Sunshine and Showers

More gardening today, replanting bulbs, planting some heather, cutting back my pyracantha hedge and putting down most of the plant based fertilizer I got recently as a mulch. There was a big gap around lunchtime when we had a very heavy shower, but then the sun came out again, which gave me the chance to get a photo of some fat raindrops on the osteospermum. 

Day 575 / Day 86 of Step 4 of Roadmap Easing (for my record only)
The Health and Social Care Committee and the Science and Technology Committee of MPs published a report today called Coronavirus: Lessons Learned to Date (largely focused on England). As expected, it was highly critical of mistakes made and delays by ministers and their scientific advisers which led to thousands of lives being lost, but it also praised vaccine development and acquision and the NHS response. Key finding include:
- pandemic preparation was too focussed on flu;
- the first national lockdown should have been introduced sooner;
- the early decisions on lockdowns and social distancing 'rank as one of the most important public health failings the UK has ever experienced';
- the abandoning of testing in the community early on was a mistake that 'cost many lives' (I thought we didn't have the capacity to do so);
- failing to prioritise social care and discharging people from hospitals into care homes 'led to many thousands of deaths';
- robust border controls were needed sooner;
- there were serious communication deficiencies within govt and between central and local govt;
- the NHS Test & Trace system was not launched until May and its start was 'slow, uncertain and chaotic';
- the idea of 'herd immunity' was pervasive among scientific advisors early on, but it was never a policy objective;
- apparent 'groupthink' among scientists and ministers, and not learning from actions around the World;
- 'unacceptably high' death rates in ethnic minority groups and among people with learning disabilities and autism were highlighted;
- the decision to pre-order vaccines before their effectiveness had been proved through trials was praised;
- the whole approach to the vaccine programme, from the research and devt through to the rollout of the jabs was 'one of the most effective initiatives in UK history;
- Matt Hancock putting in place a target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of Apr was praised for galvanising the system;
- the rapid deployment of Nightingale hospitals was praised;
- the ability of the NHS to absorb the pressures on it was praised.


The ONS reports 163.437 deaths in the UK to date where Covid was mentioned on the death certificate. The ONS says that job vacancies reached 1.1m between July & Sept, the highest level since records began in 2001. The BBC is reporting that 'more than a third of 26 major trials of the use of ivermectin for use on Covid have serious erros or signs of potential fraud' and that 'none of the rest show convincing evidence of ivermectin's effectiveness'.