The virus. PPE. Part 1

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This is what grinds my gears. Every day here in Scotland we have the First Minister telling us more or less the exact same as we hear on the national briefing. There should be one voice for the UK at a time like this.

I tend to agree, though I assume there was a reason for doing it the way they have. But the "National" briefing is often largely an "English" briefing as are the "UK" emailed alerts, which is possibly inevitable as England doesn't have a Government of its own.

For example when they talk about the "NHS" at the briefings and in the alerts, they mean NHS England (it took me a long time to realise this), when they refer to the army and Clipper Logistics now working to distribute PPE across the NHS, this is only NHS England. Unless you go and look it up, it's difficult (impossible at times) to know whether any specific detail in the UK briefing is about England or the UK. Though at least, they now present the cases and death data from across the UK, and not just England, but I still find myself looking things up after every briefing to find out whether a particular statement applies to England only or the whole of the UK (it can end up going either way).

As a Scot living in England, who also lived in Wales for 17 years, I want to hear what is happening across the UK, and I've found the UK briefings and alerts to be pretty useless for that, still useful to me living in England of course And, unlike you, I don't find Nicola Sturgeon's briefings to be more or less the same as the UK Briefings.

But overall, I agree with you and was anticipating a more UK wide approach.
 
I think this has been commented on before but.......

In Wuhan they were able to create an optimal lockdown of a scale and control that IMO would never be accepted/acceptable in a western liberal democracy.

But does that difference in practice & protocols explain why compared to China "we" in other countries have had oh so many more deaths??? Or is it that China was Indeed under reporting their figures and that had the effect of creating a poor planning environment in many other countries???
South Korea is a democracy, and heard about the virus the same day everybody else did. They have not yet resorted to lockdowns, but have done a huge amount of testing, tracking and tracing right from the start, successfully suppressing a significant outbreak. They have a population the size of England, but only 230 deaths.
 
South Korea is a democracy, and heard about the virus the same day everybody else did. They have not yet resorted to lockdowns, but have done a huge amount of testing, tracking and tracing right from the start, successfully suppressing a significant outbreak. They have a population the size of England, but only 230 deaths.

And of course, being proactive in the way that SK has been, would have not only saved lives, it would have prevented the total meltdown of the economy. There’s no avoiding some degree of economic pain, but it needn’t have been anywhere near as bad as it has been.

Here’s an extract from an article comparing the response of SK and the USA:

“In fact, the KOSPI stock index in Seoul only declined by 8 per cent between January 20 and March 5, when Korea was finding and reporting most of its cases. (It’s discovering fewer than 100 a day lately). Korea’s unemployment rate is 3.3 per cent — because early testing and containment meant Korea didn’t shut the country down to keep people safe, as big-state US governors did while Trump fiddled and watched TV.‘


https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-us-south-korea-economy-when-cases-map-a9444096.html
 
Interesting 'interview' on R4 this evening with a medic. Ignoring all the emotive stuff, she reckoned that about 20% of tests of obviously covid-infected patients came back negative, and they only got a positive result after subsequent tests.

Makes me wonder if the SKs had a better version of the PCR assay than we do, because a 20% false positive rate on patients that are displaying symptoms is just semi-useful. TBH if this is true then testing is far less useful than the "testing, testing, testing" mantra would make people believe.

That combined with the ostrich-thinking '14 days and you're OK' approach to isolation, no wonder the country has had increasing Covid cases. If your testing and isolation doesn't work then community spread is simply inevitable.

This is what makes me mad. Not the failings of government, of politicians, but the mistakes of those who should know and do better.

*this is the sweary-free version of the post I wanted to write.
 
This is what grinds my gears. Every day here in Scotland we have the First Minister telling us more or less the exact same as we hear on the national briefing. There should be one voice for the UK at a time like this.

Having watched both on numerous occasions my vote goes to Nicola see seems a damned site more competent than the differing array of muppets rolled out by the Westminster Government.
 
Govt. is only interested in big brands apparently that make good news copy. There was another article in the Guardian about a manufacturer (not a brand because they make for others like many of the biggest manufacturers do) begging the govt to let them supply but getting no answer.

