Thursday 28th May 2020

[refitman]

Morning all.

[RogerOThornhill]

Morning all.

Rachael Venables
‏
Verified account

@rachaelvenables
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A contract tracer who was meant to be starting his shift at 8am tells me it's been a 'complete shambles' so far.

He was only emailed at 10.30 last night to be told the system was going live anyway, he still hasn't received his password to logon and the website has crashed. @LBC

8:54 AM - 28 May 2020

Going well then?

[RogerOThornhill]

And...

Rachael Venables
‏
Verified account

@rachaelvenables
43m43 minutes ago
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His colleagues are all finding the same problems, the site is still down. He says they were under the impression they wouldn't be starting work until 1st June (or even later) and only learnt they wanted to start today when watching Boris with the liaison committee yesterday.

[RogerOThornhill]

Heh.

Bob Hudson
‏

@Bob__Hudson
2h2 hours ago
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Hancock on #r4today telling us that it is our 'civic duty' to self-isolate if we're part of an infected person's network. Nick Robinson points out this would carry more weight if he personally had not said Cummings 'did the right thing'. Hancock squirms...

[gilsey]

Hancock is good at squirming, not much else.

[Willow904]

Hancock's starting to crack under the pressure, it seems. Not surprising, really, he was probably up all night after Johnson suddenly announced yesterday that the track and trace system due next week would begin at 9am today!

[RogerOThornhill]

I can just imagine the conversation afterwards..

"What the hell did you say that for"
"Oh crickey. Sorry, sorry. Just slipped out"

And in other news...

Quarantine article by Dominic Cummings' wife reported to regulator

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -regulator" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The column by the magazine’s commissioning editor, Mary Wakefield, about life with her husband, Dominic Cummings, was classic material for the high-Tory magazine: confessional and full of personal details about individuals at the top of British politics, earning the interest of Radio 4’s Today programme, which asked her to read out key details.

Never mind that the couple originally emerged from self-isolation in Durham, where they’d travelled during lockdown. And that they had made a 60-mile round trip to a beauty spot to check Cummings’ eyesight, too – both points that were absent from the article.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Yes, the Cummings thing is going to run and run.

[PorFavor]

Police fined two people for travelling from London to Durham on 8 April

Durham police today said that they fined two people for travelling hundreds of miles from London to their area during the coronavirus lockdown. (Politics Live, Guardian)

[AnatolyKasparov]

It comes to something when a government minister is being humiliated by.......Kay Burley. But that by all accounts is what happened to Hancock this morning.

[RogerOThornhill]

Statement from Durham Police.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[frog222]

And...

Rachael Venables
‏Verified account
@rachaelvenables
43m43 minutes ago
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His colleagues are all finding the same problems, the site is still down. He says they were under the impression they wouldn't be starting work until 1st June (or even later) and only learnt they wanted to start today when watching Boris with the liaison committee yesterday.

"Working within local councils, contact tracers have been employed for decades, tackling infections such as tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. It is an interview-based process that requires experience and tact to obtain sometimes sensitive information from sick individuals, and employs dozens of people in large councils scattered across environmental and sexual health teams, although the services have been hit hard by spending cuts.

Meanwhile, some of those hired for the national contact tracing centres have had relatively cursory training. One told the Guardian that the guidance on doing the job simply consisted of watching videos and reading scripts. “I have not been given any details of who to call if I have problems. Only an email address has been provided which largely goes unanswered.”"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -confusion" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Three months wasted !

[RogerOThornhill]

The Secret Barrister
‏

@BarristerSecret
1h1 hour ago
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This, I’m afraid, is a resigning issue for @SuellaBraverman. She has, through a wholesale failure to understand her role as Attorney General, politicised an independent criminal inquiry, presupposing the outcome and embarrassing the CPS.

She won't go though.

[citizenJA]

Good afternoon, everyone.

[AnatolyKasparov]

The Secret Barrister
‏

@BarristerSecret
1h1 hour ago
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This, I’m afraid, is a resigning issue for @SuellaBraverman. She has, through a wholesale failure to understand her role as Attorney General, politicised an independent criminal inquiry, presupposing the outcome and embarrassing the CPS.

She won't go though.

She should never have been picked originally, for her cretinous "cultural Marxism" comments alone.

[frog222]

When the first of June becomes 9AM today,and the Reality is the end of June !

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... nd-of-june" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

” Public health departments in councils are supposed to take on “complex cases”, where there might be a local outbreak, where home visits may be appropriate, or other situations that cannot be resolved over the phone ”

Instead of doling out £££££££££££’s to Rupert Soames’ Serco and Other Friends, local councils could have hired local people to help out.

For a fraction of the cost.

[RogerOThornhill]

Did people see Monbiot's article from yesterday?

