Really not sure what to do about Christmas yet. Normally have my brother (who is shielding) and his adult daughter and my sister and her 2 kids, one now at University along with my daughter and her partner. So that would be 5 households in total. It doesn't seem sensible and yet... we seem to have missed out on so much already this year. No summer holiday, no trips away to speak of, tighter money, no trips to see my son's potential Universities, it gets you down a bit.
It is hard. But now we almost certainly have effective vaccines, the ‘we’re all going to get it anyway’ argument is gone. Everyone will make their own choices, of course, but they should be made in that context.
Yes, but there is a strong probability that this is my brother's last Christmas so the vaccine isn't going to do him much good.
I don't know how typical my family is but the first lockdown in March-June we were extremely conscientious and compliant. The risk was obvious and taken very seriously. This one less so. We have bent the rules at the edges more. I am travelling for work again more. My son is obviously seeing his friends at school and out of school much more. We have chaffed more at the restrictions.
Yes; we feel the same. For example we did some minor shopping yesterday, although masked and keeping well away from people. Found a new off-licence, too with quite an interesting range of wine.
Really not sure what to do about Christmas yet. Normally have my brother (who is shielding) and his adult daughter and my sister and her 2 kids, one now at University along with my daughter and her partner. So that would be 5 households in total. It doesn't seem sensible and yet... we seem to have missed out on so much already this year. No summer holiday, no trips away to speak of, tighter money, no trips to see my son's potential Universities, it gets you down a bit.
It is hard. But now we almost certainly have effective vaccines, the ‘we’re all going to get it anyway’ argument is gone. Everyone will make their own choices, of course, but they should be made in that context.
Yes, but there is a strong probability that this is my brother's last Christmas so the vaccine isn't going to do him much good.
I don't know how typical my family is but the first lockdown in March-June we were extremely conscientious and compliant. The risk was obvious and taken very seriously. This one less so. We have bent the rules at the edges more. I am travelling for work again more. My son is obviously seeing his friends at school and out of school much more. We have chaffed more at the restrictions.
Yes; we feel the same. For example we did some minor shopping yesterday, although masked and keeping well away from people. Found a new off-licence, too with quite an interesting range of wine.
In the first lockdown I went alcohol free for about 3 months to "get ready" for the virus. This one, not so much.
Really not sure what to do about Christmas yet. Normally have my brother (who is shielding) and his adult daughter and my sister and her 2 kids, one now at University along with my daughter and her partner. So that would be 5 households in total. It doesn't seem sensible and yet... we seem to have missed out on so much already this year. No summer holiday, no trips away to speak of, tighter money, no trips to see my son's potential Universities, it gets you down a bit.
It is hard. But now we almost certainly have effective vaccines, the ‘we’re all going to get it anyway’ argument is gone. Everyone will make their own choices, of course, but they should be made in that context.
Yes, but there is a strong probability that this is my brother's last Christmas so the vaccine isn't going to do him much good.
I don't know how typical my family is but the first lockdown in March-June we were extremely conscientious and compliant. The risk was obvious and taken very seriously. This one less so. We have bent the rules at the edges more. I am travelling for work again more. My son is obviously seeing his friends at school and out of school much more. We have chaffed more at the restrictions.
Yes; we feel the same. For example we did some minor shopping yesterday, although masked and keeping well away from people. Found a new off-licence, too with quite an interesting range of wine.
In the first lockdown I went alcohol free for about 3 months to "get ready" for the virus. This one, not so much.
Thought about that, for at least 10 minutes! However, given our ages........ And we do have an alcohol-free day every week. Miserable Monday! And we don't normally drink alcohol at lunch-time, except at weekends.
Good morning fellow-posters, and to the the lurkers.
As we've commented before, a side-effect of the virus has been the increased use of such products as Zoom; next week my wife and I are going to a 70th birthday party which will be 'attended by' people from places as far apart as California and Israel and points in between.
Mr Sandpit, your parents being married in 1976 really emphasises the passage of time for me.
For sure I was married before them , time seems to pass faster and faster
Really not sure what to do about Christmas yet. Normally have my brother (who is shielding) and his adult daughter and my sister and her 2 kids, one now at University along with my daughter and her partner. So that would be 5 households in total. It doesn't seem sensible and yet... we seem to have missed out on so much already this year. No summer holiday, no trips away to speak of, tighter money, no trips to see my son's potential Universities, it gets you down a bit.
It is hard. But now we almost certainly have effective vaccines, the ‘we’re all going to get it anyway’ argument is gone. Everyone will make their own choices, of course, but they should be made in that context.
Yes, but there is a strong probability that this is my brother's last Christmas so the vaccine isn't going to do him much good.
I don't know how typical my family is but the first lockdown in March-June we were extremely conscientious and compliant. The risk was obvious and taken very seriously. This one less so. We have bent the rules at the edges more. I am travelling for work again more. My son is obviously seeing his friends at school and out of school much more. We have chaffed more at the restrictions.
Yes; we feel the same. For example we did some minor shopping yesterday, although masked and keeping well away from people. Found a new off-licence, too with quite an interesting range of wine.
In the first lockdown I went alcohol free for about 3 months to "get ready" for the virus. This one, not so much.
Thought about that, for at least 10 minutes! However, given our ages........ And we do have an alcohol-free day every week. Miserable Monday! And we don't normally drink alcohol at lunch-time, except at weekends.
They seem to care more about judicial appointments than anything else they do, in fact they seem pretty unconcerned about other matters, even the big stuff like Obamacare.
When the GOP talk about Liberal Activist Judges they are projecting so hard they could be an IMAX.
They seem to care more about judicial appointments than anything else they do, in fact they seem pretty unconcerned about other matters, even the big stuff like Obamacare.
When the GOP talk about Liberal Activist Judges they are projecting so hard they could be an IMAX.
Let's face it, appointing judges to strike down policies you don't like as unconstitutional is a lot less faff than winning elections and arguments and things.
There are some funny fake fury tweets from black people under the white Sainsbury’s ad - hooked a few
The halfwits of all hues need to get a life , whining whinging cretins.
Morning Malcolm, nice to see your sunny disposition shining through. How's life in tier 4?
Morning David, I am in the republic of North Aysrshire so only Tier 3, daughter not so lucky in the posh South Ayrshire who are on 4. I am very well, Helen is much better , still not 100% for sure and given her telephone appointments keep getting delayed it is hard to figure out when if ever she will be , I think she will always have some lung issues. Overall all well even though stuck indoors for what feels like ever now. Think that will be our lot till spring at a minimum but living well. Hope you and family are well. Do you not have any good info on Salmond scandal to PM me, sure all you lawyers know the schemers.
They seem to care more about judicial appointments than anything else they do, in fact they seem pretty unconcerned about other matters, even the big stuff like Obamacare.
The US Judiciary is basically the 4th pillar of government, they're supposed to be apolitical but often aren't.
I think it is explicitly the third: they have the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. Their constitution is very keen on the separation of powers. We on the other hand used to have a post which was all three at the same time...
Good morning fellow-posters, and to the the lurkers.
As we've commented before, a side-effect of the virus has been the increased use of such products as Zoom; next week my wife and I are going to a 70th birthday party which will be 'attended by' people from places as far apart as California and Israel and points in between.
Mr Sandpit, your parents being married in 1976 really emphasises the passage of time for me.
For sure I was married before them , time seems to pass faster and faster
Time passing is a weird one, as the mind definitely plays tricks on you with regard to events and timelines.
I was born eight years after man landed on the moon, and eight years before the Challenger disaster. The latter event, now nearly 35 years ago, I still remember vividly - yet the moon landing, 51 years ago, is to me is ancient history.
The Falklands war (one of my earliest memories) is now roughly half way between the end of WWII and today.
There are people who just voted in the US election who were born after 9/11, which was 19 years ago.
There are some funny fake fury tweets from black people under the white Sainsbury’s ad - hooked a few
The halfwits of all hues need to get a life , whining whinging cretins.
Morning Malcolm, nice to see your sunny disposition shining through. How's life in tier 4?
