Westministenders: Don't forget to stockpile. Again.

[RedToothBrush]

The government is telling pharmacists and drug manufactures to stockpile drugs ahead of the end of transition on 31st December.

In the middle of a pandemic.

What could go wrong?

You can really see how much wider our peak is on those charts.

I was unsettled when watching fact checking of Trump's Axios car crash interview to see that they had the UK leading all the death rate graphs. I mean, I know it's bad, but I guess I'm desensitised to how bad.

"In the U.K. only 34% of staff have gone back to work"

That's an astonishingly low figure copared to the other 2 countries
Could it be that the Uk figure is only for those WOH ?

In Germany we are seeing some rise too, which we are told is mainly due to people meeting up too much, especially the younger ones and getting careless about SD

The outbreaks listed by the RKI (public health) don't show work as becoming more of a cause
The meat plants and logistics sites (DPD etc) were fully operational all the time
Then the usual outbreaks in care homes, nursing homes, churches and increasingly large family parties and whole block parties

Returning holidaymakers too are bringing back infections already

There is testing at the airports and self-isolation is mandatory,
with checking and v stiff penalties - fines and even jail - for leaving one's home unless it's on fire.

www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/05/uk-office-workers-slower-to-return-to-their-desk-after-covid

Seems that many more U.K. workers are WFH. London - highest in Europe.

But this data was mid July and May partly reflect U.K. entering lockdown later.

Alarming report about how the leftwing conspiracy nuts in the USA have switched to being rightwing anti-vaccine conspiracy nuts

Looks as if they want a fellow conspiracy sympathiser to vote for

Why the Gates hate by conspiracists around the world btw ? Love for malaria ?
There are many other billionaires who have done far worse things in business
He's even taken over from Soros - who is maybe too old now to be a convincing bogeyman

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/06/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-plandemic-moms

PMK.

Lots of crunchy lefty anti-vaxers where I live. Hence outbreaks of whooping cough in the high school. These people are university educated.

What is wrong with them..

As Pope said "a little learning is a dangerous thing" - people who are educated think they know better, even if their subject was not relevant. It is Dunning Kruger Effect and sometimes more dangerous if the person displaying it has HE as they can convince others. Then you get group psychology reinforcing behaviours... In USA some states do have bans on children who aren't vaccinated getting schooling, but from what I have seen this doesn't help the problem, merely drives it underground and the children get indoctrinated. Ergo we are possibly seeing the results of home schooling from several decades ago in these areas.

BCF re Persimmon, it's well known that an NHBC certificate isn't worth the ink on the very thin sheet of paper.
Once Approved Inspectors were allowed to oversee projects that used to be independently checked by Local Authority staff, standards were going to and did drop.

re: fire stopping - this is a year ago:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49312623

Tatiana - I think business is realising govt incompetence and keeping workers home (they've had the Brexit fiasco to show them how useless the govt is despite talking the talk) and are encouraged by increases in productivity and potential for lower outgoings on office space. We also are lucky in that, particularly in London, WiFi is available in most areas and people have technology in their homes. If I were Boris I'd be wanging on about internet connectivity for businesses support, but I guess he is scared of inflaming the 5G nutters and his own ERG who have scuppered the China deals which were security against US having complete access.

As far as I am concerned with Bill Gates - providing vaccines is only half a story. A lot of sub Saharan Countries and the Indian Sub continent could benefit enormously from clean drinking water and good effluent disposal and I don't see him doing anything to address those problems. No money for big pharma in it

Like quarantining the sick, it's not new knowledge - Bazalgette and London sewers spring to mind.

pussy when I was a legal sec we had countless problems with new builds; giant cracks next to staircases where one client could fit her hand (cracks very common, and not just from movement with the house "settling" but wide ones) issues with materials being substandard, insulation - my boss and I saw enough that I'd not buy one. Another thing we were keen on was making sure people did Environmental Searches, which seems to have fallen by the wayside now? I worked in Farnham which had areas of Radon from an old hospital. Of course a developer got permission to build on it. Their "in house" solicitors funnily enough never mentioned Environmental Searches (IIRC were around £15 at the time). People who can't see that housing in UK is a huge problem for health have little idea of the reality of new builds and greed.

I wouldn't touch a new build!
Lots and lots of them going up here...
My sister bought one "off plan" and its crap. The builders even sold off some of their plot to a neighbour!!!
Crappy finishes, no storage, poor insulation (the cheapest they can get away with) shoddy workmanship (wonky tiles, oven didnt work) and then grey water seeped up through their dining room floor!
All for £340k which was a lot of money 15 years ago.

@JeSuisPoulet

Tatiana - I think business is realising govt incompetence and keeping workers home (they've had the Brexit fiasco to show them how useless the govt is despite talking the talk) and are encouraged by increases in productivity and potential for lower outgoings on office space. We also are lucky in that, particularly in London, WiFi is available in most areas and people have technology in their homes. If I were Boris I'd be wanging on about internet connectivity for businesses support, but I guess he is scared of inflaming the 5G nutters and his own ERG who have scuppered the China deals which were security against US having complete access.

Absolutely. There hasn’t been the fall in productivity feared, and many businesses are gleeful at the thought of lower outgoings particularly in London where prices are so high. Most of my non-medic friends are currently WFH.

