Yippee! A sub-sample thread! I look forward to mountains of posts pointing out why sub-samples are useless and people highlighting them are idiots. PB is, after all, famous for its consistency and fairness. Anecdata will then be produced claiming that people with degrees are huge fans of the man sacked from three jobs for dishonesty.
While we’re patiently waiting, here’s the Ipsos Mori findings for Scottish VI:
10% for the Scottish Lib Dems must be one of their best polls in years. The fact that ragin Wullie is retiring must surely be a factor. Alex Cole-Hamilton might be a lightweight, but at least he doesn’t do that fake anger thing all the time.
That poll was conducted entirely before Willie Rennie's announcement.
And Westminster too. No PR. So Greens marked down automatically (they are outdoing the LDs at Holyrood considerably, or were).
Yippee! A sub-sample thread! I look forward to mountains of posts pointing out why sub-samples are useless and people highlighting them are idiots. PB is, after all, famous for its consistency and fairness. Anecdata will then be produced claiming that people with degrees are huge fans of the man sacked from three jobs for dishonesty.
While we’re patiently waiting, here’s the Ipsos Mori findings for Scottish VI:
10% for the Scottish Lib Dems must be one of their best polls in years. The fact that ragin Wullie is retiring must surely be a factor. Alex Cole-Hamilton might be a lightweight, but at least he doesn’t do that fake anger thing all the time.
Not that it would make any difference to their Westminster seat total anyway and even if the Tories got 0 seats in Scotland they would still win a UK majority on the latest pollling.
At Holyrood the SNP minority government has only recently been elected and the UK government has made clear it will refuse indyref2 so Scottish polling is largely irrelevant at present
Yippee! A sub-sample thread! I look forward to mountains of posts pointing out why sub-samples are useless and people highlighting them are idiots. PB is, after all, famous for its consistency and fairness. Anecdata will then be produced claiming that people with degrees are huge fans of the man sacked from three jobs for dishonesty.
While we’re patiently waiting, here’s the Ipsos Mori findings for Scottish VI:
10% for the Scottish Lib Dems must be one of their best polls in years. The fact that ragin Wullie is retiring must surely be a factor. Alex Cole-Hamilton might be a lightweight, but at least he doesn’t do that fake anger thing all the time.
That poll was conducted entirely before Willie Rennie's announcement.
And Westminster too. No PR. So Greens marked down automatically (they are outdoing the LDs at Holyrood considerably, or were).
I've had this discussion with a couple of pollsters, they reckon it nets out as Westminster is FPTP (a bit like the constituency vote at Holyrood) and the Greens don't stand in all Westminster seats.
Yippee! A sub-sample thread! I look forward to mountains of posts pointing out why sub-samples are useless and people highlighting them are idiots. PB is, after all, famous for its consistency and fairness. Anecdata will then be produced claiming that people with degrees are huge fans of the man sacked from three jobs for dishonesty.
While we’re patiently waiting, here’s the Ipsos Mori findings for Scottish VI:
10% for the Scottish Lib Dems must be one of their best polls in years. The fact that ragin Wullie is retiring must surely be a factor. Alex Cole-Hamilton might be a lightweight, but at least he doesn’t do that fake anger thing all the time.
Not that it would make any difference to their Westminster seat total anyway and even if the Tories got 0 seats in Scotland they would still win a small UK majority on the latest pollling.
At Holyrood the SNP minority government has only recently been elected and the UK government has made clear it will refuse indyref2 so Scottish polling is largely irrelevant at present
You sure? THeir support can be very focussed. And it may well hint that LDs are no longer midned to vote tactically for Tories, too. Edit: or even Labour, such as Mr Murray.
Yippee! A sub-sample thread! I look forward to mountains of posts pointing out why sub-samples are useless and people highlighting them are idiots. PB is, after all, famous for its consistency and fairness. Anecdata will then be produced claiming that people with degrees are huge fans of the man sacked from three jobs for dishonesty.
While we’re patiently waiting, here’s the Ipsos Mori findings for Scottish VI:
10% for the Scottish Lib Dems must be one of their best polls in years. The fact that ragin Wullie is retiring must surely be a factor. Alex Cole-Hamilton might be a lightweight, but at least he doesn’t do that fake anger thing all the time.
Not that it would make any difference to their Westminster seat total anyway and even if the Tories got 0 seats in Scotland they would still win a UK majority on the latest pollling.
At Holyrood the SNP minority government has only recently been elected and the UK government has made clear it will refuse indyref2 so Scottish polling is largely irrelevant at present
Not a minority government. Not a majority, but remember the convener is a SG.
The virus is with us for ever. The question is not eradication, but how we live with it. Vaccination is clearly key, but there are many other factors - and perhaps a need to reset expectations
I think an acceptance in the western world that this is going to bring average life expectancy down for at least a decade until we learn much more about treatments and come up with a "perfect" vaccine that stops infection at a rate of over 99%.
With the advent of the ascendency of Germ Theory, the development of vaccinations, and the discovery of antibiotics, the West believed it could 'win the war' with infectious diseases. We should have recognized that this was a mirage at least 20-30 years ago, but the penny is, at last, beginning to drop, I think.
I don't think the situation is that stark, although it could yet become so if the situation with respect to antibiotic resistance continues to deteriorate.
The other pressing problem in the UK is the lack of capacity in the healthcare system, but as with all other problems that we can agree need fixing and will cost lots of money to put right, everyone thinks that it is everyone else's job but theirs to pay to do it. Plus ça change.
ONS statistics show no decline in mean life expectancy. I'm not sure how to include an image in a post but the moving 3- or 4-year average death rate (age-adjusted per 100,000) has been flat since ~2010. Before then it was falling slowly, i.e. Brits. were living a bit longer with every passing year.
The death rate jumps around from winter to winter, depending on how bad respiratory viruses are that season. 2018-19 was noticeably low; 2019-20 and 2020-21 were higher than the average for the decade.
We have cheap purposed drugs, as Drs. Kory or Lawrie, Prof McCullough or other medical experts would gladly tell you. Their clinical experience in using them to prevent hospitalisation and death began in spring 2020 and continues. It's not my fault that the pharma industry values profits over lives and that YT/FB/Twitter have started censoring free debate, also the UK government has been doing the same in orders to OFCOM.
Weinstein suggested in an interview that ivermectin could eradicate the virus. Given that it's safe, unlike the vaccines, I wouldn't object to taking a short course of it. Saves the NHS £ billions. But the lost $$ & ££ displease pharma boards and shareholders, who now determine a country's medical policy, so it won't happen.
Once again you repeat this bullshit
I have spent 25 years working with the Pharma industry. Your caricature is bollocks and frankly offensive. I have never met anyone who puts profits over lives.
Ivermectin is NOT PROVEN. They are running a trial to see if it works.
That's a pity, it was good. We had a very select PB Tory (as I was then!) dinner there some years ago. That was the evening at the end of which @JohnO famously fell asleep on the train and woke up in Bournemouth or somewhere.
It's certainly not the only casualty. It's not clear if The Ledbury will ever re-open - it was one of the top two or three restaurants in London.
The Ledbury might be gone?! Wow
I was never a massive fan but it had such a stellar reputation....
Another victim is the Atlantic Bar at Sheekeys, which was a blissful place to guzzle oysters in fine style and yet at reasonable prices. They've now folded it into the main restaurant which is twice as pricey, and the food is somehow worse
Is London collapsing? Is it worth staying?
It was only a couple of days ago you were telling us you sensed it roaring back.
It has clearly escaped your attention that I am prone to mood swings. I am also prone to wishful thinking. I want London to roar back to life (likewise Paris, NYC, and so on), and yet if I am honest with myself I am not sure how it happens, logically. Certainly not soon
The world has changed for good. Working From Home is not going away. If you can or must Work From Home you will work somewhere spacious and green, maybe sunny and warm. That ain't London
Meanwhile so many of the other things that made London life seductive - restaurants, shops, galleries, opera houses, everything, the whole glittering cavalcade, are either damaged, diminished or dead
So why live in London, or NYC? As crime spirals?
For several decades the great western cities enjoyed power and wealth and ever increasing prestige (and populations). That epoch is over. The process is flung into reverse
London will likely rebound in time. But it will take a long time
So you’re saying we should wait a few years until it is a howling desolate wasteland and then start buying property?
Yippee! A sub-sample thread! I look forward to mountains of posts pointing out why sub-samples are useless and people highlighting them are idiots. PB is, after all, famous for its consistency and fairness. Anecdata will then be produced claiming that people with degrees are huge fans of the man sacked from three jobs for dishonesty.
While we’re patiently waiting, here’s the Ipsos Mori findings for Scottish VI:
10% for the Scottish Lib Dems must be one of their best polls in years. The fact that ragin Wullie is retiring must surely be a factor. Alex Cole-Hamilton might be a lightweight, but at least he doesn’t do that fake anger thing all the time.
Not that it would make any difference to their Westminster seat total anyway and even if the Tories got 0 seats in Scotland they would still win a small UK majority on the latest pollling.
At Holyrood the SNP minority government has only recently been elected and the UK government has made clear it will refuse indyref2 so Scottish polling is largely irrelevant at present
You sure? THeir support can be very focussed. And it may well hint that LDs are no longer midned to vote tactically for Tories, too. Edit: or even Labour, such as Mr Murray.
It suggests a swing of 2.75% from LD to SNP since 2019, which actually could see the SNP pick up Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross and Fife NE from the LDs (remember the Scottish LDs got 9.5% in 2019) unless Scottish Tory and Labour voters continue to tactically vote LD there.
So if anything it says the LDs could lose a seat or two in Scotland
Yippee! A sub-sample thread! I look forward to mountains of posts pointing out why sub-samples are useless and people highlighting them are idiots. PB is, after all, famous for its consistency and fairness. Anecdata will then be produced claiming that people with degrees are huge fans of the man sacked from three jobs for dishonesty.
While we’re patiently waiting, here’s the Ipsos Mori findings for Scottish VI:
10% for the Scottish Lib Dems must be one of their best polls in years. The fact that ragin Wullie is retiring must surely be a factor. Alex Cole-Hamilton might be a lightweight, but at least he doesn’t do that fake anger thing all the time.
That poll was conducted entirely before Willie Rennie's announcement.
SLD leader Wullie Rennie’s retirement has been common knowledge for months. They were even discussing it during the endless GE results shows in May.
The virus is with us for ever. The question is not eradication, but how we live with it. Vaccination is clearly key, but there are many other factors - and perhaps a need to reset expectations
I think an acceptance in the western world that this is going to bring average life expectancy down for at least a decade until we learn much more about treatments and come up with a "perfect" vaccine that stops infection at a rate of over 99%.
With the advent of the ascendency of Germ Theory, the development of vaccinations, and the discovery of antibiotics, the West believed it could 'win the war' with infectious diseases. We should have recognized that this was a mirage at least 20-30 years ago, but the penny is, at last, beginning to drop, I think.
I don't think the situation is that stark, although it could yet become so if the situation with respect to antibiotic resistance continues to deteriorate.
The other pressing problem in the UK is the lack of capacity in the healthcare system, but as with all other problems that we can agree need fixing and will cost lots of money to put right, everyone thinks that it is everyone else's job but theirs to pay to do it. Plus ça change.
ONS statistics show no decline in mean life expectancy. I'm not sure how to include an image in a post but the moving 3- or 4-year average death rate (age-adjusted per 100,000) has been flat since ~2010. Before then it was falling slowly, i.e. Brits. were living a bit longer with every passing year.
The death rate jumps around from winter to winter, depending on how bad respiratory viruses are that season. 2018-19 was noticeably low; 2019-20 and 2020-21 were higher than the average for the decade.
We have cheap purposed drugs, as Drs. Kory or Lawrie, Prof McCullough or other medical experts would gladly tell you. Their clinical experience in using them to prevent hospitalisation and death began in spring 2020 and continues. It's not my fault that the pharma industry values profits over lives and that YT/FB/Twitter have started censoring free debate, also the UK government has been doing the same in orders to OFCOM.
