Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[superbigal]

8 minutes ago, Elixir said:

 

So we now have Sharon Peacock, the director of the UK's genomic sequencing consortium, Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, and Francois Balloux, the director of UCL's Genetics Institute, all calming fears and advising to stop incessantly obsessing over vArIaNtZ.

How much more authority is needed from specialised leaders in these fields to silence the utter babbling of the media and 'public health experts'?

You never posted it all.

BREAKING: Professor Sharon Peacock, the director of the UK body that tracks new coronavirus strains, has said she “does not believe there is any threat to our vaccination strategy or likely effectiveness [of vaccines]” due to the new Brazilian strain. However anyone setting foot in Falkirk is doomed.

@thetimes

 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by superbigal

[Left Back]

2 minutes ago, madwullie said:

Seems surprising they've announced it as furlough then. Would they not be more likely to call it targeted support?

In fact, did sunak not say a while ago that companies would now need to sink or swim. That might have been a while ago though and he's u-turned. 

Why does it need to be targeted?  If you own a viable business as soon as you can open you do.  That’s how you make money.  You don’t mothball your business just because the government are paying some staff costs.  You’re still contributing so therefore losing money all the time you’re closed.

there will be some unviable businesses that slip through the net but a lot of those will have been weeded out due to the owners having to contribute to furlough payments over the last few months and basically folded already.

furlough is not a financial incentive to keep a business closed in the vast majority of cases.

[super_carson]

I think the extension of furlough might be more about avoiding this "cliff edge" for support.  If all of a sudden restrictions ended, and with it furlough too, you'd probably still find businesses who simply didn't have enough cash in the bank to pay wages while they built up revenue again.  The gradual phasing out of furlough, which is more what this looks like, probably gives a bit more flexibility as things re-open.

Still going to be a lot of unemployment when it ends, though. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by super_carson

[madwullie]

8 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

He’s fucked about with furlough before though, having employer contributions last summer etc.

It’s not surprising he’d call it furlough when it’s really something else, as by calling it this he looks more generous as people will assume it’s the same as before (like they did last summer.)

Aye fair point. What a p***k 

Edited March 3, 2021 by madwullie

[madwullie]

5 minutes ago, Left Back said:

Why does it need to be targeted?  If you own a viable business as soon as you can open you do.  That’s how you make money.  You don’t mothball your business just because the government are paying some staff costs.  You’re still contributing so therefore losing money all the time you’re closed.

there will be some unviable businesses that slip through the net but a lot of those will have been weeded out due to the owners having to contribute to furlough payments over the last few months and basically folded already.

furlough is not a financial incentive to keep a business closed in the vast majority of cases.

Yeah I get that, but he spoke about targeting it at specific sectors and letting others go bust if they can't survive before iirc. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by madwullie

[Left Back]

1 minute ago, madwullie said:

He spoke about targeting it at specific sectors and letting others go bust if they can't survive before iirc. 

He may well have done, or it may have just been media speculation.  There’s been so much talk about it it’s hard to remember who said what.

[Detournement]

7 minutes ago, super_carson said:

I think the extension of furlough might be more about avoiding this "cliff edge" for support.  If all of a sudden restrictions ended, and with it furlough too, you'd probably still find businesses who simply didn't have enough cash in the bank to pay wages while they built up revenue again.  The gradual phasing out of furlough, which is more what this looks like, probably gives a bit more flexibility as things re-open.

Still going to be a lot of unemployment when it ends, though. 

How do they generate the cash to pay wages with the staff furloughed?

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

3 hours ago, virginton said:

I for one am shocked that the human immune system that has evolved over millions of years to effortlessly dispatch the overwhelming majority of shan viruses after first exposure has got a trick or two up its sleeve to deal with 'mutant variants' as well.

If only we'd known about this twelve months ago*!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*We did, but the muppet brigade insisted that Covid was magically different and so We Just Couldn't Tell if this would apply*.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*

  Hide contents

 

We could though.

 

 

You went Gregg, id have preferred Ainsley?

2 hours ago, G51 said:

There's no justification for a vaccine passport when the uptake is 90%+.

I agree with this wholly, for the cost of bringing this into being and the delays etc it would cause getting into places if the uptake is over 90% that coupled with immunity from infection should make it obsolete domestically, they should do something for international travel however. 

2 hours ago, G51 said:

I'd hope we'd see widespread boycotts of a vaccine passport.

Governments in Westminster and Holyrood need to know that emergency powers are just that - they're for emergencies. Once 90%+ of the country is vaccinated, the emergency is no longer present, so the powers should be discarded immediately.

