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27 days to go until the end of the transition and punters remain confident that there’ll be a deal –

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Comments

  • Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    If the spike protein makes you infertile surely they want a hard lockdown now to ensure the virus is stamped out. Right? Right?

    You can be anti-lockdown or anti-vax. To be against both is to be anti-logic.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,858
    edited December 2020

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    As a vegetarian (and occasional sandal-wearing) Lib Dem, I'm very pleased with that. I'm a bit curious about the details though. If live animals can't be transported, how can they be sent for slaughter? Will animals have to be slaughtered at the farm where they are reared?
    I think its just a prohibition on international travel by live animals. Something the SM stopped us from doing.

    Edit, I wonder if this would apply to shellfish, as we have discussed the last week or so.
  • dixiedean said:

    MaxPB said:

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    So they're saying no to lockdowns and no to vaccines. Wtf is wrong with them.
    And no to masks, social distancing, etc.

    It's almost as if they want everyone to catch Covid so their herd immunity theories can be fulfilled.
    Oh, he'd complain about that as well, I'm sure.

    But it's why being a contrarian gob on a stick is a terrible thing for one's soul. Because you end up saying truly awful stuff.
    It's also why, when someone shows themselves to be a person with a complete lack of judgement and no manners, you should believe them the first time.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,100
    edited December 2020

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    As a vegetarian (and occasional sandal-wearing) Lib Dem, I'm very pleased with that. I'm a bit curious about the details though. If live animals can't be transported, how can they be sent for slaughter? Will animals have to be slaughtered at the farm where they are reared?
    No, it is about banning the practice of allowing livestock from being transported excessive distances, often across borders for the purpose of slaughter or fattening up, not banning them being transported to a local slaughterhouse.

    If one was cynical, one might say post brexit,.i doubt such a practice would even really be possible anyway. Who is going to do a load of paperwork to export live animals from UK to other side of Europe just to be killed? I would be surprised if it is even now a big component of the system. The only place I can see cross border type thing is Ireland / NI.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,398

    eek said:

    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    Hard to see any Unionist being reassured by that poll. 12% is quite a gap to make up.
    I am quite relaxed about indy2 as if and when it is held I am confident the union will survive
    I think Scottish Independence is just a matter of time. The longer it is refused, the more bitter it will be.
    I do not believe it should be refused but I am confident the union will survive
    How - the SNP are successfully using everything to drive a wedge between Scotland and the rest of the UK - and doing a very fine job when doing so.
    Tbf they couldn't have done it without u-know-who.
    Yep, once you've seen through Boris it's very hard not to see him for the fool he actually is and then to aim to get as far away from him as quickly as possible.
  • Betfair currently considering the results of the first one.

    (Sadly, they don't' provide many/any markets. Sad.)
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599
    All of a sudden, Barnier doesn’t like the concept of a backstop?
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,681

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    If the spike protein makes you infertile surely they want a hard lockdown now to ensure the virus is stamped out. Right? Right?

    You can be anti-lockdown or anti-vax. To be against both is to be anti-logic.
    It makes sense if you don't believe the virus exists and that all those people in hospital are false positives...
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,858
    You see, there's a Parliament which appreciates the importance of political betting opportunities!
  • We all need to know what Brenda from Tel Aviv says.
  • FFS.

    Everyone I pick in my fantasy football team gets injured.

    For the rest of the season I'm not picking any Liverpool players.

    https://twitter.com/JamesOlley/status/1334116988868829184
  • Roger said:

    dixiedean said:

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    Neither Green, nor Lib Dem, nor tree hugger.
    But I, too, think this is a good thing.
    Are they banning the movement of all livestock? Surely not. The rules on transporting live animals is already very strict and the EU welfare standards high.
    I think exports are #1 in the firing line.

    Long distance #2.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,410

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    As a vegetarian (and occasional sandal-wearing) Lib Dem, I'm very pleased with that. I'm a bit curious about the details though. If live animals can't be transported, how can they be sent for slaughter? Will animals have to be slaughtered at the farm where they are reared?
    It's about export. The industrialisation of slaughterhouses and their remoteness from farms is another issue.
    Nevertheless, any reduction in unnecessary transport is, I maintain, something to celebrate.
  • I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    As a vegetarian (and occasional sandal-wearing) Lib Dem, I'm very pleased with that. I'm a bit curious about the details though. If live animals can't be transported, how can they be sent for slaughter? Will animals have to be slaughtered at the farm where they are reared?
    No, it is about banning the practice of allowing livestock from being transported excessive distances, often across borders for the purpose of slaughter or fattening up, not banning them being transported to a local slaughterhouse.
    In that case, it's hard to see the new law making much difference in the UK, then, given the paucity of land borders.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,244
    DavidL said:

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    As a vegetarian (and occasional sandal-wearing) Lib Dem, I'm very pleased with that. I'm a bit curious about the details though. If live animals can't be transported, how can they be sent for slaughter? Will animals have to be slaughtered at the farm where they are reared?
    I think its just a prohibition on international travel by live animals. Something the SM stopped us from doing.

    Edit, I wonder if this would apply to shellfish, as we have discussed the last week or so.
    I think that is unlikely.

