Coronavirus - the new strain IX

[SteveT]

How about addressing the actual question?

Are you content with the Government offering huge, un-tendered, tax-payer-funded deals to companies that Tory MPs, their families and donors receive benefit from?

Or that they are offering (un-tendered) contacts to companies with no expertise in the areas required, but are often major Tory party donors?

From our friends, Wikipedia. Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain.

What would you call what the Government are doing?

FWIW I don't think we are as bad as some countries.

Stephen

Your post linked to an article that said No wonder some think the UK is the most corrupt country in the world.

My post said More corrupt than Russia? More corrupt than several African States? Yea right. Self seeking attention bollocks.

 

[droodzilla]

He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.

 

[kensalriser]

Tory sleaze is back in style. Which is a given, considering the party exists to lend a hand to the rich and privileged.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

I’ve had that on and off for a few years now, I think it’s this https://www.healthline.com/health/phantosmia

There seems to be a pattern to it, whereby it’ll occur when I’ve eaten less for a few days and I’m in the process of losing weight.

I have experienced that too, notably when I went on a very low carb diet and ketosis kicked in. I think in that case, though, there actually was something in my breath which caused the sensations I smelt.

Anyway, having got to a really maddening level by bedtime yesterday (it was as though I’d spilt some petrol on my clothes) it seems to have gone this morning.

 

[TheDecameron]

Watching Newsnight last night I couldn't help thinking it had been gelded such was the manner of the questioning of a doc expressing concern re unlocking...
We are doomed, the only places that seem to not be taking risks are those workplaces with strong union representation.
The Government ads on TV imploring/encouraging us to get out and enjoy ourselves are quite chilling to me. Maniacs.

When a country’s finance ministry starts posting populist sh1t like this you get an idea of the tone being set by government- desperation for good news stories and ‘feel good factor‘. It would be tacky in more normal times but with tens of thousands killed by epidemic disease? Really?

 

[TheDecameron]

And this nonsense. The leader is fat, he thinks his fat nearly got him killed by the virus so he’s discovered public health messaging on obesity. As if the NHS and doctors haven’t been vocal, organised and evidenced about this for the last two decades. It’s shoddy, in the moment pseudo-government and another symptom of populism. Can you see how it conflicts with yesterday’s dish of the day- “right, down the pubs everyone” and “here’s a publicly funded tenner off your next chicken Kiev and chips down your local Spoons”?


“The government is poised to launch an emergency drive to slim down the nation and reduce the incidence of conditions such as type 2 diabetes before an expected second wave of coronavirus, the Guardian has learned.

Downing Street is planning what has been billed as a “war against obesity” after Boris Johnson needed intensive care treatment for Covid-19, which the prime minister reportedly blamed on his weight”.
https://www.theguardian.com/society...d-covid-19-second-wave?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

-it should come with a health warning: listening to Boris Johnson could damage your health.

 

[matt j]

It should come with the caveat that he leads by example.

 

[SteveS1]

Contrast the latest flip flopping, the delays, the conflicting advice with the actions of others. Currently visiting a COVID free region of France where lockdown actually meant lockdown. There are no cases in any medical centre in the whole region. Locals have watched in amazement the closedown too late / then rush to open and all the nonsense around leading figures breaking their own rules in the UK.

 

[matt j]

And this nonsense. The leader is fat, he thinks his fat nearly got him killed by the virus so he’s discovered public health messaging on obesity. As if the NHS and doctors haven’t been vocal, organised and evidenced about this for the last two decades. It’s shoddy, in the moment pseudo-government and another symptom of populism. Can you see how it conflicts with yesterday’s dish of the day- “right, down the pubs everyone” and “here’s a publicly funded tenner off your next chicken Kiev and chips down your local Spoons”?


“The government is poised to launch an emergency drive to slim down the nation and reduce the incidence of conditions such as type 2 diabetes before an expected second wave of coronavirus, the Guardian has learned.

Downing Street is planning what has been billed as a “war against obesity” after Boris Johnson needed intensive care treatment for Covid-19, which the prime minister reportedly blamed on his weight”.
https://www.theguardian.com/society...d-covid-19-second-wave?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

-it should come with a health warning: listening to Boris Johnson could damage your health.

They're laying the groundwork for the second wave death toll, Cummings' catchy slogan will be - "You're all gonna die because yer a bunch of fat c**ts"

 

[tiggers]

And over and above the obvious issue around the fact that the virus is still out there and we are still experiencing 100 deaths a day, we had one glimmer of hope through all this around learning how to use working from home/technology in the workplace to alleviate the stupidity of lots of people travelling to offices they don't need or to meetings that could be done online and thereby making them more productive/helping with the environment in the longer term only for the dishevelled intelligence bereft cockwomble to tell everyone yesterday to get back to the workplace. FFS!!!!!

 

[gintonic]

travelling to offices they don't need or to meetings that could be done online

absolutely

thereby making them more productive

neither my wife or i are convinced by that. We are both working longer hours with fewer breaks, in a non-optimal setting (posture, visual health etc). I am out of pocket by over £1k in order to make my home office environment usable.

