Perhaps relevant to that article but I'm not going to read it (the Graun's).
I'm old enough to remember when the Daily Mash used to be funny.
It's bloody funny still as witness the above.
Interesting to me is that it is making fun of remainers whereas it has in the past (I don't look at it all the time) made fun of Brexiters. Such as this, one of my favourites (a long time ago so you will find it funny).
Of course our Emma is British. She speaks with the same posh southern English accent as all our tennis players do. Because they are the only type that the LTA promote.
Andy Murray says hello!
And Emma says "bună ziua"?
I guess she left Canada before she picked up the whole "aboot" thing.
She sounds like a typical South London teenager to me.
Hmm, if you think that's typical for South London you've obviously not spent much time in my neck of the woods! Having said that, she sounds quite a lot like my eldest and all her nice middle class friends. Well spoken but not "okay yah".
Is anyone IRL really “pro-lockdown” anymore? I only hear this constant sabre-rattling on PB. Most normal people seem to be getting on with their lives. I was in town on Saturday night: the theatre was full and Soho was absolutely jumping. Like the pandemic never happened. It was wonderful to see.
The ones who are pro lockdown are not out and about. They have locked themselves away and want everyone else to be forced to do the same.
“The potency of Ketamine is such it can make a barrister’s son from Windsor believe he is someone called ‘DJ Che Headfuck’ and organise dubstep raves in pub skittle alleys that smell of piss."
37.4% of all deaths of unvaccinated people are caused by COVID-19 0.8% of all deaths of fully vaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
French statistics but will be similar everywhere. You are twice as likely to go to hospital as an unvaccinated 20 year old than as a vaccinated 80 year old !
I suppose richer households have more discretionary spending (restaurants/entertainment) than poorer.....
Train tickets and foreign holidays?
Using myself as an example of the typical working man.
Biggest drops in my spending since the first lockdown.
1) Foreign holidays 2) Train tickets 3) UK hotel stays 4) Events like gigs, theatre, and cinema 5) Work clothes 6) Fuel 7) Restaurants
Slightly offset with more technology purchases.
I've saved a fortune during the Pandemic for basically those reasons, especially the eating out, gigs and travel.
Same. No holiday of any description this year (new house/country feels like a holiday anyway), hotels have all been work trips, 1st gigs this year are December, very little personal mileage, haven't eaten in a proper restaurant since last time on holiday February last year.
Do need to buy a couple of suits for the Germany trip next month. Middle-aged spread, lockdown and depression means that a size up is needed despite best efforts to drop it back off again.
Has anyone managed to lose weight during the lockdown?
So, my back of the envelope impression of the route towards this winter's point herd immunity to delta:
About 1/6 of the remaining distance will be made by vaccinating 12-15 About 1/3 will be made by booster vaccination (which will also re-improve the case:death ratio) About 1/2 will be made by infection (of about 10-15% of the population, depending on the balance of vaccinated / unvaccinated).
Jonathan Liew pours a bit of cold water on Emma's triumph.
Raducanu did not have to play a single top-10 player or previous grand slam finalist. All the seeds, including world No 1 Ashleigh Barty, were cleared from her section of the draw. None of which should detract from the scale of her accomplishment, the stunning cleanness of her groundstrokes, her seeming immunity to pressure. But it should at least inform what it is realistic or reasonable to expect from her in the immediate future.
Iga Swiatek won last year’s French Open in similar circumstances: a new teenage star sweeping all before her (including grand slam winners Simona Halep and Sofia Kenin) without dropping a set. As Poland’s first ever grand slam winner, she found herself imprisoned in a cage of expectations that left her drained, exhausted, seeing tennis balls when she closed her eyes at night.
I think that's fair enough. We are in danger of turning Emma into a kind of female Don Bradman / Muhammad Ali / Pele of tennis after one match. And you can bet that the moment she has a poor performance in the future the vultures will be out in force.
I suppose richer households have more discretionary spending (restaurants/entertainment) than poorer.....
Train tickets and foreign holidays?
Using myself as an example of the typical working man.
Biggest drops in my spending since the first lockdown.
1) Foreign holidays 2) Train tickets 3) UK hotel stays 4) Events like gigs, theatre, and cinema 5) Work clothes 6) Fuel 7) Restaurants
Slightly offset with more technology purchases.
I've saved a fortune during the Pandemic for basically those reasons, especially the eating out, gigs and travel.
Same. No holiday of any description this year (new house/country feels like a holiday anyway), hotels have all been work trips, 1st gigs this year are December, very little personal mileage, haven't eaten in a proper restaurant since last time on holiday February last year.
Do need to buy a couple of suits for the Germany trip next month. Middle-aged spread, lockdown and depression means that a size up is needed despite best efforts to drop it back off again.
Has anyone managed to lose weight during the lockdown?
I have
One chap of my aquaintance managed to lose 25% of his mass.....
I suppose richer households have more discretionary spending (restaurants/entertainment) than poorer.....
Train tickets and foreign holidays?
Using myself as an example of the typical working man.
Biggest drops in my spending since the first lockdown.
1) Foreign holidays 2) Train tickets 3) UK hotel stays 4) Events like gigs, theatre, and cinema 5) Work clothes 6) Fuel 7) Restaurants
Slightly offset with more technology purchases.
I've saved a fortune during the Pandemic for basically those reasons, especially the eating out, gigs and travel.
Same. No holiday of any description this year (new house/country feels like a holiday anyway), hotels have all been work trips, 1st gigs this year are December, very little personal mileage, haven't eaten in a proper restaurant since last time on holiday February last year.
Do need to buy a couple of suits for the Germany trip next month. Middle-aged spread, lockdown and depression means that a size up is needed despite best efforts to drop it back off again.
Has anyone managed to lose weight during the lockdown?
Managed not to gain any which I see as an achievement of sorts. Now have the muscle tone of Charles Hawtrey though.
Perhaps relevant to that article but I'm not going to read it (the Graun's).
Brilliant! Have they been reading yesterday’s thread about her dress and hat colours?! Absolutely spot on
“Joseph Turner of Bristol said: “I’ve sort of cheered them on, obviously, but I can’t help feeling that the wrong people are cheering much more loudly for incorrect nationalistic reasons.
“Point out Emma Raducanu’s ethnic origins and suddenly you’re the dick because everyone else is proud of her being British and you’re doing the thing the racists do. But for the right reasons. But still.”
This is probably the line of the article. Got a decent chuckle out of me anyway:
He added: “I wouldn’t mind us winning the Ryder Cup, because that proves we can only succeed by co-operating with Europe. But then again golf is for dicks.”
Is anyone IRL really “pro-lockdown” anymore? I only hear this constant sabre-rattling on PB. Most normal people seem to be getting on with their lives. I was in town on Saturday night: the theatre was full and Soho was absolutely jumping. Like the pandemic never happened. It was wonderful to see.
The ones who are pro lockdown are not out and about. They have locked themselves away and want everyone else to be forced to do the same.
Judging by the evidence in town this weekend, they aren't needed to fill the pubs, theatres and restaurants. It all made me wonder whether they ever went out before covid??
So PBs coven of witches are now dissecting the entrails of photos-within-photos to divine deep meanings about people they don't like?
Can I borrow an ignorance* of pseudo-scientists from the shop** to analyse this issue?
*New name for a collection of pundits **For some reason the Scientist Shop makes me think of the Magic Shop in the HG Wells story...
Sorry sir, but we no longer allow people to borrow our scientists. You see, some come back horribly abused. We had one come back from the BBC thinking he was a llama, and another from Sky refused to take off a tinfoil hat. I could only get rid of him when a nice gentleman from Talk Radio came along and took him off my hands.
(theatrical sigh) I do love the words 'caveat emptor', don't you?
Now, here's a nice lady with a degree in the 'social sciences'. She is very good at analysing image metadata to try and prove black is white. I daresay she'll be amenable to whatever dastardly deeds you have in hand. Oh? Don't worry, sir, you can always leave the 'social' off and just call her a 'scientist' ...
I suppose richer households have more discretionary spending (restaurants/entertainment) than poorer.....
Train tickets and foreign holidays?
Using myself as an example of the typical working man.
Biggest drops in my spending since the first lockdown.
1) Foreign holidays 2) Train tickets 3) UK hotel stays 4) Events like gigs, theatre, and cinema 5) Work clothes 6) Fuel 7) Restaurants
Slightly offset with more technology purchases.
I've saved a fortune during the Pandemic for basically those reasons, especially the eating out, gigs and travel.
Same. No holiday of any description this year (new house/country feels like a holiday anyway), hotels have all been work trips, 1st gigs this year are December, very little personal mileage, haven't eaten in a proper restaurant since last time on holiday February last year.
Do need to buy a couple of suits for the Germany trip next month. Middle-aged spread, lockdown and depression means that a size up is needed despite best efforts to drop it back off again.
Has anyone managed to lose weight during the lockdown?
I put 7lbs on! I have lost it all back now – but only since lockdown ended. Made me seriously concerned about the effects of lockdown on people's physical health, not just their mental health.
Is anyone IRL really “pro-lockdown” anymore? I only hear this constant sabre-rattling on PB. Most normal people seem to be getting on with their lives. I was in town on Saturday night: the theatre was full and Soho was absolutely jumping. Like the pandemic never happened. It was wonderful to see.
The ones who are pro lockdown are not out and about. They have locked themselves away and want everyone else to be forced to do the same.
Judging by the evidence in town this weekend, they aren't needed to fill the pubs, theatres and restaurants. It all made me wonder whether they ever went out before covid??
There was always an element of people who didn't like going out finally being able to impose their lifestyle choices on the rest of us wrt trying to get lockdown extended indefinitely.
Jeez. What planet does Johnson live on. How on earth can bringing in vaccine passports for venues help if he does it later in the winter "if needed" as he is now saying?
They haven't a f*cking clue what they are doing from one hour to the next.
I get it.
Since we're not going for a Zero Covid strategy there's no problem with people going out and catching Covid now. Indeed everyone who does reduces the risk of Covid being caught in the Winter.
If in the Winter there's a risk of the NHS being overwhelemed, that would be the time to introduce restrictions if they're required, not now.
Would you really prefer it and be happier if they were introduced unnecessarily today, just because it was decided they might be useful in the Winter?
If the health service is about (yet again) to be overwhelmed then I predict it will be far more about flu than covid so a covid vaxport will be a waste of time. But anyway it will be lockdowns that are needed and urgently (under the mindset of SAGE and ministers to date) rather than pratting around with having to show papers to get into a pub.
