Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

I have now!

hitting six figures in deaths even after fucking with the stats so that people who died with covid outwith four weeks of diagnosis is some achievement, well done uk

er, deaths outwith four weeks don’t count, I meant to say

Well done us

Feel like we might have 3000+ deaths per day before the end of the month at this rate, while Tories brag about the vaccination rate.

ONS still records it by death cert but there's more of a lag.

great

Keir Starmer is set to have a weekly column in The Telegraph

Via @Independent pic.twitter.com/VluRdHNCbQ

— Politics For All (@PoliticsForAlI) January 13, 2021

hmmm wonder what message this sends out

It's almost as if ...

having the option of voting for one of two Tory parties, the fucking LibDems or whatever Farage's latest grift is - the state of UK parliamentary democracy in 2021

Can't be a banana republic if you can't actually redeem the banana

One thing I touched on with the Prime Minister was ways to course correct on the voucher scheme. If families can't access food consistently likelihood is they do not have access to a printer to print the vouchers at home. @10DowningStreet agreed to look into this.

— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) January 13, 2021

Who the fuck has a printer these days anyway? Well maybe everybody idk but I haven't had one for over ten years.

Kier would be twenty points ahead if he was leading the Conservative Party

Really doesn't make sense to do any shifts like this, the world in 2024 will be v different and perhaps far more hostile to austerity.

I'm a bit of a new variant sceptic or at least I think it has been cynically used as a cover for the govt's ham-fisted handling of the pandemic since autumn, well since it started to be more accurate.

Dodds is still banging on about caution and reminding us all that the zero interest rates won't last forever, maybe true but I get the feeling some of these wankers are so fond of making "difficult decisions" they'll make them long before that happens and she needs to stop talking the Tory line on New Labour - that they were fiscally irresponsible - it's a pointless self own and a lie.

Did you listen to any of those Carney Grief Lectures on R4 Fizzles? Economists and bankers these days often find ways of saying fuck all with plenty of words, but this mediocre cunt is like some malfunctioning corporate AI bot that is scared it might self-destruct if it says something original or interesting.

it's my own fault for listening of course

might be a good one to play next time I'm suffering from insomnia

heard one minute of mark carney and vowed to stay off radio 4 for a while, have not regretted it.

oh i couldn't live without a printer

i mean i could obviously

Unlike all the families on starvation vouchers!

Good point

when I used to buy online tickets for the swimming baths or the trampoline arena - I'd put the barcode onto my kindle, but I almost came unstuck recently when an e-bay seller sent me the wrong size of jeans and then told me print out the return label. But when I told them I had no printer they were decent and give me a full refund and said perhaps give the jeans to a charity shop - decent but I have the bloody jeans still obv maybe the charity shop donation will happen in some better times.

Don't Snappy Snaps or similar places have a printer service? No reason why families on the breadline should have to pay for that kind of thing obviously.

Libraries too.

Aren't the library buildings closed for the same reasons the schools should be?

if you really want that quarter of a carrot get down to your local library that was closed in 2012 ffs!

Did you listen to any of those Carney Grief Lectures on R4 Fizzles? Economists and bankers these days often find ways of saying fuck all with plenty of words, but this mediocre cunt is like some malfunctioning corporate AI bot that is scared it might self-destruct if it says something original or interesting.

xxp no libraries are not closed, my sister works in one and is still going in

Mine is open but in a very limited way (by appointment only)

calz' point might be more pertinent

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/06/britain-has-closed-almost-800-libraries-since-2010-figures-show

lol we’re aware

Can people afford to self-isolate? If they can't, breaking covid chains of transmission is all but impossible. So what is the data saying? We've been looking into Self Isolation Support Payments - latest piece @BBCNewsnight tonight - the upfront £500 for people who must isolate

— Katie Razzall (@katierazz) January 13, 2021

brb working on a hot take that public library closures over past decade were sensible forward thinking by govt which mitigates spread of covid

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/13/second-shots-of-covid-vaccine-could-be-delayed-further-in-england

Ok, we'll see...

how about we just give everyone a single jab and then let good old fashioned british pluck do the rest

Clinical trials revealed the efficacy of the vaccine was substantially higher, at 90%, in a subgroup of people who received half a dose followed by a full dose, rather than two full doses, which had an efficacy of 62%.

But Prof Wei Shen Lim, the chair of the Covid-19 immunisation group of the JCVI, told MPs further analysis by AstraZeneca showed the improved protection came from spacing out the doses.

“People who had the half dose then full dose were those who were vaccinated at a longer time interval, roughly six to 12 weeks, and what they’ve seen in their data is that people who have the second dose later probably have a three times higher antibody level than those who were vaccinated earlier. So if anything, it suggests that increasing the dose interval is beneficial,” he said.

Hang on, what? The participants given the half dose followed by full dose also had the 2nd dose later?

I read that as 2nd dose makes it full dose?

Yeah sorry I mean later as in after a longer interval, that’s what I’m confused about - the people (accidentally) on a different dosing regime also had differently spaced shots?

Does anyone here have relatives etc who have been sent their vaccination appointment letters?

My girlfriend’s parents have been isolating/shielding basically since this all started as one of them has a lung condition, and they’ve been anxiously waiting for the letter.

A few days ago one of their neighbours texted them saying ‘call this number’, which took them through to someone at Guy’s Hospital who just checked what borough they were in against a list, and then was like ‘yep when do you want to come in?’ and gave a load of available slots. So they’re going in on Monday, their neighbour is going tomorrow and they’ve since been sent the number by someone else...

Anyone else heard about this, I’m assuming it’s not some elaborate scam, but googling the number it seems legit.

Yeah sorry I mean later as in after a longer interval, that’s what I’m confused about - the people (accidentally) on a different dosing regime _also_ had differently spaced shots?

Right I just think it’s strange that they’re saying none of the group of 3,000 people who were given the half dose were spaced at 3 weeks (as presumably many of the larger group were)? And also that they didn’t think to mention this fact in November? The whole study seems to have been run very strangely

Does anyone here have relatives etc who have been sent their vaccination appointment letters?

My dad (88) has ahd both his injections: first before Christmas, second last week. He lives in Cornwall where they seem to be pretty on-the-ball about this.

My parents (86 and 79) have had both theirs too, in Oxford.

In Wales my mum (74) had hers yesterday. No underlying conditions but surgery had had some cancellations so they call her yesterday morning and an hour later she'd had the first dose.

but on the whole unless i’m misreading something it seems to be doing what you’re asking for?

xps to crisp it might have something to do with the post delays in and around London?

Btw re vaccinations, they’re over 2.5 million for first dose and approaching half a million on the second

I see Lammy was berating the post office yesterday, because how dare lots of frontline workers get the Rona doing their job. Pull your fingers out lads!