Brexit, for once some facts.

flecc

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It just seems so very awkward using trains with all the signalling and routing issues they have. Even if you know there is a fire and have a fire train ready, you have to be quite sure there is no train coming the other way before you can lift a finger to start firefighting.
Probably a case of having to have something when there is no road access, as is often the case with railway lines in remote areas or in tunnels.
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daveboy

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What do you all think, do you think it's likely the EU will stop the Pfizer vaccine coming into the UK, and will our government then sanction the use of the AZ vaccine as the second shot even if you had the Pfizer vaccine as the initial injection.
It's a funny old world. Why just the other day when the UK had run short of PPE the Germans and French blocked PPE exports to other EU countries. Suddenly everyone needs to share.
 

oldgroaner

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Nov 15, 2015
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I can’t find anything to confirm your figures of £279 million directly into the AZ vaccine development. I suspect it’s incorrect. By size of nation, the U.K. is one of, if not the biggest investor in vaccine development. The AZ vaccine was invented here in the U.K.

The U.K. was months ahead of the EU ordering and paying for the AZ vaccine. They will remain behind the U.K. in delivery schedules. Germany wanted to break away and order earlier, but the EU threatened to prosecute them! No wonder they are pissed.

What is correct is the EU not even being at the stage of knowing if they want to use it!
here you are
The EU is investing €336m (£297m) in AstraZeneca in return for 400m doses of its vaccine, the first 100m of which had been expected before April.
 
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oyster

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Probably a case of having to have something when there is no road access, as is often the case with railway lines in remote areas or in tunnels.
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Over the past fifty years or so, UK railways have actually enhanced road access to much of the network. Where once they would have used pure railway cranes for maintenance purposes, they sometimes use reasonably standard road cranes. In order to do so, you can see many places where there is effectively a road down an embankment to allow this. Obviously that Welsh crash was still effectively remote.
 
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oldgroaner

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Fire balloons... Now there, s an interesting concept... Germany built one a few years ago..
It might amuse you to know In 1931, it was decided to sell R100 for scrap. The entire framework of the ship was flattened by steamrollers and bought for less than £600 by the Zeppelin company and they used it to make the framework on the Hindenberg
Which is a remarkably sad end for two separate giants of the sky
 

oyster

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Regardless, we have the question as to whether it is better to vaccinate the most susceptible wherever they live.

It might actually be better for everyone if certain groups were vaccinated. For example, all health workers across UK, EU - and rest of world. And some transport workers. Other suggestions obviously possible.
 
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vfr400

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Did you read about the Redditors that have taken down a multi-billion dollar predatory hedge fund? The hedge fund had shorted Game Stop. The idea was to force the price down, make a profit and probably buy the stock at its artificially low price and maybe do a hostile takeover or profit again when the price went up.
Interesting developments. Two of the hedge funds have had to close their positions and take losses of $6 billion. The group of Redditors, Wallstreetbets, are now targeting other struggling companies that have been shorted by hedge funds. Elon Musk is cheering them on, as he himself has been the target of these evil hedge funds.

The Nasdaq took it's biggest daily loss in ages, which has been attributed to this development. All the financial institutions are scratching their heads about what to do. Basically, what they've been doing to manipulate markets for donkey's years is now in the hands of ordinary people.

Remember what I said about censorship: Wallstreetbets discord channel was taken down yesterday for "Hate speech". Weird that they weren't bothered about that before this GameStop episode. If somebody wanted, they could just as easily take down our ebike forum for hate speech. I'm sure anybody could find something somewhere if they looked hard enough.
 

Woosh

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If somebody wanted, they could just as easily take down our ebike forum for hate speech. I'm sure anybody could find something somewhere if they looked hard enough.
very funny :D:D
 

Jesus H Christ

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IS investigating NOT HAS INVESTED. That makes a huge difference. They are trying to put a bet on the winning horse after the race has been run. The U.K. took a gamble and put the money in before it was known if the AZ vaccine would work and it’s paid off big time.

