love* in the time of plague (and by love* i mean brexit* and other dreary matters of uk politics)

yes there used to be an individual rubella shot which was administered to teenage girls in the eighties, think i'd already had german measles by then tbh

(of course teenage boys being monsters everybody went round punching each other on the arm after they'd just had the shot)

I remember the damp patch on my school shirt like yesterday after some 5th form bruiser bully boy repeatedly punched the tender jab area and pus was oozing out of this septic mess on my upper arm! Still got the scar.

i think there's enough of us to start a support group

my memory (and i'm not quite as old as marks but not far off, and also in the UK) is that about 12 or 13 (so 1980 ish) the girls got the jab that left a scar on the upper right arm, but the boys didn't, we had something, but not the thing that left the scar. i'm guessing rubella, because of the pregnancy risk. can't find any supporting evidence for this though and modern vaccinations are completely different (hpv, meningitis...)

BCG was compulsory between 1953 and 2005, so you would have got it, unless you had some sort of exemption.

So, apart from said exemptions, everyone in the UK aged between approx 30 and 80 would have had the BCG jag - fat lot of good it's done us.

er what. where did you read that?

I didn't get it. I had a test done as well when my wife had it - negative for antibodies. so that is bollocks, sorry

United Kingdom: The UK introduced universal BCG immunization in 1953. From then until July 2005, UK policy was to immunize all school children aged between 10 and 14 years of age, and all neonates born into high-risk groups. The injection was given only once during an individual's lifetime (as there is no evidence of additional protection from more than one vaccination). BCG was also given to protect people who had been exposed to tuberculosis. The peak of tuberculosis incidence is in adolescence and early adulthood, and an MRC trial showed efficacy lasted a maximum of 15 years.[63] Routine immunization with BCG for all school children was scrapped in July 2005 because of falling cost-effectiveness: whereas in 1953, 94 children would have to be immunized to prevent one case of TB, by 1988, the annual incidence of TB in the UK had fallen so much, 12,000 children would have to be immunized to prevent a single case of TB.[64] The vaccine is still given to at risk healthcare professionals.[65]

BCG was the injection which meant for about a month everyone was punching each other in the arm where they’d had their jab.

memorable for my brother whenever you went even close to him flinching away and going “MY BCG!”

this may or may not be a useful data point.

So, yes, there was a skin test before they gave you the vaccine, to see if you needed it.

The tuberculin skin test (also called the Mantoux test) may be given before you are offered the BCG vaccine. If you develop a hard red lump at the test site, this is a positive result. It means that your immune system already recognises TB, because you have been exposed to the disease in the past. In this case you should not be given the BCG vaccine because you already have some immunity to TB, and the vaccine may cause unpleasant side effects. If you have no reaction to the skin test, this is a negative result, and you can safely have the BCG vaccine.

_(of course teenage boys being monsters everybody went round punching each other on the arm after they'd just had the shot)_


I remember the damp patch on my school shirt like yesterday after some 5th form bruiser bully boy repeatedly punched the tender jab area and pus was oozing out of this septic mess on my upper arm! Still got the scar.

xxp gonna have to say "citation needed" there

If you didn't need the vaccine - if you tested positive to the skin test - you didn't get the vaccine. So you must have tested positive.

this may or may not be a useful data point.

If you didn't need the vaccine - if you tested positive to the skin test - you didn't get the vaccine. So you must have tested positive.

I guess it's possible and whatever the skin test tests for doesn't come up on an actual TB test because it's a slightly different antibody or something

maybe it's genetic... I don't think my sister got the TB jab either. my mum has the scar though

Nobody wanted the BCG ime!

https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/bcg-vaccine

I had a pal at school in the late 70's whose dad died "from lockjaw" after grazing his knee in some mud playing football. We possibly had more of a fear of diseases and viruses back then than Tories, but they've done a lot of good work since to redress that balance!

So. Let's get this straight. Retailers don't have to their pay rent during the Coronavirus pandemic but us workers and carers still have to pay ours? 😡😡😡😡😡

The government needs to #SuspendRent so we can feel safe and prioritise food over rent. https://t.co/IQME8ymsxr

— London Renters Union (@LDNRentersUnion) April 24, 2020

daily mail already back to bullying nurses

these things break down according to racial lines!!! or even create/perpetuate those racial lines!!

Yes thank you for pointing this out, I hadn't previously realised it, nor was it implied in my post.

BCG was the injection which meant for about a month everyone was punching each other in the arm where they’d had their jab.

memorable for my brother whenever you went even close to him flinching away and going “MY BCG!”

