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.

 

What  a perfect headline this would make for the Daily Mail? As we know immigrants are the source of most ills in this country...why not blame them for Covid 19 too?  Talk about pandering to base prejudices...If the illegal immigrants were being brought ashore and then let lose in the community, that would  be one thing...Is there any evidence that this is actually what is happening? 

Kent is top of the total number of cases charts because it is such a large county. In terms of cases per head, Kent is 60th out of 149 local authorities in England. Looking at the profile of the number of cases per day it is a bit unclear due to the huge one number of cases reported a few days back.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-uk-tracker-how-many-cases-are-in-your-area-updated-daily-11956258

 

 

What  a perfect headline this would make for the Daily Mail? As we know immigrants are the source of most ills in this country...why not blame them for Covid 19 too?  Talk about pandering to base prejudices...If the illegal immigrants were being brought ashore and then let lose in the community, that would  be one thing...Is there any evidence that this is actually what is happening? 

Doesn't matter what rag it is. Do you understand what the word illegal means? They should not be here. They have not entered the country properly, legally. For every one boat they intercept, at least nine are getting through and once here they have connections already here to absorb into. I bet you there are millions and millions that should not be here because they are illegal.

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. 

Pretty much the same here.  Not many people about and those walking in the park are courteous and friendly.  It’s surprising how many say hello but I expect that’s because you actually look at each other when giving the 2 metre distance.  It’s nice to see families out walking and kids paddling in the river as well, accompanied by parents and dogs, not groups of kids playing.

We’ve just got back from a relatively pleasant trip to Morrison’s, with very little traffic on roads, no queuing and not too many people in the supermarket. 

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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. 

Yep, round here have seen people generally being fairly responsible. One thing to remember is that the R value was around 3 during normal times and people's activity seems to be a long way short of that so any increase in the R value is hopefully going to be small. Commentary has been that the chances of catching it outside are much smaller than indoors so arguably it is the socialising that you can't see which is more dangerous. Guess we will start to find out in about a weeks time, not nice to be living in a science experiment like this.

In the last few days it sounds as though life is returning to some sort of normality. Out and about however, the distance rule is being observed, like it's engrained now. My concern is sustained high infection rates are going to tip us easily back into tighter restrictions. I just wished they had got to the bottom and tried to fathom out what is still causing the high new infection rates. After the measures in place, something is still amiss!

 

Guardian? Enough said! 

And there you have the Culture Wars in a nutshell!

Anything written or spoken by someone from "the other side" is completely dismissed, ignored or ridiculed. 

Of course, it happens the other way too, but it tends to be only be the Far left who are blinkered, not centrists or the soft left

But anyone vaguely rightwing now seems to have been radicalised to the extent that rational and reasoned debate is no longer possible. 

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Yep, round here have seen people generally being fairly responsible. One thing to remember is that the R value was around 3 during normal times and people's activity seems to be a long way short of that so any increase in the R value is hopefully going to be small. Commentary has been that the chances of catching it outside are much smaller than indoors so arguably it is the socialising that you can't see which is more dangerous. Guess we will start to find out in about a weeks time, not nice to be living in a science experiment like this.

Yes it'll be 'interesting' how our new awareness of distancing plays out in the near future. Will it make or break!

Screen scraper Schapps leading the briefing today. The test results are encouraging. Will any of the journalists grill him about antibody tests?

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What  a perfect headline this would make for the Daily Mail? As we know immigrants are the source of most ills in this country...why not blame them for Covid 19 too?

That's what the plan is now on both sides of the Atlantic. Trump and his mini me have totally screwed up, so all they can do is blame immigration and China

Its ugly, but always works

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A & E was full of drunks last night thanks to flag shaggers like this. Do they even know what VE day is? Perhaps Victory "over" Europe

 

The UK: Why do we have the highest death rate in Europe???

Also the UK:pic.twitter.com/SiHPwSivF3

— JD (@Jonny_Dodds) May 8, 2020

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What  a perfect headline this would make for the Daily Mail? As we know immigrants are the source of most ills in this country...why not blame them for Covid 19 too?  Talk about pandering to base prejudices...If the illegal immigrants were being brought ashore and then let lose in the community, that would  be one thing...Is there any evidence that this is actually what is happening? 

