I assume that as you have not made any comments about the coronavirus and the governments handling of it, you have nothing to add to the conversation. Therefore you will not mind having the option to comment removed.
The Tories must be laughing up their sleeves at this. The Labour party are still in disarray over claims of anti-semitism as Starmer sacks Rebecca Long-Bailey for something trivial. Lord knows I'm no fan of hers, but surely what she did was minor in the greater scheme of things - and there are more important issues facing the country to worry about? The party would be better off splitting into two rather than continue with this internal squabbling. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53183085
A bit too much is being made of this corona tracing app Frenchie - the Germans only brought this in when the battle was being well and truly won - like the icing on the cake. This app is only of relevence for people walking around with such a thing as a smart phone but not for an entire population. Germany's policy has been helped by the fact that they have compulsory registration with the local authorities every time you move home - so they know where to locate everyone anyway. Also the decentralized structure has helped ie. lockdowns can be localized where necessary and also the effective harnessing of one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical industries on a localized level. But the biggest asset has been the population - they were informed all the way down the line about what steps were necessary and why. This is the critical variable - such a scene as the thousands on Bournemouth beach would not be possible here (whether it was technically allowed or not).
I am sure that is the case with all of the apps in different countries. It is alarming when you see the UK PM say that they are not there, when they are, but worrying when you find out that the UK version that doesn't work has cost £Ms and has been done by a mate of Cummings. A few weeks ago it was vital, now of course it is best forgotten.
The Tories are enjoying Labour's internal war but Starmer clearly realises he must rid the Labour Party of the Momentum infiltrators and send them back to their communist roots. He will set himself at odds with the LP's paymasters, McCluskey will be furious. Splitting the Labour Party into two sounds a good idea, that will even ruin the tiny 1% chance of victory at the next election.
Thank goodness, a Tory with a brain between his ears talking about the scenes at Bournemouth. "This place was deluged and social distancing went out the window and that’s why a major incident was declared, because the local authority and indeed the police couldn’t cope. The beach should have been closed down, or at least shut down to prevent further people from entering it. We need to learn from this and recognise that if we’re going to be serious about tackling this pandemic then we need to be swifter in being able to provide support to local authorities who are unable to cope." Tobias Ellwood All well and good, but how do you close a beach down when you don't have the police numbers to enforce it? Hancock says he has the power to close beaches. That sounds rather theoretical I think if you don't have the resources.
£900,000 well spent? Here's BoJo's aeroplane with its new livery - and the flag has been painted on incorrectly. Anyone would think that Failing Grayling had organised it.
I have never understood why people cannot take their rubbish home, they lugged it there full so it must be easy to take the empty cartons home. On our walks we often pick up a bit of rubbish quite obviously left by some peasant. It we remembered to take a plastic bag and gloves we could easily fill it up. If councils employed people to monitor and fine people who litter and don't pick up dog mess, it would easily fund itself. You could put them on piece work!
I think it could be termed 'the human condition' - it seems to happen everywhere. The council of a small town I lived in in Central Qld approached McDonalds years ago about the possibility of a franchise opening there. The initial response was no - as the town's population was under 10k, apparently their lower limit for what they saw as a profitable business (which was odd, as it was a mining town and the residents were awash with money). About five years later, the population had risen sufficiently, the council re-applied and a franchise was approved. Within a month, the council regretted their decision as the litter problem was so bad - and it was all McDonalds take away wrappings/boxes. I moved away six months later, so never found out if, or how, the problem had been resolved.
please log in to view this image please log in to view this image On my infrequent trips round the M25, I nearly always see one of these BA aircraft taking off or landing. £900,000 is a ridiculous amount to pay for something that is not so very different to what already exists. £300,000 is thought to be the top price for a complex paint job on a large aircraft, so where has this money gone?
Johnson taking a firm grip? "Let me be very clear about the scenes in Bournemouth - it’s very important for people to understand if you look at what’s happening elsewhere in the world where people have been coming out of lockdown. I’m afraid what you’re also seeing is people taking too many liberties with the guidance, mingling too much, not observing social distancing. In some parts of the world - I won’t name them - you’ve got really serious spikes in the instances of the diseases." Let's help him out. I’m afraid what you’re also seeing is people like Cummings taking too many liberties.......... In some parts of the world such as Trumpland you’ve got really serious spikes in the instances of the diseases.
The wrong assumption here is that Boris designed and carried it out, more likely whoever did the artwork and whoever was not managing them and quality controlling it.
That certainly wasn't my assumption - there's no way I would credit him with even having the skills necessary to organise it, nevermind design and carry it out.
