JohnL

?This year is so shit anyway that it couldn?t really get any worse,? Don't bet on it.

This virus should have the same or lower mortality - not proved - but there is obviously a fear amongst other nations that what should happen may not happen. Did the government include this scenario when it planned for the worst case a few weeks back I wonder.

EU sovereignty consists of pooled sovereignty of it's nations being better pooled than retained. China and the US are both Super Powers anyway - the issue for us is what do medium sized countries do ? Australia and Canada have large territories and a large reserve of natural resources. What model can we follow - Singapore, Norway, Switzerland.

Was that a bad experience then ?

A scientist on Sky News this evening said the difference now is any lapse in social distancing or wearing your mask properly will be much less forgiving. I have loads of food to buy :) 6:00am or late evening sounds best if I do - and mask up properly (no gaps).

According to this journalist Christmas is cancelled and we're moving to tier 4

New Variant, New Rules. I think most of us will be wearing masks sooner or later.

I suppose it's possible what started in August propagates through to a bigger increase than might have happened otherwise in November and December - that's what computer projections were devised to work out though. It might be politically inconvenient to broadcast so will be released softly on Xmas eve if so :) My thoughts are that actually social distancing may breed a new variant as only the variant that is most infectious can make the distance between people (when someone coughs outside the new variant might make it to a new host and is thus favoured). Of course that won't favour the killer variant so much (hopefully) - so more infectious, less/similar mortality.

If everyone voted into Parliament has to follow party lines then I can't see the point of voting for people - we may as well just vote for virtual seats (like the american electoral college which until this year wasn't a real debating body but a rubber stamp) What really is the point of MPs if they don't have some kind of individual view. I'm sure Amazon could devise us a voting chamber without human beings where everyone votes as told and there's no expenses either.

Trinnydad Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > MPs (such as Anna Soubry, Sam Gyimah, Dominic > Grieve etc) who destroyed the last parliament with > eloquent and impassioned nonsense. They later > found to their cost that the following election > endorsed the Brexit camp with a resounding > majority. They are all now yesterday's people. Yesterdays People - that means as most of us have never been in parliament are we are all never people ..... or people of nowhere. Seriously people like Alistair Campbell who is politically yesterdays man have moved on to support many other projects. I do however note they are all Tories - is this a traitor thing ?

Whats happening now .. this new strain all over the news today and apparently the government (basically Gove at the moment) are thinking of restricting travel from London.

I think the UK as the "back of the class leader" would have done what it wanted with no pressure - without the UK some smaller nations may not.

Trinnydad Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Blah Blah Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Trinnydad Wrote: > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > ----- > > > Glad to be shot of the lethargic heaving > > > bureaucratic mess that is the EU having > learned > > > from the media today that the very earliest > the > > > will commence Covid vaccinations will be 27th > > > December and could well be pushed back into > > > January. > > > > As pointed out to you, the EU is not stopping > any > > country from starting the vaccine if they want > to. > > Hungary has bought the Russian one already for > > example. > > > > Who are you trying to kid! Hungary has bought the > Russian vaccine to placate its population as > Brussels would not approve despatch of vaccines > under their coordinated approval and distribution > regulations. They got it cheap from Putin as he > wants to sow dissent amongst EU members. > If you dont believe me read this:- > https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-countries-may-g > o-their-own-way-on-coronavirus-vaccinations/ > > It's not just us that's frustrated with Brussels. They're frustrated but they won't leave as they've seen what happens. We also would have had the right to do this as a member too :) https://euobserver.com/coronavirus/150228

It sounds a bit like Boris's old reports in the Telegraph but no ham sandwiches will be allowed to be taken into the EU after 31 December but you can take some sweets says the Guardian "Personal imports of certain products of animal or plant origin will be prohibited from 11pm on 31 December. The ban will also apply to tourists travelling to the EU. The rules will permit the transit of sweets and chocolate, preserving the long association between truckers and Yorkie bars. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs advised transport representatives of the ban this week and gave the specific example in its updated guidance of an ordinary sandwich. ?From 1 January 2021 you will not be able to bring POAO (products of animal origin) such as those containing meat or dairy (eg a ham and cheese sandwich) into the EU,? the official guidance states." https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/18/lorry-drivers-heading-to-eu-face-ham-sandwich-ban

A Covid Denier I notice. And he believes the US Election was fixed too LOL. That's this guy by the way - @Simes43 - so if he believes all the vaccines are a fake how are you criticising the roll out of a fake vaccine

It's this we need to match not the first few vaccinations - can't judge until the rollouts are in progress but persistent and steady wins in my view - I dread the UK saying they've run out or didn't buy enough or didn't store them according to instructions - you half expect it these days ... "France has already pre-ordered 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, Castex added. The government is hoping to give jabs to around one million people in nursing homes during January and February, and then a further 14-15 million people in the wider population between March and June." https://www.france24.com/en/france/20201216-france-may-start-covid-19-vaccinations-in-last-week-of-december-pm-says

zerkalo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Using a purely economic agrument to support this > idea when previously such arguments have been > flatly rejected in favour of something more pure > and abstract (see Sovereignty) does not make much > sense. I don't get the push for sovereignty in the modern world - we all outgrew that years ago. It's almost a more innocent view of the world.

The Health Secretary (just now) talking about personal responsibility rather than enforcing restrictions. I'm not sure that works in all cases - but I do know it's easier for us that can order in beer and food. You can't really cancel Christmas, it's still there but different.

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just replying to the "Enfield is also pretty horrid" although it's more Barnet. One of my friends lives in Whetstone so I used to be up there a bit. You said "Not a thread to have a rant at pubs that are not following rules, rather seeking views about good pubs to visit and whether you are doing this." So I say the Mitre in Barnet and the Griffen in Whetsotone always seemed OK to me and I didn't see racism when I was up there.

I'm not saying I'm antisocial but if I had a large family Zoom would be an attractive option.

To be honest I wear a mask outside now (as well as inside) if just to make others feel more secure - unless you have a medical problem I can't see why not to wear one - it's polite. Choose a nice trendy one and they can look quite good.

vmdgg Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Government guidance allows street markets such as > North Cross Road to operate, and there is no UK > guidance that says to wear a face mask outdoors. > It seems to me that the people I see at the market > are indeed "following really really simple > guidance". > > Street markets are a very safe way for people to > socialise, shop and get a bite to eat without the > worries of poor ventilation and close physical > contact indoors. If you do not think the market is > a safe place for whatever reason, my advice to you > is to not go to the market. or just write with your concerns to ... [email protected] if there's no issue they'll ignore so no problem writing a short email.

Wales has now said it's going into law that only 2 bubbles can meet at XMas - which mucks up the PMs statement at PMQs and breaks the "unity" between the nations. Scotland and Wales are hearing rumours that Gove has been tasked with undoing devolution - so they're understandably a bit annoyed at this government - not that it's linked of course.

They have jobs on their website but none in ED https://caffenero.com/uk/careers/find-a-job/ I'd be tempted to take a photo and put it on their facebook page :)