Coronavirus Death Thread

[niko_cee]

Yeah, that's good.

[Smjffy]

So erm, your thoughts on Tier 1+, chaps?

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's been at least three days since the government and PHE did something ridiculous so good to see that worrying run at an end.

[Spikey M]

They must be planning something special for Halloween.

[Jimmy Floyd]

This all sounds jolly good fun: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13039104/england-tier-3-lockdown-christmas-2/

Have visions of sitting in my flat alone eating a Babybel with a bit of holly on it for Christmas dinner.

[Lewis]

Alright Magic has had enough without that making him jealous.

[Spikey M]

Tesco deciding turkey and potatoes are non-essentials. :drool:

[Ian]

Have visions of sitting in my flat alone eating a Babybel with a bit of holly on it for Christmas dinner.

I'd be in much the same boat. Though maybe not the holly, I'm not as fancy as you are.

We'll have a TTH Sad Bastards Zoom Christmas Dinner. I'm sure that'll make us all feel better.

[Magic]

So yous would genuinely sit alone in your houses? Freaks.

[Spikey M]

This will be the first Christmas in 3 years which won't involve my Sister in Law. She'll be heavily pregnant (read: a moody cunt) come Christmas too. :happycry:

[Ian]

No, I just leaning into it because the idea of the Sad Bastards Dinner amused me. My direct family are all within about 2 minutes walk so unless the FUCKING NAZIS you like to squawk about have literally got the SS jackbooting about the streets bundling pedestrians into vans I should be alright.

Though to be fair if my sister's able to have her in-laws round then being on my own may actually be preferable.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The one thing that would be more tragic than spending Christmas alone would be an attempt to go to my folks, only to be turned around en route by some high vis cunt with a clipboard, COVID RANGER on his/her back and a Team Panic membership badge.

[Boydy]

1321457474843672579

More than half of NI hospitals now over capacity. We've absolutely fucked it.

[Magic]

Context is important. For example I know Ninewells in Dundee is pure huge, and they've only got 8 COVID beds, meaning it won't take much for them to be 'over-capacity'.

[Spikey M]

Don't our hospitals operate over-capacity every winter?

[Magic]

Aye so there's 2903 available, 2313 are taken up by other stuff and 445 are taken up by positive Covid patients (who also may have already been in). They were between 50-60% in May. Helpfully they don't include the 2019/20 winter figures, guessing that's agenda-related.

EDIT: As above.

[randomlegend]

Don't our hospitals operate over-capacity every winter?

Yes. A lot over.

[Boydy]

We're still not even in peak Winter flu season though, are we?

[Spikey M]

That thing Taz posted yesterday(?) seems to imply that the Flu is barely going around at the moment (in the Southern Hemisphere), so hopefully that carries over to our winter too.

[niko_cee]

We're still not even in peak Winter flu season though, are we?

Hasn't even started yet.

[Spikey M]

Hasn't even started yet.

October to March, with the peak from December to February, no?

[niko_cee]

I'd say this was the pre-season, but then talk of the Winter Flu Asia Cup might be a bit insensitive in these times.

[Spikey M]

Covid vs The Flu in the Charity Shield. All proceeds going to Rashford Foodbank PLC.

[Smjffy]

I can't help but see extreme numbers being posted, personally. I'm anticipating many more deaths than the supposed peak earlier this year.

[Spikey M]

It's probably pretty easy to work out where we'll be in 4 weeks based on how much higher the cases are today than they were 4 weeks ago, but I'll let Yevrah have his fun.

[Yevrah]

I can't be arsed. "More hospitalisations, deaths and restrictions" probably does the job.

[Spikey M]

What has this done to our boy? :(

[Jimmy Floyd]

I for one am absolutely hyped to start playing Zoom Charades on 16 December as ten thousand perish each day.

[Spikey M]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54674883

:happycry:

Seriously though, fuck that. If you live on your own, go spend the day with tlyour family. Fuck this nonsense.

[Don]

Brav if I wasn't able to get my boogie on to some stupid beep di bop electronic music in a warehouse, I'll be fucked if I'm letting you cunts go see your families.

[Boydy]

1321407882949218305

Gonna get tased over my turkey dinner.

[Giggles]

:drool:

[Smjffy]

Sorry officer. Rule of 6. You can't come in.

[Spikey M]

They can send the Covid Inspectors out with bailiffs and nab a load of PS5's to cover the fines.

[Shindig]

I'm gearing myself up for a four hour walk to the folks on Christmas Day.

[Lewis]

They don't celebrate it in the problem areas. What now coppers?

[Jimmy Floyd]

My mate was onto me last night asking me to go out with him for curry and beers next week. I said: "Well..." and pointed out that we are both in Tier 2 areas which means no indoor mixing with other households. He said: "OK, how about you come to mine instead then?"

But it's definitely that the rules are confusing, not that people are fucking idiots. Meanwhile my Covid-scared colleague (who sanitises his hands after touching literally anything - a pen, a keyboard, anything, and so gets through a big bottle a week) said that his girlfriend is still visiting him from London three times a week. Does he think that sexual ecstasy kills the virus? I'm not having that conversation.

[Magic]

I'd be surprised if someone like that is even able to maintain an erection.

[Lofty]

He isn't riding bareback that's for sure.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Far be it from me to speculate on what happens when a girlfriend visits a boyfriend's place 20 miles away, three times a week. Maybe they just do jigsaws while respecting 2m social distancing and dousing all the pieces in hand sanitiser.

[Spikey M]

Europe is locking down again 1 by 1. 3 weeks until CenterParks. It's getting tense here lads.

[Magic]

Far be it from me to speculate on what happens when a girlfriend visits a boyfriend's place 20 miles away, three times a week. Maybe they just do jigsaws while respecting 2m social distancing and dousing all the pieces in hand sanitiser.

That sounds more likely. Platonic, 50mph on the motorway, observing all rules.

[Spikey M]

My sister in law is still making her husband strip down to his boxers in the porch when he gets home from work. He then carries his clothes to the washing machine and goes to have a shower before he's allowed to hug his children. I shit you not.

