Positives - the time spent with my daughter, pretty much all day every day for probably months.
               - the 10 mile walks when I get the chance too to get away from my daughter (managed it twice so far).

It's more hope than anything that has happened so far, but I'm perhaps foolishly anticipating the general population will realise the political leaders, and the fawning media, aren't to be trusted.

When we are told the arsehole Johnson is up and walking short distances, and press report on his progress from outside the hospital, yet many are suffering right now because of the last few decades of right wing political ideology (ie keeping the poor poor), it could be a time for folk to wake up and realise we've been had.

On a personal level, I'll have a lovely garden this year, and my wife has been in the house all day with her work being closed. I've been trying to ignore her, but she said something about not working in C&A any more.

SlatefordArab wrote:

There is one thing I hope is a positive thing that comes out of this, not on a personal level but for society in general.

I hope that this can be some kind of turning point where we recognise how important the people who are usually classed as “low skilled” like the folk who work in supermarkets, the bin men who stop us from being knee-deep in our own crap, the guys that drive the delivery vans, hospital cleaners and of course our nurses and the people who care for our elderly- hopefully these folk from now on will be treated with more respect and earn a decent fucking living.

Amen.
 

japanarab wrote:

Hasn’t been any change for me work wise or life wise although in the last few days a couple of big stores are going to close for a whole 5 days (yep, that’ll do it). But selfishly I’ve been able to join my mates from back home in zoom chats which has been great. The Japan prime minister has decided to throw 350 million pounds of tax payers money into providing two masks per household(we’ve 4 in my house) but refuses to stop public transport or make any laws in regards to lockdown. They’ve “advised” people not to go to bars, cinemas, libraries on the weekends and nights. The news then proceeds to show empty streets to show his advice is working. Unfortunately all the footage is from midnight and later. No footage of the still packed trains at 7am when everyone is still going to work as there’s no financial help or support  if you don’t go. If you think trump or Johnson are bad you should try this guy, a fucking clown who has money and the economy first before anything. 

And yet only 94 recorded deaths in Japan.

Either the Government are involved in North Korean levels of conspiracy or they have handled this crisis very, very fucking well.

That's roughly the amount of deaths we've had in Scotland just this weekend. 

Given that Tokyo is the most populated city in the World i find those stats incredible.
 

japanarab wrote:

Tek wrote:

japanarab wrote:

Hasn’t been any change for me work wise or life wise although in the last few days a couple of big stores are going to close for a whole 5 days (yep, that’ll do it). But selfishly I’ve been able to join my mates from back home in zoom chats which has been great. The Japan prime minister has decided to throw 350 million pounds of tax payers money into providing two masks per household(we’ve 4 in my house) but refuses to stop public transport or make any laws in regards to lockdown. They’ve “advised” people not to go to bars, cinemas, libraries on the weekends and nights. The news then proceeds to show empty streets to show his advice is working. Unfortunately all the footage is from midnight and later. No footage of the still packed trains at 7am when everyone is still going to work as there’s no financial help or support  if you don’t go. If you think trump or Johnson are bad you should try this guy, a fucking clown who has money and the economy first before anything. 

And yet only 94 recorded deaths in Japan.

Either the Government are involved in North Korean levels of conspiracy or they have handled this crisis very, very fucking well.

That's roughly the amount of deaths we've had in Scotland just this weekend. 

Given that Tokyo is the most populated city in the World i find those stats incredible.
 

Keep an eye on those numbers. The numbers were virtually zero while they were still pushing for the olympics and now that they’ve been cancelled they’re rising. They haven’t handled anything. Absolutely zero has happened during it all. They’ve “shut” schools unless you’re a working parent which most people are. My kids are still at school as we can’t take time off work because there’s no financial support. Maybe due to the Japanese wearing masks all the time it has slowed it. I haven’t seen any difference in daily practices whatsoever. A parent at the place I work has it yet we’re all still working there. 

We are the most arrogant of generations.  I feel real shame at being a part of it.  That we can thwart billions of years of evolution and mother natures way of protecting us during a pandemic to drive deaths down.  The absolute height of arrogance, selfishness and cowardice.

