The public consultation on the compulsory licence fee ended at 5pm on the First of April 2020
Midweek Thread 1 April 2020
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first
Hmm not first
But here’s some links to posts you just missed on the old thread
You are not allowed to eat your tea until you’ve caught up
– page 5 started Tuesday 9:40pm
– page 4 started 11 am Tuesday …… page 3
Glad to be free of the telly tax, kicking myself for not doing it ages ago. Also glad to be free of the truly awful sky news. Netflix, now tv and the excellent google chromecast will do for me
it is better to have never been in the system at all
Justin Time then !!
You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender Justin.
Strange times.
But Al Beeb still sees itself as the opposition to the government.
About time Boris did something about it.
To get a glimpse of the hatred the BBC has for Pres Trump
Coronavirus: What this crisis reveals about US – and its president
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52012049
The BBC did not write such for mass murderers Stalin, Mao, and other totalitarian thugs.
Its also worth remembering that all deaths combined due to all plagues since the Black Death , is less then the number killed by communism/socialism in the 20th century. The Stalin and Mao plagues being the worst.
BBC shows library pic of black hand holding knife in latest London black stabbing….April Fool…..lts white again
@taffman yep …. https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/grimsby-news/clocks-might-not-go-forward-3995999
22.52hr The BBC World Service is the largest network NOT doing the Trump press conference
BBC:
President Barack Obama and TV ads
President Barack Obama and ‘Your Future, Your Ambition
Trump gives update on coronavirus
Coronavirus: Trump says US in good shape to meet ‘peak’
Is there something we are not being told about Covid19?
Apparently a 13 year old boy is said to have died from it now as well as a 19 yo girl.
I understand that when a 108 year old woman dies “from Covid 19” then it might not be so…but 13 years???
Also, I am beginning to suspect that this is an airborne virus and the government are expecting it to get a lot worse.
see previous thread last page
I’m not writing it again.. Somali
Two young teens – Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, 13 years old,
The 19 year old is male .. maybe someone mixed up the name cos its Italian
Luca Di Nicola, 19 year old, originally from Italy but living in North London, is said to have had no underlying health conditions. (well no known ones !)
Died the day after he went to the doctor March 24th
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11297266/uk-coronavirus-victim-london-chef-tribute/
It’s not airborne else everyone in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macao would have had it weeks ago, which is patently not the case.
That said, its mysteries remain to be unlocked. Is it, for example, the case that some people are genetically more at risk from it than others? And/or is it the case that the degree of severity of the symptoms is linked (to some extent) to the means of infection and the quantity or quality* of viral material ingested? Time will tell.
* By quality, I mean the point in the virus’s progression at which it is ingested by the new host.
When its settled down a bit I think the mystery is going to be where did all the money go.
Van, how unique would it be to have a virus that mutated outside a host?
VH,
If haven’t, suggest you follow MedCram. His video’s are brilliant, just technical enough for the sensible to follow without having any medical background. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1LHgyfPPQ8
It is thought that post initial infection, the Chinese virus sets about disarming the body’s natural defences and in particular the Monocyte’s and that’s why there is a short period where nothing is apparently happening.
Earlier, he shares his views on current thinking in terms of vaccines, sleep etc. Well worth following.
What is also of concern is the high death rate in Eng;and compared to others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019–20_coronavirus_pandemic_by_country_and_territory
In the UK, mortality rate is 8.6%, while in others comparable is much less. In parts of Yorkshire , it is 35%.
Bbbc North West Tonight after 10 o clock news.
An item about local shops profiteering by hiking up prices. Pixelated footage of shopkeepers in Liverpool and Preston who have allegedly hiked up prices of food to rip off their customers. Pixelation of them doesn’t quite hide the colour of their arms and hands which are clearly brown but the editors clearly want to hide the fact that these are Asian shopkeepers.
Then the real twats trick, the Asian presenter interviews an Asian complainant (Mohammad, a typical Preston lad) who tells us how out of order the whole thing is. We then see Farzana (a typical Preston lass) who owns and runs a supermarket who tells us how she is refusing to rip off her customers at this difficult time. All in it together etc.
Viewer presented with a couple of Asian heroes but, for some reason, the villains are deliberately obscured so as to leave us thinking that they aren’t Asian.
Then a piece about the food parcels going to vulnerable people who are self isolating in Rochdale. Upshot of the story is that there aren’t enough fresh items like meat, veg, bread and milk. Made a big point that the council have stepped in to save the day by providing the fresh items. I saw this story earlier today and the government’s response was that the packages were meant to be enhanced at local level so as to ensure the freshness of the relevant items. Why couldn’t the bbbc add that little bit on at the end?
Have Al Beeb reported Thomas Schaefer’s death yet ?
buried away on a live news list,
but then he was only a minister in the state of Hesse
Web results
Coronavirus: UK measures having ‘big effect’ on social contact …www.bbc.co.uk › news › live › world-52087619 › page
1 day ago – It comes soon after news that Thomas Schaefer – finance minister for the German state of Hesse – appears to have taken his own life over fears about managing .
Now on page 6, but may scroll onto the next page soon
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-52087619/page/6
NaziaMogra tweeted they were filming in an Asian shop that had NOT raised prices
the exception that proves the rule
Her name starts with the word Nazi ??
I said I would repeat this so I am here .
Our first line of defence against Corvid 19 or any plague and breakdown of society is not the NHS .
Its the sewage works and power workers , followed by the bin men .
Most of us will not be killed off even loosely by the Coronavirus , but we will be killed off by viruses and bacteria if our toilets are blocked , we have no running water and the electricity fails .