    Live export is used in fields such as eg bulls rather than bull-semen, on occasion.
  • I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    As a vegetarian (and occasional sandal-wearing) Lib Dem, I'm very pleased with that. I'm a bit curious about the details though. If live animals can't be transported, how can they be sent for slaughter? Will animals have to be slaughtered at the farm where they are reared?
    No, it is about banning the practice of allowing livestock from being transported excessive distances, often across borders for the purpose of slaughter or fattening up, not banning them being transported to a local slaughterhouse.
    In that case, it's hard to see the new law making much difference in the UK, then, given the paucity of land borders.
    NI / Ireland is the only place I can see it really being somewhere that makes a big difference.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    As a vegetarian (and occasional sandal-wearing) Lib Dem, I'm very pleased with that. I'm a bit curious about the details though. If live animals can't be transported, how can they be sent for slaughter? Will animals have to be slaughtered at the farm where they are reared?
    They can’t be exported live, as opposed to can’t be transported live.

    Previously British sheep were spending *days* in lorries, on their way to slaughterhouses all over the EU.
  • Andy_CookeAndy_Cooke Posts: 5,005

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    If the spike protein makes you infertile surely they want a hard lockdown now to ensure the virus is stamped out. Right? Right?

    You can be anti-lockdown or anti-vax. To be against both is to be anti-logic.
    They left logic far behind a long time ago.
    I mean, seriously, they had articles next to each other claiming:
    - There is no covid, it's all over, it's all false positives
    - It's disgusting how many people are catching covid while in hospital.

    And
    - Covid was over by June, there was no second wave, all false positives
    - The second wave peaked in October before the second lockdown

    I mean, seriously? I get that denialism causes people to suspend their critical faculties, but somehow believing all of that simultaneously?
  • Any time I read the words "false positives" I get the urge to put something threw my laptop screen.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599
    How they undo the FTPA with regard to the Royal Perogative, is going to be quite the discussion in legal and constitutional circles.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,223
    edited December 2020

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Toby's thing was anti-Lockdown which has been terminally nobbled by the vax. He will thus be angry at the vax and at the same time needs some new "contrarian" bullshit to push. So this move - in the Tobyverse - makes perfect sense.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,364

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    "It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice."
  • Sandpit said:

    How they undo the FTPA with regard to the Royal Perogative, is going to be quite the discussion in legal and constitutional circles.
    Seems like they've found the way.

    If the law is that it is restored then that is the law since Parliament is sovereign. Just because it hasn't happened before, why does it mean it can't happen?
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,681

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    As a vegetarian (and occasional sandal-wearing) Lib Dem, I'm very pleased with that. I'm a bit curious about the details though. If live animals can't be transported, how can they be sent for slaughter? Will animals have to be slaughtered at the farm where they are reared?
    No, it is about banning the practice of allowing livestock from being transported excessive distances, often across borders for the purpose of slaughter or fattening up, not banning them being transported to a local slaughterhouse.
    In that case, it's hard to see the new law making much difference in the UK, then, given the paucity of land borders.
    I thought the trade was worth about £500m or so per year, so there must be a substantial number of animals involved.

    Does it apply in Ireland? Also - the Republic export a large number of calves to France. Will we prevent transit?



  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,100
    edited December 2020
    If all British meat has to be slaughtered in the UK, I wonder if we will see a copying of New Zealand lamb approach and it all / large proportion becoming halal, because then there is a premium for export to certain markets?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,858
    Sandpit said:

    How they undo the FTPA with regard to the Royal Perogative, is going to be quite the discussion in legal and constitutional circles.
    Oh I can hardly wait.
  • Andy_CookeAndy_Cooke Posts: 5,005
    I know I undertook to avoid being sarcastic and dismissive with 'lockdown sceptics', but if anyone posts a link to that site or regurgitates any of their misinformed/dishonest/mendacious/ignorant bilge after all this, I'm not remotely intending to hold to that any more.
  • Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    Hard to see any Unionist being reassured by that poll. 12% is quite a gap to make up.
    I am quite relaxed about indy2 as if and when it is held I am confident the union will survive
    I think Scottish Independence is just a matter of time. The longer it is refused, the more bitter it will be.
    I do not believe it should be refused but I am confident the union will survive
    From that ipsos mori poll - numbers look like they have potential to be quiet fluid. And we've not even started the debate on the practilities of it.

    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    Hard to see any Unionist being reassured by that poll. 12% is quite a gap to make up.
    I am quite relaxed about indy2 as if and when it is held I am confident the union will survive
    I think Scottish Independence is just a matter of time. The longer it is refused, the more bitter it will be.
    I do not believe it should be refused but I am confident the union will survive
    From that ipsos mori poll - numbers look like they have potential to be quiet fluid. And we've not even started the debate on the practilities of it.
    15 straight polls for Yes = quiet (sic) fluid? I'd like to see what you'd consider was violent electoral volatility.

    Unionism 2014: Yes was only ever ahead in 2 polls and the result was quite comfortable in the end.

    Unionism 2020: Yes ahead in 15 polls means that it's all to play for, if there was the slightest chance of Scots being allowed to decide.

    What's the opposite of evolution? Regression?
    Conservatism ;)
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,100
    edited December 2020
    Well we saw it with Peston and his fake news stuff about EU having already bought a load of vaccines the other week.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 19,914

    Roger said:

    dixiedean said:

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    Neither Green, nor Lib Dem, nor tree hugger.
    But I, too, think this is a good thing.
    Are they banning the movement of all livestock? Surely not. The rules on transporting live animals is already very strict and the EU welfare standards high.
    I think exports are #1 in the firing line.

