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?

@QueenOfThorns

I wouldn’t argue with that, DGR, but I’m not sure that they have the same positive effect on the ecosystem as beavers. And the farmers (if there are any left) would not be happy!

Farmers are never happy anyway ...

And wolves can completely reshape a landscape too. Not only do they improve the health of their prey - by keeping their numbers down they allow trees to reach maturity.

Maybe it's a distant siren call of my heritage to find wolves entrancing and mystical creatures ? Which is weird because I am most assuredly not a dog person - if anything I'm a cat person.

Friend works for the EA down here in biodiversity and has been bringing back "beaver balls" as he calls them - big balls of wood they've left when chewing through trees. They've definitely got bigger balls than I expected and are flourishing down here too!

And in other news, isn't there a saying about mountains and Mohammed ?

Seems it's easier to redefine science than fix Microsoft Excel.

www.theverge.com/2020/8/6/21355674/human-genes-rename-microsoft-excel-misreading-dates

(Long experience has told me that the most parochial nation on earth is the US. By a country mile).

They've definitely got bigger balls than I expected and are flourishing down here too!

Couldn't resist

(goes off singing "Dirty deeds and they're done dirty cheap ..."

Ah DGR I used to think I wasn't a dog person... I think you can be both. Our cat is very aloof and refuses to entertain the dog one iota, but the dog is desperate to make friends and sits at the bottom of the wall whining and wagging it's tail hopefully. I've realised that cats are so self sufficient; they can do nothing all day and be content with lazing in the sun. The dog is constantly making it's own fun; finding puddles in a dry wood, chasing squirrels, swimming out to see if moorhens want to play, bringing me squeaky toys to throw, always bounding off into the wood at the slightest noise, investigating flies and following butterflies... I think we should all be more dog She has certainly kept me amused throughout lockdown even if I have lost 3 pairs of shoes to her since it began.

DGR - if only the Tory dirty deeds were cheap

Ah DGR I used to think I wasn't a dog person.

I can assure you there's not "think" about it - I (and DW is 100% in agreement with me) am simply not a pet person. Of any description. It was a PITA to look after the school stick insect and millipede when it was DS turn .

My DFs attitude to dogs was simple. Either they work - in which case they are tolerated. Or they don't. In which case they are a waste of food. Interestingly enough his DF did keep a dog. But then as my DF said "you wouldn't to into the forest without one ..."

For some reason, DS went through a phase were he was terrified of dogs - maybe because the dog MiL had (one of the best trained I've known) died when he was not quite 4 - he was quite attached. However, he got over it, which is good.

Going back a few years, there was a lady who lived not far from us in Selly Oak. She was paraplegic and had 2 dogs that we'd see happily pulling her wheelchair. Until the RSPCA stuck their noses in. Apparently it's not allowed ? I know her kids were devastated as she had to let them go.

@QueenOfThorns

I wouldn’t argue with that, DGR, but I’m not sure that they have the same positive effect on the ecosystem as beavers. And the farmers (if there are any left) would not be happy!

I suspect there could be benefits but I think the problem is that once we had them there would be no turning back, even if they turned out to be detrimental to other species. I'm not convinced we have sufficient common sense in this country to make it a success.

Badgers are partial to a hedgehog when they can find one, and as badger numbers increase hedgehogs are in decline - unsurprisingly. My worry is that we could find wolves or bears unchecked having a detrimental effect on other species and it then being unacceptable to control the population.

I also have doubts about the ability of our current administration to compensate farmers fairly. Reintroduction of species may be beneficial in the round, but inevitably someone will experience the downside. Similar to the moderation of scottish exam grades - in aggregate they look right but there are individual losers. And the losers in terms of species reintroduction, especially of large predators, will be those in society who already contribute most to biodiversity.

The problem with trying to turn the clock back is that a thousand years ago there were a tiny fraction of the human beings, and we're expecting nature to balance itself again in the presence of a very large human population (who like to be fed and enjoy services such as drainage, water supply, roads etc). Reintroduction of large predators presumably needs to take place in less populated areas, so before the first bear or wolf is even released we're already going to be artificially influencing their ecosystem.

re wolves and the positive effects from Yellowstone Park. Man's voice is a bit Mystic Meg but it's interesting.

www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2020/07/11/the-5-5bn-ppe-scandal-that-goes-to-the-core-of-government-incompetence-and-thats-just-for-starters/

A multi-million pound personal protective equipment (PPE) contract awarded by the UK government to a family-run investments firm has set off alarm bells. Recipients for similar contracts include a recruitment agency, a sweets manufacturer, and a business that specialises in pest control products. A Labour MP has raised questions about one of these contracts. And litigation against the government has commenced.

