You specified "more tests" not "more tests/million population".
It should go without saying that if you're trying to make meaningful comparisons then per capita is the only way of doing it.
If you're trying to be deliberately obtuse then that's not big or clever. If you're not and don't understand why per capita is significant then that's also not clever.
Like the UK PM whose £150 000 a year also falls below the £160 000 a year needed to be in the top 1% in the UK both the US president and UK PM are relatively underpaid given the responsibility of the role, though they do get the perks of the White House and Camp David and No 10 and Chequers and all their security paid for and the possibility of significant earnings on the lecture circuit on leaving office
Governments have never communicated clear instructions on quarantine. They don't even use the word "quarantine". Contrast that with countries that have dealt successfully with Covid-19.
Probably has more to do with tight and lose cultures.
Actually donuts are a far too pedestrian activity for Mr Ace.
I have been known to drop a ring a two at the local hit it and quit it drift spot. My E46 330D is a donut/drift monster because it's got the 3.62 LSD from an M3 and the quicker 14.5:1 steering rack from a CSL in it. I did one in the supermarket carpark just last week with my wife in it. She went fucking mental.
The only bit of this I understood was the last four words. I guess it's about a car or something?
Yeah Dura Ace has been revving his 1 litre Yaris hybrid on his driveway again.
What a coincidence! I too have a 1 litre Yaris hybrid as it happens.
People haven't accepted that Brexit means the UK being a client of the EU across the areas that agreement covers. This reluctance to accept reality has included Remainers as well as Leavers. Right now the decision is between minimal agreement and no agreement on anything to ensure no client status applies. No-one voted Leave to be controlled. Eventually we will probably agree to quite a lot on EU terms because it's better to have agreement than have no agreement when agreement is possible. That can be seen to be a "close relationship", albeit as a client.
Given the 52% to 48% result was pretty close anyway an EFTA style relationship is probably the likely long term outcome of our relationship with the EU, however that would require a Sunak or Starmer premiership rather than a Boris premiership in all likelihood to get there
I agree. But the EFTA style relationship won't be a comfortable one for a UK (if it still exists) with a well developed sense of self-importance.
The second and third questions are juxtaposed, and have very similar responses, but are in almost direct opposition to each other.
I wonder if this affects the results.
I don't think Q2 and Q3 are in contradiction. You can think a country not very powerful but should still punch above its weight. Think Norway as an example of this.
Having said that, I do have some concerns about the wording.
Me too. "Punching above its weight in world affairs" suggests to me (directly) that a nation does want to be an important power in the world.
The most generous way I could read this would be the UK should punch above it's weight in world affairs but *at the same time* not kid itself it's at the same level as the US or China.
So, an important world power, but very far from a superpower.
Of course, as was shown in Afghan and Iraq, "punching above our weight" meant losing. I'm sure there is an economic relations equivalent.
No it doesn't, in Afghanistan the Taliban were removed from power and Bin Laden is now dead and even in Iraq despite all the problems a democratic government has replaced Saddam Hussein who is also now dead
Stick to promotion of EEA/EFTA and poll breakdowns.
People haven't accepted that Brexit means the UK being a client of the EU across the areas that agreement covers. This reluctance to accept reality has included Remainers as well as Leavers. Right now the decision is between minimal agreement and no agreement on anything to ensure no client status applies. No-one voted Leave to be controlled. Eventually we will probably agree to quite a lot on EU terms because it's better to have agreement than have no agreement when agreement is possible. That can be seen to be a "close relationship", albeit as a client.
Given the 52% to 48% result was pretty close anyway an EFTA style relationship is probably the likely long term outcome of our relationship with the EU, however that would require a Sunak or Starmer premiership rather than a Boris premiership in all likelihood to get there
I agree. But the EFTA style relationship won't be a comfortable one for a UK (if it still exists) with a well developed sense of self-importance.
Britain is not a superpower like the US, China and increasingly India and should not act like one however it is a medium sized power alongside France, Germany, Japan, Brazil and Russia and still has a role to play as a G7, G20, NATO and UN Security Council member
Britain's superpower status (pre 1950s) derived from the fact it could call upon reflexive loyalty of Canada, NZ, Australia and South Africa, and leverage manpower from India - and to a lesser extent East Africa. This allowed it to play at least a 30-40% partner role with the USA, as opposed to the 10% partner role we play today.
If that existed today, the UK would more than double the weight of its army and navy with the "Dominions". Still not a superpower but comfortably exceeding any other Western power, except the USA. If you added India/Africa on top - with their huge manpower - you'd then have a quasi-superpower, provided you had the logistical and staff capabilities to leverage it.
Without any of that we are just a leading European military with blue-water deployment capability.
Actually donuts are a far too pedestrian activity for Mr Ace.
I have been known to drop a ring a two at the local hit it and quit it drift spot. My E46 330D is a donut/drift monster because it's got the 3.62 LSD from an M3 and the quicker 14.5:1 steering rack from a CSL in it. I did one in the supermarket carpark just last week with my wife in it. She went fucking mental.
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
But you must you are a dedicated member of the party responsible for the outcome, you will go on the doorsteps praising the outcome whatever that may be. Every single Tory member and many of their voters bear full responsibility for the outcomes of the dual crisis that the UK faces.
The members of the Conservative party bear the greatest responsibility because their obsession with Brexit led them to choose a person to be PM who most knew was unfit for the office. We are now paying the price.
You could argue that the electorate also endorsed him but largely because by that stage the alternative was worse. The real culprits are that minuscule proportion of the electorate that are members of the Tory Party.
It was the party memberships that gave us a choice of Johnson or Corbyn at the last election. Personally I would revert to letting the MPs make the choice.
The MPs who elected William Hague and Michael Foot?
It should go without saying that if you're trying to make meaningful comparisons then per capita is the only way of doing it.
If you're trying to be deliberately obtuse then that's not big or clever. If you're not and don't understand why per capita is significant then that's also not clever.
It's not my fault if you're not clear on the "line to take".
You specified "more tests" not "more tests/million population".
It should go without saying that if you're trying to make meaningful comparisons then per capita is the only way of doing it.
If you're trying to be deliberately obtuse then that's not big or clever. If you're not and don't understand why per capita is significant then that's also not clever.
Mate you said "more". Per this per that my arse. You said "more" as in which number is the bigger and which number is the smaller.
