Weekend Thread 18 April 2020

So how is the Far Left Biased BBC going to report the second 3 week closure of the UK – courtesy of the People’s Republic of China ? Will worship of the NHS and condemnation of the government intensify ? Or will it find another bone to chew ?

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466 Responses to Weekend Thread 18 April 2020

  1. StewGreen says:

    Next year are some PPE sales people going to on fancy holidays
    whilst the NHS sits on on huge stockpiles of PPE it paid over the odds for
    cos stories of scarcity drove prices up ?

       28 likes

  2. StewGreen says:

    Maajaz is just starting on the Sunday Times hit job
    “I’ve read the article 3 times
    and all the way the government followed the expert advice
    ..so what is the problem ?
    Did we want them to do something else ?”

       31 likes

    • Venutius says:

      One the 9th of March SAGE advised total lockdown. On the 10-13th March Cheltenham Festival went ahead despite much criticism.

      NewportGwent area of S Wales now has the worst deaths/cases per million of CV in the whole UK.

      I listened to Maajaz too. Te problem I have with him and the the government is they hide behind only the experts it/they chose. There were many opinions outwith PHE and SAGE strongly advising very different advice. The Lancet for one.

      Regardless, on Cheltenham they did not even act on their own expert advice.

      Wise/sound governance would diversify expert opinion and take the tough political decisions. They have not done this. For me they have dithered from January, cowardly hiding behind their own brand of scientists. Herd immunity, for example, what a f*&%ing joke.

      Equally, though. Expectations must be kept in check. Our entire political class are simply middle management career politicians who have been totally exposed by this crisis. Weak, establishment wonks are not best placed for managing national emergencies.

      Personally, I’d support British army input to the whole thing and a change of leadership entirely.

         8 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Ven “Regardless, on Cheltenham they did not even act on their own expert advice.”

        At the time, ie. pre-passing in Parliament of Lockdown legislation, would that not be down to the Jockey Club or the Tote or both?

           5 likes

        • Venutius says:

          They just lacked balls, to me.

             3 likes

          • Up2snuff says:

            Ven, Who? The Government? They would not have done it then because it would not be legal to do so. You can imagine the rush of complainants to the High Court if they had.

            Or the Jockey Club and the Tote? Driven by money, they are, so what do you expect?

               3 likes

      • theisland says:

        Ven

        “Our entire political class are simply middle management career politicians who have been totally exposed by this crisis”
        Agree

        “I’d support British army input to the whole thing and a change of leadership entirely”
        Agree – but never Starmer/globalists

        As things stand it is clear that civil servants rule the roost (e.g. FCO, HO). They need purging.
        Our MPs have been a continuous procession of weak, cowardly, greedy, stupid or (at best) naive individuals.

           8 likes

        • G.W.F. says:

          Yes, we have cabinet ministers too gutless to stand up to their own civil servants and the media – hear that Priti – and fail to speak direct to the public to engage their support. We need politicians with Trump’s courage.

             15 likes

        • Venutius says:

          Totally agree

             5 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        Ven “One the 9th of March SAGE advised total lockdown.”
        please show your evidence ?

        As Maajid explained, Early in March the government advised social distancing ..and some sporting events were cancelled.
        I still went to the pub , cos it is a remote area and with it not being crowded and proper handwashing etc It was safe.

        Cheltenham could have implemented rigorous measure to keep people well apart, which is possible if the stands were huge compared to the crowd.
        but they’d have to do something about toilets to keep them virus free.
        I’m guessing their measures weren’t enough.
        The government should have been checking on their measures .

        By mid March the gov had decided that voluntary wasn’t good enough and so on 19th Boris said schools will close after the 20th and then suddenly on the 20th he said that’s pubs will close tonight.
        Then after everyone went walking on the 21st they decided to go for lockdown

           2 likes

  3. StewGreen says:

    Germany After 4 days of deaths at around 300, it’s dropped to 186

    That is kind of expected
    .. cos 12 days ago the Germans had a short drop in new daily cases to 3258
    and a conversion rate of 6% would make around 190 deaths today.
    =======================

    However in the UK New cases are still running at 5,300-5,600/day
    with a 17% rate of conversion to deaths after 7 days
    OK not rising
    but it will rise a simplistic unlocking of lockdown

    So where are the new UK cases coming from ?
    I’m guessing not normal locked-down middle class people
    … is it other communties ?
    …. bad hospitals ?

       22 likes

    • Venutius says:

      I suggest you start here!

      https://www.heathrow.com/arrivals

         10 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      This is an interesting graph which shows the UK new case count was getting worse
      and then turned and the trend is towards less and lass cases.

