"National" lockdown. What does that mean exactly? Just England presumably.
Can't see Wales being too keen to go along with it. Given the entire point of their 'early action' on a "short circuit breaker" was to avoid a longer lockdown.
Gives Drakeford a chance to extend his lockdown - with special 'non essential shopping' rules of course.
And Sturgeon can have 'lockdown+' with bonus SNP totalitarian measures.
Drakeford said today that from the 9th November new covid rules will apply throughout Wales so it is de facto extension of the firebreak to Wales as a whole
Yes the 'new rules' will suspend all indoor contacts between households except where one is living alone who can 'bubble up' (or as they say in Belgium be a 'cuddle contact') with another household. Applying the rule which applied in the regional Welsh lockdowns pre the 'firebreak' to the whole country.
The 'cyfnod atal byr' will actually no longer be a 'short suspension break'...
White Tailed Sea Eagles are now firmly embedded as nesting birds in the Isle of Wight. In England. For the first time in England since 1780
YAY!
Excellent news. I saw the first chicks being habituated back on the Isle of Rum in, I think, the late 1970s or 1980s and admired the adulkts like flying barn doors on the Isle of Eigg in the 1990s.
They're not saying. But is is wonderful. I too saw them in the Hebrides a few years ago. The idea they might soon be flying free over much of Britain is glorious.
And it is easily do-able. Red Kites (themselves magnificent birds) are now EVERYWHERE in the Chilterns and along the M4 (and they are spreading).
I have seen wild boar prints in Sussex. I love the rewilding of the nation. Beavers in Devon! Bring back the wolf in Scotland and Cumbria!
PS And lynx too (actually more doable than wolf, I understand).
Yes I see almost no problem with lynx. They are zero threat to humans. If they take a sheep or two, compensate the farmers, because the tourist income will totally outweigh their loss. Large parts of Scotland, northern/western England, Wales, could easily support a few lynx. And how exciting would that be? A genuine big cat in Britain
Already there. There really are too many credible Bodmin and Dartmoor sightings to be disbelieved - i have heard first hand from a sane Devon farmer how he saw a black panther kind of thing, close up and in good light.
Wouldn't such things need a breeding population to be sustainable ?
Have more than one ever been seen at the same time ?
Depends. Lions live in packs, leopards are highly solitary. So only spotting singletons would not prove the absence of a breeding population. Plus it is quite conceivable they are escapes or dumpings, either not breeding at all or only for a generation or two.
This Lockdown will last until Feb or March, with a temporary/partial suspension over Christmas
We are headed for the worst of times
If that's tried throughout Europe I would expect some countries to disintegrate.
Not sure which though.
I don't see how it can be avoided. Every time they lift the lockdowns - during the northern winter - cases will explode very quickly. Not least because R0 will barely be below 1, due to schools and unis saying open. So it won't take much to get R soaring once more.
It it the reasonable worst case scenario, becoming reality, as I warned you all about 8 months ago. We can expect 100,000+ dead in the UK, plus many many more negative consequences re mental health and so on.
That'll be Boris 'there'll not be another national lockdown' Johnson would it?
Has he got the Cabinet behind him on this, because I'm pretty sure he hasn't got his backbenchers.
I assume that’s why he’s offering to keep schools, colleges and universities open, which MPs seem to be keen on, despite Secondaries and above having high infection rates.
Students seem to have been the main source of this next phase of the plague from where I'm sitting.
Opening up university halls was utter folly.
I see weekly data of regional infections in school settings, and upper secondary (Year 9 and above) and FE colleges have very high transmission rates. That’s why Drakeford closed them in Wales.
"National" lockdown. What does that mean exactly? Just England presumably.
Hasn't Boris asked for a meeting with all the first ministers
"A summit to save Christmas". What an utterly ridiculous idea. Not a summit to save lives. Nor a summit to save the economy. Nor even a summit to strike a balance between the two. But a summit to save bloody Christmas! Just for a few short term headlines. As ever. Who feckin cares?
And hospitals are apparently on the verge of being 'overwhelmed'. What were the bloody Nightingales for? That was the whole point of them!
Many people are obsessed with the seemingly trivial. Especially when it involves them having a good time.
So people obsess about foreign holidays and people obsess about Christmas.
Ok, because of the kerfuffle I ran the cartoon past a professional cartoonist, who incidentally hadn't seen it before and wasn't aware of the AS concerns.
