So, sticking to what they know best !

The aborted ones, with a bit of luck.

I really do hope all goes well with your mum Nick. 

More on the NHS app-ocalypse. Google / Apple have produced an API not app. In simple terms that means an out of the box engine which needs a body and wheels. I would almost certainly have gone for the Google / Apple API to begin with. The problem described below sounds like a bug which should be fixable, however there are architectural shortcomings which will be much more challenging.  

NHS intensifies talks with Apple as Isle of Wight trial for contact-tracing app stutters

Soon after the app's release on the Isle of Wight, users complained it was not working on certain phones or flooding them with notifications

The NHS has intensified talks with Apple over its contact tracing app as its Isle of Wight trial is beset by problems, raising fears a back-up version may be needed.

Health service bosses are coming under pressure to switch over to a version of digital contact-tracing which uses technology provided by Google and Apple specifically for their phones, increasingly seen as an international standard.

The Telegraph understands that talks between Apple engineers and the NHS developers have ratcheted up, suggesting the health service was taking the option more seriously.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/08/nhs-intensifies-talks-apple-isle-wight-trial-contact-tracing/

I never realised that, say Chatham, had more rich elderly than Billericay or Brentwood 

I buy them on ebay and check the feedback to ensure that there are no previous issues. Only once have I had a problem and they were v good about it. 

I'm out in the country near Canterbury. Big houses, lots of land... the elderly are pretty well off. Nowt like Chatham 

Professor Spector's symptoms map is in The Times today. I think it is viewable here:

https://nuk-tnl-deck-prod-static.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/260f2f16a7ce86f8b3a4d77ae6db58b8.png

Fatigue is the most commonly reported one. Does anyone consider that somewhat farcical? I expect most people have woken up and had a "bad day" perhaps due to a poor night's sleep etc. There is another chart (which I can't find on the web version of The Times) which categorises corona virus symptoms and gives a prognosis based on them. If you get a sore throat it seems you're quids in. IIRC a headache followed by fatigue / temperature allegedly means you're much more likely to croak. 

I think your portrail of Boris is way off the mark but not surprised from a sore labour looser! I do agree that the pm will not be there come the next election and will probably jack it in,in a 2 to 3 years time to spend time with his new family once this crisis is well and truly behind us.

Nice. Just kidding but steady on the generalisations of us oldies 

Thanks for those kind comments everyone. In a way I think you did better Caz. I understand exactly.

Whatever happens happens as it's all part of life.

I've passed on that survey Michael posted to my daughter and she can do what she will with it though it ties in with her schoolwork. I've also forwarded the Cold War Steves links to her machine. Just up her street as she loves Photoshop, satire but not Trump. You're a Saint for highlighting them. 

Nick

Back to the VE Day celebrations yesterday. There might be a positive in this in that it represented a sort of unofficial low level breach of the lockdown. In other words people were generally trying to meet social distancing requirements but many were more lax than they had been. My experience was 1-2m distancing and long periods of chatting going on at closer distance than before. But this would only be a proportion of the population. So, a bit of a dummy run. Be interesting that if there isn't a spike in infection rate in the next 1-2 weeks might mean that easing isn't as dire as we fear. 

The Coastguard has said that on Friday it had the highest number of call-outs since lockdown began as people “ignore” the government’s stay-at-home message.

It said there were 97 incidents, 54% more than the average of 63 recorded for the previous month.

Matt Leat, duty commander with the Coastguard, urged people to stop “ignoring” the government’s measures for the sake of the NHS and all those on the frontline

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/may/09/uk-coronavirus-live-ministers-plan-14-day-quarantine-for-arrivals-as-garden-centres-set-to-reopen--latest-updates

Don't know about the interoperability issues with different phones but I was somewhat sceptical about using a blunt-edged tool like Bluetooth to detect contacts

Unless the app has a way of detecting the duration of the contact and the exact distance it seemed to me that the number of false positives could kill the system. It should not be treating passing by fleetingly across the other side of the road as contacts even though to Bluetooth they might be in range. It may already handle this - we don't have a detailed spec

Actually I totally agree with you. It was meant as hyperbole. I was just making the point that people should stop categorising and generalising because we can all pick an example from any generation in isolation. "Old people this" and "young people that". I do think the younger generation have taken the biggest hit. I have told my grandchildren how much I appreciate what they have done for my generation for something that would probably cause them no harm. It's hardly affected my life but they can never get back this lost year, their 18th birthday, their missed exams, possibly lost Uni places. I have nothing but utter respect for those that have made an effort.

