It's not just Williamson though. The rot comes from the top. Michelle's words about Donald Trump could be applied to Boris Johnson: he is clearly in over his head.
He's incompetent, ill-disciplined, slack, dim, careless, boorish, philandering, gluttonous, oleaginous, corpulent ... a flatulent oaf of a Prime Minister.
To be fair to Williamson all four home nations got it very wrong so he is in good company.
Perhaps the fiasco was inevitable once exams were shelved. Perhaps the finger pointing should start there. Universities managed to get remote assessments organised by June. This happened for both of my undergraduate son's.
Anyway I have had confirmation that I am eligible for the second installment of the self-employment adverse trading grant. Who doesn't love a government handing out free money? 12 point poll lead for the Tories next weekend?
It's not just Williamson though. The rot comes from the top. Michelle's words about Donald Trump could be applied to Boris Johnson: he is clearly in over his head.
He's incompetent, ill-disciplined, slack, dim, careless, boorish, philandering, gluttonous, oleaginous, corpulent ... a flatulent oaf of a Prime Minister.
And Johnson like Trump has a ridiculous hair cut trying to disguise his baldness.
I’m still in hospital. Had a rough night but overall am getting there. Hopefully I wont be here for too long. These wards are not at all conducive to healing or rest. I wish I had a private room with an en suite.
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
I spent a fair chunk of yesterday running my wife to and from the hospital for her operation. Listening to the radio this seems to me to have the greatest cut through of any of the sub optimal steps of the government to date. Will it be solved by the sweeties for all approach? Maybe, but it was obvious that the knock on implications for both University and colleges (in respect of the various other qualifications affected) is going to keep this ticking over for some time. I expect the government to take a serious hit for this.
One other thing I picked up was Andy Burnham's role in threatening judicial review of the original scheme. I heard him at some length and he was quite impressive. If I was SKS I would be thinking creatively about seeking to entice him back to Westminster for a heavy weight role, possibly shadow Chancellor.
I’m still in hospital. Had a rough night but overall am getting there. Hopefully I wont be here for too long. These wards are not at all conducive to healing or rest. I wish I had a private room with an en suite.
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
Sorry you are having such a hard time of it. Get well soon.
I’m still in hospital. Had a rough night but overall am getting there. Hopefully I wont be here for too long. These wards are not at all conducive to healing or rest. I wish I had a private room with an en suite.
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
Sorry to hear things still a bit rough. Get well soon.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
I’m still in hospital. Had a rough night but overall am getting there. Hopefully I wont be here for too long. These wards are not at all conducive to healing or rest. I wish I had a private room with an en suite.
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
In the bug ridden backward (allegedly) country I live in single en-suite rooms are the norm.
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
I’m still in hospital. Had a rough night but overall am getting there. Hopefully I wont be here for too long. These wards are not at all conducive to healing or rest. I wish I had a private room with an en suite.
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
I have had a few unplanned hospital stays, If I have to go again I would pay for a private room. Banning mobile phones at night on the wards would be good. Get some sound cancelling headphones, they really help. I know how unpleasant it can be, hope you are well enough to go home soon.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
Not sure I agree with this. He was pretty ruthless in dealing with those who opposed his Brexit plans etc. Kicking not 1 but 2 former Chancellors out of the party, for example.
I’m still in hospital. Had a rough night but overall am getting there. Hopefully I wont be here for too long. These wards are not at all conducive to healing or rest. I wish I had a private room with an en suite.
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
I’m still in hospital. Had a rough night but overall am getting there. Hopefully I wont be here for too long. These wards are not at all conducive to healing or rest. I wish I had a private room with an en suite.
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
I have had a few unplanned hospital stays, If I have to go again I would pay for a private room. Banning mobile phones at night on the wards would be good. Get some sound cancelling headphones, they really help. I know how unpleasant it can be, hope you are well enough to go home soon.
I was in a few years back, they thought I might have something infectious (Turned out it was sepsis actually) so got my own private room !
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
Yeah, like all of the following would endorse your opinion on this matter: Anne Milton, Caroline Nokes, Antoinette Sandbach, Rory Stewart, Nicholas Soames, Edward Vaizey, Stephen Hammond, Richard Harrington, Margot James, Oliver Letwin, Guto Bebb, Richard Benyon, Greg Clark, Alistair Burt, Steve Brine, Ken Clarke, Justine Greening, David Gauke, Dominic Grieve, Sam Gyimah and Philip Hammond
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
Indeed.
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
Williamson shouldn't go for this any more than Swinney, or the Lib Dems Education Secretary in the Welsh Labour government, or the NI equivalent have been forced to go. This isn't a resigning matter.
Williamson should go because he's awful, but that has nothing to do with any of this.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Just like Trump, Johnson values personal loyalty far above competence.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
Yeah, like all of the following would endorse your opinion on this matter: Anne Milton, Caroline Nokes, Antoinette Sandbach, Rory Stewart, Nicholas Soames, Edward Vaizey, Stephen Hammond, Richard Harrington, Margot James, Oliver Letwin, Guto Bebb, Richard Benyon, Greg Clark, Alistair Burt, Steve Brine, Ken Clarke, Justine Greening, David Gauke, Dominic Grieve, Sam Gyimah and Philip Hammond
Yes, but all of these you mention were lying on the ground and defenceless. This is when Johnson ambled over and kicked the daylights out of them.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
Not sure I agree with this. He was pretty ruthless in dealing with those who opposed his Brexit plans etc. Kicking not 1 but 2 former Chancellors out of the party, for example.
But we shall see.
That is why (imo) Williamson is safe. Boris is ruthless when opposed but Williamson poses no threat. Williamson can therefore be kept around as an impotent nonentity to take the flak over reopened schools and then to support Boris during the actualité of Brexit.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
Yeah, like all of the following would endorse your opinion on this matter: Anne Milton, Caroline Nokes, Antoinette Sandbach, Rory Stewart, Nicholas Soames, Edward Vaizey, Stephen Hammond, Richard Harrington, Margot James, Oliver Letwin, Guto Bebb, Richard Benyon, Greg Clark, Alistair Burt, Steve Brine, Ken Clarke, Justine Greening, David Gauke, Dominic Grieve, Sam Gyimah and Philip Hammond
Yes, but all of these you mention were lying on the ground and defenceless. This is when Johnson ambled over and kicked the daylights out of them.
Were they? I seem to remember Oliver Letwin rather enjoying the moniker of unofficial PM at the time.
