So, coronavirus...

[duke]

I am about to be banned from having a pint too as the current thinking is we are moving to tier 3 in my neck of the woods. With tier 3 being the second highest tier in a 5 tier system. You honestly couldnt make this nonsense up.

Sorry to hear about your neighbours loon TB.

I know he's autistic, but that's a bit much!..

Thanks anyway..

NL the eugenics fan

Look up the Aberdonian meaing of loon (as in Loons and Quines)

[Northern Lights]

I know he's autistic, but that's a bit much!..

Thanks anyway..

NL the eugenics fan

Look up the Aberdonian meaing of loon (as in Loons and Quines)

Aye, loon as in young man/boy but dare i say it in more affectionate way. Clearly our local tongue hasnt made it to Wales.

[duke]

NL the eugenics fan

Look up the Aberdonian meaing of loon (as in Loons and Quines)

Aye, loon as in young man/boy but dare i say it in more affectionate way. Clearly our local tongue hasnt made it to Wales.

It's barely made it as far as Edinburgh which is where I heard the phrase

[Northern Lights]

Look up the Aberdonian meaing of loon (as in Loons and Quines)

Aye, loon as in young man/boy but dare i say it in more affectionate way. Clearly our local tongue hasnt made it to Wales.

It's barely made it as far as Edinburgh which is where I heard the phrase

Fair enough

[Rinkals]

I know he's autistic, but that's a bit much!..

Thanks anyway..

NL the eugenics fan

Look up the Aberdonian meaing of loon (as in Loons and Quines)

I spotted that and thought it may be taken the wrong way.

[SaintK]

Silly buggers all round really
Yesterday the government announce that we will probably need a vaccine passport in order to enter various venues
This morning Gove says exactly the opposite
Yesterday the government publish a very flimsy cost/benefit analysis of the national tiers
This morning it is leaked that the government have been running a secret economic impact analysis across all sectors which they are not going to publish
Same as it ever was with this shower!!!

I don't have much of an issue with opposition party saying we know by not opposing this it'll pass no issue which is important to see social restrictions continue to apply, but because of some issues specifically around business support we're not going to actually vote with the government.

It;s not really 100% clear it will pass - but it is exposing just what a challenge this is in the Tory party and how hard BoJo is having to work to keep his MPs in line. Which is the real reason the sainted Starmer is abstaining.

Some major Tory names laying into the Government

Less than 2 hours into tier system debate there are signs the tory rebellion could be significantly larger than the 34 who opposed govt over the 2nd lockdown.
D Green, D Davis and A Leadsom among those voted for lockdown in Nov, but have said they won't support govt tonight

When Chris Grayling is calling into question the performance of the government and of the Health department in particular, you know that we are in serious trouble!

[Northern Lights]

I don't have much of an issue with opposition party saying we know by not opposing this it'll pass no issue which is important to see social restrictions continue to apply, but because of some issues specifically around business support we're not going to actually vote with the government.

It;s not really 100% clear it will pass - but it is exposing just what a challenge this is in the Tory party and how hard BoJo is having to work to keep his MPs in line. Which is the real reason the sainted Starmer is abstaining.

Some major Tory names laying into the Government

Less than 2 hours into tier system debate there are signs the tory rebellion could be significantly larger than the 34 who opposed govt over the 2nd lockdown.
D Green, D Davis and A Leadsom among those voted for lockdown in Nov, but have said they won't support govt tonight

When Chris Grayling is calling into question the performance of the government and of the Health department in particular, you know that we are in serious trouble!

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Silly buggers all round really
Yesterday the government announce that we will probably need a vaccine passport in order to enter various venues
This morning Gove says exactly the opposite
Yesterday the government publish a very flimsy cost/benefit analysis of the national tiers
This morning it is leaked that the government have been running a secret economic impact analysis across all sectors which they are not going to publish
Same as it ever was with this shower!!!

I don't have much of an issue with opposition party saying we know by not opposing this it'll pass no issue which is important to see social restrictions continue to apply, but because of some issues specifically around business support we're not going to actually vote with the government.

It;s not really 100% clear it will pass - but it is exposing just what a challenge this is in the Tory party and how hard BoJo is having to work to keep his MPs in line. Which is the real reason the sainted Starmer is abstaining.

