Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
Our third wave is nearly over. In Leicester we now have just a dozen in ICU, down from 70 in January, and 75 on the wards, down from 500 at the peak. The attrition on staff still shows. I don't know where the permanent ICU staff have gone, but we cannot staff it except using operating theatre nurses and ODPs. We are at least another month off being able to operate on the waiting list.
I'm sure that Leicester hospitals had a much tougher time so far than the hospitals in NRW, but it's just that here it has been going on for so long, and now is about to get much worse again, of course it's very disheartening for staff. But people are soldiering on. This would probably be the time for people to stand outside in the evening and applaud, but that was a long time ago.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
It seems incredibly unlikely that the vaccines won’t offer at least some protection for some people. So even if, as is likely, new vaccines are continually produced, I don’t see COVID being a problem in terms of reopening the domestic economy. Unless your a zero COVID idiot, that is.
With half the world circling the abyss, I wonder if the government is planning for that scenario. Whilst we all hope for the best, a government should plan for the worst. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that our current off-on scenario carries on for years.
No, it is beyond the realms of possibilities. International travel might not return for some time, but COVID will cease to be a problem globally once the vaccines have done their work. Sadly, in some places like Brazil, herd immunity is likely to be reached naturally.
I’ve heard people say ‘never’ before. I suspect there are few twists and turns yet and hope that the government is planning contingencies and finding ways to support the global rollout to reduce the likelihood of a mutant strain that resets the clock.
There are no guarantees but the Covid virus isn't a God and can only mutate so much.
At the end of the day if the whole adult population has been vaccinated and has antibodies for the fundamentals swimming around in their bloodstream (even if topped up annually) it can't do anything like as much damage as it did up to now, and deaths and hospitalisations shouldn't happen regardless.
We might need to change our risk appetite a bit though and tolerate a level of mild-moderate infections.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
It seems incredibly unlikely that the vaccines won’t offer at least some protection for some people. So even if, as is likely, new vaccines are continually produced, I don’t see COVID being a problem in terms of reopening the domestic economy. Unless your a zero COVID idiot, that is.
With half the world circling the abyss, I wonder if the government is planning for that scenario. Whilst we all hope for the best, a government should plan for the worst. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that our current off-on scenario carries on for years.
No, it is beyond the realms of possibilities. International travel might not return for some time, but COVID will cease to be a problem globally once the vaccines have done their work. Sadly, in some places like Brazil, herd immunity is likely to be reached naturally.
Yes, I don't think that we can have international travel this year. The Isle of Wight for me, though that is my usual summer spot in any case. I am hopeful for Madeira in December, as it does seem that we get the boosters for variants by then. Madeira is very low risk anyway.
I had rather fancied Botswana and Namibia in June, but the virus has done for that.
Good grief, the Isle of Wight, has it come to that?
I go there several holidays per year, and have done so for decades. Mrs Foxy has lots of family there, but it is a great break too. Some bits are naff, others glorious, but that is true of most places. Rock pooling, fossicking for ammonites, watching boats and ships pass by are some of the simplistic and purest of pleasures.
IOW = rain, school trips, caravans and geriatrics. Maybe time to take another look. Like the little train.
It has all of those things. Nephews and nieces off school, cheap accommodation, old folk to visit. I regard these as further good points, but there is much more too.
As for rain, I take a robust view on weather: there is no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing.
Mr. Sandpit, aye. I'm inclined to agree though that may or may not be enough to beat Red Bull. I suspect it'll be Ham-Ver front row, then Bottas.
There is an off-chance the Finn could be ahead of his team mate, happened now and then in recent years. The cars should be ahead of the competition and I think Perez isn't quite there yet.
Third practice is midday, UK time, with qualifying at 3pm. Race is at 4pm, which is slightly later than I'd like, but they didn't ask me.
Mr. Sandpit, aye. I'm inclined to agree though that may or may not be enough to beat Red Bull. I suspect it'll be Ham-Ver front row, then Bottas.
There is an off-chance the Finn could be ahead of his team mate, happened now and then in recent years. The cars should be ahead of the competition and I think Perez isn't quite there yet.
Third practice is midday, UK time, with qualifying at 3pm. Race is at 4pm, which is slightly later than I'd like, but they didn't ask me.
Race is still at 15:00 (well 15:10) GMT - its just that our clocks have gone forward.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
Our third wave is nearly over. In Leicester we now have just a dozen in ICU, down from 70 in January, and 75 on the wards, down from 500 at the peak. The attrition on staff still shows. I don't know where the permanent ICU staff have gone, but we cannot staff it except using operating theatre nurses and ODPs. We are at least another month off being able to operate on the waiting list.
I'm sure that Leicester hospitals had a much tougher time so far than the hospitals in NRW, but it's just that here it has been going on for so long, and now is about to get much worse again, of course it's very disheartening for staff. But people are soldiering on. This would probably be the time for people to stand outside in the evening and applaud, but that was a long time ago.
That was noticeable when I was on ICU in Jan/Feb. In the first wave the break room groaned under the weight of gifts, the second wave, weeks would go by with none. Everyone is fatigued by it all.
Though this week we did get a box of handcreams from Avon, much appreciated!
Mr. Sandpit, aye. I'm inclined to agree though that may or may not be enough to beat Red Bull. I suspect it'll be Ham-Ver front row, then Bottas.
There is an off-chance the Finn could be ahead of his team mate, happened now and then in recent years. The cars should be ahead of the competition and I think Perez isn't quite there yet.
Third practice is midday, UK time, with qualifying at 3pm. Race is at 4pm, which is slightly later than I'd like, but they didn't ask me.
Race is still at 15:00 (well 15:10) GMT - its just that our clocks have gone forward.
Not 15:10, 15:00. They’ve changed the start time for this year.
Mr. Sandpit, aye. I'm inclined to agree though that may or may not be enough to beat Red Bull. I suspect it'll be Ham-Ver front row, then Bottas.
There is an off-chance the Finn could be ahead of his team mate, happened now and then in recent years. The cars should be ahead of the competition and I think Perez isn't quite there yet.
Third practice is midday, UK time, with qualifying at 3pm. Race is at 4pm, which is slightly later than I'd like, but they didn't ask me.
Race is still at 15:00 (well 15:10) GMT - its just that our clocks have gone forward.
Not 15:10, 15:00. They’ve changed the start time for this year.
Interesting, the 10 past the hour start seemed sensible from a broadcasting perspective, but it sounds like the teams didn’t like it.
Mr. Sandpit, that start time change will annoy quite a few people. It was pointless to begin with, but I imagine many will miss the start of the first race because of such dicking about.
We might need to change our risk appetite a bit though and tolerate a level of mild-moderate infections.
I don't think that's quite right. The problem is that people have learnt, through bitter experience, that the pattern for the virus is that a moderate level of infections is followed by a high level of infections, is followed by the hospitals being swamped. We've seen that over and over again.
It might take a while to accept that the vaccine has broken that pattern. It's the hospitals being swamped people will be scared is the risk.
I don't think it's that people are intolerant of any risk.
Imagine how much more fun UK elections would be if we kept all these old colonies and incorporated those we still have.
