Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Lurkst]

Always nice to get a news story about the Finnish PM...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59577371

[Fife Saint]

Always nice to get a news story about the Finnish PM...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59577371

I'd love a shot on her PMQs

[mizfit]

Stayed out this thread, but if Johnson tries to bring in lockdown to deflect from the Christmas party, I’m gonna riot so hard you’ll mistake me for a Parisian who’s been mildly inconvenienced.

[anotherchance]

8 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

Are there any people remaining on the "compassionate and caring left wing" who have not outed themselves as smug, sneering, "happiest when watching other people have a shit time of it" scumbags in the last 2 years?

You guys genuinely don't seem to see that this sort of behaviour puts you squarely in the same camp as the Tories you keep telling us are human filth.

A total lack of self awareness seems to be the attribute required to join your wee gang.

It’s at the point where they can’t be considered left wing.

Being left wing isn’t about wanting to be seen as caring or shouting loudest against the far right, chasing social media likes.

It’s about things like supporting the low paid and so on, policies that probably don’t get the clicks, likes and kudos from their pals.

[ICTChris]

What does "out of control" mean?

[NorthernLights]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-59577689?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

 

Quote

 

Nearly half of all confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in Scotland are in the 20-39 age group, official figures show.

 

A total of 389 confirmed or possible cases have now been reported, with 71 cases having been confirmed between 1 November and 5 December.

 

Of those, 48% were aged 20 to 39 - compared with 25% of all cases in that age group.

 

Public Health Scotland (PHS) said it was not aware of any hospitalisations.

 

 

[ICTChris]

Review of several covid books.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n24/john-lanchester/as-the-lock-rattles
 

A couple of amazing facts in there - in terms of excess deaths the UK is 25th in Europe, crazy. Also, the cost of a global vaccination program is estimated at $25bn which is just a little more than the $22bn the US spent annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Ross.]

1 hour ago, Michael W said:

Another classic from the folically-challenged, bespeccled hollow cylinder. 

Basically exists now to take punches for Sturgeon. 

There should be a "Baldy, speccy tube of the year" award and he should have it named in his honour.

[strichener]

10 minutes ago, Ross. said:

There should be a "Baldy, speccy tube of the year" award and he should have it named in his honour.

Waste of time.  He would win it in perpetuity.

[Ross.]

3 minutes ago, strichener said:

Waste of time.  He would win it in perpetuity.

Hence it being named in his honour. It would then be awarded to the worlds second baldiest, speccyist tube of each year.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

13 hours ago, Frankie S said:

I’ve more or less given up posting about Covid as it’s become increasingly clear that despite near universal vaccination levels in Scotland, this shit is simply never going to end, so anger has subsided into resignation. 

There are just too many vested interests (including the lowest common denominator clickbait-peddling c*nts that masquerade as the media in our country) in prolonging and perpetuating the fear, and the jumped-up nobodys that constitute the government in Scotland have gotten a taste for authoritarianism, with governmental restrictions on businesses and civil liberties that would have been considered inconceivable before the pandemic now taking up permanent residence in our society, like a slowly-metastasising tumour. Even if we were to charitably characterise them as reluctant authoritarians, Scot Gov have boxed themselves into a corner with their myopic Covid-centric worldview and their ‘safety first’ rhetoric masking their collective incompetence and inability to implement (or even formulate) a coherent strategy for extricating the country and its moribund economy from the catatonic stupor that now envelops it.

But, if we were to put aside the soul-destroying reality of the last couple of years and pretend for a moment that the Scottish government actually gave a shit about Scottish businesses, casting aside delusory notions that our irresponsible media would ever forego the opportunity to hype the absolute crap out of the latest variant (irrespective of the growing scientific orthodoxy that Covid seems to be mutating into ever more transmissible and ever less lethal variants, as it transitions from the pandemic to endemic phase, as most people who know anything about epidemiology - i.e. not Jason Leitch or Devi Sridhar - predicted long ago), running moronic ‘think pieces’ cobbled together by dullards about how ‘ethically responsible’ it is to attend Christmas parties in the ‘Omicron-infested hellholes’ of hospitality, the practical effect in the real world of all the omicron variant hype is that customers are cancelling Christmas bookings in their droves. 

Last week, my business lost Christmas bookings for 60 and 30 respectively (amongst many other smaller groups), resulting in refunds running into five figures. Normally, in the pre-pandemic world, a deposit for a Christmas party would be non-refundable, but in the post-Covid landscape you simply can’t retain deposits, or you get stigmatised for ‘not taking Covid seriously’, so you suck up the losses and hope that walk-ins or late bookings from less risk-averse punters can make up the shortfall. Some hope. 
One of the by-products of Covid is that customers now feel entitled to make multiple bookings at multiple outlets, only ever intending to go to one of them, then cancel the bookings at the last minute, leaving hospitality venues with gaping empty spaces when they should be fully booked over the Christmas season. The hope was that groups leaving deposits for Christmas parties would be less likely to cancel than casual non festive season bookings (which tend not to be asked for deposits), but given that the industry is typically issuing full refunds on deposits (to avoid stigmatisation), and there is the now unimpeachable pretext of someone in the party coming down with Covid, or the increased risk of contracting new ‘vaccine-resistant’ Covid variants (as someone ‘on the news’ said the other day), customers are taking up the option to cancel in large numbers, and that’s now proving to be a forlorn hope.

