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Can Dom’s Commons committee appearance on Wednesday possibly live up to its billing? – politicalbett

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  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 17,001
    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    Even if the price is him producing more terrible books?
    Can't we get him painting wine boxes so that they look like buses?
    He could open a shop somewhere touristy.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,028
    edited May 2021
    algarkirk said:

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    And there are so few books on Shakespeare it's really important to have another one. It's an obscure and under researched field.

    Indeed.

    Personally I’m looking forward to Leon’s book on how Shakespeare was so awesome because he was an alien.

    A hostile one, of course. Or at least, so generations of children have said while wrestling with Othello.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,028
    edited May 2021

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    Even if the price is him producing more terrible books?
    Can't we get him painting wine boxes so that they look like buses?
    He could open a shop somewhere touristy.
    I can choose not to buy his books.

    I have to deal with his incompetence on a daily basis.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,598
    ydoethur said:

    algarkirk said:

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    And there are so few books on Shakespeare it's really important to have another one. It's an obscure and under researched field.

    Indeed.

    Personally I’m looking forward to Leon’s book on how Shakespeare was so awesome because he was a alien.

    A hostile one, of course. Or at least, so generations of children have said while wrestling with Othello.
    An alien, surely. UNless it is pronounced with a 'ya' at the start?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,028
    Carnyx said:

    ydoethur said:

    algarkirk said:

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    And there are so few books on Shakespeare it's really important to have another one. It's an obscure and under researched field.

    Indeed.

    Personally I’m looking forward to Leon’s book on how Shakespeare was so awesome because he was a alien.

    A hostile one, of course. Or at least, so generations of children have said while wrestling with Othello.
    An alien, surely. UNless it is pronounced with a 'ya' at the start?
    It was autocorrect, onest.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,307

    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    It’s all about emphasis. On every point they take the worst case as what will happen. It’s as if they want things to go badly... In reality it looks like the surge testing in certain places is doing its job, and new cases are falling. @Malmesbury’s excellent data shows this well, and that the rises in cases are in kids mainly, with some in the group to 44. So the mostly unvaccinated who will most likely be fine with Covid. It really does look as though the april02 variant is the last hope for those who want to prolong the fun, and it’s not going to deliver.
    I’ve just read a bit of that Guardian story. Can it be true that this latest report - yet again - does not account for vaccination status? So it’s another work that simply makes no account of the millions of vaccinations and how they affect transmission? Is that really the case?
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,518
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/4ff06e6a-bc9c-11eb-a904-b6ed9daa84aa?shareToken=73312b50b75af92c2cb7b5a2d70ac094

    The Times do a write up on the Lab Theory. Says it needs to be properly investigated, not just written off as a conspiracy theory.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,598

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    Even if the price is him producing more terrible books?
    Can't we get him painting wine boxes so that they look like buses?
    He could open a shop somewhere touristy.
    Hmm. That box bus reminds me - there is such a thing as putting forward an absurdity to deflect from the real issue. In that case, it was to swamp Google News searches for Boris + Bus. In the case of the Bard, who knows?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,307
    2/2 I find it completely baffling that seemingly few/none of these studies ACCOUNT FOR VACCINES. I mean, it seems to me to be a fairly sizeable omission!



    This is good evidence that the India variant is substantially more transmissible than B.1.1.7, said Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, cautioning that these numbers have not yet accounted for vaccination status.

    It could be that the secondary attack rate reduces when contacts are stratified by vaccine status or by whether they are within or outside the household, said Adam Kucharski, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “So, it might be the real number is a bit lower when you adjust for the fact that some of those contacts might be more or less risky than others. But I think as a ballpark, that is a clear early signal and I think we have to pay attention to it.”

  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,751
    Floater said:

    DavidL said:

    Amazon . com Inc. is nearing a deal to buy the Hollywood studio MGM Holdings for almost $9 billion, said people familiar with the matter, a pact that would turn a film operation founded in the silent era into a streaming asset for the e-commerce giant.

    An agreement could be announced as early as this week, people close to the situation said.

    The deal would mark Amazon’s second-largest acquisition in history, behind its $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods in 2017, and highlight the premium that content is commanding as streaming wars force consolidation and drive bigger players to bulk up with assets that help them compete.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-nears-deal-to-buy-hollywood-studio-mgm-11621880759

    I am slightly surprised by their lack of ambition. It is surely a matter of time before they buy a country and move their seat there. Somewhere modest but with some growth potential like Australia or Canada.
    How about Scotland?
    And what do they spend the other 8.99 Billion on?
    Perhaps they could buy antisemitism ridden 2021 Berlin? I'm sure they could sort it out in short order.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,114

    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    It’s all about emphasis. On every point they take the worst case as what will happen. It’s as if they want things to go badly... In reality it looks like the surge testing in certain places is doing its job, and new cases are falling. @Malmesbury’s excellent data shows this well, and that the rises in cases are in kids mainly, with some in the group to 44. So the mostly unvaccinated who will most likely be fine with Covid. It really does look as though the april02 variant is the last hope for those who want to prolong the fun, and it’s not going to deliver.
    I’ve just read a bit of that Guardian story. Can it be true that this latest report - yet again - does not account for vaccination status? So it’s another work that simply makes no account of the millions of vaccinations and how they affect transmission? Is that really the case?
    There was a bit in there about needing to get more adults their second vaccination or something. This, I think, is based on the quoted one efficacy for one dose, but as others have said, this will be too low, as it is based on people recently vaccinated, and the immunity, for AZ at least, just keeps building over time. Plus the unvaccinated are mainly the young and healthy. I do attach some credence to the idea that the powers that be want us still a bit scared, to stop people getting really, really frustrated in the next four weeks.
  • BannedinnParisBannedinnParis Posts: 1,884

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    Whineometer at level 10
    "Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?"
    "These go to eleven"
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,652
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    Even if the price is him producing more terrible books?
    Can't we get him painting wine boxes so that they look like buses?
    He could open a shop somewhere touristy.
    I can choose not to buy his books.

    I have to deal with his incompetence on a daily basis.
    If it wasn't Boris it would be someone else. You have never had anyone in your line of work that you trusted.
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518
    MaxPB said:

    2/2 I find it completely baffling that seemingly few/none of these studies ACCOUNT FOR VACCINES. I mean, it seems to me to be a fairly sizeable omission!



    This is good evidence that the India variant is substantially more transmissible than B.1.1.7, said Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, cautioning that these numbers have not yet accounted for vaccination status.

    It could be that the secondary attack rate reduces when contacts are stratified by vaccine status or by whether they are within or outside the household, said Adam Kucharski, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “So, it might be the real number is a bit lower when you adjust for the fact that some of those contacts might be more or less risky than others. But I think as a ballpark, that is a clear early signal and I think we have to pay attention to it.”

    It's completely ridiculous, I don't see how any of these models are credible in that case.
    Obviously we’ve all been secretly given placebos
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,527
    Cummings’ next instalment is up. Hi stream of consciousness is so thorough that I’d be surprised if he had anything left to say come Wednesday
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,325
    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    'Bleak stories in the Guardian' is its stock in trade. Its readership appears to consist of people who, aware that their bleak lives are inadequate, nasty, brutish and short are anxious to locate a focus of blame, preferably somewhere on the centre right of the spectrum, as their bleakness is matched only by their certainty that it is someone else's fault.