‘It’s a tight race in Gozo, malta’
‘Labour doing well here in grand cayman island’
‘Reporting now from the famous beach of la digue, in the Seychelles, where the lib dems are putting up a stiff fight’
‘Breaking news from South Georgia: a lost deposit for the guano party, which is in coalition with UKIP’
The local parties in Gibraltar apparently didn't stand in European Parliament elections (presumably as little point given it was part of the SW England region), and instead endorsed the UK parties accordingly - 2014 saw a 49% swing to the LDs, and over the course of the period they could vote in them the Conservative vote dropped from 69.52% in 2004 to 2.7% in 2019, below even that of the Brexit Party.
We really should incorporate- if they want - all the remaining fragments of the empire. Falklands, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Pitcairn, Tristan. South Georgia.
We could even put in a late bid for PNG, Tuvalu, the Solomons
Well, Tuvalu, I believe the smallest independent state by population (I don't count Vatican City), did reject abolition of the monarchy only 13 years ago, but it'd be an odd thing to go Indy and then change your mind.
Papua New Guinea would be the big one. 9 million people. Vast incredible beautiful challenging island. Many stunning offshore islands.
Lots of social problems, but also a land of enormous potential.
A good partner and project for post brexit Britain.
It was expected, when they went Indy, they would become a republic. They didn’t. They prefer the crown and links to Britain. Let us make them the fifth constituent nation in the UK
More the merrier I say.
To be honest it would be worth doing just for the ecological protection we could offer, with sustainable tourism.
I'd say the number of people willing to spend a day and a half in Y Class to the get to the murder capital of the world (Port Moresby) is a limited market.
Don't forget there's a Northern part of the SWCP. I take the doggy for a walk next to a signpost which says - Poole 629 and three quarter miles. I manage the first three quarters before it gets seriously hilly on Minehead's North Hill before it reaches Porlock. Wonderful views for miles and lots of hilly stuff till you get to the overcrowded bits in Devon and Cornwall.
Mr. Sandpit, aye. I'm inclined to agree though that may or may not be enough to beat Red Bull. I suspect it'll be Ham-Ver front row, then Bottas.
There is an off-chance the Finn could be ahead of his team mate, happened now and then in recent years. The cars should be ahead of the competition and I think Perez isn't quite there yet.
Third practice is midday, UK time, with qualifying at 3pm. Race is at 4pm, which is slightly later than I'd like, but they didn't ask me.
Race is still at 15:00 (well 15:10) GMT - its just that our clocks have gone forward.
Not 15:10, 15:00. They’ve changed the start time for this year.
Interesting, the 10 past the hour start seemed sensible from a broadcasting perspective, but it sounds like the teams didn’t like it.
It made sense to me, the broadcasters started on the hour and had five minutes to do their introductions before the official F1 world feed started. Not sure why they moved it back to be honest. The teams had to approve the change in the regulations, but I doubt they cared much either way.
Mr. Sandpit, aye. I'm inclined to agree though that may or may not be enough to beat Red Bull. I suspect it'll be Ham-Ver front row, then Bottas.
There is an off-chance the Finn could be ahead of his team mate, happened now and then in recent years. The cars should be ahead of the competition and I think Perez isn't quite there yet.
Third practice is midday, UK time, with qualifying at 3pm. Race is at 4pm, which is slightly later than I'd like, but they didn't ask me.
Race is still at 15:00 (well 15:10) GMT - its just that our clocks have gone forward.
Not 15:10, 15:00. They’ve changed the start time for this year.
I'm surprised - I change in time was to allow TV firms to start programming on the hour - but I guess the teams want the 30 to 60 minutes of build up for advertising purposes.
Interestingly I see Mclaren to win the constructors championship are now 20 on Betfair. A bet I recommended at 100 to 1 back in December.
Mr. eek, McLaren are looking strong, at this very early stage, but I'd be surprised to a very significant degree if they were able to contest the title.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
In what is perhaps the only good use for the ‘track changes’ function to be left on, the F1 sporting regulations can be found here - with the differences between 2020 and 2021 kindly appearing in bright pink!
Imagine how much more fun UK elections would be if we kept all these old colonies and incorporated those we still have.
‘It’s a tight race in Gozo, malta’
‘Labour doing well here in grand cayman island’
‘Reporting now from the famous beach of la digue, in the Seychelles, where the lib dems are putting up a stiff fight’
‘Breaking news from South Georgia: a lost deposit for the guano party, which is in coalition with UKIP’
The local parties in Gibraltar apparently didn't stand in European Parliament elections (presumably as little point given it was part of the SW England region), and instead endorsed the UK parties accordingly - 2014 saw a 49% swing to the LDs, and over the course of the period they could vote in them the Conservative vote dropped from 69.52% in 2004 to 2.7% in 2019, below even that of the Brexit Party.
We really should incorporate- if they want - all the remaining fragments of the empire. Falklands, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Pitcairn, Tristan. South Georgia.
We could even put in a late bid for PNG, Tuvalu, the Solomons
Well, Tuvalu, I believe the smallest independent state by population (I don't count Vatican City), did reject abolition of the monarchy only 13 years ago, but it'd be an odd thing to go Indy and then change your mind.
Papua New Guinea would be the big one. 9 million people. Vast incredible beautiful challenging island. Many stunning offshore islands.
Lots of social problems, but also a land of enormous potential.
A good partner and project for post brexit Britain.
It was expected, when they went Indy, they would become a republic. They didn’t. They prefer the crown and links to Britain. Let us make them the fifth constituent nation in the UK
More the merrier I say.
To be honest it would be worth doing just for the ecological protection we could offer, with sustainable tourism.
I'd say the number of people willing to spend a day and a half in Y Class to the get to the murder capital of the world (Port Moresby) is a limited market.
There are some parts of the world where tourists are scared and stay in tourist bubbles, and when you get outside of these find that actually the locals are welcoming and curious. This was my experience of New Caledonia (apart from the airport bus), and Kenya, Malawi, Mexico etc.
There are some places where I would take personal safety very seriously, including urban South Africa and PNG. I have felt quite unsafe in the wrong part of town in the USA, France and Germany too.
I should also add the SWCP is one of the best experiences I've ever had. I saw such gorgeous and pristine coastline, throughout Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, as well as beautiful hidden beeches and picture-postcard villages.
I loved every minute of it, despite the hiking effort and wild camping. So rewarding. My main regret is there was so much I simply can't remember it all. I should have taken notes. Instead I stared, paused and dreamt.
Mr. eek, McLaren are looking strong, at this very early stage, but I'd be surprised to a very significant degree if they were able to contest the title.
Oh I don't suspect they will contest the championship - I just think that 100 to 1 was a value bet.
Truth be told we won't know anything until the end of qualifying today - until then it's all phoney war stuff.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Mr. eek, and we still won't know about race trim or how good/bad certain cars are in traffic.
If the Mercedes isn't leading, it may have a rough time in traffic. That's been a traditional weakness in this era for the team, offset by being faster than everyone else by a mile. Remove the latter aspect, and it's an advantage for Red Bull.
