Howdy, Stranger!

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

LAB gets its best Westminster by-election performance for five years at Airdrie & Shotts – political

135678

Comments

  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226

    Here's something for Labour people to ponder, SKS and Corbyn fans alike.

    In the last 46 years only one Labour leader has won general elections and according to the Corbyn left that election winning Labour leader was a Tory.

    In short socialism stinks and nobody wants a part of it.

    Mrs Thatcher succeeded in scorching socialism from the face of the Earth.

    But isn't the Conservative government busy implementing all of Corbyn's economic policies?
    The Conservatives have supported the economy and the workers in the private sector through the greatest pandemic we have ever known. It will work hard (and take a popularity hit) when it has to to revert the economy to where it was before the pandemic.

    If anyone thinks Corbynism was about protecting the private sector - or returning us to a pre-pandemic economic model.....lolz. Corbynism was about spending shit loads of cash for the public sector. God alone knows how screwed we would have been with 2 or 3 years of Corbynism and THEN the pandemic.
    Just imagine if Theresa hadnt gone hill walking. By now because Brexit would still be unresolved, Dave’s majority would essentially be a minority government of May and Hammond. Tory Brexiteers averse to bringing the government down in a crisis. Hammond being all timid with his pandemic economic package. Corbyn and Swinson voting against anything the government tried to do, and the delayed general election of 2020 rescheduled for this month.
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797

    Two entertaining (for me) stories overnight.

    First was Howard "vote for me" Beckett calling for Priti Patel to be deported. His suspension from Labour has caused uproar - all the "I'm an anti-racism campaigner me" activists think it outrageous that open racist comments are acted upon when it's one of their own. Don't Labour know that Mr Beckett cannot be racist or post racist stupid comments because he is one of them?

    Second was the shock that the Indian Covid variant is here and is surging. The government could have chosen to stop incomers from India, but instead did Sod All until it was far too late. No wonder that (a) the internal Covid report is so scathing as to be buried and (b) the public enquiry has been long grassed so that it reports after the next election.

    The Indian Covid story is a UK Government screw up - why did they give 4 days notice before stopping flights rather than immediately blocking all flights not in the air - and then reopening x days later for those willing to accept hotel quarantine.
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,195

    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 45% (+2)
    LAB: 30% (-3)
    GRN: 8% (+2)
    LDEM: 7% (-)
    REFUK: 2% (-1)

    via @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 05 May


    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1393112175699443713?s=20

    SKS fans please explain.
    I doubt it quite this bad for Labour.
    But it's bad for sure
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,072
    eek said:

    Two entertaining (for me) stories overnight.

    First was Howard "vote for me" Beckett calling for Priti Patel to be deported. His suspension from Labour has caused uproar - all the "I'm an anti-racism campaigner me" activists think it outrageous that open racist comments are acted upon when it's one of their own. Don't Labour know that Mr Beckett cannot be racist or post racist stupid comments because he is one of them?

    Second was the shock that the Indian Covid variant is here and is surging. The government could have chosen to stop incomers from India, but instead did Sod All until it was far too late. No wonder that (a) the internal Covid report is so scathing as to be buried and (b) the public enquiry has been long grassed so that it reports after the next election.

    The Indian Covid story is a UK Government screw up - why did they give 4 days notice before stopping flights rather than immediately blocking all flights not in the air - and then reopening x days later for those willing to accept hotel quarantine.
    Let's be honest, it wouldn't have made a difference. It would have got here eventually anyway.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,149
    edited May 2021

    eek said:

    Two entertaining (for me) stories overnight.

    First was Howard "vote for me" Beckett calling for Priti Patel to be deported. His suspension from Labour has caused uproar - all the "I'm an anti-racism campaigner me" activists think it outrageous that open racist comments are acted upon when it's one of their own. Don't Labour know that Mr Beckett cannot be racist or post racist stupid comments because he is one of them?

    Second was the shock that the Indian Covid variant is here and is surging. The government could have chosen to stop incomers from India, but instead did Sod All until it was far too late. No wonder that (a) the internal Covid report is so scathing as to be buried and (b) the public enquiry has been long grassed so that it reports after the next election.

    The Indian Covid story is a UK Government screw up - why did they give 4 days notice before stopping flights rather than immediately blocking all flights not in the air - and then reopening x days later for those willing to accept hotel quarantine.
    Let's be honest, it wouldn't have made a difference. It would have got here eventually anyway.
    Oh yes, but n days later - and so n/x generations of pox fewer in the race against vaccination.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,725

    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 45% (+2)
    LAB: 30% (-3)
    GRN: 8% (+2)
    LDEM: 7% (-)
    REFUK: 2% (-1)

    via @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 05 May


    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1393112175699443713?s=20

    SKS fans please explain.
    Would love to hear the proposed way forward. Labour have tried the soft left (Ed), the hard left (Jezbollah) and now the soft right (Iain Duncan Starmer) and the conclusion is they are still only talking to themselves.

    So whilst the leader is crap, its not as if there is an obvious alternative or obvious change of direction.Labour needs to start talking to red wall voters with someone who is actually going to listen and not just tell them. For so many voters Labour's issues, ideas and perspectives are not theirs.

    Because Labour is an AND party where deviation from the orthodoxy is heresy, it seems impossible for the arty to stop talking at people and instead listen - to do so may be to consider that the orthodoxy is wrong.

    I can't see any solution to this other than a divorce. Have the Blair and Burgon wings in separate parties speaking to different people.
    If there was PR the 2 wings being in separate parties makes great sense.

    Both sides want to retain the assets and under FPTP will make matters worse IMO.

    The Party is currently withering and well on the road to being an irrelevance and despite 40 years membership on and off i am almost in the shrugs shoulders phase.

    Andy Burnham is the solution IMO.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625

    moonshine said:

    Omnium said:

    Omnium said:

    Two entertaining (for me) stories overnight.

    First was Howard "vote for me" Beckett calling for Priti Patel to be deported. His suspension from Labour has caused uproar - all the "I'm an anti-racism campaigner me" activists think it outrageous that open racist comments are acted upon when it's one of their own. Don't Labour know that Mr Beckett cannot be racist or post racist stupid comments because he is one of them?

    Second was the shock that the Indian Covid variant is here and is surging. The government could have chosen to stop incomers from India, but instead did Sod All until it was far too late. No wonder that (a) the internal Covid report is so scathing as to be buried and (b) the public enquiry has been long grassed so that it reports after the next election.

    Whilst Howard Beckett's comment was nasty I can't see what was racist about it. Can anyone enlighten me? (Perhaps what I've read isn't the full comment)

    It seems entirely reasonable for him to apologise, but his suspension seems an over-reaction as do Steve Baker's comments.
    "why don't you Pakis go home" is a pretty standard racist trope. The BNP proposed deporting British citizens back to where they didn't come from. And now Howard "vote for me" Beckett wants to deport Patel in an identical way as proposed by Nick Griffin.
    Ah yeah - hadn't thought of it that way. Ok, so I can certainly see there's legitimate sensitivity.
    Deportation and repatriation of people who look like Priti Patel and myself has been the language of the racists from Powell to the BNP.

    Remember when cartoonists portrayed George W. Bush like a chimp but didn’t portray Obama as a chimp?

    Like that, you just don’t go there and talk about deporting the darkies.
    Baffling to me that this should need explaining to anyone on here.
    Some people don’t have a racist bone in their body so they just can’t comprehend racism.
    But they have a a Papal DispensationMomentum Membership card

    Which means that they can't be racist
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,149

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 13,766

    Mr. Pioneers, kneeling for BLM is not the act of someone on any branch of the right.

    It's pathetic.

    Maybe that's the thing. Starmer's good at persuading people he isn't one of them. Boris Johnson is full of shit, but he's charismatic and likeable. Starmer's the opposite.

    And allowing the weedy punching footage to be taken then aired was just weird.

    Politicians do this shit. Blair did it , Cameron did it, Bozo does it. Spotty faced spin doctors persuade them to do these things to attempt to make people who are essentially not normal look normal, as though "normal" is a good thing. Personally I prefer leaders to be leaders, and to have integrity. My problem is that the person that leads the party that is closest to my own centre right political view has cynically realised that a lot of people can be gulled into thinking he is the best on offer because he is amusing. Sad indictment of our so-called democracy.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,075
    edited May 2021
    MattW said:

    Massive climbdown from NHS and government over telephone-only GP appointments.

    Huge win for Telegraph to be honest, which appears to have sunk this policy within 48 hours.

    Every patient to have right to see a GP as NHS abandons ‘total triage’

    Climbdown comes after The Telegraph revealed patients were being discouraged from visits and told to have online or phone discussion first
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/13/every-patient-have-right-see-gp-nhs-abandons-total-triage/

    My local surgery is still locked up, impossible to get an appointment
    i think they can remain so during pandemic. the argument this week was about what nhs is telling gps to do in medium term after covid restrictions lifted this summer.
    My parents are having to fund minor treatment themselves, as an example my dad needed both ears syringed due to an infection and had to go private to get it done.
    I have heard a similar story from a mate.
    The difference is surgery's approaches to Covid is incredible, many have remained fully throughout the pandemic and have operated almost normally. Others have remained closed. It really is the luck of the draw as to where you live as to what service you will get from your surgery.
    Mine has been on full phone triage.

    I hope we get a system which has a good balance of both strategies, so as to (maybe) increase capacity.

    There's sense in telephone appointments for people at work, for example. Good for reducing time required, half day holidays to be taken etc.
    GP's of my acquaintance seem keen to keep telephone triage far as possible. They see it as more efficient. Personally I think it bad practice*, and also shortsighted as it makes them vulnerable to outsourcing as call centres.

    *New diagnoses of diabetes down by 70% last year, despite a piling on of Corona--kilos, for example.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625
    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    It doesn’t matter if vaccinated people catch the Indian variant or whatever. What matters is if people get seriously ill from it. A positive test is meaningless in itself.

    It does matter because you may spread it to someone more vulnerable who hasn't been vaccinated.

    That is going to be a problem worldwide and is clearly going to be an issue in some parts of the UK (as that map of Bolton below demonstrates) where we are no where near whatever definition of "herd immunity" you wish to use.
    Those are people who chose not to be vaccinated. I don't have a lot of sympathy if they get COVID.
    Oh I have zero sympathy if you could have had the vaccinr and you catch covid, my annoyance is the fact they may pass it on to others who couldn't be vaccinated.
    Or people who were vaccinated, but for whom the vaccine didn't protect them.

    It all comes back to the same arguments as for MMR and Herd Immunity.

    A vaccination is not just for yourself. It is for the community around you as well.
  • borisatsunborisatsun Posts: 188
    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 13,766

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Don't even look at it...
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,149

    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q
    Thank you! Never seen the film - now on the list.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,961

    Just been reading last night's discussion on "best" albums of the 90s..

    Does nobody like hip hop? The 90s were THE golden age of rap. And I mostly listened to rap/hip hop in the 90s.

    Off the top of my head, some albums I might include..

