Have we seen many existing MSPs on the defection list yet, they’re the ones that will shortly have to submit themselves to the people?
If you were standing as constituency MSP, wouldn't you get elected, then defect?
There's going to be a heightened sense of paranoia within the SNP on that front.....
I think that's why La Sturge is on all news outlets looking and sounding fairly rattled.
If you thought this had no momentum, other than a few people you'd want to get rid of anyway defecting, you'd be far less bothered.
There's a post election scenario where she wins a small majority, or is the largest party by some distance, then 10+ MSPs immediately defect to Alba.
I doubt it, it would be too brazen, too obvious, too literally incredible, even by the low standards typical of politicians.
But it's easy enough to see how a broader split could happen.
1. MSPs: "We want our independence referendum NOW!" 2. PM: "No." 3. SNP civil war over what to do next 4. Fundamentalists desert en bloc to join Salmond
Have we seen many existing MSPs on the defection list yet, they’re the ones that will shortly have to submit themselves to the people?
If you were standing as constituency MSP, wouldn't you get elected, then defect?
Is there really no honour among thieves? Would anyone dare to be that brazen, standing for election under a party banner but defecting immediately?
The thought of it would put the fear of God into the SNP though, which is probably Salmond’s intention. They’re all going to be looking at each other with extreme suspicion for the next six weeks...
If you've been shat on by the party e.g. James Dornan, Joan MacAlpine you'd be considering this, surely?
Like any party, the SNP has its factions. NS has sided with a very particular grouping and alienated others, but she won't be leader forever and everyone will be thinking of potential moves. If people defected to Alba, and they get a significant rump of MSPs, she'd be out as FM.
Remains to be seen if Alba pick up any momentum beyond a couple of defections.
Is Dorset a worse communicator than SKS. Seem on a par to me TBH
Dods that should say
On both counts a vast improvement on their predecessors.
As communicators.
Seriously.
Not being photographed laying a wreath at the graves of Palestinian terrorists has been a distinctly positive improvement on the communications front.
Is that even an example of SKS communication skills.
Is that all SKS fans have.
As I have said before I am not an SKS fan. He does not inspire me, but I could conceivably vote Labour again.
Think Biden - who was elected not because of any great enthusiasm for him personally, but elected because of who he was not.
I think that's a little unfair; Biden projected himself as a safe, if unremarkable, pair of hands. And so far he's proving to be so, apart from problems on his southern border. Just maybe there'll have to be some radical rethinking there, including support for some sort of stabilising activity in Central America.
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
The vaccine strategy is much less of a risk than you imply, and based on long standing scientific knowledge of how vaccination and immunity work. i.e. Vaccines boosters don't suddenly stop working if you wait more than a particular number of days, and immunity declines gradually.
The vaccine strategy was approved by the MHRA, JCVI, all four Chief Medical Officers, and PHE (and I dare say their counterparts too); not just "reckless Boris".
On top of that part of the reason the UK went down this path is that there was already data from trials with longer intervals to support delaying second jabs. Particularly in the case of the AZ vaccine this approach has been vindicated.
Oh one last thing, if there are any new variants of concern the odds are that the UK will find them first anyway, as we do far more sequencing than anyone else.
With several SNP MPs defecting to the new patriotic front party, surely the Jeremy needs to consider doing the same. Despite their bleating, the cult don't have control of the membership any more. So assuming that Labour have a relatively poor night and there is a move against him, it won't succeed.
Better tactic is to copy the strategic brilliance of Salmond and game the electoral system. Depart from the Labour Party. Set up a new patriotic party named after the country you love, win plaudits for your brilliance, delight as twat MPs like Tarry and Sultana defect and join the Palestine Party with you.
Morning all. Early start this morning ...... and it's not a good one for that ...... as Mrs C has her second AZN vaccine early today, about 15 min drive away. Haven't had my second yet; apparently there's a shortage of Pfizer. Which as I had my first back in January is a bit concerning. First time for ages I've set an alarm to wake up in the morning!
Surely Old King Cole it's a wonderful thing to have an early start for?
Where did you hear that 'apparently' from? All the reports today are stating that there will be no shortages of the vaccines for 2nd doses, whether AZN or Pfizer.
Not a good one because the clocks have sprung forward so it's easy to oversleep.
'Shortage of Pfizer' is as advised by GP; they rang my wife the other day for her second. I asked where mine was, as IMHO I'm overdue and was told they hadn't any Pfizer, at least at the moment, didn't know when they were getting out 'but would tell me as soon as'. A neighbour is getting worried about her 91 year father and I get the impression is starting to camp on the surgery's phone!
Policy for Pfizer is 12 weeks. Even if you got your first on Jan 1 you are not overdue.
“In my opinion I’m overdue” doesn’t cut it for a statement “there are a shortage of vaccines”
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
You literally have no idea what you're talking about. Please provide any evidence or peer reviewed paper that shows single dose COVID vaccines increase risk of mutations or any kind of efficacy dilution. I mean someone had better tell Johnson and Johnson, one of the world's largest pharmaceuticals companies that this is a problem. You're a complete and utter cretin and every time you open your mouth about any subject it's all bullshit bitterness that the UK has left the EU. There is literally nothing else to your life other than hating the UK. I find it sad.
I wouldn't bank on it making a massive difference if CDU/CSU if they switch to Söder as chancellor candidate. When the SPD switched to Schulz last time they got an immediate 10% boost in the opinion polls, but ended up getting exactly the vote share they had been polling before switching chancellor candidate.
The CDU are being judged for being in government. Switching chancellor candidate might not help much.
How likely is Söder to get it? I think the party and EU are pulling out all of the stops the prevent him from becoming chancellor at the moment. Laschet just seems so uninspiring, even for chancellor which has historically been boring but competent people.
I think nobody would be very surprised if he becomes Union chancellor candidate. Stoiber was their candidate in 2002, so there is precedent.
Söder himself claims he is only interested in Bavaria. Nobody really believes this, but it is a fine line for him - the CDU have to be doing badly enough in the polls for them to ditch Laschet, but not so badly that he has little chance of actually becoming chancellor. I guess he would much prefer to remain first minister of Bavaria, than be a failed candidate for chancellor.
So, I don't know. If the CDU look like doing badly enough to lose power, they have nothing to lose by passing the candidature over to Söder - but he is going to be less interested. If they look like doing well, they'll probably want to stick with Laschet. BUT the sweet spot is maybe about where the polls are now - still largest party but a danger of an alternative Green-led coalition coming to power, and the hope that Söder would give them enough of a boost to make Union-Green the most likely option.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
With the Pox once again on the march in other countries and new variants making a mockery of vaccines and talk of the need for additional jabs post vaccine, the ground seems fairly clear for a ban on leisure travel abroad.
Punters think the jab means we're immune so unlock quickly. But the 28 weeks later scenario remains a problem - re-import a modified pox from elsewhere and your immunity isn't worth anything. Until we have a significant proportion of the world vaccinated, holidays abroad surely have to be held in check.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
Tories have long since abandoned any sense that personal character is required in office. No amount of lies, bungs to chums, breaching of ministerial code matters any more, so why should Johnson's tawdry affairs?
Morning all. Early start this morning ...... and it's not a good one for that ...... as Mrs C has her second AZN vaccine early today, about 15 min drive away. Haven't had my second yet; apparently there's a shortage of Pfizer. Which as I had my first back in January is a bit concerning. First time for ages I've set an alarm to wake up in the morning!
Surely Old King Cole it's a wonderful thing to have an early start for?
Where did you hear that 'apparently' from? All the reports today are stating that there will be no shortages of the vaccines for 2nd doses, whether AZN or Pfizer.
Not a good one because the clocks have sprung forward so it's easy to oversleep.
'Shortage of Pfizer' is as advised by GP; they rang my wife the other day for her second. I asked where mine was, as IMHO I'm overdue and was told they hadn't any Pfizer, at least at the moment, didn't know when they were getting out 'but would tell me as soon as'. A neighbour is getting worried about her 91 year father and I get the impression is starting to camp on the surgery's phone!
Policy for Pfizer is 12 weeks. Even if you got your first on Jan 1 you are not overdue.
“In my opinion I’m overdue” doesn’t cut it for a statement “there are a shortage of vaccines”
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
Actually, they did report that. And they noted it was a considerable gamble. It’s just that so far the gamble has come off.
