Look what the media did.......

Altior

Lewis was a big factor in why the government haemorrhaged taxpayer cash at the height of the covid panic, especially bounce back loans, demanding no credit checks for applicants. Exactly how many £billions it cost is probably yet to be determined. 

Turned his particular brand of hyper exaggeration to the 'cost of living' crisis. As an aside I'd love to know how that particular phrase got embedded into public discourse so easily. 

 

Altior

Not just Lewis and auntie of course. 

Woman who rides bus to stay warm is tip of pensioner poverty iceberg

oldagetraveller1

"Exactly how many £billions it cost is probably yet to be determined."

Much of which has been written off (£4bn ish?). Lots of people set up phoney companys in their garage etc. to claim the loans, then wound up the company to evade paying back.

I read recently of someone who has been gaoled for fraudulent behaviour using the then Chancellor of Money's eating out scheme! Quite a large sum involved too.

Altior

I'll be surprised if the UK taxpayer sees half of the total £46.6 billion handed out.

michaels

I'm not sure getting the money back was in any way the point - it was about preventing the economy form seizing up and millions losing their jobs which would not simply have returned post pandemic.  A bit like the paying people money to dig holes and then paying others to fill them in again but hopefully a tiny bit better targeted towards job retention.  Other countries used  'helicopter money'.

It may be slightly worrying that no one in the govt considered just how easy this particular scheme was to game and therefore whether there were cost effective ways to improve targeting but then again there were other pressing issues to consider at the time.

littleteapot

I only became aware of this government alarm test through this forum as for our mental health wife and I rarely use msm or antisocial media.

We have set a reminder on our phones to turn them off at about 14:00 on 23rd April.

 I'll start looking for a way to disable this 'feature' on stock android if possible. I know it can be done easily with a custom ROM but some apps (e.g. banking) won't run on  a phone which has had the bootloader unlocked or rooted.

Alnat1

Why not leave the alert to come though? you know what it is and when it will be. At least then you will know what it sounds like should it ever have to happen for real.

Scot_39

littleteapot said:

I only became aware of this government alarm test through this forum as for our mental health wife and I rarely use msm or antisocial media.

We have set a reminder on our phones to turn them off at about 14:00 on 23rd April.

 I'll start looking for a way to disable this 'feature' on stock android if possible. I know it can be done easily with a custom ROM but some apps (e.g. banking) won't run on  a phone which has had the bootloader unlocked or rooted.

Or why not set an alarm for 10min before to remind you this time just a test.

Remember the hurricanes on the south coast, that Fish said werent coming, or the 6-8 foot snow drifts during Emma in 2008 etc or many severe floods and landslides.

That alert might just save your life or your personal effects one day.

littleteapot

Scot_39 said:

littleteapot said:

I only became aware of this government alarm test through this forum as for our mental health wife and I rarely use msm or antisocial media.

We have set a reminder on our phones to turn them off at about 14:00 on 23rd April.

 I'll start looking for a way to disable this 'feature' on stock android if possible. I know it can be done easily with a custom ROM but some apps (e.g. banking) won't run on  a phone which has had the bootloader unlocked or rooted.

Or why not set an alarm for 10min before to remind you this time just a test.

Remember the hurricanes on the south coast, that Fish said werent coming, or the 6-8 foot snow drifts during Emma in 2008 etc or many severe floods and landslides.

That alert might just save your life or your personal effects one day.

oh yes I remember the hurricanes well even though i was only about 8 at the tine. On the east coast we seem to escape the worst most of the time, and our home is located in a place on stable, level ground well above sea level which is unlikely to flood. I only want to disable it because I know the nanny state will before long start using it for more trivial things like the next 'killer virus'  outbreak in your area, etc.

Scot_39

You tried just searching for emergency alerts from your settings menu search magnifying glass ?

It shouldn't need rooted phone.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/how-to-turn-off-emergency-alerts-phone-155142556.html