He needs that long to work out how the hell to pay for it.....
I am still wondering how the American game show host that has had 4 kids with 3 different women in 6 months, making it a total of 7 kids, is going to juggle all the nappy duties...
More mealy mouthed platitudes from the EU Transport Commissioner:
UPDATE: expected landing time in Vilnius 21.19 local time. We need to verify all the facts and passengers on board - we cannot do this until the arrival in Vilnius. This kind of situation will have consequences.
She was put forward by Orban and her qualifications include a master's degree in European Integration and Security Studies, postgraduate studies in National Security and Defence Management and a bachelor's degree in mathematics.
That YouGov RedWall poll the other day surprised me -
“Statement A: The various different ethnic groups living in Britain all generally get along well OR Statement B: There is an increasing amount of tension between the different ethnic groups living in Britain”
Red Wall 48-27 in favour of Statement B Rest of Britain 43-30 in favour of B
He needs that long to work out how the hell to pay for it.....
Use one of the celebrity mags? Not any obvious conflicts of interest or potential accusations of buying influence there. Just pure commercial decisions.
If people do decide that teleworking from Wiltshire and Somerset is the way forward, London could get that NYC 80s vibe...it already has the low level shitty crime, the knife crime and the gangs...and a piss poor Mayor who is a total do-nothing.
Great music though. 80s NYC I mean.
NYC in the 1970s and 1980s was NYC at its best - creatively. It wasn't just music. So much came out of that city then. The art, the writing, the energy. Strange but true
It was a toilet but a brilliant toilet
Same as London over the same period.
Places in decline are often artistically innovative.
He needs that long to work out how the hell to pay for it.....
Bride's family normally
Not these days I don't think. All the people I know (late 20s) who have got married, their families contributed equally, or they paid for it themselves.
Chairs of parliament foreign affairs committees from United Kingdom Germany Ireland Czech Republic Latvia Lithuania Poland United States are calling for the suspension of Belarus from the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Closing borders to commercial traffic could also be on the table & can be implemented fast
He needs that long to work out how the hell to pay for it.....
Bride's family normally
Not these days I don't think. All the people I know (late 20s) who have got married, their families contributed equally, or they paid for it themselves.
He needs that long to work out how the hell to pay for it.....
Bride's family normally
Not these days I don't think. All the people I know (late 20s) who have got married, their families contributed equally, or they paid for it themselves.
I think it was a joke...
Aye — the "who's going to pay for it" joke is all over Twitter
The incident with the Ryanair flight today is pretty major for the EU, but one chief’s official tweet was riddled w bad English & typos, another called for an investigation by a civil aviation body & a 3rd celebrated the plane’s release from Minsk as great news for “everyone”
If people do decide that teleworking from Wiltshire and Somerset is the way forward, London could get that NYC 80s vibe...it already has the low level shitty crime, the knife crime and the gangs...and a piss poor Mayor who is a total do-nothing.
Great music though. 80s NYC I mean.
NYC in the 1970s and 1980s was NYC at its best - creatively. It wasn't just music. So much came out of that city then. The art, the writing, the energy. Strange but true
It was a toilet but a brilliant toilet
Same as London over the same period.
Places in decline are often artistically innovative.
He needs that long to work out how the hell to pay for it.....
Use one of the celebrity mags? Not any obvious conflicts of interest or potential accusations of buying influence there. Just pure commercial decisions.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
Liberal lefties deny the lab leak theory because Trump suggested it, and if Trump had suggested that ice cream was tasty they would be boycotting Ben and Jerry's right now.
That YouGov RedWall poll the other day surprised me -
“Statement A: The various different ethnic groups living in Britain all generally get along well OR Statement B: There is an increasing amount of tension between the different ethnic groups living in Britain”
Red Wall 48-27 in favour of Statement B Rest of Britain 43-30 in favour of B
Which bit surprised you? That the red wall perceives more racial tension, or that there is so little difference, or that everyone perceives it, or that not as many as you would think perceive it?
That YouGov RedWall poll the other day surprised me -
“Statement A: The various different ethnic groups living in Britain all generally get along well OR Statement B: There is an increasing amount of tension between the different ethnic groups living in Britain”
Red Wall 48-27 in favour of Statement B Rest of Britain 43-30 in favour of B
Which bit surprised you? That the red wall perceives more racial tension, or that there is so little difference, or that everyone perceives it, or that not as many as you would think perceive it?