In any case, isn't the main benefit of vaxports to nudge the dubious into getting vaccinated (e.g. France)?
Yes, it’s just a Nudge strategy. Hence why Bozza has tried to notionally put it back on the table. The Nudge Unit won’t have been happy with Sajid’s unalloyed cancellation of the idea yesterday.
You don’t need to be Cass Sunstein to know that an on-again, off-again public health policy is counterproductive, destructive, and represents utter incompetence behind scenes.
Oh absolutely – I'm not defending it. The government is an effing shambles.
You would be one of my fave posters if it were not for your inexplicable anti-NZ prejudices, hah.
I have no personal issue with NZ! It's just not my cup of tea (too disperse, poor food scene, crap pubs). I loved the landscapes there and enjoyed a holiday there. But I wouldn't want to live there and think it's perennially overrated as a place to live. A mate who has moved there wants to come back!
It’s a wonderful place. I’m very privileged to have a NZ passport.
I’ll agree the pubs are diabolical, though. All seven of them.
I hope to retire there, for 3-6 months a year, when my youngest leaves school.
Ha! It would be nice to avoid the English winter every year, I grant you.
Re: NZ pubs, reminds me of that spoof tweet at the start of pandemic whereby Jacinda said words to effect of: "We will take action. We will close all our schools and offices, and both of our restaurants."
From 20 years ago now but in Auckland I never lacked for decent food places. Pubs on the other hand, not so good... About four in Auckland that cut the mustard as a 'pub', and I spent a lot of time in them...
With my friends who weren't born in the UK, if I banged on as much about it as the media and twatterati do, i think i would find myself uninvited pretty quickly.....
I recently had to fill in a questionnaire about the ethnicity of my children.
Utterly depressing, I was tempted to fill in the box marked other as 'Melting pot of many civilisations and culture.'
Apparently it is essential to capture their ethnicity and the social class of their parents.
For class did you write "None"?
One used to have to enter "race" on US visa applications. A well-known (white) British journalist was refused a visa after putting "human".
I have a friend here, who is (White) South African by origin. He used to tick African American on race boxes. It used to cause all kinds of confusion. Especially as he bears a not uncanny resemblance to Eugène Terre'Blanche.
Mr. Topping, very unfair. Mr. Eagles' views on history are proof of the site's comical integrity.
Mr. Max, I know you're not in the business any more, but as someone with a PS4 that's pretty much had it (I think) any idea on when PS5's might be a little easier to find?
I'm not too stressed as I keep old consoles and am currently really enjoying Dragon Age: Origins. Oldest game in the series yet still clearly the best.
Jeez. What planet does Johnson live on. How on earth can bringing in vaccine passports for venues help if he does it later in the winter "if needed" as he is now saying?
They haven't a f*cking clue what they are doing from one hour to the next.
I get it.
Since we're not going for a Zero Covid strategy there's no problem with people going out and catching Covid now. Indeed everyone who does reduces the risk of Covid being caught in the Winter.
If in the Winter there's a risk of the NHS being overwhelemed, that would be the time to introduce restrictions if they're required, not now.
Would you really prefer it and be happier if they were introduced unnecessarily today, just because it was decided they might be useful in the Winter?
If the health service is about (yet again) to be overwhelmed then I predict it will be far more about flu than covid so a covid vaxport will be a waste of time. But anyway it will be lockdowns that are needed and urgently (under the mindset of SAGE and ministers to date) rather than pratting around with having to show papers to get into a pub.
There is a no COVID.
Having reviewed the list of activities which can potentially spread COVID and the list of activities that PBers confidently assert can't possibly cause COVID spread, the intersecting set is empty.
So there is no way for COVID to spread, R is 0. The end.
That said 2018 = 27,000 deaths, 2019 = 30,000 deaths. From flu.
So 100 deaths a day for 300 days. Or 300 deaths a day for 100 days.
Not remembering the daily stats then, however.
This is a point I tried to make at the start of the pandemic; if the news provided a breakdown of deaths by disease every day, all the time, things would seem a lot more bleak than they are. Or at least people would be a lot more fearful than they are
Maybe we should start publishing the stats as percentage rates to give people a better perspective?
Today 0.00015% of the population died from Covid.
incredibly the average person thinks 7% of the population has died from covid equivalent to about 5 million people
Its very difficult to get really accurate figures, but assume 150,000 have died in the UK from Covid and the population is 67 million, then 0.2% have died since March 2020. Not huge, but not insignificant either. It will also be patchy. I don't now anyone who has died, but some will know several.
Jonathan Liew pours a bit of cold water on Emma's triumph.
Raducanu did not have to play a single top-10 player or previous grand slam finalist. All the seeds, including world No 1 Ashleigh Barty, were cleared from her section of the draw. None of which should detract from the scale of her accomplishment, the stunning cleanness of her groundstrokes, her seeming immunity to pressure. But it should at least inform what it is realistic or reasonable to expect from her in the immediate future.
Iga Swiatek won last year’s French Open in similar circumstances: a new teenage star sweeping all before her (including grand slam winners Simona Halep and Sofia Kenin) without dropping a set. As Poland’s first ever grand slam winner, she found herself imprisoned in a cage of expectations that left her drained, exhausted, seeing tennis balls when she closed her eyes at night.
I think that's fair enough. We are in danger of turning Emma into a kind of female Don Bradman / Muhammad Ali / Pele of tennis after one match. And you can bet that the moment she has a poor performance in the future the vultures will be out in force.
Piers Morgan will be on hand with advice to help her.
Perhaps relevant to that article but I'm not going to read it (the Graun's).
I'm old enough to remember when the Daily Mash used to be funny.
It's bloody funny still as witness the above.
Interesting to me is that it is making fun of remainers whereas it has in the past (I don't look at it all the time) made fun of Brexiters. Such as this, one of my favourites (a long time ago so you will find it funny).
it is feeble, It makes a decent point, but it is not comical
Look at this:
"What are we going to do next, build affordable housing? Pay a living wage? What if he’s serious about this ghastly plan to stop the North being a ghetto where you’re born poor and die early?"
It's like a middlebrow sixth former's laborious version of satire. It's funny if you're not a particularly funny person, and don't really understand humour, but you try quite hard
It is also like AI generated music, a computer which has been taught the essence of music but just doesn't get "music". Yet. Listen to this for 12 seconds, then the computer takes over the composition
Indeed, it occurs to me that GPT3 could churn out Mash articles by the million, no problem, and has already written things much funnier than any Daily Mash piece
Jeez. What planet does Johnson live on. How on earth can bringing in vaccine passports for venues help if he does it later in the winter "if needed" as he is now saying?
They haven't a f*cking clue what they are doing from one hour to the next.
I get it.
Since we're not going for a Zero Covid strategy there's no problem with people going out and catching Covid now. Indeed everyone who does reduces the risk of Covid being caught in the Winter.
If in the Winter there's a risk of the NHS being overwhelemed, that would be the time to introduce restrictions if they're required, not now.
Would you really prefer it and be happier if they were introduced unnecessarily today, just because it was decided they might be useful in the Winter?
If the health service is about (yet again) to be overwhelmed then I predict it will be far more about flu than covid so a covid vaxport will be a waste of time. But anyway it will be lockdowns that are needed and urgently (under the mindset of SAGE and ministers to date) rather than pratting around with having to show papers to get into a pub.
There is a no COVID.
Having reviewed the list of activities which can potentially spread COVID and the list of activities that PBers confidently assert can't possibly cause COVID spread, the intersecting set is empty.
So there is no way for COVID to spread, R is 0. The end.
That said 2018 = 27,000 deaths, 2019 = 30,000 deaths. From flu.
So 100 deaths a day for 300 days. Or 300 deaths a day for 100 days.
Not remembering the daily stats then, however.
This is a point I tried to make at the start of the pandemic; if the news provided a breakdown of deaths by disease every day, all the time, things would seem a lot more bleak than they are. Or at least people would be a lot more fearful than they are
Maybe we should start publishing the stats as percentage rates to give people a better perspective?
Today 0.00015% of the population died from Covid.
incredibly the average person thinks 7% of the population has died from covid equivalent to about 5 million people
Its very difficult to get really accurate figures, but assume 150,000 have died in the UK from Covid and the population is 67 million, then 0.2% have died since March 2020. Not huge, but not insignificant either. It will also be patchy. I don't now anyone who has died, but some will know several.
It's not randomly patchy, there's a very defined distribution. Old people with lots of friends and people who live in care homes probably know people who died. If you're under 40 and aren't a member of a golf club, you probably don't.
So 12-15 year olds with finally get a jab....all that wasted time, when we could have sorted this in the summer holidays.
It’s truly bewildering.
I really do think this is a marginal call. If there were no downsides to vaccination for 12-15 year olds it would be a no brainer, but there are documented health problems in a tiny minority. So its not simple. I think the JCVI wimped out of making a decision, and I am happy that we are choosing to do this, but I think it unfair to think it 'obviously' the right choice.
Mr. Topping, very unfair. Mr. Eagles' views on history are proof of the site's comical integrity.
Mr. Max, I know you're not in the business any more, but as someone with a PS4 that's pretty much had it (I think) any idea on when PS5's might be a little easier to find?
I'm not too stressed as I keep old consoles and am currently really enjoying Dragon Age: Origins. Oldest game in the series yet still clearly the best.
It's not that difficult right now if you sign up for stock alerts. Smiths and Argos are usually pretty good. If you want to wait until you can just get one by walking into a shop then probably around this time next year. I'm told that Sony have secured enough silicon to make 25m units this FY which is just about enough to meet demand, it won't be until next year that they make enough to exceed demand and get enough stock into the channel for walk up purchases.
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
Actually, it is quite revealing of the person. Humour is subjective but a person who finds slapstick clowning funny, or fart jokes, is interestingly different to a person who likes early Woody Allen. That might sounds like snobbery, but it is also true
BREAKING: Boris Johnson says Sajid Javid (who says vaccine passports are scrapped) and Nadhim Zahawi (who says vaccine passports are going ahead) are “both right”
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
Actually, it is quite revealing of the person. Humour is subjective but a person who finds slapstick clowning funny, or fart jokes, is interestingly different to a person who likes early Woody Allen. That might sounds like snobbery, but it is also true
Jonathan Liew pours a bit of cold water on Emma's triumph.
Raducanu did not have to play a single top-10 player or previous grand slam finalist. All the seeds, including world No 1 Ashleigh Barty, were cleared from her section of the draw. None of which should detract from the scale of her accomplishment, the stunning cleanness of her groundstrokes, her seeming immunity to pressure. But it should at least inform what it is realistic or reasonable to expect from her in the immediate future.
