The second lock down and the Liverpool ‘pilot’

Posted on 13/11/2020 by Michael

The second lock down and the Liverpool ‘pilot’

It seems that the Government of the Buffoon is innately stupid. Even when they decide to do; something intelligent; something which others had been calling for for months; something which has strategic merit; and something which is a different approach to the tried and proven to be unsuccessful tactics of the past eight months they still manage to cock it up.

I’m talking, of course, of the pilot of the city wide non-symptomatic testing of as many people as possible in the city of Liverpool which began at midday on Friday 6th November (see below). (Arrangements have changed in the last week and it’s no longer necessary to book, you just turn up at any of these centres.)

But one of the most important things about this pilot is the word ‘pilot’ and what it signifies. My dictionary definition of this version of pilot states; ‘used in or serving as a test or a trial’, ‘serving as a guide’.

That implies that you run the scheme for a certain period of time, evaluate how it has gone – in both practical terms and in the results that were obtained, and then decide on the success (or otherwise) of the scheme and then introduce it (or not) in other areas.

But not the idiots who run Britain.

On the evening of Monday 9th November (three and a half days into the ‘pilot’) the office of the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock – one the of the Three Bellends (see below) – contacts 67 different local authorities (mainly in the North of England) stating that they would also be provided with resources for introducing such city wide testing.

Now I’m all in favour of such testing, have argued that it should have been introduced (or, perhaps, more importantly, ‘piloted’) many months ago and then, after proper evaluation introduced throughout the whole of the island of Britain. But you need information to anticipate any possible problems (as well as highlighting the positives) of such a scheme. This has never been done before on such a scale and teething problems are inevitable but what you get if 68 towns/cities are doing their own thing is 68 versions of chaos – and no lessons for the introduction in rest of the country that will inevitably follow in its wake.

I attended the first day of the test in Liverpool and wrote about the experience on this blog earlier in the week. The of the points made about that visit was that there was no obvious monitoring of the scheme and that those young soldiers inside the building were merely processing people and not noting down any problems or other issues which might have a bearing on the efficient extension of this scheme to other parts of the country. In fact, that blog post is the only thing I am aware of approximating an evaluation of the ‘Liverpool pilot’.

Being a good, responsible and caring citizen of the city of Liverpool I sent a link of my ‘findings’ to the City Council. I never even received an acknowledgement that my notes had been received. As there was no ‘feedback’ requested from participants and as there seemed to be no one monitoring what was happening in the (now) 17 centres throughout Liverpool I doubt whether the Labourites in charge if the city have a better understanding of the word ‘pilot’ (in this context) than the Buffoon down in London.

Politicians of all colours (being at foundation guardians of the capitalist system) follow the same trajectory in a crisis such as this present pandemic. Their principal aim is to come out of the situation making sure that any blame is placed somewhere else, anywhere apart form their own door steps. The consequences that such actions have on the majority of the population is irrelevant.

And don’t get me on the introduction of the ‘second lock down’ in England with its leaks, in-fighting, half truths, selective statistics, muddle guidance, uncertain longevity and possible end.

Was the country prepared for such a pandemic?

Not according to a former chief medical officer.

The present (and second of how many) lock down

To justify another lock down the Buffoon quotes frightening ‘statistics’ which predict virus deaths ‘twice as bad’ as spring.

And continues to stick to the fear factor when those ‘statistics’ are challenged. If you can’t keep them safe then keep them afraid.

Other figures suggest that the ‘second peak might have passed’. But the lock down stays.

Lock downs have been seen by many as just digging a hole from which it is almost impossible to escape. One suggestion is by dividing the population into two – with your house number determining your future.

Nationalism

I don’t understand the nationalists within Britain. For eight months the so-called ‘devolved administrations’, especially in Scotland and Wales, have made an effort to be different from what has been proposed in England. In some ways I can see their point, the Buffoon has never given the impression that he knows what he’s doing and his Government has made so many U-turns most people have lost count.

However, the reasons the nationalist have chosen different paths was merely to demonstrate, however illogically, that they were in control in their little patches of land. In the strategy documents produced in readiness for such as this present pandemic it was stated that the hope was all the 4 separate administrations would work in concert. That hasn’t happened yet.

But, all of a sudden, the Welsh first minister states that all the UK nations should work together in the weeks coming up to Christmas. I don’t really see, apart from a little bit of populist posturing, why Christmas should be any different from the rest of the year.