So please BBC give some plaudits to the above workers as you do every day to NHS workers .
I’ve just been conversing with a friend in the USA and HE is telling ME that the BBC are full of left wing liberal bias and that I should watch Fox news!
Word gets around!
Nibor……..
Er, I believe I mentioned on here a week ago that we may have electricity blackouts due to shortage of staff. Well, actually I was mocked, yeah mocked ! for swapping a new dress in exchange for 2 camping lamps and a torch. Now watch the stampede on Amazon for battery lamps 🙂
Brissles, I have the stuff as well. By sheer good fortune I have to work on my bike in an isolated garage with no electricity. This means I have various lights, batteries and rechargeable, a gas stove and a heater. A few weeks ago, I think (time is being a bit blurry, I mentioned going to a Morisons and looking at batteries, and causing a mass grab for batteries. It will be interesting to see what gets panicked as well as batteries. Barbecues, fire kindle, metal bins. Who knows. I wonder how the police are going to classify those purchases.
Yep ! REPORTS TODAY in the press indicate that electricity blackouts are to be expected due to shortages of staff to man the Grids !
Just call me Mystic Meg.
You are Mystic Meg of the Daily Mirror and I claim my £5.
LOL
I’ve looked at the ONS figures for deaths that have been registered and the figures show that deaths due to respiratory illness have been dropping off since January up until Mar 20th.[2,141 beginning of Jan, 2,477 following week, but only 1,514 by Mar 20th]
Total registered deaths with covid19 mentioned on the death certificate were 108…. look at the BBC’s report and you won’t find any mention that deaths from respiratory causes have been dropping since January….but you will find them saying the ONS figures say 210 deaths have been registered as due to covid19….
‘The Office for National Statistics has released new figures on the number of deaths involving coronavirus.
According to the data, there were 210 deaths up to the 20 March ‘
Not sure where they get that from…it’s not on the ONS figures that I can see….definitely Deaths where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate (ICD-10 U07.1 and U07.2)….108.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/weeklyprovisionalfiguresondeathsregisteredinenglandandwales
The BBC is hiding the fact that deaths have been dropping…sure they will go up in the next weeks due to covid-19 but where was the media hysteria over 2,477 respiratory deaths in one week in January?
Clicked on that tweet.
Blocked. Another trusted and transparent BBC employee whose views are their own but whose salary is uniquely funded by the public.
OT, but this chart made me laugh:
Noticeable that the usual queue of diverse gobs are rare on bbc screens.
Ben Hunte must be in lockdown.
So media students what is going on with that tweet ?
– Is it PR without context , and therefore #FakeNews?
Neil Henderson @hendopolis BBC Newsdesk and Planning editor.
Rob Burley (@RobBurl), Andrew Neil (@afneil) all retweeted it without adding comment or context
Neil Henderson got the graphic from
Tony Dolce @TonyD9999 BBC Cameraman and Editor
Who also tweeted it without context and never replied to the guy who asked for a source
Finally I find a beeboid tweeting with reference to the original source
John Simpson (@JohnSimpsonNews) also retweeted it from the original source
Then I had to open the article to find it it’s NOT a survey of the public
Is this Press Gazette report fake news ?
Yes cos there is an error in the first sentence
The survey does not comprise *ALL* Press Gazette readers, but rather 1,251 who answered the online poll
commenter “The only reason for this result is that this publication has a huge amount of BBC people reading it and those connected with the BBC voting. Their coverage isn’t any better than anyone else.”
Oh and the only way they get the “more that half ..believe the BBC has been the best”
.. is by adding the two BBC stations together
Stew – I took part in that survey and if I recall there were no other options – I’m one of the 97 in the ‘other’ block .
The voting numbers are too small to mean anything .
Press Gazette is not , in my opinion , aimed at punters – it is aimed at the bubble . Therefore there is likely to be a massive BBC vote done by the BBC . I’m surprised it’s only 700 ….
As a furloughed worker I have been getting up at my normal time and going for a walk several times a week (got to keep that bad back at bay). I live near the outskirts of my town and to avoid meeting anyone I do this as early as possible and head out of town to nearby footpaths.
Odd thing is, I’ve seen police cars patrolling the roads that mark the edge of town on most mornings, as many as three patrol cars observed on a single walk (or the same car three times). No idea if they do this normally.
However, at this time of national emergency, I’ve yet to see a single ambulance locally or hear any sirens. I realise this could all change. Just saying.
Just seen the BBC news.
The BBC are transferring 300 staff to a special production unit to cover off basic educational.programmes. These programmes which follow the national curriculum are for Junior school children for years 1 through to 5. The BBC stated that in this emergency the BBC are stepping in to provide a platform that provides education to our youngest citizens.
Maybe they’re transferring staff that were going to cover the Olympics?Not sure what the other 4700 are going to do though! The thought of the BBC teaching your kids mind you I expect those that set the national curriculum are probably of the same mindset wouldn’t be surprised if some were ex Beeb.
My shifts have changed a bit I work strange hours anyway but am presently finishing work between midnight and 2am so thought it was only a matter of time before I get pulled over driving through a quietish town in the small hours and tonight was the night.Was asked if I needed to be out at this time so explained my job and said I had a letter from my employer and they said that’s fine and drove away.I was about half a mile away from home so no doubt they’d checked my reg on the computer
Hi TC
I live near the BIG hospital in fax and I too have noted a massive drop off in sirens , it’s usually 5 an hour now it’s about 5 a day. A friend of mine works in A&E and says the number visiting for minor ailments has plumetted as have the number of 999 calls.
