ambient

I’ve just shown this to my dad. He thought I was being funny this morning, when I told him he couldn’t go with my brother in his car to collect a prescription. My dad had his first vaccination a fortnight ago, we have to keep reminding him that nothing has really changed.

I think when you see comments like this, from Chris Whitty, you can pretty much write off gigging for the foreseeable future - copied and pasted from the Guardian’s live feed. Q. Can those who have been vaccinated mix together? Whitty says even with a very effective vaccine, there’s a period of time straight after where there’s no effect for 2 or 3 weeks. That protection won’t even be complete with two vaccines, he says. At the moment, a very large proportion of people you come into contact with could have the virus, he says - on average 1 in 55, or 1 in 35 in London. There is a residual risk even if you’ve had the vaccine, he says. The rates of infections need to come right down by staying at home while others get vaccinated, he says. Vallance says we still don’t know how effective the vaccines are at stopping you from catching the virus or passing the virus on. It’s very important not to assume you can’t catch it or pass it on after vaccination, he says. 7m ago 17:21 They are taking questions from the public now. Q. Will the delay in getting a second dose of the vaccine reduce levels of protection and if so how much? Whitty says the first dose gives the great majority of the protection, but the second increases that and makes it longer lasting too. The idea is to double the number of people that can get vaccinated, he says. Because our major limitation is the number of vaccines the UK has to give, half the number of people would have been vaccinated in this very risky period if we hadn’t extended the time, he says. Once you get protection initially it lasts a reasonable period of time, he says, likely up to five months, like if you had the virus.

That’s why it’s ridiculous to compare us to Sweden, as many have.

If only we were an island.

I didn’t know that, it seems pretty sensible though. Why go to the expense of organising anything, if you’re going to need to cancel, and you can’t get insurance?

I just spotted this in the Guardian. It hadn’t occurred to me that these events wouldn’t be insured - they would need communicable disease cover, which they generally don’t take out. The UK insurance sector isn’t currently offering Covid insurance, so it’s unlikely I guess that anyone will go ahead and organise an event until that’s sorted out. Though how much will it cost, given that nobody really knows what the situation will be in six weeks time, let alone six months time. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/22/government-stalls-on-insurance-scheme-for-uk-music-festivals

This!

Yep. That’s what my dad said that would happen. The closing time where I grew up was 10:30pm. Yet in the adjoining Sutton Coldfield it was 11:00pm. You would get a crowd of people at 10:40 or thereabouts, walking the 500 metres from the pub that had just closed, to the pub that was going to be open for another twenty minutes.

I think the problem with the pubs was the ‘eat out to help out’ scheme. It was attributed to the spike occurring in the autumn - apparently Johnson himself admitted it may have been responsible. The awful spoons pub by me was pretty packed out each time I walked past.

I suspect that it was Johnson refusing to confirm that the lockdown - or at least restrictions - wouldn’t be continuing into the summer. Basically he doesn’t know, he’d be guessing if he did. Bearing in mind where we currently are, it would be rather foolish - even for him - to give a forecast about what might be happening in six months time.

It’s going to be the autumn at the earliest I reckon. Apparently the fat controller wouldn’t commit to lockdown being over before the summer. A single jab isn’t a vaccination, giving at a maximum 52% protection. It’ll be ages before everyone has had two injections. My parents had their first shot two weeks ago, they had a call today notifying them that their next injection is due early April.

Legally I wouldn’t know, morally I would say yes. When does one company start and another end though? Wouldn’t everything pertaining to this year's festival be under this year's company? Do they sell tickets through an agency or direct? If it’s through ah agency then they’ll be taking a hit too.

That’s it isn’t it, I guess it’s easy to think they just provide a field. You don’t necessarily consider long term planning and expenditure. Someone on Facebook was just saying that if - as seems likely considering what’s going on - everyone who’s already bought tickets asks for their deposit back, then that could cost them up to £5 million.

Have you listened to the John McLaughlin Trio album with Trilok Gurtu and Jonas Hellborg, live at the Royal Festival Hall?

The Guardian has a similar article, I shared it in another post. Like you, I was unaware that you could potentially be charged for receiving a gift.

There’s a useful explainer here. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/jan/21/eu-website-purchases-the-import-charges-uk-customers-have-to-pay

It mentions it in the link in my follow-up post. It’s from a Guardian article a few weeks ago. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/25/michael-eavis-glastonbury-will-go-bankrupt-if-it-cant-be-staged-in-2021-coronavirus

The floor. Usually with my cat.

My mistake, it was her father, Michael Eavis. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/25/michael-eavis-glastonbury-will-go-bankrupt-if-it-cant-be-staged-in-2021-coronavirus

It’s what I read. Maybe they lost a lot of money after cancelling last year? I guess they have to book an awful lot of infrastructure and services well in advance, and pay deposits for them?

I’m not surprised. It’s sad though, I was reading an article last week, in which the organiser Emily Eavis said that they risk bankruptcy if it doesn’t take place. I’ve never been, but watch most years on TV. It would be a real shame if it ceased to be. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/21/glastonbury-2021-officially-cancelled-due-to-covid-pandemic

Why? Basically because it’s how the creative arts industry has set itself up to work in the 21st century. It’s very much a DIY scene. Be it music - not just bands either, but also orchestras, composers, DJs, producers, tour personnel - including roadies, lighting, sound, trucking, there’s also theatre, dance and TV production. It’s also a fantastic and highly rewarding experience. For many it’s an important revenue stream.

Whilst him being shown to be an utter hypocrite is funny. It’s also distracting from the point, that this farce that’s been foisted on an already struggling creative industry, is anything but funny. It was dismissed in parliament two days ago. We can’t give up though, and need to keep campaigning - hopefully until this whole dark and utterly pointless project has been reversed - but at least until those working in the creative industry are able to carry on working unhindered across borders, as they have for the last twenty or more years.

There was a video of Daltrey shared by JOB on Twitter. He quite clearly has or had absolutely no idea whatsoever about how the modern creative arts industry works. He came across as a totally arrogant fool. I never liked his music anyway.

Urgh. I’ve suddenly gone all itchy.