      – I could make a different graph by expanding testing to include less sever cases, and then pick up more positive tests .

      EV5fs1ZXsAYivHT.png:small

         2 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        NEW STATS : OK that graph just took a blip UP
        cos 5,850 new cases today
        yesterday 5,525
        So the change is +325

        new deaths 596 TODAY vs 888 yesterday ..so that s a blip DOWN

        One day stuff is often just a blip

           2 likes

        • StewGreen says:

          Correction re my 3:07pm post
          The new severe case cound did got up but by less than I said
          This is because the PHE has taken to mixing up 2 sets of tests
          by adding in the tests done of key workers and their households
          If we look at the Severe-case tests it was 4,399 to 4,467
          ie 68 more
          Look at that graphed the trend is flat

          EV_rePRXQAI2SbO.jpg:small

             1 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        This is an important point
        When the graph was rising until the April 4 the hospitals were getting fuller

        When the graph is flat that means new patients coming into hospital are balanced by new patients going out

        When it’s sloping down the hospitals are on their way to emptying out.

           4 likes

        • Doublethinker says:

          Stew,
          An interesting and informative graph, thank you.
          Presumably as the number of patients decreases the amount of ppe , ventilators, oxygen etc used per day will also decrease as will the immediate need for the Nightingale Emergency Hospitals which thankfully have largely been unused so far. What happens when lockdown is lifted is the next big threat.

             3 likes

          • Venutius says:

            https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

            All the comparative new cases and death as are here.

            Note: we only include hospital data not any community figures. Most estimates suggest around 6k deaths unregistered in the U.K. (care homes mostly).

               2 likes

            • StewGreen says:

              Care home deaths are irrelevant to this trend spotting of hospital deaths
              The true number of care home deaths comes out in 2 weeks
              in the ONS death certificate data

              – Worlddometer is not a reliable source of data
              It’s better to go back to the original source

                 0 likes

  4. StewGreen says:

    Oh it’s like the Socialism on Sunday tweeters are campaigning

    Right now the UK Politics · Trending hashtags are
    #BorisResign
    Trending with: #BorisOut, #BorisTheLiar, #JohnsonMustGo

       16 likes

    • Venutius says:

      SG – I am the antithesis of a socialist but I would like to see them all gone immediately.

      I’m not advocating Starmer or any of the other commie librosexuals – I hate them more than Wuhan. But the flights continue, the tubes are full, we do not have the equipment or testing despite claims to the contrary.

      But most importantly, the decisions, statements and accountability briefings to this point are inept, reflected perfectly by the worst death and infection stats in Europe.

         10 likes

      • theisland says:

        Ven
        “I’m not advocating Starmer or any of the other commie librosexuals – I hate them more than Wuhan”
        Agree

           7 likes

      • Doublethinker says:

        Have you looked at the rates in Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and Holland? If you have you know that you are telling lies . If you haven’t you ought before you post this stuff.

           5 likes

    • fakenewswatcher says:

      Stew – who would have thought that they’d use the pandemic to attack Boris?
      Next thing, the lefty Democrats will be doing that to attack Trump!
      Big surprise.

         10 likes

  5. Doobster78 says:

    You wouldn’t know from the BBC tweet, but, there was MALE artists aswell.

    Now if that picture had 3 white males on it, the feminist, #metoo gang would be all over it screaming how it proves the industry is sexist and women artists are being sidelined.

       16 likes

    • fakenewswatcher says:

      D’78 -The cheapo bbc, which must -I suspect- be awash with money right now, could see its way clear to bringing us only ‘extracts’ and only tonight. As for wimmin, they rule at beeb.
      But halt, where is the BAME representation? Something went wrong somewhere. Was listening to R4 at 11.30 last nite, we had lotsa BAME wimmin from Chicago doing ‘poetry’. You can imagine the themes…

         15 likes

  6. StewGreen says:

    Oh BBC2 have replaced Bridge Over The River Kwai with Classic snooker, same tomorrow

    The BBC Two season of classic films has been changed
    .. but the ones broadcast so far are available on Catchup
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl97/2020/04/17

       11 likes

  7. Darcy3 says:

    Worthy of the bbc:

    according to the Express:

    Winston Churchill ‘demonised’ in schools as ‘brainwashed’ pupils told he’s a war criminal

    SECONDARY school pupils are being taught Winston Churchill was a “war criminal” who wanted to start a Third World War.

    Lesson plans shared by thousands of teachers also suggest he made lame, drunken speeches and was less important to British history than Sir Bob Geldof.

