Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[two sheds]

Does no one read posts.

It's been quoted about 5 times.

Booze and food can still be delivered.

...thank fuck.

tbh these have probably been quoted from several pages back

 

[brogdale]

There are so many elderly, shielders and other vulnerable groups who are relying on some degree of take-aways from pubs etc. it would have been a disaster to stop that & the booze from the supermarkets continues unchanged:

 

[two sheds]

which is a lot clearer than the twat announced

 

[StoneRoad]

Again I don't know why they don't use emergency procedures for this. Maybe I'll have some time to dig into that over lockdown.

because the f******ing back-benchers screwed a promise out of them that parliament had to be able to scrutinise & vote on national restrictions. and far too many of those back-benchers are against lockdowns (the stupid idiots).

cue two days of people panic-buying & racing around getting out of dodge (even if the no going to yer second home rule is included - which it is)

I just hope the financial supports are still working for those who need the money - plus they need to reinvoke the anti-eviction and other support provisions ...

 

[existentialist]

To do that they'd need many more cops, though (and many more employees in other fields that have been cut away meaning that the police have taken over those bits).

It has been remarkably effective in Wales. They're used to thin deployment around here, so they know a thing or two about positioning themselves at strategic points, and they're not at all shy about stopping and turning people around. OK, plenty may still get through, but there's a strong PR message about being able to send people back. And then nicking, and fining, them when they get sneaky and try to return.

It doesn't take a great deal of enforcement to send the message, especially when it's the right message (Priti Patel take note).

 

[Lord Camomile]

because the f******ing back-benchers screwed a promise out of them that parliament had to be able to scrutinise & vote on national restrictions. and far too many of those back-benchers are against lockdowns (the stupid idiots).

I was just about to say, this all still needs to be voted through on Wednesday, right?

Any chance it, y'know, isn't?

 

[existentialist]

I was just about to say, this all still needs to be voted through on Wednesday, right?

Any chance it, y'know, isn't?

I don't think the swivel-eyed loons will have time to whip up the necessary frothing outrage. And Mr - oh, Sir - Keir "supine" Starmer isn't going to be about to rock any boats, now, is he?

So, no.

 

[brogdale]

ITN news really cheered us all up with Tom Clark saying that the vaccines may not work properly against the mutants and there aren’t enough doses anyway...with Peston piping up to say the economy is fucked and we can’t keep borrowing for ever.

Apart from that...small animal goes skateboarding...

 

[bendeus]

Welsh rules (introduced 20th December) appear unchanged (specifically in terms of going to work I mean).
The schools rules have changed here, but nothing else that I saw.

Having heard a big phat zero from my (Civil Service) workplace about any changes, I'll continue to assume that I'll be returning to work 'as normal' tomorow -- as I posted a while back, myself and most others on our section are unable to work from home.

I appreciate that the schools question is very important, and I've supported all the sensible Urban comments, plus justified rants, about that.
But the going to work or not question more generally should also still be more of a thing IMO.

Mid March 2020 to early August lockdown : I/many others were not at work.
Early January 2021 to whenever lockdown : I/many others still will be at work.

Luckily I do work in one of the safer office workplaces.
But the inconsistencies between last year's and this year's lockdowns are outrageous
(On the colourful map, the latest is that most of South Wales is still in dark purple ).

Yeah, I'm shocked by this. My trade takes me into people's homes every day. Admittedly enquiries and, as a result, work have dropped off as the situation has grown more serious but this is far from where we were and, imo, where we need to be. I'm getting really uncomfortable with doing it both for my safety and that of others and, bar the jobs I've already committed to, won't be taking further work on.

You can tell from the high street in my hometown (Llantwit Major) that things are very different from March. Basically it's almost full - pavements, car parking spaces in spite of the closure of non essential shops. In March it was like a ghost town. Needs to become one again.

 

[T & P]

Regarding children’s education whilst in lockdown, a colleague at work made (in my layman opinion) a good point today about using one of the many TV channels available to anyone with a TV and the most basic equipment/ aerial (such as BBC4 or any other freely available to all) to broadcast school lessons.