[Magic]

Lol imagine how easy it would be for him to have an affair.

[Ian]

She sounds like a laugh.

[Queenslander]

Is that a kink?

Some sort of Dom/sub set up?

[Ian]

He's definitely whipped in one sense or the other.

[Spikey M]

Is that kinky?

Some sort of Dom/sub set up?

No, she's just a massive drama queen and control freak. Luckily her husband is completely devoid of personality or opinions of his own and just does what he's told, so they get along swimmingly.

[Queenslander]

Fair enough. How close to the 7 year itch are they?

[Spikey M]

Fair enough. How close to the 7 year itch are they?

Must be about that now as their eldest is 5. They will never break up though, they're perfect for each other and there's not another fucker on earth that could deal with them.

[Ian]

That's beautiful, really.

[Smjffy]

Meanwhile my Covid-scared colleague (who sanitises his hands after touching literally anything - a pen, a keyboard, anything, and so gets through a big bottle a week)

:wave:

I've even fell out with some members of the family. I'd rather be too careful and find out I've overreacted than to be as ignorant as many then find myself or someone else screwed.

[Magic]

But you could transmit it to them anyway? Or even not and they get it elsewhere, then you're wracked with guilt.

"But I took all the precautions...!"

Fuck having that on your shoulders.

[Kikó]

I got the flu jab today for the first time. Is it normal to be injected with a 5G microchip?

[Smjffy]

You could but it's more about reducing that risk, I suppose. I mean, personally, the fact that I didn't hear of a single case during the EatOutToHelp out nonsense when we served hundreds a day for over the month makes me a little sceptic as a) people flocked to us, b) I worked in a small environment, c) I lived with a bunch of idiots who'd be out getting mangled most evenings. This could also be because I served Hitler, Stalin, Jade Goody and "ya mam" on a few occasions, mind.

Then I moved back to my home town and the difference was night and day. It was end of September when I first went to a supermarket for example (St Mawes only had a small co-op) and I was taken a back at the difference there too.

I'll even mask up in the car despite living with the same person.

[Magic]

:D

Amazing.

[Andy]

My sister in law is still making her husband strip down to his boxers in the porch when he gets home from work. He then carries his clothes to the washing machine and goes to have a shower before he's allowed to hug his children. I shit you not.

My work risk assessment says I should be doing this everyday. Its absolutely mental that anyone would consider doing it.

I doubt I'd bother even if I was working on a covid ward.

[Magic]

Incoming lecture from RL "I've had to do this since I was born" in 3,2,1...

[randomlegend]

I did it when I was working with covid patients/on the 'yellow' paeds ward, but not since.

[Magic]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ElfyJEBX0AAna7F?format=png&name=small

[Magic]

Heading to Moray, Orkney, Shetland and Nahahananhahansar for the clubs.

[Don]

My mate was onto me last night asking me to go out with him for curry and beers next week. I said: "Well..." and pointed out that we are both in Tier 2 areas which means no indoor mixing with other households. He said: "OK, how about you come to mine instead then?"

I was expecting better from you nowadays. Are Team Panic in the market for squad depth?

[Jimmy Floyd]

I left it at 'Sure, I've pencilled it in' if that's any consolation. Now praying for a hard lockdown to avoid a minor bit of social awkwardness.

[Baz]

Europe is locking down again 1 by 1. 3 weeks until CenterParks. It's getting tense here lads.You’re not going.

[Yevrah]

My area's just announced we're in tier 2 from Saturday.

[Spikey M]

You’re not going.

Both we and CenterParcs are Teir 1, so I have some hope, but yes... I suspect you're probably right.

[mo]

Bristol's mayor has apparently said they'll be going into 'Tier 1 plus', just to make things nice and easy to follow.

[Spikey M]

Does this mean Scotland will now have to adopt a plus and minus element for their 23 tiers?

[Magic]

Tier 3 Basic
Tier 3 Advanced
Tier 3 Premium
Tier 3 Premium Plus

[Yevrah]

So now that I've had cause to I've been reading the tier 2 rules.

Pubs are still open, but I can only go to them with people in my household or bubble. Generally I think that people that look for loopholes and inconsistencies in the rules are twats, but what in the sweet jesus is that one about? Even if we assume that people don't lie about being in the same household when they go (huge numbers will), you've still got people from different households mixing in an enclosed space.

Add in the huge swathes of people who'll flat out ignore the rules this time and you've got exactly the same situation as last time with those who choose to follow them getting screwed, with the added bonus that the rules themselves aren't strict enough (even if they were followed) to put much of a dent in the numbers.

We're going to be in these tiers for months, with a shitload of people still dying.

Utter fucking lunacy.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They're trying to not do full lockdown and have to stay in it, which is an even worse scenario than that outlined above. The 'muddle along sort of locking down' seems the most sensible route to me.

[Smjffy]

Sarcasm?

[Yevrah]

They're trying to not do full lockdown and have to stay in it, which is an even worse scenario than that outlined above. The 'muddle along sort of locking down' seems the most sensible route to me.

It's bollocks Jim, for the reasons I outlined.

[Shindig]

It's only sensible if the numbers don't go up.

[Disco]

At this point I've given up trying to follow what the 'rules' are supposed to be, I'll simply stay away from as many people as possible until this is done, or at least somewhat less shit. Of course it helps that this isn't a million miles away from my normal way of life, and if it gets bad enough for me to have another 5 weeks off work then that'll be the silver lining I suppose.

[Manc]

Tier 3 here I come.

[Alex]

Tier 3 here I come.

Same. Not that any of it particular means anything to me anymore. It's all very much just an on-going, mind-numbing tedium at this point.

[Giggles]

5 (highest) has meant absolutely fuck all here.

[Yevrah]

5 (highest) has meant absolutely fuck all here.

Because people are ignoring it? If so, it's pointless.

