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Showing content with the highest reputation on 03/20/20 in all areas

  1. I am now back near Bristol and living with my Mum for the next twelve weeks as she and I have underlying health conditions and need to avoid social contact, and there was no way I could shut myself away successfully living in London. Hoping I won't be here too long as BristolBristolian is a rubbish username. I am quite frustrated at being stuck home without seeing anyone for the next twelve weeks but, being blunt, I am in many ways relieved to have a health condition and - for now at least- to be able to shut myself off from the wold. It is becoming very clear in Italy and Spain that, for many people including some without health conditions, this is something far worse than a bit of flu. People are on ventilators, hospitals are stretched and people are dying. Businesses are going under and people are struggling to get food and basic resources. I know some people still don't want politics brought into it but that is the same kind of thinking that would have balked at any suggestion of removing Neville Chamberlain after the disastrous start to the Second World War. You can just imagine those posters pointing out Chamberlain was being advised by his experts and we needed to trust his decision making even as we saw country after country fall into disaster across Europe. The reality is there are lessons we can learn from Italy and Spain, where things are going badly, and from countries that have got this more under control. We are not doing enough. We need to be at a point where people are only leaving the house when it is essential and all non-essential contact is avoided and the government need to be making sure this is happening. At the moment the government are worrying too much about being liked, lacking the resolve to make decisions with anywhere near the strength of France and Germany and people may and probably will die as a result. NHS staff need to be being tested, every single case needs to be being logged and tracked and there need to be firm laws preventing people spreading this virus. And nobody should have to be making the decision between going to work to make a living or keeping themselves and the rest of society safe. Politics is not a parlour game. It is the key question of how our country is governed and how decisions are made, especially during a crisis. When we leave politics out of this, we leave out everything that matters in terms of protecting people's financial wellbeing and, more importantly, their lives
    15 points
  2. We have all heard lots of hypothetical moral dilemmas in our lives, but London at the moment is an extraordinary real life moral dilemma. You are 100% correct about low skilled low wage workers, though many people don't seem to think they exist, they are the invisible workforce, and shutting London down would be devastating for them. Until the government combines formal shutdown with some underwriting of these wages (not the inprecise, passive instructions) people will keep going about their business even if it's wrong. It's easy for people who can work from home, or go without wages, to sneer, but there are a lot of people who desperately need to keep their work. Our office cleaner last night was in tears, we're her last office open, most of our lot have gone home and she says if we also close today she's got no work and no pay (zero hours cleaning contractor) and two young kids to support. There are people like this all over the city, unless the employer is underwriting wages and shutting down. And yet all across social and even from our PM last night I hear we should all be in this together and people still going about their business are selfish, we must pull together and follow instructions. It's amazing double standards, we don't pull together to help them afford to be out of work. Their survival instinct goes beyond just COVID-19. It's a moral dilemma I'm struggling with. I wish the government would remove the uncertainty.
    12 points
  3. I am certainly taking the current situation seriously, and and under no illusion that this crisis is a once in a lifetime situation that will see at least the following several months being new, extremely hard and ultimately testing times for us all. I do however, feel that certain posters on this thread do need to consider some of the things they are saying. Perhaps we have no responsbility to anyones mental health and wellbeing, but there are going to be plenty of people reading this forum who are very scared and anxious, and also see this as a place of comfort, where they've always gone to interact with others and feel some sense of belonging. To begin suggesting we are going to crumble into social disorder, and also suggesting life is going to change immeasurably as we know it for decades to come, when they don't really KNOW what the future holds, is venturing into the area of fear-mongering. Let's take this s**t seriously, but let's not turn a football forum into a place that will terrify many, based on worst-case hypothesis
    9 points
  4. Day 13 without football: Next door neighbour was leaving for work, so I opened the window and sang , “You’re supposed to be at home!”
    8 points
  5. I know people don’t like Boris and conservatives and that is people’s choice. But watching the tv now I am proud I voted for Boris . This is a terrible time for all of us and we need to all pull together regardless of political views . As for the chancellor he has a huge future
    7 points
  6. During the election campaign and until a few weeks back I had learned to despise Sunak's toadying manner. He has grown on me a little recently. Seems to be stepping up more than Johnson.
    6 points
  7. So much for not panic buying just found Andy Carroll sat in the kitchen.
    6 points
  8. Another person I spoke to today, a real elderly gentleman said it was worse than the war at the moment as at least in the war you had your rations. A set amount each week and could trade with eachother. Now it just seems like it’s Everyman for himself and people are just greedily grabbing and being selfish. Civilised society we are not.
