Brexit, for once some facts.

[flecc]

there is a big difference.
Vietnamese do not mix religious beliefs with politics.

That's irrelevant in the issue of western interference with other countries, and many view communism as a form of religion anyway.

There was nothing wrong with the USA bombing and driving Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan. What was so wrong and unnecessary was to then embark on 20 years of a regime change which was always doomed to failure. The great majority of Afghans didn't want that as they've now shown all too clearly with their refusal to oppose the Taliban.

The one good thing that has come out of it is that the Taliban have agreed to mutually not interfere with US matters in future, such as support for the likes of Al Qaeda. Basically you keep out of our business and we'll keep out of yours.
.

 

[flecc]

We and the countries we spawned like the USA have brought a thousand years of conflict to the rest of the world.

According to the Costs of War project at Brown University, as of April 2021, the war has killed 171,000 to 174,000 people in Afghanistan; 47,245 Afghan civilians, 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan military and police and at least 51,000 opposition fighters.

Plus of course the NATO losses.
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[Nev]

Logic frequently plays little part in people's preferences.

Absolutely, a prime example of this is the completely illogical vote for Brexit here in the UK.

 

[flecc]

Covid continues to confuse:

In round figures, nationally 90% have had their first vaccine and 77% their second.

Here in Croydon those figures remain stubbornly lower at 67% and 55%, maintaining our large shortfall of vaccine takeup.

One might expect us to be doing badly with such a shortfall, but we are the opposite:

Nationally the infection rate is 294 per 100,000, here it's half that at 148.

And to show that's not just lack of testing , our deaths within 28 day of a positive test remain low too, in my very large borough 4 in the last 7 days which is typical of late. To put that into perspective, our borough population has a normal average weekly death rate from all causes of 84, given an 80 year life expectancy, making the 4 nominally covid deaths inconsequential, given that they are predominately of the elderly.
.

 

[POLLY]

Covid continues to confuse:

In round figures, nationally 90% have had their first vaccine and 77% their second.

Here in Croydon those figures remain stubbornly lower at 67% and 55%, maintaining our large shortfall of vaccine takeup.

One might expect us to be doing badly with such a shortfall, but we are the opposite:

Nationally the infection rate is 294 per 100,000, here it's half that at 148.

And to show that's not just lack of testing , our deaths within 28 day of a positive test remain low too, in my very large borough 4 in the last 7 days which is typical of late. To put that into perspective, our borough population has a normal average weekly death rate from all causes of 84, given an 80 year life expectancy, making the 4 nominally covid deaths inconsequential, given that they are predominately of the elderly.
.

Because it's B.S.

 

[Danidl]

Covid continues to confuse:

In round figures, nationally 90% have had their first vaccine and 77% their second.

Here in Croydon those figures remain stubbornly lower at 67% and 55%, maintaining our large shortfall of vaccine takeup.

One might expect us to be doing badly with such a shortfall, but we are the opposite:

Nationally the infection rate is 294 per 100,000, here it's half that at 148.

And to show that's not just lack of testing , our deaths within 28 day of a positive test remain low too, in my very large borough 4 in the last 7 days which is typical of late. To put that into perspective, our borough population has a normal average weekly death rate from all causes of 84, given an 80 year life expectancy, making the 4 nominally covid deaths inconsequential, given that they are predominately of the elderly.
.

In Ireland 78.3% of the population aged over 16 are now fully vaccinated!. The youngsters in the sub 16 year group are flocking to the vaccination stations.
I suspect that your UK figures are skewed by summer holidays

 

[flecc]

In Ireland 78.3% of the population aged over 16 are now fully vaccinated!. The youngsters in the sub 16 year group are flocking to the vaccination stations.
I suspect that your UK figures are skewed by summer holidays

That's an odd suspicion! Only the Croydon borough having holidays?

Our national figures compare with yours, the fully vaccinated only 1% apart.
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[oldgroaner]

As the Yorkshire saying goes, "There's nowt so queer as folks".

They mean folk from somewhere other than Yorkshire tha knows.

As Fred Trueman (widely regarded in Yorkshire as a dangerous intellectual)
Famously observed
There are Yorkshiremen,
People who aspire to be Yorkshiremen
And ...people with no ambition (T'others)

 

[oldgroaner]

In Ireland 78.3% of the population aged over 16 are now fully vaccinated!. The youngsters in the sub 16 year group are flocking to the vaccination stations.
I suspect that your UK figures are skewed by summer holidays

Or Government policy?

