Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[cupid_stunt]

I've never actually watched Sky News before this shitstorm but it's far far better than the beeb. And doesn't cut off press conferences to report on the possible location of Dele Alli's rolex.

Watch Sky News Live

Watch Sky News Live

news.sky.com

I think their overall news coverage is far better than the BBC, and even better now Murdoch doesn't own it.

 

[Petcha]

I do appreciate the BBC has had its budget slashed of course so that would go some way to explain why their news cycle is far more repetitive than Sky's. What a time to axe Victoria Derbyshire. Idiots.

 

[Saul Goodman]

I do appreciate the BBC has had its budget slashed of course so that would go some way to explain why their news cycle is far more repetitive than Sky's.

I think if you sit with Sky News on in the background, you'll soon think it's groundhog day.

 

[Petcha]

I think if you sit with Sky News on in the background, you'll soon think it's groundhog day.

They currently have the Chinese ambassador to the UK live getting a little bit of a grilling. It's the same old shit on the beeb I'm sure.

 

[killer b]

I've not had time to read this yet, but London Reconnections pieces are usually very well informed and well written.

TfL: THE IMPOSSIBLE FINANCES OF FIGHTING A PANDEMIC - London Reconnections

The leading source for independent news and analysis about transport in London and beyond. Award-winning coverage of transport infrastructure and politics alongside stories about the history of the Capital's transport networks.

www.londonreconnections.com

this is very good, thanks.

 

[editor]

It still seems so weird to see the Torygraph ripping into the Tories every day.

It’s always the toughest stage of The Apprentice: the interviews round. A slick-haired young telemarketer in a shiny suit will swagger in, and start bragging about the foolproof business idea he’s had – only for the interviewer to take him apart like a Duplo train set.

In no time, the candidate has dissolved into a puddle of babbling neurosis, unable to give a convincing answer to any question, up to and including the spelling of his own name.

This is what it’s like, these days, watching Sir Keir Starmer grill Boris Johnson at PMQs. Labour’s new leader is calm, polite, and utterly merciless.

Keir Starmer took Boris Johnson apart like a Duplo train set

At PMQs, the new Labour leader asked a series of calmly factual questions – and the Prime Minister visibly struggled

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[oryx]

I've not had time to read this yet, but London Reconnections pieces are usually very well informed and well written.

TfL: THE IMPOSSIBLE FINANCES OF FIGHTING A PANDEMIC - London Reconnections

The leading source for independent news and analysis about transport in London and beyond. Award-winning coverage of transport infrastructure and politics alongside stories about the history of the Capital's transport networks.

www.londonreconnections.com

Whole situation is very worrying. Just read via the Twitter link at the bottom of their page that Tfl have been given a £1.6m bailout but with conditions attached including the resumption of 100% of services and government appointments to the Tfl board.

How on earth can Tfl return to 100% of services with staff needing to self-isolate etc.?

 

[Cid]

There are some biases in the methodology that makes me think 1.5% would be an upper bound rather than the best estimate of the mortality rate. It actually makes me think the often mentioned 0.8%-1.0% sounds about right

I couldn't find much on the methodology... On figures most recently I'd been hearing 0.35-0.75 after New York study etc. At any rate even 0.35 didn't present a particularly rosy picture, and it certainly leaves me concerned about the clusterfuck that is policy in the UK.

 

[Mation]

I'm liking the caption on the first photograph, in case we didn't know what was happening there.

Young woman rinsing mouth, leaning over sink, close-up

Maybe intended primarily as alt text for people using screen readers, but got reused?

 

[Cid]

Whole situation is very worrying. Just read via the Twitter link at the bottom of their page that Tfl have been given a £1.6m bailout but with conditions attached including the resumption of 100% of services and government appointments to the Tfl board.

How on earth can Tfl return to 100% of services with staff needing to self-isolate etc.?

Fuck me, it's like they're giving it a good ticking off for not working properly.

 

[andysays]

Whole situation is very worrying. Just read via the Twitter link at the bottom of their page that Tfl have been given a £1.6m bailout but with conditions attached including the resumption of 100% of services and government appointments to the Tfl board.

How on earth can Tfl return to 100% of services with staff needing to self-isolate etc.?

