Coronavirus - the new strain XII

[Ponty]

Just when I think the authorities can not make this whole thing any more complicated and/or stupid they manage to push the boundaries further into insanity and a common senseless handling of the whole thing:

Supermarkets in Wales have cordoned off 'non-essential items'

WTF does it matter what people buy if the bloody shop is open? FFS!

They are completely power mad and utterly clueless. The reason is so smaller businesses are not disadvantaged (on the face of it, a good rationale). However, the small businesses won’t be allowed to open so people will just order stuff from Amazon and take the business completely outside of the area apart from the delivery driver. It wouldn’t surprise me if he tries to ban online shopping next. Drakeford is petrified of the NHS falling over, the NHS he was responsible for with a health board still in special measures after 5 years. I’d get rid of the whole Senedd overnight, lock stock and barrel.

 

[puddlesplasher]

If someone needs to buy a kettle it's not such a stupid question. Is it a necessary item ? Yes if you need it to boil water.

 

[mandryka]

England's schools to receive fewer laptops for distance learning

"“I log in to check, expecting my allocation to increase ([as] one of the UK’s most deprived primary schools) and see it has been slashed from 61 to 13,” he wrote in a draft email to the DfE shared on Twitter. “You disgust me with the contempt you show disadvantaged schools. I am embarrassed to have you leading us.”"

https://www.theguardian.com/educati...o-receive-fewer-laptops-for-distance-learning

As with test and trace in September, Westminster attributes this failing to the sheer logistical problem of providing enough laptops in time. Just as test and trace had to be allocated to prioritised areas when demand grew, so do laptops for schools.

We have already purchased an additional 96,000 devices and continue to work closely with our suppliers to ensure delivery despite the increased global demand.

 

[russel]

If someone needs to buy a kettle it's not such a stupid question. Is it a necessary item ? Yes if you need it to boil water.

That’s right, boiling water was completely unknown before the invention of the kettle.

 

[stevec67]

Just hearing that a group of respected medical science experts have once again iterated that Tier 3 might not work and Tier 1 definitely won't so advocating moving all Tier 1 to Tier 2 at least. Why the **** did this incompetent government just not do a national lockdown instead of subjecting even more people to the disease and in some cases death? How much more will it take before enough backbench Tories stand against them and we can get Johnson out, surely there has to be enough of them that have some shred of decency to not let this carry on through the rest of autumn and the winter and to the inevitable 100K plus deaths?

The backbenchers won't rock the boat. Certainly not the newbies. They didn't expect to get in at all in any case. They need to stay onside or they will never be reselected for anywhere they have a chance, they will be offered Falls Road East until hell freezes over. Boris has got a government full of yes men.

 

[matt j]

If someone needs to buy a kettle it's not such a stupid question. Is it a necessary item ? Yes if you need it to boil water.

Amazon. Until then you can boil it in a pan.

 

[gavreid]

As with test and trace in September, Westminster attributes this failing to the sheer logistical problem of providing enough laptops in time. Just as test and trace had to be allocated to prioritised areas when demand grew, so do laptops for schools.

I believe 1.5 million kids get free school meals. Lets assume 15% are off school at any one time, that's 225 000. That's the baseline. Then the next tier of poorer kids who don't have access to a computer at home you can probably multiply that number by at least two, 96 k is a drop in the ocean...

We were expected to buy a Chromebook by the school, they have one or two for loan. They really should be providing these for everyone, there are no textbooks any longer either, which is a great loss...

 

[ff1d1l]

They are completely power mad and utterly clueless. The reason is so smaller businesses are not disadvantaged (on the face of it, a good rationale). However, the small businesses won’t be allowed to open so people will just order stuff from Amazon and take the business completely outside of the area apart from the delivery driver. It wouldn’t surprise me if he tries to ban online shopping next. Drakeford is petrified of the NHS falling over, the NHS he was responsible for with a health board still in special measures after 5 years. I’d get rid of the whole Senedd overnight, lock stock and barrel.

Gammon blow-in views.

 

[tiggers]

Because the less stuff they buy the less time they are in the shop and consequently the less chance of being infected or infecting someone, it’s really not that difficult!

Well let’s see, in lockdown 1 any shop that was allowed to be open was allowed to sell anything in its range and cases were driven down to a very low level (that the government then messed up) so the directly comparable evidence doesn’t support your theory.

