UK set to be the pariahs of Europe thanks to our government's mishandling of the crisis

[effingterrified]

www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/may/29/britain-left-off-safe-list-of-countries-free-to-holiday-in-greece

Britain left off 'safe list' of countries free to holiday in Greece

"The UK was not included on a list of 29 countries released by Athens on Friday deemed to fit an “epidemiological profile” that makes travel from them relatively safe."

Greece decided to ban British travellers on safety grounds even though "the UK is one of Greece’s biggest markets. Last year close to 4 million Britons travelled to Greece, with most heading to its extensive archipelago, which has remained remarkably Covid-free."

How depressing that our government's utter failure to manage the disease, giving the UK the highest death rates in Europe, means that we have now become the pariahs of Europe.

Belgium, USA, Poland, Italy, Ukraine, Sweden, Ireland, Bosnia, Iceland, Norway, France, Spain, China, Canada, Brazil... are also not on the list. I mean, 29 isn't very many on the allowed list, which will be reviewed again on 1 July.

And it seems totally pointless that Australia and New Zealand are on their list of countries allowed to holiday there given that both those countries have closed their borders indefiinatley.

Why on earth do you think our infection will fall?

You must have missed out the crucial word 'if' in my sentence.

jasjas1973 the R rate is between 0.7 and 0.9. This is lower in the community, and is being driven up by infections taking place in care homes and hospital settings.

It truly is bizarre Icedpurple. It's parochial and it is indicative of some quite impressive ignorance of what is going on elsewhere. I like 'reverse exceptionalism.' It nails many tediously repetitive threads....

The vast majority of people around the world manage to live their entire lives rarely if ever giving a shiny shit about what goes on in Britain.

Though to read parts of MN, you'd swear the whole world was obsessed with the place.

Norway and Denmark have opened their borders to each other, but are excluding Sweden. I wonder what the excitable OP's comments are on that? Does 'pariah' status require certain criteria OP?

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/29/norway-and-denmark-drop-mutual-border-controls-but-exclude-sweden-coronavirus

I am wondering why people who think that threads are "tediously repetitive" feel the need to post on them.

I have noticed many tediously repetitive threads on for example ending school lockdowns - I avoid commenting on threads that bore me.

Is there a reason that BovaryX, IcedPurple, etc, continue to comment on the thread if they think it is of no interest and repetitive?

Obviously, you're welcome to comment, but if you are just going to repeat the comment that you don't think the thread should exist, it seems rather a waste of your time and clutters up the thread.

BovaryX - I am rather tired of all the rather obvious bullying on this thread.

You can make the same point without snide ad hominems.

I am not sure what referring to me as 'excitable' adds to your argument.

And yes, since you ask, I agree with you actually that Sweden are also pariahs due to their refusal to lockdown unlike their near neighbours. This has led to much higher death rates in Sweden than in nearby countries, so it is unsurprising that Sweden too are banned from entry to those countries.

Obviously, you're welcome to comment

Neither I nor IcedPurple require your permission to comment on your thread. I will comment as and when I please. It amuses me that you wish to restrict comments on this thread. Is that because your OP is getting ridiculed?

effingterrified
Bullying? Er, challenging you on your bizarre interpretation of statistics and events isn't 'bullying.' Neither is it ad hominem. Perhaps you should pay more attention to words and their meaning instead of making baseless accusations.

noraclavicle I've been accused of being a government paid bot. I'm actually left wing and vote Labour. I always say I wish I was being paid to post, I could do with the cash right now!

Funnily enough I just don't think Boris Johnson is going to come on mumsnet and think "shit, Wax thinks I'm doing a terrible job, I better change my strategy entirely."

noraclavicle - I have no idea who you are but am unclear how referring to me as "ranty and hysterical" adds anything to your argument.

I am now reporting all posts that are obviously attempts to shut discussion down through pointless ad hominems.

I couldn't care less what you think about me - please respond to the topic of the original post not just slag me off.

Ta.

