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.

I did ask my child. He has noticed only one of his teachers and two pupils in his class of 30 wearing a mask. He asked his friend why he was wearing a mask, and he said his parents told him to because they didn’t want any isolation to ruin their forthcoming holiday.

Thnakyou, so that means potentially non symptomatic isolation periods, testing and the subsequent societal and economic disruption will likely be a feature of winters for a long time to come, or perhaps alternatively society will learn to live with a certain number of deaths and only tolerate symtomatic absenses (a bit like flu). I personally think it will be the latter, but it will be interesting to see how long it takes to transition.

When do we get to the point when people are only absent when they feel awful. When does it stop being notifiable, and when does isolation stop and constant testing stop? The issues with staffing and absenteeism are largely to do with regulations and rules rather than people feeling terrible. When do we actially start to live with Covid? I am genuinely interested to know when this ends and it turns into another disease.

You cannot legislate for idiots, but in attempting to stop the idiots you unnecessarily impact everyone else.

😁 Thanks, I will consider your advice. I have just crossed the mountain and saw police officers at Windy Corner giving advice to a cyclist who thought it was a good idea to take a cycle in the fog. I think that they may be giving him similar advice as you did about the coast road.

I know that some people think that speed limits are a panacea to road traffic collisions, however judging by the last few days on the Mountain road, no speed limit is ever going to deter the Darwin prize idiots who insist on overtaking and tailgating in the dark, rain, mist and thick fog as I have witnessed twice this weekend. Increased driver training/education, better and increased traffic policing and stiffer deterrent penalties for transgressors are more likely to work, but to be honest you will always get idiots. I just hope I do not meet them head on.

It is a bloody disgrace, even in the worst norovirus/flu seasons where staffing has been decimated children were able to attend, but as we tacitly accepted the use of kids 'remote learning' during the peak pandemic, it has become part of the governments 'toolkit' and will be used more and more whenever it there is a slight issue. Give them an inch...

According to the dashboard approx 3000 kids have tested positive this year. Assuming there are a reasonable number that weren’t tested and/or were not showing symptoms, it may be that upto 50% of the 11000 school aged children have already had it. It wouldn’t surprise me if that percentage is significantly higher by Christmas. It may be a bit bumpy this side of the new year but I do feel that 2022 will be bring back the return of normality.

I am considering options for next years travel and am wondering if the single jab for teenagers will count in Europe as being fully vaccinated, and if so if they are able to access the necessary apps to gain the QR code so that they can eat in restaurants etc Anybody know?

Cases are up I guess as a result of the new school term which started approximately three weeks ago (I am assuming a lag from infection to symptoms to reporting). The dashboard age breakdown appears to support this with the majority of cases being in the younger age group. As long as this remains the case I don’t see an issue as hospital rates are low, however we will see in due course if this feeds through to the older population but with luck the vaccine continue to do its job. Personally I am optimistic, and do not see this as a cause for alarm or a government press release.