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Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

Cheers. By the way I did my usual bad habit of adding a sentence to that post after you'd liked it.

There may be other angles relevant to what you were asking that I havent explored, I've been talking too much again today so will give it a rest now.
 
Reading that article.

I'ma getting a bit frighten now.

No government is as lucky as ours thinks it is. Once the health system hits crisis point...
 
They've taken a collection of gambles with the current approach.

I dont get many glimpses of what frank, detailed discussion of the escape variant threat is. It is tempting to think that some establishment experts think the risk isnt that high, or have other beliefs that make them somewhat oblivious to the risk.

I dont know if, for example, some really seek to test the theory and 'get it over with early' if its going to happen.

From the outside it does sometimes resemble the deliberate pushing of luck and testing things to destruction. But I cant give accurate odds on their chances of getting away with it.
 
Oh and just because I keep saying that the government may get away with their chosen approach, doesnt in any way mean I've taken off the table the possibility that it will blow up in their face to such an extent that Johnson ends up as toast politically. They are gambling on that front in ways I'm not even sure they've realised.
 
elbows said:
They've taken a collection of gambles with the current approach.

I dont get many glimpses of what frank, detailed discussion of the escape variant threat is. It is tempting to think that some establishment experts think the risk isnt that high, or have other beliefs that make them somewhat oblivious to the risk.

I dont know if, for example, some really seek to test the theory and 'get it over with early' if its going to happen.

From the outside it does sometimes resemble the deliberate pushing of luck and testing things to destruction. But I cant give accurate odds on their chances of getting away with it.
Click to expand...
I assume they think now we've got a vaccine, we're all safe again. But they're not allowing time for everyone to a) get both jabs, and b) have an extra few weeks to develop immunity, which is what I'd have done if I was in charge. At least waiting until October or November might have been safer despite their fears of winter bugs. But hey, what do I know.
 
Spandex said:
Also, keep an eye on how data is recorded.

Now that we need to keep an eye on hospitalisation figures instead of case numbers to have an idea of how bad things are getting, the CRG are naturally calling for how they are recorded to be looked at.

Yesterday in Parliament there was this exchange:

Mark Harper, the chair of the Covid Recovery Group, which represents lockdown-sceptic Tories, says hospital admission data is misleading because it included people testing positive for Covid, even if that is not why they were admitted to hospital. Policy should not be determined by “dodgy data”, he says.

Javid says Harper is making a “very good point”. He says he has asked for advice on whether the way the data is collected can change.

While Harper would claim to purely be interested in the accuracy of the hospitalisation figures, his suggested change would make future figures lower and harder to compare with previous waves.

Odd bunch the CRG. Obviously right-wing capitalist libertarians, their main platform seems to be ensuring Covid to kills as many of their constituents as possible. Strange way to go about re-election: vote for me, I tried to kill you. Has that campaign message been tried before? Who knows though, in this crazy mixed up world it might just work.
Click to expand...
Quite a few Tories voted to send their constituents into the meat grinders that were various aspects of UK foreign policy even during the last century and more.
 
elbows said:
The other thing to keep in mind about the current UK plan is that it was partly always just going to be a political trick - moving away from legislation that the tory backbench loons and certain newspapers go mad about, but in practice still having quite a few of those rules in place in practice via stuff like the dreaded 'corporate responsibility'. Its an incredibly dangerous game with real implications, so I'm not trying to claim that the level of adherence seen before will remain intact, but its certainly far short of the freedom day bullshit they tried to pretend it was. The changes would have been more real and dramatic if it werent for Delta, so now we have more fudge on our hands.

The FT noticed this and stuck it on their front page today.

View attachment 278372
Click to expand...
It's true, I don't know any companies that are rush rushing everyone back into the office 5 days a week.
 
I dont watch much tv but it seems like a switch has been flipped again recently. In that plenty of worried experts and hospital workers can be seen giving interviews on the BBC.

