Covid 19 Coronavirus

[Hugh]

Greetings,

I feel very disappointed in the way some folks are talking on this and other internet sites.

I think that all sides need to find ways to work together for us all to get through this serious collective point of our lives; locally; nationally and internationally.

Political point scoring and derogatory comments of individuals is purely destructive. Working together will not deliver a camel as goes the old saying, it will however get us through. Come on folks let's get this together, perhaps if we adopt the following we can form a positive team, courage, determination, unselfishness and cheerfulness in the face of adversity (not my words but some I sign up to.).

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TTFN

Hugh.

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

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[OB1]

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Especially if you tail-gate!

[Asgard]

Greetings,

I feel very disappointed in the way some folks are talking on this and other internet sites.

I think that all sides need to find ways to work together for us all to get through this serious collective point of our lives; locally; nationally and internationally.

Political point scoring and derogatory comments of individuals is purely destructive. Working together will not deliver a camel as goes the old saying, it will however get us through. Come on folks let's get this together, perhaps if we adopt the following we can form a positive team, courage, determination, unselfishness and cheerfulness in the face of adversity (not my words but some I sign up to.).

together.jpg

TTFN

Hugh.

Top post Hugh,
but I have to say the first thing that came to mind was chewing through the rope, I guess I'm anti-social

But then I thought, It would be nice to try the other pile of straw it could be tastier or simply a change and the other jackass could have some variety too....maybe theres hope for me yet.

[daveuprite]

I feel very disappointed in the way some folks are talking on this and other internet sites.

It's quite possible, and very healthy, to call our leaders to account, to discuss policy decisions, to be critical of inaction and delay, and to demand the best of them. And to expect people to take responsibility for their decisions, as voters, shoppers, consumers, workers... This is not the same as being negative and disparaging. We can work together as one social unit, cooperating and helping each other, at the same time as wishing that failing governments worked better. They are not mutually exclusive. Yesterday I delivered medicines from our local pharmacy to older villagers around Bellac, and then went on-line in the evening to talk about Boris Johnson. One does not preclude the other.

In the case of the UK, it looks like the government woke up to this yesterday, acting in ways that are completely alien to its ideology in order to tackle the economic effects of looming mass unemployment. Hopefully those who have been using their relative financial advantage to stockpile food etc, will reexamine their selfishness in the light of that moving video from a nurse unable to get basic food for herself after a long shift. It is right to point out selfishness and criticise it. Pretending that we are all working positively together as one society, when there are such flagrant breaches going on, will not change the problem.

Here's a good piece by Jonathon Freedland that sums up things well, IMO:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... everything

[johnnyboxer]

And how many times did Churchill have a question and answer session with the British press that was relayed live to the nation on the Home Service.

I get a bit pissed off with the continuous Boris bashing.

I don't bash good quality politicians. Johnson is an opportunist chancer, who wings it with jokes and banter during the easy times, successfully pulled the wool over gullible eyes, and is now floundering in the deep end during the difficult times - when what's urgently needed is top-quality, thorough analytical and decision-making skills.

He's famous in Whitehall for not even reading a brief beyond the second paragraph.

You couldn't pick a worse kind of person to be in charge at this moment of crisis.

If you voted for him then you are right now reaping exactly what you sowed (but sadly you also dragged everyone else down to the same incompetent level).

Same with Trump of course. Actually he is even worse.

Got it in one, he is seriously floundering

Who, the Prime Minister or President Trump?

Trump

[Jak*]

Whilst Hugh is absolutely right that we should all pull together and there have already been some fantastic examples of that, there have also been some examples of extremely selfish behaviour. Not just those who are panic buying, but billionaires asking for government support for their businesses and laying off employees as quickly as they can. We elect and pay the government to provide leadership and information in these times, unfortunately coming on the back of the last few years when they have failed completely to do this, many people have little faith in them. As a country we had several months warning that this was coming, and could have been vastly better prepared. Whether a government of a different political make up would have been better prepared is difficult to say, but the Tories have systematically destroyed and privatised the public sector in the last ten years and we are now seeing the consequences of this.
It will be interesting to see, as a country and world, what we learn from this. IMHO we seem to have learnt very little from the mistakes that led to the 2008 financial crash and have been repeating many of the mistakes that led to that ever since. I hope we do better this time. If a result of this we learn that our loved ones and society in general, are more important than money and that NHS nurses are of more value than politicians and billionaires, then some good will have come out of it.
I hope everyone, even if I disagree with you, keeps themselves and their loved ones safe during this time and as I will still be working, I am looking forward to plenty of empty roads to ride on.
Cheers

[daveuprite]

Very well said above, Jak. Quite right. We all know the phrase 'standing on the shoulders of giants' - well this virus is the opposite - it comes on top of a decade of under-investment and public sector neglect in the UK and its effect will be much worse as a result. Taxpayers' money went into bailing out the banking sector for its ineptitude and helping huge corporations and ultra-rich individuals to prosper; the same money that should have been spent on growing and improving the public realm, health services, social care etc. Covid is exposing this willful, deliberate, ideological neglect like nothing else could.

Meanwhile, here in France, we ventured out for some shopping this morning and it's stark. The roads are literally empty, not just our usual quiet country lanes, but the N-roads too. Only a handful of lorries moving about and a few cars in the town. Food shops were quiet, but well-stocked. ALL other shops closed for good, as instructed. Everyone keeping 2 metres apart, queuing outside where necessary, lots of friendly smiles, but no bisous of course. No gendarme stops evident - they're probably busy in the bigger towns than round here. Eerily quiet.

Watching french news, listening to the radio and looking at the public response, it feels as though France has got it about right now, although holding the local elections 2 weeks ago was clearly a mistake. It looks like all that could reasonably done to prevent spread is being done. The question now will be how large that infection curve grows in the next few weeks, and whether even earlier restrictions would have helped.

Anyway, that's it for us now. We don't have to leave the house for another fortnight at least. Time to start that million piece jigsaw of a black cat in a coal mine...

[Hugh]

Greetings Dave,

Thanks for the link it made informative points to take away and consider.

I guess that as I become more insular, having retired many years ago, I find that electronic conversations can be too easily incorrectly interpreted. We often had such situations at work, reasoned argument is fine but writers need to consider their choice of words in the context of others possibly misconstruing them.

It is good to know that there are many folks out there trying to help out those less fortunate than themselves. Hat's off to Neville and Giggs for showing an example of how it should be done (pity they played for the wrong club - or have I set another rabbit off ).

TTFN

Hugh.

[daveuprite]

This is a fascinating read. Not in the least bit cheery or uplifting, but interesting and informative. It's written for Australia, but much of it applies across lots of countries, surely.

Which scenario / endgame do YOU think we should be attempting?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisf ... us-is-gone