    Bizarre Ryde II - The Pharcyde
    It Was Written - Nas (or Illmatic)
    De La Soul Is Dead - De La Soul
    People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm - A Tribe Called Quest (or Low End Theory, or Midnight Marauders, or Beats Rhymes And Life - TCQ were great!)
    Fear Of A Black Planet - Public Enemy
    Doggystyle - Snoop Dogg
    Black Sunday - Cypress Hill
    Things Fall Apart - The Roots
    Jurassic 5 - Jurassic 5


    I'm sure I've forgotten loads (and included ones that maybe aren't as good as I remember them!). I expect others would argue for some 2Pac, Biggy Smalls, Wu Tang, Eminem or JayZ but I never really got into them.

    And special mention for an album that definitely would have made it to my list if released when it was recorded in the 90s - Black Bastards by KMD (got blocked by the label due to some controversial themes.. KMD was the original group of recently departed MF Doom with his kid brother Subroc who sadly died shortly after recording this album)

    I saw Public Enemy live in Manchester. 88. Military uniforms and uzis was quite a look....

    I saw the Beastie Boys supporting Run DMC in Brum in '87. My new girlfriend was somewhat bemused why I had taken her to a show with go-go dancers in cages and a huge penis that was erected on stage (although to be fair, it looked more like a shower curtain!)

    I was in NYC for a few weeks in 88. Bought a load of really interesting white label rap that got trashed in a house move.

    But it soon lost its way, IMHO.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,088

    Omnium said:

    Omnium said:

    Why are Labour so dire at by elections?

    As far as I can see, they have made precisely ONE gain in by elections (Corby 2012) since Tony Blair became PM.

    I think since the early Blair years they've generally been getting less popular. If you're on a long downtrend then clearly you're not likely to outperform a prior result. So that's perhaps a small part of it, but also simple randomness and the fact that the number of by-elections is statistically insignificant.
    Just wait till Ed Balls romps home to victory in Batley and Spen
    No sign that he's putting his hat in the ring is there?
    (I'm not sure he'd win anyway, but he'd be a very strong candidate)
    I can still dream
    While my impression of Ed Balls has massively improved since he left politics, and he seems genuinely a nice guy, I don't think he is the answer you are looking for.

    He unfortunately didn't have the ability, in politics, to project his apparently nice persona, and came across as unpleasant to many. Portillo and Brown are further examples of people who are actually supposed to be decent and good company, and in the former case at least has found a better career to bring it out.

    There are other politicians who manage to project a decent persona who in reality are real s****.
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    Foxy said:

    MattW said:

    Massive climbdown from NHS and government over telephone-only GP appointments.

    Huge win for Telegraph to be honest, which appears to have sunk this policy within 48 hours.

    Every patient to have right to see a GP as NHS abandons ‘total triage’

    Climbdown comes after The Telegraph revealed patients were being discouraged from visits and told to have online or phone discussion first
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/13/every-patient-have-right-see-gp-nhs-abandons-total-triage/

    My local surgery is still locked up, impossible to get an appointment
    i think they can remain so during pandemic. the argument this week was about what nhs is telling gps to do in medium term after covid restrictions lifted this summer.
    My parents are having to fund minor treatment themselves, as an example my dad needed both ears syringed due to an infection and had to go private to get it done.
    I have heard a similar story from a mate.
    The difference is surgery's approaches to Covid is incredible, many have remained fully throughout the pandemic and have operated almost normally. Others have remained closed. It really is the luck of the draw as to where you live as to what service you will get from your surgery.
    Mine has been on full phone triage.

    I hope we get a system which has a good balance of both strategies, so as to (maybe) increase capacity.

    There's sense in telephone appointments for people at work, for example. Good for reducing time required, half day holidays to be taken etc.
    GP's of my acquaintance seem keen to keep telephone triage far as possible. They see it as more efficient. Personally I think it bad practice*, and also shortsighted as it makes them vulnerable to outsourcing as call centres.

    *New diagnoses of diabetes down by 70% last year, despite a piling on of Corona--kilos, for example.
    It is shortsighted as you can see that it will be introduced in a way similar to 111 which should just be avoided.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,094
    I'd have thought the bigger issue for Howard Beckett this morning is the £1.3m that he as Assistant Gen Sec of Unite and Len McCluskey have just spaffed away on legal fees losing the libel action with Anna Turley that they could have settled ages ago.

    That and Unite misusing private information about her.

    They could have got off with an apology.

    https://news.sky.com/story/unite-leadership-candidate-howard-beckett-suspended-from-labour-after-saying-priti-patel-should-be-deported-12305814

  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,075
    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q
    Thank you! Never seen the film - now on the list.
    Best Rockumentary ever made. It nearly killed off Poodle Perm Metal...
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Mr. Gate, what happened to Floyd was a disgrace. Racism is despicable.

    I managed to write that without falling to my knees once.

    It's weird, cultish behaviour, kneeling for an organisation/movement that's overtly anti-capitalist and does nothing but promote racial division.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,088
    edited May 2021
    MichelleC said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    This move below 40 for vaccinations seems to be causing problems because of the decision not to use AZN. At my centre people with appointments are arriving to be turned away because AZN is all they have there currently, and they’re not able to use it for under-40s.

    Isnt the official guidance for under 40s to take another vaccine IF available. If one is not available surely they can still get AZ?
    That does appear to be the national guidance, at least as initially reported by the BBC. However the island's main vaccine centre is saying that they are "not allowed" to give the AZN. Unless advice has changed before it was transmitted out to the field, this may be a case of whoever runs the island's vaccination centre not understanding, in which case hopefully s/he'll soon be put straight. You can imagine how upset people are; I'd have been furious, waiting anxiously for months and then turning up there, if I'd been sent home.

    As it is, I did my NHS antibody test yesterday afternoon (as part of the random sampling study) and it showed I had long-term antibodies after my single AZN, which is very reassuring!
    It is the guidance on the govt official website, which for covid stuff does tend to be updated on the day anything changes. It is also what was said in the press conferences, it baffles me how this can end up misunderstood.
    Local under-40s are saying that's what they've told. The local council has tweeted that under-40s will "directed to vaccination centres offering Pfizer and Moderna in the local area in line with JVCI guidance" - except there aren't any bookable through the national website, as North Island isn't seen as "local". The NHS Trust and CCG have both so far refused to provide a statement - which suggests they are urgently trying to find out what is going on.
    I'm 38 and I got turned away from the Riverside centre in Newport yesterday. When I got to the admin desk they asked how old I was, and the lady said that she was sorry but they "would have to refuse me" because they only had the AZ vaccine and they "were not allowed" to give it to me due to my age. I would have been happy to have received it, but was not given the option to. She said that I wasn't the first person that they had had to turn away. I was told to contact my GP and was escorted out. My GP told me that I should try to find somewhere on the mainland that was offering Pfizer because they are not vaccinating my cohort yet. I've managed to book an appointment in Southampton for 25 May, but when I went on to the NHS site this morning, I still was given the Riverside as the first option.

    Wow, what were the chances that one of the people affected would pop up on PB?

    The way you have been treated was shabby, as well as appearing to be out of line with national guidance. I've already been back to the local press suggesting they focus on this line of the story, and giving them the Selby example as ammunition to throw at the NHS. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon; making you wait until 25 May and travel to North Island is extremely poor.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 23,934
    Foxy said:

    MattW said:

    Massive climbdown from NHS and government over telephone-only GP appointments.

    Huge win for Telegraph to be honest, which appears to have sunk this policy within 48 hours.

    Every patient to have right to see a GP as NHS abandons ‘total triage’

    Climbdown comes after The Telegraph revealed patients were being discouraged from visits and told to have online or phone discussion first
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/13/every-patient-have-right-see-gp-nhs-abandons-total-triage/

    My local surgery is still locked up, impossible to get an appointment
    i think they can remain so during pandemic. the argument this week was about what nhs is telling gps to do in medium term after covid restrictions lifted this summer.
    My parents are having to fund minor treatment themselves, as an example my dad needed both ears syringed due to an infection and had to go private to get it done.
    I have heard a similar story from a mate.
    The difference is surgery's approaches to Covid is incredible, many have remained fully throughout the pandemic and have operated almost normally. Others have remained closed. It really is the luck of the draw as to where you live as to what service you will get from your surgery.
    Mine has been on full phone triage.

    I hope we get a system which has a good balance of both strategies, so as to (maybe) increase capacity.

    There's sense in telephone appointments for people at work, for example. Good for reducing time required, half day holidays to be taken etc.
    GP's of my acquaintance seem keen to keep telephone triggers far as possible. They see it as more efficient. Personally I think it bad practice*, and also shortsighted as it makes them vulnerable to outsourcing as call centres.

    *New diagnoses of diabetes down by 70% last year, despite a piling on of Corona--kilos, for example.
    I was not joking when I suggested GPs risked being replaced by AI chatbots.

    On diabetes, you may be out of touch worrying about piling on the pounds, the NHS website says to worry when they start falling off again: "losing weight without trying to".
    https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/type-2-diabetes/symptoms/

    To be safe, I've bought some urine test strips, and stopped showering for the past year to see if I start smelling like nail varnish.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625
    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q

    Quite a few places you find amps etc that go to 11 in tribute to this.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 13,766

    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 45% (+2)
    LAB: 30% (-3)
    GRN: 8% (+2)
    LDEM: 7% (-)
    REFUK: 2% (-1)

    via @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 05 May


    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1393112175699443713?s=20

    SKS fans please explain.
    Would love to hear the proposed way forward. Labour have tried the soft left (Ed), the hard left (Jezbollah) and now the soft right (Iain Duncan Starmer) and the conclusion is they are still only talking to themselves.

    So whilst the leader is crap, its not as if there is an obvious alternative or obvious change of direction.Labour needs to start talking to red wall voters with someone who is actually going to listen and not just tell them. For so many voters Labour's issues, ideas and perspectives are not theirs.

    Because Labour is an AND party where deviation from the orthodoxy is heresy, it seems impossible for the arty to stop talking at people and instead listen - to do so may be to consider that the orthodoxy is wrong.

    I can't see any solution to this other than a divorce. Have the Blair and Burgon wings in separate parties speaking to different people.
    If there was PR the 2 wings being in separate parties makes great sense.

    Both sides want to retain the assets and under FPTP will make matters worse IMO.

    The Party is currently withering and well on the road to being an irrelevance and despite 40 years membership on and off i am almost in the shrugs shoulders phase.

    Andy Burnham is the solution IMO.
    He would be popular up in the north west. I think to many others he comes across as a lightweight. I can't see in the current circumstances how he would be any improvement for Labour. Bozo is riding high at the moment. I don't understand his popularity, but popular he is. It is the age of celebrity, and Burnham isn't one. I think you perhaps need to hold your nerve.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625
    Foxy said:

    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q
    Thank you! Never seen the film - now on the list.
    Best Rockumentary ever made. It nearly killed off Poodle Perm Metal...
    It was already dead. And that which is dead, can never die.....
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,961
    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q
    Thank you! Never seen the film - now on the list.
    You are in for a treat!

  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 13,766

    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q

    Quite a few places you find amps etc that go to 11 in tribute to this.
    Interesting. I have never seen one (in spite of being a big ST fan). I know that Marshall did some special editions.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 19,618
    edited May 2021

    It doesn’t matter if vaccinated people catch the Indian variant or whatever. What matters is if people get seriously ill from it. A positive test is meaningless in itself.

    It matters a bit, because if they don't catch it, they can't spread it.
    It doesn’t matter. As long as the vulnerable are vaccinated. Who cares if the vaccinated spread it to the vaccinated, so long as nobody gets seriously ill?

