Current Affairs

[barney]

Your garden set would come from China so it’s very unlikely that Brexit was involved, but convenient for those who still cannot accept the result.

[towny44]

Your garden set would come from China so it’s very unlikely that Brexit was involved, but convenient for those who still cannot accept the result.

My oak dining table and chairs came from Indonesia, when Ordered in mid May I was told they expected stock in by 5th July and delivery to us would be 5-7days later. After being kept informed about the shipments progress regularly it eventually arrived with them on 9th July and was delivered to me last Monday 16th July. That seemed excellent forward planning by my supplier, Brexit, Covid and Suez delays notwithstanding.

[Gill W]

Your garden set would come from China so it’s very unlikely that Brexit was involved, but convenient for those who still cannot accept the result.

It’s what the retailer told me, so perhaps they didn’t accept the result

[towny44]

Your garden set would come from China so it’s very unlikely that Brexit was involved, but convenient for those who still cannot accept the result.

It’s what the retailer told me, so perhaps they didn’t accept the result

Do you accept what your suppliers tell you to excuse their inefficiencies about everything Gill, you must be a soft touch?

[Mervyn and Trish]

Very odd to quote Brexit and the Suez Canal. I wonder what percentage of goods from the EU are transported here via the Suez Canal? Very odd routing unless my O Level geography is amiss.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I’ve never used Zoe, so I’m not including that, but I understand that their figures are now going up, after a period of going down. Which seems at odds with the other information

We use Zoe every day and figures for our area have been going down for more than a week, entirely in line with other information.

[Kendhni]

Whilst I would have liked to see face masks made compulsory, I can see why the government are avoiding doing this as they want those eligible for the jab to either have it or get infected…either works for herd immunity.

Johnson has the same attitude as Lord Farquaad

"Some of you may die but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make"

[david63]

There has been an issue with garden furniture for over 12 months - I know I wanted some last year.

The first problem is Covid related but nothing to do with "pingdemic" it is due to basic supply and demand due to many being at home more and the weather being conducive to outdoor living. This situation has been exacerbated by the Suez problem as 99% of these products come from China.

Earlier this year we were in our local garden centre and the salesman was saying that delivery of any garden furniture would be at least four to six months.

[david63]

England’s R is estimated at 1.2 - 1.4. That tells us that the wave is still growing, but the rate of growth is not accelerating, which is positive.

That is not what was reported. Yesterday's report stated that the R rate had not increased so my conclusion is that the rate is not currently growing but, maybe, starting to flatline and hopefully start falling.

[Gill W]

Do you accept what your suppliers tell you to excuse their inefficiencies about everything Gill, you must be a soft touch?

As I saw this report a few days after they had contacted me ……

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/04/b ... shoppers/

…… I accept that they were being truthful.

Also when I eventually asked for a refund as I didn’t want to wait any longer, I got the refund on my card 3 days later, I have no qualms about their efficiency either.

Very odd to quote Brexit and the Suez Canal. I wonder what percentage of goods from the EU are transported here via the Suez Canal? Very odd routing unless my O Level geography is amiss.

See Which report above.

We use Zoe every day and figures for our area have been going down for more than a week, entirely in line with other information.

I was told the Zoe data for the country as a whole showed increases?

That is not what was reported. Yesterday's report stated that the R rate had not increased so my conclusion is that the rate is not currently growing but, maybe, starting to flatline and hopefully start falling.

Any R over 1 means that the pandemic is growing.

Every one person infects between 1.2 to 1.4 other people. So the pandemic still grows. As the R didn’t increase, it means that the rate of infections didn’t increase.

[Onelife]

Whilst I would have liked to see face masks made compulsory, I can see why the government are avoiding doing this as they want those eligible for the jab to either have it or get infected…either works for herd immunity.

Johnson has the same attitude as Lord Farquaad

"Some of you may die but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make"

He certainly displays some of those characteristics Ken but I’m not going to allow my dislike of him to skew my belief that we have now reached the point of…” For the greater Good” irrespective of the sacrifices its going to take to get there.

Lets hope this gamble pays off.

[oldbluefox]

I think he's taken the attitude we have a vaccine and provided the means to get it and we have issued guidance on how to move forward. If you ignore the vaccine and the guidance on your own head be it.
I see where ITUs are now filling up with Covid patients and none have been vaccinated. (As reported on the local news last night).

[Quizzical Bob]

Very odd to quote Brexit and the Suez Canal. I wonder what percentage of goods from the EU are transported here via the Suez Canal? Very odd routing unless my O Level geography is amiss.

Anything from China would come through the Suez Canal before arriving in the EU. The large container ships then have their cargoes taken off and redistributed by smaller ships and other methods.

[towny44]

Any R over 1 means that the pandemic is growing.

