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Post by olliebean on Sept 16, 2020 15:25:34 GMT
That would be fine if there was a working test track and trace system, not to mention a Universal Basic Income so people can isolate/choose not to go out without fear of financial repercussions and where will the money for a Universal Basic Income come from? It doesn't grow on trees. While you're about it, ask yourself where did all the money we already have come from?
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Post by olliebean on Sept 13, 2020 10:44:35 GMT
It’s the inevitable endgame of a decadent politics that has the avoidance of responsibility at its heart. Blame is always somewhere else (why scapegoating and demonisation of ‘the other’ are often bedfellows). Populism is its dying spasm, where grievance takes the place of policy. When nothing matters, anything goes. Yes, I've found it's a fairly good rule of thumb with this government, when the question arises "Why are they doing this?" to replace it with the question "How does this allow them to blame somebody else?"
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Brexit
Sept 13, 2020 10:08:32 GMT
Post by olliebean on Sept 13, 2020 10:08:32 GMT
At least two of the ERG stated ages ago that the only way Johnson had been able to get them to vote for the Withdrawal Agreement was by promising them he would break it; so really the only surprising thing about this is the open admission of the intention to do so, and to break international law in the process. My guess would be the plan is to provoke a no-deal response from the EU, so they can be blamed for the ultimate failure to exit the transition period with an agreed deal. As for the implications for our international reputation, I have no difficulty believing this is something Johnson won't have thought about, and Cummings doesn't care about.
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Post by olliebean on Sept 8, 2020 22:14:44 GMT
If there's no social distancing though, will masks actually make a difference? What with brushing past people, people having drinks etc? The mask isn't there to protect you with any high degree of success.The evidence is marginal we were told - its just something that may help on that margin. its there to stop some globules of sneeze and cough containing high volumes of virus flying out of you and onto he person 1- 2 metres away. The problem you have left is the smaller aerosol particles hanging in the air and moving much further. And as you say there's still the virus on the handrail, doors, toilet seat, pan, tap and soft surfaces. If you can smell perfume or smoke wearing a mask its not on tight enough to stop small airborne particles getting to you around it, , or the small particles are walzing through it. You could sit there in an ffp3 mask which does stop 99% of aerosols - , but then you would melt before act two. Distancing makes you less vulnerable to aerosol particles because they have dispersed over distance , but the more belt you put behind them in No good Deed the further they go .
Thats before you have to risk the train to get to London, find its crowded, meet the barrier resident virus, or the tube handrail one, and the 100 people who decide to get on your tube carriage, and without being sat next to someone with a cough when you arrive...
Actually, in addition to reducing the likelihood of you infecting someone else, there is quite strong evidence that wearing a suitable face covering will protect you too - not from catching the virus entirely, but by reducing the amount of it that gets into your body, which means your immune system is far better able to cope and your likelihood of getting seriously ill from it is significantly reduced.
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Post by olliebean on Sept 7, 2020 23:03:09 GMT
Well, that escalated quickly...
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Post by olliebean on Aug 8, 2020 8:55:24 GMT
Spotted this on Facebook, and it seems quite apposite to the Government's lack of joined-up thinking in its coronavirus strategies: "In Manchester, you can be sacked for refusing to go and sit with someone in an office, fined £100 for sitting with them at home, and given a money-off deal to sit with them in a busy restaurant."
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Post by olliebean on Aug 7, 2020 13:03:57 GMT
Cineworld have revised their policy. Masks should be worn through the film but removed and replaced each time you sip your drink or eat a snack. Not just Cineworld. It's the law from tomorrow that face coverings must be worn in cinemas, theatres, and lots of other places where they weren't previously mandatory. Because changing the regulations piecemeal every couple of weeks isn't likely to lead to any confusion about what is and isn't allowed at any given time.
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Post by olliebean on Aug 6, 2020 23:02:37 GMT
You could say the same thing about getting behind the wheel of a car - the risk of dying in a car accident is higher. How do you work that out? Fewer than 2000 people died in car accidents in the UK last year.
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Post by olliebean on Jul 28, 2020 10:06:54 GMT
I thought it was amusing and sensible advice all in one If that's your judgement, no one is telling you you're wrong to stay at home. You've no right to cast aspersions on those of us who carefully and sensibly follow govt and scientific guidance. I'm not sure it's possible at the moment to follow government and scientific advice.
