I see people have been tabulating right and left lists again. Not good enough - I demand full categorization with centre left, centre right, right centre left and left centre right left and so on
Not enough. I think we need a full Political Compass so we can have authoritarian right, liberal right, liberal left, authoritarian left and so on.
Listened to PMQs. Johnson doesn't need to win; he just needs to avoid looking like a landed fish. This time he didn't.
FWIW, I would say Johnson got a hit on the track and trace programme. It may or not be nonsense, but he had something to announce. Only government can do that. He gave a tone deaf response on the NHS surcharge and deflected the questions on care home testing, probably enough.
Starmer has a clever trick of analysing the answer and explaining why it's inadequate before moving into the next question. This leads to the impression of him, and not Johnson, being in control of the discussion and gives him greater authority. If you didn't listen closely to the exchanges you might get the impression that Starmer is the PM instead of Johnson.
Slightly concerned about all these people enjoying the sunshine today. I presume as it is a weekday, most will be furloughed workers. I doubt they have realised yet that in reality there is no job for them to go back to. I think a lot of people will really enjoy a 3 month paid vacation, spend their furloughed wages as if they are going back in September, then get a very nasty shock.
I envision a lot of stories of how people never knew, never realised, made no preparations that they might be needing to find new employment and now have no money.
I think if i was in their position, i would definitely be looking to something loke the fruit picking to try and earn some cash so had a buffer come September.
I think you're right. Itll be brutal and people dont accept an argument they were forewarned, even when they were.
Im amazed at the number of companies who are still shut, we are picking up lots of extra work now because are competitors in the M & E field are not at work.
Car servicing is another area I can't understand, why would a garage be shut? It must be very easy to socially distance in a garage fixing/servicing cars but loads are still shut.
Boris was guilty if telling untruths, his problem being that he had to square a circle and at some points this is done by saying that a circle is in fact a square. Though of course it isn't, the truth being that a square is a circle.
BTW can anyone remember what Starmer's policy was on the Ireland question if and when we Brexited under a Labour government.
Finally a faint hope. The Tories, like other British parties have given up pretending that the current Britain/Ireland/N Ireland deal is anything other than a temporary one. The big clue is that none of the national parties organise or stand in the NI in elections. This Brexit deal should bring a proper settlement closer. (Analogy: If Lab/Con/LD never stood in Scottish seats would we start getting the hint that the English establishment was content with a certain outcome? Yes. That's where we are with NI.)
It could just be because I'm a horrid old Tory, but I am getting a bit sick of turning on the telly or radio to be mercilessly advertised to about how nice everyone (mostly banks) is being to me at this tough tough time. Pull the other one HSBC. Someone needs a bit of get up and go about how we're going to get out of this and get things moving again*. Oozing sympathy at us like a sack of damp tapioca only gets us so far.
*apologies, horribly tortured metaphor.
Absolutely. I turn over when the stream of "three cheers for the NHS, please buy from us" adverts come on. It's not just the banks, the likes of Deliveroo are just as bad. I hope ITV et al realise that they are losing viewers because of this.
Listened to PMQs. Johnson doesn't need to win; he just needs to avoid looking like a landed fish. This time he didn't.
FWIW, I would say Johnson got a hit on the track and trace programme. It may or not be nonsense, but he had something to announce. Only government can do that. He gave a tone deaf response on the NHS surcharge and deflected the questions on care home testing, probably enough.
Starmer has a clever trick of analysing the answer and explaining why it's inadequate before moving into the next question. This leads to the impression of him, and not Johnson, being in control of the discussion and gives him greater authority. If you didn't listen closely to the exchanges you might get the impression that Starmer is the PM instead of Johnson.
Is this the clever trick where he asks a question that has been answered in the previous question?
Is that supposed to make Starmer look like a villain?
I believe the New European sells 10,001 copies. 10,000 are sent directly to Brussels where they are put on display before being recycled, unread.
The last one is purchased by Scott, who awaits its arrival breathlessly. You can tell when it drops onto his doormat, as he goes quiet on PB for four or five hours as he reads every article at least twice.
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
Slightly concerned about all these people enjoying the sunshine today. I presume as it is a weekday, most will be furloughed workers. I doubt they have realised yet that in reality there is no job for them to go back to. I think a lot of people will really enjoy a 3 month paid vacation, spend their furloughed wages as if they are going back in September, then get a very nasty shock.
I envision a lot of stories of how people never knew, never realised, made no preparations that they might be needing to find new employment and now have no money.
I think if i was in their position, i would definitely be looking to something loke the fruit picking to try and earn some cash so had a buffer come September.
I think you're right. Itll be brutal and people dont accept an argument they were forewarned, even when they were.
Im amazed at the number of companies who are still shut, we are picking up lots of extra work now because are competitors in the M & E field are not at work.
Car servicing is another area I can't understand, why would a garage be shut? It must be very easy to socially distance in a garage fixing/servicing cars but loads are still shut.
