Current Affairs

[Mervyn and Trish]

Changing the subject back to masks, a week ago I posted that on a visit to M&S at Hedge End, in their food hall, I saw a total of about 4 or 5 people wearing masks, well yesterday I went back, same day of the week and roughly the same time in the afternoon. This time I'd say over 50% of people were wearing masks. I wore one for the first time - not been anywhere before where I had to use one. I know I didn't have to wear one as it's not mandatory until next Friday but I thought I'd better try. As I have glasses I found it very uncomfortable and kept steaming up. What a week before had been a pleasant experience, wondering round M&S and seeing the amazing selection of foodstuffs on offer - I think the Hedge End food hall is the largest one in the country, it was extended just before last Christmas - this time I found I was just getting what I knew I wanted and then thankfully got out and was able to remove the mask. The assistants were not wearing masks. I know all the evidence about wearing a mask but if the Government are trying to persuade people to go back to the High Street shops, I'm not sure that the ruling about masks in shops is going to help.

Carole

I wear glasses and found that my glasses steamed up a little, but it wasn’t too bad. I’ve heard that giving your glasses a polish with a dab of washing up liquid helps, so I’m going to try that next time I go out.

Unfortunately, I think masks are going to be necessary for quite a while to come, so I am endeavouring to get used to them - it’ll probably become second nature before long

I read that folding a tissue over a few times and using it to line inside the top edge of the mask helps with the steaming issue and makes it more comfortable, but I've not tried it.

[Whynd1]

It comes to something when the judges in the appeal court issue this in respect of the Shimi a Begum :-

Fairness and justice must, on the facts of this case, outweigh the national security concerns, so that the leave to enter appeals should be allowed."

[Mervyn and Trish]

Appalling. She made her decision to back a terrorist group and has shown no remorse. She should never be allowed back.

[oldbluefox]

Not only that but she will be followed by a few thousand others who will probably mysteriously disappear once here. Looking on the bright side it will boost the earnings of the lawyers on the backs of the taxpayers. They should never be allowed back.

[Gill W]

Well

https://www.itv.com/news/2020-07-16/alm ... minic-raab

I wonder why they have announced this now ........

[david63]

Appalling. She made her decision to back a terrorist group and has shown no remorse. She should never be allowed back.

And I suppose we, the good old British taxpayer, will have to foot the bill to bring her back, and then foot the bill for her being in prison for the next 10 years (or whatever length it will be).

To coin an old phrase "She made her bed now she can lie in it" - sorry but she should not be allowed anywhere near these shores ever again.

I wonder why they have announced this now

To deflect away from the above?

[Gill W]

Appalling. She made her decision to back a terrorist group and has shown no remorse. She should never be allowed back.

And I suppose we, the good old British taxpayer, will have to foot the bill to bring her back, and then foot the bill for her being in prison for the next 10 years (or whatever length it will be).

To coin an old phrase "She made her bed now she can lie in it" - sorry but she should not be allowed anywhere near these shores ever again.

I wonder why they have announced this now

To deflect away from the above?

Possibly the other way round - Begum is the distraction

Or it's an attempt to muddy the waters for when the Intelligence and Security Committee publish the report into Russian Interference in the Referendum

[Gill W]

They need yet another dead cat

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heal ... 22671.html

(This is available from lots of other sources if you don't like this one)

[Manoverboard]

They need yet another dead cat

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heal ... 22671.html

(This is available from lots of other sources if you don't like this one)

.... and if I were to search for the alternative would the topic be ' A dead cat ' ?

[towny44]

Appalling. She made her decision to back a terrorist group and has shown no remorse. She should never be allowed back.

And I suppose we, the good old British taxpayer, will have to foot the bill to bring her back, and then foot the bill for her being in prison for the next 10 years (or whatever length it will be).

To coin an old phrase "She made her bed now she can lie in it" - sorry but she should not be allowed anywhere near these shores ever again.

I wonder why they have announced this now

To deflect away from the above?

Possibly the other way round - Begum is the distraction

Or it's an attempt to muddy the waters for when the Intelligence and Security Committee publish the report into Russian Interference in the Referendum

I would imagine the announcement coincided with the court making its decision. But the Boris bashers will have lots of conspiracy theories I imagine.

[screwy]

On a positive note, my plasterer has finally got hold of some plaster, on the down side, he's coming round at 8 am !!!

[Manoverboard]

On a positive note, my plasterer has finally got hold of some plaster, on the down side, he's coming round at 8 am !!!

Are you up and have you cleared the room so that it's ready to go

[Manoverboard]

There are three famous Watford sportsmen mentioned in this report about ' Black Lives ' and the most frightening part is that they agree with OL

[screwy]

On a positive note, my plasterer has finally got hold of some plaster, on the down side, he's coming round at 8 am !!!

Are you up and have you cleared the room so that it's ready to go

Certainly am and yes,all cleared , the mans here now...Yay.