[Jimmy Floyd]

There will definitely come a point - if lockdown or repeated lockdowns don't quell the case numbers over a longish period of time (weeks/months) - when (many) people will think actually I've sacrificed enough now and this isn't achieving anything.

If there was convincing evidence that a short total lockdown would actually get rid of it, then we'd all do it, but there is fuck all evidence and in a crowded island of 65 million it's just not happening anyway.

Personally, other than seeing my friends (which I would otherwise do 2/3 times a month), it makes no difference to me whether we're in tier 1, 2, 3, 18 or cummerbund.

[Manc]

Same. Not that any of it particular means anything to me anymore. It's all very much just an on-going, mind-numbing tedium at this point.

Boozers closing is a shitter.

[Lewis]

'Sorry officer, but, as a true Yorkshireman, I don't recognise the ceremonial counties.'
*swaggers off about my business leaving him utterly donned*

[Shindig]

"Carry on, Sir. We'll issue the fine notice in the post."

[Don]

What you wanna do is set up Don Opens The Clubs Ltd and hire 50 of your mates as employees on a zero hour contract. Then host a business meeting at Franco Manca at 6pm, followed by another business meeting at the local Spoons. And then you all pile into your house for the third business meeting to cross the Is and swallow the Es of your monstrous business strategy till the last man calls things to an end at 11am as they depart your kitchen.

[Shindig]

Yeah, just hire the twats to dance and it's all about board. You've cracked it.

[Queenslander]

Well now you dont say...


Sweden hits highest daily COVID-19 spread as chief epidemiologist says herd immunity not 'ethically justifiable'


Sweden's death rate per capita is several times higher than its Nordic neighbours

It has reported record numbers of new cases three times in a matter of days

Tighter recommendations are now being introduced in some regions

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-30/sweden-hits-highest-daily-coronavirus-case-number/12829990?utm_medium=social&utm_content=sf239399088&utm_campaign=fb_abc_news&utm_source=m.facebook.com&sf239399088=1

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-54733679

A householder has been fined £10,000 for hosting a christening party for up to 50 people in a marquee with a DJ and musicians, say police.

:drool:

[Giggles]

Because people are ignoring it? If so, it's pointless.

Yep. Everyone is going about their business as they want, there’s as many cars on the roads as before, and most businesses have just deemed themselves essential and stayed open.

[Spikey M]

If they've left it that muddy then they've nobody but themselves to blame. If I had a business I think I'd deem it essential too.

[Don]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/29/public-hysteria-more-harmful-than-the-virus-say-tory-policy-critics

https://timeforrecovery.org/

Also, I'm fully blaming those dirty Atletico fans for both mine and the struggles of the Liverpool region now:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/30/coronavirus-strain-from-spain-accounts-for-most-uk-cases-study

[Disco]

What did they do, cover their hubcaps in covid?

[Don]

You've come strong there, I applaud that.

Went into the office yesterday for one last time to clearout stuff and light a candle or two ahead of Dec closure (moving to new office in March). 5 person maximum capacity in a floor that contained around 100. Hand sanitiser stands and posters instructing to stay apart with taped off desks; it truly was like a scene from a zombie apocalypse movie. And it was very hard to treat the place the same as before without worrying about what surface you touch.

Later went to Brixton and sat in booths to listen to a live band. The toilet had promotion posters of past nights and the marks of many a lines sniffed. I shed a tear as I packed away my 🍆.

It's very important that people do not forget what the old normal was like but it looks to me increasingly like that ship has sailed and there will be a significant proportion of the population who will never be able to live with the same freedom and outlook.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Posting this from a full office, I can confirm that it's only the London wankers who have shat the bed. You should head over to the internet and find the pictures of that massive new Berlin airport opening to zero fanfare and an empty hall today if you want some Friday night material for your 🍆.

[Disco]

I think there's actually more people in our office now than there were in March.

[Dave.]

Office about a quarter full here and pretty much as Taz describes.

[Spikey M]

As my visit to PeppaPig world taught me, bar a few ��'s we will get back to normal pretty much as soon as it's allowed.

[Yevrah]

Yep, I'm pretty sure that will happen too, no matter how fubar'd this gets.

[Spikey M]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54750775

Just let me go to CenterParcs then lockdown until May for all I care FFS

[Lewis]

What kind of 'reasonable worse case scenario' gets so easily exceeded four times over? Especially when their previous worst case had half a million dead by May or whatever it was. Have they over-covered their arses this time? Get lost you nerds.

[mo]

Fuck it, tags didn't work/am a retard:

https://twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1322294630906503171

Lockdown 2 from Wednesday.

[Lofty]

Supposedly The Times has leaked Bozza's national lockdown plan.

[Disco]

Until December because Boris doesn't want to be accused of ruining christmas, the giant melon.

[Spikey M]

Is CenterParcs an essential shop lads?

[Lewis]

People wondering why we didn't do this weeks ago. It pushes the third lockdown out a few weeks further, and the fourth... Then hopefully we're in summer by that point and things might be different. The timing is spot on.

[Manc]

:facepalm:

[Jimmy Floyd]

As if lockdowns have any fucking effect on anything without the full Chinese gun pointed at head enforcement, which we don't have the capacity to do even if we wanted to (and, rightly, we don't want to).

I'm fed up with this shit.

[Spikey M]

Wait... lockdown until the end of November? Does that mean back to the rules we had in the Summer for Christmas? Is this cunt about to sit me opposite my sister in law for Christmas Dinner? And after fisting another fucking holiday? What the fuck is he playing at?

[mo]

Johnson’s No More Tiers.

[Alex]

To say that, on paper, this is something I very much didn't want to happen, now it actually has (well, not officially yet, but it has, hasn't it?) I find myself not particularly bothered.

Which is surprising. But, when I think about it, is really a great yardstick for how much the meaning behind any and all of the various combination of chop-and-change measures we keep clumsily lobbing in the direction of this thing has been eroded for me. It's not acceptance of it or agreement with it, definitely not. It's just that I don't really care anymore.