Actually, it wasn't a considerable gamble. There was plenty of evidence in the Pfizer trial about the duration of the antibodies and the efficacy curve.
The original spacing chosen was a guesstimate by the scientists who setup the first trial. Even choosing to make it a 2 dose vaccine was an estimate.
In a more relaxed situation, there would have been trials of different spacing between doses.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The days when people were remotely bothered by politicians sex lives are long gone. The Mirror have thrown money away on this - most of this woman's story has been kicking about for a few years, and no one was interested.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
Married man continues to have affairs until his wife leaves him, lies about said affairs and gets sacked for lying, man knocks up the latest gf and has two other affairs whilst she's preggers including offering contracts to the American one IS news. Or would be if Shagger didn't have a free pass.
If it was ANY other politician, certainly a non-Tory one, the Tory press would be up in arms.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
Tories have long since abandoned any sense that personal character is required in office. No amount of lies, bungs to chums, breaching of ministerial code matters any more, so why should Johnson's tawdry affairs?
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The Arcuri affair matters most in the bung of public money to his mistress, rather than in the amusing details of their "dates".
Johnson is just one of many kleptocrats in this government. Keir should go heavy on Tory financial sleaze. The public doesn't like to be fleeced by these chancers and it would play well in the right demographics too.
Morning all. Early start this morning ...... and it's not a good one for that ...... as Mrs C has her second AZN vaccine early today, about 15 min drive away. Haven't had my second yet; apparently there's a shortage of Pfizer. Which as I had my first back in January is a bit concerning. First time for ages I've set an alarm to wake up in the morning!
Surely Old King Cole it's a wonderful thing to have an early start for?
Where did you hear that 'apparently' from? All the reports today are stating that there will be no shortages of the vaccines for 2nd doses, whether AZN or Pfizer.
Not a good one because the clocks have sprung forward so it's easy to oversleep.
'Shortage of Pfizer' is as advised by GP; they rang my wife the other day for her second. I asked where mine was, as IMHO I'm overdue and was told they hadn't any Pfizer, at least at the moment, didn't know when they were getting out 'but would tell me as soon as'. A neighbour is getting worried about her 91 year father and I get the impression is starting to camp on the surgery's phone!
Policy for Pfizer is 12 weeks. Even if you got your first on Jan 1 you are not overdue.
“In my opinion I’m overdue” doesn’t cut it for a statement “there are a shortage of vaccines”
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
Actually, they did report that. And they noted it was a considerable gamble. It’s just that so far the gamble has come off.
Actually, it wasn't a considerable gamble. There was plenty of evidence in the Pfizer trial about the duration of the antibodies and the efficacy curve.
The original spacing chosen was a guesstimate by the scientists who setup the first trial. Even choosing to make it a 2 dose vaccine was an estimate.
In a more relaxed situation, there would have been trials of different spacing between doses.
I think there's also a completely unscientific narrative that single dose vaccines will lead to efficacy dilution or more variants (they don't and they won't). Unsurprisingly it seems to be coming from the same European sources that gave us "quasi ineffectual" and "8% efficacy" among other spectacular fuck ups.
The actual science behind our choice shows a drastically reduced chance of mutations and reduced risk of efficacy diluting variants evolving simply by way of having far fewer potential hosts for the virus and a massive reduction in serious mutation events, those are primarily linked to people who have COVID for over 30 days and their bodies need to make multiple attempts to fight it off with different immune responses.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
Married man continues to have affairs until his wife leaves him, lies about said affairs and gets sacked for lying, man knocks up the latest gf and has two other affairs whilst she's preggers including offering contracts to the American one IS news. Or would be if Shagger didn't have a free pass.
If it was ANY other politician, certainly a non-Tory one, the Tory press would be up in arms.
The gutter press engaged trawling people's bedrooms is puritan garbage.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
Plans to get sports fans back in stadiums and music fans back at festivals this summer will fail because the government is insisting they go to NHS testing centres for a Covid-19 test first, rather than use a home test like schoolchildren.
Lawrence Dallaglio, the former England rugby captain, raised the alarm last night after holding talks with Whitehall officials over plans to allow fans into Wembley and the World Snooker Championship.
He said the government was “in a mess of its own making” for putting in place a “crazy” system of testing that would “put off” fans and overload the NHS. Dallaglio has offered to help ministers set up a system in which fans can get a test at home, validated by a credited laboratory, with the results recorded on a phone app that would be used to access the event.
He said: “I want to get fans and supporters safely back into events by the summer, but I fail to see what’s being proposed can achieve that. A system that involves using already overstretched NHS resources to test a few hundred fans here and there just won’t do. It has got failure written all over it.
“The government won’t allow fans to rapid flow test themselves at home on game day and digitally verify their negative test before going to the event in safety.”
They just need to do away with the testing requirement once everyone has been vaccinated, especially in July when we're highly likely to have double dosed 90-95% of all adults. It just seems completely pointless at that stage to continue COVID safe measures indefinitely.
It's pointless for the country, certainly, but not for the government, as it gets to keep its emergency powers.
If preventing variants was our sole concern we'd probably be better off going single dose across the entire population save 12 week double dosing groups 1 - 4 (And immuno compromised g6) before starting on second doses for groups 5 - 13 (Children g13)
Morning all. Early start this morning ...... and it's not a good one for that ...... as Mrs C has her second AZN vaccine early today, about 15 min drive away. Haven't had my second yet; apparently there's a shortage of Pfizer. Which as I had my first back in January is a bit concerning. First time for ages I've set an alarm to wake up in the morning!
Surely Old King Cole it's a wonderful thing to have an early start for?
Where did you hear that 'apparently' from? All the reports today are stating that there will be no shortages of the vaccines for 2nd doses, whether AZN or Pfizer.
Not a good one because the clocks have sprung forward so it's easy to oversleep.
'Shortage of Pfizer' is as advised by GP; they rang my wife the other day for her second. I asked where mine was, as IMHO I'm overdue and was told they hadn't any Pfizer, at least at the moment, didn't know when they were getting out 'but would tell me as soon as'. A neighbour is getting worried about her 91 year father and I get the impression is starting to camp on the surgery's phone!
Policy for Pfizer is 12 weeks. Even if you got your first on Jan 1 you are not overdue.
“In my opinion I’m overdue” doesn’t cut it for a statement “there are a shortage of vaccines”
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
Actually, they did report that. And they noted it was a considerable gamble. It’s just that so far the gamble has come off.
Actually, it wasn't a considerable gamble. There was plenty of evidence in the Pfizer trial about the duration of the antibodies and the efficacy curve.
The original spacing chosen was a guesstimate by the scientists who setup the first trial. Even choosing to make it a 2 dose vaccine was an estimate.
In a more relaxed situation, there would have been trials of different spacing between doses.
I think there's also a completely unscientific narrative that single dose vaccines will lead to efficacy dilution or more variants (they don't and they won't). Unsurprisingly it seems to be coming from the same European sources that gave us "quasi ineffectual" and "8% efficacy" among other spectacular fuck ups.
The actual science behind our choice shows a drastically reduced chance of mutations and reduced risk of efficacy diluting variants evolving simply by way of having far fewer potential hosts for the virus and a massive reduction in serious mutation events, those are primarily linked to people who have COVID for over 30 days and their bodies need to make multiple attempts to fight it off with different immune responses.
Dr Fauci was also warning that a single dose might lead to more risk of variants, which was bizarre because as you said the fewer hosts the lower risk of mutation.
I wouldn't bank on it making a massive difference if CDU/CSU if they switch to Söder as chancellor candidate. When the SPD switched to Schulz last time they got an immediate 10% boost in the opinion polls, but ended up getting exactly the vote share they had been polling before switching chancellor candidate.
The CDU are being judged for being in government. Switching chancellor candidate might not help much.
How likely is Söder to get it? I think the party and EU are pulling out all of the stops the prevent him from becoming chancellor at the moment. Laschet just seems so uninspiring, even for chancellor which has historically been boring but competent people.
I think nobody would be very surprised if he becomes Union chancellor candidate. Stoiber was their candidate in 2002, so there is precedent.
