Parliament returns Tuesday . The Biased BBC will be ready to criticise the PM for either not returning – or returning before he is ready . The continuing lack of support for any government effort is constant across the days . Maybe a few more people are noticing …..
Start the Week Thread 20 April 2020
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The lockdown is causing massive damage to the economy and beyond but the BBC still pushes for the lockdown to continue and indeed to be increased. The government faces criticism in respect of that massive damage, not from the BBC of course, and its answer is to spin it the other way…the lockdown, it has suddenly started telling us, prevents further damage because it stops a second wave which would mean the lockdown would have to be reintroduced.
Now…that’s a lie.
A lie the BBC is not questioning at all.
The lockdown is not designed to stop and kill off the virus…it is designed to slow its progress and allow the NHS to prepare and cope. Only days ago the BBC quoted a minister saying this could go on for decades and no vaccine in sight…
‘ ‘People need to realise this thing is just not going to go away. Smallpox is basically the only virus that’s ever been eradicated. Every season we get four separate strains of flu circulating in the UK. And coronavirus is set to become one of them. Theoretically for decades.’’
A vaccine is a nice to have but we don’t have one even for the common cold so to rely on that is fool’s gold…best find a rational and workable solution that accepts that the virus will possibly be here every year and some people, as with flu, will die.
It has always been accepted that a second wave, or more, will follow…
‘ Dr Rob Aldridge, the author of the study and a consultant in public health, spoke to the BBC’s Today show about what actions must be taken now to ensure the best outcome for the UK.
He told Radio 4: “Over the summer, we need to undertake research to tell us and help us understand how many people have been infected from the coronavirus during this first peak.
“That will be an important part of the puzzle in understanding how big this second peak will be.
“Our results indicate that there may be a second peak in autumn.”‘
Indeed only last week we heard not one but maybe 6 waves can be expected….
‘Professor Anthony Costello of University College London’s Institute for Global Health has suggested that the UK “could see 40,000 deaths in this wave” of coronavirus cases.
He also warned that the country was “going to face further waves” of infections and said that the development of a vaccine was key in the fight against the virus. ‘
That is why a lockdown is questionable as to its effect. Once the NHS is ‘hardened’ there is no need for a lockdown…just how long can you keep it on for? Until we get a vaccine? 18 months to endless decades then? A second lockdown was always on the cards as each new wave comes in…but you can’t keep doing that so a new strategy has to be adopted….end the lockdowns and protect the vulnerable groups. People on public transport and in shops or crowds wear masks to reduce possibility of passing on infection….you wouldn’t need social distancing then and life could pretty much go on as normal until the threat is judged to have been reduced so as to be negligible.
You can’t keep social distancing long-term and politicians can’t keep re-introducing a lockdown everytime a few people catch the virus….however much the Media scaremongers.
One day politicians will have to come to the brave conclusion that we may have to live with the virus and carry on as normal.
If only the media would allow that and politicians get some backbone.
And note…the shipment of gowns from Turkey that has been slightly delayed….the BBC et al are attacking the government and saying they shouldn’t have announced it…well, the only reason they did was in response to the massive and irresponsible pressure put on them by…that very same media…the media which is driving this as a ‘crisis’ and which forced the government to change its more sensible strategy of track and tracing and protecting the vulnerable with the hope that eventually herd immunity would do its work.
pug “A vaccine is a nice to have but we don’t have one even for the common cold so to rely on that is fool’s gold…best find a rational and workable solution that accepts that the virus will possibly be here every year and some people, as with flu, will die.”
They have tried and tried to get a virus for the common cold. Problem is it mutates too much, too fast. It costs a huge amount of man/wimmin/everybody-else-days each year to the global GDP. But it doesn’t kill.
And we do not yet know for certain how fatal Covid-19 is because deaths are not recorded properly and no autopsy is carried out if Path Labs are chocker running tests for living patients.
The common cold is not ONE virus
there are 300+ strains
that is the main reason why there is no vaccine
https://www.verywellhealth.com/why-there-will-never-be-a-vaccine-for-the-common-cold-770451
Stew, guess you missed this bit in my post ” Problem is it mutates too much, too fast.” 😉
Ooops!
Pug,
“Indeed only last week we heard not one but maybe 6 waves can be expected….”
Oh dear! I’ll have to find more expressions to accommodate.
I had decided that the first wave, so far as the old/vulnerable is concerned, should be described as the, ‘Low Hanging Fruit’ wave. You know easily clearing care homes and the like. The next wave, I would see as the ‘Russian Roulette’ wave where more active and savvy vulnerable OAP’s were lulled into a false sense of no danger and ventured out often only to find…………another final spin of the magazine.
And my last of three? The ‘Sinusoidal decay’ wave. As the graphical wave decays to zero indicating the ‘clear out’ is complete finally eliminating the last remaining of the elderly/vulnerable.
Joy for the DHSS and the Left
One to keep a eye on here with the MSM. They are rightly praising Captain Tom.
However, they are now actively encouraging, thru endless interviews, more old folk to carry out tasks like it.
