Here we go! | Page 123 | Vital Football

Here we go!

Pope John XXIII said:
Very naughty of them between 2016 and 2018 and I'm glad they have stopped doing it.

I'll rest easier knowing that the excellent workers I saw tonight who had no oranges or milk or meat to put out were being paid their agreed wage
Click to expand...

You'd rest easier if you supported your local independent shops instead of the massive retailers (y). (They're not ok just because it happened between 2016 and 2018)
 
JC21 said:
You'd rest easier if you supported your local independent shops instead of the massive retailers (y). (They're not ok just because it happened between 2016 and 2018)
Click to expand...
I don't live in a posh enough area to have any local independent food shops. Nearest to us are Iceland and a Tesco express.

We did support the local independent cheesecake shop today though
 
Andrew Roberts review of a new book, ‘This Sovereign Isle’ by Robert Tombs which maybe worth a read...

Why Remainers are the UK’s answer to the Capitol rioters

Andrew Roberts reviews This Sovereign Isle by Robert Tombs

Now that Brexit is almost a year old, and the Free Trade Agreement has become law, the time has finally come for the whole issue to pass from the hands of journalists into those of historians. Robert Tombs, emeritus professor of French history at Cambridge, has started the process of objective historical analysis with a profoundly thoughtful explanation of how Brexit happened, and why.
The why is much more straightforward than the how. Tracing British geographical development as a series of islands dependent on trade, Tombs shows how Britain has always had an instinctively different attitude towards the rest of the world than that of the largely landbound EU nations such as Poland, Austria, or Hungary.
The English Channel, which defended Britain from invasion far more effectively than any innate military genius of her people, meant that her representative institutions could grow in an uninterrupted way for centuries, unlike those European nations that were occasionally but devastatingly ravaged by war, occupation, genocide and totalitarianism. Britain’s historical development, especially since the Reformation when we broke with Roman Catholicism, pursued a different path from much of the rest of Europe. Not necessarily better or worse, but quantifiably different.

So far, so unobjectionable. But then Tombs moves from “why” to “how”, and here he enters an area as fascinating as it is controversial. As he surveys Britain’s postwar cultural and political landscape, he tries to explain how it was that virtually the entirety of the British Establishment should have supported Remain, while socially and intellectually Leave seemed like a small band of insurrectionists and outsiders on the fringe of politics, albeit, as it turned out, a numerical majority. The question the book poses is not so much why were there so many Remainers occupying all the commanding heights of the British State in the decades before the referendum, but why were there so few Leavers?
Tombs’s facts are undeniable, and supported by impeccable endnotes and citations. BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme featured 366 guests between June and December 2016, for example, of whom 52 per cent were negative about the Leave vote, and 16 per cent positive. Nearly 90 per cent of Britain’s academics supported Remain, which as Tombs states was “strangely monochrome for a group whose stock-in-trade was original thought”. Tombs gives full rein to the Remainer academics such as David Reynolds and Brendan Simms who put forward insightful analyses during the referendum debate, but he also notes that when Sir Noel Malcolm discovered from “rather elusive” official statistics that Britain contributed more in research funding to the EU that it received, Cambridge University declined to publish it. “At Cambridge,” one prominent Left-wing intellectual remarked, “the Vice-Chancellor’s office censored unwelcome opinion with stonewalling worthy of the Writers’ Union under Brezhnev.” British commentators have been profoundly and rightly shocked by the one-day assault on American democracy represented by President Trump’s supporters’ attack on the Capitol. By contrast, the attack on British democracy took place from within the British legislature, and went on for three and a half years, as Remainer MPs and peers used every possible parliamentary gambit to prevent the democratic will of the British people from being passed into law. There was no intellectual hoop too small for Remainers to leap through in their desperation to put their hatred of the idea of leaving the EU before their obvious and solemn duty to democracy, for reasons that Tombs explains cogently in this book.

Tombs has a witty turn of phrase and agreeably ironic style that means that he never descends into polemic. Of the writer Kate Atkinson, for example, he states that she “made the villains in Big Sky Brexiteers, although their business (sex trafficking Eastern Europeans) would logically make them enthusiasts for Free Movement”.

