[Dave Rice]

I’ve never quite understood this we’ll learn the lessons after its all over nonsense. If I’m putting Ikea furniture together and continually bash my thumb when nailing the back on I don’t think, I know when it’s allover I’ll compare hits per thumb by furniture type. I think I’d better find a better way to do this or I’ll have no thumb left by the end.

[Bob Williams]

“Lessons will be learned” is just a stock phrase to blind the public after the usual laziness and incompetence on the part of whoever is expected learn the lessons, Dave. Not that they ever do.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

Is anyone else getting fed up with the ‘Daily coronavirus Update?

I just wish it had a moderator with the balls to yell  ‘Answer the damned question’ at each time the Government or ‘Scientific’ Advisor just restates the question and moves on to the next person.

I’m also getting fed up with its self congratulatory tone when  we have the worst track record in Europe in handling the outbreak. link

[JayCeeDee]

Ed P wrote:

Is anyone else getting fed up with the ‘Daily coronavirus Update? I just wish it had a moderator with the balls to yell  ‘Answer the damned question’ at each time the Government or ‘Scientific’ Advisor just restates the question and moves on to the next person.

We are both getting just as irritated by the media questions, they are rarely about the latest statements, but just digging over the previous days Update, however, if the various Ministers actually answered the questions ( as stated above ) the media might get better at doing their job. :wacko:

What started off as a sit down and listen programme, pausing and referencing some of the slides, has now turned into a “video it and FF through the crap”. :yes:

[Dave Rice]

It’s a political propaganda show now, nothing more. The stats we are allowed to see are clearly not the whole story. We cannot compare against other countries until the Govt want us to believe we can restore activity X just like country Y has. The fact that county Y is weeks ahead of us is glossed over.

The media do have a difficult job getting the questions answered and not just policy restated and history rewritten. If anyone pushes too hard, Piers Morgan, Andrew Neil, etc. they are shunned. Character assassinations are being undertaken by the right wing press, try having the Daily Express notifications turned on! I do to head off the crap my relatives will be spouting later on. Thankfully we do now seem to have an effective opposition.

I’m just waiting for the next spike, it seems inevitable given the behaviours now being displayed and actively encouraged. When that happens I think the last vestige of trust will have been eroded. I believe they think they’ll get away with a No Deal Brexit too, after all so much can be blamed on Covid-19 now.

[Ed P]

I agree with you Dave, this is all being micromanaged so that we do not demand that UK Regions are treated like French Departments with each going at a speed appropriate to local conditions. Were that so, I could be going to the pub tonight as there were zero new cases of Covid in my area according to ONS data.

[JayCeeDee]

Today’s episode consisted of Grant Shapps giving us some interesting details about Transport and expenditure along with their aims and progress followed by watching the pair of them tip-toe through the Dominic Cummins landmines laid by the media!! What a bore!!! :scratch: :negative:

[Ed P]

Looking at these John Hopkins charts on NEW covid infections, I get the distinct impression that the Cummings debacle has caused us to come out of tight lockdown about two weeks too soon!

Time will tell how many lives BoJo’s protection of Cummings will cost this country.

[Ed P]

This Twitter feed states that the Lockdown Easing to level three is AGAINST the scientific advice.  Obviously a ploy to take the discussions away from Cummings. This evening’s Covid briefing might get heated if this comes up!

[Bob Williams]

TBH I am sick and tired of the whole charade now. I pay a quick visit to the Beeb website, skipping the obvious anti-Boris bias amongst their political “experts”. Then a longer visit to Reuters and a few more. I cba to watch TV news, it is just one long, dreary parade of talking heads and a lot of speculation.

If the politicians paid more attention to the scientists and the NHS, we might get some real answers and advice. What makes me angry is the Cummings affair and the accompanying Labour hypocrisy: FOUR Labour MP’s guilty of the same ‘misdemeanour’, absolutely no criticism from the media.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

One of our problems is that the ‘Scientific’ Advisors are Civil Servants, this results in two problems. First their advice always has a very strong stench of ‘Not Invented Here’, so ignore it until their favoured third parties can replicate it (masks are a great example, as is rejection for months of asymptomatic spreaders). Second they never let the proletariat hear their real unfettered advice. It is only when a SAGE member breaks ranks that we hear the other viewpoints.

IF we have been following scientific advice then we have the crappiest scientists in Europe maybe even The World as we now have the worst numbers of ‘excess deaths’ (This year’s total deaths versus same period last year). Even the US has a better record than we do! Something that for once the BoJo loving Murky Dog press could not gloss over it. Sun Link

[Bob Williams]

My information in the previous post was incorrect. Only 3 MP’s were Labour. Naming and shaming the hypocritical Lockdown evaders: –

Ian Blackford, actually SNP. Travelled 618 miles from London to Skye. This is the man who also claimed £250K expenses. Yes you read that correctly. Two. Hundred. And. Fifty. Thousand. Pounds. His ‘excuse’ was that he wanted out of virus-ridden London.

