Monday 10 August 2020

[citizenJA]

Good morning, everyone.

[citizenJA]

I'm terrified by this government

[AnatolyKasparov]

Belarus.

If it can happen there, it could happen here. Never give up hope.

[citizenJA]

Week 31 (27th July to 2nd August)
Coronavirus (COVID-19) positive cases by Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) in England
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewe ... 6912ed7076" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

number of new cases

[citizenJA]

[AnatolyKasparov]

And this morning the Lebanese government appears to have fallen.

Again, people power can work.

[Willow904]

And this morning the Lebanese government appears to have fallen.

Again, people power can work.

Bringing down governments is one thing. Getting something better in their place is the really tricky bit.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Sure, its the beginning not the end.

Just that we should never forget that we have the power to do it, if we choose.

[citizenJA]

What Is Rent Seeking?

Rent seeking (or rent-seeking) is an economic concept that occurs when an entity seeks to gain added wealth without any reciprocal contribution of productivity.
Typically, it revolves around government-funded social services and social service programs.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rentseeking.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(cJA bold)
What?
Public service provision isn't rent seeking.

[Willow904]

What Is Rent Seeking?

Rent seeking (or rent-seeking) is an economic concept that occurs when an entity seeks to gain added wealth without any reciprocal contribution of productivity.
Typically, it revolves around government-funded social services and social service programs.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rentseeking.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(cJA bold)
What?
Public service provision isn't rent seeking.

It's a poor article that fails to define "rent-seeking" accurately in that a major component of rent seeking is the ability to influence public policy. ie it's an activity that's only open to those with a certain degree of power and is basically a form of corruption that sees public money intended to achieve certain aims flow into the pockets of those who have made no contribution to achieving those aims either in terms of investment (ie risking their own money) or labour. It can also exist more broadly outside the sphere of public service provision, with the power to influence being key. For instance, protection rackets run by the mafia are a form of rent seeking. More here:

https://marketbusinessnews.com/financia ... aning/amp/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What is rent-seeking? Definition and meaning

[Willow904]

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ssion=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Why did England have Europe's worst Covid figures? The answer starts with austerity

"Underlying conditions" is a nasty phrase that makes preventable deaths appear inevitable but there is nothing inevitable about health inequalities. I particularly enjoyed this understated but damning exchange with a Tory minister:

Changes made to the tax and benefit system introduced in 2015 went on in a similar vein: the lower the family income, the bigger the loss as a result of the chancellor’s policies. I sat with a former minister in the Conservative government, showed him these figures and said: “Your government’s policy was ‘make the poor poorer’.” He looked uncomfortable and said that perhaps it was not their explicit policy. But there are smart people in the Treasury and they must have known that this would be the effect.

[citizenJA]

@Willow904
Thank you for that link, much better.

[citizenJA]

education secretary says Covid-19 unlikely to spread in classrooms
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ ... es-schools" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think the health secretary said COVID-19 was unlikely to spread in care homes

[citizenJA]

I knew a little about what rent seeking means, I was looking for synonyms.
investopedia link seemed a tortured example

[citizenJA]

Constance sipping rosemary gin fizz

[GetYou]

education secretary says Covid-19 unlikely to spread in classrooms
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ ... es-schools" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think the health secretary said COVID-19 was unlikely to spread in care homes

In March there was “little evidence that masks helped stop the spread of the disease”

[citizenJA]

Masks, hand sanitiser, gloves & frequent hand washings are in addition to my staying at least two metres away from others when I go out.

[citizenJA]

I don't go out where I'll need those too frequently.
That link I've posted above are new cases of C19 infection.
All over England, new cases

[citizenJA]

I don't go out where I'll need those too frequently.
That link I've posted above are new cases of C19 infection.
All over England, new cases

31st July to 6th August
Coronavirus (COVID-19) positive cases by Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) in England
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewe ... 6912ed7076" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

updated

[GetYou]

Masks, hand sanitiser, gloves & frequent hand washings are in addition to my staying at least two metres away from others when I go out.

Yes to gloves. I was out at the weekend and surprised by the number of people willing to touch the same surfaces as others.