We might need to change our risk appetite a bit though and tolerate a level of mild-moderate infections.
I don't think that's quite right. The problem is that people have learnt, through bitter experience, that the pattern for the virus is that a moderate level of infections is followed by a high level of infections, is followed by the hospitals being swamped. We've seen that over and over again.
It might take a while to accept that the vaccine has broken that pattern. It's the hospitals being swamped people will be scared is the risk.
I don't think it's that people are intolerant of any risk.
I disagree - contrary to the polling, people seemed remarkably relaxed about the virus pre-vaccines. Most people can’t wait to get back to normal.
And I’m not worried about the politicians. The Tory back benchers will make sure Boris doesn’t blink.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Yes it will be good to see the official F1 product become available. Until then Sky need to understand balancing prices. They need revenue. Set the price too low and the available subscribers don't cover their costs. Set the price too high and the much smaller number of subscribers paying a lot more also don't cover their costs.
£18 is absurd and they know it. I hope that basic mathematics will see them drop their prices to entice in all of us refuseniks saying "screw that". Otherwise will watch C4 highlights.
Imagine how much more fun UK elections would be if we kept all these old colonies and incorporated those we still have.
‘It’s a tight race in Gozo, malta’
‘Labour doing well here in grand cayman island’
‘Reporting now from the famous beach of la digue, in the Seychelles, where the lib dems are putting up a stiff fight’
‘Breaking news from South Georgia: a lost deposit for the guano party, which is in coalition with UKIP’
The local parties in Gibraltar apparently didn't stand in European Parliament elections (presumably as little point given it was part of the SW England region), and instead endorsed the UK parties accordingly - 2014 saw a 49% swing to the LDs, and over the course of the period they could vote in them the Conservative vote dropped from 69.52% in 2004 to 2.7% in 2019, below even that of the Brexit Party.
We really should incorporate- if they want - all the remaining fragments of the empire. Falklands, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Pitcairn, Tristan. South Georgia.
We could even put in a late bid for PNG, Tuvalu, the Solomons
Well, Tuvalu, I believe the smallest independent state by population (I don't count Vatican City), did reject abolition of the monarchy only 13 years ago, but it'd be an odd thing to go Indy and then change your mind.
Papua New Guinea would be the big one. 9 million people. Vast incredible beautiful challenging island. Many stunning offshore islands.
Lots of social problems, but also a land of enormous potential.
A good partner and project for post brexit Britain.
It was expected, when they went Indy, they would become a republic. They didn’t. They prefer the crown and links to Britain. Let us make them the fifth constituent nation in the UK
More the merrier I say.
To be honest it would be worth doing just for the ecological protection we could offer, with sustainable tourism.
I'd say the number of people willing to spend a day and a half in Y Class to the get to the murder capital of the world (Port Moresby) is a limited market.
There are some parts of the world where tourists are scared and stay in tourist bubbles, and when you get outside of these find that actually the locals are welcoming and curious. This was my experience of New Caledonia (apart from the airport bus), and Kenya, Malawi, Mexico etc.
There are some places where I would take personal safety very seriously, including urban South Africa and PNG. I have felt quite unsafe in the wrong part of town in the USA, France and Germany too.
I was once staying with a friend in Oak Park Illinois. I said it would be fun to walk to downtown Chicago (say 20 blocks away) and was told in no uncertain terms that along the way I would be killed with probability one.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
F1: just a general aside, but the Bottas line reminds me of my thinking from 2013/2014 or so when Rosberg was 16 for the title (and backable each way). Often it seems second drivers get neglected, to potentially profitable effect, given the car matters more.
Imagine how much more fun UK elections would be if we kept all these old colonies and incorporated those we still have.
‘It’s a tight race in Gozo, malta’
‘Labour doing well here in grand cayman island’
‘Reporting now from the famous beach of la digue, in the Seychelles, where the lib dems are putting up a stiff fight’
‘Breaking news from South Georgia: a lost deposit for the guano party, which is in coalition with UKIP’
The local parties in Gibraltar apparently didn't stand in European Parliament elections (presumably as little point given it was part of the SW England region), and instead endorsed the UK parties accordingly - 2014 saw a 49% swing to the LDs, and over the course of the period they could vote in them the Conservative vote dropped from 69.52% in 2004 to 2.7% in 2019, below even that of the Brexit Party.
We really should incorporate- if they want - all the remaining fragments of the empire. Falklands, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Pitcairn, Tristan. South Georgia.
We could even put in a late bid for PNG, Tuvalu, the Solomons
Well, Tuvalu, I believe the smallest independent state by population (I don't count Vatican City), did reject abolition of the monarchy only 13 years ago, but it'd be an odd thing to go Indy and then change your mind.
Papua New Guinea would be the big one. 9 million people. Vast incredible beautiful challenging island. Many stunning offshore islands.
Lots of social problems, but also a land of enormous potential.
A good partner and project for post brexit Britain.
It was expected, when they went Indy, they would become a republic. They didn’t. They prefer the crown and links to Britain. Let us make them the fifth constituent nation in the UK
More the merrier I say.
To be honest it would be worth doing just for the ecological protection we could offer, with sustainable tourism.
I'd say the number of people willing to spend a day and a half in Y Class to the get to the murder capital of the world (Port Moresby) is a limited market.
There are some parts of the world where tourists are scared and stay in tourist bubbles, and when you get outside of these find that actually the locals are welcoming and curious. This was my experience of New Caledonia (apart from the airport bus), and Kenya, Malawi, Mexico etc.
There are some places where I would take personal safety very seriously, including urban South Africa and PNG. I have felt quite unsafe in the wrong part of town in the USA, France and Germany too.
I have wandered around plenty of places that were not entirely advisable at the time, and certainly wouldn't be doable now. The old part of Sana'a within the city walls, the Margalla Hills on the edge of Islamabad - and Brazzaville, through the buildings still pockmarked by civil war gun and grenade. Never had any grief. /
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Yes it will be good to see the official F1 product become available. Until then Sky need to understand balancing prices. They need revenue. Set the price too low and the available subscribers don't cover their costs. Set the price too high and the much smaller number of subscribers paying a lot more also don't cover their costs.
£18 is absurd and they know it. I hope that basic mathematics will see them drop their prices to entice in all of us refuseniks saying "screw that". Otherwise will watch C4 highlights.
My problem with Sky is that I can't just have F1 - you also need the £x a month base package - so it ends up being £50 or so. That and a dislike of Martin Blundell means I'm more than happy to wait and see the C4 highlights.
Although a 23:00 finish on Sunday isn't my idea of fun.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Yes it will be good to see the official F1 product become available. Until then Sky need to understand balancing prices. They need revenue. Set the price too low and the available subscribers don't cover their costs. Set the price too high and the much smaller number of subscribers paying a lot more also don't cover their costs.
£18 is absurd and they know it. I hope that basic mathematics will see them drop their prices to entice in all of us refuseniks saying "screw that". Otherwise will watch C4 highlights.