[Yevrah]

What kind of 'reasonable worse case scenario' gets so easily exceeded four times over? Especially when their previous worst case had half a million dead by May or whatever it was. Have they over-covered their arses this time? Get lost you nerds.

I think the BBC are either complicit or being used in pushing this stuff. Every day there's doom mongering shit headlining.

[Yevrah]

As if lockdowns have any fucking effect on anything without the full Chinese gun pointed at head enforcement, which we don't have the capacity to do even if we wanted to (and, rightly, we don't want to).

I'm fed up with this shit.

If you follow the rules it's basically lockdown once you're in tier 2 anyway. There's little difference between that and an actual lockdown for someone living on their own.

EDIT: In Winter, with shit weather, at any rate.

[Alex]

I think the BBC are either complicit or being used in pushing this stuff. Every day there's doom mongering shit headlining.

I've been thinking this for a while too. Quite often their top story is some sort of very tenuous doom and gloom Covid story.

[Yevrah]

I've been thinking this for a while too. Quite often their top story is some sort of very tenuous doom and gloom Covid story.

And stuff like this from their main story now:


Analysis: Are we heading for lockdown?
You don't need to be a genius to realise how difficult managing the virus through winter is going to be.

Scientists advising the government have been arguing for a short, planned lockdown - called a circuit-breaker - since 21 September.

They made the case when there were around 5,000 confirmed cases a day. The numbers have changed dramatically since then and their argument is intensifying, not lessening.

The government is holding to its regional "tiered" system even as other countries introduce new lockdowns.

There are glimmers of hope with cases appearing to level off in the North East and the R number drifting down.

However, the national R is not below one and there will be a constant argument for tighter restrictions, in whatever form, until it is.

The biggest thing to remember is quite how much further we have to go - November, December, January and February are expected to be the toughest months - and we are in this for the long haul.

That isn't analysis, it's patronising 'do as you're told' wank.

[Lewis]

The media bedshat us into the death spiral first time round. I'm not saying they brought about the initial lockdown, but they wanted it badly (presumably as the ultimate big government thing to report/speculate about), and I would take some convincing that their coverage throughout it didn't play a part in keeping it going well beyond its original scope.

[Boydy]

Did you get your hot tub yet, Yev?

[Yevrah]

Did you get your hot tub yet, Yev?

I haven't Boyd. The electrics are done but I've been enjoying saving money so have gone a bit tight on it.

[Yevrah]

The media bedshat us into the death spiral first time round. I'm not saying they brought about the initial lockdown, but they wanted it badly (presumably as the ultimate big government thing to report/speculate about), and I would take some convincing that their coverage throughout it didn't play a part in keeping it going well beyond its original scope.

I can't remember last time how long it actually took to flush the cases out of the system once we locked down, but I think a minimum of four weeks.

Problem is back then enough people were doing what they were told, they just won't now. For example, with the absence of a 'Bubble Registration Centre' I can effectively go to anyone's house who'll have me, should I wish.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If you follow the rules it's basically lockdown once you're in tier 2 anyway. There's little difference between that and an actual lockdown for someone living on their own.

EDIT: In Winter, with shit weather, at any rate.

I personally will be alright as long as they don't bin off support bubbles (I will hate it then) - after all, we got through the first one didn't we, I went 80 days without seeing friends or family, so we can get through the second and third and fourth - but it's not necessarily just about me personally, it's about the whole idea of shutting the country down for something that probably isn't going to make a great deal of difference.

No one's life is moving forward, or even sideways, in any way whatsoever and there is no promise of a time when it will be able to start doing so again.

[Alex]

And stuff like this from their main story now:

That isn't analysis, it's patronising 'do as you're told' wank.

It really is. That's supposed to be a passage of analysis from (what was at least once considered) a very respected news source. They lost me entirely by opening with something as flippant and patronising as "you don't need to be a genius to realise...". Honestly, the quality of their journalism is appalling. It's been on a noticeably sharp downward slide for a couple of years now.

[Yevrah]

I personally will be alright as long as they don't bin off support bubbles (I will hate it then) - after all, we got through the first one didn't we, I went 80 days without seeing friends or family, so we can get through the second and third and fourth - but it's not necessarily just about me personally, it's about the whole idea of shutting the country down for something that probably isn't going to make a great deal of difference.

No one's life is moving forward, or even sideways, in any way whatsoever and there is no promise of a time when it will be able to start doing so again.

Yep, it could well be years if we continue on this path. Actual years.

As per the post above, I'm not even sure a lockdown would be anywhere near as effective this time either, so the only way to mitigate that is to leave it running for longer. Aside from testing and an acceptance that masks might not just be for stupid 2nd world countries, we're no further forward in how to deal with this sans a vaccince.

[Yevrah]

Tin foil hat time too, but the other thing I've considered is that there are a lot of powerful people who stand to make a fuckton from a successful vaccine. A vaccine that will be required far less should we find another way to deal with this before it lands.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The media coverage this week (or since about Wednesday at any rate) has definitely been scripted towards doom-mongering in an attempt to lower everyone's mood/expectations. Someone will have given Boris/Dom a bad set of statistics and they'll have set the machine going.

[Don]

This seems to have sent Team Panic into absolute meltdown. Transfer window is shut I'm afraid so suck it up [through your face nappies].

[Yevrah]

I've always been on 'Team all available evidence' Taz.

[Don]

There's no room for that no man's land shit in this culture war, bruvva.

[ScousePig]

Isn't one of the main reasons for a lockdown to ease the pressure on the NHS?

If this is what we need to do every few months to stem the tide, then so be it. Maybe.

[Don]

I respect that fortitude.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I've got a load of cardigan-wearing scientists telling me that IF we do a fucking six week lockdown we ('we') MAY be able to allow more than 6 people to meet at Christmas. I'm not sure, in a sea of OMG THE VIRUS, people are really getting it into their heads how dystopian this is.

When this is all over we need Farage as PM freewheeling around and sending us all on mandatory 10 week benders.

[Smjffy]

I don't understand what the fuss is about tbh. Lockdown 1, OK, yeah, bad. Lockdown Local, at least I was home. Lockdown Firebreak, see Lockdown Local. National Lockdown? And whattt?

