royal Bank of Scotland that had to be rescued and that I wouldn't trust a Scottish Bank under any circumstances, or any onees that gets too big for their boots.
Secondly, I just wanted to point out that you have made several predictionson here that appear to be way off the mark, ever since your first where I seem to recall you professed to be an amateur and new to the site and called the GE too close to call. Of course it might have been someone else who made this prediction and I would be happy to apologise If I have got it wrong.
I never made a single comment about Scottish call centres, you absolute liar.
You are in the lion's den and on this excitable day when the "New Deal" has been heralded with fanfare, filleted socialist is on the menu.
To be honest, I am very supportive of what has been announced. I think there are areas that can be abused and I am happy to point those out but I think the general ideas and suggestions that have been put into place, are good.
On a purely selfish basis, the stamp duty one is potentially great for me. But then I am a filthy capitalist.
Most people will know by now that I don't stand for bs. If you lie and make up stuff about me, or attack my posts for no good reason, I am coming for you. End of story.
I can see the shortcomings, but best not to mention those on here!
Anyway don't let the b******* grind you down.
You're one of the few nice posters on here. Thanks for the support.
I have learned over the years that sometimes it is best to keep ones counsel.
I made the error of engaging in political discourse at the village pub at Christmas, explaining to one character why I feared Prime Minister Johnson. Without analysis he exclaimed that the right man won. I could have entered debate about parliamentary democracy but I refrained. Every time I see him now he cheerily tells me that the right man won.
No it isn't - but then I am sure the Government must know that so why take any credibility hit?
Well it was already unpopular, so returning to the status quo would have limited additional impact perhaps. At the least, it was already an unpopular situation they felt must or could be bourne, so may continue to assume that notwithstanding Covid.
Yes but them taking it away is going to generate headlines and cause them some damage, even if tiny. It seems like a pretty cheap thing to keep - just like the school meals - and is something I just find it odd as a hill to die on.
It honestly confirms to me, that this Government is lacking a human touch. And that works against an enemy in the EU, not so sure it works with well respected nurses and doctors.
Did you miss PMQs?
I missed it. What happened? Your verdict?
Starmer fluffed it, Johnson had an answer to everything.
Q1 Starmer "you're blaming care home workers" A1 Johnson "I take full responsibility, I praise care workers" Q2-Q5 Starmer "you're blaming care workers" A2-A5 Johnson "I've already said I'm praising care workers, you're proceeding with your prescripted questions" Q6 Starmer "Why are you abolishing free parking for NHS staff" A6 Johnson "We are offering free parking for NHS and as per our manifesto commitment are looking to expand that to patients too"
Dodds performance very poor, and Sunak has demolished it in response.
Labour has a better leader than Corbyn now but a worse Shadow Chancellor than McDonnell (even though personally as a Tory I would prefer Dodds)
McDonnell, the best Chancellor we nearly but never had?
Certainly a case can be made.
That has to go on a list.
- Go for it.
As to THE list. Now 8 fold. Will soon need a new sheet of paper at this rate.
From memory only 2 of the 8 were things I've actually said rather than you misrepresenting me.
No. They are all 100% pukka except - arguably - that you said Boris Johnson was "very muscly". That does have a slight element of exaggeration. The exact words were that he was "17 and a half stone but it's mainly muscle".
I absolutely never said "mainly muscle" that is a categorical lie you are saying.
Not a lie. But happy to move on and not mention it again for ages.
It is a complete and utter fabrication and lie. You put in quotation marks that I said "mainly muscle", please quote me using those words or be prepared to admit that you fabricated that and I never said it and you are lying.
It will be a hell of a faff to go back and fish it out. I can't recall the exact date and I have not got it on floppy.
But my clear recollection is of a surprising comment which stressed the high muscle/fat ratio of the Prime Minister. Is your recollection materially different?
Maybe it's on your floppy in which case ... ??
Yes. It is different.
I said repeatedly that I'd never said that and even requoted my original post in full. But you got off on banging on about Muscles Johnson when I never said that whatsoever.
It's a lie, a fabrication. You're putting words into quote marks that I never used and that's just not on.
I would never invent such a thing. But I am happy to consign it to the status of fond memory. I will not refer to Muscles Johnson again in any way that implicates you. That is a solemn promise.
But in return will you agree to call him Johnson when you and I are talking?
I appreciate you not making up fabrications about me regardless of what I say.
Not making any promises, I use both names and don't overly think it like you do.