Morning David, I am in the republic of North Aysrshire so only Tier 3, daughter not so lucky in the posh South Ayrshire who are on 4. I am very well, Helen is much better , still not 100% for sure and given her telephone appointments keep getting delayed it is hard to figure out when if ever she will be , I think she will always have some lung issues. Overall all well even though stuck indoors for what feels like ever now. Think that will be our lot till spring at a minimum but living well. Hope you and family are well. Do you not have any good info on Salmond scandal to PM me, sure all you lawyers know the schemers.
Good to hear, especially about Helen. My eldest daughter is still volunteering in northern France with the refugees. A bit anxious still about that. Daughter 2 has started her first "proper" job but is doing all of her training and work remotely which is a challenge. Son is doing his advanced highers and increasingly concerned about whether he will be allowed to sit exams this year. The courts are doing more again if nowhere near normal yet. So we are not wearying!
Don't really have any great gossip on Salmond. The speculation is that the Lord Advocate advised Nicola that the judicial review was unwinnable because of her interference in the disciplinary procedure and that is why she is fighting so hard not to release his advice. Would bring the utterly ludicrous £500k legal bill rather close to home!
They seem to care more about judicial appointments than anything else they do, in fact they seem pretty unconcerned about other matters, even the big stuff like Obamacare.
When the GOP talk about Liberal Activist Judges they are projecting so hard they could be an IMAX.
Let's face it, appointing judges to strike down policies you don't like as unconstitutional is a lot less faff than winning elections and arguments and things.
Some fairly major changes have happened in the States based on a Supreme Court judgement: gay marriage and Bush being President for example.
This is really interesting. I wonder if the GOP might not be happy with acting President Pelosi, though. She's a great inside politician but a fairly terrible mainstream communicator, and IIUC they could put the president of their choice in if they won the mid-terms in 2022?
Firstly, one of the points made in the video is that there's no reason Biden himself couldn't be nominated as Speaker of the House rather than Pelosi (needn't be an elected Congressman)... and in this incredibly far-fetched case, that may well be the outcome.
Secondly, it seems to me blocking the election of Biden (with a 6 or 7 million popular vote margin and hefty electoral college margin) would be a very effective way for Republicans to guarantee they don't win the midterms in 2022.
Thirdly, it isn't covered by the video, which is focused on the black letter law and countering some apparently incorrect readings of that, but the reality is the Republicans simply won't hold together on this. Several GOP members of Congress have congratulated Biden, while a LOT of others use the formulation of Trump merely having the right to exhaust his legal options - which WILL happen, and soon. It is a massive step beyond that to say that, even though Trump has failed to prove fraud, they will work to frustrate the will of a pretty big majority of the public.
This is, as it has been for a couple of weeks, a slow motion process due to the madness of King Don, but with an inevitable outcome of President Biden. Everything else is pure fantasy, Trumper fan-fiction.
They seem to care more about judicial appointments than anything else they do, in fact they seem pretty unconcerned about other matters, even the big stuff like Obamacare.
When the GOP talk about Liberal Activist Judges they are projecting so hard they could be an IMAX.
Let's face it, appointing judges to strike down policies you don't like as unconstitutional is a lot less faff than winning elections and arguments and things.
Some fairly major changes have happened in the States based on a Supreme Court judgement: gay marriage and Bush being President for example.
Roe v Wade was from 1973, and is still discussed and argued about today.
It was my dear wife's 81st birthday today and in contrast my 11 year old grandson was knocked over by a van while walking home from school. An ambulance was called, three police cars arrived, and a lady came out of her house with blankets and an ice pack in such a kind gesture
My daughter was called to the scene and she went in the ambulance to A & E where he was triaged, had an x ray, and mercifully nothing was broken but a very swollen and bruised ankle and foot will keep him immobilised for a few days
However, the staff in A & E were wonderful and a great thank you to all those at Glan Clwyd Hospital A & E and the unnamed lady
As we all agreed, it could have been a lot worse but it is very unnerving when you are told your grandson is in a vehicle accident and awaiting the ambulance
However, kindness is such a wonderful thing to behold, maybe we should all be kinder and gentler in these stressful days
What a nasty scare, glad your grandson is OK. Sending love to your family.
I see that the BBC News and the National Audit Office have picked up on concerns about the use of intermediaries, conflicts of interest and peculiar procurement processes.
No shit, Sherlock!
Even though all too many on here handwave away such concerns.
Oh NAO!
Meaning? Not an option?
I don't mind acronyms but some are beyond obscure.
NAO = National Audit Office (from @Cyclefree's post).
Really not sure what to do about Christmas yet. Normally have my brother (who is shielding) and his adult daughter and my sister and her 2 kids, one now at University along with my daughter and her partner. So that would be 5 households in total. It doesn't seem sensible and yet... we seem to have missed out on so much already this year. No summer holiday, no trips away to speak of, tighter money, no trips to see my son's potential Universities, it gets you down a bit.
It is hard. But now we almost certainly have effective vaccines, the ‘we’re all going to get it anyway’ argument is gone. Everyone will make their own choices, of course, but they should be made in that context.
Yes, but there is a strong probability that this is my brother's last Christmas so the vaccine isn't going to do him much good.
I don't know how typical my family is but the first lockdown in March-June we were extremely conscientious and compliant. The risk was obvious and taken very seriously. This one less so. We have bent the rules at the edges more. I am travelling for work again more. My son is obviously seeing his friends at school and out of school much more. We have chaffed more at the restrictions.
I’m sorry, David. I hadn’t appreciated your situation.
Really not sure what to do about Christmas yet. Normally have my brother (who is shielding) and his adult daughter and my sister and her 2 kids, one now at University along with my daughter and her partner. So that would be 5 households in total. It doesn't seem sensible and yet... we seem to have missed out on so much already this year. No summer holiday, no trips away to speak of, tighter money, no trips to see my son's potential Universities, it gets you down a bit.
It is hard. But now we almost certainly have effective vaccines, the ‘we’re all going to get it anyway’ argument is gone. Everyone will make their own choices, of course, but they should be made in that context.
Yes, but there is a strong probability that this is my brother's last Christmas so the vaccine isn't going to do him much good.
I don't know how typical my family is but the first lockdown in March-June we were extremely conscientious and compliant. The risk was obvious and taken very seriously. This one less so. We have bent the rules at the edges more. I am travelling for work again more. My son is obviously seeing his friends at school and out of school much more. We have chaffed more at the restrictions.
Yes; we feel the same. For example we did some minor shopping yesterday, although masked and keeping well away from people. Found a new off-licence, too with quite an interesting range of wine.
There's a lot of variation, I suspect. The people I know are determined not to catch the illness so close to vaccination arriving - like dying at the front in 1918, it'd just be bloody irritating - and are restricting themselves more than before. My nerighbours were planning a little Christmas gathering in their outhouse with the doors open - they've cancelled it. I wouldn't dream of mixing with the relatives who I usually see. More substantively, use of car parks in my borough has collapsed to below the levels of lockdown 1.
What we definitively do NOT need is Johnson urging Christmas get-togethers. The Government is from what I can see doing a good job in preparing for mass testing and mass vaccination. Stick to that don't treat us like 4-year-olds waiting for Santa.
Now, I know there are complexities to when really is the best time to raise them, but while the public will undoubtedly always dislike any tax rises, I'd think at the least more people will accept the principle of raising taxes after having to splurge massive amounts of cash in a pandemic.
I mean, lots of people are, in general, in favour of smaller government and frugality too, but would make a distinction between normal and not normal times.
That’s what most people missed
We borrowed this extra money from the Bank of England.
They created it for that purpose.
The debt isn’t really real...
They are putting up taxes because it’s a great excuse to put up taxes that had probably got too low overall
You'd hope people could use their common sense about christmas and skip meeting for instance cousins and extended family and so forth.
You watch people go absolutely nuts. 5 days on the lash, house to house.
No doubt the press reports will find such things but I suspect most ordinary folk will be pretty sensible.
You cannot be serious.
I totally am - but then I live in the real world not the idiocy of Twitter and other media [ including PB].
So, are you forced to come here as a parole condition or something?
A large enough minority, in England, will behave recklessly to cause a January spike.