Then the following day the same Welsh first minister declares that GCSE and A-levels in Wales will be cancelled for 2021. Which is not the same in the rest of the UK and which will cause all kinds of problems and conflicts, if not treated very carefully, when it comes to University application time.

A report by the Institute of Government highlights how the childish squabbling of the Nationalists have not served the people throughout Britain at all well.

The spread of the virus

How the news was reported in the days before the second lock down.

Nearly 100,000 catching virus every day.

‘Second wave’ could last until April in ‘worst-case scenario’.

Understanding ‘aerosol transmission’ could be key to controlling coronavirus.

Coronavirus rules in England aren’t working, scientists say.

Does coronavirus spread more easily in cold temperatures?

Face masks

This was talked about at the very beginning of the pandemic, i.e., that face coverings cease to become effective if basic hygiene practices are not followed. But how many really people follow good practice? Face masks should be washed and tumble dried each day.

The poor suffering the most

Again one of those issues that have been reported on a number of occasions – but still worth noting. Despite protestations and false concern expressed by the Buffoon the pandemic still leaves poorer families £170 a month worse off.

But, it seems, more people have recovered their concern for the poorest in society. There was a ‘dramatic softening in attitudes’ even before the covid pandemic after years of Thatcherite sponsored selfishness and lack of concern for others. Also there’s a consequent increase in the desire to tackle the tax avoidance practised by the rich to pay for higher benefits.

Unemployment, yet to reach its peak, will also effect the young and those from ethnic minorities the most.

Another U-turn (this time on free school meals) which benefits many in the short term but which shys away from the main issue.

Redundancies at record level as pandemic takes further toll.

Food banks

Way back in 2012 a post on this blog considered that the aim of the Trussel Trust (the biggest charity operator of food banks in the United Kingdom) ‘to have a food bank in every town and city’ was a shameful goal for any organisation to have in one of the top five richest countries in the world. Such an aim is merely putting a sticking plaster over what is a suppurating wound of hunger for a significant proportion of the population. The fact that eight years on the demand for their services has increased many fold just goes to show that food banks are, in many senses, part of the problem and not the solution.

As with many consequences of poverty in Britain the covid-19 pandemic has not caused the problem – exacerbated it yes, but what it has mainly achieved is the uncovering of the full extent of poverty throughout the country. A recent report from the Trust observed that 2,600 food parcels provided for children every day in first six months of the pandemic.

Food banks are getting visits from the so-called ‘newly hungry’.

Increased control by the State

As has been stated here a number of times capitalist states will use any crisis to increase their control of the population. Measures might be introduced under benign circumstances but the problem is these measures, or more especially the laws that allow them, tend to stay for long after the initial cause is just a bad memory.

Such an example is Manchester University installing fencing around student accommodation – and in the process handing out public resources to private business – which sees the rightful and legitimate opposition from the students.

The university initially insisted it had written to students informing them about the construction, but has since acknowledged work began “ahead of the message being seen”.

What a bunch of wankers!

The privatisation of the pandemic and corruption runs rife

Over the last seven months unimaginable amounts of money have been thrown at the ‘private sector’ – whether to keep companies in business or the more important task of transferring monies from the public to the private purse. But the ‘private sector’ will never be up to dealing with such as a pandemic as the over-riding principle is always the maximisation of profit – which will always go against the public good. Even though the ‘private sector’ has shown itself wanting since the pandemic broke they will still be brought it to cover any cuts in the public sector which successive governments (of whatever colour) had introduced in the name of ‘efficiency’.

Whitehall scrambles private sector to avoid second wave disaster.

Not satisfied with taking the money being offered the gangsters of capitalism still believe they have to resort to fraud. £45m deal for NHS masks collapses amid fraud claims. The contract was still awarded even though the Government was warned, in June, that things were dodgy.

Labour demands answers from vaccine head over PR bill.

Although not directly a matter to do with the pandemic but a situation which prepared the country for getting itself robbed stupid once money really started to slosh around. This is a matter of Tory ministers directing monies to their patches so they can claim the credit for ‘improving’ their own area – whether that was a priority or not.

More on ‘collateral damage’

Mentioned in virtually all postings after we had been living under the pandemic for a few months it’s still worth re-iterating that the world still goes around even with the virus. The lack of a proper strategy generally, in all countries worldwide, means that the so-called ‘collateral damage’ keeps increasing.

50,000 cases of cancer left undiagnosed due to Covid disruption. And that could double within in year if the same approach is followed.

Some of these problems have been put down to the too simple message of ‘Protect the NHS’.

