Trump's approval ratings initially fell sharply but over the last week has risen to 55 percent. Not a good sign.

If I run out of toilet paper then I'll resort to using lettuce leaves. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Trump has been using the constitution for a few years now for that business.

Why aren't you Londoners 'social distancing'?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/social-dista ... 00561.html

or this

A little long but I found it very, very interesting. Two former members of our government that dealt with pandemic preparedness, etc. said some preliminary findings that has come out of Italy where is that those with pre existing illnesses, specifically high blood pressure, heart issues, hypertension, etc., are at the greatest risk. Also, other illnesses that people suffer from such as diabetes, leukemia, etc.

Also, that even if you survive, you may have anywhere up to 20% to 39% of reduced lung function. This #### is scary for some of us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWOYj8hjjjM&t=1004s

Oh, that's right, reduce everything to toilet humour.

Even when the going gets tough this will bring a smile

https://www.goal.com/en/news/ex-arsenal ... 94cjsk640s

17yo and just for this incident he will always be a legend at Arsenal

I have a 1 degree of separation from this guy. Met a guy who does business with him and I was thinking of entering in.

Interesting discussion on China and America (or for that matter all of us in the western world). I've long heard years ago that they have the ability to take out our electrical grid and shut us down and have infiltrated our various institutions .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8IEtlOVzq4&t=205s

Who would rather have now, Özil or Fabregas? Wenger putting his own pettiness over what was best for the club. It wasn't like he didn't let former players back. Sol, Henry briefly,

https://www.teamtalk.com/news/fabregas- ... sea-avenue

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta gets over coronavirus
https://www.metro.news/arsenal-boss-mik ... s/1954923/

Best piece of news. Good for you Arteta

The state of Arizona is a heavily Trump state, they are also a state pensioners have been going to retire for decades so that will give you a basic idea of a significant portion of the populace.

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronav ... ump-2020-3
'Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure': Woman whose husband died after ingesting chloroquine warns the public not to 'believe anything that the president says'

So the death toll in Italy has peaked at just over 6000. Okay there's more to come but this is a long way away from the number of people that TG keeps reminding us could die.

My belief is that the figure here will be nowhere near this amount due mainly to the fact that our Government is acting responsibly and sensibly without creating panic and acting on the advice of experts in the field.

If I am wrong I will admit that TG is not a *%^@ and that he knows more than the rest of us who should bow down to his superior knowledge and intellect. However if he is wrong I expect him to come down off his perch as he is beginning to make me want to reach for the ignore button as nothing he says or especially recently said about anything is is not a load of rubbish and scaremongering.

Boris deserves our congratulations. We will see if I am right in 2/3 weeks when we peak.

Stay safe all of you.........................

The death toll in Italy has not peaked by any degree. 743 deaths today. The UK is approximately 2 weeks behind Italy on the timeline and it's figures are very similar to Italy's at the stage.

As for congratulating Boris.....he did an almighty U turn when he discovered that he was following a completely flawed strategy, one that was completely contrary to the advice of the WHO.

I can't believe that people are still down-playing this crisis.

Sorry Chris, but all with dues and stuff, Boris is a bumbling self-serving tosser who thinks he’s Churchill; the only thing he shares with Winnie though is a deep-seated desire to be liked. Boris is not a deep thinker and holds no strong policy views; he also has a very limited attention span. He doesn’t do detail and he has consistently shied away from the difficult decisions, the unpopular edicts, the hard line - and anything that might make him less loveable.

It’s pretty clear now that up until a few weeks ago, Boris’s government WAS collectively implementing the ‘herd immunity’ strategy which would allow, perhaps encourage 40,000,000 of us to become infected early-on with the clear understanding that 1-2% of that number who were OAPs would die: Cummings’ line was “too bad”. When the evidence from Italy suggested that because more than 20% of that ‘too bad’ death group would inconveniently need serious Intensive Care before they died, Imperial College pointed out that our NHS would be entirely overwhelmed. They knew all this at least 3-4 weeks ago, probably more, and that’s when they changed tack.

Being abroad and watching rolling news channels from BBC and the American Channels from 8th March onwards, the way this was panning out was pretty bleeding obvious to me and I sent all my guys to work from home on 8th March. Home thoughts from abroad! That’s when this country should have been locked down – more than two weeks ago. Boris knew all about the realities long before me. And we are STILL are not locked down. Building sites are still working, tubes still rammed and many many employees are still required to attend their workplace. Boris is still saying ‘should stay at home’ when he needs to be saying ‘legally required to stay home’ or more appropriately ‘COMMANDED ON PAIN OF IMPRISONMENT’ to stay at home. Nobody believes him because he's told so many bare-faced lies and evaded so many personal background issues. Simple one: how many children have you got, Boris? Nobody takes him seriously.