One of our small local ones closed because everyone else was closed and he couldn't get parts. Desperate to stay open, and now has opened and flat out working. This must become a rolling unlocking for anyone who wants to stay in business.
It could just be because I'm a horrid old Tory, but I am getting a bit sick of turning on the telly or radio to be mercilessly advertised to about how nice everyone (mostly banks) is being to me at this tough tough time. Pull the other one HSBC. Someone needs a bit of get up and go about how we're going to get out of this and get things moving again*. Oozing sympathy at us like a sack of damp tapioca only gets us so far.
*apologies, horribly tortured metaphor.
Absolutely. I turn over when the stream of "three cheers for the NHS, please buy from us" adverts come on. It's not just the banks, the likes of Deliveroo are just as bad. I hope ITV et al realise that they are losing viewers because of this.
Would you guys like a space safe to hang out in?
I just really understand where this guy is coming from.....
When you look at that chart, it's hard not to agree with @eadric that the British government has not performed particularly well. We're in the bottom division, alongside Italy and Spain.
Is that supposed to make Starmer look like a villain?
I believe the New European sells 10,001 copies. 10,000 are sent directly to Brussels where they are put on display before being recycled, unread.
The last one is purchased by Scott, who awaits its arrival breathlessly. You can tell when it drops onto his doormat, as he goes quiet on PB for four or five hours as he reads every article at least twice.
You mean like the old days, when the Russian embassy used to buy 5 figures of every tanky mag on the market?
When you look at that chart, it's hard not to agree with @eadric that the British government has not performed particularly well. We're in the bottom division, alongside Italy and Spain.
I somehow doubt Mr eadric termed it as staidly as 'not performed particularly well'.
The last one is purchased by Scott, who awaits its arrival breathlessly. You can tell when it drops onto his doormat, as he goes quiet on PB for four or five hours as he reads every article at least twice.
As an experience, it rates slightly above listening to Radiohead
Slightly concerned about all these people enjoying the sunshine today. I presume as it is a weekday, most will be furloughed workers. I doubt they have realised yet that in reality there is no job for them to go back to. I think a lot of people will really enjoy a 3 month paid vacation, spend their furloughed wages as if they are going back in September, then get a very nasty shock.
I envision a lot of stories of how people never knew, never realised, made no preparations that they might be needing to find new employment and now have no money.
I think if i was in their position, i would definitely be looking to something loke the fruit picking to try and earn some cash so had a buffer come September.
I think you're right. Itll be brutal and people dont accept an argumet they were forewarned, even when they were.
I don't know. Most people in London will forget the names of their children before they forget how much they owe on the mortgage each month.
You can live fully with the knowledge of death all around you, ominous foreshadowing, and still enjoy a rather nice spring.
The last one is purchased by Scott, who awaits its arrival breathlessly. You can tell when it drops onto his doormat, as he goes quiet on PB for four or five hours as he reads every article at least twice.
As an experience, it rates slightly above listening to Radiohead
Well, I didn't watch PMQs but I did hear some extracts on the World at One.
FWIW I thought Sir Keir sounded dreadful. Maybe it's just me, but I find his intonation rather odd, and his so-called 'forensic' questions - at least those played on the programme - seem to comprise almost entirely of a rather laboured (no pun intended!) attempt to create a 'gotcha' by having a researcher trawl through government documents and statements in order to find things which can be quoted as inconsistencies. To me they just come across as nit-picking quibbles on phrases quoted out of context, and in any case who cares if there are inconsistencies in a fast-changing situation?
As for Boris, well he was Boris as usual. I said a couple of weeks ago that I thought he'd not bother to engage with Sir Keir's lawyerly arguments, and simply bluster his way through. That's what he did. It works OK.
I agree in the main. What I will say Starmer came over lot better on the TV than just listening on the Radio. He sounded slow and dull on the Radio but there was some body language there that made it work when you watch.
In terms of broader appeal outside the MSM and the modern Labour base he will have to at least mix up his lines of questioning much more. In my opinion he has taken totally the wrong line.
He needs to improve his delivery, he sounds so dull. He is clearly spending all week researching Government documents from 2 months ago looking for a gotcha moment and revising what he is going to ask. Perhaps that has stopped him from thinking on his feet or even listening to what the answer was as demonstrated with the tracing app question.
Penetrating questions are short, specific and each is only about one thing. Anything laborious, convoluted, complex and multi part can be waved away. Starmer's problem is he only has six questions; proper examinations by lawyers take quite a time. Boris is notably avoiding the interview where someone good at cross examination has 20-30 minutes. Andrew Neil needed urgently. Or else a select committee that knew its job.
Slightly concerned about all these people enjoying the sunshine today. I presume as it is a weekday, most will be furloughed workers. I doubt they have realised yet that in reality there is no job for them to go back to. I think a lot of people will really enjoy a 3 month paid vacation, spend their furloughed wages as if they are going back in September, then get a very nasty shock.