Tetchy , tetchy. We will see - I never denied the possibility but I maintain most people will be cautious. The p[olling bears this out I believe.
It wasn't me that introduced "idiocy" into the mix. I think you are in Spain? You may have forgotten the toxic mix of mawkish sentimentality and extreme drunkenness which is the English Christmas.
You'd hope people could use their common sense about christmas and skip meeting for instance cousins and extended family and so forth.
You watch people go absolutely nuts. 5 days on the lash, house to house.
No doubt the press reports will find such things but I suspect most ordinary folk will be pretty sensible.
You cannot be serious.
I totally am - but then I live in the real world not the idiocy of Twitter and other media [ including PB].
So, are you forced to come here as a parole condition or something?
A large enough minority, in England, will behave recklessly to cause a January spike.
Tetchy , tetchy. We will see - I never denied the possibility but I maintain most people will be cautious. The p[olling bears this out I believe.
Trouble is, HMG's offer to each family appears to be the binary choice: a) invite everyone you know for a thoroughly debauched Christmas but in January there will be another lockdown, or b) stay alone and maintain full Covid precautions but in January there will be another lockdown.
So there is no incentive to behave properly, especially now everyone has been led to expect the vaccine jab arriving with the Boxing Day sales.
You'd hope people could use their common sense about christmas and skip meeting for instance cousins and extended family and so forth.
You watch people go absolutely nuts. 5 days on the lash, house to house.
No doubt the press reports will find such things but I suspect most ordinary folk will be pretty sensible.
You cannot be serious.
I totally am - but then I live in the real world not the idiocy of Twitter and other media [ including PB].
So, are you forced to come here as a parole condition or something?
A large enough minority, in England, will behave recklessly to cause a January spike.
Tetchy , tetchy. We will see - I never denied the possibility but I maintain most people will be cautious. The p[olling bears this out I believe.
I tend to agree that the footage of people partying, so loved by the media, is actually exceptional. My mind goes back to the VE Day 75 conga line - very stupid, but not representative. People consistently miss the fact that what matters far more in terms of virus spread is the boring reality of what's happening in 99% of places, 99% of the time. It simply isn't the case that relatively isolated breaches undermine the strategy all that much (annoying though it is to the sensible majority).
However, I'm not actually sure it's recklessness as such that will cause the January spike. I'm sure I'm not the only one under pressure to visit my elderly parents over Xmas if I can. I'd be careful, but it does involve cross-country travel and a level of risk that it may well be best not to take... but if it's allowed, it's very hard to say no. And that's how it goes - the danger isn't mass craziness, but large numbers of fairly responsible people being somewhat less careful.
Why are people still trying to go on holiday? Part 94.
Story in the media over here this morning. Couple escaped for a three day break at a Maldives resort last weekend - but someone on the plane tested positive on arrival, and now they’ve been told they have to isolate for 14 days. At a cost of $900 a day.
Good morning fellow-posters, and to the the lurkers.
As we've commented before, a side-effect of the virus has been the increased use of such products as Zoom; next week my wife and I are going to a 70th birthday party which will be 'attended by' people from places as far apart as California and Israel and points in between.
Mr Sandpit, your parents being married in 1976 really emphasises the passage of time for me.
For sure I was married before them , time seems to pass faster and faster
Time passing is a weird one, as the mind definitely plays tricks on you with regard to events and timelines.
I was born eight years after man landed on the moon, and eight years before the Challenger disaster. The latter event, now nearly 35 years ago, I still remember vividly - yet the moon landing, 51 years ago, is to me is ancient history.
The Falklands war (one of my earliest memories) is now roughly half way between the end of WWII and today.
There are people who just voted in the US election who were born after 9/11, which was 19 years ago.
yes the segmentation of time and history is very much relative to the doer in terms of own experience. We talk of the Victorian era and even the most knowledgeable will have a certain picture of it that comes into their head of the time . Yest transpose the same period (about 70 years ) to say 2020 back to 1950 and nobody would have a image in their head to capture that time as we all know so much changed and was experienced . Go back further and you even start lumping centuries together (Medieval , dark ages , romans ) then thousands of years .
I see that the BBC News and the National Audit Office have picked up on concerns about the use of intermediaries, conflicts of interest and peculiar procurement processes.
No shit, Sherlock!
Even though all too many on here handwave away such concerns.
Most of these products came via the grey market which has always been a murky place with long chains of multiple people taking a cut.
One I was told about the other days: US pharma sells to Turkish hospital. Hospital sells to mate down the road. Mate sells to Turkish wholesaler. Turkish is wholesaler sells to Romanian parallel importer. Romanian parallel importer sells to Dutch agent. Dutch agent sells to legitimate clinical trial supply company. Clinical trial supply company provides to big pharma company for use in a clinical trial.
You'd hope people could use their common sense about christmas and skip meeting for instance cousins and extended family and so forth.
You watch people go absolutely nuts. 5 days on the lash, house to house.
No doubt the press reports will find such things but I suspect most ordinary folk will be pretty sensible.
You cannot be serious.
I totally am - but then I live in the real world not the idiocy of Twitter and other media [ including PB].
So, are you forced to come here as a parole condition or something?
A large enough minority, in England, will behave recklessly to cause a January spike.
Tetchy , tetchy. We will see - I never denied the possibility but I maintain most people will be cautious. The p[olling bears this out I believe.
It wasn't me that introduced "idiocy" into the mix. I think you are in Spain? You may have forgotten the toxic mix of mawkish sentimentality and extreme drunkenness which is the English Christmas.
In Scotland they also have the hogmanay.
Indeed - I think your characterisation is something of a caricature frankly these days - despite all the media efforts to encourage it. As is the idea that people in different countries are vastly different in their ways. Experience of living in Spain has taught me that folk are generally much the same in attitudes and beliefs.
They seem to care more about judicial appointments than anything else they do, in fact they seem pretty unconcerned about other matters, even the big stuff like Obamacare.
The US Judiciary is basically the 4th pillar of government, they're supposed to be apolitical but often aren't.
I think it is explicitly the third: they have the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. Their constitution is very keen on the separation of powers. We on the other hand used to have a post which was all three at the same time...
Good morning fellow-posters, and to the the lurkers.
As we've commented before, a side-effect of the virus has been the increased use of such products as Zoom; next week my wife and I are going to a 70th birthday party which will be 'attended by' people from places as far apart as California and Israel and points in between.
Mr Sandpit, your parents being married in 1976 really emphasises the passage of time for me.
For sure I was married before them , time seems to pass faster and faster
Time passing is a weird one, as the mind definitely plays tricks on you with regard to events and timelines.
I was born eight years after man landed on the moon, and eight years before the Challenger disaster. The latter event, now nearly 35 years ago, I still remember vividly - yet the moon landing, 51 years ago, is to me is ancient history.
The Falklands war (one of my earliest memories) is now roughly half way between the end of WWII and today.
There are people who just voted in the US election who were born after 9/11, which was 19 years ago.
yes the segmentation of time and history is very much relative to the doer in terms of own experience. We talk of the Victorian era and even the most knowledgeable will have a certain picture of it that comes into their head of the time . Yest transpose the same period (about 70 years ) to say 2020 back to 1950 and nobody would have a image in their head to capture that time as we all know so much changed and was experienced . Go back further and you even start lumping centuries together (Medieval , dark ages , romans ) then thousands of years .
This is important in another way, often overlooked in politics and demographics. It is wrong to lump all old people together as if they shared a common past. Those aged 90 will have grown up in the war, over-80s men will have done national service, 70s will have grown up in the 1960s with its huge cultural changes. And that is just those born and raised in this country.
Frankly i think THE most important thing over the next few months will be how responsibly the media can be persuaded to act over the vaccine. It is frankly inevitable that there will be side effects (some potentially extremely severe) for a small proportion of people taking the vaccine. This is true of every vaccine. As we know there will be a large (in pure numerical terms) of people who will take the vaccine but then catch Covid anyway (and some with severe results). This is true of every vaccine.
