She’s completely right, that people from other countries are wondering why the PM being given a cake on his birthday is a big story.
“There is more than a shred of Remainiac venom in the relentless condemnation of Britain still afoot. It’s there in Partygate, a matter so trivial, in the scheme of things, that no other ruling party in the world would be brought to its knees by it. It’s there in the reaction to the Rwanda asylum plan (a policy that has yet to be pulled off without disaster, but which, based on initial reports into what the asylum seekers can expect there, is not as awful and inhumane as the Britain-haters want to believe). And it’s there, mystifyingly, in our handling of Ukraine.
“Britain’s self-loathing problem hangs itself on whatever is going. In the case of Partygate, it’s a hugely over-egged question of which ministers secretly consumed which foodstuffs in company, where and for how long during lockdown. There is some understandable anger among parts of the electorate over this, but in the main it has simply become an excuse for distorting or drowning out everything else going on. Like trying to come up with a workable border policy. Or our exemplary attempts to save Europe from the grotesque ambition of a malign, nuke-happy Russia.
“The most embarrassing thing of all about Partygate is that in almost any other country, it wouldn’t even bubble to the surface. This is partly because most places are actually in worse shape than Britain, and next to the unrest and discontent they face, a scandal over cakes and ale would be, well, a luxury. A joke.”
What does cake have to do with it? Breaking the law is bad, doesn't have to be cake. The "its just cake" proponents will look like fools when he gets fined for the party where he is pouring the drinks. For the party where he is wearing the party hat. For the party where he is waving the beer bottle at the camera. Where he is pictured belting out Abba on kareoke. We know these all happened and we know the police are processing the ever-larger FPNs he will be slapped with.
The real issue he has is misleading parliament. Had he said "I've been an idiot, I nearly died, I was reacting to that" he may have got away with it. Instead it "done nothing, only cake, bloody woke remoaners".
A big 48 hours where we find out if JRM/HY amorality has properly taken root in the New Party.
He’s not helped when he says as recently as last week that he can’t rule out lockdowns again in the future. No! He should be ruling that out. “The reason I broke the laws is because they were an ass, I apologise for presiding over their implementation and so long as I’m here, we’ll never commit such illiberal evidence free measures into law again”.
He can't rule that out. Of course he can't. We don't know what diseases might come along - or indeed what covid might do encouraged by the mixing of war and, it looks like, famine.
Doesn't matter if right wing Tories do a Violet Bott and thream and thream till they're thick. It is simply not possible to make such a promise. In fact, given his reputation, I'm surprised he's not simply doing the easy thing.
Dunno why you think I’ll a right wing Tory. But it’s a simple fact that many measures were implemented over the two year period without any proper debate about the costs and benefits. Equally true for measures that they failed to implement. Your response confirms in my mind that lockdown policies were the biggest own goal to Western civilisation since 1914 and it’s going to take many decades to cure it (I.e. for the fiercest backers of the idea to die off).
Sweden ruled out lockdowns on a matter of principle and got through the pandemic just fine.
We should never again tolerate our fundamental liberties being stolen like that again. It was a horrendous mistake in hindsight.
If you want an example of somewhere that didn't have a national lockdown but did weather the pandemic better, look to Japan. The way to avoid lockdowns is to do other things well: good mask wearing, good test and trace, good support for those isolating... and reacting fast! See https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsfs.2021.0079 for more.
I'm conflicted about this. In one way I'm surprised that it's only 25% given that they seem to have lots of boozy parties. But in another way it would be much easier for all of us if 100% of the civil servants at the DfE were not in the office at any time ever.
As for going back in full time, I think the man's a fool. It would be better to look at selling off some of the government office space to see if we could raise some cash to make even a tiny payment be it but a drop in the ocean of our pandemic bills.
You would think that a man whose job is government efficiency would be all over this, especially given that the private sector seems fairly clear about what it wants to do.
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
The analysts I’m following on Twitter all seem to say that Russia is digging its own grave with this assault, not having sufficient forces to meet their goals and in turn leaving their supply chains vulnerable, all to meet an artificial political deadline of 9th May for Putin to be able to claim some sort of victory. Battle of Kiev mark 2.
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
Set against that, the Ukrainians have minute-by-minute intel on the exact locations of Russian troops. Great for hit-and-run guerilla tactics. Especially when you have far better defensive kit than the Russians have offensive.
If Russia loses another 200 tanks in short order, they are not in a good place.
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
It isn't surprising news - once they failed to take most of Ukraine, concentrating on the East was the obvious thing to do.
That the Sun needed to specify men's willies is presumably some sort of argument in the trans debate but I've no idea on which side.
Cry bollocks on this report, The Sun! India is supposedly above the British member, but India needed to have smaller condoms because the international standard sized ones, well, you can imagine....
That the Sun needed to specify men's willies is presumably some sort of argument in the trans debate but I've no idea on which side.
Cry bollocks on this report, The Sun! India is supposedly above the British member, but India needed to have smaller condoms because the international standard sized ones, well, you can imagine....
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
The analysts I’m following on Twitter all seem to say that Russia is digging its own grave with this assault, not having sufficient forces to meet their goals and in turn leaving their supply chains vulnerable, all to meet an artificial political deadline of 9th May for Putin to be able to claim some sort of victory. Battle of Kiev mark 2.
Yes, they’ve not really regrouped, they’ve just travelled overland in Russia from Northern Ukraine to Eastern Ukraine, with each battalion still short of their earlier losses.
They’re probably going to be sitting ducks in short order, now that the Ukranians know the area of action is cleared of Ukranian civilians.
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
The analysts I’m following on Twitter all seem to say that Russia is digging its own grave with this assault, not having sufficient forces to meet their goals and in turn leaving their supply chains vulnerable, all to meet an artificial political deadline of 9th May for Putin to be able to claim some sort of victory. Battle of Kiev mark 2.
I am struggling to see their supply chain problems when they are fighting from territory that they have held for years, maybe in the northern wing. They seem to have reinforced with new units from the east too. I am doubtful we got enough heavy equipment to Ukraine to help and it will be vulnerable to attrition from air attacks. As I say, I hope I am wrong.
I'm conflicted about this. In one way I'm surprised that it's only 25% given that they seem to have lots of boozy parties. But in another way it would be much easier for all of us if 100% of the civil servants at the DfE were not in the office at any time ever.
As for going back in full time, I think the man's a fool. It would be better to look at selling off some of the government office space to see if we could raise some cash to make even a tiny payment be it but a drop in the ocean of our pandemic bills.
Maybe it is because they have cancelled the parties
That the Sun needed to specify men's willies is presumably some sort of argument in the trans debate but I've no idea on which side.
Cry bollocks on this report, The Sun! India is supposedly above the British member, but India needed to have smaller condoms because the international standard sized ones, well, you can imagine....
Mr. Malmesbury, Mensa's only one such club. There are also the Mega and Prometheus Societies.
The Diogenes Club ?
...There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubbable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger's Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere..
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
Set against that, the Ukrainians have minute-by-minute intel on the exact locations of Russian troops. Great for hit-and-run guerilla tactics. Especially when you have far better defensive kit than the Russians have offensive.
If Russia loses another 200 tanks in short order, they are not in a good place.
Probably also "minute-by-minute" advice from a pentagonal building thousands of miles away stuffed full of American generals.
I agree you've raised relevant issues, but the meme is often "It's Big Pharma, innit? It's all about money."
In this case, the issue seems to be in the prescribing. A couple of people here have commented that they took the drug (or similar) and there were warnings about exactly this issue from the doctors they saw.
She’s completely right, that people from other countries are wondering why the PM being given a cake on his birthday is a big story.
“There is more than a shred of Remainiac venom in the relentless condemnation of Britain still afoot. It’s there in Partygate, a matter so trivial, in the scheme of things, that no other ruling party in the world would be brought to its knees by it. It’s there in the reaction to the Rwanda asylum plan (a policy that has yet to be pulled off without disaster, but which, based on initial reports into what the asylum seekers can expect there, is not as awful and inhumane as the Britain-haters want to believe). And it’s there, mystifyingly, in our handling of Ukraine.
“Britain’s self-loathing problem hangs itself on whatever is going. In the case of Partygate, it’s a hugely over-egged question of which ministers secretly consumed which foodstuffs in company, where and for how long during lockdown. There is some understandable anger among parts of the electorate over this, but in the main it has simply become an excuse for distorting or drowning out everything else going on. Like trying to come up with a workable border policy. Or our exemplary attempts to save Europe from the grotesque ambition of a malign, nuke-happy Russia.
“The most embarrassing thing of all about Partygate is that in almost any other country, it wouldn’t even bubble to the surface. This is partly because most places are actually in worse shape than Britain, and next to the unrest and discontent they face, a scandal over cakes and ale would be, well, a luxury. A joke.”
What does cake have to do with it? Breaking the law is bad, doesn't have to be cake. The "its just cake" proponents will look like fools when he gets fined for the party where he is pouring the drinks. For the party where he is wearing the party hat. For the party where he is waving the beer bottle at the camera. Where he is pictured belting out Abba on kareoke. We know these all happened and we know the police are processing the ever-larger FPNs he will be slapped with.
The real issue he has is misleading parliament. Had he said "I've been an idiot, I nearly died, I was reacting to that" he may have got away with it. Instead it "done nothing, only cake, bloody woke remoaners".