Every one person infects between 1.2 to 1.4 other people. So the pandemic still grows. As the R didn’t increase, it means that the rate of infections didn’t increase.

If the R rate is above 1, and your assumption is correct, how do you account for this last weeks reduction in positive tests?

[david63]

Every one person infects between 1.2 to 1.4 other people. So the pandemic still grows. As the R didn’t increase, it means that the rate of infections didn’t increase.

Is that not contradictory? How can the pandemic grow if the rate of infections positive tests is not increasing?

[Kendhni]

Me thinks there is a bit of hair splitting going on

[Manoverboard]

I have just read about the paper based form filling fiasco involved for M&S to transport a consignment of Chicken Tikka Masala from their supplying factory in Newport, Wales, to a M&S branch in Dublin. Pre Brexit it went via Crewe and then onward in a ferry to the Republic.

Presently it is going from Wales to Motherwell in Scotland, then to Northern Ireland and hopefully on to Dublin. Along the way there are umpteen checks including a signed confirmation by a vet that the chicken was reared in a humane environment and is not in any discomfort. The chicken has actually been slaughtered, marinated and cooked but that detail seems to have been overlooked. These procedures are paper based and take for ever to check of course but it seems that on arrival in Northern Ireland an official rejected a load because the vet's signature was in the same colour as the printed form. To cut a long story short the ready meals were returned to Scotland and most were donated to a charity one day prior to the best before date.

This may help to explain why Supermarket shelves are sometimes empty, also why we voted for Brexit of course as most of these stupid procedures are an EU requirements.

[Gill W]

[quote="Gill W" post_id=3057
If the R rate is above 1, and your assumption is correct, how do you account for this last weeks reduction in positive tests?

It’s not an assumption - it’s how it works. R above 1 - people with Covid are infecting more than one other person - cases increase. R below 1 - people with Covid infect less than one other person - cases decrease.

Regarding positive tests. Everybody on this forum likes to say that ‘we test more, so we find more cases’. This week the amount of tests carried out fell, so perhaps the logic is we simply found less cases. The positivity rate of tests carried out is increasing, so it suggests that there are cases out there to be ‘found’

The Zoe app, trusted on here, currently puts the figure of new infections at 62274, which is considerably more than the government figures. I did speculate on your weekly report ( which I’m not sure if you’ve actually read) that people may not be coming forward for testing. I also said that the figures are currently fairly mixed and it difficult to draw any firm conclusions.

Is that not contradictory? How can the pandemic grow if the rate of infections positive tests is not increasing?

. See above

[david63]

I fully understand how the R rate works thank you. Incidentally it is not possible to infect less than one person.

[oldbluefox]

That is not what was reported. Yesterday's report stated that the R rate had not increased so my conclusion is that the rate is not currently growing but, maybe, starting to flatline and hopefully start falling.

Seems pretty straightforward to me. Not sure why that statement is being queried.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I think the short answer is that if the actual figures don't support someone's back of an envelope predictions they'll search for any reason to explain why it's not good news.

[Quizzical Bob]

[quote="Gill W" post_id=3057
If the R rate is above 1, and your assumption is correct, how do you account for this last weeks reduction in positive tests?

It’s not an assumption - it’s how it works. R above 1 - people with Covid are infecting more than one other person - cases increase. R below 1 - people with Covid infect less than one other person - cases decrease.

Regarding positive tests. Everybody on this forum likes to say that ‘we test more, so we find more cases’. This week the amount of tests carried out fell, so perhaps the logic is we simply found less cases. The positivity rate of tests carried out is increasing, so it suggests that there are cases out there to be ‘found’

The Zoe app, trusted on here, currently puts the figure of new infections at 62274, which is considerably more than the government figures. I did speculate on your weekly report ( which I’m not sure if you’ve actually read) that people may not be coming forward for testing. I also said that the figures are currently fairly mixed and it difficult to draw any firm conclusions.

Is that not contradictory? How can the pandemic grow if the rate of infections positive tests is not increasing?

. See above

It was ever thus so.

[Quizzical Bob]

I fully understand how the R rate works thank you. Incidentally it is not possible to infect less than one person.

The R rate is a very crude and simplistic way of looking at things. For some people R will be 80. For others it will be zero. In Glasgow it might be 3 but in Anglesey it might be negligible. I know that some people find it interesting but the only number that matters is hospitalisations and ultimately, deaths.

[oldbluefox]

As one who has never mentioned anything about testing more thus finding more cases can somebody tell me who this 'everybody' is.
Also since I had never heard about Zoe until Merv mentioned it who decided it was so trusted?
Or is this just an exaggeration?

[Manoverboard]

Our Canadian chums have a cat called Zoe, I checked and it's not her.