Söder himself claims he is only interested in Bavaria. Nobody really believes this, but it is a fine line for him - the CDU have to be doing badly enough in the polls for them to ditch Laschet, but not so badly that he has little chance of actually becoming chancellor. I guess he would much prefer to remain first minister of Bavaria, than be a failed candidate for chancellor.
So, I don't know. If the CDU look like doing badly enough to lose power, they have nothing to lose by passing the candidature over to Söder - but he is going to be less interested. If they look like doing well, they'll probably want to stick with Laschet. BUT the sweet spot is maybe about where the polls are now - still largest party but a danger of an alternative Green-led coalition coming to power, and the hope that Söder would give them enough of a boost to make Union-Green the most likely option.
Thanks for the explainer, yes I think your last scenario is one where Söder himself may be tempted if it looks like the Greens will get their candidate rather than Laschet.
I also agree that the Union will be judged on their last few years in government and in general there must now be some kind of appetite for change. The Union has been in power as the major party for 16 years. That's a long time and I wouldn't blame the German people for taking a punt on a different party this time.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
Ummmm...while a valid point, I could have done without the mental image of all the aforementioned having sex with each other...
Morning all. Early start this morning ...... and it's not a good one for that ...... as Mrs C has her second AZN vaccine early today, about 15 min drive away. Haven't had my second yet; apparently there's a shortage of Pfizer. Which as I had my first back in January is a bit concerning. First time for ages I've set an alarm to wake up in the morning!
Surely Old King Cole it's a wonderful thing to have an early start for?
Where did you hear that 'apparently' from? All the reports today are stating that there will be no shortages of the vaccines for 2nd doses, whether AZN or Pfizer.
Not a good one because the clocks have sprung forward so it's easy to oversleep.
'Shortage of Pfizer' is as advised by GP; they rang my wife the other day for her second. I asked where mine was, as IMHO I'm overdue and was told they hadn't any Pfizer, at least at the moment, didn't know when they were getting out 'but would tell me as soon as'. A neighbour is getting worried about her 91 year father and I get the impression is starting to camp on the surgery's phone!
Policy for Pfizer is 12 weeks. Even if you got your first on Jan 1 you are not overdue.
“In my opinion I’m overdue” doesn’t cut it for a statement “there are a shortage of vaccines”
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
Actually, they did report that. And they noted it was a considerable gamble. It’s just that so far the gamble has come off.
Actually, it wasn't a considerable gamble. There was plenty of evidence in the Pfizer trial about the duration of the antibodies and the efficacy curve.
The original spacing chosen was a guesstimate by the scientists who setup the first trial. Even choosing to make it a 2 dose vaccine was an estimate.
In a more relaxed situation, there would have been trials of different spacing between doses.
I think there's also a completely unscientific narrative that single dose vaccines will lead to efficacy dilution or more variants (they don't and they won't). Unsurprisingly it seems to be coming from the same European sources that gave us "quasi ineffectual" and "8% efficacy" among other spectacular fuck ups.
The actual science behind our choice shows a drastically reduced chance of mutations and reduced risk of efficacy diluting variants evolving simply by way of having far fewer potential hosts for the virus and a massive reduction in serious mutation events, those are primarily linked to people who have COVID for over 30 days and their bodies need to make multiple attempts to fight it off with different immune responses.
Dr Fauci was also warning that a single dose might lead to more risk of variants, which was bizarre because as you said the fewer hosts the lower risk of mutation.
Yes, oddly, though, the FDA has approved the single dose J&J vaccine and not noted any increase in variant risk as a downside in the approval notes. It's almost as if all "right thinking" people who oppose brexit want the UK to fail.
Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus crisis has helped the Tories to their largest poll lead over Labour since last June.
A Deltapoll survey for The Mail on Sunday puts the Conservatives on 44 per cent, with Labour lagging by eight per cent on 36, as public support rallies behind the vaccine rollout and ‘roadmap’ for easing lockdown rules. The poll found that 68 per cent support the plan, with just 20 per cent opposed.
Wonky Scottish and Welsh results presumably product of low sample size; Con/Lab breakdown in England looks more plausible. Anyway, provided for info, make of it what you will.
Every time IDS is on the tv/radio he should be asked why are you not living in Iraq? He and other Neo-Cons ending up destroying Iraq because they knew very little about a country they advocated invasion and regime change and were too arrogant to listen to any thinking conservatives who suggested that a brutal but stable dictatorship might be better than a brutal civil war.And here we see IDS and others now making the same mistake over China.The reality is IDS,Helena Kennedy etc know very little about China.They have no idea how secure or not the leadership is.If China does descend into a brutal civil war then it will not only be tragic for the Chinese people it have tragic global consequences. Recommend anyone who wants to know more about China check out Cindy Yu's brillant fortnightly podcasts 'China Whispers on The Spectator website.The current podcast highlights that the current Chinese leadership mostly come from North China not South China and that not just several ethnic minorities but also several regions feel marginalised from the current leadership
The gutter press engaged trawling people's bedrooms is puritan garbage.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
If it's not a big deal why does Johnson keep lying about it?
The Sunday Times front page splashes David Cameron and "toxic banker" Greensill. Boris is a convenient distraction.
Exactly. Financial sleaze runs right through this government. It is an open goal, and something Keir should be good at convincing the electoral jury over.
Every time IDS is on the tv/radio he should be asked why are you not living in Iraq? He and other Neo-Cons ending up destroying Iraq because they knew very little about a country they advocated invasion and regime change and were too arrogant to listen to any thinking conservatives who suggested that a brutal but stable dictatorship might be better than a brutal civil war.And here we see IDS and others now making the same mistake over China.The reality is IDS,Helena Kennedy etc know very little about China.They have no idea how secure or not the leadership is.If China does descend into a brutal civil war then it will not only be tragic for the Chinese people it have tragic global consequences. Recommend anyone who wants to know more about China check out Cindy Yu's brillant fortnightly podcasts 'China Whispers on The Spectator website.The current podcast highlights that the current Chinese leadership mostly come from North China not South China and that not just several ethnic minorities but also several regions feel marginalised from the current leadership
Nobody has advocated mounting an invasion of China, and I'm not sure what's so objectionable about the statement "genocide isn't very nice."
The gutter press engaged trawling people's bedrooms is puritan garbage.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
If it's not a big deal why does Johnson keep lying about it?
No idea. IDGAF about the story so not read up on it and couldn't tell you the details.
The Sunday Times front page splashes David Cameron and "toxic banker" Greensill. Boris is a convenient distraction.
Exactly. Financial sleaze runs right through this government. It is an open goal, and something Keir should be good at convincing the electoral jury over.
Really? The story is that Dave tried to make direct contact with Rishi a number of times and each time he got rejected. Not sure there's much of a story in it.
Every time IDS is on the tv/radio he should be asked why are you not living in Iraq? He and other Neo-Cons ending up destroying Iraq because they knew very little about a country they advocated invasion and regime change and were too arrogant to listen to any thinking conservatives who suggested that a brutal but stable dictatorship might be better than a brutal civil war.And here we see IDS and others now making the same mistake over China.The reality is IDS,Helena Kennedy etc know very little about China.They have no idea how secure or not the leadership is.If China does descend into a brutal civil war then it will not only be tragic for the Chinese people it have tragic global consequences. Recommend anyone who wants to know more about China check out Cindy Yu's brillant fortnightly podcasts 'China Whispers on The Spectator website.The current podcast highlights that the current Chinese leadership mostly come from North China not South China and that not just several ethnic minorities but also several regions feel marginalised from the current leadership
Ah yes. The "For The Sake Of Unity And Peace, We Are Forced To Drive Tanks Over Minorities" policy.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
Married man continues to have affairs until his wife leaves him, lies about said affairs and gets sacked for lying, man knocks up the latest gf and has two other affairs whilst she's preggers including offering contracts to the American one IS news. Or would be if Shagger didn't have a free pass.
If it was ANY other politician, certainly a non-Tory one, the Tory press would be up in arms.
The gutter press engaged trawling people's bedrooms is puritan garbage.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
Absolutely. There is a lot of puritanical authoritarianism on PB. It’s the dominant credo in fact.
The gutter press engaged trawling people's bedrooms is puritan garbage.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
If it's not a big deal why does Johnson keep lying about it?
Is there any more annoying phrase in the lockdown lexicon than “no earlier than”?