Someone's just put up another £250 but yes, the tens and hundreds of thousands have been taken. Trump is 1.01 to be GOP nominee next week. Mike Pence is 1.04 for GOP VP.
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
Indeed.
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
If there's news of a big vaccine setback then I'd probably pivot to the more gupta/sweden view - but I'm reasonably optimistic on that front.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
Not sure I agree with this. He was pretty ruthless in dealing with those who opposed his Brexit plans etc. Kicking not 1 but 2 former Chancellors out of the party, for example.
But we shall see.
That is why (imo) Williamson is safe. Boris is ruthless when opposed but Williamson poses no threat. Williamson can therefore be kept around as an impotent nonentity to take the flak over reopened schools and then to support Boris during the actualité of Brexit.
I am not one to call for individual sackings, though would be delighted to see the whole government sacked. What is the point of sacking one incompetent nonentity, only to replace with a crony desperate to prove their incompetence in a new area?
Let Williamson hang on, like a dead albatross around this governments neck.
I’m still in hospital. Had a rough night but overall am getting there. Hopefully I wont be here for too long. These wards are not at all conducive to healing or rest. I wish I had a private room with an en suite.
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
I have had a few unplanned hospital stays, If I have to go again I would pay for a private room. Banning mobile phones at night on the wards would be good. Get some sound cancelling headphones, they really help. I know how unpleasant it can be, hope you are well enough to go home soon.
Bloody Florence Nightingale! At a pinch, disposable foam ear plugs really do work. When (if) you buy, note if they are wrapped or loose. Wrapped is probably safer in the pandemic but risks choking dolphins.
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
Indeed.
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
To nightclubs, I would also add gigs and loud music in pubs. Vocalisation and people getting physically close so they can hear each other are a recipe for spread. Sadly football crowds too. Quiet crowds in theatres or lectures etc may well be safe. Unfortunate, and I am a fan of live music, but not safe at present.
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
Indeed.
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
If there's news of a big vaccine setback then I'd probably pivot to the more gupta/sweden view - but I'm reasonably optimistic on that front.
Agreed 100%
The vaccines news seems very positive at the moment. If there's going to be a vaccine soon, why not get on with things sensibly until then?
If there's not going to be a vaccine then obviously things would have to change. We can't do this forever.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
Not sure I agree with this. He was pretty ruthless in dealing with those who opposed his Brexit plans etc. Kicking not 1 but 2 former Chancellors out of the party, for example.
But we shall see.
That is why (imo) Williamson is safe. Boris is ruthless when opposed but Williamson poses no threat. Williamson can therefore be kept around as an impotent nonentity to take the flak over reopened schools and then to support Boris during the actualité of Brexit.
I am not one to call for individual sackings, though would be delighted to see the whole government sacked. What is the point of sacking one incompetent nonentity, only to replace with a crony desperate to prove their incompetence in a new area?
Let Williamson hang on, like a dead albatross around this governments neck.
However much of a cock-up A-levels was, the row is time-limited. Next up is reopening schools without filling the morgues.
I’m still in hospital. Had a rough night but overall am getting there. Hopefully I wont be here for too long. These wards are not at all conducive to healing or rest. I wish I had a private room with an en suite.
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
I have had a few unplanned hospital stays, If I have to go again I would pay for a private room. Banning mobile phones at night on the wards would be good. Get some sound cancelling headphones, they really help. I know how unpleasant it can be, hope you are well enough to go home soon.
Bloody Florence Nightingale! At a pinch, disposable foam ear plugs really do work. When (if) you buy, note if they are wrapped or loose. Wrapped is probably safer in the pandemic but risks choking dolphins.
Individual rooms are far better for recovery, and old Nightingale wards obsolete. They were designed so a minimum number of staff could monitor a lot of patients, and our 6 Bay wards similarly.
There is still some merit in this, noisy though they are, open wards allow staff, patients and visitors to raise alarm on deteriation more easily. In the rehab phase they are often good for the socially isolated who get few visitors too.
Busy acute medical and surgical wards less so, and the noise, alarms, comings and goings, confused fellow patients are all quite scary for the average punter.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
Yeah, like all of the following would endorse your opinion on this matter: Anne Milton, Caroline Nokes, Antoinette Sandbach, Rory Stewart, Nicholas Soames, Edward Vaizey, Stephen Hammond, Richard Harrington, Margot James, Oliver Letwin, Guto Bebb, Richard Benyon, Greg Clark, Alistair Burt, Steve Brine, Ken Clarke, Justine Greening, David Gauke, Dominic Grieve, Sam Gyimah and Philip Hammond
Yes, but all of these you mention were lying on the ground and defenceless. This is when Johnson ambled over and kicked the daylights out of them.
Were they? I seem to remember Oliver Letwin rather enjoying the moniker of unofficial PM at the time.
Indeed. The idea that Dominic Grieve who had been a major thorn in the side of successive PMs was simply "lying on the ground and defenceless" is absurd. He had been fighting against the Tory Party policy for years and manifesto commitments for years. His expulsion was longer overdue.
Then he didn't just give up, he fought on and stood again at the election - and was comprehensively defeated at the ballot box. That's democracy. Sore losers grumbling that their views are defeated at the ballot box is just sour grapes.
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
Indeed.
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
If there's news of a big vaccine setback then I'd probably pivot to the more gupta/sweden view - but I'm reasonably optimistic on that front.
The USA trials of the Oxford vaccine seem to have gone very quiet. AstraZeneca has tied up with IQVIA to speed up trials, but the trials apparently have not started yet. New cases are now declining in the USA, so by the time these trials start it could be too late for enough data to be collected to yield results. It has not been made clear if data from trials in different countries can be combined to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of this vaccine, so all the trials could come back with the result "not enough data".
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
Indeed.
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
To nightclubs, I would also add gigs and loud music in pubs. Vocalisation and people getting physically close so they can hear each other are a recipe for spread. Sadly football crowds too. Quiet crowds in theatres or lectures etc may well be safe. Unfortunate, and I am a fan of live music, but not safe at present.
It seems to have barely been mentioned but, to date, the two leading vaccines require two jabs.
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
Indeed.
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
To nightclubs, I would also add gigs and loud music in pubs. Vocalisation and people getting physically close so they can hear each other are a recipe for spread. Sadly football crowds too. Quiet crowds in theatres or lectures etc may well be safe. Unfortunate, and I am a fan of live music, but not safe at present.
It seems to have barely been mentioned but, to date, the two leading vaccines require two jabs.
Boris was voted in because he was seen to be an electoral asset.
As soon as he's an electoral liability.. gone. My view is next year.
