Rumor has it Mike Ashley actually wanted to keep Newcastle United playing to entertain us during these troubling times. Until someone informed him watching Newcastle United actually hurts more than helps.

He’s still lying though isn’t he, on the amount of testing kits available

Just tell the fucking truth, it’s not an election campaign

"Prime minister have you got a grip of the crisis"ffs.shouts a reporter ..or was it you in the background Talbot?

Is he lying what proof have you of this?

Also can I ask what you mean by the “kits” for testing? Which part? Spreading this crap when you probably don’t have the first idea of any of the process and if / what the delay is doesn’t really help.

To be fair it’s pretty common terminology at the moment ‘testing kits’ the Prime Minster used it a lot in his briefing last night, America have conceded that they don’t have enough testing kits.

It’s all over the news that a home testing kit could be available in days in the UK.

This is what annoys me just because you have a kit to take the sample at home it doesn’t speed anything up to get a result. All this is being done at pace in the background. UK have done more testing samples than any other country in Europe per population and are going to get to 100,000 samples a day soon and then increase to 250,000. The shortage they are talking about is reagents and machines to do the testing which I get but the main company doing this is going to produce reagents fir 5million “kits” a week by the middle of next month. Once the MK hub is set up and other this will minimise the sampling needed to be done on front line by NHS Trusts and they can just do their staff.

They're talking about home testing kits that indicate whether you've already had the virus not just sampling kits. It is a different test entirely from the type needed to tell if you have the virus. As is usual at the moment the confusion on this is coming from the top and it seems unlikely that this is an accident. These home testing kits won't be any real use in hospitals but saying that millions will be available soon blurs the lines on whether the tests needed in hospitals will be there or not.

Yet more doublespeak from the government.

I hope someone is keeping a track of the contradictory stuff they're coming out with.

FFS I think people need to take a look at the country without politically filtered lenses in their glasses. Less political more analytical.

Happy to read your entirely apolitical analysis of the current situation if you can provide one.

I think I will leave the analysis to the scientists. Boris has has handled this very well. More help to come for the self employed too. His staged approach to restrictions imposed on society was clever. It factored in isolation fatigue which is what the Italians are encountering now.

What I don't get is how the Chinese can claim victory over a virus while they still have a massive population still unexposed to it. Surely when they end their lockdown, the disease will spread through them too. The virus not going to go away. We share a world with it now and all of us will end up having it at some point. I guess the vaccine is the key.

The governments advisory committee seems to have some very qualified and credible people on board. Seems like a totally appropriate thing for them to do, gather together experts. The evidence of isolation fatigue comes directly from previous pandemics. Of course it's easier to shoot down ideas from afar. It's a bit different when you find yourself in the hot seat. Out strikes me that Comrade Corbyn could have gone down exactly the same avenue and there'd be a lot more positive responses on here.

As for herd immunity... it is a REAL thing, and it's going to be one of the things we rely on as part of our exit strategy. The 'flatten the curve' model is totally based on logic, slowing the (inevitable) spread to keep NHS demand sub capacity all the way through. The vulnerable need to be protected and there needs to be a safe world for them to reemerge into. Nobody has a strategy for that yet not even the Chinese. You can guess what will happen when their lockdown is ended and their swathes of uninfected are unleashed into a world where covid-19 is here to stay.

OK, so asking for less politics and more analysis roughly translates into less criticism of Boris and more blind acceptance that whatever the government claim is the science is the only true science. Might as well just give Boris a white coat and then ban anything short of complete obedience.

lets all become disciples of Boris. In Boris we believe. One true god.

You couldnt make that shit up.

And this is just absolutely marvellous isn't it?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52052694

Nice reliable source.

Think it is fair to say that in recent years the BBC has been desperate not to offend the Tories. If it is critical of the government and it makes it onto a BBC platform there is every chance that it is true.

I i think there it's plenty of evidence to the contrary. The BEEB is left leaning. At least it's presented most certainly are. It also cannot be relied upon to be factually correct. It's coverage of this crisis has been irresponsible at best too.

Rather watch Al Jazeera.

So these accusations are coming from opposition politicians? That's news?

Why are you even talking about politics at a time like this?

It’s not really time for toeing the party line is it?

Take your head out of the sand.

