Tales from a country under special circumstances

[rikita]

in berlin school lunch is free for all kids up to grade 6, i think. there are some discussions about it whether the city can afford it, though, and about the fact that about a quarter of the food is thrown away as the children don't eat it.

[slowcoach]

On the BBC News website, the main headings changed sometime yesterday afternoon

Before Lunch 22/03/2023:

Home | War in Ukraine | Coronavirus | Climate | Video | World | US & Canada | UK | Business | Tech | More

Later that day:

Home | War in Ukraine | Climate | Video | World | UK | Business | Tech | Science | Stories | More

So Coronavirus is no longer a thing, but neither is US & Canada.

So I won't have to worry about those non topics anymore.

It might just free up enough time to "Get a Life"!

---

Here is the Coronavirus/US & Canada Last Stand.


ETA: (Coronavirus 14th March 2020 - 22nd March 2023) "Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Water"

[tzarine]

tornado near my hometown?
www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65051876

wow
i mean there were winds
some rain
the occasional hailstorm

[slowcoach]

Effective marginal rates of taxation in the UK are very high for the least well paid and can, as in following case, be greater than 100%. Providing they still have a job, and aren't dead.



This is from a academic report on UK Care Homes since the start of the COVID pandemic (download report):

The benefits system financially penalised some staff for covering absences to keep services running: where their pay increased as they took on extra hours it reduced their eligibility for benefits and resulted in a net loss of income that pushed them into greater hardship.

Because around 11% of the care home workforce is employed on zero hours contracts it was possible for some care homes to reduce staff numbers as bed occupancy declined over thecourse of the pandemic. This meant that for some care homes, spending on staffing fell.

1,290 – [is] the number of social care workers (including those working in domiciliary settings) who died
as a result of COVID-19 between March 2020 and February 2022

Some lost pay, some lost jobs, some lost their lives.

---

bed occupancy declined?

42,341 – the number of care home residents who died as a result of COVID-19 between March
2020 and April 2021

---

But at least the government gave financial support to the sector:

The aggregate operating profit margin of the for-profit sector increased from 5% to 8% – a total increase of £215 million. Aggregate pre-tax profits increased by £117 million compared to the year prior to the pandemic

The total amount of dividends paid out by for-profit care home companies increased during the first year of the pandemic. 122 (27%) of the 460 companies we analysed, paid out a total of £120m in dividends, an 11% increase compared to the year before the pandemic

---

[slowcoach]

Friday's hospital visit revealed a noticeable increase in mask wearing, up from just we two to about 10-20% of visitors and 100% of medical staff.

The previous visit was only a month ago.

[slowcoach]

I read that, as of yesterday mask wearing is obligatory in healthcare settings, including pharmacies.

I am surprised, and not surprised, and relieved.

[kuskiwi]

I'd like it to be far more mandatory here as despite summer, outdoor activities our known reported numbers are climbing as are hospitalizations.

[slowcoach]

^

I expect it will come. I can see no reason at all why mask wearing shouldn't be mandatory in hospitals etc.. clinically extremely vulnerable patients need to be able to attend, as safely as is practical.

Here, is about as good as it gets in Europe. As for the UK it can seem like policy is driven by Healthcare Trusts' marketing departments who do not wish healthcare settings to engender negative connotation. You'll see no masks and no obviously sick people in publicity pics.

I expect that one simple statistic will eventually overwhelm resistance. Since the beginning of 2020 the count of people of working age who are not in employment due to long term sickness has been increasing by 10,000 per month, and nobody seems able and willing to tell us why.

FWIW It is estimated that more than 1% of Covid infections result in "Long Covid" and the risk is accumulative. It seems likely that only a proportion of the population is at risk but who knows who they are.

So, am I feeling lucky? Nope!.

[slowcoach]

In the UK there is a widespread opinion expressed by politicians and the media that the desperately extortionate gas/electricity prices are the result of global issues.

Then how come the lowest electricity costs available in the UK are about two and a half times as much as we are paying here in Spain?

[tzarine]

election season has started
fasten your seatbelts
its gonna be a bumpy year

[Voy]

I do like the Nevada primary ballots -- the first choice, above the list of runners, is "none of these candidates". ( Of course on the Republican side that one "won" - as the Cheetoh was not on the ballot)

[tzarine]

shooting @ celeb church
"By Livia Albeck-Ripka, Orlando Mayorquin and J. David Goodman
Published Feb. 11, 2024
Updated Feb. 12, 2024, 10:29 a.m. ET
A boy was critically injured on Sunday afternoon after a woman opened fire at a Christian megachurch in Houston led by Joel Osteen, the televangelist and pastor, the authorities said.

