Coronavirus (OLD)

[RichardCoulter]

Now received confirmation from our social policy group:

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Thank you to everyone who took the time to help with this.

The major supermarkets are to prioritise disabled people and those over 70 for online shopping They are doing this by combing the information that they hold about their customers and information held by the Government. For now, you don't need to do anything; they will contact you. It's inevitable that some people will be missed, so please wait until people have been contacted and wait for further information as to what to do.

In addition, the Government intends to give out food parcels to vulnerable people who find themselves unable to obtain food.

Stay safe everybody and feel free to share this to reassure people.

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[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Mr K

People have already demonstrated they aren't going to follow the guidelines, so what's he waiting for ?

I think he's probably waiting to see if you take over the country and do it your way.

[RichardCoulter]

I'm surprised he hasn't had a nervous breakdown with all this pressure.

If people who align themselves to the Tory party don't think it's appropriate to form a coalition Government (with the remainder of his term restarted afterwards), how about temporarily jointly governing the country with other former Conservative party leaders to draw uoon their experience?

IMO this is too much for one man alone. He looks exhausted and I don't think he's intelligent ot articulate enough to do it on his own, but he won the election and that must be respected. He does seem to be taking the right advice though; generally speaking.

Re: Parliament. Has this effectively shut down normal Parliamentary business again? I'm assuming it's all hands on deck to deal with the virus.

If this is the case, should we suspend Parliament until this is over? At the very least, MP's should be socially distancing themselves.

[jfman]

I’m not, and have never been, convinced he’s following the right advice but what’s the point of a coalition government? He’s got a majority to govern and even still Labour haven’t pressed votes on emergency legislation instead allowing it through on the nod.

If he’s exhausted, and I’m not convinced he is, then he’s not up to the job. A PM has the support of ministers, advisers and the Civil Service. An opposition party isn’t much added value on top of that.

[RichardCoulter]

Generally speaking, Labour say they have been supporting the Government in order not to hinder matters.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Chris

Just had my weekly visit from a very frazzled Asda delivery man who has horror stories a-plenty from his base supermarket, where they’re queueing round the block from dawn, despite the ban on non-pensioners entering the shop for the first hour, and entire families (adults and kids) are attending the shop together so they can load 4 or 5 trolleys with stuff.

We as a nation have disgraced ourselves this week.

Friend of mine goes to a particular pub. It's not (IMO) a nice pub, but he likes it. He came home a couple of weeks ago proudly saying the landlord had offered to let the customers in the side door if the government banned pubs opening.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by jfman

I’m not, and have never been, convinced he’s following the right advice but what’s the point of a coalition government? He’s got a majority to govern and even still Labour haven’t pressed votes on emergency legislation instead allowing it through on the nod.

If he’s exhausted, and I’m not convinced he is, then he’s not up to the job. A PM has the support of ministers, advisers and the Civil Service. An opposition party isn’t much added value on top of that.

It pains me to say this but thus so far Nicola Sturgeon has shown the best leadership so far in this crisis.

[Julian]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Generally speaking, Labour say they have been supporting the Government in order not to hinder matters.

Apart from the usual "its too little too late" , " only 80% of wages " etc.etc. ad vomitum......

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by nomadking

Nobody fusses over referring to "Spanish Flu".

Well the Spanish might...

To maintain morale, World War I censors minimized early reports of illness and mortality in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States. Papers were free to report the epidemic's effects in neutral Spain, such as the grave illness of King Alfonso XIII, and these stories created a false impression of Spain as especially hard hit. This gave rise to the pandemic's nickname, "Spanish flu"

(source: Wikipedia)

[Pierre]

One way of looking at it, it will be our kids that end up paying for this.

[RichardCoulter]

Well, we paid for essential expenditure that had to be borrowed such as the NHS, the extension of the welfare state, World War II etc.

Originally Posted by Pierre

One way of looking at it, it will be our kids that end up paying for this.

It sounds logical until otherwise fit, young people also start dying because there wasn’t enough ICU capacity to deal with their road accident, middle aged people die of treatable cancers, and so on.

It’s absolutely correct, in earlier times an epidemic like this would just have killed a lot of people and that would have been that. But for quite a long time now we have developed the expectation that we attempt to treat people when they have a treatable illness. Even in those with underlying conditions, covid-19 is treatable and most sufferers recover.

[RichardCoulter]

AFL closed door matches have now been suspended until at least 31/5/20. This will be reviewed at the end of April. This is said to be causing them severe financial problems, but they must follow advice.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Pierre

One way of looking at it, it will be our kids that end up paying for this.

The economy is rigged against them anyway.

We are also not funding saving any lives to the tune of billions. We are trying to prop up markets amid declining consumer confidence. Not being seen to act was costing the economy, and would continue to cost the economy longer term.

[Hom3r]

in the next 2/3 weeks we will be in lockdown, and people like me in none essential job will be forced to stay a home.