Boris just said he will invoke Article 16 himself if the EU do not compromise on NI
I am sure that if I have not misheard he has just escalated the EU row
That's a mistake if so, he was doing so well.
He might consider the blunder by the EU gives him licence to act where he couldn't before.
That is exactly what is happening. Emotional opportunism. I remember I once made a bad, high profile blunder at work. In the aftermath and for quite some time - a few weeks - I felt diminished and unable to stand up for myself in disputes, regardless of the rights and wrongs of those disputes. People took advantage. Not everyone but certain types did. The EC is me, here, and Johnson is one of those types. It makes sense what he's doing, but he should beware. I got all those people back.
Worse, this isn't a Friday afternoon mess up, which everyone quickly acknowledged needed to be reversed. That was really bad, but this is in the cold light of day, when Boris was getting deserved plaudits for being so calm and mature.
The PM can't think beyond the end of his todger, can he?
If the EU is going to insist on wearing a 'Kick Me' sign all day, they can hardly be surprised if someone decides to take them up on their offer.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
And both as effective as stopping serious illness. To say it's RR vs. Skoda is ridiculous.
Both car types get you to the same place - just in different levels of style and comfort. The appearance is of the Europeans using a cutting edge vaccine technology while the UK is stuck using one made originally for the developing world.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
According to my European friends (Polish and German) the pitch their doctors are making as to why they can't get a vaccination is "wait for Pfizer, don't get AZN".
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
According to my European friends (Polish and German) the pitch their doctors are making as to why they can't get a vaccination is "wait for Pfizer, don't get AZN".
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
With the remaining 17% also, there's Covid and there's COVID. I'd be willing to bet your symptons are milder 'but for' the Astra Vaccine if you're unlucky to catch it after vaccination. A trillion? antibody headstart is useful for dealing with the virus...
I love this country, what it stands for, what it's achieved in its past, and am a big believer in its mission for its future - I'm also an enthusiastic monarchist and I have no problem with flags coming out of my ears.
What's not to like?
Suggest having a word with rcs about your comment history before taking this any further?
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
Pfizer was trialled against original COVID, AZ has been up against the new Brazilian and SA strains in their Brazil and SA trials, the numbers aren't directly comparable because the antibodies that result from the Pfizer vaccine also have lesser binding efficiency on those two variants and efficacy is diluted. Novavax has shown 60% efficacy against the SA variant, for example.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
And both as effective as stopping serious illness. To say it's RR vs. Skoda is ridiculous.
Both car types get you to the same place - just in different levels of style and comfort. The appearance is of the Europeans using a cutting edge vaccine technology while the UK is stuck using one made originally for the developing world.
Except we are also using Pfizer and will shortly be using Moderna.....and then 2-3 others ones in the next few months....and the EU, still haggling at that Moroccan Bazaar.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Skoda VRS tho'. With blue lights on.
Lower maintenance and quicker.
Yes, there is a big advantage to the AZ one being relatively cheap, although I think the 3 month gap in dosing is a problem. We probably need to be looking at developing a UK mRNA vaccine however since that seems to be the future.
You really haven't seen yesterday's report confirming the 12 weeks interval does not affect the vaccines effectiveness
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
And both as effective as stopping serious illness. To say it's RR vs. Skoda is ridiculous.
I would never dream of owning a Skoda, but I hear these days they are basically just VWs made in Czech Republic. Have all the tech and mod-cons of a VW.
Mine seems to work fine...but then I was never a car snob. If I bought something too expensive I might have to worry about getting it filthy.
I think I could be persuaded that Keir Starmer is a patriot. I could probably also be persuaded that he's a monarchist, regardless of anything he's said in the past. The problem is that I suspect his activist base could also be persuaded - far more easily, if anything - and won't like it much. Which exacerbates the continuity Corbyn mob, and also means they'll be debating the issue far more openly, which will tend to provide loads of ammunition to the effect that the party as a whole isn't patriotic.
Their best best is probably to just keep their heads down and stay neutral, to keep it from being front of people's minds at crucial times. Like how the Tories shouldn't be fighting elections on how much they value and support doctors and teachers, because it'll just remind everyone how much they don't believe that for a minute.
You don't have to look that hard to find Starmer statements / actions at odds with his current inage. I mean he played up how much of a leftie he was during the leadership race, then immediately switched.
Starmer is a "nice guy" but views politics as a real-time tactical challenge of presentation and triangulation.
He risks losing everyone with that approach.
And the risk isn't all to his right. Too much RW chasing could lose support in the MML (which is bigger than the RW). For example, on PT you told me that in order to win an election these days a Labour Party core value needs to be not just "loving your country" - which makes me squirm a bit but I can totally live with - but something rather more and rather different.
It must be OPENLY loving your country (you said).
I don't like that. I don't like that one bit. If that becomes a core Labour value I won't be voting Labour.
I think your fears are unfounded. All Starmer is trying to do it to rid Labour of the "Britain-hating" narrative, and unfortunately that means random flags and bouts of patriotism. It's not false either, because the vast majority of Labour members and voters don't hate Britain; they are proud of much of our culture, our institutions, our tolerance, our multiculturalism, and so forth. Labour's patriotism is about the strength of our democracy, our arts and culture, our NHS, and much else. In his own way, Corbyn is actually a patriot - in a funny sort of way, he's terribly British with his allotment, his dislike of the EU, and all that. But he couldn't disguise his disappointment at our foreign adventures and some other matters, so he lay himself open to the constant charge of being anti-British. Michael Foot was, even more so, a patriot. The idea that you can't be both left wing and proud of your country is risible.
Yes. I second that. To the extent an "unpatriotic" perception of Labour is stopping them getting a fair hearing, this must be addressed. 100% agree. And there's no harm in some flags, some empathetic language, and let's just generally make sure not to score stupid own goals like Salisbury.
I explained in my reply to Cyclefree why a need to "openly" display love of country is something I kick against. But tbf, that was Casino Royale not Sir Keir Starmer. And you will, I'm sure, concede that as Labour supporters we have a problem if our Casino (much as he has to offer) gets in the driving seat on what the party should be about.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
According to my European friends (Polish and German) the pitch their doctors are making as to why they can't get a vaccination is "wait for Pfizer, don't get AZN".
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
With the remaining 17% also, there's Covid and there's COVID. I'd be willing to bet your symptons are milder 'but for' the Astra Vaccine if you're unlucky to catch it after vaccination. A trillion? antibody headstart is useful for dealing with the virus...
It's got 100% efficacy against death, hospitalisation and severe symptoms. It turns COVID of every variant into mild flu or heavy cold and two thirds of people don't get it at all. It's an extremely impressive result, more fool on them to ignore it because of some kind of political spite. The only losers will be the people.
Of course you can be left-wing and patriotic. Jim Callaghan, Harold Wilson, Clement Atlee, George Orwell, etc.
Telling that one has to reach for figures from 40, 50, and 80 years ago...
Yep. Before we became an oligarchy.
Now anybody who threatens the ruling class's grip on assets is attacked on "patriotic" grounds (I suppose they always were, but now there's really no right or power of reply).
It works, of course. Look at the dumbass flag-waving even on here, among people who are quite erudite and measured on many matters.
Unfortunately for your thesis, the Corbyn period demonstrated quite clearly that the types who want to steal our assets are very often also anti-patriots. Tell the British that you want to take their cash and their country, and those supposed 'few' will crush you at the ballot box in their millions.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
Wont matter when we're cruising to the pub in our Skodas whilst they are still waiting in their homes.
Nothing wrong with a Skoda.
