Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

The storming of the Capitol building in DC – US polling reaction – politicalbetting.com

124678

Comments

  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,771
    Log chart that, and it looks like a fantastic slow down.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    Nigelb said:

    Just seen that Toby Young is defending himself with the claim that ACTUALLY the IFR is only 0.25% and this is PROVEN!

    Can't he do basic arithmetic?

    If the IFR is 0.25%, then over half the country have had it.

    In the North West, we've apparently passed 70% infected without seeing any increase in herd immunity, which is a bit disconcerting.
    And, burrowing down, out of the quarter-million people in Barnsley (which is large enough to be a statistical sample), 99.8% have had covid. So, under 500 people in Barnsley have apparently avoided covid to date. And the herd immunity threshold is pretty damn high, I guess.

    (I've just noticed that 604 people had it in the w/e 9th January, so that's pretty much all of them, with a handful of reinfections...)

    Bloody denialists can't even do arithmetic.

    Can't we just accept that he's an innumerate twat and never discuss him again ?
    New Year's resolution perhaps.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,280

    Drivers face £5.50 daily charge to enter London and Canary Wharf could move into zone one under TfL plans.

    Other proposals to solve cash crisis include cutting bus services, increasing fares and delaying the reopening of the Night Tube

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/driver-550-daily-charge-greater-london-tube-zones-b899871.html

    700k people have left London in the past year.

    I assume most of the 700k will be people from other countries who usually work in cafes, pubs, restaurants, etc.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,585
    MaxPB said:

    Scotland definitely letting the side down.

    Vaccination rates per million:


    Date England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
    11/01/2021 2163 3254 2285 1677
    12/01/2021 3112 3805 2913 3268
    13/01/2021 4282 5939 2953 3743
    14/01/2021 4907 6245 3024 4323

    Wonder whether there's bad weather or something holding it up. NI smashing it and Wales having a decent catch up.

    We are still doing worse than the rest of the UK according to BBC Wales.

    Although vaccine performance in Wales is dreadful, it is not as bad as EU. A grovelling Von Der Leyen has had to apologise for vastly reduced Pfizer supplies from Belgium due to building work. No such delays for Boris.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,771
    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TOPPING said:

    @Philip_Thompson and @Pagan2 from the bits I observe, great discussion about UBI.

    I wonder if the dept concerned spends half as much time considering before they implement their ideas.

    Thanks and as I said I am not against UBI itself. Merely the idea that we can implement it at a level that makes it worthwhile and not have to raise taxes.

    Like most policies there will be winners and losers and it may well be worth implementing but let us talk numbers and work out who will be losers and winners first and discuss if that is reasonable.

    The other thing is off course second order effects. If for no effort 1000 drops into your account every month how much do you have to earn extra for example to make you want to get out of bed to scrub toilets for example 40 hours a week? 100, 200,300?

    My suspicion is with a full country ubi a lot would only work a job a few months when they wanted something then go back to taking the money. I know for example if I was only getting 200£ extra for doing my job I would be saying take a hike and either finding a job I was willing to accept 200 for or staying in bed
    Don't you think at some point ordinary working-age people ought to see a benefit from automation in terms of having more discretionary time? That's what UBI does, it takes the pressure off to work 45+ hours per week. That is a feature, not a bug.
    As I said I am not against UBI. I just get frustrated by people who claim we can have meaningful ubi and it is revenue neutral. Which is why I have been posting numbers and pointing out we need to find extra revenue and asking where it comes from
    Even on your (unduly pessimistic) numbers, it only blows a £220bn hole in the budget. Given that Biden just proposed a $1.9trillion stimulus package in the US, and that barely raised an eyebrow, it's frankly chump change.
  • Andy_JS said:

    "A man has been charged after a 92-year-old woman was falsely billed £160 to be injected with a fake COVID-19 vaccine.

    David Chambers, 33, of Surbiton, southwest London, was arrested on Wednesday 13 January and charged the next day with five crimes. The indictment includes two counts of fraud by false representation, one count of common assault and two breaches of COVID regulations."

    https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-man-charged-with-assault-after-woman-92-injected-with-fake-coronavirus-vaccine-12188770

    Give him the £10k x 2 fine for the covid breaches....
  • Andy_JS said:

    "A man has been charged after a 92-year-old woman was falsely billed £160 to be injected with a fake COVID-19 vaccine.

    David Chambers, 33, of Surbiton, southwest London, was arrested on Wednesday 13 January and charged the next day with five crimes. The indictment includes two counts of fraud by false representation, one count of common assault and two breaches of COVID regulations."

    https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-man-charged-with-assault-after-woman-92-injected-with-fake-coronavirus-vaccine-12188770

    There are some days when I want to bring back the Pillory
    I'm a fairly liberal type, but honestly, hang 'em high.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    TimT said:

    Interesting. Just received a fund-raising email from Nikki Haley, asking for donation to HER PAC, aimed at supporting GOP candidates in the 2022 mid-terms. No mention of a certain Donald Trump anywhere in the ask.

    Clearly a prelude to a Presidential run in 2024 - planning to build up the IOU chits from Congressional candidates.

    Her odds are too skinny I think.

    I`ve been topping up on Ted Cruz. Stand-out 25/1 with BF Sports for Rep nominee. (50/1 available in three or four places for next president, but I prefer the 25/1.)
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    Pagan2 said:

    TOPPING said:

    @Philip_Thompson and @Pagan2 from the bits I observe, great discussion about UBI.

    I wonder if the dept concerned spends half as much time considering before they implement their ideas.

    Thank you.

    This is an issue that has bugged me and I've studied for decades. I believe in low taxes and have been always horrified that we have a nearly 100% (it used to be in extremis over 100% under Brown) tax on those who can least afford it. It traps people in poverty.
    Not a view I disagree with
    But something that is almost impossible to resolve due to our tax rates (31% including NI) and the need to start recovering some of the benefits being paid.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,771
    Andy_JS said:

    "A man has been charged after a 92-year-old woman was falsely billed £160 to be injected with a fake COVID-19 vaccine.

    David Chambers, 33, of Surbiton, southwest London, was arrested on Wednesday 13 January and charged the next day with five crimes. The indictment includes two counts of fraud by false representation, one count of common assault and two breaches of COVID regulations."

    https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-man-charged-with-assault-after-woman-92-injected-with-fake-coronavirus-vaccine-12188770

    David Chambers put down his occupation as "maker of artisanal stone sex toys"
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,280

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    For instance doctors treating the GermanWings pilot Andreas Lubitz failed to inform the company that he was suffering from psychological problems because of the strict privacy laws.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanwings_Flight_9525
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 11,059

    DougSeal said:

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    With some reason.
    Discriminating based on first names is not within reason.

    If they can't look it up based on age like we can then the alternative is to have people of the right age apply, not guess what first name they have!
    You misunderstand my point. A major reason for the very strict data protection rules in Europe (or "being bonkers on this sort of thing" as Richard puts it) is that data was misused by the Nazis to ascertain, crudely, who was a Jew and who was not. That rigidity can have these absurd effects but the genesis of the rules is understandable.

    The other example I used to use in the data protection training I would give was a draft board in America somewhere that got hold of the marketing records of an ice cream company that would give you a free ice cream on your 18th birthday if you filled out a form with your name and address. Sign up for a 99 Flake, end up in a foxhole in Vietnam.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851
    Nigelb said:

    Just seen that Toby Young is defending himself with the claim that ACTUALLY the IFR is only 0.25% and this is PROVEN!

    Can't he do basic arithmetic?

