I think this sums up capitalism/batman-as-hero ^_^
UK Politics - BoJo and chums
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I think this sums up capitalism/batman-as-hero ^_^
I'm sure it was a work event. I want to work in an office like Bojo's No 10. Nowhere I've worked has had such a relaxed attitude to boozing at work.
Well, im pleased Drakeford has done a U turn on his Covid restrictions, even if he does not call it that. Seems as though the letters i sent out to my assembly members may have actually done some good. Lets just revisit a couple of the things he said when he announced them?
Neither of these things were even remotely true. Certainly on the first one i think this borders on scaremongering. MAYBE the rate did double for about a week, but not much beyond that. And in any case, Drakefords problem, just like other politicians who are over reacting to Covid, is that they have tunnel vision on the infection rate. Now that the vaccine roll out is complete this needs to change. Its the job of government to make sure that public health systems do not collapse. It is not the job of government to stop people from catching a virus. Providing hospitals are or can cope, even if they moan and groan a bit, then you should just let things go. It is worth pointing out that on the 16th December (i.e. before Omicron really took hold) there were 167 people in ICU with Covid in Wales. Today, now we are apparently past its peak, there are 166 people in ICU - and its remained fairly static throughout.
We dont close down society for outbreaks of flu or even noro virus, which now are arguably more dangerous than Covid because people have not been mass vaccinated against either of those. We are likely moving from a stage of pandemic to one of endemic. But people like Drakeford have not moved with the times. Which is not entirely surprising. But nevertheless frustrating.
Neither of these things were even remotely true. Certainly on the first one i think this borders on scaremongering. MAYBE the rate did double for about a week, but not much beyond that. And in any case, Drakefords problem, just like other politicians who are over reacting to Covid, is that they have tunnel vision on the infection rate. Now that the vaccine roll out is complete this needs to change. Its the job of government to make sure that public health systems do not collapse. It is not the job of government to stop people from catching a virus. Providing hospitals are or can cope, even if they moan and groan a bit, then you should just let things go. It is worth pointing out that on the 16th December (i.e. before Omicron really took hold) there were 167 people in ICU with Covid in Wales. Today, now we are apparently past its peak, there are 166 people in ICU - and its remained fairly static throughout.
We dont close down society for outbreaks of flu or even noro virus, which now are arguably more dangerous than Covid because people have not been mass vaccinated against either of those. We are likely moving from a stage of pandemic to one of endemic. But people like Drakeford have not moved with the times. Which is not entirely surprising. But nevertheless frustrating.
thetrooper
Misanthrope
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Snowygerry
Deity
To be fair - and I do not know when he made those statements exactly - but a couple weeks back that was far from clear, it is precisely your experience (in the UK, Denmark also, being comparable datasets) of the last weeks that has allowed specialists to come your conclusion there...
But for the moment, it seems you're correct yes.
Senethro
Overlord
Probably what Keir wanted in the first place, less investment by members of the public, more by large companies. He is a fake.
At least temporarily, there is going to be herd immunity against omicron. In fact, the UK is either close to or over the herd immunity threshold already, otherwise cases would not be going down like they are. How long this lasts and when the next variant is going to arrive is an open question, but until then, there will be herd immunity.
Not really. With omicron and the current vaccines, the vaccines only help those who will be vaccinated, because they are not good enough to prevent the spread. Overloaded emergency services is an argument for lockdowns, but if you run into that problem, you want to lockdown as late as possible, so that they are running exactly at capacity (in theory, in practice you need some safety margin).
A wave will last until a large share of the population is immune against the current variant one way or the other. A lockdown does nothing to change that. At the end, you will have a small share of unvaccinated people who never got infected. Statistically, the chances to end up in this group depend on the relative (not absolute!) number of contacts (actually the relative cumulative infection risk, but lets go with contacts to keep it simple). So if you have 1 contact per week and everybody else has 50 contacts per week, you have a high chance to never get infected. However, if everyone else is forced to reduce their contacts to 1 per week as well, you have the same small chance like everyone else. Or in other words: You may have a smaller chance per week to get infected, but the wave lasts so much longer that the total risk is increased by a large amount.
