Blog Day 302 - Saturday 23 January 2021 

I have an interesting couple of days ahead of me this weekend.  The British based Western Front Association (WFA) is running a two day online conference titled "Illusions of Peace".  Day one is titled "The Aftermath in Europe" and day two is "The British Army Following the First World War".  The conference is examining the repercussions within and outside of Europe after TGW and the challenges faced by the British army after the war.

That sounds very nice I hear you say and I take with me your best wishes for an enjoyable conference.  However did I mention what time it is being held.  The Saturday morning session starts at 11.30am and of course this is British time!  So it starts here at 10.30pm Saturday night and goes through to some ridiculous hour on Sunday morning.  The Sunday sessions start at 12.00pm British time which converts to 11.00pm Sunday night and continues to some god awful hour on Monday morning.  Fortunately Tuesday is a public holiday and I can have a sleep in.

The keynote speaker at the conference is Professor Sir Hew Strachan one of the preeminent military historians in Britain and Australia.  I am personally acquainted with him although it might be stretching things a bit to say that we are friends. (The restraining order might have something to do with that).

 Although our elite left espouse the concept of freedom of speech and that is fine until you say something that they don't agree with.  As predicted yesterday the left have jumped on Margaret Court's Australia Day honours award from a great height with criticism that is very personal and bitter.  Our premier who decides what matters he will respond to and what he won't talk about was more than happy to dump on Margaret Court at a media conference yesterday stating that he was  "sick of talking about that person every summer".  In a response to a question that went on for more than a minute the premier did not use Margaret Court's name once, referring to her as "she".  I wonder if he checked if that was her preferred pronoun, an issue high on the socialist left agenda.

Although the premier cancelled the Australia Day parade in the CBD due to "corona virus concerns" an invasion day rally has the ok to proceed in the same CBD.

Is the world going mad or what, lucky we still have the virus to distract us.

Now back to the familiar, Victoria has recorded 17 days with no local transmissions.  There has been 3 new infections reported in Victoria in the last 24 hours, 1 in NSW and 1 in NT all 5 are ROTs.

Victoria received the results of 15,700 tests in the last 24 hours, NSW 11,300 and Qld 5,200.

Currently Victoria has 33 active cases, 32 of which are ROTs, NSW has 69 active cases plus 66 ROTs and Qld has 21 active cases all ROTs.  Australia wide there are 145 active cases including 75 ROTs plus NSW's 66 ROTs.

Worldwide there were 705,000 new infections reported worldwide and 18,000 deaths.  

Both the US and UK appear to be recording significant and consistent drops in the daily number of infections.  On 9/1 the US reported 293,000 new infections, on 22/1 they reported 189,000 new infections.  The UK reported 68,000 new infections on 9/1 and on 22/1 they reported 38,000 new infections.  Similar figures have been reported for a number of days which can give us some hope that they are part of a pattern and not an aberration in the reporting or counting.

The lower infection rates have not converted into lower death rates as yet but we should start to see some improvement in death numbers in the next 7 days or so.  The US reported 4,000 deaths in the 24 hours of 9/1 and a similar figure 22/1.  Likewise the UK reporting 1,300 deaths on both 9/1 and 22/1.

Corona Virus Daily Stats – Day 23 – New Year 2021 – Covid Normal (as much as possible)

Date	Aus Infected	Aus Increase	Vic Infected	Vic Increase	Aus Death	Vic Death	Aus Hospl	Vic Hospital	Aus ICU	Vic ICU
01/01	28,421	13	20,376	8	909	820	21	0	0	0
02/01	28,441	13	20,388	12	909	820	19	0	0	0
03/01	28,483	14	20,391	3	909	820	26	0	0	0
04/01	28,499	16	20,395	4	909	820	30	0	0	0
05/01	28,518	14	20,399	4	909	820	26	0	0	0
06/01	28,533	10	20,402	3	909	820	36	0	0	0
07/01	28,544	8	20,402	0	909	820	35	0	0	0
08/01	28,658	21	20,403	1	909	820	40	0	0	0
09/01	28,582	12	20,404	1	909	820	40	0	0	0
10/01	28,595	13	20,410	6	909	820	41	0	0	0
11/01	28,611	16	20,411	1	909	820	47	0	1	0
12/01	28,633	19	20,411	0	909	820	43	0	1	0
13/01	28,647	13	20,414	3	909	820	45	0	1	0
14/01	28,658	8	20,414	0	909	820	47	0	1	0
15/01	28,665	7	20,414	2	909	820	47	0	1	0
16/01	28,689	20	20,417	3	909	820	48	0	1	0
17/01	28,707	18	20,424	7	909	820	47	0	2	0
18/01	28,721	13	20,428	4	909	820	36	0	2	0
19/01	28,730	9	20,432	4	909	820	33	0	1	0
20/01	28,740	10	20,433	3	909	820	32	0	1	0
21/01	28,747	7	20,433	1	909	820	33	0	1	0
22/01	28,753	5	20,434	1	909	820	34	0	1	0
23/01

Date	World Infection	Daily Increase	World Deaths	Daily Increase
01/01	83,771,040	1,448,870	1,824,387	28,095
02/01	84,342,947	571,907	1,834,255	9,868
03/01	84,984,546	641,599	1,843,112	8,857
04/01	85,489,462	504,916	1,850,209	7,097
05/01	86,041,606	552,144	1,859,179	8,970
06/01	86,834,551	792,945	1,875,519	16,340
07/01	87,619,457	784,906	1,889,556	14,037
08/01	88,495,963	876,506	1,906,630	17,074
09/01	89,331,906	835,943	1,921,160	14,530
10/01	90,077,029	745,123	1,934,801	13,641
11/01	90,662,902	585,873	1,942,390	7,589
12/01	91,298,922	636,020	1,952,020	9,729
13/01	91,983,757	684,835	1,968,523	16,503
14/01	92,747,904	764,147	1,985,405	16,882
15/01	93,507,781	759,877	2,001,209	15,804
16/01	94,282,394	774,613	2,016,604	15,395
17/01	94,949,414	667,020	2,030,914	14,310
18/01	95,479,062	529,648	2,039,601	8,687
19/01	96,005,763	526,701	2,049,238	9,637
20/01	96,621,459	615,696	2,065,624	16,386
21/01	97,279,743	658,284	2,081,541	15,917
22/01	98,032,303	752,560	2,097,737	16,196

Covid Safe Summer Reminders;

Remember; stay safe and sober for the new year, I know I will be; no hugging and kissing strangers on new years eve!; don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things; as the captain of the Graf Spee said "you have to be bigger than anything faster and faster than anything bigger"; to wear your mask indoors (again); if you have a tickle in your throat, get tested (again); to add Brissie to your list of places to avoid; at a 1st birthday party be first in line for the fairy bread; try not to spend too much at Bunnings; bowls is the only game where the players are allowed to have a bias; if you see a big hole, take a photo; vote 1 Trump in four years time; brighten up your day by patting a puppy.