Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[littlebabyjesus]

It has its place I'm sure. A lot of behavioural scientists were vocal about how inappropriate this all was.

Sure. It appears here to be driving policy direction, rather than them saying 'right, this is what needs to be done, Behavioural Scientists, what do you think of these strategies/objectives and how best to implement them'. Not 'well others are doing stuff, it'll make people restless if we don't do it too'.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I know little about how smart phones work but if that is accurate it's certainly a worrying article. I was wondering more whether enough people would download it to be it viable. The idea that you need to have the app open and in the forefront and your phone hasn't gone to sleep? That would be unrealistic to say the least.

Also it's a state-comissioned IT project and so even if they'd had ten years to work on it, it would still be a bag of shit. Also the contract for designing it seems to have been given to mates of Dominic Cummings who if they're anything like Gollum himself will be very good at thinking they're incredibly talented and very bad at everything else.

 

[quimcunx]

Sure. It appears here to be driving policy direction, rather than them saying 'right, this is what needs to be done, Behavioural Scientists, what do you think of these strategies/objectives and how best to implement them'. Not 'well others are doing stuff, it'll make people restless if we don't do it too'.

I said before too that bearing in mind the govt knew this was coming in January, the alleged resistance to lockdown might be overcome, from a behavioural pov, by earlier, clearer and stronger messaging to prepare us. Not um ah thumb twiddling um wash your hands ooh lockdown! surprise!

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I said before too that bearing in mind the govt knew this was coming in January, the alleged resistance to lockdown might be overcome, from a behavioural pov, by earlier, clearer and stronger messaging to prepare us. Not um ah thumb twiddling um wash your hands ooh lockdown! surprise!

Well exactly. You don't ask the BS people to come up with your plan for you. You come up with your plan then ask them their advice on how to achieve it.

 

[Ax^]

Why the fuck are you still here?

TBF when you hear someone come out with Techno fascism

it just makes me think they are a Third Position Fucktard


still have no idea why the he is still here

 

[Cid]

We probably could have done with a lot more BS tbh. I mean... Well, let's leave aside BS for the moment. But I've said a few times before that the social science element of managing this crisis, of emphasising severity, propagating information, reinforcing behaviours etc has been profoundly lacking. Which is somewhat ironic given all the initial stuff about the mighty nudge unit.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Well exactly. You don't ask the BS people to come up with your plan for you. You come up with your plan then ask them their advice on how to achieve it.

Not if they've already used their behavioural science voodoo to trick you into letting them run the show.

Not that Johnson would have needed much persuading to outsource all the decision making to the first bunch of charlatans to walk into his office.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

We probably could have done with a lot more BS tbh. I mean... Well, let's leave aside BS for the moment. But I've said a few times before that the social science element of managing this crisis, of emphasising severity, propagating information, reinforcing behaviours etc has been profoundly lacking. Which is somewhat ironic given all the initial stuff about the mighty nudge unit.

This is why you can't separate the social science from the politics.

'Minister, we need you to explain what is going on and tell people the truth...'

Instead, it seems to me that they've managed this as if it were literally a war, holding back information, misleading, misdirecting, being as transparent as full-fat milk. Loose talk costs... um, the virus may be listening.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Boffing boffin Prof Neil Ferguson has resigned after flattening a married lady's curves, and breaking lockdown rules.

Unsalacious BBC link

 

[little_legs]

It's fucking hilarious that the British press seems to have been holding onto the story to release it today, the day when the UK has been declared the champion of the European covid deaths.

 

[agricola]

It's fucking hilarious that the British press seems to have been holding onto the story to release it today, the day when the UK has been declared the champion of the European covid deaths.

odd that Michael Gillard's name is on the byline though, unless he was looking into something else

 

[little_legs]

odd that Michael Gillard's name is on the byline though, unless he was looking into something else

IDGI

 

[agricola]

IDGI

of the original story (in the Telegraph)

 

[little_legs]

of the original story (in the Telegraph)

Is he some kind of notable figure? Spill.

 

[agricola]

Is he some kind of notable figure? Spill.

he is a very good investigative journalist who specialises in serious corruption (including police corruption), not so much blokes seeing other blokes wives

 

[little_legs]

he is a very good investigative journalist who specialises in serious corruption (including police corruption), not so much blokes seeing other blokes wives

Good to know. The only things I found odd for the authors to bring up in the article is that the lady is a left wing campaigner and lives in a £1.9 mln house.

 

[elbows]

Regarding Ferguson, I'm not sure how many facepalms I can handle in one day. Fuckwit on several levels, with an additional one given that he should have been aware that he would be a big target for critics of 'lockdown'. I wonder how many more people in pandemic response positions have behaved like Ferguson and previously Calderwood but havent been exposed.

