My reliable sources are telling me that hand delivered manifestos will soon be permitted. And great news for those standing as candidates as Councillors of every type of authority (raises hand nervously) - you will only need two nominations. Sid and Doris Bonkers have been duly notified.
Yes, that is a pretty significant change. I'm surprised it wasn't at least 4. The reduction for PCCs may be even more remarkable.
I'm also hoping for some really loony candidates, even by regular standards. Could be some candidates with next to 0 votes as a result.
I wonder if there's an opening for a new party promising a range of really brutal punishments for the bastards who don't clear up the shit left all over the place by their rotten dogs?
We must pass the idea on to Nigel Farage.
He's barking enough to do it.
How droll. But seriously, might Farage not get too carried away?
I'm looking for a firm but fair approach to dog shit offences. The first time you don't clear up after the dog, insertion of a very large butt plug for a week (into the owner, obviously, not the animal.) For the second offence, a large brand of the poo emoji to be applied to the forehead, plus a £20,000 fine. Only for the third offence would I advocate confiscation of the dog and the public flaying of the offender.
And yes, I know, I'm one of these wet, mushy, soft on crime liberals, but someone has to be.
As a soft on crime Liberal dog owner, the only worthy punishment is to make them eat the offending item if they fail to pick it up.
My reliable sources are telling me that hand delivered manifestos will soon be permitted. And great news for those standing as candidates as Councillors of every type of authority (raises hand nervously) - you will only need two nominations. Sid and Doris Bonkers have been duly notified.
Yes, that is a pretty significant change. I'm surprised it wasn't at least 4. The reduction for PCCs may be even more remarkable.
I'm also hoping for some really loony candidates, even by regular standards. Could be some candidates with next to 0 votes as a result.
I wonder if there's an opening for a new party promising a range of really brutal punishments for the bastards who don't clear up the shit left all over the place by their rotten dogs?
We must pass the idea on to Nigel Farage.
He's barking enough to do it.
How droll. But seriously, might Farage not get too carried away?
I'm looking for a firm but fair approach to dog shit offences. The first time you don't clear up after the dog, insertion of a very large butt plug for a week (into the owner, obviously, not the animal.) For the second offence, a large brand of the poo emoji to be applied to the forehead, plus a £20,000 fine. Only for the third offence would I advocate confiscation of the dog and the public flaying of the offender.
And yes, I know, I'm one of these wet, mushy, soft on crime liberals, but someone has to be.
I thought the recommended training was to rub their noses in it?
It is a very annoying problem. There's a local nature reserve that needs grassland management, which in normal circumstances means cutting the grass and selling the hay. Unfortunately, the hay has no value due to all the "extras", and it is a right royal pain to get rid of. The cuttings have to be removed otherwise the grassland becomes too enriched. No matter how many notices you put up, nothing changes.
Nearest town with a University would have been St Andrews.......
Queen Mary, when driving about the Isle of Wight in her Daimler would stop and pick up youngsters in the countryside to give them a lift. One day she picked up a young lad and when she said "I'm Queen Mary" the unfortunate lad (honestly) replied "Yes, and I'm Neville Chamberlain". She had the car stopped and him put back out into the rain for impertinence.
Has it ever been proven that political leaflets have an effect, anymore so than junk mail
Of course door knocking is a different matter but in our 'neighbourhood watch area' you cannot even do that
It is interesting. Certainly we put a lot of effort into the leafletting work during the referendum campaign. Not sure if it was wasted or not but the leaflets certainly got a lot of air time with claims and counterclaims about what was on them.
For a GE I think probably they don't make that much difference to most people. For local elections I think they do. There I believe people are far less likely to be following party allegiances and more voting for the individual and what they are saying they will do in power. I certainly pay a lot of attention to what I can find out about the candidates and much of the time it is only the leaflets that give you that information.
So yes, personally I think they do make a difference.
They surely must otherwise no-one would bother. Law of averages, I'm thinking. Send out 1000, impact maybe 15 votes. That's 15 more than if you sent none. There is the odd perverse sort who will claim that all the bumph loses their vote but I think that's mainly performative Victor Meldrew cosplay rather than the actual truth.
As for me, a really good Tory leaflet can get me thinking and asking myself the question - "Can they really be so bad if they can produce such a quality piece of campaign material?"
It's yet to change my vote but it causes a flash of discomfort which I could happily do without.
Tell us some of your own canvassing stories. How was Glenda as a candidate?
By the time I joined the party and volunteered to do stuff it was Tulip. But then I didn't actually do anything much because - and this is totally and poignantly true - I came down with a virus. Not Covid, but quite a nasty affair that hit hard and lingered. A great pity because I was up for it and I think I might have been able to strike a chord with some.
So near and yet so far. I hope you are over it completely now.
Edit: the Labour Party of course, that is.
I was infected by Long Con virus and also a short term illness with the Lib Dems once, but I think I fully over both now. Thankfully completely unsusceptible to the vile UKIPitis and seem to have a natural inherited resistance to The Red flu
Good to hear. Now if only you could get over your judgementalitist and nationophobia and you'll be cured. 😉
@Philip_Thompson I can't speak for Topping but I can only imagine they were delighted I had come to their door offering PVC replacement services (or window washing)
@SeaShantyIrish2 the more excessive the dog warning signs the cuter and smaller the dog!
@HYUFD Just smile excessively and blink a lot if they get angry at you, they will think that you are stupid and be nice to you.
I guess that seeing as you were trying to sell Jeremy Corbyn, the last piece of advice most have been employed with regularity?
At a rate of 20% per week, it'll take until about the second weekend of May for cases to get down from 12k to 1k per day. Except that, now the rate of decline has slowed, there's no particular reason to suppose that it won't continue to do so. And who knows how much worse it might get once the schools go back?
This is just the sort of excuse that the lockdown ultras have been praying for. We have to hope to God that the Prime Minister isn't paying too much attention to them, or we could be imprisoned indefinitely.
This time around, it was predicted deaths fall steepest first, then admissions, then finally cases. And so it is.
We'll be fine.
I think the government should stop reporting daily cases when they get beneath a certain level (say 5000).
Just report hospitalisations and deaths.
But they obviously won't do that. We must "protect the NHS" and "follow the science" - and the BMA, for example, wants the case load cut almost to nothing before any significant degree of release from our woeful state of house arrest is permitted. Now, I'm not blasé about cases because this is a nasty disease, and I'm not one of those who thinks that everything should be opened back up at Easter. I'm merely concerned that, having perhaps been too haphazard with restrictions earlier in the pandemic, scared (and scarred) ministers might have swung too far in the other direction and be looking for reasons to stall.
I think your fear is misplaced. They'll be cautious but not absurdly so.
However, not why I'm writing. Seeing mention of case numbers, I know many posters feel reopening should be linked not to that but to deaths and hospitalizations. This is logical, and in reality, behind the scenes, I'm sure it will be deaths and hospitalizations which drive the decisions. But when it comes to presentation to the public, the PR of it, the government will always talk about reopening being linked to case numbers and here's why. If Boris Johnson says we can reopen when deaths or hospitalizations are down to such and such a number, this sounds a bit "off". It sounds unfeeling. And it lends itself to the dumbo flip around of "Oh, so you are happy with X people dying and Y people in ICU, Prime Minister, are you?"
A world of pain.
So, although the reopening will be driven by deaths and hospitalizations, when it comes to discourse with the public it will be all "case numbers". They'll be able to carry this off because they know the relationship between positive tests and serious sickness and death. I suggest we cut them some slack and don't get angsty when this happens - especially now I've tipped the wink on it.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Exactly. Although I have in my time given them a (mild to less mild depending upon their attitude) rebuke about democracy, etc. Which 100% of them responded positively to.
