When will this shit end?

[Mr.Tease]

15 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

What you think of this idea?

Staff who work from home after pandemic 'should pay more tax'

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/11/staff-who-work-from-home-after-pandemic-should-pay-more-tax

So a low paid tele-sales person who works from home should pay an extra tax that a well paid city worker doesn't pay because...?

[Crazyfool01]

10 minutes ago, Paul ™ said:

A lot of events are on the late May Bank holiday weekend and rely on that date and the Monday BH to encourage families to go. Bearded Theory for example, huge numbers of families attend and benefit from the long weekend.

They move forward say to the new Bank Holiday dates (which are a Thu/Fri) and in half term. So don't get the benefit of the Monday off.

Not to mention displacing all the events on that weekend already.

Then there is the crew, contractors and even artists who do both weekends. 

For example this year (before Covid) I was scheduled to work BT for 2 weeks, then went straight to the Royal Cornwall Show for a week's work on the first weekend in June. 
If BT moved forward then I could only work one of the 2. 
Also any music festivals on that weekend would clash meaning less work for those crews too and more competition to sign the Artists up for this one BH weekend, meaning less choice of acts, more exclusive clauses etc 

But I guess we are unviable anyway... 

hopefully there will be enough pent up demand to give these things a massive kick start ... so many people desperate to get back ... and quite a few with tickets already for stuff , with many just holding on for some kind of green light ... gigs I think will see some much busier midweek ones ... 

[Paul ™]

6 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

hopefully there will be enough pent up demand to give these things a massive kick start ... so many people desperate to get back ... and quite a few with tickets already for stuff , with many just holding on for some kind of green light ... gigs I think will see some much busier midweek ones ... 

Am hoping that's happening for 2021 and not 2022 when this is happening.

[priest17]

20 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

What you think of this idea?

Staff who work from home after pandemic 'should pay more tax'

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/11/staff-who-work-from-home-after-pandemic-should-pay-more-tax

Fuckin ludicrous. "Thought you could escape getting shafted by the rediculous amount you were paying to commute? Mwahahah".

Suggested by Deutsch Bank as well who have no right to be listened to and are the reason I threw in the evil laugh.

[Homer]

Seem to remember that when the MPS had to work frim home, they granted themselves a bonus.

[Leyrulion]

28 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

What you think of this idea?

Staff who work from home after pandemic 'should pay more tax'

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/11/staff-who-work-from-home-after-pandemic-should-pay-more-tax

It's a daft idea because they're worried about losing business rates.

If anything I should pay even less tax because I work from home, put my on a 10% rate!

I pay for my own office and office furniture, use my own electricity, water, sewerage. 

I'm not using public roads or public transport anywhere near as much. I'm even still at home at night so don't need the street lights! 

[steviewevie]

I get a subscription daily email from New Statesman and this from Stephen Bush on the Lee Cain thing is kind of interesting, so I'll put it in here...

Good morning. Lee Cain, the Prime Minister's communications director, will leave his post at the end of the year. 

Why does it matter? Because for getting on for several months, an argument has been raging in Downing Street about what direction the government should take. Should it double down on the approach it had at the election - promising to spend more on the NHS and schools with a hefty dose of culture war, or should it revert to the approach that Boris Johnson favoured at City Hall, of offering two liberalisms - social liberalism and economic liberalism. 

Or, to put it more simply: should Johnson govern like Dominic Cummings or govern like David Cameron? Cain, a Vote Leave alum, close associate of Cummings and Johnson's special adviser during his time at the Foreign Office and while he was plotting on the backbenches, was a key bulwark against those arguing that Johnson should revert to his 2008-2016 playbook. 

Adding a further element of tension to all this is are two looming deadlines. The first, and more trivial, is the arrival of Allegra Stratton as the new face of the government, the person who will be holding televised briefings. The reality is that Stratton will very quickly become the face of the government, and that any who does that job will de facto become the Prime Minister's most important communications adviser if they are to do the job well. 

The second and more important is the end of the Brexit talks. Is Downing Street really in the hunt for a deal and are they willing to do what Boris Johnson did in October last year and make a series of concessions to get one, to minimise the upfront disruption and to prevent a potentially painful start to 2021? Or does Downing Street want a no deal Brexit, to have the disruption up front and over before the next election, and to be able to blame the European Union for the economic consequences not only of no-deal but of any economic hangover from the coronavirus crisis? 

Because, more than any Prime Minister we have had in the democratic era, Johnson is an adviser-led Prime Minister, the exit of Cain and with it the strengthening of Stratton means that many assume that big changes of approach are looming. Are they right?

Johnson's desire to be liked, and that he is at his happiest delivering unifying messages - note that he opted to stay silent on the more divisive issue of the Colston statue, but was happy to speak out in defence of Winston Churchill's, a proposition that unites all but a tiny minority of Brits - means that, whether Cummings stays or goes, the Johnson-Cummings alliance has always been an unwieldy  and unstable one outside Brexit. That the Cummings approach of snarling aggression has created a fractious and recalcitrant parliamentary party, means that a change of approach on that front was always likely. 

