A new year – but nothing has changed

Posted on 04/01/2021 by Michael

A new year – but nothing has changed

2021 was barely a day old before we were forced to realise that the new year would be no better than the old. Yet another U-turn by the Buffoon’s Government – this time on schools re-opening after the holiday – more confusion and the almost certainty of lock down number 3.

If people were expecting a new start then they were disappointed. The same inept, confused and bewildered politicians are still in ‘control’.

For some 2020 has been a disastrous year (loss of jobs, loss of income, loss of life) and we have been told innumerable times that we were living through ‘unprecedented’ times. That’s not really true, there are epidemics raging throughout the world all the time – it’s just that the latest one has had a severe impact upon the more wealthy countries in the world (and they can’t cope with it).

In many ways Britain (as have so many countries in Europe) has gotten off relatively lightly. Yes, the heaviest burden has fallen on those in the country who are less able to bear the strain (the sick, the elderly, the poor) but they’re the ones who, historically, have always suffered most when the norms of society break down (be it economic crashes or war).

For those the temptation is to forget what has happened in the last nine, going on ten, months. To think of the future – which may not be so bad – rather than remember the past – which we know was.

However that would be a mistake. The pandemic has not caused many of the problems that exist in British society but it has definitely highlighted many of the disparities, inequities and downright criminal situation in which far too many of the population live. But that is capitalism.

In good times the problems can get easily swept under the carpet and forgotten by the majority who are managing, more or less well, but at least able to exist in a reasonable manner. Throwing a few pence in a charity tin, buying a copy of the Big Issue or putting a few groceries in the collecting bins for food banks after a supermarket shop enables people to think they are doing some good and helping those more in need, ‘less fortunate’.

The pandemic, or more importantly, the manner in which it has been mismanaged has shown that there are huge numbers of working people who are on a knife edge when it comes to a crisis. The increased use of food banks is a clear example of that.

So people shouldn’t forget 2020. Quite the opposite. If they wish to have long term security they should remember the lessons of how they have been treated by a system that exists for no other reason than to make profit from the labour of others.

Capitalism’s representatives throughout the world have proven themselves incapable of dealing with extreme circumstances. They have wandered from one inept and poorly thought through action to another and we are no closer to living virus free now than we were just short of a year ago.

Their ineptness in the past has reduced the number of ways forward. They have created such a chaotic situation that it is luck which is going to get us back to some semblance of normality, not any strategic thinking.

At the moment, on the eve of the announcement of a further lock down in England, we should remember who brought us to this state of affairs. If we forget (just to make ourselves feel better) then we will be facing the same situation in the not too distant future.

Like the many natural occurrences that will be catastrophic to humanity (for example, the earthquake that will be caused by the San Andreas Fault in California) it’s not a matter of if, it’s when.

How prepared was Britain for the pandemic?

An update following a report produced years ago (2009) by its author on BBC Radio 4’s the World at One on the 29th December.

What is the risk of infection?

An analysis of this issue was discussed on Radio 4’s World at One on 29th December.

Vaccines and vaccination programme

As virtually all the governments of the world were totally inept and unable to come up with a strategy to defeat the covid virus they all put their faith in a vaccine that would take the responsibility away form themselves. That being the case, and placing all their eggs in one basket, why wasn’t there a ‘task force’ given the job of working out all the potential problems and pit-falls that would accompany a nationwide vaccination programme?

There were months when all these details could have been worked out; who would get the vaccine first and in what order would the rest of the population follow; how would the vaccines be distributed; who would be needed to administer the injections and the establishment of a resister of those who could assist in this process, i.e. retired NHS staff; what sort of campaign would be launched to ensure the greatest possible take up; what sort of documentation could be provided to help people return to a ‘normal’ life when aspects of society start to demand proof of vaccination before people could take part in certain activities (this is being denied now but it will almost certainly creep into all societies worldwide as the year goes on); establishing the policy of vaccinating the greatest number or ensuring those in the highest risk bracket get the highest level of protection first; and understanding and managing the general logistical problems associated with vaccinating a population of 60 million plus people in the shortest time possible.

So there is little reason to be confident that the magic solution to the pandemic will be introduced smoothly.

A couple of other points on the vaccination programme.

When the Buffoon makes wild promises we should remember what happened about those in the past. Have people already forgotten the ‘world beating’ testing system that would be testing tens of thousands way back in May. Those really insignificant figures weren’t met – apart from magically on the date ‘promised’. So his claim of 2 million vaccinations per week have to be taken with a huge grain of salt.

