Well done to Canada for refusing to send any athletes to Japan. the Olympics should have been called off weeks ago. No way should huge medical resources be diverted to support an indulgence. Call it off NOW.
A lot of people don't trust experts. Health and Safety is a dirty word for some people (OK 3 words). The woman at the beach who said she'd stop socialising when she developed a cough was a typical example. Tim Martin going on twitter to tell his followers that no transmissions take place in pubs will be believed by them ahead of government experts. Prior to the Coronavirus we've had the beginning of a measles and mumps epidemic because of people believing something on facebook ahead of the W.H.O. The fact that the doctor who started the scare has been struck off for malpractice cuts no ice. When experts tell us something we don't like it's very tempting to look to a more reassuring version from whoever.
Radio 4 Today has risen to the occasion. It’s consistently informative & packed with expert content. There was interview with a doctor this morning who carefully debunked the myth that you are less likely to catch it outdoors. The only time I switch off is during Thought for the Day. Two minutes of complete BS ...normally about how the Lord Jesus has foretold this great plague zzzzzz
I'm not allowed out. Full stop. The missus says I'm at risk because I have diabetes. All I want to do is head to Costa for one last flat white and cinnamon bun. The missus says I must focus on the weeds in the flowerbeds instead. My son wants to know about abstract nouns. My youngest daughter is badgering me on algebra. Day one of stasis is not going well.
Costa is closing from tonight @Ponders Revisited My independent Italian cafe is still getting a regular £15 a day from me - they are doing takeaways and putting meals in Tupperware containers for me. My three hobbies / leisure activities are Watching sport Betting on sport Smoking Only one left
How we took those simple pleasures in life for granted. For me ..as the train pulled into Bromley South station...guessing which of your hideously coloured coats you would be wearing that day. The sight of you ...like a little field mouse...standing on the platform with your XXL cup of Greggs tea. The delight of that half an hour diatribe about “apologists” and “pea brain” ...
Stop shouting. Firstly it wasn't anti tory. There are a lot of Tories (outside the cabinet - with the exception of the chancellor Rishi Sunak and Matt Hancock, both of whom are doing a very good job) who would do a better job than Boris. As you are so entrenched in backing Boris, I offer you this excerpt from the Times editorial, a paper that normaly will back the Conservatives, but has the saving grace that when they blunder the Times will speak out.. Perhaps you should write and tell them not to print it? "The truth is that [Boris Johnson’s] performance so far has been chequered. Since the start he has appeared behind the curve. Considerable time that could have been spent preparing for the crisis appears to have been squandered. The World Health Organisation first warned of the risk of a deadly global pandemic in mid-January, by which point the coronavirus was spreading rapidly in China and parts of Asia. Yet the government spent much of February apparently distracted with fights with some of Britain’s institutions, including the civil service, the judiciary and the BBC. Even at the time many questioned why the prime minister disappeared from view for a week in the middle of the month to his grace-and-favour home in Kent. He did not preside over his first Cobra meeting to discuss the crisis until March 3. Even as the scale became apparent, Mr Johnson’s response to it has been uneven. For the most of the first half of March, the official advice was simply to wash one’s hands. On March 12, as countries across Europe and the world closed schools, restaurants, bars and shops and introduced lockdowns and travel bans, the government merely advised that those ill with coronavirus symptoms should self-isolate for seven days ... Mr Johnson’s liberal instincts and reluctance to restrict civil liberties would normally be admirable. But dithering over whether to shut schools, bars and restaurants, combined with anonymous briefings warning of imminent lockdowns that are then ruled out by ministers, may have only made the crisis worse. Panicked shoppers have stripped supermarkets of supplies while many Londoners will have escaped to the country, almost certainly further spreading the virus. City traders say that doubts about Mr Johnson’s response contributed to the run on sterling. Britain’s death toll is now at the same level as Italy’s two weeks ago, yet already one hospital says that it has been overwhelmed and the NHS is warning of shortages of ventilators and protective clothing ... And if the government is forced to introduce even more stringent restrictions to halt an escalating epidemic, they may ask why they weren’t introduced sooner, as they have been in much of the rest of the world. The country needs to know that Mr Johnson has a coherent strategy. Otherwise the prime minister who dreamt of being Churchill may find himself cast as Neville Chamberlain."
Good reply Ken. I don't entirely agree with some of it, but it is well stated. In a nutshell there is no 'right' way to deal with this crisis. Too draconian - backlash, possibly riots, people will ignore restrictions out of a sense of injustice. Too lenient - folks don't take it seriously, so the virus spreads faster. The Government is doing the best it can think. It is up to us to use our common sense. That, like wisdom, often comes only with age and experience.
Lockdown in 24 hours if he is to say the right thing. Anything else he is surely delaying the inevitable.
