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So I'm still alive. On the oncology ward we're still getting plenty of Covid cases, and they're mostly mega-depressing since you ain't going to ITU if you've got a diagnosis of cancer. Deaths are definitely being under-reported though, a lot of people swab negative even though their clinical picture is clearly Covid. Saw Starmer at PMQs today, thought he did pretty well. His style is bound to cheer Labour MPs up, I just hope he's inclined to use that advantage to bring them around to supporting socialist policies.
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May 13, 2020 16:29
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You all scoff at the importance of Starmer being good at PMQs, but this is objectively closer to killing Tories than Corbyn ever got.
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May 15, 2020 12:25
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HJB posted:This Starmer windsocking from you is weird enough without you getting all self-righteous about it. See what makes it a joke is that Boris bringing back his MPs might get them killed, so I am facetiously suggesting we credit Starmer with causing their deaths. Which is something most people in this thread would approve of but we can reasonably assume is not his intention. I'm sure you can appreciate the humour now, after the laborious and unfunny explanation. jabby fucked around with this message at 14:42 on May 15, 2020 |
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May 15, 2020 12:50
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Gonzo McFee posted:Lol shut the gently caress up It's a loving joke dude, I don't think it really deserved three people aggressively telling me what a oval office I am. I literally stopped checking this thread because instead of an outlet it turned into something actively harmful to my mental health, and months later it doesn't seem to be any different. Maybe I've missed all the good, positive stuff and just happened to turn up at yet another argument about whether to quit Labour, but it really doesn't surprise me to read posts like the one by justcola. I mean gently caress, I meet people dying of Covid who depress me less than reading a few pages here.
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May 15, 2020 15:18
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Gonzo McFee posted:Yo sorry I posted harsh words about a joke, everyone calm down. Honestly it's my own fault for coming back to the thread. Work sucks right now, I don't have the mental energy to deal with people being raging assholes to each other over every perceived difference of opinion. Life is hard enough without doing your best to slam down other socialists because their idea of how to achieve the same thing differs slightly from yours. jabby fucked around with this message at 22:27 on May 15, 2020 |
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May 15, 2020 22:19
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Necrothatcher posted:is there medical advice from a doctor that's not "expert medical advice?" Yo
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May 25, 2020 21:25
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CancerCakes posted:That Facebook post is exactly why starmer et al will attack on Cummings and not the general handling of the crisis - idiots will say "you wouldn't have done any better" but Cummings breaking the rule is something they can process . I was wondering this myself. The Tories have demonstrated their counter against allegations they're mishandling the pandemic - "we're following the science", "we have to keep the economy open", "kids need education" etc. It's not been terribly successful (see their approval ratings) but it's working somewhat. As long as people see the lockdown as an issue of competing interests (economy vs. health, freedom vs. safety etc.) they won't believe Labour when they say the Tories are objectively Doing It Wrong. This will probably change if we get a big second wave and other countries don't. The Cummings stuff on the other hand is easy to understand, and plays right into the idea most people have that Tories are elitist. Which is especially bad for Johnson's "man of the people" act. And a real emotional issue for lots of people who have sacrificed during the lockdown. Oh, and a whole new front opened up today when Cummies broke out the ludicrous story of him "testing his eyesight". Now it looks like the government is taking the public for fools. Which is something hopefully Labour will point out loudly and repeatedly, since just telling the story and forcing Tories to say they believe it looks so bad for them it's unreal.
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May 26, 2020 02:45
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Isn't abolishing representative democracy and having everything in the party decided by OMOV a good thing though? I mean obviously he wanted to do it marginalise the left, but it seems like a bad example to use of how right wing he is.
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May 26, 2020 18:49
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OwlFancier posted:Yeah I'm not really sure how to read that either. I assume he would now prefer to do something else seeing as that does not appear to gently caress over the left. It's actually be a pretty good test of his principles to see if he still wants that, considering Gen Sec is meant to be a non-political position. I mean I don't hold out that much hope, but then the membership did elect Starmer so maybe he would.
