Never mind exams R4. Press Gove on the vaccine delivery. Where is the detailed plan? Demonstrate Johnson is not going to f*ck this up.
I still think that there are much more likely to be problems and delays on the supply side than the delivery side. When we have more than 1m people working for the NHS delivering 2m vaccines a week really shouldn't be that hard. In 19/20 we managed to provide 15.3m flu vaccines in a similar sort of time to that indicated by Boris yesterday for a similar sort of number. I suspect that this year we did even more but I am struggling to find the numbers.
Ooh, did we miss this one yesterday. Margaret Ferrier MP charged with “culpable and reckless conduct” over her train trip from London to Glasgow after positive COVID test.
It’s interesting that Crown Office decided not to proceed under the plethora of COVID legislation but instead with a common law offence. I was involved for the Crown in such a prosecution nearly 20 years ago now against someone who had unprotected sex with a woman knowing he was HIV+. He was convicted.
A conviction here could easily meet the criteria for disqualification for being an MP.
Good point. I think I said at the time, that surely this would meet the standard for reckless endangerment, knowingly travelling on public transport with a communicable disease, irrespective of the covid-specific legislation?
In England, people were convicted of GBH for infecting others with HIV, and received severe custodial sentences.
The tough bit for the Crown here is that I seriously doubt that they have evidence of actual infection caused. That would have required a working test and trace app about which you have written this morning. Without that it is still reckless conduct (in my view) but I am not sure how a jury would consider it.
Is it possible another passenger or a staff member has come forward to say that shortly after travelling on that train they developed Covid symptoms? Might that explain why they've used this statute rather than the Covid regs?
It's possible but this isn't a statute at all, it's a common law crime. In theory the seriousness of the consequence is separate from the criminality of the conduct but in reality they inevitably blend into one another.
Guaranteed to be a squirrel to deflect from something else.
Ooh, did we miss this one yesterday. Margaret Ferrier MP charged with “culpable and reckless conduct” over her train trip from London to Glasgow after positive COVID test.
It’s interesting that Crown Office decided not to proceed under the plethora of COVID legislation but instead with a common law offence. I was involved for the Crown in such a prosecution nearly 20 years ago now against someone who had unprotected sex with a woman knowing he was HIV+. He was convicted.
A conviction here could easily meet the criteria for disqualification for being an MP.
Good point. I think I said at the time, that surely this would meet the standard for reckless endangerment, knowingly travelling on public transport with a communicable disease, irrespective of the covid-specific legislation?
In England, people were convicted of GBH for infecting others with HIV, and received severe custodial sentences.
The tough bit for the Crown here is that I seriously doubt that they have evidence of actual infection caused. That would have required a working test and trace app about which you have written this morning. Without that it is still reckless conduct (in my view) but I am not sure how a jury would consider it.
She better hope that testing hasn't shown she was traced to being the first case of the "Cockney Covid" mutation....
Never mind exams R4. Press Gove on the vaccine delivery. Where is the detailed plan? Demonstrate Johnson is not going to f*ck this up.
If you look at this small print from this story in the Daily Express this morning, yesterday one Medical Centre vaccinated 1100 people. If you multiply that up it is clear that if the supply is available getting the population vaccinated will be much quicker than people imagine.
We know that its *possible* to mass vaccinate at speed. We just fear that it isn't *probable* with this government's track record on every other aspect of the pandemic.
Anyone heard from Dido Harding recently? She gets paid £lots as the well qualified head of Test Track and Trace which costs £lotsandlots to apparently do absolutely nothing.
What would this site be like if we were following the French Government's vaccine rollout efforts.
How sick can you get gloating over fact more people may be dying!
The figures can easily be manipulated, although personally I thought yesterday's pledge was one of Johnson's more doable boasts. Nonetheless, is it still wise to be throwing out pledges when few of the previous pledges appear to have been delivered? That said, a failed Johnson promise doesn't seem to do him any harm. Failure is covered by the next bigger and better ambition.
Anyway the fanbois on here are happy with their hero, so all is good!
Never mind exams R4. Press Gove on the vaccine delivery. Where is the detailed plan? Demonstrate Johnson is not going to f*ck this up.
If you look at this small print from this story in the Daily Express this morning, yesterday one Medical Centre vaccinated 1100 people. If you multiply that up it is clear that if the supply is available getting the population vaccinated will be much quicker than people imagine.
Great. But is there a plan? Can I download a document that describes in detail the places that will do this and when they will do it and so on.
I would expect there is, but with the way this lot have handled this crisis to date I expect it is actually the back of some minister's cigarette packet.
Why would they bother to publish such a “plan”, which serves no useful purspose except as a stick with which to beat the government later?
If there’s evidence of vaccines sitting idle or discarded then great, let’s hear them, but otherwise it’s just saying we don’t like this government, rather than for any specific reason.
Because as Janet Daley says in Telegraph with clear accountability and daily updates we can see where the bureaucratic blocks are that can be swept away with some outside pressure.
As an example, would anything have been done about the reams of often utterly pointless forms that returning retired GPs had to to fill in just to give a jab, if the media had not got hold of the story?
The reams of paperwork from returning doctors was a great example of an actual problem, which it appears is being quickly addressed.
There’s no problems with the vaccine rollout, except that we don’t have enough of them. One in a dozen vaccines given worldwide so far, has been in the UK.
Never mind exams R4. Press Gove on the vaccine delivery. Where is the detailed plan? Demonstrate Johnson is not going to f*ck this up.
I still think that there are much more likely to be problems and delays on the supply side than the delivery side. When we have more than 1m people working for the NHS delivering 2m vaccines a week really shouldn't be that hard. In 19/20 we managed to provide 15.3m flu vaccines in a similar sort of time to that indicated by Boris yesterday for a similar sort of number. I suspect that this year we did even more but I am struggling to find the numbers.
My wife and I had the jab for the first time in many years (possibly ever in her case) this year at our GP surgery. The possibility of combining Covid and flu seemed not a sensible risk to take. I think looked at from that perspective the targets for vaccine delivery seem pretty modest and will, I think, be driven by the supply side.
Hardcore Republican Pat Robertson states that a dramatic event will happen tomorrow on January 6th.My suspicion is Trump may try to declare Martial Law which technically he is able to do.It is worrying if there are millions of Americans who are only using the likes
Hardcore Republican Pat Robertson states that a dramatic event will happen tomorrow on January 6th.My suspicion is Trump may try to declare Martial Law which technically he is able to do.It is worrying if there are millions of Americans who are only using the likes
It appears that students are banned from returning to university in England (not sure about the other nations). I assume that tuition fees will continue at the same rate despite the downgrading of the product. What about accommodation?
I had a suspicion the reason students were dispatched off to imprisonment in university accommodation was to lift from them which the government would otherwise had to cover. This term they cannot return but will already be at least contracted for if not paid up for their accommodation. Will these be waived/refunded and the government covering the gap? Waived/refunded and not covering the gap? Or nothing at all?
As with hospitality and entertainment there is a real risk that the sector won't be there to be picked back up when all this is over. Universities are already low on cash, and private sector landlords need rental income or the properties get sold.
The university I work at refunded student accommodation provided by the university during the first lockdown. I assume those renting privately did not get any refunds.
The university estates actually did ok in the first lockdown, vast majority of staff furloughed and the drop in utilities and staff costs offset the refunds to students. Our CFO gave a presentation on this and emphasised that student accommodation is only run on a cost basis anyway, so taking away the vast majority of the costs means you don't have a black hole from refunding the cost-covering accommodation fees.
There must be a very significant capital cost though in having the purpose built accommodation constructed. The economic consequences for most Universities will be severe. In the public sector furlough payments were also typically "topped up" so that employees received their full wages. I am very surprised that the financial consequences were not greater.
My guess is that the University would have had the reserves for a one off hit but a repetition of this is going to hurt and I would expect the Treasury to be asked to help.
Yes, I was very surprised at how up-beat the CFO was (this was in September) with regard to the financial hit at that point, which was very modest. The presentation was mostly around uncertainties over student numbers for this academic year, with a worst case having us go bust towards the end of this academic year (well, obviously before that point there would have been large scale redundancies and asset sales) but in the end home recruitment held up far better than expected. One positive identified was that we have historically been pretty bad at overseas recruitment (for a Russell Group university) and so we didn't take anywhere near the hit on overseas fees that many other universities suffered.