    A Tes British Values and VE Day education pack of famous figures who best represent “Britishness” does not mention Churchill at all.

    Instead, pupils are presented with Irish-born Sir Bob, fellow singer Zayn Malik, boxers Anthony Joshua and Nicola Adams.

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1270950/winston-churchill-legacy-school-lesson-plans-war-criminal-ww2

       22 likes

  8. Darcy3 says:

    Zayn Malik ??? who ??

    Ahhh I see…….had to be did it not…

    Zain Javadd Malik was born on 12 January 1993 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England.His father, Yaser Malik, is a British Pakistani;

    Malik was raised as a Muslim.

    During the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, Malik posted the message “#FreePalestine” on Twitter

       21 likes

    • G says:

      Do they both have a dual passports? Most do. If so, is it technically correct to call anyone a, ‘British Pakistani’?

         16 likes

      • theisland says:

        They probably consider themselves Pakistani Muslims first and foremost, the ‘British’ part is used adjectivally and means they have been able to wangle a British passport, which as we know has been progressively devalued courtesy of the HO.

           18 likes

  9. G says:

    Anybody hear the last 10/15 mins of R4 so-called news?
    An extended hit piece on Boris. I’m afraid I had to turn it off, particularly when Frazer Nelson was followed by the fat pakistani woman who is variously described as a ‘comic’. But there, the listener has to realise, that’s the classic Cultural Marxist theory of condemning everything and all in sundry relentlessly, at work.
    I couldn’t take the abuse of my intelligence anymore. OFF.

       32 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      G, I had to turn it off, too. The ‘fat pakistani woman’ (sic) is a Labour MP from Scotland, I think. No political balance on the programme, whatsoever.

      Mardell was snidey and sneery right from the start. It was a pure pro-Labour Remain Party Political Broadcast from the beginning (including the way the News was worded) up to when I switched off.

      Disgraceful.

      Tony Hall should be, ought to be, inspecting the warp and weave and colour of the Culture Secretary’s carpet before being dismissed with his pension removed without any anaesthetic. Mardell, likewise.

         36 likes

  10. vlad says:

    “Coronavirus: UK launches first Bangladesh rescue flights”

    Yippee.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52342092

    _111848036_040780db-517d-4b88-b6c6-6cc6b67488f8.jpg

       11 likes

  11. G says:

    A convenient, ‘Road Map’ highlighting the future UK in stages as observed elsewhere in the World.
    https://www.altnewsmedia.net/news/statistics-islam-lessons-for-the-west/

       9 likes

  12. JimS says:

    For utter tosh this BBC Guardian article takes some beating – ‘Coronavirus:how did Britain get its response so wrong?’

    Apparently we were all drunk on Brexit.

    One other country was just as bad. Guess which one it was.

    Oh what a surprise, it’s that one that voted in the wrong president.

       34 likes

  13. Nodding Dog says:

    Didn’t switch the TV on until about 10.30pm last night couldn’t find much of interest until Top of the Pops at 11pm on BBC4 but kept it on that channel anyway.The program that was currently on was about pioneers of entertainment and was looking at mainly musical hall variety performers so thought we’d stick with that should be interesting.Oh Boy talk about agenda or should that be gender!

    The two presenters had to choose an act and do a performance as them at the end of the show.Who does the woman choose? Vesta Tilley a woman performer who went on stage as a man.They did seem rather obsessed with Ms Tilley and gave her much more airtime than other more well known women such as Gracie Fields.

    She needed help though she couldn’t understand how a woman can go on stage and perform as a man.She said she needed an expert so went to see a gender expert who just happened to be….a black woman who’s also a drag king who showed her how to ‘man spread’

    It didn’t end there she had to choose a song.”I’ve chosen this one it’s a bit of an odd one it’s about how the army is in a mess until this officer comes along which is obviously me”

    With both presenters dressed up the woman as a man and the man in a kilt she says as they descend to the stage “I would say ladies first but I don’t know who the lady is” “Yes it’s one big gender mash up isn’t it” he replies.

    So the bit of the program that I saw seemed to be one long subliminal message about gender fluidity with a bit of BAME thrown in for good measure.

    For pity’s sake just leave the agendas at the door and stop spoiling what could be good and interesting programmes.