For what it's worth

Most TfL services are still running, but 7,000 staff - about 25% of the workforce - have been furloughed to cut costs.

If anything, I'd have thought they'd need extra staff to ensure social distancing measures are followed on the Tube

 

[oryx]

Fuck me, it's like they're giving it a good ticking off for not working properly.

It's exactly that.

You can be sure it will be used as a stick to beat Khan come the postponed mayoral election. Especially around him having frozen fares, which is (obviously to most on here, I'm sure, but probably not to your average Daily Mail reader) blatantly not the cause of this situation.

 

[andysays]

It's exactly that.

You can be sure it will be used as a stick to beat Khan come the postponed mayoral election. Especially around him having frozen fares, which is (obviously to most on here, I'm sure, but probably not to your average Daily Mail reader) blatantly not the cause of this situation.

I was reading the story about this on the BBC a few hours ago and the Tory candidate for Mayor (whose name I have forgotten*) was already laying in to Khan over this.

It's been updated since the money was agreed and that bit seems to have disappeared

*ETA Sean Bailey, I think

 

[oryx]

I was reading the story about this on the BBC a few hours ago and the Tory candidate for Mayor (whose name I have forgotten*) was already laying in to Khan over this.

It's been updated since the money was agreed and that bit seems to have disappeared

*ETA Sean Bailey, I think

Yes, I saw that too.

I think just before the postponed mayoral election in May, Khan was something like 25% ahead in the polls. It would be criminal if he was wrongly pilloried over this.

Although it's probably not a huge factor, the detailed and interesting article teuchter linked to mentions the not inconsiderable amount spunked away on the failed Garden Bridge project. Which is a good example of how to completely and utterly waste public money, unlike freezing fares which actually helps people...

 

[Sasaferrato]

The Roche test afaik will require a proper blood sample, in a blood tube taken by a HCW and is run on a machine in a lab. Not a home test!

PHE are going for throughput (lesson learnt?) which you will get with analysers.

Any home testing antibody kit is likely to be a pinprick bloodspot test which in itself with impact accuracy.

As a fair chunk of my income comes from my Roche pension, glad to see them doing well.

 

[Callie]

As a fair chunk of my income comes from my Roche pension, glad to see them doing well.

I am reasonably sure there will be other similar assays joining them soon enough (Abbott, Ortho, Diasorin). Again we have to keep in mind this is a global pandemic of a novel virus.

They're going to want to test everyone. Probably a few times each. We need the supply line infrastructure and production capability. It's a bloody big thing. Everyone one and their dog probably wants an antibody test.

Matt Hancock will be along shortly to set an unobtainable daily antibody testing target any second now.

 

[Sasaferrato]

bollocks
Scotland has been more honest and transparent, you just would never admit it

I would hardly call the suppression of information re the Nike conference good management.

The time it took to actually inspect the home on Skye was not good management. Legal bid to remove owners of virus-hit care home

The discharge of patients from hospital to care homes, without testing them, is hardly good management.

29/04/2020

National Records of Scotland (NRS) statistics showed that care homes accounted for 338 of the 656 cases recorded on death certificates last week - the equivalent of a resident dying every 30 minutes.

Freeman's gross incompetence has sentenced people to death.

 

[weltweit]

..
The discharge of patients from hospital to care homes, without testing them, is hardly good management.
..

I can remember some care home managers standing up to the NHS and refusing to take untested patients, and that wasn't so very long ago.

 

[Sasaferrato]

I can remember some care home managers standing up to the NHS and refusing to take untested patients, and that wasn't so very long ago.

It didn't happen in Scotland.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Yes, I saw that too.

I think just before the postponed mayoral election in May, Khan was something like 25% ahead in the polls. It would be criminal if he was wrongly pilloried over this.

Although it's probably not a huge factor, the detailed and interesting article teuchter linked to mentions the not inconsiderable amount spunked away on the failed Garden Bridge project. Which is a good example of how to completely and utterly waste public money, unlike freezing fares which actually helps people...

I would not be surprised if two things happen.

1. the abolition of the post of London Mayor.