 

[Danidl]

That's an odd suspicion! Only the Croydon borough having holidays?

Our national figures compare with yours, the fully vaccinated only 1% apart.
.

In our population of 5.5 million we have infection rates creeping up towards .. 1500 pd on 7 day average and less than 1 death per day ,. . Our hospital numbers are creeping up also with 50 in ICU. ,So a few more deaths are inevitable. The figures in NI are about 4 times worse per capita. Because of our proximity to NI our local community rate is about 3 times the national average.. but those figures change like crazy.. Now I don't know the population mix in Croydon, and whether there are more on Holidays than elsewhere, but I find it incomprehensible that it will be remarkably different than other quasi urban areas.

 

[oyster]

Remember the pingdemic? Seems another set of thanks to Dido, et al. It was counting back five days - instead of two. So many more were pinged than should have been.

Apparently now updated. It was a bug - at least in the sense it wasn't doing what was needed. Though whether the number was in the spec., who knows?

 

[oyster]

What is the difference between the Taliban (in taking over Afghanistan) and the Spanish Inquisition?

Perhaps Raab should have asked some random people on the internet?

 

[Woosh]

There was nothing wrong with the USA bombing and driving Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan. What was so wrong and unnecessary was to then embark on 20 years of a regime change which was always doomed to failure. The great majority of Afghans didn't want that as they've now shown all too clearly with their refusal to oppose the Taliban.

I dispute the view that bombing is OK and regime change was always doomed to failure.
You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs like you can't stop international terrorism without some attempt to regime change.
Carpet bombing from 30,000ft above and using drone assassinations, shock and awe tactics with rockets fired from 500 miles away were that lost the war. Spending 1 trillion dollars will transform a country much more effectively. It's just a matter of how to spend the money wisely.

 

[Danidl]

From the Irish Times ....
Imports from Northern Ireland to the Republic have risen by 77 per cent since the UK left the EU at the start of the year, while the value of exports from the Republic to the North has risen by 43 per cent, according to fresh Central Statistics Office (CSO) data.

The agency’s latest trade numbers show the value of goods imports from Northern Ireland rose to €1.77 billion in the first six months of 2021, up from just under €1 billion for the same period last year.

Exports to the North, meanwhile, rose to €1.57 billion, up from €1.1 billion last year.

Under the Northern Ireland protocol, trade in goods with Britain is subject to customs checks. However, while Northern Ireland remains within the customs territory of the UK, it is simultaneously within the EU single market for the movement of goods. This means goods moving between Northern Ireland and the Republic are not subject to customs checks.

Barrier
The North’s Minister for the Economy Gordon Lyons of the DUP said “any increase in sales to any new markets is positive”. But he insisted Great Britain was “Northern Ireland’s most important market both by volume and value. The protocol creates a barrier and is clearly diverting trade,” he said.

“The [UK] government has made the right noises but we continue to press for real change which removes the border in the Irish Sea and allow unfettered trade within the United Kingdom.”

Stephen Kelly, chief executive of Manufacturing NI, said it was “always inevitable” that some Irish buyers would look North to achieve continuity of supply post-Brexit.

“What is surprising us, and probably most people, is the quantum of that change,” he said. “There’s basically nearly €800 million worth of additional sales of Northern Irish goods into [the Republic of] Ireland in the first six months of this year, which is enormous.”.

 

[Danidl]

..To add on to the previous list. While a comparable set of figures from NI to GB for the last 6 months is not yet available.. there are comparisons which can be made from 2020 figures.. The 2020 historical data has 16% of NI total production going to Rest of UK or GB, 16% going as exports to Rest of World .. including RoI , and 68% being consumed locally within the province. .

While the GB was the single largest market for exports, from NI, .. It was about the same as NI exports to IE ,+EU +Rest of World. So, by now and only 6 months into Trade Agreement Light, NI exports MORE to Rest of World than to GB.

 

[flecc]

Now I don't know the population mix in Croydon, and whether there are more on Holidays than elsewhere, but I find it incomprehensible that it will be remarkably different than other quasi urban areas.

Precisely why I posted with Covid continuing to puzzle, it is different and nothing to do with holidays. On the vaccination stats one would expect us to be in a worse position in Croydon, especially given our record of being the worst affected in the whole of the UK in the opening couple of months of the pandemic in 2020:

Percentage with single dose: UK 90%, All London 81%, London Borough of Croydon 67%.

