UK News, Updates and Discussion

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Re: UK News, Updates and Discussion

Post by Jamie_Lambo »

emm wrote:UK Covid deaths surpass Great Plague, Aids pandemic and every terror attack and war since 1945 combined

Latest milestone is also more than double the death toll from the Blitz during Second World War
Anthony Cuthbertson

The number of Covid-19 deaths in the UK has surpassed the combined death toll of the Great Plague, the Aids pandemic and every single terror attack and war since 1945.

The UK recorded a further 1,631 deaths from coronavirus on Tuesday, taking the official tally above 100,000.

The actual number is expected to be much higher when all excess deaths since the pandemic began are taken into consideration.

The estimated fatalities from the Great Plague of 1665-66, the Aids epidemic and every terror attack and war of the last 75 years that the UK has been involved in totals 99,500.

The grim milestone is also more than twice as many people who died during the Blitz during the Second World War, and represents the highest death toll in Europe.

Only the US, Brazil, India and Mexico have recorded more Covid-19 deaths than the UK, though all four countries have significantly higher populations.

As recently as last week, the UK had the highest death rate in the world, according to figures compiled by University of Oxford-based research platform Our World in Data.
Read more

Portugal has since overtaken the UK, however the UK death rate remains staggeringly high with an average of more than 18 people in every thousand dying from Covid-19 every day over the last week.

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, described the latest tally as a “tragedy” and warned that it could continue to get worse.

“This is a dreadful milestone to have reached and behind each death will be a story of sorrow and grief,” he said.

“We won’t know the true impact of Covid-19 for a long time to come because of its long-term effects. But, as well as the high death rate, it’s particularly concerning that this virus has widened health inequalities and affected black, Asian and minority ethnic communities disproportionately.

“Sadly, the virus has the potential to destroy many more lives. This is why we must all remain vigilant and meticulously follow the rules restricting social contact, however onerous they may seem.”

Statistician David Spiegelhalter from the University of Cambridge noted that the official government figures only count deaths of people who tested positive in the last 28 days, and that data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) suggests the 100,000 figure was passed earlier this month.

“The more accurate ONS data show that over 100,000 people in the UK had already died with Covid on their death certificate by 7 January, nearly three weeks ago,” Professor Spiegelhalter said.

“This rose to 108,000 people by 15 January, and the total now will be nearly 120,000.”

source:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/c ... 90890.html
The big difference is the people who died of the Plague, HIV or the Blitz, actually died from those things,
100,000 people have died after testing positive with Covid, but not all have died because of Covid


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UK travellers to be questioned at border on reasons for going abroad

Post by emm »

UK travellers to be questioned at border on reasons for going abroad

PM also confirms British citizens returning from high-risk countries will have to quarantine in hotels at their own expense

Jessica Elgot, Ian Sample and Jasper Jolly

Wed 27 Jan 2021

UK travellers will be interrogated at the border on their reasons for going abroad, Boris Johnson has said, as he confirmed that British citizens returning from high-risk countries must quarantine in hotels at their own expense.

The government is facing criticism from the Scottish and Welsh governments, as well as scientists, for rejecting a more comprehensive hotel quarantine system. They are warning that it could allow as yet unknown new variants to slip through the gaps.

Speaking in the Commons, Johnson said no one should be travelling except for a narrow range of reasons.

“I want to make clear that under the stay-at-home regulations it is illegal to leave home to travel abroad for leisure purposes and we will enforce this at ports and airports by asking people why they are leaving and instructing them to return home if they do not have a valid reason to travel,” he said.

The home secretary, Priti Patel, said police would be deployed to interrogate travellers at borders and ports. “People should be staying at home, unless they have a valid reason to leave,” she said. “Going on a holiday is not a valid reason.”

Patel used a statement in the Commons to criticise social media influencers who have posted pictures from Dubai. “Border Force have given me some examples where even at St Pancras people have been turning up with their skis. That is clearly not acceptable,” she said.

