ADs take the National Express when their lives' in a mess, it will make them smile

[BogRollBOGOF]

🎤On the National Express
There’s a jolly hostess
Giving porridge free
She’ll provide you with shots
amaretto or what
You like to seeeeee...

Going out was in style
Now we’re stuck in this aisle
Dream of being free
And it’s hard to get by
When your arse is the size
Of the furlough feeeeeee🎤

Bah ba ba la
Bah ba ba la

Tomorrow belongs to meee...

Welcome to the 17:38 to freedom, stopping at virtual hugs, critical discourse, and random tangents along the way. ETA unknown...

Morning all

The result of the insanity in Australia is....more insanity

Relieved to be in cold England frankly

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/20/south-australia-comes-lockdown-early-man-linked-outbreak-lied/

@NannyGythaOgg I've belatedly read the Chris Green piece and also gave it to DH to read. What a sensible well thought out statement. I'm intending to send it on to my MP for his comments. By and large he's a good local MP but does like to go with the party line.

In other news I've managed to get a Tesco delivery for 22 December and we've got a wine delivery today woo-hoo!

All I want is for it not to be illegal to see people I love.

@BogRollBOGOF thank you for summing up the absolute insanity of the current situation in one short sentence.

Acorn that story is concerning, isn't it? I dislike this mass public shaming of individuals that goes on. (Even though he isn't named in this instance.)

The guy mentioned in the story is now being blamed worldwide for pushing SA into its very harsh lockdown.

But while the Selfish Bullfrog Chorus are giving it full throat in the press, who can say why he gave the wrong information to contact tracers? Sure, he might be a great big trolling arsehole. But equally, he might have got confused and misunderstood a question, or he might have been intimidated by the whole thing and flustered into giving incorrect or incomplete information about his movements/whereabouts. He might have not wanted to say that he worked at the pizza place because he was getting paid cash-in-hand and was terrified of losing his job.

And while they're all giving frothy interviews to newspapers halfway around the world no one's looking at the contact tracing system and going: OK, we triggered a statewide lockdown for 1.7 million people here off the actions of a single person and we got that information wrong. Maybe there's a systemic issue in how we handle and react to data.

I'm not saying it's right to lie (or give incorrect information) but this wholesale public monstering that goes on feels unpleasantly witch-hunty. It's not a million miles away from some of the posts Over There where they extrapolate mass granny-murdering from a trip to The Range.

This concept of blaming individuals for spreading infectious illness is a slippery slope, isn't it. It's quite a nuanced thing, I think. On the one hand, I actually have no issue with for example prosecuting people who maliciously spread HIV. But I find myself really kicking back against this blaming of 'selfish' people who may or may not spread an infectious illness through ordinary daily actions. It's a tricky one and I'm not quite sure I have a fully thought-through stance on it yet.

@Worldgonecrazy

All I want is for it not to be illegal to see people I love.

@BogRollBOGOF thank you for summing up the absolute insanity of the current situation in one short sentence.

Yes. On a broader level, I don’t believe in lockdown at all.

On a personal and civil rights level, I think criminalising people for seeing each other is the worst part of this.

Nasty I don’t think for a minute that he misled anyone. I don’t want to bore on about it, but I’ve mentioned my late father specialised in infectious disease. All the protocols that worked - centring doctor and hospital as points of communication- have now been farmed out to T&T.

The chances of misunderstanding are high.

But the hysteria in Australia might be highlighted by this?

I suppose there is a weirdo somewhere who thinks it would be funny to trigger a shutdown- but one person is very unlikely to know their experience will do that.

Really the officials are finding any excuse for tyranny.

He might have not wanted to say that he worked at the pizza place because he was getting paid cash-in-hand and was terrified of losing his job.

I think this is a common situation. The way things are here, if an employee in a small cafe or food delivery business tests positive and everyone else has to isolate for 14 days, things are so precarious financially that the whole business could go under. That's a lot to place on the shoulders of a minimum wage employee.

