Blah Blah

Kier is in a difficult place, trying to figure out how to win the next election following a defeat that makes little sense to core Labour values. It is also hard to be an opposition when most of the parliamentary business is centered around a pandemic response. We will start to see Labour bite when efforts to repay the debt come into play but on other issues, like crime and policing, and the coming immigration bill, there is going to be a dilemma, and especially with the latter, in that having been a major issue in the Brexit debate. Even Brexit will continue to be a problem. There are many people now who regret voting leave, as they find themselves impacted by the changes in trading status, impacts they were told would not happen (sunlit uplands and all that). So where does Labour go on that? Do they as a party mirror the tories for fear of not being able to regain those red wall seats? Or do they go all out to scoop up regretful leavers? Will that even be enough to swing things their way next time? The SNP have Scotland pretty much sewn up and Labour has never won an election without those Scottish seats. Blair was the viable alternative to Thatcher for many reasons. Kier I think, understands that the British electorate doesn't swing left then right then left. It always comes back to the center ground when it finally rejects steps out to the right or left. Before Kier can even begin to model that kind of manifesto though, he has to navigate a factional membership. Regaining control of the NEC, is by far the most important area of power, but controlling CLP pushed motions at conference etc is another battle altogether.

diable rouge Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Blah Blah Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Big pharma is not a charity. > > Pandemics present an opportunity for income > beyond > > their wildest dreams. Boris was just being > honest > > about it. > > AZ is far more akin to a 'Socialist' vaccine than a 'Capitalist' one. > > Non-profit making and was given large amounts of Gov money/investment. > > Gordon Gecko's braces would be twanging off in disgust... I agree with this of course. Big pharma finds itself in a unique position with a pandemic, and governments have to stump up the funding if they want fast results. Not sure if there is any way of avoiding that.

diable rouge Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Blah Blah Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Big pharma is not a charity. > > Pandemics present an opportunity for income > beyond > > their wildest dreams. Boris was just being > honest > > about it. > > AZ is far more akin to a 'Socialist' vaccine than a 'Capitalist' one. > > Non-profit making and was given large amounts of Gov money/investment. > > Gordon Gecko's braces would be twanging off in disgust... I agree with this of course. Big pharma finds itself in a unique position with a pandemic, and governments have to stump up the funding if they want fast results. Not sure if there is any way of avoiding that.

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Er, I think you?ll find Brexit was as bigger shock > to the EU as all of these! A bizarre omission I disagree. The other three things are externally imposed crisis and have high levels of unpredictability within them, because of numerous factors beyond EU control. Brexit on the other hand is an internal change between 1 nation and the EU. The EU won't be brought down by that. The difference should be clear.

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Er, I think you?ll find Brexit was as bigger shock > to the EU as all of these! A bizarre omission I disagree. The other three things are externally imposed crisis and have high levels of unpredictability within them, because of numerous factors beyond EU control. Brexit on the other hand is an internal change between 1 nation and the EU. The EU won't be brought down by that. The difference should be clear.

TheCat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm no lawyer....but if true, further ammunition that this whole 'war' is just the EU punishing AstraZeneca and the UK as cover for its poor contracting.... > > https://www.politico.eu/article/the-key-difference s-between-the-eu-and-uk-astrazeneca-contracts/ I think the dynamics here are bizarre to say the least. The EU need to make the orders they need to make, and AZ needs to honour them. And if AZ can not meet demand, then order from suppliers of other vaccines.

TheCat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > People do love to make storms in teacups don't they. I mean FFS....he's saying capitalism helped accelerate the response to Covid...Which would be relatively dull comment on its own. > > The greed reference is clearly a clumsy call back to Michael Douglas in Wall Street....awkward? Yes. Worth getting your knickers in a twist over? Not so much > > Nothing to see here...move along..... I agree with you here. Boris is a liberal free marketeer. So he believes that free market competition drives progress (whilst not thinking it is the be all that his libertarian friends do). The 'greed is good' mantra is exactly what I think he was referencing. Now greed isn't always good as we all know, but there are occasions where it serves a purpose. His point was that capitalism is the reason why there was a race to develop vaccines, and that race is precisely why we have at least five now in play. There will be others that emerge too. Big pharma is not a charity. Pandemics present an opportunity for income beyond their wildest dreams. Boris was just being honest about it.

The EU has to change, there is no question about that, and a lot of people who voted for remain did so because they put trade first and believed that change around the rest can come from within. The EU essentially has had three huge shocks to its foundations over last fifteen years. First was the 2008 financial crash, and having to bail out EU economies. The second was the Syrian war and the ensuing refugee crisis, and now a global pandemic. All three of those things challenged the given consensus. Why? Because consensus on trade is easy. Consensus on anything outside of that tests the boundaries of self interest. Those are the boundaries Farage was able to exploit to great effect of course. I would wager that the EU are worried about falling behind in economic recovery if competitors are up and running again before them. That is the 'competition' that is driving the EU vaccine threats. The race for vaccines is a reactive one and with that comes inevitable supply and demand issues. It will also take time to get to the required capacity. Does it really matter if the EU is three months behind the UK on vaccine rollout? In principle no. But if that difference in three months is the difference between a third wave and no third wave, then the impacts are perhaps a bit more considerable. My personal opinion is that the EU should focus less on where the UK are, and figure out where they can place orders that can be met for their own needs.