“We see plenty of influencers on social media showing off about which parts of the world that they are in, mainly in sunny parts of the world. Going on holiday is not an exemption and it is important that people stay at home.”

Johnson said the government had already banned all travel from 22 countries where there was a risk of known variants, including South Africa, Portugal and South American nations. “I can announce that we will require all such arrivals who cannot be refused entry to isolate in government-provided accommodation, such as hotels, for 10 days without exception,” the prime minister said.

Those arrivals will be met at the airport and transported directly into quarantine facilities, which Johnson said would be established as quickly as possible.

Patel said a further requirement would be introduced so that anyone travelling must first make a declaration as to why they need to do so, which would be checked by carriers before departure.

Those ordered to quarantine in hotels are likely to only include British citizens or permanent residents who must be allowed to enter. The policy is expected to take several weeks to implement.

Patel said there would be no exceptions to the quarantine policy for those returning from high-risk countries.

The Welsh government said it was concerned about the limited scope of the measures and it would examine its own options.

“We have agreed on the need for a joint approach between the four nations of the UK and the Republic of Ireland to strengthen border health measures, in order to prevent the further spread of coronavirus,” a Welsh government spokesperson said. “However, we do not believe the approach as set out by the UK government goes far enough. Further discussions on the details of the proposals will take place as soon as possible.”

Joanna Cherry, of the Scottish National party, said the Scottish government was not satisfied with the policy and she hoped the UK government would “listen to their representation”.

Scientists expressed some dismay at the policy. Prof Devi Sridhar, the chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said there would still be major gaps in the UK’s defences.

“It has to apply to all arrivals, or no countries. We know people will just transit and connect in other airports to avoid quarantine,” she said. “The UK tried this with screening from China last February and March, but the seeding came from Spain, Italy and France. We need to learn that lesson. It would be a shame for the UK to vaccinate a bulk of the population and just reimport a strain our vaccines aren’t as effective against.”

Christina Pagel, a professor of operational research at University College London and a member of the Independent Sage group of experts, said the policy would be “enough to damage the economy but not nearly enough to be effective against Covid”.

She said the policy ran the risk of importing an as yet unidentified new variant that might evade the current vaccines.

“Firstly, we just don’t know who the high-risk countries are because most countries do not have the sophisticated sequencing capabilities you need to spot, track and analyse new variants,” she said.

“If we work with the Republic of Ireland, we can control our borders for Covid as island nations. We should take advantage of this to do all we can to minimise the risks of new variants just as we are rolling out vaccination across the population. And instead we just aren’t.”

ADS, the trade body representing the aerospace sector, said more specific support would be needed from the Treasury, even without the blanket measures. Its chief executive, Paul Everitt, said: “These latest measures to restrict international travel will worsen the severe downturn in aviation and deepen the crisis in the UK aerospace industry.

“Sector-specific support must now be urgently delivered to ensure aerospace manufacturers and our supply chains can survive until these measures are lifted and demand returns.”

source:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... quarantine
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Re: UK News, Updates and Discussion

Post by tightenupvolume1 »

I just read that Rishi Sunak is gonna raise taxes "in order to give us leverage in the next election" (his quote) ie raise them when they get elected
I was reminded of this.

“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday […] it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it. [...] The eyeless crature at the other table swallowed it fanatically. passionately, with a furious desire to track down, denounce, and vaporize anyone who should suggest that last week the ration had been thirty grams. Syme, too-in some more double complex way, involving doublethink-Syme, swallow it. Was he, then, alone in the possession of a memory?”


― Orwell George, 1984
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Re: UK News, Updates and Discussion

Post by Doc67 »

I thought I would post the brewing vaccine wars between the UK and the EU here, so as not to clutter the Vaccine News thread with what is essential a UK issue at the moment.

EU in U-turn over move to control vaccine exports to Northern Ireland

This is a major shambles by the EU. They are making threats and then having to backtrack as even the Irish government is up in arms about it.

The French President, Emanuel Macron, has been stirring it up as well - quelle surprise- saying the Astra Zeneca vaccine is "almost ineffective" on the over 65's, "though he acknowledged he did not have any official information to support the claim."