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May 26, 2020 18:55
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Wachter posted:Thanks. And is this just because there are fewer doctors about to certify deaths on weekends? We have a skeleton staff of doctors at the weekend and the bereavement department of the hospital is usually closed anyway, so no death certificates at all get done out of hours. The only exceptions are for religious reasons, and only then if we can manage it between emergencies.
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May 26, 2020 20:45
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https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1265404922541084680 Yeah yeah, polls mean nothing about the next election. They do show that this story is actually cutting through though, and this one will increase the chances the Tories will Do Something.
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May 26, 2020 23:32
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https://twitter.com/SteveWhiteRadio/status/1265341114246184961
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May 26, 2020 23:58
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Barry Foster posted:gently caress I hate AAPI (As A Parent I) brain I can relate to this, as my wife and I had a baby four months ago. But on the whole I think your brother is right. For more than two months mine and my wife's parents have kept away. It's been gutting for everyone involved that they've missed out on seeing so much of the development of their first grandchild. But life and death is at stake here, not just of my daughter but of me, my wife and our parents. This virus can kill anyone, regardless of age. There is no safe exposure, once you contract it you roll the dice on your future. And bear in mind, I work in the NHS. With Covid patients! I am by far the biggest risk to the health of my daughter and my wife (which feels awesome, as you might imagine). You might argue that compared to living with me, the risk from seeing her grandparents is negligible. But like I said, there is no 'safe' exposure. You can't contract the virus 'a little bit'. Every single time you come into contact with another person, you are rolling that dice. The closer the contact, and the more frequent, the greater the chances something horrible will happen. I mean I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't constantly tempted to say 'gently caress it'. But honestly every time I find myself contemplating justifying a visit, in my mind I imagine another doctor telling me that my wife, or daughter, or mother, has died from Covid. I've been on the other end of that conversation so I can imagine it pretty easily. I picture myself hearing that and knowing that their symptoms started after I said yes to a visit, and that makes saying no pretty easy. I would wager your brother has had similar moments of "could I live with myself if this happened?" and come to the same conclusion. BUT it's not all doom and gloom. Today we took our daughter to a nice open public space, somewhere quiet, and she saw her grandparents one at a time from at least two meters away for about half an hour each. We touched nothing, we took scrupulous precautions regarding hand-washing/touching faces, we are all completely symptom-free, so I'm satisfied that the risk WAS negligible in this instance. If the infection rate continues to fall hopefully we can do the same thing again, and eventually move up to closer interaction. So maybe put something like that to your brother. But try to be sympathetic towards him. You see a visit with a low absolute risk, he sees himself being responsible for the death of his relatives. jabby fucked around with this message at 17:54 on May 27, 2020 |
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May 27, 2020 17:37
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If anyone's interested in some non-government-spun figures, as of today my hospital has 141 inpatients with confirmed Covid-19. Going back to the 24th April, at pretty much the peak of the virus, we had... 192. Our numbers fell to about 150 at the start of May and have barely shifted since. So be assured this country is not ready to emerge from lockdown. Stay home as much as possible, wear masks in shops or public transport, and only consider meeting one or two people outdoors if you're certain they don't display symptoms and you're scrupulous about not touching anything/hand-washing. Stay safe guys.
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May 29, 2020 00:06
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https://twitter.com/fawcettsociety/status/1266258061292736512 This... seems good? But I'm waiting for someone to tell me the fawcett society are all TERFs or something.