TBH I was selling double glazing (and window washing services another time) so there was limited room to appeal to a higher principle, I mean I could have extolled the virtues of the free market to them I guess...
LOL yes take it back to Hayek although given your political leanings might you not have strayed onto a critical analysis of the boss class given half a chance?
I think Mike is right to bring this point up - on the face of it, this seems unfair. At any rate, it favours parties with big social media budgets, and it also favours governing parties, who release a constant stream of 'information' campaigns (not just during elections) using taxpayers money, on broadcast, social and print media.
In Scotland, the situation is particular accute, because Nicola Sturgeon and her ministers insist upon a daily press briefing lead by a politician, which has been used frequently as a platform to criticise the UK Government. In an election where everybody else is banned from campaigning, it is not really acceptable.
My suggestion would be that during a 'purdah' period, Coronavirus updates across the UK be lead by Government experts, not Ministers. This should be enforced by the electoral commission, which should also do a sniff test on Government information campaigns, for political messaging.
Has it ever been proven that political leaflets have an effect, anymore so than junk mail
Of course door knocking is a different matter but in our 'neighbourhood watch area' you cannot even do that
It is interesting. Certainly we put a lot of effort into the leafletting work during the referendum campaign. Not sure if it was wasted or not but the leaflets certainly got a lot of air time with claims and counterclaims about what was on them.
For a GE I think probably they don't make that much difference to most people. For local elections I think they do. There I believe people are far less likely to be following party allegiances and more voting for the individual and what they are saying they will do in power. I certainly pay a lot of attention to what I can find out about the candidates and much of the time it is only the leaflets that give you that information.
So yes, personally I think they do make a difference.
They surely must otherwise no-one would bother. Law of averages, I'm thinking. Send out 1000, impact maybe 15 votes. That's 15 more than if you sent none. There is the odd perverse sort who will claim that all the bumph loses their vote but I think that's mainly performative Victor Meldrew cosplay rather than the actual truth.
As for me, a really good Tory leaflet can get me thinking and asking myself the question - "Can they really be so bad if they can produce such a quality piece of campaign material?"
It's yet to change my vote but it causes a flash of discomfort which I could happily do without.
Tell us some of your own canvassing stories. How was Glenda as a candidate?
By the time I joined the party and volunteered to do stuff it was Tulip. But then I didn't actually do anything much because - and this is totally and poignantly true - I came down with a virus. Not Covid, but quite a nasty affair that hit hard and lingered. A great pity because I was up for it and I think I might have been able to strike a chord with some.
So near and yet so far. I hope you are over it completely now.
Edit: the Labour Party of course, that is.
I was infected by Long Con virus and also a short term illness with the Lib Dems once, but I think I fully over both now. Thankfully completely unsusceptible to the vile UKIPitis and seem to have a natural inherited resistance to The Red flu
Good to hear. Now if only you could get over your judgementalitist and nationophobia and you'll be cured. 😉
Nah, I am just trying my best to cure myself of acerbity and be nicer to idiots. Speaking of which, how are you Philip?
At a rate of 20% per week, it'll take until about the second weekend of May for cases to get down from 12k to 1k per day. Except that, now the rate of decline has slowed, there's no particular reason to suppose that it won't continue to do so. And who knows how much worse it might get once the schools go back?
This is just the sort of excuse that the lockdown ultras have been praying for. We have to hope to God that the Prime Minister isn't paying too much attention to them, or we could be imprisoned indefinitely.
As vaccinations reduce transmission and as the proportion vaccinated is only ever going up not down, ultimately R should be coming down fast.
25% of the population is now vaccinated. If that prevents transmission by 67% of those then that means R is reduced by 1/6th already and that's going to continue to increase.
At 16.875m of c 55m adults in the UK, we are now through 30% of the adult population having had at least their first jab.
So an estimated 20% of the adult population won't be passing on the virus now?
No, 9m adults have reached their three weeks to hit ~75% immunity to symptoms. The numbers in the onwards transmission part of the study were really tiny, there's no way we can say that two thirds of that 9m are unable to pass it to other people if they are infected by don't experience symptoms.
The vaccine is great and the government is doing an amazing job at getting it out there but lets not get ahead of ourselves with pronouncements such as 20% of adults can no longer pass it to other people, that just isn't true.
You can either go for a death first reduction, or a transmission first reduction strategy. As you point out we've gone for a deaths first reduction, so transmission effects will be slower to reduce. Of course a rapid rollout into people in their 40s, 30s and 20s solves the transmission problem.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Then they complain to the local party office or tell you to sod off...
Indeed or in my case I was going to vote for their party , then they knocked despite such a sticker and they then forfeited that vote
I always find these pompous declarations rather silly. We got a Government after WW2 that was determined to 'win the peace' after they'd won the war, and years of rationing and decades of economic stagnation was the result. They should have left well alone, and we should aim to do this as much as possible following Covid too. I quite like Boris, but I wouldn't send out a team consisting of him, Justin Trudeau, Emanuel Macron, and Joe Biden out on an orienteering challenge, let alone task them with saving the world.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Then they complain to the local party office or tell you to sod off...
Indeed or in my case I was going to vote for their party , then they knocked despite such a sticker and they then forfeited that vote
Can only hope you were in a super marginal and that party lost. That will have shown them.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Do you modify you technique IF the sign reads "No canvassers - survivors will be prosecuted"?
OR if they've got another sign saying "Please do NOT pet the rabid pit bull"?
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Then they complain to the local party office or tell you to sod off...
Indeed or in my case I was going to vote for their party , then they knocked despite such a sticker and they then forfeited that vote
Can only hope you were in a super marginal and that party lost. That will have shown them.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Then they complain to the local party office or tell you to sod off...
Indeed or in my case I was going to vote for their party , then they knocked despite such a sticker and they then forfeited that vote
Can only hope you were in a super marginal and that party lost. That will have shown them.
It was a local council election and yes the candidate didn't get in
My reliable sources are telling me that hand delivered manifestos will soon be permitted. And great news for those standing as candidates as Councillors of every type of authority (raises hand nervously) - you will only need two nominations. Sid and Doris Bonkers have been duly notified.
Yes, that is a pretty significant change. I'm surprised it wasn't at least 4. The reduction for PCCs may be even more remarkable.
I'm also hoping for some really loony candidates, even by regular standards. Could be some candidates with next to 0 votes as a result.
I wonder if there's an opening for a new party promising a range of really brutal punishments for the bastards who don't clear up the shit left all over the place by their rotten dogs?
We must pass the idea on to Nigel Farage.
He's barking enough to do it.
How droll. But seriously, might Farage not get too carried away?
I'm looking for a firm but fair approach to dog shit offences. The first time you don't clear up after the dog, insertion of a very large butt plug for a week (into the owner, obviously, not the animal.) For the second offence, a large brand of the poo emoji to be applied to the forehead, plus a £20,000 fine. Only for the third offence would I advocate confiscation of the dog and the public flaying of the offender.
And yes, I know, I'm one of these wet, mushy, soft on crime liberals, but someone has to be.
As a soft on crime Liberal dog owner, the only worthy punishment is to make them eat the offending item if they fail to pick it up.
There is no excuse!
Ah, but if we got all the bad dog owners to eat dog shit then there'd be an avalanche of dog shit poisoning cases clogging up the hospitals, and there would have to be a dog shit lockdown. We don't want any more lockdowns, now do we?
