Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Gordon EF]

48 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

It’s not so much the having it on the phone and using it that bothers me. The point is what questions they ask to get the passport issued and what they then do with the data once pieced together. 

It may be that lots of agencies have bits of our data however they won’t all be sharing it between each other. Problems lie I. putting it all together to build a picture of the individual. Things like the passport can be the reason they say they need to gather or access data that they weren’t allowed to before.

That's a fair point. Whether it's a good, bad, or indifferent idea obviously depends pretty heavily on whether it's used as a trojan horse to do bad things. I'm not saying it definitely won't be, I just don't think it necessarily has to be.

[Dunning1874]

41 minutes ago, 101 said:

 

 

@Todd_is_God looks like the pair of us could get a gig advising the Government  24 hours after our discussion it looks to be govt policy.

I think Glastonbury have really made their call far too early, unless they need a capacity crowd to make it viable.

While I highly doubt any festivals will be happening this summer anyway - even in the unlikely event that the governments allow live music to be back in the form of normal gigs with no distancing by June, I don't think they're going to allow tens of thousands of mostly younger people to pile into fields and camp for days in generally unhygienic conditions before they've had two doses - Glastonbury don't really have a choice with the sheer size of their site.

While they all may have other reasons for cancelling much further in advance, in terms of site infrastructure alone a big festival like Reading & Leeds could probably make the decision whether to go ahead or not a month in advance, and something much smaller in capacity or non-camping like TRNSMT could be even shorter notice because they don't need to start building the site up until so close to the start of the festival.

Obviously they'd all make the decision much earlier than that anyway because of the impact on ticket sales, contracts with suppliers etc, but Glastonbury takes so long to build the site that even if they wanted to they don't have the option to wait until May to see what the state of restrictions is before deciding.

[peasy23]

A Dutch court has ruled that the current night-time curfew is illegal and has ordered the government to lift it with immediate effect.

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-netherlands-curfew-idUSS8N2JI05T

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

Boris has obviously U-turned on vaccine passports after realising that a billion pound contract for them can be awarded to Dido Harding Vaccine Passports Ltd.

[Todd_is_God]

15 minutes ago, ayrmad said:

I've thought it through fine unless you've always been ok with the idea of vaccine passports, if it comes to pass it'll be another wee boot in the baws for freedom of choice. 

If they mean I can live a normal life I really don't care. I'm certainly not worried about being tracked - I can check exactly where I was at any point from any day on Google Maps atm so i'm under no illusion that the UK Gov can't already do the same if they really want to.

Which is different from you being happy to sit spread out from your mates sipping a beer in a café bar on a Friday night because the government mandate you can't get too close to them.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Todd_is_God

[Monkey Tennis]

6 minutes ago, virginton said:

Answer the question please:

What, this one:  
"It only very clearly implies this if you are foolish enough to consider peer distraction the main cause of a student's inability to complete tasks. Are you that foolish?"

No, I'm not that foolish.  Obviously, I'm not, as the point I was making was in fact quite the opposite.

What did you mean then by your reference to peers and distraction?  Remember that it was in response to my observation about current arrangements being very different from normal summer holidays, in countering a claim you'd laughably supported.

[ayrmad]

Just now, Todd_is_God said:

If they mean I can live a normal life I really don't care. I'm certainly not worried about being tracked - I can check exactly where I was at any point from any day on Google Maps atm so i'm under no illusion that the UK Gov can't already do the same if they really want to.

Which is different from you being happy to sit spread out from your mates sipping a beer in a café bar because the government mandate you can't get too close to them.

You've no idea what I'm happy with, socialising with SD last year was certainly far better than doing no socialising. 

[Marshmallo]

47 minutes ago, ayrmad said:

I think if there are restrictions going forward we'll accept them with little more than a whimper, even if some would be unthinkable 6 months ago. 

This is sadly correct.

[Monkey Tennis]

41 minutes ago, renton said:

Suspect if it wasn't going ahead we'd have seen some government approved leaking to the press by now.

It sounded earlier this morning like it was indeed going ahead, although there are apparently some reservations in cabinet about it.

It's also suggested that some noises will be made about plans to admit all senior phase pupils to school at some point in the near future.  That's to be welcomed, but it would render the admitting of older pupils to practical subjects from this Monday, pointless and unnecessary.  

Ironically, the idea of doing so could scarcely be less practical.

[Thereisalight..]