[towny44]

Why do a third of covid19 patients admitted to hospital in the UK die as a result? The attached article does not give any data for other countries, but clearly if we have the highest hospital death rate, then it puts the entire death rate stats into question. Maybe our wonderful NHS is not providing the same quality of care as other countries health care systems are providing?
Death rates around the country do vary wildly, so maybe the answer lies in studying the differences in interventions in each hospital to try and determine why these differences exist.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -are-dying

[Mervyn and Trish]

As you say there is no comparison with other countries. It may be just as bad elsewhere.

I saw another piece of research today which confirmed this virus likes low temperatures. It is most virulent around 4C falling off as the temperature rises. That may be another factor why we have had more deaths than hotter countries such as Spain and Italy. As well as Boris being an idiot and Dominic Cummings going to Barnard Castle of course.

[Clophill4]

Is part of the Hospital Deaths issue that patients are not considered for hospital admission until very ill. Lesser symptoms are just stay at home and isolate.

[david63]

Statisticians and academics are going to live off this for the next ten (or more) years and every week there will be some "new" data. Basically we will never know.

Today I was reading that the number of deaths attributed to Covid-19 may be overstated as anyone who tested positive and died was considered to have died of Covid-19 - even if they had been run over by a bus. At the end of the day it will not affect the total number of deaths - it all comes down to which "pidgin hole" they are allocated to.

[Gill W]

As you say there is no comparison with other countries. It may be just as bad elsewhere.

I saw another piece of research today which confirmed this virus likes low temperatures. It is most virulent around 4C falling off as the temperature rises. That may be another factor why we have had more deaths than hotter countries such as Spain and Italy. As well as Boris being an idiot and Dominic Cummings going to Barnard Castle of course.

If the virus likes cold temperatures, that would imply that winter will be horrendous, considering the way it spread in this country in a warm spring, and how it’s spreading in a hot place like Florida in summer.

[Manoverboard]

Most viruses seem to enjoy the colder weather as in the common cold, flu, and Noro. Would mention that the temperatures in parts of Spain and Italy can fall far lower than ours ... perhaps humidity is also a factor ?

It has also been reported that 4 viruses circulate within the human body but it's not known what triggers a reaction.
.

[Mervyn and Trish]

As you say there is no comparison with other countries. It may be just as bad elsewhere.

I saw another piece of research today which confirmed this virus likes low temperatures. It is most virulent around 4C falling off as the temperature rises. That may be another factor why we have had more deaths than hotter countries such as Spain and Italy. As well as Boris being an idiot and Dominic Cummings going to Barnard Castle of course.

If the virus likes cold temperatures, that would imply that winter will be horrendous, considering the way it spread in this country in a warm spring, and how it’s spreading in a hot place like Florida in summer.

I think that is the fear.

[david63]

If the virus likes cold temperatures

From what I have read it is not that "the virus likes cold temperatures" it is more to do with the fact that when it is colder more people are indoors where it spreads quicker/easier. I would suspect that Covid-19 would spread a lot quicker in summer if more were indoors.

If this is the case then armed with that information appropriate steps can be taken with an aim of mitigating the impact - but only if people will adhere to them (which doesn't appear to happen!).

[Clophill4]

It would be interesting to find out the actual level of adherence to the "guidelines". The media coverage and what we see in the streets seems to be lots of people breaking the rules - we don't see the numbers of people keeping to the rules (and by the comments on this forum even exceeding this).
In my own circle of friends lockdown is being lifted much more slowly than the governments guidance)

[towny44]

It would be interesting to find out the actual level of adherence to the "guidelines". The media coverage and what we see in the streets seems to be lots of people breaking the rules - we don't see the numbers of people keeping to the rules (and by the comments on this forum even exceeding this).
In my own circle of friends lockdown is being lifted much more slowly than the governments guidance)

Very valid points, but whilst crowded beaches in the summer sun make good headlines in the press, pictures of rows of houses with everyone observing the lockdown would be far too boring. However despite the apparent large numbers breaking social distancing there are 66 million of us on these tiny Islands, and the vast majority of them where behaving far more sensibly.

[Mervyn and Trish]

From what I have read it is not that "the virus likes cold temperatures" it is more to do with the fact that when it is colder more people are indoors where it spreads quicker/easier. I would suspect that Covid-19 would spread a lot quicker in summer if more were indoors.

The research I saw said the growth rate was affected. At a median temperature of 6C (London) it is predicted to be 3.7 over 4 days, at 9C (Milan) it is 2.4 and at 11C (Madrid) it is 1.6.

It would be interesting to find out the actual level of adherence to the "guidelines". The media coverage and what we see in the streets seems to be lots of people breaking the rules - we don't see the numbers of people keeping to the rules (and by the comments on this forum even exceeding this).
In my own circle of friends lockdown is being lifted much more slowly than the governments guidance)

Round here it is still much quieter than normal. Shops are cafes etc are re-opening but far fewer people than usual. Plenty of space on car parks. It makes me wonder if a lot of the normal "shoppers" are browsing rather than buying. And certainly for us at the moment it's in, grab what we need and out as fast as possible.

Whilst crowded beaches in the summer sun make good headlines in the press, pictures of rows of houses with everyone observing the lockdown would be far too boring. However despite the apparent large numbers breaking social distancing there are 66 million of us on these tiny Islands, and the vast majority of them where behaving far more sensibly.

I think you're right