That most people in Britain think there is an increasing amount of racial tension. I thought it, but when I said so everyone told me it was all good.
The incident with the Ryanair flight today is pretty major for the EU, but one chief’s official tweet was riddled w bad English & typos, another called for an investigation by a civil aviation body & a 3rd celebrated the plane’s release from Minsk as great news for “everyone”
This is an excellent point. We've got so used to the likes of Trump conducting "diplomacy by twitter" that it is now seen as the norm.
This could turn into (is?) a potentially extremely dangerous situation. In such circumstances nobody is best served by the hotpotch of mixed and official messages being fired off by random individuals. Official statements should be issued, properly agreed and formatted and if twitter is to be used at all it should be for dissemination only.
It was interesting to note that somebody recently observed (and noted the criticism of) the complete absence of US Government comment about the Israel/Gaza situation. As if "no comment on twitter" meant that the US Govt didn't have a view or wasn't doing anything. When in reality they were reverting to conventional diplomatic techniques - limiting public (official) comment only when necessary.
What good does it do to have EU commissioners firing off random missives leaving themselves open to ridicule. Or "chairs of foreign affairs committees" issuing semi-official press releases as if they have Government powers, and exaggerating their own importance? Or people in general going on twitter and threatening "consequences" without any indication of what those consequences will be? etc etc
If people do decide that teleworking from Wiltshire and Somerset is the way forward, London could get that NYC 80s vibe...it already has the low level shitty crime, the knife crime and the gangs...and a piss poor Mayor who is a total do-nothing.
Great music though. 80s NYC I mean.
NYC in the 1970s and 1980s was NYC at its best - creatively. It wasn't just music. So much came out of that city then. The art, the writing, the energy. Strange but true
It was a toilet but a brilliant toilet
Same as London over the same period.
Places in decline are often artistically innovative.
Hence Manchester's music scene. 😉
Well quite. Manchester's musical heyday was roughly 1976-1994 - from the Lesser Free Trade Hall gig to Oasis moving to London. (That they were mediocre thereafter is beside the point - they were no longer part of Manchester's music scene. Ditto Morrissey.) Which roughly corresponds to Manchester's economic nadir. Manchester is infinitely better nowadays. It's just amazing. Construction going on everywhere, awash with appealing little spots to eat and drink - but I wouldn't pretend Manchester's current music scene is anything like it was in 1990, when it was a dump but also culturally the most important place in the world. Would I rather be in Manchester now or 1990? Genuinely hard to say. Now probably has it, on balance, due to the much reduced chance of encountering violence, either casual or life-threatening.
Another long, challenging but ultimately quite devastating article.
"In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, plenty of experts were warning that “gain of function” research was a pandemic waiting to happen. In 2019, Vox reported on the controversy around researchers who were trying to make a more easily transmissible bird flu. (“Can we not?” asked the headline.) It quoted the head of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins saying that “the risks of proceeding in this way on this work are high, very high.”
"The previous chief science advisor to the U.K. government, Lord May, called the research “absolutely crazy” and “exceedingly dangerous,” and said that “there is a danger, but it’s not arising from the viruses out there in the animals, it’s arising from the labs of grossly ambitious people.” Indeed, one of the researchers who made a new bird flu openly stated that his team had produced “probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make,” a virus that Science said “could change world history if it were ever set free.”"
And:
"A 2014 Guardian article summarizes the views of Harvard epidemiologist Mark Lipsitch saying these experiments “could unleash a catastrophic pandemic if a virus escaped or was intentionally released from a high-security laboratory.” Lipsitch called the flu experiments “exceptionally dangerous” and warned that as labs proliferated, so did the possibility of a pandemic that could kill over a billion people. Virologist Simon Wain-Hobson of the Pasteur Institute said: “It’s madness, folly… If society, the intelligent layperson, understood what was going on, they would say ‘What the F are you doing?’”"
"Here are Baric and Peter Daszak scheming to get all their colleagues -- nearly all getting @nih Fauci @NIAIDFunding -- to sign a letter denying lab leak despite no proof it wasn't and (still) no evidence of wet market or natural origin."
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
"But perhaps the most surprising discovery of all in comparing the two exhibitions is the greater variety, vigor, and quality of the Russian artistic output in the chosen periods. This superiority raises important and unsettling questions about the relationship of art to freedom, which clearly is not linear: the more freedom, the better the art."
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
If people do decide that teleworking from Wiltshire and Somerset is the way forward, London could get that NYC 80s vibe...it already has the low level shitty crime, the knife crime and the gangs...and a piss poor Mayor who is a total do-nothing.
