Category: Opinion

COVID19 update – will we need plan c?

One of the concerns I’ve raised over the past week or two is that we now seem to be on a trajectory towards even stricter COVID19 restrictions in England and presumably then across the United Kingdom. My concern is two-fold. The first is that such measures might become urgently necessary because I’m not convinced that… Continue reading COVID19 update – will we need plan c?

COVID19 and Omicron – what next?

I’ve been sharing regular updates about COVID-19 primarily to help church leaders plan. Occasionally I share my thoughts and opinions about what we should be doing, nationally and internationally. All of this comes with the qualifying caveat that I’m just a bloke sat on his sofa with his laptop -I’m no expert in Epidemiology or… Continue reading COVID19 and Omicron – what next?

COVID -the continent and partial lockdowns

Over the past few days there have been moves across Europe to forms of lockdown again. Some countries, most notably Austria have been implementing partial lockdowns with measures falling primarily on those who have not yet been vaccinated. This has raised questions about Whether or not it is ethical to single out the unvaccinated and… Continue reading COVID -the continent and partial lockdowns

Learning COVID lessons – Sweden and comparison tables revisited

I’ve seen two types of article about Sweden’s pandemic response over the past few weeks (as indeed I have throughout the pandemic). On the one hand, there are those who continue to argue that the Swedish approach demonstrates that we were wrong to bring in tough measures such as social distancing, face masks and lockdowns.… Continue reading Learning COVID lessons – Sweden and comparison tables revisited

What is happening with COVID cases and should we be worried?

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen COVID19 cases in the UK increase significantly again up to the kinds of levels we were seeing back in June/July. Here’s the UK wide picture. Primarily the case growth has been driven by English case numbers. Here’s the plot of reported cases and the growth in reported cases… Continue reading What is happening with COVID cases and should we be worried?

Is the label “conservative-evangelical” a stumbling block?

Evangelical Times have published this article by Mike Judge explaining why he’s no longer using the term “conservative evangelical.” There were a couple of things that I found interesting in the article, not least that he is himself drawing the boundaries for who belongs to the tribe quite tightly. Mike identifies himself as Reformed in… Continue reading Is the label “conservative-evangelical” a stumbling block?

escaping the (and avoiding a future) fuel crisis

What seemed to spark the fuel  crisis over the weekend was some choice statements from the petroleum industry and road hauliers with leaks and briefings to the media. Over the past 18 months we’ve noticed particular hiccups in the general supply chain and these appear to have intensified over the past few weeks. As I… Continue reading escaping the (and avoiding a future) fuel crisis

Another look at the COVID data – and a hypothesis

I’ve been having another look over the hospitalisation and deaths data following this tweet from Oliver Johnson. Oliver is not an epidemiologist, so in that respect he is a layman like me. However as a maths and stats professor, his observations of the data throughout COVID have been helpful throughout the pandemic, so worth paying… Continue reading Another look at the COVID data – and a hypothesis