2. The tube becoming driverless asap.

 

[Calamity1971]

FFS .
Anybody heard anything about this . Apparently not official yet
Homeless people put up in hotels amid pandemic to be kicked out

 

[zahir]

Drivers tell of chaos at UK's privately run PPE stockpile

Allegations raise questions over Movianto’s management of government stocks during coronavirus outbreak

www.theguardian.com

The private firm contracted to run the government’s stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) was beset by “chaos” at its warehouse that may have resulted in delays in deploying vital supplies to healthcare workers, according to sources who have spoken to the Guardian and ITV News.

The allegations from delivery drivers and other well–placed sources raise questions about whether Movianto, the subsidiary of a US healthcare giant, was able to adequately manage and distribute the nation’s emergency stockpile of PPE for use in a pandemic.

 

[sheothebudworths]

Why the fuck didn't GTR report the assault to the cops at the time?

Even without C-19, such assaults should be reported.

Mind you, thinking about it, why didn't she report it herself?

She was assaulted at work, it wasn't her job to report it.


Re schools and transmission - didn't the ONS report today show little difference between varying age groups in recent infections?

I know that there's been an ongoing lack of response from the gov to many/any of the questions from the various education unions, so I'm assuming that's followed all over, despite the claim that they have been embracing working with unions.

 

[ddraig]

I would hardly call the suppression of information re the Nike conference good management.

The time it took to actually inspect the home on Skye was not good management. Legal bid to remove owners of virus-hit care home

The discharge of patients from hospital to care homes, without testing them, is hardly good management.

29/04/2020

National Records of Scotland (NRS) statistics showed that care homes accounted for 338 of the 656 cases recorded on death certificates last week - the equivalent of a resident dying every 30 minutes.

Freeman's gross incompetence has sentenced people to death.

Compared to westminster

 

[sheothebudworths]

FFS .
Anybody heard anything about this . Apparently not official yet
Homeless people put up in hotels amid pandemic to be kicked out

That is fucking despicable.

 

[Gramsci]

Whole situation is very worrying. Just read via the Twitter link at the bottom of their page that Tfl have been given a £1.6m bailout but with conditions attached including the resumption of 100% of services and government appointments to the Tfl board.

How on earth can Tfl return to 100% of services with staff needing to self-isolate etc.?

I see the Tories are using the pandemic to undermine Mayors control of TFL appointments to its board.

 

[Wilf]

It still seems so weird to see the Torygraph ripping into the Tories every day.

Keir Starmer took Boris Johnson apart like a Duplo train set

At PMQs, the new Labour leader asked a series of calmly factual questions – and the Prime Minister visibly struggled

www.telegraph.co.uk

I don't see this leading to some kind of Blair moment, where he was summoned to meet Rupert Murdoch. Same time, if the deathtoll and story of how the tories have killed so many lead to them getting behind in the polls (something I'm not convinced will happen even now, tbh) the press might cast a serious eye over starmer. They'd want him to weed out every inch of Corbynism first and I don't see it happening in reality, but various editors will be thinking about post 'boris' scenarios at some point, blue or 'red'.

 

[Gramsci]

I've not had time to read this yet, but London Reconnections pieces are usually very well informed and well written.

TfL: THE IMPOSSIBLE FINANCES OF FIGHTING A PANDEMIC - London Reconnections

The leading source for independent news and analysis about transport in London and beyond. Award-winning coverage of transport infrastructure and politics alongside stories about the history of the Capital's transport networks.

www.londonreconnections.com

Thanks for this.

Fares to be hiked after TfL secures £1.6bn emergency bailout deal

The article was finished before the deal. The LR article was correct in its forecast what the Tories might do. They are using the London vs rest of England as a stick to beat TFL and the "profligate" Mayor Khan. And Londoners in general is how I read what Shapps says.

So we arent all this together is what I get from this Tory imposed deal on Khan.

Fares will go up, senior citizens lose some of Freedom pass.

This bailout with strings is first step in Tories telling ordinary people they are now going to have to pay for this crisis.

The LR article shows how working class and Black Londoners have little access to cars and depend on public transport. Transport is a class issue in London.

 

[David Clapson]

Regarding today's numbers fromn the ONS, how can 0.27% of people in England be infected when it's 5% in Spain and 4.4% in France? Are we measuring different things? 148,000 in England infected with coronavirus in last two weeks

 

[DaveCinzano]

How will that work? How will they choose which 15 from a class of 30?