My Skoda was about 10k less than the very similar but smaller VW, and 20k less for the similar Audi, which is so small I can't even get 10 house doors in it, flat.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
And both as effective as stopping serious illness. To say it's RR vs. Skoda is ridiculous.
I would never dream of owning a Skoda, but I hear these days they are basically just VWs made in Czech Republic. Have all the tech and mod-cons of a VW.
Mine seems to work fine...but then I was never a car snob. If I bought something too expensive I might have to worry about getting it filthy.
I was obviously been a bit tongue in cheek. In reality these days when you look closely there aren't actually that many "traditional" car companies, it is all just branding / location of production.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
And both as effective as stopping serious illness. To say it's RR vs. Skoda is ridiculous.
I would never dream of owning a Skoda, but I hear these days they are basically just VWs made in Czech Republic. Have all the tech and mod-cons of a VW.
Yes, indeed. Also this would be a really daft metaphor for the EU to use, since the temptation would be to associate the British car with the British vaccine, and vice versa.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Skoda VRS tho'. With blue lights on.
Lower maintenance and quicker.
Yes, there is a big advantage to the AZ one being relatively cheap, although I think the 3 month gap in dosing is a problem. We probably need to be looking at developing a UK mRNA vaccine however since that seems to be the future.
You really haven't seen yesterday's report confirming the 12 weeks interval does not affect the vaccines effectiveness
Sorry, should have clarified its a 'logistical problem', not that the 12 gap is unknown in terms of efficacy. It means for instance, if you were concerned about a winter upswing you would have to start vaccinating in August. Logistically its a problem if you are needing to redose with 2 shots every year. If only a single booster is needed then its not a problem.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
And both as effective as stopping serious illness. To say it's RR vs. Skoda is ridiculous.
I would never dream of owning a Skoda, but I hear these days they are basically just VWs made in Czech Republic. Have all the tech and mod-cons of a VW.
Mine seems to work fine...but then I was never a car snob. If I bought something too expensive I might have to worry about getting it filthy.
I was obviously been a bit tongue in cheek. In reality these days when you look closely there aren't actually that many "traditional" car companies, it is all just branding / location of production.
I love this country, what it stands for, what it's achieved in its past, and am a big believer in its mission for its future - I'm also an enthusiastic monarchist and I have no problem with flags coming out of my ears.
What's not to like?
Suggest having a word with rcs about your comment history before taking this any further?
Coming back as Rasino_Coyale and with a false moustache should fix it.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
According to my European friends (Polish and German) the pitch their doctors are making as to why they can't get a vaccination is "wait for Pfizer, don't get AZN".
You have a lot of friends.
Yes. One of the joys of London, is that you are plugged into the rest of the world, if you can be bothered to say hello to people.
"Why can't UK copy Australia and 'batten down hatches' to stop COVID?
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said the UK could not "close down" its borders to tackle coronavirus in the same way as countries such as Australia.
He told the Commons Transport Select Committee: "People say 'why don't we just close down and then we'll be safe?'
"But, of course, we wouldn't be safe, because we are an island nation - unlike Australia or something which is an entire continent - and that means that we need to get medicines in, we need to get food in, we need to get our raw materials in, sometimes we have to move people around, scientists and others."
The unwillingness to close the border properly, is the one aspect of government policy that confuses the hell out of me at the moment. If you're an island nation, why on Earth wouldn't you isolate yourself from a nasty virus?
I don't think so. The key thing is he says "used to" - he just needs to say clearly how much respect he has for Her Maj and that it serves the country well etc. etc.
Of course it's going to be a fucking problem. This is the new patriotism. If you don't gush about how the Queen has served the nation for 60 years by being driven to the races in a Bentley and selflessly accepting 40,000 bunches of flowers you are fucked.
He will just have to hope the Queen rolls a two before the next GE as republicanism will be very much in vogue once we have King Gobshite and his nervous wreck heir.
Perhaps it can be fought off with more flags. Which is another reason not to go ape on flags now. You have to leave yourself somewhere to go. Some gears unused.
Thankfully SKS seems to have only a single flag habit at the moment. Keep a beady eye open for any increase, and casually placed models of aircraft carriers.
The model was only yesterday, Keir hasn't had a chance to retaliate yet. It' s coming.
My bet is a miner's helmet in the corner, next to a model of a WW2 tank.
- A super Churchill (tick) - A shout out to ethnic minorities (tick) - A shout out to Royalty (tick) - A finger flick at the French (tick)
Great knowledge, love it!
The history of British tank design in WWII is a wonderful opportunity to study dysfunctional organisations, the lunatics that reform them and the bizarre engineering attracts that get produced.
Britain must have been the only country producing tank designs with non sloping armour in the latter half of the war.
Ironically, the success of our fighter building programme came at the expense of tanks because Lord Beaverbrook as Minister of Aircraft Production (familiar to older PBers as the model for our calls for vaccine and PPE tsars) had grabbed all the material and factories.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Skoda VRS tho'. With blue lights on.
Lower maintenance and quicker.
Yes, there is a big advantage to the AZ one being relatively cheap, although I think the 3 month gap in dosing is a problem. We probably need to be looking at developing a UK mRNA vaccine however since that seems to be the future.
You really haven't seen yesterday's report confirming the 12 weeks interval does not affect the vaccines effectiveness
Sorry, should have clarified its a 'logistical problem', not that the 12 gap is unknown in terms of efficacy. It means for instance, if you were concerned about a winter upswing you would have to start vaccinating in August. Logistically its a problem if you are needing to redose with 2 shots every year. If only a single booster is needed then its not a problem.
I think the booster will be a single shot. One thing about the mass rollout here of the initial vaccine is that we'll be gaining experience of the processes required that can be utilised in the future.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
With the remaining 17% also, there's Covid and there's COVID. I'd be willing to bet your symptons are milder 'but for' the Astra Vaccine if you're unlucky to catch it after vaccination. A trillion? antibody headstart is useful for dealing with the virus...
It's got 100% efficacy against death, hospitalisation and severe symptoms. It turns COVID of every variant into mild flu or heavy cold and two thirds of people don't get it at all. It's an extremely impressive result, more fool on them to ignore it because of some kind of political spite. The only losers will be the people.
Except the people won't be the losers because the EU will soon have enough Pfizer. Also, if I can get away without even having a heavy cold or mild flu then that's better.
I'll quite happily have the AZ jab myself but I don't think we should delude ourselves.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
Wont matter when we're cruising to the pub in our Skodas whilst they are still waiting in their homes.
Nothing wrong with a Skoda.
My Skoda was about 10k less than the very similar but smaller VW, and 20k less for the similar Audi, which is so small I can't even get 10 house doors in it, flat.
Oddly specific!
I wouldn't say no to an Octavia as a replacement for my 07 Fiesta when the time comes.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Skoda VRS tho'. With blue lights on.
Lower maintenance and quicker.
Yes, there is a big advantage to the AZ one being relatively cheap, although I think the 3 month gap in dosing is a problem. We probably need to be looking at developing a UK mRNA vaccine however since that seems to be the future.
You really haven't seen yesterday's report confirming the 12 weeks interval does not affect the vaccines effectiveness
Sorry, should have clarified its a 'logistical problem', not that the 12 gap is unknown in terms of efficacy. It means for instance, if you were concerned about a winter upswing you would have to start vaccinating in August. Logistically its a problem if you are needing to redose with 2 shots every year. If only a single booster is needed then its not a problem.