I’m not an expert on Sky’s pricing models, but I’m guessing the £18 is if you only want the F1 channel, but for £35 you can have all the sports channels - which is the package they want you to take.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
I'm a carer so had to give up work early a few years ago. But I think WFH is a looming disaster. It is an utterly mad idea, certainly full or nearly full time.
For some it will work but for many, many others it spells major mental health issues imho.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
The F1 contract with Sky includes all online products, and prohibits F1 from offering their own service in the U.K.
As mentioned by @eek above, the current Bernie-era Sky deal represents something like 25% of F1’s TV revenue income.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
Since we moved to Scotland my productivity has been greatly increased thanks to no longer working from home. Yes, my office is in the same building as my home, but the physical separation means having to go outside to get from one to the other.
I am absolutely an advocate for flexible and remote working - it would be crazy for us to go back to status quo ante and have millions of people commute for a job they have done effectively remotely. But if you have no space at home or no way to shut the kids out, it is hard.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
The F1 contract with Sky includes all online products, and prohibits F1 from offering their own service in the U.K.
As mentioned by @eek above, the current Bernie-era Sky deal represents something like 25% of F1’s TV revenue income.
Yeah, but what makes you think that will change with the next tv deal? Sky won’t be paying anything like the money they pay now if they don’t have exclusivity.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
Since we moved to Scotland my productivity has been greatly increased thanks to no longer working from home. Yes, my office is in the same building as my home, but the physical separation means having to go outside to get from one to the other.
I am absolutely an advocate for flexible and remote working - it would be crazy for us to go back to status quo ante and have millions of people commute for a job they have done effectively remotely. But if you have no space at home or no way to shut the kids out, it is hard.
I was with a customer last week who has that arrangement. He literally kisses the wife and kids goodbye at 9am, and walks 50’ to his ‘office’. His young children (4 and 2) don’t know he’s actually not going anywhere.
Mr. Pioneers, forget ye not the role of the BBC, who could've kept their contract but ended their live coverage a year early to help Sky get the sport so a terrestrial rival (Channel 4) didn't get it.
At the same time, the firm blew £30m on the concept (just the concept) of The Voice, £30m also being the value (forget if it's precise or approximate) of the F1 contract.
Better yet, F1 was one of only two sporting events the BBC had that hit targets (Wimbledon being the other), and it had was BAFTA-winning. But they got rid of it. And ended free-to-air coverage.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
Since we moved to Scotland my productivity has been greatly increased thanks to no longer working from home. Yes, my office is in the same building as my home, but the physical separation means having to go outside to get from one to the other.
I am absolutely an advocate for flexible and remote working - it would be crazy for us to go back to status quo ante and have millions of people commute for a job they have done effectively remotely. But if you have no space at home or no way to shut the kids out, it is hard.
Ideal world, all those want to work from home should be able. Equally, those who can't should have the office to go to.
Can't help thinking there is going to be a bit of a haves/have nots divide, with resentment towards those who don't have the commute, as they sit looking at not much of a cityscape as those lucky bastards look out at their garden. Even more so if it is seagull management who come in to bollock the underlings then go back home.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
It seems incredibly unlikely that the vaccines won’t offer at least some protection for some people. So even if, as is likely, new vaccines are continually produced, I don’t see COVID being a problem in terms of reopening the domestic economy. Unless your a zero COVID idiot, that is.
With half the world circling the abyss, I wonder if the government is planning for that scenario. Whilst we all hope for the best, a government should plan for the worst. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that our current off-on scenario carries on for years.
No, it is beyond the realms of possibilities. International travel might not return for some time, but COVID will cease to be a problem globally once the vaccines have done their work. Sadly, in some places like Brazil, herd immunity is likely to be reached naturally.
Yes, I don't think that we can have international travel this year. The Isle of Wight for me, though that is my usual summer spot in any case. I am hopeful for Madeira in December, as it does seem that we get the boosters for variants by then. Madeira is very low risk anyway.
I had rather fancied Botswana and Namibia in June, but the virus has done for that.
Good grief, the Isle of Wight, has it come to that?
I go there several holidays per year, and have done so for decades. Mrs Foxy has lots of family there, but it is a great break too. Some bits are naff, others glorious, but that is true of most places. Rock pooling, fossicking for ammonites, watching boats and ships pass by are some of the simplistic and purest of pleasures.
IOW = rain, school trips, caravans and geriatrics. Maybe time to take another look. Like the little train.
Many years ago a colleague took a school trip to the IoW and managed to convince his group that it was the last stop on the Central line when they saw the trains...
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
Since we moved to Scotland my productivity has been greatly increased thanks to no longer working from home. Yes, my office is in the same building as my home, but the physical separation means having to go outside to get from one to the other.
I am absolutely an advocate for flexible and remote working - it would be crazy for us to go back to status quo ante and have millions of people commute for a job they have done effectively remotely. But if you have no space at home or no way to shut the kids out, it is hard.
Ideal world, all those want to work from home should be able. Equally, those who can't should have the office to go to.
Can't help thinking there is going to be a bit of a haves/have nots divide, with resentment towards those who don't have the commute, as they sit looking at not much of a cityscape as those lucky bastards look out at their garden. Even more so if it is seagull management who come in to bollock the underlings then go back home.
In a funny way, this could lead to more people working in the office. Pre-COVID, my place had a pretty horrible culture of underlings being expected to be in the office whilst more senior staff could do as they pleased. Those days are certainly over. Want me to be at my desk? Then my line manager needs to be there too.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
The F1 contract with Sky includes all online products, and prohibits F1 from offering their own service in the U.K.
As mentioned by @eek above, the current Bernie-era Sky deal represents something like 25% of F1’s TV revenue income.
Yeah, but what makes you think that will change with the next tv deal? Sky won’t be paying anything like the money they pay now if they don’t have exclusivity.
Sky are not going to want to renew at the same price anyway, and F1’s business model, under new management, is moving towards attracting consumers directly.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
The F1 contract with Sky includes all online products, and prohibits F1 from offering their own service in the U.K.
As mentioned by @eek above, the current Bernie-era Sky deal represents something like 25% of F1’s TV revenue income.
Yeah, but what makes you think that will change with the next tv deal? Sky won’t be paying anything like the money they pay now if they don’t have exclusivity.
Sky are not going to want to renew at the same price anyway, and F1’s business model, under new management, is moving towards attracting consumers directly.
Sports rights have been fragmenting. If it becomes a buy direct thing then I certainly won’t be coughing up the money.
I was once staying with a friend in Oak Park Illinois. I said it would be fun to walk to downtown Chicago (say 20 blocks away) and was told in no uncertain terms that along the way I would be killed with probability one.
I've been all over the place but the two most brutal dust ups (outside actual wars) I've been involved in were in the relatively civilised quarters of Frankfurt (me + USMC KC-130 crew vs Georgian mafia) and Dubai (me + RM Captain vs fat drunk British expats),
We beat the fuck of out the beery red faced Brits in Dubai but shat it off the Georgians and legged it when the daggers came out.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
I was once staying with a friend in Oak Park Illinois. I said it would be fun to walk to downtown Chicago (say 20 blocks away) and was told in no uncertain terms that along the way I would be killed with probability one.
