How can you do this to your children (and yourselves)?

[endoftheworldaoife]

It has been six months and it's now very clear that covid won't be doing away in our lifetimes. A vaccine won't eradicate it (just as a vaccine didn't eradicate flu).

Most of you seem to be willing to accept social distancing and masks for the foreseeable. And I don't get it. We are a tribal species. We literally die without contact and get sick without communication. Kids are learning arrange, stilted ways of being that will just worsen their digital reliance. OCD is being normalised. Dating will be neurotic and masked. Freshers won't make new loves or lifelong friends like we did. As for their working lives...

I wouldn't mind catching covid (indeed I'm sure we all will sooner or later) so can someone explain to me what on earth is happening in their heads to tip the balance? If it only affected us, I could understand (well, I couldn't but this feels like child abuse on a giant scale).

@Devlesko just because you and your friends might not care or follow the rules doesn't mean no one else is, and it's exceptionally arrogant/unempathetic to assume you're experience is universal

Responding to the mention of 1,000 daily deaths - about 1,700 deaths per day is normal in the UK (all causes), which equates to about 620,000 per year. I suspect that collective horrified response to news of so many deaths stems from the fact that we don’t know what is expected or normal.

[quote endoftheworldaoife]@IncludeWomenInTheSequel I already posted my solution. To keep living a normal life. Covid simply isn't a reason for authoritarianism. I see people a lot but from Monday if I see two friends at once I'll be breaking the law.

(As for the person who asked where I came from there was a telegraph article about Halloween and covid so I came to look)[/quote]
Right, well if normality is what you're after, good news!

Schools, shops, bars, restaurants, gyms, hotels, hairdressers, swimming pools, etc, are all open. You can go wherever you like in public as long as you wear a mask if you are able.

You can't have gatherings of unlimited numbers of people but who does that every weekend anyway?

So really, what's going to prompt this civil war you speak of?

Oh and @tiktokmakeaclock you are clearly a troll with a personal gripe against me although I have no clue why. Anything I have written is balanced and sees the point from both sides. You cannot argue that Eat out to Help out was a catastrophe waiting to happen unless you happen to be a massive Tory or Rishi Sunaks mum.
Now do bore off dear there are far more questionable viewpoints on this thread than mine.

OP I totally get where you are coming from. I'm not a Russian bot. I think covid is a worrying illness and I also think that creeping authoritarianism and surveillance are concerning and they shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. I think that the cost benefit analysis in managing covid is so deeply complex (and involves very challenging predictions about the future) that it is very possible our leaders are getting it wrong. There should be a middle ground for discussion here without everyone accusing others of being - I am paraphrasing here - mentally unwell extremists. Like with Brexit, everyone has gotten so tribal about things that independent thought and a true discussion have gone out the window of our collective bandwagons.

Link to the article @LadyofTheManners? Because there's no statistics available yet for death by suicide. The Samaritans have said their calls went up 200% in lockdown, a number which has been misused and misquoted all over the place.

Agree with you OP. I think it reflects the privileged baby boomer state of mind. Too many elderly people simply don’t care what they inflict on the young. They see themselves as entitled to protection whatever the cost. Anyone who suggests the elderly should be isolating themselves, while the rest of us get on with life, is howled down because the elderly baby boomers genuinely think the rest of society should be sacrificed for them. They have no concept of society. They don’t care that our children will be burdened with debt for decades and more; about youth unemployment, youth homelessness, youth despair, the destruction of our children’s future. It’s all about keeping them safe, whatever the cost to others.

I don't know why a balanced view is such a rarity on here .....of course we can wear masks and do social distancing to buy us time; of course Covid can cause horrific effects long term and we should do the community thing and suck up some restrictions to slow the spread. However anyone who raises doubts - like the OP - is called a conspiracy theorist. The facts are we are being asked to make massive sacrifices while the government continue to lie, procrastinate and generally fuck up. I am in a new lockdown area where all visits to other household are now banned for an indeterminate time. My older relatives who live alone are distraught at potentially losing social contact again; for one relative the last six months have massively accelerated his dementia. I still have to go to work with the public. My kids are on edge in school, terrified by anyone coughing or sneezing near them cos they don't want to bring it home. And all this kids are resilient, we've been through worse etc is bollocks- this is going to cause some serious mental health issues long term, especially amongst the young.

