Nothing to crow about. Numbers in Essex and IoW have fallen steeply but are still way too high.
DESKS
TRUMP AND TWITTER
My front garden
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder! Whilst many see a front lawn with straight parallel lines as a thing of wonder and order, I see it as a green desert, an insult to the diversity of nature. Uniform type of grass often sprayed with herbicides and fertilisers. To further insult the planet it needs to be cut every 2 weeks at least. I am not sure that there are many more boring and energy wasting activities than mowing a lawn using electricity or petrol. I wonder what the fossil fuel energy use is in this country.
Foggy – Hill has disappeared.
Wind trivia
Just get this bit out of the way – Farts
The Helm Wind (the only named wind in the UK) is a strong north-easterly wind hitting the southwest slopes of Cross Fell in Cumbria. When a wind blows at a constant speed and direction through a layer of stable air perpendicular to the ridge or peak of hills and mountains, the result is something called a lee wave.
COVID STATS 2 JAN 2021
Not looking good – and if pictures from NYE are anything to go by getting worse!
27.09 | 23.10 | 5.11 | 19.11 | 5.12 | 19.12 | 22.12 | 2.1 | ||
North Somerset | 31 | 79 | 177 | 304 | 142 | 134 | 153 | 188 | 256 |
Cornwall | 20 | 29 | 47 | 90 | 25 | 44 | 66 | 79 | 173 |
Bristol | 46 | 228 | 350 | 480 | 168 | 137 | 153 | 166 | 217 |
Chelmsford | 41 | 68 | 91 | 150 | 109 | 431 | 597 | 751 | 878 |
Exeter | 283 | 175 | 128 | 168 | 102 | 96 | 117 | 144 | 147 |
Braintree | 42 | 60 | 58 | 109 | 104 | 462 | 582 | 709 | 910 |
Plymouth | 30 | 116 | 150 | 225 | 63 | 72 | 92 | 107 | 219 |
IoW | 10 | 24 | 41 | 78 | 29 | 28 | 71 | 110 | 253 |
Liverpool | 516 | 568 | 330 | 276 | 97 | 103 | 138 | 171 | 242 |
Manchester | 458 | 466 | 372 | 175 | 175 | 173 | 196 | 208 | |
Sunderland | 274 | 297 | 309 | 412 | 161 | 151 | 155 | 176 | 267 |
Newcastle | 445 | 298 | 284 | 449 | 156 | 160 | 152 | 139 | 147 |
Swansea | 397 | 231 | 368 | 756 | 747 | 696 | 400 | ||
Cardiff | 301 | 156 | 247 | 629 | 678 | 684 | 460 | ||
Glasgow | 286 | 275 | 147 | 148 | 146 | 151 | 194 | ||
Aberdeen | 41 | 58 | 61 | 142 | 158 | 174 | 171 | ||
Belfast | 317 | 213 | 109 | 114 | 140 | 150 | 225 | ||
Newry | 199 | 118 | 113 | 218 | 244 | 236 | 256 | ||
Sandford | 82 | 106 | 201 | ||||||
W.Bodmin | 0 | 62 | 62 | ||||||
Lostwithiel | 55 | 99.8 | 190 |
Local figures show increase, I hesitate to say exponential, but they have doubled in actual number in last week. Cornwall figures seemed to take a hit from half-term holidays and the same for the Isle of Wight. What has happened in Essex in December? There must be an explanation better than a new variant on the virus. Was it Xmas shopping?
Why has the government. … an idea…… – why not get volunteers (young and foolish!) to wear gps monitors and follow them for a week. Monitor absolutely all their contacts and movements – they would not need to take risks, but maybe could be Uber drivers or delivery drivers – those who have no choice of isolating due to economic circumstances. This would be so much cheaper than the billions (I cannot believe the figure for test and trace is so high (and they called it NHS test and trace when the NHS were not allowed to participate – corrupt bastards!).
HIDE AND SEEK
Covid cases rising just about everywhere, New Years Eve is tomorrow – so at 6 a.m. the Health Secretary announced the new changes to tiers to ensure everyone had at least a little time to adapt. Except he didn’t. Brexit might be important to some, but life and death is considerably more important to most. So we might get an update on the tears (not a spelling mistake) later.
COVID -2020 – Education
Understanding is difficult. The bozo’s have imposed Tier 4 on over half the country (so far), so you cannot be in a room with more than one family member, but a teacher can spend all day in rooms with tens or hundreds of children. Many teachers are older or with other medical problems which make them vulnerable. But Gove says they must go to work – who does he thing he is General Haig? And this new variant does not seem to be less dangerous given the increase in deaths.
Yes there are huge mental and educational issues – unfortunately The DofE have no ability whatsoever! They have had nearly a year to come up with new exams and qualifications, but have come up with nothing. I have ideas, but a full debate should have been started months ago. The present system has been rubbish for years. But I guess the privileged in their private schools are protecting the status quo.