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May 29, 2020 11:28
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OwlFancier posted:The article doesn't really give any details about... well anything to be honest. It's pretty easy to find via Google. The Fawcett society have even worked out draft legislation. Basically it would give everyone (not just women) the right to ask their employer for certain information about all employees working in "comparable" roles. That includes pay, bonuses, hours worked, and any legitimate reasons for differences. Data would go back six years, it could only be used for purposes of pursuing an equal pay claim, and it could only legally be shared with a lawyer, a trade union rep, or the other "comparable" employees. It all sounds decent if relatively tame. The Spectator already has an article up condemning Starmer for supporting it. CancerCakes posted:If hospitals have been discharging covid suspected patients directly into care homes surely that makes them complicit, and also the people who actually discharged them? Sounds like you're trying to blame clinicians there buddy, so no, we are not complicit in infecting care homes. The only question doctors answer when a patient is discharged is "is this person medically fit to be discharged?". I.E, do they need to remain in hospital for treatment or observation or another reason vital to their health? Note, their health, not the health of people they live with. There's endless pressure on you to discharge patients quickly at the best of times, if you can't provide a medical reason why a patient needs to spend another night in hospital you'll quickly start having to answer very difficult questions and senior managers will quickly get involved. Plus, the whole debate about sending them to care homes has ignored the fact that keeping them in hospital wasn't a great idea either. If you've been to hospital recently you'll know we have a very limited number of isolation rooms. Most of our capacity is open wards. So what were we meant to do with hundreds of suspected or confirmed cases that don't actually need any treatment? We aren't a quarantine service. You're talking about sticking Covid patients in open bays for days and days, that's not exactly great for infection control either. Is it really better than nursing homes where each resident has their own room? It's also not good for the patients either. Every day in hospital means a higher chance of catching a hospital-acquired infection. So you're asking doctors to actually harm the otherwise-healthy patient in front of them in order to protect others. How are we meant to sell that to the patient, or to hospital management, when the government guidance EXPLICITLY says to discharge them? If you tried, and someone got C. diff because of your personally-imposed hospital lockdown, you wouldn't have a leg to stand on. So no, contrary to what Boris said it isn't doctors fault care homes got infected. The answer to preventing infection in care homes was probably "more PPE, more testing, more training, more staff, and also dedicated facilities that Covid patients can be discharged to". It was not "just keep them in hospital". Yes, in extremis that might have been better on a large scale than what actually happened, but doctors really had no power to go against the guidance like that, nor would we ever do so in large enough numbers to matter.
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May 29, 2020 20:16
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Prince John posted:Would all the currently empty beds in the Nightingale hospital be a sensible halfway house for quarantine? Or does that have most of the downsides of an extended hospital stay? I'm thinking the odds of acquiring a hospital infection are lower in somewhere with no surgeries etc and where everyone has the same illness? In short, yes. The Nightingales are a great example of something that most people supported at the time, but in hindsight were a bad idea and a waste of valuable resources. And the government should probably have known better, what with their access to far greater information and expertise. Basically back when Covid was ravaging Italy everyone thought the biggest bottleneck would be intensive care beds and ventilators. That's what was happening to them, or at least it was among the most high-profile problems they had, so that's what people thought would happen to us. A lot of people were looking at graphs of our ITU capacity and getting very nervous. Hence the Nightingales and the big drive to produce more vents. For whatever reason though it didn't pan out like that. We utilised a lot more than our usual ITU capacity, but hospitals largely coped well by laying on extra wards. And the Nightingales languished unused due to a combination of a lack of suitable patients (they had stupid strict admission criteria) and a lack of experienced staff to work in them. Why did it go that way? If I had to guess, it's because the NHS is extremely used to strictly rationing ITU capacity and only offering beds to those likely to recover. We don't consider ourselves to have an age cut-off like the one that shocked people when it was publicised in Italy, but in reality we simply don't send older people or those with chronic health problems to ITU. For better or worse, we never have. And Covid was no different, if you caught it and you were elderly, frail, or had cancer/heart failure/COPD/etc., then you simply stayed on a normal ward and either recovered or died. The question of whether we could have saved more people if we sent more to ITU is complicated, and the answer is likely to be "maybe, but probably not" considering our overall Covid mortality rate has been about 0.9% which is comparable to other countries. Certainly in places like Italy their fatality rate once patients went onto a ventilator was over 60%, heavily skewed towards those older or with co-morbidities. If you have a fatality rate in those patient groups approaching 80-90%, is that just poor patient selection? A trip to ITU involves a hell of a lot of suffering, if somebody is going to die anyway you absolutely don't want to put them through it. But, I'm rambling. My point was, the Nightingales should have been used as fever clinics, to isolate people with symptoms so they didn't infect their households, or temporary community hospitals to isolate people instead of discharging them. Could've done both.