I am not sure that it has been proved that an annual injection will be needed
Interesting snippet from Guernsey COVID press conference - unlike first wave this one is seeing a lot more household transmission. In the first wave it was often none or one other household member - this time round whole households are getting infected - fuelling suspicions, yet to be confirmed that this is the B117 variant.
I don't think so. The key thing is he says "used to" - he just needs to say clearly how much respect he has for Her Maj and that it serves the country well etc. etc.
Of course it's going to be a fucking problem. This is the new patriotism. If you don't gush about how the Queen has served the nation for 60 years by being driven to the races in a Bentley and selflessly accepting 40,000 bunches of flowers you are fucked.
He will just have to hope the Queen rolls a two before the next GE as republicanism will be very much in vogue once we have King Gobshite and his nervous wreck heir.
Perhaps it can be fought off with more flags. Which is another reason not to go ape on flags now. You have to leave yourself somewhere to go. Some gears unused.
Thankfully SKS seems to have only a single flag habit at the moment. Keep a beady eye open for any increase, and casually placed models of aircraft carriers.
The model was only yesterday, Keir hasn't had a chance to retaliate yet. It' s coming.
My bet is a miner's helmet in the corner, next to a model of a WW2 tank.
- A super Churchill (tick) - A shout out to ethnic minorities (tick) - A shout out to Royalty (tick) - A finger flick at the French (tick)
Great knowledge, love it!
The history of British tank design in WWII is a wonderful opportunity to study dysfunctional organisations, the lunatics that reform them and the bizarre engineering attracts that get produced.
Britain must have been the only country producing tank designs with non sloping armour in the latter half of the war.
Ironically, the success of our fighter building programme came at the expense of tanks because Lord Beaverbrook as Minister of Aircraft Production (familiar to older PBers as the model for our calls for vaccine and PPE tsars) had grabbed all the material and factories.
Some say that - but we succeeded in making tons of crapulent tanks. We built 1700 Covenanters. A tank that had one small defect. Actually driving it caused massive overheating in the engine.
The Good Friday Agreement was a clever sleight of hand to allow everyone to believe what they wanted and to give them an excuse to back out of a violent way of life of which they had tired
It was designed in the context of both countries being part of the EU.
The mistake which the EU made was trying to use it as negotiating leverage. They said “the GFA is inviolable” thinking this would mean that the UK would have to stay in the customs union.
What they should actually have done is to figure out what the GFA was designed to achieve and come up with a new structure that achieves the same outcome in a situation where the UK is not part of the EU.
That can be fine but it takes patience and time. And the EU should not be part of it - ironically too much history 😊. It should be a discussion between the UK, RoI and the communities in NI.
For now they should extent the grace period for 4 years and figure it out without pressure of artificial deadlines. And if you have to extend again then so be it. This doesn’t upset anyone except EU purists.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Ah, the AZ looks like poo and smells of wee anyway, strategy?
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
With the remaining 17% also, there's Covid and there's COVID. I'd be willing to bet your symptons are milder 'but for' the Astra Vaccine if you're unlucky to catch it after vaccination. A trillion? antibody headstart is useful for dealing with the virus...
It's got 100% efficacy against death, hospitalisation and severe symptoms. It turns COVID of every variant into mild flu or heavy cold and two thirds of people don't get it at all. It's an extremely impressive result, more fool on them to ignore it because of some kind of political spite. The only losers will be the people.
Except the people won't be the losers because the EU will soon have enough Pfizer. Also, if I can get away without even having a heavy cold or mild flu then that's better.
I'll quite happily have the AZ jab myself but I don't think we should delude ourselves.
There are positive and negative to both.
Pfizer you can't jab as many people as quickly / easily even in developed countries. Especially difficult to do the housebound (as they found in Israel). Is also 10x the price.
Does all that extra hassle, cost and reduction speed of deployment offset the extra 10% you get in terms of efficacy. I don't think it is a slam dunk either way.
In the future, mRNA approaches are the future, especially when they have solved the stability issues.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
With the remaining 17% also, there's Covid and there's COVID. I'd be willing to bet your symptons are milder 'but for' the Astra Vaccine if you're unlucky to catch it after vaccination. A trillion? antibody headstart is useful for dealing with the virus...
It's got 100% efficacy against death, hospitalisation and severe symptoms. It turns COVID of every variant into mild flu or heavy cold and two thirds of people don't get it at all. It's an extremely impressive result, more fool on them to ignore it because of some kind of political spite. The only losers will be the people.
Except the people won't be the losers because the EU will soon have enough Pfizer. Also, if I can get away without even having a heavy cold or mild flu then that's better.
I'll quite happily have the AZ jab myself but I don't think we should delude ourselves.
No, they won't. Pfizer have already said that the majority of EU deliveries are dated for the end of the second half of this year because of their very late order. The whole EU programme is actually very dependent on AZ (83%) and J&J (66%) which both have lower efficacy than Pfizer and the EU is also going to be contending with the Brazil and SA variants, there's increasing anecdotal evidence that Portugal and Spain already are having an outbreak of the Brazilian one and Pfizer have said their vaccine produces less binding efficiency against the Brazilian variant so 95% is probably a lot closer to 80%. For example Novavax went down from 95% against global COVID to 85% for Kent COVID and 60% for SA COVID, the last one is the most similar to Brazilian COVID.
I think you're seeing what you want to see. I don't think the EU will be stupid enough to wait until October to ramp up with the Pfizer vaccine. It will surely just get in with it once our real life results prove it works (which they might already do).
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
Wont matter when we're cruising to the pub in our Skodas whilst they are still waiting in their homes.
Nothing wrong with a Skoda.
My Skoda was about 10k less than the very similar but smaller VW, and 20k less for the similar Audi, which is so small I can't even get 10 house doors in it, flat.
Oddly specific!
I wouldn't say no to an Octavia as a replacement for my 07 Fiesta when the time comes.
The Good Friday Agreement was a clever sleight of hand to allow everyone to believe what they wanted and to give them an excuse to back out of a violent way of life of which they had tired
It was designed in the context of both countries being part of the EU.
The mistake which the EU made was trying to use it as negotiating leverage. They said “the GFA is inviolable” thinking this would mean that the UK would have to stay in the customs union.
What they should actually have done is to figure out what the GFA was designed to achieve and come up with a new structure that achieves the same outcome in a situation where the UK is not part of the EU.
That can be fine but it takes patience and time. And the EU should not be part of it - ironically too much history 😊. It should be a discussion between the UK, RoI and the communities in NI.
For now they should extent the grace period for 4 years and figure it out without pressure of artificial deadlines. And if you have to extend again then so be it. This doesn’t upset anyone except EU purists.
The Good Friday Agreement was a clever sleight of hand to allow everyone to believe what they wanted and to give them an excuse to back out of a violent way of life of which they had tired
It was designed in the context of both countries being part of the EU.
The mistake which the EU made was trying to use it as negotiating leverage. They said “the GFA is inviolable” thinking this would mean that the UK would have to stay in the customs union.
What they should actually have done is to figure out what the GFA was designed to achieve and come up with a new structure that achieves the same outcome in a situation where the UK is not part of the EU.
That can be fine but it takes patience and time. And the EU should not be part of it - ironically too much history 😊. It should be a discussion between the UK, RoI and the communities in NI.
For now they should extent the grace period for 4 years and figure it out without pressure of artificial deadlines. And if you have to extend again then so be it. This doesn’t upset anyone except EU purists.
You can only have a solution which allows people to believe what they want to believe if practical reality doesn't get in the way of those beliefs.
I love this country, what it stands for, what it's achieved in its past, and am a big believer in its mission for its future - I'm also an enthusiastic monarchist and I have no problem with flags coming out of my ears.
