Coronavirus

[Serial_Apologist]

Meanwhile....

European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan has said there is no real sign that Britain is approaching trade talks with the EU with a plan to succeed and it appears set to blame any post-Brexit fallout on the economic shock from Covid-19.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke, Mr Hogan said: "Despite the urgency and enormity of the negotiating challenge, I am afraid we are only making very slow progress in the Brexit negotiations.

"There is no real sign that our British friends are approaching the negotiations with a plan to succeed. I hope I am wrong, but I don't think so.

"I think that the United Kingdom politicians and government have certainly decided that Covid is going to be blamed for all the fallout from Brexit and my perception of it is they don't want to drag the negotiations out into 2021 because they can effectively blame Covid for everything."

They are reaching out ever further for non-sequiturs in their desperation to support their hark back to nationalism, knowing full well that while raising the nationalist rhetoric to please a disenfranchised voting demographic is one thing, reverting to an earlier stage of capitalism is a non-viable panacea.

[Serial_Apologist]

There is an article on the ITPro website about the NHS. These are a couple of quotes:



My bold



Not unexpected.

There are some valid reasons to go down the centralised route rather than using the decentralised Apple/Google app that many other European countries are opting for. However, I suspect it has a lot to do with the Brexit mentality (we'll show johnny foreigner that we can do better, anyway we certainly don't want to copy what those EU countries are doing) - the same attitude that the government displayed with regard to ventilators, preferring to re-invent the wheel (Dyson for heaven's sake).

The full article: https://www.itpro.co.uk/software/dev...rce=newsletter

Channel 4 news's new exposé revealing the running down of PPE stock piles to near zero levels up to Covid-19, and the deliberate re-labelling of past use by dated stocks, has to surpass every other aspect of government recklessness in this fiasco.

[MrGongGong]

Today's photo

[MrGongGong]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/05/boris-johnson-boasted-of-shaking-hands-on-day-sage-warned-not-to?fbclid=IwAR2kLnLBizuf2hq3t-ErWO4lx6dB43ADg_NMDhQsKqz7_F2OM_k0jHle4-0

[Petrushka]

And now we have this. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...mixed-messages

This is exactly what I feared would happen as soon as Johnson opened his mouth and mentioned lockdown release. We are nowhere near such a situation and the stupidity of both media and Government could have potentially serious and catastrophic consequences.

[Dave2002]

And now we have this. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...mixed-messages

This is exactly what I feared would happen as soon as Johnson opened his mouth and mentioned lockdown release. We are nowhere near such a situation and the stupidity of both media and Government could have potentially serious and catastrophic consequences.

Indeed.

In the meantime, here’s an article about the likelihood of a vaccine being developed in a relatively short time - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...=pocket-newtab

Not really too encouraging, but one can hope.

[teamsaint]

And rumblings about the app........

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/may/07/uk-may-ditch-nhs-contact-tracing-app-for-apple-and-google-model

[johnb]

And rumblings about the app........

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...d-google-model

They are following the best scientific advice.

They are following the strategy they set out early in the pandemic. This is the next stage and they are on target.

[Dave2002]

They are following the best scientific advice.

They are following the strategy they set out early in the pandemic. This is the next stage and they are on target.

Best advice? How do you know?

On target for what, exactly?

[MrGongGong]

Best advice? How do you know?

On target for what, exactly?

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sarcasm

[Dave2002]

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dic...nglish/sarcasm

Ah - perhaps my irony detector wasn’t switched on.

I did take into account the person who posted though, which affected my sensitivity.

[johnb]

Ah - perhaps my irony detector wasn’t switched on.

I did take into account the person who posted though, which affected my sensitivity.

You WHAT?

I am puzzled.

Would you care to explain the basis for that remark?

[LMcD]

Young people looking for role models need look no (sorry, make that considerably) further than certain soccer and rugby union players.

[Serial_Apologist]

You WHAT?

I am puzzled.

Would you care to explain the basis for that remark?

Whenever I'm attempting to convey irony, if it might not be clear I always try to remember to use the emoticon to avoid possible ambiguity.

[johnb]

Whenever I'm attempting to convey irony, if it might not be clear I always try to remember to use the emoticon to avoid possible ambiguity.

Normally I would agree with you but nobody believes those two government mantras to be true, not even the ministers regularly trot them out.

Matt Hancock doesn't believe them, Boris Johnson doesn't believe them, babes in arms don't believe them, cats and dogs in the street don't believe them, even Pritti Patel doesn't believe them. On second thoughts Pritti Patel probably does believe them.

It was the "I did take into account the person who posted though" that ... err ... took me by surprise. I'm obviously a credulous supporter of the government and its handling of the pandemic. News to me - but there you go.