Weinstein suggested in an interview that ivermectin could eradicate the virus. Given that it's safe, unlike the vaccines, I wouldn't object to taking a short course of it. Saves the NHS £ billions. But the lost $$ & ££ displease pharma boards and shareholders, who now determine a country's medical policy, so it won't happen.
Once again you repeat this bullshit
I have spent 25 years working with the Pharma industry. Your caricature is bollocks and frankly offensive. I have never met anyone who puts profits over lives.
Ivermectin is NOT PROVEN. They are running a trial to see if it works.
Yes you have, you just haven't noticed. It is probably not the case that big pharma has the answer to cancer and is suppressing it cos the money's too good, but the pissing about with enantiomers of things like ketamine or citalopram to produce a patent where none should exist in the first place, or if it did it should have expired, is conclusive evidence that what we are looking at here is a bunch of avaricious cnts. There is not the faintest possibility of doubt that lives have been literally lost to suicide, or effectively lost to depression, by shenanigans of this kind.
That's a pity, it was good. We had a very select PB Tory (as I was then!) dinner there some years ago. That was the evening at the end of which @JohnO famously fell asleep on the train and woke up in Bournemouth or somewhere.
It's certainly not the only casualty. It's not clear if The Ledbury will ever re-open - it was one of the top two or three restaurants in London.
The Ledbury might be gone?! Wow
I was never a massive fan but it had such a stellar reputation....
Another victim is the Atlantic Bar at Sheekeys, which was a blissful place to guzzle oysters in fine style and yet at reasonable prices. They've now folded it into the main restaurant which is twice as pricey, and the food is somehow worse
Is London collapsing? Is it worth staying?
It was only a couple of days ago you were telling us you sensed it roaring back.
It has clearly escaped your attention that I am prone to mood swings. I am also prone to wishful thinking. I want London to roar back to life (likewise Paris, NYC, and so on), and yet if I am honest with myself I am not sure how it happens, logically. Certainly not soon
The world has changed for good. Working From Home is not going away. If you can or must Work From Home you will work somewhere spacious and green, maybe sunny and warm. That ain't London
Meanwhile so many of the other things that made London life seductive - restaurants, shops, galleries, opera houses, everything, the whole glittering cavalcade, are either damaged, diminished or dead
So why live in London, or NYC? As crime spirals?
For several decades the great western cities enjoyed power and wealth and ever increasing prestige (and populations). That epoch is over. The process is flung into reverse
London will likely rebound in time. But it will take a long time
From September I expect most people will be working back in the office at least 3 days a week, with maybe the other 2 still WFH.
So I expect the big global cities like NYC and London to gradually rebound, though more workers will continue to move out to the outer suburbs and rural areas and bigger houses there and take advantage of the bigger space and mix of city life when they want it but a home life with more green space and fresh air
It is possible that the flagpole cities like London and NYC will do OK, as they are SO big and prestigious, people will still want to live and work there. If that happens, it is the 2nd order cities that will suffer much more. Chicago, say, or Manchester
They don't have the seductions of a New York or a London, but will have many of the nasty issues - crime, depopulation, and so on
I am particularly pessimistic about American cities. They are fucked
I’m moving to downtown New Haven, CT. Have to say I’m quite looking forward to it.
Yippee! A sub-sample thread! I look forward to mountains of posts pointing out why sub-samples are useless and people highlighting them are idiots. PB is, after all, famous for its consistency and fairness. Anecdata will then be produced claiming that people with degrees are huge fans of the man sacked from three jobs for dishonesty.
While we’re patiently waiting, here’s the Ipsos Mori findings for Scottish VI:
10% for the Scottish Lib Dems must be one of their best polls in years. The fact that ragin Wullie is retiring must surely be a factor. Alex Cole-Hamilton might be a lightweight, but at least he doesn’t do that fake anger thing all the time.
Not that it would make any difference to their Westminster seat total anyway and even if the Tories got 0 seats in Scotland they would still win a UK majority on the latest pollling.
At Holyrood the SNP minority government has only recently been elected and the UK government has made clear it will refuse indyref2 so Scottish polling is largely irrelevant at present
Huh? The choice of SLD leader is irrelevant to their prospects at the next Westminster elections? Well, it’s a point of view..
If you’re happy with 0 SCon MPs then that is fine by me.
You might think that Scottish election results and poll findings are irrelevant, but Scots don’t.
The virus is with us for ever. The question is not eradication, but how we live with it. Vaccination is clearly key, but there are many other factors - and perhaps a need to reset expectations
I think an acceptance in the western world that this is going to bring average life expectancy down for at least a decade until we learn much more about treatments and come up with a "perfect" vaccine that stops infection at a rate of over 99%.
With the advent of the ascendency of Germ Theory, the development of vaccinations, and the discovery of antibiotics, the West believed it could 'win the war' with infectious diseases. We should have recognized that this was a mirage at least 20-30 years ago, but the penny is, at last, beginning to drop, I think.
I don't think the situation is that stark, although it could yet become so if the situation with respect to antibiotic resistance continues to deteriorate.
The other pressing problem in the UK is the lack of capacity in the healthcare system, but as with all other problems that we can agree need fixing and will cost lots of money to put right, everyone thinks that it is everyone else's job but theirs to pay to do it. Plus ça change.
ONS statistics show no decline in mean life expectancy. I'm not sure how to include an image in a post but the moving 3- or 4-year average death rate (age-adjusted per 100,000) has been flat since ~2010. Before then it was falling slowly, i.e. Brits. were living a bit longer with every passing year.
The death rate jumps around from winter to winter, depending on how bad respiratory viruses are that season. 2018-19 was noticeably low; 2019-20 and 2020-21 were higher than the average for the decade.
We have cheap purposed drugs, as Drs. Kory or Lawrie, Prof McCullough or other medical experts would gladly tell you. Their clinical experience in using them to prevent hospitalisation and death began in spring 2020 and continues. It's not my fault that the pharma industry values profits over lives and that YT/FB/Twitter have started censoring free debate, also the UK government has been doing the same in orders to OFCOM.
Weinstein suggested in an interview that ivermectin could eradicate the virus. Given that it's safe, unlike the vaccines, I wouldn't object to taking a short course of it. Saves the NHS £ billions. But the lost $$ & ££ displease pharma boards and shareholders, who now determine a country's medical policy, so it won't happen.
Once again you repeat this bullshit
I have spent 25 years working with the Pharma industry. Your caricature is bollocks and frankly offensive. I have never met anyone who puts profits over lives.
Ivermectin is NOT PROVEN. They are running a trial to see if it works.
Yes you have, you just haven't noticed. It is probably not the case that big pharma has the answer to cancer and is suppressing it cos the money's too good, but the pissing about with enantiomers of things like ketamine or citalopram to produce a patent where none should exist in the first place, or if it did it should have expired, is conclusive evidence that what we are looking at here is a bunch of avaricious cnts. There is not the faintest possibility of doubt that lives have been literally lost to suicide, or effectively lost to depression, by shenanigans of this kind.
Actually the enantiomer of citalopram (escitalopram) has fewer side effects than the original.
I really think we are done in over Covid. My 'live and let live' elderly neighbour, who happily had dinner parties throughout the first lockdown, told me that she now thinks that masks and hand sanitiser should stay for good, as they help with stopping the flu.
I've been in group chats with university friends and they all seem to believe that the covid rules, including being pinged and covid passports should be accepted and any loss of civil liberties is acceptable on the basis that some people in society cannot police themselves.
They just don't engage with the fact that the hospitalisation rate is low, when I bring that up they move on to saying it is justifed by a need to protect the vulnerable, who are medically unable to take the vaccine. But the reality is that this category of people are also likely to be at risk from a whole load of other diseases going around and we don't undertake large scale societal interventions to protect them from these.
I don't know what the answer is, the only thing that keeps me sane is the fact that the kids parents at my sons school all refused one day to wear masks. But I think this pandemic has driven the country mad.
@darkage You are clearly as pole-axed by this as I am.
I could see the writing on the wall as early as March last year. I wrote a header about it. At the time I thought that most people had not twigged the seriousness of the pandemic. All they were focused on was health and they failed to see that we have a new enduring risk in life. They gave no acknowledgement of liberties or the economy - i.e. the wider picture. I argued that making health and the NHS the-only-thing-that-matters was a mistake and the initial lockdown should not have been extended past the original 12 weeks. It was a brave piece to write at the time, but look where were are now.
Liberals have been caught in a pincer-movement between authoritarian rule-followers on the right and dystopian illiberals on the left. I think that more of the former can be turned than the latter, especially as fear tapers more and more. The latter have revealed that they never liked liberal democracy in the first place - particularly the liberal bit - and there is some glee in constraining liberties under a dominant state apparatus. They are clearly happy for this to endure, perhaps permanently.
These two groups have the numbers. And we have a spineless populist government who follow not lead.
It is genuinely terrifying if you are a liberal. Your fears are justified.
Thanks for this. PB is keeping me sane at the moment, along with a few heroic back bench conservative MPs. My own view is that lockdowns are exceptionally justified where there is an absolute medical emergency; as there was for perhaps two brief periods of time. But now we must regard it as a preventable disease, the prevention being the vaccine. I am coming to the view that the other stuff - the assymptomatic testing, self isolation, pinging, covid apps etc etc have absolutely no place at all in a free society and should be absolutely rejected.
I know that there are a lot of people who share my fears, but we are overruled by the forces you describe. I am also deeply troubled by this contradiction where people support the rules but obviously don't follow them, they keep making exceptions for themselves. But if the illiberal pursuit of biosecurity gets taken to its conclusion, that option won't be open to them anymore - they are sleepwalking in to a totalitarian nightmare; and we have to find a way of stopping it.
Ditto.
Though where you say "support the rules but obviously don't follow them, they keep making exceptions for themselves" I don't think I'm seeing this from the people I know, but that is just my bubble. Most people I know think broadly as we do.
My original piece for PB is below by the way. The comments are well worth a read 15 months on (you need to scroll right down to bottom). Most were not complimentary.
Just skimmed some of the early comments on your thread.
"Well argued" from alanbrooke, "Brilliant header" from rottenborough, "A great header" from MarqueeMark, "Good article" from myself.
Intriguing that you see the response as not complimentary, it was, at least early in the thread (not going to re-read it all!).
I wrote that it was "always brave to be a contrarian voice. Well done." DavidL wrote "Really good header".
The response seems pretty good skimming it. Don't knock yourself Stocky!
Hard to read anyone else's posts PT. Do post more! (ticheek)
Its really interesting to read these posts 15 months on. I think it is fair to say very few, if any, and certainly not myself had any idea what the next 15 months held for us. I was clearly more concerned about the economic effects than the deaths (which in fairness were still pretty low at that point) and "in the absence of a vaccine" was in the let it rip camp.
Its interesting to compare that with my caution now about removing restrictions etc. I still favour that but I am pretty ambivalent given the current rate of infections. The reality of Covid has been a harsh task master for us all. This experience is something those in adulthood now will never forget.
Yippee! A sub-sample thread! I look forward to mountains of posts pointing out why sub-samples are useless and people highlighting them are idiots. PB is, after all, famous for its consistency and fairness. Anecdata will then be produced claiming that people with degrees are huge fans of the man sacked from three jobs for dishonesty.
While we’re patiently waiting, here’s the Ipsos Mori findings for Scottish VI:
10% for the Scottish Lib Dems must be one of their best polls in years. The fact that ragin Wullie is retiring must surely be a factor. Alex Cole-Hamilton might be a lightweight, but at least he doesn’t do that fake anger thing all the time.
Not that it would make any difference to their Westminster seat total anyway and even if the Tories got 0 seats in Scotland they would still win a UK majority on the latest pollling.
At Holyrood the SNP minority government has only recently been elected and the UK government has made clear it will refuse indyref2 so Scottish polling is largely irrelevant at present
Huh? The choice of SLD leader is irrelevant to their prospects at the next Westminster elections? Well, it’s a point of view..
If you’re happy with 0 SCon MPs then that is fine by me.
You might think that Scottish election results and poll findings are irrelevant, but Scots don’t.
Well no I would not be happy with it, it would be nice to still have a few Scottish Tory MPs but on current UK polling we would still have a UK Tory majority anyway and with a UK majority we can and will continue to refuse indyref2 and there is nothing the Nationalists can do about it.