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
*giggles*. I voted to leave the EU. As I keep pointing out the EEA is not the EU. As you keep pointing out "naah I don't care about anything that isn't my perceived interests of the Conservative Party and if that brings millions to ruin they voted for it".
Leaving the EU is not our problem. Leaving the EEA and CU are our problems. We could have delivered the referendum, rejoined EFTA and by now be a sizeable non-EU player in the EEA forcing them to open up trade. Instead, narrow minded partisan fools like your good self have literally cheered on this fiasco. "Its all about stopping migration". So stop migration then - as we always could. Under the existing EU/EEA rules. No job, no right to remain.
Minor question. How come Trump doesn't pay tax on his Presidential salary?
"Loses" carried over from elsewhere would be my guess although it does seem that the IRS is questioning those loses.
But presumably his Presidential salary isn’t linked to his business losses? I also know he said he wouldn’t take it - but a) I’m not sure that’s happened and b) are you allowed to extend such a decision to the tax due on it?
Why would you have to pay tax on an income you don't receive? Anyway, I think the NYT investigation is about returns prior to the presidency.
You specified "more tests" not "more tests/million population".
It should go without saying that if you're trying to make meaningful comparisons then per capita is the only way of doing it.
If you're trying to be deliberately obtuse then that's not big or clever. If you're not and don't understand why per capita is significant then that's also not clever.
I understand 10 million have downloaded including myself and it does look like the glitch has been resolved
However, I am not holding my breath for HMG to receive anything other than daily attacks over testing when in reality we are doing far more than anywhere in Europe and the app is encouraging
I've emailed all my 3000 contacts urging them to download it - many are Government critics, but I point out that the Government isn't actually trying to kill us so this is an occasion for sensible cooperation. I'm not, however, going as far as your claim that we are doing "far more than anywhere in Europe". I think you're getting a bit carried away there.
Name one country in Europe that are running more tests than we are please.
Every leaver's national role model: Russia.
Russia: 309,010 tests per million United Kingdom: 341,150 tests per million
Surely by now you must realise that it's not just about the number of tests. What's more important is:
a) how many people are tested (estimated at about 62K per day on the last figures I saw, cf. over 200K tests) b) how well testing is targeted at those who are most likely to have Covid symptoms, rather than just, say, the sniffles c) how effective the follow-up to the tests is in respect of trace and isolate.
We may well do more tests than others, but I'm not persuaded we win on a) to c) above.
Actually donuts are a far too pedestrian activity for Mr Ace.
I have been known to drop a ring a two at the local hit it and quit it drift spot. My E46 330D is a donut/drift monster because it's got the 3.62 LSD from an M3 and the quicker 14.5:1 steering rack from a CSL in it. I did one in the supermarket carpark just last week with my wife in it. She went fucking mental.
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
But you must you are a dedicated member of the party responsible for the outcome, you will go on the doorsteps praising the outcome whatever that may be. Every single Tory member and many of their voters bear full responsibility for the outcomes of the dual crisis that the UK faces.
The members of the Conservative party bear the greatest responsibility because their obsession with Brexit led them to choose a person to be PM who most knew was unfit for the office. We are now paying the price.
You could argue that the electorate also endorsed him but largely because by that stage the alternative was worse. The real culprits are that minuscule proportion of the electorate that are members of the Tory Party.
It was the party memberships that gave us a choice of Johnson or Corbyn at the last election. Personally I would revert to letting the MPs make the choice.
The MPs who elected William Hague and Michael Foot?
Those were possibly the worst choices made by MPs but both are still huge upgrades on Johnson and Corbyn.
Minor question. How come Trump doesn't pay tax on his Presidential salary?
"Loses" carried over from elsewhere would be my guess although it does seem that the IRS is questioning those loses.
But presumably his Presidential salary isn’t linked to his business losses? I also know he said he wouldn’t take it - but a) I’m not sure that’s happened and b) are you allowed to extend such a decision to the tax due on it?
Why would you have to pay tax on an income you don't receive? Anyway, I think the NYT investigation is about returns prior to the presidency.
Nope. Before and during.
Thanks. It looks like it's up to 2017, so one year of the presidency.
As recent elections have shown it's perfectly possible to win the Presidency with 43% of the vote and lose it with 48%. The nature of the Electoral College can mean very small differences in vote shares can be grossly magnified in the final EC vote. It's the efficiency of the vote that matters as much as its size. Biden will pile up a huge majority of votes in California but he can only win the same number of EC votes whether he wins by 1% or 30%.
The second point the US polls are repeatedly showing is the degree to which voters are entrenched on either side of the debate. There seems little prospect of the debates being the game changer they have been in the past. The numbers still to decide are very small across the board so the notion Trump will somehow shift vast numbers of votes from the debates seems fanciful.
To be fair, the notion Biden will is equally fanciful.
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
But you must you are a dedicated member of the party responsible for the outcome, you will go on the doorsteps praising the outcome whatever that may be. Every single Tory member and many of their voters bear full responsibility for the outcomes of the dual crisis that the UK faces.
I have recanted my leave vote if not the reasons for doing so. This is not a crisis caused by leaving the EU - the question on the ballot paper. The democratic mandate was to leave the EU because that was the question asked.
HYUFD's problem is that he mistakes his interpretation of the best interests of the Conservative Party as being the best interests of the UK. If the Tories had polling showing that red wall Tories wanted to kill the first born male child in every household he'd be on here insisting that it had to happen.
The political choices made by the Tories after the referendum are the cataclysm which ultimately will destroy them. You cannot continue as a Conservative and Unionist Party when you choose a policy that destroys the economy and our standing in the world and the union. Lets be honest about this - Brexit is just their excuse to do so. Shagger isn't even a leaver...
You specified "more tests" not "more tests/million population".
It should go without saying that if you're trying to make meaningful comparisons then per capita is the only way of doing it.
If you're trying to be deliberately obtuse then that's not big or clever. If you're not and don't understand why per capita is significant then that's also not clever.
Malta, Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg...
More to the point, do you have any idea of national figures for cost per test, or percentage of contacts traced and followed up within 24 hours ?
You specified "more tests" not "more tests/million population".
It should go without saying that if you're trying to make meaningful comparisons then per capita is the only way of doing it.
If you're trying to be deliberately obtuse then that's not big or clever. If you're not and don't understand why per capita is significant then that's also not clever.
Doing a lot of tests is not sufficient to stop the virus.
We are doing lots of tests, but we are waiting too long for the results and are not using the results to get the right people to isolate *in time* to break the chain of transmission.