The cut in road traffic, work on building sites, other industrial working will have all contributed to a fall in RTAs and IAs (oops, sorry Fed) Road Traffic Accidents and Industrial Accidents.
RTCs now (Road Traffic Collisions) on the grounds that accidents are “blameless” while collisions have to be someone’s fault and the police can treat as a crime scene and keep roads closed longer
they are overstretched and cannot turn up for burglaries but seem to be everywhere now they have Boris backing,
I live on the outskirts of a town and when out with my dog on early morning walks I’ve seen a fair few police cars cruising the roads that mark the edge of town, yet I’ve seen next to no police presence in the built-up areas. I’m a key worker and my job involves going to several sites in and around town. One of these is close by the hospital and I’ve heard very few sirens when there.
When on nights, I get home from work around 5 a.m. and on my drive back yesterday down a quiet country lane (again, on the outskirts of town) I passed a long line of idling vehicles belonging to the electricity distribution network operator with an army truck at each end. Some of the vehicles looked specialist.
This is the next phase of the national emergency. I suspect they’re using this virus situation to see what happens when power supplies are interrupted:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1263029/coronavirus-lockdown-uk-power-out-warning-blackout-energy-shortage
I wonder when petrol stations are going to start rationing?
No point – fewer motorists will be needing petrol now, not being encouraged to drive anywhere – they may just give it away, considering the stocks that are available.
The worry should be what is happening at HM Treasury. Road fuels and VAT thereon are big revenue providers for Treasury at a time when Rishi Sunak is having to splash the cash around the nation.
Even more of a reason not to give the EU anymore money….BBC not having any of mine now ….wonderful !
My goodness, no sooner have I written the above and it seems to be coming to pass:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cars/article-8174153/Petrol-stations-close-impact-Covid-19.html
I must be a prophet or something.
think I will repost this since bleedingLaura kunssbloodyberg will no doubt be banging on about NHS shortages at every opportunity:
The bbc, an organisation so quick to criticise and point fingers but only towards certain political parties, which part of the media will display their endemic corruption through thieving the government of income tax and employers national insurance with its inevitable effect upon the supply of ventilators ?
As shown above, THREE employees now owe
£920 000 for back tax avoided , how much PPE would that purchase? and what about the other one hundred bbc under investigation for avoiding income tax ?
oh how I wish I was allowed to ask that at the Primeministers daily grilling by the msm
:
Darcy, Just watched an interview on Sky with Boulton and Prof Chris Evans – something of a billionaire scientist, but he’s the first I’ve heard that tells it like it is. Kuensberg would have had a tough time with him, as he said the government were actually doing the best they can with the cards they’re dealt with, and told realistically how long it takes to create testing units and how they are physically made, and how Germany have always had the best diagnostics labs in the worlds which is why they’re ahead on testing.
LK would not have brow beaten him on questioning, because he knows his stuff !
‘April Fool’s Day cancelled by businesses “out of respect for those fighting coronavirus pandemic” ‘, runs a headline in today’s online Telegraph.
The article explains last year’s BBC seasonal prank: ‘The BBC revealed a “skip the sex” button on its iPlayer app for the “mortifying moments” when an intimate scene came on while watching a programme with family members’.
Are they SURE this was a joke? Surely half the population would welcome this innovation? Not to mention buttons enabling us to skip:
a) Any drama scene set in England before about 1450 featuring a Rastafarian, Pakistani or Somali
b) Any view of Fiona Bruce looking especially self-satisfied
c) No, let’s just make that any view or Fiona Bruce, Andrew Marr, Greta Thunberg, Gary Lineker…
d) Any nature programme that claims polar bear bones are the result of climate change, but omits the killer whales behind them
e) Any news clip that makes sure footage of Nigel Farage or Donald Trump features a bloke in the supporters crowd behind them holding an ‘I love Hitler’ placard
Any other suggestions?
I think the biggest April fool can be found on the beeb website.
“We’re impartial and independent, and every day we create distinctive, world-class programmes and content which inform, educate and entertain millions of people in the UK and around the world.”
Unfortunately it is year round not just April 1st.
There would be nothing to see on Al Beeb then with that “skip button” ?
Call me paranoid.But I get the impression that the BBC gets some kind of schadenfreud when reporting the coronavirus figures from the USA. ” The USA now has the highest amount of cases,
(isn’t Trump a c–t.)” Then being duped into telling us the figures
from China and Iran where there are likely ten more times cases
than are officially reported especially by the communist Chinese
government lieing scumbags who have allowed the filthy eating
habits of their subjects to send ANOTHER plague around the world.And
that’s giving them the benefit of the doubt!
As for Iran . Log in to iranwire to read about the culpability
of the mad mullahs in spreading the virus.
‘They say’.
Maybe… check?
Up looking at his bio it seems whatever he says or does it is nothing to do with the bbc.
Darn odd way to run a professional news medium.
BBC Moaning Emole
****
UK testing in the spotlight
Coronavirus latest
Criticism has been mounting in the UK over a lack of testing for frontline NHS staff. Up to a quarter of doctors and a fifth of nurses are off work because they are having to self-isolate – either because they are showing symptoms or a member of their household is. Many could return to work if tested and cleared of having the virus. The British Medical Association said the government had been promising a mass roll-out for more than two weeks but was yet to deliver.
****
Who casting the spotlight and mounting the criticism explained in a manner that is very BBC.
****
How the crisis is affecting young people’s mental health
Naomi, a final-year psychology student from Cardiff, says her anxiety has increased hugely due to the coronavirus. Her finals were cancelled, and although the lectures and exams have moved online, the loss of routine and uncertainty have affected her. The things she used to do to manage her anxiety, such as going out of the house to study in the library, are no longer an option, so she has had to develop new coping strategies. She finds that keeping a journal helps, using prompts like: What’s making me feel this way? What am I grateful for today?
