The government bizarrely and pointlessly undermined the success of its own world-beating vaccine programme by saying that in the spring that it was lockdown that kept deaths down, not vaccinations. Given that, I'm surprised that uptake has remained as high as it has.
I seem to be the only person on here who doesn't think quarantine would have done much if any good. It's a massive denial of civil liberties for people, 99% uselessly since most people aren't infected, and it's not entirely effective, even in Australia, where it's imposed globally. Here, there's a lot of evidence that people simply fly through third countries, there would be a big rush just before it is imposed which would get you lots of new cases, and the crowded airport arrival halls where people have to stay longer are perfect for spreading diseases. And it would only buy you a little time anyway as the virus would arrive through other sources.
Vaccines are the answer at this stage. Neither lockdowns nor quarantine matter compared to that.
Indian quarantine would have brought time for the vaccination program to push ahead. We're behind now because of the large number of delta variant seedings that took place.
Yes. Without the repeated and widespread seedings of Delta, we'd be 4-7 weeks further back in the spread. Which would mean there would not have been any talk of delaying June 21st (we'd be looking at completing the vax programme before it could spike even without extra urgency)
Good morning. Not read OP yet, its long, will tackle it later.
Switched on GB News and the studio seems awfully pixellated. Looks like they've got an SD camera instead of an HD one in the studio. Oddly the on the road presenter looks better.
Quite frankly its pretty unwatchable. Why the hell invest in a new TV channel, new studios, new broadcast, and well known names for broadcasting - but not invest in a decent studio and decent cameras?
Past their best just like the reporters, bunch of has beens / would have beens , comic singers and just wrong un's.
..and have you actually watched it ? Thought not. Instant kneejerk reaction of zero value.
I watched about 20 min of it last night out of curiosity. Really poor production quality, and mostly seemed to be the producers smugly interviewing each other, and repeating the same old clichés. There didn't seem to be much actual news.
There will be an audience I suppose. Some people watch any old drivel.
I only watched for ~10 minutes but the bit I saw had a long section where someone from the BMA was speaking, uninterrupted, about why he thought extending lockdown was a good thing. I don't agree whatsoever, but having guests speaking uninterrupted is refreshing.
Just a shame its unwatchable from the awful production standards.
I think the production glitches are easily fixable.
I need it on a device from which I can gain access.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
Mr. Jonathan, for what it's worth, I loathe the masks. Tedious with glasses (I usually wear a hat, but hat and mask and glasses is too much of a faff).
Go news seems to be trying to be shit this morning. Sound quality all over the place, notably on anyone out of the studio, or via video link.
Maybe the terrible production values on Gammon Boomer News are a deliberate feature, harking back to the TV experience of the target audience's younger days? Perhaps they should just film it in black and white with a Pathe News style voice-over and be done with it.
They're further out from the Bolton epicentre but encouragingly look to have a smaller rise of less duration.
If they continue to 'flatten the curve' then it suggests that the Indian variant will have progressively less effect as it moves through the country and the overall numbers might soon stabilize.
Another thing to watch out for is anyone using the word exponential or predicting hospitalisations will be anything above 20% of January to justify further restrictions.
Either are clear signs that bollox is being pedalled.
100,000 cases a day someone was spouting off about on Twitter.
Which illustrates the innumerate bollox we're dealing with.
The highest UK reported cases in a day was 68,053 on 08/01 and no district has reached their own peak day yet.
They're further out from the Bolton epicentre but encouragingly look to have a smaller rise of less duration.
If they continue to 'flatten the curve' then it suggests that the Indian variant will have progressively less effect as it moves through the country and the overall numbers might soon stabilize.
Another thing to watch out for is anyone using the word exponential or predicting hospitalisations will be anything above 20% of January to justify further restrictions.
Either are clear signs that bollox is being pedalled.
100,000 cases a day someone was spouting off about on Twitter.
If you think that one twitter-spouter is significant, then that may explain a lot
Go news seems to be trying to be shit this morning. Sound quality all over the place, notably on anyone out of the studio, or via video link.
It's early days.. give them a break. The first breakfast tv was shite and has been ever since.. Daybreak TV is always shite. We will see if GB tv follows the trend....
Though TV-am only improved by getting rid of nearly all the launch staff and bringing in a puppet rat.
L!I've TV only improved by getting rid of Janet Street Porter and bringing in Norwegian weather forecasts, among other things. (When I say improved, I'm lying).
How long before we get GB News Bunny?
(If you haven't read Live TV!: Telly Brats and Topless Darts - The Uncut Story of Tabloid TV, it's very very funny.)
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
Maybe they are listening. Edward Argar saying exactly that. Zero Covid is not possible and we have to live with it,
The Guernsey CMO has been saying that for over a year….
Which is why Guernsey has always had loose travel restrictions.
Travel restrictions are thr foundation of a zero covid strategy.
No. To manage a pandemic before you have herd immunity (ideally through vaccination!) you need "Non pharmacological Interventions" - hands, face space in the UK - face masks, limited gathering sizes, border controls. What Guernsey has chosen to do is weight the NPIs to the border and has eliminated them internally. So life "in" Guernsey is exactly the same as pre-pandemic - no face masks, no limits on group sizes, no logging in to restaurants.
What there is is effective border control - which is rigorously policed - after the first dozen or so of £10,000 fines and deportations after prison for the "can't pays" the message is clearly understood. As the vaccination rates have increased and testing capacity has grown it has evolved. But everyone entering the Bailiwick is tracked, tested on arrival, and depending on where they've been have to self isolate (and they check) until either the arrival, day 7 or day 14 test comes back negative. And if you don't want to take a test you can self-isolate for 21 days. Its a bit of a pain if you want to travel, but great for the majority who don't.
Go news seems to be trying to be shit this morning. Sound quality all over the place, notably on anyone out of the studio, or via video link.
Maybe the terrible production values on Gammon Boomer News are a deliberate feature, harking back to the TV experience of the target audience's younger days? Perhaps they should just film it in black and white with a Pathe News style voice-over and be done with it.
Its a great piece Cyclefree. The key takeaway of course is that when harsh reality is spoken about the godawful job done by this government, the people saying so then show their displeasure by voting Tory.
Which is why the government will continue to be a clown car full of liars doing stupid. You always get the correct result in elections and this is what people (in England) voted for.
In the words of angry Brexiteers, suck it up.
Leaders - real ones - do not follow their supporters. They teach them.
That is the answer to @NickPalmer's point to me about communications. The speech I wrote is what a leader would have said. IMO. One who was concerned about doing the best for the country and not (a) himself first and (b) his party - second.
Go news seems to be trying to be shit this morning. Sound quality all over the place, notably on anyone out of the studio, or via video link.
Maybe the terrible production values on Gammon Boomer News are a deliberate feature, harking back to the TV experience of the target audience's younger days? Perhaps they should just film it in black and white with a Pathe News style voice-over and be done with it.
The "sitting room" of a typical GBN viewer...
I don't agree. You need to add a flag and a portrait of HM, or at least a mug with her picture on it.
Maybe they are listening. Edward Argar saying exactly that. Zero Covid is not possible and we have to live with it,
The Guernsey CMO has been saying that for over a year….
Which is why Guernsey has always had loose travel restrictions.
Travel restrictions are thr foundation of a zero covid strategy.
Guernsey has loose restrictions? Not from where my sister and her family are looking.
That's the joke.
I have found it striking. Especially over the last few months how people who have been loudly decrying "zero covid idiots" advocate exactly the same policies as zero coviders.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
@TOPPING A rather enigmatic post. Why was it so obvious that there would be a delay? Was is due to data, or the precautionary principle - or politics?
They're further out from the Bolton epicentre but encouragingly look to have a smaller rise of less duration.
