UKC

He's made us Top Nation:

https://www.ft.com/content/6b4c784e-c259-4ca4-9a82-648ffde71bf0

60,000 deaths, so far - 3 times what Whitty said at the start of the outbreak would be a 'good result' (so long as he wasn't one of the 20,000, presumably.)

It's possible this may all go away - I certainly hope so, because nothing this government has done seems to have made much difference.  Unfortunately I don't believe it. (At my age, I also don't mind admitting I am scared.)

What number will have to have died for the country to say 'maybe it IS time for a change...' 100,000? 200,000? Because this is where we're heading.

I think Whitty's comments should be viewed in the context of 'We'll be lucky if deaths are as few as 20,000'. People also don't understand, or like to think about, the error bars on the models shown. 20,000 was the median of the models in a best case scenario but even that had a very large variation.

The politicians are already lining up the science advisers to take the fall for their own inaction. This will stifle any future advice. The Italians held scientists responsible for not predicting an earthquake!  

I'm sure the Greek politicians are blaming their scientists for coming bottom of another European league table again with only 172 Covid deaths in total.

According to Stephen Reicher on Newsnight the other night, the government has agreed (under considerable pressure he seemed to be hinting) to make all the scientific advice from SAGE, NERVTAG and SPI-B public, so at least we'll be able to see what they were told and what they actually decided to do about it.

If past behaviour is anything to go by, I think we'll see some heavy redaction when they do

Or bits in crayon where Boris did some amendments.

When / if it goes away the government will be quick to claim credit but the reality is its down to us the people to make it go away. 

If we maintain our distance and follow strict hygiene routines we will be okay. 

Nothing wrong with admitting to be scared, there is a lot to be scared about but all you can do is your best and hope that the people around you do the same. 

Hancock seems to think it's all hilarious.

saw that and have a virtual GRRRRRRR instead of a "like"

Do you have a link? Though I'm not sure my blood pressure can stand it.

Kay Burley / Hancock , Sky this morning. I nearly smashed my telly in.

E

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-hancock-laughs-off-claims-test-and-t...

Careful though.... I rarely get really angry at politics now, I try to have some detachment, but Hancock made my blood boil.... really sickening.

Where did you get the numbers and phrase "100,000? 200,000? Because this is where we're heading" from? They don't appear in the article for which you gave a link, and they don't appear on the "Projections" page at the Worldometer, either - see the section "Total Deaths":

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-kingdom

So where did they come from? Thank you

Wow. 

Smirking at 60K deaths. That's a very nice look. Totally bankrupt of empathy.

You will note the ? at the end of the sentence - these are me speculating, no more no less.

My guestimates are based on the fact that we don't seem to be getting anywhere, we are entering a'next phase' of our 'response' based on wishful thinking and making it up as we go along. Is it a pillar, or traffic lights, or curve flattening, or a sombrero - I have no frigging idea and neither, I suspect, does anyone else.

The number of deaths is still bouncing around the 350 - 500 mark per day, and that is likely to be an underestimate of somewhere between 25 - 50% when all the data is collated, and the 'true' figures - deaths in excess of seasonal averages - are calculated.  Watch that go back up as lockdown is eased and asymptomatic and infected teenagers start jostling each other in Primark as they resume their shopping. (My slightly older daughter can't wait...)

The Test and Trace 'strategy' makes no sense - the technology that was so supposed to be so crucial hasn't even been made to work on the Isle Of Wight after 6 weeks trying, (at lest they tested it there before rolling it our nationwide, well done for that), so now it has become an optional extra.

As far as I am aware it doesn't appear that survival rates for infected patients are changing very rapidly, and an effective, safe, tested vaccine is nowhere in sight, however much we might wish differently.

Nothing will make me happier for me to be wrong on all counts; so let's watch and see, shall we? And in the meantime, do everything we can to get rid of this, the most consistently dishonest, incompetent, ignorant, misguided and ill-equipped government that I suspect we have had in the last 120 years. 

~42-47K according to this model, assuming no second wave.

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-kingdom 

Rob, thanks very much for your long and detailed reply. And yes, we all have to wait and see. (And I like your "in the meantime" at the end)

Excess deaths appear to be approaching normal now. 
 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/...

Lets see what today’s figures are but yesterday’s were no doubt the b/h reporting delays. 
 

