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Off Topic Coronavirus - 606 tales from the Inquiry

Discussion in 'Charlton' started by lardiman, Feb 25, 2020.

  1. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    It will be nice to have more shops open in three weeks' time.
    But nobody should expect things on their local high street to look anything like 'back to normal'.

    Despite social distancing becoming something a growing minority can't be bothered to do anymore, shops enforcing the rules will mean we'll see queues outside many. People waiting in line along pavements that were not designed to accommodate queues. Queues overlapping, crossing junctions, making it more difficult for others to get past.

    This may not happen much on day 1, as I don't think people are suddenly going to flock back to high streets and shopping malls in huge numbers like they have done with beaches. The irony is of course, that the shops are going to need queues.
    Opening a shop is an expensive business. You can't afford to pay whatever staff you have left if all you're going to get for 8 hours is a couple of dozen people through your door.

    But speaking from my own experience, I think queueing becomes tiresome very quickly.
    We tolerate queueing at supermarkets because we have very little choice.
    Not everybody can have their food delivered, or use click-and-collect. And we cannot do without food.

    But if we are shopping for luxury goods or lifestyle goods (non-essentials) I think most of us would prefer to enjoy the shopping experience itself, at least in a subconscious or background kind of way. We do not want to be continually reminded of the threat to our health, maybe even the lives of our loved ones. Waiting in line for 20 minutes or more just to get into WH Smiths or Currys is not going to put us in a good mood for casual, stress-free browsing.

    Physical shopping has had all the relaxation / leisure / enjoyment factor sucked out of it.
    In nearly all cases it is now a grim expedition. A chore to be endured and got done as quickly (and as safely) as possible, before returning home and immediately washing hands vigorously to rid ourselves of the 'infected' feeling that accompanies touching things outside.

    Compared to that, sitting in front of your computer and shopping online is far more attractive and far more relaxing.
    You don't have to think about getting sick every moment. You don't have to travel or park or have joggers breathing all over you. And if something you want is out of stock an alternative is just a few clicks away.

    I seriously fear for every high street and every shopping mall.
    Shops cannot survive on a quarter or a third of their former number of customers.
    They may be cleared to open in mid June, but withing a few months our shopping streets and malls could all be boarded up ghost towns.

    What proportion of closed and empty shops does it take to kill a high street?
    Less than 20% I would guess.
    Once there are too many padlocked shutters, people will stop coming to shop. They won't feel safe, and the things they want are less likely to be found in whatever shops do remain (usually a combination of betting shops and nasty pound shops, where the air smells foul and the produce is just rubbish).
    Those places are then abandoned to the rough sleepers, drunks, vandals, beggars and junkies.
    And with unemployment back to early 1980's numbers, there are going to be a lot more of them around.

    Remember also, a lot of bars, cafes and restaurants are located on high streets and in shopping malls.
    Nobody is going to want to eat out or go for a friendly social drink on an abandoned street lined with boarded up, empty shops.
    So most of those establishments will be condemned before they even get a chance to re-open.


    Unless the Government performs far better in reopening retail than it has done so far in handling the lockdown, I think our high streets, and then our shopping malls, will be gone.
    By the time a vaccine is available it will be far too late.
    Our shopping habits will have changed forever by then.
    Huge warehouses and uncounted delivery vans will be the new face of shopping in the UK.
    Only the supermarkets will remain.
     
    #1041
    Last edited: May 26, 2020
  2. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Face masks;

    I don't know how you chaps feel about these, but personally I can't be having them.

    I understand how essential proper surgical masks are for NHS and care workers, as is all PPE.
    I know some folk must wear masks during working hours as part of being safe while doing their jobs.
    And I fully accept face masks should be worn by the public on buses and trains and tubes. I'm just very glad I never use these forms of travel.
    But I don't intend to wear one myself - ever (if I can possibly avoid it).


    If that means not ever using public transport again, then so be it.
    If some shops oblige customers to wear them in future, I won't shop in those places.
    If the Government were ever to say everybody must wear one anywhere outside?
    Well, I might just give up at that point and put myself down.

