Whitey Grandad

Schengen has never been a completely open door. After three months they can come and send you back if you don’t meet the conditions. Britain has never enforced this.

Not the same. Incomers are unknowns. Locals have been through weeks of a form of quarantine.

I'm not saying that we should all be allowed to do likewise, but whilst the police are out persecuting motorists there is plenty of other stuff going on that is far more virus-friendly.

Not in my house I don't

And anybody can wander in from a virus hotspot without even being tested let alone quarantined.

If it hadn’t been reported then we would never have known about it. And nobody would have been infected.

Yes, it’s all a question of risk. In the grand scheme of things nothing like as bad as holding a house party for all your juvenile mates in Manchester. I am not condoning their action, just saying that the penalty was over the top.

And how exactly would they do that? And what is the difference between a 200 mile or a 2 mile trip?

It doesn’t sit right with me either. A stern warning would have been sufficient plus public shaming and humiliation.

That would have been fun. Just imagine the whole of Div 1 getting promoted.

I may be obsessing about this but... shouldn't it be OCD?

The giant Union Flag was painted in 1977 for the Queen's silver jubilee. I remember it being painted and I always thought it was for the "I'm Backing Britain Campaign". I'm sitting right now in my factory unit at Hamble just off Ensign Way. This area west of Hamble Lane used to be an airfield, Hamble South airfield to be precise. The factory here used to build the 'Armstrong Whitworth Ensign' hence the name of the road 'Ensign Way'. At the bottom of this road there is still a concrete slipway which was originally built to launch and retrieve seaplanes. When I bought the unit in 1990 there was an old shed/hangar down by the shore, now gone. http://www.hamblehistory.org.uk/community/hamble-local-history-society-12978/hambles-airfields/ In the graveyard of Hamble church (The Priory Church of St Andrew the Apostle) is the grave of Alliott Verdon Roe, founder in 1910 of the Avro Aircraft company and later (I believe) the Vero range of companies. Roy Chadwick used to work here too. He was the designer of the Avro504K, the Lancaster and what was to become the Vulcan. There is a blue plaque at 38 Chessel Avenue in Bitterne where he lived from 1922-29. http://roychadwick.com/ We must also mention of course RJ Mitchell who lived at 2 Russell Place, Portswood whilst working at Woolston and later at what are now the IBM laboratories at Hursley. He also has a blue plaque. He previously lived at Radstock Road, Woolston. http://sotonopedia.wikidot.com/page-browse:mitchell-reginald-j This sotonopedia looks interesting. I might have a browse later tonight.

Just a gentle reminder to any smokers that you are at greater risk. The Chinese report says up to fourteen times greater risk but there are other factors. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smokers-at-greater-risk-of-severe-respiratory-disease-from-covid-19 https://journals.lww.com/cmj/Abstract/publishahead/Analysis_of_factors_associated_with_disease.99363.aspx

Griffon Hoverwork are still at Woolston. I remember being on a Red Funnel ferry going past Calshot at low tide when a hovercraft on its way to Cowes just cut across the mudflats. It didn't seem natural. https://www.griffonhoverwork.com/

Yes, me too. It is in The Times this morning. There is a paywall but those interested may have some success by searching for this headline: “Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse: It’s not about being first – we must protect jobs“

It’s just a small point but the employees will still pay PAYE and NI on these subsidies.

Well, not so much a joke. Carrie Symonds has joined him at Chequers from their flat in London.

The evidence that there is suggests that he caught the disease at a meeting of COBRA and Neil Ferguson is the likely suspect. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/covid-19-coronavirus-westminster-uk-pm-health-secretary

This is where you are mistaken. There is a lot of petty empire-building within this government. Duncan Selbie as the founder and chief executive of Public Health England for eexample. He jealously protects his personal empire.

I was thinking of house parties an social barbecues. "Police shut down 494 house parties in four days in Greater Manchester" DJs, bouncy castles, fireworks? https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-police-shut-down-494-house-parties-in-four-days-in-greater-manchester-11971032

Because sunbathing is never going to involve catching the disease or passing it on to another. It’s also good for your vitamin D.

The government chose which advisers to follow. Prof Neil Ferguson of Imperial College has a very patchy history and is widely criticised. His handling of the foot and mouth epidemic led to the unnecessary slaughter of over 6 million animals. Now we are slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Britons. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8164121/Professor-predicted-500-000-Britons-die-coronavirus-accused-having-patchy-record.html

It’s not keeping the streets empty that’s the problem. It’s stopping domestic social gatherings of people from different households. The lack of PPE is due to the insistence on central purchasing.

It’s not that easy to manage the death rate by regulating the lockdown but even if we could sustain it within the NHS capabilities we would be looking at many more months of this. I reckon we’ve got three more weeks at least.

Yes, definitely a need but the schools aren’t open on weekends or bank holidays and the need is still there. The lockdown arrangements have to take account of this.