    As an editorial policy it is so successful that they give it away free.

  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,692
    MaxPB said:

    DavidL said:

    MaxPB said:

    DavidL said:

    MaxPB said:

    Amazon . com Inc. is nearing a deal to buy the Hollywood studio MGM Holdings for almost $9 billion, said people familiar with the matter, a pact that would turn a film operation founded in the silent era into a streaming asset for the e-commerce giant.

    An agreement could be announced as early as this week, people close to the situation said.

    The deal would mark Amazon’s second-largest acquisition in history, behind its $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods in 2017, and highlight the premium that content is commanding as streaming wars force consolidation and drive bigger players to bulk up with assets that help them compete.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-nears-deal-to-buy-hollywood-studio-mgm-11621880759

    I'm very good friends with someone who was involved in the last purchase of MGM. He was laughing his arse off at that price this weekend over a drink. He explained how little value there is left in the MGM stable. Their best IP except James Bond has been sold to WB in the previous break up, leaving James Bond, a once every three years franchise that they only own 50% of the rights to, giving them 20% of the gross BO take.

    It seems mad to buy them instead of Lionsgate.
    Maybe they wanted the studios to boost production for their TV channel.
    MGM doesn't have a lot of internal studio capacity. It's a glorified IP holding company these days with UA making a James Bond movie once every three years in partnership with Universal (previously SPE). I think the last major TV IP they had was Stargate, which is very old now.
    That seems a very weird deal then.
    Hence my friend's laughter at the deal price. Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4bn and Marvel for $4bn, that's less money together than MGM are being purchased for. Marvel has been transformed into a multi character, multi-layered franchise with movies, TV shows and games that have broken global records. Star Wars is one of the most popular brands in the world and despite the poor quality of movie releases under Disney it has more than made up it's purchas price across the five movies, two TV shows and two games under EA.

    I don't see what Amazon get from buying MGM. Maybe a James Bond TV show, but I don't know what that will bring to the table that Spooks didn't already do. Stargate has already been exploited half to death and one James Bond movie every three years is worth about $250m dollars for them with each release.

    I really don't understand it, they'd be better off taking the SPE route and buying up a bunch of smaller production houses and IP holding companies and coalescing them into something much bigger than the sum of the parts like SPE.
    They have the Tom Clancy rights, so maybe there is a God awful series coming where young CIA analyst Jack Ryan teams up with suave British assassin James Bond.
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,368
    ydoethur said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    Oh come on, the last thing I heard is that the vaccines work extremely effectively against the Indian variant.
    That doesn’t sell papers.
    The papers do seem to be getting more and more detached from reality re COVID
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,325
    ydoethur said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    Oh come on, the last thing I heard is that the vaccines work extremely effectively against the Indian variant.
    That doesn’t sell papers.
    That something related even distantly to a centre right government might work well or at all is contrary to the Guardian's entire reason for existence.

  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,675
    rcs1000 said:

    To be fair, they didn't think the Earth was worth visiting while the UK was a member of the EU.

    We have been broadcasting Alien welcome signals for years.

    Why else are they called "Radiohead"...

    Dead giveaway
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,368
    algarkirk said:

    ydoethur said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    Oh come on, the last thing I heard is that the vaccines work extremely effectively against the Indian variant.
    That doesn’t sell papers.
    That something related even distantly to a centre right government might work well or at all is contrary to the Guardian's entire reason for existence.

    I thought the Guardian was pro-Blair ...
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,675
    In slight bizarre turn of events, Hamas denies it intended on carrying out a terrorist act on hijacked Ryanair plane as suggested by Belarus earlier
    https://twitter.com/mariatad/status/1396916626621140996
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518
    algarkirk said:

    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    'Bleak stories in the Guardian' is its stock in trade. Its readership appears to consist of people who, aware that their bleak lives are inadequate, nasty, brutish and short are anxious to locate a focus of blame, preferably somewhere on the centre right of the spectrum, as their bleakness is matched only by their certainty that it is someone else's fault.

    As an editorial policy it is so successful that they give it away free.

    Or its readership are public sector workers who know that their employers won’t even think about trying to ask them to come into work until Govt guidance changes, and are therefore willing recipients of the message.

    I’m going into work to my local govt back office job. I have a choice of fifty desks every day.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 59,872
    rcs1000 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    I expect when Boris does go it will be quick and at the hands of his party, but he will be replaced by someone who does not look backwards and nostalgically at the days of our former membership of the EU

    Whoever takes over will spend their entire leadership on damage control, trying to repair the fallout from Brexit
    I had to re-read this twice to check you weren't blaming the imminent alien invasion on Brexit.
    To be fair, they didn't think the Earth was worth visiting while the UK was a member of the EU.
    There needs to be a love button.
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518
    Scott_xP said:

    In slight bizarre turn of events, Hamas denies it intended on carrying out a terrorist act on hijacked Ryanair plane as suggested by Belarus earlier
    https://twitter.com/mariatad/status/1396916626621140996

    But if they did, what a lucky coincidence, eh?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 22,573
    edited May 2021
    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    That's nearly the Ancient Mariner ... God save thee.

    If SeanT was around he could write a Rime of Covid, informed by general misanthropy.

    I always got the impression that he would be happier, like Coleridge, in a pantisocracy.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,320
    MattW said:

    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    That's nearly the Ancient Mariner ... God save thee.

    If SeanT was around he could write a Rime of Covid, informed by general misanthropy.

    I always got the impression that he would be happier, like Coleridge, in a pantisocracy, or in his case perhaps a pantisoffcracy.
    A sadder and wiser man rose he the morrow morn.
    Not for long...ALIENS!!!
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,028

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    Even if the price is him producing more terrible books?
    Can't we get him painting wine boxes so that they look like buses?
    He could open a shop somewhere touristy.
    I can choose not to buy his books.

    I have to deal with his incompetence on a daily basis.
    If it wasn't Boris it would be someone else. You have never had anyone in your line of work that you trusted.
    Justine Greening
    Michael Wilshaw.

    Ummm...beyond that I’m struggling, but it does at least qualify your point.
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,652
    If Belarus is not yet a pariah state what more is needed to qualify?
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,675
    dixiedean said:

    A sadder and wiser man rose he the morrow morn.
    Not for long...ALIENS!!!

    Wait, did SeanT stop posting because an Alien burst out of his chest?
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 21,939
    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    DavidL said:

    MaxPB said:

    DavidL said:

    MaxPB said:

    Amazon . com Inc. is nearing a deal to buy the Hollywood studio MGM Holdings for almost $9 billion, said people familiar with the matter, a pact that would turn a film operation founded in the silent era into a streaming asset for the e-commerce giant.

    An agreement could be announced as early as this week, people close to the situation said.