What's not to like?
Suggest having a word with rcs about your comment history before taking this any further?
Sure. Happy to do that as soon as you remove that chip on your shoulder.
You really need to get over the obsession you have with certain posters.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
Well, they are completely stupid, unfortunately. The way they have acted in the last few days dispelled any lingering doubts on the subject.
And ultimately, do they care about the people of the EU or the institution?
I don't think anyone's calling for medicines, vaccines and food to be prevented from entering the country.
"The transport secretary today rejected calls to completely close the UK’s borders, warning that the move could undermine the fight against the virus. Grant Shapps said that a complete ban on people entering the country would jeopardise the flow of medicine, vaccines and food."
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
With the remaining 17% also, there's Covid and there's COVID. I'd be willing to bet your symptons are milder 'but for' the Astra Vaccine if you're unlucky to catch it after vaccination. A trillion? antibody headstart is useful for dealing with the virus...
It's got 100% efficacy against death, hospitalisation and severe symptoms. It turns COVID of every variant into mild flu or heavy cold and two thirds of people don't get it at all. It's an extremely impressive result, more fool on them to ignore it because of some kind of political spite. The only losers will be the people.
Except the people won't be the losers because the EU will soon have enough Pfizer. Also, if I can get away without even having a heavy cold or mild flu then that's better.
I'll quite happily have the AZ jab myself but I don't think we should delude ourselves.
There are positive and negative to both.
Pfizer you can't jab as many people as quickly / easily even in developed countries. Especially difficult to do the housebound (as they found in Israel). Is also 10x the price.
Does all that extra hassle, cost and reduction speed of deployment offset the extra 10% you get in terms of efficacy. I don't think it is a slam dunk either way.
In the future, mRNA approaches are the future, especially when they have solved the stability issues.
It might not even be 10% as the Pfizer vaccine hasn't been tested in the real world against the new mutations that reduce binding efficiency of antibodies. In the Brazilian trial and SA trial the AZ vaccine has been and it came up at 83% with a 12 week gap. The Pfizer trial data isn't a like for like comparison to the AZ trial, though Pfizer are testing it against the Brazil variant and will give us modelled efficacy soon I think.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
I don't think so. The key thing is he says "used to" - he just needs to say clearly how much respect he has for Her Maj and that it serves the country well etc. etc.
Of course it's going to be a fucking problem. This is the new patriotism. If you don't gush about how the Queen has served the nation for 60 years by being driven to the races in a Bentley and selflessly accepting 40,000 bunches of flowers you are fucked.
He will just have to hope the Queen rolls a two before the next GE as republicanism will be very much in vogue once we have King Gobshite and his nervous wreck heir.
Perhaps it can be fought off with more flags. Which is another reason not to go ape on flags now. You have to leave yourself somewhere to go. Some gears unused.
Thankfully SKS seems to have only a single flag habit at the moment. Keep a beady eye open for any increase, and casually placed models of aircraft carriers.
The model was only yesterday, Keir hasn't had a chance to retaliate yet. It' s coming.
My bet is a miner's helmet in the corner, next to a model of a WW2 tank.
- A super Churchill (tick) - A shout out to ethnic minorities (tick) - A shout out to Royalty (tick) - A finger flick at the French (tick)
Great knowledge, love it!
The history of British tank design in WWII is a wonderful opportunity to study dysfunctional organisations, the lunatics that reform them and the bizarre engineering attracts that get produced.
Britain must have been the only country producing tank designs with non sloping armour in the latter half of the war.
Ironically, the success of our fighter building programme came at the expense of tanks because Lord Beaverbrook as Minister of Aircraft Production (familiar to older PBers as the model for our calls for vaccine and PPE tsars) had grabbed all the material and factories.
Some say that - but we succeeded in making tons of crapulent tanks. We built 1700 Covenanters. A tank that had one small defect. Actually driving it caused massive overheating in the engine.
I am permanently bemused by the "Soviet tractor stats" smear, because the same production technique produced Soviet T34s. They were not false positive T34s, and they were a lot of the reason why we are not having this conversation in german.
You don't have to look that hard to find Starmer statements / actions at odds with his current inage. I mean he played up how much of a leftie he was during the leadership race, then immediately switched.
Starmer is a "nice guy" but views politics as a real-time tactical challenge of presentation and triangulation.
He risks losing everyone with that approach.
And the risk isn't all to his right. Too much RW chasing could lose support in the MML (which is bigger than the RW). For example, on PT you told me that in order to win an election these days a Labour Party core value needs to be not just "loving your country" - which makes me squirm a bit but I can totally live with - but something rather more and rather different.
It must be OPENLY loving your country (you said).
I don't like that. I don't like that one bit. If that becomes a core Labour value I won't be voting Labour.
I am sure Starmer can afford to lose a few more leftwingers to the Greens in inner cities as long as he wins switchers from the Tories in the Red Wall
I'm not disputing that the obvious route to power - through the Red Wall - is the one to go for. But Starmer should be careful, is all I'm saying. There is a risk on the other side. Lots of people talk as if there isn't and I think it's dangerous if Starmer also thinks that. He needs to retain some of the radical spirit of the 15 to 19 era. Just needs to replace the 70s vibe with a contemporary offer. But anyway, I shouldn't get too worried about it. He is all over this, I'm not. He's the leader of the Labour Party, I'm just a random, clear-thinking, progressive blogger. If I can see this, he surely can.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
Wont matter when we're cruising to the pub in our Skodas whilst they are still waiting in their homes.
Nothing wrong with a Skoda.
My Skoda was about 10k less than the very similar but smaller VW, and 20k less for the similar Audi, which is so small I can't even get 10 house doors in it, flat.
Oddly specific!
I wouldn't say no to an Octavia as a replacement for my 07 Fiesta when the time comes.
Make sure it’s from before 2020. The new models are rubbish.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
With the remaining 17% also, there's Covid and there's COVID. I'd be willing to bet your symptons are milder 'but for' the Astra Vaccine if you're unlucky to catch it after vaccination. A trillion? antibody headstart is useful for dealing with the virus...
It's got 100% efficacy against death, hospitalisation and severe symptoms. It turns COVID of every variant into mild flu or heavy cold and two thirds of people don't get it at all. It's an extremely impressive result, more fool on them to ignore it because of some kind of political spite. The only losers will be the people.
Except the people won't be the losers because the EU will soon have enough Pfizer. Also, if I can get away without even having a heavy cold or mild flu then that's better.
I'll quite happily have the AZ jab myself but I don't think we should delude ourselves.
There are positive and negative to both.
Pfizer you can't jab as many people as quickly / easily even in developed countries. Especially difficult to do the housebound (as they found in Israel). Is also 10x the price.
Does all that extra hassle, cost and reduction speed of deployment offset the extra 10% you get in terms of efficacy. I don't think it is a slam dunk either way.
In the future, mRNA approaches are the future, especially when they have solved the stability issues.
It might not even be 10% as the Pfizer vaccine hasn't been tested in the real world against the new mutations that reduce binding efficiency of antibodies. In the Brazilian trial and SA trial the AZ vaccine has been and it came up at 83% with a 12 week gap. The Pfizer trial data isn't a like for like comparison to the AZ trial, though Pfizer are testing it against the Brazil variant and will give us modelled efficacy soon I think.
We also have no idea of Pfizer in terms of asymptomatic carriers.
Christ.... it isn't 1 or 2 players that have to isolate again...
Between 500 and 600 Australian Open players, officials and support staff will go into isolation after a worker at one of the event's quarantine hotels tested positive for coronavirus.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
And both as effective as stopping serious illness. To say it's RR vs. Skoda is ridiculous.
