BIllyD

We certainly are. Looks like cases are staring to plateau now, which is as expected given where we are with the vaccination programme and the temporary decline / 2nd jabs.
As you say, expect an increase in cases, the worry is always that we still have a lot of the country that hasn't had a jab yet, so there is still a risk that these translate into serious cases. Given the age population left though, it would IMO need to be a big uplift in cases for this to materialise.
My own view is that we have had our "3rd Wave", it was just a continuation of the 2nd which is what other countries are seeing now. I don't think / hope there is anything to worry about, especially given the variant over in Germany I believe is the one that formed the mainstay of our cases. 

We're down to basically a regular full ICU's worth of Covid patients now, so whilst still incredibly busy by normal standards, we're in a far far better than we were 2 months ago.
Vaccine has been the game changer and hopefully that continues as uptake increases further.
Increase in cases will happen as things start to open up and expect another week or so will see the impact of schools going back, but it's irrelevant if cases don't translate into serious disease.
Hopefully any malicious variants can be contained.
We're on the up.

Some other good news to report 
Pfizer announced the detailed results of the Israel data from real-world rollout of the Pfizer vaccine.

- 97% effective at preventing symptomatic infection, severe disease, and death
- 94% effective at preventing even asymptomatic infection (and thus onwards transmission)
https://investors.pfizer.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2021/Real-World-Evidence-Confirms-High-Effectiveness-of-Pfizer-BioNTech-COVID-19-Vaccine-and-Profound-Public-Health-Impact-of-Vaccination-One-Year-After-Pandemic-Declared/default.aspx

Some other good news to report 
Pfizer announced the detailed results of the Israel data from real-world rollout of the Pfizer vaccine.

- 97% effective at preventing symptomatic infection, severe disease, and death
- 94% effective at preventing even asymptomatic infection (and thus onwards transmission)
https://investors.pfizer.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2021/Real-World-Evidence-Confirms-High-Effectiveness-of-Pfizer-BioNTech-COVID-19-Vaccine-and-Profound-Public-Health-Impact-of-Vaccination-One-Year-After-Pandemic-Declared/default.aspx

6,753 cases reported, up by a miserly couple of hundred from last Thursday's 6,573 (from nearly double the number of tests).

The dashboard has put up a new dataset, for England only: number of positives by type of test conducted.
 
somebody else's summary which I have shamefully copied "which we can conclude that, despite concerns, there can't really be much of a false positive problem with the lateral flow tests (from 1,484,812 LFTs conducted in England on the 8th, a total of 1,012 positives were incurred - a rate of 0.068% of tests )"
There can't be many infectious schoolchildren being detected at the moment, either, which is encouraging (even if there's a noticeable number of false negatives, we'd still be picking up most of the real positives).

Working in a factory for 40 years I don't see any change in humour, jokes etc. Daft jokes amongst workmates continue aplenty on the shop floor.
WhatsApp jokes proliferate amongst my groups.
The issue is on wider social media where you don't know your audience, thats whats different, not real people in real life.

Agree.. these tests I'm referring to though have been going on through lockdown for vulnerable /key worker children as well as this first week back.  Not got any technical understanding myself, just reporting from a couple of the testers that weeks ago they stopped believing the tests worked. All sounds very 'conspiracy' type stuff, which they aren't. They wanted no positive tests, but weirdly they are now kinda wanting one to feel safe they work!

Some other good news to report 
Pfizer announced the detailed results of the Israel data from real-world rollout of the Pfizer vaccine.

- 97% effective at preventing symptomatic infection, severe disease, and death
- 94% effective at preventing even asymptomatic infection (and thus onwards transmission)
https://investors.pfizer.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2021/Real-World-Evidence-Confirms-High-Effectiveness-of-Pfizer-BioNTech-COVID-19-Vaccine-and-Profound-Public-Health-Impact-of-Vaccination-One-Year-After-Pandemic-Declared/default.aspx

Some other good news to report 
Pfizer announced the detailed results of the Israel data from real-world rollout of the Pfizer vaccine.

- 97% effective at preventing symptomatic infection, severe disease, and death
- 94% effective at preventing even asymptomatic infection (and thus onwards transmission)
https://investors.pfizer.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2021/Real-World-Evidence-Confirms-High-Effectiveness-of-Pfizer-BioNTech-COVID-19-Vaccine-and-Profound-Public-Health-Impact-of-Vaccination-One-Year-After-Pandemic-Declared/default.aspx

No. They just think out of the literally hundreds and hundreds they are doing statistically they would have had one positive. 
Different teachers and pupils have at times done various random testing /pilots and they have had a few positives but no one has tested positive yet using the lateral flow tests. 

6,753 cases reported, up by a miserly couple of hundred from last Thursday's 6,573 (from nearly double the number of tests).