    This is just my personal feeling on the subject, I don't know if anybody else feels even remotely the same way.
    But to me, having to wear a face mask is one concession too far to this bastard virus.
    Our lives have all been changed in too many ways already because of it.
    So many pleasures we took for granted are gone - perhaps never to come back as they were before.

    Walking around in a world where I must always cover my nose and mouth, and seeing everybody around me masked as well, all the time?
    That is nothing short of a waking nightmare.
    What kind of dirty, infected, rat hole of a world will we have created, if we all end up wearing face masks all day, every day.
    Frankly I'd rather die than have to endure that.

    I'm not saying I would break such a rule if it was imposed.
    I'm not Dominic Cummings.
    I would not endanger the lives of other people by not wearing a mask and so inviting sanction, arrest and prosecution.
    I think I would just jack it all in.

    When fans are eventually let back in to watch football matches, I really hope wearing face masks will not be compulsory.
    Hopefully by that time there will be a vaccine and we will all have had our COVID19 shots.
    If masks are required, I won't be attending.
     
    #1042
    Last edited: May 26, 2020
  3. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Douglas Ross; a Government minister with some integrity...

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52806086

    "I have constituents who didn't get to say goodbye to loved ones;
    families who could not mourn together; people who didn't visit sick relatives because they followed the guidance of the government.

    "I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the government was right."


    Well said sir.
    Not one of Boris' nodding dog cabinet.
     
    #1043
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  4. Ken Shabby

    Ken Shabby Well-Known Member

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    Sad that someone with integrity has to resign, while Dominic Cummings clings onto his spot as key government advisor. There is so much wrong with this picture, and at a time when the government shouldn't be tied up in this mess. But as the minister says, so many members of the public obeyed the rules and lost loved ones without even being able to pay a last visit. And a government advisor chooses not to obey the lockdown rules he helped to create, and stick two fingers up at the rest.
    Boris can allow himself to be dragged down by this. His months as PM are utterly tarnished by incompetence already. Surely there is better in the Conservative party, than a nodding buffoon. It certainly seems there is a lot more decency in the ranks.
     
    #1044
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  5. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Test & Trace;

    Obeying this is going to be very important we are told.
    So when you get that txt message on your phone telling you to stop your life and self-isolate for 14 days, feel free to follow your instincts.

    Remember - driving hundreds of miles, visiting beauty spots and walking in the woods are all within the lockdown rules.
    The Prime Minister and the entire Cabinet have confirmed this many times, and continue to do so.
     
    #1045
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  6. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Matt Hancock is going to look into fines given out by Police to people intercepted while traveling to seek child care.

    So now as well as the general public, the Police have not understood the lockdown rules.
    Let's do a quick review shall we of the Government's position on their own guidelines (or instructions, according to Mr Hancock)

    Wrong
    The People
    The Police
    Scientists
    Clergymen

    Right
    Dominic Cummings

    We must conclude the lockdown rules were not quite as clear as the Government believed them to be, if roughly 70 million people misunderstood them, and only one person got them right.
    Strange, isn't it.

    STAY HOME ... PROTECT THE NHS ... SAVE LIVES
    The most widely misunderstood six words in British history.
    Crikey, we're a pretty thick lot.
     
    #1046
    Last edited: May 27, 2020
  7. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Yesterday it was the Daily Mail that led the way in its reflection of public opinion regarding Dominic Cummings <applause>

    This morning the Daily Star takes over that mantle... :emoticon-0148-yes:

    Cummings 04.png

    Meanwhile, if you'd prefer to live in a world where the Cummings scandal doesn't exist and people still like Boris Johnson,
    then buy a copy of The Sun. It's a reality-free zone that still pretends it cares about the NHS and is the people's champion.