At just before 2 p.m., the woman, holding a rifle, wearing a trench coat and carrying a backpack, entered Lakewood Church, among the largest congregations in the United States. She came with a boy of about 4 or 5 years old, Chief Troy Finner of the Houston Police Department said at a news conference on Sunday.

Two off-duty law enforcement officers who were working at the church on Sunday shot and killed the woman after she opened fire, Chief Finner said"

again

[slowcoach]

Are we poorly served by the news media?


Once upon a time it felt like correspondents were chosen for their expertise, and some of them are still around, just.

Today's batch seem to have outsourced this requirement to pundits. Pundits who will say whatever they feel is most likely to ensure they will get the next pay cheque.

Avdiivka, a town defended doggedly for 10 years has been abandoned to the enemy. For years it was described as the Gateway to the Donbass, a town of critical strategic importance, at least by the go to pundits on offer. Now they, or their replacements, describe it as being of little or no strategic importance, its loss representing only a symbolic victory for the enemy.

It was a thorn in the side of the enemy, a salient that was easy to defend, difficult to attack. Now that thorn has been plucked. Its loss is a tragedy, like Bakhmut, Mariupol, Sievierodonetsk.

[tzarine]

24 elections this year

slow,
i have a feed to local news stations throughout the states
fascinating
some crews still do old fashioned exposes of corruption, greed!
love la bc of the pursuits as viewed from a helicopter

[slowcoach]

Feb 18, 2024 20:08:50 GMT 2 tzarine said:

24 elections this year

slow,
i have a feed to local news stations throughout the states
fascinating
some crews still do old fashioned exposes of corruption, greed!
love la bc of the pursuits as viewed from a helicopter

tg


Are they the ones that they fire at, or is that Police Helicopters, or just a tall tale?

[slowcoach]

Here is a cracker from the Beeb:

How does the government borrow money?


The government borrows money by selling financial products called bonds.

A bond is a promise to pay money in the future. Most require the borrower to make regular interest payments over the bond's lifetime.

Wow I didn't know that!


Who would a borrower be?

[slowcoach]

This recent increase in my vocabulary and decrease in common humanity are in unequal measure-

Arrogate (v): seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession

From the ISW website: (my emphases)

The Kremlin continues to assert its self-arrogated right to enforce Russian federal law on citizens of NATO member and former Soviet states over actions taken within the territory of their own countries.

The Russian Investigative Committee announced on February 28 that a Russian court convicted a Latvian citizen in absentia for fighting as a volunteer with the Ukrainian military against Russia and for desecrating a Soviet memorial in Latvia.

The Investigative Committee claimed that the Latvian citizen acted out of “political and ideological hatred of Russia,” and the court sentenced the man to 10 years in prison in absentia.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) previously placed several dozen government officials from NATO countries on Russia’s wanted list because of alleged violations of Russian federal law committed outside the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.

Russia, however, does not have the legal authority to prosecute foreign citizens for allegedly violating Russian laws in foreign states.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) has put dozens of government officials from NATO countries on Russia’s wanted list because of alleged violations of Russian federal law committed outside the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.

Russian opposition outlet Mediazona stated on February 13 that it gained access to the MVD’s wanted list and that the Russian MVD put:

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas,
Estonian Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop,
Latvian Justice Minister Inese Libina-Egnere,
Latvian Finance Minister Arvils Aseradens,
Latvian Agricultural Minister Armands Krauze,
and former Latvian Interior Minister Marija Golubeva

on the wanted list for allegedly destroying Soviet monuments in Estonia and Latvia — which Kremlin newswire TASS confirmed.

Mediazona stated that:

59 Lithuanian Seimas deputies,
15 Riga municipal deputies,
Lithuanian Mayor of Klaipeda Arvydas Vaitkus,
Vaitkus’s deputy,
13 members of the Klaipeda city council,
six deputies of the Vilnius city council,
Polish Mayor of Walbrzych Roman Szelemey,
and Polish Deputy Minister of State Assets Karol Rabenda

also appear on the Russian MVD’s wanted list in connection with the destruction of Soviet monuments in the Baltic states and Poland. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitri Peskov stated the Baltic officials are wanted for “hostile actions against historical memory and Russia.” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed that Kallas is “actively pursuing a policy of demolishing monuments and mocking the memory of Soviet soldiers” and that she must be held accountable for “blasphemy.” Zakharova called on Russian law enforcement agencies to conduct investigations “within the framework of their powers and responsibilities in accordance with the legislation of Russia.” Zakharova claimed that the officials must “answer for their crimes” and that “this is just the beginning.”

---

ETA: It is my understanding that a warrant has been issued under Russian domestic law for the arrest of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.


Stranger Days have found us.

[tzarine]

its supertuesday
here in the states