It's used in rocket science all the time, where it really does mean "No earlier than" and things are frequently delayed. It's not an expression in general use and will have been put in there by people who half expect stuff to be delayed from that date. It's not been sold that way by any politicians that have used it.
I offered one for free the other day - Ethical Tariffs.
Make EBay tat for this country in a democracy, with good human rights, pay and conditions & zero carbon emissions - 0%. Make Ebay tat in a slave labour camp - 100%??
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The days when people were remotely bothered by politicians sex lives are long gone. The Mirror have thrown money away on this - most of this woman's story has been kicking about for a few years, and no one was interested.
Not true. Boris is getting hollowed out, bit by bit.
The Sunday Times front page splashes David Cameron and "toxic banker" Greensill. Boris is a convenient distraction.
Exactly. Financial sleaze runs right through this government. It is an open goal, and something Keir should be good at convincing the electoral jury over.
Really? The story is that Dave tried to make direct contact with Rishi a number of times and each time he got rejected. Not sure there's much of a story in it.
There is a story in it - that Dave was trying to pull in favours..
Ok, hands up all those who forgot about the clock change but were saved by their phones remembering for them?
I've only got one clock that needs changing, as I have a traditional analogue watch.
Until I realised that I also have a clock on the timer that the office heater uses - when I walked in to start work and found it was bloody cold...
My heating stays permanently on GMT. I work on the assumption that if it’s BST I shouldn’t need the heating on: that and the fact that the system is so old I’ve lost the instructions for changing the time...
The Sunday Times front page splashes David Cameron and "toxic banker" Greensill. Boris is a convenient distraction.
Exactly. Financial sleaze runs right through this government. It is an open goal, and something Keir should be good at convincing the electoral jury over.
Really? The story is that Dave tried to make direct contact with Rishi a number of times and each time he got rejected. Not sure there's much of a story in it.
There is a story in it - that Dave was trying to pull in favours..
Not one that's really going to hurt the current lot though is it?
The Sunday Times front page splashes David Cameron and "toxic banker" Greensill. Boris is a convenient distraction.
Exactly. Financial sleaze runs right through this government. It is an open goal, and something Keir should be good at convincing the electoral jury over.
Really? The story is that Dave tried to make direct contact with Rishi a number of times and each time he got rejected. Not sure there's much of a story in it.
I think the interesting bit is how Greensill got such access to the treasury under Cameron, then Cameron walked off with £70 million of (now worthless) share options.
Steel workers facing redundancy should follow the money when looking who to blame.
Plans to get sports fans back in stadiums and music fans back at festivals this summer will fail because the government is insisting they go to NHS testing centres for a Covid-19 test first, rather than use a home test like schoolchildren.
Lawrence Dallaglio, the former England rugby captain, raised the alarm last night after holding talks with Whitehall officials over plans to allow fans into Wembley and the World Snooker Championship.
He said the government was “in a mess of its own making” for putting in place a “crazy” system of testing that would “put off” fans and overload the NHS. Dallaglio has offered to help ministers set up a system in which fans can get a test at home, validated by a credited laboratory, with the results recorded on a phone app that would be used to access the event.
He said: “I want to get fans and supporters safely back into events by the summer, but I fail to see what’s being proposed can achieve that. A system that involves using already overstretched NHS resources to test a few hundred fans here and there just won’t do. It has got failure written all over it.
“The government won’t allow fans to rapid flow test themselves at home on game day and digitally verify their negative test before going to the event in safety.”
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The days when people were remotely bothered by politicians sex lives are long gone. The Mirror have thrown money away on this - most of this woman's story has been kicking about for a few years, and no one was interested.
Not true. Boris is getting hollowed out, bit by bit.
The best bit in the Arcuri story was where he ponced £3.10 off her to buy a drink. What a grease stain of a human he is.
The Sunday Times front page splashes David Cameron and "toxic banker" Greensill. Boris is a convenient distraction.
Exactly. Financial sleaze runs right through this government. It is an open goal, and something Keir should be good at convincing the electoral jury over.
Really? The story is that Dave tried to make direct contact with Rishi a number of times and each time he got rejected. Not sure there's much of a story in it.
There is a story in it - that Dave was trying to pull in favours..
Not one that's really going to hurt the current lot though is it?
Especially as no favours were actually pulled in, other than perhaps a meeting or two to be told "no favours are going to be given".
Actually, it wasn't a considerable gamble. There was plenty of evidence in the Pfizer trial about the duration of the antibodies and the efficacy curve.
The original spacing chosen was a guesstimate by the scientists who setup the first trial. Even choosing to make it a 2 dose vaccine was an estimate.
In a more relaxed situation, there would have been trials of different spacing between doses.
Exactly. Vaccines do not have a countdown timer. "22 days? I quit!" And for our friends in the EU I can tell you that vaccines do not ask to see if you have a free bus pass either.
The Sunday Times front page splashes David Cameron and "toxic banker" Greensill. Boris is a convenient distraction.
Exactly. Financial sleaze runs right through this government. It is an open goal, and something Keir should be good at convincing the electoral jury over.
Really? The story is that Dave tried to make direct contact with Rishi a number of times and each time he got rejected. Not sure there's much of a story in it.
There is a story in it - that Dave was trying to pull in favours..
Which party is Dave standing for?
Rishi refused to let even Dave pull in favours is the story.
Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus crisis has helped the Tories to their largest poll lead over Labour since last June.
A Deltapoll survey for The Mail on Sunday puts the Conservatives on 44 per cent, with Labour lagging by eight per cent on 36, as public support rallies behind the vaccine rollout and ‘roadmap’ for easing lockdown rules. The poll found that 68 per cent support the plan, with just 20 per cent opposed.
Wonky Scottish and Welsh results presumably product of low sample size; Con/Lab breakdown in England looks more plausible. Anyway, provided for info, make of it what you will.
Agreed the Scots/Welsh results look weird. Interesting to see that Remain/Leave no longer has a significant direct effect - Tory and Labour voters last time have remained 90% loyal irrespective of how they felt about Brexit.
The figures for the seat gained by the Tories at the last election, showing a 43-43% tie, are however very similar to the figures earlier from earlier poll yesterday (which showed Labour 2 points ahead in these seats). Does anyone have the baseline figure for what the party shares were IN THOSE SEATS? They are clearly the primary battleground, and by definition the Tories were ahead in them, but by how much? Is the swing larger or smaller? Knowing that would help predict the Hartlepool result.
Morning all. Early start this morning ...... and it's not a good one for that ...... as Mrs C has her second AZN vaccine early today, about 15 min drive away. Haven't had my second yet; apparently there's a shortage of Pfizer. Which as I had my first back in January is a bit concerning. First time for ages I've set an alarm to wake up in the morning!
Surely Old King Cole it's a wonderful thing to have an early start for?
Where did you hear that 'apparently' from? All the reports today are stating that there will be no shortages of the vaccines for 2nd doses, whether AZN or Pfizer.
Not a good one because the clocks have sprung forward so it's easy to oversleep.
'Shortage of Pfizer' is as advised by GP; they rang my wife the other day for her second. I asked where mine was, as IMHO I'm overdue and was told they hadn't any Pfizer, at least at the moment, didn't know when they were getting out 'but would tell me as soon as'. A neighbour is getting worried about her 91 year father and I get the impression is starting to camp on the surgery's phone!
Policy for Pfizer is 12 weeks. Even if you got your first on Jan 1 you are not overdue.
“In my opinion I’m overdue” doesn’t cut it for a statement “there are a shortage of vaccines”
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
It was noted and debated extensively but on the balance of risk and benefit the decision was to push forward.
There have been production problems resulting in shortfalls vs the original expectations from last year but these were known about by the time of the decision. The proximate cause of any shortfall at this point would be the EU decided to break their promises to the PM, to overturn centuries of contract law and seize vaccines that the UK has funded and paid for.
But I guess the EU is angry and the UK because they are embarrassed that their catastrophic fuck yo is being revealed to all by the country that left their precious Union?
The gutter press engaged trawling people's bedrooms is puritan garbage.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
If it's not a big deal why does Johnson keep lying about it?
Habit.
Also, this started with a serious allegation- that Boris diverted GLA money and goodies to the fragrant Jen without acknowledging their relationship. That's the kind of thing that can get a chap in significant trouble.
