Now a quarantine exemption plan for toffs – the rest of us will have to suffer – politicalbetting.co

Gardenwalker said:

ping said:

Scott_xP said:

Taking back control-
Lorry driver shortage: UK government and retailers in emergency talks https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/28/lorry-driver-shortage-uk-government-and-retailers-in-emergency-talks-covid-brexit

I don’t agree with @Philip_Thompson and assorted other drawbridge brexiteers on much, but this is one area where they have a point.

The government should not manipulate the market to prevent wage rises. It’s a good thing for the industry to recalibrate to domestic employment, higher wages and slightly higher costs.

Except that the issue has been caused by a supply shock because of
- Covid
- Brexit
- IR35 etc

At least two of those are deliberate govt policy, and one of them is an act of god which we presumably wish to mitigate against.

It might be that simply overseeing a wage spike might have consequences at the grocery tills.

The bit that the minister studiously ignored at the previous meetings (where she accused the industry of "crying wolf") is that it isn't about money. You could offer drivers a stack of cash per hour and someone is still missing out.

There aren't enough drivers. Will take time to train new ones (as apparently truck driving lessons / tests haven't taken place at all during Covid) so we either allow EU drivers back in or stuff won't get shifted around.

Within a few months all this will feed directly into food price inflation (along with the other shortage which is people to work in factories and on farms) which analysts believe will be the biggest spike since 2007. Tesco et al insist they won't be putting up prices so I expect some fun times ahead with price negotiations

TheWhiteRabbit said:

Flatlander said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

ping said:

I’ve come to an uncomfortable conclusion on the euro outright market.

Germany, at ~7/1, are the value bet.

I can’t quite bring myself to back them, though!

I have.

All things being equal the winner of the England v. Germany match gets to the final.

In a two horse race you'd be happy with a 7/1 bet.

All things being equal, Wigan would never have won the FA cup.

Knockout football is weird.

Has anyone done an analysis of whether the favourite team wins more often in league games cf knockout games?

As a Norwich City fan, we always prefer to "concentrate on the league"

As a sometime Norwich resident and someone who watched a number of games at Carrow Road (borrowed season ticket very often available in the Championship, oddly not when in the Prem) I recognise that sentiment. My boys, Swindon, have a laughably bad FA Cup record against non league and lower league teams. Usually make some money from the bookies...

CarlottaVance said:

Manchester travel ban lifted......

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeons-government-lifts-manchester-24421359

The horrible Scottish numbers suggest she was worried we might close the border into Scotland. She had already made the case for us to do it.

The differing regimes in England, Scotland, Wales and NI have been stupidity. One virus, one regime to attack that virus.

Just three hours until we fall behind to another freakish goalkeeping howler.....

Gardenwalker said:

I see Rishi has tweeted “Bring It On” about tonight’s game.

How depressing, these artificial appeals to popularity. I doubt Rishi has ever watched a football game.

He's a huge Southampton fan, he actually does know a fair bit about football.

Gardenwalker said:

I see Rishi has tweeted “Bring It On” about tonight’s game.

How depressing, these artificial appeals to popularity. I doubt Rishi has ever watched a football game.

He supports Southampton FC

rcs1000 said:

Cookie said:

rcs1000 said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

Ummm: I'm in LA County and I haven't seen any reintroduction of a mask mandate. And the LA County Covid page has no mention of it (http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/coronavirus/). Also, LA County seven day case numbers are still heading down.

So, not sure what your source is.

If the mask mandate remains, it's not freedom day, and won't be presented as such.

I was merely pointing out that @HYUFD's claim that a mask mandate had been reintroduced in LA County is incorrect.

'Los Angeles County public health officials are now "strongly" recommending everyone to wear masks in indoor public places, regardless of vaccination status, due to an increased spread of the Delta variant.'
https://abc7.com/los-angeles-masks-delta-variant-indoors/10841712/

Gardenwalker said:

I see Rishi has tweeted “Bring It On” about tonight’s game.

How depressing, these artificial appeals to popularity. I doubt Rishi has ever watched a football game.

Tbf he lists it as one of his interests. He named Matt Le Tissier as one of his heroes. Southampton fan.

StuartDickson said:

geoffw said:

Cloth eared. Like the leniency towards UEFA bigwigs and hangers on.

Cloth eared? Tories? I’m shocked.

Gardenwalker said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Another reason not to use LinkedIn.

A second massive LinkedIn breach reportedly exposes the data of 700M users, which is more than 92% of the total 756M users. The database is for sale on the dark web, with records including phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation data, and inferred salaries.

The hacker who obtained the data has posted a sample of 1M records, and checks confirm that the data is both genuine and up-to-date …


RestorePrivacy reports that the hacker appears to have misused the official LinkedIn API to download the data, the same method used in a similar breach back in April.

https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/29/linkedin-breach/

Does Dido Harding work for LinkedIn?

It’s not really possible (or is it?) to maintain a professional career without a LinkedIn profile.

What this in turn tells me is we cannot rely on some of these private companies to secure this data; we must regrettably regulate them as quasi public utilities.

And you trust your data to public utilities? Quaint.

Not the current regulators.

Regulatory capture is a big issue in the U.K.

We’re a big enough country that we ought to be able to avoid this.