Also, much of the accommodation is old enough that the original capital costs have been paid now, although there is finance in place for a programme of refurbishments. Those have been largely frozen for the time being.
Not something I ever watch, but I think some of were very concerned when the tech companies depersoned the likes of Tommy Robinson (even from platforms where he broke no rules), if it was the start of a slippery slope.
Ooh, did we miss this one yesterday. Margaret Ferrier MP charged with “culpable and reckless conduct” over her train trip from London to Glasgow after positive COVID test.
It’s interesting that Crown Office decided not to proceed under the plethora of COVID legislation but instead with a common law offence. I was involved for the Crown in such a prosecution nearly 20 years ago now against someone who had unprotected sex with a woman knowing he was HIV+. He was convicted.
A conviction here could easily meet the criteria for disqualification for being an MP.
Good point. I think I said at the time, that surely this would meet the standard for reckless endangerment, knowingly travelling on public transport with a communicable disease, irrespective of the covid-specific legislation?
In England, people were convicted of GBH for infecting others with HIV, and received severe custodial sentences.
The tough bit for the Crown here is that I seriously doubt that they have evidence of actual infection caused. That would have required a working test and trace app about which you have written this morning. Without that it is still reckless conduct (in my view) but I am not sure how a jury would consider it.
Is it possible another passenger or a staff member has come forward to say that shortly after travelling on that train they developed Covid symptoms? Might that explain why they've used this statute rather than the Covid regs?
It's possible but this isn't a statute at all, it's a common law crime. In theory the seriousness of the consequence is separate from the criminality of the conduct but in reality they inevitably blend into one another.
Guaranteed to be a squirrel to deflect from something else.
You think that Nicola has that much control over Crown Office? I don't.
Very effective but what is it? A political ad and if so financed by whom? It's about the only rule governing US political ads so I imagine it's just someone on the internet having fun.
It appears that students are banned from returning to university in England (not sure about the other nations). I assume that tuition fees will continue at the same rate despite the downgrading of the product. What about accommodation?
I had a suspicion the reason students were dispatched off to imprisonment in university accommodation was to lift from them which the government would otherwise had to cover. This term they cannot return but will already be at least contracted for if not paid up for their accommodation. Will these be waived/refunded and the government covering the gap? Waived/refunded and not covering the gap? Or nothing at all?
As with hospitality and entertainment there is a real risk that the sector won't be there to be picked back up when all this is over. Universities are already low on cash, and private sector landlords need rental income or the properties get sold.
The university I work at refunded student accommodation provided by the university during the first lockdown. I assume those renting privately did not get any refunds.
The university estates actually did ok in the first lockdown, vast majority of staff furloughed and the drop in utilities and staff costs offset the refunds to students. Our CFO gave a presentation on this and emphasised that student accommodation is only run on a cost basis anyway, so taking away the vast majority of the costs means you don't have a black hole from refunding the cost-covering accommodation fees.
There must be a very significant capital cost though in having the purpose built accommodation constructed. The economic consequences for most Universities will be severe. In the public sector furlough payments were also typically "topped up" so that employees received their full wages. I am very surprised that the financial consequences were not greater.
My guess is that the University would have had the reserves for a one off hit but a repetition of this is going to hurt and I would expect the Treasury to be asked to help.
It differs enormously between Universities. Those that borrowed money to build the accommodation need to service the debt. Those who did a risk-sharing financing deal will be in a better position, depending on how they structured the contract. Any who built out of their endowment should be okay since, as @Selebian says, they mostly run their accommodation at cost.
The lost income from student rents may actually be less than lost income from summer schools and conferences, which will probably not fully rebound after COVID. This may end up being the more significant problem.
Reserves vary between institutions. Mine thankfully has a 9-figure cushion so it is not going to go bust any time soon, but I'd really be surprised if no University goes to the wall. And "austerity" is certainly coming to the entire sector for the next few years. Well, the entire sector except for senior executive pay, I expect.
It appears that students are banned from returning to university in England (not sure about the other nations). I assume that tuition fees will continue at the same rate despite the downgrading of the product. What about accommodation?
I had a suspicion the reason students were dispatched off to imprisonment in university accommodation was to lift from them which the government would otherwise had to cover. This term they cannot return but will already be at least contracted for if not paid up for their accommodation. Will these be waived/refunded and the government covering the gap? Waived/refunded and not covering the gap? Or nothing at all?
As with hospitality and entertainment there is a real risk that the sector won't be there to be picked back up when all this is over. Universities are already low on cash, and private sector landlords need rental income or the properties get sold.
Eek Jr went back to Leeds on Sunday as Conservatoires are in the same hands-on criteria as veterinary and medical studies.
And as she says it's better to be with friends doing her course than sat at home.
The other Eek twin has already colonized her sisters room for "study" purposes.
Yes I notice most of the students around here arrived back over the weekend. The guidance mentioned you should stay in place from this point so if you're at home you should stay home and if you're already back then you should stay at your term time address. It'll be interesting to see if this Friday night's queue outside the Co-op is full of students obviously dressed up to to go to a house party as was the case during the November lockdown.
Ooh, did we miss this one yesterday. Margaret Ferrier MP charged with “culpable and reckless conduct” over her train trip from London to Glasgow after positive COVID test.
It’s interesting that Crown Office decided not to proceed under the plethora of COVID legislation but instead with a common law offence. I was involved for the Crown in such a prosecution nearly 20 years ago now against someone who had unprotected sex with a woman knowing he was HIV+. He was convicted.
A conviction here could easily meet the criteria for disqualification for being an MP.
Good point. I think I said at the time, that surely this would meet the standard for reckless endangerment, knowingly travelling on public transport with a communicable disease, irrespective of the covid-specific legislation?
In England, people were convicted of GBH for infecting others with HIV, and received severe custodial sentences.
The tough bit for the Crown here is that I seriously doubt that they have evidence of actual infection caused. That would have required a working test and trace app about which you have written this morning. Without that it is still reckless conduct (in my view) but I am not sure how a jury would consider it.
Although this is a common law crime I can imagine a court thinking along the lines of possession of a bladed article, where the focus is often upon what could of happened, as opposed to what did.
Indeed but how that is assessed may well depend upon whether it is a Sheriff or a jury that is making the determination. The temptation to go for a Sheriff alone (by reducing the level of prosecution) and thus making it more likely that there will be a conviction will be considerable.
I am very surprised that the Boris-haters on here have such doubts about his ability to deliver the prick to so many willing recipients.
If ever he had a core skill....
Indeed!
Please don't refer to us a "Boris-haters". We wish the man no ill-will, but would be pleased if he resigned and allowed someone with a little more gravitas to take over. Is Mr Tumble available?
The figures can easily be manipulated, although personally I thought yesterday's pledge was one of Johnson's more doable boasts. Nonetheless, is it still wise to be throwing out pledges when few of the previous pledges appear to have been delivered? That said, a failed Johnson promise doesn't seem to do him any harm. Failure is covered by the next bigger and better ambition.
Anyway the fanbois on here are happy with their hero, so all is good!
They really have never heard of the phrase underpromise and over deliver. If they just took the RyanAir acheduking approach and had said our target is mid March for these groups, that will be faster than anywhere else in Europe, most people would have gone hmmm ok...then if they get it done by start of March, they get to claim victory.
Instead, what will happen is some production delays and slower than forecast rate of jabbing and before we know it the timeline has slipped to start of March, without really AZN, the government or the NHS really doing anything massively wrong....but theh will be bashed from pillar to post.
It appears that students are banned from returning to university in England (not sure about the other nations). I assume that tuition fees will continue at the same rate despite the downgrading of the product. What about accommodation?
I had a suspicion the reason students were dispatched off to imprisonment in university accommodation was to lift from them which the government would otherwise had to cover. This term they cannot return but will already be at least contracted for if not paid up for their accommodation. Will these be waived/refunded and the government covering the gap? Waived/refunded and not covering the gap? Or nothing at all?
As with hospitality and entertainment there is a real risk that the sector won't be there to be picked back up when all this is over. Universities are already low on cash, and private sector landlords need rental income or the properties get sold.
The university I work at refunded student accommodation provided by the university during the first lockdown. I assume those renting privately did not get any refunds.