As you know, I'm dead against illegal migrants leaving a perfectly safe country at the best of times, but when we're suffering from a pandemic? It's annoying beyond belief and given how we're all enduring a lockdown, it's utterly reckless. We have to stop them making the journey in the first place. Sadly despite using drones and aircraft it's seemingly impossible to detect all these boats as they leave shore.

I would hope the migrants undergo a forced quarantine for a fortnight, but as they generally get released into the community I'm not getting my hopes up.

The majority of boats are intercepted in the Channel by Border Force and taken to the Port of Dover, where Home Office staff begin screening migrants in a shipping container.

From there, it is likely they will be held at the Kent Intake Unit, near the car ferry terminal, where they can make an asylum claim and have an initial interview before being released.

Adults will be sent to hostel-style accommodation across the country, paid for by the government and provided by private contractors.

...

"Some may well win their appeals and the rest of them are just stuck in the country in limbo," he said.

Unable to work legally, many of these failed asylum seekers then depend on charity handouts and "sofa surf" or are "essentially forced to work in the black market economy," he added.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50813246 

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Nothing says ‘thank you for making the ultimate sacrifice’, than a refusal to make any form of sacrifice yourself pic.twitter.com/DsNnYKk4oS

— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) May 9, 2020

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Doesn't matter what rag it is. Do you understand what the word illegal means? They should not be here. They have not entered the country properly, legally. For every one boat they intercept, at least nine are getting through and once here they have connections already here to absorb into. I bet you there are millions and millions that should not be here because they are illegal.

 

Millions and millions, eh? Sounds serious. 

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Kent is top of the total number of cases charts because it is such a large county.

That's part of it, but not all of it.

We only started shooting up the chart in mid-April. For example, on the 15th we were 3rd, on the 16th we were 2nd, then on the 17th we were first. We've retained that position ever since and the gap has been widening.

Whether it's the new arrivals from France (the couple of hundred we've had in the last fortnight), Londoners coming down for the weekend or just good old supermarket mixing causing it, who knows...

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And there you have the Culture Wars in a nutshell!

Anything written or spoken by someone from "the other side" is completely dismissed, ignored or ridiculed. 

Of course, it happens the other way too, but it tends to be only be the Far left who are blinkered, not centrists or the soft left

But anyone vaguely rightwing now seems to have been radicalised to the extent that rational and reasoned debate is no longer possible. 

I think you are confusing radicalised with being fed up with remainers and the hard left. We have had enough of their unaccepting behaviour. We are fed up to the back teeth with them. Their main mouthpiece has been the BBC, which walks hand in hand with the Guardian, the BBC bias for remainers in Brexit was astonishing, totally unacceptable. For that, the BBC will never be forgotten and a full review with changes can't come quick enough in certain areas. I quote them on virus stuff, but politically I don't trust them. Since the election their presenters have undergone a personality transplant. The sly devils are muted to keep hold of their jobs, but you can sense the frustration in them. They could not stop themselves argueueing with leavers up to the election.

The hard left were in power. We were under dictatorship until the December election finally broke the mold.

There is the hard left BBC/Guardian and the centre right. I am centre right as I am sure a lot round here are. Don't get that confused with the hard right which is Tommy Robinson territory.

 

 

Millions and millions, eh? Sounds serious. 

Yes, its not good at all.

96,878 tests to 9am down from 97,029 to 9am on Friday

346 all settings deaths

3,896 new cases

11,809 in hospital down from 12,284 yesterday and down 17% on last Saturday

 

That's part of it, but not all of it.

We only started shooting up the chart in mid-April. For example, on the 15th we were 3rd, on the 16th we were 2nd, then on the 17th we were first. We've retained that position ever since and the gap has been widening.

Whether it's the new arrivals from France (the couple of hundred we've had in the last fortnight), Londoners coming down for the weekend or just good old supermarket mixing causing it, who knows...

Kent has risen up the charts because of the fall off in the number of covid cases in London. Just look at the dramatic drop in the number of London hospital cases versus the lower drop in the number of cases elsewhere including in south-east England. Cities/towns elsewhere in the country have seen moved up the number of infections table as well - Gateshead now has the highest number of cases per head in the whole of England whereas it wasnt in the top 30 several weeks back - are you suggesting Gateshead's rise is down to a mass of illegal immigrants surging into the area? Immigrants may or may not be affecting the number of cases but Kent has a population of 1.5 million so a few hundred immigrants are not likely to be having a large impact

Daily slides

Daily tests

New cases

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Hospitals - JVT confident R is below 1

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