People have modified their behaviour since March and places like Primark will be limiting the number of customers into their stores the same way as the supermarkets are. The HSE won’t allow them to put their staff or the public at risk. The big stores will be very conscious of this. They’ll be watched by the HSE and press very closely. 
 

My daughter works for Next. There will be big changes in retail. 

Of course he wasn’t doing that at all, he was laughing at someone for both telling him he’s rushed track and trace forward and that it was also late.  As he says in that clip.

Tory laughs at reporter during pandemic!  What a bastard how dare he.

'Tory laughs at reporter during pandemic!  What a bastard how dare he.'

Exactly. You've got it.

Indeed, all Tories must maintain a concerned/sad expression at all times.  All laughter must cease until the virus is gone.

But he has rushed it forwards - its now a voluntary, low tech, back of a fag packet system instead of the much vaunted world leading system they have been banging on about for weeks, and too late because we should have had this in march, at the latest. Indeed we did in some form, and then they stopped using it.

He would have been much more effective if he hadn't mocked the reporter, and maybe thought about the question before yet again making a dick of himself. For a politician, he is way to sensitive about how people talk to him. Some might even say a bit of a sn*wfl*ke.....

B*llocks.

As in the clip, he is accused of rushing an announcement forward before the scheme is ready to be rolled out. The roll out of the scheme is behind their own schedule as the app isn't ready.

So announcement early, implementation late, gettit?

The cynicism and smirking would be bad enough at any time, but given how badly this country has been hit (nearly 60k excess deaths), it's sickening.

It's always been obvious where you loyalties lie, but surely there are limits?

Sorry, but that's rubbish.....Johnson admits he never bothers to read the stuff!

Come on...it's just like Patel's smirk, part of the natural expression......of someone devoid of humanity and empathy.

Pate's smirk is really weird. It's like it's completely disconnected from what she feels.  It looks as though she has taught herself in front of a mirror to emulate what other people, who genuinely smile, look like. Most people who smile can't avoid feeling better for having done so, but I'm pretty (!) sure she doesn't.

It’s already late.  They want to lift things more, probably because they can see people getting annoyed that they can’t see their families, and that more and more will breach regardless.  Personally I don’t see that many getting the app.  It won’t get blanket coverage or anything close, so why wait for it?

You may be right that he’d have come across better, but then you’re predisposed to dislike him so perhaps not the best judge.  I don’t see why laughter is a problem, and those accusing him (and me, thanks Mike) of laughing at deaths are just being silly.  He’s not, he’s laughing at the idea that all government actions revolve around Dominic Cummings.

Johnson achieved his goal of becoming PM but is so bleeding stupid that he doesn't realised that his legacy is being defined by the clusterf*** that he's allegedly presiding over rather than anything to do with Brexit. 

His stupidity was compounded today when he said he wanted to draw a line under the Cummings affair and have no more questions to the scientists about it, because it was 'a political controversy'. Which is one thing it is not. It is simply a matter of an extreme breach of the NHS guidelines, i.e. a scientific and medical matter, and also a legal one involving the police. Who have now been put in a quite impossible position - because I'm sure that it'll be virtually impossible to fine anyone now for such breaches. Basically, as the front of the Star (I think) yesterday put it, people can now just do whatever they like.

Being fluent in Latin is looking like a bloody useless qualification to run a country.  Johnson's stupidity is becoming more evident every time he makes an appearance.

( Apologies to other classicists)

I very much doubt that he's 'fluent' in Latin. He's just very good at coming out with big words, based on his knowledge of Latin. Perhaps we should use one of his favourite catch-phrases: he's a 'world-beater' for throwing out big words in otherwise vacuous speeches.

Indeed. He conspicuously failed to pronouce 'exegesis' yesterday, nor did he use it correctly (yes, Greek, I know - but the same point).

Yet another appalling performance from a member of the cabinet.

It is getting more like 1984 every day.

It was clear Jeremy Hunt wrong footed Boris during the committee meeting questioning and Boris, in typical style, came out with a throwaway sound good comment that test and trace would start yesterday.

On the 1pm news on Radio 4 yesterday someone who was recruited to work on test and trace said they were involved in webinar on the 27th May where there was no mention of a start date of the 28th. The only info he got about it was an email late on the 27th announcing the start on the 28th.

Dave