If they continue to 'flatten the curve' then it suggests that the Indian variant will have progressively less effect as it moves through the country and the overall numbers might soon stabilize.
Another thing to watch out for is anyone using the word exponential or predicting hospitalisations will be anything above 20% of January to justify further restrictions.
Either are clear signs that bollox is being pedalled.
100,000 cases a day someone was spouting off about on Twitter.
If you think that one twitter-spouter is significant, then that may explain a lot
Mate, it’s not what I think that matters. This was a member of SAGE given a platform on the news.
These people, like other fringe crackpots like Gurdasani and Michie, are given regular publicity by the news and are influential in helping shape opinion.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
Preach, Sister.
There is so much bad in the country, and the root cause is an act of nature (not the government's fault) that has largely been botched (very definitely their responsibility).
And this is what happens when the people in.power have oodles of confidence, minimal competence and zero empathy.
And the worst of it isn't even that Johnson remains popular. It's the chortling and gloating that follows in its wake. The "it's funny watching lefties get frustrated" stuff.
This isn't a game, but some people follow their leader in treating it as one.
Go news seems to be trying to be shit this morning. Sound quality all over the place, notably on anyone out of the studio, or via video link.
Maybe the terrible production values on Gammon Boomer News are a deliberate feature, harking back to the TV experience of the target audience's younger days? Perhaps they should just film it in black and white with a Pathe News style voice-over and be done with it.
The "sitting room" of a typical GBN viewer...
Re your wonderfully snide inverted commas: is it a living room, sitting room or lounge? Gammons would say lounge wouldn't they?
It's always been a race between vaccines and virus spread, hasn't it? Before delta, vaccines were winning hands down - hence the plausible roadmap. Following delta, vaccines aren't quite winning any more, so we have to wait a bit.
If the government had slowed the spread of delta by putting India on the red list earlier (and hotel quarantine for any residual arrivals of any nationality), then vaccines may well still have won the race. The government failed to do this, screwing the roadmap.
Maybe they are listening. Edward Argar saying exactly that. Zero Covid is not possible and we have to live with it,
The Guernsey CMO has been saying that for over a year….
Which is why Guernsey has always had loose travel restrictions.
Travel restrictions are thr foundation of a zero covid strategy.
Guernsey has loose restrictions? Not from where my sister and her family are looking.
That's the joke.
I have found it striking. Especially over the last few months how people who have been loudly decrying "zero covid idiots" advocate exactly the same policies as zero coviders.
Guernsey's border controls are not, and never have been, about "Zero Covid", which the CMO described over a year ago as "epidemiologically illiterate" but about where you want to put your NPIs - at the border, on travellers, or internally on the entire population? You choose. I know which I've preferred.
Go news seems to be trying to be shit this morning. Sound quality all over the place, notably on anyone out of the studio, or via video link.
Maybe the terrible production values on Gammon Boomer News are a deliberate feature, harking back to the TV experience of the target audience's younger days? Perhaps they should just film it in black and white with a Pathe News style voice-over and be done with it.
The "sitting room" of a typical GBN viewer...
I don't agree. You need to add a flag and a portrait of HM, or at least a mug with her picture on it.
My first version had a highly unflattering photo of the queen where the Spitfire Mk XI is but I thought some "snowflake" would try to "cancel" me over it.
Go news seems to be trying to be shit this morning. Sound quality all over the place, notably on anyone out of the studio, or via video link.
Maybe the terrible production values on Gammon Boomer News are a deliberate feature, harking back to the TV experience of the target audience's younger days? Perhaps they should just film it in black and white with a Pathe News style voice-over and be done with it.
It’s staggering how one small, obscure, news channel that most people won’t have heard of or will ever watch seems to live rent free in so many people’s heads.
The government bizarrely and pointlessly undermined the success of its own world-beating vaccine programme by saying that in the spring that it was lockdown that kept deaths down, not vaccinations.
Don't understand this. That the lockdown had more initial impact than the vaccine rollout is a statement of the obvious.
Lockdown happened sometime in December (depending how you slice it wrt the Christmas opening then closing). Deaths (a late indicator of a wave after cases and hospital admissions) peaked around Jan 23, then declined quickly. At the peak only a tiny of the population had active vaccinations - something like 3-4% had a single jab that was 2 weeks old.
So - yes - I'd say it was lockdown that probably had more impact early.
Quite when that reached 50:50, or relative % of lives saved - no idea.
Do you have a ref for that comment - if that was what PHE said then the Govt could not really g against it.
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Re: header + the general view on here from we intelligent folk and politics-watchers: it is interesting how the government is being blamed if there is indeed a delay. Yet delay is the decision it seems.
Yet, according to YouGov, the good old lumpen masses support the government and it's decision to delay.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Maybe they are listening. Edward Argar saying exactly that. Zero Covid is not possible and we have to live with it,
The Guernsey CMO has been saying that for over a year….
Which is why Guernsey has always had loose travel restrictions.
Travel restrictions are thr foundation of a zero covid strategy.
Guernsey has loose restrictions? Not from where my sister and her family are looking.
That's the joke.
I have found it striking. Especially over the last few months how people who have been loudly decrying "zero covid idiots" advocate exactly the same policies as zero coviders.
Sorry about that. Irony often doesn't work well in the written form, especially to people like me with a poor sense of humour!
It's notable that Guernsey, which locked down hard on 'immigration' has had less of a problem than Jersey.
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
It is a massive mistake. 21 June was the exit door. This was our chance.
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
Do we really want to go back to the pre-covid world? It was rubbish in many ways.
Good morning. Not read OP yet, its long, will tackle it later.
Switched on GB News and the studio seems awfully pixellated. Looks like they've got an SD camera instead of an HD one in the studio. Oddly the on the road presenter looks better.
Quite frankly its pretty unwatchable. Why the hell invest in a new TV channel, new studios, new broadcast, and well known names for broadcasting - but not invest in a decent studio and decent cameras?
Past their best just like the reporters, bunch of has beens / would have beens , comic singers and just wrong un's.
..and have you actually watched it ? Thought not. Instant kneejerk reaction of zero value.
I watched about 20 min of it last night out of curiosity. Really poor production quality, and mostly seemed to be the producers smugly interviewing each other, and repeating the same old clichés. There didn't seem to be much actual news.
There will be an audience I suppose. Some people watch any old drivel.
I only watched for ~10 minutes but the bit I saw had a long section where someone from the BMA was speaking, uninterrupted, about why he thought extending lockdown was a good thing. I don't agree whatsoever, but having guests speaking uninterrupted is refreshing.
Just a shame its unwatchable from the awful production standards.
And in that segment the BMA rep said that we should all understand that nowhere in Europe is lifting its restrictions at this time, which to be honest is a fair point
it's not true though - I came in to the office today to carry out exams - no masks indoors anymore and technically no social distancing required but mostly people are keeping to that. Denmark is heading rapidly back to normality - a bit too rapidly in my view as vaccinations are going slowly but in general normal life is resuming here.
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
Do we really want to go back to the pre-covid world? It was rubbish in many ways.
Yes.
If you want to change things you do it through the democratic process not by using a pandemic.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
Earlier on, perhaps during a technical outage in GB News’s service, Big G seems to suggest that those who are furloughed are likely to support ongoing restrictions and thereby somehow to blame for their perpetuation.
Those on furlough tend to be the youngest. They are neither likely to favour ongoing restrictions nor indeed support this government.
Big G seems not to realise that the entire economy has gone to shit and young people’s educations damaged to protect his triple-locked right to listen to Andrew Neil on surround sound.
They're further out from the Bolton epicentre but encouragingly look to have a smaller rise of less duration.
If they continue to 'flatten the curve' then it suggests that the Indian variant will have progressively less effect as it moves through the country and the overall numbers might soon stabilize.
