Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[Mation]

In the absence of any suggestion a white Chancellor's views would be treated any differently in this situation, I think it's actually quite weird to bring it up tbh. You're suggesting Sunak's views should be lent less weight in comparison to similar views held by more junior cabinet minsters.

No.

Only that we should be mindful not to get sucked into a Tory subplot. The buck stops with Bojo the Clown, as that's the job he has taken. But they're all as bad as each other.

 

[TopCat]

So we add right said Fred to the cunts list then?

 

[BigMoaner]

Yuck at the friendly, weary tone of him. You know, it's so hard for me to travel what with my rebellious lock down views. Poor me.

Go fuck yourself. I hope you don't kill anyone on the way!

10 months of being terrified I am going to pass this virus on to my folks and kill them and Einsteins like this getting praise on twitter for "marching to their own drum". I would love it if these fucks were publicly humiliated somehow.

 

[Artaxerxes]

So many celebs have proved themselves absolute cunts this year it’s hard to keep track.

 

[wtfftw]

So many celebs have proved themselves absolute cunts this year it’s hard to keep track.

But at least now we know jedward are a force for good.

 

[maomao]

So many celebs have proved themselves absolute cunts this year it’s hard to keep track.

I keep celebs on a provisional cunt list till they do something nice. Easier that way round.

 

[Badgers]

BA took them down. The last one was still on my screen. Not sure if they made it to 2/2.

 

[killer b]

No.

Only that we should be mindful not to get sucked into a Tory subplot. The buck stops with Bojo the Clown, as that's the job he has taken. But they're all as bad as each other.

you know lots of the tory press reporting on his views on ending lockdown early think he's right don't you?

 

[Mation]

you know lots of the tory press reporting on his views on ending lockdown early think he's right don't you?

Yes.

You know that it's possible to agree with something but be aware that it might go tits up and want to set up someone else for the blame, don't you?

 

[andysays]

He's a Tory cunt, but it's also possible that there's an element of blaming the dodgy thing on the brown one, just in case.

That's certainly a thing, in general, but in this case I don't see anyone seeking to blame Sunak.

It's his supporters who are apparently the source of the story and he's arguing for something (easing of lockdown restrictions) which many Tories are actively and vocally in favour of.

 

[Mation]

That's certainly a thing, in general, but in this case I don't see anyone seeking to blame Sunak.

It's his supporters who are apparently the source of the story and he's arguing for something (easing of lockdown restrictions) which many Tories are actively and vocally in favour of.

I think I made the point that many Tories are actively in favour.

 

[killer b]

Yes.

You know that it's possible to agree with something but be aware that it might go tits up and want to set up someone else for the blame, don't you?

I think this is a bit tortuous. The chancellor of the exchequer is in favour of an early ending to lockdown, so less powerful supporters of an early lockdown are seizing upon that as it gives their campaign greater momentum and credibility. They are all racists too, but if there's any racist calculation of who will be blamed if everything goes wrong, it's waaaaay down the list of considerations. They don't think it will go wrong.

 

[Mation]

I think this is a bit tortuous. The chancellor of the exchequer is in favour of an early ending to lockdown, so less powerful supporters of an early lockdown are seizing upon that as it gives their campaign greater momentum and credibility. They are all racists too, but if there's any racist calculation of who will be blamed if everything goes wrong, it's waaaaay down the list of considerations. They don't think it will go wrong.

I think it's more that their priorities aren't so much about whether (they think) it will go wrong, but what opportunities will be present if they go down their favoured path.

 

[Artaxerxes]

 

[Badgers]

I have been invited to the count

Not. Going.

 

[Chz]

So many celebs have proved themselves absolute cunts this year it’s hard to keep track.

It's generally best to assume any celeb (Grade A through Z) is a cunt unless proven otherwise. You always hear about the nice ones, because it's not normal!!

 

[Pickman's model]

I have been invited to the count

Not. Going.

It'll be a superspreader event

 

[BigMoaner]

It's generally best to assume any celeb (Grade A through Z) is a cunt unless proven otherwise. You always hear about the nice ones, because it's not normal!!

there's rumours been flying around this part of south london for years, depending on who you know and who you have connections with, that Jools Holland is not a cunt. he does a lot of local charity work that goes under the radar and apparently is not a tax dodge. Again, I reiterate that it is just a rumor, incredibly speculative and it of course goes without saying that he probably is a cunt.

 

[StoneRoad]

I have been invited to the count

Not. Going.

I decided on having a postal vote for this next year or three ...

 

[elbows]

I saw a headline on the BBC news site. It said 'Covid: Five reasons to be (cautiously) hopeful'. I thought the chances were that Nick Triggle wrote it, and when I clicked on it I was not wrong. I havent even read it all properly yet because I've been too busy chuckling to myself about the word cautiously being chucked in the headline. By Triggle pandemic standards that word of caution counts as progress.

Covid: Five reasons to be (cautiously) hopeful

The past few months have been incredibly tough. But are the darkest days behind us?

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[belboid]

BMJ Exec editor calls the governments response ‘social murder’

Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant

After two million deaths, we must have redress for mishandling the pandemic Murder is an emotive word. In law, it requires premeditation. Death must be deemed to be unlawful. How could “murder” apply to failures of a pandemic response? Perhaps it can’t, and never will, but it is worth...

www.bmj.com

 

[elbows]

Warning: this article also contains quotes by deadly cunt sir Brady, probably in the name of balanced reporting bullshit. At least they bothered to mention his track record.

