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.
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.
Maybe there’s something in that. It’s a bizarre state of affairs.
I don’t really understand the criticism here. Are PMs not allowed any down time ever? Not sure I want someone minding our nuclear arsenal if they never get any time off. If he missed crucial meetings to write it, that’s wrong. Otherwise, so what?
Moonlighting in another paid job - which is hard work - rather than resting?
I relax by doing things that are hard work. A change is as good as a rest. I can believe the PM enjoys writing. He just happens to get paid for it too. Remember that he probably doesn’t get to do much of it now.
I can’t believe I’ve found myself in the position of defending the PM! I just don’t think there’s a story here.
I agree in part, but it is the final preparation for publication that is like pulling teeth - all the checking, checking and checking again in particular, and also the polishing and editing.
Also - it's one thing to do something as a hobby. It's another to do something as a paid contract. Both by their nature and by the optics. He has time to spare to edit a book for publication? Who is he, Marcus Aurelius?
Edit: perhaps more to the point, who is he, Winston Churtchill? Even Churchill (AIUI) did his books when out of power.
Ah, sounds as if the book will be put off till heaven knows when. Which makes better sense. I couldn't see how it could work. Even paying someone to do the research and checking au Churchill would cost a fair amount at a reasonable hourly rate plus tax plus NI.
Actually have a copy of Boris Johnson's "biography" of Churchill (purchased for $1 or thereabouts from a remainder bit) it is even worse than the reviewer says!
BUT it served it's function - for Boris, not the reader - of pumping up both his income (temporarily) and giving him a political boost.
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?
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.”
I assume most of the data on transmission is coming from India so they may not have figures in a vaccinated population
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
Ha - I actually had a very pleasant day out in the Borough of Bolton two weeks ago. Parked in Horwich (fairly workaday town enlivened by some really very good pubs, not that such pleasures were truly available back then), then walked up Winter Hill and across to Rivington Pike (I may have strayed into the next Borough en route). I recommend it. One of the minor joys of lockdown has been the discovery of so much good walking in Greater Manchester. Seriously. Landscape I wouldn't have given a second thought to on my way to the Lakes or the Peaks - but we have so much exhilarating countryside right on our doorstep.
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?
He was played by Peter Temple Morris....or was it Patrick McNee?
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.
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.
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!
If you like old abbeys - maybe Melrose and Dryburgh (near St Boswells).
If you like gardens - maybe Harmony and the other National Trust for Scotland garden close by Melrose Abbey.
If you like coastal walks and the weather is good - go to St Abbs village and walk up to St Abbs Head. (Big car park, should be easy enough to find and follow).
We are fortunate Russia never tried to influence British politics! Oh hold on, it did, including Brexit and Sindyref. And our political parties use similar techniques. Not to mention tennis.
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?
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.
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.
No it’s an aging and cynical Bond as mentor to the young and idealistic Ryan who undergoes significant personal growth as he finds himself during the story arc
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?
I don’t really understand the criticism here. Are PMs not allowed any down time ever? Not sure I want someone minding our nuclear arsenal if they never get any time off. If he missed crucial meetings to write it, that’s wrong. Otherwise, so what?
Moonlighting in another paid job - which is hard work - rather than resting?
I relax by doing things that are hard work. A change is as good as a rest. I can believe the PM enjoys writing. He just happens to get paid for it too. Remember that he probably doesn’t get to do much of it now.
I can’t believe I’ve found myself in the position of defending the PM! I just don’t think there’s a story here.
I agree in part, but it is the final preparation for publication that is like pulling teeth - all the checking, checking and checking again in particular, and also the polishing and editing.
Also - it's one thing to do something as a hobby. It's another to do something as a paid contract. Both by their nature and by the optics. He has time to spare to edit a book for publication? Who is he, Marcus Aurelius?
Edit: perhaps more to the point, who is he, Winston Churtchill? Even Churchill (AIUI) did his books when out of power.
Ah, sounds as if the book will be put off till heaven knows when. Which makes better sense. I couldn't see how it could work. Even paying someone to do the research and checking au Churchill would cost a fair amount at a reasonable hourly rate plus tax plus NI.
Actually have a copy of Boris Johnson's "biography" of Churchill (purchased for $1 or thereabouts from a remainder bit) it is even worse than the reviewer says!
BUT it served it's function - for Boris, not the reader - of pumping up both his income (temporarily) and giving him a political boost.
I read the other month that Chesterton's histories and art critic books were rammed full with mistakes. Didn't seem to knock his sales.
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?
