General Chat

And process them themselves, Maggie?

They (and the RAF) are currently going door to door in Birmingham, giving out, and collecting testing kits.
Unfortunately, yesterday, they were given used kits to hand out :-0
Army medics are on stand-by in case of another spike in cases, but not sure whether they would be processing the kits.
There are plenty of NHS hospital labs that have been ignored, in favour of private 'Money for chums' 'labs', perhaps, as the private ones are doing so badly, the NHS ones will be used next time.

Don't forget - the services also helped build the Nightingale Hospitals, and made some of the PPE.

I don't believe some comments on here The Army are there to do a job were law & order needs help surely it didn't matter what rank you were in the olden days saying that it's wrong the way youth can run rings round the police .as perhaps aren't enough police about on the streets that's the problem .the police need protective clothing but not guns surely sprays to disarm someone or you know what hose pipes to soak the Plonkers causing trouble get firemen in trucks the poor B wouldn't know what hit them wet their clothes soon runaway me thinks but I myself just waiting to see what Doris J does next to help clear the confusion :-S Barbara

It was all hands on deck to produce PPE. Several manufacturing companies, closed due to the lockdown, had people in to make various parts of the kit.

Also some factorys in Scotland are making PPE who otherwise would be redundant.

Does anyone on here think Boris and cohorts are going to go round the country locking down one region then moving to lockdown the next when opening the first locked-down one and so forth one after the other to see whether that will work rather than lock down the whole country in one fell swoop?

All in a bid to save the economy going down the chute altogether?

I have a feeling that someone has put that proposal to him.

The army contributed a lot if help with logistics, physical and expertise, earlier this year. That is right and proper. Squaddies on the street is something else completely. Neither the police nor the army envisage such a daft idea.

Daft idea Rollo then get more police recruited Boris wants to put urgent plan in action to quell the unrest on the streets it will get worse believe me

To little to late as always with our Goverment they couldn't run a pu in a brewery :-P

Trained policemen and women are not available down at the local job centre.

The Cameron/May administrations cut the police force budget by 20 000 and on top drastically reduced pay for starters and those with less than 5 years service. May got the bird at two successive police AGMs which is to say the least unusual for a Tory Home Secretary. Johnson has promised to increase police numbers but progress is very slow 'cos of lack of budget and poor credibility of the employer. Interestingley few of the lost 20 000 have rejoined.

May, Patel do not seem able to grasp that there is no UK national police force at the beck and call of the Home Secretary. There are about 30 forces under local democratic control. Control of the London Met is with the GLC though appointment of the boss is shared with the Home Secretary. Only the police have an unrestricted power of arrest.

The no.1 function of the police is not, as many believe, to investigate crime (though of course it is important) but to "uphold the Queen's peace". It is this power that enables them to clear the streets on a Friday night. Baton charges, rubber bullets and water cannon are def. not on the UK police agenda though BoJo is quite keen having spent millions on water cannon as London mayor.

When it comes to large scale civil disorder against the government of the day then that is anoather matter Going back over 150 years the police have generally chosen a light touch working closely with the local polica authority. That is why they do not need guns the police are a part of the community in which they serve.

The army simply doesn't have a role. Running a para military police force backed up by the Army was hardly a roaring success in Northern Ireland. Only a fool would suggest any move towards such a thing in the rest of the UK.

Another good aspect to those troops being in care homes is they found where things needed improving..they've submitted a detailed list of care homes that require help and some have been taken over by hospitals for now.

To the OP where do you draw the line if you allow pubs to open it's hard to stop people getting drunk and gathering in the street at closing time whenever that may be. We've taken the other approach as numbers went back up we've closed indoor eating and drinking at bars etc not great for businesses but easier than trying to stop the gatherings you're seeing in Liverpool etc. We've had big gathering during the summer and the police have taken to filming it and then issuing fines using license plates etc, only issuing on the spot fines for the more serious offenses to stop rioting. Obviously this way unless you're known to the police most people get off.

A representative democratic government should not need to "quell disorder on the streets". Either you have government by consent aka democracy or you do not. There is no middle way.

That would be perfection but the best we can hope for,I think,is some kind of Utilitarianism.

What you describe would be true Communism which has only really been achieved a couple of times in small comunities.

I'd add to Caroline's post.

When it is not unknown for 4, 6 or 10 students to share cooking facilities, fridge and even more sharing laundry facilities, it beggars belief that anyone could expect them not to mix outside. It is the same when second and third years move out and share houses (eight in one house in my granddaughter's second year).

My pal is angry that her granddaughter has been very ill with covid and confined in her uni room with her parents unable to take her home because she must isolate. She is one of those students who has no choice because she is studying biomedical sciences and needs to use the labs. But how different and easier uni heads could have made things by opting for online tutorials for thousands of students who do not need to use labs. Those who neded to be in would have had more space with unshared facilities for many.

My niece was lucky as my sis rang up and asked about online tutorials before niece picked up her key so she is very happily studying at home.

If uni heads feel obliged to follow government recommendations I think that they were wrong to do so on this occasion but I have to add my suspicions that it was all a matter of income from student rents that was likely to have been a big factor in their decision.

Absolutely nobody has had experience of a global pandemic before but they have all had experience of running whatever it is they run and they need to look out for the economics of it.

We can all run a tiny little bit of the problem better than those who are having to run something huge and complex while dealing with a unknown and overwhelming problem with an eye to keeping it viable after the pandemic.

But Sharron, wouldn't you have thought twice about moving more than two million people around the country?

We have at least one thousand students and some academics with covid now in our small city. No one expects that number to stay static either.

Here in Ontario at least we have all college and Uni students doing online studies have done since March. Even many labs are being done online not perfect but doable in fact my daughter spent part of the summer doing research with one of her prof working out how labs could be done online using only things available to anyone around the world even resorting to types of candy available anywhere! That said...many students have chosen to go to residents etc and guess what they are getting COVID big time.
Schools depending on where you live depends on masks...here all children have to wear mask even the 4yr olds all day.

I only have one grandchild at school now, Caroline, and he has to wear a mask all day too - apart from when he's eating lunch, of course.

I wouldn't like to say, JoyLouise, I don't have all the information I would need to come to a decision.

Those two million people have to be somewhere, those universities need to carry on being viable,as do the businesses that depend on the educational establishments.

So much more to consider..

In the UK university education ( for want of a better name ) no longer has much to do with education. Instead it is a massive financial racket based on the never ending student loans which are in part used to finance the gleaming student accomodation towers which have sprouted up in many towns and cities.

If the students did not take up their accomodation then the whole racket would come crashing down. ( As has happened with the railway privatisations where obscure companies made billions out of train leasing contracts. )

Even pre-covid it was a lucky student who found themselves in a seminar class of 6 or fewer led by a real academic and not a junior lecturer. On line studying of pretty well anything at degree level is a contradiction in terms. Many students, not only in the UK, are asking for a refund and I don't blame them.