This has been happening since the very start, companies getting in touch with the government and offering to help and what's happened to most of them, their still waiting to hear back or in some cases have already sold items elsewhere as they never heard back. I'm not saying all could have helped but it would be nice to know that our leaders were on the ball and following up on these offers.
 
Interesting 'interview' on R4 this evening with a medic. Ignoring all the emotive stuff, she reckoned that about 20% of tests of obviously covid-infected patients came back negative, and they only got a positive result after subsequent tests.

Makes me wonder if the SKs had a better version of the PCR assay than we do, because a 20% false positive rate on patients that are displaying symptoms is just semi-useful. TBH if this is true then testing is far less useful than the "testing, testing, testing" mantra would make people believe.

That combined with the ostrich-thinking '14 days and you're OK' approach to isolation, no wonder the country has had increasing Covid cases. If your testing and isolation doesn't work then community spread is simply inevitable.
This is what makes me mad. Not the failings of government, of politicians, but the mistakes of those who should know and do better.
*this is the sweary-free version of the post I wanted to write.

I wonder if that is tying in with the low number of daily tests being carried out (i.e. why go all out testing if the tests are not sufficiently accurate).
At today's Downing St. press briefing the Gov. said that daily testing capacity was now 38,000 and the number of tests carried out was 21,000.
No one asked about the huge shortfall in uptake. The reason cannot be a mystery. Bottlenecks of that magnitude just have to be obvious.
At every daily briefing the gov. is asked how it is going to meet the forecast test rate of 100,000 per day by the end of this month. With the press spotlight on that target it is odd how the gov. can say "we can do 38,000, but have only done 21,000" then do not attempt to explain the disparity.
 
With the press spotlight on that target it is odd how the gov. can say "we can do 38,000, but have only done 21,000" then do not attempt to explain the disparity.

I wonder if there's a bit of 'computer/system says no' so we can't do more tests today going on. As noted, there's now apparently enormous capacity, but somewhere along the line people aren't being fed into the testing system. It might be that the tests don't really work, in which case it's possible those responsible CBA to make it happen, but that seems unlikely.

I'm sure that as far as the government are concerned they can't get people tested fast enough - they can only lose by missing their objectives, and plainly money is not the issue.
 
This is the point at which we need a government able to think clearly and look outside of their own obsessions. Using the government's own numbers it's possible to show that one way to stave off an economic disaster is to replace the welfare system with a universal basic income system, which is far simpler to administer and ensures that everyone has enough to survive on.

Working from the published figures...
  1. Tax take 2018: £594,300,000,000
  2. Less cost of welfare system: £253,000,000,000
  3. Remaining national income: £341,300,000,000
Now, if we have a national universal basic and remove all other tax discounts the numbers look like this...
  1. Tax take 2018: £594,300,000,000
  2. Additional tax no longer discounted: £152,785,000,00
  3. Cost of welfare system no longer spent: £253,000,000,000
  4. Less cost of UBI at £150 per week per voter: £358,800,000,000
  5. Remaining national income: £641,285,000,000
Clearly: these are very rough estimates but they do indicate that a universal basic income spreading wealth to every single voter and taxing every citizen and organisation equally is far cheaper than the current system which encourages divisiveness and selfishness.

If anyone can spot mistakes in these guesstimates I'd be grateful to see corrections.

Here are some sources for the numbers I used...
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/gove...rticles/howisthewelfarebudgetspent/2016-03-16
https://assets.publishing.service.g...nt_data/file/837766/191009_Bulletin_FINAL.pdf


That's very interesting and compelling. It's only recently that I've heard of a universal basic income system I can only think it's not ideologically acceptable to this current government.I hope you are pressing your MP.(y)
 
That's very interesting and compelling. It's only recently that I've heard of a universal basic income system I can only think it's not ideologically acceptable to this current government.I hope you are pressing your MP.(y)
UBI is not entirely left/right, there are “libertarian” right wingers that favour it too. I would have thought the present Nodding Donkeys Cabinet would favour it if they were told to do it :).
 
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South Korea is a democracy, and heard about the virus the same day everybody else did. They have not yet resorted to lockdowns, but have done a huge amount of testing, tracking and tracing right from the start, successfully suppressing a significant outbreak. They have a population the size of England, but only 230 deaths.