    The deal would mark Amazon’s second-largest acquisition in history, behind its $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods in 2017, and highlight the premium that content is commanding as streaming wars force consolidation and drive bigger players to bulk up with assets that help them compete.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-nears-deal-to-buy-hollywood-studio-mgm-11621880759

    I'm very good friends with someone who was involved in the last purchase of MGM. He was laughing his arse off at that price this weekend over a drink. He explained how little value there is left in the MGM stable. Their best IP except James Bond has been sold to WB in the previous break up, leaving James Bond, a once every three years franchise that they only own 50% of the rights to, giving them 20% of the gross BO take.

    It seems mad to buy them instead of Lionsgate.
    Maybe they wanted the studios to boost production for their TV channel.
    MGM doesn't have a lot of internal studio capacity. It's a glorified IP holding company these days with UA making a James Bond movie once every three years in partnership with Universal (previously SPE). I think the last major TV IP they had was Stargate, which is very old now.
    That seems a very weird deal then.
    Hence my friend's laughter at the deal price. Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4bn and Marvel for $4bn, that's less money together than MGM are being purchased for. Marvel has been transformed into a multi character, multi-layered franchise with movies, TV shows and games that have broken global records. Star Wars is one of the most popular brands in the world and despite the poor quality of movie releases under Disney it has more than made up it's purchas price across the five movies, two TV shows and two games under EA.

    I don't see what Amazon get from buying MGM. Maybe a James Bond TV show, but I don't know what that will bring to the table that Spooks didn't already do. Stargate has already been exploited half to death and one James Bond movie every three years is worth about $250m dollars for them with each release.

    I really don't understand it, they'd be better off taking the SPE route and buying up a bunch of smaller production houses and IP holding companies and coalescing them into something much bigger than the sum of the parts like SPE.
    They have the Tom Clancy rights, so maybe there is a God awful series coming where young CIA analyst Jack Ryan teams up with suave British assassin James Bond.
    ...with hilarious consequences.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,779
    alex_ said:


    Or its readership are public sector workers who know that their employers won’t even think about trying to ask them to come into work until Govt guidance changes, and are therefore willing recipients of the message.

    I’m going into work to my local govt back office job. I have a choice of fifty desks every day.

    Most Councils with whom I work have kept their offices open for those staff whose duties make it impossible for them to work home such as those dealing with vulnerable adults and children.

    There are also those who, for reasons of wellbeing, want to come into the office and provision is made for them.

    Most authorities are not expecting a big "rush back to the office" on June 21st - indeed many are doing away with the traditional banks of desks because it's the 21st century not the 19th and are thinking about space in different ways with many looking to expand meeting spaces, project working areas and networking spaces.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,661
    Scott_xP said:

    rcs1000 said:

    To be fair, they didn't think the Earth was worth visiting while the UK was a member of the EU.

    We have been broadcasting Alien welcome signals for years.

    Why else are they called "Radiohead"...

    Dead giveaway
    Ah! I now know what that 'music' was for. An intergalactic deterrent. It also explains the pineapple thing - if there's none available on your pizza then why visit!?

  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,654
    geoffw said:

    If Belarus is not yet a pariah state what more is needed to qualify?

    Maybe nul points in Eurovision? UK leading the way again.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,028

    Taz said:

    It’s going to be like the final episode of Seinfeld. A big let down.

    I'm really looking forward to it for two reasons.

    1) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a man of unimpeachable integrity, we should believe every word he says and now will tell us to ignore what he says because he's always been a fantasist with an axe to grind

    and

    2) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a liar and fantasist but now we should believe everything he says.

    You don't get to see that epic level of reverse ferreting very often.
    Incidentally, on this point, what about those of us who thought he was a liar and a fantasist and we still shouldn’t believe a word he says? Where do we fit in?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 59,872
    Omnium said:

    Scott_xP said:

    rcs1000 said:

    To be fair, they didn't think the Earth was worth visiting while the UK was a member of the EU.

    We have been broadcasting Alien welcome signals for years.

    Why else are they called "Radiohead"...

    Dead giveaway
    Ah! I now know what that 'music' was for. An intergalactic deterrent. It also explains the pineapple thing - if there's none available on your pizza then why visit!?

    Intergalactic, planetary, planetary, intergalactic.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,654
    Omnium said:

    Scott_xP said:

    rcs1000 said:

    To be fair, they didn't think the Earth was worth visiting while the UK was a member of the EU.

    We have been broadcasting Alien welcome signals for years.

    Why else are they called "Radiohead"...

    Dead giveaway
    Ah! I now know what that 'music' was for. An intergalactic deterrent. It also explains the pineapple thing - if there's none available on your pizza then why visit!?

    The problem is that they haven't produced an album in 5 years. The recent increase in alien activity shows this is clearly linked and that the deterrent is losing its effect.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 21,939
    geoffw said:

    If Belarus is not yet a pariah state what more is needed to qualify?

    Introduce AV?
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,675
    DavidL said:

    The problem is that they haven't produced an album in 5 years. The recent increase in alien activity shows this is clearly linked and that the deterrent is losing its effect.

    "We have manged to decode the signal. It's not a distress beacon. IT'S A WARNING !!!"
  • FishingFishing Posts: 4,921
    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    Should there be a sort of "Crying Wolf" convention, whereby if a pundit has predicted some disaster more than say ten times, and been wrong every time, they are exiled to the Dark Web or something?

    Though that would virtually empty the Guardian's comment pages, of course ...

  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,320
    ydoethur said:

    Taz said:

    It’s going to be like the final episode of Seinfeld. A big let down.

    I'm really looking forward to it for two reasons.

    1) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a man of unimpeachable integrity, we should believe every word he says and now will tell us to ignore what he says because he's always been a fantasist with an axe to grind

    and

    2) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a liar and fantasist but now we should believe everything he says.

    You don't get to see that epic level of reverse ferreting very often.
    Incidentally, on this point, what about those of us who thought he was a liar and a fantasist and we still shouldn’t believe a word he says? Where do we fit in?
    And then there are those who suspect both Dom and the PM of being liars and fantasists.
    Tough to know who to believe, but my money's on neither.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,518

    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    It’s all about emphasis. On every point they take the worst case as what will happen. It’s as if they want things to go badly... In reality it looks like the surge testing in certain places is doing its job, and new cases are falling. @Malmesbury’s excellent data shows this well, and that the rises in cases are in kids mainly, with some in the group to 44. So the mostly unvaccinated who will most likely be fine with Covid. It really does look as though the april02 variant is the last hope for those who want to prolong the fun, and it’s not going to deliver.
    I’ve just read a bit of that Guardian story. Can it be true that this latest report - yet again - does not account for vaccination status? So it’s another work that simply makes no account of the millions of vaccinations and how they affect transmission? Is that really the case?
    There was a bit in there about needing to get more adults their second vaccination or something. This, I think, is based on the quoted one efficacy for one dose, but as others have said, this will be too low, as it is based on people recently vaccinated, and the immunity, for AZ at least, just keeps building over time. Plus the unvaccinated are mainly the young and healthy. I do attach some credence to the idea that the powers that be want us still a bit scared, to stop people getting really, really frustrated in the next four weeks.
    Yes, it was a bit of an odd study as it looked at efficacy in days 3-14 for Pfizer and AZ, but we know that AZ takes at least 3 weeks to build up to reasonable efficacy. So efficacy of 33% for AZ in that time period is to be expected, it's not very different from the efficacy vs the Kent variant during that timeframe.