1 hour ago, Gordon EF said:

It's a fair argument, but it's not the one I was responding to. Nobody will ever be forced to carry a vaccine passport. They'll only need it to do certain, non-essential, things.

There was talk it would be needed to enter shops. I’m pretty sure that falls into an essential thing 

[Todd_is_God]

10 minutes ago, ayrmad said:

You've no idea what I'm happy with, socialising with SD last year was certainly far better than doing no socialising. 

While anything is technically better than no socialising, the type of socialising allowed last year was absolute pish and should absolutely not be the blueprint for the future.

[Aufc]

Its nurseries and P1 to 3 that was the plan so you are surely expecting that already?

Or are you just menaing confirmation?

Yeah i knew they were talking about it but still want confirmation

[ayrmad]

4 minutes ago, Marshmallo said:

This is sadly correct.

Most of the things I've posted that are attracting lots of seethe about are correct, you can't polish a turd. 

[Burnieman]

Sigh....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-56082573?__twitter_impression=true

[ayrmad]

1 minute ago, Todd_is_God said:

While anything is technically better than no socialising, the type of socialising allowed last year was absolute pish and should absolutely not be the blueprint for the future.

We'll still take it if that's what they say is required, your view is in the minority on these islands atm. 

[vikingTON]

19 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

What, this one:  
"It only very clearly implies this if you are foolish enough to consider peer distraction the main cause of a student's inability to complete tasks. Are you that foolish?"

No, I'm not that foolish.  Obviously, I'm not, as the point I was making was in fact quite the opposite.

What did you mean then by your reference to peers and distraction?  Remember that it was in response to my observation about current arrangements being very different from normal summer holidays, in countering a claim you'd laughably supported.

Erm no it wasn't. Indeed you have previously stated the actual comparison being made right here:

1 hour ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Seriously, it's a wee bit embarrassing the way you're going on just now.

You haven't a clue how this plays out in reality.  Your comment about the presence of peers in a school environment, making constructive work less likely than can be managed under current remote learning arrangements, betrays a towering ignorance.

Summer holidays are irrelevant to what is being discussed now.

Rather than claiming that a school is a worse place for constructive work than remote learning from home, I am stating that both are significantly sub-optimal.

Children go to school and learn alongside 20+ other peers: any single one of them gets disengaged, acts up and distracts the class = not focused learning.

Children learn at home: get disengaged and act up in front of their parents = also not focused learning.

The myth being popularised right now is that children are significantly more disengaged because they are learning from home and are suffering from a bottomless ream of boredom, compared to an ordinary school day in February, in Scotland, which would of course be wall to wall fun and entertainment. The real difference is that the person currently responsible for putting up with their behaviour is now the parent rather than the state child-minder, which is why parents and not children are the ones absolutely desperate for schools to return.

Edited February 16, 2021 by vikingTON

[10menwent2mow]

You've no idea what I'm happy with, socialising with SD last year was certainly far better than doing no socialising. 

Herein lies the problem though. We are being constantly fed this narrative that last summer was brilliant and we should all be happy with that, apart from having to give up foreign travel.

Last summer was shit, another summer like it, will be shit. We couldn't get together in large groups, any sort of mass gathering was banned. Weddings still wouldn't be able to go ahead, no proper crowds at sporting events (the open, Wimbledon, Euros, British GP etc). We are essentially talking about Diet Lockdown. Apologies if people aren't shouting from the rooftops about the prospect of that.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

28 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

A Dutch court has ruled that the current night-time curfew is illegal and has ordered the government to lift it with immediate effect.

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-netherlands-curfew-idUSS8N2JI05T

I can see similar happening here when vaccines are further rolled out, particularly amongst sectors which are on the brink with strong lobbying. 

[Todd_is_God]

7 minutes ago, ayrmad said:

We'll still take it if that's what they say is required, your view is in the minority on these islands atm. 

Actually, we probably won't.

The novelty of going out for a pint wore off very quickly last year, and will do again this time around if it's the same.

People will just move to socialising at home, where arbitrary distancing requirements don't exist.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Todd_is_God

[NotThePars]

It's a fair point. It's one of these things though... is plan A good or bad? Well if plan A is used for bad purposes unrelated to the stated aim of plan A, then of course it's bad. If the vaccine passport app gently whispers Tory propaganda into your ear whilst you're sleeping then I'd agree it's a bad thing.

I would assume anything proposed by the Conservative Party that’s met with at least 40% approval in this country is Bad, on balance.