It is a very annoying problem. There's a local nature reserve that needs grassland management, which in normal circumstances means cutting the grass and selling the hay. Unfortunately, the hay has no value due to all the "extras", and it is a right royal pain to get rid of. The cuttings have to be removed otherwise the grassland becomes too enriched. No matter how many notices you put up, nothing changes.
It's evil stuff. Not quite strewn everywhere, mercifully, but I have seen some egregious examples recently (sodding great piles of crap in the middle of the pavement, lumps of it scattered across the local beauty spot, all meaning that you have to spend half your time looking at the ground to make sure you don't tread in it.)
If we can countenance fining people £10,000 for lying at the airport about where they've just come back from, then we can certainly justify the execution of repeat dog shit offenders. It's the way forward. I'm surprised that the Home Secretary hasn't thought of it already, TBH.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Exactly. Although I have in my time given them a (mild to less mild depending upon their attitude) rebuke about democracy, etc. Which 100% of them responded positively to.
TBH I was selling double glazing (and window washing services another time) so there was limited room to appeal to a higher principle, I mean I could have extolled the virtues of the free market to them I guess...
LOL yes take it back to Hayek although given your political leanings might you not have strayed onto a critical analysis of the boss class given half a chance?
I sell him on the ultimate affordability of the windows based on a continuous growth model eventually shrinking the original debt to a negligible amount.
When the recession hits and his home is being repossessed I hit him with a Marxist analysis* and explain to him how the system is to blame and not me the innocent salesman
*Some study required (almost all of it)
@Nigel_Foremain TBH I was selling windows (and window related stuff) so stupidity was an easy enough sell.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Then they complain to the local party office or tell you to sod off...
Indeed or in my case I was going to vote for their party , then they knocked despite such a sticker and they then forfeited that vote
Unbelievable. At 4.22, I opined specifically that nobody in real life is actually enough of a Victor Meldrew sourpuss to react like this. Now here comes you to prove me wrong.
And it had to be you, didn't it? Had to be you or that other guru of grim, @another_richard.
At a rate of 20% per week, it'll take until about the second weekend of May for cases to get down from 12k to 1k per day. Except that, now the rate of decline has slowed, there's no particular reason to suppose that it won't continue to do so. And who knows how much worse it might get once the schools go back?
This is just the sort of excuse that the lockdown ultras have been praying for. We have to hope to God that the Prime Minister isn't paying too much attention to them, or we could be imprisoned indefinitely.
Do remember that current case counts only include (effectively) those vaccinated up to about three weeks ago, because it takes two weeks for the vaccine to become meaningfully effective, and then there's typically a week (and sometimes more) between infection and testing positive. Also, the more people that are vaccinated, the lower R is for the population as a whole.
That being said... people will also take fewer precautions as (a) case counts come down, (b) they get tired of lockdown, and (c) they get less concerned about infecting (and killing) granny.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Exactly. Although I have in my time given them a (mild to less mild depending upon their attitude) rebuke about democracy, etc. Which 100% of them responded positively to.
TBH I was selling double glazing (and window washing services another time) so there was limited room to appeal to a higher principle, I mean I could have extolled the virtues of the free market to them I guess...
LOL yes take it back to Hayek although given your political leanings might you not have strayed onto a critical analysis of the boss class given half a chance?
I sell him on the ultimate affordability of the windows based on a continuous growth model eventually shrinking the original debt to a negligible amount.
When the recession hits and his home is being repossessed I hit him with a Marxist analysis* and explain to him how the system is to blame and not me the innocent salesman
*Some study required (almost all of it)
@Nigel_Foremain TBH I was selling windows (and window related stuff) so stupidity was an easy enough sell.
Ah, sorry, my misunderstanding. Double grazing is clearly (sorry for pun) a much much easier sell than Jeremy Corbyn. Before you moved on to the advanced difficulty of selling Jezza did you try something of more intermediate? Encyclopaedia Britannica? Stone cladding perhaps?
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Then they complain to the local party office or tell you to sod off...
Indeed or in my case I was going to vote for their party , then they knocked despite such a sticker and they then forfeited that vote
Unbelievable. At 4.22, I opined specifically that nobody in real life is actually enough of a Victor Meldrew sourpuss to react like this.
Now here comes you to prove me wrong. And it had to be you, didn't it? Had to be you or that other guru of grim, @another_richard.
At the time we were getting bloody people knocking on the door 4 or 5 times a week trying to sell us stuff. Its not my job to answer the door to think his time is more important than mine so we just ended up putting up a sign saying "If you don't know us personally don't knock and kindly fuck off"
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Then they complain to the local party office or tell you to sod off...
Indeed or in my case I was going to vote for their party , then they knocked despite such a sticker and they then forfeited that vote
Unbelievable. At 4.22, I opined specifically that nobody in real life is actually enough of a Victor Meldrew sourpuss to react like this. Now here comes you to prove me wrong.
And it had to be you, didn't it? Had to be you or that other guru of grim, @another_richard.
So heres the rationale for removing my vote from them. "If I can't trust you to follow a simple written instruction how can I trust you to follow your manifesto?"
How droll. But seriously, might Farage not get too carried away?
Why do think I suggested it? Farage would make an absolute success of it. He will probably win another bloody referendum.
I envisage his program as moderate and balanced. It would be:
1. Armed border police to monitor our lawns. Fully trained detectives, with military back-up, would identify the doggy perpetrators of dirty deeds.
2. Web cameras and surveillance equipment. Lawns, parks & public rights of way would be continuously monitored for canine defecators.
3. Suitable punishment. A dog caught trespassing & depositing fecal matter on a property without permission will be supplied to ASDA for their Deep Fill Steak & Gravy Puff Pastry Pie range. And the owner too.
It is really an extension of Farage's existing work.
How droll. But seriously, might Farage not get too carried away?
Why do think I suggested it? Farage would make an absolute success of it. He will probably win another bloody referendum.
I envisage his program as moderate and balanced. It would be:
1. Armed border police to monitor our lawns. Fully trained detectives, with military back-up, would identify the doggy perpetrators of dirty deeds.
2. Web cameras and surveillance equipment. Lawns, parks & public rights of way would be continuously monitored for canine defecators.
3. Suitable punishment. A dog caught trespassing & depositing fecal matter on a property without permission will be supplied to ASDA for their Deep Fill Steak & Gravy Puff Pastry Pie range. And the owner too.
It is really an extension of Farage's existing work.
Ah, but you see, that's precisely why I was so sceptical of Farage. You can advance an argument for an extensive dog shit enforcement mechanism, but your suggested punishments are way too extreme. Firstly, the dog should not be punished because it isn't its fault. Secondly, it's permissible to execute the owner if they won't mend their ways, but do we really want to be encouraging cannibalism? It seems objectionable both on moral and public health grounds (even if the intention is to hand all the pies over to food banks to be given away to the needy.)
Seriously, policies do need to be credible. The public may be willing to consider Draconian measures, but the British people are not completely mad. Well, some of them aren't, anyway.
How droll. But seriously, might Farage not get too carried away?
Why do think I suggested it? Farage would make an absolute success of it. He will probably win another bloody referendum.
I envisage his program as moderate and balanced. It would be:
1. Armed border police to monitor our lawns. Fully trained detectives, with military back-up, would identify the doggy perpetrators of dirty deeds.
2. Web cameras and surveillance equipment. Lawns, parks & public rights of way would be continuously monitored for canine defecators.
3. Suitable punishment. A dog caught trespassing & depositing fecal matter on a property without permission will be supplied to ASDA for their Deep Fill Steak & Gravy Puff Pastry Pie range. And the owner too.
