The Rest is Politics and Alistair Campbell

Me too - or Maitlis as she now prefers.

Love Emily!

I think people don't understand why there was a lockdown

They must have missed the message being rammed home every day on the government propaganda broadcasts. Or perhaps they are thick.

I think people don't understand why there was a lockdown, it was simply to slow the spread so the hospitals could cope.

Had our healthcare system been more prepared I'm pretty sure the lockdowns would have been very limited.

You can't stop the spread of a virus indefinitely but when you've got nursing staff who haven't got the PPE, a shortage of acute care beds , not enough ventilators then unfortunately the government had to do something. Had we been more prepared then a lock down wouldn't have been needed in the same way. The lock down is simply a panic response to an emergency situation. It was never there to stop you getting COVID.

Sorry.

It wasn’t me. It was @dwordle.

more facts ?

They wouldn't have had me. In WW2 there was male conscription, so a lot of people didn't have a choice about military service; well I suppose the alternative to conscription was prison.

Women were conscripted in 1942, my mother was one of them.

Rory larps as a nice One Nation Tory. The mask slipped when he was so condescending to Gary Stephenson. The privilege is bred in the bone. Alister is an unreconstructed Blairite. Both hopeless on women's issues.

That’s really awful, I'm so sorry you went through that. I had COVID badly, though never in hospital. But I ended up with Long COVID, back in 2020, and I'm only just this year starting to regain some of my previous strength.

Conspiracy theories about COVID really annoy me.

It's one of mnay potical sytle podcats I sometime listen to - sometime they do seem well informed and insightful other subjects they seem very ill informed on - last US election being one and women's right another.

Their closeness to power and the insights into government and how it and how poltical parties in UK operate are reason to listen to them - I do not have to agree with everything someone thinks or all their past actions to listen to them or work out if I think they have a point.

Sorry I went back to WW2 because @BIossomtoes asked a hypothetical question about WW2, and I was so unimaginative to frame my question in terms of WW2.

I'll leave you to reframe whatever question you like in whatever time you like. I don't take instruction very well, it's kind of a Bolshie trait of mine.

What did you do in the COVID?

"Will you stop talking about the war."
"Me? You started it."
"We did not start it."
"Yes you did; You invaded Poland."

Sorry it was another hypothetical question about WW2, like yours, which I enjoyed, imagining what I would have done in WW2; it was an interesting test of character.

you wouldn’t have signed up in the first place
They wouldn't have had me. In WW2 there was male conscription, so a lot of people didn't have a choice about military service; well I suppose the alternative to conscription was prison.

The RAF deliberately targeted and bombed civilians; was it justified? Imagine, hypothetically, how do people act when the state and everyone/most around them would have been telling them it was necessary in order to defeat the Nazis.

May I ask how would you have behaved during WW2 if say you were in the RAF and asked to bomb civilians?

Why go back to a time when no one can reply ?

A better question might be around soldiers deployed to Northern Ireland. I'll leave you to reframe it as you see fit.

May I ask how would you have behaved during WW2 if say you were in the RAF and asked to bomb civilians?

Ridiculous comparison. You’d have been court-martialled and imprisoned if you’d refused. And you wouldn’t have signed up in the first place.

I don't believe a lot more would have died if it were not for mandatory lockdowns, compared to the government asking for voluntary changes in behaviour. I mostly complied with the lockdowns, at times because I was protecting elderly loved ones, and at other times because I feared the threat of arrest, financial penalty, or imprisonment.

As for the hypothetical, in WW2 I would have probably mostly complied with the law, but probably would have bought/sold on the black market, like a lot of people did. I might even have thought about shagging a Yank while my husband was away.

May I ask how would you have behaved during WW2 if say you were in the RAF and asked to bomb civilians?

If we hadn't have locked down when we did a lot more would have died. Hospitals need capacity not just to deal with people getting ill from COVID big also to deal with people that just need medical care....once a hospital runs out of capacity people die .

The state has control and must make those decisions when it's needed. Your rights are non existent in an emergency and if you can't accept that having restrictions to save people's lives then I'm lost for words. What on earth would you have done in the second world war....refuse to turn your lights off and let your street be bombed because it's your right.

You know full well this is utter bollocks and Alison Pearson was actually awarded damages by the Essex Police for their disproportionate handling of the whole thing.

pressgazette.co.uk/news/police-and-crime-commissioner-to-pay-allison-pearson-substantial-damages/

She’s so for “free speech” she sued someone for exercising “free speech”.

Please can you explain what you mean?

I can imagine they'd be good on something like this.

It's anything to do with gender, women, children that their innate male-centred thinking becomes obvious.

What on earth are you on about?

In defence of AC and RS (ducks for cover), I watched their interview with Mary Trump last night and it was compelling viewing. Mary Trump was as always, an excellent guest and fascinating to listen to so they were at an advantage by having her in the studio but it was a great watch.

I don't think people are denying COVID killed a lot of people. Boris "rabbit in the headlights" Johnson's lockdowns were an over-reach of state control.

i think she would be outraged!

Those who think COVID was a conspiracy should have a look at the deaths register. So bad was the pandemic it lowered life expectancy figures for the UK.

I got it very badly and spent 6 months in hospital and many many people on my ward didn't make it. I still have no sense of smell and I can taste very little and suffer now from regular chest infections.

Up until that point I was healthy. So please stop spreading lies about COVID. It was horrific and killed many many people.