I'm aware they won't prevent spread, but I believe mitigation is still desirable. As for overloading emergency services, believe me when I say the government has left a negative margin, and that current efforts are only succeeding due to workers punching above their weight in both commitment and outcome (all the while being denied appropriate financial compensation for such vital work).
I realise this is going to differ between countries - I'm not trying to generalise universally. I also don't want to make this too much about Covid, because this is the UK politics thread (though the two are depressingly intertwined).
Thanks for explaining - I appreciate the link now. The problem is it will come down to how much smaller the chance is (per week, or however long) to get infected, vs. how much longer the risk continues for. I'm not sure I agree that the wave would last long enough to make the reduction in chance not worth it overall. But it would be incredibly contextual - both for the vulnerable group in question, and logistically for the area they and any contacts live in.
innonimatu
the resident Cassandra
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@uppi Temporary immunity is a matter of about 4 months. The EMA admited as much when it mentioned the problem of vaccines every 4 months. That's not long enough even for temporary "herd immunity". Look at South Africa, cases have fallen to about half of the peak - and are now holding there!
But it's also worseing. Many more people with the virus means faster evolution and more variants. Odd are without cross immunity between increasing different variants. Immunity from delta or the vaccines already cannot stop you getting omicron. So the future down this path of living with the virus without NPI means catching omicron this month, delta the next (is isn't gone) and zeta the other...
Mitigation is indeed desirable at the least because it reduces the odds of the virus quickly giving us new variants to contend with. But of course this is headed for disaster anyway. Most of the world chose not to attempt to wipe out SARS-COV2 so it will keep evolving. And this will only be stopped when this SARS kicks up a much more deadly variant, like SARS-COV1 or MERS. You at least want some other county, not yours, to be ground zero for the new variant and the mass death that follows because they are letting the virus run wild and won't be able to stop it fast enough.
With Boris in decline and scrambling for popularity, and a population tired of this pandemic, the UK has a recipe for disaster.
and will surely spread it also.
But it's also worseing. Many more people with the virus means faster evolution and more variants. Odd are without cross immunity between increasing different variants. Immunity from delta or the vaccines already cannot stop you getting omicron. So the future down this path of living with the virus without NPI means catching omicron this month, delta the next (is isn't gone) and zeta the other...
Mitigation is indeed desirable at the least because it reduces the odds of the virus quickly giving us new variants to contend with. But of course this is headed for disaster anyway. Most of the world chose not to attempt to wipe out SARS-COV2 so it will keep evolving. And this will only be stopped when this SARS kicks up a much more deadly variant, like SARS-COV1 or MERS. You at least want some other county, not yours, to be ground zero for the new variant and the mass death that follows because they are letting the virus run wild and won't be able to stop it fast enough.
With Boris in decline and scrambling for popularity, and a population tired of this pandemic, the UK has a recipe for disaster.
and will surely spread it also.
GinandTonic
Saphire w/ Schweps + Lime
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It would seem that the parties who were party to the party must depart.
As Operation Save Big Dog is launched officials scour their contracts to see if fall on own sword to save the PM's face is actually in there.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-60015041
I don't know how Sir Jeffrey managed to swing this but double jobbing is back in Northern Ireland allowing him to stand in the next assembly elections in May while keeping his seat in Westminster.
Ian Paisley was the master of double jobbing holding local council, NI assembly, Westminster and EU seats at the same time.
I don't know how Sir Jeffrey managed to swing this but double jobbing is back in Northern Ireland allowing him to stand in the next assembly elections in May while keeping his seat in Westminster.
Ian Paisley was the master of double jobbing holding local council, NI assembly, Westminster and EU seats at the same time.
EnglishEdward
Deity
I have the suspicion that the media is making up names, yesterday it was Big Dog.
If that's the name, they're blatantly referring to populist policies to bring Tory voters onside and screw everyone else.
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