Sweden
Japan
Iceland
Hong Kong
South Korea
Holland
Brazil

All countries doing relatively ok without a China style lock-down in place.  In fact, some are doing worlds better than UK/US on a per capita basis and are now less likely to suffer the brunt of the "second wave" which will surely come because we've robbed ourselves of any fucking immunity.  Good for them.

This is literally the first time in human history we've responded to a pandemic in this draconian way.  Basically issuing a China style edict which unnervingly appears to have full support of our citizens and might just turn us closer towards fucking China.  For what? Are deaths being driven down?  Whats the point of flattening a curve i it makes the pandemic longer? Makes it more likely to have a second wave?  Hospital capacity?  We're laying off nurses and even closing hospitals over here for fuck sake.  Even so, does that make it the right thing to fucking do?  So what, we think there is some magic vaccine on the way?  Flatten the curve while we wait for treatments and vaccines?

Was there a vaccine for Sars 2003? NO
the one before that? No
Mers? No
Zika? Not fucking yet
Regular Flu? 40% success rate. 

We've willfully plunged ourselves into a great depression in a response which is proving no less effective than tried and true responses to pandemics.  The saddest thing about this, and this has me pissing fucking blood.  Covid-19 is fucking harmless for children.  Throw your ONE  CASE up here all you like.  It's proven to be absolutely docile for kids and just about anyone under 20  and look how we've responded.  Children go through a period where they essentially develop immunity to any number of infectious diseases because biology.  So we:

Rob them of their immunity
Rob them of their education
Rob them of any socialization
Rob them in some instances of seeing their fucking family beyond mum and dad
Frighten the lights out of them
The icing on the cake.... pay for our response to this thing by borrowing from their fucking future in the billions and in US case multiple trillions of dollars. 

Could not be more ashamed.  Fucking disgusted.  This is the single most moronic/stupid/twilight zone shit I'll ever experience in my lifetime, livid like. 

RRDH wrote:

japanarab wrote:

Tek wrote:

And yet only 94 recorded deaths in Japan.

Either the Government are involved in North Korean levels of conspiracy or they have handled this crisis very, very fucking well.

That's roughly the amount of deaths we've had in Scotland just this weekend. 

Given that Tokyo is the most populated city in the World i find those stats incredible.
 

Keep an eye on those numbers. The numbers were virtually zero while they were still pushing for the olympics and now that they’ve been cancelled they’re rising. They haven’t handled anything. Absolutely zero has happened during it all. They’ve “shut” schools unless you’re a working parent which most people are. My kids are still at school as we can’t take time off work because there’s no financial support. Maybe due to the Japanese wearing masks all the time it has slowed it. I haven’t seen any difference in daily practices whatsoever. A parent at the place I work has it yet we’re all still working there. 

We are the most arrogant of generations.  I feel real shame at being a part of it.  That we can thwart billions of years of evolution and mother natures way of protecting us during a pandemic to drive deaths down.  The absolute height of arrogance, selfishness and cowardice.

Sweden
Japan
Iceland
Hong Kong
South Korea
Holland
Brazil

All countries doing relatively ok without a China style lock-down in place.  In fact, some are doing worlds better than UK/US on a per capita basis and are now less likely to suffer the brunt of the "second wave" which will surely come because we've robbed ourselves of any fucking immunity.  Good for them.

This is literally the first time in human history we've responded to a pandemic in this draconian way.  Basically issuing a China style edict which unnervingly appears to have full support of our citizens and might just turn us closer towards fucking China.  For what? Are deaths being driven down?  Whats the point of flattening a curve i it makes the pandemic longer? Makes it more likely to have a second wave?  Hospital capacity?  We're laying off nurses and even closing hospitals over here for fuck sake.  Even so, does that make it the right thing to fucking do?  So what, we think there is some magic vaccine on the way?  Flatten the curve while we wait for treatments and vaccines?

Was there a vaccine for Sars 2003? NO
the one before that? No
Mers? No
Zika? Not fucking yet
Regular Flu? 40% success rate. 