    6 points
  9. I think it is. And a friend made the point to me the other day that she had various friends on her Facebook page who had spent years sharing memes around poppies and talking up the blitz spirit and that those friends were the exact same people who were both panic buying and insisting on going out to pub, cafes and restaurants cos "the government isn't going to tell me what to do". This is the chance these people keep saying they have been waiting for to do their patriotic duty for their country. And it turns out that,the time has come and their patriotic duty involves no more than a) staying at home to protect the elderly and the vulnerable b) refraining from buying from everything in the shop so that elderly people, vulnerable people and key workers have a chance of getting key provisions too and even that is beyond them. Maybe the community spirit and stoic calm of the blitz is a mirage and a fairytale created after the event and people were just as panicked and self-interested now as they were then. Or maybe our society now just lacks the resolve to do what is needed.
    6 points
  10. I will really start to panic when the DFS sale gets postponed due to Coronavirus
    6 points
  11. These should be played on every ad break in the hope that it shames the selfish ***** who are ruining it for everyone else.
    6 points
  12. To be fair, most of us who don't like him didn't expect society to reach a point where, within three months, he had no choice but to introduce the most socialist policies of any government in living memory. I'm not a fan but today him and Rishi Sunak have done what they need to do. Fair to play to them.
    5 points
  13. This forum has been the worst I have seen regards some of the scaremongering and doomsday scenarios being presented, across all the social media I engage with. Very surprised tbh but each to their own!
    5 points
  14. South Korea have shown the way to go. Test Test Test.
    5 points
  15. Just seen a couple of the videos of NHS workers in tears over their inability to buy basic foodstuffs when they come off their shifts. Lummydaze. Surely it’s not beyond the ability of someone in Government / the Supermarket Industry to organise home shopping deliveries for these key workers? Ought to give the shopping for free as well in my opinion.
    5 points
  16. Very sad the people on here belittling him and laughing. The man has been carrying Britain on his back this week. More than likely on very little sleep, with a pregnant girlfriend at home. No surprise the people who reacted to my post are the spineless, liberal soyboys. It’s not about politics at this moment in time. It’s far beyond that.
    4 points
  17. Exactly. As I said a fair few pages ago now - political arguments are pointless right now. This situation is much bigger than anything we’ve ever faced. Politics is out of the window. This needs a joint effort by everyone to get us through. Whoever was in charge would’ve done pretty much the same thing. No one in politics is responsible for anything. This is a virus. It’s unprecedented. No one has any clue how to deal it and mistakes will be made. Not on purpose, or for any political gain, but simply because we just don’t know what to do for the best. Quit the political shyte please everyone.
    4 points
  18. I’m not a Tory supporter and certainly not a fan of Boris, but credit where it’s due with the support they’re putting in place today
    4 points
  19. If you think about it the shops are most likely a virus heaven. I’m not trying to scare anyone as we all have to eat and drink but these are large areas, little or no fresh air, and the items and surfaces, even the trolleys and baskets touched by numerous people per hour. The aisles can’t be much more than 2m wide so you inevitably come into contact with people just walking around never mind queueing. All other mass gatherings have been banned, but hundreds can shop at once. This cannot be safe.
    4 points
  20. I'm afraid they deserve no credit whatsoever, practically the last Country in the civilised world to take these measures
    4 points
  21. A plus for me is the VAT payment deferment. I had two grand to pay this weekend and Mrs LR`s income has dried up completely with all the markets and craft fairs being cancelled so it was going to be a bit of a pinch - on the up side though, she`s managed to bag a temporary job at the Co-Op for the time being. Anyone who has been laid off it`s worth looking at the supermarkets - they all need staff urgently and it`s only going to get worse now the schools have closed.
    4 points
  22. That was sort of my thoughts on my first post on this thread. Huge numbers of companies wouldn't survive 6 months of this: not just your local Dog n' Duck, but national chains. Anyone not working in food retailing or medicine basically. I'm interested in what the benefit claimant figures will be soon. It was 1.6m before this I think (from memory), but I can see it getting above 10m or more. And with a much smaller tax-base, you wonder where the cash for these benefits is coming from. A prolonged virus lockdown will break entire national economies. Maybe it IS time for the experts to factor this in and think if there is a way those of us who aren't over 70 or with underlying health issues can all live as normal while keeping strict isolation for those that are. It'll spread, we'll take our chances, but then it'll peak and eventually those isolating can emerge to a world that might look a bit similar. It's clear from the large numbers who think they have the disease but haven't been tested (I know of three in Bristol alone) that the genie is out the bottle. Containment has failed. Providing it stays with the healthy and young(ish) population, the NHS may not have to be overwhelmed. Is this mad? Thoughts?