I envision a lot of stories of how people never knew, never realised, made no preparations that they might be needing to find new employment and now have no money.
I think if i was in their position, i would definitely be looking to something loke the fruit picking to try and earn some cash so had a buffer come September.
I think you're right. Itll be brutal and people dont accept an argumet they were forewarned, even when they were.
I don't know. Most people in London will forget the names of their children before they forget how much they owe on the mortgage each month.
You can live fully with the knowledge of death all around you, ominous foreshadowing, and still enjoy a rather nice spring.
People can be remarkably asleep at the switch when it comes to current affairs.
However jobs are one area where people will see it as part of their day to day. Hard to imagine that people on furlough haven't created a WhatsApp group, swapping rumours about redundancy, returns to work etc...
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
When you look at that chart, it's hard not to agree with @eadric that the British government has not performed particularly well. We're in the bottom division, alongside Italy and Spain.
Looks like it.
In one of his following tweets in that thread he has some good breakdowns of various country's regional splits. Our central outbreak (London) wasn't even particularly severe compared to some others, but it then spread far more widely. This rather than care home failings might be our biggest issue.
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
When you look at that chart, it's hard not to agree with @eadric that the British government has not performed particularly well. We're in the bottom division, alongside Italy and Spain.
I somehow doubt Mr eadric termed it as staidly as 'not performed particularly well'.
Emperor Hirohito phrased it better in August 1945.
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
Could the government just say to teachers 'you don;t have to teach if you don;t want to, but don't expect to get paid....?'
If the government re-opens schools then of course they shouldn`t get paid. This may be less of an issue than it appears as teachers are at school now, looking after key worker children.
Maybe teachers can be given the option to take unpaid leave - keeping their contract in place so they can return easily when they feel more comfortable doing so.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
Listened to PMQs. Johnson doesn't need to win; he just needs to avoid looking like a landed fish. This time he didn't.
FWIW, I would say Johnson got a hit on the track and trace programme. It may or not be nonsense, but he had something to announce. Only government can do that. He gave a tone deaf response on the NHS surcharge and deflected the questions on care home testing, probably enough.
Starmer has a clever trick of analysing the answer and explaining why it's inadequate before moving into the next question. This leads to the impression of him, and not Johnson, being in control of the discussion and gives him greater authority. If you didn't listen closely to the exchanges you might get the impression that Starmer is the PM instead of Johnson.
Is this the clever trick where he asks a question that has been answered in the previous question?
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
Because the words "not really..." and "mainly just..." or not "Literally never..." and "Literally only..."
He's been out of the house. He's been unlucky with encountering other people. Or others in his household have encountered other people. Maybe the kids encountered the kids of others who had the virus and haven't heard the news that they're possibly not able to pass it on. It happens.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
Could the government just say to teachers 'you don;t have to teach if you don;t want to, but don't expect to get paid....?'
"Teachers blackmailed into risking children's lives" shouts the Daily Mail/Mirror delete as appropriate.
"Have you got someone in your household who's vulnerable? Tough shit, you're out of work unless you risk their life. Because someone's read something somewhere that agrees with what they want to be true, so it must be, right? That's how it works? Risk their life or starve to death: your choice."
They should take off their engineers hat and put on their management hat.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
Slightly concerned about all these people enjoying the sunshine today. I presume as it is a weekday, most will be furloughed workers. I doubt they have realised yet that in reality there is no job for them to go back to. I think a lot of people will really enjoy a 3 month paid vacation, spend their furloughed wages as if they are going back in September, then get a very nasty shock.
I envision a lot of stories of how people never knew, never realised, made no preparations that they might be needing to find new employment and now have no money.
I think if i was in their position, i would definitely be looking to something loke the fruit picking to try and earn some cash so had a buffer come September.
I think you're right. Itll be brutal and people dont accept an argumet they were forewarned, even when they were.
I don't know. Most people in London will forget the names of their children before they forget how much they owe on the mortgage each month.
You can live fully with the knowledge of death all around you, ominous foreshadowing, and still enjoy a rather nice spring.
Sometimes I forget I even have children. For a blissful few moments, I am truly happy. Until I am awoken from my dream by the sound of some possession of mine falling to the floor and breaking, the victim of an errant nerf bullet.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
Because the words "not really..." and "mainly just..." or not "Literally never..." and "Literally only..."
He's been out of the house. He's been unlucky with encountering other people. Or others in his household have encountered other people. Maybe the kids encountered the kids of others who had the virus and haven't heard the news that they're possibly not able to pass it on. It happens.
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
Could the government just say to teachers 'you don;t have to teach if you don;t want to, but don't expect to get paid....?'
If the government re-opens schools then of course they shouldn`t get paid. This may be less of an issue than it appears as teachers are at school now, looking after key worker children.
