Off Topic Coronavirus and NOTHING to do with football thread

Fascinating to see what the Internet retains such as this BBC article from 2018. "Downing Street say there are no plans to use the Army to maintain food and other supplies in the event of the UK leaving the EU with no Brexit deal."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-polit...Fa0isDW9pHJCax34urqBzxjHXfOMQWj4ivkczFSfyOcjk

"In the event of 'no deal' there will of course be consequences for the European Union."

Maybe I should stock up before our supermarkets start to have empty shelves.

 

Just how far along the road to freeing us from Covid have we come? It is summer when numbers of infections are expected to go down, and vaccination is far and away above what it was a year ago. People are being encouraged to get out and spend, and judging by some attitudes there is nothing more to worry about. A comparison of figures between now and the same time a year ago suggest that there is a long way to go yet.

Today 33704 new cases. 1yr ago 1009
Today 737 admitted. 1yr ago 101
Today 5909 in hospital. 1yr ago 1004
Today 871 on ventilators. 1yr ago 80
Today 468 weekly deaths. 1yr ago 161
Today 94 daily deaths. 1yr ago 20

Aug 12th data.

 

I reckon about 1/10 people in London now wear a mask indoors in shops/pubs. Vaccination rates are probably quite high here though.

If the vaccine isn't effective enough then I also don't see how we can continue locking down forever. People die, there are too many humans as it is, if people don't want to get vaccinated then natural selection will sort things out.

 

Alas what happens is that folks don't get vaccinated or isolate and up pops another variant... that's evolution for ya. One of my best pals got the Delta having been double vaccinated with the Astra - which quite probably saved his life even if he was bed ridden for a week or so.
As a species we've learned nothing. In fact it's worse than that: A lack of public patience; weak government; and pretty astonishing levels of wilful ignorance have made the whole thing a lot worse than it needed to be.

 

First of all there are calls on the Army to deliver food to the supermarkets. Now in August before the winter ailments take hold we find the Army has been called in from next week to support a number of ambulance services that can no longer cope. Now we find that one area is to have a trained first aider rather than rapid response medical professionals. https://www.theguardian.com/society...ance-cumbrian-town-fights-to-keep-its-service
This sounds like a state of emergency is just around the corner, and you have to ask what has gone so wrong with the government.

 

I was recently (a couple of months ago) very ill, in need of an emergency ambulance. My wife rang 999. She was told that they were overrun, my issue was not a stroke or heart attack, so they would call her back in six hours. “Or take a taxi!” they advised. Overrun. At 5 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. God help us if we fall ill on a Friday or Saturday night.

 

I hope that you have fully recovered Andy. Three points should make us all feel better.

 

Hope you are feeling better now Andy! Probably best avoid any Watford games for the time being!

 

Fully recovered. Thank you.

And these points were just what the doctor ordered... if you get my drift.

 

I don’t know - I should be able to make it to the nearest hospital under my own steam.

 

Disaster hits Scotland!

For a country that didn't want Brexit, they are now suffering from the driver shortage.

www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-58194011

 

A cautionary tale.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/world/middleeast/israel-virus-infections-booster.html

 

I can't believe that Ian Botham has been appointed as UK trade envoy to Australia - he has a criminal record there and isn't exactly highly thought of.

And only the good lord knows what New Zealanders have done to have Fluffy Mundell, the incompetent Cabinet tea boy, foisted upon them - must be because they have a popular Labour government...

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/pol...tham-among-controversial-new-uk-trade-envoys/

 

Just what's needed - letting prisoners loose in abattoirs with knives...

Could this see the introduction of chain gangs in the UK?

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...-them-use-prisoners-to-ease-labour-shortages?

 

I was sure there was something to do with cannabis, maybe and altercation somewhere, and definitely the Imran Khan libel saga that he lost... but apart from the latter there's difficulty in finding it! Certainly a case of "Jobs for the Boys" as he supported Project Reality and made himself available at a few rallies.

 

I think he was fined £100 for cannabis possession in Scunthorpe magistrate's court in 1985, but he has certainly been convicted of assault. On the way to Perth with the Queensland team to play WA in the 1988 Sheffield Shield final, he assaulted a passenger in the plane who complained about his foul language and was later arrested in his hotel room. He almost missed the final as bail was refused - would have had Dennis Lillee not intervened - and was fined $800. When he got back to Queensland, the QCA fined him $5000 and cancelled his contract.

 

Well that little titbit isn't on Wiki - or if it is it's buried in the good stuff.

 

Here's what the UK's trade envoy to Australia said: “I’m enjoying it and will be at Westminster more often when we get back to normal, especially when they are debating something I know about - like sport or the countryside. Not much point if its a trade deal with Japan.”

 

Apparently callers were being put through to a washing machine repair company...