Coronavirus

[DeskJockey]

Been trying to book a test for one of the kids. The website is a joke! After four hours of refreshing it, there was a slot. Filled in all the data and pressed the book it button. Nothing came through, but I'd registered my number plate, email, phone, etc. so they had the info. So I thought at least. Got there (half an hour in the car) and they turn us away because we've not got the QR code/text/email.

So, back to endlessly refreshing the website.

[Nefarious]

I think he is highly motivated to creating a legacy for himself which you can’t do by making the rich elite even richer. It has to be the people.

Name one thing that he's done, or is planning to do, which will (or even *may*) leave a positive legacy for the people.

HS2? Increasingly white elephant project designed purely to line the pockets of Tory donors in the construction industry
No deal Brexit (Or "Australia style relationship", as they're now spinning it)? Paving the way to remove all controls of company treatment of employees and the environment, loosening financial regulation to risk another 2007-style crash, allowing state-aid to 'friendly' companies, and establishing a tax regime to ensure poor-to-rich distribution of wealth. All at the expense of the British economy.
Stealth privatisation of NHS through centralised control and purchasing, and exclusive private sub-contracts?
Ethnic purification of the British populus?
Total shift of state power/control from democratic institutions to the No.10 inner circle?

Sorry, but even if you were to argue that the apparently abhorrent behaviour of the current government to date is due to "challenging circumstances", I'm failing to see even a glimmer of intent towards creating a positive legacy for Britain as a whole. Help me out

[Jobbo]

Which bit do you disagree with, Dinny? Nef is mostly stating facts.

Yes but if you believe that the civil service was doing a good job, was not a blatant Marxist (or incompetent, you choose they still shouldn’t be employed in the running of this country) organisation that has undermined successive governments and needed sorting out you live in different fucking universe. Sometimes you have to crack a few eggs and all that.

They’re only dismantling the civil service to reduce the checks and balances on their own actions, not for the benefit of the country.

Look at what happens when they ignore the internal advice and sign us up to the withdrawal agreement; they decide within a few months that they don’t like what they signed. Well, perhaps having professional advisers and listening to them might be a good thing, no?

Similarly the PPE which has been procured at vast cost from tiny companies using emergency powers: if a proper procurement process had been carried out, maybe it would have been usable by the NHS. The civil service is quite an important thing.

[drcarlos]

Which bit do you disagree with, Dinny? Nef is mostly stating facts.

Yes but if you believe that the civil service was doing a good job, was not a blatant Marxist (or incompetent, you choose they still shouldn’t be employed in the running of this country) organisation that has undermined successive governments and needed sorting out you live in different fucking universe. Sometimes you have to crack a few eggs and all that.

They’re only dismantling the civil service to reduce the checks and balances on their own actions, not for the benefit of the country.

Look at what happens when they ignore the internal advice and sign us up to the withdrawal agreement; they decide within a few months that they don’t like what they signed. Well, perhaps having professional advisers and listening to them might be a good thing, no?

Similarly the PPE which has been procured at vast cost from tiny companies using emergency powers: if a proper procurement process had been carried out, maybe it would have been usable by the NHS. The civil service is quite an important thing.

Having worked with various elements of the civil service over many years I find that statement tinfoil hattery in the extreme. I can give many examples where things are done with extreme beauracracy and incompetence with no danger of the people ever being held to account that they just carry on and blame the private contractors with total impunity. So I have little sympathy with these incompetent jokers who are getting pushed out because they are a drain on our taxes and we shouldn't be paying them in the first.
I spent 20 years working with different it organisations that all do government projects. Have you noticed how many of the large projects fail and the news always blames the contractors? These are all different contractors but all ultimately working into different depts of the same civil service. The contractors can't all be bad can they, maybe we should be looking at the common denominator here, the civil service?

So you may be able to give a couple of examples that are tainted in favour of the civil service by our biased media but I have 20 years of personal untainted first hand experience.

[ZedLeg]

If suggesting that the government listens to the civil service is tinfoil hattery, what is claiming that the service is blatantly Marxist?

[Marv]

Similarly the PPE which has been procured at vast cost from tiny companies using emergency powers: if a proper procurement process had been carried out, maybe it would have been usable by the NHS. The civil service is quite an important thing.

It's a worrying trend that massive fuckups like this happen and no one is held to account for it.

