Brexit, for once some facts.

flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Do you think quite a lot of these people have already had covid from one of the previous waves? This appears to be what has happened in SA and those previous infections do seem to be enough to stop most people ending up in hospital if they get Omicron.
Yes, very large numbers of them at the beginning of the pandemic. That resulted in far better London outcomes from both the Alpha and Delta waves, overall ending with less deaths than the rest of the country.
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Zlatan

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Nov 26, 2016
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A new Tory leader at present could result in an overwhelming demand for a general election, since it's far from being only Boris that's the trouble in the public view.

Trouble is then that I don't see Labour getting in at a general election without the support of Scotland, and that's long gone to the SNP.

And despite their spectacular win yesterday, the Lib Dems aren't remotely ready to win a general election.

But I do see a hung parliament and do we want another coalition, seeing the components on offer?

We really aren't in a very good place.
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That's exactly what I was going to say. Boris has lost lots of popularity but not sure much of his Tory back bench actually had much to start with. The comments re justifying not backing plan B restrictions by the so called "rebels" were almost laughable and suspect the "hawks" of Tory party have done as much damage as Boris and his flawed cabinet. IDS has come out of it all looking completely and utterly detached from public thinking.. Was listening to some Tory fool on Wednesday.. Explaining that Omicron should be allowed to run riot without any restrictions in order to prevent further mutations... And this bloke is helping run country...
I suspect the realisation has been multi faceted. Boris can't control folk that put him in power and people have seen through his bluster. I suspect people voted for Boris in spite of rest of his party.
 

flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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In an email from my niece, it seems many didn't worry about Covid and Delta this Summer:

"It has been a busy Summer in Corfe Castle, absolutely rammed with tourists making the roads so busy getting in and out of Purbeck".
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jonathan.agnew

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Dec 27, 2018
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Yes, very large numbers of them at the beginning of the pandemic. That resulted in far better London outcomes from both the Alpha and Delta waves, overall ending with less deaths than the rest of the country.
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Yeeersss..well, how can I put it, this nightmare and the pandemic started with the government experimenting with herd immunity. And didn't that work out well.
 

oyster

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Nov 7, 2017
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Simon Case didn't remember his own (alleged) involvement? Otherwise, he would, of course, have recused himself from any investigation. So amnesic...

NEW: Simon Case attended Christmas drinks at his office in December last year, according to multiple officials present.


Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Yeeersss..well, how can I put it, this nightmare and the pandemic started with the government experimenting with herd immunity. And didn't that work out well.
Sure , it wasn't a good idea at the outset for any of us, but here in London where we suffered initially by far the most from that poor decision, we were at least rewarded with a fair degree of herd immunity.

It's why the deaths from the later variants were so much lower than the rest of the country.

Now we'll have to see what Omicron does. Infections up 25% overall in London and in some parts over double the rest of the country at around 1% of a borough's population. So it sure is infectious, seems it can go though brick walls to reach that many so quickly.

I've included that for you since I know how much you love bad news.
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oyster

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Nov 7, 2017
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Thank goodness it's the weekend, there can't be anything else now. Can there?

NEW: Met Police refusing to investigate No 10 gatherings likely to be unlawful
 

Nev

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May 1, 2018
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All the evidence I am seeing suggests Omicron does not result in the amount of hospitalizations of previous waves, this might be down to it being weaker or vaccination and prior infections limit the amount of people who get seriously ill. I wonder if a bigger problem for us here in the UK might be the amount of people (eg doctors, nurses etc) that all have to isolate for 10 days at roughly the same time.

The Welsh first minster gave a briefing lunch time and said that we in Wales were a week or two behind what is currently happening in London, but we would soon be seeing similar rates of Omicron infection but at the moment Delta was what most people were catching here.
 

oyster

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Nov 7, 2017
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All the evidence I am seeing suggests Omicron does not result in the amount of hospitalizations of previous waves, this might be down to it being weaker or vaccination and prior infections limit the amount of people who get seriously ill. I wonder if a bigger problem for us here in the UK might be the amount of people (eg doctors, nurses etc) that all have to isolate for 10 days at roughly the same time.

