The Politics Thread 2020

[Norman]

14 minutes ago, maxjam said:

 

It seems to me that nobody knew what was expected off them when we were told to 'stay alert', then all of a sudden everyone knew exactly what the rules were when the Dominic Cummings thing kicked off and now we've moved onto 'well he did it...'

When I was a lad my mum always used to ask me whether 'I'd jump off a cliff if all my friends did' turns out that was good advice, whilst everyone else goes to the beach and potentially gets sick the rest of us with a modicum of common sense will carry on social distancing.

The government has never had us in total lockdown like some other places, rightly or wrongly they have always relied on people to do the right thing.

The virus also doesn't cope well in direct sunlight. 

Another variable when comparing countries. 

[Gritstone Ram]

20 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

You should get a Florist season ticket.

FPDSH!!!!

[Comrade 86]

27 minutes ago, maxjam said:

 

It seems to me that nobody knew what was expected off them when we were told to 'stay alert', then all of a sudden everyone knew exactly what the rules were when the Dominic Cummings thing kicked off and now we've moved onto 'well he did it...'

When I was a lad my mum always used to ask me whether 'I'd jump off a cliff if all my friends did' turns out that was good advice, whilst everyone else goes to the beach and potentially gets sick the rest of us with a modicum of common sense will carry on social distancing.

The government has never had us in total lockdown like some other places, rightly or wrongly they have always relied on people to do the right thing.

Staying alert and self isolating when infected are not the same thing, as you well know. Perhaps it's you that doesn't understand the government slogan, not those who mocked it as being a vacuous turn of phrase?

[GboroRam]

38 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

It's a difficult situation. I think it's a mixture with the looters. Some are genuinely doing it as a form of protest against institutional racism in the belief that peaceful protests don't work; and others are doing it because they fancy a fight and want to nick stuff. I think both are wrong, though I obviously have more distaste for the latter than the former.

I've never seen social media in such a crazy state as it has been recently though. You'd hope that it might finally signal a change, but somehow I doubt it.

I saw about 2 seconds of the George Floyd video and I stopped it instantly. I usually have a strong stomach for stuff like that but it was just horrible. Absolutely horrible,

The one thing that I take from it all is - what a horrible, broken country the US is.  A large minority feel so disenfranchised that they will riot and fight on the streets, and a segment of the population feel threatened by any questioning of the status quo. Even a sportsman taking a knee is seen as unacceptable behaviour - well, they aren't kneeling now.

[maxjam]

10 minutes ago, 86 Schmokes & a Pancake said:

Staying alert and self isolating when infected are not the same thing, as you well know. Perhaps it's you that doesn't understand the government slogan, not those who mocked it as being a vacuous turn of phrase?

I never made any mention of isolating when infected and was replying to someone commenting about enjoying social distancing.  Furthermore I alluded to people abusing social distances rules and packing the beaches this past weekend.  I'm not going to argue with you over semantics again.

Ultimately and IMO as I said so in my final paragraph previously, rightly or wrongly this Government has not locked us down as stringently as other countries and allowed us to use a bit of common sense.  If people want to cite outside motivations as a reason for heading to the beach and risk getting sick it sadly says more about them than it does anything else.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

18 minutes ago, GboroRam said:

The one thing that I take from it all is - what a horrible, broken country the US is.  A large minority feel so disenfranchised that they will riot and fight on the streets, and a segment of the population feel threatened by any questioning of the status quo. Even a sportsman taking a knee is seen as unacceptable behaviour - well, they aren't kneeling now.

How insignificant does Kaepernick's protest seem now? Those defending the riots have a point when they say "If we can't peacefully protest, what else are we supposed to do?".

[A Ram for All Seasons]

42 minutes ago, Norman said:

The virus also doesn't cope well in direct sunlight. 

Another variable when comparing countries. 

Best go and sit in the greenhouse then.

[Van der MoodHoover]

1 hour ago, maxjam said:

 

It seems to me that nobody knew what was expected off them when we were told to 'stay alert', then all of a sudden everyone knew exactly what the rules were when the Dominic Cummings thing kicked off and now we've moved onto 'well he did it...'

When I was a lad my mum always used to ask me whether 'I'd jump off a cliff if all my friends did' turns out that was good advice, whilst everyone else goes to the beach and potentially gets sick the rest of us with a modicum of common sense will carry on social distancing.

The government has never had us in total lockdown like some other places, rightly or wrongly they have always relied on people to do the right thing.

Was that you down at Durdle Door? ?

[maxjam]

Just now, Van der MoodHoover said:

Was that you down at Durdle Door? ?

Absolutely not, everyone has at least one genuine fear and mine is heights - won't even go up a ladder lol. 

