tom_widdows

Matt Hancock didnt quite get off scott free on his radio 4 interview this morning but as much as I don't like the guy I don't like the way the BBC are reporting what he said. Full quote: 'I don't want to impugn blame on people who have used more PPE than the guidelines suggest because I understand the difficulties in the circumstances. What I would say it is very important to use the right PPE and not overuse it.' I personally interpret that as 'Home-made PPE isnt safe, and as we are short of the proper stuff, be careful not to waste what you have' BBC Tagline 'Do not overuse PPE, says UK health secretary' If I hadn't heard the interview, or wasnt prepared to read the full transcript I'd say that could be interpreted as: 'PPE is expensive so stop being such pussies and get back to work' akin to a Charles Dickens workhouse owner. What they should be reporting is his 'excuse' for the UK having more daily deaths than Italy & Spain ever did is that the UK has a Higher population. The interviewer then stopped him in his tracks by pointing out Germany has a higher population than the UK.

Guardian reporting the 14 team premiership being put forward by cockwomble and co No relegation in any divisions Arabs & Caley promoted to premier Falkirk & Raith Promoted to Championship Cove & Edinburgh promoted to League One 1 Highland league & 1 Lowland league team promoted to League two

For all the talk about ensuring social distancing etc is maintained and emphasising that Easter is not an excuse to fuck about, my local tesco metro seems to have relaxed its policies. The tape on the floors and screens at the tills remain but a couple of weeks ago they had lines on the pavement marking queing positions, a 1 way entry/ exit system, staff inside and out to restrict the number of folk in the store. Today all of the external proceedures have gone out the window. Inside the shop the rush for easter eggs also seems to take priority over the 2m rule. Meanwhile across the Atlantic the Donald just keeps on giving.

Stickers (well one at least) appearing around my local area declaring selected LAMPOSTS as '5G Microwave & Class 1 Cancer Causing Radiation causing lampost' Not sure if this is satire or stupidity given the lampost I spotted the sticker on has no mobile antenna. 200m up there road there is a mobile phone mast but perhaps they ran out of stickers

Update today Northern Ireland - 1 per 33,607 people Scotland - 1 per 24,955 people Wales - 1 per 20,383 people England - 1 per 14,212 people

It all depends if they have given the actual number. China's population is more than 4 times as much as the USA. India is the one to look at given they have a population similar to China's with a higher population density however they have only reported 68 deaths Those figures will need adjusting as they are based on 2018 populations

Rough current death rates for each part of the UK(based on population not number of infections - whether or not these countries are definetely recording all coronovirus deaths is up for debate) Northern Ireland - 1 per 39,208 people Scotland - 1 per 31,616 people Wales - 1 per 22,262 people England - 1 per 17,224 people Compared to: Italy - 1 per 4,120 people Spain - 1 per 4,166 people Belgium - 1 per 9,973 people France - 1 per 10,312 people Netherlands - 1 per 11,553 people Luxembourg - 1 per 19,419 people Ireland - 1 per 40,250 people Portugal - 1 per 41,829 people USA - 1 per 46,319 people Germany - 1 per 64,933 people China - 1 per 417,218 people

I'd like to think that in light of the last 3 months all plans have gone out the window.

To me that logic is up there with the best examples of human arrogance & selfishness. The idea that insects are merely something to use as we please and can be discarded using technology at the earliest opportunity with no consequence Isn't there some passage in the Bible that claims humans can rule over all animals and use them as they please? Insects not only pollinate crops, they also pollinate pretty much every plant, tree, shrub etc on the planet. All the GM crops in the world won't provide clean air, natural protection against subsidance, flooding, weather etc They are pest controllers They are soil cultivators They are a huge part of natures waste disposal team. They are food for millions of creatures in the food chain, many of which Humans rely on. The insects die, the plants die, and the animals (including humans) follow sharpish. The last things to die will be bacteria and germs etc as they will have a last field day on all the carcassas that in a controlled eco-system would gradually be broken down by insects and other carion eaters. I think Ill just refer to George Carlin

UEFA making a nice cagey threat of countries losing Champions & Europa League Spots if they prematurely end their seasons. Sure the Belgian FA are chuffed to hear that one day after declaring Bruge as champions