Maybe teachers can be given the option to take unpaid leave - keeping their contract in place so they can return easily when they feel more comfortable doing so.
Very few at school now, less than 2% of kids at school.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
But they have queued perfectly outside - how can being close to each other, inside, have any effect?
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
Supermarket, Home deliveries. This virus thrives on the indoors.
Spain had introduced strict rules on wearing face coverings in public. Here's a bit more detail:
Everyone must wear face coverings in places such as shops, offices, restaurants and public transport, and outdoors if social distancing is not possible. The only exemptions are for children under six and people with health issues such as asthma or anxiety. But they are still recommended for children aged three to five.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
I think the report said that 80% of infections cam from super-spreaders.
If we take R0 as 3, that means that R for non-super-spreaders is about 0.8*. That's not the same as say "majority of people who have the virus do not spread it".
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
But they have queued perfectly outside - how can being close to each other, inside, have any effect?
Blimey where on earth is that photo from, the social distancing has been observed much much much better than that in my local Asda even on the bank holiday saturday when it was busyish.
Also - look at how little they're buying each. Everyone in that photo is clearly intending to head back to the grocers much sooner than in a week's time.
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
Could the government just say to teachers 'you don;t have to teach if you don;t want to, but don't expect to get paid....?'
"Teachers blackmailed into risking children's lives" shouts the Daily Mail/Mirror delete as appropriate.
"Have you got someone in your household who's vulnerable? Tough shit, you're out of work unless you risk their life. Because someone's read something somewhere that agrees with what they want to be true, so it must be, right? That's how it works? Risk their life or starve to death: your choice."
They should take off their engineers hat and put on their management hat.
Isn't that the situation that workers in the private sector that have been told to return to work already face? The tough shit scenario?
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
But they have queued perfectly outside - how can being close to each other, inside, have any effect?
Someone coughs, breathes, touches their face and then an item they don't end up buying? The possibilities are almost endless.
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
But they have queued perfectly outside - how can being close to each other, inside, have any effect?
Someone coughs, breathes, touches their face and then an item they don't end up buying? The possibilities are almost endless.
Sorry, forgot the sarcasm tags. MY experience is that people behave perfectly in the queues outside shops, then completely forget about it inside.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
Chances? Low Population going out occasionally and maybe touching a few things? Millions
(As I'm sure you know) that means it's not that surprising that hundreds still get infected each day.
I'm being careful, working from home, no one in my household is in contact with other people outside the household except deliveries/dropping groceries off at in-laws (with distancing) occasionally. I'm in an area where there are relatively few cases. I don't expect to catch the virus in the next month - overwhelming probability is that I won't. But there are millions of people like me and some of us will get it, so I won't be surprised if I do. It's possible.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
But they have queued perfectly outside - how can being close to each other, inside, have any effect?
Someone coughs, breathes, touches their face and then an item they don't end up buying? The possibilities are almost endless.
Sorry, forgot the sarcasm tags. MY experience is that people behave perfectly in the queues outside shops, then completely forget about it inside.
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
Could the government just say to teachers 'you don;t have to teach if you don;t want to, but don't expect to get paid....?'
"Teachers blackmailed into risking children's lives" shouts the Daily Mail/Mirror delete as appropriate.
"Have you got someone in your household who's vulnerable? Tough shit, you're out of work unless you risk their life. Because someone's read something somewhere that agrees with what they want to be true, so it must be, right? That's how it works? Risk their life or starve to death: your choice."
They should take off their engineers hat and put on their management hat.
Isn't that the situation that workers in the private sector that have been told to return to work already face? The tough shit scenario?
What makes teachers different?
The ones who have been told to return to work only if they can't work from home and can work safely? Where people have been raising fears that employers might go for that "tough shit" scenario if they had members of their household that are vulnerable and Boris said that, for some reason, he was "sure" that they wouldn't force them? And where people have been concerned for them?
It's true, though, that we need more education. We need to teach people about actual economics rather than their self-taught crap that they spout online. We need to teach people about weighing up all the evidence rather than snatching whatever they want to believe is true and trumpeting it no matter how often the basic faults are pointed out to them.
Quite difficult to do at the moment, unfortunately.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
It also makes a point which I think is relevant here: ...The research is also prone to bias, Knight says. People are more likely to remember attending a basketball game than, say, getting a haircut, a phenomenon called recall bias that may make clusters seem bigger than they are. Clusters that have an interesting social angle—such as prison outbreaks—may get more media coverage and thus jump out to researchers, while others remain hidden. Clusters of mostly asymptomatic infections may be missed altogether....
Going shopping falls into the unmemorable, but probably significant category.
Was wondering why the Culture Secretary is taking the Press Conference, not a role I'd have considered very relevant, but he's making a number of announcements regarding charities, sports etc so makes sense.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
I think the report said that 80% of infections cam from super-spreaders.
