Coronavirus

[Weston Super Saint]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

It would not surprise me to find out that food vouchers were being traded on the black market.

Swapped for what?  pie and chips?

[Guided Missile]

Not entirely surprising: 

Quote

US report into Covid origins expected to say Chinese army grew 'dangerous coronaviruses' in Wuhan. Donald Trump may release classified intelligence in salvo against Beijing as one of his final acts as president. British diplomats are bracing for the United States to make grave allegations against China, linked to "dangerous" coronavirus research in Wuhan. Donald Trump is thought to be intent on firing a final salvo against Beijing over the Covid crisis in one of his last acts before he departs the Oval Office next week. UK sources believe Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, could make a public intervention as soon as Wednesday involving the declassification of American intelligence on the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The US may allege that the People's Liberation Army was running research projects that involved "cultivating dangerous coronaviruses" in a series of animal species at the laboratory, a UK source told The Telegraph.

 

[badgerx16]

34 minutes ago, Guided Missile said:

Not entirely surprising: 

 

"Washington is expected to stop short of alleging that Covid-19 first originated in the biological laboratory, however".

In other words, Donnie is yet again spreading half truths and making implications expecting his dim witted acolytes and supporters to come to the "correct" conclusion.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Swapped for what?  pie and chips?

Sold on at a fraction of face value.

[rallyboy]

If one family in ten trades a voucher for shit, that means 90% of families in poverty are eating tonight.

 

 

[Weston Super Saint]

16 minutes ago, rallyboy said:

If one family in ten trades a voucher for shit, that means 90% of families in poverty are eating tonight.

 

 

And 10% of kids starve. Oh well, acceptable loss I guess 

[badgerx16]

9 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

And 10% of kids starve.

No, but they'll be eating shit.

[Lord Duckhunter]

This Government has got itself in a right mess over this and it was so predictable. When you court popularity at the expense of proper government it comes back to haunt you. Kids should get school dinners when they’re in school, like they’ve always done. Out of school it’s the parents responsibility to feed them. If the parents can’t afford it, that’s an argument for higher welfare benefits, not for sending food parcels because a famous footballer generates poor headlines for you. If you need to make emergency payments as kids are out of school when they’re normally in it, then do that. Once you start relying on food parcels there’s always going to be a fuck up. Give them the dosh and let them feed their kids, trust people to do the right thing instead of micro managing their lives. 
 

 

Edited 13 January, 2021 by Lord Duckhunter

[rallyboy]

This government is a right mess - with the emphasis on right.

It's an Eton Mess.

 

 

[badgerx16]

55 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

This Government has got itself in a right mess over this and it was so predictable. When you court popularity at the expense of proper government it comes back to haunt you. Kids should get school dinners when they’re in school, like they’ve always done. Out of school it’s the parents responsibility to feed them. If the parents can’t afford it, that’s an argument for higher welfare benefits, not for sending food parcels because a famous footballer generates poor headlines for you. If you need to make emergency payments as kids are out of school when they’re normally in it, then do that. Once you start relying on food parcels there’s always going to be a fuck up. Give them the dosh and let them feed their kids, trust people to do the right thing instead of micro managing their lives. 
 

 

This.

[buctootim]

13 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

It would not surprise me to find out that food vouchers were being traded on the black market.

Sounds like an Express story. One woman swaps two vouchers for a packet of fags and its front page news. 3 million use the them as expected and no-one comments.  

Always, always, always the level of fraud is less than the cost of the anti fraud measures. It its costing £10.50 to provide five days of food which it is said to be worth £5.30 (looked more like around £3.50 to me) then you'd need a fraud rate of 50-65% to make it cheaper to not give vouchers     

 

[whelk]

10 hours ago, buctootim said:

Sounds like an Express story. One woman swaps two vouchers for a packet of fags and its front page news. 3 million use the them as expected and no-one comments.  

Always, always, always the level of fraud is less than the cost of the anti fraud measures. It its costing £10.50 to provide five days of food which it is said to be worth £5.30 (looked more like around £3.50 to me) then you'd need a fraud rate of 50-65% to make it cheaper to not give vouchers     

 

I heard it is not uncommon to find people who receive the vouchers also drive Porsches

[CB Fry]

47 minutes ago, whelk said:

I heard it is not uncommon to find people who receive the vouchers also drive Porsches

I made my own Porsche out of three potatoes, two rubber bands and just a little bit of what used to be known as elbow grease, gumption and old fashioned hard work.

But you say that to young people today and they don't believe you.

[badgerx16]

3 hours ago, whelk said:

I heard it is not uncommon to find people who receive the vouchers also drive Porsches

 

2 hours ago, CB Fry said:

I made my own Porsche out of three potatoes, two rubber bands and just a little bit of what used to be known as elbow grease, gumption and old fashioned hard work.

