BORIS TESTS POSITIVE

[startalovetrain]

So BoJo has COVID-19!

I am sure you agree with that

Of course she doesn’t. A Tory government could order the slaughter of the innocents and she’d try and justify it.

Broadband now being considered as a proper public utility that people need-to-have by the government, who’ve got providers to agree to lift all data caps, prioritise repairs to the vulnerable, and avoid cutting off people who can’t pay their bills.

amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/29/broadband-providers-to-lift-data-caps-during-covid-19-lockdown

Yet another Corbyn policy that was locked widely before the election and is now being enacted. At this rate we'll have the whole Labour manifesto in force by summer

There will be an enquiry.
There are lots of questions to answer about our preparedness and our approach.

Of course there will and should be a public enquiry when this is all over. What I disagree with is the notion that it should be a hostile witch-hunt that will lead to the triumphant return of socialism as the public flagellate themselves for their previous wrong-think...

Ask yourself if the Guardian would publish that article if we had a Labour Government and all the polls gave them excellent ratings for their handling of the crisis

Sadly, we are in the early days of this crisis.

I want to believe the Government is doing the best it can and is following scientific advice.

I want to believe our NHS is well resourced and the staff are getting the equipment they need

I want to believe that testing will be ramped up

I want to believe that people who need food will get it.

We have had years of austerity, cuts and decimated local council services who are now being asked to step up.

We have people with low incomes, a gig economy, self employment, people with massive debts, second jobs and insecure lives.

I want to believe things will be ok.

Yet another Corbyn policy that was locked widely before the election and is now being enacted. At this rate we'll have the whole Labour manifesto in force by summer

I think you may be missing the implications of what you’re saying: if you can get all your favourite Labour policies under the Conservatives, then what on earth is the point of the Labour Party? They may as well pack up and go home

At this rate we'll have the whole Labour manifesto in force by summer

It has certainly shown up the value of people, the issues over self employment, the worries about housing, the importance of the NHS, of community, of the welfare system, food security, the internet, education and the value of the social care system.

if you can get all your favourite Labour policies under the Conservatives, then what on earth is the point of the Labour Party

You raise a very interesting point - what effect will this have on the Conservative party itself.

What lessons will they learn from this and how will it affect their attitudes towards society?

if you can get all your favourite Labour policies under the Conservatives, then what on earth is the point of the Labour Party? They may as well pack up and go home

Absolutely. The Labour Party in blue rosettes which ironically you voted for. Who’s been had?

Who’s been had?

I don’t see them raising my taxes or confiscating my property like Labour would have done even without a pandemic, so not me!

I don’t see them raising my taxes

Yet.

CendrillonSings

Indeed

😆

I can't see any way we dont raise taxes after all this. Rishi hinted as much with the NI comment the other day, and frankly that essentially functions like a tax for those below pensionable age.

endgame (imo)
everyone who is susceptible to Corona virus will catch it
Many of those whose health is fragile will not survive despite hospital treatment.
lock should slow down the rate at which people die from coronavirus and thereby prevent other consequential deaths from an overwhelmed health system

I worry about other countries - especially those with limited health facilities.

India has issues in many places with access to water and space for social distancing and hand washing.

Will we be stopping anyone entering our country for ages?

The whole global economy will be affected.

I hope that the strategic and fiscal response to this situation is driven by science and is not an attempt to persuade ideologues on the left that the Tories are not callous evil bastards

With such a huge majority, I don’t think there’s any need to persuade the left about anything. This is to reassure their core vote - small business owners, middle managers, all the hard working families - that they’ll be looked after, come what may. Any persuasion of the left is a by product. In my case, it’s definitely softened my loathing of the right, I think Sunak’s seriously impressive, he inspires confidence and trust. Of course this may well alarm the right of the Tory party!

People are going to be paying a shed leadoff tax after this-including the self -employed.

Minimum of £150 billion is likely going to be borrowed this year.

A 1% increase in the basic rate of tax brings 1.5 billion in per annum.

The interest alone on our current national debt is £48 billion- which is 8% of all the money the government raises in tax.

LOAD OF!

I just don’t see how those at risk are going to stop being at risk unless and until there is a vaccine.

Several drugs currently being trialled as treatment have shown strong promise. They're already being used. The issue is stock. There's a shortage. If trial results confirm these drugs as a successful treatment, I think it should be quicker to manufacture more of these drugs than wait for a vaccine.

In the UK, there was a limited supply of remsedivir available on request
Gilead Sciences have now had to temporarily halt compassionate use requests due to overwhelming (global) demand - but I'm confident there's enough for our Prime Minister and other senior MPs.

I must admit I am starting to struggle with the end-game for this CV pandemic

There's no definite plan set in stone, it depends on how the measures already introduced go.
One possible scenario if infections begin to go down is easing off the lockdown for a few months in the summer, then reintroducing in the autumn when there are more pressures on the NHS from other illnesses.
Also if antibody testing (to find out who is immune) proves to be effective then widespread testing could make a big difference.
The ultimate end game is to have a vaccine of course.

I must admit I am starting to struggle with the end-game for this CV pandemic

So much will depend on how the virus behaves and what developments are made.

Effective treatments may be in operation soon. The virus itself could diminish, either because of seasonality or for no clear reason (like SARS). Herd immunity will develop (though this will be slow before a vaccine is available).

I must admit I am starting to struggle with the end-game for this CV pandemic

I hope this isn't us in a couple of months.

Interesting to see how this has moved on - perhaps now so many Tories have symptoms the bots are not operating as well as they were.

The good parts of the response will have been prepared years ago -when epidemic planning first started and as it was refined over the years. The epidemic plans will have been put together by civil servants and medics, nurses, pharmacists local authority reps, police, army and god knows who else - except there wont have been any politicians . They will have been all the people the government have been running down for years. The role of politicians is to provide the money and press the button to say go.

Various conservative governments have refused to provide the money for ventilators, hoping that an epidemic wouldnt happen until there was a Labour government to take the blame. Now because we are buying when the world wants kit everything costs us more. Boris was late pressing the button.

A friend's medic child has been off work with a persistent cough - just gone back with no test. No-one with NHS contacts believes the tests are happening or the ventilators will appear in time. People are not getting ventilators now in London unless you can be pretty sure they will survive, some will die who stood a chance if ventilated.

The Nightingale hospitals are going to be staffed by first aiders from the airlines - nice little subsidy for Richard Branson and a way into the idea of Virgin health care.

There will be a pent up burst of spending after this - and windfall profits for a number of businesses can and should be taxed. Even Boris may have to see the logic in that.

Life may never fully return to pre-epidemic as I cant see many people wanting foreign tourists here for some time unless they have - and pay for - testing when they arrive. Maybe even the government will now wake up to the stupidity of suggesting we can do without a farming industry or other key industries.

People are not getting ventilators now in London unless you can be pretty sure they will survive, some will die who stood a chance if ventilated.

I can see why the second homers didn't want to stay in London with the "well equipped" hospitals there... I thought we were going to transfer patients to other parts of the UK if local hospitals were at capacity. I know something like that's happened in France.

Beerincome
Thanks for the info. Just checked back to this thread. Have been too angry before.

Had we still been a fully fledged member of Europe, perhaps there would be offers to fly ill patients to countries like Germany, as happened from France.

People are not getting ventilators now in London unless you can be pretty sure they will survive, some will die who had a chance if ventilated.
This is outrageous. I had no idea.