Drat

Is this a very clever attempt to flush out the professional foreign posters who don't get the British sense of humour?

Time to chose a side...

Yes, but it is a shame to have people in the UK cheering on the EU just to be proven right. You and me, we lost the referendum, we should get over it. I want the best possible outcome for the UK (in the circumstances we find ourselves in) for the future of my children, that means a lot more to me than seeing the UK go down the pan just to give me a feeling of vindication.

A suit like that won't protect you from radiation from a mast. Suits like that are worn to protect you from exposure to particles. In some situations you will wear a suit lie that to stop you inhaling or being contaminated by radio-active particles, and typically alpha and beta emitting radionuclides (which you don't want inside you). That picture is obviously of someone spraying pesticide or something similar. But who cares for the truth when you can just scare people with this kind of rubbish

You are hilarious! I can't decide if you are a Marxist hoping for the country to burn, a Russian/Chinese troll paid to encourage the British population to make the country burn, or a very young child rebelling against a rich mum and dad! If you are none of those then I apologise, but in that case tell me what your angle is please

Sad if people commit suicide, but I would hardly call these people average. Typically they were getting paid large sums, you don't join such a scheme if you are earning anywhere near an average salary. I have no sympathy and no respect for any of them. Earn money and pay your dues...

Our experience is that working from home has been very productive and more time efficient, including for home tasks such as being able to hang the washing out (which saves weekends for being a family). Downsides have been reduction of add hoc conversations, and a few people are feeling socially isolated (all depending on their situations at home). It will be about getting the home/office work balance right, we will not go back to 100% in the office. Our company is now talking about changing the office space to a more creative and interactive space but with far fewer desks, assuming peopl

That 6% rise should have been near a 16% drop if they had continued to pay down the debt at the same rate as the previous 5 years (which is what you SHOULD do when things are good), so the debt was say, 22% higher than it should have been (34% instead of 12%).

Really interesting isn't it. Shows lockdown is such a blunt tool, and there will be more focused ways of changing R One point of interest, in this country we have a really bad tendency to keep going out and working even when we are unwell, the number of people you get in the office sneezing away over winter... In Japan they are much more considerate of others. A few days before look down we were in a restaurant and lady was sitting a few tables away going in to coughing fits, I mean, really!!

I 100% agree with the premise. I was over the moon with New Labour paying down the debt in their first term, and I was gutted when they changed that policy (I myself am naturally financially prudent). That took us from a great position to a terrible one when the financial crisis hit in 2008. After 10+ years of sorting ourselves out we get hit by Covid-19 which will take more than 10 years to sort out, not helped by Brexit (whatever you think about Brexit you have to admit the timing sucks!) plus the very real prospect of a cold/warm war with China. These would still be a challenge, but the

I see it as people are wasting spending more and more time online (netflix, gaming, social media, even old fashioned forums!) so it is digital leisure that is squeezing peoples time. But I agree, it does seem sad that people spend more time inside (glued to their screens) than getting out and about seeing people and places. Are you ready to give up some internet time?

That is a massive statement to make in a throwaway comment. If you really believe that, put it in your signature with today's date and leave it there for a year. If you are right that will add more weight to anything you say in the future, if you are wrong then people will know to take what you say with a pinch of salt.

I'll ask, but I *think* the test picks up fragments of the virus itself, not antibodies. One interesting thing, according to my wife, is that their version of the test is much much more sensitive than the standard test, which implies a chance of getting a false negative with the standard test.

Even without an official lockdown people will be going out less, avoiding crowded places and public transport, and hopefully washing hands more often. Maybe that explains Belarus? What we don't really know yet is what measures have the most effect, but in the absence of that knowledge you go for the blunt tool that is total lockdown. I bet when this is all over we will find there are some much less economically costly measures we could have taken, but that is the benefit of hindsight...

The trouble is, you can only correct for the factors that you know about with great certainty, but currently we don't have a full picture of what does affect outcome. My wife works in a lab doing COVID testing for a volunteer network (they are not part of the official NHS effort but pick up people like GPs who amazingly aren't covered by the NHS network unless they have symptoms). They have had a few medical doctors in to advise, and several times she has heard the comment that what the public is not being told about is the large proportion of obese patients ending up in hospital and die