The Tory party doesn't muck about when it comes to millstone leaders.
You're joking right? The party kept Theresa May for nearly two years after the election failure. The idea that it'd give less time to a landslide election winner is fantasy land.
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
Indeed.
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
To nightclubs, I would also add gigs and loud music in pubs. Vocalisation and people getting physically close so they can hear each other are a recipe for spread. Sadly football crowds too. Quiet crowds in theatres or lectures etc may well be safe. Unfortunate, and I am a fan of live music, but not safe at present.
It seems to have barely been mentioned but, to date, the two leading vaccines require two jabs.
Many vaccines do. Is that important?
Only in the sense that we will need to jab millions of people and so twice is twice as many clinic visits (unless I have misunderstood and it is two jabs on same day with different stuff).
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
Indeed.
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
To nightclubs, I would also add gigs and loud music in pubs. Vocalisation and people getting physically close so they can hear each other are a recipe for spread. Sadly football crowds too. Quiet crowds in theatres or lectures etc may well be safe. Unfortunate, and I am a fan of live music, but not safe at present.
It seems to have barely been mentioned but, to date, the two leading vaccines require two jabs.
Many vaccines do. Is that important?
Only in the sense that we will need to jab millions of people and so twice is twice as many clinic visits (unless I have misunderstood and it is two jabs on same day with different stuff).
Yeah it will be more visits but I doubt that's going to be that massive an issue once the vaccine is available. Especially if how its given out can be distributed eg via pharmacies.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
It’s the only option. But the SNP don’t want to explain how much it will cost or the risks - for exporters to their largest market, or people with debts in GBP.
Labour Emma Hardy now saying how on earth can we accommodate all these students
You could not make this up
And Williamson is just excruciating to listen to
It was bound to happen, as soon as the Givernment did what 95% of people wanted and U turned, within 5 minutes the BBC were interviewing people describing all the negative aspects of the U-Turn eg grade inflation and not enough Uni places. It really shows that this was an impossible position and whatever the Government did would be wrong. And as you have so rightly said all 4 countries have had to do the same thing. I still don't understand how Labour can criticise what the Government in London has done when its own Government in Cardiff did exactly the same thing an hour before.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
Yeah, like all of the following would endorse your opinion on this matter: Anne Milton, Caroline Nokes, Antoinette Sandbach, Rory Stewart, Nicholas Soames, Edward Vaizey, Stephen Hammond, Richard Harrington, Margot James, Oliver Letwin, Guto Bebb, Richard Benyon, Greg Clark, Alistair Burt, Steve Brine, Ken Clarke, Justine Greening, David Gauke, Dominic Grieve, Sam Gyimah and Philip Hammond
Did BoJo do the sacking, or was that delegated to the Chief Whip?
He is capable of brutal mass sackings, but is strangely paralysed when it comes to Cabinet members who blatantly need to go. Two possibilities I can think of, neither showing him in a good light...
First is that there's only one offence under Johnson, and that offence isn't failing at government. So Julian Lewis was out in minutes, because he showed disloyalty. But if you're loyal, you're untouchable.
Other is that Number 10 shows signs of the "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic" mindset. The inner circle is happy to do drastic things in the abstract (no deal Brexit, running Covid hot, using a fairly brutal exam algorithm...) but goes soppy when faced with individual consequences. Ultimately, that's no way to run a nation.
To be fair to Williamson all four home nations got it very wrong so he is in good company.
Perhaps the fiasco was inevitable once exams were shelved. Perhaps the finger pointing should start there. Universities managed to get remote assessments organised by June. This happened for both of my undergraduate son's.
Anyway I have had confirmation that I am eligible for the second installment of the self-employment adverse trading grant. Who doesn't love a government handing out free money? 12 point poll lead for the Tories next weekend?
Students would not accept grades decided by a computer, but will accept grades decided by a human who is familiar with their work. Therefore as the examinations were cancelled, only the teachers could decide the grades. But if the government had announced this in advance, the teachers might have given even higher grades to their students, so instead the algorithm was developed.
Giving the teachers more control sooner could have led to fairer results, but would have caused much controversy at a time when the economy was being reopened. Perhaps the government did the right things given the limitations, but it is having to pay the price of unpopularity.
Labour Emma Hardy now saying how on earth can we accommodate all these students
You could not make this up
And Williamson is just excruciating to listen to
It was bound to happen, as soon as the Givernment did what 95% of people wanted and U turned, within 5 minutes the BBC were interviewing people describing all the negative aspects of the U-Turn eg grade inflation and not enough Uni places. It really shows that this was an impossible position and whatever the Government did would be wrong. And as you have so rightly said all 4 countries have had to do the same thing. I still don't understand how Labour can criticise what the Government in London has done when its own Government in Cardiff did exactly the same thing an hour before.
Not only that but the Welsh Labour government explicitly said they only u-turned because they knew the English u-turn was coming and that if the English didn't then they weren't planning on doing so. Rather undermines the idea that Labour knew better.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
It’s the only option. But the SNP don’t want to explain how much it will cost or the risks - for exporters to their largest market, or people with debts in GBP.
Plainly an independent Scottish currency is not the only option, and given the importance of cross-border trade (no snp fantasists wibbling about trade deals with Japan, Australia or other countries thousands of miles away!) it is most likely they will stick with the pound sterling at least in the short term pending possible reentry to the EU which would put the Euro back on the table.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
It’s the only option. But the SNP don’t want to explain how much it will cost or the risks - for exporters to their largest market, or people with debts in GBP.
Plainly an independent Scottish currency is not the only option, and given the importance of cross-border trade (no snp fantasists wibbling about trade deals with Japan, Australia or other countries thousands of miles away!) it is most likely they will stick with the pound sterling at least in the short term pending possible reentry to the EU which would put the Euro back on the table.
If they use pound sterling they will be using the currency of a foreign country.
Many countries do that but mainly less developed countries or microstates not developed decent sized countries.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
I can see there are disadvantages in using another's currency you don't have control over, but isn't it an easy solution? The obvious ones are to use the £ or Euro. Admittedly those that have done so are usually doing so because they became basket cases with their own currency, but there are other decent economies who although using their own currency are linked to another, effectively making them the same (although admittedly easy to delink if they wish).
I don't know enough about this subject but isn't it a case of pros and cons for each situation.
The faith of the Daily Mail comment brigade - always an entertaining audience - appears a little shaken judging by some of the comments under this article. Not to mention the article's author himself.
I suspect Dom's dream of government run by Big Data analysts and algorithms has taken a bit of a knock back this week.