    Long distance #2.
    I've just read the article. Sun Bullshit (if you'll excuse the tautology)
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556
    edited December 2020

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    If the spike protein makes you infertile surely they want a hard lockdown now to ensure the virus is stamped out. Right? Right?

    You can be anti-lockdown or anti-vax. To be against both is to be anti-logic.
    They're 50% anti-lockdown, 50% anti-vax, and 100% pro-twat.

    After pissing and whining for a whole year about how the only way out of the pandemic was herd immunity - even if it cost hundreds of thousands of lives - the moment a vaccine appears that gives us instant herd immunity without the fatalities, they effortlessly pivot to opposing it. Utter intellectual and ethical nullities.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,223

    I know I undertook to avoid being sarcastic and dismissive with 'lockdown sceptics', but if anyone posts a link to that site or regurgitates any of their misinformed/dishonest/mendacious/ignorant bilge after all this, I'm not remotely intending to hold to that any more.

    I never quite understood why you went soft in the first place.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,858
    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    dixiedean said:

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    Neither Green, nor Lib Dem, nor tree hugger.
    But I, too, think this is a good thing.
    Are they banning the movement of all livestock? Surely not. The rules on transporting live animals is already very strict and the EU welfare standards high.
    I think exports are #1 in the firing line.

    Long distance #2.
    I've just read the article. Sun Bullshit (if you'll excuse the tautology)

    God's sake, steady on. That's really going too far.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,364

    I know I undertook to avoid being sarcastic and dismissive with 'lockdown sceptics', but if anyone posts a link to that site or regurgitates any of their misinformed/dishonest/mendacious/ignorant bilge after all this, I'm not remotely intending to hold to that any more.

    Could we lock them in a basement with Prof. Peston? Would be fun to watch - for a bit. Then pull the feed and brick up the entrance.
  • FeersumEnjineeyaFeersumEnjineeya Posts: 4,429
    edited December 2020
    Surely that is an impossible scenario, though? Given that we are still de facto members of the EU, EU approval would have automatically been UK approval, wouldn't it? And it is trivially evident that EU membership hasn't stopped us giving our own, prior approval.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    edited December 2020
    https://twitter.com/ChrisMusson/status/1334127246458703873?s=20

    Guernsey has already identified all vaccinating centres and who goes where. Huge fuss from sports chucked out of a large sports hall commandeered for the purpose.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599

    If all British meat has to be slaughtered in the UK, I wonder if we will see a copying of New Zealand lamb approach and it all / large proportion becoming halal, because then there is a premium for export to certain markets?

    @NickPalmer did some very good work on this, the definition of ‘halal’ (and ‘kosher’) is slowly and quietly changing under the radar.

    Yes, the Middle East is full of NZ lamb, it’s definitely an export opportunity.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,355
    Not like that massive margin last time only 20% higher , dear dear
  • Sandpit said:

    If all British meat has to be slaughtered in the UK, I wonder if we will see a copying of New Zealand lamb approach and it all / large proportion becoming halal, because then there is a premium for export to certain markets?

    @NickPalmer did some very good work on this, the definition of ‘halal’ (and ‘kosher’) is slowly and quietly changing under the radar.

    Yes, the Middle East is full of NZ lamb, it’s definitely an export opportunity.
    Is it an export opportunity that is currently denied to us?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,100
    edited December 2020
    Funny how Russia announcements are always 10 mins after the ones in the West? Pfizer vaccine we think its 90%, Russia ours is 91%, actually it looks like 95%, Russia, ours is 96%...
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,355
    Foxy said:

    Hard to see any Unionist being reassured by that poll. 12% is quite a gap to make up.
    The cult members will grasp at any straw
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,681

    https://twitter.com/ChrisMusson/status/1334127246458703873?s=20

    Guernsey has already identified all vaccinating centres and who goes where. Huge fuss from sports chucked out of a large sports hall commandeered for the purpose.

    So has England. I wonder who will get to go to Epsom racecourse?
  • Sandpit said:

    If all British meat has to be slaughtered in the UK, I wonder if we will see a copying of New Zealand lamb approach and it all / large proportion becoming halal, because then there is a premium for export to certain markets?

    @NickPalmer did some very good work on this, the definition of ‘halal’ (and ‘kosher’) is slowly and quietly changing under the radar.

    Yes, the Middle East is full of NZ lamb, it’s definitely an export opportunity.
    Is it an export opportunity that is currently denied to us?
    No, trade is never denied even if on WTO terms. Hence why we can trade with the EU with No Deal too.

    Though signing free trade deals with those nations is currently denied to us, yes.
  • Andy_CookeAndy_Cooke Posts: 5,005
    kinabalu said:

    I know I undertook to avoid being sarcastic and dismissive with 'lockdown sceptics', but if anyone posts a link to that site or regurgitates any of their misinformed/dishonest/mendacious/ignorant bilge after all this, I'm not remotely intending to hold to that any more.

    I never quite understood why you went soft in the first place.
    You tend to be more persuasive if you don't go confrontational.
    There are limits, though.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,223

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    If the spike protein makes you infertile surely they want a hard lockdown now to ensure the virus is stamped out. Right? Right?

    You can be anti-lockdown or anti-vax. To be against both is to be anti-logic.
    They're 50% anti-lockdown, 50% anti-vax, and 100% pro-twat.