Iga Swiatek won last year’s French Open in similar circumstances: a new teenage star sweeping all before her (including grand slam winners Simona Halep and Sofia Kenin) without dropping a set. As Poland’s first ever grand slam winner, she found herself imprisoned in a cage of expectations that left her drained, exhausted, seeing tennis balls when she closed her eyes at night.
I think that's fair enough. We are in danger of turning Emma into a kind of female Don Bradman / Muhammad Ali / Pele of tennis after one match. And you can bet that the moment she has a poor performance in the future the vultures will be out in force.
Sorry - he's the talentless, classless tw%t who thinks Jonathon Agnew is racist. No time for him. I'm not claiming ER will will 20 slams, or even with another, but its not her fault that others got knocked out as she won a slam without dropping a set. Amazingly for an 18 year old she has a game without obvious weaknesses. She played at a high level throughout.
Womens tennis is in transition - the Serena age has ended, and in the space left behind the slams have been widely spread. Time will tell for ER, but she has the talent and game for this.
Ironically, I saw the Xbox ConfusingName in stock at Game. I'm tempted to cross-over (better reverse compatibility and no clock issue, I think) but right now few games I want make the PS4 games for the PS5 the major draw. It'll be bizarre playing The Witcher 3 without the sound of a jet engine.
I was checking Argos, but I'll add Smiths to my list.
I suppose richer households have more discretionary spending (restaurants/entertainment) than poorer.....
Train tickets and foreign holidays?
Using myself as an example of the typical working man.
Biggest drops in my spending since the first lockdown.
1) Foreign holidays 2) Train tickets 3) UK hotel stays 4) Events like gigs, theatre, and cinema 5) Work clothes 6) Fuel 7) Restaurants
Slightly offset with more technology purchases.
I've saved a fortune during the Pandemic for basically those reasons, especially the eating out, gigs and travel.
Same. No holiday of any description this year (new house/country feels like a holiday anyway), hotels have all been work trips, 1st gigs this year are December, very little personal mileage, haven't eaten in a proper restaurant since last time on holiday February last year.
Do need to buy a couple of suits for the Germany trip next month. Middle-aged spread, lockdown and depression means that a size up is needed despite best efforts to drop it back off again.
Has anyone managed to lose weight during the lockdown?
I have
One chap of my aquaintance managed to lose 25% of his mass.....
Perhaps relevant to that article but I'm not going to read it (the Graun's).
I'm old enough to remember when the Daily Mash used to be funny.
It's bloody funny still as witness the above.
Interesting to me is that it is making fun of remainers whereas it has in the past (I don't look at it all the time) made fun of Brexiters. Such as this, one of my favourites (a long time ago so you will find it funny).
it is feeble, It makes a decent point, but it is not comical
Look at this:
"What are we going to do next, build affordable housing? Pay a living wage? What if he’s serious about this ghastly plan to stop the North being a ghetto where you’re born poor and die early?"
It's like a middlebrow sixth former's laborious version of satire. It's funny if you're not a particularly funny person, and don't really understand humour, but you try quite hard
It is also like AI generated music, a computer which has been taught the essence of music but just doesn't get "music". Yet. Listen to this for 12 seconds, then the computer takes over the composition
Indeed, it occurs to me that GPT3 could churn out Mash articles by the million, no problem, and has already written things much funnier than any Daily Mash piece
The difficulty I find with all these kinds of sature is that the headline - i.e the punchline - comes first, not last like in a joke. Writing an article which develops the joke further when the punchline has come and gone is pretty hard.
Perhaps relevant to that article but I'm not going to read it (the Graun's).
I'm old enough to remember when the Daily Mash used to be funny.
It's bloody funny still as witness the above.
Interesting to me is that it is making fun of remainers whereas it has in the past (I don't look at it all the time) made fun of Brexiters. Such as this, one of my favourites (a long time ago so you will find it funny).
it is feeble, It makes a decent point, but it is not comical
Look at this:
"What are we going to do next, build affordable housing? Pay a living wage? What if he’s serious about this ghastly plan to stop the North being a ghetto where you’re born poor and die early?"
It's like a middlebrow sixth former's laborious version of satire. It's funny if you're not a particularly funny person, and don't really understand humour, but you try quite hard
It is also like AI generated music, a computer which has been taught the essence of music but just doesn't get "music". Yet. Listen to this for 12 seconds, then the computer takes over the composition
Indeed, it occurs to me that GPT3 could churn out Mash articles by the million, no problem, and has already written things much funnier than any Daily Mash piece
Is anyone IRL really “pro-lockdown” anymore? I only hear this constant sabre-rattling on PB. Most normal people seem to be getting on with their lives. I was in town on Saturday night: the theatre was full and Soho was absolutely jumping. Like the pandemic never happened. It was wonderful to see.
The ones who are pro lockdown are not out and about. They have locked themselves away and want everyone else to be forced to do the same.
Judging by the evidence in town this weekend, they aren't needed to fill the pubs, theatres and restaurants. It all made me wonder whether they ever went out before covid??
Almost certainly not. The trend for not going out has been strong for many years. The internet, decent TV, box sets etc mean a lot of folk really don't go out.
I suppose richer households have more discretionary spending (restaurants/entertainment) than poorer.....
Train tickets and foreign holidays?
Using myself as an example of the typical working man.
Biggest drops in my spending since the first lockdown.
1) Foreign holidays 2) Train tickets 3) UK hotel stays 4) Events like gigs, theatre, and cinema 5) Work clothes 6) Fuel 7) Restaurants
Slightly offset with more technology purchases.
I've saved a fortune during the Pandemic for basically those reasons, especially the eating out, gigs and travel.
Same. No holiday of any description this year (new house/country feels like a holiday anyway), hotels have all been work trips, 1st gigs this year are December, very little personal mileage, haven't eaten in a proper restaurant since last time on holiday February last year.
Do need to buy a couple of suits for the Germany trip next month. Middle-aged spread, lockdown and depression means that a size up is needed despite best efforts to drop it back off again.
Has anyone managed to lose weight during the lockdown?
I have
One chap of my aquaintance managed to lose 25% of his mass.....
Jeez. What planet does Johnson live on. How on earth can bringing in vaccine passports for venues help if he does it later in the winter "if needed" as he is now saying?
They haven't a f*cking clue what they are doing from one hour to the next.
I get it.
Since we're not going for a Zero Covid strategy there's no problem with people going out and catching Covid now. Indeed everyone who does reduces the risk of Covid being caught in the Winter.
If in the Winter there's a risk of the NHS being overwhelemed, that would be the time to introduce restrictions if they're required, not now.
Would you really prefer it and be happier if they were introduced unnecessarily today, just because it was decided they might be useful in the Winter?
If the health service is about (yet again) to be overwhelmed then I predict it will be far more about flu than covid so a covid vaxport will be a waste of time. But anyway it will be lockdowns that are needed and urgently (under the mindset of SAGE and ministers to date) rather than pratting around with having to show papers to get into a pub.
There is a no COVID.
Having reviewed the list of activities which can potentially spread COVID and the list of activities that PBers confidently assert can't possibly cause COVID spread, the intersecting set is empty.
So there is no way for COVID to spread, R is 0. The end.
That said 2018 = 27,000 deaths, 2019 = 30,000 deaths. From flu.
So 100 deaths a day for 300 days. Or 300 deaths a day for 100 days.
Not remembering the daily stats then, however.
This is a point I tried to make at the start of the pandemic; if the news provided a breakdown of deaths by disease every day, all the time, things would seem a lot more bleak than they are. Or at least people would be a lot more fearful than they are
Maybe we should start publishing the stats as percentage rates to give people a better perspective?
Today 0.00015% of the population died from Covid.
incredibly the average person thinks 7% of the population has died from covid equivalent to about 5 million people
Its very difficult to get really accurate figures, but assume 150,000 have died in the UK from Covid and the population is 67 million, then 0.2% have died since March 2020. Not huge, but not insignificant either. It will also be patchy. I don't now anyone who has died, but some will know several.
It's not randomly patchy, there's a very defined distribution. Old people with lots of friends and people who live in care homes probably know people who died. If you're under 40 and aren't a member of a golf club, you probably don't.
People are more connected than that. I play cricket (all ages 14 to 70), have relatives who live in a well connected village, work at Uni with colleagues from all ages. Sure if you know more oldies you are likely to know more who have passed, but its also geographically diverse too.
BREAKING: Boris Johnson says Sajid Javid (who says vaccine passports are scrapped) and Nadhim Zahawi (who says vaccine passports are going ahead) are “both right”
Mr. Dickson, is that different to overseas voters getting a say in General Elections or the EU referendum?
Yes.
How do you identify an overseas voter: ask where they were last registered to vote in the UK, and add them to that register.
How do you identify a “Scot” living in England? Birthplace? Where brought up? Scottish parent or grandparent? Self-identification? Which team do you support? Membership of the Conservative Party or the Orange Lodge? DNA test? We deserve an answer from the Conservatives.
I don't know, Stuart
And yet, when told "the majority of Scots voted to Remain in the UK" YOU were the one who replied, "not the real Scots, those born in Scotland" - and you gave the data
So clearly you have a concept of REAL Scots, true-born Scots, and it matters to you AND you have the numbers to hand. It's a bit odd for you to complain if the government follows through on your blood and soil logic
Perhaps you should give HMG a call and offer them the facts and figures, to build the electoral register. They might even pay you
Charles will be along in a minute to rescue the damsel in distress from SeanT’s mean posse.
Ironically, I saw the Xbox ConfusingName in stock at Game. I'm tempted to cross-over (better reverse compatibility and no clock issue, I think) but right now few games I want make the PS4 games for the PS5 the major draw. It'll be bizarre playing The Witcher 3 without the sound of a jet engine.
I was checking Argos, but I'll add Smiths to my list.
The Xbox naming conventions is absolutely idiotic.
Is anyone IRL really “pro-lockdown” anymore? I only hear this constant sabre-rattling on PB. Most normal people seem to be getting on with their lives. I was in town on Saturday night: the theatre was full and Soho was absolutely jumping. Like the pandemic never happened. It was wonderful to see.
The ones who are pro lockdown are not out and about. They have locked themselves away and want everyone else to be forced to do the same.
Judging by the evidence in town this weekend, they aren't needed to fill the pubs, theatres and restaurants. It all made me wonder whether they ever went out before covid??
well a hjuge proportion of the pro lockdown crowd are probably older people
Ironically, I saw the Xbox ConfusingName in stock at Game. I'm tempted to cross-over (better reverse compatibility and no clock issue, I think) but right now few games I want make the PS4 games for the PS5 the major draw. It'll be bizarre playing The Witcher 3 without the sound of a jet engine.