       25 likes

  14. pugnazious says:

    ‘It was a tale of two interviews on the Today programme this morning. First up on the show was Neil Ferguson, professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, who has been instrumental in forming the UK government’s response to the coronavirus crisis, and whose virus modelling led to the current lockdown being put in place.
    On the show, the professor received an almost deferential line of questioning from Sarah Smith with his views seemingly taken as near-Gospel as he declared that a ‘significant level’ of social distancing could have to be maintained indefinitely until a vaccine becomes available. ‘

    Matt Hancock was given a far less easy ride[though in the end Robinson fed us the government line about keeping up the lockdown and not giving us an end-game strategy…they don’t tell us because of course they haven’t a clue]…but Hancock said one thing of interest…that this was all about the science and not for politicians to decide…what? Robinson didn’t object….but this is surely an issue that is squarely in the realms of politics…the scientists are there to advise on the science not decide the economics, nor the job losses, nor the school closures…and yet they are deciding both and the government is doing what they tell them to do.

    The BBC happily bows to the expertise of Neil Ferguson….

    ‘The UK must keep a “significant level” of social distancing until a vaccine for coronavirus is found, a scientist advising the government has said.
    Prof Neil Ferguson told the BBC there was “little leeway” to relax measures without “something… in their place” – such as testing and contact tracing.’

    The Spectator notes the lack of democracy and the failure to take repsonsibility by politicians for the decisions…

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-scientists-are-now-running-the-country

    ‘What we learned on Thursday is that, at least while the Prime Minister is convalescing, the boffins of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies are, in effect, running the country……the big point is that we are being ruled by scientists and data, which is not how democracies traditionally function. That would be less concerning if the scientists actually had thoroughly reliable data on how many of us have had the illness and may or may not be immune. They don’t – and they don’t even know when that data will be available.’

    The Spectator also notes the lack of debate about all this…where is the talk about the economics, where is the talk about the balance to be had between the health risks and the economic risks with all they entail? The BBC dodges that assiduously…for sure it mentions all the job losses and damaging side-effects of the lockdown but never asks if the lockdown is therefore justifiable and proportionate…the BBC’s answer is for the government to pour in more money to solve these problems…where does that come from and who pays for it in the end, and what effect will that have on the economy and thus everything that stems from that…such as the NHS, education, policing, roads, welfare and not forgetting the cafe system?

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/to-understand-covid-we-need-evidence-scepticism-and-vigorous-debate

    ‘I have always thought it best for the recommendations of experts to have ‘advisory’ status only. Experts’ roles are to examine the minutiae of a small subject area – with a view to gaining or advancing understanding. It is the job of our politicians and civil servants to develop appropriate policies. 
    Experts can be guilty of being monomaniacs, interested only in the thing they are studying. That’s understandable, of course, because many of these things are hard to comprehend. And having put so much effort into their work, it’s also not unexpected, and very human, that most experts put a lot of weight on their conclusions and are convinced of their importance.
    That’s exactly why, when scientists call for their findings to be implemented by government, we need politicians and civil servants to moderate their enthusiasm, examine contrary views and express appropriate scepticism.
    At the moment, one particular approach to modelling the Covid-19 epidemic – that of Imperial College, London – is holding court in the UK. The actions that we are taking were based on these modelling results. Barely a day goes by without a politician saying that they will be ‘led by the science’. But what we are seeing with Covid-19 is not ‘science’ in action. Science involves matching theories with evidence and testing a theory with attempts to falsify it, so that it can be refined to better match reality. A theory from a group of scientists is just that: a theory. Believing the opinion of that group without a critical verification process is just that: belief. 
    For this type of science to work properly, it needs to be constantly challenged. If it is going to help us understand the world better, it absolutely requires wide discussion of different approaches and interpretations. It absolutely requires critical evaluation of both assumptions and data, and ongoing argument as to how well the evidence matches the theory. Only with this robust process can we learn from the evidence, improve our understanding of where we are – and where we are likely to go.
    Yet we have now suffered three weeks of the most severe disruption our society has ever suffered, outside of wartime, with hardly any assessment of the side-effects on public health, let alone the economy. We are placing a huge amount of weight on modelling predictions, created with not much evidence, and untested assumptions. And in the certain knowledge that exactly this approach – the early modelling of pandemics – has been wildly wrong in its predictions before.
    It is time for us to return, critically and calmly, to a rounded and robust scientific debate that generates a range of views about the severity and significance of this virus. And for our politicians to weigh these differing views extremely carefully against the clear and manifest harms of lockdown. It is for ministers, not scientists, to decide whether, in the light of changing evidence and understanding, our response to the virus is proportionate – and how to take us forward.’