Tory privatisation is at the heart of the UK's disastrous coronavirus response

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... lic-policy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Take, for example, the lethal failures to provide protective clothing, masks and other equipment (PPE) to health workers. A report by the campaigning group We Own It seeks to explain why so many doctors, nurses and other hospital workers have died unnecessarily of Covid-19. It describes a system built around the needs not of health workers or patients, but of corporations and commercial contracts: a system that could scarcely be better designed for failure.

Four layers of commercial contractors, each rich with opportunities for profit-making, stand between doctors and nurses and the equipment they need. These layers are then fragmented into 11 tottering, uncoordinated supply chains, creating an almost perfect formula for chaos. Among the many weak links in these chains are consultancy companies like Deloitte, whose farcical attempts to procure emergency supplies of PPE have been fiercely criticised by both manufacturers and health workers.

Can anyone explain precisely what companies like this actually add?

[citizenJA]

Did people see Monbiot's article from yesterday?

Tory privatisation is at the heart of the UK's disastrous coronavirus response

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... lic-policy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Take, for example, the lethal failures to provide protective clothing, masks and other equipment (PPE) to health workers. A report by the campaigning group We Own It seeks to explain why so many doctors, nurses and other hospital workers have died unnecessarily of Covid-19. It describes a system built around the needs not of health workers or patients, but of corporations and commercial contracts: a system that could scarcely be better designed for failure.

Four layers of commercial contractors, each rich with opportunities for profit-making, stand between doctors and nurses and the equipment they need. These layers are then fragmented into 11 tottering, uncoordinated supply chains, creating an almost perfect formula for chaos. Among the many weak links in these chains are consultancy companies like Deloitte, whose farcical attempts to procure emergency supplies of PPE have been fiercely criticised by both manufacturers and health workers.

Can anyone explain precisely what companies like this actually add?

they add to the costs we're expected to pay to them for doing nothing

[citizenJA]

UK suffers highest death rate from coronavirus
Free to read
FT analysis of data from 19 countries finds Britain hit hardest, ahead of US, Italy, Spain and Belgium
https://www.ft.com/content/6b4c784e-c25 ... 8ffde71bf0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Came out about five hours ago

The UK has suffered the highest rate of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic among countries that produce comparable data, according to excess mortality figures. The UK has registered 59,537 more deaths than usual since the week ending March 20, indicating that the virus has directly or indirectly killed 891 people per million.

At this stage of the pandemic, that is a higher rate of death than in any country for which high-quality data exist. The absolute number of excess deaths in the UK is also the highest in Europe, and second only to the US in global terms... .
---
The timing of lockdowns relative to the spread of the virus had a significant effect on the total level of excess deaths, the data show. Countries such as Germany and Norway, which imposed restrictions when the spread of the virus was limited, suffered much lower levels of additional deaths than those in the UK where the government waited longer before ordering a lockdown.

A UK government spokesperson said it was “wrong and premature to be drawing conclusions at this stage” and that excess deaths should be adjusted for age.

UK government says any meaningless string of words and lies expecting we go down on our knees in praising thanks for it

[frog222]

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-m ... -contract/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

dark-money-investigations/revealed-serco-under-fire-over-fresh-90m-covid-19-contract/

My neighbouring farmers are ALSO making hay while the sun shines ...

[frog222]

Robert Saunders
@redhistorian
The govt has decided to shut down the online Parliament. In future, only those present in the Chamber will be allowed to take part. The Speaker's letter on this has three main takeaways, that should matter to anyone who cares about our democracy. [THREAD]

UNROLL ---

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1266 ... 27107.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1. The Speaker confirms that only 50 MPs will be allowed in the Chamber - the same as under the current hybrid model. So this is not about "MPs returning to work", as Rees-Mogg claimed. It simply shuts out those who could previously participate online.
2. Public Health England has advised "that the House cannot conduct divisions safely via the lobbies". Yet no alternative system of voting has been agreed. So a decision was taken to switch off the online system before any consideration of how Parliament would vote in person.
3.The Speaker writes that "it is for the Govt to decide what proposal for voting it wishes to put forward". That, in a nutshell, is the problem. The Executive has far too much power over the institution that is supposed to hold it to account - even on how it meets & how it votes.
4. This should matter to us all. At UK level, the House of Commons is the only democratically-elected institution we have. The only people we get to vote in or out of power are MPs. For as long as nearly 600 of them are shut out of Parliament, our democracy is partially suspended
5. The govt did not choose to have a pandemic that made it so hard for Parlt to function. But it can choose how to respond. The goal should be to expand participation, not shrink it; to use every possible tool to allow MPs to participate. Instead, it has barred the digital gates.
6. Ministers could do this, in the teeth of cross-party opposition, merely by refusing to table the necessary Standing Orders. If we are to maintain proper democratic scrutiny of govt, we *have* to loosen the grip of the Executive over the institution that holds it to account.END
A postscript: the hybrid model was not ideal either and also limited participation. But the goal should have been to build on that and expand it, not simply to switch it off and shrink the numbers. And crucially, the decision to do that should never have lain with the Executive.