Read full ‘analysis’ >
Vibeke Venema
BBC Tall Stories
****
It seems Vibeke has located the perfect sample of all students in our Naomi.
Our two are in their final years too, and appear fine. They don’t watch the bbc though.
Whats Naomi grateful for today ? the morons are using “online exams” FFS just hide your books behind the monitor…..hey ho they all score 100%
Although a final year psychology student who has not learnt to handle anxiety…even books may not help
Darcy
With an MSc in Psychology I feel fit to comment – most psychology students are bonkers and couldn’t survive a strong wind….
I know it is a generalisation – but it is a very sharp bell curve
In no way unusual tweet from VD.
If only he knew how sad this makes me.
Meanwhile…
The Daily Mail’s only true concern is selling newspapers.
It always has been. From the time when it thought it
was populist to support Mosley and fascism.
To supporting Andrew Wakefield the doctor who opposed
the triple vaccination because they thought that was populist.
To have pages upon pages about the evils of homosexuality when
it was populist to decry .
With the BBC it’s different but basically on the same lines.
Whatever is going on in the world. So far as the BBC is concerned
their number one aim is to educate us in diversity.
Foscari
Basically agree but if you don’t like the DM then a. You don’t have to buy it and b. Non purchase does not prevent you from reading other newspapers.
Unlike certain state broadcasting arrangements.
Guest..
I am just so sick of MSM banging on about testing…I have noticed the way they work..
Anything bad = Govt fault
Anything good = somebody else is responsible
Why is nobody asking why the higher powers in the NHS who are supposed to have big disaster planning teams not responsible for the lack of PPE? It isn’t the Govt’s job to do everyone’s work..
The DM appointed a new editor over a year ago .He was previously the editor of the Mail on Sunday which was pro Remain as the DM was pro Leave. The DM was anti Corbyn but remained a Remainer newspaper during the last election, just like the Times. Both these papers are likely to become pro Labour when Arch Europhile Starmer becomes leader in the hope that he will take us back into the EU , which he will certainly try to do.
The Remainer plan is to stall the trade negotiations , demand that there is another extension and hope that they can use the pandemic to their advantage at the next election by discrediting the government performance .
I note that there are always highly negative stories across most of the MSM, with the BBC in the van of course, about the UK government performance on the pandemic but Sturgeon is always presented positively as is the leader of the Welsh assembly. This is particularly true of Global Radio which gives Sturgeon an unwarranted positive check on the hour every hour. Clearly keeping Sturgeon pushing for independence as First Minister gives Boris a major headache and distraction once this pandemic is over. Remainers are a powerful network of thousands of influential anti democrats who will stop at nothing to retain their Power and elite position. Brexit isn’t done yet!!
Not BBC
This is normally a favourite day of the year . I really like clever Fools tricks and can recall with horror being caught out in the past .
But this year it seems that it’s not the time for April Fool jokes – which is a shame because it’s too much to switch off humour at any time .
So I’m still going to look for them . My favourite one was by Guinness which put a sachet of dry Guinness in the Daily Mirror ad part of the paper. Cut out and add hot water and stir for 5 minutes- free half pint of Guinness.
I fell for it . I was about 10.
my last plea – today 1 April the public consultation on the criminal compulsory licence ends . The website took me about 20 minutes to list alternatives to the licence – which I will never pay .
Alternatives range from Subscription – advertising – sponsorship . The survey doesn’t make room for complaints about the bias .
Fed, “I fell for it . I was about 10.”
You were being a scientist and testing it out.
Psalm 34 v 8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man (and woman) that trusteth in him.
Up2
Yes it was a full application of Scientific Method . But I learn that newspapers tell lies . It turned out that I’m more of a Murphy’ type rather than Guinness .
It really does seem not to be a year for Fools …..
With luck the MSM as it is now will not survive.
Do enjoy Trump slagging off the media, and ending with “we should get rid of 75 to 80% of you”.
If only Boris would say that to our useless parasitic media, especially leftist broadcasters like the BBC.
vlad
Perhaps Boris takes his orders from the BBC and their criticism of him keeps him in line.
This article is in the Daily Mail so it might be an April Fools fake but if true then it’s the latest trick the racist far-left bbc are trying to pull:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8174093/Decriminalising-TV-licence-fee-evasion-cost-BBC-1billion-just-five-years-bosses-warn.html
John
I saw the article last night and it seems the BBC is after the holy grail of funding out of general taxation – so that every one pays for the monster whether they want it or not .
The next wheeze will be the 1984 based idea of televisions with no ‘ off switch ‘ and only bbc channel s of propaganda ….
Many years ago some German contacts arranged for Miss S. to do work experience in a health clinic in a small provincial German town. This small local clinic notably carried out a lot of minor procedures done in the UK only in full-on NHS hospitals. Park that thought.
Today on Toady Knob Rickinson and his pals rightly queried the very low levels of Coronavirus testing in the UK, and compared them with the mass testing in Germany (with its much lower apparent fatality rates) interviewing a Berlin Prof. and a UK Biosciences industry lead. Obviously they were trying to blame the Tory government. What the BBC socialists fail totally – or deliberately don’t want – to grasp is the difference in healthcare systems. Germany allows private sector healthcare!!!!! And a few days ago there was the briefest of mentions about the decentralisation of German testing to a plethora of private laboratories. Rather a big clue there, don’t you think, but never picked up by the Knobs on Toady.