HYUFD said:

rcs1000 said:

Cookie said:

rcs1000 said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

Ummm: I'm in LA County and I haven't seen any reintroduction of a mask mandate. And the LA County Covid page has no mention of it (http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/coronavirus/). Also, LA County seven day case numbers are still heading down.

So, not sure what your source is.

If the mask mandate remains, it's not freedom day, and won't be presented as such.

I was merely pointing out that @HYUFD's claim that a mask mandate had been reintroduced in LA County is incorrect.

Los Angeles County public health officials are now "strongly" recommending everyone to wear masks in indoor public places, regardless of vaccination status, due to an increased spread of the Delta variant.
https://abc7.com/los-angeles-masks-delta-variant-indoors/10841712/

That's not a mask mandate, that's a recommendation.

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

How can it be freedom day when it is still mooted that children will be kept from school if there is a positive test in the class. While literally hundreds of thousands of people go to sports events, the pub, etc.

What exactly does no more restrictions mean? It means restrictions the govt decides to keep. Plenty of them. Some idiot on R4 just now saying well children...long covid...can affect them....

Vanishingly small probability of a child suffering from Covid. Otherwise, given that it has ripped through schools and unis these past few weeks, we would be hearing reports of children dying by the bucketload each day. Doesn't seem to be happening.

Isn't freedom day also the end of term?

Friends and bush telegraph tells me that end of term in many instances is being curtailed a matter of weeks early as everyone self-isolates. Whole rite of passage experiences just not happening for tens of thousands of children.

End of term is a rite of passage without which we'd all be scarred?

You and @contrarian seem to have a very low opinion of the mental resilience of the average 18 year old.

End of school or uni year or of school or uni itself absolutely is a critical rite of passage.

And as for the mental resilience of the average 18-yr old, I suggest you listen to some of the news items on the radio in the UK today. Children on anti-depressants = up, children with mental distress = up, children missing on average 115 hours of face to face teaching, children simply going missing from school.

So yes, Robert and great vid on stopping illegal immigrants, btw, but absofuckinglutely yes, childrens' mental health is being fucked with.

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

In all probability, those emails are from hackers trying to steal your LinkedIn credentials. If you click on the link, it prompts you to login to LinkedIn.

You don't see them because you just go to the LinkedIn website.

contrarian said:

Cookie said:

Andy_Cooke said:

TOPPING said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

How can it be freedom day when it is still mooted that children will be kept from school if there is a positive test in the class. While literally hundreds of thousands of people go to sports events, the pub, etc.

What exactly does no more restrictions mean? It means restrictions the govt decides to keep. Plenty of them. Some idiot on R4 just now saying well children...long covid...can affect them....

Vanishingly small probability of a child suffering from Covid. Otherwise, given that it has ripped through schools and unis these past few weeks, we would be hearing reports of children dying by the bucketload each day. Doesn't seem to be happening.

Not just death, though, is it?
The probability of them being so seriously ill that they get hospitalised isn't trivial.
Nor is the chance of chronic illness and potential long-term organ damage.
They're not at the level where we can see any realistic chance of the NHS being overwhelmed by such, but we can't really dismiss the concern out of hand.

Unless they authorise use of vaccines for the under-18s very rapidly and get a whole load more supply, I can't see them getting jabbed in time, so it's not really plausible for them to be protected prior to opening up on the 19th. I can understand some being very worried about that, but it's not likely to cause any realistic delay, I wouldn't have thought. The schools breaking up should help a lot by limiting spread, though.

But what good does keeping the whole class off do once the rest of the class have negative PCRs?

The life outcomes of the young are being destroyed by a lockdown imposed on them to save the skins of the elderly

They have been fed to the wolves by the very people who now want to turn them into pin cushions over a disease that does not really affect them.

The architects of the vaccination program and lockdowns are feted and cheered in your minds eye aren't they ?

eek said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

How can it be freedom day when it is still mooted that children will be kept from school if there is a positive test in the class. While literally hundreds of thousands of people go to sports events, the pub, etc.

What exactly does no more restrictions mean? It means restrictions the govt decides to keep. Plenty of them. Some idiot on R4 just now saying well children...long covid...can affect them....

Vanishingly small probability of a child suffering from Covid. Otherwise, given that it has ripped through schools and unis these past few weeks, we would be hearing reports of children dying by the bucketload each day. Doesn't seem to be happening.

Isn't freedom day also the end of term?

Friends and bush telegraph tells me that end of term in many instances is being curtailed a matter of weeks early as everyone self-isolates. Whole rite of passage experiences just not happening for tens of thousands of children.

End of term is a rite of passage without which we'd all be scarred?

You and @contrarian seem to have a very low opinion of the mental resilience of the average 18 year old.

Knowing a lot of 18 and 19/20 year olds, all of them have been worn down by the relentless drip, drip drip of lockdown, exam results by random number generator, work options....

S'ok - Robert thinks they are a hardy lot and IIRC, @Ishmael_Z pointed out that children went through worse in WWII.

So we're fine.

rcs1000 said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

In all probability, those emails are from hackers trying to steal your LinkedIn credentials. If you click on the link, it prompts you to login to LinkedIn.

You don't see them because you just go to the LinkedIn website.

No, they are real, but the website is so badly designed that I can't find them.

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

Why hasn't a decent competitor emerged to cater for this market? Is there some kind of natural monopoly or barrier to entry?

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

How can it be freedom day when it is still mooted that children will be kept from school if there is a positive test in the class. While literally hundreds of thousands of people go to sports events, the pub, etc.