As I have said the only way the Nationalists will ever get an indyref2 is a Labour minority government reliant on SNP confidence and supply
The virus is with us for ever. The question is not eradication, but how we live with it. Vaccination is clearly key, but there are many other factors - and perhaps a need to reset expectations
I think an acceptance in the western world that this is going to bring average life expectancy down for at least a decade until we learn much more about treatments and come up with a "perfect" vaccine that stops infection at a rate of over 99%.
With the advent of the ascendency of Germ Theory, the development of vaccinations, and the discovery of antibiotics, the West believed it could 'win the war' with infectious diseases. We should have recognized that this was a mirage at least 20-30 years ago, but the penny is, at last, beginning to drop, I think.
I don't think the situation is that stark, although it could yet become so if the situation with respect to antibiotic resistance continues to deteriorate.
The other pressing problem in the UK is the lack of capacity in the healthcare system, but as with all other problems that we can agree need fixing and will cost lots of money to put right, everyone thinks that it is everyone else's job but theirs to pay to do it. Plus ça change.
ONS statistics show no decline in mean life expectancy. I'm not sure how to include an image in a post but the moving 3- or 4-year average death rate (age-adjusted per 100,000) has been flat since ~2010. Before then it was falling slowly, i.e. Brits. were living a bit longer with every passing year.
The death rate jumps around from winter to winter, depending on how bad respiratory viruses are that season. 2018-19 was noticeably low; 2019-20 and 2020-21 were higher than the average for the decade.
We have cheap purposed drugs, as Drs. Kory or Lawrie, Prof McCullough or other medical experts would gladly tell you. Their clinical experience in using them to prevent hospitalisation and death began in spring 2020 and continues. It's not my fault that the pharma industry values profits over lives and that YT/FB/Twitter have started censoring free debate, also the UK government has been doing the same in orders to OFCOM.
Weinstein suggested in an interview that ivermectin could eradicate the virus. Given that it's safe, unlike the vaccines, I wouldn't object to taking a short course of it. Saves the NHS £ billions. But the lost $$ & ££ displease pharma boards and shareholders, who now determine a country's medical policy, so it won't happen.
Once again you repeat this bullshit
I have spent 25 years working with the Pharma industry. Your caricature is bollocks and frankly offensive. I have never met anyone who puts profits over lives.
Ivermectin is NOT PROVEN. They are running a trial to see if it works.
Yes you have, you just haven't noticed. It is probably not the case that big pharma has the answer to cancer and is suppressing it cos the money's too good, but the pissing about with enantiomers of things like ketamine or citalopram to produce a patent where none should exist in the first place, or if it did it should have expired, is conclusive evidence that what we are looking at here is a bunch of avaricious cnts. There is not the faintest possibility of doubt that lives have been literally lost to suicide, or effectively lost to depression, by shenanigans of this kind.
Actually the enantiomer of citalopram (escitalopram) has fewer side effects than the original.
That's exactly what I'd say if I were trying to market it. Sadly
"Conclusion
Presently, the claims about clinically relevant superiority of escitalopram over citalopram in short-to-medium term treatment of major depressive disorder are not supported by evidence."
The efficacy of a drug being promoted by rightwing figures worldwide for treating Covid-19 is in serious doubt after a major study suggesting the treatment is effective against the virus was withdrawn due to “ethical concerns”.
The preprint study on the efficacy and safety of ivermectin – a drug used against parasites such as worms and headlice – in treating Covid-19, led by Dr Ahmed Elgazzar from Benha University in Egypt, was published on the Research Square website in November.
It claimed to be a randomised control trial, a type of study crucial in medicine because it is considered to provide the most reliable evidence on the effectiveness of interventions due to the minimal risk of confounding factors influencing the results. Elgazzar is listed as chief editor of the Benha Medical Journal, and is an editorial board member.
The study found that patients with Covid-19 treated in hospital who “received ivermectin early reported substantial recovery” and that there was “a substantial improvement and reduction in mortality rate in ivermectin treated groups” by 90%.
But the drug’s promise as a treatment for the virus is in serious doubt after the Elgazzar study was pulled from the Research Square website on Thursday “due to ethical concerns”. Research Square did not outline what those concerns were.
A medical student in London, Jack Lawrence, was among the first to identify serious concerns about the paper, leading to the retraction. He first became aware of the Elgazzar preprint when it was assigned to him by one of his lecturers for an assignment that formed part of his master’s degree. He found the introduction section of the paper appeared to have been almost entirely plagiarised.
It appeared that the authors had run entire paragraphs from press releases and websites about ivermectin and Covid-19 through a thesaurus to change key words. “Humorously, this led to them changing ‘severe acute respiratory syndrome’ to ‘extreme intense respiratory syndrome’ on one occasion,” Lawrence said.
The data also looked suspicious to Lawrence, with the raw data apparently contradicting the study protocol on several occasions.
“The authors claimed to have done the study only on 18-80 year olds, but at least three patients in the dataset were under 18,” Lawrence said.
“The authors claimed they conducted the study between the 8th of June and 20th of September 2020, however most of the patients who died were admitted into hospital and died before the 8th of June according to the raw data. The data was also terribly formatted, and includes one patient who left hospital on the non-existent date of 31/06/2020.”
As I’ve said before, the argument in favour of ivermectin has been based on meta analyses of a bunch of small, poorly designed trials. Putting together a number of statistically poor trials does not make for a better result than any of the trials individually - and when some of those trials appear downright fraudulent, the results are just garbage. There is some evidence of an antiviral mechanism for the compound, but no convincing evidence so far for its therapeutic use against Covid. The properly designed NHS trial will settle the matter in due course.
Oh, I did reply very soon after your kind email and was wondering about the 'silence' from your end! Wonder what happened. Will try again but in short, I'm pretty well back to full strength and would love to have another drink/nosh, either in town or midway betwixt you and the Dem Rep of Hersham!
The virus is with us for ever. The question is not eradication, but how we live with it. Vaccination is clearly key, but there are many other factors - and perhaps a need to reset expectations
I think an acceptance in the western world that this is going to bring average life expectancy down for at least a decade until we learn much more about treatments and come up with a "perfect" vaccine that stops infection at a rate of over 99%.
With the advent of the ascendency of Germ Theory, the development of vaccinations, and the discovery of antibiotics, the West believed it could 'win the war' with infectious diseases. We should have recognized that this was a mirage at least 20-30 years ago, but the penny is, at last, beginning to drop, I think.
I don't think the situation is that stark, although it could yet become so if the situation with respect to antibiotic resistance continues to deteriorate.
The other pressing problem in the UK is the lack of capacity in the healthcare system, but as with all other problems that we can agree need fixing and will cost lots of money to put right, everyone thinks that it is everyone else's job but theirs to pay to do it. Plus ça change.
ONS statistics show no decline in mean life expectancy. I'm not sure how to include an image in a post but the moving 3- or 4-year average death rate (age-adjusted per 100,000) has been flat since ~2010. Before then it was falling slowly, i.e. Brits. were living a bit longer with every passing year.
The death rate jumps around from winter to winter, depending on how bad respiratory viruses are that season. 2018-19 was noticeably low; 2019-20 and 2020-21 were higher than the average for the decade.
We have cheap purposed drugs, as Drs. Kory or Lawrie, Prof McCullough or other medical experts would gladly tell you. Their clinical experience in using them to prevent hospitalisation and death began in spring 2020 and continues. It's not my fault that the pharma industry values profits over lives and that YT/FB/Twitter have started censoring free debate, also the UK government has been doing the same in orders to OFCOM.
Weinstein suggested in an interview that ivermectin could eradicate the virus. Given that it's safe, unlike the vaccines, I wouldn't object to taking a short course of it. Saves the NHS £ billions. But the lost $$ & ££ displease pharma boards and shareholders, who now determine a country's medical policy, so it won't happen.
Once again you repeat this bullshit
I have spent 25 years working with the Pharma industry. Your caricature is bollocks and frankly offensive. I have never met anyone who puts profits over lives.
Ivermectin is NOT PROVEN. They are running a trial to see if it works.
On this, he’s a crank, Charles. Don’t let it wind you up.
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Seems counterintuitive. I thought close contact was based on signal strength, which would be greatly attenuated by a wall.
Are we going to find some funny business has been going on?
Have you been around at Barry's next door again, i told you to stop going round there, you always end up drunk....me no, not been round all week.
Sharron, your phone says you been pinged due to close contact with Brian next door yesterday when i was away for work...no no, not me, never been round there...
I really think we are done in over Covid. My 'live and let live' elderly neighbour, who happily had dinner parties throughout the first lockdown, told me that she now thinks that masks and hand sanitiser should stay for good, as they help with stopping the flu.
I've been in group chats with university friends and they all seem to believe that the covid rules, including being pinged and covid passports should be accepted and any loss of civil liberties is acceptable on the basis that some people in society cannot police themselves.
They just don't engage with the fact that the hospitalisation rate is low, when I bring that up they move on to saying it is justifed by a need to protect the vulnerable, who are medically unable to take the vaccine. But the reality is that this category of people are also likely to be at risk from a whole load of other diseases going around and we don't undertake large scale societal interventions to protect them from these.
I don't know what the answer is, the only thing that keeps me sane is the fact that the kids parents at my sons school all refused one day to wear masks. But I think this pandemic has driven the country mad.
@darkage You are clearly as pole-axed by this as I am.
I could see the writing on the wall as early as March last year. I wrote a header about it. At the time I thought that most people had not twigged the seriousness of the pandemic. All they were focused on was health and they failed to see that we have a new enduring risk in life. They gave no acknowledgement of liberties or the economy - i.e. the wider picture. I argued that making health and the NHS the-only-thing-that-matters was a mistake and the initial lockdown should not have been extended past the original 12 weeks. It was a brave piece to write at the time, but look where were are now.
Liberals have been caught in a pincer-movement between authoritarian rule-followers on the right and dystopian illiberals on the left. I think that more of the former can be turned than the latter, especially as fear tapers more and more. The latter have revealed that they never liked liberal democracy in the first place - particularly the liberal bit - and there is some glee in constraining liberties under a dominant state apparatus. They are clearly happy for this to endure, perhaps permanently.
These two groups have the numbers. And we have a spineless populist government who follow not lead.
It is genuinely terrifying if you are a liberal. Your fears are justified.
Thanks for this. PB is keeping me sane at the moment, along with a few heroic back bench conservative MPs. My own view is that lockdowns are exceptionally justified where there is an absolute medical emergency; as there was for perhaps two brief periods of time. But now we must regard it as a preventable disease, the prevention being the vaccine. I am coming to the view that the other stuff - the assymptomatic testing, self isolation, pinging, covid apps etc etc have absolutely no place at all in a free society and should be absolutely rejected.
I know that there are a lot of people who share my fears, but we are overruled by the forces you describe. I am also deeply troubled by this contradiction where people support the rules but obviously don't follow them, they keep making exceptions for themselves. But if the illiberal pursuit of biosecurity gets taken to its conclusion, that option won't be open to them anymore - they are sleepwalking in to a totalitarian nightmare; and we have to find a way of stopping it.
Ditto.
Though where you say "support the rules but obviously don't follow them, they keep making exceptions for themselves" I don't think I'm seeing this from the people I know, but that is just my bubble. Most people I know think broadly as we do.
My original piece for PB is below by the way. The comments are well worth a read 15 months on (you need to scroll right down to bottom). Most were not complimentary.
It's quite disappointing the number of people failing to stand up for liberal democracy and for freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of movement, parliamnetary scrutiny, etc. I think I broadly took liberal democracy for granted two years ago when we appeared to have it. I was never one to particularly prioritise a written constitution because I honestly didn’t think any of these things we're under threat. It's very disappointing to realise many of your fellow countrymen see it is quite disposable and are actually quite partial to arbitrary rules, especially for other people. If only there was a political party who was prepared to advocate liberal democracy.
Excellent post - and you've alighted on an aspect I've been thinking about writing a header about.
"I think I broadly took liberal democracy for granted" - yes, liberals did. My pet theory is that many liberals don't care that much whether we are governed by a moderate CP or a moderate LP. Who cares? - we live under the umbrella of a liberal democracy so we've won already.