Have you seen this? Some kind of mad 'guide' for children at Christmas from the BBC...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-54994584

This concept of blaming individuals for spreading infectious illness is a slippery slope, isn't it. It's quite a nuanced thing, I think. On the one hand, I actually have no issue with for example prosecuting people who maliciously spread HIV. But I find myself really kicking back against this blaming of 'selfish' people who may or may not spread an infectious illness through ordinary daily actions. It's a tricky one and I'm not quite sure I have a fully thought-through stance on it yet.

I know. I was watching a video on the BBC site about people in hospital with covid, one lady was saying 'take care as you could pass this on to someone like me with a lung condition. Now I'm really ill and could have died' but there was no mention of whether she was herself taking care, or shielding as she has an underlying significant health condition. She may have been of course, which would have reduced her risk. But it was all about others. I wonder if blaming others also reduces personal responsibility as well, it can be easier to blame others than take responsibility yourself sometimes.

If we're all busy blaming others - then we're not watching what the government are doing. Convenient isn't it - if we're angrily tapping at keyboards with these "I can't possibly understand how people want to see their mums at Christmas because they might kill meeeeee" stuff... we're not noticing dodgy contracts, bodged up PPE, playing dubious violinists and everything else.

Latest one from school - the kids are only allowed to be seen on the playground standing next to the same child they sit next to in class. How fucking ridiculous and unenforceable is that?! DD1 sits next to the lad she absolutely fancies - the poor kid needs some break from DD1's adoration (apparently he's lush because he's "dead good at Maths")

I'm just knackered - I have lectures to do and I'm just half asleep. Had a virtual placement day yesterday which was really interesting but so sad that we're having to deal with case studies and not people... and the tales of the impact on service users of all of this are heartbreaking too.

I wrote to my MP again this morning, this time laying bare that the public are not as stupid as the government seems to think they are, and that the infantilising approach which the government takes is going to cause massive disrespect for the government. I emphasised that the public are EXPECTING and ANTICIPATING restrictions to be eased on 2nd December, not simply replaced with new restrictions under a different name which would have the same effect.

The longer this goes on, the more I am convinced that the government is doing this for shits and giggles, just like Tony Bliar did with war in Iraq. He wanted that war, no matter what the truth was. When I do post on Covid threads, I am often asked "you think the government is doing this for shits and giggles?". My honest answer is yes, I do.

Trying to work out how to get DS2 a repeat prescription of his inhalers as his seasonal symptoms are piping up (he's gradually been growing out of it... but then his lung capacity has probably been affected by 8 months without parkrun and football...)

Already taken me longer to get precisely nowhere than my old methods of walking down, talking to a receptionist and walking home...

@BogRollBOGOF

Trying to work out how to get DS2 a repeat prescription of his inhalers as his seasonal symptoms are piping up (he's gradually been growing out of it... but then his lung capacity has probably been affected by 8 months without parkrun and football...)

Already taken me longer to get precisely nowhere than my old methods of walking down, talking to a receptionist and walking home...

If the GP system is being a pain, try the pharmacy

My inhalers fell off the repeat list and the pharmacy route was quicker.

Omd the Australia thread!

and Brexit springs to mind, amongst the things going unnoticed.

Bogroll see on the online prescription form there is often a place for notes, you could leave a note there asking for a double one. I did this asking for the pharmacy to be changed. They see it when they issue the prescriptions.

Surely schools reflect the communities that they serve. They are obviously not magically immune to viral spread, particularly as the places of greatest densities of people permissible since March.
But just because a case is reported to a school and affects its function, it doesn't mean that it was automatically spread in the school

I'm sure there was some reasearch that did find that - though
Wales is considering mass testing in Wales schools and colleges which I'm not sure about.

Juts been through whole rigmoral of getting our inhailors - still talking though the outside window but they were very helpful this time and finally got DS booked in for flu vaccination.

I would love to do repeat perscriptions though a local chesmist but they don't seem to want to do that - so its a two trip to GP and then wait outside at chemists job these days.

@Orangeblossom7777

and Brexit springs to mind, amongst the things going unnoticed.

Bogroll see on the online prescription form there is often a place for notes, you could leave a note there asking for a double one. I did this asking for the pharmacy to be changed. They see it when they issue the prescriptions.

I ended up just filling in a form saying DS was generally unwell and putting the relevant details on there.