It’s been clear since the start of the pandemic that the Scottish government is happy to preside over the complete destruction of the hospitality sector, as its consistent scapegoating of the industry (and punitive restrictions inflicted on it) since the start of the pandemic has attested, so pleas from the industry that it’s losing millions due to Omicron scaremongering won’t result in either a) more (or rather any) financial support for the industry or b) stop Sturgeon and her idiotic minions (Swinney, Leitch et al) constantly threatening the return of draconian restrictions for the sector, irrespective of the continuing encouraging data on hospitalisations and deaths.

Given the brutal staff shortages in our beleaguered sector, exacerbated by Brexit and the 'pingdemic', and made worse by the imposition of the labour-intensive vaccine passport scheme, and continuing supply issues, the last thing the sector needed was the lucrative festive period being decimated by the now customary ‘Save Christmas’ new variant bed-wetting, but here we are again.

Some people in hospitality (amongst the few of us that haven't already given up the ghost) are consoling themselves with the thought that things will pick up again in the spring, if they can stave off bankruptcy that long, but with no indication yet that the Scottish government will follow Westminster in extending the rates amnesty for another 12 months, and landlords looking for payback on temporary rent reductions granted to tenants in the sector over the last couple of years, and doubtless the Zeta variant lurking ominously around the corner (before we finally run out of letters and have to start on some convoluted alpha-numeric system for naming all the initially ‘scary’ variants that eventually turn out to be milder than the media predicted), I would expect this winter to see an enormous increase in the 20,000 small Scottish businesses that went to the wall during the first twelve months of the pandemic according to Scot Gov's own data (and we’ve yet to see the figures from March 2021 to date).

I genuinely think Nicola, Swinney and Forbes wont be happy until people’s social lives involve nothing but reading books, doing maths homework and visiting a church. Look im not a pub goer or clubber, but i absolutely feel for people who work in this sector or those related to it. It knocks on to other close sectors like restaurants and is imo driving people into consuming more alcohol at home and essentially normalising a bottle of wine a night type stuff. 
 

Its better to have a responsible hospitality sector, providing jobs, safe places for people to socialise than forcing people back home for months with all these false starts. Absolutely disgusted by the lack of concern shown. 
 

People are going to get this new variant, but everything so far is suggesting its not evading vaccines, isnt causing hospitalisations (even in africa with a high concerntration of immuno compromised people) like other strains. Even WHO whom were imo on the ball with most other stages of this (to the point Trump went nuts) are backing this up. Obviously this is initial data, but surely can be adjusted for us here with an informed prognosis that leads us far away from the constant ‘sky is falling’ pish we’ve been led to believe by the media and deepti types. The government needs to get this right or they will cause far more harm than this variant will. 

[alta-pete]

Greenies for the comparison to ‘The Sky is Falling!’ - absolutely apt. 

[pozbaird]

55 minutes ago, Ross. said:

There should be a "Baldy, speccy tube of the year" award and he should have it named in his honour.

 

44 minutes ago, strichener said:

Waste of time.  He would win it in perpetuity.

‘This week I’m going to give it everything. No-one wants to leave the competition, this means everything to me, I need to give it 100%, no mistakes, the competition is getting fierce and I’m here to win.’

 

[ddfg]

1 hour ago, oaksoft said:

Ah the good old days when these "scientists" thought we should meet up with family in our gardens in winter but shouldn't nip inside for a piss whilst saying it was OK to meet non-family members in the pub without masks. And so many just lapped this shite up and with straight faces started earnestly spreading this "science" everywhere they went.

There have been some right corkers over the last couple of years.

I'm looking forward to a time where we can laugh about some of the things these quacks tried to make us believe (and succeeded with klarge swathes of a hilariously gullible and poorly educated, compliant public) , such as wearing a mask to walk 20 feet for a piss but take it off at your table. One day we'll definitely be able to laugh at all of this. 

Forcing bars and resturants to close or stop selling alcohol on account of it reducing inhibitions and potentially leading to increased close interactions but allowing Joe Soap to buy a massive cargo from Tesco and drink it at home with no other controls or mitigations in place is another favourite. 

[Detournement]

So with Plan B coming in for England all four nations are on the WEF Digital ID track.

I'm guessing around February time we are going to start seeing lots of articles about how Digital ID can reduce fraud, make women and children safer, combat terrorism etc. 

