Wednesday 10th March 2021

[refitman]

Morning all.

[Willow904]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 14714.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scathing report blasts ‘unimaginable’ £37bn cost of coronavirus test and trace system
No measurable evidence that scheme made difference in slowing progress of pandemic, cross-party committee finds

[RogerOThornhill]

Good morning.

That Society of Editors chap - nice guy...

https://twitter.com/StevePeers/status/1 ... 9339119618" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RogerOThornhill]

And 'Er indoors has just gone for a biopsy...

[gilsey]

Fingers crossed for you both, RO'T.

[gilsey]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 14714.html

Scathing report blasts ‘unimaginable’ £37bn cost of coronavirus test and trace system
No measurable evidence that scheme made difference in slowing progress of pandemic, cross-party committee finds

From the G article

An internal “business case” produced by the Department of Health and Social Care in September justified spending billions on the controversial service because it would be a “main driver” in preventing a new economic shutdown.

Hollow laughter all round.


I'm assuming the NAO are eventually going to tell us what the money was supposedly spent on, would love to see the breakdown between the labs and the tracing system.

[gilsey]

Suppose it was half and half, so 11bn spent tracing 9.1m people is about £1200 each?!


Grant Shapps

9.1 million people have been contacted by test and trace. These are people who otherwise would be wandering round often unaware that they had coronavirus and spreading it around further.

[gilsey]

Here's another possible analysis.

Rossco
@ross_minton
Replying to
@faisalislam
If 80% of track & trace cost was testing that's £29.6billion for 80 million tests. That would be £370 per test. On the governments own list of 12 private testing firms 8 have a price less that £120 & the most expensive is £295? Unless I'm wrong.


Andy McDee
@mcdee_andy
Replying to
@ross_minton
and
@faisalislam
You're right. They'll be skimming money at every stage of the Covid test process. Swabs, PPE, agency workers etc.

[RogerOThornhill]

This was on the front of the printed edition.

Swingeing cuts on cards as councils in England face funding crisis, watchdog warns

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... hdog-warns" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Social care services for older and disabled adults are likely to be in line for cuts from April, along with special educational needs and homelessness spending, the NAO reported. Libraries, theatres and community centres face closure, bins would be collected less frequently, and subsidies propping up bus routes will shrink.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Good morning.

That Society of Editors chap - nice guy...

https://twitter.com/StevePeers/status/1 ... 9339119618" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, that is truly shocking news and no mistake

[RogerOThornhill]

So the PM lies to the Commons and No 10 refuses to acknowledge it even after it has been accepted by the Speaker.

https://twitter.com/peterwalker99/statu ... 9421914113" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AnatolyKasparov]

And using "he wins elections" as an "argument" against it.......

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Asked repeatedly why Boris Johnson's pants appeared to be on fire his press secretary Allegra Stratton refused to accept the flames were real.

"What you were seeing was the result of a freak weather phenomenon combined with the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn." she claimed.

When it was pointed out to her that charred rags from Johnson's pants were clearly visible on the floor of the House of Commons she responded by claiming that they were the remains of a 'weather balloon'.

[RogerOThornhill]

Talking of the PM...there's a column by him in the Telegraph today but it's not been given an "Exclusive" or any kind of prominence - it's just as if he is one of their own columnists.

Maybe they deemed it not worth making a fuss over...

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Fond memories of Piers Morgan.

https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status ... 9902566409" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

that time piers morgan had on someone he thought would be an easy target to berate live on air but instead hilariously got his ass handed to him and was exposed for the fragile man-child he is. "you look like honey-glazed gammon" lmao

[citizenJA]

Good afternoon, everyone.

[citizenJA]

And using "he wins elections" as an "argument" against it.......

it's pathetic isn't it

[citizenJA]

@AK
Ottessa Moshfegh is a contemporary novelist I admire

[citizenJA]

I'm angry about the lies and disreputable conduct of government
people aren't getting enough accurate information
the propaganda government uses works

[RogerOThornhill]

There really are no depths to which Shaun Bailey will not sink...

https://twitter.com/ShaunBaileyUK/statu ... 7759847430" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AnatolyKasparov]

Some excellent replies, though.