The surgery have been trying to readjust their systems such as online prescriptions for some time. The trouble is that we go so infrequently that I struggle to remember who's been registered with what, and getting my head around thinking for 3. First time I've attempted to get hold of them since I failed last December and before that it was Jan 2019 when DS1 had a nasty bout of tonsilitis. We barely scrape up an appointment per year between the four of us. Which is good! But it doesn't keep us up to date with the systems, and I'm a face to face person. I'd rather just talk to the receptionists as I take it in better.

@wanderings

I wrote to my MP again this morning, this time laying bare that the public are not as stupid as the government seems to think they are, and that the infantilising approach which the government takes is going to cause massive disrespect for the government. I emphasised that the public are EXPECTING and ANTICIPATING restrictions to be eased on 2nd December, not simply replaced with new restrictions under a different name which would have the same effect.

The longer this goes on, the more I am convinced that the government is doing this for shits and giggles, just like Tony Bliar did with war in Iraq. He wanted that war, no matter what the truth was. When I do post on Covid threads, I am often asked "you think the government is doing this for shits and giggles?". My honest answer is yes, I do.

I think they are too and it's causing no end of arguments between me and my husband. He thinks I'm totally insane and is probably ready to have me sectioned. Drives me insane because his life hasn't changed one bit whereas mine has been turned entirely upside down.

I’m guessing the posters who say “shits and giggles” mean experiments in behavioural control? I can see why “shits and giggles” might be misinterpreted.

It's like the being in it together... but in different boats... but while I'm fortunate to be in quite a nice, stable boat there's a bit of a class hierachy going on within it too!

While DH is WFH, there is a lot of social contact going on with calls/ video calls. He comes down at lunch and I'm generally around for some real human conversation. He's alright about spending the weekends traipsing around parks. Social life was not amazing from week to week. He's sitting in our old south facing bedroom with a nice big window. It's not so bad. This stage of "lockdown" makes zero difference to him compared to how life was in Oct or Sept other than not being able to eat in a pub/ McDonalds.

It's me facing the masks every school run, buying the food in, housework and none of the nice bits like my fitness classes or races or volunteering that kept me purposeful since leaving the workplace. Plus a pair of hyper, underexercised kids...

He's a decent chap, a bit domestically complacent and needs pointing in the right direction. We both had SAHMs which doesn't help. Normally, it's a decent deal between us, but this situation has taken more from me than from him.

And this is us doing better than millions of others hollow laugh

I'm not convinced the government are competent enough to be deliberately doing experiments in behavioural control!

@110APiccadilly

I'm not convinced the government are competent enough to be deliberately doing experiments in behavioural control!

But that’s what Cummings is all about.

Look at the minutes of SAGE meetings, they’re all about behaviour control, not infection control.

Someone very senior at the nhs asked why they weren’t involved inT&T and got silenced very fast.

Oh and Susan Michie is on SPI-B

www.ucl.ac.uk/behaviour-change/news/2020/jun/scientific-advisory-group-emergencies-sage-coronavirus-covid-19-response

That entire unit has been about Nudge theory for years, which was on Cameron’s required reading list.

Note - not saying labour or liberal would be different.

But this is well documented stuff that’s been going on for years.

I've just had a similar conversation with my dh.
I have a 19 year old ds who is crumbling before my eyes. He's heard that we will have 5 days off at Xmas for good behaviour and then another month of lockdown.
I asked dh why and he said oh they need to keep on top of it. But they don't know what the numbers are going to be, and January is usually a pretty quiet month anyway, crap weather and no money.
I don't know how to help ds for another 2 months of this. I'm feeling sick with worry.

Even in a normal year, the death rate among the elderly and very ill increases a lot in the new year, possibly because people hang on for one last christmas and then give up. It is very difficult to get a funeral slot in January for example, as they are so busy. Of course, next year this is all going to laid at the door of covid, isn't it?
And I can also see millions of doses of vaccine being spoiled when they are held up in ports due to brexit shenanigans. That would be hushed up though, and it will just be labelled as a shortage.
So, if you have been vaccinated, surely you should not have to do track and trace? I mean, what would be the point? No-one has mentioned this conundrum as far as I can see.
Whatever the government are organising, be it covid related or not, you just know it will be a disaster, won't work and will cost billions. What a total shower.