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Post by olliebean on Jul 12, 2020 12:56:49 GMT
If the majority of people are still being sensible (and I think they probably are; it's just that the ones who aren't are far more visible), then I think it's rather a sad reflection of the tenor of government we have hampered ourselves with that they - or should I say we - are having to do so in spite of government guidance, rather than because of it.
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Post by olliebean on Jul 12, 2020 12:16:37 GMT
They’ve fixated on thIs idea that ‘people don’t like being told what do’. It’s a pandemic, one of the reasons that government is there for is to mandate measures for the good of all. I stopped taking them as any sort of guide a while ago, better to listen to nations who have done a good job (and I include Scotland in that) and people who were right in the first place. Those fateful weeks in March, where they planned to let the virus rip through us, will go down in history as a turning point, I hope. I hope so too, but I fear this government may yet have some way to go - and some tens of thousands more unnecessary deaths to facilitate - before they reach the limit of what they will, ultimately, get away with.
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Post by olliebean on Jul 12, 2020 10:22:53 GMT
The government messaging is very mixed at the moment. Wear masks, but go out to restaurants and pubs to eat and drink -activities that are impossible while wearing a mask. Keep (sort of) distancing, but get onto public transport and into your offices, even if you could easily continue to work from home. Generally, go places and do things where you will be in closer proximity to more people, but if you catch coronavirus it's your own fault for getting too close to too many people.
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Post by olliebean on Jul 4, 2020 23:04:08 GMT
Frankly I would want to stay well away from that even without a virus to worry about. It's a good time to be an introvert.
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Post by olliebean on Jul 3, 2020 23:12:48 GMT
I'd like to know what he thought was the substantial result of clapping week after week for the NHS. It obviously wasn't just a gesture, as he doesn't believe in them.
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Post by olliebean on Jun 23, 2020 11:26:44 GMT
Just noticed that these are all already available on iPlayer.
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Post by olliebean on Jun 21, 2020 7:26:35 GMT
Miscast Musicals live stream now on You Tube. The opening film from West Side Story was the highlight for me and the vocal performances aren't all spot on but a very entertaining couple of hours. Here's the link to the above:
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Post by olliebean on Jun 4, 2020 8:50:21 GMT
Btw...why was BJ wearing an ear-piece at PM’s Question Time yesterday....a fan of Heart FM or something more sinister? There was a particular still circulating that looked as though he might be wearing an earpiece, but viewing the actual footage showed it to be just a trick of the light.
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Post by olliebean on Jun 3, 2020 7:05:41 GMT
I think the misreporting from the media has something to answer to. I have watched every briefing bar one I think and seen one news bulletin a day. The headline that government scientists don't agree with what has been actioned is totally unrealistic when 3 out of 50 sage members are mentioned. The other 47 then are apparently in agreement. We can't possibly know that. All we know is that other 47 haven't publicly disagreed with the government's actions. That three have decided to publicly speak out against their employer's actions is worthy of note. It's over a dozen who have spoken out now, btw, for anyone keeping track of how much science disagrees with the government's actions.
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Post by olliebean on Jun 2, 2020 17:48:50 GMT
It's been reasonably obvious for a while that the government is setting us up to take the blame when the deaths start rising again, and judging from some of the comments here, it's already working.
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Post by olliebean on Jun 2, 2020 13:08:41 GMT
The point of MP's and especially Government ministers going on shows like that is to answer questions and explain their decisions and policies, if they are not given a chance to get a word in edge ways and just blasted with a constant tirade from a man who likes the sound of his own voice and actually clearly doesn't really have any interest in what they are saying and just wants a controversial moment so twitter and facebook blows up about it, then good for those MP's and the Government for refusing. So would I and in fact I would have stopped them going on there far earlier. They did well to stick to sending spokespeople on there for so long. I agree they should be allowed the chance to answer questions and explain their policies. What a shame that when they are given that chance, they are so frequently incapable of adequately doing either.
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Post by olliebean on Jun 1, 2020 16:38:37 GMT
For me the issue isn't whether the required and sensible measures are inherently easy to grasp. It's that the communication from the government seems to be making simple matters more complex and confusing than they need to be. I can't help but think the reason for this is so they can later blame us for not following their instructions to the letter. Although there is also now a clear element of trying to obfuscate the rules surrounding what Dominic Cummings did.
