Most liked posts in thread: COVID-19

.

Very selective posting to make a point that doesn’t really exist. You always get the odd idiot but I think the UK populace have generally been pretty good at following government guidelines.

For some perspective, Scarborough beach yesterday on the hottest day of the year:


Empty.

Piccadilly Circus:


Empty.

When Covid19 first made the news most just seemed to get on with their lives exactly as they normally would. Understandable. As the seriousness of the situation has become clearer and the government have introduced more stringent measures to help combat the crisis most appear to be doing the right thing by staying at home, avoiding unnecessary travel etc etc.

 

There was me thinking our taxes went towards running the NHS. It’s like a football club asking season tickets holders to donate more money to pay for a scoreboard or dressing rooms or something, would never happen would it....er

 

Depends which side of the fence you're on. Raab and Patel (and plenty of others) would have privatised the NHS long ago if they'd had free rein to do so. That's evil in my book. I don't think of Johnson as evil, but I do think he's lazy and self serving.
Many Tories (not all) come across as downright evil to me, because I believe their political beliefs are utterly selfish and harmful to ordinary people.
I don't tend to see people on the left of centre as evil, because I see their motives as being to try to benefit the greatest number of people.
Clearly people who hold more right wing, individualistic views will tend to see good in the same Tories that I regard as selfish barstewards and bad in leftist politicians who I see as honourable in motive even when they make mistakes.
Good and bad is in the eye of the beholder.

 

There's a massive issue that hopefully will be addressed in the coming years about the UK producing as much of what the UK needs as is possible.

It requires consumers to back the UK's own produce, rather than being tempted by industry-wide flooding from Asia - everything from steel to clothes.

We can't just be a nation that provides services when coronavirus' keep occurring over and over as they have been doing for a while now.

 

Man Of The Day in these dark,sombre times- Tom Moore a 99 year old veteran who has currently raised a staggering £7 million by a sponsored walk 100 times round his rather large garden.
Originally from Keighley as well so get in fella.

Dont tell Fordy though, 'coz he is over 70.

 

Absolutely pissing myself Fordy, remember when you said the government shouldn't be politically point scoring? Every single post you make on this thread now is sniping at the government regardless if it has anything to do with them or not! You're losing the plot if you hadn't already lost it.

 

I think them daily briefings seem to have run there course now. Parliament is returning, so the government can be held to account. They’re just there to patronise the public, and for journalists to ask long winded questions now.

 

That's not an extreme view at all.

You didn't say extreme view, you said 'I wouldn't want an extremist like you teaching my kids' didn't you.

Extremists blow things up. I put my opinions on a football message board.

 

Possibly - and just to be clear I have no problem with the notion of people clapping and showing gratitude to the NHS. Why would I? They're doing a phenomenal job in awful circumstances. But the amount of people I see who preach one thing and act another way, is significant. I'm taking a break from Facebook over the last week, but before I did the amount of virtue signaling stuff I saw was rife. People doing the whole 'clap for the NHS' thing, changing their profile pics to I heart NHS etc, but then going about their business as normal - multiple shopping trips every week, multiple house calls to see friends and family for non-urgent reasons etc..... if you want to support the NHS, follow the rules. Much less public, no one will recognize you on social media for it, but its the only thing that matters.

 

I am very sceptical about the Government’s proposed £1 billion for education and the tutor proposal.

Why does the money have to go to private companies? A political choice to funnel tax payers’ money to private business rather than give the money to schools/local authorities to use most appropriately for their particular children’s needs.

The best thing that could be done, right now, to help children catch up is reduce class sizes. Put the money into that, with additional staff and potentially additional temporary space, if necessary. This will give children more dedicated time with their teacher, who knows them best. I’m currently teaching ten kids in my bubble and while it is a bit artificial and that is too few children, they are making progress because I can focus on their needs. A couple of the boys, who have struggled for a lot of this year, have thrived in an environment that is quieter, with less distractions. Even dropping class sizes from thirty plus to around 22-24 makes so much difference.