They now have one old, dithering dear, clearly not good on her feet, on TV, as she is climbing her stairs to the height of some mountain and its going to take her 2 months !!!!
Just look at her she can hardly walk, why is no-one in the media telling her great effort, but come on love, this clearly isn’t the right thing to be doing.
By the looks of tricks, this old dear is going to fall down them stairs bloody soon !!! Irresponsible as hell from the MSM but they don’t care, its Virtue Signalling and that takes precedent over the health of this woman or anything else it seems these days !!!
For the life of me I do not understand why people are praised/ecouraged to engage in these non-productive activities.
As children we used to collect aluminium foil, old wool and knit squares for refugees’ blankets.
The only reason a 90 year-old should be walking around their garden is for the good of their own health.
Laugh/rage…hypocrisy…
And yet he BBC are giving H&M lots of coverage…on Today and frontpage of website…unlike the news that 1.2 million Brits were dumped on the dole by coronavirus lockdown…relegated to sub-story on UK page.
The BBC are offering loads of free lessons online to school pupils. Lord help us. You just know the virus of cultural Marxism will be ravaging the mental immune systems (critical faculties) of poor children who are yet to build up strong defences.
History: Britain had nothing until mass immigration delivered everything.
Literature: Shakespeare is rubbish because he is white. Rap is actually much better.
Music: Stormzy rapping about extreme violence trumps Mozart.
They will shoehorn their poisonous politics in everywhere humanly possible. Letting them have access to our children’s minds is like someone with Covid coughing all over sick elderly people.
https://www.hsj.co.uk/coronavirus/trusts-told-sending-patients-and-staff-to-almost-empty-nightingale-is-essential-to-recovery/7027435.article
Mrs Doobster78 has got This Morning on. Just had Mathew Wright (massive leftie) and another lefty woman on.
Usual narrative, Government not doing enough, mixed messages, every other country better blah blah blah
2 things stuck out tho.
Matthew Wright quoted the Times hatchet article as tho it was gospel, Boris missed Cobra meetings, no PPE planning …not once, did they pull him up and ask him about the FULL rebuttal from the Government that was put out last night. All detailed, all very clear and concise !! Nope, they are not interested in that !! The leftie, bad Boris is only allowed.
The lefty woman wanted more clarity on easing lockdown, she couldn’t believe garden centres are still not allowed to open !! I mean WTF ??? What planet is she on ???? Unchallenged.
Obvious reply would have been, are you serious ? Who goes to Garden Centres ? Who are the main age group ? Thats right OLD DEARS !!!! You know, the ones most at risk and who should be shielded !!! My god, she was thick but just allowed to say it.
Any view to the Left, unchallenged.
Any view not with the Left, challenged, fact checked, snarled at etc
Doobs…government response…did the Times get anything right?
https://healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/04/19/response-to-sunday-times-insight-article/
The Times has consistently been anti the government…it is of course anti-Boris and anti-Brexit so anything it says can’t be believed on certain subjects. The BBC loves its journalists especially Rachel Sylvester…who of course never ever has a good word to say about Boris.
Looking on the BBC’s Reality Check….and surprisingly nothing about the reality smackdown of the Times by the government…and no attempt to do one themselves…but they do have this….
‘Coronavirus: False claims by politicians debunked’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/52299689/coronavirus-false-claims-by-politicians-debunked
Yesterday’s elite went into near meltdown in their rush to heap praise on ‘the triumph of investigative journalism’ that was the Sunday Times’ contribution to national unity.
I wonder how many will by now have put aside their Guardians to read in full the Gov.UK response and it’s detailed demolition of all those ‘facts’? Lancet editor and bandwagon braggart Richard Horton feels compelled to continue the attack but, like many others of his ilk, I also wonder how much credibility will be left to them when we get to the final analysis stage?
It would be nice to see whatever government rep is chosen to speak to the nation this afternoon showing some cojones and adding to the long deserved fightback – both before and during the inevitable inquisition on PPE failings from the usual ‘journalists’.
No doubt there will be predictable suggestions on why the kit can’t be made here, with all those minor manufacturers kept disgracefully waiting on calls from No.10, but I also await someone, anyone, to answer the obvious question: Where does the material to make all the home produced PPE come from? Lancashire cotton mills?
Doob
not only that but the BBC biging up an 84 year old nurse who died and she was still working 2 shifts a week!
FFS no questions from our finest – Why was she still working, why hasn’t the NHS Trust been taken to task, why isn’t she classed as vulnerable and safeguarded questions, questions!
From DV….
BBC Media Action has had near $20 million off the Bill and Meinda Gates Foundation over several years…
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=bbc&page=2
WHO must have had nearly $3 billion but the Centre for Disease Control in the US has only had $370,000 this year for vaccine development and yet last year they got $2,000,000 for pneumonia research. Guess coronavirus not so important.
CDC Foundation 2020 Vaccine development $370,035
CDC Foundation 2019 Pneumonia $2,084,731
Naturally the Clintons, Blair’s foundation and the Guardian get hand outs…and ICL got a remarkable $79,000,000 for malaria research….the same ICL that has provided the alarming death figures for the coronavirus that forced the government to lock us all down.
