Coronavirus and football

My best mate, a socialist like many of you (I have tried to make him see the light) sent me this comment today to wind me up.
It's rubbish of course but I am still considering my reply....

This thought will not amuse and you may considering it a point not worth a reply but it is strange to see countries rushing towards socialism when under threat. Why is no one advocating the so called ‘Free Market’ solution? Could it be that it does not really work for humankind but only some and now even they are forced to recognise our interdependence? Trump a socialist, who knew?

Thoughts?

 

Sorry Scully but I completely agree with you friend. A deregulated free market economy cannot cope with a national crisis of this sort.

 

...maybe, but it will sure as hell recover quicker, oh and history will tell if one way was better than the other in responding to this virus, though i rather think that lessons could be learnt from both sides of the political divide....lights touch paper and stands back - at least 1.8m

 

I read your comments with interest.

From what I see, the government is acting sensibly, with the right measures at the right time. They are trying to protect the NHS and not cause a panic, which could lead to social disorder.

Locally most seem to be acting sensibly and keeping themselves at home unless they need to go out, principally to go shopping.

Mme went shopping today, did a normal shop but she had to visit several supermarkets to get what she was after. She reported no aggro or excessive greed. I think supermarkets should prevent excessive buying and I heard today young people were pitching up during oldies hour and pushing them out of the way! Shop security should forcefully show them the door and if necessary call the Polis. She did not stock pile but she did buy 2 boxes of Cornflakes (a weakness of mine and I now have 4 unopened boxes!, (bad (good) wife).

A help network has been set up locally in Dunblane with contacts and a FB group. I see another in Perthshire through Freegle.

My neighbours (a young couple, one is a Dr) emailed me today and said if we get ill or can't get out they will get supplies for us, which was nice of them but it made us laugh as they think we are old and I suppose we are to them! Reality check there!

Londoners are being idiotic and putting the rest of London at high risk, and perhaps the rest of the country. The government needs to clamp down on them not heeding advice.

I am getting sick of all the blanket coverage of the issue on the news and media, it is tedious, all this endless analysis.

I am also sick of the media interviewing people with issues like how do I pay my rent, bills etc etc. I don't believe most have become paupers overnight and still should be able to cover their normal expenses in the short term. Yes there a proportion of the population needing help, which most get, and measure introduced by the government will soon come into play and support those in difficulty. These hard luck stories are just milking the situation. What the media should be doing is providing information on regular short broadcasts relaying the government advice and providing sensible answers from experts such as Martin Lewis, Which etc. Also there is more than enough advice coming from companies and organisations on line, telephone, email, people should try and solve their own problems and not expect the government to deal with them. Be responsible for yourself!

I think companies should be made to keep people in employment during this epidemic. Cash flow issues should be dealt with by the government through the banks and companies should expect profitability to be hit, that is the risk you take when you start a business. Shareholders (that's all of us) will loose dividends and possibly capital if they liquidate - tough, shares are a risky investment. Well run companies who get into difficulties should be supported by the government as in today's announcement to cover peoples pay. Bloke on the radio today was sacked by his hotel in Aviemore and turfed out of his hotel accommodation, that is outrageous imo.

I do have a slight gut feeling that the world is over-reacting to C 19, 0.005% have the virus in the UK and 0.0003% have died. Whist unfortunate for individuals these are not big numbers and I don't remember such a reaction to Sars and other epidemics, even flu for which we have no cure either. I do wonder if the government is not telling us something about this particular virus? Anyway I would not want anyone to suffer because of my carelessness so I will heed government advice as we all should.

I am sure I have forgotten some other views, for which I expect you are glad.

 

No, but that's why we have a democratic government and state services to deal with such issues.

 

I just looked at the stats and Russia does not seem to have any cases.....

