Is it just me or is this board getting a bit quieter?

[bumbleymummy]

That’s a good sign, right? :)

[quote Dishhh]@RedToothBrush

Strangely enough if you look at comments, the most vocal people left on the board now tend to be people who (either for a legit clinical reason or through being overly anxious) are still in the 'fuck am i going to die' camp.

I'd disagree with that. The most vocal people shout down and shame the above posters down (that's why the board is quiet - who wants that?). BTW its absolutely fine to be anxious when a pandemic is occurring. As to your other comments - they are very UK-centric. It may be all over for you, but have you considered that there are other users of the board from other countries that are at different stages of pandemic control? It may not be over for them. At all.[/quote]
There is an Aus / U.K. thread which rumbles along, I find interesting as am Aus too. It’s not being squashed it is there.

As always though the far right and left of an argument whatever it is tend to be the most vocal. Neither of those are the genuinely anxious or have a reason to be and both shut them down

@MountainDweller

I do find it strange that people are forgetting about it. Here in France we have vaccination passes for restaurants, tourist attractions and events, good levels of vaccination (many teenagers fully vaxxed now), masks still normal in shops, crowded places and public transport. In the U.K. there are many more cases but no one seems to care. My friend who visited last week said plenty of people not wearing masks on the tube (where it's supposed to be compulsory) and even fewer wearing one in supermarkets and on suburban trains. There are threads on here about fully vaxxed people getting pretty sick. Given the choice I'd prefer not to risk that by wearing a mask and showing my pass. It's like the British are looking forward to catching Covid. My DH will be visiting his mum soon and he'll be taking FFP2 masks because nothing is being done for the public good any more, it's every man for himself. I don't want him bringing it back here! I am looking at the U.K. and people remind me of frogs that are being heated slowly in water... eventually the water will get too hot and they'll die, but it's happening slowly so they don't notice.

I think there's a culture of ignoring anything unpleasant or inconvenient. You can see it with other health and social concerns whether it's obesity, credit card debt or environmental issues people just don't want to hear it and carry on and living life to the full.

My Twitter is still like 50% COVID, but then my Twitter feed is very international.

You've got Australia, NZ and the East Asian countries which are still in the opening-up process and trying to talk themselves through the psychological aspects of accepting endemic COVID.

In the United States, the whole thing has just become utterly entrenched and politically polarized. Deaths and hospitalizations have peaked at higher levels and are much slower to fall because of widespread vaccine refusal among the conspiracy theorists. And as for the liberal Democratic voting states and cities, I think some of those places will be enforcing mask rules for years, plus an unending drip-feed of social distancing weirdness and general extreme fearfulness about COVID. Left-wing Americans seem to have got into a real moral panic over COVID and are using mask wearing as a sort of political identify badge.

And then in some developing countries, they are still waiting for vaccines and suffering lots of deaths and mayhem. The emergency phase is still ongoing in some parts of the world.

The UK had a horrible pandemic in 2020, but the flip side of that is that people were scared into taking up the vaccine in vast numbers and there is a load of natural immunity as well. The issue hasn't become politicized in quite such an extreme way as it has in the States. Everyone's bored with the issue, and rightly so.

@RedToothBrush

But this is a uk forum.

I wouldn't expect it to be dominated by conversations about where other countries are in things.

In the UK the pressing most immediate concerns of people have changed in recent months and weeks. They are more bothered about how am i going to pay the bills.

Thats the way of the world. Its not that people dont care. Its just that concerns and immediate threats are changing and time is moving on. Thats all.

It started out a UK forum, but it isn't as much any more. There are plenty of posters from all over the world, even if it seems most of the threads are UK-focused.

And I'm not suggesting that the board be dominated by other countries' concerns. Just a simple awareness - and kindness - that while you are feeling bored of Covid, this attitude may grate somewhat on posters who are experiencing something altogether different. That's all.

Erm. There is a) no obligation on a UK forum b) its a two way thing where you might want to cut brits some slack considering the last year many have had.

Sorry, but you are not going to get away from the fact that whilst other people from around the world use MN, its still going to be dominated by the UK. And no one should be made to apologise or feel guilty about that.

Other forums and social media are available to talk about covid.

It is in France though cases are very low compared with ours but deaths and hospitalisations are around 25-30% of the UK.

It’s odd because I tried comparing Spanish figures to ours and it is incredibly difficult to find. The UK is both strangely no mitigations and getting on with it juxtaposed with daily figures for everything plus huge numbers of testing. Unless my Google skills aren’t up to scratch

It’s a strange oxymoronic attitude we have that it has both gone but we must test and report on it daily

The other thing is those most of us have had it! I know very few households now in outer London who haven’t had it at various levels varying from death to asympomatic

There is no sensible argument to be made that MN is not a primarily UK forum, and as such it's ridiculous to complain that the general take on the issues is UK centric. And posters elsewhere have the option of starting threads about the situation elsewhere if that's what they want. There's a long running thread on Australia and New Zealand which at 700 posts has been anything but squashed.