You specified "more tests" not "more tests/million population".
It should go without saying that if you're trying to make meaningful comparisons then per capita is the only way of doing it.
If you're trying to be deliberately obtuse then that's not big or clever. If you're not and don't understand why per capita is significant then that's also not clever.
Malta, Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg...
More to the point, do you have any idea of national figures for cost per test, or percentage of contacts traced and followed up within 24 hours ?
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
But you must you are a dedicated member of the party responsible for the outcome, you will go on the doorsteps praising the outcome whatever that may be. Every single Tory member and many of their voters bear full responsibility for the outcomes of the dual crisis that the UK faces.
I have recanted my leave vote if not the reasons for doing so. This is not a crisis caused by leaving the EU - the question on the ballot paper. The democratic mandate was to leave the EU because that was the question asked.
HYUFD's problem is that he mistakes his interpretation of the best interests of the Conservative Party as being the best interests of the UK. If the Tories had polling showing that red wall Tories wanted to kill the first born male child in every household he'd be on here insisting that it had to happen...
That is obviously a totally misleading tweet. Trump has paid millions in taxes, just not federal income tax. In the article it details the millions he has had to pay, it is specifically federal income tax that he has managed to minimize.
That is obviously a totally misleading tweet. Trump has paid millions in taxes, just not federal income tax. In the article it details the millions he has had to pay, it is specifically federal income tax that he has managed to minimize.
I want to know whether his daughter paid tax on the chunk he gave her
More to the point, do you have any idea of national figures for cost per test, or percentage of contacts traced ?
The increasing desperation to "prove", despite it clearly being untrue, what a brilliant testing regime we have is something to behold.
FWIW, I give the government some credit for realising how important testing is, and for committing significant resources to it. I give them very little credit indeed for how they have managed it. I am in no way competent to run a project like that, but could quite possibly have done a better job.
That is obviously a totally misleading tweet. Trump has paid millions in taxes, just not federal income tax. In the article it details the millions he has had to pay, it is specifically federal income tax that he has managed to minimize.
"Trump pays millions in taxes" doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it? At least not in the NYT newsroom.
I don't understand the lunacy behind this "world beating" nonsense. Our testing regime certainly isn't bad by any means. It could even be described as good, but the insistence that it is "world beating" is just not based in reality.
I don't understand the lunacy behind this "world beating" nonsense. Our testing regime certainly isn't bad by any means. It could even be described as good, but the insistence that it is "world beating" is just not based in reality.
Probably a reaction/reflex to people calling it the worst, a disaster etc.
That is obviously a totally misleading tweet. Trump has paid millions in taxes, just not federal income tax. In the article it details the millions he has had to pay, it is specifically federal income tax that he has managed to minimize.
That is obviously a totally misleading tweet. Trump has paid millions in taxes, just not federal income tax. In the article it details the millions he has had to pay, it is specifically federal income tax that he has managed to minimize.
Has he? - if Trump is avoiding paying Federal tax what evidence is there that he is paying State taxes,
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
But you must you are a dedicated member of the party responsible for the outcome, you will go on the doorsteps praising the outcome whatever that may be. Every single Tory member and many of their voters bear full responsibility for the outcomes of the dual crisis that the UK faces.
I have recanted my leave vote if not the reasons for doing so. This is not a crisis caused by leaving the EU - the question on the ballot paper. The democratic mandate was to leave the EU because that was the question asked.
HYUFD's problem is that he mistakes his interpretation of the best interests of the Conservative Party as being the best interests of the UK. If the Tories had polling showing that red wall Tories wanted to kill the first born male child in every household he'd be on here insisting that it had to happen.
The political choices made by the Tories after the referendum are the cataclysm which ultimately will destroy them. You cannot continue as a Conservative and Unionist Party when you choose a policy that destroys the economy and our standing in the world and the union. Lets be honest about this - Brexit is just their excuse to do so. Shagger isn't even a leaver...
Granted it's a poll of 1 person in a red wall seat but I actively and wholly endorse that "kill first born male" child policy. The fact I only have girls does not influence my view in any way..
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
But you must you are a dedicated member of the party responsible for the outcome, you will go on the doorsteps praising the outcome whatever that may be. Every single Tory member and many of their voters bear full responsibility for the outcomes of the dual crisis that the UK faces.
I have recanted my leave vote if not the reasons for doing so. This is not a crisis caused by leaving the EU - the question on the ballot paper. The democratic mandate was to leave the EU because that was the question asked.
HYUFD's problem is that he mistakes his interpretation of the best interests of the Conservative Party as being the best interests of the UK. If the Tories had polling showing that red wall Tories wanted to kill the first born male child in every household he'd be on here insisting that it had to happen.
The political choices made by the Tories after the referendum are the cataclysm which ultimately will destroy them. You cannot continue as a Conservative and Unionist Party when you choose a policy that destroys the economy and our standing in the world and the union. Lets be honest about this - Brexit is just their excuse to do so. Shagger isn't even a leaver...
However what the red wall voters want only matters if it doesn't impact him. For example the building of thousands of new homes in Epping? God no.
That is obviously a totally misleading tweet. Trump has paid millions in taxes, just not federal income tax. In the article it details the millions he has had to pay, it is specifically federal income tax that he has managed to minimize.
Has he? - if Trump is avoiding paying Federal tax what evidence is there that he is paying State taxes,
There is a special tax in NY you have to pay, which was introduced because so many wealthy people would report their business profits were negigible. It runs to many millions.
Its in the article. He has also paid all sorts of other taxes associated with his businesses.
Basically its a bit like the reports every year that Starbucks don't pay any UK tax. They pay large amounts in various taxes, but using transfer pricing magically their profits are so small that corporation tax is minimal.
It is clear Trump isn't anywhere near as wealthy as he claims, but it isn't totally clear if all this putting huge amounts into businesses that then make all seem to make a loss is business madness or just a way of minimizing his tax bill or both.
More to the point, do you have any idea of national figures for cost per test, or percentage of contacts traced ?
The increasing desperation to "prove", despite it clearly being untrue, what a brilliant testing regime we have is something to behold.
FWIW, I give the government some credit for realising how important testing is, and for committing significant resources to it. I give them very little credit indeed for how they have managed it. I am in no way competent to run a project like that, but could quite possibly have done a better job.
