Yes, I think we've beaten it here in the UK. As long as we keep getting vaccine boosters and possibly take temporary measures each winter (social distancing & masks in supermarkets) we should be able to keep Coronavirus down to 'Flu-like' levels of serious illness. Unfortunately I think much of the rest of the world will take over a year to catch up with us. This means (in my view) travel to 'red zone' countries should be banned outright, and travel to 'amber zone' countries should be strictly policed. That is bad news for the air tourism industry. But it's the price of having our freedom to live our lives again. Countries like Brazil are a big worry. There is talk of new vaccine resistant strains cropping up because the virus is totally out of control there. And I hear it's accelerating in India as well. I fear huge resources will be needed from countries like the UK, US and some wealthy East Asian nations, to develop an international medical force to go in and save civilian populations from decimation. This may have to be backed up by UN military strength.
Yes India's figures are alarming at the moment and considering their population size that could go really wrong. Turkey also recording new daily highs each day and Brazil's deaths are awful. France still struggling badly as are Poland, Italy and several South American countries on their way back up. Leaving the EU and thus gaining autonomy in relation to vaccines really has worked very well for us. More by luck than judgement in relation to Covid I concede.
I wouldn't underestimate this clever little virus, which will be with us for a long time to come according to the government's top advisors.
Unfortunately it looks like we'll be having potential pandemics roughly every 5 to 8 years from now on. Our population and the amount of international air tourism makes it inevitable. What I won't accept though is a permanent curtailment of freedoms to go about our daily lives. We must work together to stop international leisure travel quickly in future when new diseases appear. Then give the country in question all the help it needs to contain, treat and develop vaccines. But we cannot have global lockdowns all the time. Not if we want to live in a free world rather than a global dictatorship.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/huge-primark-queues-shops-reopen-23896406 Jesus Christ ! What is wrong with everyone. Can someone please explain why it is so imperative to queue outside Primark an hour before the store opens on the first day of restriction easing ? Nothing wrong with Primark, but why o why do they all need to go there on the first day. What life changing items have they all been waiting for exactly
Compulsive tat shoppers. Some people live for it I suppose. Didn't realise how hooked they were until somebody made them go cold turkey. Similar to those folks who went to Pubs at midnight I guess. Yes, we've all missed a sociable drink. But sitting in a pub garden with frozen knackers at 1am? - bit extreme.
Newquay is hottest sellers' market, says Rightmove https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56734468 I don't place much store by what internet traders say, but I expect this outfit is not wrong. And it's hardly surprising really. Cities are now seen as centres of disease, not interesting cosmopolitan places to live. The centre of London is more or less a ghost town now. Strangled to death by traffic killing measures among other things. The centre of Birmingham is the worst home market in the UK. The folks who have enough money are preparing for the next few pandemics by buying up homes in rural havens. I expect they'll study local laws too, to ensure they can still hunker down in their bolt holes if any future lockdowns are announced.
I went Swimming for the first time since lockdown. I felt like a kid again. It was great to do something different. Will be getting back to drama soon as well. But it is important that we are sensible. What we don't want is another lockdown.
The thought of sitting outside a pub in the cold paying 6-50 for a pint isn't that attractive a proposition.
My home brew has gone up to 45p a pint. Mind you that's for a pint of special at 4.5% og. It's still 40p a pint of best at 4%.