But you say that to young people today and they don't believe you.

An Irish painter was asked by a householder to "Paint the porch". When he had finished, he went indoors and said to the householder "It wasn't a porch, it was a Mercedes".

Edited 14 January, 2021 by badgerx16

[Turkish]

I see there is now a Brazilian strain. Is no one jumping up and down screaming about how racist this is given saying the calling it the Chinese virus was racist?

[aintforever]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I see there is now a Brazilian strain. Is no one jumping up and down screaming about how racist this is given saying the calling it the Chinese virus was racist?

I wouldn't say calling it the 'Chinese Virus" was necessarily racist but it is definitely something a racist arsehole would say (eg Trump).

The difference is that Covid already has a name that distinguishes it from other viruses, it makes sense to call a variant by it's location to distinguish it from other variants of Covid. I'm not sure there is any logical reason to change Covid to Chinese so by changing the name you are purposely highlighting that race/country for your own reason.

Given that Chinese people have been victims of racist abuse and attacks because of the Virus, and people are using the name know that, you can understand why it could be considered racist.

[spyinthesky]

Bit like the Spanish Flu that killed millions in 1918/19.

Apparently it started in Kansas and it was only when it spread to neutral Spain and was able to be reported in their uncensored newspapers that it was given an incorrect label.

Bit like the virus strain that was first identified recently in Kent (because our scientists are world renown for their ability to screen viruses).

This has now be labelled the UK virus in many places!!

[Turkish]

53 minutes ago, aintforever said:

I wouldn't say calling it the 'Chinese Virus" was necessarily racist but it is definitely something a racist arsehole would say (eg Trump).

The difference is that Covid already has a name that distinguishes it from other viruses, it makes sense to call a variant by it's location to distinguish it from other variants of Covid. I'm not sure there is any logical reason to change Covid to Chinese so by changing the name you are purposely highlighting that race/country for your own reason.

Given that Chinese people have been victims of racist abuse and attacks because of the Virus, and people are using the name know that, you can understand why it could be considered racist.

You've lost me, you've managed to contradict yourself about 4 time in 3 paragraphs which is an achievement even by your standards. So is it racist or not? Yes or no will do.

[aintforever]

26 minutes ago, Turkish said:

You've lost me, you've managed to contradict yourself about 4 time in 3 paragraphs which is an achievement even by your standards. So is it racist or not? Yes or no will do.

Get a grown up to read it for you if you don't understand it. I've had my fill of home schooling today already.

[Turkish]

26 minutes ago, aintforever said:

Get a grown up to read it for you if you don't understand it. I've had my fill of home schooling today already.

Let me decipher it for you as you obviously dont understand what you wrote 15 minutes ago. First off it's not racist, but it's something racists would say. It's okay to call other variants from where they originate from apart form the original one which we just refer to as Covid. But although it's not racist chinese people have been racially abused because of it so it could be considered racist, but it isn't, just something racists would say. Yeah, you were perfectly clear. 

Edited 15 January, 2021 by Turkish

[Lighthouse]

China is a country not a race. If you're going to debate this, at least call it xenophobia instead of racism.

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

China is a country not a race. If you're going to debate this, at least call it xenophobia instead of racism.

But people who call it the chinese disease are accused of racism.

[View From The Top]

24 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Let me decipher it for you as you obviously dont understand what you wrote 15 minutes ago. First off it's not racist, but it's something racists would say. It's okay to call other variants from where they originate from apart form the original one which we just refer to as Covid. But although it's not racist chinese people have been racially abused because of it so it could be considered racist, but it isn't, just something racists would say. Yeah, you were perfectly clear. 

This isn't difficult.

It originated in China and was the 19th COVID.

Trump weaponised it as Chinese Flu for political ends with the obvious racist overtones that were aimed at his base. It's that effort that decent people take umbrage at.

Only a fool would believe he would have called it Russian Flu for example, if it had 1st popped up in Volgograd or Canadian Flu if discovered in Vancouver.

The mutations are using the labels of where they were 1st identified without any attempts of political capital based on race and are thus not racist.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

 

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, View From The Top said:

This isn't difficult.

It originated in China and was the 19th COVID.

Trump weaponised it as Chinese Flu for political ends with the obvious racist overtones that were aimed at his base. It's that effort that decent people take umbrage at.

Only a fool would believe he would have called it Russian Flu for example, if it had 1st popped up in Volgograd or Canadian Flu if discovered in Vancouver.

The mutations are using the labels of where they were 1st identified without any attempts of political capital based on race and are thus not racist.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

 

What about the people on here who have been accused of racism for describing it as the chinese virus?