Great music though. 80s NYC I mean.
NYC in the 1970s and 1980s was NYC at its best - creatively. It wasn't just music. So much came out of that city then. The art, the writing, the energy. Strange but true
It was a toilet but a brilliant toilet
Same as London over the same period.
Places in decline are often artistically innovative.
Hence Manchester's music scene. 😉
Well quite. Manchester's musical heyday was roughly 1976-1994 - from the Lesser Free Trade Hall gig to Oasis moving to London. (That they were mediocre thereafter is beside the point - they were no longer part of Manchester's music scene. Ditto Morrissey.) Which roughly corresponds to Manchester's economic nadir. Manchester is infinitely better nowadays. It's just amazing. Construction going on everywhere, awash with appealing little spots to eat and drink - but I wouldn't pretend Manchester's current music scene is anything like it was in 1990, when it was a dump but also culturally the most important place in the world. Would I rather be in Manchester now or 1990? Genuinely hard to say. Now probably has it, on balance, due to the much reduced chance of encountering violence, either casual or life-threatening.
One could make a similar point about Liverpool from 1961 onwards.
That YouGov RedWall poll the other day surprised me -
“Statement A: The various different ethnic groups living in Britain all generally get along well OR Statement B: There is an increasing amount of tension between the different ethnic groups living in Britain”
Red Wall 48-27 in favour of Statement B Rest of Britain 43-30 in favour of B
Which bit surprised you? That the red wall perceives more racial tension, or that there is so little difference, or that everyone perceives it, or that not as many as you would think perceive it?
That most people in Britain think there is an increasing amount of racial tension. I thought it, but when I said so everyone told me it was all good.
I guess this is the sort of thing it's easier to say in a yougov poll than in polite conversation. And perhaps red-wallers are simply less bound by metropolitan niceties in their responses.
That YouGov RedWall poll the other day surprised me -
“Statement A: The various different ethnic groups living in Britain all generally get along well OR Statement B: There is an increasing amount of tension between the different ethnic groups living in Britain”
Red Wall 48-27 in favour of Statement B Rest of Britain 43-30 in favour of B
Which bit surprised you? That the red wall perceives more racial tension, or that there is so little difference, or that everyone perceives it, or that not as many as you would think perceive it?
That most people in Britain think there is an increasing amount of racial tension. I thought it, but when I said so everyone told me it was all good.
I guess this is the sort of thing it's easier to say in a yougov poll than in polite conversation. And perhaps red-wallers are simply less bound by metropolitan niceties in their responses.
Interesting forced question - many people would go for both A and B, if allowed, I think
That YouGov RedWall poll the other day surprised me -
“Statement A: The various different ethnic groups living in Britain all generally get along well OR Statement B: There is an increasing amount of tension between the different ethnic groups living in Britain”
Red Wall 48-27 in favour of Statement B Rest of Britain 43-30 in favour of B
Which bit surprised you? That the red wall perceives more racial tension, or that there is so little difference, or that everyone perceives it, or that not as many as you would think perceive it?
That most people in Britain think there is an increasing amount of racial tension. I thought it, but when I said so everyone told me it was all good.
I guess this is the sort of thing it's easier to say in a yougov poll than in polite conversation. And perhaps red-wallers are simply less bound by metropolitan niceties in their responses.
There really isn't much difference. Also. I'd be interested in which definition of "Red Wall" and Rest of Britain was used. Am not aware there is, as yet, a standard definition. A point I frequently make whenever it is mentioned, I know. But I do think it is important if anything sensible is to be said.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Well that's a fascinating and brilliant new insight which really advances the debate
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Well that's a fascinating and brilliant new insight which really advances the debate
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Well up to a point with Occam. Occam's razor would suggest that if we have a new coronavirus pandemic, the most likely source is spillover from viruses in other species. But Occam's razor might also suggest that if a new pandemic arises in one of the very few cities in the world where research is carried out into creating artificial coronaviruses, that lab leak might be something of a contender for its source.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Well that's a fascinating and brilliant new insight which really advances the debate
The truth is often mundane.
The X Files would never have got made if you'd done the pitching.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Well that's a fascinating and brilliant new insight which really advances the debate
The truth is often mundane.
You don't even understand Occam's razor, amongst many other things
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Wait a sec. There's a lab that works on bat coronaviruses in the exact same city where a novel coronavirus emerges - surely the simplest explanation is that it came from the lab? It probably requires more steps for it not to have come from the lab.