What exactly does no more restrictions mean? It means restrictions the govt decides to keep. Plenty of them. Some idiot on R4 just now saying well children...long covid...can affect them....

Vanishingly small probability of a child suffering from Covid. Otherwise, given that it has ripped through schools and unis these past few weeks, we would be hearing reports of children dying by the bucketload each day. Doesn't seem to be happening.

Isn't freedom day also the end of term?

Friends and bush telegraph tells me that end of term in many instances is being curtailed a matter of weeks early as everyone self-isolates. Whole rite of passage experiences just not happening for tens of thousands of children.

End of term is a rite of passage without which we'd all be scarred?

You and @contrarian seem to have a very low opinion of the mental resilience of the average 18 year old.

End of school or uni year or of school or uni itself absolutely is a critical rite of passage.

And as for the mental resilience of the average 18-yr old, I suggest you listen to some of the news items on the radio in the UK today. Children on anti-depressants = up, children with mental distress = up, children missing on average 115 hours of face to face teaching, children simply going missing from school.

So yes, Robert and great vid on stopping illegal immigrants, btw, but absofuckinglutely yes, childrens' mental health is being fucked with.

Do you have children? Do you remember what it was like to be a child?

Literally the worst time of the entire school year was an enforced assembly while people trooped up to the front.

The bit that was fun was meeting up with your friends outside of school. Which is - ummm - completely unaffected.

(It is also worth remembering that "graduation" is a very modern concept. In the old days, you went for study leave and never came back. Which I guess explains why everyone over the age of about 50 is mentally scarred.)

Northern_Al said:

StuartDickson said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

StuartDickson said:

Scott_xP said:

Matt Hancock appointed a friend to a role that included scrutinising his work as a minister. They earned £15,000 for 15 days’ work.

There are 85 of these positions - including more Tory friends and donors.

We need a fully independent appointment process.

https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1409851895225724929

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jun/29/labour-urges-overhaul-of-whitehall-oversight-rules-after-hancock-row

Labour would have a bit more credibility if it wasn’t for the fact that their hero Tony Blair introduced non-executive directorships.

Really? Really?

They existed well before Blair.

Codified by Blair in 2005.

“History of non-executives in Whitehall
Non-executives were first introduced in the early 1990s. In 2005 the first corporate governance Code recommended that each Whitehall department should have at least two NEDs, to sit on the management board chaired by the permanent secretary. At the time there were 37 NEDs, in 14 departments.”

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/sites/constitution-unit/files/178_-_Critical_Friends__The_Role_of_Non_Executives_on_Whitehall_Boards.pdf

There's nothing wrong with NEDs per se if they are appointed properly. They should have a role equivalent to the Governors at a school or college, roughly.

The problem is the cronyism in the way this government appoints people to NED roles, particularly, and obviously, Hancock.

It is a role properly carried out by Parliament though.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Gardenwalker said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Another reason not to use LinkedIn.

A second massive LinkedIn breach reportedly exposes the data of 700M users, which is more than 92% of the total 756M users. The database is for sale on the dark web, with records including phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation data, and inferred salaries.

The hacker who obtained the data has posted a sample of 1M records, and checks confirm that the data is both genuine and up-to-date …


RestorePrivacy reports that the hacker appears to have misused the official LinkedIn API to download the data, the same method used in a similar breach back in April.

https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/29/linkedin-breach/

Does Dido Harding work for LinkedIn?

It’s not really possible (or is it?) to maintain a professional career without a LinkedIn profile.

What this in turn tells me is we cannot rely on some of these private companies to secure this data; we must regrettably regulate them as quasi public utilities.

I have managed without a LinkedIn profile.

I had one briefly, I was spammed by recruitment agents wanting to put me forward for jobs I really didn't want or wasn't suited for.

It seems like a pretty desperate place - a lot of people trying and failing to build up a professional profile, combined with the usual social media virtue signalling; and recruitment consultants wasting your time. I've kept a minimal profile on it so I can use it to keep in touch with people in my professional circle, but I would never post anything on it or even put a photo on it.

Gardenwalker said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

Gardenwalker said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Gardenwalker said:

algarkirk said:

CarlottaVance said:

Thread on NI:

https://twitter.com/tconnellyRTE/status/1409846735829151750?s=20

In which the irresistible force and the immoveable object are once again kicked down the road. (I can't make entire sense of TC's 6th point. Can anyone elucidate?)

This is an important concession by both parties.

The EU has conceded a further extension of the current exemptions.

The U.K. has conceded:
a) that it was/is in the EU’s power to deny an extension
b) that the extension is there to allow Northern Irish retailers to source locally or from the Republic, in preference to U.K. supply chains.

The U.K. is slowly conceding the reality of a customs/regulatory border between GB and NI, long after have conceded it legally.

The DUP are going to go stark raving bonkers over this. Tesco Ballymena will stock Irish beef and Irish milk and Irish market products and all the other stuff that you don't get in Tesco Barnsley. "WHERE IS OUR BRITISH BANGER" - thats got to be worth a march with a sash and one of those little bowler hats all by itself.

The DUP have been comprehensively and continually cucked by the U.K., or rather by Boris Johnson and the Vote Leave administration.

Well, they went through the lobbies in solidarity with Mark Francois, Steve Baker, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell at el, in order to torpedo Theresa May's plan for avoiding a border in the Irish Sea, so they really are not in a position to blame anyone else.