 

[bimble]

The fesguson fall from grace looks extremely convenient for the ‘it was the scientists fault we just followed the science’ plea from gov. Has all the factors of a perfect enemy of the people fall guy, open marriage leftie hypocrite traitor bingo.

 

[elbows]

The fesguson fall from grace looks extremely convenient for the ‘it was the scientists fault we just followed the science’ plea from gov. Has all the factors of a perfect enemy of the people fall guy, open marriage leftie hypocrite traitor bingo.

Ferguson cannot perform the proper role of fall guy for the original shit UK strategy, because his team were the ones that produced the paper that provided the 'scientific justification' for plan B, lockdown. They were involved at earlier stages too, but he is unlikely to be the right person to pin the blame for the original crap plan to.

 

[elbows]

I'm glad there have not been too many moments where I had to keep going on about anal swabs (the few times I did were quite enough!) but I note some recent articles discussing the possibilities of sewage-based epidemic surveillance, so this broader angle hasnt entirely gone away!

Coronavirus: Sewage study could predict second Covid-19 peak

Scientists are tracing infections by analysing sewage samples from water treatment works.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[hegley]

I wonder how many more people in pandemic response positions have behaved like Ferguson and previously Calderwood but havent been exposed.

I can't believe that Robert Jenrick doesn't seem to have suffered any consequences for his similar idiocy.

 

[elbows]

I can't believe that Robert Jenrick doesn't seem to have suffered any consequences for his similar idiocy.

I for one tend to forget he exists!

 

[tommers]

Fucking stupid cos we now have all the usual cunts screaming about how it's obvious that lockdown is not correct.

Almost like it was planned.

I mean, for example:

 

[Nine Bob Note]

No end of peeps waltzing into my work this week in shorts and flip-flops for crates of beer and BBQ shit, blocking aisles as they chat to their equally non-key worker friends about how great being furloughed on the state's dime is.

Relax the rules? No, fuck off, people are already treating this as an extended summer holiday, whilst the lower classes fill the shelves, clean the floors etc

 

[Part-timah]

Everything you need to know about the new NHS contact tracing app

The app behind the NHS Test and Trace project failed. A second NHS Covid-19 app was released on September 24. Here's how it works

www.wired.co.uk

Yeah, my mistake. Here's a good article about it. Apparently stores no personal data.

The app is a privacy nightmare. Its is thoroughly disingenuous to say it “stores no personal data”. Give a few weeks and researchers will pull the app apart. Good things are unlikely to be said.

 

[SpookyFrank]

The fesguson fall from grace looks extremely convenient for the ‘it was the scientists fault we just followed the science’ plea from gov. Has all the factors of a perfect enemy of the people fall guy, open marriage leftie hypocrite traitor bingo.

Thank god out fearless leader's record of infection control protocol and marital integrity is above reproach. Otherwise this whole Ferguson thing might look like a conspiracy between the state and the media to throw one guy under the bus to cover for the abject failure of the entire establishment.

 

[little_legs]

 

[elbows]

Thank god out fearless leader's record of infection control protocol and marital integrity is above reproach. Otherwise this whole Ferguson thing might look like a conspiracy between the state and the media to throw one guy under the bus to cover for the abject failure of the entire establishment.

Ferguson is not the person to go under that particular bus because he is seen as a major influence for plan B, lockdown, not plan A (Boris the butcher).

Thats why phrases such as 'Prof Ferguson, whose advice to the prime minister led to the UK lockdown' are prominent in BBC coverage of the story. Its those who hate the lockdown and the models that lead to it, or those that hate his own behaviour during lockdown, that would have it in for Ferguson.

No pressures on the government for any of their most obvious failings are relieved at all by what has happened to Ferguson.

 

[Grace Johnson]

UK government 'using pandemic to transfer NHS duties to private sector'

Critics claim Matt Hancock has accelerated dismantling of state healthcare

www.theguardian.com

Now there's a surprise.

Cunts

Interserve who have been awarded the logistics contracts for the nightingale hospitals have also been trying to recruit volunteer labour. Not openly, but quietly through a small recruitment firm that posts on small local covid help Facebook groups.

Its sinister as fuck and I can remember being this angry about anything.

 

[bimble]

Ferguson is not the person to go under that particular bus because he is seen as a major influence for plan B, lockdown, not plan A (Boris the butcher).

Thats why phrases such as 'Prof Ferguson, whose advice to the prime minister led to the UK lockdown' are prominent in BBC coverage of the story. Its those who hate the lockdown and the models that lead to it, or those that hate his own behaviour during lockdown, that would have it in for Ferguson.

No pressures on the government for any of their most obvious failings are relieved at all by what has happened to Ferguson.

Thats true, he’s ‘professor lockdown’, and the anti-lockdown lot are loving this, but at the same time any criticism from him is now entirely muted he’s likely been removed as a voice that anybody will listen to.