Leon said:

Incidentally, I am holed up in a beautiful little cottage by the river Monnow in Craswall, west Herefordshire, with a suspected case of Omicron

No joke

Get out your iPad and watch Lost In Space.

Also, remember the most dangerous amount of alcohol is none.

bigjohnowls said:

ydoethur said:

bigjohnowls said:

Mexicanpete said:

bigjohnowls said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Labour’s biggest funder, Unite, will cut political donations to the party and divert the money to other leftwing causes, the union’s new general secretary, Sharon Graham, has warned.

Good perhaps Mexican Pete, Southam Observer Jonathon and CHB can make up the shortfall

Good to get a name check.

Starmer can at least say he isn't in Sharon Graham's pocket.

I was genuinely offended by Len threatening to turn the taps off if he wasn't allowed to toss his tuppence worth of nonsense into the Labour Party policy pot.

The last time I paid Labour Party fees it felt like I was taking on most of Len's burden anyway and that was almost a decade ago.

Surely Labour under SKS offers you exactly what you want politically Pete.

Without 150k members subs and a big reduction in Union monies SKS needs monies from supporters like yourself urgently.

It is unconscionable to imagine Starmer might rely on voluntary payments from members rather than the highly anachronistic trade union levy which was not only more or less extorted from union members regardless of their political views but put overwhelming power in the hands of a few scarcely elected, usually corrupt and frequently somewhat sinister union barons.

How on Earth could he survive the shame?

Which members?

He has lost 150k of those too and counting

Given some of these people apparently thought Richard Burgon and Laura Pidcock were intelligent and radical working class heroes, I don't think they are much loss to Labour.

Thanks for the kind remarks. I’m not dying (I hope) but it isn’t pleasant. The main symptoms are intense fatigue, chest pain and a dry, scratchy cough - plus general aches etc. I have slept 32 of the last 36 hours. Mad. These are the signs of Omicron as reported from SA. My senses of smell and taste are fine

I’ve ordered a PCR which should arrive tomorrow so then I’ll know. It’s certainly something best avoided - whatever it is

Leon said:

Incidentally, I am holed up in a beautiful little cottage by the river Monnow in Craswall, west Herefordshire, with a suspected case of Omicron

No joke

oh my cronies! PBs very own coroni lab rat!

I bet you are the sort of person that had to have the first batch of new iPads, got the tickets to the biggest premier,, having read that biggest selller before anyone has heard of it aren’t you?

StuartDickson said:

IshmaelZ said:

StuartDickson said:

IshmaelZ said:

tlg86 said:

FPT:

turbotubbs said:

BlancheLivermore said:

Important message for car-twats:

Sarah Phelps
@PhelpsieSarah
I was a bit of a dick about doing the speed awareness course but I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Shocked by how much I drive like a stressy careless twat. Thinking about doing an advanced course or something like that so I’m not a car-twat.
https://twitter.com/PhelpsieSarah/status/1466324421027770371

I did one earlier this year after being done for 27 mph in a 20 mph zone. Some interesting points, but I'm still bitter about the location.

In some ways driving is to easy - so people find they can all too easily drift off in their attention.

I drove through Hampton recently and I was so lucky that I was behind a local who knew it was a 20 limit. There are cameras both ways and they catch loads of people. Curiously, Google Street View is messed up just at bit where the cameras are:

https://tinyurl.com/bdzyz8cj

For me, the issue is that driving is routine. We do it without incident for the vast majority of time.

Those 20 limits are an utter disgrace, in my opinion.

As per previous thread I hired a Ford Puma the other day which knew, and limited itself to, the speed limit. This was in Scotland where all towns seem to be 20 mph. Must have saved me several tickets.

That’s one of the reasons I love our Volvos. Their smart safety system must have saved me a fortune over the years. The cars have rock-solid info on all speed limit zones, and warn you if you’re going too fast when changing to a new zone.

Waze is almost as good, but maybe less user-friendly than an in-built system.

Our other car has no such system and I often find myself driving far too fast.

The mismatching cars can be a killer. I did £1500 damage to a land rover a few years ago because I expected it to have reversing sensors and it didn't. Thinking you have ABS when you haven't can also be problematic.

Snap.

Our Mini was the first of our cars in about ten years not to have reversing sensors. Various family members have now smashed the rear bumper on three occasions, so I can’t be bothered repairing the latest incident. It’s going in March anyway.

Weird, I've never had a car with reversing sensors.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Leon said:

Incidentally, I am holed up in a beautiful little cottage by the river Monnow in Craswall, west Herefordshire, with a suspected case of Omicron

No joke

Get out your iPad and watch Lost In Space.

Also, remember the most dangerous amount of alcohol is none.

As a good Muslim, does that mean you live dangerously all the time?

MoonRabbit said:

Leon said:

Incidentally, I am holed up in a beautiful little cottage by the river Monnow in Craswall, west Herefordshire, with a suspected case of Omicron

No joke

oh my cronies! PBs very own coroni lab rat! 🤗

I bet you are the sort of person that had to have the first batch of new iPads, got the tickets to the biggest premier,, having read that biggest selller before anyone has heard of it aren’t you?