I was checking Argos, but I'll add Smiths to my list.
The Series S is a good shout if you can find gamepass for cheap for a couple of years.
BREAKING: Boris Johnson says Sajid Javid (who says vaccine passports are scrapped) and Nadhim Zahawi (who says vaccine passports are going ahead) are “both right”
37.4% of all deaths of unvaccinated people are caused by COVID-19 0.8% of all deaths of fully vaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
You can also express that in terms of increased risk.
An unvaccinated person is 60% more likely to die than pre-pandemic, because of Covid-19.
A vaccinated person is 0.8% more likely to die than pre-pandemic, because of Covid-19.
big flaw in your logic there in that unvaccinated people are predominately younger so much less likely to die of other causes like heart disease and cancer. So that is a very misleading statistic
Jeez. What planet does Johnson live on. How on earth can bringing in vaccine passports for venues help if he does it later in the winter "if needed" as he is now saying?
They haven't a f*cking clue what they are doing from one hour to the next.
I get it.
Since we're not going for a Zero Covid strategy there's no problem with people going out and catching Covid now. Indeed everyone who does reduces the risk of Covid being caught in the Winter.
If in the Winter there's a risk of the NHS being overwhelemed, that would be the time to introduce restrictions if they're required, not now.
Would you really prefer it and be happier if they were introduced unnecessarily today, just because it was decided they might be useful in the Winter?
If the health service is about (yet again) to be overwhelmed then I predict it will be far more about flu than covid so a covid vaxport will be a waste of time. But anyway it will be lockdowns that are needed and urgently (under the mindset of SAGE and ministers to date) rather than pratting around with having to show papers to get into a pub.
There is a no COVID.
Having reviewed the list of activities which can potentially spread COVID and the list of activities that PBers confidently assert can't possibly cause COVID spread, the intersecting set is empty.
So there is no way for COVID to spread, R is 0. The end.
That said 2018 = 27,000 deaths, 2019 = 30,000 deaths. From flu.
So 100 deaths a day for 300 days. Or 300 deaths a day for 100 days.
Not remembering the daily stats then, however.
This is a point I tried to make at the start of the pandemic; if the news provided a breakdown of deaths by disease every day, all the time, things would seem a lot more bleak than they are. Or at least people would be a lot more fearful than they are
Maybe we should start publishing the stats as percentage rates to give people a better perspective?
Today 0.00015% of the population died from Covid.
incredibly the average person thinks 7% of the population has died from covid equivalent to about 5 million people
Its very difficult to get really accurate figures, but assume 150,000 have died in the UK from Covid and the population is 67 million, then 0.2% have died since March 2020. Not huge, but not insignificant either. It will also be patchy. I don't now anyone who has died, but some will know several.
It's not randomly patchy, there's a very defined distribution. Old people with lots of friends and people who live in care homes probably know people who died. If you're under 40 and aren't a member of a golf club, you probably don't.
It is worth remembering that the CFR for old people (unvaccinated) was 30-40% at one point. 1916 RFC type numbers.....
37.4% of all deaths of unvaccinated people are caused by COVID-19 0.8% of all deaths of fully vaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
French statistics but will be similar everywhere. You are twice as likely to go to hospital as an unvaccinated 20 year old than as a vaccinated 80 year old !
37.4% of all deaths of unvaccinated people are caused by COVID-19 0.8% of all deaths of fully vaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
You can also express that in terms of increased risk.
An unvaccinated person is 60% more likely to die than pre-pandemic, because of Covid-19.
A vaccinated person is 0.8% more likely to die than pre-pandemic, because of Covid-19.
big flaw in your logic there in that unvaccinated people are predominately younger so much less likely to die of other causes like heart disease and cancer. So that is a very misleading statistic
And also much less likely to die from Covid. So the above still looks like a pretty good rule of thumb to say vaccinations are really fucking good.
So 12-15 year olds with finally get a jab....all that wasted time, when we could have sorted this in the summer holidays.
It’s truly bewildering.
I really do think this is a marginal call. If there were no downsides to vaccination for 12-15 year olds it would be a no brainer, but there are documented health problems in a tiny minority. So its not simple. I think the JCVI wimped out of making a decision, and I am happy that we are choosing to do this, but I think it unfair to think it 'obviously' the right choice.
I get the impression that (a chunk of) JCVI are opposed to boosters and child vaccination on the grounds that they want the vaccinations to go to the developing world. But that is not in their remit, so they'e dragged this out as far as they can.
At a guess Javid has kicked the ball to the CMOs....
Mr. Max, I appreciate that works for some people but I tend to buy relatively fewer games and play the hell out of them so it makes more sense for me to buy games (I recently got a few for the PS4, three for under £60 because I'm patient/procrastinate endlessly).
Mr. Urquhart, they're bafflingly stupid. Anyone who doesn't pay very close attention can easily just buy the wrong one. The PS4 to PS5 approach is so much more sensible.
Jeez. What planet does Johnson live on. How on earth can bringing in vaccine passports for venues help if he does it later in the winter "if needed" as he is now saying?
They haven't a f*cking clue what they are doing from one hour to the next.
I get it.
Since we're not going for a Zero Covid strategy there's no problem with people going out and catching Covid now. Indeed everyone who does reduces the risk of Covid being caught in the Winter.
If in the Winter there's a risk of the NHS being overwhelemed, that would be the time to introduce restrictions if they're required, not now.
Would you really prefer it and be happier if they were introduced unnecessarily today, just because it was decided they might be useful in the Winter?
If the health service is about (yet again) to be overwhelmed then I predict it will be far more about flu than covid so a covid vaxport will be a waste of time. But anyway it will be lockdowns that are needed and urgently (under the mindset of SAGE and ministers to date) rather than pratting around with having to show papers to get into a pub.
There is a no COVID.
Having reviewed the list of activities which can potentially spread COVID and the list of activities that PBers confidently assert can't possibly cause COVID spread, the intersecting set is empty.
So there is no way for COVID to spread, R is 0. The end.
That said 2018 = 27,000 deaths, 2019 = 30,000 deaths. From flu.
So 100 deaths a day for 300 days. Or 300 deaths a day for 100 days.
Not remembering the daily stats then, however.
This is a point I tried to make at the start of the pandemic; if the news provided a breakdown of deaths by disease every day, all the time, things would seem a lot more bleak than they are. Or at least people would be a lot more fearful than they are
Maybe we should start publishing the stats as percentage rates to give people a better perspective?
Today 0.00015% of the population died from Covid.
incredibly the average person thinks 7% of the population has died from covid equivalent to about 5 million people
Its very difficult to get really accurate figures, but assume 150,000 have died in the UK from Covid and the population is 67 million, then 0.2% have died since March 2020. Not huge, but not insignificant either. It will also be patchy. I don't now anyone who has died, but some will know several.
It's not randomly patchy, there's a very defined distribution. Old people with lots of friends and people who live in care homes probably know people who died. If you're under 40 and aren't a member of a golf club, you probably don't.
It is worth remembering that the CFR for old people (unvaccinated) was 30-40% at one point. 1916 RFC type numbers.....
Confirmed case fatality rate. Those figures are from when you pretty much had to already be in hospital to get a test.
Is anyone IRL really “pro-lockdown” anymore? I only hear this constant sabre-rattling on PB. Most normal people seem to be getting on with their lives. I was in town on Saturday night: the theatre was full and Soho was absolutely jumping. Like the pandemic never happened. It was wonderful to see.
The ones who are pro lockdown are not out and about. They have locked themselves away and want everyone else to be forced to do the same.
Judging by the evidence in town this weekend, they aren't needed to fill the pubs, theatres and restaurants. It all made me wonder whether they ever went out before covid??
well a hjuge proportion of the pro lockdown crowd are probably older people
I think there's a difference between "pro lockdown" and "not going out much/still being careful". I know people in the latter group. They aren't going to pubs and cafes, they want to continue WFH and they want to wear masks at the office if they do go in and so on. They don't think this is over and they are worried by reports that cases are up and vaccines is waning. They are not though in favour of another huge lockdown with everything shut.
I doubt there are very many pro lockdowners left outside of course of the iSAGE committee.
Perhaps relevant to that article but I'm not going to read it (the Graun's).
I'm old enough to remember when the Daily Mash used to be funny.
It's bloody funny still as witness the above.
Interesting to me is that it is making fun of remainers whereas it has in the past (I don't look at it all the time) made fun of Brexiters. Such as this, one of my favourites (a long time ago so you will find it funny).
it is feeble, It makes a decent point, but it is not comical
Look at this:
"What are we going to do next, build affordable housing? Pay a living wage? What if he’s serious about this ghastly plan to stop the North being a ghetto where you’re born poor and die early?"
It's like a middlebrow sixth former's laborious version of satire. It's funny if you're not a particularly funny person, and don't really understand humour, but you try quite hard
It is also like AI generated music, a computer which has been taught the essence of music but just doesn't get "music". Yet. Listen to this for 12 seconds, then the computer takes over the composition
Indeed, it occurs to me that GPT3 could churn out Mash articles by the million, no problem, and has already written things much funnier than any Daily Mash piece
The difficulty I find with all these kinds of sature is that the headline - i.e the punchline - comes first, not last like in a joke. Writing an article which develops the joke further when the punchline has come and gone is pretty hard.
Yes, and written humour is bloody hard. I'm not being particularly mean to the Mash in saying they don't quite hack it, 99% of people don't hack it
The Onion is the best example of funny news satire - along with The Day Today in the UK
The Onion has headlines which alone make you laugh. OK they make me laugh
"Dwarf falls equivalent of 10 storeys"
They've actually deleted this (it seems). Too offensive now?
And I find THIS very funny. The Onion news channel taking the piss out of Apple. Superbly done (to my mind)
BREAKING: Boris Johnson says Sajid Javid (who says vaccine passports are scrapped) and Nadhim Zahawi (who says vaccine passports are going ahead) are “both right”
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
We can probably all agree though that Steve Bell is not funny.
37.4% of all deaths of unvaccinated people are caused by COVID-19 0.8% of all deaths of fully vaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
French statistics but will be similar everywhere. You are twice as likely to go to hospital as an unvaccinated 20 year old than as a vaccinated 80 year old !
again thats misleading as the vaccinated 80 yr olds are likely not mixing much and going to clubs and bars
Not really the whole point of the comparison is that lifestyle considerations are priced in. Sure a super cautious 20 year old might not have that same hospitalisation risk as one who goes out to nightclubs and bars but at 20 years old who isn't doing that?
