IntenseDebate - AndyTheScientist

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Coronavirus Count · 0 replies · +1 points

Germany is an outlier, its figures are fudged. They don't test people in the hospital once they are being treated, they only seem to be testing in the wider community. Hence their death rate is low, because they don't test the most likely to die, unlike the UK and Italy who are testing mostly people once they need hospitalisation.

All the world figures are very difficult to draw conclusions for. Similarly Japan on the face of it seem to have things under control, and low numbers, but socially people are stigmatised if they are tested so they don't go and get tested. The level of testing there is actually low, hence you can't believe their low counts. 6 days ago Japan had only tested 15000 people we had tested 64000.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Coronavirus Count · 0 replies · +1 points

Yep RT-PCR swab testing.

I just had the kit manufacturer on the phone and they could be supplying us with the 1500 tests a week we have the capacity for, granted the extraction part is harder to get hold of but we think we could get those too from discussions with Qiagen. But instead, we have an empty lab and staff at home. Crazy

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Coronavirus Count · 2 replies · +1 points

Sadly this crisis is highlighting one of the main problems with the NHS.

My company usually processes clinical samples for R&D of clinical diagnostics. All our clinical studies are halted so we have a large spare capacity for Covid-19 testing. We've offered to do it at NHS costs to expand their capacity, had virtually zero engagement from them. We're constantly told we need more capacity it's available but the NHS, as usual, thinks it can do it all itself.

The PHE never even phoned us back, the local NHS trust had had some engagement but they don't seem to have any urgency at all, despite the significant ramp-up times to get things swapped over.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Iain Dale: I'm asserti... · 0 replies · +1 points

My bet is that the department will be infinitesimally better now that calamity Phil is gone.

It also looks like Labours smear has fizzled out with no one having the guts to put their name to any of the allegations. Rather pathetic that civil servants who won't stand by allegations run to Labour with them where they know they will not be challenged.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Iain Dale: I'm asserti... · 0 replies · +1 points

Hang on a sec, the person in the department who sensationally got paid £25k after trying to commit suicide happened 2 weeks after Patel took over and had been an ongoing problem long before she arrived.

The rest of the allegations are anonymous and should be ignored until such time as they are prepared to stand by their tittle tattle.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Iain Dale: I'm asserti... · 2 replies · +1 points

The problem here is as Iain asks what is the definition of bullying. It appears to some people in these comments, repeatedly insisting a civil servant does what the government and electorate have asked them to do is now defined as bullying.

This guy was clearly hopeless, and a minister stating this in not bullying. We should not have to put up incompetent civil servants. The days of just moving them about should be over, it would not happen in any other industry.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Iain Dale: I'm asserti... · 2 replies · +1 points

For years the Home Office has been described as incompetent. From wind rush, to policing of so called hate crimes, the civil service has been and has to be at the heart of that criticism under government after government it has had failures.

As for your statement of the home office setting up a new immigration system in a year and supposed "most people" think it's not achievable. How is it not achievable to effectively port over a system which already exists for outside of the EU to everyone, with a couple of tweaks. It's hardly rocket science. Your just making excuses for civil service incompetence again.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Greg Hands: It’s tim... · 0 replies · +1 points

Green think around the globe are killing off the car industry pretty much everywhere.

Always makes me laugh how much the car industry is lauded as crucial when it comes to Brexit negociations by remoaners. Yet these same people in parliament waved through net zero in the death throws of Mays government without a second thought to the effect on the car industry.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - No Deal 2) Why I, a le... · 0 replies · +1 points

So far it's all posturing by both sides, let's see where we are in a months time.

There are certain things that the EU know we will never accept, such as commitment to align to new EU rules in the future and continued membership to CFP. They either know this and will be sacrificed in "negotiations" to resemble standard FTA agreements with no regression, mutual recognition etc. As for fish, EU countries will get acccess but just like Norways waters, that access will be decided and controlled by the UK.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Patrick Hall: Minister... · 1 reply · +1 points

Why do we always have to be world leaders?

Lets do what is good for the UK for a change.

The last green revolution lead to the export of 1000s of jobs to countries who didn't introduce the same punishment costs we did.

The same will happen again.

We should concentrate on developing green technologies the rest of the world wants to buy, rather than sacrificing our standard of living in the world biggest virtue signal.

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