    The Spectator’s Steerpike has some questions for Neil Ferguson…maybe the BBC would like to ask them?…

    ‘Given that it’s the trend these days for former spinners, hacks and politicians to suggest questions that the media isn’t currently asking of politicians, Mr S has decided to do his bit for public discourse by penning a few for Ferguson. Below are six questions Steerpike would like to see Neil Ferguson pressed on the next time he embarks on a media round:

    Q1.
    In 2005, Ferguson said that up to 200 million people could be killed from bird flu. He told the Guardian that ‘around 40 million people died in 1918 Spanish flu outbreak… There are six times more people on the planet now so you could scale it up to around 200 million people probably.’ In the end, only 282 people died worldwide from the disease between 2003 and 2009.

    How did he get this forecast so wrong?

    Q2.
    In 2009, Ferguson and his Imperial team predicted that Swine Flu had a case fatality rate 0.3 per cent to 1.5 per cent. His most likely estimate was that the mortality rate was 0.4 per cent. A government estimate, based on Ferguson’s advice, said a ‘reasonable worst-case scenario’ was that the disease would lead to 65,000 UK deaths.

    In the end Swine Fly killed 457 people in the UK and had a death rate of just 0.026 per cent in those infected.

    Why did the Imperial team overestimate the fatality of the disease? Or to borrow Robinson’s words to Hancock this morning: ‘that prediction wasn’t just nonsense was it? It was dangerous nonsense.’

    Q3.
    In 2001 the Imperial team produced modelling on foot and mouth disease that suggested that animals in neighbouring farms should be culled, even if there was no evidence of infection. This influenced government policy and led to the total culling of more than six million cattle, sheep and pigs – with a cost to the UK economy estimated at £10 billion.
    It has been claimed by experts such as Michael Thrusfield, professor of veterinary epidemiology at Edinburgh University, that Ferguson’s modelling on foot and mouth was ‘severely flawed’ and made a ‘serious error’ by ‘ignoring the species composition of farms,’ and the fact that the disease spread faster between different species.

    Does Ferguson acknowledge that his modelling in 2001 was flawed and if so, has he taken steps to avoid future mistakes?

    Q4.
    In 2002, Ferguson predicted that between 50 and 50,000 people would likely die from exposure to BSE (mad cow disease) in beef. He also predicted that number could rise to 150,000 if there was a sheep epidemic as well. In the UK, there have only been 177 deaths from BSE.

    Does Ferguson believe that his ‘worst-case scenario’ in this case was too high? If so, what lessons has he learnt when it comes to his modelling since?

    Q5.
    Ferguson’s disease modelling for Covid-19 has been criticised by experts such as John Ioannidis, professor in disease prevention at Stanford University, who has said that: ‘The Imperial College study has been done by a highly competent team of modellers. However, some of the major assumptions and estimates that are built in the calculations seem to be substantially inflated.’

    Has the Imperial team’s Covid-19 model been subject to outside scrutiny from other experts, and are the team questioning their own assumptions used? What safeguards are in place?

    Q6.
    It has been reported that Imperial College London’s model of Covid-19 disease is based on 13-year-old computer code, that was intended to be used for a feared influenza pandemic, rather than a coronavirus.

    Is this the case? If so, how many assumptions in the Imperial model are still based on influenza and is there any risk that the modelling is flawed because of these assumptions?’

       20 likes

  15. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    The Breitbart current lead article is about the numbers of migrants applying to stay here.

    We all know every government lies and they cannot be trusted.

    One of the facts given by Breitbart is that 155% of the (government number) Bulgarian immigrants are applying to stay and the other numbers for the likes of Romania are also higher (all well over 100%) than the number the government tells us are here.

    No surprise of course, we know that governments lie.

    Also, I think this virus affects fatty bum bums more than the seventy year olds. When deciding who to eventually let out a simple seventy and over is the wrong way to go about where to draw the line. Maybe a BMI over 30 would be more sensible. Over seventy year olds with other health conditions are sensible enough (usually) to know when to stay in without the government having to tell them.

       21 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      ….Over seventy year olds with other health conditions are sensible enough (usually) to know when to stay in without the government having to tell them…..

      Well said EG. Exactly, its this generation that have more common sense than any other.

         20 likes

  16. Oldspeaker says:

    Heres a bbc moral quandary from the home page.
    “‘Do I still pay my cleaner’?
    and other virus questions”
    I’ve had to let the scullery maid and one of the footman go (surly chap anyway), anyone else struggling? bbc problems eh.

       29 likes

  17. BRISSLES says:

    Journo called Dan, looks about 20. Asks the old chestnut at the Press Briefing, about PPEs and the wearing of them more than once. Shot down a bit when the Dep Chief Med Officer, told him the truth, that there are times when they can be worn twice.