A big 48 hours where we find out if JRM/HY amorality has properly taken root in the New Party.
He’s not helped when he says as recently as last week that he can’t rule out lockdowns again in the future. No! He should be ruling that out. “The reason I broke the laws is because they were an ass, I apologise for presiding over their implementation and so long as I’m here, we’ll never commit such illiberal evidence free measures into law again”.
He can't rule that out. Of course he can't. We don't know what diseases might come along - or indeed what covid might do encouraged by the mixing of war and, it looks like, famine.
Doesn't matter if right wing Tories do a Violet Bott and thream and thream till they're thick. It is simply not possible to make such a promise. In fact, given his reputation, I'm surprised he's not simply doing the easy thing.
Dunno why you think I’ll a right wing Tory. But it’s a simple fact that many measures were implemented over the two year period without any proper debate about the costs and benefits. Equally true for measures that they failed to implement. Your response confirms in my mind that lockdown policies were the biggest own goal to Western civilisation since 1914 and it’s going to take many decades to cure it (I.e. for the fiercest backers of the idea to die off).
Sweden ruled out lockdowns on a matter of principle and got through the pandemic just fine.
We should never again tolerate our fundamental liberties being stolen like that again. It was a horrendous mistake in hindsight.
If you want an example of somewhere that didn't have a national lockdown but did weather the pandemic better, look to Japan. The way to avoid lockdowns is to do other things well: good mask wearing, good test and trace, good support for those isolating... and reacting fast! See https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsfs.2021.0079 for more.
People say Sweden did well and get shouted at ( @Andy_Cooke provides good evidence to the contrary).
However, much of the shouting is "look at Norway and Denmark". Against which Sweden did very badly. However, looking at the EU as a whole it did pretty well, not to say better than many/most.
Not having mandatory measures also might (might) have avoided some of the subsequent "invisible" problems that are plaguing other countries now such as delayed procedures, mental health issues, and other non-Covid health issues that are now overwhelming or threatening to many health systems including, apparently, our own.
As to "fast is crucial" well I can easily understand Boris' reluctance to close down the UK. You are absolutely right on test and trace and good support for those isolating; we fell woefully short on that (no idea how/what Sweden did).
For me perhaps the biggest issue we had was the indecision in government that was played out between, literally, the Today prog in the morning and PM in the afternoon when the government's positions/policies would reverse completely.
I'm conflicted about this. In one way I'm surprised that it's only 25% given that they seem to have lots of boozy parties. But in another way it would be much easier for all of us if 100% of the civil servants at the DfE were not in the office at any time ever.
As for going back in full time, I think the man's a fool. It would be better to look at selling off some of the government office space to see if we could raise some cash to make even a tiny payment be it but a drop in the ocean of our pandemic bills.
Maybe it is because they have cancelled the parties
You know, I never thought of that. So obvious, when it's pointed out...
Mr. Malmesbury, Mensa's only one such club. There are also the Mega and Prometheus Societies.
The Diogenes Club ?
...There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubbable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger's Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere..
That sounds like the very antithesis of the "Look! At! Me!" nature of Mensa.
I've always thought that such a club would be rather pleasant, on occasion.
I agree you've raised relevant issues, but the meme is often "It's Big Pharma, innit? It's all about money."
In this case, the issue seems to be in the prescribing. A couple of people here have commented that they took the drug (or similar) and there were warnings about exactly this issue from the doctors they saw.
Not Big Pharma in this case.
From wiki:
"Valproate was first made in 1881 and came into medical use in 1962. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines and is available as a generic medication"
Some people quite excited about a racial component to it, I note with interest.
As I said last night Jews have the highest verbal reasoning scores and East Asians the highest numerical reasoning scores, as pretty much all IQ scores prove.
Denying that is just denying fact
So you ignore all the evidence that show it isn't a fact and that other variables are in play or do you also believe that Nepal has an average IQ of 43 which makes the average person from Nepal literally an idiot which is plainly nonsense.
Do you also ignore the evidence I and @rcs1000 gave you about how anyone can be trained to perform 20 points better on an IQ test in the UK or USA.
We know you have an ideological agenda against IQ tests yes.
Even a 20 point improvement would not bridge the average 47 IQ points gap between say Japan and Mali
"IQ scores typically reflect the quality of education and resources available to people in their local geographic region. Areas of the world with lower IQ scores are typically poorer and less developed, particularly in the area of education, compared to countries with higher IQ scores."
Which does rather suggest that IQ tests are not a simple measure of intelligence, but rather a lot of other societal influences too.
I noticed Nepal was cited as a country of intellectually subnormal humans yesterday. I spent a month teaching there almost thirty years ago, and while the people were not obviously more stupid than the average Briton (I am tempted to say quite the opposite), the country was extremely poor and their education system was absolutely terrible.
I doubt my IQ is above average. It could well be below. I look at those tests and my brain just freezes over. My mind does not work in a way that amenable to taking them. They clearly measure something, but I am not sure exactly what it is.
It's easy to find ways to measure intelligence that don't suit this or that individual. I'm certain there isn't a universal measure.
Oh and anybody who tries to apply these things in bulk to whole groups of people is up to no good.
Gazza was one of the most intelligent footballers ever in terms of football spatial awareness. This is a form of intelligence. Hundreds of thousands of kids spend thousands of hours practising and don't reach anywhere near his level. But he is as daft as a brush in terms of conventional intelligence.
Equally I know some very, very bright academics who you might not trust to do something simple, like changing a fuse or cook a meal.
Intelligence is not consistent across different aspects, someone very strong at the type of intelligence measured by IQ tests may or may not be less strong at the types of intelligence that are not well measured by IQ tests.
Those who fetishize the tests tend to be those who still obsess about which school people went to. I wonder if they still need to convince themselves of how bright they are vs the rest of us. Truly bright people don't care about that and just live their lives.
I had a logic lecturer who was brilliant and also as daft as a brush. And two people who worked for me who were also brilliant (one was the only person to get a perfect score on the IQ test) but we're a nightmare to manage. It was like dealing with 3 year olds.
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
Set against that, the Ukrainians have minute-by-minute intel on the exact locations of Russian troops. Great for hit-and-run guerilla tactics. Especially when you have far better defensive kit than the Russians have offensive.
If Russia loses another 200 tanks in short order, they are not in a good place.
I'm not sure there is an army that is teaching "hit and run guerilla tactics" for anti-tank warfare. Generally the plan is to wait behind a hill and smack the tanks from the side. Then scoot.
The tanks aren't just going to roll in unaccompanied by the PBI. And I'm sure those reverse hillsides will be under observation also.
Edit: WARNING OUT OF DATE TACTICAL VIEW. As has been acknowledged by the PB war fighting experts. Do with it as you see fit.
Are there alternative drugs available for epilepsy ?
Women of child bearing age need to be informed of the risks of anything potentially teratogenic - with benefits and risks clearly laid out - removing warnings is scandalous.
There are, but most of the alternatives are also thought to be teratogenic. Safer ones like Lamogtrigine take some time to work, with risks in the transition period.
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
Set against that, the Ukrainians have minute-by-minute intel on the exact locations of Russian troops. Great for hit-and-run guerilla tactics. Especially when you have far better defensive kit than the Russians have offensive.
If Russia loses another 200 tanks in short order, they are not in a good place.
I'm not sure there is an army that is teaching "hit and run guerilla tactics" for anti-tank warfare. Generally the plan is to wait behind a hill and smack the tanks from the side. Then scoot.
The tanks aren't just going to roll in unaccompanied by the PBI. And I'm sure those reverse hillsides will be under observation also.
Edit: WARNING OUT OF DATE TACTICAL VIEW. As has been acknowledged by the PB war fighting experts. Do with it as you see fit.
The later bit about the infantry supporting the tanks and proper recon seems to be where Russia feel down in their initial invasion. At least according to a number of reports from Ukraine.
Interestingly, similar tactics resulted in heavy casualties in the initial part of the Chechen War.
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
Set against that, the Ukrainians have minute-by-minute intel on the exact locations of Russian troops. Great for hit-and-run guerilla tactics. Especially when you have far better defensive kit than the Russians have offensive.
If Russia loses another 200 tanks in short order, they are not in a good place.
Probably also "minute-by-minute" advice from a pentagonal building thousands of miles away stuffed full of American generals.
There’s definitely a story to be told after this war, about the Ukranian intelligence operation.
I suspect a lot of use of Western satellite and drone reconnaissance resources. The radio and phone jamming tools that were in evidence in the first few days of the war, that left the enemy unable to communicate, can only have come from a handful of countries. Possibly a few special forces around too, but used very carefully and well aware of the need to avoid capture.
I agree you've raised relevant issues, but the meme is often "It's Big Pharma, innit? It's all about money."
In this case, the issue seems to be in the prescribing. A couple of people here have commented that they took the drug (or similar) and there were warnings about exactly this issue from the doctors they saw.
My mother then and now has an anti-drug thing. She had bad nausea when she was pregant with my sister (early 60s) and was prescribed thalidomide and (then as now when told to take drugs) she told the doctors to do one. Plenty were in the case of thalidomide and epilepsy drugs I'm sure far more trusting of the doctors.
My big issue with it all (and with the NHS) is that of blame. No one will likely be blamed if they incidentally (cock up not conspiracy) kill off some patients. It is a culture that I believe persists to this day. Not that I want lawsuits, just that there is no accountability of Patient X dies unless someone really decides to pursue it beyond what reasonable people can be expected to do (cf the recent scandal of babies dying - all uncovered because one woman persisted despite being fobbed off time and again by the NHS).