Dead tenants don't pay much rent though.

​

Police chief warning over UK lockdown split as Britain bakes

Quote

 

With Britain basking on what promises to be the hottest day of the year so far, a police chief has warned their job will be more difficult if England and Scotland take different paths on lockdown. While the Westminster government has spoken of a "four-nations approach" to tackling the coronavirus crisis, there have been signs of tensions between Downing Street and the devolved administrations.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon recently warned she would not be "pressured" into "prematurely" easing her country's COVID-19 restrictions and urged Scots to stick with the current advice. It follows concerns over "mixed messages" to the public with reports Boris Johnson could allow sunbathing and picnics to be permitted in England from as early as Monday.

However, ministers have since downplayed this, insisting there would be no "dramatic overnight change" of the lockdown rules.

 

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-police-chief-warning-over-uk-lockdown-split-as-britain-bakes-11985648

​

Actually, nobody claimed we’d stop the virus.  The measures we took were to slow the spread and prevent the NHS being overwhelmed.  I wonder if it has run its course now.

Agreed, it's a mistake. It should only happen if they are confident that community transmission has now fallen considerably and most of the new infections are from care homes and hospitals. If that's the case though, they should explain it clearly.

The govt keeps lurching from one mistake to another and the results are visible to anyone who isn't blinkered.

A detailed spec would be a rare commodity at the start of any software project - let alone for an application that was cobbled together in a few weeks using flaky technology across multiple platforms.

Why am I not surprised? 

UK scientists condemn 'Stalinist' attempt to censor Covid-19 advice

Government scientific advisers are furious at what they see as an attempt to censor their advice on government proposals during the Covid-19 lockdown by heavily redacting an official report before it was released to the public, the Guardian can reveal.

The report was one of a series of documents published by the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) this week to mollify growing criticism about the lack of transparency over the advice given to ministers responding to the coronavirus.

Several SPI–B members told the Guardian that the redacted portions of the document contained criticisms they had made of potential government policies they had been formally asked to consider in late March and early April.One SPI-B adviser said: “It is bloody silly, and completely counterproductive.” A second committee member said: “The impression I’m getting is this government doesn’t want any criticism.”

“Personally, I am more bemused than furious,” said Stephen Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews. “The greatest asset we have in this crisis is the trust and adherence of the public. You want trust? You need to be open with people. This isn’t open. It is reminiscent of Stalinist Russia. Not a good look.”

At least one scientific adviser is understood to be considering resigning over the government’s secretive approach to science around the Covid-19 outbreak, which they believe is undermining public trust.

“This government has failed to show any self-criticism whatsoever, when it is glaringly obvious to everybody that big mistakes have been made. If you want the trust of the population you hold up your hand and you say ‘we’ve made these mistakes, this is why they happened, we regret it, we’re learning from it’. Rather than just keep saying ‘we’ve done the most fantastic job’ and not being open to criticism in any way.”

I agree, Caz. My father is in a care home 3,500 miles away and we're on our third 'mini panic' already: first someone in the kitchen caught it and then we've had two of the people's who share his room go down with a fever and he's been isolated and tested. So far so good but whenever he gets moved to another room we can't speak to him for several days.

Nick, I hope it turns out OK for your mum.

Guardian? Enough said! The govt would not win with some people whatever way you cut it. The knives were out from the start, that's why they became so defensive and party political broadcast sounding. Agree, with the word hindsight there would be a number of things addressed differently. But they stopped that spike as they said they would, but certain people still moan about the lockdown decisions. They cannot win. Anyone in charge cannot win. It's a thankless task. And the truth is you detect political undertones, not what you need right now!