The university estates actually did ok in the first lockdown, vast majority of staff furloughed and the drop in utilities and staff costs offset the refunds to students. Our CFO gave a presentation on this and emphasised that student accommodation is only run on a cost basis anyway, so taking away the vast majority of the costs means you don't have a black hole from refunding the cost-covering accommodation fees.
There must be a very significant capital cost though in having the purpose built accommodation constructed. The economic consequences for most Universities will be severe. In the public sector furlough payments were also typically "topped up" so that employees received their full wages. I am very surprised that the financial consequences were not greater.
My guess is that the University would have had the reserves for a one off hit but a repetition of this is going to hurt and I would expect the Treasury to be asked to help.
Yes, I was very surprised at how up-beat the CFO was (this was in September) with regard to the financial hit at that point, which was very modest. The presentation was mostly around uncertainties over student numbers for this academic year, with a worst case having us go bust towards the end of this academic year (well, obviously before that point there would have been large scale redundancies and asset sales) but in the end home recruitment held up far better than expected. One positive identified was that we have historically been pretty bad at overseas recruitment (for a Russell Group university) and so we didn't take anywhere near the hit on overseas fees that many other universities suffered.
Also, much of the accommodation is old enough that the original capital costs have been paid now, although there is finance in place for a programme of refurbishments. Those have been largely frozen for the time being.
However bad it is going to be stuck here in Thornaby for lockdown 3 it is nothing compared to the poor sodding Chinese Students stuck here looking increasingly lost. That Durham University provides overseas students a foundation / English language prep year makes sense, just a pity for them that they are nowhere near the world famous Durham University with its history and cathedral and instead are on the aged post-industrial site where Thatcher had her walk in the wilderness.
Thinking about NZ the other day and wondering what their vaccine position is. The rest of the world will open up as vaccination programmes roll out, but NZ will have to maintain it's borders until they've vaccinated widely or Covid is so rare that it becomes no longer a concern. The latter will be a very long time - it will be a long time before all the developing world is vaccinated and even a few cases into an unlocked NZ could spark an epidemic there.
Turns out NZ has orders in for 15m doses of various vaccines (~3 times population, many are for other countries in the region). Don't know how soon they'll get those vaccines, but plan seems to be start Q2 for targeted groups and mass roll-out in Q3/4 well played again, Ardern.
That was always going to be the case. They 'might' be able to let children back post Feb half term, but for the wider public, we will be in Tier 4 equivalent until March, and probably most of March at that.
Very effective but what is it? A political ad and if so financed by whom? It's about the only rule governing US political ads so I imagine it's just someone on the internet having fun.
That's what I thought. Trump is not up for election for anything now until 2024.
When the history of covid comes to be written I don't think teachers will be among the lists of heroes. While the police the medical professions the fire departments and the shop keepers are keeping the country going all I see of teachers are those saying they wont do anything however well protected the school is because it might not be safe.
It appears that students are banned from returning to university in England (not sure about the other nations). I assume that tuition fees will continue at the same rate despite the downgrading of the product. What about accommodation?
I had a suspicion the reason students were dispatched off to imprisonment in university accommodation was to lift from them which the government would otherwise had to cover. This term they cannot return but will already be at least contracted for if not paid up for their accommodation. Will these be waived/refunded and the government covering the gap? Waived/refunded and not covering the gap? Or nothing at all?
As with hospitality and entertainment there is a real risk that the sector won't be there to be picked back up when all this is over. Universities are already low on cash, and private sector landlords need rental income or the properties get sold.
Your suspicion was correct. Which is why it would have made much more sense to pay universities to sit tight for six months and start the new year in January. Or as it now turns out, March.
What will probably happen - and it has been happening at least to some extent already - is that a lot of universities will merge. That might be a good thing, or not, depending on how it is done. If it is done by closing surplus campuses and shedding some of the rather extensive administrative staff that many have accumulated, it might be quite beneficial. For example, there is little sense in a city the size of Swansea having two smallish universities, or for Gloucestershire to have two agricultural colleges. If however, as these things usually go, the administrators survive and the academic departments are culled instead, we're going to have a pretty broken system of mediocre unis underpinned by vast subsidies going forward.
Anyway, if you will excuse me, I have a series of crisis meetings to attend. Have a good morning.
"But where would we have got the money from?" I can hear the PB parrots squawk. What, like the gazillions burned on a test and trace programme that doesn't work or hundreds of millions handed out to their friends for non-existent PPE?
Money can always be found to line the pockets of Tory friends and donors. Money can never be found to feed hungry children or save hospitality and entertainment or keep the self-employed afloat.
That is very unfair. This government has repeatedly shown it is quite willing to feed hungry children as long as they are willing to wait for the press crescendo to reach the highest volume, govt ministers frantically and desperately appearing on tv and radio defending not feeding them, before the inevitable and universally foreseen u-turn.
It appears that students are banned from returning to university in England (not sure about the other nations). I assume that tuition fees will continue at the same rate despite the downgrading of the product. What about accommodation?
I had a suspicion the reason students were dispatched off to imprisonment in university accommodation was to lift from them which the government would otherwise had to cover. This term they cannot return but will already be at least contracted for if not paid up for their accommodation. Will these be waived/refunded and the government covering the gap? Waived/refunded and not covering the gap? Or nothing at all?
As with hospitality and entertainment there is a real risk that the sector won't be there to be picked back up when all this is over. Universities are already low on cash, and private sector landlords need rental income or the properties get sold.
Your suspicion was correct. Which is why it would have made much more sense to pay universities to sit tight for six months and start the new year in January. Or as it now turns out, March.
What will probably happen - and it has been happening at least to some extent already - is that a lot of universities will merge. That might be a good thing, or not, depending on how it is done. If it is done by closing surplus campuses and shedding some of the rather extensive administrative staff that many have accumulated, it might be quite beneficial. For example, there is little sense in a city the size of Swansea having two smallish universities, or for Gloucestershire to have two agricultural colleges. If however, as these things usually go, the administrators survive and the academic departments are culled instead, we're going to have a pretty broken system of mediocre unis underpinned by vast subsidies going forward.
Anyway, if you will excuse me, I have a series of crisis meetings to attend. Have a good morning.
"But where would we have got the money from?" I can hear the PB parrots squawk. What, like the gazillions burned on a test and trace programme that doesn't work or hundreds of millions handed out to their friends for non-existent PPE?
Money can always be found to line the pockets of Tory friends and donors. Money can never be found to feed hungry children or save hospitality and entertainment or keep the self-employed afloat.
That is very unfair. This government has repeatedly shown it is quite willing to feed hungry children as long as they are willing to wait for the press crescendo to reach the highest volume, govt ministers frantically and desperately appearing on tv and radio defending not feeding them, before the inevitable and universally foreseen u-turn.
It doesn't seem to be doing them much harm, so why change?
Very effective but what is it? A political ad and if so financed by whom? It's about the only rule governing US political ads so I imagine it's just someone on the internet having fun.
If its not the Lincoln Project ad for the 2020 election it is a rip off of a virtually identical one.
It appears that students are banned from returning to university in England (not sure about the other nations). I assume that tuition fees will continue at the same rate despite the downgrading of the product. What about accommodation?
I had a suspicion the reason students were dispatched off to imprisonment in university accommodation was to lift from them which the government would otherwise had to cover. This term they cannot return but will already be at least contracted for if not paid up for their accommodation. Will these be waived/refunded and the government covering the gap? Waived/refunded and not covering the gap? Or nothing at all?
As with hospitality and entertainment there is a real risk that the sector won't be there to be picked back up when all this is over. Universities are already low on cash, and private sector landlords need rental income or the properties get sold.
Your suspicion was correct. Which is why it would have made much more sense to pay universities to sit tight for six months and start the new year in January. Or as it now turns out, March.
What will probably happen - and it has been happening at least to some extent already - is that a lot of universities will merge. That might be a good thing, or not, depending on how it is done. If it is done by closing surplus campuses and shedding some of the rather extensive administrative staff that many have accumulated, it might be quite beneficial. For example, there is little sense in a city the size of Swansea having two smallish universities, or for Gloucestershire to have two agricultural colleges. If however, as these things usually go, the administrators survive and the academic departments are culled instead, we're going to have a pretty broken system of mediocre unis underpinned by vast subsidies going forward.
