The #UK #government publishes data with the #OGL or #OpenGovernmentLicence (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) which allows its information, including graphics to be copied and used. So, I've put together an #AnimatedGif of the the density of #Covid-19 cases in the #country.

#MyWork #CCBYSA #Pandemic #Infographic

Hancock wrong to say government scientists ran coronavirus trial on vitamin D | News | The Times

Ministers are to reconsider vitamin D as a potential weapon against Covid-19 after Matt Hancock wrongly claimed that government scientists had run unsuccessful tests.
The health secretary told the Commons last week that he had ordered a trial that showed vitamin D did not “appear to have any impact”. Officials now admit that no trials took place.

Recognise that name?

#politics #UK #Covid-19 #CoronaVirus #pandemic #VitaminD #Tories #MattHancock #corruption

Covid: Matt Hancock acted unlawfully over pandemic contracts | BBC News

Matt Hancock acted unlawfully when his department did not reveal details of contracts it had signed during the Covid pandemic, a court has ruled.

Oh, look! The government has broken the law again. I do wish people would stop calling it "cronyism" and start calling it what it is - corruption.

#UK #government #Covid-19 #CoronaVirus #pandemic #corruption #cronyism

Huge fire rages on Dartmoor and can be seen for miles as night sky lights up with flames | Mirror Online

Devon & Somerset Fire and Rescue Service have deployed five pumps and other units but have not managed to access the fire yet due to its remote location near Peter Tavy

Gosh! In the middle of winter with heatwave temperatures of about -2 Celsius.

#UK #EmergencyResponse

The new driving laws coming into force in 2021 - and how they will affect millions of motorists | Wales Online

A string of new driving laws will come into force this year.
Here are the law changes happening in 2021.
The changes will affect millions of motorists, with many of the changes already being finalised.

This is UK only. I meant to post it about a week ago, but better late than never.

#UK #transport #law #legal #cars #driving

Arrest of photographer at Kent protest raises press freedom fears | UK news | The Guardian

Concern is growing over press freedom following the arrest of a photographer after he took and shared photos of a protest at a former military barracks controversially housing asylum seekers.
Andy Aitchison, 46, documented a demonstration outside Napier barracks in Folkestone, Kent, on Thursday morning as protesters threw buckets of fake blood at the doors of the site amid allegations of overcrowding, poor hygiene, significant risks posed by Covid-19, and limited access to healthcare and legal advice.

Arresting a press photographer for documenting a protest is just wrong.

#law #UK #PressFreedom #protest #demonstration #journalism #photography #photojournalism

As the #UK passed 100,000 deaths from #coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson 'apologised', and made the absurd claim that the government had done all it could to prevent deaths. Well, here's the view of a professional on five ways the government could have avoided 100,000 #Covid deaths - it's a good read.

First, the UK had no border policies in place for months.
Second, on 12 March, the government made the fatal decision to stop community testing.
Third, also in March, the government delayed the first lockdown.
Fourth, there was a lack of appropriate PPE for many health and social workers.
Finally, the UK has continually lacked both clear leadership and messaging.

We must never have a winter like this again, and we need a concrete plan and strategy to make sure Britain does not face a third wave and a fourth lockdown. This must involve suppressing transmission, building a functioning test, trace, isolate and support system, guarding against the reimportation of infections with strict travel restrictions, while trying to reopen schools and as much of the domestic economy as possible.

UK COVID-19 Test & Trace scheme spends millions on iPhones | Apple Must

Make no mistake, I know iPhones are the best mobile devices in the world, but when what I see as the utterly failed UK ‘Test & Trace’ scheme spends millions of pounds on the devices, you have to ask why. And this is an angry post.

Failure on top of failure.

#Covid-19 #CoronaVirus #pandemic #UK #politics #government #TestAndTrace #Apple #iPhone

Have you been vaccinated?

Here in the UK, even though we do have a bumbling government and Brexit is a reality the vaccination program is going extremely well. It's great to see my vulnerable and older friends getting their jabs, and hopefully I'm not too far away in the queue. Sadly, it seems that the EU are not having the same success..