Another thing to watch out for is anyone using the word exponential or predicting hospitalisations will be anything above 20% of January to justify further restrictions.
Either are clear signs that bollox is being pedalled.
100,000 cases a day someone was spouting off about on Twitter.
If you think that one twitter-spouter is significant, then that may explain a lot
Mate, it’s not what I think that matters. This was a member of SAGE given a platform on the news.
These people, like other fringe crackpots like Gurdasani and Michie, are given regular publicity by the news and are influential in helping shape opinion.
So hardly a twitter-spouter !
Agree on the news.
I'm astonished that we have the likes of Mr Brown and Oxfam all over the Today demanding that XYZ be done wrt production (and ip confiscation for the latter), when we have known for some time now that production will be up so as to make their demands obsolete. Worldwide, it doubled in May alone.
Mr. Taz, they're committing wrongthink. That's doubleplusungood.
Just dropped in to have a look. John Barnes was being interviewed about BLM. All seemed quite amiable. Production values are not great. I wonder if the outraged twitter mob will call for his head on a plate.
From the way people go on you’d think Milo Yianoppolous and Tommy Robinson were presenters.
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
Do we really want to go back to the pre-covid world? It was rubbish in many ways.
Yes.
If you want to change things you do it through the democratic process not by using a pandemic.
Economics plays its part. My firm has found not dragging people into an office has been good for productivity. No need to anaesthetise yourself to the miseries of commuting and office life with overpriced caffeine and alcohol. Why go back? Not sure we need a vote for that.
Maybe they are listening. Edward Argar saying exactly that. Zero Covid is not possible and we have to live with it,
The Guernsey CMO has been saying that for over a year….
Which is why Guernsey has always had loose travel restrictions.
Travel restrictions are thr foundation of a zero covid strategy.
Guernsey has loose restrictions? Not from where my sister and her family are looking.
That's the joke.
I have found it striking. Especially over the last few months how people who have been loudly decrying "zero covid idiots" advocate exactly the same policies as zero coviders.
It's notable that Guernsey, which locked down hard on 'immigration' has had less of a problem than Jersey.
There are currently 30 known active cases of coronavirus in Jersey an 2 in Guernsey.
The Guernsey ones were both detected via arrival screening, the Jersey ones mainly arrival screening but also some community seeding.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
That's the problem. 🤦♂️
Nice and quiet for you ≠ enough money going into the till for the landlord or landlady that desperately needs the cash. 🙄
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
I have a great amount of sympathy and concern for you and your family and am pleased you feel you can let go on here your understandable emotions, and indeed anger, at all the let downs
However, my anger is also directed at the scientists, independent sage, and the media who have collectively scared the country into submission, and do not forget Sturgeon in Scotland and Drakeford in Wales are absolute disciples of the zero covid obsession, indeed Drakeford saying he expects restrictions to last into 2022
I can only hope that Boris does say 'enough is enough' and this four week delay will be the last
We need all these extremist scientists to be put back in their box and the key thrown away
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
Do we really want to go back to the pre-covid world? It was rubbish in many ways.
Yes.
If you want to change things you do it through the democratic process not by using a pandemic.
Economics plays its part. My firm has found not dragging people into an office has been good for productivity. No need to anaesthetise yourself to the miseries of commuting and office life with overpriced caffeine and alcohol. Why go back? Not sure we need a vote for that.
If that's the case they your firm, with the agreement of its employees, will amend your working arrangements going forward regardless of what the government advise. That's fine.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
But, it’s not lovely for people like Cyclefree’s daughter, who have to operate at a loss because the government lost its nerve.
I think Jonathan’s comments above show exactly who is supporting ongoing restrictions.
It is not, actually, those on furlough or the youngest.
It is people for whom the current set-up works very well thank-you, forgetting that the whole affair is being bank-rolled by HM Treasury aka your children’s taxes.
They're further out from the Bolton epicentre but encouragingly look to have a smaller rise of less duration.
If they continue to 'flatten the curve' then it suggests that the Indian variant will have progressively less effect as it moves through the country and the overall numbers might soon stabilize.
Another thing to watch out for is anyone using the word exponential or predicting hospitalisations will be anything above 20% of January to justify further restrictions.
Either are clear signs that bollox is being pedalled.
100,000 cases a day someone was spouting off about on Twitter.
If you think that one twitter-spouter is significant, then that may explain a lot
Mate, it’s not what I think that matters. This was a member of SAGE given a platform on the news.
These people, like other fringe crackpots like Gurdasani and Michie, are given regular publicity by the news and are influential in helping shape opinion.
So hardly a twitter-spouter !
Agree on the news.
I'm astonished that we have the likes of Mr Brown and Oxfam all over the Today demanding that XYZ be done wrt production (and ip confiscation for the latter), when we have known for some time now that production will be up so as to make their demands obsolete. Worldwide, it doubled in May alone.
(blockquote may have bolloxed)
He was on twitter, he regularly spouts on Twitter.
The WHO have been demanding 11 billion doses for the developing world.
Gordon Brown seems to be being treated as a revered and wise elder statesman. People forget his time in office and Oxfam really don’t add to anything.
It strikes me whatever is suggested or offered it would not be enough for these people.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
I have a great amount of sympathy and concern for you and your family and am pleased you feel you can let go on here your understandable emotions, and indeed anger, at all the let downs
However, my anger is also directed at the scientists, independent sage, and the media who have collectively scared the country into submission, and do not forget Sturgeon in Scotland and Drakeford in Wales are absolute disciples of the zero covid obsession, indeed Drakeford saying he expects restrictions to last into 2022
I can only hope that Boris does say 'enough is enough' and this four week delay will be the last
We need all these extremist scientists to be put back in their box and the key thrown away
It’s always the “extremist scientists” and never the actual people who make the decisions, innit?
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
Yes, it is great. You also don’t have the dickhead inbred locals sitting at the bar leaving only a tiny space to place an order.
It isn’t sustainable though. Pubs cannot survive as it is.
Go news seems to be trying to be shit this morning. Sound quality all over the place, notably on anyone out of the studio, or via video link.
Maybe the terrible production values on Gammon Boomer News are a deliberate feature, harking back to the TV experience of the target audience's younger days? Perhaps they should just film it in black and white with a Pathe News style voice-over and be done with it.
The "sitting room" of a typical GBN viewer...
I don't agree. You need to add a flag and a portrait of HM, or at least a mug with her picture on it.
The chocolates on the coffee table look a bit forrin. The box of man-size tissues suggests that GB News may not be the only obscure TV channel on offer. I assume the fruit are plastic?
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
But, it’s not lovely for people like Cyclefree’s daughter, who have to operate at a loss because the government lost its nerve.
A pub not far from here has been running very well, and, according to the manager, was starting to recover financially. Now a senior member of staff, with whom all the staff come into contact has tested positive and it's had to close completely for ten days.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
Preach, Sister.
There is so much bad in the country, and the root cause is an act of nature (not the government's fault) that has largely been botched (very definitely their responsibility).
And this is what happens when the people in.power have oodles of confidence, minimal competence and zero empathy.
And the worst of it isn't even that Johnson remains popular. It's the chortling and gloating that follows in its wake. The "it's funny watching lefties get frustrated" stuff.
This isn't a game, but some people follow their leader in treating it as one.
And maybe in all of this why has labour gone absent
They're further out from the Bolton epicentre but encouragingly look to have a smaller rise of less duration.
If they continue to 'flatten the curve' then it suggests that the Indian variant will have progressively less effect as it moves through the country and the overall numbers might soon stabilize.
Another thing to watch out for is anyone using the word exponential or predicting hospitalisations will be anything above 20% of January to justify further restrictions.