Also, the idea of postponing the second vaccination for those who had already been given the very first vaccines in the country might well have a lot of validity. (Is not a vaccine that ‘needs’ two shots just another scam by the pharmaceutical companies to increase their profits anyway?) However this news is being delivered to people who had already been made frightened of their own shadow by the fear campaign of the Government over the last ten months to obtain compliance of their knee jerk policies. It just demonstrates, yet again, no strategic thinking and a contempt for people in general.

Mistakes sometimes lead to positive outcomes. Oxford vaccine mix up came from scientists misreading the strength of Italian manufacturers’ supply.

If a cure isn’t enough try prevention. Antibody therapy could confer instant immunity to Covid-19 on at-risk groups.

Or use what’s already been around for a long time. Dexamethasone demonstrates power of large-scale, randomised trials in finding effective medicines

But it’s not all good news. Many medics ‘frustrated’ about low priority given to front line staff at high risk of infection.

Will it happen here? Spain to keep register of those who refuse Covid vaccine.

Israel vaccinates half a million in nine days – but how many were Palestinian?

The question most people are asking – when will you be eligible for the covid vaccine?

There was no doubt that it would have been approved, but it was left to virtually the end of 2020 before the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine approved for use in UK.

Race to roll out Oxford covid vaccine to stave off third lock down – although it’s now looking like the English variant is winning that particular race.

Tesco offers to help with roll-out of Oxford vaccine.

Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine roll out plan changed following approval. But that’s all right, the approval was only a formality. So the vaccine is approved with the proviso that the second injection is within three weeks. Then the Government decides (‘following the scientific advice’) that it’s Ok to delay the second jab until 12 weeks after the first. So is it approved or not?

12-week vaccine gap defended by UK medical chiefs.

Doctors call for rapid roll out of vaccines – which makes sense but has the infrastructure been put in place?

Medics complain of ‘bureaucracy’ in bid to join covid vaccine effort.

Chris Whitty moves to head off General Practitioners’ (GP’s) rebellion over Pfizer covid vaccine doses

Retired medics trying to help covid vaccination drive say offers being ignored.

The Liverpool ‘pilot’

‘We are now in the Systematic Meaningful Asymptomatic Repeated Testing or ‘Smart’ phase of our testing pilot. This is phase 2 and picks up from the successful mass testing pilot in November 2020 that helped Liverpool City Region secure Tier 2 status.’ (Liverpool City Council website, accessed 31st December 2020)

From about the middle of December the various sites were NOT open weekends and Bank Holidays. We are supposed to be in a war yet the centres take a day off – does the virus? Most centres were busy in the days leading up to the 25th and 31st December – due to people wanting to see if they were infected before meeting up with family, This provides no useful information about the efficacy of testing asymptomatic people. Other than that the centres are all very quiet and their continued value is questionable.

From 31st December, Liverpool is in the higher Tier 3 – so what’s the reason for the testing? It’s considered to be flawed due to false negatives, it’s not really getting the numbers that it should, and it hasn’t kept Liverpool out of the higher Tier. Just seems, now, to be throwing good money after bad.

Not sure where the so-called ‘pilot’ fits into a locked down future as Liverpool’s acting mayor calls for yet another one.

Nightingale Hospitals and systemic failings in the NHS

At some time in the future there should be a review of the whole concept of these ‘Nightingale Hospitals’. Were they just another knee jerk response to show that the Government was doing something – whilst at the same time throwing millions of pounds of public money into the bank accounts of their friends? Could/can they ever have been used to the full? Wasn’t it realised that there might be a problem of staffing given the shortages of experienced staff existing in the National Health Service (NHS) long before anyone thought of a pandemic? As it stands at the moment they seem to be just a herd of white elephants.

In the meantime, London’s NHS Nightingale ‘on standby’ – but not the other seven in England?

Being prepared in London – but not being used. Critically ill patients ‘evacuated’ hundreds of miles as fears grow London could run out of beds – being taken as far as Plymouth and Leeds.

Nightingale hospitals stand empty despite surging covid cases as medics warn of staff shortages.

Key London hospital preparing for covid-only care as cases surge.

London’s Nightingale hospital expected to take patients as NHS struggles with number of severely ill people.

NHS staff fear speaking out over crisis in English hospitals.

A nurse speaks about failings in the NHS and why the Nightingale Hospitals will never realise their ‘potential’ on the BBC Radio 4’s World at One on 29th December.

Lorry drivers at ports

The lack of forethought meant thousands of lorry drivers, most of them from other European countries, were stuck in limbo with poor living conditions due to the closure of the links between Britain and France just before the December holiday. No wonder they were angry.

