Current Affairs

[david63]

David, you along with others have been advocates of the much-vaunted track and trace system,

I have never advocated anything about the track and trace system other than the use of the smartphone apps.

[david63]

We wouldn't have needed a lockdown and the economy would have been in a better state had everybody followed the guidelines.

I think you are preaching to the converted about that

[oldbluefox]

We wouldn't have needed a lockdown and the economy would have been in a better state had everybody followed the guidelines.

I think you are preaching to the converted about that

When I look at some of the comments I sometimes wonder. We, as a nation, have only ourselves to blame.

[towny44]

I don't know anyone who has died from the virus.
We are ruining our economy for people reaching the end of their natural lifespan and sacrificing our childrens and grand childrens future for a virus which will run it's natural course.
All the lockdown achieves is kicking the can further down the road.
JMHO YMMV
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/aver ... -pcwqrzdzz

It is difficult to argue with any of that, even it is a little heartless.

I would only wish to point out that it is probably our Children and Grandchildren who are spreading the virus so perhaps they should reap what they sow. Or is it perhaps the fault of the many unmasked ladies who can be observed shopping in the markets and malls on the TV News programs ?

It certainly is not any of my children or grandchildren who are spreading it, both granddaughters have had to self isolate because someone they worked with, or a classmate had tested positive, and they followed the guidance fully, and both my son's families are meticulous in following the guidance.

[david63]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-54769055 - words fail me

[Manoverboard]

It is difficult to argue with any of that, even it is a little heartless.

I would only wish to point out that it is probably our Children and Grandchildren who are spreading the virus so perhaps they should reap what they sow. Or is it perhaps the fault of the many unmasked ladies who can be observed shopping in the markets and malls on the TV News programs ?

It certainly is not any of my children or grandchildren who are spreading it, both granddaughters have had to self isolate because someone they worked with, or a classmate had tested positive, and they followed the guidance fully, and both my son's families are meticulous in following the guidance.

They were collectively bought up to discover that they could do whatever they wanted to because they could else it would be unfair if they didn't. Any effort that you or indeed the rest of us put into their upbringing was of little consequence regarding Covid because there were too many parents who couldn't be bothered so followed the easy route. The result is there to see but they will of course blame somebody else.

In truth none of us has any idea at all what our kids and grandchildren get up to 24/7 so we just stay loyal and think the best.

[Onelife]

David, you along with others have been advocates of the much-vaunted track and trace system,

I have never advocated anything about the track and trace system other than the use of the smartphone apps.

Then I apologies for lumping your name to the many who are….

Would you care to give your opinion ….

I would have thought the best approach would be to get numbers down as quickly as possible in order to make the system viable…up till now the three tier approach has delayed this happening and has served little purpose other than keeping a few thousand telephone tracers in a job.

[Onelife]

Hi Midlandlass. ...l've just read out your post to my wife who said you should try saying that to the families of the 650 NHS staff who have succumbed to the virus., none of whom got to live out their natural lifespan

[oldbluefox]

Hi Midlandlass. ...l've just read out your post to my wife who said you should try saying that to the families of the 650 NHS staff who have succumbed to the virus., none of whom got to live out their natural lifespan

Or those whose loved ones were in care homes and they were unable to be with them in their final hours.

[johnds]

! Similarly those who wear masks but don't cover their noses!!! Could instructions be issued for the braindead?

Such as Jeremy Corbyn

[Kendhni]

We know that Johnson is crassly incompetent but it looks like the 'yes-men' he has surrounded himself are equally incompetent
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/health-minist ... 50873.html

When is this totally incompetent and out-of-touch leadership going to stop cowering behind asinine claims of 'hindsight' and 'crystal balls' and wake up to the reality that their failure to follow advice is to the detriment of the country - they had several weeks of notice back in March (during which the government ignored their advisors), they have had 4-6 weeks of notice this time (during which the government again ignored their advisors). The women is not fit for any kind of office, except maybe to clean it (with apologies to cleaning staff for insulting their intelligence).

[xmaslisa]

On a positive it’s only 55 days til christmas!!

Hope you are all well

Hi XL ... we are well but have decided to be on our ownsome this Christmas period, what will you be doing ?

Hey MoB
Glad you’re ok yep Christmas on our own here too! Standard this year I guess!

[xmaslisa]

Average age of those who have died from Covid, 82.4 years.

Really .... I knew somebody who was 53, do you know somebody who was 112 ?

I don't know anyone who has died from the virus.
We are ruining our economy for people reaching the end of their natural lifespan and sacrificing our childrens and grand childrens future for a virus which will run it's natural course.
All the lockdown achieves is kicking the can further down the road.
JMHO YMMV
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/aver ... -pcwqrzdzz

Wow.... it doesn’t just kill people at the end of their life span I have witnessed many.... sadly...

