Popular Post markavfc40 Posted March 20, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 20, 2020 Rishi Sunak is a really impressive speaker and makes the the man to his left look well out of his depth in comparison. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Sunak announces an increase to UC but that seems to suggest no similar increase to ESA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post tonyh29 Posted March 20, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 20, 2020 Well that's pretty unprecedented .. guess it will take a bit more time to digest but it seems he meant what he said yesterday about making sure people don't suffer as much as they did in 2008 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Slightly distasteful, but I see tradingview has changed their site to include covid. https://www.tradingview.com/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 There's no talk of how long it'll last. The 12 weeks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 20, 2020 Moderator Share Posted March 20, 2020 A lot seems to have just happened. Did Boris Johnson just do the most un-Conservative thing of all time and offer to pay the wages of workers that have no work? That's both unexpected and very welcome. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted March 20, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted March 20, 2020 Quote When Johnson says we'll turn the tide in 12 weeks, it's just another line for the side of a bus There’s something unsettling in seeing the prime minister repurpose his Brexit media strategy for a deadly contagion A nation of shopfighters, presided over at a time of mortal peril by a newspaper columnist, who has for three decades moonlighted as his generation’s leading liar. Still, as the words clawed into the side of the plague pit probably once read, “We are where we are.” But where, currently, is that? It is a place where, at 5pm every day, the disease-threatened populace is expected to take prophylactic advice from Boris Johnson. From Monday, most British parents will be home-schooling their children. Not Johnson, of course – I imagine he doesn’t want to break his own pledge on class sizes. The prime minister keeps saying that the forthcoming test to determine whether you have coronavirus will be “as simple as a pregnancy test”, spaffing his sole area of expertise rather early in what is likely to be a long campaign. Actually, that’s unfair. His other area of expertise is disguising rather basic points with needlessly obscure language. Once this made him a highly overrated prose stylist; now it could make him accomplice to the death of your relatives and friends. “The key message,” Johnson key-messaged on Tuesday, is that people follow the advice “sedulously”. Ah, sedulously. Sedulously. The signal for 10 million hardworking families to draw down the leather-bound thesaurus from their shelves and browse synonyms for the word “clearing in the woods”. It has been quite something to watch Johnson’s smirk kick back in, live on air, even while people are asking him about the soon-to-break ventilator crisis The government’s crisis communications strategy could not be going worse if it was being led by the last speaker of a dead language, with Typhoid Mary on bass. People are still clearly extremely confused by what the advice is. Never have bullet points been more called for, and you’d think someone as obsessed with the second world war as Johnson is would know that an effective Ministry of Information was inextricably linked to the success of the war effort. Unfortunately, as indicated, Johnson is basically just a columnist. I don’t want to spaff what we might euphemise as my own area of expertise too early, but trust me on this: he is hardwired to spin that shit out for 1150 words. How to put this in terms that even a wildly overeducated prime minister can understand? JUST TELL US THE INFORMATION. It’s a public safety briefing, not a fricking ring quest. The government’s inability to clearly define essential terms means we are in a situation where “self-isolating” demonstrably means a range of things to different people. Same with “social distancing”. These urgently need simple and precise definition, and a comms blitz everywhere from social media to news bulletins to short TV ads. Instead, Johnson prefers to chuck new soundbites on the pile. The current one is the pledge that “we can turn the tide within the next 12 weeks”. If you missed this clip, don’t worry. My suspicion is that you’ll be seeing it hundreds of times more this year. It has a strong “Over by Christmas” vibe to it, and is the sort of thing you could imagine on the side of a bus. There is something deeply unsettling to watching Johnson and Dominic Cummings’ Brexit media strategy be lightly repurposed for a deadly contagion. The prime minister is already crossing the streams, declaring repeatedly on Thursday: “I’m very confident we’ll get this thing done.” Mate … that’s your slogan for the other one? We’re about three days off him telling us we can take back control. Yet control is once again looking somewhat tenuous. Huge amounts of this week have been dedicated to gaslighting the nation that, last week, no one in a position of power said “herd immunity” out loud. And yet, they did. Meanwhile, Dominic Cummings, high priest of the 20,000-word blog, can tell you everything about what the Manhattan Project taught us, but he seemingly can’t work out that if you let a “London will be imminently locked down” story go viral for 18 hours before you deny it, then people WILL physically fight over bogroll. Nurses coming off 48-hour shifts WILL cry in videos because they can’t buy anything in the shops. I guess Cummings is interested in behavioural science in the way I’m