We are fortunate Russia never tried to influence British politics! Oh hold on, it did, including Brexit and Sindyref. And our political parties use similar techniques. Not to mention tennis.
"If the EU wants to paralyse the Belarus economy all it needs to do is offer easy access to work permits in the Schengen area for skilled Belarusian industrial and tech workers"
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?
He worked with Emma Peel:
I approve this message.
And what would you say her superpower was?
She wore boots, the sort of boot sold by Ann Summers, did 1960s - style martial arts and drove a Lotus Elan, what more do you want?
Chillingham Castle has been connected with the family since 1300AD and its roots arguably go back another 600 years. England really is very very very old
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?
He worked with Emma Peel:
I approve this message.
And what would you say her superpower was?
She wore boots, the sort of boot sold by Ann Summers, did 1960s - style martial arts and drove a Lotus Elan, what more do you want?
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.”
I assume most of the data on transmission is coming from India so they may not have figures in a vaccinated population
Most UK cases are not from travel. Greater transmissibility is not the only possible cause for the Indian variant to now be 50% of isolates, surge testing etc could account for it, for example.
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!
If you like old abbeys - maybe Melrose and Dryburgh (near St Boswells).
If you like gardens - maybe Harmony and the other National Trust for Scotland garden close by Melrose Abbey.
If you like coastal walks and the weather is good - go to St Abbs village and walk up to St Abbs Head. (Big car park, should be easy enough to find and follow).
Castles - perhaps Smailholm Tower in particular.
But check if opening, whether pre-booked, etc.
Edit: on second thoughts scrub Smailholm. From the design, social distancing will be difficult/impossible. The abbeys have excellent ventilation, courtesy Henry VIII and his minions.
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?
He worked with Emma Peel:
I approve this message.
And what would you say her superpower was?
She wore boots, the sort of boot sold by Ann Summers, did 1960s - style martial arts and drove a Lotus Elan, what more do you want?
"If the EU wants to paralyse the Belarus economy all it needs to do is offer easy access to work permits in the Schengen area for skilled Belarusian industrial and tech workers"
I think that Poland already does! They have replaced their plumbing diaspora with Belarussians and Ukranians.
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.
Maybe there’s something in that. It’s a bizarre state of affairs.
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?
He worked with Emma Peel:
I approve this message.
And what would you say her superpower was?
Her appearance at the Hellfire club in ‘A Touch of Brimstone’
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.
British media is so pathetically slow-on-the-uptake. They are a bit cowardly, TBH
It appeared to have taken them a day to discover that there were KGB on the Belarus flight!
Why aren't they all over the aliens-are-landing story? I mean, even if you briskly dismiss the aliens angle, there is STILL something extraordinary happening in plain sight, in elite intel/military circles in Washington. Today it is front page news in the Washington Post
Why won't they touch it? I know why: because they are all posh Oxbridge grads scared of looking like idiot proles-who-believe-in-ET. It's dismal and pathetic snobbery, tinged with cowardice
Chillingham Castle has been connected with the family since 1300AD and its roots arguably go back another 600 years. England really is very very very old
And the home of the Grace Darling museum
I spent many happy times in Bamburgh in my teenage years and we could see the castle from our home in Berwick
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.”
I assume most of the data on transmission is coming from India so they may not have figures in a vaccinated population
Most UK cases are not from travel. Greater transmissibility is not the only possible cause for the Indian variant to now be 50% of isolates, surge testing etc could account for it, for example.
And the fact it's surging in areas with high vaccine refusal rated would match that theory as well. Under no circumstances should vaccine refusals lead to delays in lifting lockdown.
"If the EU wants to paralyse the Belarus economy all it needs to do is offer easy access to work permits in the Schengen area for skilled Belarusian industrial and tech workers"
If you what to lessen the power of, or bring down dictators around the would. lets have free movement of all people everywhere.
While I may be alone or almost alone in that opinion, I'm willing to compromise, work visas for skilled Belarusians would be a good start.
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.
British media is so pathetically slow-on-the-uptake. They are a bit cowardly, TBH
It appeared to have taken them a day to discover that there were KGB on the Belarus flight!
Why aren't they all over the aliens-are-landing story? I mean, even if you briskly dismiss the aliens angle, there is STILL something extraordinary happening in plain sight, in elite intel/military circles in Washington. Today it is front page news in the Washington Post
Why won't they touch it? I know why: because they are all posh Oxbridge grads scared of looking like idiot proles-who-believe-in-ET. It's dismal and pathetic snobbery, tinged with cowardice
Washington circles saying they're investigating things really isn't that extraordinary.