@MarshaBradyo

On changing views I have changed views since March 20 as the situation has changed.

What was needed then isn’t now.

Maybe that is missing sometimes. Also people can choose to behave differently if they want to - as the info shows.

We deeply disagreed at this point last year, but I respect that as circumstances have changed, your stance has adapted. I'm commenting less as posters such as yourself make points I agree with far more articulately. Plus the situation is more stable with less trigger for discussion.

Personally, I'm less driven by anger than I was for much of 2020. We're not totally back to normal but it wasn't until September this year that my life has substantially regained its normal structure, and measures that were having a prohibitive and isolating effect on me largely faded through the summer. The constant fear of disruption and life being taken away again is fading now after dogging life since last autumn starting with the volatility of the tier changes.

While rates are high, the dominance of younger population being effected is not straining the NHS and individuals falling ill in succession and generally being off for 10 days is far less disruptive than bubble closures and denying access to face to face education for months on end. Fortunately most people are not falling significantly more ill than with other common illnesses. We are learning to live with the virus and there is an appetite for normality as the tolls of preventative measures gradually emerge. When Covid is suppressed, other illnesses are also disrupted and it interferes with the rythmns that the NHS is used to predicting (e.g. RSV hospitalisations for children.) Society pays for it either way, but restricting access to health, education and the economy causes much longer running problems that we'll be paying for for many years.

There's not a huge amount to say with much frequency, and there's no point in arguing with people still entrenched in a position of favouring restrictive mandates such as distancing, masks and lockdowns.
Since the summer, you can't look at a map of the UK and judge the areas of differing policy by rates of Covid which suggests that measures such as masks in public indoor spaces are far less influential than other factors such as population density and poverty.

I think your last paragraph is v salient bogof

@Quartz2208

It is in France though cases are very low compared with ours but deaths and hospitalisations are around 25-30% of the UK.

It’s odd because I tried comparing Spanish figures to ours and it is incredibly difficult to find. The UK is both strangely no mitigations and getting on with it juxtaposed with daily figures for everything plus huge numbers of testing. Unless my Google skills aren’t up to scratch

It’s a strange oxymoronic attitude we have that it has both gone but we must test and report on it daily

The other thing is those most of us have had it! I know very few households now in outer London who haven’t had it at various levels varying from death to asympomatic

Presumably easy access to testing makes our figures look poor because we are picking up "cases" that would pass undetected in other countries.

International comparisons are difficult because the parameters are very different.

It's interesting to know what is happening beyond the UK but logistics of international travel have been affecting normal reporting processes.

Another thing that amuses me on the Spanish comparison… people always say things like ‘everyone wears masks in Spain without moaning, we’re the only ones who moan’, and ‘everyone stuck to lockdown in Spain without moaning’ etc. I mean… how do you know they’re not moaning? Unless you live there, spend a lot of time there, read their press, use Spanish forums etc how on earth would you know?
I was brought up there, spend lots of time there, read the Spanish press and participate in Spanish speaking online forums. Of course they moan about masks and lockdowns. They have had as many anti mask/anti lockdown protests as we’ve had. My parents home city had a massive issue this summer of groups of Spanish and French teens renting out the apartments/houses that would normally be rented by British tourists, throwing massive house parties, leaving all their rubbish/booze bottles in the streets and gathering in huge groups in the centre which meant police had to close down certain streets after 10pm.

@ExceptionalAssurance

There is no sensible argument to be made that MN is not a primarily UK forum, and as such it's ridiculous to complain that the general take on the issues is UK centric. And posters elsewhere have the option of starting threads about the situation elsewhere if that's what they want. There's a long running thread on Australia and New Zealand which at 700 posts has been anything but squashed.

Meanwhile in an alternative reality the majority of posters on MN are from outer mongolia or mars. Cos the was a post once that had lots of replies about a certain specific country.

(puts head in hands)

I despair at this place sometimes.

@RedToothBrush

Erm. There is a) no obligation on a UK forum b) its a two way thing where you might want to cut brits some slack considering the last year many have had.

I never said there was. And now I need to cut you some slack but you won't do that in return? And you're suggesting it's a two-way thing? I've never been anything but respectful. You? Hmm.

Sorry, but you are not going to get away from the fact that whilst other people from around the world use MN, its still going to be dominated by the UK. And no one should be made to apologise or feel guilty about that.

