Generic Virus Thread

[snowychap]

4 hours ago, Jareth said:

I'm struggling to understand exactly which 'freedoms' are being so suppressed by Covid rules implemented by this government.

Perhaps you could start by reading all of the (often emergency) powers that have been imposed since March last year before asking such a ridiculous question.

[snowychap]

3 hours ago, Kingman said:

So this Rule of 6 or 2 house holds that can meet outside from March 29th. 

Has this been caveated again to just meeting in public places or can you meet in private residential gardens? 

It includes private residential gardens.

[bickster]

1 hour ago, blandy said:

Distancing, Masks, sanitiser, all that stuff is still almost universal.

Yes, this is still being done in the main but not what I was talking about, lockdown, staying at home, like shite is that happening. People are going round to other peoples houses and socialising on quite a grand scale I'd say and they haven't really stopped doing this since pubs shut again.

[Follyfoot]

53 minutes ago, Genie said:

It’s in Tamworth 

Cheers mate, was panicking if in Lichfield 

[Jareth]

7 minutes ago, snowychap said:

Perhaps you could start by reading all of the (often emergency) powers that have been imposed since March last year before asking such a ridiculous question.

If BoJo the great libertarian is getting it in the neck for stealing 'freedoms' - well you have to wonder which interpretation of 'freedom' is ridiculous. 

[snowychap]

2 hours ago, Silent_Bob said:

30 million doses of AZ meant for the UK have been found in Italy...

[bickster]

1 minute ago, Jareth said:

BoJo the great libertarian

Are there two Boris Johnson's? The one I know bought water cannons. Libertarian my arse

[snowychap]

Just now, Jareth said:

BoJo the great libertarian

He isn't a 'great libertarian'.

The only people's/things' freedom(s) in which he is interested are his own, his cock's and anyone with enough money or influence to peddle his (or his party's) way.

[Jareth]

13 minutes ago, snowychap said:

He isn't a 'great libertarian'.

The only people's/things' freedom(s) in which he is interested are his own, his cock's and anyone with enough money or influence to peddle his (or his party's) way.

Well he is, and has often been described and self identified as a Libertarian - but that's just a matter of fact, so don't let that get in the way of your opinions

[ml1dch]

8 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Well he is, and has often been described and self identified as a Libertarian - but that's just a matter of fact, so don't let that get in the way of your opinions

North Korea self-identifies as democratic, it doesn't mean that it is. 

[snowychap]

6 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Well he is, and has often been described and self identified as a Libertarian - but that's just a matter of fact, so don't let that get in the way of your opinions

It may be a 'matter of fact' that he has been described as that and 'self-identifies' as that - this does not, however, make it a matter of fact that he is.

Him claiming that he is, being described as it or having you say, "Well, he is..." are all merely opinions, too.

[Jareth]

7 minutes ago, ml1dch said:

North Korea self-identifies as democratic, it doesn't mean that it is. 

Hysterical - as Bruce would put it

[HanoiVillan]

20 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Well he is, and has often been described and self identified as a Libertarian - but that's just a matter of fact, so don't let that get in the way of your opinions

This 'libertarian' literally passed a law that more or less outlaws the right to protest, this very week!

[bickster]

Quote

 

‘Libertarian’ Boris Johnson keeps growing the size of the state despite his claim to support hands-off Government

The Prime Minister’s anti-obesity drive is his latest move towards big-state ideology

As the PM continues to grow the size of the state, his claims to be a champion of freedom become ever weaker

Boris Johnson is a self-declared libertarian who hails Britain as a “land of liberty” and promotes a live and let live atmosphere.

He promised to be a very different leader to Theresa May, delighted Conservative activists who were fed up with what they saw as the meddling, micro-managing attitude of the previous Government. During his leadership campaign Mr Johnson hinted he could scrap the existing sugar tax, saying he would “take a proper look at the continuing creep of the nanny state and the impact it has on hardworking families across Britain”.