Lastly, there’s been there’s been widespread condemnation of the public’s proclivity to hoard at the expense of their fellow citizen – to get it in early to ease their lives and budgets later. All they were trying to do was to get ahead of the curve. How is that different from a government who originally wanted to sacrifice the elderly and get the dying done early in order to ease the pressure on the economy and free up capacity for later?

Morning Zed .... our Government has now closed down everything except supermarkets and dairies and we haven't had a death in NZ yet and only a couple of dozen confirmed cases .

I find it puzzling ; England having had deaths but still operating packed underground trains , a better way to spread the disease would be harder to imagine .

Even better ................. substitute nettle leaves for the lettuce ....you'd only need the one wipe

Hi Kiwi,
Good to see NZ doing ok. Seems having certain restrictions in place are working. If only restaurants, bars, pubs had been shut down in the UK straight away. Except those places offering take away orders for food only, with reduced hours. No dining in of course. That way some staff could still be working.

I'd predict this virus will lead to break up of the EU . When you have a member state Germany refusing to supply respirators and masks to hard hit Italy ...then the supposed boogey man Russia consents to sending 12 enormous cargo plane loads of respirators , masks , medical teams and supplies it makes a bit of mockery of this "united front "

Italy , Spain , Greece , Portugal might follow Britain heading for the exits .

All those unelected fat cat EU blow flies out of work ....wonderful

Sobering .......with the virus ; possibly a depression or recession to follow
....... it drives home the point there are a damn side more important things in life than worrying about what a sh*&%$ house defence Arsenal has at the moment or will Aubameyang leave in the summer ............. who cares .

This is fascinating.....people in Cali getting the allowed outdoor exercise, yet manage to be overcrowding hiking trails, parks, beaches. Of late though, there's been a crackdown, so all parks, hiking trails, beaches are now closed, including any and all parking nearby.

The reporting in papers, television and social media discussion about Brexit got so intense that I have to accept I couldn’t care about it. I must admit I didn’t give a damn in the end if Britain left or stayed in the EU. I simply lost interest in it.

The Coronavirus stuff has actually overtaken Brexit in boringness in my opinion. I realise it’s arguably more important than Brexit in the deaths it may cause. But things like whether Hazuki, Bubblechris, Top Gun or DHD (and countless others) have better arguments on what Boris is doing about it, I no longer care.

I realise my view will be in a minority. It’s an attitude I’ve always had. What I see as over discussion in a topic makes me lose interest in it. There are opinions on both sides of the fence about the Government’s policies in recent times. Who is right or wrong? Couldn’t give a toss.

For those subscribed to Netflix, you might be keen to watch the series "The English Game".

Just stunning to see. There are photos from yesterday where you simply couldn’t have got any more people into the carriages. All rammed against each other, and even more incredibly not a face mask or glove in sight. Absolutely scary. Presumably these people are working on the ‘it won’t happen to me’ premise.

I’m aware this is pure fishing however I’ll take the bait.


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heal ... SKBN21B2GL

The idea that Spain is leaving the EU anytime soon Is hysterical but nice try

I haven’t posted about this matter over the last few days as in my thoughts I’m using the concept of positive virtualisation and staying upbeat.

The intention wasn’t to scaremonger I just felt the need to respond to some disappointing comments that I interpreted people underplaying something very serious. People in here were suggesting football games shouldn’t be cancelled as people “would die anyway” sorry if I over did it I just find that type of thinking really disappointing.

yesterday 87 people died in one day including a 33 year old. Anyone who has been to excel London will know how vast it is so the idea they are turning it into a 4000 person emergency hospital is staggering. Just feels like this thing is still invisible to most and therefore they don’t care.

(Now look what you’ve done I’ve lost my positive energy)

Aaarrgh

You have used far too many big words in this for him to understand.

He doesn’t know words like “condemnation”. You need to think more along the lines of ....

“Roger Red Hat placed the book on the table”

“It was a nice book”

Simplication required otherwise a good post.B+

No burley in the water at all Big Guy ...... I realise given your rabid rhetoric on Brexit this scenario is unthinkable ; but time will tell

... let's see who was right in a couple of years time .

Why do we always have to wait a couple of years ?

Have Turkey joined the EU as everybody said 4 years on ?

Or shall we just admit this is just grade A bollocks. All of it

Some of the guff I've read on here this morning wouldn't look out of place at a pro-Trump rally.

Heard that there’s a less positive angle to the lockdown that’s been or being implemented. A fear that with so many couples stuck at home with each other, families will get bored stiff with each other, resulting in an increase in domestic abuse. Suppose things like drinking, eating and obesity, smoking and ill health, plus sex might increase too?

The virus or fear thereof may be the catalyst for transformative changes to our respective cultures and society at large.

Will the dietary patterns of the 50 plus (or even 40 plus) change dramatically? In the UK will this change the pub culture and the fare offered? Will we see a rise in older people of society joining health clubs? Will the health supplement market increase dramatically as a result as there is a race to strengthen ones immunity? Will we see more pensioners moving to tropical reasons since they seem the least hit by the disease?

