The bit about where the hospitals are isn't really that much of a surprise. The only surprise is that someone in Parliament knew that Liverpool and Sheffield are pretty much halfway between north and south by road, and that Newcastle and London are pretty much equal distances away from each of them by road. Makes sense in terms of having 2 in the middle of the country and 1 up north and 1 down south. I just wish they'd remember this when it came to investment. Instead they count lobbing a few quid the way of Liverpool. Manchester, Sheffield and the like as investing in 'the north' and forgetting about the 200 miles of England north of those points. As for not having any of the hospitals in Scotland or Wales, the health service is one of the devolved powers so they will need to announce their own designated hospitals.
If you wish to give to charity, then local do-gooders are about as good as you're likely to get if people are concerned about the money potentially being creamed off ahead of the final point of support. After all, charity really ought to begin at home and most people would prefer to know that their hard earned cash is going to people in their community. As for giving to poverty/disaster regions, the big TV appeals have accountability and are pro-active, or at least reasonably quick in the case of disaster-response. Otherwise, there are many organisations out there that do a great deal of good in the world, genuinely assisting people in real need. (an internet search will tell you what they do and how much gets there is publicised by the more respected organisations) These people are not tree-huggers, but, and speaking from experience, professionals in the main, eg Plan, Medicines sans Frontiers etc. For sure there is a charity 'business' out there too and there are countless examples of charitable or donor Aid-related projects that vary from the ridiculous, bordering-on-hilarious to the pitiful and incomprehensible. Nevertheless, not every volunteer dons a smelly Afghan and ill-kempt beard, although many who I have come across are naiive and a Westerner feeding their own cultural narcissism. However, the better organisations eg, VSO UK/ the US Peace Corps, vet, prepare people and train them with clear expectations and many have a rewarding experience with a relevant cultural exchange. What I'm saying here is that its easy to knock charities and Foreign Aid, for instance the mass free distribution of mosquito nets in Africa in recent years was very successful and highly cost-effective. If people wish to volunteer their own funds to support charities, I respect them for that, if you don't, that's your choice and I can leave that with you, but please do not mock those that do.
Fair enough, but I will continue to mock those who do, as I'm not mocking their will or intent, but their stupidity.
No, the answer is to call an urgent meeting of Cobblers, sorry Coobra, then everything is OK, next!!! Then if it goes tits up you have someone else to blame it really is Yes Minister without old Nigel.
I will be doing placement work in the RVI soon, and have just been informed that after one of the London hospitals, the RVI is going to be the main hub for Ebola treatment *gulp*
I know well the annoying ****s who think they're martyrs to the cause, most of them need to to be shot -however, ...Collectively we can make a difference, the Fair Trade label for instance Back to topic, this is already an international issue that now requires an international response. I feel sorry for our 'combat' troops, I'd imagine their key role is to set up and maintain isolation units and field hospitals. A well disciplined professional unit, I could think of none I would rather trust than British servicemen/women to be part of our response team. May they all return safely
If a single ordinary serviceman is infected they should sue the MOD to eternity. I'd love to see the small print where it says, "We reserve the right to send you to far flung 3rd world hell holes to help fight a virus even renowned experts don't fully understand."
Probably end up like 28 Days Later. If they try to close the borders will end up with a bunch of ****ing hippies with three inch long teeth jutting out at unnatural angles & wooly jumpers with holes all over protesting with the stupid ****ing banners and their greasy rat tail hair stinking of ****. They'll not care if it kills thousands from this country as long as they've done their bit to uphold their warped ****ing morality in their stupid knit infested acne covered heeds.
some stupid ****er sneezed on a plane - a 'jokes' he's got Ebola - a few hours later [video=youtube;LJhWVsx1U8c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJhWVsx1U8c#t=473[/video]
Kudos to the stewardess calm and collected, kept the passengers informed so no one panicked. Then delivered the killer "He's just an idiot!" hahaha "I aint from Africa" What a wally, he may have to move to Africa after the media latch on to him. And I must have had a premonition about the HazMats.
Is someone taking the piss regarding these 'screening measure' at Heathrow. 'Suspects' will have their temperature taken and, best of all, be given a medical questionnaire to fill in! Well that's certainly put my mind at rest, no virus can get round an NHS questionnaire FFS, we're told that this virus can life on clothes, hair, skin, etc for days ..... what's the point of taking someone's temperature?
I agree there's no point! as you rightly know its purely a speculative political gesture - stopping travel in and out of the main infected countries until the outbreak is contained (WHO stating up to 9 months to year for that to happen) would be the safest and only workable solution - obviously that would impinge on peoples rights to travel - but that will ultimately spread the infection worldwide
Would it not make sense, once this **** has been sorted one way or another to re-assess our international-aid contribution to superpowers like ****ing India and assign these funds to places like Liberia, S-Leone and such other ****holes to make it our aim to give the poor bastards access to clean running water? We and other nations continue to line the pockets of countries who do not need international aid, stupid overseas projects in developed countries and daft 'sand bag' money for Pakistani flood victims. Why can't we assign the money so it's in our ****ing interest instead, give it to a bunch of international project workers who can actually start to find solutions rather than patching it up.
