Coronavirus

[oddoneout]

Muzzer #4458. You might be interested in this book regarding crime in the Second World War https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crime-Secon...s=books&sr=1-6

I felt for many years that the Second World War left a psychological mark on my mother who was nine in 1939. To be sure, it was nothing obvious or far reaching but it was there nevertheless, especially in her attitude to food and travel. Many of our generation could well say similar of their own parents. I think the pandemic will affect children of a similar age to my mother for years to come.

I think you are right about the long shadow effect on people, and I've often wondered if the period after the war ended might for some have been almost worse; it was certainly at least as difficult to deal with. The food situation didn't suddenly get better (in fact I think it got worse for a while?) with rationing continuing for years and and there were shortages and supply problems for basics such as building materials for repairs and fuel and the weather was not good - the winter of 1947 was a shocker. Worn out clothes etc couldn't be replaced and after 6 years of make do and mend were at the end of that possibility in many cases. There was not the focus of fighting a war to provide purpose for the difficulties and the grind of simply existing must have made 'victory' a dubious concept for many.

[Dave2002]

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020...id-19-pandemic

Very interesting, but somewhat concerning. Let's hope it is going to die down.

[Bryn]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-lockdown-deaths-england-b1778171.html

[cloughie]

Very interesting, but somewhat concerning. Let's hope it is going to die down.

Rather an unfortunate way of putting it!

[Bryn]

Slightly OT but worthy of mention, I feel:

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2020-12-26/dr-william-good-who-battled-nazis-in-poland-dies-of-covid-19

[Leinster Lass]

Rather an unfortunate way of putting it!

In Wales, let's hope it will Dai Bach!

[Bryn]

In Wales, let's hope it will Dai Bach!

That's Ash, isn't it, through not Mountain Ash?

[Anastasius]

Very interesting, but somewhat concerning. Let's hope it is going to die down.

That, my friend, may prove to be the understatement of the year.

[Leinster Lass]

That's Ash, isn't it, through not Mountain Ash?

I'll check with my friend Rowan.

[oddoneout]

I'll check with my friend Rowan.

Your go-to chequer service?

[Bryn]

I'll check with my friend Rowan.

Heh, heh. My mother came from up the valley from Mountain Ash. When the big Silver Birch in our back garden here in Bracknell Forest finally succumbed to Honey Fungus and had to be taken down, the local council's tree officer proposed either a Rowan or a Fastigiate Hornbeam as the replacement. Despite the potential link to my mother's youth, I argued for a rescued Hornbeam, (common rather than fastigiate). It grows stronger by the year, saved from the bulldozers clearing the way for a nearby new road.

[Anastasius]

From the news ...

On Monday and Tuesday, cars filled a car park below Pen y Fan, the highest mountain in southern Britain.
Dyfed-Powys Police said more than 500 vehicles were in the area on Tuesday, including a minibus from Cheltenham.
The force said people from mixed households travelled in the minibus, while they had also spoken to a man who had travelled from Hertfordshire.
"Fixed penalty notices have and will be issued to those blatant breaches where engagement fails," it added.

And that is where the police have failed us. If they had slapped massive fines from the beginning then the message just might have got through to El Thicko's and we would not be in these dire straits.

[oddoneout]

From the news ...

On Monday and Tuesday, cars filled a car park below Pen y Fan, the highest mountain in southern Britain.
Dyfed-Powys Police said more than 500 vehicles were in the area on Tuesday, including a minibus from Cheltenham.
The force said people from mixed households travelled in the minibus, while they had also spoken to a man who had travelled from Hertfordshire.
"Fixed penalty notices have and will be issued to those blatant breaches where engagement fails," it added.

And that is where the police have failed us. If they had slapped massive fines from the beginning then the message just might have got through to El Thicko's and we would not be in these dire straits.

In some cases. judging by the mentions in this part of the world it is a pragmatic response to being under-resourced to apply sanctions in the first place, and not wanting to deal with the fall-out from challenges to the fines, which inevitably would be (already have been)inconsistently applied. They can't deal with the existing basics such as driving while using a mobile, hence the public's universal disregard, so this situation and its demands were doomed to fail in that respect.
In the case of the Brecon Beacons encroachment, it was also reported that cars were turning around and leaving when the police were sighted. That doesn't address the root cause but does reinforce the message that what those people are doing is wrong and the authorities intend to act. Sadly it also highlights that those people know that they are in the wrong, but in many respects that's a whole other discussion.
Also I don't think that it's solely a case of 'Thickos', it's in many cases a deliberate choosing to disregard facts and act solely in personal interests, which is far more difficult to deal with. It's very much in evidence BTL of my local rag.

[johnb]

There is a good article about the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and Britain's roll out of it, on the NY Times website. It gives a better overview than what I have heard so far on R4.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/world/europe/uk-covid-19-vaccine-oxford-astrazeneca.html

Interesting that the idea being mooted by Tony Blair some days ago, which was widely disparaged (not least by some on this forum), has now been implemented in the government's vaccination planning.

[muzzer]

‘Just rejoice at the news’ ;). Now for the government to ramp up the vaccination programme...