    Both AZ and Pfizer build up over time, the former more so. Both after two doses will reach 85-90% efficacy.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,779
    MaxPB said:


    I wish we had any opposition party willing to do such a thing, Stodge. As you know I've been a constant critic of the government and the way it has handled everything other than vaccines. There's no party or politician who wants my vote at the moment.

    If it's any consolation, I'm of a similar mind.

    Oddly enough, times of national crisis are easy for Governments - most people tend to want to be supportive and "rally round" and Opposition tends to be muted because, in truth, they'd have done exactly the same.

    There will be an independent public enquiry or so the Prime Minister has pledged but I know and he knows the public mood is try to forget the last 15 months has happened and by the time the enquiry reports no one will be interested. The important questions of why we weren't better prepared or why our initial response failed to stop the virus spreading will be treated in the same way as someone asking in 1946 not why we won the war but how we got to a position in July 1940 when we faced imminent invasion.

    The Government will only want to stress what went right and will try to gloss over what went wrong.

    One area of growing concern to this observer is the extent to which the pandemic has facilitated further State intrusion into our lives. The gathering of information via apps and the like is a serious challenge to notions of privacy and personal freedom.

    The ending of restrictions has to include a comprehensive rollback of the powers accrued to Ministers and the Government during this period.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,188
    ydoethur said:

    Taz said:

    It’s going to be like the final episode of Seinfeld. A big let down.

    I'm really looking forward to it for two reasons.

    1) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a man of unimpeachable integrity, we should believe every word he says and now will tell us to ignore what he says because he's always been a fantasist with an axe to grind

    and

    2) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a liar and fantasist but now we should believe everything he says.

    You don't get to see that epic level of reverse ferreting very often.
    Incidentally, on this point, what about those of us who thought he was a liar and a fantasist and we still shouldn’t believe a word he says? Where do we fit in?
    As someone who has always agreed with David Cameron's assessment on Dominic Cummings I'm just going to enjoy the appearance of Cummings any way I can.

    Dominic Cummings genuinely thinks he's the smartest person in the world and he's anti elite is going to sock it to the elite. The problem when you think you're the cleverest person in the room and you're not it gets very messy. Dom doesn't seem to have oodles of modesty.

    *I'm not sure someone who went to Durham School and then to Exeter College, Oxford can describe themselves as anti elite, next he'll be describing himself as working class.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,028
    dixiedean said:

    ydoethur said:

    Taz said:

    It’s going to be like the final episode of Seinfeld. A big let down.

    I'm really looking forward to it for two reasons.

    1) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a man of unimpeachable integrity, we should believe every word he says and now will tell us to ignore what he says because he's always been a fantasist with an axe to grind

    and

    2) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a liar and fantasist but now we should believe everything he says.

    You don't get to see that epic level of reverse ferreting very often.
    Incidentally, on this point, what about those of us who thought he was a liar and a fantasist and we still shouldn’t believe a word he says? Where do we fit in?
    And then there are those who suspect both Dom and the PM of being liars and fantasists.
    Tough to know who to believe, but my money's on neither.
    I’m inclined to assume they both are.

    It’s a default position that has so far served me well.
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547
    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    DavidL said:

    MaxPB said:

    DavidL said:

    MaxPB said:

    Amazon . com Inc. is nearing a deal to buy the Hollywood studio MGM Holdings for almost $9 billion, said people familiar with the matter, a pact that would turn a film operation founded in the silent era into a streaming asset for the e-commerce giant.

    An agreement could be announced as early as this week, people close to the situation said.

    The deal would mark Amazon’s second-largest acquisition in history, behind its $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods in 2017, and highlight the premium that content is commanding as streaming wars force consolidation and drive bigger players to bulk up with assets that help them compete.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-nears-deal-to-buy-hollywood-studio-mgm-11621880759

    I'm very good friends with someone who was involved in the last purchase of MGM. He was laughing his arse off at that price this weekend over a drink. He explained how little value there is left in the MGM stable. Their best IP except James Bond has been sold to WB in the previous break up, leaving James Bond, a once every three years franchise that they only own 50% of the rights to, giving them 20% of the gross BO take.

    It seems mad to buy them instead of Lionsgate.
    Maybe they wanted the studios to boost production for their TV channel.
    MGM doesn't have a lot of internal studio capacity. It's a glorified IP holding company these days with UA making a James Bond movie once every three years in partnership with Universal (previously SPE). I think the last major TV IP they had was Stargate, which is very old now.
    That seems a very weird deal then.
    Hence my friend's laughter at the deal price. Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4bn and Marvel for $4bn, that's less money together than MGM are being purchased for. Marvel has been transformed into a multi character, multi-layered franchise with movies, TV shows and games that have broken global records. Star Wars is one of the most popular brands in the world and despite the poor quality of movie releases under Disney it has more than made up it's purchas price across the five movies, two TV shows and two games under EA.

    I don't see what Amazon get from buying MGM. Maybe a James Bond TV show, but I don't know what that will bring to the table that Spooks didn't already do. Stargate has already been exploited half to death and one James Bond movie every three years is worth about $250m dollars for them with each release.

    I really don't understand it, they'd be better off taking the SPE route and buying up a bunch of smaller production houses and IP holding companies and coalescing them into something much bigger than the sum of the parts like SPE.
    They have the Tom Clancy rights, so maybe there is a God awful series coming where young CIA analyst Jack Ryan teams up with suave British assassin James Bond.
    They get the lion. And the back catalogue.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,661

    ydoethur said:

    Taz said:

    It’s going to be like the final episode of Seinfeld. A big let down.

    I'm really looking forward to it for two reasons.

    1) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a man of unimpeachable integrity, we should believe every word he says and now will tell us to ignore what he says because he's always been a fantasist with an axe to grind

    and

    2) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a liar and fantasist but now we should believe everything he says.

    You don't get to see that epic level of reverse ferreting very often.
    Incidentally, on this point, what about those of us who thought he was a liar and a fantasist and we still shouldn’t believe a word he says? Where do we fit in?
    As someone who has always agreed with David Cameron's assessment on Dominic Cummings I'm just going to enjoy the appearance of Cummings any way I can.

    Dominic Cummings genuinely thinks he's the smartest person in the world and he's anti elite is going to sock it to the elite. The problem when you think you're the cleverest person in the room and you're not it gets very messy. Dom doesn't seem to have oodles of modesty.

    *I'm not sure someone who went to Durham School and then to Exeter College, Oxford can describe themselves as anti elite, next he'll be describing himself as working class.
    Another feather in the cap of the Hull admissions process.
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,368
    Wasn't the latest Jack Ryan a Netflix production?

    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    DavidL said:

    MaxPB said:

    DavidL said:

    MaxPB said:

    Amazon . com Inc. is nearing a deal to buy the Hollywood studio MGM Holdings for almost $9 billion, said people familiar with the matter, a pact that would turn a film operation founded in the silent era into a streaming asset for the e-commerce giant.

