He has a lot in common with our own UK Premier then!
Off Topic Coronavirus
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He has a lot in common with our own UK Premier then!
He/She has a lot in common with many a Premier me thinks. I got a first dose of Pfizer yesterday, thanks maybe to Mr Biden. But they wouldn't give it to my wife because she's not a foreigner.
FFS….due on night shift tonight but had a niggly cough since yesterday afternoon that is constant and won’t go away.
No temperature and LatFlo test comes back as negative……but still have to go off work until I get a PCR to confirm.
I can really understand the reasoning but I’d rather not lose the shift pay.
No temperature and LatFlo test comes back as negative……but still have to go off work until I get a PCR to confirm.
I can really understand the reasoning but I’d rather not lose the shift pay.
Its going the rounds Stainsey.
Me too...
But at least I don't have to worry about work now....but since we came out of lockdown my family have caught Coronovirus, Norovirus, a proper cold, a flu like disorder and now this bloody cough that I've had for a week, after one day of a light runny nose.
I rather like being shut up in a house for a tlyear for keeping healthy
Yes... Me and my non Covid but niggly cough are going.
Beware Stan!!!
...mind you ...you missed getting Covid from me last time we were both there.
That was a mystery
l had a irritating little half cough so to speak for about 5 weeks now.
Had all the test, been to a squillion doctors etc for others things but can’t get rid of it.
Had another procedure in hospital yesterday and hoping they wouldn’t refuse me.
Luckily, l barely coughed in there. When it starts, l’m good for at least half a dozen.
A lot of people l know are the same.
Zero Covid has torn Australia apart
We’re not learning to live with the virus, we’re learning to live with authoritarianism.
JAMES BOLT
29th September 2021
Share
POLITICSWORLD
Back in the summer, as the rest of the world was opening up, state after state in Australia started to impose new restrictions to deal with a handful of Covid cases. It turned us into a global laughing stock. No one is laughing now.
Time was when, even in Melbourne, we could chuckle at the absurdity of our Covid rules. We were told we could remove our face masks – still mandatory indoors and outdoors – in order to drink a coffee, but not to drink a beer. We were also told that if we lived with five other adults, we were not allowed to all leave the house in one group. Indoors, we were no risk to each other, but outside we were apparently a viral petri dish.
Laughter has since turned into anger. After over 230 days of hard lockdown, whatever was left of Melbourne’s social fabric has gone. And the city has been rocked by weeks of protests and violence.
On 17 September, the Victorian government announced that it would be mandating vaccinations for the construction industry. It gave construction workers six days to get their first jab or be banned from working. Unsurprisingly, not all construction workers were pleased about this. They took their anger out on their union the following Monday by protesting outside its offices. The union bizarrely claimed that the protest was made up of far-right and neo-Nazi agitators. Just as bizarrely, the Victorian government then decided to close the entire construction industry for two weeks. Even the vaccinated were banned from working. The protesters were back in bigger numbers the next day, drawing in people from many other walks of life.
The police took a very hard line. Videos of police brutality have swept the world. An old lady was pushed to the ground and was pepper sprayed in the face. A man peacefully talking to police officers at a train station was tackled from behind by another officer, his head smashing into the hard ground. Police have fired rubber bullets at protesters, too.
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The violence hasn’t only come from the police, though. Another video circulating online shows just a single line of police officers standing shoulder to shoulder, attempting to stop an unruly crowd of hundreds. The crowd broke through. Numerous officers were hospitalised following the chaos that day.
This is the price of our ‘victory’ against Covid. Yes, our Covid deaths are low – far lower than the rest of the world. But how much longer can we live like this?
Well, Melbournians have been ordered to live like this until 26 October at the earliest. That’s when Melbourne’s sixth lockdown is scheduled to end – though you would be lucky to find a single person who thinks it will actually end on that day. By then, Melbourne will have been locked down for longer than any other city on the planet.
We got to this point because our leaders have been chasing the goal of Zero Covid. The successes of 2020 went to their heads and they believed they could do what no other country has done: eliminate the virus. This mindset was what drove Melbourne into lockdown on 5 August after recording just eight cases. It has been in lockdown ever since.