Dunno. It could go either way. The debacle should inject some realism and humility as to what can currently be done and the public response to the concept. However, it's not hard to craft a narrative that this fiasco shows that we just need a bigger boat model.
Labour Emma Hardy now saying how on earth can we accommodate all these students
You could not make this up
And Williamson is just excruciating to listen to
It was bound to happen, as soon as the Givernment did what 95% of people wanted and U turned, within 5 minutes the BBC were interviewing people describing all the negative aspects of the U-Turn eg grade inflation and not enough Uni places. It really shows that this was an impossible position and whatever the Government did would be wrong. And as you have so rightly said all 4 countries have had to do the same thing. I still don't understand how Labour can criticise what the Government in London has done when its own Government in Cardiff did exactly the same thing an hour before.
When someone has through gross negligence chopped your leg off you don't give them plaudits for finally accepting they need to call an ambulance.
As I said on one of the many previous threads, when will the PM finally sack Sir Keir Starmer as Secretary of State of Education? Its all his fault clearly.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
It’s the only option. But the SNP don’t want to explain how much it will cost or the risks - for exporters to their largest market, or people with debts in GBP.
Plainly an independent Scottish currency is not the only option, and given the importance of cross-border trade (no snp fantasists wibbling about trade deals with Japan, Australia or other countries thousands of miles away!) it is most likely they will stick with the pound sterling at least in the short term pending possible reentry to the EU which would put the Euro back on the table.
If they use pound sterling they will be using the currency of a foreign country.
Many countries do that but mainly less developed countries or microstates not developed decent sized countries.
And the entire finance industry will move south. Who is going to put money in a bank without a LOLR?
Labour Emma Hardy now saying how on earth can we accommodate all these students
You could not make this up
And Williamson is just excruciating to listen to
It was bound to happen, as soon as the Givernment did what 95% of people wanted and U turned, within 5 minutes the BBC were interviewing people describing all the negative aspects of the U-Turn eg grade inflation and not enough Uni places. It really shows that this was an impossible position and whatever the Government did would be wrong. And as you have so rightly said all 4 countries have had to do the same thing. I still don't understand how Labour can criticise what the Government in London has done when its own Government in Cardiff did exactly the same thing an hour before.
I quite expect that in x years time, the same people will be upset that a "glut" of newly qualified doctors will be "squeezing out" applicant doctors from overseas.
Project Fear from the loyalists is very 2014. The next indyref will be contested on visceral emotion via micro target social media ads not nerdwanking about LoLR, etc.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
It’s the only option. But the SNP don’t want to explain how much it will cost or the risks - for exporters to their largest market, or people with debts in GBP.
Plainly an independent Scottish currency is not the only option, and given the importance of cross-border trade (no snp fantasists wibbling about trade deals with Japan, Australia or other countries thousands of miles away!) it is most likely they will stick with the pound sterling at least in the short term pending possible reentry to the EU which would put the Euro back on the table.
They can’t join the Euro without their own currency and Central Bank. If they stick with the GBP they will lose their entire finance industry.
Walked past an outdoor rave/party in a square in Palermo, we decided to join for a bit. Really hoping we can get the clubs open ASAP as there is definitely something lacking from life at the moment and I think dancing in bars and clubs is part of it. It was the first time either myself of my wife have really just cut loose and had a proper dance since probably Xmas last year, we'd normally go to bars at least once every couple of weeks with friends and go to a nostalgia 90s night every couple of months as well. I've just realised how much I miss it and meeting friends there.
Hmm, clubs look to be globally an absolute hotspot for transmission; definitely one to keep closed if you want the total risk budget low enough for schools. Enjoy the holiday !
There's only so long that we can reasonably expect people not to do things like going to clubs and bars. Humanity has got through much worse things than Covid-19 in the past without ruining everything worthwhile about life. What disturbs me is the number of otherwise reasonable people who seem to honestly expect people to live like hermits for 18 months or 2 years.
FPT: Vaccine is heading out in rapid time, "There's only so long" takes us past the point one is likely out in my opinion.
Indeed.
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
If there's news of a big vaccine setback then I'd probably pivot to the more gupta/sweden view - but I'm reasonably optimistic on that front.
The USA trials of the Oxford vaccine seem to have gone very quiet. AstraZeneca has tied up with IQVIA to speed up trials, but the trials apparently have not started yet. New cases are now declining in the USA, so by the time these trials start it could be too late for enough data to be collected to yield results. It has not been made clear if data from trials in different countries can be combined to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of this vaccine, so all the trials could come back with the result "not enough data".
"New cases are now declining in the USA..."
Up to a point Lord Copper.
US cases which peaked at 69k per day a month ago are now running at 52k per day (7 day average). So declining yes but hardly scarce.
Sort of on topic The Times has an article saying Boris Johnson won’t sack Gavin Williamson because Williamson backed Johnson’s leadership bid from the start.
I mean really.
Also Boris is feeble when it comes to sacking. He just can't face doing it which is why he relies Cummings so much
Which raises the question of whether he’s more a slave to his dick, or his Dom...
In other news, I’m still waiting to hear back on my postgraduate university application for September. It’s an ex poly, you’d think they’d be desperate for the money!
US banking giant Citigroup has asked a federal court to force hedge fund Brigade Capital to return $176m (£134m).
The money is part of the $900m the bank accidentally transferred to creditors of the struggling cosmetics company Revlon.
The bank says it meant to send Brigade just $1.5m to cover interest on a loan the hedge fund holds.
Citigroup blames the accidental over-payment on an "operational mistake".
In a filing to the Southern District of New York Court, Citigroup said it meant to make interest payments on behalf of Revlon but transferred amounts more than 100 times the size intended.
"When Citibank discovered the mistake, it promptly asked the recipients to return its money," America's third-largest bank said in the filing.
Citigroup was preparing to step down as the administrative agent for the Revlon loan when it accidentally wired roughly $900m to the lenders' last week amid a bitter fight between the cosmetics company and creditors.
Some of those that received the over-payments have returned the money to Citigroup, while others, including Brigade, did not immediately give the money back.
In other news, I’m still waiting to hear back on my postgraduate university application for September. It’s an ex poly, you’d think they’d be desperate for the money!
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
I can see there are disadvantages in using another's currency you don't have control over, but isn't it an easy solution? The obvious ones are to use the £ or Euro. Admittedly those that have done so are usually doing so because they became basket cases with their own currency, but there are other decent economies who although using their own currency are linked to another, effectively making them the same (although admittedly easy to delink if they wish).
I don't know enough about this subject but isn't it a case of pros and cons for each situation.