I do hope you are okay. Take all the advice what to do Leon. Rest. Avoid alcohol but drink fluid.

Are you alone there? 😟. Don’t hesitate to call for help if you need it.

bigjohnowls said:

BigRich said:

bigjohnowls said:

UNITE to fund National Care Service for Scotland initiative and reduce its funding to Lab to the £1m affiliation sum.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/02/labours-main-union-backer-says-it-will-cut-political-funding

for anybody who wats some numbers to put that in to context:

In the last year for which numbers are published:

Unite political fund spent £9,474,000 out of which £7,607,000 went directly to the Labour party, £1,540,000 went indirectly to support the labour party and 372,000 did not go to the labour party. At the end of the year the Unite political fund had £16,462,000 in the bank about and an income of £7,200,000

link below:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/967153/795T_2019.pdf

And Sharon Graham is committing to maintaining at least £1m in affiliation so presumably the other £8m is under threat.

I would love to see SKS and Evans plans to replace whatever proportion of the £8m that is withdrawn.

Wonder how much Murdoch and Blair are good for and what they will require in return.

In Blair's case he might be good for a couple of million in exchange for not being roundly abused by a bunch of addled left wing muppets for having dared to win elections.

Leon said:

Thanks for the kind remarks. I’m not dying (I hope) but it isn’t pleasant. The main symptoms are intense fatigue, chest pain and a dry, scratchy cough - plus general aches etc. I have slept 32 of the last 36 hours. Mad. These are the signs of Omicron as reported from SA. My senses of smell and taste are fine

I’ve ordered a PCR which should arrive tomorrow so then I’ll know. It’s certainly something best avoided - whatever it is

Dude, that's just getting old.

Gallowgate said:

StuartDickson said:

IshmaelZ said:

StuartDickson said:

IshmaelZ said:

tlg86 said:

FPT:

turbotubbs said:

BlancheLivermore said:

Important message for car-twats:

Sarah Phelps
@PhelpsieSarah
I was a bit of a dick about doing the speed awareness course but I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Shocked by how much I drive like a stressy careless twat. Thinking about doing an advanced course or something like that so I’m not a car-twat.
https://twitter.com/PhelpsieSarah/status/1466324421027770371

I did one earlier this year after being done for 27 mph in a 20 mph zone. Some interesting points, but I'm still bitter about the location.

In some ways driving is to easy - so people find they can all too easily drift off in their attention.

I drove through Hampton recently and I was so lucky that I was behind a local who knew it was a 20 limit. There are cameras both ways and they catch loads of people. Curiously, Google Street View is messed up just at bit where the cameras are:

https://tinyurl.com/bdzyz8cj

For me, the issue is that driving is routine. We do it without incident for the vast majority of time.

Those 20 limits are an utter disgrace, in my opinion.

As per previous thread I hired a Ford Puma the other day which knew, and limited itself to, the speed limit. This was in Scotland where all towns seem to be 20 mph. Must have saved me several tickets.

That’s one of the reasons I love our Volvos. Their smart safety system must have saved me a fortune over the years. The cars have rock-solid info on all speed limit zones, and warn you if you’re going too fast when changing to a new zone.

Waze is almost as good, but maybe less user-friendly than an in-built system.

Our other car has no such system and I often find myself driving far too fast.

The mismatching cars can be a killer. I did £1500 damage to a land rover a few years ago because I expected it to have reversing sensors and it didn't. Thinking you have ABS when you haven't can also be problematic.

Snap.

Our Mini was the first of our cars in about ten years not to have reversing sensors. Various family members have now smashed the rear bumper on three occasions, so I can’t be bothered repairing the latest incident. It’s going in March anyway.

Weird, I've never had a car with reversing sensors.

Front sensors are the worst, they totally ruin your judgment.

TOPPING said:

Leon said:

Incidentally, I am holed up in a beautiful little cottage by the river Monnow in Craswall, west Herefordshire, with a suspected case of Omicron

No joke

Hope you feel better soon. Interesting as the Nature article posted by @Chris said that PCR tests were only to a degree able to identify Omicron. Who is doing the suspecting?

111 England

Tho they didn’t say “omicron” they just said “quite probably covid get tested immediately”

I’m the one making the leap, not just because I want to be a fashionable early adopter but because my symptoms are spookily like the ones described by South African GPs

I’m praying it’s just a bug, I can do without long Covid and quarantines

Leon said:

Incidentally, I am holed up in a beautiful little cottage by the river Monnow in Craswall, west Herefordshire, with a suspected case of Omicron

No joke

Good luck mate, hope it's not too serious.

bigjohnowls said:

ydoethur said:

bigjohnowls said:

Mexicanpete said:

bigjohnowls said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Labour’s biggest funder, Unite, will cut political donations to the party and divert the money to other leftwing causes, the union’s new general secretary, Sharon Graham, has warned.

Good perhaps Mexican Pete, Southam Observer Jonathon and CHB can make up the shortfall

Good to get a name check.

Starmer can at least say he isn't in Sharon Graham's pocket.