Is it 99.9% clear it'll pass? If Labour abstain the Govt. would need to suffer an enormous internal revolt and a huge number of Labour MPs would need to go against their leader too you'd think for the Noes to have it, and whilst technically possible I've not heard even slight rumours that either of those events could happen of anything like the required magnitude.

Yes Starmer is partly doing this to encourage as many Tory MPs to rebel as possible knowing there's no threat coming from Labour that the Tory whips can use, but I still don't mind the stated reasons for the opposition to act as they've indicated. If the Govt. think it important for their to be a unified position with cross party support they should negotiate that, not just expect it because of claims of crisis

[SaintK]

I don't have much of an issue with opposition party saying we know by not opposing this it'll pass no issue which is important to see social restrictions continue to apply, but because of some issues specifically around business support we're not going to actually vote with the government.

It;s not really 100% clear it will pass - but it is exposing just what a challenge this is in the Tory party and how hard BoJo is having to work to keep his MPs in line. Which is the real reason the sainted Starmer is abstaining.

Is it 99.9% clear it'll pass? If Labour abstain the Govt. would need to suffer an enormous internal revolt and a huge number of Labour MPs would need to go against their leader too you'd think for the Noes to have it, and whilst technically possible I've not heard even slight rumours that either of those events could happen of anything like the required magnitude.

Yes Starmer is partly doing this to encourage as many Tory MPs to rebel as possible knowing there's no threat coming from Labour that the Tory whips can use, but I still don't mind the stated reasons for the opposition to act as they've indicated. If the Govt. think it important for their to be a unified position with cross party support they should negotiate that, not just expect it because of claims of crisis

The problem with that is that everything appears to be decided within a small cabal between Downing St and the Cabinet Office. It's been reported that Sunak didn't even know about the additional funding for "wet" pubs until he was told at Cabinet this morning!

[Rhubarb & Custard]

It;s not really 100% clear it will pass - but it is exposing just what a challenge this is in the Tory party and how hard BoJo is having to work to keep his MPs in line. Which is the real reason the sainted Starmer is abstaining.

Is it 99.9% clear it'll pass? If Labour abstain the Govt. would need to suffer an enormous internal revolt and a huge number of Labour MPs would need to go against their leader too you'd think for the Noes to have it, and whilst technically possible I've not heard even slight rumours that either of those events could happen of anything like the required magnitude.

Yes Starmer is partly doing this to encourage as many Tory MPs to rebel as possible knowing there's no threat coming from Labour that the Tory whips can use, but I still don't mind the stated reasons for the opposition to act as they've indicated. If the Govt. think it important for their to be a unified position with cross party support they should negotiate that, not just expect it because of claims of crisis

The problem with that is that everything appears to be decided within a small cabal between Downing St and the Cabinet Office. It's been reported that Sunak didn't even know about the additional funding for "wet" pubs until he was told at Cabinet this morning!

Blimey. There's a choice for Sunak then, to resign as did Javid or to accept having a hand shoved up where the sun doesn't shine much and be part of the puppet show

[Longshanks]

UK likely to be first western country to license a Covid vaccine
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... id-vaccine

[Longshanks]

Article also suggests that it won't be before the end of December for the EU to authorise the vaccine.

Clearly this is a Brexit plus.

[Rinkals]

Article also suggests that it won't be before the end of December for the EU to authorise the vaccine.

Clearly this is a Brexit plus.

I think we can probably have confidence that the EU won't take short cuts in approving a vaccine.

Are you absolutely sure that Boris' government won't be prone to political expediency in the approval process?

[Enzedder]

UK likely to be first western country to license a Covid vaccine
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... id-vaccine

You know what this means, don't you?

A: It is the wrong thing to do and this will be a disaster. © BoJo

[C69]

UK likely to be first western country to license a Covid vaccine
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... id-vaccine

You know what this means, don't you?

A: It is the wrong thing to do and this will be a disaster. © BoJo

BoJo isn't an anti vaccer tbh.

The vaccine may be started in some NHS areas next week.
I have no issue being first in queue

[Insane_Homer]

[Longshanks]

Article also suggests that it won't be before the end of December for the EU to authorise the vaccine.

Clearly this is a Brexit plus.

I think we can probably have confidence that the EU won't take short cuts in approving a vaccine.

Are you absolutely sure that Boris' government won't be prone to political expediency in the approval process?