    It is still top quality for wiping your arse on though :emoticon-0172-mooni

    PS:

    Apparently Michael Gove has said he too takes car journeys to check his eyesight!
    Far from being a 'reluctant' backer of Cummings as some of his Cabinet colleagues may well be, Gove opens his mouth, inserts both feet and proves himself once again to be an utter twat.
    Does he have any idea how stupid he sounds?
     
    #1047
    Last edited: May 27, 2020
  8. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Local lockdowns

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52814833

    Are we talking about entire Counties here? Or whole metropolitan boroughs?

    Or, by "local lockdowns", does Mr Hancock mean inner city housing estates?
    Remember, Track & Trace will allow them to be that specific if they want to be.
    In which case you can be pretty sure Hancock doesn't mean leafy suburban streets of £2m houses.

    Such a policy would be difficult enough to enforce even if the Government still had the trust of most of the British people.
    Now - with that trust destroyed - does Hancock really believe residents of poor, run-down urban estates will tolerate Police cordons caging them in, while their wealthy neighbours are free to shop and travel and enjoy themselves?
    Such a policy would widely be seen as Class War. Oppression of the poor while the wealthy and the Elite enjoy more and more freedom.

    At a time when we should be united, we may never be more divided.

    EDIT:

    The latest version of this story is that individual schools or factories could be targeted for 'local lockdown'.
    So it is perfectly conceivable that individual housing estates and neighbourhoods could be locked down as well.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52817832

    The Government and enforcement agencies are going to have to tread very carefully with this.
    The potential for perceptions of inequality, hostile reactions and real disorder is very high in my view.
     
    #1048
    Last edited: May 27, 2020
  9. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    This is the strangest thing I've read for a few days...

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220

    USB sticks that are supposed to protect you, your home and your family from 5G (see the fantasy illustrations down the page)
    Price? £339 each or 3 for a Grand.

    They are identical to USB sticks made in China that you can buy for £5 each.

    The 5GBioShield was recommended by a member of Glastonbury Town Council's 5G Advisory Committee, which has called for an inquiry into 5G.

    One of nine external members, Toby Hall, said: "We use this device and find it helpful," and provided a link to its website, which describes it as a USB key that "provides protection for your home and family, thanks to the wearable holographic nano-layer catalyser, which can be worn or placed near to a smartphone or any other electrical, radiation or EMF [electromagnetic field] emitting device".

    "Through a process of quantum oscillation, the 5GBioShield USB key balances and re-harmonises the disturbing frequencies arising from the electric fog induced by devices, such as laptops, cordless phones, wi-fi, tablets, et cetera," it adds.

    Glastonbury Town Council's 5G advisory committee? Who the f**k are they?
    The local White Witch?
    Chairman of the Flat Earth Society?
    David Icke?


    Council Tax payer's money in Glastonbury is really being wasted on this crap?

    It seems Coronavirus is causing rural parts of the UK to descend back into medieval ignorance.
    I would advise tourists to travel in groups and carry mace or something of that nature.
    At this rate, the locals are going to begin killing and eating solitary strangers passing through their villages.
    If you see them burning charcoal, turn around and go the other way.
     
    #1049
  10. Ken Shabby

    Ken Shabby Well-Known Member

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    Matt Hancock last night saying that track and trace will advise people if they have been inadvertently in contact with someone with Covid-19, and that they believe a sense of civil responsibility will make British people do this voluntarily, but fines may be applied if not.
    I actually think that most people will do this in spite of Dominic Cummings, but it was still a pretty bizarre press conference considering Boris and his cronies are sacrificing so much political goodwill to protect an advisor. As I recall there were a couple of high ranking officials who got caught breaking lockdown rules, and both resigned. Cummings however, was given the chance to use the rose garden in number 10 to offer a press conference to put his version of events, including the bizarre tale that he drove to Barnard Castle as a bizarre eye test, on his wife's birthday. Boris gave an interview where he stated the British public were tiring of the Cummings scandal. Probably true, but it's the Cabinet who are refusing to deal with it. Law makers cannot be law breakers, and they are doing the country no favours by wishing this away.
     
