Weston Super Saint

Lol

That's the spirit, very pioneering! Do you still read by candle light and post using an Amstrad computer or have you accepted that some things can be better than the originals. It's a good job you're a yoghurt knitter and not a scientist as we'd have no chance of progressing

So 9 days before it's needed then?

A trade mechanism WILL be in place though. You / me and the lady next door may not like trading on WTO terms, but that doesn't mean the mechanism won't exist... What Hancock said will not affect future imports from Belgium in any shape or form.

I agree. He didn't need to claim that Brexit had a hand in the pace at which the vaccine was approved in the UK, however, there wasn't anything he said that wasn't true, but I guess that's more by luck than judgement as the medicine element of the transition period would have been agreed long before covid became known. Who knew, politicians like to trumpet things to suit their own agenda. It's shocked me to the core has that revelation.

That's not strictly what it is saying. Basically it says that until the end of December any vaccine that is developed in European countries can be licenced by the European Medicine Agency and that authorisation will automatically be valid in the UK. It also states that the UK has a seperate route for any vaccine it develops / tests by itself, which can be authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and doesn't also need to be certified by the EMA. I don't believe that authorisation will automatically be accepted by the EMA as they will still undertake their own 'rigorous' process. Had we not been subject to Brexit there would be no need for my second paragraph as we would be under the jurisdiction of the EMA alone. So, yes, technically, the reason why we can have the vaccine certified 'more quickly' is because we don't have to wait for the EMA to finish it's process (the UK certifies 'batches' of the vaccine, whilst the EMA certifies the entire process on the understanding that all future batches will be the same), which is a direct result of Brexit. I don't believe any other member states can approve their own vaccines as they all have to be approved by the EMA first, with individual members approving after that has happened....

Rule 1?

Looks like the 'firebreak' went really well in Wales. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55128305 Meanwhile my daughter and the rest of her year (Yr 11) has been sent home to isolate again. They've been back for a whopping week and today since their last 2 week isolation period. Another positive test from someone who was in school last Monday for the day and the whole year has been sent home

Awesome news for Santa's grottos and carol singers, still not good for the entire hospitality industry! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55123490

Medicine https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2022125

I don't think the CIA are military, which is probably why there hasn't been any reports of an outbreak of civil war in the US military...

Rice - and many more foodstuffs. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/25/food-brands-racist-mascots-sports-teams

Really? Protests in London on Friday 12th and Sat 13th June but they started on the 31st May. Colston's statue was toppled during a protest on 7th June. Lockdown was lifted on 23rd June : https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-announces-easing-of-lockdown-restrictions-23-june-2020

You keep telling yourself that

It's not my definition it's the definition of marinedevelopments.blog that I posted the other day. I believe they defined them as UK fishing vessels, but feel free to discover more... https://marinedevelopments.blog.gov.uk/2018/09/27/mmo-fisheries-statistics-2017-eez/

We seem to be forgetting or ignoring the fact that more than 80% of the fish caught by UK fishers are caught in UK waters. That doesn't leave a great deal to be tit-for-tatted about, especially given that most of the remaining 20% will be caught in international / non EU waters...

The industry seems to be reducing by a factor of ten every day 😳 Previously you've stated you've been following this thread, this post suggests you haven't 😉

That's the spirit, jump to conclusions as usual. I've not said it was for 30 years, I said it 'was' enough 'in the 80's'. To be honest, I don't think I've even considered Maradonna for more than about 10 minutes since 1987. Maybe the odd snigger when reading about his fall from grace over the years, hardly the xenophobia you've got a wet, sticky patch in your pants about.

Surely you can't have substance addiction without first having substance abuse? Anyways, he was Argentinian and he cheated in the 80's, that was enough for me to dislike him.

No way!

Money! Without Christmas and the excesses that it brings, most retailers and hospitality venues won't survive a normal year, let alone one with lockdowns. If Boris cancelled Christmas this year he would certainly be condemning many businesses to the scrap heap. At least this way he is giving them a glimmer of hope and some might make enough money to survive. Then there's the added bonus of tax revenue to swell Rishi's coffers a little. No coincidence that the second lockdown happened when it did (they could have waited at least a couple of weeks for most areas as hospitals weren't really under pressure if they had turfed out the 'non-covid' patients), so we are back up and running again just in time for the Christmas madness and shopping glutiny. The hospitality industry is still fucked though as Christmas parties will be a non event this year. They may make enough money with people deciding to 'do it themselves' and ignore the rules...

It is, just not in the public sector and certainly not during a global pandemic. I wonder why the government felt it necessary to legislate against the lengthy procurement process in March? https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/analysis/public-procurement-covid-19-pandemic

Yep, you're right, they should have undertaken a complete a thorough tender process during the global pandemic, it should be just about concluding by now and enabling us to place our first order for rubber gloves

Correct. I guess a lot of people have forgotten that these contracts were given during a global pandemic when every man and his dog were scrabbling around trying to get their hands on PPE etc. I guess these people don't understand the absolute rudimentaries of 'supply and demand' and the effect that has on price. No doubt these are also the same people who were baying for blood back in March, shouting at whoever would listen that the same Government weren't doing enough to source PPE.

Not sure what the issue is with this, apart from the crazy system we have in place that doesn't make any sense... His wife may have been informed by test and trace that she has to isolate as she is a 'contact' of someone who has tested positive, her husband is presumably not a contact of that person so won't have been informed to isolate. Not saying it makes sense, just pointing out that he was potentially not doing anything wrong. My daughter (and the rest of her year) was told to self isolate for two weeks because a kid in her year (that she has never even spoken to in nearly five years of secondary school) tested positive. Mrs WSS and I (and the parents of all the other kids in the year) were not told to isolate.