Garden centres will immediately become absolute hell holes. For hundreds of thousands of people they will be the only option for a "nice day out" while others will be desperate to buy up as many plants as possible. I imagine that social distancing will immediately go out of the window in the scrum at these places. Big mistake allowing them to reopen now, IMO.

Agreed, it's a mistake. It should only happen if they are confident that community transmission has now fallen considerably and most of the new infections are from care homes and hospitals. If that's the case though, they should explain it clearly.

The govt keeps lurching from one mistake to another and the results are visible to anyone who isn't blinkered.

 

Don't know about the interoperability issues with different phones but I was somewhat sceptical about using a blunt-edged tool like Bluetooth to detect contacts

Unless the app has a way of detecting the duration of the contact and the exact distance it seemed to me that the number of false positives could kill the system. It should not be treating passing by fleetingly across the other side of the road as contacts even though to Bluetooth they might be in range. It may already handle this - we don't have a detailed spec

A detailed spec would be a rare commodity at the start of any software project - let alone for an application that was cobbled together in a few weeks using flaky technology across multiple platforms.

Why am I not surprised? 

UK scientists condemn 'Stalinist' attempt to censor Covid-19 advice

Government scientific advisers are furious at what they see as an attempt to censor their advice on government proposals during the Covid-19 lockdown by heavily redacting an official report before it was released to the public, the Guardian can reveal.

The report was one of a series of documents published by the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) this week to mollify growing criticism about the lack of transparency over the advice given to ministers responding to the coronavirus.

Several SPI–B members told the Guardian that the redacted portions of the document contained criticisms they had made of potential government policies they had been formally asked to consider in late March and early April.One SPI-B adviser said: “It is bloody silly, and completely counterproductive.” A second committee member said: “The impression I’m getting is this government doesn’t want any criticism.”

“Personally, I am more bemused than furious,” said Stephen Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews. “The greatest asset we have in this crisis is the trust and adherence of the public. You want trust? You need to be open with people. This isn’t open. It is reminiscent of Stalinist Russia. Not a good look.”

At least one scientific adviser is understood to be considering resigning over the government’s secretive approach to science around the Covid-19 outbreak, which they believe is undermining public trust.

“This government has failed to show any self-criticism whatsoever, when it is glaringly obvious to everybody that big mistakes have been made. If you want the trust of the population you hold up your hand and you say ‘we’ve made these mistakes, this is why they happened, we regret it, we’re learning from it’. Rather than just keep saying ‘we’ve done the most fantastic job’ and not being open to criticism in any way.”

Yes, I agree, it really must be.  I simply can’t imagine how I’d feel  and more than once during the past few weeks, my sister and I have thanked god my mum passed away before all this happened.  That might sound harsh to some but others will understand what I mean.

I really do hope all goes well with your mum Nick. 

I agree, Caz. My father is in a care home 3,500 miles away and we're on our third 'mini panic' already: first someone in the kitchen caught it and then we've had two of the people's who share his room go down with a fever and he's been isolated and tested. So far so good but whenever he gets moved to another room we can't speak to him for several days.

Nick, I hope it turns out OK for your mum.

Why am I not surprised? 

UK scientists condemn 'Stalinist' attempt to censor Covid-19 advice

Government scientific advisers are furious at what they see as an attempt to censor their advice on government proposals during the Covid-19 lockdown by heavily redacting an official report before it was released to the public, the Guardian can reveal.

The report was one of a series of documents published by the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) this week to mollify growing criticism about the lack of transparency over the advice given to ministers responding to the coronavirus.

Several SPI–B members told the Guardian that the redacted portions of the document contained criticisms they had made of potential government policies they had been formally asked to consider in late March and early April.One SPI-B adviser said: “It is bloody silly, and completely counterproductive.” A second committee member said: “The impression I’m getting is this government doesn’t want any criticism.”

“Personally, I am more bemused than furious,” said Stephen Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews. “The greatest asset we have in this crisis is the trust and adherence of the public. You want trust? You need to be open with people. This isn’t open. It is reminiscent of Stalinist Russia. Not a good look.”

At least one scientific adviser is understood to be considering resigning over the government’s secretive approach to science around the Covid-19 outbreak, which they believe is undermining public trust.

“This government has failed to show any self-criticism whatsoever, when it is glaringly obvious to everybody that big mistakes have been made. If you want the trust of the population you hold up your hand and you say ‘we’ve made these mistakes, this is why they happened, we regret it, we’re learning from it’. Rather than just keep saying ‘we’ve done the most fantastic job’ and not being open to criticism in any way.”

Guardian? Enough said! The govt would not win with some people whatever way you cut it. The knives were out from the start, that's why they became so defensive and party political broadcast sounding. Agree, with the word hindsight there would be a number of things addressed differently. But they stopped that spike as they said they would, but certain people still moan about the lockdown decisions. They cannot win. Anyone in charge cannot win. It's a thankless task. And the truth is you detect political undertones, not what you need right now!

 

Guardian? Enough said! The govt would not win with some people whatever way you cut it. The knives were out from the start, that's why they became so defensive and party political broadcast sounding. Agree, with the word hindsight there would be a number of things addressed differently. But they stopped that spike as they said they would, but certain people still moan about the lockdown decisions. They cannot win. Anyone in charge cannot win. It's a thankless task. And the truth is you detect political undertones, not what you need right now!

That's an incredibly distorted view. Aside from the fact that we haven't stopped 'that spike', as the number of deaths show. The 'Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives' mantra was the consequence of a desperate U-turn when the initial stance proved to be a horrendous misjudgement. The UK's record to date is abysmal on so many fronts and I know you know that.

