So, coronavirus...

[Biffer]

Vaccine delivery is definitely ramping up in the UK - now 2.68 million doses delivered, putting the UK 3rd overall and 4th per capita. Wales and Scotland a bit worrying though - were England and NI both have a noticeable hockey stick effect starting last week, Wales and Scotland don't

There seemed to be a bit of panic in the ranks at the FM presser yesterday. Maybe I read it wrong, but she didn't look comfortable talking about the progress

Scottish govt didn’t really start with the AZ vaccine until this week. Don’t really understand why.

[Slick]

Presumably BT aren't in the chumocracy, unlike the company awarded the school laptops contract or the ones giving a potato and a piece of bread for your £30 school meal replacement.

The school meal thing is shocking. Jack Monroe on Twitter has a good comparison of what can be purchased with £20 compared to what’s being delivered for £30.

I've completely missed this, do you have a decent link?

No worries, just seen the other thread

[tc27]

Vaccine delivery is definitely ramping up in the UK - now 2.68 million doses delivered, putting the UK 3rd overall and 4th per capita. Wales and Scotland a bit worrying though - were England and NI both have a noticeable hockey stick effect starting last week, Wales and Scotland don't

There seemed to be a bit of panic in the ranks at the FM presser yesterday. Maybe I read it wrong, but she didn't look comfortable talking about the progress

England is much more urbanised - so easier to distribute the vaccine to more of the population (also made it far easier for the virus to spread).

[Fangle]

Sorry to hear that Fangle. I hope it's not too serious; get better soon buddy.

I’ll be out in a couple of days. Feeling good. I only mentioned where I was to show I knew what I was talking about. Thanks for the wishes guys, but all is well.

[Saint]

Presumably BT aren't in the chumocracy, unlike the company awarded the school laptops contract or the ones giving a potato and a piece of bread for your £30 school meal replacement.

The school meal thing is shocking. Jack Monroe on Twitter has a good comparison of what can be purchased with £20 compared to what’s being delivered for £30.

I've completely missed this, do you have a decent link?

https://news.sky.com/story/i-could-do-m ... r-12185627

[Paddington Bear]

Dpedin:

Neither of the examples you provide are in any way an example of her providing political commentary!

The tweet is her comment in July of the state of play in Scotland - she lives in Scotland and is perfectly entitled to reflect on state of play in country in which she lives. Which bit of the tweet is 'political'?

The second example was an answer to a question where she was asked directly to comment on comparisons between Scotland v rest of UK and refused, deflecting question to a broader comparison with rest of world, again based on data available is accurate. She probably did this to avoid exactly the type of Scotland v England/UK commentary you accuse her of. Again which bit of her response is 'political'?

I am honestly at a loss as to how you find either of the above examples you provide as examples of 'political commentary' and of her using their status to bolster divide constitutional debate. To me it seems more like you are reading too much into this and looking for an angle that in both your examples just doesn't exist!

Some examples of her being political or simply incorrect (in aid of her political sympathies).

How can we get numbers down if people keep returning from trips abroad to COVID hotspots like Dubai? This is a reserved power to U.K. govt. They are undermining all local efforts to suppress bc they’re not putting in place any real travel restrictions.

Here is the problem -> UK govt has no strategy beyond locking down.

Scotland is now doing well in its response to Covid-19 which seems to anger anti-Scottish, pro-UK people

Ive lost the will to trawl back through her twitter profile to last summer when she was blowing smoke up NS's arse but you get the idea.

You may think she is entirely right in all her points but at least understand that people may have a problem with her that can be explained by something other than racism and or sexism.

Is that it! You really must have very, very thin skin if these are the best examples of how 'political' she is and feel more than justified in calling her a twat and defend it. Dubai is an issue, travel can only be stopped by UK Gov and actions were taken yesterday/today by SG and UK Gov. UK Gov has no strategy beyond lock down, if there is one please share. You demonstrate the third one quote exactly, and prove her point to a tee!

I repeat I struggle with the attitude that you have with her. If she is spouting demonstrable nonsense then please share. Do you have any issues with Linda Bauld, another member of the team at UoE who is on the tv as much, or is she different? Is Linda a twat too?

UK government having no strategy beyond lockdown is patently bollocks - the strategy is clearly to vaccinate our way out of the crisis. Agree or disagree with it but don't pretend.

