Westministenders: The Virus

[RedToothBrush]

Its like living in a Bad Disaster B Movie.

If you thought Brexit on your TV every day was Bad, The Virus is a whole new level.

The 5pm broadcast with Johnson and friends, and the public infomation video with the unblicking Chris Witty (who has such unfortunate mannerism he makes me think he's me a Dr Who alien akin to the Slitheen).

Who knows what will happen. Just that everything has changed and our entire economy is now on life support whilst we figure out how to deal with the crisis and what on earth our exit strategy is.

Johnson has however refused to join a joint EU purchase scheme designed to assist countries through the crisis.

Meanwhile the US is about to go nuts... so what does that do to a trade deal?

More money for the NHS? More hospitals?

Well its possible that might just happen...

[OhLookHeKickedTheBall]

Thanks red

[midwestspring]

Thanks Red.

[HoneysuckIejasmine]

Depressed pmk.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Thanks, red 💐

Yep, I miss just worrying about Brexit !

[ClashCityRocker]

Pmk. Thanks Red.

Are they backtracking on the EU ventilator thing now?

[OldLace]

Thanks, Red

[yoikes]

Thanks red

mrslaughlan I run a foodbank. I'm also involved with a charity called //www.acts435.org.uk

EVERY penny you give goes to the vulnerable person/family. It's totally run by volunteers and its set up was funded by a bequest.

You have to sign up to be a donor to the website. Huge choice of cases to give to.

HTH!

[yoloPenguinsEatfish]

Thanks RTB, if only we could have Brexit arguments back eh?

[yoikes]

(I feel I should point out It is a christian charity...in case thats an issue for you)

[ClashCityRocker]

What is rather worrying is how little idea some business owners have of their own affairs.

There's a lot of 'my accountant just does it' going around. Is the profession really that bad at communicating? Some people don't even know if they receive dividends or a salary, and it has come as a surprise that they're not self-employed.

[ListeningQuietly]

Rishi's scheme for the self employed is good
all else is pants

[prettybird]

At least the cats are relaxed (and yes, they're still hogging my blanket )

Even in my low density Victorian era (big stone villas) inner city suburb, there was a lot of noise at 8pm. My downstairs neighbours were quite moved (both GPs - one with the homeless and the other with drug addicts).

[RedToothBrush]

At least when we had Brexit, we could hug each other and go to the pub. Even if it was Wetherspoons.

Ahhh the good old days...

.... and now we really do get taste the 1950s nostalgia with rationing and food shortages

[DGRossetti]

pmk

[RedToothBrush]

Oh this just gets better...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52052694
Coronavirus: 'Mix-up' over EU ventilator scheme

The government says a communications mix-up meant it missed the deadline to join an EU scheme to get extra ventilators for the coronavirus crisis.

Ministers were earlier accused of putting Brexit before public health when Downing Street said the UK had decided to pursue its own scheme.

But No 10 now says officials did not get emails inviting the UK to join and it could join future schemes.

Labour is demanding to know why the government had changed its message.

The dog ate my homework too.

But earlier on Thursday, Downing Street said the UK would not be joining the scheme because "we are no longer members of the EU".

The spokesman added: “We are conducting our own work on ventilators and we’ve had a very strong response from business, and we’ve also procured ventilators from the private sector in the UK and from international manufacturers."

Mr Johnson's spokesman denied the decision was motivated by Brexit, adding: "This is an area where we’re making our own efforts.”

and

Downing Street has now issued a statement saying the UK had missed the deadline for the first round of procurements.

A UK government spokesperson said: "Owing to an initial communication problem, the UK did not receive an invitation in time to join in four joint procurements in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"As the (European) Commission has confirmed, we are eligible to participate in joint procurements during the transition period, following our departure from the EU earlier this year.

"As those four initial procurement schemes had already gone out to tender we were unable to take part in these, but we will consider participating in future procurement schemes on the basis of public health requirements at the time."

[QueenOfThorns]

PMK with cats in a less menacing moment than the last one

[pointythings]

I am just glad my little town seems to be solid on complying with the lockdown and that I'm sharing it with three of my favourite people.

I'm also actually very grateful that I'm working for the NHS. I'm working my arse off from home, ridiculous hours and intensity, not frontline but nevertheless keeping things going because all our services are being reconfigured to maximise what we can do for patients. Feeling useful really helps.

I am however furious about the ventilator fiasco. Of course it wasn't a 'mistake' - it was anti-EU ideology and utterly pathetic.

[Sostenueto]

Thanks red

Thing is I have been thinking about why the Gov. Decided bill was for two years though it can be changed in 6 months? Do they think Covid 19 will last that long? Or are they planning ahead for a no deal Brexit? Thing is if this crisis lasts till, say, September by then the country will be on its knees economically. Unemployment will be huge. Someone has to pay for all the bail outs ( we had a hint this afternoon saying that self employed taxes etc will have to be on a part with paye cos it won't be fair after he's just bailed them out.) And if course it will be the taxpayer. Then if we also end up with no deal this country will explode. To here will be many deaths besides Covid by that time, suicides, homelessness, inflation going through roof, starvation blah blah. So maybe the Gov. Foresee lots of civil unrest in the near future especially as everyone will be stir crazy by September! Or am I just too gloomy and pessimistic?🤔

[HauntedHats]

Pmk...lots of porkies coming out of No10 😡

[Sostenueto]

The figures for those who passed away yesterday were only for a 15 hour period as they have altered times of announcements and yesterday was the change over day hence low figure yesterday and high figure today. So not sure taking two days as average as technically one day was not 24 hours is a valid average.

[GeistohneGrenzen]

I just don't know what to say. But I agree with HauntedHats and feel I share her 😡 a thousand times over.

And thanks, Red... PMK

[BigChocFrenzy]

Sos re the original 2 years:

It will take 12-18 months until the vaccines has been fully tested and is available in sufficient quantities for mass vaccination

So they may have just added on 6 months to cope with any slippage, plus civil disorder ....

However, that's no reason why it can't be renewable every few months

You're right:
with an economic depression, facing millions unemployed etc they are probably very worried about civil disorder from 2021
Then there's Brexit ....

[BigChocFrenzy]

sos I posted this about death stats at the end of the last thread:

Digging into the UK statements, it may be that the 115+43 were not for a full 2 day period, but only for about 32 hours

158 deaths in 32 hours would be worse than we thought
Let's wait for tomorrow's figures though.

Even when they seem to vary the time intervals of bulletins at random,
enough data points on a curve will show the trend

[BigChocFrenzy]

Yep, red and I posted earlier that the UK could have had 5,000 ventilators and millions of PPE that a UK supplier had sourced from partners

• so no wait for them to be manufactured
  
  They waited 5 days, but noone got back to them, so they sold them to another country in need

[TheABC]

Remember, just before this crisis hit the Cabinet was pretty much at war with the Civil Service. It would not surprise me if they had missed the deadline because the staff note on the mechanics got filed into the "too toxic to touch" European pile. Judging by some of the other stuff coming out (e.g. tendering delays on ventilation equipment), I suspect a lot of people are running around like headless chickens.

Methinks there will be an extension, purely because Johnson has to keep the food coming in. This pandemic has displayed the vulnerability of the just-in-time system and the supermarket chiefs will be using a megaphone and ruler to explain why we need a frictionless border for goods.