    After pissing and whining for a whole year about how the only way out of the pandemic was herd immunity - even if it cost hundreds of thousands of lives - the moment a vaccine appears that gives us instant herd immunity without the fatalities, they effortlessly pivot to opposing it. Utter intellectual and ethical nullities.
    But put yourself in their place. The anti-Lockdown argument was predicated on a good and timely vaccine being a unicorn. It has to be a bummer to see something you've been pushing for so long collapse in a heap. So a little empathy wouldn't go amiss. I mean, imagine if you had only just recently done a Great Blueington Declaration in the full glare of the media spotlight. You'd be really pissed off and looking to lash out at the thing that's rained on your parade. Which is this wretched vaccine.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Nigelb said:

    Charles said:
    Why use the word race ?
    Because I’m not an obsessed pedant

    His race or nationality is completely fucking irrelevant.

    He (and his wife) are brilliant scientists.

    I’m disappointed that @Richard_Nabavi chose to highlight his Turkish links.
  • Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    If the spike protein makes you infertile surely they want a hard lockdown now to ensure the virus is stamped out. Right? Right?

    You can be anti-lockdown or anti-vax. To be against both is to be anti-logic.
    They're 50% anti-lockdown, 50% anti-vax, and 100% pro-twat.

    After pissing and whining for a whole year about how the only way out of the pandemic was herd immunity - even if it cost hundreds of thousands of lives - the moment a vaccine appears that gives us instant herd immunity without the fatalities, they effortlessly pivot to opposing it. Utter intellectual and ethical nullities.
    So not someone with independence, rigour and caustic wit, then?
  • Sandpit said:

    If all British meat has to be slaughtered in the UK, I wonder if we will see a copying of New Zealand lamb approach and it all / large proportion becoming halal, because then there is a premium for export to certain markets?

    @NickPalmer did some very good work on this, the definition of ‘halal’ (and ‘kosher’) is slowly and quietly changing under the radar.

    Yes, the Middle East is full of NZ lamb, it’s definitely an export opportunity.
    Is it an export opportunity that is currently denied to us?
    No, trade is never denied even if on WTO terms. Hence why we can trade with the EU with No Deal too.

    Though signing free trade deals with those nations is currently denied to us, yes.
    Perhaps I should be more direct. Why, after Brexit, will we be in a better position to export halal lamb to the Middle east than we currently are?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    As I understand it (limited understanding based mainly on tweets posted here) the UK decided to invoke an emergency procedure, permissable/existing under EU law to members of the EU to fast track the approval procedure whereas it doesn't appear that any other EU nation did.

    Is this peoples' understanding?
  • TOPPING said:

    As I understand it (limited understanding based mainly on tweets posted here) the UK decided to invoke an emergency procedure, permissable/existing under EU law to members of the EU to fast track the approval procedure whereas it doesn't appear that any other EU nation did.

    Is this peoples' understanding?
    Yes.

    My understanding is that the MHRA was staffed up to be able to do this in no small part because they are taking over the EMA's responsibilities from next month, plus when the EMA migrated from the UK to the Netherlands many of the scientists working there chose to jump to the MHRA rather than emigrate. So the MHRA was stronger than it would have been were it not for Brexit putting it in the position to do this.
  • MattW said:

    DavidL said:

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    As a vegetarian (and occasional sandal-wearing) Lib Dem, I'm very pleased with that. I'm a bit curious about the details though. If live animals can't be transported, how can they be sent for slaughter? Will animals have to be slaughtered at the farm where they are reared?
    I think its just a prohibition on international travel by live animals. Something the SM stopped us from doing.

    Edit, I wonder if this would apply to shellfish, as we have discussed the last week or so.
    I think that is unlikely.

    Live export is used in fields such as eg bulls rather than bull-semen, on occasion.
    Shame, could have limited the live export of Farage to the USA and left them with just his bullshit.
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,080

    I'm sure Greens, Lib Dems and tree huggers will be delighted:

    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1333897692297261058?s=20

    As a vegetarian (and occasional sandal-wearing) Lib Dem, I'm very pleased with that. I'm a bit curious about the details though. If live animals can't be transported, how can they be sent for slaughter? Will animals have to be slaughtered at the farm where they are reared?
    No, it is about banning the practice of allowing livestock from being transported excessive distances, often across borders for the purpose of slaughter or fattening up, not banning them being transported to a local slaughterhouse.

    If one was cynical, one might say post brexit,.i doubt such a practice would even really be possible anyway. Who is going to do a load of paperwork to export live animals from UK to other side of Europe just to be killed? I would be surprised if it is even now a big component of the system. The only place I can see cross border type thing is Ireland / NI.
    A large majority of Scottish lambs are exported live to France for fattening and are later sold as French lamb. More or less all of the Scottish upland farmers are going to go broke.

  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599
    edited December 2020

    Sandpit said:

    If all British meat has to be slaughtered in the UK, I wonder if we will see a copying of New Zealand lamb approach and it all / large proportion becoming halal, because then there is a premium for export to certain markets?

    @NickPalmer did some very good work on this, the definition of ‘halal’ (and ‘kosher’) is slowly and quietly changing under the radar.

    Yes, the Middle East is full of NZ lamb, it’s definitely an export opportunity.
    Is it an export opportunity that is currently denied to us?
    No, trade is never denied even if on WTO terms. Hence why we can trade with the EU with No Deal too.

    Though signing free trade deals with those nations is currently denied to us, yes.
    Perhaps I should be more direct. Why, after Brexit, will we be in a better position to export halal lamb to the Middle east than we currently are?
    Because we can do a trade deal with the GCC (with whom we have a huge trade surplus), and because we no longer have to follow EU regulations on things like live export of animals, which incentivises stock to be sold within the EU at the expense of animal welfare.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    edited December 2020
    Sore, much?

