J-mat

11 hours ago, BS2 Red said:

One of the partners at my wife’s work has been getting worried about the financial implications of the virus.

He said today that he might have to get rid of his Bentley if things get too bad. And he wasn’t joking, he genuinely expected sympathy.

Eat the rich.

I'm genuinely worried about the financial implications for me and my wife. She's self employed and we rely heavily on her wages to feed our family. We are expecting so she is currently expected to self isolate and we will not be able to pay our bills on the £75 a week ESA. 

I'm watching with horror as every other nation suspends mortgage payments and utility bills, whilst this government is actively contributing to the destruction of lives. 

Any *** who didn't use their vote to get these bastards out should be ashamed. 

17 hours ago, Northern Red said:

It's like blaming your house being repossessed on a few days off work for a cold. I suspect Coronavirus is going to be a convenient excuse for every failure.

 

In the current economy, where viability is precarious even for some of the biggest businesses (looking at the high street chains, as an example) this sort of thing could well be the final nail in the coffin.

I dont think it's a convenient excuse, but a symptom of just how weak the economy is under the Tories, that we are potentially going to have to choose between the health of millions and keeping businesses and employment going... 

1 hour ago, BS2 Red said:

A coronavirus outbreak is going to rip through the place I work.  The company I work for has recently implemented a very strict sickness policy based on Bradford Factor scores.  Basically if you are off sick just a few times in a year, you get hammered.  This has resulted in people being terrified to take any sick time and so the entire office is constantly full of sneezing, coughing and occasionally puking people.  

They also gave us laptops at the start of the year so that people can work from home if necessary.  But they also demand that people pre-book any work from home time and so it has made zero difference to the amount of disease I am surrounded by.

Last Thursday night/Friday morning, I had a bout of diarrhoea, I didn’t feel great but figured I was just about well enough to work.  We had been told the day before that we could work from home if we wanted because of Greta Thunberg coming to Bristol and so I decided to work from home.  I soon received some messages telling me that I either had to take the day as sick, or come into the office.  WFH approval was only given for people who drive in and as I walk I was not allowed to do it.  I said that I didn’t want to spread the bug I had but still had to make a choice between a sick day or coming into the office.  So I went in.  Two people were off Monday with stomach upsets, I have no idea if they caught it from me, but it seems likely.

So yeah, I’m dead if a deadly disease strikes Bristol, we will all be forced into a confined office to spread it amongst ourselves.  None of the above applies to the managers of course, they all work from home whenever they feel like it.

I am lucky to have a pretty relaxed business (the government) when it comes to sickness and WFH.

We will however struggled to function with 8000 people on the secure server... 

I really don't think the true nature of this problem has hit home with Boris et al yet. 

53 minutes ago, BS2 Red said:

As COVID-19 continues to spread across the world, it seems only a matter of time before it starts to really infect Western populations on a mass scale.  There is talk of cancelling or delaying the Olympics and Euro 2020 and panic seems to be rising.

What are your thoughts?  Are you worried, or do you think it is overblown and we will all be fine?

Personally I sit somewhere in the middle of the "PANIC!!!" and "Meh nothing to worry about".  I think it sounds like this virus has the potential to kill a lot of older people and people with underlying health issues.  And I don't think we are going to be able to stop it spreading, no matter how many times we sing Happy Birthday while washing our hands.

Work on a site with c. 8000 people in office at some points, so I'm a tad worried about it to be honest

I have no confidence in our ability to contain it and our already over stretched NHS to deal with it. 

Can't help but feel we should be building temporary hospitals for this purpose. 

On 22/08/2019 at 13:31, Northern Red said:

Exactly. If you were struggling to pay your mortgage, would you demand help from the bloke across the road whose house is twice as big as yours?

But if you had a house 100 times the size of the guy opposite you, you'd want to help him if he was struggling. 

Or at least you should want to. 

It's not about expecting help when you need it, it's about providing help if you can. That witch Thatcher has a lot to answer to for destroying the morals of English people.