interested in Olympic figure skating. Which is to say, I like it, but I’m unbelievably, lethally shit at it. Physically, meanwhile, Johnson is ageing slightly quicker than the guy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade who drinks from the wrong grail and goes from middle-aged to ancient to exploding skeleton in around six seconds. There seems to be some unholy symbiosis between him and Rishi Sunak, who appears to be growing younger with every appearance. Perhaps for every year that the prime minister gains, the chancellor loses one. In a fortnight, Sunak will require home-schooling, while Johnson will be over 70 and consequently allowed to self-shield from having to do his job. Of course, we are not the only nation to be conducting an interesting social experiment to determine what happens if you elect a clinical narcissist to run a country which later turns out to be facing grave danger. At this stage, the US’s experiment appears to be going rather worse, and you certainly wouldn’t rule out Donald Trump judging November’s elections to be something that had better be suspended under the circumstances. Even so, it has been quite something to watch Johnson’s boredom and terminal ironist’s smirk kick back in, live on air, as the week has progressed, even while people are asking him about the soon-to-break ventilator crisis in intensive care. “Operation Last Gasp” as Johnson reportedly called the need to address the equipment deficit in a conference call to manufacturers this week. What can you say? If there were any kind of movie justice, the key component for the coronavirus vaccine would occur naturally only in Johnson’s brain stem. Alas, even in that eventuality, he’d decline to do the right thing for the greater good. Johnson has never at a single point suggested he got into this game for public service. His idea of heroic sacrifice is allowing someone else to raise his offspring. That the music should stop when Boris Johnson of all people is prime minister is the darkest of cosmic ironies. We are being asked to put our trust – our lives – in the hands of a man whose entire career, journalistic and political, has been built on a series of lies. It is the work of seconds to dredge up Johnson columns about radical population control, or Johnson buses about the NHS enjoying vast savings from the EU. Who knows which of these, if any, he ever really believed. Time and again this week I have been reminded of that great line from last year’s Chernobyl drama series. “When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there. But it is still there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid.” Marina Hyde in The Guardian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Just now, OutByEaster? said: A lot seems to have just happened. Did Boris Johnson just do the most un-Conservative thing of all time and offer to pay the wages of workers that have no work? That's both unexpected and very welcome. It's a lot better than I expected, and relief to many. What concerns me is the use of the word "salary". How many employees in restaurants, cafes, cinemas and pubs have a salary? and how many work 0 hour contracts? Is there anything for them? It didn't sound like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 2 minutes ago, Davkaus said: There's no talk of how long it'll last. The 12 weeks? As long as it takes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Does anyone have a good mobile friendly website for the Live Corona virus data by country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 16 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said: Slightly distasteful, but I see tradingview has changed their site to include covid. https://www.tradingview.com/ There’s no need is there really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 12 minutes ago, Genie said: Does anyone have a good mobile friendly website for the Live Corona virus data by country? https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 21 minutes ago, Davkaus said: There's no talk of how long it'll last. The 12 weeks? The forced closures? Reviewed on a monthly basis they said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted March 20, 2020 Author Share Posted March 20, 2020 JP-Morgan have Q1 GDP at -4.5% and Q2 at -14.5% over here as of now. For reference 2008/09 maxed at something like -9% over here I believe. Scale accordingly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted March 20, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted March 20, 2020 If this is right, it's **** ing terrifying. Quote This was posted on my cardiologists page today. It is the best explanation I have heard: Feeling confused as to why Coronavirus is a bigger deal than Seasonal flu? Here it is in a nutshell. I hope this helps. Feel free to share this to others who don’t understand... It has to do with RNA sequencing.... I.e. genetics. Seasonal flu is an “all human virus”. The DNA/RNA chains that make up the virus are recognized by the human immune system. This means that your body has some immunity to it before it comes around each year... you get immunity two ways...through exposure to a virus, or by getting a flu shot. Novel viruses, come from animals.... the WHO tracks novel viruses in animals, (sometimes for years watching for mutations). Usually these viruses only transfer from animal to animal (pigs in the case of H1N1) (birds in the case of the Spanish flu). But once, one of these animal viruses mutates, and starts to transfer from animals to humans... then it’s a problem, Why? Because we have no natural or acquired immunity.. the RNA sequencing of the genes inside the virus isn’t human, and the human immune system doesn’t recognize it so, we can’t fight it off. Now.... sometimes, the mutation only