Aside from his enormous flag, he seems to have colour-coded his attire. Red tie, white shirt, blue suit.
And should SKS' face really be so ... err .. gammony. It is nearly as bloodied-red as his flag.
I suppose some spin doctor has told him to do this ... but normally, you are better off defining yourself to the voters rather than letting a spinner do it.
That way lies the Ed Stone.
My recollection is that the Ed stone was ed's own private initiative and caused rage and despair among his handlers and spinners.
I think Ed has more sense to carve things on a 8 foot slab of granite. Just about.
Torsten Bell was widely fingered as the fuckwit in question. No idea if it is true, or he's just the patsy.
Yeah. Mrs Foxy is being redeployed to our expanded covid ICU, as we are taking patients from down South as overflow. Must be pretty grim down there.
Best of luck to both of you.
--AS
She had it in November, so is pretty OK about redeployment again.
Actually I was thinking more of the emotional and physical toll than the COVID risk, to be honest!
--AS
When I met her she was a 22 year old staff nurse, regularly in charge of a chest surgery ward where someone died most days. She is a pretty robust character, more worried about the technical side than the human side of being there. She mothers the more junior staff, and I think that helps her get by.
Aside from his enormous flag, he seems to have colour-coded his attire. Red tie, white shirt, blue suit.
And should SKS' face really be so ... err .. gammony. It is nearly as bloodied-red as his flag.
I suppose some spin doctor has told him to do this ... but normally, you are better off defining yourself to the voters rather than letting a spinner do it.
That way lies the Ed Stone.
He's just getting into his stride.
His face is a bit red because five minutes before he went live, it was decided the Welsh dragons painted on each cheek might be a bit of a distraction.
If so then we lack an explanation for how infection soared in other European countries while things were increasing much slower in the UK.
It also means that other European countries remain especially vulnerable to the new variant.
The less of a first wave there was, the more governments and people convinced themselves that they were immune or better at handling it or something, whereas it was all just a question of how far the virus happened to have spread when everyone locked down.
We were a bit more careful to start with in the autumn, then got careless anyway, and finally got hit with the new strain. As will everyone else in due course.
That certainly applies to several countries.
But it doesn't explain the huge surge in Belgium in October given Belgium was so hard hit in the spring:
Yeah. Mrs Foxy is being redeployed to our expanded covid ICU, as we are taking patients from down South as overflow. Must be pretty grim down there.
Best of luck to both of you.
--AS
She had it in November, so is pretty OK about redeployment again.
Actually I was thinking more of the emotional and physical toll than the COVID risk, to be honest!
--AS
When I met her she was a 22 year old staff nurse, regularly in charge of a chest surgery ward where someone died most days. She is a pretty robust character, more worried about the technical side than the human side of being there. She mothers the more junior staff, and I think that helps her get by.
I'd be fine for Trump to come to the UK - he's very wealthy and would spend a lot of money here. I don't think he'd be made very welcome outside his own resorts though. There is a large proportion of the US public that 'gets' and likes Trump (and a large proportion that hates him) - over here there just isn't the former group.
Not sure he would spend a lot of money ... and his American legal chums such as Mr Giuliani can't practise in Scotland.
I'm pretty sure even keeping the Trump entourage running entails a good bit of expenditure. I'd actually sooner he brings his money here than Switzerland. More of our people will get a job through it.
British: "entails a good bit of expenditure"
American translation: "a sucker is born every minute"
Trumpsky is a con artist who survives by sucking in more and more and more from more and more and more suckers.
I'd be fine for Trump to come to the UK - he's very wealthy and would spend a lot of money here. I don't think he'd be made very welcome outside his own resorts though. There is a large proportion of the US public that 'gets' and likes Trump (and a large proportion that hates him) - over here there just isn't the former group.
We would spend tens of millions on policing and courts costs if Trump settled here. He would leave thousands of contractors, customers and employees with bad debt. Being rich is no guarantee of being an economic contributor to a country.