Yes, I think that's fair. A lot of resources have been dedicated to it, but once again the government is using testing numbers as a "let's be seen to be doing something" policy just like the 10pm closing time. We could be doing half the number of tests and have better control on outbreaks if we had policy based on using the data properly rather than "let's pump up numbers so we can con the feeble minded into thinking we're doing a good job".
The whole strategy has just been awful from beginning to end and with the reports on vaccine logistics it seems as though that will go the same way. Lots of headlines about investment and development of a vaccine but none of the hard work to actually distribute it. I'm now hoping that vaccine distribution will be privatised and handed to the likes of Boots, even if it means a higher cost per dose administered.
I don't understand the lunacy behind this "world beating" nonsense. Our testing regime certainly isn't bad by any means. It could even be described as good, but the insistence that it is "world beating" is just not based in reality.
Probably a reaction/reflex to people calling it the worst, a disaster etc.
I think they would get a lot more sympathy from the neutrals if they were more honest with where the problems lay, what they were caused by and how they were trying to fix them. Probably they think they are being - in which case communication is terrible!
The tories should have Baker as leader. I mean, I wouldn't vote for him but at least he's one of the very few with integrity and intellectual coherence. He'd go down a storm with the wildlings north of the wall. Been in the forces, has a motorbike, etc. They love all that shit.
Regarding shutting the pubs at 10pm in York City Centre it has been a disaster with pictures on social media showing crowds on the street all mingling together. I realise it is hard to govern in a pandemic but surely this is a stupid policy. Also letting parliments own bars remain open after 10pm again re -opens the debate one rule for us argument.
Well fine but any serious illness takes months to recover from. This hasn't had time to count as long covid yet, it's short to medium term covid.
Never heard anyone fit and healthy under 60 still be not fully recovered from the flu after 6 months. With the rona it's 100% of people I know have had in their 50s.
Do you mean they have all recovered, or not at all?
The latter. Sent you a message woth some friends experience. If this was anything like the flu I'd be with the herd immunity lot. It simply isn't
Many thanks - got confused by message and PM'd a query back - but ignore my query, I understand now.
Really is nasty, and I can't understand why this isn';t emphasised much more by the Gmt.
On topic, it is always amusing when Americans complain about tax dodging given that the United States was founded to evade taxes.
The real problem is a tax system which is like Swiss cheese, being more loopholes than taxes. But there doesn't seem much chance of that changing any time soon.
Well fine but any serious illness takes months to recover from. This hasn't had time to count as long covid yet, it's short to medium term covid.
Never heard anyone fit and healthy under 60 still be not fully recovered from the flu after 6 months. With the rona it's 100% of people I know have had in their 50s.
Do you mean they have all recovered, or not at all?
The latter. Sent you a message woth some friends experience. If this was anything like the flu I'd be with the herd immunity lot. It simply isn't
PS Does anyone recommend a decent source (e.g. BMJ) for the rate of getting long covid as a function of age, assuming one catches the virus in the first place, please?
On topic, it is always amusing when Americans complain about tax dodging given that the United States was founded to evade taxes.
The real problem is a tax system which is like Swiss cheese, being more loopholes than taxes. But there doesn't seem much chance of that changing any time soon.
The fact everybody other than somebody who has the most basic of financial arrangements i.e. works minimum wage, no savings or investments, needs to hire an accountant every year says something about the system.
Well fine but any serious illness takes months to recover from. This hasn't had time to count as long covid yet, it's short to medium term covid.
Never heard anyone fit and healthy under 60 still be not fully recovered from the flu after 6 months. With the rona it's 100% of people I know have had in their 50s.
Do you mean they have all recovered, or not at all?
The latter. Sent you a message woth some friends experience. If this was anything like the flu I'd be with the herd immunity lot. It simply isn't
PS Does anyone recommend a decent source (e.g. BMJ) for the rate of getting long covid as a function of age, assuming one catches the virus in the first place, please?
We don't know yet - Long Covid could have a 5 or even 30 year recurrence window.
That is obviously a totally misleading tweet. Trump has paid millions in taxes, just not federal income tax. In the article it details the millions he has had to pay, it is specifically federal income tax that he has managed to minimize.
Has he? - if Trump is avoiding paying Federal tax what evidence is there that he is paying State taxes,
He would be unlikely to evade State taxes because he knows there is no immunity at that level.
More to the point, do you have any idea of national figures for cost per test, or percentage of contacts traced ?
The increasing desperation to "prove", despite it clearly being untrue, what a brilliant testing regime we have is something to behold.
FWIW, I give the government some credit for realising how important testing is, and for committing significant resources to it. I give them very little credit indeed for how they have managed it. I am in no way competent to run a project like that, but could quite possibly have done a better job.
Yes, I think that's fair. A lot of resources have been dedicated to it, but once again the government is using testing numbers as a "let's be seen to be doing something" policy just like the 10pm closing time. We could be doing half the number of tests and have better control on outbreaks if we had policy based on using the data properly rather than "let's pump up numbers so we can con the feeble minded into thinking we're doing a good job".
The whole strategy has just been awful from beginning to end and with the reports on vaccine logistics it seems as though that will go the same way. Lots of headlines about investment and development of a vaccine but none of the hard work to actually distribute it. I'm now hoping that vaccine distribution will be privatised and handed to the likes of Boots, even if it means a higher cost per dose administered.
Have the government got any friends in Boots who would benefit, if not I doubt it will go that way.
Actually donuts are a far too pedestrian activity for Mr Ace.
I have been known to drop a ring a two at the local hit it and quit it drift spot. My E46 330D is a donut/drift monster because it's got the 3.62 LSD from an M3 and the quicker 14.5:1 steering rack from a CSL in it. I did one in the supermarket carpark just last week with my wife in it. She went fucking mental.
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
But you must you are a dedicated member of the party responsible for the outcome, you will go on the doorsteps praising the outcome whatever that may be. Every single Tory member and many of their voters bear full responsibility for the outcomes of the dual crisis that the UK faces.
The members of the Conservative party bear the greatest responsibility because their obsession with Brexit led them to choose a person to be PM who most knew was unfit for the office. We are now paying the price.
You could argue that the electorate also endorsed him but largely because by that stage the alternative was worse. The real culprits are that minuscule proportion of the electorate that are members of the Tory Party.
It was the party memberships that gave us a choice of Johnson or Corbyn at the last election. Personally I would revert to letting the MPs make the choice.
The MPs who elected William Hague and Michael Foot?
Those were possibly the worst choices made by MPs but both are still huge upgrades on Johnson and Corbyn.
