More on covid pandemic 2020-2?
Ukraine – what you’re not told
Britain – a nation in waiting
There’s a bit of a hiatus in Britain at the moment.
Politicians are no longer on the attack or or the defence over the handling of the pandemic – although Hancock is defending himself this week against the accusations made against him by the vengeful Cummings.
The country is waiting. Waiting;
- to see if restrictions will be eased on June 21st – which is looking less and less likely as we approach decision day of the 14th June;
- to find out how badly the pandemic has been managed by the Buffoon – but that won’t happen until this time next year (at the earliest);
- to see if corruption at the highest levels (with the awarding of contracts to cronies) will be punished – a very unlikely scenario;
- to see how long Matt Hancock (the Health Minister) will continue to lie through his back teeth over the handling of the pandemic in Britain in the March and April of last year;
- to see if there will be a ‘third wave’ – predicted by risk averse ‘experts’ who continue to pander to the failed tactics of lock down without taking into account the increasingly serious consequences and ‘collateral damage’ of doing so;
- to find out if they have a job as uncertainty for the future means that millions just don’t know what will happen, especially after September when the company friendly ‘furlough’ scheme comes to an end;
- to see if it is worth going to university or college in the new academic year with uncertainty following the grading system that will be used for a second year in a row and the impossibility of the ‘university experience’;
- to see if another, more virulent variant might develop in the vast majority of the world which has been basically forgotten by the richer countries in their selfish rush to vaccinate their own populations with no consideration for those outside their national borders – a situation which could blow a huge hole into the ‘success’ of the vaccination programme (despite all the promised ‘generous’ donations of vaccines – which are made just for the good publicity (such ‘promises’ have been regularly forgotten in the past) and to be meaningful such donations would have to be in billions not millions).
Vaccination programme in Britain ……
Second dose of AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine: FAQs about blood clots, safety, risks and symptoms.
…… and the rest of the world
Sharing intellectual property for covid-19 vaccines would help more than donations.
Pfizer jab approved for children, but first other people need to be vaccinated.
COVAX is failing to halt the covid-19 pandemic: here’s why, and how to fix it.
‘Collateral damage’
A report on the effects of the loss of education opportunties for children in 60 countries was compiled by Human Rights Watch, entitled ‘Years Don’t Wait for Them’ Increased Inequality in Children’s Right to Education Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. An interactive version or the full report.
How are eviction rules for renters and landlords changing? Evictions from rented accommodation is a time bomb which has the potential of effecting many thousands of people. For those facing eviction needing information and support should contact Acorn in England and Living Rent in Scotland.
What happened to English NHS hospital activity during the covid-19 pandemic?
Covid school recovery: is England’s £1.4 billion catch-up plan a good idea?
School catch-up tsar quits after wanting billions more in funding for pandemic recovery package.
How the pandemic changed abortion access in Europe.
NHS and social care worker burnout reaches emergency level.
Less ‘collateral damage’ more the pandemic being used to mask changes in care to those who need it in their own homes, both in the quality of care and how much being asked for the service. Radio 4’s File on 4 on 8th June looked into what has been happening in recent months in ‘The cost of care’.
Charities warn of a ‘wave of homelessness in coming months’ after eviction ban ends – 400,000 renting households have either been served an eviction notice or have been told they will be evicted. Anyone needed assistance or information should contact Acorn, in Britain, or Living Rent, in Scotland.
The ‘graduate parent’ advantage in teacher assessed grades.
From the great plague to the 1918 flu, history shows that disease outbreaks make inequality worse.
Putting things into perspective
Millions of the poorest people in the world are facing serious pandemics on a daily basis. If covid had stayed where it should have done, i.e., in those parts of the world far from the industrialised ‘west’ then nothing would have been noticed in the last 18 months or so. The speed a number of covid vaccinations were developed showed that advances can be made to deal with serious diseases – as long as there’s a will and the money to pay for it. There have been successes in the fight against dengue fever – but how long has it taken and how many people have suffered in the interim?
‘Miraculous’ mosquito hack cuts dengue by 77%.
‘Managing’ the pandemic
Hancock faces calls to explain covid test failings at care homes.
Why countries best placed to handle the pandemic appear to have fared the worst.
Why politicians should be wary of publicly pursuing the Wuhan lab-leak investigation.
Matt Hancock ‘was warned of Covid care home risk in March 2020’.
Who’s benefiting from the pandemic
There are always ‘winners’ in any war – not the final victors here but those spivs, con-men and opportunists who are always waiting in the wings to take advantage of anything that might earn them a quick and easy buck. Corruption is so institutionalised in Britain that this now takes place at the highest levels of government. That’s because they believe they are untouchable and, unfortunately, as the British people don’t seemed to be interested in holding them to account, it ends up they are. But there’s little likelihood of any repercussions over the latest ‘scandal’.
Covid contract for company run by friends of Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove unlawful, judge says.
Emergency Powers
As has been stated here on a number of occasions once the capitalist state is able to grab more powers for itself (and less freedoms for us) then they are very reluctant to let that advantage go. Scotland is already talking about it – it will be only a matter of time before the Buffoon introduces something similar in England. It will always be sugar-coated by the devil would be in the detail.
Emergency coronavirus legislation set for six-month extension – in Scotland
Confusion
Passengers refused boarding amid testing confusion. Fo me the most salient point here is that everyone who wants proof of being covid free has to take a PRIVATE test. So, not surprisingly, the Government of the Buffoon directing more and more of people’s cash to private companies.
Airline and holiday firms hit out at UK’s ‘utterly confusing’ travel advice.
Thieves fall out
Cummings lambasts Johnson in damning account of covid crisis.
After the pandemic
Capitalism and the caring economy – this addresses the situation in the US but has a lot to say about the situation in Britain.
The next pandemic is already happening – targeted disease surveillance can help prevent it.
Covid-19 has shown that following the same road will lead the world over a precipice – or looking at the world through rose tinted glasses.
Covid-19 recovery: some economies will take longer to rebound – this is bad for everyone.
Poverty in Britain
A recent report by the Institute for Public Policy Research, No longer managing – The rise of working class poverty and fixing Britain’s broken social settlement, argues that the ‘poverty trap’ into which many in Britain are caught is as a result of a systemic failing of British society which goes back decades.
Going with the grain, published by the Fabian Society, looks at increased public support for maintaining the increases in support for those living at the lowest financial level in Britain. I don’t believe we should be looking at support for the poor but the end of poverty full stop. However, the report is presented here as providing more information about the background to poverty in one of the richest countries in the world.
How the pandemic increased food poverty in the UK.
Poverty in the rest of the world
The situation of the poor throughout the world has only gotten worse in the last 18 months or so as a consequence of the pandemic. Covid-19 pandemic fuelling child labour introduces a report, I must work to eat, produced by Human Rights Watch in May 2021. It look at the worsening situation in Ghana, Nepal and Uganda.
More on covid pandemic 2020-2?
Ukraine – what you’re not told