If we take R0 as 3, that means that R for non-super-spreaders is about 0.8*. That's not the same as say "majority of people who have the virus do not spread it".
This is a direct quote from the report:
But in real life, some people infect many others and others don’t spread the disease at all. In fact, the latter is the norm, Lloyd-Smith says: “The consistent pattern is that the most common number is zero. Most people do not transmit.”
The risk of children catching coronavirus is 'unbelievably low', according to one of the UK's top experts. Eminent statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter said data has also shown that teachers do not have a greater risk of becoming infected.
Yes, Johnson was flustered thus blustered - in this case blurting out a promise on Matt Hancock's life to have a "world beating" track & trace system in place by 1st June. The inevitable will no doubt ensue.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
I think the report said that 80% of infections cam from super-spreaders.
If we take R0 as 3, that means that R for non-super-spreaders is about 0.8*. That's not the same as say "majority of people who have the virus do not spread it".
This is a direct quote from the report:
But in real life, some people infect many others and others don’t spread the disease at all. In fact, the latter is the norm, Lloyd-Smith says: “The consistent pattern is that the most common number is zero. Most people do not transmit.”
Unless you know who the super spreader is and who isn't one that doesn't necessarily mean much.
It would be good if scientists could ever figure out what made someone a superspreader and if there is a consistency between outbreaks or if someone who is a superspreader for this virus may not be for another and vice-versa.
Recently home from work and just catching up on the news of zero new Covid diagnoses in London in a 24-hour period.
It is also more than a week since Boris Johnson dumped the Stay Home message and started encouraging people to go back to work. One is therefore entitled to wonder what has happened to the much-feared disease spike caused by passengers allegedly cramming back into buses and the Tube, going back into workplaces, and spending as much time as they please enjoying sunny parks. Indeed, if this continues to fail to materialise for very much longer then it'll be the best news since this whole miserable saga began.
I also wonder if it might be possible - just possible - that, as contagious as it is, this disease finds it a lot more difficult to infect some people than others. If a substantial fraction of the population is quite simply resistant to Covid - something that would be very hard to prove, given that a scientific study of such a possible phenomenon could only be conducted by trying to deliberately infect a group of volunteers - then this would correspondingly reduce the numbers of people who would need to have contracted the illness and developed antibodies, before at least some degree of collective immunity develops in the population as a whole.
Yes, I know - another notion for the "too good to be true" collection. But I'm not sure what the alternative explanation for new infections having crashed to nil in a densely-packed city of nearly nine million people could be.
I raise (or lower) you "Europe should brace for second wave, says EU coronavirus chief" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/top-eu-doctor-europe-should-brace-itself-for-second-wave-of-coronavirus Mind you, unless it's just the grauniad being true to it's name and mistyping the quote, she also says "Looking at the characteristics of the virus, looking at what now emerges from the different countries in terms of population immunity – which isn’t all that exciting, between 2% and 14%, that leaves still 85% to 90% of the population susceptible", which is a bit worrying from a maths point of view. I appreciate that 100% of the population may not be susceptible, but the implied % susceptible originally ranges from 99% to 92% depending whether the number infected so far is 2% or 14%. Unless there's some fancy modelling that links number infected so far to the number never susceptible.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
It's interesting as every time I have been to the shops people have been very careful to queue up at 2m distance, and other than passing each other in the aisles seem to avoid getting too close, yet in other places people smash up to one another.
Investors are paying the Government for the privilege of lending money to the state for the first time as interest rates turned negative in a debt auction.
The three-year gilt nominally pays an interest rate of 0.75pc, but strong demand from investors meant the Debt Management Office raised £3.75bn with a yield of minus 0.003pc.
LOL, how many read the Scotsman , 5-7K if very lucky. Nobody pays any attention to their unionist frothing.
So your not bothered about deaths, unless they can be blamed on Westminister?
I am not interested in petty political point scoring, I am annoyed that Sturgeon followed the Cummings panel guidance, but likely her own bunch of supposed experts just took the SAGE ones at face value.
Was wondering why the Culture Secretary is taking the Press Conference, not a role I'd have considered very relevant, but he's making a number of announcements regarding charities, sports etc so makes sense.
Well there you go then. You asked yourself a question, discovered and processed the relevant evidence, and answered it to your complete satisfaction. Life is sweet and simple sometimes.
It works for which audience? Will Conservative backbenchers be satisfied with the Prime Minister's performance? Even more importantly, will Boris?
I'd have thought Yes, Mostly to the first question, and Yes to the second.
They both currently have very low expectations because a)they have been used to facing Corbyn, b) they are at the beginning of a parliament, and c) they have a big majority. It won't be long before a new awkward squad forms. Johnson truly is hopeless by almost all measures and many Tory MPs already know this. They are biding their time, for the time being.