Now, you would hope that they would have good containment measures at a lab, overall making a leak unlikely, but a snafu at the lab is a simpler explanation than an unlikely coincidence - even though that is by itself not evidence that a leak occurred.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Wait a sec. There's a lab that works on bat coronaviruses in the exact same city where a novel coronavirus emerges - surely the simplest explanation is that it came from the lab? It probably requires more steps for it not to have come from the lab.
Now, you would hope that they would have good containment measures at a lab, overall making a leak unlikely, but a snafu at the lab is a simpler explanation than an unlikely coincidence - even though that is by itself not evidence that a leak occurred.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Well that's a fascinating and brilliant new insight which really advances the debate
The truth is often mundane.
Actually, I have rarely found that to be the case.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Wait a sec. There's a lab that works on bat coronaviruses in the exact same city where a novel coronavirus emerges - surely the simplest explanation is that it came from the lab? It probably requires more steps for it not to have come from the lab.
Now, you would hope that they would have good containment measures at a lab, overall making a leak unlikely, but a snafu at the lab is a simpler explanation than an unlikely coincidence - even though that is by itself not evidence that a leak occurred.
One of the few reasons to disbelieve the Lab Leak was that a Level 4 lab has superstrict security......
But now it has been revealed there are ancillary labs in Wuhan which do this scary virus research in conditions akin to that of a dentist in the West - lab coats, gloves, that's it
If people do decide that teleworking from Wiltshire and Somerset is the way forward, London could get that NYC 80s vibe...it already has the low level shitty crime, the knife crime and the gangs...and a piss poor Mayor who is a total do-nothing.
One of my good friends in the Insurance industry is selling his London place and moving up to Derbyshire and will WAH post pandemic
I am moving further away from station as I do not expect to be commuting anywhere near as much going forward.
One of my team is looking at moving out into the sticks as he anticipates less need for train access due to reduced commuting
Working patterns for some job types will certainly change
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Wait a sec. There's a lab that works on bat coronaviruses in the exact same city where a novel coronavirus emerges - surely the simplest explanation is that it came from the lab? It probably requires more steps for it not to have come from the lab.
Now, you would hope that they would have good containment measures at a lab, overall making a leak unlikely, but a snafu at the lab is a simpler explanation than an unlikely coincidence - even though that is by itself not evidence that a leak occurred.
To repeat: I don't deny that a lab leak was possibly the cause; I just don't think it's the most likely explanation.
Did the lab engineer the virus or did they just happen to collect it and then allow it to escape? If the latter the virus was already out in the wild. The former would be another level of culpability.
Focusing on 'China caused the virus' risks ignoring the fact that new pathogens have always occured naturally from time to time and will do so again in future.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Wait a sec. There's a lab that works on bat coronaviruses in the exact same city where a novel coronavirus emerges - surely the simplest explanation is that it came from the lab? It probably requires more steps for it not to have come from the lab.
Now, you would hope that they would have good containment measures at a lab, overall making a leak unlikely, but a snafu at the lab is a simpler explanation than an unlikely coincidence - even though that is by itself not evidence that a leak occurred.
One of the few reasons to disbelieve the Lab Leak was that a Level 4 lab has superstrict security......
But now it has been revealed there are ancillary labs in Wuhan which do this scary virus research in conditions akin to that of a dentist in the West - lab coats, gloves, that's it
It came, yawn, from the lab
You don't, yawn, actually know that - it could have been the aliens.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Wait a sec. There's a lab that works on bat coronaviruses in the exact same city where a novel coronavirus emerges - surely the simplest explanation is that it came from the lab? It probably requires more steps for it not to have come from the lab.
Now, you would hope that they would have good containment measures at a lab, overall making a leak unlikely, but a snafu at the lab is a simpler explanation than an unlikely coincidence - even though that is by itself not evidence that a leak occurred.
To repeat: I don't deny that a lab leak was possibly the cause; I just don't think it's the most likely explanation.
Did the lab engineer the virus or did they just happen to collect it and then allow it to escape? If the latter the virus was already out in the wild. The former would be another level of culpability.
Focusing on 'China caused the virus' risks ignoring the fact that new pathogens have always occured naturally from time to time and will do so again in future.
It is by far the most likely explanation. A lab.
What is new is the growing believe the virus was engineered for "gain of function", hence its hideous lethality and transmissibility.