My! The complacency. We never had the checks and balances did we?
There's no such thing as "checks and balances". Look at the USA, SCOTUS, voting rights, Texas and more for that.
Liberal democracy can only survive as long as people want to have it and are willing to fight for it. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberalism.
Relying upon checks and balances means that people take it for granted and that is when things go wrong.
I think the problem you have got is that people on the whole don't seem to be particularly bothered, and we don't have the checks and balances inherent in a written constitution. The unfortunate reality is that it is an elite project; it is the same people again and again who stand up for liberal democracy in its most fundamental form, and suprisingly they are right wing conservative backbench MPs.
I think our lack of a written constitution is a good thing not a bad thing. As I said I don't think "checks and balances" work, they lead to complacency. If the wrong person gets in charge of the checks then you're screwed. See: SCOTUS.
The UK has arguably the world's longest and most successful history of liberal democracy, evolved over centuries, and it is the people that ensure it. As we don't rely upon checks and balances so we've got people from all parties vigilant to protect liberalism.
I'm afraid that that the unwritten checks and balances inherent in our system are failing. They're simply not prepared for a character like Johnson.
He openly and mockingly appoints his own brother to the Lords ; tries to get his dining partner Dacre into a position of broadcasting regulatory authority , to allow GB News to gradually create a Fox-style anti-liberaldemocratic conservative culture like that of the US ; prorogues parliament when it challenges him ; eye-winkingly encourages a culture of nepotism throughout his cabinet ; and most recently has apparently appointed his old friend and Bullingdon associate on to the committee on standards.
The virus is with us for ever. The question is not eradication, but how we live with it. Vaccination is clearly key, but there are many other factors - and perhaps a need to reset expectations
I think an acceptance in the western world that this is going to bring average life expectancy down for at least a decade until we learn much more about treatments and come up with a "perfect" vaccine that stops infection at a rate of over 99%.
With the advent of the ascendency of Germ Theory, the development of vaccinations, and the discovery of antibiotics, the West believed it could 'win the war' with infectious diseases. We should have recognized that this was a mirage at least 20-30 years ago, but the penny is, at last, beginning to drop, I think.
I don't think the situation is that stark, although it could yet become so if the situation with respect to antibiotic resistance continues to deteriorate.
The other pressing problem in the UK is the lack of capacity in the healthcare system, but as with all other problems that we can agree need fixing and will cost lots of money to put right, everyone thinks that it is everyone else's job but theirs to pay to do it. Plus ça change.
ONS statistics show no decline in mean life expectancy. I'm not sure how to include an image in a post but the moving 3- or 4-year average death rate (age-adjusted per 100,000) has been flat since ~2010. Before then it was falling slowly, i.e. Brits. were living a bit longer with every passing year.
The death rate jumps around from winter to winter, depending on how bad respiratory viruses are that season. 2018-19 was noticeably low; 2019-20 and 2020-21 were higher than the average for the decade.
We have cheap purposed drugs, as Drs. Kory or Lawrie, Prof McCullough or other medical experts would gladly tell you. Their clinical experience in using them to prevent hospitalisation and death began in spring 2020 and continues. It's not my fault that the pharma industry values profits over lives and that YT/FB/Twitter have started censoring free debate, also the UK government has been doing the same in orders to OFCOM.
Weinstein suggested in an interview that ivermectin could eradicate the virus. Given that it's safe, unlike the vaccines, I wouldn't object to taking a short course of it. Saves the NHS £ billions. But the lost $$ & ££ displease pharma boards and shareholders, who now determine a country's medical policy, so it won't happen.
Once again you repeat this bullshit
I have spent 25 years working with the Pharma industry. Your caricature is bollocks and frankly offensive. I have never met anyone who puts profits over lives.
Ivermectin is NOT PROVEN. They are running a trial to see if it works.
On this, he’s a crank, Charles. Don’t let it wind you up.
Perhaps, but equally Charles's case seems to be that he has had lunch with a lot of chaps who seemed to be awfully decent chaps, so there. The messing about with unpatented drugs to replace them with identical but patented versions means that depressed people in the US kill themselves because they can't do the copay on the S enantiomer and the R is no longer available. Sad, but there it is.
I really think we are done in over Covid. My 'live and let live' elderly neighbour, who happily had dinner parties throughout the first lockdown, told me that she now thinks that masks and hand sanitiser should stay for good, as they help with stopping the flu.
I've been in group chats with university friends and they all seem to believe that the covid rules, including being pinged and covid passports should be accepted and any loss of civil liberties is acceptable on the basis that some people in society cannot police themselves.
They just don't engage with the fact that the hospitalisation rate is low, when I bring that up they move on to saying it is justifed by a need to protect the vulnerable, who are medically unable to take the vaccine. But the reality is that this category of people are also likely to be at risk from a whole load of other diseases going around and we don't undertake large scale societal interventions to protect them from these.
I don't know what the answer is, the only thing that keeps me sane is the fact that the kids parents at my sons school all refused one day to wear masks. But I think this pandemic has driven the country mad.
@darkage You are clearly as pole-axed by this as I am.
I could see the writing on the wall as early as March last year. I wrote a header about it. At the time I thought that most people had not twigged the seriousness of the pandemic. All they were focused on was health and they failed to see that we have a new enduring risk in life. They gave no acknowledgement of liberties or the economy - i.e. the wider picture. I argued that making health and the NHS the-only-thing-that-matters was a mistake and the initial lockdown should not have been extended past the original 12 weeks. It was a brave piece to write at the time, but look where were are now.
Liberals have been caught in a pincer-movement between authoritarian rule-followers on the right and dystopian illiberals on the left. I think that more of the former can be turned than the latter, especially as fear tapers more and more. The latter have revealed that they never liked liberal democracy in the first place - particularly the liberal bit - and there is some glee in constraining liberties under a dominant state apparatus. They are clearly happy for this to endure, perhaps permanently.
These two groups have the numbers. And we have a spineless populist government who follow not lead.
It is genuinely terrifying if you are a liberal. Your fears are justified.
Thanks for this. PB is keeping me sane at the moment, along with a few heroic back bench conservative MPs. My own view is that lockdowns are exceptionally justified where there is an absolute medical emergency; as there was for perhaps two brief periods of time. But now we must regard it as a preventable disease, the prevention being the vaccine. I am coming to the view that the other stuff - the assymptomatic testing, self isolation, pinging, covid apps etc etc have absolutely no place at all in a free society and should be absolutely rejected.
I know that there are a lot of people who share my fears, but we are overruled by the forces you describe. I am also deeply troubled by this contradiction where people support the rules but obviously don't follow them, they keep making exceptions for themselves. But if the illiberal pursuit of biosecurity gets taken to its conclusion, that option won't be open to them anymore - they are sleepwalking in to a totalitarian nightmare; and we have to find a way of stopping it.
Ditto.
Though where you say "support the rules but obviously don't follow them, they keep making exceptions for themselves" I don't think I'm seeing this from the people I know, but that is just my bubble. Most people I know think broadly as we do.
My original piece for PB is below by the way. The comments are well worth a read 15 months on (you need to scroll right down to bottom). Most were not complimentary.
It's quite disappointing the number of people failing to stand up for liberal democracy and for freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of movement, parliamnetary scrutiny, etc. I think I broadly took liberal democracy for granted two years ago when we appeared to have it. I was never one to particularly prioritise a written constitution because I honestly didn’t think any of these things we're under threat. It's very disappointing to realise many of your fellow countrymen see it is quite disposable and are actually quite partial to arbitrary rules, especially for other people. If only there was a political party who was prepared to advocate liberal democracy.
Excellent post - and you've alighted on an aspect I've been thinking about writing a header about.
"I think I broadly took liberal democracy for granted" - yes, liberals did. My pet theory is that many liberals don't care that much whether we are governed by a moderate CP or a moderate LP. Who cares? - we live under the umbrella of a liberal democracy so we've won already.
My! The complacency. We never had the checks and balances did we?
There's no such thing as "checks and balances". Look at the USA, SCOTUS, voting rights, Texas and more for that.
Liberal democracy can only survive as long as people want to have it and are willing to fight for it. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberalism.
Relying upon checks and balances means that people take it for granted and that is when things go wrong.
I think the problem you have got is that people on the whole don't seem to be particularly bothered, and we don't have the checks and balances inherent in a written constitution. The unfortunate reality is that it is an elite project; it is the same people again and again who stand up for liberal democracy in its most fundamental form, and suprisingly they are right wing conservative backbench MPs.
I think our lack of a written constitution is a good thing not a bad thing. As I said I don't think "checks and balances" work, they lead to complacency. If the wrong person gets in charge of the checks then you're screwed. See: SCOTUS.
The UK has arguably the world's longest and most successful history of liberal democracy, evolved over centuries, and it is the people that ensure it. As we don't rely upon checks and balances so we've got people from all parties vigilant to protect liberalism.
He openly and mockingly appoints his own brother to the Lords
Without commenting on the other points, while appointing relatives is not something I think should be accepted, his brother did quit as a minister while he was PM, so at least he is not a total patsy.
On the point about greater codification of constitutional norms, I think people are inclined to put too much faith that such would change or safeguard things. Doesn't matter what is written down if someone has the power, will and support to ignore it anyway.
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Seems counterintuitive. I thought close contact was based on signal strength, which would be greatly attenuated by a wall.
Are we going to find some funny business has been going on?
Have you been around at Barry's next door again, i told you to stop going round there, you always end up drunk....me no, not been round all week.
Sharron, your phone says you been pinged due to close contact with Brian next door yesterday when i was away for work...no no, not me, never been round there...
The thing is, when I was pinged it didn't tell me who my close contact was.
I've always been a big supporter of devolution within England so was interested in the Prime Minister's comments today.
I'm not wholly sure what a "County Deal" is and it doesn't seem the Prime Minister is either. Surrey and Hampshire are not London and expecting Tim Oliver to take over "transport" beyond local buses and cycling seems curious. Are we suggesting for example the County Councils take over South Western Railway? To be fair, they could only do a better job.
There's no mention of proper devolution such as ending capping and allowing Councils to set whatever Council Tax they consider justified for service provision. There's no mention (no surprise) of handing planning control back to elected local councillors (might be good if you wanted to stop the drift of disillusioned Conservatives to the LDs) and, more important, no mention of moving powers to local authorities and providing adequate resources (public health being one example).
The problem with County Councils is so much of their funding is taken up by the provision of care to adults and children - until and unless we see a resolution to the provision and funding of adult social care in particular (those the cost of provision of care to vulnerable children is another big drain on resources), the financial question is going to bedevil progress in other areas.
It also seems the Government has backed away from any talk of ending two-tier local Government and this will be another issue - again, back to Surrey where the Conservative-run County Council faces eleven Districts and Boroughs, many of whom are now run by anti-Conservative groupings. Seeking a common approach to devolution is almost impossible in such a dislocated political environment.
Yes, Runnymede, Surrey Heath, Reigate & Banstead and Woking (minority) are Conservative led out of the 11 Ds&Bs in Surrey. I completely agree that the possibility of even a basic accommodation with the County is near zero.
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Seems counterintuitive. I thought close contact was based on signal strength, which would be greatly attenuated by a wall.
Are we going to find some funny business has been going on?
Have you been around at Barry's next door again, i told you to stop going round there, you always end up drunk....me no, not been round all week.
Sharron, your phone says you been pinged due to close contact with Brian next door yesterday when i was away for work...no no, not me, never been round there...
The thing is, when I was pinged it didn't tell me who my close contact was.
In all seriousness, that is the whole point of the google / apple system, its supposed to be anonymous, so where have the telegraph got their story? The whole contract tracing would be much easier if you and the authorities actually knew what interactions caused it.
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Beyond farcical. If it’s not true, it might as well be.
Enough.
It’s true. My niece had to self isolate as the man in the office above hers had Covid and she was within 2M of him even though he was on a different floor, working for a different company and she never met him.
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Seems counterintuitive. I thought close contact was based on signal strength, which would be greatly attenuated by a wall.
Are we going to find some funny business has been going on?
