Lions led by donkeys. Not sure how many lions we have now, but we are surely still being led by donkeys.
One for the politics thread perhaps, and certainly for another time when the whisky isn't flowing, but I think there are smarter ways to build pandemic preparedness than having that much excess capacity in a health service. Meeting the 85% target would be a good starting point anyway Best of luck to you, Col, and the others with difficult decisions on your hands. Not easy and you have my sympathies.
Well if it’s for the politics thread I will observe with interest. I’m also wondering whether the government has any behavioural psychologists or behavioural economists advising it on likely responses to its announcements. If it has they are either rubbish or not being listened to. The panic diaspora from London and the south east was pretty predictable, and Hancock saying the virus is ‘out of control’ all that our European neighbours needed to close the borders to us. Probably the usual thoughtlessness, the type that gives us the amateur hour of government communications. After nearly 10 months they still haven’t given Whitty a button to push to move his incomprehensible slides on. ‘Next slide please’ indeed.
I heard a poor woman on the wireless today, asking some 'expert' what she should do about her Christmas arrangements. She had arranged to stay a few days with her sister, who is suffering from terminal cancer (she presumably has home care) and actually asked whether she should go to her sister's on Christmas day, but look for a hotel to stay in that night as only one day mixing is now allowed. She was rightly advised that there are exceptions for cases such as her sister's, but I'm stunned as to how she could even think twice about her original plans. It seems to me that the vast majority of people are desperate to do the 'right' thing, but don't really know what it is.
This is so right. Just talking to my friend, who is disabled and living alone in Oxford. He was obviously thinking of going home to Wales for Christmas, until lockdown. So he decided he had been told not to...and so was asking someone to do shopping for him His parents asked opinions of people in council and government and they found a loop hole...and so he is now going....but he wasn't going to. He wants to obey the law. Most people do. But many are not sure what it is. A lot of people in Tier 2...have decided not to go home, because they can't stay the night..if they drink.. People are trying...but it hasn't been made easy or clear
France apparently has closed its borders to us for at least 2 days due to Covid. So we can have a trial run of the M20 car park system Wonder if they will open it as a Christmas market.
The situation is deteriorating by the day for all of us. Distribution of fresh food is becoming a major issue. I would hate to be going food shopping over there this week. I would imagine the supermarkets will be bedlam as people panic buy. At least freight from Europe is being let in to deliver fresh food. We have huge volumes of Irish people living in the U.K. who traditionally come home for Christmas. I am sure that some of them who are already here have brought the new strain with them. It looks like people who were booked to travel in the next few days won't be making it home. It is expected the initial 48 hour travel ban will be extended on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting. Thoughts with everybody who has had their Christmas plans disrupted. Hopefully we might get some good news out of the Brexit talks in Brussels soon. Stay safe everybody and get your fresh food shop done as soon as you can.
About the new strain ...it has been suggested that the new variant virus may be able to exist a bit longer in the outside world. And that obviously gives it an evolutionary advantage Now that really would make a difference...and increase its infectability. It can travel further/ for a a longer time. It can also survive longer on hard surfaces too.
Come on Goldie, don't you know your Covid rules. They have masks on, which is why they can be within 2 metres of each other...
By ‘over there’ do you mean the UK Fingy? I did the big Christmas shop this morning (meats already bought, to be collected on Thursday), partly because I thought things were going to get a bit chaotic and I wanted to get it over and done with. Got beautifully fresh veg in an open air farm shop, they reported shortages of nothing, good business but nice and relaxed, two of us shopping when I was there. Then girded myself for the supermarket. In ordinary years at Christmas you have to queue to park it’s a huge crush in the shop and takes an age to check out. Not today, straight in to the car park, five minute queue with excellent mask and distancing discipline to get in, apart from the veg and fresh meat sections which were a bit crowded but not overwhelming and I didn’t need them anyway. The shop was literally overflowing with fresh and other produce, the centre of some aisles had been taken up with extra displays. I think shortages if they emerge will be for salad type stuff grown in poly tunnels in Spain, but there was loads of that too. No queue at check out. I should stress that I was only buying for the next week, no hoarding in expectation of the apocalypse. Things might change, but it could be that we are used to this crap now and are not going to be panicked by it any more. What we shouldn’t be doing is scaremongering.
Scaremongering in the media? That would never happen surely..... I imagine that the BBC is desperately trawling the length and breadth of the country looking for an empty shelf....somewhere....anywhere.....