It is really an extension of Farage's existing work.
Ah, but you see, that's precisely why I was so sceptical of Farage. You can advance an argument for an extensive dog shit enforcement mechanism, but your suggested punishments are way too extreme. Firstly, the dog should not be punished because it isn't its fault. Secondly, it's permissible to execute the owner if they won't mend their ways, but do we really want to be encouraging cannibalism? It seems objectionable both on moral and public health grounds (even if the intention is to hand all the pies over to food banks to be given away to the needy.)
Seriously, policies do need to be credible. The public may be willing to consider Draconian measures, but the British people are not completely mad. Well, some of them aren't, anyway.
Perhaps you could try more carrot than stick. If people were told that if they picked up the dogshit and put it in a milkshake, they would be legally entitled to throw it at Farage that might have a better impact than encouraging torture or capital punishment of the offender. Seeing a man that so regularly talks shit covered in shit would also provide great public entertainment.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Exactly. Although I have in my time given them a (mild to less mild depending upon their attitude) rebuke about democracy, etc. Which 100% of them responded positively to.
TBH I was selling double glazing (and window washing services another time) so there was limited room to appeal to a higher principle, I mean I could have extolled the virtues of the free market to them I guess...
LOL yes take it back to Hayek although given your political leanings might you not have strayed onto a critical analysis of the boss class given half a chance?
I sell him on the ultimate affordability of the windows based on a continuous growth model eventually shrinking the original debt to a negligible amount.
When the recession hits and his home is being repossessed I hit him with a Marxist analysis* and explain to him how the system is to blame and not me the innocent salesman
*Some study required (almost all of it)
@Nigel_Foremain TBH I was selling windows (and window related stuff) so stupidity was an easy enough sell.
Ah, sorry, my misunderstanding. Double grazing is clearly (sorry for pun) a much much easier sell than Jeremy Corbyn. Before you moved on to the advanced difficulty of selling Jezza did you try something of more intermediate? Encyclopaedia Britannica? Stone cladding perhaps?
Spoken like a man who has never tried to cold call sell double glazing to people before!
You are like the Jesus people, except it is worse because you want their money rather than their soul.
How droll. But seriously, might Farage not get too carried away?
Why do think I suggested it? Farage would make an absolute success of it. He will probably win another bloody referendum.
I envisage his program as moderate and balanced. It would be:
1. Armed border police to monitor our lawns. Fully trained detectives, with military back-up, would identify the doggy perpetrators of dirty deeds.
2. Web cameras and surveillance equipment. Lawns, parks & public rights of way would be continuously monitored for canine defecators.
3. Suitable punishment. A dog caught trespassing & depositing fecal matter on a property without permission will be supplied to ASDA for their Deep Fill Steak & Gravy Puff Pastry Pie range. And the owner too.
It is really an extension of Farage's existing work.
Ah, but you see, that's precisely why I was so sceptical of Farage. You can advance an argument for an extensive dog shit enforcement mechanism, but your suggested punishments are way too extreme. Firstly, the dog should not be punished because it isn't its fault. Secondly, it's permissible to execute the owner if they won't mend their ways, but do we really want to be encouraging cannibalism? It seems objectionable both on moral and public health grounds (even if the intention is to hand all the pies over to food banks to be given away to the needy.)
I think in general the stuff is good eating -- with the taste and texture of beef except a little sweeter & richer in taste and a little plumper in texture.
But, you are of course right. I imagine dog-owners who allow their runty pets to defecate all over the place probably tend to stringiness with too much gristle. There is nothing worse than a chewy mouthful.
A preliminary marinading is always possible, of course.
Surely someone on pb.com must know Raymond Blanc's mother-in-law or George Escoffier's great grandson, and be able to suggest a suitable dish of the grande cuisine
At a rate of 20% per week, it'll take until about the second weekend of May for cases to get down from 12k to 1k per day. Except that, now the rate of decline has slowed, there's no particular reason to suppose that it won't continue to do so. And who knows how much worse it might get once the schools go back?
This is just the sort of excuse that the lockdown ultras have been praying for. We have to hope to God that the Prime Minister isn't paying too much attention to them, or we could be imprisoned indefinitely.
As vaccinations reduce transmission and as the proportion vaccinated is only ever going up not down, ultimately R should be coming down fast.
25% of the population is now vaccinated. If that prevents transmission by 67% of those then that means R is reduced by 1/6th already and that's going to continue to increase.
Only about half of those vaccinated have had the vaccine long enough (21 days) for protection to ramp up, so it should be c. 1/12th and would reach 1/6th in three weeks from now. Although I’d expect it to be lower at the moment as the vaccination has been concentrated in demographics less likely to be going around (work, etc) or being potential superspreaders. This will change as the programme gets further along into other demographic age bands.
Well, yes, it's an absurdity the local estate agent can put a leaflet through my door to tell me "there is huge demand for property in your area" but I can't get a leaflet from any political party telling me how this area, seemingly in such high demand, is going to be run.
I'm sure I would be being cynical if I thought this was a deliberate ploy by the governing Party to stop Opposition parties campaigning but it attacks the governing party too.
In a sense this resonates with this morning's thread. It all smacks of reducing plurality without which a democracy cannot survive. The ability of parties and individuals (don't forget, plenty of people run as Independents) to be able to communicate their message to the electorate through as many media as possible (including the old-fashioned leaflet) while recognising the need to maintain public health and safety (accepting we can't canvass in the usual way) is integral to a functioning democracy.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Then they complain to the local party office or tell you to sod off...
Indeed or in my case I was going to vote for their party , then they knocked despite such a sticker and they then forfeited that vote
Unbelievable. At 4.22, I opined specifically that nobody in real life is actually enough of a Victor Meldrew sourpuss to react like this.
Now here comes you to prove me wrong. And it had to be you, didn't it? Had to be you or that other guru of grim, @another_richard.
At the time we were getting bloody people knocking on the door 4 or 5 times a week trying to sell us stuff. Its not my job to answer the door to think his time is more important than mine so we just ended up putting up a sign saying "If you don't know us personally don't knock and kindly fuck off"
It actually said those words - fuck off? It would take real courage to overcome that. Doubt I would. I'd have slunk off into the night to look for easier encounters.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Then they complain to the local party office or tell you to sod off...
Indeed or in my case I was going to vote for their party , then they knocked despite such a sticker and they then forfeited that vote
Unbelievable. At 4.22, I opined specifically that nobody in real life is actually enough of a Victor Meldrew sourpuss to react like this.
Now here comes you to prove me wrong. And it had to be you, didn't it? Had to be you or that other guru of grim, @another_richard.
At the time we were getting bloody people knocking on the door 4 or 5 times a week trying to sell us stuff. Its not my job to answer the door to think his time is more important than mine so we just ended up putting up a sign saying "If you don't know us personally don't knock and kindly fuck off"
It actually said those words - fuck off? It would take real courage to overcome that. Doubt I would. I'd have slunk off into the night to look for easier encounters.
The elections in May are almost certain to be very low turnout indeed. The potential for some very surprising results must be quite high. Is there a chance, for example, that Shaun Bailey may drop to below second in London? Is there any chance of any incumbents losing anywhere? And, as I said a few days back, a reduced turnout in Scotland may well be the Tory get out of jail free card on an independence referendum. The separatists won a majority of the votes for the first time ever in Catalonia last Sunday but because it was on a massively reduced turnout no-one serious is talking about a revival of separatism.