‘Comrade Corbyn’ fought tooth and nail against the NHS cuts continually, the Tories actualLy cheered for it

On an average night from July to September in 2010, there were c. 141,500 beds across the English NHS. During the same period last year there were c. 129,500: a fall of about 12,000.
So we' need to open another two of those massive temporary #NHSNightingale hospitals just to make up for the Tories cuts.

https://fullfact.org/health/number-nhs- ... as-fallen/

Also ask yourself this, why is the government ignoring help from ventilation manufactures and handing the contracts to their two biggest Brexit campaign supporters

I don’t want anyone to die unnecessarily, does anyone?, however there are a lot of people, sadly, who are going to find out just how hard it is on UC and a stripped bare NHS, police and social services, there’s no forty inch televisions, holidays abroad

Fuck me

It must be reassuring to have such a simplistic view of the world. Everything conservative = bad, eveything Labour = good. Thankfully there are folks out there who take time to appreciate the gray areas. I didn't vote for either party by the way.

It's not that simple Mr Imp, the Tories have absolutely kicked the shit out of the NHS for the last 10 years. Blair/Brown started the shoving, but Johnson and his cronies stamped on its head when it was unconscious.

And they are mangling the fuck out of this crisis, so many times they have taken the wrong course of action and not communicated things clearly enough.

They really don't give a fuck about the likes of me and you even if you are fighting their wars for them, making them money, or mopping up social situations.

Things need to change, hopefully this will be the catalyst. Trump is steering the USA into an abyss they are unlikely to recover from, and people are finally waking up to the way the system is geared against them in this country and many others.

Sorry Mr Pin but you've been smoking some seriously funny fags if you believe that. Boris is coming out of this extremely well, as indeed is the new chancellor.

Corbyn has gone and good riddance. We'll see who takes soon enough but if its Long Bailey then Labour will disintegrate and may never hold power ever again. I suspect we'll see a new SDP coming out of the ashes but Boris in in there for another two election victories.

I suppose if all of this started on March 12th ‘Boris’ would be coming out of this quite well and he wouldn’t be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people because be listened to his evil ‘genius’ mate Cummings.

Are you seriously trolling on this subject? Honestly?

PJ, just remember you predicted a hung parliament and I said Boris by 80 seats.

People are dying at an increasing rate daily. Who gives a fuck seriously?

I have to say no one on this board wanted to knock the tories more than me but in my area and how they have responded to this has been brilliant. They have responded quicker and better than other governments and I know as I am in a Europe and worldwide team.

Thats was before Nigel Farage pulled out of the election.

I wonder how many of the five million self employed, myself included, will vote for him when this is done

It’s fucking contemptible we won’t get any real help until the end of June

Mind you, a lot did vote for him, especially in the north east east, believing the horse shite peddled by the press that life on UC was a fucking doss and everybody had a 90” TV

In your field perhaps, then NHS still are lacking then kit they need, ‘losing’ emails doesn’t particularly help, does it?

To be fair, Farage appears to be one of the go to experts on Epidemiology, along with Tim Martin, I mean you can’t get it in his pubs, so why not move the ICU’s there?

[quote="poolieinnottingham"]

And they are mangling the fuck out of this crisis, so many times they have taken the wrong course of action and not communicated things clearly enough.

politicians apart from those working in the field in an earlier life are not medical experts. they know as much as we do. all they are doing is repeating what experts have told them. its the experts they have chosen are the ones to knock and not politicians or prime ministers. best to keep our powder dry till this virus ends to have a go at the tories and boris.

Boris has Coronavirus...

#thedafttwatprobablyregretsshakinghandsnow

Access to a testing kit right away though. If I had mild symptoms I'd phone 111 and be told to fuck off home for 2 weeks.

Imagine if experts, like the group who helped eradicate Polio, stopped the spread of SARS and Ebola said, oh I don’t know, don’t shake hands and keep you distance to avoid transmitting the virus and you did did the polar opposite?

Would that
A be pretty good
B Very fucking stupid

Anyone else think this might be the perfect dead cat?

It's not like Boris doesn't have form for making lots of shit up

It wouldnt surprise me at all. And Johnson can have a week off now.

Your sick

Poolie nott

No Boris is. And now Matt Hancock too.

I detest Johnson as much as the next man but I would never wish illness on him, obviously hope he recovers well.

However, it's clear that this has been going round Westminster for some time now and very little has actually been done about it to contain the spread. Dr Neil Ferguson tested positive 9 days ago and even stated at the time that there's a lot of Covid-19 going round Westminster. The government is clearly failing to follow it's own advice. Yet another example of their lackadaisical attitude to their own measures and clouded messages to the public.

But according to some he's doing a tremendous job. Except the rise in deaths is 20% daily and we're tracking directly with Italy on rates of infection. Aye fucking sterling work.

Source for the pedants: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/infect ... d19-curve/

Seems herd immunity worked well for Bojo...
Nice to also see Harvey Weinstein has learnt that physical contact can have disadvantages

Eh?