Basil Jet wrote:
On 30/03/2020 09:05, wrote:

Sweden seem to have a different take on hit however - they're old and at risk
are being told to remain at home but life goes on more or less as normal for
everyone else. Apparently the idea being to get the herd immunity in the not
at risk part of the population and get the virus to burn itself out quickly
at which point the self isolating groups can leave home. Lets hope that
approach works because if it does this whole lockdown business can be binned.
We should find in in a few weeks.

I can't believe that Sweden would get anything right.
They probably heard that it's mostly men and mostly old people who die,
so they've decided to welcome the disease in.


Seems strangely appropriate.

https://youtu.be/-crgQGdpZR0


GH

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:43:51 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, remarked:

There's nothing the media - particularly the BBC - like to do more than
turn a situation into a crisis then disingenuously claim that they're
only "reporting the facts". They did exactly the same thing with Brexit
with any academic with an axe to grind who was willing to claim that it
would cause food shortages etc being given air time.

We haven't go to the point in the Brexit process where such an outcome
would start to manifest itself. "No Deal", or something approaching it.

The next deadline is supposed to be June, when either the EU decides if
a deal is possible to conclude before the end of December, or UK/EU
agree to an extension.

I think the virus has pretty much halted negotiations. No face-to-face
negotiations are possible, and many of the UK team have been redeployed to
Covid-19 related activities; I'm not sure if the EU team is still
functioning. Some are in self-isolation on both sides, from Cummings
downwards on our side and including M Barnier on the EU side.

The EU insists that the gap is too wide to be bridged other than with
physical meetings. So it's pretty certain that not much will have been
achieved by June.

In message , at 11:13:39 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:43:51 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, remarked:

There's nothing the media - particularly the BBC - like to do more than
turn a situation into a crisis then disingenuously claim that they're
only "reporting the facts". They did exactly the same thing with Brexit
with any academic with an axe to grind who was willing to claim that it
would cause food shortages etc being given air time.

We haven't go to the point in the Brexit process where such an outcome
would start to manifest itself. "No Deal", or something approaching it.

The next deadline is supposed to be June, when either the EU decides if
a deal is possible to conclude before the end of December, or UK/EU
agree to an extension.

I think the virus has pretty much halted negotiations. No face-to-face
negotiations are possible, and many of the UK team have been redeployed to
Covid-19 related activities; I'm not sure if the EU team is still
functioning. Some are in self-isolation on both sides, from Cummings
downwards on our side and including M Barnier on the EU side.

The EU insists that the gap is too wide to be bridged other than with
physical meetings. So it's pretty certain that not much will have been
achieved by June.

Sounds very plausible. So who will blink first - Boris agreeing to an
extension, or are we inevitably heading for a Hard (no-deal) Brexit?
--
Roland Perry

On Mon, 30 Mar 2020 11:57:15 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:43:51 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, remarked:

There's nothing the media - particularly the BBC - like to do more than
turn a situation into a crisis then disingenuously claim that they're
only "reporting the facts". They did exactly the same thing with Brexit
with any academic with an axe to grind who was willing to claim that it
would cause food shortages etc being given air time.

We haven't go to the point in the Brexit process where such an outcome
would start to manifest itself. "No Deal", or something approaching it.

Thats odd because I distincly remember George Osborne and Mark Carney claiming
the pould would collapse due to massive sell offs in the city and the UK would
be destitute within months going cap in hand to the IMF if we dared vote to
leave back in 2016. It would seem their crystal balls were on the blink that
day. Ditto there were predictions that the day we left the EU regardless of
whether we were still marching in tune temporarily , the sky would fall on
our heads etc.

But then they're all following in the grand tradition of John Major who
convinced everyone it was in the UKs interest to join the ERM. That turned out
well .. for George Soros.

On 30/03/2020 14:05, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 11:13:39 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:43:51 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, remarked:

There's nothing the media - particularly the BBC - like to do more than
turn a situation into a crisis then disingenuously claim that they're
only "reporting the facts". They did exactly the same thing with Brexit
with any academic with an axe to grind who was willing to claim that it
would cause food shortages etc being given air time.

We haven't go to the point in the Brexit process where such an outcome
would start to manifest itself. "No Deal", or something approaching it.

The next deadline is supposed to be June, when either the EU decides if
a deal is possible to conclude before the end of December, or UK/EU
agree to an extension.

I think the virus has pretty much halted negotiations. No face-to-face
negotiations are possible, and many of the UK team have been
redeployed to
Covid-19 related activities; I'm not sure if the EU team is still
functioning. Some are in self-isolation on both sides, from Cummings
downwards on our side and including M Barnier on the EU side.

The EU insists that the gap is too wide to be bridged other than with
physical meetings. So it's pretty certain that not much will have been
achieved by June.

Sounds very plausible. So who will blink first - Boris agreeing to an
extension, or are we inevitably heading for a Hard (no-deal) Brexit?