But all it will take is one irresponsible media outlet reporting cases of this (which will then generate tonnes of follow up "discussion" which will allow people to reinforce their instinctive prejudices, that it is easy to see how things could fall apart quite quickly. One would hope not, but at some point the Government may well have to allow a choice between "letting it rip" for those who refuse to take the vaccine, or continuing the economic destruction of the country because some people won't comply.
That investment will be important to our defence industries and will protect jobs.
You could create a bunch of jobs employing folk to dig holes and fill them back in again. The question of whether it's money well spent persists, though.
Frankly i think THE most important thing over the next few months will be how responsibly the media can be persuaded to act over the vaccine. It is frankly inevitable that there will be side effects (some potentially extremely severe) for a small proportion of people taking the vaccine. This is true of every vaccine. As we know there will be a large (in pure numerical terms) of people who will take the vaccine but then catch Covid anyway (and some with severe results). This is true of every vaccine.
But all it will take is one irresponsible media outlet reporting cases of this (which will then generate tonnes of follow up "discussion" which will allow people to reinforce their instinctive prejudices, that it is easy to see how things could fall apart quite quickly. One would hope not, but at some point the Government may well have to allow a choice between "letting it rip" for those who refuse to take the vaccine, or continuing the economic destruction of the country because some people won't comply.
Agreed, but given the behaviour of the media over the past year, I’m not holding my breath.
In fact, the most likely outcome is your worst case scenario, of non-stop talk of edge cases in the vaccination program, with platforms given to every mad anti-vax campaigner.
Email from Betfair about Safer Gambling Week, 19-25 Nov. Settling Markets Week would be even better news.
What could be safer than a betting company who doesn't pay out even when you win? It'll put you off gambling completely. They should be applauded for their corporate social responsibility. And here's you lot thinking they were being a bunch of grifting bastards, you cynics.
That investment will be important to our defence industries and will protect jobs.
You could create a bunch of jobs employing folk to dig holes and fill them back in again. The question of whether it's money well spent persists, though.
increasing money and numbers on armed forces and police may sometime be necessary but they are signs of failure and quite depressing. It is a strange priority to massively increase spend (not sure we have the money anyway) on defence
Sounds like good early news from Oxford vaccine, published this morning in the Lancet. The University of Oxford coronavirus vaccine produces a strong immune response in older adults, and has been described as a "game changer," the latest trial results show, in another boost in the fight against Covid-19.
The ChAdOx1 nCov-2019 vaccine has been shown to trigger a robust immune response in healthy adults aged 56-69 and people over 70.
Phase two data, published in The Lancet, suggests one of the groups most vulnerable to serious illness and death from Covid-19 could build immunity, researchers say.
Phase three trials of the vaccine are ongoing, with early efficacy readings possible in the coming weeks.
Frankly i think THE most important thing over the next few months will be how responsibly the media can be persuaded to act over the vaccine. It is frankly inevitable that there will be side effects (some potentially extremely severe) for a small proportion of people taking the vaccine. This is true of every vaccine. As we know there will be a large (in pure numerical terms) of people who will take the vaccine but then catch Covid anyway (and some with severe results). This is true of every vaccine.
But all it will take is one irresponsible media outlet reporting cases of this (which will then generate tonnes of follow up "discussion" which will allow people to reinforce their instinctive prejudices, that it is easy to see how things could fall apart quite quickly. One would hope not, but at some point the Government may well have to allow a choice between "letting it rip" for those who refuse to take the vaccine, or continuing the economic destruction of the country because some people won't comply.
Yes. The media has had a very bad crisis.
But the substantive point is difficult. I am instinctively uncomfortable with making it mandatory or requiring those who are not vaccinated to remain locked up as some have suggested. Withholding NHS treatment from the unvaccinated is, frankly, unethical.
Probably the way to go is to allow people to chose whether they get vaccinated or not, but if they are not vaccinated then they cannot participate in certain activities where they expose others to risk (e.g. sending their children to school or travelling on public transport).
The alternative would be to put subtle pressure on certain industries to introduce their own restrictions - e.g. the story we saw with Cineworld restricting access to the vaccinated. If you added the hospitality industry to that then I think many would get the jab of their own free will. (Although I can quite imagine Wetherspoons deciding to allow entry to all...). That might be a subtler approach, but not sure whether it would work.
I suspect most will get the jab though - although I wouldn't want to be in the first wave (not that I qualify) myself.
That investment will be important to our defence industries and will protect jobs.
You could create a bunch of jobs employing folk to dig holes and fill them back in again. The question of whether it's money well spent persists, though.
What on earth do we want to be as a nation is a good place to start.
My guess is that we've learned nothing over the past 20years and still have ideas about "punching above our weight" or, as military strategists prefer to call it, "losing".
Really not sure what to do about Christmas yet. Normally have my brother (who is shielding) and his adult daughter and my sister and her 2 kids, one now at University along with my daughter and her partner. So that would be 5 households in total. It doesn't seem sensible and yet... we seem to have missed out on so much already this year. No summer holiday, no trips away to speak of, tighter money, no trips to see my son's potential Universities, it gets you down a bit.
It is hard. But now we almost certainly have effective vaccines, the ‘we’re all going to get it anyway’ argument is gone. Everyone will make their own choices, of course, but they should be made in that context.
Yes, but there is a strong probability that this is my brother's last Christmas so the vaccine isn't going to do him much good.
I don't know how typical my family is but the first lockdown in March-June we were extremely conscientious and compliant. The risk was obvious and taken very seriously. This one less so. We have bent the rules at the edges more. I am travelling for work again more. My son is obviously seeing his friends at school and out of school much more. We have chaffed more at the restrictions.
Yes; we feel the same. For example we did some minor shopping yesterday, although masked and keeping well away from people. Found a new off-licence, too with quite an interesting range of wine.
There's a lot of variation, I suspect. The people I know are determined not to catch the illness so close to vaccination arriving - like dying at the front in 1918, it'd just be bloody irritating - and are restricting themselves more than before. My nerighbours were planning a little Christmas gathering in their outhouse with the doors open - they've cancelled it. I wouldn't dream of mixing with the relatives who I usually see. More substantively, use of car parks in my borough has collapsed to below the levels of lockdown 1.
What we definitively do NOT need is Johnson urging Christmas get-togethers. The Government is from what I can see doing a good job in preparing for mass testing and mass vaccination. Stick to that don't treat us like 4-year-olds waiting for Santa.
Morning Nick. Thank you for your kind comments re my grandson's accident last night
On behalf of the Great Man please allow me to apologise to you (and anyone else) for the fact that you were offended by his anti-semitism.
Yet again, he was not found to be antisemitic. The problem was that under his leadership, the party had no effective way of handling complaints about other members' antisemitism.
As an aside, much journalism these days is telling us what the reporter saw on telly or read on twitter, or even read in rival newspapers.
Frankly i think THE most important thing over the next few months will be how responsibly the media can be persuaded to act over the vaccine. It is frankly inevitable that there will be side effects (some potentially extremely severe) for a small proportion of people taking the vaccine. This is true of every vaccine. As we know there will be a large (in pure numerical terms) of people who will take the vaccine but then catch Covid anyway (and some with severe results). This is true of every vaccine.
But all it will take is one irresponsible media outlet reporting cases of this (which will then generate tonnes of follow up "discussion" which will allow people to reinforce their instinctive prejudices, that it is easy to see how things could fall apart quite quickly. One would hope not, but at some point the Government may well have to allow a choice between "letting it rip" for those who refuse to take the vaccine, or continuing the economic destruction of the country because some people won't comply.
Yes. The media has had a very bad crisis.
But the substantive point is difficult. I am instinctively uncomfortable with making it mandatory or requiring those who are not vaccinated to remain locked up as some have suggested. Withholding NHS treatment from the unvaccinated is, frankly, unethical.
Probably the way to go is to allow people to chose whether they get vaccinated or not, but if they are not vaccinated then they cannot participate in certain activities where they expose others to risk (e.g. sending their children to school or travelling on public transport).
The alternative would be to put subtle pressure on certain industries to introduce their own restrictions - e.g. the story we saw with Cineworld restricting access to the vaccinated. If you added the hospitality industry to that then I think many would get the jab of their own free will. (Although I can quite imagine Wetherspoons deciding to allow entry to all...). That might be a subtler approach, but not sure whether it would work.