    We cannot eliminate all risk. This is ridiculous.
    This is what I've been struggling with for a while. I agree. I can't see why "cases" matter now – why are they even relevant? The vulnerable have been vaccinated. What am I missing here?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,884
    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    Spinal Tap - look it up
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 19,618
    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    It doesn’t matter if vaccinated people catch the Indian variant or whatever. What matters is if people get seriously ill from it. A positive test is meaningless in itself.

    It does matter because you may spread it to someone more vulnerable who hasn't been vaccinated.

    That is going to be a problem worldwide and is clearly going to be an issue in some parts of the UK (as that map of Bolton below demonstrates) where we are no where near whatever definition of "herd immunity" you wish to use.
    Those are people who chose not to be vaccinated. I don't have a lot of sympathy if they get COVID.
    Oh I have zero sympathy if you could have had the vaccinr and you catch covid, my annoyance is the fact they may pass it on to others who couldn't be vaccinated.
    There is an immutable cohort who can never have the vaccine. Ergo, by your reckoning, we should lockdown forever?
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 13,766
    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q
    Thank you! Never seen the film - now on the list.
    I think it is very funny for anyone, but particularly so if you are a musician and/or have an interest in rock or metal. There are so many amusing moments, but one of the best is the title of the very melodic piano piece that "Nigel" plays. I'll let you see it rather than spoil it.
  • borisatsunborisatsun Posts: 188

    Just been reading last night's discussion on "best" albums of the 90s..

    Does nobody like hip hop? The 90s were THE golden age of rap. And I mostly listened to rap/hip hop in the 90s.

    Off the top of my head, some albums I might include..

    Bizarre Ryde II - The Pharcyde
    It Was Written - Nas (or Illmatic)
    De La Soul Is Dead - De La Soul
    People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm - A Tribe Called Quest (or Low End Theory, or Midnight Marauders, or Beats Rhymes And Life - TCQ were great!)
    Fear Of A Black Planet - Public Enemy
    Doggystyle - Snoop Dogg
    Black Sunday - Cypress Hill
    Things Fall Apart - The Roots
    Jurassic 5 - Jurassic 5


    I'm sure I've forgotten loads (and included ones that maybe aren't as good as I remember them!). I expect others would argue for some 2Pac, Biggy Smalls, Wu Tang, Eminem or JayZ but I never really got into them.

    And special mention for an album that definitely would have made it to my list if released when it was recorded in the 90s - Black Bastards by KMD (got blocked by the label due to some controversial themes.. KMD was the original group of recently departed MF Doom with his kid brother Subroc who sadly died shortly after recording this album)

    I saw Public Enemy live in Manchester. 88. Military uniforms and uzis was quite a look....

    I saw the Beastie Boys supporting Run DMC in Brum in '87. My new girlfriend was somewhat bemused why I had taken her to a show with go-go dancers in cages and a huge penis that was erected on stage (although to be fair, it looked more like a shower curtain!)

    I was in NYC for a few weeks in 88. Bought a load of really interesting white label rap that got trashed in a house move.

    But it soon lost its way, IMHO.
    I would have loved to see Public Enemy in the 80s! I think the Beastie Boys was the first rap I ever heard, sometime in the mid 80s, but didn't really listen to them until 90s and Ill Communication. Then discovered their instrumental album The In Sound From Way Out - did you know that they're seriously good musicians?!
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 20,454

    Mr. Gate, what happened to Floyd was a disgrace. Racism is despicable.

    I managed to write that without falling to my knees once.

    It's weird, cultish behaviour, kneeling for an organisation/movement that's overtly anti-capitalist and does nothing but promote racial division.

    It is quite weird to assume someone is kneeling for an overtly anti capitalist organisation when nearly everyone involved, at least in this country, keeps declaring they are doing it for the slogan not the organisation. Quite rude as well, to assume you know their motivations better than they do.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,013
    edited May 2021

    Mr. Pioneers, kneeling for BLM is not the act of someone on any branch of the right.

    It's pathetic.

    Maybe that's the thing. Starmer's good at persuading people he isn't one of them. Boris Johnson is full of shit, but he's charismatic and likeable. Starmer's the opposite.

    And allowing the weedy punching footage to be taken then aired was just weird.

    It isn't about left or right. Starmer taking the knee is the Labour equivalent of this


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtC6f5JMkgk


    EDIT - why didn't this video embed? I posted the embed code.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,004

    Mr. Gate, what happened to Floyd was a disgrace. Racism is despicable.

    I managed to write that without falling to my knees once.

    It's weird, cultish behaviour, kneeling for an organisation/movement that's overtly anti-capitalist and does nothing but promote racial division.

    I have long since thought that had the football stadiums have been full throughout it would not have lasted more than a week or two

    I just could not imagine the fans being in football terms 'onside' with it
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851

    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 45% (+2)
    LAB: 30% (-3)
    GRN: 8% (+2)
    LDEM: 7% (-)
    REFUK: 2% (-1)

    via @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 05 May


    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1393112175699443713?s=20

    SKS fans please explain.
    Not a SKS fan but this is Corbyn's toxic legacy.

    Very hard to get rid of the shit and the smell out of the carpet after someone takes a massive dump on it.
    You clearly haven't been telephone canvassing for Labour.

    Corbyn doesn't get a mention

    Lack of policies lack of charisma lack of warmth lack of being on my side get plenty.

    Main thing to make a return They are all the same
    The thing I don't get is this - there are oceans of Social Democratic policies out there. That would warm the hearts of everyone from Corbynistas to the wet end of the Conservatives. That's lots and lots of votes.

    Yes, I know. This is what Blair did. And hence Evul.

    But why not?
    Did Blair set out lots of Labour policies prior to the 1997 election campaign? I was only 5 years old at the time so obviously I don't know. It seems that in modern times the opposition only set out policies when the manifesto gets released.
    Blair did not set out a substantive raft of policies, no. It was a timid offering. The anodyne pledge card. Sticking to Tory spending plans for 2 years. Do not frighten the horses.

    The 97 landslide was built on a feeling. Time for a change. Tired sleazy Tories. THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER.

    It worked a D:ream. The Conservative government was flushed away like a turd despite the economy looking (and being) quite rosy.

    Which just goes to show.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    YouGov on alternatives to Starmer:

    For most Britons, Starmer has been doing a better job than his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. A large majority (62%) believe that Corbyn would be doing a worse job than Starmer, with only 15% believing he would do any better and 11% expecting a comparable performance....

    ....Of the politicians we asked about, the public are most likely to believe that Burnham would be doing a better job than Starmer (32%) of the four figures we asked about. A further 17% believe he would not be doing any better or worse, and only 13% believe he would do a worse job than Starmer. A quarter of Britons say they’ve not heard of Manchester’s mayor.

    Among 2019 Labour voters, nearly half (47%) believe that Andy Burnham would do a better job as leader than Starmer, and just 7% believe he’d do a worse job than Starmer. Another 15% thing Burnham would be about the same as Starmer. The results also show that one in five Labour voters (18%) don’t know who Andy Burnham is.


    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/05/14/would-someone-else-do-better-job-keir-starmer-labo?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=website_article&utm_campaign=better_than_starmer
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556
    edited May 2021

    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 45% (+2)
    LAB: 30% (-3)
    GRN: 8% (+2)
    LDEM: 7% (-)
    REFUK: 2% (-1)

    via @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 05 May


    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1393112175699443713?s=20

    SKS fans please explain.
    I'm a big fan of SKS now, and I think I can explain. You see, he just got a bit confused, as top forensic lawyers sometimes do: he went into John Lewis a fortnight ago thinking he was getting wallpaper for Boris, when in fact it was curtains for himself...

    image
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,013

    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q

    Quite a few places you find amps etc that go to 11 in tribute to this.
    "Lick my Lovepump" is the funniest scene in the film. Potentially in any film...
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    It doesn’t matter if vaccinated people catch the Indian variant or whatever. What matters is if people get seriously ill from it. A positive test is meaningless in itself.

    It does matter because you may spread it to someone more vulnerable who hasn't been vaccinated.

    That is going to be a problem worldwide and is clearly going to be an issue in some parts of the UK (as that map of Bolton below demonstrates) where we are no where near whatever definition of "herd immunity" you wish to use.
    Those are people who chose not to be vaccinated. I don't have a lot of sympathy if they get COVID.
    Oh I have zero sympathy if you could have had the vaccinr and you catch covid, my annoyance is the fact they may pass it on to others who couldn't be vaccinated.
    There is an immutable cohort who can never have the vaccine. Ergo, by your reckoning, we should lockdown forever?
    I don't think that's true because of the various different vector types coming on stream, it is for certain vaccines but because this is covered by at least 3 vector types anyone who can't have one will be able to have the other ones. See under 40s being covered by mRNA vaccines or people with severe allergic reactions to the nanoparticles being given viral vector vaccines such as AZ. We've got Novavax on stream soon as well which will provide another different vector and in Q3/4 we'll have a fourth vector with Valneva doing whole inactive virus. Within those four vectors I'd be shocked if we didn't achieve 100% population coverage in terms of eligibility.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625
    kinabalu said:

    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 45% (+2)
    LAB: 30% (-3)
    GRN: 8% (+2)
    LDEM: 7% (-)
    REFUK: 2% (-1)

    via @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 05 May


    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1393112175699443713?s=20

    SKS fans please explain.
    Not a SKS fan but this is Corbyn's toxic legacy.

    Very hard to get rid of the shit and the smell out of the carpet after someone takes a massive dump on it.
    You clearly haven't been telephone canvassing for Labour.

    Corbyn doesn't get a mention

    Lack of policies lack of charisma lack of warmth lack of being on my side get plenty.

    Main thing to make a return They are all the same
    The thing I don't get is this - there are oceans of Social Democratic policies out there. That would warm the hearts of everyone from Corbynistas to the wet end of the Conservatives. That's lots and lots of votes.

    Yes, I know. This is what Blair did. And hence Evul.

    But why not?
    Did Blair set out lots of Labour policies prior to the 1997 election campaign? I was only 5 years old at the time so obviously I don't know. It seems that in modern times the opposition only set out policies when the manifesto gets released.
    Blair did not set out a substantive raft of policies, no. It was a timid offering. The anodyne pledge card. Sticking to Tory spending plans for 2 years. Do not frighten the horses.

    The 97 landslide was built on a feeling. Time for a change. Tired sleazy Tories. THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER.

    It worked a D:ream. The Conservative government was flushed away like a turd despite the economy looking (and being) quite rosy.

    Which just goes to show.
    There were, in fact quite a lot of policies.

    The main one was raising the % of GDP spent on the NHS.

    Brown boasted on TV that he had moles in the Treasury who had leaked him documents which proved that his plans were affordable.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,961

    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q

    Quite a few places you find amps etc that go to 11 in tribute to this.
    "Lick my Lovepump" is the funniest scene in the film. Potentially in any film...
    For pure farce - Stonehenge......
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625
    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    It doesn’t matter if vaccinated people catch the Indian variant or whatever. What matters is if people get seriously ill from it. A positive test is meaningless in itself.

    It does matter because you may spread it to someone more vulnerable who hasn't been vaccinated.