I would never dream of owning a Skoda, but I hear these days they are basically just VWs made in Czech Republic. Have all the tech and mod-cons of a VW.
Mine seems to work fine...but then I was never a car snob. If I bought something too expensive I might have to worry about getting it filthy.
I was obviously been a bit tongue in cheek. In reality these days when you look closely there aren't actually that many "traditional" car companies, it is all just branding / location of production.
They all share technology. I would guess loads of the components of SEAT, Skoda, VW and Audis are the same or very similar.
I drive an Audi but am happy to admit that Skodas are great cars these days – as you say a lot of the parts are the same/similar across the VW group AFAIK.
The idea that Skodas are junk motors belongs in the 1980s.
Interesting to note that the balance of the article was that the potential risks in the long term didn't outweigh the short term risks of the virus, but in part because they thought there was no prospect of "classical" vaccines being developed for many years.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
With the remaining 17% also, there's Covid and there's COVID. I'd be willing to bet your symptons are milder 'but for' the Astra Vaccine if you're unlucky to catch it after vaccination. A trillion? antibody headstart is useful for dealing with the virus...
It's got 100% efficacy against death, hospitalisation and severe symptoms. It turns COVID of every variant into mild flu or heavy cold and two thirds of people don't get it at all. It's an extremely impressive result, more fool on them to ignore it because of some kind of political spite. The only losers will be the people.
Except the people won't be the losers because the EU will soon have enough Pfizer. Also, if I can get away without even having a heavy cold or mild flu then that's better.
I'll quite happily have the AZ jab myself but I don't think we should delude ourselves.
There are positive and negative to both.
Pfizer you can't jab as many people as quickly / easily even in developed countries. Especially difficult to do the housebound (as they found in Israel). Is also 10x the price.
Does all that extra hassle, cost and reduction speed of deployment offset the extra 10% you get in terms of efficacy. I don't think it is a slam dunk either way.
In the future, mRNA approaches are the future, especially when they have solved the stability issues.
It might not even be 10% as the Pfizer vaccine hasn't been tested in the real world against the new mutations that reduce binding efficiency of antibodies. In the Brazilian trial and SA trial the AZ vaccine has been and it came up at 83% with a 12 week gap. The Pfizer trial data isn't a like for like comparison to the AZ trial, though Pfizer are testing it against the Brazil variant and will give us modelled efficacy soon I think.
We also have no idea of Pfizer in terms of asymptomatic carriers.
Yes, though a 95% immunity from all symptoms means it should be pretty high. Ideally the dilution from the new variants is only 10-20% and all of the people getting jabbed now all over the world are still 100% protected from severe symptoms, hospitalisation and death.
I don't think so. The key thing is he says "used to" - he just needs to say clearly how much respect he has for Her Maj and that it serves the country well etc. etc.
Of course it's going to be a fucking problem. This is the new patriotism. If you don't gush about how the Queen has served the nation for 60 years by being driven to the races in a Bentley and selflessly accepting 40,000 bunches of flowers you are fucked.
He will just have to hope the Queen rolls a two before the next GE as republicanism will be very much in vogue once we have King Gobshite and his nervous wreck heir.
Perhaps it can be fought off with more flags. Which is another reason not to go ape on flags now. You have to leave yourself somewhere to go. Some gears unused.
Thankfully SKS seems to have only a single flag habit at the moment. Keep a beady eye open for any increase, and casually placed models of aircraft carriers.
The model was only yesterday, Keir hasn't had a chance to retaliate yet. It' s coming.
My bet is a miner's helmet in the corner, next to a model of a WW2 tank.
- A super Churchill (tick) - A shout out to ethnic minorities (tick) - A shout out to Royalty (tick) - A finger flick at the French (tick)
Great knowledge, love it!
The history of British tank design in WWII is a wonderful opportunity to study dysfunctional organisations, the lunatics that reform them and the bizarre engineering attracts that get produced.
Britain must have been the only country producing tank designs with non sloping armour in the latter half of the war.
Ironically, the success of our fighter building programme came at the expense of tanks because Lord Beaverbrook as Minister of Aircraft Production (familiar to older PBers as the model for our calls for vaccine and PPE tsars) had grabbed all the material and factories.
Some say that - but we succeeded in making tons of crapulent tanks. We built 1700 Covenanters. A tank that had one small defect. Actually driving it caused massive overheating in the engine.
I am permanently bemused by the "Soviet tractor stats" smear, because the same production technique produced Soviet T34s. They were not false positive T34s, and they were a lot of the reason why we are not having this conversation in german.
The tractors stats thing came later - when they were both lying about the numbers of tractors produced and the usefulness of the tractors that were produced.
One reason that the Soviet arms industry worked, but the civilian economy didn't may have been money. My bet, though, is on competition - there were competing designs for every weapon.
Gosh, Matt, tone it down a bit. I suppose that if Shelley were writing today, he'd have said that film-makers were the unacknowledged legislators of the world... or perhaps acknowledged, in this case.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Have you seen the latest results from the AZ trials?
Yes, 82.4% for AZ versus 95% for Pfizer.
And both as effective as stopping serious illness. To say it's RR vs. Skoda is ridiculous.
I would never dream of owning a Skoda, but I hear these days they are basically just VWs made in Czech Republic. Have all the tech and mod-cons of a VW.
Mine seems to work fine...but then I was never a car snob. If I bought something too expensive I might have to worry about getting it filthy.
I was obviously been a bit tongue in cheek. In reality these days when you look closely there aren't actually that many "traditional" car companies, it is all just branding / location of production.
They all share technology. I would guess loads of the components of SEAT, Skoda, VW and Audis are the same or very similar.
I drive an Audi but am happy to admit that Skodas are great cars these days – as you say a lot of the parts are the same/similar across the VW group AFAIK.
The idea that Skodas are junk motors belongs in the 1980s.
Ladas on the other hand....
Apparently even the mighty Russian brand is now owned by Renault.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
It's also very likely (though not yet fully validated) that the AZN vaccine followed by Pfizer booster is more effective still than two shots of the Pfizer vaccine.
That probably goes for other combinations, too. The idea that any of the approved vaccines are particularly deficient is a bit silly.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
Well, they are completely stupid, unfortunately. The way they have acted in the last few days dispelled any lingering doubts on the subject.
And ultimately, do they care about the people of the EU or the institution?
I think they care more about not suffering the fall out from being 6 months behind the curve.
I don't think so. The key thing is he says "used to" - he just needs to say clearly how much respect he has for Her Maj and that it serves the country well etc. etc.
Of course it's going to be a fucking problem. This is the new patriotism. If you don't gush about how the Queen has served the nation for 60 years by being driven to the races in a Bentley and selflessly accepting 40,000 bunches of flowers you are fucked.
He will just have to hope the Queen rolls a two before the next GE as republicanism will be very much in vogue once we have King Gobshite and his nervous wreck heir.
Perhaps it can be fought off with more flags. Which is another reason not to go ape on flags now. You have to leave yourself somewhere to go. Some gears unused.
Thankfully SKS seems to have only a single flag habit at the moment. Keep a beady eye open for any increase, and casually placed models of aircraft carriers.
The model was only yesterday, Keir hasn't had a chance to retaliate yet. It' s coming.
My bet is a miner's helmet in the corner, next to a model of a WW2 tank.
- A super Churchill (tick) - A shout out to ethnic minorities (tick) - A shout out to Royalty (tick) - A finger flick at the French (tick)
Great knowledge, love it!