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
- signs that the reduction in case numbers is levelling off in Scotland, Wales, the Midlands and North. Outside the south, estimated R rising back to 0.9
- evidence that a third of cases that test positive don’t have any of the ‘standard’ symptoms early in the infection, with tiredness, sore throat, headache and diarrhoea being the only symptoms.
Well, yes, it's an absurdity the local estate agent can put a leaflet through my door to tell me "there is huge demand for property in your area" but I can't get a leaflet from any political party telling me how this area, seemingly in such high demand, is going to be run.
I'm sure I would be being cynical if I thought this was a deliberate ploy by the governing Party to stop Opposition parties campaigning but it attacks the governing party too.
In a sense this resonates with this morning's thread. It all smacks of reducing plurality without which a democracy cannot survive. The ability of parties and individuals (don't forget, plenty of people run as Independents) to be able to communicate their message to the electorate through as many media as possible (including the old-fashioned leaflet) while recognising the need to maintain public health and safety (accepting we can't canvass in the usual way) is integral to a functioning democracy.
I suspect that there is a partisan differential. Romford Conservatives are something of an exception (they have an incredibly well-oiled campaign machine and distribute huge amounts of paper), but my impression is that in most places Conservative campaigns don't leaflet as much as others- not enough active activists.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Exactly. Although I have in my time given them a (mild to less mild depending upon their attitude) rebuke about democracy, etc. Which 100% of them responded positively to.
TBH I was selling double glazing (and window washing services another time) so there was limited room to appeal to a higher principle, I mean I could have extolled the virtues of the free market to them I guess...
LOL yes take it back to Hayek although given your political leanings might you not have strayed onto a critical analysis of the boss class given half a chance?
I sell him on the ultimate affordability of the windows based on a continuous growth model eventually shrinking the original debt to a negligible amount.
When the recession hits and his home is being repossessed I hit him with a Marxist analysis* and explain to him how the system is to blame and not me the innocent salesman
*Some study required (almost all of it)
@Nigel_Foremain TBH I was selling windows (and window related stuff) so stupidity was an easy enough sell.
Ah, sorry, my misunderstanding. Double grazing is clearly (sorry for pun) a much much easier sell than Jeremy Corbyn. Before you moved on to the advanced difficulty of selling Jezza did you try something of more intermediate? Encyclopaedia Britannica? Stone cladding perhaps?
Spoken like a man who has never tried to cold call sell double glazing to people before!
You are like the Jesus people, except it is worse because you want their money rather than their soul.
Selling double glazing would have equipped you better for Tory Party canvassing. It keeps the outside world at bay and is very popular in the suburbs. ☺
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
It is a triumph and one that we may only fully appreciate in a few years time when we look back on all this. Given the pandemic is ongoing it is hard to recognise just what an extraordinary achievement it all is. But the UK is genuinely and unequivocally leading the world here in an entirely positive way. It is something that we should all feel pretty chuffed about. Intriguingly, it feeds into a diverse set of political belief systems as well. As a social democrat I feel that my faith in the state as a force for good is being totally vindicated; but I can also recognise the raw business skill and Tory government foresight that allowed it all to happen. Only the terminally partisan would disagree ;-)
The elections in May are almost certain to be very low turnout indeed. The potential for some very surprising results must be quite high. Is there a chance, for example, that Shaun Bailey may drop to below second in London? Is there any chance of any incumbents losing anywhere? And, as I said a few days back, a reduced turnout in Scotland may well be the Tory get out of jail free card on an independence referendum. The separatists won a majority of the votes for the first time ever in Catalonia last Sunday but because it was on a massively reduced turnout no-one serious is talking about a revival of separatism.
I hadn't realised until you mentioned this and decided to look at the records that turnout in Scottish Parliament elections is quite as modest as it is - just under 56% in 2016, and only a shade over 50% in 2011. Considering how much power it has that's really quite remarkable (the figure for the 2019 General Election in Scotland was 68%.)
Given those data, you could argue that a sub-50% turnout is certainly possible and perhaps even likely. And you can understand how the UK Government might choose to spin such a weak endorsement of the Scottish Government as further justification for refusing to accede to its demands.
Oh well - I'm sure that any result which yields any kind of pro-independence majority (and the likelihood of any other outcome presently seems remote) will result in very loud and continual demands for a second referendum, regardless of the precise circumstances.
Well, yes, it's an absurdity the local estate agent can put a leaflet through my door to tell me "there is huge demand for property in your area" but I can't get a leaflet from any political party telling me how this area, seemingly in such high demand, is going to be run.
I'm sure I would be being cynical if I thought this was a deliberate ploy by the governing Party to stop Opposition parties campaigning but it attacks the governing party too.
In a sense this resonates with this morning's thread. It all smacks of reducing plurality without which a democracy cannot survive. The ability of parties and individuals (don't forget, plenty of people run as Independents) to be able to communicate their message to the electorate through as many media as possible (including the old-fashioned leaflet) while recognising the need to maintain public health and safety (accepting we can't canvass in the usual way) is integral to a functioning democracy.
I suspect that there is a partisan differential. Romford Conservatives are something of an exception (they have an incredibly well-oiled campaign machine and distribute huge amounts of paper), but my impression is that in most places Conservative campaigns don't leaflet as much as others- not enough active activists.
Not sure that is right. Where they need to go out, never a problem. In Torbay, we matched the LibDems leaflet for leaflet in 2015 and 2017. We were actually ahead of the LibDems in Totnes in 2019.
We heard that it was the LibDems who had the problem getting door-knockers out there. Where they had the MP. They just had a huge "national spend" campaign there instead. How you can count buying a wrapper around a series of newspapers that are sold exclusively in one constituency as "national spend" is one of those things that makes you "hmmmmmm...."
How droll. But seriously, might Farage not get too carried away?
Why do think I suggested it? Farage would make an absolute success of it. He will probably win another bloody referendum.
I envisage his program as moderate and balanced. It would be:
1. Armed border police to monitor our lawns. Fully trained detectives, with military back-up, would identify the doggy perpetrators of dirty deeds.
2. Web cameras and surveillance equipment. Lawns, parks & public rights of way would be continuously monitored for canine defecators.
3. Suitable punishment. A dog caught trespassing & depositing fecal matter on a property without permission will be supplied to ASDA for their Deep Fill Steak & Gravy Puff Pastry Pie range. And the owner too.
It is really an extension of Farage's existing work.
You foirgot DNA sampling of all pooches to test and trace back to perpetrators.
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
It is a triumph and one that we may only fully appreciate in a few years time when we look back on all this. Given the pandemic is ongoing it is hard to recognise just what an extraordinary achievement it all is. But the UK is genuinely and unequivocally leading the world here in an entirely positive way. It is something that we should all feel pretty chuffed about. Intriguingly, it feeds into a diverse set of political belief systems as well. As a social democrat I feel that my faith in the state as a force for good is being totally vindicated; but I can also recognise the raw business skill and Tory government foresight that allowed it all to happen. Only the terminally partisan would disagree ;-)
'Business'.
Vaccination programme = NHS (mainly), and its Scottish, Nirish and Welsh equivalents, with Army help, largely.
T&T = private sector.
Spot the difference.
(Vaccines themselves a mixture of the two, admittedly.)
Edit: the latter inclusing both univewrsities and hospitals.
We all know where there's muck there's brass. So surely dogshit must be good for something?
What I can't fathom is people who put it in a bag, hang it on a bush and then just leave it. I mean what. the. f***.
Apparently it was used by tanners, to tan leather. My source is a Terry Pratchett book, but I think he usually did his research for this sort of thing.
How droll. But seriously, might Farage not get too carried away?