    If the IFR is 0.25%, then over half the country have had it.

    In the North West, we've apparently passed 70% infected without seeing any increase in herd immunity, which is a bit disconcerting.
    And, burrowing down, out of the quarter-million people in Barnsley (which is large enough to be a statistical sample), 99.8% have had covid. So, under 500 people in Barnsley have apparently avoided covid to date. And the herd immunity threshold is pretty damn high, I guess.

    (I've just noticed that 604 people had it in the w/e 9th January, so that's pretty much all of them, with a handful of reinfections...)

    Bloody denialists can't even do arithmetic.

    Can't we just accept that he's an innumerate twat and never discuss him again ?
    Yep I will take that vow. Toby talk gives a buzz at the time but it does nobody any good long term. We should try and kick it.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    rcs1000 said:

    Log chart that, and it looks like a fantastic slow down.
    Just on inspection it is a huge slowdown.

    Now let's have a graph of the diminution of global GDP.
  • MaxPB said:

    Scotland definitely letting the side down.

    Vaccination rates per million:


    Date England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
    11/01/2021 2163 3254 2285 1677
    12/01/2021 3112 3805 2913 3268
    13/01/2021 4282 5939 2953 3743
    14/01/2021 4907 6245 3024 4323

    Wonder whether there's bad weather or something holding it up. NI smashing it and Wales having a decent catch up.

    We are still doing worse than the rest of the UK according to BBC Wales.

    Although vaccine performance in Wales is dreadful, it is not as bad as EU. A grovelling Von Der Leyen has had to apologise for vastly reduced Pfizer supplies from Belgium due to building work. No such delays for Boris.
    Going to get worse for VDL with the 4 week reduction in production from pfizer.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,629

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TOPPING said:

    @Philip_Thompson and @Pagan2 from the bits I observe, great discussion about UBI.

    I wonder if the dept concerned spends half as much time considering before they implement their ideas.

    Thanks and as I said I am not against UBI itself. Merely the idea that we can implement it at a level that makes it worthwhile and not have to raise taxes.

    Like most policies there will be winners and losers and it may well be worth implementing but let us talk numbers and work out who will be losers and winners first and discuss if that is reasonable.

    The other thing is off course second order effects. If for no effort 1000 drops into your account every month how much do you have to earn extra for example to make you want to get out of bed to scrub toilets for example 40 hours a week? 100, 200,300?

    My suspicion is with a full country ubi a lot would only work a job a few months when they wanted something then go back to taking the money. I know for example if I was only getting 200£ extra for doing my job I would be saying take a hike and either finding a job I was willing to accept 200 for or staying in bed
    Don't you think at some point ordinary working-age people ought to see a benefit from automation in terms of having more discretionary time? That's what UBI does, it takes the pressure off to work 45+ hours per week. That is a feature, not a bug.
    As I said I am not against UBI. I just get frustrated by people who claim we can have meaningful ubi and it is revenue neutral. Which is why I have been posting numbers and pointing out we need to find extra revenue and asking where it comes from
    If not taxing the poorest over 80% of their marginal income requires charging the richest a bit more then I am OK with that.

    How is it sane to have the poorest on a higher marginal tax rate than the richest? A flat tax rate would be better than that.
    You mistake me I am not claiming it is. But UBI is not revenue neutral if its meaningful.

    Which of the following statements do you disagree with for 1000 a month ubi?

    1) There are 49 million eligble adults in the UK

    2) Providing each of them with UBI of 1000 a month would cost 588 billion

    3) Our current spend excluding benefits which would be replaced by ubi on the other things government does is 410 billion

    4) Removing the tax free allowance for working adults nets us a further 360 * 12 * 33 million or 142 billion

    5) 588 billion + 410 billion - 142 billion = 856 billion

    6) our current tax take from all sources is 634 billion

    7) To implement UBI at 1000 a month for all adults means we need to raise an extra 221 billion
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603

    MaxPB said:

    Scotland definitely letting the side down.

    Vaccination rates per million:


    Date England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
    11/01/2021 2163 3254 2285 1677
    12/01/2021 3112 3805 2913 3268
    13/01/2021 4282 5939 2953 3743
    14/01/2021 4907 6245 3024 4323

    Wonder whether there's bad weather or something holding it up. NI smashing it and Wales having a decent catch up.

    We are still doing worse than the rest of the UK according to BBC Wales.

    Although vaccine performance in Wales is dreadful, it is not as bad as EU. A grovelling Von Der Leyen has had to apologise for vastly reduced Pfizer supplies from Belgium due to building work. No such delays for Boris.
    One imagines that Pfizer will short the EU supplies because it's the EU that has required the capacity upgrade as part of their new 300m order. Other countries would probably be straight to the legal teams if their supply was being disrupted in order for a different client to benefit at some future date.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,718
    edited January 2021
    Barnesian said:

    Looks like will be well over 300k+ vaccinations done yesterday across the UK.

    To infinity and beyond....

    The surgeries will start going mad next week with the AZ vaccine so I would think 500K by next Friday
    I believe that is the new stretch goal from the government.
    My appointment for tomorrow morning doesn't say with vaccine. And I've neither preference, nor concern over which.
    Good man OKC.

    Will you be the first vaccinated PBer?
    I was vaccinated with Pfizer vaccine on 30th December. I should have good immunity by now.
    Dr Foxy has, quite rightly, been done early. And may well not be alone.
  • I have a feeling Boris will be spending the next half hour of the covid press conference fielding questions on police database, fish exports and supermarket stock levels in NI....
  • FossFoss Posts: 694

    Thanks for the best wishes everyone.

    In other news, the cuts to the "levelling up of the North" begin.

    https://twitter.com/ChronicleLive/status/1350121063649325064?s=20

    It's possible that between WFH, the death of the high street, some peoples newfound uncomfortableness in crowded spaces, and (eventually) autonomous cars, we might have already seen peak train travel for the decade.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,585

    MaxPB said:

    Scotland definitely letting the side down.

    Vaccination rates per million:


    Date England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
    11/01/2021 2163 3254 2285 1677
    12/01/2021 3112 3805 2913 3268
    13/01/2021 4282 5939 2953 3743
    14/01/2021 4907 6245 3024 4323

    Wonder whether there's bad weather or something holding it up. NI smashing it and Wales having a decent catch up.

    We are still doing worse than the rest of the UK according to BBC Wales.

    Although vaccine performance in Wales is dreadful, it is not as bad as EU. A grovelling Von Der Leyen has had to apologise for vastly reduced Pfizer supplies from Belgium due to building work. No such delays for Boris.
    Going to get worse for VDL with the 4 week reduction in production from pfizer.
    That is what she was grovelling for. Their only hope is to have the Boris vaccine acredited by the end of the month.
  • glwglw Posts: 9,535

    MaxPB said:

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    I know we complain about our civil service gold plating EU regulations but this seems beyond any reason.
    The Nazi's and Stasi have left a deep impression on the German mindset.

    I know of Germans who refuse to use contactless payment in the UK for transport as they deem that as too much of an infringement of their privacy.
    That's a bit silly as data from the signalling to the phone in their pocket will quite easily allow someone to determine what bus/tube/train they took. If you are really that zealous about privacy the first thing you should do is get rid of your mobile.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 7,461

    Drivers face £5.50 daily charge to enter London and Canary Wharf could move into zone one under TfL plans.

    Other proposals to solve cash crisis include cutting bus services, increasing fares and delaying the reopening of the Night Tube

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/driver-550-daily-charge-greater-london-tube-zones-b899871.html

    700k people have left London in the past year.