    That is going to be a problem worldwide and is clearly going to be an issue in some parts of the UK (as that map of Bolton below demonstrates) where we are no where near whatever definition of "herd immunity" you wish to use.
    Those are people who chose not to be vaccinated. I don't have a lot of sympathy if they get COVID.
    Oh I have zero sympathy if you could have had the vaccinr and you catch covid, my annoyance is the fact they may pass it on to others who couldn't be vaccinated.
    There is an immutable cohort who can never have the vaccine. Ergo, by your reckoning, we should lockdown forever?
    I don't think that's true because of the various different vector types coming on stream, it is for certain vaccines but because this is covered by at least 3 vector types anyone who can't have one will be able to have the other ones. See under 40s being covered by mRNA vaccines or people with severe allergic reactions to the nanoparticles being given viral vector vaccines such as AZ. We've got Novavax on stream soon as well which will provide another different vector and in Q3/4 we'll have a fourth vector with Valneva doing whole inactive virus. Within those four vectors I'd be shocked if we didn't achieve 100% population coverage in terms of eligibility.
    One person I know has been advised not to get any vaccination. Because of medical history.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,088
    edited May 2021

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    It doesn’t matter if vaccinated people catch the Indian variant or whatever. What matters is if people get seriously ill from it. A positive test is meaningless in itself.

    It does matter because you may spread it to someone more vulnerable who hasn't been vaccinated.

    That is going to be a problem worldwide and is clearly going to be an issue in some parts of the UK (as that map of Bolton below demonstrates) where we are no where near whatever definition of "herd immunity" you wish to use.
    Those are people who chose not to be vaccinated. I don't have a lot of sympathy if they get COVID.
    Oh I have zero sympathy if you could have had the vaccinr and you catch covid, my annoyance is the fact they may pass it on to others who couldn't be vaccinated.
    There is an immutable cohort who can never have the vaccine. Ergo, by your reckoning, we should lockdown forever?
    If the overwhelming majority are vaccinated, their risk is very small. A sequence of events led to me missing out on the BCG vaccine when I was at school, but I have never had B, C or G.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,884

    It doesn’t matter if vaccinated people catch the Indian variant or whatever. What matters is if people get seriously ill from it. A positive test is meaningless in itself.

    It matters a bit, because if they don't catch it, they can't spread it.
    It doesn’t matter. As long as the vulnerable are vaccinated. Who cares if the vaccinated spread it to the vaccinated, so long as nobody gets seriously ill?

    We cannot eliminate all risk. This is ridiculous.
    This is what I've been struggling with for a while. I agree. I can't see why "cases" matter now – why are they even relevant? The vulnerable have been vaccinated. What am I missing here?
    I believe you are 100% correct, but a year of scrutiny of cases has left its mark. The real problem will be if hospitalization and death starts to rise. And as we know these lag cases, I suspect for some they are using cases as a warning, whereas the link 'should' be broken now.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851

    Mr. Gate, what happened to Floyd was a disgrace. Racism is despicable.

    I managed to write that without falling to my knees once.

    It's weird, cultish behaviour, kneeling for an organisation/movement that's overtly anti-capitalist and does nothing but promote racial division.

    I understand the irritation with a gesture that, if adopted by people a million miles from the front line of racist US policing, can be seen as tokenistic and a little bit precious.

    And that's all it is with you, isn't it? A certain mild irritation.

    Like, there's no way you would be more exercised by this than by the racism itself.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,884
    kinabalu said:

    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 45% (+2)
    LAB: 30% (-3)
    GRN: 8% (+2)
    LDEM: 7% (-)
    REFUK: 2% (-1)

    via @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 05 May


    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1393112175699443713?s=20

    SKS fans please explain.
    Not a SKS fan but this is Corbyn's toxic legacy.

    Very hard to get rid of the shit and the smell out of the carpet after someone takes a massive dump on it.
    You clearly haven't been telephone canvassing for Labour.

    Corbyn doesn't get a mention

    Lack of policies lack of charisma lack of warmth lack of being on my side get plenty.

    Main thing to make a return They are all the same
    The thing I don't get is this - there are oceans of Social Democratic policies out there. That would warm the hearts of everyone from Corbynistas to the wet end of the Conservatives. That's lots and lots of votes.

    Yes, I know. This is what Blair did. And hence Evul.

    But why not?
    Did Blair set out lots of Labour policies prior to the 1997 election campaign? I was only 5 years old at the time so obviously I don't know. It seems that in modern times the opposition only set out policies when the manifesto gets released.
    Blair did not set out a substantive raft of policies, no. It was a timid offering. The anodyne pledge card. Sticking to Tory spending plans for 2 years. Do not frighten the horses.

    The 97 landslide was built on a feeling. Time for a change. Tired sleazy Tories. THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER.

    It worked a D:ream. The Conservative government was flushed away like a turd despite the economy looking (and being) quite rosy.

    Which just goes to show.
    Indeed - its just not healthy to have one party in permanent power, whether that is the Tories in England, the SNP in Scotland or Labour in Wales. People become complacent, more interested in fighting their petty squabbles, lose sight of the public at large. Labour in England needs to start remembering that its no good having the best policies in the world if no one will vote you into power. How much do they hate Blair that showed them that the country was never going to be as socialist as the party?
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603

    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    It doesn’t matter if vaccinated people catch the Indian variant or whatever. What matters is if people get seriously ill from it. A positive test is meaningless in itself.

    It does matter because you may spread it to someone more vulnerable who hasn't been vaccinated.

    That is going to be a problem worldwide and is clearly going to be an issue in some parts of the UK (as that map of Bolton below demonstrates) where we are no where near whatever definition of "herd immunity" you wish to use.
    Those are people who chose not to be vaccinated. I don't have a lot of sympathy if they get COVID.
    Oh I have zero sympathy if you could have had the vaccinr and you catch covid, my annoyance is the fact they may pass it on to others who couldn't be vaccinated.
    There is an immutable cohort who can never have the vaccine. Ergo, by your reckoning, we should lockdown forever?
    I don't think that's true because of the various different vector types coming on stream, it is for certain vaccines but because this is covered by at least 3 vector types anyone who can't have one will be able to have the other ones. See under 40s being covered by mRNA vaccines or people with severe allergic reactions to the nanoparticles being given viral vector vaccines such as AZ. We've got Novavax on stream soon as well which will provide another different vector and in Q3/4 we'll have a fourth vector with Valneva doing whole inactive virus. Within those four vectors I'd be shocked if we didn't achieve 100% population coverage in terms of eligibility.
    One person I know has been advised not to get any vaccination. Because of medical history.
    I'm surprised doctors are making these kinds of decisions given that mRNA is a completely new vector type and doesn't have the same issues as viral vector or inactivated virus vaccines. There's no evidence that people who react badly to the latter two will also react badly to mRNA vaccines. I guess it's a safety first approach.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    edited May 2021
    Mr. Pioneers, perhaps.

    Mr. Above, BLM have been very smart with their name/slogan. Lots of otherwise sensible people have taken their nonsense far more seriously than they should have.

    Anyone kneeling for a cabal of race-baiting neo-Marxists is a damned fool. To be honest, it's the only thing (with judgement reserved on the yet to be revealed English devolution plans) Starmer has done that's annoyed me seriously.

    If BLM is saying get on your knees, and you do it, you're kneeling for them. Saying you're doing it for the slogan is as convincing as a someone saying they're anti-racist while insisting white people are inherently racist.

    Edited extra bit: Mr. kinabalu, you make the mistake of thinking that these CRT dimwits aren't racists.

    Those who bang on about white privilege and white people being inherently guilty of racism are advocates, not opponents, of racism. The other day I posted leaked (and not denied, to my knowledge) plans by Disney that are alarming, focusing on equality of outcome, not opportunity. This stuff is being taken seriously by many who should know better.

    Apparently it may have been shot down after the backlash.
    https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1392225593014448129
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,013

    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Spinal Tap, Break Like the Wind was released in '92

    I had to explain to my daughter the other day why some of the controls on a music app on her phone went to 11.....
    Might I beg an explanation too please?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW008FcKr3Q

    Quite a few places you find amps etc that go to 11 in tribute to this.
    "Lick my Lovepump" is the funniest scene in the film. Potentially in any film...
    For pure farce - Stonehenge......
    Is superb! But is satire of reality. Love pump floors me every time for the beautiful little tune being played, the totally unscripted description of what it is interplayed between Rob Reiner and Nigel, and then the wait for it wait for it take another chew on that gum pay off line.

    Its sublime, ridiculous, sweet, sensationally paced genius.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,577
    Cabal, forsooth. :smile:
  • MrEdMrEd Posts: 5,578

    Mr. Gate, what happened to Floyd was a disgrace. Racism is despicable.

    I managed to write that without falling to my knees once.

    It's weird, cultish behaviour, kneeling for an organisation/movement that's overtly anti-capitalist and does nothing but promote racial division.

    I have long since thought that had the football stadiums have been full throughout it would not have lasted more than a week or two

    I just could not imagine the fans being in football terms 'onside' with it
    Yes, I think that is correct.

    I did notice on MOTD last night, that there was a brief 2-3 second shot of the knee vs previous programmes where MOTD presenters have extolled on BLM and there was a sustained clip. Not sure if that is a recent change or not.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,577
    This is interesting.
    Might be commercially viable within a decade, when we'll start to need it.

    Toyota group lab passes plants in rate of artificial photosynthesis
    http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14341935
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851

    It doesn’t matter if vaccinated people catch the Indian variant or whatever. What matters is if people get seriously ill from it. A positive test is meaningless in itself.

    It matters a bit, because if they don't catch it, they can't spread it.
    It doesn’t matter. As long as the vulnerable are vaccinated. Who cares if the vaccinated spread it to the vaccinated, so long as nobody gets seriously ill?

    We cannot eliminate all risk. This is ridiculous.
    This is what I've been struggling with for a while. I agree. I can't see why "cases" matter now – why are they even relevant? The vulnerable have been vaccinated. What am I missing here?
    I think there's little to worry about and the roadmap is almost in stone.

    But to answer. There are still tons of unprotected people. So if a very catchy variant takes off it could very quickly cause a lot of cases and lead to some pressure on the NHS in places. And pressure on the NHS feeds through to pressure on the government.

    Worse case imo - some limited hot spot measures beyond 21 June.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Government will be overly wary of repeating the Christmas mistake. As Machiavelli wrote, a mistake in one way is often the cause of a second mistake, going too far in the other direction.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    edited May 2021
    UK Prosperity index:

    Scotland performs just below the UK average. Outside of urban areas it has low crime and its air quality is good, with low concentrations of particulate matter. It is ranked first in the UK for its healthcare systems, with over 90% of A&E attendances being treated, admitted or transferred within four hours. Scotland’s main challenge is improving its Education and economic environment, such as its Investment Environment for businesses, which is the weakest in the UK. Prosperity in Scotland is also being undermined by weak local governance, with councils struggling to deliver key government services. The Scottish Islands are, on average, more prosperous than Rural Scotland and the Central Belt of Scotland. Rural areas tend to be safer, more inclusive, and healthier.

    https://li.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/UK-Prosperity-Index-2021-web.pdf
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 20,454
    edited May 2021

    Mr. Pioneers, perhaps.

    Mr. Above, BLM have been very smart with their name/slogan. Lots of otherwise sensible people have taken their nonsense far more seriously than they should have.

