Ads have had enough of malakas On July 4, they went crackers.

[TheGreatWave]

Slight tweak to the suggestion, but here it is.

DS2 is a very tactile child and always has been. I haven't had any spare tactile capacity since he was born.

It's a good job he's cute, but I do reach my limits on being a human pillow!

I don't think I've posted on these threads, but I've occasionally ventured onto generic Covid threads.

I'm not sure if the Chinese-style hard lockdown of 3000 of Melbourne's most vulnerable residents has made it into your news? We have the king of dementors as premier of our state. With no warning given to the residents, an army of 500 police turned up at the estate (9 tower blocks) on Saturday at 4pm and announced residents must stay inside their tiny apartments for a minimum of 5 days, and up to 14 days, so every single resident can be tested. These people are highly vulnerable, refugees, the mentally ill, families living in poverty. This is in response to 27 positive swabs the day before. (The tower blocks are in a 'hot spot' suburb).

The positive swabs in Victoria don't appear to be correlating with severe disease or death (an elderly man in his 90s was our last death).

Our premier has gone mad.

I'm off to the doctors this morning for antidepressants. This has pushed me to the edge.

Those poor people.

Not in my name.

@skeptile welcome. That sounds truly awful. I wonder how many people have been forced into depression by this?

It may cheer you slightly to know that at least one of the ADs was raising the horror of the Melbourne situation yesterday. It's all terrifying, I think, who'd have believed it a few months ago?

@BogRollBOGOF DM has health anxiety, has had for as long as I can remember. A bereavement last year sent it into overdrive. She was doing really well... then this happened and has set her right back. She’s worried sick about my DBro (who still lives at home and has a lot of underlying conditions and risk factors - he likely would get extremely unwell) and DStepdad (also has a couple of risk factors) and I think that stringent adherence to the rules is one of her coping mechanisms. But then the rules are vague, contradictory and different in each of the home nations, so that causes even more anxiety. She can’t help it. She’s terrified that one of us might get it and die, basically.

It’s a terrible thing that has been done to people like my DM.

Can I win finding the dementoring in the wild today. Last sentence of BBC report into why a scientist says we should wear masks.
"Not doing so increases the risk for everyone, from NHS workers to your grandmother,“

Killing the NHS and grannies in one sentence.

Mornin' , broke down with my dh last night and feel loads better today. Have not wanted to get out of bed past week and things were getting difficult to manage with dts. I'm hurt.

@PickAChew
Sorry to hear things are strained
Hopefully now things are easing you’ll start yo go back to how things were

Morning.
Spudlet my DM sounds similar. After years of therapy she was able to CBT herself out of the worrying thoughts. But it's hard to do that when a large proportion of the population are also scared, and when the people in charge are telling you it's not safe.
My usual tactic of saying, "Are you sure that's really a problem?" isn't helpful right now because her thoughts are being reinforced by everything else that's going on, and by her not going out much so that she doesn't get to see that the streets are not all like Bournemouth sea front on a hot day.

Skeptile that sounds like a nightmare. Look after yourself.

Right, have a good day, everyone. I'm off to a day of meetings by video. Give me strength.

Hi everyone! Sorry I've not been here been crazy busy at work. Its utterly relentless at the moment.
The nhs thing is an interesting example on here of the "that's not happening here so therefore it doesn't happen". There was a thread yesterday about NHS not doing cancer screening or treatment in some areas and the op was rounded on by loads of posters telling them that it hasn't stopped where they live so she must be wrong. Or even worse, "it's for their own good because if they get covid while having treatment they will die".

Yet people believed wholeheartedly a while ago, that a poster wouldn't get an ambulance until her lips were blue and shed had to have a conversation with her son about her dying. I don't often call bullshit because I'm aware that other people have lives and experiences beyond mine, but that seemed like attention grabbing alarmist bullshit.

Mumsnet is a very strange place these days.

