The Artful Dodger

Lockdowns ONLY benefit the elites. Small businesses and the poorest are hit massively by lockdowns. If you’ve got a decent sized house and a nice job you can do comfortably on your sofa I can imagine lockdowns aren’t so bad but for a lot of people they are terrible. Their repercussions will reverberate for decade.

It’s been pretty much confirmed that’s the case. Obviously vaccines and general resistance are helping too.

What’s miserable about wanting an end to this cycle of restrictions and yes, misery? Everyone holds onto the numbers surrounding deaths, infections etc. Stuff that keeps us locked down and able to hector others. Then some good news and nothing. We’re on way out, just in time for New Year too.

Well nobody else will. We're all so addicted to thinking we're in 28 days later. This is brilliant news, it means we're nearly out of it. But still the fear factory continues.

This news is literally the best we’ve heard for 2 years. But the gloom, the fear still presses on.

Did anyone else just well up at Jon Snow's last broadcast on Channel 4? Great man.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/23/hospital-admission-risk-up-to-70-less-with-omicron-than-delta-ukhsa-finds 70% less. The icy grip of the lockdown lovers is slowly receding. But beware, they will try to lock us down before New Year.

I presume you work in the NHS yourself, to know how ‘pointless’ these jobs are?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/22/risk-of-hospital-stay-40-lower-with-omicron-than-delta-uk-data-suggests British press starting to reluctantly talk about what has been said for a few weeks now. Lot of gutted people seeing their high horse edging towards the door.

One clear thing is how dilapidated , underpaid and broken the NHS has been for 10 years of Tory rule. Not to say the strain wouldn’t be there, it obviously is testing all countries in the world but please anyone votes for this verminous party, reconsider now? If not now then never.

This is only true if you view COVID entirely through the eyes of the UK. I would say, rather than prioritising boosters for healthy young people here, we should be getting them out to large parts of the world with poor access to them and to people at far greater risk of being very ill. This prioritising of ourselves is party of the problem.

That’s not lucky, your work should be giving you the time off as medical. Get on to your Trade Union.

Vaccination clearly helps, and I’d recommend it to anyone. However, there’s become a hysteria that somehow unvaccinated people are a great danger, not only to themselves but everyone else. It’s a ludicrous state of affairs, especially given how large parts of the world remain unvaccinated through no fault of their own.

Several sources reporting that in fact, yes, Omicron is as inherently mild as we first thought. You wouldn’t know it in the UK though. The fear machine is in full overdrive.

Sounds like that might be the case, outside service only perhaps.

It appeals to the aspirant who’ve had a recent down turn in luck. Far right politics are sadly on the rise and it’s not helped by a government who pander to the crudest anti immigrant rhetoric.

It’s taking the fun out of the ashes a bit. It’s not even close when England go to Australia.

Comparing is not the same as likening. Of course someone throwing a bash is worse but the rules are patently absurd. Depriving people on their death beds of seeing closed loved ones for example. Are the rules proportionate to the threat faced by humanity? I’m not sure they are and given how high the UK’s death toll is, and several other European states who’ve imposed harsh measures, compared to some of those who haven’t, i’m not sure we can even be sure they work. Like it or not, there is an important question to be asked about balance and offsetting negatives. We’ve reached a point now where it’s make or break. I’m not sure why talking about the ‘economy’ has become some sort of heinous sin for the left, because the economy should the absolute starting point for anyone on the left. Lockdowns are a blunt instrument that largely effect the very poorest. I’ve no time for people in comfy work from home jobs and big houses clamouring for lockdowns. They don’t feel the cost of them. Anyway, it’s too late now.We’ll be back in lockdown for January and this cycle will be repeated ad infinitum.

You're proving my point. It's the 'hypocrisy' which makes this so intolerable, do as I say not as I do etc. You are going to get this when you try to criminalise people for seeing other humans. The rules were never there to be fully abided by. It's like why they put the speed limit at 30, because they know people will drive at 40 instead of 50.

What about the 18-19 year olds having parties? Selfish? Evil, even? Human behaviour is not the cause of this and human beings are not to blame for a virus.

Of course it is, but technically you’re a criminal. The absurdity of it all is Kafkaesque. You can’t control human behaviour to such a degree, the vast majority of people will have broken the rules in some way. And that’s why an element of society are loving all this. The chance to look down on others is sadly very common to humanity.

In fairness, this fella is a civil servant so has no political affiliation Did anyone here never break any rules, genuinely? The party is an egregious flouting of the rules but it's more the hypocrisy which is the killer, for me anyway.

Tories lose north Shropshire, a seat they had 23k majority at at the last election and have held for 200 years. Not even close either. Johnson probably done now.

You are right, I don’t mean to sound as I do sometimes. I’m certainly not on the side of anti-vaxxers or the piers corbyn types. Anyway, I think I’m best off keeping a distance from it all. Fingers crossed new year brings something better.

Schools are closing down, the plans are in place. Kids having to isolate because of a runny nose, educations ruined. It’s every adult’s responsibility to ensure that children get the best of the world. We’re showing an absolute disregard for them and have right from the outset. There has never been anything like it in history where the youngest sacrifice their futures (and please be realistic on this, the outcome of this is not yet known but it’s going to lead to all sorts of negative effects) for the old. All proportion has been lost, the media are gripped by this vicarious thrill seeking. It’s a result of the West’s inability to accept that we are ultimately at nature’s pleasure on this planet and we cannot control everything. The idea we can manipulate human behaviour to outwit a virus is the height of human hubris.