I agree you've raised relevant issues, but the meme is often "It's Big Pharma, innit? It's all about money."
In this case, the issue seems to be in the prescribing. A couple of people here have commented that they took the drug (or similar) and there were warnings about exactly this issue from the doctors they saw.
My mother then and now has an anti-drug thing. She had bad nausea when she was pregant with my sister (early 60s) and was prescribed thalidomide and (then as now when told to take drugs) she told the doctors to do one. Plenty were in the case of thalidomide and epilepsy drugs I'm sure far more trusting of the doctors.
My big issue with it all (and with the NHS) is that of blame. No one will likely be blamed if they incidentally (cock up not conspiracy) kill off some patients. It is a culture that I believe persists to this day. Not that I want lawsuits, just that there is no accountability of Patient X dies unless someone really decides to pursue it beyond what reasonable people can be expected to do (cf the recent scandal of babies dying - all uncovered because one woman persisted despite being fobbed off time and again by the NHS).
When I was young, Crown Immunity was often used to block any attempt at suing the NHS for some really egregious errors.
I recall when it was removed the literally *screaming* anger from some parties.....
I agree you've raised relevant issues, but the meme is often "It's Big Pharma, innit? It's all about money."
In this case, the issue seems to be in the prescribing. A couple of people here have commented that they took the drug (or similar) and there were warnings about exactly this issue from the doctors they saw.
Not Big Pharma in this case.
From wiki:
"Valproate was first made in 1881 and came into medical use in 1962. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines and is available as a generic medication"
There's also an issue around epilepsy in general. It's a frightening condition for many sufferers and for their families and, in my experience, some people are reluctant to consider changing their medication, once 'they've found something which works' even though the science has moved on.
That's not saying that a woman who has been stabilised on Valproate and is, or could become, pregnant shouldn't be advised to change.
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
The analysts I’m following on Twitter all seem to say that Russia is digging its own grave with this assault, not having sufficient forces to meet their goals and in turn leaving their supply chains vulnerable, all to meet an artificial political deadline of 9th May for Putin to be able to claim some sort of victory. Battle of Kiev mark 2.
I am struggling to see their supply chain problems when they are fighting from territory that they have held for years, maybe in the northern wing. They seem to have reinforced with new units from the east too. I am doubtful we got enough heavy equipment to Ukraine to help and it will be vulnerable to attrition from air attacks. As I say, I hope I am wrong.
I agree you've raised relevant issues, but the meme is often "It's Big Pharma, innit? It's all about money."
In this case, the issue seems to be in the prescribing. A couple of people here have commented that they took the drug (or similar) and there were warnings about exactly this issue from the doctors they saw.
Not Big Pharma in this case.
From wiki:
"Valproate was first made in 1881 and came into medical use in 1962. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines and is available as a generic medication"
Came into medical use in the same way as valium, i.e. as a completely unexpected side effect in experiments where it wasn't even the chemical of interest but the excipient/vehicle for another one. Therefore astonishingly effective (because most drugs, you have to go looking for their effects to have any chance of finding them)
Some people quite excited about a racial component to it, I note with interest.
As I said last night Jews have the highest verbal reasoning scores and East Asians the highest numerical reasoning scores, as pretty much all IQ scores prove.
Denying that is just denying fact
So you ignore all the evidence that show it isn't a fact and that other variables are in play or do you also believe that Nepal has an average IQ of 43 which makes the average person from Nepal literally an idiot which is plainly nonsense.
Do you also ignore the evidence I and @rcs1000 gave you about how anyone can be trained to perform 20 points better on an IQ test in the UK or USA.
We know you have an ideological agenda against IQ tests yes.
Even a 20 point improvement would not bridge the average 47 IQ points gap between say Japan and Mali
"IQ scores typically reflect the quality of education and resources available to people in their local geographic region. Areas of the world with lower IQ scores are typically poorer and less developed, particularly in the area of education, compared to countries with higher IQ scores."
Which does rather suggest that IQ tests are not a simple measure of intelligence, but rather a lot of other societal influences too.
I noticed Nepal was cited as a country of intellectually subnormal humans yesterday. I spent a month teaching there almost thirty years ago, and while the people were not obviously more stupid than the average Briton (I am tempted to say quite the opposite), the country was extremely poor and their education system was absolutely terrible.
I cited the reference several times to @leon and @hyufd, but to show they were talking nonsense. The results of the IQ test show Nepalese to be at idiot level which is clearly nonsense, yet both of them still quote these tests to show racial differences. The fact they continue to do so simply implies they hold racist views.
My civil service colleague would like to return to an office, but they re-organised her department and haven't had anywhere for her to go! She continues to work productively from home.
But that's this government for you: totemic re-organisations, totemic pandering to the Daily Mail, little interest in actually doing the work.
Are there alternative drugs available for epilepsy ?
Women of child bearing age need to be informed of the risks of anything potentially teratogenic - with benefits and risks clearly laid out - removing warnings is scandalous.
There are, but most of the alternatives are also thought to be teratogenic. Safer ones like Lamogtrigine take some time to work, with risks in the transition period.
The issue is surely this: when medical treatment causes lifelong harm, should the state provide compensation?
The Cumberledge Report says that it should in this case.
A former Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned an earlier report, has also said that it should.
France is compensating the families affected.
The UK is not. Why not? And is that tenable / wise / decent?
I doubt my IQ is above average. It could well be below. I look at those tests and my brain just freezes over. My mind does not work in a way that amenable to taking them. They clearly measure something, but I am not sure exactly what it is.
It's easy to find ways to measure intelligence that don't suit this or that individual. I'm certain there isn't a universal measure.
Oh and anybody who tries to apply these things in bulk to whole groups of people is up to no good.
Gazza was one of the most intelligent footballers ever in terms of football spatial awareness. This is a form of intelligence. Hundreds of thousands of kids spend thousands of hours practising and don't reach anywhere near his level. But he is as daft as a brush in terms of conventional intelligence.
Equally I know some very, very bright academics who you might not trust to do something simple, like changing a fuse or cook a meal.
Intelligence is not consistent across different aspects, someone very strong at the type of intelligence measured by IQ tests may or may not be less strong at the types of intelligence that are not well measured by IQ tests.
Those who fetishize the tests tend to be those who still obsess about which school people went to. I wonder if they still need to convince themselves of how bright they are vs the rest of us. Truly bright people don't care about that and just live their lives.
I had a logic lecturer who was brilliant and also as daft as a brush. And two people who worked for me who were also brilliant (one was the only person to get a perfect score on the IQ test) but we're a nightmare to manage. It was like dealing with 3 year olds.
Is there a standardised test for empathy, compassion and kindliness? Which of our MPs might come out top? And who might be in the lower quartile?
I still think it’s a rare coincidence to find someone who seeks power and yet has a suitable character to wield it. Part of me thinks we should scrap elections and parliamentary representation should be a form of jury service.
She’s completely right, that people from other countries are wondering why the PM being given a cake on his birthday is a big story.
“There is more than a shred of Remainiac venom in the relentless condemnation of Britain still afoot. It’s there in Partygate, a matter so trivial, in the scheme of things, that no other ruling party in the world would be brought to its knees by it. It’s there in the reaction to the Rwanda asylum plan (a policy that has yet to be pulled off without disaster, but which, based on initial reports into what the asylum seekers can expect there, is not as awful and inhumane as the Britain-haters want to believe). And it’s there, mystifyingly, in our handling of Ukraine.
“Britain’s self-loathing problem hangs itself on whatever is going. In the case of Partygate, it’s a hugely over-egged question of which ministers secretly consumed which foodstuffs in company, where and for how long during lockdown. There is some understandable anger among parts of the electorate over this, but in the main it has simply become an excuse for distorting or drowning out everything else going on. Like trying to come up with a workable border policy. Or our exemplary attempts to save Europe from the grotesque ambition of a malign, nuke-happy Russia.
“The most embarrassing thing of all about Partygate is that in almost any other country, it wouldn’t even bubble to the surface. This is partly because most places are actually in worse shape than Britain, and next to the unrest and discontent they face, a scandal over cakes and ale would be, well, a luxury. A joke.”
What does cake have to do with it? Breaking the law is bad, doesn't have to be cake. The "its just cake" proponents will look like fools when he gets fined for the party where he is pouring the drinks. For the party where he is wearing the party hat. For the party where he is waving the beer bottle at the camera. Where he is pictured belting out Abba on kareoke. We know these all happened and we know the police are processing the ever-larger FPNs he will be slapped with.
The real issue he has is misleading parliament. Had he said "I've been an idiot, I nearly died, I was reacting to that" he may have got away with it. Instead it "done nothing, only cake, bloody woke remoaners".
A big 48 hours where we find out if JRM/HY amorality has properly taken root in the New Party.
He’s not helped when he says as recently as last week that he can’t rule out lockdowns again in the future. No! He should be ruling that out. “The reason I broke the laws is because they were an ass, I apologise for presiding over their implementation and so long as I’m here, we’ll never commit such illiberal evidence free measures into law again”.
He can't rule that out. Of course he can't. We don't know what diseases might come along - or indeed what covid might do encouraged by the mixing of war and, it looks like, famine.