The usual argument is that BBC-Media-Action is an independent charity so OK to receive EU funds etc.
“As we are not funded by the BBC Licence Fee – our work relies on our incredible donors.”
“For over 20 years we’ve delivered trusted health information in some of the world’s poorest and most fragile communities
– and we are there for the long haul, helping people cope and survive.”
I can see BBC staff regularly tweeting their support and fronting charity dinners etc.
So although no direct licence cash flows to the charity .. is it not receiving benefits in kind from BBC
in terms of staff-time and premises etc.
I think BBC Media Action people’s pensions come from the BBC pension fund.
I missed the Ben Fogle pile on last week
‘I was sitting with my children in the treehouse
and we said wouldn’t it be good if the whole nation had a sing from their doorstep
My child said the only song everyone knows is God Save The Queen
And then we thought since her birthday is coming
The whole nation could sing Happy Birthday to her’
He tweeted, and that triggered the libmob to drown him with a sea of hatey tweets.
..So He had to delete the tweet
He (Fogle) should have kept the Tweet and all the replies and donated them all to the BBC Museum of Curiosities.
The story of that Haka video that DV posted on page 1
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/04/uk-nurses-covid-19-haka-slammed-as-cultural-appropriation.html
They had to delete their entire twitter account
but it’s still on Youtube
.. To me it’s OK
and a tribute to Maori culture rather than an insult to it.
It just shows them doing a war dance against the virus.
Wonder if the BBC bods ever read the replies and see how far out of touch they are with the real world ??? CCBGB
Doobster – the bbc are onto a winner with this pandemic, financially speaking. And politically -well, they will trot out as many ministers and ‘experts’ as they like; it all happens on beeb briefings. Control, control! Money, money! Interesting, isn’t it?
And they can spread the One World message. Try to keep Brexit on ice. Wait for the opportunity for Keir to emerge; now -in the crisis- is not the time. But, when its over, I think we’ll hear and see rather a lot of him on all beeb channels, sites, etc.
Happy days for beeb?
Are the NHS staff under worked ?
If we look at the graph of New Positive Severe cases
we see it is flat .. so as many enter hospital as leave each day
… nursing homes are a different thing.
BBC not asking questions: are the elderly in UK Care Homes being accidentally or deliberately infected by the Covid-19 virus?
I wonder why?
Yes, that’s the wonder of the stay home directive. Those that stay indoors are much more at risk that those that venture out into the fresh air and into the virus-killing sunshine with its immune system enhancing vitamin D.
What’s more, open-air transmission of CV-19 is virtually zero.
Which begs the question, why does the government (and the BBC) want everyone stuck in-doors and to see domestic abuse skyrocket and mental health issues grow.
Not sure the residents of Care Homes are likely to be leaping about in the local park but some of the lockdown measures do seem excessive. For example, how close do customers get to each other in D-I-Y stores, garden centres and recycling centres?
A: Not very.
The number of C-19 patients in ICU in Scotland has dropped by around 45-50 (I’ve not looked up the exact number) in the last week, though the number receiving treatment in hospital is more or less stable.
If China, Korea, and Japan have such a low death rate
could that correspond to a virus that was DESIGNED not to impact Chinese people.. but is flawed and does affect a few ?
That was speculation
but a paper says
“It says the virus is immunologically or environmentally adapted to a large section of the East Asian population”
see link in Newsweek post below
BBC , it’s Germany, so make it as positive as possible !!! However, dig a bit deeper ………..
Not the BBC or the Civil Service but similar taxpayer funded institutionalism: you would think during the current ‘lockdown situation’ in the UK that Local Authorities (LAs, Fed) would be anxious to take advantage of the much reduced road traffic in order to get their road potholes repaired.
You would think.
Wouldn’t you?
Especially where a LA was so worried about CO2 from road traffic at a standstill causing Global Warming (AGW, Fed) and NOx from diesel cars, buses, trucks and vans killing everyone prematurely, that it had declared a ‘Climate Emergency’.
You would think. Wouldn’t you?
But no.
Ta ( thank you )u2s
I still get caught by abrieves –
I’ve just found out the CCBGB means
Comments could be going better …..
Can’t have you twitching too much while you are near a keyboard, Fed. We might get drowned in new Threads!
as i was reminded the other day, LA income remains the same so why spend it on essentials when you can save for a rainy day with no one asking any questions! Its not as if they have to worry about staff costs is it!
Lesbian Visibility Week @LesbianVisWeek
20 – 26 April 2020: Recognising, celebrating and supporting Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Women across the UK
Beeboid connection
JaneHillNews tweeted
Well said. My wife was a @bbcnews shoot-edit for many years.
A major broadsheet newspaper once referred to her as a ‘woman cameraman’
Thanks for the invite, Stew, but no thanks. I suddenly have to trim my toenails, de-worm the cat and find that magazine that may have slid under the sofa.
