WTF is happening in the UK?

[Ibbie]

What a shambolic way to run a country.

Do these idiot ministers believe the rubbish that comes out whenever they open their mouths?

Clueless.

[barkingmad]

Test and trace-what a wonderful sound bite with which to replace the by now hackneyed Stay Home, Wreck the NHS & Ruin Lives.

Test-we are told up to 20% of the swab tests are giving false negatives (meaning yer OK!). There is a recommendation that such tests should be repeated after a minimum of 72 hours, but with the current lack of progress and real results in the UK that sounds like a non-starter.

Trace-allegedly the fraudsters have been out there reaping the harvest to the tune of millions of £s with those who genuinely believed they were being contacted by the real authorities. Couple this with the numbers who have a smart phone, download the App and finally use it with those who have the kit and the ability but no longer trust the system then the whole project is doomed to fail as per the history of Hancock’s HalfHour.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/22 ... effective/

And still more on our world-beating system of “beating” Covid-19;

https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/ ... ting-data/

Please can we go back to normal life ASAP and try to save this doomed ship before all are lost in the resultant wreck?

[om15]

I think that it is as simple as that politicians are unable do do anything practical, they just can't do it, look as how Tescos managed to rise to the occasion, instantly put in place all the safety measures in an unobtrusive manner, recruited and trained polite and efficient young people, and managed to provide all that we need to sustain life.
Compare this to what we are being promised on a daily basis by the Government, the people that form Government have never had jobs in industry or served in the forces, they just simply can't judge what is achievable and what isn't, this isn't just a Tory thing, unless you feel that Miss Dianne would do a better job of managing testing.

My worry is what on earth they intend to do to recoup the estimated £300 Billion spent so far, and where is the money going to come from to fund the economy and support industry, us I dare say. The next few months are pretty critical, with factories, zoos, chip shops and pubs on the brink, worrying times.

[OFSO]

20% ? Head of our clinic says 30% false negatives for antibody test. Or......

[barkingmad]

om15, my sentiments exactly. The cure is threatening to be more damaging, nay lethal, than the original condition.

21st century Homo sapiens seems to think we should all live to 90-100+ thanks to modern medicine. We’re not all going to make that tally, I for one wish to check out when the quality of life reduces to such a level that I think it’s not worth staying around.

The authorities and the meeja are still somewhat shy of highlighting the age-group peaks in fatalities as well as the BAME, obesity and Type2 diabetes ‘spikes’ and until we can accept that this has happened traditionally, is now happening and will happen in future is something which is so awful that “something must be done” to ‘save’ those already imperilled lives.

Edited to add;

2 June

"""Covid-19 death for severe cases is 70 times higher in people over 80

People over 80 in England who are hospitalised with covid-19 are 70 times more likely to die compared to people under 40, according to a report from Public Health England. According to the report, the probability of death is about three times higher for people aged 40 to 49, nine times higher among those aged 50 to 59, 27 times higher for those in their 60s and 50 times higher for those in their 70s. However, these probabilities were calculated from cases where people had severe enough symptoms to get tested for covid-19. The analysis did not take milder cases into account.

The data also shows that black people are between two and three times more likely to be diagnosed with coronavirus than white people, and death rates from covid-19 are highest among people from black and Asian ethnic groups. People of Bangladeshi ethnicity had the highest risk of death of any ethnic group, around twice the risk compared to white people. People of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Other Asian, Caribbean and Other Black ethnicity had between a 10 and 50 per cent higher risk than white people.

The analysis didn’t take people’s occupation or pre-existing health conditions into account, which may go some way to explain the differences in infection and death rate between ethnic groups. However, other studies suggest these factors don’t fully explain the disparity.

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/22 ... z6OO3TdFF7 """

Curiously, the reference in this article to "a report from Public Health England" leads to an 'assets publishing gov.org blah blah' url which on entering yields the following message "{"_response_info":{"status":"not found"}}", leaving me to ponder was that info for which they subsequently regretted providing a link?

LYING DECEITFUL BASTARDS!!

[Boac]

MoL on TV again this morning displaying a lot more sense than Scummings.

As he pointed out, the UK 'quarantine' (starting 8/6) has no forms available yet to distribute to foreign parts to train staff or to familiarise whoever in the UK will be 'monitoring' the completion of the forms. They are, of course, "on the way" (like PPE, tests, ventilators, etc etc).

Infected pax disembarks with correctly completed form (giving only 'an' address and a MOBILE!! phone number), MIGHT be 'spot-checked on a random basis by somebody as yet not determined, then gets on bus/train/tube/taxi to travel 'somewhere' possibly infecting others, and when 'settled' in the UK MAY receive a call on the MOBILE number to check he/she is isolating at the 'approved' location. Scummings needs to check his brain is working, not his eyesight!

What a bunch of loonies!

[G-CPTN]

20% ? Head of our clinic says 30% false negatives for antibody test. Or......

