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BBC Sports Personality of the Year – Doubting Dina Asher Smith – politicalbetting.com

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  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,679
    Gnud said:

    Nige will have a nightly show on GB News called "Farage" every Monday to Thursday from next week. And he "won't be taking the knee for anyone". What a guy!

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690

    Probably done out of sheer panic - they saw the ratings were in crisis after Guto's antics and decided that Nige was the only thing that could save them. I suspect they're mistaken though and this appointment will spell their doom.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,822

    Oh!!



    Rachel Clarke
    @doctor_oxford
    ·
    2h
    If you feel unwell:

    Please *don’t* do what Sajid Javid describes here.

    LFTs are for those without symptoms, as the NHS website clearly states.

    A negative LFT does *not* rule out Covid.

    If you have Covid symptoms, book a PCR test & self-isolate until the result is back 🙏

    Anyone with LFTs at home with symptoms is obviously going to use those to test before the PCR arrives. What is wrong with that as long as you dont assume a negative test rules out covid?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    Gnud said:

    Nige will have a nightly show on GB News called "Farage" every Monday to Thursday from next week. And he "won't be taking the knee for anyone". What a guy!

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690

    And there was me thinking he was going to announce that he was joining OnlyFans....

    1hr show at prime time, that's very much out of the Fox News playbook, where the likes of Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity just do an hour.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,715
    Gnud said:

    Nige will have a nightly show on GB News called "Farage" every Monday to Thursday from next week. And he "won't be taking the knee for anyone". What a guy!

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690

    Here we go. Fox News.

    Exactly as Owen Jones and the rest predicted (to much derision from Andrew Neil).
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,357
    edited July 2021

    Gnud said:

    Nige will have a nightly show on GB News called "Farage" every Monday to Thursday from next week. And he "won't be taking the knee for anyone". What a guy!

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690

    Probably done out of sheer panic - they saw the ratings were in crisis after Guto's antics and decided that Nige was the only thing that could save them. I suspect they're mistaken though and this appointment will spell their doom.
    It's not like Farage, now that he's had a taste of the limelight, to tie himself to a lost cause though. Look at how he ran from UKIP, and stood at one remove from the Reform Party until he could see how it would turn out.

    Reckon the BBC didn't put him on Question Time every week because they were all Brexit supporters, so I'd guess he will be good for ratings.

    Wonder how well Andrew Neil will take it to be overshadowed?
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,715
    Jonathan said:

    Farage takes a break from the public eye.

    Yeh. :lol: Instead of only being on the TV once a week on a Thursday in his regular chair on QT, he's on five days a week.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990

    Here we go. Fox News.

    1hr show at prime time, that's very much out of the Fox News playbook, where the likes of Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity just do an hour.

    When do they rebrand to Little England News?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    I presume all the Don't fund Hate lot will be back at it trying to get companies to cancel adverts.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,715

    Gnud said:

    Nige will have a nightly show on GB News called "Farage" every Monday to Thursday from next week. And he "won't be taking the knee for anyone". What a guy!

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690

    And there was me thinking he was going to announce that he was joining OnlyFans....

    1hr show at prime time, that's very much out of the Fox News playbook, where the likes of Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity just do an hour.
    How long before David Ike has his own slot?
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    54,674...41.....

    Its coming home, its coming home, COVID coming home.

    Saturday Figure being higher than the Friday isn't a good sign. Has that happened at all over the last 2 months?
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,822

    I presume all the Don't fund Hate lot will be back at it trying to get companies to cancel adverts.

