portslade seagull
Well-known member
No surprise there, the EU have abysmally failed in its rollout and our now trying to blame us, poor show. Well done to the UK government
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EU and AstraZeneca
- Thread starter Neville's Breakfast
- Start date
No surprise there, the EU have abysmally failed in its rollout and our now trying to blame us, poor show. Well done to the UK government
portslade seagull
Well-known member
You are one prize plumb of the top order. You just cannot take anybody ridiculing the EU on their collective piss poor response to vaccination and follow their lead to blame the UK rather than take the responsibility themselves.
I bet you've taken your jab though and not said no in solidarity to your beloved EU
Randy McNob
Now go home and get your f#cking Shinebox
- Jun 13, 2020
- 4,653
Why should they be ridiculed ? Divide and rule
The Brexiters really can’t seem to realise this is the most pyrrhic of Pyrrhic victories.
nicko31
Well-known member
I've been pretty critical really, EU countries have been too generous really
Important to remember though this is a global fight, its not just about Little England
Yep. When we’re back in lockdown because “The Bruges variant” (for example) is running amok which grew out of the lack of support for the EU vaccination programme by the UK leading to vaccine escape these people will soon be whinging again
nicko31
Well-known member
I've not met, read or heard about anyone hating UK because of the "British mutation" really, people seem (sensibly) to accept that it could have happened anywhere.
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 35,826
good job UK is providing most the feed stock materials for the vaccines manufactured in EU.
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 35,826
portslade seagull
Well-known member
Blaming everybody but themselves for their poor reactions to the availability of the vaccinations. No surprise the UK were targeted because it was one of the things we actually got right. Lock downs need to be looked into further down the line under an independent inquiry
portslade seagull
Well-known member
JC Footy Genius
Bringer of TRUTH
- Jun 9, 2015
- 10,568
Failing upwards: the story of Ursula von der Leyen
Thought it might be helpful to get a little background on the woman overseeing the Eu's pandemic response ..
Ursula von der Leyen looks every inch the modern European stateswoman. Her tailored trouser suits, no-fuss hair and assured speeches: what’s not to like?
When she was put forward by the European Council for President of the European Commission, her fellow Germans knew precisely what to expect. A poll found that only a third said she would be good at the job. Martin Schulz, a former president of the European parliament, did not mince his words. ‘Von der Leyen is our weakest minister,’ he said. ‘That is apparently good enough to head the European Commission.’ Having served as the deputy leader of Angela Merkel’s CDU party from 2010, she consistently achieved the lowest re-election results in the role’s history.
Merkel had found a loyal protégé in von der Leyen. She’d given her a hand up out of regional politics in Lower Saxony and onto the federal stage. Under Mutti Merkel’s protection, von der Leyen retained her place in the cabinet longer than any other politician, despite various political scandals. She is perhaps best known for her reforms of the German military, an exercise in dubious procurement contracts that saw consultancy firms paid millions of euros while overpriced equipment failed to materialise.
Just a few months before she quit as defence minister in 2019, US officials found that German forces had been using mobile phones during a Nato exercise because of a lack of encrypted radio equipment. Meanwhile, the Bundeswehr was forced to scrap its standard issue assault rifles when it was discovered that they didn’t shoot straight in temperatures above 30°C. At one stage, German soldiers were performing military exercises with broomsticks rather than guns.
Von der Leyen hails from the closest thing the European Union has to an aristocracy. Her father, Ernst Albrecht, was the CDU’s minister president of Lower Saxony as well as one of the EU’s first civil servants. His young daughter seemed unsure of what she wanted from her future. She studied at four different universities, switching between archaeology, economics and medicine.
Her wild years seemed to have come to an end when she was awarded a medical doctorate in Hanover in 1991. However, a scandal erupted in 2015 when it was alleged that nearly half the pages of her dissertation contained plagiarised material.
She reached her political nadir in 2018 when even Merkel was ready to drop her erstwhile ally as the CDU’s defence policy came under ever more intense scrutiny. But there was a lifeline from Brussels. Tellingly, von der Leyen announced her resignation as defence minister before her appointment as President of the European Commission was confirmed. The fact that Merkel abstained from voting on her nomination shows just how toxic her former deputy had become.
Some in Brussels suspect that Emmanuel Macron wanted a weak candidate so he could mould her — and the Continent — in his own image. This may explain it. The EU leaders wanted someone who looked plausible but was ineffective at running a European Commission that they did not want to become too powerful. By that measure, she was the perfect candidate. Perhaps now, as the Commission fails to deal with the pandemic, it will regret its decision, looking at the trail of mayhem she has left in her wake. And it seems that she has not finished yet.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/failing-upwards-the-story-of-ursula-von-der-Leyen
The machiavellian world of European politics where substandard candidates get the top job for all the wrong reasons .... thank goodness nothing like that could happen in the UK
Thought it might be helpful to get a little background on the woman overseeing the Eu's pandemic response ..