[Baz]

Serious question: is Smyths toy shop gonna stay open?

[Byron]

Why, is your Pop-Up Pirate broken?

[Baz]

New AEW figures are due for release next month. :youpi:

[Spikey M]

:harold:

[Queenslander]

Baz get into Lego like a real man.

[-james-]

Dunno about you lot but I'm hyped. Who needs to Open The Clubs when you can sit down this midweek with a mug of cocoa and watch US election b2b lockdown 2.0 carnage unfold. Bit of Champions League to fill the gaps too.

[Shindig]

Lockdown 2: Return of the Tesco Queue. If nothing else, this should buy some time and get cases down. Nowhere near as effectively as Spring but whatever.

[7om]

I wouldn't worry too much about future lockdowns. I'm absolutely convinced a vaccine will be approved before Christmas and we will start the rollout very early 2021.

My prediction: we might need a LOCKDOWN 3 around March and after that we will be fine.

[Jimmy Floyd]

BBC pumping out articles like this doesn't seem to agree: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54661843

'Decades' wearing face masks apparently.

[Foe]

A full on lockdown in winter alone? Fuck that.

If they close the gyms, I’m outta here.

[Mellberg]

It is what it is, but the cat's already out the bag as far as people giving a fuck is concerned. Has been ever since Dom popped up North to infect his parents.

[Manc]

The apathetic response is deeply concerning. I'll sign my self up for a protest per week in November Don.

[Kikó]

No one's life is moving forward, or even sideways, in any way whatsoever and there is no promise of a time when it will be able to start doing so again.

I mean work wise, there's barely been any change and if anything, we're busier. I don't know what happens if the rest of the economy falls/fails but I guess that's where the banking sector needs to back companies with bridge loans (like EU Recovery Fund).

It's going to be shit if I can't play football from next weekend as it's been one of the few social things I've been doing. The plan to go to the infected North for Christmas may be in jeopardy.

[Don]

I'm out for a day sesh today to get it out my system. Will get strategising from tomorrow.

[Spikey M]

Press Conference at 4.

[Lewis]

It will just be blanket tier three won't it, rather than April and me kicking it at home?

[Shindig]

Put the hammer down, Boris. And by that, I mean completely bottle it because you're such a soft shite. Meanwhile Shandra, Rhiayan and (because his parents couldn't spell) and their 4 kids on the estate will be screaming at the TV because, "IT'S SO CONFUSIN!!2!"

[Spikey M]

It will just be blanket tier three won't it, rather than April and me kicking it at home?

Nailed on. Otherwise they'd have to admit the tier system was a complete waste of time.

[phonics]

Having a month long argument about who's going into tier 3 only to invent a tier 4 is so funny.

I'm out of quarantine for the first time in 24 days on Tuesday.

[Magic]

Press Conference at 4.

5.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Peston's twitter has the juice (obviously). Sounds a lot like the first lockdown except with education and more work staying open. Oh, and outbound international travel banned.

[Alex]

If nothing else this pandemic has greatly demonstrated this governments inability to start a press conference on time.

[Jimmy Floyd]

You may be joking but it's a proper point - if you schedule a press conference for 4, then 5, then after 5pm put it back until 6.30, you are not in any way a serious government.

[Yevrah]

It's embarrassing.

[Spikey M]

5.

6.

[Alex]

No, I'm with you Jim. It was not intended as a joke. It gives off the impression of some sort of political equivalent of hastily scrawling down the homework you forgot to do up against a wall in the corridor before class. It's embarrassing. They want to inspire trust and confidence in people but can't evenly remotely stick to a pre-agreed time for a fucking announcement.

[Magic]

6.

Half 6.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just do it tomorrow.

[Spikey M]

Just do it tomorrow.

Monday

[Alex]

Or run a tight enough ship that your plans don't keep getting leaked to the press and you don't have to go on television earlier than planned to save face in the first place. But that would almost certainly involve a degree of overall competence that doesn't currently exist inside Number 10.

[Lofty]

They are absolute fucking chancers with their time keeping, unless Dom thinks it is some master stroke because he did the same for his conference. But I think the majority of people have their piss boiled by bad time keeping, and on a Saturday night most people want to not be hanging on for an announcement.

[Boydy]

1322587372173860865

[Spikey M]

They are absolute fucking chancers with their time keeping, unless Dom thinks it is some master stroke because he did the same for his conference. But I think the majority of people have their piss boiled by bad time keeping, and on a Saturday night most people want to not be hanging on for an announcement.

You could have stopped after the first 5 words

[Lofty]

You could have stopped after the first 5 words

I know but it briefly interrupted my horror marathon to see some fucking relic with airpods in wittering about ICU capacity as time filler rather than just the mop head twat saying what the score is.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The one thing I'd like to see from Bozjon in this one (if it ever happens) is him say sorry for fucking up whatever it is that they've fucked up for us all to have to go through this again.

[Giggles]

:D

You’re all going through this again because of people. Can’t pin people being cunts on the government.

[Shindig]

You cannot trust people to do the right thing. That's why governments exist.

"Hey, maybe I shouldn't do international travel but the government's saying I can so I will."

[Lofty]

:D

You’re all going through this again because of people. Can’t pin people being cunts on the government.

You're correct but the government being cunts gives more ammunition to everyone else, rightly or wrongly. Barnard Castle etc.

[Boydy]

It's a government of cunts elected by a nation of cunts.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

This cunt needs to get a watch.

[-james-]

The one thing I'd like to see from Bozjon in this one (if it ever happens) is him say sorry for fucking up whatever it is that they've fucked up for us all to have to go through this again.

Not a chance. He won't even apologize for being three hours late.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

#StartTheConference.

[Jimmy Floyd]

What the hell is going on up north? Is it some kind of rolling street saliva orgy?

[Shindig]

Our numbers seem to settling, if I'm honest. The student outbreaks have slowed down.