Doesn't matter if right wing Tories do a Violet Bott and thream and thream till they're thick. It is simply not possible to make such a promise. In fact, given his reputation, I'm surprised he's not simply doing the easy thing.
Dunno why you think I’ll a right wing Tory. But it’s a simple fact that many measures were implemented over the two year period without any proper debate about the costs and benefits. Equally true for measures that they failed to implement. Your response confirms in my mind that lockdown policies were the biggest own goal to Western civilisation since 1914 and it’s going to take many decades to cure it (I.e. for the fiercest backers of the idea to die off).
Sweden ruled out lockdowns on a matter of principle and got through the pandemic just fine.
We should never again tolerate our fundamental liberties being stolen like that again. It was a horrendous mistake in hindsight.
If you want an example of somewhere that didn't have a national lockdown but did weather the pandemic better, look to Japan. The way to avoid lockdowns is to do other things well: good mask wearing, good test and trace, good support for those isolating... and reacting fast! See https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsfs.2021.0079 for more.
The only reliable way to avoid lockdowns is not to let politicians lock down - it really is that simple. The most recent wave unquestionably peaked and receded without a lockdown.
Lockdown is the easy solution for any government, especially when the media is screaming for it, and yet it is the ultimate expression of politician's logic - we most do something, this is something, therefore we must do this.
I agree you've raised relevant issues, but the meme is often "It's Big Pharma, innit? It's all about money."
In this case, the issue seems to be in the prescribing. A couple of people here have commented that they took the drug (or similar) and there were warnings about exactly this issue from the doctors they saw.
My mother then and now has an anti-drug thing. She had bad nausea when she was pregant with my sister (early 60s) and was prescribed thalidomide and (then as now when told to take drugs) she told the doctors to do one. Plenty were in the case of thalidomide and epilepsy drugs I'm sure far more trusting of the doctors.
My big issue with it all (and with the NHS) is that of blame. No one will likely be blamed if they incidentally (cock up not conspiracy) kill off some patients. It is a culture that I believe persists to this day. Not that I want lawsuits, just that there is no accountability of Patient X dies unless someone really decides to pursue it beyond what reasonable people can be expected to do (cf the recent scandal of babies dying - all uncovered because one woman persisted despite being fobbed off time and again by the NHS).
When I was young, Crown Immunity was often used to block any attempt at suing the NHS for some really egregious errors.
I recall when it was removed the literally *screaming* anger from some parties.....
20 years ago, in my bit of the NHS anyway, we used to agonise over a 'no blame' culture and looked enviously at the aviation industry. Too many people wanted 'someone to get summonsed' or something when generally it was the system which was at fault. And that leads to injustice to both the injured and the 'injurer'!
Is there a standardised test for empathy, compassion and kindliness? Which of our MPs might come out top? And who might be in the lower quartile?
A question that raises more questions
Some years ago, there was a "war game" on TV. Several politicians (and semi-retired politicians) were given the "command" of London during a terrorist attack (a series of incidents).
One of the scenarios involved shutting anti-flooding doors on the underground (which exist) - this would doom a small number of passengers and staff in the event of a breach, but protect thousands.
Several of the politicians refused to make a decision, saying they couldn't. The people running the game said that the tunnels had flooded and a large number of deaths had happened.
Afterwards, a couple of the politicians in question complained about how it was unfair to be forced to make such a choice.
Are there alternative drugs available for epilepsy ?
Women of child bearing age need to be informed of the risks of anything potentially teratogenic - with benefits and risks clearly laid out - removing warnings is scandalous.
There are, but most of the alternatives are also thought to be teratogenic. Safer ones like Lamogtrigine take some time to work, with risks in the transition period.
The issue is surely this: when medical treatment causes lifelong harm, should the state provide compensation?
The Cumberledge Report says that it should in this case.
A former Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned an earlier report, has also said that it should.
France is compensating the families affected.
The UK is not. Why not? And is that tenable / wise / decent?
I would look to the pharmaceutical companies first, including those manufacturing generics.
That the Sun needed to specify men's willies is presumably some sort of argument in the trans debate but I've no idea on which side.
Cry bollocks on this report, The Sun! India is supposedly above the British member, but India needed to have smaller condoms because the international standard sized ones, well, you can imagine....
I agree you've raised relevant issues, but the meme is often "It's Big Pharma, innit? It's all about money."
In this case, the issue seems to be in the prescribing. A couple of people here have commented that they took the drug (or similar) and there were warnings about exactly this issue from the doctors they saw.
My mother then and now has an anti-drug thing. She had bad nausea when she was pregant with my sister (early 60s) and was prescribed thalidomide and (then as now when told to take drugs) she told the doctors to do one. Plenty were in the case of thalidomide and epilepsy drugs I'm sure far more trusting of the doctors.
My big issue with it all (and with the NHS) is that of blame. No one will likely be blamed if they incidentally (cock up not conspiracy) kill off some patients. It is a culture that I believe persists to this day. Not that I want lawsuits, just that there is no accountability of Patient X dies unless someone really decides to pursue it beyond what reasonable people can be expected to do (cf the recent scandal of babies dying - all uncovered because one woman persisted despite being fobbed off time and again by the NHS).
When I was young, Crown Immunity was often used to block any attempt at suing the NHS for some really egregious errors.
I recall when it was removed the literally *screaming* anger from some parties.....
20 years ago, in my bit of the NHS anyway, we used to agonise over a 'no blame' culture and looked enviously at the aviation industry. Too many people wanted 'someone to get summonsed' or something when generally it was the system which was at fault. And that leads to injustice to both the injured and the 'injurer'!
Oh, absolutely - Just Culture is a proven success.
One manager I dealt with, when I suggested we adopt a Just Culture, agreed.
Just that he wanted to modify it a bit - to have someone to blame for failures.....
Are there alternative drugs available for epilepsy ?
Women of child bearing age need to be informed of the risks of anything potentially teratogenic - with benefits and risks clearly laid out - removing warnings is scandalous.
There are, but most of the alternatives are also thought to be teratogenic. Safer ones like Lamogtrigine take some time to work, with risks in the transition period.
The issue is surely this: when medical treatment causes lifelong harm, should the state provide compensation?
The Cumberledge Report says that it should in this case.
A former Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned an earlier report, has also said that it should.
France is compensating the families affected.
The UK is not. Why not? And is that tenable / wise / decent?
I don’t think the state (ie, us; society) should, generally, compensate in cases like this.
I have a younger brother with severe learning difficulties (he’s spent his entire life on epilim). As I was growing up, I was exposed to quite a few parents of other disabled kids who had all kinds of grievances/claims against the NHS for damaging their kids and while I felt sorry for them, in none of the cases could I see an obligation on the rest of us to be forcibly taxed to compensate them. They get free NHS care for life, an expensive education for their kids (special needs Ed spending per pupil is very significantly bigger than your regular school places) - and expensive adult care (in the more severe cases, costing taxpayers >£100k/year) when/if their kid reaches adulthood. All this is absolutely right.
We’re not the US where the state largely shrugs its shoulders.
But, for me, it’s a “NO” to monetary compensation, in these sort of cases. We already do, effectively, compensate them.
Is there a standardised test for empathy, compassion and kindliness? Which of our MPs might come out top? And who might be in the lower quartile?
A question that raises more questions
Some years ago, there was a "war game" on TV. Several politicians (and semi-retired politicians) were given the "command" of London during a terrorist attack (a series of incidents).
One of the scenarios involved shutting anti-flooding doors on the underground (which exist) - this would doom a small number of passengers and staff in the event of a breach, but protect thousands.
Several of the politicians refused to make a decision, saying they couldn't. The people running the game said that the tunnels had flooded and a large number of deaths had happened.
Afterwards, a couple of the politicians in question complained about how it was unfair to be forced to make such a choice.
There is this elegant solution to the trolley problem.
I doubt my IQ is above average. It could well be below. I look at those tests and my brain just freezes over. My mind does not work in a way that amenable to taking them. They clearly measure something, but I am not sure exactly what it is.
It's easy to find ways to measure intelligence that don't suit this or that individual. I'm certain there isn't a universal measure.
Oh and anybody who tries to apply these things in bulk to whole groups of people is up to no good.
Gazza was one of the most intelligent footballers ever in terms of football spatial awareness. This is a form of intelligence. Hundreds of thousands of kids spend thousands of hours practising and don't reach anywhere near his level. But he is as daft as a brush in terms of conventional intelligence.
Equally I know some very, very bright academics who you might not trust to do something simple, like changing a fuse or cook a meal.
Intelligence is not consistent across different aspects, someone very strong at the type of intelligence measured by IQ tests may or may not be less strong at the types of intelligence that are not well measured by IQ tests.
Those who fetishize the tests tend to be those who still obsess about which school people went to. I wonder if they still need to convince themselves of how bright they are vs the rest of us. Truly bright people don't care about that and just live their lives.
I had a logic lecturer who was brilliant and also as daft as a brush. And two people who worked for me who were also brilliant (one was the only person to get a perfect score on the IQ test) but we're a nightmare to manage. It was like dealing with 3 year olds.
Are there alternative drugs available for epilepsy ?
Women of child bearing age need to be informed of the risks of anything potentially teratogenic - with benefits and risks clearly laid out - removing warnings is scandalous.
There are, but most of the alternatives are also thought to be teratogenic. Safer ones like Lamogtrigine take some time to work, with risks in the transition period.
