Christopher Snowdon @cjsnowdon · 1h Anti-vaccine radio host in Florida dies of Covid-19 at age 65
Good riddance , got what he deserved.
Are you really celebrating someone's death
Words fail me no matter how wrong he was
He spread lies about vaccines and contributed to the deaths of others by using his position as a radio host so I won’t apologize for saying good riddance to him.
All I can repeat is words fail me no matter how much you disagree with him
Not one of us should celebrate the death of anyone
Hmm, I'd absolutely celebrate the death of the Belarus dictator. He's a tyrant and murderer. His presence in the world has brought misery to millions of people and his death would unwind a lot of it.
I do not disagree that the death of a dictator is in the better good but in this case he was a DJ who no doubt had family and relations and good riddance just grates and is best just left unsaid
Short overview, green screen and the Unreal Game engine powering the scenario, all in all a cheap version of how the Mandalorin was done.
Not really comparable to Mandalorin tech. Like saying an Indy game is a cheap version of the latest AAA game.
Both are powered by the same Unreal engine - which is the point I wanted to make.
The Mandalorin uses screens to display the background images, (they then add props as appropriate to flesh things out. The BBC uses a green screen and added the images later, so it's a far cheaper alternative...
Still not really. One is bog standard old school green screen that has been used for donkeys years with all the limitations that go with them, Mandalorin is much much more sophisticated e.g. the scene being projected moves, lighting adapts in real time as the camera moves, the resolution is insane. Also I doubt ILM I using the off the shelf version of Unreal, just as most AAA have heavily modified versions / additions.
Twitch streamers these days have what the BBC did. It really is nothing special.
To be fair, Coalition 2.0 was never more than an idealistic concept. The LDs were aware in 2013 of increased Conservative activity in their seats but had no response to the question "would you rather have a CON majority or a LAB/SNP coalition?" For some reason, the English (and the Welsh too I suspect) didn't like the idea of Alex Salmond holding the Government by the majorities.
2015 killed the LD party I joined - the party which exists now and has its name is effectively a post-2015 and post-EU Referendum construction (two thirds to three quarters of the members joined after 2015). The Coalition isn't just ancient history, it's someone else's history.
I wonder if Davey, who was after all a Minister in the Coalition Government were to campaign on better and closer relations with the EU, rather than actual rejoining, he'd mop up a lot of Tory Remainer votes.
Yes, but everyone around him can’t accept we left and need to plot a new future relationship, they all want to relight old battles.
A Lib Dem party that accepts Brexit, and is prepared to fight in Southern England on the wealth being sent North, has a good opportunity to make progress.
Not that I think they will, I think they’ll go on NIMBYism and rejoining the EU, which will be a huge failure.
That would be a rather tawdry platform - opposing wealth being sent from the South to the less affluent North.
And it's making the assumption that it will be. Unlikely, I'd have thought.
It’s no more tawdry, than being massively in favour of expanding public transport systems, except in Amersham where they’re massively against it.
It’s no more tawdry, than being in favour of almost unlimited immigration, but no new house building in the areas where the immigrants wish to settle.
Tawdry is the Lib Dem modus operandi in the South East, and has been for the last decade.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
2015 killed the LD party I joined - the party which exists now and has its name is effectively a post-2015 and post-EU Referendum construction (two thirds to three quarters of the members joined after 2015). The Coalition isn't just ancient history, it's someone else's history.
Well, yes and no. I'm one of that group of post-2015 members -- but I'd been consistently voting LD for 20 years before that. The post-2015 events were just the trigger for me to actually get my wallet out...
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
On what measure? Cases? Sure lots of infections, that thanks to vaccination are mostly nothing to worry about. On hospitals? There is pressure, but a lot of it for now is due to the after effects of Covid, not the current burden (although there are a not insignificant number of Covid patients). On deaths? A ripple set amongst the number who die everyday from other factors and are not reported each day. When you arrived on pb you were attacked for your opening posts. This latest one is similar. Of course some are getting infected, the level of Covid in the community is high. The big difference is that the consequences of that are much, much less serious now.
If the Tories are behind by 10% and poll very poorly in the May 2023 local elections (plus lose a couple of Parliamentary by-elections) then Johnson might possibly have cause for concern about his continuing Premiership/Tory leadership. Until that point, he should have little or no trouble.
I agree. Most of my chunky bets have an assumption that he will fight the next GE. I'm not seeing this "swap him out for Sunak" thing. I judge that highly highly unlikely.
Christopher Snowdon @cjsnowdon · 1h Anti-vaccine radio host in Florida dies of Covid-19 at age 65
Good riddance , got what he deserved.
Are you really celebrating someone's death
Words fail me no matter how wrong he was
He spread lies about vaccines and contributed to the deaths of others by using his position as a radio host so I won’t apologize for saying good riddance to him.
I suspect his impact was negligible. In fact, his death may help save lives, though that may be wishful thinking.
I reckon a lot of the people not getting jabbed are just out of touch and not paying attention. Plenty of people won’t be registered with doctors and won’t have been asked to go for a jab.
But this is about Florida, where his impact (and that of others like him) isn't negligible. The take-up of vaccines in the US amongst older cohorts is poor compared with the UK, France, Israel and other comparable nations, and quite a lot of that is due to the anti-vaxx loons of the Trumpish right. People are certainly dying unnecessarily in the US as a direct result of the bizarre politicisation of vaccination.
This is of course a tragedy for the families affected. Nonetheless, Oscar WIlde's quip on the death of Little Nell does inevitably come to mind all the same,
Governor DeSantis is pro-vaccination and Florida is not a particularly low vaxx state.
He has just banned Florida hospitals from requiring their medical staff to be vaccinated. That is not "pro-vaccination". The man has blamed the spike on in COVID on (of course) Mexican immigrants coming across the border when Florida is leading the way in case numbers and the border is 800 miles away. The man is either unhinged or, worse, knows full well he is costing lives for personal political gain.
Christopher Snowdon @cjsnowdon · 1h Anti-vaccine radio host in Florida dies of Covid-19 at age 65
Good riddance , got what he deserved.
Are you really celebrating someone's death
Words fail me no matter how wrong he was
He spread lies about vaccines and contributed to the deaths of others by using his position as a radio host so I won’t apologize for saying good riddance to him.
I suspect his impact was negligible. In fact, his death may help save lives, though that may be wishful thinking.
I reckon a lot of the people not getting jabbed are just out of touch and not paying attention. Plenty of people won’t be registered with doctors and won’t have been asked to go for a jab.
But this is about Florida, where his impact (and that of others like him) isn't negligible. The take-up of vaccines in the US amongst older cohorts is poor compared with the UK, France, Israel and other comparable nations, and quite a lot of that is due to the anti-vaxx loons of the Trumpish right. People are certainly dying unnecessarily in the US as a direct result of the bizarre politicisation of vaccination.