Yes, that's what I said ... I didn't ask you to apologise. I simply asked posters to perhaps think before they post. They might be bored of Covid. Others might be still in the stage where going shopping is risky.

Other forums and social media are available to talk about covid.

No! Really?

I mean… how do you know they’re not moaning?

Exactly

But I think a lot of posters find it more comforting if they can attribute the fallout to human error in the U.K.

'If only' the government weren't so incompetent. 'If only' the Brits weren't so selfish. Rather than just acknowledge that sometimes nature causes us devastation that we struggle to deal with.

That line of thinking only works if we can position others as having reacted in a 'superior' fashion.

Now I'm not saying the U.K. government didn't make enormous errors (though it also got some things right, which is often underplayed). But this idea that the people in the U.K. are somehow uniquely selfish, stupid, uncaring, etc, is obviously bollocks.

Generally though, on a predominantly U.K. forum, people aren’t going to stop before posting something about the U.K. situation and think ‘actually I’d better not say that in case there’s someone on here from Lebanon’, for example.

Society pays for it either way, but restricting access to health, education and the economy causes much longer running problems that we'll be paying for for many years.

Heard a news report this morning featuring my bit of UK NHS which is really dire - servcie cut to bar basics 5 year long waiting lists for routine operations. Older relatives in different part of UK struggling to accesses HNS servcies and having long waits.

Education - there are gaps, there's uncertaintly about this year's exams - there abscensce due to covid testing/results.

HGV driver crisis - now hitting bus servcies here - strikes meaning no idea how to get child to college and longer term almost certainly rising in prices meaning another bill going up.

There's a lot of other shit going on - some of which is dealing with impact of covid and associated restrictions. Surely this is the new normal I kept being warned about on here - covid in background and other shit still happening.

Dismissing comments made by people in the UK on a primarily UK based forum as UK centric is not very respectful.

@Dishhh I am from India and have just returned from a trip there, and even there people are getting tired of talking about Covid:) It is just humanly impossible to spend 1.5 years in a state of high stress and anxiety. So people are somehow moving on with their lives ( while still bracing for the third wave).

@TheKeatingFive

I mean… how do you know they’re not moaning?

Exactly

But I think a lot of posters find it more comforting if they can attribute the fallout to human error in the U.K.

'If only' the government weren't so incompetent. 'If only' the Brits weren't so selfish. Rather than just acknowledge that sometimes nature causes us devastation that we struggle to deal with.

That line of thinking only works if we can position others as having reacted in a 'superior' fashion.

Now I'm not saying the U.K. government didn't make enormous errors (though it also got some things right, which is often underplayed). But this idea that the people in the U.K. are somehow uniquely selfish, stupid, uncaring, etc, is obviously bollocks.

And it can be quite othering sometimes, of the people being positioned as different and better by posters using them to make arguments.

I was getting on with real life again then stopped for dd1 to have covid. None of the rest of us got it but did 2 x pcr and loads of LFT. Then a week after she went back to school a boy in dd2s class gets it. Now dd2 and ds are at home due to a huge outbreak in the school meaning they've been bumped out.

Back to thinking about covid a lot!!

@bumbleymummy

That’s a good sign, right? :)

Bizarre that this thread has been started by a poster who has been advocating “getting on with life” for months but, instead of actually getting on with life, has decided to start stirring things up on here again. Why on earth might that be?

@RedToothBrush @ExceptionalAssurance

Meanwhile in an alternative reality the majority of posters on MN are from outer mongolia or mars. Cos the was a post once that had lots of replies about a certain specific country.

(puts head in hands)

I despair at this place sometimes.

You really seem to be focusing on this. I'm not sure why it's so troubling for you? Yes, MN is based in the UK and yes, it primarily UK-centric. But it is also a forum for women, and that is something that was rarer 15 years ago (I think that's when I first joined - it could have been earlier). Those women could be from any country. Anonymity is a blessing.

The Australia/NZ thread referred to is slow-moving and dominated by a persistent few posters I'd prefer to avoid.

And it can be quite othering sometimes, of the people being positioned as different and better by posters using them to make arguments

As someone who is technically a non Brit but lives here, it’s really weird seeing people going on about how British are the absolute worst, more selfish, more moany than anyone else. It makes them seem really self absorbed and arrogant in a way. Like they can’t just be mediocre like everyone else, they have to be the absolute worst. It’s really interesting to see.

@TheGrumpyGoat

Generally though, on a predominantly U.K. forum, people aren’t going to stop before posting something about the U.K. situation and think ‘actually I’d better not say that in case there’s someone on here from Lebanon’, for example.

I'm not asking them to do that. I'm just saying perhaps think before posting "I'm bored of this now" type posts.