I had no idea until recently that there were labs around the world doing this, making viruses so evil they could kill billions. I mean: WTAF. The scientific justification is so tenuous even virologists question the rationale and morality
Did the Wuhan labs CREATE the SARS2 virus, in its pathogenic endform?
I don't know. But it doesn't look good, right now. Seems highly likely that it leaked from there, at least
It is believed that the shooting occurred near a house where a party was taking place and that a number of people may have been in the area, a Met police statement said.
Are there any PBers who still vehemently deny the lab leak hypothesis?
IF so, why? Is it because of the WHO report? The Lancet letter? Perhaps it is because you fear anti-Chinese racism and the "natural origin" hypothesis is preferable in that respect.
Genuine question. On Twitter it mainly seems to be liberal-lefties who still deny the lab leak thingy, so I'm guessing it is a race thing. OR they are paid by China
It's a hypothesis, right? Where's the evidence?
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
There is literally NO evidence for any other hypothesis - and, boy, they've tried. Testing 80,000 animals
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
You're a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Wait a sec. There's a lab that works on bat coronaviruses in the exact same city where a novel coronavirus emerges - surely the simplest explanation is that it came from the lab? It probably requires more steps for it not to have come from the lab.
Now, you would hope that they would have good containment measures at a lab, overall making a leak unlikely, but a snafu at the lab is a simpler explanation than an unlikely coincidence - even though that is by itself not evidence that a leak occurred.
To repeat: I don't deny that a lab leak was possibly the cause; I just don't think it's the most likely explanation.
Did the lab engineer the virus or did they just happen to collect it and then allow it to escape? If the latter the virus was already out in the wild. The former would be another level of culpability.
Focusing on 'China caused the virus' risks ignoring the fact that new pathogens have always occured naturally from time to time and will do so again in future.
I'm not focusing on "China caused the virus", but I do dispute your use of Occam's Razor in an attempt to downplay the possibility that a Chinese lab may have been involved. It's important to know so that we can avoid a repeat - one of the strengths of a democracy over an authoritarian dictatorship is that the causes of failures are exposed. We shouldn't go easy on one dictatorship (China) because a wannabee imitator (Trump) used them as a scapegoat to deflect blame for his own failings.
Just reading Labour suspended its one year Party membership rule to get Kim Leadbetter in as candidate. Good. Need to get serious. That starts with candidate choice. Local with a track record of doing summat useful. The Airdrie and Shotts not dire result was a pointer standing in stark contrast to Hartlepool. Am leaning to Labour hold now.
That YouGov RedWall poll the other day surprised me -
“Statement A: The various different ethnic groups living in Britain all generally get along well OR Statement B: There is an increasing amount of tension between the different ethnic groups living in Britain”
Red Wall 48-27 in favour of Statement B Rest of Britain 43-30 in favour of B
Which bit surprised you? That the red wall perceives more racial tension, or that there is so little difference, or that everyone perceives it, or that not as many as you would think perceive it?
That most people in Britain think there is an increasing amount of racial tension. I thought it, but when I said so everyone told me it was all good.
It's odd how a period like the late 1990s was perceived by almost everyone as being a very good time for relations between all types of people in the UK, whereas now apparently isn't.
Not much social distancing at the 18th at Kiawah Island.
Do people have to be vaccinated to attend? Therr have been quite a few events like that in the US, where they are happy to have large crowds with little social distancing provided you have been vaccinated.
Happy 80th birthday to the great Bob Dylan. No Restless Farewell nor need to see that his grave is kept clean just yet. Not Dark Yet, but it's getting there. Etc., etc.
Just reading Labour suspended its one year Party membership rule to get Kim Leadbetter in as candidate. Good. Need to get serious. That starts with candidate choice. Local with a track record of doing summat useful. The Airdrie and Shotts not dire result was a pointer standing in stark contrast to Hartlepool. Am leaning to Labour hold now.
Yes, she was a former member but didn't get round to renewing during the period dealing with her sister's death. Would have been insanely churlish to bar her. I see she got 80% of the membership vote in the constituency, so no factional nonsense this time.
It is believed that the shooting occurred near a house where a party was taking place and that a number of people may have been in the area, a Met police statement said.
Just reading Labour suspended its one year Party membership rule to get Kim Leadbetter in as candidate. Good. Need to get serious. That starts with candidate choice. Local with a track record of doing summat useful. The Airdrie and Shotts not dire result was a pointer standing in stark contrast to Hartlepool. Am leaning to Labour hold now.
