Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[Supine]

Nation breathes a huge sigh of relief as car showrooms are given the green light to reopen.

although the first hour it’ll open be open to people with covid who aren’t sure if they’re blind or not.

 

[frogwoman]

Whitty and Vallance need to resign if they're to walk away with any integrity intact.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Whitty and Vallance need to resign if they're to walk away with any integrity intact.

Sky reported seeing them both turn-up at number 10, as the Cummings clown show was coming to an end, but they didn't take part in the press briefing.

 

[frogwoman]

Handing in their resignations hopefully.

 

[little_legs]

I wonder if that was a planted question.

I would have asked what extra capacity the govt has brought in to police workplaces for compliance to guidelines.

Going to borrow this to ask my employer when work resumes tomorrow. Thank you.

 

[Supine]

Going to borrow this to ask my employer when work resumes tomorrow. Thank you.

it’ll be the same as current eh&s guidelines I’d imagine. It’s the responsibility of the employer and the employees to follow guidelines.

 

[little_legs]

This is one of the govt's advisors yesterday

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Plenty of gatherings going on round here - sound very much like parties. Inevitable really. Lots more traffic noise too.

 

[sheothebudworths]

This is one of the govt's advisors yesterday

I think he's one of the members of the (behavioural science) sub-committees (remember elbows correcting me on this a while ago), not on SAGE as such?

They seem to be absolutely the most outspoken on it.

 

[little_legs]

I got you, sheothebudworths , you are probably spot on, doubt he'd be not muzzled to talk freely.

 

[sheothebudworths]

I got you, sheothebudworths , you are probably spot on, doubt he'd be not muzzled to talk freely.

I wonder if there's just a difference between the sciences/scientists, too, tbh.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Johnson had an Irish woman with him at his presser

 

[PD58]

Given the pictures from around the UK this weekend and the various reports on here and in the media it will be very interesting to see the figures in 7- 10 days time; if there is not an upturn in cases then I suspect that the easing of lockdown will happen more quickly. If there is an upturn and R is heading to 1+ we are in serious trouble as i am not sure a further lockdown will be successful.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Given the pictures from around the UK this weekend and the various reports on here and in the media it will be very interesting to see the figures in 7- 10 days time; if there is not an upturn in cases then I suspect that the easing of lockdown will happen more quickly. If there is an upturn and R is heading to 1+ we are in serious trouble as i am not sure a further lockdown will be successful.

On a technical point, R would need to go above 1 for any upturn. I'm cautiously optimistic that this won't make much difference. It's all outdoors activity and hopefully those with symptoms are staying in.

 

[editor]

This sounded fun, if you had a penchant for a bit of Bank Holiday corona'n'scraps

Bank Holiday sunshine attracts crowds to Thanet beaches – complaints of beach fight and ‘faecal matter’ in public follow

The hot Bank Holiday weather has attracted crowds to Thanet with Margate Main Sands packed and police being called to parking mayhem in Broadstairs. Residents in Percy Avenue say they had to patrol…

theisleofthanetnews.com

 

[littlebabyjesus]

My optimism comes from seeing social distancing collapse rather in London in the last couple of weeks while new cases here have continued to fall.

 

[gosub]

 

[editor]

And:

 

[elbows]

My optimism comes from seeing social distancing collapse rather in London in the last couple of weeks while new cases here have continued to fall.

This reminds me of something I've been meaning to say that isnt aimed at you in particular, but rather to the phase we seem to have been in recently.

There are various reasons why it is perfectly understandable why people would describe various behaviours they have seen recently as the lockdown or social distancing collapsing.

However I would appeal most strongly (and probably will repeatedly in the days or weeks ahead) for people to keep in mind that its a partial collapse. Think about all the opportunities the virus had to spread before people made serious changes to their behaviour and lives. Think about what percentage of those opportunities have now returned due to the partial collapse. Most of the opportunities have still not returned. If you see that a notable chunk have then its worth commenting on, but dont forget all the opportunities that are still being denied to this virus.

Its very understandable why some people are concerned about whats been happening for the last 2-4 weeks or however long this period, which does feel different to the initial period, has been. But we have to try to keep the rest of the picture in mind, and deny opportunities to both the virus and various feelings of defeatism which, although understandable, are not as appropriate as they may first seem.

 

[editor]

Bots in action.

 

[quimcunx]

I think he's one of the members of the (behavioural science) sub-committees (remember elbows correcting me on this a while ago), not on SAGE as such?

They seem to be absolutely the most outspoken on it.

