Off Topic Coronavirus and NOTHING to do with football thread

As one of those involved in SPI-B, the Government advisory group on behavioural science, I can say that in a few short minutes tonight, Boris Johnson has trashed all the advice we have given on how to build trust and secure adherence to the measures necessary to control COVID-19. Be open and honest, we said. Trashed. Respect the public, we said. Trashed Ensure equity, so everyone is treated the same, we said. Trashed. Be consistent we said. Trashed. Make clear 'we are all in it together'. Trashed.
Stephen Reicher

 

Même dans la patrie de George Orwell certains se croient toujours plus égaux que d'autres

Even in the homeland of George Orwell, some still believe they are more equal than others

 

The should set the example... Not good role models at all eh..

 

This is the sort of thing I'd expect from moscow mitch, Barr and so on across the pond. Our democracy, such that it is, is properly in the ****.

 

With the news that Weston General Hospital due to the high number of patients with the coronavirus has had to close its doors, I wonder if the VE Day celebrations on the 8th May had anything to do with this. We certainly did see pictures of people taking no notice of the lockdown rules.

 

1.2 million people fined for breaking the lockdown rules in France shows the natural instinct is to return to normal as soon as possible. I'm sure people everywhere are not isolating properly except maybe China where any potential law breakers know they could disappear forever if found cheating the rules.

 

I have no idea why you seem to think that a question about a hospital and a bank holiday in England has anything else to do with foreign countries.

 

This is not a question about what the regime will do to you if found cheating the rules, but rather one of contrasting cultures. The Asian mindset is more orientated towards collective responsibility - ie. you have a duty to remain healthy so as not to infect other people. Try going onto a Japanese or Korean train without a mask then other passengers will censure you for it. Unfortunately many Westerners want to rip off their masks to show how supposedly 'free' they are, however this is not freedom - just a lack of responsibility for others.

 

You questioned whether pictures you saw of people breaking lockdown rules had anything to do with extra patients at a hospital. I merely pointed out that people everywhere are breaking lockdown rules. I'm not sure anywhere has the vast number of miscreants as France if going by the vast number of fines issued there.

 

Did you not see recent films of the Chinese police manhandling folk into the back of police vans.?

 

I'm not defending Chinese police policy SH, just saying that Asian collective responsibility is different !

 

It may well be that more French, and Germans, are breaking social distancing rules - partly because their laws are more rigid than in the UK. Secondly because both countries are over the curve - yesterday France only had 250 new cases compared to Britain's 2,405. Britain has 260,000 active cases - France only 89,600 and Germany around 10,000. So these countries know that they are winning the battle - Britain does not yet have this luxury.

 

I don't know what the lockdown rules were/are in Germany, but as I explained quite often on here the rules were strict in France. Go to the shops and forget to print off and fill in your permit brought about an automatic fine if you were stopped. In the UK there was a mixed message of what you could do or not and the police were left without clear guidelines. This week we expect to get a few more relaxations on the rules, but they have been slow and measured so far. It appears to most of the French press and comments I see, that the UK is rushing to open up while they are still way behind most of Europe in getting things under control.

 

Either the French failed to understand the rules or just ignored them to have so many offenders.

 

Why are there demonstrations against the German and French government's handling of the pandemic?

 

I can't answer for France here - in Germany it is difficult to maintain a lockdown when people know that cases are falling so rapidly and the death rate is low. In Germany there is also the problem that there is something of a power struggle going on between the competencies of central and state governments. So people see restrictions lifted in eg. Saxony and Thuringia and want the same for themselves.

 

Cummings to make a public statement at 4:00pm about his 'alleged' breaking of the lockdown rules.

Ironically, if he does, he'll be breaking the rules for special advisers...

 

Merkel's authority never recovered after she flooded Europe with immigrants without consulting any of her fellow EU leaders. The AfD was the direct result of this blunder.

 

Can you stick to the topic please ? It is obvious that you do not understand the relationship between the individual states in Germany and the federal government in Berlin. What has emerged is that Merkel is getting more support from the opposition parties on this than from her own party. Obviously many people want the restrictions lifted (particularly when the numbers of new cases are so low) and many politicians are happy to cash in on this bandwagon in order to gain popularity. As for the opening of German borders to refugees - this has nothing whatsoever to do with the subject. They did not bring this disease to Germany !

 

You cannot deny her popularity and authority diminished considerably by that poor decision. Her political opponents sensed new opportunities to oppose her ideas, she lost that air of invincibility. I disagree that her present lack of authority is not connected to coronavirus, everything changes from such an event.