    Sure Spoons can step in and save the day.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    The state of this board and Twitter reacting to a rat joining a sinking ship…
  • contrariancontrarian Posts: 5,818
    edited July 2021
    ydoethur said:

    pigeon said:

    Acute doctor writes:

    seahorse
    @seahorse4000
    ·
    17h
    I can't count the number of times today I wrote "40 years old" (or 30, or 35) "fit and well, no medical history, not vaccinated"

    I don't know what it's like where the rest of you live, but in our district (population: about 135,000) confirmed cases are very heavily skewed towards the under 40s (the rate for the over 80s is currently zero,) and not a single Covid death has been recorded for the whole of the last three months. This is despite the fact that cases started trickling upwards again in late May and then took off like a rocket about a month ago, and our vaccination percentages are nothing special, being slightly below the national average. Meanwhile, as recently as Tuesday, the total number of Covid patients in the main hospital for this area, which serves a population considerably greater than that of the district, was eight. Not eighty. Eight.

    Of course, none of this is going to save us. If the national stats don't begin heading in the right direction very soon, we're going to end up back in lockdown along with everybody else. Great.
    Lockdown has become the default, goto policy. Hilariously, Johnson was once a well known liberal type.

    It will be back in autumn sadly.
    And it was a very necessary policy when it was the only way of stopping a killer virus from rampaging through the population.

    That isn’t the case any more. Vaccines have fundamentally altered the equation. Even those who are getting sick after being double jabbed are not dying in large numbers.

    Which is why we should unlock now. When 89% of adults in my local area have had one jab and 70% have had two, if it isn’t over now it will never be over and we simply have to accept it will always be there.

    Which is roughly why I’ve gone from being a strong proponent of lockdowns to being strongly opposed to them.
    |And anyway, we can't afford it.

    Imagine a three month lockdown over Christmas. Economy takes another tanking, debt mounts ever higher, inflation creeping up. Mass unemployment due to no furlough. Government with nothing to promise the electorate no more........ vaccines are coming!

    Vaccines or not, this moment was always coming. It is here now.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,627
    DougSeal said:

    pigeon said:

    Acute doctor writes:

    seahorse
    @seahorse4000
    ·
    17h
    I can't count the number of times today I wrote "40 years old" (or 30, or 35) "fit and well, no medical history, not vaccinated"

    I don't know what it's like where the rest of you live, but in our district (population: about 135,000) confirmed cases are very heavily skewed towards the under 40s (the rate for the over 80s is currently zero,) and not a single Covid death has been recorded for the whole of the last three months. This is despite the fact that cases started trickling upwards again in late May and then took off like a rocket about a month ago, and our vaccination percentages are nothing special, being slightly below the national average. Meanwhile, as recently as Tuesday, the total number of Covid patients in the main hospital for this area, which serves a population considerably greater than that of the district, was eight. Not eighty. Eight.

    Of course, none of this is going to save us. If the national stats don't begin heading in the right direction very soon, we're going to end up back in lockdown along with everybody else. Great.
    Lockdown has become the default, goto policy. Hilariously, Johnson was once a well known liberal type.

    It will be back in autumn sadly.
    I recommend this article

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/16/covid-19-seasonal-virus-spreading-during-summer-pandemic
    A sensible, well-balanced article. Then you get to the “Guardian Pick” comment:

    “How can the UK now have a Health secretary who does not even have a fundamental understanding of how masks have been curbing the spread of the Delta virus?”
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,715
    Still, Farage on GB News must be good for Starmer as presumably Mr Reform Party wont be telling his avid viewers to vote Tory in 2023/4?



  • Anyone seriously think GB News is any good? Can I smoke some?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    Alistair said:

    54,674...41.....

    Its coming home, its coming home, COVID coming home.

    Saturday Figure being higher than the Friday isn't a good sign. Has that happened at all over the last 2 months?
    Soccer-ball innit.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    North West cases still haven't peaked.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,454
    edited July 2021
    Gnud said:

    Nige will have a nightly show on GB News called "Farage" every Monday to Thursday from next week. And he "won't be taking the knee for anyone". What a guy!

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690

    Not even the Queen? Or his wife?

    8/10 gammoning
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,679

    Gnud said:

    Nige will have a nightly show on GB News called "Farage" every Monday to Thursday from next week. And he "won't be taking the knee for anyone". What a guy!