Covid-19: Avoid 'setting dates' for lifting lockdown, scientist warns

Leaders should not be "driven by a calendar", says a scientist advising the government.

www.bbc.co.uk

Sir Graham - who has previously opposed lockdown rules - told the BBC the argument for going into a third national lockdown was to stop the risk of the NHS being overwhelmed.
"The NHS has actually coped spectacularly well," he said. "Now that that threat is receding, we ought to be - and indeed we are, and the government says we are - looking to open up."
Other politicians are urging a cautious approach to lifting lockdown.
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt told the Guardian that new coronavirus cases should be driven down to a manageable level of 1,000 a day, as they are in South Korea.
"The Koreans and the Taiwanese have kept their economy open," he told the newspaper. "All their restaurants are open, because they've kept case transmission low, and we just need to do what it takes to get to that point.

 

[elbows]

BMJ Exec editor calls the governments response ‘social murder’

Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant

After two million deaths, we must have redress for mishandling the pandemic Murder is an emotive word. In law, it requires premeditation. Death must be deemed to be unlawful. How could “murder” apply to failures of a pandemic response? Perhaps it can’t, and never will, but it is worth...

www.bmj.com

Good stuff.

The media might help here, remembering their duty to speak truth to power, to hold elected officials accountable. And yet much of the media is complicit too, trapped in ideological silos that see the pandemic through a lens of political tribalism, worried about telling pandemic truths to their readers and viewers, owners, and political friends. In fact, truth has become dispensable as politicians and their allies are allowed to lie, mislead, and repaint history, with barely a hint of a challenge from journalists and broadcasters. Anybody who dares to speak truth to power is unpatriotic, disloyal, or a “hardliner.”

Ministers in the UK, for example, interact with the media through sanitised interviews, stage managed press conferences, off-the-record briefings to favoured correspondents, and, when the going gets tough, by simply refusing to appear. It is this environment that has allowed covid denial to flourish, for unaccountability to prevail, and for the great lies of “world beating” pandemic responses to be spun. “The most important lessons from this pandemic,” argue Bollycky and Kickbusch, “are less about the coronavirus itself but what it has revealed about the political systems that have responded to it.

 

[killer b]

It's a great piece, but a shame it falls short of calling for armed insurrection. The final paragraphs are a bit of a anticlimax as a result.

 

[elbows]

It's a great piece, but a shame it falls short of calling for armed insurrection. The final paragraphs are a bit of a anticlimax as a result.

Ah well, the bits about the medias duty also comes across as a bit naive but we may as well hold them accountable to the standards they pretend to have.

 

[StoneRoad]

Keeping the rate down to or below 1,000 cases a day ? - the UK last saw those rates between June and August 2020.

My impression was that the rates were only that low because there had been a strict lockdown for the preceding three months and insufficient testing to determine the true number of infections (& that's also ignoring symptomless cases) and that's without the more transmissible variants that have now developed.
Almost as soon as the unlockening began, and people returned from holidays abroad we started seeing cases increase, and "eat out to help out" only IMO really succeeded in spreading yet more cases ...

I'm hoping that the vaccinations currently will help contain the seriousness of infections as well as actually reduce the number of deaths, but I am still expecting to be wearing masks etc for some time to come - and for everyone to need a second vaccination by late autumn.

 

[2hats]

Warning: this article also contains quotes by deadly cunt sir Brady, probably in the name of balanced reporting bullshit. At least they bothered to mention his track record.

He was on R4 Today this morning, calling for lockdown release, stating "we also know know that the vaccines are going to benefit in terms of transmission".

Except there is no evidence of any reduction in transmission (full sterilising immunity) yet.

 

[Cid]

Keeping the rate down to or below 1,000 cases a day ? - the UK last saw those rates between June and August 2020.

My impression was that the rates were only that low because there had been a strict lockdown for the preceding three months and insufficient testing to determine the true number of infections (& that's also ignoring symptomless cases) and that's without the more transmissible variants that have now developed.
Almost as soon as the unlockening began, and people returned from holidays abroad we started seeing cases increase, and "eat out to help out" only IMO really succeeded in spreading yet more cases ...

I'm hoping that the vaccinations currently will help contain the seriousness of infections as well as actually reduce the number of deaths, but I am still expecting to be wearing masks etc for some time to come - and for everyone to need a second vaccination by late autumn.

I believe there were significant improvements in testing throughout May. In any case the true number of infections is reflected in the death rate, and in hospitalizations. There undoubtedly was a sustained period of 2-3 months in the summer that saw low transmission rates... In spite of increased social stuff etc. Why is another matter entirely, but it did happen. There doesn't even seem to be a particularly strong link to 'eat out to help out', which only operated in August (of course there may be stuff like it maintaining a pool of infection etc, I just mean there's no major change in that period). Hospitalizations only really start to rise early-mid September...

 

[zahir]

There undoubtedly was a sustained period of 2-3 months in the summer that saw low transmission rates... In spite of increased social stuff etc. Why is another matter entirely, but it did happen. There doesn't even seem to be a particularly strong link to 'eat out to help out', which only operated in August (of course there may be stuff like it maintaining a pool of infection etc, I just mean there's no major change in that period). Hospitalizations only really start to rise early-mid September...

Schools going back?

 

[Cid]

Schools going back?

It's a tricky one, which is why I avoided it in that post... I think it can be a bit easy to fixate on obvious causes. I mean 'eat out to help out' is a good example of that - daft policy, but no major increase in cases. I remember at that time there was also 'back to the office' encouragement, and - as the weather changed - presumably a lot more mixing indoors. But yeah, if you asked me what I thought it would be some combination of those, plus the kick of universities in late sept. It's just something that can only really be unpicked with considerably more detailed analysis of movement data, where transmission occurred etc.