I doubt it, but you may have a point. Afaik, he is already a considerable investor in Scotland.
By 2016 he had been in 3500 court cases. He is not going to stop that habit.
At his own expense though surely? A boon for our beleaguered legal eagles mourning the loss of the EU?
And to @Carnyx, if Turnberry has been making a loss for that many years, that is the definition of Trump pumping money in.
Not necessarily, he may have taken out loans, remortgages, extensions of credit, and many other things without him putting in a single dollar penny.
Trump has a quite stunning history of screwing his contractors.
To the extent that in Atlantic City people still willing to work for him started quoting double their regular rate as they knew he would try and get out of half of it,
I like Starmer's call for round the clock innoculations. In North Cali a freezer was failing and they got all thousand or so vax into people's arms in around 2 hours ! You're saving lives and the economy with vaccinations as people are going to head out more once they've been vaxxed up.
Anecdote: in north London about a year ago I was suddenly seized, at about 4am, by the most indescribable pain in my stomach.
It was a kidney stone (if you've ever had one, you will know what I mean)
The pain was so bad, I cannot really convey it in words. Suffice to say, women who have given birth and also had kidney stones say the latter is worse.
I managed to call an ambulance (I had no idea what was wrong with me), they promised to send one ASAP as I was clearly in great trouble, then I collapsed onto the floor crying and moaning and calling for my mother (no kidding). Eventually the pain got so bad, I projectile vomited so fiercely the puke went all the way down the hallway of my apartment - maybe ten metres. Then I passed out.
When I woke it was about 6am. The pain had largely gone - I think the vomiting possibly moved the stone.
At 9am I was able to go into UCLHospital, where they discovered a decent-sized kidney stone, which they said might either pass "normally" or might need surgery, and I went home and about a week later, I felt it pass normally (a stinging and nasty sensation, but not in the same universe as the pain on the night).
Why am I telling this story? Because the ambulance I called never ever arrived. It just didn't show up. And they had my address and my number. Pretty fucking dreadful, really. How many people does that happen to?
Mmm... the two 80-somethings in my family are still waiting to hear.
Mrs P's father had an appointment booked for 22nd December, which was then cancelled due to 'supply issues, we'll let you know...'. Since when, nothing.
I wouldn't be entirely surprised if the UK Government is about to fuel the deaths of millions of people.
How so?
The self prescribed and unmedical delay between no. 1 Pfizer jab and no. 2 Pfizer jab could be just about perfect for creating a viral mutant strain that is impervious to vaccination.
The hyperbole is unhelpful. You really don't know what you're talking about. There are pros and cons and no strategy is riskless, but leave it to the experts.
--AS
MysticRose has been epically wrong on Covid-19 in the past.
Last February wrote a thread header warning us about the dangers of the looming Covid-19 pandemic.
MysticRose said he sounded like a cross between Private Frazer and Eeyore.
So don't waste your time with her.
Bog off TSE. You know as well as I do that I had one dodgy aberration but for the most part from January onwards, like Sean T, I was warning repeatedly on this and have done repeatedly since. All the time. Someone even very kindly dug out my posts to that effect which you have chosen to ignore even though you know them to be true. That's why I bought my face mask in January ahead of my trip to Asia at the start of February.
You really don't forgive do you? This malicious message is all really because I suggested that you're not as good a writer as you seem to think you are.
Hah, you're not the first to say that, and you won't be the last to say that.
I'll let you into a little secret, the last two jobs I've had, the reason I was hired, my ability to write reports, the ability to boil complex concepts into simple, memorable terms.
I'd be fine for Trump to come to the UK - he's very wealthy and would spend a lot of money here. I don't think he'd be made very welcome outside his own resorts though. There is a large proportion of the US public that 'gets' and likes Trump (and a large proportion that hates him) - over here there just isn't the former group.
We would spend tens of millions on policing and courts costs if Trump settled here. He would leave thousands of contractors, customers and employees with bad debt. Being rich is no guarantee of being an economic contributor to a country.