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690

    And there was me thinking he was going to announce that he was joining OnlyFans....

    1hr show at prime time, that's very much out of the Fox News playbook, where the likes of Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity just do an hour.
    Interesting to see how Farage plays it. With Hannity (I'm guessing Carlson's similar) it was very much lambast liberals and (to piss them off even more) love bomb Trump. Farage certainly won't be love bombing Boris, but he can't slag him off too much either as most of the audience will be unwavering fans. Tricky.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    edited July 2021

    Anyone seriously think GB News is any good? Can I smoke some?

    I don't think a single person on here has said it was.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    edited July 2021

    Alistair said:

    54,674...41.....

    Its coming home, its coming home, COVID coming home.

    Saturday Figure being higher than the Friday isn't a good sign. Has that happened at all over the last 2 months?
    Soccer-ball innit.
    Of course. But that's going to banjo my upper bound guess I think.
  • contrariancontrarian Posts: 5,818
    If GB news is heading for the scrapheap, why does anybody care?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    edited July 2021

    Gnud said:

    Nige will have a nightly show on GB News called "Farage" every Monday to Thursday from next week. And he "won't be taking the knee for anyone". What a guy!

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690

    And there was me thinking he was going to announce that he was joining OnlyFans....

    1hr show at prime time, that's very much out of the Fox News playbook, where the likes of Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity just do an hour.
    Interesting to see how Farage plays it. With Hannity (I'm guessing Carlson's similar) it was very much lambast liberals and (to piss them off even more) love bomb Trump. Farage certainly won't be love bombing Boris, but he can't slag him off too much either as most of the audience will be unwavering fans. Tricky.
    I never listened to his LBC show, but what did he do on there?
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,454
    Just had this through the door.

    It's a bit naughty because it's actually from the Conservative Party.


  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,715

    CNN Politics
    @CNNPolitics
    The White House is turning up the pressure on Silicon Valley to get a handle on vaccine misinformation.

    "There's about 12 people who are producing 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms," press secretary Jen Psaki said
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,957
    Just been to Camden Lock (don't ask) - first time in 18 months, er years. Some observations.

    1. Thousands of people there.
    2. Five in a thousand wearing masks.
    3. The British are quite an overweight lot. Especially noticeable in the hot weather.
    4. There was a pop up vaccine centre in the Stables with queues a couple of hundred yards long all day.
    5. People queuing were I'd say 18-25 on the whole.
    6. Absolutely no instances of people wearing masks stepping into the road to avoid other people wearing masks to effusive thanks.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,627


    CNN Politics
    @CNNPolitics
    The White House is turning up the pressure on Silicon Valley to get a handle on vaccine misinformation.

    "There's about 12 people who are producing 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms," press secretary Jen Psaki said

    Delete Macron’s account?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,134
    Gnud said:

    Nige will have a nightly show on GB News called "Farage" every Monday to Thursday from next week. And he "won't be taking the knee for anyone". What a guy!

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690

    Gammon News in trouble? Call for Big Gammon! He's going to save the network.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    TOPPING said:

    Just been to Camden Lock (don't ask) - first time in 18 months, er years. Some observations.

    1. Thousands of people there.
    2. Five in a thousand wearing masks.
    3. The British are quite an overweight lot. Especially noticeable in the hot weather.
    4. There was a pop up vaccine centre in the Stables with queues a couple of hundred yards long all day.
    5. People queuing were I'd say 18-25 on the whole.
    6. Absolutely no instances of people wearing masks stepping into the road to avoid other people wearing masks to effusive thanks.

    The tow truck dude had no interest in masking today nor did the garage he dropped me at.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,661
    Roland Rat saved TVAM

    Is Nigel Farage Roland Rat?

  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,357
    Alistair said:

    54,674...41.....

    Its coming home, its coming home, COVID coming home.

