Hands up those who are not going Saturday

[Mello Yello 2,273]

No footy, so I'm off empty supermarket shelf spotting tomorrow afternoon to see what's "Snatch of the Day".....

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Darn, the only weekend I have free, complimentary train tickets in 1st class from Redruth to Norwich, seats in the Director's Box and Delia has papered her spare room in my favourite colour, and its off🤭

[Surfer 1,547]

Well it seems that if you go anyway KG it will at least be as exciting as watching the grass grow. 

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Well it seems that if you go anyway KG it will at least be as exciting as watching the grass grow.

Mrs KG is a better cook than Delia so I might stay at home and have a bit of self pity not isolation. I can't do the other self thing that men do.

[wooster 134]

On 12/03/2020 at 13:54, wcorkcanary said:

 I fear that the  Bumbling Blond Boy will be using such expressions to sugar up the truth. There is a shoitestorm coming and the sooner he faces that fact, the better for everyone in Uk.

 

After yesterday's press briefing by the PM & advisers do you still think this comment is fair and accurate?

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

51 minutes ago, wooster said:

After yesterday's press briefing by the PM & advisers do you still think this comment is fair and accurate?

He did a decentent job of delivering a 'serious statesman' cameo , a pleasant change from his usual glib schtick.  As one oversized scampi muncher once said " one Swallow does not a make a Summer ". I hope for the UKs sake he is the leader they hoped he would be when they voted him in.

[wooster 134]

Glad you feel that way WCC, that seems to be the consensus amongst most observers aside from embittered ex-Cabinet members and London mayoral candidates clamoring for airtime.

 

The thing is it would be so much easier for Boris to go along with the 'we must do something' brigade and close schools, universities etc etc.  (Btw, both my daughters' universities are closing early next week so these institutions are able to act unilaterally - with the strikes and now this the term has been a washout for most students.)

The current policy is high risk and could easily cost him his job if a satisfactory and universal vaccine became available in the next 6 months.  If that vaccine doesn't appear and re-infection occurs after a period of lock-down the the peak will hit the NHS at the worst time of the year.  Then doctors will have to make the awful decisions that Italian doctors are having to make now - who gets a ventilator and who dies.  The current policy is designed to avoid that eventuality - I hope it works.

[ricardo 7,332]

Had Corbyn won the election he would almost certainly have followed the same course as the CMO advised, so it isn't  a political matter.

 

[wooster 134]

I didn't mean internal politics but the fact that other countries are adopting different tactics to UK.

If many more people die in UK compared to say Italy, Germany or France then Boris will have to explain why - although we'll only know the real picture this time next year if the virus follows the course the govt expect.

[Branston Pickle 3,632]

We don’t actually know what the CMO has advised, though.  He can advise but ultimately doesn’t have a lot of choice but to go along with whatever BoJo chooses, and word from those in the know is that he is going more down the economic route rather than medical.

[Pockthorpe 527]

1 hour ago, Branston Pickle said:

We don’t actually know what the CMO has advised, though.  He can advise but ultimately doesn’t have a lot of choice but to go along with whatever BoJo chooses, and word from those in the know is that he is going more down the economic route rather than medical.

Who are these people in the know Branston ? Perhaps they can give us some useful advice. 

Edited March 13, 2020 by Pockthorpe

[Branston Pickle 3,632]

No real useful advice, other than that our data is much lower than the real figure as made clear by the CMO.  A lot of people aren’t being tested/those that are are waiting up to a week for results.   

One thing that’s for sure, is that the PL and EFL broke ranks to suspend the season, and not many will disagree they were right.

[wooster 134]

What about 'the word from those in the know'? 

Who are they and what have they said that is supported by any evidence.

[Branston Pickle 3,632]

I can’t and am not going to go into specifics, but let’s look at some real facts:

1.  We steadfastly refused to close schools and cancel events, contradicting many other countries, though organisations like PL/EFL and some public schools are now taking the lead.

2. Only people in hospital are currently being tested despite people being in isolation with the symptoms (and who have had swabs taken). Our data in terms of +ve cases is potentially understated by a large factor (hence the CMOs comment). The concern is that this gives the public a false impression of the severity of the situation here and gives fuel to the fire of those saying it is all over-exaggerated.  Of course it might be but unless we are open we just don’t know.

3.  Our ‘plan’ is to attempt to reach herd immunity with 60% of the population infected....good in theory but a) in Italy people are getting reinfected and b) we aren’t testing many possible victims so can’t know when that is reached

It is certainly a difficult line to tread for the government, it is important that people are informed but not panicked; we have all the medical advice and information from countries who got it early and you just hope we make the right choices with it.