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Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 6:42 am
by refitman
Morning all.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 10:12 am
by gilsey
Good morning.


Greg Clark correctly identifies inadequate testing strategy then wriggles around trying to get the govt off the hook.
The Commons science and technology committee has criticised the government for what it described as “inadequate” coronavirus testing capacity throughout the pandemic.
-
In a letter to the prime minister assessing evidence to the committee during the pandemic, its chairman Greg Clark – the Tory former business secretary – said:

"Testing capacity has been inadequate for most of the pandemic so far. Capacity was not increased early enough or boldly enough. Capacity drove strategy, rather than strategy driving capacity."
-
"The decision to pursue an approach of initially concentrating testing in a limited number of laboratories and to expand them gradually, rather than an approach of surging capacity through a large number of available public sector, research institute, university and private sector labs is one of the most consequential made during this crisis.

From it followed the decision on 12 March to cease testing in the community and retreat to testing principally within hospitals."
So far so good, but then
"Had the public bodies responsible in this space themselves taken the initiative at the beginning of February, or even the beginning of March, rather than waiting until the secretary of state imposed a target on 2 April, knowledge of the spread of the pandemic and decisions about the response to it may have made more options available to decision makers at earlier stages."
From the G.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 10:14 am
by gilsey
Excess deaths in UK reached almost 55,000 in early May, says ONS

Nick Stripe, head of the health analysis and life events division at the Office for National Statistics, told the BBC a few minutes ago that the total number of excess deaths in the UK - the number above what might expected at this time of year, judged by a five-year average, was just under 55,000 by early May.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 10:18 am
by gilsey
We seem to have waited a long time for Labour to get this message out.
Labour is pushing the government to make “five immediate changes to our social security system to make sure no one is forced into hardship,” Reynolds adds.

They are:

Convert Universal Credit advances into grants instead of loans, ending the five-week wait

Remove the £16,000 savings limit which disqualifies individuals from accessing Universal Credit

Suspend the benefit cap

Abolish the two-child limit in Universal Credit and tax credits

Uprate legacy benefits to match the increase in Universal Credit, providing an immediate increase in Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment Support Allowance
Hurrah, except for the weasel word 'suspend'.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 11:34 am
by AnatolyKasparov
Its still a perfectly OK package overall.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 1:22 pm
by frog222
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Piers Morgan - This protective shield didn't exist... so why is your government lying to people about care homes... is it acceptable that Hancock, Gove & Johnson are just telling brazen lies about care homes..

To Andy Street, mayor West Midlands , Tory !

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 1:28 pm
by AnatolyKasparov
Why did so many presume Yvette Cooper was speaking last night for the entire Labour party on the current immigration bill?

She is after all still a backbencher under Starmer, just as she was with Corbyn.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 1:42 pm
by adam
The NEU have said to me that I should do all of the things that I have already done, which is kind of reassuring but also a bit of a pain. I've set out everything again for them and I'm waiting for more specific advice for what's next.

I liked the fact that on Radio 4 Today this morning the lead was the surprise at how unemployment had not significantly risen in the firrst three months of the year. All about the headline,and setting the agenda for the day.

UK jobless claims soar by nearly 70% in April
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits increased by the most since records began in April to reach almost 2.1 million, according to official figures capturing the onset of the coronavirus crisis.

In a reflection of mounting job losses across the country, the Office for National Statistics said about 856,500 people signed up for universal credit and jobseeker’s allowance benefits in April, driving up the overall UK claimant count by 69% in a single month.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 2:14 pm
by gilsey
AnatolyKasparov wrote:Its still a perfectly OK package overall.
It's the first time I've seen it all in one place, that's all.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 4:23 pm
by frog222
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000j803" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Global Ventilator Race
The coronavirus outbreak revealed an international shortage of ventilators. Across the world, govenrments scrambled to acquire new ones, not just from traditional manufacturers, but from anyone who though they could design a simple yet functional device. As a result, hundreds of teams and individuals have risen to the challenge, including university students and hobbyists. Jolyon Jenkins set out to design and build a ventilator himself, drawing on the wealth of shared informationi and designs that have emerged in the last few weeks. He soon discovers that it's harder than it looks.