Have you been around at Barry's next door again, i told you to stop going round there, you always end up drunk....me no, not been round all week.
Sharron, your phone says you been pinged due to close contact with Brian next door yesterday when i was away for work...no no, not me, never been round there...
The thing is, when I was pinged it didn't tell me who my close contact was.
In all seriousness, that is the whole point of the google / apple system, so where have the telegraph got their story? The whole contract tracing would be much easier if you and the authorities actually knew what interactions caused it.
Bluetooth connectivity. Which could happen through terrace/semi walls if both parties left their phones next to the through wall.
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Beyond farcical. If it’s not true, it might as well be.
Enough.
It’s true. My niece had to self isolate as the man in the office above hers had Covid and she was within 2M of him even though he was on a different floor, working for a different company and she never met him.
How does your niece know it was due to him and not due to anyone else that she has been in contact with? 🤔
Hey Siri, please show me some direct discrimination under the Equality Act of 2010.
Er, Cllr Katie Lomas says she has been told she cannot take part in a council debate about disabled people accessing York city centre at the meeting - because she is disabled
She has requested to take part, saying she feels this is discriminatory, but will not be allowed
She says she has been told she has a personal interest in the debate over whether blue badge holders can access York city centre, as she has a blue badge
I've always been a big supporter of devolution within England so was interested in the Prime Minister's comments today.
I'm not wholly sure what a "County Deal" is and it doesn't seem the Prime Minister is either. Surrey and Hampshire are not London and expecting Tim Oliver to take over "transport" beyond local buses and cycling seems curious. Are we suggesting for example the County Councils take over South Western Railway? To be fair, they could only do a better job.
There's no mention of proper devolution such as ending capping and allowing Councils to set whatever Council Tax they consider justified for service provision. There's no mention (no surprise) of handing planning control back to elected local councillors (might be good if you wanted to stop the drift of disillusioned Conservatives to the LDs) and, more important, no mention of moving powers to local authorities and providing adequate resources (public health being one example).
The problem with County Councils is so much of their funding is taken up by the provision of care to adults and children - until and unless we see a resolution to the provision and funding of adult social care in particular (those the cost of provision of care to vulnerable children is another big drain on resources), the financial question is going to bedevil progress in other areas.
It also seems the Government has backed away from any talk of ending two-tier local Government and this will be another issue - again, back to Surrey where the Conservative-run County Council faces eleven Districts and Boroughs, many of whom are now run by anti-Conservative groupings. Seeking a common approach to devolution is almost impossible in such a dislocated political environment.
The problem I suppose is that some counties are sufficiently populous and wealthy to thrive as devolved units in their own right. Kent must be at least a match for Wales in that regard. Or Surrey. Or Yorkshire if you merge all the ridings. Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire would probably all have the necessary critical mass too.
But then there are others that simply won’t. Cornwall. Cumbria. Rutland. Shropshire. Herefordshire.
And several marginal cases. Staffordshire. Gloucestershire. Derbyshire.
Which is why nobody has ever proposed county by county devolution since Henry VIII abolished all bar one of the palatinates.
The population of Wales is about 3 million. The only county-like entities that would match that would be Greater London, West Midlands, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire.
Other impressive counties are relatively titchy. Take Hampshire. Even folding Portsmouth and Southampton back in only gets you to 1.8 million, about the same as Kent and Essex. For comparison, N Ireland is 1.6 million. Other counties are just to small to take on other functions. Cambridgeshire is about 850k, Oxfordshire is 680k.
Which is why people who look at devolving from Westminster end up creating regions, and the concept of regions makes lots of people cry. Meanwhile England as an entity is just too big to manage well. So we're stuck.
The other elephant in the room is money. It was bad enough 20 years ago; basically the maximum allowed council income matched the minimum standard of expected services, so there was approximately no political discretion at all. That was before austerity, the 2% rule on Council Tax and the ballooning of social care costs. You have to wonder why anyone in local government bothers any more.
Not sure the size thing is that important as there are plenty of smaller independent economic units pub there. The cantons of Switzerland: largest is about 1.5 million people and the smallest in the 10s of thousands, and they have very significant autonomy over a wide range of policy as well as tax and spend powers. I know we’re not Switzerland but there are other examples too, including small US cities, German municipalities and so on.
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Beyond farcical. If it’s not true, it might as well be.
Enough.
It’s true. My niece had to self isolate as the man in the office above hers had Covid and she was within 2M of him even though he was on a different floor, working for a different company and she never met him.
I've always been a big supporter of devolution within England so was interested in the Prime Minister's comments today.
I'm not wholly sure what a "County Deal" is and it doesn't seem the Prime Minister is either. Surrey and Hampshire are not London and expecting Tim Oliver to take over "transport" beyond local buses and cycling seems curious. Are we suggesting for example the County Councils take over South Western Railway? To be fair, they could only do a better job.
There's no mention of proper devolution such as ending capping and allowing Councils to set whatever Council Tax they consider justified for service provision. There's no mention (no surprise) of handing planning control back to elected local councillors (might be good if you wanted to stop the drift of disillusioned Conservatives to the LDs) and, more important, no mention of moving powers to local authorities and providing adequate resources (public health being one example).
The problem with County Councils is so much of their funding is taken up by the provision of care to adults and children - until and unless we see a resolution to the provision and funding of adult social care in particular (those the cost of provision of care to vulnerable children is another big drain on resources), the financial question is going to bedevil progress in other areas.
It also seems the Government has backed away from any talk of ending two-tier local Government and this will be another issue - again, back to Surrey where the Conservative-run County Council faces eleven Districts and Boroughs, many of whom are now run by anti-Conservative groupings. Seeking a common approach to devolution is almost impossible in such a dislocated political environment.
Yes, Runnymede, Surrey Heath, Reigate & Banstead and Woking (minority) are Conservative led out of the 11 Ds&Bs in Surrey. I completely agree that the possibility of even a basic accommodation with the County is near zero.
The Tories now only need to lose 5 seats to lose control of Surrey CC too, Surrey is now full of Tory-LD marginals like Esher and Walton and Guildford and Surrey SW, it is no longer the ultra safe Tory county of the Major years that stayed true blue as other areas fell to Blair and Ashdown.
By contrast here in Essex, which used to be classic marginal territory with lots of seats won by New Labour, every seat is Tory held and most with big majorities and at county council level the Tories have a large majority of 31 now
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Beyond farcical. If it’s not true, it might as well be.
Enough.
It’s true. My niece had to self isolate as the man in the office above hers had Covid and she was within 2M of him even though he was on a different floor, working for a different company and she never met him.
How does your niece know it was due to him and not due to anyone else that she has been in contact with? 🤔
Dunno why you need the snarky emoticon. It’s what she told me. She’d been called by test and trace. Came from them. She works in a small office.
Hey Siri, please show me some direct discrimination under the Equality Act of 2010.
Er, Cllr Katie Lomas says she has been told she cannot take part in a council debate about disabled people accessing York city centre at the meeting - because she is disabled
She has requested to take part, saying she feels this is discriminatory, but will not be allowed
She says she has been told she has a personal interest in the debate over whether blue badge holders can access York city centre, as she has a blue badge
Doesn't seem to make sense anyway before you even get onto the business of protected characteristics - goodness knows who told her that, it's not even as though a personal non-pecuniary interest prevents you from participating in most instances. Hard to see on what basis it could make sense, if they were even making a decision. Must be more to it, surely, some procedural issue of how many speakers permitted or something?
Hey Siri, please show me some direct discrimination under the Equality Act of 2010.
Er, Cllr Katie Lomas says she has been told she cannot take part in a council debate about disabled people accessing York city centre at the meeting - because she is disabled
She has requested to take part, saying she feels this is discriminatory, but will not be allowed
She says she has been told she has a personal interest in the debate over whether blue badge holders can access York city centre, as she has a blue badge
Doesn't seem to make sense anyway before you even get onto the business of protected characteristics - goodness knows who told her that, it's not even as though a personal non-pecuniary interest prevents you from participating in most instances. Hard to see on what basis it could make sense, if they were even making a decision. Must be more to it, surely, some procedural issue of how many speakers permitted or something?
Nopez it was absolutely as direct and stupid as it sounds.
Yippee! A sub-sample thread! I look forward to mountains of posts pointing out why sub-samples are useless and people highlighting them are idiots. PB is, after all, famous for its consistency and fairness. Anecdata will then be produced claiming that people with degrees are huge fans of the man sacked from three jobs for dishonesty.
While we’re patiently waiting, here’s the Ipsos Mori findings for Scottish VI:
10% for the Scottish Lib Dems must be one of their best polls in years. The fact that ragin Wullie is retiring must surely be a factor. Alex Cole-Hamilton might be a lightweight, but at least he doesn’t do that fake anger thing all the time.
Not that it would make any difference to their Westminster seat total anyway and even if the Tories got 0 seats in Scotland they would still win a UK majority on the latest pollling.
At Holyrood the SNP minority government has only recently been elected and the UK government has made clear it will refuse indyref2 so Scottish polling is largely irrelevant at present
Huh? The choice of SLD leader is irrelevant to their prospects at the next Westminster elections? Well, it’s a point of view..
If you’re happy with 0 SCon MPs then that is fine by me.
You might think that Scottish election results and poll findings are irrelevant, but Scots don’t.
Well no I would not be happy with it, it would be nice to still have a few Scottish Tory MPs but on current UK polling we would still have a UK Tory majority anyway and with a UK majority we can and will continue to refuse indyref2 and there is nothing the Nationalists can do about it.
As I have said the only way the Nationalists will ever get an indyref2 is a Labour minority government reliant on SNP confidence and supply
Hey Siri, please show me some direct discrimination under the Equality Act of 2010.
Er, Cllr Katie Lomas says she has been told she cannot take part in a council debate about disabled people accessing York city centre at the meeting - because she is disabled
She has requested to take part, saying she feels this is discriminatory, but will not be allowed
She says she has been told she has a personal interest in the debate over whether blue badge holders can access York city centre, as she has a blue badge
Doesn't seem to make sense anyway before you even get onto the business of protected characteristics - goodness knows who told her that, it's not even as though a personal non-pecuniary interest prevents you from participating in most instances. Hard to see on what basis it could make sense, if they were even making a decision. Must be more to it, surely, some procedural issue of how many speakers permitted or something?
Update
Council U-turn - Councillors Katie Lomas and Ashley Mason - who were told they could not speak in a debate about disabled people accessing the city centre because they are disabled and have a personal interest - WILL now take part
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Beyond farcical. If it’s not true, it might as well be.
Enough.
It’s true. My niece had to self isolate as the man in the office above hers had Covid and she was within 2M of him even though he was on a different floor, working for a different company and she never met him.
How does your niece know it was due to him and not due to anyone else that she has been in contact with? 🤔
Dunno why you need the snarky emoticon. It’s what she told me. She’d been called by test and trace. Came from them. She works in a small office.
Hey Siri, please show me some direct discrimination under the Equality Act of 2010.
Er, Cllr Katie Lomas says she has been told she cannot take part in a council debate about disabled people accessing York city centre at the meeting - because she is disabled
She has requested to take part, saying she feels this is discriminatory, but will not be allowed
She says she has been told she has a personal interest in the debate over whether blue badge holders can access York city centre, as she has a blue badge
Doesn't seem to make sense anyway before you even get onto the business of protected characteristics - goodness knows who told her that, it's not even as though a personal non-pecuniary interest prevents you from participating in most instances. Hard to see on what basis it could make sense, if they were even making a decision. Must be more to it, surely, some procedural issue of how many speakers permitted or something?
It's like saying someone who is a tax payer cannot take part in a debate about cutting taxes. Hopefully she was allowed to attend in the end.
I've always been a big supporter of devolution within England so was interested in the Prime Minister's comments today.
I'm not wholly sure what a "County Deal" is and it doesn't seem the Prime Minister is either. Surrey and Hampshire are not London and expecting Tim Oliver to take over "transport" beyond local buses and cycling seems curious. Are we suggesting for example the County Councils take over South Western Railway? To be fair, they could only do a better job.
