Conservative MP Andrew Bridger has just told raging bull @piersmorgan that he’s always been allowed to visit his 2 sons if he maintains social distancing.

So he has been breaking lockdown rules.

If it's outside then, no.

 

If it's outside then, no.

Incorrect. 

 

Scrutinise and condemnation are quite different.

Of course. This morning people have been scrutinising the poor government messaging and rightfully condemning it.

You can and should be able to do both. That still doesn’t make it political point scoring.

As Brian highlighted earlier, there is condemnation across the political devise this morning. 

 

If it's outside then, no.

Incorrect. Until yesterday one daily exercise and not mixing with others from different households.

 

I say this all the time, but the Culture wars that have afflicted America are well and truly here since Brexit. Total blinkered tribalism. Treating "libtards" as the enemy within. 

The Trump fanatic who called into James O'Brien last year summed it up perfectly "Yes, I know he is a racist liar, but I don't care, because it upsets people like you" 

Yes it's carnage. Civil war conducted by 0.1% of the population through the medium of twitter.

 

If it's outside then, no.

No, outside or inside made no difference. The messaging was very clear on that point but it just shows how people can misunderstand the rules.

Some debate on here this morning and no surprise the same boring protagonists at work who whatever the PM said would have been chomping at the bit putting the knife in. Multiple posts by the same people, so boring. I know
I go on about China responsibility and Russian stats, but at least I pause and come up for air.
Look, some 14 hours after the announcement with all the detail still to come later some are just too desperate to rubbish this govt down.
Yes even after the release of the 50 page document there will still be questions, it won't answer everything, but even here IF things go according to plan, then next phases and relaxations will solve and sort out many of these problems. It can't all happen in one go!
Until then, I think some of you need to have a good look at yourselves. You are not idiots and there are some very knowledgeable contributors on here but you also let yourselves down by your constant bitching and moaning. It's boring, very boring!
Any govt in charge would be under fire. Any govt would be in a no win situation. What a thankless task.
You should grow up a little, cut them some slack, don't be the boo boys all the time, you belittle yourselves when all the time we know you just like pantomine villains.
Yes this govt has mucked up like many of govt's have in hindsight, but every now and again it would be good if there was some support.

 

Yes it's carnage. Civil war conducted by 0.1% of the population through the medium of twitter.

Except it's only a civil war amongst the minority of people who follow the nonsense on Twitter and elsewhere.

Scientists concerned that coronavirus is adapting to humans

Researchers have observed mutations in some strains that may help the virus spread

Scientists have found evidence for mutations in some strains of the coronavirus that suggest the pathogen may be adapting to humans after spilling over from bats.

The analysis of more than 5,300 coronavirus genomes from 62 countries shows that while the virus is fairly stable, some have gained mutations, including two genetic changes that alter the critical “spike protein” the virus uses to infect human cells.

....

“This is exactly what we need to look out for,” Hibberd [LSHTM] said. “People are making vaccines and other therapies against this spike protein because it seems a very good target. We need to keep an eye on it and make sure that any mutations don’t invalidate any of these approaches.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/10/scientists-concerned-that-coronavirus-is-adapting-to-humans

Hibberd says the mutations are rare at the moment. However, this is exactly the sort of thing which could blow up many of the vaccines on the launchpad. 

  It’s everyone’s responsibility to look after themselves so nitpicking and squabbling about minor points is fruitless, so is cherry picking ( oh hang on, that is fruit ).  This shouldn’t be a political row that divides us, it’s a national emergency that we’re all fighting and someone has to lead in that.

I think everyone on here is intelligent enough to comprehend the speech.  There will be idiots who flout the rules but that’s up to them. If they pick up the virus, they should be no threat to those of us who are vigilant, wash hands, stay 2 metres away etc. 

Great post Caz.