The rest of it? Not the actions of a gentleman, to be sure, but everyone already knows BoJo is not a gentleman.
The gutter press engaged trawling people's bedrooms is puritan garbage.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
If it's not a big deal why does Johnson keep lying about it?
No idea. IDGAF about the story so not read up on it and couldn't tell you the details.
People have sex. Get over it. 🤷♂️
Politicians seem to have way more sex than other group.
Got a massive libido? Want to meet like-minded people with huge sex drives? Then go into politics....
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The days when people were remotely bothered by politicians sex lives are long gone. The Mirror have thrown money away on this - most of this woman's story has been kicking about for a few years, and no one was interested.
Not true. Boris is getting hollowed out, bit by bit.
The best bit in the Arcuri story was where he ponced £3.10 off her to buy a drink. What a grease stain of a human he is.
Yes, he never expects to pay his own bills, whether at the bar, or financing his mistress or furnishing his flat. There is a pattern there.
The Sunday Times front page splashes David Cameron and "toxic banker" Greensill. Boris is a convenient distraction.
Exactly. Financial sleaze runs right through this government. It is an open goal, and something Keir should be good at convincing the electoral jury over.
Really? The story is that Dave tried to make direct contact with Rishi a number of times and each time he got rejected. Not sure there's much of a story in it.
There is a story in it - that Dave was trying to pull in favours..
Not one that's really going to hurt the current lot though is it?
I can recall when Senator John Glenn was terribly upset with George Bush Junior for not taking Ken Lays calls to try and save Enron.
As a perfect example of a big media coverup, for years the various stations refused to release the clips of the Senator making that statement. Just hours before the Enron fun got started.....
The actual science behind our choice shows a drastically reduced chance of mutations and reduced risk of efficacy diluting variants evolving simply by way of having far fewer potential hosts for the virus and a massive reduction in serious mutation events, those are primarily linked to people who have COVID for over 30 days and their bodies need to make multiple attempts to fight it off with different immune responses.
Correct. It's all about the number of infections and their severity. Simply put: more virus, more mutation, more variants. Anything that reduces case numbers and severity helps to reduce mutation.
The gutter press engaged trawling people's bedrooms is puritan garbage.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
If it's not a big deal why does Johnson keep lying about it?
No idea. IDGAF about the story so not read up on it and couldn't tell you the details.
People have sex. Get over it. 🤷♂️
Politicians seem to have way more sex than other group.
Got a massive libido? Want to meet like-minded people with huge sex drives? Then go into politics....
Showbusiness for ugly people, and no shortage of Weinstein like behavior too.
Morning all. Early start this morning ...... and it's not a good one for that ...... as Mrs C has her second AZN vaccine early today, about 15 min drive away. Haven't had my second yet; apparently there's a shortage of Pfizer. Which as I had my first back in January is a bit concerning. First time for ages I've set an alarm to wake up in the morning!
Surely Old King Cole it's a wonderful thing to have an early start for?
Where did you hear that 'apparently' from? All the reports today are stating that there will be no shortages of the vaccines for 2nd doses, whether AZN or Pfizer.
Not a good one because the clocks have sprung forward so it's easy to oversleep.
'Shortage of Pfizer' is as advised by GP; they rang my wife the other day for her second. I asked where mine was, as IMHO I'm overdue and was told they hadn't any Pfizer, at least at the moment, didn't know when they were getting out 'but would tell me as soon as'. A neighbour is getting worried about her 91 year father and I get the impression is starting to camp on the surgery's phone!
Policy for Pfizer is 12 weeks. Even if you got your first on Jan 1 you are not overdue.
“In my opinion I’m overdue” doesn’t cut it for a statement “there are a shortage of vaccines”
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
Actually, they did report that. And they noted it was a considerable gamble. It’s just that so far the gamble has come off.
I do think gamble is unfair because it implies chance.
They looked and the data and the theory on vaccines. And made a reasoned judgement call. Of course they may have been wrong but, to date, they appear to be correct
Have we seen many existing MSPs on the defection list yet, they’re the ones that will shortly have to submit themselves to the people?
If you were standing as constituency MSP, wouldn't you get elected, then defect?
Is there really no honour among thieves? Would anyone dare to be that brazen, standing for election under a party banner but defecting immediately?
The thought of it would put the fear of God into the SNP though, which is probably Salmond’s intention. They’re all going to be looking at each other with extreme suspicion for the next six weeks...
Brazen? Honour? This is the SNP we are talking about!
The Sunday Times front page splashes David Cameron and "toxic banker" Greensill. Boris is a convenient distraction.
Exactly. Financial sleaze runs right through this government. It is an open goal, and something Keir should be good at convincing the electoral jury over.
Really? The story is that Dave tried to make direct contact with Rishi a number of times and each time he got rejected. Not sure there's much of a story in it.
I think the interesting bit is how Greensill got such access to the treasury under Cameron, then Cameron walked off with £70 million of (now worthless) share options.
Steel workers facing redundancy should follow the money when looking who to blame.
The number of share options given increases with the likelihood of them being ultimately worthless. £70m to me says "No chance of it coming off, but let him give it a go...."
I will happily set up companies and give you billions in share options for either a viable perpetual motion machine or the secret to eternal youth.
The gutter press engaged trawling people's bedrooms is puritan garbage.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
If it's not a big deal why does Johnson keep lying about it?
No idea. IDGAF about the story so not read up on it and couldn't tell you the details.
People have sex. Get over it. 🤷♂️
Politicians seem to have way more sex than other group.
Got a massive libido? Want to meet like-minded people with huge sex drives? Then go into politics....
It does seem to attract more of the alpha-types who don’t fancy sticking to their wedding vows.
The real story here is about the money though, and whether Johnson was involved in the decision to award public funds to someone with whom he was conducting a relationship.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The days when people were remotely bothered by politicians sex lives are long gone. The Mirror have thrown money away on this - most of this woman's story has been kicking about for a few years, and no one was interested.
Not true. Boris is getting hollowed out, bit by bit.
The best bit in the Arcuri story was where he ponced £3.10 off her to buy a drink. What a grease stain of a human he is.
Yes, he never expects to pay his own bills, whether at the bar, or financing his mistress or furnishing his flat. There is a pattern there.
Is there any provable truth that Boris "ponced" a drink.. sound to me like a smear.. and I don't like Boris
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The days when people were remotely bothered by politicians sex lives are long gone. The Mirror have thrown money away on this - most of this woman's story has been kicking about for a few years, and no one was interested.
Not true. Boris is getting hollowed out, bit by bit.
The best bit in the Arcuri story was where he ponced £3.10 off her to buy a drink. What a grease stain of a human he is.
Yes, he never expects to pay his own bills, whether at the bar, or financing his mistress or furnishing his flat. There is a pattern there.
Is there any provable truth that Boris "ponced" a drink.. sound to me like a smear.. and I don't like Boris
"Go on, there must have been times when Boris was a complete arsehole to you?"
"Well, there was that time he'd forgotten his wallet - and asked me for £3.10 so he could buy a beer."
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The days when people were remotely bothered by politicians sex lives are long gone. The Mirror have thrown money away on this - most of this woman's story has been kicking about for a few years, and no one was interested.
Not true. Boris is getting hollowed out, bit by bit.
The best bit in the Arcuri story was where he ponced £3.10 off her to buy a drink. What a grease stain of a human he is.
Yes, he never expects to pay his own bills, whether at the bar, or financing his mistress or furnishing his flat. There is a pattern there.
Is there any provable truth that Boris "ponced" a drink.. sound to me like a smear.. and I don't like Boris
Indeed its hell hath no fury like a woman scorned....
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The days when people were remotely bothered by politicians sex lives are long gone. The Mirror have thrown money away on this - most of this woman's story has been kicking about for a few years, and no one was interested.
Not true. Boris is getting hollowed out, bit by bit.
The best bit in the Arcuri story was where he ponced £3.10 off her to buy a drink. What a grease stain of a human he is.
Yes, he never expects to pay his own bills, whether at the bar, or financing his mistress or furnishing his flat. There is a pattern there.
Is there any provable truth that Boris "ponced" a drink.. sound to me like a smear.. and I don't like Boris
Yes the "£3.10" is the least believable bit of the story. A fiver maybe. Or, more likely, maybe it was a chat up line.
