Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Granny Danger]

4 minutes ago, SlipperyP said:

Eh, no.  Woman are highlighting that they are free and single and willing to marry.  The only people doing the selling,  is the actual woman/man themselves.  There is no 3rd party, unless you say the fee for the advertisement. It's illegal to sell someone in Thailand.  There is many places around the world that have a large majority of men living in the towns, alot of these are very rural. Think Norway or Faroe Islands. These people are more than happy to set up a relationship and get married and live together in these places, what is wrong with that.  World has moved on from when, you took your wife to be, father for pint to "ask for her hand' 

Again, you personally are living in the dark ages

You defend transactional relationships then accuse me of living in the dark ages.  Good ane.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

1 hour ago, Granny Danger said:

Neither you nor I are experts in this field, but I would suggest that this is nonsense.

A huge increase in people using public transport with little or no social distancing will see an increase in spread, infections, hospitalisation and deaths.  How many I don’t know.

 

Of course it's nonsense. Not only have Tube (and bus) drivers died in far greater numbers than the average, but for the passengers there is the enforced proximity, the absolute certainty that you'll be touching a variety of hard surfaces, the semi-closed environment, the escalators covered in hard surfaces, the demographic issue that many users fall into at least one category of BAME ethicity and lower paid workers - not only would there be a massive rise in the spread of infection, it would hit the most vulnerable people of working age.

[Paco]

Have the UK Government completely given up on Test Track Trace (as they were calling it) or do they not believe the current lifting of restrictions will provide a serious enough increase to the R score to merit it?

Haven’t seen much about it aside from Hancock saying the magical app should be available in England by the middle of this month (which is Friday). Nothing at all about contact tracing or community testing.

If only the countries leading journalists had recently had a chance to ask the countries chief medical and scientific advisers such a question...

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

It's a bit of a leap to go from seeing videos of steet parties on social media to assuring that the virus is going to be spread by people from England coming to visit second homes in Scotland.   

You dont see it as being indicative of a sub section of society who are happy to flout the rules regardless of the law or their own health?

[SlipperyP]

5 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

You defend transactional relationships then accuse me of living in the dark ages.  Good ane.

^^^ Never bought his wife a drink, tight auld fucker.

Again, why give two fucks, how people started their relationships.  If both are happy what's the problem.

Edited May 12, 2020 by SlipperyP

[Granny Danger]

1 minute ago, SlipperyP said:

^^^ Never bought his wife a drink, tight auld fucker.

Again, why give two fucks, how people started their relationships.  If both are happy what's the problem.

What’s funny is you trying to promote what happens as ‘progressive’.  There’s nothing progressive about it.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

1 hour ago, Todd_is_God said:

It really isn't nonsense. Young healthy adults were not dying in droves from the disease before, there is no reason to suggest they will start now. 

You do realise that there isn't an age limit on PT, don't you? Also that those who use it tend, in the majority, to be of lower economic means and liable to be, on the whole, less healthy than those of a similar age who are higher on the socio-economic ladder?

If you'd ever actually used the tube (or any part of TfL) you'd realise that it is a crowded mix of humanity that covers all ages, ethnicities, levels of health and, importantly, willingness to comply with guidelines.

Young, healthy adults can walk or use a bike, according to Johnson. A sixty-year-old cleaner with diabetes and heart problems can't. Yet that's the people whose employers will be telling them, "right, back to work or you're sacked!" on the back of this latest pile of crap from the Government

[bendan]

21 minutes ago, renton said:

"Infectiousness" is both a function of the strength of the vector and the number of probable vectors in a population.

Lockdown is designed to decrease the strength of the vector (via isolation) in order to automatically decrease the number of vectors in the population (limit transmission) the presence of a vector is time limited by the host immune response to infection. If you took 100 people, isolated them all well away from each other and from any outside influence, eventually the R number would drop to zero as the infection would "die" in the subset of vectors within the population without transmitting it to new  vectors.

In Scotland's current case, with our degree of social isolation, R should continue to fall as the number of cases drops.

 

Our R value peaked after lockdown, ...

R depends on what people do. The number of cases doesn't drive R - it's the other way around. We've got where we are because we didn't do enough to suppress R early on.

Do you have any source for the claim that R peaked after the lockdown? I assume you mean March 23. That's not what groups like Imperial or LSHTM think.

[ICTChris]

3 minutes ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

You dont see it as being indicative of a sub section of society who are happy to flout the rules regardless of the law or their own health?

Yes it probably is indicative of that but I don't think it shows that there is some sort of increased risk from people driving from England to Scottish second homes or holiday homes.  

 

[SlipperyP]

2 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

What’s funny is you trying to promote what happens as ‘progressive’.  There’s nothing progressive about it.

No you were the one who brought up "buying brides' I just highlighted what was actually happening. Not some seedy back ally dealings, that you were insinuating.   My main point was about sexuality and to be more precise homosexuality, where Thailand is streets ahead to most places in the world.  Including the UK/Scotland.  

[dirty dingus]

1 minute ago, Granny Danger said:

What’s funny is you trying to promote what happens as ‘progressive’.  There’s nothing progressive about it.

I think the majority of marriges in Thailand  invove some sort of transaction for a wife in the form of a Sin Sod. A Thai friend of mine was going to marry the daughter of a high up police commander but it was put off till he saved the money for the dowry. I think it may have been 1m+ Baht which was pretty big money but would have gave him the right connections.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

The sheer hate and bile pouring out from south of the border, just because Scotland has the audacity to make devolved decisions, is unsettling (if not unexpected). 