You could reasonably argue that Hague was unlucky. Foot was a bit like Johnson, but incomparably better as an orator.
In the run up to the 2016 Referendum, I opined on here I hoped the UK, once outside the EU, could rejoin EFTA and re-invigorate that organisation as a free trade counterweight to the EU.
It seems EFTA has moved on since 1973 and Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein seem happy to follow EEA rules in a way which I don't think would be politically acceptable to the current Government.
That leaves Switzerland and its bilateral agreements but as we have seen the Swiss seem happy to continue free movement so we are once again out on our own and looking for arrangements applicable to countries oceans away rather than 22 miles across the Channel.
It comes back to the notion that while we do not wish to be politically a part of Europe, the geography keeps getting in the way. People will move if they can and all the tough talk on immigration doesn't deter those who see a better life waiting in the UK.
Ultimately we are going to have to have those difficult conversations about people.
On topic, it is always amusing when Americans complain about tax dodging given that the United States was founded to evade taxes.
The real problem is a tax system which is like Swiss cheese, being more loopholes than taxes. But there doesn't seem much chance of that changing any time soon.
The fact everybody other than somebody who has the most basic of financial arrangements i.e. works minimum wage, no savings or investments, needs to hire an accountant every year says something about the system.
Sadly we're moving the same way, and have been since Gordon Brown who I think doubled the length of our tax code.
I don't understand the lunacy behind this "world beating" nonsense. Our testing regime certainly isn't bad by any means. It could even be described as good, but the insistence that it is "world beating" is just not based in reality.
It was political hype but to be fair we are out testing anyone in Europe and 10 million plus have downloaded the app, including myself, and in a month or two it could be quite exceptional
Like Al Capone this gangster may be banged up for tax evasion rather than the other crimes.
Which might be a bigger worry for Trump than losing the election.
I suspect that if Trump loses the election he will be spending a lot of time in countries which don't have extradition treaties regarding tax offences.
Sorry Scotland...
Perhaps with his friends in Turkey ? Where he’s actually paid some tax.
Oh come on, Vladimir will welcome him with open arms. They're already putting down the red carpet at his favorite Gulag.
Don't they need to be putting down a more absorbent fabric?
None of this really that surprising. What is, it seems Trump was actually telling the truth about being under audit by IRS for donkeys years.
I don't think that was ever in doubt. The part that people queried was whether that prevented him from publishing his tax returns, as I understand it.
Oh no, that's clearly BS. But given Trumps problems with the truth, i think a lot of reasonable people did wonder, really under audit, for how many years? Well it seems well over 5. It seems its a bit like Brexit deals, both sides are just stuck going round and round the same arguments, IRS query some big loss, Team Trump says yes I lost £70 million on a year on that deal, so you went and bought another of the same type of business and immediately lost another packet, yeap, that's what i did, hmmmm..
People keep saying this, but there is surely a counter argument that a bit less haste and more thought might actually be beneficial in the long run. One of the most impressive things the guy from Sweden says repeatedly (and ignoring all the wider nonsense about “following the Swedish model” - propagated in the media) is that they decided early on on a level of compliance and rules that they thought the public at large would be prepared to accept for the long run, also providing a level of certainty to businesses and others, and generally stuck to it - only making tweaks where it was clear that certain measures weren’t working as intended (eg. he accepts mistakes were made in carehomes). But also made no promises (to the most affected businesses in particular) about a medium term ambition of having everything return to what is was before (compare with the U.K. reopening which seemed to be set on a path to reopening everything, probably long before the virus would be gone).
And importantly this is also beneficial for good government - because the health system etc can make plans for levels of provision that they need to make available and/or retain emergency capacity (which can be ramped your or down as necessary). The first response to case numbers rising a bit more than hoped, is not to find some new “lockdown measure” to be imposed, but to activate some of the emergency capacity that has been set aside. And if course if numbers do rise a bit those at risk will just be that little bit more careful which will also bring beneficial outcomes.
Not, as in the U.K. - announcing some new measures one week - and then abandoning/toughening them two weeks later. In the meantime resulting in everyone making things worse by “capitalising” on the slightly looser measures whilst they are still in force. I’m sure all the talk of looming “London lockdowns” that has been going on for two weeks now is contributing to increased levels of socialising and pub going etc “while we still can”. It’s basic human nature - especially for those who don’t feel personally at risk.
It's the difference between political maturity and a consensus-based society on one hand, and a zero-competence oligarchy based on an ignorant infantilised populace on the other.
That's not to say that Sweden's approach is correct, but their process certainly is. Ours certainly isn't.
Governments have never communicated clear instructions on quarantine. They don't even use the word "quarantine". Contrast that with countries that have dealt successfully with Covid-19.
Probably has more to do with tight and lose cultures.
I don't think I agree. Taiwan for example has a pretty liberal culture these days, as does New Zealand. Governments need to set expectations, set out what is mandatory and why, and what is up to people's discretion and how they can assess these risks. Sanctions are held in reserve but shouldn't normally be needed.
Governments do need to be consistent, transparent and trustworthy, none of which the UK government is
I don't understand the lunacy behind this "world beating" nonsense. Our testing regime certainly isn't bad by any means. It could even be described as good, but the insistence that it is "world beating" is just not based in reality.
It was political hype but to be fair we are out testing anyone in Europe and 10 million plus have downloaded the app, including myself, and in a month or two it could be quite exceptional
But we're not out testing anyone in Europe. That just isn't true. Denmark amongst others beat us per 100,000 people, and Russia beats us in absolute number of tests.
And 10m downloads of the app is good (including myself) but it isn't enough. We need much more than that. The app itself is very good in my opinion.
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
*giggles*. I voted to leave the EU. As I keep pointing out the EEA is not the EU. As you keep pointing out "naah I don't care about anything that isn't my perceived interests of the Conservative Party and if that brings millions to ruin they voted for it".
Leaving the EU is not our problem. Leaving the EEA and CU are our problems. We could have delivered the referendum, rejoined EFTA and by now be a sizeable non-EU player in the EEA forcing them to open up trade. Instead, narrow minded partisan fools like your good self have literally cheered on this fiasco. "Its all about stopping migration". So stop migration then - as we always could. Under the existing EU/EEA rules. No job, no right to remain.
Of course had Blair imposed transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries for 7 years from 2007 as Germany did for instance much of the resentment over uncontrolled immigration would never have arrived in the first place
I don't understand the lunacy behind this "world beating" nonsense. Our testing regime certainly isn't bad by any means. It could even be described as good, but the insistence that it is "world beating" is just not based in reality.
