Coronavirus

[Bryn]

Sadly the whole "protocol" and "respect" nonsense afforded to those in power will mean that they will, in all probability, simply walk away with their wealth intact.

Oh no, not merely intact. As with Brexit, the likes of Rees-Mogg will make more than one kind of killing out of it.

[Petrushka]

His wilfully wrong leadership in the early stages of this emergency was, indeed, deserving of the description "criminal". He and his crew must be brought to book, once things are duly under control.

Agree, but how are they going to be 'brought to book'? A military coup? A pitchfork revolution? There will more likely be an Enquiry which will take years to report and end up as the usual whitewash, Meanwhile, the guilty parties will be out of office and writing their memoirs. Hope I'm wrong.

[Dave2002]

Meanwhile, the guilty parties will be out of office and writing their memoirs. Hope I'm wrong.

You want them to still be in office? I think that might be exactly what transpires.

[Bryn]

You want them to still be in office? I think that might be exactly what transpires.

Not how I read Petruxhka's post. I took it to refer to the time taken for such inquiries to be completed.

[LMcD]

M.Macron has now joined the Swedish PM in admitting that his country wasn't ready to deal with the crisis, or was slow in responding to it. I doubt whether Raab & Co will have the courage to admit that we in the UK, too, didn't get everything right. The acting PM seemed keen to answer as few questions as possible today.

[muzzer]

Raab is atrocious. He wouldn’t answer a question if there were thumbscrews involved. Put him on a cross channel ferry, see if he learns something.

[Dave2002]

His wilfully wrong leadership in the early stages of this emergency was, indeed, deserving of the description "criminal". He and his crew must be brought to book, once things are duly under control.

He seemed to wing it and follow .. ?? what ... rather than lead. Or rather deliberately, and probably unknowingly, taking a completely wrong path. Compare with the mayor of San Francisco, though it’s still too early to tell who has done better.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I'm over 70 and I have type 2 diabetes, but I'm not sure whether that means that I'm 'at risk' or merely an inconvenience.
Re #1566 - I didn't vote for them - never have done, never will.

LMcD: here's the main coronavirus advice for diabetics (from what was IIRC the British Diabetic Assoc) https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_us/news/coronavirus

All diabetics seemed at first to be in a middle risk category. When first announced, the rough litmus test was that you were in it if you qualify for a flu jab. Before about 3 wks ago it recommended more isolation than the general public but since the full general lockdown there doesn't seem to be any difference.

I'm a Type 1 aged 65 and was a bit baffled back then as to why we were being seen as particularly at risk if we have no age issues and no other medical conditions. (Diabetes AFAIK doesn't make you any more likely to catch coronavirus, and our immune systems are AFAIK uncompromised if we do catch it. 12 wks' Confined to Barracks for these poor souls, like BBMmk2.) I think the answer may be that for insulin-dependent diabetics particularly (all Type 1s and a fair slice of Type 2s), any severe infection can be very serious, easily leading to ketoacidosis https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/diabetic-ketoacidosis/ Untreated ketoacidosis is fatal. So perhaps this initial special category was partly for our safety and partly to keep us out of hospital beds, with or without corona?

The ketoacidosis theory seems to be borne out by an advice leaflet I've just had from my doctors. It's advice for Type 1s on managing eating and insulin during any severe infection, and specifically on avoiding ketoacidosis. It presumably predates coronavirus as there's no specific mention of it. There was nothing else in the envelope to explain anything, inc. exactly why they were sending it to me now

[teamsaint]

Macron had some interesting things to say today, especially concerning support for Africa and possible cancellation of debt.

[Dave2002]

Not too many articles illuminate the role of the bat studying Chinese scientist who sequenced the CV-19 genome - but here is one - https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-...could-21857145

Incidentally, if you look at the Privacy section on this site, you'll see what a complete can of worms web site controls on Privacy have become, maybe despite, or partly because of, legislation in various jurisdictions about how web sites can access Cookies on end user machines. It's not the only one, by a very long way.

[MrGongGong]

https://estonianworld.com/culture/arvo-part-the-coronavirus-has-shown-us-in-a-painful-way-that-humanity-is-a-single-organism/?fbclid=IwAR1lEcLVN3ZW6j9PC4v0RI9tmK76C4-OdS22x7yhjxaoh911bIyicoRp4xU

[LMcD]

LMcD: here's the main coronavirus advice for diabetics (from what was IIRC the British Diabetic Assoc) https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_us/news/coronavirus

All diabetics seemed at first to be in a middle risk category. When first announced, the rough litmus test was that you were in it if you qualify for a flu jab. Before about 3 wks ago it recommended more isolation than the general public but since the full general lockdown there doesn't seem to be any difference.

I'm a Type 1 aged 65 and was a bit baffled back then as to why we were being seen as particularly at risk if we have no age issues and no other medical conditions. (Diabetes AFAIK doesn't make you any more likely to catch coronavirus, and our immune systems are AFAIK uncompromised if we do catch it. 12 wks' Confined to Barracks for these poor souls, like BBMmk2. I think the answer may be that for insulin-dependent diabetics particularly (all Type 1s and a fair slice of Type 2s), any severe infection can be very serious, easily leading to ketoacidosis https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/diabetic-ketoacidosis/ Untreated ketoacidosis is fatal. So perhaps this initial special category was partly for our safety and partly to keep us out of hospital beds, with or without corona?

The ketoacidosis theory seems to be borne out by an advice leaflet I've just had from my doctors. It's advice for Type 1s on managing eating and insulin during any severe infection, and specifically on avoiding ketoacidosis. It presumably predates coronavirus as there's no specific mention of it. There was nothing else in the envelope to explain anything, inc. exactly why they were sending it to me now

Thank you. I'm reassured!

[LeMartinPecheur]

Future politics and economics

This is IMHO well worth thinking about, and rereading regularly once 'normal life' gets going again https://www.newstatesman.com/politic...IND_Brexit_CDP

[Serial_Apologist]

https://estonianworld.com/culture/ar...911bIyicoRp4xU

He's right, in part (Pärt) - and one must of course respect his views - but he still thinks in dualistic terms. It's not the one before the other: this is where we all (mostly) went wrong in the 1970s. The alternative lifestylists and hippies had to be repressed as undermining the moral fabric of a system that now needed greed and the next year austerity, just as much as the left. Part is himself hidebound by his Christian Original Sin thinking - it all has to happen together to work, or else by the time you've fixed the collective mindset the system has gone down the tube by virtue of its ineluctable drive for wasteful growth, and everything will be undone.

It can be done! They are few - we are many!

[Serial_Apologist]

This is IMHO well worth thinking about, and rereading regularly once 'normal life' gets going again https://www.newstatesman.com/politic...IND_Brexit_CDP

This article is excellent - many thanks to LMP for posting it. It's exactly what I and one or two others on this forum have been talking about, almost since joining the forum, and meets several of the imponderables I found myself wanting for answers for, such as the question of agency and practicability with regards to positive change.