    An agreement could be announced as early as this week, people close to the situation said.

    The deal would mark Amazon’s second-largest acquisition in history, behind its $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods in 2017, and highlight the premium that content is commanding as streaming wars force consolidation and drive bigger players to bulk up with assets that help them compete.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-nears-deal-to-buy-hollywood-studio-mgm-11621880759

    I'm very good friends with someone who was involved in the last purchase of MGM. He was laughing his arse off at that price this weekend over a drink. He explained how little value there is left in the MGM stable. Their best IP except James Bond has been sold to WB in the previous break up, leaving James Bond, a once every three years franchise that they only own 50% of the rights to, giving them 20% of the gross BO take.

    It seems mad to buy them instead of Lionsgate.
    Maybe they wanted the studios to boost production for their TV channel.
    MGM doesn't have a lot of internal studio capacity. It's a glorified IP holding company these days with UA making a James Bond movie once every three years in partnership with Universal (previously SPE). I think the last major TV IP they had was Stargate, which is very old now.
    That seems a very weird deal then.
    Hence my friend's laughter at the deal price. Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4bn and Marvel for $4bn, that's less money together than MGM are being purchased for. Marvel has been transformed into a multi character, multi-layered franchise with movies, TV shows and games that have broken global records. Star Wars is one of the most popular brands in the world and despite the poor quality of movie releases under Disney it has more than made up it's purchas price across the five movies, two TV shows and two games under EA.

    I don't see what Amazon get from buying MGM. Maybe a James Bond TV show, but I don't know what that will bring to the table that Spooks didn't already do. Stargate has already been exploited half to death and one James Bond movie every three years is worth about $250m dollars for them with each release.

    I really don't understand it, they'd be better off taking the SPE route and buying up a bunch of smaller production houses and IP holding companies and coalescing them into something much bigger than the sum of the parts like SPE.
    They have the Tom Clancy rights, so maybe there is a God awful series coming where young CIA analyst Jack Ryan teams up with suave British assassin James Bond.
    ...with hilarious consequences.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,675
    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596
  • rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    DavidL said:

    MaxPB said:

    DavidL said:

    MaxPB said:

    Amazon . com Inc. is nearing a deal to buy the Hollywood studio MGM Holdings for almost $9 billion, said people familiar with the matter, a pact that would turn a film operation founded in the silent era into a streaming asset for the e-commerce giant.

    An agreement could be announced as early as this week, people close to the situation said.

    The deal would mark Amazon’s second-largest acquisition in history, behind its $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods in 2017, and highlight the premium that content is commanding as streaming wars force consolidation and drive bigger players to bulk up with assets that help them compete.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-nears-deal-to-buy-hollywood-studio-mgm-11621880759

    I'm very good friends with someone who was involved in the last purchase of MGM. He was laughing his arse off at that price this weekend over a drink. He explained how little value there is left in the MGM stable. Their best IP except James Bond has been sold to WB in the previous break up, leaving James Bond, a once every three years franchise that they only own 50% of the rights to, giving them 20% of the gross BO take.

    It seems mad to buy them instead of Lionsgate.
    Maybe they wanted the studios to boost production for their TV channel.
    MGM doesn't have a lot of internal studio capacity. It's a glorified IP holding company these days with UA making a James Bond movie once every three years in partnership with Universal (previously SPE). I think the last major TV IP they had was Stargate, which is very old now.
    That seems a very weird deal then.
    Hence my friend's laughter at the deal price. Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4bn and Marvel for $4bn, that's less money together than MGM are being purchased for. Marvel has been transformed into a multi character, multi-layered franchise with movies, TV shows and games that have broken global records. Star Wars is one of the most popular brands in the world and despite the poor quality of movie releases under Disney it has more than made up it's purchas price across the five movies, two TV shows and two games under EA.

    I don't see what Amazon get from buying MGM. Maybe a James Bond TV show, but I don't know what that will bring to the table that Spooks didn't already do. Stargate has already been exploited half to death and one James Bond movie every three years is worth about $250m dollars for them with each release.

    I really don't understand it, they'd be better off taking the SPE route and buying up a bunch of smaller production houses and IP holding companies and coalescing them into something much bigger than the sum of the parts like SPE.
    They have the Tom Clancy rights, so maybe there is a God awful series coming where young CIA analyst Jack Ryan teams up with suave British assassin James Bond.
    They get the lion. And the back catalogue.
    The lion will almost certainly be dead by now.

  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,654
    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,518
    Japan's vaccine scheme is set to kick up a gear with 5000(!) jabs per day in Tokyo which will double to 10000 per day by the middle of June. I don't know how many days that is to cover the whole city. It must over 5 years though.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,769
    I see the Gov't has some internal English travel advice. Let's be honest, who on earth is going to travel to Bolton unless it is 'absolubtely neccessary' anyway :cold_sweat:
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,652
    edited May 2021
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    Even if the price is him producing more terrible books?
    Can't we get him painting wine boxes so that they look like buses?
    He could open a shop somewhere touristy.
    I can choose not to buy his books.

    I have to deal with his incompetence on a daily basis.
    If it wasn't Boris it would be someone else. You have never had anyone in your line of work that you trusted.
    Justine Greening
    Michael Wilshaw.

    Ummm...beyond that I’m struggling, but it does at least qualify your point.
    I think people view politicians in a completely different way to when I was a lad. When I was at school Edward Du Cann was my MP and we thought he was the bees knees when he got us an extra half day off at the end if term. Seriously though , I was deferential to MP's until.television came in. It all went downhill after that
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Fishing said:

    Leon said:

    Bleak stories in the Guardian about the Indian variant and ‘more lockdowns’. God save us

    Should there be a sort of "Crying Wolf" convention, whereby if a pundit has predicted some disaster more than say ten times, and been wrong every time, they are exiled to the Dark Web or something?

    Though that would virtually empty the Guardian's comment pages, of course ...

    I think that is officially known as the Ambrose Evans-Pritchard lifetime achievement award.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    MaxPB said:

    Japan's vaccine scheme is set to kick up a gear with 5000(!) jabs per day in Tokyo which will double to 10000 per day by the middle of June. I don't know how many days that is to cover the whole city. It must over 5 years though.

    At least they have no international travel or major events coming up.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,381
    Pulpstar said:

    I see the Gov't has some internal English travel advice. Let's be honest, who on earth is going to travel to Bolton unless it is 'absolubtely neccessary' anyway :cold_sweat:

    Apparently we're supposed to avoid anything but essential travel to North Tyneside.

    I've been to North Tyneside about 4 times literally just today.
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547
    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
    I mean, I’m sure we could have a bash at a snap Olympics here. We have a lot left from London and we’re prepping the Commonwealth Games.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,307
    MaxPB said:

    Japan's vaccine scheme is set to kick up a gear with 5000(!) jabs per day in Tokyo which will double to 10000 per day by the middle of June. I don't know how many days that is to cover the whole city. It must over 5 years though.