#vaccination #coronavirus #covis-19 #immunization #eu #uk #mywork #gif #3d #animation #gplusrefugee

Understanding Europe, post-Brexit

#europe #eu #eea #efta #eurozone #schengen #customsunion #uk #brexit

Bra stalls and tripe: the long lost world of Stockport market - in pictures | Art and design | The Guardian

Heidi Alexander’s images of Greater Manchester traders had been sitting in storage since she took them in 1977 ... now they’re bringing a community back together

#photography #DocumentaryPhotography #UK #Britain #Manchester #community

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/jan/21/bra-stalls-and-tripe-the-long-lost-world-of-stockport-market-in-pictures

Revealed: Tory MPs and commentators who joined banned app Parler | Conservatives | The Guardian

At least 14 Conservative MPs, including several ministers, cabinet minister Michael Gove and a number of prominent Tory commentators joined Parler, the social media platform favoured by the far right that was forced offline last week for hosting threats of violence and racist slurs.

#politics #UK #Tory #Conservative #RightWing #Parler

Revealed: Boris Johnson’s controversial policy chief leading secretive NHS task force | openDemocracy

Boris Johnson’s government has for the first time confirmed the existence of a prime ministerial task force which is reportedly planning a “radical shake-up of the NHS”.
Freedom of Information disclosures to openDemocracy show the new “No.10 Health and Social Care Taskforce” reports to a Steering Group chaired by Munira Mirza, the influential head of Boris Johnson’s policy unit, and that it “met weekly” from July to September with a further meeting in October.
Mirza, a political appointee who previously worked for Johnson when he was London mayor, has no background or policy experience in health.

One more step towards total privatisation and the loss of a free public service.

#politics #UK #health #NHS #privatisation #PublicServices #Tories

Not content with destroying the UK, the Tory government is now intent on destroying the UK.

#politics #UK #government #Tory #agriculture

Leave.EU moves to Ireland to keep .EU suffix | The London Economic

Pro-Brexit lobby Leave.EU has been revealed to have migrated its domain’s registrant address to Waterford in the Republic of Ireland in order to remain in the EU registry.

#politics #UK #EU #Brexit #YouCouldntMakeItUp

London will be overwhelmed by covid in a fortnight says leaked NHS England briefing

London’s hospitals are less than two weeks from being overwhelmed by covid even under the “best” case scenario, according to an official briefing given to the capital’s most senior doctors this afternoon.

NHS England London medical director Vin Diwakar set out the stark analysis to the medical directors of London’s hospital trusts on a Zoom call.

The NHS England presentation, seen by HSJ (see slides below story), showed that even if the number of covid patients grew at the lowest rate considered likely, and measures to manage demand and increase capacity, including open the capital’s Nightingale hospital, were successful, the NHS in London would be short of nearly 2,000 general and acute and intensive care beds by 19 January.

The briefing forecasts demand for both G&A and intensive care beds, for both covid and non-covid patients, against capacity. It accounts for the impact of planned measures to mitigate demand and increase capacity.

https://www.hsj.co.uk/acute-care/exclusive-london-will-be-overwhelmed-by-covid-in-a-fortnight-says-leaked-nhs-england-briefing/7029264.article

An item I've not yet posted by Zeynep Tufekci at The Atlantic puts forth the case that demolishes my cautious optimism about the high-infectiousness SARS-CoV-2 variant: higher infectiousness, unlike higher mortality, exhibits exponential growth rather than a linear trend increase, and hence is actually a far greater problem.

#covid19 #uk #epidemiology #PublicHealth #NHS

View from the EU: Britain 'taken over by gamblers, liars, clowns and their cheerleaders' | Brexit | The Guardian

In Der Spiegel, Nikolaus Blome said there was “absolutely nothing good about Brexit … which would never have happened had Conservative politicians not, to a quite unprecedented degree, deceived and lied to their people”.
Much of the British media, Blome said, “were complicit, constantly trampling on fairness and facts”, leaving Britain “captured by gambling liars, frivolous clowns and their paid cheerleaders. They have destroyed my Europe, to which the UK belonged as much as France or Germany.”

All true. Just so that the liars could avoid upcoming anti-tax haven laws and make shedloads of money if the UK crashed.