He manages to win enough for somebody so hopeless. The recent history tells you the Conservatives don't have much alternative. When the dust settles after this virus Johnson will need to make some important changes to his team. From that some more fresh faces will have the chance to make a name. That will take time. There are some MP's here in the East Midlands that have achieved great results that I am sure would be better received than Williamson or Hancock, so more competition may happen in time.
Was wondering why the Culture Secretary is taking the Press Conference, not a role I'd have considered very relevant, but he's making a number of announcements regarding charities, sports etc so makes sense.
Well there you go then. You asked yourself a question, discovered and processed the relevant evidence, and answered it to your complete satisfaction. Life is sweet and simple sometimes.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
I think the report said that 80% of infections cam from super-spreaders.
If we take R0 as 3, that means that R for non-super-spreaders is about 0.8*. That's not the same as say "majority of people who have the virus do not spread it".
This is a direct quote from the report:
But in real life, some people infect many others and others don’t spread the disease at all. In fact, the latter is the norm, Lloyd-Smith says: “The consistent pattern is that the most common number is zero. Most people do not transmit.”
And if only we knew who they were we'd be cooking with gas.
Recently home from work and just catching up on the news of zero new Covid diagnoses in London in a 24-hour period.
It is also more than a week since Boris Johnson dumped the Stay Home message and started encouraging people to go back to work. One is therefore entitled to wonder what has happened to the much-feared disease spike caused by passengers allegedly cramming back into buses and the Tube, going back into workplaces, and spending as much time as they please enjoying sunny parks. Indeed, if this continues to fail to materialise for very much longer then it'll be the best news since this whole miserable saga began.
I also wonder if it might be possible - just possible - that, as contagious as it is, this disease finds it a lot more difficult to infect some people than others. If a substantial fraction of the population is quite simply resistant to Covid - something that would be very hard to prove, given that a scientific study of such a possible phenomenon could only be conducted by trying to deliberately infect a group of volunteers - then this would correspondingly reduce the numbers of people who would need to have contracted the illness and developed antibodies, before at least some degree of collective immunity develops in the population as a whole.
Yes, I know - another notion for the "too good to be true" collection. But I'm not sure what the alternative explanation for new infections having crashed to nil in a densely-packed city of nearly nine million people could be.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
It's interesting as every time I have been to the shops people have been very careful to queue up at 2m distance, and other than passing each other in the aisles seem to avoid getting too close, yet in other places people smash up to one another.
In Wales we still have spotters positioned in supermarkets to deal with those in breach of the 2 metre rule.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
It's interesting as every time I have been to the shops people have been very careful to queue up at 2m distance, and other than passing each other in the aisles seem to avoid getting too close, yet in other places people smash up to one another.
When was that picture taken? There are no 2m markers on the floor, and only one person with covered mouth.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
I think the report said that 80% of infections cam from super-spreaders.
If we take R0 as 3, that means that R for non-super-spreaders is about 0.8*. That's not the same as say "majority of people who have the virus do not spread it".
This is a direct quote from the report:
But in real life, some people infect many others and others don’t spread the disease at all. In fact, the latter is the norm, Lloyd-Smith says: “The consistent pattern is that the most common number is zero. Most people do not transmit.”
I think that's what you'd expect with random variation with something that is Poisson-distributed. You get the same with rainfall. Large majority of days have near-zero rainfall, with a small number of super-rain days, giving an average of a middling amount of rain.
I feel like we have a reasonably good idea now of how this spreads. Inside, loud vocalizations, effort to be heard against background noise. Pubs, churches, meat-processing plants, and similar.
That leaves a lot else that is mostly safe.
It's a shame that the tracing apps don't seem likely to gather the data that would help to refine this, but too late now.
Unless you know who the super spreader is and who isn't one that doesn't necessarily mean much.
It would be good if scientists could ever figure out what made someone a superspreader and if there is a consistency between outbreaks or if someone who is a superspreader for this virus may not be for another and vice-versa.
See the article I linked to above. It's as likely to be where and how, as who.
Did I read that right, 170,000 tests in a single day?
Target of 200,000 by end of the month Boris set in this month's first PMQs certainly not looking out of reach now.
If they report 200,000 then presumably some people will finally be satisfied that the initial 100,000 figure has been reached, as even the government would struggle to massage the figures by over 100k.
Unless you know who the super spreader is and who isn't one that doesn't necessarily mean much.
It would be good if scientists could ever figure out what made someone a superspreader and if there is a consistency between outbreaks or if someone who is a superspreader for this virus may not be for another and vice-versa.
See the article I linked to above. It's as likely to be where and how, as who.
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
It's interesting as every time I have been to the shops people have been very careful to queue up at 2m distance, and other than passing each other in the aisles seem to avoid getting too close, yet in other places people smash up to one another.
When was that picture taken? There are no 2m markers on the floor, and only one person with covered mouth.
google image search suggests it was taken before lockdown. 20th march
This has been my confusion with this virus all along and lockdown. This chap has not left the house for weeks apart from a bit of exercise yet somehow he has got the virus, fortunately with no symptoms. Its very hard to undertsand how it is possible for him to get infected.