If they want to use the currency of foreign countries the smart option is the Euro. It is designed as a currency union so has safeguards in it that simply don't exist within Sterling.
Sterling is the currency of the United Kingdom. Once Scotland leaves it would be the currency of the rUK whatever its called, I'll refer to it as UK for rest of this post. Thus Westminster, the Bank of England etc would be able to make any decisions they want regarding printing currency (Quantitative Easing), interest rates etc for the UK and Scotland would not get any say whatsoever.
If the UK engages is QE that devalues the currency and pays for the UKs budget deficit then Scotland gets the devaluation of the currency its using but nothing to its budget.
If the UK is worried about inflation and wants higher interest rates but Scotland is worried about low growth and wants lower interest rates - it would get higher interest rates.
Salmond pretended Scotland would continue to get a say over Sterling after it leaves. That's not true. If you want the say over a currency union there is an option that is real - join the Euro.
PS technically under EU rules Scotland can't join the Euro without its own currency first, but that's because it wasn't expected that countries would split apart and then part of the country join. That is a problem that can be overcome. It takes a unanimous vote of EU states to let a new country join, and it takes a unanimous vote of EU states to change the rules - so if accession is agreed with Scotland joining the Euro then that can be agreed as part of its accession talks. Indeed it would be logical to have this happen as part of its exit talks with the UK - so if eg an independence date is set as 1/1/23 then Scotland could go from being in the UK and using Pound Sterling on 31/12/22 and being in the EU and using the Euro on 1/1/23.
PS the other way of dealing with it is to create your own currency but peg it, that is not the same thing as using the other nations currency specifically because the peg can be broken. Not having your own currency really leaves you in a difficult position.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
A lot of it depends on how honourably the newly independent Scotland us wrt debt, if they take the "walk away" method espoused by Malc and other extremist independence supporters then there is little to no chance they would be able to float a currency and not see it rapidly depreciate. It would also destroy any chance of them being able to sell paper denominated in McPounds under Scottish law, they would need to raise sterling in London, investors wouldn't trust anything less.
Currency, imo, is still the unanswerable question for the SNP and I actually think it may cause a post yes vote unionist majority. Tell people their savings are going to be converted to McPounds but their debt repayments will be in Sterling and that very real cost of independence starts to be realised.
I also think that the option of the currency peg is completely unrealistic, it would require Scotland to run a perpetually balanced budget and to hold £50-60bn in reserve capital to ensure the over/under isn't breached. The Swiss National Bank €23bn defending the Swiss Franc over a 4 year period (of real money) that's money the Swiss government could have spent on schools, hospitals, policing etc... but was eaten up to keep the Franc pegged to €1.20. Does anyone in Scotland have the stomach to spend taxpayer money on defending the currency? Or more realistically, do 50% +1 think it's a worthy area of expenditure and what spending would they cut to allow it? Scotland isn't Switzerland, they don't have the capability to just go and borrow the money at -0.4% from the markets.
As I've said many times, the independence referendum will be won or lost on emotional reasons. It seems to me that not enough people value the Union to a degree that they will vote to stay in. However, the business of independence is very, very difficult and complicated. Unwinding a 300 year union of shared language, culture, identity and economy is, IMO, going to be close to impossible. The easy way out for Scotland would be to become a vassal state, use the same currency and beg for a monetary union with Westminster, but that would ultimately give Westminster a veto over the Scottish budget and even more power than it holds now.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
It’s the only option. But the SNP don’t want to explain how much it will cost or the risks - for exporters to their largest market, or people with debts in GBP.
Plainly an independent Scottish currency is not the only option, and given the importance of cross-border trade (no snp fantasists wibbling about trade deals with Japan, Australia or other countries thousands of miles away!) it is most likely they will stick with the pound sterling at least in the short term pending possible reentry to the EU which would put the Euro back on the table.
If they use pound sterling they will be using the currency of a foreign country.
Many countries do that but mainly less developed countries or microstates not developed decent sized countries.
Continuing with sterling is easiest, cheapest and minimises disruption to cross-border trade. The economy is closer to England's than Europe's. Ireland used sterling for decades.
If Scotland does need willy-waving rights there are enough bankers in Edinburgh to set up a central bank to look after the groat or whatever they want to call it. But they've always had their own banknotes anyway (more than one set historically iirc).
Labour Emma Hardy now saying how on earth can we accommodate all these students
You could not make this up
And Williamson is just excruciating to listen to
It was bound to happen, as soon as the Givernment did what 95% of people wanted and U turned, within 5 minutes the BBC were interviewing people describing all the negative aspects of the U-Turn eg grade inflation and not enough Uni places. It really shows that this was an impossible position and whatever the Government did would be wrong. And as you have so rightly said all 4 countries have had to do the same thing. I still don't understand how Labour can criticise what the Government in London has done when its own Government in Cardiff did exactly the same thing an hour before.
I quite expect that in x years time, the same people will be upset that a "glut" of newly qualified doctors will be "squeezing out" applicant doctors from overseas.
The UK’s reliance on overseas trained doctors and nurses is in my view shameful. We’re the 5th-ish richest country, have many of the finest university hospitals in the world and every year perfectly capable students with straight As can’t find a space at medical school.
Why are people happy to deprive poorer countries (with much sparser provision of doctors per capita) of medical staff that their cash strapped governments paid to train?
Cross fertilisation of ideas from international job swaps (formal or through the market mechanism) is terrific. Having a perpetual net import requirement for doctors and nurses is a scandal.
To be fair to Williamson all four home nations got it very wrong so he is in good company.
Perhaps the fiasco was inevitable once exams were shelved. Perhaps the finger pointing should start there. Universities managed to get remote assessments organised by June. This happened for both of my undergraduate son's.
Anyway I have had confirmation that I am eligible for the second installment of the self-employment adverse trading grant. Who doesn't love a government handing out free money? 12 point poll lead for the Tories next weekend?
Fair nothing , he made a complete tit of himself. Last weekend he was berating Scottish government for being so stupid , mid week he said "No Surrender" and yesterday capitulated totally and admitted he was a moronic halfwitted dullard. An absolute embarrassment who you could not trust to run a bath.
I spent a fair chunk of yesterday running my wife to and from the hospital for her operation. Listening to the radio this seems to me to have the greatest cut through of any of the sub optimal steps of the government to date. Will it be solved by the sweeties for all approach? Maybe, but it was obvious that the knock on implications for both University and colleges (in respect of the various other qualifications affected) is going to keep this ticking over for some time. I expect the government to take a serious hit for this.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
I can see there are disadvantages in using another's currency you don't have control over, but isn't it an easy solution? The obvious ones are to use the £ or Euro. Admittedly those that have done so are usually doing so because they became basket cases with their own currency, but there are other decent economies who although using their own currency are linked to another, effectively making them the same (although admittedly easy to delink if they wish).