Fair enough that not everyone has computers or even internet access at home, but whereas some people don’t have TV either, the percentage of households that have either or internet access or a TV must be very high. Why not set up a curriculum-compatible daily lessons schedule for those households without internet access?

 

[xenon]

A couple of posters have said that is happening in places like Portugal and Turkey.

 

[two sheds]

I'll swear it used to happen on BBC when I was a wee nipper

1960s?

 

[xenon]

I guess for young kids it’s the concentration as much as having access to equipment. My friend was teaching her five-year-old niece, Over zoom, whilst her mum got on with some other stuff. If she got bored or had enough, she just wandered out of camera view. The child, that is.

 

[xenon]

I'll swear it used to happen on BBC when I was a wee nipper

1960s?

they used to have random education stuff on during the 80s as well. it was deadly dull if I recall so I just went back to playing computer games. This was stuff I saw during the holidays or random channel hopping.

 

[two sheds]

they used to have random education stuff on during the 80s as well. it was deadly dull if I recall so I just went back to playing computer games. This was stuff I saw during the holidays or random channel hopping.

Get back in front of that tv

 

[crossthebreeze]

I'll swear it used to happen on BBC when I was a wee nipper

1960s?

Until 1993 on channel 4 and until 2010 on BBC2 (and overnight on BBC2 or cbbc channel until 2015) - also apparently BBC radio had schools programmes during the day until 1993 and overnight until 2018!

 

[2hats]

World beating trailing.

 

[two sheds]

Until 1993 on channel 4 and until 2010 on BBC2 (and overnight on BBC2 or cbbc channel until 2015) - also apparently BBC radio had schools programmes during the day until 1993 and overnight until 2018!

Like miss direct ? said they're doing that very well in Turkey? It's a fucking sensible thing to do once pointed out.

I remember ListenWithMother only too well from 60 years ago. " I put out my hand and stopped the bus, stopped the bus, stopped the bus .. ." :

 

[tommers]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

Not tv but BBC programmes for different ages and years.

 

[two sheds]

I may well work my way up from Primary thought them

can't be too sure

 

[Artaxerxes]

World beating trailing.

10 months into the pandemic.

I'm so so angry about flying during this period I can't process the subject rationally.

 

[Lord Camomile]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

Not tv but BBC programmes for different ages and years.

Bitesize was a thing when I was doing GCSEs! Wee hours on BBC2, though.

 

[two sheds]

Bitesize was a thing when I was doing GCSEs! Wee hours on BBC2, though.

I put out my hand and stopped the bus, stopped the bus, stopped the bus .. ." :

 

[Lord Camomile]

Just realised we're having the same conversation about educational programmes on two different threads

Being a non-parent idiot, I don't really understand why they can't do something similar with the curriculum. Get more celebs involved, make it a 'national effort', relieve some of the burden from parents...

I do understand that each school has their own spin on things, but surely there's enough base material to do something with? Hell, even if it's just stuff like maths and the sciences, those aren't gonna change between schools!

There is - BBC Bitesize and Oak National Academy

 

[Cid]

I think the point is that the bbc essentially broadcast educational materials. They didn’t broadcast education... that takes feedback and interaction. Certainly for the majority of school age kids.

 

[two sheds]

good point well made

 

[Lord Camomile]

I think the point is that the bbc essentially broadcast educational materials. They didn’t broadcast education... that takes feedback and interaction. Certainly for the majority of school age kids.

To be honest, it's something that's come up in staff training at work, too, with many of us saying that web videos aren't enough and we need someone to actually talk to, check/clarify our understanding with.

But aye, it's a fair point, maybe History with Russel Brand isn't such a good idea after all

 

[ska invita]

ITN news really cheered us all up with Tom Clark saying that the vaccines may not work properly against the mutants and there aren’t enough doses anyway.