    #1050

  11. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Boris knows that if there are no new provable allegations, the public will tire of the Cummings story.
    By this time next week, most people will have consciously forgotten it.

    But it will have a permanent effect on their attitude towards the Government and (by association) all athorities.
    At first we were willing to believe that we were all in this together.
    Now, sadly and disappointingly, we know better.

    Even during this unprecedented pandemic crisis there is still an Elite, and the Elite can still do as they please.
    When one of them is caught out, Heaven, Earth, History and Reality itself is rewritten in order to protect him.
    One law for us, one law for them.

    I feel sorry for all the people who have been forced to stay away as beloved relatives died.
    All the people who obeyed the spirit and letter of lockdown rules, at the cost of real personal distress.
    Their resentment at being played for fools will burn hot for a long time. They have been deeply wronged.
    But for most of us, there is just resignation to the abiding truth.

    In one respect our society never departed from the 'Old normal'.
    All the 'Dunkirk spirit' talk of all of us all being in it together was so much b***s***.
    We must do as they say, not as they do.

    It is no coincidence that Matt Hancock was appealing to people not to obey test & trace rules for the Government, but for each other.
    He knows the bond of trust has been broken.


    I'll have to think seriously about whether or not I'm going to self isolate for 14 days when an app on my mobile tells me to.
    How many of the Elite are going to receive or obey such messages?
    Not many I should think.
     
    #1051
  12. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    the Durham Constabulary has sat down, had a cup of tea, and mulled things over.
    Here is their conclusion...

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52835982

    If driving 30 miles to a beauty spot, taking a stroll by the river, driving 30 miles back again, stopping off on the way for a wee and a walk in the woods, is maybe a minor breach of the lockdown rules, I wonder what the Rozzers in Co. Durham would regard as a major breach.

    Probably something like letting your kids play in your own front garden.
    Or having some non-essential food items in your shopping trolley.
    The very depths of criminality.

    "Member of the Elite going about his business. Move along, nothing to see here." :police:
     
    #1052
  13. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Tonight is going to be the last Clap for Carers.

    They say it is sending out the wrong message.
    That it makes people complacent.
    That it is an empty show.

    Oh dear.
    First we couldn't even understand the rules.
    Now our weekly few minutes of gratitude for the sacrifice of NHS staff and care workers is no longer politically correct.

    For the first time I am beginning to wonder whether too much of our freedom has been surrendered.
    Corporal Jones would never have had thoughts like this.
    Time for me to put away my dream of togetherness in the face of adversity, and choose a new avatar.
     
    #1053
  14. Ken Shabby

    Ken Shabby Well-Known Member

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    We had our last clap for the hospital staff ten days ago. Doesn't mean we've forgotten I hope. Hopefully if we have a second wave the Spanish government will have stockpiled enough ppe so the staff don't end up dying the way they did this time. But competence has not been a hallmatknof the response from the government here.
     
    #1054
  15. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    It's been the same here.

    The mistakes have been accumulating, but transparency and honesty has not. Those things have diminished, along with trust and a sense of unity.
    Now some questions cannot be asked. Educated people with minds of their own are prevented from speaking for themselves.

    Freedom to behave and freedom to think are not one and the same thing.
    We have voluntarily given up the former for the common good. But the latter seems not to be held in much regard anymore - by those who told us we were all in this together, then clearly demonstrated that we are anything but.
     
    #1055
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  16. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    A word of caution;

    The 24 hour recorded COVID death rates show that yesterday and the day before, the numbers were higher than the same day one week ago.
    This may not mean that infection rates are actually rising again, but I fear it means the infection rate has virtually stopped falling.

    Officially, we are being told now that R is between 0.7 and 0.9
    I think that is a pretty optimistic estimate.
    Especially the 0.7 end of that scale. Frankly I cannot believe that.
    I suspect that R is actually only a tiny fraction under 1, or may actually be 1

    A flattening of the downward curve in infection & mortality rates is only to be expected.
    But if the rates are going to flatten out at around 1,000 COVID19 deaths per week, that is far too high in my opinion.

