Coronavirus

[Jobbo]

Good link, Duncs. Basically until the virus dies out worldwide, we either need a vaccine or to maintain lockdown. Being first country to be rid of the virus doesn’t mean you can get back to normal first.

[Ascender]

The American thing is nuts, although unsurprisingly Trump himself stoked that redneck fire.

I’ve read a couple of articles like that - I expect lockdown will go on for a very long time, albeit the phased exit stages may be months long. For people who can comfortably work from home, I don’t see any change coming.

There’s also been more than a couple of detailed articles outlining and criticising the governments response to this which make for pretty damning reading. I wonder if once we’re through the worst of it, the media and opposition parties will go for them in a big way... Probably not given how shambolic the daily press conferences are in terms of their questioning.

My wife knows a couple of doctors who are very much on the frontline in London and Edinburgh. London doc says its grim beyond belief, Edinburgh one says its pretty much business as usual, so I guess its unsurprisingly being determined by population density.

[Mito Man]

I read yesterday that there were only 30 patients in NHS Nightingale and it was actually causing a bit of a problem for London’s other hospitals as it’s having so much equipment diverted to it. I wonder if there’s loads of PPE sitting there whilst other hospitals struggle.

[ZedLeg]

The rules for admission to those nightingale hospitals is daft. I get the idea of having an offsite isolation for coronavirus patients but taking resources away from the hospitals that need that extra help is bonkers.

[Swervin_Mervin]

There’s also been more than a couple of detailed articles outlining and criticising the governments response to this which make for pretty damning reading. I wonder if once we’re through the worst of it, the media and opposition parties will go for them in a big way... Probably not given how shambolic the daily press conferences are in terms of their questioning.

The politicization of this is something that really winds me up. It's an unprecendented situation and politicising it implies that any other party in Gov't *would* have done a better job of it when in reality we could never know. There are a few aspects that rightly deserve further scrutiny, but ultimately if we come out the other side of this and the NHS hasn't been overwhelmed then we've done pretty well.

The problem is we have political journalists reporting on a non-political event and they can't adjust/are referring to type.

[Simon]

I know Trump is a crazy-thick-as-pig-shit-liar, but over in Brazil Jair Bolsonaro is trying to challenge him for the title of Mr Stupid.

The other day he fired his health minister (who was championing the 'stay at home' message) and has instead told everyone to get back to work/school etc. He said 'it's just a cold'...

[Nefarious]

The politicization of this is something that really winds me up. It's an unprecendented situation and politicising it implies that any other party in Gov't *would* have done a better job of it when in reality we could never know. There are a few aspects that rightly deserve further scrutiny, but ultimately if we come out the other side of this and the NHS hasn't been overwhelmed then we've done pretty well.

The problem is we have political journalists reporting on a non-political event and they can't adjust/are referring to type.

The "politicising" argument seems to be a way of the government avoiding any kind of scrutiny.

What is the right way to ask questions, demand transparency in the decision-making process, or seek explanations for what appear to be god-awful calls, without being accused of "political point scoring"?

It is the responsibility of whoever is in power to make the best possible decisions with the information available, but also to stand by and justify those decisions when the opposition party, whose job it is to hold the government to account, or the press, whose job it is to make known matters of public interest, asks questions or suggests that things might not have been done the proper way.

It is not a question of whether "you could have done it better" - that's an argument for election time - it's a matter of governments adhering to objective standards of decency, honesty, fairness and competence. Any decent, honest, fair and competent person in public office absolutely *should* be able to stand up and defend their record regardless of the unprecedentedness of the situation.

[duncs500]

or the press, whose job it is to make known matters of public interest, asks questions or suggests that things might not have been done the proper way.

If you know of some press like this then please let me know, all I see is click bait and sensationalism very lightly dressed up as the above.

[duncs500]

Good to see the number of deaths drop a chunk anyway. Hopefully not a false dawn, or a reporting anomaly.

The numbers I've seen still don't 100% add up to me, but any move in the right direction is positive.

[integrale_evo]

There's always a dip over the weekends, be a few more days for 'true' figures to come in again.

[Nefarious]

or the press, whose job it is to make known matters of public interest, asks questions or suggests that things might not have been done the proper way.

If you know of some press like this then please let me know, all I see is click bait and sensationalism very lightly dressed up as the above.

Well, to a large degree, yes, but we like to work to theoretical idealised standards
If we went with reality, we'd have long since given up hope of politicians (or a whole load of any other professions for that matter) being anything other than callous, self serving bastards, and any political debate would be a complete waste of breath.

[duncs500]

There's always a dip over the weekends, be a few more days for 'true' figures to come in again.

I thought it was just after the weekend that the dip came.

[Mito Man]

Well one of the few positives we can gain from this virus is that it’s made the idiots all the more clear to see. Stupid politicians, celebrities endorsing 5G bollocks, the anti-vaxxers such as Djokovic - now that last one was a surprise.

[Mito Man]

I’d like to add Idris Elba to the really fucking idiotic list after he suggested we should all quarantine for a week once a year after this in memory of it.

[RobYob]

Call from agency just after lunch to tell me I'm stood down from EOB today, bunch of incompetent fucksticks. First my dept head knew was when I comm'd him after. Handover to the skeleton crew left will be a shambles. This on top of last months IR35 contract debacle and I'm ready to become a bin man or something with some connection to reality.

[mik]

[mention]RobYob[/mention] that is arse - good luck sorting out next steps.

[RobYob]

Thanks Mik, as it's a stand down (ie. Still contracted just 0 hours billable) then it seems the company expects us all back in May/June and probably needing to catch-up a shed load of work. Don't think it'll sink in a for a few days. We're in a decent position to weather it for a few months luckily.

[JonMad]

Ah, rubbish news Rob and the crappy comms to go with it

[RobYob]

Thanks, most other contractors got the call Thursday so it was a possibility, my agency just screwed up. Antisocial beers Friday with knobs on!

[Coaster1]

@RobYob that is arse - good luck sorting out next steps.

Best of luck Rob!