    4 points
  23. I live in Switzerland. Since March 16 pretty much everything except food shops, pharmacies, banks and post offices have been closed. Some restaurants and bars and other businesses have been granted licenses to operate as takeaways or home delivery businesses. Everyone who can work from home apart from essential personnel has been doing so. I am lucky enough to be able to work from home, have no symptoms and am only leaving the house to go to the supermarket. I was there this morning and you are allocated a number on entry so that they can be sure they have under 50 customers at once. There are no shortages of anything, including lavvy roll and soap. 10 billion Francs has been allocated to prevent businesses from laying off staff. The data are obviously problematic for several reasons but today there are 4,984 reported cases, which is some way under the projection of 6,438 by this morning so hopefully that's not totally inaccurate. The Swiss are also doing a lot more testing than in the UK, and I imagine that the Germans are as well, so it won't just be the life-threatening cases that are identified. My guess is that, since they are not testing enough people in the UK, it's mostly these cases that are flagged, which would produce a significantly higher mortality rate.
    4 points
  24. I'm coming back to OTIB when this is over with. I'm not sure posting up pictures of people dying is very helpful to be honest. I know it is a fact, but I can't see how it is doing anybody any good to be constantly reminded of it. Good luck to all, hope to see you all much sooner than we all fear. This is me signing off. Cheers!
    4 points
  25. https://www.rebellionresearch.com/blog/northern-italy-wuhan-partners-for-better-or-worse Quite an interesting article here about the Italian situation. It might already have been covered, but I never realised the extent to which northern Italy’s textile and garment industry was reliant on Chinese labour and that it had such close links with Wuhan.
    4 points
  26. Really? Off the top of my head, I can remember him trying to introduce unnecessary and unneeded end of the pier acts on at least two of the five occasions. Think on “how many is this” debacle for example. These press conferences have been good not because of Boris but despite him. What people need is surety - not soundbites. That’s why Sunak was so good - clear policy, rationally explained. Likewise Whitty and Vallance. Boris has been bluster, vaugeness and vapid. Bizarrely, the best thing to happen to this country in the last three months was Javid resigning. I can’t say how he would have done here, but it’s apparent that Boris and Dom wanted Sunak as he was easy to control - and in the GE campaign he seemed to be a lick spittle. He’s come in - and has grasped the nettle fantastically - and I say that as a Labour man. He’s clearly realised he is unsackable - losing a second chancellor in 3 months would make the PM untenable - and therefore driven the agenda. You can see it was his work today. In short, things are happening despite BoJo (why wasn’t his first point to clarify Hancocks claim on QT that we had an immunity test which contradicted BoJo claim yesterday for example). He inspires no calm - he’s lucky with Whitty, Vallance and Sunak to give him that but it is really showing up his own shortcomings (NB - I think, realistically, there are now limited guns to fire. I’d probably suggest that daily conferences have limited impact from here and would rather hear a statement from Whitty at 5pm, to be followed by Boris at 7pm if deemed required)
    3 points
  27. Fair play to Boris this week. He’s done a fantastic job so far each day in his conference. Full credit to the man.
    3 points
  28. Looks like J mat voted Corbyn judging by the emojis he is handing out to anyone that dares praise the governments handling of the situation, sad really as I think they have gone above and beyond what anyone could have expected.
    3 points
  29. Many years ago, I played with his brother Kevin (spoiled brat) against Gary (Parkway Juniors, coached by their father, Ray, a hard, tough old bastard, albeit very friendly and, interestingly, very encouraging of us, even we were his team's opponents). I never got to really know Gary, but he was always a fair opponent and very friendly, and I must admit I was pleased it was him of the two brothers who went on to achieve the heights he did, especially given his well-documemeted medical problems.
    3 points
  30. Mate of mine sent me a pic of 5 regulars from my old local out tonight. All with arms around each other's shoulders. so not exactly 2 metres apart! Two are over 70; two others have heart conditions and my mate is about 8 stone wet through and lives with his 70+ parents. Er, stupidity like THIS is why they have to close.