I note the BBC also started showing the sort of graphs about vaccination that demonstrate the declining rate of daily vaccination in this country, and have started openly acknowledging the challenge of improving uptake in the younger age groups and the fall in demand.
 
elbows said:
Also see things like:

www.bbc.co.uk

Firms don't plan to rush back to offices on Monday

Businesses to keep a cautious approach to bringing staff back as Covid restrictions are lifted in England.
www.bbc.co.uk
Click to expand...
Hmm well quite. I work for a large company and we don't even have a date for starting to return to office yet. I think the government restrictions don't really matter when working from home is a clear win in terms of keeping office workers happy, healthy and safe.
 
belboid said:
mrsb has been told she isn’t expected back into the (council) office until next year at least.

All of the jobs I’m going for at the moment say they’ll be WHF for the foreseeable after an introductory couple of weeks.
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Blimey, Sheffield? In Leeds, loads of people are coming back to work
 
Cat Fan said:
Hmm well quite. I work for a large company and we don't even have a date for starting to return to office yet. I think the government restrictions don't really matter when working from home is a clear win in terms of keeping office workers happy, healthy and safe.
Click to expand...
You'd think but my company wanted everyone back from the 19th. It's now modified that a bit due to pushback from staff but they still want everyone back in the office asap.
 
Oof, I have just had a work contract that says I am working remotely but states that when the government lifts restrictions they can ask me contractually to work at the office. Firstly, I don't want to, secondly the office is in Manchester.
Can they make me go to work?
Can I even claim vulnerable status anymore? Will I be breaching contract?
 
I cant read the following article but if someone could let me know if they ever see this story reported elsewhere, thanks.

www.hsj.co.uk

Nightingale deaths lead to warning over ‘confusion’ around ventilator equipment

Two patients died while being treated at London's Nightingale Hospital amid what a coroner has described as 'widespread confusion' around some of the equipment used for ventilation machines.
www.hsj.co.uk www.hsj.co.uk

Two patients died while being treated at London’s Nightingale Hospital amid what a coroner has described as ‘widespread confusion’ around some of the equipment used for ventilation machines.
Click to expand...
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
Oof, I have just had a work contract that says I am working remotely but states that when the government lifts restrictions they can ask me contractually to work at the office. Firstly, I don't want to, secondly the office is in Manchester.
Can they make me go to work?
Can I even claim vulnerable status anymore? Will I be breaching contract?
Click to expand...
If it's in the contract your options might be limited, but I would suggest talking to your union, if you have one, in the first instance.
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
Oof, I have just had a work contract that says I am working remotely but states that when the government lifts restrictions they can ask me contractually to work at the office. Firstly, I don't want to, secondly the office is in Manchester.
Can they make me go to work?
Can I even claim vulnerable status anymore? Will I be breaching contract?
Click to expand...
How far away do you live from the office? Think I read somewhere (ages ago) that if it's more than 25 miles they can't force you. I'll dig around and see if I can find it again.
 
For the first time ever, kids in Ted's u10 football team are having to isolate. One missed last week and one so far is missing this week. It's tournament season now so lots of kids mixing.
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
Deffo more than 25 miles. I live in London.
Click to expand...
Then that would definitely be unreasonable. That being said, it does sound like the standard wording they use for all remote staff without taking into account your individual circumstances. It's not about whether the government have lifted restrictions or not in your case, the point is they offered you the remote job on the understanding that you lived 200 miles away, and that hasn't changed. If it's now an issue for them that you can't come in, they should pay for a hotel for you in Manchester.
 
LeytonCatLady said:
Then that would definitely be unreasonable. That being said, it does sound like the standard wording they use for all remote staff without taking into account your individual circumstances. It's not about whether the government have lifted restrictions or not in your case, the point is they offered you the remote job on the understanding that you lived 200 miles away, and that hasn't changed. If it's now an issue for them that you can't come in, they should pay for a hotel for you in Manchester.
Click to expand...
Even if they did pay for my hotel in Manchester I wouldn't want to go. . . . for several reasons.
 
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