[V8Granite]

I think he is highly motivated to creating a legacy for himself which you can’t do by making the rich elite even richer. It has to be the people.

Name one thing that he's done, or is planning to do, which will (or even *may*) leave a positive legacy for the people.

HS2? Increasingly white elephant project designed purely to line the pockets of Tory donors in the construction industry
No deal Brexit (Or "Australia style relationship", as they're now spinning it)? Paving the way to remove all controls of company treatment of employees and the environment, loosening financial regulation to risk another 2007-style crash, allowing state-aid to 'friendly' companies, and establishing a tax regime to ensure poor-to-rich distribution of wealth. All at the expense of the British economy.
Stealth privatisation of NHS through centralised control and purchasing, and exclusive private sub-contracts?
Ethnic purification of the British populus?
Total shift of state power/control from democratic institutions to the No.10 inner circle?

Sorry, but even if you were to argue that the apparently abhorrent behaviour of the current government to date is due to "challenging circumstances", I'm failing to see even a glimmer of intent towards creating a positive legacy for Britain as a whole. Help me out

Hopefully in 5 to 10 years it will be a positive outcome with regards to leaving Europe.

Dave!

[Simon]

So the 'rule of 6' starts today, which is fine in itself, but:

1) Nonsense that they include under 12s, unlike Wales and Scotland, and Scotland has traditionally been ahead on restrictions.
2) You can fuck off with you 'go back to the office' nonsense. It's either 'we have a problem' so rule of 6, or we don't, so back to the office. We can't have both.

It's my boy's first birthday in 3 weeks and yes, I'll be having my brother and his family of 4 around making 7 of us because as far as I'm concerned my son doesn't count, nor does my 11 year old nephew.

[Marv]

Seeing as the numbers have gone up rapidly and loads of people are unable to get a test, I think we're pretty much in the second wave. Guess we'll need the deaths to rise sharply for the government to acknowledge and take proper (late) action on it.

[Simon]

The testing thing is a nonsense. From the official site Coronivirus Government Data site:

testing.png (289.33 KiB) Viewed 1480 times

We have never hit capacity, according to their own claims. So how come people's real experiences show the opposite?

[DeskJockey]

Good question!

After many more hours of refreshing the screen we got a test in Wandsworth Sunday morning. But because it takes up to three days for the results to come back, my wife went to the hospital she works at to get her and the eldest tested as otherwise she wouldn't know if she's okay to work.

Results back in less than five hours, both negative. Still not had a result from the other test through the website.

Appreciate there's a difference between the two, but the overwhelming experience was of a badly functioning system, which mirrors the criticism from doctors.

[Simon]

Yeah, I think the govn are telling porkies somehow. Wouldn't be the first time would it?

[Beany]

One of our lot got the 'Rona, and I've spent decent chunks of the weekend trying to get a test within 50miles as I had a bit of a cough in the office on Friday. Yeah, no.

Today I've got a mild fever (although being cold and sweaty kept me awake most of last night), chesty cough, can't taste fuck all.

Taken today off because no sleep, but I expect I'll WFH the rest of the week (assuming I'm not too foggy) as a precaution if I can't get a test locally because
A: driving 50miles with a fever probably isn't clever from a pure safety standpoint
B: loaned my brother some money, so can't really justify the extra petrol to drive to Doncaster or some shit.

*goes back to refreshing the test booking site*

[dinny_g]

Jesus good luck Beany.

[Sundayjumper]

We have never hit capacity, according to their own claims. So how come people's real experiences show the opposite?

At a guess, that’s lab capacity, not the capacity of the rest of the system to deliver the samples to the lab.

[Beany]

Yup, a subtle but quite important distinction.

[Ascender]

Sounds like you've got the bad corona Beany, hang in there!

A bunch of sparks doing some fitting work for a client I'm at went out on a stag do last weekend, one of them got diagnosed, so the whole team are off the job and the client has had to deep clean the office they're working on. I bet this sort of nonsense is going on all over the place at a ridiculous cost to all concerned.

[Beany]

It can go with teh Bad AIDS people in here keep telling me I have.

Currently getting service busy, consistently.

[Beany]

It really does demonstrate how poorly implemented this stuff is when a key worker living between two major cities can't get a test.

[Marv]

GWS Beanster.

YC.