‘Who are the so-called experts making these decisions?’
One of this weekend’s biggest talking points was the revelation that up to a quarter of patients
One of this weekend’s biggest talking points was the revelation that up to a quarter of patients currently in hospital with Covid-19 caught the virus after being admitted. This has put the spotlight on healthcare-acquired infections and Covid security in hospitals, and has prompted scientists to say it is “too early and too hasty to reach for more restrictive measures”. This comes ahead of an expected announcement from Boris Johnson on the new three-tier “Local Covid Alert Level” system today.
Elsewhere, Harry Brennan reported on the people left behind by online banking, and Telegraph readers offered their own experiences and advice for navigating the often-inaccessible systems.
In a world exclusive, The Telegraph revealed the details of “Project Big Picture”, a radical set of proposals from Man Utd and Liverpool designed to reshape the finances of Premier League football. Readers shared their thoughts on the plan, and put forward their own suggestions for improving the league’s fortunes.
And after images of university students packed into cramped rooms like contagious livestock prompted outrage, Zoe Strimpel and Telegraph readers shared their thoughts on the question many of us have contemplated – is university worth it?
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Government urged to ‘pause’ new restrictions as cases of Covid caught in hospital soar
Following the revelation that up to a quarter of patients currently in hospital with Covid-19 caught the virus after being admitted, Telegraph readers have offered their own assessments of Britain’s healthcare services.
‘Who are the so called experts making these decisions?’
@Robert Forsey:
“I live near the never used Nightingale hospital, which is situated in the University of the West of England’s campus in Bristol. Surely it makes sense that all Covid cases are treated in one, isolated, location instead of spread out among the normal hospitals?
“They have just opened a Covid testing site in the same campus, but it isn’t at the Nightingale hospital, it is in the main campus itself!
“It really makes you wonder about the intelligence of the so called experts making these decisions.”
‘We need to build up immunity’
@Bilal Patel:
“We need a ‘Sensible Party’ to challenge the Tories and Labour.
“It’s manifesto would be simple. Infections do not equal death, we need to build up immunity, a small minority needs to take extra care, care homes need live-in social workers, it is unfair to destroy the country for the sake of the very elderly and infirm, and restrictions should be completely voluntary based on objective and contextual information.
“I suspect that this platform would be popular enough to scare Westminster.”
Elderly forced to bank online in pandemic – but then cannot log on
As swathes of the British population move to online banking, is there enough support for older generations looking to make the transition?
‘An overdependence on the internet is a very bad idea’
@Martin Woodville:
“Living in a rural area with very unreliable and slow internet – we recently spent a week without internet or mobile phones due to heavy rain! An overdependence on the internet is a very bad idea.
“There is no question that many businesses, banks especially, are using the pandemic to accelerate the things they always wanted to do anyway and that mostly involves firing as many staff as they can.”
‘A scammer’s dream’
@Stephen Smith:
“A scammer’s dream is surely coming true. Older people doing online banking are the easiest of targets.
“I have many older friends asking me what things mean on their monitor and should they click on something as invited to do. Many times I have had to say ‘NO -it’s a scam!’
“Shudder to think what will happen if the elderly are just left to get on with it.”
World exclusive: Man Utd and Liverpool driving ‘Project Big Picture’ – football’s biggest shake-up in a generation
It has been described as the biggest change to English football in a generation. Telegraph readers have had their say on the plans proposed by ‘Project Big Picture’.
‘A protectionist cartel’
@Pale Blue Dot:
“These proposals are an outrageous attempt at forming a protectionist cartel. The idea that the potential ownership of a club can be vetoed by such a cartel leaves me speechless.”
‘I generally support the proposals’
@Jonathan Karmi:
“Two ugly things in these proposals:
“First, the ability of the big six to veto changes of ownership, in other words they are entrenching their dominance at the expense of other clubs, who might be lucky enough to attract new mega-rich owners as Chelsea and Man City have done.
“Second, the ability to send a ridiculous number of players out on loan. That enables the big six to buy up and retain nearly all of the talented 15 to 20 year olds who are out there. It will make it much more difficult for a Championship club for example, to take a highly talented young player, develop him and then eventually sell him off for £20m to £30m.
“Apart from these ugly elements, I generally support the proposals. It’s important to keep the EFL teams going as traditionally they have been the foundation of the English game.
Is this the end of university as we know it?
As the Covid-era university experience looks increasingly unfamiliar and unappealing to students, Telegraph readers reflected on their own time at university and offered ideas for how the UK’s tertiary education could be improved.
‘Let’s not confuse academic study with job training’
@Alan Trent:
“The big mistake we made in this country was confusing academic study with job training.
Degrees where never intended to be job training certificates they were just qualifications that indicated a certain level of academic knowledge had been achieved.
Most young people are flocking to university because the think the knowledge they acquire there is desired by employers. These mislead youngsters probably imagine themselves being presented with some difficulty in their first real post university jobs and saying to their bosses – “don’t worry, leave it to me I learned how to resolve this problem at university”.
But any graduate with a bit of job experience will tell you that never happens. In fact, newly employed graduates find they are unprepared for what they are expected to do in the workplace.
Given that what most students and most employers want is a job training certificate we should try to provide that instead of wasting time and money on worthless degrees. Leave university to the tiny percentage of people clever enough to benefit from it.”
‘We need a more flexible system’
@HA Ford:
“We need an inherently flexible system. I took my batchelor’s under the US system. There are core subjects which generally comprise English and Maths in the first year, in addition to taking specialty courses. As students take their degree, they can swap subjects if they find that they’ve made a mistake, and units of tuition are in 8 week blocks, with the unit cost payable upon commencement of the unit, enabling people to stop and start again as their circumstances and finances dictate. Many employers pick up the tab if the degree is either a core educational subject, or business related. I opted to do my degree through online learning. The whole thing cost less than $4k at the time.”
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