 

he’s just a c u n t

 

Far too much sense for the 'let's bash the Tories at every opportunity clique on here'

 

The state needs all resources at its immediate disposal to grapple with emergencies such as this Scully which is why extensive public ownership is an advantage at times like this. I have to also candidly admit that democracies may not be the best form of government at times like this. The Chinese methods which have been successfull would not be possible in most Western European countries - also the methods used in South Korea would break many of our data protection laws. I was reading about a British Yoga teacher working in Singapore who received an SMS from the government telling her that she had been in a taxi at 4 pm the previous day and must now go immediately for a Coronavirus test because the driver had been in contact with someone who tested positive ! This is the kind of detection work and surveillance methods which would be impossible for any Western country.

 

Social distancing may be needed ‘for at least most of a year’, scientists advising the government said in evidence made public today. So are we to have football return with all players keeping a metre or so apart?

 

Not sure what you're talking about there, London companies and residents were well ahead of the government and over 2 weeks ago shut down and have been working from home since then where possible. London has been a ghost town.

 

shin pad manufacturers might suffer.

 

Far too easy to bash them SH with their being frightened of their own shadow. Slowly, but oh so slowly they are taking notice of what has been happening in the rest of the world, and finally reacting. You and I agreed that they should have shut bars and restaurants etc, but why has it taken them at least a week to do so?

 

The UK government is taking advice from the top medical experts in the country specifically for our needs. Thankfully they are far more qualified than us to make decisions.

 

I run a small business, I employ around 60 people. Many of our clients have shut their offices and cancelled our services. I want to keep all the staff on and pay in full but all costs per month are around 50k. The company has lost or broken even for the last 3 years as the economy has bumbled along the bottom. If you think small businesses have bottomless pockets you are wrong, we will all need help to survive and make sure all those employees are supported fully and have a job to come back to. Without help many companies like ours will be bankrupt within about 6 weeks. Currently I listen to the government 'sell' various assistance but currently none of it exists yet i.e. they have yet to provide the mechanisms to apply for any of it. Hopefully they will do that by April. None of it is actually live and available.

 

You and I both know that is a simple get out that you refer to when you know that what has been said is right. Your experts are not the only experts in the world, and as I have already said they have produced a response to try and meet the capacity of what is available. Why keep up this pretence that when others ask you to compare what advice is available from many countries, that only the UK government is right? As we see them following other countries we can only assume that they have now followed external advice as well.

 

Hi Chris,

Hope you access the government's substantial promise of help towards salaries very soon. I'm sure your staff would understand if you limited their salary to the 80% covered by the proposed assistance. Your staff would prefer the company to be there long term than maybe an over generous but more importantly a possibly unaffordable short term cost. Hopefully the banks are behaving, slimy GITS.

I have been there, I wish you every success to get through this.

 

I agree with you 100% Chris. When I lived in England I had a business that employed around 60, but sometimes with sub-contractors that went up to around a 100. In the construction industry which that was, getting people to pay their bills was a constant battle in the best of times. I spent time in the county court getting a judgement in my favour over a debtor, only to find that he didn't have a bean, and was given time to pay. Cash flow was always a problem, and the best business I ever did was exporting where I was always paid on time. After the announcements today I did wonder how I could have kept the business alive and well. Receipts would be slowed, and to try and pay 20% of my employees wages would have been very difficult to say the least.

 

I listened with care to what the Chancellor was saying this evening, and I applaud him for taking on a really social policy. I do have to ask though just how soon these measures will enable people to get their hands on some money. I spent fourteen months working as a project manager in Bristol on a huge construction building for an insurance company. Every Thursday evening I would spend a couple of hours calculating how much forty bricklayers had earned over the past week, then writing out cheques for their wages which were due on the Friday. Friday lunchtime and half of them would disappear down to the city to cash their cheques, and despite paying for the benefit of getting their hands on instant money they had to do it. They were not the tatoo, druggie or other waster types that SH often refers to, but guys who were struggling to pay the rent or electricity bills. These were all self employed and need money on a week by week basis. To talk about something being sorted out by next month is not what is needed.

 

The odious paradox of the troll