Brexit, for once some facts.

[oyster]

Drugsters can be very single-minded:

How Methamphetamine Became a Key Part of Nazi Military Strategy

World War II was not only the most destructive war in human history but also the most pharmacologically enhanced. It was literally sped up by speed

time.com

High Hitler: how Nazi drug abuse steered the course of history

German writer Norman Ohler’s astonishing account of methamphetamine addiction in the Third Reich changes what we know about the second world war

www.theguardian.com

Many don't realise how dependent on drugs was John F Kennedy. (Though I don't usually use the word "drugs" in relation to hormone replacements.)

He took liothyronine and cortisone (and other substances).

 

[oyster]

It appears that Wales is having problems with the third dose. The population being so often spread thinly and communities well separated makes handling the Pfizer vaccine difficult. (With its well-documented ultra-cold freezer requirements.)

That is a reason further vaccination has been delayed.

I have read of a few people getting Moderna but no idea where.

 

[Woosh]

You are without doubt right but we are in a much better position with them..
Way I look at it vaccine/antigen is like a workshop manual, some are better than others but job is always easier with one. I, ve had 3 now.. Hope my body has studied them.
Thing is much as life shouldn't be fully back to normal it more or less is. Went to a firework display last night. Packed in like sardines, not a mask in site. Football grounds are packed as are shops, cinemas and pubs. With that behaviour wonder how many infections we, d be seeing without the vaccine/antigen.

And to be fair Chris Witty has said since even before vaccine materialised that it would never be a panacea,just a big help.

I've had high hopes for the vaccines back in the spring but since the delta variant arrived, I felt in a sense being let down.
I hope that the new covid pills are going to be as good as their makers claims.

 

[oldgroaner]

Agreed. Point was OG's ludicrous claim Russians could have won war without help from US/UK/Commonwealth.

More BS as usual

 

[Zlatan]

More BS as usual

You need to not just convince me, but probably every WW2 historian that Russia could have won war on its own.. That's the BS... Do your homework OG..
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4h4c7w Read When Titans Clashed by David Glantz.

And German doubly strong (at least) with no bombing campaign, no French front, no Africa to fight in.. Etc etc

American War production outpaced Russian, even by 1945. Russia had some focused production that managed to just beat US, but you can't suddenly remove all that war production from balance and expect same out come.. Germany was on its knees not because of bombing by Russians but because of US and UK efforts. Again, remove that, and free up all the hardware fighting in France, Africa, Italy and all of a sudden Germany are a different prospect. Yes, we all know sacrifice Russians we're willing to make, but without US, etc etc there would have been millions more.
How about offering a semblence of justification for your silly opinion. Fact, figures, likely outcomes etc without US, UK, France, Etc etc. Just calling my explanation BS is typical OG. No facts to back your opinion up at all, so call names.

It's an opinion I, ve heard before, normally held by those who actually think they know more about WW2 than they actually do. Facts say you argument is utter BS. Not mine.)

 

[flecc]

Thing is much as life shouldn't be fully back to normal it more or less is. Went to a firework display last night. Packed in like sardines, not a mask in site. Football grounds are packed as are shops, cinemas and pubs. With that behaviour wonder how many infections we, d be seeing without the vaccine/antigen.

It's difficult to know what effect they are having. Since it seems to upset some that I've posted on how well my London borough of Croydon is doing on a very low vaccine rate, this morning I decided to pick on a different borough to the north of me, Lambeth.

The area I chose at random, SW9, returned vaccination rates of 56% one jab, 51% two jabs. Barely over half of them. Yet their borough wide infection rate is only a bit over a third the national rate and their death rate was zero, against 1.6 per 100k nationally. Similar is true across much of London

So what on earth is going on when nationally nearly 90% have had one jab, 80% have had two jabs and 16% have had boosters too, yet their infection rate is still over 400 per 100k and death rate so much higher than in our low jabs areas?
.

 

[Woosh]

So what on earth is going on when nationally nearly 90% have had one jab, 80% have had two jabs and 16% have had boosters too, yet their infection rate is still over 400 per 100k and death rate so much higher than in our low jabs areas?

they may have acquired 'herd immunity' from London underground.

 

[flecc]

You need to not just convince me, but probably every WW2 historian that Russia could have won war on its own.. That's the BS... Do your homework OG..

I've kept out of this one until now.

You are undoubtedly right on the facts you give Zlatan, but Russia would have beaten Germany on its own, albeit taking a little longer.

There are several reasons for that:

First population, Germany 70,000, USSR over 280,000, four times as many.

Second, and far more importantly, the Russians were fighting for their beloved Motherland and their Russian Orthodox faith. The Germans were fighting for the Nazi clique's ambition which many of them didn't share or were even opposed to. That's why the USSR failed in Afghanistan, their troops didn't believe in what they were doing, the Mujahideen against them were fighting for their country and Islam.

