Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[pandarilla]

cmon man we're talking about basics: gloves. masks. aprons. face shields. These can't be explained away because tories.

But surely normal levels of supplies will have been used up pretty quickly, and now getting these things is incredibly difficult due to unprecedented high demand?

I'm not blaming either administration too much as there's a lot of simple stuff that simply takes time due to the logistics right now.

You can't expect them to keep stock piles, surely? The stuff goes out of date.

There's criticism about long term funding of the health service which is absolutely legitimate - but I'm not sure the snp administration can take much blame for that.

[Todd_is_God]

3 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

no he was saying GD was losing money because he was speculating when it's just wrecking anyone's investments. If I was close to retirement and still invested in funds with a lot of equities in them (bad idea in first place) I'd be very worried just now.

It's times like this I wish I understood markets and had capital to invest. Some people will likely make fortunes out of it in the long run. Just not me!

[coprolite]

Pension funds are highly diversified and will hedge exposures to stock movements with short positions and other asset classes that tend to move out of step with the stock market. 

While a long term fall in stocks will affect them the impact will be limited. The dailly  movements will have little impact on pensions.  

Retail investors in specific stocks (as opposed to tracker funds) are taking risks with their capital in the hope of a bigger reward than they'd get on deposit interest. Exactly the same as the much maligned air bnb crowd. As all investments are, it is a bet. Sometimes horses fall

[Tight minge]

it just is though. https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/

That is GDP which isn't the same as richest countries. It's also out of date as the UK was overtaken by France and possibly also India. Although economic output is out the window for a while just now.

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, MixuFixit said:

coincidentally I live in Bangalore

[cyderspaceman]

If I were a homeless person, (I'm glad I'm not) I don't know if I would want to be taken off the streets at this particuar time, having just survived the winter and heading into spring. Being out on my own would perhaps seem preferable to being indoors with a bunch of others who may be infected. I don't imagine whatever accommodation provided will be particularly spacious. This seems like a move to protect the general public, rather than to help the homeless, which would maybe be ok if they continued with the scheme after this is over but that's unlikely.

 

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

It’s naive to look at that in isolation (no pun).  The NHS in Scotland is grossly underfunded due to the Tories austerity policy and I imagine there are far more pressing priorities that stockpiling equipment in the ‘unlikely’ event of a serious global pandemic.

Im sorry Granny, i generally agree with you on a lot of things, but the unit cost of decent PPE is minuscule compared to the cost of running thousands of ICU beds for months.

 

Pandemic flu has never been ‘unlikely’ its literally been highlighted by many of the worlds eminent thinkers, scientists and business leaders as one of the MOST likely causes of a global emergency/world changing event. The UK got lucky with Sars, Swine flu etc and hasnt learned any lessons.

 

Thats only the argument on a financial basis, its the fact that they value their people so badly that they allow them to continue without PPE. Also its the complete lack of ANY coherent plan until this week, despite months notice that this was likely to come here. Im not laying the blame at the underfunding of the NHS on them, but their management of this situation has imo been shambolic. Ive highlighted that my wife and her practice have been asking for PPE since before the first case in Scotland occurred, its fallen on death ears, empty responses from people promising to have strategy meetings and develop policy, but really whats happened is a whole load of nothing. Nonsense bureaucracy has not helped us prepare. As a result i’ve pointed out that one of her colleagues has fallen ill with covid despite being told the inadequate PPE they had was adequate.

Then we come on to the shambolic organisation of childcare, I know of two police officers in ayrshire who’s nursery has closed and have been denied access to the child care provision and been told they arent key workers. There isnt even any cover for my child at all, im having to pay for my existing nursery and a child minder because the provision is shocking.

The Scottish government should have proper tested plans in place for all these things, they dont. Its a disgrace. I can’t even ask for help from my MSP because even at this time the selfish b*****d hasnt even had the decency to resign or put any alternative contact details on his website.

[MONKMAN]

Boris Johnson tests positive, i would drink myself into oblivion for weeks if he were to die.

[Granny Danger]

2 hours ago, dirty dingus said:

With God on our side.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/christian-pastor-who-thought-covid-19-is-just-mass-hysteria-among-the-first-in-virginia-to-die-from-virus/amp/?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR3TvR2w_Bm3N6U0fdwRq1GZFy93iu1A72iVeTZavsZqTaaOWx0AhctC208

 

 

Every cloud and all that.