200ft leap?!? No wonder people got injured ?

[A Ram for All Seasons]

1 hour ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

It's a difficult situation. I think it's a mixture with the looters. Some are genuinely doing it as a form of protest against institutional racism in the belief that peaceful protests don't work; and others are doing it because they fancy a fight and want to nick stuff. I think both are wrong, though I obviously have more distaste for the latter than the former.

I've never seen social media in such a crazy state as it has been recently though. You'd hope that it might finally signal a change, but somehow I doubt it.

I saw about 2 seconds of the George Floyd video and I stopped it instantly. I usually have a strong stomach for stuff like that but it was just horrible. Absolutely horrible,

There was a family dispute between the owners of a newsagents in the main square of the town where I live. The guy who ran the shop was shot down in broad daylight and bled to death. Somebody filmed it on his mobile and posted it on the internet. The video did the rounds at the school where my missus' daughter was a pupil, and it turned out that the dead man's nephew was in her class. He was not involved in the incident and took some time off school, but it must have been awful for him to know that his classmates were all avidly watching his uncle taking his last gasps of breath.

My reaction would have been to bugger off as fast as my legs would take me, because you don't know how many bullets he had left in his gun. Why on earth do people video things like that?

 

[Van der MoodHoover]

38 minutes ago, maxjam said:

Absolutely not, everyone has at least one genuine fear and mine is heights - won't even go up a ladder lol. 

200ft leap?!? No wonder people got injured ?

our local news said 70ft, but still a completely dumb thing to do.......one bloke apparently did a running jump, but over-rotated and belly-flopped into the sea from 70ft up.

A true candidate for the Darwin awards right there........

[Angry Ram]

2 hours ago, SchtivePesley said:

Meanwhile over in the US...

"While no one condones looting, on the other hand one can understand the pent-up feelings that may result from decades of repression and people who've had members of their family killed by that regime, for them to be taking their feelings out on that regime."

No.. Looting is a criminal act pure and simple that in no way should hide behind other frustrations. It's not an excuse, it's a crime. Pure and simple. 

[Norman]

59 minutes ago, A Ram for All Seasons said:

Best go and sit in the greenhouse then.

Well, no. Because the UV doesn't get to you. 

Which is why I put direct sunlight. 

Nevermind.

[TramRam]

1 hour ago, GboroRam said:

The one thing that I take from it all is - what a horrible, broken country the US is.  A large minority feel so disenfranchised that they will riot and fight on the streets, and a segment of the population feel threatened by any questioning of the status quo. Even a sportsman taking a knee is seen as unacceptable behaviour - well, they aren't kneeling now.

Liverpool players at Anfield.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/52875059

[Eddie]

2 hours ago, Norman said:

The virus also doesn't cope well in direct sunlight. 

Another variable when comparing countries. 

Probably a good job we've had the sunniest spring in 140 years then. How big a disaster would it have been without the weather being on our side?

Edit:

All the advantages (seeing other countries having huge infection rates before us), and we are still one of the worst-performing countries in the world. 

[Norman]

17 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Probably a good job we've had the sunniest spring in 140 years then. How big a disaster would it have been without the weather being on our side?

Edit:

All the advantages (seeing other countries having huge infection rates before us), and we are still one of the worst-performing countries in the world. 

Yeah, it was really important, I think. It seems to weaken the virus too. 

Fotunately, our economy isn't as damaged as countries who imposed stricter and longer lockdown. 

[King Kevin]

2 minutes ago, Norman said:

Yeah, it was really important, I think. It seems to weaken the virus too. 

Fotunately, our economy isn't as damaged as countries who imposed stricter and longer lockdown. 

If we can get the hospitality and holiday industry back relatively soon I think we will be ok .God willing no second spike.

[Norman]

6 minutes ago, King Kevin said:

If we can get the hospitality and holiday industry back relatively soon I think we will be ok .God willing no second spike.

The evidence suggest that the virus is weakening, which is what most do. Apart from Spanish flu (am I allowed to say that) 

My prediction is that it will be gone before human vaccination testing begins. 

[Eddie]

11 minutes ago, Norman said:

Yeah, it was really important, I think. It seems to weaken the virus too. 

Fotunately, our economy isn't as damaged as countries who imposed stricter and longer lockdown. 

It was always a trade-off between the economy and lives. We valued the first higher than other countries did, and the second lower.

And that, good sir, is why we will always take opposite sides in this debate.

[Andicis]

3 minutes ago, Norman said:

The evidence suggest that the virus is weakening, which is what most do. Apart from Spanish flu (am I allowed to say that) 

My prediction is that it will be gone before human vaccination testing begins. 

Rates of it in Europe are falling off a cliff in general. It looks very much like it's going that way.