I’m not against the idea of using tutors. Without doubt they can add a lot to some children’s learning, but it doesn’t work for all children. Too many children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, struggle to concentrate for long periods in the normal school day. Layering extra onto them will probably make negligible difference.

It will very interesting to see how this progresses. I suspect a u-turn at some point.

 

You tell people what to do...it's an infringement of their rights...you don't tell them what to do and there's no leadership. People will blame anything for their own lack of responsibility and selfishness. Cummings...an odious Twit who was completely out of order with no humility whatsoever. Pilloried, rightly by the people who then think it's ok to go and replicate poor, selfish behaviour. There's a complete lack of fibre these days top to bottom and a lack of personal responsibility...easy to blame authority...too difficult to just try and do the right f***ing thing.

 

Bradford third in the latest table. Not been this high since before Edin.

 

Come on guys. There's no way many meaningful lessons can be learnt from New Zealand. It's just too different in terms of population, density, transport, geography, etc, etc. It's disingenuous to suggest it's even comparable.

Before lockdown there were more journeys on the London Underground EVERY DAY than the total population of New Zealand. That's how different the two countries are.

 

(Disclaimer! I have just read this back, and it seems I have gone a bit "War and Peace"! Sorry!)

Over here in Estonia, pubs haven't been told to shut down throughout CV19, but there have been curfews. During the "state of emergency" it was 10pm. That was lifted a few months ago, but on September 1st, due to rising numbers, Tallinn was told that no alcohol is allowed to be served after 11pm. Then last week, we were told that there is to be a national curfew, with no alcohol allowed to be served after midnight. So bizarrely, in Tallinn we get an extra hour.

The logic behind this, is that when people are in a higher state of intoxication, they are more likely to forget the social distancing rules.

I own a bar here in Tallinn. During the week, we close at midnight, so I only lose an hour of trade each day, but on the weekends we close at 2am, and the 11pm-02am shift is one of my most busiest, so I'm losing a lot of trade. My bar staff lose 13 hours work, and my DJs go home two hours early. My regular taxi driver for the staff is not needed anymore, because the girls can get the bus/tram home as they are still running until midnight, and they are going straight home, because all the nightclubs are closed.

So what changed with the drinkers? Over here, it's not really a done thing to go out after work. Many people stay home and "pre load" or share drinks with friends, before going out around 10pm/11pm on weekends. There's no last orders here, and it's not unusual for bars and parties to go on til 6am. However, I have seen a small change, with people coming into bars around 8pm/9pm, and also in a much more drunk state than previously. Obviously, people are starting at home a bit earlier, then coming into bars to finish off the night. This is generally on a Friday. Saturdays I've seen that it's much more quieter, with most people looking at the clock and thinking they'd rather stay in with a bottle of wine, than go out for a few hours. Alcohol sales in the supermarkets are going through the roof. Pubs are closing down.

And of course the more drunk they are, the more difficult they are to handle the "last orders" call. Its very difficult trying to get people to drink up when they haven't had to before. And what happens at 10:59pm when the guy orders 4 pints? This is why we've decided to close an hour after the last orders, to try and let people drink up without rushing them. But then of course, someone comes into the bar after 11pm, and sees people "drinking", and demands a drink and gets mad. It's all more hassle for my staff. This is old news in the UK, and I don't think there will be any problems, as you lot are used to drinking to the clock. There's also the ambiguous nature of the rule "no alcohol sold after 11pm". There's talk of people selling vouchers, or charging 10€ on the door after 11pm, but that includes two free beers. There's also whisperings of places having lock ins, and those that have opened up as underground bars. There's also talk of bars openingly serving drinks after 11pm, and rumours of these ones paying off the police.