Just because fools on YouTube, fools on Twitter and clickbait in the media eggs it on so Obama making jokes on a comedy show becomes "Obama says aliens are real!!! 👽" doesn't make it extraordinary.
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.
British media is so pathetically slow-on-the-uptake. They are a bit cowardly, TBH
It appeared to have taken them a day to discover that there were KGB on the Belarus flight!
Why aren't they all over the aliens-are-landing story? I mean, even if you briskly dismiss the aliens angle, there is STILL something extraordinary happening in plain sight, in elite intel/military circles in Washington. Today it is front page news in the Washington Post
Why won't they touch it? I know why: because they are all posh Oxbridge grads scared of looking like idiot proles-who-believe-in-ET. It's dismal and pathetic snobbery, tinged with cowardice
Many educated people also tend to believe that all and anything to do with alternative medicine is nonsense and not worth the attention, too, for instance, and axiomatically, missing any nuances. A excessively and pre-emptively simple attitude to these kind of topics has gradually become a marker of the educated over the last 200 years, not just here but in many places all over the world.
Yes, I think this was particularly so in the first wave. It was pretty chaotic in terms of PPE, and difficulty getting timely testing meant that covid patients often contaminated others.
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.
British media is so pathetically slow-on-the-uptake. They are a bit cowardly, TBH
It appeared to have taken them a day to discover that there were KGB on the Belarus flight!
Why aren't they all over the aliens-are-landing story? I mean, even if you briskly dismiss the aliens angle, there is STILL something extraordinary happening in plain sight, in elite intel/military circles in Washington. Today it is front page news in the Washington Post
Why won't they touch it? I know why: because they are all posh Oxbridge grads scared of looking like idiot proles-who-believe-in-ET. It's dismal and pathetic snobbery, tinged with cowardice
Washington circles saying they're investigating things really isn't that extraordinary.
Just because fools on YouTube, fools on Twitter and clickbait in the media eggs it on so Obama making jokes on a comedy show becomes "Obama says aliens are real!!! 👽" doesn't make it extraordinary.
I've given up on trying to educate you on the meaning and power of news narratives
On a very basic level they should be reporting this because it is now spiking worldwide interest; meanwhile videos, articles and social media relaying the shocks are getting record hits. This is now huge. Yet still the British broadsheets turn away, or nervously titter. And it's not like it's because they are such sober profound purveyors of Only the Serious News
The Times has just run endless pages about the latest royal piffle. The spectacle is genuinely pathetic
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?
Chillingham Castle has been connected with the family since 1300AD and its roots arguably go back another 600 years. England really is very very very old
And the home of the Grace Darling museum
I spent many happy times in Bamburgh in my teenage years and we could see the castle from our home in Berwick
Bamburgh is glorious. And so old. Back to the Northumbrian Kingdom in about 600AD
The first time I saw it was in a beautiful summer twilight with pure skies and slanted light and there were kids playing football on the beach and then I rounded a dune: and there it was. This imperious THING, dominating the entire world
The only castle I have seen that matches it is Krak Des Chevaliers, in Syria
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.
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.
British media is so pathetically slow-on-the-uptake. They are a bit cowardly, TBH
It appeared to have taken them a day to discover that there were KGB on the Belarus flight!
Why aren't they all over the aliens-are-landing story? I mean, even if you briskly dismiss the aliens angle, there is STILL something extraordinary happening in plain sight, in elite intel/military circles in Washington. Today it is front page news in the Washington Post
Why won't they touch it? I know why: because they are all posh Oxbridge grads scared of looking like idiot proles-who-believe-in-ET. It's dismal and pathetic snobbery, tinged with cowardice
Washington circles saying they're investigating things really isn't that extraordinary.
Just because fools on YouTube, fools on Twitter and clickbait in the media eggs it on so Obama making jokes on a comedy show becomes "Obama says aliens are real!!! 👽" doesn't make it extraordinary.
I've given up on trying to educate you on the meaning and power of news narratives
On a very basic level they should be reporting this because it is now spiking worldwide interest; meanwhile videos, articles and social media relaying the shocks are getting record hits. This is now huge. Yet still the British broadsheets turn away, or nervously titter. And it's not like it's because they are such sober profound purveyors of Only the Serious News
The Times has just run endless pages about the latest royal piffle. The spectacle is genuinely pathetic
You're right actually.
Its ridiculous they consider the royals to be serious.
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.
So the effectiveness of the vaccines against the Indian variant is pretty much the same in the same time periods....