Either are clear signs that bollox is being pedalled.
100,000 cases a day someone was spouting off about on Twitter.
Which illustrates the innumerate bollox we're dealing with.
The highest UK reported cases in a day was 68,053 on 08/01 and no district has reached their own peak day yet.
I think Jonathan’s comments above show exactly who is supporting ongoing restrictions.
It is not, actually, those on furlough or the youngest.
It is people for whom the current set-up works very well thank-you, forgetting that the whole affair is being bank-rolled by HM Treasury aka your children’s taxes.
I am illustrating that the politics of the so called freedom day are not so straightforward. There is quite a lot of freedom to be lost from a return to ‘normal’.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
Yes, it is great. You also don’t have the dickhead inbred locals sitting at the bar leaving only a tiny space to place an order.
It isn’t sustainable though. Pubs cannot survive as it is.
"Dickhead inbred locals" = the pub's best customers.
Good morning. Not read OP yet, its long, will tackle it later.
Switched on GB News and the studio seems awfully pixellated. Looks like they've got an SD camera instead of an HD one in the studio. Oddly the on the road presenter looks better.
Quite frankly its pretty unwatchable. Why the hell invest in a new TV channel, new studios, new broadcast, and well known names for broadcasting - but not invest in a decent studio and decent cameras?
Past their best just like the reporters, bunch of has beens / would have beens , comic singers and just wrong un's.
..and have you actually watched it ? Thought not. Instant kneejerk reaction of zero value.
I watched about 20 min of it last night out of curiosity. Really poor production quality, and mostly seemed to be the producers smugly interviewing each other, and repeating the same old clichés. There didn't seem to be much actual news.
There will be an audience I suppose. Some people watch any old drivel.
I only watched for ~10 minutes but the bit I saw had a long section where someone from the BMA was speaking, uninterrupted, about why he thought extending lockdown was a good thing. I don't agree whatsoever, but having guests speaking uninterrupted is refreshing.
Just a shame its unwatchable from the awful production standards.
And in that segment the BMA rep said that we should all understand that nowhere in Europe is lifting its restrictions at this time, which to be honest is a fair point
it's not true though - I came in to the office today to carry out exams - no masks indoors anymore and technically no social distancing required but mostly people are keeping to that. Denmark is heading rapidly back to normality - a bit too rapidly in my view as vaccinations are going slowly but in general normal life is resuming here.
Denmark has tested almost 11 times per person according to worldometers, more than anywhere else in the world.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
In a win, win situation we were in Windermere last night dropping off the twins who start work there (for the summer) at a hotel now partly owned by a university friend - as he simply cannot find any staff (hopefully the twins will solve the lack of staff issue for the short term) and you can only do 70+ hour weeks for so long.
Two things worth noting..
1) there are a lot of job adverts - a lot of hotels were advertising vacancies on their main boards. Likewise most restaurants on the front door.
2) I don't remember ever seeing it so busy at 10pm on a Sunday night...
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
It is a massive mistake. 21 June was the exit door. This was our chance.
I think it will be lockdown til spring now. If its another 4 weeks, lets at least make it the default that after 4 weeks we open up unless things get exceptionally worse. Because if its another shall we/shant we then there will always be some risks ahead and mitigating actions that will lead to a near perpetual cycle of delays.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
But, it’s not lovely for people like Cyclefree’s daughter, who have to operate at a loss because the government lost its nerve.
I am not sure an inferior customer experience equates to longterm profit.
Its a great piece Cyclefree. The key takeaway of course is that when harsh reality is spoken about the godawful job done by this government, the people saying so then show their displeasure by voting Tory.
Which is why the government will continue to be a clown car full of liars doing stupid. You always get the correct result in elections and this is what people (in England) voted for.
In the words of angry Brexiteers, suck it up.
I oppose the fact that the government is locking down too hard.
But the opposition is complaining that they're not locking down hard enough and the Opposition Parties are demanding harder not lighter lockdowns.
So who exactly should we vote for in your eyes?
Not that there's any more elections any time soon.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
Preach, Sister.
There is so much bad in the country, and the root cause is an act of nature (not the government's fault) that has largely been botched (very definitely their responsibility).
And this is what happens when the people in.power have oodles of confidence, minimal competence and zero empathy.
And the worst of it isn't even that Johnson remains popular. It's the chortling and gloating that follows in its wake. The "it's funny watching lefties get frustrated" stuff.
This isn't a game, but some people follow their leader in treating it as one.
And maybe in all of this why has labour gone absent
That BigG list of Covid culprits in full.
1. Crazy scientists 2. Young people 3. The Labour Party.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
But, it’s not lovely for people like Cyclefree’s daughter, who have to operate at a loss because the government lost its nerve.
I am not sure an inferior customer experience equates to longterm profit.
I am not sure an absence of volume of customers equates to longterm profit either.
So they're operating at higher cost with higher staffing numbers required to serve fewer customers and you don't see the issue?
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
But, it’s not lovely for people like Cyclefree’s daughter, who have to operate at a loss because the government lost its nerve.
I am not sure an inferior customer experience equates to longterm profit.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
I have a great amount of sympathy and concern for you and your family and am pleased you feel you can let go on here your understandable emotions, and indeed anger, at all the let downs
However, my anger is also directed at the scientists, independent sage, and the media who have collectively scared the country into submission, and do not forget Sturgeon in Scotland and Drakeford in Wales are absolute disciples of the zero covid obsession, indeed Drakeford saying he expects restrictions to last into 2022
I can only hope that Boris does say 'enough is enough' and this four week delay will be the last
We need all these extremist scientists to be put back in their box and the key thrown away
I have no faith now that Johnson will say 'enough' in a month or so. As he said the other day 'we will do anything it takes to save lives from covid'. No sense of proportion. No balance with other interests. Forget mental health. Forget cancer waiting lists. Just covid, covid, covid.
Sunak must put more pressure on him over the economy. We can't keep doing this.
As @Cyclefree says people running businesses are near killing themselves trying to keep going through this mess.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
If the medical crisis really is all that (and is it?) and we need to delay then Dishy needs to put his tiny hands in his pockets and bail out the likes of Cyclefree Jr and say NOW they are doing so.
What is truly breathtaking is that they are kneecapping various sectors - again - and leaving them with no financial support - again. Yes they may have an 11th hour change of heart, but its too late by then. Much too late. Do businesses unable to cover their costs or pay their suppliers or need yet more leeway by the banks say "we don't have the £ now but don't worry the government will bail us out at the last minute".
You can't pay your bills with jam tomorrow. That they haven't fucking learned this yet after repeated examples demonstrates that they truly are clowns. But they get away with it because people like your good self list your lengthy attacks on the government then signal your displeasure by voting for them. Its no wonder they don't learn.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
Preach, Sister.
There is so much bad in the country, and the root cause is an act of nature (not the government's fault) that has largely been botched (very definitely their responsibility).
And this is what happens when the people in.power have oodles of confidence, minimal competence and zero empathy.
And the worst of it isn't even that Johnson remains popular. It's the chortling and gloating that follows in its wake. The "it's funny watching lefties get frustrated" stuff.
This isn't a game, but some people follow their leader in treating it as one.
And maybe in all of this why has labour gone absent
I have only a very hazy memory of wartime...... I was 7 just before VE Day ...... but IIRC the headline's in our daily paper were always about the war or about Churchill. However, shortly afterwards I recall my mother telling her sister, who lived with us, that my father, who was still serving abroad, wanted her to vote Labour. And she was doubtful about it. And a month or two later Churchill was out and Labour was in.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
But, it’s not lovely for people like Cyclefree’s daughter, who have to operate at a loss because the government lost its nerve.
I am not sure an inferior customer experience equates to longterm profit.