    Anyone kneeling for a cabal of race-baiting neo-Marxists is a damned fool. To be honest, it's the only thing (with judgement reserved on the yet to be revealed English devolution plans) Starmer has done that's annoyed me seriously.

    If BLM is saying get on your knees, and you do it, you're kneeling for them. Saying you're doing it for the slogan is as convincing as a someone saying they're anti-racist while insisting white people are inherently racist.

    Edited extra bit: Mr. kinabalu, you make the mistake of thinking that these CRT dimwits aren't racists.

    Those who bang on about white privilege and white people being inherently guilty of racism are advocates, not opponents, of racism. The other day I posted leaked (and not denied, to my knowledge) plans by Disney that are alarming, focusing on equality of outcome, not opportunity. This stuff is being taken seriously by many who should know better.

    Apparently it may have been shot down after the backlash.
    https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1392225593014448129

    As I say, very rude to assume people are lying when they clearly tell what you they are doing it for.

    It is the equivalent of those who assume all leave voters are racist, when they clearly tell you they are not. A minority of leave voters are racist, a minority of kneelers are fans of BLM the organisation.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,712
    edited May 2021

    YouGov on alternatives to Starmer:

    For most Britons, Starmer has been doing a better job than his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. A large majority (62%) believe that Corbyn would be doing a worse job than Starmer, with only 15% believing he would do any better and 11% expecting a comparable performance....

    ....Of the politicians we asked about, the public are most likely to believe that Burnham would be doing a better job than Starmer (32%) of the four figures we asked about. A further 17% believe he would not be doing any better or worse, and only 13% believe he would do a worse job than Starmer. A quarter of Britons say they’ve not heard of Manchester’s mayor.

    Among 2019 Labour voters, nearly half (47%) believe that Andy Burnham would do a better job as leader than Starmer, and just 7% believe he’d do a worse job than Starmer. Another 15% thing Burnham would be about the same as Starmer. The results also show that one in five Labour voters (18%) don’t know who Andy Burnham is.


    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/05/14/would-someone-else-do-better-job-keir-starmer-labo?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=website_article&utm_campaign=better_than_starmer

    Significant, voters across the board, whether Tories, Labour, LD, old or young, Leave or Remain, North or South, in the Midlands, London or Scotland all think Burnham would make a better leader of the Labour Party than Starmer.

    By contrast voters overall think Corbyn, Long Bailey and Blair would all do worse as Labour leader than Starmer is now (only exceptions under 25s prefer Long Bailey to Starmer and LD voters prefer Blair to Starmer)
    https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/ytdo43842n/Internal_Labour_Keir_210512.pdf
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851

    kinabalu said:

    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 45% (+2)
    LAB: 30% (-3)
    GRN: 8% (+2)
    LDEM: 7% (-)
    REFUK: 2% (-1)

    via @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 05 May


    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1393112175699443713?s=20

    SKS fans please explain.
    Not a SKS fan but this is Corbyn's toxic legacy.

    Very hard to get rid of the shit and the smell out of the carpet after someone takes a massive dump on it.
    You clearly haven't been telephone canvassing for Labour.

    Corbyn doesn't get a mention

    Lack of policies lack of charisma lack of warmth lack of being on my side get plenty.

    Main thing to make a return They are all the same
    The thing I don't get is this - there are oceans of Social Democratic policies out there. That would warm the hearts of everyone from Corbynistas to the wet end of the Conservatives. That's lots and lots of votes.

    Yes, I know. This is what Blair did. And hence Evul.

    But why not?
    Did Blair set out lots of Labour policies prior to the 1997 election campaign? I was only 5 years old at the time so obviously I don't know. It seems that in modern times the opposition only set out policies when the manifesto gets released.
    Blair did not set out a substantive raft of policies, no. It was a timid offering. The anodyne pledge card. Sticking to Tory spending plans for 2 years. Do not frighten the horses.

    The 97 landslide was built on a feeling. Time for a change. Tired sleazy Tories. THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER.

    It worked a D:ream. The Conservative government was flushed away like a turd despite the economy looking (and being) quite rosy.

    Which just goes to show.
    There were, in fact quite a lot of policies.

    The main one was raising the % of GDP spent on the NHS.

    Brown boasted on TV that he had moles in the Treasury who had leaked him documents which proved that his plans were affordable.
    Sure there were policies. But it was not a radical offering in that sense or even close to it. Eg the one you mention, we were way under the European average. Promises to stick to Tory spending plans for the 1st half of the parliament. No tax rises. The radicalism was in the 'tone' (pun not intended).
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556
    edited May 2021

    Mr. Pioneers, perhaps.

    Mr. Above, BLM have been very smart with their name/slogan. Lots of otherwise sensible people have taken their nonsense far more seriously than they should have.

    Anyone kneeling for a cabal of race-baiting neo-Marxists is a damned fool. To be honest, it's the only thing (with judgement reserved on the yet to be revealed English devolution plans) Starmer has done that's annoyed me seriously.

    If BLM is saying get on your knees, and you do it, you're kneeling for them. Saying you're doing it for the slogan is as convincing as a someone saying they're anti-racist while insisting white people are inherently racist.

    Edited extra bit: Mr. kinabalu, you make the mistake of thinking that these CRT dimwits aren't racists.

    Those who bang on about white privilege and white people being inherently guilty of racism are advocates, not opponents, of racism. The other day I posted leaked (and not denied, to my knowledge) plans by Disney that are alarming, focusing on equality of outcome, not opportunity. This stuff is being taken seriously by many who should know better.

    Apparently it may have been shot down after the backlash.
    https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1392225593014448129

    As I say, very rude to assume people are lying when they clearly tell what you they are doing it for.
    And very naive not to believe the evidence of their actions as well as their words.

    Though their words also make their ulterior agenda pretty clear.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625

    Mr. Pioneers, perhaps.

    Mr. Above, BLM have been very smart with their name/slogan. Lots of otherwise sensible people have taken their nonsense far more seriously than they should have.

    Anyone kneeling for a cabal of race-baiting neo-Marxists is a damned fool. To be honest, it's the only thing (with judgement reserved on the yet to be revealed English devolution plans) Starmer has done that's annoyed me seriously.

    If BLM is saying get on your knees, and you do it, you're kneeling for them. Saying you're doing it for the slogan is as convincing as a someone saying they're anti-racist while insisting white people are inherently racist.

    Edited extra bit: Mr. kinabalu, you make the mistake of thinking that these CRT dimwits aren't racists.

    Those who bang on about white privilege and white people being inherently guilty of racism are advocates, not opponents, of racism. The other day I posted leaked (and not denied, to my knowledge) plans by Disney that are alarming, focusing on equality of outcome, not opportunity. This stuff is being taken seriously by many who should know better.

    Apparently it may have been shot down after the backlash.
    https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1392225593014448129

    It's the old game.... Create the Motherhood and Apple Pie Party

    "Are you against Motherhood and Apple Pie? No, our actual policies on making pineapple on pizza compulsory are irrelevant."
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851

    Mr. Pioneers, perhaps.

    Mr. Above, BLM have been very smart with their name/slogan. Lots of otherwise sensible people have taken their nonsense far more seriously than they should have.

    Anyone kneeling for a cabal of race-baiting neo-Marxists is a damned fool. To be honest, it's the only thing (with judgement reserved on the yet to be revealed English devolution plans) Starmer has done that's annoyed me seriously.

    If BLM is saying get on your knees, and you do it, you're kneeling for them. Saying you're doing it for the slogan is as convincing as a someone saying they're anti-racist while insisting white people are inherently racist.

    Edited extra bit: Mr. kinabalu, you make the mistake of thinking that these CRT dimwits aren't racists.

    Those who bang on about white privilege and white people being inherently guilty of racism are advocates, not opponents, of racism. The other day I posted leaked (and not denied, to my knowledge) plans by Disney that are alarming, focusing on equality of outcome, not opportunity. This stuff is being taken seriously by many who should know better.

    Apparently it may have been shot down after the backlash.
    https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1392225593014448129

    I don't make mistakes, Morris. And we were talking about YOU.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Mr. Above, if BLM says 'get on your knees' and Starmer does it, I'm not sure it's a huge stretch to view that as him kneeling for BLM.

    I didn't partake in the clapping for the NHS thing. If I had wandered outside at that time and started smacking my hands together, then claimed it was nothing to do with the NHS, would you believe that?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,075

    Mr. Gate, what happened to Floyd was a disgrace. Racism is despicable.

    I managed to write that without falling to my knees once.

    It's weird, cultish behaviour, kneeling for an organisation/movement that's overtly anti-capitalist and does nothing but promote racial division.

    I have long since thought that had the football stadiums have been full throughout it would not have lasted more than a week or two

    I just could not imagine the fans being in football terms 'onside' with it
    I think you would be surprised. The next couple of games have fans, so let's see.

    Football fans are quite "Woke" nowadays, at least in the PL.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 45% (+2)
    LAB: 30% (-3)
    GRN: 8% (+2)
    LDEM: 7% (-)
    REFUK: 2% (-1)

    via @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 05 May


    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1393112175699443713?s=20

    SKS fans please explain.
    Not a SKS fan but this is Corbyn's toxic legacy.

    Very hard to get rid of the shit and the smell out of the carpet after someone takes a massive dump on it.
    You clearly haven't been telephone canvassing for Labour.

    Corbyn doesn't get a mention

    Lack of policies lack of charisma lack of warmth lack of being on my side get plenty.

    Main thing to make a return They are all the same
    The thing I don't get is this - there are oceans of Social Democratic policies out there. That would warm the hearts of everyone from Corbynistas to the wet end of the Conservatives. That's lots and lots of votes.

    Yes, I know. This is what Blair did. And hence Evul.

    But why not?
    Did Blair set out lots of Labour policies prior to the 1997 election campaign? I was only 5 years old at the time so obviously I don't know. It seems that in modern times the opposition only set out policies when the manifesto gets released.
    Blair did not set out a substantive raft of policies, no. It was a timid offering. The anodyne pledge card. Sticking to Tory spending plans for 2 years. Do not frighten the horses.

    The 97 landslide was built on a feeling. Time for a change. Tired sleazy Tories. THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER.

    It worked a D:ream. The Conservative government was flushed away like a turd despite the economy looking (and being) quite rosy.

    Which just goes to show.
    There were, in fact quite a lot of policies.

    The main one was raising the % of GDP spent on the NHS.

    Brown boasted on TV that he had moles in the Treasury who had leaked him documents which proved that his plans were affordable.
    Sure there were policies. But it was not a radical offering in that sense or even close to it. Eg the one you mention, we were way under the European average. Promises to stick to Tory spending plans for the 1st half of the parliament. No tax rises. The radicalism was in the 'tone' (pun not intended).
    The radicalism was a Social Democrat program vs Socialism*

    *Socialism of the "Obsession with big steel mills" kind.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,577
    kinabalu said:

    Mr. Pioneers, perhaps.

    Mr. Above, BLM have been very smart with their name/slogan. Lots of otherwise sensible people have taken their nonsense far more seriously than they should have.

    Anyone kneeling for a cabal of race-baiting neo-Marxists is a damned fool. To be honest, it's the only thing (with judgement reserved on the yet to be revealed English devolution plans) Starmer has done that's annoyed me seriously.

