You got it

They do work individually but, this is not the case when you cross from say, England to Scotland or England to N. Ireland.
You can start again in the "new" country but, if your work / travel involves crossing the borders there is a problem.

Perhaps I should have gone into more detail with the original post.

Anything to say about the latest on our "world beating" test and trace debacle.
Not only have they missed 16,000 positive tests but, it seems that even if you live with someone who has downloaded the app and has tested positive, you are informed that you're still good to move around "freely".

Come on our kid, pick the fault with this one.

The whole ****ing COVID response reliant on a spreadsheet created as xls rather than xlsx. Unbelievable.

This is not the first major issue with an Excel spreadsheet - sadly their use in high level projection outcomes is far too prevalent - a case of where a little knowledge is dangerous.

Are the NHS still using very old versions of Windows?

The NHS is on Windows 10 now.

I could understand that on critical equipment e.g. MRI scanners but not normal day to day activity - surely

It's crazy to blame excel for the problem.
Who wrote the bloody software and who doled out the contract to such an inept organisation.

There is a common theme running all through the pandemic response and clearly, those "in charge" are just not up to the job.
Our PM proclaimed IN JUNE that we had a WORLD BEATING system.

It the Tories were in charge of broadband, we'd all be on dial up and being told just how good it was

I appreciate you think all this should be under public control and it is easy to push the blame. We don't know what the government have asked for - the bods at PHE a public body have hardly covered themselves in glory.

I would agree the government's handling of the pandemic has been shoddy but it hasn't been helped by the poor standards of the public sector supporting it.

35 organisations are listed as “data processors” involved in the NHS Test and Trace system but only 4 are NHS bodies. 4 are Lighthouse Labs. A further 4 are Public Health England bodies and another is the Ministry of Defence. The remaining 22 are private companies.

The response to the pandemic is indeed under the governments "control".
They are ultimately in charge of the procurement of everything, form aprons to vaccines etc and with regard to the "test and trace", it's been oversold and under delivered since it's inception.
Now, I'm fully aware that Boris doesn't write the software for the system - just imagine if he did

but, he was quick enough to take credit for it's roll out and by god, he has to carry the can when it goes wrong.
All of the glory but, none of the pain.
So quick to wave the flags and yet so damn slow, even hiding when the shmidt comes down.

My lad is a graduate software engineer and he explained exactly where the problem was with using excel for this application.
He said that they had covered this type of issue at GCSE and A level.
Now, if a lad in his early 20's knows the limitations of using excel to collate and store this type of information, just who the hell have the government used for their software development.
You will no doubt recall the earlier issues of surrounding the communication (or lack of it) between mobile devices ?

The government might have overall responsibility for everything but do you expect them to place the orders for PPE or manage the actual development of the track and trace? Of course not - this devolved down to civil servants. If they don't perform then the government has to take the flack for ineffective performance but they relied on civil servants to deliver the project.

Perhaps they should have personally sorted out every school too - that is the job of the people who run the schools - sadly they were too busy enjoying the elongated break and weren't minded to contribute - again it may be the government who ultimately take the flack but it is the public employees who caused the issues.

The NHS has a budget which they decide what to spend it on - PHE were party to the study about the impact of a pandemic but - quite rightly - decided to spend the money on a more pressing issues. All of a sudden its the government's issue - even lack of PPE in private care homes was the government's fault.

The government have handled this situation very poorly but the support from the public sector has been pretty shambolic

If the PM hails the system as "world beating", at the very least, you would expect it to work and work reasonably well.

I wouldn't expect Boris to be personally be placing orders for PPE or writing the software for the test and trace system.
We can take the view that they should sort out the problem with their "supplier" or, take your view that, it's not actually their fault and lets put up with more lies and failings.
The one certainty is that whoever signed off on some of this stuff is not up to the job.

Over sell, under deliver, has been the theme of the Bojo reign and you seem happy for it to continue.
Next up Brexit

No deal Brexit - as was always going to be the case. Perhaps if you had the likes of John Caudwell people who are used to negotiating big deals doing the negotiating rather than some inappropriate civil servants things would have be better?

The government has ultimate responsibility and will judged in 4 years time on their performance - but blame needs to be apportioned correctly. If civil servants have stepped up to the mark or private contractors then they need to exposed so the public can get a true picture.

I would expect the public sector to be weak because its full of people who aren't employable in the private sector or who have been found wanting when working in the private sector e.g. Dido which is why they end up where they do. The idea of an increased state full of these incompetents doesn't bare thinking about

When did the people running schools take an elongated break

Still churning out this old lie huh.

The interest in 4 years time will be to see just how many "friends of the party" made a bloody fortune from the pandemic.
Contracts handed out like sweets to various "companies" that had no previous experience in the field but, still got the gig, which will go some way to explaining the current shambles.

Btw, are you happy with the numbers of University students who have tested positive ??
A staged return or, maybe a delayed return would have been the sensible way to have students return to their studies.

Seems to me as soon as the schools closed down the volume of education was significantly reduced for the vast majority of students outside of public schools. That suggests a vast number of teachers had significant extra time on their hands - would you not agree?

Sounds like an enforced break. "Elongated" infers that there was a choice ?

Difficult to maintain same teaching standards obviously, but looking to maintain online teaching both individually and groups to maintain the current curriculum as much as possible is no easy task.

In addition to the above, due to most schools being of different size and layout there is/was no set structure for the return- so along with trying to maintain day to day teaching they had to plan, propose and get agreed the class teaching structure under the new Covid rules - pupils didn’t just rock up at the beginning of September, an aweful lot of planning goes into trying to make it work, and even now schools as a whole and individual lessons change daily, whole years being sent home for 14 days so different online teaching techniques required, and completely different structure for those who do attend school.

No easy task - they most certainly have not been twiddling there thumbs for the last few months, and of course dealing with the change in pupils mental attitude to boot - sure a lot of people have the same concept as you but it couldn’t be further from the truth

Dont worry about Sal, he used to suggest that NHS staff were lazy and overpaid and then, just like the Hypocrites "running the country, he was on his door step every Thursday, applauding their efforts.

PHE as it is now is a creation of the Conservatives following the 2010 Health and Social Care Act. It's previous incarnation the HPA was funded better and better able to respond to incidents as well a more capable in taking part in planning for incidents.

The 2010 Act drove a bulldozer through the health and social care system to create a byzantine system that is near unworkable, particularly under stresses like covid.

Are you saying they were forced to only offer minimal teaching between March and September?

I have never said clinical staff are lazy and overpaid - show me where I said that?

As I said before I didn't clap on a Thursday - why, because my father's urgent heart surgery was cancelled - fortunately the private sector was able to help out!!

Seems to me you struggle with both reading and comprehension!!

Was the HPA the body in charge of the huge IT project in the NHS that ultimately came nothing other than wasting billions of tax payers money?