There's no mention of proper devolution such as ending capping and allowing Councils to set whatever Council Tax they consider justified for service provision. There's no mention (no surprise) of handing planning control back to elected local councillors (might be good if you wanted to stop the drift of disillusioned Conservatives to the LDs) and, more important, no mention of moving powers to local authorities and providing adequate resources (public health being one example).
The problem with County Councils is so much of their funding is taken up by the provision of care to adults and children - until and unless we see a resolution to the provision and funding of adult social care in particular (those the cost of provision of care to vulnerable children is another big drain on resources), the financial question is going to bedevil progress in other areas.
It also seems the Government has backed away from any talk of ending two-tier local Government and this will be another issue - again, back to Surrey where the Conservative-run County Council faces eleven Districts and Boroughs, many of whom are now run by anti-Conservative groupings. Seeking a common approach to devolution is almost impossible in such a dislocated political environment.
Yes, Runnymede, Surrey Heath, Reigate & Banstead and Woking (minority) are Conservative led out of the 11 Ds&Bs in Surrey. I completely agree that the possibility of even a basic accommodation with the County is near zero.
The Tories now only need to lose 5 seats to lose control of Surrey CC too, Surrey is now full of Tory-LD marginals like Esher and Walton and Guildford and Surrey SW, it is no longer the ultra safe Tory county of the Major years that stayed true blue as other areas fell to Blair and Ashdown.
By contrast here in Essex, which used to be classic marginal territory with lots of seats won by New Labour, every seat is Tory held and most with big majorities and at county council level the Tories have a large majority of 31 now
Not quite, Cons 47 others 34 so seven seats! But point taken...though don't forget that Guildford had a LibDem MP until 2010 and Jeremy Hunt only held Surrey SW by three figures in 2005. E&W had an over 20,000 majority just 4 years ago in 2017 and the LibDems did not do well in the May elections albeit they captured Cobham in a by-election last week.
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Beyond farcical. If it’s not true, it might as well be.
Enough.
It’s true. My niece had to self isolate as the man in the office above hers had Covid and she was within 2M of him even though he was on a different floor, working for a different company and she never met him.
How does your niece know it was due to him and not due to anyone else that she has been in contact with? 🤔
Dunno why you need the snarky emoticon. It’s what she told me. She’d been called by test and trace. Came from them. She works in a small office.
Hey Siri, please show me some direct discrimination under the Equality Act of 2010.
Er, Cllr Katie Lomas says she has been told she cannot take part in a council debate about disabled people accessing York city centre at the meeting - because she is disabled
She has requested to take part, saying she feels this is discriminatory, but will not be allowed
She says she has been told she has a personal interest in the debate over whether blue badge holders can access York city centre, as she has a blue badge
Doesn't seem to make sense anyway before you even get onto the business of protected characteristics - goodness knows who told her that, it's not even as though a personal non-pecuniary interest prevents you from participating in most instances. Hard to see on what basis it could make sense, if they were even making a decision. Must be more to it, surely, some procedural issue of how many speakers permitted or something?
Update
Council U-turn - Councillors Katie Lomas and Ashley Mason - who were told they could not speak in a debate about disabled people accessing the city centre because they are disabled and have a personal interest - WILL now take part
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
How do people politely thank each other for wearing masks in the open air? Do they doff their masks or is there some other signifier?
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
With the rising rates, people are certainly getting anxious, and complying with no real complaint at my Trust.
Incidentally, we have been told that the new rules will not apply in our hospital until 2022, and to stick to current rules until then.
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
I’ve noticed that here too, and among friends and colleagues. We are an empirical species: we see the facts around us and react. Sometimes overreact of course, and sometimes react too late. But that’s why the modelling of this pandemic, little of which takes any account of behavioural feedback loops, always seems to get the peaks too high and the troughs too deep.
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
I've always been a big supporter of devolution within England so was interested in the Prime Minister's comments today.
I'm not wholly sure what a "County Deal" is and it doesn't seem the Prime Minister is either. Surrey and Hampshire are not London and expecting Tim Oliver to take over "transport" beyond local buses and cycling seems curious. Are we suggesting for example the County Councils take over South Western Railway? To be fair, they could only do a better job.
There's no mention of proper devolution such as ending capping and allowing Councils to set whatever Council Tax they consider justified for service provision. There's no mention (no surprise) of handing planning control back to elected local councillors (might be good if you wanted to stop the drift of disillusioned Conservatives to the LDs) and, more important, no mention of moving powers to local authorities and providing adequate resources (public health being one example).
The problem with County Councils is so much of their funding is taken up by the provision of care to adults and children - until and unless we see a resolution to the provision and funding of adult social care in particular (those the cost of provision of care to vulnerable children is another big drain on resources), the financial question is going to bedevil progress in other areas.
It also seems the Government has backed away from any talk of ending two-tier local Government and this will be another issue - again, back to Surrey where the Conservative-run County Council faces eleven Districts and Boroughs, many of whom are now run by anti-Conservative groupings. Seeking a common approach to devolution is almost impossible in such a dislocated political environment.
Yes, Runnymede, Surrey Heath, Reigate & Banstead and Woking (minority) are Conservative led out of the 11 Ds&Bs in Surrey. I completely agree that the possibility of even a basic accommodation with the County is near zero.
The Tories now only need to lose 5 seats to lose control of Surrey CC too, Surrey is now full of Tory-LD marginals like Esher and Walton and Guildford and Surrey SW, it is no longer the ultra safe Tory county of the Major years that stayed true blue as other areas fell to Blair and Ashdown.
By contrast here in Essex, which used to be classic marginal territory with lots of seats won by New Labour, every seat is Tory held and most with big majorities and at county council level the Tories have a large majority of 31 now
Not quite, Cons 47 others 34 so seven seats! But point taken...though don't forget that Guildford had a LibDem MP until 2010 and Jeremy Hunt only held Surrey SW by three figures in 2005. E&W had an over 20,000 majority just 4 years ago in 2017 and the LibDems did not do well in the May elections albeit they captured Cobham in a by-election last week.
Guildford it is true had a LD MP for 1 term but that is the only seat the Tories have lost in the county before. At the next election it is conceivable Surrey SW, Esher and Walton, Woking as well as Guildford could all go yellow as they are all in the top 50 LD target seats.
By contrast here in Essex seats like Harlow and Clacton and Harwich and Thurrock which Blair won are not even in the top 100 Labour target seats or Colchester which was LD is not in the top 50 LD targets either.
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
I used to be the person who stepped off the kerb or crossed the road. Now, as Mr 2-Jabs, I take the wall side of the pavement and let others decide how wide a gap they need.
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
Sean, you’re such a twerp.
I'm not this creepy Sean character Obvs. But you have to admit my anecdote is better value than
"Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today "
Not least because mine is true. A total double life for several decades. FFS
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
Oh, I did reply very soon after your kind email and was wondering about the 'silence' from your end! Wonder what happened. Will try again but in short, I'm pretty well back to full strength and would love to have another drink/nosh, either in town or midway betwixt you and the Dem Rep of Hersham!
Hi John, not sure what's happened there but great news!
Maybe try VM emailing me direct to my username in a new thread??
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
With the rising rates, people are certainly getting anxious, and complying with no real complaint at my Trust.
Incidentally, we have been told that the new rules will not apply in our hospital until 2022, and to stick to current rules until then.
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
How do people politely thank each other for wearing masks in the open air? Do they doff their masks or is there some other signifier?
It's bollocks. Nick inventing stuff to suit his narrative.
The virus is with us for ever. The question is not eradication, but how we live with it. Vaccination is clearly key, but there are many other factors - and perhaps a need to reset expectations
I think an acceptance in the western world that this is going to bring average life expectancy down for at least a decade until we learn much more about treatments and come up with a "perfect" vaccine that stops infection at a rate of over 99%.
With the advent of the ascendency of Germ Theory, the development of vaccinations, and the discovery of antibiotics, the West believed it could 'win the war' with infectious diseases. We should have recognized that this was a mirage at least 20-30 years ago, but the penny is, at last, beginning to drop, I think.
I don't think the situation is that stark, although it could yet become so if the situation with respect to antibiotic resistance continues to deteriorate.
The other pressing problem in the UK is the lack of capacity in the healthcare system, but as with all other problems that we can agree need fixing and will cost lots of money to put right, everyone thinks that it is everyone else's job but theirs to pay to do it. Plus ça change.
ONS statistics show no decline in mean life expectancy. I'm not sure how to include an image in a post but the moving 3- or 4-year average death rate (age-adjusted per 100,000) has been flat since ~2010. Before then it was falling slowly, i.e. Brits. were living a bit longer with every passing year.
The death rate jumps around from winter to winter, depending on how bad respiratory viruses are that season. 2018-19 was noticeably low; 2019-20 and 2020-21 were higher than the average for the decade.
We have cheap purposed drugs, as Drs. Kory or Lawrie, Prof McCullough or other medical experts would gladly tell you. Their clinical experience in using them to prevent hospitalisation and death began in spring 2020 and continues. It's not my fault that the pharma industry values profits over lives and that YT/FB/Twitter have started censoring free debate, also the UK government has been doing the same in orders to OFCOM.
Weinstein suggested in an interview that ivermectin could eradicate the virus. Given that it's safe, unlike the vaccines, I wouldn't object to taking a short course of it. Saves the NHS £ billions. But the lost $$ & ££ displease pharma boards and shareholders, who now determine a country's medical policy, so it won't happen.
Once again you repeat this bullshit
I have spent 25 years working with the Pharma industry. Your caricature is bollocks and frankly offensive. I have never met anyone who puts profits over lives.
Ivermectin is NOT PROVEN. They are running a trial to see if it works.
On this, he’s a crank, Charles. Don’t let it wind you up.
Perhaps, but equally Charles's case seems to be that he has had lunch with a lot of chaps who seemed to be awfully decent chaps, so there. The messing about with unpatented drugs to replace them with identical but patented versions means that depressed people in the US kill themselves because they can't do the copay on the S enantiomer and the R is no longer available. Sad, but there it is.
Is citalopram not available as a generic in the US ?
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
Sean, you’re such a twerp.
I'm not this creepy Sean character Obvs. But you have to admit my anecdote is better value than
"Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today "
Not least because mine is true. A total double life for several decades. FFS
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
Incredible. He just made up the wife, children and disability?
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Beyond farcical. If it’s not true, it might as well be.
Enough.
It’s true. My niece had to self isolate as the man in the office above hers had Covid and she was within 2M of him even though he was on a different floor, working for a different company and she never met him.
How does your niece know it was due to him and not due to anyone else that she has been in contact with? 🤔
Dunno why you need the snarky emoticon. It’s what she told me. She’d been called by test and trace. Came from them. She works in a small office.
Do Test and Trace tell you who the contact is?
I don't think they are permitted to.
Pings via the App are anonymous.
That's what I thought. Hence @Taz's niece has no idea whether it was the man in the office above hers.
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
With the rising rates, people are certainly getting anxious, and complying with no real complaint at my Trust.
Incidentally, we have been told that the new rules will not apply in our hospital until 2022, and to stick to current rules until then.
Hey Siri, please show me some direct discrimination under the Equality Act of 2010.
Er, Cllr Katie Lomas says she has been told she cannot take part in a council debate about disabled people accessing York city centre at the meeting - because she is disabled
She has requested to take part, saying she feels this is discriminatory, but will not be allowed
She says she has been told she has a personal interest in the debate over whether blue badge holders can access York city centre, as she has a blue badge
Doesn't seem to make sense anyway before you even get onto the business of protected characteristics - goodness knows who told her that, it's not even as though a personal non-pecuniary interest prevents you from participating in most instances. Hard to see on what basis it could make sense, if they were even making a decision. Must be more to it, surely, some procedural issue of how many speakers permitted or something?
Update
Council U-turn - Councillors Katie Lomas and Ashley Mason - who were told they could not speak in a debate about disabled people accessing the city centre because they are disabled and have a personal interest - WILL now take part
I'll bet it was. Foolish chair or foolish adviser I wonder.
I have sometimes wondered, though, whether I should speak up about accessibility in an institution of which I am a Trustee. On one hand I wouldn't want even the slightest suggestion that I was advocating for my own interest -- I would rather keep silent in order to avoid a conflict, no matter how minor -- but on the other hand, if I don't speak up then nobody would notice the problems.
