So once again it seems too little too late is the government mantra regarding new variants of the covid virus. They were told by their advisors weeks ago that South African version, which we knew about in December, and other unwelcome new arrivals could only be controlled by full hotel quarantine of all arrivals into the country. Eventually a partial, half arsed system is put into place, but obviously too late to stop the spread of the South African variant into the community, which is why people are being tested on their doorsteps. But Matt Handcock has promised that he, personally, will ‘come down hard’ on this variant, so everything will be fine. Let’s hope that it’s not a serious upgrade on current versions of the virus and that existing vaccines can keep it in check. Meanwhile the perfectly reasonable suggestion that students should be let off paying the interest on the loans they got during the pandemic (not finished yet of course), when they eventually earn enough to start paying them back has been instantly rejected by some faceless minister on the grounds that they have put a ‘hardship fund’ in place. Bollocks, these kids, especially those who were told to go into halls of residence so the universities could fleece them for rent, then were locked into their rooms while getting no face to face teaching at all, have been ripped off. They should be let off paying back any of the debt, not just the interest, they were conned into getting into in order to pay for a service they haven’t received. Just my thoughts.
It never really worked anyway. How many times did Starmer advocate something that was ridiculed by the government, but that they were subsequently forced to adopt? With hindsight, it's obvious that failure to close our borders last year was a fatal mistake. Why have they not learned from this and closed borders now to keep new variants out? Is it just that they would be admitting they hadn't in fact done 'everything they could to minimise loss of life'?
With respect Beth, Captain Tom had pneumonia which was almost certainly the cause of death.....it would be more pertinent to suggest he died ‘with’ COVID. Sorry it’s just an important point I feel. I’m very sorry for your friends loss.
We had our worst day for deaths today in Ireland throughout the whole pandemic, 101 deaths. It may not sound a lot by UK standards but for a small country that is a lot. Really sorry to hear about Sir Tom and your mate's Father Beth. Sad days. May they both rest in peace.
Do we reckon the vaccines are going to win this race or are these new variants and mutations going to set us back? Seems very worrying to me but then I am Mr Anxiety.
If we are lucky it will end up like the flu, updated shots for the vulnerable every year. No clear win, and uneasy truce, remembering that a ‘win’ for the virus is simply to spread, not to kill or disable its hosts. Three cheers for the evidence that seems to show that the AZ vaccine works well without a three week booster shot. I notice that the government haven’t mentioned the (admittedly very small) study showing that the Pfizer jab doesn’t do so well if not followed up after three weeks, like err, Pfizer and Biontech said. And now we have the Russian Sputnik jab which, despite using very similar technology to the AZ and Janssen jabs is somehow much more effective, according to the Lancet. Let’s see if Western regulators think the same. Rather than include this in the RIP thread which is meant to be respectful I think, let me just note that, on the news today Michael Vaughan, who claimed to have met and admired Captain Sir Tom Moore, repeatedly referred to him as ‘Sir Captain Tom’, with incredibly annoying frequency.