At the moment, you’re getting a champagne service at beer prices. I too enjoy a drink or a meal in a quiet pub, but that’s not sustainable for the owners.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
I have a great amount of sympathy and concern for you and your family and am pleased you feel you can let go on here your understandable emotions, and indeed anger, at all the let downs
However, my anger is also directed at the scientists, independent sage, and the media who have collectively scared the country into submission, and do not forget Sturgeon in Scotland and Drakeford in Wales are absolute disciples of the zero covid obsession, indeed Drakeford saying he expects restrictions to last into 2022
I can only hope that Boris does say 'enough is enough' and this four week delay will be the last
We need all these extremist scientists to be put back in their box and the key thrown away
It’s always the “extremist scientists” and never the actual people who make the decisions, innit?
Are you saying any politician of any political leaning would overrule the scientists advice and act without their backing
Certainly Sturgeon and Drakeford will not, and indeed they follow the scientists with slavish devotion
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
But, it’s not lovely for people like Cyclefree’s daughter, who have to operate at a loss because the government lost its nerve.
I am not sure an inferior customer experience equates to longterm profit.
At the moment, you’re getting a champagne service at beer prices. I too enjoy a drink or a meal in a quiet pub, but that’s not sustainable for the owners.
Sounds like a business opportunity for whoever cracks it.
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
It is a massive mistake. 21 June was the exit door. This was our chance.
I think it will be lockdown til spring now. If its another 4 weeks, lets at least make it the default that after 4 weeks we open up unless things get exceptionally worse. Because if its another shall we/shant we then there will always be some risks ahead and mitigating actions that will lead to a near perpetual cycle of delays.
The problem is that the public - bolstered by free money and data gullibility and irrational fear - support restrictions. 53% v 37% according to the weekend YouGov survey. With these findings delay will always be the easiest decision for the government to make.
I think Jonathan’s comments above show exactly who is supporting ongoing restrictions.
It is not, actually, those on furlough or the youngest.
It is people for whom the current set-up works very well thank-you, forgetting that the whole affair is being bank-rolled by HM Treasury aka your children’s taxes.
I haven't opined on this because I genuinely don't know. There are very difficult trade-offs involved, a lot of uncertainty and a lot at stake, and I think we should try to trust the people making the decisions and do what we are told so that whatever strategy is chosen is as effective as possible. I think in general the government has struck the right balance in lifting restrictions, but has tended to be too slow, sometimes criminally so, in putting restrictions in place.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
If the medical crisis really is all that (and is it?) and we need to delay then Dishy needs to put his tiny hands in his pockets and bail out the likes of Cyclefree Jr and say NOW they are doing so.
What is truly breathtaking is that they are kneecapping various sectors - again - and leaving them with no financial support - again. Yes they may have an 11th hour change of heart, but its too late by then. Much too late. Do businesses unable to cover their costs or pay their suppliers or need yet more leeway by the banks say "we don't have the £ now but don't worry the government will bail us out at the last minute".
You can't pay your bills with jam tomorrow. That they haven't fucking learned this yet after repeated examples demonstrates that they truly are clowns.
No amount of government support is ever going to replace what is lost here.
A packed pub in the summer with the Euros could potentially be generating say double its normal trade. If instead due to table service etc they're maybe going to generate its normal trade. What's lost is the opportunity for profits there, with a seasonal business making profits in good times to take the business through the lean times.
Furlough etc aren't especially relevant if the business is trading with staff required for table service etc - what's required is customers not the state.
Deepti Gurdasani @dgurdasani1 Replying to @SunnyL723 Yes. How many people were honestly told by govt that vaccination at these levels were not going to be sufficient to contain a large surge & pressure on the NHS if we opened up? No wonder this seems to come as a surprise, despite warnings from SAGE since Feb that this would happen
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
Do we really want to go back to the pre-covid world? It was rubbish in many ways.
Hell no, both people and business have woken up to the nonsense that was paying £dollar for city offices and £dollar to transport your workforce in to do a job they could do anywhere. The internet age had broken the back of bricks and mortar retail and had connected the world in previously unimaginable ways but hadn't smashed the status quo of commuting. It has now.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
Preach, Sister.
There is so much bad in the country, and the root cause is an act of nature (not the government's fault) that has largely been botched (very definitely their responsibility).
And this is what happens when the people in.power have oodles of confidence, minimal competence and zero empathy.
And the worst of it isn't even that Johnson remains popular. It's the chortling and gloating that follows in its wake. The "it's funny watching lefties get frustrated" stuff.
This isn't a game, but some people follow their leader in treating it as one.
And maybe in all of this why has labour gone absent
I have only a very hazy memory of wartime...... I was 7 just before VE Day ...... but IIRC the headline's in our daily paper were always about the war or about Churchill. However, shortly afterwards I recall my mother telling her sister, who lived with us, that my father, who was still serving abroad, wanted her to vote Labour. And she was doubtful about it. And a month or two later Churchill was out and Labour was in.
My extremely right-wing grandfather voted Labour in 1945, and regretted it for the rest of his life!
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
It is a massive mistake. 21 June was the exit door. This was our chance.
I think it will be lockdown til spring now. If its another 4 weeks, lets at least make it the default that after 4 weeks we open up unless things get exceptionally worse. Because if its another shall we/shant we then there will always be some risks ahead and mitigating actions that will lead to a near perpetual cycle of delays.
The problem is that the public - bolstered by free money and data gullibility and irrational fear - support restrictions. 53% v 37% according to the weekend YouGov survey. With these findings delay will always be the easiest decision for the government to make.
Yes furlough has been a great success but switching it off is going to be tricky. We really need clear leadership, not a ditherer who wants to please.
Deepti Gurdasani @dgurdasani1 Replying to @SunnyL723 Yes. How many people were honestly told by govt that vaccination at these levels were not going to be sufficient to contain a large surge & pressure on the NHS if we opened up? No wonder this seems to come as a surprise, despite warnings from SAGE since Feb that this would happen
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
Went to the pub on Saturday, it was lovely. Didn’t have to queue at a bar.
Yes, it is great. You also don’t have the dickhead inbred locals sitting at the bar leaving only a tiny space to place an order.
It isn’t sustainable though. Pubs cannot survive as it is.
I know a few old shipmates who have tried their hands at running pubs. All of them have ended up destitute. It seems to be a shit business to be in where financial ruin is the usual outcome in normal times never mind when Johnson is mishandling a pandemic.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
If the medical crisis really is all that (and is it?) and we need to delay then Dishy needs to put his tiny hands in his pockets and bail out the likes of Cyclefree Jr and say NOW they are doing so.
What is truly breathtaking is that they are kneecapping various sectors - again - and leaving them with no financial support - again. Yes they may have an 11th hour change of heart, but its too late by then. Much too late. Do businesses unable to cover their costs or pay their suppliers or need yet more leeway by the banks say "we don't have the £ now but don't worry the government will bail us out at the last minute".
You can't pay your bills with jam tomorrow. That they haven't fucking learned this yet after repeated examples demonstrates that they truly are clowns.
No amount of government support is ever going to replace what is lost here.
A packed pub in the summer with the Euros could potentially be generating say double its normal trade. If instead due to table service etc they're maybe going to generate its normal trade. What's lost is the opportunity for profits there, with a seasonal business making profits in good times to take the business through the lean times.
Furlough etc aren't especially relevant if the business is trading with staff required for table service etc - what's required is customers not the state.
