Westminstenders: No pubs till Christmas?

[RedToothBrush]

Today the news has moved towards acknowledging covid-19 reality: Nicola Sturgeon has explicitly stated that some social distancing will carry on until the new year in all likelihood.

When Matt Hancock asked if this was true for England too, he refused to say yes but he said that Scotland was working from the same framework as England.

In case anyone does still need this spelling out, this means the outlook for the hospitality and leisure industries is bleak.

There are extremely unlikely to be many enjoying a holiday in the sun any time soon, whether it be in Devon or Spain.

We won't be celebrating birthdays in restaurants nor having a pint in the pub.

Conversations on the doorstep from a couple of metres away is as good as it gets.

That means if you can't adapt you may not survive.

To add into the mix changes to customs to those companies who are operating seems insanity. But that's a political not a scientific decision to be made.

Whether reality in this will kick in, in the next six weeks or so before EU budgetary decisions relating to an extension have to be made remains to be seen.

Until then, there is no news but covid-19.

God, maybe it'll be Nadine Dorries.

Maybe Rees-Mogg now we're having a plague. He could announce a system of carts to visit care homes ringing a big bell and calling, Bring Out Your Dead....

The blame game part 2 metro.co.uk/2020/04/22/army-appalled-way-nhs-handled-ppe-crisis-want-take-12593372/?ito=article.desktop.share.top.facebook&fbclid=IwAR3yh21kP73y9lbOXf4e24GbUQWGHI2qsOKY6uQSyyB-SJGyH0-a2z7HNz4

"daggy lumps on the sheep's arse"

mockers you have perfectly summed up Grant Shapps.

I knew there would be nothing important to hear, or they wouldn't have let him out to say it

Britain running down the clock in Brexit talks, says Michel Barnier

What is baffling is why
BJ may be staying away so he can claim later he wasn't there when it was done

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/apr/24/britain-running-down-the-clock-in-brexit-talks-says-michel-barnier-eu

Why?

Because the Cap'n's in his hammock and the cabin boy Cummings has hold of the wheel.

Hasn't Hancock been informed of British policy on playing well with other for a vaccine ?

The amount the UK govt donated here is far larger than the Oxford vaccine amount,
for which he said the public "needed to get it's money's worth"

Trump the Dump was too busy injecting himself with bleach to attend

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/us-stays-away-as-world-leaders-agree-action-on-covid-19-vaccine

Global leaders have pledged to accelerate cooperation on a coronavirus vaccine and to share research, treatment and medicines across the globe.

But the United States did not take part in the World Health Organization initiative, in a sign of Donald Trump’s increasing isolation on the global stage.
....
Britain has been one of the biggest supporters of the global effort to find a coronavirus vaccine,
providing £250m for international research on the disease at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

I read "the cabin boy Cummings has hold of" and started to get worried

After so long in Germany, I expect the important verbs to be at the end of sentences now

Probably not a surprise but creepy as fuck.

Revealed: Cummings is on secret scientific advisory group for Covid-19

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/revealed-dominic-cummings-on-secret-scientific-advisory-group-for-covid-19?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet

This bit

"A source in Downing Street said that in March Cummings was playing a commanding role in responding to the Covid-19 outbreak. Cummings is understood to be close to Warner, whose brother, Marc, runs Faculty, an artificial intelligence company that the Guardian revealed is involved in an “unprecedented” data-mining operation that is part of the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

An accomplished data scientist, Ben Warner previously worked at his brother’s AI company, which has teamed up with with Palantir, the US data firm founded by the rightwing billionaire Peter Thiel, to consolidate UK government databases to help ministers respond to the pandemic."

^Government IT project having teething troubles Coronavirus: Test website closes after 'significant demand'*

After I heard Matt Hancock say on Today this morning that they were still writing the code yesterday, I’m amazed it didn’t crash. (Or perhaps it did. )

Just read that Swedish. Of course he fucking is. That’s why they didn’t want us to know. And Ben Warner.