Anyway, if you will excuse me, I have a series of crisis meetings to attend. Have a good morning.
"But where would we have got the money from?" I can hear the PB parrots squawk. What, like the gazillions burned on a test and trace programme that doesn't work or hundreds of millions handed out to their friends for non-existent PPE?
Money can always be found to line the pockets of Tory friends and donors. Money can never be found to feed hungry children or save hospitality and entertainment or keep the self-employed afloat.
That is very unfair. This government has repeatedly shown it is quite willing to feed hungry children as long as they are willing to wait for the press crescendo to reach the highest volume, govt ministers frantically and desperately appearing on tv and radio defending not feeding them, before the inevitable and universally foreseen u-turn.
It doesn't seem to be doing them much harm, so why change?
Very effective but what is it? A political ad and if so financed by whom? It's about the only rule governing US political ads so I imagine it's just someone on the internet having fun.
I suspect the motive is covering a more sinister angle. Should Trump mobilise the troops to stay in office after 20th January, you can bet your boots that Rubio, Cruz, Graham, Conway etc., will be full square behind Trump. I think that might be the point.
This slow rollout is incredibly costly. Every additional week of the pandemic costs the taxpayer £6 billion, while reducing economic activity by £5 billion. The free market think tank argues there are also countless harder to quantify costs, such as declines in pediatric vaccinations, cardiovascular admissions, cancer treatments and endoscopic services, and mental health.
Maybe New Zealand is just a very different country in a much different geographical position?
It's notable that most island nations seem to have escaped relatively lightly - New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Iceland all have low death rates.
Given the great start Israel has made on vaccinations, I thought I'd have a look at their COVID stats to see how easy it will be for us to see if the vaccines are actually working. Well...
It appears that students are banned from returning to university in England (not sure about the other nations). I assume that tuition fees will continue at the same rate despite the downgrading of the product. What about accommodation?
I had a suspicion the reason students were dispatched off to imprisonment in university accommodation was to lift from them which the government would otherwise had to cover. This term they cannot return but will already be at least contracted for if not paid up for their accommodation. Will these be waived/refunded and the government covering the gap? Waived/refunded and not covering the gap? Or nothing at all?
As with hospitality and entertainment there is a real risk that the sector won't be there to be picked back up when all this is over. Universities are already low on cash, and private sector landlords need rental income or the properties get sold.
Your suspicion was correct. Which is why it would have made much more sense to pay universities to sit tight for six months and start the new year in January. Or as it now turns out, March.
What will probably happen - and it has been happening at least to some extent already - is that a lot of universities will merge. That might be a good thing, or not, depending on how it is done. If it is done by closing surplus campuses and shedding some of the rather extensive administrative staff that many have accumulated, it might be quite beneficial. For example, there is little sense in a city the size of Swansea having two smallish universities, or for Gloucestershire to have two agricultural colleges. If however, as these things usually go, the administrators survive and the academic departments are culled instead, we're going to have a pretty broken system of mediocre unis underpinned by vast subsidies going forward.
Anyway, if you will excuse me, I have a series of crisis meetings to attend. Have a good morning.
"But where would we have got the money from?" I can hear the PB parrots squawk. What, like the gazillions burned on a test and trace programme that doesn't work or hundreds of millions handed out to their friends for non-existent PPE?
Money can always be found to line the pockets of Tory friends and donors. Money can never be found to feed hungry children or save hospitality and entertainment or keep the self-employed afloat.
That is very unfair. This government has repeatedly shown it is quite willing to feed hungry children as long as they are willing to wait for the press crescendo to reach the highest volume, govt ministers frantically and desperately appearing on tv and radio defending not feeding them, before the inevitable and universally foreseen u-turn.
The record on that has not been great but I did note that Boris was clear last night that the free school meals will continue. Hopefully that means that Marcus can concentrate on scoring goals for United rather than making Ministers look foolish.
When the history of covid comes to be written I don't think teachers will be among the lists of heroes. While the police the medical professions the fire departments and the shop keepers are keeping the country going all I see of teachers are those saying they wont do anything however well protected the school is because it might not be safe.
I believe you may have fallen into Johnson's cunning "divide and conquer" plan. Scapegoat the teachers, keep Johnson off the hook.
I notice while Gordon Brittas is going around this morning demanding the government spends even more money, again nobody wants to close the borders....its not like there is a new super version of Cockey COVID or anything out there.
I am very surprised that the Boris-haters on here have such doubts about his ability to deliver the prick to so many willing recipients.
If ever he had a core skill....
Indeed!
Please don't refer to us a "Boris-haters". We wish the man no ill-will, but would be pleased if he resigned and allowed someone with a little more gravitas to take over. Is Mr Tumble available?
I thought Boris was very poor on Marr but much better last night.
Indeed I have heard quite a few compliments for his tone and statement last night
Boris is marmite to be fair and he does divide opinion, made more divisive by those who will never accept Brexit
I would say Starmer is underperforming as evidenced by his inability to achieve a sustained poll lead
And Rishi has just announced a 4.5 billon extra support package
Maybe New Zealand is just a very different country in a much different geographical position?
It's notable that most island nations seem to have escaped relatively lightly - New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Iceland all have low death rates.
Not so much island nations, but how easy it is to control their borders, and how 'interconnected' they are (which being an island makes easier).
Yes, the UK is an island, but we are much much more interconnected in terms of travel hubs than those countries.
Never mind exams R4. Press Gove on the vaccine delivery. Where is the detailed plan? Demonstrate Johnson is not going to f*ck this up.
I still think that there are much more likely to be problems and delays on the supply side than the delivery side. When we have more than 1m people working for the NHS delivering 2m vaccines a week really shouldn't be that hard. In 19/20 we managed to provide 15.3m flu vaccines in a similar sort of time to that indicated by Boris yesterday for a similar sort of number. I suspect that this year we did even more but I am struggling to find the numbers.
My wife and I had the jab for the first time in many years (possibly ever in her case) this year at our GP surgery. The possibility of combining Covid and flu seemed not a sensible risk to take. I think looked at from that perspective the targets for vaccine delivery seem pretty modest and will, I think, be driven by the supply side.
Have there been any hard stats on flu 2020-21? Anecdotally I see a lot of people saying they & theirs have managed to avoid colds and flu this winter, if verifiable an indication that lockdowns work (& take pressure of the NHS that is dealing with u-kno-what).
When the history of covid comes to be written I don't think teachers will be among the lists of heroes. While the police the medical professions the fire departments and the shop keepers are keeping the country going all I see of teachers are those saying they wont do anything however well protected the school is because it might not be safe.
How can a school be "well protected" when it is filled with potentially virus-laden kids? Also, many teachers (such as my son's) are doing a fantastic job in running online lessons at very short notice. They are not saying they won't do anything!
Maybe New Zealand is just a very different country in a much different geographical position?
It's notable that most island nations seem to have escaped relatively lightly - New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Iceland all have low death rates.
Not so much island nations, but how easy it is to control their borders, and how 'interconnected' they are (which being an island makes easier).
Yes, the UK is an island, but we are much much more interconnected in terms of travel hubs than those countries.
Australia is a better comparison. They are a major travel hub, especially with China, Covid had entered Australia before they knew, and yes they are overall far less population density, but they do have several very large cities.
They had an easier job than the UK, but they have showed how tough action on their borders, swift early action on lockdowns and long term restrictions in place for basically the whole of the pandemic have kept COVID to a minimum.
Ooh, did we miss this one yesterday. Margaret Ferrier MP charged with “culpable and reckless conduct” over her train trip from London to Glasgow after positive COVID test.
It’s interesting that Crown Office decided not to proceed under the plethora of COVID legislation but instead with a common law offence. I was involved for the Crown in such a prosecution nearly 20 years ago now against someone who had unprotected sex with a woman knowing he was HIV+. He was convicted.
A conviction here could easily meet the criteria for disqualification for being an MP.
Good point. I think I said at the time, that surely this would meet the standard for reckless endangerment, knowingly travelling on public transport with a communicable disease, irrespective of the covid-specific legislation?
In England, people were convicted of GBH for infecting others with HIV, and received severe custodial sentences.
The tough bit for the Crown here is that I seriously doubt that they have evidence of actual infection caused. That would have required a working test and trace app about which you have written this morning. Without that it is still reckless conduct (in my view) but I am not sure how a jury would consider it.