Meanwhile, The Canary has conducted its own investigation into these matters. And what has been highlighted so far may well be just the tip of the iceberg.

Ayanda Capital Ltd (ACL), an investments firm that specialises in “currency trading, offshore property, and private equity and trade financing”, was awardeda contract by the UK government worth £252.5m to supply face masks. Yet their “business lines” suggest no history that this “London-based family office” produces or provides PPE. Although in its very prominent policy statement on modern slavery Ayanda does refers to supplies, but only in a general sense.

Ayanda is run by former Kleinwort Benson director Tim Horlick. It’s owned by the Horlick family via Milo Investments, a holding company registered in Mauritius. Ayanda senior board adviser Andrew Mills is also an adviser to the government’s board of trade (which is chaired by international trade secretary Liz Truss).

Horlick’s brother Richard is the non-executive director of BH Macro Ltd, an investment company registered in Guernsey. He’s also director of CCLA Fund Managers Ltd and chairman of CCLA Investment Management is under significant control by the CBF Church of England Investment Fund and the COIF Charities Investment Fund. As with many funds suffering the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the CBF Church of England Investment Fund lost considerable ground in March 2020 but made a quick recovery in April. It was a similar story for the COIF Charities Investment Fund.

(contd)

It is interesting what posters are noticeable by their absence . I guess even they need holidays ...

DGR
That AC/DC song nearly got me expelled from school years ago.
Happy memories.

I'm having a led zep day today 🤘

Coffee with friend was nice but she got upset - her absolute bastard of an ex is being a bastard again.

Ds2 is at a birthday party.

Ds1 is having a virtual meeting with a tutor (the provision his school have provided in lockdown has been dire...)

Dh is out with a friend tonight so I'm going to watch trashy TV with my fan on full blast.

Hope those Westminsterenders who live dahn saath and in the SE are OK tomorrow...heat forecast looks to be brutal 😳

TBH, we've got enough problems just keeping alive the current wildlife.

Hedgehogs
Turtle Doves
Butterflies
Hazel dormice
Red Squirrels

None of these creatures is particularly big but the main problem is habitat loss. Let's fix that before thinking about wolves that need a 1,000 squre kilometres to range in.

I'm having a led zep day today?

Every day is a Led Zep day 🧚🏻‍♀️

THeABC
Thing is that beavers and boar and wolves and bears do a really good job of creating wild habitat from which all the other creatures benefit.

Dog walkers certainly keep well clear of large parts of the Forest of Dean now

@ListeningQuietly

THeABC Thing is that beavers and boar and wolves and bears do a really good job of creating wild habitat from which all the other creatures benefit.

Dog walkers certainly keep well clear of large parts of the Forest of Dean now

I am of an age to recall the amazement with which scientists discovered the extent of changes in the environment they saw a mere few months after the Great Storm. Because it was impossible to clear all the fallen trees (simply couldn't get to them, plus cost) the majority were simply left. Immediately new growth popped up where the previously shaded light was now available. There was a surge of long-dormant plants and trees that hadn't been able to grow previously. Meanwhile the fallen trees decayed and fed fungi that fed insects that fed birds ... by spring 1988 a lot of butterflies were being recorded for the first time in areas they'd not been seen in before.

Forest fires may seem devastating, but they are part of the cycle of renewing ecosystems. It was man interfering and putting out forest fires that almost wiped out the giant redwoods in California.

I'm with Keats on this one.

@HedyPrism

Hello, please can I join? I've been reading and nodding along for a while. Used up most of my stash to avoid going to the shops in April/May so now building up again. Amazed at the price increase for pasta.

.. Welcome, Hedy I've found these threads v useful to understand & process what's going on

So the govt is literally making a Horlicks of its expedited contracts

Thanks for the welcome. I find it infuriating listening to the 10 O'clock news so I need to get my information from other sources!

I do enjoy seeing the wide variety of dogs walked along the Rhine,
but have no desire to own another

Some tiny odd-shaped creatures I merely assume are dogs because they are on a lead

Funnily enough, while working I used to plan having a dog in retirement, when I had the time to keep it company, but now I'm retired, I've too many other things I want to do instead
and I am ruthlessly avoiding any commitments, not adding to them

HedyPrism
These threads are the best compendium of information on all things Brexit and affiliated that I know

Just looking at the Beeb on the US POTUS elections
and the "battelground" states which are basically like UK marginals where elevctions are won

Looks like some Trump states hit hard by COVID bungling - Florida, Arizona, Texas - are finally turning against him

Biden will win the popular vote
the electoral college is another matter

My grandmother says that since she retired, she has no idea how she found the time to have a job. So much else to be getting on with!

In the south. We are staying at home tomorrow and the next day. Might go and dunk the kids in the river after breakfast. Apart from that not moving