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Post by olliebean on Jun 1, 2020 15:21:52 GMT
I think the misreporting from the media has something to answer to. I have watched every briefing bar one I think and seen one news bulletin a day. The headline that government scientists don't agree with what has been actioned is totally unrealistic when 3 out of 50 sage members are mentioned. The other 47 then are apparently in agreement. We can't possibly know that. All we know is that other 47 haven't publicly disagreed with the government's actions. That three have decided to publicly speak out against their employer's actions is worthy of note.
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Post by olliebean on Jun 1, 2020 7:07:09 GMT
As of today, the government's made-up coronavirus alert level still stands at 4. But:
- Lockdown rules continue to be eased, which wasn't supposed to happen until it reached level 3.
- Non-essential shops will start to open, which wasn't supposed to happen until level 2.
- The most vulnerable people will be allowed out of their homes, which wasn't supposed to happen until level 1.
The government aren't just not following the science - they're not even following their own made-up science. I have absolutely no confidence in what they are doing.
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Post by olliebean on May 26, 2020 19:26:11 GMT
Hairspray Live this week! Do yourself a favour and watch the film instead.
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Post by olliebean on May 24, 2020 23:41:39 GMT
It's not 'personality type' it's physical differences in the brain, as IDd with MRI. What are you talking about here? Neurodiversity usually refers to autism spectrum conditions, which are not diagnosable by MRI.
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Post by olliebean on May 16, 2020 10:37:17 GMT
In Germany, who locked down only a week before UK, you can already travel anywhere you want and stay overnight in a hotel or guest house. So why aren't we learning from them ? If we had locked down a week earlier, we would now be in a much better position. But we missed our chance to do that, so I'm not sure what we're supposed to be learning now from a country that did.
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Post by olliebean on May 15, 2020 19:17:52 GMT
Took a little while to find this, as it was on a different YouTube channel, but here, for anyone who's interested, is ALW's live commentary on Cats:
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Post by olliebean on May 8, 2020 9:18:39 GMT
Still more common sense than Iain Duncan Smith.
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Post by olliebean on May 4, 2020 13:12:59 GMT
Well said. I stopped reading/engaging in this thread because of basfgds relentless negativity and unwillingness to see anything but the very worst aspects. I came here again because I thought there would have been some updates on the situation in the UK. The Fodor's article was well-writen about how tourism needs to CHANGE when this is over, especially adressing the linked issues of overtourism / cruises / too-cheap flights, but CHANGING has nothing to do with ENDING tourism. Malta is a ridiculous example, the island has very little economy apart from tourism (not counting a roaring trade in selling EU passports) and would never close its doors to tourism, but I can definitely see a need to cut down on thousands of cruise day trippers swamping the little island who contribute very little to the economy. To add some levity: Here on the continent, there are lots of discussions on how to get tourism going again, for example Austria is really pining to open the borders to Germany because they rely on German tourists. The Dutch are upset about the new French quarantine plans because they've been itching to get back to (Southern) France this summer. And Czechia is no longer "keeping its borders shut till the end of the year", they're already re-opening. Here in Germany the first states have introduced a plan to re-open everything in three stages throughout May INCLUDING theatres. While even I think that's rather positive thinking, there is none of that "everything is dead until 2021" doom-mongering here and I can't tell you how much it does for my mental health to get a few positive vibes of life carrying on and inching slowly towards normality. And that's me out again because I just can't deal with this perverse joy of doom-mongering and relentless negativity.Well said - and, on your last point, welcome to Britain! It's fascinating that we seem to be the only country where the public is urging a prolonged lockdown rather than wanting to carefully and thoughtfully lift restrictions and start to get things moving again. I'm convinced that for a lot of people it's just laziness... I'd say it's more likely a lack of trust in the government to handle things carefully and thoughtfully enough. They haven't exactly been inspiring confidence up to now.
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Post by olliebean on Apr 30, 2020 10:30:02 GMT
Just a small point but vital...wearing a mask stops the person wearing the mask from spreading the virus if they cough (and have the virus of course).....it does not protect you if another person coughs near you and they are not wearing a mask.....so don’t go round thinking wearing a mask makes you safe. In fact it could make you less safe if it makes you feel safer and you go closer to people because you are wearing it.... And we're now hearing that the tighter fitting type of masks that do protect the wearer, if they're the sort with a valve, don't protect anyone else from the wearer's germs - the valve lets nothing in but everything out.
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