Oh yes.

There is a book to be written about the pure madness and stupidity of the DUP during Brexit.

Obviously I couldn’t give a fuck about the DUP, although it’s objectively bad for the Union on several levels.

The DUP likely originally hoped Brexit would lead to a restoration of a hard border with Ireland and had the whole UK gone to No Deal that is what would have happened. Although on that I think they were wrong, a hard border with Ireland would have led to greater demands for Irish unity than is the case now

MaxPB said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

It's owned by Microsoft. I'm not sure why you expected anything better.

LinkedIn is owned but has separate management to Microsoft - back in 2018 when I was trying to get access for Dynamics CRM it was regarded as less important than Salesforce even when we pushed the point to board level.

TOPPING said:

eek said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

How can it be freedom day when it is still mooted that children will be kept from school if there is a positive test in the class. While literally hundreds of thousands of people go to sports events, the pub, etc.

What exactly does no more restrictions mean? It means restrictions the govt decides to keep. Plenty of them. Some idiot on R4 just now saying well children...long covid...can affect them....

Vanishingly small probability of a child suffering from Covid. Otherwise, given that it has ripped through schools and unis these past few weeks, we would be hearing reports of children dying by the bucketload each day. Doesn't seem to be happening.

Isn't freedom day also the end of term?

Friends and bush telegraph tells me that end of term in many instances is being curtailed a matter of weeks early as everyone self-isolates. Whole rite of passage experiences just not happening for tens of thousands of children.

End of term is a rite of passage without which we'd all be scarred?

You and @contrarian seem to have a very low opinion of the mental resilience of the average 18 year old.

Knowing a lot of 18 and 19/20 year olds, all of them have been worn down by the relentless drip, drip drip of lockdown, exam results by random number generator, work options....

S'ok - Robert thinks they are a hardy lot and IIRC, @Ishmael_Z pointed out that children went through worse in WWII.

So we're fine.

I'm sure they've been worn down by lockdown.

But I'm equally sure that graduation ceremonies are one thing they'd happily miss.

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

How can it be freedom day when it is still mooted that children will be kept from school if there is a positive test in the class. While literally hundreds of thousands of people go to sports events, the pub, etc.

What exactly does no more restrictions mean? It means restrictions the govt decides to keep. Plenty of them. Some idiot on R4 just now saying well children...long covid...can affect them....

Vanishingly small probability of a child suffering from Covid. Otherwise, given that it has ripped through schools and unis these past few weeks, we would be hearing reports of children dying by the bucketload each day. Doesn't seem to be happening.

Isn't freedom day also the end of term?

Friends and bush telegraph tells me that end of term in many instances is being curtailed a matter of weeks early as everyone self-isolates. Whole rite of passage experiences just not happening for tens of thousands of children.

End of term is a rite of passage without which we'd all be scarred?

You and @contrarian seem to have a very low opinion of the mental resilience of the average 18 year old.

End of school or uni year or of school or uni itself absolutely is a critical rite of passage.

And as for the mental resilience of the average 18-yr old, I suggest you listen to some of the news items on the radio in the UK today. Children on anti-depressants = up, children with mental distress = up, children missing on average 115 hours of face to face teaching, children simply going missing from school.

So yes, Robert and great vid on stopping illegal immigrants, btw, but absofuckinglutely yes, childrens' mental health is being fucked with.

As is their physical health. Sports clubs of all types and all manner of other activities simply ceased to exist for months on end. In a country whose climate already militates against the outdoors and were child obesity and general lack of exercise among the young were already a big problem.

The people who govern us, and their labour enablers are trying to pretend this is some new crisis.

They created it. With their lockdowns. Fulsomely applauded on here.

The hideous downsides of lockdowns are now starting to become apparent. There will be much, much more where that came from.

Gardenwalker said:

geoffw said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

Why hasn't a decent competitor emerged to cater for this market? Is there some kind of natural monopoly or barrier to entry?

Yes, it’s a natural monopoly.

And given the way it supports the entire labour market, it should be regulated.

And yes, it’s got increasingly badly designed and unfocused in recent years.

All networks have a natural monopoly unless something way better appears (see Facebook replacing Myspace).

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

How can it be freedom day when it is still mooted that children will be kept from school if there is a positive test in the class. While literally hundreds of thousands of people go to sports events, the pub, etc.

What exactly does no more restrictions mean? It means restrictions the govt decides to keep. Plenty of them. Some idiot on R4 just now saying well children...long covid...can affect them....

Vanishingly small probability of a child suffering from Covid. Otherwise, given that it has ripped through schools and unis these past few weeks, we would be hearing reports of children dying by the bucketload each day. Doesn't seem to be happening.

Isn't freedom day also the end of term?

Friends and bush telegraph tells me that end of term in many instances is being curtailed a matter of weeks early as everyone self-isolates. Whole rite of passage experiences just not happening for tens of thousands of children.

End of term is a rite of passage without which we'd all be scarred?

You and @contrarian seem to have a very low opinion of the mental resilience of the average 18 year old.

End of school or uni year or of school or uni itself absolutely is a critical rite of passage.

And as for the mental resilience of the average 18-yr old, I suggest you listen to some of the news items on the radio in the UK today. Children on anti-depressants = up, children with mental distress = up, children missing on average 115 hours of face to face teaching, children simply going missing from school.

