Bluewolf

I see Boris Johnson has been told to remain in hiding for longer until the testing questions have died down....

Take it easy mate and keep us updated... This is proper scary stuff for people, hope you start to get on the mend sooner rather than later

Frightening stuff... https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coronavirus/absolutely-wrong-how-uks-coronavirus-test-strategy-unravelled/ar-BB1234Od?ocid=spartanntp

I did 'just got out the shower with towel' near the window for a while but the police knocked and told me I had to stop as there were quite a few females clustering together outside each morning in jogging gear...

Thought this is a fairly decent gesture on bonuses for staff still going in to work in stores... Aldi: "Aldi has announced enhanced pay for its amazing colleagues, who have been working tirelessly throughout this extremely busy time. Store and distribution colleagues will receive a 10% bonus on hours worked, effective from 9 March 2020." Sainsbury's: "As a small thank you for all their efforts, we will be giving colleagues a payment of 10% of the hours they have worked since March 8. The 10% additional pay will be awarded in May to hourly paid colleagues in Sainsbury's and Argos retail, Sainsbury's transport and warehouse teams, Argos distribution and all Retail contact centres." Tesco: "Tesco will be giving a 10% bonus on the hourly rate for hours worked to colleagues across its stores, distribution centres and customer engagement centres. all permanent colleagues who are currently in work will receive the increased hourly pay rate till Friday 1 May, when we will review the situation." Asda: "There will be an extra week's pay in June to our colleagues in recognition of their extra efforts to protect the health of their colleagues who needed to step away during this time." Lidl: "Our teams are playing a crucial role in serving communities across the country and their incredible commitment and hard work is hugely appreciated. As a token of our gratitude, Lidl colleagues across the business are being given a £150 voucher each." Co-op: "It's important to reward our colleagues for working through these difficult times. That's why we've given them a bonus, money to spend and extra time off." Waitrose: "We are looking at a number of options to ensure we find a suitable way to recognise our partners who have shown incredible professionalism and dedication." M&S: "Our frontline colleagues across stores and supply chain who continue to work will receive an additional 15% pay reward in recognition of the work they are doing to support their teams and the national effort to help customers access the products they need during these unprecedented times." Morrisons: Waiting for a response from the company, but Morrisons staff have started a petition for a 10% bonus after staff say they were offered just 0.75%.

Only 2,000 NHS staff tested for coronavirus out of 1,300,000 workforce The government has confirmed that so far, only 2,000 NHS staff have been tested for coronavirus. To put that in context, there are 1.3 million full-time equivalent staff working for NHS England. This means that just over 0.15% of the NHS workforce has so far been tested for the virus that its workers are putting their lives at risk to treat. https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/01/2000-nhs-staff-tested-coronavirus-1300000-workforce-12492974/ Why the hell are we so far behind everyone else, This just so poor

Not that the Daily Mail is the best choice for reporting but interesting reading about testing kits going abroad... https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coronavirus/revealed-uk-firm-is-selling-coronavirus-testing-kits-to-eighty-countries-because-labs-here-can-t-cope-while-nhs-swabbing-stations-stand-deserted-in-britain/ar-BB11YR6O?ocid=spartanntp

That's what I meant by a different world of hurt, shutting it down stops those that really need to be going to work and I wonder how many of those people are doing essential jobs??? The only way ID would work though is to have every station entrance manned by troops who check each person before they travel and that would take a huge amount of manpower but would be a very good use of resources if it stopped people from being there if they didn't need to be... Also they could set up local temp housing or accommodation for Health Workers nearer the Hospitals and Clinics where they are working also reducing the need for travel perhaps... Either way you look at it it's a logistical nightmare and I appreciate that people doing that frontline work in Hospitals are probably only too grateful for getting some much needed shuteye in their own homes so local accommodation would not be for all given the length of time we are looking at here..

Why Asia’s New Wave of Virus Cases Should Worry the World https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coronavirus/why-asias-new-wave-of-virus-cases-should-worry-the-world/ar-BB120k99?ocid=spartanntp

Let's be honest when you see things like this it makes a mockery of the isolation rules.... To think that people get upset at seeing a few people out jogging or walking their dogs a full road width away from each other then you see this going on every single day... Shutting down London Transport is the only way to stop this but without it we are in a different world of hurt...

Looks like a good runner...

They tend to like the wild free yonder a bit... When I was up in Notts a workmate had one and no matter how hard he tried to secure his yard it always used to escape and run off, took hours to find it each time.. fun times

If they used their brains a bit and each one asked the question before that was not answered they would be pressured into giving an answer but because each set of journalists has their own different set of questions they only get one shot and if it's not answered then tough shit on us.. The Mr Bean of politics...

