English Chess Forum

The mask question is easy. That well known study in Denmark concluded that in ideal circumstances ( taken out of a sterilised pack, applied with care, used once and then thrown away ) they offer some small benefit. As used in practice ( removed from pocket or purse, stuck haphazardly around ears and then scrunched back for fifty further uses ) they are just filthy, germ ridden rags. Some SAGE member did admit ( boast? ) that their main purpose was to keep the populace in a state of alertness, aka terror.

Lockdowns don't work, either. All the supposed evidence that they do is based on models which purport to show theoretically that things would have been much worse without them.

I find the US experience highly informative. The fifty states are in charge of their own public health policies, and they have adopted levels of formal control ranging all the way from zero to Stalinist. Looking at the outcomes, in terms of hospitalisations and deaths ( I don't care about "cases" per se, unless they lead to something concrete ) I defy anyone to guess which were which.

I would be happy to offer a critique of any other UK Government policy - perhaps they have even done something right which I haven't noticed.

'Yes' was the short answer then.

You said that I supported "no vaccines", which is the opposite of the truth.

The vaccine program has been a success, even if the method of persuading people to accept it has been based on deceit. But that is all they know.

ah okay. Your misgivings about the safety of the vaccines led you to conclude vaccination was not for you, but you were happy for others to have the unsafe vaccines.

J T Melsom wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 14, 2021 12:40 pm

ah okay. Your misgivings about the safety of the vaccines led you to conclude vaccination was not for you, but you were happy for others to have the unsafe vaccines.

If other people feel safer after getting vaccinated and are willing to resume their lives, that is good both for them and for me. While I have personally never felt impelled to withdraw from normal life, it is of course nice to have more people to live it with.

"I cannot imagine anyone needed me to tell them that the vaccines were approved for emergency use after far less lengthy testing than had ever previously been required."

I quite understand your caution. In fairness, the usual delays with testing are caused by it taking months to get approval for the work being started. The committee meets seldom, and if someone asks a question, they might defer the decision to the next meeting etc. Also the committee members might be generally unavailable. This time, they were all sat at home and recognised that a quick decision was needed to authorise (or not) the work in the first place (and even that sometimes takes a year) Then when they got the results, someone looked at them quickly, so the speed of the work being done and the vaccines authorised is not necessarily suspicious - it's perhaps more a case of, "why isn't it like this every time?"

A lot of the time spent on researching, building and authorising medicines is waiting for a committee to approve the next stage. Everybody cooperated for a change because they knew it was essential to do something. Perhaps a good analogy is the P-51 Mustang aircraft in WWII, designed April 1940, first flew October 1940, which is incredibly quick. It was a bit rubbish, so they put a Rolls-Royce engine in it and suddenly it was great. Normally, new aircraft technologically are out-of-date when they first fly.

So the speed of work could be good, if not brilliant. I do accept the vaccine-makers might have missed something in their hurry to try to fight off Covid, but it's better than sitting around wondering what to do.

"And of 42 deaths in people with Delta variant infections, 23 were unvaccinated and seven had received only one dose. The other 12 had received two doses more than two weeks before."

It strikes me that 12 is rather a lot of deaths amongst the vaccinated population given the relative low number of cases, delay between infection and death, delay between the disease circulating and getting into the less active older population.

Of course, we don't know (and never will) how many of those 12, who had had two jabs and died with Covid being listed on their death certificates, were also suffering from other potentially fatal health issues.

Well, the government confirmed the 4 week delay.

I have not yet taken the decision, but I think my next event on the 26-27th will unfortunately remain junior only.

I will however maybe consider, depending on what other tournaments do for the next 4 weeks, launching a junior vs adult 5 round Scheveningen under the rules of junior events: the adults would play for free (or even get paid to attend) and would not be attending therefore as players but as trainers (they would need to be stronger than the attending juniors).

The title of this thread has lost any meaning it might once have had. It must finally be clear for all to see that the next time allowing life to return to normal is given any real consideration will be as we approach a General Election.

How about "(Chess) Life ( if any ) Under A Repressive Dictatorship"?

NickFaulks wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 9:17 am

The title of this thread has lost any meaning it might once have had. It must finally be clear for all to see that the next time allowing life to return to normal is given any real consideration will be as we approach a General Election.

How about "(Chess) Life ( if any ) Under A Repressive Dictatorship"?

Are you still organising your tournament at Pimluco?

Adam Raoof wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 9:21 am

Are you still organising your tournament at Pimluco?

Final decision later today, but given that it is called the Pimlico Summer Tournament and Summer has just been cancelled...

NickFaulks wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 9:24 am

Adam Raoof wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 9:21 am

Are you still organising your tournament at Pimluco?

Final decision later today, but given that it is called the Pimlico Summer Tournament and Summer has just been cancelled...

Come and move up to sunny Blackpool, Nick.
It is always summer here.
Scarborough is not far behind for sunny weather.
Every year I played at the Scarborough Congress, it was sunny.

It is going to take a long time before Chess life returns to normal but I am hopeful.
Been on my travels around the country again and I have some more good news to share with you all.
I've found some more clubs reopening a couple of clubs that have moved venue and a couple of new clubs starting.
I also have a friend that has written a 250 page chess book that was released a few months ago.

I suggested a while ago that the plan might be for us to need an armful of different Covid vaccines for different parts of the world. It's started.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/0 ... =DM1444659

NickFaulks wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 18, 2021 8:31 am

I suggested a while ago that the plan might be for us to need an armful of different Covid vaccines for different parts of the world. It's started.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/0 ... =DM1444659

If you persist in getting your medical information from 80's pop stars, you could at least try to find one with scientific credentials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev9LMceUPZc