Yes, a very different approach by SK. Early on I recall an interview with I think the SK health minister and after that a pundit/columnist who echoed that though SK has a westernised economy but an oriental culture of respect for authority and adherence to protocol & instruction from authorities.

The totality of the two aspects above are what, perhaps, make SK an outlier in the way that Covid19 was 'handled'.
 
Yes, a very different approach by SK. Early on I recall an interview with I think the SK health minister and after that a pundit/columnist who echoed that though SK has a westernised economy but an oriental culture of respect for authority and adherence to protocol & instruction from authorities.

The totality of the two aspects above are what, perhaps, make SK an outlier in the way that Covid19 was 'handled'.
Though, with a few exceptions, we are all doing what we are requested to do so it’s not clear we could not have achieved the same if it had been planned for and if the govt hadn’t had its head up it’s backside for the last several years.
 
UBI is not entirely left/right, there are “libertarian” right wingers that favour it too. I would have thought the present Nodding Donkeys Cabinet would favour it if they were told to do it :).

The breadth of your knowledge,Richard, never ceases to amaze me..:)
 
That's very interesting and compelling. It's only recently that I've heard of a universal basic income system I can only think it's not ideologically acceptable to this current government.I hope you are pressing your MP.(y)

There have been some experiments trying it, but they've never appeared to be successful, though against what criteria for success I know not. A problem I expect with giving everyone enough money to comfortably live is that very quickly it is apparent people can afford things and prices go up. Without price control, more and more money must be added just to stand still, but price control is far from ideal either.

Finland gave it a go: https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...ncome-trial-unemployment-usa-uk-a8782856.html

Apparently failed in Finland to help people get into work.
 
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Yes, a very different approach by SK. Early on I recall an interview with I think the SK health minister and after that a pundit/columnist who echoed that though SK has a westernised economy but an oriental culture of respect for authority and adherence to protocol & instruction from authorities.

The totality of the two aspects above are what, perhaps, make SK an outlier in the way that Covid19 was 'handled'.

I wonder if where the country is located has caused it to be far better prepared. Most of the problem viruses originate in that part of the world.

By the way.. at 9.00pm on BBC2 there's a documentary on the Pangolin, a suggested host for this COVID-19. I think it's just a regular documentary rather than looking a it from this perspective. It's listed as a repeat but they may have updated it. It's looking at the illegal trade in pangolins. It was a short write-up and no other detail in a review which is sometimes the case in the listings magazines or supplements.
 
There have been some experiments trying it, but they've never appeared to be successful, though against what criteria for success I know not. A problem I expect with giving everyone enough money to comfortably live is that very quickly it is apparent people can afford things and prices go up. Without price control, more and more money must be added just to stand still, but price control is far from ideal either.

Finland gave it a go: https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...ncome-trial-unemployment-usa-uk-a8782856.html

Apparently failed in Finland to help people get into work.
Though I think it was a limited experiment in Finland was it not?
 
Youcould not make this stuff up:

”A Bill Gates speech from 2015, where he warns that the greatest threat to humanity is infectious disease, not nuclear war, has received 25 million new views in recent weeks. According to the New York Times, anti-vaxxers, right-wing pundits, and members of the conspiracy group QAnon claim the video is evidence of Gates’ dastardly plan to use a pandemic for his personal gain.”

(Like he needs more money?)

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/17/21224728/bill-gates-coronavirus-lies-5g-covid-19
 
There have been some experiments trying it, but they've never appeared to be successful, though against what criteria for success I know not. A problem I expect with giving everyone enough money to comfortably live is that very quickly it is apparent people can afford things and prices go up. Without price control, more and more money must be added just to stand still, but price control is far from ideal either.

Finland gave it a go: https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...ncome-trial-unemployment-usa-uk-a8782856.html

Apparently failed in Finland to help people get into work.


