Westministenders: Crisis, which crisis ?

[BigChocFrenzy]

Main crises facing the government:

. Negotiating a Brexit deal with the EU
. Coronoavirus
. Floods
. Allegations of some ministers - and Cummings - bullying civil servants
. More trouble threatened from Turkey / Syria

Unfortunately with all these parallel crises, we have a workshy lying arse as PM
and the worst collection yet of incompetents in Cabinet
who seem to have decided on a strategy of bullying their civil servants to avoid hearing any facts that don't fit with current Tory party ideology

Those sort of numbers quickly overwhelm a healthcare system unless you take drastic steps (temporary hospitals, as in Wuhan) or you ration care.

They will have to ration care because the system is already overwhelmed WO a pandemy.
Asking retired nurses/doctors to come back won’t create beds.
And I can’t see the UK building a new hosp in 10 days either (and equip it with the relevant machines etc...)
Also worth noting that they used Chinese herbal medicine in China. Much cheaper and requiring different skills sets. So far results seem to have been positive but it won’t be used here.

Just thinking about past flu epidemics. The unusual thing about the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak (which killed more world wide than WWI) heavily affected the younger and previously fit and health in the population.

Bad editing in my previous post:

The unusual thing was that it heavily affected

This is why I trust the Public Health England information
www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/04/prof-chris-whitty-the-expert-we-need-in-the-coronavirus-crisis

Its also why I do think that we could do with certain politicians (yes, you Gove) admitting that experts and scientists are the people to listen to
and allowing THEM to take centre stage

that way the politicians can get on with dealing with their own clusterfuck (Brexit)
and just follow the advice they are given on Covid

So BJ is the hippo of politics. Dangerous because random (sorry, a bit behind on the thread).

LQ - I don't question that he is good.
But the whole policy is around trying to prevent panic , and to slow its evolution into a pandemic in the UK - in the hope that - Covid - like other viruses will loose some of its virility as it's warms up. Also if they slow the spread it's less pressure on an already overstretched NHS. This is basically what he said on R4 the other morning.

Meanwhile, the dear leader our dear leader seems to be trying to emulate:-

Programmes like The Day to Day and sites like The Onion are now officially obsolete.

We've seen international trade fairs cancelled - the Geneva Motor Show was a biggie
Crufts may be the only European international show remaining

Entertainment industry likely to be hit for at least the next few months,
also restaurants & cafes, hotels - AirBnB ? - airlines, hairdressers, nails, clothes, cinemas .....

Bond movie No Time to Die pushed back to November

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/04/james-bond-no-time-to-die-november

The move comes after fears that the coronavirus could impact the global box office by as much as $5bn.

How profit makes the fight for a coronavirus vaccine harder

This is what happens when punlic health is left to the mercy of market forces

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/04/market-coronavirus-vaccine-us-health-virus-pharmaceutical-business

There is no way to easily apply their slow-burn research and profit model to an epidemic.
....
“Had we not set the Sars vaccine research programme aside, we would have had a lot more of this foundational work that we could apply to this new, closely related virus.”

Clinical trials take nearly a year at minimum, but sustaining basic research on viruses known to have epidemic potential means when a novel variant pops up, we’re not starting from zero each time.

The current setup is often the worst of both worlds
– too slow to pick up research on new threats because the money isn’t there,
and too quick to drop it if it can’t be sure the money will be there in the future.

It’s a highly market-dependent system, and the market usually fails us.

Peter Piot, head of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, previously declared
the entire research and development system “not fit for purpose” for epidemics.

BCF They'd make more if they released it straight to a PPV/box-office channel, especially if people are "trapped" in self-isolation.

Puss - That’s exactly what happened in China at the lunar new year.

theconversation.com/chinese-movie-studio-upturned-its-business-model-due-to-coronavirus-western-companies-take-note-131167

What’s astonishing is that the deal was concluded within 24 hours. There are fears it has permanently shifted the business model.

boatyard - that's very interesting, especially the speed of the deal!
The last film I watched at a cinema was the original Bridget Jones Diary

Dark Waters is a good watch. I think Trump has dismantled the EPA though.

Just had a work conference cancelled today - global company. I am quite relieved, as DH immunosuppressed - oth that's income I've lost.

I suppose we should be grateful he hadn't got round to abolishing the CDC as well

.... but maybe Mike Pence will do that.
If Trump wins again, it could be President Pence afterwards

I’m glad to finally be able to both catch the wave and post a topical link on Westministenders. These threads usually move at the speed of light. I can now resume lurking. 😉

boatyard It was a very informative link

Clavinona
She does like the sound of her own voice:

Said a woman on a public forum...

Or...

Using her own voice instead of copying & pasting?

*The best way to prevent a disaster is to tackle it early.

Otherwise the measures necessary later will be far far tougher on everyone*

Like the 50 odd years of inaction on climate change? Or the last 30 years of faffing on social care?

The only consolation prize about the Coronovirus is that the WFH rule will bring emissions down temporarily and the public will see how fucking bad the care crisis has got when the NHS is turning away patients.

It really does feel like the Government has shrugged it's shoulders and washed it's hands of anything proactive.

I've been not keeping up with the thread. One of my dear friends worked in a management type job for Flybe. I feel so sorry for her as she was so pleased and nervous to get the job to enable her return to work after 5 years plus as a SAHP.

She says that since she started it was clear that the main reason why the company struggling and up for sale in 2018 was Brexit, The main thing affecting it was the directly Brexit related drop in the exchange rate. Flybe had most income in Sterling and many expenses in dollars so it was crippled since the Brexit pound falling .It had to make more and more just to cover costs. Competing with EasyJet didn't help either.

It just one of many examples how Cummings and all the Teflon ERG Tories now have a coronavirus gift horse. Any economic problems will now be exclusively attributed to the virus. Many businesses would have survived if it weren't for Brexit.

We all know the games played at Westminster and Covid19 is basically the trump games card, an economic get out of jail free card.

I see Beardy Boy is 'asking' Virgin Atlantic staff to take unpaid leave.

I expect they can live off their investments or sell their private islands to make ends meet.

Farmers not happy about proposed withdrawal of tax relief on red diesel. Surprise surprise.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fw0k