    Because of transport costs and the congestion charge, obviously. Nothing to do with house prices and rental costs. Or all the Europeans and other migrants working in hospitality returning home because the hotels and the Prets are shedding labour.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 58,941

    MaxPB said:

    Scotland definitely letting the side down.

    Vaccination rates per million:


    Date England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
    11/01/2021 2163 3254 2285 1677
    12/01/2021 3112 3805 2913 3268
    13/01/2021 4282 5939 2953 3743
    14/01/2021 4907 6245 3024 4323

    Wonder whether there's bad weather or something holding it up. NI smashing it and Wales having a decent catch up.

    We are still doing worse than the rest of the UK according to BBC Wales.

    Although vaccine performance in Wales is dreadful, it is not as bad as EU. A grovelling Von Der Leyen has had to apologise for vastly reduced Pfizer supplies from Belgium due to building work. No such delays for Boris.
    Going to get worse for VDL with the 4 week reduction in production from pfizer.
    That is what she was grovelling for. Their only hope is to have the Boris vaccine acredited by the end of the month.
    AZN, or the Double Johnson? ;)
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited January 2021

    Drivers face £5.50 daily charge to enter London and Canary Wharf could move into zone one under TfL plans.

    Other proposals to solve cash crisis include cutting bus services, increasing fares and delaying the reopening of the Night Tube

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/driver-550-daily-charge-greater-london-tube-zones-b899871.html

    700k people have left London in the past year.

    Because of transport costs and the congestion charge, obviously. Nothing to do with house prices and rental costs. Or all the Europeans and other migrants working in hospitality returning home because the hotels and the Prets are shedding labour.
    I never said the two were connected. Just saying London has lost a lot of people and now extra costs incoming for those that still live / work there.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,629
    rcs1000 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TOPPING said:

    @Philip_Thompson and @Pagan2 from the bits I observe, great discussion about UBI.

    I wonder if the dept concerned spends half as much time considering before they implement their ideas.

    Thanks and as I said I am not against UBI itself. Merely the idea that we can implement it at a level that makes it worthwhile and not have to raise taxes.

    Like most policies there will be winners and losers and it may well be worth implementing but let us talk numbers and work out who will be losers and winners first and discuss if that is reasonable.

    The other thing is off course second order effects. If for no effort 1000 drops into your account every month how much do you have to earn extra for example to make you want to get out of bed to scrub toilets for example 40 hours a week? 100, 200,300?

    My suspicion is with a full country ubi a lot would only work a job a few months when they wanted something then go back to taking the money. I know for example if I was only getting 200£ extra for doing my job I would be saying take a hike and either finding a job I was willing to accept 200 for or staying in bed
    Don't you think at some point ordinary working-age people ought to see a benefit from automation in terms of having more discretionary time? That's what UBI does, it takes the pressure off to work 45+ hours per week. That is a feature, not a bug.
    As I said I am not against UBI. I just get frustrated by people who claim we can have meaningful ubi and it is revenue neutral. Which is why I have been posting numbers and pointing out we need to find extra revenue and asking where it comes from
    Even on your (unduly pessimistic) numbers, it only blows a £220bn hole in the budget. Given that Biden just proposed a $1.9trillion stimulus package in the US, and that barely raised an eyebrow, it's frankly chump change.
    Given 220 is a third of our current budget....
  • DougSeal said:

    DougSeal said:

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    With some reason.
    Discriminating based on first names is not within reason.

    If they can't look it up based on age like we can then the alternative is to have people of the right age apply, not guess what first name they have!
    You misunderstand my point. A major reason for the very strict data protection rules in Europe (or "being bonkers on this sort of thing" as Richard puts it) is that data was misused by the Nazis to ascertain, crudely, who was a Jew and who was not. That rigidity can have these absurd effects but the genesis of the rules is understandable.

    The other example I used to use in the data protection training I would give was a draft board in America somewhere that got hold of the marketing records of an ice cream company that would give you a free ice cream on your 18th birthday if you filled out a form with your name and address. Sign up for a 99 Flake, end up in a foxhole in Vietnam.
    So in order to prevent the government from discriminating against Jews, they need to discriminate based on people's names instead of their age?

    If you're trying to ascertain crudely who is a Jew, and who is not, then discrimination against people based on their name would be about the first place I would start, not the last place. "That name sounds Jewish" is more plausible than "that age sounds Jewish".
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,585
    edited January 2021
    RobD said:

    MaxPB said:

    Scotland definitely letting the side down.

    Vaccination rates per million:


    Date England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
    11/01/2021 2163 3254 2285 1677
    12/01/2021 3112 3805 2913 3268
    13/01/2021 4282 5939 2953 3743
    14/01/2021 4907 6245 3024 4323

    Wonder whether there's bad weather or something holding it up. NI smashing it and Wales having a decent catch up.

    We are still doing worse than the rest of the UK according to BBC Wales.

    Although vaccine performance in Wales is dreadful, it is not as bad as EU. A grovelling Von Der Leyen has had to apologise for vastly reduced Pfizer supplies from Belgium due to building work. No such delays for Boris.
    Going to get worse for VDL with the 4 week reduction in production from pfizer.
    That is what she was grovelling for. Their only hope is to have the Boris vaccine acredited by the end of the month.
    AZN, or the Double Johnson? ;)
    ANZ.

    The Boris and Boris vaccine is just out of the starting blocks.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 7,461

    Drivers face £5.50 daily charge to enter London and Canary Wharf could move into zone one under TfL plans.

    Other proposals to solve cash crisis include cutting bus services, increasing fares and delaying the reopening of the Night Tube

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/driver-550-daily-charge-greater-london-tube-zones-b899871.html

    700k people have left London in the past year.

    Because of transport costs and the congestion charge, obviously. Nothing to do with house prices and rental costs. Or all the Europeans and other migrants working in hospitality returning home because the hotels and the Prets are shedding labour.
    I never said the two were connected. Just saying London has lost a lot of people and now extra costs incoming for those that still live / work there.
    Apologies - the way you framed your post hinted at some connection, I thought.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603
    We vaccinated 0.49% of the total population, or 0.61% of the eligible population. In a single day. Honestly, I'm impressed as to how well this is going so far, I think we peak at around 1% of the eligible population per day, maybe even a bit more if the J&J vaccine is approved before the end of Feb.
  • Andy_CookeAndy_Cooke Posts: 4,793

    Just seen that Toby Young is defending himself with the claim that ACTUALLY the IFR is only 0.25% and this is PROVEN!

    Can't he do basic arithmetic?

    If the IFR is 0.25%, then over half the country have had it.

    In the North West, we've apparently passed 70% infected without seeing any increase in herd immunity, which is a bit disconcerting.
    And, burrowing down, out of the quarter-million people in Barnsley (which is large enough to be a statistical sample), 99.8% have had covid. So, under 500 people in Barnsley have apparently avoided covid to date. And the herd immunity threshold is pretty damn high, I guess.

    (I've just noticed that 604 people had it in the w/e 9th January, so that's pretty much all of them, with a handful of reinfections...)

    Bloody denialists can't even do arithmetic.

    there were some absurd IFR claims though on the lockdowners side as well early on (even including official stats) - 3-4% quoted in all seriousness and he is a lot closer with his calc to the true IFR than they were
    No, the 3-4% was the Case fatality ratio.
    It still is, as it happens. If you take the deaths and divide them by the known cases 20-odd days ago, you get around 3.6%. because it's dependent on the cases known.

    Imperial College were using around a 0.7% figure in early March. Which looks about right, still.