And with such situations comes the recriminations.

Another study has shown that a four-week cancer treatment delay raises death risk by 10%.

And a study from the United States indicates that a significant number of people who contract the virus also suffer mental health conditions in the aftermath.

Almost 140,000 patients waiting longer than a year for NHS treatment.

One rule for us – another for them

A crisis is an opportunity for the rich – even the most talentless.

While the rest of us are worrying about seeing relatives and job security, the super-rich are flying to party islands on private jets.

Cummins has got away with it for a while – will that continue (probably).

Test-trace-track

THE hot potato of the pandemic continues to be thrown up in the air.

England’s contact-tracing system needs better data handling to beat covid-19.

Prior to the announcement of the pilot in Liverpool (see below) it was stated that 10% of England’s population could be tested for covid-19 every week. To really get on top of the spread of infections in the UK many more people nationwide will need to be tested on a regular basis. But again the question has to be asked – What about the poorer parts of the world?

We were told suitably qualified personnel would staff the call centres. That doesn’t seem to be the case as teenagers ended up operating crucial parts of England’s test and trace system.

The NHS app evolves, this time sending more people into self-isolation. There are always problems when more people are told to do something which doesn’t make sense to them – and which might seriously effect their general well being. Perhaps a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

The debate about what happens to information gained by the app and how secure it is continues to run

And then sometimes it doesn’t work.

More than 7,000 of the app’s users were given the wrong self-isolation information due to a faulty update

City wide testing – the Liverpool ‘pilot’

This is one of the few good ideas that have come out of the ‘battle’ against covid-19. And Liverpool is a good choice as a pilot it being a medium sized city, a diverse population (in terms of age, ethnic variety and wealth). It could bode well as a way to deal with the virus – if it works.

The Army are supposed to be in charge of this (which started on 6th November) and everything will depend upon whether there has been local input to the locations of the testing centres or whether an outside organisation thinks it knows best. If it has been properly planned (and it is hoped that the planning for this began some weeks ago and not the day after it was announced) then it could be a way out of the total mess and chaos that has characterised the so-called war against this tiny virus. Obviously only time will tell. With the second national lock down having started on 5th November (so not much burning of the failed Catholic regicide in effigy this year) and due to last for a month – which coincides with the Liverpool pilot – then if positive results have not been achieved by the end of the 28 days then we are really snookered.

Some various news reports of what might be the most significant positive development for months.

Liverpool to pilot city-wide coronavirus testing.

New procedure offers results in just an hour, rather than the more usual 24 – 48 hours.

Up to 500,000 people in city will be tested in bid to measure feasibility of mass population screening.

Liverpool Covid tests will ‘open door to more routine way of life’.

But those frightened ‘scientists’ who can come up with nothing new – even though the old tactics have not shown themselves to be effective – try to pore cold water on the initiative.

Vaccine and immunity

A vaccine might be on the way – but don’t get too optimistic.

But another look at immunity might be more positive.

The big issue of recent days is the announcement of a ‘90% success rate vaccine’. Matt Hancock, who has been mercifully quiet recently, claims the credit and states that the NHS ‘is ready’ to introduce a mass vaccination programme when it is already pushed to the limit due to decades of cuts and financial neglect.

But after the euphoria of the announcement comes the cooler analysis. Good news yes, but …

‘Back to normal by spring’ – are we expecting too much from the first COVID-19 vaccines?

The ever expanding effects of covid-19

Look at your feet if you think you may have contracted the virus – for covid toes.

Reactions to Government policy

Pub renames itself The Three Bellends with dig at Johnson, Hancock and Cummings.

Not much fun being a mink in 2020

Denmark announces cull of 15 million mink over covid mutation fears.

And the Dutch mink don’t fare any better.

Fears over mutated covid virus from mink lead to Denmark travel ban.

No one, yet, has made any comment of whether the new vaccine which has been so trumpeted in the last couple of days, will be able to cope with the little present the mink have given the world.

Finally:

How the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha’s care about it’s subjects

William Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – the heir to the oppressive monarchy of Britain – contracted the virus earlier in the year but kept it quiet as ‘he didn’t want to worry the population of the country’. It’s good to know that some rich boy is really concerned about our well being.