Tombs shows statistically how, had it not been for the extravagantly cataclysmic claims of Remain’s Project Fear, the Leave vote would have been significantly higher in the referendum, thus saving us from the debilitating division and discord that the actual 52-48 per cent vote triggered.
The fact that so far not a single one of the many horror stories of Project Fear has materialised – at least as a result of Brexit; Covid is a different matter – underlines how utterly irresponsible and misleading Project Fear was as a deliberate government policy. Leave’s claims were put on the side of a bus and failed to differentiate between net and gross figures. By contrast, Project Fear’s came out in the form of solemn but politically skewed Treasury forecasts, and failed to differentiate between truth and total falsehood.

“Geography comes before history,” Tombs concludes. “But for centuries we have been loosening the bonds of time and distance. Place has become less important. Language and culture, shaped by history, have become more so. Far from being a step into the past, leaving the EU demands fresh engagement with the 21st century, offering both dangers and opportunities.” If journalism is the first draft of history, then This Sovereign Isle is its penultimate draft, and the best we will have for many years.
 
in_the_top_one said:
Oh no! It seems this bank of England governor is even more pessimistic than the last one that was hounded by leavers for being gloomy.

The new guy appeared to be on a similar page to the dismal LSE (lefty remainer academics) analysis, which concluded that no deal brexit would be three times worse, economically, than the pandemic.


Remind me what the costs are of a screwed economy again? No deal brexit is and always has been unconscionable. Toying with it is dangerous. Let's go WTO? I think not.

Is this why Cummings has gone?
Click to expand...


Oh my god please dont use experts

They only believe in delusions, the supernatural and a feeling
 
hard to shop at independant shops , similar to buying organic food, when you get one bag of shopping compared to two for your money and you have limited money.

One a side note, Ive kicked up a fuss a few times over why I have to pay to be classed organic when those that use pesticides and weed-killers don't have to pay anything, Its totally upside down.

Another tangent... capitalism and economics. When I was taught basic economics, it was accepted that the more you produce, the lower the cost to produce, therefore the cost goes down to the public and everyone keeps up. That still fundamentally is how my busines ops work. However, with tech like Apple etc, they sell billions and the prices keep climbing, only a few people own them, not everyone has the best tech, therefore advancement is slightly slowed down but the Apples get even more advanced. Again, upside down.
 
Pope John XXIII said:
At what point do we start seeing people admit that this isn't what it was cracked up to be?

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...ters-hit-by-brexit?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Click to expand...

I see your small bailout and raise you thousands of saved lives...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...foot-vaccines-thanks-brexit-inspired-no-deal/

Britain got on the front foot with vaccines thanks to Brexit-inspired 'no deal' with the EU on jabs
Officials now believe that the UK’s decision secure its own supplies and 'go it alone' was the 'best decision we made in the whole pandemic'

Last summer the UK and the European Union were locked in fierce negotiations, with both sides refusing to budge.

Behind the scenes, officials from both sides were searching for a landing zone for a potential deal.

Yet the key sticking point was not the level playing field, nor the future of the fishing industry: it was how best to secure vital Covid vaccines.

And unlike the Brexit negotiations, there was to be no last-minute breakthrough. In the second week of July, the UK walked away.

Officials involved in those talks now believe the UK’s ‘vaccine no deal’ with the EU was the “best decision we’ve made in the whole pandemic”.

Speaking to The Telegraph on condition of anonymity, multiple Whitehall sources said the decision taken by then-business secretary Alok Sharma in early July had freed this country to lead the world in rolling out the lifesaving jabs.

“At the time, a lot of people said it was madness. They said it was putting Brexit over lives,” one senior official said.

“But whether you agree or disagree with the decision to leave the EU, if we were still a member state we wouldn’t be this far ahead.”

Talks between the two sides began in June, when the UK had already signed deals with AstraZeneca and Pfizer, with agreements for millions more doses in the pipeline.

Officials from the EU offered the UK the chance to join the combined purchasing power of 27 member states, but under a few conditions.

To join, the UK would have to immediately cease all negotiations with any supplier also in talks with the EU. The European Commission would have an exclusive right to negotiate with vaccine manufacturers on our behalf, while the UK, unlike EU Member States, would have no say on which companies to negotiate with, how many doses to buy, at what price and on what delivery schedule.

“There was a complete loss of control and complete loss of say over the entire strategy,” one Whitehall official said.

“We told the EU, we can't participate like this. For a few weeks we tried to negotiate on governance - basically we were saying we would only take part if we had more of a say.

“But the EU wouldn’t move.”

Pressure to join forces with Brussels was intense. Leading scientists had published a letter in the Guardian suggesting that a failure to do so would likely leave the UK in a queue with other non-EU countries to acquire the vaccine after EU member states, and on less-favourable terms.

