Out of the blue

Absolutely agree, staffing from both an availability and salary point of view is a huge issue. London keeps getting mentioned as way of comparison, and it just isn't comparable. If we with a population of 85k (I am guessing only 50% are potential customers) want a a decent variety and number of good quality restaurants we are going to have to pay more. Footfall is less than London and people running these businesses need to make a living, add to that the fact that staffing is limited, so the wages are higher than London and that the supply of ingredients, power etc is generally more expensive than London and to be honest I am surprised that the prices are not even higher than they are currently. I am aware that some restaurants have absorbed the recent rises in power/ingredients, as they do not think that the customers will pay more, but this is unsustainable. We are soon going to be in the unenviable position of either supporting our local hospitality, if we can afford to, or losing many of its players.

Not watchable today (on smart TV, iPad or PC), will try again tomorrow. The engineers are not going to get much sleep tonight. Going old school and listening to radio. Plenty of potential though and the island looks good.

It will get sorted and ai am sure it will be slick by race week, but it is a shame they didn’t over compensate on the required bandwidth and connections before today as it really isn’t a good look, first impressions count.

Probably just a poorly formatted document, but the Sefton appears below Andrew Smith. I wasn’t aware that Andrew Smith was connected to the Sefton group?

Even though it is relatively recent history, the initial 2020 'lockdown' has for me begun to take on a surreal feel, and recalling events like the Laxey swimmer arrests only compound that weird feeling that surely something like this couldn't really have happened. I wonder how well the restrictions and our general reaction to Covid will age through the prism of history, and wonder if future generations will think we went ever so slightly mad.

There was an interesting interview with the FT stats man on Thursday’s Radio 4 PM program. Basically it would now appear that as a result of the vaccination program, natural immunity from being infected and the milder variant, that Flu is now deadlier than Covid.

I am sadly not planning any foreign travel in the next few weeks, but tried downloading the QR codes and the booster currently does not get added to the wallet, even though it did a few weeks ago. Prior to that my booster has sometimes shown in the app, sometimes not, so it not only you having issues, the App is very flaky. Good luck.

You are correct, but Danoo has a point, why have covid border restrictions other than to assuage the nervous

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in his next meeting with her

All reasonable points and definitely worth pondering, my first instinctive gut feeling was that his lying and ineptitude got us here, so let him squirm and try to deliver on his unicorn utopia, although I concede the downside effects may well be felt by all of us and not be worth watching him drown.

Boris needs to stay in power. Why should he be allowed to slink off to non exec directorships, book deals and after dinner speeches earning huge amounts of money for doing very little. Let him stay on his PM salary and deal with the consequences of all the things that he has set in motion, such as Brexit. I also cannot imagine a premier more motivated to rescue his legacy (whether he is capable is another thing altogether) and to be creative and dynamic in his final years as PM. As a Brucey bonus, if Boris stays in power, England can pretty much rule out any further lockdowns or restrictions as he has zero credibility and the public will tell him to bugger off.

It is this sort of over the top authoritarianism that gets peoples back up. Suggestions and advice regarding measures and I bet it would have a similar effect. I have no idea what is going on in the devolved nations. It makes the Isle of Man look like a liberal paradise, words that I never think I would associated with the island.

A pragmatic approach from Alf that reflects what is likely to be already actually happening on the ground re. self testing. I would be surprised if many people from this point forward voluntarily inform the government about a positive test, however most responsible people will isolate themselves anyway. If you treat the public like responsible adults I am sure the government will be pleasantly surprised by the response.

"A spokesperson says no change in policy is expected". I take that as continuing with a watching brief. There is no reason to push the panic button. Remember Alf hasn't any Covid xmas parties to distract us from.

Well it would seem that overnight the media have reached out to all the usual suspects to basically say it may be bad, it could be worse, we could be doomed. At this point they do not know... Stopping flights is a reasonable step until checks are done, but why oh why after years of this constant barrage, can't the media dial it back and wait and see. I am fed up with their constant sensationalism, as it now seems that everything is a crisis. Migrant invasion, climate armageddon, weather bombs take your pick. TV, radio and online news going off for a few days until this settles and facts, not speculation are able to be reported.