I suspected you are not advocating it however the implicaiton of your existing phenomenon comment doesnt help your case as it suggests you don't consider the loss of insects to be as bad as it really is. To clarify everything supposeldy good humans do is worthless if it means all the insects die out. We spent hundreds of years fucking up the natural order to make our lives easier for short term gain and in doing so our progress to the Disney Prophecy that is Wall-E gets faster by the day. Killing off things at the top of the food-chain - Bears, Wolves, Crocodiles, Tigers, Lions, Pythons, etc solved one minor problem (Humans being eaten) but in doing so moved humans to the top of that chain. Problem is we are closer to cockroaches than the Bear in that we adapt and are not reliant on particular food/ prey so the natural control of numbers at the top of the chain was thrown out the window. Cockroaches at least still get eaten. Insects vanish = Extinctions on a global scale: Plants and Animals. I have personally been cynical about WI-FI and mobile data since they became something the masses were able to have. Part of this was based on experience of early similar technology (infra red controllers for early consoles anyone?) but the other part was in the back of my mind the premise of the air around us being filled with various frequencies, dare I say it 'radiations' everywhere you go didn't, and still does not seem right to me. People used to flock to watch nuclear bomb tests in the American deserts as it was considered good safe entertainment. Fast forward 70 years and how many people will happily skip off for an unguided walk around Pripyat? 'Sick Building Syndromme' was a big thing when I was at Uni but seemed to mainly concentrate on commercial/public buildings. I would not be surprised if a 'new & improved' sick building syndromme or perhaps even 'sick area' syndromme appears in the next 10-20 years in domestic buildings, as the technology we use advances faster than testing & regulation (thanks to worldwide government cuts, and pressure from big corporations to have their products used). I had a CPD presentation from a famous company who make a certain product used widely in kitchens. The presentation was for a new fancier version of their main product which can effectivelly repair itself. When asked about the recyclability of this new product the response was (I'm not kidding) 'It can't be recycled so we have made it extremely strong so it will last at least 20 years before it starts to fail.' I then asked the presenter how they could guarantee their product would be actually used for 20years (giving the example of the flat below mine which had 3 new kitchens in the space of 5 years. One was ripped out less than 2months after it had been installed), and suggested their policy of creating new non-recyclable products all of which would eventually end up in landfill was irresponsible. The guy looked like had been slapped in the face. That company will not be alone. If the ordinary people of the world were crying out for 5G, then I might be able to get onboard. The only people I see crying out for it are large corporations, and Politicians. Neither of which have a strong track record in being socialists and humanitarians but do have have a long history of being in each other's pockets.

That could be plucked straight from a Trump, Enron, Exxon, Tory marketing slogan. Instead of 'fuck, this is going to make an existing serious problem worse. Abort!', it's 'It's already happening so fuck it lets pour petrol on it to make a buck'

What is it harmful to? All the driverless cars, virtual realtiy and data collection are worthless if all the insects, birds, trees etc arer wiped out. Since when are projected VR, or the other two items a necessity? They don't quite fall into the same category as clean water & air or a sustainable food supply etc

Recall him scoring his first goal for the club at Tanndaice 3-0 down after 10mins and yet when that goal went in (about midway through the first half) I (and I suspect many others) genuinely thought the dons were going to come back for at least a point. Where that optimism came from shall forever remain a mystery

plus concussion and a ruptured spleen

https://www.esquire.com/uk/life/a31915611/coronavirus-timeline/

Look out for how far Alan Main kicks the ball in the last minute.

Accupressure Matt and Pillow Got of off amazon for £25 and now onto using it without a t-shirt etc. As you would expect it is not comfotable at the start but by about 10mins in I find myself completely zoning out. Trying to do 40mins a day.

