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Coronavirus - political views - supporting or otherwise...

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SocketRocket said:
Has she been demoted, Was she their chief political editor, I noticed another Woman has that title.
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Are you sure? Not Chief Political Correspondent?
She has been (tjhe) Political Editor (a singular role, so 'Chief' unnecessary) since 2015.
Who is the 'other Woman' with that title?
 
and more bandwagon jumping. Now the Government is racist for testing the track and trace app on the Isle of Wight because the population is predominantly white. Nothing to do with it being a geographically sealed location that made it ideal for testing or anything, clearly it was chosen because of the ethnicity of the population (something that was also not mentioned for the last couple of months during the test but has only now come up)
 
GB72 said:
and more bandwagon jumping. Now the Government is racist for testing the track and trace app on the Isle of Wight because the population is predominantly white. Nothing to do with it being a geographically sealed location that made it ideal for testing or anything, clearly it was chosen because of the ethnicity of the population (something that was also not mentioned for the last couple of months during the test but has only now come up)
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God help us all
 
GB72 said:
This is where I am somewhat confused. I am not exonerating the Government in any way and I am not looking at this from a purely political standpoint. I suspect most businesses, as soon as lockdown started, began working on plans for re-opening, whether it could all be at once, whether it needed to be phased and these plans would have been tweaked and amended to take into account new guidelines and changes in developments. I know, for example, that my gym is drawing up new plans almost every week with various contingents for use of outside spaces etc. So, the question is, why have heads and local education authorities not been doing the same for their schools. I would expect each of them to have detailed plans in place for how many pupils they can take at present with social distancing, what other facilities they have or could be provided with that can increase that, how that changes with 1m social distancing etc. Schools are all different and unique and so should each have a full and detailed plan for what they can achieve at any given time.
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Trust me, many heads have not had a day off since the February half term as they have been juggling the needs of providing some form of education for kids at home and also for the needs of the kids of key workers. It has been a logistical feat involving many risk assessments and many hours of consulting and planning, changing curriculums and timetables, just to be able to provide some form of education to the years that have been instructed to come back. So expecting them to do any form of detailed scenario planning on top of that with constantly changing guidelines is unrealistic.

Due to many factors including the funding of education, many primary schools simply do not have the resources or people to do lots of planning on top of what they are currently doing. The vast majority of heads are currently doing work that is not in their job description and are adapting brilliantly. All under a backdrop that is being played out in the national press with, to be honest, some absolutely shockingly bad politicized reporting. The head at my school, and I know many others, have been working ridiculous hours, they simply do not have the capacity to do more. And the worrying thing is that the hard work hasn't even started properly yet as the effort involved to ensure we do not have a lost generation of kids will be massive.
 
GB72 said:
and more bandwagon jumping. Now the Government is racist for testing the track and trace app on the Isle of Wight because the population is predominantly white. Nothing to do with it being a geographically sealed location that made it ideal for testing or anything, clearly it was chosen because of the ethnicity of the population (something that was also not mentioned for the last couple of months during the test but has only now come up)
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:LOL::LOL::LOL::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
Oh! And it's 100% 'Wight'! ;)
 
Foxholer said:
While I agree with that as a concept, I don't believe 'waiting for the volatility to subside' is an option! This is much more akin to a 'war' (or even 'battle') environment - where 'waiting for volatility to subside' isn't an option!
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Yes but military planning is based on intelligence about enemy capability and "left and right of arc" detailled planning assumptions and Ops exercises. This virus was novel and the world's defence capability lacked much intelligence.
 
drdel said:
Yes but military planning is based on intelligence about enemy capability and "left and right of arc" detailled planning assumptions and Ops exercises. This virus was novel and the world's defence capability lacked much intelligence.
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Which is part of the reason that a certain amount of 'floundering' is actually 'permissable' (at least, imo!)! And changes of tack actually indicate strength of leadership as opposed to the normal ministerial approach of blinkered adherance to 'policy' that normally applies!

What HAS been noticeable (from the 'Daily briefings) is how shallow the 'quality' of the Cabinet actually is - at least in their presentation! While I haven't observed every one of them, only Raab seems 'proper' quality - and he wasn't great at the start either. Gove has undoubted strengths, but has a far too combative/electioneering attitude for me!
 
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Doon frae Troon said:
You would think that one of the divvies advising Johnson would have flagged up that 'astonishing' was not a great word to used when describing his governments ability to halt Covid 19.
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..and they might also have advised Johnson against accusing Keir Starmer of inconsistency during PMQs - what the public want, said he, is consistency. Yes indeedy we do. And of course we do get consistency from Johnson and the government - but not always of the sort we might 100% appreciate and that does them any great favours with many.

Actually all I really want is simply clarity of a plan and execution - and honest feedback on how things are going or went. Yes of course there is going to be huge uncertainty and problems around some of the measures that are planned or implemented - I get that.