    Toby is quoting an isolated figure from Ionnidas, which has been ripped apart, doesn't fit anywhere in the world, whether here or elsewhere, specifically because it's the lowest one he can find and claiming it's "known to be this."

    That is dishonest.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,629
    eek said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TOPPING said:

    @Philip_Thompson and @Pagan2 from the bits I observe, great discussion about UBI.

    I wonder if the dept concerned spends half as much time considering before they implement their ideas.

    Thank you.

    This is an issue that has bugged me and I've studied for decades. I believe in low taxes and have been always horrified that we have a nearly 100% (it used to be in extremis over 100% under Brown) tax on those who can least afford it. It traps people in poverty.
    Not a view I disagree with
    But something that is almost impossible to resolve due to our tax rates (31% including NI) and the need to start recovering some of the benefits being paid.
    We could of course do something radical like implement a lower clawback rate. On benefits but working get a few extra hours we wont claw back at that rate but say 30%
  • MaxPB said:

    We vaccinated 0.49% of the total population, or 0.61% of the eligible population. In a single day. Honestly, I'm impressed as to how well this is going so far, I think we peak at around 1% of the eligible population per day, maybe even a bit more if the J&J vaccine is approved before the end of Feb.

    Perhaps once this is over, those organizing this can go and sort out the Home Office....
  • DougSeal said:


    You misunderstand my point. A major reason for the very strict data protection rules in Europe (or "being bonkers on this sort of thing" as Richard puts it) is that data was misused by the Nazis to ascertain, crudely, who was a Jew and who was not. That rigidity can have these absurd effects but the genesis of the rules is understandable
    ....

    Sure, that (and perhaps even more the Stasi stuff) explains why they are bonkers about it. But it is still bonkers, completely failing to balance risk (zero in this case) from reward (reduced deaths in this case).
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 11,059

    DougSeal said:

    DougSeal said:

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    With some reason.
    Discriminating based on first names is not within reason.

    If they can't look it up based on age like we can then the alternative is to have people of the right age apply, not guess what first name they have!
    You misunderstand my point. A major reason for the very strict data protection rules in Europe (or "being bonkers on this sort of thing" as Richard puts it) is that data was misused by the Nazis to ascertain, crudely, who was a Jew and who was not. That rigidity can have these absurd effects but the genesis of the rules is understandable.

    The other example I used to use in the data protection training I would give was a draft board in America somewhere that got hold of the marketing records of an ice cream company that would give you a free ice cream on your 18th birthday if you filled out a form with your name and address. Sign up for a 99 Flake, end up in a foxhole in Vietnam.
    So in order to prevent the government from discriminating against Jews, they need to discriminate based on people's names instead of their age?

    If you're trying to ascertain crudely who is a Jew, and who is not, then discrimination against people based on their name would be about the first place I would start, not the last place. "That name sounds Jewish" is more plausible than "that age sounds Jewish".
    That's not the point I am makng. The point I am making is simply that these sort of unintended consequences happen because Germans are so touchy (perhaps too touchy) about personal data. They are touchy about personal data for the reasons I have set out. Obviously the biggest issue would be to ban religion fron census data, as has happened in France, but the sensitivity goes beyond that. Discrimination by name was, in fact, too hard for the Nazis, so they had to make it easier for themselves - in 1938 German Jews with first names of “non-Jewish” origin were forced to adopt an additional name, “Israel” for men and “Sara” for women.

    Misuse of personal data relating to age can be seen in the American example I gave. Indeed records relating to age have often been used to round up draft dodgers or alleged draft dodgers.

  • I have a feeling Boris will be spending the next half hour of the covid press conference fielding questions on police database, fish exports and supermarket stock levels in NI....

    No bad thing. Democracy works best if those with the questions set the agenda.
  • There comes the A-Team....
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,718

    I have a feeling Boris will be spending the next half hour of the covid press conference fielding questions on police database, fish exports and supermarket stock levels in NI....

    I often wonder how the journalists are selected, and even more the questions from the public.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited January 2021
    Interesting Boris emphasising catching covid.via handling items. Never heard them really spell this before.
  • All travel corridors closed. Proof of negative test needed on entry to UK.
  • Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TOPPING said:

    @Philip_Thompson and @Pagan2 from the bits I observe, great discussion about UBI.

    I wonder if the dept concerned spends half as much time considering before they implement their ideas.

    Thanks and as I said I am not against UBI itself. Merely the idea that we can implement it at a level that makes it worthwhile and not have to raise taxes.

    Like most policies there will be winners and losers and it may well be worth implementing but let us talk numbers and work out who will be losers and winners first and discuss if that is reasonable.

    The other thing is off course second order effects. If for no effort 1000 drops into your account every month how much do you have to earn extra for example to make you want to get out of bed to scrub toilets for example 40 hours a week? 100, 200,300?

    My suspicion is with a full country ubi a lot would only work a job a few months when they wanted something then go back to taking the money. I know for example if I was only getting 200£ extra for doing my job I would be saying take a hike and either finding a job I was willing to accept 200 for or staying in bed
    Don't you think at some point ordinary working-age people ought to see a benefit from automation in terms of having more discretionary time? That's what UBI does, it takes the pressure off to work 45+ hours per week. That is a feature, not a bug.
    As I said I am not against UBI. I just get frustrated by people who claim we can have meaningful ubi and it is revenue neutral. Which is why I have been posting numbers and pointing out we need to find extra revenue and asking where it comes from
    If not taxing the poorest over 80% of their marginal income requires charging the richest a bit more then I am OK with that.

    How is it sane to have the poorest on a higher marginal tax rate than the richest? A flat tax rate would be better than that.
    You mistake me I am not claiming it is. But UBI is not revenue neutral if its meaningful.

    Which of the following statements do you disagree with for 1000 a month ubi?

    1) There are 49 million eligble adults in the UK

    2) Providing each of them with UBI of 1000 a month would cost 588 billion

    3) Our current spend excluding benefits which would be replaced by ubi on the other things government does is 410 billion

    4) Removing the tax free allowance for working adults nets us a further 360 * 12 * 33 million or 142 billion

    5) 588 billion + 410 billion - 142 billion = 856 billion

    6) our current tax take from all sources is 634 billion

    7) To implement UBI at 1000 a month for all adults means we need to raise an extra 221 billion
    (3) (4) (6) and (7)

    (3) You could eliminate money from DWP bureaucracy and the dead hand of the state by not spending billions a year getting people to trudge in to Jobcentres, filling in forms, having meetings, going through sanctions, going through appeals, going through courts etc and everything related to it.

    (4) That's just the tax-free allowance. Currently post tax-free allowance they're on 33% marginal tax (but a further 73% marginal tax on top of that if on benefits). The proposal is to replace that with a single unified tax rate eg 50%, you haven't factored that into your calculations at all. You haven't factored in people working extra hours due to the lower real marginal tax rate making work pay, or anything related to that.

    (6) And the extra money that people spend or earn in your world won't be spent on anything that accrues eg alcohol or other duties? Or VAT?

    (7) See above. No it does not.
  • Wulfrun_PhilWulfrun_Phil Posts: 4,572
    Barnesian said:

    On topic

    That's the worst average disapproval rating (if not quite the worst net rating) on any day during his entire 4 year presidency, and the worst disapproval rating after 4 years (or at the point of leaving office if less) of any president since records began with Truman.
  • Bloody hell how many espressos has Boris drank today, he is speaking at a million miles an hour.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited January 2021
    Cockamouth gets a shout out.....snigger...
  • RobDRobD Posts: 58,941

    Cockamouth gets a shout out.....snigger...