Re Greensill, a pretty common occurrence amongst many of the investigations I have done is the appearance of a third party seeking to insert themselves into an existing relationship by claiming to offer some service which, on inquiry, turns out to be a great big nothing dressed up in lots of management bollocks. Whenever intermediaries, advisors, introducers start appearing on the scene, be very wary indeed. They are almost invariably seeking to skim off money. Scammers, in other words - sophisticated ones no doubt but scammers nonetheless.
One of the investigations I did just before promotion (indeed partly led to it) was into a case with remarkable similarity to the Greensill case - financier appearing from nowhere, ego and claims to greatness the size of a planet, remarkable access to senior people, promises of great riches for all concerned though no-one could ever work out precisely how, conflicts of interest all over the place, money "invested" (all lost of course) - until eventually it all fell apart, largely (whistles modestly) because yours truly asked some bleeding obvious questions and it became apparent that there was nothing there.
The only mystery - and it is an enduring one - is why apparently intelligent people fall for this stuff every single time.
Morning all. Early start this morning ...... and it's not a good one for that ...... as Mrs C has her second AZN vaccine early today, about 15 min drive away. Haven't had my second yet; apparently there's a shortage of Pfizer. Which as I had my first back in January is a bit concerning. First time for ages I've set an alarm to wake up in the morning!
Surely Old King Cole it's a wonderful thing to have an early start for?
Where did you hear that 'apparently' from? All the reports today are stating that there will be no shortages of the vaccines for 2nd doses, whether AZN or Pfizer.
Not a good one because the clocks have sprung forward so it's easy to oversleep.
'Shortage of Pfizer' is as advised by GP; they rang my wife the other day for her second. I asked where mine was, as IMHO I'm overdue and was told they hadn't any Pfizer, at least at the moment, didn't know when they were getting out 'but would tell me as soon as'. A neighbour is getting worried about her 91 year father and I get the impression is starting to camp on the surgery's phone!
Policy for Pfizer is 12 weeks. Even if you got your first on Jan 1 you are not overdue.
“In my opinion I’m overdue” doesn’t cut it for a statement “there are a shortage of vaccines”
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
Interestingly, the view of the EU and its posturing on this side of the Channel isn't anger. It's contempt. From a hell of a lot of Remainers as well. It's also quite funny how the EU side keep howling about the British press being crap (which is something I'd agree with) and credulously trot out whatever crap the press on their side is coming out with (like the Italian paper about "secret stash of AZ vaccines for the UK found!"
So, this is what went down: February/March: Oxford University and the Jenner Institute tailor their Adenovector vaccine candidate for MERS to SARS-CoV-2. They set up with Oxford Biomedica, Cobra Biologics, Pall Biotech, Public Health England, and others to look at scaling up. They bring in Halix BV to shift part of the supply chain from Pall to Halix for rapid scale up for global production.
The UK Govt get seats on the board of this consortium, provide funding, assistance, help set up the trials, and discuss who to partner with for full-scale rollout. They veto Merck on the grounds that the US Government might go all "this factory is on our soil, therefore what it produces is ours" and bring in Astrazeneca instead.
Trials go ahead, look promising, and contracts are signed in August with the UK and the EU. The EU remain at arms length, to buy a product at the end of the day and focused on price and liability. The UK remain fully involved with the development and production, scaling up factories and providing direct support.
AZ bring in Seneffe in Belgium and look to bring them online.
The plants in the UK therefore come online sooner. Biological processes take time. As the adage goes, you can't produce a baby in three months by tripling the manpower.
Morning all. Early start this morning ...... and it's not a good one for that ...... as Mrs C has her second AZN vaccine early today, about 15 min drive away. Haven't had my second yet; apparently there's a shortage of Pfizer. Which as I had my first back in January is a bit concerning. First time for ages I've set an alarm to wake up in the morning!
Surely Old King Cole it's a wonderful thing to have an early start for?
Where did you hear that 'apparently' from? All the reports today are stating that there will be no shortages of the vaccines for 2nd doses, whether AZN or Pfizer.
Not a good one because the clocks have sprung forward so it's easy to oversleep.
'Shortage of Pfizer' is as advised by GP; they rang my wife the other day for her second. I asked where mine was, as IMHO I'm overdue and was told they hadn't any Pfizer, at least at the moment, didn't know when they were getting out 'but would tell me as soon as'. A neighbour is getting worried about her 91 year father and I get the impression is starting to camp on the surgery's phone!
Policy for Pfizer is 12 weeks. Even if you got your first on Jan 1 you are not overdue.
“In my opinion I’m overdue” doesn’t cut it for a statement “there are a shortage of vaccines”
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
Interestingly, the view of the EU and its posturing on this side of the Channel isn't anger. It's contempt. From a hell of a lot of Remainers as well. It's also quite funny how the EU side keep howling about the British press being crap (which is something I'd agree with) and credulously trot out whatever crap the press on their side is coming out with (like the Italian paper about "secret stash of AZ vaccines for the UK found!"
So, this is what went down: February/March: Oxford University and the Jenner Institute tailor their Adenovector vaccine candidate for MERS to SARS-CoV-2. They set up with Oxford Biomedica, Cobra Biologics, Pall Biotech, Public Health England, and others to look at scaling up. They bring in Halix BV to shift part of the supply chain from Pall to Halix for rapid scale up for global production.
The UK Govt get seats on the board of this consortium, provide funding, assistance, help set up the trials, and discuss who to partner with for full-scale rollout. They veto Merck on the grounds that the US Government might go all "this factory is on our soil, therefore what it produces is ours" and bring in Astrazeneca instead.
Trials go ahead, look promising, and contracts are signed in August with the UK and the EU. The EU remain at arms length, to buy a product at the end of the day and focused on price and liability. The UK remain fully involved with the development and production, scaling up factories and providing direct support.
AZ bring in Seneffe in Belgium and look to bring them online.
The plants in the UK therefore come online sooner. Biological processes take time. As the adage goes, you can't produce a baby in three months by tripling the manpower.
1/2
The UK authorise ChAdOx1 first. Due to the biological processes taking longer than expected, the first 20 million doses by Q4 2020 do not materialise. Instead, we get 0.5 million. Despite this, the Government do not throw a public tantrum but work with AZ to get whatever we can and provide whatever help we can give.
Eventually, the EU authorise ChAdOx1, with the papers in the EU already starting to give inaccurate negative misinformation (Handelsblatt), amplified by the President of France. It turns out that the EU will also get a reduced supply initially for the same reasons, but their percentage reduction is not as bad as ours. Despite this, they start to throw a very public tantrum. The various national bodies override the EMA recommendation with extra limits, further spreading misinformation on this vaccine.
Around this point, UvdL starts to claim that any vaccines produced by factories on EU soil are produced by the EU (Pfizer blink a couple of times), and ignore the global supply chain where key elements are sourced from around the world - including exports of the key lipid bilayers from the UK. Meanwhile, the UK send a team to Seneffe to try to help the EU's production issues (which I'm certain has been highlighted in these reliable EU papers? Bueller? Bueller? Hmmm.)
The EU insist that the UK should start sending them vaccines produced by the Oxford and Keele plants (from the original consortium) because these plants appear in both contracts (so could legally supply both or either; the EU decide this means they MUST supply the EU first, somehow). Further absurdities come about, like Italy banning AZ vaccines bought by Australia and produced under contract from leaving the shore (and simultaneously seizing and destroying a similar amount of doses), raiding a factory to find doses heading from one point in the EU to another point in the EU and trumpeting that they'd found secret UK doses, and so on.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The days when people were remotely bothered by politicians sex lives are long gone. The Mirror have thrown money away on this - most of this woman's story has been kicking about for a few years, and no one was interested.
Not true. Boris is getting hollowed out, bit by bit.
The best bit in the Arcuri story was where he ponced £3.10 off her to buy a drink. What a grease stain of a human he is.
Yes, he never expects to pay his own bills, whether at the bar, or financing his mistress or furnishing his flat. There is a pattern there.
Is there any provable truth that Boris "ponced" a drink.. sound to me like a smear.. and I don't like Boris
"Go on, there must have been times when Boris was a complete arsehole to you?"
"Well, there was that time he'd forgotten his wallet - and asked me for £3.10 so he could buy a beer."