This is of course a tragedy for the families affected. Nonetheless, Oscar WIlde's quip on the death of Little Nell does inevitably come to mind all the same,
Governor DeSantis is pro-vaccination and Florida is not a particularly low vaxx state.
He has just banned Florida hospitals from requiring their medical staff to be vaccinated. That is not "pro-vaccination". The man has blamed the spike on in COVID on (of course) Mexican immigrants coming across the border when Florida is leading the way in case numbers and the border is 800 miles away. The man is either unhinged or, worse, knows full well he is costing lives for personal political gain.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
Christopher Snowdon @cjsnowdon · 1h Anti-vaccine radio host in Florida dies of Covid-19 at age 65
Good riddance , got what he deserved.
Are you really celebrating someone's death
Words fail me no matter how wrong he was
He spread lies about vaccines and contributed to the deaths of others by using his position as a radio host so I won’t apologize for saying good riddance to him.
All I can repeat is words fail me no matter how much you disagree with him
Not one of us should celebrate the death of anyone
Hmm, I'd absolutely celebrate the death of the Belarus dictator. He's a tyrant and murderer. His presence in the world has brought misery to millions of people and his death would unwind a lot of it.
I do not disagree that the death of a dictator is in the better good but in this case he was a DJ who no doubt had family and relations and good riddance just grates and is best just left unsaid
Well that's not the same as "not one is us should celebrate the death of anyone" is it. Life isn't black and white, a radio host who has broadcast anti-vaxxer propaganda to millions and caused countless unnecessary deaths in the process is not going to be missed and if the people who lost family and friends due to his anti-vaxxer nonsense celebrate his death, I'm not going to condemn them.
To be fair, Coalition 2.0 was never more than an idealistic concept. The LDs were aware in 2013 of increased Conservative activity in their seats but had no response to the question "would you rather have a CON majority or a LAB/SNP coalition?" For some reason, the English (and the Welsh too I suspect) didn't like the idea of Alex Salmond holding the Government by the majorities.
2015 killed the LD party I joined - the party which exists now and has its name is effectively a post-2015 and post-EU Referendum construction (two thirds to three quarters of the members joined after 2015). The Coalition isn't just ancient history, it's someone else's history.
Che peccato. You brought it on yourselves. I mean, my God, coalition with the Tories! What on earth were you thinking. Turkeys voting for Christmas.
The same thing happened to them in the 1979 election after the Lib/Lab pact many people that might have flirted with them returned to the Tories in disgust at them helping to keep Jim Callaghan in power. But this is actually what the LDs want, for years now they have been campaigning for a PR voting system so that there's always a coalition government, presumably with them always in it.
Short overview, green screen and the Unreal Game engine powering the scenario, all in all a cheap version of how the Mandalorin was done.
Not really comparable to Mandalorin tech. Like saying an Indy game is a cheap version of the latest AAA game.
Both are powered by the same Unreal engine - which is the point I wanted to make.
The Mandalorin uses screens to display the background images, (they then add props as appropriate to flesh things out. The BBC uses a green screen and added the images later, so it's a far cheaper alternative...
Still not really. One is bog standard old school green screen that has been used for donkeys years with all the limitations that go with them, Mandalorin is much much more sophisticated e.g. the scene being projected moves, lighting adapts in real time as the camera moves, the resolution is insane. Also I doubt ILM I using the off the shelf version of Unreal, just as most AAA have heavily modified versions / additions.
Twitch streamers these days have what the BBC did. It really is nothing special.
The scene being projected moves, the lighting adapts to the appropriate background of the time in Tokyo, the resolution is definitely enough.
There is really little difference beyond how the background is being rendered (and given that the Mandalorin software has been released I'm sure it's what the BBC were using).
They built a rod for their own back by going big on the “what happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone” marketing angle.
You can’t say that and then do nothing about those sharing hideous abuse. These tech companies have a moral (and, IMO, should have a legal) obligation to prevent abuse being shared. The victims deserve nothing less.
Having said that, I am worried about the slippery slope.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
When you arrived on pb you were attacked for your opening posts. This latest one is similar. Of course some are getting infected, the level of Covid in the community is high. The big difference is that the consequences of that are much, much less serious now.
Well I'm sorry to drop a pebble into your pond of complacency but the cases are rising again and we are nowhere near herd immunity because we have refused to vaccinate kids.
I'm allowed an opinion, y'know. At least, I hope so. It happens to be backed by the current evidence.
I get that people 'want' things to look good. I do too. But I'm afraid that's not the way this is now heading.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
On what measure? Cases? Sure lots of infections, that thanks to vaccination are mostly nothing to worry about. On hospitals? There is pressure, but a lot of it for now is due to the after effects of Covid, not the current burden (although there are a not insignificant number of Covid patients). On deaths? A ripple set amongst the number who die everyday from other factors and are not reported each day. When you arrived on pb you were attacked for your opening posts. This latest one is similar. Of course some are getting infected, the level of Covid in the community is high. The big difference is that the consequences of that are much, much less serious now.
Prof. Paul Hunter said today that we should stop obsessing about cases #s and focus on hospital numbers.
Short overview, green screen and the Unreal Game engine powering the scenario, all in all a cheap version of how the Mandalorin was done.
Not really comparable to Mandalorin tech. Like saying an Indy game is a cheap version of the latest AAA game.
Both are powered by the same Unreal engine - which is the point I wanted to make.
The Mandalorin uses screens to display the background images, (they then add props as appropriate to flesh things out. The BBC uses a green screen and added the images later, so it's a far cheaper alternative...
Still not really. One is bog standard old school green screen that has been used for donkeys years with all the limitations that go with them, Mandalorin is much much more sophisticated e.g. the scene being projected moves, lighting adapts in real time as the camera moves, the resolution is insane. Also I doubt ILM I using the off the shelf version of Unreal, just as most AAA have heavily modified versions / additions.
Twitch streamers these days have what the BBC did. It really is nothing special.
The scene being projected moves, the lighting adapts to the appropriate background of the time in Tokyo, the resolution is definitely enough.
There is really little difference beyond how the background is being rendered (and given that the Mandalorin software has been released I'm sure it's what the BBC were using).
It really is totally different....see my link why. There is nothing that cutting edge about what the BBC did....It is totally standard on so many tv shows e.g NFL Redzone has had it for years.
Can the psephologists out there tell us: is it not fairly standard that a leader of the Opposition needs a whacking great mid term lead to have the faintest hope of winning the subsequent GE?
Even Howard had a lead at some point didn’t he?
Starmer hasn’t even come close.
Yes, he’s like Ed Miliband, without the poll leads
When it comes to the campaign, Boris will extend his lead/reduce the deficit if there is one, so Sir Keir’s party best have a 6-7 point lead by then
In retrospect, Miliband was great! That is, in comparison with Johnson, Starmer, Corbyn, May and Cameron.
The only other leader of the Westminster duopoly who I also think more warmly of with the passing of time is John Major. Last decent Tory. Did bloody well in Scotland I seem to recall. Didn’t interfere too much in the affairs of the Scottish Office. Old school.
"Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice - stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband." David Cameron, 4th May 2015.
Thank goodness Britain opted for stability and strong Government, otherwise the past six years would've been a total sh1t-show.
Although had it been NOM, we would have the chaos of Cameron promising a referendum, the Lib Dem’s saying no, Ed saying Hell No, and UKIP demanding one.
Cameron won his majority by shafting the LD's.He actually lost seats to Labour, although only a net of 1. What upset Milliband's applecart was the losses to the SNP.
They'll be running that one again, I'd imagine. What do you want, Middle England, strong government with Boris continuing to Get Things Done, or weak and feeble Starmer in the pocket of that frightful Scottish woman?
Of course they will, which is why Starmer needs to be making a positive case.
If he wants to play negative politics about the Evil Tories, then he’s going to lose that game against more experienced players.
Like it or not, they need to look to how Blair managed to convince a huge majority of constituencies to vote for him in 1997.
Oh, and the Tories won’t hesitate to swap out the incumbent, if they think he’s going to be an electoral liability.
They’ve learned that 1997 lesson, as was demonstrated in 2019. If Boris becomes the problem, he’ll be gone by next week.
Boris is having a terrible time with self inflicted own goals and looking as if he is becoming a problem
I would be pleased if he was replaced by next week, and hopefully conservative mps will be questioning just how long they are prepared to tolerate his ability to put his foot in it
What is really hurting the tories is 'one rule for us, one rule for you....' On Covid. On climate change.
Boris does not see this, or does not want to see it, but it is extremely toxic.
As discussed earlier today, the climate change summit has a big chance of massively backfiring with the general public.
*We* will continue to meet in public, on a hundred private jets, to discuss how *you* need to stop travelling and reduce your carbon emissions.
If the leaders want to actually effect change, rather than enjoy the jolly, then you’ll be engaging Cisco and doing the whole thing on Webex.
No, they still need to meet face to face. Let them all come by sailboat
Or maybe we still need plane flights but we need to better tax and regulate industry and travel to develop technologies that allow for this travel that isn't so GHG intensive.
Of course the anti-green brigade know this full well but would have their profits reduced by this, so are trying to turn the topic onto individual households, rather than their own massive pollution.
The BBC Olympics coverage was mostly just a big old-fashioned green screen. What ILM are now doing, is projecting the scene image onto the screen, so the actors are in the actual environment.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
Because if not, that’s not a sign we’re losing the battle. Quite the contrary.
Are you talking about my anecdotal comment or the evidential data?
If the former, yes, two of them are seriously ill.
That is a surprisingly high proportion for one small group.
However, given I have met literally dozens of people who have had it and had severe symptoms short of hospitalisations, and @Foxy could go a lot further, it is also surprising you only met one who had it. Might it simply be that your social group was extremely well locked down so the effect of coming out is more pronounced?
Case numbers are after all currently falling and so are deaths, so individual surges may be due to individual factors.
Apparently David Cameron made £7m out of Greensill Capital. They didn’t get much for their money.
How much of that did they have to pay him because of the money he persuaded government minsters to funnel through the outfit? Is there a case for HMG asking for most of it back?
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
When you arrived on pb you were attacked for your opening posts. This latest one is similar. Of course some are getting infected, the level of Covid in the community is high. The big difference is that the consequences of that are much, much less serious now.
Well I'm sorry to drop a pebble into your pond of complacency but the cases are rising again and we are nowhere near herd immunity because we have refused to vaccinate kids.
I'm allowed an opinion, y'know. At least, I hope so. It happens to be backed by the current evidence.
I get that people 'want' things to look good. I do too. But I'm afraid that's not the way this is now heading.
Mark my words.
I’m not complacent. I want cases to fall, and I do fear rises, but as I wrote, cases are no longer the measure to follow. We are in a different phase of the pandemic in the U.K.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
The cases are not only increasing, they are doing so exponentially.
As for deaths, well it really doesn't take a rocket scientists, or even someone on political betting, to work out that there's a lag between rising case numbers, hospitalisations and then deaths. Sadly.
Anyway, I shall head off out of this echo chamber again. Some angry-seeming people on here just seem to want to shout one another down without listening to or considering alternative opinions.
I have posted an opinion, backed by today's data, of cases rising for the past 5 days. The rolling 7-day average has increased 15% today and deaths have jumped too.
The BBC Olympics coverage was mostly just a big old-fashioned green screen. What ILM are now doing, is projecting the scene image onto the screen, so the actors are in the actual environment.
Also those environments change in real time and react to what the actors are doing on the space e.g. causing shadows to form. And its full 360....
BBC is a bit of a green screen in a corner studio.
Can the psephologists out there tell us: is it not fairly standard that a leader of the Opposition needs a whacking great mid term lead to have the faintest hope of winning the subsequent GE?
Even Howard had a lead at some point didn’t he?
Starmer hasn’t even come close.
Yes, he’s like Ed Miliband, without the poll leads
When it comes to the campaign, Boris will extend his lead/reduce the deficit if there is one, so Sir Keir’s party best have a 6-7 point lead by then
In retrospect, Miliband was great! That is, in comparison with Johnson, Starmer, Corbyn, May and Cameron.
The only other leader of the Westminster duopoly who I also think more warmly of with the passing of time is John Major. Last decent Tory. Did bloody well in Scotland I seem to recall. Didn’t interfere too much in the affairs of the Scottish Office. Old school.
"Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice - stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband." David Cameron, 4th May 2015.
Thank goodness Britain opted for stability and strong Government, otherwise the past six years would've been a total sh1t-show.
Although had it been NOM, we would have the chaos of Cameron promising a referendum, the Lib Dem’s saying no, Ed saying Hell No, and UKIP demanding one.
Cameron won his majority by shafting the LD's.He actually lost seats to Labour, although only a net of 1. What upset Milliband's applecart was the losses to the SNP.
They'll be running that one again, I'd imagine. What do you want, Middle England, strong government with Boris continuing to Get Things Done, or weak and feeble Starmer in the pocket of that frightful Scottish woman?
Of course they will, which is why Starmer needs to be making a positive case.
If he wants to play negative politics about the Evil Tories, then he’s going to lose that game against more experienced players.
Like it or not, they need to look to how Blair managed to convince a huge majority of constituencies to vote for him in 1997.
Oh, and the Tories won’t hesitate to swap out the incumbent, if they think he’s going to be an electoral liability.
They’ve learned that 1997 lesson, as was demonstrated in 2019. If Boris becomes the problem, he’ll be gone by next week.
Boris is having a terrible time with self inflicted own goals and looking as if he is becoming a problem
I would be pleased if he was replaced by next week, and hopefully conservative mps will be questioning just how long they are prepared to tolerate his ability to put his foot in it
What is really hurting the tories is 'one rule for us, one rule for you....' On Covid. On climate change.