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

View of the world

Ukraine – what you’re not told

Early lessons from the Liverpool, city wide, covid testing pilot

Posted on 09/11/2020 by Michael

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

View of the world

Ukraine – what you’re not told

Early lessons from the Liverpool, city wide, covid testing pilot

Friday 6th November 2020 was the first day of the all city wide, no symptoms testing pilot (as of the eveing of 13th November – there’s now no need to book a test – which makes some of the comments below redundant but asks the question why this way of testing was changed) in the chosen city of Liverpool. As the country enters the eighth month of so-called ‘pandemic measures’ this is the first time in the country something has been introduced that displays a modicum of imagination and approximates what might be considered a strategic approach to dealing with the virus. Everything tried so far has merely been a reaction to events, often resembling a panic, or just a plain and simple knee jerk, reaction to events or various pressures.

This Liverpool testing pilot might lead to a way out of what is becoming a cycle of lock downs (of various intensity) with the same tactics – and slogans – being used in November as were used in March. Society, not just in Britain, hasn’t learnt a great deal from historic plagues of the past 700 years and it was probably asking too much for anything to have been learnt in the last seven months.

But will this new approach make any difference? Obviously it’s too soon to say but at least it is different and has the feel of attacking the virus rather than just running from it in the hope a miracle vaccine will arrive in the not too distant future.

For that reason – and as this is supposed to be a pilot where lessons, both positive and negative are learnt – I thought it would be useful to document the experience surrounding a test taken on the first day to see how it did work, with both a few pluses as well as a number of negatives. How those lessons are evaluated by those concerned for running the test in the early days will be even more crucial than the testing itself, especially as success in Liverpool could entail such an approach being applied throughout the country.

Accessing the Government’s test booking site the day before the test was due to begin didn’t bode too well when there was a line saying that test slots ‘would be available soon’. With the memory of failed testing ‘experiments’ in the last seven months (whether they be the actual testing itself or the use of the test-trace-track mobile phone app) not to be able to book a test less than 24 hours before the programme was due to begin didn’t inspire confidence. That was a bad thing.

Although an earlier visit to that website showed the test centres opening between 09.00 and 19.00 on the Friday 6th November by late on the 5th the opening time had been shifted to 12.00. This seemed to indicate that the announcement had been made before the actual logistics had been fully worked out. This was reminiscent of the wild and woolly promises by the Buffoon earlier in the year about the numbers of tests that would take place each day as well as the speed of the return of the results. So that was another bad thing.

However, by 09.30 on the morning of the 6th November (when I again went online) it was possible to book a slot for the same day. I thought the official site was overly complicated. There was a lot of personal information that had to be entered before there was any chance of choosing an actual time slot. Wouldn’t it be better for people to first pick the test centre and time slot best for them and only then enter the information needed to be able to process the test results?

This is not least because the system considers you are applying for a same day appointment but if you are late in the day, when appointments are starting to run out, then you are possibly offered a test in another, more distant centre, or the option of a test sent to your home. If that’s not what you want to do you have to start from the beginning. There may be a logic in the way the questions are ordered but I can’t quite see it.

(Here I’m describing the booking of a walk in test – those with vehicles are probably slightly different and the request for a home test would, obviously, follow another route.)

So you have to put in quite a bit of information about yourself, some of it quite personal – such as an NHS Number – and this should be ringing some alarm bells for those in authority as hackers would love to get hold of such information and the NHS doesn’t have a great record in being able to defend itself against outside attacks.

You don’t get a designated time, as I expected, but a 30 minutes time slot when you should arrive at the centre. Whether this will change is another matter. On the first day there would have been some question as to how many people would arrive and as we are dealing with a whole city (of about 500,000 people) a certain amount of flexibility would be necessary, at least at the beginning. This made sense on thinking about it but didn’t when you consider how the process played out.

There is a logic of having a more exact time for arrival. The naysayers are already complaining that the process means many people are standing together for a longer time than is desirable. That might be true but the answer to that is not to ditch the pilot but to speed people through the process so that they are together for as short a time as possible. As a recent example of how a more specific time slot works an appointment for the annual flu jab at a nearby general practice a couple of weeks ago meant that no big queues developed whereas a 30 minutes slot means that everyone in that section of time arrives at the beginning of the slot.

After going through the process of entering all the personal information you are sent (depending upon what information you had supplied) a confirmation via text to a mobile and/or an email. You were asked to show the text message (or printout) as proof you had made a booking and would be able to present the QR code on arrival. I was able to print out the email but when I tried to go to the Print page on the Government’s website (at the end of entering all the information) the page didn’t have the necessary link – just an empty page with an official heading. That issue should be addressed – why have a website with broken links – especially in such circumstances as a pandemic? But then again, this is a pilot so, hopefully, these matters will be continually monitored to see what is working and what is not.