I would describe any business strategy that is banking on a quick return to 2019 behaviours as brave. The clever business will lean into, capture and capitalise on some of the good changes and look to solve some of the new problems that have emerged.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
I have a great amount of sympathy and concern for you and your family and am pleased you feel you can let go on here your understandable emotions, and indeed anger, at all the let downs
However, my anger is also directed at the scientists, independent sage, and the media who have collectively scared the country into submission, and do not forget Sturgeon in Scotland and Drakeford in Wales are absolute disciples of the zero covid obsession, indeed Drakeford saying he expects restrictions to last into 2022
I can only hope that Boris does say 'enough is enough' and this four week delay will be the last
We need all these extremist scientists to be put back in their box and the key thrown away
I have no faith now that Johnson will say 'enough' in a month or so. As he said the other day 'we will do anything it takes to save lives from covid'. No sense of proportion. No balance with other interests. Forget mental health. Forget cancer waiting lists. Just covid, covid, covid.
Sunak must put more pressure on him over the economy. We can't keep doing this.
As @Cyclefree says people running businesses are near killing themselves trying to keep going through this mess.
Grandson 2 (in Kent) has a waiting job in a cafe-bar five minutes from home, which will keep him busy until September, and, hopefully, Uni. The owner says she doesn't know what she's going to do when the students go off to Uni.
Go news seems to be trying to be shit this morning. Sound quality all over the place, notably on anyone out of the studio, or via video link.
Maybe the terrible production values on Gammon Boomer News are a deliberate feature, harking back to the TV experience of the target audience's younger days? Perhaps they should just film it in black and white with a Pathe News style voice-over and be done with it.
I think the people of this country have had enough of expert producers, directors, cameramen and sound engineers.
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
Preach, Sister.
There is so much bad in the country, and the root cause is an act of nature (not the government's fault) that has largely been botched (very definitely their responsibility).
And this is what happens when the people in.power have oodles of confidence, minimal competence and zero empathy.
And the worst of it isn't even that Johnson remains popular. It's the chortling and gloating that follows in its wake. The "it's funny watching lefties get frustrated" stuff.
This isn't a game, but some people follow their leader in treating it as one.
And maybe in all of this why has labour gone absent
That BigG list of Covid culprits in full.
1. Crazy scientists 2. Young people 3. The Labour Party.
I have never blamed the young people of this country and nor would I, especially with my granddaughter starting University in September
And I have criticised the government and accepted they have made mistakes
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
Preach, Sister.
There is so much bad in the country, and the root cause is an act of nature (not the government's fault) that has largely been botched (very definitely their responsibility).
And this is what happens when the people in.power have oodles of confidence, minimal competence and zero empathy.
And the worst of it isn't even that Johnson remains popular. It's the chortling and gloating that follows in its wake. The "it's funny watching lefties get frustrated" stuff.
This isn't a game, but some people follow their leader in treating it as one.
And maybe in all of this why has labour gone absent
I have only a very hazy memory of wartime...... I was 7 just before VE Day ...... but IIRC the headline's in our daily paper were always about the war or about Churchill. However, shortly afterwards I recall my mother telling her sister, who lived with us, that my father, who was still serving abroad, wanted her to vote Labour. And she was doubtful about it. And a month or two later Churchill was out and Labour was in.
My extremely right-wing grandfather voted Labour in 1945, and regretted it for the rest of his life!
IIRC the early pollsters did some surveys and found that many people who'd voted Labour had thought they would get a National Government with Churchill leading, but wanted a bigger share of the... political muscle???? for Labour.
Excellent header from Cyclefree. Apart from vaccines the government has made rather a mess of things.
On Zero Covid, though, such a policy would indeed be nuts, but I don't see much evidence that it is the policy. What we have is a 4 week delay to removing the last of the legal restrictions. The rationale is twofold -
(i) To reduce the size of the 3rd wave and its impact on health and hospitals. (ii) To allow the extra time needed to create more certainty in the projected link between cases and serious illness for a vaccinated population.
I personally think it's over cautious and 21st June should have gone ahead. I also think the polling support for a delay is a big factor. If a delay were unpopular the decision of this populist PM would probably have been different.
Still, taken on its own terms, the decision is hardly outrageous, and I remain of the view that it's irrational to think we are sliding into a state of 'permalock' over Covid rather than - albeit belatedly - approaching the point where we treat it like the flu.
But if 19th July is also not honoured I will decamp from the Rationals and join the Paranoics.
Still not sure what freedoms Freedom day offers beyond the ‘freedom’ to resume a long commute, to take off a mask I’m not remotely bothered about wearing or to be crammed closer to some dudes sweaty pits.
How about a simple example: Pubs.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
If the medical crisis really is all that (and is it?) and we need to delay then Dishy needs to put his tiny hands in his pockets and bail out the likes of Cyclefree Jr and say NOW they are doing so.
What is truly breathtaking is that they are kneecapping various sectors - again - and leaving them with no financial support - again. Yes they may have an 11th hour change of heart, but its too late by then. Much too late. Do businesses unable to cover their costs or pay their suppliers or need yet more leeway by the banks say "we don't have the £ now but don't worry the government will bail us out at the last minute".
You can't pay your bills with jam tomorrow. That they haven't fucking learned this yet after repeated examples demonstrates that they truly are clowns.
No amount of government support is ever going to replace what is lost here.
A packed pub in the summer with the Euros could potentially be generating say double its normal trade. If instead due to table service etc they're maybe going to generate its normal trade. What's lost is the opportunity for profits there, with a seasonal business making profits in good times to take the business through the lean times.
Furlough etc aren't especially relevant if the business is trading with staff required for table service etc - what's required is customers not the state.
I hear you - it isn't the same thing at all. Its a sticking plaster at best. But its one that is absolutely required now whilst there is a lack of punters. As I have flagged up on and off for a year, hospitality and entertainment are screwed. So its a question of whether or not we want to have these sectors able to resume as and when or not.
Already in entertainment there is a significant shortage of staff and equipment for the few big events that are trying to be put on. A shortage of staff is now a big problem for the reopening hospitality sector as it already is in the haulage industry. People can't sit on their bums earning nothing and then be available at the drop of a hat when the government decides its safe. People need to be hired and trained assuming people still want these jobs.
I think GB News have focussed on the presenters, editors, shows and angles to take but perhaps glossed over the "backroom staff" that are crucial to getting a slick professional news operation up and running. The ratio is probably 3:1 or 4:1 or more and you must have them.
Say what you like about Sky, BBC and ITV but they get the technical stuff right and we usually take it for granted.
Excellent header from Cyclefree. Apart from vaccines the government has made rather a mess of things.
On Zero Covid, though, such a policy would indeed be nuts, but I don't see much evidence that it is the policy. What we have is a 4 week delay to removing the last of the legal restrictions. The rationale is twofold -
(i) To reduce the size of the 3rd wave and its impact on health and hospitals. (ii) To allow the extra time needed to create more certainty in the projected link between cases and serious illness for a vaccinated population.
I personally think it's over cautious and 21st June should have gone ahead. I also think the polling support for a delay is a big factor. If a delay were unpopular the decision of this populist PM would probably have been different.
Still, taken on its own terms, the decision is hardly outrageous, and I remain of the view that it's irrational to think we are sliding into a state of 'permalock' over Covid rather than - albeit belatedly - approaching the point where we treat it like the flu.
But if 19th July is also not honoured I will decamp from the Rationals and join the Paranoics.
What third wave? Don't buy into this. See NHS Dashboard.
They're further out from the Bolton epicentre but encouragingly look to have a smaller rise of less duration.
If they continue to 'flatten the curve' then it suggests that the Indian variant will have progressively less effect as it moves through the country and the overall numbers might soon stabilize.
Another thing to watch out for is anyone using the word exponential or predicting hospitalisations will be anything above 20% of January to justify further restrictions.
Either are clear signs that bollox is being pedalled.
100,000 cases a day someone was spouting off about on Twitter.
Which illustrates the innumerate bollox we're dealing with.
The highest UK reported cases in a day was 68,053 on 08/01 and no district has reached their own peak day yet.