I've noticed if I'm thinking of him alone I tend to use Boris, whereas if I'm referring to him in the context of naming multiple people I tend to use Johnson. But I'm not making promises.
"Boris" when you picture HIM. Ok fair enough. I can understand that.
And to wrap this up. Right. No "Muscles Johnson" any more - or at least not in bad way - and in return you use Johnson if at all possible on a best efforts basis.
What a big softy I am. Good job I'm not fronting up for us against Barnier.
No it isn't - but then I am sure the Government must know that so why take any credibility hit?
Well it was already unpopular, so returning to the status quo would have limited additional impact perhaps. At the least, it was already an unpopular situation they felt must or could be bourne, so may continue to assume that notwithstanding Covid.
Yes but them taking it away is going to generate headlines and cause them some damage, even if tiny. It seems like a pretty cheap thing to keep - just like the school meals - and is something I just find it odd as a hill to die on.
It honestly confirms to me, that this Government is lacking a human touch. And that works against an enemy in the EU, not so sure it works with well respected nurses and doctors.
Ironic given that most of the parking charges in hospital car parks came in as part of the PFI contracts signed under new labour who get away with it to this day.
Our new infection rates have been trending down for weeks, now, yet our death rate continues to tick along at modestly stable levels - it is odd that we haven’t yet seen the significant falling away of death rates that we see in Spain and Italy.
On the face of it this makes no sense. The prevalence of the virus now seems low in most of the country, new cases to deaths ratio is all out of kilter, and it gets stranger when you take into account the fact that the hospital numbers still appear to be drifting slowly downwards - suggesting that an ever-increasing proportion of the new deaths being reported are happening in elderly care homes or private residences.
Absent a proper breakdown of the figures, which means that one is necessarily guessing, I'm just wondering if a lot of the "new" deaths that are still trickling into the statistics now are historic fatalities that might have happened in April or May, but haven't been reported for months because the system for doing so is useless?
Our new infection rates have been trending down for weeks, now, yet our death rate continues to tick along at modestly stable levels - it is odd that we haven’t yet seen the significant falling away of death rates that we see in Spain and Italy.
We have though. Also worth pointing out that there may be difficulty in international comparisons. I`m hearing that if someone dies testing positive for covid, covid is routinely put on death certificates. I`ve heard it`s to ease bureauocracy, but I`m not sure this is true.
Aren't the Spanish basically fiddling their stats?
If they are then they are still publishing a lot of info. The biggest threat is the number of outbreaks being tracked, up to 68 today an outbreaking being multiple infections.
No it isn't - but then I am sure the Government must know that so why take any credibility hit?
Well it was already unpopular, so returning to the status quo would have limited additional impact perhaps. At the least, it was already an unpopular situation they felt must or could be bourne, so may continue to assume that notwithstanding Covid.
Yes but them taking it away is going to generate headlines and cause them some damage, even if tiny. It seems like a pretty cheap thing to keep - just like the school meals - and is something I just find it odd as a hill to die on.
It honestly confirms to me, that this Government is lacking a human touch. And that works against an enemy in the EU, not so sure it works with well respected nurses and doctors.
Did you miss PMQs?
I missed it. What happened? Your verdict?
Starmer fluffed it, Johnson had an answer to everything.
Q1 Starmer "you're blaming care home workers" A1 Johnson "I take full responsibility, I praise care workers" Q2-Q5 Starmer "you're blaming care workers" A2-A5 Johnson "I've already said I'm praising care workers, you're proceeding with your prescripted questions" Q6 Starmer "Why are you abolishing free parking for NHS staff" A6 Johnson "We are offering free parking for NHS and as per our manifesto commitment are looking to expand that to patients too"
That can’t be right. David Schneider has tweeted about the govt scrapping free parking and being hypocrites. It’s got lots of,likes and retweets so must be true.
No it isn't - but then I am sure the Government must know that so why take any credibility hit?
Well it was already unpopular, so returning to the status quo would have limited additional impact perhaps. At the least, it was already an unpopular situation they felt must or could be bourne, so may continue to assume that notwithstanding Covid.
Yes but them taking it away is going to generate headlines and cause them some damage, even if tiny. It seems like a pretty cheap thing to keep - just like the school meals - and is something I just find it odd as a hill to die on.
It honestly confirms to me, that this Government is lacking a human touch. And that works against an enemy in the EU, not so sure it works with well respected nurses and doctors.
Ironic given that most of the parking charges in hospital car parks came in as part of the PFI contracts signed under new labour who get away with it to this day.