As a consequence of this lack of understanding the Army was brought in to take over covid testing for hauliers trapped near Dover – being joined by 30 or so French firefighters!

The value of statistics

The country (world?) has been awash with statistics since the beginning of the pandemic but of what use are they – if they don’t paint the full picture? The more infectious ‘variant’ hits London and the South East, the inept Government of the Buffoon wants to keep Cockneys at home so raise the fear level as rational argument may not work – people don’t trust them because they have told so many lies and have carried out so many U-turns in the last nine months or so people don’t know if they are coming or going. Then they panic. Call 999 – perhaps when there was no need – so the numbers shoot up. Such figures have to be unpicked before they are used to justify further draconian restrictions at the beginning of 2021.

London Ambulance Service receives as many 999 calls as first wave – just before the December holiday.

One law for the rich – another for the rest of us. Or on the road to forget?

In May last year the writer Neil Gaiman broke lock down regulations on travel by journeying all the way from New Zealand to the Isle of Skye in Scotland. He boasted about this on social media and he was ‘spoken to’ by the police – as far as I know that’s about as far as it went.

Now we are constantly being told of fines being given to ordinary people who ‘break the rules’, such as those who have been partying over the last few months – and even the case recently of a group being fined for playing dominoes in a restaurant basement.

But for the rich and influential there seems to be no sanction whatsoever – even when it comes down to free publicity provided by the BBC. Gaiman was given a huge chunk of the BBC Radio 4 arts programme, Front Row, on 24th December – no mention there of his ‘rule breaking’.

Now I don’t consider all these rules to be useful in countering the pandemic but what we should expect is that the rules apply to all – but in capitalist societies it’s money that makes all the difference.

To lock down or not to lock down

Risk averse scientists still only have a lock down to offer – this time blaming the ‘mutated variant’.

Collateral damage

It goes on and on.

Covid poses ‘greatest threat to mental health since second world war’.

Parents warned of ‘sharp rise’ in eating disorders.

Hospital admissions for children with eating disorders rise by a fifth in England.

How covid lock downs are wiping out the gains made by ‘disadvantaged’ children.

UK high street lost 177,000 jobs in 2020.

Youth organisations in England face wholesale closure.

The use of fear or ….

Decisions about which patients receive life-saving treatment could be imminent, doctors warn.

Covid rule-breakers ‘have blood on their hands’.

… the use of patronage to get the desired result

Lots and lots of NHS staff in the New Year’s anachronistic Honours List

How many ‘tiers’ to go?

‘Tier 5’: England faces possible new Covid restrictions.

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

View of the world

Ukraine – what you’re not told

Nine months and a day since the beginning of the first lock down ….

Posted on 24/12/2020 by Michael

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

View of the world

Ukraine – what you’re not told

Nine months and a day since the beginning of the first lock down ….

…. and how long until the end of the last?

Coincidentally the first deaths attributed to the bubonic plague reported in London, in what came to be known as the Great Plague, were in March 1665, more or less at the time of the first deaths in the UK during the covid-19 pandemic. In the seventeenth century, by the end of February, it was considered safe for ‘the King to return to the capital’. Just under a year.

If we compare the two outbreaks what do we find.

London in 1665; a filthy city with poor sanitation; a population with poor ideas of hygiene; over-crowding in the areas of the poor (i.e., virtually all the working class); huge disparities of wealth; a wastrel as a monarch, constantly demanding (and getting) money from a sycophantic and grovelling parliament; inept Buffoons in government; corruption running rife; charlatans posing as ‘experts’; fear and superstition dominating people’s thoughts; false news; no strategy to deal with the problem; a lock down of most of the workings of society; ignorance of the cause of the disease; hoarding of necessities (though not toilet paper); mountebanks and fraudsters taking advantage of the gullible; unemployment and other consequences of a closed down society; a failure to use known technology to combat the silent killer; and xenophobia, all looking for someone to blame, as long as it wasn’t themselves.

London in 2020; more or less the same.

So 365 years of ‘progress’ has done us no good at all!

In fact it’s worse than that. Life was starting to get back to normal by the spring of 1666. Who is courageous (or stupid) enough to bet that life will be back to normal in any country in the world – let alone Britain – by the spring of 2021?

When I started with these posts I (as did, I believe, the vast majority of the population) thought that a modern, sophisticated, technologically advanced society would have been on top of this pandemic within a mater of a few months, three with luck – at the very outside six. But it was soon clear that that was not to be the case.

