Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[PhilM]

IF you had a choice of either
A maccies
A haircut
An Antibody test
Which would you choose ???

An antibody test while I’m sat getting my hair cut with a Big Mac in one hand and a double cheeseburger in the other?

 

[Hickson9]

Probably not next year, but yes all countries will no doubt see tax rates increase and public spending reduced etc for quite a while. Australia only just got their deficit back to neutral from the gfc, so I would expect this will take even longer to recover from

Definitely not in the next tax year.... only a small minority of UK debt matures in the next year. We will also simply borrow again to pay off what is maturing.

And tax increases and reduced public spending is a choice, not a necessity, over the coming years, and in my opinion not the best choice.

 

[Disgruntledgoat]

So Brussels Airlines have gone to the Belgian federal government for a €2.4bn taxpayer funded bailout. That's Brussels airlines, owned by Lufthansa, not registered in Belgium who made a massive profit last year and gave it all out as dividends.

The government cut artistic amd cultural subsidies by 60% last year so this cartoon in the paper yesterday was rather on the nose. The musician is quoting the Flemish PM's words back at the pilot "if you cant make a living at it without subsidies then better to keep it as a hobby"

 

[Brisan123]

You think Joe Anderson knows better than the government? Schools for key workers have been carrying on as normal - any teachers dying? Nope. This is just politicking. Which I'm fine with - his choice. But to claim safety of the children in particular is absurd. Children under 10 reportedly are unaffected by the virus and don't pass it on. He's on the wrong side of this argument.

Not quite true

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31103-X/fulltext

 

[Number_25]

And tax increases and reduced public spending is a choice, not a necessity, over the coming years, and in my opinion not the best choice.

Do you mind me asking where we can cut from?

 

[Walken]

Fair play, Harry Kane, what a gent.

Harry Kane agrees charitable Leyton Orient shirt sponsorship for 2020/21 season

Kane: This gives me a platform to say a big thank you to the many frontline heroes and charities out there who provide care and support during these challenging times

www.skysports.com

The cult won't like this

 

[bullybeef]

Now that the lockdown has ended (and it has), the Scottish, English and Welsh tourist hotspots will have to open their doors very soon.

The Welsh in particular are bordering on being racist with their ongoing campaign against the English tourists.

The UK government need to get on top of this before the UK does become well and truly fractured.

 

[Hickson9]

Do you mind me asking where we can cut from?

I'm saying we shouldn't, as a general rule.

 

[Tipp blue]

Do you mind me asking where we can cut from?

No need to cut or raise taxes, issue bonds to the public and private companies, this is a guaranteed investment for people, leave it maybe 10 years before you can cash them in, but the longer it's left the more your investment will return.

 

[AUXLEN]

From Peirced Organ (PS sorry for reading the mail but I did was my hands and eyes after)

Putting aside the recklessness of this move, which I fear is the same mistake made in 1918 when the world tried to return to normality too early after the first wave of the Spanish Flu only for the second wave to be massively more devastating.

This is my concern.

 

[Jebus_lives]

This is brilliant

PIERS MORGAN on dithering, buck-passing Mayor Sadiq Khan

On March 3, the Mayor of our largest and most densely populated city exuded supreme confidence that there was nothing to worry about, writes PIERS MORGAN.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Seems like a man who listened to the advice he was given my Government and held the 'good of the nation' line, only to realise it was a dangerous approach and the error of his ways.

 

[PhilM]

Now that the lockdown has ended (and it has), the Scottish, English and Welsh tourist hotspots will have to open their doors very soon.

The Welsh in particular are bordering on being racist with their ongoing campaign against the English tourists.

The UK government need to get on top of this before the UK does become well and truly fractured.

@Kurt

 

[tsubaki]

Now that the lockdown has ended (and it has), the Scottish, English and Welsh tourist hotspots will have to open their doors very soon.

The Welsh in particular are bordering on being racist with their ongoing campaign against the English tourists.

The UK government need to get on top of this before the UK does become well and truly fractured.

ongoing campaign lol

Wales, especially North Wales, needs no lectures on racism from the English.

Perhaps if the country hadn’t been so thoroughly looted it would be able to afford more than a handful of urgent care beds. Perhaps if local people could afford homes then tourists and the second home crowd would get more of a welcome currently.

 

[PhilM]

I was listening to the radio before and it claimed that research estimates that 25% of COVID-19 deaths in the UK have diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes.

The data shows that you're 20% more likely to be admitted if you're obese, and if you are admitted then you're approximately 40% more likely to die.

 

[Brisan123]

Most other countries are sending kids back? Quite frankly I would look at the countries who are suffering as badly as we are. Comparable countries would be Spain, Italy and France, not Germany or Denmark where their handling of the virus has left them in a position where they have fewer infections to deal with. France are sending kids back but teachers aren't reacting well and are quite fearful. Time will tell what happens there. Spain and Italy have said no school until September -- they both have fewer infections than us despite being hit earlier.

Comparing teacher infections now seems a bit odd as the vast majority have been working from home, so their exposure has naturally been a lot more limited. Recent surveys have shown the overwhelming majority of parents are worried about sending kids back so I would say most agree with Joe. The unions and teachers certainly do as well. So not sure I agree with you there either.

I don't understand why people don't get teachers' concerns. It's not comparable to almost any other job when it comes to the inability to social distance and the likelihood of catching anything and everything. The first day I had training to teach I was told to stock up on vitamins because I would get ill. And ill again. And again. And it has proven to be accurate as schools are hotspots for passing on illnesses. So to tell teachers that it's okay to go back to such an environment without any protective equipment, and in the case of primary schools, that the aim is to have all the kids back in the building simultaneously for a month... whilst also saying these same kids can't visit their vulnerable grandparents. Well, forgive us teachers for being skeptical and concerned.

I am a realist. I know schools cannot remain closed to the majority forever. I know I am fortunate to still be being paid whilst working from home (note: not on holiday, not furloughed, still working every day). I know there is an unavoidable certainty that we will all have to take on some risk. But right now "the science" says that risk is too high. By the Government's own five tests, we do not have the ability to track and trace like the kind of countries who are effectively handling the pandemic. We do not have low enough infection or death rates -- they are falling but taking so much longer to do so than almost anywhere else in the world. Lastly, and this is the most pertinent issue, we do not understand how children spread this illness. This is why children are not meant to see their grandparents and why both the chief scientific advisor of the DfE and the country's chief medical officer have both said in the last week that they are not sure how children spread the disease. To pedal anything that suggest we know otherwise is dangerous.

My wife is an SNA and that was one of the first things she was told by teachers
Every August its Vitamin C and other supplements plus natural yoghurt from then until schools close in June
Its a breeding ground for diseases .