One of their poor policies and something they should have abolished before they left office. I am happy to admit they got it wrong.
LadyG: just been reading your excellent posts about London. I`m with you . It is very concerning indeed.
May be nationwide too, I think. I`m just back from a few nights in Dorset/Devon border. I was surprised and disappointed that only, I`d say, 25% of pubs were open. Maybe more have opened since I`ve got back? A higher proportion of cafes, though, are open - maybe 75%.
Many shops are closed. Some have notices on the door saying lack of staff!
We fancied having a browse round a particular clothes shop. It was of decent size. There was a queue outside with a notice saying "maximum four people in store at any time". If we had entered, my family of four would have stopped anyone else from entering, whilst we were merely having a browse with no real intent to buy anything. In the end we walked away. Businesses can not operate in this way. Many people (I have to say many on the left) seem to think things will magic back to normal.
I`ve got friends who are no nearer coming out of hiding than they were a month ago. I have others who say they are "shielding" but have no clue that their ailments do not nearly qualify them for that status.
Many were keen to hector about civic duty in (over)complying with lockdown, but don`t follow that through with a civic duty to get things going again in un-lockdown.
Exactly.
All the people saying "oh, it's only London, London can cope, besides this will be good for the rest of the country", do not seem to realise that
1. if the London economy collapses that means real financial pain for all Britons
and
2. what is maybe happening to London, now, is quite likely to be repeated in many places across the UK, albeit on a smaller scale
Think of tourist reliant cities like Bath, Cambridge, Edinburgh... then busy office-rich cities like Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff....
Our new infection rates have been trending down for weeks, now, yet our death rate continues to tick along at modestly stable levels - it is odd that we haven’t yet seen the significant falling away of death rates that we see in Spain and Italy.
We have though. Also worth pointing out that there may be difficulty in international comparisons. I`m hearing that if someone dies testing positive for covid, covid is routinely put on death certificates. I`ve heard it`s to ease bureauocracy, but I`m not sure this is true.
I cannot speak for other countries, but that is certainly not the case for UK death certification.
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Nothing wrong with Hartlepool. I had an excellent day out there a couple of years back.
I haven't personally had the pleasure of sampling the local guacamole, but I'm sure it's a delightful place. However, it doesn't quite have the density of interest required to make it a bucket-list tourist destination.
Hartlepool's like the shittest part of Essex but with Geordie accents.
Geordie accents? GEORDIE? Mate, you've not been to Pools and listened hard enough...
Best thing about Hartlepools? A lot of roads out.
Forgive him. Southerners don't know any better.
Since when has Yorkshire been in the south?
University friends from Bolton and Leeds considered Sheffield to be the gateway to the South.
There is a sign in my village directing people to Darlington and the South. Anything Lancashire or Yorkshire is "Down South".
I live at a more northerly latitude than Darlington, whist still being in Yorkshire. So am I dahn sarf or not?
No it isn't - but then I am sure the Government must know that so why take any credibility hit?
Well it was already unpopular, so returning to the status quo would have limited additional impact perhaps. At the least, it was already an unpopular situation they felt must or could be bourne, so may continue to assume that notwithstanding Covid.
Yes but them taking it away is going to generate headlines and cause them some damage, even if tiny. It seems like a pretty cheap thing to keep - just like the school meals - and is something I just find it odd as a hill to die on.
It honestly confirms to me, that this Government is lacking a human touch. And that works against an enemy in the EU, not so sure it works with well respected nurses and doctors.
Did you miss PMQs?
I missed it. What happened? Your verdict?
Starmer fluffed it, Johnson had an answer to everything.
Q1 Starmer "you're blaming care home workers" A1 Johnson "I take full responsibility, I praise care workers" Q2-Q5 Starmer "you're blaming care workers" A2-A5 Johnson "I've already said I'm praising care workers, you're proceeding with your prescripted questions" Q6 Starmer "Why are you abolishing free parking for NHS staff" A6 Johnson "We are offering free parking for NHS and as per our manifesto commitment are looking to expand that to patients too"
That can’t be right. David Schneider has tweeted about the govt scrapping free parking and being hypocrites. It’s got lots of,likes and retweets so must be true.
Indeed.
That was hilarious the exchange on Q6. Starmer had a face like he'd swallowed a wasp when that answer was given.
I was speaking to a former SPAD today and they said the expectation at Westminster and the EU is that it'll be like the withdrawal agreement all over again.