    I'm 95% sure the only reason that stat was mentioned was because of that town name.
  • RobD said:

    Cockamouth gets a shout out.....snigger...

    I'm 95% sure the only reason that stat was mentioned was because of that town name.
    TSE wannabe helped write Boris script.
  • Bloody hell how many espressos has Boris drank today, he is speaking at a million miles an hour.

    Yes. "Espressos". That's definitely it.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,019

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    This is close to George in Blackadder trying to identify the German Spy by going through the hospital inpatients list and seeing if anyone's name started with "Von".
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,771
    MaxPB said:

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    I know we complain about our civil service gold plating EU regulations but this seems beyond any reason.
    I believe it's all part of a conspiracy to kill of people who do not tick the "consent to my information being shared" box on forms.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653

    Cockamouth gets a shout out.....snigger...

    There is a village in England called Bell End. (Can`t remember exactly where.)
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,771

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TOPPING said:

    @Philip_Thompson and @Pagan2 from the bits I observe, great discussion about UBI.

    I wonder if the dept concerned spends half as much time considering before they implement their ideas.

    Thanks and as I said I am not against UBI itself. Merely the idea that we can implement it at a level that makes it worthwhile and not have to raise taxes.

    Like most policies there will be winners and losers and it may well be worth implementing but let us talk numbers and work out who will be losers and winners first and discuss if that is reasonable.

    The other thing is off course second order effects. If for no effort 1000 drops into your account every month how much do you have to earn extra for example to make you want to get out of bed to scrub toilets for example 40 hours a week? 100, 200,300?

    My suspicion is with a full country ubi a lot would only work a job a few months when they wanted something then go back to taking the money. I know for example if I was only getting 200£ extra for doing my job I would be saying take a hike and either finding a job I was willing to accept 200 for or staying in bed
    Don't you think at some point ordinary working-age people ought to see a benefit from automation in terms of having more discretionary time? That's what UBI does, it takes the pressure off to work 45+ hours per week. That is a feature, not a bug.
    As I said I am not against UBI. I just get frustrated by people who claim we can have meaningful ubi and it is revenue neutral. Which is why I have been posting numbers and pointing out we need to find extra revenue and asking where it comes from
    If not taxing the poorest over 80% of their marginal income requires charging the richest a bit more then I am OK with that.

    How is it sane to have the poorest on a higher marginal tax rate than the richest? A flat tax rate would be better than that.
    You mistake me I am not claiming it is. But UBI is not revenue neutral if its meaningful.

    Which of the following statements do you disagree with for 1000 a month ubi?

    1) There are 49 million eligble adults in the UK

    2) Providing each of them with UBI of 1000 a month would cost 588 billion

    3) Our current spend excluding benefits which would be replaced by ubi on the other things government does is 410 billion

    4) Removing the tax free allowance for working adults nets us a further 360 * 12 * 33 million or 142 billion

    5) 588 billion + 410 billion - 142 billion = 856 billion

    6) our current tax take from all sources is 634 billion

    7) To implement UBI at 1000 a month for all adults means we need to raise an extra 221 billion
    (3) (4) (6) and (7)

    (3) You could eliminate money from DWP bureaucracy and the dead hand of the state by not spending billions a year getting people to trudge in to Jobcentres, filling in forms, having meetings, going through sanctions, going through appeals, going through courts etc and everything related to it.

    (4) That's just the tax-free allowance. Currently post tax-free allowance they're on 33% marginal tax (but a further 73% marginal tax on top of that if on benefits). The proposal is to replace that with a single unified tax rate eg 50%, you haven't factored that into your calculations at all. You haven't factored in people working extra hours due to the lower real marginal tax rate making work pay, or anything related to that.

    (6) And the extra money that people spend or earn in your world won't be spent on anything that accrues eg alcohol or other duties? Or VAT?

    (7) See above. No it does not.
    Also, don't forget that all those accountants would need to get proper jobs instead.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,958
    rcs1000 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "A man has been charged after a 92-year-old woman was falsely billed £160 to be injected with a fake COVID-19 vaccine.

    David Chambers, 33, of Surbiton, southwest London, was arrested on Wednesday 13 January and charged the next day with five crimes. The indictment includes two counts of fraud by false representation, one count of common assault and two breaches of COVID regulations."

    https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-man-charged-with-assault-after-woman-92-injected-with-fake-coronavirus-vaccine-12188770

    David Chambers put down his occupation as "maker of artisanal stone sex toys"
    I hope they throw the flint hand-napped book at him.
  • Whitty's giving it to us straight - deaths and hospital admissions to continue rising.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    This is close to George in Blackadder trying to identify the German Spy by going through the hospital inpatients list and seeing if anyone's name started with "Von".
    Germany need to realise the imminent threat is from Covid, not the second coming of the Nazis !
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,629

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    TOPPING said:

    @Philip_Thompson and @Pagan2 from the bits I observe, great discussion about UBI.

    I wonder if the dept concerned spends half as much time considering before they implement their ideas.

    Thanks and as I said I am not against UBI itself. Merely the idea that we can implement it at a level that makes it worthwhile and not have to raise taxes.

    Like most policies there will be winners and losers and it may well be worth implementing but let us talk numbers and work out who will be losers and winners first and discuss if that is reasonable.

    The other thing is off course second order effects. If for no effort 1000 drops into your account every month how much do you have to earn extra for example to make you want to get out of bed to scrub toilets for example 40 hours a week? 100, 200,300?

    My suspicion is with a full country ubi a lot would only work a job a few months when they wanted something then go back to taking the money. I know for example if I was only getting 200£ extra for doing my job I would be saying take a hike and either finding a job I was willing to accept 200 for or staying in bed
    Don't you think at some point ordinary working-age people ought to see a benefit from automation in terms of having more discretionary time? That's what UBI does, it takes the pressure off to work 45+ hours per week. That is a feature, not a bug.
    As I said I am not against UBI. I just get frustrated by people who claim we can have meaningful ubi and it is revenue neutral. Which is why I have been posting numbers and pointing out we need to find extra revenue and asking where it comes from
    If not taxing the poorest over 80% of their marginal income requires charging the richest a bit more then I am OK with that.

    How is it sane to have the poorest on a higher marginal tax rate than the richest? A flat tax rate would be better than that.
    You mistake me I am not claiming it is. But UBI is not revenue neutral if its meaningful.

    Which of the following statements do you disagree with for 1000 a month ubi?

    1) There are 49 million eligble adults in the UK

    2) Providing each of them with UBI of 1000 a month would cost 588 billion

    3) Our current spend excluding benefits which would be replaced by ubi on the other things government does is 410 billion

    4) Removing the tax free allowance for working adults nets us a further 360 * 12 * 33 million or 142 billion

    5) 588 billion + 410 billion - 142 billion = 856 billion

    6) our current tax take from all sources is 634 billion

    7) To implement UBI at 1000 a month for all adults means we need to raise an extra 221 billion
    (3) (4) (6) and (7)

    (3) You could eliminate money from DWP bureaucracy and the dead hand of the state by not spending billions a year getting people to trudge in to Jobcentres, filling in forms, having meetings, going through sanctions, going through appeals, going through courts etc and everything related to it.

    (4) That's just the tax-free allowance. Currently post tax-free allowance they're on 33% marginal tax (but a further 73% marginal tax on top of that if on benefits). The proposal is to replace that with a single unified tax rate eg 50%, you haven't factored that into your calculations at all. You haven't factored in people working extra hours due to the lower real marginal tax rate making work pay, or anything related to that.