Not sure i saw this mentioned yesterday but a survey conducted between 26 April and 8 May suggests that 0.24% of the population of England currently have coronavirus (confidence interval 0.14 - 0.4%). That makes 136,000 people, is this where the estimate of 18,000 (?) people catching it every day came from? Not sure how that would translate into a total number of people who have had it since the epidemic started.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurvey/england10may2020

Hibberd says the mutations are rare at the moment. However, this is exactly the sort of thing which could blow up many of the vaccines on the launchpad. 

You are always on the gloomy side wrt vaccines, it seems. If you're right and it's hopeless, should we just let it rip and have done with it?

(OTOH, given that we can vaccinate monkeys, I still can't see any reason why we can't get a human vaccine sorted).

 Good post Far better reading than some of the political diatribe that has to be waded through on here

A special announcement by the Prime Minister on covid-19 makes it a political issue whether you like it or not.

  It’s everyone’s responsibility to look after themselves so nitpicking and squabbling about minor points is fruitless, so is cherry picking ( oh hang on, that is fruit ).  This shouldn’t be a political row that divides us, it’s a national emergency that we’re all fighting and someone has to lead in that.

I think everyone on here is intelligent enough to comprehend the speech.  There will be idiots who flout the rules but that’s up to them. If they pick up the virus, they should be no threat to those of us who are vigilant, wash hands, stay 2 metres away etc. 

1. It isn't nit picking to ask whether I should use a bus to go to work when the PM and Dep PM have said two different things

2. It isn't nit picking to ask whether I can return to work today or Wednesday when the PM and Dep PM have said two different things

3. It isn't nit picking to ask whether I can meet both of my parents in a park when the PM and Dep PM have said two different things.

Our health and, potentially, thousand of lives depend on getting this right. HMG has been as clear as mud in the last 48 hours. At least it has been consistent in that its approach has been shambolic since mid March.

Questioning this is not stirring up divisions or a political row. It is absolutely right at a time of national emergency and when there has been such an obvious failure of leadership. 

The real problem is that the govt has trusted people to exert their own personal responsibility in dealing with this virus.

Trouble is most people don't have any.

Let's just go full police state, I've had enough of this dragging on. Labour complains about the Tories being fascist all the time, I think its time for some real fascism to put things in perspective.

Raab keeps saying "we've been very clear"!

Mishail Husain eviscerating him 

"Very clear"- that is, clear as mud.

 

You are always on the gloomy side wrt vaccines, it seems. If you're right and it's hopeless, should we just let it rip and have done with it?

(OTOH, given that we can vaccinate monkeys, I still can't see any reason why we can't get a human vaccine sorted).

I think there's a decent chance of a vaccine but not one which is highly effective. Therefore, as Whitty (I think) recently said we may end-up with something that has therapeutic value but isn't THE game winner.

Should we just let it rip? No. There is still a great deal which is not understood about this virus. For example, it may not be transmitting well in Africa but in advanced nations it seems to be disproportionately hitting people of African descent. Research into a vaccine must continue at full speed. However, we should also be looking around the world and seeing if it can be controlled in an organic way (behavioural and lifestyle changes which could replace lockdown) until effective drugs or vaccine arrive - if they ever do.

Had Prime Minister Gaze made the speech last night it would have been very short and to the point. Highlights below:

Nothing is changing. Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives. We will review again in 3 weeks time.

The reasons for this are that scaling up contact tracing and antibody testing are both taking longer than we expected. However, progress is being made on both fronts. In addition we will be implementing a national randomised antigen testing programme to establish the current rate of infection.

The number of infections is falling but it is not yet at a manageable level. Therefore, to crush this virus to a level we can control the same rules must continue to apply. The economic cost is huge but it will be even higher if we ease now and have to slam on the brakes again in a few weeks or months.  

 

Prime Minister Porter would have said exactly the same, Brian.

Russia is now the 2nd worst country in the world by new infections after the USA

Russia has also gone above Italy and the UK to the 3rd most infected country in the world for total cases with 221,344 Spain remains 2nd with 264,663 with the USA top on 1,367,638 cases

11,656 new cases today, another new record. Deaths 94, total 2,009.

My word, I wonder what they have done to all the dead people they are not reporting, tens of thousands of them.