European commission cites ‘error’ hours after proposal caused anger on both sides of Irish border


Brussels has been forced into a humiliating U-turn in the face of outrage in London and Dublin after seeking to trigger a Brexit deal clause to establish border controls on vaccine doses moving into Northern Ireland from the Republic.

The European commission was forced to backtrack on its plan to effectively erect a vaccine border on the island of Ireland after both Boris Johnson and the Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin, spoke personally to its president, Ursula von der Leyen.

EU sources said it had acted “in error” but the crisis highlighted the growing political furore over the lack of vaccine supply and tensions with the UK.


The company has refused to divert vaccine from UK plants to make good the shortfall. Brussels has raised suspicions that doses have been moved from the EU to Britain in recent months.

The commission wanted to ensure that vaccine could not be exported to the UK through the backdoor of Northern Ireland. But under the Brexit withdrawal agreement exports cannot be restricted between Northern Ireland, which remains within the EU’s single market, and Great Britain.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... omatic-row
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Re: UK News, Updates and Discussion

Post by Doc67 »

UK vaccine strategy 'paying off' as latest trials boost stockpiles

Let's see if The Guardian can bring itself to admit Boris Johnson and the UK Government were correct in deciding NOT to join the EU Vaccine procurement scheme.

Britain has cemented its status as one of the world’s leading buyers of effective Covid vaccines after two more pharmaceutical companies reported positive trial results – potentially growing the UK stockpile by 90m doses.


Britain has cemented its status as one of the world’s leading buyers of effective Covid vaccines after two more pharmaceutical companies reported positive trial results – potentially growing the UK stockpile by 90m doses.

The US drugmaker Johnson & Johnson announced on Friday that its vaccine – which requires only one dose – is effective. This followed Thursday’s news that the Novavax vaccine, which will be manufactured in the UK, performed well in phase 3 trials.

The UK’s vaccines taskforce has pre-ordered 30m doses of the Janssen vaccine, produced by Johnson and Johnson via its Belgian subsidiary, and 60m Novavax doses, which will be administered as two doses per person if it gets regulatory approval. Both can be stored at fridge temperatures.


Nothing about dodging the calamitous EU scheme in there...
https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... stockpiles

However, last year when Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock decided not to be part of the EU vaccine procurement scheme, they was roundly criticised by all on the left, health charities and The Guardian. Here is their take on the decision from last July:

UK plan to shun EU vaccine scheme ‘unforgivable’, say critics

The UK’s decision not to join an EU plan to distribute a potential coronavirus vaccine to its most vulnerable citizens has been described as “unforgivable” and condemned by health charities and opposition politicians.

On Friday, Matt Hancock confirmed that the UK would not be participating in the scheme. The health secretary said the UK’s position outside the EU would have left it without a decision-making role as negotiations over purchases were made.


Hancock said the government believed there was a quicker way to source a vaccine for Britons.


But Alex Harris, the head of global policy at the Wellcome Trust, said the EU scheme had been “morally right” and called for reassurance that the UK was not setting itself up as a competitor to the bloc.

“The EU vaccine initiative’s cap on how many doses participating countries get is the best way to ensure there is enough vaccine for those in need in the rest of the world,” he said. “Delivering vaccine according to need and not who can pay the highest price is not just morally right, but also the fastest way to end this pandemic.


I am so glad we didn't listen to these bleeding heart idiots.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... ine-scheme
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Re: UK News, Updates and Discussion

Post by Yerg »

New pizza restaurant opens-

🍕- Who wants 🍕?

🇬🇧- Yep, please, pepperoni shed loads of it!!

🍕- Ok, 🇪🇺, while I’m doing theirs, want anything?

🇪🇺- Yes let us just..... hold! What we having?

🇫🇷-Pepperoni
🇩🇪- Plain cheese
🇬🇷- Anchovies
🇮🇹- mushroom
🇮🇩- pineapple

🇫🇷🇩🇪🇬🇷🇮🇹- Who the f invited Poland? We are not having pineapple you heathens!!