"There's my Pulitzer, right there...."
Have you never been caught with no cash as a rule I never let my partner buy a drink but there was always an occasional time when the wallet was bare and no cashpoint around 3.10.. its not exactly a large gin and tonic is it ...sounds like an orange juice to.me.
Morning all. Early start this morning ...... and it's not a good one for that ...... as Mrs C has her second AZN vaccine early today, about 15 min drive away. Haven't had my second yet; apparently there's a shortage of Pfizer. Which as I had my first back in January is a bit concerning. First time for ages I've set an alarm to wake up in the morning!
Surely Old King Cole it's a wonderful thing to have an early start for?
Where did you hear that 'apparently' from? All the reports today are stating that there will be no shortages of the vaccines for 2nd doses, whether AZN or Pfizer.
Not a good one because the clocks have sprung forward so it's easy to oversleep.
'Shortage of Pfizer' is as advised by GP; they rang my wife the other day for her second. I asked where mine was, as IMHO I'm overdue and was told they hadn't any Pfizer, at least at the moment, didn't know when they were getting out 'but would tell me as soon as'. A neighbour is getting worried about her 91 year father and I get the impression is starting to camp on the surgery's phone!
Policy for Pfizer is 12 weeks. Even if you got your first on Jan 1 you are not overdue.
“In my opinion I’m overdue” doesn’t cut it for a statement “there are a shortage of vaccines”
In the separate UK propaganda space, the right wing press did not report that the government had decided to take a calculated risk and vaccinate as many as possible with at least one jag and worry about the second dose later. The problem is now that if the second doses do not turn up then a) many are not fully protected and b) the UK is risking the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. What was not reported in the UK amid the early vaccine triumphalism, was that most EU governments were not prepared to take the risk of a vaccine resistant strain.
If reckless Boris has gambled and lost, the UK will be in a very dark place indeed. He may get away with it, if the outbreak over all can be controlled, but if it can´t then it will not just be the UK, but the whole planet that will be at risk. So it will be in the interests of all humanity that the UK second doses are delivered, but the anger at the UK on this side of the Channel is genuine and deep felt.
You literally have no idea what you're talking about. Please provide any evidence or peer reviewed paper that shows single dose COVID vaccines increase risk of mutations or any kind of efficacy dilution. I mean someone had better tell Johnson and Johnson, one of the world's largest pharmaceuticals companies that this is a problem. You're a complete and utter cretin and every time you open your mouth about any subject it's all bullshit bitterness that the UK has left the EU. There is literally nothing else to your life other than hating the UK. I find it sad.
He’s got muddled with antibiotics where there is a risk of resistance from a short course.
The Sunday Times front page splashes David Cameron and "toxic banker" Greensill. Boris is a convenient distraction.
Exactly. Financial sleaze runs right through this government. It is an open goal, and something Keir should be good at convincing the electoral jury over.
Really? The story is that Dave tried to make direct contact with Rishi a number of times and each time he got rejected. Not sure there's much of a story in it.
There is a story in it - that Dave was trying to pull in favours..
Which party is Dave standing for?
Rishi refused to let even Dave pull in favours is the story.
The interesting aspect is why this story - which hurts an ex-PM who left office 5 years ago - is appearing now. What are we being diverted from looking at?
The same might be said about the Mirror story too.
On topic, raunchy as Shagger's front page revelations are, its hardly a news flash. Tory supporters are perfectly happy to both say "ah he's a lad isn't he" and simultaneously "he's a good father and a family man look at him with Carrie and the baby".
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
It's pathetic how partisanly puritan people get.
"Man has sex" is not news. "Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
The days when people were remotely bothered by politicians sex lives are long gone. The Mirror have thrown money away on this - most of this woman's story has been kicking about for a few years, and no one was interested.
Not true. Boris is getting hollowed out, bit by bit.
The best bit in the Arcuri story was where he ponced £3.10 off her to buy a drink. What a grease stain of a human he is.
We've commented in the past, have we not, that Boris Johnson appears to be the sort of chap who'll have a drink with, and be one of the, lads until it comes to his round. Then he finds he's left his wallet at home!
The gutter press engaged trawling people's bedrooms is puritan garbage.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
If it's not a big deal why does Johnson keep lying about it?
No idea. IDGAF about the story so not read up on it and couldn't tell you the details.
People have sex. Get over it. 🤷♂️
Politicians seem to have way more sex than other group.
Got a massive libido? Want to meet like-minded people with huge sex drives? Then go into politics....
It does seem to attract more of the alpha-types who don’t fancy sticking to their wedding vows.
The real story here is about the money though, and whether Johnson was involved in the decision to award public funds to someone with whom he was conducting a relationship.
Well how many other foreign companies got a £100k grant despite not meeting the requirements and lying about having £0 income on their application?
Comments
But it's easy enough to see how a broader split could happen.
1. MSPs: "We want our independence referendum NOW!"
2. PM: "No."
3. SNP civil war over what to do next
4. Fundamentalists desert en bloc to join Salmond
I go for a new generation of sleep remedies
Think Biden - who was elected not because of any great enthusiasm for him personally, but elected because of who he was not.
Like any party, the SNP has its factions. NS has sided with a very particular grouping and alienated others, but she won't be leader forever and everyone will be thinking of potential moves. If people defected to Alba, and they get a significant rump of MSPs, she'd be out as FM.
Remains to be seen if Alba pick up any momentum beyond a couple of defections.
Looks to have snubbed Tugendhat because he can’t get over some criticism from when he was Foreign Sec.
https://twitter.com/michaellcrick/status/1375934968501829632?s=21
(You have to go into the thread)
SKS Labour will not get as many votes as Jezza Labour 2017 and probably not as many as 2019.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/alex-salmond-alba-party-nicola-sturgeon-scottish-independence-b1823335.html
Bless
The vaccine strategy was approved by the MHRA, JCVI, all four Chief Medical Officers, and PHE (and I dare say their counterparts too); not just "reckless Boris".
On top of that part of the reason the UK went down this path is that there was already data from trials with longer intervals to support delaying second jabs. Particularly in the case of the AZ vaccine this approach has been vindicated.
Oh one last thing, if there are any new variants of concern the odds are that the UK will find them first anyway, as we do far more sequencing than anyone else.
Better tactic is to copy the strategic brilliance of Salmond and game the electoral system. Depart from the Labour Party. Set up a new patriotic party named after the country you love, win plaudits for your brilliance, delight as twat MPs like Tarry and Sultana defect and join the Palestine Party with you.
Could be brilliant.
Söder himself claims he is only interested in Bavaria. Nobody really believes this, but it is a fine line for him - the CDU have to be doing badly enough in the polls for them to ditch Laschet, but not so badly that he has little chance of actually becoming chancellor. I guess he would much prefer to remain first minister of Bavaria, than be a failed candidate for chancellor.
So, I don't know. If the CDU look like doing badly enough to lose power, they have nothing to lose by passing the candidature over to Söder - but he is going to be less interested. If they look like doing well, they'll probably want to stick with Laschet. BUT the sweet spot is maybe about where the polls are now - still largest party but a danger of an alternative Green-led coalition coming to power, and the hope that Söder would give them enough of a boost to make Union-Green the most likely option.
So what with any other politician would have sunk him multiple times over instead boosts Shagger because of the footballification of politics. However, should Keith be revealed to have been shagging the lass who runs his donkey sanctuary there would be Consternation and Uproar about how morally degenerate he is in having an affair.
https://twitter.com/ObserverUK/status/1376089691213033475?s=19
"Man has sex" is not news.
"Woman has sex" is not news.
I couldn't care less if its Boris, Keith, Jezza, Drakeford, Sturgeon, Salmond or anyone else you can throw a stick at.
Punters think the jab means we're immune so unlock quickly. But the 28 weeks later scenario remains a problem - re-import a modified pox from elsewhere and your immunity isn't worth anything. Until we have a significant proportion of the world vaccinated, holidays abroad surely have to be held in check.
The original spacing chosen was a guesstimate by the scientists who setup the first trial. Even choosing to make it a 2 dose vaccine was an estimate.
In a more relaxed situation, there would have been trials of different spacing between doses.
If it was ANY other politician, certainly a non-Tory one, the Tory press would be up in arms.