I've been all over the place but the two most brutal dust ups (outside actual wars) I've been involved in were in the relatively civilised quarters of Frankfurt (me + USMC KC-130 crew vs Georgian mafia) and Dubai (me + RM Captain vs fat drunk British expats),
We beat the fuck of out the beery red faced Brits in Dubai but shat it off the Georgians and legged it when the daggers came out.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
The problem is that since c.2005 it really has become about marginal gains. The days of revolutionary designs are long gone. So it’s all about the money.
I don’t think the set up helps either. Refuelling and competitive tyres would make it a bit better, in my opinion.
I was once staying with a friend in Oak Park Illinois. I said it would be fun to walk to downtown Chicago (say 20 blocks away) and was told in no uncertain terms that along the way I would be killed with probability one.
I've been all over the place but the two most brutal dust ups (outside actual wars) I've been involved in were in the relatively civilised quarters of Frankfurt (me + USMC KC-130 crew vs Georgian mafia) and Dubai (me + RM Captain vs fat drunk British expats),
We beat the fuck of out the beery red faced Brits in Dubai but shat it off the Georgians and legged it when the daggers came out.
I get the impression from your posts that, whilst intelligent, you live your life through the lens of a late teenage Pirbright squaddie.
Re working from home: growing up on a farm meant it took me a long time to understand the concept of commuting. Teaching, on the other hand, is pretty hard to do well over a computer link as you don’t get the normal feedback. I’ve got a few parents’ evenings coming up (over video links) and for some classes I have no idea who most of my pupils really are, having not seen them in person since before Christmas.
I am looking forward to being back in school on Thursday.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
Rugby league is a great game to watch esp St Helens.. Great team
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
The problem is that since c.2005 it really has become about marginal gains. The days of revolutionary designs are long gone. So it’s all about the money.
I don’t think the set up helps either. Refuelling and competitive tyres would make it a bit better, in my opinion.
When it was decided to have just one company provide tyres was a real negative IMO.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
Rugby league is a great game to watch esp St Helens.. Great team
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
Rugby league is a great game to watch esp St Helens.. Great team
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
Rugby league is a great game to watch esp St Helens.. Great team
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
The problem is that since c.2005 it really has become about marginal gains. The days of revolutionary designs are long gone. So it’s all about the money.
I don’t think the set up helps either. Refuelling and competitive tyres would make it a bit better, in my opinion.
When it was decided to have just one company provide tyres was a real negative IMO.
I still don’t understand the marketing angle for Pirelli, when the contstant talk is about the tyres being crap.
When I first got BSky B after the debacle of the squariel there was little on bar rugby league and loads of loosely described as German porn channels....
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
I'd agree with this so much. I enjoy the work ok, but like all work it gets you down, and team and camaraderie and even the frustrating people youd encounter face to face made it fun and worth it.
Now every day is the same. Like casino some days I've barely done a thing on days where my head just wasnt in it, and it wasnt even enjoyable skiving off.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
The problem is that since c.2005 it really has become about marginal gains. The days of revolutionary designs are long gone. So it’s all about the money.
I don’t think the set up helps either. Refuelling and competitive tyres would make it a bit better, in my opinion.
I find DRS the invention of a spotty gamer, trying to bring artificial excitement to something he doesn't enjoy anyway....
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
I'm a carer so had to give up work early a few years ago. But I think WFH is a looming disaster. It is an utterly mad idea, certainly full or nearly full time.
For some it will work but for many, many others it spells major mental health issues imho.
WFH is a personal experience and depends on your job and attitude and to some extent your committments and out of work lifestyle. Peronally I fkin hate it , partly because I am not a domestic person but an out and about person , I also like chatting and dealing with varied people in face to face situations and luckily I have an interesting job in a sector a lot of people would love to be in (sport) that a lot of the attraction is to go around the country and talk sport in various forms
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
The problem is that since c.2005 it really has become about marginal gains. The days of revolutionary designs are long gone. So it’s all about the money.
I don’t think the set up helps either. Refuelling and competitive tyres would make it a bit better, in my opinion.
I find DRS the invention of a spotty gamer, trying to bring artificial excitement to something he doesn't enjoy anyway....
F1 doesn’t understand the distinction between overtaking and racing. If I want to watch the former I’ll go and watch the M3.
I was once staying with a friend in Oak Park Illinois. I said it would be fun to walk to downtown Chicago (say 20 blocks away) and was told in no uncertain terms that along the way I would be killed with probability one.
I've been all over the place but the two most brutal dust ups (outside actual wars) I've been involved in were in the relatively civilised quarters of Frankfurt (me + USMC KC-130 crew vs Georgian mafia) and Dubai (me + RM Captain vs fat drunk British expats),
We beat the fuck of out the beery red faced Brits in Dubai but shat it off the Georgians and legged it when the daggers came out.
Rattlesnake club, in Dubai?
It was in the car park of the Cyclone. Marina and Svetlana sat in their mini skirts on the bonnet of our hire car looking bored and smoking Marlboros until the festivities concluded.
Re working from home: growing up on a farm meant it took me a long time to understand the concept of commuting. Teaching, on the other hand, is pretty hard to do well over a computer link as you don’t get the normal feedback. I’ve got a few parents’ evenings coming up (over video links) and for some classes I have no idea who most of my pupils really are, having not seen them in person since before Christmas.
I am looking forward to being back in school on Thursday.
Our live online teaching (workshops) with the students have been terrible, mainly as the students refuse to have their cameras on. No idea of their engagement. Personally I’d make them have the camera on, but the uni doesn’t allow this. Hopefully in September we won’t have this problem any more. I don’t mind prerecording lectures, in some ways it’s better, but most other aspects of teaching need to be two way and work best in person.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
I'd agree with this so much. I enjoy the work ok, but like all work it gets you down, and team and camaraderie and even the frustrating people youd encounter face to face made it fun and worth it.
Now every day is the same. Like casino some days I've barely done a thing on days where my head just wasnt in it, and it wasnt even enjoyable skiving off.
One problem is the lack of other stuff to do. Being at home all day on my own would be more tolerable if I could go out and about in the evening. At least next week my running club is meeting again. But while I think I am quite effective WFH, and I have enjoyed the challenge of creating a new way of working, I have started to find I am struggling a bit - last week I was definitely feeling anxiety and lack of motivation. I'm looking forward to going to the office one day a week from 12 April.
Will be watching the race this weekend with interest. However, Sky can do one if they think an undiscounted "only" £18 a month is sensible. Its "only" an 80% price increase over last year's £10 a month. Hopefully enough people say no for them to think again and drop the price back to something sane.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
Sky have to get their £250m a year paid to F1 back somehow.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
Have F1 decided to not sell their rights to the UK then?
Bernie (booooo) gave Sky a "fuck the fans" contract where not even the official F1 app is allowed. Sky could choose to charge £50 a race, have 50 people watching, destroy the sport in the UK and F1 could do nothing about it.
Thanks Bernie!
Top flight football has been behind a paywall in Britain for nearly 30 years and it hasn’t killed the sport.