I doubt it, but you may have a point. Afaik, he is already a considerable investor in Scotland.
By 2016 he had been in 3500 court cases. He is not going to stop that habit.
At his own expense though surely? A boon for our beleaguered legal eagles mourning the loss of the EU?
And to @Carnyx, if Turnberry has been making a loss for that many years, that is the definition of Trump pumping money in.
So? Not sustainable. Doesn't make sense. That's being a "loser".
Not sustainable - potentially. Doesn't make sense - potentially. 'Loser' - perhaps. All irrelevant. If these are the case, Trump goes out of business, and others can buy his materially improved luxury resorts and golf courses and make money out of them. The investment is the point.
(a) if he goes bust, a lot of people - including the UK and Scxottish exchequers - will lose out. (b) the business model may not be sustainable, in which case much or all of the investment is worthless. For instance, the tooth-sucking by Ayrshire estate agents over the plans to build houses at Turnberry is based on ther view that the market is not there.
If his creditors are primarily outside the UK, and his material improvements and people he's employing in his struggling resorts are within the UK, that is a big net gain. The housing industry has a business model where they like to build a couple of properties, lay off the workers till they sell, and then build more, all the while claiming the stocks of houses are low - that is how they work. It keeps prices nice and high and saves money. In that, Turnberry is now different to anywhere in the UK.
'Primarily' a big assumption. And it's all relative. The Rangers collapse was infamous in Glasgow for screwing so many small local firms such as - IIRC - the newspaper shop on the corner, and the local clown or facepainter (I forget the details).
Has Gavin Williamson been moonlighting at the Royal Mint?
Observant fans of HG Wells have questioned how a new coin from the Royal Mint commemorating The War of the Worlds author could be released with multiple errors, including giving his “monstrous tripod” four legs.
The £2 coin is intended to mark 75 years since the death of Wells, and includes imagery inspired by The War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man.
Unfortunately, it strays from Wells’s vision of his creations. “As someone who particularly likes one of his very famous stories, can I just note that the big walking machine on the coin has four legs? Four legs. The man famous for creating the Martian TRIpod,” wrote artist Holly Humphries. “How many people did this have to go through? Did they know how to count?”
Science fiction novelist and professor of 19th-century literature Adam Roberts, who is author of a biography of Wells and vice president of the HG Wells Society, also criticised the depiction of the Invisible Man, shown in a top hat; in the book he arrives at Iping under a “wide-brimmed hat”.
“It’s nice to see Wells memorialised, but it would have been nicer for them to get things right,” Roberts said. “A tripod with four legs is hard to comprehend (tri: the clue is in the name), and Wells’s (distinctly ungentlemanly) invisible man, Griffin, never wore a top hat ... I’d say Wells would be annoyed by this carelessness: he took immense pains to get things right in his own work – inviting translators of his book to stay with him to help the process and minimise errors and so on.”
Yeah. Mrs Foxy is being redeployed to our expanded covid ICU, as we are taking patients from down South as overflow. Must be pretty grim down there.
Best of luck to both of you.
--AS
She had it in November, so is pretty OK about redeployment again.
Actually I was thinking more of the emotional and physical toll than the COVID risk, to be honest!
--AS
When I met her she was a 22 year old staff nurse, regularly in charge of a chest surgery ward where someone died most days. She is a pretty robust character, more worried about the technical side than the human side of being there. She mothers the more junior staff, and I think that helps her get by.
I'd be fine for Trump to come to the UK - he's very wealthy and would spend a lot of money here. I don't think he'd be made very welcome outside his own resorts though. There is a large proportion of the US public that 'gets' and likes Trump (and a large proportion that hates him) - over here there just isn't the former group.
Not sure he would spend a lot of money ... and his American legal chums such as Mr Giuliani can't practise in Scotland.
I'm pretty sure even keeping the Trump entourage running entails a good bit of expenditure. I'd actually sooner he brings his money here than Switzerland. More of our people will get a job through it.