From TW-IN (This Week In Tory) 26/6/20 1. Let’s start with the milder corruption: it was revealed Matt Hancock tried to block 400 homes and a primary school near Newmarket racecourse, after receiving at least £65,000 in donations from horseracing bigwigs who opposed the scheme 2. And then Robert Jenrick, the Housing Minister, overruled his dept and planning officers to rush through planning permission that saved Richard Desmond a £45m fee. Desmond is a billionaire pornographer, former-Express owner, and (subsequent to this) a Tory donor 3. The Tory Manifesto says: “we will offer more homes to local families, enabling councils to use developers’ contributions via the planning process” 4. The lost £45m was the “developers’ contribution”. One of Britain’s most deprived areas lost it. A billionaire kept it. 5. And then, I'm sure coincidentally, Desmond donated £12,000 to the Tory Party the next week. A bargain – only 0.02% of the £45m he saved 6. So this week Jenrick denied he had done anything wrong 7. Unfortunately, he had already admitted his actions were “unlawful” on 29 May 8. And then the business minister said voters could “raise their concerns at Tory fundraisers” 9. So now have to donate to the Tory Party before we can complain about the Tory Party doing illegal things for their donors 10. In Coronavirus news: Boris Johnson announced more relaxations of the lockdown, saying he would “trust the British public to use their common sense” 11. 48 hours later a major incident was declared on the South Coast, as 500,000 people common-sensibly crowded the beaches 12. Boris Johnson said he “would not hesitate” to bring back lockdown if the rules on social distancing weren’t observed 13. 48 hours later, he hasn’t brought back lockdown 14. Then the govt announced councils would have the “power and resources” to enforce local lockdowns 15. But council leaders wrote to the govt to explain that they don’t actually have the legal powers to do this 16. And then 8 out of 10 councils in England have declared they are at risk of bankruptcy, having absorbed cuts of between 26% and 50% 17. Health leaders, including the presidents of Royal Colleges of Physicians, Nurses, GPs and Surgeons wrote to the govt asking for an urgent review of preparations for a second wave 18. The govt declined to do a review 19. And then the WHO warned of global shortage of oxygen and breathing equipment 20. So naturally, the govt opened pubs and cinemas 21. Then, after a month of not telling us the daily test numbers, the govt went a step further and cancelled the daily briefings altogether 22. UK Statistics Authority issued a 2nd official warning about the “trustworthiness” of the govt’s figures 23. Association of Medical Research said 74% of clinical trials had been put on hold in 2020 due to cuts 24. So we spent £900k painting a flag on Boris Johnson’s plane 25. And then it was revealed the govt spent £12m on the “world beating” contact app that didn’t work 26. If you paid the average £50,000 programmer salary, £12m buys 320 programmers 27. The German app code is open-source, and the free repository for it lists 34 programmers 28. The UK has repeatedly declined to use the free German App 29. Boris Johnson claimed in Parliament that "no country in the world has a working contact tracing app” 30. There are working contact tracing apps in: Angola, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh... ... Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Rep, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Malaysia, Morocco, N Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, NZ, Poland ... ... Qatar, Russia, S Africa, S Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and Vietnam. That's 42 countries. 31. The gov declined to publish its report on food and medicine shortage risks from no-deal Brexit, which surely bodes well. 32. Boris Johnson said Brexit must be delivered, as we have a “democratic duty” to listen to the people 33. A report this week found 9m voters – most thought likely to oppose the Conservatives – will vanish from the electoral roll when new Westminster seats are drawn up 34. When the govt (breaking pre-election promises) merged the Dept for International Development into Foreign Office 2 weeks ago, they said there would be no cuts to overseas aid 35. This week the Treasury asked govt depts to find "a minimum of 30%" cuts, including overseas aid 36. The govt continued to decry the removal of statues connected with slavery, as this might “diminish public knowledge of British history” 37. Govt cuts led to the closure of 773 public libraries, and I suspect many of them contained books about British History 38. The Minister for Arts said the govt was “committed to supporting the Arts Sector in through crisis” 39. Emergency funding for the arts (converted into £) - France £6.3bn - Germany £900m - Canada £295m - Italy £221m - NZ £90 - Spain £68m - Ireland £18m - UK £0 40. In 2019 the govt committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 41. A year on a report found at the current rate, the govt would hit its target by the year 3650, which is 1500 years from now, a mere 1470 years too late 42. This week it reached 38°C in the Arctic 43. The govt said it would “fairly and courageously to maintain law and order” in the light of the #BlackLivesMatter movement 44. And then the govt announced it wants to abolish trial by jury in order to address a 41,000-case backlog caused by its own cuts 45. It's Friday. There are 2 more days of this week to go. I'm not sure about the point of #42 though - I spent two weeks in the Arctic Circle back in the 80s (touring Norway and Finland) - it was in the high 30s every day.
This one seems to have been missed. The UK government’s plan to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in a satellite broadband company has been described as “nonsensical” by experts, who say the company doesn’t even make the right type of satellite the country needs after Brexit. The investment in OneWeb, first reported on Thursday night, is intended to mitigate against the UK losing access to the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system.
And to think that restaurants are being allowed to open next week. JPMorgan analyzed data from 30 million Chase cardholders and Johns Hopkins University’s case tracker and found that higher restaurant spending in a state predicted a rise in new infections there three weeks later. In-person restaurant spending was “particularly predictive.” Conversely, higher spending at supermarkets predicted a slower spread of the virus. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/26/thi...urant-spending-and-new-coronavirus-cases.html