On the print out it asked that you arrive at the test centre with a face mask and also a photo ID, such as a passport.

So I’m down for the first time slot of the first day (12.00-12.30). I arrive at the centre (the sports centre in Liverpool 8) exactly at 12.00. But I’m far from being the first in the queue. There are a lot of people (which is a good thing) but it seemed that some had booked but others had not as there were two queues, one inside the perimeter and one outside, those with a booking being allowed through the gate first. However, those standing outside started to get somewhat annoyed seeing those people ‘jump the queue’ – or so they thought – and soon the two queues became one.

But it must have been about 30 minutes before there was any movement at all with people entering the building. The delayed start from 09.00 to 12.00 therefore seemed to have a reason – and that seems to have been because they were not fully prepared, which is a bad thing.

Now an aside, but possibly an important one. The 6th November in Liverpool was a bright and sunny, but cool, autumn day. The rest of the days of this pilot are unlikely to be be the same pleasant experience as people wait out in a queue that isn’t moving. To help make this pilot a success there will need to be shelter from the elements provided, especially the rain, if the number of covid deaths are not replaced by pneumonia caused by standing and getting soaked and frozen. Just putting some temporary protection in place to make it as ‘inviting’ as possible is all that’s needed, especially if the aim is to get people making regular visits to a test centre as we go through the winter. If the process gets speeded up (which it should do) then there will be less need for this temporary shelter but the pilot could fail if people are asked to stand for an hour subject to the elements.

At about 12.55 I reach the entrance, staffed by a young soldier in uniform. This is where the system started to fall down. There was no request for the form with the QR code you are told to bring and which connects you to the information already entered on the Government’s website when making the appointment. Neither was I asked for any photo identification. So why were we told to bring photo ID?

Instead every one was given a card with it’s own QR code – plus 4 bar codes stickers with an identical number. This small card is professionally produced and it is hoped that they exist (under normal circumstances) for those occasions when people don’t bring what they have been told to bring. There was not a sign of a QR reader on site at the test centre – was that the reason for the issuing of yet another QR code?

Everyone was told that they should scan the QR code on the card with their Smartphones and then fill in the details asked for – which were the very same details that were asked for and which took some time to enter in the comfort of your own home. Now if you don’t have a Smartphone you are snookered. The young soldier at the entrance, when informed of this, stated that someone at the end of the corridor (just before going into the room where the tests actually take place) would have an iPad and the necessary information could be entered there.

That turned out not to be the case. At the end of the corridor was another young squadie who wasn’t expecting this sort of request and certainly didn’t have an issued iPad to hand. The ubiquity of Smartphones meant it took some time for the first people without one to arrive. So a lack of communication here between the soldiers staffing the centre, a lack of initiative from their officers or City Council in not foreseeing such a situation and a lack of provision of the hardware necessary to deal with such a circumstance.

This young squadie then used his own Smartphone to take a picture of both the QR and the bar code followed by entering all personal details – as I said, the very ones that were already in the system. So the whole process that everyone had to go through to book a slot was just a waste of time – and when you want to get people on board with something like the Liverpool pilot you don’t want that. And it should not be for some young soldier whose task is just to process people through the system, to have to use his own personal phone for something that should have been foreseen once it was decided that the registration cards were to be given to everyone entering the centre.

So something that should be looked at there. It would obviously be better to be accessing this information which is already on the system by providing those at the entrance with a QR reader. Was this one of the things that were not in place on the 6th November in L8 and the card was a fall back? This is something that should be rectified soon (if it has not already been so). Apart from anything else a reader would speed up the processing of people.

Then it was in to a room (one of the gyms) where a number of temporary booths had been constructed – about 12, I think, although not all being used. Again why? Was it because there was a doubt of the ability to process more people? Was it just getting into the swing of things? Shouldn’t the process have been tested somewhere, at some time before the centres were even opened? All questions which should now, into the fourth day of the pilot, have been answered with a positive resolution.

At the entrance to the gym you are given a long, thin swab in a sealed bag and directed to one of the booths where you carry out the test yourself. There’s an instruction leaflet attached to the wall. You carry out the test and then poke your head and hand through a cut out window into the centre of the room and a soldier will take the swab – and one of the bar codes – and that’s it.

The card is not taken off you – it’s yours as a souvenir, together with two of the bar code strips – so why give out four? Then its out through the back door.

The test itself took just three or four minutes but I had been on site for one hour and a quarter, leaving the building at 13.15.