The history of British tank design in WWII is a wonderful opportunity to study dysfunctional organisations, the lunatics that reform them and the bizarre engineering attracts that get produced.
Britain must have been the only country producing tank designs with non sloping armour in the latter half of the war.
Ironically, the success of our fighter building programme came at the expense of tanks because Lord Beaverbrook as Minister of Aircraft Production (familiar to older PBers as the model for our calls for vaccine and PPE tsars) had grabbed all the material and factories.
Some say that - but we succeeded in making tons of crapulent tanks. We built 1700 Covenanters. A tank that had one small defect. Actually driving it caused massive overheating in the engine.
I am permanently bemused by the "Soviet tractor stats" smear, because the same production technique produced Soviet T34s. They were not false positive T34s, and they were a lot of the reason why we are not having this conversation in german.
It wasn’t that there was no production. Rather, it was that from 1932 onwards and especially after 1936, figures were deliberately inflated to make production look more impressive than it was. This was because factory managers who didn’t overproduce their targets were frequently denounced as saboteurs by their staff and ended up in Siberia. At the same time, shortages of materials and lack of skilled labour made production very, very difficult.
So, any tractor made - including the rather large number that had no engines or wheels - was included in the stats. That’s a particularly egregious example, although personally I’ve always marvelled that one-third of all boots produced in 1937 were unusable due to the poor quality, yet still counted in the stats.
At the same time, Soviet industrial output grew sixfold from 1928-41, which is pretty extraordinary.
Unfortunately, the economy overall didn’t grow significantly because agriculture, which was the largest single sector, was cut in half by collectivisation. But that’s another story.
You still whining about the misinformation being peddled by the Westminster yahoos. Give it a rest or publish the death rates and really embarrass yourself. No-one is impressed by your constant lies other than your other cult members.
Lets hope the faster roll out picks up the pace. Do you think they left out mention of the army accidentally, or on purpose?
Most people I know over 60 have their appointments booked in next week or so and those shielding and over 80 are being done at GP's, they have contacted my wife and are setting up to do her in next few days. Given they have completed all care homes and are finishing over 80's this week , I fail to see what the issue is other than manufactured outrage to take heat of Westminster government. Seems guessing from afar is not much use, I will refrain from commenting on far away places that I know nothing about.
Region of Residence 1st dose 2nd dose Cumulative Total Doses to Date Total 300,173 1,386 301,559 East Of England 33,762 261 34,023 London 36,363 280 36,643 Midlands 66,204 165 66,369 North East And Yorkshire 35,538 226 35,764 North West 39,636 131 39,767 South East 53,690 187 53,877 South West 33,396 130 33,526
I don't think so. The key thing is he says "used to" - he just needs to say clearly how much respect he has for Her Maj and that it serves the country well etc. etc.
Of course it's going to be a fucking problem. This is the new patriotism. If you don't gush about how the Queen has served the nation for 60 years by being driven to the races in a Bentley and selflessly accepting 40,000 bunches of flowers you are fucked.
He will just have to hope the Queen rolls a two before the next GE as republicanism will be very much in vogue once we have King Gobshite and his nervous wreck heir.
Perhaps it can be fought off with more flags. Which is another reason not to go ape on flags now. You have to leave yourself somewhere to go. Some gears unused.
Thankfully SKS seems to have only a single flag habit at the moment. Keep a beady eye open for any increase, and casually placed models of aircraft carriers.
The model was only yesterday, Keir hasn't had a chance to retaliate yet. It' s coming.
My bet is a miner's helmet in the corner, next to a model of a WW2 tank.
- A super Churchill (tick) - A shout out to ethnic minorities (tick) - A shout out to Royalty (tick) - A finger flick at the French (tick)
Great knowledge, love it!
The history of British tank design in WWII is a wonderful opportunity to study dysfunctional organisations, the lunatics that reform them and the bizarre engineering attracts that get produced.
Britain must have been the only country producing tank designs with non sloping armour in the latter half of the war.
Ironically, the success of our fighter building programme came at the expense of tanks because Lord Beaverbrook as Minister of Aircraft Production (familiar to older PBers as the model for our calls for vaccine and PPE tsars) had grabbed all the material and factories.
Some say that - but we succeeded in making tons of crapulent tanks. We built 1700 Covenanters. A tank that had one small defect. Actually driving it caused massive overheating in the engine.
I am permanently bemused by the "Soviet tractor stats" smear, because the same production technique produced Soviet T34s. They were not false positive T34s, and they were a lot of the reason why we are not having this conversation in german.
It's also a good side note to the patriotism and the left discussion; WWII Soviet factory workers pulled of some stupendous feats of production involving unpaid overtime, 14 hour shifts, contributing their wages towards the cost of an eg T34. Most industrialised countries had some version of this of course and there may have been a certain element of it being done at the end of a PPSh, but there was also a huge amount of genuine patriotism involved.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
Skoda VRS tho'. With blue lights on.
Lower maintenance and quicker.
Yes, there is a big advantage to the AZ one being relatively cheap, although I think the 3 month gap in dosing is a problem. We probably need to be looking at developing a UK mRNA vaccine however since that seems to be the future.
You really haven't seen yesterday's report confirming the 12 weeks interval does not affect the vaccines effectiveness
Sorry, should have clarified its a 'logistical problem', not that the 12 gap is unknown in terms of efficacy. It means for instance, if you were concerned about a winter upswing you would have to start vaccinating in August. Logistically its a problem if you are needing to redose with 2 shots every year. If only a single booster is needed then its not a problem.
I am not sure that it has been proved that an annual injection will be needed
If we don't assume it is, we won't have it should that prove to be the case. A few hundred million is not an expensive insurance policy in the circumstances.
Seems Mr detail forgot his own previous remarks...been done up like a kipper EC official negotiating with AZN.
Guido brings you the five times Starmer demanded the UK remain in the Agency:
‘That is short-sighted, as we are now finding in relation to Euratom. Why would we want to be outside the European Aviation Safety Agency, which certifies aircraft before they are allowed to fly? Why would we want to be outside the European Medicines Agency, which ensures that all medicines in the EU market are safe and effective?’
‘Mr Speaker, let me give three examples without the details: the European Aviation Safety Agency, which deals with safety; the European Medicines Agency; and Europol, which I worked with for many years. Those are the bits of the EU that we should be seeking to retain, not throw away’
‘We will seek to maintain membership of or equivalent relations with European organisations which offer benefits to the UK, such as Euratom, the European Medicines Agency, Europol and Eurojust – two agencies I worked closely with as DPP’
‘[We] will also argue for continued membership of agencies such as Euratom (the European Atomic Energy Community), the European Aviation Safety Agency (which certifies aircraft before they are allowed to fly), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Europol and Eurojust’.
‘Labour knows that leaving the EMA could cause enormous disruption to our pharmaceutical industry (which employs 200,000 people across the UK), lead to additional and unnecessary regulation and cause delays and rising costs for new drugs reaching our National Health Service. The EMA is also based in London and employs 900 people. That is why in January we wrote to Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, highlighting our deep concern that he had seemingly given up on the EMA.’
You have to say that Boris and his admirers in the media are shrewd and ruthless operators. Being a safe pair or hands and cool under pressure was one of Sir Keir's great selling points. Get it circulating that he's cracked up and you seriously damage the brand - straight out of the New Labour handbook.
Of course you can be left-wing and patriotic. Jim Callaghan, Harold Wilson, Clement Atlee, George Orwell, etc.
Telling that one has to reach for figures from 40, 50, and 80 years ago...
Yep. Before we became an oligarchy.