And all the sampling says bugger all people have had it. Like what are the chances that given so few people have had that you go out to the park, maybe touch a bench and somebody catch it.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
And according to that report on here last night about superspreaders the majority of people who have the virus do not spread it, yet you can catch it by staying at home all the time.
An image of people staying at home all the time and never going out:
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
It's interesting as every time I have been to the shops people have been very careful to queue up at 2m distance, and other than passing each other in the aisles seem to avoid getting too close, yet in other places people smash up to one another.
When was that picture taken? There are no 2m markers on the floor, and only one person with covered mouth.
Coats. Hats. I haven't worn anything like that in months. Add to it the number of toilet rolls in the shot and you will get an idea when it was.
Comments
FWIW, I would say Johnson got a hit on the track and trace programme. It may or not be nonsense, but he had something to announce. Only government can do that. He gave a tone deaf response on the NHS surcharge and deflected the questions on care home testing, probably enough.
Starmer has a clever trick of analysing the answer and explaining why it's inadequate before moving into the next question. This leads to the impression of him, and not Johnson, being in control of the discussion and gives him greater authority. If you didn't listen closely to the exchanges you might get the impression that Starmer is the PM instead of Johnson.
Car servicing is another area I can't understand, why would a garage be shut? It must be very easy to socially distance in a garage fixing/servicing cars but loads are still shut.
Boris was guilty if telling untruths, his problem being that he had to square a circle and at some points this is done by saying that a circle is in fact a square. Though of course it isn't, the truth being that a square is a circle.
BTW can anyone remember what Starmer's policy was on the Ireland question if and when we Brexited under a Labour government.
Finally a faint hope. The Tories, like other British parties have given up pretending that the current Britain/Ireland/N Ireland deal is anything other than a temporary one. The big clue is that none of the national parties organise or stand in the NI in elections. This Brexit deal should bring a proper settlement closer. (Analogy: If Lab/Con/LD never stood in Scottish seats would we start getting the hint that the English establishment was content with a certain outcome? Yes. That's where we are with NI.)
The last one is purchased by Scott, who awaits its arrival breathlessly. You can tell when it drops onto his doormat, as he goes quiet on PB for four or five hours as he reads every article at least twice.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8340341/Leading-Cambridge-University-expert-says-risk-children-catching-COVID-19-unbelievably-low.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi_QF5Jtuug
You can live fully with the knowledge of death all around you, ominous foreshadowing, and still enjoy a rather nice spring.
However jobs are one area where people will see it as part of their day to day. Hard to imagine that people on furlough haven't created a WhatsApp group, swapping rumours about redundancy, returns to work etc...
That being said - what do I know?
In one of his following tweets in that thread he has some good breakdowns of various country's regional splits. Our central outbreak (London) wasn't even particularly severe compared to some others, but it then spread far more widely. This rather than care home failings might be our biggest issue.
"It was a big surprise because I haven't really left the house," Mariappa, 33, told the Telegraph.
"Apart from some exercise and the odd walk with the kids, I've mainly just been homeschooling and keeping fit.
"My lifestyle is very quiet, certainly no parties or going out or anything, so I really don't know how I got it."
The Jamaica international said he has had no symptoms and felt "as fit as ever".
He added: "It's quite scary how you can feel absolutely fine and not really have left the house, and yet still get the virus.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52744883
But no, the ludicrous "Boris" construct promises a "World Beating System" by 1st June.
Just silly.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/may/20/bbc-director-general-candidate-accused-in-phone-hacking-case
Obviously Guardian not happy he might get the job.
Maybe teachers can be given the option to take unpaid leave - keeping their contract in place so they can return easily when they feel more comfortable doing so.
There are so many mixed smoke signals with this thing.
He's been out of the house. He's been unlucky with encountering other people. Or others in his household have encountered other people. Maybe the kids encountered the kids of others who had the virus and haven't heard the news that they're possibly not able to pass it on. It happens.
They should take off their engineers hat and put on their management hat.
It's inexplicable how anyone could catch it during lockdown, it really is.
Everyone must wear face coverings in places such as shops, offices, restaurants and public transport, and outdoors if social distancing is not possible. The only exemptions are for children under six and people with health issues such as asthma or anxiety. But they are still recommended for children aged three to five.
"Brexit presents us with the opportunity to transform the prospects of many who voted Leave and politicians must not squander it"
https://brexitcentral.com/claire-ainsley-brexit-opportunities/
If we take R0 as 3, that means that R for non-super-spreaders is about 0.8*. That's not the same as say "majority of people who have the virus do not spread it".
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/politics/scottish-politics/2175148/coronavirus-second-wave-of-deadly-virus-described-as-very-unlikely-by-expert/
Also - look at how little they're buying each. Everyone in that photo is clearly intending to head back to the grocers much sooner than in a week's time.