    The absolutely pisspoor performance of the wealthy Pacific Rim nations on vaccination risks becoming the next big scandal of this pandemic. Japan is getting the headlines currently, but Australia and NZ are barely any better. Complacency effect?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,654
    Dundee have won promotion to the SPL. Should improve the prospects of United avoiding relegation next season.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,114

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
    I mean, I’m sure we could have a bash at a snap Olympics here. We have a lot left from London and we’re prepping the Commonwealth Games.
    If the last year, and particularly the last few weeks, have shown anything about sport, it really is far better with a crowd, even if it’s only 10% capacity. I think a lot of the Japanese public want to cancel, but it has an enormous momentum about it. Not least the hordes of bbc reporters off on their all expenses paid jolly...
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,489
    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Real pity that we could not have offered to step in and host, using the infstrucher built for 2012 Olympics, would have been a bit 'make shift' in places, but I think most people would have understood, and would be a wonderful brake form COVID, (we should have vaccinated every adult who wants a Jab, 2 weeks or more before.) Japan - not so much.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,654

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
    I mean, I’m sure we could have a bash at a snap Olympics here. We have a lot left from London and we’re prepping the Commonwealth Games.
    We turned down the CL final on the basis that it would involve something like 2k "dignitaries" attending Wembley. Can't see us going for the Olympics this year.
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
    I mean, I’m sure we could have a bash at a snap Olympics here. We have a lot left from London and we’re prepping the Commonwealth Games.
    If the last year, and particularly the last few weeks, have shown anything about sport, it really is far better with a crowd, even if it’s only 10% capacity. I think a lot of the Japanese public want to cancel, but it has an enormous momentum about it. Not least the hordes of bbc reporters off on their all expenses paid jolly...
    It's had an enormous amount of money sunk into it, which is what really matters.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,188
    edited May 2021

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
    I mean, I’m sure we could have a bash at a snap Olympics here. We have a lot left from London and we’re prepping the Commonwealth Games.
    We really do not.

    My friend worked for LOCOG and every time a story/comment like that comes out he gets angry.

    1) 2012 was the culmination of a decade of planning. A snap Olympics is a non starter.

    2) Most of the facilities have either been sold on/transferred, such as the athletes village and you know the stadium. Other things like the swimming venues have been downgraded and are no longer Olympic standard.

    3) The UK is holding other events this year (such as Euro 2020) so venues like Wembley which was used in 2012 a no no. The IOC and UEFA have exclusivity clauses on venues for a set period, that's why the 2012 community shield took place at Aston Villa.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,381
    I'm spending Thursday and Friday in the Scottish Borders. Can the PB brains trust recommend anything good to see that I might not have thought of?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,179
    A Russian PR agency, ostensibly based in London, is offering money for people to spread anti-vax propaganda.

    https://twitter.com/charliehtweets/status/1396860850699395074
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,121
    I think Dom might be a bit bitter about something...
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,114

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
    I mean, I’m sure we could have a bash at a snap Olympics here. We have a lot left from London and we’re prepping the Commonwealth Games.
    We really do not.

    My friend worked for LOCOG and every time a story/comment like that comes out he gets angry.

    1) 2012 was the culmination of a decade of planning. A snap Olympics is a non starter.

    2) Most of the facilities have either been sold on/transferred, such as the athletes village and you know the stadium. Other things like the swimming venues have been downgraded and are no longer Olympics.

    3) The UK is holding other events this year (such as Euro 2020) so venues like Wembley which was used in 2012 a no no. The IOC and UEFA have exclusivity clauses on venues for a set period, that's why the 2012 community shield took place at Aston Villa.
    While I totally accept this, I think putting on ‘an’ olympics, not ‘the’ olympics at short notice would be possible. We do have stadia, although the Olympic stadium itself would need its track back. It’s not going to happen, it’s Japan or nothing this year.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,307
    stodge said:

    MaxPB said:


    I wish we had any opposition party willing to do such a thing, Stodge. As you know I've been a constant critic of the government and the way it has handled everything other than vaccines. There's no party or politician who wants my vote at the moment.

    If it's any consolation, I'm of a similar mind.

    Oddly enough, times of national crisis are easy for Governments - most people tend to want to be supportive and "rally round" and Opposition tends to be muted because, in truth, they'd have done exactly the same.

    There will be an independent public enquiry or so the Prime Minister has pledged but I know and he knows the public mood is try to forget the last 15 months has happened and by the time the enquiry reports no one will be interested. The important questions of why we weren't better prepared or why our initial response failed to stop the virus spreading will be treated in the same way as someone asking in 1946 not why we won the war but how we got to a position in July 1940 when we faced imminent invasion.

    The Government will only want to stress what went right and will try to gloss over what went wrong.

    One area of growing concern to this observer is the extent to which the pandemic has facilitated further State intrusion into our lives. The gathering of information via apps and the like is a serious challenge to notions of privacy and personal freedom.

    The ending of restrictions has to include a comprehensive rollback of the powers accrued to Ministers and the Government during this period.
    There is a niche in the market for a left-of-centre, socially liberal (people are human beings not an ever-increasing series of sub-species), that makes a powerful case for government to get the F out of people’s private lives. I’m not sure how large the niche is though, or whether there’s much of a market in it. I’ve been astounded and saddened by the public appetite for authoritarianism since this pandemic began.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,654

    I'm spending Thursday and Friday in the Scottish Borders. Can the PB brains trust recommend anything good to see that I might not have thought of?

    Have you seen Abbotsford, Walter Scott's old house? Its definitely worth a look if you haven't.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    Do I detect the faintest whiff of sarcasm?

    What a time to be in Brussels reporting on the birth of a new geopolitical power. Very envious

    https://twitter.com/MacaesBruno/status/1396906024905367552?s=20
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,652
    De mortuis nil nisi bonum - that used to be the rule. No more it seems.
    See Harry de Quetteville on Max Mosley.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/24/max-mosley-ministry-truth/
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 27,995
    ydoethur said:

    Taz said:

    It’s going to be like the final episode of Seinfeld. A big let down.

    I'm really looking forward to it for two reasons.

    1) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a man of unimpeachable integrity, we should believe every word he says and now will tell us to ignore what he says because he's always been a fantasist with an axe to grind

    and

    2) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a liar and fantasist but now we should believe everything he says.

    You don't get to see that epic level of reverse ferreting very often.
    Incidentally, on this point, what about those of us who thought he was a liar and a fantasist and we still shouldn’t believe a word he says? Where do we fit in?
    We still can't believe a word he says, unless of course he has serious corroborative evidence, like authenticated audio or video. Unlikely I suppose, but hey what's the harm in sitting back and pretending to enjoy the spectacle, even if it all turns out to be an underwhelming disappointment? Just like his performance in the Rose Garden.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,179
    GIN1138 said:

    I think Dom might be a bit bitter about something...

    "Exclusive: Some MPs are convinced Boris Johnson’s former adviser is plotting a comeback as part of a future Michael Gove premiership"

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/24/coup-conspiracy-tories-sense-shapeshifter-gove-dominic-cummings/
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,307
    DavidL said:

    Dundee have won promotion to the SPL. Should improve the prospects of United avoiding relegation next season.