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Agreed. F1 just isn't the same as it used to be. Its lost the excitement that it used to have, just watching a procession with little overtaking and Hamilton almost inevitably winning.
Rugby league is a great game to watch esp St Helens.. Great team
Wolves for me. 🐺
Rugby league is a great game - but when I used to play rugby union, we would often play league in training to focus specifically on angles of running. And I can't help viewing it as such. It's rugby with some of rugby pointlessly removed. Entertaining enough, but less entertaining than it would be if you had flankers and line outs and halfway competitive scrummagung and rucks and you had to release the ball when you were tackled.
Another hard lesson coming down the track for Anti-AZ campaigners.
Lots of "I can't wait for Q2 when we get our vaccine from reliable companies" on Twitter.
All the contracts will be exactly the same ('best reasonable endeavours'), just like both AZ and Curevac, and all the vaccines may have as much trouble ramping-up production. *
Eu already teeing up J&J as a potential villain.
Will they continue in the sabre-rattling approach?
* Except to my eye maybe Moderna, who seem to have been very conservative in their promises,
Every Unionist should vote Labour here. its just a no brainer.
You say this but there is zero evidence of reciprocity from either Labour or LD - indeed if anything they still see the Tories as the main enemy. Under these circumstances I think the gib is up - it takes two to tango so for me they can Foxtrot off. I think the election will be a disaster for Unionism, with the referendum at best 50/50. It is what it is.
Agreeing about so much said about working from home. It's very hard to take much enjoyment from it; self-motivation is very hard. I've struggles massively. Can't wait to go back.
The South West Coastal path is one of the toughest and remotest walks on earth. Period. It's insane. The toughest walk in the United Kingdom. 630 incredible miles. Up and bloody down, or rather down and bloody up, incessantly. It's staggeringly beautiful and unbelievably hard.
You don't need to travel anywhere else on earth if you want to experience something truly rugged and remote. There are parts of the north coast in particular that are the hardest hiking I've ever done. I happen to love global travel and have hiked in the Alps and very remote locations but I recommend the SWCP: https://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk
And make sure to get to the Dorset ranges on one of their rare open weekends. The section from Lulworth Cove across to Swanage is so beautiful.
At this point people will probably mention the book, The Salt Path which many loved. It was okay.
Oh and don't rush it. It's a stupid thing to do. I have walked some sections more than thirty times, rather than trying to 'do' the walk - a curse of the modern age. Don't do. Be.
I'm told there are only two properties that have blocked access to the actual coast itself, where you have to walk a little inland - both just south of Dartmouth. There have been negotiations ongoing, to gain access. One of the properties was recently on the market for c£7m. Not sure if the new owner will change tack and allow access - maybe not at that price. The other bought for around £5m and has engaged top-end lawyers to keep his privacy.
That's interesting. I've walked that part a few times and didn't really notice the deviations but I'm now wracking my brain to recall. It's fun to catch the Dartmouth steam railway from Paignton to Kingswear and then take the path either east or nip on the ferry and go west from Dartmouth (both very beautiful sections).
There are a few other places where you have minor deviations inland, some for estuaries and others when landslips or cliff falls occur or for bridge repairs. The website is very good on updating these. For example there has been a minor diversion in place for a while at Sidmouth. That's another of my favourite sections, east of Sidmouth is stunningly beautiful.
I've had moments on the north coast in a gale when I have literally been clinging onto the rocks to stay on the cliff. And many times I have gone a whole day without seeing a single person.
It really is one of the great, great, walks and I thoroughly recommend it.
Yes, the walk from Kingswear to Brixham is a great bit of coast - parts of it with a sense of remoteness that belie the activity going on just round the next headland.
I walked the section around Little Dartmouth with the dog a couple of days ago. Great place to see Cirl Bunting and at this time of year, oil beetles.
How gorgeous.
One of the things I have loved are the surprising sections. I find the walk into Torbay wonderful from Babbacombe. It's surprisingly remote and then there's this lovely hidden pathway that twists and clings to the cliff around the headland into Torquay itself. It reminded me slightly of the famous Bowen Road in Hong Kong which is well worth doing.
I think everyone has their favourite and least favourite sections. I found the Undercliff at Lyme Regis quite unnerving. Once you're in, you're in and there's no way out for c. 3 hours. The slog along the deep shingle from Abbotsbury is also very hard going. Chesil Beach may be amazing but it's tedious to walk along, or at least I found it so.
I bumped into a three ladies doing the whole route with their pug and they too didn't like the Undercliff. More surprising to me was their dislike of the area around Clovelly. I guess it can feel quite enclosed too, but every so often the amazing north coast vista opens up.
Parts of the path around, for instance, Hartland Point are the wildest place you will find in England in my opinion (to return to Leon's contention).
Hartland is my wife's favourite place in Britain - and she's a Scot.
To be contrary, as an Englishman, my favorite place in Britain would have to be the Scottish west coast.
We are am hoping to see all our British grandchildren before the end of April; they're spread out; Leeds, Southend and West Kent. The one in Leeds is still holding onto a box of Christmas presents, as are we for her. She and her boyfriend re moving house soon too. Then, around Christmas we hope to see the three in Thailand. And, of course, their parents.
I should also add the SWCP is one of the best experiences I've ever had. I saw such gorgeous and pristine coastline, throughout Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, as well as beautiful hidden beeches and picture-postcard villages.
I loved every minute of it, despite the hiking effort and wild camping. So rewarding. My main regret is there was so much I simply can't remember it all. I should have taken notes. Instead I stared, paused and dreamt.
I'd do it again. Definitely. You should too.
I second every word of this, and how.
The parts I'm familiar with are Salcombe - Bolt Head - Bolbury Down - Hope Cove - Thurlestone - Bigbury.
I was once staying with a friend in Oak Park Illinois. I said it would be fun to walk to downtown Chicago (say 20 blocks away) and was told in no uncertain terms that along the way I would be killed with probability one.
I've been all over the place but the two most brutal dust ups (outside actual wars) I've been involved in were in the relatively civilised quarters of Frankfurt (me + USMC KC-130 crew vs Georgian mafia) and Dubai (me + RM Captain vs fat drunk British expats),
We beat the fuck of out the beery red faced Brits in Dubai but shat it off the Georgians and legged it when the daggers came out.
Rattlesnake club, in Dubai?
It was in the car park of the Cyclone. Marina and Svetlana sat in their mini skirts on the bonnet of our hire car looking bored and smoking Marlboros until the festivities concluded.
Oh wow, that place got shut down in about 2007!
Presumably Marina and Svetlana were happy so long as someone was paying for their time...
Agreeing about so much said about working from home. It's very hard to take much enjoyment from it; self-motivation is very hard. I've struggles massively. Can't wait to go back.
I love it , have done it for best part of 20 years now. Far better than an hour each way to an office and huge increase in productivity. People just want back to skive at coffee machines and avoid their families, can then pretend they work really hard.
Those calling F1 ‘these days’ a procession have short memories. I grew up watching Schumacher win pretty much every race, often lapping everyone in the process.
Agreeing about so much said about working from home. It's very hard to take much enjoyment from it; self-motivation is very hard. I've struggles massively. Can't wait to go back.