In other news I managed to call TUI yesterday who informed me that my holiday is cancelled. I have a range of options but I cant actually action any of them until I receive my cancellation email. We have found an alternative but who knows if it will be available or affordable by the time I get my email.

It seems ridiculous that they know its cancelled but wont let me do anything about it until I get an email. Which I should get "in the next week". Thanks.

@skeptile
That is just horrible, frightening..I can’t even think of words to describe it
I don’t even feel confident about the accuracy of tests.
I would never volunteer to have one put it that way.
Those poor people.
We were in an apartment in Tenerife in mid March when their lock down happened
It was only tolerable, because it’s a good sized apartment
It wasn’t roasting hot
We could get out every day to the supermarkets
There was an armoured car patrolling the streets a couple of times a day telling people to stay indoors In 4 languages
They went into even harder lockdown once the tourists left

@skeptile

I don't think I've posted on these threads, but I've occasionally ventured onto generic Covid threads.

I'm not sure if the Chinese-style hard lockdown of 3000 of Melbourne's most vulnerable residents has made it into your news? We have the king of dementors as premier of our state. With no warning given to the residents, an army of 500 police turned up at the estate (9 tower blocks) on Saturday at 4pm and announced residents must stay inside their tiny apartments for a minimum of 5 days, and up to 14 days, so every single resident can be tested. These people are highly vulnerable, refugees, the mentally ill, families living in poverty. This is in response to 27 positive swabs the day before. (The tower blocks are in a 'hot spot' suburb).

The positive swabs in Victoria don't appear to be correlating with severe disease or death (an elderly man in his 90s was our last death).

Our premier has gone mad.

I'm off to the doctors this morning for antidepressants. This has pushed me to the edge.

Those poor people.

Not in my name.

I completely agree with you. I commented on a thread to the same effect that I didn't agree with it and that I found the need for armed police outside a bit threatening and I got called all the names under the sun and told to fuck off for having an opinion because Australian police can obviously be trusted not to use their guns. Hmm.

I have just wandered onto the Melbourne thread after reading the above. Oh my goodness, people are loving it. It makes me feel a whole range of emotions.

@Willow2017

I can't believe that people are still churning out the "without lockdown 500, 000 people would have died" mantra!

@Willow2017 537k have died worldwide since the start of this pandemic. There is no way on gods green earth that half a million people will have died just in the UK even if we had done nothing. How can people not see this? More importantly why is anyone listening to Neil Ferguson?! That man desperately needs a new calculator.

@skeptile I did read about the tower blocks in Melbourne. It made me feel sick. Those poor people.

Good morning. I saw on another thread someone say the “blue lips” poster was found to be a troll. I don’t know the veracity of this but it wouldn’t surprise me.

DH has gone to work on the train today for the first time since March. He’s been driving in but yesterday his car had the engine warning light come on so he decided to go back to public transport.

I met a dementor in the wild yesterday, a dog walking acquaintance who when I said we seemed to be coming out of the worst of it now sadly shook her head and told me according to the local online paper there were sixty three new cases in our fairly small town this week. I can’t find any reports of sixty three new cases anywhere online so god knows where she got that from.

Queen Nicola dons her Dementor-in-Chief hat yet again to revel in the international news

@Lickyicelollies

Queen Nicola dons her Dementor-in-Chief hat yet again to revel in the international news

Oh she’s a wee dementoring fool.

The "blue lips" thing didn't ring true to me. However, I believe lots of other stories about not getting tests or treatment.

I have a minor thing wrong with me which may be a problem when giving birth. I've been referred to a team who currently aren't taking referrals because of covid so won't talk to me. Umm... baby is going to need to come out. All this is doing is raising my chance of needing emergency intervention (and my stress levels). I very much doubt I'm unique.

(I always add after these kind of posts that my experience of individuals working in the NHS has been very good. It's the system that causes problems in my experience.)