Why do think I suggested it? Farage would make an absolute success of it. He will probably win another bloody referendum.
I envisage his program as moderate and balanced. It would be:
1. Armed border police to monitor our lawns. Fully trained detectives, with military back-up, would identify the doggy perpetrators of dirty deeds.
2. Web cameras and surveillance equipment. Lawns, parks & public rights of way would be continuously monitored for canine defecators.
3. Suitable punishment. A dog caught trespassing & depositing fecal matter on a property without permission will be supplied to ASDA for their Deep Fill Steak & Gravy Puff Pastry Pie range. And the owner too.
It is really an extension of Farage's existing work.
You foirgot DNA sampling of all pooches to test and trace back to perpetrators.
To be serious for a moment, successive lockdowns have seen a vast increase in irresponsible dog-ownership. Once the pandemic is under control, and especially if unemployment rises after furlough ends, will there be a corresponding surge in dumped dogs?
ETA: on second thoughts, if unemployment rises, buying dog food might look expensive. If it does not, then return to work might mean less time to walk dogs.
My experience with canvassing houses with no canvassing stickers is almost perfectly to a man (almost always an older man) they open the door see you are a salesman (or technically canvasser) and do an exaggerated point to the sticker on the door saying no canvassers whilst looking at you sternly.
Then you say my mistake didn't see it and canvass them anyway....
Then they complain to the local party office or tell you to sod off...
Indeed or in my case I was going to vote for their party , then they knocked despite such a sticker and they then forfeited that vote
Unbelievable. At 4.22, I opined specifically that nobody in real life is actually enough of a Victor Meldrew sourpuss to react like this. Now here comes you to prove me wrong.
And it had to be you, didn't it? Had to be you or that other guru of grim, @another_richard.
So heres the rationale for removing my vote from them. "If I can't trust you to follow a simple written instruction how can I trust you to follow your manifesto?"
Harsh but fair. I think that's the phrase. Anyway, you have lived up to my confidential profile of you and it's nice when that happens. ☺
I think it's fair game for political opponents to take potshots at each other, and if it's from someone's official account it's as good as from them, they've entrusted someone to do it.
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
It is a triumph and one that we may only fully appreciate in a few years time when we look back on all this. Given the pandemic is ongoing it is hard to recognise just what an extraordinary achievement it all is. But the UK is genuinely and unequivocally leading the world here in an entirely positive way. It is something that we should all feel pretty chuffed about. Intriguingly, it feeds into a diverse set of political belief systems as well. As a social democrat I feel that my faith in the state as a force for good is being totally vindicated; but I can also recognise the raw business skill and Tory government foresight that allowed it all to happen. Only the terminally partisan would disagree ;-)
And of course an extraordinary achievement by the scientists, both in academia and in the pharmaceutical companies, and also by those getting the production organised - these are very complex processes.
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
It is a triumph and one that we may only fully appreciate in a few years time when we look back on all this. Given the pandemic is ongoing it is hard to recognise just what an extraordinary achievement it all is. But the UK is genuinely and unequivocally leading the world here in an entirely positive way. It is something that we should all feel pretty chuffed about. Intriguingly, it feeds into a diverse set of political belief systems as well. As a social democrat I feel that my faith in the state as a force for good is being totally vindicated; but I can also recognise the raw business skill and Tory government foresight that allowed it all to happen. Only the terminally partisan would disagree ;-)
'Business'.
Vaccination programme = NHS (mainly), and its Scottish, Nirish and Welsh equivalents, with Army help, largely.
T&T = private sector.
Spot the difference.
(Vaccines themselves a mixture of the two, admittedly.)
A little disingenuous in that there would be no vaccination programme without a vaccine.
We all know where there's muck there's brass. So surely dogshit must be good for something?
What I can't fathom is people who put it in a bag, hang it on a bush and then just leave it. I mean what. the. f***.
Apparently it was used by tanners, to tan leather. My source is a Terry Pratchett book, but I think he usually did his research for this sort of thing.
The Truth, part of the business empire of Harry King, King of the Golden River aka Piss Harry.
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
It is a triumph and one that we may only fully appreciate in a few years time when we look back on all this. Given the pandemic is ongoing it is hard to recognise just what an extraordinary achievement it all is. But the UK is genuinely and unequivocally leading the world here in an entirely positive way. It is something that we should all feel pretty chuffed about. Intriguingly, it feeds into a diverse set of political belief systems as well. As a social democrat I feel that my faith in the state as a force for good is being totally vindicated; but I can also recognise the raw business skill and Tory government foresight that allowed it all to happen. Only the terminally partisan would disagree ;-)
One of the best and fairest posts on covid which only the politically biased could not agree with 100%
So this raises aerosol transmission higher up the likelihood list?
Not necessarily - droplets rather than aerosols are still the principal source of transmission in all the literature I have read. That is not to say that there is no aerosol, or fomites, or faecal-oral transmission, just that the bulk of transmission seems to be from droplets.
The elections in May are almost certain to be very low turnout indeed. The potential for some very surprising results must be quite high. Is there a chance, for example, that Shaun Bailey may drop to below second in London? Is there any chance of any incumbents losing anywhere? And, as I said a few days back, a reduced turnout in Scotland may well be the Tory get out of jail free card on an independence referendum. The separatists won a majority of the votes for the first time ever in Catalonia last Sunday but because it was on a massively reduced turnout no-one serious is talking about a revival of separatism.
I hadn't realised until you mentioned this and decided to look at the records that turnout in Scottish Parliament elections is quite as modest as it is - just under 56% in 2016, and only a shade over 50% in 2011. Considering how much power it has that's really quite remarkable (the figure for the 2019 General Election in Scotland was 68%.)
Given those data, you could argue that a sub-50% turnout is certainly possible and perhaps even likely. And you can understand how the UK Government might choose to spin such a weak endorsement of the Scottish Government as further justification for refusing to accede to its demands.
Oh well - I'm sure that any result which yields any kind of pro-independence majority (and the likelihood of any other outcome presently seems remote) will result in very loud and continual demands for a second referendum, regardless of the precise circumstances.
Don't ever look at the devolved Welsh election which have been won every time .... by the Can't Be Arsed Party.
Turnout in 2003 was the lowest at 38.2 per cent.
There is a good chance that 2021 could stoop lower.
I seriously doubt whether I will be able to find anyone to vote for.
We all know where there's muck there's brass. So surely dogshit must be good for something?
What I can't fathom is people who put it in a bag, hang it on a bush and then just leave it. I mean what. the. f***.
Apparently it was used by tanners, to tan leather. My source is a Terry Pratchett book, but I think he usually did his research for this sort of thing.
It was. The finest gloves, oddly enough.
Even more oddly it was called 'pure' in the trade.
How droll. But seriously, might Farage not get too carried away?
Why do think I suggested it? Farage would make an absolute success of it. He will probably win another bloody referendum.
I envisage his program as moderate and balanced. It would be:
1. Armed border police to monitor our lawns. Fully trained detectives, with military back-up, would identify the doggy perpetrators of dirty deeds.
2. Web cameras and surveillance equipment. Lawns, parks & public rights of way would be continuously monitored for canine defecators.
3. Suitable punishment. A dog caught trespassing & depositing fecal matter on a property without permission will be supplied to ASDA for their Deep Fill Steak & Gravy Puff Pastry Pie range. And the owner too.
It is really an extension of Farage's existing work.
You foirgot DNA sampling of all pooches to test and trace back to perpetrators.
To be serious for a moment, successive lockdowns have seen a vast increase in irresponsible dog-ownership. Once the pandemic is under control, and especially if unemployment rises after furlough ends, will there be a corresponding surge in dumped dogs?