I love it , have done it for best part of 20 years now. Far better than an hour each way to an office and huge increase in productivity. People just want back to skive at coffee machines and avoid their families, can then pretend they work really hard.
The idea of being trained remotely fills me with anxiety to be honest.
It’s all well and good if you’re 30+ years into your career and can just get on with it.
Barristers currently undergoing pupillage have overwhelmingly described their “work from home” experience as being far inferior. The same appears to be true for trainee solicitors.
Agreeing about so much said about working from home. It's very hard to take much enjoyment from it; self-motivation is very hard. I've struggles massively. Can't wait to go back.
I love it , have done it for best part of 20 years now. Far better than an hour each way to an office and huge increase in productivity. People just want back to skive at coffee machines and avoid their families, can then pretend they work really hard.
The idea of being trained remotely fills me with anxiety to be honest.
It’s all well and good if you’re 30+ years into your career and can just get on with it.
Barristers currently undergoing pupillage have overwhelmingly described their “work from home” experience as being far inferior. The same appears to be true for trainee solicitors.
That’s our experience and TBF the profession is taking that seriously.
Agreeing about so much said about working from home. It's very hard to take much enjoyment from it; self-motivation is very hard. I've struggles massively. Can't wait to go back.
I love it , have done it for best part of 20 years now. Far better than an hour each way to an office and huge increase in productivity. People just want back to skive at coffee machines and avoid their families, can then pretend they work really hard.
The idea of being trained remotely fills me with anxiety to be honest.
It’s all well and good if you’re 30+ years into your career and can just get on with it.
Barristers currently undergoing pupillage have overwhelmingly described their “work from home” experience as being far inferior. The same appears to be true for trainee solicitors.
That’s our experience and TBF the profession is taking that seriously.
The firm I recently interviewed for said they currently had no concrete plans to return to the office because they were getting far more billable hours out of everyone.
Agreeing about so much said about working from home. It's very hard to take much enjoyment from it; self-motivation is very hard. I've struggles massively. Can't wait to go back.
I love it , have done it for best part of 20 years now. Far better than an hour each way to an office and huge increase in productivity. People just want back to skive at coffee machines and avoid their families, can then pretend they work really hard.
The idea of being trained remotely fills me with anxiety to be honest.
It’s all well and good if you’re 30+ years into your career and can just get on with it.
Barristers currently undergoing pupillage have overwhelmingly described their “work from home” experience as being far inferior. The same appears to be true for trainee solicitors.
That’s our experience and TBF the profession is taking that seriously.
The son of one of my cousins graduated in NZ just before lockdown started there, and almost immediately had to work from home. He found it quite difficult, although he was assigned a buddy, which apparently helped a lot. However his father reports that all's now fine, he's had a good pay rise and of course they've been playing Rugby again in NZ for a full season. Which he's quite good at, as well as the accountancy!
"Technical discussions on the text of the Memorandum of Understanding, which was agreed in a Joint Declaration on Financial Services Regulatory Cooperation alongside the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, have now been concluded."
Agreeing about so much said about working from home. It's very hard to take much enjoyment from it; self-motivation is very hard. I've struggles massively. Can't wait to go back.
I love it , have done it for best part of 20 years now. Far better than an hour each way to an office and huge increase in productivity. People just want back to skive at coffee machines and avoid their families, can then pretend they work really hard.
The idea of being trained remotely fills me with anxiety to be honest.
It’s all well and good if you’re 30+ years into your career and can just get on with it.
Barristers currently undergoing pupillage have overwhelmingly described their “work from home” experience as being far inferior. The same appears to be true for trainee solicitors.
That’s our experience and TBF the profession is taking that seriously.
The firm I recently interviewed for said they currently had no concrete plans to return to the office because they were getting far more billable hours out of everyone.
More billable hours might mean they are working less efficiently, at least from the clients' points of view.
Agreeing about so much said about working from home. It's very hard to take much enjoyment from it; self-motivation is very hard. I've struggles massively. Can't wait to go back.
I love it , have done it for best part of 20 years now. Far better than an hour each way to an office and huge increase in productivity. People just want back to skive at coffee machines and avoid their families, can then pretend they work really hard.
The idea of being trained remotely fills me with anxiety to be honest.
It’s all well and good if you’re 30+ years into your career and can just get on with it.
Barristers currently undergoing pupillage have overwhelmingly described their “work from home” experience as being far inferior. The same appears to be true for trainee solicitors.
Yes agree, I was at top of my game and had over 20 years travelling the world gaining experience. I did still do a good bit of travelling as well. cut it all back some years ago but lucky in that I am in a position to be able to say I can do it remotely and it is accepted. Agree if young or inexperienced you want to be in office or travelling.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
Since we moved to Scotland my productivity has been greatly increased thanks to no longer working from home. Yes, my office is in the same building as my home, but the physical separation means having to go outside to get from one to the other.
I am absolutely an advocate for flexible and remote working - it would be crazy for us to go back to status quo ante and have millions of people commute for a job they have done effectively remotely. But if you have no space at home or no way to shut the kids out, it is hard.
Like a few places in Germany, Cologne is tightening its regulations. But I don't understand why again they are making the rule: In *public* places you can only meet one other person from another household - this just seems to encourage people to meet inside in their private homes rather than outside in the park. Non essential shops are closing again. Hairdressers are staying open, I read it's because the German constitution guarantees "human dignity", but I don't think there has been any actual court ruling on this.
I know of another case locally of someone getting ill from coronavirus weeks after being fully vaccinated, not sure which variant yet, the others were P1. But it looks like Pfizer might give quite reduced protection against P1 (Brazil) unless this is just a random cluster. What's also worrying is that there doesn't seem to be much response. The local Gesundheitsamt knows, and is worried, but surely there should be some national body swooping in and saying we need to urgently find out what is happening here. But this is Germany.
The initial studies were quite good for Pfizer and AZ against the P1 strain with only s limited dilution effect. Neither were great against the SA variant. So far only Novavax has got any kind of clinical efficacy against mild symptoms, but the reality is that both Pfizer and AZ have shown greatly reduced severe symptoms so there's no reason not to get either even against the SA variant.
I think the same lab tests are being conducted for Moderna, Novavax and J&J for the P1 strain so we should get modelled efficacy for those soon as well.
Yes, but I am also worried about transmission. Of the cases I know, 1 fully vaccinated person has quite bad fever etc but not admitted to hospital. He seems to have passed it onto 2 fully vaccinated colleagues - usually they are wearing FPP2 masks at work but I think they were eating in the same room. The other case is someone who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and tested positive despite being vaccinated, but the pneumonia might not be from the virus.
And yes, my assumption is the vaccines are going to at the very least help stop the variants killing you so I'm in no way suggesting that anyone should think twice about getting vaccinated.
I wonder if behind the rhetoric the government is planning contingencies if the first gen vaccines are superseded by new variants. How they would manage the political fallout I can’t imagine.