So yes, Robert and great vid on stopping illegal immigrants, btw, but absofuckinglutely yes, childrens' mental health is being fucked with.

Do you have children? Do you remember what it was like to be a child?

Literally the worst time of the entire school year was an enforced assembly while people trooped up to the front.

The bit that was fun was meeting up with your friends outside of school. Which is - ummm - completely unaffected.

(It is also worth remembering that "graduation" is a very modern concept. In the old days, you went for study leave and never came back. Which I guess explains why everyone over the age of about 50 is mentally scarred.)

Robert the instances of damage to children's mental health is being documented today as we speak on just about all news outlets. I won't google it all for you because I'm sure you will be able to do so.

And after a year or several years of school I could take or leave prize giving and speech day and what have you. I'm sure you the same and if it turned out that your May Ball was cancelled well not to worry your internship at GS was about to start. All perfectly charming.

But the last 15 months have been hell for hundreds of thousands of children perhaps not so fortunate as you or me or perhaps just as fortunate. And during this time school has often represented an oasis of normality. And people are being denied as I said a rite of passage that is part of growing up.

HYUFD said:

Gardenwalker said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

Gardenwalker said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Gardenwalker said:

algarkirk said:

CarlottaVance said:

Thread on NI:

https://twitter.com/tconnellyRTE/status/1409846735829151750?s=20

In which the irresistible force and the immoveable object are once again kicked down the road. (I can't make entire sense of TC's 6th point. Can anyone elucidate?)

This is an important concession by both parties.

The EU has conceded a further extension of the current exemptions.

The U.K. has conceded:
a) that it was/is in the EU’s power to deny an extension
b) that the extension is there to allow Northern Irish retailers to source locally or from the Republic, in preference to U.K. supply chains.

The U.K. is slowly conceding the reality of a customs/regulatory border between GB and NI, long after have conceded it legally.

The DUP are going to go stark raving bonkers over this. Tesco Ballymena will stock Irish beef and Irish milk and Irish market products and all the other stuff that you don't get in Tesco Barnsley. "WHERE IS OUR BRITISH BANGER" - thats got to be worth a march with a sash and one of those little bowler hats all by itself.

The DUP have been comprehensively and continually cucked by the U.K., or rather by Boris Johnson and the Vote Leave administration.

Well, they went through the lobbies in solidarity with Mark Francois, Steve Baker, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell at el, in order to torpedo Theresa May's plan for avoiding a border in the Irish Sea, so they really are not in a position to blame anyone else.

Oh yes.

There is a book to be written about the pure madness and stupidity of the DUP during Brexit.

Obviously I couldn’t give a fuck about the DUP, although it’s objectively bad for the Union on several levels.

The DUP likely originally hoped Brexit would lead to a restoration of a hard border with Ireland and had the whole UK gone to No Deal that is what would have happened. Although on that I think they were wrong, a hard border with Ireland would have led to greater demands for Irish unity than is the case now

It is extraordinarily hard to understand just what DUP were hoping Brexit would do or achieve.

They probably - in tandem with the other Brexiters - believed the dogshit that we would be able to trade totally frictionlessly with the EU (and hence across the Irish border) without the need for an actual customs and regulatory border.

Or “cake-ism” as it is now known.

Indeed, it seems some Brexiters continued to believe that until about 1 January 2021.

Scott_xP said:

Taking back control-
Lorry driver shortage: UK government and retailers in emergency talks https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/28/lorry-driver-shortage-uk-government-and-retailers-in-emergency-talks-covid-brexit

There's a glorious context-free Guardian Troll-o-Stat in that.



When you work it out, the increase in Tesco food waste is from I make it 0.33% to 0.33023%. They process 10.5m tonnes a year.

Between 2019 and 2020 they reduced food waste from 0.42% to 0.33%.

Yay for supermarket efficiency.

Gardenwalker said:

geoffw said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

Why hasn't a decent competitor emerged to cater for this market? Is there some kind of natural monopoly or barrier to entry?

Yes, it’s a natural monopoly.

And given the way it supports the entire labour market, it should be regulated.

And yes, it’s got increasingly badly designed and unfocused in recent years.

It isn't a natural monopoly. There is definitely a niche for a business directory and contact management product that is not LinkedIn. It could integrate a mobile app with tap to share business cards. It also do a great job of verifying peoples histories.

There's a huge opportunity to do something really cool.

MattW said:

Scott_xP said:

Taking back control-
Lorry driver shortage: UK government and retailers in emergency talks https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/28/lorry-driver-shortage-uk-government-and-retailers-in-emergency-talks-covid-brexit

There's a glorious context-free Guardian Troll-o-Stat in that.



When you work it out, the increase in Tesco food waste is from I make it 0.33% to 0.33023%. They process 10.5m tonnes a year.

Between 2019 and 2020 they reduced food waste from 0.42% to 0.33%.

Yay for supermarket efficiency.

The Gruardian and bias by omission....surely not.

bigjohnowls said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

I stopped using Linkedin years ago and hate Teams with a passion. Zoom rools OK

LinkedIn and Teams are bad for the same reason - they are both trying to be some kind of all-purpose Facebook/iOs substitute, so they've piled in masses of garbage, rather than actually doing what you want them to do - in the case of Teams, video conferences, not 'creating channels' or integrating apps or saving files or running a Wiki.