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There are some signs of hope, however. Victoria’s state premier, Daniel Andrews, has acknowledged that the Delta variant is too virulent to be eliminated. He now says that Victorians will have to learn to live with Covid.
Andrews’ words are promising, but his actions do not match them. Melbourne is not learning to live with the virus – it is learning to live with authoritarianism. Living with the virus means being allowed to gather in groups, to be with other humans, to enjoy all that life has to offer: music, art, film, sport, going out at night. All of these activities are still either heavily restricted or outright banned. On what planet is complying with a 9pm curfew ‘living with Covid’?
Those who support the restrictions always say that we have not given out enough vaccines to be able to live with Covid yet. But Victoria likely won’t meet its vaccination targets until some time in November. Only then will people be able to go to each other’s houses and take off their masks in public.
While the dream of Zero Covid is dead on paper, we are still trying to contain Covid at all costs. People who have already been pushed beyond the brink are still suffering under draconian restrictions on every aspect of life.
As Australians see their fellow countrymen being pepper sprayed, surrounded by shuttered businesses, they despair at the legacy that Zero Covid has left for their once-great nation.
James Bolt is a producer with Sky News Australia.
We’re not learning to live with the virus, we’re learning to live with authoritarianism.
JAMES BOLT
29th September 2021
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Share
POLITICSWORLD
Back in the summer, as the rest of the world was opening up, state after state in Australia started to impose new restrictions to deal with a handful of Covid cases. It turned us into a global laughing stock. No one is laughing now.
Time was when, even in Melbourne, we could chuckle at the absurdity of our Covid rules. We were told we could remove our face masks – still mandatory indoors and outdoors – in order to drink a coffee, but not to drink a beer. We were also told that if we lived with five other adults, we were not allowed to all leave the house in one group. Indoors, we were no risk to each other, but outside we were apparently a viral petri dish.
Laughter has since turned into anger. After over 230 days of hard lockdown, whatever was left of Melbourne’s social fabric has gone. And the city has been rocked by weeks of protests and violence.
On 17 September, the Victorian government announced that it would be mandating vaccinations for the construction industry. It gave construction workers six days to get their first jab or be banned from working. Unsurprisingly, not all construction workers were pleased about this. They took their anger out on their union the following Monday by protesting outside its offices. The union bizarrely claimed that the protest was made up of far-right and neo-Nazi agitators. Just as bizarrely, the Victorian government then decided to close the entire construction industry for two weeks. Even the vaccinated were banned from working. The protesters were back in bigger numbers the next day, drawing in people from many other walks of life.
The police took a very hard line. Videos of police brutality have swept the world. An old lady was pushed to the ground and was pepper sprayed in the face. A man peacefully talking to police officers at a train station was tackled from behind by another officer, his head smashing into the hard ground. Police have fired rubber bullets at protesters, too.
You must log in or register to see images
PODCAST
The slow, painful death of Labour
SPIKED
The violence hasn’t only come from the police, though. Another video circulating online shows just a single line of police officers standing shoulder to shoulder, attempting to stop an unruly crowd of hundreds. The crowd broke through. Numerous officers were hospitalised following the chaos that day.
This is the price of our ‘victory’ against Covid. Yes, our Covid deaths are low – far lower than the rest of the world. But how much longer can we live like this?
Well, Melbournians have been ordered to live like this until 26 October at the earliest. That’s when Melbourne’s sixth lockdown is scheduled to end – though you would be lucky to find a single person who thinks it will actually end on that day. By then, Melbourne will have been locked down for longer than any other city on the planet.
We got to this point because our leaders have been chasing the goal of Zero Covid. The successes of 2020 went to their heads and they believed they could do what no other country has done: eliminate the virus. This mindset was what drove Melbourne into lockdown on 5 August after recording just eight cases. It has been in lockdown ever since.
You must log in or register to see images
PODCAST
A world gone mad
SPIKED
There are some signs of hope, however. Victoria’s state premier, Daniel Andrews, has acknowledged that the Delta variant is too virulent to be eliminated. He now says that Victorians will have to learn to live with Covid.
Andrews’ words are promising, but his actions do not match them. Melbourne is not learning to live with the virus – it is learning to live with authoritarianism. Living with the virus means being allowed to gather in groups, to be with other humans, to enjoy all that life has to offer: music, art, film, sport, going out at night. All of these activities are still either heavily restricted or outright banned. On what planet is complying with a 9pm curfew ‘living with Covid’?
Those who support the restrictions always say that we have not given out enough vaccines to be able to live with Covid yet. But Victoria likely won’t meet its vaccination targets until some time in November. Only then will people be able to go to each other’s houses and take off their masks in public.
While the dream of Zero Covid is dead on paper, we are still trying to contain Covid at all costs. People who have already been pushed beyond the brink are still suffering under draconian restrictions on every aspect of life.
As Australians see their fellow countrymen being pepper sprayed, surrounded by shuttered businesses, they despair at the legacy that Zero Covid has left for their once-great nation.
James Bolt is a producer with Sky News Australia.
All four of my grandchildren have had a vomiting and diarrhoea bug in the last couple of weeks, which we at first thought was probably Norovirus, but the symptoms lasted over a week. Turns out these are Covid symptoms in children.
Thanks, they all seem fine now.
thanks for posting Kiwi. Melbourne was once the world’s most liveable city, but now the world’s most locked down. It genuinely sucks.
we are in utter disbelief at how the state is being managed (or not); one man is responsible for this. We watch what’s going on in the rest of the world and other parts of Australia and cannot fathom why we are in this awful situation.
to be honest, I’m luckier than most; my kids moved out and left us in a decent house in a nice suburb, where working from home is not a massive inconvenience. It’s not ideal but it’s better than a lot of other people’s situations.
But we can’t do much other than work, go for walks and bike rides (no further than 15km from home) and last week we were allowed to play tennis and golf in 2s with toilets closed down. Bonkers.
Came here 25 years ago and have not regretted the decision at all, but it’s wearing thin. Had a lovely walk earlier, by the beach with a mate, lamenting that we couldn’t go anywhere for a cold beer (or wine), not even to each other’s houses. We are both fully vaxxed and under strict guidelines regarding public safety.
Rant over… URssss
It does seem like what worked so well originally is now looking grimly austere and authoritarian. But I suppose the Aussie politicians will point at 1,357 deaths v over 136,000 in the U.K. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but Melbourne is an outlier in Oz, isn’t it - most places haven’t locked down half as much as Europe, it’s the ban on travel which is significantly different.
Having been out and about a bit over the last few days it seems to me that there are very few precautions taking place in England at least. Collapse of mask wearing (including me) except on the tube, and even there it is far from comprehensive, even though it’s meant to be mandatory. Yesterday we had the highest recorded number of daily infections in the world - including the US, India etc. It really doesn’t matter as long as hospitalisations are steady or falling, but for some reason the BBC is no longer sharing these, though the last I heard they were going down again, but still coming up to 7,000 people in hospital. Death rate far below previous waves though, thanks to the vaccines.
Personally, though there are risks and I would love to see a far lower infection rate, I think we are exhausted with restrictions and reimposing them wouldn’t work. As long as the NHS doesn’t collapse (fingers crossed for flu season) I think the mantra will be ‘learn to live with it’. Of course that is easier for some than others (the still vulnerable), but surely our focus must now be on helping the rest of the world get jabbed?
Have to feel for you, mate.
As you would know, we have fared better up in Queensland but our self centred Premier, ( who known to let sporting teams in but not locked out Queenslanders back ) is equally despised as her Victorian counterpart.
Hope you get a turn for the better.
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Dr. Eli David
@DrEliDavid
·
Oct 7
A friend in Israel is double vaccinated, 7 months ago.
His Covid pass was revoked this week as he didn't take the booster.
He did an antibody test yesterday.
Results below: high antibodies.
But he can get his Covid pass back only if he gets the booster, which he doesn't need.
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