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May 29, 2020 21:28
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Jose posted:don't even need to do that That's a very odd autopsy report. Partly because if you autopsy anyone over the age of twenty you'll probably find some evidence of coronary artery disease. Hypertensive heart disease is also very common, and for most people asymptomatic. Talking about "potential" intoxicants is the really bizarre part though. If you haven't found any intoxicants, which is one of the main reasons to perform autopsy, how is it right to refer to them at all? If you have found them, you would name them? Overall though, it's saying their examination found no reason for him to be dead. Given the context that we know a loving cop knelt on his neck for ten minutes, it should be taken as corroborating the fact that the cop killed him. His pre-existing conditions may have made him more susceptible to death by asphyxiation, but they sure as hell weren't what killed him.
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May 30, 2020 02:05
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Trin Tragula posted:This is a really interesting point, and one of the contradictory things about policing and oversight of policing that nobody's really thought about properly, because it's pretty much an unsolvable problem. The problem of cops writing the reports is largely addressed by always-on bodycams and microphones, preferably several of them on each cop. We've had the technology to do it, easily, for a LONG time. It's also cheap as gently caress. The only reason we haven't is because cops know they break the rules and the law constantly.
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May 30, 2020 11:01
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https://twitter.com/PTaylorheather/status/1266513325514514437 Random upsetting thing of the day, in this memorial the government has planned the healthcare worker is wearing far more PPE than we are actually given. Rewriting history while it's still taking place.
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May 30, 2020 13:12
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OwlFancier posted:Who'dathunk captain CPS loves putting people in prison. Having never read the details of the case post medical-school, this was actually really interesting. The original pathologist really was a gently caress-up. If he had taken the proper samples or even proof-read his notes correctly the disagreement over cause of death may never have happened. Even giving the benefit of the doubt over cause of death though, the decision not to charge the officer with assault causing actual bodily harm was indefensible. He was hit and pushed, and he had bruises. That's harm and no-one who isn't a cop would have avoided charges. Would have had a lot better chance of succeeding than the later manslaughter charge too.
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May 30, 2020 16:14
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Guavanaut posted:What, no it doesn't. Yes that line was quite clearly nonsense. If he was bruised where the baton struck, which he was, it's actual bodily harm. They're trying to confuse people over the charge of manslaughter, which I can see why didn't stick given the testimony from the original pathologist. EDIT: As for 'why do Tories keep outsourcing stuff' I don't think there's any deeper meaning beyond turning as much public money as possible into private profit. Even if they don't benefit directly right now, they benefit via donations or walking into directorships or simply goodwill with the 'right kind of people'. jabby fucked around with this message at 18:04 on May 30, 2020 |
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May 30, 2020 18:01
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sebzilla posted:https://twitter.com/britainelects/status/1266806274123075584?s=19 It is crazy they still poll above 40%. Brexit really broke people's brains.
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May 30, 2020 20:25
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Ms Adequate posted:Honestly it's a mild case, just a bit of ache, so that OTC stuff might be sufficient. If they refuse a scrip for something and tell me to jog on I'll get some of that. The OTC stuff should work fine for a mild case, although it's hella expensive for what it is which is a 2% acetic acid solution. Distilled white vinegar is about 5% acetic acid. You could always dilute it to half-strength with an equal amount of boiled water and drop some in your ear twice a day, tilting your head and allowing it to sit for a minute or two before letting it run out. If you decide to use a home remedy, make sure you use distilled (clear) rather than malt vinegar, and don't use if you have any reason to suspect you have a ruptured eardum (you'd know, your hearing would be very bad out of that ear).
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May 30, 2020 22:55
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Ronya does have a point about Corbyn. He got a significant pass on issues of triangulation on account of his past record. Prime examples would be not promising to reverse benefit cuts in 2017, making the entire manifesto fully costed, failing to defend freedom of movement. All very understandable tactical decisions, just not necessarily the 'right' thing to do. The fact that I gave Corbyn a pass is partly why I'm still not treating Starmer as the devil incarnate: I'm more interested in his policy platform than how he sells himself to the nation. So far I agree his inability to criticise the government has been infuriating, but he's made some correct moves like voting against the immigration bill and campaigning for the scrapping of the NHS surcharge for healthcare workers (that will actually save some of my colleagues many hundreds of pounds a year). He should get a little bit of credit for that, even as we push him to be more aggressive in tone. EDIT: Also if Coronavirus had tiny hands it would be rubbing them in glee that the George Floyd killing happened right now. What loving timing.