[Saint]

Vaccine delivery is definitely ramping up in the UK - now 2.68 million doses delivered, putting the UK 3rd overall and 4th per capita. Wales and Scotland a bit worrying though - were England and NI both have a noticeable hockey stick effect starting last week, Wales and Scotland don't

There seemed to be a bit of panic in the ranks at the FM presser yesterday. Maybe I read it wrong, but she didn't look comfortable talking about the progress

England is much more urbanised - so easier to distribute the vaccine to more of the population (also made it far easier for the virus to spread).

In Scotland and Wales they;ve not really been innocluating hard even in the urban areas. Easy enough to address Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Cardiff, Swansea, etc. Wales reckons they have 250,000 doses of Pfizer that it will take them till Mid February to use, now that they;re not being stockpiled for second dose.

[C69]

Presumably BT aren't in the chumocracy, unlike the company awarded the school laptops contract or the ones giving a potato and a piece of bread for your £30 school meal replacement.

The school meal thing is shocking. Jack Monroe on Twitter has a good comparison of what can be purchased with £20 compared to what’s being delivered for £30.

I've completely missed this, do you have a decent link?

A Deputy Head was on the Beeb earlier and numerous pictures of mouldy crappy fruit and a few tins that werw to last a week.
Schools having to supplement with healthy options and a few doing the shopping and packaging themselves for a fraction of the price and much better quality and healthiness.

[tc27]

Is that it! You really must have very, very thin skin if these are the best examples of how 'political' she is and feel more than justified in calling her a twat and defend it. Dubai is an issue, travel can only be stopped by UK Gov and actions were taken yesterday/today by SG and UK Gov. UK Gov has no strategy beyond lock down, if there is one please share. You demonstrate the third one quote exactly, and prove her point to a tee!

I repeat I struggle with the attitude that you have with her. If she is spouting demonstrable nonsense then please share. Do you have any issues with Linda Bauld, another member of the team at UoE who is on the tv as much, or is she different? Is Linda a twat too?

You have possibly mixed me up with someone else? I never used language like 'twat'.

Other than that - you may feel her comments are fine - again I was trying to demonstrate why someone may have objections to her not based on her gender or ethnic origin. To me its fairly obvious she's being a shill for the nationalists in Scotland.

She was wrong about blaming the UKG for preventing travel for Celtic and travel in a wider sense (entirely in the hands of the SG through various legislative tools).

She was wrong about no-one dying over the summer and the virus being eliminated.

The UK government clearly has a vaccination strategy both in the UK and in the wider would (working with India to provide billions of Oxford/AZ jabs) which in the medium term makes much more sense than her call for indefinite lockdowns and global travel bans.

I think her idea that criticism of the SG makes anyone ''anti Scottish' is bollocks but even if its true its an incredible thing for a scientific advisor to say.

[JM2K6]

I think her idea that criticism of the SG makes anyone ''anti Scottish' is bollocks but even if its true its an incredible thing for a scientific advisor to say.

That is not even close to what she said, mind.

[SaintK]

The school meal thing is shocking. Jack Monroe on Twitter has a good comparison of what can be purchased with £20 compared to what’s being delivered for £30.

I've completely missed this, do you have a decent link?

A Deputy Head was on the Beeb earlier and numerous pictures of mouldy crappy fruit and a few tins that werw to last a week.
Schools having to supplement with healthy options and a few doing the shopping and packaging themselves for a fraction of the price and much better quality and healthiness.

I'm afraid that's what happens in a chumocracy and Tory party donors get the contract

[Paddington Bear]

The meals being distributed are utterly disgraceful. Similar has happened to lockdown students, I can't understand how it is so difficult to provide non-demeaning food.

[Slick]

Is that it! You really must have very, very thin skin if these are the best examples of how 'political' she is and feel more than justified in calling her a twat and defend it. Dubai is an issue, travel can only be stopped by UK Gov and actions were taken yesterday/today by SG and UK Gov. UK Gov has no strategy beyond lock down, if there is one please share. You demonstrate the third one quote exactly, and prove her point to a tee!

I repeat I struggle with the attitude that you have with her. If she is spouting demonstrable nonsense then please share. Do you have any issues with Linda Bauld, another member of the team at UoE who is on the tv as much, or is she different? Is Linda a twat too?