Leaders of the capitalist world in 2020 were no more capable of coming up with innovative and imaginative ways to deal with this virus than their predecessors in the latter part of the seventeenth century.

The closer we get to a resolution of the issue something comes up to push the end date further into the future.

These blog posts are collected together in a page entitled ‘Journal of the Plague Year 2020’. By the time the next post appears the title of that page will have been changed to ‘Journal of the Plague Years 2020-202?. And that’s being optimistic, especially if we take into account the huge amount of public debt that’s been incurred by our incompetent ‘leaders’.

But then people get the leaders they deserve!

Vaccines and the vaccination programme

A ‘logistical nightmare’? Perhaps. So how will the UK jab millions of people?

Will a vaccine cocktail be better than a single malt? Trials to test combination of Oxford and Sputnik vaccines.

Pfizer vaccine final results: it’s highly protective – but how long for?

Vaccines are here – but how long will it take to get to everyone? Vaccinating entire UK population could take a year, scientists warn.

UK citizens get less legal protection for covid jabs than other vaccines – and that could undermine confidence.

With overall costs for vaccinating the UK population at £12 billion, the public accounts committee flags ‘highly unusual’ arrangements.

Belgian minister tweets EU’s covid vaccine price list to anger of manufacturers. In all stages of a ‘war’ there will those who will make a fortune. Why isn’t it called what it is – profiteering?

Another example of lack of thinking about the programme before the first needle entered the first arm. And then realising the mistake. NHS scraps order to ‘waste one in six’ vaccine doses.

There needs to be a proper strategy for the vaccination programme yet even at the start there is confusion as doctors and nurses at one of London’s front line hospitals denied coronavirus vaccine.

B Liar weighs into the vaccination debate. I’m sure his suggestion that young people get the vaccine at an early stage (whatever merits the suggestion might have) will go down like a lead balloon. We are in a race against time, he says, we must change our vaccine policy now.

What’s it like working in a hospital during the pandemic?

Two doctors describe working on the front line of Liverpool’s second wave – from this page there’s a link to a podcast where their story is told.

Liverpool ‘pilot’ and non-symptomatic testing

This continues to be badly managed – and ceased to be (if it ever was) a real ‘pilot’ soon after it started at the beginning of November. The number of test sites continue to vary day by day; there’s no longer a running total of the numbers actually tested or found to be positive (figures rising so slowly it would be embarrassing); no lessons learnt (or if so, not published) to enable other cities to be part of the Buffoon’s £100 billion ‘Operation Moonshot’; doubts being cast on the efficacy of the tests anyway; and testing has fallen out of fashion as the vaccination programme starts to spread throughout the country.

However, there’s been a bit of a mad rush in the last few days – but hardly likely to be of any use statistically. People just want to know if they have the virus before visiting family and friends over the coming weekend.

Plans for 30-minute covid testing in England halted amid accuracy fears.

Origin of the virus – and its variants, or, more frighteningly ‘mutations’

Almost a year since the world became aware of a new virus. But are scientists more aware of where it started? What do we know now about where coronavirus came from?

Coronavirus mutation – not as scary as it sounds.

Test-track-trace

This issue is definitely taking a back seat – and the policy seems to be changing on a weekly basis.

Who’s really to blame for England not having a ‘world-beating’ system? Perhaps us. It’s probably a thankless task telling people what they should do when the national strategy is non-existent and confusion reigns but they don’t deserve to be abused. ‘People threaten us and block our calls‘ says a contact tracer.

11,000 coronavirus cases delayed from Wales figures after ‘system maintenance’.

Poverty in Britain

Pre-existing inequality led to record UK covid death rate – according to the Build back fairer – The covid-19 Marmot Review.

Another study, this time in Scotland, found similar results. Poverty linked to higher risk of covid-19 death.

Even the suggestion of this is a disgrace – Unicef to feed hungry children in UK for first time in 70-year history. According to a YouGov poll, 2.4 million children in the UK were living in households facing food insecurity as of May this year. Unicef said a grant of £25,000 would be provided to School Food Matters. The charity will use the money to supply (not that many!) thousands of breakfast boxes to vulnerable children in south London over the Christmas school holidays.

But instead of making sure no child should need to take handouts of food what do the privileged and entitled (in the form of the living anachronism that is Jacob Rees-Mogg) of the sceptred isle say – they attack Unicef for pointing out that policies to alleviate poverty are a sham.

But then – Jacob Rees-Mogg under fire for dismissing Unicef’s UK grants as stunt.