[superbigal]

I see the Tottenham have been doing a lot of face licking

[bairn88]

15 hours ago, Frankie S said:

I’ve more or less given up posting about Covid as it’s become increasingly clear that despite near universal vaccination levels in Scotland, this shit is simply never going to end, so anger has subsided into resignation. 

There are just too many vested interests (including the lowest common denominator clickbait-peddling c*nts that masquerade as the media in our country) in prolonging and perpetuating the fear, and the jumped-up nobodys that constitute the government in Scotland have gotten a taste for authoritarianism, with governmental restrictions on businesses and civil liberties that would have been considered inconceivable before the pandemic now taking up permanent residence in our society, like a slowly-metastasising tumour. Even if we were to charitably characterise them as reluctant authoritarians, Scot Gov have boxed themselves into a corner with their myopic Covid-centric worldview and their ‘safety first’ rhetoric masking their collective incompetence and inability to implement (or even formulate) a coherent strategy for extricating the country and its moribund economy from the catatonic stupor that now envelops it.

But, if we were to put aside the soul-destroying reality of the last couple of years and pretend for a moment that the Scottish government actually gave a shit about Scottish businesses, casting aside delusory notions that our irresponsible media would ever forego the opportunity to hype the absolute crap out of the latest variant (irrespective of the growing scientific orthodoxy that Covid seems to be mutating into ever more transmissible and ever less lethal variants, as it transitions from the pandemic to endemic phase, as most people who know anything about epidemiology - i.e. not Jason Leitch or Devi Sridhar - predicted long ago), running moronic ‘think pieces’ cobbled together by dullards about how ‘ethically responsible’ it is to attend Christmas parties in the ‘Omicron-infested hellholes’ of hospitality, the practical effect in the real world of all the omicron variant hype is that customers are cancelling Christmas bookings in their droves. 

Last week, my business lost Christmas bookings for 60 and 30 respectively (amongst many other smaller groups), resulting in refunds running into five figures. Normally, in the pre-pandemic world, a deposit for a Christmas party would be non-refundable, but in the post-Covid landscape you simply can’t retain deposits, or you get stigmatised for ‘not taking Covid seriously’, so you suck up the losses and hope that walk-ins or late bookings from less risk-averse punters can make up the shortfall. Some hope. 
One of the by-products of Covid is that customers now feel entitled to make multiple bookings at multiple outlets, only ever intending to go to one of them, then cancel the bookings at the last minute, leaving hospitality venues with gaping empty spaces when they should be fully booked over the Christmas season. The hope was that groups leaving deposits for Christmas parties would be less likely to cancel than casual non festive season bookings (which tend not to be asked for deposits), but given that the industry is typically issuing full refunds on deposits (to avoid stigmatisation), and there is the now unimpeachable pretext of someone in the party coming down with Covid, or the increased risk of contracting new ‘vaccine-resistant’ Covid variants (as someone ‘on the news’ said the other day), customers are taking up the option to cancel in large numbers, and that’s now proving to be a forlorn hope.

It’s been clear since the start of the pandemic that the Scottish government is happy to preside over the complete destruction of the hospitality sector, as its consistent scapegoating of the industry (and punitive restrictions inflicted on it) since the start of the pandemic has attested, so pleas from the industry that it’s losing millions due to Omicron scaremongering won’t result in either a) more (or rather any) financial support for the industry or b) stop Sturgeon and her idiotic minions (Swinney, Leitch et al) constantly threatening the return of draconian restrictions for the sector, irrespective of the continuing encouraging data on hospitalisations and deaths.

Given the brutal staff shortages in our beleaguered sector, exacerbated by Brexit and the 'pingdemic', and made worse by the imposition of the labour-intensive vaccine passport scheme, and continuing supply issues, the last thing the sector needed was the lucrative festive period being decimated by the now customary ‘Save Christmas’ new variant bed-wetting, but here we are again.

Some people in hospitality (amongst the few of us that haven't already given up the ghost) are consoling themselves with the thought that things will pick up again in the spring, if they can stave off bankruptcy that long, but with no indication yet that the Scottish government will follow Westminster in extending the rates amnesty for another 12 months, and landlords looking for payback on temporary rent reductions granted to tenants in the sector over the last couple of years, and doubtless the Zeta variant lurking ominously around the corner (before we finally run out of letters and have to start on some convoluted alpha-numeric system for naming all the initially ‘scary’ variants that eventually turn out to be milder than the media predicted), I would expect this winter to see an enormous increase in the 20,000 small Scottish businesses that went to the wall during the first twelve months of the pandemic according to Scot Gov's own data (and we’ve yet to see the figures from March 2021 to date).

What a post, sir. Sums up my thoughts better than I ever could myself. 

[doulikefish]

19 minutes ago, superbigal said:

I see the Tottenham have been doing a lot of face licking

Davie Moyes calling for vax passports aswell now 

[MP_MFC]

Australia reporting another ‘Omicron-like’ mutation [emoji23]

[Theroadlesstravelled]

Defending the Government here is a new level of Tory gimp.