Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Benjamin_Nevis]

5 hours ago, RH33 said:

Nah, plenty I've encountered are fucking clueless about mental health. 

Yeah this is a thing in Tayside as well. There was one CPN in our area who was universally unpopular with her patients - she had had mental health issues herself in her younger days and according to a colleague I later spoke to, she didn't take seriously any of her patients whom she perceived to not have the same severity of issues she had.

She later took the ATOS coin and a job as a PIP Assessor, which lasted a year or two before they binned her. 

 

[Jan Vojáček]

4 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

Absolute knee scooter crash answers from Humza here.

Martin Geissler is asking what appear to be extremely low level data "interrogation" questions, yet the SG either don't know the answers or don't want to let the public know them.

How can you make the decision to restrict people's lives without knowing the answer to those two questions? When they say they are looking at the data, what data are they actually looking at

Farcical.

That is possibly the most damning interview I've seen with anyone from the SG during the whole pandemic.

It feels to me like he knows the figures, but they can't un-cancel Hogmanay - so they've got to play the 'we just don't know' card for a few weeks to justify their panicking.

Just as the FM's address yesterday was meant to be a further tightening of restrictions after Westminster admitted they got it wrong and tightened theirs on Boxing Day. 

It's all politics and saving face at this stage. And Humza hasn't even done much of a job of hiding that fact in that interview.

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Interview with a man who has something to hide, either he was completely unprepared, possible, or he knows fine well the data won't back up the restrictions.

The answer here is clearly he needs to go on an interview skills training course at Public expense so he can confidently bat away this kind of questioning.

[Ron Aldo]

Got my booster yesterday and seem to have got away with nothing more than a bit of a dead arm which was similar to the first 2 doses.

I look forward to a 4th jag in around 3 months time.

[Bairnardo]

That is possibly the most damning interview I've seen with anyone from the SG during the whole pandemic.
It feels to me like he knows the figures, but they can't un-cancel Hogmanay - so they've got to play the 'we just don't know' card for a few weeks to justify their panicking.
Just as the FM's address yesterday was meant to be a further tightening of restrictions after Westminster admitted they got it wrong and tightened theirs on Boxing Day. 
It's all politics and saving face at this stage. And Humza hasn't even done much of a job of hiding that fact in that interview.

Remember "not a minute longer than absolutely neccessary"

I do.

I dont remember the statement where that transitioned to "put in place to score some political points, held in place to save some face".

Watching the SNP and various covid nutters have what appears to be a pandemic thats very precious to them, peeled away bit by bit would be great, if it wasnt for the fact that this isnt just a wee political game, its the critical recovery phase of the greatest global crisis in loving memory.

Watching Pagel cheerleading draconian Chinese lunacy, Gurdasani actively willing Omicron to show some signs of super deadliness, Preaching w**k Leitch never off the telly and Sturgeon/Humza/BST et al having absolutely no idea which way to turn as actual scientific data and the path of the virus itself leaves them standing their with the collective cock in their hand is all just depressing as f**k.

In addition to that, if this thread IS representative of a cross section of society at all, then there are a significant number of your pals, family, workmates etc who have somehow become so entrenched in the political capital side of the pandemic that they will claim you are "right wing" for pointing out that Scottish Policy has diverged from available data, and you would prefer a life of personal risk management rather than legally mandated social restrictions.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

The sanctimonious critiscm of football shows just how far we need to go to understand mental health in this country.

These arseholes that are ridiculing the notion that people rely on something like football for their mental wellbeing are entrenched in their prejudices. They are more interested in moral point scoring than actually giving a damn about others.

Of course, no one is saying a game of football is a matter of life and death because its clearly not. But for many people, particularly men (75% of suicides in scotland are male), it's an opportunity to see their mates, have a day out and sometimes it's the chance to have a conversation with others. It's a chance to feel a part of something and maybe just be a distraction from their worries for a short while.

It does not matter that it's going to watch a game of football - it could be any other sport or Live music, theatre or cinema. The sanctimonious screeching from social media is deplorable. I wonder if they would be saying the same if it was their social activities and interests being taken away from them.

Your last paragraph hits it on the nail - it's not just football but the wider travel, hospitality and leisure sectors that has been hit by these restrictions throughout the pandemic.

For many people it is their own outlet to let off steam or keep themselves sane. I know from the experience with my step-dad the impact on mental health. Up until 2 years ago, although diagnosed with Alzheimers, my mum found that taking him away on holiday was really beneficial for him, providing him with the stimulation and exercise he needed.

Since lockdown he has deteriorated, and literally fallen off the cliff the last 6 months to the point he can't remember his own name.

Alzheimers UK carried out a survey which showed that since lockdown, more than four in five (82%) reported a deterioration in people with dementia.

Of those who had seen a decline, around half reported increased memory loss (50%) and difficulty concentrating (48%). More than one in four (27%) said reading and writing has become more difficult, and one in three said the same for speaking and understanding speech (33%). Additionally, more than a quarter had seen a loss in the ability to do daily tasks, like cooking or dressing (28%).

If that's what's happening to those with Alzheimers then it should be no surprise that the mental health of the general population has suffered as well. Human beings are social creatures who require social contact and stimulus. Social contact helps us to cope with stress and everything going on in our lives. Knowing that we are valued by others is an important psychological factor in helping us to forget the negative aspects of our lives, and thinking more positively about our environment.

