Westminstenders: All bets are off

[RedToothBrush]

We are seeking an extension. Apparently. No prizes for guessing why.

There is no news but COVID news. And that's all there will be for a long time.

Enjoy your stockpile and your sunny uplands it brought.

Keep safe.

"Why is the £ doing so badly?

All countries are in the shit so why is the pound sinking?"

Not in our special British shit they aren't

Partly because the Uk is the only country facing disruption of its trade deals and JIT supply chains,
which will now be faced by businesses who have been hammered by COVID

Partly because the UK is also the only major country who started going the herd immunity route
and then the only country who then had to U-turn and follow the others - but very late

Extended transition should help the pound to some extent,
but everyone is waiting to see how COVID peaks, after the govt's cockup

That MN shop bot is astoundingly bad at identifying its target market.

It will be interesting to see how many detected cases at the peak

• I wonder if we'll ever know the actual number, at least of those who experienced symptoms

I've listened to Merkel's speech, calm and competent as always

and just listened to Varadkar's speech - absolutely brilliant, with Ireland reaching out to the world

As an antidote to BJ's inadequacy, watch an inspiring leader make the speech of his life:

pmk thanks Red and others. I was over at the covid thread for a while but my head was getting sore from banging it against the wall too often so have returned here. It does feel like all the adults have left the room now that Mark Carney has finally departed. Not like he'd have been useful about now.

pmk
Thanks Red et al

Hello 👋 - I’ve been lurking rather than posting of late. It’s not just the pound that’s taking a hit. My U.K. tracker funds are much further down at the moment than any of the others (Europe, US, Japan). The FTSE is also taking a battering. Hard to imagine that Brexit isn’t a factor.

Does anyone find themselves thinking “if only Covid19 had hit in 2018 - it would’ve killed Brexit and we’d never have left”?

*It will be interesting to see how many detected cases at the peak

• I wonder if we'll ever know the actual number, at least of those who experienced symptoms*

It will eventually become routine to do immunology screening, especially of key workers, in the way that it's relatively simple to get tested for HIV, HBV/HCV or EBV. I see these tests all the time in the lab reports I translate for our little medical translation business (my second job that I do in the evenings).

Once the peak passes, and tests are developed, I'd expect to see screening of healthcare workers at the very least. If immunity is lasting, people who have been exposed will be able to keep the healthcare system and businesses running during flare-ups.

Hi everyone, As always, thanks for the new thread RTB.
Yes, @OublietteBravo I’ve been thinking the same. It’s also very sobering to think about what would have happened over the last 3-4 years without the media ramping everything up and soap opera style politics reporting, especially by the BBC who are more trusted than, say, the Daily Mail.

Does current testing identify people that have had covid and recovered or is it just a straight yes you have it / no you don’t?

I’m sorry, did I actually read that!

People are agreeing that they would have wanted a virus which has so far killed around 3500 people across Europe including 100 in the UK to hit earlier because they prioritise averting a political outcome they didn’t like.

"Does current testing identify people that have had covid and recovered or is it just a straight yes you have it / no you don’t?"

The test is whether a person is infected

Various labs around the world are working on a test for checking antibodiies to find if someone has had it and is immune
(for however long immunity lasts)

louise I'd much rather have had a WTO Brexit and Farage as PM for 20 years than this plague

I put lives & prosperity way ahead of political or national beliefs
I thought Brexit would damage both, but obviously nowhere near what we are going to suffer in the next couple of years
The economic damage could take 10 years, even 20, to recover from

btw, Don't know if you read the end of the last thread,
but one of your fellow Brexiters was claiming how COVID was "good for the planet"
and she was rubbing the planet's feet in apparent glee

Farage as PM for 20 years.
There is hyperbole granted, but I honestly don't think I could stomach seeing him as PM for 20 years ....

However, I think pp were saying if we had to have a plague anyway, it would have been better a few years ago

I would say that if the govt hadn't been so obsessed with Brexit, they would probably have focused earlier on the Corona crisis
They were distracted, cba and too late to realise the danger

imo, Brexit was a big reason why so many on the right - politics, media, in rl, MN - kept minimising COVID and "it's just the flu"
The political divide was very stark on that
They didn't want anything to delay / prevent the hardest of Brexits - but it has also delayed UK response to the pandemic

Now, it looks like transition will be extended
and we'll have to go for the softest possible Brexit, or it'll kill off many businesses that will be seriously damaged by this crisis

Of course I'd still much rather WTO and Farage for life than plague - a no brainer

"but I honestly don't think I could stomach seeing him as PM for 20 years "

If I could wave my wand and take that as the alternative to this epidemic, I'd leap at the chance

Good to know. No, I actually hadn’t seen that, not been keeping up as much on here lately.

FWIW I actually think Johnson is doing better on this now than he was a few days ago. Not the sort of government programme he expected to be leading , I’m quite sure.

Does current testing identify people that have had covid and recovered or is it just a straight yes you have it / no you don’t?

It identifies people with a current infection. AFAIK there is not yet a widely available test for people who've had it and have recovered.

And the U.K. would have been in a better position to respond without Brexit. It's not unreasonable to wish that CV had hit before brexit, because what you are saying is that you would have preferred fewer people to die.

Johnson is doing better on this now than he was a few days ago

That bar is pretty low, though, TBH.

I watched Varadkar, as suggested by BCF, last night. Incomparable.

Next time someone posts that Italy gets far more flu deaths in a year,
this may help to explain why "only 3,000" in a few weeks can overload the system:
ambulances, hospitals, supply of coffins ....

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/19/generation-has-died-italian-province-struggles-bury-coronavirus-dead

“Yesterday, an 88-year-old man died...
He’d had a fever for a few days.
There was no way to call an ambulance because the line was always busy.

He died alone in his room.
The ambulance arrived an hour later.

....And since no coffins were available in Bergamo,
they left him on the bed and sealed his room to keep his relatives from entering until a coffin could be found.”
....
online footage comparing the newspaper’s obituary section on 9 February, when listings took up just one page,
to a copy dated 13 March, when 10 pages were needed to commemorate the dead.

Coursera are running a free online course about Covid 19. It is run by Imperial College London

www.coursera.org/learn/covid-19?utm_medium=email&utm_source=marketing&utm_campaign=tIo98GlqEeqd_xFKDENJkw

BCF that is so sad!
Thank you all, as always

PMK

The ranking of the pound is a tiny silver lining for me and dsis. We have been hanging fire getting my mum's inheritance (Euros) transferred to us (sterling). So far we have gained £14k each. Which covers the booked holidays I am going to lose this summer.

Apart from that we are worried about A levels. The girl I am fostering was due to take them. She doesn't want to go on predicted grades because she is flying above those atm since she has been living with me.