I was genuinely offended by Len threatening to turn the taps off if he wasn't allowed to toss his tuppence worth of nonsense into the Labour Party policy pot.

The last time I paid Labour Party fees it felt like I was taking on most of Len's burden anyway and that was almost a decade ago.

Surely Labour under SKS offers you exactly what you want politically Pete.

Without 150k members subs and a big reduction in Union monies SKS needs monies from supporters like yourself urgently.

It is unconscionable to imagine Starmer might rely on voluntary payments from members rather than the highly anachronistic trade union levy which was not only more or less extorted from union members regardless of their political views but put overwhelming power in the hands of a few scarcely elected, usually corrupt and frequently somewhat sinister union barons.

How on Earth could he survive the shame?

Which members?

He has lost 150k of those too and counting

Has anybody got a link to indicate that 150k loss in membership?

Im wondering, It might be correct, but also may be out of date now, or simply a updating an old list and removing people who had not paid membership in a long time.

Hotels in the UK have been hit by a wave of Christmas cancellations as business customers call off parties and events amid concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The Best Western Hotel Group, a franchise operator, said mixed messaging from ministers had already damaged trade, with concerns Christmas 2021 would have to be “written off”, while one independent hotelier in Devon pleaded with government not to “hang hospitality out to dry”.

Of the 290 independently owned Best Western hotels in the UK, three-quarters have had an increase in Christmas cancellations and 89% have expressed concern about the festive trading period, the group said. About 70% have seen a decline in bookings since the Omicron variant emerged. More than two-thirds are worried businesses and individuals will still be wary about booking in the early part of next year.

The Dartmoor Lodge in Devon said diners had been pulling out of bookings at its restaurant. In a plea to the prime minister posted on Twitter, the family-owned hotel said: “Please don’t hang hospitality out to dry – we’ve had many cancellations of Xmas dining – don’t restrict and advise not to socialise without financial support.”

Several restaurant bookings for larger groups had been cancelled, a manager at the hotel said, including a conference with 40 people planned for Monday, although room bookings had not been affected.

Tim Rumney, the chief executive of Best Western GB, criticised confusing signals from government. “We have had a week of mixed messages about whether people should socialise or cancel parties or not and small, independent businesses like our hotels are on the frontline feeling the effects of that indecision.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/02/uk-hotels-hit-by-wave-of-cancellations-as-omicron-covid-variant-concerns-grow

ydoethur said:

bigjohnowls said:

Gallowgate said:

bigjohnowls said:

ydoethur said:

bigjohnowls said:

Mexicanpete said:

bigjohnowls said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Labour’s biggest funder, Unite, will cut political donations to the party and divert the money to other leftwing causes, the union’s new general secretary, Sharon Graham, has warned.

Good perhaps Mexican Pete, Southam Observer Jonathon and CHB can make up the shortfall

Good to get a name check.

Starmer can at least say he isn't in Sharon Graham's pocket.

I was genuinely offended by Len threatening to turn the taps off if he wasn't allowed to toss his tuppence worth of nonsense into the Labour Party policy pot.

The last time I paid Labour Party fees it felt like I was taking on most of Len's burden anyway and that was almost a decade ago.

Surely Labour under SKS offers you exactly what you want politically Pete.

Without 150k members subs and a big reduction in Union monies SKS needs monies from supporters like yourself urgently.

It is unconscionable to imagine Starmer might rely on voluntary payments from members rather than the highly anachronistic trade union levy which was not only more or less extorted from union members regardless of their political views but put overwhelming power in the hands of a few scarcely elected, usually corrupt and frequently somewhat sinister union barons.

How on Earth could he survive the shame?

Which members?

He has lost 150k of those too and counting

I'm one of them but I think Corbyn is a whopper, so what is your point?

My point is Lab is a financial basket case under SKS and down over £2m on membership fees

and now Unions are sick of funding a leader that doesnt suppport Union causes and withdrawing their financial support too

So far there is no alternative funding forthcoming but i am sure CHB will have a cunning plan?

Well, that's adding value, surely? From basket case to financial basket case?

After the antisemitism and abuse under Corbyn, they've gone from morally bankrupt to fiscally . . .

Leon said:

Thanks for the kind remarks. I’m not dying (I hope) but it isn’t pleasant. The main symptoms are intense fatigue, chest pain and a dry, scratchy cough - plus general aches etc. I have slept 32 of the last 36 hours. Mad. These are the signs of Omicron as reported from SA. My senses of smell and taste are fine

I’ve ordered a PCR which should arrive tomorrow so then I’ll know. It’s certainly something best avoided - whatever it is

Sounds nasty. Drink plenty of water, take paracetamol and rest.

Mexicanpete said:

BigRich said:

bigjohnowls said:

UNITE to fund National Care Service for Scotland initiative and reduce its funding to Lab to the £1m affiliation sum.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/02/labours-main-union-backer-says-it-will-cut-political-funding

for anybody who wats some numbers to put that in to context:

In the last year for which numbers are published:

Unite political fund spent £9,474,000 out of which £7,607,000 went directly to the Labour party, £1,540,000 went indirectly to support the labour party and 372,000 did not go to the labour party. At the end of the year the Unite political fund had £16,462,000 in the bank about and an income of £7,200,000

link below:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/967153/795T_2019.pdf

Grace and favour houses, cars and mistresses didn't come cheap you know.

