Originally posted by Boilk
* Nothing to do with politics - it's just that I'm still trying to beat Morse's time of 11 minutes for completing the Times crossword.
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Matt's a genius - not enough in itself to persuade me to switch to the Telegraph*, but we do have books containing many of his masterpieces over the last few years.
* Nothing to do with politics - it's just that I'm still trying to beat Morse's time of 11 minutes for completing the Times crossword. -
An 'interesting' move
It does remove the political problem of numbers tested never reaching the much trumpeted targets, but presumably brings other problems with it in terms of availability of data, and won't necessarily stop the questions as to whether the testing programme is functioning as it should.Comment
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How can care homes be criticized for not following the correct procedures when - as a government minister appears to have said - no such procedures existed at the time?
Now - where did I put that A4 sheet they sent us on 'Coping with a sudden influx of discharged hospital patients who may or may not be infected with Covid-19'?
Downing Street seems to be taking after Trumptown in this respect - the boss produces an off-the-cuff statement which colleagues are then wheeled out to deny, explain, clarify, contextualise, defuse or otherwise cope with.Comment
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The PM has only been let loose to speak, off the cuff, recently - as part of the big re-launch of this government - to start us all (or those of us lacking scepticism) on the upward road to 2021 and the rosy future of UK unchained.........
The more you see of him, the more facets of his inadequacy are revealed, in high definition. Apparently Cummings and his cohorts by-words are never explain, never apologise - but they have had to adapt that, on occasion in the face of these times of extreme crisis. Hence, no apology today, but the attempts to explain it away, with the implication its our fault for taking his words at their exact meaning...
My take on the care sector - at the risk of stating the obvious - is that there was a ring of abandonment thrown around them in March, April, May - mostly minimum wage workers, so many of them dedicated to their clients and residents and in personal danger but in a fragmented sector lacking the powerful voices of medical sector workers' representative organisations. I wonder if the media, the public are too jaded in the sorry catalogue of inadequacy to give this wounding insult much traction.......
- this has been going on for some time now - although not much for the PM himself. Its given rise to some good quotable material - for example if anyone in Burnley, Rotherham - well anywhere really - would like to buy influence over planning decisions, they have equal access for the price of a ticket to a party fundraising dinner (we were asked to believe). (Nadim Zadawi, "Today" Radio 4). For the rota of ministers, I see it as work experience in the art of - as you say - denial, distraction, blame shifting. Its an essential skill for the next four years.......Originally posted by LMcD View PostLast edited by Cockney Sparrow; 07-07-20, 15:31.Comment
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Well was going to happen.................and Is Trump next?Comment
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One way of getting rid of these people is if they continue to, er...... live by their words.Originally posted by DracoM View PostComment
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Astonishing that - the odds-off "0utsider" coming up and overtaking the favourite at the finishing line!Originally posted by Bryn View Post
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Some interesting stats in here.
Numbers testing positive in my area are really very low, 1 or 2 positive tests per 100k over 7 days, with in many areas a sharp rate of decline from the previous week.
Lets hope that these improvements continue, and give people the confidence to return to some normal activities, where appropriate.
You might think that numbers like that would be reassuring , at least at a local level.I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
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I’m a little puzzled by the continuing embargo on singers as lockdown diminishes. I do a lot of singing, and one of the things I’ve learnt is that speaking often uses more air than singing, because singers have much greater control of their breathing that people do when speaking (or shouting or whispering). So the ban on singing at weddings seems ludicrous.
Actually, in my experience of providing the music in wedding services, the hymn singing is often so feeble that the viruses would probably fall fast asleep.
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The Borders figure for the most recent period of 7 days is given as -0.87 per 100.000. How can there be less than 0 cases per 100,000?Originally posted by teamsaint View PostSome interesting stats in here.
Numbers testing positive in my area are really very low, 1 or 2 positive tests per 100k over 7 days, with in many areas a sharp rate of decline from the previous week.
Lets hope that these improvements continue, and give people the confidence to return to some normal activities, where appropriate.