I do worry when the Government still can't answer a simple direct question from the press... Gove was just asked why it was that Germany are able to test 70,000 people a day and yet over here we are only managing roughly 10,000 and after bouncing it between 3 of them not one of them actually had an answer to that question and avoided it altogether.. this was despite just saying earlier that the NHS was in a strong position... I do hate politics and politicians art of ducking a direct question by dragging the conversation all round the houses until the point has been lost...

@nudge has already mentioned it but get yourself out for a bit of fresh air for an hour or so, early mornings are best if you want to avoid people but as long as you keep a sensible distance from others it should be fine, boring though it is I consider myself lucky in that regard, I am just as happy being on my own for long periods as I am having a house full.. not the same for some though I appreciate

That one on the left has to be an @MUFC mask surely???

Can't see how clubs could go any other way than to cut players wages, with nothing coming in from matchdays including merchandise, sales and then tv rights etc it will be unsustainable to keep paying out huge wages for players over the next 3 months or so for doing nothing until hopefully things can return to normal if that's at all possible.. Bayern and Dortmund have done the same thing as Barcelona I believe as well..

Didn't the Barcelona players all just agree to take a 70% wage cut to ensure that all non playing staff could still take home 100% of their pay??

I have noticed that people are doing their own masks in the absence of anything official, seen some people walking about with paintball ones on... It's all a bit Mad Max

Evening Standard A motorist offered a novel excuse for flouting coronavirus lockdown rules when confronted by police in Cardiff. Pulled over by patrol officers, the man argued his journey was "essential" because he "had to buy weed", police said.

It's interesting how some forces are dealing with the new powers they have been given and how some are overdoing it... Police chiefs are drawing up new guidance warning forces not to overreach their lockdown enforcement powers after withering criticism of controversial tactics to stop the spread of coronavirus, the Guardian has learned. The intervention comes amid growing concern that some forces are going beyond their legal powers to stop the spread of Covid-19, with one On Monday, former supreme court justice Lord Sumption said that excessive measures were in danger of turning Britain into a “police state”, singling out Derbyshire police – which deployed drones and dyed the Blue Lagoon near Buxton black to make it less appealing – for “trying to shame people in using their undoubted right to take exercise in the country and wrecking beauty spots in the fells”.issuing a summons to a household for shopping for non-essential items and another telling locals that exercise was “limited to an hour a day”. The Guardian has learned that the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and College of Policing are rushing through guidance reminding officers that despite politicians’ warnings they cannot bar people from going for a run or a drive. It will state that while certain actions such as driving to exercise may be unwise, they are not prohibited by the emergency powers, according to sources with knowledge of detailed discussions. It is also expected to conclude the law does not restrict people to exercising outside only once a day. Senior police commanders are understood to have been concerned over how the unprecedented powers were being implemented in their first few days by some forces, with Lancashire police issuing 123 enforcement notices since Thursday and Bedfordshire police issuing none. The guidance contrasts with local police actions that have ranged from Derbyshire Police filming dogwalkers in the Peak District with a drone to officers telling a shop to stop selling Easter eggs.

Can't deny the impact this is having on people must be huge especially those that are losing pay/jobs over it, One of my blokes came to me yesterday asking if it was possible if he could send a text on behalf of some of the people he was living with that were working at McDonalds and are now out of work and out of pocket to their landlord asking that the rent be scrapped.. You are right, it's a lot easier to not feel the full weight of this while you are still capable of bringing a wage to the table and covering your bills, I can't possibly imagine how much stress this must be causing people that have literally nothing or the bare bones coming in.. It's ok with the Government holding off paying bills for 3 months etc but what about food?? How the hell are people supposed to be getting food on the table for them and their families?? I am so grateful I can keep working and keep on top of them bills and have money to get stuff in.. Even if they have a hold on the bills and evictions for people for the next 3 months all that money will be owed and have to be paid back at some point... This virus has really fucked everybody and everything and changed the way we work, earn, think and live for the foreseeable future... All those things we were so used to having in our daily lives that kept us all sane and gave us something to look forward to are gone for the best part of this year at the very least...

Questioned on claims by government that "China will face a reckoning" once the coronavirus pandemic is over, Ms Whately said: "I've no doubt there will be lessons learnt across the whole world as to how we've handled the pandemic, but the important thing is to recognise that this is a global health emergency - it's not just a situation in the UK." If it was not so unfunny to keep hearing this line being trotted out every 4 to 6 months I would laugh....

Stay safe mate... How sad is that... sorry to hear that mate

Not all…. Strange as well in that one Tesco store close to us is operating that way yet the one that's just opened on the estate a few weeks ago is letting any amount in?? would have thought they would have one policy for all?? People are at least making the effort to stay apart and not being silly about it... On another note I was catching up with a few friends and found out my mate in Nottingham is still working which I find ludicrous given the firm makes garden furniture?? don't know how the owner has swung that in all honesty, hardly essential in my opinion, it's decisions like that and those of Sports Direct who are trying to cash in on closures elsewhere without giving a toss about doing the right thing first and why fighting this virus is going to be one long hard slog...