The PM will capitulate to the EU and lie outright (like he did to the ERG and the DUP) about his brilliant new deal.
Oh, I'm sure that's true, but it doesn't help much on this point, which is about the readiness (or rather the near-total unreadiness) of the computer and administrative systems which will be needed irrespective of whether there is a deal. This is true both in government and in the businesses which are going to have to implement all this extra red tape. The situation has of course been made much worse by the fact that Covid-19 will have disrupted the whole public and private sector for months.
The expectation is that apart from FOM it might end up being quite BINO with a long transition period, so plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
Virtual certainty imo.
Purely politically, there's a mad logic to that.
Suppose you've realised that a Brexit Culture War is a good way to keep the old gang together, and that a 2024 election on "Boris's True Brexit vs Starmer's Single Market" is the way to go.
Suppose you know that True Brexit in 2021 will make you Historical Enemy Number One / stop you playing with all the cool toys you've just won. What do you do?
Sign up for a 3 year extension that isn't an extension. Basically exchange Free Movement for any say in the rules. At a bargain price of, say, £250 million per week?
Nothing too bad will happen to the economy. You've saved millions of pounds. You can carry on negotiating new trade deals, in much the same way that Winston Smith worked on the Newspeak dictionary at the end of 1984. And you get another cliff edge to hype everyone up in 2024. What's not to like?
It requires masses of chutzpah to pull it off, but that's one of the things No 10 has in excess...
I was speaking to a former SPAD today and they said the expectation at Westminster and the EU is that it'll be like the withdrawal agreement all over again.
The PM will capitulate to the EU and lie outright (like he did to the ERG and the DUP) about his brilliant new deal.
Oh, I'm sure that's true, but it doesn't help much on this point, which is about the readiness (or rather the near-total unreadiness) of the computer and administrative systems which will be needed irrespective of whether there is a deal. This is true both in government and in the businesses which are going to have to implement all this extra red tape. The situation has of course been made much worse by the fact that Covid-19 will have disrupted the whole public and private sector for months.
The expectation is that apart from FOM it might end up being quite BINO with a long transition period, so plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
Virtual certainty imo.
Purely politically, there's a mad logic to that.
Suppose you've realised that a Brexit Culture War is a good way to keep the old gang together, and that a 2024 election on "Boris's True Brexit vs Starmer's Single Market" is the way to go.
Suppose you know that True Brexit in 2021 will make you Historical Enemy Number One / stop you playing with all the cool toys you've just won. What do you do?
Sign up for a 3 year extension that isn't an extension. Basically exchange Free Movement for any say in the rules. At a bargain price of, say, £250 million per week?
Nothing too bad will happen to the economy. You've saved millions of pounds. You can carry on negotiating new trade deals, in much the same way that Winston Smith worked on the Newspeak dictionary at the end of 1984. And you get another cliff edge to hype everyone up in 2024. What's not to like?
It requires masses of chutzpah to pull it off, but that's one of the things No 10 has in excess...
Comments
If a company is expecting to be trading at say 90% in the New Year but back to 100% by this time next year after vaccines have become available then is keeping its staff on, on a Part Time basis a bad thing?
Happened because crew disassembling the crane had gotten into the habit of pre-loosening most of the bolts, against safety protocol but saved time. And no problem - until the day that a line of thunderstorms (rare for Seattle) moved though, and a mico-burst blew the half-attached crane down, killing several people and doing considerable damage.
Although Holmfirth is very nice, if you pretend it’s not in Huddersfield.
Government will be over the moon if companies put their staff on 80/80 contracts, basically four days a week for four days' pay - as opposed to laying off 20% of the workforce.
All the people saying "oh, it's only London, London can cope, besides this will be good for the rest of the country", do not seem to realise that
1. if the London economy collapses that means real financial pain for all Britons
and
2. what is maybe happening to London, now, is quite likely to be repeated in many places across the UK, albeit on a smaller scale
Think of tourist reliant cities like Bath, Cambridge, Edinburgh... then busy office-rich cities like Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff....
It's scary.
Don't like it, don't want London to be the economic centre and us be so reliant on it but that is reality.
If London tanks we're in all kinds of trouble. Central London news is deeply worrying.
It's pathetic. Even the staff aren't bothering
An economic whirlwind approaches, and we can't take basic precautions
I find it very upsetting, I have to say.
Anything Lancashire or Yorkshire is "Down South".