#UK #EU #Brexit #Conservative #Tory #Neoliberal #politics

Petition · Public Vote of No Confidence in the Tory Government | Change.org

This government has failed the people.
It has failed to protect lives during the COVID pandemic: the highest death toll in Europe; encouraging easing lockdown with the highest daily deaths; using care homes as death camps for the elderly

#politics #uk #Tory #Covid-19 #CoronaVirus #pandemic #Brexit

Covid-19: Millions more people to enter tier 4 on Boxing Day | BBC News

Millions more people in the east and south east of England are to enter tier four on Boxing Day, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced.
The places moving into the highest level of restrictions - which include a "stay at home" order - border the areas already in tier four.
A number of areas will also move up into tiers three and two.

#Covid-19 #CoronaVirus #pandemic #UK

Majority of voters believe government’s coronavirus contract awards to Tory friends are corrupt, poll finds | The Independent

A survey by pollsters Survation found that 59 per cent of voters think the government’s “high priority” lane for friends and associates is corrupt, while just 16 per cent think it is not.

#politics #UK #Tories #corruption

The Telegraph - Telegraph Online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/#source=refresh

#Covid #Virus #Humour #Humor #UK

Windfarms in Great Britain break record for clean power generation

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Forty per cent of Friday’s electricity was generated in windfarms thanks to blustery winter weather
Blustery winter weather helped Great Britain’s windfarms set a record for clean power generation, which made up more than 40% of its electricity on Friday.
Wind turbines generated 17.3GW on Friday afternoon, according to figures from the electricity system operator, narrowly beating the previous record set in early January this year.
Continue reading...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/19/windfarms-in-great-britain-break-record-for-clear-power-generation
#news, #Environment, #UK, #power, #energy, #Renewable, #Wind, #Business, #Energy

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Government 'operated illegal buy British policy' over Covid contracts | Coronavirus | The Guardian

The government was operating an illegal “buy British” policy when it signed contracts with a small UK firm to supply Covid antibody tests, claim lawyers who have filed a case against the health secretary.
The Good Law Project said there were a number of other companies in a better position to supply antibody tests in June and August, when the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) agreed deals worth up to £80m with Abingdon Health without going out to tender.
The government had also agreed a deal to share in the profits the company made, the lawyers say.

#Covid-19 #CoronaVirus #pandemic #UK #government #Tories #crime

Ambiguities are like microbes, the pathogenic ones steal the attention.

The new mutation could be up to 70% more transmissible than earlier variants of the virus, Susan Hopkins of Public Health England told the BBC. (...) there is no evidence that it leads to a more severe illness. (...) "There's no reason to believe that the vaccines that have been developed will not be effective against this virus as well,"

In other news I read it declared that there was no evidence that the new strain leads to a milder disease; which is of course no evidence either that it does not lead to a milder disease.

This leaves open the possibility of a scenario whose majestic irony in my opinion provides with some likeliness. And tbh, that possibility first came to my mind months back in reaction to the incredible number of vaccines under accelerated development... how could irony of situation spontaneously defeat such a level of human effort to be in control?

That possibility is, that the new strain would indeed be significantly milder... and therefore defeat the vaccines ...not by escaping the immunity that vaccines would provide, but by out-competing the latter on the front of immunizing against itself as well as against the more severe strains.

To appreciate that such a scenario has plausibility, we need to remember that the whole field of vaccines emerged from the observation that cowpox induced a mild disease immunizing against deadly smallpox -- two related strains. The tendency of deadly pathogens to evolve towards milder forms, is itself an acknowledged fact. And SARS-Cov2 has an evident head start on that path since from the beginning it acted very mild to utterly silent, on half the people it infected.

As this imaginable property of the new strain is just a possibility, and since caution should prevail in the absence of data, the current tightening of policies in response to heightened rate of transmission, is reasonable and can't be denied.

Failure to attend to the collection or publication of the missing data, however, is not reasonable, and should be condemned ...as well as expected!

Sky-high stakes are now accumulated against letting the new strain reveal nature's own vaccine that it may in fact secretly be, and they conspire towards establishing a herd immunity situation such that the possibly positive impact of the new strain would remain hidden under the reputed success of deployed vaccines. Well, perhaps not indefinitely hidden, but long enough for their metaphorical ejaculation that's just starting, to complete unhindered.

#covid #covid19 #sars-cov2 #newstrain #vaccines #irony #uk

Canada halts flights from U.K. in response to new coronavirus strain

Canada joined several European nations in halting flights from the U.K. on Sunday in an effort to prevent a new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus from spreading to this country.