Now anybody who threatens the ruling class's grip on assets is attacked on "patriotic" grounds (I suppose they always were, but now there's really no right or power of reply).
It works, of course. Look at the dumbass flag-waving even on here, among people who are quite erudite and measured on many matters.
Unfortunately for your thesis, the Corbyn period demonstrated quite clearly that the types who want to steal our assets are very often also anti-patriots. Tell the British that you want to take their cash and their country, and those supposed 'few' will crush you at the ballot box in their millions.
I thought that was May in 2017 over care homes and owned housing . I guess you were a big supporter then of taking people's home to pay for it.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca plan to have a new Covid vaccine ready by the autumn to tackle new variants of the coronavirus, they confirmed today.
Given all the additional Pfizer manufacturing capacity being built in Europe, I suspect the EU won't be buying any more AZ after the initial order is complete. With Pfizer having much higher efficacy trial results than AZ, they'll probably view it as them buying the Rolls-Royce of vaccines while the UK makes do with a Skoda.
And yet AZ showed 83% efficacy and it was up against the Brazilian and SA variants. They'd be completely stupid to not use it now out of spite, the only people who lose from this are the citizens of EU nations being let down by politicians game playing with vaccines.
Well, they are completely stupid, unfortunately. The way they have acted in the last few days dispelled any lingering doubts on the subject.
And ultimately, do they care about the people of the EU or the institution?
Institutions always end up prioritising themselves, usually by conflating positives for the institution with positives for the people. It's how political parties justify their failings as well.
Region of Residence 1st dose 2nd dose Cumulative Total Doses to Date Total 300,173 1,386 301,559 East Of England 33,762 261 34,023 London 36,363 280 36,643 Midlands 66,204 165 66,369 North East And Yorkshire 35,538 226 35,764 North West 39,636 131 39,767 South East 53,690 187 53,877 South West 33,396 130 33,526
~40K up on last week. There is a very clear pattern though so far of numbers struggling Sunday to Tuesday (possibly, Wednesday too) and then ramping up. Are deliveries received every Wednesday?! If that's the case then they need to try and get some Sunday deliveries made.
Ancedotally my 72yo mother with clinically vulnerabilities who has been shielding for a year is still waiting. Her surgery told her when she phoned to ask on status that she needed to be patient as they only received 400 vaccines rather than the 2K they had expected. Yet at the same time we see in the news that 60+ are being vaccinated!
You have to say that Boris and his admirers in the media are shrewd and ruthless operators. Being a safe pair or hands and cool under pressure was one of Sir Keir's great selling points. Get it circulating that he's cracked up and you seriously damage the brand - straight out of the New Labour handbook.
Dunno, wanting to boot BJ in the baws shows as a positive for SKS imo.
Of course you can be left-wing and patriotic. Jim Callaghan, Harold Wilson, Clement Atlee, George Orwell, etc.
Telling that one has to reach for figures from 40, 50, and 80 years ago...
Yep. Before we became an oligarchy.
Now anybody who threatens the ruling class's grip on assets is attacked on "patriotic" grounds (I suppose they always were, but now there's really no right or power of reply).
It works, of course. Look at the dumbass flag-waving even on here, among people who are quite erudite and measured on many matters.
Unfortunately for your thesis, the Corbyn period demonstrated quite clearly that the types who want to steal our assets are very often also anti-patriots. Tell the British that you want to take their cash and their country, and those supposed 'few' will crush you at the ballot box in their millions.
Well that's a bit of revolving bow-tie nonsense. In 17 it was close and 19 was a quasi rerun of the Brexit referendum in a climate where the only question was how big the Con majority would be.
Region of Residence 1st dose 2nd dose Cumulative Total Doses to Date Total 300,173 1,386 301,559 East Of England 33,762 261 34,023 London 36,363 280 36,643 Midlands 66,204 165 66,369 North East And Yorkshire 35,538 226 35,764 North West 39,636 131 39,767 South East 53,690 187 53,877 South West 33,396 130 33,526
~40K up on last week. There is a very clear pattern though so far of numbers struggling Sunday to Tuesday (possibly, Wednesday too) and then ramping up. Are deliveries received every Wednesday?! If that's the case then they need to try and get some Sunday deliveries made.
Ancedotally my 72yo mother with clinically vulnerabilities who has been shielding for a year is still waiting. Her surgery told her when she phoned to ask on status that she needed to be patient as they only received 400 vaccines rather than the 2K they had expected. Yet at the same time we see in the news that 60+ are being vaccinated!
Your mother doesnt need to wait now. Everybody over 70 can just book online and choose a centre.
Gove was floundering on GMS this morning , could not answer the question re vaccines , usual Tory lies where they count the fact that they have it on a spreadsheet as it has been done. They don't have the bollox to admit they just wanted to get all the low hanging fruit vaccinated to divert from their appalling record and the massive daily death rate. Union Jack had same issue on Sunday re availability of vaccine.
NS: "That's a deliberate choice the Government has made. It is a legitimate choice to have first of all focused on overall numbers, but if that is at the expense of the uptake in the groups most clinically vulnerable, it's not a choice I would've wanted to make." NS: "I heard Michael Gove on the radio this morning not able or willing to give a figure for how many residents in care homes in England have actually been vaccinated as opposed to being offered the vaccine." NS: "Scotgov has followed an approach that very deliberately concentrated on getting the most clinically vulnerable groups vaccinated first, and achieving as high an uptake in these groups as possible."
But the uptake amongst the most clinically vulnerable is about the same, isn't it?
Who knows, Scotland have vaccinated 98% , in England the Ministers were evasive and would only commit to "offered" so impossible to tell.
Region of Residence 1st dose 2nd dose Cumulative Total Doses to Date Total 300,173 1,386 301,559 East Of England 33,762 261 34,023 London 36,363 280 36,643 Midlands 66,204 165 66,369 North East And Yorkshire 35,538 226 35,764 North West 39,636 131 39,767 South East 53,690 187 53,877 South West 33,396 130 33,526
~40K up on last week. There is a very clear pattern though so far of numbers struggling Sunday to Tuesday (possibly, Wednesday too) and then ramping up. Are deliveries received every Wednesday?! If that's the case then they need to try and get some Sunday deliveries made.
The delivery point is interesting, especially given the dats is dayvof reporting. How are they distributed? In bulk to gov, who takes a few days to then spread around all the sites?
Region of Residence 1st dose 2nd dose Cumulative Total Doses to Date Total 300,173 1,386 301,559 East Of England 33,762 261 34,023 London 36,363 280 36,643 Midlands 66,204 165 66,369 North East And Yorkshire 35,538 226 35,764 North West 39,636 131 39,767 South East 53,690 187 53,877 South West 33,396 130 33,526
~40K up on last week. There is a very clear pattern though so far of numbers struggling Sunday to Tuesday (possibly, Wednesday too) and then ramping up. Are deliveries received every Wednesday?! If that's the case then they need to try and get some Sunday deliveries made.
Ancedotally my 72yo mother with clinically vulnerabilities who has been shielding for a year is still waiting. Her surgery told her when she phoned to ask on status that she needed to be patient as they only received 400 vaccines rather than the 2K they had expected. Yet at the same time we see in the news that 60+ are being vaccinated!
Given it is reporting day data, it is quite hard to tell what the patterns mean. It is certainly looking like a saw tooth. Low on Monday, and builds through the week.
It would be easier for him if it didn't become a focus though.
Republicans are hugely overrepresented on this website.
I'm not convinced that's correct.
I think "the UK perhaps shouldn't continue with a monarchy, but that's not a priority now and should only be revisited once HMQ is no longer on the throne" is a not that uncommon thought nationwide.
