A call from Boris Johnson ensuring that you’re not wavering in your undying support for him?
A party with activists as they are now legal, though you could always have had a work gathering?
Being seen out and about your constituency – business as usual?
Or just keeping your head down?
But … but … but – when they closed did that mean we ought to have been worried? If so, why were they closed in the first place! – Owl
More police stations should be reopened to give the public “reassurance” and revive confidence in policing, according to a crime chief.
Alison Hernandez, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Devon and Cornwall, said the idea was “controversial with chief constables”.
She said public confidence needed to be restored.
“We need to reopen and show that policing is open to the public,” Ms Hernandez said.
Speaking to reporters at an Association of Police and Crime Commissioners’ briefing, she told of her plans to reopen six stations in her region but said it was “very hard” to get such proposals “over the line”.
Hundreds of police stations are thought to have closed to the public across Britain over the past decade as part of cost-cutting measures.
Typically the front desks of the stations, where people could come to report crime, were shut but the offices behind remained in use.
Alison Hernandez was first elected as the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner in 2016
Ms Hernandez said the difficulty in reopening stations was low footfall – the reason many closed in the first place.
“I’m determined,” she added.
“I’ve only got six I’m trying to reopen and you’d think I was trying to reopen 60.
“It is really hard because the resourcing for them, they know will mean low footfall, and it feels to them like a wasted resource.”
Exmouth’s police station was closed to the public in 2015 but remained a base for operational officers
She made clear she thinks police staff, as opposed to officers, should be posted to front desks.
“So yes, it’s controversial in the chiefs’ world. I’d say it’s very hard to get it over the line, to get that push forward because they feel like they should be spending it on policing rather than being accessible to the public,” Ms Hernandez added.
Some police and crime commissioners have used mobile vans, particularly in neighbourhoods where it may not be possible to have a station, to make policing more visible.
Stephen Mold, the Conservative police, fire and crime commissioner for Northamptonshire, who has dubbed his mobile vans “beat buses”, said: “It’s very much an evaluation but it’s already proving itself to be so successful. I’ll probably be buying another one.”
Ms Hernandez said mobile vans were “great”, but added: “What the public need for reassurance is that there’s a reliable place that you can go to and you know it’s there.”
We will follow the data hour by hour – Owl
New cases of Covid-19 in the UK averaged nearly half a million a day during the week after Christmas, almost three times the official figures, new analysis suggests.
It comes as health agencies have urged caution about interpreting the regular case numbers published each day for the UK, following changes in rules about testing.
An average of 173,400 new cases of coronavirus per day were recorded from December 26 to January 1, according to the Government’s Covid-19 dashboard.
But the true number of cases was likely to be nearer 479,100 a day, according to estimates by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The sharp difference in totals reflects just how many new cases of Covid-19 are being missed in the dashboard figures, which count only those people who have reported themselves as having tested positive for the virus.
This means the numbers are affected by how many people are coming forward for tests, have chosen to report their test results, or who are taking a test because they know they have coronavirus symptoms.
By contrast, the ONS figures are based on analysis of nose and throat swabs taken from a representative sample of more than 150,000 people in private households.
The same people are sampled every week, regardless of whether they know they have Covid-19 or have reported a positive result.
The ONS then produces estimates of the likely number of new cases of coronavirus across the country.
The estimates for the week after Christmas have only now been published, due to the time needed to collect and process the data.
The number of new cases reported by the Government has always been lower than the level estimated by the ONS, but the gap has become wider since the arrival of the Omicron variant of the virus.
In the week to November 27, before Omicron had started to spread in the UK, the ONS estimated an average of 99,100 new cases a day – just over twice the average of 41,900 a day recorded on the dashboard.
The ONS estimates are now nearly three times the equivalent total on the dashboard.
High levels of under-reporting will still be affecting the Government’s daily figures, meaning the true volume of cases in the UK is increasingly unclear.
The recent change in the rules for testing, removing the the need for asymptomatic people to get a confirmatory PCR test after a positive lateral flow result, is also likely to affect the daily figures.
In its latest weekly Covid-19 surveillance report, the Health Security Agency said the removal of confirmatory PCR testing “may affect case rates” in England.
Public Health Wales has estimated that removing the follow-up test “is likely to reduce overall reported cases by at least 10%, based on analyses linking lateral flow tests to PCR positive episodes”.
The agency acknowledged that “changes in testing behaviour” may lead to under-reporting “should symptomatic new cases not test using PCR”.
In Scotland, health officials have recently widened their method of counting new cases to also include people who have recorded a first positive lateral flow test – though this change has yet to be reflected in the figures published on the UK Government dashboard.
The dashboard numbers are currently limited to all positive lab-confirmed PCR test results in the UK, plus positive lateral flow tests in Northern Ireland and, in England, any positive lateral flow tests not followed by a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours.
Cllr Denise Bickley (Independent East Devon Alliance, Sidmouth Town Ward) sidmouth.nub.news
L: Cllr Denise Bickley. R: A pile of recycling waiting to be sorted at Greendale.
I’m writing my first column for Nub News linked to my ‘passion’ – the environment, litter and specifically this time to shine a spotlight on recycling and waste collections in the area.
Being both a member of East Devon District Council and Sidmouth Town Council, plus being the Chair of the Sidmouth Plastic Warriors I have a unique insight into the work of the teams in Streetscene and Suez, who do such a fantastic job.
I sit on the Recycling and Waste Partnership Board, which meets to discuss how the contract between Suez and EDDC is going, and gives us regular updates on the service.