Johnson is just one of many kleptocrats in this government. Keir should go heavy on Tory financial sleaze. The public doesn't like to be fleeced by these chancers and it would play well in the right demographics too.
The actual science behind our choice shows a drastically reduced chance of mutations and reduced risk of efficacy diluting variants evolving simply by way of having far fewer potential hosts for the virus and a massive reduction in serious mutation events, those are primarily linked to people who have COVID for over 30 days and their bodies need to make multiple attempts to fight it off with different immune responses.
Someone having an affair is between the consensual couple and their partners, not an issue the gutter press should be reporting but its no shock that people enjoy such puritan curtain twitching
You sound like that puritan fool on here attacking people who have sex outside marriage and using the word "bastard".
Until I realised that I also have a clock on the timer that the office heater uses - when I walked in to start work and found it was bloody cold...
I also agree that the Union will be judged on their last few years in government and in general there must now be some kind of appetite for change. The Union has been in power as the major party for 16 years. That's a long time and I wouldn't blame the German people for taking a punt on a different party this time.
Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus crisis has helped the Tories to their largest poll lead over Labour since last June.
A Deltapoll survey for The Mail on Sunday puts the Conservatives on 44 per cent, with Labour lagging by eight per cent on 36, as public support rallies behind the vaccine rollout and ‘roadmap’ for easing lockdown rules. The poll found that 68 per cent support the plan, with just 20 per cent opposed.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9410687/Boris-Johnsons-handling-coronavirus-crisis-helps-Tories-8-point-poll-lead-Labour.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailUK
Tables here:
http://www.deltapoll.co.uk/polls/voting-intention-210327
Wonky Scottish and Welsh results presumably product of low sample size; Con/Lab breakdown in England looks more plausible. Anyway, provided for info, make of it what you will.
He and other Neo-Cons ending up destroying Iraq because they knew very little about a country they advocated invasion and regime change and were too arrogant to listen to any thinking conservatives who suggested that a brutal but stable dictatorship might be better than a brutal civil war.And here we see IDS and others now making the same mistake over China.The reality is IDS,Helena Kennedy etc know very little about China.They have no idea how secure or not the leadership is.If China does descend into a brutal civil war then it will not only be tragic for the Chinese people it have tragic global consequences.
Recommend anyone who wants to know more about China check out Cindy Yu's brillant fortnightly podcasts 'China Whispers on The Spectator website.The current podcast highlights that the current Chinese leadership mostly come from North China not South China and that not just several ethnic minorities but also several regions feel marginalised from the current leadership
People have sex. Get over it. 🤷♂️
What are your views on Scottish independence?
Or if you want a single word rather than phrase then "caution".
I offered one for free the other day - Ethical Tariffs.
Make EBay tat for this country in a democracy, with good human rights, pay and conditions & zero carbon emissions - 0%.
Make Ebay tat in a slave labour camp - 100%??
Steel workers facing redundancy should follow the money when looking who to blame.
https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1373690401589227526?s=19
Rishi refused to let even Dave pull in favours is the story.
The figures for the seat gained by the Tories at the last election, showing a 43-43% tie, are however very similar to the figures earlier from earlier poll yesterday (which showed Labour 2 points ahead in these seats). Does anyone have the baseline figure for what the party shares were IN THOSE SEATS? They are clearly the primary battleground, and by definition the Tories were ahead in them, but by how much? Is the swing larger or smaller? Knowing that would help predict the Hartlepool result.
There have been production problems resulting in shortfalls vs the original expectations from last year but these were known about by the time of the decision. The proximate cause of any shortfall at this point would be the EU decided to break their promises to the PM, to overturn centuries of contract law and seize vaccines that the UK has funded and paid for.
But I guess the EU is angry and the UK because they are embarrassed that their catastrophic fuck yo is being revealed to all by the country that left their precious Union?
The rest of it? Not the actions of a gentleman, to be sure, but everyone already knows BoJo is not a gentleman.
Got a massive libido? Want to meet like-minded people with huge sex drives? Then go into politics....
As a perfect example of a big media coverup, for years the various stations refused to release the clips of the Senator making that statement. Just hours before the Enron fun got started.....
They looked and the data and the theory on vaccines. And made a reasoned judgement call. Of course they may have been wrong but, to date, they appear to be correct
https://twitter.com/_HannahRitchie/status/1376093894610452482?s=20
I will happily set up companies and give you billions in share options for either a viable perpetual motion machine or the secret to eternal youth.
The real story here is about the money though, and whether Johnson was involved in the decision to award public funds to someone with whom he was conducting a relationship.
"Well, there was that time he'd forgotten his wallet - and asked me for £3.10 so he could buy a beer."
"There's my Pulitzer, right there...."
Edit: which worked.
If he wasn’t invited that’s petty
But Tom T has made the meeting about him not about the PM standing with sanctioned MPs. Which is shitty and selfish and undermining the cause.
But I suspect cock up rather than conspiracy
*since he is a Dickens fan...
One of the investigations I did just before promotion (indeed partly led to it) was into a case with remarkable similarity to the Greensill case - financier appearing from nowhere, ego and claims to greatness the size of a planet, remarkable access to senior people, promises of great riches for all concerned though no-one could ever work out precisely how, conflicts of interest all over the place, money "invested" (all lost of course) - until eventually it all fell apart, largely (whistles modestly) because yours truly asked some bleeding obvious questions and it became apparent that there was nothing there.
The only mystery - and it is an enduring one - is why apparently intelligent people fall for this stuff every single time.
It's contempt.
From a hell of a lot of Remainers as well.
It's also quite funny how the EU side keep howling about the British press being crap (which is something I'd agree with) and credulously trot out whatever crap the press on their side is coming out with (like the Italian paper about "secret stash of AZ vaccines for the UK found!"
So, this is what went down:
February/March: Oxford University and the Jenner Institute tailor their Adenovector vaccine candidate for MERS to SARS-CoV-2. They set up with Oxford Biomedica, Cobra Biologics, Pall Biotech, Public Health England, and others to look at scaling up. They bring in Halix BV to shift part of the supply chain from Pall to Halix for rapid scale up for global production.
The UK Govt get seats on the board of this consortium, provide funding, assistance, help set up the trials, and discuss who to partner with for full-scale rollout. They veto Merck on the grounds that the US Government might go all "this factory is on our soil, therefore what it produces is ours" and bring in Astrazeneca instead.
Trials go ahead, look promising, and contracts are signed in August with the UK and the EU. The EU remain at arms length, to buy a product at the end of the day and focused on price and liability. The UK remain fully involved with the development and production, scaling up factories and providing direct support.
AZ bring in Seneffe in Belgium and look to bring them online.
The plants in the UK therefore come online sooner. Biological processes take time. As the adage goes, you can't produce a baby in three months by tripling the manpower.
1/2
Eventually, the EU authorise ChAdOx1, with the papers in the EU already starting to give inaccurate negative misinformation (Handelsblatt), amplified by the President of France. It turns out that the EU will also get a reduced supply initially for the same reasons, but their percentage reduction is not as bad as ours. Despite this, they start to throw a very public tantrum. The various national bodies override the EMA recommendation with extra limits, further spreading misinformation on this vaccine.
Around this point, UvdL starts to claim that any vaccines produced by factories on EU soil are produced by the EU (Pfizer blink a couple of times), and ignore the global supply chain where key elements are sourced from around the world - including exports of the key lipid bilayers from the UK. Meanwhile, the UK send a team to Seneffe to try to help the EU's production issues (which I'm certain has been highlighted in these reliable EU papers? Bueller? Bueller? Hmmm.)
The EU insist that the UK should start sending them vaccines produced by the Oxford and Keele plants (from the original consortium) because these plants appear in both contracts (so could legally supply both or either; the EU decide this means they MUST supply the EU first, somehow). Further absurdities come about, like Italy banning AZ vaccines bought by Australia and produced under contract from leaving the shore (and simultaneously seizing and destroying a similar amount of doses), raiding a factory to find doses heading from one point in the EU to another point in the EU and trumpeting that they'd found secret UK doses, and so on.
So, yes: pathetic.
2/2
3.10.. its not exactly a large gin and tonic is it ...sounds like an orange juice to.me.
The same might be said about the Mirror story too.
Then he finds he's left his wallet at home!