Well, let's be positive. The good news this morning is that the UK Government is going to take public health very seriously in future.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/boris-johnson-to-launch-war-on-fat-after-coronavirus-scare-flgswhmvx

"Boris Johnson is preparing a “much more interventionist” drive to tackle obesity as part of the fight against coronavirus after his spell in hospital with the disease.

The prime minister told senior ministers and advisers, “I’ve changed my mind on this” and that he was drawing up a new strategy.

Research has found that being obese doubles the risk of needing hospital treatment for coronavirus. About one in three British adults is clinically obese, classified as those with a body mass index (BMI) above 30. It is one of the highest rates in the western world.

..."

• if you are looking for the reason behind high mortality rates in the UK and USA, look no further - COVID-19 is a virus missile which seeks out the elderly, those with existing health problems and the obese.

Unfortunately, there is not a lot we can do about getting old or having people with horrible life threatening conditions like cancer or MS, but we can do something about fat people who should otherwise be healthy. One of the key signatures of younger people requiring hospitalisation with COVID-19 has been Type 2 diabetes - a fat person's illness.

Get lean, get fit and beat the virus should be the slogan!

I wonder what BMI Mr Johnson has?  

This is quite a cool idea/look 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-52663568/coronavirus-amsterdam-trials-covid-safe-restaurant

Does not look "cool" to me - after a few hours of summer sun, it would be the customers cooking, rather than the food.

 

I've said from the start that Covid-19 has reduced CO2 emissions to a far greater extent than Greta has - she's almost redundant in that respect.

At the risk of dragging this OT historically recessions however caused have reduced emissions and they then strongly rebound during the recovery phase. Unless there are large societal changes that result from the pandemic it's likely exactly the same thing will happen here, meaning emissions had a temporary blip before continuing as before or worse as the economic stimuli lead to an increase from the pre-pandemic position.

Good example of where the EU adds value and potentially saves lives. The EU approved the Roche antibody test 10 days before the UK. Were we following EU certification we would have saved 10 days and avoided duplication of work.

Given that we're 100% aligned with EU standards still, it baffles me why they waited so long to approve the Roche and Abbott tests - that's the whole point of getting them CE marked, it saves duplicate work.

 

Given that we're 100% aligned with EU standards still, it baffles me why they waited so long to approve the Roche and Abbott tests - that's the whole point of getting them CE marked, it saves duplicate work.

 

Well, it made sense that the UK Government would want Porten Down to validate them independently. I don't think 10 days difference is either here or there and there is still the price for the tests to be negotiated. At least the whole project is now moving and there will be mass antibody tests sooner or later.

When should you get the results of your test?

When should you get the results of your test?

It should be today, sometime - I've a funny feeling they might be delayed though!

I wonder what BMI Mr Johnson has?  

Pretty high I'd imagine.

It's worth reminding folks though that age is by far the biggest factor. Yes, those in hospital who are younger are disproportionaly obese, but being fat doesn't mean you will need to go to hospital.

There's something else going on which means some people are more prone than others, obesity is just one of those factors. (If obesity was a big issue with Covid, as age is, you would expect far more younger people in hospital than there are and have been. It certainly doesn't help being fat, but in and of itself it doesn't mean you will end up in dire straits. It does mean that if the other factors end up pushing you into hospital, your odds will be worse.)

 

At the risk of dragging this OT historically recessions however caused have reduced emissions and they then strongly rebound during the recovery phase. Unless there are large societal changes that result from the pandemic it's likely exactly the same thing will happen here, meaning emissions had a temporary blip before continuing as before or worse as the economic stimuli lead to an increase from the pre-pandemic position.

 

I work in IT, an industry where people normally travel for meetings, often overseas, just because of a perceived importance for face to face interactions. The pandemic has forced people to find an alternative in Zoom/Teams etc. and the realisation has dawned that business travel is, in the main, a waste of money and time and drags people away from their families. The same is even true of daily commuting. One of my roles is running training courses, which I wouldn't have even entertained the idea of attempting to do remotely, but now I've actually got a remote setup which is just as good if not better.

For this reason, I'm convinced that when the Pandemic is eventually over, although holiday travel will return to normal, business travel will never be the same again - which must account for a significant proportion of flights. Working from home will permanently replace commuting for very many people.

So not only is this good news for the environment, but I also can't see Heathrow ever needing to build a third runway. I think we've passed "peak air-travel".

Pretty high I'd imagine.

It's worth reminding folks though that age is by far the biggest factor. Yes, those in hospital who are younger are disproportionaly obese, but being fat doesn't mean you will need to go to hospital.

There's something else going on which means some people are more prone than others, obesity is just one of those factors. (If obesity was a big issue with Covid, as age is, you would expect far more younger people in hospital than there are and have been. It certainly doesn't help being fat, but in and of itself it doesn't mean you will end up in dire straits. It does mean that if the other factors end up pushing you into hospital, your odds will be worse.)

I agree with this. My concern is the fat angle is being pushed for the wrong reasons. In actual factor being a non-smoker appears to present a greater risk than being fat. 

Johnson's BMI is 36 according to The Times this morning.

 

Does not look "cool" to me - after a few hours of summer sun, it would be the customers cooking, rather than the food.

 

I work in IT, an industry where people normally travel for meetings, often overseas, just because of a perceived importance for face to face interactions. The pandemic has forced people to find an alternative in Zoom/Teams etc. and the realisation has dawned that business travel is, in the main, a waste of money and time and drags people away from their families. The same is even true of daily commuting. One of my roles is running training courses, which I wouldn't have even entertained the idea of attempting to do remotely, but now I've actually got a remote setup which is just as good if not better.

For this reason, I'm convinced that when the Pandemic is eventually over, although holiday travel will return to normal, business travel will never be the same again - which must account for a significant proportion of flights. Working from home will permanently replace commuting for very many people.

