The UK response - Part II - read OP

theological

Aegir wrote: »

The UK office for national statistics is carrying out sample tests to try and understand how many people actually have it, rather than have tested positive.

This is nothing new and has been happening for months. The 1 in 90 figure is a statistical assumption not an official figure.

The rate of infection has been falling according to the KCL data even before the lockdown started.

They reckon 586,000 people have the virus at the moment, but this is far fewer than they reckoned in March (about 2 million).

Given this it's pretty likely that we're going to see the number of cases continue to decline more sharply towards the end of lockdown.

Enzokk

I know I am going to get a snarky answer from Aegir on this, but Dominic Cummings sure is unlucky that his name is associated again and again with contracts being given during the crises.

https://twitter.com/MattGarrahan/status/1326148424643858433?s=20

This is money paid to a PR firm instead of using civil servant press officers. The decision was made by the chair of the government vaccine task force. She is a venture capitalist and like Dido Harding she is also married to a Conservative MP.

https://twitter.com/syalrajeev/status/1326065111547703297?s=20

But don't worry, you can report this to the Anti-Corruption Champion and I am sure he will look at it. Step up MP John Penrose, husband of Dido Harding.

The Guardian really has become a tabloid rag these days.

Private Equity firms don’t make their profits from the funds they raise, although they are entitled to take a set management fee. They make their money by investing those funds in business ventures that show a sizeable return.

Having one of, if not the leading Healthcare private equity investor managing where the government spends its money is no bad thing.

But I’m sure a civil servant with no experience in vaccine development should have been given the job.

S.M.B.

Lovely strawman there. I can't imagine there is a single person who thinks a "civil servant with no experience in vaccine development" should lead the task force.

To be honest I'm not 100% sure if the government is investing in a fund for some reason or if they are investing in vaccines from companies that are in the fund. Either way I don't see why any conflict of interest should not be made clear.

Joe_ Public

So, have i got this right? Two months after she is made vaccine tsar, Kate Bingham tells her colleagues at SV Health - even though we are told that she had "stepped away" from her role - that it is the "perfect time" to launch a fund that invests in a company researching covid treatments and shortly afterwards, SV Health gets over £40m of government funding and that new fund then invests in a company - Alchemab - with which Bingham had and may still have a connection."Tabloid stuff: or not, i can see why folk be asking a few questions there.

The government has a bank that invests in British companies and funds to help British companies develop.

One branch specializes in healthcare and they invested in SV Healthcare’s SV7 fund.

SV is a private equity firm. Private equity firms raise money by creating a fund, which will have a set amount. A lot of this money will come from pension funds, insurance companies, trusts etc. hence the term private equity.

The PE firm can charge the fund a fee of (I think) 5% to manage it. This is their only source of income at this stage.

The PE invests that money in companies, think Dragons den but on a much larger scale. Similar to Dragons Den, certain PE companies have specialisms and a company will look to get them as an investor not just for the money, but for the expertise they bring.

At a later stage, when the company has grown, or the patent sold or whatever, the PE will sell its stake with the intention of making a profit and giving this profit back to the investors. This is where they will make their money.

If the PE invests badly or manages the companies poorly it won’t make any money.

A managing partner of a large PE company like the one I question will earn more than an MP, probably several multiples of an MP’s or ministers salary. They will also make a **** load of money for the investment bank that invested in their fund.

SV healthcare have a long record of doing this and I would imagine SV7 is the seventh such fund they have raised. If they were crap then no one would invest in them.

This isn’t a case of a minister doing favours for his wife, because it is doubtful she needs them. In fact, I would go as far as saying she is doing her husband a favour.

But, they’re related and she earns a lot of money, so it’s enough to get Guardian readers outraged.

Joe_ Public

This story was broken and initially driven by that bastion of liberalism and anti government sentiment, the Times and its sunday sister title. The department of business released a statement saying Bingham had ceased her involvement in SV Health and in the two companies involved in researching covid treatments they were connected with. Yet, a cursory perusal of the SV Health website would strongly suggest her own firm had never got the memo. She may be the most brilliant venture capitalist the world has ever seen, but that does not offer any defence against allegations of a conflict of interest.

https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1325004580778860546?s=20

A newspaper never refused ink, or whatever the saying is.

They said she has stepped away, not ceased her involvement. Slight difference. A list of their portfolio companies is on the SV website, as is a picture of Ms Bingham.

It’s not like there were any secrets.

Joe_ Public

It's fairly clear they're contemptuous of any criticism, just don't care about even bothering to make their rebuttals convincing. She "stepped away from her full time role", kind of vague, half arsed explanation that could mean a few different things. When it was pointed out to her that there was a potential conflict of interest concerning the two companies, Bingham replied that there couldn't be because those companies were only concerned with researching covid treatments, not vaccines. But it turns out that the vaccine task force does in fact have input into the choice of covid treatments as well, so unless she's completely clueless, it just comes across as evasion and obfuscation as well as sheer and utter contempt for any sense of public probity. Which we've long come to expect anyway so it's not particularly shocking or anything.

