Westminstenders: Following the EU lead

[RedToothBrush]

Coronavirus poses a particularly Irish shaped question. How the UK responds to Irish plans for ending lockdown and whether Arlene continues to back an all Ireland plan will be fascinating to watch and see justified regardless of which way we go.

The UK for all its new found independence is looking very closely to the success / failure of EU strategies before making our own plan public. Mainly because we've yet to write one.

Johnson hasn't led much. He's delegated. Yet he gets all the praise for doing the sum total of fuck all and never being the bad guy. There always another fall guy to blame.

Economically we are stuffed and promises of a very quick bounce back don't look likely based on public confidence and willingness to return to places like pubs restaurants and shops.

Our ability to adapt to new conditions at short notice has been tested and businesses can not afford to do this again soon.

This is the background to which we go into talks. Both sides need an extension to serve their best interests. Johnson is determined to cut our nose of to spite our face for the sake of his legacy and to keep those paying the back handers and dodging tax happy.

Much confusion over what we will get and when this week, or next:

Tom Newton-Dunn, direct line to 10DS, Brexit teachers pet, on R4 last night, said we would get the lockdown extension on Thursday then the announcement of the path to 'unlockdown,' as BJ calls it, says TND, direct line etc, will be announced on Sunday, which is next week not this, so promise broken. TND, direct line etc, says HMG don't want to 'confuse' us by announcing unlockdown measures before lockdown extension, silly children that we are.

But wait, what's this? It's Defence Sec. Ben Wallace, a rare grown-up in this govt, who says on Sky this morning that the unlockdown mesures will be announced before lockdown extension is voted through parlt on Thursday.

So looks like there is a divide between those who wish to govern by governing, and those who want to carry on campaigning: Three Word Slogans. Repeat The Slogan. Remember The Slogan. Etc.

Did anyone else know the govt are trialling the app in Isle of Wight shortly? news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-another-327-people-die-in-hospitals-in-england-with-covid-19-11982539. On a very basic level, have they not twigged that elderly generally don't have a mobile phone? Or I suppose they are just the sitting ducks at the end of the chain, rather than potential vectors? How can only 50/60% of people using it work? It will just be a biased group of worried well, not those taking risks.

The whole app idea is another white elephant. Our city has major network blackspots - some shops have to have staff stand outside waving card machines in the air to get a signal!

I'm sure they are trying to emulate Asia but the govt's lack of investment in infrastructure is coming to bite them on the bum. Again their "don't trust the experts" has groups burning 5G masts instead.

But we can't really bring, for example, four 3 by 2 foot crates of client papers which we'd be working on in the office, home. We also need access to scanners that can cope with 100 plus pages, photocopiers, printers.

Surely if there is a need, then capitalism will provide ? Nothing is ever set in stone.

There was already a thriving market in meeting rooms and professional spaces for conferences at short notice across the country.

Surely this is the much vaunted "flexibility" that the UKs commercial environment has been sold around the world as one of the reasons to invest here ? Or was that a load of old cobblers too ?

Soooo the magic 100,000 tests proved to be including 40,000 that were posted but had not been processed. Yet another lie for political gain. How do these MPs and Ministers sleep at night when they know they are feeding Joe blog nothing but lies and rhetoric? I am so disallusioned with the Human race I really am!

Soooo the magic 100,000 tests proved to be including 40,000 that were posted but had not been processed.

Just wait for them to double-count them when they are returned and processed which they hope no one will notice

I've had a lovely email about the PHI role confirming "your credentials seem directly relevant" . Unfortunately it isn't classed as a keyworker role (!) so I would need to beg the school to have her - are they allowed to use personal discretion? But he said this might change if we are asked to do community testing - generally he seems as vague on whether that will happen as the rest of us. So, exciting but also maybe impossible. I will do some more probing of the school and see. Interview isn't until the end of the month so I think it will all have to be quite fluid.
I'm nervous about not having worked since graduation and taking on full time work quite far from home (breakfast and after school clubs will be required) but the idea of working in the area I honestly had given up hope of working in is very exciting!

The officially supported advice says:

Ensure that your Bluetooth is switched off when you do not need to use it.
If you do use Bluetooth, make sure that your devices are not left ‘discoverable’.
Do not pair devices in public in case someone is scanning you while you create the connection.
If possible, restrict access to known, paired devices.
Do not accept files transmitted via Bluetooth from unknown or suspicious sources.

www.getsafeonline.org/smartphones-tablets/public-places/

Aside from all that, this app is going to pick up people inside buildings through walls and floors and people passing in cars. And they expect it to reach more people in a couple of weeks than the likes of WhatsApp or Instragram manage in years.

In 20 years of working in IT with mobile devices, I would never use bluetooth for anything non trivial. It just isn't that reliable. Like a lot of modern tech, really ...

