Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[xenon]

I posted yesterday (further up), that Keighley is within the Bradford local government area, as you know I think.
But yes, they're really not that near each other!

And if Hancock was mixing Keighley up with Kirklees (main town : Huddersfield) then he's a lot more rubbish at geography than most people!

yep, I posted that yesterday. He had got the wrong town completely.

 

[elbows]

This article in the Guardian suggests that there are issues with the garment industry:

Some Leicester factories stayed open and forced staff to come ...www.theguardian.com › uk-news › jun › some-leicester...

Thanks for that. Too many quoteworthy bits so I cant include them all but here are a couple:

The report came as it emerged that Public Health England had found evidence that young men between 20 and 40 who work in the city’s garment factories and food processing plants were major vectors of transmission.

It is understood that the body became so concerned about the surge in cases in Leicester that they sent a team of officials to the city at the weekend to investigate. Analysis of data collected by local health bodies shows that many of those infected recently have been young men aged 20 to 40, often from an Asian background, many of them working in textiles and food.

“Allegations of abuse at many Leicester companies have been reported for years now,” Muller said. “So far, the local and central government have failed to take any meaningful action. Instead they have seemed to focus on immigration raids, which have made vulnerable workers more fearful of speaking out.”

A number of factories in the St Saviours Road area, where much of Leicester’s manufacturing output is based and which is among the worst affected areas of the city, were open on Tuesday. Proprietors and managers complained that they had not been given clear guidance on how they should operate by the council.

 

[elbows]

I agree. Corey Robin wrote a book called The reactionary mind, the basic premise is that the right wing is not so taken with the status quo that what animated them is fear that they can lose something dear to them, whatever it is. They are really fearful of the liberation of the masses as they think our liberation would make the world dull. He argues that it is times of a strong left that the right is most intellectually stimulated, a claim that I think shadows an argument by Perry Anderson in an essay in the LRB about 4 leading conservative thinkers. Robin says that given that the right has won nearly every arguement and that they have moulded the world in their image that we are seeing the elevation of people to positions of influence that no longer have any intellectual rigour because all they have had to do is go to the right schools, network and repeat their ideology constantly and they get rewarded.

I am tempted to chuck in a H G Wells quote too.

Benito Mussolini, with a surfeit of bad history decaying in his imagination, could not see the plain realities before him. Like most of his generation he dramatised human affairs in incurably geographical patches, and like most of the masterful men of his time his belief in his power to mould the life about him carried him beyond sanity. From the beginning his was an ill-balanced temperament; he would be blatant at one moment, and weeping at another. He beat at the knees of Mother Reality like an unteachable child. He wanted war and conquest, triumph over definable enemies, fierce alliances, and unforgettable antagonisms. He wanted glory. He died, as his last words testify, completely unaware of the fact that the rational treatment of human affairs does not admit of that bilaterality which the traditions of warfare require. "Do we win?" he said. He persuaded himself and he persuaded great multitudes of people that two great systems of ideas faced each other in the world, "Leftism" and "Rightism", and that he and his associated Dictators embodied the latter. He did contrive finally to impose the illusion of a definitive World War upon great masses of people.

From the 'In popular culture' section of Mussolinis wikipedia page, quoting from the 1938 novel The Holy Terror.

Benito Mussolini - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A lot of the despicable billionaires who have covered themselves in shit in this pandemic have demonstrated that the phenomenon I put in bold above are still on vivid display in this world.

 

[Teaboy]

Its time like this I realise just how naive I am about what goes on in my own country. I just kinda assumed that clothing and garments were all made in Asia, be it South or South East. If something said 'Made in England' on it I'd assume higher standards of quality and employment conditions. Assumptions, huh?

 

[elbows]

Its time like this I realise just how naive I am about what goes on in my own country. I just kinda assumed that clothing and garments were all made in Asia, be it South or South East. If something said 'Made in England' on it I'd assume higher standards of quality and employment conditions. Assumptions, huh?

The very real and dramatic industrial decline in this country over a number of infamous decades last century created something of a false popular impression that these industries were dead here or no longer contributed a significant number of jobs. This false impression can be found in discussions about various industries, I remember it came up in relation to car manufacturing on this forum some years back, still a significant employer but many will miss that fact if the remaining industries are not located near to them.

 

[elbows]

Havent had time to track down the data yet but just saw this on the BBC live updates page:

Public Health England has now published for the first time the full figures of positive cases in each local authority in England in the week to 21 June.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-53243441

 

[maomao]

Leicester clothing sweatshops have been reported on widely for some time. Bangladesh isn't close enough to the UK to respond to internet fast fashion sites. Plus they don't have to pay shipping from Asia so they can afford to pay the workers up to three or four pounds an hour.

