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Politics Today

IndoMike

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It is good news that we are close to having a vaccine. The euphoria and exceptionalism of Williamson and Hancock however seems to.be rather misplaced, since Pfizer is a US company and BioNTech is German. Apparently the scientists who were most responsible for this drug are a Turkish immigrant couple .
Apparently there will be a delay in the delivery of the vaccine (from Belgium) after the initial 800k doses. Care home staff and the elderly will be first priority but no vaccinations will take place in care homes - just in hospitals
Regarding the lateral flow Covid test, Govt figures state that the success rate is around 55%. This is the test that students and NhS staff have been given. The Govt had been a bit quiet about this publicly.
For the above reasons everyone needs to still be very careful. There will surely be a lot of competition for the Pfizer NioNTech vaccine and we know that storage and delivery is a little bit problematic. In addition, there has been speculation that the Govt/Regulatory Board have been very quick to approve this vaccine going purely on the data provided by the aforementioned companies.
So, good news is better than no news at all
but it's important that the Govt and the public don't get too varied away : vaccinations for all is surely still a long way away.
 

Egg

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Regarding the lateral flow Covid test, Govt figures state that the success rate is around 55%. This is the test that students and NhS staff have been given. The Govt had been a bit quiet about this publicly.
Hardly surprising the government's been a 'bit quiet' if, as you suggest, the success rate is around 55%. Given there are only two possible outcomes [positive or negative] you'd expect a toss of a coin to have a success rate of circa 50%.
 

IndoMike

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Think the Tories are winning in the spending stakes, Which will still have to be paid back down the line sometime. You're right though the LD's are irrellivent at the moment. I must admit when it came to their "Green Credentials" i found them total hypocrites, For example while the national LD's were asking for more wind turbines etc, The local LD's in N Devon were fighting anyone who wanted to build one. Swinson was their worst leader running into a GE ever IMHO.
Regarding spending, it's also how effectively and efficiently the money is spent, of course. The Govt often bandies around huge numbers (in billions) to say that they are on the ball, but we don't really know the results of that spending and if indeed it really has been or will be spent .
It sounds good when they say it but saying it is not success in itself
 

IndoMike

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Hardly surprising the government's been a 'bit quiet' if, as you suggest, the success rate is around 55%. Given there are only two possible outcomes [positive or negative] you'd expect a toss of a coin to have a success rate of circa 50%.
Precisely. I wouldn't be too confident that I was in the clear after getting a negative test result from the lateral test.
A coin is cheaper, too.
 

Oldsmobile-88

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In RaWZ we trust....Amen.
More Loony Tunes coming out from No 10.

Carbon Emissions Target Cut by 68% in the next decade.

I bet in 10 years time the Green Initiative will have resulted in 100s of Billions of pounds of taxpayers money in the pockets of a few corporations & shareholders on the back of the ones who can least afford it(ordinarily rate taxpayers) & of course the target not met.

No doubt there will be mythical ‘green jobs’ too.
A recent scheme in Scotland went down the pan for £57m after only 3 years(A Canadian company pocketed £30m)& no one needs reminding of the Cash for Ash in Northern Ireland.£1bn & counting.

As good as the environmental agenda is(I’m on board with much of it) I simply do not trust any government to be sensible with taxpayers money going forward.
 

DB9

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Hampshire. Heart's in N Devon
More Loony Tunes coming out from No 10.

Carbon Emissions Target Cut by 68% in the next decade.

I bet in 10 years time the Green Initiative will have resulted in 100s of Billions of pounds of taxpayers money in the pockets of a few corporations & shareholders on the back of the ones who can least afford it(ordinarily rate taxpayers) & of course the target not met.

No doubt there will be mythical ‘green jobs’ too.
A recent scheme in Scotland went down the pan for £57m after only 3 years(A Canadian company pocketed £30m)& no one needs reminding of the Cash for Ash in Northern Ireland.£1bn & counting.

As good as the environmental agenda is(I’m on board with much of it) I simply do not trust any government to be sensible with taxpayers money going forward.
Agree Olds, There are too many people with their fingers in the pie, Those in Westminster/Holyrood/Cardiff/Belfast have interests in companies vying for contracts or are "Consultants/Lobbyists"
 

Alistair20000

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Avoiding the Hundred
More Loony Tunes coming out from No 10.

Carbon Emissions Target Cut by 68% in the next decade.

I bet in 10 years time the Green Initiative will have resulted in 100s of Billions of pounds of taxpayers money in the pockets of a few corporations & shareholders on the back of the ones who can least afford it(ordinarily rate taxpayers) & of course the target not met.

No doubt there will be mythical ‘green jobs’ too.
A recent scheme in Scotland went down the pan for £57m after only 3 years(A Canadian company pocketed £30m)& no one needs reminding of the Cash for Ash in Northern Ireland.£1bn & counting.

As good as the environmental agenda is(I’m on board with much of it) I simply do not trust any government to be sensible with taxpayers money going forward.
Spot on. (y)
 

IndoMike

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According to the Office for National Statistics, fishing was worth £784m to the UK economy in 2018. By comparison, the financial services industry was worth £132bn.

The current agreement on fishing with the EU is indeed very unfair to the UK, but the reality is that Johnson is going to have to make a lot of concessions on fishing to facilitate a trade deal agreement with the EU.

According to the Office for National Statistics fishing was worth £784m to the UK economy in 2018 while the financial services industry was worth £132bn. He surely can't endanger the latter to stand firm on the former.

The answer surely is to support our fishing communities by offering them serious financial aid, job creation and training.

Johnson's initial claims that trade deals and other issues related to BREXIT would be "oven ready" and would be implemented "seamlessly" has not proven to be true. We should have realised that at the time
 

arthur

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Enjoyed Marr last night, especially the bit about the metropolitan elite imposing all sorts of liberal measures on a reluctant nation - abolition of the death penalty; legalising abortion, decriminalising homosexuality, race relations act - and the spirited resistance of Mary Whitehouse and her provincial backlash. I've never thought of Tavy as a Shropshire schoolteacher in horn-rimmed glasses before, I have to admit :)
 

IndoMike

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More Loony Tunes coming out from No 10.

Carbon Emissions Target Cut by 68% in the next decade.

I bet in 10 years time the Green Initiative will have resulted in 100s of Billions of pounds of taxpayers money in the pockets of a few corporations & shareholders on the back of the ones who can least afford it(ordinarily rate taxpayers) & of course the target not met.

No doubt there will be mythical ‘green jobs’ too.
A recent scheme in Scotland went down the pan for £57m after only 3 years(A Canadian company pocketed £30m)& no one needs reminding of the Cash for Ash in Northern Ireland.£1bn & counting.

As good as the environmental agenda is(I’m on board with much of it) I simply do not trust any government to be sensible with taxpayers money going forward.
What is "mythical" is Johnson's claim that there will be a Green Revolution with a deadline of 2030 for implementation.
This is just something he is throwing out to keep his lady Carrie happy and to sound forward- looking. Listen, it's easy to make promises now when you can't be made accountable for another 30 years. It's like Tizzer and his 5-year plans : never happened.
However, we do need a green revolution and all that entails. The question is if the powers that be have the determination to go through with it and if the public and Rupert Murdoch will support it
 
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