There was an even bigger clue. Someone interviewed stated that many hospital labs are ready and able to do testing but THEY ARE WAITiNG TO GET THE SAY-SO. Presumably the National Testing Co-ordination Collective haven’t had their monthly meeting yet, so all testing is still through a Central Hub, which is already known to be causing delays and cock-ups. It wouldn’t surprise me if a jobsworth in the one central buying office forgot to place the order for reagents.
In other words what we are seeing is the failure of the centralised, nationalised NHS approach in terms of lack of adaptability and flexibility as compared with the inherently greater private sector flexibility in e.g. Germany. Glaringly obvious but don’t expect the BBC to go anywhere near that thought- it’s too busy joining in the mass NHS idolatry to engage brain.
Perfect explanation Sluff….send it BBC breakfast and to Piers Morgan: a man who has slipped dramatically in my opinion – Dr Hilary is the only sane person on the show with a normal ego…
Sluff
I m trying to read between the lines in on all this . I assume that
all this ‘ pulling together ‘ stuff is just noise
That the NHS politics harms people
That too many experts are running on ego
That personal feuds beat the common good
That those with the experience are sidelined or not listen to
The politicians are at the mercy of the NHS management more than they’ve ever been and seem to just be acting as nodding dogs – leading to the testing nonsense.
As for protective kit . The country should be overflowing with the stuff by now but I’m sure there are warehouses full of the stuff but a dumb NHS procurement admin frozen with fear because they have failed when most needed .
At the end of this the NHS And health ‘ profession ‘needs to be ‘ squared up’ – but so many attempts have failed .
Fedup2, as with the sodding banks, everyone thinks the NHS is too big to fail.
The NHS needs to be broken up into many competing parts. The underperforming ones must allowed to fail and be replaced by new people with new ideas.
The socialist ideas that are the basis of the NHS are inhibiting improvement efficiency and efficacy. Also, all those PPI contracts should be cancelled; they are a form of fascism.
Nationalised industries provide a service.
In part they provide a service where no-one else can or wants to. For example, very large capital projects with high levels of uncertainty over a long period of time. Or where the public, gullible or not, feel that some level of national standardisation is required.
But with guaranteed income, no competitive forces present and no profit motive there is simply no incentive to improve. So the standard is what you get, year after year. And improvements are slow to come, and laborious to achieve, and many jobsworths don’t want the uncertainty that comes with change. The result is fossilised inertia.
A relative of Mrs S, is now a consultant surgeon. When a junior, he identified with a colleague a new way of taking blood samples. It was quicker, easier, and cheaper, and just as safe. But the mountain of NHS bureacracy, approvals, processes, committees, needed to overcome to make something happen just defeated him, so he gave up. A modest but helpful innovation was lost.
And that illustrates one of the many problems with the Nationalised Health Service.
And the BBC.
Fortunately, everything’s fine, because the NHS was “extremely well prepared” for the pandemic, as we were repeatedly assured a few weeks back on R4.
Embarrassed disclaimer: I haven’t required a TV licence for many years and I don’t listen to R4 through choice, my elderly mum listens to it a lot.
54th. Wa-hey.
Firstly, yes I know, it is April 1st, but it’s also true that this article has appeared in The Guardian…so you pays your money…
They’re running with a piece about the wingspan of wrens…and (panic stations) they appear to be getting slightly shorter. Oh God, no!
Scientists in Spain have been studying this phenomena (you do wonder they might have other things on their minds) and put this calamity down to…”the climate crisis”. Well, it would be…
Apparently it’s all to do with earlier Springs, hotter weather and droughts… oh, you know the drill…
As if I wasn’t feeling depressed enough… Covid 19, mortality rates soaring, locked indoors, no food, haven’t seen a loo roll in a month…and I’ve now got this calamity to cope with.
Where are Greta and Meghan when they’re most needed?
At times like these I remember I’m British and try to keep a stiff upper lip.
But (sniff) it’s not easy…
On TOADY this a.m., Jeff, they turned the wren into nightingales. In my old neck of the woods, the local nightingales did not bother flying to Africa to overwinter. They just sat on top of the nearest street lamp.
That is how it seemed but I suspect as trees grew around or right alongside the street lights in London, they were on close adjacent branches.
Sorry, Up2, you’re absolutely right. Nightingales!
Ode to a nightingale. A nightingale sang in Berkley Square. Nothing like a bleedin’ wren…
What’s up with me?
Too many glasses of vino last night.
Well, that’s my excuse.
Is this proof that evolution is real? Will these wrens evolve into Dodos?
Same hit piece on innocent song bird here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52111309
‘Hospitals should use spare laboratory space to test self-isolating NHS staff in England for coronavirus, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52114719
Readers might like to wonder why NHS hospitals cannot decide on these things for themselves rather than sit on their hands waiting for a central diktat.
Indeed, or where they will find this “spare laboratory space”.
scribbling, fifty-four labs available around the UK no longer doing NHS testing because some Dept of Health Civil Servant or NHS jobsworth has decided ‘centralisation is good’.
No, it is not.
What if you have a flood at the central lab?
What if you have a fire at the central lab?
What if you have a strike at the central lab?
What if you have a terrorist attack on the central lab?
What if you have something really nasty escape into the central lab?
Always have back up available.
R4 claimed this morning that Trump “once described coronavirus as a hoax”. Not even Snopes agrees with that although they can’t for some reason bring themselves to describe it as “False” – what seems to have happened was that Trump’s opponents once misrepresented him as describing coronavirus as a hoax.