    Should lead to some fruity encounters locally David.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    Yeahbut flegs.....

    Investigations are under way after half of people due to receive their Covid jags at Glasgow’s main mass vaccination hub failed to turn up over the weekend.

    https://twitter.com/heraldscotland/status/1396930305207021588?s=20
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,114

    ydoethur said:

    Taz said:

    It’s going to be like the final episode of Seinfeld. A big let down.

    I'm really looking forward to it for two reasons.

    1) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a man of unimpeachable integrity, we should believe every word he says and now will tell us to ignore what he says because he's always been a fantasist with an axe to grind

    and

    2) The people who said last April time that Dom Cummings is a liar and fantasist but now we should believe everything he says.

    You don't get to see that epic level of reverse ferreting very often.
    Incidentally, on this point, what about those of us who thought he was a liar and a fantasist and we still shouldn’t believe a word he says? Where do we fit in?
    We still can't believe a word he says, unless of course he has serious corroborative evidence, like authenticated audio or video. Unlikely I suppose, but hey what's the harm in sitting back and pretending to enjoy the spectacle, even if it all turns out to be an underwhelming disappointment? Just like his performance in the Rose Garden.
    Maybe he’s going to blow the ufo/uap thing wide open? Boris missed sage meetings as he’d been abducted by aliens?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,654

    DavidL said:

    Dundee have won promotion to the SPL. Should improve the prospects of United avoiding relegation next season.

    Should lead to some fruity encounters locally David.
    In fairness Dundee have looked a proper team since the New Year and definitely deserved their win in both games against Kilmarnock. It will be good to have the derbies back again.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,114

    Yeahbut flegs.....

    Investigations are under way after half of people due to receive their Covid jags at Glasgow’s main mass vaccination hub failed to turn up over the weekend.

    https://twitter.com/heraldscotland/status/1396930305207021588?s=20

    Is it possible that they are all self isolating? Or a tech failure?
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,188
    edited May 2021

    GIN1138 said:

    I think Dom might be a bit bitter about something...

    "Exclusive: Some MPs are convinced Boris Johnson’s former adviser is plotting a comeback as part of a future Michael Gove premiership"

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/24/coup-conspiracy-tories-sense-shapeshifter-gove-dominic-cummings/
    Legendary modesty klaxon.

    They should have listened to me.



    So cui bono from Mr Cummings giving damaging evidence against the Prime Minister? It should be remembered that Dominic Cummings has never been the Prime Minister’s man, he’s is and always has been Michael Gove’s consigliere. Taking out the PM and the favourite to succeed him would be impressive work from the man David Cameron labelled a psychopath. There are other adjectives our former Prime Minister used but this is a family friendly website.

    https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2021/01/03/after-a-quick-successful-vaccine-rollout-this-is-the-second-most-thing-i-want-to-see-in-2021/
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,163
    Andrew Rambaut MicrobeDNAEvergreen treeCrystal ballMan facepalming
    @arambaut
    ·
    7h
    I think it is very hard to assess B.1.617.2's inherent transmissibility (i.e., property of the virus) when the numbers are small and the only comparator (B.1.1.7) is declining. There are so many potentially confounding factors.


    Andrew Rambaut MicrobeDNAEvergreen treeCrystal ballMan facepalming
    @arambaut
    ·
    7h
    The coming weeks will answer this, I believe - if we see B.1.617.2 starting to rise in other countries (as the incidence in India is falling). Notable will be if it can grow in countries already experiencing high incidence of other lineages.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,654

    Yeahbut flegs.....

    Investigations are under way after half of people due to receive their Covid jags at Glasgow’s main mass vaccination hub failed to turn up over the weekend.

    https://twitter.com/heraldscotland/status/1396930305207021588?s=20

    You'd think being given a Jag would be a big enough incentive.
    Only if you are a Partick Thistle fan.
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
    I mean, I’m sure we could have a bash at a snap Olympics here. We have a lot left from London and we’re prepping the Commonwealth Games.
    We really do not.

    My friend worked for LOCOG and every time a story/comment like that comes out he gets angry.

    1) 2012 was the culmination of a decade of planning. A snap Olympics is a non starter.

    2) Most of the facilities have either been sold on/transferred, such as the athletes village and you know the stadium. Other things like the swimming venues have been downgraded and are no longer Olympics.

    3) The UK is holding other events this year (such as Euro 2020) so venues like Wembley which was used in 2012 a no no. The IOC and UEFA have exclusivity clauses on venues for a set period, that's why the 2012 community shield took place at Aston Villa.
    While I totally accept this, I think putting on ‘an’ olympics, not ‘the’ olympics at short notice would be possible. We do have stadia, although the Olympic stadium itself would need its track back. It’s not going to happen, it’s Japan or nothing this year.
    If I was actually being serious, I think I’d suggest sharing it with Paris and a few other European capitals as required. Could even halve it with Europe and the US and split the risk. Like you say: “an” Olympics.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,307

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
    I mean, I’m sure we could have a bash at a snap Olympics here. We have a lot left from London and we’re prepping the Commonwealth Games.
    We really do not.

    My friend worked for LOCOG and every time a story/comment like that comes out he gets angry.

    1) 2012 was the culmination of a decade of planning. A snap Olympics is a non starter.

    2) Most of the facilities have either been sold on/transferred, such as the athletes village and you know the stadium. Other things like the swimming venues have been downgraded and are no longer Olympics.

    3) The UK is holding other events this year (such as Euro 2020) so venues like Wembley which was used in 2012 a no no. The IOC and UEFA have exclusivity clauses on venues for a set period, that's why the 2012 community shield took place at Aston Villa.
    I struggle to get excited about the Olympics full stop. It largely consists of a bunch of sports in which few people are interested 99% of the time, bundled with popular sports in which it isn’t the premier competition (I.e. who cares who wins the Olympic football competition? Or the golf?)
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,381
    DavidL said:

    I'm spending Thursday and Friday in the Scottish Borders. Can the PB brains trust recommend anything good to see that I might not have thought of?

    Have you seen Abbotsford, Walter Scott's old house? Its definitely worth a look if you haven't.
    I haven't. Good shout, thank you!
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
    I mean, I’m sure we could have a bash at a snap Olympics here. We have a lot left from London and we’re prepping the Commonwealth Games.
    We really do not.

    My friend worked for LOCOG and every time a story/comment like that comes out he gets angry.

    1) 2012 was the culmination of a decade of planning. A snap Olympics is a non starter.

    2) Most of the facilities have either been sold on/transferred, such as the athletes village and you know the stadium. Other things like the swimming venues have been downgraded and are no longer Olympics.

    3) The UK is holding other events this year (such as Euro 2020) so venues like Wembley which was used in 2012 a no no. The IOC and UEFA have exclusivity clauses on venues for a set period, that's why the 2012 community shield took place at Aston Villa.
    I struggle to get excited about the Olympics full stop. It largely consists of a bunch of sports in which few people are interested 99% of the time, bundled with popular sports in which it isn’t the premier competition (I.e. who cares who wins the Olympic football competition? Or the golf?)
    I agree. I take offence at any sports competition that can’t fund itself too. They should live within their means.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    edited May 2021
    Stirring stuff:

    Conclusions on #Belarus adopted at #EUCO chaired by @eucopresident

    https://twitter.com/BarendLeyts/status/1396916367031476224?s=20
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 27,995

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    Even if the price is him producing more terrible books?
    Can't we get him painting wine boxes so that they look like buses?
    He could open a shop somewhere touristy.
    I can choose not to buy his books.