    Saturday Figure being higher than the Friday isn't a good sign. Has that happened at all over the last 2 months?
    Saturday 26th June 18,270
    Friday 25th June 15,810

    That's the most recent previous occurrence.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,647
    DougSeal said:

    Acute doctor writes:

    seahorse
    @seahorse4000
    ·
    17h
    I can't count the number of times today I wrote "40 years old" (or 30, or 35) "fit and well, no medical history, not vaccinated"

    Globally, you can get vaccinated, or you can get Delta. That’s your stark choice now.
    Or both of course...
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,957
    DougSeal said:

    TOPPING said:

    Just been to Camden Lock (don't ask) - first time in 18 months, er years. Some observations.

    1. Thousands of people there.
    2. Five in a thousand wearing masks.
    3. The British are quite an overweight lot. Especially noticeable in the hot weather.
    4. There was a pop up vaccine centre in the Stables with queues a couple of hundred yards long all day.
    5. People queuing were I'd say 18-25 on the whole.
    6. Absolutely no instances of people wearing masks stepping into the road to avoid other people wearing masks to effusive thanks.

    The tow truck dude had no interest in masking today nor did the garage he dropped me at.
    Hope you make it out soon to the US.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    TOPPING said:

    DougSeal said:

    TOPPING said:

    Just been to Camden Lock (don't ask) - first time in 18 months, er years. Some observations.

    1. Thousands of people there.
    2. Five in a thousand wearing masks.
    3. The British are quite an overweight lot. Especially noticeable in the hot weather.
    4. There was a pop up vaccine centre in the Stables with queues a couple of hundred yards long all day.
    5. People queuing were I'd say 18-25 on the whole.
    6. Absolutely no instances of people wearing masks stepping into the road to avoid other people wearing masks to effusive thanks.

    The tow truck dude had no interest in masking today nor did the garage he dropped me at.
    Hope you make it out soon to the US.
    Cheers! I wasn’t going actually, solo trip for the wife to see her Mum, her new plane took off 15 minutes ago! I’m now trying to figure out what to have for dinner…
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,647
    edited July 2021

    Gnud said:

    Nige will have a nightly show on GB News called "Farage" every Monday to Thursday from next week. And he "won't be taking the knee for anyone". What a guy!

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690

    Probably done out of sheer panic - they saw the ratings were in crisis after Guto's antics and decided that Nige was the only thing that could save them. I suspect they're mistaken though and this appointment will spell their doom.
    Also Neil is now stuck in France with quarantine if he returns.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,957
    DougSeal said:

    TOPPING said:

    DougSeal said:

    TOPPING said:

    Just been to Camden Lock (don't ask) - first time in 18 months, er years. Some observations.

    1. Thousands of people there.
    2. Five in a thousand wearing masks.
    3. The British are quite an overweight lot. Especially noticeable in the hot weather.
    4. There was a pop up vaccine centre in the Stables with queues a couple of hundred yards long all day.
    5. People queuing were I'd say 18-25 on the whole.
    6. Absolutely no instances of people wearing masks stepping into the road to avoid other people wearing masks to effusive thanks.

    The tow truck dude had no interest in masking today nor did the garage he dropped me at.
    Hope you make it out soon to the US.
    Cheers! I wasn’t going actually, solo trip for the wife to see her Mum, her new plane took off 15 minutes ago! I’m now trying to figure out what to have for dinner…
    Ha! Pink ticket!

    Got to be microwaved risotto surely?

    So simple.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    Foxy said:

    DougSeal said:

    Acute doctor writes:

    seahorse
    @seahorse4000
    ·
    17h
    I can't count the number of times today I wrote "40 years old" (or 30, or 35) "fit and well, no medical history, not vaccinated"

    Globally, you can get vaccinated, or you can get Delta. That’s your stark choice now.
    Or both of course...
    The full complexity of the epidemiological situation didn’t quite fit into my snappy one liner.
  • Ally_B1Ally_B1 Posts: 49

    Oh!!
    Rachel Clarke
    @doctor_oxford
    ·
    2h
    If you feel unwell:

    Please *don’t* do what Sajid Javid describes here.