R4 also said that Trump said that it was no worse than flu, something which Dr Fauci, one of the leading medics on the US coronavirus task force, has also acknowledged in the NEMJ as a possibility. We won’t know that one until we have a better idea of overall incidence, with a number of indications in the frustratingly limited overall incidence data so far that Trump may be correct.
Pretzel
It would seem the BBC can say anything because they never say it – they just report what apparently somebody else said…but it isn’t fake news cos they are just reporting what somebody else said…
In reality how you compare flu and CV19 is the relevant point and POTUS may be right – by all accounts for the vast bulk of people it is no worse, in fact less harmful than flu…it just happens to affect more people…so by simple numbers, more of those likely to be badly affected by flu will be affected in part because they are not vaccinated and partly because Cv19 spreads to more people
Unfortunately R4, being full of scientists (sic) can’t break an argument down into logical parts…and want to knock POTUS and the Govt at every chance
Pretzel – re “Trump calls Coronavirus a hoax” – the culprit this morning was Nick Robinson….again ! He throws this canard out virtually once a week – ably abetted by John Sopel.
They both damned-well know this is a flat-out lie, because if they bothered to find out that Trump had used the words ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘hoax’ in the same speech, then they, being highly-paid ‘journalists’ know full well that he was complaining about the Democrats in the US creating a hoax on the American public by their daily posturings. Even some of his strongest US MSM critics acknowledge this completely. But, for the BBC, it’s far too easy to throw out a one-liner piece of fake news to try to denigrate someone, and, to paraphrase the Marxist ideology followed by the BBC – if you say something often enough, it will eventually become the perceived truth.
The same is true about Trump’s ‘hope’, rather than the ‘claim’ or ‘prediction’ fake news that the BBC keeps pushing, that the pandemic might all be over by Easter. Nasty, vile, deliberate mis-reporting.
To which we should add….
What if you forget to order all the testing kits?
Our national policy decisions are still run by Macron, Merkel and the EU. I will explain:
Having rejected national quarantine as too hard or too embarrassingly anti-globalist (and anyway the moment soon passed) and instead opted for internal lockdown, Boris is now set on a course determined by what overseas nations are doing.
He can’t relax restrictions at any point without the jumped up press and opportunist lefty polititians shouting and screaming and laying at his door the tragedy of any single sunbsequent flu death.
The only way out of this self-imposed (in fact foreign imposed) cul de sac is to eventually end the clampdown in tandem with overseas nations, in particular the likes of France and Germany. Any independent action of the UK will inevitably be decryed as tantamount to murder everytime one elderly person contracts a virus.
Ja Herr AsISeeIt. Und ze blackmail vill continue ontil you stupid Britishers return to ze protection of ze Reich.You heff be varned.Heil Merkel!
Sky tells us that there are now 1,720 deaths related to coronavirus in England and Wales….that’s a growth of 1,612 since March 20…so about 800 deaths a week.
In January, week 2, there were 2,477 deaths from respiratory illnesses.
Anyway…the complete decimation of the economy goes on as the BBC tells us that around a million small businesses may fold in the next couple of weeks due to the lockdown. So at a very, very conservative estimate of two people per business that’s 2 million out of work plus all the support and service businesses that rely on them…..the BBC tells us this is a fifth of small businesses….and as medium and small businesses employ 23 million that would make for a possible 4 million unemployed…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52114414
‘Kirsty McGregor, founder of the Corporate Finance Network, told the BBC: “Small and medium-sized businesses employing less than 250 people employ most of the workforce – 23 million people.”‘
Naturally unemployment and bankruptcy will be much more widespread and will take down businesses big and small…the food, retail, transport and holiday sectors in particular.
The BBC quotes…
‘”We could lose up to a million of them in the next month or so. And it will be irreversible which will be catastrophic for the UK economy.’
A ‘catastrophe’….and yet the BBC doesn’t actually seem to care…read its report and there’s no questioning of the lockdown and whether the massive damage it is doing to the economy and people’s lives is the best way of dealing with the coronavirus problem….all the BBC questions is whether the government is paying enough compensation or whether the banks are being fair. No actual care that these people go out of business…just get ’em on government life support….so very Labour Party.
There has been little or no attempt to demonstrate, as would be needed for a rational policy, that the number of life years saved by the lockdown is greater than the number of life years lost to the damage done by the lockdown. If the analysis referenced here (apologies for linking to an unreliable source) is even remotely correct that a 6.4% decline in GDP leads to a 3 month reduction in life expectancy across the entire population, then bearing in mind the age profile of the people who die from the disease, the lockdown could very easily do more damage in terms of life years lost than Imperial College’s original prediction of 500K deaths if no public health measures were taken at all.
I wasn’t paying attention at the time so I’m still not clear what was wrong with the former UK policy of only isolating people who actually needed to be isolated. Was it just howled down by the media and partisan medics? It’s still the policy in Sweden, where schools and most businesses are still open; anecdotally the policy enjoys widespread support there, despite selective reporting by the BBC.
“unreliable source”, why not just link to Alex Jones and be done with it Pretzel. Made my morning, I’d add a smiley face if I knew how.
Thinking on it I have Alex and bbc at roughly level pegging, only Alex is more entertainiing.
Sorry (hangs head in shame)
Media and Labour shouted it down and Boris caved….there would be more deaths short term but as we are ony suppressing the virus now, with no vaccine and of course no herd immunity being developed, when the lockdown ends [lol] the deaths will then continue ‘at pace’ as the new phrase of the day seems to be. So lockdown is only to take pressure off NHS….but the pressure is only in certain areas….perhaps we should move patients to hospitals not under pressure.
The massive cash splash should surely be on the NHS to keep pressure off that way not to close down the country to stop the population catching anything….that’s not sustainable even short term.