I don’t agree with it but here for information. Feeding Britain’s Children – inside Marcus Rashford’s campaign to tackle child hunger. (Interesting that this article appeared on the Sports pages of the BBC’s website.)

Immunity Passport

Digital covid-19 health passes are coming for travellers.

Britain – the pariah of Europe (and the world?)

Nobody wants to have any contact with the ‘infectious’ British – and do so without thinking and cause huge amounts of chaos that has a greater effect on their own citizens than it does the British – by many nations imposing UK travel bans over new variant. Then they realise the ‘new variant’ is probably all over Europe anyway – and then comes along another ‘new’ variant, this time from South Africa. Every reaction is just a knee jerk (in virtually all countries) – not thought out and not part of any long-term strategy.

UK food producers face ‘black Christmas’ as goods perish amid border gridlock.

Why the decision of the French Government to bar access should have caused such a problem so quickly is a mystery. (Well not, we’ve come to expect that no one considers potential problems in the UK, that would suggest a strategy, suggest planning.) It’s December, it’s winter, many circumstances (weather related) could have closed down the ports. Added to that the British have had to suffer four and a half years of interminable wrangling on the country getting out of the European Union and that would have effected the smooth running of the ports. Why weren’t there contingencies for what they knew was coming up – which would have made the country more able to to deal with the unexpected. Why did covid testing kits have to be brought in? Why was everything last minute? Isn’t there a committee somewhere which tries to foresee the unforeseen?

At least by the late afternoon of 24th December Europe was free of the British. The problem is that the British aren’t.

‘First world’ problems?

Britain might be facing a ‘salad crisis’ – with a shortage of that important food, lettuce. With all the problems in the world (most of which have been around long before anyone heard of covid-19) is this really something we should worry about?

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

It starts to get difficult of how to classify these types of news items. Do they go under ‘Ineptitude’ or do they belong under ‘State Corruption’?

Hospital gowns that cost £122 million never been used – and will probably be allowed to go out of date and then get thrown away.

Not only has Britain been paying over the odds for PPE – we’ve been getting defective shipments. One of the most important tasks for James Bond.

And the corruption continues. Government’s PPE ‘tsar’ linked to companies awarded state coronavirus contracts.

How consultants, airlines and China cashed in on PPE scramble – I like the idea of blaming China because they can actually produce PPE, whereas Britain couldn’t at the beginning and I’m not so sure now. Xenophobia lives in (soon to be) post-EU Britain

The Swedish ‘experiment’

All the countries which have been following the same policies of lock down followed by lock down have been hoping for vindication of their actions as opposed to the line followed by the Swedes. It’s taken almost ten months, and it’s only a small concession, but probably the least effective policy adopted worldwide is being taken up in Sweden with face coverings being used on public transport.

A further report tries to shame both Sweden and Japan for not abiding by the World Health Organisation (WHO) norms. However, I would have thought we are still far too close to the pandemic to be able to make any meaningful comparisons of the different tactics. And probably won’t be able to do so with any accuracy for a considerable time to come.

The wearing of masks

I’m not a supporter of face coverings/masks. The information (now conveniently dropped from the media) that was being published at the beginning of the varieties of lock down indicated that they had little use – other than possibly psychological. However, I don’t then stand in front of the press and make high sounding moral statements about their efficacy. Those who do – and then don’t abide by their own recommendations/strictures only deserve our contempt. The latest to demonstrate their ‘exceptionalism’ is the nationalist leader in Scotland

Nightingale Hospitals

I don’t understand why these were set up. Why not use these temporary hospitals to separate the covid from the rest of the other reasons people go to hospital? Then you wouldn’t have a situation where NHS hospitals are running out of beds as Covid cases continue to surge. The use of the temporary hospitals would be creating something similar to ‘fever hospitals’ of the past – something which some virologists have been suggesting since the early part of the year.

It would also give the staff and general organisation established (or let us hope such a structure has been set up) to run these Nightingale Hospitals to work through any teething problems when the numbers were relatively low.

As the number of infections is supposedly going up at the end of the year these new places could be flooded – whilst not fully prepared. There might be even more of a case for opening these locations with the ‘new variant/s’ on their way.

But, it appears, the London Nightingale Hospital (the cost of which must have been astronomical) isn’t even ready for any influx. Staff shortages leave London’s Nightingale hospital without intensive care beds.

Care home visits

The ‘vulnerable’ in care homes still being badly treated – by failed Government promises as commitments of UK care home visits is not being realised.