Indeed. The zerovidians (who are now dwindling in number, Devi has very consciously left their ranks) have been trying desperately to spin the PHE report as bad news. There’s not many left: Pagel obviously, and the lady Foxy linked above.
Some serious signs of wetting the bed over the Indian variant from the Gov't. The messaging may discourage some younger people from bothering with vaccination, precisely the opposite of what we need.
Chillingham Castle has been connected with the family since 1300AD and its roots arguably go back another 600 years. England really is very very very old
It’s only a marginal connection - the Greys of Chillingham were ancestors in the female line of Sit Humphrey’s third wife)
My take on current situation: variants will continue to cause issues but our vaccines (both doses!) are effective as an additional layer of protection. We have to move away from harsh restrictions & lockdowns, to data-driven, precise outbreak management using science & logistics.
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.
British media is so pathetically slow-on-the-uptake. They are a bit cowardly, TBH
It appeared to have taken them a day to discover that there were KGB on the Belarus flight!
Why aren't they all over the aliens-are-landing story? I mean, even if you briskly dismiss the aliens angle, there is STILL something extraordinary happening in plain sight, in elite intel/military circles in Washington. Today it is front page news in the Washington Post
Why won't they touch it? I know why: because they are all posh Oxbridge grads scared of looking like idiot proles-who-believe-in-ET. It's dismal and pathetic snobbery, tinged with cowardice
Many educated people also tend to believe that all and anything to do with alternative medicine is nonsense and not worth the attention, too, for instance, and axiomatically, missing any nuances. A excessively and pre-emptively simple attitude to these kind of topics has gradually become a marker of the educated over the last 200 years, not just here but in many places all over the world.
Pretty much all "Alternative Medicine" is woo.
The reason is that anything that works becomes "Medicine" rather than "Alternative Medicine"
There is a real pong of sour grapes about this post… given the result at Leicester yesterday and the consequences…
We have the FA Cup 😀
Indeed, but a terrible result yesterday. No way of dressing that up.
I was there. We started the game in fifth place and ended there. I saw the FA Cup being paraded.
It was good to be back in the ground for Leicesters second most successful season. We will get better and stronger.
Maybe, I was just saying that your post about Spurs was very obviously sour-mouthed! I mean why would you otherwise care about a north London club 150 miles away?
There is a real pong of sour grapes about this post… given the result at Leicester yesterday and the consequences…
We have the FA Cup 😀
Indeed, but a terrible result yesterday. No way of dressing that up.
I was there. We started the game in fifth place and ended there. I saw the FA Cup being paraded.
It was good to be back in the ground for Leicesters second most successful season. We will get better and stronger.
Well said Foxy.
Forced choice of one of them, I think its better quite frankly for Leicester to have won the FA Cup than to qualify for the Champions League in 4th place.
Forever in the history books now the FA Cup 2021 will be in your trophy cabinet. There's no honours for "4th placed qualifier to the Champions League".
Absolutely its great to qualify for the Champions League, but winning a trophy - if I was in your shoes I'd be very happy with that. Especially for clubs like Leicester whose wage bill is not dependent upon CL qualification.
It will result in people actually with symptoms not getting tested, and then not telling contacts.
With the massive availability of lateral flow tests why not just ask people to do an LFT say 3 days after contact with an infected person if you're vaccinated ? Forget leisure, 10 days of isolation is economically unviable for loads of people trying to earn a crust who have done the right thing and got vaccinated.
Now if you're showing symptons that's a different matter but vaccinated & asymptomatic or uninfected ?! Just gives the tin foil hat brigade so much to live off.
It will result in people actually with symptoms not getting tested, and then not telling contacts.
With the massive availability of lateral flow tests why not just ask people to do an LFT say 3 days after contact with an infected person if you're vaccinated ? Forget leisure, 10 days of isolation is economically unviable for loads of people trying to earn a crust who have done the right thing and got vaccinated.
Now if you're showing symptons that's a different matter but vaccinated & asymptomatic or uninfected ?! Just gives the tin foil hat brigade so much to live off.
You wonder why the UK scientists seem to be so much at odds with the US CDC view of the research involving vaccinated people.
Comments
BUT it served it's function - for Boris, not the reader - of pumping up both his income (temporarily) and giving him a political boost.
https://twitter.com/AllieHBNews/status/1396936056864448522/photo/1
Though it does leave me wondering what a firm response could have been?
At a minimum expelling their embassies (if they have any?)
Potentially removing Russian airlines rights to fly in Europe and blocking flights to Russia too pending the journalists release.