    Or do they want to encourage the anti-vaxxers?
    https://twitter.com/fact_covid/status/1334136882574323713?s=20
  • LennonLennon Posts: 1,779
    TOPPING said:

    As I understand it (limited understanding based mainly on tweets posted here) the UK decided to invoke an emergency procedure, permissable/existing under EU law to members of the EU to fast track the approval procedure whereas it doesn't appear that any other EU nation did.

    Is this peoples' understanding?
    Not my understanding. Mine is that the UK has its own Medical Authority which (in the transition phase) follows the EU regulations on vaccine approval, but did the work itself at a faster pace than the EU Regulator (which will be following the same rules) which is a single regulator for the whole of the EU. I might be totally wrong however.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,755
    TOPPING said:

    As I understand it (limited understanding based mainly on tweets posted here) the UK decided to invoke an emergency procedure, permissable/existing under EU law to members of the EU to fast track the approval procedure whereas it doesn't appear that any other EU nation did.

    Is this peoples' understanding?
    Seems likely. I posted earlier an EMA statement about vaccine approval (basically that they fell under the category of things that should be approved by EMA rather than national bodies) and yet in transition we are still (presumably) under those agreements. So invoking emergency exceptions seems likely.

    May be that the MHRA, having stepped up capacity (has it?) in advance of a possible no-deal Brexit - or even deal Brexit that doesn't maintain EMA, as seems to be the plan - was the national body best placed to be able to do this.

    If so, arguably still a Brexit win, but a bit more indirect than some have suggested.
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556
    edited December 2020
    kinabalu said:

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    If the spike protein makes you infertile surely they want a hard lockdown now to ensure the virus is stamped out. Right? Right?

    You can be anti-lockdown or anti-vax. To be against both is to be anti-logic.
    They're 50% anti-lockdown, 50% anti-vax, and 100% pro-twat.

    After pissing and whining for a whole year about how the only way out of the pandemic was herd immunity - even if it cost hundreds of thousands of lives - the moment a vaccine appears that gives us instant herd immunity without the fatalities, they effortlessly pivot to opposing it. Utter intellectual and ethical nullities.
    But put yourself in their place. The anti-Lockdown argument was predicated on a good and timely vaccine being a unicorn. It has to be a bummer to see something you've been pushing for so long collapse in a heap. So a little empathy wouldn't go amiss. I mean, imagine if you had only just recently done a Great Blueington Declaration in the full glare of the media spotlight. You'd be really pissed off and looking to lash out at the thing that's rained on your parade. Which is this wretched vaccine.
    I'm sure that explanation of their psychology is exactly right, but it doesn't change the profundity of the category error they're making. Staking out a contrarian position in regular political discourse - meaning just about everything other than wars, pandemics, and similar massive disasters - is perfectly fine and often admirable; doing so when it puts the lives and health of millions of your fellow citizens in danger is beneath contempt. As someone who is delighted to support the aims of libertarianism and right-populism in 99% of political circumstances, I spit on them for what they're doing now.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,205
    edited December 2020

    Sandpit said:

    How they undo the FTPA with regard to the Royal Perogative, is going to be quite the discussion in legal and constitutional circles.
    Seems like they've found the way.

    If the law is that it is restored then that is the law since Parliament is sovereign. Just because it hasn't happened before, why does it mean it can't happen?
    Parliament is master of it's own fate, we don't have the constitutional nonsense of Marbury that the US has with its top court effectively elevated over the legislature. Looks fine to me.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,699

    And if this transpires it will 'prove' to hard brexiters that the EU really did want to punish the UK for leaving as an example to others.
    No Deal can’t be simultaneously the only pure Brexit and a punishment.
  • Was the lady there to reassure Andra that it wasn't a gay orgy?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992

    TOPPING said:

    As I understand it (limited understanding based mainly on tweets posted here) the UK decided to invoke an emergency procedure, permissable/existing under EU law to members of the EU to fast track the approval procedure whereas it doesn't appear that any other EU nation did.

    Is this peoples' understanding?
    Yes.

    My understanding is that the MHRA was staffed up to be able to do this in no small part because they are taking over the EMA's responsibilities from next month, plus when the EMA migrated from the UK to the Netherlands many of the scientists working there chose to jump to the MHRA rather than emigrate. So the MHRA was stronger than it would have been were it not for Brexit putting it in the position to do this.
    So everything after "Yes." is supposition.

    Thx
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    Selebian said:

    TOPPING said:

    As I understand it (limited understanding based mainly on tweets posted here) the UK decided to invoke an emergency procedure, permissable/existing under EU law to members of the EU to fast track the approval procedure whereas it doesn't appear that any other EU nation did.

    Is this peoples' understanding?
    Seems likely. I posted earlier an EMA statement about vaccine approval (basically that they fell under the category of things that should be approved by EMA rather than national bodies) and yet in transition we are still (presumably) under those agreements. So invoking emergency exceptions seems likely.

    May be that the MHRA, having stepped up capacity (has it?) in advance of a possible no-deal Brexit - or even deal Brexit that doesn't maintain EMA, as seems to be the plan - was the national body best placed to be able to do this.

    If so, arguably still a Brexit win, but a bit more indirect than some have suggested.
    Yes I think that is fair. Not sure if eg Germany pondered and rejected this route.