The issue is surely this: when medical treatment causes lifelong harm, should the state provide compensation?
The Cumberledge Report says that it should in this case.
A former Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned an earlier report, has also said that it should.
France is compensating the families affected.
The UK is not. Why not? And is that tenable / wise / decent?
I would look to the pharmaceutical companies first, including those manufacturing generics.
Why? They are manufacturing a highly useful but sometimes dangerous product. fair enough if they knew of and suppressed the dangers, but there is no evidence of that. As of the early 1980s when the dangers were common knowledge, blame lies primarily with the prescribers. A big Sackler did it and ran away is not a fig leaf for the medical profession.
That the Sun needed to specify men's willies is presumably some sort of argument in the trans debate but I've no idea on which side.
Cry bollocks on this report, The Sun! India is supposedly above the British member, but India needed to have smaller condoms because the international standard sized ones, well, you can imagine....
OT. I heard a late night news story on Ukraine. Amongst it was the story that the Asov Battalion are holed up in Mariupol with their families and they're pleading for help from the West.
For those like me trying to piece together what the conflict is all about this possibly fills in a few gaps
TL:DR Far right political planning Koran burnings for 'freedom of speech' ie shit-stirring, Antifa and others rioting in response. Police have shot several people - apparently ricochets from 'warning shots'.
Are there alternative drugs available for epilepsy ?
Women of child bearing age need to be informed of the risks of anything potentially teratogenic - with benefits and risks clearly laid out - removing warnings is scandalous.
There are, but most of the alternatives are also thought to be teratogenic. Safer ones like Lamogtrigine take some time to work, with risks in the transition period.
The issue is surely this: when medical treatment causes lifelong harm, should the state provide compensation?
The Cumberledge Report says that it should in this case.
A former Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned an earlier report, has also said that it should.
France is compensating the families affected.
The UK is not. Why not? And is that tenable / wise / decent?
I don’t think the state (ie, us; society) should, generally, compensate in cases like this.
I have a younger brother with severe learning difficulties (he’s spent his entire life on epilim). As I was growing up, I was exposed to quite a few parents of other disabled kids who had all kinds of grievances/claims against the NHS for damaging their kids and while I felt sorry for them, in none of the cases could I see an obligation on the rest of us to be forcibly taxed to compensate them. They get free NHS care for life, an expensive education for their kids (special needs Ed spending per pupil is very significantly bigger than your regular school places) - and expensive adult care (in the more severe cases, costing taxpayers >£100k/year) when/if their kid reaches adulthood. All this is absolutely right.
We’re not the US where the state largely shrugs its shoulders.
But, for me, it’s a “NO” to monetary compensation, in these sort of cases. We already do, effectively, compensate them.
Thank you for your honest answer.
We have a Vaccine Damage Compensation Scheme in this country. Vaccines are not compulsory of course but we still compensate if someone becomes disabled as a result of taking them. Someone suffering a disability as a result has all the benefits you list above (I use the word "benefits" loosely because they are hard to access and nowhere near as good you seem to imply). What is the difference between them and someone disabled as a result of their mother being wrongly given a drug or not properly informed of the risks?
Are there alternative drugs available for epilepsy ?
Women of child bearing age need to be informed of the risks of anything potentially teratogenic - with benefits and risks clearly laid out - removing warnings is scandalous.
There are, but most of the alternatives are also thought to be teratogenic. Safer ones like Lamogtrigine take some time to work, with risks in the transition period.
The issue is surely this: when medical treatment causes lifelong harm, should the state provide compensation?
The Cumberledge Report says that it should in this case.
A former Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned an earlier report, has also said that it should.
France is compensating the families affected.
The UK is not. Why not? And is that tenable / wise / decent?
I would look to the pharmaceutical companies first, including those manufacturing generics.
Why? They are manufacturing a highly useful but sometimes dangerous product. fair enough if they knew of and suppressed the dangers, but there is no evidence of that. As of the early 1980s when the dangers were common knowledge, blame lies primarily with the prescribers. A big Sackler did it and ran away is not a fig leaf for the medical profession.
While that's true, the material circulated in support of their products sometimes bears more than a passing relationship to a LibDem bar chart.
Are there alternative drugs available for epilepsy ?
Women of child bearing age need to be informed of the risks of anything potentially teratogenic - with benefits and risks clearly laid out - removing warnings is scandalous.
There are, but most of the alternatives are also thought to be teratogenic. Safer ones like Lamogtrigine take some time to work, with risks in the transition period.
The issue is surely this: when medical treatment causes lifelong harm, should the state provide compensation?
The Cumberledge Report says that it should in this case.
A former Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned an earlier report, has also said that it should.
France is compensating the families affected.
The UK is not. Why not? And is that tenable / wise / decent?
I would look to the pharmaceutical companies first, including those manufacturing generics.
Why? They are manufacturing a highly useful but sometimes dangerous product. fair enough if they knew of and suppressed the dangers, but there is no evidence of that. As of the early 1980s when the dangers were common knowledge, blame lies primarily with the prescribers. A big Sackler did it and ran away is not a fig leaf for the medical profession.
Indeed - when it gets to the bit where printed warnings on packets of medicine were being covered over....
OT. I heard a late night news story on Ukraine. Amongst it was the story that the Asov Battalion are holed up in Mariupol with their families and they're pleading for help from the West.
For those like me trying to piece together what the conflict is all about this possibly fills in a few gaps
OT. I heard a late night news story on Ukraine. Amongst it was the story that the Asov Battalion are holed up in Mariupol with their families and they're pleading for help from the West.
For those like me trying to piece together what the conflict is all about this possibly fills in a few gaps
The one time health compensation regime that we sometimes have here throws up a lot of anomalies - not least between people who 'luck-out' with millions in a lump sum, and those who end up with much, much less on minor differences in the circs.
I recall a Homes Under the Hammer where someone used health compensation to buy a riverside flat in Central London, for example.
We also have a brobdingnagian overhang on future NHS budgets.
The reorientation needed is more towards support services and continuing income / treatment support. At some point sorting this out will become an issue like social care has become.
News from Ukraine is not good. At this rate it's more likely that Putin will press the button before Johnson having to resign.
Which news is this?
Russia invading Ukraine????
Yes, but you were intimating some particularly "new" bad new was pushing Putin towards the button?
Well. The battle for the Donbas has started in earnest today. Whether that is good or bad news is a moot point.
I think it is seriously bad news. It suggests that the Russia has lost meme was, at best, seriously premature. Fighting in open country is going to be very tough for the Ukrainians and they are already surrounded on 3 sides, south, north and east. Supply is going to become a major issue very rapidly. The Ukrainians are well equipped and trained but this is going to be a whole lot harder than taking out pretty much static columns trapped on narrow roads. I hope I am wrong about this.
Set against that, the Ukrainians have minute-by-minute intel on the exact locations of Russian troops. Great for hit-and-run guerilla tactics. Especially when you have far better defensive kit than the Russians have offensive.
If Russia loses another 200 tanks in short order, they are not in a good place.
I'm not sure there is an army that is teaching "hit and run guerilla tactics" for anti-tank warfare. Generally the plan is to wait behind a hill and smack the tanks from the side. Then scoot.
The tanks aren't just going to roll in unaccompanied by the PBI. And I'm sure those reverse hillsides will be under observation also.
Edit: WARNING OUT OF DATE TACTICAL VIEW. As has been acknowledged by the PB war fighting experts. Do with it as you see fit.
The later bit about the infantry supporting the tanks and proper recon seems to be where Russia feel down in their initial invasion. At least according to a number of reports from Ukraine.
Interestingly, similar tactics resulted in heavy casualties in the initial part of the Chechen War.
I keep feeling, though I hope I'm wrong, that eventually Russia will bludgeon its way into some kind of victory in the East of the country. They seem to have the ability to destroy everything in front of them in a way Ukraine has neither the firepower nor the moral appetite for. I also fear they will eventually learn the lessons of the early weeks of the war.
That brings us back to what many people in the West thought when the invasion started, and which I still believe: that eventually the only way to overcome Russia long term is by making it run out of money. Make the invasion and occupation just too expensive. It looks worryingly like the big European consumers of Russian oil and gas are starting to revert to type and losing the will to wean themselves off in the short term. Until that happens they'll keep having a war chest even if the domestic and non-military economy goes to the dogs.
It would be fun if he became Lab Leader. All my class at the Nottingham High School and the year above would need would be James Morris (who?) from the year below to become Tory Leader and I think that gives an England Full House.
Your NI Secretary compared your FPN to a parking fine. Do you agree with that ?
What will you say to the British public if you receive another FPN?
Don't think those work, really:
"I take any decision on fines very seriously, and the LOTO will have heard my apology earlier." "I can't comment on hypotheticals, but as I say I take these matters very seriously."
The one time health compensation regime that we sometimes have here throws up a lot of anomalies - not least between people who 'luck-out' with millions in a lump sum, and those who end up with much, much less on minor differences in the circs.
I recall a Homes Under the Hammer where someone used health compensation to buy a riverside flat in Central London, for example.
We also have a brobdingnagian overhang on future NHS budgets.
The reorientation needed is more towards support services and continuing income / treatment support. At some point sorting this out will become an issue like social care has become.
I have often wondered how 'compensation' awarded against an NHS trust affects patient care. Especially after sitting with a couple of accountants trying to 'balance' an organisations prescribing budget!