Boris doesn’t want the ‘Deaths surge’ headlines so he’s ducked the issue and done what the media demanded.
There are huge areas of the country barely effected by the virus with relatively few deaths and cases….what are they doing to relieve the pressure on the ‘hotspots’?
https://www.hsj.co.uk/news/coronavirus-deaths-mapped/7027212.article
while I was trying that link my lap top crashed. Not blaming you pugnazious but some links can be dodgy and I’m not techie enough to know the difference.
Unfortunately once one country goes over the top with fear the rest are pressured into doing the same . It will be interesting how Sweden goes – but I understand that Sweden has more than the average number of people who live on their own ….
Lockdowns are proving particularly devastating in Africa. In Rwanda the score is zero deaths from the disease and at least two published deaths from the lockdown. In Uganda following a harsh lockdown that has shut down public transport, and effectively closed most hospitals, the government is forbidding aid distribution by politicians other than from the ruling party, on pain of trial for “attempted murder”.
“a 6.4% decline in GDP leads to a 3 month reduction in life expectancy across the entire population”
66 million population , times 1 quarter year
so that is 16.5 million life years
contrast that with 100,000 grandads dying one year earlier
which would be 0.1 million life years
If on your street 200 people died 3 months earlier that is 50 life years
but what if the loss in life years caused by 6.4% loss in GDP comes unevenly
say that it all comes down on one young father dies 50 years earlier.
Someone claimed that North Korea when they identified a guy with corona just shot him and the entire family, instead of having the cost and risk of trying to cure them.
as a thought exercise that is interesting , though it wouldn’t work in practice cos if people are pushed into hiding their infection it really would spread like crazy.
To put in context, with a 65 million population and life expectancy of, say, 80, we would expect 2200 deaths a day for every day of the year.
Given that most of the 2200 would by definition be elderly, and quite a few demented, it occurs that Coronavirus is in many cases bringing forward deaths by a few months or even as little as weeks and days.
Whether this minor increase in lifespan is worth trashing the entire market economy I leave others to judge.
Anyone know about police mob coming down hard on the man who filmed a traffic warden ?
thread
Stew -the footage of the 5 plod – inc one with his hand on his taxer ‘ chatting ‘ to the ‘suspect’ is on the Twitter this morning . I’ve seen it – why the chap talked to the plod at all is beyond me ….. best avoided as much as they avoid victims of crime ….
Seems the going after soft targets is spreading like a virus
Some wag on Twitter is also complaining that the daily Robert Peston press conferences keep on getting interrupted by government ministers trying to speak …..
According to this video it appears that the Corona virus affects woman and black people the most.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-51934576/coronavirus-symptoms-do-i-have-covid-19
3 woman affected versus 1 man
and
2 blacks affected along with 2 whites. If blacks are 3% of the UK population it appears that they are approx 20 times more likely to get Coronavirus than white people.
There is no other reason I can think of why there would be 50% black and 50% white people, and 3 woman and 1 man in the BBC video!
Tabs, I recommend a listen to ‘More or Less’ on BBC Noises re that Covid: Men v. Women thing.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52114414
As many ordinary people and SME’s now run out of cash, banks (remember them) are now asking for personal asset security (peoples homes!) against SME business loans. In addition, the interest rates on some loans are high and varied across the industry. Blatant profiteering.
Given there are no guarantees on the length of this lockdown, who the hell would secure their house against an unknown future at inflated interest rates? So…thousands will now be out of work and many businesses will fail, despite St Rishi’s ‘we’re in this together’ b——ks.(tiny edit by fed )
It seems to me the Government has written promissory cheques it cannot cash.
Will they now back ordinary people and SME’s against the banks? Not on you life.
Will the BBC continue to describe St Rishi as the architect of ‘unprecedented government support’? Absolutely.
I’ll give it until Easter and some sunshine and the wheels will completely come off.
How nice. Refreshing. Basking in togetherness. Fighting the common foe and all that.
Just before closing, Toady treats us to two chinese musicians playing the programme down to the 0900 news. Which composer did the musicians select? Needless to say, Elgar. Quintessentially British.
The marionette BBC and their handlers in Bejing have to be more than pleased.
“who the hell would secure their house against an unknown future at inflated interest rates?” Possibly those with absolutely nowhere else to go, secured loan or nothing. Whats left of pensions must also be fair game, even the previously gilt edged index linked. Actual money to assets ratio, well who knows, wildly out of kilter might be optimistic. Just my natural pessimism but it looks like the whole Ponzi scheme is going down the sinkhole, taking not only the gullible and avaricious. But then Mrs Oldspeaker says I’ve always been a gloomy old so and so.
“Coronavirus: Self-isolating in a multi-generational household”
Guess who? BBC covering it’s favoured ethnic group again:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-52117636?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/coronavirus&link_location=live-reporting-story
Nice to see Derbyshire Fire Service just as busy as the Derbyshire Police !!!
To be honest, i am getting pig sick of all this virtue signalling nonsense . Its like every organisation, every family, every business is trying to “create something” with the hope its going to go viral on the web and TV.
Clapping NHS worker, singing in the street, making up daft songs, putting lights on trees for NHS staff etc etc …. its just nauseating.
Anyone say to these lot, hey lads, have you no actual work to do ?? All you ever hear is how these firefighters are overworked, underpaid and understaffed !!!! Bollox
WE have completely stopped watching the news on the main medias particularly the BBC. It is relentlessly negative and by now we know the dangers and the facts. The BBC seems to be determind to paint this country as completely useless and failing as compared with all others. This is absurd and dangerous. it is essential that the population under virtual house arrest maintains morale. The BBC is undermining this and has now crossed the l line between news and what looks to me like a course of action verging on the subversive. When this is over the accounts will be settled.