    (6) And the extra money that people spend or earn in your world won't be spent on anything that accrues eg alcohol or other duties? Or VAT?

    (7) See above. No it does not.
    3) I did say excluding benefits, last year government spent 221 billion of 634 billion on the benefit system which is why I said 410 billion and not 634 billion so you objection is rejected

    4) That is just the money clawed back by removing tax free allowance post ubi I have no idea why you think it has anything to do with marginal tax rates. It is merely the extra figure the government would get in taxation if there was no tax free allowance so I subtracted it from the finance needed. Objection is rejected

    6) I have no way of predicting what people would spend. My statement was that is the current tax take objection is rejected

    7) Your objections are rejected so that sort of means this one is too
  • RobDRobD Posts: 58,941
    Pulpstar said:

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    This is close to George in Blackadder trying to identify the German Spy by going through the hospital inpatients list and seeing if anyone's name started with "Von".
    Germany need to realise the imminent threat is from Covid, not the second coming of the Nazis !
    You sure? Perhaps Merkel has been playing a very long game.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    What does this "all travel corridors will close from Monday 4am" mean?
  • RobD said:

    Cockamouth gets a shout out.....snigger...

    I'm 95% sure the only reason that stat was mentioned was because of that town name.
    TSE wannabe helped write Boris script.
    Nah, if I had written that script it would have mentioned Wilsford cum Lake

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilsford_cum_Lake
  • dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,279
    Drakeford's cunning rationing of vaccines plan.

    https://twitter.com/ATabarrok/status/1350101731946893312
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,958

    Barnesian said:

    On topic

    That's the worst average disapproval rating (if not quite the worst net rating) on any day during his entire 4 year presidency, and the worst disapproval rating after 4 years (or at the point of leaving office if less) of any president since records began with Truman.
    If not now, when?
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Cockamouth gets a shout out.....snigger...

    Cockermouth
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653

    What does this "all travel corridors will close from Monday 4am" mean?

    ? What it says.

  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    edited January 2021
    That could have been really half arsed, but it is rather well done!

    Not sure about 2021 prediction though.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,958
    Stocky said:

    What does this "all travel corridors will close from Monday 4am" mean?

    ? What it says.

    What, the M4?
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    DougSeal said:

    DougSeal said:

    DougSeal said:

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    With some reason.
    Discriminating based on first names is not within reason.

    If they can't look it up based on age like we can then the alternative is to have people of the right age apply, not guess what first name they have!
    You misunderstand my point. A major reason for the very strict data protection rules in Europe (or "being bonkers on this sort of thing" as Richard puts it) is that data was misused by the Nazis to ascertain, crudely, who was a Jew and who was not. That rigidity can have these absurd effects but the genesis of the rules is understandable.

    The other example I used to use in the data protection training I would give was a draft board in America somewhere that got hold of the marketing records of an ice cream company that would give you a free ice cream on your 18th birthday if you filled out a form with your name and address. Sign up for a 99 Flake, end up in a foxhole in Vietnam.
    So in order to prevent the government from discriminating against Jews, they need to discriminate based on people's names instead of their age?

    If you're trying to ascertain crudely who is a Jew, and who is not, then discrimination against people based on their name would be about the first place I would start, not the last place. "That name sounds Jewish" is more plausible than "that age sounds Jewish".
    That's not the point I am makng. The point I am making is simply that these sort of unintended consequences happen because Germans are so touchy (perhaps too touchy) about personal data. They are touchy about personal data for the reasons I have set out. Obviously the biggest issue would be to ban religion fron census data, as has happened in France, but the sensitivity goes beyond that. Discrimination by name was, in fact, too hard for the Nazis, so they had to make it easier for themselves - in 1938 German Jews with first names of “non-Jewish” origin were forced to adopt an additional name, “Israel” for men and “Sara” for women.

    Misuse of personal data relating to age can be seen in the American example I gave. Indeed records relating to age have often been used to round up draft dodgers or alleged draft dodgers.

    The most painful project I've ever worked on was a resource allocation / management system that needed to met Germany privacy laws.

    The funniest bit was when having created the system we then discovered that the anonymized data wasn't working as people could identify the workers via their CVs and known skillsets. So to resolve that we had to add / remove random unrequired skills against resources so that their couldn't identify their mates.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    Stocky said:

    What does this "all travel corridors will close from Monday 4am" mean?

    ? What it says.

    Please tell me all the z-list celebs are going to be stuck in Dubai and not coming back.
  • dr_spyn said:

    Drakeford's cunning rationing of vaccines plan.

    https://twitter.com/ATabarrok/status/1350101731946893312

    The Dutch approach to vaccination...next week will do...
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,620
    Pulpstar said:

    German toddlers called Fritz or Adele could be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination while octogenarian Peters and Brigittes will not, as an overzealous interpretation of data privacy laws in one state has forced officials to guess people’s ages from their first names.

    Authorities in the northern German state of Lower Saxony claim legal hurdles blocked them from accessing official records when trying to send a written invitation for a vaccination appointment to all citizens aged over 80.

    The state decided instead to use post office records, which it said met data protection requirements. But since the Deutsche Post database only partially includes dates of birth, officials have used people’s first names to estimate their ages and “increase the chances of reaching the right recipients”, a spokesperson told the newspaper Bild.

    They are pretty bonkers on this sort of thing, aren't they?
    This is close to George in Blackadder trying to identify the German Spy by going through the hospital inpatients list and seeing if anyone's name started with "Von".
    Germany need to realise the imminent threat is from Covid, not the second coming of the Nazis !
    To be fair to George, his approach did come up with an answer on how many German spies there are in the hospital...

    "Nein!"
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,629
    As a complete off topic thing by the way. I was considering whether anyone here would be interested in an online board game group on sunday afternoons. Sufficient interest and I will set up a discord server or something. I have a catan site thats free and I can do up to 6 players on it and another board game site that is also free but I have a sub too so can set up premium games. If interested pm me and if we have enough will set one up
  • dr_spyn said:

    Drakeford's cunning rationing of vaccines plan.

    https://twitter.com/ATabarrok/status/1350101731946893312

    Drakeford is impossible.

    My 81 year old wife has not heard anything about her vaccine while this forum indicates just how successful the vaccination programme is in England
  • Stocky said:

    Cockamouth gets a shout out.....snigger...

    There is a village in England called Bell End. (Can`t remember exactly where.)
    Near Stourbridge. And let us remember Michael Gove lamenting that 90 per cent of letters sent to him misspelled the word bellend (according to Viz).
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,280
    Similar article to one posted yesterday.

    "It’s Joe Biden’s job to put a stop to American carnage – and this is what he should say on 20 January
    The task of the president-elect’s inauguration speech is, as Lincoln said in 1865, “to bind up the nation’s wounds”.
    Philip Collins"

    https://www.newstatesman.com/world/north-america/2021/01/it-s-joe-biden-s-job-put-stop-american-carnage-and-what-he-should-say-20
  • Whitty's giving it to us straight - deaths and hospital admissions to continue rising.

    And he must
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,019
    It depends what we mean by UBI.

    If we mean an amount everyone can safely subsist on, to avoid falling into real poverty and despair whilst they get themselves together and re-train, then I agree.

    If we mean giving everyone enough to live on in relative comfort ad-finitum without working, then I don't agree.

    If we're so worried about tech, AI and the changing nature of the economy to think that the answer is mass redistribution, so everyone has £20k a year to do whatever they like with, then we're asking the wrong question.

