Off Topic Coronavirus

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Steelmonkey said:
Some companies have definately used this to their own advantage. A good friend has just been told he will be redundant as soon as the furlough scheme is finished - not sure on the size of his company but they deal in industrial waste management and have depots all over the north so must be a decent size. I thought furlough was supposed to ensure that these companies survived and people had jobs to go back to once it is deemed safe to return to work?
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The trouble is there does need to be a sustainable business to go back to. If businesses have used this to keep people on instead of make them redundant you could argue they were at least ensuring the worker got 80% of their pay whilst being furloughed. If they had been redundant they will have only got benefit and any redundancy pay will still be payable now or in the future. Some probably have deferred the decision based on that rationale.
 
There's a grey area in the Furlough where people can work safely for their employer but the amount of work is reduced. In such a case, I can't blame a company for getting the help (although morally they should top up wages beyond 80%).

The redundancy aspect is also a grey area but since it should be about neutral (80% in, 80% out plus ER NI) then there is no reason for redundancy during lock down and I think companies should have to repay any Furlough claimed if they make employees redundant (unless they declare that the company is going under).
 
sb_73 said:
Do you really believe that Beth? That it’s human nature to cheat others?

I don’t, I just think some people are ****s who require a bit of re-education.

Oops, bit OTT. Just a phrase that pisses me off. Sorry.
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I am not going to say cheat, but use the system to their advantage. You could say that is neccessary for the good of their own company. So we the tax payers pay/will pay for many years to come for these workers, when some firms take government money when they could take some of the "hit" themselves...Costa, McD etc..

I am not as trusting as you are I am afraid. I think there are too many people are ****s who require a bit of re-education.
 
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sb_73 said:
Well hold on there young man.....every pub, restaurant, shop or other business that is closed down with staff on furlough is closed down because the government told them to shut, so it is a situation of the government’s doing - it might have been the right decision but it was their decision and others were available - Sweden and it seems Germany from what I have been reading have kept many more businesses working. Admittedly some businesses like airlines, will have been impacted by other governments as well.

I have a responsibility/accountability buzz going today. It may well become irritating, perhaps I should be ignored.
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Never thought of it like that.....yeah does make sense. However the fact that these companies are now putting up plans of making many of their staff redundant and then outsourcing the work, so getting workers in cheaper wages, makes a mockery of why the scheme was set up in the first place.

Of course my view is jaded through my hatred of big business.
 
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Boris announces 200,000 tests before end of May.
And before stroller nags me again, we have only acheived 100,000 so far on 1 day that being 30th April, when 40,000 home tests kits were sent out. (Perhaps today will be the second day who knows?)

The testing is being confounded by a large amount of tests coming back unclear, which in some cases is caused by the difficulty of doing the home kit yourself. Imagine stickin a stick down the back of your throat and rubbing it around (The USA have a saliva kit, but we decided not to buy it)

There is now a new problem, it appears the CoVid is a rapid mutator, which could well mess up the test kit we now have.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52557955

Got to say life is not easy being a scientist
 
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CroydonCaptainJack said:
You can ask all you want mate. I am not looking to have some sort of game with people who seem absolutely intent on slagging off virtually everything the Government does. Its not a binary situation as far as I'm concerned or a political one. My stance would be similar whichever Government were in power. There's some really good posters on here but there are others clearly with an agenda. I think we have a long way to go on this issue yet and there is a lot we don't know. People are sniping without being in possession of all of the facts.
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Just have a gander at the death toll mate. Ask yourself how we locked down, when we locked down, who we locked down, what we kept open, where we kept open etc etc etc. I'm the same as you though, I would be like this with any government who had ****ed up and lied as much as this one.
 
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Staines R's said:
Maybe you should of said that then fella. It was honestly a genuine question to you with absolutely no agenda. As you might of noticed (maybe not) I was quite happy to take on board from others the positives that they saw (like the Hospital).....maybe you can’t think of anymore.
Have a good day
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Nobody does have any. I asked about 50 pages back yet it's not the governments fault.
 
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qprbeth said:
I'm hearing on my (other ) grapevine...and so it may not be true...that the furlough scheme is going to be cut on sunday down to 60%

If they still keep in lockdown in place that is a guarantee that it will quickly crumble (mind you it is already crumbling) badly here) as many firms and employees will not take that, and people will go back to work.

Booris said at PMQT that he would take some measures on Sunday that will come in to place immediately/the next day. I wonder what those could be
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Heard that also. The whole thing will come tumbling down on them
 
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bobmid said:
Heard that also. The whole thing will come tumbling down on them
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I really do not want the furlough scheme to come tumbling down on them.
As Stainsy said that scheme (although not perfect...but what scheme could be) is a godsend and the Nightingale Hospital are two positives things the government has done
 
sb_73 said:
Hancock on the wireless talking about potential rules for the over 70s and vulnerable post lockdown. Essentially he repeated the rules as they are now and didn’t say much about the future.

Anyone on here object if the government issues guidance or strong advice or whatever, and then allows individuals, no matter how vulnerable, to make their own minds up (or for their legal guardians to do it on their behalf if they are unable to make a decision)? Maintain social distancing rules for all, workplace rules, universally applicable stuff fine, beyond that, individuals make the call. Lots of discussion about the elderly and as Hancock says there is clear evidence that age is a risk factor. Also those with ‘underlying health conditions’ - but not all of those are in special measures for some reason.

If the over 70s and those already identified as vulnerable are told, rather than advised, that they can’t do things that everyone else can because they are at special risk, then I assume that ALL groups at particular risk (and we are sadly gathering lots of data on this) would be subject to the same rules (there is a lot of crossover between these groups, so the total number is less than the sum here) -
Over 70s (though the over 60s are at higher risk than younger people, so why not them too?) 10m over 65.
People with diabetes 3.5m
Heart disease 7.4m
COPD 1.2m
Asthma 5.4m
Overweight/obese - 63% of adults are overweight/obese, let’s be reckless and keep this to the obese - 29% of adults and 15% of kids. Got to be over 20 million. Keep those kids out of school!
As we have been told BAME, and especially black people, are at greater risk.
And so are men.

So, I’d be interested to hear from others what they think about the compulsory element of future rules aimed at different parts of the population, and also who they should be aimed at.

As I have mentioned before, if my Mum (and everyone else’s mum, dad, gran or whoever) isn’t allowed to make her own mind up based on sober and comprehensive information I will consider it to be an affront to civilisation.

Record numbers of the population have trust in the government apparently - 60%.
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sb
 
qprbeth said:
I am not going to say cheat, but use the system to their advantage. You could say that is neccessary for the good of their own company. So we the tax payers pay/will pay for many years to come for these workers, when some firms take government money when they could take some of the "hit" themselves...Costa, McD etc..

I am not as trusting as you are I am afraid. I think there are too many people are ****s who require a bit of re-education.
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Posh Spice?
 
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