I can imagine anyone would demand serious money in order to come with Len McCluskey.

Monkeys said:

BigRich said:

Thinking about the new Omicron variant and the vaccine that is being develop to be optimised to beet it:

The original Physer variant was developed in a weekend, yes just a weekend, in January 2019. All it took was for the genetic code to be spliced in to the mRNA technology. ok maybe a bit more complex than that, but not a lot.

it then took 9 months to test and get approval of the vaccine. and a bit longer to ramp up production.

What will become the Omicron vaccine probably already exists, and Phser wording with the FDA and other regulators think and hope they can have it approved in 100 days.

I would like to take it now, and not wait till its been approved, I know there are risks, and we don't know exactly how effective it would be, but I would like to take it now, as to me that's an acceptable risk/reward payoff, I'm happy to sine a legal waver to explanate the makers of the vaccine, and I'm happy to pay for it with my own money.

Questions:

1. Should I have the right to take a medication like this that has not been approved?
2. If not why not?
3. Would anybody else join me if this was an option?

I think Classic Dom, before the select committee, suggested that they could have speeded up approval for the vaccines by skipping straight to jabbing a few thousand people with both the vaccine then COVID, and paying £1 000 000 to the families of any test subjects that died. I think it's good, but I'd pull the lever in the trolley problem.

It is worth remembering, though, that one doesn't recieve Covid intravenously - it's a disease of the upper respiratory tract. So, it's by no means clear that success of a vaccine at clearing it from the bloodstream would be the same as from lungs. (IIRC CureVac fell down on this very issue.)

TheScreamingEagles said:

Mexicanpete said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

TOPPING said:

I don't think that Boris will necessarily go down in history as being a great PM.

Not just because I think he is a useless twat, but because if you think about it, "he got Brexit done" - no. Well he was in the car when it drove over the line and the history books will talk about a short while of back and forth while the details were hammered out but the Great British Public, given the opportunity by Cameron, got Brexit done. And those history books might point out, as they do today about, say, the Great Depression or the GFC, the UK's relative position following Brexit and that position might be unfavourable.

Then there's Covid. Again we will have to wait for all the stats but at the moment they don't seem hugely favourable or hugely unfavourable. Middle of the pack, with better than Eastern Europe and towards the bottom of Western Europe, for example. So not a "great" performance by any measure.

The economy? Would have to take a look but doesn't seem anything special.

So what would be great about his PM-ship.

Boris will without doubt be always known as the Prime Minister of Brexit and covid and while not being great will be spoken about for many years to come

We still talk about Lord North today.

And Neville Chamberlain.

Jeremy Irons is playing Neville Chamberlain in new Netflix drama, Munich - The Edge of War, out in January

StuartDickson said:

ydoethur said:

StuartDickson said:

Gallowgate said:

StuartDickson said:

IshmaelZ said:

StuartDickson said:

IshmaelZ said:

tlg86 said:

FPT:

turbotubbs said:

BlancheLivermore said:

Important message for car-twats:

Sarah Phelps
@PhelpsieSarah
I was a bit of a dick about doing the speed awareness course but I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Shocked by how much I drive like a stressy careless twat. Thinking about doing an advanced course or something like that so I’m not a car-twat.
https://twitter.com/PhelpsieSarah/status/1466324421027770371

I did one earlier this year after being done for 27 mph in a 20 mph zone. Some interesting points, but I'm still bitter about the location.

In some ways driving is to easy - so people find they can all too easily drift off in their attention.

I drove through Hampton recently and I was so lucky that I was behind a local who knew it was a 20 limit. There are cameras both ways and they catch loads of people. Curiously, Google Street View is messed up just at bit where the cameras are:

https://tinyurl.com/bdzyz8cj

For me, the issue is that driving is routine. We do it without incident for the vast majority of time.

Those 20 limits are an utter disgrace, in my opinion.

As per previous thread I hired a Ford Puma the other day which knew, and limited itself to, the speed limit. This was in Scotland where all towns seem to be 20 mph. Must have saved me several tickets.

That’s one of the reasons I love our Volvos. Their smart safety system must have saved me a fortune over the years. The cars have rock-solid info on all speed limit zones, and warn you if you’re going too fast when changing to a new zone.

Waze is almost as good, but maybe less user-friendly than an in-built system.

Our other car has no such system and I often find myself driving far too fast.

The mismatching cars can be a killer. I did £1500 damage to a land rover a few years ago because I expected it to have reversing sensors and it didn't. Thinking you have ABS when you haven't can also be problematic.

Snap.

Our Mini was the first of our cars in about ten years not to have reversing sensors. Various family members have now smashed the rear bumper on three occasions, so I can’t be bothered repairing the latest incident. It’s going in March anyway.

Weird, I've never had a car with reversing sensors.

I’m a huge fan.

I prefer to be a full aircon unit.

Not a full heat pump?

I have central heating.