    That’s the trouble, these journos have no bloody idea about things, but are only focused on the sodding same old question.

    Now another one is one, a female who looks about 14 asking the same sodding question. Give me strength.

       36 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Brissles, the Docs & Nurses have all watched ER and Casualty and simla, they’ve seen the TV Docs & Nurses tear off their PPE and chuck it carelessly in a large bin and think they should do the same.

         8 likes

  18. fakenewswatcher says:

    Fastest the ‘off’ button was ever pushed. Radio 4 poetry at 4.30…from black Chicago. AGAIN!
    Had enough of the complaining and aggression last week.
    On a sunday afternoon I could have done with a little Dylan Thomas, Larkin, Betjeman, Plath, Dickinson, Frost, Heaney, Armitage, Shelley, Byron, Keats, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Milton or even Shakespeare.
    If there had to be Roger McGough, Graves, Owen, Sassoon, TS Elliot, WB Yeats, WD Auden, so be it. Better still, Edward Thomas.
    But, yet again, ugly ‘poetry’ from …well, I better not say it.
    BBC has certain obsessions now, and -with an avalanche of money flowing in and endless repeats. there will only be more.

       26 likes

  19. Fedup2 says:

    Bingo ! It took the damp education Secretary 35 minutes to say ‘we’re doing every thing we can ….Dee Dee Dee ‘ which means that Brillo has just thrown a brick through his TV screen – which he promised to do in a tweet earlier today – also wandering aloud what the purpose of these briefings are ….

    I force myself to watch them because we deserve to be told a lot more of what’s going on because of the imprisonment we are suffering . They’re still only getting 20 k test done per day . The target of 100k a day by the end of the month won’t be hit .

    The state won’t list public hospital mortality rates – a league table would pressure the medics to be better . My local one has traditionally been one of the worst in the country in just about all areas which is quite an achievement .

    I’d really hope there’s a journo somewhere finding out why the tonnes of kit due from turkey haven’t got to UK – will it land up somewhere else perhaps ?

    And it looks like ventilator numbers don’t seem to matter any more ….

       19 likes

    • fakenewswatcher says:

      Fed – I didn’t watch. I was watering the garden and waiting for the poetry on R4. The garden was great, but the other…well, dismal and disappointing don’t begin to describe it. Black Chicago. I should have suffered through yet another viral briefing. I’m sure there was more and better poetry there. Our Ministers are so smooth with the gift of the gab, one and all. How many ways are there there to disguise failure? See? Sheer imagination. An answer for everything. Potential poets, the lot of them.
      And I was waiting for R4. How stupid am I?

         4 likes

    • Beltane says:

      Your entirely valid point about the purpose of the daily briefings was borne out by the inexplicable choice of Uriah Heap to represent the government – his ‘dampness’ can only be explained by being so very recently dug up.
      A simply appalling performance, only alleviated by the precision and cogency of Jenny Harries’ replies – and on a day when some of the attacks on the government were in such dire need of forceful and informed rebuttal.

         10 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Fed, Whipps Cross was on the radio a couple of days ago.

      Somebody was praising it!

      You could be worse off: Chase Farm + Barnet?

         2 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Spoilt the choice – there’s one near Romford which pretty good at killing people too .

        I’m trying to find out if my borough has hit the 1000 official covid cases yet . It was over 600 a few days ago . Imagine what the real number is ….

           4 likes

  20. JimS says:

    I see ITN has another bleating doctor:

    “I’m having to make sure my toilet break is limited, my prayer break is limited”.

    “I never thought I’d be in a developed country, a first world country, wearing plastic aprons.”

    When I was working for someone else all my ‘toilet breaks’ were purely determined by need and managed so that the ‘number ones’ were few and the ‘number twos’ non-existent. As for ‘prayer breaks’…

    Isn’t it because he is in a ‘first world’ country that he has plastic aprons?

       29 likes

    • Non Snowflake says:

      “Prayer breaks”

      I’d guess that approx 98% of the people he works with *don’t* get/need those breaks. Or put another way 98% of the people he works with actually do more work than him.

         17 likes

  21. Sluff says:

    I need a new pair of gardening gloves.
    Does anyone have the phone number of the BBC newsroom so I can ring them up to get a number for B and Q?

       34 likes

    • fakenewswatcher says:

      Sluff – You could potentially come on bbc TV as Head of an NHS Trust and bag the LEAD item. Now, wouldn’t THAT be a ‘first’? Even better than bagging one on this site. And salary, think of the size. Money, no object for them eg Gary L. and Downing Street briefings sold internationally, so the dollars will be flowing in.
      Then, tomorrow, beeb will tell us it was just a ‘misunderstanding’, and you can be back to plain, old Sluff, albeit with a feather in your cap.

