Sick man of Europe?

[motorbiking]

The government are in a no win situation. Harsher restrictions = more permanent job losses. Try to protect the economy and you get accused of murdering old people.

IMO they are doing a good job of finding balance. I actually think restrictions could be eased soon.

Some people are going to be out of work for a very long time.

 

[Mottie]

No they aren't

The UK is now outside the Single Market.

The UK now faces the same trade barriers as every third country.

So please stop lying

yes isn't Brexit going well.

You think Johnson should be applauded for causing huge damage to UK businesses.

Yeah of course they are

If Brexit is so great why does this government have to spend so much time lying about it?

So what’s your opinion on how this government are doing on the Covid vaccination front compared to other EU countries? Surely people’s lives come before business and trade don’t you think?

 

[Notch7]

So what’s your opinion on how this government are doing on the Covid vaccination front compared to other EU countries? Surely people’s lives come before business and trade don’t you think?

Yes peoples lives do come before business and trade.

So why does Tory govt use private businesses for testing instead of established NHS labs?

Oh that's right, because they put their mates businesses first.

By the way, UK could've rolled out vaccines whilst in EU.....

 

[Notch7]

I actually think restrictions could be eased soon

NI have just extended lockdown to mid March.

 

[Mottie]

By the way, UK could've rolled out vaccines whilst in EU.....

Yes, they could have but looking at the number and speed of the vaccines that the EU have rolled out so far, do you think they are doing as well as the U.K. or would you say they are they falling pitifully short considering their alleged collective purchasing power? That was the question I asked which you swerved.

 

[Brigadier]

Why are we wasting all this money on vaccines. Covid is fake, we've already decided that in other threads. They're taking the ****, getting rich by making impossible vaccines. Convenient that they have to be kept at minus 70 so we can't analyse them ourselves! Stop spending less, take back control of are country!

Why are we wasting money on tests, when we can self - diagnose with certainty ?

 

[Brigadier]

Yeah of course they are

If Brexit is so great why does this government have to spend so much time lying about it?

Unless it has escaped your attention, governments lie about most things to some degree, and brexit is one of the two main games in town right now.
So, they'll lie about it. (and the pandemic too).

 

[motorbiking]

NI have just extended lockdown to mid March.

Sorry you misunderstood- I’m not making a prediction. I think lockdown will continue until end of March. I’m suggested it could be possible to ease them in some areas.

 

[IT Minion]

Sorry you misunderstood- I’m not making a prediction. I think lockdown will continue until end of March. I’m suggested it could be possible to ease them in some areas.

It could, but it'd be a terrible idea at the moment. We don't even know if we've seen the national peak of hospitalisations and the number of infected people around is absurdly high, it won't have dropped that much by Mid Feb. National does matter at the moment as we're having to ship patients so much and because of the way that infectious people flock to lower tier areas (see Isle of Wight).

Could we drop down to tier 3 in some areas? Perhaps, but that'll just result in the virus spreading there and minimal economic improvement.

We probably will open up around march, and the have another massive load of hospitalisations and still no economic recovery.

 

[SirGalahad]

Vaccinations is currently our best solution to get out of this situation. The fast rollout of the vaccine in the UK is mainly due to having a national health service with centralised records (those bloody socialists) which can marshall these resources quicker than a more decentralised system.

We have to have the lockdown to stop the NHS of being overwhelmed so that it can get on with the job of vaccinating the public. It would be great if we didn't have a lockdown but then the NHS would be overwhelmed and resources would shift from primary to secondary care. So why does the NHS need saving - well if it hadn't been subject to such austerity cuts and lacking PPE (The report into NHS preparedness for pandemics in 2018 still hasn't been released) it would have been better able to cope with the pandemic and the need for stricter lockdowns would be reduced.

However I don't expect the Government to invest in the NHS but expect another round of Austerity as well as tax rises.

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

EU customs are deliberately causing problems for our exporters, from confiscating sandwiches to leaving lorry loads of perishables standing.
it's clear as daylight that they are intent on economic warfare in the long term, which proves the point that we are better out of this mafia.
Hopefully over time, we will gradually be trading more with the rest of the world, and reduce our dependence on exports to the EUSSR.

We've already learnt from multiple sources that the process required for trading with the rest of the world (RoW), is now exactly the same as trading with EU.
So there was a simplified process for dealing with EU, and a far more complicated process for dealing with RoW.
So what did UK do? It swapped the simplified process of dealing with EU for the more complicated processes.
That's a clever move from a sovereign country! Not!
And now it's complaining and blaming it on the EU.

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

I see that euro tunnel are in finacial trouble

70 % french owned

It's been in trouble since inception, probably since it began boring.

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Yes, they could have but looking at the number and speed of the vaccines that the EU have rolled out so far,

Vaccinations is currently our best solution to get out of this situation. The fast rollout of the vaccine in the UK is mainly due to having a national health service with centralised records (those bloody socialists) which can marshall these resources quicker than a more decentralised system..

Certainly the UK government do deserve congratulating on the speed and efficiency with which it has rolled out the vaccine. But some important points, one of which has been well covered.
1. The UK could have done exactly the same within the EU.
2. The UK government have made some excruciatingly obvious poor decisions along the way.
3. The vaccine alone will not eradicate the virus, and I still argue that the UK government are putting too much reliance on the vaccine. The vaccine will not prevent anyone from getting the virus. It only reduces the impact to that patient. It's sensible to assume that a patient infected with the virus can still transmit the virus, and will more probably be asymptomatic, so they are less likely to self isolate if and when they have the virus. Therefore the virus will continue to spread and may even become even more endemic.
For sure the vaccine will reduce the pressure on the NHS, and the mortality rate. But it will not, on its own eradicate the virus. It may even serve to prolong the virus, (due to the effects explained above), and thus provide the conditions for persistent mutations. Any future mutations will give rise to possible further complications.
Those vaccinated must continue to behave as though they are also infected, adopting all the usual other measures, for as long as this virus exists. But that is unlikely to happen if too much reliance is placed on the vaccine.

 

[ajohn]

It seems some people in care homes are still dying after having the jab and after the delay for it to become more effective. It came from some one who runs a lot of care homes and is complaining about the timing of the 2nd dose. No doubt news sources will interview people closer to where this is happening so currently I'd just bear his comments in mind.

Leave remain bickering is a bit pointless now and making comment such as it's the eu's problem that fresh food arrived too late doesn't help at all. Why not get the facts right. It was purely a transportation problem that didn't exist before we left. Part down to the company that shipped them and part down to things needing to settle on this side.

Sorry If I have posted this twice

 

[motorbiking]

It could, but it'd be a terrible idea at the moment. We don't even know if we've seen the national peak of hospitalisations and the number of infected people around is absurdly high, it won't have dropped that much by Mid Feb. National does matter at the moment as we're having to ship patients so much and because of the way that infectious people flock to lower tier areas (see Isle of Wight).

Just before lockdown, I was at the IOW, in fact I was over there when my home tier went from T2-T4. I'm over there next week under exemption. I think T1 areas were caught with their pants down. A lot of people work on the mainland and the new variant got hold quickly as everything was open.

I don't think the policy of living according to your home tier was widely adopted. Though many independent venues were asking for proof of address.

The side affect of the rapid move up their tiers was a rush to lower tiers, taking the infection with people.

The whole Christmas "week -> day -> nothing" probably wasn't wise.. With the benefit of hind sight, people have moved about as they planned, perhaps stubbornly.