Member Info for Tricky_Dicky

Scientists have to produce verifiable evidence in support of a theory or methodology.
Currently we are not sure if inoculating a certain demographic will produce the desired results until further evidence becomes available. We have to act on the balance of available evidence, but of course the elderly have to be given a chance first even if it doesn't help stop the spread.

sorry - known unknowns.

There are known unkowns

Transmission routes for a virus may change in the future and mutations alone are not the only threat.

The exact duration of the normal seasonal flu' protection, via vaccine, or sans vaccine, is unknown.
The same applies to Covid for all we know.
To suggest that Covid mutates more quickly, and hence is a greater threat, is media speculation.

"Normal seasonal flu' makes us rather immune from further attacks, but if Covid mutates very rapidly it may attack again, or is that just media scare-mongering."
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TRicky, I don't understand what you mean by the above....none of it makes sense to me.

Baldy,

I expressed myself badly,
I meant to say that most of us who catch typical seasonal flu' are immune from further attacks for a good few years.
We normally feel extremely ill after catching 'old-fashioned' flu' but eventually we recover unless and until a new 'strain' eventually gains entry.
We don't know how rapidly the current virus mutates but it is probably scare-mongering by the media to suggest that we are
not immune from further attacks in the short term, if the covid virus mutates rapidly.
I find this assertion to be media-speculation (scare-mongering).

1. Flu has been around for countless hundreds of years but the specific mechanism as to why we have peaks of flu in the winter is still poorly understood.
2. The new vaccines seem to be remarkably good at preventing serious illness. But it’s unclear how well they will curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Of course, if you have flu and sneeze or cough, you may well be passing it on more readily.
3. The most effective way to block virus transmission is to limit contact between anyone that could pass the virus on, i.e. social-distancing and masks may well help prevent the spread, but we all pass each other in supermarkets, within inches.
4. More data analysis than ever before has led to hot-spots and variants being noted that were not studied in past forms of flu'.
5. Across all local authorities in England cases are much higher in deprived areas, where people cannot easily work from home?
8. The role of population density in the spreading of Covid-19 in the UK (cities versus country areas) is not clear cut.

Normal seasonal flu' makes us rather immune from further attacks, but if Covid mutates very rapidly it may attack again, or is that just media scare-mongering.

Who should be vaccinated first?
Front-line workers surely, but for the rest it is not so easy.
The elderly and ill, you may think.
But in a situation where you want to slow the spread it may be sensible to vaccinate those (if willing) who are more likely to be spreading it.
If one infected person transmits the virus to three others, and so on, the growth soon becomes huge.
1, 3, 9. 27, 81, 243, 729 etcetera.

As for Liam Fox, he was found guilty and had to resign in 2011 over a huge fraud when his former flat-mate Adam Werrity, claimed to be a business associate for financial gain. Werrity also attended MoD meetings, posing a threat to national security when classified information was discussed.
MPs raised concerns that Adam Werritty introduced himself as the defence secretary's adviser. Werritty, who is not a government employee, handed out business cards with the portcullis logo that described himself as an "adviser to Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP.
It was very concerning" that Werritty had been allowed to "present himself as an adviser (to Fox) in meetings with officials and politicians.
Additionally Liam Fox was forced into U-turn over a legal spat with the US multinational 3M.
Werritty arranged talks between Fox and the MoD's private equity partner Porton Capital over a multimillion-pound legal battle between the MoD and US Post-it note maker 3M.
Fox and Werritty are also linked by a right-wing charity that Fox set up, and Werritty ran. The charity, called The Atlantic Bridge, was suspended following a Charity Commission investigation.
The charity, which had close links to neocons in America, was largely funded by billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Hintze.
Hintze, the founder of the CQS hedge fund and one of Australia's richest men, allowed Mr Werritty to use a desk at his London offices. He has given the Conservative Party and individual MPs a total of almost £1,437,830 over the past decade.

'Tricky, I have yet to be convinced that there will be any gains for UK from Brexit....but the People have spoken and time will tell.'

The Brexit department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) was set up by former Prime Minister Theresa May in 2016 in the wake of the referendum result.
It will be closed down on 31 January - Brexit deadline day.
But it looks like we will need a new body, The Ministry of Guidance? To work out what we have to comply with in future, the date and terms and an approval certificates.
This should keep people in work for years.

baldy,

No particular advantage of Brexit for me either but It will be some time before we see exactly what we have lost, versus gained.
It is certainly not looking a lot like the clean break some had hoped for, or dreaded.

Maybe now is not the right time to sell.

Tremor could equally pay a dividend out of buyback shares.

If Tremor really intended M&A activity then why would they mount buybacks?

'Buybacks helps to support the SP,,but its the fundamentals that matter'

Buybacks help to support the SP (in the short term), but (in the long term) it is the fundamentals that matter.

'Buying into treasury is really only useful if you intend m&a activity.'
A pretty bald statement if ever there was one.
Care to elaborate?

baldy,
I agree with all that,
Vaccination, with close monitoring of resistant strains breaking out by mutation.
Huge cash injections for round-the-clock virus research.
My approach would also be to treat the spread of the virus like a bush fire, put barriers in place, i.e. the equivalent of gaps it cannot jump across. We relaxed the barriers, allowed transport vehicles and let children go to school.
Duhh!!!!
Now the turkeys are coming home to roost.

France is one of more than 40 countries that has suspended flights and trains from the UK, including Denmark, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Turkey and Canada.

The Covid pandemic originated in China.
Trump first attempted a ban on Chinese flights into the U.S.
His decision followed a consensus by his public health advisers that the restrictions should take place.
The guy in charge was vilified for it.
Of course there were many errors in failing to ban all Chinese from entering the U.S. via other countries
A recent study from the journal Science found China’s internal crackdown modestly delayed the spread of the virus. It cast doubt that travel restrictions elsewhere will do much compared with other preventive measures, citing in part the likelihood that a large number of people exposed to the virus had already been traveling internationally without being detected.

The new fast-traveling strain that many other countries are now seen to be keen to prevent from spreading beyond the U.K. by imposing travel restrictions are in the same general scenario.
We first detected the strain in September, but no one was listening until we introduced lock down 3.

Virus mutations happen all the time, it is a guaranteed process of nature.
The more it spreads the greater the likelihood of mutations occurring.
Just because we are a country with early detection methods doesn't mean that other countries do not have similar strains that can also cause faster transmission rates.
The new variant has so far been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia.
The new strain will be cause for concern in the U.S.