It was political hype but to be fair we are out testing anyone in Europe and 10 million plus have downloaded the app, including myself, and in a month or two it could be quite exceptional
But we're not out testing anyone in Europe. That just isn't true. Denmark amongst others beat us per 100,000 people, and Russia beats us in absolute number of tests.
And 10m downloads of the app is good (including myself) but it isn't enough. We need much more than that. The app itself is very good in my opinion.
I said way back that I didn't see more than 20% downloading the app and was told I was wrong.....engaging smug mode....smug mode engaged
I don't understand the lunacy behind this "world beating" nonsense. Our testing regime certainly isn't bad by any means. It could even be described as good, but the insistence that it is "world beating" is just not based in reality.
It was political hype but to be fair we are out testing anyone in Europe and 10 million plus have downloaded the app, including myself, and in a month or two it could be quite exceptional
Me and the wife were unable to download it as we are using i phone 6.
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
But you must you are a dedicated member of the party responsible for the outcome, you will go on the doorsteps praising the outcome whatever that may be. Every single Tory member and many of their voters bear full responsibility for the outcomes of the dual crisis that the UK faces.
I have recanted my leave vote if not the reasons for doing so. This is not a crisis caused by leaving the EU - the question on the ballot paper. The democratic mandate was to leave the EU because that was the question asked.
HYUFD's problem is that he mistakes his interpretation of the best interests of the Conservative Party as being the best interests of the UK. If the Tories had polling showing that red wall Tories wanted to kill the first born male child in every household he'd be on here insisting that it had to happen.
The political choices made by the Tories after the referendum are the cataclysm which ultimately will destroy them. You cannot continue as a Conservative and Unionist Party when you choose a policy that destroys the economy and our standing in the world and the union. Lets be honest about this - Brexit is just their excuse to do so. Shagger isn't even a leaver...
However what the red wall voters want only matters if it doesn't impact him. For example the building of thousands of new homes in Epping? God no.
I support the building of needed new homes in Epping with appropriate infrastructure and in brownbelt areas as much as possible
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
*giggles*. I voted to leave the EU. As I keep pointing out the EEA is not the EU. As you keep pointing out "naah I don't care about anything that isn't my perceived interests of the Conservative Party and if that brings millions to ruin they voted for it".
Leaving the EU is not our problem. Leaving the EEA and CU are our problems. We could have delivered the referendum, rejoined EFTA and by now be a sizeable non-EU player in the EEA forcing them to open up trade. Instead, narrow minded partisan fools like your good self have literally cheered on this fiasco. "Its all about stopping migration". So stop migration then - as we always could. Under the existing EU/EEA rules. No job, no right to remain.
Of course had Blair imposed transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries for 7 years from 2007 as Germany did for instance much of the resentment over uncontrolled immigration would never have arrived in the first place
Or if Blair / Cameron heck even Boris had moved our welfare system to something that required contributions prior to payment...
More to the point, do you have any idea of national figures for cost per test, or percentage of contacts traced ?
The increasing desperation to "prove", despite it clearly being untrue, what a brilliant testing regime we have is something to behold.
FWIW, I give the government some credit for realising how important testing is, and for committing significant resources to it. I give them very little credit indeed for how they have managed it. I am in no way competent to run a project like that, but could quite possibly have done a better job.
The trouble is that the assumption that a room full of 4 sigma brains can run everything from the centre and do a better job than existing specialists is baked into this government, despite being profoundly unConservative and probably insane.
Send a letter and a big cheque to the public health department of every local council. Require a regular update. Job basically done, probably more effectively than it has been.
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
*giggles*. I voted to leave the EU. As I keep pointing out the EEA is not the EU. As you keep pointing out "naah I don't care about anything that isn't my perceived interests of the Conservative Party and if that brings millions to ruin they voted for it".
Leaving the EU is not our problem. Leaving the EEA and CU are our problems. We could have delivered the referendum, rejoined EFTA and by now be a sizeable non-EU player in the EEA forcing them to open up trade. Instead, narrow minded partisan fools like your good self have literally cheered on this fiasco. "Its all about stopping migration". So stop migration then - as we always could. Under the existing EU/EEA rules. No job, no right to remain.
Of course had Blair imposed transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries for 7 years from 2007 as Germany did for instance much of the resentment over uncontrolled immigration would never have arrived in the first place
I don't understand the lunacy behind this "world beating" nonsense. Our testing regime certainly isn't bad by any means. It could even be described as good, but the insistence that it is "world beating" is just not based in reality.
It was political hype but to be fair we are out testing anyone in Europe and 10 million plus have downloaded the app, including myself, and in a month or two it could be quite exceptional
But we're not out testing anyone in Europe. That just isn't true. Denmark amongst others beat us per 100,000 people, and Russia beats us in absolute number of tests.
And 10m downloads of the app is good (including myself) but it isn't enough. We need much more than that. The app itself is very good in my opinion.
I said way back that I didn't see more than 20% downloading the app and was told I was wrong.....engaging smug mode....smug mode engaged
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
But you must you are a dedicated member of the party responsible for the outcome, you will go on the doorsteps praising the outcome whatever that may be. Every single Tory member and many of their voters bear full responsibility for the outcomes of the dual crisis that the UK faces.
I have recanted my leave vote if not the reasons for doing so. This is not a crisis caused by leaving the EU - the question on the ballot paper. The democratic mandate was to leave the EU because that was the question asked.
HYUFD's problem is that he mistakes his interpretation of the best interests of the Conservative Party as being the best interests of the UK. If the Tories had polling showing that red wall Tories wanted to kill the first born male child in every household he'd be on here insisting that it had to happen.
The political choices made by the Tories after the referendum are the cataclysm which ultimately will destroy them. You cannot continue as a Conservative and Unionist Party when you choose a policy that destroys the economy and our standing in the world and the union. Lets be honest about this - Brexit is just their excuse to do so. Shagger isn't even a leaver...
However what the red wall voters want only matters if it doesn't impact him. For example the building of thousands of new homes in Epping? God no.
I support the building of needed new homes in Epping with appropriate infrastructure and in brownbelt areas as much as possible
"With appropriate infrastructure" has been the cry of the NIMBY for all of recorded time. New housing is never built with the appropriate infrastructure.