However, this alcohol rule is currently the only rule that is place in Estonia. There's no masks, there's no 2 metre rule, there's no limit on numbers gathering, and there's complete freedom of movement. On Saturday night, when my bar had to close at 11pm, directly outside, was a concert with 800 people attending until midnight. Sitting on shoulders, crammed together. It was sad to see, when I'm shutting the bar down and sending my workers home, and all that is going on right on my doorstep. Nightclubs are pretty much bankrupt here because of the curfew, and most DJs are out of work. I've tried to compensate with the guys who play records at my bar, by letting them start at 7pm or even 6pm, but most of them are playing to an empty room, so I'm half thinking what's the point, but I'm trying to support their business, because a lot of them depend on this as it's their job. As mentioned - same with taxi drivers. The town is dead by midnight, and that's the time when most of them pick up their business. Same with the streetfood sellers. People eat before they go out, and now eat when they go home. I expect a lot of kebab shops in the UK will close down! My beer orders are down because I'm not selling so much anymore, and that has a knock on effect to the brewers. My monthly turnover is down almost 40% because of the early closing.

The main gripe, as will be in the UK, is what's the point of having a time limit? It's not explained. I've heard that it's because people get more drunk after 10pm, and mingle more closely together, but as I've pointed out, and some of you have referred to here, people just start earlier. In fact, in Tallinn, it's made the whole vibe of the city a different place, with people drunk on the streets at 9pm, when normally that is not the case. And over here - the whole social distancing bollocks is irrelevant, if concerts and public gatherings are allowed. It's heartbreaking for us bar owners to see this going on. Tallinn is now a ghost town. The once vibrant old town is now deserted. There's no tourists and there's no locals. So many places have gone out of business.

I totally understand containment, and I understand the principle behind the rules, but having a 10pm curfew is just a half arsed way of going about it. It's awful to say, but it's better off the Government having some balls and saying all bars must close. But of course, that leaves them open to paying out support, so the 10pm closures is a bit of a get out of jail clause for them, as it is over here.

All messed up!! I feel very very sorry for the pubs in the UK, who have just got back on their feet, only to be knocked down again. To imagine pubs in the UK without the social vibe that has made them famous the world over, is a very sad image. I'm longing for the day when I can come to Bradford, and experience the atmosphere of the Corn Dolly and Record Cafe pre match, but I can't see that happening very soon, if ever again. To think, i was reading the news in bed one morning in December, and turned to my Mrs and told her there's "something weird going on in China", and we had a laugh about making bat soup for breakfast. And now all this.

Hope you guys all pull through!!! I was planning my first trip to England in three years in June, bringing the kids over for the first time, and of course it was cancelled. I hope we can all come over soon, and we'll be in the pubs and stands like the good old days, but I think we'll have a long wait for that to happen.

Take care, and sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to share my experience with the pub closure situation.

 

Course you should wear a mask if you shop online......what if your computer has a virus.. ?

 

Judging by the 92 you’re the same age as me, if you’re wanting Covid to disappear before you want things to open up then you may have to hide behind your couch for the rest of your life.

Many vaccines are out now, get one and live your life otherwise what’s the point? Covid is unlikely to be going anywhere any time soon best we can do is get it under control and live our lives. Every virus mutates I’d suggest not getting too scared.

 

To show just what a farce some of the decision making is, this morning an MP was on the radio being questioned about this Uefa thing.

For those who haven't heard, Uefa are threatening to pull the semi finals and final from Wembley and moving them to Hungary if the "Uefa bigwigs and sponsors" are forced to quarantine when they come to the UK.

When put to the MP that if the rules are to quarantine on entry into the UK then these rules are non negotiable, the MP seemed to suggest they need to look at the specifics of this case.

This just shows there are two tiers, there are us plebs who have to follow the rules and there are those with power and money to whom the rules do not apply. If it's safe for Uefa bigwigs and sponsors to travel without quarantine then it's safe for all of us on that basis.

This is fantastic by the way.