1. Originally posted by Caledonia:[..]
    Those scenes were utter madness - the beach especially, and I'm happy for Liverpool but disappointed so many gathered outside Anfield - stupidity.

    So many people really not getting this. It's one thing to disregard your own personal safety, but this is about everyone's personal safety and not proliferating it further not just to the elderly and vulnerable, but to literally everyone - the disease is indiscriminate on who it effects and how badly it effects them.

    Most of those people yesterday either don't give a flying monkeys, think they're immune as they're young and/or healthy or even worse think it's a 'common flu' or worse still don't even believe this thing is real. That's one thing to risk your own health and life, but this is about everyone's safety. So many selfish people on this planet and this pandemic is really highlighting it.

    All that said though, as was pointed out to me yesterday, thankfully whilst there was a lot of people at both those scenes yesterday, which will undoubtedly push the R rate up and potentially cause a new upwards trend of cases in the coming weeks, the vast majority of us are actually taking this with at least some seriousness.
    Even worse scenes were to be seen last night at a local area near to where I live. I take my dog for a walk here daily and this is what greeted me last night. Absolutely shocking.

    I have never seen so many people gathered at this area before. It is an absolutely stunning area of coastline and these idiots totally spoiled it last night. Thankfully I was on the other side of the river estuary where very few people go.

    It would seem that tensions of our current 'release' back into society cannot be adhered to by some.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/wales/video-2199328/Video-Shocking-clip-shows-people-brawling-Ogmore-Sea-Wales.html

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53186920
  2. Figures are a need to know basis,if you want to believe what you are being told by your respective governments,then fair play.Me? Never personally believe a Tory government in the UK.I’m a teen of the 80’s under a Tory government,I know only too well about this lot.Simple.I can go the pub next Saturday for the first time in 3 months but people are still catching it and dying from it? Herd immunity 2.0 I’m afraid due to commercial economics being on its knees and no income tax from employees going into the government coffers.I might go to Barnard Castle just to test my eyes though.

    Figures? All garbage.I know for a fact someone locally who passed away in hospital.Death certificate had COVID-19 as cause.Didn’t contract it,family asked for it to be removed,Dr refused to change it.Make of that what you will.

    Be sensible and stay safe.
  3. It is hoped that the R rate will not see a curve in the wrong direction due to the current governments relaxing of restrictions. However, I am not optimistic having seen recent data.

    ...what an overgrown sense of one's own non-importance ⇩
  4. Originally posted by ELIZIUM:[..]
    Even worse scenes were to be seen last night at a local area near to where I live. I take my dog for a walk here daily and this is what greeted me last night. Absolutely shocking.

    I have never seen so many people gathered at this area before. It is an absolutely stunning area of coastline and these idiots totally spoiled it last night. Thankfully I was on the other side of the river estuary where very few people go.

    It would seem that tensions of our current 'release' back into society cannot be adhered to by some.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/wales/video-2199328/Video-Shocking-clip-shows-people-brawling-Ogmore-Sea-Wales.html

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53186920
    Crazy stuff and really shameful. Just like those illegal raves going on in Manchester and elsewhere - and not just because of Covid and the lack of social distancing but the complete disregard for the mess left behind as well. A Manchester dog walker apparently said there was so much broken glass in one of the locations in Manchester, that it will be a long time before they can go back and walk there.

    We'll end up going back into full on national lockdown again if these muppets continue doing this, but I can imagine there's at least one or two folk amongst them all that would be absolutely fine with that - in fact - I half wonder if that's part of some peoples agenda's. But to be honest I think many of them them don't have the braincells to have any sort of concept of 'agenda' lol. I put myself back to their age though, and I do understand their frustrations about being couped up all these months, but we'll never get out of this mess at this rate.

    I read your report btw, interesting but heavy-duty stuff and admittedly way out of my depth, comfort zone and scope to pass much of any comment on... but I think I get the general gist of it and how numbers might be being presented in a particular manner to reinforce the narrative. I guess perhaps trying to get through to potatoheaded sorts. We've got plenty of 'em afterall lol.
  5. Originally posted by gmc:Figures are a need to know basis,if you want to believe what you are being told by your respective governments,then fair play.Me? Never personally believe a Tory government in the UK.I’m a teen of the 80’s under a Tory government,I know only too well about this lot.Simple.I can go the pub next Saturday for the first time in 3 months but people are still catching it and dying from it? Herd immunity 2.0 I’m afraid due to commercial economics being on its knees and no income tax from employees going into the government coffers.I might go to Barnard Castle just to test my eyes though.

