First hour news review with Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bristol West James Cox
Labours proposals a debt bomb for Bristol renters - Labours proposed policy of deferring rent payments has been criticised for unfairly punishing renters and creating new debt. Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire today announced her first policy as Shadow Housing Secretary to lobby the government to implement a system whereby tenants who fall into rent arrears during the COVID-19 crisis will have to pay back the debt in full on top of their monthly rent payments.  Ms Debbonaires comments that the arrears will be "small" has attracted much criticism from renters as "out of touch" with the economic situation currently being faced by renters. The plan has been widely criticised on social media including by Labour members and housing rights group ACORN Bristol. Bristol has one of the UKs largest rental markets with 58,000 households (29%) in private rented accommodation and 36,000 households (18%) in social rented housing. Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Bristol West James Cox said: "What both Labours proposals and the Conservatives policy on renters have in common is a complete lack of awareness of just how bad the economic picture is and how much worse it is likely to get. "Labours proposals are nothing short of a debt bomb for Bristol renters. This policy would put thousands of renters into arrears add to the financial uncertainty being faced. Sadly Ms Debbonaire seems more concerned with protecting landlords during this crisis than tenants in our city. "Homeowners have rightly been given the option of a mortgage holiday during this crisis. It is vital that rather than pushing renters into further arrears that we encourage the government to offer more comprehensive support to those privately renting, including expanding housing benefit or implementing a rent holiday for the duration of this crisis."
Nightingale hospitals largely empty as NHS weathers the storm - Facilities were launched with a fanfare but medics complain they lack equipment for complex Covid-19 cases - Temporary hospitals set up around the UK to handle the surge in coronavirus cases are almost empty, with at least one of the hastily constructed facilities expecting never to open its doors as the NHS weathers the crisis better than many had feared. Seven Nightingale hospitals â named after the pioneering Victorian nurse â have been erected at unprecedented speed across England in recent weeks, with logistical support from members of Britainâs military. Similar facilities have also recently opened in Scotland and Wales. But the majority have only taken a handful of patients. NHS leaders reject any suggestion that they have become âwhite elephantsâ, casting the dearth of coronavirus sufferers at the Nightingales as a mark of how well the health service prepared for the biggest public health emergency in a century. The UK has avoided the wrenching scenes in Italy where dying patients were treated in corridors after some hospitals ran out of beds....
A bigger issue than Professor Fergusons private life is the accuracy of his model. When applied to the Swedish policy it forecast 40,000 deaths by now, over 15 times the reality.
â David Davis (@DavidDavisMP) May 5, 2020
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WORLDOMETER PANDEMIC STATISTICS: Reported Cases and Deaths by Country, Territory, or Conveyance - The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 213 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. The day is reset after midnight GMT+0. The list of countries and territories and their continental regional classification is based on the United Nations Geoscheme.
Neil Ferguson: Coronavirus response advisers previous epidemic mistakes revealed PROFESSOR Neil Ferguson, the Governments senior coronavirus science adviser, yesterday resigned after flouting his own advised lockdown rules - but it is not the first time the epidemiologist has made a serious blunder as adviser, with several other epidemics having been blown out of proportion through his work. Yesterday evening Professor Neil Ferguson, one of the Governmentâs most senior coronavirus science advisers and member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) resigned. It came after the Daily Telegraph revealed how the epidemiologist had broken his own lockdown rules by meeting with his married lover at his London flat. Prof Fergusonâs prediction models prompted Prime Minister Boris Johnson to enforce the current lockdown towards the end of March. His modelling of the virusâ transmission suggested 250,000 people could die without drastic action. As it stands, nearly 30,000 people have died from coronavirus, with a further 200,000 confirmed cases. Many credit Prof Fergusonâs initial 250,000 deaths figure and subsequent lockdown as having prevented further catastrophe. However, attention has been drawn to his previously botched predictions concerning epidemics and virus outbreaks of the past. For example, in 2001, he and his team at Imperial College produced prediction modelling on the UKâs foot and mouth outbreak. Their work suggested animals in neighbouring farms should be culled, even if there was no evidence of infection. Government policy soon took on board the modelling, leading to the subsequent culling of more than six million cattle, sheep, and pigs â a cost to the UK economy that totalled some £10billion. Michael Thrusfield, professor of veterinary epidemiology at Edinburgh University, later claimed the model was âseverely flawedâ and the event a âserious errorâ. Fast forward to 2002, Prof Ferguson predicted between 50 and 50,000 people would likely die as a result of exposure to mad cow disease (BSE) in beef. He said the number could rise to 150,000 should there be an outbreak among sheep â there have since only been 177 deaths from BSE.
Life-saving ventilators are destroying coronavirus patients lungs, doctor says [video]. Dr Cameron Kyle-Sidell, who was treating critically ill coronavirus patients at Maimonides Medical Center in New York, says "Covid-19 is not a pneumonia and should not be treated as one". An American doctor says ventilators are doing more harm than good and damaging the lungs of coronavirus patients based on how theyre currently being used. Medics in the UK and around the world have been using the breathing machines, which pump the lungs to send oxygen into the bodies, as a vital tool to keep critically ill patients alive. But Dr Cameron Kyle-Sidell, who was treating Covid-19 patients in New York, said high pressure is inadvertently causing harm and his beliefs have led him to step down from his position in an intensive care unit. In a YouTube video, he says: "I fear this misguided treatment will lead to a tremendous amount of harm in a very short time. Covid-19 is not a pneumonia and should not be treated as one." He has said that Covid-19 lung disease "is not a pneumoniaâ but appears to be âsome kind of viral-induced disease most resembling high altitude sickness". He added: âIt is as if tens of thousands of my fellow New Yorkers are on a plane at 30,000 feet and the cabin pressure is slowly being let out. âThese patients are slowly being starved of oxygen... and while they look like patients absolutely on the brink of death, they do not look like patients dying of pneumonia.â The danger, he said, lies in the amount of pressure used to open the lungs, and he believes ventilators should be programmed "differently" for patients with coronavirus...
Trade Deal Must Be Delayed! Brexit trade negotiations leave Germany furious as Merkel ally lashes out at UK tactics. ONE of Angela Merkels closest allies has launched a scathing attack on the UK over its refusal to extend the Brexit transition period, with Germany warning Britain it can not continue to move away from key points in the agreed political declaration. Britain and the European Union began post-Brexit talks on a free trade agreement in March after the countrys departure from the bloc was finally made official on January 31. But negotiations have already got off to a turbulent start, with significant distance separating the two sides on several key areas. The UK has until June 30 to request an extension from the EU for thew transition period beyond December 31. But despite the coronavirus pandemic sweeping throughout Europe, Boris Johnson still wants a full free trade agreement struck before that deadline. He has even threatened to walk away from the negotiating table if sufficient progress has not been made over the coming weeks. This stance has left the EU furious, with senior figureheads, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, openly critical of the UK negotiation strategy. Germany is becoming increasingly fearful of a disastrous hard Brexit, and Foreign Minister Heiko Mass said without an agreement on the future relationship between the UK and EU, it would be a "journey into the unknown"...
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