    I believe we all need to work (it's part of our purpose in life, and helps gives us our identity and underpins our mental wellbeing) and we need to retain a direct link between work and reward.

    We need better, more flexible work, new forms of work, with a good work-life balance (maybe 4 days a week rather than 5 with more physically active leisure time) and much better adult education and re-training, together with childcare support - all of that - but work and reward is fundamental, IMHO.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,958

    dr_spyn said:

    Drakeford's cunning rationing of vaccines plan.

    https://twitter.com/ATabarrok/status/1350101731946893312

    The Dutch approach to vaccination...next week will do...
    Singing: "Are you Macron in disguise?"
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,257
    edited January 2021

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    My old mum (75-79 group, no underlying conditions) got a call today to be vaccinated at a new local vaccination centre, first appointment offered was in 2 working days.

    Impressive.

    This is the first time in my adult life that I have ever wished I was older. I want that jab.

    Think I might try a cheeky call. If I make the effort to go the centre - Lords cricket ground - would they fit me in?
    You can take the boy out of the City...

    The only other person I have heard saying just this is very wedged up hedgie.

    What is it with you City types and entitlement?
    If it's going to waste, why not?
    Well at the hospital vaccination centres there isn't waste. Not sure about the independent vaccination centres but I'm not 100% sure a fit and able (if politically-challenged) man coming coming to them to ask about overflow is the way ahead.

    But absolutely, we don't want waste so maybe there should be a "returns/standby" system.

    I have also to say from my experience that very few people are cancelling/no showing.
    Amber warning on heavy snow in Eastern England early Saturday am. . Mrs C is beginning to become concerned at the prospect of an elderly husband driving 10 miles in such conditions tomorrow morning.
    Where are they sending you? Not a centre in Witham? Or does Priti's constituency stretch 10 miles into the sticks? My dad's was just at his normal GP surgery in Chelmsford, so a short cycle for him.

    Edit: or is that 10 mile round trip?
  • Stocky said:

    What does this "all travel corridors will close from Monday 4am" mean?

    ? What it says.

    So every flight into the UK from anywhere in the world including all europe is a surprise but sensible NZ style policy
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392

    RobD said:

    Cockamouth gets a shout out.....snigger...

    I'm 95% sure the only reason that stat was mentioned was because of that town name.
    TSE wannabe helped write Boris script.
    Nah, if I had written that script it would have mentioned Wilsford cum Lake

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilsford_cum_Lake
    They had no choice, there is another Wilsford in the county, no need to get all prurient, you.

    There is another 'cum' parish in the county, but sadly nowhere near as good as cum lake.
  • More than 400,000 fingerprint, DNA, arrest and offence records may have been wiped from police databases following a technology blunder, The Times has learnt.

    A letter to chief constables today revealed that the software error which deleted crucial evidence from the Police National Computer [PNC] could be far worse than first thought.

    The arrest records were accidentally deleted during a weekly “weeding” session to expunge data from the PNC, which is owned and operated by the Home Office. DNA and fingerprint records were also removed because the databases holding them were connected to the PNC.

    Naveed Malik, the NPCC’s lead for PNC, revealed to chiefs and police and crime commissioners today that 213,000 offence records, 175,000 arrest records and 15,000 person records have potentially been deleted in error from the system.

    There could be overlap of information between these records as an individual’s arrest record could relate to multiple offences.

    Mr Malik went on to reveal that around 26,000 DNA records relating to 21,710 people had potentially been deleted in error, alongside a further 30,000 fingerprint records and 600 subject records.

    The government has said there is no risk to public safety since The Times revealed the breach today.

    However Mr Malik’s letter said the deleted DNA records included some that had “previously been marked for indefinite retention following conviction of serious offences”.

    There have already been crimefighting implications since last week’s blunder, amid fears that offenders could go free because biometric evidence left at crime scenes will not be flagged up on the PNC.

    Mr Malik said that police were already aware of at least one instance where the DNA profile from a suspect in custody did not generate a match to a crime scene as expected, “potentially impeding the investigation of the individual’s involvement in the crime”.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/home-office-data-wipe-could-be-worse-than-first-thought-0hsrb7mvn
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 14,912

    HYUFD said:
    Fascinating, I suspect this is as much an insight into a country's overall international reputation as anything else. The US is the world leader in pharmaceutical research so to be viewed in the middle of the pack illustrates how Trump has tarnished the brand. We are still looked on quite positively by Asia and our ex colonies but the Europeans don't like us, especially the French and Germans, a sad reflection on Brexit. Countries in Asia really believe their own publicity. The US too, compared to other Western countries, although for a large and insular country maybe that's to be expected. And people really trust the Germans - which goes to show that international reputations really can be rehabilitated through good behaviour.
    Hang on, I thought we were all ghastly oppressive racists universally despised in our ex-colonies due to slavery and colonialism, made worse by Brexit, or something?
    Really? Personally I have always found a surprisingly warm welcome in my travels to various ex colonies - weirdly the Americans seem to have the biggest beef with us in my experience, much more so than people who objectively have rather more to grumble about. We seem to have done something to upset the Germans and French though.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    Scott_xP said:
    That screenshot looks all faded, I thought it was a painting from the 1800s
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,480
    edited January 2021

    It depends what we mean by UBI.

    If we mean an amount everyone can safely subsist on, to avoid falling into real poverty and despair whilst they get themselves together and re-train, then I agree.

    If we mean giving everyone enough to live on in relative comfort ad-finitum without working, then I don't agree.

    If we're so worried about tech, AI and the changing nature of the economy to think that the answer is mass redistribution, so everyone has £20k a year to do whatever they like with, then we're asking the wrong question.

    I believe we all need to work (it's part of our purpose in life, and helps gives us our identity and underpins our mental wellbeing) and we need to retain a direct link between work and reward.

    We need better, more flexible work, new forms of work, with a good work-life balance (maybe 4 days a week rather than 5 with more physically active leisure time) and much better adult education and re-training, together with childcare support - all of that - but work and reward is fundamental, IMHO.

    The question really is what kind of work. Many people are essentially currently being made to do certain kinds of work, for marginal or zero broader economic benefit, because the New Right of the late 1970s thought that any work was morally improving.

    There's a certain amount of research showing that people who do work they feel is most closely matched to their skills, experience significantly better mental and physical health, with the opposite being true in the other direction, with depression, mental illness, and early death. Marx was wrong on several things, but he understood the importance of what he described as "unalienated labour".

  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    edited January 2021
    Advice about what to write on anniversary card to my wife. I`m crap at this.

    Google suggestions include:

    • You're the perfect one for me.
    • I love our life together.
    • You're an amazing wife.
    • I'm so lucky to have you in my life.
    • I love being married to you.
    • You're more beautiful now than ever.

    I can`t bring myself to write any of that sappy stuff. And “so far so good” doesn`t seem adequate.

    There must be a third way?

    Edit: @Big_G_NorthWales you must be an authority on this.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,958

    RobD said:

    Cockamouth gets a shout out.....snigger...

    I'm 95% sure the only reason that stat was mentioned was because of that town name.
    TSE wannabe helped write Boris script.
    Nah, if I had written that script it would have mentioned Wilsford cum Lake

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilsford_cum_Lake
    Staffordshire's late-lamented Cockintake worth a mention....
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653

    Stocky said:

    What does this "all travel corridors will close from Monday 4am" mean?

    ? What it says.