British: "entails a good bit of expenditure"
American translation: "a sucker is born every minute"
Trumpsky is a con artist who survives by sucking in more and more and more from more and more and more suckers.
As a sucker, he's not even a tick on the hide of the tick on the hide of Switzerland. They've been sucking wealth in for centuries, that's why they're in the position they are in. I want us to be more Switzerland. Switzerland is the house, and nobody beats the house.
Anecdote: in north London about a year ago I was suddenly seized, at about 4am, by the most indescribable pain in my stomach.
It was a kidney stone (if you've ever had one, you will know what I mean)
The pain was so bad, I cannot really convey it in words. Suffice to say, women who have given birth and also had kidney stones say the latter is worse.
I managed to call an ambulance (I had no idea what was wrong with me), they promised to send one ASAP as I was clearly in great trouble, then I collapsed onto the floor crying and moaning and calling for my mother (no kidding). Eventually the pain got so bad, I projectile vomited so fiercely the puke went all the way down the hallway of my apartment - maybe ten metres. Then I passed out.
When I woke it was about 6am. The pain had largely gone - I think the vomiting possibly moved the stone.
At 9am I was able to go into UCLHospital, where they discovered a decent-sized kidney stone, which they said might either pass "normally" or might need surgery, and I went home and about a week later, I felt it pass normally (a stinging and nasty sensation, but not in the same universe as the pain on the night).
Why am I telling this story? Because the ambulance I called never ever arrived. It just didn't show up. And they had my address and my number. Pretty fucking dreadful, really. How many people does that happen to?
Maybe the name you gave them didn't accord with the one on the door?
Anecdote: in north London about a year ago I was suddenly seized, at about 4am, by the most indescribable pain in my stomach.
It was a kidney stone (if you've ever had one, you will know what I mean)
The pain was so bad, I cannot really convey it in words. Suffice to say, women who have given birth and also had kidney stones say the latter is worse.
I managed to call an ambulance (I had no idea what was wrong with me), they promised to send one ASAP as I was clearly in great trouble, then I collapsed onto the floor crying and moaning and calling for my mother (no kidding). Eventually the pain got so bad, I projectile vomited so fiercely the puke went all the way down the hallway of my apartment - maybe ten metres. Then I passed out.
When I woke it was about 6am. The pain had largely gone - I think the vomiting possibly moved the stone.
At 9am I was able to go into UCLHospital, where they discovered a decent-sized kidney stone, which they said might either pass "normally" or might need surgery, and I went home and about a week later, I felt it pass normally (a stinging and nasty sensation, but not in the same universe as the pain on the night).
Why am I telling this story? Because the ambulance I called never ever arrived. It just didn't show up. And they had my address and my number. Pretty fucking dreadful, really. How many people does that happen to?
Commiserations, fellow kidney stone sufferer. First one I had was the "WTF is this indescribable pain?" Not helped by my spending the night with somebody I shouldn't have been, who was terrified I was going to die on her and she would have to explain/leg it and leave a body.
After a while, you know what they are and know the drill. Worst was probably having one in Pakistan. Had to decide - go to hospital now to get some relief, or get on a plane for about eight hours and be met by an ambulance at Heathrow.
I chose Heathrow.
Sufferers do the weirdest dance, because it is almost impossible to get comfortable with renal colic, but you try anyway. They used to prescribe pretty much pure heroin for the pain. Some addicts became very adept at feigning stones to get a prescription, I was told.
Mmm... the two 80-somethings in my family are still waiting to hear.
Mrs P's father had an appointment booked for 22nd December, which was then cancelled due to 'supply issues, we'll let you know...'. Since when, nothing.
Same with the over 80s in my family. Still waiting.
Anecdote: in north London about a year ago I was suddenly seized, at about 4am, by the most indescribable pain in my stomach.
It was a kidney stone (if you've ever had one, you will know what I mean)
The pain was so bad, I cannot really convey it in words. Suffice to say, women who have given birth and also had kidney stones say the latter is worse.
