Covid - Plan B & Omicron

[Cheyne_brewer]

It’s time the politicians stopped trying to run the Covid show and let the medics take over. Boris and his posh chums have shown time and again what a set of two-faced liars they are. The medics only vested interest is keeping us safe, they don’t have votes to worry about. I’m sure far more people would respect leadership from the CMO than the PM and the Party People.

 

[Leon103]

It’s time the politicians stopped trying to run the Covid show and let the medics take over. Boris and his posh chums have shown time and again what a set of two-faced liars they are. The medics only vested interest is keeping us safe, they don’t have votes to worry about. I’m sure far more people would respect leadership from the CMO than the PM and the Party People.

But you have some many medics contradicting themselves.

These jobs aren't easy, the British public voted them in (although some French residents like to have a say ) let them get on with it. A lot of politicians lair, anyone remember Tony Blair?

 

[An Ankoù]

But you have some many medics contradicting themselves.

These jobs aren't easy, the British public voted them in (although some French residents like to have a say ) let them get on with it. A lot of politicians lair, anyone remember Tony Blair?

And so we resign ourselves to craap government. Our government, who we elect and vote. Who are responsible and answerable (supposedly) to the electorate. Who represent us to every country abroad. Our representatives are unprincipled, cheats and bounders who cannot be trusted to keep their bargains or show anything but contempt for their own people and "Johnny Foreigner" alike. These are also the characteristics of you and I because we show no objection to the way they represent us. Like it or not, that's the way the world sees us and it's true!
If you employed such people directly instead of indirectly, would you keep them on the payroll.
I live in France. I vote in UK elections. My constituency is my last UK address on the electoral register. With kids and grandkids in the UK, I certainly have an interest. With the benefit of the perspective brought by distance, I perhaps see some things a little more clearly than those at the centre of the fray.
But one thing is clear: you surely have the government you deserve.

The majority of MPs, even Tory MPs, are sincere and hardworking. The leadership is rotten to the core. Stop making excuses.

 

[Flat Foot]

"Medics" (by which I read in this context as scientists) "contradicting themselves" makes me think of Dara's line: "science knows it doesn't know everything, otherwise it would stop"

 

[Hoppopotamus]

We elect politicians to govern who are supposed to represent and SERVE (the interests of) the people.
We do not elect dictators empowered to do anything they want.
Hence you have the right to object to, protest against or campaign to change anything the government does or proposes to do . This is called a free society

As for politicians - if they are caught breaking rules - they should be barred from all public office for between 5 years (1 electoral cycle) and life - depending on the severity of the offense, with retrospective loss of pension benefits for the period they were found to be acting wrongly, and not just given a slap on the wrist and suspended on full pay for 28 days. They will of course never agree to this - but it would 'encourage' better behavior.

 

[Hop_it]

So, patience and reason: surely reason dictates that we take to our cudgels and pitchforks and give this lot a good seeing to, doesn't it? Patience- to be measured in further needless deaths.

So forgive me if I don't quite get your drift.

I'm really sorry but you will have to lead the uprising without me. I lent my pitchfork to another peasant in the village for the last harvest, and he hasn't returned it yet. And thanks to Brexit you can't get a decent German engineered hand carved cudgel for love nor money. I have however consulted with the village soothsayer and she advised that the most auspicious date for the march on No10 would be January 6th.

 

[An Ankoù]

I have however consulted with the village soothsayer and she advised that the most auspicious date for the march on No10 would be January 6th.

That would be something of an epiphany! I'll send you The Wise One's old rounders bat and an inflatable pewter tankard nicked from the Morris Men at the Wimborne Folk Festival and you can come and join us.

 

[Hop_it]

But one thing is clear: you surely have the government you deserve.

The majority of MPs, even Tory MPs, are sincere and hardworking. The leadership is rotten to the core. Stop making excuses.

I don't agree that we got the government we deserve, but we did get the government that the country voted for. Unfortunately a large proportion of the eligible voters were blinded by the euphoria of Brexit, and the painted on charisma of the man that engineered it. They chose to ignore all the lies that he told to achieve his goals because they got what they wanted. Also, a lot of voters were scared of, or at the very least had no confidence in the hard left opposition at that time. I am a firm believer in a strong and credible opposition whichever flavour government you have because it can help to put the brakes on when necessary.

 

[An Ankoù]

I don't agree that we got the government we deserve, but we did get the government that the country voted for. Unfortunately a large proportion of the eligible voters were blinded by the euphoria of Brexit, and the painted on charisma of the man that engineered it. They chose to ignore all the lies that he told to achieve his goals because they got what they wanted. Also, a lot of voters were scared of, or at the very least had no confidence in the hard left opposition at that time. I am a firm believer in a strong and credible opposition whichever flavour government you have because it can help to put the brakes on when necessary.

I agree, in principle, with what you say, but our present lot is only there now because of general apathy. We all have an MP. If enough of us made it clear to our representative in Parliament that things have got to change-now. Or they won't be representing us next time, then things would move. That's the way to do a proper uprising. But do people give a toss? "Well, there's nothing we can do about it, is there?" "Well, they're all the same, aren't they!" Yes, we can do something about it and they're not all the same. But we don't. That's why I say we have the government we deserve.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Daily Covid-19 cases in the UK have exceeded 100,000 for the first time, the latest government figures show.