‘Collateral damage’

The treatment of the elderly in British care homes has been a disgrace for the best part of two decades, the pandemic has only made a bad situation worse. So finds a report produced by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, entitled ‘Covid-19 and disruptions to the health and social care of older people in England’.

UK loses 819,000 paid jobs since start of pandemic.

UN says the pandemic has turned the clock back decades on gender equality.

NHS facing prospect of having to cancel thousands of operations – because Christmas hasn’t been totally cancelled.

Cancer scan backlog raises late detection fears.

Child abuse referrals up nearly 80%, says National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

Homeless people in temporary housing at highest level since 2006.

Covid anxiety: Child ‘asking if he’s going to die’. Seems some lack of communication here between parents and child – but, perhaps, not really a surprise when the only way the Government has been able to get away with many of its policies over the last nine months has been by establishing a climate of fear.

Who will pay for the pandemic?

That’s a silly question, really. Obviously it will be the working people of Britain. But there are other possible alternatives.

Footing the covid-19 bill: economic case for tax hike on wealthy. The argument being that -surprise, surprise – tax cuts over the last 50 years has increased inequality.

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

View of the world

Ukraine – what you’re not told

The arrival of the first vaccine – the end or the beginning of the problem?

Posted on 11/12/2020 by Michael

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

View of the world

Ukraine – what you’re not told

The arrival of the first vaccine – the end or the beginning of the problem?

Vaccines have become available much sooner than we were led to be the case a few months ago and ‘world-beating’ Britain was the first country in the world to officially authorise it to be used in a mass, nationwide, vaccination programme. We are constantly being assured that it is safe and I suppose we will have to believe that until mortality rates from the vaccine start to outweigh those of the covid virus.

The speed is impressive. It shows what can be done when there’s a will – or perhaps more exactly – the fear that we’re all going to die. Why it takes years for so many life saving drugs to come into production now starts to become a mystery. The delays in the past have benefited no one but the major pharmaceutical companies and just allowed them to hike the prices – arguing the expenses of long drawn out research and development costs. If a worldwide effort – with sharing of intelligence – can provide a vaccine in such a short time it will be interesting to watch the hoops these same companies will jump through to ‘prove’ that it can’t be done in the battle against other diseases.

What is certain is that they won’t admit that the only reason such a process happened with covid was due to the fact that it was having (is having and will have for a number of years in the future) an impact on the so-called ‘developed world’. If the pandemic had had the sense to stick to Africa, Asia and Latin America then it would have been allowed to play itself out. There are already signs that those parts of the world will have to wait until the richer countries have taken the lion’s share of the first batch(es) of vaccines before they start to get put into the arms of the vulnerable in the geographic South.

But there are potential problems, probably coming to a head some time early in 2021, about the priorities of those being vaccinated in the ‘developed countries’ as well as questions about how society treats its ‘vulnerable’ citizens.

In Britain, in the first few weeks of the programme the priorities have been identified as those over 80, primarily those in hospital or what are laughingly called ‘care homes’, as well as those who work in the NHS and other care workers. Then will come the over 80s in the population in general. That’s simple enough and easy to understand and they will more than use up the first batches due to arrive in the UK before the end of December 2020.

In the early stages of the pandemic in Britain more than half of all deaths were of those in care homes. Those deaths took place even after it was well known internationally that the residents of such places were particularly vulnerable due to their location, age and underlying medical conditions. The fact that it took the British Government months to come alive to that fact and supply those homes with the necessary equipment, staffing and, more importantly, funding to be able to mitigate such a situation would, in any civilised society, have had the Buffoon and his cohort charged with manslaughter – if not murder. But we don’t live in a civilised society.

However, once those (who it would be difficult for even the most selfish and egotistical in society to be able to argue should be pushed towards the back of the queue) have been treated as part of the vaccination programme then we are likely to see a vying for position as well as a lobbying of who is more ‘valuable’ to society in what could be called the ‘second tranche’. Even before the first needle punctured the first arm there were noises coming from certain sectors of society. They will become noisier in the future.

Once the over 80s have been ‘protected’ there are valid arguments why it shouldn’t then continue just on a basis of age. Fortunately for them, and British society (but not for the pension companies) there are many in their 60s and 70s who would not be classed as vulnerable under any reasonable definition. In that case it will be necessary for there to be an accepted, and acceptable, programme of those who should be next in line. If not there is a danger of a free for all with those with the greatest amount of fear (or selfishness) together with an element of power, whether that be physical or financial, who will be demanding that they are more ‘worthy’.