Given that the 6th was the first day then a little bit of leeway can be allowed. I would hope, however, that the system in the next few days gets more streamlined and processes people much quicker. For the length of the time it took to take the test the people should have been going through that centre much quicker.

So what about the result? A number of times 40-45 minutes was mentioned as the time that would lapse before receiving a text message on the mobile phone (an email is also sent at the same time if supplied) However, my result didn’t arrive until 15.23. Much quicker than we have heard about with tests taking place in the last few months but still a lot longer than the 40 minutes ‘promised’. If we have learnt nothing from the Buffoon in the last eight months is that you don’t promise what you can’t deliver.

So some minor problems on the first day. Not perfect – and not really needing much to make it so. Just connecting together the information already entered and the individual – and perhaps making the process faster and providing some sort of shelter if the queues are going tp develop outside in the bad weather.

Just a few more thoughts.

I wasn’t aware of anyone, either from the Army or the Council, who seemed to be monitoring what was going on or how easy matters were processed. All the people in the centre seemed to be there to move people through the system and not looking to see what could be improved.

There is no method where (as far as I can see) those attending the test centres can give ‘feedback’. It’s possible to make a comment about the gov.uk site but not the experience of the individual test centres. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to understand if some centres are managing better than others. After all they are all very distinctly different buildings and will have their own peculiarities.

There’s no information about the process of a repeat test. When the Liverpool pilot was first announced it was suggested that people would go for a retest after a period to make sure they hadn’t been infected in the meantime. Is that the case? Will people be called back as a matter of course. After all, the system now has the contact details (mobile number and/or email address) of an increasing proportion of the city’s population. Would it also be an idea for the Council to use the paperless system that is related to Council tax to send out a general email to encourage those who have not taken the test to do so?

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

View of the world

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Lock downs (under various guises) spread like a virus across the United Kingdom

Posted on 28/10/2020 by Michael

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

Lock downs (under various guises) spread like a virus across the United Kingdom

Although it’s still unclear what the figures are really telling us (numbers mean nothing unless they are unpicked and put into the context of a particular situation) the chances are that Britain might well be moving into a ‘second wave’ of the covid-19 pandemic.

The problem with the figures is it appears that if anyone dies with symptoms of covid-19 then they are part of the number used to frighten people into accepting all the (increasing) restrictions under which a significant proportion of the population now have to live. What is not being clarified (at least as far as I can discover) is how many of these fatalities would have been classified as caused by other causes in previous years.

How may people are dying of influenza or pneumonia? We don’t know as those figures seem to have totally disappeared from the statistics. At the beginning of the pandemic many people, who might well have died as a consequence of covid-19 weren’t counted as such in the statistics as no one was available to state the actual cause of death. This was especially the case in care homes were the numbers of deaths started to overwhelm the system and covid appeared on fewer death certificates than might have been the case if staffing levels had been able to cope.

Now there might be a situation where covid is blamed for all such respiratory causes of death. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) mentioned this in one of their reports just over a week ago but I haven’t seen anything since (see below).

So ‘second wave’ or not? Perhaps the jury is still out on that one.

At the same time the very actions of the Governments of the 4 nations of the United Kingdom (as well as in most countries of the world) will have contributed to the ‘second wave’ if it ever does arrive.

They are following the science – then they’re not. They are introducing a lock down – and then they’re not. They have an effective test, track and trace regime – and then they don’t. They clarify matters – but people are still confused. They talk about following a similar and coordinated policy – then they go their own way. They make policies – and then they make so many U-turns that we all become dizzy. They say they have a strategy – but they don’t. Still, seven months since they started doing ‘something’.

As ‘something’ is all they have been doing. Just reacting to events as they have failed to have a proper strategy which will lead to certain actions that will have a real effect on the course of the virus but also to actions that will take society back to some semblance of normality.

Governments throughout the world resemble chickens with their heads cut off running around aimlessly rather than the sophisticated, modern leaders they constantly portray themselves as being.

But if the British Government, with the Buffoon at its head, has been inconsistent in its approach to the pandemic they have remained steadfast when it comes to its attitude to the poorest in society.

The way many Tory ministers and others have flocked to support the Government’s official position (notwithstanding the opportunist stance of some Conservative Members of Parliament who had gained their seats in last Decembers General Election in what was considered Labour’s heartland) over the issue of free school meals shows the true colours of these staunch representatives of wealth, privilege and guardians of the capitalist system.