Leon said:

TOPPING said:

Leon said:

Incidentally, I am holed up in a beautiful little cottage by the river Monnow in Craswall, west Herefordshire, with a suspected case of Omicron

No joke

Hope you feel better soon. Interesting as the Nature article posted by @Chris said that PCR tests were only to a degree able to identify Omicron. Who is doing the suspecting?

111 England

Tho they didn’t say “omicron” they just said “quite probably covid get tested immediately”

I’m the one making the leap, not just because I want to be a fashionable early adopter but because my symptoms are spookily like the ones described by South African GPs

I’m praying it’s just a bug, I can do without long Covid and quarantines

I just had this this week. Bed for 4 days. I did have loss of taste. Blood sats at 92-93% for 48 hrs. Breathy chest. PCR result - negative. This despite a quarter of my kids school teachers currently being off with covid. Most odd.

moonshine said:

Leon said:

TOPPING said:

Leon said:

Incidentally, I am holed up in a beautiful little cottage by the river Monnow in Craswall, west Herefordshire, with a suspected case of Omicron

No joke

Hope you feel better soon. Interesting as the Nature article posted by @Chris said that PCR tests were only to a degree able to identify Omicron. Who is doing the suspecting?

111 England

Tho they didn’t say “omicron” they just said “quite probably covid get tested immediately”

I’m the one making the leap, not just because I want to be a fashionable early adopter but because my symptoms are spookily like the ones described by South African GPs

I’m praying it’s just a bug, I can do without long Covid and quarantines

I just had this this week. Bed for 4 days. I did have loss of taste. Blood sats at 92-93% for 48 hrs. Breathy chest. PCR result - negative. This despite a quarter of my kids school teachers currently being off with covid. Most odd.

Have you done a PCR test before? If not (without disrespect to you personally) is there a chance you messed it up? I've had to do three and I've never been confident I got it right.

rottenborough said:

Julia Hartley-Brewer
@JuliaHB1
·
1h
I thought the whole point of the EU (or so EU leaders tell us) is that it's the bulwark against fascism and war returning to the continent of Europe...

Yet Italy, Austria, Germany and now France are going down the road to fascism, declaring war on their own people.

Terrifying.

===

Is mandatory vax fascism? Sounds like a good essay question for PPE at an Oxford college.

What I find pretty astonishing is that she ignores the fact that many non-EU places have also gone down the mandatory (or effectively mandatory) route.

In LA, you kids cannot attend a public school unless they are fully vaccinated. For all but the wealthiest parents, that's a mandatory vax requirement.

ydoethur said:

moonshine said:

Leon said:

TOPPING said:

Leon said:

Incidentally, I am holed up in a beautiful little cottage by the river Monnow in Craswall, west Herefordshire, with a suspected case of Omicron

No joke

Hope you feel better soon. Interesting as the Nature article posted by @Chris said that PCR tests were only to a degree able to identify Omicron. Who is doing the suspecting?

111 England

Tho they didn’t say “omicron” they just said “quite probably covid get tested immediately”

I’m the one making the leap, not just because I want to be a fashionable early adopter but because my symptoms are spookily like the ones described by South African GPs

I’m praying it’s just a bug, I can do without long Covid and quarantines

I just had this this week. Bed for 4 days. I did have loss of taste. Blood sats at 92-93% for 48 hrs. Breathy chest. PCR result - negative. This despite a quarter of my kids school teachers currently being off with covid. Most odd.

Have you done a PCR test before? If not (without disrespect to you personally) is there a chance you messed it up? I've had to do three and I've never been confident I got it right.

I’ve done a few but never got a positive. I made sure I got no saliva on it. Did it until my nose tickled but who knows if was high enough up there.

With all this money sloshing around the genomics industry, you sort of wish they’d take the chance to properly catalogue everything floating around.

jonny83 said:

If the data/studies continue to show that Omicron has a really high infection rate (estimates of up to 5 times that of Delta) and can break through immunity both naturally occurred through exposure and to a slightly lesser degree vaccine acquired immunity then we could be in some major trouble this winter.

I could easily see a scenario of us having to implement more stringent measures to try and buy us time until a vaccine is tweaked to combat the variant.

I don't think you can rule out another lockdown...

The government cannot, financially, cannot afford another lockdown.

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Typically great (if depressing) thread on Omicron from JBM:

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1466480113487392769

I\m old enough to remember when (about 5 days ago) you were calling me a panty-wetting hysteric for freaking out about Nu (this is so long ago it was still called Nu!) and I insisted that this fucker gave me bad vibes. You then said “it’s just another scare story from South Africa, wake me up when it’s causing hospital admissions”

Oh.

I change my mind when the facts change. What do you do?

Whilst it's was disappointing but not altogether that surprising to see a *Labour* mayor condemn industrial action, it's welcome to see Sharon Graham step up to the plate on behalf of workers.