Suspect it will make no actual difference all the votes they gain from sympathy will be lost to people who think they need to go for the sympathy vote as they have nothing else to offer and vote otherwise
It is believed that the shooting occurred near a house where a party was taking place and that a number of people may have been in the area, a Met police statement said.
That YouGov RedWall poll the other day surprised me -
“Statement A: The various different ethnic groups living in Britain all generally get along well OR Statement B: There is an increasing amount of tension between the different ethnic groups living in Britain”
Red Wall 48-27 in favour of Statement B Rest of Britain 43-30 in favour of B
Which bit surprised you? That the red wall perceives more racial tension, or that there is so little difference, or that everyone perceives it, or that not as many as you would think perceive it?
That most people in Britain think there is an increasing amount of racial tension. I thought it, but when I said so everyone told me it was all good.
It's odd how a period like the late 1990s was perceived by almost everyone as being a very good time for relations between all types of people in the UK, whereas now apparently isn't.
It should be noted that racial tension should be read as white vs other....round my way there are often clashes between various ethnicities. Though I am sure it will be touted as all white on other
1. Biosecurity at the Wuhan Virology site had already been repeatedly flagged as poor and completely not upto BSL4 as far back as 2017 by visting western officials
2. The ancillary evidence is that there was some kind of outbreak incident in Wuhan weeks, in fact as much as 2 months before any actual statements
4. The Chinese state lied, to its own people and the world about it for weeks before eventually coming clean. At the very least they didnt seem keen at first to release what they knew.
5. Stories later emanated from China claiming it was variously passed on during the World Military Games by foreign particpants to coming from Fort Detrick in the US, despite the fact Chinese officials, when they did come forth, suggested it came from a food market. Why then start the 'not made here' stories?
6. Chinese officials sought to suppress and silence medics early on who wanted to get the story out because they recognised the severity of it.
Few are claiming this was a dellberate bioweapons deployment but that the lab was involved in hoking about with coronavirus (thats part of their job) was known and that they were into gene splicing was known and the lab was not exactly good in its operational practice, also known.
There is just as much a possibility that Sars-COV2 originated leaked from the Wuhan lab into the public domain than it just randomly turned up in some dodgy food. The sheer extent of the unwillingness of Chinese authorities to come clean early, their suppression of information and the subsequent rumour mill stories at the least suggest they had something to cover up. Add that to the intelligence that did indicate a major health risk issue in Wuhan in the autumn of 2019 and the Chinese government story does not add up.
Just reading Labour suspended its one year Party membership rule to get Kim Leadbetter in as candidate. Good. Need to get serious. That starts with candidate choice. Local with a track record of doing summat useful. The Airdrie and Shotts not dire result was a pointer standing in stark contrast to Hartlepool. Am leaning to Labour hold now.
Labour’s odds have shortened a lot from the opening quotes, so the market thinks the candidate choice is good
Just reading Labour suspended its one year Party membership rule to get Kim Leadbetter in as candidate. Good. Need to get serious. That starts with candidate choice. Local with a track record of doing summat useful. The Airdrie and Shotts not dire result was a pointer standing in stark contrast to Hartlepool. Am leaning to Labour hold now.
Labour’s odds have shortened a lot from the opening quotes, so the market thinks the candidate choice is good
Conservatives still a clear favourite on WHill - I think it is going to be tight but a Labour hold (admittedly I said that about H'pool) - it may come down to the Tory brand vs the Jo Cox brand (very cynical I know)
This hijacked plane in Belarus is going to cause huge problems for NATO and the EU tomorrow.
Belarus now as likely to see planes flying over as North Korea, but serious questions to be asked about how a country would deploy their military, to force down a civilian airliner purely to apprehend someone on board as a passenger.
In the American Civil War the Union stopped and boarded a British ship which had two Confederate envoys on board: that nearly lead to the British joining the war on the side of the CSA until the two were released.
Two VF-74 F-14s from the Saratoga intercepted an Egyptian 737 over the Med and forced it into Sigonella to try to capture two Palestinians. The Italians cops weren't having it and an armed stand off resulted. The Italians refused extradition although the US got one of them in Iraq years later and Epsteined him in custody.
Comments
https://twitter.com/TomTugendhat/status/1396564984428208133?s=20
She was put forward by the Romanian PM Orban not the more famous Hungarian PM Orban.
Sean Oh No! Lennon
Places in decline are often artistically innovative.
If you want to hurt Belarus hit him in the Putins.....