After providing unimaginable amounts to private industry in the last seven months (and for how long in the future at the moment it’s impossible to say) they fight like a dog with a bone to not provide mere pocket change to provide meals to children in those times when they are not actually in school.

It’s their attitude and the way they fight to maintain what they see as a ‘principle’ which demonstrates the sort of people they are.

‘Scum’ is not a strong enough word to describe them.

Preparedness for the pandemic

‘Government did not have exact measures‘ for tackling Covid crisis. And blames Cummins’s interference for it.

How the State controls us

Scapegoats to frighten the masses – whilst the rich and powerful are never held to account.

Test, track and trace

Covid ‘test-and-release’ system for airlines ‘in place by December’ – if you believe that you’ll believe anything.

Test and trace forced to bring in untrained workers as system is overwhelmed.

The effectiveness of contact tracing apps – not just in Britain.

The ‘world beating’ test, track and race system? Buffoon admits failings as England’s covid contact-tracing system hits new low.

We may be living in ‘unprecedented and challenging’ times but the Government should still be following the rules – although they would love people to forget them. This time it’s all about privacy and the retention of personal information.

Instead of ‘everyone working together’ to ensure the country has a testing regime that works (let alone be ‘world beating’, the cretinous Buffoon’s boast way back in June) capitalism always looks to make money out of a crisis. This time it’s a high street chemist chain. A snip at £120 a time!

Test and trace workers report new problems with troubled service.

Patients discharged from hospitals without covid test results. Considered one of the contributory factors in the deaths in care homes in the spring some people don’t seemed to have learnt from that experience.

Nightingale Hospitals

They’ve been sitting there costing the State money – but doing nothing. Not even making sure they are prepared for a potential ‘second wave’.

Poverty in the UK

I can’t remember a time when so many people have been so concerned about ‘the poor’ in Britain. Barely a day goes by without someone – from millionaire footballers to Pantomime Dames – saying that the poor are suffering disproportionately due to the pandemic and they should be given assistance of one kind of another.

But the problem that underlies all of these concerned interventions is the acceptance that ‘the poor will always be with us’, as if it’s a natural phenomenon about which we can do nothing. This acceptance of a social ill is clearly displayed in the language and words used when discussing the poor – always in the third person as if what they want doesn’t really matter. (In fact, the main thing the poor want is not to be poor.)

The buzzword in Britain in the seven (long, long) months of the ineptly managed covid-19 pandemic has been ‘disadvantaged’. This also demonstrates the patronising attitude of those ‘comfortably well off’ when referring to those who work in insecure, low wage jobs, can’ pay their rent and have problems feeding, heating and clothing themselves and their children adequately.

They are not ‘disadvantaged’ as a specific group, they are just members of the working class who have been forced into a condition by the pressures of circumstance, not being able or wanting to organise to improve their condition collectively. Those other members of that same class, who (again by sheer luck in the main) have managed to secure a decent life for themselves have often forgotten about the less well off members of society and turn their back on what they fear might one day be their fate.

But it’s the very fate of the working class that however secure they might think they are, accepting the limitations of capitalism, everything can collapse at any time without warning. The uncertainty that accompanies the anarchy of capitalism means that any crisis can push those who were relatively content into conditions of extreme penury. The periodic crisis that are the corollary of capitalism have proven this time and time again.

But it’s not just the economic crises that can cause this drop from dizzy heights to the gutter. War, natural disasters and, as we see now, medical pandemics can also be the final push.

And this pandemic has opened the flood gates for do-gooders to spout their condescending and patronising claptrap. The most recent insult I have heard (although she is probably too stupid to realise it) is from Dame Louise Casey – with a background in ‘helping’ the poor in various organisations – who said (in an interview on Radio 4’s, World at One programme on the 20th October) she was concerned about ‘families at the bottom of the pile’. She was also concerned about ‘lone households, often women’ (you have to get your concerns for women in these debates to maintain credibility) without understanding that many in ‘lone households, often women’ work hard to provide for their children and manage (just) but don’t deserve to be talked down to.

The solution to poverty is not more stale crumbs from the rich man’s (and woman’s) table it is the poor getting off their knees and turning that pile up-side-down.

We should remember it’s not always the cream that rises to the top – the shit does as well.

There’s definitely nothing like a Dame.

Alternatives to unproven lock downs

It sticks in the craw to agree with a Tory Life Peer (and a Fund manager to boot) but one of that kind was interviewed on Radio 4’s World at One on 20th October (I’m sorry, yet another Dame and on the same day as the patronising one). Helena Morrissey was arguing that an endless cycle of lock downs (or whatever they may be called) hasn’t, isn’t and won’t really get us any closer to dealing with the covid-19 pandemic.