As for Zoom, why the hell did their designers think it was a good idea to make it impossible to set up and test your video and sound before you start the meeting? (Teams has the same 'feature', except it's easy to get round by starting it and left-clicking on the icon in the taskbar).

Yours, frustrated of Sussex.

Gardenwalker said:

geoffw said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

Why hasn't a decent competitor emerged to cater for this market? Is there some kind of natural monopoly or barrier to entry?

Yes, it’s a natural monopoly.

And given the way it supports the entire labour market, it should be regulated.

And yes, it’s got increasingly badly designed and unfocused in recent years.

I can see that network externalities imply cost decreases with scale. Since it attempts to match jobs to jobseekers it performs a valued service to the labour market as you say. Almost a public good you would think. Couldn't the dept of employment provide a service like that (at arms length of course)?

rcs1000 said:

Gardenwalker said:

geoffw said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

Why hasn't a decent competitor emerged to cater for this market? Is there some kind of natural monopoly or barrier to entry?

Yes, it’s a natural monopoly.

And given the way it supports the entire labour market, it should be regulated.

And yes, it’s got increasingly badly designed and unfocused in recent years.

It isn't a natural monopoly. There is definitely a niche for a business directory and contact management product that is not LinkedIn. It could integrate a mobile app with tap to share business cards. It also do a great job of verifying peoples histories.

There's a huge opportunity to do something really cool.

There are alternatives to LI, though the only really successful ones tend to be non-English speaking. The best one is probably Xing which is predominantly German speaking and the French have one which I cannot recall the name of

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

eek said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

How can it be freedom day when it is still mooted that children will be kept from school if there is a positive test in the class. While literally hundreds of thousands of people go to sports events, the pub, etc.

What exactly does no more restrictions mean? It means restrictions the govt decides to keep. Plenty of them. Some idiot on R4 just now saying well children...long covid...can affect them....

Vanishingly small probability of a child suffering from Covid. Otherwise, given that it has ripped through schools and unis these past few weeks, we would be hearing reports of children dying by the bucketload each day. Doesn't seem to be happening.

Isn't freedom day also the end of term?

Friends and bush telegraph tells me that end of term in many instances is being curtailed a matter of weeks early as everyone self-isolates. Whole rite of passage experiences just not happening for tens of thousands of children.

End of term is a rite of passage without which we'd all be scarred?

You and @contrarian seem to have a very low opinion of the mental resilience of the average 18 year old.

Knowing a lot of 18 and 19/20 year olds, all of them have been worn down by the relentless drip, drip drip of lockdown, exam results by random number generator, work options....

S'ok - Robert thinks they are a hardy lot and IIRC, @Ishmael_Z pointed out that children went through worse in WWII.

So we're fine.

I'm sure they've been worn down by lockdown.

But I'm equally sure that graduation ceremonies are one thing they'd happily miss.

Apart from your own experience I seriously have no idea on what basis you could assert that for the nation's children. And your own experience is not relevant because you hadn't gone through 15 months of a global pandemic.

So soz but I'm going to have to ignore your assertion.

Children need as much normality as possible and the end of school/uni years ceremonies and activities are a vital part of that.

Richard_Nabavi said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I'd dispute the notion that senior executives are toffs.

Some of them are working class, or the grandchildren of immigrant, hardly toffs.

If they are having to stoop to carrying out economic activity, then they are definitely not toffs.

Don’t I know it!

rcs1000 said:

Gardenwalker said:

geoffw said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

Why hasn't a decent competitor emerged to cater for this market? Is there some kind of natural monopoly or barrier to entry?

Yes, it’s a natural monopoly.

And given the way it supports the entire labour market, it should be regulated.

And yes, it’s got increasingly badly designed and unfocused in recent years.

It isn't a natural monopoly. There is definitely a niche for a business directory and contact management product that is not LinkedIn. It could integrate a mobile app with tap to share business cards. It also do a great job of verifying peoples histories.

There's a huge opportunity to do something really cool.

I prefer the other answer which suggested that it is a natural monopoly by virtue of the network effects acting as a barrier to entry to competitors.

See also Google, Facebook, and probably Amazon within appropriate definitions of the retail market.

The new entrant you described would have to build its network from scratch, or piggyback in another’s - ie Google or Facebook.

From a friend.

Richard_Nabavi said:

Gardenwalker said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Gardenwalker said:

algarkirk said:

CarlottaVance said:

Thread on NI:

https://twitter.com/tconnellyRTE/status/1409846735829151750?s=20

In which the irresistible force and the immoveable object are once again kicked down the road. (I can't make entire sense of TC's 6th point. Can anyone elucidate?)

This is an important concession by both parties.

The EU has conceded a further extension of the current exemptions.

The U.K. has conceded:
a) that it was/is in the EU’s power to deny an extension
b) that the extension is there to allow Northern Irish retailers to source locally or from the Republic, in preference to U.K. supply chains.

The U.K. is slowly conceding the reality of a customs/regulatory border between GB and NI, long after have conceded it legally.

The DUP are going to go stark raving bonkers over this. Tesco Ballymena will stock Irish beef and Irish milk and Irish market products and all the other stuff that you don't get in Tesco Barnsley. "WHERE IS OUR BRITISH BANGER" - thats got to be worth a march with a sash and one of those little bowler hats all by itself.

The DUP have been comprehensively and continually cucked by the U.K., or rather by Boris Johnson and the Vote Leave administration.