The one time health compensation regime that we sometimes have here throws up a lot of anomalies - not least between people who 'luck-out' with millions in a lump sum, and those who end up with much, much less on minor differences in the circs.
I recall a Homes Under the Hammer where someone used health compensation to buy a riverside flat in Central London, for example.
We also have a brobdingnagian overhang on future NHS budgets.
The reorientation needed is more towards support services and continuing income / treatment support. At some point sorting this out will become an issue like social care has become.
I have often wondered how 'compensation' awarded against an NHS trust affects patient care. Especially after sitting with a couple of accountants trying to 'balance' an organisations prescribing budget!
Fucking with managers budgets is the only thing that many of them fear.
Your NI Secretary compared your FPN to a parking fine. Do you agree with that ?
What will you say to the British public if you receive another FPN?
Don't think those work, really:
"I take any decision on fines very seriously, and the LOTO will have heard my apology earlier." "I can't comment on hypotheticals, but as I say I take these matters very seriously."
I posted the other day that I thought SKS should compare and contrast with other footling excuses he's heard in his professional life!
Some people quite excited about a racial component to it, I note with interest.
As I said last night Jews have the highest verbal reasoning scores and East Asians the highest numerical reasoning scores, as pretty much all IQ scores prove.
Denying that is just denying fact
So you ignore all the evidence that show it isn't a fact and that other variables are in play or do you also believe that Nepal has an average IQ of 43 which makes the average person from Nepal literally an idiot which is plainly nonsense.
Do you also ignore the evidence I and @rcs1000 gave you about how anyone can be trained to perform 20 points better on an IQ test in the UK or USA.
We know you have an ideological agenda against IQ tests yes.
Even a 20 point improvement would not bridge the average 47 IQ points gap between say Japan and Mali
"IQ scores typically reflect the quality of education and resources available to people in their local geographic region. Areas of the world with lower IQ scores are typically poorer and less developed, particularly in the area of education, compared to countries with higher IQ scores."
Which does rather suggest that IQ tests are not a simple measure of intelligence, but rather a lot of other societal influences too.
I noticed Nepal was cited as a country of intellectually subnormal humans yesterday. I spent a month teaching there almost thirty years ago, and while the people were not obviously more stupid than the average Briton (I am tempted to say quite the opposite), the country was extremely poor and their education system was absolutely terrible.
I cited the reference several times to @leon and @hyufd, but to show they were talking nonsense. The results of the IQ test show Nepalese to be at idiot level which is clearly nonsense, yet both of them still quote these tests to show racial differences. The fact they continue to do so simply implies they hold racist views.
What crap.
Otherwise I would have said white Anglo Saxons had the highest IQs not East Asians and Jews.
Just your ideological agenda against IQ tests now turning into derogatory insults against Leon and I
The one time health compensation regime that we sometimes have here throws up a lot of anomalies - not least between people who 'luck-out' with millions in a lump sum, and those who end up with much, much less on minor differences in the circs.
I recall a Homes Under the Hammer where someone used health compensation to buy a riverside flat in Central London, for example.
We also have a brobdingnagian overhang on future NHS budgets.
The reorientation needed is more towards support services and continuing income / treatment support. At some point sorting this out will become an issue like social care has become.
I have often wondered how 'compensation' awarded against an NHS trust affects patient care. Especially after sitting with a couple of accountants trying to 'balance' an organisations prescribing budget!
Fucking with managers budgets is the only thing that many of them fear.
That is true. Or at least it was when I was employed to be concerned about such things.
The one time health compensation regime that we sometimes have here throws up a lot of anomalies - not least between people who 'luck-out' with millions in a lump sum, and those who end up with much, much less on minor differences in the circs.
I recall a Homes Under the Hammer where someone used health compensation to buy a riverside flat in Central London, for example.
We also have a brobdingnagian overhang on future NHS budgets.
The reorientation needed is more towards support services and continuing income / treatment support. At some point sorting this out will become an issue like social care has become.
I have often wondered how 'compensation' awarded against an NHS trust affects patient care. Especially after sitting with a couple of accountants trying to 'balance' an organisations prescribing budget!
I am not sure if that is centralised.
PFI debt is on the local institution - my local hospital currently spends £1m a week on it aiui.
The one time health compensation regime that we sometimes have here throws up a lot of anomalies - not least between people who 'luck-out' with millions in a lump sum, and those who end up with much, much less on minor differences in the circs.
I recall a Homes Under the Hammer where someone used health compensation to buy a riverside flat in Central London, for example.
We also have a brobdingnagian overhang on future NHS budgets.
The reorientation needed is more towards support services and continuing income / treatment support. At some point sorting this out will become an issue like social care has become.
I have often wondered how 'compensation' awarded against an NHS trust affects patient care. Especially after sitting with a couple of accountants trying to 'balance' an organisations prescribing budget!
I am not sure if that is centralised.
PFI debt is on the local institution - my local hospital currently spends £1m a week on it aiui.
That the Sun needed to specify men's willies is presumably some sort of argument in the trans debate but I've no idea on which side.
Cry bollocks on this report, The Sun! India is supposedly above the British member, but India needed to have smaller condoms because the international standard sized ones, well, you can imagine....
We were driving through Strasbourg earlier today listening to French radio. In the middle of a long spiel in French the presenter suddenly broke into English and said "Big cock." I had no idea what he was talking about but seeing France's enviable position in these rankings it is starting to make sense. Anyway, the kids enjoyed it.
The one time health compensation regime that we sometimes have here throws up a lot of anomalies - not least between people who 'luck-out' with millions in a lump sum, and those who end up with much, much less on minor differences in the circs.
I recall a Homes Under the Hammer where someone used health compensation to buy a riverside flat in Central London, for example.
We also have a brobdingnagian overhang on future NHS budgets.
The reorientation needed is more towards support services and continuing income / treatment support. At some point sorting this out will become an issue like social care has become.
I have often wondered how 'compensation' awarded against an NHS trust affects patient care. Especially after sitting with a couple of accountants trying to 'balance' an organisations prescribing budget!
I am not sure if that is centralised.
PFI debt is on the local institution - my local hospital currently spends £1m a week on it aiui.
Which, translated into possible patient care is huge. Of course, it wouldn't help with staff recruitment since there aren't any available. In significant number, anyway.
Some people quite excited about a racial component to it, I note with interest.
As I said last night Jews have the highest verbal reasoning scores and East Asians the highest numerical reasoning scores, as pretty much all IQ scores prove.
Denying that is just denying fact
So you ignore all the evidence that show it isn't a fact and that other variables are in play or do you also believe that Nepal has an average IQ of 43 which makes the average person from Nepal literally an idiot which is plainly nonsense.
Do you also ignore the evidence I and @rcs1000 gave you about how anyone can be trained to perform 20 points better on an IQ test in the UK or USA.
We know you have an ideological agenda against IQ tests yes.
Even a 20 point improvement would not bridge the average 47 IQ points gap between say Japan and Mali
"IQ scores typically reflect the quality of education and resources available to people in their local geographic region. Areas of the world with lower IQ scores are typically poorer and less developed, particularly in the area of education, compared to countries with higher IQ scores."
Which does rather suggest that IQ tests are not a simple measure of intelligence, but rather a lot of other societal influences too.
I noticed Nepal was cited as a country of intellectually subnormal humans yesterday. I spent a month teaching there almost thirty years ago, and while the people were not obviously more stupid than the average Briton (I am tempted to say quite the opposite), the country was extremely poor and their education system was absolutely terrible.
I cited the reference several times to @leon and @hyufd, but to show they were talking nonsense. The results of the IQ test show Nepalese to be at idiot level which is clearly nonsense, yet both of them still quote these tests to show racial differences. The fact they continue to do so simply implies they hold racist views.
What crap.
Otherwise I would have said white Anglo Saxons had the highest IQs not East Asians and Jews.
Just your ideological agenda against IQ tests now turning into derogatory insults against Leon and I
There’s a Federal election in Australia in a few weeks’ time (May 21). In the past week, the opposition leader has revealed himself to be more gaffe-prone than Biden, the polls have moved and the betting market has shifted dramatically. Could there be an article here?
Looks like 2019 again and Morrison is doing better/less badly on the personal ratings as HYUFD has pointed out.
I’m sticking with the opposition win on this one. The 2pp is still a huge swing on last time.
At the moment.
No it isn't, the 2PP polls had Labor ahead in 2019 too and were completely wrong.
Labor's 2PP lead has also fallen as well as its primary lead to almost nothing as Morrison has extended his preferred PM lead
The big question is have they changed the methodology which contributed to the miss last time? I'd be surprised if they haven't. A miss last time doesn't mean another one in the same direction. Nor does it mean there won't be an overcorrection or an inadequate one.
Last time it was the Preferred PM figures that were correct, the 2PP numbers were miles off.
Given again there is such a distortion between the 2 any methodology changes have been minor at most
Okay. I’ll take the bait and bite. You are slightly over egging it I’m sure.
At the last election there was a big gap between preferred leaders, but recently it closed up to nothing, since the election called Morrison has had an uptick, but that is all, preferred pm still very close this time.
Where are you getting it from, I’m getting it from here.
There’s a Federal election in Australia in a few weeks’ time (May 21). In the past week, the opposition leader has revealed himself to be more gaffe-prone than Biden, the polls have moved and the betting market has shifted dramatically. Could there be an article here?