I am 75 and diabetic, therefore classed as vulnerable. I am, however, quite willing to see an early phased return to relative normality for the good of the country, my children and my grandchildren. I would still avoid my family and would miss them tremendously, but I know the risk. However, I am also missing my golf, as are my chums, and would be happy for our club to re-open and us to play again, taking full responsibility for our own well-being. Until there is a vaccine, or the virus mutates to a relatively harmless state, I appreciate that there will be continuing deaths but from the data so far, it’s mainly the already ill and vulnerable such as me, with some outliers. Deaths can be minimised by sensible precautions and ongoing public education.
My chums and I are sensible people and would carry on the precautions that we took before the club closed. If we were to catch the virus, then we would have no-one to blame but ourselves. Unlike the media and certain political parties we most certainly would not be blaming the Government who I believe have been doing the best they could under the circumstances despite the constant carping from the likes of the BBC with their (hidden) crystal ball, liberal agenda (Re-join and Globalism) and 20-20 hindsight. Fore!
Newsweek claim
Coronavirus outbreak may have started as early as September,
scientists say, and not in Wuhan.
Earliest Wuhan cases were the later Type B virus,
not the original Type A, found in Guangdong and America…
https://newsweek.com/coronavirus-outbreak-september-not-wuhan-1498566
I’m not going to wade through the paper
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/04/07/2004999117
but you get some ideas from scanning people’s tweets about it
A few experts think the paper is dodgy
their tweets
2:15pm R4 Drama : a new series of GF Newman’s The Corrupted Series 5
… Is that drama that is rooted in history
but has a strong anti-Tory slant written in by the writer ?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hdk4
As we approach the 1pm whingeathon aka BBC1 pm news.
Here is the news from Sluff which I guarantee will not be featured.
A consultant from Shrewsbury hospitals trust says they have plenty of PPE and wash what they can all the time.
News straight from the horses’ mouth is rather different from that via the BBC editors…….
They did feature some good news on the PPE front they said officials in Scotland and Wales told them they have enough to meet demand.It’s only in ENGLAND where there’s a problem and some hospitals are running critically low.
Oh we also had Tony Blair on offering his advice to Boris on how to get the economy going again!
I didn’t bother, I’m afraid. Just couldn’t face another PE session so soon after breakfast. Skipped the 6 p.m. News, too.
BBC, No more I love yous, your language is leaving me …. outside
It was hilarious this morning to hear Nick saying that all scientists don’t agree about the accuracy of ‘Models’.
Then he introduced the Oxford ‘team’ who came to a different conclusion regarding the progress of the ‘Pandemic’.
There was talk over whether or not the government should have stuck to the original ‘Herding’ strategy and also ministers don’t have sufficient training to interpret scientific papers.
Apparently, it’s really important that such papers be ‘Peer Reviewed’ or at least supported by other studies.
Nick asked the Oxford spokesperson if it wasn’t just down to rivalry that their group had produced the alternative paper.
The truth is that there is still insufficient data because China lied
There is at least one other group in the US who came to the same conclusion as the Imperial team and that in the absence of hard data with the new virus it simply wasn’t feasible to risk millions of preventable deaths.
‘Unherd’ interviewed the Swedish epidemiologist which is worth watching
https://unherd.com/thepost/coming-up-epidemiologist-prof-johan-giesecke-shares-lessons-from-sweden/?=frpo
Has the 8 tonnes of PPE arrived from Turkey yet?
Or did our thick government buy it of a dodgy carpet trader..
Eddy – I’m guessing there is an international bidding war going on whilst Johnnie Turk plays fast and loose with the laws of contract ……
I wonder if we ll ever find out to which country it finally goes ? The French have a track record for stealing out stuff – as happened a couple of weeks ago so don’t be surprised .
Buying ANYTHING from Turkey is a foolish mistake. Not exactly a country known for its manufacturing prowess. Trying to think whether I’ve ever come across ANYTHING made in Turkey. Nope, can’t think of anything. Second-rate rugs, maybe.
Had no time for the Turks ever since one of them spat my child in the face when we were living in Frankfurt. I know you shouldn’t judge a collective by the actions of 1 individual, but on that day I made myself a promise, and I’ve stuck to it. I wouldn’t holiday in Turkey if it was free and they paid me…The Turkish invasion of Cyprus and latterly Syria has merely reinforced.
Anyone able to think of a Turkish product of quality?
Fed – your ‘fast and loose’ scenario would not surprise me in the least.
Humiliating to think UK manufacturing is so down the tubes we have to go to Erdogan for something so simple as ppe!
Lots of fashion is made there.
Brissles, and in Tottenham, N. London 😉
Fakenewswatcher
Ford Transit is made there , joint facility with Turkish company , set up using a few hundred millions of EU (our ) money ! , Ford then closed the UK factory in Southampton …..Disgusting B——-
Well said Julia.. The comments to Khan ‘s tweet are hilarious. Worth a look.
Yeah, right Sadiq.
We have to know why more BAME are dying.
So…
We could
A. Play the race card, or
B. Do the teeniest bit of online research.
The SRA (Sluff Research Association) after receiving a government grant of…..nothing at all, used its considerable resources (3 minutes on the ipad) to come up with this
https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/regional-ethnic-diversity/latest
Ooo look.