Boris does not see this, or does not want to see it, but it is extremely toxic.
As discussed earlier today, the climate change summit has a big chance of massively backfiring with the general public.
*We* will continue to meet in public, on a hundred private jets, to discuss how *you* need to stop travelling and reduce your carbon emissions.
If the leaders want to actually effect change, rather than enjoy the jolly, then you’ll be engaging Cisco and doing the whole thing on Webex.
No, they still need to meet face to face. Let them all come by sailboat
Or maybe we still need plane flights but we need to better tax and regulate industry and travel to develop technologies that allow for this travel that isn't so GHG intensive.
Of course the anti-green brigade know this full well but would have their profits reduced by this, so are trying to turn the topic onto individual households, rather than their own massive pollution.
So long as a hundred private jets keep turning up to climate change summits, the general public will at best be laughing at the participants.
Doubly so after the past 18 months.
Triply so, in the context of taking about advanced green screen technology.
Short overview, green screen and the Unreal Game engine powering the scenario, all in all a cheap version of how the Mandalorin was done.
Not really comparable to Mandalorin tech. Like saying an Indy game is a cheap version of the latest AAA game.
Both are powered by the same Unreal engine - which is the point I wanted to make.
The Mandalorin uses screens to display the background images, (they then add props as appropriate to flesh things out. The BBC uses a green screen and added the images later, so it's a far cheaper alternative...
Still not really. One is bog standard old school green screen that has been used for donkeys years with all the limitations that go with them, Mandalorin is much much more sophisticated e.g. the scene being projected moves, lighting adapts in real time as the camera moves, the resolution is insane. Also I doubt ILM I using the off the shelf version of Unreal, just as most AAA have heavily modified versions / additions.
Twitch streamers these days have what the BBC did. It really is nothing special.
The scene being projected moves, the lighting adapts to the appropriate background of the time in Tokyo, the resolution is definitely enough.
There is really little difference beyond how the background is being rendered (and given that the Mandalorin software has been released I'm sure it's what the BBC were using).
It really is totally different....see my link why.
You mean the 270 degree screens - apart from the lighting options it provides (which are significant but the the cost is oh boy) there actually really, really isn't....
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
The cases are not only increasing, they are doing to exponentially.
As for deaths, well it really doesn't take a rocket scientists, or even someone on political betting, to work out that there's a lag between rising case numbers, hospitalisations and then deaths. Sadly.
Cases are slightly up this week, fair enough. They are still massively down on June, and numbers are still low. Having been trying to rebuild a patio I haven’t been following closely.
Even when they were rising exponentially a few weeks ago, deaths did not follow by rising in proportion.
I think you are seeing what you expect to see. We had this conversation before, when you mistook contingency planning - a long overdue change of approach by the government - as a sign we would have a crisis and a lockdown in October.
One other question, which I appreciate I should have been clearer about - how serious is ‘serious?’ Are they in hospital? Or just feeling very ill?
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
Cases rising again, this is just like what was happening last summer and then seemingly out of nowhere we had a problem, despite lots of us warning that we were in trouble.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
The cases are not only increasing, they are doing so exponentially.
As for deaths, well it really doesn't take a rocket scientists, or even someone on political betting, to work out that there's a lag between rising case numbers, hospitalisations and then deaths. Sadly.
Anyway, I shall head off out of this echo chamber again. Some angry-seeming people on here just seem to want to shout one another down without listening to or considering alternative opinions.
I have posted an opinion, backed by today's data, of cases rising for the past 5 days. The rolling 7-day average has increased 15% today and deaths have jumped too.
Ok let's say you're right, what are you proposing? Lockdown 4? Mandatory vaccinations? What do you think the government should do, tomorrow? What policy should be implemented?
Cases rising again, this is just like what was happening last summer and then seemingly out of nowhere we had a problem, despite lots of us warning that we were in trouble.
But what do you want to do about it? If vaccines aren't the answer what is the answer? Lockdown forever? No one seems to have any answers that don't result in keeping everyone locked down forever.
Cases rising again, this is just like what was happening last summer and then seemingly out of nowhere we had a problem, despite lots of us warning that we were in trouble.
But what do you want to do about it? If vaccines aren't the answer what is the answer? Lockdown forever? No one seems to have any answers that don't result in keeping everyone locked down forever.
We’re still not seeing the huge rise in hospitalisations and deaths that accompanied earlier waves.
Cases rising again, this is just like what was happening last summer and then seemingly out of nowhere we had a problem, despite lots of us warning that we were in trouble.
But what do you want to do about it? If vaccines aren't the answer what is the answer? Lockdown forever? No one seems to have any answers that don't result in keeping everyone locked down forever.
We’re still not seeing the huge rise in hospitalisations and deaths that accompanied earlier waves.
Well I know that and so do you. There are some people who think that one person dying of COVID is one too many and we should stay locked down forever to avoid that.
Perhaps I'm being a tad harsh, but I think I'm being realistic. It's not just Covid. On every policy area, he's all over the place. He has absolutely zero to say on relations with the EU - why for example is he not pointing out the disaster of the government's utterly brain-dead refusal to recognise CE marks, which will hit both our manufacturers and consumers badly when the grace period ends in a few months? Or indeed many other areas where the UK is engaging in huge self-harm. He is not making any effort to put Labour forward as having a coherent alternative to the disastrous implementation of Brexit. He has nothing to say on the economy. He has nothing to say on social care. He flips around on Covid, managing to mangle his messaging so much that he can't decide whether the latest removal of most restrictions was too reckless or not reckless enough. He doesn't seem to understand that he needs a team behind him. Where's the Shadow Chancellor? (Who's the Shadow Chancellor? I know the answer, but I bet most people, even quite well informed people, don't).
By now he should be ahead in the polls and beginning to build up some credibility as a possible government-in-waiting. These things can't be turned around at the last minute.
I do agree his performance on Covid has been unimpressive at times but to be fair the Government has flipped and flopped like a beached whale on more than one occasion.
The economy is and continues to be distorted by Covid - to paraphrase Viv Nicholson "Borrow, Borrow, Borrow" will only get us so far and to escape short-termism for a moment, the future is going to have enough problems trying to deal with climate change without having to additionally service our huge debt.
Social Care - well, Johnson has been talking about it for three years or more, I suppose you could argue in the spirit of national interest, if Starmer has a credible and viable solution, he should put it forward. The other side of that argument is Johnson is probably going to provide a stick with which Starmer can beat him - just as May did for Corbyn in 2017.
The wider issue (and here you are quite right) is I can't visualise what a Labour Government led by Starmer would do - what would be its leading objectives, how would it govern? Without being unkind, you could always envisage Blair as Prime Minister (ditto Cameron to an extent) in the mid-90s. You might not have agreed with is policies but you couldn't argue he didn't look or act the part.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
The cases are not only increasing, they are doing so exponentially.