allows transfer from animal to human, for years it’s only transmission is from an infected animal to a human before it finally mutates so that it can now transfer human to human... once that happens..we have a new contagion phase. And depending on the fashion of this new mutation, thats what decides how contagious, or how deadly it’s gonna be.. H1N1 was deadly....but it did not mutate in a way that was as deadly as the Spanish flu. It’s RNA was slower to mutate and it attacked its host differently, too. Fast forward. Now, here comes this Coronavirus... it existed in animals only, for nobody knows how long...but one day, at an animal market, in Wuhan China, in December 2019, it mutated and made the jump from animal to people. At first, only animals could give it to a person... But here is the scary part.... in just TWO WEEKS it mutated again and gained the ability to jump from human to human. Scientists call this quick ability, “slippery” This Coronavirus, not being in any form a “human” virus (whereas we would all have some natural or acquired immunity). Took off like a rocket. And this was because, Humans have no known immunity...doctors have no known medicines for it. And it just so happens that this particular mutated animal virus, changed itself in such a way the way that it causes great damage to human lungs.. That’s why Coronavirus is different from seasonal flu, or H1N1 or any other type of influenza.... this one is slippery AF. And it’s a lung eater...And, it’s already mutated AGAIN, so that we now have two strains to deal with, strain s, and strain L....which makes it twice as hard to develop a vaccine. We really have no tools in our shed, with this. History has shown that fast and immediate closings of public places has helped in the past pandemics. Philadelphia and Baltimore were reluctant to close events in 1918 and they were the hardest hit in the US during the Spanish Flu. Factoid: Henry VIII stayed in his room and allowed no one near him, till the Black Plague passed...(honestly...I understand him so much better now). Just like us, he had no tools in his shed, except social isolation... And let me end by saying....right now it’s hitting older folks harder... but this genome is so slippery...if it mutates again (and it will). Who is to say, what it will do next. Be smart folks... acting like you’re unafraid is so not sexy right now. #flattenthecurve. Stay home folks... and share this to those that just are not catching on. Copied from FB, so approach with caution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post MCU Posted March 20, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 20, 2020 Fantastically handled by this government. I dread to think what sort of financial mess we'd be in had the Lord Saviour Corbyn been in charge. Think they've quite easily secured their position for the very, long, foreseeable future after all of this concludes. Not to mention the chancellor Rishi, future PM for sure. I find it incredibly sad that amongst this pandemic the public are still out for the politicians. Whether you like it or not they are doing the best they can, and no doubt will have the experts in their ear 24/7 on what to advise. They will look at the countries around us, and try and find tune it. Mistakes are going to happen, late decisions, you name it. As an example, I saw the socials pouring with absolute hatred last week that France had poured £300B or so into their economy, and low and behold the warriors of keyboard land were questioning why we weren't doing it. We announce it but it's not good enough. I roll this onto the schools, pubs, restaurants etc. Sure you all could do a better job 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 I think the Government have done OK are genuinely trying to do the right thing by everyone. Yes, not everyone will be happy but this is unprecedented times. There will be wrong decisions, mis-steps and u-turns, but that is to be expected in an ever evolving situation. The key is that they adapt and refine as necessary. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Xela said: There will be wrong decisions, mis-steps and u-turns And those wrong decisions and mis-steps need to be picked up on and pointed out so that the u-turns, adaptations and refinements occur. Edited March 20, 2020 by snowychap 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 1 hour ago, snowychap said: Sunak announces an increase to UC but that seems to suggest no similar increase to ESA. 56 minutes ago, Davkaus said: It's a lot better than I expected, and relief to many. What concerns me is the use of the word "salary". How many employees in restaurants, cafes, cinemas and pubs have a salary? and how many work 0 hour contracts? Is there anything for them? It didn't sound like it. These are two big holes in the announcement. I definitely agree with those saying this is much much better - they're most of the way there now - but there are three big holes remaining IMO, which are ESA, self-employed workers and renters. They clearly aren't going to do a rent holiday, however much I think it would be the right thing to do, but they still might do something on the others. ESA should just be doubled or something for the duration. Self-employed are a bit harder, but one idea I have seen floated around is to repay them all the tax they paid last year as a starting point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jareth Posted March 20, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted March 20, 2020 The single biggest test of the current leaders will be if we avoid doing an Italy. If we don't, all pats on backs will be replaced with charges of gross incompetence. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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