[jfman]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

In my view, we need to get people back to work and re-open the schools. The people who need protecting are those registered as vulnerable, although frankly how we manage that is not as easy as it sounds. Visitors have been banned from care homes and good protective measures introduced, but the virus has still got in and the number of deaths is high.

I know some of you don't accept this, but the virus will run its course, no matter what we do. Slowing it down is all we can hope to achieve.

This goes against the scientific advice of the United Kingdom, and indeed almost everywhere in the world apart from Sweden who are being pressured into reversing their stance from their own population.

The measures to date have worked in that we have avoided the peak that was predicted if we did nothing, but the number of new cases will start rising again when the lockdown finishes. Unless, of course, our summer season finishes it off, but the jury is still out on that.

The jury is not still out. Literally nobody of any scientific merit views it as credible, as demonstrated by the existence of the virus in the southern hemisphere.

While I hope that we do find an inoculation that works and we can get it out there this autumn, the problem is that nobody is yet certain that this can be done, and if it cannot, it will be a long time before it becomes available, by which time, the virus will have burned itself out (provided it doesn't mutate, in which case any inoculation will be worthless against it).

In the end, it is herd immunity that will stop the virus and waiting for the cure to achieve that is hopeless, I'm afraid. It will simply come too late. I completely understand that people are reluctant to face this, but that is the naked truth of the matter.

This is absolutely dangerous scaremongering.

I am not ignoring the crisis, nor am I 'gleeful' about any resurgence after initially getting it under control. Stop trying to hype everything up out of all proportion, you do yourself no favours.

What I have drawn attention to is the sheer futility of continuing the lockdown indefinitely. I know that you and some others want the government to be seen to be doing something, even though it won't work, but I think we should be looking at the economic devastation this lockdown will produce and consider whether it was worth it in the end, given that we can only slow it down, but not stop it.

I think you greatly underestimate the long-term financial consequences of what you propose.

Old Boy once again you have failed to understand that the major Governments have the macroeconomic levers to avoid this. They do not operate household budgets, like you or I. Central banks can increase money supply, and put interest rates to rock bottom to facilitate responsible borrowing.

I'm sorry that you can't see that the global economy doesn't work like a household budget - something that right wing newspapers have consistently tried to portray to the 'man on the street' to justify their ideological position of a small state and low tax.

However the economy is demonstrably at greater risk in the long run by failing to address coronavirus appropriately.