It’s really not that difficult! See it’s not just you that can be condescending!

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Well let’s see, in lockdown 1 any shop that was allowed to be open was allowed to sell anything in its range and cases were driven down to a very low level (that the government then messed up) so the directly comparable evidence doesn’t support your theory.

I distinctly remember that in the early days of lockdown, supermarkets were selling essentials only. They cleared the shelves of some items, in order to make more space for basics, too.

 

[mandryka]

I believe 1.5 million kids get free school meals. Lets assume 15% are off school at any one time, that's 225 000. That's the baseline. Then the next tier of poorer kids who don't have access to a computer at home you can probably multiply that number by at least two, 96 k is a drop in the ocean...

No doubt. The thing that caught my attention was this

despite the increased global demand.

Every developed nation is facing the same problem, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were indeed supply problems. But I really don't know what the reality is.

(Maybe the same is true for morphine etc.)

 

[gavreid]

No doubt. The thing that caught my attention was this



Every developed nation is facing the same problem, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were indeed supply problems. But I really don't know what the reality is.

(Maybe the same is true for morphine etc.)

No chance, they've had months to secure chromebooks - they also did nothing between March and July, you're far too forgiving.

 

[mandryka]

Well, as I say, I don’t know the reality, but a 10 second google search came up with this straight away

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/...s-school-remote-learning-covid-19/3424903001/

The world’s three biggest computer companies, Lenovo, HP and Dell, have told school districts they have a shortage of nearly 5 million laptops, in some cases exacerbated by Trump administration sanctions on Chinese suppliers, according to interviews with over two dozen U.S. schools, districts in 15 states, suppliers, computer companies and industry analysts.

https://uspirg.org/blogs/blog/usp/right-repair-could-help-address-critical-shortage-school-computers

But thanks to disruptions in the supply chain, even though schools and businesses have ordered new computers, they aren’t showing up.

California is short 1 million computers. Denver’s public schools are lacking thousands of computers, while waiting for orders to be fulfilled.

The pandemic has made it harder to buy a new laptop
.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/4/2...es-supply-chain-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic

 

[gavreid]

Well, as I say, I don’t know the reality, but a 10 second google search came up with this straight away

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/...s-school-remote-learning-covid-19/3424903001/




https://uspirg.org/blogs/blog/usp/right-repair-could-help-address-critical-shortage-school-computers

Whatever - you always pass off excuses for the Tories. I'd certainly sack you if you were head of procurement. Are you really trying to tell me that there hasn't been a thousand or two CBs per county across the UK all year? Think about the numbers...

 

[mandryka]

What's a CB?

 

[gavreid]

Chromebook

 

[gavreid]

23 012 cases reported today, 174 deaths and they're still fiddling the hospital data...

 

[Cav]

Amazon. Until then you can boil it in a pan.

If you have a pan. It is clearly stupid that you can shop in a supermarket that sells a huge range of goods and produce and can buy food but cannot buy a means to cook it? If any shop is open you should be able to buy all it sells.

I would be intrigued as to what people here consider "essential".

 

[tiggers]

I distinctly remember that in the early days of lockdown, supermarkets were selling essentials only. They cleared the shelves of some items, in order to make more space for basics, too.

Well that may have been due to supply/demand, but there was a big argument as to whether shops could only sell essential items and this was categorically denied by the government after an over exuberant police officer clamped down on people being in the non-essential isles of a supermarket:

Article from 1st June 2020:

What are supermarkets currently allowed to sell?

in which it says:

"The government has since confirmed that shops that have been permitted to stay open during lockdown can sell whatever they like, provided it is legal."

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Well that may have been due to supply/demand, but there was a big argument as to whether shops could only sell essential items and this was categorically denied by the government after an over exuberant police officer clamped down on people being in the non-essential isles of a supermarket:

Article from 1st June 2020:

What are supermarkets currently allowed to sell?

in which it says:

"The government has since confirmed that shops that have been permitted to stay open during lockdown can sell whatever they like, provided it is legal."

Yup, because the government has never u-turned on any of its lines, has it? You don’t think that policeman was acting off his own initiative, do you? There was a typically sketchy government line about shops only being open to sell essential items, which was back-pedalled after that case.