What makes teachers different?
don;t see anybody on here wailing about that.
Population going out occasionally and maybe touching a few things? Millions
(As I'm sure you know) that means it's not that surprising that hundreds still get infected each day.
I'm being careful, working from home, no one in my household is in contact with other people outside the household except deliveries/dropping groceries off at in-laws (with distancing) occasionally. I'm in an area where there are relatively few cases. I don't expect to catch the virus in the next month - overwhelming probability is that I won't. But there are millions of people like me and some of us will get it, so I won't be surprised if I do. It's possible.
Where people have been raising fears that employers might go for that "tough shit" scenario if they had members of their household that are vulnerable and Boris said that, for some reason, he was "sure" that they wouldn't force them?
And where people have been concerned for them?
It's true, though, that we need more education. We need to teach people about actual economics rather than their self-taught crap that they spout online. We need to teach people about weighing up all the evidence rather than snatching whatever they want to believe is true and trumpeting it no matter how often the basic faults are pointed out to them.
Quite difficult to do at the moment, unfortunately.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/why-do-some-covid-19-patients-infect-many-others-whereas-most-don-t-spread-virus-all#
It also makes a point which I think is relevant here:
...The research is also prone to bias, Knight says. People are more likely to remember attending a basketball game than, say, getting a haircut, a phenomenon called recall bias that may make clusters seem bigger than they are. Clusters that have an interesting social angle—such as prison outbreaks—may get more media coverage and thus jump out to researchers, while others remain hidden. Clusters of mostly asymptomatic infections may be missed altogether....
Going shopping falls into the unmemorable, but probably significant category.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/pmqs-boris-johnson-wins-clash-keir-starmer-a4446416.html
But in real life, some people infect many others and others don’t spread the disease at all. In fact, the latter is the norm, Lloyd-Smith says: “The consistent pattern is that the most common number is zero. Most people do not transmit.”
It would be good if scientists could ever figure out what made someone a superspreader and if there is a consistency between outbreaks or if someone who is a superspreader for this virus may not be for another and vice-versa.
It is also more than a week since Boris Johnson dumped the Stay Home message and started encouraging people to go back to work. One is therefore entitled to wonder what has happened to the much-feared disease spike caused by passengers allegedly cramming back into buses and the Tube, going back into workplaces, and spending as much time as they please enjoying sunny parks. Indeed, if this continues to fail to materialise for very much longer then it'll be the best news since this whole miserable saga began.
I also wonder if it might be possible - just possible - that, as contagious as it is, this disease finds it a lot more difficult to infect some people than others. If a substantial fraction of the population is quite simply resistant to Covid - something that would be very hard to prove, given that a scientific study of such a possible phenomenon could only be conducted by trying to deliberately infect a group of volunteers - then this would correspondingly reduce the numbers of people who would need to have contracted the illness and developed antibodies, before at least some degree of collective immunity develops in the population as a whole.
Yes, I know - another notion for the "too good to be true" collection. But I'm not sure what the alternative explanation for new infections having crashed to nil in a densely-packed city of nearly nine million people could be.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/top-eu-doctor-europe-should-brace-itself-for-second-wave-of-coronavirus
Mind you, unless it's just the grauniad being true to it's name and mistyping the quote, she also says "Looking at the characteristics of the virus, looking at what now emerges from the different countries in terms of population immunity – which isn’t all that exciting, between 2% and 14%, that leaves still 85% to 90% of the population susceptible", which is a bit worrying from a maths point of view. I appreciate that 100% of the population may not be susceptible, but the implied % susceptible originally ranges from 99% to 92% depending whether the number infected so far is 2% or 14%. Unless there's some fancy modelling that links number infected so far to the number never susceptible.
Investors are paying the Government for the privilege of lending money to the state for the first time as interest rates turned negative in a debt auction.
The three-year gilt nominally pays an interest rate of 0.75pc, but strong demand from investors meant the Debt Management Office raised £3.75bn with a yield of minus 0.003pc.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/slides-and-datasets-to-accompany-coronavirus-press-conference-20-may-2020
I have been digging for victory.
Why did the Speaker put Little Matt on the naughty step?
https://twitter.com/GideonSkinner/status/1263138865113595905?s=20
177,216
https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1263140343844921345?s=20
Perhaps @Johnlilburne has got his results back today and they're included in the bumbner harvest ?
https://twitter.com/florian_krammer/status/1263121551341375494
I feel like we have a reasonably good idea now of how this spreads. Inside, loud vocalizations, effort to be heard against background noise. Pubs, churches, meat-processing plants, and similar.
That leaves a lot else that is mostly safe.
It's a shame that the tracing apps don't seem likely to gather the data that would help to refine this, but too late now.
It's as likely to be where and how, as who.
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/shoppers-queue-to-pay-early-morning-in-a-morrisons-news-photo/1207747180?adppopup=true