There are complaints, of course, but the statistics regarding recycling and waste in East Devon are impressive. As members of the public we are the third partner in this system and we all need to do our bit to keep our recycling rates as high as they are.
The teams are stretched because of the following factors:
• More properties being built;
• Consumption high due to pandemic effects (working from home, self- isolation, internet shopping);
• Christmas-equivalent levels of collection every week since the pandemic started. Christmas week this year was unprecedented;
• Regular crews having to self-isolate.
There have unfortunately been some missed collections and some spillage complaints, but the vast majority of collections have been trouble-free.
This is all done for a tiny fraction of what houses spend on their council tax, which I did not realise before I was a councillor. A mere 7% of total council tax goes to EDDC. Of this 7%, 54% goes to Streetscene in total, with Recycling and Waste getting a mere 26% of the 7%.
To illustrate this, if we use the band D average council tax of £151.78 a month, 7% equals just £10.62 to EDDC, with just £2.76 (26%) per month for the complete recycling and waste service. Less than the price of a coffee, per month!
If there is litter left on the ground in your street when the crew have speeded through, maybe we could all be a little more tolerant?
Sidmouth Plastic Warriors are happy to give out litter pickers to anybody who would take a little responsibility for their road and a 2 minute walk around after the crew have been would be fantastic teamwork! Contact info@sidmouthplasticwarriors.org to find out more.
The massive Christmas tonnage should start to decrease now, so well done to the teams for getting through so well. Thanks to all of us too for helping East Devon to be the ninth-best recycling council in the country, whilst having the number one spot for least residual waste (that goes into our black bins) per household! That is all down to households actively recycling. What teamwork!
Lastly, remember that none of our waste goes to landfill – all non-recycling goes to the Energy from Waste Plant, to generate electricity.
Next time: reducing our carbon and waste footprints, circular economy and true recycling.
Cllr Denise Bickley with Cllrs Ledger, Jackson and Hayward in a trip to the recycling centre at Greendale
Covid outbreaks in Devon’s care homes are at their highest level since the pandemic began.
BBC News www.bbc.co.uk
New figures presented to Devon County Council showed 160 outbreaks in care settings across Devon as of 10 January.
The number is far higher than the previous peak of just over 90 a year ago, with the total number of active outbreaks tripling in less than a month.
A council director warned the situation in care was “as tough as ever”.
Tim Golby, associate director of commissioning at the county council, warned that despite reports the pandemic may be easing, outbreaks were having a “massive impact” on the ability to discharge and support people from hospital.
“But we manage that,” Mr Golby said, “and we work with the market teams to get those homes clear of infection and work through all national protocols to make sure that eventually we can admit people once the infection is brought under control.”
Mr Golby was speaking to Devon County Council’s health and adult care scrutiny committee on Thursday, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The government is providing an additional £60m to local authorities to support the social care response to Covid in January, with Devon receiving just under £900,000 from the fund.
The money is going towards increasing ventilation in care homes, enhancing the direct pay local authorities can offer to friends and family carers, and pay for temporary staff to cover increased staff absence.
A Conservative backbencher who accused Downing Street of trying to “blackmail” MPs seeking to oust Boris Johnson is to meet police to discuss his allegations.
William Wragg said he will be speaking to a Met Police detective in the House of Commons early next week, after requesting a meeting with the force.
The MP, who wants the prime minister to quit, said he wanted to leave any probe to “experts” rather than No 10.
Downing Street said it had not seen any proof of the behaviour he alleges.
A spokesman said on Friday they were not investigating the allegations but would look “carefully” at any evidence presented to them.
It comes as Tory whips and No 10 try to shore up support for the prime minster ahead of civil servant Sue Gray’s report into a series of Downing Street lockdown parties which is expected next week.
Mr Johnson has been facing down an attempt from some Conservative MPs to oust him since he admitted attending a drinks event at No 10 during the first lockdown, although he says he believed it was a work event.
So far six Tory MPs have publicly declared no confidence in the PM, but more are thought to have submitted letters to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 committee, who organises Tory leadership contests.
Under party rules, if 54 letters are submitted a no confidence vote is triggered which could result in a leadership election.
Mr Wragg, MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester and chairman of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, first raised his concerns on Thursday and advised colleagues who feel threatened to go to the police.
He told the committee that Tory whips – the MPs in charge of party discipline – had threatened those suspected of wanting Mr Johnson out with the removal of government investment in their constituencies.
He also said he had received reports of government ministers, advisers and staff at No 10 “encouraging the publication of stories in the press seeking to embarrass” those suspected of lacking confidence in the prime minister.
Mr Wragg claimed the reports “would seem to constitute blackmail” – and as well as contacting police, affected MPs should contact the Commons Speaker.
He told the Daily Telegraph he would outline “several” examples of bullying and intimidation when he speaks to police.
“I stand by what I have said. No amount of gas-lighting will change that,” he said.
“The offer of No 10 to investigate is kind but I shall leave it to the experts.”
A Met Police spokesman said: “As with any such allegations, should a criminal offence be reported to the Met, it would be considered.”
After Mr Wragg made his allegations on Thursday, Christian Wakeford – who this week defected from the Conservatives to the Labour Party – said he was threatened he would not get a high school in his constituency if he did not vote in a certain way.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng later questioned Mr Wakeford’s claims, saying he had “never heard of anything like this” since becoming an MP but if it had happened it would be “very seriously regarded” by the government.
East Devon Watch 