But his new anti-obesity drive will adopt the same tools of top-down state intervention that he has previously railed against, dictating how supermarkets lay out their goods and when they are allowed to advertise certain products. The Prime Minister said on Friday: “I’m not normally a believer in nannying or bossing type of politics, but the reality is that obesity is one of the real co-morbidity factors, losing weight is frankly one of the ways that you can reduce your own risks from ...

 

But the signs that Mr Johnson is quietly a lover of big Government have been there a long time. As Mayor of London, his very first edict was to ban alcohol on the public transport network.

 

As soon as he entered No 10, the Prime Minister started drawing up plans to expand public spending, increase Government borrowing and relax rules which stop the state from propping up individual companies when they run into trouble. He ordered a ban on fracking and ruled out extending private-sector outsourcing in the NHS.

... the PM’s claims to be a champion of freedom become ever weaker.

 

The i

[Enda]

7 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Hysterical - as Bruce would put it

Ah now Jareth, it was fairly funny.

[bickster]

1 minute ago, Enda said:

Ah now Jareth, it was fairly funny.

Careful now, Johnson will introduce a new stealth mirth tax if he finds out people are laughing too much

[blandy]

2 hours ago, darrenm said:

I refuse accept that a single dose of the AZ vaccine doesn't count as 'vaccinated'

's up to you, Darren. The medics have a different take.

Quote

The COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca vaccination course consists of two separate doses....

It's true that a single dose offers a (lower) level of protection.

On the point about not enough is known about long term protection, obviously trials are ongoing. And that is part of my point, really. No one knows how long protection from one dose lasts, nor how long protection from the full 2 does completed vaccination lasts, and that's a very good reason to exercise caution against a kind of "it's all over, enough people are safe now, and there are not enough people around who can spread it to those who aren't safe yet - so lets go back to how it was in the before times".

[LondonLax]

A bit of a PR battle going on over vaccine nationalism. All this talk about the EU potentially banning doses kind of ignores that the U.K. wrote an export ban into its contact with AZ. 

The EU has distributed over 40m vaccines to over 30 countries outside the EU from production within the EU (including 10m doses going to the U.K.). 

For comparison the U.K. has sent out 0 doses to 0 countries from vaccine production within the U.K.  

Now India are doing the same. 

I can see why the EU commission are frustrated. 

Quote

The main export destinations for vaccines made in the EU include the UK (approximately 10.9m doses), Canada (6.6m), Japan (5.4m), Mexico (4.4m), Saudi Arabia (1.5m), Singapore (1.5m), Chile (1.5m), Hong Kong (1.3m), Korea (1m) and Australia (1m).

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/24/uk-singled-out-for-failing-to-export-covid-vaccines-to-eu

[blandy]

Just now, LondonLax said:

the U.K. wrote an export ban into its contact with AZ. 

They didn't, at least not as far as it's been reported. Further the EU has acknowledged that there's no UK export ban after they falsely claimed there was one. 

What's the case is that the UK funded AZ, helped set up the development of the AZ vaccine, helped set up the UK manufacturing site, got AZ to agree to do it all (for anyone anywhere) at cost price - no profit at all, and in the contract with AZ stipulated first dibs on the UK produced vaccines (which at the time was not even approved by anyone else). 

[LondonLax]

5 minutes ago, blandy said:

They didn't, at least not as far as it's been reported. Further the EU has acknowledged that there's no UK export ban after they falsely claimed there was one. 

What's the case is that the UK funded AZ, helped set up the development of the AZ vaccine, helped set up the UK manufacturing site, got AZ to agree to do it all (for anyone anywhere) at cost price - no profit at all, and in the contract with AZ stipulated first dibs on the UK produced vaccines (which at the time was not even approved by anyone else). 

It was not just the U.K. that funded it. The EU and the US both contributed millions to the company which it used for development and production (over €400m came from the EU and undoubtedly the company would have used that seed funding to set up its production facilities in the U.K.) 

The way the contracts were written stipulates all vaccines made in the U.K. must be given to the U.K. There was no such requirement in contracts written by the EU, hence why 10m vaccines have gone to the U.K. from the EU but so far none have gone the other way (despite it being pretty clear that the elderly in the EU need them more than the 30somethings in the U.K. do at this point in time).