IBI Nightingale apparently. Id like to think break rooms were provided every couple of floors in each quadrant but some genius decided those rooms could be better used for something else (which i understand is very common in existing hospitals). However the design of the A & E Reception makes me doubt that. As for processes and logic being in place, rather than gradually closing the various hospitals this campus was to replace over a couple of years, I understand they just shut those hospitals pretty much immediately forcing hundreds of patients and staff both into a completely new set up with little or no guidance or assistance, and into buildings which were still within the snagging/ defects liability period and fuck me if they havent found some spectacular defects in that place. A common curse of how our wonderful UK works. Qualifications based on paper (ie book learning and exams to get some letters after your name) all to often trump qualifications based on experience (the person who started in the stockroom and worked their way to the boardroom), and allocating the correct time to plan something, and/or backing down, admitting you made a mistake, and re-thinking things which arent working is seen as weak leadership so all to often change finally comes after years of ineffieciency/ failure rather than weeks or months by which time the damage is permanant.

I think that is one of the many curses of being a junior doctor. If you quit it means you quit medicine for good as no health board will touch you again. In the current situation though the NHS workers at least have the safety net of the media being on their side. We the UK population have always needed junior doctors but they and all their frontline NHS colleagues have been taken for granted and treated like shit. Now as Rocket has said several times 'this shits gotten real' all the bad will, 'Im suing the healthboard for calling me fat', 'They are all workshy scroungers for having the gall to take a day off once a month' and so on is suddenly all forgotten. Theres lots of media stories now about how wonderful the public & businesses are being in their support for NHS workers (free stuff, discounts, how many of the general public have volunteered to help them) however where was this goodwill, generosity and public spirit 3months ago? 3 months ago if a Nurse posted a video of themselves crying in their car because they'd reached their breaking point I have my doubts it would have made it much further than a facebook feed or a one show episode. Said Nurse would potentially have faced disciplinary proceedings, and eventually been forced out though internal bullying 3 months ago the above article would have made the left leaning papers but the right wing ones would have had so many counter stories from 'other' doctors who said everything was fine. The doctor would then potentially have faced a similar fate to the nurse. 3 months ago the best so many NHS frontline staff could expect would be sporadic box of chocolates/ bunch of flowers from the odd grateful family. The so called 'super hospital' in Glasgow has lots of Nurses stations but hardly any break rooms, and the break rooms available are 10mins walk from many Nurses stations. Not exactly ideal when each Nurse only gets a 15min break so by the time they are 3/4 of the way to the break-room, they need to turn round and go back to work. Rules state they cant have hot drinks or have/ prepare food at the nurses station so what the fuck are they supposed to do?! Kudos to the Architects on that one. Tangent: At the end of my 1st year at Architecture school the tutor marking my final project - a kindergarten in Duthie Park - criticised/ chastised me for laying out the building based on information gathered from a former Nursery teacher. According to her it was my job to tell client's what they needed and how they should use a building. That Glasgow hospital is a fine example of the sort of logic, arrogance and ignorance in the Architecture world which plays right into the hands of people who value price and asthetics over facilities and how a building will be used. There was a doctor who called into 5live a couple of weeks back with his own version of the guardian article and just before he hung up he said something along the following lines. 'It is great that everyone is offering free stuff and discounts but when all this is over all I would like is - a Room where my nurses can sit and have a break - Free tea or coffee facilities in that room - Facilities to store and make our own food rather than vending machines with inflated prices that are all to often broken or havent been filled. - To not have to put up posters in the wards and receptions asking patients & visitors to please not spit, shout at, or assault our staff.' All the rounds of applause in the world will be worthless if, should the virus be beaten, we just let the NHS go back to what it was & still is, which is what the tories & right wing merceneries want it to be.

Id be happy if people understood the difference between 2 feet and 2 metres.

Lower non league english football seasons declared null & void (Men's & Women's leagues) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52069879 Be interesting to see if the FA change their mind if the number of clubs willing to challenge grows even further. Personally I think this shows the utter contempt the FA really has for the 'grass roots' they keep banging on about being so important

Especially given this 'magical'80% wages promise still hasn't been organised and the consensus is companies must pay all the money out first and then claim it back from HMRC. How many companies out there have enough cash in the bank to pay all their outgoings (even if its only 80% staff wages) with no income for 3-6months on the promise they will get the money back eventually? Can't say I trust the banks to help in this situation

No 'todays' but BBC have been showing FA Cup rewind the last couple of weekends the first 2 episodes are on Iplayer now (currenlty on the 2nd bottom row of the page) https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006xv04/the-fa-cup Love old school FA cup football and watching John Barnes in his Watford days is a joy