In other news maybe the headline should actually be ‘Victoria Covid infections show that long term lockdown is an ineffective policy’ 🤷🏻‍♀️

I am really sick of people spinning stuff for their own gain. We actually need to support scientists to get to the bloody truth.

Good morning you murderous lot. How do you manage to cover so many pages at 8am!

This will be my breakfast reading

Dementor in Chief Nicola Sturgeon will be delighted as it's raining this morning.

Makes sitting in a pavement cafe or beer garden a lot less attractive.

My plastic face visors are being delivered soon, I am refusing to wear a mask because they are so bloody awful and uncomfortable. And I don't like not being able to see people's faces, it's so sinister.

I am back volunteering in a local charity shop this week, not looking forward to it really as it's going to be a lot of change and procedures. At the best of times the charity has some silly rules and procedures in the name of "health and safety" and this is going to make it all 100 times worse. One of the people I volunteer with has quite severe learning difficulties and doesn't cope well with change at all. Quite often if something happens in the shop like someone being rude to her she needs a cuddle and a bit of comfort. We'll probably be banned from doing that (although if she's distressed I'll be giving her a hug anyway).

Will be weird going back in, we closed in mid-March with the shop full of Easter Eggs and a mother's day display. And other local charities have been swamped with donations, people are so entitled about dropping things off and will be so horrid if we turn them away.

@Worldgonecrazy

Can I win finding the dementoring in the wild today. Last sentence of BBC report into why a scientist says we should wear masks. "Not doing so increases the risk for everyone, from NHS workers to your grandmother,“

Killing the NHS and grannies in one sentence.

😧 @Worldgonecrazy that is class dementoring ...

I’m trying to work out why I get so het up about masks... I don’t actually have a problem with masks when they’re used properly in situations where they could help with infection control - crowded tube in rush hour, probably not a bad idea. However what gets me is when people wear them when it can’t possibly be doing anyone any good, like in the middle of a park when they’re nowhere near anyone else. And then it becomes just about virtue signalling, which then morphs into shaming people for not wearing masks ..

At least it’s more nuanced here than in the States where it seems to be if you don’t wear a mask at all times, you’re a paid-up Trump supporting member of the Tea Party

For most people the mask wearing is performative. Showing the world just how morally superior they are.

Is the Australian president just seeing what the population will tolerate? Armed guards to prevent poor/disenfranchised having freedom of movement seems to be a political manoeuvre to show the rest of the population what can be done whilst not directly threatening potential voters. I think it’s terrifying and I hope that those with a franchise raise it with their political representatives.

I think the mental health outcomes are going to be appalling. Not just direct depression and illness, but abnormal and irrational behaviour morphing into long term illness.

I know a couple. Their first grandchild was born at the start of lockdown. They waited until the government told them they could meet the grandchild. Both had tests before they would touch the child. Cuddled child for one afternoon. Then as they both attended work the following day, whilst wearing PPE, now won’t cuddle the child again until the government tells them it’s safe. They live in an area with 0.04% positive tests but believe their behaviour is perfectly rational.

Behaviour such as this may not be classed as a mental health issue but I strongly believe it is. No doubt the behaviours will be given a fancy sounding name when all this is just a bad memory.

The Melbourne lockdown horrified me. It is nothing short of a power trip. Localised lockdowns are, of course, the only viable route out of this mess. But the manner in which it is being conducted, in Melbourne and elsewhere, is horrifying. Living breathing people are being reduced to Covid numbers.

I find something strange happening in my circle. Some known Ds are softening and becoming less strident in their judgementalism. Equally, some very positive people are becoming Ds. Not in a judgey way, but in a very hopeless way....like they can't see a path out of this darkness so they may as well settle and accept it. "There will be a second wave and a stricter lockdown, and I will be able to see my father only in 2021" was an actual statement texted to me by an erstwhile bubbly optimistic lovely woman

It's a strange sort of Stockholm Syndrome.