I don't know enough about this subject but isn't it a case of pros and cons for each situation.
You can't have a financial industry and not have your own currency. Which is fine for thevlikes of Cambodia (USD), North Macedonia (EUR) but not Scotland which has a huge Financial services industry that provides 7-8% of annual tax revenue.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
It’s the only option. But the SNP don’t want to explain how much it will cost or the risks - for exporters to their largest market, or people with debts in GBP.
Plainly an independent Scottish currency is not the only option, and given the importance of cross-border trade (no snp fantasists wibbling about trade deals with Japan, Australia or other countries thousands of miles away!) it is most likely they will stick with the pound sterling at least in the short term pending possible reentry to the EU which would put the Euro back on the table.
If they use pound sterling they will be using the currency of a foreign country.
Many countries do that but mainly less developed countries or microstates not developed decent sized countries.
Continuing with sterling is easiest, cheapest and minimises disruption to cross-border trade. The economy is closer to England's than Europe's. Ireland used sterling for decades.
If Scotland does need willy-waving rights there are enough bankers in Edinburgh to set up a central bank to look after the groat or whatever they want to call it. But they've always had their own banknotes anyway (more than one set historically iirc).
Ireland didn't use Sterling. Ireland used the Irish Pound, albeit there was de facto no difference between the two until the late 1970s. The gold standard made it easier to keep de facto parity.
I’m still in hospital. Had a rough night but overall am getting there. Hopefully I wont be here for too long. These wards are not at all conducive to healing or rest. I wish I had a private room with an en suite.
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
@Gallowgate Good to hear you are on the mend. Get out as soon as you possibly can.
To be fair to Williamson all four home nations got it very wrong so he is in good company.
Perhaps the fiasco was inevitable once exams were shelved. Perhaps the finger pointing should start there. Universities managed to get remote assessments organised by June. This happened for both of my undergraduate son's.
Anyway I have had confirmation that I am eligible for the second installment of the self-employment adverse trading grant. Who doesn't love a government handing out free money? 12 point poll lead for the Tories next weekend?
Fair nothing , he made a complete tit of himself. Last weekend he was berating Scottish government for being so stupid , mid week he said "No Surrender" and yesterday capitulated totally and admitted he was a moronic halfwitted dullard. An absolute embarrassment who you could not trust to run a bath.
Exactly. It was pretty obvious from the moment that the Scots - relatively quickly - changed their position, that the UK sticking to the flawed algorithm wasn't going to be sustainable. Certainly after the relevations about the differential treatment of state and private schools and the threats of legal action this should have been blindingly obvious.
A politician with better judgement and more fleet of foot would have made the move much earlier. Instead, Johnson and Williamson just kept digging - until they were forced to change, not by their own assessment of the facts of the matter, but by their own backbenchers who weren't quite so blind to the obvious.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
It’s the only option. But the SNP don’t want to explain how much it will cost or the risks - for exporters to their largest market, or people with debts in GBP.
Plainly an independent Scottish currency is not the only option, and given the importance of cross-border trade (no snp fantasists wibbling about trade deals with Japan, Australia or other countries thousands of miles away!) it is most likely they will stick with the pound sterling at least in the short term pending possible reentry to the EU which would put the Euro back on the table.
If they use pound sterling they will be using the currency of a foreign country.
Many countries do that but mainly less developed countries or microstates not developed decent sized countries.
Continuing with sterling is easiest, cheapest and minimises disruption to cross-border trade. The economy is closer to England's than Europe's. Ireland used sterling for decades.
If Scotland does need willy-waving rights there are enough bankers in Edinburgh to set up a central bank to look after the groat or whatever they want to call it. But they've always had their own banknotes anyway (more than one set historically iirc).
And who is the lender of last resort? Whatever bank they come up with won't be able to crear new currency.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
I can see there are disadvantages in using another's currency you don't have control over, but isn't it an easy solution? The obvious ones are to use the £ or Euro. Admittedly those that have done so are usually doing so because they became basket cases with their own currency, but there are other decent economies who although using their own currency are linked to another, effectively making them the same (although admittedly easy to delink if they wish).
I don't know enough about this subject but isn't it a case of pros and cons for each situation.
If they want to use the currency of foreign countries the smart option is the Euro. It is designed as a currency union so has safeguards in it that simply don't exist within Sterling.
Sterling is the currency of the United Kingdom. Once Scotland leaves it would be the currency of the rUK whatever its called, I'll refer to it as UK for rest of this post. Thus Westminster, the Bank of England etc would be able to make any decisions they want regarding printing currency (Quantitative Easing), interest rates etc for the UK and Scotland would not get any say whatsoever.
If the UK engages is QE that devalues the currency and pays for the UKs budget deficit then Scotland gets the devaluation of the currency its using but nothing to its budget.
If the UK is worried about inflation and wants higher interest rates but Scotland is worried about low growth and wants lower interest rates - it would get higher interest rates.
Salmond pretended Scotland would continue to get a say over Sterling after it leaves. That's not true. If you want the say over a currency union there is an option that is real - join the Euro.
PS technically under EU rules Scotland can't join the Euro without its own currency first, but that's because it wasn't expected that countries would split apart and then part of the country join. That is a problem that can be overcome. It takes a unanimous vote of EU states to let a new country join, and it takes a unanimous vote of EU states to change the rules - so if accession is agreed with Scotland joining the Euro then that can be agreed as part of its accession talks. Indeed it would be logical to have this happen as part of its exit talks with the UK - so if eg an independence date is set as 1/1/23 then Scotland could go from being in the UK and using Pound Sterling on 31/12/22 and being in the EU and using the Euro on 1/1/23.
PS the other way of dealing with it is to create your own currency but peg it, that is not the same thing as using the other nations currency specifically because the peg can be broken. Not having your own currency really leaves you in a difficult position.
Your reply was basically what I assumed/thought. Of course the lack of control exists even if you do have a say eg differences between North and South Europe, differences between North and South England, although admittedly Greece and Bradford do get a say (even if ignored), whereas as you say an independent Scotland gets no say whatsoever if it just adopts a currency without any legal arrangement.
Re your para on joining the Euro - surely Scotland does not have to join the Euro, it can just adopt it (although again it would do so without any control whatsoever, but how much is that worth?).