But I wouldn't be so sure that a change of approach in terms of style and approach on domestic issues - note, for instance, Johnson's greater focus on climate change, and his lack of interest in wading into manufactured culture wars over the National Trust - means a change of approach on Brexit. While Johnson is heavily adviser-led, he does have a handful of passions and preoccupations on which he has strongly-held opinions, and Euroscepticism is one: from his antics as the Telegraph's Brussels correspondent through to his decision to put his social and ideological ties to the Cameron project and to lose his Foreign Office post in 2016 and 2018. And many of those who want to junk the Cummings approach are themselves committed Brexiteers - they just aren't committed supporters of Vote Leave.

So the shift within Downing Street matters and will change some of how Johnson's government acts. But as far as the biggest decision that the government will make this week over Brexit, don't be surprised if Britain's Brexit approach continues to be marked by instrangience, even if it is accompanied by the exodus of further members of Team Cummings. 

[Crazyfool01]

6 minutes ago, Paul ™ said:

Am hoping that's happening for 2021 and not 2022 when this is happening.

There might be some carryover ... once people start to feel confident ... and the unfortunate that lose jobs start to hopefully get them back ... I don’t think any turn around will be just next year ... 

[HydraD]

18 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

What I’m wondering about is how they are going to tax the furloughed people fairly. I was off for 4 months getting paid by the government to sit in doing nothing. I’m definitely expecting a tax increase in order for the government to get that money back. 
 

Nothing is ever free in a Tory government. What will annoy me though is if they just put blanket tax rises on everyone regardless of whether they were furloughed or not or stealth taxes by increasing the tax rate of other everyday items. 

Why should the burden fall just on those that were unlucky enough to be furloughed? A lot of those have been made redundant in the past month before the new extension so not sure how you would even go about taxing just those that benefited more. 

It seems like something we should all be paying for anyway, if it even needs to be. In the same way that we shouldn't raise taxes on just those that caught Covid to pay for the extra NHS costs. 

[Toilet Duck]

14 minutes ago, phimill said:

@Toilet Duck How long does it usually take from being able to look at the interim results until reporting on them?

Could it come by Monday?

Usually they're not in so much of a hurry! Interim analyses also don't normally get reported the news (we usually just see them at conferences). However, it's not unreasonable for them to be able to state the headlines within a few days (predicted efficacy and whether there were any serious adverse events). There's not a whole lot of difference between the Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer one, though Moderna took federal funds to develop it and have caps on what they can charge for it as a result (still expensive compared to the Oxford one though, something like $30+ vs £2-5 per dose)....they also had better diversity built into their trial from the start, though there probably won't be enough events to categorically report on how the vaccine performs indifferent sub-groups (that kind of info will become very important if and when we have multiple options, they might have an inkling though from first analysis). Having another one available will ease the difficulties in getting it out quickly, though this one has exactly the same cold storage hurdles as the Pfizer one (Pfizer now looking at freeze-drying theirs to see if it can be shipped like that...the Russians did this with theirs and didn't see a big drop in the immune response elicited). If the Oxford one makes it over the line, it doesn't need  storage at -80, so much easier. Anyway, vaccine data should start coming thick and fast over the next few months (J&J, Novavax, GSK/Sanofi all coming and all stored in a normal fridge, so possibly the ones we will all get from our local pharmacy later next year). 

[Fuzzy Afro]

32 minutes ago, JoeyT said:

So Moderna & Oxford results within the next week or so.

I got giddy with the Pfizer news, god knows how i'm going to feel if these 2 are also positive sets of results!

Is there a source anywhere suggesting Oxford will report imminently? I’ve seen the sources suggesting Moderna is ready to go. 

[jannybruck]

A work from home tax is ludicrous. The idea that somehow the money that we're not spending on commuting, coffees, lunches – and that companies are saving with office space, utilities, etc – is not going back into the economy in other ways is simply untrue.

The Tories, shareholders and developers have been terrified of WFH ever since this started and they're going to find any possible way to push people back to office working, and push companies towards bringing people back.

[JoeyT]

3 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Is there a source anywhere suggesting Oxford will report imminently? I’ve seen the sources suggesting Moderna is ready to go. 

Bear with.

I definitely read somewhere Oxford's results were expected next week.

[Leyrulion]

5 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Is there a source anywhere suggesting Oxford will report imminently? I’ve seen the sources suggesting Moderna is ready to go. 

The person I know who works on it. 🤣🤣

[Crazyfool01]

Is oxford a 1 dose job or 2 ? That’s gonna massively improve rollout time ... along with the lack of need to store at minus 70 

[squirrelarmy]

2 minutes ago, jannybruck said:

A work from home tax is ludicrous. The idea that somehow the money that we're not spending on commuting, coffees, lunches – and that companies are saving with office space, utilities, etc – is not going back into the economy in other ways is simply untrue.