Joe_ Public

Joe_ Public wrote: »

It's fairly clear they're contemptuous of any criticism, just don't care about even bothering to make their rebuttals convincing. She "stepped away from her full time role", kind of vague, half arsed explanation that could mean a few different things. When it was pointed out to her that there was a potential conflict of interest concerning the two companies, Bingham replied that there couldn't be because those companies were only concerned with researching covid treatments, not vaccines. But it turns out that the vaccine task force does in fact have input into the choice of covid treatments as well, so unless she's completely clueless, it just comes across as evasion and obfuscation as well as sheer and utter contempt for any sense of public probity. Which we've long come to expect anyway so it's not particularly shocking or anything.

They're contemptuous of criticism because it is just petty tabloid stuff for the uneducated to lap up.

Enzokk

Aegir wrote: »

They're contemptuous of criticism because it is just petty tabloid stuff for the uneducated to lap up.

Right, all newspapers are tabloids if they print stories you think is rubbish. Meanwhile the cronyism continues unabated within the Tories and their friends seem to get rich from contracts during this time but it is only for the uneducated to feed on.

What's this, more cronyism for a top Tory? No, just stuff for the uneducated to lap up I guess.

The British government has been accused of “blatant cronyism” after an openDemocracy investigation found that former Tory chairman, Andrew Feldman, was quietly given a job advising a health minister despite potential conflicts of interest with clients of the lobbying firm that he runs.

...

The Tory peer is also managing director of PR consultancy Tulchan. Yet his advisory role, which was supported by a “small civil service private office”, according to officials, was never formally announced by the government.

The Department of Health and Social Care said that the Feldman’s appointment had been “fully documented” - but were unable to point to any examples of where his role had been made public before being contacted by openDemocracy.

Why keep it quiet? Because the uneducated masses can feed on this for a little while, that is why. It is not to do with the potential conflict of interest....no....ignore that, it is so the readers of The Guardian can froth at the mouth a little longer.

A Dub in Glasgo

https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/1328077100016865282

https://twitter.com/TechnicallyRon/status/1328088672516927489

Why on earth would he need to self isolate if he's had it already? Tens if not hundreds of millions of people have had this virus and there are a handful of cases of reinfection.

BonnieSituation

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Why on earth would he need to self isolate if he's had it already? Tens if not hundreds of millions of people have had this virus and there are a handful of cases of reinfection.

Because it's a handy excuse to avoid questions.

highgiant1985

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Because it's a handy excuse to avoid questions.

I’m no fan of Boris but It’s already been widely reported that was the advice given to him so he’s actually doing the responsible thing for once.

Source

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/15/boris-johnson-told-to-self-isolate-after-coronavirus-contact

highgiant1985

highgiant1985 wrote: »

I’m no fan of Boris but It’s already been widely reported that was the advice given to him so he’s actually doing the responsible thing for once.

Source

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/15/boris-johnson-told-to-self-isolate-after-coronavirus-contact

How is it responsible for a leader of a country to self-isolate when they can't even get it again?

BonnieSituation

[Deleted User] wrote: »

How is it responsible for a leader of a country to self-isolate when they can't even get it again?

There have been cases of reinfection though. So it is prudent to self isolate.

It also always helps to be a bit cynical when it comes to Boris and anything the Tories get up to.

BonnieSituation

BonnieSituation wrote: »

There have been cases of reinfection though. So it is prudent to self isolate.

It also always helps to be a bit cynical when it comes to Boris and anything the Tories get up to.

Cases of reinfection are what, one in a million? One in ten million?

There is no point in a vaccine if society says you can get it again and must self-isolate.

Enzokk

Stupid tabloids giving scraps to the uneducated. This time it is the bastion of tabloid stories, The Financial Times, engaging in what can only be described as pitiful reporting of what is essentially a non-story.

Watchdog criticises government over awarding of £17bn Covid contracts

Britain’s public spending watchdog has criticised the government for a series of failures when it awarded more than £17bn of contracts to private companies to tackle the coronavirus crisis, including a lack of transparency, errors and potential conflicts of interest.

The National Audit Office said the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health and Social Care had failed to explain why some companies with government connections or poor due diligence records were chosen to provide crucial services during the pandemic, such as supplying personal protective equipment or consulting and policy advice.

Its findings will add to concerns about the risks to public money that have arisen from the government’s vast use of contractors during the pandemic and the unprecedented number of direct awards, through which contracts worth £17.3bn were agreed without a competitive tender.

BonnieSituation

Enzokk wrote: »

Stupid tabloids giving scraps to the uneducated. This time it is the bastion of tabloid stories, The Financial Times, engaging in what can only be described as pitiful reporting of what is essentially a non-story.