You have possibly mixed me up with someone else? I never used language like 'twat'.

Other than that - you may feel her comments are fine - again I was trying to demonstrate why someone may have objections to her not based on her gender or ethnic origin. To me its fairly obvious she's being a shill for the nationalists in Scotland.

She was wrong about blaming the UKG for preventing travel for Celtic and travel in a wider sense (entirely in the hands of the SG through various legislative tools).

She was wrong about no-one dying over the summer and the virus being eliminated.

The UK government clearly has a vaccination strategy both in the UK and in the wider would (working with India to provide billions of Oxford/AZ jabs) which in the medium term makes much more sense than her call for indefinite lockdowns and global travel bans.

I think her idea that criticism of the SG makes anyone ''anti Scottish' is bollocks but even if its true its an incredible thing for a scientific advisor to say.

Hands up, that was me and I shouldn't have used it.

[Slick]

I think her idea that criticism of the SG makes anyone ''anti Scottish' is bollocks but even if its true its an incredible thing for a scientific advisor to say.

That is not even close to what she said, mind.

well, it was - https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/185 ... -scottish/

[JM2K6]

I think her idea that criticism of the SG makes anyone ''anti Scottish' is bollocks but even if its true its an incredible thing for a scientific advisor to say.

That is not even close to what she said, mind.

well, it was - https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/185 ... -scottish/

No, "criticism of the SG makes you 'anti-scottish'" is the accusation here. Nothing in that article comes close to that. She's claiming that unionists are anti-Scottish & pro-UK, and unhappy about SG succeses, which is an entirely different argument (and for the record, it sounds like a dumb one). It's not "if you criticise the SG you're anti-Scottish".

[tc27]

JM - fair enough reading her post carefully I think my statement was incorrect (she was referring to the abuse she was getting from the 'Rangers' twats on Twitter). Her post was asinine and offensive though (which is why she deleted and apologise for it).

[JM2K6]

JM - fair enough reading her post carefully I think my statement was incorrect (she was referring to the abuse she was getting from the 'Rangers' twats on Twitter). Her post was asinine and offensive though (which is why she deleted and apologise for it).

Aye. I would have serious problems with a scientific advisor shutting down criticism of the govt by claiming it made you "anti-Scottish" to do so, which is why I jumped on that point.

[Saint]

It's going to be a Priti press conf this afternoon. {Presumably more about enforcement

[Biffer]

It's going to be a Priti press conf this afternoon. {Presumably more about enforcement

Looking forward to hearing about the twentyseventeen thousand hundred and squid vaccinations.

[Dogbert]

Vaccine delivery is definitely ramping up in the UK - now 2.68 million doses delivered, putting the UK 3rd overall and 4th per capita. Wales and Scotland a bit worrying though - were England and NI both have a noticeable hockey stick effect starting last week, Wales and Scotland don't

There seemed to be a bit of panic in the ranks at the FM presser yesterday. Maybe I read it wrong, but she didn't look comfortable talking about the progress

England is much more urbanised - so easier to distribute the vaccine to more of the population (also made it far easier for the virus to spread).

Er - No ( not by population ) , so sort of makes your next two statements dubious

[SaintK]

Isle of Wight not doing so well now!!! Looks like the Christmas rules didn't work too well for them! Not quite the success story Hancock had in mind.

Military helicopters could be used within days to airlift coronavirus patients from the Isle of Wight, the island’s medical director has said, after an “astronomical” rise in infections fuelled by mixing and visitors over Christmas.
A 74-fold increase in cases means the Isle of Wight has the 13th highest infection rate in the UK this week, from having one of the lowest in early December.
The county of 141,606 people recorded 1,871 new cases in the first 10 days of January – 43% of its total since the pandemic began. Hospital admissions and deaths are rising sharply.
Stephen Parker, the medical director of the Isle of Wight NHS trust, said he was planning “unthinkable options”, including evacuating Covid-19 patients to the mainland as the island’s small hospital treated a four-fold increase in people with the disease since Christmas Day.
The Isle of Wight had considered itself a Covid success story before December, managing to keep the virus mostly at bay. It spearheaded a trial of the government’s contact-tracing app. “Where the Isle of Wight leads, the rest of Britain will follow,” declared Matt Hancock, the health secretary, at the time.
That all changed last month. The lifting of the national lockdown in December left the island one of only three places in England in the lowest level of restrictions.
It meant islanders could meet in groups of up to six, hotels were open and pubs were allowed to serve alcohol without food. Yet Portsmouth, only a 45-minute ferry trip away, and one of the first places to see significant transmission of the highly-contagious new Covid variant, was in the strictest tier 4 restrictions, alongside London.

