POSTINGS |
Events, Events |
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A growing list of failures and unacceptable actions - each minor enough to be overcome in normal circumstances - have all appeared at short notice. Their combined effect when bunched together like this could mark the end of the Johnson tenure at No. 10. Increasing panic spreading through the government, unrest in Whitehall and Europe plus escalating military threats are likely to set off a chain of events beyond the Prime Minister’s control. There may be trouble ahead .. |
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tags: UK, resignation, breakdown |
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Light Entertainment |
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I’m sure that’s what is in the mind of this group (!) Circus Mircus who will represent Georgia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy in May. Unfortunately the British approach seems certain to lead to another musical debacle that will stir-up abuse and raise blood pressures almost as much as Downing Street partying. [Come back Katrina and the Waves ...] Cannot comment on the UK’s choice for 2022 because the selection has not been made yet. But can almost guarantee that the final result will be another zero point disaster - irrespective of the song or its singer. |
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tags: Eurovision, BBC, repeat, failure |
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Fool’s Errand |
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Setting ambitious targets can boost team efforts and encourage cooperation to achieve a common goal. But there is the danger that these motivational targets can be set too high - and become unachievable fantasies that kill any desire to keep going. Once the participants come to the conclusion that the objectives cannot be reached further efforts become fool’s errands - jobs given to waste time and resources.
Now Grandad has no access to the Government’s inside knowledge but the public information available puts this target firmly in the unachievable fantasy category. And if correct could spell the end of public support - while demotivating the medical professionals, support staff and volunteers. Just look at the basic stats. There are just 18 days left in this calendar year - and that includes weekends and bank holidays. Yesterday 451,000 vaccinations were carried out in total and NHS officials are hoping to get to 900,000 per day by next week. But this will require all parts of the supply chain to be in place and stocked with sufficient quantities - plus staff prepared to give up at least some of their Christmas / New Year break. In the unlikely event that 900,000 doses per day can be achieved and maintained then the total vaccinations possible by year end is 14.8 million. This compares to 6.2 million of the UK population who have yet to have a first dose; 10.6 million yet to have a second dose and 33.8 million waiting for the promised third dose - which they can only have if enough time has elapsed since their second dose. So the numbers indicate that even the end of January would be an ambitious target for getting third doses to all those who have already had two. Already the phrase being set up to fail is appearing in the postings of those faced with the daunting prospect of chasing down mild Covid infections while so many other patients are being neglected or ignored. But some degree of failure is already likely - and the question is - who will carry the can? Update 21-Dec-2021 Update 22-Dec-2021 Update 31-Dec-2021 As regards the booster vaccinations programme - it did just as predicted and petered out over Christmas. Neither the staff nor the public should have been expected to carry on at this time of year. The spin-doctors are claiming it was a success since everyone was offered a booster shot. But no amount of spinning can ignore the fact that millions have not had one - offered or not. And even the end of January target is looking increasingly difficult to achieve. At this stage Whitehall’s way out of taking responsibility for setting such crazy targets is to claim the targets never existed! Update 23-Jan-2022 This softening has left the on-going vaccination programme with even less motivation to reach its targets. And looking at today’s government figures it is clear that there is much less motivation already. The chart below illustrates how the number of daily 3rd doses administered is nowhere near the pre-Christmas peak. And if the current rate of around 68,000 per day continues then today’s two-dosed patients will not all be boosted for another 165 days - or 225 days to finish all those that have had just one dose so far [That’s 5-Sep-2022!]. This will still leave around 10% of population unvaccinated. So it seems that stories of tragic avoidable deaths will be with us long-term.
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tags: virus, economy, vaccine, failure |
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No End In Sight |
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Today’s mainstream media are reporting that the NHS has ordered another 114 million doses of Covid vaccines. A figure that is around the same as the total number of shots distributed in the UK from the start of the pandemic.
The orders are reported to be for some 54 million doses from Pfizer and 60 million from Moderna. A move that seems to suggest other vaccines will be dropped and the prospect of a tablet-based treatment is further out into the future. The cost of these orders to the NHS has not been revealed but EU contracts are thought to be around £16.50 per dose for Pfizer and £19.50 for Moderna. If these figures are realistic then today’s announcement has just blown around £2,060 million of our taxes - a big enough figure but one that does not include the potentially much larger cost of getting it into the UK population’s arms. The best outcome could well be a Covid variant that is no worse than flu or even the common cold. This seems to have been the fortunate outcome for the Spanish Flu virus pandemic of 100 years ago. Hope is that nature will repeat itself very soon - because the alternative of more dangerous variants do not bear thinking about ... Update 6-Dec-2021 |
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tags: virus, economy, vaccine, unrest |
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More Of The Same |
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Despite the long gap since our previous post many important issues seem little changed. The problems with having a trade barrier between Northern Ireland and England/Scotland/Wales still exist and the threat of triggering Article 16 is still being waved around as a promise / threat. While the fishing rights and disputes seem as unresolved as the never-ending stream of economic migrants fleeing France for a better life in the UK. Even Lord Sugar has been asking the key question - what makes the UK so attractive? And conversely what makes Greece, Italy, Germany, etc less attractive. So far the only obvious beneficiaries of the traffic are the people smugglers and UK lawyers - but there is also the darker threat of foreign powers aiming at creating civil unrest.