 

[Roadkill]

I agree. Corey Robin wrote a book called The reactionary mind, the basic premise is that the right wing is not so taken with the status quo that what animated them is fear that they can lose something dear to them, whatever it is. They are really fearful of the liberation of the masses as they think our liberation would make the world dull. He argues that it is times of a strong left that the right is most intellectually stimulated, a claim that I think shadows an argument by Perry Anderson in an essay in the LRB about 4 leading conservative thinkers. Robin says that given that the right has won nearly every arguement and that they have moulded the world in their image that we are seeing the elevation of people to positions of influence that no longer have any intellectual rigour because all they have had to do is go to the right schools, network and repeat their ideology constantly and they get rewarded.

Perry Anderson · The Intransigent Right at the End of the Century

www.lrb.co.uk

The conservative movement was destined to produce Trump

Corey Robin on Trump’s place in the conservative tradition.

www.google.com

That looks interesting - thanks!

Tbh my own view on why the current Tory front bench is so egregiously incompetent is that, to a greater extent than under any previous administration in living memory, loyalty is the acid test for a Cabinet place. Besides, anyone even half-way capable of mastering their brief would just show Johnson up.

 

[elbows]

Havent had time to track down the data yet but just saw this on the BBC live updates page:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-53243441

I havent found it yet. But there is this:

 

[quimcunx]

I agree. Corey Robin wrote a book called The reactionary mind, the basic premise is that the right wing is not so taken with the status quo that what animated them is fear that they can lose something dear to them, whatever it is. They are really fearful of the liberation of the masses as they think our liberation would make the world dull. He argues that it is times of a strong left that the right is most intellectually stimulated, a claim that I think shadows an argument by Perry Anderson in an essay in the LRB about 4 leading conservative thinkers. Robin says that given that the right has won nearly every arguement and that they have moulded the world in their image that we are seeing the elevation of people to positions of influence that no longer have any intellectual rigour because all they have had to do is go to the right schools, network and repeat their ideology constantly and they get rewarded.

Perry Anderson · The Intransigent Right at the End of the Century

www.lrb.co.uk

The conservative movement was destined to produce Trump

Corey Robin on Trump’s place in the conservative tradition.

www.google.com

If only they could be a bit more like the left and argue to the death over idealogical nuance.

 

[flypanam]

If only they could be a bit more like the left and argue to the death over idealogical nuance.

Probably deserves a thread of it own as this isn’t the place but the right are broadly in agreement about what they want.

 

[MrSki]

Anyone else think it is still to early to ease the lockdown?

 

[IC3D]

Do you think we'll be allowed to choose pubs to lockdown in this time round? Coronavirus: The Lock in.

 

[LDC]

Anyone else getting annoyed at the idiotic news items about the Leicester lockdown?

The BBC have given time to cover someone who lives on a street that's split by the lockdown boundary, who says they could cross the road and go to a pub that's open just outside the limit of the lockdown area. And that this just proves the whole lockdown thing is stupid. FFS, the boundary obviously is going to go somewhere and will split things up in a seemingly slightly strange way, just because it happens to be your street doesn't mean you should get 5 minutes on the news to express your ill-thought through opinions. Just shut the fuck up and obey the lockdown.

 

[elbows]

Thats what the journalists are after so thats what they get. I prefer proper investigative journalism myself.

Meanwhile on the pillar 2 data front. It turns out that what has been released today is the weekly numbers behind those maps from the weekly surveillance report that I've been focussing on since Sunday. So its still only broken down to that level of local authority, and the data from towns that might have issues can suffer from dilution with the wider county numbers.

Anyway its a start. The data is in the tab called 'Figure 9. Weekly rates UTLA', in the xls version of the report. A tab that did not exist in this document when I looked on Sunday.

National COVID-19 surveillance reports

National COVID-19 surveillance reports, including weekly summary of findings monitored through various COVID-19 surveillance systems.

www.gov.uk

Here is the 'top 50' for those who are interested but not enough to muck around with spreadsheets themselves.

 

[MrSki]

Here is a link to Sky News that says other areas are only days off a local shutdown & a useful searchable table.

Coronavirus: Areas with highest number of weekly COVID-19 cases revealed

 

[zahir]

Thats what the journalists are after so thats what they get. I prefer proper investigative journalism myself.

Meanwhile on the pillar 2 data front. It turns out that what has been released today is the weekly numbers behind those maps from the weekly surveillance report that I've been focussing on since Sunday. So its still only broken down to that level of local authority, and the data from towns that might have issues can suffer from dilution with the wider county numbers.

Anyway its a start. The data is in the tab called 'Figure 9. Weekly rates UTLA', in the xls version of the report. A tab that did not exist in this document when I looked on Sunday.