Although this is a common law crime I can imagine a court thinking along the lines of possession of a bladed article, where the focus is often upon what could of happened, as opposed to what did.
Indeed but how that is assessed may well depend upon whether it is a Sheriff or a jury that is making the determination. The temptation to go for a Sheriff alone (by reducing the level of prosecution) and thus making it more likely that there will be a conviction will be considerable.
Simply threatening a blade usually means jail time, but of course none of Ferrier's fellow passengers will have known they were being threatened. Would Ferrier be entitled to elect for it to go upstairs?
The lost income from student rents may actually be less than lost income from summer schools and conferences, which will probably not fully rebound after COVID. This may end up being the more significant problem. --AS
Yes, quite likely. This is an area that has changed in recent years, where academic conferences used to be charged more or less at cost by a host university, but it's now common to get private companies (sometimes university owned, sometimes not) to run the conference with much inflated costs. Nice earner for universities (an other hosts) and doesn't bother the university customers too much as the inflated costs are now factored into funding proposals. However, stop the conferences and a black hole develops that wouldn't have occurred years ago when conferences were run close to cost. Another area where commercialisation of universities has increased their incomes but now leaves them more exposed than before to events like the present.
Of course, many are trying to run online courses/conferences at the same fee and there will be some success there. Grants normally require funds to be spent during grant duration and any unspent funds go back to the funder, so there's an incentive for people like me to pay over the odds for an online course or conference with reduced benefit rather than just give the money back for no benefit.
Does mean academics like me are not getting our normal ell expenses paid foreign holidays... er... conferences
Not something I ever watch, but I think some of were very concerned when the tech companies depersoned the likes of Tommy Robinson (even from platforms where he broke no rules), if it was the start of a slippery slope.
We all like to crap on the media for being irresponsible in their editorial decision-making, but TR are governed by OFCOM who have not judged anything they’ve said to be over the line. It doesn’t seem right for YT to act on something that’s not deemed over the line by a regulator.
For balance, here’s comedians Joe Rogan and Tony Hinchcliffe laying into lockdowns in Los Angeles. Are YouTube about to pull Rogan’s 10m subscriber channel for the same offence? (Warning: language NSFW) https://youtube.com/watch?v=Iyt8rYpUQsg
When the history of covid comes to be written I don't think teachers will be among the lists of heroes. While the police the medical professions the fire departments and the shop keepers are keeping the country going all I see of teachers are those saying they wont do anything however well protected the school is because it might not be safe.
I think that's a little churlish Roger. It isn't safe to be exposed to large numbers of children. The government initially thought it was but it clearly isn't. Those statistics are telling.
Maybe New Zealand is just a very different country in a much different geographical position?
It's notable that most island nations seem to have escaped relatively lightly - New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Iceland all have low death rates.
Not so much island nations, but how easy it is to control their borders, and how 'interconnected' they are (which being an island makes easier).
Yes, the UK is an island, but we are much much more interconnected in terms of travel hubs than those countries.
Australia is a better comparison. They are a major travel hub, especially with China, Covid had entered Australia before they knew, and yes they are overall far less population density, but they do have several very large cities.
As an avid viewer of Auusie Gold Hunters to say the UK and Australia are similar is pushing it a bit.
It appears that students are banned from returning to university in England (not sure about the other nations). I assume that tuition fees will continue at the same rate despite the downgrading of the product. What about accommodation?
I had a suspicion the reason students were dispatched off to imprisonment in university accommodation was to lift from them which the government would otherwise had to cover. This term they cannot return but will already be at least contracted for if not paid up for their accommodation. Will these be waived/refunded and the government covering the gap? Waived/refunded and not covering the gap? Or nothing at all?
As with hospitality and entertainment there is a real risk that the sector won't be there to be picked back up when all this is over. Universities are already low on cash, and private sector landlords need rental income or the properties get sold.
Your suspicion was correct. Which is why it would have made much more sense to pay universities to sit tight for six months and start the new year in January. Or as it now turns out, March.
What will probably happen - and it has been happening at least to some extent already - is that a lot of universities will merge. That might be a good thing, or not, depending on how it is done. If it is done by closing surplus campuses and shedding some of the rather extensive administrative staff that many have accumulated, it might be quite beneficial. For example, there is little sense in a city the size of Swansea having two smallish universities, or for Gloucestershire to have two agricultural colleges. If however, as these things usually go, the administrators survive and the academic departments are culled instead, we're going to have a pretty broken system of mediocre unis underpinned by vast subsidies going forward.
Anyway, if you will excuse me, I have a series of crisis meetings to attend. Have a good morning.
"But where would we have got the money from?" I can hear the PB parrots squawk. What, like the gazillions burned on a test and trace programme that doesn't work or hundreds of millions handed out to their friends for non-existent PPE?
Money can always be found to line the pockets of Tory friends and donors. Money can never be found to feed hungry children or save hospitality and entertainment or keep the self-employed afloat.
That is very unfair. This government has repeatedly shown it is quite willing to feed hungry children as long as they are willing to wait for the press crescendo to reach the highest volume, govt ministers frantically and desperately appearing on tv and radio defending not feeding them, before the inevitable and universally foreseen u-turn.
The record on that has not been great but I did note that Boris was clear last night that the free school meals will continue. Hopefully that means that Marcus can concentrate on scoring goals for United rather than making Ministers look foolish.
I was very pleased to hear that pledge. Its a fairly simple concept that ministers and their parrots seemed absolutely oblivious to the first couple of times round. Perhaps their lesson isn't so much one of basic human decency but of embarrassment.
Setting out a position that is counter-factual to the evidence and self-evidently can't be sustained. Having to go on broadcast and social media to defend this absurd position. Then within a matter of ours try and sell the opposite position with a straight face whilst claiming the facts have changed. These are things which even Philip-level politicians must find painful enough to have told the chief whip no bloody way am I doing that again.
We got an email in the last few days telling students not to come to Newcastle, essentially.
Any chance you could copy and paste that here minus the personal details? I've a friend who is wondering about going back.
Yesterday, the UK Government announced that many parts of England, including Newcastle and the north east of England would come under Tier 4 restrictions from today (31st December 2020).
In a letter from the Minister of State for Universities, sent yesterday to all Vice-Chancellors, the government acknowledged that there is a need to take further steps to reduce the potential for the transmission of Covid-19 in education settings as students return to University in January.
In the letter, the government requested that universities restrict the number of students returning from January 4th 2021 to the following subject areas:
Medicine and dentistry
Subjects allied to medicine / health
Veterinary science
Education (initial teacher training)
Social work
Courses which require Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) assessments and or mandatory activity which is scheduled for January and which cannot be rescheduled.
Universities are asked to pause the return of all other students not covered by the above until the 25th January, with further government guidance expected in the week of the 18th January.
The guidance published yesterday does, however, acknowledge that a number of you will have stayed in university accommodation over the winter break, and or may have compelling reasons to return, including those of you:
who are international students and who have remained in the UK or who have arrived and do not have alternative accommodation,
without access to appropriate study spaces or facilities in your vacation accommodation,
requiring additional support, including those with mental health issues,
on placements where the placement provider has COVID-19 secure measures in place, and are permitted to open based on the relevant local restrictions and is content for placements to continue.
In light of this, the University will continue to provide access to the library facilities, alongside all appropriate service support, and IT and study spaces during this time – see further information below.
We strongly urge you not to return to Newcastle at this time if you are not in one of these categories.
Maybe New Zealand is just a very different country in a much different geographical position?
Well, as an island it obviously has advantages that the Great Britain could never have.
Does a bridge/tunnel mean that an island stops being an island? That's not to say that I think we shouldn't have done a whole lot better, but I think NZ is a little different to GB.
Not something I ever watch, but I think some of were very concerned when the tech companies depersoned the likes of Tommy Robinson (even from platforms where he broke no rules), if it was the start of a slippery slope.
We all like to crap on the media for being irresponsible in their editorial decision-making, but TR are governed by OFCOM who have not judged anything they’ve said to be over the line. It doesn’t seem right for YT to act on something that’s not deemed over the line by a regulator.