Looks like 2019 again and Morrison is doing better/less badly on the personal ratings as HYUFD has pointed out.
I’m sticking with the opposition win on this one. The 2pp is still a huge swing on last time.
At the moment.
No it isn't, the 2PP polls had Labor ahead in 2019 too and were completely wrong.
Labor's 2PP lead has also fallen as well as its primary lead to almost nothing as Morrison has extended his preferred PM lead
The big question is have they changed the methodology which contributed to the miss last time? I'd be surprised if they haven't. A miss last time doesn't mean another one in the same direction. Nor does it mean there won't be an overcorrection or an inadequate one.
Last time it was the Preferred PM figures that were correct, the 2PP numbers were miles off.
Given again there is such a distortion between the 2 any methodology changes have been minor at most
Okay. I’ll take the bait and bite. You are slightly over egging it I’m sure.
At the last election there was a big gap between preferred leaders, but recently it closed up to nothing, since the election called Morrison has had an uptick, but that is all, preferred pm still very close this time.
Where are you getting it from, I’m getting it from here.
Mr. Malmesbury, Mensa's only one such club. There are also the Mega and Prometheus Societies.
The Diogenes Club ?
...There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubbable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger's Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere..
That sounds like the very antithesis of the "Look! At! Me!" nature of Mensa.
I've always thought that such a club would be rather pleasant, on occasion.
I joined Mensa in my teens in the hope that I could pick up interesting girls, with only modest success (we won't debate the reasons for that...). It wasn't full of self-important egotists, but the events weren't especially fascinating either, so I dropped out after a few years. I've not heard of them for ages and wasn't sure they still even exist.
The one time health compensation regime that we sometimes have here throws up a lot of anomalies - not least between people who 'luck-out' with millions in a lump sum, and those who end up with much, much less on minor differences in the circs.
I recall a Homes Under the Hammer where someone used health compensation to buy a riverside flat in Central London, for example.
We also have a brobdingnagian overhang on future NHS budgets.
The reorientation needed is more towards support services and continuing income / treatment support. At some point sorting this out will become an issue like social care has become.
I have often wondered how 'compensation' awarded against an NHS trust affects patient care. Especially after sitting with a couple of accountants trying to 'balance' an organisations prescribing budget!
I am not sure if that is centralised.
PFI debt is on the local institution - my local hospital currently spends £1m a week on it aiui.
Which, translated into possible patient care is huge. Of course, it wouldn't help with staff recruitment since there aren't any available. In significant number, anyway.
We could always try training more staff. Crazy idea, I know....
The one time health compensation regime that we sometimes have here throws up a lot of anomalies - not least between people who 'luck-out' with millions in a lump sum, and those who end up with much, much less on minor differences in the circs.
I recall a Homes Under the Hammer where someone used health compensation to buy a riverside flat in Central London, for example.
We also have a brobdingnagian overhang on future NHS budgets.
The reorientation needed is more towards support services and continuing income / treatment support. At some point sorting this out will become an issue like social care has become.
I have often wondered how 'compensation' awarded against an NHS trust affects patient care. Especially after sitting with a couple of accountants trying to 'balance' an organisations prescribing budget!
I am not sure if that is centralised.
PFI debt is on the local institution - my local hospital currently spends £1m a week on it aiui.
Which, translated into possible patient care is huge. Of course, it wouldn't help with staff recruitment since there aren't any available. In significant number, anyway.
We should acknowledge that there could of course be a balance in funding levels.
She’s completely right, that people from other countries are wondering why the PM being given a cake on his birthday is a big story.
“There is more than a shred of Remainiac venom in the relentless condemnation of Britain still afoot. It’s there in Partygate, a matter so trivial, in the scheme of things, that no other ruling party in the world would be brought to its knees by it. It’s there in the reaction to the Rwanda asylum plan (a policy that has yet to be pulled off without disaster, but which, based on initial reports into what the asylum seekers can expect there, is not as awful and inhumane as the Britain-haters want to believe). And it’s there, mystifyingly, in our handling of Ukraine.
“Britain’s self-loathing problem hangs itself on whatever is going. In the case of Partygate, it’s a hugely over-egged question of which ministers secretly consumed which foodstuffs in company, where and for how long during lockdown. There is some understandable anger among parts of the electorate over this, but in the main it has simply become an excuse for distorting or drowning out everything else going on. Like trying to come up with a workable border policy. Or our exemplary attempts to save Europe from the grotesque ambition of a malign, nuke-happy Russia.
“The most embarrassing thing of all about Partygate is that in almost any other country, it wouldn’t even bubble to the surface. This is partly because most places are actually in worse shape than Britain, and next to the unrest and discontent they face, a scandal over cakes and ale would be, well, a luxury. A joke.”
What does cake have to do with it? Breaking the law is bad, doesn't have to be cake. The "its just cake" proponents will look like fools when he gets fined for the party where he is pouring the drinks. For the party where he is wearing the party hat. For the party where he is waving the beer bottle at the camera. Where he is pictured belting out Abba on kareoke. We know these all happened and we know the police are processing the ever-larger FPNs he will be slapped with.
The real issue he has is misleading parliament. Had he said "I've been an idiot, I nearly died, I was reacting to that" he may have got away with it. Instead it "done nothing, only cake, bloody woke remoaners".
A big 48 hours where we find out if JRM/HY amorality has properly taken root in the New Party.
He’s not helped when he says as recently as last week that he can’t rule out lockdowns again in the future. No! He should be ruling that out. “The reason I broke the laws is because they were an ass, I apologise for presiding over their implementation and so long as I’m here, we’ll never commit such illiberal evidence free measures into law again”.
He can't rule that out. Of course he can't. We don't know what diseases might come along - or indeed what covid might do encouraged by the mixing of war and, it looks like, famine.
Doesn't matter if right wing Tories do a Violet Bott and thream and thream till they're thick. It is simply not possible to make such a promise. In fact, given his reputation, I'm surprised he's not simply doing the easy thing.
Dunno why you think I’ll a right wing Tory. But it’s a simple fact that many measures were implemented over the two year period without any proper debate about the costs and benefits. Equally true for measures that they failed to implement. Your response confirms in my mind that lockdown policies were the biggest own goal to Western civilisation since 1914 and it’s going to take many decades to cure it (I.e. for the fiercest backers of the idea to die off).
Sweden ruled out lockdowns on a matter of principle and got through the pandemic just fine.
We should never again tolerate our fundamental liberties being stolen like that again. It was a horrendous mistake in hindsight.
If you want an example of somewhere that didn't have a national lockdown but did weather the pandemic better, look to Japan. The way to avoid lockdowns is to do other things well: good mask wearing, good test and trace, good support for those isolating... and reacting fast! See https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsfs.2021.0079 for more.
The only reliable way to avoid lockdowns is not to let politicians lock down - it really is that simple. The most recent wave unquestionably peaked and receded without a lockdown.
Lockdown is the easy solution for any government, especially when the media is screaming for it, and yet it is the ultimate expression of politician's logic - we most do something, this is something, therefore we must do this.
The most recent wave peaked without a lockdown because we had high levels of immunity from vaccinations and past infections. Lockdown is not the solution to the pandemic in 2022 in the UK. But that wasn't the situation in early 2020!
Lockdown is an extreme measure and we should invest in good public health measures to reduce the need for a lockdown when we have the next pandemic (and there will be a next pandemic at some point). We need to drop the pretence that the UK handled the pandemic well and learn our lessons. But taking an option off the table for all times is silly.
Hopefully, next time, we'll have a Prime Minister who pays attention to an impending problem and bothers to turn up to briefings, who doesn't prevaricate with every decision, and who has the decency to follow the rules s/he imposes on others...
Mr. Malmesbury, Mensa's only one such club. There are also the Mega and Prometheus Societies.
The Diogenes Club ?
...There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubbable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger's Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere..
That sounds like the very antithesis of the "Look! At! Me!" nature of Mensa.
I've always thought that such a club would be rather pleasant, on occasion.
I joined Mensa in my teens in the hope that I could pick up interesting girls, with only modest success (we won't debate the reasons for that...). It wasn't full of self-important egotists, but the events weren't especially fascinating either, so I dropped out after a few years. I've not heard of them for ages and wasn't sure they still even exist.
Still there. There's a toy IQ test you can do but so easy I assume it is just to sucker people in to do a proper one
Are there alternative drugs available for epilepsy ?
Women of child bearing age need to be informed of the risks of anything potentially teratogenic - with benefits and risks clearly laid out - removing warnings is scandalous.
There are, but most of the alternatives are also thought to be teratogenic. Safer ones like Lamogtrigine take some time to work, with risks in the transition period.
Is it also the case that for some cases of severe epileptic seizure, valproate is the only drug which really works (and that severe seizures can also be dangerous in pregnancy) ?
There would seem to be good reasons (for now) for its continued use.
But there also appear to have been continuing serious failures to inform patients of potential hazards despite the long standing knowledge of those hazards, and the black box warning on the medication. https://www.epilepsy.org.uk/involved/campaigns/sodium-valproate/survey ...In 2017 Epilepsy Action, Epilepsy Society and Young Epilepsy conducted a survey of women and girls with epilepsy who take valproate as a medicine and their parents and carers. The results showed that 1 in 5 (18%) women taking valproate were unaware that taking it during pregnancy can harm an unborn baby...