I agree, as I do over your Scottish referendum position. I know you get a lot of stick over your comments. However I think you are more thoughtfull than many give you credit for,
Region of Residence 1st dose 2nd dose Cumulative Total Doses to Date Total 300,173 1,386 301,559 East Of England 33,762 261 34,023 London 36,363 280 36,643 Midlands 66,204 165 66,369 North East And Yorkshire 35,538 226 35,764 North West 39,636 131 39,767 South East 53,690 187 53,877 South West 33,396 130 33,526
~40K up on last week. There is a very clear pattern though so far of numbers struggling Sunday to Tuesday (possibly, Wednesday too) and then ramping up. Are deliveries received every Wednesday?! If that's the case then they need to try and get some Sunday deliveries made.
The delivery point is interesting, especially given the dats is dayvof reporting. How are they distributed? In bulk to gov, who takes a few days to then spread around all the sites?
I wonder how much of it is a reporting effect? Some sites maybe report once every few days, or maybe even once per week?
Comments
I'm not going to be a vaccine snob either.
Their best best is probably to just keep their heads down and stay neutral, to keep it from being front of people's minds at crucial times. Like how the Tories shouldn't be fighting elections on how much they value and support doctors and teachers, because it'll just remind everyone how much they don't believe that for a minute.
I explained in my reply to Cyclefree why a need to "openly" display love of country is something I kick against. But tbf, that was Casino Royale not Sir Keir Starmer. And you will, I'm sure, concede that as Labour supporters we have a problem if our Casino (much as he has to offer) gets in the driving seat on what the party should be about.
My Skoda was about 10k less than the very similar but smaller VW, and 20k less for the similar Audi, which is so small I can't even get 10 house doors in it, flat.
VW owns Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, Ducati, Jetta, Scania, SEAT, Skoda....
They all share technology. I would guess loads of the components of SEAT, Skoda, VW and Audis are the same or very similar.
https://twitter.com/jhalcrojohnston/status/1356957298636251139?s=20
I'll quite happily have the AZ jab myself but I don't think we should delude ourselves.
I wouldn't say no to an Octavia as a replacement for my 07 Fiesta when the time comes.
Pfizer you can't jab as many people as quickly / easily even in developed countries. Especially difficult to do the housebound (as they found in Israel). Is also 10x the price.
Does all that extra hassle, cost and reduction speed of deployment offset the extra 10% you get in terms of efficacy. I don't think it is a slam dunk either way.
In the future, mRNA approaches are the future, especially when they have solved the stability issues.
https://twitter.com/BBCNolan/status/1356955657300238338?s=20
I think you're seeing what you want to see. I don't think the EU will be stupid enough to wait until October to ramp up with the Pfizer vaccine. It will surely just get in with it once our real life results prove it works (which they might already do).
Matt Hancock said he had watched the film - which is about a deadly virus - and insisted the UK ordered enough jabs for its population.
He told LBC Radio the 2011 movie also shows there is a "huge row" about who should be given the vaccine first.
It led to the UK setting out early its "order of priority" for the jabs.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55917374
You really need to get over the obsession you have with certain posters.
And ultimately, do they care about the people of the EU or the institution?
"The transport secretary today rejected calls to completely close the UK’s borders, warning that the move could undermine the fight against the virus.
Grant Shapps said that a complete ban on people entering the country would jeopardise the flow of medicine, vaccines and food."
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/grant-shapps-rejects-calls-to-close-uks-borders-crvh8w7m0
https://twitter.com/EuRollout/status/1356620666758459392
https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1356958943982063617?s=20
Between 500 and 600 Australian Open players, officials and support staff will go into isolation after a worker at one of the event's quarantine hotels tested positive for coronavirus.
The idea that Skodas are junk motors belongs in the 1980s.
eg. https://www.jpost.com/health-science/could-an-mrna-vaccine-be-dangerous-in-the-long-term-649253
Interesting to note that the balance of the article was that the potential risks in the long term didn't outweigh the short term risks of the virus, but in part because they thought there was no prospect of "classical" vaccines being developed for many years.
Well in AZ we do have a "classical" vaccine...
One reason that the Soviet arms industry worked, but the civilian economy didn't may have been money. My bet, though, is on competition - there were competing designs for every weapon.
Apparently even the mighty Russian brand is now owned by Renault.
That probably goes for other combinations, too. The idea that any of the approved vaccines are particularly deficient is a bit silly.
So, any tractor made - including the rather large number that had no engines or wheels - was included in the stats. That’s a particularly egregious example, although personally I’ve always marvelled that one-third of all boots produced in 1937 were unusable due to the poor quality, yet still counted in the stats.
At the same time, Soviet industrial output grew sixfold from 1928-41, which is pretty extraordinary.
Unfortunately, the economy overall didn’t grow significantly because agriculture, which was the largest single sector, was cut in half by collectivisation. But that’s another story.
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1356964920999505920?s=20
Seems guessing from afar is not much use, I will refrain from commenting on far away places that I know nothing about.
Region of Residence 1st dose 2nd dose Cumulative Total Doses to Date
Total 300,173 1,386 301,559
East Of England 33,762 261 34,023
London 36,363 280 36,643
Midlands 66,204 165 66,369
North East And Yorkshire 35,538 226 35,764
North West 39,636 131 39,767
South East 53,690 187 53,877
South West 33,396 130 33,526
Assume an apology to the house incoming.......
A few hundred million is not an expensive insurance policy in the circumstances.
kipperEC official negotiating with AZN.Guido brings you the five times Starmer demanded the UK remain in the Agency:
‘That is short-sighted, as we are now finding in relation to Euratom. Why would we want to be outside the European Aviation Safety Agency, which certifies aircraft before they are allowed to fly? Why would we want to be outside the European Medicines Agency, which ensures that all medicines in the EU market are safe and effective?’
‘Mr Speaker, let me give three examples without the details: the European Aviation Safety Agency, which deals with safety; the European Medicines Agency; and Europol, which I worked with for many years. Those are the bits of the EU that we should be seeking to retain, not throw away’
‘We will seek to maintain membership of or equivalent relations with European organisations which offer benefits to the UK, such as Euratom, the European Medicines Agency, Europol and Eurojust – two agencies I worked closely with as DPP’
‘[We] will also argue for continued membership of agencies such as Euratom (the European Atomic Energy Community), the European Aviation Safety Agency (which certifies aircraft before they are allowed to fly), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Europol and Eurojust’.
‘Labour knows that leaving the EMA could cause enormous disruption to our pharmaceutical industry (which employs 200,000 people across the UK), lead to additional and unnecessary regulation and cause delays and rising costs for new drugs reaching our National Health Service. The EMA is also based in London and employs 900 people. That is why in January we wrote to Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, highlighting our deep concern that he had seemingly given up on the EMA.’
https://order-order.com/2021/02/03/watch-starmer-did-say-uk-should-stay-in-european-medicines-agency/
I guess you were a big supporter then of taking people's home to pay for it.
Ancedotally my 72yo mother with clinically vulnerabilities who has been shielding for a year is still waiting. Her surgery told her when she phoned to ask on status that she needed to be patient as they only received 400 vaccines rather than the 2K they had expected. Yet at the same time we see in the news that 60+ are being vaccinated!
It was supposed to be that PMQ's was going to be where Starmer was roughing up Boris - using his silky-Silk skills
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/
The condition of having a letter is no longer required. Hancock announced this the other day.
I know you get a lot of stick over your comments.
However I think you are more thoughtfull than many give you credit for,