Anyone have better ideas?
One of the minor joys of lockdown has been the discovery of so much good walking in Greater Manchester. Seriously. Landscape I wouldn't have given a second thought to on my way to the Lakes or the Peaks - but we have so much exhilarating countryside right on our doorstep.
If you like gardens - maybe Harmony and the other National Trust for Scotland garden close by Melrose Abbey.
If you like coastal walks and the weather is good - go to St Abbs village and walk up to St Abbs Head. (Big car park, should be easy enough to find and follow).
Castles - perhaps Smailholm Tower in particular.
But check if opening, whether pre-booked, etc.
And what would you say her superpower was?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/breaking-tottenham-qualify-conference-league-24168459
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Peel
"If the EU wants to paralyse the Belarus economy all it needs to do is offer easy access to work permits in the Schengen area for skilled Belarusian industrial and tech workers"
One of the mightiest castles in the world
https://www.bamburghcastle.com/castle/
Also check out the White Cattle of Chillingham, a kind of quasi-prehistoric breed, and owned - to tie the thread neatly - by Dom's father in law
https://chillinghamwildcattle.com/
https://www.tatler.com/article/who-is-mary-wakefield-dominic-cummings-wife
Chillingham Castle has been connected with the family since 1300AD and its roots arguably go back another 600 years. England really is very very very old
Sounds like Black Widow then from the Avengers.
https://twitter.com/dgurdasani1/status/1396244834596315138?s=19
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/24/exclusive-vaccination-wont-mean-end-self-isolating/
This article absolutely backs you up: the hermit islands of Aus and NZ aren’t that keen on opening up!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/e2-80-98no-roadmap-e2-80-99-new-zealand-mulls-reopening-options-after-a-year-of-closed-borders/ar-BB1gIC4R
Why won't they touch it? I know why: because they are all posh Oxbridge grads scared of looking like idiot proles-who-believe-in-ET. It's dismal and pathetic snobbery, tinged with cowardice
I spent many happy times in Bamburgh in my teenage years and we could see the castle from our home in Berwick
While I may be alone or almost alone in that opinion, I'm willing to compromise, work visas for skilled Belarusians would be a good start.
Just because fools on YouTube, fools on Twitter and clickbait in the media eggs it on so Obama making jokes on a comedy show becomes "Obama says aliens are real!!! 👽" doesn't make it extraordinary.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/articles/mappingincomedeprivationatalocalauthoritylevel/2021-05-24
Thought it'd be 3-4x that figure.
On a very basic level they should be reporting this because it is now spiking worldwide interest; meanwhile videos, articles and social media relaying the shocks are getting record hits. This is now huge. Yet still the British broadsheets turn away, or nervously titter. And it's not like it's because they are such sober profound purveyors of Only the Serious News
The Times has just run endless pages about the latest royal piffle. The spectacle is genuinely pathetic
The first time I saw it was in a beautiful summer twilight with pure skies and slanted light and there were kids playing football on the beach and then I rounded a dune: and there it was. This imperious THING, dominating the entire world
The only castle I have seen that matches it is Krak Des Chevaliers, in Syria
For 7-13 days - Vaccine effect (95% CI) - 38%
So the effectiveness of the vaccines against the Indian variant is pretty much the same in the same time periods....
Its ridiculous they consider the royals to be serious.
It was good to be back in the ground for Leicesters second most successful season. We will get better and stronger.
My take on current situation: variants will continue to cause issues but our vaccines (both doses!) are effective as an additional layer of protection. We have to move away from harsh restrictions & lockdowns, to data-driven, precise outbreak management using science & logistics.
Devi abandons the zerovidians.
It will result in people actually with symptoms not getting tested, and then not telling contacts.
The reason is that anything that works becomes "Medicine" rather than "Alternative Medicine"
Forced choice of one of them, I think its better quite frankly for Leicester to have won the FA Cup than to qualify for the Champions League in 4th place.
Forever in the history books now the FA Cup 2021 will be in your trophy cabinet. There's no honours for "4th placed qualifier to the Champions League".
Absolutely its great to qualify for the Champions League, but winning a trophy - if I was in your shoes I'd be very happy with that. Especially for clubs like Leicester whose wage bill is not dependent upon CL qualification.
Forget leisure, 10 days of isolation is economically unviable for loads of people trying to earn a crust who have done the right thing and got vaccinated.
Now if you're showing symptons that's a different matter but vaccinated & asymptomatic or uninfected ?! Just gives the tin foil hat brigade so much to live off.
https://www.alnvalleyrailway.co.uk/