I suspect most will get the jab though - although I wouldn't want to be in the first wave (not that I qualify) myself.
I think at a minimum you need to separate the practical from the impractical. Checking every single person as they get on a bus isn't going to work. Checking cinemagoers? Could work.
But what's the mechanism anyway? Some kind of app on your phone? What about those folks who don't have smart phones? A laminated card you can flash at the usher? Will it have your photo on there? What are the privacy concerns here? Not trying to be awkward about this, but there will be lots of issues to iron out.
On behalf of the Great Man please allow me to apologise to you (and anyone else) for the fact that you were offended by his anti-semitism.
Yet again, he was not found to be antisemitic. The problem was that under his leadership, the party had no effective way of handling complaints about other members' antisemitism.
As an aside, much journalism these days is telling us what the reporter saw on telly or read on twitter, or even read in rival newspapers.
Oh come now, Corbyn said the problem was dramatically overstated then only when punished for that claimed he didn't mean that, why would anyone doubt the sincerity of his commitment on this issue? Dont we all say the exact opposite of what we meant to say? Aren't our apologies extracted begrudgingly to avoid further punishment totally what we believe?
Really not sure what to do about Christmas yet. Normally have my brother (who is shielding) and his adult daughter and my sister and her 2 kids, one now at University along with my daughter and her partner. So that would be 5 households in total. It doesn't seem sensible and yet... we seem to have missed out on so much already this year. No summer holiday, no trips away to speak of, tighter money, no trips to see my son's potential Universities, it gets you down a bit.
It is hard. But now we almost certainly have effective vaccines, the ‘we’re all going to get it anyway’ argument is gone. Everyone will make their own choices, of course, but they should be made in that context.
Yes, but there is a strong probability that this is my brother's last Christmas so the vaccine isn't going to do him much good.
I don't know how typical my family is but the first lockdown in March-June we were extremely conscientious and compliant. The risk was obvious and taken very seriously. This one less so. We have bent the rules at the edges more. I am travelling for work again more. My son is obviously seeing his friends at school and out of school much more. We have chaffed more at the restrictions.
Yes; we feel the same. For example we did some minor shopping yesterday, although masked and keeping well away from people. Found a new off-licence, too with quite an interesting range of wine.
There's a lot of variation, I suspect. The people I know are determined not to catch the illness so close to vaccination arriving - like dying at the front in 1918, it'd just be bloody irritating - and are restricting themselves more than before. My nerighbours were planning a little Christmas gathering in their outhouse with the doors open - they've cancelled it. I wouldn't dream of mixing with the relatives who I usually see. More substantively, use of car parks in my borough has collapsed to below the levels of lockdown 1.
What we definitively do NOT need is Johnson urging Christmas get-togethers. The Government is from what I can see doing a good job in preparing for mass testing and mass vaccination. Stick to that don't treat us like 4-year-olds waiting for Santa.
Seems to me the Johnson's team have already made a mess of this. Front pages have stuff about Xmas, being allowed to see people if just the four households and so on.
Why have they allowed this hare to run? Bonkers. No way back now.
On behalf of the Great Man please allow me to apologise to you (and anyone else) for the fact that you were offended by his anti-semitism.
Yet again, he was not found to be antisemitic. The problem was that under his leadership, the party had no effective way of handling complaints about other members' antisemitism.
As an aside, much journalism these days is telling us what the reporter saw on telly or read on twitter, or even read in rival newspapers.
Comic post of the year.
He was and is an anti-semitic c**t. He presided over a party wherein anti-semitism flourished.
On behalf of the Great Man please allow me to apologise to you (and anyone else) for the fact that you were offended by his anti-semitism.
Yet again, he was not found to be antisemitic. The problem was that under his leadership, the party had no effective way of handling complaints about other members' antisemitism.
As an aside, much journalism these days is telling us what the reporter saw on telly or read on twitter, or even read in rival newspapers.
Comic post of the year.
He was and is an anti-semitic c**t. He presided over a party wherein anti-semitism flourished.
On behalf of the Great Man please allow me to apologise to you (and anyone else) for the fact that you were offended by his anti-semitism.
Yet again, he was not found to be antisemitic. The problem was that under his leadership, the party had no effective way of handling complaints about other members' antisemitism.
As an aside, much journalism these days is telling us what the reporter saw on telly or read on twitter, or even read in rival newspapers.
Both points are true which is why his phoney apology for his statement justified lifting the suspension in the eyes of the party as he pretended contrition for his comments, whereas if it was about him being anti semitic even they would not have done so.
Any books to recommend to order and read over Christmas - i like non- fiction over fiction (except where the fiction is related to subjects I like ) - subjects I like are
Politics (no surprise!) Gambling (again no surprise being on a website like this ! - prefer gambling individual or bookie stories as opposed to how to win books) London (have a growing collection of London books) Railways (not an avid trainspotter but love the lifestyle of trains ) Gothic stuff History (medium rather than high brow though) Sport ( not bios generally but more general stuff about sport- love sport stats !)
On behalf of the Great Man please allow me to apologise to you (and anyone else) for the fact that you were offended by his anti-semitism.
Yet again, he was not found to be antisemitic. The problem was that under his leadership, the party had no effective way of handling complaints about other members' antisemitism.
As an aside, much journalism these days is telling us what the reporter saw on telly or read on twitter, or even read in rival newspapers.
Comic post of the year.
He was and is an anti-semitic c**t. He presided over a party wherein anti-semitism flourished.
On behalf of the Great Man please allow me to apologise to you (and anyone else) for the fact that you were offended by his anti-semitism.
Yet again, he was not found to be antisemitic. The problem was that under his leadership, the party had no effective way of handling complaints about other members' antisemitism.
As an aside, much journalism these days is telling us what the reporter saw on telly or read on twitter, or even read in rival newspapers.
Comic post of the year.
He was and is an anti-semitic c**t. He presided over a party wherein anti-semitism flourished.
Could all be true, but he wasn't found guilty of the former as such. If he had been a Starmer could be more direct in getting rid of him rather than seemingly trying to edge him out.
Sounds like good early news from Oxford vaccine, published this morning in the Lancet. The University of Oxford coronavirus vaccine produces a strong immune response in older adults, and has been described as a "game changer," the latest trial results show, in another boost in the fight against Covid-19.
The ChAdOx1 nCov-2019 vaccine has been shown to trigger a robust immune response in healthy adults aged 56-69 and people over 70.
Phase two data, published in The Lancet, suggests one of the groups most vulnerable to serious illness and death from Covid-19 could build immunity, researchers say.
Phase three trials of the vaccine are ongoing, with early efficacy readings possible in the coming weeks.
Interestingly, nearly 75% had fatigue as a side effect & high number had headache in the 18-55 year group, but less so in the older groups. I guess that's the strength of people's immune system kickback?
Frankly i think THE most important thing over the next few months will be how responsibly the media can be persuaded to act over the vaccine. It is frankly inevitable that there will be side effects (some potentially extremely severe) for a small proportion of people taking the vaccine. This is true of every vaccine. As we know there will be a large (in pure numerical terms) of people who will take the vaccine but then catch Covid anyway (and some with severe results). This is true of every vaccine.
But all it will take is one irresponsible media outlet reporting cases of this (which will then generate tonnes of follow up "discussion" which will allow people to reinforce their instinctive prejudices, that it is easy to see how things could fall apart quite quickly. One would hope not, but at some point the Government may well have to allow a choice between "letting it rip" for those who refuse to take the vaccine, or continuing the economic destruction of the country because some people won't comply.
I think the record of the media over recent months tells you all you need to know with that question.
Any books to recommend to order and read over Christmas - i like non- fiction over fiction (except where the fiction is related to subjects I like ) - subjects I like are
Politics (no surprise!) Gambling (again no surprise being on a website like this ! - prefer gambling individual or bookie stories as opposed to how to win books) London (have a growing collection of London books) Railways (not an avid trainspotter but love the lifestyle of trains ) Gothic stuff History (medium rather than high brow though) Sport ( not bios generally but more general stuff about sport- love sport stats !)