    LFTs are for those without symptoms, as the NHS website clearly states.

    A negative LFT does *not* rule out Covid.

    If you have Covid symptoms, book a PCR test & self-isolate until the result is back 🙏

    Anyone with LFTs at home with symptoms is obviously going to use those to test before the PCR arrives. What is wrong with that as long as you dont assume a negative test rules out covid?
    When I caught covid two weeks ago I noticed I had a sore throat for two days before symptoms came out but I didn't associate a sore throat with the virus. I did a home LFT test on the second of those days but nothing showed. The following day I had flu like symptoms (eg runny nose, slight arm ache). I did another LFT test and the T bar lit up instantly, followed by the C bar a few minutes later. It took five days to get the PCR result back (as I deemed myself not well enough to drive to a test centre). I self isolated from the positive LFT test.

    Having been doube jabbed in March I always expected I would eventually catch the virus and that it would have a mild effect on me. However a lot of my friends (age 60+) are so fearful of catching it, despite being vaccinated, that I decided to tell them I am isolating because of a covid app 'ping' rather than because I have it.

  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,647

    Still, Farage on GB News must be good for Starmer as presumably Mr Reform Party wont be telling his avid viewers to vote Tory in 2023/4?



    He won't be appearing on BBCQT again if working for a rival broadcaster.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,957
    Ally_B1 said:

    Oh!!
    Rachel Clarke
    @doctor_oxford
    ·
    2h
    If you feel unwell:

    Please *don’t* do what Sajid Javid describes here.

    LFTs are for those without symptoms, as the NHS website clearly states.

    A negative LFT does *not* rule out Covid.

    If you have Covid symptoms, book a PCR test & self-isolate until the result is back 🙏

    Anyone with LFTs at home with symptoms is obviously going to use those to test before the PCR arrives. What is wrong with that as long as you dont assume a negative test rules out covid?
    When I caught covid two weeks ago I noticed I had a sore throat for two days before symptoms came out but I didn't associate a sore throat with the virus. I did a home LFT test on the second of those days but nothing showed. The following day I had flu like symptoms (eg runny nose, slight arm ache). I did another LFT test and the T bar lit up instantly, followed by the C bar a few minutes later. It took five days to get the PCR result back (as I deemed myself not well enough to drive to a test centre). I self isolated from the positive LFT test.

    Having been doube jabbed in March I always expected I would eventually catch the virus and that it would have a mild effect on me. However a lot of my friends (age 60+) are so fearful of catching it, despite being vaccinated, that I decided to tell them I am isolating because of a covid app 'ping' rather than because I have it.

    Good to hear you're out the other side.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,385

    ydoethur said:

    pigeon said:

    Acute doctor writes:

    seahorse
    @seahorse4000
    ·
    17h
    I can't count the number of times today I wrote "40 years old" (or 30, or 35) "fit and well, no medical history, not vaccinated"

    I don't know what it's like where the rest of you live, but in our district (population: about 135,000) confirmed cases are very heavily skewed towards the under 40s (the rate for the over 80s is currently zero,) and not a single Covid death has been recorded for the whole of the last three months. This is despite the fact that cases started trickling upwards again in late May and then took off like a rocket about a month ago, and our vaccination percentages are nothing special, being slightly below the national average. Meanwhile, as recently as Tuesday, the total number of Covid patients in the main hospital for this area, which serves a population considerably greater than that of the district, was eight. Not eighty. Eight.

    Of course, none of this is going to save us. If the national stats don't begin heading in the right direction very soon, we're going to end up back in lockdown along with everybody else. Great.
    Lockdown has become the default, goto policy. Hilariously, Johnson was once a well known liberal type.

    It will be back in autumn sadly.
    And it was a very necessary policy when it was the only way of stopping a killer virus from rampaging through the population.