Whist it was disappointing to watch "Labour" Councillors in Sheffield cross a picket line in Sheffield its good to see see Sharon Graham step up to the plate divert funds from Labour to left wing causes that support workers

Whilst it was disappointing that a "Labour" leader decided to cosy up to business and stay almost completely silent on workers disputes its good to see see Sharon Graham step up to the plate and put Members monies direct to Socialist causes

TheScreamingEagles said:

jonny83 said:

If the data/studies continue to show that Omicron has a really high infection rate (estimates of up to 5 times that of Delta) and can break through immunity both naturally occurred through exposure and to a slightly lesser degree vaccine acquired immunity then we could be in some major trouble this winter.

I could easily see a scenario of us having to implement more stringent measures to try and buy us time until a vaccine is tweaked to combat the variant.

I don't think you can rule out another lockdown...

The government cannot, financially, cannot afford another lockdown.

The treasury is issuing 50 year debt at 0.6%.

https://www.ft.com/content/056c2bb6-1ba7-46ad-ab43-e5b21e1c379d

It can easily afford another lockdown. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, though.

OnlyLivingBoy said:

moonshine said:

Leon said:

TOPPING said:

Leon said:

Incidentally, I am holed up in a beautiful little cottage by the river Monnow in Craswall, west Herefordshire, with a suspected case of Omicron

No joke

Hope you feel better soon. Interesting as the Nature article posted by @Chris said that PCR tests were only to a degree able to identify Omicron. Who is doing the suspecting?

111 England

Tho they didn’t say “omicron” they just said “quite probably covid get tested immediately”

I’m the one making the leap, not just because I want to be a fashionable early adopter but because my symptoms are spookily like the ones described by South African GPs

I’m praying it’s just a bug, I can do without long Covid and quarantines

I just had this this week. Bed for 4 days. I did have loss of taste. Blood sats at 92-93% for 48 hrs. Breathy chest. PCR result - negative. This despite a quarter of my kids school teachers currently being off with covid. Most odd.

Take another test. Took two PCR tests to get a positive result in my case (by which time I had three positive LFTs). I think there is an issue with false negatives with PCRs.

I sort of wonder what the point is now. Don’t feel great in the evenings on my chest but I’m hopefully on the mend. Not been fit to leave the house anyway and am on Day 7 tomorrow.

Leon said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Leon said:

Thanks for the kind remarks. I’m not dying (I hope) but it isn’t pleasant. The main symptoms are intense fatigue, chest pain and a dry, scratchy cough - plus general aches etc. I have slept 32 of the last 36 hours. Mad. These are the signs of Omicron as reported from SA. My senses of smell and taste are fine

I’ve ordered a PCR which should arrive tomorrow so then I’ll know. It’s certainly something best avoided - whatever it is

Dude, that's just getting old.

Hah

This description of Omicron does sound exactly like my lurgy

https://twitter.com/igtamil/status/1466399361487626240?s=21

Big hug emoji Leon. 👩‍❤️‍👨

Anabobazina said:

jonny83 said:

If the data/studies continue to show that Omicron has a really high infection rate (estimates of up to 5 times that of Delta) and can break through immunity both naturally occurred through exposure and to a slightly lesser degree vaccine acquired immunity then we could be in some major trouble this winter.

I could easily see a scenario of us having to implement more stringent measures to try and buy us time until a vaccine is tweaked to combat the variant.

I don't think you can rule out another lockdown...

Hands up who is more scared of another lockdown than the virus itself?

I'm not afraid of either.

Both are simply as Kinabalu is fond of saying "not happening events".

The virus is not a concern post-vaccines, let alone post-boosters.

Sunak and the 1922 won't tolerate another lockdown and Boris would be out on his ear, quite deservedly so, if one happened.

LostPassword said:

Malmesbury said:

LostPassword said:

Charles said:

ping said:

Glad the killers of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes have been found guilty.

For all those who expend their energy worrying about the theoretical harm being done to trans kids, we’ll, there are some very real cases of extreme child abuse like Arthur’s that should worry us more.

Just my 2p.

Btw - serious fuckup by Solihull council social workers.

The odd point that I saw was he grandmother had photos but the social workers told her they didn’t want to see them

The social workers saw the photos and did a visit just 26 hours later - and then said they couldn't see any bruises on Arthur. They had a medical expert testify that it was impossible for the bruises to have cleared up that quickly.

This is a bit strange and something that the Independent investigation into social services that will now happen will doubtless look into.

Lessons Will Be learned.

Some junior people will get the boot.

Some senior people will have to be let go, provided that higher paying, more responsible jobs can be found for them. Some assistance will be required to help them carry their golden goodbye settlements.....

Cases like this do make you wonder why they keep on getting it so wrong, but then we only ever hear about the cases that go wrong enough to make the news. Maybe there are lots of kids saved from horrifying cruelty every day that obviously never get reported?

My suggestion to deal with the problem that prosecutions were hard to bring against the apparatchiks involved in Rotherham* was this - put them all on the Sex Offenders registers.

*Quite a number boosted that they were untouchable since records had been destroyed.

rcs1000 said:

rottenborough said:

Julia Hartley-Brewer
@JuliaHB1
·
1h
I thought the whole point of the EU (or so EU leaders tell us) is that it's the bulwark against fascism and war returning to the continent of Europe...