I managed to call an ambulance (I had no idea what was wrong with me), they promised to send one ASAP as I was clearly in great trouble, then I collapsed onto the floor crying and moaning and calling for my mother (no kidding). Eventually the pain got so bad, I projectile vomited so fiercely the puke went all the way down the hallway of my apartment - maybe ten metres. Then I passed out.
When I woke it was about 6am. The pain had largely gone - I think the vomiting possibly moved the stone.
At 9am I was able to go into UCLHospital, where they discovered a decent-sized kidney stone, which they said might either pass "normally" or might need surgery, and I went home and about a week later, I felt it pass normally (a stinging and nasty sensation, but not in the same universe as the pain on the night).
Why am I telling this story? Because the ambulance I called never ever arrived. It just didn't show up. And they had my address and my number. Pretty fucking dreadful, really. How many people does that happen to?
Sounds bad. Renal colic is notoriously painful.
That is the problem with rows of ambulances in front of hospitals waiting hours to offload. They are out of service for the next call.
Anecdote: in north London about a year ago I was suddenly seized, at about 4am, by the most indescribable pain in my stomach.
It was a kidney stone (if you've ever had one, you will know what I mean)
The pain was so bad, I cannot really convey it in words. Suffice to say, women who have given birth and also had kidney stones say the latter is worse.
I managed to call an ambulance (I had no idea what was wrong with me), they promised to send one ASAP as I was clearly in great trouble, then I collapsed onto the floor crying and moaning and calling for my mother (no kidding). Eventually the pain got so bad, I projectile vomited so fiercely the puke went all the way down the hallway of my apartment - maybe ten metres. Then I passed out.
When I woke it was about 6am. The pain had largely gone - I think the vomiting possibly moved the stone.
At 9am I was able to go into UCLHospital, where they discovered a decent-sized kidney stone, which they said might either pass "normally" or might need surgery, and I went home and about a week later, I felt it pass normally (a stinging and nasty sensation, but not in the same universe as the pain on the night).
Why am I telling this story? Because the ambulance I called never ever arrived. It just didn't show up. And they had my address and my number. Pretty fucking dreadful, really. How many people does that happen to?
Maybe the name you gave them didn't accord with the one on the door?
On the subject of kidney stones, the worst, I mean WORST, pain I had was originally diagnosed as a kidney stone. After a weekend of increasing stomach pain it really kicked off early Monday morning. My partner took me to A&E and after me gibbering on the floor for 20 minutes they gave me a painkiller via a suppository; never have I been so glad to get something up the bottom.
After another day and a half of fannying about it was eventually diagnosed as a burst appendix and I was whipped off to surgery then to an HDU, I was a sick puppy by that time. Anyway, the lesson of the tale was that any illusions I had about standing up to Gestapo torture were gone, I'd have grassed up my fellow Maquis in half an hour or so.
Anecdote: in north London about a year ago I was suddenly seized, at about 4am, by the most indescribable pain in my stomach.
It was a kidney stone (if you've ever had one, you will know what I mean)
The pain was so bad, I cannot really convey it in words. Suffice to say, women who have given birth and also had kidney stones say the latter is worse.
I managed to call an ambulance (I had no idea what was wrong with me), they promised to send one ASAP as I was clearly in great trouble, then I collapsed onto the floor crying and moaning and calling for my mother (no kidding). Eventually the pain got so bad, I projectile vomited so fiercely the puke went all the way down the hallway of my apartment - maybe ten metres. Then I passed out.
When I woke it was about 6am. The pain had largely gone - I think the vomiting possibly moved the stone.
At 9am I was able to go into UCLHospital, where they discovered a decent-sized kidney stone, which they said might either pass "normally" or might need surgery, and I went home and about a week later, I felt it pass normally (a stinging and nasty sensation, but not in the same universe as the pain on the night).
Why am I telling this story? Because the ambulance I called never ever arrived. It just didn't show up. And they had my address and my number. Pretty fucking dreadful, really. How many people does that happen to?