For balance, here’s comedians Joe Rogan and Tony Hinchcliffe laying into lockdowns in Los Angeles. Are YouTube about to pull Rogan’s 10m subscriber channel for the same offence? (Warning: language NSFW) https://youtube.com/watch?v=Iyt8rYpUQsg
Joe Rogan bigger problem at the moment is with Spotify woke employees revolting....
When the history of covid comes to be written I don't think teachers will be among the lists of heroes. While the police the medical professions the fire departments and the shop keepers are keeping the country going all I see of teachers are those saying they wont do anything however well protected the school is because it might not be safe.
You mean, when I'm going in three days a week from tomorrow at the height of an infectious pandemic to teach vulnerable children without any protection whatsoever while setting huge amounts of online work for the others, I'm wasting my time because a few muppets think I'm well protected and a coward just because I've caught this government of bullies and morons out for blatant lying?
Damn it, that's a sign I'm a bad person.
Or alternatively, it's a sign there are some really ignorant scum out there.
(PS these meetings are not going too well so far, because we haven't got 80% of the information we need to sort things out. Starting with what the hell we do with many thousands of testing kits that have literally been dumped in front of the main entrance yesterday.)
The figures can easily be manipulated, although personally I thought yesterday's pledge was one of Johnson's more doable boasts. Nonetheless, is it still wise to be throwing out pledges when few of the previous pledges appear to have been delivered? That said, a failed Johnson promise doesn't seem to do him any harm. Failure is covered by the next bigger and better ambition.
Anyway the fanbois on here are happy with their hero, so all is good!
They really have never heard of the phrase underpromise and over deliver. If they just took the RyanAir acheduking approach and had said our target is mid March for these groups, that will be faster than anywhere else in Europe, most people would have gone hmmm ok...then if they get it done by start of March, they get to claim victory.
Instead, what will happen is some production delays and slower than forecast rate of jabbing and before we know it the timeline has slipped to start of March, without really AZN, the government or the NHS really doing anything massively wrong....but theh will be bashed from pillar to post.
In Johnson's case it seems to be a means of sugar-coating a particularly unpleasant pill.
I understand (although it's from the Mirror) that car showrooms can open on a 'click and collect' basis!
WT....,.,
Back in March and April last year, about the only company registering cars was Tesla.
They have a system whereby a phone app can work as the key, so they’d ‘pair’ your phone and your car, and you could walk up to their lot and drive it away, without ever meeting anyone.
Ooh, did we miss this one yesterday. Margaret Ferrier MP charged with “culpable and reckless conduct” over her train trip from London to Glasgow after positive COVID test.
It’s interesting that Crown Office decided not to proceed under the plethora of COVID legislation but instead with a common law offence. I was involved for the Crown in such a prosecution nearly 20 years ago now against someone who had unprotected sex with a woman knowing he was HIV+. He was convicted.
A conviction here could easily meet the criteria for disqualification for being an MP.
Good point. I think I said at the time, that surely this would meet the standard for reckless endangerment, knowingly travelling on public transport with a communicable disease, irrespective of the covid-specific legislation?
In England, people were convicted of GBH for infecting others with HIV, and received severe custodial sentences.
The tough bit for the Crown here is that I seriously doubt that they have evidence of actual infection caused. That would have required a working test and trace app about which you have written this morning. Without that it is still reckless conduct (in my view) but I am not sure how a jury would consider it.
Although this is a common law crime I can imagine a court thinking along the lines of possession of a bladed article, where the focus is often upon what could of happened, as opposed to what did.
Indeed but how that is assessed may well depend upon whether it is a Sheriff or a jury that is making the determination. The temptation to go for a Sheriff alone (by reducing the level of prosecution) and thus making it more likely that there will be a conviction will be considerable.
Simply threatening a blade usually means jail time, but of course none of Ferrier's fellow passengers will have known they were being threatened. Would Ferrier be entitled to elect for it to go upstairs?
No, it is entirely the Crown's decision at what level the prosecution takes place.
It appears that students are banned from returning to university in England (not sure about the other nations). I assume that tuition fees will continue at the same rate despite the downgrading of the product. What about accommodation?
I had a suspicion the reason students were dispatched off to imprisonment in university accommodation was to lift from them which the government would otherwise had to cover. This term they cannot return but will already be at least contracted for if not paid up for their accommodation. Will these be waived/refunded and the government covering the gap? Waived/refunded and not covering the gap? Or nothing at all?
As with hospitality and entertainment there is a real risk that the sector won't be there to be picked back up when all this is over. Universities are already low on cash, and private sector landlords need rental income or the properties get sold.
Your suspicion was correct. Which is why it would have made much more sense to pay universities to sit tight for six months and start the new year in January. Or as it now turns out, March.
What will probably happen - and it has been happening at least to some extent already - is that a lot of universities will merge. That might be a good thing, or not, depending on how it is done. If it is done by closing surplus campuses and shedding some of the rather extensive administrative staff that many have accumulated, it might be quite beneficial. For example, there is little sense in a city the size of Swansea having two smallish universities, or for Gloucestershire to have two agricultural colleges. If however, as these things usually go, the administrators survive and the academic departments are culled instead, we're going to have a pretty broken system of mediocre unis underpinned by vast subsidies going forward.
Anyway, if you will excuse me, I have a series of crisis meetings to attend. Have a good morning.
"But where would we have got the money from?" I can hear the PB parrots squawk. What, like the gazillions burned on a test and trace programme that doesn't work or hundreds of millions handed out to their friends for non-existent PPE?
Money can always be found to line the pockets of Tory friends and donors. Money can never be found to feed hungry children or save hospitality and entertainment or keep the self-employed afloat.
That is very unfair. This government has repeatedly shown it is quite willing to feed hungry children as long as they are willing to wait for the press crescendo to reach the highest volume, govt ministers frantically and desperately appearing on tv and radio defending not feeding them, before the inevitable and universally foreseen u-turn.
It doesn't seem to be doing them much harm, so why change?
I've made a complaint to the BBC for having Gupta on Today to peddle her wrong opinions about herd immunity again.
There are so many other more interesting - and more likely to be valid - criticisms to make of lockdown, of why we're in a third one, what we're not doing that we should have done that might have avoided it.
But Gupta has been wrong at every stage of this emergency and the BBC should be finding people who haven't been proven so reliably wrong to talk to.
I've made a complaint to the BBC for having Gupta on Today to peddle her wrong opinions about herd immunity again.
There are so many other more interesting - and more likely to be valid - criticisms to make of lockdown, of why we're in a third one, what we're not doing that we should have done that might have avoided it.
But Gupta has been wrong at every stage of this emergency and the BBC should be finding people who haven't been proven so reliably wrong to talk to.
FFS....that isn't balance, that is having somebody who has consistently peddled demonstrable false information.
Not something I ever watch, but I think some of were very concerned when the tech companies depersoned the likes of Tommy Robinson (even from platforms where he broke no rules), if it was the start of a slippery slope.
We all like to crap on the media for being irresponsible in their editorial decision-making, but TR are governed by OFCOM who have not judged anything they’ve said to be over the line. It doesn’t seem right for YT to act on something that’s not deemed over the line by a regulator.
For balance, here’s comedians Joe Rogan and Tony Hinchcliffe laying into lockdowns in Los Angeles. Are YouTube about to pull Rogan’s 10m subscriber channel for the same offence? (Warning: language NSFW) https://youtube.com/watch?v=Iyt8rYpUQsg
Joe Rogan bigger problem at the moment is with Spotify woke employees revolting....
That’s Spotify’s problem, not Rogan’s. Apparently his $1m-a-week contract says no editorial control whatsoever, and there’s rumours that he’s lining up the likes of JK Rowling and possibly even Donald Trump for later this year. He had Alex Jones on since the Spotify deal, which didn’t go down well in the company’s US offices.
I've made a complaint to the BBC for having Gupta on Today to peddle her wrong opinions about herd immunity again.
There are so many other more interesting - and more likely to be valid - criticisms to make of lockdown, of why we're in a third one, what we're not doing that we should have done that might have avoided it.
But Gupta has been wrong at every stage of this emergency and the BBC should be finding people who haven't been proven so reliably wrong to talk to.
FFS....that isn't balance, that is having somebody who has consistently peddled demonstrable false information.
We got an email in the last few days telling students not to come to Newcastle, essentially.
Any chance you could copy and paste that here minus the personal details? I've a friend who is wondering about going back.