Sporting's spreads have been moving steadily in favor of Biden backers this morning. The ECV supremacy market has been particularly active and now stands at Biden +46/52. This represents a huge positive for those that took the hints posted here some weeks back.
I'm afraid I don't know who to thank for pointing this market out to me. Perhaps they could raise a hand now. It is looking much more profitable than the standard ECV market, although that too is well 'in the money' for me now.
I don't understand the lunacy behind this "world beating" nonsense. Our testing regime certainly isn't bad by any means. It could even be described as good, but the insistence that it is "world beating" is just not based in reality.
It was political hype but to be fair we are out testing anyone in Europe and 10 million plus have downloaded the app, including myself, and in a month or two it could be quite exceptional
But we're not out testing anyone in Europe. That just isn't true. Denmark amongst others beat us per 100,000 people, and Russia beats us in absolute number of tests.
And 10m downloads of the app is good (including myself) but it isn't enough. We need much more than that. The app itself is very good in my opinion.
I said way back that I didn't see more than 20% downloading the app and was told I was wrong.....engaging smug mode....smug mode engaged
I don't understand the lunacy behind this "world beating" nonsense. Our testing regime certainly isn't bad by any means. It could even be described as good, but the insistence that it is "world beating" is just not based in reality.
It was political hype but to be fair we are out testing anyone in Europe and 10 million plus have downloaded the app, including myself, and in a month or two it could be quite exceptional
But we're not out testing anyone in Europe. That just isn't true. Denmark amongst others beat us per 100,000 people, and Russia beats us in absolute number of tests.
And 10m downloads of the app is good (including myself) but it isn't enough. We need much more than that. The app itself is very good in my opinion.
I said way back that I didn't see more than 20% downloading the app and was told I was wrong.....engaging smug mode....smug mode engaged
Who said you were wrong?
Quite a few did and said we would easily hit the 60% figure required. There reasoning being they would download it and couldn't see why anyone wouldn't. Its not something worth going and digging out names for however.
Whilst its fascinating to see @HYUFD waxing lyrical about the joys of free trade and EFTA his wing of his party have delusionally told us that EFTA/EEA and EU are the same thing. So we can't possibly be EEA members as that makes us a "vassal state".
It will be entertaining to watch the about face as the realities of the giant shit sandwich they are now handing to leave supporters are understood. You see that EFTA - that one we demonised. Thats a really good outcome for us that it. And having to accept rules made by the EU that EFTA have no say in is absolutely not us being rule takers, and is definitely better than making those rules as we used to do.
I mean yes absolutely and I appreciate you have recanted but between you and @HYUFD, only one of you had the foresight at the time to realise what a shitshow this would be and one didn't.
You are correct in that if I recall Rochdale voted Leave while I voted Remain, now I am a democrat and accepted the result but on polling day 2016 it was me who voted Remain in the Referendum, it was Rochdale who voted Leave so I am not going to take lectures from him about being responsible for all the consequences of Brexit
*giggles*. I voted to leave the EU. As I keep pointing out the EEA is not the EU. As you keep pointing out "naah I don't care about anything that isn't my perceived interests of the Conservative Party and if that brings millions to ruin they voted for it".
Leaving the EU is not our problem. Leaving the EEA and CU are our problems. We could have delivered the referendum, rejoined EFTA and by now be a sizeable non-EU player in the EEA forcing them to open up trade. Instead, narrow minded partisan fools like your good self have literally cheered on this fiasco. "Its all about stopping migration". So stop migration then - as we always could. Under the existing EU/EEA rules. No job, no right to remain.
Of course had Blair imposed transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries for 7 years from 2007 as Germany did for instance much of the resentment over uncontrolled immigration would never have arrived in the first place
We don't know that for a fact.
We can never know it for a fact, but it does seem highly likely.
People haven't accepted that Brexit means the UK being a client of the EU across the areas that agreement covers. This reluctance to accept reality has included Remainers as well as Leavers. Right now the decision is between minimal agreement and no agreement on anything to ensure no client status applies. No-one voted Leave to be controlled. Eventually we will probably agree to quite a lot on EU terms because it's better to have agreement than have no agreement when agreement is possible. That can be seen to be a "close relationship", albeit as a client.
Given the 52% to 48% result was pretty close anyway an EFTA style relationship is probably the likely long term outcome of our relationship with the EU, however that would require a Sunak or Starmer premiership rather than a Boris premiership in all likelihood to get there
I agree. But the EFTA style relationship won't be a comfortable one for a UK (if it still exists) with a well developed sense of self-importance.
Britain is not a superpower like the US, China and increasingly India and should not act like one however it is a medium sized power alongside France, Germany, Japan, Brazil and Russia and still has a role to play as a G7, G20, NATO and UN Security Council member
Britain's superpower status (pre 1950s) derived from the fact it could call upon reflexive loyalty of Canada, NZ, Australia and South Africa, and leverage manpower from India - and to a lesser extent East Africa. This allowed it to play at least a 30-40% partner role with the USA, as opposed to the 10% partner role we play today.
If that existed today, the UK would more than double the weight of its army and navy with the "Dominions". Still not a superpower but comfortably exceeding any other Western power, except the USA. If you added India/Africa on top - with their huge manpower - you'd then have a quasi-superpower, provided you had the logistical and staff capabilities to leverage it.
Without any of that we are just a leading European military with blue-water deployment capability.
Sounds about right but I'd love to see you present that one over a few pints in the pubs and clubs of Leave Nation.
"There's nothing special about us. We're not some massive power these days. That's all gone FFS so stop getting all hoarse and misty-eyed about it. We're just a leading European military with blue-water deployment capability."
You'll need to be buying otherwise there might be fisticuffs.
Comments
If you're trying to be deliberately obtuse then that's not big or clever. If you're not and don't understand why per capita is significant then that's also not clever.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/03/how-much-you-need-to-make-to-be-in-the-1-in-every-state/39529571/
Like the UK PM whose £150 000 a year also falls below the £160 000 a year needed to be in the top 1% in the UK both the US president and UK PM are relatively underpaid given the responsibility of the role, though they do get the perks of the White House and Camp David and No 10 and Chequers and all their security paid for and the possibility of significant earnings on the lecture circuit on leaving office
If that existed today, the UK would more than double the weight of its army and navy with the "Dominions". Still not a superpower but comfortably exceeding any other Western power, except the USA. If you added India/Africa on top - with their huge manpower - you'd then have a quasi-superpower, provided you had the logistical and staff capabilities to leverage it.