    If BLM is saying get on your knees, and you do it, you're kneeling for them. Saying you're doing it for the slogan is as convincing as a someone saying they're anti-racist while insisting white people are inherently racist.

    Edited extra bit: Mr. kinabalu, you make the mistake of thinking that these CRT dimwits aren't racists.

    Those who bang on about white privilege and white people being inherently guilty of racism are advocates, not opponents, of racism. The other day I posted leaked (and not denied, to my knowledge) plans by Disney that are alarming, focusing on equality of outcome, not opportunity. This stuff is being taken seriously by many who should know better.

    Apparently it may have been shot down after the backlash.
    https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1392225593014448129

    I don't make mistakes, Morris. And we were talking about YOU.
    You're just part of the cabal. :smile:
  • MichelleCMichelleC Posts: 2
    IanB2 said:

    MichelleC said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    This move below 40 for vaccinations seems to be causing problems because of the decision not to use AZN. At my centre people with appointments are arriving to be turned away because AZN is all they have there currently, and they’re not able to use it for under-40s.

    Isnt the official guidance for under 40s to take another vaccine IF available. If one is not available surely they can still get AZ?
    That does appear to be the national guidance, at least as initially reported by the BBC. However the island's main vaccine centre is saying that they are "not allowed" to give the AZN. Unless advice has changed before it was transmitted out to the field, this may be a case of whoever runs the island's vaccination centre not understanding, in which case hopefully s/he'll soon be put straight. You can imagine how upset people are; I'd have been furious, waiting anxiously for months and then turning up there, if I'd been sent home.

    As it is, I did my NHS antibody test yesterday afternoon (as part of the random sampling study) and it showed I had long-term antibodies after my single AZN, which is very reassuring!
    It is the guidance on the govt official website, which for covid stuff does tend to be updated on the day anything changes. It is also what was said in the press conferences, it baffles me how this can end up misunderstood.
    Local under-40s are saying that's what they've told. The local council has tweeted that under-40s will "directed to vaccination centres offering Pfizer and Moderna in the local area in line with JVCI guidance" - except there aren't any bookable through the national website, as North Island isn't seen as "local". The NHS Trust and CCG have both so far refused to provide a statement - which suggests they are urgently trying to find out what is going on.
    I'm 38 and I got turned away from the Riverside centre in Newport yesterday. When I got to the admin desk they asked how old I was, and the lady said that she was sorry but they "would have to refuse me" because they only had the AZ vaccine and they "were not allowed" to give it to me due to my age. I would have been happy to have received it, but was not given the option to. She said that I wasn't the first person that they had had to turn away. I was told to contact my GP and was escorted out. My GP told me that I should try to find somewhere on the mainland that was offering Pfizer because they are not vaccinating my cohort yet. I've managed to book an appointment in Southampton for 25 May, but when I went on to the NHS site this morning, I still was given the Riverside as the first option.

    Wow, what were the chances that one of the people affected would pop up on PB?

    The way you have been treated was shabby, as well as appearing to be out of line with national guidance. I've already been back to the local press suggesting they focus on this line of the story, and giving them the Selby example as ammunition to throw at the NHS. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon; making you wait until 25 May and travel to North Island is extremely poor.
    I was quite upset about it at the time. I got told yesterday that the GP led centre at Carisbrooke is currently only vaccinating those who are over 46, so it would be quite a long time before they got round to my age group. They are using the Pfizer vaccine there. I know that some of the other GP led centres on the Island are a bit further ahead, but I'm worried that the rollout here is going to be delayed if the only mass vaccination centre is now off limits.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Mr. kinabalu, gosh, aren't you a fiery sausage?
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 20,454
    edited May 2021

    Mr. Above, if BLM says 'get on your knees' and Starmer does it, I'm not sure it's a huge stretch to view that as him kneeling for BLM.

    I didn't partake in the clapping for the NHS thing. If I had wandered outside at that time and started smacking my hands together, then claimed it was nothing to do with the NHS, would you believe that?

    If whilst the clapping was going on, a marxist organisation said all carers must be paid the same as the cabinet and that is the basis of the clapping, I would have no idea whether a clapper was clapping for the NHS generally or for the marxist organisation.

    If they said it was for the NHS generally, and not the marxists, of course I would believe them.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,075
    kinabalu said:

    Mr. Gate, what happened to Floyd was a disgrace. Racism is despicable.

    I managed to write that without falling to my knees once.

    It's weird, cultish behaviour, kneeling for an organisation/movement that's overtly anti-capitalist and does nothing but promote racial division.

    I understand the irritation with a gesture that, if adopted by people a million miles from the front line of racist US policing, can be seen as tokenistic and a little bit precious.

    And that's all it is with you, isn't it? A certain mild irritation.

    Like, there's no way you would be more exercised by this than by the racism itself.
    Except that vile racist abuse is a common feature of football social media, and with so many Black footballers in the PL, sorely felt.

    Worth noting too that the English PL is watched worldwide, and followed in places far more racist than the UK. It is a message for the world. A slogan and a cause, with the official BLM organisation insignificant, and often unknown.
  • HarryFreemanHarryFreeman Posts: 210
    Starmer's problem is that the quality of his MPs - many of whom were brought in under Jezza - is dire.

    He needs an election to bring in a cadre of better MPs.

    Its a 6-8 year project.

  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603
    Nigelb said:

    This is interesting.
    Might be commercially viable within a decade, when we'll start to need it.

    Toyota group lab passes plants in rate of artificial photosynthesis
    http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14341935

    Giving CO2 a commercial use was always going to be the way out of this from a technological perspective.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,631
    DavidL said:

    There was more Labour effort here than was obvious - when it became obvious that Hartlepool was lost, some full-timers were diverted to Airdrie, and every member in the country got an appeal to help telephone GOTV on the day. That's why I was struck by the lack of interest here (Betfair didn't even bother to have a market, though they offer bets on all kinds of stuff). I think it's a very good result and encouraging for Sarwar despite the grumpy comments from Tories downthread.

    My grumpy comment is wtf were 2812 Tories playing at? I would have voted Labour here in a heart beat and anyone who is a thinking member of the Conservative and UNIONIST party really should have done the same. Yet another opportunity missed.
    Not all that vote for a conservative candidate care about the unionist part. I have certainly voted tory in my time (not for a couple of elections now) but support scottish independence
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    Doubleplus good news in Germany today. A record 1.35m jabs administered on Wednesday (reporting delayed by a holiday yesterday); and national 7-day incidence falls below the emergency-brake threshold of 100 per 100K. Bring on the Öffnungsdiskussionsorgie!

    https://twitter.com/tom_nuttall/status/1393113596058603522?s=20
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,257

    https://twitter.com/jessicaduchen/status/1392563683407060993

    We don't have a big music sector in the UK so no big loss in not being able to tour our bands and orchestras...

    The picture of Johnson on that feed with a capo on his guitar and his fretboard hand the wrong side of it pretty much sums him up! ( a post for music nerds)
    Or, indeed, anyone with a basic grasp of Physics.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,961

    Just been reading last night's discussion on "best" albums of the 90s..

    Does nobody like hip hop? The 90s were THE golden age of rap. And I mostly listened to rap/hip hop in the 90s.

    Off the top of my head, some albums I might include..

    Bizarre Ryde II - The Pharcyde
    It Was Written - Nas (or Illmatic)
    De La Soul Is Dead - De La Soul
    People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm - A Tribe Called Quest (or Low End Theory, or Midnight Marauders, or Beats Rhymes And Life - TCQ were great!)
    Fear Of A Black Planet - Public Enemy
    Doggystyle - Snoop Dogg
    Black Sunday - Cypress Hill
    Things Fall Apart - The Roots
    Jurassic 5 - Jurassic 5


    I'm sure I've forgotten loads (and included ones that maybe aren't as good as I remember them!). I expect others would argue for some 2Pac, Biggy Smalls, Wu Tang, Eminem or JayZ but I never really got into them.

    And special mention for an album that definitely would have made it to my list if released when it was recorded in the 90s - Black Bastards by KMD (got blocked by the label due to some controversial themes.. KMD was the original group of recently departed MF Doom with his kid brother Subroc who sadly died shortly after recording this album)

    I saw Public Enemy live in Manchester. 88. Military uniforms and uzis was quite a look....

    I saw the Beastie Boys supporting Run DMC in Brum in '87. My new girlfriend was somewhat bemused why I had taken her to a show with go-go dancers in cages and a huge penis that was erected on stage (although to be fair, it looked more like a shower curtain!)

    I was in NYC for a few weeks in 88. Bought a load of really interesting white label rap that got trashed in a house move.

    But it soon lost its way, IMHO.
    I would have loved to see Public Enemy in the 80s! I think the Beastie Boys was the first rap I ever heard, sometime in the mid 80s, but didn't really listen to them until 90s and Ill Communication. Then discovered their instrumental album The In Sound From Way Out - did you know that they're seriously good musicians?!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXK9HQ6rJNM&ab_channel=BobTee
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625
    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    This is interesting.
    Might be commercially viable within a decade, when we'll start to need it.

    Toyota group lab passes plants in rate of artificial photosynthesis
    http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14341935

    Giving CO2 a commercial use was always going to be the way out of this from a technological perspective.
    I'm trying to remember the title of a story. SF... An asteroid threatens the Earth. The US President, after some national space program failures, puts a bounty on every ton of the asteroid delivered safely to Earth.

    Some little time later, one of his aides points out that the total tonnage delivered now exceeds the original mass of the asteroid. The President explains that his intent was also to kick start the asteroid mining business.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,149
    Pagan2 said:

    DavidL said:

    There was more Labour effort here than was obvious - when it became obvious that Hartlepool was lost, some full-timers were diverted to Airdrie, and every member in the country got an appeal to help telephone GOTV on the day. That's why I was struck by the lack of interest here (Betfair didn't even bother to have a market, though they offer bets on all kinds of stuff). I think it's a very good result and encouraging for Sarwar despite the grumpy comments from Tories downthread.

    My grumpy comment is wtf were 2812 Tories playing at? I would have voted Labour here in a heart beat and anyone who is a thinking member of the Conservative and UNIONIST party really should have done the same. Yet another opportunity missed.
    Not all that vote for a conservative candidate care about the unionist part. I have certainly voted tory in my time (not for a couple of elections now) but support scottish independence
    And see my earlier posting today pointing out that therre might have been no Unionist tactical voting at all, which would admittedly annoy DavidL even more.
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556
    edited May 2021

    Mr. kinabalu, gosh, aren't you a fiery sausage?

    Chapeau for 'fiery sausage'! If I remember correctly, certain prescient people on this board - one might almost call them superforecasters, were what they were saying not so blindingly obvious to anyone with common sense - predicted that Starmer's ridiculous kneeling would be, er, counterproductive with the voters he was trying to reach. And so it has come to pass.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,577
    edited May 2021
    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    This is interesting.
    Might be commercially viable within a decade, when we'll start to need it.

    Toyota group lab passes plants in rate of artificial photosynthesis
    http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14341935

    Giving CO2 a commercial use was always going to be the way out of this from a technological perspective.
    Not just that. If some of the more disturbing climate projections are correct, we'll have to start removing CO2 from the atmosphere before 2060 if some of the icecaps aren't to melt in the the 2100s.
    Of course, for now that's just modelling, but it would be good to have the tech there just in case.