 

[tiggers]

neither my wife or i are convinced by that. We are both working longer hours with fewer breaks, in a non-optimal setting (posture, visual health etc). I am out of pocket by over £1k in order to make my home office environment usable.

Early days though and that is your specific experience, if it were to become the norm then home office technology would improve massively. My specific experience is I am no longer visiting clients thereby saving (in some instances) 6 hours travelling a day meaning I can now do more work in the same time scale. Multiply that up by all these people driving around for a few hours of a meeting and I can't see how it can, on balance, be anything other than more productive, but even more importantly there'll be less cars on the road, less trains running etc. etc.

 

[droodzilla]

Early days though and that is your specific experience, if it were to become the norm then home office technology would improve massively. My specific experience is I am no longer visiting clients thereby saving (in some instances) 6 hours travelling a day meaning I can now do more work in the same time scale. Multiply that up by all these people driving around for a few hours of a meeting and I can't see how it can, on balance, be anything other than more productive, but even more importantly there'll be less cars on the road, less trains running etc. etc.

You might be right but I'm not sure a home office in every house is the optimal solution. Apart from anything else it requires every home to have at least one spare room to accommodate the home office (supposing that working on the kitchen table isn't great). Then there's the extra heating costs, multiplied by the number of people in the workforce.

Another option is for every street or locality to have a communal workspace, within easy walking distance (no more than 15 minutes) with high speed internet, etc. Could that be the best of both worlds? Or is it the worst?

Of course, greater use of video calls etc is a no-brainer, however the work/home divide is configured physically.

 

[jackbarron]

Masks on in all shops and transport today in Glasgow. Scotrail giving out free masks and hand sanitiser at good humoured information desks, winning over their customers.

Fat berk Johnson is still procastinating about masks. He says they might become mandatory to wear in England's shops. God knows how many Covid-19 deaths he's been responsible for. The sad thing is I don't think he really gives a f^^^.

Jack

 

[tiggers]

Another option is for every street or locality to have a communal workspace, within easy walking distance (no more than 15 minutes) with high speed internet, etc. Could that be the best of both worlds? Or is it the worst?

You'll find a post on here (on an environment thread) from about 2 years ago where I suggested exactly that... I think it's a great idea.

 

[AndyU]

I was possibly one of the first people in the UK to have a portable computer and thus to be able to work from home, or wherever. A little DEC PDP-11 in a shoebox sized case, a floppy disc drive, a monitor, a 300 baud dial up modem. Fast it was not. I would think twice about getting too keen on home-working. If you can do your job from home then someone in Russia or India or Singapore can likely do the same work from their home for a lot less money than you earn.

 

[PhilofCas]

I have experienced that too, notably when I went on a very low carb diet and ketosis kicked in. I think in that case, though, there actually was something in my breath which caused the sensations I smelt.

Anyway, having got to a really maddening level by bedtime yesterday (it was as though I’d spilt some petrol on my clothes) it seems to have gone this morning.

Strange experience until it’s looked into, I used to think that everything smelled of smoke, at one point I thought it was next doors smoking and somehow coming into our house through the fireplace or something.
I did ask the Mrs when I first used to get it, if she could smell my breath close up if she could smell what I was smelling and she said no. (And no, she didn’t recoil and say no, just shite )

 

[Bob McC]

And this nonsense. The leader is fat, he thinks his fat nearly got him killed by the virus so he’s discovered public health messaging on obesity. As if the NHS and doctors haven’t been vocal, organised and evidenced about this for the last two decades. It’s shoddy, in the moment pseudo-government and another symptom of populism. Can you see how it conflicts with yesterday’s dish of the day- “right, down the pubs everyone” and “here’s a publicly funded tenner off your next chicken Kiev and chips down your local Spoons”?


“The government is poised to launch an emergency drive to slim down the nation and reduce the incidence of conditions such as type 2 diabetes before an expected second wave of coronavirus, the Guardian has learned.

Downing Street is planning what has been billed as a “war against obesity” after Boris Johnson needed intensive care treatment for Covid-19, which the prime minister reportedly blamed on his weight”.
https://www.theguardian.com/society...d-covid-19-second-wave?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

-it should come with a health warning: listening to Boris Johnson could damage your health.

Meanwhile his Chancellor pumps millions into subsidising MacDonalds burgers so that they are now going to be among the cheapest in the world in England.

 

[gintonic]

Early days though and that is your specific experience

Maybe so, a small sample of two. But i have dept of about 90 people, my wife about 60, my opposite number a dept of about 70 - all recounting very similar experiences, as is my boss and his team.

My wife setup VC rooms at her place work in her dept and drastically cut the amount spent on travel between HQs and European sites.....this was about 5 years ago.

 

[gintonic]

MacDonalds burgers

Yum

among the cheapest in the world in England

that is brilliant they are delicious.......