Westminstenders: A test of logistic planning

[RedToothBrush]

We are witnessing a demonstration in Government crisis management.

For the past week journalists have asked the same questions and politicians have said they've already done it / are doing it in the near future. But as time wears on, the inability to produce the answers or demonstrate results is proving illusive.

This will have consequences.

It is a demonstration in how planning has proved to be lacking in certain areas.

With Brexit in mind, the lack of vision, coordination with business and wider capability and capacity this does not bode well.

Gates is one of the tiny handful or people per generation with that intellect and foresight,
that "Vision" over the next decade or two, instead of at most to the the next election

He created a completely new field, which made him his billions,
rather than those billionaires who inherited most of it, bought & asset-stripped companies, or manipulated sometimes imaginary money

Of course, he ws a ruthless bastard too when building his empire,
but a highly competent one

We have the disadvantage of ruthless politicians who are unfortunately highly INcompetent

Longleat Safari Park owner Lord Bath (87) dies after contracting COVID-19

He seemed a loveable old eccentric in Animal Park

Who remembers when Gates was Big Brother personified and nice Jobs was all fluffy and the hippies' friend.

Didn't turn out that way, did it?

Who remembers when Gates was Big Brother personified and nice Jobs was all fluffy and the hippies' friend.

Apple were always better at branding and image pr.

Gates was never fluffy and never will be
Highly competent visionary who maybe saves us - can still be a ruthless SOB

Running his section of the "COVID Manhattan" requires some ruthlessness, including about money - his own / his Foundation's

Sweden prepares for possible tighter coronavirus measures as deaths rise

Looks to be problems in cities - already treatment rationed by age - and care homes,
but not out in the very sparsely populated rural areas

This is a centre-left govt, so policies and choices are sometimes cultural and specific to the country,
rather than a universal left-right divide

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/sweden-prepares-to-tighten-coronavirus-measures-as-death-toll-climbs

Country, which has taken soft approach, has death rate higher than Nordic neighbours
.....
“But in Stockholm it is fast becoming critical,” Hanson said.

“There is a real risk now that cases will rise so high that the hospitals cannot cope.
Treatment choices are already having to be made by biological age.”

Just seen a tv interview with a doctor in Senegal. They have 50 ventilators for the whole country.

BBC had a bit about refugee camps in myanmar earlier. I think they said they had 1 ventilator.

Gates is one of the tiny handful or people per generation with that intellect and foresight, that "Vision" over the next decade or two, instead of at most to the the next election

Not really. Just Right Time, Right Place. There's a whole alternative tech history had Gates not ripped off CP/M got the IBM PC-DOS gig and hobbled personal computing in it's early days.

It pains me - especially as he is such a bellend - but Sinclair was far more of an innovator (well, he hired more innovative people). I'm still wowed by how Texas Instruments couldn't understand how he got the chip they made to run off a battery (and thus create the worlds first true pocket calculator ...).

Although as a superhero ol' Clive-eyes was a bit naff, as his nemesis was a nylon carpet ...

But we are where we are ...

BBC had a bit about refugee camps in myanmar earlier. I think they said they had 1 ventilator.

and it's his day off ...

Sinclair's C4 was frightening
I remember even he wouldn't demonstrate it in traffic !

An example of a brilliant innovator, but not very practical

OOPS, C5

• but shows the danger I felt it had !

The whole vaccine thing is a red herring.
Human Coronavirus circulates every winter - it mutates - it kills people - its never had a vaccine - SARS and MERS had passed through before vaccines came in ....
coronaviruses are short lived
waiting for a vaccine is just silly
ps human coronavirus is otherwise known as a standard cold

Gates gets things done

Somewhere there may be a totally innovative vaccine that never gets to market, because Gates got there "firstest with the mostest" instead of in 5 years time

We know the cold is a coronavirus
There is a whole family of coronaviruses of varying degrees of danger / infectiousness

But sorry, listening the rest of your post is bollocks

CV is not going away for a long time yet
There will be - barring some unknown scientific roadblock - a vaccine,
which is generally expected to confer protection for at least a couple of years

Viruses usually mutate over the years to become less virulent
Eventually CV will probably just become a standard vaccination that people get every 3 years or so

Bigchoc
My post was based on what I read in new Scientist this morning
and the Economist ....
Malaria kills 400,000 people a year but less than $6bn a year is allocated to it.

Various viruses including the prolific cold / flu virues do not have vaccines because they mutate too fast

SARS and MERS were not stopped by vaccines, they were stopped by time
Covid will be the same

PS
one of my good friends (many miles away) has what would appear to be Covid at the moment.
He describes it as
being hit on the back of the head with a book every time you try to do anything including stand up

Its clearly a bastard disease
but much as I love the miracles of modern medicine, I think father time holds the cards

So what's with the annual flu vaccine then if flu vaccines don't exist?

Aren’t flu vaccines tailored to what variety of flu they think will be circulating over the following flu season?

Flu is a best guess. Colds - zilch

Just wait till Malaria returns to rich countries ....

SARS and MERS did not spread very much, just a few thousand cases
They were not as infectious, even though - possibly BECAUSE - they were more deadly

COVID will be stopped in time - because we will have a vaccine and anti-virals to treat it
Ignoring a crisis does not solve a crisis

Are you claiming that because people in developing countries die of malaria,
therefore people in Europe and the USA should accept dying of COVID ?

That argument could be used to stop all benefits, because millions die in Africa of starvation,
so why grumble if a million or so starve to death in the UK

Don't worry, we will restart the economy again, but relaxation of measures will hopefully be evidence-based

Flu is based on the strain circulating that year - it's very unusual for a particular vaccine not to work one year - hardly best guess. And certainly a mile away from 'flu viruses do not have vaccines'. Colds are very mild and strains mutate very quickly, no point investing money in that one!

Colds have a zillion strains and mutate constantly
Also, they just aren't serious enough for a Manhattan-type project to cure them

Fortunately, CV doesn't mutate as much and scientists think that immunity or vaccination should cover all strains,
more so than flu

We will see how effective the vaccine is - or the various vaccines - there are likely to be several coming onto the market

Looking at Hancock's latest pronouncements, the UK may yet crash out of lockdown because govt "advice" is getting too silly
And disablist and ageist

Apparently now if someone goes for their "allowed" walk of 30 - 60 minutes
people are not supposed to use 30 minutes of that time to sit down and enjoy the sun, get in some Vit D

Completely different advice to here, where the police would move on groups of lads sunbathing together,
but leave people sitting on benches alone

This is because in Germny Vit D is thought to be beneficial and that the virus does not do as well under UV

Of course this "advice", now being proclaimed by the MN mc too, doesn't sound nearly so reasonable to someone in a tower block and no garden,
as it does in the leafy suburbs with gardens

As always, govt policy - of all parties - is made by people of privilege
I'm glad Rayner is objecting - she is one of the few who know how the bottom 10% live

This is because in Germny Vit D is thought to be beneficial

Vitamin D is recognised to be a preventative for respiratory tract infections.

www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.i6583