    And of course no one in their right minds thinks that Boris would have cut corners to get a "win" vs the EU as tweeted by several of his feisty back benchers (and some on here also).
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599

    kinabalu said:

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    If the spike protein makes you infertile surely they want a hard lockdown now to ensure the virus is stamped out. Right? Right?

    You can be anti-lockdown or anti-vax. To be against both is to be anti-logic.
    They're 50% anti-lockdown, 50% anti-vax, and 100% pro-twat.

    After pissing and whining for a whole year about how the only way out of the pandemic was herd immunity - even if it cost hundreds of thousands of lives - the moment a vaccine appears that gives us instant herd immunity without the fatalities, they effortlessly pivot to opposing it. Utter intellectual and ethical nullities.
    But put yourself in their place. The anti-Lockdown argument was predicated on a good and timely vaccine being a unicorn. It has to be a bummer to see something you've been pushing for so long collapse in a heap. So a little empathy wouldn't go amiss. I mean, imagine if you had only just recently done a Great Blueington Declaration in the full glare of the media spotlight. You'd be really pissed off and looking to lash out at the thing that's rained on your parade. Which is this wretched vaccine.
    I'm sure that explanation of their psychology is exactly right, but it doesn't change the profundity of the category error they're making. Staking out a contrarian position in regualar political discourse - meaning just about everything other than wars, pandemics, and similar massive disasters - is perfectly fine and often admirable; doing so when it puts the lives and health of millions of your fellow citizens in danger is beneath contempt. As someone who is delighted to support the aims of libertarianism and right-populism in 99% of political circumstances, I spit on them for what they're doing now.
    Yes. Libertarians and contrarians like Toby Young have been supported by me for years, especially against attempts to take him down by the woke left - but not on this subject, he’s being an idiot, Julia H-B the same.

    War and pandemic are not normal times, and thankfully this awful year is likely to finish with a bunch of good news on vaccines.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992

    kinabalu said:

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    If the spike protein makes you infertile surely they want a hard lockdown now to ensure the virus is stamped out. Right? Right?

    You can be anti-lockdown or anti-vax. To be against both is to be anti-logic.
    They're 50% anti-lockdown, 50% anti-vax, and 100% pro-twat.

    After pissing and whining for a whole year about how the only way out of the pandemic was herd immunity - even if it cost hundreds of thousands of lives - the moment a vaccine appears that gives us instant herd immunity without the fatalities, they effortlessly pivot to opposing it. Utter intellectual and ethical nullities.
    But put yourself in their place. The anti-Lockdown argument was predicated on a good and timely vaccine being a unicorn. It has to be a bummer to see something you've been pushing for so long collapse in a heap. So a little empathy wouldn't go amiss. I mean, imagine if you had only just recently done a Great Blueington Declaration in the full glare of the media spotlight. You'd be really pissed off and looking to lash out at the thing that's rained on your parade. Which is this wretched vaccine.
    I'm sure that explanation of their psychology is exactly right, but it doesn't change the profundity of the category error they're making. Staking out a contrarian position in regular political discourse - meaning just about everything other than wars, pandemics, and similar massive disasters - is perfectly fine and often admirable; doing so when it puts the lives and health of millions of your fellow citizens in danger is beneath contempt. As someone who is delighted to support the aims of libertarianism and right-populism in 99% of political circumstances, I spit on them for what they're doing now.
    So when it doesn't matter you're happy to be a contrarian. But when it does you fold.

    Gotit.
  • Was the lady there to reassure Andra that it wasn't a gay orgy?
    Two beards for the price of one?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,205
    As mad as Trump's sycophants.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,100
    edited December 2020
    So while Starmer is allowed to criticize the government from every angle, for every decision and the media aren't interested on picking him up on the fact he pushed for a flawed circuit breaker approach, Boris getting a punch in isn't acceptable...

    https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1334109501386067968?s=20
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599
    ‘A hugely polarised news system’, says the commentator (the use of ‘journalist’ would assume certain ethical standards) who just got a six-figure bill from a judge for making up lies about a political donor...
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,100
    edited December 2020
    Sandpit said:

    ‘A hugely polarised news system’, says the commentator (the use of ‘journalist’ would assume certain ethical standards) who just got a six-figure bill from a judge for making up lies about a political donor...
    And still employed by the Guardian, where as Suzanne Moore got shoved out....I presume her conspiracy stuff goes down well with the Guardian readers, but I can't help think it isn't exactly doing their reputation a lot of good to have somebody whose articles have to come with legal corrections every week. Hard to sneer at the Sun and Mail for their inaccuracies when you are having to do the same.
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362
    I certainly prefer the massive BETA test on UK guinea pigs approach, because you British Blimps won’t see it like what is - your government using you as the worlds lab rats - and will always think not only you won two world wars but beat COVID too. 🥳
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,858
    What the last couple of days do show, whether it is approval of medicines by the MHRA instead of the EMA, or the restriction of live exports and imports of animals, or the new rules about maintaining the countryside and enhancing biodiversity, the current alignment of the UK with SM rules may prove to be somewhat shorter lived than was thought, complicating the FTA negotiations and making LPF discussions more difficult.

    The United Kingdom is going down its own path. The EU either accepts that as part of a FTA or it doesn't in which event there will not be a deal.
  • Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    If all British meat has to be slaughtered in the UK, I wonder if we will see a copying of New Zealand lamb approach and it all / large proportion becoming halal, because then there is a premium for export to certain markets?