Which is VERY similar to the Native American Coast Salish pronunciation of their name for what we today call Puget Sound, which sounded (something like) "Wulge"
PBers may have heard of the myth of the Welsh Indians. But Polish Indians?
If people are working throughout the country rather than all being in Central London that's not a bad thing or a disaster for the country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_international_visitors
So to return to normal economic activity, people need to be confident that the disease is under control. They are not yet. Our figures for deaths and infections are still too high, and people know that the track, trace isolate system is not working fully yet.
When Anneliese Dodds was criticised for talking about the virus in response to Sunak, this is what she was getting at. Confidence that the virus is under control is a prerequisite to a return to normal activity, and this government can't yet give us that confidence because they have not been very good at managing the pandemic.
So despite Sunak's exhortations and bribes, we'll only revive the economy when people are reasonably confident that the virus is not omnipresent. Looks like they're almost there in France, for example, but not here.
But in return will you agree to call him Johnson when you and I are talking?
There is no reason for tourist resorts to also be working locations too.
Or a slow bus to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
I cannot say I'd like to leave it that late, and I am perfectly content to believe the government in general runs things badly, but is 'what we should expect' here that the government successfully met a deadline? When they submitted the application seems like neither proof or disproof of incompetence, even if journalists are known for leaving things till the last minute.
All the incentives to go out and spend work in normal downturns but when there’s a risk to your life, simply nothing will help. Not tangibly.
I am keen to go the pub but I am simply not going to take the risk for some time. I definitely won’t be eating out for some time either.
Going to get my hair cut is slightly stressing me out.
Not making any promises, I use both names and don't overly think it like you do.
I've noticed if I'm thinking of him alone I tend to use Boris, whereas if I'm referring to him in the context of naming multiple people I tend to use Johnson. But I'm not making promises.
I'll give it one more go.
If half of the theatres in London shutter for good, and all the jobs go, those jobs are GONE. London theatreland is not going to "disperse" to Devon, or Huddersfield, or a meadow in Powys. Shaftesbury Avenue is not going to rematerialise in Sheffield.
Same for galleries, restaurants, bars, cafes, clubs. Same for the people that service THOSE firms. This is an entire ecosystem: the centre of a global city.
It won't just magically shift to Swindon. If it disappears, it disappears.
From previous thread.. if you want me to spell it out for you, you made a comment about Scottish call centres and people trusting the Scottish accent. I was just pointing out the disaster that was Royal Bank of Scotland that had to be rescued and that I wouldn't trust a Scottish Bank under any circumstances, or any bank that gets too big for its boots.
Secondly, I just wanted to point out that I seem to recall you have made several predictions on here that appear to be way off the mark, ever since your first where you professed to be an amateur and new to the site and called the GE too close to call. Of course it might have been someone else who made this prediction and I would be happy to apologise if I have got it wrong.
But look at the raw population numbers (i.e. excluding second homes, straight from the census) for the inner London boroughs 1991 to 2018:
Islington +40%
Camden +46%
Westminster +38%
People will still want entertainment, they will still want restaurants, bars, cafes and clubs. If its not in London it will be elsewhere.
The West End will remain in London but there's restaurants in every part of the country and its a pathetic joke if you think there's not going to be restaurants outside of London.
Similar to USA & UK in this respect.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/leftists-turn-marxist-lecturer-noam-chomsky-others-pen-letter-encouraging-open-debate-dialogue/
You add a ground total of sweet F all to this site and are by far the most moronic poster here. I get a good laugh at every one of your posts, they are terrible.
And like I said above, so you are a liar. Or you can't read. Or you are an idiot. Which is it?
On a purely selfish basis, the stamp duty one is potentially great for me. But then I am a filthy capitalist.
Most people will know by now that I don't stand for bs. If you lie and make up stuff about me, or attack my posts for no good reason, I am coming for you. End of story.
Your chances of catching the Rona now are really very low, unless you're in a hotspot like Leicester, and even there it's hardly rampant
The government should now be stressing this every day. Yes be alert, but don't be cowed. We need to get the economy shifting, ASAFP
https://twitter.com/Politics_Polls/status/1280889461417656327?s=20
I misread the comment , it was the next one up, for which I apologise, the rest I am sure I was right.
Keep taking the pills.
To be followed by a somewhat pedantic chorus of ‘Tee, Tee, Teessider’.
The same response to every post I make from you is along the lines of "huhuhah another prediction". Usually unintelligible nonsense surrounding it, woeful punctuation and crap but that is the general gist. We can add liar, moron and inability to read, to your list of traits.