The comments sections of the right-wing rags are an absolute hoot. There are some seriously unhinged people posting in there. 

[Granny Danger]

1 minute ago, Bob Mahelp said:

The sheer hate and bile pouring out from south of the border, just because Scotland has the audacity to make devolved decisions, is unsettling (if not unexpected). 

The comments sections of the right-wing rags are an absolute hoot. There are some seriously unhinged people posting in there. 

Probably be best for all involved if we just went our own way.

[yoda]

Simon Wren-Lewis dismantling the "...but my economy" argument with relative ease.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/11/britain-economy-coronavirus-deaths

Quote

A well functioning TTI regime, together with restrictions on overseas travel, is therefore the solution to how we get from here to when a vaccine is developed with as few deaths as possible, and with as little damage to the economy as possible. This is why there is no conflict between opening up the economy and saving lives.

What about those demanding a quicker end to the lockdown to “save the economy”? They seem to be making a simple error. Without a government-imposed lockdown the economy would not return to normal. With minimal measures to contain the pandemic and therefore many new cases each day, most people will stay at home and keep their children at home out of choice. 

 

Quote

That included a severe case not unlike the current pandemic, and our estimate was that economic output would initially decline by 30%. This fall in GDP is very similar to the Bank of England’s best guess at the initial impact of this pandemic, yet in our study this fall in GDP was mainly the outcome of voluntary decisions by consumers rather than any action by the government. If lots of people are still dying from the virus most people will stay at home out of choice, whatever the government does. Lockdown is designed for the irresponsible minority, and to avoid intimidation by employers.

 

[mizfit]

Sunak announcing scheme extension beyond June at 60%

[Granny Danger]

7 minutes ago, SlipperyP said:

No you were the one who brought up "buying brides' I just highlighted what was actually happening. Not some seedy back ally dealings, that you were insinuating.   My main point was about sexuality and to be more precise homosexuality, where Thailand is streets ahead to most places in the world.  Including the UK/Scotland.  

The world would certainly be a better place if there was no homophobia and women weren’t being sold.

Scotland has come a long way on gay rights but still has a long, long way to go.

 

[SlipperyP]

10 minutes ago, dirty dingus said:

I think the majority of marriges in Thailand  invove some sort of transaction for a wife in the form of a Sin Sod. A Thai friend of mine was going to marry the daughter of a high up police commander but it was put off till he saved the money for the dowry. I think it may have been 1m+ Baht which was pretty big money but would have gave him the right connections.

Yes, it does happen.  It's an old Chinese custom.  The Chinaman would give gold to the Thai girls family at the wedding ceremony.

What usually happens now, is the money is given to the mother-in-law.  This money pays for the wedding ceremony and buys you a place at the table. (This will give you privileges to that family and vise versa).  The higher up in society, the more money, the bigger the celebration ceremony.  It's all a show.

I personally, paid for my wedding and the mother-in-law was shocked because I wouldn't be  handing over of the money (photo opportunity).  I agreed to the charade and got the money back at the end of the night. 

Edited May 12, 2020 by SlipperyP

[SlipperyP]

1 minute ago, Granny Danger said:

The world would certainly be a better place if there was no homophobia and women weren’t being sold.

Scotland has come a long way on gay rights but still has a long, long way to go.

 

Good to agree.

[Todd_is_God]

27 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

Of course it's nonsense. Not only have Tube (and bus) drivers died in far greater numbers than the average, but for the passengers there is the enforced proximity, the absolute certainty that you'll be touching a variety of hard surfaces, the semi-closed environment, the escalators covered in hard surfaces, the demographic issue that many users fall into at least one category of BAME ethicity and lower paid workers - not only would there be a massive rise in the spread of infection, it would hit the most vulnerable people of working age.

"Far greater numbers than average" Average of what? Do we have stats for deaths per occupation for every occupation in every city? You are also making the huge assumption here that they caught it at work which is not a given.

If you are one of the minority who fall in to a vulnerable group the onus is on *you* to make a personal risk assessment and either accept the risk or adapt your lifestyle accordingly. Just like it would be during a particularly bad flu season, like 3 years ago.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Todd_is_God

[WhiteRoseKillie]

57 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

I don't think anyone would not be upset in that situation.

Genuine question, though. If all restrictions were lifted tomorrow, would you regularly go and see your grandkids and sister?

Genuine answer - I would at least be in the same building as my sister - it might be through glass that we could see each other but, with what she's going through, I think her mood might just improve slightly. She is not in a situation which anyone should have to undergo alone.

My grandkids? Absolutely. They've all got their heads round the new rules (except the three-year-old, but she's getting there), and there are plenty of open spaces around us (not generally "destinations" for the general public) where we can enjoy family time together while maintaing safe distancing.

Oh, yeah, Safe Distancing. Every day of my working life I'm in a HS prison with a roll of over 700 inmates, a demographic not known for following laws, let alone guidelines*. Yet I'm seen as a risk, or at risk from, a toddler. Aye, right.

* Interestingly, contrary to what a lot of people (including the majority of HMPPS Staff) believe, the inmates are more at risk from staff than vice versa. We've had cases since lockdown - there's only one way the virus crossed the barrier which the Wall represents. Regardless, prisons have a history of infections (flu, etc.) getting in and ricochetting around that enclosed community.