As for deaths, well it really doesn't take a rocket scientists, or even someone on political betting, to work out that there's a lag between rising case numbers, hospitalisations and then deaths. Sadly.
Anyway, I shall head off out of this echo chamber again. Some angry-seeming people on here just seem to want to shout one another down without listening to or considering alternative opinions.
I have posted an opinion, backed by today's data, of cases rising for the past 5 days. The rolling 7-day average has increased 15% today and deaths have jumped too.
Ok let's say you're right, what are you proposing? Lockdown 4? Mandatory vaccinations? What do you think the government should do, tomorrow? What policy should be implemented?
Cases rising again, this is just like what was happening last summer and then seemingly out of nowhere we had a problem, despite lots of us warning that we were in trouble.
Don't panic Mr Mainwaring
Seriously, just because they've started trickling up again it doesn't follow that they're going to increase to infinity. What you're going to get as we gradually settle into a more stable situation is the cases fluctuating up a bit, down a bit, back up, back down...
I wouldn't be unduly concerned unless or until we arrive at a sharp and sustained rise in hospital numbers, but I'm not expecting disaster or anywhere close. The vaccines are too effective and coverage, especially amongst the vulnerable, is, as we are all aware by now, very high indeed.
Or, to put it another way, were you expecting cases to decline to zero? Because, unless either the disease is eradicated like smallpox or the caseload remains billiard table flat forever, they must necessarily go back up at some point.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
The cases are not only increasing, they are doing so exponentially.
As for deaths, well it really doesn't take a rocket scientists, or even someone on political betting, to work out that there's a lag between rising case numbers, hospitalisations and then deaths. Sadly.
Anyway, I shall head off out of this echo chamber again. Some angry-seeming people on here just seem to want to shout one another down without listening to or considering alternative opinions.
I have posted an opinion, backed by today's data, of cases rising for the past 5 days. The rolling 7-day average has increased 15% today and deaths have jumped too.
You don’t seem to want to engage on my argument for why cases matter so much less? On the narrow definition of the las5 few days yes cases are going up. That’s not a surprise. Three weeks ago England removed all legal restrictions. Think on that. We are close to normal, with a very transmissible variant, yet with no legal restrictions, and cases are have gently risen. All the while more vaccinations are going on and same are getting immunity via infection. We are in a much better place than at any time since March 2020.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
The cases are not only increasing, they are doing so exponentially.
As for deaths, well it really doesn't take a rocket scientists, or even someone on political betting, to work out that there's a lag between rising case numbers, hospitalisations and then deaths. Sadly.
Anyway, I shall head off out of this echo chamber again. Some angry-seeming people on here just seem to want to shout one another down without listening to or considering alternative opinions.
I have posted an opinion, backed by today's data, of cases rising for the past 5 days. The rolling 7-day average has increased 15% today and deaths have jumped too.
Ok let's say you're right, what are you proposing? Lockdown 4? Mandatory vaccinations? What do you think the government should do, tomorrow? What policy should be implemented?
Execution of antivaxxers is the only solution.
Has nico hacked your account, or have you just seen an anti vaxxer eating pineapple pizza while dissing Star Wars and betting on Max Verstappen?
Cases rising again, this is just like what was happening last summer and then seemingly out of nowhere we had a problem, despite lots of us warning that we were in trouble.
But what do you want to do about it? If vaccines aren't the answer what is the answer? Lockdown forever? No one seems to have any answers that don't result in keeping everyone locked down forever.
Once everyone has had a chance to be vaccinated (it's annoying that we haven't done the 12-17 age group though) we really do need to let it rip. For there is nothing more we can do to protect people....
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
The cases are not only increasing, they are doing so exponentially.
As for deaths, well it really doesn't take a rocket scientists, or even someone on political betting, to work out that there's a lag between rising case numbers, hospitalisations and then deaths. Sadly.
Anyway, I shall head off out of this echo chamber again. Some angry-seeming people on here just seem to want to shout one another down without listening to or considering alternative opinions.
I have posted an opinion, backed by today's data, of cases rising for the past 5 days. The rolling 7-day average has increased 15% today and deaths have jumped too.
Ok let's say you're right, what are you proposing? Lockdown 4? Mandatory vaccinations? What do you think the government should do, tomorrow? What policy should be implemented?
Execution of antivaxxers is the only solution.
Has nico hacked your account, or have you just seen an anti vaxxer eating pineapple pizza while dissing Star Wars and betting on Max Verstappen?
Short overview, green screen and the Unreal Game engine powering the scenario, all in all a cheap version of how the Mandalorin was done.
Not really comparable to Mandalorin tech. Like saying an Indy game is a cheap version of the latest AAA game.
Both are powered by the same Unreal engine - which is the point I wanted to make.
The Mandalorin uses screens to display the background images, (they then add props as appropriate to flesh things out. The BBC uses a green screen and added the images later, so it's a far cheaper alternative...
Still not really. One is bog standard old school green screen that has been used for donkeys years with all the limitations that go with them, Mandalorin is much much more sophisticated e.g. the scene being projected moves, lighting adapts in real time as the camera moves, the resolution is insane. Also I doubt ILM I using the off the shelf version of Unreal, just as most AAA have heavily modified versions / additions.
Twitch streamers these days have what the BBC did. It really is nothing special.
The scene being projected moves, the lighting adapts to the appropriate background of the time in Tokyo, the resolution is definitely enough.
There is really little difference beyond how the background is being rendered (and given that the Mandalorin software has been released I'm sure it's what the BBC were using).
It really is totally different....see my link why.
You mean the 270 degree screens - apart from the lighting options it provides (which are significant but the the cost is oh boy) there actually really, really isn't....
There is loads of difference...but even at base level, nobody really thought they were actually atop a skyscraper in Tokyo looking at the skyline....it looks like computer graphics...the Mandalorin, its impossible to tell what was (if any) was on a location and what was on the stage...
As I say, NFL redzone has had exactly what the BBC had for years.
Cases rising again, this is just like what was happening last summer and then seemingly out of nowhere we had a problem, despite lots of us warning that we were in trouble.
Vaccination. That is the difference between now and then.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
The cases are not only increasing, they are doing so exponentially.
As for deaths, well it really doesn't take a rocket scientists, or even someone on political betting, to work out that there's a lag between rising case numbers, hospitalisations and then deaths. Sadly.
Anyway, I shall head off out of this echo chamber again. Some angry-seeming people on here just seem to want to shout one another down without listening to or considering alternative opinions.
I have posted an opinion, backed by today's data, of cases rising for the past 5 days. The rolling 7-day average has increased 15% today and deaths have jumped too.
Ok let's say you're right, what are you proposing? Lockdown 4? Mandatory vaccinations? What do you think the government should do, tomorrow? What policy should be implemented?
Execution of antivaxxers is the only solution.
Has nico hacked your account, or have you just seen an anti vaxxer eating pineapple pizza while dissing Star Wars and betting on Max Verstappen?
No, I've always been anti antivaxxers.