But let's just not have avoidable missteps being portrayed as things that couldn't be avoided due to these uncertainties. Let's just have a bit of honesty over what worked, what didn't, and why; what we'd do different - and sight of lessons being learned for the next time - which may only be a few months away.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Actually all I really want is simply clarity of a plan
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How do they produce a definitive plan when they haven't got all the information? Different countries are doing or have done different things with differing effects. Scientists all over the world are giving conflicting advice.
I can't see any professional planner making a medium or long term plan given the data available. And a short term plan can only be speculative. The virus has not signed up to be consistent in its future actions.
 
rulefan said:
How do they produce a definitive plan when they haven't got all the information? Different countries are doing or have done different things with differing effects. Scientists all over the world are giving conflicting advice.
I can't see any professional planner making a medium or long term plan given the data available. And a short term plan can only be speculative. The virus has not signed up to be consistent in its future actions.
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We do not even know what the official advice was in the early days. There are reports that the advice from the higher ranking scientific advisors was to not lockdown and go for herd immunity.
 
Foxholer said:
Which is part of the reason that a certain amount of 'floundering' is actually 'permissable' (at least, imo!)! And changes of tack actually indicate strength of leadership as opposed to the normal ministerial approach of blinkered adherance to 'policy' that normally applies!

What HAS been noticeable (from the 'Daily briefings) is how shallow the 'quality' of the Cabinet actually is - at least in their presentation! While I haven't observed every one of them, only Raab seems 'proper' quality - and he wasn't great at the start either. Gove has undoubted strengths, but has a far too combative/electioneering attitude for me!
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They are there for one reason. Then along came a situation that would severely test any administration. Some have stepped up to the plate and dealt with it as well as possible. Some have managed to get the highest death toll in Europe and will be hit the worst in Europe from an economic standpoint according to some forecasts.

Still, according to some Dianne Abbott would have been worse so its all OK. ;)
 
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GB72 said:
and more bandwagon jumping. Now the Government is racist for testing the track and trace app on the Isle of Wight because the population is predominantly white. Nothing to do with it being a geographically sealed location that made it ideal for testing or anything, clearly it was chosen because of the ethnicity of the population (something that was also not mentioned for the last couple of months during the test but has only now come up)
Click to expand...

Got a link for this story?
 
Hacker Khan said:
Trust me, many heads have not had a day off since the February half term as they have been juggling the needs of providing some form of education for kids at home and also for the needs of the kids of key workers. It has been a logistical feat involving many risk assessments and many hours of consulting and planning, changing curriculums and timetables, just to be able to provide some form of education to the years that have been instructed to come back. So expecting them to do any form of detailed scenario planning on top of that with constantly changing guidelines is unrealistic.

Due to many factors including the funding of education, many primary schools simply do not have the resources or people to do lots of planning on top of what they are currently doing. The vast majority of heads are currently doing work that is not in their job description and are adapting brilliantly. All under a backdrop that is being played out in the national press with, to be honest, some absolutely shockingly bad politicized reporting. The head at my school, and I know many others, have been working ridiculous hours, they simply do not have the capacity to do more. And the worrying thing is that the hard work hasn't even started properly yet as the effort involved to ensure we do not have a lost generation of kids will be massive.
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Spot on .
My wife has been on zoom constantly with the school staff trying to get as many kids in as possible.
But your “Johnny has x amount of class rooms sum” dosnt seem to be understood.
You can only get so many kids in safely.
This is not being accepted by many .
 
pauldj42 said:
This is where it stems from:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1271047541828784128
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Dr Yvonne Doyle, Medical Director and Director of Health Protection at Public Health England said:

“Alongside the NHS Covid-19 app, PHE’s phone and web-based contact tracing will be a critical part of the Government’s strategy to get the country back on its feet.

“Taking these first steps on the Isle of Wight will help us prepare for a scale up of our contact tracing capacity, with an 18,000 strong team ensuring the contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases are followed up and given the information they need.”

The government has collaborated internationally and learned from examples of best practice across the world, which has informed the development of a bespoke approach that is right for the unique needs of the UK. The app uses similar Bluetooth Low Energy technology to that employed by Australia, Norway, and Singapore among others.

The privacy and security of users’ data is a priority and NHSX has involved experts from the National Cyber Security Centre to advise on best practice through the app’s development. Data will only ever be used for NHS care, management, evaluation and research and the NHS will comply fully with the law around its use, including the Data Protection Act.

The Isle of Wight was chosen to trial the project because it has a single NHS Trust that covers all NHS services on the island.

Its geography as an island with a sizeable population makes it an ideal place to introduce the NHS COVID-19 app and wider testing service in its initial roll-out period.

I wonder if Afzal Khan has any scientific basis for his claims? If he hasn't then given the current climate he should be thoroughly ashamed of himself.
 
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