    So every flight into the UK from anywhere in the world including all europe is a surprise but sensible NZ style policy
    All of Europe was already off the corridor list I think (maybe not Norway and Finland).
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited January 2021

    More than 400,000 fingerprint, DNA, arrest and offence records may have been wiped from police databases following a technology blunder, The Times has learnt.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/home-office-data-wipe-could-be-worse-than-first-thought-0hsrb7mvn

    Do they have no backup of this information at all? None? Nada?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,958
    Stocky said:

    Advice about what to write on anniversary card to my wife. I`m crap at this.

    Google suggestions include:

    • You're the perfect one for me.
    • I love our life together.
    • You're an amazing wife.
    • I'm so lucky to have you in my life.
    • I love being married to you.
    • You're more beautiful now than ever.

    I can`t bring myself to write any of that sappy stuff. And “so far so good” doesn`t seem adequate.

    There must be a third way?

    Go for the sappy stuff. Unless it is so out of character, she suspects you are then going to admit to an affair....
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540

    Stocky said:

    What does this "all travel corridors will close from Monday 4am" mean?

    ? What it says.

    So every flight into the UK from anywhere in the world including all europe is a surprise but sensible NZ style policy
    Nope. It's the same half-assed policy for ROW applied to:

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridors

    Does it apply to the CTA?
  • Stocky said:

    Stocky said:

    What does this "all travel corridors will close from Monday 4am" mean?

    ? What it says.

    So every flight into the UK from anywhere in the world including all europe is a surprise but sensible NZ style policy
    All of Europe was already off the corridor list I think (maybe not Norway and Finland).
    Is it correct to say we have closed our borders like NZ did at the beginning of the crisis
  • kle4 said:

    RobD said:

    Cockamouth gets a shout out.....snigger...

    I'm 95% sure the only reason that stat was mentioned was because of that town name.
    TSE wannabe helped write Boris script.
    Nah, if I had written that script it would have mentioned Wilsford cum Lake

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilsford_cum_Lake
    They had no choice, there is another Wilsford in the county, no need to get all prurient, you.

    There is another 'cum' parish in the county, but sadly nowhere near as good as cum lake.
    Wilsford cum lake and I have history.

    A female friend was dating a chap from there and she refused to move in with him because she knew that her friends (me) wouldn't stop making gags about it.
  • More than 400,000 fingerprint, DNA, arrest and offence records may have been wiped from police databases following a technology blunder, The Times has learnt.

    A letter to chief constables today revealed that the software error which deleted crucial evidence from the Police National Computer [PNC] could be far worse than first thought.

    The arrest records were accidentally deleted during a weekly “weeding” session to expunge data from the PNC, which is owned and operated by the Home Office. DNA and fingerprint records were also removed because the databases holding them were connected to the PNC.

    Naveed Malik, the NPCC’s lead for PNC, revealed to chiefs and police and crime commissioners today that 213,000 offence records, 175,000 arrest records and 15,000 person records have potentially been deleted in error from the system.

    There could be overlap of information between these records as an individual’s arrest record could relate to multiple offences.

    Mr Malik went on to reveal that around 26,000 DNA records relating to 21,710 people had potentially been deleted in error, alongside a further 30,000 fingerprint records and 600 subject records.

    The government has said there is no risk to public safety since The Times revealed the breach today.

    However Mr Malik’s letter said the deleted DNA records included some that had “previously been marked for indefinite retention following conviction of serious offences”.

    There have already been crimefighting implications since last week’s blunder, amid fears that offenders could go free because biometric evidence left at crime scenes will not be flagged up on the PNC.

    Mr Malik said that police were already aware of at least one instance where the DNA profile from a suspect in custody did not generate a match to a crime scene as expected, “potentially impeding the investigation of the individual’s involvement in the crime”.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/home-office-data-wipe-could-be-worse-than-first-thought-0hsrb7mvn

    Do they have no backup of this information at all?
    Quite. It's surely inconceivable that anyone would do a data weeding operation without first taking a backup, and indeed that that there wouldn't be multiple backups at multiple points in time. At least, it should be inconceivable.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    edited January 2021

    Stocky said:

    Stocky said:

    What does this "all travel corridors will close from Monday 4am" mean?

    ? What it says.

    So every flight into the UK from anywhere in the world including all europe is a surprise but sensible NZ style policy
    All of Europe was already off the corridor list I think (maybe not Norway and Finland).
    Is it correct to say we have closed our borders like NZ did at the beginning of the crisis
    No.

    Borders still open. Get negative PCR test 72h before departure. Pinkie promise to stay at home after you arrive.

    Amateur hour.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited January 2021

    More than 400,000 fingerprint, DNA, arrest and offence records may have been wiped from police databases following a technology blunder, The Times has learnt.

    A letter to chief constables today revealed that the software error which deleted crucial evidence from the Police National Computer [PNC] could be far worse than first thought.

    The arrest records were accidentally deleted during a weekly “weeding” session to expunge data from the PNC, which is owned and operated by the Home Office. DNA and fingerprint records were also removed because the databases holding them were connected to the PNC.

    Naveed Malik, the NPCC’s lead for PNC, revealed to chiefs and police and crime commissioners today that 213,000 offence records, 175,000 arrest records and 15,000 person records have potentially been deleted in error from the system.

    There could be overlap of information between these records as an individual’s arrest record could relate to multiple offences.

    Mr Malik went on to reveal that around 26,000 DNA records relating to 21,710 people had potentially been deleted in error, alongside a further 30,000 fingerprint records and 600 subject records.

    The government has said there is no risk to public safety since The Times revealed the breach today.

    However Mr Malik’s letter said the deleted DNA records included some that had “previously been marked for indefinite retention following conviction of serious offences”.

    There have already been crimefighting implications since last week’s blunder, amid fears that offenders could go free because biometric evidence left at crime scenes will not be flagged up on the PNC.

    Mr Malik said that police were already aware of at least one instance where the DNA profile from a suspect in custody did not generate a match to a crime scene as expected, “potentially impeding the investigation of the individual’s involvement in the crime”.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/home-office-data-wipe-could-be-worse-than-first-thought-0hsrb7mvn

    Do they have no backup of this information at all?
    Quite. It's surely inconceivable that anyone would do a data weeding operation without first taking a backup, and indeed that that there wouldn't be multiple backups at multiple points in time. At least, it should be inconceivable.
    In software development, I would never dream of not only having multiple backups, but also using version control (e.g. GIT) is an absolute must, so that if I make some huge balls up, I can setup back up the tree to a previous time before I embarked on whatever disaster I had just undertaken.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653

    Stocky said:

    Stocky said:

    What does this "all travel corridors will close from Monday 4am" mean?

    ? What it says.

    So every flight into the UK from anywhere in the world including all europe is a surprise but sensible NZ style policy
    All of Europe was already off the corridor list I think (maybe not Norway and Finland).
    Is it correct to say we have closed our borders like NZ did at the beginning of the crisis
    Not quite - as people can enter the country with a negative PCR test (or equivalent) and must also self-isolate 10 days (5 days with a further negative test).
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,046
    Stocky said:

    Advice about what to write on anniversary card to my wife. I`m crap at this.

    Google suggestions include:

    • You're the perfect one for me.
    • I love our life together.
    • You're an amazing wife.
    • I'm so lucky to have you in my life.
    • I love being married to you.
    • You're more beautiful now than ever.

    I can`t bring myself to write any of that sappy stuff. And “so far so good” doesn`t seem adequate.

    There must be a third way?

    Edit: @Big_G_NorthWales you must be an authority on this.

    May we ask how many years?
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,398
    Abel & Cole delivery just arrived. Driver has battled his way through ice and snow. What a star!
This discussion has been closed.