So now there’s not enough operating capital to keep the centres open. Fail and having the land bought up cheaply would seem tempting. The outlook for retail may be appalling but it’s not clear what better use there is for the out-of-town sites. Lakeside has a great rail link. I think we’ll see more ...

I had a bet that was going to be Carpet✓Right before I clicked on the link.

Surely if you test enough people - symptomatic or not - then it becomes a statistically significant sample, and a useful measure of current infection rates. My point was confined to antibody testing - we don't know how many people develop antibodies after exposure so the best it can tell us is the ...

Vizzed looks great. I’m going to have to look into OpenTTD. Never played the original but love that sort of thing. Mini Metro and Project Highrise are my current faves in that category. I was ranting about FPS for the sake of polemics, I don't have anything against violent stuff either, I especially...

So I finally cracked and bought a Switch – for those unaware, this is a rapacious money-extracting device to which anyone with a fondness for past gaming is highly vulnerable. There is no cure or vaccine so like with cigarettes, heroin or corona-parties, stop before you start… For those too late, th...

I have volunteered for the antibody test also. I support as much testing as possible. I think antibody testing will be popular (dating apps will need a new profile field) but beyond satisfying curiosity I'm not clear on what it gains us since it doesn't prove immunity and it doesn't prove exposure ...

Interesting. In Central London, things feel significantly more normal. It’s amazing how quickly COVID warnings have just become background noise, like the anti terrorism stuff. My local Pret A Manger reopened ages ago and has recently gone from selling “essentials” (£3 for 2pt milk!) to selling thei...

Poundstretcher is another planet and makes Poundland look like a sensible chain. My local one had some plastic bins for sale which sounds reasonable until you notice they were actually being used as bins. I’ve become suspicious that the whole outfit is an ironic parody of itself, a bit like those “m...

My take is that his trip to Durham was defensible (due to a very particular set of circumstances), but the separate trip to Barnard Castle was BS (the dodgy explanation and hypocrisy, rather than the actual risks posed). So it turns out we were allowed to do our own risk assessments all along? Thank...

But what about Tory NHS workers?

/annoyed at something intended to bring the country together instead being used to divide people through politics...

I agree - not all lockdown measures are equally effective, and in time each will be subjected to their own cost-benefit analysis, with hopefully a consensus being arrived at on what a reasonable level of lockdown and distancing is. I think travel may selectively restart sooner than others predict th...