    That isn’t the case any more. Vaccines have fundamentally altered the equation. Even those who are getting sick after being double jabbed are not dying in large numbers.

    Which is why we should unlock now. When 89% of adults in my local area have had one jab and 70% have had two, if it isn’t over now it will never be over and we simply have to accept it will always be there.

    Which is roughly why I’ve gone from being a strong proponent of lockdowns to being strongly opposed to them.
    |And anyway, we can't afford it.

    Imagine a three month lockdown over Christmas. Economy takes another tanking, debt mounts ever higher, inflation creeping up. Mass unemployment due to no furlough. Government with nothing to promise the electorate no more........ vaccines are coming!

    Vaccines or not, this moment was always coming. It is here now.
    In a sense, that question is secondary to whether or not it’s needed.

    Lockdowns were justifiable - even desirable- to curb a killer disease when we had no other recourse. Whatever the monetary cost, bearing in mind everyone is in the same boat.

    When we have vaccines, which appear to at least mitigate them, they are not.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,647

    Just had this through the door.

    It's a bit naughty because it's actually from the Conservative Party.


    We got some thing similar, so I had a little fun.

    Daft responses such as advocating mass illegal immigration, higher taxes, etc etc.

    Might as well spoil their results.
  • RattersRatters Posts: 1,076
    By reporting date, the rate of growth in cases has started to pick up again (having never fallen much below 30% per week). PCR test positivity also continues to increase (now at almost 9% positive). So no real sign of approaching the peak (contrary to Zoe data).

    It will be fascinating to see how this exit wave plays out - my guess is >100,000 per day peak by reporting date. The world will certainty be watching how a very well vaccinated population manages.


  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    Ratters said:

    By reporting date, the rate of growth in cases has started to pick up again (having never fallen much below 30% per week). PCR test positivity also continues to increase (now at almost 9% positive). So no real sign of approaching the peak (contrary to Zoe data).

    It will be fascinating to see how this exit wave plays out - my guess is >100,000 per day peak by reporting date. The world will certainty be watching how a very well vaccinated population manages.


    Yeah, I saw that, my faith in Zoe will be sorely tested this week.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,585

    Just had this through the door.

    It's a bit naughty because it's actually from the Conservative Party.


    Well presumably Newcastle Council is actually sitting on a £95m surplus, and are proposing an almost 5% council tax hike rather than using their savings? That would be useful information for local taxpayers, would it not?
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    Ratters said:

    By reporting date, the rate of growth in cases has started to pick up again (having never fallen much below 30% per week). PCR test positivity also continues to increase (now at almost 9% positive). So no real sign of approaching the peak (contrary to Zoe data).

    It will be fascinating to see how this exit wave plays out - my guess is >100,000 per day peak by reporting date. The world will certainty be watching how a very well vaccinated population manages.


    I’m actually wondering if Zoe app users skew middle class which may result in it being less accurate as the pandemic moves into the less well off (and less well vaccinated) part of the population. Also Zoe app users less likely to go to the pub.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,454
    Sandpit said:

    Just had this through the door.

    It's a bit naughty because it's actually from the Conservative Party.


    Well presumably Newcastle Council is actually sitting on a £95m surplus, and are proposing an almost 5% council tax hike rather than using their savings? That would be useful information for local taxpayers, would it not?
    It doesn't say Conservative Party anywhere other than in tiny letters on the back. That's why I said it was a bit naughty.

    Besides, Newcastle City Council doesn't have a £95m surplus, It has £95m in reserves. A very different thing as I'm sure you know.

    It's always been good financial advice to spunk your savings before increasing your income right?
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,747
    Time to bin them and not look back…

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/17/cloth-face-masks-comfort-blankets-do-little-curb-covid-spread/

    Standard face coverings are just "comfort blankets" that do little to reduce the spread of Covid particles, a scientist advising Sage on ventilation has said.

    Dr Colin Axon, who has advised the government on minimising the risk of cross-infection in supermarkets, accused medics of presenting a "cartoonish" view of how how tiny particles travel through the air.