Quite a jump from disliking them to shooting them.
Cases rising again, this is just like what was happening last summer and then seemingly out of nowhere we had a problem, despite lots of us warning that we were in trouble.
Don't panic Mr Mainwaring
Seriously, just because they've started trickling up again it doesn't follow that they're going to increase to infinity. What you're going to get as we gradually settle into a more stable situation is the cases fluctuating up a bit, down a bit, back up, back down...
I wouldn't be unduly concerned unless or until we arrive at a sharp and sustained rise in hospital numbers, but I'm not expecting disaster or anywhere close. The vaccines are too effective and coverage, especially amongst the vulnerable, is, as we are all aware by now, very high indeed.
Or, to put it another way, were you expecting cases to decline to zero? Because, unless either the disease is eradicated like smallpox or the caseload remains billiard table flat forever, they must necessarily go back up at some point.
Having watched the Welsh and Scottish news tonight and the activity in the night clubs with largely very young people (they are to me) if there is not an increase in cases in the young then I would be very surprised indeed
Is it not the case that an increase in cases was expected after freedom day
[snip] The wider issue (and here you are quite right) is I can't visualise what a Labour Government led by Starmer would do - what would be its leading objectives, how would it govern? Without being unkind, you could always envisage Blair as Prime Minister (ditto Cameron to an extent) in the mid-90s. You might not have agreed with is policies but you couldn't argue he didn't look or act the part.
That's exactly the point I'm making, although I'd make a distinction between the personal and the policy aspects. As regards Starmer personally, I can easily envisage him as PM in a way that I certainly couldn't envisage Corbyn, or even Ed Miliband. It's easy to picture Starmer at a press conference with Angela Merkel or appearing on TV in response to some national crisis, and doing a solid job at it. The difficulty is as you say is more about envisaging what a Starmer government would actually be for. That's where the team (or lack of one) comes in, but ultimately it's a failure of his leadership. He just doesn't seem to 'get' politics or have any identifiable position on anything much.
At the risk of getting shouted down, I think the UK is currently losing the battle against covid. The evidence is growing. Anecdotally I also know several people who have caught it in the past fortnight whereas I've only known one in the previous 18 months.
The cases are not only increasing, they are doing so exponentially.
As for deaths, well it really doesn't take a rocket scientists, or even someone on political betting, to work out that there's a lag between rising case numbers, hospitalisations and then deaths. Sadly.
Anyway, I shall head off out of this echo chamber again. Some angry-seeming people on here just seem to want to shout one another down without listening to or considering alternative opinions.
I have posted an opinion, backed by today's data, of cases rising for the past 5 days. The rolling 7-day average has increased 15% today and deaths have jumped too.
Ok let's say you're right, what are you proposing? Lockdown 4? Mandatory vaccinations? What do you think the government should do, tomorrow? What policy should be implemented?
Execution of antivaxxers is the only solution.
Has nico hacked your account, or have you just seen an anti vaxxer eating pineapple pizza while dissing Star Wars and betting on Max Verstappen?
No, I've always been anti antivaxxers.
Quite a jump from disliking them to shooting them.
There's a pandemic on.
Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures.
Not surprised cases are rising. In my local area you are seeing less and less masks and distancing. The initial 'i will keep wearing them for a bit' seems to have worn off.
A number of my colleagues vaccinated at the same time as me: December for first dose and March second dose are coming down with the Covid. Nobody seriously unwell, but alarming that I am seeing colleagues around me getting it for the first time despite being double vaccinated.
Busy times at work, Flu and Booster preparation well under way.
Lewis Hamilton is having the most extraordinary run of luck right now.
You wonder if it’s all going to go horribly wrong at once for him...
He’s had a couple of lucky races, and his principal opponent has also had a couple of lucky races.
One American racing driver had the book to throw at MV for the Silverstone accident, in contrast to a lot of other F1 commentators, when giving a briefing to a bunch of first-time track day guys.
Not surprised cases are rising. In my local area you are seeing less and less masks and distancing. The initial 'i will keep wearing them for a bit' seems to have worn off.
A number of my colleagues vaccinated at the same time as me: December for first dose and March second dose are coming down with the Covid. Nobody seriously unwell, but alarming that I am seeing colleagues around me getting it for the first time despite being double vaccinated.
Busy times at work, Flu and Booster preparation well under way.
Isn't it better to get the COVID cases out of the way now rather than have them in November and December? If we end up 4m cases+vaccines in the next 8 weeks the pandemic is over. We'll be at herd immunity.
Labour almost caught up with the Tories in December, but the vaccine rollout soon put paid to that. I can't think of any reason for Labour's latest mini spike but history teaches us that the opposition should be well ahead at this point in the cycle if they are to have any chance of winning. With the large Tory majority, Labour would have to miles clear now to overturn it and win in 2024. Back in 2003. Blair's New Labour still had a huge majority but they were well behind in the polls and although the Tories gained a lot of seats, Blair still won comfortably enough in 2005.
Not surprised cases are rising. In my local area you are seeing less and less masks and distancing. The initial 'i will keep wearing them for a bit' seems to have worn off.
A number of my colleagues vaccinated at the same time as me: December for first dose and March second dose are coming down with the Covid. Nobody seriously unwell, but alarming that I am seeing colleagues around me getting it for the first time despite being double vaccinated.
Busy times at work, Flu and Booster preparation well under way.
Does anyone have a market on whether we might get record take up for the flu jab this winter?
They built a rod for their own back by going big on the “what happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone” marketing angle.
You can’t say that and then do nothing about those sharing hideous abuse. These tech companies have a moral (and, IMO, should have a legal) obligation to prevent abuse being shared. The victims deserve nothing less.
Having said that, I am worried about the slippery slope.
On balance though, a sensible step forward.
Agreed. What next? Terrorist bomb-making instructions? ISIL beheading videos? Hong Kong pro-democracy advocacy? That Bullingdon photo of Boris and David Cameron?
Labour almost caught up with the Tories in December, but the vaccine rollout soon put paid to that. I can't think of any reason for Labour's latest mini spike but history teaches us that the opposition should be well ahead at this point in the cycle if they are to have any chance of winning. With the large Tory majority, Labour would have to miles clear now to overturn it and win in 2024. Back in 2003. Blair's New Labour still had a huge majority but they were well behind in the polls and although the Tories gained a lot of seats, Blair still won comfortably enough in 2005.
They were hardly ‘well behind.’ 20 months after the 2001 election there were two polls either side of the 2004 new year which put the Tories on 40% and Labour on 31 and 35. But that was pretty much the only time until November 2004 the gap between the two either way was bigger than MoE.
Labour almost caught up with the Tories in December, but the vaccine rollout soon put paid to that. I can't think of any reason for Labour's latest mini spike but history teaches us that the opposition should be well ahead at this point in the cycle if they are to have any chance of winning. With the large Tory majority, Labour would have to miles clear now to overturn it and win in 2024. Back in 2003. Blair's New Labour still had a huge majority but they were well behind in the polls and although the Tories gained a lot of seats, Blair still won comfortably enough in 2005.