    3 points
  31. Not that I actually care much about football at the moment, but hopefully, whenever we come out the other side of this hell, maybe, just maybe, we might see a wholesale change of how football operates. An idea could be that, hear me out, I know it’s totally revolutionary, but maybe clubs could only spend what they earn. Just imagine.
    3 points
  32. Yes, they said on the news that the supermarkets will need 25,000 new staff! I hope all of you are staying well and will weather the storm, the conditions here are not too bad, being a very small country population wise and Estonians are not well know for their social behaviour anyway, especially the elderly. On the other hand they are very family oriented and grand parents help their families with child care etc, but at the moment although lot's of cafes and clubs are closed and the Old Town is deserted, everyone seems to be shopping sensibly and after the initial panic buying, especially bog rolls, it seems to have settled down, somewhat. Still we are not being complacent. Take care all OTIB'ers.
    3 points
  33. Yep. They are breaking the bank to prevent complete anarchy. They have no choice. Support the population, keep everyone alive and vaguely sane, then worry about the cost of it in years to come.
    3 points
  34. forgot all about Mike Barrett. I considered Randall but he sort of overlapped with Cheesley, Ritchie and Royle so I didnt include him. The only other one I may have considered as a squad player was Geoff Twentyman. He wasnt great but he was steady
    3 points
  35. We are just finishing up first week of home schooling my two kids here in California. I have been so inspired by all the home schooling posts my friends have been posting and all the amazing things people are doing! Thought I share how things have been going for me to hopefully inspire a few of you who are starting this next week. Started the week pumped up and determined to make a good go of it - Monday's lessons mostly went to plan and as intended, kids seemed to have fun too. However It's now Friday and I am sad to report that I have had to suspend two students for bad behavior and fire one teacher for drinking and sleeping on the job.
    3 points
  36. Our government HAS to be stronger. Its all well and good saying its the general publics fault but there are millions of absolute idiots in society that cannot and will not follow basic instructions, there really is no point in whinging about it we have to start locking things down now IMO and stop giving people the opportunity/option to sit in a pub or go on a hen do.
    3 points
  37. I know you call yourself the eternal pessimist but that is complete BOLL***S. I predict you will look very silly in 3 months time and you can hold me to that.
    3 points
  38. Germany still isn't really socially isolated. But you're right to an extent. The state where I live was on full lockdown for gyms, bars, pubs, swimming pools etc 11 days ago. This is in the most populous state (no idea about others but I assume other states other than Saxony followed the same suit). This also meant that from about 3 days ago no meetings of more than 50 people can take place either (lots of festivals and concerts cancelled). They essentially only let citizens enter through the back of buses instead of the front, not letting people pay for fares out of fear of safety and only really drilled home the social exclusion hard when Merkel came on TV the other day. What I think is important is that as a people, the Germans typically are more isolated and can adhere to the self isolation rules easier, they seem to be good at follow rules (Ordnung muss sein and all that good stuff). The borders are still open for EU citizens, people are still going outside and getting the trains. Although I definitely think they have followed it better than us.
    3 points
  39. If I was struggling to make ends meet and in that cleaners position then I would be going out and working wherever I could. If you can’t afford to stay at home then you can’t afford to stay at home. it’s as simple as that. I think most people would be on the side of the worker here.
    3 points
  40. There's not many things that genuinely shock me Sky just ran a report about a hospital in the Lombardo region in Italy. This is one of the regions that has been on complete lockdown for the past 4 weeks. Doctors interviewed were clearly frustrated people keep describing their virus as being just like flu. They were clear it is more like severe pneumonia. All people diagnosed with Covid-19 are put in these ventilation hoods to get the air to mimic the same pressure in the affected lungs
    2 points
  41. bp, same here, 48 years, 2 kids and 5 grandkids, They are VERY special
    2 points
  42. So you’re saying a communist totalitarian government where people who question the regime/leadership mysteriously ‘disappear’ and people get ‘social points’ for agreeing with the government might be fiddling the numbers???????? No way!!! whatever China are saying times it by 10 and you probably have the correct amount of cases/deaths
    2 points
  43. Agreed, Nans are very special, I've been married to one for 48yrs & I can't imagine what our 2 children, 5 grandchildren & myself would do without her. Our deepest condolences & thoughts go to Marcus & his family & he's correct in saying that football is of no importance when it comes to matters like this.
    2 points
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