[Spikey M]

From Tier 1 to Tier 4 inside a week. :drool:

Massive lol at them manipulating that R graph there too. Bi monthly tracking all summer, then just merrily skip over September with a single entry to make the R jumping look far more sudden than it was. :happycry:

Edit:
1322613229646995456?s=09

[Kikó]

It's a government of cunts elected by a nation of cunts.

Put that on a bus.

[7om]

These guys are such twats. Big John from Leeds has already switched off. Too much insider talk and line graphs. Just give us the fucking layman version and tell us what the new rules are.

[Spikey M]

:D

You’re all going through this again because of people. Can’t pin people being cunts on the government.

They literally paid for us all to go out for lunch 2 months ago.

[7om]

Look at that slide on NHS beds. You're just alienating people with all this data

[Kikó]

Ha. My mate literally said "waffling some shit these" (Small Dean from Manchester)

[Jimmy Floyd]

They really need to hire some 18 year old who can do data viz.

[Spikey M]

Did he say CenterParcs? I didn't hear him say CentreParcs.

[Kikó]

I think Whitty has a slide on centreparcs.

[Jimmy Floyd]

This is the worst one of these he has done since the very beginning, by far. He looks like he has been dragged out of bed to do it and will be heading back there as soon as it's over.

[Spikey M]

So, we're locking down with ~320 deaths recorded today (yesterday), and will end the lockdown in 4 weeks when the deaths will be substantially higher, yeah? Cool.

[Waffdon]

So, we're locking down with ~320 deaths recorded today (yesterday), and will end the lockdown in 4 weeks when the deaths will be substantially higher, yeah? Cool.
Unlucky mate

[Spikey M]

Unlucky mate

Sturgeons counter move is yet to come. :drool:

[phonics]

lol

https://i.imgur.com/7vGMpv3.png

[Jimmy Floyd]

Those sweary anon briefings are annoying, like they all think they're on The Thick Of It. Try using some elegant language appropriate to your alleged position.

[Shindig]

Shielding measures will not be reintroduced, but vulnerable people or those aged over 70 are told to be especially careful

What a sentence.

[Yevrah]

Any news on why that shambles was over an hour and a half late?

[Boydy]

So they're predicting it to be worse than the first wave but they're not locking down as much?

Sounds good.

[Spikey M]

What a sentence.
It's utter insanity. Want to stop the NHS from being overwhelmed? Then shield the fucking vulnerable for fuck sake.

[Spikey M]

Any news on why that shambles was over an hour and a half late?

They were watching the Rugby.

[Yevrah]

They were watching the Rugby.

It's actually that, isn't it.

[Spikey M]

It's actually that, isn't it.

Well they certainly weren't working on that fucking slideshow.

[Jimmy Floyd]

What has obviously happened (and this explains everything from the delays to the shambolic content and presentation when it finally happened) was that they were completely caught on the hop by somebody in the inner circle (Michael Gove) leaking out the vague idea of an impending lockdown yesterday and the rules haven't even begun to be written yet.

Those few hours were spent desperately thrashing out something or other. Rishi tweeting that the furlough was extended was the first time anyone other than Boris/Rishi (including other cabinet members) knew a thing about it.

[Lewis]

It's basically tier three for everyone (or back to June for the adults), so another month off work seems unlikely. Gutted.

[Jimmy Floyd]

So they're predicting it to be worse than the first wave but they're not locking down as much?

Sounds good.

They're predicting it to be worse than the first wave if we did nothing about it.

[Yevrah]

If I'm still in tier 2 when this lockdown is over I'm going to be pissed.

[Smjffy]

What the hell is going on up north? Is it some kind of rolling street saliva orgy?

Have you ever lived up North for a period, Jimmy?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I think my arena has one if the lowest case rates. Shit to go from tier 1 to LOCKDOWN.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Not even lived north of the Thames.

Actually, that's not true, I stopped in the grim post-industrial hell hole of Maida Vale for a year.

[Spikey M]

I think my arena has one if the lowest case rates. Shit to go from tier 1 to LOCKDOWN.

Same. And (he says aware of being a broken record) my holiday was to another tier 1.

[Smjffy]

Not even lived north of the Thames.

Actually, that's not true, I stopped in the grim post-industrial hell hole of Maida Vale for a year.

Well as someone who has lived north and south, I believe it has much to do with the quality of living standards, the low wage, the lack of opportunities, lack of investment, lack of health services etc etc.

I've always enjoyed a much better standard when living nearer your end than up here. There's definitely something in that.

[Shindig]

I wonder what the North/South split is for working remotely? That's got to be a factor.

[Spikey M]

Well as someone who has lived north and south, I believe it has much to do with the quality of living standards, the low wage, the lack of opportunities, lack of investment, lack of health services etc etc.

I've always enjoyed a much better standard when living nearer your end than up here. There's definitely something in that.

The main cause of spread is at home. The more people living in/visiting a home, the more it spreads. Us stand-offish southern bastards have earned the right to our CenterParcs holidays, and you friendly northern bastards (I think you're actually further south than me, or at least level, but Wales is the north, MATE) have ruined it for us all.

[Lewis]

The 'quality of living' stuff falls down a bit when you look longer term, where practically nobody in the prosperity belt stands any chance of accumulating (and passing on) any sort of genuine wealth.

[Smjffy]

I'd say it's more a poverty belt than prosperity.

Nice to see Sunak getting a battering too. Well overdue.

[Spikey M]

I legitimately hope no fucker follows the rules. Chucking multiple generations under the bus whilst telling Ethel and Fred that they don't need to shield is mental. I can't think of a single other health concern where the primarily affected aren't asked to wrap themselves in cottonwood before expecting others to sacrifice for them.

And it's not even that I don't think we should. To an extent, of course we should, but why is Ethels ability to go to the shop more important than half the work forces ability to go to work? Why not ask Ethel to stay the fuck at home and arrange food and support for her? Is it because Ethel votes more than Bamster does? Is that it?

[Yevrah]

I guess you got here first Spikey, but if people don't follow the rules then there'll genuinely be no other option than to keep Ethel indoors.