Having said that, conducting everything by Zoom is a pia.

I worked in Farnham which had areas of Radon from an old hospital.

I doubt radon issues in Farnham was from an old hospital, as areas of Farnham are located on Uranium bearing rock/soil and has a known radon problem (as does Guildford). Also bear in mind that up until the late 1980s, nobody in the UK had any real awareness of radon and building protection measures were unheard of.

You do still get environmental searches for buying residential properties, but it’s often an add on cost so not everyone commissions one.

A friend of mine bought a 5 bedroom new build from Linden a year ago.

For months they had French doors and a back door that couldn't lock because they were warped (her dh effected a temporary work around but that meant every time he did it she was effectively locked in). Drains had not been put in properly and overflowed, flooding their garage with sewage (they hadn't fully unpacked at that point and Linden said "things shouldn't be stored in garages" ). There is an outside tap that is leaking into the wall (they think) which would explain the mould in the kitchen. There is rising damp and mould in other rooms. Bathrooms weren't probably sealed and had leaks so there is damp showing from above through to the ceiling below.

The gap in the stairs goes all the way to the top with lots of cracks, the banister wobbles too and the top banister has dropped down into the downstairs toilet ceiling. There is another crack that is so large that cold air is coming in from outside.

This has been going on since well before Christmas and they only recently had a workman visit (delayed because of Covid ) to do the "urgent" repair who was told by Linden that it was just a "paint and mastic" job that could be completed in a day or so.

Apparently the whole new build estate is the same (Good news is that they've made lots of new friends )

Old Victorian houses might have their frustrations but at least they're solid

A few years ago, DW and I toured a whole series of new builds around us. They were absolute shite. Pokey and fuck all though to accessibility.

That's the few we could see. Most had a pea-shingle car park that it was impossible to push a wheelchair across so there was no way DW could get to look anyway.

We decided that we'll keep our single story 1,450 sq. ft bungalow in 5,000 sq. ft. of land with shops, bus stop, doctors, pharmacy and dentist a 5 minute walk away, thank you very much.

I still find it absolutely amazing that I am the only person in the world who finds it odd there exists companies whose sole job is fixing new builds. Although it speaks a lot to the British sense of standards.

Old Victorian houses can have plenty of issues too, just different ones (and I have seen some very dodgy foundations over the years).

I also have a Linden new build (well, 7 yrs old now), and apart from fixing a drainage issue in the balcony (badly designed, and the builders had told them that at the time) and a wonky tap in the bathroom we haven’t had any problems. I think a lot of new build issues started when building companies stopped employing their own contractors and started subbing everything out.

Actually, that should be: when building companies stopped employing their own tradesmen and started subbing everything out.

DGR I still think that a lot of the attitude against Polish workers is that they spot the faults in their bosses workings. One polish builder I know waits a year after estates are finished and does a leaflet drop. He agrees re the LA not having to sign off being a large proportion of the problem. Also, he says developers get a lot of blind eyes turned where the solo builder would not.

Sabrina the radon was high but the old hospital site had other radiation on top. It wasn't pretty reading on the reports.

There hasn’t been the fall in productivity feared, and many businesses are gleeful at the thought of lower outgoings particularly in London where prices are so high.

Nobody spotted the word in the government guidance on working from home I posted yesterday ....

People need to bear in mind that a massive cultural shift around the way we work is going to leave a lot of Boris buddies up shit creek. Not least of all if the housing demographic of the UK shifts beneath them and those luxury city living apartments aren't needed because there's no offices in town anymore. That cannot be allowed to happen. Neither can the reduction in car and train use which has been quietly inflating the profits of businesses - a sort of reverse fiscal drag.

I'm expecting the last shoe to drop to be Boots, now WH Smith have run up the distress flag. (The DGR test is finding yourself asking "What sort of shop is this ?" when you go in ....)

Catching up slowly...
Colleague saw Guinea pigs being walked, on leads, in Norway, and bought a lead for his DD's pets.
DD has 2 cats who accompany her on walks - no lead required.
DD bought a Persimmon new build last year. Initial snagging was dealt with promptly and competently, the house has good storage and came with solar panels which save them useful sums of money.

JeSuis but radon is a separate issue from contamination arising from previous building use. I’ve produced a lot of site reports that make interesting reading, but I’ve also designed the remediation schemes.

JeSuis We wouldn't buy a new build either - I was techy/admin (so would helpfully be on the receiving end of your BC enquiries) and DH was a BCO. Much rather a money-pit older solid house than a timber frame chuck-it-up-as-fast-as-poss thing that seems to be all you can get now.
Yoikes DH worked for an AI for a while. He oversaw a project for 4 "individually architect-designed unique luxury homes" c750k-1m. (in the north - in Surrey prob 2 or 3m+)
The builder tried to put inadequate insulation in them (used offcuts and "pre-cut" ruined insulation from his spoil heap "storage facility") and then tried to use some cheap and more importantly too bloody small/short imported low quality steel beams in them! DH quit soon after, as his boss just wanted the income from the builder and wasn't that bothered that they building complied with the BRegs. 🤯🤬
If I were to live in a new-build I'd project manage it and build it myself!

Oh and the Radon thing is quite easy to fix - you just need a sump and pump in the founds - it's not rocket science or actually that expensive to work around.