Maybe because they know how misused behavioural science was at the start of this shitshow.

 

[sheothebudworths]

Maybe because they know how misused behavioural science was at the start of this shitshow.

It's defo the one that's most easily manipulated, if the point in engaging with science wasn't actually to get us through this. Oh, people ...pft

ETA - I don't think any of that singles behavioural scientists out for greater recognition of what's gone wrong, or louder voices to object, though.

 

[Dogsauce]

Leeds, right now. It’s falling apart isn’t it?

 

[Epona]

Leeds, right now. It’s falling apart isn’t it?

View attachment 214748

I wish the last line of that "Because their allegiances to each other matter more to them than the social bonds that keep us all safe" didn't sound so poetically much like the tagline to some sort of really awesome romance movie...

 

[DaveCinzano]

Johnson had an Irish woman with him at his presser

FFS 26 days, Pfeffel, 26 fucking days

(((Carrie)))

 

[two sheds]

So when's the next happy photo opportunity event?

 

[editor]

The Guinness Express!

According to reports in Dublin, pubs in the Republic can now deliver drinks and sell takeaway alcohol at their premises.

The partial easing of the clampdown on Irish bars came about after the Garda Síochána took legal advice on what pubs can and cannot sell during the lockdown.

As long as drinks including poured pints are paid for on licensed premises they can be delivered to customers. However, takeaways from the bars can only be permitted if they are consumed more than 100 metres away from the pub and not drunk in any public place.

Some bars in border areas have been running takeaway services, such as O’Flahery’s pub in Buncrana, which is a short drive from Derry in Northern Ireland.

Until last week, O’Flaherty’s was operating a “Guinness Express” with poured pints of stout being delivered wrapped in cling film. Gardai visited the bar last week but its owner claimed the police offices were unable to tell him which law he had broken by delivering pints.

The new legal advice to the Garda Síochána means O’Flaherty’s and all other southern Irish pubs can deliver drink including pulled pints if they are paid for in advance at the bar.

UK bank holiday travellers warned to avoid taking the train

Network Rail urges people against non-essential travel with line closures and disruption

www.theguardian.com

 

[kabbes]

This is one of the govt's advisors yesterday

I think he's one of the members of the (behavioural science) sub-committees (remember elbows correcting me on this a while ago), not on SAGE as such?

They seem to be absolutely the most outspoken on it.

Maybe because they know how misused behavioural science was at the start of this shitshow.

Stephen Reicher is a bit of a hero of mine in psychology. To be clear: he’s a social psychologist specialising in the behaviour of groups and in the relationship between the individual and the social, not a behavioural psychologist (although clearly there is an overlap and his cross-disciplinary research is strong). He’s spent a career overturning sacred cows in psychology research, so he’s hardly going to balk at pointing out now where the government is going wrong.

He’s performed research into crowd behaviour ( most famously the St Paul’s riot in Bristol), showing that the old ideas of deindividuation and irrationationality are wrong. He reperformed the Stanford prison experiment under more rigorous conditions and showed that it’s not necessarily the case that tyranny develops just because individuals are placed in positions of authority, but that social identity is key, and its formation is more complicated than simple role allocation. These ideas are all clear in that tweet and I’m not surprised that they wanted him advising SAGE. He’s also not the kind of person who will just keep quiet if ignored, regardless of what committee he’s on.

 

[kabbes]

Email this morning from the National Trust ranger to our village email list. It speaks for itself, frankly.

Dear Villagers

I doubt that it will have escaped your notice that there are at the moment an unprecedented number of visitors across the property. It has been a challenging weekend and owing to reduced staff we have been unable to provide as much of a presence as we’d have liked.

This morning I had to ask several people to put out BBQs around the tower, and found the remains of one thrown amongst the heather and bracken…it’s a miracle that there hasn’t been a fire as a result of this activity. Also a man was caught holding the gate open for the cattle – ‘because they looked like they wanted to go out’ – so the level of ‘short sightedness’ is acute.

For this reason we would be incredibly grateful if you could be especially vigilant and call me should you see anything anti-social or dangerous whilst on your walks at the property. Obviously if it is a police matter – an example of this would be a large gathering – then it would save time if you could call them direct. Our greatest concern at the moment is fire, so if you see anyone having a BBQ please let me know and either Jon or I will try to deal with it.

 

[Roadkill]

It all really rests on how pissed off The Mail is. If the others apart from Guardian and Mirror drop it it will fizzle out (having done considerable damage).

Agreed, but they're not dropping it yet:

Today's Metro front page is rather good too: