Patronii in person, anti Dementors visit the zoo

[ISaySteadyOn]

Never started a long running thread before but I figure even lurkers should take a turn. Hope the title ok.

@Firefliess

I think it's more likely that if we're kept locked down hard enough the economy will be so completely fucked that we won't really notice all the further damage done by Brexit.

I said this to dh the other day. He’s now starting to agree with me.

The local dementors are out of force as there were 2 deaths reported. Endless hand wringing and “we need a proper lock down this time”, “idiots not following the roolzz”, “it’s the start of the second wave”. Meanwhile they are also moaning about holiday companies going bust and cafes and shops closing for good. I have got to stay off social media. I scroll through and just think, fuck off, fuck as well, you can fuck off too and you, off you fuck.

But it’s Friday, I’ve finally shut off the laptop and I have every intention of going on as many murder sprees as possible, starting with getting dog on the beach, hit a few garden centres and a long walk over the moors. Bugger the rain.

Ireland, a nation of snitching dementors that has been boasting about their Dementor credentials for months now, is opening up more quickly than planned.

@AnxiousElephant77

Interesting point about Whitty. I've gone from being obsessed with him to thinking he's a beige joyless fucker who wants to keep us locked up forever.

Me too

Thanks, Firefliess, I was under the impression that the ONS were using the King's College London figures. It looks like they're now using their own sample of about 20,000 people in England and actually testing them. Are the results of those tests kept separate from the daily numbers?

Here's the ONS pilot for anyone who's interested.

@Cattermole

Oh wait, it's a Friday afternoon so the R number's gone up just a little bit. Just enough to make people panic sufficient to behave, you think?

That's exactly what I thought when I saw it on one of our local rags Facebook page.

@Nihiloxica you make great points and certainly agree about Ireland.

Surely there must come a point when everyone notices the emperor has no clothes and we can get back to normal? Unless the numbers go very wrong we''re going to run out of cases.

Since I learnt they have psychologists advising them that we need to feel there is a threat to us personally, I just feel it is all so psychologically manipulative

Not sure why that’s a bad thing, the pub is an important part of life to many people. My dad is 72 and has cancer and has said he’d be there tomorrow if they opened

Yeah, very true. But the dementors are trying to make out that lockdown isnt doing anyone harm and that the ONLY consideration is shops and pubs. Never mind people losing their businesses, homes, not being able to pay bills, mental health suffering, suicides, kids and women in abusive homes etc.. Its just another way for them to minimise genuine concerns.

Just going to catch up with the thread in a mo but wondered...

If the people in the uk with covid has come down from 140k to 53k in just three weeks, then surely they can't justify this much longer??

Friston is respected. Most of the attacks on him I have seen on Twitter are people who don’t understand the wider applicability of statistical methods. Also the way he uses phrases and metaphors from other fields make it easy to think at first sight his stuff is bonkers.

It's really good to hear your views. Thank you.

I agree about Whitty. I still love him - I think he's got a lot of good things going for him. But he does seem to get increasingly pessimistic as time goes on and right now we do need some optimism too, purely because there are lots of reasons to be optimistic.

I agree, he did seem to be quite balanced at the start of the daily briefings but has become increasingly negative, which is odd considering things feel a bit more positive?

I think it's more likely that if we're kept locked down hard enough the economy will be so completely fucked that we won't really notice all the further damage done by Brexit.

Also lots of things can get passed without people really noticing as they are too busy being distracted by the R number. The changes to voting is also a way to manipulate the outcome. They are using this time to their perfection.

So whilst BoJo has had to do more than just Brexit willy waving, he actually can do all that and no one pays him any attention.

It is his dream come true.

Agree about Whitty- its weird. In his lecture about covid he was very sensible and considered and said the risk was very very small for most people.
You'd think he'd be more positive now that rates are hugely down

@LivinLaVidaLoki You wouldn't think but I have a horrible feeling they will just continue and continue without any real justification other than covid happens to exist.

So if cases are down and deaths are down why are they still being so negative? Either they want us to feel that negativity so that they can keep us locked up without too much complaint because why would we when "it's not safe" or things are much worse than we thought and we are all going to die.

Judging by the fact other countries are doing fine I think it's the former as opposed to the latter.

You'd think he'd be more positive now that rates are hugely down

I think the pressure is getting to him

I just think it would look really bad for them if things do go up a bit and they do want to open things up really hence the going on - perhaps

So now the negativity seems to be around the fact that all the measures are coming down, but not quickly enough. FFS.

Also lots of things can get passed without people really noticing as they are too busy being distracted by the R number.

I think this is why the are still so negative while also trying to get economy re-started which would be easier with some positivity around covid data.

The changes that could allow Amercian food imports here and other stuff related to Brexit are competing for attention with covid things in news cycle.

I agree, he did seem to be quite balanced at the start of the daily briefings but has become increasingly negative, which is odd considering things feel a bit more positive?

Group think?

I’ve never liked Whitty, always seems like a miserable fucker to me.

Sadly I agree about Chris Whitty. I wonder if he has family and friends who tell him to pull himself together and stop being so gloomy.

@TheGreatWave. I was just speed reading and saw ‘Boris’ and ‘willy waving’ in your post and that terrible image is putting me off ordering my takeaway now.

Sorry "luggage" what is worse is that my phone now auto predicts that.

I imagine Whitty was that little kid in class who sits right in front of the teacher with all his pencils sharpened, a ramrod straight back and a hand that keeps shooting up in the air. And if a kid ever spoke he'd spin round and hiss 'Shhhhhhhhh'.

Anyone know why they've gone from stating the % of people who are ventilated (last time I saw the briefing it was 10%) to now giving a number - today it's 571. Cynic in me thinks this is because that number is a significant drop if shown as a %. But then you've got to ask why? This is supposedly a right wing government currently haemorrhaging money so why aren't they being positive and optimistic and encouraging us back to work?