What the Government of the Buffoon should be doing between now and the early part of January 2021 is to produce a proposed timetable of who (and when) will be receiving any of the vaccines available. Leaving the vaccination programme to ‘self-develop’ (as they have done with all the testing regimes tried so far) would not only create inequality it could lead to ugly conflicts which (fortunately, though not through the efforts of any government) have been absent in virtually every country so far.

It’s the lifeboat that gets tipped over when people panic.

Resilience of the National Health Service (NHS)

We have been told since March ‘To protect the NHS’ to justify the various restrictions – even though they have shown themselves to be patently useless. But was/is that argument valid? Does the NHS really need protecting?

An interesting item in this article is the fact that the NHS has been paying for – and not using – beds in private hospitals. Private medicine gets its trained staff for free (it’s the State, i.e., us, that pays for all the training of the doctors and nurses) and now we are paying for empty beds – just in case. In a war you don’t ask organisations to do something you tell them. You don’t reward the same parasites who have been sucking the blood from the ther NHS for decades.

When are you most infectious?

When are you most infectious? A report suggests when.

Liverpool ‘pilot’

The Liverpool ‘pilot’ seems to be floundering. Originally a good idea – although there were naysayers from the beginning – it seemed to get everything together, and then just let it fall apart.

I might be naïve but I understand a pilot is out to test certain parameters. That means you need constants which can therefore be checked against expectations. But that hasn’t been the case since the beginning.

The first day opened late (which demonstrated the ‘pilot’ was started too soon) and the number of test centres was only six. That was on 6th November and I don’t think there’s been a day since when the number of test centres has been the same. On the weekend of 30-31st November that number reached a whopping 51 – and has fallen down now (10th December) to twelve-ish.

The idea was that (if not at the beginning) eventually everyone could walk to their nearest test centre – that’s not necessarily the case for the vast majority of the population now. The momentum has been lost and the figures increase very slowly – and it’s almost certain that the people who go to get tested now are repeats. For example, of the final figure I am counted three times.

Still there’s no end date and the only way people will know the ‘pilot’ has finished is when the test sites have locked doors. Whatever the eventual results from this ‘pilot’ they will be useless as there has been no consistency.

Included now is Runcorn and the Wirral. Whilst not necessarily a bad thing it makes a mockery of the idea of a ‘pilot’ that will provide useful information to other areas – although all attention now will be placed upon the vaccination programme. However, as that will take some time to cover a significant proportion of the population testing will still be an important tool in the battle to get on top of the virus.

Neither did it help that a report was published on 3rd December stating that ‘mass coronavirus testing in Liverpool has missed half of positive cases‘. Yet the ‘pilot’ continued and (to date) continues until an unspecified date (although the website suggests al least throughout December into January 2021).

Out of interest the last two (and most recent) reports on the numbers.

Liverpool testing update – 8.30am 2nd December 2020

- 119,456 Liverpool residents tested using lateral flow
- 69,390 Liverpool residents tested using PCR
- In addition, 31,911 people from neighbouring areas have been tested using lateral flow
- There have been 1,106 positive lateral flow tests – 798 of which have been Liverpool residents

Testing period: 12 midday, 6th November 2020 – 8.30am, 2nd December 2020.

Liverpool testing update – 8.30am 7th December 2020

- 122,032 Liverpool residents tested using lateral flow
- 72,894 Liverpool residents tested using PCR
- In addition, 36,413 people from neighbouring areas have been tested using lateral flow
- There have been 1,219 positive lateral flow tests – 855 of which have been Liverpool residents

And then the elected Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, gets arrested (then released on bail) on corruption and bribery claims.

How accurate is the new lateral flow test?

This was what was on the Liverpool City Council website, accessed 10th December;

‘How accurate is the new lateral flow test?

The pilot in Liverpool will be used to validate the sensitivity and specificity levels of the lateral flow tests when performed in a large population of asymptomatic people. We are not using LAMP tests as part of the mass-testing pilot.

The type of lateral flow test being used in Liverpool is called Innova. Results of the Innova evaluation published on 11th November 2020 show:

- the specificity of the test was recorded as 99.68% – the overall false positive rate was 0.32%, although this was lowered to 0.06% in a lab setting
- the sensitivity is 58% for all PCR-positive people when performed by self-trained individuals and 73% when performed by health care workers but detects over 95% of individuals with high viral loads, and minimal difference between the ability of the test to pick up viral antigens in symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals

Sensitivity means the proportion of people with a disease that have a positive test, whereas specificity means the proportion of people without the disease that have a negative test.’

However, after more than a month of the Liverpool ‘pilot’ doubts started to be expressed about whether the test was worthwhile at all. So how accurate are they really?