So not only is this good news for the environment, but I also can't see Heathrow ever needing to build a third runway. I think we've passed "peak air-travel".

I thought in many cases that was actually the reason FOR business travel. 

Likewise Darren, in terms of we work in the same sector, and my thoughts. From the early planning our company has done it seems unlikely the office will be more than 50% occupied this calendar year. We are doing our FY21 planning now, and whilst I think there will be a travel budget, I'm sure for a variety of reasons it will be dramatically reduced next year. Another year down the line, people will certainly feel like it's the norm not to fly off to San Fran or elsewhere for a week of meetings.

 

I work in IT, an industry where people normally travel for meetings, often overseas, just because of a perceived importance for face to face interactions. The pandemic has forced people to find an alternative in Zoom/Teams etc. and the realisation has dawned that business travel is, in the main, a waste of money and time and drags people away from their families. The same is even true of daily commuting. One of my roles is running training courses, which I wouldn't have even entertained the idea of attempting to do remotely, but now I've actually got a remote setup which is just as good if not better.

For this reason, I'm convinced that when the Pandemic is eventually over, although holiday travel will return to normal, business travel will never be the same again - which must account for a significant proportion of flights. Working from home will permanently replace commuting for very many people.

So not only is this good news for the environment, but I also can't see Heathrow ever needing to build a third runway. I think we've passed "peak air-travel".

I concur. Internally people are starting to think - Do I need to commute every day and use 2-3hrs and spend money that I could save.

Im going to WFM at least 5 days a month when this Pandemic is over.

We have a big office in central London. I suspect the business will now start to think ‘Why’. It probably costs a fortune to run. Now they will start to think we have adapted for three months why not downscale and fundamentally change how we do thinks.

Business travel will change as well. It’s not just flying, it’s business expenses etc. Why do all that for a 1-2 day meeting when you can do over zoom.

Business leaders will be thinking of all the savings they could make, and in a lot of cases they will need to do just that to survive 

 

I've said from the start that Covid-19 has reduced CO2 emissions to a far greater extent than Greta has - she's almost redundant in that respect.

Haha. Anyway, how as we have cleaned the air over the last two decades, why has our climate got warmer still? The harmful greenhouse gasses are still up there, will be for many perhaps hundreds of years. The other gasses like sulfates that contribute towards global dimming and keeping the earth cooler only last at best three weeks. So, as we clean the air, the greenhouse gasses are still there but the other gasses that keep us cooler aren't. As we clean the air further, this gas differential will only get larger so we will continue to warm, maybe significantly.

I am all for getting rid of fossil fuels are replacing with cleaner fuels, but if people think by stopping emissions now will solve the problem, it won't. In contrast, the action of cleaning the air will only speed up the warming quicker. I don't know what the answer is but it appears our innocent actions may be taking us towards the precipice even quicker.

 

I concur. Internally people are starting to think - Do I need to commute every day and use 2-3hrs and spend money that I could save.

Im going to WFM at least 5 days a month when this Pandemic is over.

We have a big office in central London. I suspect the business will now start to think ‘Why’. It probably costs a fortune to run. Now they will start to think we have adapted for three months why not downscale and fundamentally change how we do thinks.

Business travel will change as well. It’s not just flying, it’s business expenses etc. Why do all that for a 1-2 day meeting when you can do over zoom.

Business leaders will be thinking of all the savings they could make, and in a lot of cases they will need to do just that to survive 

 

 

Well, it made sense that the UK Government would want Porten Down to validate them independently. I don't think 10 days difference is either here or there and there is still the price for the tests to be negotiated. At least the whole project is now moving and there will be mass antibody tests sooner or later.

When should you get the results of your test?

I can guarantee we won't get them cheaper than the EU !

Sounds excellent, if only proper broadband and back up of mobile data coverage (to do it) was available in the less favoured areas like here where we have neither.

As an example this morning to login to online banking using PC they now won't let you until you receive a confirmation text.
I suppose driving two miles up the hill each time then whizz back (you have 15 minutes) would be worth trying.

Needless to say the nearest actual bank is more than ten miles away because online and app banking is now easily accessed by everyone 

I concur. Internally people are starting to think - Do I need to commute every day and use 2-3hrs and spend money that I could save.

Im going to WFM at least 5 days a month when this Pandemic is over.

We have a big office in central London. I suspect the business will now start to think ‘Why’. It probably costs a fortune to run. Now they will start to think we have adapted for three months why not downscale and fundamentally change how we do thinks.

Business travel will change as well. It’s not just flying, it’s business expenses etc. Why do all that for a 1-2 day meeting when you can do over zoom.

Business leaders will be thinking of all the savings they could make, and in a lot of cases they will need to do just that to survive

This is important. We were already witnessing a collapse in retail rental values due to on-line shopping and it is likely that we will now see a collapse of commercial rental values driven by on-line working.

My guess is that investment money will be driven into residential development and this will have far reaching consequences.

 

Haha. Anyway, how as we have cleaned the air over the last two decades, why has our climate got warmer still? The harmful greenhouse gasses are still up there, will be for many perhaps hundreds of years. The other gasses like sulphates that contribute towards global dimming and keeping the earth cooler only last at best three weeks. So, as we clean the air, the greenhouse gasses are still there but the other gasses that keep us cooler aren't. As we clean the air further, this gas differential will only get larger so we will continue to warm, maybe significantly.

I am all for getting rid of fossil fuels are replacing with cleaner fuels, but if people think by stopping emissions now will solve the problem, it won't. In contrast, the action of cleaning the air will only speed up the warming quicker. I don't know what the answer is but it appears our innocent actions may be taking us towards the precipice even quicker.

Sulphates are salts not gases - but that's global dimming for you