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May 31, 2020 18:48
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 Good to see the Grauniad keeping up it's usual standard of proofreading.
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May 31, 2020 18:58
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thespaceinvader posted:At least some of the motive behind this right now IS the pandemic situation, for a number of reasons: You're absolutely right, it's just mass gatherings to protest and general civil unrest are going to make the virus spread so much faster. It's like watching a slow motion car crash, you can see what's coming and it's horrific. Part of me does wonders how many US cops would refuse to fire live rounds on protesters if instructed to, and what I suspect is the answer depresses me. Jose posted:they were almost certainly kicking the poo poo out of him before hand inside the police car based on how its moving in the video but you can't see inside. bet those body cams are interesting There was a good video posted a few pages back of an expert who "reviews" police killings to try and explain what went wrong (poor training, fear reaction, tunnel vision etc.), and his conclusion is he can't explain this one. He stopped short of calling it deliberate murder, but all he could say was that we are missing a vital piece of information and it was likely an issue personal to the officer involved. jabby fucked around with this message at 19:34 on May 31, 2020 |
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May 31, 2020 19:30
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forkboy84 posted:Campaigning against scrapping the surcharge for NHS workers, fine, commendable, but would it have been better to completely remove the surcharge during a pandemic where people unable to go to go to the doctor/hospital because they can't afford the surcharge, don't get diagnosed and potentially spread the virus? Yes, & even if he couldn't do that bold move, why not campaign to remove it for any "essential" workers at least, like care workers who look after the elderly & poo poo like that? I believe Labour's position is to scrap the surcharge altogether. The only reason his proposed amendment targeted it to NHS workers was because he knew Tories would be loathe to vote it down, whereas he thought they would easily vote down scrapping it for everyone. So playing politics, but it worked against a government with a big majority. I can understand the argument about Corbyn's track record, but I'm still waiting for the policy plaform (and staying in Labour to try and influence it). thespaceinvader posted:Rubber bullets are live rounds. You know what I mean. And yes, the videos do worry me that a majority of police would not have trouble killing their fellow citizens if instructed to (or simply given liberty to). jabby fucked around with this message at 19:48 on May 31, 2020 |
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May 31, 2020 19:44
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Jaeluni Asjil posted:I saw a documentary on this once, it was a particularly difficult problem in South Korea which had a rash of air disasters. There was one particular one and they played the cockpit recordings and the co-pilot was doing his best within the bounds of cultural deference to a alert his superior (the pilot) to impending disaster but didn't actually dare to come right out with it. Eventually it will have to be how systemic racism is tackled. Finding and punishing the cops caught committing racist acts does nothing (apart from, you know, justice) but neither do the "good ones" achieve anything either. The whole system needs, if not dismantling, complete reform including firing all those at the top, de-funding/de-militarisation, a proper training programme (US police training is about 16 weeks, compared to two years in the UK) and radical change of approach away from "broken windows policing" and towards community engagement. Will it happen before the US descends into a huge bloody civil war? Hmm. At the very least these protests have exposed how violent the police are willing to be towards "unacceptable" targets like young white women, even when being filmed. That might sway a few opinions.
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Jun 1, 2020 00:06
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 22:30 |
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https://twitter.com/DeRushaJ/status/1267231480943710213 Already reports of a truck trying to drive at speed through crowds of protesters in Minneapolis. Luckily doesn't look like anyone hurt, except possibly the driver who was dragged out of the cab. I'm detecting a pattern here - peaceful protest "turns violent" when someone shows up who either acts violently towards or recklessly threatens the lives of the protesters. This truck driver, machete-wielding guy, Racist Hawkeye, or usually just the police. Then the footage of the rear end in a top hat getting the poo poo kicked out of them by the crowd they just tried to murder goes all over right-wing news, with the attempted murder part neatly clipped out.
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Jun 1, 2020 00:43
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