Stephen Kinnock, Labour, son of Labour career politicians. 200 miles from South Wales to London.

Vaughan Gething, Labour and Co operative. After setting out lockdown rules for Wales in the Senedd Cymru, he ignored his own advice. Barring Welsh people from going to Parks, he then went to the chippy and gave the family a picnic. In the local park.

Tahir Ali, Labour. Attended a funeral which had almost 100 mourners. Meanwhile the Guardian’s hack Diane Nowel slams Dominic Cummings, saying “Lockdown meant I missed my brother’s funeral.” But not a word about the four MP’s above. Or about Jeremy Corbyn, who ignored advice that over 70’s should self isolate.

It is the sheer, blatant hypocrisy displayed by the Labour Party and their media support, which angers me. Yes, Cummings was absolutely wrong to do what he did, but why are none of these opposition MP’s not also named in those same media outlets? Because they are biased, and that includes the BBC. And that is why I say I am sick of the whole charade that has taken over our lives. Not the actual measures we have (almost) all had to take, but certain politicians, the media Talking Heads and others on Social Media who think it’s a Good Thing to insult and lie about people.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

“Jeremy Corbyn, who ignored advice that over 70’s should self isolate.”

Not strictly true.

“…those aged 70 or older …

At the moment, the rules for this group are not different (from those for the general public), so they are allowed out to take exercise or can leave their homes to go to work if they cannot work from home, but they are strongly advised to “take particular care”.

This group is different from those who are defined as being “clinically extremely vulnerable”. That group should be taking “shielding” measures, and include people with particular cancers and severe respiratory conditions such as cystic fibrosis.

People in this more at-risk group should have received a letter from their GP, and the measures that they are supposed to take are more severe, including not leaving their homes at all and remaining in lockdown until at least the end of June.

I never received a letter, or special treatment in terms of getting a delivery slot so I have not self-isolated, just taken a bit more care to not breach the 2m rule, wash hands, IPA wipe down anything received via Amazon etc. I also wear a pm2.5 filtered face mask in enclosed public places. (As I suffer from Hay Fever I found that the pm2.5 mask really does help to ward off pollen allergies!)

[Ed P]

Shades of Typhoid Mary and the Diamond Princess are revealed in this BMJ Analysis of a South American Cruise Liner.

A number of very scary points emerge from this second floating Petri Dish in which everyone was thoroughly tested and half those on board were found to be infected.

a) The rapid swab test is fairly useless, and lab based testing had to be used

b) Of those infected, 81% were asymptomatic and apparently healthy.

Once again our ‘scientific’ advisors are pandering to politics and ignoring scientific findings. Everyone should be wearing a mask if they will meet other members of the public (especially runners puffing past you). Masks should be mandatory in all enclosed public places.

a

[Dave Rice]

Just watching the scientific experts spectacularly not answering questions again.

I still don’t know how I can tell if a phone call from Test & Trace is genuine. They can’t track anyway!

Dominic Rabb was asked by Andrew Marr to describe how the UK T&T will be “world beating” as Boris has said. Apparently it will be world beating in that it will be tailored to the UK’s needs. WTF? He did acknowledge we are way behind other countries who have had a head start on us (how unfair of them).

[Ed P]

I think that you are right Dave, we will just have to make our own judgement – Cummings-Style. :yahoo:

This ‘Government’ is a shambolic mess, shies away from necessary detail and could not even organise a booze-up in a brewery. Instead they spend the tax-payers money by outsourcing everything to their incompetent friends. I wonder what role Jennifer Arcuri’s ‘tech’ company plays in the tracing app?

[Ed P]

Data analysis of Covid-19 cases in Germany and the UK apparently shows that  Germans are less liable to fall victim to severe cases of Covid-19 and less liable to die even when they do need hospital treatment. A real puzzle.

[Dave Rice]

I will start the Wurst und Bier diet immediately! Well I say start… Perhaps it’s the senf?

[Ed P]

“Based on evidence from 10 studies involving 2,647 participants, they found that the risk of infection or transmission when wearing a mask was 3% compared with 17% when not wearing a mask”

Maybe our ‘Not Invented Here’, so-called Scientific Advisors will now state that wearing face masks is important to stopping Covid-19 and that by not wearing a mask you are at least five times more likely to cause or get the disease.

 

[Ed P]

A small-scale trial shows that vitamin supplementation helps ward of the worst aspects of covid-19. I’d like to see a similar trial for zinc.

link

[Author]

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