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
It’s the only option. But the SNP don’t want to explain how much it will cost or the risks - for exporters to their largest market, or people with debts in GBP.
Plainly an independent Scottish currency is not the only option, and given the importance of cross-border trade (no snp fantasists wibbling about trade deals with Japan, Australia or other countries thousands of miles away!) it is most likely they will stick with the pound sterling at least in the short term pending possible reentry to the EU which would put the Euro back on the table.
They can’t join the Euro without their own currency and Central Bank. If they stick with the GBP they will lose their entire finance industry.
Yeah, like London can't trade Euros? But if, or when, Scotland wants to join the Euro, fudging the entry requirements is not unprecedented.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
A Scottish Pound is the sensible option. Simply continuing with the Pound is not. They need to create their own Central Bank and have their own Pound. The idea that already exists is nonsense, it doesn't they're using Pound Sterling - but the idea it can't be created is also a nonsense.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
I can see there are disadvantages in using another's currency you don't have control over, but isn't it an easy solution? The obvious ones are to use the £ or Euro. Admittedly those that have done so are usually doing so because they became basket cases with their own currency, but there are other decent economies who although using their own currency are linked to another, effectively making them the same (although admittedly easy to delink if they wish).
I don't know enough about this subject but isn't it a case of pros and cons for each situation.
If they want to use the currency of foreign countries the smart option is the Euro. It is designed as a currency union so has safeguards in it that simply don't exist within Sterling.
Sterling is the currency of the United Kingdom. Once Scotland leaves it would be the currency of the rUK whatever its called, I'll refer to it as UK for rest of this post. Thus Westminster, the Bank of England etc would be able to make any decisions they want regarding printing currency (Quantitative Easing), interest rates etc for the UK and Scotland would not get any say whatsoever.
If the UK engages is QE that devalues the currency and pays for the UKs budget deficit then Scotland gets the devaluation of the currency its using but nothing to its budget.
If the UK is worried about inflation and wants higher interest rates but Scotland is worried about low growth and wants lower interest rates - it would get higher interest rates.
Salmond pretended Scotland would continue to get a say over Sterling after it leaves. That's not true. If you want the say over a currency union there is an option that is real - join the Euro.
PS technically under EU rules Scotland can't join the Euro without its own currency first, but that's because it wasn't expected that countries would split apart and then part of the country join. That is a problem that can be overcome. It takes a unanimous vote of EU states to let a new country join, and it takes a unanimous vote of EU states to change the rules - so if accession is agreed with Scotland joining the Euro then that can be agreed as part of its accession talks. Indeed it would be logical to have this happen as part of its exit talks with the UK - so if eg an independence date is set as 1/1/23 then Scotland could go from being in the UK and using Pound Sterling on 31/12/22 and being in the EU and using the Euro on 1/1/23.
PS the other way of dealing with it is to create your own currency but peg it, that is not the same thing as using the other nations currency specifically because the peg can be broken. Not having your own currency really leaves you in a difficult position.
Your reply was basically what I assumed/thought. Of course the lack of control exists even if you do have a say eg differences between North and South Europe, differences between North and South England, although admittedly Greece and Bradford do get a say (even if ignored), whereas as you say an independent Scotland gets no say whatsoever if it just adopts a currency without any legal arrangement.
Re your para on joining the Euro - surely Scotland does not have to join the Euro, it can just adopt it (although again it would do so without any control whatsoever, but how much is that worth?).
It would completely destroy Scotland's huge financial services industry overnight. Everything moves to England.
Comments
He's incompetent, ill-disciplined, slack, dim, careless, boorish, philandering, gluttonous, oleaginous, corpulent ... a flatulent oaf of a Prime Minister.
https://twitter.com/dpinsen/status/1295483079662997504?s=19
Perhaps the fiasco was inevitable once exams were shelved. Perhaps the finger pointing should start there. Universities managed to get remote assessments organised by June. This happened for both of my undergraduate son's.
Anyway I have had confirmation that I am eligible for the second installment of the self-employment adverse trading grant. Who doesn't love a government handing out free money? 12 point poll lead for the Tories next weekend?
Congratulations are in order to @HYUFD on the engagement.
The operation seems to have gone fine by the way.
https://twitter.com/henrymance/status/1295473746162196482?s=21
I mean really.
Banning mobile phones at night on the wards would be good. Get some sound cancelling headphones, they really help.
I know how unpleasant it can be, hope you are well enough to go home soon.
But we shall see.
Anne Milton, Caroline Nokes, Antoinette Sandbach, Rory Stewart, Nicholas Soames, Edward Vaizey, Stephen Hammond, Richard Harrington, Margot James, Oliver Letwin, Guto Bebb, Richard Benyon, Greg Clark, Alistair Burt, Steve Brine, Ken Clarke, Justine Greening, David Gauke, Dominic Grieve, Sam Gyimah and Philip Hammond
We need to get life pretty much back to normal until a vaccine is out, we're probably well past the halfway point of until then If we can get pretty much back to normal but without nightclubs, with quarantining of foreign travel and with face masks . . . then I can live with that until there's a vaccine.
Its better than another damn lockdown. That needs to be avoided.
Very easy 2-3% returns over the last 2 weeks.
Williamson should go because he's awful, but that has nothing to do with any of this.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-53806500
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/magazine/republicans-confess-against-trump.html
Let Williamson hang on, like a dead albatross around this governments neck.
The vaccines news seems very positive at the moment. If there's going to be a vaccine soon, why not get on with things sensibly until then?
If there's not going to be a vaccine then obviously things would have to change. We can't do this forever.
You could not make this up
And Williamson is just excruciating to listen to
There is still some merit in this, noisy though they are, open wards allow staff, patients and visitors to raise alarm on deteriation more easily. In the rehab phase they are often good for the socially isolated who get few visitors too.
Busy acute medical and surgical wards less so, and the noise, alarms, comings and goings, confused fellow patients are all quite scary for the average punter.
https://twitter.com/johnstuartwilso/status/1295428897597566976?s=21
Then he didn't just give up, he fought on and stood again at the election - and was comprehensively defeated at the ballot box. That's democracy. Sore losers grumbling that their views are defeated at the ballot box is just sour grapes.
As soon as he's an electoral liability.. gone. My view is next year.
The Tory party doesn't muck about when it comes to millstone leaders.
They should create plans on how they will set up their own Central Bank, how they will float the currency and get on with it. Its far from unprecedented through history.