🍕- Well while you decide we’ll crack on with the UK order 👍.

(Some hours later)

🇪🇺- We too shall have pepperoni!

🍕- Great just dealing with the UK start yours ASAP! All ovens fired and we're cracking on.

🇪🇺- We have ordered!! You shall deliver to us NOW!

🍕- Well, you can have a few but we really do have an obligation to get the 🇬🇧 theirs.

🇪🇺- Fine, then we shall block the garden path to the 🇬🇧. No more pizza for them until we get ours!!!!

🇫🇷- Who left the side gate open?! 🇮🇪 ffs why haven’t you shut your gate?

🇮🇪- You said we could keep it open so we can still go and see next door and take them stuff. You said it was a good thing.

🇪🇺- We said that to try and strong arm the UK into not leaving!!

🇮🇪- But........

🇪🇺- (Mutes 🇮🇪) Its ok we have the key just lock it anyway.

Sinn Fein- I focken dare yous to touch our gate!!!!

🇪🇺- We’ve talked to the 🇬🇧 and decided NOT to lock the gate. We shall wait for our 🍕 and see if there is a calm rational way to speed up production.
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If the UK becomes a failed state after Brexit, what will happen to England?.

Post by emm »

If the UK becomes a failed state after Brexit, what will happen to England?.

Britain is looking – and behaving – less like a united kingdom than ever before. And for the Tories, the demise of the union is the price they will happily pay for Brexit

As the reality of Brexit starts to hit home, with the disruption of trade between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland, trawlermen left with unsaleable fish, and that extra pound or so we’ll have to pay for a bottle of French or Spanish wine, so profound political and constitutional effects are also making themselves felt. The UK is looking, and behaving, less and less like a united kingdom.

It took Gordon Brown, a former prime minister and a fervent supporter of the Union, to tell it like it is. In the aftermath of Brexit and the pandemic, he told the BBC, the United Kingdom was in danger of becoming a “failed state”. There were problems of trust, structures and consultation. The way the UK was governed, he insisted, had to change.

In fact, the risks had been sensed within hours of the polls closing in the EU referendum in 2016. First came the surprise and shock at the victory for Leave: positive or negative, depending which way you had voted. You will probably remember the agony on David Cameron’s face when he announced his resignation outside Number 10, and the almost appalled expressions on the faces of the Leave leaders, as well as their almost immediate falling out.

source:https://www.independent.co.uk/independe ... 92756.html
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PETER HITCHENS: Say goodbye Scotland, put Wales on our flag – and let's save England!

Post by emm »

Say goodbye Scotland, put Wales on our flag – and let's save England!
Image
By Peter Hitchens for The Mail on Sunday

Published: 23:33 GMT, 30 January 2021

Quite soon we will have to redesign the Union Jack. I can see no way of stopping Scotland from leaving the Union, so there goes St Andrew's Cross.

At least that will give us a chance to right a historic wrong and include some symbol of Wales on the national flag, provided they don't declare independence too.

Did you know that the Royal Arms of England used to feature a lion for England and a dragon for Wales? The dragon was dropped, in favour of a unicorn, when the English and Scottish crowns were united in 1603.

I find this a useful way to think about it. We have in recent years seen major nations, including Yugoslavia, Germany and the USSR, change shape utterly. Perhaps we should get used to the idea we are about to undergo the same thing.

When the Blair Government began its revolution in 1997, I thought there might be some chance of saving the United Kingdom. But when the Tory Party adopted Blairism under David Cameron, the last hopes of that faded. Not that they were very strong by then. I don't see how anybody can stop it now.

Nationalism makes many people in Scotland feel good about themselves, and anyone who supports British independence from Brussels can't really argue against it. I suspect that, against all logic, if I were Scottish, I would favour it for the sheer exhilaration of it.

And I now think that our only hope of reunifying Scotland and England is to say: 'We will be sorry to see you go, and continue to regard you as friends and allies, closer to us in all ways than anyone else on Earth. But if you must go, you should know that you will always be welcome back if you change your minds. We'll leave a light burning.'