Much publicity has gone to organisations that have produced ventilators that are not up to standard. And as knowledge of the disease has progressed, it's become clear that coronavirus patients need very careful and specialised forms of ventilation if it's not to do more harm than good. So are non-specialists capable of producing machines that will actually benefit patients?

Presenter/producer: Jolyon Jenkins
Good bit from 11 minutes on steeply lowering oxygen levels which are NOT accompanied by breathlessness . ( Some ICU's have seen unprecedented low levels on people still functioning as normal )

Just changed the batteries on an oximeter for elder GD's birthday . The rate she's going she'll be a doc in a very few years .

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 6:54 pm
by citizenJA
PorFavor and Constance deploying pontoon for service during Cyclone Amphan's landfall West Bengal & Odisha
Larry "Three-shandies-my-arse" homing pigeon found drunk in a dive in Joliet
He never got on the train

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 6:55 pm
by citizenJA
Good evening, everyone.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 7:03 pm
by citizenJA
gilsey wrote:---
...Greg Clark
"Had the public bodies responsible in this space themselves taken the initiative at the beginning of February, or even the beginning of March, rather than waiting until the secretary of state imposed a target on 2 April, knowledge of the spread of the pandemic and decisions about the response to it may have made more options available to decision makers at earlier stages."
From the G.
If Clark had taken the initiative of obtaining a cure for COVID-19 in November 2019 and had given it to everyone rather than pathetically attempt protecting Tory government now, wonderful people would still be alive.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 7:05 pm
by citizenJA
bastards

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 7:19 pm
by AnatolyKasparov
citizenJA wrote:
gilsey wrote:---
...Greg Clark
"Had the public bodies responsible in this space themselves taken the initiative at the beginning of February, or even the beginning of March, rather than waiting until the secretary of state imposed a target on 2 April, knowledge of the spread of the pandemic and decisions about the response to it may have made more options available to decision makers at earlier stages."
From the G.
If Clark had taken the initiative of obtaining a cure for COVID-19 in November 2019 and had given it to everyone rather than pathetically attempt protecting Tory government now, wonderful people would still be alive.
People have been trying to do that tbf, and haven't got there yet despite their best efforts. Though of course I don't disagree with your more general point ;)

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 7:22 pm
by Willow904
From the G liveblog:

"Prof Dame Angela McLean, the government’s deputy chief scientific adviser, said that scientists have told ministers that they should only relax the lockdown when a proper contact tracing system is in place"

Well, that was interesting and informative!

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 7:26 pm
by citizenJA
George Eustice is now talking about the availability of foreign labour for the harvest.
Normally workers from countries like Romania and Bulgaria come.
But only around a third of them are here, he says.
He says the government is encouraging Britons to take these jobs.
He says staff who are furloughed may want to supplement their income with a second job.
George Eustice, Tory MP for Camborne & Redruth since 2010 and current government minister, grew up at Trevaskis Fruit Farm.
pestilence and feudalism

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 7:56 pm
by citizenJA
Science and Technology Committee
Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Chair
Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP Prime Minister (By e-mail)
18 May 2020

Dear Prime Minister,

COVID-19 pandemic: some lessons learned so far
---
On 2 April the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock MP, announced a target of 100,000 tests a day to be carried out by the end of that month. However, Professor Whitty made clear to the Committee that “SAGE did not give that specific target”. Even public officials emphasised that the 100,000 target was the Secretary of State’s choice, with Professor John Newton explaining:
I think specifically, no, it is not a SAGE target; it is the Secretary of State’s target. I think he has taken advice from the programme and from colleagues [...] I am afraid you would have to ask the Secretary of State himself exactly where he got his advice from.
While there was some public debate at the time about whether the target was met by 30 April, it is clear that it drove a major expansion in capacity at least, comparable with what Germany had enjoyed for several weeks.
---
For such an important determinant of a wide range of policy responses, it is surprising that a target designed to galvanise a tenfold increase in testing capacity appears not to be on the advice of PHE, NHS England or SAGE but was more of a personal initiative by the Secretary of State.Had the public bodies responsible in this space themselves taken the initiative at the beginning of February, or even the beginning of March, rather than waiting until the Secretary of State imposed a target on 2 April, knowledge of the spread of the pandemic and decisions about the response to it may have made more options available to decision makers at earlier stages.