Any books to recommend to order and read over Christmas - i like non- fiction over fiction (except where the fiction is related to subjects I like ) - subjects I like are
Politics (no surprise!) Gambling (again no surprise being on a website like this ! - prefer gambling individual or bookie stories as opposed to how to win books) London (have a growing collection of London books) Railways (not an avid trainspotter but love the lifestyle of trains ) Gothic stuff History (medium rather than high brow though) Sport ( not bios generally but more general stuff about sport- love sport stats !)
I recently read a book called histories of nations which is collected essays from 28 historians discussing how the history of their nation is typically presented and discussed over time, which was pretty interesting.
By sword and fire by Sean McGlyn was an interesting look at medieval warfare. Donald Kagans The Peloponnesian War was a breezy read and Iron Kingdom by Chris Clark on Prussia was very good.
I've never understood how one and the same person can be worried about the strategic inroads China is making into Africa, and simultaneously be in favour of slashing foreign aid and development. It's like saying "yes, I recognise than soft power can be beneficial, pay for itself, and in the hands of the wrong people is bad.... but I think we shouldn't do that." The only logical conclusion to these two viewpoints is that these people think the UK is worse that China. Which is a view, I guess.
Sounds like good early news from Oxford vaccine, published this morning in the Lancet. The University of Oxford coronavirus vaccine produces a strong immune response in older adults, and has been described as a "game changer," the latest trial results show, in another boost in the fight against Covid-19.
The ChAdOx1 nCov-2019 vaccine has been shown to trigger a robust immune response in healthy adults aged 56-69 and people over 70.
Phase two data, published in The Lancet, suggests one of the groups most vulnerable to serious illness and death from Covid-19 could build immunity, researchers say.
Phase three trials of the vaccine are ongoing, with early efficacy readings possible in the coming weeks.
Interestingly, nearly 75% had fatigue as a side effect & high number had headache in the 18-55 year group, but less so in the older groups. I guess that's the strength of people's immune system kickback?
Any books to recommend to order and read over Christmas - i like non- fiction over fiction (except where the fiction is related to subjects I like ) - subjects I like are
Politics (no surprise!) Gambling (again no surprise being on a website like this ! - prefer gambling individual or bookie stories as opposed to how to win books) London (have a growing collection of London books) Railways (not an avid trainspotter but love the lifestyle of trains ) Gothic stuff History (medium rather than high brow though) Sport ( not bios generally but more general stuff about sport- love sport stats !)
Heligoland: Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea by Jan Rüger (Author)
The Great Explosion: Gunpowder, the Great War, and a Disaster on the Kent Marshes by Brian Dillon (a little literary/contrived - in some ways I preferred the straight academic account by another chap which can be found on the net)
Edit: Falling Upwards by Richard Holmes (the Romantic Poet biographer, not the military historian) - some might prefer the older book by L T C Rolt The Aeronauts
Memoirs of an Old Balloonatic (balloon ops in WW1)
Mansions of Misery: A Biography of the Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison
Really not sure what to do about Christmas yet. Normally have my brother (who is shielding) and his adult daughter and my sister and her 2 kids, one now at University along with my daughter and her partner. So that would be 5 households in total. It doesn't seem sensible and yet... we seem to have missed out on so much already this year. No summer holiday, no trips away to speak of, tighter money, no trips to see my son's potential Universities, it gets you down a bit.
It is hard. But now we almost certainly have effective vaccines, the ‘we’re all going to get it anyway’ argument is gone. Everyone will make their own choices, of course, but they should be made in that context.
Yes, but there is a strong probability that this is my brother's last Christmas so the vaccine isn't going to do him much good.
I don't know how typical my family is but the first lockdown in March-June we were extremely conscientious and compliant. The risk was obvious and taken very seriously. This one less so. We have bent the rules at the edges more. I am travelling for work again more. My son is obviously seeing his friends at school and out of school much more. We have chaffed more at the restrictions.
Yes; we feel the same. For example we did some minor shopping yesterday, although masked and keeping well away from people. Found a new off-licence, too with quite an interesting range of wine.
In the first lockdown I went alcohol free for about 3 months to "get ready" for the virus. This one, not so much.
Thought about that, for at least 10 minutes! However, given our ages........ And we do have an alcohol-free day every week. Miserable Monday! And we don't normally drink alcohol at lunch-time, except at weekends.
And breakfast, hardly ever!
Christmas Day. Bucks Fizz instead or orange juice.
Final caveat at end of Lancet paper. I translated it as 'don't get carried away just yet journalists'.
"Ultimately, licensure of a vaccine relies on the demonstration of efficacy in preventing COVID-19 and safety. Phase 3 studies with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 are ongoing in the UK, Brazil, and the USA to assess vaccine efficacy and safety. Here we found similar safety and immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 in older adults compared with younger adults, which could support the use of this vaccine in this older age group, if it is shown to be protective in phase 3 trials."
There are some funny fake fury tweets from black people under the white Sainsbury’s ad - hooked a few
The halfwits of all hues need to get a life , whining whinging cretins.
Morning Malcolm, nice to see your sunny disposition shining through. How's life in tier 4?
Morning David, I am in the republic of North Aysrshire so only Tier 3, daughter not so lucky in the posh South Ayrshire who are on 4. I am very well, Helen is much better , still not 100% for sure and given her telephone appointments keep getting delayed it is hard to figure out when if ever she will be , I think she will always have some lung issues. Overall all well even though stuck indoors for what feels like ever now. Think that will be our lot till spring at a minimum but living well. Hope you and family are well. Do you not have any good info on Salmond scandal to PM me, sure all you lawyers know the schemers.
Frankly i think THE most important thing over the next few months will be how responsibly the media can be persuaded to act over the vaccine. It is frankly inevitable that there will be side effects (some potentially extremely severe) for a small proportion of people taking the vaccine. This is true of every vaccine. As we know there will be a large (in pure numerical terms) of people who will take the vaccine but then catch Covid anyway (and some with severe results). This is true of every vaccine.
But all it will take is one irresponsible media outlet reporting cases of this (which will then generate tonnes of follow up "discussion" which will allow people to reinforce their instinctive prejudices, that it is easy to see how things could fall apart quite quickly. One would hope not, but at some point the Government may well have to allow a choice between "letting it rip" for those who refuse to take the vaccine, or continuing the economic destruction of the country because some people won't comply.
Yes. The media has had a very bad crisis.
But the substantive point is difficult. I am instinctively uncomfortable with making it mandatory or requiring those who are not vaccinated to remain locked up as some have suggested. Withholding NHS treatment from the unvaccinated is, frankly, unethical.
Probably the way to go is to allow people to chose whether they get vaccinated or not, but if they are not vaccinated then they cannot participate in certain activities where they expose others to risk (e.g. sending their children to school or travelling on public transport).
The alternative would be to put subtle pressure on certain industries to introduce their own restrictions - e.g. the story we saw with Cineworld restricting access to the vaccinated. If you added the hospitality industry to that then I think many would get the jab of their own free will. (Although I can quite imagine Wetherspoons deciding to allow entry to all...). That might be a subtler approach, but not sure whether it would work.
I suspect most will get the jab though - although I wouldn't want to be in the first wave (not that I qualify) myself.
This stuff can't come in till normal people under the age of 40 are up in the queue tbh. And that isn't for a while. I expect people of different ages may get different vaccines depending on detailed data and availability
I've never understood how one and the same person can be worried about the strategic inroads China is making into Africa, and simultaneously be in favour of slashing foreign aid and development. It's like saying "yes, I recognise than soft power can be beneficial, pay for itself, and in the hands of the wrong people is bad.... but I think we shouldn't do that." The only logical conclusion to these two viewpoints is that these people think the UK is worse that China. Which is a view, I guess.
It's just populism pure and simple. Slashing the aid budget plays well in focus groups. Few voters understand the nuances of your argument.
There are some funny fake fury tweets from black people under the white Sainsbury’s ad - hooked a few
The halfwits of all hues need to get a life , whining whinging cretins.
Morning Malcolm, nice to see your sunny disposition shining through. How's life in tier 4?