And on the issue of national finances this quote from our previous post - very likely that inflation will jump - and by much more than the Bank of England predicted - seems to be coming true; despite the Governor of the Bank trying his best to wish it away. With higher wages, staff shortages, steep fuel increases and supply chain struggles the Bank’s hopes of any inflation being a blip seem naively optimistic. But at least today’s updated plans for rail improvements have given a little clearer direction for public transport outside of London - but even this can expect some vocal opposition. But then you can’t please everyone ... |
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tags: virus, economy, vaccine, unrest, interest |
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Still In Turmoil |
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After a two month gap in postings the hope was to have seen significant improvements. But looking around we see remarkably little in the way of problem resolution. To quote a posting from February this year .. the world, as seen from Europe, seems to be becoming less rational, less predictable and more volatile. The pressures at all levels - from individuals to whole continents - are triggering actions and decisions that would be inconceivable just a few years ago. Everything from Taliban to volcanoes have created more troubles.
Despite everything that has been done last week saw 241,000 new UK covid infections meaning that hundreds of thousands are not able to go to work or school. The shortage of HGV and tanker drivers illustrates how the pandemic has combined with an absence of EU workers and little economic planning to trigger a crisis. Trying to look ahead through the growing panic it seems very likely that inflation will jump - and by much more than the Bank of England predicted. This would be bad news all round ... Trying to be less downbeat, events at a local level have been quite benign - and even though Autumn is starting to bite, the Spring and Summer have been pleasantly warm. Warm enough to have the new sun lounger in action and forget about problems that we have no power to resolve .. |
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tags: virus, economy, vaccine, unrest, interest |
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Another Exit In Name Only |
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Well .. we have waited the required five weeks before our next opportunity to escape from the Government’s Covid restrictions. But next Monday’s billing as Freedom Day looking increasingly like a name taken from George Orwell’s 1984 new speak - being almost the complete opposite of the actual experience.
Then the move to personal responsibility rather than Government requirements has the unintended consequence that companies - and public services - will be looking to avoid claims against them and enforcing their own versions of infection control. So come Freedom Day wearing a face covering will not be a legal requirement - in England - but going shopping at Sainsbury’s or travelling by train would still require one to be worn. And anyone travelling over a land border between England and Scotland or Wales would need to know what they can or cannot do on a daily basis ... And travelling from, say, Essex into London could be equally disjointed. But looking further ahead we must assume that the number of new Covid infections is likely to keep growing - along with an exponential (expotential?) growth in contacts to be traced (and pinged) for self-isolation- to the point where the politicians reverse gear and put all the restrictions back. The vaccination programme may have taken the sting out of Covid but 2021 will not see the end of its debilitating effects. In fact they could be around for decades ... |
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tags: Covid, travel, holiday, rules, restrictions, freedom |
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A winner in the Conservative leadership contest. A winner in the last general election. But it seems that these will count for little as events conspire to bring Mr Johnson down.
It would be nice to have a break from all the military, medical, climatic and financial threats with some light, unchallenging, entertaining relaxation.
In the last few days the Government - that is the Prime Minister, Cabinet, senior medical officers, etc - have directed that almost all of the country should get a third dose of Covid vaccine by the end of the year. And have instructed all the medical resources available to work to achieve this ambitious target.
Since Grandad, and Grandma, have already had three vaccinations each this year it looks like we will be expected to get the same again in 2022/23. That is if the public and medical teams can face at least two more years of Covid treatment within a seriously disrupted health service and a struggling wider economy.
The Covid pandemic still rolls on with infection numbers in the UK now up to 277,000 last week - despite the vast number of vaccine doses given out to date. Official figures state that 50.7 million first, 46.1 million second and 13.9 third doses have now been issued - so that’s over 110 million shots in total. A monumental task added to the workloads of already over-stretched medical resources - with no real end in sight. How soon before the expert advisors start calling for a fourth round of vaccinations? How much will it all add to the nation’s tax bill?
The covid pandemic stills rolls on - with large parts of the world untreated. With the UK starting out giving third doses - often using a different vaccine to the first two - while also beginning annual flu jabs - the medical staff involved must see this as a never-ending struggle.
The broad announcement that all (most) of the restrictions will be repealed next Monday - breaks down in practice. Firstly because there are so many politicians claiming they set the rules - not just Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but also regional mayors. This lack of common ground means that the rules could change at random on different days in different places.|
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FOOTNOTES |
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1. We don’t claim copyright on any of this stuff. We won’t hassle you if you reuse it. If you don’t like it here then just move on. We don’t use cookies because we never track your actions. Some of this stuff may link to other sites. What they do is their responsibility. We used to have have links that promised to pay us for any traffic generated but the amounts were peanuts. So these are now being cleared out. |
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2. We haven’t been mis-sold any financial services. We don’t want to make any legal claims against anyone. We don’t want to help you move your offshore funds. We don’t have parcels that could not be delivered. We do have the best deals on utilities. Our web page rankings are not a problem ... |
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