Lockdown diary, day 25
Captain Tom Moore has now raised more than £20 million for NHS charities, thanks to his own inspirational efforts and the generosity of the hundreds of thousands of people who have given money via his JustGiving page.
The government has set up a Vaccine Taskforce which will be led by Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan van Tam, to support efforts to rapidly develop a coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible by providing industry and research institutions with the resources and support needed.
Other work for the taskforce will include making sure Britain's laws and regulations can cope with testing vaccines at speed in a safe way and making sure manufacturers are prepared to but whatever is produced into pass production.
Initially it will receive government funding from a £14m pot to rapidly progress treatments and vaccines, but the government has promised to make up to £250 million available to develop a vaccine.
For some reason lots of people seem to be sharing pictures on social media of themselves aged twenty. I don't think I have one.
There is a picture of me aged about eighteen in my cousin's garden, a few group pictures of myself and other church choir members in cassock and surplice in my late teens, and somewhere I suspect I may have kept a copy of the A3 poster which I used when I successfully stood for Treasurer of the Union at the University of Bristol at the age of 22. I do have my graduation photographs, the one for my B.Sc. degree taken a few months after the picture on my election poster for Union Treasurer.
I suspect Twitter will manage without them.
Keep well
Stay home: support the NHS: save lives.
The government has set up a Vaccine Taskforce which will be led by Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan van Tam, to support efforts to rapidly develop a coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible by providing industry and research institutions with the resources and support needed.
Other work for the taskforce will include making sure Britain's laws and regulations can cope with testing vaccines at speed in a safe way and making sure manufacturers are prepared to but whatever is produced into pass production.
Initially it will receive government funding from a £14m pot to rapidly progress treatments and vaccines, but the government has promised to make up to £250 million available to develop a vaccine.
For some reason lots of people seem to be sharing pictures on social media of themselves aged twenty. I don't think I have one.
There is a picture of me aged about eighteen in my cousin's garden, a few group pictures of myself and other church choir members in cassock and surplice in my late teens, and somewhere I suspect I may have kept a copy of the A3 poster which I used when I successfully stood for Treasurer of the Union at the University of Bristol at the age of 22. I do have my graduation photographs, the one for my B.Sc. degree taken a few months after the picture on my election poster for Union Treasurer.
I suspect Twitter will manage without them.
Keep well
Stay home: support the NHS: save lives.
Comments
The govenment have Made a U Turn
WELL DONE GOVERNMENT, its so refereshing to see poiticians do something about it when its clear they made a complete cock up.
Some of the technical problems are discussed in this article from new scientist
Though, the most vunerable people, generally being the elderly are not always happy using apps and tech, the other reason, and one that gets me. Im not so sure I will be in the queue to sign up for an app that allows the government to track my every move. Im pretty sure in that regard I am not alone
Every government needs to be prepared to change policy when the evidence shows that this is necessary.
I hope and expect that this will not be the last U-turn because there will be further instances - and I do not pretend to know which they will be - when the evidence shows that policies which had up to that point seemed sensible are actually wrong.
On the other hand your reference to "Rupert's coup" demonstrates that you yourself think that some of what has been written by some journalists really is designed to cause "regime change."
I've not been impressed by the standards of journalism, with a few honourable exceptions, during this crisis. Too many hacks are acting as if they think it's about them.
It isn't and it's not primarily about the government either. It's about how we get through this with, first, as few premature deaths as possible and second, how we minimise the number of people who lose their job, their business, or their home.
And one example of taking responsibility for your actions is that unless there is a damn good reason - and "I don't want Chris to be able to go back and compare what I wrote this week with what I wrote or did previously and see if it's consistent" doesn't count - people who act like a grown-up usually sign their name, or at least a consistent pen-name, to things they publish.
Start taking responsibility for the things you post by telling us who you are and I might consider that you are better placed to judge who is a grown-up.