But the substantive point, irrespective of what newspaper carried the story, is that you cannot have criticism suppressed like this. If mistakes have been made how do we learn from them if they are not discussed?

 

That's an incredibly distorted view. Aside from the fact that we haven't stopped 'that spike', as the number of deaths show. The 'Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives' mantra was the consequence of a desperate U-turn when the initial stance proved to be a horrendous misjudgement. The UK's record to date is abysmal on so many fronts and I know you know that.

But the substantive point, irrespective of what newspaper carried the story, is that you cannot have criticism suppressed like this. If mistakes have been made how do we learn from them if they are not discussed?

I would say they did stop the spike, as in hospital admissions. They did not want the NHS to become overwhelmed, and they achieved that.

NHS England has reported 207 new hospital deaths down from 332 yesterday

Last Saturday NHS England reported 370 new hospital deaths

Breakdown of the 207 hospital deaths by date in England

• 47 on May 8th


• 90 on May 7th


• 23 on May 6th


• 23 between May 1st and May 5th


• 19 in April


• 5 in March with one on March 12th

Comparison with last Saturday is not really that valid though as the deaths are the ones reported up to 5pm yesterday and yesterday was a bank holiday. Better comparison might be with the figures reported last Sunday? (will still be a drop on that figure but not as large).

Edit: last Sunday's report was 327 deaths in English hospitals.

Rolling chart with backdated data

The Coastguard has said that on Friday it had the highest number of call-outs since lockdown began as people “ignore” the government’s stay-at-home message.

It said there were 97 incidents, 54% more than the average of 63 recorded for the previous month.

Matt Leat, duty commander with the Coastguard, urged people to stop “ignoring” the government’s measures for the sake of the NHS and all those on the frontline

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/may/09/uk-coronavirus-live-ministers-plan-14-day-quarantine-for-arrivals-as-garden-centres-set-to-reopen--latest-updates

 

nonsense, Justyn...you are quoting stuff from the guardian, so it must be based, inaccurate, distorted..etc etc etc😛😛

Another 80 new Britons today, having been ferried across the Channel. Hopefully none have covid-19, but we'll see.

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/around-80-migrants-intercepted-226937/

Given the lockdown and the mealy-mouthed reassurances, I really don't know why they're still not being intercepted until they're past the halfway point...

(There were several boats yesterday as well, of course.)

I wonder if, as others have speculated, this is why Kent is seeing so many reported cases... It's been at the top of the county charts for weeks now.

Why am I not surprised? 

UK scientists condemn 'Stalinist' attempt to censor Covid-19 advice

Government scientific advisers are furious at what they see as an attempt to censor their advice on government proposals during the Covid-19 lockdown by heavily redacting an official report before it was released to the public, the Guardian can reveal.

The report was one of a series of documents published by the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) this week to mollify growing criticism about the lack of transparency over the advice given to ministers responding to the coronavirus.

Several SPI–B members told the Guardian that the redacted portions of the document contained criticisms they had made of potential government policies they had been formally asked to consider in late March and early April.One SPI-B adviser said: “It is bloody silly, and completely counterproductive.” A second committee member said: “The impression I’m getting is this government doesn’t want any criticism.”

“Personally, I am more bemused than furious,” said Stephen Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews. “The greatest asset we have in this crisis is the trust and adherence of the public. You want trust? You need to be open with people. This isn’t open. It is reminiscent of Stalinist Russia. Not a good look.”

At least one scientific adviser is understood to be considering resigning over the government’s secretive approach to science around the Covid-19 outbreak, which they believe is undermining public trust.

“This government has failed to show any self-criticism whatsoever, when it is glaringly obvious to everybody that big mistakes have been made. If you want the trust of the population you hold up your hand and you say ‘we’ve made these mistakes, this is why they happened, we regret it, we’re learning from it’. Rather than just keep saying ‘we’ve done the most fantastic job’ and not being open to criticism in any way.”

Let's hope some hero leaks it in full.

Another 80 new Britons today, having been ferried across the Channel. Hopefully none have covid-19, but we'll see.

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/around-80-migrants-intercepted-226937/

Given the lockdown and the mealy-mouthed reassurances, I really don't know why they're still not being intercepted until they're past the halfway point...

(There were several boats yesterday as well, of course.)

I wonder if, as others have speculated, this is why Kent is seeing so many reported cases... It's been at the top of the county charts for weeks now.

Mentions of arrests, but no mention of the boat captains. They need 10 year sentences for their £50k making trips. Should go with the territory. The righteous will say let them come however.

 

Guardian? Enough said! 

Yeah, how dare they not join the majority of print and TV media in being mouthpieces for this government. 

Back to the VE Day celebrations yesterday. There might be a positive in this in that it represented a sort of unofficial low level breach of the lockdown. In other words people were generally trying to meet social distancing requirements but many were more lax than they had been. My experience was 1-2m distancing and long periods of chatting going on at closer distance than before. But this would only be a proportion of the population. So, a bit of a dummy run. Be interesting that if there isn't a spike in infection rate in the next 1-2 weeks might mean that easing isn't as dire as we fear. 

I've noticed more family getting together over the past couple of days, definitely an uptick here in my locality.

Been for a long walk round south Manchester today. 

Most people being very courteous and socially distancing, a fair number of people sunbathing etc but always in small groups and in isolation.

Always warms my cockles to see all the rainbows in windows and chalked out by kids on footpaths and doorsteps. Love it. 

Need to be careful not to assume everything happening on Twitter is representative of the entire population. It’s easy to get carried away with anecdotes from social media. 

Not saying everything is rosy, but I firmly believe that most people are fairly decent out there.