In recent years I've tended to say more on this topic, while slightly squirming about the possible conflict. What tipped me over the edge was a plan for an entire new building which could not be accessed, in any way, without going up steps. At the time my objection was batted aside but thankfully the entire plan was later scrapped.
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
Sean, you’re such a twerp.
I'm not this creepy Sean character Obvs. But you have to admit my anecdote is better value than
"Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today "
Not least because mine is true. A total double life for several decades. FFS
Why tell you now though?
Good question. I think it is because he nearly died last year, and because he could still die quite soon. He is modestly proud of this remarkable subterfuge, and the fact that - whereas he seemed to have a fairly dull life - his life has in fact been "the opposite", if you see celebrity and minor crime that way
It was Le-Carre-esque. The final revealing of a double agent
I've always been a big supporter of devolution within England so was interested in the Prime Minister's comments today.
I'm not wholly sure what a "County Deal" is and it doesn't seem the Prime Minister is either. Surrey and Hampshire are not London and expecting Tim Oliver to take over "transport" beyond local buses and cycling seems curious. Are we suggesting for example the County Councils take over South Western Railway? To be fair, they could only do a better job.
There's no mention of proper devolution such as ending capping and allowing Councils to set whatever Council Tax they consider justified for service provision. There's no mention (no surprise) of handing planning control back to elected local councillors (might be good if you wanted to stop the drift of disillusioned Conservatives to the LDs) and, more important, no mention of moving powers to local authorities and providing adequate resources (public health being one example).
The problem with County Councils is so much of their funding is taken up by the provision of care to adults and children - until and unless we see a resolution to the provision and funding of adult social care in particular (those the cost of provision of care to vulnerable children is another big drain on resources), the financial question is going to bedevil progress in other areas.
It also seems the Government has backed away from any talk of ending two-tier local Government and this will be another issue - again, back to Surrey where the Conservative-run County Council faces eleven Districts and Boroughs, many of whom are now run by anti-Conservative groupings. Seeking a common approach to devolution is almost impossible in such a dislocated political environment.
Yes, Runnymede, Surrey Heath, Reigate & Banstead and Woking (minority) are Conservative led out of the 11 Ds&Bs in Surrey. I completely agree that the possibility of even a basic accommodation with the County is near zero.
The Tories now only need to lose 5 seats to lose control of Surrey CC too, Surrey is now full of Tory-LD marginals like Esher and Walton and Guildford and Surrey SW, it is no longer the ultra safe Tory county of the Major years that stayed true blue as other areas fell to Blair and Ashdown.
By contrast here in Essex, which used to be classic marginal territory with lots of seats won by New Labour, every seat is Tory held and most with big majorities and at county council level the Tories have a large majority of 31 now
Not quite, Cons 47 others 34 so seven seats! But point taken...though don't forget that Guildford had a LibDem MP until 2010 and Jeremy Hunt only held Surrey SW by three figures in 2005. E&W had an over 20,000 majority just 4 years ago in 2017 and the LibDems did not do well in the May elections albeit they captured Cobham in a by-election last week.
Guildford it is true had a LD MP for 1 term but that is the only seat the Tories have lost in the county before. At the next election it is conceivable Surrey SW, Esher and Walton, Woking as well as Guildford could all go yellow as they are all in the top 50 LD target seats.
By contrast here in Essex seats like Harlow and Clacton and Harwich and Thurrock which Blair won are not even in the top 100 Labour target seats or Colchester which was LD is not in the top 50 LD targets either.
One of the curiosities is that there's such a strong East-West gradient on the political map. The places where UKIP/BXP/New Model Tories have done really well tend to be along the East Coast. The further west you go, in general, with exceptions, the less the appeal.
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
How do people politely thank each other for wearing masks in the open air? Do they doff their masks or is there some other signifier?
It's bollocks. Nick inventing stuff to suit his narrative.
Either that or Godalming is entirely unique within London and SE England. Round here, in the far north London suburbs, life is almost back to normal. I’ve even been served at the bar in pubs a few times. This gratuitously cautious and polite masked street dance of which Nick speaks certainly hasn’t made it this side of the water.
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
With the rising rates, people are certainly getting anxious, and complying with no real complaint at my Trust.
Incidentally, we have been told that the new rules will not apply in our hospital until 2022, and to stick to current rules until then.
Hey Siri, please show me some direct discrimination under the Equality Act of 2010.
Er, Cllr Katie Lomas says she has been told she cannot take part in a council debate about disabled people accessing York city centre at the meeting - because she is disabled
She has requested to take part, saying she feels this is discriminatory, but will not be allowed
She says she has been told she has a personal interest in the debate over whether blue badge holders can access York city centre, as she has a blue badge
Doesn't seem to make sense anyway before you even get onto the business of protected characteristics - goodness knows who told her that, it's not even as though a personal non-pecuniary interest prevents you from participating in most instances. Hard to see on what basis it could make sense, if they were even making a decision. Must be more to it, surely, some procedural issue of how many speakers permitted or something?
Update
Council U-turn - Councillors Katie Lomas and Ashley Mason - who were told they could not speak in a debate about disabled people accessing the city centre because they are disabled and have a personal interest - WILL now take part
I'll bet it was. Foolish chair or foolish adviser I wonder.
I have sometimes wondered, though, whether I should speak up about accessibility in an institution of which I am a Trustee. On one hand I wouldn't want even the slightest suggestion that I was advocating for my own interest -- I would rather keep silent in order to avoid a conflict, no matter how minor -- but on the other hand, if I don't speak up then nobody would notice the problems.
In recent years I've tended to say more on this topic, while slightly squirming about the possible conflict. What tipped me over the edge was a plan for an entire new building which could not be accessed, in any way, without going up steps. At the time my objection was batted aside but thankfully the entire plan was later scrapped.
--AS
You should always speak out about concerns like that. If not you, who?
However, I struggle to understand how any new building in the UK would get planning approval without wheelchair access.
I've always been a big supporter of devolution within England so was interested in the Prime Minister's comments today.
I'm not wholly sure what a "County Deal" is and it doesn't seem the Prime Minister is either. Surrey and Hampshire are not London and expecting Tim Oliver to take over "transport" beyond local buses and cycling seems curious. Are we suggesting for example the County Councils take over South Western Railway? To be fair, they could only do a better job.
There's no mention of proper devolution such as ending capping and allowing Councils to set whatever Council Tax they consider justified for service provision. There's no mention (no surprise) of handing planning control back to elected local councillors (might be good if you wanted to stop the drift of disillusioned Conservatives to the LDs) and, more important, no mention of moving powers to local authorities and providing adequate resources (public health being one example).
The problem with County Councils is so much of their funding is taken up by the provision of care to adults and children - until and unless we see a resolution to the provision and funding of adult social care in particular (those the cost of provision of care to vulnerable children is another big drain on resources), the financial question is going to bedevil progress in other areas.
It also seems the Government has backed away from any talk of ending two-tier local Government and this will be another issue - again, back to Surrey where the Conservative-run County Council faces eleven Districts and Boroughs, many of whom are now run by anti-Conservative groupings. Seeking a common approach to devolution is almost impossible in such a dislocated political environment.
Yes, Runnymede, Surrey Heath, Reigate & Banstead and Woking (minority) are Conservative led out of the 11 Ds&Bs in Surrey. I completely agree that the possibility of even a basic accommodation with the County is near zero.
The Tories now only need to lose 5 seats to lose control of Surrey CC too, Surrey is now full of Tory-LD marginals like Esher and Walton and Guildford and Surrey SW, it is no longer the ultra safe Tory county of the Major years that stayed true blue as other areas fell to Blair and Ashdown.
By contrast here in Essex, which used to be classic marginal territory with lots of seats won by New Labour, every seat is Tory held and most with big majorities and at county council level the Tories have a large majority of 31 now
Not quite, Cons 47 others 34 so seven seats! But point taken...though don't forget that Guildford had a LibDem MP until 2010 and Jeremy Hunt only held Surrey SW by three figures in 2005. E&W had an over 20,000 majority just 4 years ago in 2017 and the LibDems did not do well in the May elections albeit they captured Cobham in a by-election last week.
Guildford it is true had a LD MP for 1 term but that is the only seat the Tories have lost in the county before. At the next election it is conceivable Surrey SW, Esher and Walton, Woking as well as Guildford could all go yellow as they are all in the top 50 LD target seats.
By contrast here in Essex seats like Harlow and Clacton and Harwich and Thurrock which Blair won are not even in the top 100 Labour target seats or Colchester which was LD is not in the top 50 LD targets either.
Who knows what will happen next time. Surrey gains a seat in the Boundary changes and that should help a bit. My guess is that, in the end, perhaps one seat will be lost to the LDs, particularly if the Local Plan/Green Belt controversy persists in Guildford and Waverley. But overall don't disagree with your basic argument.
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
How do people politely thank each other for wearing masks in the open air? Do they doff their masks or is there some other signifier?
It's bollocks. Nick inventing stuff to suit his narrative.
Either that or Godalming is entirely unique within London and SE England. Round here, in the far north London suburbs, life is almost back to normal. I’ve even been served at the bar in pubs a few times. This gratuitously cautious and polite masked street dance of which Nick speaks certainly hasn’t made it this side of the water.
At my local water hole tonight I made a joke on entering that maybe I could order at the bar rather than use the app. to save everyone time. I was laughingly told that 'that treat we are holding back until Monday'.
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
I used to be the person who stepped off the kerb or crossed the road. Now, as Mr 2-Jabs, I take the wall side of the pavement and let others decide how wide a gap they need.
Indeed. There is no more protection available to you. Unless we lockdown again, and then we simply delay it running through the antivaxxers until winter.
For the first, and quite possibly the last, time, I agree with Boris.
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
Lock him up.
Indeed!
In Gothenburg (pop. about 580,000) the police have recently identified and charged 745 buyers of cocaine, with a further 660 under investigation. Most of these people are well-off, white middle class family folk. They are going to prison, and social services will be getting involved in their children’s’ lives. In other words a shocking tragedy for thousands of affected people.
Imagine if the London police were similarly proactive. Several government ministers would be dragged off to court, and tens of thousands of middle class families devastated.
It is easy to blame the dealers, but the real evil bastards are the smug shits buying the stuff and getting off scot-free.
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
With the rising rates, people are certainly getting anxious, and complying with no real complaint at my Trust.
Incidentally, we have been told that the new rules will not apply in our hospital until 2022, and to stick to current rules until then.
Presumably that limits hospital capacity?
It would seem so.
Presumably that’s a bad call?
In terms of tackling the backlogs yes, in terms of infection control in the middle of the 4th wave, time will tell.
Now up to 58 admissions with covid. Some shockingly young adults on ICU. Certainly I am being cautious at present.
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Beyond farcical. If it’s not true, it might as well be.
Enough.
It’s true. My niece had to self isolate as the man in the office above hers had Covid and she was within 2M of him even though he was on a different floor, working for a different company and she never met him.
How does your niece know it was due to him and not due to anyone else that she has been in contact with? 🤔
Dunno why you need the snarky emoticon. It’s what she told me. She’d been called by test and trace. Came from them. She works in a small office.
Do Test and Trace tell you who the contact is?
I don't think they are permitted to.
Pings via the App are anonymous.
That's what I thought. Hence @Taz's niece has no idea whether it was the man in the office above hers.
Presumably she has a fair idea, if there’s office gossip that some geezer upstairs is isolating because he’s caught Corona?
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
Sean, you’re such a twerp.
I'm not this creepy Sean character Obvs. But you have to admit my anecdote is better value than
"Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today "
Not least because mine is true. A total double life for several decades. FFS
Why tell you now though?
Good question. I think it is because he nearly died last year, and because he could still die quite soon. He is modestly proud of this remarkable subterfuge, and the fact that - whereas he seemed to have a fairly dull life - his life has in fact been "the opposite", if you see celebrity and minor crime that way
It was Le-Carre-esque. The final revealing of a double agent
Dunno. You sure he's not trying to flush you out? That would be more LeCarrie.
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
Sounds like a good concept for a book....