Morning David, I am in the republic of North Aysrshire so only Tier 3, daughter not so lucky in the posh South Ayrshire who are on 4. I am very well, Helen is much better , still not 100% for sure and given her telephone appointments keep getting delayed it is hard to figure out when if ever she will be , I think she will always have some lung issues. Overall all well even though stuck indoors for what feels like ever now. Think that will be our lot till spring at a minimum but living well. Hope you and family are well. Do you not have any good info on Salmond scandal to PM me, sure all you lawyers know the schemers.
Hello Malky. Hope you are getting some of the sun we are having in the east. It's been so much wetter in the west central this last few weeks - though possibly not in the Ayrshire coastal plain? I'm almost wondering if that is something to do with the bug incidence.
I see that the BBC News and the National Audit Office have picked up on concerns about the use of intermediaries, conflicts of interest and peculiar procurement processes.
No shit, Sherlock!
Even though all too many on here handwave away such concerns.
Most of these products came via the grey market which has always been a murky place with long chains of multiple people taking a cut.
One I was told about the other days: US pharma sells to Turkish hospital. Hospital sells to mate down the road. Mate sells to Turkish wholesaler. Turkish is wholesaler sells to Romanian parallel importer. Romanian parallel importer sells to Dutch agent. Dutch agent sells to legitimate clinical trial supply company. Clinical trial supply company provides to big pharma company for use in a clinical trial.
Didn’t the U.K. manage a high profile PPE deal from Turkey? Or is that where the Daily Mail got it from?
Fuck me but it's 23 years since she died and they're STILL on about Diana?
More worryingly, they must do so because people still want to read about it.
The Diana story is the Bashir story. It's been in all the papers for days.
Yes I know, it still is hardly front page stuff.
Disagree. BBC commits criminal forgery to entrap vulnerable woman into hugely damaging interview. It would be cataclysmic if it were about Jane Doe or Mrs Mohammed. It is getting a paradoxical free ride because people just think "Ah, more Dianaballs."
I've never understood how one and the same person can be worried about the strategic inroads China is making into Africa, and simultaneously be in favour of slashing foreign aid and development. It's like saying "yes, I recognise than soft power can be beneficial, pay for itself, and in the hands of the wrong people is bad.... but I think we shouldn't do that." The only logical conclusion to these two viewpoints is that these people think the UK is worse that China. Which is a view, I guess.
Simple - China's investment in Africa etc is with loads of strings attached, whereas our foreign aid is explicitly no strings attached.
Meaning that both China and us can spend in the same country and afterwards thanks to Chinese strings they benefit and besides a warm glow in our hearts for a few seconds while thinking about how benign we are we simply don't.
Prof Carl Heneghan & Tom Jefferson "Landmark Danish study shows face masks have no significant effect"
Unlike other studies looking at masks, the Danmask study was a randomised controlled trial – making it the highest quality scientific evidence.
Concludes: And now that we have properly rigorous scientific research we can rely on, the evidence shows that wearing masks in the community does not significantly reduce the rates of infection.
Fuck me but it's 23 years since she died and they're STILL on about Diana?
More worryingly, they must do so because people still want to read about it.
The Diana story is the Bashir story. It's been in all the papers for days.
Yes I know, it still is hardly front page stuff.
Disagree. BBC commits criminal forgery to entrap vulnerable woman into hugely damaging interview. It would be cataclysmic if it were about Jane Doe or Mrs Mohammed. It is getting a paradoxical free ride because people just think "Ah, more Dianaballs."
Alright, but you need to factor time decay into it. It was 25 years ago, and the interviewee is long, long dead.
It's really much less important than they think it is.
They seem to care more about judicial appointments than anything else they do, in fact they seem pretty unconcerned about other matters, even the big stuff like Obamacare.
When the GOP talk about Liberal Activist Judges they are projecting so hard they could be an IMAX.
Let's face it, appointing judges to strike down policies you don't like as unconstitutional is a lot less faff than winning elections and arguments and things.
Some fairly major changes have happened in the States based on a Supreme Court judgement: gay marriage and Bush being President for example.
Roe v Wade was from 1973, and is still discussed and argued about today.
Yes. The Supreme Court gave itself the power to change laws in 1803 (Marbury vs Madison) and has used that power extensively ever since. It's one of the biggest differences between their system and ours (the other big ones being federalism, the presidential system and the separation of powers).
Interestingly, the great Chief Justice John Marshall, who authored that decision, had almost no formal schooling and only studied law for six weeks.
Any books to recommend to order and read over Christmas - i like non- fiction over fiction (except where the fiction is related to subjects I like ) - subjects I like are
Politics (no surprise!) Gambling (again no surprise being on a website like this ! - prefer gambling individual or bookie stories as opposed to how to win books) London (have a growing collection of London books) Railways (not an avid trainspotter but love the lifestyle of trains ) Gothic stuff History (medium rather than high brow though) Sport ( not bios generally but more general stuff about sport- love sport stats !)
Combining two of those interests - politics and history - Rick Perlstein's series of books on the rise of modern US conservatism is terrific. Before the Storm; Nixonland; The Invisible Bridge; Reaganland
The series of four starts with Goldwater, and I've just received the recently published copy of the fourth book.
He writes from a liberal viewpoint, which may or may not put some off, but I guess that depends on whether one prefers histories written by apologists or critics.
Definitely long reads - particularly the last two.
There are some funny fake fury tweets from black people under the white Sainsbury’s ad - hooked a few
The halfwits of all hues need to get a life , whining whinging cretins.
Morning Malcolm, nice to see your sunny disposition shining through. How's life in tier 4?
Morning David, I am in the republic of North Aysrshire so only Tier 3, daughter not so lucky in the posh South Ayrshire who are on 4. I am very well, Helen is much better , still not 100% for sure and given her telephone appointments keep getting delayed it is hard to figure out when if ever she will be , I think she will always have some lung issues. Overall all well even though stuck indoors for what feels like ever now. Think that will be our lot till spring at a minimum but living well. Hope you and family are well. Do you not have any good info on Salmond scandal to PM me, sure all you lawyers know the schemers.
Morning Malcolm. We are also in North Ayrshire. Surprised and relieved that we are not in tier 4, especially as our daughter is a beautician and our granddaughter is a hairdresser. Also relieved that our MSP has been reselected, despite the wokies.
Comments
Found a new off-licence, too with quite an interesting range of wine.
A large enough minority, in England, will behave recklessly to cause a January spike.
And we do have an alcohol-free day every week. Miserable Monday! And we don't normally drink alcohol at lunch-time, except at weekends.
Dems to win majority in The House and The Senate - No @1.02
The Yes side is literally impossible.
I am very well, Helen is much better , still not 100% for sure and given her telephone appointments keep getting delayed it is hard to figure out when if ever she will be , I think she will always have some lung issues.
Overall all well even though stuck indoors for what feels like ever now. Think that will be our lot till spring at a minimum but living well. Hope you and family are well.
Do you not have any good info on Salmond scandal to PM me, sure all you lawyers know the schemers.
We on the other hand used to have a post which was all three at the same time...
Presumably stopping family gatherings is going to be unenforceable.
Does that mean then that they will ask hospitality to take a hit and keep restaurants and bars shut in the run-up to Christmas?
Or will we pretend it will all be okay then start 2021 with a massive 2nd lockdown?
I was born eight years after man landed on the moon, and eight years before the Challenger disaster. The latter event, now nearly 35 years ago, I still remember vividly - yet the moon landing, 51 years ago, is to me is ancient history.
The Falklands war (one of my earliest memories) is now roughly half way between the end of WWII and today.
There are people who just voted in the US election who were born after 9/11, which was 19 years ago.
Don't really have any great gossip on Salmond. The speculation is that the Lord Advocate advised Nicola that the judicial review was unwinnable because of her interference in the disciplinary procedure and that is why she is fighting so hard not to release his advice. Would bring the utterly ludicrous £500k legal bill rather close to home!
Secondly, it seems to me blocking the election of Biden (with a 6 or 7 million popular vote margin and hefty electoral college margin) would be a very effective way for Republicans to guarantee they don't win the midterms in 2022.