Nationalism makes many people in Scotland feel good about themselves, and anyone who supports British independence from Brussels can't really argue against it

The last thing we should do is behave as Spain has towards Catalonia. Heavy-handed rigidity will only make the divorce worse when it comes. It really is going to be very hard to prevent another vote, and we shouldn't try.

Attempts to argue about finances, or defence, or currency just won't work. Younger people in Scotland are used to the idea. Many don't share the English view of the EU – not surprising, as Scotland's law and politics are much closer to the continental model than ours. Why cover ourselves in bruises in a vain effort to keep hold of people who – for now at least – prefer to leave? Far better to stay on the best terms with them once they go.

Let us, for a while, think rather harder about whether we can save England, our beautiful, free prosperous country, its unique liberty, its limited government, its literature, music, architecture and landscape, its inventiveness and its courage, the things that made us great in the first place and which – if we take the trouble to preserve them – might keep us in being in the future when others fail.

Source:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/arti ... gland.html
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Re: UK News, Updates and Discussion

Post by tightenupvolume1 »

Jamie_Lambo wrote: Thu Jan 28, 2021 5:56 am
emm wrote:UK Covid deaths surpass Great Plague, Aids pandemic and every terror attack and war since 1945 combined

Latest milestone is also more than double the death toll from the Blitz during Second World War
Anthony Cuthbertson

The number of Covid-19 deaths in the UK has surpassed the combined death toll of the Great Plague, the Aids pandemic and every single terror attack and war since 1945.

The UK recorded a further 1,631 deaths from coronavirus on Tuesday, taking the official tally above 100,000.

The actual number is expected to be much higher when all excess deaths since the pandemic began are taken into consideration.

The estimated fatalities from the Great Plague of 1665-66, the Aids epidemic and every terror attack and war of the last 75 years that the UK has been involved in totals 99,500.

The grim milestone is also more than twice as many people who died during the Blitz during the Second World War, and represents the highest death toll in Europe.

Only the US, Brazil, India and Mexico have recorded more Covid-19 deaths than the UK, though all four countries have significantly higher populations.

As recently as last week, the UK had the highest death rate in the world, according to figures compiled by University of Oxford-based research platform Our World in Data.
Read more

Portugal has since overtaken the UK, however the UK death rate remains staggeringly high with an average of more than 18 people in every thousand dying from Covid-19 every day over the last week.

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, described the latest tally as a “tragedy” and warned that it could continue to get worse.

“This is a dreadful milestone to have reached and behind each death will be a story of sorrow and grief,” he said.

“We won’t know the true impact of Covid-19 for a long time to come because of its long-term effects. But, as well as the high death rate, it’s particularly concerning that this virus has widened health inequalities and affected black, Asian and minority ethnic communities disproportionately.

“Sadly, the virus has the potential to destroy many more lives. This is why we must all remain vigilant and meticulously follow the rules restricting social contact, however onerous they may seem.”

Statistician David Spiegelhalter from the University of Cambridge noted that the official government figures only count deaths of people who tested positive in the last 28 days, and that data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) suggests the 100,000 figure was passed earlier this month.

“The more accurate ONS data show that over 100,000 people in the UK had already died with Covid on their death certificate by 7 January, nearly three weeks ago,” Professor Spiegelhalter said.

“This rose to 108,000 people by 15 January, and the total now will be nearly 120,000.”

source:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/c ... 90890.html
The big difference is the people who died of the Plague, HIV or the Blitz, actually died from those things,
100,000 people have died after testing positive with Covid, but not all have died because of Covid


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How many of those 100,000 do you think died with covid but not from covid ? You are suggesting that the figures are being exaggerated, why are they doing that and what would you say to the people who says the figures are being slanted the other ?
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Re: UK News, Updates and Discussion

Post by andy1 »

Don't know if this is true or not but have seen reported on a news site that if you are covid positive and die within 28 days you are a covid death (UK).
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