Percentage with both doses: UK 77%, All London 66%, London Borough of Croydon 56%.

Why the vaccine takeup in Croydon is so low I don't know, there's no shortage of facilities or opportunities and they've been well organised and easily accessed for everyone.

The puzzling bit is that we aren't suffering any consequence, often quite the opposite such as our current infection rate of half the national figure: Croydon 148 per 100k, National 294. And our death rate is low.

The adjacent also large borough of Lambeth isn't doing well at all, with their infection rate at 346 per 100k and testing positivity at 7.5%, suggesting a high transmission rate which we aren't suffering. Observation suggests a high level of masking in shops compliance in Croydon, though nowhere else, but I've no idea what that is in Lambeth. Although adjoining, there isn't as much intercommunication as proximity might suggest, our public transport largely not shared for logistical reasons.
.

 

[flecc]

I dispute the view that bombing is OK and regime change was always doomed to failure.
You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs like you can't stop international terrorism without some attempt to regime change.
Carpet bombing from 30,000ft above and using drone assassinations, shock and awe tactics with rockets fired from 500 miles away were that lost the war. Spending 1 trillion dollars will transform a country much more effectively. It's just a matter of how to spend the money wisely.

You seem to be getting mixed up with the war in Iraq and that in Afghanistan. Almost all the Afghan war was ground fighting against Taliban groups with locally directed aircraft attacks on pockets of the enemy. The only time B52s were deployed was initially 20 years ago against Al Qaeda holed up in the mountains, no Taliban were ever carpet bombed or subjected to cruise missile attacks. Those were all against Iraq.

We and others in the West have been spending vast sums to win hearts and minds for over half a century, it's called foreign aid and it simply hasn't worked for several reasons:

First it's competition between us and the "other side" of Russia and China, both sides played by the recipients to get the best outcome financially, structurally or politically.

Secondly the money rarely reaches the people, being rerouted by corruption.

Third, Islamic idealogy isn't easily bought off due to it's inherent dislike of making money in western fashion.

I do agree with the aid principle though, but think the Chinese method of building free infrastructure preferable since it's far less prone to corruption diverting the benefit away from the people.
.

 

[POLLY]

The pandemic is a 100% hoax. Delta variant is total
B.S

Precisely why I posted with Covid continuing to puzzle, it is different and nothing to do with holidays. On the vaccination stats one would expect us to be in a worse position in Croydon, especially given our record of being the worst affected in the whole of the UK in the opening couple of months of the pandemic in 2020:

Percentage with single dose: UK 90%, All London 81%, London Borough of Croydon 67%.

Percentage with both doses: UK 77%, All London 66%, London Borough of Croydon 56%.

Why the vaccine takeup in Croydon is so low I don't know, there's no shortage of facilities or opportunities and they've been well organised and easily accessed for everyone.

The puzzling bit is that we aren't suffering any consequence, often quite the opposite such as our current infection rate of half the national figure: Croydon 148 per 100k, National 294. And our death rate is low.

The adjacent also large borough of Lambeth isn't doing well at all, with their infection rate at 346 per 100k and testing positivity at 7.5%, suggesting a high transmission rate which we aren't suffering. Observation suggests a high level of masking in shops compliance in Croydon, though nowhere else, but I've no idea what that is in Lambeth. Although adjoining, there isn't as much intercommunication as proximity might suggest, our public transport largely not shared for logistical reasons.
.

The pandemic is a 100% hoax. Delta variant is total
B.S

 

[Woosh]

The pandemic is a 100% hoax. Delta variant is total
B.S

so how do you explain that 12% of NHS beds are currently used to treat covid then? That is a lot more than treating flu.

 

[flecc]

so how do you explain that 12% of NHS beds are currently used to treat covid then? That is a lot more than treating flu.

Not here they aren't, as I've observed in this post.

Certainly nationwide 'flu seems to have been displaced by Covid last year and this, hence my saying Covid is 2021's 'flu. Read between the lines, is it really true that 'flu is now magically at zero cases nationally as claimed, or is much of "Covid" really just the more severe 'flu cases? They aren't dying of it very often are they, rather like 'flu?

As for the percentage of Covid occupied beds, perhaps if we hadn't closed so many hospitals and slashed treatment of all other conditions, it wouldn't be anything like 12%.
.