    The good news is that the economics are beginning to align with the precautionary principle, which means it will make sense to do it even if you're a climate change sceptic.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,674

    There was more Labour effort here than was obvious - when it became obvious that Hartlepool was lost, some full-timers were diverted to Airdrie, and every member in the country got an appeal to help telephone GOTV on the day. That's why I was struck by the lack of interest here (Betfair didn't even bother to have a market, though they offer bets on all kinds of stuff). I think it's a very good result and encouraging for Sarwar despite the grumpy comments from Tories downthread.

    flattering on a low turnout. They will never do anything as long as they are sockpuppets to London and anti independence, makes them just Tories, they even have the millionaire leader to boot. Socialist my arse. Nothing to offer but unionism.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    That YouGov Conservative lead:

    OA: +15
    ABC1: +7
    C2DE: +27

    https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/bdgo9ekylx/TheTimes_Voting_Intention_Track_210512_W.pdf
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,674

    Good morning

    The Airdrie and Shotts result confirms tactical voting and the split of 53.6/46.4 in favour of the union, which also confirms the recent trend away from Independence

    My wife and I are greatly saddened with the way Scotland is descending into an acrimonious and ever more rancorous divide between the Scots themselves, as the governance of the country slides further into disharmony and disarray

    I know McVities decision to close it's Glasgow factory and concentrate it's production on it's other RUK factories may not be directly a result of the chaos over the Scottish constitution, but it is bound to play an ever increasing negative factor on those individuals and companies who would like to invest in Scotland, but look at the years of uncertainty and can invest elsewhere in the UK

    Our Nationalist friends on here are so dismissive of anyone who may support the union in their blind zeal to gain Independence, but I really do believe that the attraction to most Scots of divorce from the RUK with all it entails in currency, pensions, borders and even the strong cross border family ties is likely to see either indyref2 won by the union or even the SNP 'kicking the can down the road' as the way to independence seems near impossible to win.

    What is certain though, is that Nicola cannot continue 'stonewalling every question' about the consequences of her Independence position and she needs to start laying out her proposals to the Scottish people for a post Independent Scotland and be examined by impartial experts with the plus and minuses made absolutely clear to the people of Scotland

    The Scots deserve nothing less

    Unionist lackies relocate to England, good riddance to them. Hopefully their crap biscuits get boycotted.
  • MrEdMrEd Posts: 5,578
    Foxy said:

    Mr. Gate, what happened to Floyd was a disgrace. Racism is despicable.

    I managed to write that without falling to my knees once.

    It's weird, cultish behaviour, kneeling for an organisation/movement that's overtly anti-capitalist and does nothing but promote racial division.

    I have long since thought that had the football stadiums have been full throughout it would not have lasted more than a week or two

    I just could not imagine the fans being in football terms 'onside' with it
    I think you would be surprised. The next couple of games have fans, so let's see.

    Football fans are quite "Woke" nowadays, at least in the PL.
    Mmm, not sure about Chelsea
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625
    Nigelb said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    This is interesting.
    Might be commercially viable within a decade, when we'll start to need it.

    Toyota group lab passes plants in rate of artificial photosynthesis
    http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14341935

    Giving CO2 a commercial use was always going to be the way out of this from a technological perspective.
    Not just that. If some of the more disturbing climate projections are correct, we'll have to start removing CO2 from the atmosphere before 2060 if some of the icecaps aren't to melt in the the 2100s.
    Of course, for now that's just modelling, but it would be good to have the tech there just in case.
    I am half inclined to believe that by 2035, the excessive mining of the atmosphere for CO2 will be becoming a concern. With the industrial interests concerned lobbying to retain their carbon tax credits....
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,094
    edited May 2021
    Quick betting question, if I may.

    Are there any known potential issues or red flags with opening an account with Redzone Sport or 10Bet - getting money out etc?

    Thanks

    I have no CCJ's - fake or otherwise. :smile:
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,625
    edited May 2021
    Selebian said:

    https://twitter.com/jessicaduchen/status/1392563683407060993

    We don't have a big music sector in the UK so no big loss in not being able to tour our bands and orchestras...

    The picture of Johnson on that feed with a capo on his guitar and his fretboard hand the wrong side of it pretty much sums him up! ( a post for music nerds)
    Or, indeed, anyone with a basic grasp of Physics.
    Though for terrible, staged photos...

    image
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,961
    malcolmg said:

    Good morning

    The Airdrie and Shotts result confirms tactical voting and the split of 53.6/46.4 in favour of the union, which also confirms the recent trend away from Independence

    My wife and I are greatly saddened with the way Scotland is descending into an acrimonious and ever more rancorous divide between the Scots themselves, as the governance of the country slides further into disharmony and disarray

    I know McVities decision to close it's Glasgow factory and concentrate it's production on it's other RUK factories may not be directly a result of the chaos over the Scottish constitution, but it is bound to play an ever increasing negative factor on those individuals and companies who would like to invest in Scotland, but look at the years of uncertainty and can invest elsewhere in the UK

    Our Nationalist friends on here are so dismissive of anyone who may support the union in their blind zeal to gain Independence, but I really do believe that the attraction to most Scots of divorce from the RUK with all it entails in currency, pensions, borders and even the strong cross border family ties is likely to see either indyref2 won by the union or even the SNP 'kicking the can down the road' as the way to independence seems near impossible to win.

    What is certain though, is that Nicola cannot continue 'stonewalling every question' about the consequences of her Independence position and she needs to start laying out her proposals to the Scottish people for a post Independent Scotland and be examined by impartial experts with the plus and minuses made absolutely clear to the people of Scotland

    The Scots deserve nothing less

    Unionist lackies relocate to England, good riddance to them. Hopefully their crap biscuits get boycotted.
    Man cannot live by Tunnocks alone.

    The SNP - condemning its youth to never knowing the delights of a Chocolate Hobnob. Oh, the inhumanity.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,257
    MichelleC said:

    IanB2 said:

    MichelleC said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    This move below 40 for vaccinations seems to be causing problems because of the decision not to use AZN. At my centre people with appointments are arriving to be turned away because AZN is all they have there currently, and they’re not able to use it for under-40s.

    Isnt the official guidance for under 40s to take another vaccine IF available. If one is not available surely they can still get AZ?
    That does appear to be the national guidance, at least as initially reported by the BBC. However the island's main vaccine centre is saying that they are "not allowed" to give the AZN. Unless advice has changed before it was transmitted out to the field, this may be a case of whoever runs the island's vaccination centre not understanding, in which case hopefully s/he'll soon be put straight. You can imagine how upset people are; I'd have been furious, waiting anxiously for months and then turning up there, if I'd been sent home.

    As it is, I did my NHS antibody test yesterday afternoon (as part of the random sampling study) and it showed I had long-term antibodies after my single AZN, which is very reassuring!
    It is the guidance on the govt official website, which for covid stuff does tend to be updated on the day anything changes. It is also what was said in the press conferences, it baffles me how this can end up misunderstood.
    Local under-40s are saying that's what they've told. The local council has tweeted that under-40s will "directed to vaccination centres offering Pfizer and Moderna in the local area in line with JVCI guidance" - except there aren't any bookable through the national website, as North Island isn't seen as "local". The NHS Trust and CCG have both so far refused to provide a statement - which suggests they are urgently trying to find out what is going on.
    I'm 38 and I got turned away from the Riverside centre in Newport yesterday. When I got to the admin desk they asked how old I was, and the lady said that she was sorry but they "would have to refuse me" because they only had the AZ vaccine and they "were not allowed" to give it to me due to my age. I would have been happy to have received it, but was not given the option to. She said that I wasn't the first person that they had had to turn away. I was told to contact my GP and was escorted out. My GP told me that I should try to find somewhere on the mainland that was offering Pfizer because they are not vaccinating my cohort yet. I've managed to book an appointment in Southampton for 25 May, but when I went on to the NHS site this morning, I still was given the Riverside as the first option.

    Wow, what were the chances that one of the people affected would pop up on PB?

    The way you have been treated was shabby, as well as appearing to be out of line with national guidance. I've already been back to the local press suggesting they focus on this line of the story, and giving them the Selby example as ammunition to throw at the NHS. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon; making you wait until 25 May and travel to North Island is extremely poor.
    I was quite upset about it at the time. I got told yesterday that the GP led centre at Carisbrooke is currently only vaccinating those who are over 46, so it would be quite a long time before they got round to my age group. They are using the Pfizer vaccine there. I know that some of the other GP led centres on the Island are a bit further ahead, but I'm worried that the rollout here is going to be delayed if the only mass vaccination centre is now off limits.
    The interesting thing is that, given the (misinterpreted) guidance came out late last week, if this was widespread you'd expect quite an impact in first vaccination numbers, which is not apparent. Even with people being given the option, you might expect enough refusals to impact numbers.

    (Of course, there may be an impact - maybe the trend in first vaccinations should be upwards, based on bookings, rather than pretty flat as it appears)
  • pingping Posts: 3,724
    MattW said:

    Quick betting question, if I may.

    Are there any known potential issues or red flags with opening an account with Redzone Sport or 10Bet - getting money out etc?

    Thanks

    I have no CCJ's - fake or otherwise. :smile:

    Don’t know about redzone, I’d be a bit wary tbh.

    10bet are fine.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,004
    Foxy said:

    kinabalu said:

    Mr. Gate, what happened to Floyd was a disgrace. Racism is despicable.

    I managed to write that without falling to my knees once.

    It's weird, cultish behaviour, kneeling for an organisation/movement that's overtly anti-capitalist and does nothing but promote racial division.

    I understand the irritation with a gesture that, if adopted by people a million miles from the front line of racist US policing, can be seen as tokenistic and a little bit precious.

    And that's all it is with you, isn't it? A certain mild irritation.

    Like, there's no way you would be more exercised by this than by the racism itself.
    Except that vile racist abuse is a common feature of football social media, and with so many Black footballers in the PL, sorely felt.

    Worth noting too that the English PL is watched worldwide, and followed in places far more racist than the UK. It is a message for the world. A slogan and a cause, with the official BLM organisation insignificant, and often unknown.
    I understand Man Utd's Fred is suffering racial abuse on twitter today

    It is just nor acceptable

    I would comment that Fred is not the midfielder United need to be honest but that is a different unrelated matter
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    Wes Streeting diagnosed with kidney cancer.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,257
    edited May 2021
    Selebian said:

    MichelleC said:

    IanB2 said:

    MichelleC said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    This move below 40 for vaccinations seems to be causing problems because of the decision not to use AZN. At my centre people with appointments are arriving to be turned away because AZN is all they have there currently, and they’re not able to use it for under-40s.

    Isnt the official guidance for under 40s to take another vaccine IF available. If one is not available surely they can still get AZ?
    That does appear to be the national guidance, at least as initially reported by the BBC. However the island's main vaccine centre is saying that they are "not allowed" to give the AZN. Unless advice has changed before it was transmitted out to the field, this may be a case of whoever runs the island's vaccination centre not understanding, in which case hopefully s/he'll soon be put straight. You can imagine how upset people are; I'd have been furious, waiting anxiously for months and then turning up there, if I'd been sent home.