The medics who criticised the early government approach to covid, saying the agenda was dominated by data modelling rather than medical science. That must be why.

Hancock on C4 at the moment having a car crash interview. The website did not crash. The high demand for tests proves what a great success it all is. One hundred dead medics is 'a tragedy.'

Totally useless, but he's got a little rainbow NHS badge so that shows he cares.

Did everyone just see that C4 news is reporting that they have had a leak that Cummings and a data analyst from the leave campaign are sitting on sage.....

Fucking furious but not surprised

Sorry!!!! Already posted

Do you think Whitty has finally realised who is going to be blamed here?

On Friday, England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, appeared to signal a change in direction, saying the public had a right to know who sat on Sage. He told a Commons science select committee that while it was important to consider security concerns, there was “absolutely no barrier” from him or Vallance. Asked if in the current climate revealing the names of who was on the group would boost public confidence in the scientific advice being given, Whitty replied: “Yes.”

Covid-19 ventilators are 'no longer required' Dyson ventilators not required

Meanwhile the Ventilator Challenge UK worked with existing manufacturers to help them scale up successfully. Existing manufacturers already had products with regulatory approval, unlike Dyson.

The CPAP machines with added oxygen are a MUCH cooler idea
that will become the norm for many situations

just hope that Dyson was not paid for his speculation

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/coronavirus-sparks-perfect-storm-of-state-led-disinformation

The coronavirus crisis has sparked a “perfect storm” of global online disinformation, cyber-espionage and disruption,
involving up to a dozen states but most prominently Russia and China, experts have warned.

In the midst of a pandemic that has killed tens of thousands of people, analysts have witnessed a sharp rise in deliberate misinformation campaigns on social media,
which have occurred in parallel with attempts to hack international organisations at the forefront of the coronavirus response.
......
A report published by the EU on Friday accused Russia and China of targeting European citizens, including Britons, during the pandemic, and provided a range of examples.
....
EU officials cited the fact that a third of UK citizens believe that vodka can be used as hand sanitiser as an example of the effectiveness of the disinformation.

Conspiracy theories about 5G telecommunication masts facilitating the spread of Covid-19 were also being boosted by actors seeking to promote false narratives, the report said.

“In the period covered by this report, it was confirmed that pro-Kremlin sources and Russian state media continue running a coordinated campaign with the twofold aim of undermining the EUand its crisis response,
and to sow confusion about the origins and health implications of Covid-19/coronavirus”, the report said.

The WHO and its director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have been among the main targets for digital attacks
since the outbreak began.

Asked if in the current climate revealing the names of who was on the group would boost public confidence in the scientific advice being given, Whitty replied: “Yes.”

Yet we just found out Cummings was on it! Are we sure Whitty hasn't had some sort of lobotomy? It makes him look compliant in the idea they are good people to get advice from, not a whistleblower

I heard a shocking tale on the news today, that if we test more then our figures will go up, but people should not worry! It is only because we are testing more that the figures go up - phew! We might have mistakenly thought we had some pretty scary figures on our hands there!

Britain running down the clock in Brexit talks, says Michel Barnier
What is baffling is why

Easy peasy. "Nasty EU won't co-operate with us, won't give us a deal."

Ben Warner? I used to know someone with that name who was a computer whizz. He was the sort of young man who didn't question, so could easily get caught up with dodgy characters (e.g. Cummings).

Je suis DH was watching a little of BBC news and they were talking about how it is all fine because we still have ICU capacity- so it's nowhere as bad as it could be. There was so much wrong with the discussion over the numbers relating to this , that were just regurgitated from the government, without questioning statements ........ Misinformation just repeated - why they bother paying reporters I have no idea.

Phew, I don't think it's the same Ben Warner, because the one I knew was quite likeable, if very naive.

So it's fine we have ICU capacity. Meanwhile people needing cancer tests are being put off. People waiting for hip and knee ops have had them delayed yet again. I don't think it's fine at all. A competent government would have known that there was a balance to be struck between dealing with the corona virus and other serious medical conditions.