[refitman]

There really are no depths to which Shaun Bailey will not sink...

https://twitter.com/ShaunBaileyUK/statu ... 7759847430" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The ratio on that tweet is something else.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

There really are no depths to which Shaun Bailey will not sink...

You would need the drilling contraption Peter Cushing and Doug McClure used in At The Earth's Core to reach where he's at with that tweet.

[AnatolyKasparov]

There have been claims that Blair "did the same thing" after the Jamie Bulger killing.

Apart from the obvious point of not just Twitter but the mass internet still being a pipe dream back then, that's not really how I recall it tbh.

[gilsey]

British media 0 Meghan 2

Archie Bland
@archiebland
Ian Murray, executive director of the Society of Editors, has resigned, I'm told.

[citizenJA]

Goodnight, everyone.
love,
cJA

[Sky'sGoneOut]

There have been claims that Blair "did the same thing" after the Jamie Bulger killing.

Apart from the obvious point of not just Twitter but the mass internet still being a pipe dream back then, that's not really how I recall it tbh.

No I don't remember that either. What I do recall was an absurd effort by the Daily Mail to blame it on the 'Chucky' films.

[tinyclanger2]

Have just watched S.W.A.T with Samuel L Jackson, LL Cool J and Colin Farrell. Not for serious film viewers. Needless to say I loved it.

[tinyclanger2]

A Clanger of Very Little Taste.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

I'm late to the game with this one given my aversion to the tabloids and all things 'royal' but when you look at the the way Kate Middleton has been treated compared to Meghan Markle the difference is stark.

William gives Kate an avocado for her morning sickness - Aaaawww.
Meghan Markle eats an avocado - What the fuck is she doing??!! She's responsible for human rights abuses and drought.
Kate Middleton 'tenderly cradles her baby bump' - Aaaawww.
Meghan Markle touches her bump - What the fuck is she doing??!! Is it vanity? Is she acting?
Kate Middleton carries a bouquet of flowers - Aaaawww.
Meghan Markle carries a bouquet of flowers - What the fuck is she doing??!! She's trying to kill Princess Charlotte!

https://www.boredpanda.com/uk-media-dou ... middleton/

I can understand them being upset that a mixed race woman took their favourite prince who used to dress up like a Nazi and turned him into a decent human being, but then to whine that someone's left after you've told them to fuck off over and over again does seem a little churlish.

As for Piers Morgan, I get it. I remember how it felt when a certain Suzie got off with my mate Chris just days after I'd taken her to the pictures. At the time the wisest thing to do (after considering punching him in the face) seemed to be to get over it but it's obvious now I should have held a deep, bitter grudge and done all I could do to ruin her life. Everyone would have thought I was brilliant and not dick at all. What a fool I was.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Have just watched S.W.A.T with Samuel L Jackson, LL Cool J and Colin Farrell. Not for serious film viewers. Needless to say I loved it.

I vaguely remember endless 'witty' quips, lots of shaky cam and a SWAT team doing things you wouldn't expect them to do given their training, like leaping from vehicles spraying machine gun bullets around with casual abandon. Although that means I could be confusing it with hundreds of other films I've watched so I could be wrong.

[tinyclanger2]

Yeah that's the one. Excellent.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Have you tried 'The Terror' on the Iplayer?

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Government adviser quits over 'hostile environment' for LGBT people

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... gbt-people

Jayne Ozanne, a member of the government’s LGBT+ advisory panel, criticised equalities ministers Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch, claiming she had sat in meetings with the pair and “been astonished about how ignorant they are”.

Astonished? Really?

Although to be fair they're not the same, Liz Truss is at best potentially sentient, whereas Kemi Bedenoch knows exactly what she's doing.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

You don't have to listen to all of it. I never have. But you get the point.

[tinyclanger2]

Have you tried 'The Terror' on the Iplayer?

What's the genre? "Terror" sounds a bit grim.