[Boiler]

Consensus among my department directors (not experts in medicine but we design elfin safety frameworks for some pretty big cheeses so tend to err on the side of caution) is that the pork haystack is basically throwing us all under the bus as a distraction from his day-to-day calamities and so he can preen and grandstand about being "the great liberator" from COVID restrictions.

We will continue to wear masks and take other precautions for the foreseeable future.

Yes, I'm inclined to see the "All restrictions off" as leaving us with out pants down and cocks in our hands when the Mu variant arrives.

There's also the "No restrictions, so what's the point of doing these tests".
Which feeds on to few samples to the labs, so late detection and analysis of the incoming Mu.

Three from the i:

Government’s decision to scrap Covid restrictions ‘will force clinically vulnerable to rethink their lives’

Covid vaccine mandate for NHS staff could be ‘paused’ by Government over fears 70,000 workers would be sacked

Covid rules: Millions of clinically extremely vulnerable people advised to follow guidance after Plan B ends

[mattomac]

There was an article about getting the remaining 5 million vaccinated but Johnson has just made the point redundant.

[Boiler]

There was an article about getting the remaining 5 million vaccinated but Johnson has just made the point redundant.

Yep, plenty of the unmasked in Waitrose last night The rest will be dealt with via herd immunity - "it's only a cold". I've been told that I should just expect to catch Covid and deal with it. Why?

So now I expect to get static in shops when I'm wearing a mask. Oh well, must practice my knee in the groin technique, which won't be as effective on "beady-eyed, straw-haired harridans" as I saw someone describe female anti-vaxxers.

[kreuzberger]

Just nipped in to Woolie's for batteries and fresh FFP2s. Had to flash my Corona app (2G+ = boostered) and I.D. to get through the door.

I'm a stroppy cunt at the best of times but these safety measures are really not bothersome, let alone restrictive.

[Boiler]

You know that, I know that... but there just seems to be a desire to not either be confrontational or to enforce things here.

Woolies? As in the Australian company?

Meanwhile in the UK there are numerous demos organised under the "NHS100k" movement going on today.

[kreuzberger]

F. W. Woolworth

Pronounced; Eff Vey Volvortt.

[Bones McCoy]

If you can solve the staffing crisis by allowing unvaccinated staff.

Why not solve the GP crisis by letting anybody set up a practice.

[Boiler]

F. W. Woolworth

Pronounced; Eff Vey Volvortt.

As in the original American company, Kreuzy?

[Boiler]

If you can solve the staffing crisis by allowing unvaccinated staff.

Why not solve the GP crisis by letting anybody set up a practice.

Nonsensical false equivalence, Bones. Expected better of you.

[Bones McCoy]

If you can solve the staffing crisis by allowing unvaccinated staff.

Why not solve the GP crisis by letting anybody set up a practice.

Nonsensical false equivalence, Bones. Expected better of you.

I don't care what you expect Boiler, but if you're going to call false equivalence, at least make an effort to explain yourself.

[Boiler]

Bones, are you seriously equating unvaccinated NHS staff - from HCAs via midwives to consultants who've all worked through the pandemic until now - as being no better than a random off the street?

How do you think sacking >70,000 NHS workers will make the staffing crisis and the treatment backlogs any better?

[Bones McCoy]

Bones, are you seriously equating unvaccinated NHS staff - from HCAs via midwives to consultants who've all worked through the pandemic until now - as being no better than a random off the street?

How do you think sacking >70,000 NHS workers will make the staffing crisis and the treatment backlogs any better?

Thanks for clarifying Boiler.
My point was not specifically about the workers - I could certainly have been clearer about that.

I intended to highlight the target culture of managerialism, and how moving the goalposts is always the simple action.


This isn't a new thing, nor exclusively a Conservative trait.
But I do recall the Conservatives, with an obedient press pulling similar stunts around (Deep breath):
* Unemployment.
* Poverty.
* Education.
* Health Provision.
* Transport.
* Election Regulation.

I'm sure the forum can think of more examples.

[Boiler]

Likewise, thank you for clarifying, Bones.

[davidjay]

For light relief and reassurance follow this account.

https://twitter.com/sfinn80

[Boiler]

This is what bothers me about the "NHS100k" movement - I have sympathy for their general principle that they, like the population at large, should have a choice over vaccination (only today has Mark Drakeford said that he would not rule out unvaccinated NHS England staff applying for jobs in Wales, where there is no compulsory vaccination) but unfortunately they have attracted some very dubious fellow travellers.

I mean, if I was a normal, fit and healthy eleven stone individual rather than a walking NHS cash sink I doubt very much I'd have got vaccinated.

[davidjay]

This is what bothers me about the "NHS100k" movement - I have sympathy for their general principle that they, like the population at large, should have a choice over vaccination (only today has Mark Drakeford said that he would not rule out unvaccinated NHS England staff applying for jobs in Wales, where there is no compulsory vaccination) but unfortunately they have attracted some very dubious fellow travellers.

I mean, if I was a normal, fit and healthy eleven stone individual rather than a walking NHS cash sink I doubt very much I'd have got vaccinated.

With the greatest of respect, if you did that you'd be a pillock.

[RedSparrows]

I am a 'normal, somewhat fit and healthy twelve stone individual' and I bloody well got the vaccine.

[Boiler]

@davidjay, @RedSparrows you're both probably right: were I in the condition suggested I would probably have felt that on balance I wasn't at much risk and therefore not bothered - I only recommenced getting the flu jab after I was diagnosed as diabetic, previously I got it to protect Mrs. B from me getting it and passing it on to her but when she died I stopped for some years.

I would dearly love to know what it was I caught towards the very end of 2018 that had me coughing myself inside out and dripping with sweat at night for about five days, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Covid. Some other bastard respiratory thing, but what I'll never know. I do know I wouldn't want to get it again, mind.

[RedSparrows]

'Normal' flu and its close relations can be fecking awful at the best of times. Could have been summat like that.

[The All New KevS]

Flu is the best cure for manflu. Once you've had it, you learn the difference...