National COVID-19 surveillance reports

National COVID-19 surveillance reports, including weekly summary of findings monitored through various COVID-19 surveillance systems.

www.gov.uk

Here is the 'top 50' for those who are interested but not enough to muck around with spreadsheets themselves.

View attachment 220391

That table looks consistent with the (entirely unconfirmed) suggestion I heard today that Bradford, Rochdale and Oldham are also being considered for lockdown.

 

[Roadkill]

Thats what the journalists are after so thats what they get. I prefer proper investigative journalism myself.

Meanwhile on the pillar 2 data front. It turns out that what has been released today is the weekly numbers behind those maps from the weekly surveillance report that I've been focussing on since Sunday. So its still only broken down to that level of local authority, and the data from towns that might have issues can suffer from dilution with the wider county numbers.

Anyway its a start. The data is in the tab called 'Figure 9. Weekly rates UTLA', in the xls version of the report. A tab that did not exist in this document when I looked on Sunday.

National COVID-19 surveillance reports

National COVID-19 surveillance reports, including weekly summary of findings monitored through various COVID-19 surveillance systems.

www.gov.uk

Here is the 'top 50' for those who are interested but not enough to muck around with spreadsheets themselves.

View attachment 220391

Thanks.

I have invited a couple of friends over for a socially distanced beer in the garden this weekend. Not sure I fancy that now...

 

[Roadkill]

Anyone else getting annoyed at the idiotic news items about the Leicester lockdown?

The BBC have given time to cover someone who lives on a street that's split by the lockdown boundary, who says they could cross the road and go to a pub that's open just outside the limit of the lockdown area. And that this just proves the whole lockdown thing is stupid. FFS, the boundary obviously is going to go somewhere and will split things up in a seemingly slightly strange way, just because it happens to be your street doesn't mean you should get 5 minutes on the news to express your ill-thought through opinions. Just shut the fuck up and obey the lockdown.

I think the best solution here is to cancel the TV licence, and get news from elsewhere. BBC News these days oscillates between being bluetooth speakers for 10 Downing Street and just complete shite.

 

[LDC]

Thanks.

I have invited a couple of friends over for a socially distanced beer in the garden this weekend. Not sure I fancy that now...

Where do you live? That's not a list that you want your town/area to appear in the top ten of is it!?

 

[Roadkill]

Where do you live? That's not a list that you want your town/area to appear in the top ten of is it!?

Hull - not in the top 10, but not too far outside it!

 

[LDC]

Hull - not in the top 10, but not too far outside it!

I'm not too far behind you! Hull though, is there anywhere you'd even want to go out to anyway?

 

[Roadkill]

I'm not too far behind you! Hull though, is there anywhere you'd even want to go out to anyway?

Yes. Lots. And I tend to react pretty badly to that kind of comment, since it usually comes from people who don't know the city and are recycling silly stereotypes that weren't true even thirty years ago.

 

[LDC]

Yes. Lots. And I tend to react pretty badly to that kind of comment, since it usually comes from people who've never been here.

Yes, I have. Alright, was only meant in I'm near to you Yorkshire jest.

 

[Roadkill]

Yes, I have. Alright, was only meant in I'm near to you Yorkshire jest.

Okay, but it's a joke that wore very thin two decades ago...

 

[MrSki]

That table looks consistent with the (entirely unconfirmed) suggestion I heard today that Bradford, Rochdale and Oldham are also being considered for lockdown.

Bradford, Barnsley & Rochdale follow Leicester in the Skynews table.

 

[David Clapson]

The Daily Mail has a thing which tells you how many new cases there've been in your area. For Lambeth it says 3 new cases for 13-19 June and no new cases for 20-26 June. I've been trying to find out where the numbers are from. No luck. Revealed: The 36 areas of England where Covid-19 cases are RISING

 

[MrSki]

According to this tweet Germany triggers a lockdown with 50+ new cases in 100000 in a week.

 

[maomao]

The Daily Mail has a thing which tells you how many new cases there've been in your area. For Lambeth it says 3 new cases for 13-19 June and no new cases for 20-26 June. I've been trying to find out where the numbers are from. No luck. Revealed: The 36 areas of England where Covid-19 cases are RISING

We don't normally direct link to the Mail round these parts.

According to one of their typically misleading scaremongering subheadlines, we (Havering) have the biggest weekly increase in Covid 19 cases in the country (as a percentage, 300%). Local Facebook was in meltdown about it but that's an increase from 2 to 8. Admittedly 3 or 4 more weeks of 300% rises and we'd be fucked but I think the numbers are a bit small to see it like that.

 

[LDC]

I do find these statistics really concerning though given that this weekend is basically the end of lockdown pretty much everywhere. Surely it looks inevitable we're going to get rises all over the place in the coming weeks.