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/c ... so-far.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
oh, would you look at this here
it's even worse than I originally thought

Former public relations something or other, Greg Clark, now Tory MP for some place, makes the numerical target of 100,000 a virtuous extremity the Tory Secretary of Health, Matt Hancock, had to heroically ramp up because NHS England, WITHOUT GOVERNMENT'S STATUTORY AUTHORITY, didn't aspire to that number of COVID-19 tests a day!

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 7:59 pm
by citizenJA
How embarrassing for the whole miserable lot of you, every single Tory MP
How tragic for everyone in the UK you're where you are now

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 8:07 pm
by AnatolyKasparov
Willow904 wrote:From the G liveblog:

"Prof Dame Angela McLean, the government’s deputy chief scientific adviser, said that scientists have told ministers that they should only relax the lockdown when a proper contact tracing system is in place"

Well, that was interesting and informative!
Indeed, let's see if they take their "advice".

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 8:21 pm
by citizenJA
Priti Patel
@pritipatel
We’re ending free movement to open Britain up to the world.

It will ensure people can come to our country based on what they have to offer, not where they come from.
Image
6:10 pm · 18 May 2020·Twitter for iPhone

Image

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Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 8:23 pm
by citizenJA
That's Patel's real account. I thought it might've been a parody. I wish to god it was a parody.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 8:35 pm
by citizenJA
Image

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlab ... uk/may2020" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 10:41 pm
by citizenJA
"...it is surprising that a target designed to galvanise a tenfold increase in testing capacity appears not to be on the advice..."
- Greg Clark
Tory minister
Target-setting galvanisation doesn't help, serve or save anyone's life.
"...saying '100,000 tests a day by the end of April' without any thought to what was being done with the information learned from those tests, without having follow up contact tracing and isolating in place, without even providing effective testing.

That's how you use targets effectively- don't pick a number, work out what you want to achieve and set a target to get the conditions in place for it to happen. '100,000 tests' isn't strategy - what do we want to achieve? - it's just tactics - what are we going to do to start to achieve it'. 'Schools must starting going back on June 1st' is just tactics, with no strategy. All of their focus is on short term tactics and deflection."
- from adam's post three days ago

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 10:43 pm
by citizenJA
They're not even entertaining grifters, Tory MPs.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 10:44 pm
by AnatolyKasparov
citizenJA wrote:That's Patel's real account. I thought it might've been a parody. I wish to god it was a parody.
It would in her case be genuinely hard to tell the difference.

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Tue 19 May, 2020 10:45 pm
by gilsey
Sunak at the Lords economics affairs committee.
Lord Forsyth, the committee chair, said there was a consensus about adult social care needing much higher funding. Sunak affected surprise, and said that if there was a consensus, he would like to hear about it (implying that he thought no such consensus existed). Forsyth said that his committee published a report last summer saying the sector needed another £15bn. The report said the money should come from general taxation, but it did not make specific recommendations as to which taxes should go up.
Sunak said he thought the plans would require income tax rising by either ?p or ?p in the pound. He implied that he thought it would be hard to get consensus support for tax increases on that scale.
I've deliberately missed out the figures there, for effect. I asked mr gilsey what sort of basic tax rate he thought would be unacceptable, in this context, he said 40%.


The missing figures in the quote are 2 or 3p.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer thinks that it would be hard to get consensus support for a basic rate of 22%, after a pandemic for which it is perfectly clear our public services were entirely unprepared and underfunded.


FTAOD I'm not suggesting they should necessarily put taxes up at all, in the short term, in a very severe recession. I really don't think consensus support would be an obstacle though. Tory ideology, on the other hand....

Re: Tuesday 19th May 2020

Posted: Wed 20 May, 2020 12:17 am
by AnatolyKasparov
Given that cJA seems to have forgotten it tonight (or is staying up very late) - goodnight, all.