I had it explained to me that the success of the test depended on retrieving samples from the upper-respiratory tracts when the infection might have migrated to the lower regions.

[Ibbie]

Brandon Lewis was on R4 Today earlier, spouting utter rubbish . If he believes in what he says then the UK are in serious trouble.

It's like all cabinet ministers are plugged in to a "Cummings brainwashing and thought for tomorrow implanting machine" every night.

[barkingmad]

" Scummings needs to check his brain is working, not his eyesight!" But we're told they're being guided by 'the science', viz the crap which Ferguson & Co have been spouting, so are you suggesting D C is their current chief scientist?
M'learned friends might be sharpening their quill pens at such an assertion....

"I had it explained to me that the success of the test depended on retrieving samples from the upper-respiratory tracts when the infection might have migrated to the lower regions."

So now it's a fart test which has to be carried out? The mind boggles!

[Boac]

Brandon Lewis was on R4 Today earlier, spouting utter rubbish .

Yes, and it was good to see that Charlie ?Stayt? actually pursuing something for a change.

But we're told they're being guided by 'the science', viz the crap which Ferguson & Co have been spouting, so are you suggesting D C is their current chief scientist?

We know they are NOT being guided by the science as is plainly obvious, but by political considerations and that means Scummings who runs the government.

EDIT: To add did you see the ridiculous breach of common-sense by Alok Sharma in the HoC last night? He might be suffering from hay fever' apparently.

[barkingmad]

"did you see the ridiculous breach of common-sense by Alok Sharma in the HoC last night? He might be suffering from hay fever' apparently."

Regrets but I didn't see the show. I am often abed by then with Radio4's 'Today in Parliament' on quietly which more often than not has me fast asleep before the recording of Big Ben bongs at midnight.

I think the Beeb could make money by stringing together some of these episodes into a CD or MP3 download for those who suffer from insomnia.

[Boac]

PS I was on this morning's news broadcasts if you were up by then.

[Boac]

For the 'late-rising' BM https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/poli ... d-22138151

Looks like yet another member of the Tory government who doesn't think the 'rules and guidelines' apply to him.
Anyone know any good cabinet makers?

[Ibbie]

Now it has come out that Patel does not have scientific evidence to back up her blanket quarantine on all arrivals, that she insisted she had.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said the UK was "now more vulnerable" to new coronavirus infections from abroad.

"These measures are backed by the science, supported by the public, and essential to save lives," she said.

Here's the full article https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus- ... s-12000270

but the damning bits are:

Speaking at the daily news briefing on Wednesday, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance confirmed scientists from the government's SAGE panel (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) had not been asked to provide advice on the specific proposals.

He said quarantines work best for restricting travel from countries with high rates of infection when cases in Britain were low.

The UK is currently seeing higher infection rates than most other European countries.

Sir Patrick also said judgements on when to impose the measures were up to politicians, adding: "They make the policy and they make the timing decisions."

Professor Robert Dingwall, a member of SAGE, also questioned the effectiveness of a blanket quarantine."We are not seeing new clusters that are taking off from people who have been travelling abroad."I think we would really need to get the level in this country significantly further down before quarantine started to become a useful measure.

"That I think, even then, we would have to see something that is targeted on countries with a significantly higher level of community transmission than ourselves - and there aren't too many of those around, I'm afraid."

Patel has been caught out, should remove the quarantine measures immediately and resign.

[Boac]

WHAT! The government that is 'led by the scientific evidence'? Shirley some mistake?

[barkingmad]

Galileo once reckoned he had scientific evidence and look at what happened to him. Deja vu strikes again...

[barkingmad]

PS I was on this morning's news broadcasts if you were up by then.

Gosh boac, if I’d known you’d be on MSM this morning I would definitely have set the double alarm combo, been up and dressed with my hair organised and the mandatory coffee & muesli jaw exerciser ready.
I’ll catch you on Iplayer but may I beg a nugget and ask how many minutes into the prog can view & listen?

[OFSO]

Islington Council reports two (that's 2) people have so far been tested under HMGs tracing program, out of a population of 245,000. Big success, then.

UK: on June 2, Channel 4 revealed 4,456 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported to track and trace between May 28–31. Coronavirus sufferers provided 4,634 contacts – of whom only 1,749 had been contacted

[Boac]

BM - I knew you would pick up on my PN typo I've been trying to get a spot on MSM but for some reason not succeeding.

I know it is terribly 'in' on O-N to 'rubbish' the Scottish Daily Briefings, but they are streets ahead of the Downing Street Farces. Again I watched both today. Wee Nicola - no bumbling, stumbling, factual concise, precise and answer the questions given to her. Shapps today - hardy actually answered one question put to him.

Way to go.

[G-CPTN]

To add did you see the ridiculous breach of common-sense by Alok Sharma in the HoC last night? He might be suffering from hay fever' apparently.

Negative for Corona.