This is really worrying me....the Tory approach is keep the hospitals full and wait for the vaccine - if the vaccine fails at this stage...it doesnt bear thinking about
And if the R wont go below 1 even under this current full lockdown (far from improbable) it means huge case numbers and therefore even more mutations, and even more possible ineffectiveness of the vaccines.
The possibility of the max 500k deaths and herd immunity is starting to creep into the realms of possibility here
Not there yet, but based on the last 10 months...

 

[elbows]

This is really worrying me....the Tory approach is keep the hospitals full and wait for the vaccine - if the vaccine fails at this stage...it doesnt bear thinking about
And if the R wont go below 1 even under this current full lockdown (far from improbable) it means huge case numbers and therefore even more mutations, and even more possible ineffectiveness of the vaccines.
The possibility of the max 500k deaths and herd immunity is starting to creep into the realms of possibility here
Not there yet, but based on the last 10 months...

Scenarios involving the virus escaping from immune responses tend to mean forgetting about concepts such as herd immunity and a maximum number of deaths too, those concepts lose their basis.

Even without specific fears to focus on in that regard, the whole herd immunity rhetoric never seemed like a good match for reality. We dont expect to achieve long-lasting herd immunity against common cold viruses or influenza viruses, so why should it be any different with this coronavirus? The numbers dont add up either, because enough of the population catching it would involve the number of hospitalisations being many times more than the system could cope with, unless everything is stretched out over a much longer period of time. And when you stretch it out that much, by the time enough of the population have had it, so much time has passed that people who had it earliers immunity has started to wane, or the virus has had enough time to mutate sufficiently to cause problems on that front.

A vaccination programme that was aiming for herd immunity would be an attempt to fiddle with that equation, and get the population immunity levels up to a very large percentage without requiring as much hospitalisation to achieve it. But we arent at a stage of such plans in our vaccination programme, the first priority is to do with protecting chunks of the population rather than attempting to reach herd immunity thresholds. And theres a pretty mainstream expectation that the likes of Whitty dont mind stating publicly that things are more likely to end up as an ongoing seasonal thing, with vaccination programmes to tackle the virus likely to become an ongoing feature. This is not the only possible future, but there are various reasons why many are inclined to find it the most likely one. I dont know, I said since the early days of the pandemic that I was expecting a few twists in the tale at some point, but to be honest so far things have tended to progress in the way that was always seemed most likely. There have been blindspots that ended up being costly but contrary to some excuses most of these were not only possible to ascertain with the benefit of hindsight, some could be seen from a mile off, there havent actually been many genuine surprises in this pandemic.

 

[William of Walworth]

Welsh rules (introduced 20th December) appear unchanged (specifically in terms of going to work I mean).
The schools rules have changed here, but nothing else that I saw.

Having heard a big phat zero from my (Civil Service) workplace about any changes, I'll continue to assume that I'll be returning to work 'as normal' tomorow -- as I posted a while back, myself and most others on our section are unable to work from home.

I appreciate that the schools question is very important, and I've supported all the sensible Urban comments, plus justified rants, about that.
But the going to work or not question more generally should also still be more of a thing IMO.

Mid March 2020 to early August lockdown : I/many others were not at work.
Early January 2021 to whenever lockdown : I/many others still will be at work.
Luckily I do work in one of the safer office workplaces.
But the inconsistencies between last year's and this year's lockdowns are outrageous
(On the colourful map, the latest is that most of South Wales is still in dark purple ).

Yeah, I'm shocked by this. My trade takes me into people's homes every day. Admittedly enquiries and, as a result, work have dropped off as the situation has grown more serious but this is far from where we were and, imo, where we need to be. I'm getting really uncomfortable with doing it both for my safety and that of others and, bar the jobs I've already committed to, won't be taking further work on.

You can tell from the high street in my hometown (Llantwit Major) that things are very different from March. Basically it's almost full - pavements, car parking spaces in spite of the closure of non essential shops. In March it was like a ghost town. Needs to become one again.

That's a bit weird -- over the last few days, pretty much all of (central) Swansea has been like a ghost town -- even the big Sainsbury's near us hasn't been too bad.
The roads have been ultra-quiet too
But the real test here will be over the coming week or two -- people properly going back to work (see my earlier post above! ).