    @NickPalmer did some very good work on this, the definition of ‘halal’ (and ‘kosher’) is slowly and quietly changing under the radar.

    Yes, the Middle East is full of NZ lamb, it’s definitely an export opportunity.
    Is it an export opportunity that is currently denied to us?
    No, trade is never denied even if on WTO terms. Hence why we can trade with the EU with No Deal too.

    Though signing free trade deals with those nations is currently denied to us, yes.
    Perhaps I should be more direct. Why, after Brexit, will we be in a better position to export halal lamb to the Middle east than we currently are?
    Because we can do a trade deal with the GCC (with whom we have a huge trade surplus), and because we no longer have to follow EU regulations on things like live export of animals, which incentivises stock to be sold within the EU at the expense of animal welfare.
    So not so much an opportunity as a plan B for what to do with all the lamb that we will no longer be able to export to the EU. Cheers.
  • Sandpit said:

    kinabalu said:

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    If the spike protein makes you infertile surely they want a hard lockdown now to ensure the virus is stamped out. Right? Right?

    You can be anti-lockdown or anti-vax. To be against both is to be anti-logic.
    They're 50% anti-lockdown, 50% anti-vax, and 100% pro-twat.

    After pissing and whining for a whole year about how the only way out of the pandemic was herd immunity - even if it cost hundreds of thousands of lives - the moment a vaccine appears that gives us instant herd immunity without the fatalities, they effortlessly pivot to opposing it. Utter intellectual and ethical nullities.
    But put yourself in their place. The anti-Lockdown argument was predicated on a good and timely vaccine being a unicorn. It has to be a bummer to see something you've been pushing for so long collapse in a heap. So a little empathy wouldn't go amiss. I mean, imagine if you had only just recently done a Great Blueington Declaration in the full glare of the media spotlight. You'd be really pissed off and looking to lash out at the thing that's rained on your parade. Which is this wretched vaccine.
    I'm sure that explanation of their psychology is exactly right, but it doesn't change the profundity of the category error they're making. Staking out a contrarian position in regualar political discourse - meaning just about everything other than wars, pandemics, and similar massive disasters - is perfectly fine and often admirable; doing so when it puts the lives and health of millions of your fellow citizens in danger is beneath contempt. As someone who is delighted to support the aims of libertarianism and right-populism in 99% of political circumstances, I spit on them for what they're doing now.
    Yes. Libertarians and contrarians like Toby Young have been supported by me for years, especially against attempts to take him down by the woke left - but not on this subject, he’s being an idiot, Julia H-B the same.

    War and pandemic are not normal times, and thankfully this awful year is likely to finish with a bunch of good news on vaccines.
    Same here.

    There is literally no libertarian reason to be anti-vax.

    Being anti-compulsory vax while still encouraging people to do it and recognising the science and safety is entirely reasonable. But spreading anti-vax conspiracy lies? Nothing liberal in that.
  • He says that as if lamb and beef isn't nice...
  • DavidL said:

    What the last couple of days do show, whether it is approval of medicines by the MHRA instead of the EMA, or the restriction of live exports and imports of animals, or the new rules about maintaining the countryside and enhancing biodiversity, the current alignment of the UK with SM rules may prove to be somewhat shorter lived than was thought, complicating the FTA negotiations and making LPF discussions more difficult.

    The United Kingdom is going down its own path. The EU either accepts that as part of a FTA or it doesn't in which event there will not be a deal.

    Its almost as if having left the EU to take back control of setting our own laws there was a possibility of the UK using its new controls to pass different laws. Who could have foreseen that?

    That is the very reason of Brexit. That the EU still don't understand that is like trying to stop a train by stepping in front of it.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,052
    I wonder what Brenda from Bethlehem has to say about that?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,100
    edited December 2020

    Er.....you shouldn't be travelling.....

    twitter.com/Daily_Express/status/1334141772054847488?s=20

    People are going away for Christmas, as I believe the relaxation of the rules allow it.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    I don't know about Malc (I thought sheep had first dibs on turnips as winter feed anyway) but I could easily live on lamb (and beef) and potatoes for quite some time. Plus of course a decent bottle of red or two.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,858

    So while Starmer is allowed to criticize the government from every angle, for every decision and the media aren't interested on picking him up on the fact he pushed for a flawed circuit breaker approach, Boris getting a punch in isn't acceptable...

    https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1334109501386067968?s=20

    Do you really need this explained? Boris is for Brexit. He is bad. SKS was a remainer. He is good. Objectivity is in desuetude. That's the way it is.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    DavidL said:

    So while Starmer is allowed to criticize the government from every angle, for every decision and the media aren't interested on picking him up on the fact he pushed for a flawed circuit breaker approach, Boris getting a punch in isn't acceptable...

    https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1334109501386067968?s=20

    Do you really need this explained? Boris is for Brexit. He is bad. SKS was a remainer. He is good. Objectivity is in desuetude. That's the way it is.
    Nearly right, David.

    But in that small sample analysis you have made one error. Boris is not for Brexit. He is for Boris. Brexit was a convenient vehicle to get him to Boris.

    And of course again these laws being passed have absolutely nothing to do with needing to fool people such as our very own @Philip_Thompson that we are forging our own way in the world.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,858
    He forgot the Scottish shellfish. Its all getting quite tasty.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,755

    Toby and Yeadon are swinging to full-on antivax.
    Their latest is to call for the vaccine studies to be suspended, all data to be thrown out, and to blow up misinformation about antivaxxer fears.