Almost certainly. Lockdown has been like one vast Christmas for dog ownership. Come the end of it there'll be a lot of WFH employees trying to juggle going back to the office three days a week with stopping the dog from going mental, a lot more furloughed workers who find themselves out of a job and needing to cut down the expenses, and quite possibly a meaningful number of children who lose interest in the new toy once they're back in school full-time.
Or, to put it more brutally, when people get into financial difficulties and are forced to list all the things they might have to economise on, a lot of them are going to put the dog somewhere below the Sky Sports subscription, let alone putting food on the table for the family. A lot of charity emergency appeals, featuring images of doggies with huge sad eyes looking up into the camera, are to be expected when the Plague is finally crushed.
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
It is a triumph and one that we may only fully appreciate in a few years time when we look back on all this. Given the pandemic is ongoing it is hard to recognise just what an extraordinary achievement it all is. But the UK is genuinely and unequivocally leading the world here in an entirely positive way. It is something that we should all feel pretty chuffed about. Intriguingly, it feeds into a diverse set of political belief systems as well. As a social democrat I feel that my faith in the state as a force for good is being totally vindicated; but I can also recognise the raw business skill and Tory government foresight that allowed it all to happen. Only the terminally partisan would disagree ;-)
Perhaps a demonstration of the fact that there are some things the state does well and some things private enterprise does well, and the real trick is to work out which is which? I certainly think our sometimes maligned NHS has been at its best in organising the vaccination effort.
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
It's hard not to be impressed but I have some niggling concerns.
I get the sense the vaccination rollout is perhaps inevitably uneven. In some areas, most of those in the top six or seven groups seem to have been vaccinated but in my part of the world (East London), I suspect the numbers are nowhere near so good.
Properly re-opening society and the economy requires all those at risk to be vaccinated - we can't do this if all the vulnerable in one part of the country have been vaccinated but in the next area they are still struggling to get through the last two or three groups.
I'd much prefer "surplus" supplies not to be used to vaccinate 40-somethings in one area if 60-somethings in another area aren't getting the vaccine.
I have to say the data on transmission is impressive. The fact the vaccination not only prevent you getting seriously ill from coronavirus but prevents you passing it on to those not vaccinated is a big plus irrespective of the above.
We still need evidence of the longer-term efficacy of the vaccines. Will they be as effective after 180 days as after 21 or 60? That will drive when and in what way the next phase of vaccinations needs to happen. Those who were vaccinated in December and January may wonder, if it becomes clear immunity eases after six months, what they will need to do to enjoy the summer.
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
It is a triumph and one that we may only fully appreciate in a few years time when we look back on all this. Given the pandemic is ongoing it is hard to recognise just what an extraordinary achievement it all is. But the UK is genuinely and unequivocally leading the world here in an entirely positive way. It is something that we should all feel pretty chuffed about. Intriguingly, it feeds into a diverse set of political belief systems as well. As a social democrat I feel that my faith in the state as a force for good is being totally vindicated; but I can also recognise the raw business skill and Tory government foresight that allowed it all to happen. Only the terminally partisan would disagree ;-)
'Business'.
Vaccination programme = NHS (mainly), and its Scottish, Nirish and Welsh equivalents, with Army help, largely.
T&T = private sector.
Spot the difference.
(Vaccines themselves a mixture of the two, admittedly.)
A little disingenuous in that there would be no vaccination programme without a vaccine.
I did add that in an emendation, but quite - while remembering no vaccines without university research.
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
It is a triumph and one that we may only fully appreciate in a few years time when we look back on all this. Given the pandemic is ongoing it is hard to recognise just what an extraordinary achievement it all is. But the UK is genuinely and unequivocally leading the world here in an entirely positive way. It is something that we should all feel pretty chuffed about. Intriguingly, it feeds into a diverse set of political belief systems as well. As a social democrat I feel that my faith in the state as a force for good is being totally vindicated; but I can also recognise the raw business skill and Tory government foresight that allowed it all to happen. Only the terminally partisan would disagree ;-)
And of course an extraordinary achievement by the scientists, both in academia and in the pharmaceutical companies, and also by those getting the production organised - these are very complex processes.
Especially as it was the scientists who, having observed the utter hash that the clown and his acolytes made of PPE procurement, insisted that vaccine procurement be empowered to a special task force well beyond arms length of this government.
Leaving aside the four-nation rivalry, we really should stop and wonder at the extraordinary fact that from a standing start on 8th December, we've now vaccinated about a third of all adults in the UK, including the majority of the most at-risk. That's pretty stunning both in delivery, and in vaccine development and production for a virus which was identified only just over a year ago.
It is a triumph and one that we may only fully appreciate in a few years time when we look back on all this. Given the pandemic is ongoing it is hard to recognise just what an extraordinary achievement it all is. But the UK is genuinely and unequivocally leading the world here in an entirely positive way. It is something that we should all feel pretty chuffed about. Intriguingly, it feeds into a diverse set of political belief systems as well. As a social democrat I feel that my faith in the state as a force for good is being totally vindicated; but I can also recognise the raw business skill and Tory government foresight that allowed it all to happen. Only the terminally partisan would disagree ;-)
And of course an extraordinary achievement by the scientists, both in academia and in the pharmaceutical companies, and also by those getting the production organised - these are very complex processes.
The science play is just phenomenal. It shows what can be achieved when the incentives exist. If we can find a way to harness the same spirit in areas relating to climate change we may yet have a chance of saving the world from environmental catastrophe.
We all know where there's muck there's brass. So surely dogshit must be good for something?
What I can't fathom is people who put it in a bag, hang it on a bush and then just leave it. I mean what. the. f***.
Apparently it was used by tanners, to tan leather. My source is a Terry Pratchett book, but I think he usually did his research for this sort of thing.
The Truth, part of the business empire of Harry King, King of the Golden River aka Piss Harry.
Comments
There is no excuse!
It is a very annoying problem. There's a local nature reserve that needs grassland management, which in normal circumstances means cutting the grass and selling the hay. Unfortunately, the hay has no value due to all the "extras", and it is a right royal pain to get rid of. The cuttings have to be removed otherwise the grassland becomes too enriched. No matter how many notices you put up, nothing changes.
Queen Mary, when driving about the Isle of Wight in her Daimler would stop and pick up youngsters in the countryside to give them a lift. One day she picked up a young lad and when she said "I'm Queen Mary" the unfortunate lad (honestly) replied "Yes, and I'm Neville Chamberlain". She had the car stopped and him put back out into the rain for impertinence.
However, not why I'm writing. Seeing mention of case numbers, I know many posters feel reopening should be linked not to that but to deaths and hospitalizations. This is logical, and in reality, behind the scenes, I'm sure it will be deaths and hospitalizations which drive the decisions. But when it comes to presentation to the public, the PR of it, the government will always talk about reopening being linked to case numbers and here's why. If Boris Johnson says we can reopen when deaths or hospitalizations are down to such and such a number, this sounds a bit "off". It sounds unfeeling. And it lends itself to the dumbo flip around of "Oh, so you are happy with X people dying and Y people in ICU, Prime Minister, are you?"
A world of pain.
So, although the reopening will be driven by deaths and hospitalizations, when it comes to discourse with the public it will be all "case numbers". They'll be able to carry this off because they know the relationship between positive tests and serious sickness and death. I suggest we cut them some slack and don't get angsty when this happens - especially now I've tipped the wink on it.