We've willfully plunged ourselves into a great depression in a response which is proving no less effective than tried and true responses to pandemics.  The saddest thing about this, and this has me pissing fucking blood.  Covid-19 is fucking harmless for children.  Throw your ONE  CASE up here all you like.  It's proven to be absolutely docile for kids and just about anyone under 20  and look how we've responded.  Children go through a period where they essentially develop immunity to any number of infectious diseases because biology.  So we:

Rob them of their immunity
Rob them of their education
Rob them of any socialization
Rob them in some instances of seeing their fucking family beyond mum and dad
Frighten the lights out of them
The icing on the cake.... pay for our response to this thing by borrowing from their fucking future in the billions and in US case multiple trillions of dollars. 

Could not be more ashamed.  Fucking disgusted.  This is the single most moronic/stupid/twilight zone shit I'll ever experience in my lifetime, livid like. 

so, it's all good in the hood for you then?
 

Post # 10 RRDH.
That, Sir, is a post & a half.
You couldn't get a daily podium to the right or left of Nicola or Baw Jaws could you?
I could listen to you all day.
Think you nail it.

My take?
A non-erudite, 'there's something funny going on'.
I'll tell you what it is when it comes out.

Finn Seemann wrote:

The arrogance of people who do not appear to be qualified in this spouting potentially dangerous nonsense frightens me.  What's worse, one of them is running the biggest economy in the world.  I don't think there is any easy answer to this and as someone who definitely isn't a health expert or epidemiologist I'm happy to allow them to determine the best solution.  Certainly, politician's should be kept well away from it other than the what can we afford question and even then I'd rather that was left to the economists.  The bampots will continue to be bampots.

I agree and disagree, Finn. 

Health experts can't agree on the best steps to take, and it appears, to me, that the government here have surrounded themselves with 'yes men' from the medical side, and are using the mantra that they are 'following the science'. Plenty scientists disagree with the strategy adopted so far in the UK. 

"Following the science" comes into the same bracket as 'Get Brexit Done' or 'Education, Education, Education', phrases repeated until the public accept them and support the philosophy. I hope the government has backed the winning horse (although there are no winners in this situation), for if things at a later date prove to go badly wrong, these scientists will be getting the blame. 

As far as what we can afford, I'll leave that with two points. Trident has been fuck all use to us in this fight, never has been and never will be. And as businesses collapse all around us, with more to come, I've not noted any of the major banks being in financial trouble: they are accruing funds for the future via the dreadful health situation. 

Last edited by PatReilly (01/5/2020 4:15 pm)

Regarding deaths in care homes, if these are excessive due to lack of protective equipment, I'd be wondering why such facilities, especially but not exclusively those which are privately run, have not got proper PPE in storage as they appear to hit residents and their families very severely in the pocket for the services they provide.

Banks? Perhaps 4 million people, according to reports, have been furloughed. Where is that cash being borrowed from? It's said to come 'from the Exchequer', which, as far as I understand, is strongly controlled by the City of London. The guy who sits beside the Speaker in the House of Parliament, wholly unelected by the public, is the Remembrancer (presently Paul Double).

The Remembrancer's task is to influence decision-making and legislation relating to banks and banking in the City of London. I won't go on about it too much, save from saying the City of London provides capital only if and when they can make money from the Exchequer for their organisations.

And the City of London, often called the 'Square Mile' (for apt reasons, if you consider which organisation is strongly represented at the top of banking institutions) operates outside the authority of Parliament, in fact outside the laws which apply to everyone else in the four nations of the UK.

I find that a fkn disgrace.
 

Last edited by PatReilly (01/5/2020 6:33 pm)

Macbonzo wrote:

  
 The last bit about the banks is unfair. Their share prices have more than halved, furthermore, they have suspended all dividends this year. Banks will have to write off all the bad debts as a result of this. Bank stocks will probably constitute 15 - 17% of most people's pension funds.

I accept what you write, Macbonzo, but share prices, dividends and pension funds don't appear to directly affect the poorest sectors of society. Not really wanting to disagree as this thread encourages optimism, but I'd expect bankers will cope with the aftermath of this crisis better than the low paid, homeless or folk dependent on food banks. Especially those based in the City of London.