[Venti]

Tesco Greenock were only letting a set amount of folk in at a time. Was also well stocked & got everything on my list.

Relieved, as I was fucking dreading it.

[doulikefish]

Boris has covid 19

[Granny Danger]

1 minute ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Im sorry Granny, i generally agree with you on a lot of things, but the unit cost of decent PPE is minuscule compared to the cost of running thousands of ICU beds for months. Thats only the argument on a financial basis, its the fact that they value their people so badly that they allow them to continue without PPE. Also its the complete lack of ANY coherent plan until this week, despite months notice that this was likely to come here. Im not laying the blame at the underfunding of the NHS on them, but their management of this situation has imo been shambolic. Ive highlighted that my wife and her practice have been asking for PPE since before the first case in Scotland occurred, its fallen on death ears, empty responses from people promising to have strategy meetings and develop policy, but really whats happened is a whole load of nothing. Nonsense bureaucracy has not helped us prepare. As a result i’ve pointed out that one of her colleagues has fallen ill with covid despite being told the inadequate PPE they had was adequate.
Then we come on to the shambolic organisation of childcare, I know of two police officers in ayrshire who’s nursery has closed and have been denied access to the child care provision and been told they arent key workers. There isnt even any cover for my child at all, im having to pay for my existing nursery and a child minder because the provision is shocking.
The Scottish government should have proper tested plans in place for all these things, they dont. Its a disgrace. I can’t even ask for help from my MSP because even at this time the selfish b*****d hasnt even had the decency to resign or put any alternative contact details on his website.

Was there a shortage of PPE in the Scottish NHS prior to this.  If the answer is yes then you have a point.

As for the obvious lack of a plan to deal with a pandemic, you’re absolutely right, it’s shocking that we have been caught flat footed on this but again I’m pretty certain that’s not a devolved function.

[hk blues]

12 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

almost without exception funds that all of us depend upon for pensions etc. are subject to this at the moment. It's not about speculating, it's about it gubbing X years of someone's planned investments now, meaning when they come to retire their investment has had to repeat this growth over X years, meaning they have a crapper pension.

Yep...I was teaching a Japanese guy 2 weeks ago who was 1 week from retirement and was having to defer his plans for a while as his retirement fund had lost too much.  For most, they can ride out the ups and downs over time but some need to cash in at a particular time.  In Hong Kong, the mandatory pension fund requires individual's funds to be moved to a guaranteed income fund if it was within 10 years (I think) of retirement - not a bad idea that perhaps individuals should consider.

[Granny Danger]

2 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

It's easier than it's been in the past, lot of pick your own ISAs, SIPPs etc. out there. If you're buying into funds as opposed to single company shares, the commission is only a pound or two so you can begin without a lot of dough. In fact without wanting to sound to mercenary, now would be a great time to start.

That’s pretty optimistic.

[ICTChris]

Apparently Westminster (the area rather than just Parliament) has a very high infection rate, not that surprising that someone who is there has picked it up,.

[jagfox]

7 minutes ago, doulikefish said:

Boris has covid 19

That virus has no taste...

[KnightswoodBear]

There yer BoJo got the CoVo

[Alert Mongoose]

2 minutes ago, doulikefish said:

Boris has covid 19

 

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Was there a shortage of PPE in the Scottish NHS prior to this.  If the answer is yes then you have a point.
As for the obvious lack of a plan to deal with a pandemic, you’re absolutely right, it’s shocking that we have been caught flat footed on this but again I’m pretty certain that’s not a devolved function.

Yes mate, i absolutely promise you this is the case and was the case across the emergency services. People arent getting that a lot of the damage and risk to public sector workers could be mitigated!

[coprolite]

9 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

That is absolute bollocks.  The overwhelming majority of shares (stocks) are held by institutional investors like insurance companies and pension funds and are held medium-to-long term.  If they reacted in a speculative manner to minor, let alone major, events the system simply wouldn’t work.

You obviously don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.

Obviously. 

As you say, these steady eddie types don't trade much and aren't generally responsible for most of the day to day movement in normal times. Most of that comes from hedge funds and merchant banks looking to arbitrage short term movements. 

The institutional types are probably trading now. Due to fundamentals shifting. If the ontario teachers'pension fund needs liquidity it hurts the economy far less if they sell some shares than if they try calling in debts or selling property portfolios. 

You suggest that the least bad option for the economy should be made unavailable. I disagree.