Found you!
Goes back to read :)

My phone Bluetooth seems to bugger up our central heating system....

My phone Bluetooth seems to bugger up our central heating system....

It works ... 90-95% of the time. Enough to be useful, but not enough to trust.

Simple example was using a bluetooth phone as sat nav through the cars stereo once. Just dropped the connection. Instant loss of directions and no way to safely (or legally) re-pair when doing 70.

Or last Saturday, when the podcast just stopped playing because the bluetooth dropped. Different phone, software and car.

On an individual basis, we can equate 95% with 100% and put up with it. But as you start to multiply those pairings, that 5% unreliability will stack up to millions of problems. And given we have no idea how the "app" is going to deal with such issues it's fair to extrapolate we have no idea how useful (if at all) any data would be.

That's assuming the "app" is aware of any data loss at all.

Some Good News in the gloom.

My former MP, the mad anti-abortion, climate-change denying wind-turbine hating loon Conor Burns has had to resign from the govt. for theatening someone over a business dispute.

news.sky.com/story/conor-burns-resigns-as-minister-after-trying-to-intimidate-person-in-money-row-11982866

Matt Hancocks vaunted success of reaching his testing target was given very complimentary coverage in The Times editorial on saturday. They certainly weren't fussed that a large proportion was achieved by postal sleight of hand.
Which did surprise me.

Meanwhile... more very unreliable stats, since only patients had access to their test results.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/rapid-coronavirus-test-site-data-was-not-shared-with-scottish-and-welsh-ministers

Everything I have read about the use of apps in China and Taiwan, have involved huge human intervention as well. So the app used alongside people putting a huge amount of work in.

Who would have thought this government wouldn't research something properly eh?

On another note - 4 phones in our house. None will be downloading the app as they are all linked. From what we are reading about the app there are just too many chances of confidential info being harvested.... both personal and commercial (DH work). DH is planning on raising at next partners meetings - placing a ban on it being downloaded to company devices. - so that would be everyone in their office.

So there sneaky way of trying to access data - may backfire on them........ with not enough people downloading. It

Former Chief Scientific Advisor on Sky saying this is like BSE all over again, with politicians telling the scientists what Science they would like to hear and then refusing to make any of it public.

Expect to see young Wilf getting taken to a restaurant to be force-fed.

Congratulations, @JeSuisPoulet!

Good luck with the interview and keep your fingers crossed on the breakfast clubs.

Jennie Formby standing down as General Secretary of the Labour Party. Good news for Keir.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/04/uk-trade-minister-conor-burns-resigns-over-loan-threats

A close ally of Boris Johnson has resigned as a trade minister after being found to have used his position to try to intimidate a member of the public.

If the app simply counts contacts (different Bluetooth signatures) and after a nominal count says "you may have been infected, please self isolate" it would probably be as effective as any more sophisticated approach.

The 'nominal' value could be retrieved from a central (read only) site each day, allowing the value to be fine tuned by analytics.
if course it wouldnt work if 'we' knew that's what it was doing :)

on labour...

Well I like Starmer but I feel extremely disillusioned about Labour and have cancelled my membership etc. I mean I think a lot of people have, esp young/ BAME.
I'll still vote for them I guess. I like my local MP.
I have no interest in badmouthing individuals, the infighting is awful, I just feel kicked out of the party and disillusioned. I definitely don't have any motivation to help with campaigning or anything again. I understand with the mood in the country that they can't be seen to be supporting the NHS over the tories, but theircurrent lack of opposition does feel very much like a kick in the teeth.
I hope it's a long game and will work etc.
Feels like only Piers Morgan (!) is sticking up for us...
Seems the Tories can carry on culling the population with austerity or inabilityto manage crises and if that can't drop their popularity... can anything? I think Johnson could punch the queen live on TV.

Jennie Formby standing down as General Secretary of the Labour Party. Good news for Keir.
Good news for all of us as it speeds up the chance of an effective opposition

I'm interested in this Independent SAGE group that has been set up.

Presumably they will be called "left wing activists" too!

(Isn't it weird how hard it is to find right wing doctors and nurses and scientists for "balance"? )

Can assure you all I will not be downloading government app. I follow all criteria of lockdown and I will continue to do that even if others are out and about because I will decide whether it is safe for me to go out. While the lockdown is in place I will follow guidelines, when it is not, being I'm in possession of a brain, I will decide where and when I am safe. I don't need anyone to know where or what I am doing especially this POXY Government.

Labour have to be so careful squid because any whiff of openly trying to politicise Covid from the labour party will scupper them in the future. And any criticism ( although labour are trying hard to hold the government to account) of the Tories by labour is being reported as scoring political points by the press et Al.