Commiserations, fellow kidney stone sufferer. First one I had was the "WTF is this indescribable pain?" Not helped by my spending the night with somebody I shouldn't have been, who was terrified I was going to die on her and she would have to explain/leg it and leave a body.
After a while, you know what they are and know the drill. Worst was probably having one in Pakistan. Had to decide - go to hospital now to get some relief, or get on a plane for about eight hours and be met by an ambulance at Heathrow.
I chose Heathrow.
Sufferers do the weirdest dance, because it is almost impossible to get comfortable with renal colic, but you try anyway. They used to prescribe pretty much pure heroin for the pain. Some addicts became very adept at feigning stones to get a prescription, I was told.
I can believe it. Luckily enough I had some Tramadol (from Thailand) hidden away in my bathroom so I took that after I vomited, it surely helped dull the UNBELIEVEABLE PAIN.
At one point - this is not a joke - I was in such agony I just wanted to die. I was lying naked on my living room floor whimpering and crying.
It gave me a new perspective on torture. If a skilled torturer can conjure up the pain of a bad kidney stone (and I presume they can) then you would basically admit to anything to escape the agony. So torture really is pretty pointless, unless your objective is simply to hurt and horrify your victims, and cow the wider popuation, or you are facing a terrorist nuclear attack maybe, and there is no alternative.
Yeah. Mrs Foxy is being redeployed to our expanded covid ICU, as we are taking patients from down South as overflow. Must be pretty grim down there.
Best of luck to both of you.
--AS
She had it in November, so is pretty OK about redeployment again.
Actually I was thinking more of the emotional and physical toll than the COVID risk, to be honest!
--AS
When I met her she was a 22 year old staff nurse, regularly in charge of a chest surgery ward where someone died most days. She is a pretty robust character, more worried about the technical side than the human side of being there. She mothers the more junior staff, and I think that helps her get by.
If so then we lack an explanation for how infection soared in other European countries while things were increasing much slower in the UK.
It also means that other European countries remain especially vulnerable to the new variant.
The less of a first wave there was, the more governments and people convinced themselves that they were immune or better at handling it or something, whereas it was all just a question of how far the virus happened to have spread when everyone locked down.
We were a bit more careful to start with in the autumn, then got careless anyway, and finally got hit with the new strain. As will everyone else in due course.
That certainly applies to several countries.
But it doesn't explain the huge surge in Belgium in October given Belgium was so hard hit in the spring:
Aren't they already suing him? Maybe he is beyond caring?
He'll be in seclusion in Scotland, why should he worry?
Is he terrifically popular in Scotland? I thought there was a problem with a golf club of his.
More his behaviour with the natives at all levels.
The problem is that unless Mr T is genuinely movcing house he can't legally leave the airport - and neither can his entourage, and they can't all be moving house can they? Also he loses diplomatic immunity the next day.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as Trump's mother was born in the United Kingdom, does he not legally possess British citizenship by descent?
He can't just say I'm British and expect to immediately have* the privilages that British citizens "enjoy". He would need to apply for citizenship first.
If he is in the UK for the inauguration and charges are immediately filed in the US against him, I understand that there is a room going spare in the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he can evade extradition!
*I reserve the right to deliberately split infinitives.
Are you sure about that?
My understanding is that if one of your parents was born in the UK, you are automatically a British citizen, regardless of whether you have a passport or not.
Not sexist... more certainty as to who the birth mother is than the biological father
Doesn't that make it definitely sexist, because it's automatic citizenship with a British father (where that is logically less certain), but only possible citizenship with a British mother.
He's got it over his left shoulder, what more do they want?
Anyone getting that upset at a flag, or absence of a flag, needs to calm the heck down.
But we need to disect this scene further.
The desk is entirely clear of obstructions, showing his intention to provide simple, clear policies and communication in contrast to his opponent.
The lamp is off to the right and slightly green, showing both his willingness to reach out to voters on the right but also his committment to green issues. It's also illuminating a number of books, showcasing he is learned man, but unlike Boris is not gratuitous in throwing it in people's faces - the books are discreetly placed, modest in number.