[View From The Top]

52 minutes ago, Turkish said:

What about the people on here who have been accused of racism for describing it as the chinese virus?

I couldn't give a fuck. I find the games tedious at best. "I'm going to call in the Chinese virus to trigger the lefties".

[whelk]

59 minutes ago, View From The Top said:

This isn't difficult.

It originated in China and was the 19th COVID.

Trump weaponised it as Chinese Flu for political ends with the obvious racist overtones that were aimed at his base. It's that effort that decent people take umbrage at.

Only a fool would believe he would have called it Russian Flu for example, if it had 1st popped up in Volgograd or Canadian Flu if discovered in Vancouver.

The mutations are using the labels of where they were 1st identified without any attempts of political capital based on race and are thus not racist.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

 

He might have had a different take on calling it out from Russia if he didn’t have women piss all over him

[aintforever]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

China is a country not a race. If you're going to debate this, at least call it xenophobia instead of racism.

I'm not sure it matters what it is called to the people on the receiving end of the attacks.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-hate-crimes-against-chinese-people-soar-in-uk-during-covid-19-crisis-11979388

[Weston Super Saint]

3 minutes ago, aintforever said:

I'm not sure it matters what it is called to the people on the receiving end of the attacks.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-hate-crimes-against-chinese-people-soar-in-uk-during-covid-19-crisis-11979388

Did the same happen for 'MERS'?

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, View From The Top said:

I couldn't give a fuck. I find the games tedious at best. "I'm going to call in the Chinese virus to trigger the lefties".

Gave a fuck enough to join in the discussion. 🤷‍♂️

[badgerx16]

36 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Did the same happen for 'MERS'?

How many cases, and subsequent deaths were there with MERS across the UK ? ( 5 cases , 3 deaths, since 2012 ). How much disruption to people's lives was imnposed ? ( None ).

The hatred felt towards Chinese peoiple is completely unjustified, and fuelled by the 'Chinese virus' meme, but regardless, some groups of people feel a need to find somebody to blame for the enforced restrictions currently in effect.

If MERS had actually caused any level of imposition on people's lives, then no doubt the same demographic would have taken the bait in a similar manner.

Edited 15 January, 2021 by badgerx16

[buctootim]

36 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

If MERS had actually caused any level of imposition on people's lives, then no doubt the same demographic would have taken the bait in a similar manner.

Yep its just a hate mindset. Blame the poor, blame the Chinese, blame the Germans, the French, the Scottish, the Irish, the left, the black and the woke. Can't get away with blaming the black and the brown so instead pretend its about the BLM protests, or Marcus Rashford or Sadiq Khan.  

Edited 15 January, 2021 by buctootim

[Weston Super Saint]

32 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

How many cases, and subsequent deaths were there with MERS across the UK ? ( 5 cases , 3 deaths, since 2012 ). How much disruption to people's lives was imnposed ? ( None ).

The hatred felt towards Chinese peoiple is completely unjustified, and fuelled by the 'Chinese virus' meme, but regardless, some groups of people feel a need to find somebody to blame for the enforced restrictions currently in effect.

If MERS had actually caused any level of imposition on people's lives, then no doubt the same demographic would have taken the bait in a similar manner.

Oh, I see.  So it's only racist to name a virus after the geographic location it came from if it affects people in the UK.  That makes way more sense.

We should be good to go with the 'Brazilian' and 'South African' viruses then (for now), but the 'English' virus is a definite no-no!

[Turkish]

38 minutes ago, buctootim said:

Yep its just a hate mindset. Blame the poor, blame the Chinese, blame the Germans, the French, the Scottish, the Irish, the left, the black and the woke. Can't get away with blaming the black and the brown so instead pretend its about the BLM protests, or Marcus Rashford or Sadiq Khan.  

I dont hate Brazilian people, but i dont have a problem with it being referred to as the Brazilian variant. Why is it a hate mindset to refer to the country where the orginal strain came from?

[badgerx16]

46 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Oh, I see.  So it's only racist to name a virus after the geographic location it came from if it affects people in the UK.  That makes way more sense.

We should be good to go with the 'Brazilian' and 'South African' viruses then (for now), but the 'English' virus is a definite no-no!

 

8 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I dont hate Brazilian people, but i dont have a problem with it being referred to as the Brazilian variant. Why is it a hate mindset to refer to the country where the orginal strain came from?

Nobody is making unsubstantiated claims that the Brazilian government or military manufactured the virus. The use of the 'Chinese virus' meme has to be viewed in the light of where that term originated, and who perpetuates it.

