OneGuyFromBarlick

I'm pleased to report that The Times on Saturday had a piece on Keir Starmer and was impressed by his performance so far. It was especially interesting to read Tory MPs complimenting him and saying they've got to work a lot harder to counter him than his predecessor. One said `Keir Stamer is a serio...

P , there is the idea, scaremongering or otherwise, that the research into wild viruses might have led to the outbreak due to a failure in the control, unfortunately we cannot tell, nor if it was accident, or design. There is a link I think on the BBC (could have been guardian) on researchers, I th...

It must be the closeness of long shifts on the production line, combined with sharing communal lunch rooms/toilets etc. Meat packing plants - I think you've got the answer there Maz. The virus doesn't make a choice about where it goes, it's not really alive and it can't move, reproduce or even meta...

Plaques has mentioned pessimism in one of his posts today and that reminded me of the story related on Thought for the Day on Radio 4 this morning. Here is a longer version of it... An old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is be...

I agree with all you've said Sue. I can't add anything much and I've said plenty in earlier posts. The trouble is that it's all so early in the `life' of this new virus that we see frequent contradictions. Unfortunately non-scientists don't like rapidly changing ideas, they demand the final answer o...

See THIS BBC report. "The government has admitted sending about 50,000 coronavirus tests to the US last week for processing after "operational issues" in UK labs." Is this too political? No, and it's quite useful for pointing out that, if we read the article fully, a Labour government can have the ...

According to The Sun, the website took a £308,000 fee for hosting the fundraising efforts for NHS Charities Together of Captain Tom.. Note the word `fee', not `profit'. The website provider is faced with costs for hosting and for credit card payment processing charges (banks). Think about how many ...

In the 1980s the company I worked for splashed out some money and sent a group of its employees, including me, on a course for managers to learn how to deal with change. That novice monk was experiencing some of what we heard about on that course. (The course was good for me - it prompted me to leav...

As part of the changes to deal with the nation's sudden realisation that pandemics and climate change are a danger the government is going to push through the legal actions for allowing the electric scooters to be used here. This is meant to go with the nudge towards using bicycles more often. I'm n...

We see lots of white bluebells. There's plenty of natural hybridisation going on so white are not really rare now, unless we're talking about somewhere well away from gardens. We agree with Stanley. A weed is a plant in the wrong place. Many of the ornamental plants growing in Plaques's garden would...

This is more serious than the earlier wave of scam videos and it makes you wonder about the motivation and objectives of the perpetrators. It has a lot in common with the misinformation articles and videos about climate change that pretend to come from scientists and can be carefully concealed among...

I say partially effective, because I can see this virus adapting the longer it is about. All the infectious virus types undergo mutation to some extent as they reproduce in their hosts. We have to remember that a virus particle doesn't get into a host, reproduce to make more particles, then leave t...

If you can't get to garden centres take some cuttings from your shrubs and grow more plants. If you don't need them other people will be glad to have them (but observe social distancing and hand hygiene!).

Some good news for our ash trees....
`Certain landscapes show resistance to ash dieback' LINK

The BoE's Mark Carney: "We have a situation with climate change which will involve every country in the world and from which we can't self-isolate."..."The question is, when will the physics of climate change mug the complacency and denialism - just as biology has with respect to the virus." Carney

`Mark Carney: 'We can't self-isolate from climate change'' LINK `The former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has added his voice to calls for industrialised nations to invest in a greener economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. He shared his comments in an online discussion about cl...

A friend of ours, a lady of about 60 years, received one of those covid letters from the government telling her that as a very vulnerable person she needed to isolate for 12 weeks. Being healthy she was surprised by the letter and worried about having to go into that kind of extreme isolation. After...

I get depressed by the way the news media keep talking down the economy, all doom and gloom. There are great opportunities out there and we should grab them as soon as lockdown starts easing off. For a start we need to develop and install lots of new technology to deal with climate change, electric ...

One thing that strikes me is what a good job the government are making of NHS propaganda. Most people think the NHS is doing a marvellous job and will stand and applaud them. Look at the truth! Half the Covid patients in intensive care die, and 1 in 7 of hospital patients, or 14% of hospitalised ca...

Keep a lookout for this one! LINK

Wow, well done Sue & Bob! What a glorious feeling you'll get when you're back in your home.

This article gives some idea of why we see so much variation how different people react to the virus. It's not only differences in the people and the mode of infection but because the virus is constantly mutating too...
`Coronavirus mutations: Scientists puzzle over impact' LINK

Whoops!... `New Zealand coronavirus: Massive car heist under cover of lockdown' LINK `It must have looked like the heist of their dreams. A whole yard full of well-maintained rental vehicles, all lined up, unlocked and ready to go - with the keys inside. So, under cover of New Zealand's exceptionall...

A buddleia bush can grow in a tiny hole like that, and on the top of a wall too!

What holidays used to be like... `In pictures: Fun for all the family at Butlin's' LINK We watched an episode of Paul Murton's TV tours around Scotland where he visited Sutherland. It included Loch Eriboll and the story of how the German U-boats were corralled there at the end of WW2. He also visite...