Proposed enforcement measures are not the same thing as enforcement.

There will be plenty of proposed measures but no actual enforcement.

It will be just like money-laundering and tax avoidance.

So, sticking to what they know best !

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Which one of his families?

 

The aborted ones, with a bit of luck.

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That's worrying for you  Nick , fingers crossed for a speedy recovery .

 

For anyone with parents or relatives in a care home it must be a nightmare and very frustrating.

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. 

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More on the NHS app-ocalypse. Google / Apple have produced an API not app. In simple terms that means an out of the box engine which needs a body and wheels. I would almost certainly have gone for the Google / Apple API to begin with. The problem described below sounds like a bug which should be fixable, however there are architectural shortcomings which will be much more challenging.  

 

NHS intensifies talks with Apple as Isle of Wight trial for contact-tracing app stutters

Soon after the app's release on the Isle of Wight, users complained it was not working on certain phones or flooding them with notifications

The NHS has intensified talks with Apple over its contact tracing app as its Isle of Wight trial is beset by problems, raising fears a back-up version may be needed.

Health service bosses are coming under pressure to switch over to a version of digital contact-tracing which uses technology provided by Google and Apple specifically for their phones, increasingly seen as an international standard.

The Telegraph understands that talks between Apple engineers and the NHS developers have ratcheted up, suggesting the health service was taking the option more seriously.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/08/nhs-intensifies-talks-apple-isle-wight-trial-contact-tracing/

 

 

 

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The elderly here are generally wealthy. That is probably the big differentiator.

I never realised that, say Chatham, had more rich elderly than Billericay or Brentwood 

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How do you get on buying plants online when you have less control over the quality you choose?

I buy them on ebay and check the feedback to ensure that there are no previous issues. Only once have I had a problem and they were v good about it. 

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I never realised that, say Chatham, had more rich elderly than Billericay or Brentwood 

I'm out in the country near Canterbury. Big houses, lots of land... the elderly are pretty well off. Nowt like Chatham 

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Professor Spector's symptoms map is in The Times today. I think it is viewable here:

https://nuk-tnl-deck-prod-static.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/260f2f16a7ce86f8b3a4d77ae6db58b8.png

Fatigue is the most commonly reported one. Does anyone consider that somewhat farcical? I expect most people have woken up and had a "bad day" perhaps due to a poor night's sleep etc. There is another chart (which I can't find on the web version of The Times) which categorises corona virus symptoms and gives a prognosis based on them. If you get a sore throat it seems you're quids in. IIRC a headache followed by fatigue / temperature allegedly means you're much more likely to croak. 

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I'm pretty sure he will quit at or before the next election. He will have got his Brexit done which will be his legacy, achieved his life ambition of being Prime Minister and judging by some of the crap comparisons with VE Day on the TV yesterday he might even try and portray himself as a modern day Churchill who fought the virus. SO job done.Except he thought it would be a "jolly" and he has had to take pressure, criticism and think and at times do something he has rarely done in the past - work. I suspect all of this, especially the latter will make him decide to "spend more time with his family". 

I think your portrail of Boris is way off the mark but not surprised from a sore labour looser! I do agree that the pm will not be there come the next election and will probably jack it in,in a 2 to 3 years time to spend time with his new family once this crisis is well and truly behind us.

 

I'm out in the country near Canterbury. Big houses, lots of land... the elderly are pretty well off. Nowt like Chatham 

Nice. Just kidding but steady on the generalisations of us oldies 

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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. 

Thanks for those kind comments everyone. In a way I think you did better Caz. I understand exactly.

Whatever happens happens as it's all part of life.

I've passed on that survey Michael posted to my daughter and she can do what she will with it though it ties in with her schoolwork. I've also forwarded the Cold War Steves links to her machine. Just up her street as she loves Photoshop, satire but not Trump. You're a Saint for highlighting them. 

Nick

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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. 

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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

 

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Amazing how different "old people" are due to the separation of a few miles of Estuary. Over here they are very frightened and sticking indoors and getting food delivered in whatever way they can. The youth are strolling around in the sun, two abreast, staring at their phones without a care to blocking paths etc.

. Quite the opposite here in Norfolk. It makes me so mad when younger people, some in 15th floor flats with kids and no garden, who are financially struggling or who have lost their jobs already, are suffering for the selfish old, rich people who are moaning that they can’t go out to play bowls. 😡

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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. 

The next review will be on 28th May, thankfully 4 days after the next bank holiday. Hopefully there won't be a spike, but it should still be of concern, and ought to be a foundation for future relaxations, if rates of infection and mortality are still flatlining. 

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More on the NHS app-ocalypse. Google / Apple have produced an API not app. In simple terms that means an out of the box engine which needs a body and wheels. I would almost certainly have gone for the Google / Apple API to begin with. The problem described below sounds like a bug which should be fixable, however there are architectural shortcomings which will be much more challenging.  

 

NHS intensifies talks with Apple as Isle of Wight trial for contact-tracing app stutters

Soon after the app's release on the Isle of Wight, users complained it was not working on certain phones or flooding them with notifications

The NHS has intensified talks with Apple over its contact tracing app as its Isle of Wight trial is beset by problems, raising fears a back-up version may be needed.

Health service bosses are coming under pressure to switch over to a version of digital contact-tracing which uses technology provided by Google and Apple specifically for their phones, increasingly seen as an international standard.

The Telegraph understands that talks between Apple engineers and the NHS developers have ratcheted up, suggesting the health service was taking the option more seriously.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/08/nhs-intensifies-talks-apple-isle-wight-trial-contact-tracing/

 

 

 

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

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. Quite the opposite here in Norfolk. It makes me so mad when younger people, some in 15th floor flats with kids and no garden, who are financially struggling or who have lost their jobs already, are suffering for the selfish old, rich people who are moaning that they can’t go out to play bowls. 😡

Actually I totally agree with you. It was meant as hyperbole. I was just making the point that people should stop categorising and generalising because we can all pick an example from any generation in isolation. "Old people this" and "young people that". I do think the younger generation have taken the biggest hit. I have told my grandchildren how much I appreciate what they have done for my generation for something that would probably cause them no harm. It's hardly affected my life but they can never get back this lost year, their 18th birthday, their missed exams, possibly lost Uni places. I have nothing but utter respect for those that have made an effort.

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The boys at Tufton St. are worried about the effect on asset values if rents aren't being paid. They aren't looking forward to the candid client conversation where they have to tell the client that their UK property portfolio lost money this year.

Dead tenants don't pay much rent though.

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​

Police chief warning over UK lockdown split as Britain bakes

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-police-chief-warning-over-uk-lockdown-split-as-britain-bakes-11985648

​

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. 

Yes, that’s a good point because we really have no idea what to expect, or even if we’re doing the right thing.  I look at other countries and wonder why their curves have followed a similar pattern to ours yet their measures have been different.  Looking at how cases have peaked in parts of the country and declined in others, it’s almost like a wave.  I wonder if we’d have seen exactly the same number of cases if we hadn’t locked down.

Actually, nobody claimed we’d stop the virus.  The measures we took were to slow the spread and prevent the NHS being overwhelmed.  I wonder if it has run its course now.

 

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