The fireplace is walled off, another nod to the need to be green, but it's retained as a feature of the room to show his respect for heritage. It is black, a nod to Labour's history supporting coal miners and that he has the back, as it were, of the black community.
Lastly, directly above his head is the clock, highlighting that he is a man for this moment, and aware of this historic importance of leading in these difficult times. The clock is almost out of reach, to show he knows he has not seized the moment yet, but it is a goal to accomplish, together with the audience.
This flag business seems a bit ridiculous - mere tokenism. I do not recall Thatcher, Wilson , Callaghan et al feeling the need to be seen with the flag when broadcasting.
If so then we lack an explanation for how infection soared in other European countries while things were increasing much slower in the UK.
It also means that other European countries remain especially vulnerable to the new variant.
The less of a first wave there was, the more governments and people convinced themselves that they were immune or better at handling it or something, whereas it was all just a question of how far the virus happened to have spread when everyone locked down.
We were a bit more careful to start with in the autumn, then got careless anyway, and finally got hit with the new strain. As will everyone else in due course.
That certainly applies to several countries.
But it doesn't explain the huge surge in Belgium in October given Belgium was so hard hit in the spring:
NHS England announced this week that community pharmacies will start administering vaccines to patients in England from next Monday, beginning with three Covid vaccination sites at Boots stores in Halifax, Huddersfield and Gloucester.
Tobes punting Gupta and the Great Barrington bollox on Newsnight (immediately after saying 'hands up I got it wrong about Covid being over in June' when Maitless pinned him to the floor). These people don't care about being right, wrong or being seen as gibbering loons, as long as they have a platform to 'debate'.
If so then we lack an explanation for how infection soared in other European countries while things were increasing much slower in the UK.
It also means that other European countries remain especially vulnerable to the new variant.
The less of a first wave there was, the more governments and people convinced themselves that they were immune or better at handling it or something, whereas it was all just a question of how far the virus happened to have spread when everyone locked down.
We were a bit more careful to start with in the autumn, then got careless anyway, and finally got hit with the new strain. As will everyone else in due course.
That certainly applies to several countries.
But it doesn't explain the huge surge in Belgium in October given Belgium was so hard hit in the spring:
Managed to beat it back no problem though by the look of that. Any idea what level of lockdown they did?
Given that Belgium has the highest death rate in the world saying they 'managed to beat it back no problem' is surprising.
I suspect that Belgium is rather further along the herd immunity road than others.
I meant that cases fell as quickly as they had risen. Which suggests it was still the old strain, as it's currently not looking likely that our curve will look like that. Herd immunity also would look much more gradual. If it was the new strain though, we could take a lot of encouragement from that.
Comments
Torsten Bell was widely fingered as the fuckwit in question. No idea if it is true, or he's just the patsy.
His face is a bit red because five minutes before he went live, it was decided the Welsh dragons painted on each cheek might be a bit of a distraction.
So he's going to save them for PMQs....
But it doesn't explain the huge surge in Belgium in October given Belgium was so hard hit in the spring:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/belgium/
American translation: "a sucker is born every minute"
Trumpsky is a con artist who survives by sucking in more and more and more from more and more and more suckers.
To the extent that in Atlantic City people still willing to work for him started quoting double their regular rate as they knew he would try and get out of half of it,
You're saving lives and the economy with vaccinations as people are going to head out more once they've been vaxxed up.
It was a kidney stone (if you've ever had one, you will know what I mean)
The pain was so bad, I cannot really convey it in words. Suffice to say, women who have given birth and also had kidney stones say the latter is worse.
I managed to call an ambulance (I had no idea what was wrong with me), they promised to send one ASAP as I was clearly in great trouble, then I collapsed onto the floor crying and moaning and calling for my mother (no kidding). Eventually the pain got so bad, I projectile vomited so fiercely the puke went all the way down the hallway of my apartment - maybe ten metres. Then I passed out.
When I woke it was about 6am. The pain had largely gone - I think the vomiting possibly moved the stone.
