When will this shit end?

[Ozanne]

I’d say so too but the NHS will still be under a lot of pressure for a few weeks.

[st dan]

Just now, steviewevie said:

definitely looks that way...although often lower on a Monday.

Yeah, don’t want to get too optimistic but even this Monday is 10k + fewer than this time last week. Hopefully we never see cases in the 50 and 60 thousands ever again!! 

[km9]

58 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Hopefully Labour win this voting on in the Commons. The Tories are abstaining 😑

That's a bit disingenuous. The £1000 a year 'cost' is just the end of the £1000 uplift awarded 12 months previous.

[Cooter]

cases maybe so, but 599 deaths today is a rise from 529 last monday.

[Quark]

2 minutes ago, st dan said:

Yeah, don’t want to get too optimistic but even this Monday is 10k + fewer than this time last week. Hopefully we never see cases in the 50 and 60 thousands ever again!! 

I keep an eye on a few local areas for different family and friend groups, and they're all on the downward trend now.  Family are up in Kent in one of the areas that got absolutely smashed by the new variant and their cases are definitely on the way down.

I'd say it's definitely getting there.

[steviewevie]

1 minute ago, Cooter said:

cases maybe so, but 599 deaths today is a rise from 529 last monday.

well, we may be a week or two away before hospitalisations come down, and then another week or two after that before deaths come down...although vaccinations may start to be a factor too...

[Cooter]

1 minute ago, steviewevie said:

well, we may be a week or two away before hospitalisations come down, and then another week or two after that before deaths come down...although vaccinations may start to be a factor too...

sadly yes... and yes if the vac does it's job cases will come down dramatically very soon.

[Ozanne]

9 minutes ago, Cooter said:

cases maybe so, but 599 deaths today is a rise from 529 last monday.

It was mentioned yesterday but it’s sad we’ve become normalised to several hundred people dying every day from COVID now. 

[Fuzzy Afro]

34 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

It isn’t just the middle class that are working from home.

Working from home is largely the domain of middle class office workers who work in London and other metropolitan elite cities. The more middle class you are the more likely you are to (a) be able to WFH, and (b) have been doing so since March.

 

I pretty much fit the definition of middle class to a T, and my company went to the bother of designing a covid-secure office only to realise that there is zero point having people come in to sit at desks spaced 2m apart with a mask on and never be allowed to have face to face meetings. They’ve said they won’t bother reopening until social distancing requirements are scrapped completely. 

[Ozanne]

Vaccination update:

[Quark]

I think it can depend on a) what you call middle class and b) which company you work for. So our company has a lot of call centre staff, which I guess would be classed as a working class role (?) but they did an amazing job of turning stuff around incredibly quickly to get everyone working from home.

But overall I'd agree with Fuzzy; working from home is generally something that's more likely to apply to "middle class roles".  Like you I'm pretty much your poster boy for white middle class tbh.

One thing I really want to see in future is a way for us to collectively find a way of dropping this concept of class. I know it's incredibly ingrained and all, but it's just such a divisive way of thinking. A man can dream 🤷‍♂️

[steviewevie]

 

[Ozanne]

1 minute ago, Quark said:

I think it can depend on a) what you call middle class and b) which company you work for. So our company has a lot of call centre staff, which I guess would be classed as a working class role (?) but they did an amazing job of turning stuff around incredibly quickly to get everyone working from home.

But overall I'd agree with Fuzzy; working from home is generally something that's more likely to apply to "middle class roles".  Like you I'm pretty much your poster boy for white middle class tbh.

One thing I really want to see in future is a way for us to collectively find a way of dropping this concept of class. I know it's incredibly ingrained and all, but it's just such a divisive way of thinking. A man can dream 🤷‍♂️

To be fair there is generally only 1 person in here that regularly mentions ‘the WFH middle class’. I don’t think it’s something that gets mentioned a huge amount or really thought of. 

[Fuzzy Afro]

Only 205k vaccines in the last 24 hours. Do the jabbers get a Sunday off?