‘out of all regions, London had the smallest percentage of White British people, at 44.9% ‘.
And, Sadiq, where are the most cases?
So…..maybe BAME are actually UNDER-represented?
What a challenge to the BBC that would be.
Just a cheap excuse for race-baiting s**t-stirring BAME/ muslim victimhood.
Mark Thompson ex-BBC Director (J Saville and more)
False Balance
False balance, also bothsidesism, is a media bias in which journalists present an issue as being more balanced between opposing viewpoints than the evidence supports. Journalists may present evidence and arguments out of proportion to the actual evidence for each side, or may omit information that would establish one side’s claims as baseless. False balance has been cited as a major cause of spreading misinformation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Thompson_(media_executive)
Not sure if any memories here go back as far as 2011 🙂
So it never was about ‘holding power to account’, was it?
Well well well, what have we here?
“HILLARY CLINTON HEADED TO JAIL AS DOJ CONFIRMS RUSSIA PAID HER $3M”
(Caps not mine, Mr Moderator.)
I’m sure the beeb will be investigating this thoroughly.
Is anyone still watching the News ? On all channels its just a loop of talking heads ranting on about a lack of PPEs. The continual pumping out of this will desensitise the viewing population who wouldn’t give a damn anymore.
BRISSLES
We avoid the news …..occasional few seconds off switch or change channels…Classic FM is now a favourite but the News is also Biased like the BBC
Youre right there Vlad – Aunty wouldnt touch this with a barge pole or at least until everyone else had published or try and brand it “fake news”
Talking of fake news (not BBC), went on the once conservative (now owned by Mirror group) Daily Express website to see this headline
“EU bosses hand dictator Orban billions more Euros than Italy”
It is a very strange headline , because I was under the misapprehension that Victor Orban won a general election somewhere along the line!
Silly me I must be mistaken!
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1271343/EU-coronavirus-news-Italy-Hungary-Viktor-Orban-cohesion-funds-latest-update
My intuition around the whole situation is the government cocked up in January/February, I largely agree with the Times article. They acted too late which severely narrowed their options. They then went for herd immunity, panicked, did a volte-face and we now have lockdown.
I realise this view is not entirely popular. Some on here think the BBC is just harassing the government needlessly. We all have our views, mindless clapping, rainbows and the daily press conferences. Time will tell, I guess.
Regardless, there really is no easy exit now. There will be no sombrero Boris, just endless mini hills vanishing into the distance. What the hell do they do?
Coronavirus is probably here to stay, as developing or scaling up inoculation will be very difficult. We cannot hide forever and neither can the government. A backbone will need to be found before any mythical vaccine.
My guess is Policy and life will need adjusting, so when do they find the courage to tell you?
What is the new Corona world?
Mass International travel will be scaled back (fear will do this alone). Borders will now become a reality again. Migration will be v difficult. T5, what’s the point? HS2, why? Our cities, who wants to be there? It’s localisation not globalisation I think, and simpler less consumerist lives on the whole.
Lets hope the cult of the celebrity will be dialled down, as many are deprived of relevance, even Coronavirus recognises only 2 genders!
Whatever our view of proceedings to date. This possible new reality is the antithesis of the BBC’s world view, for them it’s a total disaster?
Not all bad then ????
Ven
I don’t think the behaviour of the UK government can be taken in isolation . By a sad co incidence it was taken up with brexit and being a new government – together with the mad co incidence that the USA was taken up with impeachment .
Others fell down on the job too – the WHO – as first strike to warn and do stuff .
I’m a natural pessimist – but on this I think a cure will be found sooner than later – but not by a too slow UK .
And I believe that the global wheels are turning too much to allow covid to get in the way of growth. Normality will return pretty quickly – day by year end .
The biggest change to normality here will be a partly wrecked economy with a tax system at reset . They need to figure out a way of increasing tax massively without killing the whole thing off .
Some governments / outfits will use covid for their own purposes -such as tightening borders , surveillance – freedom
Although there should be a reckoning with China – i think it will generally get a ‘ pass’
Hindsight will triumph as the finding s and recommendations of exercises and contingency plans were ignored in accordance with the doctrine of ‘ it will never happen ‘
But will any individual carry the can ?
No
This may all be premature – because if the ‘ second wave ‘ is real and the virus changes for the even worse there will be a revision of what I’ve written .
Meanwhile – the BBC can look forward to having it’s wings clipped as part of real widespread austerity
FD2
I agree, the WHO have a lot to answer for. The principle of a global benevolent ‘doctor’ is good one, but not when we have such polarised world interests. Trump is spot on.
China should be accountable for its part. It will be v interesting to see how they try and sell huawei to us now!
The West will throw the proverbial sink at this I agree, but when you look at S Korea and past Coronaviruses the prognosis is bleak. Sorry. Hope I’m wrong though.
Surveillance is something that’s sinister and lurking behind all this. I’m totally cynical this will be used covertly ‘for our safety’. Tax rises and endless BBC fawning over public sector emergency service is inevitable I’m afraid, so brace yourself!