Americans are horribly obese on average, even children. Will parents look to curtail this? Since those with pre-existing illnesses are very vulnerable will we see more testing? I've heard reports that 30% of the total in America who have high blood pressure don't know it and/or don't seek help to get the medication. This may be a result of the health system in America. Which may change to what the rest of the industrialized nations have. Some hybrid of NHS.

One thing for sure. A for profit health system is the worse thing to have in an epidemic. The one politician that has emerged as the sane voice is NY state governor Cuomo. He is the 'anti-Trump' to some respects. On a sidenote, look for him to run for President in 2024 if Trump wins re-election. (I can't believe I wrote "if Trump wins and its likelihood is very possible, surreal moment). He has successfully spoken in general, easy to understand terms to the people of NY and now to the nation. The nation is now listening to him instead of Trump or Pence. He is basically the surrogate for all state governors and what each state needs because his issues are shared by all 50 states.

Internationally, its a given that there is likely to be far more cooperation between nations to step the next disease early in its tracks. I can envision the G8 or G20 meetings to include covid19 related issues. Prior diseases, ebola, SARS, MERS, Zika, will now be given more importance.

Trump sacked Obama's pandemic director and the team in the government that was dedicated to diseases, then has the temerity to blame Obama over 3 years from the past. It just illustrates the wrong man for the times. Cynical, petty, narcissist, lacking any leadership qualities. But you get the president you deserve I suppose.

Football related news, I read Man Utd is interested in Aubameyang. I hope he has enough ethics not to go there. Spain, I can deal with but going to a direct rival is too much. What used to be uncommon (rival transfers) has become one way traffic for us.

The government, more specifically, the Penatgon, the Department of Defense have done a lot of scenarios an 'what ifs?'. The movies we see about government secret plans aren't born out of some Hollywood screenwriter's mind. It's based on actual facts. They research things like that as a screenwriter. I have 1 or 2 struggling sreenwriter friends in LA and they tell you, you don't write about things you don't research first. Even if its tangential.

That said, I find it very, very hard to believe the defense department doesn't have a paper on pandemics. One thing that is a fact is that there within the government there has always been people who study such possibilities. But we are now struggling on how to cope with one when its hit us. So, something within the government is not right. Either they have forgone the plans that were recommended on some internal white paper on it or we got rid of the people and/or departments that are related to it.

Furthermore, there are many non governmental or affiliated civilian people and organizations who have studied this from professors at universities, think tanks, research facilities, etc. I am sure there are internal voices in the government as well as external who have some sort of readiness plan or at the very least a list of things that needs to be in place for this sort of inevitability. Especially given the fact that the major countries all have extensive biochemical weapon including contagions, including the UK, Russia, as well as China.

Why does it seem we (as in our respective governments save a few) are all walking around like the proverbial chickens with our heads cut off. South Korea battled a serious virus some years ago and have received plaudits for how they handled it. They had a plan based on personal experience.


Something isn't right.

I don't see any reason why he'd want to go to Manche$ter.

You

Prince Charles is now isolating at Balmoral with Covid 19, while Prince Andrew is isolating at Windsor with Jennifer 14.

The virus making its way to the Royal family makes it real that its no respecter of class or status.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... oronavirus

The Spanish Flu (apologies to the Spanish for my blatant bigotry ala The China virus ) is the event that this current crisis is most compared to.

The Spanish Flu operated at a time where medicine was far from adequate. Many people were still doing blood letting in parts of the so called modern world. Having a global war at the time with people being moved internationally didn't help matters at all. It made matters much worse and the large number of deaths would not have happened perhaps if the war wasn't being waged. That said, the world was infinitely less mobile than today.

Two things that are both a huge advantage and disadvantage are these. First, the disadvantage is the world interacts face to face more than at any time in human history. That obviously means the disease can spread rapidly, sometimes faster than the authorities can backtrack. The advantage is that modern medicine is much more capable of dealing with it and we have the capability of building an infrastructure that can cope with later outbreaks if any.

I'm struggling with the strategy that trillions have to be spent to stave off a depression. Untold amounts spent to keep the share markets, industries and such afloat. Maybe...just maybe, there is nothing you can do to keep the economy out of a depression UNTIL the virus has either been defeated or at the very least on an unbroken downward trend. You can't have a viable economy when the public has to stay indoors. It seems as simple as that.

Monies, it seems should be directed to those who can not work, forced to stay indoors for most of the time and can only leave for the market or pharmacy. With the airports shut down, does it make sense to bail out the airlines? Wouldn't be more prudent to make sure the maintenance of the airplanes and other safety related jobs are done so that flights can be at the ready when they are allowed again?


Do we need to bailout the cruise ship industry? Wouldn't more harm than good occur printing monopoly money to artificially support economies that simply are going to remain negative and unproductive till the virus is contained?