Well, they went through the lobbies in solidarity with Mark Francois, Steve Baker, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell at el, in order to torpedo Theresa May's plan for avoiding a border in the Irish Sea, so they really are not in a position to blame anyone else.

They voted for the Leopards Eating Faces option and now wonder who to blame for having no face.

FrancisUrquhart said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

bigjohnowls said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

I stopped using Linkedin years ago and hate Teams with a passion. Zoom rools OK

LinkedIn and Teams are bad for the same reason - they are both trying to be some kind of all-purpose Facebook/iOs substitute, so they've piled in masses of garbage, rather than actually doing what you want them to do - in the case of Teams, video conferences, not 'creating channels' or integrating apps or saving files or running a Wiki.

As for Zoom, why the hell did their designers think it was a good idea to make it impossible to set up and test your video and sound before you start the meeting? (Teams has the same 'feature', except it's easy to get round by starting it and left-clicking on the icon in the taskbar).

Yours, frustrated of Sussex.

You can on Zoom....Click your profile picture, then click Settings.....Video....

No, you just get 'Join a Meeting' or 'Sign in'. If you've received an invitation and don't have an account - which applies to most people - you can't access the settings until you click 'Join a Meeting'. That is completely insane.

Gardenwalker said:

rcs1000 said:

Gardenwalker said:

geoffw said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

Why hasn't a decent competitor emerged to cater for this market? Is there some kind of natural monopoly or barrier to entry?

Yes, it’s a natural monopoly.

And given the way it supports the entire labour market, it should be regulated.

And yes, it’s got increasingly badly designed and unfocused in recent years.

It isn't a natural monopoly. There is definitely a niche for a business directory and contact management product that is not LinkedIn. It could integrate a mobile app with tap to share business cards. It also do a great job of verifying peoples histories.

There's a huge opportunity to do something really cool.

I prefer the other answer which suggested that it is a natural monopoly by virtue of the network effects acting as a barrier to entry to competitors.

See also Google, Facebook, and probably Amazon within appropriate definitions of the retail market.

The new entrant you described would have to build its network from scratch, or piggyback in another’s - ie Google or Facebook.

It's worth remembering that the core detail we wanted access to LinkedIn data for wasn't to allow people to identify potential customers, it was to tell the CRM system that ABC had left company XYZ and you needed to identify who the new person appropriate person was.

Facebook did have a corporate version project - I think it's died a million deaths...

Teams is much easier than Zoom, sorry.

It’s a minor miracle that it had emanated from Microsoft.

HYUFD said:

Gardenwalker said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

Gardenwalker said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Gardenwalker said:

algarkirk said:

CarlottaVance said:

Thread on NI:

https://twitter.com/tconnellyRTE/status/1409846735829151750?s=20

In which the irresistible force and the immoveable object are once again kicked down the road. (I can't make entire sense of TC's 6th point. Can anyone elucidate?)

This is an important concession by both parties.

The EU has conceded a further extension of the current exemptions.

The U.K. has conceded:
a) that it was/is in the EU’s power to deny an extension
b) that the extension is there to allow Northern Irish retailers to source locally or from the Republic, in preference to U.K. supply chains.

The U.K. is slowly conceding the reality of a customs/regulatory border between GB and NI, long after have conceded it legally.

The DUP are going to go stark raving bonkers over this. Tesco Ballymena will stock Irish beef and Irish milk and Irish market products and all the other stuff that you don't get in Tesco Barnsley. "WHERE IS OUR BRITISH BANGER" - thats got to be worth a march with a sash and one of those little bowler hats all by itself.

The DUP have been comprehensively and continually cucked by the U.K., or rather by Boris Johnson and the Vote Leave administration.

Well, they went through the lobbies in solidarity with Mark Francois, Steve Baker, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell at el, in order to torpedo Theresa May's plan for avoiding a border in the Irish Sea, so they really are not in a position to blame anyone else.

Oh yes.

There is a book to be written about the pure madness and stupidity of the DUP during Brexit.

Obviously I couldn’t give a fuck about the DUP, although it’s objectively bad for the Union on several levels.

The DUP likely originally hoped Brexit would lead to a restoration of a hard border with Ireland and had the whole UK gone to No Deal that is what would have happened. Although on that I think they were wrong, a hard border with Ireland would have led to greater demands for Irish unity than is the case now

But much greater opportunity for smuggling and other nefarious activity.
Which may be the point.

Benjamin Monk has been jailed for 8 years for the manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson.

Charles said:

rcs1000 said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

Ummm: I'm in LA County and I haven't seen any reintroduction of a mask mandate. And the LA County Covid page has no mention of it (http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/coronavirus/). Also, LA County seven day case numbers are still heading down.

So, not sure what your source is.

Not a mandate but “strongly encouraged”

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-06-28/as-delta-variant-spreads-l-a-county-recommends-everyone-mask-indoors?_amp=true

Yeah, I've been unnecessarily jumping down peoples' throats this morning. I should probably get a cup of tea.

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

rcs1000 said:

TOPPING said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Those undertaking activities with significant economic benefit have always had favourable rules during this pandemic.

Remember the you can meet up with people in a restaurant if it was for this. Or travel, the plebs can't go on holiday, but business people have been able to travel basically unhindered throughout.

Given Freedom day is only 3 weeks away, I am not sure it will make a lot of difference.