    As it is, I did my NHS antibody test yesterday afternoon (as part of the random sampling study) and it showed I had long-term antibodies after my single AZN, which is very reassuring!
    It is the guidance on the govt official website, which for covid stuff does tend to be updated on the day anything changes. It is also what was said in the press conferences, it baffles me how this can end up misunderstood.
    Local under-40s are saying that's what they've told. The local council has tweeted that under-40s will "directed to vaccination centres offering Pfizer and Moderna in the local area in line with JVCI guidance" - except there aren't any bookable through the national website, as North Island isn't seen as "local". The NHS Trust and CCG have both so far refused to provide a statement - which suggests they are urgently trying to find out what is going on.
    I'm 38 and I got turned away from the Riverside centre in Newport yesterday. When I got to the admin desk they asked how old I was, and the lady said that she was sorry but they "would have to refuse me" because they only had the AZ vaccine and they "were not allowed" to give it to me due to my age. I would have been happy to have received it, but was not given the option to. She said that I wasn't the first person that they had had to turn away. I was told to contact my GP and was escorted out. My GP told me that I should try to find somewhere on the mainland that was offering Pfizer because they are not vaccinating my cohort yet. I've managed to book an appointment in Southampton for 25 May, but when I went on to the NHS site this morning, I still was given the Riverside as the first option.

    Wow, what were the chances that one of the people affected would pop up on PB?

    The way you have been treated was shabby, as well as appearing to be out of line with national guidance. I've already been back to the local press suggesting they focus on this line of the story, and giving them the Selby example as ammunition to throw at the NHS. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon; making you wait until 25 May and travel to North Island is extremely poor.
    I was quite upset about it at the time. I got told yesterday that the GP led centre at Carisbrooke is currently only vaccinating those who are over 46, so it would be quite a long time before they got round to my age group. They are using the Pfizer vaccine there. I know that some of the other GP led centres on the Island are a bit further ahead, but I'm worried that the rollout here is going to be delayed if the only mass vaccination centre is now off limits.
    The interesting thing is that, given the (misinterpreted) guidance came out late last week, if this was widespread you'd expect quite an impact in first vaccination numbers, which is not apparent. Even with people being given the option, you might expect enough refusals to impact numbers.

    (Of course, there may be an impact - maybe the trend in first vaccinations should be upwards, based on bookings, rather than pretty flat as it appears)
    Also, my wife - who is 35 - is now booked in at the same centre this Saturday (got the text today). So they've presumably either got storage in for Pfizer/Moderna or they'll be giving her the choice (like me, to not have AZN and rebook when it's available). You'd expect, a week or so after the new guidance, that they'd have tried to phase out first jab AZN everywhere, even if only to aovid the inefficiency of refusals, but we'll see...
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,674
    eek said:

    On topic, just over a decade ago Labour held this seat with a majority over 12,000, now losing it by 1,800 votes is Labour's best by election performance in five years.

    The unknown here is if Labour had campaigned harder would they have won it or would the SNP voters have then bothered to actually go out and vote.

    Given the complete pointlessness of this election a week after far more important elections I'm surprised anyone voted.
    Agree that 34% even bothered is amazing.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 20,454
    MattW said:

    Quick betting question, if I may.

    Are there any known potential issues or red flags with opening an account with Redzone Sport or 10Bet - getting money out etc?

    Thanks

    I have no CCJ's - fake or otherwise. :smile:

    A lot of the smaller bookies do have laborious procedures for withdrawals that requires persistence but you get there in the end. Be prepared to give scans of id and even bank statements.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    edited May 2021
    malcolmg said:

    Good morning

    The Airdrie and Shotts result confirms tactical voting and the split of 53.6/46.4 in favour of the union, which also confirms the recent trend away from Independence

    My wife and I are greatly saddened with the way Scotland is descending into an acrimonious and ever more rancorous divide between the Scots themselves, as the governance of the country slides further into disharmony and disarray

    I know McVities decision to close it's Glasgow factory and concentrate it's production on it's other RUK factories may not be directly a result of the chaos over the Scottish constitution, but it is bound to play an ever increasing negative factor on those individuals and companies who would like to invest in Scotland, but look at the years of uncertainty and can invest elsewhere in the UK

    Our Nationalist friends on here are so dismissive of anyone who may support the union in their blind zeal to gain Independence, but I really do believe that the attraction to most Scots of divorce from the RUK with all it entails in currency, pensions, borders and even the strong cross border family ties is likely to see either indyref2 won by the union or even the SNP 'kicking the can down the road' as the way to independence seems near impossible to win.

    What is certain though, is that Nicola cannot continue 'stonewalling every question' about the consequences of her Independence position and she needs to start laying out her proposals to the Scottish people for a post Independent Scotland and be examined by impartial experts with the plus and minuses made absolutely clear to the people of Scotland

    The Scots deserve nothing less

    Unionist lackies relocate to England, good riddance to them.
    Scotland has the weakest Investment Environment in the UK. It has deteriorated in every area over the past decade, as fewer firms demand new capital and financing services decline. The value of loans provided to small and medium enterprises in Glasgow by major banks is at £2,831 per capita, which is much lower than the UK average £4,560.

    • The conditions for local enterprise have also deteriorated. They are particularly weak in the Central Belt. Tax compliance and local government restrictions are more likely to be viewed as a barrier to business—8% of business owners say that local government restrictions are a barrier to business, the highest in the UK.


    UK Prosperity Report
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 38,851

    kinabalu said:

    Westminster voting intention:

    CON: 45% (+2)
    LAB: 30% (-3)
    GRN: 8% (+2)
    LDEM: 7% (-)
    REFUK: 2% (-1)

    via @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 05 May


    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1393112175699443713?s=20

    SKS fans please explain.
    Not a SKS fan but this is Corbyn's toxic legacy.

    Very hard to get rid of the shit and the smell out of the carpet after someone takes a massive dump on it.
    You clearly haven't been telephone canvassing for Labour.

    Corbyn doesn't get a mention

    Lack of policies lack of charisma lack of warmth lack of being on my side get plenty.

    Main thing to make a return They are all the same
    The thing I don't get is this - there are oceans of Social Democratic policies out there. That would warm the hearts of everyone from Corbynistas to the wet end of the Conservatives. That's lots and lots of votes.

    Yes, I know. This is what Blair did. And hence Evul.

    But why not?
    Did Blair set out lots of Labour policies prior to the 1997 election campaign? I was only 5 years old at the time so obviously I don't know. It seems that in modern times the opposition only set out policies when the manifesto gets released.
    Blair did not set out a substantive raft of policies, no. It was a timid offering. The anodyne pledge card. Sticking to Tory spending plans for 2 years. Do not frighten the horses.

    The 97 landslide was built on a feeling. Time for a change. Tired sleazy Tories. THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER.

    It worked a D:ream. The Conservative government was flushed away like a turd despite the economy looking (and being) quite rosy.

    Which just goes to show.
    Indeed - its just not healthy to have one party in permanent power, whether that is the Tories in England, the SNP in Scotland or Labour in Wales. People become complacent, more interested in fighting their petty squabbles, lose sight of the public at large. Labour in England needs to start remembering that its no good having the best policies in the world if no one will vote you into power. How much do they hate Blair that showed them that the country was never going to be as socialist as the party?
    I agree. One party rule is the pits. And especially if that one party are the Tories.

    On 'socialism', I think we need a reset. The economy being substantially nationalized is a dead idea. But policies to devolve wealth and opportunity away from those rolling in it to those starved of it are more needed than ever. For me, this is modern relevant socialism. New socialism if you like.

    So I'd like to see us keep the radical spirit of the Corbyn era but (sorry Owen) ditch its clumsy, old fashioned policy programme. Come up with policies that will work in practice to achieve the above objective, a really significant devolution of wealth and opportunity.

    And present this with real passion.

    New Socialism. New Britain. New Socialism. New Britain.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603
    Selebian said:

    Selebian said:

    MichelleC said:

    IanB2 said:

    MichelleC said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    This move below 40 for vaccinations seems to be causing problems because of the decision not to use AZN. At my centre people with appointments are arriving to be turned away because AZN is all they have there currently, and they’re not able to use it for under-40s.

    Isnt the official guidance for under 40s to take another vaccine IF available. If one is not available surely they can still get AZ?
    That does appear to be the national guidance, at least as initially reported by the BBC. However the island's main vaccine centre is saying that they are "not allowed" to give the AZN. Unless advice has changed before it was transmitted out to the field, this may be a case of whoever runs the island's vaccination centre not understanding, in which case hopefully s/he'll soon be put straight. You can imagine how upset people are; I'd have been furious, waiting anxiously for months and then turning up there, if I'd been sent home.

    As it is, I did my NHS antibody test yesterday afternoon (as part of the random sampling study) and it showed I had long-term antibodies after my single AZN, which is very reassuring!
    It is the guidance on the govt official website, which for covid stuff does tend to be updated on the day anything changes. It is also what was said in the press conferences, it baffles me how this can end up misunderstood.
    Local under-40s are saying that's what they've told. The local council has tweeted that under-40s will "directed to vaccination centres offering Pfizer and Moderna in the local area in line with JVCI guidance" - except there aren't any bookable through the national website, as North Island isn't seen as "local". The NHS Trust and CCG have both so far refused to provide a statement - which suggests they are urgently trying to find out what is going on.
    I'm 38 and I got turned away from the Riverside centre in Newport yesterday. When I got to the admin desk they asked how old I was, and the lady said that she was sorry but they "would have to refuse me" because they only had the AZ vaccine and they "were not allowed" to give it to me due to my age. I would have been happy to have received it, but was not given the option to. She said that I wasn't the first person that they had had to turn away. I was told to contact my GP and was escorted out. My GP told me that I should try to find somewhere on the mainland that was offering Pfizer because they are not vaccinating my cohort yet. I've managed to book an appointment in Southampton for 25 May, but when I went on to the NHS site this morning, I still was given the Riverside as the first option.

    Wow, what were the chances that one of the people affected would pop up on PB?

    The way you have been treated was shabby, as well as appearing to be out of line with national guidance. I've already been back to the local press suggesting they focus on this line of the story, and giving them the Selby example as ammunition to throw at the NHS. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon; making you wait until 25 May and travel to North Island is extremely poor.
    I was quite upset about it at the time. I got told yesterday that the GP led centre at Carisbrooke is currently only vaccinating those who are over 46, so it would be quite a long time before they got round to my age group. They are using the Pfizer vaccine there. I know that some of the other GP led centres on the Island are a bit further ahead, but I'm worried that the rollout here is going to be delayed if the only mass vaccination centre is now off limits.
    The interesting thing is that, given the (misinterpreted) guidance came out late last week, if this was widespread you'd expect quite an impact in first vaccination numbers, which is not apparent. Even with people being given the option, you might expect enough refusals to impact numbers.

    (Of course, there may be an impact - maybe the trend in first vaccinations should be upwards, based on bookings, rather than pretty flat as it appears)
    Also, my wife - who is 35 - is now booked in at the same centre this Saturday (got the text today). So they've presumably either got storage in for Pfizer/Moderna or they'll be giving her the choice (like me, to not have AZN and rebook when it's available). You'd expect, a week or so after the new guidance, that they'd have tried to phase out first jab AZN everywhere, even if only to aovid the inefficiency of refusals, but we'll see...
    I think the provisioning system was changed on the 10th to only offer appointments to under 40s where Pfizer/Moderna is available. All of my friends who have been getting their first jabs this week were given Pfizer.
This discussion has been closed.