Thirdly, it isn't covered by the video, which is focused on the black letter law and countering some apparently incorrect readings of that, but the reality is the Republicans simply won't hold together on this. Several GOP members of Congress have congratulated Biden, while a LOT of others use the formulation of Trump merely having the right to exhaust his legal options - which WILL happen, and soon. It is a massive step beyond that to say that, even though Trump has failed to prove fraud, they will work to frustrate the will of a pretty big majority of the public.
This is, as it has been for a couple of weeks, a slow motion process due to the madness of King Don, but with an inevitable outcome of President Biden. Everything else is pure fantasy, Trumper fan-fiction.
What we definitively do NOT need is Johnson urging Christmas get-togethers. The Government is from what I can see doing a good job in preparing for mass testing and mass vaccination. Stick to that don't treat us like 4-year-olds waiting for Santa.
In Scotland they also have the hogmanay.
a) invite everyone you know for a thoroughly debauched Christmas but in January there will be another lockdown, or
b) stay alone and maintain full Covid precautions but in January there will be another lockdown.
So there is no incentive to behave properly, especially now everyone has been led to expect the vaccine jab arriving with the Boxing Day sales.
However, I'm not actually sure it's recklessness as such that will cause the January spike. I'm sure I'm not the only one under pressure to visit my elderly parents over Xmas if I can. I'd be careful, but it does involve cross-country travel and a level of risk that it may well be best not to take... but if it's allowed, it's very hard to say no. And that's how it goes - the danger isn't mass craziness, but large numbers of fairly responsible people being somewhat less careful.
Story in the media over here this morning. Couple escaped for a three day break at a Maldives resort last weekend - but someone on the plane tested positive on arrival, and now they’ve been told they have to isolate for 14 days. At a cost of $900 a day.
One I was told about the other days: US pharma sells to Turkish hospital. Hospital sells to mate down the road. Mate sells to Turkish wholesaler. Turkish is wholesaler sells to Romanian parallel importer. Romanian parallel importer sells to Dutch agent. Dutch agent sells to legitimate clinical trial supply company. Clinical trial supply company provides to big pharma company for use in a clinical trial.
https://twitter.com/WhispersNewsLTD/status/1329137299075059713?s=09
https://twitter.com/MSNBCPR/status/1328477016581136384
But all it will take is one irresponsible media outlet reporting cases of this (which will then generate tonnes of follow up "discussion" which will allow people to reinforce their instinctive prejudices, that it is easy to see how things could fall apart quite quickly. One would hope not, but at some point the Government may well have to allow a choice between "letting it rip" for those who refuse to take the vaccine, or continuing the economic destruction of the country because some people won't comply.
The question of whether it's money well spent persists, though.
In fact, the most likely outcome is your worst case scenario, of non-stop talk of edge cases in the vaccination program, with platforms given to every mad anti-vax campaigner.
The University of Oxford coronavirus vaccine produces a strong immune response in older adults, and has been described as a "game changer," the latest trial results show, in another boost in the fight against Covid-19.
The ChAdOx1 nCov-2019 vaccine has been shown to trigger a robust immune response in healthy adults aged 56-69 and people over 70.
Phase two data, published in The Lancet, suggests one of the groups most vulnerable to serious illness and death from Covid-19 could build immunity, researchers say.
Phase three trials of the vaccine are ongoing, with early efficacy readings possible in the coming weeks.
UK authorities have placed orders for 100 million doses of the vaccine - enough to vaccinate most of the population - should it receive regulatory approval.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-news-covid-lockdown-end-pfizer-vaccine-update/
But the substantive point is difficult. I am instinctively uncomfortable with making it mandatory or requiring those who are not vaccinated to remain locked up as some have suggested. Withholding NHS treatment from the unvaccinated is, frankly, unethical.
Probably the way to go is to allow people to chose whether they get vaccinated or not, but if they are not vaccinated then they cannot participate in certain activities where they expose others to risk (e.g. sending their children to school or travelling on public transport).
The alternative would be to put subtle pressure on certain industries to introduce their own restrictions - e.g. the story we saw with Cineworld restricting access to the vaccinated. If you added the hospitality industry to that then I think many would get the jab of their own free will. (Although I can quite imagine Wetherspoons deciding to allow entry to all...). That might be a subtler approach, but not sure whether it would work.
I suspect most will get the jab though - although I wouldn't want to be in the first wave (not that I qualify) myself.
My guess is that we've learned nothing over the past 20years and still have ideas about "punching above our weight" or, as military strategists prefer to call it, "losing".
As an aside, much journalism these days is telling us what the reporter saw on telly or read on twitter, or even read in rival newspapers.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8964253/BBC-Radio-1-BANS-presenters-playing-uncensored-version-Fairytale-New-York.html
But what's the mechanism anyway? Some kind of app on your phone? What about those folks who don't have smart phones? A laminated card you can flash at the usher? Will it have your photo on there? What are the privacy concerns here?
Not trying to be awkward about this, but there will be lots of issues to iron out.
Why have they allowed this hare to run? Bonkers. No way back now.
He was and is an anti-semitic c**t. He presided over a party wherein anti-semitism flourished.
Politics (no surprise!)
Gambling (again no surprise being on a website like this ! - prefer gambling individual or bookie stories as opposed to how to win books)
London (have a growing collection of London books)
Railways (not an avid trainspotter but love the lifestyle of trains )
Gothic stuff
History (medium rather than high brow though)
Sport ( not bios generally but more general stuff about sport- love sport stats !)
I'm not sure whether the quality of your reading matter is getting better or worse.
Interestingly, nearly 75% had fatigue as a side effect & high number had headache in the 18-55 year group, but less so in the older groups. I guess that's the strength of people's immune system kickback?
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32466-1/fulltext?utm_campaign=tlcoronavirus20&utm_content=146475157&utm_medium=social&hss_channel=tw-27013292#seccestitle150
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1329349195891937280
By sword and fire by Sean McGlyn was an interesting look at medieval warfare. Donald Kagans The Peloponnesian War was a breezy read and Iron Kingdom by Chris Clark on Prussia was very good.
The only logical conclusion to these two viewpoints is that these people think the UK is worse that China. Which is a view, I guess.
Heligoland: Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea
by Jan Rüger (Author)
The Great Explosion: Gunpowder, the Great War, and a Disaster on the Kent Marshes
by Brian Dillon (a little literary/contrived - in some ways I preferred the straight academic account by another chap which can be found on the net)
Edit: Falling Upwards by Richard Holmes (the Romantic Poet biographer, not the military historian) - some might prefer the older book by L T C Rolt The Aeronauts
Memoirs of an Old Balloonatic (balloon ops in WW1)
Mansions of Misery: A Biography of the Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison
by Jerry White
"Ultimately, licensure of a vaccine relies on the demonstration of efficacy in preventing COVID-19 and safety. Phase 3 studies with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 are ongoing in the UK, Brazil, and the USA to assess vaccine efficacy and safety. Here we found similar safety and immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 in older adults compared with younger adults, which could support the use of this vaccine in this older age group, if it is shown to be protective in phase 3 trials."
I expect people of different ages may get different vaccines depending on detailed data and availability
Meaning that both China and us can spend in the same country and afterwards thanks to Chinese strings they benefit and besides a warm glow in our hearts for a few seconds while thinking about how benign we are we simply don't.
Unlike other studies looking at masks, the Danmask study was a randomised controlled trial – making it the highest quality scientific evidence.
Concludes:
And now that we have properly rigorous scientific research we can rely on, the evidence shows that wearing masks in the community does not significantly reduce the rates of infection.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/do-masks-stop-the-spread-of-covid-19-
It's really much less important than they think it is.
Interestingly, the great Chief Justice John Marshall, who authored that decision, had almost no formal schooling and only studied law for six weeks.
Before the Storm; Nixonland; The Invisible Bridge; Reaganland
The series of four starts with Goldwater, and I've just received the recently published copy of the fourth book.
He writes from a liberal viewpoint, which may or may not put some off, but I guess that depends on whether one prefers histories written by apologists or critics.
Definitely long reads - particularly the last two.