    The Coronavirus mortality rates in Spain and Italy have been around or lower than 100 per day for at least a week.

    If the UK is supposed to be about a fortnight behind those countries, we should be seeing daily mortality rates in the UK dropping below 100 per day within the next week to 10 days.
    And not just a dip below 100 for an isolated day or two.
    A sustained drop in the numbers.

    If that does not happen, questions must be asked.

    An indefinite 'background' level of Coronavirus deaths of 1,000 per week in this country will be totally unacceptable.
    We must not allow ourselves to be persuaded that it just can't be helped.
     
    #1056
    Last edited: May 29, 2020
  17. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Coronavirus BIG :emoticon-0152-heart HEART award ... 29th May

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52847131

    Nationwide Building Society

    If you need to use the latest Mortgage Holiday, they think it should affect your credit rating.

    :emoticon-0164-cash: Gets you right there, doesn't it?

    The Nationwide's pre-tax profits fell from £833 million to £466 million.
    <wah> No really, I've just got something in my eye (sniff).
     
    #1057
  18. Ken Shabby

    Ken Shabby Well-Known Member

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    I believe I saw we had 1 death here in Spain yesterday due to Covid-19 - I'm not certain but the cases are right down. We are currently starting to ease out of lock down. There will be some school activity in june, but mainly concentrated on children in the last years of primary or secondary education. My younger daughter is 10 and has one morning of class scheduled on a voluntary basis next month on june 8th. As the UK were a couple of weeks behind Spain, I don't see exactly why there is this sudden rush to catch up. I know the economy needs movement, but a second wave and another lockdown will be a lot more damaging. The one thing I noted today was that the estimate for the population having contracted coronavirus in Spain is around 5%. That means approximately 95% of the country has no antibodies or resistance. Spain were earlier saying tourism (a major part of the economy) Will be purely national this summer, and international visitors will be allowed to return later in the year. That suddenly jumped to july 1st recently. I imagine the idea is to get the furloughed staff off the books and back to work, but it's not really going to be that easy. Fear will keep a lot of people from travelling this year, so bookings will be very limited, and with little income, most hotels and businesses in travel won't be able to pay staff to sit around staring at a blank screen. Add to that the problems with immunity and the low rate which Covid-19 actually penetrated the population, and we could also be facing another spike. I was expecting one when I saw all the people without masks earlier this month and it hasn't really happened, so if I'm being a doom-monger, I'll be happy to be proved wrong. But that 5% number bugs me. Another lock down Will cause untold misery for people in hardship.
     
    #1058
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  19. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    I'm getting tired to the Government putting artificial times on imminent changes to the lockdown rules.

    If they have decreed that is is safe for up to 6 people from two different households to meet, then it is safe now.
    Not suddenly as if by magic on Monday morning.

    The only reason to impose a start date or time on things like this, is to needlessly demonstrate that they are still in charge, and they have the power to tell us when we can do this or that, and when we cannot.
    There is no scientific basis whatsoever for the arbitrary setting of these times.
    The virus isn't going to care if it's 23:59 on Sunday night or 00:01 on Monday morning.

    I can understand longer term set dates, such as shops to re-open in 3 weeks etc.
    But announcing on a Thursday that families from different households can meet up again, but telling people not to do it until the following Monday (with another weekend of lovely weather inbetween) makes no sense.
    A lot of key workers and other working folk may have time off this weekend, but are back at the grindstone again on Monday morning. So they possibly won't be able to meet with family for a whole extra week.

    These imposed times are just our leaders reminding us of their "because I say so" authority, as if we are a bunch of primary school kids.
     
    #1059
  20. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Coronavirus: Pilot flew to Anglesey 'to go to the beach'

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-52849560

    It wasn't a baldy bloke with nerdy glasses and a bad attitude was it? <laugh>
    If so, he might have commited a minor breach of the rules.
    Nothing worth following up though.
     
    #1060

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