The incident with the Ryanair flight today is pretty major for the EU, but one chief’s official tweet was riddled w bad English & typos, another called for an investigation by a civil aviation body & a 3rd celebrated the plane’s release from Minsk as great news for “everyone”
https://twitter.com/MatinaStevis/status/1396553581134848009?s=20
"After more than a year of obeying lockdown rules, we've been allowed to make decisions again. It's terrifying.
Gaby Hinsliff"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/23/should-we-stay-or-should-we-go-the-return-of-free-will-has-left-us-dithering
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/12882724/anthea-turner-on-chocolate-bar-wedding-photo/amp/
https://twitter.com/mseltzermayr/status/1396582836753338368?s=20
This is an excellent point. We've got so used to the likes of Trump conducting "diplomacy by twitter" that it is now seen as the norm.
This could turn into (is?) a potentially extremely dangerous situation. In such circumstances nobody is best served by the hotpotch of mixed and official messages being fired off by random individuals. Official statements should be issued, properly agreed and formatted and if twitter is to be used at all it should be for dissemination only.
It was interesting to note that somebody recently observed (and noted the criticism of) the complete absence of US Government comment about the Israel/Gaza situation. As if "no comment on twitter" meant that the US Govt didn't have a view or wasn't doing anything. When in reality they were reverting to conventional diplomatic techniques - limiting public (official) comment only when necessary.
What good does it do to have EU commissioners firing off random missives leaving themselves open to ridicule. Or "chairs of foreign affairs committees" issuing semi-official press releases as if they have Government powers, and exaggerating their own importance? Or people in general going on twitter and threatening "consequences" without any indication of what those consequences will be? etc etc
Manchester is infinitely better nowadays. It's just amazing. Construction going on everywhere, awash with appealing little spots to eat and drink - but I wouldn't pretend Manchester's current music scene is anything like it was in 1990, when it was a dump but also culturally the most important place in the world.
Would I rather be in Manchester now or 1990? Genuinely hard to say. Now probably has it, on balance, due to the much reduced chance of encountering violence, either casual or life-threatening.
Another long, challenging but ultimately quite devastating article.
"In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, plenty of experts were warning that “gain of function” research was a pandemic waiting to happen. In 2019, Vox reported on the controversy around researchers who were trying to make a more easily transmissible bird flu. (“Can we not?” asked the headline.) It quoted the head of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins saying that “the risks of proceeding in this way on this work are high, very high.”
"The previous chief science advisor to the U.K. government, Lord May, called the research “absolutely crazy” and “exceedingly dangerous,” and said that “there is a danger, but it’s not arising from the viruses out there in the animals, it’s arising from the labs of grossly ambitious people.” Indeed, one of the researchers who made a new bird flu openly stated that his team had produced “probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make,” a virus that Science said “could change world history if it were ever set free.”"
And:
"A 2014 Guardian article summarizes the views of Harvard epidemiologist Mark Lipsitch saying these experiments “could unleash a catastrophic pandemic if a virus escaped or was intentionally released from a high-security laboratory.” Lipsitch called the flu experiments “exceptionally dangerous” and warned that as labs proliferated, so did the possibility of a pandemic that could kill over a billion people. Virologist Simon Wain-Hobson of the Pasteur Institute said: “It’s madness, folly… If society, the intelligent layperson, understood what was going on, they would say ‘What the F are you doing?’”"
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/05/the-stakes-of-finding-covid-19s-origins
The rest of the article focuses on the origins. And it doesn't look good for Wuhan, China, the USA, or Saint Peter Daszak
It came from the lab
"Here are Baric and Peter Daszak scheming to get all their colleagues -- nearly all getting
@nih
Fauci
@NIAIDFunding
-- to sign a letter denying lab leak despite no proof it wasn't and (still) no evidence of wet market or natural origin."
https://twitter.com/BobSchaller/status/1396586938925203456?s=20
(Hint: Trump pushing it is not evidence.)
https://www.city-journal.org/html/freedom-and-art-15343.html
Meanwhile this exceptionally infectious novel bat coronavirus leapt into humans in a city, Wuhan, which hosts the only lab in the world researching novel bat coronaviruses (and, coincidentally, a lab which was trying to make the viruses even nastier and more infectious).
Meanwhile, the bats responsible live 900 miles away in a Yunnanese cave. Which was, er, visited by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, collecting novel bat coronaviruses
Also. I'd be interested in which definition of "Red Wall" and Rest of Britain was used.
