Boris is trying to kill off the old and infirm

[CoronLona]

"you will loose loved ones". Get over it. We are not taking any action to stop it. The old and vulnerable will die. 80% of us will catch coronavirus.

I do not like these messages. It's like he doesn't care about the elderly or vulnerable at all.

Is he trying to kill them off to make some savings in the NHS? It certainly feels like it.

AIBU to make this assumption?

Oh do bore off jenny. Appealing for the OP to apply some common sense and stop making accusations of murderous intent against the Prime Minister is not the same as not caring about the Coronavirus. But froth away.

@tryingtoprep you want schools closed? What happens to the children then?

So what exactly do you want to be done then? Lockdown may have contained things in China for the moment - but what happens when people start mixing again

Lock down will slow the virus and make it more manageable for the NHS - which is about to be hit with a tidal wave. Then when it slows down, certain measures get lifted and the new cases are still at a manageable rate.

People really do not understand what is going to happen to our hospitals. If you have a heart attack your probably going to die because the beds will be full of Coronavirus victims.

Horton argues that it is a lie that Boris et al are listening to science...
'The British government – Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson – claim that they follow science. But that’s not true. The evidence is clear. We urgently need to implement social distance and closure strategies. The government plays roulette with the public. This is a serious mistake. “

I am no Boris fan

But I think the British advisors are being more upfront and telling it how it is. A huge amount of people are going to die and no matter what route is taken that can't be stopped.

They don't want to kill people as a ploy to save money on pensions and disability payments and it is ridiculous to think that in my opinion.

They believe that this route will kill less people in the long run as that shutting down totally will just mean that it will pop back again and we will start all over again. So more deaths in long run.

Are they right ? No one knows but they could save more lives or maybe increase deaths.

I am also saying this with 3 elderly parents / parent in laws, 2 with major health issues.

Other countries could see the virus come back and worse as have no immunity.

I really hope that Britain has got it right.

The reality is, BJ and the Tory party have been reelected a couple of times, even though everyone is fully aware that they've made life a misery for people who are sick/disabled/poor via benefit cuts and switches to Universal Credit and job centre harassment, etc. An absolute misery, and people have actually died. And they don't care. And people voted for these uncaring arseholes.

So it's not a stretch to think that the same mentality is in play: so what if people who are old and/or already sick and therefore a drain on society die a bit sooner due to this virus. It will cut NHS costs, carer costs, benefit costs, entitlement costs ... people will still vote for them ... not that it matters at the moment ... they've got almost 5 years to go before they have to call an election.

I hate to break it to you OP, but no one is getting out of life alive.

If it's not coronavirus it will be something else that gets them.

CV does seem quite convenient in many ways.
It takes out the sick and elderly, both very costly for the state.
Economic damage from Brexit can be blamed on CV.

Downing Street recently hired someone with known views supporting eugenics. BJ did not sack this person or even distance himself from these veiws. I would bet money certain people around government have run the numbers on this and seen some positives.
However, as much as I can't stand known liar Boris Johnson, even I can't believe he'd sink this low. Besides, the elderly are his biggest fans and voters.

Some people might even refer to natural selection, doesn't seem such outlandish to suggest this government might adopt such a view

StandUpStraight Don’t get hysterical now love. I’m allowed a different opinion to yours.

@FlyingFlamingo completely agree with all you said. Although I think he is way out of his depth and should be listening to the who more.

Don't be so ridiculous. Or are you just using a genuine public health crisis to make a political point?

The PM's adoration of Churchill is well know.
This is BJ's war.

jenny my dear, the hysterics have all been yours.

Yes fatted but of course, as Boris said, this will take you before your time. It's also a pretty unpleasant way to go. Choking on your own mucus. Usually you get to say goodbye to your loved ones. With Covid you won't, people will die in isolation on their own, and families may not be able to hold normal funerals.

@LuckyAmy1986 What happens to the children when their parents get sick or die?

Labour are as much to blame. Many people only voted Conservative because the alternative was so bad. Labour are a complete mess. They should be the strong opposition we need, challenging the government when necessary.

Thinking about it, Tory policies HAVE already led to the death of many, many people already. Tory politicians know this, as do Tory voters.

@tryingtoprep a hell of a lot of parents at DCs school work for the NHS. A lot of parents work for the NHS. So do you want them taken out of the workforce? Or should the children go to grandparents (if available)

He’s not exactly in a low risk position himself

Along with many other MP’s

They aren’t doing this for purely selfish reasons

Boris didn't cause this, and he can't fix it either. We all seem to have been pulled into the view that we're entitled to our life being free of infectious diseases and that it's a government failure if we find we're not in fact replicants. I hate Boris's guts, but he's done as well as he can, given we have fuck all ability to manage this. Half the world lives with children they don't expect to live to adulthood. We've had it good for ages , now we will rediscover the more basic elements of survival, and it will be full of ugliness.

Why is WHO advice being ignored?
In other countries school are closed except for the children of health workers.

Because we would have to lockdown for potentially 6 months if we did it as soon as now

It’s too early.

I consider myself to be a cynical pragmatist but compared to people on these threads I'm fucking Pollyanna.

If blame must be apportioned, where was the WHO in the last 30-odd years pressuring countries that have wet markets, eat bush-meat or trade in wild animals? AIDS, Ebola, MERS, SARS and now the new Coronavirus have all had their genesis in such practices. It was inevitable that this would happen one day, there should have been international pressure way before now to curtail such dangerous and calamitous behaviour.

Too late now obviously (or maybe not, maybe we're lucky that whilst transmission levels are high, mortality rates are nothing on MERS or Ebola, we could view it as a warning shot across the bow).

But do people really think, that now we are in the thick of a pandemic, the Tory government have thought, 'Brilliant, here's an excellent wheeze to get rid of all those pesky elderlies', really? I'd hate to be in your head if that's what you truly believe.

Or maybe they're trying to balance all the variables to achieve the least-bad outcome? The situation's fluid anyway, I imagine there's a tipping-point at which it's been decided to take further measures.

@Newname4now did you watch the press conference yesterday?

ILike I was thinking that about bush meat etc but not an expert.