IOM Covid removing restrictions

[Roger Mexico]

5 minutes ago, Max Power said:

Dr Rachel Glover feels she is being ignored by government...

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/covid-19-testing-scientist-hits-out-at-government/

Could it be that government don't want to be endorsing her private company and need to be seen to be in sole control of Covid issues?

Modern news gathering at its finest - reporting a two day old tweet[1] with absolutely no  attempt to contact those involved - though at least they did bother to dig out their own clip on what was said.  To some extent @rachomics was slightly unfair in saying Quayle was dissing her because he didn't even try to answer the question he was asked about her, just babbled on free-form as he did in response to every other question.  I presume they are still keeping the media at these  events remote to prevent them asking follow up questions such as "What on earth are you talking about?".

What he actually did say was that they listen to the advice of the 'medics' , especially Ewart, while we know from Tuesday's Tynwald that she has been completely ignored.  He did add something that was very revealing though - that they would listen to external advice, providing it agreed with what they were already hearing.  Manx government 'consultation' summed up very neatly there.

I've never noticed the government being backward in endorsing private companies before - maybe she hasn't been offering the right sort of drinks and nibbles.  What we're basically seeing here is standard Manx civil service control freakery and resentment of 'outsiders' (ie those not in their clique). 

 

[1]  And if you look at the Twitter thread, one into which Manx Radio's own News Editor was copied.

[rachomics]

24 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Modern news gathering at its finest - reporting a two day old tweet[1] with absolutely no  attempt to contact those involved - though at least they did bother to dig out their own clip on what was said.  To some extent @rachomics was slightly unfair in saying Quayle was dissing her because he didn't even try to answer the question he was asked about her, just babbled on free-form as he did in response to every other question.  I presume they are still keeping the media at these  events remote to prevent them asking follow up questions such as "What on earth are you talking about?".

What he actually did say was that they listen to the advice of the 'medics' , especially Ewart, while we know from Tuesday's Tynwald that she has been completely ignored.  He did add something that was very revealing though - that they would listen to external advice, providing it agreed with what they were already hearing.  Manx government 'consultation' summed up very neatly there.

I've never noticed the government being backward in endorsing private companies before - maybe she hasn't been offering the right sort of drinks and nibbles.  What we're basically seeing here is standard Manx civil service control freakery and resentment of 'outsiders' (ie those not in their clique). 

 

[1]  And if you look at the Twitter thread, one into which Manx Radio's own News Editor was copied.

I was mostly annoyed because they were telling anyone who listened to the briefing that I'm external. I'm still a DHSC employee despite it not exactly being something I intended to be. 

As a private individual it concerns me that if I were to switch to being an external contractor instead that my expertise in the area would only be listened to if it agreed with the Chief Minister. I was always taught that you should surround yourself with people who disagree with you; it eliminates confirmation bias in decision making.

[The Dog's Dangly Bits]

Isn't most of the scientific and medical data formulating policy simply being taken from the Public Health Endland  / WHO anyway?

Sure, some people on island might want to have their say but nothing radically different is going to happen outside the above anyway.

[Barlow]

2 hours ago, Lxxx said:

It’s not ‘well known’ at all.

Top medical professionals at the start of the year like Dr Fauci and even down to the not so top professionals like Dr Hillary Jones on GMTV were telling us daily that masks were essentially useless. Stopping a few droplets out of the much larger number per breath might make you feel better but in the bigger picture they offer no real protection whatsoever considering the size of viruses and numbers involved. Which makes perfect sense. Sadly the whole thing became politicised and science, as ever these days, became secondary to this.

it saddened me when I was across last month to see old people clearly struggling round a supermarket, a large number of which will have a respiratory system that is not optimal and doing themselves more harm than good with this contraption over their airways.

I do hope our government don’t succumb to this madness once the Facebook illiterates start howling at the moon to shut us off from the rest of the world until 2030.

Masks work. But there are masks and there are masks. 

They have to be used and worn properly.

They also need the appropriate filters for the situation eg HEPA and above.