Ursula von der Leyen looks every inch the modern European stateswoman. Her tailored trouser suits, no-fuss hair and assured speeches: what’s not to like?
When she was put forward by the European Council for President of the European Commission, her fellow Germans knew precisely what to expect. A poll found that only a third said she would be good at the job. Martin Schulz, a former president of the European parliament, did not mince his words. ‘Von der Leyen is our weakest minister,’ he said. ‘That is apparently good enough to head the European Commission.’ Having served as the deputy leader of Angela Merkel’s CDU party from 2010, she consistently achieved the lowest re-election results in the role’s history.
Merkel had found a loyal protégé in von der Leyen. She’d given her a hand up out of regional politics in Lower Saxony and onto the federal stage. Under Mutti Merkel’s protection, von der Leyen retained her place in the cabinet longer than any other politician, despite various political scandals. She is perhaps best known for her reforms of the German military, an exercise in dubious procurement contracts that saw consultancy firms paid millions of euros while overpriced equipment failed to materialise.
Just a few months before she quit as defence minister in 2019, US officials found that German forces had been using mobile phones during a Nato exercise because of a lack of encrypted radio equipment. Meanwhile, the Bundeswehr was forced to scrap its standard issue assault rifles when it was discovered that they didn’t shoot straight in temperatures above 30°C. At one stage, German soldiers were performing military exercises with broomsticks rather than guns.
Von der Leyen hails from the closest thing the European Union has to an aristocracy. Her father, Ernst Albrecht, was the CDU’s minister president of Lower Saxony as well as one of the EU’s first civil servants. His young daughter seemed unsure of what she wanted from her future. She studied at four different universities, switching between archaeology, economics and medicine.
Her wild years seemed to have come to an end when she was awarded a medical doctorate in Hanover in 1991. However, a scandal erupted in 2015 when it was alleged that nearly half the pages of her dissertation contained plagiarised material.
She reached her political nadir in 2018 when even Merkel was ready to drop her erstwhile ally as the CDU’s defence policy came under ever more intense scrutiny. But there was a lifeline from Brussels. Tellingly, von der Leyen announced her resignation as defence minister before her appointment as President of the European Commission was confirmed. The fact that Merkel abstained from voting on her nomination shows just how toxic her former deputy had become.
Some in Brussels suspect that Emmanuel Macron wanted a weak candidate so he could mould her — and the Continent — in his own image. This may explain it. The EU leaders wanted someone who looked plausible but was ineffective at running a European Commission that they did not want to become too powerful. By that measure, she was the perfect candidate. Perhaps now, as the Commission fails to deal with the pandemic, it will regret its decision, looking at the trail of mayhem she has left in her wake. And it seems that she has not finished yet.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/failing-upwards-the-story-of-ursula-von-der-Leyen
The machiavellian world of European politics where substandard candidates get the top job for all the wrong reasons .... thank goodness nothing like that could happen in the UK
nicko31
Well-known member
Variants tend to occur where things run out of control, like South Africa, like Brazil, like UK. Not sure whether there was hatred in exporting 77m vaccines from these countries
Hopefully things do not run out of control on the near continent we does want vaccine resistant variants washing up on these shores
Baker lite
Banned
The ever efficient Germans have then been using unused vaccines from no-show sceptics, on younger groupings such as teachers.
(Without the boring propaganda from the NSC Brexit and Remain camps), does anyone here know how the French and other nations are dealing with their unused vaccines?
Boroseagull
Well-known member
Unused vaccines? If it wasn't so real I'd laugh. In Spain there are 17 different semi-autonomous depts. and they all have their own health service and protocols, ultimately led by what Madrid distributes. In my case, Andalucia, represents 10% of the Spanish population (4 million) but they have been getting less than their real share of vaccines. Madrid meanwhile have been hoarding O-AZ parroting the French line of it being unsafe. From today they have decided that it is now safe enough to vaccinate persons up to the age of 65. Us who are older than that therefore wait in hope of something.
An 84 year old friend received her first shot last week, likewise our Spanish birder friends 96 year parents received their first - but only after he pestered the authorities. Meanwhile police, guardia, town hall staff, certain catholic bishops, politicians have jumped the queue (source El Pais, Sur).
So basically if there are any spare they are going into the arms who claim to be more important then anyone else.
Baldseagull
Well-known member
I don't know about "spare" vaccines, but in France they are vaccinating as the producers recommended, i.e. a second shot 3 weeks after the first, so once a patient has a first shot, another shot is reserved for them and not used on anyone else. I think the change from the recommended spacing of 3 weeks to 3 months is a major reason that we have far more people vaccinated, albeit at a lower level of protection.