Yet Italy, Austria, Germany and now France are going down the road to fascism, declaring war on their own people.

Terrifying.

===

Is mandatory vax fascism? Sounds like a good essay question for PPE at an Oxford college.

What I find pretty astonishing is that she ignores the fact that many non-EU places have also gone down the mandatory (or effectively mandatory) route.

In LA, you kids cannot attend a public school unless they are fully vaccinated. For all but the wealthiest parents, that's a mandatory vax requirement.

She strikes me as the sort who would consider LA to be a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah so I'm not sure that proves much.

Leon said:

Thanks for the kind remarks. I’m not dying (I hope) but it isn’t pleasant. The main symptoms are intense fatigue, chest pain and a dry, scratchy cough - plus general aches etc. I have slept 32 of the last 36 hours. Mad. These are the signs of Omicron as reported from SA. My senses of smell and taste are fine

I’ve ordered a PCR which should arrive tomorrow so then I’ll know. It’s certainly something best avoided - whatever it is

Didn't you have covid in the very very early stages of the covid crisis. Like so before the beginnings that you went to PHE and they said maybe and the tests were shit and was not positive or something?

Mexicanpete said:

Philip_Thompson said:

ydoethur said:

bigjohnowls said:

Gallowgate said:

bigjohnowls said:

ydoethur said:

bigjohnowls said:

Mexicanpete said:

bigjohnowls said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Labour’s biggest funder, Unite, will cut political donations to the party and divert the money to other leftwing causes, the union’s new general secretary, Sharon Graham, has warned.

Good perhaps Mexican Pete, Southam Observer Jonathon and CHB can make up the shortfall

Good to get a name check.

Starmer can at least say he isn't in Sharon Graham's pocket.

I was genuinely offended by Len threatening to turn the taps off if he wasn't allowed to toss his tuppence worth of nonsense into the Labour Party policy pot.

The last time I paid Labour Party fees it felt like I was taking on most of Len's burden anyway and that was almost a decade ago.

Surely Labour under SKS offers you exactly what you want politically Pete.

Without 150k members subs and a big reduction in Union monies SKS needs monies from supporters like yourself urgently.

It is unconscionable to imagine Starmer might rely on voluntary payments from members rather than the highly anachronistic trade union levy which was not only more or less extorted from union members regardless of their political views but put overwhelming power in the hands of a few scarcely elected, usually corrupt and frequently somewhat sinister union barons.

How on Earth could he survive the shame?

Which members?

He has lost 150k of those too and counting

I'm one of them but I think Corbyn is a whopper, so what is your point?

My point is Lab is a financial basket case under SKS and down over £2m on membership fees

and now Unions are sick of funding a leader that doesnt suppport Union causes and withdrawing their financial support too

So far there is no alternative funding forthcoming but i am sure CHB will have a cunning plan?

Well, that's adding value, surely? From basket case to financial basket case?

After the antisemitism and abuse under Corbyn, they've gone from morally bankrupt to fiscally . . .

By the time Johnson is done with us, no opposition party will require a campaign war chest.

Because they'll have all given up by then?

StuartDickson said:

HYUFD said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Mexicanpete said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

TOPPING said:

I don't think that Boris will necessarily go down in history as being a great PM.

Not just because I think he is a useless twat, but because if you think about it, "he got Brexit done" - no. Well he was in the car when it drove over the line and the history books will talk about a short while of back and forth while the details were hammered out but the Great British Public, given the opportunity by Cameron, got Brexit done. And those history books might point out, as they do today about, say, the Great Depression or the GFC, the UK's relative position following Brexit and that position might be unfavourable.

Then there's Covid. Again we will have to wait for all the stats but at the moment they don't seem hugely favourable or hugely unfavourable. Middle of the pack, with better than Eastern Europe and towards the bottom of Western Europe, for example. So not a "great" performance by any measure.

The economy? Would have to take a look but doesn't seem anything special.

So what would be great about his PM-ship.

Boris will without doubt be always known as the Prime Minister of Brexit and covid and while not being great will be spoken about for many years to come

We still talk about Lord North today.

And Neville Chamberlain.

Jeremy Irons is playing Neville Chamberlain in new Netflix drama, Munich - The Edge of War, out in January

Who was the better man: Chamberlain or your boy Franco

Chamberlain did do some good social reforms and bought time for rearmament, Franco at least kept the Communists out

OBS prediction:
Con 42
Lab 31
RefUK 16
Oth 6
LD 5

HYUFD said:

StuartDickson said:

HYUFD said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Mexicanpete said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

TOPPING said:

I don't think that Boris will necessarily go down in history as being a great PM.

Not just because I think he is a useless twat, but because if you think about it, "he got Brexit done" - no. Well he was in the car when it drove over the line and the history books will talk about a short while of back and forth while the details were hammered out but the Great British Public, given the opportunity by Cameron, got Brexit done. And those history books might point out, as they do today about, say, the Great Depression or the GFC, the UK's relative position following Brexit and that position might be unfavourable.

Then there's Covid. Again we will have to wait for all the stats but at the moment they don't seem hugely favourable or hugely unfavourable. Middle of the pack, with better than Eastern Europe and towards the bottom of Western Europe, for example. So not a "great" performance by any measure.