[Raggs]

Isle of Wight not doing so well now!!! Looks like the Christmas rules didn't work too well for them! Not quite the success story Hancock had in mind.

Military helicopters could be used within days to airlift coronavirus patients from the Isle of Wight, the island’s medical director has said, after an “astronomical” rise in infections fuelled by mixing and visitors over Christmas.
A 74-fold increase in cases means the Isle of Wight has the 13th highest infection rate in the UK this week, from having one of the lowest in early December.
The county of 141,606 people recorded 1,871 new cases in the first 10 days of January – 43% of its total since the pandemic began. Hospital admissions and deaths are rising sharply.
Stephen Parker, the medical director of the Isle of Wight NHS trust, said he was planning “unthinkable options”, including evacuating Covid-19 patients to the mainland as the island’s small hospital treated a four-fold increase in people with the disease since Christmas Day.
The Isle of Wight had considered itself a Covid success story before December, managing to keep the virus mostly at bay. It spearheaded a trial of the government’s contact-tracing app. “Where the Isle of Wight leads, the rest of Britain will follow,” declared Matt Hancock, the health secretary, at the time.
That all changed last month. The lifting of the national lockdown in December left the island one of only three places in England in the lowest level of restrictions.
It meant islanders could meet in groups of up to six, hotels were open and pubs were allowed to serve alcohol without food. Yet Portsmouth, only a 45-minute ferry trip away, and one of the first places to see significant transmission of the highly-contagious new Covid variant, was in the strictest tier 4 restrictions, alongside London.

Yep, should never have been left in tier 1, went to tier 3 for christmas, and then tier 4 straight after.

I do wonder how many people came over from Portsmouth, I suspect quite a few. Combined with too lax an attitude here, and bang, we're fucked. Single hospital and ludicrous number of old people. Not a good combo.

[Fangle]

Some of the nurses had a worse reaction to the second jab of the vaccine and had to take a day off work.

[Openside]

Agree, a non event all round given the wider context and the world wide events taking place. Not worth the attention.

Disagree 100%. The police should have made a proper example and shot the stupid women in the face or something.

If there is a pandemic and 1000 people are dying each day, then it’s overdue this Government got serious.

It’s not a “non-event”, it’s 1 of thousands happening everywhere every day and it’s not going to stop Covid until stupid people wise up.

Shooting women in the face or something (not sure what the something is). Sounds about right in these times and PC Savage can take this advice going forward

I am not sure he was 100% joking

[Biffer]

More excess deaths in the UK in 2020 than in any year since World War II.

That’s adjusted for population size.

[Openside]

Tone deaf or not and regardless of what Derbyshire Police's opinion on it would be. It's all a bit of a side show.

People out on bike rides a little to far from their home isn't driving transmission.

Your poor attitude to the rules is driving transmission.

Farkin hell you are a bit of a Nazi

[Margin__Walker]

Here's a quick question out of interested..

Speaking to a lady that works for me in India today. She's just been diagnosed with covid and has no symptoms other than a loss of sense of taste/smell?

Doctors over there seem to be prescribing steroids for even mild cases like that. Is that actually effective in any way? What's the point?

[Tichtheid]

JM - fair enough reading her post carefully I think my statement was incorrect (she was referring to the abuse she was getting from the 'Rangers' twats on Twitter). Her post was asinine and offensive though (which is why she deleted and apologise for it).

It doesn't read to me that the reason she deleted the post was because it was "asinine and offensive", it reads more like those determined to take offense did so.

It's one of those times you delete or apologise whilst rolling your eyes, thinking, "FFS!"

It's not that difficult to see what her original post meant, the "pro-UK" first part implies anti-Scottish (independence), if it didn't it would be a non sequitur. If she'd said, "pro UK people", that would mean a different thing.