It all depends on your definition of comfortable. Labour's 36% share of the vote in 2005 was a one-off "comfortable".
That's a fabulous chart. The US has a particular problem with those in the 40 to 60 year old range, which is just when Covid starts getting dangerous.
The vaccination rate in the 50+ age group will probably be the biggest factor in which countries do best in the return to normality phase of the pandemic. Making up the numbers with teenagers will give a misleadingly rosy picture of a country's preparedness.
Cases rising again, this is just like what was happening last summer and then seemingly out of nowhere we had a problem, despite lots of us warning that we were in trouble.
Around here they never really seemed to fall in the first place: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases?areaType=ltla&areaName=Cambridge -- bouncing around about 60 cases a day since the beginning of June. Some of that I guess is end of university term reducing the population of young asymptomatic-but-tested-anyway people at about the point where we would otherwise have seen more of a peak the way the UK wide figures do. But it does leave me wondering whether looking at the all-UK graph is a representative picture, or if different parts of the country are seeing notably different local situations...
Not surprised cases are rising. In my local area you are seeing less and less masks and distancing. The initial 'i will keep wearing them for a bit' seems to have worn off.
A number of my colleagues vaccinated at the same time as me: December for first dose and March second dose are coming down with the Covid. Nobody seriously unwell, but alarming that I am seeing colleagues around me getting it for the first time despite being double vaccinated.
Busy times at work, Flu and Booster preparation well under way.
Does anyone have a market on whether we might get record take up for the flu jab this winter?
I think more people will be offered it than ever and they would be wise to take it. Lot of people really worried about Flu this year and the fear that a bad flu season combined with another Covid surge this winter could cause massive strain on health services.
An article in the Guardian a few weeks ago said a record 35 million could be offered a flu jab this year:
Not surprised cases are rising. In my local area you are seeing less and less masks and distancing. The initial 'i will keep wearing them for a bit' seems to have worn off.
A number of my colleagues vaccinated at the same time as me: December for first dose and March second dose are coming down with the Covid. Nobody seriously unwell, but alarming that I am seeing colleagues around me getting it for the first time despite being double vaccinated.
Busy times at work, Flu and Booster preparation well under way.
Does anyone have a market on whether we might get record take up for the flu jab this winter?
I think more people will be offered it than ever and they would be wise to take it. Lot of people really worried about Flu this year and the fear that a bad flu season combined with another Covid surge this winter could cause massive strain on health services.
An article in the Guardian a few weeks ago said a record 35 million could be offered a flu jab this year:
That's a fabulous chart. The US has a particular problem with those in the 40 to 60 year old range, which is just when Covid starts getting dangerous.
The vaccination rate in the 50+ age group will probably be the biggest factor in which countries do best in the return to normality phase of the pandemic. Making up the numbers with teenagers will give a misleadingly rosy picture of a country's preparedness.
Like the Grauniad's gloating article on how 6 EU countries have now overtaken the UK in vaccination. It leaves out that they are comparing total population vaccination where the EU is vaccinating teenagers and the UK is not.
At this point, the key is the vaccination ceiling - where it is going to end up in each of the at-risk vulnerability cohorts.
This should not be a race - we should be hoping every country does well. Fortunately, the UK is doing very well.
Cases rising again, this is just like what was happening last summer and then seemingly out of nowhere we had a problem, despite lots of us warning that we were in trouble.
Around here they never really seemed to fall in the first place: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases?areaType=ltla&areaName=Cambridge -- bouncing around about 60 cases a day since the beginning of June. Some of that I guess is end of university term reducing the population of young asymptomatic-but-tested-anyway people at about the point where we would otherwise have seen more of a peak the way the UK wide figures do. But it does leave me wondering whether looking at the all-UK graph is a representative picture, or if different parts of the country are seeing notably different local situations...
Not surprised cases are rising. In my local area you are seeing less and less masks and distancing. The initial 'i will keep wearing them for a bit' seems to have worn off.
A number of my colleagues vaccinated at the same time as me: December for first dose and March second dose are coming down with the Covid. Nobody seriously unwell, but alarming that I am seeing colleagues around me getting it for the first time despite being double vaccinated.
Busy times at work, Flu and Booster preparation well under way.
Does anyone have a market on whether we might get record take up for the flu jab this winter?
I think more people will be offered it than ever and they would be wise to take it. Lot of people really worried about Flu this year and the fear that a bad flu season combined with another Covid surge this winter could cause massive strain on health services.
An article in the Guardian a few weeks ago said a record 35 million could be offered a flu jab this year:
To put that number into context a record 19 million had the flu jab in 2020.
My school offered it to all staff.
We have to pay but I signed up. So did most others, I think. Seems an absolute no-brainer.
I’m ‘lucky’ enough to be asthmatic plus an ex cancer patient so I get the flu jab every year. Why wouldn’t you? I’ve only ever had flu once and it was horrible.
Comments
Twitch streamers these days have what the BBC did. It really is nothing special.
It’s no more tawdry, than being in favour of almost unlimited immigration, but no new house building in the areas where the immigrants wish to settle.
Tawdry is the Lib Dem modus operandi in the South East, and has been for the last decade.
Because if not, that’s not a sign we’re losing the battle. Quite the contrary.
When you arrived on pb you were attacked for your opening posts. This latest one is similar. Of course some are getting infected, the level of Covid in the community is high. The big difference is that the consequences of that are much, much less serious now.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/20/how-the-mandalorian-and-ilm-invisibly-reinvented-film-and-tv-production/
If the former, yes, two of them are seriously ill.
But this is actually what the LDs want, for years now they have been campaigning for a PR voting system so that there's always a coalition government, presumably with them always in it.
The scene being projected moves, the lighting adapts to the appropriate background of the time in Tokyo, the resolution is definitely enough.
There is really little difference beyond how the background is being rendered (and given that the Mandalorin software has been released I'm sure it's what the BBC were using).
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/norwegian-cruise-says-us-judge-allows-it-ask-passengers-vaccine-proof-2021-08-09/
https://usafacts.org/visualizations/covid-vaccine-tracker-states/state/florida
And whilst de Santis has been urging people to get jabbed, that's being seen as a betrayal by some of his base:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/29/anti-vax-desantis-501613
https://www.ft.com/content/17013489-e88c-4345-8845-8a03b8b50f60
They built a rod for their own back by going big on the “what happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone” marketing angle.
You can’t say that and then do nothing about those sharing hideous abuse. These tech companies have a moral (and, IMO, should have a legal) obligation to prevent abuse being shared. The victims deserve nothing less.
Having said that, I am worried about the slippery slope.
On balance though, a sensible step forward.
It's not the same but it's not a amateur rip-off, it's a decent approach probably attached to 1% of the budget.