In the first week of July, business secretary Alok Sharma made the final decision: as a newly non-EU member state, the UK would go it alone. On July 10 the UK’s ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, sent a letter to the European Commission confirming the ‘no deal’.

“The UK Government has decided on this occasion not to join this internal EU Initiative,” Sir Tim wrote.

That decision, although potentially risky at the time, has arguably proven a master stroke.

Little more than six months later, the EU’s rollout is in disarray. Brussels finally approved the purchase of 300 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in December, while the UK struck a deal for 30m doses in June.

This country became the first in the world to sign deals with AstraZeneca in May, and accelerated approval of the Oxford vaccine through the MHRA on December 30.

On the Continent, the Oxford vaccine is yet to be approved. After the EU relaxed the rules on member states striking their own deals, the German government has come under fire for lagging behind other countries in accessing the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - despite BioNTech being a German company.

Meanwhile the Netherlands only began vaccinating on January 6, nearly a month after the UK.

Speaking to Der Spiegel magazine, the inventor of the Pfizer vaccine Uğur Şahin suggested this week that the EU had hedged its bets, and lost.

“The process in Europe certainly didn't proceed as quickly and straightforwardly as with other countries,” he said.

“In part because the European Union isn't directly authorised, and member states also have a say. That can result in a loss of time in a negotiation situation where a strong message is needed.

“There was an assumption that many other companies would produce vaccines. There was apparently an attitude of: We'll get enough, it won't be that bad, we have everything under control. That surprised me.”

UK officials accept that we are likely to have paid a premium price for vaccines compared to the negotiating might of Brussels.

But in the corridors of Whitehall, there is a quiet satisfaction.

“We don’t really want to rub people's noses in it,” one Whitehall source said.

“But at the end of the day time is of the essence and getting early supply of vaccine was the absolute priority. It's turned out to be perhaps the best decision we’ve taken.”
 
Strett said:
I see your small bailout and raise you thousands of saved lives...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...foot-vaccines-thanks-brexit-inspired-no-deal/

Britain got on the front foot with vaccines thanks to Brexit-inspired 'no deal' with the EU on jabs
Officials now believe that the UK’s decision secure its own supplies and 'go it alone' was the 'best decision we made in the whole pandemic'

Last summer the UK and the European Union were locked in fierce negotiations, with both sides refusing to budge.

Behind the scenes, officials from both sides were searching for a landing zone for a potential deal.

Yet the key sticking point was not the level playing field, nor the future of the fishing industry: it was how best to secure vital Covid vaccines.

And unlike the Brexit negotiations, there was to be no last-minute breakthrough. In the second week of July, the UK walked away.

Officials involved in those talks now believe the UK’s ‘vaccine no deal’ with the EU was the “best decision we’ve made in the whole pandemic”.

Speaking to The Telegraph on condition of anonymity, multiple Whitehall sources said the decision taken by then-business secretary Alok Sharma in early July had freed this country to lead the world in rolling out the lifesaving jabs.

“At the time, a lot of people said it was madness. They said it was putting Brexit over lives,” one senior official said.

“But whether you agree or disagree with the decision to leave the EU, if we were still a member state we wouldn’t be this far ahead.”

Talks between the two sides began in June, when the UK had already signed deals with AstraZeneca and Pfizer, with agreements for millions more doses in the pipeline.

Officials from the EU offered the UK the chance to join the combined purchasing power of 27 member states, but under a few conditions.

To join, the UK would have to immediately cease all negotiations with any supplier also in talks with the EU. The European Commission would have an exclusive right to negotiate with vaccine manufacturers on our behalf, while the UK, unlike EU Member States, would have no say on which companies to negotiate with, how many doses to buy, at what price and on what delivery schedule.

“There was a complete loss of control and complete loss of say over the entire strategy,” one Whitehall official said.

“We told the EU, we can't participate like this. For a few weeks we tried to negotiate on governance - basically we were saying we would only take part if we had more of a say.

“But the EU wouldn’t move.”

Pressure to join forces with Brussels was intense. Leading scientists had published a letter in the Guardian suggesting that a failure to do so would likely leave the UK in a queue with other non-EU countries to acquire the vaccine after EU member states, and on less-favourable terms.

In the first week of July, business secretary Alok Sharma made the final decision: as a newly non-EU member state, the UK would go it alone. On July 10 the UK’s ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, sent a letter to the European Commission confirming the ‘no deal’.