The economy? Would have to take a look but doesn't seem anything special.

So what would be great about his PM-ship.

Boris will without doubt be always known as the Prime Minister of Brexit and covid and while not being great will be spoken about for many years to come

We still talk about Lord North today.

And Neville Chamberlain.

Jeremy Irons is playing Neville Chamberlain in new Netflix drama, Munich - The Edge of War, out in January

Who was the better man: Chamberlain or your boy Franco

Chamberlain did do some good social reforms and bought time for rearmament, Franco at least kept the Communists out

Nicholas II, unlike Peter the Great and Henry VIII, was at least a good husband.

NEW THREAD

moonshine said:

MoonRabbit said:

Leon said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Leon said:

Thanks for the kind remarks. I’m not dying (I hope) but it isn’t pleasant. The main symptoms are intense fatigue, chest pain and a dry, scratchy cough - plus general aches etc. I have slept 32 of the last 36 hours. Mad. These are the signs of Omicron as reported from SA. My senses of smell and taste are fine

I’ve ordered a PCR which should arrive tomorrow so then I’ll know. It’s certainly something best avoided - whatever it is

Dude, that's just getting old.

Hah

This description of Omicron does sound exactly like my lurgy

https://twitter.com/igtamil/status/1466399361487626240?s=21

Big hug emoji Leon. 👩‍❤️‍👨

Perhaps it goes without saying but stay off the sauce Leon! Even if you’ve felt better for a week give a it a few days after that, is the advice from all the pissheads I know who caught covid

Go to bed with our blessings and get the rest you need Leon.

HYUFD said:

StuartDickson said:

HYUFD said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Mexicanpete said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

TOPPING said:

I don't think that Boris will necessarily go down in history as being a great PM.

Not just because I think he is a useless twat, but because if you think about it, "he got Brexit done" - no. Well he was in the car when it drove over the line and the history books will talk about a short while of back and forth while the details were hammered out but the Great British Public, given the opportunity by Cameron, got Brexit done. And those history books might point out, as they do today about, say, the Great Depression or the GFC, the UK's relative position following Brexit and that position might be unfavourable.

Then there's Covid. Again we will have to wait for all the stats but at the moment they don't seem hugely favourable or hugely unfavourable. Middle of the pack, with better than Eastern Europe and towards the bottom of Western Europe, for example. So not a "great" performance by any measure.

The economy? Would have to take a look but doesn't seem anything special.

So what would be great about his PM-ship.

Boris will without doubt be always known as the Prime Minister of Brexit and covid and while not being great will be spoken about for many years to come

We still talk about Lord North today.

And Neville Chamberlain.

Jeremy Irons is playing Neville Chamberlain in new Netflix drama, Munich - The Edge of War, out in January

Who was the better man: Chamberlain or your boy Franco

Chamberlain did do some good social reforms and bought time for rearmament, Franco at least kept the Communists out

By the power conferred on me by Godwin, I must tell you so did AH, until 1945 anyway.

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Typically great (if depressing) thread on Omicron from JBM:

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1466480113487392769

I\m old enough to remember when (about 5 days ago) you were calling me a panty-wetting hysteric for freaking out about Nu (this is so long ago it was still called Nu!) and I insisted that this fucker gave me bad vibes. You then said “it’s just another scare story from South Africa, wake me up when it’s causing hospital admissions”

Oh.

I change my mind when the facts change. What do you do?

Fall ill, it seems

StuartDickson said:

Carnyx said:

Fairliered said:

Carnyx said:

NickPalmer said:

Have we discussed the weird Scotsman poll? Sudden bounce for independence, now 55-45. Personal ratings Sturgeon +20, Sarwar +17 (also a bounce upwards), Ross -27, Johnson -64 (the lowest rating ever recorded by Ipsos-Mori) SNP 52 (+2), Con 19 (-1), Lab 17(-5!) constituency, 43/20/15 and Greens 12 regional. So a typical Scot is an Indy-loving, Sarwar-loving, Labour-hating voter.

Apparently.

Several times. Most recently when HYUFD insisted on counting the NDs against indy. But don't forget Mr Ross was caught not, erm,. bothering to declare his earnings from (a) his second apparently full time job as a representative in another parliament, AND his third job as a footie referee.

Edit: but that SLAB discrepancy is odd.

Scots look at Anas Sarwar and think he’s not too bad (compared to his predecessors). Then they look at their local Labour councillors and think “I’m not voting for that bunch of incompetent troughers”.

Might be other reasons for the latter, too, such as being second rate Tory Unionists (as in Aberdeen). But it's not as if, say, Mesdames/Messrs Murphy, Dugdale, Leonard etc. had the gravitas of, say, John Smith or Donald Dewar - or Wendy Alexander.

In retrospect, the much maligned Wendy was a giant compared to Lamont, Leonard, Murphy etc. She hugely pissed off her demented boss Gordon Brown, which cost her her job. But history has proven her right. And him stark raving.

Wendy was so much better than her more famous, but smug and slimy, brother.