Anyone want a perpetual lockdown

[beentoldcomputersaysno]

I often see posters accused of wanting continual lockdowns, despite their post not suggesting it. I often assume it's done to deflect or antagonise posters who suggest a health measure(s) to adapt to life post-2019. However, is there anyone who posts on this board that does want perpetual lockdowns?

Argh. Got my 20s, 21s and 22s all off by one. Doh.

@puppetear

Actually that wasn't my suggestion at all — I was more thinking about 2022. I forgot there were actually two July unlockings. I meant July 2022.

I don't think July 2021 can be used in evidence. Despite it being also an unlocking after an extensive period of lockdown because infection numbers were much lower and there wasn't such an opposition in SAGE —at least in my now slightly hazy recollection.

What happened in 2020 when we had no vaccines was that we relaxed restrictions and Covid took off to alarming levels. Vital operations were cancelled that had never been cancelled before. You say this has no relevance to what would have happened if we hadn’t had lockdowns.

[quote Emergency73]@110APiccadilly

What about the health or indeed the opportunity to have mental health that has been lost by 5.4 million globally - and the many, many millions more who would have lost their live globally - before a solution was found to control the spread of infection?
What about the mental health of those who can’t access adequate healthcare because their hospitals are overwhelmed?
What about the mental health of those who have lost loved ones to Covid?
What about the mental health of those in countries where AIDS is prevalent, so catching Covid is very high risk?
What about having a healthy community who are able to support others with mental health issues?

Surely in an emergency situation, LIFE is the priority - and when that is under control - the focus should be on quality of life?[/quote]
Well said @Emergency73.

This is a fairly good memory jog for those discussing what was happening

Of course no one actually wants a lockdown. But when transmission is high, absolutely the right thing is to be be super careful.

@AlwaysLatte

Of course no one actually wants a lockdown. But when transmission is high, absolutely the right thing is to be be super careful.

Depends how you define 'super careful'. Good ventilation, regular testing and, of course, sick pay for those who can't 'just' stay home without being unable to pay rent or feed their kids - all those help. Snivelling moral panics, grassing up your neighbours and bawling about exactly what is and is not essential shopping - no benefit at all.

It also depends how you define want. There are certainly people who were calling for a lockdown to deal with Omicron, and there's no reason to suppose they'd be wanting it ended now if they had their way.

The current and future price rises, wage freezes and soaring inflation are the start of society paying for lockdown.

How many lives will be lost or cut short due to poverty and lack of public services?

I wonder if many people are rethinking lockdown now we actually have to pay for it.

@Flyonawalk

The current and future price rises, wage freezes and soaring inflation are the start of society paying for lockdown.

How many lives will be lost or cut short due to poverty and lack of public services?

I wonder if many people are rethinking lockdown now we actually have to pay for it.

Absolutely

The number of posts on here ‘they only care about the economy’ were rife.

And so misplaced. We’ll all pay and every extra lump of funding will start to hit. It already is.

I wonder if many people are rethinking lockdown now we actually have to pay for it

It's early yet, but I believe as I have from the start that, apart from the first (perhaps understandable) lockdown, they'll come to be seen as an appalling mistake

And those shouting loudest may well be the ones who were keenest on them in the first place

The number of posts on here ‘they only care about the economy’ were rife

Weren't they just - a bit like the ones insisting that compelling NHS staff to be jabbed would never be overturned, when folk seemed to feel that shouting it often enough would make it true

I'm aware, Marsha, that you've always been a poster who likes to consider the bigger picture - it just seems a pity that there was so little tolerance for that at the time, and an even bigger pity that we now all have to pay for the focus on only one thing

I have always appreciated the measured and future-looking posts from you both, @MarshaBradyo and @Puzzledandpissedoff

So many posters screamed for lockdown and restrictions, but will be bewildered by the resulting poverty.

Ah thanks sure beats the usual barrage of insults ;

(Not always but some)

I do think it’s really sad though and at times felt incredulous over what people were wanting, when it was clear we’d pay and our dc

Demands made on the back of messaging which prompted an emotive response

Ah yes the emotive messaging! There needs to be a thorough examination of the fear campaign and the manipulation.

@MarshaBradyo I got plenty of insults too. Of the ‘you dare more about the economy than lives’ sort, not really grasping that it the economy tanks then lives do too…

@Flyonawalk

Ah yes the emotive messaging! There needs to be a thorough examination of the fear campaign and the manipulation.

Absolutely. There was reference yesterday to people who are experiencing mental health problems due to fear of covid. Well, this is part of it. The behavioural nudge strategies have a lot to answer for.

Be careful, you don’t want to come across as forming a group therapy session.

The number of posts on here ‘they only care about the economy’ were rife.

Yep, "wealth before health" was another one.

I've found Labour's unwavering support for restrictions and repeated lockdowns with what has appeared to be very little acknowledgement of the downsides confusing. The costs were always going to fall hardest on those who can least afford it. I'm left wing but have felt politically homeless on this issue and I've heard others say the same.

@2X4B523P

Be careful, you don’t want to come across as forming a group therapy session.

Snort

The number of posts on here ‘they only care about the economy’ were rife.

Its scary how many people were posting against this even though health and wealth are so intertwined.

I'd imagine many of those shouting about health Vs wealth will be well insulated well against incoming price rises.

@CornishYarg

The number of posts on here ‘they only care about the economy’ were rife.

Yep, "wealth before health" was another one.

I've found Labour's unwavering support for restrictions and repeated lockdowns with what has appeared to be very little acknowledgement of the downsides confusing. The costs were always going to fall hardest on those who can least afford it. I'm left wing but have felt politically homeless on this issue and I've heard others say the same.

It's the same old problem with certain types of left-wing politics - the puritanical, hair-shirt-wearing, meddling, bullying type that is particularly prevalent among the better off, better educated leftwingers. These are the sort of people who, pre-plague, would think that going into some or other Evil Corporation's premises and shouting at the front-of-house staff is somehow revolutionary: during the first moral panic of the pandemic era they got to use their favourite insult - 'selfish' almost constantly.

The number of posts on here ‘they only care about the economy’ were rife.

It's crazy how distorted people's perception of the economy is. 'Caring about the economy' was synonymous with 'keeping the far cats'.... The irony is that the wealth of the top billionaires have doubled since the pandemic started!

@treeflowercat

The number of posts on here ‘they only care about the economy’ were rife.

It's crazy how distorted people's perception of the economy is. 'Caring about the economy' was synonymous with 'keeping the far cats'.... The irony is that the wealth of the top billionaires have doubled since the pandemic started!

Fuck knows how much Jeff Bezos made out of people using Amazon for things they'd otherwise have got from 'non-essential' shops.

Fuck knows how much Jeff Bezos made out of people using Amazon for things they'd otherwise have got from 'non-essential' shops.

Wonder who they thought was bringing stuff to them

If I’ve learnt one thing from the last two years, it’s that central government can afford anything it wants.
If we could set up the main elements of the welfare state whilst paying for the Second World War, we can pay off the cost of the pandemic without killing people. If we want to.