Without any of that we are just a leading European military with blue-water deployment capability.
Leaving the EU is not our problem. Leaving the EEA and CU are our problems. We could have delivered the referendum, rejoined EFTA and by now be a sizeable non-EU player in the EEA forcing them to open up trade. Instead, narrow minded partisan fools like your good self have literally cheered on this fiasco. "Its all about stopping migration". So stop migration then - as we always could. Under the existing EU/EEA rules. No job, no right to remain.
a) how many people are tested (estimated at about 62K per day on the last figures I saw, cf. over 200K tests)
b) how well testing is targeted at those who are most likely to have Covid symptoms, rather than just, say, the sniffles
c) how effective the follow-up to the tests is in respect of trace and isolate.
We may well do more tests than others, but I'm not persuaded we win on a) to c) above.
I'm not exactly expecting anything to be forthcoming any time soon, because it's bollocks.
As recent elections have shown it's perfectly possible to win the Presidency with 43% of the vote and lose it with 48%. The nature of the Electoral College can mean very small differences in vote shares can be grossly magnified in the final EC vote. It's the efficiency of the vote that matters as much as its size. Biden will pile up a huge majority of votes in California but he can only win the same number of EC votes whether he wins by 1% or 30%.
The second point the US polls are repeatedly showing is the degree to which voters are entrenched on either side of the debate. There seems little prospect of the debates being the game changer they have been in the past. The numbers still to decide are very small across the board so the notion Trump will somehow shift vast numbers of votes from the debates seems fanciful.
To be fair, the notion Biden will is equally fanciful.
HYUFD's problem is that he mistakes his interpretation of the best interests of the Conservative Party as being the best interests of the UK. If the Tories had polling showing that red wall Tories wanted to kill the first born male child in every household he'd be on here insisting that it had to happen.
The political choices made by the Tories after the referendum are the cataclysm which ultimately will destroy them. You cannot continue as a Conservative and Unionist Party when you choose a policy that destroys the economy and our standing in the world and the union. Lets be honest about this - Brexit is just their excuse to do so. Shagger isn't even a leaver...
More to the point, do you have any idea of national figures for cost per test, or percentage of contacts traced and followed up within 24 hours ?
We are doing lots of tests, but we are waiting too long for the results and are not using the results to get the right people to isolate *in time* to break the chain of transmission.
United Arab Emirates (Sep 24) 9,614.00
Iceland (Sep 22) 7,912.00
Denmark (Sep 23) 7,243.00
Bahrain (Sep 24) 6,996.00
Israel (Sep 18) 5,585.00
Singapore (Sep 21) 5,399.00
United Kingdom (Sep 24) 3,292.00
Belgium (Sep 23) 2,985.00
United States (Sep 24) 2,727.00
Ireland (Sep 24) 2,624.00
Maldives (Sep 23) 2,366.00
France (Sep 21) 2,325.00
Russia (Sep 24) 2,221.00
Spain (Sep 19) 2,101.00
Finland (Sep 22) 2,098.00
FWIW, I give the government some credit for realising how important testing is, and for committing significant resources to it.
I give them very little credit indeed for how they have managed it. I am in no way competent to run a project like that, but could quite possibly have done a better job.
(Note, Trump treated his hair styling as a tax deductible.)
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1310388421286920193
I'm not dead.
Internet was broken. On the plus side, looks like it was a good race to miss.
Its in the article. He has also paid all sorts of other taxes associated with his businesses.
Basically its a bit like the reports every year that Starbucks don't pay any UK tax. They pay large amounts in various taxes, but using transfer pricing magically their profits are so small that corporation tax is minimal.
It is clear Trump isn't anywhere near as wealthy as he claims, but it isn't totally clear if all this putting huge amounts into businesses that then make all seem to make a loss is business madness or just a way of minimizing his tax bill or both.
The whole strategy has just been awful from beginning to end and with the reports on vaccine logistics it seems as though that will go the same way. Lots of headlines about investment and development of a vaccine but none of the hard work to actually distribute it. I'm now hoping that vaccine distribution will be privatised and handed to the likes of Boots, even if it means a higher cost per dose administered.
You missed Sandpit's (I think ?) stunning Bottas tip. (Which no doubt you would have preempted.
Messing around with outsized haddock again, I suspect.
Different country, but same principles.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/28/jim-baker-rules-washington-421904
I realise it is hard to govern in a pandemic but surely this is a stupid policy.
Also letting parliments own bars remain open after 10pm again re -opens the debate one rule for us argument.
Really is nasty, and I can't understand why this isn';t emphasised much more by the Gmt.
The real problem is a tax system which is like Swiss cheese, being more loopholes than taxes. But there doesn't seem much chance of that changing any time soon.
https://twitter.com/carlgardner/status/1310519054655000577
Anyone been stopped by the police to have their temperature taken yet?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54322579
It seems EFTA has moved on since 1973 and Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein seem happy to follow EEA rules in a way which I don't think would be politically acceptable to the current Government.
That leaves Switzerland and its bilateral agreements but as we have seen the Swiss seem happy to continue free movement so we are once again out on our own and looking for arrangements applicable to countries oceans away rather than 22 miles across the Channel.
It comes back to the notion that while we do not wish to be politically a part of Europe, the geography keeps getting in the way. People will move if they can and all the tough talk on immigration doesn't deter those who see a better life waiting in the UK.
Ultimately we are going to have to have those difficult conversations about people.
That's not to say that Sweden's approach is correct, but their process certainly is. Ours certainly isn't.
They won't even be around in 10 years, this judgment was always strange
Governments do need to be consistent, transparent and trustworthy, none of which the UK government is
And 10m downloads of the app is good (including myself) but it isn't enough. We need much more than that. The app itself is very good in my opinion.
Send a letter and a big cheque to the public health department of every local council. Require a regular update. Job basically done, probably more effectively than it has been.
I also can't believe how close Texas is!
I'm afraid I don't know who to thank for pointing this market out to me. Perhaps they could raise a hand now. It is looking much more profitable than the standard ECV market, although that too is well 'in the money' for me now.
A Biden spread bet buy looks like a very good idea. I wish I had the confidence to do it, but I won't dare do spread bets.
"There's nothing special about us. We're not some massive power these days. That's all gone FFS so stop getting all hoarse and misty-eyed about it. We're just a leading European military with blue-water deployment capability."
You'll need to be buying otherwise there might be fisticuffs.