Re the link: A good article . I had to chuckle at the fact that the experiment showed that those receiving it were happier than the control group. Happiness is very important, you know..:)

On a serious note my wife and I were chatting about the dire financial position people are in with many people falling short on one qualifying aspect or another re the furloughing payments and we couldn't begin to imagine what it must be like to have so little money there isn't enough for food let alone mortgages and loan re-payments. As I mentioned earlier today we have a nice garden to sit in and have the means to carry on as before but it's definitely not lost on us the terrifying position many are in and this is why I think there's going to be a surge of people suffering mental welfare issues and possibly some suicides. It wouldn't surpise me. I've recently watched people on tv in this situation having tears in their eyes whilst being interviewed and we're nowhere near through this. You could say that the contagion and deaths are just the start.. I compare it to a hurricane that's come in off-shore and it passes over land then in comes the tsunami. Knowing all this I even have a feeling of guilt, as strange as it may sound, that we're ok or at least feel uncomfortable about it.

I found this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52137868
 
Youcould not make this stuff up:

”A Bill Gates speech from 2015, where he warns that the greatest threat to humanity is infectious disease, not nuclear war, has received 25 million new views in recent weeks. According to the New York Times, anti-vaxxers, right-wing pundits, and members of the conspiracy group QAnon claim the video is evidence of Gates’ dastardly plan to use a pandemic for his personal gain.”

(Like he needs more money?)

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/17/21224728/bill-gates-coronavirus-lies-5g-covid-19

I'm trying to think who I heard interviewing Melinda lately. It was on the radio, maybe even yesterday and the interview was about his 2015 warnings. He and Melinda stock-piled items. I don't know what they stock-piled, she didn't say.
 
I wonder if where the country is located has caused it to be far better prepared. Most of the problem viruses originate in that part of the world.

By the way.. at 9.00pm on BBC2 there's a documentary on the Pangolin, a suggested host for this COVID-19. I think it's just a regular documentary rather than looking a it from this perspective. It's listed as a repeat but they may have updated it. It's looking at the illegal trade in pangolins. It was a short write-up and no other detail in a review which is sometimes the case in the listings magazines or supplements.

Will have to catch that on iPlayer.

As far as I am/was aware the now Red Listed Pangolin is so, entirely due to man.... like other such animals they are poached to supply the spurious needs in China and nothing to do with their meat.

The Chinese are oh so keen (and thankfully so) to conserve the Giant Panda......it is about time they showed the same respect for other wild creatures elsewhere in the world!!!
 
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On a serious note my wife and I were chatting about the dire financial position people are in with many people falling short on one qualifying aspect or another re the furloughing payments and we couldn't begin to imagine what it must be like to have so little money there isn't enough for food let alone mortgages and loan re-payments. As I mentioned earlier today we have a nice garden to sit in and have the means to carry on as before but it's definitely not lost on us the terrifying position many are in and this is why I think there's going to be a surge of people suffering mental welfare issues and possibly some suicides. It wouldn't surpise me. I've recently watched people on tv in this situation having tears in their eyes whilst being interviewed and we're nowhere near through this. You could say that the contagion and deaths are just the start.. I compare it to a hurricane that's come in off-shore and it passes over land then in comes the tsunami. Knowing all this I even have a feeling of guilt, as strange as it may sound, that we're ok or at least feel uncomfortable about it.

I found this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52137868

Anybody that started a new job and missed the Feb. 28th qualifying date can be furloughed by their previous employer.
 
Will have to catch that on iPlayer.

As far as I am/was aware the now Red Listed Pangolin is so, entirely due to man.... like other such animals they are poached to supply the spurious needs in China and nothing to do with their meat.

The Chinese are oh so keen (and thankfully so) to conserve the Giant Panda......it is about time they showed the same respect for other wild creatures elsewhere in the world!!!

It's always baffled me why the they take so much care to protect the Giant Panda and care nothing for the rest of wildlife or even what we class as domestic animals..dogs and cats etc. I said this to someone one day and their reply has stayed with me. ""You only have to look at how they treat their own people let alone animals"

I have posted a link before but I don't want to keep waving my flag all the time but if you Google 'China-bear bile farms' it's another example of immense cruelty regarding 'traditional medicine'. Years ago I opened up my newspaper and there was an advert by WSPA (Libearty section) yes, I have spelt that correctly...Libearty.. and was horrified. I signed up.