On the positive front, it is keeping posters who do this busy, leaving the rest of the board that bit more civilised.

I agree with pp about the reverse exceptionalism point. There's an awful lot of this on mn and on this thread.

I really don't think other countries give a shiny shite what were doing in the UK - we are just not that important!

I'm assuming Greece will continue to review their arrangements for allowing nationals from other countries in, but highly unlikely anyone on the UK would have gone there before July anyway! And probably not until August realistically.

But the action they are taking is wholly sensible.

I can't understand why anyone would want to travel by plane right now anyway.

Greece opening to tourists is entirely financially motivated rather than health based. I hope Greece doesn't suddenly see an increase in Coronavirus cases because of this.

There is enough confusion and uncertainty without half truths and headlines shared out of context.

That's why I post on these repetitive threads. To counterbalance the bullshit.

Lots of people feel anxious and afraid and struggling to cope with life. We dont need fake news like this.

Report away, OP. You repeatedly misread mine and others’ posts a few weeks ago (I see you’re up to that trick again) and accused me more than once of being a government agent. You were really very unpleasant towards me. I decided not to report you but you owe me a bloody apology. Not that I’ll get one.

You’ve confused total deaths and death rates, OP. The UK has the highest deaths but not the highest death rate.

Countries such as Australia and New Zealand have seemingly handled the pandemic well but what prize do they get for this achievement - closed borders and not being allowed to leave their country again for who knows how long or be allowed to welcome tourists etc. Would you be happier if our goverment had taken the same approach and we became an isolated island with closed borders in which case it would be completely irrelevant if Greece deemed us worthy of holidaying there or not.

GabriellaMontez - so is the Guardian 'fake news', then?

You should write to them and tell them.

Not long ago the British people decided they didn't need Europe

Wrong - We are European and unless the island casts adrift from the Continental Shelf, will always be European.

What we decided was that we didn't need the EU and we don't.

How do you feel about the UK having the highest death rates in Europe, then?

Wrong, - per million of population, Belgium has the highest number of deaths, UK were fourth last time I looked.

But please don't let reality get in the way of you salivating over the fact that people from the UK can't go to Greece for a holiday - along with France, Belgium, Italy, .......................................................................

GabriellaMontez - so is the Guardian 'fake news', then?

The Guardian has an agenda- almost every paper has.

dramadrama - no, I think you are the one who has confused them.

pennylane83 - "Countries such as Australia and New Zealand have seemingly handled the pandemic well but what prize do they get for this achievement - closed borders and not being allowed to leave their country again for who knows how long or be allowed to welcome tourists etc. "

Not true. Australia and New Zealand (which are separate countries) are looking to open up tourism with each other and potentially a number of other countries that have handled the pandemic similarly well and have very few/no cases as they do. It's simply untrue to suggest that they will not be "allowed to leave their country again for who knows how long or be allowed to welcome tourists".

This also applies to business travel. www.ft.com/content/c2cbf1d2-aab6-42a6-b87e-f6514fa0ac47

Aw, there you go again 🙂

?

noraclavicle - you've already had one post on this thread deleted for personal abuse.

You may be unaware but MN etiquette is that you do not drag up arguments from old, unrelated threads on current threads.

I have no recollection of you or your username, but if you have an issue related to a completely different thread, feel free to report it on there, rather than cluttering up this thread.

Thanks.

the R rate is between 0.7 and 0.9. This is lower in the community, and is being driven up by infections taking place in care homes and hospital settings

Nope, 4 SAGE members say it is close to 1, excluding hospitals and Care homes.... or as one has just said "We are talking the lid off a boiling pan" the 8000 new dialy infections are in the community only.
Backed up by the fact we are still at level 4 and not dropping to 3.

We had 2 to 3 weeks advanced warning on most of europe, yet learned nothing and we are drifting back with every week that passses.

I think we might make more progress, if the Govt compared ourselves with Europe's best performing countries instead of constantly comparing with the very worst.