We concluded it's a good cartoon cartoon idea, but the execution is poor (no pun intended). The main trouble is that Starmer is unrecognisable. He looks more like Cameron! What's more, he's been made to look effete. The reason for this is unclear, and doesn't seem to serve any comedic or political purpose. (Corbyn is also a poor likeness but that matters less.)
This is a shame because the idea of Starmer decapitating metaphorically his adversary is a strong one, especially as real beheadings are very much in the news.
Is it anti-semitic? Not in a million years. There's no Jewish trope here, and no caricature that could be interpreted as such.
Like Foxy says, "The implication that the Jews wanted an innocent man's head on a plate."
So that's NOT anti-semitic? Sorry, but think you are wrong here. Trouble is not crap drawing but rather loaded, coded message.
Also, this cartoonist was "unaware of the anti-Semitic issue" and this is when he, or she, is judging a cartoon, which is all about a politician cashiered for anti-Semitism?
That's utterly ridiculous. Anti-Semitism is THE central issue here, it is the reason for the cartoon's existence. So if you are unaware of that you can't have any opinion on the image, as you are clueless of the vital context.
You are so sharp at spotting antisemitism on the left. Quite exceptionally talented in this regard.
This Lockdown will last until Feb or March, with a temporary/partial suspension over Christmas
We are headed for the worst of times
If that's tried throughout Europe I would expect some countries to disintegrate.
Not sure which though.
I don't see how it can be avoided. Every time they lift the lockdowns - during the northern winter - cases will explode very quickly. Not least because R0 will barely be below 1, due to schools and unis saying open. So it won't take much to get R soaring once more.
It it the reasonable worst case scenario, becoming reality, as I warned you all about 8 months ago. We can expect 100,000+ dead in the UK, plus many many more negative consequences re mental health and so on.
This Lockdown will last until Feb or March, with a temporary/partial suspension over Christmas
We are headed for the worst of times
If that's tried throughout Europe I would expect some countries to disintegrate.
Not sure which though.
I don't see how it can be avoided. Every time they lift the lockdowns - during the northern winter - cases will explode very quickly. Not least because R0 will barely be below 1, due to schools and unis saying open. So it won't take much to get R soaring once more.
It it the reasonable worst case scenario, becoming reality, as I warned you all about 8 months ago. We can expect 100,000+ dead in the UK, plus many many more negative consequences re mental health and so on.
Good luck, PB-ers, good luck.
But you only joined the site in June?
I have already confessed that I used to post under the name "Martin Day". Please do not press me any more
And some projections not showing a 'spike', presumably...
How on earth can they know there will be a big spike around xmas eve?
Yeah. Not around Boxing day, or Christmas day, but Christmas eve. Sounds like bollocks to me.
Might not be utter bollocks to say that deaths in general will spike in week that Xmas eve falls. They did in 2019, at 11.9K except for another spike to 14K in mid January. I checked quickly.
"Some people are going around saying there'll be a national lockdown next week. I just want to say that I am absolutely convinced that is the wrong thing to do and we wont be announcing it next week."
Wonder how the Muslim population feels about "saving Christmas"? Given they're presumably about to be locked down for Diwali to save it.
Muslims don't observe Diwali.
I'll let you into a little secret, Muslims love Christmas.
There is nothing wrong with acknowledging Christmas is the biggest holiday/family period in the UK. Its built around bank holidays, shopping, presents, family, new year, as much as, if not more than Christianity.
Wonder how the Muslim population feels about "saving Christmas"? Given they're presumably about to be locked down for Diwali to save it.
Muslims don't observe Diwali.
I'll let you into a little secret, Muslims love Christmas.
There is nothing wrong with acknowledging Christmas is the biggest holiday/family period in the UK. Its built around bank holidays, shopping, presents, family, new year, as much as, if not more than Christianity.
Yup. Christmas has nothing to do with Christianity for the vast majority of the population. It's a secular holiday really.
At leasr not doing their usual nonsense of announcing Wednesday for implementation the next Monday, so people go on yet another final weekend on the lash.
Damn, I've got a table booked at the Ritz (currently one of the very best restaurants in London IMO) the week after next.
I had a three night stay at The Ritz and dinner in the palm court restaurant for night booked for this July, which didn't happen, it has been booked for next July.