37.4% of all deaths of unvaccinated people are caused by COVID-19 0.8% of all deaths of fully vaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
You can also express that in terms of increased risk.
An unvaccinated person is 60% more likely to die than pre-pandemic, because of Covid-19.
A vaccinated person is 0.8% more likely to die than pre-pandemic, because of Covid-19.
big flaw in your logic there in that unvaccinated people are predominately younger so much less likely to die of other causes like heart disease and cancer. So that is a very misleading statistic
And also much less likely to die from Covid. So the above still looks like a pretty good rule of thumb to say vaccinations are really fucking good.
maybe but what im saying is the stats as prevented exagerrated the benefits of vaccination. It doesnt mean there is no benefit to vaccination
Jeez. What planet does Johnson live on. How on earth can bringing in vaccine passports for venues help if he does it later in the winter "if needed" as he is now saying?
They haven't a f*cking clue what they are doing from one hour to the next.
I get it.
Since we're not going for a Zero Covid strategy there's no problem with people going out and catching Covid now. Indeed everyone who does reduces the risk of Covid being caught in the Winter.
If in the Winter there's a risk of the NHS being overwhelemed, that would be the time to introduce restrictions if they're required, not now.
Would you really prefer it and be happier if they were introduced unnecessarily today, just because it was decided they might be useful in the Winter?
If the health service is about (yet again) to be overwhelmed then I predict it will be far more about flu than covid so a covid vaxport will be a waste of time. But anyway it will be lockdowns that are needed and urgently (under the mindset of SAGE and ministers to date) rather than pratting around with having to show papers to get into a pub.
In any case, isn't the main benefit of vaxports to nudge the dubious into getting vaccinated (e.g. France)?
Yes, it’s just a Nudge strategy. Hence why Bozza has tried to notionally put it back on the table. The Nudge Unit won’t have been happy with Sajid’s unalloyed cancellation of the idea yesterday.
You don’t need to be Cass Sunstein to know that an on-again, off-again public health policy is counterproductive, destructive, and represents utter incompetence behind scenes.
Oh absolutely – I'm not defending it. The government is an effing shambles.
You would be one of my fave posters if it were not for your inexplicable anti-NZ prejudices, hah.
A reminder for the rest of us to keep on our toes.
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
Actually, it is quite revealing of the person. Humour is subjective but a person who finds slapstick clowning funny, or fart jokes, is interestingly different to a person who likes early Woody Allen. That might sounds like snobbery, but it is also true
I'd say the public here are more likely to be into slapstick clowning than early Woody Allen. Hence Brexit. And of course "Boris".
BREAKING: Boris Johnson says Sajid Javid (who says vaccine passports are scrapped) and Nadhim Zahawi (who says vaccine passports are going ahead) are “both right”
37.4% of all deaths of unvaccinated people are caused by COVID-19 0.8% of all deaths of fully vaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
You can also express that in terms of increased risk.
An unvaccinated person is 60% more likely to die than pre-pandemic, because of Covid-19.
A vaccinated person is 0.8% more likely to die than pre-pandemic, because of Covid-19.
big flaw in your logic there in that unvaccinated people are predominately younger so much less likely to die of other causes like heart disease and cancer. So that is a very misleading statistic
And also much less likely to die from Covid. So the above still looks like a pretty good rule of thumb to say vaccinations are really fucking good.
The rule of thumb early in the pandemic was that catching Covid roughly doubled your chance of dying in a particular year. So more deadly to the old who already had a high chance of death in the next year, less really for the young, but broadly the same increase in risk of death relative to the baseline.
Improvements in treatment have reduced that now, hence the 60% figure for unvaccinated, rather than 100%, but not by as much as vaccination. Not by a long way.
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
It only really gets tricky with intentionally offensive comedy, but even then someone not finding a particular dead baby joke funny doesnt mean much.
Jeez. What planet does Johnson live on. How on earth can bringing in vaccine passports for venues help if he does it later in the winter "if needed" as he is now saying?
They haven't a f*cking clue what they are doing from one hour to the next.
I get it.
Since we're not going for a Zero Covid strategy there's no problem with people going out and catching Covid now. Indeed everyone who does reduces the risk of Covid being caught in the Winter.
If in the Winter there's a risk of the NHS being overwhelemed, that would be the time to introduce restrictions if they're required, not now.
Would you really prefer it and be happier if they were introduced unnecessarily today, just because it was decided they might be useful in the Winter?
If the health service is about (yet again) to be overwhelmed then I predict it will be far more about flu than covid so a covid vaxport will be a waste of time. But anyway it will be lockdowns that are needed and urgently (under the mindset of SAGE and ministers to date) rather than pratting around with having to show papers to get into a pub.
There is a no COVID.
Having reviewed the list of activities which can potentially spread COVID and the list of activities that PBers confidently assert can't possibly cause COVID spread, the intersecting set is empty.
So there is no way for COVID to spread, R is 0. The end.
That said 2018 = 27,000 deaths, 2019 = 30,000 deaths. From flu.
So 100 deaths a day for 300 days. Or 300 deaths a day for 100 days.
Not remembering the daily stats then, however.
This is a point I tried to make at the start of the pandemic; if the news provided a breakdown of deaths by disease every day, all the time, things would seem a lot more bleak than they are. Or at least people would be a lot more fearful than they are
Maybe we should start publishing the stats as percentage rates to give people a better perspective?
Today 0.00015% of the population died from Covid.
incredibly the average person thinks 7% of the population has died from covid equivalent to about 5 million people
Its very difficult to get really accurate figures, but assume 150,000 have died in the UK from Covid and the population is 67 million, then 0.2% have died since March 2020. Not huge, but not insignificant either. It will also be patchy. I don't now anyone who has died, but some will know several.
Having done a quick Google, 0.9% of the population dies every year. So in 18 months it is about 1.35%. How many of the 0.2% would have been in that 1.35% anyway?
Perhaps relevant to that article but I'm not going to read it (the Graun's).
I'm old enough to remember when the Daily Mash used to be funny.
It's bloody funny still as witness the above.
Interesting to me is that it is making fun of remainers whereas it has in the past (I don't look at it all the time) made fun of Brexiters. Such as this, one of my favourites (a long time ago so you will find it funny).
it is feeble, It makes a decent point, but it is not comical
Look at this:
"What are we going to do next, build affordable housing? Pay a living wage? What if he’s serious about this ghastly plan to stop the North being a ghetto where you’re born poor and die early?"
It's like a middlebrow sixth former's laborious version of satire. It's funny if you're not a particularly funny person, and don't really understand humour, but you try quite hard
It is also like AI generated music, a computer which has been taught the essence of music but just doesn't get "music". Yet. Listen to this for 12 seconds, then the computer takes over the composition
Indeed, it occurs to me that GPT3 could churn out Mash articles by the million, no problem, and has already written things much funnier than any Daily Mash piece
The difficulty I find with all these kinds of sature is that the headline - i.e the punchline - comes first, not last like in a joke. Writing an article which develops the joke further when the punchline has come and gone is pretty hard.
Yes, and written humour is bloody hard. I'm not being particularly mean to the Mash in saying they don't quite hack it, 99% of people don't hack it
The Onion is the best example of funny news satire - along with The Day Today in the UK
The Onion has headlines which alone make you laugh. OK they make me laugh
"Dwarf falls equivalent of 10 storeys"
They've actually deleted this (it seems). Too offensive now?
And I find THIS very funny. The Onion news channel taking the piss out of Apple. Superbly done (to my mind)
The Mash have had some very good stuff, but maintaining that consistently when they post so much to be topical is a tough ask even if they were best in the world.
So 12-15 year olds with finally get a jab....all that wasted time, when we could have sorted this in the summer holidays.
It’s truly bewildering.
I really do think this is a marginal call. If there were no downsides to vaccination for 12-15 year olds it would be a no brainer, but there are documented health problems in a tiny minority. So its not simple. I think the JCVI wimped out of making a decision, and I am happy that we are choosing to do this, but I think it unfair to think it 'obviously' the right choice.
I get the impression that (a chunk of) JCVI are opposed to boosters and child vaccination on the grounds that they want the vaccinations to go to the developing world. But that is not in their remit, so they'e dragged this out as far as they can.
At a guess Javid has kicked the ball to the CMOs....
Yes - Adam Finn is one, the UEA guy possibly too. Not their remit, but I still agree that its a marginal call for the individual 12-15 year old. Less marginal for society, and probably for the kids education too.
So, my back of the envelope impression of the route towards this winter's point herd immunity to delta:
About 1/6 of the remaining distance will be made by vaccinating 12-15 About 1/3 will be made by booster vaccination (which will also re-improve the case:death ratio) About 1/2 will be made by infection (of about 10-15% of the population, depending on the balance of vaccinated / unvaccinated).
A lot of 12-15 will actually have already had it, so vaxxing them will make very little difference imho.
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
Actually, it is quite revealing of the person. Humour is subjective but a person who finds slapstick clowning funny, or fart jokes, is interestingly different to a person who likes early Woody Allen. That might sounds like snobbery, but it is also true
I'd say the public here are more likely to be into slapstick clowning than early Woody Allen. Hence Brexit. And of course "Boris".
Boris can be genuinely funny, tho. He has an actual comic gift: with real comic timing
He knows exactly how and when to pause, and then deliver the line. Even if it is not particularly witty, he does it in a way which makes you smile
Of course people that hate him won't ever smile, but that's just political loathing, and not a judgement of his humour. He is funny - in a way that appeals to many, highbrow and lowbrow. It's a significant reason he is where he is
37.4% of all deaths of unvaccinated people are caused by COVID-19 0.8% of all deaths of fully vaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
French statistics but will be similar everywhere. You are twice as likely to go to hospital as an unvaccinated 20 year old than as a vaccinated 80 year old !
again thats misleading as the vaccinated 80 yr olds are likely not mixing much and going to clubs and bars
Not really the whole point of the comparison is that lifestyle considerations are priced in. Sure a super cautious 20 year old might not have that same hospitalisation risk as one who goes out to nightclubs and bars but at 20 years old who isn't doing that?
the point is that previously when cases have been this high we have been under restrictions and lockdown so young people were not mixing nearly as much. Im sure if we were under heavy restrictions vaccinated 80 yr olds would be hospitalized more than unvaccinated 20 yr olds
Mr. Max, I appreciate that works for some people but I tend to buy relatively fewer games and play the hell out of them so it makes more sense for me to buy games (I recently got a few for the PS4, three for under £60 because I'm patient/procrastinate endlessly).
