In the UK last November, the most frequent locations people with the COVID-19 virus had been prior to testing positive was supermarkets. Two months on, that may still be the case. It makes sense, then, that if you are going to a supermarket, you wear a face mask for your own protection as well as that of everyone else. Unless you have valid exemption, wearing a face mask when in an enclosed public place like a supermarket is also the law now. It seems straightforward enough, right? But … [Read more...] about The uneasy case for face masks and enforced wearing
lockdown
Boris Johnson’s self-isolating kerfuffle
Yesterday evening, I watched Boris Johnson deliver the daily coronavirus briefing from No 10, with questions from the media entirely devoted to the Dominic Cummings kerfuffle (view on that from the Guardian and the Telegraph). If Boris had thought that his measly statement about it would have been enough so he could move on, he was sorely mistaken. In essence, he robustly defended his advisor saying he had spoken to him at length and was satisfied that his actions in driving over 250 miles to … [Read more...] about Boris Johnson’s self-isolating kerfuffle
FIR ZoomChat 8: Evil Fictitious Corporations
The eighth weekly Zoom conversation with FIR hosts and listeners covered a lot of ground, including a look at Phil Gomes’ collection of mugs featuring the logos of evil corporations from movies. Not to worry, there was lots of communication-focused conversation, too. Watch Now You can also listen to or download the MP3 audio file. Join us on Thursday May 21 at 1pm EDT / 6pm UK time for the next episode of FIR Zoom Chat. You’ll need the specific Zoom URL for this meeting: contact … [Read more...] about FIR ZoomChat 8: Evil Fictitious Corporations
FIR ZoomChat 7: Conference Ribbons
The seventh weekly Zoom Chat featuring listeners and FIR co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz in conversation took place last Thursday. As with each of these informal chats, we do them live via Zoom, recording each one as we go. The recording is published after the live conversation usually within a few days of the event or, as is the case with this episode, quite a few days later. Whether sooner or later, we hope you enjoy these unstructured, unfiltered, authentic conversations. You get … [Read more...] about FIR ZoomChat 7: Conference Ribbons
SDF 35: We would have recorded you a shorter podcast …
The May episode of the Small Data Forum podcast gave Sam, Thomas and I a lot of space to get a few things off our chests about the present lockdown status in the UK we're all experiencing in one form or another. Recorded last week via Zoom, episode 35 is dominated by some big topics. Government communication with daily TV briefings, big-brand marketing and face masks; the politics of priorities in the wrong order; Colonel Tom, and more. It's actually the topic of priorities in the wrong … [Read more...] about SDF 35: We would have recorded you a shorter podcast …