You're correct, the EU won't take short cuts. They will follow their regulatior's advice on the approval. However the UKs regulators are independent from both the EU and the UK government, and they have approved it.
So while I'm not pro Brexit (I respect the decision) this is a positive for Brexit. Distribution should start within days, so this looks like being at least a month earlier than had we remained part of the EU.
Even the pro remain Guardian sees it that way

[Saint]

I just wish that the Brexiteers weren't trumpeting this as some sort of advantage of being independent of the EU. It risks harming the perception of the vaccine and provides more grist for the anti-vaxxers

As a practical matter this means very little - 800K doses before Christmas = 400K people

[Bimbowomxn]

I just wish that the Brexiteers weren't trumpeting this as some sort of advantage of being independent of the EU. It risks harming the perception of the vaccine and provides more grist for the anti-vaxxers

As a practical matter this means very little - 800K doses before Christmas = 400K people

If that’s a big chunk of NHS front line staff though...

[Slick]

I just wish that the Brexiteers weren't trumpeting this as some sort of advantage of being independent of the EU. It risks harming the perception of the vaccine and provides more grist for the anti-vaxxers

As a practical matter this means very little - 800K doses before Christmas = 400K people

If that’s a big chunk of NHS front line staff though...

Yeah, have to agree, that seems a decent start

[Paddington Bear]

Article also suggests that it won't be before the end of December for the EU to authorise the vaccine.

Clearly this is a Brexit plus.

I think we can probably have confidence that the EU won't take short cuts in approving a vaccine.

Are you absolutely sure that Boris' government won't be prone to political expediency in the approval process?

I guess a quick perusal of the voices coming out in favour of this would be one way of dispelling this - from medical establishment, to eminent professors, to the SNP etc. Weird to make everything about politics.

[Saint]

I just wish that the Brexiteers weren't trumpeting this as some sort of advantage of being independent of the EU. It risks harming the perception of the vaccine and provides more grist for the anti-vaxxers

As a practical matter this means very little - 800K doses before Christmas = 400K people

If that’s a big chunk of NHS front line staff though...

It's not - at least not this side of Christmas. It's care homes and staff getting it first off, and this is a drop in the ocean

If AZ gets approval in the next week and can deliver a the supposed 4 million doses before Christmas that;s a whole other issue

[Saint]

Article also suggests that it won't be before the end of December for the EU to authorise the vaccine.

Clearly this is a Brexit plus.

I think we can probably have confidence that the EU won't take short cuts in approving a vaccine.

Are you absolutely sure that Boris' government won't be prone to political expediency in the approval process?

I guess a quick perusal of the voices coming out in favour of this would be one way of dispelling this - from medical establishment, to eminent professors, to the SNP etc. Weird to make everything about politics.

Because people pay so much attention to experts?

[Paddington Bear]

I think we can probably have confidence that the EU won't take short cuts in approving a vaccine.

Are you absolutely sure that Boris' government won't be prone to political expediency in the approval process?

I guess a quick perusal of the voices coming out in favour of this would be one way of dispelling this - from medical establishment, to eminent professors, to the SNP etc. Weird to make everything about politics.

Because people pay so much attention to experts?

Well I included the SNP, for balance...

[Longshanks]

Article also suggests that it won't be before the end of December for the EU to authorise the vaccine.

Clearly this is a Brexit plus.

I think we can probably have confidence that the EU won't take short cuts in approving a vaccine.

Are you absolutely sure that Boris' government won't be prone to political expediency in the approval process?

I guess a quick perusal of the voices coming out in favour of this would be one way of dispelling this - from medical establishment, to eminent professors, to the SNP etc. Weird to make everything about politics.

Of course the government will use this, just the 500 quid to NHS staff from the SNP, but nonetheless the point still stands, we get it earlier and as Bimbo alluded to, hopefully many of our medical staff are protected before they would have been

[Sandstorm]

I just wish that the Brexiteers weren't trumpeting this as some sort of advantage of being independent of the EU. It risks harming the perception of the vaccine and provides more grist for the anti-vaxxers

As a practical matter this means very little - 800K doses before Christmas = 400K people

If that’s a big chunk of NHS front line staff though...

It's not - at least not this side of Christmas. It's care homes and staff getting it first off, and this is a drop in the ocean

If AZ gets approval in the next week and can deliver a the supposed 4 million doses before Christmas that;s a whole other issue

Bimbot is the negative one here, thank-you!