    I have to deal with his incompetence on a daily basis.
    If it wasn't Boris it would be someone else. You have never had anyone in your line of work that you trusted.
    Justine Greening
    Michael Wilshaw.

    Ummm...beyond that I’m struggling, but it does at least qualify your point.
    I think people view politicians in a completely different way to when I was a lad. When I was at school Edward Du Cann was my MP and we thought he was the bees knees when he got us an extra half day off at the end if term. Seriously though , I was deferential to MP's until.television came in. It all went downhill after that
    Indeed

    Back in the day we often had visitations at school from our Conservative MP. He was a really impressive guy, very articulate and he sounded just like John Steed from the Avengers. Nonetheless in GE 1979, as a 17 year old activist, I fought tooth and nail to get him unseated by the Liberal challenger, Roger Pincham (the 1974 margin had been something like 574) but to no avail. It was a real shame I felt I couldn't vote for him, then a miracle happened, and divinity intervened, he crossed the floor to New Labour, and the Leominster constituency briefly had a Labour MP!
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,769

    Yeahbut flegs.....

    Investigations are under way after half of people due to receive their Covid jags at Glasgow’s main mass vaccination hub failed to turn up over the weekend.

    https://twitter.com/heraldscotland/status/1396930305207021588?s=20

    Reckon it'll have something to do with Scotland's 'letter' system.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,163

    Yeahbut flegs.....

    Investigations are under way after half of people due to receive their Covid jags at Glasgow’s main mass vaccination hub failed to turn up over the weekend.

    https://twitter.com/heraldscotland/status/1396930305207021588?s=20

    You'd think being given a Jag would be a big enough incentive.
    Interestingly, when I went for my 2nd jab on Saturday afternoon (at GP's) it was much, much quieter than the exact time 12 weeks ago when I had 1st. We were all given the 2nd jab/jag time and date at the time and all in precisely 12 weeks time at same time. And txted last week to remind to come at same time on the day as first jab.

    So, I've been wondering what happened. No shows? 2nd jab refusers? Or people have somehow wangled an earlier second jab at the main vaccine site?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,477

    GIN1138 said:

    I think Dom might be a bit bitter about something...

    "Exclusive: Some MPs are convinced Boris Johnson’s former adviser is plotting a comeback as part of a future Michael Gove premiership"

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/24/coup-conspiracy-tories-sense-shapeshifter-gove-dominic-cummings/
    The Gove/Cummings axis is plausible given their history but there is very little evidence for collusion in that article.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,188

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    60 days until start of #Olympics - and US has just banned travel to Japan due to spike in #Covid cases. https://twitter.com/travelgov/status/1396865160782958596

    Adam Peattie was on the Today program this morning talking about how much he was looking forward to the Olympics. It was more surreal than thought for the day.
    I mean, I’m sure we could have a bash at a snap Olympics here. We have a lot left from London and we’re prepping the Commonwealth Games.
    We really do not.

    My friend worked for LOCOG and every time a story/comment like that comes out he gets angry.

    1) 2012 was the culmination of a decade of planning. A snap Olympics is a non starter.

    2) Most of the facilities have either been sold on/transferred, such as the athletes village and you know the stadium. Other things like the swimming venues have been downgraded and are no longer Olympics.

    3) The UK is holding other events this year (such as Euro 2020) so venues like Wembley which was used in 2012 a no no. The IOC and UEFA have exclusivity clauses on venues for a set period, that's why the 2012 community shield took place at Aston Villa.
    While I totally accept this, I think putting on ‘an’ olympics, not ‘the’ olympics at short notice would be possible. We do have stadia, although the Olympic stadium itself would need its track back. It’s not going to happen, it’s Japan or nothing this year.
    If I was actually being serious, I think I’d suggest sharing it with Paris and a few other European capitals as required. Could even halve it with Europe and the US and split the risk. Like you say: “an” Olympics.
    That's happening with Euro 2020.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Pulpstar said:

    Yeahbut flegs.....

    Investigations are under way after half of people due to receive their Covid jags at Glasgow’s main mass vaccination hub failed to turn up over the weekend.

    https://twitter.com/heraldscotland/status/1396930305207021588?s=20

    Reckon it'll have something to do with Scotland's 'letter' system.
    But think about the blue envelopes! 🔵
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Number 10 has denied Boris Johnson was absent from emergency coronavirus meetings because he was putting together a biography of William Shakespeare https://trib.al/XoV5YJ2

    "So what was he doing?" is not an unreasonable question

    I think we’re missing the essential point that actually, it’s probably good news Johnson was absent. The further he’s kept from making important decisions, the better.
    Even if the price is him producing more terrible books?
    Can't we get him painting wine boxes so that they look like buses?
    He could open a shop somewhere touristy.
    I can choose not to buy his books.

    I have to deal with his incompetence on a daily basis.
    If it wasn't Boris it would be someone else. You have never had anyone in your line of work that you trusted.
    Justine Greening
    Michael Wilshaw.

    Ummm...beyond that I’m struggling, but it does at least qualify your point.
    I think people view politicians in a completely different way to when I was a lad. When I was at school Edward Du Cann was my MP and we thought he was the bees knees when he got us an extra half day off at the end if term. Seriously though , I was deferential to MP's until.television came in. It all went downhill after that
    Indeed

    Back in the day we often had visitations at school from our Conservative MP. He was a really impressive guy, very articulate and he sounded just like John Steed from the Avengers. Nonetheless in GE 1979, as a 17 year old activist, I fought tooth and nail to get him unseated by the Liberal challenger, Roger Pincham (the 1974 margin had been something like 574) but to no avail. It was a real shame I felt I couldn't vote for him, then a miracle happened, and divinity intervened, he crossed the floor to New Labour, and the Leominster constituency briefly had a Labour MP!
    Hard to keep up with the extended amount of Avengers. Which one is John Steed, does he work with Iron Man?
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518

    MaxPB said:

    Japan's vaccine scheme is set to kick up a gear with 5000(!) jabs per day in Tokyo which will double to 10000 per day by the middle of June. I don't know how many days that is to cover the whole city. It must over 5 years though.

    The absolutely pisspoor performance of the wealthy Pacific Rim nations on vaccination risks becoming the next big scandal of this pandemic. Japan is getting the headlines currently, but Australia and NZ are barely any better. Complacency effect?
    I would suspect at least an element of it is the fact that a fairly small proportion of the populations actually perceive that they have an interest in things changing from their current situation. Just as many people in this country have been surprised at quite how compliant, indeed enthusiastic, the population seem to have been for lockdown life, so a significant proportion of Australia/NZ simply have no desire to every travel abroad and don't really see any issues with their countries remaining in glorious isolation for ever.
This discussion has been closed.