Agree with you OP. I think it reflects the privileged baby boomer state of mind. Too many elderly people simply don’t care what they inflict on the young. They see themselves as entitled to protection whatever the cost. Anyone who suggests the elderly should be isolating themselves, while the rest of us get on with life, is howled down because the elderly baby boomers genuinely think the rest of society should be sacrificed for them. They have no concept of society. They don’t care that our children will be burdened with debt for decades and more; about youth unemployment, youth homelessness, youth despair, the destruction of our children’s future. It’s all about keeping them safe, whatever the cost to others.

Dear god. seen it all now.

If this isn't biscuit central. what shite.

My mental health improved massively in lockdown. Hugely.

Now it’s back.....

@endoftheworldaoife
Loving your posts
Hoping to see you in the AD threads..you’ll fit right in.
For the record.

I’m going to continue my life as normal, as I have done all year.
I don’t want a vaccine.
I’m happy to give my ventilator to anyone else that needs it
If it’s my time to go I’ll go living my life not cowering in a bunker

Yes @LadyofTheManners please provide a link because there’s been no stats on suicides increasing

As most don’t leave notes how would it be confirmed they died because of anything to do with covid?

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/suicidesintheunitedkingdom/2019registrations

Suicides were up last year, but even at a record high of 5,691 for England and Wales it's absolutely nowhere near the 150,000 you quote

There should be a middle ground for discussion here without everyone accusing others of being - I am paraphrasing here - mentally unwell

You're on the wrong thread twinkle if you think OP is 'middle ground.'

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince if you think wearing a face mask and washing your hands is cowering in a bunker you may need to consult a mental health professional for a reality check

Interesting article on masks: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2026913

Damn, sorry @TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince, that should have been to @Dowser

If it’s my time to go I’ll go living my life not cowering in a bunker

This thread is NUTs. What bunker are you living in?

What are the AD threads incidentally?

@Gladysthesphinx

Agree with you OP. I think it reflects the privileged baby boomer state of mind. Too many elderly people simply don’t care what they inflict on the young. They see themselves as entitled to protection whatever the cost. Anyone who suggests the elderly should be isolating themselves, while the rest of us get on with life, is howled down because the elderly baby boomers genuinely think the rest of society should be sacrificed for them. They have no concept of society. They don’t care that our children will be burdened with debt for decades and more; about youth unemployment, youth homelessness, youth despair, the destruction of our children’s future. It’s all about keeping them safe, whatever the cost to others.

To be fair lots of younger people have been saddled with difficult symptoms months after they had the virus. Sorry but this is too much of an unknown for everyone; not just for the baby boomers.

‘cowering in a bunker’!!

That’s hilarious!! What do these people think they can no longer do? Most places are open or there’s an alternative to most things!

@sunglassesonthetable What does "twinkle" mean? It is possible to acknowledge aspects of a person's perspective and discuss them, wherever you believe they fall on the spectrum of public opinion.

@endoftheworldaoife

I can honestly see a civil war coming of this.

You and whose army!!!!

Seriously lay off the conspiracy theory websites.

If we have unrest in this country there are a list of reasons that come before this.

@sunglassesonthetable

If it’s my time to go I’ll go living my life not cowering in a bunker

This thread is NUTs. What bunker are you living in?

What are the AD threads incidentally?

I don’t get it. Are people not going out?

Every where I go it’s so busy. Why are people staying inside?

I think people are losing it and should see others pdq

Mr Openshaw might be of that opinion, but it'll be interesting to see who is prepared to pay for it.

@xtinak

twinkle = cutie