[barney]

There’s been quite an influx of second home owners down here all of a sudden.
I said to Mrs B, you can’t blame them really.
A month of walking around a deserted city on a month in beautiful north Devon.
I couldn’t believe it when I called The Seagate in Appledore last night to book a table for lunch today and was told we had the last table for two.
Mrs B is working longer hours Tuesday and Wednesday and then she’ll lock the door again.
She’s quite emotional about it, given the expense and precautions she’s taken.
Our big concern is that like last time, it runs on and on.
We have quite a bit of Xmas stock that will be little use until the next one.
She did a farewell for now Facebook post last night on Inside 11a and had fantastic responses from her wonderful loyal customers.
People are much more caring than many think.
There’s a lot more nice people out there than nasty ones.

[Gill W]

Really .... I knew somebody who was 53, do you know somebody who was 112 ?

I don't know anyone who has died from the virus.
We are ruining our economy for people reaching the end of their natural lifespan and sacrificing our childrens and grand childrens future for a virus which will run it's natural course.
All the lockdown achieves is kicking the can further down the road.
JMHO YMMV
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/aver ... -pcwqrzdzz

Wow.... it doesn’t just kill people at the end of their life span I have witnessed many.... sadly...

Just had news that my friend’s brother in law died from COVID. He was in his early 60’s, and was otherwise in good shape. He’d have otherwise have had 20 or 30 years of living ahead of him

[towny44]

We know that Johnson is crassly incompetent but it looks like the 'yes-men' he has surrounded himself are equally incompetent
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/health-minist ... 50873.html

When is this totally incompetent and out-of-touch leadership going to stop cowering behind asinine claims of 'hindsight' and 'crystal balls' and wake up to the reality that their failure to follow advice is to the detriment of the country - they had several weeks of notice back in March (during which the government ignored their advisors), they have had 4-6 weeks of notice this time (during which the government again ignored their advisors). The women is not fit for any kind of office, except maybe to clean it (with apologies to cleaning staff for insulting their intelligence).

Ken, the March lockdown began on 23rd March, but had been trailed since the 16th, since when has 2 weeks been classified as several weeks?
Also during your 4-6 weeks period since some experts first said a 2 week lockdown might be the best option, the govt have continued to strictly follow a regional tiered approach, which seems to be succeeding in keeping the daily number of infections from rising. Thus your comments, as usual, are totally influenced by your apparent extreme dislike of Boris Johnson, rather than a grip on reality.
I just wish that Boris had held his nerve and persevered with the tiered approach, because I fear that the death rate from the impact of this new lockdown will be far greater than anything covid could throw at us.

[barney]

Very sad news for your friend Gill.
He's been quite unlucky , given his previous good health and age.
That's quite rare statistically but is a tragedy nontheless.
There has been about five thousand deaths among the under 65s so far and most of those have had serious underlying issues.

[barney]

We know that Johnson is crassly incompetent but it looks like the 'yes-men' he has surrounded himself are equally incompetent
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/health-minist ... 50873.html

When is this totally incompetent and out-of-touch leadership going to stop cowering behind asinine claims of 'hindsight' and 'crystal balls' and wake up to the reality that their failure to follow advice is to the detriment of the country - they had several weeks of notice back in March (during which the government ignored their advisors), they have had 4-6 weeks of notice this time (during which the government again ignored their advisors). The women is not fit for any kind of office, except maybe to clean it (with apologies to cleaning staff for insulting their intelligence).

Now, I'm just reading between the lines here, but I'm guessing that you are not the greatest fan of the way this government have handled the covid situation Ken.
I have no idea where you live, so I don't know if you live in a high area, or a low area.

I do agree that it's been badly handled but if you read international news, you will hear exactly the same gripes from citizens of virtually every other country and certainly within Europe.
Even the much lauded Swedes have a comparable death rate per population as us.
all over Europe, people are divided about lockdown and how it's been handled.
We are one of the few nations (so far) where protesters have not taken to the streets in opposition to the way it's being handled.

My point really is Ken, as useless as our own government appear to be, they are really not that much different to any other.

People love to quote Arden in New Zealand but it's actually comparing apples and pears.
Can you imagine the outrage from commerce if Johnson had have closed all the airports at the beginning and literally cut us off from the world, as New Zealand did ?

so, we are where we are.
We'll comply and lockdown for at least another month.
The contagion levels will drop.
We'll get back to work and the levels will go up.
Come March, we'll be back in another lockdown.

[barney]

Irish airline Ryanair are refusing refunds for November flights although our government has said only travel if essential.
Wasn’t he the guy who said he’d pull out of the U.K. if Brexit happened?
He must have had a chat with Jamie Oliver

[Kendhni]

We know that Johnson is crassly incompetent but it looks like the 'yes-men' he has surrounded himself are equally incompetent
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/health-minist ... 50873.html

When is this totally incompetent and out-of-touch leadership going to stop cowering behind asinine claims of 'hindsight' and 'crystal balls' and wake up to the reality that their failure to follow advice is to the detriment of the country - they had several weeks of notice back in March (during which the government ignored their advisors), they have had 4-6 weeks of notice this time (during which the government again ignored their advisors). The women is not fit for any kind of office, except maybe to clean it (with apologies to cleaning staff for insulting their intelligence).