― Fizzles, Thursday, April 23, 2020 9:08 PM (yesterday)

this may or may not be a useful data point.

― Fizzles, Thursday, April 23, 2020 9:09 PM (yesterday)

I can corroborate this. It hurt if you whacked it there for at least three or four months, and people hit each other there all the time.

Is the ban on commercial evictions different from the one already implemented for domestic ones?

There was a thing going around leftist online spaces to chant "GIVE THEM PPE" during the clapping last night. I gave it a go but only got puzzled smiles. :/

Is the ban on commercial evictions different from the one already implemented for domestic ones?

If I'm reading correctly it's that commercial establishments won't have to pay back the rents after the crisis is over, while renters will?

I think they still have to pay back the money - it's just an extension to the period in which a landlord can't force a company into winding-up if they haven't paid. It's confusing, though.

Yeah I don't know the ins and outs of that tweet just thought it was interesting enough given how many private renters will be impacted.

This story.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/hospitals-sound-alarm-over-privately-run-test-centre-in-surrey

Contractors going at this all the way, till we lol die.

It's understandable that people are confused about what 'mortgage holidays' and rent deferral schemes mean as you really have to go looking for the details. There's been a lot of criticism of Labour (both Corbyn and Starmer) for not backing rent cancellation but i've not seen much about how that could be worked up into a practical policy. Dan Davies' suggestion of waiving inheritance or capital gains tax equal to the value of any rent waived is interesting. Ultimately, one way or another, the government is going to end up having to pay for it but that would presumably spread the cost over a longer period.

Never been more relatable

I just wanted to tweet this pic.twitter.com/TEzWKynn23

— Cecily (@cecilyleah) April 23, 2020

Strong RADA-graduate-making-his-debut-in-The-Bill vibes to that.

Maybe Line of Duty instead. His character will be dead or in prison by the end of Episode 4.

needs more balaclavamen

clip of charles and camilla absolutely incredible.

Maybe Line of Duty instead. His character will be dead or in prison by the end of Episode 4.

My god @bbc what is wrong with you? Do you want to unleash mobs of Islamophobes on mosques in the UK? Your headlines say "Some mosques open despite COVID restrictions" -- but you don't mention it is a few mosques in Pakistan & Indonesia.

— Laleh Khalili (@LalehKhalili) April 24, 2020

Tired mum 'named and shamed' on Facebook for not joining clap for carers https://t.co/GWAG6tpyYv

— Manchester News MEN (@MENnewsdesk) April 24, 2020

Never been more relatable
― gyac, Friday, April 24, 2020 11:11 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

this week's PMQs looks lit

xp clearly tired mum doesn't participate in the clapping because her neighbours are cunts, same reason I don't tbf

He’ll be the mark you’re supposed to believe is conniving against our heroes, only to be your standard issue cheater who gets knocked off in a horrific fashion.

100%.

The good news is that Public Health UK has appointed someone to investigate disproportionate BAME deaths.

The bad news? It’s Trevor Phillips.

ffs

Well well if it isn’t The Economist doing its bit to make us think there’s actually a post covid debt burden which we will all have to pay for. There isn’t, but the Economist and the class it represents wants you think there is so “the debt” can be shoveled into their pockets. pic.twitter.com/f9D8ivDYZT

— Mr Demos of Pnyx (@gem_ste) April 23, 2020

Crying

And in case anyone wanted that out of context clip of him... https://t.co/AZjwTZZWVx pic.twitter.com/oI6FGav6ca

— Labour Vault (@LabourVault) April 23, 2020

oh no

Forensic and erotic, very powerful

The answer to the question ‘where is Dominic Cummings?’ remains ‘the last place you’d want him to be’.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/revealed-dominic-cummings-on-secret-scientific-advisory-group-for-covid-19

Starmer_fuckoff.gif

As the comments say the unions will need to stand firm. Now or never moment:

You’re fucking kidding me pic.twitter.com/zcweoX1afO

— Tom Williams (@shirleymush) April 24, 2020

A bit of militancy, as a treat

Found myself reading the Wikipedia page of Fenner Brockway last night and my God, he lived more in one lifetime than most of us could manage in ten. Feel the need to read something proper about him. Think I’ll go visit his statue in Red Lion Square when this is over (incidentally also one of the places where Cromwell’s disinterred and desecrated corpse was allegedly buried).

In Brockway's science fiction novel, Purple Plague (1935), a sea liner is quarantined for a decade as a result of a plague. An egalitarian society emerges.[11]

writing a book called '98 Not Out' aged 98 seems a surefire way of ensuring you'll miss the ton tbh