Yet again - the app is only part of the test and trace system. Most of the test and trace system is via traditional methods, which have been used for decades and are proven to work.

While I'm here I'd like to pay particular thanks to the beach/park goers over the weekend, and Black Lives Matter today, for doing their bit to extend the length of this pandemic. Good job folks. Edit - just seen the state of Bournemouth beach today, the mind boggles. Though I have to wonder why the councils aren't closing beaches bearing in mind public toilets are closed and people are doing their business on the beach and in the streets. Lovely.

As for the timing of lockdown, my view is it's at least fortnight too early. However, remember the government is receiving advice not only from epidemiologists, but from many other scientists in different fields, covering subjects such as mental health, and also taking the economy into consideration. Fact is, if lockdown continues for too long the economy is devastated. The government cannot prop things up forever and the gradual release has to take months. We have probably until the end of September to get through this before the damage becomes massive. If we see new peaks and new lockdown measures between now and then, all the problems so far will see like a holiday (which is what a lot of people think it is).

The enforcement of the lockdown should have been a damn sight tougher too. I'd like to have seen a zero tolerance approach and the army on the streets as a deterrent to allow the police more freedom to attend where needed. Problem is, we've built such a spoilt and entitled brattish society it just wouldn't be accepted - and I've heard many scientists across political spectrum admit this. It's clear that relying on the 'great' British public isn't enough.

However, all the modelling has a degree of fckwittery built in. Let's hope it's enough or we're back to square one in a few weeks and the economy is in REAL trouble.

What was it that Johnson said in regard to business?

https://www-independent-co-uk.cdn.amppr ... 56456.html

https://www-independent-co-uk.cdn.amppr ... 56456.html

Quote ="King Street Cat"What was it that Johnson said in regard to business?'" In addition to his infamous ‘f business’, it is interesting to see ‘Big businesses are often the enemy of the of the public interest’ in the original Vote Leave prospectus. www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/bri ... wdeal.html It is a fascinating (to me anyway) document. I doubt I would have recognised Cummings’ name or face at the time of the 2016 referendum, but I suspect he wrote the entire thing. It focuses very closely on the themes of his agenda: innovation, efficiency, adaptability and experimentation, and accelerating change. There’s a lot I could easily get on board with, in principle - while wondering about the naive optimism of some of the leaps. On the other hand, while the credit he claims for the Leave victory is perhaps justified in terms of the slogans, I reckon his obsessions are very much not those of the common or garden brexiteer. Indeed many of them would be instinctively against them, including the Farage-Francois types. His radical agenda won the day, sort of, but was underpinned by votes from a very conservative demographic - hence the struggle to construct a coherent plan for Brexit and post-Brexit Britain. While I think he would have still run up against the roadblock of reality, it’d have been interesting to see what he could have done with the support of competent people in power who shared his vision.

Quote ="King Street Cat"What was it that Johnson said in regard to business?'" In addition to his infamous ‘f business’, it is interesting to see ‘Big businesses are often the enemy of the of the public interest’ in the original Vote Leave prospectus. www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/bri ... wdeal.html It is a fascinating (to me anyway) document. I doubt I would have recognised Cummings’ name or face at the time of the 2016 referendum, but I suspect he wrote the entire thing. It focuses very closely on the themes of his agenda: innovation, efficiency, adaptability and experimentation, and accelerating change. There’s a lot I could easily get on board with, in principle - while wondering about the naive optimism of some of the leaps. On the other hand, while the credit he claims for the Leave victory is perhaps justified in terms of the slogans, I reckon his obsessions are very much not those of the common or garden brexiteer. Indeed many of them would be instinctively against them, including the Farage-Francois types. His radical agenda won the day, sort of, but was underpinned by votes from a very conservative demographic - hence the struggle to construct a coherent plan for Brexit and post-Brexit Britain. While I think he would have still run up against the roadblock of reality, it’d have been interesting to see what he could have done with the support of competent people in power who shared his vision.

There's no promised land. Well, there is for Johnson. Brexit was just his vehicle to get his turn in No. 10. A turn he believed was his birthright. He never really wanted to own Brexit. I'm pretty sure he'd rather be PM without all this deal or no deal nonsense. I think he'd take a double pandemic over Brexit negotiations! Especially when they are about making sure nobody is inconvenienced by the mess the silly sod has made along the way.

Let’s face it he will fall back onto his tried and tested method of just lying because he knows there are many gullible believers in the country. The Brexit disaster will be down to the cost of the pandemic. It will be interesting to see who recovers quicker from the recession US or the EU.