Mr. Urquhart, they're bafflingly stupid. Anyone who doesn't pay very close attention can easily just buy the wrong one. The PS4 to PS5 approach is so much more sensible.
In that case Xbox probably isn't worth it. If you aren't interested in gamepass then Xbox isn't, IMO, a viable ecosystem, the games are all a bit rubbish and their big blockbusters are years away from completion. They're also jamming multiplayer/battle royale mechanics into all of their games to capitalise on microtransaction revenue as gamepass loses them a metric fuckton of money.
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
Actually, it is quite revealing of the person. Humour is subjective but a person who finds slapstick clowning funny, or fart jokes, is interestingly different to a person who likes early Woody Allen. That might sounds like snobbery, but it is also true
I wouldn’t want to belong to any comedy club that would have someone who laughs at my slapstick fart jokes as a member
Jonathan Liew pours a bit of cold water on Emma's triumph.
Raducanu did not have to play a single top-10 player or previous grand slam finalist. All the seeds, including world No 1 Ashleigh Barty, were cleared from her section of the draw. None of which should detract from the scale of her accomplishment, the stunning cleanness of her groundstrokes, her seeming immunity to pressure. But it should at least inform what it is realistic or reasonable to expect from her in the immediate future.
Iga Swiatek won last year’s French Open in similar circumstances: a new teenage star sweeping all before her (including grand slam winners Simona Halep and Sofia Kenin) without dropping a set. As Poland’s first ever grand slam winner, she found herself imprisoned in a cage of expectations that left her drained, exhausted, seeing tennis balls when she closed her eyes at night.
I think that's fair enough. We are in danger of turning Emma into a kind of female Don Bradman / Muhammad Ali / Pele of tennis after one match. And you can bet that the moment she has a poor performance in the future the vultures will be out in force.
Sorry - he's the talentless, classless tw%t who thinks Jonathon Agnew is racist. No time for him. I'm not claiming ER will will 20 slams, or even with another, but its not her fault that others got knocked out as she won a slam without dropping a set. Amazingly for an 18 year old she has a game without obvious weaknesses. She played at a high level throughout.
Womens tennis is in transition - the Serena age has ended, and in the space left behind the slams have been widely spread. Time will tell for ER, but she has the talent and game for this.
I think a bit of cold water pouring does a service. Things get stupidly OTT otherwise. I was as blown away as the next man by Rad's achievement, and I think she's the real deal and remarkable, yet at the same time I'm thinking to myself, gosh, a total novice, a teenage qualifier, wins a slam without dropping a set, this OTOH is great for women's tennis, it's box office, BOTOH it's telling me that women's tennis is right now, and putting it mildly, probably not the strongest it's ever been.
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
Actually, it is quite revealing of the person. Humour is subjective but a person who finds slapstick clowning funny, or fart jokes, is interestingly different to a person who likes early Woody Allen. That might sounds like snobbery, but it is also true
"Early Woody Allen".
Fittingly enough...LOL.
(At not with you, obvs.)
Is SeanT more like “early Woody Allen” or “eugh yuck Woody Allen”?
Jeez. What planet does Johnson live on. How on earth can bringing in vaccine passports for venues help if he does it later in the winter "if needed" as he is now saying?
They haven't a f*cking clue what they are doing from one hour to the next.
I get it.
Since we're not going for a Zero Covid strategy there's no problem with people going out and catching Covid now. Indeed everyone who does reduces the risk of Covid being caught in the Winter.
If in the Winter there's a risk of the NHS being overwhelemed, that would be the time to introduce restrictions if they're required, not now.
Would you really prefer it and be happier if they were introduced unnecessarily today, just because it was decided they might be useful in the Winter?
If the health service is about (yet again) to be overwhelmed then I predict it will be far more about flu than covid so a covid vaxport will be a waste of time. But anyway it will be lockdowns that are needed and urgently (under the mindset of SAGE and ministers to date) rather than pratting around with having to show papers to get into a pub.
There is a no COVID.
Having reviewed the list of activities which can potentially spread COVID and the list of activities that PBers confidently assert can't possibly cause COVID spread, the intersecting set is empty.
So there is no way for COVID to spread, R is 0. The end.
That said 2018 = 27,000 deaths, 2019 = 30,000 deaths. From flu.
So 100 deaths a day for 300 days. Or 300 deaths a day for 100 days.
Not remembering the daily stats then, however.
This is a point I tried to make at the start of the pandemic; if the news provided a breakdown of deaths by disease every day, all the time, things would seem a lot more bleak than they are. Or at least people would be a lot more fearful than they are
Maybe we should start publishing the stats as percentage rates to give people a better perspective?
Today 0.00015% of the population died from Covid.
incredibly the average person thinks 7% of the population has died from covid equivalent to about 5 million people
Its very difficult to get really accurate figures, but assume 150,000 have died in the UK from Covid and the population is 67 million, then 0.2% have died since March 2020. Not huge, but not insignificant either. It will also be patchy. I don't now anyone who has died, but some will know several.
Having done a quick Google, 0.9% of the population dies every year. So in 18 months it is about 1.35%. How many of the 0.2% would have been in that 1.35% anyway?
Some for sure, but its complicated. My MiL lost her neighbour last week. Very frail, late 80's, probably chest infection at the end. Remarkably she shrugged off Covid earlier in the year.
I think its still true that most (i.e. over 50%) of deaths in the UK from covid are among the over 80's.
BREAKING: Boris Johnson says Sajid Javid (who says vaccine passports are scrapped) and Nadhim Zahawi (who says vaccine passports are going ahead) are “both right”
Mr. Leon, ah, if I still had my books up I'd point you to them.
I do sometimes repost this short story. I don't know if others like it, but it amuses me.
Sir Edric and the Vampire Lord
"So, let me get this right,” Sir Edric said to the visiting priest. “You’re being terrorised by a giant albino rodent that appears at the same time every year? And you want me to kill the aforementioned magical vermin?”
Dog coughed. “Actually, sir, it sounds like the Easter Bunny is more of a benevolent spirit.”
“Indeed,” Father Michael agreed. “He’s more of a fun character for children. The real message of Easter is about Jesus-”
“He’s the vampire, yes?”
Father Michael sighed. “No, Sir Edric. He is the Son of God-”
“I thought you said he was a carpenter?”
The priest cast his eyes to the heavens and mouthed a silent prayer. “Jesus was the Son of God. He was killed and lay for three days before rising from the dead, when he spoke again to his followers and then passed from our sight.”
Sir Edric nodded knowingly. “Definitely a vampire. So, you want me to kill Jesus?”
Father Michael was silent for a moment, clenching his jaw so hard his muscles bulged. “No, Sir Edric. I do not want you to kill Jesus. Or the Easter Bunny. I’m simply here to spread the message of Our Lord, to speak of his rising from the dead and the triumph of hope over despair, of life everlasting and-”
Sir Edric raised a hand to cut off the priest’s prattling. “That’s riveting. So, beyond preaching, is there any reason you’re here?”
The priest sighed again, and raised a large basket he was carrying. “I’ve also brought a large number of Easter eggs for the children of Awyndel.”
The knight frowned. “What do eggs have to do with vampires?”
Father Michael took a moment to answer. “It’s just a fun tradition to give one another, especially children, chocolate eggs to eat at this time of year.”
“What a splendid notion,” Sir Edric agreed. “Dog and I were just on our way to the orphanage. Why don’t we take your eggs with us?”
“I wouldn’t want to trouble you-”
Sir Edric beamed a smile. “No trouble at all, Father Michael. I shall be sure to help spread the word of the vampire lord Jesus and his infernal albino rabbit beast. Dog shall see you out.”
Once his manservant had escorted the cleric from his home, Sir Edric began to tuck into the huge quantity of Easter eggs. In the spirit of the occasion he selected one of the smaller ones for Dog and raised a glass of wine in a toast.
“Huzzah for Jesus, the undead master of the dread rabbit!"
Perhaps relevant to that article but I'm not going to read it (the Graun's).
I'm old enough to remember when the Daily Mash used to be funny.
It's bloody funny still as witness the above.
Interesting to me is that it is making fun of remainers whereas it has in the past (I don't look at it all the time) made fun of Brexiters. Such as this, one of my favourites (a long time ago so you will find it funny).
it is feeble, It makes a decent point, but it is not comical
Look at this:
"What are we going to do next, build affordable housing? Pay a living wage? What if he’s serious about this ghastly plan to stop the North being a ghetto where you’re born poor and die early?"
It's like a middlebrow sixth former's laborious version of satire. It's funny if you're not a particularly funny person, and don't really understand humour, but you try quite hard
It is also like AI generated music, a computer which has been taught the essence of music but just doesn't get "music". Yet. Listen to this for 12 seconds, then the computer takes over the composition
Indeed, it occurs to me that GPT3 could churn out Mash articles by the million, no problem, and has already written things much funnier than any Daily Mash piece
The difficulty I find with all these kinds of sature is that the headline - i.e the punchline - comes first, not last like in a joke. Writing an article which develops the joke further when the punchline has come and gone is pretty hard.
Yes, and written humour is bloody hard. I'm not being particularly mean to the Mash in saying they don't quite hack it, 99% of people don't hack it
The Onion is the best example of funny news satire - along with The Day Today in the UK
The Onion has headlines which alone make you laugh. OK they make me laugh
"Dwarf falls equivalent of 10 storeys"
They've actually deleted this (it seems). Too offensive now?
And I find THIS very funny. The Onion news channel taking the piss out of Apple. Superbly done (to my mind)
The Mash have had some very good stuff, but maintaining that consistently when they post so much to be topical is a tough ask even if they were best in the world.
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
Actually, it is quite revealing of the person. Humour is subjective but a person who finds slapstick clowning funny, or fart jokes, is interestingly different to a person who likes early Woody Allen. That might sounds like snobbery, but it is also true
I'd say the public here are more likely to be into slapstick clowning than early Woody Allen. Hence Brexit. And of course "Boris".
I prefer early Boris.
“Routemaster 2.0” - even if it was a sequel - was much better than “Killing 130,000”.
Perhaps relevant to that article but I'm not going to read it (the Graun's).
I'm old enough to remember when the Daily Mash used to be funny.
It's bloody funny still as witness the above.
Interesting to me is that it is making fun of remainers whereas it has in the past (I don't look at it all the time) made fun of Brexiters. Such as this, one of my favourites (a long time ago so you will find it funny).
it is feeble, It makes a decent point, but it is not comical
Look at this:
"What are we going to do next, build affordable housing? Pay a living wage? What if he’s serious about this ghastly plan to stop the North being a ghetto where you’re born poor and die early?"
