2 February 2021 — UKColumn
9 February 2021 — NHS Support Federation
Documents passed to the Lowdown reveal how US company, Centene is expanding its interests in the NHS by buying up a network of GP practices.
And in the same week the BBC report a likely fall in private sector involvement, as after years of public campaigning leaked details emerged of the government’s plan to remove NHS competition rules, so what is going on, is this really the end of NHS outsourcing? And what does the leaked white paper really mean for the NHS? We take a look.
7 February 2021 — A Green Road Daily News
Spain has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine but like some other EU countries, it won’t be offering the jab to the elderly – due to a lack of data. The news comes as officials in Madrid confirm the first ever case of the variant first detected in Brazil.
Spain limits use of AstraZeneca vaccine for those over 55 – YouTube
Spain, Germany, France, Italy and ‘others’ have said that these new vaccines should not be given to anyone over the age of 55. Huh? Wasn’t that the reason for keeping everyone locked up for a year?
9 February2021 — Media Lens
A Cogitation by David Edwards
The name Arnold Ridley will be familiar to many viewers of ‘Dad’s Army’, one of Britain’s best-loved TV comedies, which ran a long time ago (1968-1977) but is still shown on prime time BBC TV.
Ridley played Private Godfrey, the loveable, most doddery member of a Second World War platoon of elderly Home Guard troops tasked with defending a stretch of the British coast ‘from the Novelty Rock Emporium to Stone’s Amusement Arcade’.
3 February, 2021 — Modern Farmer
A wave of consolidation has given a few large companies control of proprietary, multi-level systems of traits, seeds, agrochemicals and digital technology.
Beyond anticompetitive practices, rising concentration has implications for our national food security. – Photography by Marek Musil on Shutterstock
9 February 2021 — Good Law Project
You may remember the tale of the jeweller from Florida and the Spanish intermediary who profited to the tune of tens of millions of pounds from vast PPE contracts, paid for with taxpayers’ money. Well, there have been developments.
6 January 2021 — Monsoon Storms
In 2007 – a digital time not spatially long ago – a month before the iPhone was production scheduled, the late Steven Jobs took some of his staff to an office. He had been carrying a prototype of the device in his pocket daily for weeks.
Mr. Jobs angrily held up his iPhone so that everyone could see the dozens of tiny scratches marring its plastic screen. He then pulled his keys from his jeans.
People will carry this phone in their pocket, he was quoted to say.
“I won’t sell a product that gets scratched,” he said tensely.
The only solution was to use unscratchable glass instead.
“I want a glass screen, and I want it perfect in six weeks.”
(Duhigg, C and Bradsher, K. “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work“, The New York Times, published January 21st., 2012).
The New Dark Age 