[citizenJA]

Masks, hand sanitiser, gloves & frequent hand washings are in addition to my staying at least two metres away from others when I go out.

Yes to gloves. I was out at the weekend and surprised by the number of people willing to touch the same surfaces as others.

I can't wash my hands as frequently as I'd like when I'm out, I've got to use hand sanitizers. Repeated applications of alcohol destroys skin integrity. The environmental impact of disposable protective kit is harmful. All I can do is minimise the need for them by not going out much.

[GetYou]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... ols-reopen

Not seen this stat before

asymptomatic Covid transmission is estimated to account for 40% of community transmission, and potentially more among school-age children

[frog222]

Has the LP said ANYTHING about the privatising of T & T ? I ask because I've only heard that they have criticised the Tories for not carrying out a successful ..... privatisation !


Contrast , some joined-up thinking -- From the LB

The Independent SAGE group has published a discussion document on contact tracing and self-isolation, with five key recommendations:

Contracts with outsourcing firms SERCO and Sitel should be cancelled, privatised call centres should be scrapped and budgets should be shifted to contact tracers recruited and traced on a local authority level
The Deloitte testing contract (which you will have seen operating in car parks) should be ended because not enough of the results are being received within 48 hours
Home testing should be scrapped, and instead everyone in England should have a local testing centre
There should be a new national framework for local authorities to make decisions about local restrictions
Central government should focus on evidence-based strategy and financial support to local authorities and those who will be asked to self-isolate.

[citizenJA]

Has the LP said ANYTHING about the privatising of T & T ? I ask because I've only heard that they have criticised the Tories for not carrying out a successful ..... privatisation !


Contrast , some joined-up thinking -- From the LB

The Independent SAGE group has published a discussion document on contact tracing and self-isolation, with five key recommendations:

Contracts with outsourcing firms SERCO and Sitel should be cancelled, privatised call centres should be scrapped and budgets should be shifted to contact tracers recruited and traced on a local authority level
The Deloitte testing contract (which you will have seen operating in car parks) should be ended because not enough of the results are being received within 48 hours
Home testing should be scrapped, and instead everyone in England should have a local testing centre
There should be a new national framework for local authorities to make decisions about local restrictions
Central government should focus on evidence-based strategy and financial support to local authorities and those who will be asked to self-isolate.

The Labour Party
@UKLabour
Test and trace should be in public hands and locally led, not left to the likes of Serco.
Halt 'failing' Serco's new contract to run test-and-trace services, …
A new lucrative contract for private giant Serco to run test-and-trace services should be stopped, Labour says – arguing the stakes are too high to “tolerate failure”.
independent.co.uk
2:45 pm · 10 Aug 2020
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AnatolyKasparov]

That is a hardening of Labour's line AFAICS, and if so a welcome one.

[citizenJA]

In our post-democracy, “public opinion” is not only a source of policy. It’s also an object of policy. Public attitudes, outlooks and behaviour are now a central focus of government policy – the goal of which is not to change the situations people find themselves in, but to change people’s feelings about their situations. Post-democratic government is not unconcerned with what you think or want or need. But it doesn’t require your participation. It just needs to know how you might respond to the various things it might do to you.

What the prime minister’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, understands that most politicians do not is that polling, surveys and focus groups don’t tell you what people think or what public opinion definitively “is”. They provide a rough map of possibilities and probabilities of what people might come to think, depending on various potential scenarios and actions.

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

This is very serious and dangerous - psychological manipulation works
that damned December 2019 GE result
what are decent people supposed to do?

[citizenJA]

That is a hardening of Labour's line AFAICS, and if so a welcome one.

agreed

[frog222]

That is a hardening of Labour's line AFAICS, and if so a welcome one.

agreed

Hadn't seen the very latest, but am I correct in thinking that they have been monumentally SLOW ?

[citizenJA]

That is a hardening of Labour's line AFAICS, and if so a welcome one.

agreed

Hadn't seen the very latest, but am I correct in thinking that they have been monumentally SLOW ?

nah...

[citizenJA]

Goodnight, everyone.
love,
cJA