    He warned some cloth masks have gaps which are invisible to the naked eye, but are 500,000 times the size of viral Covid particles.


    "Masks can catch droplets and sputum from a cough but what is important is that SARS CoV-2 is predominantly distributed by tiny aerosols."

    A Covid viral particle is around 100 nanometres, material gaps in blue surgical masks are up to 1,000 times that size, cloth mask gaps can be 500,000 times the size."

  • RattersRatters Posts: 1,076
    DougSeal said:

    Ratters said:

    By reporting date, the rate of growth in cases has started to pick up again (having never fallen much below 30% per week). PCR test positivity also continues to increase (now at almost 9% positive). So no real sign of approaching the peak (contrary to Zoe data).

    It will be fascinating to see how this exit wave plays out - my guess is >100,000 per day peak by reporting date. The world will certainty be watching how a very well vaccinated population manages.


    I’m actually wondering if Zoe app users skew middle class which may result in it being less accurate as the pandemic moves into the less well off (and less well vaccinated) part of the population. Also Zoe app users less likely to go to the pub.
    Agreed, there's a few possible reasons why there may well be significant selection bias of app users that wasn't so significant before. Other ones include fewer non-vaccinated people on the app such that they aren't a representative sample (if you are willing to give regular symptom updates, would you not be inclined to get a jab a well)?

    Other possibilities include asymptomatic infection increasing a proportion of the total as people have existing antibodies / skew younger, which wouldn't be picked up by Zoe.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    Just had this through the door.

    It's a bit naughty because it's actually from the Conservative Party.


    Using capital reserves to pay for ongoing costs is so painfully on message for Tories I would accuse it of being a parody.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,454
    The thermostat in my bedroom is currently reading 28 deg C.

    Nice.
  • sarissasarissa Posts: 1,993
    Sandpit said:

    Just had this through the door.

    It's a bit naughty because it's actually from the Conservative Party.


    Well presumably Newcastle Council is actually sitting on a £95m surplus, and are proposing an almost 5% council tax hike rather than using their savings? That would be useful information for local taxpayers, would it not?
    90% of the reserves are allocated to specific areas and needs, many aimed at economic development or essential services:

    • ADZ reserve – to fund cash outflows arising in the early years of the Accelerated Development Zone, which will be repaid from business rates growth in future years.
    • Asset management reserve – to fund cash outflows arising in the early years of the Civic Centre refurbishment project, which will be repaid from cash flow surpluses generated in future years.
    • Collection Fund reserve – holds funding to mitigate future Collection Fund
    • Housing benefit subsidy reserve – holds funding to mitigate future cost pressures in this
    area.
    • Interim capital funding reserve – to fund cash outflows arising from capital works, which
    will be repaid in future years.
    • Pensions reserve – holds funding to mitigate future cost pressures in relation to our pension
    liabilities.
    • PFI / BSF reserve – holds funding to meet future payments under our PFI / BSF contracts.
    • Ring-fenced balances reserve – holds funding that may only be spent on specific statutory
    activities.
    • School balances – holds funding relating to individual schools.
    • School kitchens reserve – holds funding to replace / refurbish school kitchens used by
    council staff to provide school meals to children.
    • Strategic reserve – holds funding to support our medium-term financial plan.
    • Treasury management reserve – holds funding to mitigate future cost pressures in relation
    to our external debt portfolio.
    • PFI lifecycle replacement reserve – notional reserve to recognise the future costs to be
    incurred by PFI contractors on maintaining the assets in good working condition.

  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,894
    Foxy said:

    Just had this through the door.

    It's a bit naughty because it's actually from the Conservative Party.


    We got some thing similar, so I had a little fun.

    Daft responses such as advocating mass illegal immigration, higher taxes, etc etc.

    Might as well spoil their results.
    I'm guessing the online version is mainly for harvesting email addresses.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,894
    New thread.
This discussion has been closed.