One should never underestimate the strength and power of religious faith and allegiance to ones homeland. It's why the Taliban have just strolled back into power in Afghanistan after the mighty USA failed. It's why the American's gulf war ambitions in Iraq have failed. It's why the French and Americans were successively chased out of Indo-China (Vietnam).
.

 

[flecc]

they may have acquired 'herd immunity' from London underground.

. The vast majority of London's 10 millions don't use the underground. I'm a Londoner born and bred, but I last had a trip on the underground in 2010 and the previous occasion was a trip in 1954.
.

 

[Danidl]

And anyone who thinks Tthe Nazis weren't capable in certain areas is completely missing the point. Technically, organisation wise, even militarily they were simply light years infront... But as I, ve said from start in other areas they were utter morons,which led to their demise... But don't forget by 1944 it was virtually a single country fighting the combined might of just about rest of world. Using fact they "lost" to discredit intelligence amongst their kind is bonkers. They wrote the book in Tank warfare (Heinz Guderian) which to this day is the Bible for tank commanders. Their war machines for years and years were basis for every army on planet. (from mg34/42 to their dreaded 88s, from their cruise missiles to their ICBMs, which they had in pipe line)
Their downfall was pure logistics stacked against them and the system that gave Hitler complete control..
It was often stated in military circles post war that using mg42 (and especially mg34, its non productionised brother) was like using a Rolls Royce as a Taxi.
Similar comparisons could be made about many aspects of 1940s German engineering. (Look under hood of a Spitfire, then a FW190) Compare a Panzerfaust with Piat gun. (a spring loaded throwing device more akin to middle ages)
That doesn't detract from the engineering prowess shown in items but does demonstrate perhaps wrong priorities for time. The AK47 used many elements from German guns, (intermediate power round, a German idea) but was shoddily, built, built to massive tolerances (to with stand grime), utterly inaccurate but cheap, quick to build, reliable, easy to use and killed just as effectively as an expensive well built gun.

Comparing the PIAT and the Panzerfaust, and deriding the Piat as a mechanical toy , is misleading. The range of both was equivalent, and the charge delivered nearly the same. Moreover the PIAT was a multiuse weapon, with the undeniable advantage of being stealth. The smoke from a panzerfaust ensured that not only was the weapon a one shot but so was its user. 7% of All German tanks destroyed in Normandy by the British were by with PIATs .

 

[jonathan.agnew]

It's difficult to know what effect they are having. Since it seems to upset some that I've posted on how well my London borough of Croydon is doing on a very low vaccine rate, this morning I decided to pick on a different borough to the north of me, Lambeth.

The area I chose at random, SW9, returned vaccination rates of 56% one jab, 51% two jabs. Barely over half of them. Yet their borough wide infection rate is only a bit over a third the national rate and their death rate was zero, against 1.6 per 100k nationally. Similar is true across much of London

So what on earth is going on when nationally nearly 90% have had one jab, 80% have had two jabs and 16% have had boosters too, yet their infection rate is still over 400 per 100k and death rate so much higher than in our low jabs areas?
.

You were upset. Frankly, I doubt any of us take what happen in croydon personally. I do have healthy concern. Vaccines may not be perfect, but they prevent hospitalization with severe illness to a very significant degree. To propose natural immunity/herd immunity as an alternative is to endanger the lives of the less informed. Much like the government did at the beginning of the pandemic (,before slaughtering those in care homes). It may be useful to some unprincipled political sponsors to try to push that kind of disinformation. But it's also profoundly unethical.

 

[Danidl]

I've had high hopes for the vaccines back in the spring but since the delta variant arrived, I felt in a sense being let down.
I hope that the new covid pills are going to be as good as their makers claims.

Woosh, I share the sentiment to some extent, but I am more hopeful. I see the vaccines as the first line of defence ,and according to my calculations have reduced hospital admissions by a factor of at least 40..so breakover infections which require hospital treatment are reduced to 2.5% of what they might have been before vaccination. The new pills seem to be another multiplier of 9 fold , so between them they can reduce hospitalisation by a factor of 400. Now when you then factor in the fraction of people who have either had Covid, or have been vaccinated , we will soon be at herd immunity levels. The game never was to totally wipe out Covid ... That was lost by May 2020, but to bring hospital levels to normal levels so that other medical procedures can be again carried out.
The real real fear is that Covid 21 is brewing in some part of deepest Florida , or Kerala,and it has smoother spikes.

 

[flecc]

You were upset. Frankly, I doubt any of us take what happen in croydon personally. I do have healthy concern. Vaccines may not be perfect, but they prevent hospitalization with severe illness to a very significant degree. To propose natural immunity/herd immunity as an alternative is to endanger the lives of the less informed.

I've never done any of this or denied the value of avoiding the ill effects of Covid, indeed including the value and importance of having the vaccines in most of my posts on this subject from the outset.

That included posting when I had each jab, which is hardly proposing infection immunity as an alternative. But infection immunity has equal value to the vaccines and may last very much longer. It served us well in the year before we had any vaccines and continues to now, as all the evidence shows.