The dashboard has put up a new dataset, for England only: number of positives by type of test conducted.
 
somebody else's summary which I have shamefully copied "which we can conclude that, despite concerns, there can't really be much of a false positive problem with the lateral flow tests (from 1,484,812 LFTs conducted in England on the 8th, a total of 1,012 positives were incurred - a rate of 0.068% of tests )"
There can't be many infectious schoolchildren being detected at the moment, either, which is encouraging (even if there's a noticeable number of false negatives, we'd still be picking up most of the real positives).

bit of an over-exaggeration? Are there really "a number  of things being cancelled on a daily basis"? Or is it just the usual media tactic of hammering stories to get ad-clicks from the inevitable polarised reaction?
For what it's worth, I think that anyone should be able to joke about anything - but the flipside of that is that they have to consider the audience/platform and if they get that wrong then they can't be surprised if someone calls them out for it. They just need to be prepared to defend themselves or apologise (whichever they prefer). Taking the "oh it's PC gone mad" stance is a weak excuse. Be accountable for your words or STFU
Remember that this is a two-sided argument after all - you have a right to tell what jokes you like, just as much as someone else has the right to say that they don't find it funny. Works both ways. If you're really complaining that you can't joke about stuff without being told you're not funny, then is your skin really any thinner than the person who you deem to be "over-reacting"?
 

As I say it's just about using your intelligence, whilst I may be the same as you and not get offended that is not the same for all.
I dont think it's a different generation, would you have gone into a pub full of strangers and start telling jokes to the everyone in there about people for ginger hair for example. I know if you did in my old local then someone would take offence and a brawl would soon follow.
 
That's not to say if I said the same comment it wouldn't be met without laughter, but banter between friends is different to saying it to a complete stranger. 
 
Maybe it's just me though, I'm not sure I get the "banter" to the degree of abusing someone on a forum full of people I don't know, just seems to be pointless ?‍♂️

Covid-19 outbreak at HMP Sudbury.

You just have to know your audience. If you went into a pub full of strangers and starting picking on someone because of their hair colour for example, chances are you are going to offend someone. I don't think this has changed throughout the years, it's just about using a bit of brain power now and again to think is this appropriate. 
 
Same as a forum, only difference is your hiding behind a mask of anonymity, so whilst you may think your funny and your mates would probably find it funny, your putting it out there to a larger audience and therefore, there are going to be some that don't.

He would sell it to Piers Morgan if he fronted up the cash....

One of the lowest rates for in Europe now ?
Have to look further up the chart for Sweden ?

The key is having enough vaccinated. The risk of getting a virus that evolves enough to become vaccine resistant from serious death is minimal if you reduce the number of hosts it has. The bigger risk is the number of people who refuse to have the vaccine IMO.
That said, let's not forget this evolved from one person under 18 months ago, maybe going abroad before we have it fully under control in this country isn't the best idea just yet.

The key is having enough vaccinated. The risk of getting a virus that evolves enough to become vaccine resistant from serious death is minimal if you reduce the number of hosts it has. The bigger risk is the number of people who refuse to have the vaccine IMO.
That said, let's not forget this evolved from one person under 18 months ago, maybe going abroad before we have it fully under control in this country isn't the best idea just yet.

The key is having enough vaccinated. The risk of getting a virus that evolves enough to become vaccine resistant from serious death is minimal if you reduce the number of hosts it has. The bigger risk is the number of people who refuse to have the vaccine IMO.
That said, let's not forget this evolved from one person under 18 months ago, maybe going abroad before we have it fully under control in this country isn't the best idea just yet.

Well I can only speak for myself of course but when the first lockdown started and Sky decided to make every match live it was like football heaven, I probably overdosed lol.  As time has gone on though, without the crowds they've started to feel a bit souless - even with the fake crowd noise - then of course there is nothing to compare to the actual matchday experience of being there.  Add to that the indifferent season, its just been one to write off and hope we can actually be at PP for the kick off next season. 
Re. the forums I keep half an eye on the Abu Derby thread, the transfer section and occasional others with interesting titles but other than that I've pretty much stopped caring atm.  The lockdown fatigue is real...

They all PM'd me to say we were right after all ?

Didn't we get told in no uncertain terms that the squabbling and continued debate has to stop?  That, and agree with the moderators decisions or else.  That kinda nuked any further discussion as one mans debate is another mans squabble. 
I'm just waiting to get my jab and for this season to end.  I've gotten more and more detached from football since lockdowns gone on - looking forwards to next season and the atmosphere of live matches again. 
Peace ?️

All the numbers, hospital, deaths and cases continue on a downward trend which is great news. Hopefully the good weather will continue and this will continue to be the trend as lockdowns start to be lifted ?

All the numbers, hospital, deaths and cases continue on a downward trend which is great news. Hopefully the good weather will continue and this will continue to be the trend as lockdowns start to be lifted ?