The 106,122 cases tops the previous record for daily infections, when 93,045 were reported on 17 December.
On Tuesday, Boris Johnson said no new restrictions will be introduced in England before Christmas.
However, the prime minister refused to rule out introducing fresh measures after Christmas with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
There were 140 deaths reported within 28 days of a positive Covid test.
Wednesday's cases represent the highest daily reported number since mass testing began in May and June last year.
Infections have remained at record levels in recent days, with eight of the 10 highest daily totals for reported infections coming since 15 December.
People with Covid in England have had their self-isolation requirement reduced to one week from 10 days, if they can test negative on days six and seven.
At the same time, UK government vaccine advisers have recommended vulnerable children aged between five and 11 should be offered a low-dose Covid vaccine, as well as boosters for 12 to 17-year-olds.
A record number of boosters and third doses were reported on Tuesday, with more than 30.8 million delivered in the UK - 6.1 million of which were in the past week alone.
The other UK nations have already laid out plans for post-Christmas restrictions:

• In Wales groups of no more than six people will be allowed to meet in pubs, cinemas and restaurants from Boxing Day
• Limits to gathering sizes in Scotland from Boxing Day have seen the cancellation of Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations and other large events
• Nightclubs in Northern Ireland will have to close on 27 December, the BBC understands, with other restrictions awaiting approval from ministers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59758757

 

[Hop_it]

I agree, in principle, with what you say, but our present lot is only there now because of general apathy. We all have an MP. If enough of us made it clear to our representative in Parliament that things have got to change-now. Or they won't be representing us next time, then things would move. That's the way to do a proper uprising. But do people give a toss? "Well, there's nothing we can do about it, is there?" "Well, they're all the same, aren't they!" Yes, we can do something about it and they're not all the same. But we don't. That's why I say we have the government we deserve.

Yes, I can see what you are getting at, and in that respect I agree.

BTW - I've just arrived home from a do at the local Conservative Club, and they really know how to party there . . . . . . Practice makes perfect then

 

[johnny108]

Anyone here ever hear about the “Corrupted Blood” incident in Warcraft?

a fascinating look as to why Covid will never go away, and we had better accept that fact, and move past it.

 

[Brianbrewed]

Anyone here ever hear about the “Corrupted Blood” incident in Warcraft?

Never heard of it till now.
Fascinating.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

a fascinating look as to why Covid will never go away, and we had better accept that fact, and move past it.

They said from the start this will be like the flu it will never go away but if we keep getting vaccinated we will survive.

 

[Hop_it]

I came across this piece (see below) in the latest issue of "The Week". It's a news magazine where they republish edited comment and news features from around the world.

Johnson’s famed ability to bounce back from disaster has long amazed observers, said Patrick O’Flynn in the Daily Express. As David Cameron put it: “The thing about the greased piglet is that he manages to slip through other people’s hands where mere mortals fail.” But is the grease coming off the pig? Certainly something feels different this time, and the polls reflect that: Johnson’s approval ratings are “tanking” (see page 4). It’s the same story in Whitehall, said Camilla Cavendish in the FT. Ministers are “tired of having to cover up for his misjudgements” and evasions; and officials are “ground down by the chaos, implementing policies made on a whim”. The Plan B measures are typically incoherent, said Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian.

To be absolutely fair the remark by Cameron was made back in 2019 in reference to BoJo's handling of the EU exit agreement, but the article is current and refers to the situation today

 

[Chippy_Tea]

His ratings may be tanking as you put it but they don't have anyone that can replace him.

 

[AlBrew]

Corrupted Blood did go away, but that's probably because it wasn't a real virus undergoing evolutionary pressure with the ability to mutate.

It went away by being patched out existence, so all we need is team of software engineers to patch our bugs... or scientists patch our immune systems... oh wait

 

[johnny108]

Corrupted Blood did go away, but that's probably because it wasn't a real virus undergoing evolutionary pressure with the ability to mutate.

It went away by being patched out existence, so all we need is team of software engineers to patch our bugs... or scientists patch our immune systems... oh wait

Several complete server resets were also required…..

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Listening to 5 live today it would seem Omicron is very infectious as they said but people were ringing in saying they have had it and it wasn't much worse then a bad cold if this is the case and people are far less likely to end up in hospital if they get Omicron wouldn't hitting us with plan B straight away and not waiting to see how it effected us have been a knee jerk reaction?

You've got to be really careful with this kind of anecdote Chippy - because the kind of people who have a bad experience of omicron will be too busy dying in intensive care to be phoning in to the radio. And analysing the "baseline" severity of a new variant is really tough when there's so many other variables.

For instance, let's assume the vaccinated are less likely to be hospitalised than the unjabbed. If an old variant never infects the vaccinated whereas a new variant infects just as many unvaccinated but can also infect some of the vaccinated - then the new variant will appear to be causing fewer hospitalisations per case, even if it has equal "inherent" severity. But it will be infecting a lot more people, and the absolute number of hospitalisations will be higher. Which is what seems to be happening in London at the moment, see the chart below.

It's meaningless to focus on severity in isolation (as some headline writers have today) without considering transmissibility as well. If you have a doubling time of 4 days and a new variant that hospitalises at half the rate but is twice as transmissible as the old variant, then in four days time you will have as many hospitalisations from the "less severe" new variant, and in 8 days time you will have twice as many hospitalisations - and so on until it runs out of victims.

 

[Hop_it]

His ratings may be tanking as you put it but they don't have anyone that can replace him.

We can only hope that someone with integrity eventually crawls out of the swamp.