Inert, Inert where art thou Inert? James Webb Space Telescope fully deployed. 9th January 2022

The Bard says it all, really. I hauled myself out of bed, and down to Manor farm, early Sunday morning. I declined to go Saturday due to...yes, you guessed it...rain. Sunday was, soggy underfoot, and very cold. Ice,  3mm thick had formed over puddles, making a nice clinking  sound,  as I waded through them.

A pretty sun rise, peeked over the trees bordering the Blackwater river, and was reflected in a flat calm Finch pond.

Of Inert and any progress, there was none. This is not to say they haven't been working elsewhere, whether it be Chandlers farm or Fleet Hill farm. Manor farm seems untouched since before Christmas.

Why work has stopped is a mystery - answers on a post card or response to this website. Perhaps the dread isodemic (self-isolation) has laid off most of the Inert staff, perhaps Cemex have run out of money for this year, perhaps plans are being redrawn. Who knows.

Oh, the pump has been off for quite some time. The rain, however, has continued with a vengeance.  This in turn has resulted in Cormorant lake south (what is left of it) filling up, while the new Finch pond has burst its banks. Run off from Finch pond can head west, under the Longwater road culvert, to Fleet hill farm. What is left of Cormorant lake south may have capacity to take on further water, but when it bursts its banks I'm not sure where the water will flow. It could, conceivably, flow into Moor Green Lakes and thence the Blackwater. but this will be opposite to where it should be flowing.

The whole of Manor farm was saturated, with plenty of standing water. However, underfoot conditions were surprisingly firm - well, sufficient for me not to sink up to my knees in mud.

On the pandemic front.  Case rates continue to fall, even with test rates holding up. Hospitalisation rates are no worse than a bad flu year, while deaths are remarkably low. This should not come as a surprise to most people, except for those like Sturgeon, Drakesford and professors lockdown, lockdown and lockdown.  Funny that, only what I've been saying for months, Omicron isn't much to worry about. Other scientists (the ones with their heads screwed on properly) have pointed out that Sars-Cov2 is now less lethal than influenza. Isn't it funny that the lockdown advocates have suddenly gone silent.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have admitted their model was wrong. They shouldn't have set the Sars-Cov2 lethality parameter to that of the delta variant. 

No shit!

The idiots. Didn't they believe the South Africans, when they said the omicron variant was causing mild symptoms, that didn't translate to major hospitalisations and need for ICU.

The problem was, the LSHTM published their results ( 75,000 deaths, indeed), which was then used to panic the government into rushing in restrictions. Then Prof Whitty uses the 75,000 deaths scenario in an attempt to scare the British public; who largely rolled their eyes up and ignored him.  Very unprofessional of Prof Whitty.

The prof who has surprised me is Jonathan Van Tam aka JVT aka Sir. JVT.  He gave the Royal Institute lectures, this year. He has a huge sense of humour. Lovely to watch him winding up the kids in the audience.  It was one of the better lectures of late.