The Welsh first minster gave a briefing lunch time and said that we in Wales were a week or two behind what is currently happening in London, but we would soon be seeing similar rates of Omicron infection but at the moment Delta was what most people were catching here.
And the whole supply chain for almost everything.
 
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Jesus H Christ

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Dec 31, 2020
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Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary who is investigating parties held in Downing Street during lockdown is accused of hosting a party of his own on 17 December :D That’s going to be an unbiased investigation then!

Why did this arse-hole accept the task of carrying out the investigation whilst knowing that he was guilty of the same thing? Surely he isn’t so spectacularly stupid that he thought it wouldn’t come out.

They may as well start again. The result won’t hold any credibility with the public.

Maybe they could get Sir Lewis Hamilton to carry out the investigation? It’s usually a job for someone with a bollicks title :D
 
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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NEW: Met Police refusing to investigate No 10 gatherings likely to be unlawful
It's a still a nonsense story, their so called experts saying "it is likely" is utterly meaningless since it also means it may not be.

The police have always had the right to decide on who or what they prosecute, according to their judgement on whether it is in the public interest. One of the factors in that decision is whether a prosecution is likely to succeed.

Given that workplaces are specifically excluded from the Covid regulations and these alleged gatherings were all in association with workplaces and the staff thereof, the decision not to pursue such petty prosecutions and waste public money in a lost cause is in my view sensible.

The police are not stupid, they know politically and personally motivated witch hunts when they see them.
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flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,196
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Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary who is investigating parties held in Downing Street during lockdown is accused of hosting a party of his own on 17 December
The perfect man for the job then, actually knowing something about the subject for a change.

Maybe they could get Sir Lewis Hamilton to carry out the investigation?
Faster to get to the conclusion?
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jonathan.agnew

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Dec 27, 2018
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But has stepped down.

He will be replaced by veteran civil servant Sue Gray, second permanent secretary at the communities and levelling up department.
Interesting, this is quite a read
Apparently she likes to keep Whitehall's secrets secret
To be fair, the whole thing smacks of Watergate, boris' attempts at cover up doing the real damage
 
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Jesus H Christ

Esteemed Pedelecer
Dec 31, 2020
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It's a still a nonsense story, their so called experts saying "it is likely" is utterly meaningless since it also means it may not be.

The police have always had the right to decide on who or what they prosecute, according to their judgement on whether it is in the public interest. One of the factors in that decision is whether a prosecution is likely to succeed.

Given that workplaces are specifically excluded from the Covid regulations and these alleged gatherings were all in association with workplaces and the staff thereof, the decision not to pursue such petty prosecutions and waste public money in a lost cause is in my view sensible.

The police are not stupid, they know politically and personally motivated witch hunts when they see them.
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With some occupations where an offence may cause an erosion of public trust, the police tend to have a lower bar when deciding whether to prosecute. They actually will prosecute their own, when a person employed in an occupation where public trust is not so important may not be. Occasionally, they bring cases against their own to court with such vigour that judges have been known to criticise the police for wasting court time.

I agree that in the case of the Downing Street parties, the working day seems to have been extended into the late evening / night for the purposes of social activity. However, once daily business had ceased and leisure / social activity began, its at that point that the government’s own rules were broken. It’s a clear offence which will erode trust and thus have a detrimental impact on the public’s wellbeing. People are less likely to follow guidance as a direct result of government being too weak willed to follow their own rules.

To restore some public confidence, the police should investigate and prosecute everyone attached to the shameful partying last December.
 

oldgroaner

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Nov 15, 2015
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Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary who is investigating parties held in Downing Street during lockdown is accused of hosting a party of his own on 17 December :D That’s going to be an unbiased investigation then!

Why did this arse-hole accept the task of carrying out the investigation whilst knowing that he was guilty of the same thing? Surely he isn’t so spectacularly stupid that he thought it wouldn’t come out.

They may as well start again. The result won’t hold any credibility with the public.

Maybe they could get Sir Lewis Hamilton to carry out the investigation? It’s usually a job for someone with a bollicks title :D
This is one for HMQ to sort out
 

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