Suppressing information only ever has one effect, it breeds mistrust.
.

 

[Woosh]

But infection immunity has equal value to the vaccines and may last very much longer. It served us well in the year before we had any vaccines and continues to now, as all the evidence shows.

when you consider 9 out of 10 people may have come into contact with covid again and again and show no symptoms, it's difficult to separate the role of vaccines from natural exposure. I value the first two jabs but on the booster jab, if it wasn't offered, I would not be too worried.
I think it would be a lot more economical to buy treatment than continuing with booster jabs.

 

[flecc]

when you consider 9 out of 10 people may have come into contact with covid again and again and show no symptoms, it's difficult to separate the role of vaccines from natural exposure. I value the first two jabs but on the booster jab, if it wasn't offered, I would not be too worried.

That is exactly where I'm at. I haven't been offered a booster, obviously missed again just as I wasn't offered the vaccines so had to chase for them both in turn. But I'm not going to chase for a booster.

That's not to say it hasn't value, it's mainly because to get one each time places me at far greater risk of catching Covid than at any time in my usual life, which is almost entirely free from that risk. And since it's it's nothing new, being only the same again, that risk will need repeating every six months, making it even more pointless.

Even more annoying is that the 'Flu jab is only accessible that same way now, instead of at my local surgery just down the road and it also has to be a separate trip from the booster, more risk multiplication. So it's no to both at present, until conveniently and safely accessible.
.

 

[Zlatan]

Comparing the PIAT and the Panzerfaust, and deriding the Piat as a mechanical toy , is misleading. The range of both was equivalent, and the charge delivered nearly the same. Moreover the PIAT was a multiuse weapon, with the undeniable advantage of being stealth. The smoke from a panzerfaust ensured that not only was the weapon a one shot but so was its user. 7% of All German tanks destroyed in Normandy by the British were by with PIATs .

Yes, I know full well how effective Piat was. The difference between the two weapons systems was that the Piat represented the end of the line and ultimate development for an automatic coil spring powered cross bow firing a shape charged projectile... Whereas the Panzerfaust (and American Bazooka) represented the RPG in its infancy.
Other issue is training. Anybody could and did use Panzerfaust.. Only trained operatives could handle Piat, and even then with some difficulty. Comparing the two... One is archaic and yet still effective but ultimately a dead end. . The other effective and the start of a whole new branch of weapon systems. (culminating in sea wolf, sea dart, heat seeking missiles etc etc)

 

[Zlatan]

I've kept out of this one until now.

You are undoubtedly right on the facts you give Zlatan, but Russia would have beaten Germany on its own, albeit taking a little longer.

There are several reasons for that:

First population, Germany 70,000, USSR over 280,000, four times as many.

Second, and far more importantly, the Russians were fighting for their beloved Motherland and their Russian Orthodox faith. The Germans were fighting for the Nazi clique's ambition which many of them didn't share or were even opposed to. That's why the USSR failed in Afghanistan, their troops didn't believe in what they were doing, the Mujahideen against them were fighting for their country and Islam.

One should never underestimate the strength and power of religious faith and allegiance to ones homeland. It's why the Taliban have just strolled back into power in Afghanistan after the mighty USA failed. It's why the American's gulf war ambitions in Iraq have failed. It's why the French and Americans were successively chased out of Indo-China (Vietnam).
.

Don't think you can compare any of those flecc. At start of conflict Russian milatary was in utter disarray. Stalin had killed thousands of his best military leaders. Imagine their move east under continual bombardment from Germany with none of the help US supplied at that time. The numbers you mention would have been a negative, the Russians couldn't feed their nation even as it was. (as mentioned earlier 2million Russians starved even with lend lease)
Time was not on Russians side in 1941.US/UK bought them time to survive, move east, build the T34, sort rail network out and rebuild their almost leaderless army.
Without that time and with Germany probably double its strength they would have lost Moscow and Stalingrad. Their move east would have literally been stopped in its tracks, without which Russia would have been dead in the water.

 

[oyster]

It has been said so many times that Johnson's hero was WSC:

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Boris Johnson’s poll ratings slump to record low after Owen Paterson affair

The botched attempt to scrap Westminster’s standards system has cost the PM and the party as their popularity wanes

www.theguardian.com

Are there any popularity polls for Kathryn Stone OBE?

 

[flecc]

Are there any popularity polls for Kathryn Stone OBE?

This is Britain. I doubt any polling organisation has a large enough enough staff to find 1000 people who know who Kathryn Stone is.

The poll could end up 5% approve, 5% disapprove, 90% "Who?".
.

 

[oyster]

This is Britain. I doubt any polling organisation has a large enough enough staff to find 1000 people who know who Kathryn Stone is.

The poll could end up 5% approve, 5% disapprove, 90% "Who?".
.

A week ago, 5% would have been optimistic.