I'm allowed an opinion, y'know. At least, I hope so. It happens to be backed by the current evidence.
I get that people 'want' things to look good. I do too. But I'm afraid that's not the way this is now heading.
Mark my words.
Boris Johnson: 36% (-1)
Rishi Sunak: 34% (+4)
Changes +/- 2 Aug
https://twitter.com/redfieldwilton/status/1424785236815187976?s=21
Of course the anti-green brigade know this full well but would have their profits reduced by this, so are trying to turn the topic onto individual households, rather than their own massive pollution.
However, given I have met literally dozens of people who have had it and had severe symptoms short of hospitalisations, and @Foxy could go a lot further, it is also surprising you only met one who had it. Might it simply be that your social group was extremely well locked down so the effect of coming out is more pronounced?
Case numbers are after all currently falling and so are deaths, so individual surges may be due to individual factors.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9877119/Britains-daily-increase-Covid-cases-SPEEDING-UP.html
The cases are not only increasing, they are doing so exponentially.
As for deaths, well it really doesn't take a rocket scientists, or even someone on political betting, to work out that there's a lag between rising case numbers, hospitalisations and then deaths. Sadly.
Anyway, I shall head off out of this echo chamber again. Some angry-seeming people on here just seem to want to shout one another down without listening to or considering alternative opinions.
I have posted an opinion, backed by today's data, of cases rising for the past 5 days. The rolling 7-day average has increased 15% today and deaths have jumped too.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9877119/Britains-daily-increase-Covid-cases-SPEEDING-UP.html
BBC is a bit of a green screen in a corner studio.
Doubly so after the past 18 months.
Triply so, in the context of taking about advanced green screen technology.
Redfield & Wilton Strategies
@RedfieldWilton
At this moment, which of the following individuals do you think would be the better Prime Minister for the United Kingdom? (9 Aug):
Boris Johnson: 43% (-1)
Keir Starmer: 32% (+4)
Changes +/- 2 Aug
Even when they were rising exponentially a few weeks ago, deaths did not follow by rising in proportion.
I think you are seeing what you expect to see. We had this conversation before, when you mistook contingency planning - a long overdue change of approach by the government - as a sign we would have a crisis and a lockdown in October.
One other question, which I appreciate I should have been clearer about - how serious is ‘serious?’ Are they in hospital? Or just feeling very ill?
The week-on-week percentage growth for the daily infection count has now risen for four consecutive days
Cases had fallen consistently towards end of July, sparking hopes that the UK's third wave was fizzling out
Separate England-only statistics have suggested Covid hospital admissions may also be on the rise again
Meanwhile, another 37 lab-confirmed fatalities were registered today, up 54.2 per cent on last week's toll
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9877119/Britains-daily-increase-Covid-cases-SPEEDING-UP.html
Sorry. I wish it weren't so. But we can't keep pretending about the latest trends. Let's just hope it's a blip but I don't think it is.
@RedfieldWilton
·
28m
Johnson vs. Starmer (9 Aug):
Johnson Scores Best In:
Can build a strong economy 43%
Stands up for UK 42%
Can bring British people together 41%
Starmer Scores Best In:
Good physical & mental health 39%
Willing to work with other parties 37%
https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1424782676503011332?s=20
Things are closing up
The economy is and continues to be distorted by Covid - to paraphrase Viv Nicholson "Borrow, Borrow, Borrow" will only get us so far and to escape short-termism for a moment, the future is going to have enough problems trying to deal with climate change without having to additionally service our huge debt.
Social Care - well, Johnson has been talking about it for three years or more, I suppose you could argue in the spirit of national interest, if Starmer has a credible and viable solution, he should put it forward. The other side of that argument is Johnson is probably going to provide a stick with which Starmer can beat him - just as May did for Corbyn in 2017.
The wider issue (and here you are quite right) is I can't visualise what a Labour Government led by Starmer would do - what would be its leading objectives, how would it govern? Without being unkind, you could always envisage Blair as Prime Minister (ditto Cameron to an extent) in the mid-90s. You might not have agreed with is policies but you couldn't argue he didn't look or act the part.
Otherwise...that’s got to be people having a laugh.
Seriously, just because they've started trickling up again it doesn't follow that they're going to increase to infinity. What you're going to get as we gradually settle into a more stable situation is the cases fluctuating up a bit, down a bit, back up, back down...
I wouldn't be unduly concerned unless or until we arrive at a sharp and sustained rise in hospital numbers, but I'm not expecting disaster or anywhere close. The vaccines are too effective and coverage, especially amongst the vulnerable, is, as we are all aware by now, very high indeed.
Or, to put it another way, were you expecting cases to decline to zero? Because, unless either the disease is eradicated like smallpox or the caseload remains billiard table flat forever, they must necessarily go back up at some point.
As I say, NFL redzone has had exactly what the BBC had for years.
https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/covid-forecasters-neil-ferguson-sunetra-gupta-b949855.html
Aston Martin have had their appeal thrown out, after admitting the Seb Vettel’s car ran out of fuel.
https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2021 Hungarian Grand Prix - Decision - Aston Martin - Right of review.pdf
Is it not the case that an increase in cases was expected after freedom day
You wonder if it’s all going to go horribly wrong at once for him...
The US has better coverage in the youngest age groups, but much worse coverage in older ages.
As COVID risks vary so much with age, this is bad news for the US.
https://twitter.com/VictimOfMaths/status/1424788095485071367?s=20
Astonishing.
Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures.
A number of my colleagues vaccinated at the same time as me: December for first dose and March second dose are coming down with the Covid. Nobody seriously unwell, but alarming that I am seeing colleagues around me getting it for the first time despite being double vaccinated.
Busy times at work, Flu and Booster preparation well under way.
09-08-21 25,161
08-08-21 27,429
07-08-21 28,612
06-08-21 31,808
One American racing driver had the book to throw at MV for the Silverstone accident, in contrast to a lot of other F1 commentators, when giving a briefing to a bunch of first-time track day guys.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ukMJcji7DBM
With the large Tory majority, Labour would have to miles clear now to overturn it and win in 2024.
Back in 2003. Blair's New Labour still had a huge majority but they were well behind in the polls and although the Tories gained a lot of seats, Blair still won comfortably enough in 2005.
I mean see his comments about the RNLI or AIDS sufferers.
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/historical-polls/voting-intention-2001-2005
Currently we're like the Jedi in exile after the Revenge of the Sith.
But we will be back.
An article in the Guardian a few weeks ago said a record 35 million could be offered a flu jab this year:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/17/record-35m-people-will-be-offered-free-flu-jab-to-ease-pressure-on-nhs
To put that number into context a record 19 million had the flu jab in 2020.
We have to pay but I signed up. So did most others, I think. Seems an absolute no-brainer.
At this point, the key is the vaccination ceiling - where it is going to end up in each of the at-risk vulnerability cohorts.
This should not be a race - we should be hoping every country does well. Fortunately, the UK is doing very well.