At 9am I was able to go into UCLHospital, where they discovered a decent-sized kidney stone, which they said might either pass "normally" or might need surgery, and I went home and about a week later, I felt it pass normally (a stinging and nasty sensation, but not in the same universe as the pain on the night).
Why am I telling this story? Because the ambulance I called never ever arrived. It just didn't show up. And they had my address and my number. Pretty fucking dreadful, really. How many people does that happen to?
Mrs P's father had an appointment booked for 22nd December, which was then cancelled due to 'supply issues, we'll let you know...'. Since when, nothing.
I'll let you into a little secret, the last two jobs I've had, the reason I was hired, my ability to write reports, the ability to boil complex concepts into simple, memorable terms.
I'm just pointing you have a few aberrations.
https://twitter.com/kevfitz21/status/1346556436747321345
Not sure if a kite is being flown, but perhaps someone didn't notice that the US managed a whole set of elections in November 2020.
Observant fans of HG Wells have questioned how a new coin from the Royal Mint commemorating The War of the Worlds author could be released with multiple errors, including giving his “monstrous tripod” four legs.
The £2 coin is intended to mark 75 years since the death of Wells, and includes imagery inspired by The War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man.
Unfortunately, it strays from Wells’s vision of his creations. “As someone who particularly likes one of his very famous stories, can I just note that the big walking machine on the coin has four legs? Four legs. The man famous for creating the Martian TRIpod,” wrote artist Holly Humphries. “How many people did this have to go through? Did they know how to count?”
Science fiction novelist and professor of 19th-century literature Adam Roberts, who is author of a biography of Wells and vice president of the HG Wells Society, also criticised the depiction of the Invisible Man, shown in a top hat; in the book he arrives at Iping under a “wide-brimmed hat”.
“It’s nice to see Wells memorialised, but it would have been nicer for them to get things right,” Roberts said. “A tripod with four legs is hard to comprehend (tri: the clue is in the name), and Wells’s (distinctly ungentlemanly) invisible man, Griffin, never wore a top hat ... I’d say Wells would be annoyed by this carelessness: he took immense pains to get things right in his own work – inviting translators of his book to stay with him to help the process and minimise errors and so on.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/05/hg-wells-fans-spot-numerous-errors-on-royal-mints-new-2-coin
NEW THREAD
After a while, you know what they are and know the drill. Worst was probably having one in Pakistan. Had to decide - go to hospital now to get some relief, or get on a plane for about eight hours and be met by an ambulance at Heathrow.
I chose Heathrow.
Sufferers do the weirdest dance, because it is almost impossible to get comfortable with renal colic, but you try anyway. They used to prescribe pretty much pure heroin for the pain. Some addicts became very adept at feigning stones to get a prescription, I was told.
That is the problem with rows of ambulances in front of hospitals waiting hours to offload. They are out of service for the next call.
After another day and a half of fannying about it was eventually diagnosed as a burst appendix and I was whipped off to surgery then to an HDU, I was a sick puppy by that time. Anyway, the lesson of the tale was that any illusions I had about standing up to Gestapo torture were gone, I'd have grassed up my fellow Maquis in half an hour or so.
At one point - this is not a joke - I was in such agony I just wanted to die. I was lying naked on my living room floor whimpering and crying.
It gave me a new perspective on torture. If a skilled torturer can conjure up the pain of a bad kidney stone (and I presume they can) then you would basically admit to anything to escape the agony. So torture really is pretty pointless, unless your objective is simply to hurt and horrify your victims, and cow the wider popuation, or you are facing a terrorist nuclear attack maybe, and there is no alternative.
More than a few years longer than that!
Has one of us misread it? (Hope it wasn't me!)
I suspect that Belgium is rather further along the herd immunity road than others.
Although the article contradicts the headline
NHS England announced this week that community pharmacies will start administering vaccines to patients in England from next Monday, beginning with three Covid vaccination sites at Boots stores in Halifax, Huddersfield and Gloucester.