There is only a certain quantity of vaccine, the U.K. put faith in its own industry and therefore will be the first in the queue for the limited quantities. I wish it was different, but it’s not. It’s in all our interests that EU citizens are vaccinated, but if supply is short, first come first serve.
 

flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Over the past fifty years or so, UK railways have actually enhanced road access to much of the network. Where once they would have used pure railway cranes for maintenance purposes, they sometimes use reasonably standard road cranes. In order to do so, you can see many places where there is effectively a road down an embankment to allow this. Obviously that Welsh crash was still effectively remote.
Agree, but most of the network still has no road access close enough to deal with emergencies. That's even true here in London where lines are trapped between numerous buildings, in cuttings and even in inaccessible London country spots.

I still remember the Clapham rail disaster where pupils from Clapham Manor School poured out across the field and down the cutting embankment to get the injured out of the wrecked carriages until the emergency services were able to get there.
.
 
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oldgroaner

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IS investigating NOT HAS INVESTED. That makes a huge difference. They are trying to put a bet on the winning horse after the race has been run. The U.K. took a gamble and put the money in before it was known if the AZ vaccine would work and it’s paid off big time.

There is only a certain quantity of vaccine, the U.K. put faith in its own industry and therefore will be the first in the queue for the limited quantities. I wish it was different, but it’s not. It’s in all our interests that EU citizens are vaccinated, but if supply is short, first come first serve.
The statement is clear enough "is investing" why are you misreading it?
 
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flecc

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If somebody wanted, they could just as easily take down our ebike forum for hate speech. I'm sure anybody could find something somewhere if they looked hard enough.
Indeed, like the "single point of failure" exponent who has gone quiet lately. Clearly hate speech against crank drives and Bosch in particular !
.
 

Jesus H Christ

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The statement is clear enough "is investing" why are you misreading it?
I’m not. You initially made it sound like they’d contributed hundreds of millions to the AZ’s development. They haven’t, they are now trying to buy it now they know it works, but are late comers to the party.

Typically socialist. Had your vaccination now advocating giving everyone else’s away. Bravo.
 

Danidl

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Fire engines. They reach parts fire trains can’t.
And you need roads for that class of thing. Switzerland uses both nice big glossy shiny red ones in Zurich and cities , and railway mounted ones in remote areas, and hamlets .
Those roads are lovely in Summer as you tootle about in in Morgan or Sunbeam Alpine
I used to think using aircraft to put out forest fires was a joke until I saw them in action scooping down to near sea level and scooping water at Lacanau
 
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Danidl

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Probably a case of having to have something when there is no road access, as is often the case with railway lines in remote areas or in tunnels.
.
As I said ,unless you actually tour or hike in Switzerland, you cannot appreciate the problems.
 
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Danidl

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Your evidence is incorrect
2:) The EU invested £297 Million pounds on the vaccine
the UK invested £65.5 Millions via the Vaccines Task Force

The EU has every right to feel hard done by, but then right wingers are easy to wind up and mouth off aren't they? they don't bother to check the facts :cool:
Why not use facts JH?.
The following from a EU bulletin 14 August last....

"Today, the European Commission has reached a first agreement with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to purchase a potential vaccine against COVID-19 as well as to donate to lower and middle income countries or re-direct to other European countries. This is following the positive steps regarding the conclusion of exploratory talks with Sanofi-GSK announced on 31 July and with Johnson & Johnson on 13 August. Once the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against COVID-19, the Commission now has agreed the basis for a contractual framework for the purchase of 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with an option to purchase 100 million more, on behalf of EU Member States. The Commission continues discussing similar agreements with other vaccine manufacturers.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: “The European Commission's intense negotiations continue to achieve results. Today's agreement is the first cornerstone in implementing the European Commission's Vaccines Strategy. This strategy will enable us to provide future vaccines to Europeans, as well as our partners elsewhere in the world.

Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: “Today, after weeks of negotiations, we have the first EU advance purchase agreement for a vaccine candidate. I would like to thank AstraZeneca for its constructive engagement on this important agreement for our citizens. We will continue to work tirelessly to bring more candidates into a broad EU vaccines portfolio. A safe and effective vaccine remains the surest exit strategy to protect our citizens and the rest of the world from the coronavirus.”

The agreement approved today will be financed with the Emergency Support Instrument, which has funds dedicated to the creation of a portfolio of potential vaccines with different profiles and produced by different companies.

AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate is already in large-scale Phase II/III Clinical Trials after promising results in Phase I/II concerning safety and immunogenicity.

The decision to support the vaccine proposed by AstraZeneca is based on a sound scientific approach and the technology used (a non-replicative recombinant chimpanzee adenovirus-based vaccine ChAdOx1), speed at delivery at scale, cost, risk sharing, liability and the production capacity able to supply the whole of the EU, among others.

The regulatory processes will be flexible but remain robust. Together with the Member States and the European Medicines Agency, the Commission will use existing flexibilities in the EU's regulatory framework to accelerate the authorisation and availability of successful vaccines against COVID-19. This includes an accelerated procedure for authorisation and flexibility in relation to labelling and packaging.

Background

The European Commission presented on 17 June a European strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing and deployment of effective and safe vaccines against COVID-19. In return for the right to buy a specified number of vaccine doses in a given timeframe, the Commission would finance part of the upfront costs faced by vaccines producers in the form of Advance Purchase Agreements. Funding provided would be considered as a down-payment on the vaccines that will actually be purchased by Member States.

Since the high cost and high failure rate make investing in a COVID-19 vaccine a high-risk decision for vaccine developers, these agreement will therefore allow investments to be made that otherwise would simply probably not happen.

The European Commission is also committed to ensuring that everyone who needs a vaccine gets it, anywhere in the world and not only at home. No one will be safe until everyone is safe. This is why it has raised almost €16 billion since 4 May 2020 under the Coronavirus Global Response, the global action for universal access to tests, treatments and vaccines against coronavirus and for the global recovery."


Earlier 17 th May the UK Government gave Oxford Jenner 65 Million and Imperial College 18 million to accelerate the development and trials and organised the licence to AZ , on the supposition that they would get 100 million doses in September.
Remember the AZ vaccine is just licenced for use a few weeks now.
 
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Jesus H Christ

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Dec 31, 2020
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And you need roads for that class of thing. Switzerland uses both nice big glossy shiny red ones in Zurich and cities , and railway mounted ones in remote areas, and hamlets .
Those roads are lovely in Summer as you tootle about in in Morgan or Sunbeam Alpine
I used to think using aircraft to put out forest fires was a joke until I saw them in action scooping down to near sea level and scooping water at Lacanau
The bigger towns and villages tend to have fire fighting equipment based at that location. The more remote hamlets tend to be further away from the rail track, too far for a fire train to be of any use.

Regardless, by the time time a fire train could be deployed, the regular train schedule interrupted and the thing travel to the scene, there would just be a pile of smouldering ash left. Completely useless.
 
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Jesus H Christ

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Why not use facts JH?.
The following from a EU bulletin 14 August last....

Today, the European Commission has reached a first agreement with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to purchase a potential vaccine against COVID-19 as well as to donate to lower and middle income countries or re-direct to other European countries. This is following the positive steps regarding the conclusion of exploratory talks with Sanofi-GSK announced on 31 July and with Johnson & Johnson on 13 August. Once the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against COVID-19, the Commission now has agreed the basis for a contractual framework for the purchase of 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with an option to purchase 100 million more, on behalf of EU Member States. The Commission continues discussing similar agreements with other vaccine manufacturers.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: “The European Commission's intense negotiations continue to achieve results. Today's agreement is the first cornerstone in implementing the European Commission's Vaccines Strategy. This strategy will enable us to provide future vaccines to Europeans, as well as our partners elsewhere in the world.

Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: “Today, after weeks of negotiations, we have the first EU advance purchase agreement for a vaccine candidate. I would like to thank AstraZeneca for its constructive engagement on this important agreement for our citizens. We will continue to work tirelessly to bring more candidates into a broad EU vaccines portfolio. A safe and effective vaccine remains the surest exit strategy to protect our citizens and the rest of the world from the coronavirus.”

The agreement approved today will be financed with the Emergency Support Instrument, which has funds dedicated to the creation of a portfolio of potential vaccines with different profiles and produced by different companies.

AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate is already in large-scale Phase II/III Clinical Trials after promising results in Phase I/II concerning safety and immunogenicity.

The decision to support the vaccine proposed by AstraZeneca is based on a sound scientific approach and the technology used (a non-replicative recombinant chimpanzee adenovirus-based vaccine ChAdOx1), speed at delivery at scale, cost, risk sharing, liability and the production capacity able to supply the whole of the EU, among others.

The regulatory processes will be flexible but remain robust. Together with the Member States and the European Medicines Agency, the Commission will use existing flexibilities in the EU's regulatory framework to accelerate the authorisation and availability of successful vaccines against COVID-19. This includes an accelerated procedure for authorisation and flexibility in relation to labelling and packaging.

Background

The European Commission presented on 17 June a European strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing and deployment of effective and safe vaccines against COVID-19. In return for the right to buy a specified number of vaccine doses in a given timeframe, the Commission would finance part of the upfront costs faced by vaccines producers in the form of Advance Purchase Agreements. Funding provided would be considered as a down-payment on the vaccines that will actually be purchased by Member States.

Since the high cost and high failure rate make investing in a COVID-19 vaccine a high-risk decision for vaccine developers, these agreement will therefore allow investments to be made that otherwise would simply probably not happen.

The European Commission is also committed to ensuring that everyone who needs a vaccine gets it, anywhere in the world and not only at home. No one will be safe until everyone is safe. This is why it has raised almost €16 billion since 4 May 2020 under the Coronavirus Global Response, the global action for universal access to tests, treatments and vaccines against coronavirus and for the global recovery.
So, the EU have been fannying around and as a consequence, late.
 

oldgroaner

Esteemed Pedelecer
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I’m not. You initially made it sound like they’d contributed hundreds of millions to the AZ’s development. They haven’t, they are now trying to buy it now they know it works, but are late comers to the party.

Typically socialist. Had your vaccination now advocating giving everyone else’s away. Bravo.
"Is investing" we only invested a pittance typic right winger aren't you?
Assuming we actually parted with any money of course, there are so many right wing lies around after all
"Typically socialist. Had your vaccination now advocating giving everyone else’s away. Bravo. "
Did I advocate giving anything away?
Both you and Zlatan make these sort of allegations without any proof.
Let me remind the pair of you
What I wanted was everyone to get the right dose as specified, shove your light wing nonsense where it belongs
Your allegations of greed on my part is pretty odd to say the least
 
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Zlatan

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It might amuse you to know In 1931, it was decided to sell R100 for scrap. The entire framework of the ship was flattened by steamrollers and bought for less than £600 by the Zeppelin company and they used it to make the framework on the Hindenberg
Which is a remarkably sad end for two separate giants of the sky
Remarkably obvious you could also say. Fill a balloon up with most inflammable gas known to man, cover it in flammable material and then dope it with another flammable liquid... Then fit petrol engines and pay scant regard for either static electricity or electrical Storms... Sounds like a Baldrick plan to me... Sad thing is somebody 's stupidity cost so many lives... We never learn do we...
(they now suspect it was the thing earthing out to ground, initially setting outer skin on fire... Then spreading quickly inside.. Without oxygen the hydrogen isn't that flammable, but once outer breached... Well rest is history....
Other theory was hydrogen catching inside first.. Can't see that... But who knows...
 
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