Wonder how the Muslim population feels about "saving Christmas"? Given they're presumably about to be locked down for Diwali to save it.
Muslims don't observe Diwali.
I'll let you into a little secret, Muslims love Christmas.
There is nothing wrong with acknowledging Christmas is the biggest holiday/family period in the UK. Its built around bank holidays, shopping, presents, family, new year, as much as, if not more than Christianity.
Christmas Day, the day we all celebrate the birth of Santa Claus.
At leasr not doing their usual nonsense of announcing Wednesday for implementation the next Monday, so people go on yet another final weekend on the lash.
Err is tomorrow not the start of the final weekend on the lash?
Wonder how the Muslim population feels about "saving Christmas"? Given they're presumably about to be locked down for Diwali to save it.
Muslims don't observe Diwali.
I'll let you into a little secret, Muslims love Christmas.
There is nothing wrong with acknowledging Christmas is the biggest holiday/family period in the UK. Its built around bank holidays, shopping, presents, family, new year, as much as, if not more than Christianity.
Yup. Christmas has nothing to do with Christianity for the vast majority of the population. It's a secular holiday really.
How very dare you. The Christmas tree, Father Christmas, kissing under the mistletoe. It's all right there in the bible.
At leasr not doing their usual nonsense of announcing Wednesday for implementation the next Monday, so people go on yet another final weekend on the lash.
Err is tomorrow not the start of the final weekend on the lash?
I was being sarcastic. When will they learn. You have to decide, announce, implement, not brief vaguely, wait several days, announce, wait several days, implement.
The expenses scandal revealed the mild-crookedness of many MPs, COVID-19 has revealed a large number of the members of parliament to be innumerate, lacking even basic scientific knowledge, and incapable of extrapolation and planning. To put it bluntly I would guess that at least half of all MPs are essentially useless.
Wonder how the Muslim population feels about "saving Christmas"? Given they're presumably about to be locked down for Diwali to save it.
Muslims don't observe Diwali.
I'll let you into a little secret, Muslims love Christmas.
There is nothing wrong with acknowledging Christmas is the biggest holiday/family period in the UK. Its built around bank holidays, shopping, presents, family, new year, as much as, if not more than Christianity.
Yup. Christmas has nothing to do with Christianity for the vast majority of the population. It's a secular holiday really.
How very dare you. The Christmas tree, Father Christmas, kissing under the mistletoe. It's all right there in the bible.
Boris Johnson to announce that myrrh is excluded from essential shopping item. Visits to see a hungry child in a manger excluded from FCO essential travel advice.
Comments
The 'cyfnod atal byr' will actually no longer be a 'short suspension break'...
It it the reasonable worst case scenario, becoming reality, as I warned you all about 8 months ago. We can expect 100,000+ dead in the UK, plus many many more negative consequences re mental health and so on.
Good luck, PB-ers, good luck.
I suppose Trump could try that one.
Regardless, Spectre’s just released latest view isn’t nearly as gloomy.
I see weekly data of regional infections in school settings, and upper secondary (Year 9 and above) and FE colleges have very high transmission rates. That’s why Drakeford closed them in Wales.
So people obsess about foreign holidays and people obsess about Christmas.
And then politicians pander to them.
https://le.ac.uk/coronavirus/data-statistics?dm_i=I8Y,72T63,1G5ZIW,SL9NV,1
Unfortunately a couple were in Medical Students, but apparently we are fine as all wearing PPE. So that's OK then...
Its being so cheerful wot keeps me going.
So, Rasputin again then.
That seems an unusually precise projection.
And why specifically Christmas Eve not Christmas Day ?
France today recorded nearly 50,000 new cases, and 550 new deaths. Heading back to the levels of Spring
I'll let you into a little secret, Muslims love Christmas.
https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1212679425629859840
Though both Hindus and Muslims in my dept seem to enjoy Christmas in my dept, al least judging by attendance at our departmental Christmas party.
2016 was 60.2% according to Wiki. If this is year's increases to 64% that would be the highest since before universal suffrage.
edit: others got there first.
Another blinder from the briefers of Downing Street.
Fingers crossed it happens next year.
(Homer Simpson)
https://twitter.com/frankieboyle/status/1322302337029935107?s=20
It's a f*cking disgrace that there is secrecy about this.
If it does, then Boris needs to go.