Angus has beaten it's single day Winter peak.
So it reached 57 on 02/06 and fell to 31 on 09/06. The previous peak was 56 on 04/01.
Doesn't suggest that Arbroath, Brechin and Forfar are doomed does it.
Meanwhile Glasgow's peak has been 177 compared to 488, Edinburgh's is 180 compared to 275, Fife is 51 compared to 158, North Lanarkshire is 66 compared to 267, South Lanarkshire is 63 compared to 248.
I was under the impression that there were quite a lot of people in B&S with links to the Indian sub continent. Perhaps this is a sign of Galloway-esque low cunning?
And on topic I would say good header (it is of course) were it not for the fact that small children in Batley could have written the same, so obvious was it that there would be this delay.
We now wait to see how loud the murmurings about the forthcoming autumn/winter spike will be to see if the new date will be pushed back further.
A child in Batley could well have written this. I did because I am so fucking depressed and angry about the mess - not for me but for my children who have been - and are being - royally fucked over by this government: catching the disease because the government didn't get a grip last autumn, losing their jobs (ditto) and now losing their business. I'm well aware that others have suffered too - in multiple different ways: losing loved ones (we've had that too) so I'm not claiming anything special about my family. Just describing one human perspective to go with all the statistics.
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
Preach, Sister.
There is so much bad in the country, and the root cause is an act of nature (not the government's fault) that has largely been botched (very definitely their responsibility).
And this is what happens when the people in.power have oodles of confidence, minimal competence and zero empathy.
And the worst of it isn't even that Johnson remains popular. It's the chortling and gloating that follows in its wake. The "it's funny watching lefties get frustrated" stuff.
This isn't a game, but some people follow their leader in treating it as one.
And maybe in all of this why has labour gone absent
I have only a very hazy memory of wartime...... I was 7 just before VE Day ...... but IIRC the headline's in our daily paper were always about the war or about Churchill. However, shortly afterwards I recall my mother telling her sister, who lived with us, that my father, who was still serving abroad, wanted her to vote Labour. And she was doubtful about it. And a month or two later Churchill was out and Labour was in.
My extremely right-wing grandfather voted Labour in 1945, and regretted it for the rest of his life!
IIRC the early pollsters did some surveys and found that many people who'd voted Labour had thought they would get a National Government with Churchill leading, but wanted a bigger share of the... political muscle???? for Labour.
Maybe that was his logic, I never really had a political conversation with him, there were some topics best left alone... I think like a lot of ambitious working class people he wanted a more classless kind of society after the war, but after that happened, allowing him to move up the social and economic scale, he mainly wanted the government to keep its hands off his money. Also he liked things like hanging and was a bit of a racist so the modern Labour party wasn't really up his street.
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
Do we really want to go back to the pre-covid world? It was rubbish in many ways.
Hell no, both people and business have woken up to the nonsense that was paying £dollar for city offices and £dollar to transport your workforce in to do a job they could do anywhere. The internet age had broken the back of bricks and mortar retail and had connected the world in previously unimaginable ways but hadn't smashed the status quo of commuting. It has now.
Yes, COVID has accelerated a number of things.
The next set of issues, which we will see shortly, regarding WFH -
1) Companies start trying to cut wages. "You can live in Northumberland, we aren't going to pay London money" 2) Office equipment - BYOD with a vengeance. Some companies will be making you pay for the office. 3) Legal compliance and data security issue. The 20 something working for your bank, living in a house with 6 other people, looking at 4) As part of 2) a gap develops - the home office capable vs the poorer people living in a shoe box.
Even where I work (high quality job, lots of support from the company) it was interesting to see how non-technical people had to adapt. Many people didn't have a computer at home - they have phones, and tablets. My employer shipped desks, computers, chairs etc to them, for free. How many others will do stuff like that in the future?
Comments
Without the repeated and widespread seedings of Delta, we'd be 4-7 weeks further back in the spread.
Which would mean there would not have been any talk of delaying June 21st (we'd be looking at completing the vax programme before it could spike even without extra urgency)
I need it on a device from which I can gain access.
The highest UK reported cases in a day was 68,053 on 08/01 and no district has reached their own peak day yet.
L!I've TV only improved by getting rid of Janet Street Porter and bringing in Norwegian weather forecasts, among other things. (When I say improved, I'm lying).
How long before we get GB News Bunny?
(If you haven't read Live TV!: Telly Brats and Topless Darts - The Uncut Story of Tabloid TV, it's very very funny.)
Daughter has been working so hard. She increased turnover in her business by 63% in the first year. It was profitable and set fair to do even better. She has worked her socks off to keep it going since March 2020. This morning she was up at 7 to go and change some lines for some new beer ordered in. She now faces the prospect of losing two big bookings this next month and some more band bookings the following month. The support from the government is being cut off in 16 days time, despite still being forced to operate at less than 50% capacity. She (and I) have zero confidence that in 4 weeks time restrictions will be lifted. This limbo will just go on and on.
Her words to me as she left: "What is the point of carrying on?"
She is 26. Her chef is 30.
What the government is doing to the young (and not just them) is wicked.
I write on here out of frustration and fury because what I really want to do is beat the heads of Boris and Gove and the other fuckwits in government against a wall until their teeth fall out and some sense is beaten into them. So criticise me. I don't care.
What there is is effective border control - which is rigorously policed - after the first dozen or so of £10,000 fines and deportations after prison for the "can't pays" the message is clearly understood. As the vaccination rates have increased and testing capacity has grown it has evolved. But everyone entering the Bailiwick is tracked, tested on arrival, and depending on where they've been have to self isolate (and they check) until either the arrival, day 7 or day 14 test comes back negative. And if you don't want to take a test you can self-isolate for 21 days. Its a bit of a pain if you want to travel, but great for the majority who don't.
That is the answer to @NickPalmer's point to me about communications. The speech I wrote is what a leader would have said. IMO. One who was concerned about doing the best for the country and not (a) himself first and (b) his party - second.
I have found it striking. Especially over the last few months how people who have been loudly decrying "zero covid idiots" advocate exactly the same policies as zero coviders.
These people, like other fringe crackpots like Gurdasani and Michie, are given regular publicity by the news and are influential in helping shape opinion.
There is so much bad in the country, and the root cause is an act of nature (not the government's fault) that has largely been botched (very definitely their responsibility).
And this is what happens when the people in.power have oodles of confidence, minimal competence and zero empathy.
And the worst of it isn't even that Johnson remains popular. It's the chortling and gloating that follows in its wake. The "it's funny watching lefties get frustrated" stuff.
This isn't a game, but some people follow their leader in treating it as one.
If the government had slowed the spread of delta by putting India on the red list earlier (and hotel quarantine for any residual arrivals of any nationality), then vaccines may well still have won the race. The government failed to do this, screwing the roadmap.
Lockdown happened sometime in December (depending how you slice it wrt the Christmas opening then closing).
Deaths (a late indicator of a wave after cases and hospital admissions) peaked around Jan 23, then declined quickly.
At the peak only a tiny of the population had active vaccinations - something like 3-4% had a single jab that was 2 weeks old.
So - yes - I'd say it was lockdown that probably had more impact early.
Quite when that reached 50:50, or relative % of lives saved - no idea.
Do you have a ref for that comment - if that was what PHE said then the Govt could not really g against it.
The economy badly needs to build momentum/confidence to prepare for summer and bring back furloughed staff (still about 15% of employees, I think).
Many businesses are just holding on by the skin of their teeth. Many have given up already.
There is also a moral argument to be made about whether it is appropriate to maintain ongoing restrictions on our civil liberties for a moment longer than necessary.
Unlock, unlock, unlock.
Yet, according to YouGov, the good old lumpen masses support the government and it's decision to delay.
