rocket_scientist

Interestingly one of the NHS group chats that my wife is part of are talking about the timing and the content of the UK death announcement today. Personally I think today is proof of the genius of Sir Patrick and a vindication of the outstanding management conducted by Matt and Blow Job. Trump was right. It's like a miracle how this is just going to disappear.

Yeah it's always a good day when almost three and a half dozen kick the bucket.

I saw they announced 28 in England, which would indeed be a good day. Just strange that the UK number hasn't been announced plus the timing of the announcement is strange, being late and out of character. Edit: 41 UK today apparently so a very good day

The UK death rate today hasn't been announced yet despite it always having been stated before 6.30 or 7 in the last couple of weeks. There will be a reason for this and whatever it is, I'm not feeling positive about it.

Not necessarily Rico. We know it's contagious but we don't know exactly how the infection is spread. None of us caught it, including her elder sister with whom she shared a bed for five days. We reckon that transmission would only happen if the infected coughs directly on another or onto a surface that someone else then touches but it's still way too early to know.

Agree re the Get Brexit Done slogan. I knew it was a clever strategy at the time, although the weakness of Corbyn and particularly the unfair and unethical character assassination job done on him was probably the bigger factor. On this though, that article is invisible because it's subscription. As I already said on here though, we are convinced our virologist daughter was infected with Covid-19 in December, before the virus was known about.

In Scotland, the number of patients on ventilators more than doubled today v. yesterday.

They just debunked the Amazon/Boots next week thing on the daily briefing as they now need to test the tests. It's the sloganeering that kills me. Strong and stable, take back control, get Brexit done were their previous but we will beat it, together got put out an extraordinary number of times just now and whatever it takes + Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives is the continuous mantra. I don't mind the mantra as it can't do any harm to repeat the basics but there are much more effective ways to get results than parrot repetition of the exact same words. The problem with sloganeering - whether for political purposes or for policy - is that whilst some of the morons might swallow it, the thinking classes recognise the sloganeering and it's demeaning, further widening trust between politicians and people.

We are hoping that our daughter in Glasgow can be home tonight, which will swell our household to 50% of our kids. Our eldest daughter is alone in her flat in Clapham - because her flatmate is stuck abroad and her fiancé flew back to HK on Sunday (where he was immediately quarantined in his flat and provided with an electronic tag for 14 days to ensure he stays there) - and given that London is the hotspot for this disease right now, she's probably at the highest risk amongst our kids. Here's an example that NHS and human incompetence isn't exclusive to the hardest hit regions. As they clear ARI of non-essential cases, a paramedic was instructed to transport a patient to a community hospital in the NE yesterday. When he got him there, he was met by staff in full PPE which was surprise to him as the staff in ARI didn't have it and yet, they were the meant to be first port of call for Covid-19. It transpired that he had been transporting a patient who was currently Covid-positive, which he didn't know and yet the receiving staff did. It appears that simple communication, let alone necessary communication, is still something beyond most people.

Testing is testing. The infection is the infection. There is no point in trying to get it (particularly as a vaccine should become available), that would just be dumb but I appreciate you weren't advocating this and yes, some people are so thick they might feel like that. It's what we do with test results that matters. Some countries have been testing on a wide scale. Our testing of the population percentage thus far must rank amongst the worst in Europe. Data tracking is key and indeed the technology has existed for a while. Unknown to me until recently, my wife and daughter no. 2 were amongst the 29,000+ participants for the Contagion: A BBC 4 Pandemic programme. China quickly developed an App to monitor social contacts and successfully "flattened the curve", so much so that they are imminently (if not already) releasing the lockdown measures which provides another great learning opportunity regarding reinfection rates etc. Unless you're Idris Elba who paid £350 odd for a test or you're Prince Charles - who probably paid fuck all and for some bizarre reason seems to be the lead story of almost every news item just now - we don't know and can't know if we have it or not. The only UK citizens who do know have been tested on admission to hospital, to be treated by our doctors and nurses (including my wife) who still do not know whether or not they themselves are spreaders. That's what makes the government rhetoric of "ramping up" our testing so sick. They're ONLY testing the sick and there's more of them getting admitted, exponentially so. The results from testing to diagnosis are currently no less than 24 hours by the way. We have lost so much time and so many opportunities to learn, not to mention the utter idiocy of failing to act on WHO advice and other countries telling us their experiences until it's too late. The shit hitting the fan is coming in the next month and it's already started in the NHS, as Channel 4 News will highlight once again tonight unlike the BBC.

This is great to hear. It gives me hope for humanity. It's also something that I'm sure that nobody in the UK has said nor can say. In hindsight, the "errors" (mostly of omission) will become clear to the majority but the underlying reasons as to why our government reacted as badly as it did needs to be exposed.

Hancock's Q & A just now is incredible. Kuntsberg got given the first question, unsurprisingly but they didn't answer it. The second question asked what happens if the parent of a 2 year old child gets ill. Again, a totally inept attempt to answer it which didn't, ending up being classified as an exceptional circumstance. The third question asked about boyfriend's and girlfriend's. Hancock's response was once again a reiteration of the same old shit that we already know and the deputy medical officer totally ignored the question of whether they're allowed to be affectionate with one another. Question four was very specific about construction work and Hancock's doing it AGAIN, running off at tangents and speaking total shite. Ok, he's now saying 2 metres apart but that's not possible in that industry, as we heard from industry representatives today. I give up. This is a shambles beyond any imagination. Edit: the fifth and final question concerns testing. Hancock just said that where the antibody tests show that a person has had it, it means that they are now immune "apart from in exceptional circumstances" and can get back to work. That's a lie. We don't know this yet. My virologist daughter will be having a fit if she's seeing this. We don't know yet whether Covid-19 once contracted provides immunity. This isn't fucking measles. Sickeningly, Hancock thinks they're doing great in this. He's going "great" and effusing positives (and relief) after each question, incapable of understanding that anyone watching this with half a brain is appalled at what we are witnessing. He's signing off now totally proud of himself that the first e-briefing worked so well. Edit: spoke to my daughter who didn't see it. She corrected me that it wasn't a "lie" as such in that somebody with antibodies has had the virus and is immune from it AT PRESENT, at the time of the test. The total unknown is how long the immunity lasts with Covid-19.