Whether they do find a vaccine or not – Lockdown only has a shelf life and its not 18 months.
Ven
Somehow the testing has to go from the current 20k per day to 100k in the next 10 days to hit the ‘ target ‘ – then onto 250k !?
And as I write len Deighton is on the tarmac in turkey getting 60 tons of kit sent to us -.which if it does arrive will go through the ritual of failing tests and being dumped .
At least the Monday afternoon briefing should be the last one …..
about 5 days ago Gove said the testing capacity is 38K/day
and the reason they test less than 20,000 people is cos they prioritised keyworker testing, but not enough of them are making appointments.
Fed,
There is NO excuse for the government and its scientific advisers getting it so badly wrong. The fact that other governments were also caught with their trousers down signifies only the level of sheer incompetence that has become the norm in public officials.
It was obvious back in late January that this new coronavirus was (a) serious and (b) not airborne. The logical thing to do was for China to shut its borders and deal with the outbreak at its epicentre. Instead, the WHO, Chinese government and a plethora of idiots masquerading as experts counselled against closing borders.
Like the fools that they are, politicians and their supposedly intelligent advisers went along with that advice, thereby depriving us of our best chance of stopping the virus. [I won’t bore you with analogies about how best to stop fires and repel invasions; instead, I’ll simply say that there was nothing novel about the best way to deal with this coronavirus.]
When China failed to act, other countries should have pulled down the shutters and refused to permit anyone to enter without undertaking a period of supervised quarantine (and by supervised, I mean under constant supervision). For the avoidance of doubt, ways could easily have been found for goods to be allowed to safely move from country to country. Life could quite probably have went on pretty much as normal had such action been taken. But that was clearly too much to expect from pedestrian minds.
And then there was an explosion of cases in Italy. Were borders closed then? Heck, no! I can recall some EU simpleton stating that it would be ‘disproportionate’ to close borders. It may have been too late by then, but disproportionate it most certainly was not.
And then we started to get cases here. And more cases. And more. Until we reached a point at which a lockdown had to be imposed, with the attendant human and financial consequences. But still the borders remain open, allowing tens of thousands of potential human Trojan Horses to enter the country every week. For who knows how many people, Death has ridden in not on a pale horse but in a metal tube.
I’m not wise after the fact. I’m not even claiming to be wise at all, because it was so obvious back in late January that the new coronavirus would wreak havoc if it was allowed to penetrate the only line of defence we had – our borders. I stopped going to the rugby at the end of January, and my wife and I stopped going to cafes, pubs and other public places a few days later. We even missed out on concerts that we had bought tickets for and had been looking forward to. We did that because we feared that what we are now experiencing would come to pass. If we could see that and take appropriate action to protect ourselves and our vulnerable relatives then why couldn’t those whose duty it is to protect us also see that and take the right action?
It may be, of course, that this coronavirus was already circulating in the UK as early as last year. But even if that is the case, it would still have made sense to close the borders, nail down the transmission rate and eradicate it. Indeed, that’s exactly what we should be doing now. But it won’t – can’t – happen whilst the good ship United Kingdom continues to be piloted by fools who sail with the bow doors wide open.
For what it’s worth, I believe that a vaccine is at hand. The big issue with it will not relate to its efficacy or safety but to the challenge of producing it in the quantities required within a reasonable timescale. Front-loading the production process in so far as possible is the obvious thing to do, but can we trust those who have got it so badly wrong to now get it right?
Van
I wasn’t purporting to excuse governments for not seeing the Chinese bug coming – but to put it into context of the time .
For many , I think , the memory gets replaced with current events . Actions like those of POTUS in closing his borders were seen at the time as ‘typical thug trump ‘ whereas with hindsight it was the right thing to do.
I wonder if we’ll ever see the reports on the exercises conducted by the government within the last couple of years concerning epidemics – what were the findings – what were the actions and what was actually done ? I some how suspect we won’t hear any of that .
I bet one recommendation was to spend a few bob on buying a few warehouses full of PPE on a ‘just in case basis ‘ – a recommendation either ignored or dismissed by…. someone …
I’ve had a bit of experience in this planning area and I came to the conclusion that the assumption that those running stuff at the top are not necessarily the sharpest objects in the box .
One of the more fatal aspects is a lot don’t do detail and leave that to the lower orders whilst they position themselves for the next rung of the ladder . People don’t stay in place very long so institutional memory goes out of the window and has little value – until the crap hits the fan – like now .
As for your point on vaccines – apparently we were good – once – but no longer – and I reckon when the vaccine comes along we will be floundering again to make enough or get it from elsewhere
What we are seeing – is the 9/11 mentality playing out again – there are strong parallels . The virus is the plane . We are the tower blocks .
VH
We all saw the Chinese collapsing on the street in January. One did not need to be an epidemiologist to council pulling up the drawbridge immediately.