Test-track-trace

This matter has dropped way down the scale when it comes to the news now. The magical vaccine is here now and the hope of the Buffoon and his gang is that people will forget (and they are probably right – people will forget their ineptitude, ignorance and incompetence) the disaster they have overseen for the best part of a year. It took way too long for any semblance of any testing and tracking to be introduced in England and now we know what the extent of this ‘world beating’ exercise. England has probably paid more than any other country in the world for a system that hasn’t, isn’t and almost certainly won’t do what it should be doing.

England’s test and trace repeatedly failed to hit goals despite £22 billion cost. £22 BILLION! Why, when people see such a figure aren’t there howls of anger from every corner if this looted island? The population definitely gets the leaders it deserves.

Report finds £720 million army of contact tracers working for only one hour out of every 100 they were paid to. But that’s OK, it’s the ever ‘efficient’ private sector.

‘Jobs for the boys’ is corruption

These accusations are starting to come thick and fast – but will anything stick on the ‘Teflon class’?

The doubtful ability of Edenred to manage the free school meals voucher contract was indicated on this blog months ago. Now it emerges they were given the contract despite ‘limited evidence’ of the capability to deliver.

The Guardian newspaper in Britain also produced a podcast entitled ‘The rise of the ‘chumocracy’.

Even the scientists aren’t free of the whiff of scandal as SAGE is now embroiled in a second ‘secrecy row’ after the Government refuses to publish members’ financial interests. If there’s been a lot of money made from ‘dealing’ with the pandemic there’s much more to be made from ‘curing’ it.

Under Boris Johnson corruption is taking hold in Britain. As if it wasn’t always endemic.

But what are people going to do about it?

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

As a sop to the people of Britain some are calling for a tax on those companies who have made billions out of procurement for the State – at hugely inflated prices – to give a £500 bonus to so-called ‘front line’ staff. Yet another diversionary tactic to avoid the real issue – that of the voracious appetite of opportunist capitalism to accumulate as much profit as possible.

The wearing – or not – of masks

It’s not the minimal usefulness of wearing face coverings that makes some people refuse (or at least be reluctant) to follow the supposed ‘guidelines’ – it’s all about psychology.

The reasons the North hit worse

Why is covid-19 more severe in the north of England?

Immunity passports

They will be introduced – either officially or unofficially. But are ‘immunity passports’ a good idea?

The issues around vaccines

The Pfizer vaccine is now being administered: here’s what the next few months will look like.

Covid-19 vaccines are coming – how will we know they work and are safe?

Oxford covid-19 vaccine: newly published results show it is safe – but questions remain over its efficacy.

Poor countries left behind as richer nations ‘hoard’ enough vaccine to immunise populations nearly three times over. This is after the fine words earlier in the year that there would be equal distribution of any vaccine.

Even healthcare workers may be hesitant – but new evidence can be reassuring.

The Covid-19 vaccine was developed in ten months when it normally takes ten years. If the world is supposed to be a better place after this pandemic then all this sort of effort should be directed towards diseases that are (and have been for decades) cutting swathes through the populations in the poorest parts of the world.

Covid vaccines focus on the spike protein – but here’s another target.

Can we believe the statistics?

Did the Office for National Statistics really produce ‘false data’ on coronavirus infections?

How States are always looking for opportunities to control us

Some states have used the pandemic to curtail human rights and democracy.

Care homes – the return of visits

One of the many cruel aspects of the odious Buffoon and his Gang of incompetents is the cavalier manner in which they treat ordinary people. After months of creating a climate of fear to ensure compliance to their cack handed policies introduced to deal with the pandemic they don’t seem to have any compassion to some of the people who are suffering the most from the restrictions on meeting others. But these are merely sound bites to play to the gallery as they the changes, or ‘permissions’, don’t come with the finance or the infrastructure to make the visits feasible.

Radio 4’s You and Yours, 2nd December, had a piece on the difficulties associated with visits to Care Homes.

Poverty in the sceptred isle

1.3 million families to rely on food parcels this Christmas.

Covid-driven recession likely to push 2 million UK families into poverty. This comes from a report produced by the Rowntree Foundation called ‘Destitution in the UK – 2020’.

The ‘zombie mink’ still walking

Considering that the covid pandemic was almost certainly caused by the manner in which the human race, throughout the world and its history, has continued to abuse nature and all life in it for short term gains and/or profit it’s good to hear that nature is fighting back – even from the grave (literally).

Mass grave may have contaminated Danish ground water.

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

View of the world

Ukraine – what you’re not told