Watchdog criticises government over awarding of £17bn Covid contracts

Nothing to see here. What your feeble brain doesn't understand...

---

On the plus side, it seems the Test And Trace app over which she is responsible is doing its job:

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-test-and-trace-boss-baroness-dido-harding-having-to-self-isolate-after-alert-from-her-own-app-12135395

Interesting that her husband was already self-isolating before now and she wasn't.

robinph

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Nothing to see here. What your feeble brain doesn't understand...

---

On the plus side, it seems the Test And Trace app over which she is responsible is doing its job:

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-test-and-trace-boss-baroness-dido-harding-having-to-self-isolate-after-alert-from-her-own-app-12135395

Interesting that her husband was already self-isolating before now and she wasn't.

Which unless her husband has since tested positive and neglected to tell her personally so that she'd get to upload the screenshot of the app, it means the pair of them have been both hanging out with two separate cases of infections in the same week. Either means there is extremely high cases in the circles that they are mixing in, or extremely high levels of no social distancing in those circles that they are all getting infected at the same time

BonnieSituation

robinph wrote: »

Which unless her husband has since tested positive and neglected to tell her personally so that she'd get to upload the screenshot of the app, it means the pair of them have been both hanging out with two separate cases of infections in the same week. Either means there is extremely high cases in the circles that they are mixing in, or extremely high levels of no social distancing in those circles that they are all getting infected at the same time

I'd say it's a case of column A and column B.

I don't know the background of their relationship of course, but on the face of it, it sounds like rules are only for the little people.

serfboard

Enzokk wrote: »

Stupid tabloids giving scraps to the uneducated. This time it is the bastion of tabloid stories, The Financial Times, engaging in what can only be described as pitiful reporting of what is essentially a non-story.

Watchdog criticises government over awarding of £17bn Covid contracts

This is my favourite one so far:

BBC wrote:

A Spanish businessman who acted as a go-between to secure protective garments for NHS staff in the coronavirus pandemic was paid $28m (£21m) in UK taxpayer cash.

The consultant had been in line for a further $20m of UK public funds, documents filed in a US court reveal
...
the deals are set to be challenged in UK courts, by campaign group the Good Law Project. It accuses government ministers of not paying "sufficient regard" to tax-payers' money over a contract with the firm. "We do not understand why, as late as June, government was still making direct awards of contracts sufficiently lucrative as to enable these sorts of profits to be made," Jolyon Maugham, the project's director told the BBC.

"The real criticism that is to be made here is of the huge profits that government allows to be generated."

declanflynn

Very good programme on bbc2 now showing where it all went wrong

BonnieSituation

declanflynn wrote: »

Very good programme on bbc2 now showing where it all went wrong

Around here:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/sep/25/ed-miliband-wins-labour-leadership

Enzokk

Good news, the UK has rectified the problem they had on stockpiling of PPE before the crises. They, with their rush to order items, have ordered enough for 5 years supply. Bad news, they overpaid massively for these items and most of it has not been delivered, or even manufactured yet.

UK's 'chaotic' PPE procurement cost billions extra

The government spent £10bn more buying personal protective equipment in “chaotic” and inflated market conditions during the pandemic than it would have paid for the same products last year, according to a report by the parliamentary spending watchdog.

But less than 10% of the gloves, gowns, face masks and other products – ordered for a total £12.5bn – had been delivered to NHS trusts and other frontline organisations by the end of July, the National Audit Office (NAO) report found.

Of 32bn items ordered at exponentially rising prices, 2.6bn had been distributed by July. The controversial “parallel supply chain”, rapidly set up by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in March, has still not received much of the PPE it ordered, the report said, “with some of it not yet manufactured”.

...

“The department had to pay such high prices because it was in the position of needing to buy huge volumes of PPE very quickly,” the report said. The total cost of all 32bn items at 2019 prices would have been £2.5bn, £10bn less than the government paid.

So they let the supplies run down by not replacing them during austerity and then had to overpay when a crises it. Now civil servants will most likely have to pay again as they will most likely have pay freezes to cover for this reckless spending of the current government.

But at least they will have built up their stockpiles again once those orders come through...eventually.

RobMc59

Just to balance up after the usual negative posts,some encouraging news regarding the UK Oxford vaccine.
https://theconversation.com/why-the-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-is-now-a-global-gamechanger-150660

BonnieSituation

RobMc59 wrote: »

Just to balance up after the usual negative posts,some encouraging news regarding the UK Oxford vaccine.
https://theconversation.com/why-the-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-is-now-a-global-gamechanger-150660

:D:D:D:D:D:D

right on cue

RobMc59

BonnieSituation wrote: »

:D:D:D:D:D:D

right on cue

Nothing wrong with posting good news is there bonnie?
It certainly doesn't warrant your trolling.

Necro

Mod:

BonnieSituation and RobMc59, cut out the squabbling or your posting access will be removed