Ken, the March lockdown began on 23rd March, but had been trailed since the 16th, since when has 2 weeks been classified as several weeks?
Also during your 4-6 weeks period since some experts first said a 2 week lockdown might be the best option, the govt have continued to strictly follow a regional tiered approach, which seems to be succeeding in keeping the daily number of infections from rising.

The first time I had heard people talking in an official and public capacity asking the government to lay out their lockdown strategy was the first week of March - which probably means that behind the scenes it was much earlier. The first time I heard people questioning when the government was going to go into lockdown was 26th February (that was in an unofficial private capacity though). My own company chose to close up around about the 9th March as did my brother (because he felt the guidance being given was about as much use as a chocolate teapot). So several weeks it is.

Yet again if you think the current strategy, which was against SAGE advice, is 'succeeding' then you must have very low standards in your definition of 'succeed'. Hospitals full; turning away sick patients; cancelling operating lists; cancelling non emergency admissions; complaining of a lack of supplies, including oxygen (which my untrained brain would think would be quite an important item at this time). Number of detected cases and death rates climbing rapidly (and likely to do so for the next 2-3 weeks).

Thus your comments, as usual, are totally influenced by your apparent extreme dislike of Boris Johnson, rather than a grip on reality.
I just wish that Boris had held his nerve and persevered with the tiered approach, because I fear that the death rate from the impact of this new lockdown will be far greater than anything covid could throw at us.

When have I ever said I dislike him - or is that yet another thing you have just made up to suit a lack of actual knowledge. As I have said several times before, I actually do like him, but he is crassly incompetent, he is a liar and is the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[oldbluefox]

Just glad you don't dislike him Ken!!!!

[Kendhni]

We know that Johnson is crassly incompetent but it looks like the 'yes-men' he has surrounded himself are equally incompetent
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/health-minist ... 50873.html

When is this totally incompetent and out-of-touch leadership going to stop cowering behind asinine claims of 'hindsight' and 'crystal balls' and wake up to the reality that their failure to follow advice is to the detriment of the country - they had several weeks of notice back in March (during which the government ignored their advisors), they have had 4-6 weeks of notice this time (during which the government again ignored their advisors). The women is not fit for any kind of office, except maybe to clean it (with apologies to cleaning staff for insulting their intelligence).

Now, I'm just reading between the lines here, but I'm guessing that you are not the greatest fan of the way this government have handled the covid situation Ken.
I have no idea where you live, so I don't know if you live in a high area, or a low area.

I do agree that it's been badly handled but if you read international news, you will hear exactly the same gripes from citizens of virtually every other country and certainly within Europe.
Even the much lauded Swedes have a comparable death rate per population as us.
all over Europe, people are divided about lockdown and how it's been handled.
We are one of the few nations (so far) where protesters have not taken to the streets in opposition to the way it's being handled.

My point really is Ken, as useless as our own government appear to be, they are really not that much different to any other.

People love to quote Arden in New Zealand but it's actually comparing apples and pears.
Can you imagine the outrage from commerce if Johnson had have closed all the airports at the beginning and literally cut us off from the world, as New Zealand did ?

so, we are where we are.
We'll comply and lockdown for at least another month.
The contagion levels will drop.
We'll get back to work and the levels will go up.
Come March, we'll be back in another lockdown.

I get the impression this lockdown, late as it is, is simply to ease the Christmas period. We may well be back into full lockdown much earlier than March next year. This year COVID hadn't quite arrived ... this winter it is endemic. On the plus side it appears that all the mask wearing has reduced the impact of a number of other diseases.

Our best hope is that one or more of these vaccines work (several may well be available this side of christmas - amazing work from labs around the world) . But it is important that it is first administered to those that cannot work from home to get the economy flowing again. Others can continue to shield and follow advice for a few more weeks/months until sufficient vaccines can be administered.

[Kendhni]

Just glad you don't dislike him Ken!!!!

For his comic value he is brilliant. Dangling from a rope waving union jacks, appearances on HIGNFY etc.

[Kendhni]

I don't know anyone who has died from the virus.
We are ruining our economy for people reaching the end of their natural lifespan and sacrificing our childrens and grand childrens future for a virus which will run it's natural course.
All the lockdown achieves is kicking the can further down the road.
JMHO YMMV
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/aver ... -pcwqrzdzz

Wow.... it doesn’t just kill people at the end of their life span I have witnessed many.... sadly...

Just had news that my friend’s brother in law died from COVID. He was in his early 60’s, and was otherwise in good shape. He’d have otherwise have had 20 or 30 years of living ahead of him

Sorry to hear that Gill. People who deny that COVID exists or try to trivialise its impact should be made to visit a COVID ward (with or without PPE makes no difference to me). I know a few people who have been seconded to one and all of them say how horrific they are.

[Manoverboard]

Just glad you don't dislike him Ken!!!!

For his comic value he is brilliant. Dangling from a rope waving union jacks, appearances on HIGNFY etc.

Did you see him on ' Spitting Images ' over the weekend .... along with that nice Mr Trump