I am not worried so much at the moment about vaccines failing to stop most deaths and severe illness. I am more worried about things like the effect on the health system. Frontline health workers are mostly vaccinated in Germany (apart from some refusers). Hospitals in Germany are already likely to be close to capacity in a few weeks, but if the fully vaccinated staff are both having to take time off because of testing positive and potentially infecting others in the hospitals it might be a lot worse.
I don’t know if this mirrors anyone else’s experience, my work colleagues are increasingly burnt out. Everyone needs a break and the hope of release is what’s sustaining them. Any bumps in the road will cause serious problems. It’s a difficult situation.
I wasn't (and I'm still not) happy with my professional performance through January and February. I had depression and really struggled to work. In fact, on one or two days I did absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, I just about managed to stay on top of it so my employer and client never knew. And my client seems fairly happy with what I produced, so I'm now off until just after Easter Monday to use up my leave by year end.
But, I almost blew it and I know I could have done so much better and produced more stuff of a higher quality if my head had been in the right place.
Close shave.
I've struggled massively. I've started going back to the office since schools went back as I couldn't take it anymore and my work quality was suffering. Frankly I'm still struggling, but it's made things a bit better.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
Since we moved to Scotland my productivity has been greatly increased thanks to no longer working from home. Yes, my office is in the same building as my home, but the physical separation means having to go outside to get from one to the other.
I am absolutely an advocate for flexible and remote working - it would be crazy for us to go back to status quo ante and have millions of people commute for a job they have done effectively remotely. But if you have no space at home or no way to shut the kids out, it is hard.
Could there be an increase in applications for boarding school places?
Comments
At the end of the day if the whole adult population has been vaccinated and has antibodies for the fundamentals swimming around in their bloodstream (even if topped up annually) it can't do anything like as much damage as it did up to now, and deaths and hospitalisations shouldn't happen regardless.
We might need to change our risk appetite a bit though and tolerate a level of mild-moderate infections.
As for rain, I take a robust view on weather: there is no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing.
There is an off-chance the Finn could be ahead of his team mate, happened now and then in recent years. The cars should be ahead of the competition and I think Perez isn't quite there yet.
Third practice is midday, UK time, with qualifying at 3pm. Race is at 4pm, which is slightly later than I'd like, but they didn't ask me.
Though this week we did get a box of handcreams from Avon, much appreciated!
It might take a while to accept that the vaccine has broken that pattern. It's the hospitals being swamped people will be scared is the risk.
I don't think it's that people are intolerant of any risk.
Interestingly I see Mclaren to win the constructors championship are now 20 on Betfair. A bet I recommended at 100 to 1 back in December.
Can I afford £18 a month? Yes. Am I prepared to pay £18 a month? No.
There are some places where I would take personal safety very seriously, including urban South Africa and PNG. I have felt quite unsafe in the wrong part of town in the USA, France and Germany too.
Truth be told we won't know anything until the end of qualifying today - until then it's all phoney war stuff.
Thankfully, only two years left on the contract, until the brilliant $9.99 F1 TV Pro product becomes available to British audiences.
If the Mercedes isn't leading, it may have a rough time in traffic. That's been a traditional weakness in this era for the team, offset by being faster than everyone else by a mile. Remove the latter aspect, and it's an advantage for Red Bull.
And I’m not worried about the politicians. The Tory back benchers will make sure Boris doesn’t blink.
£18 is absurd and they know it. I hope that basic mathematics will see them drop their prices to entice in all of us refuseniks saying "screw that". Otherwise will watch C4 highlights.
Talking to partners about the situation they've said that work levels and quality are down everywhere, including among them. People are having quiet breakdowns etc.
The impression I have is that what's normally a happy and very high performing team is struggling at all levels.
On top of that, the working from home destroys any semblance of s work life balance. Lost efficiency combined with your work station looming right there the whole time means (particularly more junior people living in flats without kids) basically don't log out until they go to bed.
Basically the job has become harder while everything that makes it tolerable or fun has been taken away. I've had successful, ambitious people who loved their work pre Covid say to me that they'd quit tomorrow if they didn't have a mortgage.
/
Although a 23:00 finish on Sunday isn't my idea of fun.
For some it will work but for many, many others it spells major mental health issues imho.
As mentioned by @eek above, the current Bernie-era Sky deal represents something like 25% of F1’s TV revenue income.
I am absolutely an advocate for flexible and remote working - it would be crazy for us to go back to status quo ante and have millions of people commute for a job they have done effectively remotely. But if you have no space at home or no way to shut the kids out, it is hard.
Thanks Bernie!
At the same time, the firm blew £30m on the concept (just the concept) of The Voice, £30m also being the value (forget if it's precise or approximate) of the F1 contract.
Better yet, F1 was one of only two sporting events the BBC had that hit targets (Wimbledon being the other), and it had was BAFTA-winning. But they got rid of it. And ended free-to-air coverage.
....
I’d have thought the bigger problem for F1 is that the same team wins every year. F1 used to be a must watch for me. Not any more. I have the full sky sports package, so I’ll watch it if I’ve got nothing better to do, but it’s not what it was.
Can't help thinking there is going to be a bit of a haves/have nots divide, with resentment towards those who don't have the commute, as they sit looking at not much of a cityscape as those lucky bastards look out at their garden. Even more so if it is seagull management who come in to bollock the underlings then go back home.
See also La Liga and Serie A.
We beat the fuck of out the beery red faced Brits in Dubai but shat it off the Georgians and legged it when the daggers came out.
I don’t think the set up helps either. Refuelling and competitive tyres would make it a bit better, in my opinion.
Teaching, on the other hand, is pretty hard to do well over a computer link as you don’t get the normal feedback. I’ve got a few parents’ evenings coming up (over video links) and for some classes I have no idea who most of my pupils really are, having not seen them in person since before Christmas.
I am looking forward to being back in school on Thursday.
loosely described as German porn channels....
Now every day is the same. Like casino some days I've barely done a thing on days where my head just wasnt in it, and it wasnt even enjoyable skiving off.
Lots of "I can't wait for Q2 when we get our vaccine from reliable companies" on Twitter.
All the contracts will be exactly the same ('best reasonable endeavours'), just like both AZ and Curevac, and all the vaccines may have as much trouble ramping-up production. *
Eu already teeing up J&J as a potential villain.
Will they continue in the sabre-rattling approach?
* Except to my eye maybe Moderna, who seem to have been very conservative in their promises,
To be contrary, as an Englishman, my favorite place in Britain would have to be the Scottish west coast.
Then, around Christmas we hope to see the three in Thailand. And, of course, their parents.
Presumably Marina and Svetlana were happy so long as someone was paying for their time...
the Brawn says hello when it comes to revolutionary designs.
It’s all well and good if you’re 30+ years into your career and can just get on with it.
Barristers currently undergoing pupillage have overwhelmingly described their “work from home” experience as being far inferior. The same appears to be true for trainee solicitors.
However his father reports that all's now fine, he's had a good pay rise and of course they've been playing Rugby again in NZ for a full season. Which he's quite good at, as well as the accountancy!
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/technical-negotiations-concluded-on-uk-eu-memorandum-of-understanding
Agree if young or inexperienced you want to be in office or travelling.