You might think that numbers like that would be reassuring , at least at a local level.Comment
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Reporting errors? An artefact of an imperfect process - a correction from last week perhaps?Originally posted by Bryn View Post
There were still 155 deaths yesterday according to the data in the article I saw. Maybe these were lagged cases - as it may take a few weeks from contracting the disease to final outcome, but the curves do seem to be flattening off. If there is no significant improvement from now on assuming a daily rate of around 100 deaths, that's going to be 36,500 people in the 12 months from now on - still a rather large number, and a matter of considerable concern. I just don't think any of us currently know what the endgame for this particular outbreak is going to be, or if there is an endgame. Maybe the disease is just going to become endemic.
I'm fairly sure that most of us hope that this thing will either "just go away", or become a generally mild disease, or that we can develop effective vaccines, but right now this still looks really rather uncertain. The herd immunity solution in which the disease is allowed to rip through until most people have either died or acquired some immunity, still seems very unlikely in the short to medium term, despite efforts of leaders of countries such as Brazil to catch it, perhaps as an act of defiance.
Even if we get it under tighter control in the UK, which still seems uncertain at present, the spread through other countries with the possibility of it being reintroduced to countries where it has been brought under some control, presents a potentially significant threat.
We are still being fairly cautious, but I'd prefer to see the rates down by another factor of 10 before feeling more willing to accept some/more risks. I believe that would then be comparable with, or even lower than, the rates due to "regular" flu.
At least most of us should be thankful that we're still alive.Comment
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I'm not sure its the singing itself which is the problem. Like you, I miss my rehearsals and performances, and I wonder when and under what circumstances I will sing again. This issue was discussed in "Music Matters" (11:45 4 July, R3) - Sarah Connolly indicating there is urgently needed research underway now in the UK.Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View PostI’m a little puzzled by the continuing embargo on singers as lockdown diminishes. I do a lot of singing, and one of the things I’ve learnt is that speaking often uses more air than singing, because singers have much greater control of their breathing that people do when speaking (or shouting or whispering). So the ban on singing at weddings seems ludicrous.
Actually, in my experience of providing the music in wedding services, the hymn singing is often so feeble that the viruses would probably fall fast asleep.
Last year I went to a talk about air pollution - especially vehicle related. The scientist related how for a long, long time, they didn't realise very small particles were just as or more pernicious than larger particles on which they had focussed research and recommendations for policy. And that around motorways there could be these verys small particles suspended in the air over a large area - kilometres. Only significant wind speeds would disperse/move them.
This news today doesn't seem encouraging -
"The potential for Covid-19 to spread through airborne transmission by lingering in the air is being underplayed by the World Health Organization, a group of scientists have said."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...say-scientists
Which the WHO has today acknowledged, whilst stressing that droplets are still likely to be the main means of transmission.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...navirus-spread
Protection from highly effective masks might be possible in crowded environments for essential needs - medical treatment etc but this places entertainment, dramatic and musical performance in crowded/interior locations in question again. There was a discussion with a scientist about this with suggestions how to amend our environments and behaviours in this World Service programme last night - from 01:00 (the first minute) for about 6 minutes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172x18tdnflqfzComment
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That's very interesting, thanks. I'm about to travel into Scotland and our home area infectivity etc stats are slightly better, if anything, than the locality we will go to. Should anyone there want to know.Originally posted by Bryn View Post
I was wondering about the access to data after the news that the statistics would not be published as they had been before - in the context of the end of the daily press conference and blackout on testing statistics.
I was waiting to hear on this thread whether that would sever access to information to compare data pre pandemic, in the months March to present, and ongoing. I'm afraid I haven't the skills to look into the data sources mentioned previously on this thread but I am concerned if that is now to be withheld (although I expect the Office Nat. Stats. data "rear window" weeks later would not be withheld?).Comment
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I can see the aerosol problems are not insignificant and masks would not really be very satisfactory - it is significant how pre covid coughs and colds spread amongst choirs - the social distancing required would mean that bigger rehearsal venues would needed - but it is very frustrating that it is now coming up to 4 months since my choirs and singing groups met and likely to be quite some time longer.Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View PostI’m a little puzzled by the continuing embargo on singers as lockdown diminishes. I do a lot of singing, and one of the things I’ve learnt is that speaking often uses more air than singing, because singers have much greater control of their breathing that people do when speaking (or shouting or whispering). So the ban on singing at weddings seems ludicrous.
Actually, in my experience of providing the music in wedding services, the hymn singing is often so feeble that the viruses would probably fall fast asleep.Comment
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