While I’ve been furloughed and now back at work but unable to spend cash I’m able to clear off debts and get some savings behind me so on one hand I’m not putting a lot of money back into the economy. 
 

In my line of work though I’m seeing the direct effect of people having more money to spend on large items of furniture that they probably wouldn’t have bought. 
 

So many people are buying new beds right now it’s crazy, we are struggling to keep up with demand and this is usually a quiet time of year as people are saving money for December. 

[Fuzzy Afro]

7 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

While I’ve been furloughed and now back at work but unable to spend cash I’m able to clear off debts and get some savings behind me so on one hand I’m not putting a lot of money back into the economy. 
 

In my line of work though I’m seeing the direct effect of people having more money to spend on large items of furniture that they probably wouldn’t have bought. 
 

So many people are buying new beds right now it’s crazy, we are struggling to keep up with demand and this is usually a quiet time of year as people are saving money for December. 

Most people will have financially gained from the pandemic due to lack of opportunity to actually spend money tbf. I know some gardeners that made an absolute killing this summer from everyone getting their garden done. 

[Toilet Duck]

6 minutes ago, JoeyT said:

Bear with.

I definitely read somewhere Oxford's results were expected next week.

I think John Bell was suggesting an interim analysis was imminent when discussing the Pfizer results. Unlike Moderna and Pfizer though, Oxford/AZ had the highest number of required events for theirs (and they only planned one), so even though they started earlier, a couple of pauses have probably levelled the field a bit (plus, an explosion of cases in the US is what has pushed the Pfizer and Moderna ones over the line, but Oxford were shut down in the US for quite a while). Should be soon though. However, while we might not believe the Russian/Chinese vaccines are up to much, they are based a similar delivery mechanisms (human (RU/CN) vs chimp (Ox) adenovirus), they target the same thing (the spike protein) and the Russian/Chinese ones appear to have good efficacy (pinch of salt maybe, but it appears the spike is a good immunogenic target and should work for most), so I'd be hopeful we'll see the same in this one. 

[Ozanne]

37 minutes ago, priest17 said:

Fuckin ludicrous. "Thought you could escape getting shafted by the rediculous amount you were paying to commute? Mwahahah".

Suggested by Deutsch Bank as well who have no right to be listened to and are the reason I threw in the evil laugh.

I would hope as it’s just suggested by a bank it won’t be taken on board, it goes to show what people on boards or maybe with links to government feel about people WFH currently. 

[phimill]

22 minutes ago, jannybruck said:

A work from home tax is ludicrous. The idea that somehow the money that we're not spending on commuting, coffees, lunches – and that companies are saving with office space, utilities, etc – is not going back into the economy in other ways is simply untrue.

The Tories, shareholders and developers have been terrified of WFH ever since this started and they're going to find any possible way to push people back to office working, and push companies towards bringing people back.

The irony is there is currently the tax beak - be it very small! for working from home at the moment!

[Ryan1984]

 

[JoeyT]

28 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

Is oxford a 1 dose job or 2 ? That’s gonna massively improve rollout time ... along with the lack of need to store at minus 70 

Just 1 dose I believe. 

Seems to be a mixture of next week / within the next two weeks for results chat on twitter.

Either way it's certainly soon!

[efcfanwirral]

35 minutes ago, jannybruck said:

A work from home tax is ludicrous. The idea that somehow the money that we're not spending on commuting, coffees, lunches – and that companies are saving with office space, utilities, etc – is not going back into the economy in other ways is simply untrue.

The Tories, shareholders and developers have been terrified of WFH ever since this started and they're going to find any possible way to push people back to office working, and push companies towards bringing people back.

Upward mobility for the "wrong" types of people is the real problem for them - that saved money could be used to buy property and that damages the private landlord markets among other things

[incident]

17 minutes ago, JoeyT said:

Just 1 dose I believe. 

Seems to be a mixture of next week / within the next two weeks for results chat on twitter.

Either way it's certainly soon!

The trials are for both 1 and 2 dose versions. I don't know which is more likely.

[philipsteak]

1 hour ago, Paul ™ said:

A lot of events are on the late May Bank holiday weekend and rely on that date and the Monday BH to encourage families to go. Bearded Theory for example, huge numbers of families attend and benefit from the long weekend.

They move forward say to the new Bank Holiday dates (which are a Thu/Fri) and in half term. So don't get the benefit of the Monday off.

Not to mention displacing all the events on that weekend already.

Then there is the crew, contractors and even artists who do both weekends. 

For example this year (before Covid) I was scheduled to work BT for 2 weeks, then went straight to the Royal Cornwall Show for a week's work on the first weekend in June. 
If BT moved forward then I could only work one of the 2. 
Also any music festivals on that weekend would clash meaning less work for those crews too and more competition to sign the Artists up for this one BH weekend, meaning less choice of acts, more exclusive clauses etc 

But I guess we are unviable anyway... 

The new Bank Holiday is in half term? So that shafts hospitality and tourism too. Brilliant thinking