In other words, when taking into account the ability of the average person to understand such matters (although it is all quite straightforward) masks probably are near useless.

 

[Barlow]

5 hours ago, The Duck of Atholl said:

Thanks Old Git for your concern. I'm ok at the moment. I prepped for  (justabout)14 days of essentials  in case i failed the swab test at 7 days. Unfortunately the day after I arrived in the UK Howard pulled the plug on that. I've got a fridge with plenty of beer in it but i'm on the wagon probably until my family return in December as quarantine combined with living alone could be a slippery slope on the booze front!

Do you need any toilet rolls?

[rachomics]

1 hour ago, The Dog's Dangly Bits said:

Isn't most of the scientific and medical data formulating policy simply being taken from the Public Health Endland  / WHO anyway?

Sure, some people on island might want to have their say but nothing radically different is going to happen outside the above anyway.

And aren't Public Health England doing such a wonderful job.... 

[The Old Git]

From the Sunday Times. Perhaps they should increase speed limits to reduce speeding offences?

[The Dog's Dangly Bits]

27 minutes ago, rachomics said:

And aren't Public Health England doing such a wonderful job.... 

I get that.

But the reality is no one is making radical decisions outside of that for fear of being blamed.  I can't see how that differs here.

[Lxxx]

2 hours ago, The Dog's Dangly Bits said:

Isn't most of the scientific and medical data formulating policy simply being taken from the Public Health Endland  / WHO anyway?

Sure, some people on island might want to have their say but nothing radically different is going to happen outside the above anyway.

I hope not. Manx solutions to Manx problems is what we are constantly being told. 

It’s not like we are dealing with a genuine pandemic here, we have more than enough expertise and resources on the island to deal with any health issues moving forward.

[The Dog's Dangly Bits]

32 minutes ago, The Old Git said:

From the Sunday Times. Perhaps they should increase speed limits to reduce speeding offences?

The 7 day thing is a lot to do with the holiday industry.   Airlines are close to going bust.  The 14 day isolation is a massive barrier to people going away.

This will happen more and more.  They sre killing businesses and at some point the government will have no choice but to stop lockdowns and large scale isolations.

[Uhtred]

4 hours ago, rachomics said:

I was mostly annoyed because they were telling anyone who listened to the briefing that I'm external. I'm still a DHSC employee despite it not exactly being something I intended to be. 

As a private individual it concerns me that if I were to switch to being an external contractor instead that my expertise in the area would only be listened to if it agreed with the Chief Minister. I was always taught that you should surround yourself with people who disagree with you; it eliminates confirmation bias in decision making.

You need to modify your expectation of our esteemed ‘Chief Minister’.

[the stinking enigma]

It's pretty poor form all the same. They could have at least gone to the pretence of asking Rachel's advice before completely ignoring it. 

[Roger Mexico]

6 hours ago, rachomics said:

As a private individual it concerns me that if I were to switch to being an external contractor instead that my expertise in the area would only be listened to if it agreed with the Chief Minister. I was always taught that you should surround yourself with people who disagree with you; it eliminates confirmation bias in decision making.

One of the interesting (and depressing) things about the last year is it's emphasised just how few people seem to understand how science works or even what it is.   I suppose this is to expected among 'ordinary' people because the media are so poor at explaining scientific issues, but it's clear that many of those in government and business are no better informed and don't even seem to realise their own ignorance and need to address it.

[Cambon]

4 hours ago, The Dog's Dangly Bits said:

The 7 day thing is a lot to do with the holiday industry.   Airlines are close to going bust.  The 14 day isolation is a massive barrier to people going away.

This will happen more and more.  They sre killing businesses and at some point the government will have no choice but to stop lockdowns and large scale isolations.

As much as you are correct about the airlines and much of the tourist industry, for every business closing, new ones are opening. I personally don't just see the negative. I see the opportunities. There for the taking, for the brave. 

[Barlow]

2 hours ago, the stinking enigma said:

It's pretty poor form all the same. They could have at least gone to the pretence of asking Rachel's advice before completely ignoring it. 

Rachel is not a politician.