“The UK Government has decided on this occasion not to join this internal EU Initiative,” Sir Tim wrote.

That decision, although potentially risky at the time, has arguably proven a master stroke.

Little more than six months later, the EU’s rollout is in disarray. Brussels finally approved the purchase of 300 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in December, while the UK struck a deal for 30m doses in June.

This country became the first in the world to sign deals with AstraZeneca in May, and accelerated approval of the Oxford vaccine through the MHRA on December 30.

On the Continent, the Oxford vaccine is yet to be approved. After the EU relaxed the rules on member states striking their own deals, the German government has come under fire for lagging behind other countries in accessing the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - despite BioNTech being a German company.

Meanwhile the Netherlands only began vaccinating on January 6, nearly a month after the UK.

Speaking to Der Spiegel magazine, the inventor of the Pfizer vaccine Uğur Şahin suggested this week that the EU had hedged its bets, and lost.

“The process in Europe certainly didn't proceed as quickly and straightforwardly as with other countries,” he said.

“In part because the European Union isn't directly authorised, and member states also have a say. That can result in a loss of time in a negotiation situation where a strong message is needed.

“There was an assumption that many other companies would produce vaccines. There was apparently an attitude of: We'll get enough, it won't be that bad, we have everything under control. That surprised me.”

UK officials accept that we are likely to have paid a premium price for vaccines compared to the negotiating might of Brussels.

But in the corridors of Whitehall, there is a quiet satisfaction.

“We don’t really want to rub people's noses in it,” one Whitehall source said.

“But at the end of the day time is of the essence and getting early supply of vaccine was the absolute priority. It's turned out to be perhaps the best decision we’ve taken.”
Click to expand...
Yep. Tossers
 
Just been looking back through the records for this competition and the form of France and Germany ( Currently 3rd and 4th )is a bit surprising given that they are both multiple past winners. France in particular have been champions every year since 1900 apart from the 10 times that Germany have won it. Both due a change of manager perhaps.
 
Strett said:
I see your small bailout and raise you thousands of saved lives...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...foot-vaccines-thanks-brexit-inspired-no-deal/

Britain got on the front foot with vaccines thanks to Brexit-inspired 'no deal' with the EU on jabs
Officials now believe that the UK’s decision secure its own supplies and 'go it alone' was the 'best decision we made in the whole pandemic'

Last summer the UK and the European Union were locked in fierce negotiations, with both sides refusing to budge.

Behind the scenes, officials from both sides were searching for a landing zone for a potential deal.

Yet the key sticking point was not the level playing field, nor the future of the fishing industry: it was how best to secure vital Covid vaccines.

And unlike the Brexit negotiations, there was to be no last-minute breakthrough. In the second week of July, the UK walked away.

Officials involved in those talks now believe the UK’s ‘vaccine no deal’ with the EU was the “best decision we’ve made in the whole pandemic”.

Speaking to The Telegraph on condition of anonymity, multiple Whitehall sources said the decision taken by then-business secretary Alok Sharma in early July had freed this country to lead the world in rolling out the lifesaving jabs.

“At the time, a lot of people said it was madness. They said it was putting Brexit over lives,” one senior official said.

“But whether you agree or disagree with the decision to leave the EU, if we were still a member state we wouldn’t be this far ahead.”

Talks between the two sides began in June, when the UK had already signed deals with AstraZeneca and Pfizer, with agreements for millions more doses in the pipeline.

Officials from the EU offered the UK the chance to join the combined purchasing power of 27 member states, but under a few conditions.

To join, the UK would have to immediately cease all negotiations with any supplier also in talks with the EU. The European Commission would have an exclusive right to negotiate with vaccine manufacturers on our behalf, while the UK, unlike EU Member States, would have no say on which companies to negotiate with, how many doses to buy, at what price and on what delivery schedule.

“There was a complete loss of control and complete loss of say over the entire strategy,” one Whitehall official said.

“We told the EU, we can't participate like this. For a few weeks we tried to negotiate on governance - basically we were saying we would only take part if we had more of a say.

“But the EU wouldn’t move.”

Pressure to join forces with Brussels was intense. Leading scientists had published a letter in the Guardian suggesting that a failure to do so would likely leave the UK in a queue with other non-EU countries to acquire the vaccine after EU member states, and on less-favourable terms.

In the first week of July, business secretary Alok Sharma made the final decision: as a newly non-EU member state, the UK would go it alone. On July 10 the UK’s ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, sent a letter to the European Commission confirming the ‘no deal’.