How many extra places for medicine are we talking about?
https://publishing.rcseng.ac.uk/doi/pdfplus/10.1308/rcsbull.2020.78
States that we have a deficit in the NHS of 1500 doctors a year.
He is capable of brutal mass sackings, but is strangely paralysed when it comes to Cabinet members who blatantly need to go. Two possibilities I can think of, neither showing him in a good light...
First is that there's only one offence under Johnson, and that offence isn't failing at government. So Julian Lewis was out in minutes, because he showed disloyalty. But if you're loyal, you're untouchable.
Other is that Number 10 shows signs of the "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic" mindset. The inner circle is happy to do drastic things in the abstract (no deal Brexit, running Covid hot, using a fairly brutal exam algorithm...) but goes soppy when faced with individual consequences. Ultimately, that's no way to run a nation.
Giving the teachers more control sooner could have led to fairer results, but would have caused much controversy at a time when the economy was being reopened. Perhaps the government did the right things given the limitations, but it is having to pay the price of unpopularity.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/08/18/just-incredibly-touch-and-go-supermarkets-kept-food-shelves/
Many countries do that but mainly less developed countries or microstates not developed decent sized countries.
I don't know enough about this subject but isn't it a case of pros and cons for each situation.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8637027/ANDREW-PIERCE-hubris-humiliation-anatomy-political-shambles.html
As I said on one of the many previous threads, when will the PM finally sack Sir Keir Starmer as Secretary of State of Education? Its all his fault clearly.
Up to a point Lord Copper.
US cases which peaked at 69k per day a month ago are now running at 52k per day (7 day average). So declining yes but hardly scarce.
In other news, I’m still waiting to hear back on my postgraduate university application for September. It’s an ex poly, you’d think they’d be desperate for the money!
US banking giant Citigroup has asked a federal court to force hedge fund Brigade Capital to return $176m (£134m).
The money is part of the $900m the bank accidentally transferred to creditors of the struggling cosmetics company Revlon.
The bank says it meant to send Brigade just $1.5m to cover interest on a loan the hedge fund holds.
Citigroup blames the accidental over-payment on an "operational mistake".
In a filing to the Southern District of New York Court, Citigroup said it meant to make interest payments on behalf of Revlon but transferred amounts more than 100 times the size intended.
"When Citibank discovered the mistake, it promptly asked the recipients to return its money," America's third-largest bank said in the filing.
Citigroup was preparing to step down as the administrative agent for the Revlon loan when it accidentally wired roughly $900m to the lenders' last week amid a bitter fight between the cosmetics company and creditors.
Some of those that received the over-payments have returned the money to Citigroup, while others, including Brigade, did not immediately give the money back.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53802994
Sterling is the currency of the United Kingdom. Once Scotland leaves it would be the currency of the rUK whatever its called, I'll refer to it as UK for rest of this post. Thus Westminster, the Bank of England etc would be able to make any decisions they want regarding printing currency (Quantitative Easing), interest rates etc for the UK and Scotland would not get any say whatsoever.
If the UK engages is QE that devalues the currency and pays for the UKs budget deficit then Scotland gets the devaluation of the currency its using but nothing to its budget.
If the UK is worried about inflation and wants higher interest rates but Scotland is worried about low growth and wants lower interest rates - it would get higher interest rates.
Salmond pretended Scotland would continue to get a say over Sterling after it leaves. That's not true. If you want the say over a currency union there is an option that is real - join the Euro.
PS technically under EU rules Scotland can't join the Euro without its own currency first, but that's because it wasn't expected that countries would split apart and then part of the country join. That is a problem that can be overcome. It takes a unanimous vote of EU states to let a new country join, and it takes a unanimous vote of EU states to change the rules - so if accession is agreed with Scotland joining the Euro then that can be agreed as part of its accession talks. Indeed it would be logical to have this happen as part of its exit talks with the UK - so if eg an independence date is set as 1/1/23 then Scotland could go from being in the UK and using Pound Sterling on 31/12/22 and being in the EU and using the Euro on 1/1/23.
PS the other way of dealing with it is to create your own currency but peg it, that is not the same thing as using the other nations currency specifically because the peg can be broken. Not having your own currency really leaves you in a difficult position.
Currency, imo, is still the unanswerable question for the SNP and I actually think it may cause a post yes vote unionist majority. Tell people their savings are going to be converted to McPounds but their debt repayments will be in Sterling and that very real cost of independence starts to be realised.
I also think that the option of the currency peg is completely unrealistic, it would require Scotland to run a perpetually balanced budget and to hold £50-60bn in reserve capital to ensure the over/under isn't breached. The Swiss National Bank €23bn defending the Swiss Franc over a 4 year period (of real money) that's money the Swiss government could have spent on schools, hospitals, policing etc... but was eaten up to keep the Franc pegged to €1.20. Does anyone in Scotland have the stomach to spend taxpayer money on defending the currency? Or more realistically, do 50% +1 think it's a worthy area of expenditure and what spending would they cut to allow it? Scotland isn't Switzerland, they don't have the capability to just go and borrow the money at -0.4% from the markets.
As I've said many times, the independence referendum will be won or lost on emotional reasons. It seems to me that not enough people value the Union to a degree that they will vote to stay in. However, the business of independence is very, very difficult and complicated. Unwinding a 300 year union of shared language, culture, identity and economy is, IMO, going to be close to impossible. The easy way out for Scotland would be to become a vassal state, use the same currency and beg for a monetary union with Westminster, but that would ultimately give Westminster a veto over the Scottish budget and even more power than it holds now.
If Scotland does need willy-waving rights there are enough bankers in Edinburgh to set up a central bank to look after the groat or whatever they want to call it. But they've always had their own banknotes anyway (more than one set historically iirc).
Why are people happy to deprive poorer countries (with much sparser provision of doctors per capita) of medical staff that their cash strapped governments paid to train?
Cross fertilisation of ideas from international job swaps (formal or through the market mechanism) is terrific. Having a perpetual net import requirement for doctors and nurses is a scandal.
'For f**k's sake, can't you dickheads keep a disastrous policy in place long enough to me to slag it off?'
https://bit.ly/2YdIOvM
Good to hear you are on the mend. Get out as soon as you possibly can.
A politician with better judgement and more fleet of foot would have made the move much earlier. Instead, Johnson and Williamson just kept digging - until they were forced to change, not by their own assessment of the facts of the matter, but by their own backbenchers who weren't quite so blind to the obvious.
Re your para on joining the Euro - surely Scotland does not have to join the Euro, it can just adopt it (although again it would do so without any control whatsoever, but how much is that worth?).