[Smjffy]

For the 3M who received no support since day one then staying at home isn't really an option and given it's been eight months now I don't anticipate much change happening within the next month. I feel equally as sad for those who have just been made redundant because of the furlough ending and then the wanker goes and extends it once more. I don't understand the shielding nonsense as it can't suddenly reduce in importance, if it was important to do so during the first wave then a prolonged second wave as this one is going to be just contradicts that they were told back then, no?

Hospitality is fucked. There's no coming back from it.

This entire government from top to bottom has been a complete shit show. The entire Conservative party is finished, I reckon but unless something drastic happens, I dread to think what state they are going to leave the country in. I think at best we just have to hope for the fallout from the blatant corruption and use the Recall MP Act 2015 to call local elections, reduce that majority or just burn the place down.

[Shindig]

Care has been fucked for decades and if something like this doesn't change it, nothing will. What's probably the worst aspect of all of this is a real lack from all sides to take charge. This is the kind of crisis where party lines shouldn't stand.

[Smjffy]

This is the kind of crisis where party lines shouldn't stand.

Forgetting the care/health side of things, I mean, Matt Hancock, Nadine Dorries and that other useless bint Helen Whately mean there's no salvaging that but the quoted part above. That's all it's been is one giant political game to them all. Playing games with our lives, our jobs, our businesses.

Public has to take responsibility for not using common sense (hurrah) but the misguided messages, cheap point scoring, the he said she said bollocks and still, eight months later, we have no exit plan. Nothing.

Even Wales, we'll come out of our Firebreak and go back in before the end of the year without a doubt. England the same. There won't be a vaccine and anyone expecting one is a deluded fuckwit. It's just lies, lies, lies.

We're fucked. Absolutely fucked.

[Spikey M]

The route we're taking, if you can call it a route, makes absolutely no sense without the expectation of a vaccine. Watchutalkinaboutsmiff?

[Kikó]

There will be a vaccine early next year.

[Smjffy]

The route we're taking, if you can call it a route, makes absolutely no sense without the expectation of a vaccine. Watchutalkinaboutsmiff?

We're hoping rather than expecting?

https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4037

I thought that was a decent read.

[Smjffy]

There will be a vaccine early next year.

How many vaccines are you aware of that have been developed in less than twelve months? I specifically recall reading that around 6% of vaccines ever make it to market let alone one that the entire planet needs pretty promptly and even if by some huge stroke of luck one was to pass all trials, be approved and dished out, it won't be early next year that everyone gets it. 2021 will be much like 2020 with lock downs continuing which in turn means job losses, more businesses closing, reduced quality of life, added mental health pressures and so forth.

I hope I'm wrong but I just can't see how we're getting out of this.

[Jimmy Floyd]

All things pass.

[Spikey M]

How many vaccines are you aware of that have been developed in less than twelve months? I specifically recall reading that around 6% of vaccines ever make it to market let alone one that the entire planet needs pretty promptly and even if by some huge stroke of luck one was to pass all trials, be approved and dished out, it won't be early next year that everyone gets it. 2021 will be much like 2020 with lock downs continuing which in turn means job losses, more businesses closing, reduced quality of life, added mental health pressures and so forth.

I hope I'm wrong but I just can't see how we're getting out of this.

The vaccine has already been shown to work, they're just testing to what extent it works now. I believe there a US and a German one showing similar promise too.

A vaccine has never been as important as this for so many people, never been so well funded and never been worth so much money.

[Baz]

I hope Eat Out To Help Out is on the primary school syllabus in 40 years time, and thought of as horrifically as the Holocaust.

[randomlegend]

Lockdown is about preventing the NHS literally falling apart over winter. It's already stretched to breaking point every year, it will only take a few extra patients to properly implode.

Also, to the "I won't need a ventilator so I don't care" crowd, do you think they'll keep a few spare in case you fall and hit your head and need ITU treatment, or get in a major car accident, or any of the other things which might end up with you needing one? Because they won't, they'll all be taken up by covid patients.

[Magic]

Nah the losers and weak will be demoted so I'll have my car crash, thanks.

[Spikey M]

Lockdown is about preventing the NHS literally falling apart over winter. It's already stretched to breaking point every year, it will only take a few extra patients to properly implode.

Also, to the "I won't need a ventilator so I don't care" crowd, do you think they'll keep a few spare in case you fall and hit your head and need ITU treatment, or get in a major car accident, or any of the other things which might end up with you needing one? Because they won't, they'll all be taken up by covid patients.

Your mob have had a year to get some more in. Leave the bloody Easter Eggs alone and get it sorted.

[Lewis]

It's good to know we only exist to serve a particular system of health provision. Sit in the Cold to Protect Our National Grid.

[randomlegend]

Your mob have had a year to get some more in. Leave the bloody Easter Eggs alone and get it sorted.

Unfortunately ventilated patients require ITU trained doctors and nurses to look after them, which can't be magicked out of thin air in the space of a year. Lol at your chances if you end up with me in charge of your ventilator. There's also the factor of physical ward space, and you need things like piped oxygen so it can't just be any old broom cupboard. They've been frantically trying to build a new covid unit where I work but it's not yet ready and Winter is Coming; *insert strained metaphor about the Night King/covid and Aria/vaccines or some shit*.

[randomlegend]

It's good to know we only exist to serve a particular system of health provision. Sit in the Cold to Protect Our National Grid.

If there was an energy shortage then yeah I'd imagine we'd be being asked to switch off the hot tubs so the lights can stay on.

[randomlegend]

Nah the losers and weak will be demoted so I'll have my car crash, thanks.

If there is an ITU bed available and they are making the choice between young, healthy male care crash victim (admittedly with a difficult airway due to past facial trauma) and someone clinically vulnerable with covid then yeah you might win that one. But nobody is getting taken out of an ITU bed to make space for you if it's full.

[Lewis]

Plead guilty to prevent our courts being overwhelmed.

[randomlegend]

That's part of what offering plea-bargains is about right?