Using the argument of the Barrington Declaration (highlighted in a post a few weeks ago) she said we have to get used to living with the virus and that those, of all ages, who are classified as ‘vulnerable’ should be protected and the rest of us carry on in a slightly modified ‘normal’. Apart from her brown-nosing of the Buffoon there is little with which I disagree.

Now to wash my hands in pure lye after typing that.

Another establishment figure has a critical view of the use of restrictions on freedoms and the feeding of ‘mass hysteria’ by the Government to achieve its aims of control of the population. That can be seen in the growing idiocy about ‘Christmas being stolen’.

What do the statistics say?

‘No sign of second wave’ as ONS data shows normal level of deaths for time of year.

Most of the country’s major university towns are now past the peak of the virus.

Wales is living through a ‘fire break’ (another new term that has little meaning) at the moment but do the statistics of infections and deaths really warrant it?

A potential vaccine

The limits of vaccine trials – if we are after a vaccine to be the miracle about to happen.

‘The sooner we get a vaccine the sooner we can get back to normal’ is the mantra. But it may not be as easy as that.

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

The bad news, antibodies ‘fall rapidly after infection’ – although that sounds more problematic than it might be. A cold is a coronavirus and that keeps coming around all the time. Covid-19 is different as there hasn’t been enough time for society to build up much natural resistance. And even in this study they suggested that any second infection would normally be much milder than the first.

The good news?

New understanding of the neuropilin-1 protein could speed vaccine research. I don’t understand what it means either but I assume that someone involved in vaccine research does.

Zero cases?

Why chase after the impossible? All countries seem to be aiming to eliminate the virus which is considered by virtually all scientists to be an impossibility – at least for many years. That means we will have to learn to live with the virus and adapt to its presence in society worldwide.

Care homes

Care staff ordered to work in one home only. This might be easier said than done. As part of the cuts in funding to care home full time staff were reduced and most homes depend upon part time agency workers to fill busy times. That will not be easy to just switch off like a tap. In a way it could make the situation worse and not better.

Will care homes be ready to face the winter if the country gets hit by a so-called ‘second wave’? Not if early indications are anything to go by. If inspectors can’t get tests what chance anyone else?

If there’s a problem in one sector you can always trust the Tories to make matters worse. Nothing whatsoever has been learnt from mistakes from earlier in the year, with patients being sent from hospital to care homes without being tested negative first. It shows a total disrespect for people in general (as this risks spreading the infection in the community) – but especially the most vulnerable.

Is it corruption?

Somebody has to pay for all those empty trains we have been told not to use. What about the public? If the the State has to pick up the bills then that’s a nationalised industry to me. £50 million in just a weekend.

They might sound cheap but all the adverts from the last seven months haven’t come from a bargain basement. The pounds in their millions were being spent even before the first lock down.

The virus that sticks like glue

Coronavirus can survive on skin for nine hours.

The Nationalists

If there isn’t enough confusion nationwide the Scottish Nationalist are now proposing to introduce a 5 tier system in Scotland – whilst there’s a 3 tier system in England. For no other reason than being different and ‘in control’.

Scots told to prepare for ‘digital Christmas’.

But in Wales the ‘fire break’ was to protect Christmas – or at least the businesses.

The World at One on 23rd October gave a break down on what the Scottish ‘5 tier’ system was all about.

In the last post we looked at the situation of the annual vaccinations against influenza (flu jabs) in England. It’s not much better in Scotland. You and Yours, on Radio 4 on 23rd October, had a look at the issue.

Making money out of a crisis

We knew there would be abuses of the system where the Government was giving out money to companies hand over fist without any oversight – but that much? £2 billion in the hands of gangsters.

The Army gets involved for the first time

Supposedly only in a logistics role but the Army is starting to be deployed.

‘Collateral damage’

It’s been said may times here that the brunt of the effects of the pandemic – but more especially the manner in which it has been approached by the Buffoon and his Government (just as in other parts of the world) – will be felt by the young, those who are just about to start work as well as those who have been working for just a few years (and school children will be effected in ways we won’t understand for some time). However it does no harm to re-iterate the issue by reference to the unemployment figures.

The background to the deaths

There are many reasons for the high numbers of deaths in the UK since the start of the pandemic. Decades of underfunding of the NHS and the general health of the population being just two. To the list can now be added air pollution.

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?