There's also the debate about no fault compensation for medical accidents - something that would remove much of the incentive for the culture of covering up mistakes.
Comments
If you want an example of somewhere that didn't have a national lockdown but did weather the pandemic better, look to Japan. The way to avoid lockdowns is to do other things well: good mask wearing, good test and trace, good support for those isolating... and reacting fast! See https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsfs.2021.0079 for more.
Reacting fast is crucial. Had our first lockdown started sooner, it would have been much shorter: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13501763.2020.1847170
"Who do you think you're going to satisfy with that little thing?" she asked.
"Me."
If Russia loses another 200 tanks in short order, they are not in a good place.
They’re probably going to be sitting ducks in short order, now that the Ukranians know the area of action is cleared of Ukranian civilians.
I agree you've raised relevant issues, but the meme is often "It's Big Pharma, innit? It's all about money."
Daily Mail not at all obsessed with sex.
They have a different article for half a dozen countries; in Oz they they put it as 'One for the Ladies' in the Femail section. Presumably not written by the Riviera Gigolo.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10729825/Australian-men-ranked-43rd-world-penis-size-international-survey.html
...There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubbable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger's Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere..
However, much of the shouting is "look at Norway and Denmark". Against which Sweden did very badly. However, looking at the EU as a whole it did pretty well, not to say better than many/most.
Not having mandatory measures also might (might) have avoided some of the subsequent "invisible" problems that are plaguing other countries now such as delayed procedures, mental health issues, and other non-Covid health issues that are now overwhelming or threatening to many health systems including, apparently, our own.
As to "fast is crucial" well I can easily understand Boris' reluctance to close down the UK. You are absolutely right on test and trace and good support for those isolating; we fell woefully short on that (no idea how/what Sweden did).
For me perhaps the biggest issue we had was the indecision in government that was played out between, literally, the Today prog in the morning and PM in the afternoon when the government's positions/policies would reverse completely.
I've always thought that such a club would be rather pleasant, on occasion.
From wiki:
"Valproate was first made in 1881 and came into medical use in 1962. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines and is available as a generic medication"
The tanks aren't just going to roll in unaccompanied by the PBI. And I'm sure those reverse hillsides will be under observation also.
Edit: WARNING OUT OF DATE TACTICAL VIEW. As has been acknowledged by the PB war fighting experts. Do with it as you see fit.
Interestingly, similar tactics resulted in heavy casualties in the initial part of the Chechen War.
I suspect a lot of use of Western satellite and drone reconnaissance resources. The radio and phone jamming tools that were in evidence in the first few days of the war, that left the enemy unable to communicate, can only have come from a handful of countries. Possibly a few special forces around too, but used very carefully and well aware of the need to avoid capture.
My big issue with it all (and with the NHS) is that of blame. No one will likely be blamed if they incidentally (cock up not conspiracy) kill off some patients. It is a culture that I believe persists to this day. Not that I want lawsuits, just that there is no accountability of Patient X dies unless someone really decides to pursue it beyond what reasonable people can be expected to do (cf the recent scandal of babies dying - all uncovered because one woman persisted despite being fobbed off time and again by the NHS).
I recall when it was removed the literally *screaming* anger from some parties.....
That's not saying that a woman who has been stabilised on Valproate and is, or could become, pregnant shouldn't be advised to change.
See this thread for explanation on supply lines.
But that's this government for you: totemic re-organisations, totemic pandering to the Daily Mail, little interest in actually doing the work.
The Cumberledge Report says that it should in this case.
A former Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned an earlier report, has also said that it should.
France is compensating the families affected.
The UK is not. Why not? And is that tenable / wise / decent?
Which of our MPs might come out top? And who might be in the lower quartile?
His reply: "its not that my organ is small, just that it has never tried to fill a cathedral before!"
Lockdown is the easy solution for any government, especially when the media is screaming for it, and yet it is the ultimate expression of politician's logic - we most do something, this is something, therefore we must do this.
Too many people wanted 'someone to get summonsed' or something when generally it was the system which was at fault. And that leads to injustice to both the injured and the 'injurer'!
Some years ago, there was a "war game" on TV. Several politicians (and semi-retired politicians) were given the "command" of London during a terrorist attack (a series of incidents).
One of the scenarios involved shutting anti-flooding doors on the underground (which exist) - this would doom a small number of passengers and staff in the event of a breach, but protect thousands.
Several of the politicians refused to make a decision, saying they couldn't. The people running the game said that the tunnels had flooded and a large number of deaths had happened.
Afterwards, a couple of the politicians in question complained about how it was unfair to be forced to make such a choice.
One manager I dealt with, when I suggested we adopt a Just Culture, agreed.
Just that he wanted to modify it a bit - to have someone to blame for failures.....
I have a younger brother with severe learning difficulties (he’s spent his entire life on epilim). As I was growing up, I was exposed to quite a few parents of other disabled kids who had all kinds of grievances/claims against the NHS for damaging their kids and while I felt sorry for them, in none of the cases could I see an obligation on the rest of us to be forcibly taxed to compensate them. They get free NHS care for life, an expensive education for their kids (special needs Ed spending per pupil is very significantly bigger than your regular school places) - and expensive adult care (in the more severe cases, costing taxpayers >£100k/year) when/if their kid reaches adulthood. All this is absolutely right.
We’re not the US where the state largely shrugs its shoulders.
But, for me, it’s a “NO” to monetary compensation, in these sort of cases. We already do, effectively, compensate them.
https://twitter.com/hardmaru/status/1515007393264205825?t=u7g4CWXLX-IgcC51lmQx8Q&s=19
For those like me trying to piece together what the conflict is all about this possibly fills in a few gaps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion
https://www.thelocal.se/20220415/three-police-injured-after-riot-in-sweden/
TL:DR Far right political planning Koran burnings for 'freedom of speech' ie shit-stirring, Antifa and others rioting in response. Police have shot several people - apparently ricochets from 'warning shots'.
https://www.dw.com/en/swedish-police-shoot-3-during-fresh-riots/a-61500315
I think "warning shots" aren't a thing in UK policing; it's either no gun use, or warning then lethal.
We have a Vaccine Damage Compensation Scheme in this country. Vaccines are not compulsory of course but we still compensate if someone becomes disabled as a result of taking them. Someone suffering a disability as a result has all the benefits you list above (I use the word "benefits" loosely because they are hard to access and nowhere near as good you seem to imply). What is the difference between them and someone disabled as a result of their mother being wrongly given a drug or not properly informed of the risks?
How are your aquaintances who lost their yachts coping?
https://twitter.com/hzeffman/status/1516343303557496836
I recall a Homes Under the Hammer where someone used health compensation to buy a riverside flat in Central London, for example.
We also have a brobdingnagian overhang on future NHS budgets.
The reorientation needed is more towards support services and continuing income / treatment support. At some point sorting this out will become an issue like social care has become.
That brings us back to what many people in the West thought when the invasion started, and which I still believe: that eventually the only way to overcome Russia long term is by making it run out of money. Make the invasion and occupation just too expensive. It looks worryingly like the big European consumers of Russian oil and gas are starting to revert to type and losing the will to wean themselves off in the short term. Until that happens they'll keep having a war chest even if the domestic and non-military economy goes to the dogs.
I win.
Or make him Deputy Leader.
It would be fun if he became Lab Leader. All my class at the Nottingham High School and the year above would need would be James Morris (who?) from the year below to become Tory Leader and I think that gives an England Full House.
I hope they have a Barrel Room.
Your NI Secretary compared your FPN to a parking fine. Do you agree with that ?
What will you say to the British public if you receive another FPN?
"I take any decision on fines very seriously, and the LOTO will have heard my apology earlier."
"I can't comment on hypotheticals, but as I say I take these matters very seriously."
Otherwise I would have said white Anglo Saxons had the highest IQs not East Asians and Jews.
Just your ideological agenda against IQ tests now turning into derogatory insults against Leon and I
PFI debt is on the local institution - my local hospital currently spends £1m a week on it aiui.
Intriguing.
Of course, it wouldn't help with staff recruitment since there aren't any available. In significant number, anyway.
Morrison led on preferred PM which was right and now leads Albanese by even more on that level in the latest poll than he led Shorten then
Lockdown is an extreme measure and we should invest in good public health measures to reduce the need for a lockdown when we have the next pandemic (and there will be a next pandemic at some point). We need to drop the pretence that the UK handled the pandemic well and learn our lessons. But taking an option off the table for all times is silly.
Hopefully, next time, we'll have a Prime Minister who pays attention to an impending problem and bothers to turn up to briefings, who doesn't prevaricate with every decision, and who has the decency to follow the rules s/he imposes on others...
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Tough one.
https://www.mensa.org.uk/workout
There would seem to be good reasons (for now) for its continued use.
But there also appear to have been continuing serious failures to inform patients of potential hazards despite the long standing knowledge of those hazards, and the black box warning on the medication.
https://www.epilepsy.org.uk/involved/campaigns/sodium-valproate/survey
...In 2017 Epilepsy Action, Epilepsy Society and Young Epilepsy conducted a survey of women and girls with epilepsy who take valproate as a medicine and their parents and carers. The results showed that 1 in 5 (18%) women taking valproate were unaware that taking it during pregnancy can harm an unborn baby...
There's also the debate about no fault compensation for medical accidents - something that would remove much of the incentive for the culture of covering up mistakes.
Though it does seem unlikely.