The problem with the protest aspects of the bill is that it opens the door to a subjective interpretation of the law. Police already had the powers to shut down protest, with the use of section and dispersal orders. They were just always slow to use them. And if the government thinks this Bill will stop the kinds of protest they don't like, they are dreaming. BLM and XR are led by hardened and very organised activists, who don't care one bit about the law on protest and disruption. And when government starts the process of clawing back money ot pay of the debt, the unions will be back to organising the protests that attract tens of thousands. Try telling people in those kinds of numbers where they can march and protest. Police don't have the numbers to stop those. So who will these new rules be effective against exactly? The lone protesters that makes themselves a regular feature outside Parliament, that's who. Smaller protest groups that have to break the rules in order to get noticed. This is a dog whistle move from government. The nonsense around statues and memorials is a prime example. Vandalism is already covered under criminal damage legislation. Four people would not be currently being prosecuted for the Bristol Statue toppling if that were not the case. Patel makes the mistake of thinking long sentences deter people who act in the heat of the moment. She couldn't be more wrong. As for the death penalty, Ian Hislop roasted Patel on that one when she made the same stupid argument around deterrence. This is how she thinks sadly.

There are no words for that level of conspiracy nonsense lol

The thing to say about certain mental health conditions is that only a trained professional can fully assess if someone poses a risk or not. This is very hard for a member of the public to assess, let alone someone being subjected to abuse and potentially already feeling afraid or intimidated. So personal safety must always come first, followed by reporting to the Police. There is also a free app called 'Hollie Guard' which can be used as a personal alarm, that also starts your phone video and audio recording automatically. It can also be used to track your journey etc. Primarily aimed at women but I can't see why anyone wouldn't find this useful as a security device.

This reminds me of the Caterpillar in Alice and Wonderland lol - 'One side will make you taller, the other side smaller' said the caterpillar. 'One side of what, the other side of what?' said Alice. 'Of the mushroooooom', and the caterpillar slithers away. :D

They have arrested a serving Met Police Officer (who lives in Kent) and a women for allegedly assisting him after the fact. All very odd, but Police must have evidence they are not sharing with the public yet. They forensically fingertip searched an area next to some flats too. Feels as though they are getting closer to a theory of what has happened even if Sarah herself has not yet been found. Just awful for her parents, family and friends though.

What happens if you take both pills? Nirvana?

Poynders Court has just been cordoned off by Police. Let's hope it is something that leads to a good outcome. Edited to say that the focus is centered on one block of flats with a search team preparing to enter.

There are places that dip them into a chemical bath to take all the paint off in one go. That's what my parents did. I think it cost about ?40 for each door. These guys do that in Dulwich. https://www.pjpine.co.uk/door-stripping/

Sephiroth Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ? Ever seen a poor Farmer ? ? > My family are farmers and like a lot of smaller farmers, they are not rich. Land is actually worth more for development than farming these days and a lot of farmland is rented as well. There are rich farmers for sure, but they tend to be massive landowners. From the crofters of the highlands to the small organic market gardens of the South East, farming is far more diverse than that. Back on topic however, the biggest moaners (after cab drivers of course) have to be politicians surely? Followed by talk radio presenters :P

LOL EDguy89. Just one correction. March the 4th is the big day for Trump. Apparently that is the real day of the inauguration when Trump will be restored to the Whitehouse aaaaaand.............

I completely agree Spartacus. It is not just flu that has been suppressed by these measures, but also seasonal colds and chest infections. So there is a lesson in there for all of us I think.

Not strange at all. We have been in harder lockdown since the New Year. We also have an extensive annual vaccine program against flu (which was extended this year to the over fifties) and it has not has the opportunity to spread in the usual way. It is in fact, one of the upsides of the pandemic, but can also be seen as a moot point given that it has been replaced by something far more deadly to those most impacted.

;D

You might find this interesting Malumbu. https://www.apa.org/research/action/speaking-of-psychology/conspiracy-theories Karen Douglas is leading the research on this area of psychology in the UK at present.

It is not about only discussing positives, but about discussing verifiable truth. You are offering a database that literally anyone can add to. The submissions are never verified which makes it worthless for use as an indication of anything.

uplandrd2020, just stop it please. You are forcing me to wholeheartedly agree with TheCat! But seriously, people will continue to die from normal other causes after having had any vaccine, let alone this one. The people promoting these lies, are deliberately trying to undermine health expertise. They don't care if it is the truth or not, only that you believe it. For the record, there is intense monitoring of the vaccine, specifically for adverse reactions. That we get to know about those adverse reactions is because doctors freely publish this data. Vaccines can cause complications in a very small number of people with immunodeficient conditions, and sometimes conditions that have not yet been diagnosed. This is even true for vaccines that have gone through all stages of trials (up to seven stages in some cases). The fact remains that the overwhelming majority of people receiving these vaccines (and that means tens of million globally so far) have done so without any adverse reaction. That is the bigger picture, and the one that counts.

uplandrd2020 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > the vaccinated will be protected and i wont,i cant > pass it on to vaccinated people.If i could what > would the point be of the vaccine. The only life > im risking is my own, as all the good citizens are > happy to be be injected with experimental mRNA, > which by the way has killed hundreds so far. Sadly, no vaccine is 100 per cent effective so some people who have been vaccinated will still get seriously ill and die. It will be far lower numbers than at present, but it will happen. I would argue we all have a responsibility to do our part to suppress this virus. Your second point claiming that MnRNA vaccines has killed hundreds so far is not based in evidence. People will still die from natural causes and other conditions after having a vaccine. If you are going to make an unsubstantiated claim, then cite a peer reviewed report that backs that claim.