I am not sure it will be full Freedom Day, with even Australia restoring lockdown in some states and LA county reimposing a mask wearing request because of the Delta variant I would imagine masks will still be required to be worn in shops and on public transport, the biggest events will still have a capacity limit and quarantine will still be required for visits to red list countries and for the non double vaccinated to amber countries even from the middle of next month.

I think this new government exemption would therefore certainly be very unpopular if executives returned from a red list country without quarantining

How can it be freedom day when it is still mooted that children will be kept from school if there is a positive test in the class. While literally hundreds of thousands of people go to sports events, the pub, etc.

What exactly does no more restrictions mean? It means restrictions the govt decides to keep. Plenty of them. Some idiot on R4 just now saying well children...long covid...can affect them....

Vanishingly small probability of a child suffering from Covid. Otherwise, given that it has ripped through schools and unis these past few weeks, we would be hearing reports of children dying by the bucketload each day. Doesn't seem to be happening.

Isn't freedom day also the end of term?

Friends and bush telegraph tells me that end of term in many instances is being curtailed a matter of weeks early as everyone self-isolates. Whole rite of passage experiences just not happening for tens of thousands of children.

End of term is a rite of passage without which we'd all be scarred?

You and @contrarian seem to have a very low opinion of the mental resilience of the average 18 year old.

End of school or uni year or of school or uni itself absolutely is a critical rite of passage.

And as for the mental resilience of the average 18-yr old, I suggest you listen to some of the news items on the radio in the UK today. Children on anti-depressants = up, children with mental distress = up, children missing on average 115 hours of face to face teaching, children simply going missing from school.

So yes, Robert and great vid on stopping illegal immigrants, btw, but absofuckinglutely yes, childrens' mental health is being fucked with.

Do you have children? Do you remember what it was like to be a child?

Literally the worst time of the entire school year was an enforced assembly while people trooped up to the front.

The bit that was fun was meeting up with your friends outside of school. Which is - ummm - completely unaffected.

(It is also worth remembering that "graduation" is a very modern concept. In the old days, you went for study leave and never came back. Which I guess explains why everyone over the age of about 50 is mentally scarred.)

Robert the instances of damage to children's mental health is being documented today as we speak on just about all news outlets. I won't google it all for you because I'm sure you will be able to do so.

And after a year or several years of school I could take or leave prize giving and speech day and what have you. I'm sure you the same and if it turned out that your May Ball was cancelled well not to worry your internship at GS was about to start. All perfectly charming.

But the last 15 months have been hell for hundreds of thousands of children perhaps not so fortunate as you or me or perhaps just as fortunate. And during this time school has often represented an oasis of normality. And people are being denied as I said a rite of passage that is part of growing up.

You're completely missing my point.

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU REGARDNG THE IMPACT OF LOCKDOWN ON KIDS HEALTH.

I THINK YOU ARE A COMPLETE FUCKING RETARD IF YOU THINK GRADUATION CEREMONIES ARE SOME ESSENTIAL RIGHT OF PASSAGE THAT KIDS ENJOY.

"COMPLETE FUCKING RETARD" eh?

And shouting. Hmm, I think this discussion is moving in my direction.

And again, the graduation ceremonies, which you may or may not have enjoyed are absolutely an "ESSENTIAL RIGHT [sic] OF PASSAGE" for children. As is all the end of school/uni activities. I said at the beginning "End of term activities". Including graduation which formally marks the end of the era of schooling or uni.

You are simply wrong on this and quite why on the one hand you say lockdown has had an impact and on the other you are unable to see that a critical component of lockdown people are cheering at goodness only knows. I can only imagine something happened at your graduation that was unpleasant otherwise your response is irrational.

Edit: and @rcs1000 absolutely no need to apologise for anything - it's what makes PB PB.

rcs1000 said:

Gardenwalker said:

rcs1000 said:

Gardenwalker said:

geoffw said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In a very strong field, Linked In is the worst, the very, very worst, website known to man. It is quite spectacularly bad - for example, they send out emails saying X wants to connect with you: then when you go on to the website, you can't find the invitation from X but you get screenfuls of utter garbage of zero interest to anyone. It even makes Microsoft Teams look well-designed, something you would have thought was impossible.

Why hasn't a decent competitor emerged to cater for this market? Is there some kind of natural monopoly or barrier to entry?

Yes, it’s a natural monopoly.

And given the way it supports the entire labour market, it should be regulated.

And yes, it’s got increasingly badly designed and unfocused in recent years.

It isn't a natural monopoly. There is definitely a niche for a business directory and contact management product that is not LinkedIn. It could integrate a mobile app with tap to share business cards. It also do a great job of verifying peoples histories.

There's a huge opportunity to do something really cool.

I prefer the other answer which suggested that it is a natural monopoly by virtue of the network effects acting as a barrier to entry to competitors.

See also Google, Facebook, and probably Amazon within appropriate definitions of the retail market.

The new entrant you described would have to build its network from scratch, or piggyback in another’s - ie Google or Facebook.

It's amazing how many natural monopolies turned out not to be, though.

Internet Explorer had a monopoly due to being installed by default on people's computers... until Chrome came along.

Windows was a monopoly... and now it's not.

Etc.

I have some sympathy with this, but the returns on capital are simply insane, have been for a full generation, and are getting insaner.

Google et al exist because our society allows them to; not the other way round.