My eldest son, applied successfully for a 12 month suspension of studies in November. The University were amenable and suggested he come back in September and wipes the fiasco that was September to November from the board (except for the cost of the fiasco-which he has to cover).
Never mind exams R4. Press Gove on the vaccine delivery. Where is the detailed plan? Demonstrate Johnson is not going to f*ck this up.
I still think that there are much more likely to be problems and delays on the supply side than the delivery side. When we have more than 1m people working for the NHS delivering 2m vaccines a week really shouldn't be that hard. In 19/20 we managed to provide 15.3m flu vaccines in a similar sort of time to that indicated by Boris yesterday for a similar sort of number. I suspect that this year we did even more but I am struggling to find the numbers.
My wife and I had the jab for the first time in many years (possibly ever in her case) this year at our GP surgery. The possibility of combining Covid and flu seemed not a sensible risk to take. I think looked at from that perspective the targets for vaccine delivery seem pretty modest and will, I think, be driven by the supply side.
Have there been any hard stats on flu 2020-21? Anecdotally I see a lot of people saying they & theirs have managed to avoid colds and flu this winter, if verifiable an indication that lockdowns work (& take pressure of the NHS that is dealing with u-kno-what).
Not that I have seen but it stands to reason that the precautions taken against Covid should reduce the incidence of flu as well, masks especially.
Maybe New Zealand is just a very different country in a much different geographical position?
Well, as an island it obviously has advantages that the Great Britain could never have.
Im wondering if you really can be that stupid?
Well that was unnecessary.
It's fair to highlight that the UK is unlike New Zealand in many ways but the fact the borders are STILL open is a complete disgrace and not defendable.
I've made a complaint to the BBC for having Gupta on Today to peddle her wrong opinions about herd immunity again.
There are so many other more interesting - and more likely to be valid - criticisms to make of lockdown, of why we're in a third one, what we're not doing that we should have done that might have avoided it.
But Gupta has been wrong at every stage of this emergency and the BBC should be finding people who haven't been proven so reliably wrong to talk to.
While you’re at it you could fire one off to BBC Scotland about their use of Hugh ‘there will be no second wave, Scotland may not need vaccine’ Pennington.
‘The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society,’ he said. ‘It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be “cancelled”.
‘What we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.
‘So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.’
I've made a complaint to the BBC for having Gupta on Today to peddle her wrong opinions about herd immunity again.
There are so many other more interesting - and more likely to be valid - criticisms to make of lockdown, of why we're in a third one, what we're not doing that we should have done that might have avoided it.
But Gupta has been wrong at every stage of this emergency and the BBC should be finding people who haven't been proven so reliably wrong to talk to.
They could do a lot worse than ask some of the regular leader writers from here for their analysis.
I understand (although it's from the Mirror) that car showrooms can open on a 'click and collect' basis!
WT....,.,
Most of the major car brands now let you buy online at full price (bargaintastic!). Click and collect of a £250k Rolly Royce Ghost should be simple enough for your average high street car showroom.
Maybe New Zealand is just a very different country in a much different geographical position?
Well, as an island it obviously has advantages that the Great Britain could never have.
Does a bridge/tunnel mean that an island stops being an island? That's not to say that I think we shouldn't have done a whole lot better, but I think NZ is a little different to GB.
One of the mysteries of the pandemic is why some countries have done so much better than others in keeping it under control despite an absence of natural advantages. OK, so NZ is an Island but no more so than other islands that have not done so well. Why have Vietnam and Norway been so good. How does Canada manage to be so much better than the USA, with which it shares a 5,000 mile border?
One is tempted to conclude it might have something to do with how smart their governments have been, but maybe that's simplistic.
‘The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society,’ he said. ‘It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be “cancelled”.
‘What we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.
‘So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.’
It's important to highlight that this is not just an issue surrounding left-wing "wokeistas". The right also exist in their own bubbles on Twitter and other social media platforms. Likewise, anti-vaxxers and covid deniers also exist in their own bubbles online. That's the issue with social media generally.
One of the reasons why I like PB so much is that it is pretty balanced with views from across the spectrum. Even if @Big_G_NorthWales seems to think it's full of Labour supporters.
‘The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society,’ he said. ‘It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be “cancelled”.
‘What we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.
‘So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.’
When the history of covid comes to be written I don't think teachers will be among the lists of heroes. While the police the medical professions the fire departments and the shop keepers are keeping the country going all I see of teachers are those saying they wont do anything however well protected the school is because it might not be safe.
You mean, when I'm going in three days a week from tomorrow at the height of an infectious pandemic to teach vulnerable children without any protection whatsoever while setting huge amounts of online work for the others, I'm wasting my time because a few muppets think I'm well protected and a coward just because I've caught this government of bullies and morons out for blatant lying?
Damn it, that's a sign I'm a bad person.
Or alternatively, it's a sign there are some really ignorant scum out there.
(PS these meetings are not going too well so far, because we haven't got 80% of the information we need to sort things out. Starting with what the hell we do with many thousands of testing kits that have literally been dumped in front of the main entrance yesterday.)
Yes, I did see on Facebook as late as teatime yesterday a big academy school which had pulled out all the stops to organise itself for the required mass testing today. Not at all a colossal waste of time and money.
‘The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society,’ he said. ‘It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be “cancelled”.
‘What we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.
‘So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.’
‘The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society,’ he said. ‘It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be “cancelled”.
‘What we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.
‘So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.’
It's important to highlight that this is not just an issue surrounding left-wing "wokeistas". The right also exist in their own bubbles on Twitter and other social media platforms. Likewise, anti-vaxxers and covid deniers also exist in their own bubbles online. That's the issue with social media generally.
One of the reasons why I like PB so much is that it is pretty balanced with views from across the spectrum. Even if @Big_G_NorthWales seems to think it's full of Labour supporters.
It isn't a right or left thing. See Karen Carney getting the pile-on treatment for her lazy analysis of Leeds United. The official Leeds tweet wasn't very professional, but nothing really wrong with it on the surface, but then when the pile-on starts it is like a snowball. It is why I get very annoyed with the likes of Owen Jones using his platform and knows exactly what will happen when he sends certain tweets.
When the history of covid comes to be written I don't think teachers will be among the lists of heroes. While the police the medical professions the fire departments and the shop keepers are keeping the country going all I see of teachers are those saying they wont do anything however well protected the school is because it might not be safe.
Roger that is complete rubbish. I can only assume you don't have school age children. Our kids' teachers have moved heaven and earth to deliver teaching during this pandemic, whether in person or as now remotely. The virus was ripping through schools - our daughter caught it there before Christmas - and teachers were absolutely right to highlight the risks. The government has provided too little money, no help with planning and has been making up policy as it goes along - one minute threatening legal action against schools that close, the next ordering them to close at a few hours' notice. Blaming the teachers for the ongoing fiasco that has resulted from the government’s own incompetence is just the latest outrage, but sadly typical of Johnson's divide and rule style of government.
‘The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society,’ he said. ‘It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be “cancelled”.
‘What we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.
‘So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.’
It's important to highlight that this is not just an issue surrounding left-wing "wokeistas". The right also exist in their own bubbles on Twitter and other social media platforms. Likewise, anti-vaxxers and covid deniers also exist in their own bubbles online. That's the issue with social media generally.
One of the reasons why I like PB so much is that it is pretty balanced with views from across the spectrum. Even if @Big_G_NorthWales seems to think it's full of Labour supporters.
Judging by recent political polling, we do seem to have pretty much all of the twenty of so remaining LD voters in the country posting on PB (myself included - if I'm still a LD voter, not sure about that)
Maybe New Zealand is just a very different country in a much different geographical position?
Well, as an island it obviously has advantages that the Great Britain could never have.
Does a bridge/tunnel mean that an island stops being an island? That's not to say that I think we shouldn't have done a whole lot better, but I think NZ is a little different to GB.
One of the mysteries of the pandemic is why some countries have done so much better than others in keeping it under control despite an absence of natural advantages. OK, so NZ is an Island but no more so than other islands that have not done so well. Why have Vietnam and Norway been so good. How does Canada manage to be so much better than the USA, with which it shares a 5,000 mile border?
One is tempted to conclude it might have something to do with how smart their governments have been, but maybe that's simplistic.
I'm pretty sure it's just that to be honest. At the beginning there was a lot of luck involved for sure. Bergamo could have been Birmingham or Bilbao probably.