In Scotland, the situation is particular accute, because Nicola Sturgeon and her ministers insist upon a daily press briefing lead by a politician, which has been used frequently as a platform to criticise the UK Government. In an election where everybody else is banned from campaigning, it is not really acceptable.
My suggestion would be that during a 'purdah' period, Coronavirus updates across the UK be lead by Government experts, not Ministers. This should be enforced by the electoral commission, which should also do a sniff test on Government information campaigns, for political messaging.
Quite a nice thought.
If we can countenance fining people £10,000 for lying at the airport about where they've just come back from, then we can certainly justify the execution of repeat dog shit offenders. It's the way forward. I'm surprised that the Home Secretary hasn't thought of it already, TBH.
When the recession hits and his home is being repossessed I hit him with a Marxist analysis* and explain to him how the system is to blame and not me the innocent salesman
*Some study required (almost all of it)
@Nigel_Foremain TBH I was selling windows (and window related stuff) so stupidity was an easy enough sell.
And it had to be you, didn't it? Had to be you or that other guru of grim, @another_richard.
That being said... people will also take fewer precautions as (a) case counts come down, (b) they get tired of lockdown, and (c) they get less concerned about infecting (and killing) granny.
https://twitter.com/VKJudit/status/1362805848565833728?s=20
https://twitter.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1362797439812575234?s=20
I envisage his program as moderate and balanced. It would be:
1. Armed border police to monitor our lawns. Fully trained detectives, with military back-up, would identify the doggy perpetrators of dirty deeds.
2. Web cameras and surveillance equipment. Lawns, parks & public rights of way would be continuously monitored for canine defecators.
3. Suitable punishment. A dog caught trespassing & depositing fecal matter on a property without permission will be supplied to ASDA for their Deep Fill Steak & Gravy Puff Pastry Pie range. And the owner too.
It is really an extension of Farage's existing work.
What I can't fathom is people who put it in a bag, hang it on a bush and then just leave it. I mean what. the. f***.
https://twitter.com/COVID19actuary/status/1362816930361602055?s=20
Seriously, policies do need to be credible. The public may be willing to consider Draconian measures, but the British people are not completely mad. Well, some of them aren't, anyway.
You are like the Jesus people, except it is worse because you want their money rather than their soul.
Pigeon excrement is still used in Morocco.
https://twitter.com/BrunoBrussels/status/1362821209671483395?s=20
But, you are of course right. I imagine dog-owners who allow their runty pets to defecate all over the place probably tend to stringiness with too much gristle. There is nothing worse than a chewy mouthful.
A preliminary marinading is always possible, of course.
Surely someone on pb.com must know Raymond Blanc's mother-in-law or George Escoffier's great grandson, and be able to suggest a suitable dish of the grande cuisine
Labour weren't happy, and there was a twitter spat yesterday. Not many pixels were hurt.
However, the Labour MP has canvassed my wife over the phone, from the tone of the conversation I thought it was a polling firm.
Although I’d expect it to be lower at the moment as the vaccination has been concentrated in demographics less likely to be going around (work, etc) or being potential superspreaders. This will change as the programme gets further along into other demographic age bands.
Well, yes, it's an absurdity the local estate agent can put a leaflet through my door to tell me "there is huge demand for property in your area" but I can't get a leaflet from any political party telling me how this area, seemingly in such high demand, is going to be run.
I'm sure I would be being cynical if I thought this was a deliberate ploy by the governing Party to stop Opposition parties campaigning but it attacks the governing party too.
In a sense this resonates with this morning's thread. It all smacks of reducing plurality without which a democracy cannot survive. The ability of parties and individuals (don't forget, plenty of people run as Independents) to be able to communicate their message to the electorate through as many media as possible (including the old-fashioned leaflet) while recognising the need to maintain public health and safety (accepting we can't canvass in the usual way) is integral to a functioning democracy.
https://twitter.com/iamkatemiller/status/1362799585240866816
Class is permanent.
- signs that the reduction in case numbers is levelling off in Scotland, Wales, the Midlands and North. Outside the south, estimated R rising back to 0.9
- evidence that a third of cases that test positive don’t have any of the ‘standard’ symptoms early in the infection, with tiredness, sore throat, headache and diarrhoea being the only symptoms.
https://twitter.com/nicolasturgeon/status/1362824721843240966?s=21
Edit - at a guess this is a SPAD not herself.....
https://twitter.com/CityAM/status/1362830776027516928?s=19
Given those data, you could argue that a sub-50% turnout is certainly possible and perhaps even likely. And you can understand how the UK Government might choose to spin such a weak endorsement of the Scottish Government as further justification for refusing to accede to its demands.
Oh well - I'm sure that any result which yields any kind of pro-independence majority (and the likelihood of any other outcome presently seems remote) will result in very loud and continual demands for a second referendum, regardless of the precise circumstances.
We heard that it was the LibDems who had the problem getting door-knockers out there. Where they had the MP. They just had a huge "national spend" campaign there instead. How you can count buying a wrapper around a series of newspapers that are sold exclusively in one constituency as "national spend" is one of those things that makes you "hmmmmmm...."
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/27/dog-dna-test-pooprints
Behaviour change preceded immunological response.
Vaccine effectiveness was net zero until after two weeks.
Vaccination programme = NHS (mainly), and its Scottish, Nirish and Welsh equivalents, with Army help, largely.
T&T = private sector.
Spot the difference.
(Vaccines themselves a mixture of the two, admittedly.)
Edit: the latter inclusing both univewrsities and hospitals.
ETA: on second thoughts, if unemployment rises, buying dog food might look expensive. If it does not, then return to work might mean less time to walk dogs.
This little graph does make me wonder whether 10 days of isolation is enough for the new variant. There may well be a prolonged transmission risk.
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1362049551490637834?s=09
Turnout in 2003 was the lowest at 38.2 per cent.
There is a good chance that 2021 could stoop lower.
I seriously doubt whether I will be able to find anyone to vote for.
https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1362824389167824900
Even more oddly it was called 'pure' in the trade.
*checks*
https://www.vettimes.co.uk/app/uploads/wp-post-to-pdf-enhanced-cache/1/a-dirty-job-but-not-to-be-sniffed-at.pdf
I suspect there might be a Tony Robinson documentary about it, too.
https://twitter.com/peston/status/1362827042933374979?s=21
Or, to put it more brutally, when people get into financial difficulties and are forced to list all the things they might have to economise on, a lot of them are going to put the dog somewhere below the Sky Sports subscription, let alone putting food on the table for the family. A lot of charity emergency appeals, featuring images of doggies with huge sad eyes looking up into the camera, are to be expected when the Plague is finally crushed.
I get the sense the vaccination rollout is perhaps inevitably uneven. In some areas, most of those in the top six or seven groups seem to have been vaccinated but in my part of the world (East London), I suspect the numbers are nowhere near so good.
Properly re-opening society and the economy requires all those at risk to be vaccinated - we can't do this if all the vulnerable in one part of the country have been vaccinated but in the next area they are still struggling to get through the last two or three groups.
I'd much prefer "surplus" supplies not to be used to vaccinate 40-somethings in one area if 60-somethings in another area aren't getting the vaccine.
I have to say the data on transmission is impressive. The fact the vaccination not only prevent you getting seriously ill from coronavirus but prevents you passing it on to those not vaccinated is a big plus irrespective of the above.
We still need evidence of the longer-term efficacy of the vaccines. Will they be as effective after 180 days as after 21 or 60? That will drive when and in what way the next phase of vaccinations needs to happen. Those who were vaccinated in December and January may wonder, if it becomes clear immunity eases after six months, what they will need to do to enjoy the summer.