It is an incredible mess. Absolutely staggering. A virus with no sign of abating. A nation severing its closest ties. A government willing to break international law. A country likely to divorce itself from the Union as a result. A distinct possibility of a return to the Troubles. An unaffordable railway from somewhere we apparently don't want to belong going only halfway to somewhere that doesn't want to belong either. Jaybus, no reflection even the orange idiot across the pond couldn't make this crap up.
It seems beyond belief that a country that has a permanent seat at the UN security council and adjudicates on other nations breaking International laws and treaties, should now be saying that it is setting out to break a treaty that it only signed up to a few months ago. As stated in the press here, “The democratic government of a country respected throughout the world for its legal rigour has proposed to include in its national legislation non-compliance with international law.” It is little wonder that countries from all around the world are shocked and are calling on the government to think again.
The government's actions in a nutshell - albeit a rather large nut. Hats off to the German press who refer to Johnson as a 'spätimperialistischer Oxfordschnösel' - which apparently translates as "late imperialist Oxford snot-nosed brat.
Becoming Law in a fortnight. I'm not entirely sure why you have to give DNA samples and fingerprints when having Covid test - but then finding that they are being retained 'in the interests of National Security' makes me all the more suspicious of this government. please log in to view this image
One shouldn't be surprised as the object of the track and trace phone app that cost a fortune but didn't work was to hoover up data about individuals and keep their details in a central database for twenty years.
Absolute chaos in the Rhondda overnight as UK Gov apparently unilaterally limits testing centre to just 60 tests a day (it has the ability to do 500). Council leader says: "I think the system is close to collapse" Wales on Line This seems to be familiar. Trump said that they only had so many cases because they tested people. Stop testing and the numbers will fall.
And remember folks, it's SERCO doing the testing ,not the NHS. Remind me again, which ministers have shares / consultancy positions with them... asking for a friend...
please log in to view this image This is a data report of state of testing, something that it says at the top is not to be seen by others. Thousands of people with COVID-19 are taking tests that will never be analysed, warn government docs marked "official sensitive". Our "world beating" testing programme has a 185,000 swab backlog and is so stretched it's sending tests to labs in Italy and Germany. Most UK laboratories are clearing fewer tests than their capacity, as they are hit by “chaos” in supply chains, per the leak. The govt claims it has capacity for 375,000 tests a day, but the actual number of people being tested for coronavirus is closer to 62,000 a day. Randox, a Northern Ireland firm, pays Tory MP Owen Paterson as a consultant. It won a £133m testing contract unopposed at the start of lockdown. It disposed of 12,401 used swabs in a single day on 2nd Sept. The firm has voided more than 35,000 used test kits since August. Officials and labs are blaming each other for the chaos. Tests are mostly voided because of “swab leaks” or damage during transit. It was claimed last night that thousands of kits have had to be voided in a lab in Germany because they were transported at the wrong temperature. Compare what the government says about its testing programme with the apparent reality.
This really is very serious and Hancock should be hauled to the Commons to tell everyone what is going on. There are tens of thousands of tests being carried out that are never processed, and we have no idea how many of those would have produced a positive result. We all know about people being told they will have to go hundreds of miles to get a test, many of them just not going. It all adds up to people with the virus spreading it further. Last week Hancock was trying to say that it was the fault of too many people wanting a test, but today there are reports of care homes seeing a rise in numbers and not being able to get test kits despite being promised them. This is a total shambles to put it mildly. I hope Johnson remembers that he said he takes responsibility for it all.
There are currently no tests at all available in ANY of the top 10 Covid-19 hotspots in England, LBC can reveal. No walk-in, drive-through or home tests available for people in Bolton, Salford, Bradford, Blackburn, Oldham, Preston, Pendle, Rochdale, Tameside or Manchester.