Category: Geography

I am going to leave it until Monday. At the moment the stats are generally down by 10%, but this is not enough to bring figures to levels where we can relax. I reckon about 80% reduction is needed, back to last Septembers figures. That means places like Cornwall having less than 20 / 100000, and then accepting the problems with cities, a graduation up to say 50 in cities like Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool.

Fascinating stuff. Apparently the first deaths in Europe were just 4 weeks after the first in Asia and then another 2 weeks to get to USA and another 2 to Africa.

I know we should be careful regarding the statistics for some African countries, but there does seem to have been an absence of the devastation caused in e.g. New York; Manaus, Brazil and Peru where bodies were stacked up. Why this should be is a puzzle? Why should countries with advanced medical services struggle most? Is it a societal thing – the ‘Robin Hood Syndrome’. There is probably more interaction between individuals in the west? But surely not true for the Far East? (e.g.Japan). I guess the reasons for differences between countries will be studied for years!

Minority groups, whether strict Jews in Israel or BAME communities in this country have certain things in common. Firstly they have a higher death rate from Covid (social and economic reasons?), and they are less likely to take up the vaccines offered. T~his last one is more difficult to understand – especially when we read of health workers refusing the vaccine. What is it, no I will start that sentence again, How sad that these communities have so lost faith in the government.

Many a true word said in jest! For many years I took sixth form students to Pembroke and part of the weeks entertainment was a river study on the Preseli Mts. where the bluestones for Stonehenge come from. I regularly joked that Stonehenge was originally sited there and the English whilst on holiday rather took a fancy to it and nicked it! Apparently this is now an accepted theory (well the bit about it being originally constructed there.!! Guardian article

Nothing to crow about. Numbers in Essex and IoW have fallen steeply but are still way too high.