It makes you look like a proper saddo, that in effect your contributions to this site are following me around and telling me about predictions I made 6 months ago.
You need to get a life.
Anyway don't let the b******* grind you down.
Just awful.
I've not been all round town being nosy, but I know from walking past them on Saturday that the local 'spoons and the hotel are both open again and, whilst they didn't look as if they were thronging, they were attracting punters. And then on Sunday, when we were out for a picnic at the local beauty spot on the edge of town, the cafe-bar there had put two decent-sized marquees up outside and looked to be doing a very good trade - the marquees were mostly full, as were the outdoor tables, and quite a lot of folk sat on the grass as well.
It'd be no wonder, on the other hand, if the urban cores were finding this tough going. Precious few tourists or commuters left, a lot of attractions either opening tentatively (with reduced hours and pre-booked tickets) or still shuttered, meaning that there's not much to travel in for but the shopping - and you have to slog into the city and around it on plague-incubating public transport in a horrible mask in order even to do that. If you're shopping for clothes in particular then, given that you can't try anything on anyway, you might just as well buy online for home delivery and save yourself the hassle.
Anyway, we've a table booked for dinner at the hotel on Saturday night, so it'll be interesting to see how many tables they've been obliged to sacrifice to social distancing, and how many other people have decided to take the plunge.
"I have been reading up on Whatsapp as i couldn't work out why i kept being thrown off the network. That nice Mr Zuckerberg (who owns it along with Facebook) or whatever his name is throws you off the network if the lines get busy. not sure how arbitrary it is, but as soon as I switched to using data instead of wireless, the problem vanished."
I take it back, not a suspected moron. Definitely is a moron.
And with that, I won't be wasting any more of my time with that one.
By the government.
It honestly confirms to me, that this Government is lacking a human touch. And that works against an enemy in the EU, not so sure it works with well respected nurses and doctors.
I made the error of engaging in political discourse at the village pub at Christmas, explaining to one character why I feared Prime Minister Johnson. Without analysis he exclaimed that the right man won. I could have entered debate about parliamentary democracy but I refrained. Every
time I see him now he cheerily tells me that the right man won.
Q1 Starmer "you're blaming care home workers"
A1 Johnson "I take full responsibility, I praise care workers"
Q2-Q5 Starmer "you're blaming care workers"
A2-A5 Johnson "I've already said I'm praising care workers, you're proceeding with your prescripted questions"
Q6 Starmer "Why are you abolishing free parking for NHS staff"
A6 Johnson "We are offering free parking for NHS and as per our manifesto commitment are looking to expand that to patients too"
And to wrap this up. Right. No "Muscles Johnson" any more - or at least not in bad way - and in return you use Johnson if at all possible on a best efforts basis.
What a big softy I am. Good job I'm not fronting up for us against Barnier.
Absent a proper breakdown of the figures, which means that one is necessarily guessing, I'm just wondering if a lot of the "new" deaths that are still trickling into the statistics now are historic fatalities that might have happened in April or May, but haven't been reported for months because the system for doing so is useless?
Today’s figures
Diagnosticados últimas 24 horas: 257 Diagnosticados últimos 7 días: 2347 Diagnosticados últimos 14 días: 4653 Incidencia Acumulada (IA): 9,89 Número reproductivo básico (Rt): 0,9
Fallecidos:28.396
Fallecidos últimos 7 días: 9
Recuperados:18-05-2020150.376
Hospitalizados: 125.630 Hospitalizados últimos 7 días: 137 UCI: 11.707 UCI últimos 7 días: 6
Indeed it is why we have "excess deaths".
That was hilarious the exchange on Q6. Starmer had a face like he'd swallowed a wasp when that answer was given.
Suppose you've realised that a Brexit Culture War is a good way to keep the old gang together, and that a 2024 election on "Boris's True Brexit vs Starmer's Single Market" is the way to go.
Suppose you know that True Brexit in 2021 will make you Historical Enemy Number One / stop you playing with all the cool toys you've just won. What do you do?
Sign up for a 3 year extension that isn't an extension. Basically exchange Free Movement for any say in the rules. At a bargain price of, say, £250 million per week?
Nothing too bad will happen to the economy. You've saved millions of pounds. You can carry on negotiating new trade deals, in much the same way that Winston Smith worked on the Newspeak dictionary at the end of 1984. And you get another cliff edge to hype everyone up in 2024. What's not to like?
It requires masses of chutzpah to pull it off, but that's one of the things No 10 has in excess...