It's like a middlebrow sixth former's laborious version of satire. It's funny if you're not a particularly funny person, and don't really understand humour, but you try quite hard
It is also like AI generated music, a computer which has been taught the essence of music but just doesn't get "music". Yet. Listen to this for 12 seconds, then the computer takes over the composition
Indeed, it occurs to me that GPT3 could churn out Mash articles by the million, no problem, and has already written things much funnier than any Daily Mash piece
The difficulty I find with all these kinds of sature is that the headline - i.e the punchline - comes first, not last like in a joke. Writing an article which develops the joke further when the punchline has come and gone is pretty hard.
Yes, and written humour is bloody hard. I'm not being particularly mean to the Mash in saying they don't quite hack it, 99% of people don't hack it
The Onion is the best example of funny news satire - along with The Day Today in the UK
The Onion has headlines which alone make you laugh. OK they make me laugh
"Dwarf falls equivalent of 10 storeys"
They've actually deleted this (it seems). Too offensive now?
And I find THIS very funny. The Onion news channel taking the piss out of Apple. Superbly done (to my mind)
Humour can date very rapidly. I don't find Fawlty Towers nearly so funny as I used to, because that middle class angst and obsession with loss of status is just not relevant now, in the way it was in the 1970's.
Satire in particular dates very rapidly, because it is so specific to its time and place. Admittedly, Peter Cook's "Entirely a Matter for You" still cracks me up, but it would be meaningless to anyone unfamiliar with the trial of Jeremy Thorpe.
Gentle satire, like Pride and Prejudice, is probably timeless.
So, too is some black humour. Gibbon can be very funny in places, as can Tacitus. Hence his reaction to Nero marrying his boyfriend Sporus, and then castrating him, in the hope this would make him into a woman:
"Men wished that Nero's father had taken such a wife".
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
It only really gets tricky with intentionally offensive comedy, but even then someone not finding a particular dead baby joke funny doesnt mean much.
I am pretty sure comedy has deteriorated in the last decade, because of Wokeness
Cruelty, offensiveness and taboo-breaking are essential elements of comedy, and they have all been ruled offside. What is left?
On some recent boring train journeys through Swiss tunnels I watched some episodes of two recent US comedy series (now finished): Community and Parks & Rec. They have dud moments but they are consistently witty and clever, sometimes genius (especially early Community)
However they tell jokes that would simply be unacceptable now. About wife-beating and alcoholism and race. They are edgy, so they are funny.
I do not envy comedy writers working right now. What the fuck can you say that is funny AND acceptable?
37.4% of all deaths of unvaccinated people are caused by COVID-19 0.8% of all deaths of fully vaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
French statistics but will be similar everywhere. You are twice as likely to go to hospital as an unvaccinated 20 year old than as a vaccinated 80 year old !
again thats misleading as the vaccinated 80 yr olds are likely not mixing much and going to clubs and bars
Not really the whole point of the comparison is that lifestyle considerations are priced in. Sure a super cautious 20 year old might not have that same hospitalisation risk as one who goes out to nightclubs and bars but at 20 years old who isn't doing that?
the point is that previously when cases have been this high we have been under restrictions and lockdown so young people were not mixing nearly as much. Im sure if we were under heavy restrictions vaccinated 80 yr olds would be hospitalized more than unvaccinated 20 yr olds
Again, you're missing the wood for the trees. European countries have crossed the Rubicon, COVID is now to be treated as an endemic disease and will no longer get many (any?) special measures or NPIs. There won't be any more lockdowns so unvaccinated 20 year olds will face a higher degree of hospitalisation risk than a vaccinated 80 year old.
It's actually a really good statistic and should be plastered all over inner cities in Europe to get under 40s to get vaccinated.
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
Actually, it is quite revealing of the person. Humour is subjective but a person who finds slapstick clowning funny, or fart jokes, is interestingly different to a person who likes early Woody Allen. That might sounds like snobbery, but it is also true
I wouldn’t want to belong to any comedy club that would have someone who laughs at my slapstick fart jokes as a member
Is that what they are? I just thought you suffered from a kind of web-post Tourette’s.
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
It only really gets tricky with intentionally offensive comedy, but even then someone not finding a particular dead baby joke funny doesnt mean much.
I am pretty sure comedy has deteriorated in the last decade, because of Wokeness
Cruelty, offensiveness and taboo-breaking are essential elements of comedy, and they have all been ruled offside. What is left?
On some recent boring train journeys through Swiss tunnels I watched some episodes of two recent US comedy series (now finished): Community and Parks & Rec. They have dud moments but they are consistently witty and clever, sometimes genius (especially early Community)
However they tell jokes that would simply be unacceptable now. About wife-beating and alcoholism and race. They are edgy, so they are funny.
I do not envy comedy writers working right now. What the fuck can you say that is funny AND acceptable?
It's a long time since the days of the Tunnel Club and Malcolm Hardee but I wonder if there are similar places in operation, with as few taboos now (now as in pre/post-Covid restrictions).
Jonathan Liew pours a bit of cold water on Emma's triumph.
Raducanu did not have to play a single top-10 player or previous grand slam finalist. All the seeds, including world No 1 Ashleigh Barty, were cleared from her section of the draw. None of which should detract from the scale of her accomplishment, the stunning cleanness of her groundstrokes, her seeming immunity to pressure. But it should at least inform what it is realistic or reasonable to expect from her in the immediate future.
Iga Swiatek won last year’s French Open in similar circumstances: a new teenage star sweeping all before her (including grand slam winners Simona Halep and Sofia Kenin) without dropping a set. As Poland’s first ever grand slam winner, she found herself imprisoned in a cage of expectations that left her drained, exhausted, seeing tennis balls when she closed her eyes at night.
I think that's fair enough. We are in danger of turning Emma into a kind of female Don Bradman / Muhammad Ali / Pele of tennis after one match. And you can bet that the moment she has a poor performance in the future the vultures will be out in force.
Sorry - he's the talentless, classless tw%t who thinks Jonathon Agnew is racist. No time for him. I'm not claiming ER will will 20 slams, or even with another, but its not her fault that others got knocked out as she won a slam without dropping a set. Amazingly for an 18 year old she has a game without obvious weaknesses. She played at a high level throughout.
Womens tennis is in transition - the Serena age has ended, and in the space left behind the slams have been widely spread. Time will tell for ER, but she has the talent and game for this.
I think a bit of cold water pouring does a service. Things get stupidly OTT otherwise. I was as blown away as the next man by Rad's achievement, and I think she's the real deal and remarkable, yet at the same time I'm thinking to myself, gosh, a total novice, a teenage qualifier, wins a slam without dropping a set, this OTOH is great for women's tennis, it's box office, BOTOH it's telling me that women's tennis is right now, and putting it mildly, probably not the strongest it's ever been.
Yes - women's tennis is a bit similar to golf at the moment - there really aren't 3-4 players that you expect to be at the quarters/semis of the big tournaments. Whats been interesting to me is that in men's tennis the big three drove each other on to higher levels, and for the regular, good, but not great players around them, it was impossible to bridge the gap on a regular basis. What happens now will be interesting, as there isn't a new wave of players coming to replicate the Federer, Nadal, Jokovic era, rather men's tennis is heading to a much more even (and in some ways more interesting) place. Women's tennis has been there for some time.
Mr. Leon, ah, if I still had my books up I'd point you to them.
I do sometimes repost this short story. I don't know if others like it, but it amuses me.
Sir Edric and the Vampire Lord
"So, let me get this right,” Sir Edric said to the visiting priest. “You’re being terrorised by a giant albino rodent that appears at the same time every year? And you want me to kill the aforementioned magical vermin?”
Dog coughed. “Actually, sir, it sounds like the Easter Bunny is more of a benevolent spirit.”
“Indeed,” Father Michael agreed. “He’s more of a fun character for children. The real message of Easter is about Jesus-”
“He’s the vampire, yes?”
Father Michael sighed. “No, Sir Edric. He is the Son of God-”
“I thought you said he was a carpenter?”
The priest cast his eyes to the heavens and mouthed a silent prayer. “Jesus was the Son of God. He was killed and lay for three days before rising from the dead, when he spoke again to his followers and then passed from our sight.”
Sir Edric nodded knowingly. “Definitely a vampire. So, you want me to kill Jesus?”
Father Michael was silent for a moment, clenching his jaw so hard his muscles bulged. “No, Sir Edric. I do not want you to kill Jesus. Or the Easter Bunny. I’m simply here to spread the message of Our Lord, to speak of his rising from the dead and the triumph of hope over despair, of life everlasting and-”
Sir Edric raised a hand to cut off the priest’s prattling. “That’s riveting. So, beyond preaching, is there any reason you’re here?”
The priest sighed again, and raised a large basket he was carrying. “I’ve also brought a large number of Easter eggs for the children of Awyndel.”
The knight frowned. “What do eggs have to do with vampires?”
Father Michael took a moment to answer. “It’s just a fun tradition to give one another, especially children, chocolate eggs to eat at this time of year.”
“What a splendid notion,” Sir Edric agreed. “Dog and I were just on our way to the orphanage. Why don’t we take your eggs with us?”
“I wouldn’t want to trouble you-”
Sir Edric beamed a smile. “No trouble at all, Father Michael. I shall be sure to help spread the word of the vampire lord Jesus and his infernal albino rabbit beast. Dog shall see you out.”
Once his manservant had escorted the cleric from his home, Sir Edric began to tuck into the huge quantity of Easter eggs. In the spirit of the occasion he selected one of the smaller ones for Dog and raised a glass of wine in a toast.
“Huzzah for Jesus, the undead master of the dread rabbit!"
Is there anything more pointless than people debating whether something is funny or not? Humour is so subjective – if you find something funny, great, if you don't, fine. That's it really.
It only really gets tricky with intentionally offensive comedy, but even then someone not finding a particular dead baby joke funny doesnt mean much.
I am pretty sure comedy has deteriorated in the last decade, because of Wokeness
Cruelty, offensiveness and taboo-breaking are essential elements of comedy, and they have all been ruled offside. What is left?
On some recent boring train journeys through Swiss tunnels I watched some episodes of two recent US comedy series (now finished): Community and Parks & Rec. They have dud moments but they are consistently witty and clever, sometimes genius (especially early Community)
However they tell jokes that would simply be unacceptable now. About wife-beating and alcoholism and race. They are edgy, so they are funny.
I do not envy comedy writers working right now. What the fuck can you say that is funny AND acceptable?