The Chinese authorities don't mess about do they. http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/236943.htm
 
Anybody that started a new job and missed the Feb. 28th qualifying date can be furloughed by their previous employer.

I was hearing about this very thing today. In fairness, this is such a massive undertaking and never been done before that there were bound to be anomalies but even having sorted out that particular one there's still a lot of hardship to endure.They haven't properly sorted out the SME's as I mentioned earlier
 
It's always baffled me why the they take so much care to protect the Giant Panda and care nothing for the rest of wildlife or even what we class as domestic animals..dogs and cats etc. I said this to someone one day and their reply has stayed with me. ""You only have to look at how they treat their own people let alone animals"

I have posted a link before but I don't want to keep waving my flag all the time but if you Google 'China-bear bile farms' it's another example of immense cruelty regarding 'traditional medicine'. Years ago I opened up my newspaper and there was an advert by WSPA (Libearty section) yes, I have spelt that correctly...Libearty.. and was horrified. I signed up.

The Chinese authorities don't mess about do they. http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/236943.htm

I had forgotten about the bear bile cruelty :(
 
Though I think it was a limited experiment in Finland was it not?

Yes, it was. AFAIK the idea was people would be willing to take a job knowing they weren't dependant on it, but instead they preferred not to work. :rolleyes:

Re the link: A good article . I had to chuckle at the fact that the experiment showed that those receiving it were happier than the control group. Happiness is very important, you know..:)

On a serious note my wife and I were chatting about the dire financial position people are in with many people falling short on one qualifying aspect or another re the furloughing payments and we couldn't begin to imagine what it must be like to have so little money there isn't enough for food let alone mortgages and loan re-payments. As I mentioned earlier today we have a nice garden to sit in and have the means to carry on as before but it's definitely not lost on us the terrifying position many are in and this is why I think there's going to be a surge of people suffering mental welfare issues and possibly some suicides. It wouldn't surpise me. I've recently watched people on tv in this situation having tears in their eyes whilst being interviewed and we're nowhere near through this. You could say that the contagion and deaths are just the start.. I compare it to a hurricane that's come in off-shore and it passes over land then in comes the tsunami. Knowing all this I even have a feeling of guilt, as strange as it may sound, that we're ok or at least feel uncomfortable about it.

I found this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52137868

Happiness is important, but doesn't put bread on the table.

I'm sure a big part of managing to survive poverty is about training and expectation. We went through times when our dinner was sometimes roadkill, sometimes just bread and soup, heating came from cutting up fallen trees etc. It's hard not to judge others based on ones personal experience.
 
Yes, it was. AFAIK the idea was people would be willing to take a job knowing they weren't dependant on it, but instead they preferred not to work. :rolleyes:



Happiness is important, but doesn't put bread on the table.

I'm sure a big part of managing to survive poverty is about training and expectation. We went through times when our dinner was sometimes roadkill, sometimes just bread and soup, heating came from cutting up fallen trees etc. It's hard not to judge others based on ones personal experience.

Dear me. You could run a survival course with that experience.

The first time I heard about universal income I thought it might be a charter for the less than willing.
 
Dear me. You could run a survival course with that experience.

The first time I heard about universal income I thought it might be a charter for the less than willing.

By comparison with our forebears I think we were probably well off.
 
Me being me..I must acknowledge a mistake in my earlier post. I likened the hardship, psychological effects and the massive hit to the economy to a hurricane making landfall followed by a tsunami. I'd turned in but the subconscious told me that that was wrong. I meant to say a storm surge. Ocean floor earthquakes, an underwater landslip or a massive volcano will cause a tsunami. I wonder who noticed ? If you did and let it go..thank you. :)
 
Yes, it was. AFAIK the idea was people would be willing to take a job knowing they weren't dependant on it, but instead they preferred not to work.
Which, in my opinion, is not necessarily a bad thing. There will always be a pool of people who are perfectly happy to laze their days away. If the UBI is set at a subsistence level the few people who are happy with it (and are probably unsuitable for employment anyway) are taken out of the workforce for a fixed price. This makes more room for those who have other aims and will therefor compete for employment.

