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Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

Good article on the growing anger amongst healthcare workers with a particular focus on Wales.

www.voice.wales

“we Are Being Sacrificed” - Furious NHS Workers Turn on the Government Over Covid Deaths -

Reading Time: 6 minutesAfter another week which has brought yet more deaths and hospitalisation of health workers, those on the Coronavirus Front-line are increasingly turning against both the Welsh and British governments. The death of their colleagues, a chronic lack of PPE, failure to test...
www.voice.wales www.voice.wales
 
See, one of the specific parts of the lockdown that's getting to me, is that I'm 'lucky' because I get to leave the house, because of work.

As long as I socially isolate myself, which really isn't difficult for me, and maintain hygiene standards, in theory I should be fine.

The thing I'm finding most difficult (apart from the slow-burn anxiety of 'If I get it, then I'm bound to pass it on to Baby87 - and then we really fucked') is that there's no 'weekend' anymore.
What I mean is that there's nothing to break up the weeks, to the point where it feels like I've been working constantly, when in reality it's the same as it was before.

Don't get me wrong, there are a myriad of people on worse situation for me, and as I write it feels a bit 'first world problems', but it's just how I'm feeling.
 
Key scientific data and advice the UK government is using to guide its covid-19 response won’t be published until the pandemic ends. Documents used to make decisions and the minutes of meetings of the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) will only be made public when the current outbreak is brought under control, according to Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser.

In a letter sent earlier this month to MP Greg Clark, who chairs the House of Commons science and technology committee, Vallance said: “Once SAGE stops convening on this emergency the minutes of relevant SAGE meetings, supporting documents and the names of participants (with their permission) will be published.”
Click to expand...
“I think they should be sharing who the key people are and minutes of their meetings,” says Devi Sridhar, a public health scientist at the University of Edinburgh, UK, who also signed the letter published in The Lancet. “I think transparency is incredibly important and we’ve taken this route in the Scottish Government Covid-19 Advisory Group. We share the names of members and minutes.”

The refusal to publish minutes of the advisory group meetings until the pandemic is over also contradicts the UK government’s own guidance. The 2011 Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees says meeting minutes should be published “as soon as possible” and written in an “unattributable form” – meaning there is no need to identify members. Advisory committees “should operate from a presumption of openness” the code says, and also publish meeting agendas and final advice.
Click to expand...
www.newscientist.com

UK’s coronavirus science advice won’t be published until pandemic ends

The UK government says its coronavirus strategies are based on science, but the scientific advice it has received won’t be made public until after the pandemic
www.newscientist.com www.newscientist.com
 
teqniq said:
Withering article in the Sunday Times. What has Johnson done or more likely not done to piss Murdoch off?

Click to expand...

The Thunderer has always had an unusual degree of editorial independence for a Murdoch rag -- notably when they went against him over Brexit -- this directly affects everyone, including journalists, and many if not most of their readers will be in their senior years. Mail and even Telegraph have also broken ranks.

They're setting up Johnson to come riding in to save the day. Which, as he's incapable of saving an email, will mean handing policy off to someone vaguely competent. Screw up again and may be time to activate men in grey suits, "Boris" with greatest regret to step down for sake of health and family/ies, etc.
 
Boris Johnson claims his Covid-19 response is “led by the science”. But one look at the expert advice his Cobra committee received suggests his government resisted being led too quickly. Advice to the government in February recommended closing bars and schools – actions the government didn’t take until late March.
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The earliest paper, from 11 February, on “stopping large public gatherings”, makes a strong case that while cancelling big events would not be particularly effective, “stopping all leisure activities, including public gatherings such as at bars and restaurants, would be expected to have a much larger effect”. Johnson did not close pubs until 20 March, well over a month later.
Click to expand...
Subsequent papers show there was much debate among experts and the argument was not cut and dried. But they give a distinct impression of early advice being much stronger than the actions the prime minister actually took.
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www.private-eye.co.uk

Private Eye Magazine | Official Site - the UK's number one best-selling news and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop

The official site for Private Eye magazine, the UK's number one best-selling news and current affairs publication edited by Ian Hislop. Subscribe here for only £45 a year.
www.private-eye.co.uk
 
teqniq said:
It may be that Murdoch prefers Gove and with Johnson's abysmal non-handling of the pandemic the writing is on the wall.
Click to expand...
Yup, Gove very popular among Westminster bubble, which tells you all you need to know about them.

He's also smart enough to know he wants to keep a very low profile ATM, so that'd be an absolute last resort.
 
zahir said:
www.private-eye.co.uk

Private Eye Magazine | Official Site - the UK's number one best-selling news and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop

The official site for Private Eye magazine, the UK's number one best-selling news and current affairs publication edited by Ian Hislop. Subscribe here for only £45 a year.
www.private-eye.co.uk
Click to expand...
Well to a point, not seen any evidence that an aggressive suppression and elimination strategy was even suggested by "the science", nor, if it was, any reason that the government would've rejected it in favour of "herd immunity" and the horrors of its attendant death toll.

Going by Johnson's speech in early Feb and anonymous comments from a cabinet minister in the Telegraph, we know they wanted to avoid a lockdown. Several strategies compatible with doing that, and if they chose the most politically costly one, must've come with strong backing from their scientific advisors.
 
weltweit said:
He managed to get the affected party tested, (which irritated some) the test was negative and he was later photographed out running. So he hasn't been isolating for some time.
Click to expand...
Time enough to get his ducks in a row and avoid some of the growing shitstorm.
 
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