“The UK Government has decided on this occasion not to join this internal EU Initiative,” Sir Tim wrote.

That decision, although potentially risky at the time, has arguably proven a master stroke.

Little more than six months later, the EU’s rollout is in disarray. Brussels finally approved the purchase of 300 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in December, while the UK struck a deal for 30m doses in June.

This country became the first in the world to sign deals with AstraZeneca in May, and accelerated approval of the Oxford vaccine through the MHRA on December 30.

On the Continent, the Oxford vaccine is yet to be approved. After the EU relaxed the rules on member states striking their own deals, the German government has come under fire for lagging behind other countries in accessing the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - despite BioNTech being a German company.

Meanwhile the Netherlands only began vaccinating on January 6, nearly a month after the UK.

Speaking to Der Spiegel magazine, the inventor of the Pfizer vaccine Uğur Şahin suggested this week that the EU had hedged its bets, and lost.

“The process in Europe certainly didn't proceed as quickly and straightforwardly as with other countries,” he said.

“In part because the European Union isn't directly authorised, and member states also have a say. That can result in a loss of time in a negotiation situation where a strong message is needed.

“There was an assumption that many other companies would produce vaccines. There was apparently an attitude of: We'll get enough, it won't be that bad, we have everything under control. That surprised me.”

UK officials accept that we are likely to have paid a premium price for vaccines compared to the negotiating might of Brussels.

But in the corridors of Whitehall, there is a quiet satisfaction.

“We don’t really want to rub people's noses in it,” one Whitehall source said.

“But at the end of the day time is of the essence and getting early supply of vaccine was the absolute priority. It's turned out to be perhaps the best decision we’ve taken.”
Click to expand...
How many times are the telegraph going to publish the same article? Then you post it here despite the fact you're more than bright enough to know they're pulling the wool over your eyes.

Yes, we all agree the vaccine procurement has been good. Yes, we acknowledge there are problems elsewhere (not because they are "tossers 'though).

"Talks between the two sides began in June, when the UK had already signed deals with AstraZeneca and Pfizer"
How could we possibly have done that when we were effectively inside the EU on this issue? Any full member could have done exactly what we did. The fact that we did is the proof of that. Was the decision not to join that initiative a good one? Well, perhaps it was - so far so good. Was it the best decision they have ever made? Quite likely.
Was it contingent on Brexit? Obviously not.

Brexit has already pushed livelihoods to the very brink. It has already caused economic harm that translates directly to harm and lost lives in our population.
'Brexit Kills' would be a slogan that is closer to the truth.
 
in_the_top_one said:
How many times are the telegraph going to publish the same article? Then you post it here despite the fact you're more than bright enough to know they're pulling the wool over your eyes.

Yes, we all agree the vaccine procurement has been good. Yes, we acknowledge there are problems elsewhere (not because they are "tossers 'though).

"Talks between the two sides began in June, when the UK had already signed deals with AstraZeneca and Pfizer"
How could we possibly have done that when we were effectively inside the EU on this issue? Any full member could have done exactly what we did. The fact that we did is the proof of that. Was the decision not to join that initiative a good one? Well, perhaps it was - so far so good. Was it the best decision they have ever made? Quite likely.
Was it contingent on Brexit? Obviously not.

Brexit has already pushed livelihoods to the very brink. It has already caused economic harm that translates directly to harm and lost lives in our population.
'Brexit Kills' would be a slogan that is closer to the truth.
Click to expand...

It was contingent on Brexit. If the concept of Brexit hadn't materialised and this was the spring of 2016, we would have been in the EU's procurement. It was, irrespective of your protestations, contingent on Brexit.

Brexit has pushed livelihoods to very brink?
I remember the story about Blockbuster video and their refusal to embrace change with regards streaming platforms; famously the chap who started Netflix tried to sell his idea to Blockbuster, but they were not interested. Blockbuster went from having a presence on every high-street to being out of business in five years.

Wastage happens in business. The people who accepted democracy and the changes this may bring, have prepared well, the others who stamped their feet like Republicans, may struggle. I don't like to see this, but evolution in business is paramount.

As Aristotle stated, "Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort; choice, not chance, determines your destiny"

Brexit Britain was starting to thrive prior to COVID, and I 100% guarantee that we will hit the ground running when we are allowed.
 