This scenario is exactly what the ERG were hoping for, no deal by default.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

On 30/03/2020 15:10, wrote:
On Mon, 30 Mar 2020 11:57:15 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:43:51 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, remarked:

There's nothing the media - particularly the BBC - like to do more than
turn a situation into a crisis then disingenuously claim that they're
only "reporting the facts". They did exactly the same thing with Brexit
with any academic with an axe to grind who was willing to claim that it
would cause food shortages etc being given air time.

We haven't go to the point in the Brexit process where such an outcome
would start to manifest itself. "No Deal", or something approaching it.

Thats odd because I distincly remember George Osborne and Mark Carney claiming
the pould would collapse due to massive sell offs in the city and the UK would
be destitute within months going cap in hand to the IMF if we dared vote to
leave back in 2016. It would seem their crystal balls were on the blink that
day. Ditto there were predictions that the day we left the EU regardless of
whether we were still marching in tune temporarily , the sky would fall on
our heads etc.



We haven't actually left yet…


--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

On 29/03/2020 09:01, Someone Somewhere wrote:

Indeed - what very few of the shouty people on the internet or in the
media seem to realise is that

[insert issue here?]

is a little more nuanced than people
realise.

The aim of the current restrictions is not to stop the virus - it's too
virulent and the net effect on the population is not large enough for
the absolute draconian measures that you'd need (get the army out on the
streets,Â* properly separated, and insist everyone stay home for 2 weeks
regardless of stocks of food or other needs and if they leave they can
be shot on sight) that you'd need if this thing had the death rate of
e.g. ebola or similar.


I suspect that many of the shouty people on the internet think the same
whether there is a virus or not. Ban cycling because you might get
knocked off and then nurses will die adds variety to the usual
complaints that they don't pay a tax abolished in the 1930s. The kind of
people who can afford houses near the park complaining that people from
flats might use the park has been an issue since roughly forever.

Anyway, I'm off to organise a widely-spacecd mob to check people's
shopping for chocolate.
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

In message , at 14:10:45 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, remarked:
On Mon, 30 Mar 2020 11:57:15 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:43:51 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, remarked:

There's nothing the media - particularly the BBC - like to do more than
turn a situation into a crisis then disingenuously claim that they're
only "reporting the facts". They did exactly the same thing with Brexit
with any academic with an axe to grind who was willing to claim that it
would cause food shortages etc being given air time.

We haven't go to the point in the Brexit process where such an outcome
would start to manifest itself. "No Deal", or something approaching it.

Thats odd because I distincly remember George Osborne and Mark Carney claiming
the pould would collapse due to massive sell offs in the city and the UK would
be destitute within months going cap in hand to the IMF if we dared vote to
leave back in 2016.

The main thing they got wrong was assuming that the uncertainty caused
by speculators betting on what kind of trade deal we'd have, would kick
in immediately.

And the assumption that by trying to do that trade deal in as little as
two years would result in UK getting a rushed/botched arrangement.
(Rather than the mixed message from Boris/Gove that they wanted a
cake-and-eat-it ultra soft deal [aka BRINO] and the ERG pushing for a
hard exit.)

What actually happened was a masterclass in kicking the can down the
road by Theresa May, with the various attempts to "take no-deal off the
table" meaning there was a suspension of reality, and largely business
as usual.

Now that we know the Boris/Gove deal is a Chimera (well, some always
knew, but a surprisingly large number of people didn't), the prospect of
economic harm still hangs on the thread of when we actually leave, or
slightly more imminent, when we know on what terms we will leave.

And rather than having two years to rush a trade deal, we now have only
a few months. Go figure.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 16:29:13 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, Graeme Wall remarked:

So who will blink first - Boris agreeing to an extension, or are we
inevitably heading for a Hard (no-deal) Brexit?

This scenario is exactly what the ERG were hoping for, no deal by default.

Tantamount to treason.
--
Roland Perry

On Mon, 30 Mar 2020 16:30:23 +0100
Graeme Wall wrote:
On 30/03/2020 15:10, wrote:
On Mon, 30 Mar 2020 11:57:15 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:43:51 on Mon, 30 Mar
2020, remarked:

There's nothing the media - particularly the BBC - like to do more than
turn a situation into a crisis then disingenuously claim that they're
only "reporting the facts". They did exactly the same thing with Brexit
with any academic with an axe to grind who was willing to claim that it
would cause food shortages etc being given air time.

We haven't go to the point in the Brexit process where such an outcome
would start to manifest itself. "No Deal", or something approaching it.

Thats odd because I distincly remember George Osborne and Mark Carney
claiming
the pould would collapse due to massive sell offs in the city and the UK
would
be destitute within months going cap in hand to the IMF if we dared vote to
leave back in 2016. It would seem their crystal balls were on the blink that
day. Ditto there were predictions that the day we left the EU regardless of
whether we were still marching in tune temporarily , the sky would fall on
our heads etc.



We haven't actually left yet…

Sorry? We have very much left you plank, we're simply following EU rules and
regs at the moment.