ARI went from zero to five patients on ventilators yesterday. Shit's got real and getting closer to home.

The full interview today has been removed by YouTube already. This is the sinister deep state that we live in. This government propaganda was released today : - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-launches-whole-genome-sequence-alliance-to-map-spread-of-coronavirus Within 15 minutes of an article appearing (by a renowned credible source) to analyse the implications of it and to criticise the future implications, which concluded with the passing of control and huge resources (cash) to big pharma, it suddenly disappeared from FaceBook. Not only is an interview that was actually aired (showing the weakness of a key minister) not allowed to be seen now, direct criticism is being vetted and made to disappear.

Laura Kuntsberg and the BBC haven't once questioned the timing of this lockdown. They are fawning sycophants for the government. It's unbelievable how some people are thinking that we are in good hands under Boris. Channel 4 showed a doctor and a paramedic who had to have their identities covered up, because they were afraid that speaking the truth would cost them their jobs. They both spoke of the unforgivable situation of having to work without PPE.

Gary Gibbon nailed him on Channel 4 News. It was beautiful and so overdue. And it was so tragic at the same time. How a useless cunt like that got the job.

And much as I never liked the man (but agreed with his politics), as Nicola immediately said, there needs to be an inquiry (but not just now of course). Some cunts need jailing after this.

I think what we can take for truth out of this is three things; that Salmond's conduct was highly offensive and inappropriate, but it wasn't illegal and that political skullduggery extends to attempting to discredit others. That last one isn't exactly news but that in Scotland, a campaign has been staged against him that might have resulted in him going to and dying in a jail cell shows how sick politics can be.

When the government order a full lock down tonight (or possibly tomorrow at the latest), at least two weeks later than they should have done, this is further proof that there is no concrete strategy, let alone an alternative one they have been acting on. Just like we all predicted they would do a U-turn on the schools, this gives a firm impression that they're acting more on public opinion more than "the science" that they claim they're doing. This is a government that reacts rather than leads and even then their reactions are way too late. There can be no good science to allow the population to keep on spreading the virus. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to anticipate what would happen, which is now exactly what is happening. This government is weak and the PM has proved to be the complete buffoon we all knew he was. Maybe he was acting for the benefit of his daddy, that horrible fuck having the arrogance to tell Schofield and Holly last week that he will exercise his right to go to the pub. Who elected Boris's father? Why did he think that the UK public would be interested in ANYTHING he has to say? As revealed by his daughter yesterday, he's applied for French citizenship. What does this say about his faith in his son? That Boris's sister was "yay, maybe I can get French citizenship too" is similarly stupid.

https://youtu.be/CUdLf921Nq4

If ever there was proof that the mainstream news media are complicit in supporting this inept government and the likes of Laura K and Peston and Sky are actually contributing to the farcical situation that is needlessly going to cost tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of lives, it's the fact that Piers Morgan of all people was today the first "journalist" to attempt to hold the government to account. His "interview" with Hancock was cringeworthy often, and could've been handled so much better but at least someone finally highlighted the shite that pours out of their mouths. His constant interruptions were born from his panicky style and his massive ego, and he proved that he's not a very good interviewer at all but at least he tried - and to a limited degree succeeded - in showing the folly and the absolute incompetence of our whole government. He missed the opportunity to totally nail and crucify them however, a case of the man in the right not knowing how to use the power of being right to expose the ignorance and stupidity of the man (and the government that he represents) who is in the wrong.

At 233, we are the exact same number that Italy had 14 days ago. The ghoulish path of death rates between Italy and the UK are almost an exact mirror thus far. 28 days ago, they had their first, 14 days ago, we had ours. There is no reason why our death rate will be less than theirs. Given that they have 2.5 x more ITU beds than us and much greater resources, there's an argument that ours will be worse. At least all their front line staff have PPE. So the maths are as good as certain that we will exceed 1,000 deaths before next weekend, by Thursday if we follow the Italian parallel. The numbers and the pace of escalation between 1,000 and 2,000 and then 4,000 etc. are frightening.

The report in the Sunday Times that Dominic Cummings said the strategy was: “herd immunity, protect the economy & if that means some pensioners die, too bad” may or may not be 100% accurate but the actions taken by the government suggests that it was. BJ himself was trying to explain Herd Immunity to Schofield and Holly not so long ago. As the virologists and epidemiologists were arguing, that concept could only work when the nature of the virus was understood, which it still isn't. The fact that it was published today means that their sources are spot on, that they were there, heard it and recounted it. The lawyers would NEVER have allowed it to go to print otherwise. Downing Street have denied it obviously but they must NOW come out on the telly and must immediately raise an action v. The Times if it's been the worst fake news story in recent history. Otherwise, at least one citizen, Cummings is in severe danger of his life and with many thousands of citizens soon to be bereaved, it won't be long before it gets real ugly. The timing of it is interesting following the documentary on Cummings this week.

Good man. I knew you'd do the right thing

The Maradonna film on Channel 4 right now. Get on it.