         13 likes

  22. Sluff says:

    At 1710 Mischal useless Hussein was talking to a bloke about PPE delivery.
    He was giving a reasonable set of answers to questions such that it became obvious Hussein was not going to get the ‘gotcha’ moment the BBC so crave.

    So she just abruptly terminated the interview!

    They just can’t bear to get good news or even professional opinion that does not fit their anti-government narrative.

       34 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      I saw madame Hussein giving the interview. What a crock. I noticed her BBC Komrad pronounced her name as Michele.
      Sometimes I watch BBC in the company of family members who tend to take it seriously. My technique is to make relevant comments like ‘ Hussein is putting weight on… that red outfit is worn too often’. And regarding the experts with their bookshelves I introduce speculation about their sexual preferences…’Wow, look at her short hair.. I bet she is a lesbian. And most evenings on C 4 John Snow is interviewed in front of his bookshelf and I draw attention to the fact that the yellow book is always in the same place, suggesting that he never reads his books. And I note that David Lammy does not have any books.

      Well, you can’t take it seriously, can you?

         13 likes

  23. fakenewswatcher says:

    Sluff. It was like that for Razzia Iqbal reading the late news on R4, trying to sell us Communist China as No1- A- OK, gotta love ’em – in an interview with Tom Tugenhat.
    He didn’t sound like a great fan of Comrade Xi, so she cut him off, ever so abruptly.

    Actually, Hussein, Iqbal, Ritula Shah….
    There almost seems to be a pattern here, but what is it?

       18 likes

  24. Tabs says:

    BBC News channel about 17:15 had an interview with a female deputy head of a Manchester secondary school.

    BBC Interviewer, “How did you feel about the news of free laptops for pupils?”

    Carefully selected female deputy head, “It’s good but you have to realise a lot of pupils have no safe space room to study in… moan….moan….”. 10 minutes later, “moan….. moan…. moan….”

    What is it with left wing Tory haters who are never ever happy and how does the BBC find them everytime?

       29 likes

  25. taffman says:

    Al Beeb and the lefty MSM media are worried that President Trump is weaponising the Covid Virus to win the next US elections. IMHO he will win .
    On the other hand the same broadcasters are using the Covid Virus to bring our government down. IMHO, unless the The Tories ‘get tough’ with Al Beeb etc, they will lose.

       15 likes

  26. john in cheshire says:

    Apologies if someone else had posted this video, 27 minutes, from Computing Forever. It’s about the virus situation, not computers. If suggest watching the first 5 minutes to decide if you want to watch the rest of it ( which I recommend).

    The swamp rats are everywhere and need to be flushed out and destroyed:

       4 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      J-i-C, we know from Scripture that the swampery and rattery will get worse before it gets better. 😉

      As a counterbalance, a really good service from Holy Trinity Platt this morning on Radio4. That church has not lost its evangelical way apparently, judging by the whole thing, plus a good sermon from the Rector.

      (PS. Some on here will not be able to watch the vid because it is HTML5 format.)

         2 likes

      • john in cheshire says:

        Upto, have you read:

        Churchmouse Campanologist website, or watched

        John MacArthur sermons on YouTube?

        I strongly recommend them.

           2 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          J McA, I know. Have seen some of his vids. Don’t know Churchmouse.

          There used to be a poster on here, Cranmer, (possibly before your time) but he wasn’t the guy running that Blog. That’s quite a good one, as is Ship of Fools.

             2 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      Just an after thought.
      Is anyone else old enough to remember Harold Wilson’s TV speech about devaluation of our pound?
      ” The pound in your pocket…” etc
      This time around they’re going to steal more of our money plus our health and our liberty.
      These rats in government, in the judiciary, the police and the media need to be destroyed if we are to retain some semblance of personal liberty.

         10 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        j-i-c, tax rises are inevitable, I think. Otherwise, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are going to be mired in debt for their lifetime.

        I hope Rishi Sunak will take the opportunity to go for wholesale tax reform.

           5 likes

        • john in cheshire says:

          A Biblical jubilee is inevitable I think.

             1 likes

          • Up2snuff says:

            j-i-c, that would be another option. That would probably need to be agreed on a worldwide scale.

            Could of course lead to a One World government 😉 and that appeared to be one of the hints that sneery, snidey, Mark Mardell was dropping this lunchtime on BBC R4.