Again agree here, they are emergency powers and when the emergency has gone so too should the very vast powers, im quite alarmed by the idea of them holding onto some including around protesting. 

19 minutes ago, Elixir said:

Was this posted on here today, btw?

So we now have Sharon Peacock, the director of the UK's genomic sequencing consortium, Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, and Francois Balloux, the director of UCL's Genetics Institute, all calming fears and advising to stop incessantly obsessing over vArIaNtZ.

How much more authority is needed from specialised leaders in these fields to silence the utter babbling of the media and 'public health experts'?

I wont believe it until I hear it from Devi #makeyourownsunshine x

[Left Back]

2 minutes ago, Detournement said:

How do they generate the cash to pay wages with the staff furloughed?

You don’t have to unfurlough all your staff to open up and start generating revenue again.  If you own a normally busy business where you have 3 staff on at any given time and are worried about demand you leave some staff on furlough.  If demand kicks in straight away you unfurlough everyone.  If it doesn’t you can phase them back depending on cashflow.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is rising to the occasion. Absolutely pink cigaring it.

[super_carson]

You don’t have to unfurlough all your staff to open up and start generating revenue again.  If you own a normally busy business where you have 3 staff on at any given time and are worried about demand you leave some staff on furlough.  If demand kicks in straight away you unfurlough everyone.  If it doesn’t you can phase them back depending on cashflow.

Yeah I think a similar argument was made last summer. If you weren't able to operate at full capacity then you could use furlough to make up the hours your staff weren't needed.

[Elixir]

8 minutes ago, Henderson to deliver ..... said:

The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is rising to the occasion. Absolutely pink cigaring it.

Oh, that's a Johnson all right.

[AllSaint]

Looking more and more likely that Scotland will be ‘opening up’ before England. Incredible scenes and makes the tin foil hat brigade look incredibly foolish with their tantrums at literally anything negative they read on whatever flat earth forums they spend their time on. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by AllSaint

[ICTChris]

Congrats @throbber on your new job as a data modeller for Johnson and Johnson.

[Bairnardo]

Looking more and more likely that Scotland will be ‘opening up’ before England. Incredible scenes and makes the tin foil hate brigade look incredibly foolish with their tantrums at literally anything negative they read on whatever flat earth forums they spend their time on. 

Not as foolish as an alias account on its 5th or 6th reiteration of the same wee fishing trip, IMHO

[MrWorldwideJr]

Some level of competition but the 'I'm so much more sensible and calm about this than everyone else' brigade are certainly the most tedious posters on this thread.

[HibsFan]

Page 4550 is a memorable enough number.

[Monkey Tennis]

57 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

There are 2 issues though - current S3 will be really unprepared for S4 and current S4/S5 will have never sat a final exam.

It's usually not a problem with crash Highers as they have experience of sitting final exams and assignments in other exams and have an idea what to expect - for the current S4/S5 cohort we will be in uncharted territory.

Greenie for saying "uncharted", not "unchartered".  That drives me mad.

The S3 business is an issue.  Things can be fixed to get round it though.  Our place is putting an 'S3+' model in place for April-June.  It sounds a bit of a guddle in truth, but it'll allow pupils to focus only on their chosen subjects for S4.  

I agree also that kids having never sat exams is problematic.  There will be kids who never sit an exam between their N5s and university.  There will be others whose first ever exams will be Advanced Highers.  I suppose early uni applicants could potentially skip the school exam process altogether.

However, that's simply the way it is.  I honestly don't see that the exact dimensions of a course will have much bearing on it.  Come spring 2022, those kids confronting exams for the first time will be in much the same position, whether their courses began one side of the previous summer holidays, or the other.

 

[AllSaint]

7 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

14 minutes ago, AllSaint said:

Looking more and more likely that Scotland will be ‘opening up’ before England. Incredible scenes and makes the tin foil hate brigade look incredibly foolish with their tantrums at literally anything negative they read on whatever flat earth forums they spend their time on. 

Not as foolish as an alias account on its 5th or 6th reiteration of the same wee fishing trip, IMHO

You’re entitled to your opinion, neebs. 

[Thereisalight..]

4 hours ago, Billy Jean King said:

5 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

Oh, that makes it all ok then

Not at all just pointing out precedence and all the more apt given Israel are the vaccine "poster boys"

Why we're following Israel on anything is beyond me. An abhorrent almost apartheid state, who treat certain members of their society as well as they treat dog shite on their shoes.