    Figures? All garbage.I know for a fact someone locally who passed away in hospital.Death certificate had COVID-19 as cause.Didn’t contract it,family asked for it to be removed,Dr refused to change it.Make of that what you will.

    Be sensible and stay safe.
    I hear you - I'm also a teen of the 80's. I'm a socialist and wouldn't trust Boris and co. one iota. Barefaced liars. Lie after lie after lie. Spin / cover-up / refusing to be scrutinised. Pocket-lining. Backhanders. Cash for Questions. Sleaze. Dominic effing Cummings. Out of touch toffs lounging around on our parliamentary benches on our payroll. The recent £900k paint job on an aeroplane but not providing free school meals for kids during the summer until their hand was forced. And all that prorogation stuff last year said it all for me. It goes on and on.

    I've no doubt there are plenty of untruths, exaggerations, and things we're of course not being told in all of this, including the origin of it, which we'll probably never get the real story on if it is known - yeah we've all heard the various stories - but who knows. All of that is par for the course with governments.

    For me, that doesn't take away the fact that this thing is obviously very real though - whatever the numbers actually are or aren't. Let's face it, masses have genuinely died from contracting it - there is no getting away from that - including old and young (and everything in between), those with health conditions, and those who are completely healthy too. It continues to cause chaos the world over, something of this nature has been on the cards for many decades too, and sadly there's probably much worse in store in future decades to come from other viruses / diseases.

    I'm glad people here can go to the pub next Sat - fill your glasses and your boots and have one on me everyone who goes. I'd go but I'm moderately at risk and have a loved one who is extremely clinically vulnerable - so for the foreseeable its a case of being careful for me. But for those not at risk, it's time and has to happen for the economy and for our sanity - but we have to be sensible about it to avoid the rapid growth that we saw in March and April.

    Its all this other stupidity going on, Bournemouth beach and others, illegal raves and what not. The problem is, if an upward trend starts again, we'll never begin to pull away from this thing, there will likely be more lockdowns, regional and national, and there will be many more needless deaths, including medical workers. I've personally found that aspect to be one of the most troubling things in all of this - nurses and doctors dying during the course of their work - it's heartbreaking. Probably the most noble profession there is - trying to care for and save others. Essentially our current day equivalent of those that died in the trenches of WW1 and WW2. Meanwhile, you have all those people who went to Bournemouth beach on Thursday who basically said f*** em.
  6. How can this guy be so smart for only one really specific thing, and also really stupid for the rest?

  7. Can't look like a fool if you don't specify the year (insert Eddie Murphy meme here)
  8. I had to run some errands today and I'm really depressed about what I saw.
    Houston has the biggest medical center in the US, and yet, ICU rooms are full now. Children's hospitals have to accept adult patients now because covid is spreading like crazy. Soon anyone that suffers a stroke, or a major disease won't have a room or a ventilator to survive.

    People go to barbecues, churches, gyms, parties like nothing is happening. In my complex, the pool is open, and you always see families, children, everyone there without any mask, close to each other, etc. The governor here removed a law that made masks outside mandatory, so people don't see any obligation to wear them. It drives me mad.

    I went to the supermarket and even though masks are required to enter, people take off their masks as soon as they enter, or they wear it below the chin to talk!
    Then as I returned home I passed through the NRG stadium, where U2 played in 2017. Even a Superbowl was held there. Now it was converted into a food donation center. I saw a line of cars that went for blocks and blocks and blocks. These are "food lines", where thousands and thousands of unemployed people wait for hours to receive a few groceries. The government failed them, the testing sites are completely overrun, there's no leadership.

    I was told only "socialist" countries had bread lines. Well, let me tell my American friends that you've been hearing a lie for years. In the most capitalist country on Earth, where health care is run for profit, there are bread lines, people don't have the basic freedom of receiving health care without worrying about bankruptcy.

    Not all states are the same. New York has made great progress. Unfortunately, I happen to live in a state run by amoral idiots.

    Anyway, just wanted to show you how things are here. Stay safe, and please, wear a mask outside.

  9. Sorry