Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[elbows]

All that fucking money slopping around. All those billionaires. All that fucking greed. And they're hanging pubs, clubs, bands, artists, musicians out to dry while they were happy to throw hundreds of millions to bail out the banks with all their monster earning bosses. It's a fucking shitty world we live in alright.

Meanwhile in Wales:

The Welsh government has announced an additional £140m of funding to help businesses deal with the economic challenges of Covid-19 and Brexit.

Of this, £20m will be ring-fenced to support tourism and hospitality businesses and £60m will be allocated for businesses impacted by local lockdown restrictions.

This is the third round of funding. The government says it has already given £300m to 13,000 companies in Wales, which has helped protect more than 100,000 jobs.

The government has also announced that freelancers working in the cultural and creative sectors in Wales will be able to apply for their share of a £7m fund.

Individuals can apply for a £2,500 grant when the scheme opens next week.

5m ago 13:21

 

[Badgers]

Another FuckUTurn? Or just fake news.

 

[Pickman's model]

Another FuckUTurn? Or just fake news.

no one has ever heard of michell donelan before.

 

[Badgers]

no one has ever heard of michell donelan before.

Odd how quiet he has been isn't it?

 

[Pickman's model]

Odd how quiet he has been isn't it?

a woman with much to be modest about

 

[Cerv]

a woman whose only job appears to now be produced as ablative armour for Gavin Williamson of all people

 

[killer b]

It's Michelle not Michael (or Mitchell) - she's a woman.

 

[Wilf]

Another FuckUTurn? Or just fake news.

Go back to your constituencies and prepare for infecting your nan.

 

[elbows]

It's Michelle not Michael (or Mitchell) - she's a woman.

Oh no its another one of these freaks:

Michelle Donelan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Donelan grew up in Whitley, Cheshire, and at the age of fifteen spoke at the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool in 1999,[2] having decided to be a politician at the age of six.

We probably need a new rule of six relating to people who wanted to be a politician from the age of six.

 

[killer b]

is it a rule that incorporates lime pits?

 

[Badgers]

It's Michelle not Michael (or Mitchell) - she's a woman.

Ah cheers

 

[8ball]

Shutting pubs at 10pm is insane. People just start earlier, drink more, accelerating up to an alcoholic frenzy by the 10pm kick out, and then are pissed enough not to care/remember about the virus and head off to the nearest house party.,

I could understand that under more normal conditions and was a bit sceptical myself initially, but after hearing about other countries having more success I'd hoped people would be a bit more responsible given the situation. Among everyone I know, people have been behaving but on the whole they're a bit older.

 

[Pickman's model]

I could understand that under more normal conditions and was a bit sceptical myself initially, but after hearing about other countries having more success I'd hoped people would be a bit more responsible given the situation. Among everyone I know, people have been behaving but on the whole they're a bit older.

we're all aulder than we used to be

 

[killer b]

The pubs in Preston were totally dead at the weekend, there was no early drinkers, nothing. Just tumbleweeds. Early closing is 'working' here. I'm guessing it's 'working' most places, except for the licensees.

 

[Wilf]

Another FuckUTurn? Or just fake news.

My guess it that will be all about the newspaper headline stuff: 'yes, you can go home at Xmas... nobody will be locked in halls, though we do expect you to observe...'. Perhaps raising the issue of going back to all online, but leaving that up to the Universities, where local circumstances require it type stuff. Lack of leadership basically.

 

[Badgers]

Not a great source but still a bit shit at best

 

[Wilf]

I don't do social media so I might be missing it, but I'm surprised there isn't more public outrage going on amongst parents, particularly those who have just dropped their kids of at the campus for the first time.

 

[8ball]

I don't do social media so I might be missing it, but I'm surprised there isn't more public outrage going on amongst parents, particularly those who have just dropped their kids of at the campus for the first time.

Me too (also haven't seen anything).

 

[Badgers]

I don't do social media so I might be missing it, but I'm surprised there isn't more public outrage going on amongst parents, particularly those who have just dropped their kids of at the campus for the first time.

I guess it depends what/who you follow?

 

[killer b]

I don't do social media so I might be missing it, but I'm surprised there isn't more public outrage going on amongst parents, particularly those who have just dropped their kids of at the campus for the first time.

The number of students actually locked down is still relatively small, so there aren't enough parents directly affected for it to make much noise. The rest are probably imagining it won't happen to their kid.

 

[elbows]

Timing clues:

43m ago 14:06

The spokesman refused to deny a report saying that a “a total social lockdown” may be imposed on much of northern England. (See 11.39am.) Asked about the Times splash reporting this, the spokesman said the PM has been clear that further restrictions might prove necessary. But he said that it might take at least two weeks from their implementation to assess the impact of measures already announced. Reporters at the briefing were left with the impression that no new nationwide restrictions were being planned for this week.

Alarming data could yet change that timetable so take it with a pinch of salt.

 

[Artaxerxes]

I don't do social media so I might be missing it, but I'm surprised there isn't more public outrage going on amongst parents, particularly those who have just dropped their kids of at the campus for the first time.

Social media is reserved for journalists, Brexit obsessives, The Young Woke, and people obsessed with giving Trans women rights or removing them.

 

[elbows]

Some of the most useful pandemic experts I found were via social media.

 

[xenon]

It's interesting to see what she says - the reason for the fudge of pubs being open with reduced hours is the avoidance of paying any compensation to the industry IMO - if they did close them, it would be unavoidable there would have to be some additional support.

Ah de ja vu again. Mid March when people were being told to avoid pubs and bars but there was no actual government support. Lots of conversation about business insurance likely not covering them.

 

[Wilf]

The number of students actually locked down is still relatively small, so there aren't enough parents directly affected for it to make much noise. The rest are probably imagining it won't happen to their kid.

Not sure about that. I'd have expected a lot of parents to be anxious about the shitshow generally and in particular about kids with physical or MH issues, as well as the issue of not coming home for Christmas. Also, the virus is widespread across swathes of the university sector, particularly Scotland but also some of the major cities. I'd have expected that to start coalescing, at least on social media. Having said that, the fact that it apparently isn't doing suggests I'm wrong.

 

[elbows]

 

[bimble]

That ^ is to be enacted immediately in the areas he’s talking about?

eta it does look like it.

That looks like if you were halfway through a cup of tea at your friends house you just became illegal . That I find very disconcerting.

 

[elbows]

I still wonder if the desire to have manual management control over institutional outbreaks, eg fudge things massively to stop self-isolation rules from wiping out most of your healthcare staff, is one of the reasons they've backed away from a couple of aspects of the track & trace app.

A month after I said that, I just saw some evidence in relation to a different sort of public sector worker:

Police told not to download NHS Covid-19 app

National Police Chiefs Council says officers should not install contact-tracing app on work phones.

www.bbc.co.uk

Some officers have also been told they may not need to obey self-isolate alerts generated by the app when downloaded to their personal phones.
Lancashire Constabulary has told staff to call the force's own Covid-19 helpline instead.

There is another 'security' dimension to that story so I'm just cherrypicking the bit that applies more directly to what I was on about.

 

[elbows]

That ^ is to be enacted immediately in the areas he’s talking about?

eta it does look like it.
View attachment 232169
That looks like if you were halfway through a cup of tea at your friends house you just became illegal . That I find very disconcerting.

Meeting people inside private homes or in gardens was already banned in those areas.

I'll wait till I get a few more details sorted in my mind before commenting on other aspects you mention.

 

[MrSki]

Panorama at 7.30pm on BBC1 is about test & trace with whistleblowers working for it. Might be worth a watch if you don't have high blood pressure.