[grumpyhack]

18 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Working from home is largely the domain of middle class office workers who work in London and other metropolitan elite cities. The more middle class you are the more likely you are to (a) be able to WFH, and (b) have been doing so since March.

 

I pretty much fit the definition of middle class to a T, and my company went to the bother of designing a covid-secure office only to realise that there is zero point having people come in to sit at desks spaced 2m apart with a mask on and never be allowed to have face to face meetings. They’ve said they won’t bother reopening until social distancing requirements are scrapped completely. 

Once this is all over I think there will be a lot of half-empty office blocks as a lot of people will have discovered they can work pretty effectively from home a lot of the time.  Mr brother-in-law runs a large firm of insurance brokers and most of the staff are now working from home.  It cuts down on unnecessary travel to work, which has to help the 'Green' agenda, wear on vehicles and roads etc.  I suspect, given the chance, a lot of people would be happy to work part of their week from home.

[zahidf]

1 minute ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Only 205k vaccines in the last 24 hours. Do the jabbers get a Sunday off?

Yes, some GP surgeries are closed

[oneeye]

15 minutes ago, Quark said:

I think it can depend on a) what you call middle class and b) which company you work for. So our company has a lot of call centre staff, which I guess would be classed as a working class role (?) but they did an amazing job of turning stuff around incredibly quickly to get everyone working from home.

But overall I'd agree with Fuzzy; working from home is generally something that's more likely to apply to "middle class roles".  Like you I'm pretty much your poster boy for white middle class tbh.

One thing I really want to see in future is a way for us to collectively find a way of dropping this concept of class. I know it's incredibly ingrained and all, but it's just such a divisive way of thinking. A man can dream 🤷‍♂️

[xxialac]

Just now, oneeye said:

I imagine those who recognise that image map almost perfectly onto the demographic 'gens before millennials'

[Andy0808 v5]

Hancock is such a weasel. 
If enough of us ask if Glastonbury is on, do you think they’ll answer 

[parsonjack]

5 hours ago, priest17 said:

I'd happily wear a mask if I had a cold or something, might encourage people not to sit next to me on the train.

I know someone who's had this tactic for some years....he also carries an empty sandwich packet with him that he places on the seat next to him and denies it's his when people ask him to move it.  Surprising how many people will stand or find another seat rather than toucn someone else's rubbish.

[Quark]

10 minutes ago, grumpyhack said:

Once this is all over I think there will be a lot of half-empty office blocks as a lot of people will have discovered they can work pretty effectively from home a lot of the time.  Mr brother-in-law runs a large firm of insurance brokers and most of the staff are now working from home.  It cuts down on unnecessary travel to work, which has to help the 'Green' agenda, wear on vehicles and roads etc.  I suspect, given the chance, a lot of people would be happy to work part of their week from home.

Yup. We're closing a few offices and I'm hearing similar stories from mates in the city, including the big corporates. 

[Copperface]

19 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Only 205k vaccines in the last 24 hours. Do the jabbers get a Sunday off?

All the major GP/PCN and mass centres near me have been open but there have been a few supply problems apparently.

If the reported figures are correct this supply rate is going vary wildly in the next few weeks bearing in mind Pfizer are reducing supply by about a third while they update their Belgian plant in late January/early Feb.

The big one is (allegedly) AZ with zero deliveries in w/c 15th Feb (convenient that given the date) and also zero deliveries w/c 14th March and vastly fluctuating delivery in the weeks in between and after before it settles down beginning of May.

Very small amounts of Moderna due to come onstream 4th April (c. 50k doses per week).

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by Copperface

[Ozanne]

Matt Hancock talking about ‘us’ creating the AZ vaccination reminds me of John Terry celebrating the Champions League Final win fully kitted when he didn’t play. 

[Lizzim]

Well my Mum (in Scotland) has now got her appointment for the vaccine booked and my father in law( Liverpool) has had the invitation to book one  - he is all snail mail so a bit slower.   So that is a relief and i can start believing the progress figures now.

[Ayrshire Chris]

Matt H just said we are going to have a great British summer! I know what that phrase means to me