Am not aware there is, as yet, a standard definition.
A point I frequently make whenever it is mentioned, I know. But I do think it is important if anything sensible is to be said.
Most likely, this was a natural spillover infection. I do not deny that there's a possibility it was caused by malpractice at a research lab in Wuhan, elsewhere in China - we just do not know. What we do know is that new viruses and variants have occured naturally throughout recorded history and most probably throughout prehistory.
Occam's razor applies.
Occam's razor would suggest that if we have a new coronavirus pandemic, the most likely source is spillover from viruses in other species.
But Occam's razor might also suggest that if a new pandemic arises in one of the very few cities in the world where research is carried out into creating artificial coronaviruses, that lab leak might be something of a contender for its source.
Now, you would hope that they would have good containment measures at a lab, overall making a leak unlikely, but a snafu at the lab is a simpler explanation than an unlikely coincidence - even though that is by itself not evidence that a leak occurred.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_Kingdom_foot-and-mouth_outbreak
But now it has been revealed there are ancillary labs in Wuhan which do this scary virus research in conditions akin to that of a dentist in the West - lab coats, gloves, that's it
It came, yawn, from the lab
I am moving further away from station as I do not expect to be commuting anywhere near as much going forward.
One of my team is looking at moving out into the sticks as he anticipates less need for train access due to reduced commuting
Working patterns for some job types will certainly change
I cannot remember a time, before, when I had the heating on this late in spring. It is exceptional
Did the lab engineer the virus or did they just happen to collect it and then allow it to escape? If the latter the virus was already out in the wild. The former would be another level of culpability.
Focusing on 'China caused the virus' risks ignoring the fact that new pathogens have always occured naturally from time to time and will do so again in future.
What is new is the growing believe the virus was engineered for "gain of function", hence its hideous lethality and transmissibility.
I had no idea until recently that there were labs around the world doing this, making viruses so evil they could kill billions. I mean: WTAF. The scientific justification is so tenuous even virologists question the rationale and morality
Did the Wuhan labs CREATE the SARS2 virus, in its pathogenic endform?
I don't know. But it doesn't look good, right now. Seems highly likely that it leaked from there, at least
I think the main difference is that you would have been out of the country during any previous crap spring.
NEVER AGAIN
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJwt2dxx9yg
It is believed that the shooting occurred near a house where a party was taking place and that a number of people may have been in the area, a Met police statement said.
BBC News - Sasha Johnson: Black Lives Matter activist critical after shooting, her political party says
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57223755
cagesice boxes...Child migrants detained in US in “cold and filthy conditions” - BBC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-7UG0jORoA
Good.
Need to get serious. That starts with candidate choice. Local with a track record of doing summat useful. The Airdrie and Shotts not dire result was a pointer standing in stark contrast to Hartlepool.
Am leaning to Labour hold now.
I believe that's the highest death toll of any one country on any one day
Grim, still
No Restless Farewell nor need to see that his grave is kept clean just yet.
Not Dark Yet, but it's getting there. Etc., etc.
Sharp as tacks, those Metropolitan Police boys and girls.
1. Biosecurity at the Wuhan Virology site had already been repeatedly flagged as poor and completely not upto BSL4 as far back as 2017 by visting western officials
2. The ancillary evidence is that there was some kind of outbreak incident in Wuhan weeks, in fact as much as 2 months before any actual statements
4. The Chinese state lied, to its own people and the world about it for weeks before eventually coming clean. At the very least they didnt seem keen at first to release what they knew.
5. Stories later emanated from China claiming it was variously passed on during the World Military Games by foreign particpants to coming from Fort Detrick in the US, despite the fact Chinese officials, when they did come forth, suggested it came from a food market. Why then start the 'not made here' stories?
6. Chinese officials sought to suppress and silence medics early on who wanted to get the story out because they recognised the severity of it.
Few are claiming this was a dellberate bioweapons deployment but that the lab was involved in hoking about with coronavirus (thats part of their job) was known and that they were into gene splicing was known and the lab was not exactly good in its operational practice, also known.
There is just as much a possibility that Sars-COV2 originated leaked from the Wuhan lab into the public domain than it just randomly turned up in some dodgy food. The sheer extent of the unwillingness of Chinese authorities to come clean early, their suppression of information and the subsequent rumour mill stories at the least suggest they had something to cover up. Add that to the intelligence that did indicate a major health risk issue in Wuhan in the autumn of 2019 and the Chinese government story does not add up.