Strett said:
I see your small bailout and raise you thousands of saved lives...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...foot-vaccines-thanks-brexit-inspired-no-deal/

Britain got on the front foot with vaccines thanks to Brexit-inspired 'no deal' with the EU on jabs
Officials now believe that the UK’s decision secure its own supplies and 'go it alone' was the 'best decision we made in the whole pandemic'

Last summer the UK and the European Union were locked in fierce negotiations, with both sides refusing to budge.

Behind the scenes, officials from both sides were searching for a landing zone for a potential deal.

Yet the key sticking point was not the level playing field, nor the future of the fishing industry: it was how best to secure vital Covid vaccines.

And unlike the Brexit negotiations, there was to be no last-minute breakthrough. In the second week of July, the UK walked away.

Officials involved in those talks now believe the UK’s ‘vaccine no deal’ with the EU was the “best decision we’ve made in the whole pandemic”.

Speaking to The Telegraph on condition of anonymity, multiple Whitehall sources said the decision taken by then-business secretary Alok Sharma in early July had freed this country to lead the world in rolling out the lifesaving jabs.

“At the time, a lot of people said it was madness. They said it was putting Brexit over lives,” one senior official said.

“But whether you agree or disagree with the decision to leave the EU, if we were still a member state we wouldn’t be this far ahead.”

Talks between the two sides began in June, when the UK had already signed deals with AstraZeneca and Pfizer, with agreements for millions more doses in the pipeline.

Officials from the EU offered the UK the chance to join the combined purchasing power of 27 member states, but under a few conditions.

To join, the UK would have to immediately cease all negotiations with any supplier also in talks with the EU. The European Commission would have an exclusive right to negotiate with vaccine manufacturers on our behalf, while the UK, unlike EU Member States, would have no say on which companies to negotiate with, how many doses to buy, at what price and on what delivery schedule.

“There was a complete loss of control and complete loss of say over the entire strategy,” one Whitehall official said.

“We told the EU, we can't participate like this. For a few weeks we tried to negotiate on governance - basically we were saying we would only take part if we had more of a say.

“But the EU wouldn’t move.”

Pressure to join forces with Brussels was intense. Leading scientists had published a letter in the Guardian suggesting that a failure to do so would likely leave the UK in a queue with other non-EU countries to acquire the vaccine after EU member states, and on less-favourable terms.

In the first week of July, business secretary Alok Sharma made the final decision: as a newly non-EU member state, the UK would go it alone. On July 10 the UK’s ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, sent a letter to the European Commission confirming the ‘no deal’.

“The UK Government has decided on this occasion not to join this internal EU Initiative,” Sir Tim wrote.

That decision, although potentially risky at the time, has arguably proven a master stroke.

Little more than six months later, the EU’s rollout is in disarray. Brussels finally approved the purchase of 300 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in December, while the UK struck a deal for 30m doses in June.

This country became the first in the world to sign deals with AstraZeneca in May, and accelerated approval of the Oxford vaccine through the MHRA on December 30.

On the Continent, the Oxford vaccine is yet to be approved. After the EU relaxed the rules on member states striking their own deals, the German government has come under fire for lagging behind other countries in accessing the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - despite BioNTech being a German company.

Meanwhile the Netherlands only began vaccinating on January 6, nearly a month after the UK.

Speaking to Der Spiegel magazine, the inventor of the Pfizer vaccine Uğur Şahin suggested this week that the EU had hedged its bets, and lost.

“The process in Europe certainly didn't proceed as quickly and straightforwardly as with other countries,” he said.

“In part because the European Union isn't directly authorised, and member states also have a say. That can result in a loss of time in a negotiation situation where a strong message is needed.

“There was an assumption that many other companies would produce vaccines. There was apparently an attitude of: We'll get enough, it won't be that bad, we have everything under control. That surprised me.”

UK officials accept that we are likely to have paid a premium price for vaccines compared to the negotiating might of Brussels.

But in the corridors of Whitehall, there is a quiet satisfaction.

“We don’t really want to rub people's noses in it,” one Whitehall source said.

“But at the end of the day time is of the essence and getting early supply of vaccine was the absolute priority. It's turned out to be perhaps the best decision we’ve taken.”
Click to expand...

Lmfarofl, best decision of the pandemic? The only fucking good 'decision' and one bought on by dogmatic ideology, not sound forward planning.

U've been begging for a pat on the head for weeks- but even when they do get lucky the tories have oversold the ability of manufacturers to produce the vaccine because they cant be honest about the timescales.

So fuck off with your serendipitous fig leaf of vaccinations.
 
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