[Boiler]

No doubt this will get pounced upon by the deniers and sceptics:

Alcohol deaths highest for 20 years in England and Wales

Last year, around 80% of those deaths were from alcoholic liver disease, 10% from mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol use and 6% from accidental poisoning by exposure to alcohol.

So, long-term conditions then.

The UK had some of the highest levels of alcohol-related harms in Europe even before last year's lockdown.

[Nigredo]

No doubt this will get pounced upon by the deniers and sceptics:

Alcohol deaths highest for 20 years in England and Wales

Last year, around 80% of those deaths were from alcoholic liver disease, 10% from mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol use and 6% from accidental poisoning by exposure to alcohol.

So, long-term conditions then.

The UK had some of the highest levels of alcohol-related harms in Europe even before last year's lockdown.

This reminds me of when the Anarkiddie in my group chat went off the deep end and posted a rant about how because heart disease kills more men on average than COVID, we should ban burgers and the failure to do so would signify that COVID deaths count more and allow adults to be treated as children and children treated as dogs.

[Boiler]

So... I approached my GP surgery today, blind as a bat because diabetic retinopathy screening AND THE SUN WAS OUT to see if I could change my vaccination appointment.

Was flatly told "nothing to do with us - ring 119". My comment of "is this where the buck passing starts?" wasn't appreciated.

Get home, ring 119. Very helpful young woman, who brought up my details and said "oh sorry, we only handle AstraZeneca appointments and you've had Pfizer."

"I was told by my practice they don't handle this and to call you."

"They're wrong."

So I rung the practice up. As luck would have it, I got the helpful person on duty and I've now got an appointment a day earlier, when I'm not working.

Hoo-bloody-ray.

[Boiler]

Proving that there is no cure for stupid...

https://www.vice.com/en/article/88nnwg/ ... vaccinated

A conspiracy ripping through the anti-vax world may finally drive some anti-maskers to do the unthinkable: wear a mask and keep their distance.

The conspiracy—which comes in several shapes and sizes—more or less says the vaccinated will “shed” certain proteins onto the unvaccinated who will then suffer adverse effects. The main worry is the “shedding” will cause irregular menstruation, infertility, and miscarriages. The entirely baseless idea is a key cog in a larger conspiracy that COVID-19 was a ploy to depopulate the world, and the vaccine is what will cull the masses.

Nevertheless, the conspiracy is picking up steam. Recently a private school in Miami went so far as to ban vaccinated teachers from interacting with unvaccinated students.

Proof, were it needed, that all the fucking nutters really do gravitate to Florida.

[MisterMuncher]

I think it has a heady mix of the people smart enough to escape other southern states, but too fucking stupid for the rest of the coast.

Really stupid and really smart people aren't dangerous. It's the buggers that have just enough brains to be dangerous you have to watch for.

[Andy McDandy]

Florida also has lots of local newspapers and rather more lax rules about reporting, so they get filled up with weird and wacky stuff. So, not necessarily more weird shit happening there than in other places, but more weird shit gets reported.

[Boiler]

It seems that a public enquiry into HMG's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic is to be set up in 2022:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57088314

So, on the basis of previous enquiries into Government, how many tins of whitewash will be needed for this one?

[RandomElement]

So... I approached my GP surgery today, blind as a bat because diabetic retinopathy screening AND THE SUN WAS OUT to see if I could change my vaccination appointment.

Was flatly told "nothing to do with us - ring 119". My comment of "is this where the buck passing starts?" wasn't appreciated.

Get home, ring 119. Very helpful young woman, who brought up my details and said "oh sorry, we only handle AstraZeneca appointments and you've had Pfizer."

"I was told by my practice they don't handle this and to call you."

"They're wrong."

So I rung the practice up. As luck would have it, I got the helpful person on duty and I've now got an appointment a day earlier, when I'm not working.

Hoo-bloody-ray.

A friend of mine has diabetes and has had swelling on his legs.
Initially he had a telephone consultation with the GP. He sent the GP some photos and the GP sees the photos and then wants to see my friend in person and to book an appointment.
He's going to the surgery anyway (incidentally to get a Covid vaccination) and asks the receptionist if he can make an appointment. Receptionist says no, he needs to do it online. So my friend tries to make an appointment online, but with no luck. He then tries to phone the surgery several times before getting through. When he gets through the person answering says the online system isn't working and then books an appointment.

[Boiler]

If this pandemic is illustrating anything, it's how shambolic GP practices are run.

They seem to have become fortresses.

(as I write this, I'm having my 15-minute post-vaccination wait.)

[kreuzberger]

Oh yes!

[mattomac]

It seems that a public enquiry into HMG's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic is to be set up in 2022:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57088314

So, on the basis of previous enquiries into Government, how many tins of whitewash will be needed for this one?

That or Johnson has confirmed his date of departure.... assume it will run for a year so some time around earlier 2023.

[RedSparrows]

I am jabbed. Cheers, intellectuals, bureaucrats and volunteers.

[Boiler]

Enquiries take longer than this though; two years minimum. Didn't one take seven years to come to fruition?

[Boiler]

Oh yes!

Meanwhile, the BBC reports that French doctors are chucking away OAZ vaccine because no-one wants it.

[Bones McCoy]

Enquiries take longer than this though; two years minimum. Didn't one take seven years to come to fruition?

Maybe they've already written the conclusion.

[Samanfur]

Booked to get Pfizered. Cheers to those pesky intellectuals and experts, who reckoned that there was enough data to clear the vaccine for pregnant folk to use.

[kreuzberger]

Oh yes!

Meanwhile, the BBC reports that French doctors are chucking away OAZ vaccine because no-one wants it.

Is this being backed up by any reputable news outlets?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

They aren't. They are offering it to younger people.

[Boiler]

https://www.connexionfrance.com/French- ... -in-France

[Boiler]

They aren't. They are offering it to younger people.

It'd help if the HAS had some semblance of sense over its rules as to who can have it, contrary to the EMA advice.

No wonder France is still in a mess - average of 20,000 new cases a day, I believe? About 130 deaths a day?