[theo_luddite]

Absolutely unbelievable, absolutely inexcusable.

The clown that is Bodgit is supposed to be self-isolating. What the hell else has this @sswipe of a bloke got on his plate that is more important this afternoon?

From the Grauniad - I'm sure also available elsewhere.

The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has expressed frustration that Boris Johnson will not attend this afternoon’s Cobra meeting on a four-nation approach to Christmas.

Addressing the Welsh parliament, he said:

I’m told the prime minister will once again not attend the Cobra meeting this afternoon. You might think that given the significance of the decisions we are having to take there that the prime minister might think that was a conversation in which he would choose to be engaged.

Drakeford warned that an easing of rules at Christmas was bound to lead to an increase in the spread of Covid.

It will lead to more spreading of coronavirus because coronavirus thrives when people get together and the more people get together, the more coronavirus there will be.

He called for a four-nation approach not just for Christmas but for before and after. Drakeford said:

I have been arguing in the meetings we have had for a focus not just on a small number of days of Christmas itself, but the decisions we need to take in the lead-up to Christmas and how we will deal with the aftermath and to try to do that on a broadly common basis as well.

[hibeejim21]

I just dont see the point, I know its hard for people alone but this is going to lead to a spike in infections in January/February just as we should be hopefully looking to roll out the vaccine.

I just dont get why people cant just accept xmas isn't going to be normal this year.

[0762]

Looking at the latest revelation of a £10B overspend of tax payers' money on PPE equipment by this shambolic govt which really "lays bare" the lack of foresight and vision to purchase equipment well before such a crisis ever happening - a Johnson govt full of lightweight has-beens who could never acquire the proper attributes to lift this particular govt's credibility in situations like this!! Just look at the COVID death figures alone to appreciate what a f### up of a govt it is and run by a total balloon, Johnson, a mini Trump who should never have been placed in the position of Brit PM!!

[ritchiebaby]

The other thing that annoys me about the overspend is that it has taken the National Audit Office 8 whole months at a cost of probably tens of thousands of pounds to work out exactly what we have been saying on here right from the start.

[0762]

IMO this revelation is one of a huge list of exposures highlighting political incompetence through all levels of government. They will eventually be formally scrutinised and debated in a final reckoning/public inquiry that will be demanded/forced upon the Brit govt as a matter of course and justice after the end of this crisis. This will happen and there is no way that Johnson and his RW cohorts will be able to hide from or avoid the flak.

[theo_luddite]

Now, I know there's a few on this thread that live North of Hadrian's Wall and don't always give two hoots aboot our own issues with Bodgit but bear with me as he gives us all more than a little to debate over our fave tipples round the living room radiator and those that use it, 'soshul meedja'.

When Starmer was pushing for a 2 week lockdown around the October school half-term, and Bodgit the Procrastinator was still umming and arring and worrying where he could spaff our next £10 billion that he'll tax thee and me for sooner or later, eventually the Procrastinator General decided on a 4 week lockdown in November instead. That (this?) lockdown, unless someone can tell me different was supposed to calm things down again, and those in the higher tiers would be moved to lower tiers, the NHS wouldn't be overwhelmed, thanks to 10 years of Tory under-funding combined with a double-whammy winter flu and Cora overload, and we could all have a drink and maybe Christmas dinner and share a big tube of Smarties with our folks who we've not seen since February.

Now of course, that wasn't a lockdown at all, apart from shutting all the pubs/restaurants that had done everything they could to comply with the Procrastinator Generals demands, and more than a few little shops who had to close while supermarkets could stay open, sell everything the pubs and the little shops couldn't and quickly become the best spreading points of the virus known to these islands.

From my own experience, even though I now only experience it 1-2x per week instead of 5x, the M6 between J10a - J4 is no quieter at 7-8 in the morning and 5-6 in the eventing than it was 12 months ago. I never realised how many school kids drove themselves to school or got schooled out of town. OK maybe it's the teachers and Uni lecturers - must be a helluva lot of 1-1 tutoring going on.

So all in all when I look at this wonderful map of how it has all worked out in the PG's latest plan of action



that all worked out really well didn't it?

Yet more lies and BS from the PG then.

As they say in France - "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"

[theo_luddite]

Now in order to get the public to buy in to having the vaccine - despite the fact that you might get two heads or worse might happen to your new born if you take it whilst pregnant, or trying to get the missus pregnant, the NHS at least has a clear plan to try and persuade folks to take the jab - or two, or however it's administered.

"No names are thought to have been confirmed. But NHS communications experts suggested privately that the footballer Marcus Rashford, who is widely admired for his child food poverty campaign, which has forced two government U-turns, and members of the royal family would be ideal recruits. Politicians will not be used, it is understood."

I wonder why?

[ritchiebaby]

Politicians won't be needed because they're two-headed already - or at least two-faced. And I hope everyone realises that London is the fifth country in the UK and is a law unto itself, so it (especially it's financial institutions) is exempt from English regulations.

[0762]

Theo making a good point again re that fanfare over the Astra vaccine eh! Highly effective eh said the bbc report!? Could have major consequences for a vaccination strategy in the country eh!? And then it suddenly "comes to light" the low-dose "regime" was in fact a result of a serious dosing error - the amount of vaccine for the Brazilian portion of the trial was miscalculated and subsequently admitted by Astrazeneca!!? Luckily the error was in the form of a dilution and volunteers suffered no harm. Astonishing when one considers this serious breach being part of a clinical trial! Then it was confirmed that the numbers involved in the dosage error was rebranded as "half dose-full dose" regime and was 2741 but crucially no one over 55 received this dose. Therefore there is no scientific evidence, yet presented, that this vaccine is effective at 90% in the over-55s. The best that can be said at this stage is the 62% efficacy claim based on the 8895 volunteers (presumably from a wider age group range) who received the correct dose. So immediate concerns raised in regard to immunising the over-55s in the immediate future with a vaccine that appears to provide a relatively poor level of protection compared with vaccines produced by other companies. Since the bulk order of vaccines by UK govt is from AZ, the question arises, ""Do we really wanna give our elderly and vulnerable a 62% efficacy vaccine while others are available with higher protection rates"? Furthermore, questions must be raised about how much Mr Hancock and his boss, PM Johnson, knew about the probs over the AZ/Oxford trial when the "interim results" were announced a few days ago and why they failed to be transparent over the lack of evidence for high levels of efficacy in the over 55s comparable with other vaccines emerging? Could it be that the sudden positive news re other vaccines suddenly prompted the AZ people to tout their vaccine prematurely and are the backers of this project again interested Tory supporting individuals??? Just a thought!!

[hibeejim21]

Why do I get the feeling that this 'back to normal life by the spring' that Hancock was talking about might be inaccurate somewhat?