I spoke to a couple of nurses last night and they reckon they don't want the vaccine as they as concerned they may get Mild Covid and be signed off. "We wear 18 layers of PPE anyway...."

[Insane_Homer]

Updated Vaccine Priority list just released.

1. Health Secretary Hancock
2. PM Johnson (if nothing goes wrong with 1)
3. PM Johnson's fiancee and girlfriends
4. Tory Party £1m+ donors (mostly Russian)
5. Tory Party other donors
6. Tory MPs
7. Dogs and horses belonging to the above 1-6
8. Captain Tom on TV
9. HM The Queen

[JM2K6]

If we wanted bad Facebook jokes we'd talk to Enzedder more often

[Insane_Homer]

If we wanted bad Facebook jokes we'd talk to Enzedder more often

Testing to see if KarenBot's able to spot my ' not serious' posts.

[Longshanks]

Hoping we hear about the Oxford vaccine approval soon.
Talking of Oxford, did anyone see that item on ITN the other evening about the pharmaceutical company in India? They will soon be producing 100 million doses a month for use in Asia, Incredible.

[Saint]

Hoping we hear about the Oxford vaccine approval soon.
Talking of Oxford, did anyone see that item on ITN the other evening about the pharmaceutical company in India? They will soon be producing 100 million doses a month for use in Asia, Incredible.

Read an article about the Serum Institute over the summer. Amazing organisation

[Hal Jordan]

I see "Thalidomide" is trending on Twitter again in the UK. Bots and Russians work hard for their money (plus real utter idiots).

[Longshanks]

Hoping we hear about the Oxford vaccine approval soon.
Talking of Oxford, did anyone see that item on ITN the other evening about the pharmaceutical company in India? They will soon be producing 100 million doses a month for use in Asia, Incredible.

Read an article about the Serum Institute over the summer. Amazing organisation

A serious investment too, in a vaccine they had no idea would work.

[Saint]

If that’s a big chunk of NHS front line staff though...

It's not - at least not this side of Christmas. It's care homes and staff getting it first off, and this is a drop in the ocean

If AZ gets approval in the next week and can deliver a the supposed 4 million doses before Christmas that;s a whole other issue

Bimbot is the negative one here, thank-you!

I spoke to a couple of nurses last night and they reckon they don't want the vaccine as they as concerned they may get Mild Covid and be signed off. "We wear 18 layers of PPE anyway...."

Social media has a lot to answer for

[Insane_Homer]

Matt Hancock: “Because we’ve left the EU, we’ve been able to move faster."

Dr June Raine, MHRA boss: “We’ve been able to authorise supply of this vaccine under provisions under European law which exist until January 1st.”

[Longshanks]

Matt Hancock: “Because we’ve left the EU, we’ve been able to move faster."

Dr June Raine, MHRA boss: “We’ve been able to authorise supply of this vaccine under provisions under European law which exist until January 1st.”

No contradiction.

[Sandstorm]

Matt Hancock: “Because we’ve left the EU, we’ve been able to move faster."

Dr June Raine, MHRA boss: “We’ve been able to authorise supply of this vaccine under provisions under European law which exist until January 1st.”

No contradiction.

Agreed.
Supply chains still in place. Good.
No more EU oversight, we can inject anything we want into Brits like they do in Russia and N Korea. Not so good.

[Bimbowomxn]

Matt Hancock: “Because we’ve left the EU, we’ve been able to move faster."

Dr June Raine, MHRA boss: “We’ve been able to authorise supply of this vaccine under provisions under European law which exist until January 1st.”

No contradiction.

Agreed.
Supply chains still in place. Good.
No more EU oversight, we can inject anything we want into Brits like they do in Russia and N Korea. Not so good.

Yeah, people had better be careful with that Oxford jab when it comes maybe we should ask what the Slovaks think first..

[Dogbert]

As pfizer biontech vaccine I believe for the UK is being manufactured in Belgium , can we have a European flag on each vial

[Biffer]

Bit of context

NHS workers - 1.4 million
Adult Social Care workers - 1.6 million
Over 85 - 1.7 million
80-84 - 1.8 million
75-79 - 2.3 million
70-74 - 3.3 million
65-69 3.4 million
Further 12.9 million over 50.