WE have completely stopped watching the news on the main medias particularly the BBC. It is relentlessly negative and by now we know the dangers and the facts. The BBC seems to be determind to paint this country as completely useless and failing as compared with all others. This is absurd and dangerous. it is essential that the population under virtual house arrest maintains morale. The BBC is undermining this and has now crossed the l line between news and what looks to me like a course of action verging on the subversive. When this is over the accounts will be settled.
Looks like the Guardian have let the uni interns loose in the office.
1. Will the coronavirus kill the oil industry and help save the climate?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/01/the-fossil-fuel-industry-is-broken-will-a-cleaner-climate-be-the-result
2. A beautiful thing: the African migrants getting healthy food to Italians
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/01/a-beautiful-thing-the-african-migrants-getting-healthy-food-to-italians
We’re all saved!
And the BBC have a plan to replace the license fee with a license fee…
TV licence fee could be replaced by broadband levy, says BBC
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/mar/31/tv-licence-fee-could-be-replaced-by-broadband-levy-says-bbc
A note on the so called markets in China. Back many years (30) I was importing from China. My late partner’s wife by chance saw one of these markets in a provincial town. She was violently sick and demanded to leave China that day. These markets are beyond an abomination.
The world has abolished human slavery. It is impossible to make a defence for it. It is the same with these markets in China and in the way that animals are treated in that country. There is no possible defence to be made. Zero. That is final.
The world has the right to demand that China stops them, now.
That the Chinese government passes basic laws that defend animals from cruelty and destruction.
It must be regarded as on a par with human slavery., That is not negotiable.
We need to reconsider our relationship with a country like China. I know a deal about Chinese culture and art and am an admirer of it but there is a point at which the rest of the world has a right to make demands . Especially after this virus. We shall have to see.
Dave S , I absolutely agree with everything you have stated. I cannot even look at anything to do with the wet markets in China and the total barbarism that goes on in them.The same with the halal meat industry. Why are we silenced and called racists to condemn such appalling acts of cruelty perpetrated In the name of culture or religion?
Not quite working with Saudi Arabia is it ?
Perhaps the Great Greta of the Tipoftheiceberg could get involved ????
One way – however insignificant, is to ignore any of these curry and Chinese slop-houses forever.
I can buy Winalot at any supermarket, and even JRT gets a bit fed up with it and demands good British food!
One of the problems the BBC has, and always ignores, is that the diet of people not normally associated with The British Isles, is never back to the old Brown Windsor, beef and two veg. Too many chefs – bring back Delia, and forget all this gungey stuff by slebs being continually chucked in our faces!
I blame prawn cocktails meself, but you’ll never see me anywhere near a shop selling No 69 – they don’t like cooking at that time of night…
Just been on Sky tv, a Doctor mentioning other illnesses and ailments.
For perspective.
500 are diagnosed with cancer every day.
And of those 500 a proportion would benefit from prompt diagnosis and treatment, I wonder what the daily rate of diagnosis currently is.
Nice to know that while the world is in chaos economically, populations are worried about their health and bank accounts, and we’re all disappearing under bales of toilet rolls, David Beckham can go shopping for a new penthouse in Miami, to ‘add to his £ 64 million property portfolio”. Lovely too that he posts a handmade sign that he’s self isolating with his wife VB and the kids.’
Its people like him that make me want to join the Communist party ! Health services around the world are short of vital equipment – in part due to manufacturing and shipping logistics, but even though the wealthy can get priority treatment, they could well be on the receiving end of lack of equipment – what good their fabulous mansions then ???
Dave – the need for punishment / reparations from China is obvious . It will be ‘interesting ‘ to see who defends it and how much corruption the Chinese have achieved by spreading their money around .
Before then – thought – I’m wondering about issues which might bite earlier than holding China accountable – namely the possibilities of political upheaval becoming more likely as people become more frustrated with restrictions and losses of people and Money.
I’m not talking about Blighty – but there must be regimes around the world which were not stable before the Chinese bug now coming under real pressure as the days turn into weeks …..
What I’ve written might be a side effect of cabin fever … and having too much ‘down ‘ time …..
On a different issue – we won’t be hearing cranky talking about Scottish independence for a while with the cost of a barrel of Brent at $24 when the budget to run the country was based on the cost being $100 ……
there must be regimes around the world which were not stable before the Chinese bug now coming under real pressure as the days turn into weeks ….
Perhaps France? Italy?
Pret – I wasn’t going to name names but people in those countries deserve to be pretty cheesed off – to understate ….
Many will have nothing to lose but their chains. I’m no expert but France looked to me like a country on the point of revolution before this.
Use the 2 year rule I use. Watch the year 2022 if we all make it. That will be when the result of all this surfaces.
563 UK death count for Tue to Wednesday announced so that is another 48 % blip up from 381 yesterday
“Prince Charles has recovered”
3pm news
I know Russian and in my yoof I used to read the Soviet press and watch Soviet TV sometimes. They were pretty boring, and actually the BBC has gone the same way, for some reason they have binned most of the fine general interest Discovery Channel-style content that they used to do decades ago, and that they could still do today if they chose to, at quite low cost. Nowadays they are pretty much an Identity Politics Channel plus minor celebrities taking part in baking competitions, which I guess may be interesting to devotees of identity politics or cake baking? But surely not to the general public. Anyway, it was heartening to see the way Russian journalism flourished after the fall of Communism, it was like a switch from monochrome to colour.
…while the beeb have moved to black and white.