Graham wrote:
That’s quite an assertion. I don’t believe for a second that AZ did business with that intention.
I agree. They would have been very well of the challenges, and rightly sought to protect themselves as best they could, but there were two willing parties to the contract both of who could be assumed to be very commercially astute – I am afraid hard luck in my view if one party got it wrong.
It would aslo be very dangerous to adopt the argument that because the stock is on our land, we can dictate the rules. This is tantamount to putting a lien on stock when you have absolutely bo entitlement to do so, and could lead you very quickly to a non stop passage to Court, IF as I say, you simply negotiated a bad contract.
gallois wrote:
I would have thought that UK politicians would also want to know why they line up a vaccine centre, a load of doctors and volunteers a queue of eager patients, most of them elderly who have managed to drag themselves to the centre, all to be told that the promised vaccines have not arrived and they will all have to come back another time.
I am not aware this is happening. Do you have a source?
Our numbers these last two days are down, but this is generally thought to be because of the snow we had. Old people don’t like driving in snow.
gallois wrote:
I have not seen the contract, it might well be that there are penalty clauses. Perhaps the EU should not trust AZ. I have only seen reports from the EU.
The problem here is something that is also happening in the UK. AZ are not meeting its commitments and the EU want to know why.
I would have thought that UK politicians would also want to know why they line up a vaccine centre, a load of doctors and volunteers a queue of eager patients, most of them elderly who have managed to drag themselves to the centre, all to be told that the promised vaccines have not arrived and they will all have to come back another time.
All reasonable speculation, but as you right say, no more than that without the benefit of the contract.
Perhaps AZ would not now trust the EU.
The EU may well want to know why not, and perhaps if they read the contract they would have their answer, perhaps not, we really dont know.
Possibly the UK politicians do know, for a change they are actually quite good at this stuff in my experience as I said earlier, and possibly they did steel an advantage getting in early, and getting a good deal. However, who knows perhaps they didnt and will aslo find supplies drastically scaled back.
It is all speculation I am afraid.
What I do know is that if the same parties involved the Chinese then it would be a lot more simple, and whatever the contract I know who would come out on top. 
I quite like the quaint and somewhat old fashoined idea that we respect the terms of a contract, and go beat ourselves up in the pub if we struck a bad deal.
PS I am a bit of a Eurofile and rather like our European friends, so just saying how it possibly is.
gallois wrote:
@Graham my source is simply British politicians and doctors appearing on SKy News and BBC world saying that this has been happening in their areas.
I think you may well find they are different things for different reasons.
@gallois this is nothing new and not indicative of some new supply problem – it’s been happening since the first vaccinations and is normal in this country. Every local MP has a whinge because his/her area has not had quite as many as the adjacent area, and you will never have trouble finding a doctor ready to say that it’s a shambles and that they should have had more – the media are experts at digging up an authority figure who will complain publicly.
Our ability to declare that we’re doing really badly when in fact we’re doing quite well is legendary.
@gallois , I hate to say this but it is indeed the case that the UK media are really good at beating up the UK and finding someone (anyone!) to say “look how terrible everything is here” which is in contrast to the French media which I have noted seem to have a generally more positive bent towards all things French – I have watched with fascination how deferential interviewers are to Macron in the various French TV interviews in comparison to how UK TV interviewers are with Johnson.
Regards, SD..
and you will never have trouble finding a doctor ready to say that it’s a shambles
Yes indeed, and it’s depressing.
Then they interview some scientist who demands a total lockdown, with a guillotine for all those who step 1m outside their house (it’s great to not have any responsibility for economics, when your salary is guaranteed by the university or whatever), then they interview some opposition politician who slags off the govt for always acting too late (it’s great to not have any responsibility for economics, especially if you have practically zero chance of forming a govt anytime in the visible future), then they interview a govt politician and – like a good lawyer who never asks a question unless he already knows the answer – they expect him to hang himself (politically) on TV by admitting measures x y and z do not work because so many people are either thick or don’t give a to55 by turning up 150 to a wedding
And tomorrow will be a new story, with the same theme but different actors, found in 5 mins by trawling fb and tw, or contacting academia where a set of persons have offered themselves for media interviews.
Also I often wonder where they find these “doctors”. Probably by trawling facebook and tw&tter, for people who are posting comments which fit that media channel’s narrative, and this seems to be the standard way for “programme researchers” to work these days Academics are readily located by contacting academia where a set of persons have offered themselves for media interviews. And round and round it goes…
Malibuflyer wrote:
Totally naive politicians (that might have been great elementary school teachers prior to their political career but have never in their life negotiated a contract beyond the value of their apartment) are negotiating with professional commercial departments that don’t do something different for their entire life.
Sometimes politicians get it right. Our lot negotiated a contract with the provider of our new MLAT radar with sufficient penalty clauses, that due to them not getting the system certified on time, we got the system virtually for free…