It is too far fetched for a book
I'm still somewhat boggled by it all. I guess my friendship network is something of a self-selecting peer group of hedonistic, bohemian, drug-prone males in their 40s and 50s, who will always have colourful stories, but still.
This is exceptional. A total double life for decades. Whoah
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
How do people politely thank each other for wearing masks in the open air? Do they doff their masks or is there some other signifier?
It's bollocks. Nick inventing stuff to suit his narrative.
Either that or Godalming is entirely unique within London and SE England. Round here, in the far north London suburbs, life is almost back to normal. I’ve even been served at the bar in pubs a few times. This gratuitously cautious and polite masked street dance of which Nick speaks certainly hasn’t made it this side of the water.
Nick is a super bright guy but IIRC can't see the point of certain elements of modern social life (was it pubs? Certainly other stuff normal people do).
And he is a legislator. Imagine the people who might suffer on account of his blinkered, theoretical point of view.
Helena Wilkinson @BBCHelena · 41s Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
Beyond farcical. If it’s not true, it might as well be.
Enough.
It’s true. My niece had to self isolate as the man in the office above hers had Covid and she was within 2M of him even though he was on a different floor, working for a different company and she never met him.
How does your niece know it was due to him and not due to anyone else that she has been in contact with? 🤔
Dunno why you need the snarky emoticon. It’s what she told me. She’d been called by test and trace. Came from them. She works in a small office.
Do Test and Trace tell you who the contact is?
I don't think they are permitted to.
Pings via the App are anonymous.
That's what I thought. Hence @Taz's niece has no idea whether it was the man in the office above hers.
Presumably she has a fair idea, if there’s office gossip that some geezer upstairs is isolating because he’s caught Corona?
Only if she's had no contacts at all with anyone else... not gone to the shops, not gone out at all, etc.
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
Sounds like a good concept for a book....
It is too far fetched for a book
I'm still somewhat boggled by it all. I guess my friendship network is something of a self-selecting peer group of hedonistic, bohemian, drug-prone males in their 40s and 50s, who will always have colourful stories, but still.
This is exceptional. A total double life for decades. Whoah
Is it?
Surely a drug dealer needs a cover story, so he doesn't get nicked too easily?
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
Sounds like a good concept for a book....
It is too far fetched for a book
I'm still somewhat boggled by it all. I guess my friendship network is something of a self-selecting peer group of hedonistic, bohemian, drug-prone males in their 40s and 50s, who will always have colourful stories, but still.
This is exceptional. A total double life for decades. Whoah
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
How do people politely thank each other for wearing masks in the open air? Do they doff their masks or is there some other signifier?
It's bollocks. Nick inventing stuff to suit his narrative.
Nah. Nick may have the occasional Blairesque spin*, but he’s not a liar.
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
With the rising rates, people are certainly getting anxious, and complying with no real complaint at my Trust.
Incidentally, we have been told that the new rules will not apply in our hospital until 2022, and to stick to current rules until then.
Presumably that limits hospital capacity?
It would seem so.
Presumably that’s a bad call?
In terms of tackling the backlogs yes, in terms of infection control in the middle of the 4th wave, time will tell.
Now up to 58 admissions with covid. Some shockingly young adults on ICU. Certainly I am being cautious at present.
You are exceptionally unlucky as there is only an average of three covid patients per hospital UK wide. The Leicestershire area does seem to have massively disproportionately affected since this shitshow began.
Toon absolutely dead. And was an absolutely gorgeous evening. Not the wild bacchanalia of 2 or 3 weeks back. Nor the rampaging stag and hen parties. Very quiet, but noticeably fewer masks.
Just had one of the most extraordinary drinks of my life. Under a tree in Green Park
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
Sounds like a good concept for a book....
It is too far fetched for a book
I'm still somewhat boggled by it all. I guess my friendship network is something of a self-selecting peer group of hedonistic, bohemian, drug-prone males in their 40s and 50s, who will always have colourful stories, but still.
This is exceptional. A total double life for decades. Whoah
Is it?
Surely a drug dealer needs a cover story, so he doesn't get nicked too easily?
What's the point in being a drug dealer if your cover story requires you live as if on disability benefits? No flash holidays, expensive cars, Michelin restaurant dinners...
Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today for various reasons, and was struck by the level of caution - more than when I last went in. Masks ubiquitous in shops and quite a few wearing them in the street and/or walking around each other (and politely thanking each other for doing so). It's possible that they're poised to go wild when officially allowed to, but they certainly didn't look like it.
How do people politely thank each other for wearing masks in the open air? Do they doff their masks or is there some other signifier?
It's bollocks. Nick inventing stuff to suit his narrative.
Nah. Nick may have the occasional Blairesque spin*, but he’s not a liar.
*and PB is spin central
He is absolutely not a liar. But people also see things they want to see.
In his example people are thanking others for letting them go ahead on the pavement as you or I might if we approached an obstacle and someone let us go first.
In Nick's mind this shows specific gratitude for everyone wearing a mask.
Comments
At Holyrood the SNP minority government has only recently been elected and the UK government has made clear it will refuse indyref2 so Scottish polling is largely irrelevant at present
I have spent 25 years working with the Pharma industry. Your caricature is bollocks and frankly offensive. I have never met anyone who puts profits over lives.
Ivermectin is NOT PROVEN. They are running a trial to see if it works.
So if anything it says the LDs could lose a seat or two in Scotland
Helena Wilkinson
@BBCHelena
·
41s
Friday’s Daily Telegraph: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by app #tomorrowspaperstoday
If you’re happy with 0 SCon MPs then that is fine by me.
You might think that Scottish election results and poll findings are irrelevant, but Scots don’t.
Its interesting to compare that with my caution now about removing restrictions etc. I still favour that but I am pretty ambivalent given the current rate of infections. The reality of Covid has been a harsh task master for us all. This experience is something those in adulthood now will never forget.
As I have said the only way the Nationalists will ever get an indyref2 is a Labour minority government reliant on SNP confidence and supply
"Conclusion
Presently, the claims about clinically relevant superiority of escitalopram over citalopram in short-to-medium term treatment of major depressive disorder are not supported by evidence."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2829184/
And if there is a difference, it's not something you'd spend time on but for the in patent vs out of patent thing.
Enough.
There is some evidence of an antiviral mechanism for the compound, but no convincing evidence so far for its therapeutic use against Covid. The properly designed NHS trial will settle the matter in due course.
Don’t let it wind you up.
Have you been around at Barry's next door again, i told you to stop going round there, you always end up drunk....me no, not been round all week.
Sharron, your phone says you been pinged due to close contact with Brian next door yesterday when i was away for work...no no, not me, never been round there...
He openly and mockingly appoints his own brother to the Lords ; tries to get his dining partner Dacre into a position of broadcasting regulatory authority , to allow GB News to gradually create a Fox-style anti-liberaldemocratic conservative culture like that of the US ; prorogues parliament when it challenges him ; eye-winkingly encourages a culture of nepotism throughout his cabinet ; and most recently has apparently appointed his old friend and Bullingdon associate on to the committee on standards.
The system is not working as it should.
Older houses walls so thick you could mistake them for Piers Corbyn.
Newer builds, dental floss thin walls, I can see the bluetooth signal penetrating them.
On the point about greater codification of constitutional norms, I think people are inclined to put too much faith that such would change or safeguard things. Doesn't matter what is written down if someone has the power, will and support to ignore it anyway.
Er, Cllr Katie Lomas says she has been told she cannot take part in a council debate about disabled people accessing York city centre at the meeting - because she is disabled
She has requested to take part, saying she feels this is discriminatory, but will not be allowed
She says she has been told she has a personal interest in the debate over whether blue badge holders can access York city centre, as she has a blue badge
https://twitter.com/ChloeLaversuch/status/1415729654514790405
By contrast here in Essex, which used to be classic marginal territory with lots of seats won by New Labour, every seat is Tory held and most with big majorities and at county council level the Tories have a large majority of 31 now
It has been (partially) rowed back
Well, it’s a point of view.
Council U-turn - Councillors Katie Lomas and Ashley Mason - who were told they could not speak in a debate about disabled people accessing the city centre because they are disabled and have a personal interest - WILL now take part
The decision was reversed in meeting break
https://twitter.com/ChloeLaversuch/status/1415755863000850439
Pings via the App are anonymous.
Incidentally, we have been told that the new rules will not apply in our hospital until 2022, and to stick to current rules until then.
One of my oldest friends, dating back almost 4 decades, who nearly died of Covid last year, revealed that his fairly unexceptional Chelsea* life - married young, then got ill, and got disability benefit to support his wife and kids - has been a total lie, and all this time he has been a drug dealer to the stars. Class A, supermodels, etc
God bless my friends, who can still turn tricks like this, THEY ROCK
*I have changed details
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_County_Council
Guildford it is true had a LD MP for 1 term but that is the only seat the Tories have lost in the county before. At the next election it is conceivable Surrey SW, Esher and Walton, Woking as well as Guildford could all go yellow as they are all in the top 50 LD target seats.
By contrast here in Essex seats like Harlow and Clacton and Harwich and Thurrock which Blair won are not even in the top 100 Labour target seats or Colchester which was LD is not in the top 50 LD targets either.
In 2019 the Tories got 64% in Essex but only 53% in Surrey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_United_Kingdom_general_election_in_England
"Had to go into the main shopping area of Godalming today "
Not least because mine is true. A total double life for several decades. FFS
Maybe try VM emailing me direct to my username in a new thread??
In recent years I've tended to say more on this topic, while slightly squirming about the possible conflict. What tipped me over the edge was a plan for an entire new building which could not be accessed, in any way, without going up steps. At the time my objection was batted aside but thankfully the entire plan was later scrapped.
--AS
Could be a pretty big landmark ruling. The vultures will be upset.
It was Le-Carre-esque. The final revealing of a double agent
Hugo Gye
@HugoGye
·
25m
Lib Dems are starting to pick candidates for key 'blue wall' target seats.
Aim is to avoid the mistakes of the party's past - less hype, more groundwork.
Interview with
@EdwardJDavey
in tomorrow's
@theipaper
:
(Look, say at where the really dark blue splodges are on this map;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_breakdown_of_the_2019_United_Kingdom_general_election)
Are there any good theories about what's going on?
Mirror Celeb
@MirrorCeleb
#LoveIsland's Zara McDermott admits she did show for fame and money not romance https://mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/love-islands-zara-mcdermott-admits-24545791?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar
However, I struggle to understand how any new building in the UK would get planning approval without wheelchair access.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Surrey_County_Council_election
Who knows what will happen next time. Surrey gains a seat in the Boundary changes and that should help a bit. My guess is that, in the end, perhaps one seat will be lost to the LDs, particularly if the Local Plan/Green Belt controversy persists in Guildford and Waverley. But overall don't disagree with your basic argument.
For the first, and quite possibly the last, time, I agree with Boris.
Get it done.
In Gothenburg (pop. about 580,000) the police have recently identified and charged 745 buyers of cocaine, with a further 660 under investigation. Most of these people are well-off, white middle class family folk. They are going to prison, and social services will be getting involved in their children’s’ lives. In other words a shocking tragedy for thousands of affected people.
Imagine if the London police were similarly proactive. Several government ministers would be dragged off to court, and tens of thousands of middle class families devastated.
It is easy to blame the dealers, but the real evil bastards are the smug shits buying the stuff and getting off scot-free.
Now up to 58 admissions with covid. Some shockingly young adults on ICU. Certainly I am being cautious at present.
I'm still somewhat boggled by it all. I guess my friendship network is something of a self-selecting peer group of hedonistic, bohemian, drug-prone males in their 40s and 50s, who will always have colourful stories, but still.
This is exceptional. A total double life for decades. Whoah
And he is a legislator. Imagine the people who might suffer on account of his blinkered, theoretical point of view.
Surely a drug dealer needs a cover story, so he doesn't get nicked too easily?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinary_Thunderstorms
*and PB is spin central
Night all.
In his example people are thanking others for letting them go ahead on the pavement as you or I might if we approached an obstacle and someone let us go first.
In Nick's mind this shows specific gratitude for everyone wearing a mask.
It's bollocks.