But now - the virus is basically everywhere - and what matters is how well our systems manage to isolate the infected from the rest.
Having an ageing population + more people with pre-existing conditions means you are going to get more deaths/case. But some countries have done public health much better than others. Europe/US generally has failed I think, with the UK squandering some particular advantages that should have helped us.
France is adding two categories of people aged over 50 to those who can get vaccinated immediately after fierce public criticism it's been too slow in rolling out its programme.
It is all well and good adding categories, but you have to actually have the supply and the be doing the vaccinations.
Comments
Anyway the fanbois on here are happy with their hero, so all is good!
There’s no problems with the vaccine rollout, except that we don’t have enough of them. One in a dozen vaccines given worldwide so far, has been in the UK.
If ever he had a core skill....
https://twitter.com/parsley72/status/1346377691574882305
Also, much of the accommodation is old enough that the original capital costs have been paid now, although there is finance in place for a programme of refurbishments. Those have been largely frozen for the time being.
https://order-order.com/2021/01/05/youtube-terminates-talkradio-channel-following-lockdown-criticism/
The lost income from student rents may actually be less than lost income from summer schools and conferences, which will probably not fully rebound after COVID. This may end up being the more significant problem.
Reserves vary between institutions. Mine thankfully has a 9-figure cushion so it is not going to go bust any time soon, but I'd really be surprised if no University goes to the wall. And "austerity" is certainly coming to the entire sector for the next few years. Well, the entire sector except for senior executive pay, I expect.
--AS
Please don't refer to us a "Boris-haters". We wish the man no ill-will, but would be pleased if he resigned and allowed someone with a little more gravitas to take over. Is Mr Tumble available?
that will be faster than anywhere else in Europe, most people would have gone hmmm ok...then if they get it done by start of March, they get to claim victory.
Instead, what will happen is some production delays and slower than forecast rate of jabbing and before we know it the timeline has slipped to start of March, without really AZN, the government or the NHS really doing anything massively wrong....but theh will be bashed from pillar to post.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/05/covid-lockdown-in-england-likely-in-place-until-march-gove-warns
Turns out NZ has orders in for 15m doses of various vaccines (~3 times population, many are for other countries in the region). Don't know how soon they'll get those vaccines, but plan seems to be start Q2 for targeted groups and mass roll-out in Q3/4 well played again, Ardern.
Why were ministers so adamant that nothing will change yesterday when clearly currently anything can change?
Gove this morning said the facts changed yesterday. What are those facts? Why the need for secrecy?
Shouldn't someone tell those taking BTECS today whether they are on or not? I mean they are today.
This slow rollout is incredibly costly. Every additional week of the pandemic costs the taxpayer £6 billion, while reducing economic activity by £5 billion. The free market think tank argues there are also countless harder to quantify costs, such as declines in pediatric vaccinations, cardiovascular admissions, cancer treatments and endoscopic services, and mental health.
https://www.adamsmith.org/news/vaccination-acceleration-worth-a-shot
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/israel/
It shouldn't be too hard to spot the effect of the vaccine given cases there have sky-rocketed.
Indeed I have heard quite a few compliments for his tone and statement last night
Boris is marmite to be fair and he does divide opinion, made more divisive by those who will never accept Brexit
I would say Starmer is underperforming as evidenced by his inability to achieve a sustained poll lead
And Rishi has just announced a 4.5 billon extra support package
Yes, the UK is an island, but we are much much more interconnected in terms of travel hubs than those countries.
They had an easier job than the UK, but they have showed how tough action on their borders, swift early action on lockdowns and long term restrictions in place for basically the whole of the pandemic have kept COVID to a minimum.
Of course, many are trying to run online courses/conferences at the same fee and there will be some success there. Grants normally require funds to be spent during grant duration and any unspent funds go back to the funder, so there's an incentive for people like me to pay over the odds for an online course or conference with reduced benefit rather than just give the money back for no benefit.
Does mean academics like me are not getting our normal ell expenses paid foreign holidays... er... conferences
We all like to crap on the media for being irresponsible in their editorial decision-making, but TR are governed by OFCOM who have not judged anything they’ve said to be over the line. It doesn’t seem right for YT to act on something that’s not deemed over the line by a regulator.
For balance, here’s comedians Joe Rogan and Tony Hinchcliffe laying into lockdowns in Los Angeles. Are YouTube about to pull Rogan’s 10m subscriber channel for the same offence?
(Warning: language NSFW)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Iyt8rYpUQsg
Setting out a position that is counter-factual to the evidence and self-evidently can't be sustained. Having to go on broadcast and social media to defend this absurd position. Then within a matter of ours try and sell the opposite position with a straight face whilst claiming the facts have changed. These are things which even Philip-level politicians must find painful enough to have told the chief whip no bloody way am I doing that again.
In a letter from the Minister of State for Universities, sent yesterday to all Vice-Chancellors, the government acknowledged that there is a need to take further steps to reduce the potential for the transmission of Covid-19 in education settings as students return to University in January.
In the letter, the government requested that universities restrict the number of students returning from January 4th 2021 to the following subject areas:
- Medicine and dentistry
- Subjects allied to medicine / health
- Veterinary science
- Education (initial teacher training)
- Social work
- Courses which require Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) assessments and or mandatory activity which is scheduled for January and which cannot be rescheduled.
Universities are asked to pause the return of all other students not covered by the above until the 25th January, with further government guidance expected in the week of the 18th January.The guidance published yesterday does, however, acknowledge that a number of you will have stayed in university accommodation over the winter break, and or may have compelling reasons to return, including those of you:
- who are international students and who have remained in the UK or who have arrived and do not have alternative accommodation,
- without access to appropriate study spaces or facilities in your vacation accommodation,
- requiring additional support, including those with mental health issues,
- on placements where the placement provider has COVID-19 secure measures in place, and are permitted to open based on the relevant local restrictions and is content for placements to continue.
In light of this, the University will continue to provide access to the library facilities, alongside all appropriate service support, and IT and study spaces during this time – see further information below.We strongly urge you not to return to Newcastle at this time if you are not in one of these categories.
WT....,.,
Damn it, that's a sign I'm a bad person.
Or alternatively, it's a sign there are some really ignorant scum out there.
(PS these meetings are not going too well so far, because we haven't got 80% of the information we need to sort things out. Starting with what the hell we do with many thousands of testing kits that have literally been dumped in front of the main entrance yesterday.)
They have a system whereby a phone app can work as the key, so they’d ‘pair’ your phone and your car, and you could walk up to their lot and drive it away, without ever meeting anyone.
https://twitter.com/roreiy/status/1346262701379645442?s=21
Businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure will receive new grants to help them keep afloat until Spring, chancellor Rishi Sunak has said.
The grants will be worth £9,000 per property, the Treasury says.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55535546
There are so many other more interesting - and more likely to be valid - criticisms to make of lockdown, of why we're in a third one, what we're not doing that we should have done that might have avoided it.
But Gupta has been wrong at every stage of this emergency and the BBC should be finding people who haven't been proven so reliably wrong to talk to.
Will fit right in.
https://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1346386745953234944?s=20
It's fair to highlight that the UK is unlike New Zealand in many ways but the fact the borders are STILL open is a complete disgrace and not defendable.
‘The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society,’ he said. ‘It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be “cancelled”.
‘What we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.
‘So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9113095/Rowan-Atkinson-blasts-social-media-blames-widening-divisions-society.html
One is tempted to conclude it might have something to do with how smart their governments have been, but maybe that's simplistic.
How unobservant are these MPs?
One of the reasons why I like PB so much is that it is pretty balanced with views from across the spectrum. Even if @Big_G_NorthWales seems to think it's full of Labour supporters.
https://twitter.com/AndrewEQuinn/status/1346280536617197568?s=20
#backtonormalbyXmas
https://twitter.com/borisjohnson/status/1346381774797090816?s=21
But now - the virus is basically everywhere - and what matters is how well our systems manage to isolate the infected from the rest.
Having an ageing population + more people with pre-existing conditions means you are going to get more deaths/case. But some countries have done public health much better than others. Europe/US generally has failed I think, with the UK squandering some particular advantages that should have helped us.
It is all well and good adding categories, but you have to actually have the supply and the be doing the vaccinations.