The Monday night PB Nighthawks cafe with some positive news about a vaccine

The Monday night PB Nighthawks cafe with some positive news about a vaccine

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As just about the whole world waits for a vaccine to be available there’s some positive news tonight about what’s going on in Oxford in the New York Times. The report notes that: “…scientists at the university’s Jenner Institute had a running start on a vaccine, having proved in previous trials that similar inoculations — including one last year against an earlier coronavirus — were harmless to humans. That has enabled them to leap ahead and schedule tests of their…

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Boris is back but there’ll be no premature move to ease the lockdown

Boris is back but there’ll be no premature move to ease the lockdown

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But still no lockdown betting markets It has been inevitable given what a commanding figure Johnson is that him being out of the picture recovering from the coronavirus has exposed the relative weakness of his cabinet team. Raab never really convinced as the official nominated stand-in while HealthSec Hancock is lumbered by his commitment to 100k tests a day by the end of the month. A fit Boris, surely, would have stopped such an announcement being made. It appears a…

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Can You Guess Which Country It is Yet?

Can You Guess Which Country It is Yet?

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It is not as obvious as it seems Imagine a European country. A militarily successful one. One which, however annoying – and, oh, did it make a nuisance of itself in many varied ways – could not be ignored. One led by a self-regarding, popular leader (with a penchant for mistresses) around whom government revolved. A leader who, after a period of stasis, took action, to the delight of those around him. A leader who seemed set fair to revive…

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Conducting elections with the great unwashed during and after a pandemic

Conducting elections with the great unwashed during and after a pandemic

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I’ve seen the future and it’s a world with mostly digital campaigning and only online voting As someone who expects Covid-19 and variants to be with us for at least the near future our lives we will have to adapt to prevent other pandemics and peaks and for election geeks like ourselves that means changes to how campaigns and voting are conducted, because the relentless optimist that I am I fear pandemics are here to stay. Campaigning – Like the…

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Splendid self-isolation. The lack of realism infecting British foreign policy

Splendid self-isolation. The lack of realism infecting British foreign policy

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https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1253976187887669249 Play it again Sam. The piano is battered but the tune is very familiar. This time it is China that is the focus of the hostility. It’s too big, too powerful, too inscrutable and too responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic. The John Bull tendency has decided that there must be consequences. There must be boycotts. China must be made an international pariah. The Huawei 5G contract assuredly must be ripped up. There must be a reckoning. You must remember this refrain. Those furious with China now were in…

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Can the Tories manage the lockdown endgame without alienating their key voting group – the over 70s?

Can the Tories manage the lockdown endgame without alienating their key voting group – the over 70s?

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Continued incarceration simply based on age could have an electoral price GE2017 might seem a long time ago but TMay’s government saw on that day what can happen when the oldies are hacked off. It might be recalled that there was marked decline in the numbers of over 70s actually voting following the fury over the “Dementia Tax”. The turnout change amongst the oldies was far greater than other age groups. Could the lockdown endgame produce a similar or even…

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Getting rid of the FTPA won’t be that easy

Getting rid of the FTPA won’t be that easy

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The Coalition’s constitutional legacy could last a little longer yet The classic interpretation is wrong. Britain’s constitution is not unusual because it is uncodified (or unwritten, to use the inaccurate but more frequently-used description). It is, of course, uncodified – it cannot be found in a single source – and it is, in some important aspects of convention, unwritten; and while the former is unusual, to focus there misses the crucial point and places the stress on the wrong thing….

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It’s Friday night so time for the PB Nighthawks Cafe

It’s Friday night so time for the PB Nighthawks Cafe

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Amongst all the developments during this extraordinary week the one that stands out surely is the advice by Donald Trump to inject disinfectant into people in order to combat the virus. Apparently it came just want him and hadn’t been discussed at all with other members of the the President’s advisory team. Have a good night. Mike Smithson