               3 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      @JCS those conspiracy theory videos are not entirely useless
      but they shouldn’t have said
      “Mike Robinson has said that he has spoken to a doctor who said that his Mum’s next door neighbour’s estimate is ”
      … they should have started with the official death certificate graph from the ONS
      .. which does show that 3,475 of the week14 deaths had Covid19 on the death certificate (bottom right grey line)
      So it is not true that 6,000 were unknown
      It’s 2,500 of the 6,000 that were of non Covid19 causes

      EVj3yySXsAEy08Z.jpg:small

         0 likes

  27. Up2snuff says:

    Kent Covid-19 Cases (not all will have been tested yet)

    1374 : +116 EASTER SUNDAY + 62 : +137 : +113 : +156 : +150 : +85 : +115 = 2,308

    Hopeful signs, maybe. That +85 was an encouraging fall. Could do with a few more like that.

       3 likes

  28. Northern Voter says:

    Just a random thought about working from home, especially those brave bbbc presenters. If you think about it, it is the perfect time for a cull. By presenting from home they do not need the plethora of hangers on as they have in a studio. Just think no cameramen, no sound men, no studio floor managers, make up artists et al. The credits would roll past really quickly, ie Presenter Gary Lineker,BBC 2020. That would be great wouldn’t it. I am sure everyone could think of even greater savings they could make. The licence could be dropped to 7s and 6d.

       12 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Northern
      I disagree – there is nothing more valuable to public understanding than a BBC journo standing in an empty Downing Street whilst the PM isn’t there talking to a camera

      I’m trying to think of similar stuff – I think a bbc sports reporter used to stand outside a cricket match in Australia whilst Sky had it live .

      The DCMS review of the criminal enforcement of the licence fee might give the BBC the ‘ opportunity’ to reduce staff by more than the planned 450 let’s make it a round 1000….

         7 likes

  29. Guest Who says:

    From ITBB.

    http://isthebbcbiased.blogspot.com/2020/04/dancing-in-square.html

    Usually the bbc gets quite excited by associations with extreme views.

    Usually.

    But then , the bbc is unique. Apparently.

       5 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Guest – thank you for the link – always good to look in on our ‘sister’ site –
      I can feel one of those ‘tabloid speak ‘ competitions coming on – you know – the language no one uses in real life – like ‘backlash ‘ as used to criticise Harry Windsor for inviting Injured IDF Soldiers to his thing …

      Can’t beat a good ‘backlash ‘….

         4 likes

  30. fakenewswatcher says:

    I smell a bbc agenda coming on as George the “poet ” introduces the big concert on bbc tv1! One World, you know…
    Just when I gave yet another black Chicago poetry session on R4 a miss, there he is, doing his “poetry”. R4 has hyped him up frequently. Pretty desperate stuff.
    Keats it is not. Larkin it ain’t. Where is Ted Hughes when you need him? Or even Ms Ted, Sylvia Plath. She did a fab poem about Top Withens. Which makes me think of the Brontes, who could also do poetry.
    Lady Gaga I can do without.
    Ditto, Little Mix.
    Took more than ten minutes to get to Paul Mc Cartney, whose voice has all but gone.
    What a crabby old git I am!

       12 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Fake – I understand Macca was on an American phone in giving it to the Chinese and their wet market – maybe be he ll do another political tune like he did for Ireland – desperately working on a title – Help!

         5 likes

  31. Eddy Booth says:

    How come we get shamed for greedily bulk buying bog rolls ( more than 4) but the government hoovers up 400,000 gowns from Turkey and so many masks they’re sold by the tonne?
    BBC not questioning this or the “logistics” excuse of why the piled high supermarket trolly hasn’t arrived yet?

       8 likes

  32. john in cheshire says:

    Just as a non sequitur, my list of priorities are:
    My Lord Jesus Christ
    Me
    My family
    My friends
    My neighbors
    My country

    Immigrants – nah
    Politicians – nah
    Civil Servants – nah
    NHS – nah
    Happy Clappers – nah
    Commies – nah
    Common Purpose graduates – are you for real?
    Racist far-left bbc – who?

       16 likes

  33. Tabs says:

    BBC1, ‘One World:Together At Home’ is supposed to be about singing but it is nothing more than a BBC pro BAME agenda piece. I counted 10 BAME in a row then you get an occasional white female nurse and back to more BAMEs. Not one white male doctor seen yet.

       16 likes

  34. Fedup2 says:

    As you watch the ‘we re all in it together clap- a – thon – I’ve sneaked out the new thread ….

       5 likes