Weekly average deaths now under 100 at 98 thanks to 42% drop today compared to last week. Good day for vaccinations 660k new records I think in total, split 528k first doses, 132k 2nd doses. No big spike yet from schools going back! Also much lower numbers in hospital 6,544.

The number of volunteering my area is massively outstripping demand in my area (and I’m only up the road from you). Volunteers are taking about a month from initial registration to being able to book shifts. Even then the rule is that volunteers have to have 6 shifts booked before they get their vaccine, in order to prevent free-loaders, though often they will be put first in the queue for spares if they do the final shift of the day.

Unless you are dead set on conspiracy theories, there's no ambiguity in what you spotted.

Observers point out early data show low infection rates. Chris Witty hasn't voiced disagreement with that observation: but he points out that it's too early to reach a definitive judgement on the impacts of opening schools.

And that will be Professor Chris Whitty CB FFPH FRCP Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science, physician and epidemiologist, the country's Chief Medical Officer, Chief Medial Adviser to the UK Government, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Dept of Health and Head of the National Institute for Health Research.

The chap's not infallible: but even so, on balance I think his opinions on health matters might carry just a little more weight than those of Telegraph journalists.

One year on...
 

Parts of France are locking down (again) and Italy. Lockdowns are not easy but the lockdown here feels as if we might be working to towards a better future for all, despite the hardship now.

It’s hard to imagine I was sat in an empty pub in central London drinking a pint of Guinness a year ago to celebrate St Patrick’s and I haven’t been to London since. However I know that moment will come round again. It’s just a matter of time. One thing I don’t miss, I certainly don’t miss the London prices.

What don’t you miss? Do you remember where you were?

The same chap who presided over the highest Covid-19 death rate in a major country, worldwide?

paulaf has an (obvious) point - if the data is looking particularly good, you don't need to wait for more. And really, a refusal to move early when possible (or at least provide thorough reasoning for why its not possible) points to what everyone knows - it's nothing to do with data, they just want a lockdown as long as possible. Some people quite like the idea of lockdown, others see where this leaves us in a year's time.

What don’t I miss? Commuting, any Tube line going into London and the tourists stepping into the cycle lane without even bothering to check who’s coming.

Oh, and the Qatar/Kuwait/Saudi-plated supercars and the w*nkers who rev them while they sit behind you at the traffic light... although cycling veeeery slow in front of them gave me a kind of satisfaction.

I am absolutely certain that no-one in government - no-one - wants the lockdown to last longer than absolutely necessary, and to claim that "everyone knows" that "they want a lockdown as long as possible" is conspiracy theory taken to the extreme.

And they have already explained why the dates in the roadmap are the earliest possible and are very unlikely to be brought forward.

Semantics, but important ones: a chief medical officer doesn’t “preside”. That would be a President, or in our case a Prime Minister.

Experts make recommendations but the buck ultimately stops with politicians.

Indeed, during this crisis experts recommended on numerous occasions more swift action than was then taken by politicians (in particular during Sept/Oct) and subsequent events have shown their warnings to be prescient and justified.

Unfortunately, too many politicians, armchair commentators, and “superforecasters” seem determined to interpret caution and uncertainty - with which any self-respecting expert frames their advice - as evidence that experts “don’t know what they’re talking about”. This is not how science or expertise works.

Have the scientists and experts got some things wrong in the last year? Of course, but (unlike certain politicians) they would acknowledge that and seek to learn lessons from it. Can lessons be learnt? Absolutely. No-one is claiming experts are infallible, except some politicians who want to set them up as straw men and thereby undermine them.

Agree. Macron and Merkel have done more damage than any anti-vaxxers ever could.

No, that is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

Really? I've yet me to meet anybody that likes lockdown. Most people I know are pragmatic and realise it's a necessary evil, but I don't hear people saying "Yipee! Another lockdown on its way, 4 more months of not going out!".

Just because you disagree with someone or their view is not consistent with the BBC doesn't make it a conspiracy theory.

As for the many titles of Chris Whitty - clearly it shows those titles/designations/call them whatever you like are pointless. I'm a chartered engineer and most engineers would tell you chartership is a tick-box exercise that means nothing. Chris Whitty is the guy who said "no point in closing the borders, because the virus is already here" - that error is absolutely massive and is one of the few reasons we have one of the top 5 worst death rates in the world.

If he had just looked around the world, he would have seen that every country was virtually shutting its borders. It's not hindsight, and it was so clear to virtually everyone that needed to happen. Yet we kept our borders open, and look at what has happened.

Because of that, the borders are shut (after 120k deaths) and unlikely to open for a very long time - likely to lead to more economic devastation for the UK and thousands more jobs lost.

Maybe Whitty is still hoping for a big spike so he can be proved right?

You can't possibly really believe that.