It's a long time since the days of the Tunnel Club and Malcolm Hardee but I wonder if there are similar places in operation, with as few taboos now (now as in pre/post-Covid restrictions).
I've thought the same!
And I hope there are
I have an acquaintance who is a modestly successful TV comedian, you'd probably just about recognise him, he has been the warm up to major stars. He was making £60-100k a year doing stand up about four years back
Even before Covid he said that income was collapsing as the number of things he could joke about dwindled away
Mr. F, I like Gibbon's line (I think about consuls in imperial Rome) being relieved of the burden of duty and free to 'contemplate their own magnificence' instead of actually doing something.
Comments
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/tories-in-revolt-over-idea-of-helping-britain-20210906211795
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/the-tory-voters-guide-to-being-betrayed-yet-again-20210908211863
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/have-you-been-appointed-to-the-shadow-cabinet-take-our-quiz-20210510207931
Edit: In fact it's all bloody funny.
https://twitter.com/c4m3lo/status/1437349586499215363
37.4% of all deaths of unvaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
0.8% of all deaths of fully vaccinated people are caused by COVID-19
“The potency of Ketamine is such it can make a barrister’s son from Windsor believe he is someone called ‘DJ Che Headfuck’ and organise dubstep raves in pub skittle alleys that smell of piss."
https://mobile.twitter.com/GuillaumeRozier/status/1436603800769400832
About 1/6 of the remaining distance will be made by vaccinating 12-15
About 1/3 will be made by booster vaccination (which will also re-improve the case:death ratio)
About 1/2 will be made by infection (of about 10-15% of the population, depending on the balance of vaccinated / unvaccinated).
Raducanu did not have to play a single top-10 player or previous grand slam finalist. All the seeds, including world No 1 Ashleigh Barty, were cleared from her section of the draw. None of which should detract from the scale of her accomplishment, the stunning cleanness of her groundstrokes, her seeming immunity to pressure. But it should at least inform what it is realistic or reasonable to expect from her in the immediate future.
Iga Swiatek won last year’s French Open in similar circumstances: a new teenage star sweeping all before her (including grand slam winners Simona Halep and Sofia Kenin) without dropping a set. As Poland’s first ever grand slam winner, she found herself imprisoned in a cage of expectations that left her drained, exhausted, seeing tennis balls when she closed her eyes at night.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2021/sep/12/emma-raducanus-us-open-win-was-a-glorious-aligning-of-the-fates
I think that's fair enough. We are in danger of turning Emma into a kind of female Don Bradman / Muhammad Ali / Pele of tennis after one match. And you can bet that the moment she has a poor performance in the future the vultures will be out in force.
An unvaccinated person is 60% more likely to die than pre-pandemic, because of Covid-19.
A vaccinated person is 0.8% more likely to die than pre-pandemic, because of Covid-19.
https://www.theonion.com/god-angrily-clarifies-dont-kill-rule-1819566178
One chap of my aquaintance managed to lose 25% of his mass.....
He added: “I wouldn’t mind us winning the Ryder Cup, because that proves we can only succeed by co-operating with Europe. But then again golf is for dicks.”
you have a 2 in 5 chance of dying from Covid if you are unvaccinated.
And a 1 in 125 chance of dying if you are fully vaccinated.
(Yes I know there is a fundamental flaw in my logic but that doesn't stop Peston posting similar rubbish)
Chance would be a fine thing.
(theatrical sigh) I do love the words 'caveat emptor', don't you?
Now, here's a nice lady with a degree in the 'social sciences'. She is very good at analysing image metadata to try and prove black is white. I daresay she'll be amenable to whatever dastardly deeds you have in hand. Oh? Don't worry, sir, you can always leave the 'social' off and just call her a 'scientist' ...
Mr. Max, I know you're not in the business any more, but as someone with a PS4 that's pretty much had it (I think) any idea on when PS5's might be a little easier to find?
I'm not too stressed as I keep old consoles and am currently really enjoying Dragon Age: Origins. Oldest game in the series yet still clearly the best.
Look at this:
"What are we going to do next, build affordable housing? Pay a living wage? What if he’s serious about this ghastly plan to stop the North being a ghetto where you’re born poor and die early?"
It's like a middlebrow sixth former's laborious version of satire. It's funny if you're not a particularly funny person, and don't really understand humour, but you try quite hard
It is also like AI generated music, a computer which has been taught the essence of music but just doesn't get "music". Yet. Listen to this for 12 seconds, then the computer takes over the composition
https://soundcloud.com/openai_audio/jukebox-914891098
Indeed, it occurs to me that GPT3 could churn out Mash articles by the million, no problem, and has already written things much funnier than any Daily Mash piece
It's incredibly frustrating that there are so many people who haven't been vaccinated.
Fittingly enough...LOL.
(At not with you, obvs.)
Womens tennis is in transition - the Serena age has ended, and in the space left behind the slams have been widely spread. Time will tell for ER, but she has the talent and game for this.
Ironically, I saw the Xbox ConfusingName in stock at Game. I'm tempted to cross-over (better reverse compatibility and no clock issue, I think) but right now few games I want make the PS4 games for the PS5 the major draw. It'll be bizarre playing The Witcher 3 without the sound of a jet engine.
I was checking Argos, but I'll add Smiths to my list.
https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1437418746205835264?s=20
By 43% to 31% voters want to prioritise climate change spending with Labour voters in favour 60% to 17% but Tory voters disagree by 46% to 32%
https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1437418752765739009?s=20
At a guess Javid has kicked the ball to the CMOs....
Mr. Urquhart, they're bafflingly stupid. Anyone who doesn't pay very close attention can easily just buy the wrong one. The PS4 to PS5 approach is so much more sensible.
I doubt there are very many pro lockdowners left outside of course of the iSAGE committee.
The Onion is the best example of funny news satire - along with The Day Today in the UK
The Onion has headlines which alone make you laugh. OK they make me laugh
"Dwarf falls equivalent of 10 storeys"
They've actually deleted this (it seems). Too offensive now?
And I find THIS very funny. The Onion news channel taking the piss out of Apple. Superbly done (to my mind)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA
Coincidentally, I adore NZ, hint hint.
Improvements in treatment have reduced that now, hence the 60% figure for unvaccinated, rather than 100%, but not by as much as vaccination. Not by a long way.
He knows exactly how and when to pause, and then deliver the line. Even if it is not particularly witty, he does it in a way which makes you smile
Of course people that hate him won't ever smile, but that's just political loathing, and not a judgement of his humour. He is funny - in a way that appeals to many, highbrow and lowbrow. It's a significant reason he is where he is
I think its still true that most (i.e. over 50%) of deaths in the UK from covid are among the over 80's.
ETA snap, Cookie!
I do sometimes repost this short story. I don't know if others like it, but it amuses me.
Sir Edric and the Vampire Lord
"So, let me get this right,” Sir Edric said to the visiting priest. “You’re being terrorised by a giant albino rodent that appears at the same time every year? And you want me to kill the aforementioned magical vermin?”Dog coughed. “Actually, sir, it sounds like the Easter Bunny is more of a benevolent spirit.”
“Indeed,” Father Michael agreed. “He’s more of a fun character for children. The real message of Easter is about Jesus-”
“He’s the vampire, yes?”
Father Michael sighed. “No, Sir Edric. He is the Son of God-”
“I thought you said he was a carpenter?”
The priest cast his eyes to the heavens and mouthed a silent prayer. “Jesus was the Son of God. He was killed and lay for three days before rising from the dead, when he spoke again to his followers and then passed from our sight.”
Sir Edric nodded knowingly. “Definitely a vampire. So, you want me to kill Jesus?”
Father Michael was silent for a moment, clenching his jaw so hard his muscles bulged. “No, Sir Edric. I do not want you to kill Jesus. Or the Easter Bunny. I’m simply here to spread the message of Our Lord, to speak of his rising from the dead and the triumph of hope over despair, of life everlasting and-”
Sir Edric raised a hand to cut off the priest’s prattling. “That’s riveting. So, beyond preaching, is there any reason you’re here?”
The priest sighed again, and raised a large basket he was carrying. “I’ve also brought a large number of Easter eggs for the children of Awyndel.”
The knight frowned. “What do eggs have to do with vampires?”
Father Michael took a moment to answer. “It’s just a fun tradition to give one another, especially children, chocolate eggs to eat at this time of year.”
“What a splendid notion,” Sir Edric agreed. “Dog and I were just on our way to the orphanage. Why don’t we take your eggs with us?”
“I wouldn’t want to trouble you-”
Sir Edric beamed a smile. “No trouble at all, Father Michael. I shall be sure to help spread the word of the vampire lord Jesus and his infernal albino rabbit beast. Dog shall see you out.”
Once his manservant had escorted the cleric from his home, Sir Edric began to tuck into the huge quantity of Easter eggs. In the spirit of the occasion he selected one of the smaller ones for Dog and raised a glass of wine in a toast.
“Huzzah for Jesus, the undead master of the dread rabbit!"
“Routemaster 2.0” - even if it was a sequel - was much better than “Killing 130,000”.
Satire in particular dates very rapidly, because it is so specific to its time and place. Admittedly, Peter Cook's "Entirely a Matter for You" still cracks me up, but it would be meaningless to anyone unfamiliar with the trial of Jeremy Thorpe.
Gentle satire, like Pride and Prejudice, is probably timeless.
So, too is some black humour. Gibbon can be very funny in places, as can Tacitus. Hence his reaction to Nero marrying his boyfriend Sporus, and then castrating him, in the hope this would make him into a woman:
"Men wished that Nero's father had taken such a wife".
Cruelty, offensiveness and taboo-breaking are essential elements of comedy, and they have all been ruled offside. What is left?
On some recent boring train journeys through Swiss tunnels I watched some episodes of two recent US comedy series (now finished): Community and Parks & Rec. They have dud moments but they are consistently witty and clever, sometimes genius (especially early Community)
However they tell jokes that would simply be unacceptable now. About wife-beating and alcoholism and race. They are edgy, so they are funny.
I do not envy comedy writers working right now. What the fuck can you say that is funny AND acceptable?
It's actually a really good statistic and should be plastered all over inner cities in Europe to get under 40s to get vaccinated.
I was thinking of games like Avowed and, if I live this long, maybe Elder Scrolls VI.
I just thought you suffered from a kind of web-post Tourette’s.
And I hope there are
I have an acquaintance who is a modestly successful TV comedian, you'd probably just about recognise him, he has been the warm up to major stars. He was making £60-100k a year doing stand up about four years back
Even before Covid he said that income was collapsing as the number of things he could joke about dwindled away
Mr. Leon, cheers