UBI can also assist in crime control. There are many fines that currently go unpaid. The ease with which offenders can avoid the payment of fines, I suspect, actively encourages further offending. If fines are taken directly from the UBIP, you then have a tool to modify anti-social behaviour. One thing people always notice is the absence of something they take for granted.

UBI does not need to be and in my opinion should not be a free ride. It should be seen as a contract between the people of Britain and NOT a "present" from the government. Its prime purpose should be that we help each other to prosper and provide a support to one another when life deals harshly with us. That's why it can only work if it replaces all tax reliefs and all benefits. Its prime purpose should be as the banister on life's stairs to help us all climb in safety.
 
I think this has been commented on before but.......

In Wuhan they were able to create an optimal lockdown of a scale and control that IMO would never be accepted/acceptable in a western liberal democracy.

But does that difference in practice & protocols explain why compared to China "we" in other countries have had oh so many more deaths??? Or is it that China was Indeed under reporting their figures and that had the effect of creating a poor planning environment in many other countries???

Probably both.
 
the problem is plod has no idea what is illegal and what’s not, the guidance is not the law, and the law makers made the law different to the guidelines, for example guidance says one exercise a day, the law does not stipulate a number so legall y you can go out and exercise 10 times a day, it cannot have been that hard to come up with some rules and make them lawful.

I think the vast majority are complying. But I do question some of the guidelines as these do depend on where you are. For example, I can easily go out from my house on foot and go for a 3 hour walk and not come into contact (ie other side of the road) with more than a handful of people.

The other issue is how you police that. You can’t. I could go out for an hours run in the morning, bike ride in the afternoon and walk in the evening.
 
The way ventilators are being used, maybe doing more harm than good.
View: https://youtu.be/k9GYTc53r2o

Other doctors around the world are of a similar opinion.
https://time.com/5820556/ventilators-covid-19/
There was an article in the Telegraph saying just that 10 days ago.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-...s-question-overly-aggressive-use-ventilators/

The article is behind a paywall but here's the gist of the piece

British and American intensive care doctors at the front line of the coronavirus crisis are starting to question the aggressive use of ventilators for the treatment of patients.
In many cases, they say the machines – which are highly invasive and require the patient to be rendered unconscious – are being used too early and may cause more harm than good. Instead they are finding that less invasive forms of oxygen treatment through face masks or nasal cannulas work better for patients, even those with very low blood oxygen readings.
Dr Ron Daniels, a consultant in critical care at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, on Thursday confirmed reports from US medics that he and other NHS doctors were revising their view of when ventilators should be used.
At the heart of the issue was the "bizarre" and "frankly baffling" phenomenon of Covid-19 patients presenting with catastrophically low blood oxygen levels but few other ill effects.
"We've had patients with oxygen measures of just five kilopascals [70-75 per cent of normal] who are talking to us normally and have no obvious air hunger [gasping for breath]”, said Dr Daniels. "Normally anyone with numbers like that would be ventilated, but increasingly with Covid patients we are considering holding back.
"The question everyone is asking is, do we treat symptoms or do we treat the numbers? It's a good question and one that I think doctors everywhere are now grappling with."
 
Just saw on the news this morning, the famous outdoor clothing company Barbour, is to make PPE gowns. I wonder how much they will be, compared to ones made in China? Maybe they will last longer, and give better protection.
 
. . . .If this has been discussed tell me and I will remove the post. . . . .

90% of the World has travel restrictions. Many countries have closed their borders and banned incoming flights. The remainder have quarantine regulations on incoming passengers.

The UK response ? zilch/nada/nix i.e no restrictions. 15,000 people a day are travelling into UK airports without any checks and thereafter travelling onward to their final destinations. Many are UK citizens returning home.

Why am I (we) continuing to be asked to adhere to 'lockdown' and being potentially fined for making 'unnecessary' travel when the 'horse is escaping through the open barn door' at UK airports ?

Why is this not the lead story on UK news bulletins ?

Quote
The approach may be turning Britain into a refuge for some travellers. “We've seen a very big increase in the number of super yachts coming to the UK to berth because they cannot enter ports in the Mediterranean,” said Anne Carson, owner of Super Yacht Services Falmouth. “I would say there have been 20 or more in the last few weeks alone, which is very high for this time of year.”
Unquote
 
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