The problem we faced (and still face) is rampant liberal corporatism. Putting up barriers is simply an anathema to our political class. Indeed, flights still continue to arrive from all over the world. They just cannot do it, it’s in their DNA and has been since Blair. Combine this blinkered ideology with powerful multinationals insisting business as usual, and the shit show we now find ourselves in becomes clear.
As I said earlier; panem et circenses. The government provides the bread the BBC the Circuses and we all forget, hope and clap.
Van H in a full colour complex world
a simplistic narrative like “the government and its scientific advisers are getting it so badly wrong” seems naive.
We are only 10 mins into a 90 min game.
One objective was to avoid the hospitals being overwhelmed
and so far that is working.
The question is whether this unsmart lockdown is costing more life years than it is worth.
I have to agree with all you’ve said Venutius, which all amounts to a more simple life post virus. We managed without ‘stuff’, shopping malls, travelling for hours to get to work, and managed to holiday at the seaside back in the 1950s, so why not again ? At least we were spared of overpaid tv celebrities, and our glamour was provided by those on the silver screen at the cinema.
We had the 1918 pandemic that floored the world, and here we are 100 years later having a global economic meltdown again. Nature’s way of putting the brakes on ????
Natural selection?
Tonight 8pm BBC Arsonists show about Fire Prevention
The BBC Trending team have a show about busting FakeNews about Covid19
The prog appears to be the same as a BBC Trending prog broadcast in March
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csyvpd
It stars Marianna Spring* & Mike Wendling the guy whose Tourettes causes him to shout “far-right, far-right” all the time.
* Marianna is famous for her Newsnight piece “far-right groups and figures disproportionately target female politicians with online abuse”
* “trusted sources” is a fallacy
The truth of an argument depends on its own evidence, NOT who the messenger is
The same libmob who made the prog break their own list of rules when they spot a hyperbolic Climate Change claim in the Guardian and retweet the hell out of it.
BBC Trending’s blog talks about the viral- misinformation- Facebook post the prog will examine
“The post .. included the quite false (and potentially harmful)suggestion that you don’t have Coronavirus if you have a runny nose. and also warned people not to eat ice”
Hmmm that seems like a strawman, that is used to misrepresent someones argument so it can easily be attacked.
Note the bias by omission the BBC blog page contains no copy of the original post
Snopes does
The post said “1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you may have a common cold/flu”
Note it DOES NOT say ” you don’t have Coronavirus if you have a runny nose”
What it said is a quick way of stopping people panicking, cos they think their cold is corona.
In most cases a runny nose indicates a cold or hayfever and that should be their first thought.
However if they have other symptoms it might be that they have 2 things at the same time eg Corona and hayfever
The debunk goes onto another claim
the post stated that the virus “hates the Sun”, but as of yet there’s no evidence that sunlight kills the virus
hmm The post didn’t say the sun KILLS ALL the virus
Actually is is established that certain UV does weaken the ability of virus cells to persist
https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20180212/can-uv-light-be-used-to-kill-airborne-flu-virus
Now yes that viral-Facebook post is problematic in the way that an official NHS page wouldn’t be. However lots of other facebook posts spread inaccurate narratives people have picked up from the media like the BBC.
Basically all info we read should be treated with suspicion it’s not the case of
.. “From BBC” = good … “From Internet” = bad
The prog will talk about how as the viral-post spread people added credibilty claims at the top
So “from my uncle” became “from doctors at XYZ research institute” etc.
That is exactly the same as what the BBC reporter just did on PPE
changing “info I got from a man who has a vested interest in pushing up PPE crises and prices”
…. to “info I got from the head of an NHS Trust”
Well worth a look, if you can spare the time. Bill Gates, and the Mysterious, sinister Dr. Fauci…
BBC Local Radio news
“The head of Lincs Health Trust has said they are under pressure on PPE
but that their just in time system is managing to supply 36,000 masks per day”
..Next story “So far this week volunteers have made and delivered 3,500 face masks to local care homes etc.”
FFS they BBC made out the volunteers were absolute heroes
… yet their day’s output is what the Trust uses in 20 minutes !
In their interview they were begging the Trust head to say he didn’t have enough PPE, and that it was all Boris’s fault.
What about those ‘heroes’ 3-D printing one face shield per day?
Another silly idea promoted by a media that has never been inside a factory and seen injection moulding, vacuum forming etc. in action – (“But 3-D printing is the future, the BBC told me so!”)
You can make a face mask out of two sheets of toilet tissue and two rubber bands …. so I was informed by someone last week on BBC R4.
The rubber bands can be re-used and the toilet tissue easily and safely disposed of down the appropriate tube.
The dancing anychess started with the 2012 Olympics.
On that day a religion was born
God save our wonderful NHS – perfect in every way.
If you look carefully at the beds , you can tell carefully which ones were used in the Liverpool “Care” Pathway they are the ones with a dead elderly person on them who only went to hospital with a broken arm.
Still least it stopped them voting for Brexit.
Oak ash – indeed – short memories – I think the best /worst line I have seen is from the muppet who is head of NHS procurement who said the government shouldn’t have announced they’ve bought 80 tonne of PPE from Turkey and then failed to delivery .