So the lumpen wins.
The hospitality industry have had an absolutely rotten time for the past 18 months. Right now with the summer and the Euros should be one of the most profitable times of the year, which would help them recover. Instead its table service only.
If England make the Semi Finals or the Finals then it should be packed pubs with the staff serving as quickly as they can at the bar. Great atmosphere for the fans, great business for an industry that desperately, desperately needs the cash in the tills.
Instead its a case of lets postpone so that people who have refused the vaccine are less exposed - since almost all hospitalisations are coming from people who refused the vaccine. Pathetic.
https://twitter.com/patrickkmaguire/status/1404342131410587650
https://twitter.com/BethRigby/status/1404344336553283586?s=20
It's notable that Guernsey, which locked down hard on 'immigration' has had less of a problem than Jersey.
If you want to change things you do it through the democratic process not by using a pandemic.
Those on furlough tend to be the youngest.
They are neither likely to favour ongoing restrictions nor indeed support this government.
Big G seems not to realise that the entire economy has gone to shit and young people’s educations damaged to protect his triple-locked right to listen to Andrew Neil on surround sound.
Agree on the news.
I'm astonished that we have the likes of Mr Brown and Oxfam all over the Today demanding that XYZ be done wrt production (and ip confiscation for the latter), when we have known for some time now that production will be up so as to make their demands obsolete. Worldwide, it doubled in May alone.
(blockquote may have bolloxed)
From the way people go on you’d think Milo Yianoppolous and Tommy Robinson were presenters.
The Guernsey ones were both detected via arrival screening, the Jersey ones mainly arrival screening but also some community seeding.
https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2020-03-12/live-updates-number-of-coronavirus-cases-in-the-channel-islands
Over the Pandemic:
Number of cases:
Jersey: 3,274
Guernsey: 825
Deaths
Jersey: 69
Guernsey: 17
Nice and quiet for you ≠ enough money going into the till for the landlord or landlady that desperately needs the cash. 🙄
However, my anger is also directed at the scientists, independent sage, and the media who have collectively scared the country into submission, and do not forget Sturgeon in Scotland and Drakeford in Wales are absolute disciples of the zero covid obsession, indeed Drakeford saying he expects restrictions to last into 2022
I can only hope that Boris does say 'enough is enough' and this four week delay will be the last
We need all these extremist scientists to be put back in their box and the key thrown away
It is not, actually, those on furlough or the youngest.
It is people for whom the current set-up works very well thank-you, forgetting that the whole affair is being bank-rolled by HM Treasury aka your children’s taxes.
The WHO have been demanding 11 billion doses for the developing world.
Gordon Brown seems to be being treated as a revered and wise elder statesman. People forget his time in office and Oxfam really don’t add to anything.
It strikes me whatever is suggested or offered it would not be enough for these people.
It isn’t sustainable though. Pubs cannot survive as it is.
Now a senior member of staff, with whom all the staff come into contact has tested positive and it's had to close completely for ten days.
Two things worth noting..
1) there are a lot of job adverts - a lot of hotels were advertising vacancies on their main boards. Likewise most restaurants on the front door.
2) I don't remember ever seeing it so busy at 10pm on a Sunday night...
But the opposition is complaining that they're not locking down hard enough and the Opposition Parties are demanding harder not lighter lockdowns.
So who exactly should we vote for in your eyes?
Not that there's any more elections any time soon.
1. Crazy scientists
2. Young people
3. The Labour Party.
So they're operating at higher cost with higher staffing numbers required to serve fewer customers and you don't see the issue?
Sunak must put more pressure on him over the economy. We can't keep doing this.
As @Cyclefree says people running businesses are near killing themselves trying to keep going through this mess.
What is truly breathtaking is that they are kneecapping various sectors - again - and leaving them with no financial support - again. Yes they may have an 11th hour change of heart, but its too late by then. Much too late. Do businesses unable to cover their costs or pay their suppliers or need yet more leeway by the banks say "we don't have the £ now but don't worry the government will bail us out at the last minute".
You can't pay your bills with jam tomorrow. That they haven't fucking learned this yet after repeated examples demonstrates that they truly are clowns. But they get away with it because people like your good self list your lengthy attacks on the government then signal your displeasure by voting for them. Its no wonder they don't learn.
However, shortly afterwards I recall my mother telling her sister, who lived with us, that my father, who was still serving abroad, wanted her to vote Labour. And she was doubtful about it.
And a month or two later Churchill was out and Labour was in.
Certainly Sturgeon and Drakeford will not, and indeed they follow the scientists with slavish devotion
Please put Sir John Bell on every hour or two to inject some balance and sense into the science.
yours,
Terrified Public.
A packed pub in the summer with the Euros could potentially be generating say double its normal trade. If instead due to table service etc they're maybe going to generate its normal trade. What's lost is the opportunity for profits there, with a seasonal business making profits in good times to take the business through the lean times.
Furlough etc aren't especially relevant if the business is trading with staff required for table service etc - what's required is customers not the state.
@dgurdasani1
Replying to
@SunnyL723
Yes. How many people were honestly told by govt that vaccination at these levels were not going to be sufficient to contain a large surge & pressure on the NHS if we opened up? No wonder this seems to come as a surprise, despite warnings from SAGE since Feb that this would happen
And I have criticised the government and accepted they have made mistakes
This is insane. Lift lockdown now.
On Zero Covid, though, such a policy would indeed be nuts, but I don't see much evidence that it is the policy. What we have is a 4 week delay to removing the last of the legal restrictions. The rationale is twofold -
(i) To reduce the size of the 3rd wave and its impact on health and hospitals. (ii) To allow the extra time needed to create more certainty in the projected link between cases and serious illness for a vaccinated population.
I personally think it's over cautious and 21st June should have gone ahead. I also think the polling support for a delay is a big factor. If a delay were unpopular the decision of this populist PM would probably have been different.
Still, taken on its own terms, the decision is hardly outrageous, and I remain of the view that it's irrational to think we are sliding into a state of 'permalock' over Covid rather than - albeit belatedly - approaching the point where we treat it like the flu.
But if 19th July is also not honoured I will decamp from the Rationals and join the Paranoics.
Already in entertainment there is a significant shortage of staff and equipment for the few big events that are trying to be put on. A shortage of staff is now a big problem for the reopening hospitality sector as it already is in the haulage industry. People can't sit on their bums earning nothing and then be available at the drop of a hat when the government decides its safe. People need to be hired and trained assuming people still want these jobs.
Say what you like about Sky, BBC and ITV but they get the technical stuff right and we usually take it for granted.
But I'm not seeing any opposition worth its salt.
Doesn't suggest that Arbroath, Brechin and Forfar are doomed does it.
Meanwhile Glasgow's peak has been 177 compared to 488, Edinburgh's is 180 compared to 275, Fife is 51 compared to 158, North Lanarkshire is 66 compared to 267, South Lanarkshire is 63 compared to 248.
Do you need any more ?
If the vaccine means there's 100,000 people with a summer cold in a few weeks then so what? That's no reason to keep the lockdown going...
The next set of issues, which we will see shortly, regarding WFH -
1) Companies start trying to cut wages. "You can live in Northumberland, we aren't going to pay London money"
2) Office equipment - BYOD with a vengeance. Some companies will be making you pay for the office.
3) Legal compliance and data security issue. The 20 something working for your bank, living in a house with 6 other people, looking at
4) As part of 2) a gap develops - the home office capable vs the poorer people living in a shoe box.
Even where I work (high quality job, lots of support from the company) it was interesting to see how non-technical people had to adapt. Many people didn't have a computer at home - they have phones, and tablets. My employer shipped desks, computers, chairs etc to them, for free. How many others will do stuff like that in the future?