    At this point I think they should lock these arseholes up. Let them experience a real curtailment of liberty. They're now actively taking steps to get people killed.

    Saw that coming 🙄

    What are those idiots saying now?
    - Suspend the studies immediately because the efficacy will be based on FALSE POSITIVES and throw out all the data because of FALSE POSITIVES
    - What about Antibody Dependent Enhancement? [Because obviously no-one's thought of that or run lengthy Phase 3 studies]
    - Spike proteins could make you INFERTILE!! [so what about people who've been infected with the actual virus?]
    - Many people could get fatal allergic reactions to it! 70% of people get antibodies to polyethylene glycol which is in the Pfizer one! [Yet, somehow, no-one in the tens of thousands in the safety studies had an issue]
    - It's all happened too fast and what about long-term effects! [Where all the genuine experts reckon that virtually all adverse effects happen within hours or days so any long-term problems would be incredibly unlikely]

    Stoking all the fears of the antivaxxers. I'm genuinely now of the belief that these disgusting excuses for human beings should be jailed.
    Even accepting Toby's points (I know, but bear with me) he should surely still be in favour of the vaccine being made available:
    1. the vaccines have been shown to be very effective at reducing those false positives. Given the pandemic is entirely/mostly a pandemic of somehow infectious false positives, that still ends the pandemic and all restrictions will therefore be able to end. WIN
    2. there's hardly any disease circulating anyway, so hardly anyone affected. NEUTRAL/MINOR LOSS
    3. only stupid people will take the vaccine, infertility will therefore give Toby his desired IQ-basd eugenics programme. WIN
    4. see above, kills people stupid enough to take the vaccine, reduces stupidity more quickly. WIN
    5. see above, smart people obviously won't take the vaccine for years, so only stupid people affected. WIN (unless vaccine extends life for the stupid people, but we know that's not true, see points 1-4)

    Overall: BIGLY WIN from vaccination programme
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    If all British meat has to be slaughtered in the UK, I wonder if we will see a copying of New Zealand lamb approach and it all / large proportion becoming halal, because then there is a premium for export to certain markets?

    @NickPalmer did some very good work on this, the definition of ‘halal’ (and ‘kosher’) is slowly and quietly changing under the radar.

    Yes, the Middle East is full of NZ lamb, it’s definitely an export opportunity.
    Is it an export opportunity that is currently denied to us?
    No, trade is never denied even if on WTO terms. Hence why we can trade with the EU with No Deal too.

    Though signing free trade deals with those nations is currently denied to us, yes.
    Perhaps I should be more direct. Why, after Brexit, will we be in a better position to export halal lamb to the Middle east than we currently are?
    Because we can do a trade deal with the GCC (with whom we have a huge trade surplus), and because we no longer have to follow EU regulations on things like live export of animals, which incentivises stock to be sold within the EU at the expense of animal welfare.
    So not so much an opportunity as a plan B for what to do with all the lamb that we will no longer be able to export to the EU. Cheers.
    Or, to put it another way, an opportunity to lead the world in animal welfare standards, by exporting meat rather than transporting livestock in inhumane conditions thousands of miles to slaughterhouses, just to make a few bucks more.
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362

    So while Starmer is allowed to criticize the government from every angle, for every decision and the media aren't interested on picking him up on the fact he pushed for a flawed circuit breaker approach, Boris getting a punch in isn't acceptable...

    https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1334109501386067968?s=20

    There’s more to it than that. It was another clear win for Boris today. That’s about five in a row. The Starmerites are getting irritated by it.
  • rpjsrpjs Posts: 3,787
    Fishing said:

    I wonder what Brenda from Bethlehem has to say about that?
    If she's in Bethlehem then she probably doesn't have a vote for the Knesset.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,364
    DavidL said:

    So while Starmer is allowed to criticize the government from every angle, for every decision and the media aren't interested on picking him up on the fact he pushed for a flawed circuit breaker approach, Boris getting a punch in isn't acceptable...

    https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1334109501386067968?s=20

    Do you really need this explained? Boris is for Brexit. He is bad. SKS was a remainer. He is good. Objectivity is in desuetude. That's the way it is.
    So a politician criticising a politician is good or bad?
  • TOPPING said:

    DavidL said:

    So while Starmer is allowed to criticize the government from every angle, for every decision and the media aren't interested on picking him up on the fact he pushed for a flawed circuit breaker approach, Boris getting a punch in isn't acceptable...

    https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1334109501386067968?s=20

    Do you really need this explained? Boris is for Brexit. He is bad. SKS was a remainer. He is good. Objectivity is in desuetude. That's the way it is.
    Nearly right, David.

    But in that small sample analysis you have made one error. Boris is not for Brexit. He is for Boris. Brexit was a convenient vehicle to get him to Boris.

    And of course again these laws being passed have absolutely nothing to do with needing to fool people such as our very own @Philip_Thompson that we are forging our own way in the world.
    No need for fooling anyone since we are forging our own way in the world. Quite appropriately too.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,755
    Not doing particularly well at controlling infection spread actually made us a good country to do trials in (although the infection levels had largely fallen here when the trials were actually happening).

    Also of course the point that the vaccine is not being trialled, that has already happened (there will no doubt be observational studies and of course continued gathering of any adverse event evidence, but that's not a trial)
This discussion has been closed.