Comments " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; such as this --

Mike Wonham
@BarrelhouseMike 2h En réponse à @redhistorian et @IanDunt

This and it's implications are possibly the biggest news about our democracy for two years and a far bigger threat then EU membership ever was. Can't imagine Thatcher or any other PM in last 100yrs who would have even considered taking this approach.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Vallance and Whitty effectively gagged, then?

[PorFavor]

He was neither wearing nor brandishing his glasses. Does he feel that they're now an unneeded prop?

[citizenJA]

from [Sir Patrick] Vallance...

...54,000 new cases are estimated to be occurring every week – that is not a low number, he stresses.
...still a significant burden of infection, there are still new infections every day at quite a significant rate, and the R is close to 1, he says.
...there isn’t a lot of room to do things...need to be done cautiously and monitored, and the test and trace system needs to be effective, he says.
An estimated 6.78% of people have had Covid-19, he says.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ ... 882655a89f" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(cJA bold)
We've no business opening schools or businesses
it's too dangerous

[Willow904]

Wow.

Hard to argue with a single sentence of this, it lays out about as succinctly as anything I've read why the Cummings fiasco has become so toxic for the government:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/bor ... ssion=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Boris Johnson isn’t fit to lead

[frog222]

This story gets worse, and worse, and worse ….

So the Johnson Régime were offered a (radical!) lockdown solution for care homes and turned it down .

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... oronavirus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wordfail .

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Evening all.

Having lived in Durham for 6 years, I’ve been intrigued by the detail of the Cummings affair.

One thing is troubling me. There was a report at the weekend of a sighting of Cummings and family viewing bluebells in Houghall Woods. I know very well where these are and very beautiful too.

In the Rose Garden statement he seemed to allude to this, saying he had been for a walk in his father’s property and had seen other families at a distance. Thing is as far as I can now tell about the family property it’s nowhere near Houghall.

[citizenJA]

Goodnight, everyone.
love,
cJA

[frog222]

Evening all.

Having lived in Durham for 6 years, I’ve been intrigued by the detail of the Cummings affair.

One thing is troubling me. There was a report at the weekend of a sighting of Cummings and family viewing bluebells in Houghall Woods. I know very well where these are and very beautiful too.

In the Rose Garden statement he seemed to allude to this, saying he had been for a walk in his father’s property and had seen other families at a distance. Thing is as far as I can now tell about the family property it’s nowhere near Houghall.

Hi Paul, get an eyeful of this --
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/05/28/five ... s-johnson/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Suppressed Russia Report

During his time as Foreign Secretary, a key Conservative donor, Alexander Temerko, a Russian emigre, told Reuters that he would meet Boris Johnson over a glass of wine at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and plot against Theresa May.
D
Johnson has extensive Russian connections and, during the EU Referendum campaign, his speeches very much chimed with Vladimir Putin’s agenda of preventing the West from intervening over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Not only did wealthy Russian oligarchs provide a large amount of Conservative Party funding, but Johnson promoted Russian and Ukrainian festivals while Mayor of London, which were heavily promoted by emigres close to the Kremlin. Johnson also partied with Alexander Lebedev, the father of the owner of the Independent, who was once a KGB officer and now supports the annexation of Crimea.

Dominic Cummings spent three years in post-Soviet Russia in the late 1990s – as an ‘investment analyst’, he told the BBC in 2002. A friend and soon to be brother-in-law, Jack Wakefield, was one of the directors of the Firtash Foundation from 2008 until 2013 until the Ukrainian oligarch was indicted for money laundering by the FBI and held under house arrest in Vienna awaiting extradition.

Does Cummings know something about Johnson’s Russian connections which could be especially embarrassing given the extraordinary suppression of the Intelligence and Security Committee’s Russia Report?

ANYONE who thinks that that is crazy, tell us why the Russia report may never be seen ?

[RogerOThornhill]

Tomorrow's Mail ha a story that Cummings is 'set to quit in 6 months'

https://news.sky.com/story/fridays-nati ... s-11996503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[frog222]

Tomorrow's Mail ha a story that Cummings is 'set to quit in 6 months'

https://news.sky.com/story/fridays-nati ... s-11996503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good to see he's setting the agenda !

[adam]

Tomorrow's Mail ha a story that Cummings is 'set to quit in 6 months'

https://news.sky.com/story/fridays-nati ... s-11996503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good to see he's setting the agenda !

Create havoc by crashing us out of the EU transition without a trade agreement so those who can may have their pickings, and then go on his way. Johnson too, maybe.