Not throwing stones in glasshouses came to mind . Still can’t work out why there is still a NHS procurement department . Absolutely no criticism of those failures by the MSM at all ….
What’s this about fruit picking… But in Spain
Like its any different in uk,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-52319537/fruit-labourers-if-you-don-t-want-to-work-like-a-slave-you-re-out
Mondays stats
Daily Deaths 449 (quite a fall 596 yesterday, especially since journos have this theory that after weekend death stats rise)
Daily Positives of severe cases : 3,023 again lower than 4,467 yesterday, which had been flat for a while
If today’s fall continues it means that hospitals are less busy
For keyworkerhousehold tests 1,653 new positives a 300 increase on yesterday
This should be concern
cos how the heck are they getting it ?
And it leaves them out of action for 7 days minimum
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public
BBCNews Channel just read the headlines
It was incoherent
It’s not like they got the reductions in daily death and case rates.
The started as ever with their PPE agenda
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-52294157
Good grief, as if shopworkers like myself don’t have enough issues with the strange foibles of customers, now we have people in Scotland afraid to put things they’ve touched back on the shelf!
If it’s any consolation to them, I must’ve touched well over 50% of of our remaining Easter eggs last night as well as a sizeable percentage of the red and white wine bottles.
Went past a North Yorkshire supermarket the security guard was squirting sanitizer? into customers hands in the queue.
They’ll have crop duster aeroplanes flying around soon, spraying anyone daring to be out and about soon.
2018 Remainers discussing how the EU funds parts of the BBC
.. and the EU conditional rules.
I don’t know if any one else saw it. On bbc promoting panorama a reporter in full PPE reporting inside a hospital. Question why? And do Bbc do irony.
Is the BBC affected by the coronavirus pandemic?
Is their income at risk?
No, it is guaranteed by the licence fee.
Is anyone on furlough? Almost no-one.
Are the workforce working hard, many from the comfort of their own homes? By definition, no.
Are workforce incomes guaranteed?
Yes
And pension entitlements?
Yes.
Does the newsroom have to look for news? No.
In short, there is no downside at all. In fact they might actually prefer it. Better than having to work hard . Or be accountable.
Nice if you can get it.
Sunak and Sharma handing money out like sweets. Worthy causes and good innovations, all. Billions, no Trillions will have to be paid. How? By whom? When?
I could easily make up my five tests, but I shall refrain.
“Sued the NHS” is trending cos libmob on Twitter have outrage against Branson asking for money
Sued in 2018 for £2m
https://www.rt.com/uk/430468-branson-virgin-sues-nhs/
I posted the other day about accelerator/brake strategy to get some herd immunity but not to overload the NHS. I believe that due to the level of uncertainty (vaccine – if/when, how effective herd immunity will be, what happens when lockdown is unlocked, the winter visit of the same/similar virus, etc). As the buddhist advises – take the middle path. Time will tell. Many people want to pass judgement now hurried along by the you know who. Excellent opportunity for MSM, Times, BBC, Labour, to hurt the government, also an excellent opportunity for the government to come out with credit if they do a reasonable job – we’ll probably see in 12-18 months time.
Hugh Pym BBC “are you ASHAMED as a government
cos hospitals might run out of PPE ?”
… ” .. and minister have you stopped beating your wife ?”
Sorry, I repeated. But then, so do the bbc.
Robber Gotcha Peston “It’s said that your government is under reporting Covid deaths by 40% …. ?”
‘No, it seems 9 out of 10 Covid deaths happen in hospital, external deaths are difficult cos they occur differently across the country, we will have those stats in due time.’
The GotchaGang are making every question about PPE
Andy a Jeremy Bowen lookalike now
I understand that OfCom have ‘had a go’ (sanctioned) at ‘London Live ‘ and ‘ITV’ ?
No doubt their friends and chums at Al Beeb will report it?
No doubt OfCom will sanction Al Beeb next for fake news. No?
\\Idris Elba: ‘Food will run out if farmers can’t farm’//
That’s bleeding obvious.
Who is he?
What does he know about farming?
This is the man who believes we should follow the animals and hibernate for one week a year to commemorate the coronavirus – what a loon.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/04/20/idris-elba-lets-quarantine-every-year-to-commemorate-coronavirus/
Where I am the farmers have kept on farming throughout this lunacy regardless . Who is this halfwit?
Can anyone tell me why I keep seeing
‘Tony Blair says…………….’
Plastered all over the footer during the press conference this evening.
What the **** has it got to do with Tony bloody Blair….
davylars
Was it something to do with Iraq ?
I wish the BBC would stop displaying their headlines during the briefing. Not only does it block out the bottom third of the charts being displayed, it’s like they assume the viewer has no capacity to remember what’s literally just been said.
Exactly taffman
Tony Blair the expert….
Hugh Pym asks the Chancellor if he is ashamed about the
situation of PPE. I would like to ask the BBC if they are
ashamed that at these briefings they sound, as an analogy
LORD HAW HAW being given the first question to
Winston Churchill at a war briefing. YES BBC, an enemy of the
state !!