[Lewis]

We could bargain between smashing up millions of lives and livelihoods to save (let's say) a hundred thousand people. But we havent. We've just decided to throw millions of pounds after individual lives, which in normal circumstances the health service, constrained as it is by having to make the sort of decisions it now says it won't, would lol its bollocks off at doing.

[randomlegend]

The health service is not normally having to make decisions to leave someone who is otherwise fit and healthy to die because they need ITU treatment for a modest period of time and there is no capacity. That could realistically happen this winter.

Despite what the media might sell you, it doesn't really happen that people are denied potentially life-saving treatment in the NHS. A terminal cancer patient may be denied an extremely expensive cancer drug which might add a few months to their life, but that's entirely not the same.

This IS different to any position we have been in before and you ARE wrong.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Have you got some slides to back that up?

[Giggles]

Have you got some slides to back that up?

Have you lost your fucking marbles?

[Yevrah]

I know everyone's annoyed at another lockdown, but doing so to stop the NHS being ravaged (and people who'd have otherwise lived from dying) was the only sensible choice at this stage.

The real ire should be directed at us being no further along the line towards having an effective test, trace and isolate system. Vaccine or bust baby.

[Lewis]

It is different in that it is on a much larger scale; but the principle is the same. The health service rations and has its prioritise in normal times, hence varied waiting times, postcode lotteries etc., so why haven't we weighed wider societal concerns in the same way? If that means effectively denying treatment to some people then unlucky grandad.

[randomlegend]

It is different in that it is on a much larger scale; but the principle is the same. The health service rations and has its prioritise in normal times, hence varied waiting times, postcode lotteries etc., so why haven't we weighed wider societal concerns in the same way? If that means effectively denying treatment to some people then unlucky grandad.

Yes it's different. You are talking about rationing life-saving treatment. That isn't what currently happens.

[Yevrah]

It is different in that it is on a much larger scale; but the principle is the same. The health service rations and has its prioritise in normal times, hence varied waiting times, postcode lotteries etc., so why haven't we weighed wider societal concerns in the same way? If that means effectively denying treatment to some people then unlucky grandad.

It's not just Grandad though, is it? If you, or I, get more ill than is statistically likely with it, then no bed for us.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The real ire should be directed at us being no further along the line towards having an effective test, trace and isolate system. Vaccine or bust baby.

People say this in the style of 'we need better tactics' but I haven't managed to find out what a good one might actually look like. The problem with the current one (spending on it aside) was that asymptomatic people don't want to isolate based on a text message and so don't do it. How do you solve that?

As far as I can see you need a bloke in a military uniform and a gun at the other end of the line. There are about 5 countries in the world who appear to have a good one, two of which are NZ and Australia who solved it (for now) by being ten thousand miles away and shutting the borders early doors.

[Lewis]

Yes it's different. You are talking about rationing life-saving treatment. That isn't what currently happens.

Would it be denied if the annual NHS budget was eight-hundred billion quid and thousands of incidental lost lives and businesses? It would wouldn't it, otherwise we would routinely spend half of our GDP on keeping people alive.

[Lewis]

It's not just Grandad though, is it? If you, or I, get more ill than is statistically likely with it, then no bed for us.

How much is my life worth to the government? If multiple millions, why not buy me a Range Rover to reduce the likelihood of me dying in a traffic accident?

[Shindig]

People say this in the style of 'we need better tactics' but I haven't managed to find out what a good one might actually look like. The problem with the current one (spending on it aside) was that asymptomatic people don't want to isolate based on a text message and so don't do it. How do you solve that?

As far as I can see you need a bloke in a military uniform and a gun at the other end of the line. There are about 5 countries in the world who appear to have a good one, two of which are NZ and Australia who solved it (for now) by being ten thousand miles away and shutting the borders early doors.

Yep. You can notify them they might be at risk but you can't limit their movements on a text message. And there's a real lack of context with the whole process. Did someone walk past my window who had it or was it a family member who I spent an hour with yesterday?

[randomlegend]

Would it be denied if the annual NHS budget was eight-hundred billion quid and thousands of incidental lost lives and businesses? It would wouldn't it, otherwise we would routinely spend half of our GDP on keeping people alive.

Yes. But it isn't. So that's an irrelevant straw man.

If covid turns out to be permanent, then yeah this isn't sustainable. But the belief at the moment is that it won't be, and so a temporary sacrifice of other things is worth it to save lives in the meantime.

[Spoonsky]

But... the livelihoods!

[Spikey M]

But... the livelihoods!

Yes, the livelihoods. The businesses going bust. The amount of people that are going to be homeless when this ends is not to be sniffed at. It's going to be a major problem. But it's alright Brenda, no need to sheild yourself. You crack on.

[Boydy]

We could, as a society, not let people go homeless.

[Spikey M]

We could, as a society, not let people go homeless.

Could we? I'm sure the mortgage companies, social housing providers and landlords would love that. How do we go about it? Are we going to tax everyone and clear the arrears? Or are we going to just pretend the arrears don't exist?

Neither is going to happen.

[Shindig]

Some people are just really shite with money and no amount of government handouts will change that.

[Kikó]

The government can continue to support individuals and businesses during this time of lockdown. There should be a buffer to make compliance not a choice between survival or bust.

If the government had any credibility, test and trace could be widely used and that would be the exit strategy. The problem is they don't and they've lost their audience.

[Lewis]

Yes. But it isn't. So that's an irrelevant straw man.

If covid turns out to be permanent, then yeah this isn't sustainable. But the belief at the moment is that it won't be, and so a temporary sacrifice of other things is worth it to save lives in the meantime.

Why is it worth it? What about things that are permanent like the normal flu etc.? We could keep tier one lockdown forever (or just distancing and masks) and put a serious dent in those numbers every year.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The biggest mistake they made was not handling the Cummings / Barnard Castle thing better, as I said at the time. I'm not even sure he had to go, but as soon as they all came out defending him like wet fishes their moral authority over the public making sacrifices was completely lost.