CBC News obtained a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued by Transport Minister Marc Garneau stating that all commercial, private and charter flights transporting passengers from the U.K. will be suspended indefinitely as of midnight tonight. The restriction doesn't apply to cargo flights, aircraft landing for safety reasons or flights that land for technical stops where no passengers disembark.

The notice said the minister "is of the opinion it is necessary for aviation safety and the protection of the public, to prohibit the [operations]of commercial air ... from the United Kingdom for the transport of passengers on an inbound [flight]to Canada."

#Canada #COVID19 #coronavirus #UK #Britain #travelrestrictions

Top Tory claims Boris Johnson deliberately waited to announce Tier 4 until MPs went home | Mirror Online

A senior Tory has accused Boris Johnson of deliberately waiting to announce Tier 4 until after MPs went home for Christmas.
Charles Walker, Vice Chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, claims the Government knew it intended to 'cancel' Christmas Bubble plans and introduce tougher restrictions on Wednesday.

#Covid-19 #CoronaVirus #pandemic #politics #UK #BorisJohnson

#BorisJohnson and the ghost of Christmas present – #cartoon | Opinion | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2020/dec/19/boris-johnson-and-the-ghost-of-christmas-present-cartoon

#UK #Politics #Satire #Pandemic #Brexit #Covid-19 #Coronavirus

Unicef steps in to help feed UK children for the first time in history | Evening Standard

Labour MPs said the Prime Minister should be “ashamed” after a United Nations agency launched its first ever emergency response to help feed UK children.

Disgusting! Boris Johnson should sack his Home Secretary and then resign.

#Covid-19 #CoronaVirus #pandemic #politics #UK

Most #ChildSexualAbuse gangs made up of white men, Home Office report says | #HomeOffice | The Guardian

There was a wave of high profile #media coverage of #SouthAsian gangs who got caught and they very much gave the impression that they were the major group guilty of the #crime

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/15/child-sexual-abuse-gangs-white-men-home-office-report

#UK #ChildAbuse

48 hours in September when ministers and scientists split over Covid lockdown | News | The Sunday Times

In its latest investigation into the government’s handling of the pandemic, Insight asks whether the PM’s decision to prioritise the economy over ‘following the science’ led him to repeat the errors of the spring

No wonder the UK is in the state it's in if Boris Johnson is listening to herd-immunity 'experts'. He's responsible for so many deaths.

#politics #uk #Covid-19 #CoronaVirus #pandemic #lockdown #SocialIsolation #SocialDistancing #BorisJohnson

Conversation on a Bench

On a lazy Thursday evening.




Copyright © Garry Knight | #photography #mywork #myphoto #Weymouth #Dorset #UK

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My Flickr account: https://flic.kr/p/2j5qL9V
You can use most of my photos for free under the Creative Commons Attribution licence

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James O'Brien's most powerful Brexit monologue yet | LBC

This is the James O'Brien Brexit monologue which some LBC listeners have branded the most powerful yet.
Famed for his powerful and emotive soliloquies on the UK's departure from the European Union today James has outdone his previous bests.

I don't always agree with James O'Brien and sometimes find his radio manner irritating, but he makes some very good points in this less-than-ten-minute monologue.

#politics #UK #Brexit #Tories #Eton #BLM #racism #xenophoboia

Climate change: UK aim of 68% emissions cut a 'colossal challenge'

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55179008 #environment #climatecrisis #pollution #ecology #UK

230 #covid19 deaths in #uk https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274 cases starting to climb again after lock-down over

Revealed: The 'reasonable worst case' if EU talks collapse | ITV News

I've been passed the government's "reasonable worst case scenario planning assumptions to support civil contingencies planning for the end of the transition period".
The 34-page document (sent to be my Twitter's @mi6rogue) describes itself as a "challenging manifestation of the risk in question" but "not an extreme or absolute worst case scenario".

So this is not the worst that can happen? So just how bad is it going to get?! And they're putting us through all this in the middle of a pandemic?!

(By the way, neither Peston nor ITV are revealing this. Carole Cadwalladr did that two weeks ago.)

#politics #UK #Brexit #government #Conservatives #Tories #BorisJohnson