It was a bit of an easy tap in for those looking for it, though.


edit, Ha ha, I've just re-read it and she did write pro UK people, but with a different meaning, the way she wrote it means "people who are pro UK", as opposed to pro "UK people", anti Scottish people

I still don't think it's a stretch to see what she meant, ymmv

[Lobby]

Just seen that Ireland’s Christmas relaxation has had a devastating impact on its infection rates, and it now has the highest in the world

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ovid-surge



To put this into context, in December it had the lowest infection rate in Europe!

[robmatic]

More excess deaths in the UK in 2020 than in any year since World War II.

That’s adjusted for population size.

It's just the flu though

[Saint]

Here's a quick question out of interested..

Speaking to a lady that works for me in India today. She's just been diagnosed with covid and has no symptoms other than a loss of sense of taste/smell?

Doctors over there seem to be prescribing steroids for even mild cases like that. Is that actually effective in any way? What's the point?

That's against WHO guidance as tge risks from the steroids side effects (presumably dexamethasone in this case) exceed the risks from Covud

[frodder]

Tone deaf or not and regardless of what Derbyshire Police's opinion on it would be. It's all a bit of a side show.

People out on bike rides a little to far from their home isn't driving transmission.

Your poor attitude to the rules is driving transmission.

Farkin hell you are a bit of a Nazi

Leave it out I mean he was only suggesting shooting people in the face for breaking rules

[Saint]

Some of the nurses had a worse reaction to the second jab of the vaccine and had to take a day off work.

Interesting - don;t think we've seen anything like that in the UK yet (despite the new policy we now have over 400K people double vaccinated)

[Margin__Walker]

Here's a quick question out of interested..

Speaking to a lady that works for me in India today. She's just been diagnosed with covid and has no symptoms other than a loss of sense of taste/smell?

Doctors over there seem to be prescribing steroids for even mild cases like that. Is that actually effective in any way? What's the point?

That's against WHO guidance as tge risks from the steroids side effects (presumably dexamethasone in this case) exceed the risks from Covud

Yeah, just seems completely needless if the symptoms are so mild. Very odd.

[Openside]

Your poor attitude to the rules is driving transmission.

Farkin hell you are a bit of a Nazi

Leave it out I mean he was only suggesting shooting people in the face for breaking rules

Apologies, what was I thinkin?. I shall uppercut myself!!

[Fangle]

Some of the nurses had a worse reaction to the second jab of the vaccine and had to take a day off work.

Interesting - don;t think we've seen anything like that in the UK yet (despite the new policy we now have over 400K people double vaccinated)

Most of the nurses have been fine. Only a couple needed a day off.

[Guy Smiley]

Your poor attitude to the rules is driving transmission.

Farkin hell you are a bit of a Nazi

Leave it out I mean he was only suggesting shooting people in the face for breaking rules

Skipping the jocular extremes here, what do you think drives transmission?

How do you guys imagine you stop the spread of this virus?

[Sandstorm]

Some of the nurses had a worse reaction to the second jab of the vaccine and had to take a day off work.

Interesting - don;t think we've seen anything like that in the UK yet (despite the new policy we now have over 400K people double vaccinated)

Most of the nurses have been fine. Only a couple needed a day off.

I heard on Facebook that lots of nurses died. Forcing them to get this vaccine is obscene and anti-freedom.

[Fangle]

Interesting - don;t think we've seen anything like that in the UK yet (despite the new policy we now have over 400K people double vaccinated)

Most of the nurses have been fine. Only a couple needed a day off.

I heard on Facebook that lots of nurses died. Forcing them to get this vaccine is obscene and anti-freedom.

Not forced! A nurse just told me she refused saying it was too new.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Tone deaf or not and regardless of what Derbyshire Police's opinion on it would be. It's all a bit of a side show.

People out on bike rides a little to far from their home isn't driving transmission.

A person out on a bike ride probably isn't. Lots of people leaving their houses to travel further will increase possible vectors of transmission and that would likely drive transmission. Which is why there's some attempt to tell people not to venture too far from him, and 7 miles to go for a bike ride is starting to look bad if nothing else, especially when it's the example from the top of the greasy pole. Though this climber of the greasy pole didn't have a problem with Dom heading to Barnard Castle and might just have a few entitlement issues himself