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...

Jenrick just now at the daily press briefing:

Seems we all misunderstood BJ when he said the tide would turn in twelve weeks. What he actually meant was that if we all acted within the next twelve wekks then the tide would at some unspecified point in the future begin to turn.

Why on earth we all thought he said that the tide would have turned after twelve weeks is a mystery.

(This is a variation on the theme of Blair's "early pledges," which were pledges that were made at an early stage, not pledges to do anything before anything else.)

Oh so even though Kings College hospital says figures of deaths are way higher than what they are experiencing that the figures today was due to the fact that there will be a lag in figures because they have to inform relatives first before publishing figures. So today's figures are actually those up to Saturday 5 pm not today's figures🤔😕

Again, some silly people are assuming that "Today's Figures" are the figures for today.

What silly people people are.

Oh so even though Kings College hospital says figures of deaths are way higher than what they are experiencing that the figures today was due to the fact that there will be a lag in figures because they have to inform relatives first before publishing figures.

No quite sure how much of a lag that would be ? Couple of minutes perhaps ? It's not as if they have to commission an episode of "Who Do You Think You Are ?" for every patient, is it ?

Figures are lower not higher that should read.

Don't need to insult me mockers I knew the figures would be lagged it's the government actually putting lower figures than the real figures as Kings College hospital said.

Not intended to insult anyone but HMG for its habitual disembling.

Call me a cynic, but I find myself questioning the usefulness of the government "briefing" if the headline is "All parts of the UK on emergency footing" ...

i imagine tomorrows headline could be "It snows in the Arctic", followed by Tuesdays insight "It's hot in the Sahara" ....

Ah, just checked, it's the BBC ... all explained then.

Regarding dear old BJ and his hero, I am reminded of June 1953:

Despite being partially paralysed down one side, he presided over a Cabinet meeting the next morning without anybody noticing his incapacity. Thereafter his condition deteriorated, and it was thought that he might not survive the weekend. Had Eden been fit, Churchill's premiership would most likely have been over. News of this was kept from the public and from Parliament, who were told that Churchill was suffering from exhaustion.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill#Stroke_and_resignation

...so the (WM) Government keeps on changing the time at which the UK figures are collated, so that it is more difficult to see a trend

Colour me surprised

Scottish figures are published at 2pm every day, by health board area www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/

Who remembers "Whoops Apocalypse" ?

prettybird that's because the carrier pigeons taking news to bereaved families travel faster in Scotland since it's windier there.

DG I've benn singing croaking the bit of the WA theme tune I can remember

Quality of excuse if slipping:

Anonymised data numbers do not need the prior notification of relatives

Interesting about veg harvesting. I wonder if national service being in recent memory (French people on their forties will have done it) makes a difference as to how willing da yoof are to get stuck in.

Thomas Schäfer, finance minister in the state of Hessen (where I live) has committed suicide - found dead on a railway track
He was reportedly very depressed and stressed about the CV crisis

www.hessenschau.de/politik/hessischer-finanzminister-thomas-schaefer-tot---offenbar-suizid,finanzminister-schaefer-tot-100.html

I wonder how many politicians round the world will do likewise, or suffer premature heart attacks etc

Responsibility must be horrendous, for those who actualy care

If we're conscripting veg pickers, as a Remain voter I am a conscientious objector and will volunteer as stretcher-bearer to carry the exhausted Brexiteers from the fields to the ambulances.

Wish they'd make it clear that the no of infected will continue to increase for at least another week if not two, and the number of deaths will rise for a further few weeks after that.
Currently reporting (and mn discussions) are tending to express surprise aka worry, when it should be emphasising we have to wait for infection rates to drop before we can begin to expect deaths to drop.

"If we're conscripting veg pickers,"

No, the farms are offering paid employment. (I know you're not being entirely serious! but we're discussing fruit on another thread if you're interested. No reason why it shouldn't be a paid job like any other,.)

When my gym is open it has a car wash
the car wash men are ex veg pickers
because they reckon that by 30 you can no longer pick veg
and they are Bulgarian and Hungarian so have lower expectations than Brits ....

The people out in the fields here picking fruit/veg and working on the grape harvest are very definitely not all under 30.
Maybe they have lower expectations...or fewer options. Car washes round these parts are all automatic.

Auld
France does not allow Zero hour contracts and forced gig economy
Bloody EU

In previous years, I use to cycle through the fields and pass by veg pickers (Germany)
They were a range of ages, but some were middle-aged and it was all "stoop" labour

Germany in recent years has been offering financial incentives to collar more pickers,
as German students will very rarely do any picking now

Italy seems to have flattened the curve, although at still too high a level

The daily increase in new cases has now been below 10% for a week, so can reasonably be called the current trend