[Weston Super Saint]

47 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

 

Nobody is making unsubstantiated claims that the Brazilian government or military manufactured the virus. The use of the 'Chinese virus' meme has to be viewed in the light of where that term originated, and who perpetuates it.

Nobody was making unsubstantiated claims when the virus first emerged in China. 

[Turkish]

45 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

 

Nobody is making unsubstantiated claims that the Brazilian government or military manufactured the virus. The use of the 'Chinese virus' meme has to be viewed in the light of where that term originated, and who perpetuates it.

But it did originate in China, so we can’t refer to where it originated by location but we can refer to where mutations happen by location,  I’m not really sure what the difference is. Apart from the fact Trump said it once and we all have to jump up and Down every time he opens his mouth.

[ecuk268]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

But it did originate in China, so we can’t refer to where it originated by location but we can refer to where mutations happen by location,  I’m not really sure what the difference is. Apart from the fact Trump said it once and we all have to jump up and Down every time he opens his mouth.

It was first detected in Wuhan but as the WHO reports says:  “Where an epidemic is first detected does not necessarily reflect where it started”.

Traces of the virus were found in retrospective samples of sewage in Spain from 2019. As it is believed to come from bats, it could have been in other areas of Asia. There's no definitive answer.

[Weston Super Saint]

Spanish flu it is then (again)!!

[Turkish]

16 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Spanish flu it is then (again)!!

Bit racist, Spanish have had a lot of abuse. Remember Basil Fawlty used to say derogatory things about his Spanish waiter, not acceptable these days.

Edited 15 January, 2021 by Turkish

[The Cat]

Vaccine rollout is really ramping up. I know quite a few who had have one now, and other than my Grandad none of them are old.

Obviously my sister and brother in-law as they are frontline NHS, but also a friend who is a mental health nurse who has been pretty much working from home since March.

My partner's cousin took her Mum to have her jab and was offered one while she was there. 

Apparently people at vaccine sites have been offering spare vaccines to colleagues, family, other front line emergency workers etc. These would be ones where an appointment has been missed and the vaccine would go off and otherwise be wasted. It's all a bit unofficial but makes sense to use them rather than have them go to waste. 

[HedgeEnder]

19 hours ago, View From The Top said:

This isn't difficult.

It originated in China and was the 19th COVID.

 

 

Eh? 19 refers to 2019, the year it was discovered 

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, The Cat said:

Vaccine rollout is really ramping up. I know quite a few who had have one now, and other than my Grandad none of them are old.

Obviously my sister and brother in-law as they are frontline NHS, but also a friend who is a mental health nurse who has been pretty much working from home since March.

My partner's cousin took her Mum to have her jab and was offered one while she was there. 

Apparently people at vaccine sites have been offering spare vaccines to colleagues, family, other front line emergency workers etc. These would be ones where an appointment has been missed and the vaccine would go off and otherwise be wasted. It's all a bit unofficial but makes sense to use them rather than have them go to waste. 

If it does indeed take about three weeks to offer protection then hopefully by mid February we might be starting to see some real benefit.

[whelk]

They said all over 50s done by end of March. Would seem a decent effort

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, whelk said:

They said all over 50s done by end of March. Would seem a decent effort

Assuming the vaccine has remotely the desired impact, there should be no reason what so ever to keep the country locked down at this point.

[Lighthouse]

12 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Assuming the vaccine has remotely the desired impact, there should be no reason what so ever to keep the country locked down at this point.

We won’t be locked down come the end of March. As infections ease off and hospital admission falls, there will be a gradual easing, as there was last spring.

[Turkish]

18 minutes ago, whelk said:

They said all over 50s done by end of March. Would seem a decent effort

I wonder if any of the loons on here will be able to bring themselves to give the government any credit for that? 

[Whitey Grandad]

35 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I wonder if any of the loons on here will be able to bring themselves to give the government any credit for that? 

If that happens then I will give them the credit for it but there again I’m not a loon 😇

[badgerx16]

39 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I wonder if any of the loons on here will be able to bring themselves to give the government any credit for that? 

Given the law of averages they were always likely to get one thing right.

[Turkish]

11 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Given the law of averages they were always likely to get one thing right.

First country in the world to approve a vaccine, not sure of the latest figures but the other day UK had vaccinated more people than the rest of Europe combined but yeah, useless cunts had to get something right eventually.

[ecuk268]

25 minutes ago, Turkish said:

First country in the world to approve a vaccine, not sure of the latest figures but the other day UK had vaccinated more people than the rest of Europe combined but yeah, useless cunts had to get something right eventually.

Indeed, after the almighty ballsup they'd made with the "world-beating" app, the "world-leading" track and trace and the countless U-turns and prevarication, and leading Europe in the number of deaths, there was the possibility that they'd manage  not to cock up something.