Some people need to take the stick out of their puritanical arses and recognise that people relax and enjoy themselves in many ways and that it not only benefits the individual's mental health but society as a whole.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

That's what I thought 
As an aside has anyone heard of someone having covid 3 times?! A lassie I work with is off due to having covid. Shes mid 20s and not exactly a picture of health, but is double vaccinated. Never heard of anyone having it that many times

My eldest daughter has had it twice - she isn't jagged though.

[Monkey Tennis]

7 hours ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

It has actually made me feel slightly better about my own mindset and things ive struggled with over this last wee while to see that most right thinking people arent sneering snobs. 
You’re right, the game of football isn’t life and death, but the connections someone makes by being involved with a club as a fan, volunteer etc gives them purpose, gives them a reason to get out the house, build relationships, contribute to something etc. I was at a gig about 10 years ago and the singer in the band said ‘What we’re gonna do tonight is have a great time and forget about whatever shit is going on outside these walls’, thats what going to football can do for people too. 
The thing about male suicide and mental health is that many find it so incredibly difficult to talk about things, but football plays an incredibly massive part in breaking down barriers, it also gives people the opportunity to actually have that ‘are you ok?’ Chat with someone that they are worried about. Bankies team up with Breathing space and many other clubs quite regularly contribute to breaking down stigma around mens mental health. Then you look at guys like Aaron Connelly, football has on many occasions been his escape from quite debilitating and profound crisis. I know as a first responder how easy it is to make a connection with someone through football, many times had people suicidal but unwilling to talk directly to a stranger, have that chat with them about football, build a rapport and help them open up. To see psychiatric nurses/snp supporters etc belittle that is genuinely astounding.  

I know Clydebank aren’t alone in community work etc too, Motherwell are fantastic with it, the boy Burrows has made them an intrinsic part of the community there. Clubs arent just a wee entity that people visit every second Saturday, they in many cases are picking up the pieces of things that many public sector bodies have neglected for years, football isnt life or death, but the impact clubs can have on their community in many many ways can absolutely be a life or death thing. 

All absolutely true.  Much of it is commendable.

 

However, as far as I'm aware, the Scottish Government hasn't actually banned football for all time.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Martin Geissler has always been a bit cynical and appearing like he wants to question more intensively, however I wonder (tinfoil hat on) if there is some subtle pressure from above, across all mainstream media outlets, to support Government policy or at least not rock the boat? No way can the journalists be so poor and inept, as demonstrated every single time Sturgeon is on her soapbox! Only other journalist who has been critical of the dithering and position of Scottish Government is Bill Leckie in the Sun.
Regardless, it’s interesting to see how uncomfortable Humza is in this interview. First sign of a direct challenge and he’s off waffling, deflecting and saying they’ll publish figures, despite having had near on two years of this. 

When she is questioned by Scottish journalists - they seem to be champing at the bit for more restrictions.

To be fair, this isn't uniquely Scottish - it's the same whenever Johnson takes questions.

[SlipperyP]

9 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

When she is questioned by Scottish journalists - they seem to be champing at the bit for more restrictions.

To be fair, this isn't uniquely Scottish - it's the same whenever Johnson takes questions.

You are very correct on this part.  The world media are having a field day here. When things are getting back to normal, they then have to find other news to broadcast.

Lockdowns/restrictions/ new variants, they love it. Easy story.

[Monkey Tennis]

42 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Watching the SNP and various covid nutters have what appears to be a pandemic thats very precious to them, peeled away bit by bit would be great,

Overall, your post is a decent enough one, but genuinely, what are you getting at here?

By all means, point to what looks like a misjudgement here.  If you like, be critical of an overly cautious approach, due to the harms entailed.

What do you mean, however, by the pandemic being very precious to the SNP? Do you honestly believe that they want to be managing this mess and in the position of making decisions that damn them either way?  

It's fair to criticise those decisions and it's maybe even fair to question the motives of some who've only risen to prominence because of Covid.  I genuinely think it requires a fairly crazy leap, however, to accuse our senior politicians of loving this health crisis and praying for its continuation.

 

[Bairnardo]

2 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Overall, your post is a decent enough one, but genuinely, what are you getting at here?

By all means, point to what looks like a misjudgement here.  If you like, be critical of an overly cautious approach, due to the harms entailed.

What do you mean, however, by the pandemic being very precious to the SNP? Do you honestly believe that they want to be managing this mess and in the position of making decisions that damn them either way?  

It's fair to criticise those decisions and it's maybe even fair to question the motives of some who've only risen to prominence because of Covid.  I genuinely think it requires a fairly crazy leap, however, to accuse our senior politicians of loving this health crisis and praying for its continuation.

 

As I have said before, I believe there are people who are welded to Spring 2019 in their mindset, and that this is mostly because they do not believe they have made the political ground they think they are entitled to. Nicola Sturgeon saw her popularity skyrocket during the first wave, and I believe she now sees herself as being in some sort of "I can do no wrong" position, applying the same attitude and mantras to a phase of the pandemic that is clearly wildly different. 

So whilst that might not expicitly fit the box of "she wants this to keep on going" I think its pretty clear that certain aspects of the pandemic response are going on beyond what is actually justifiable, and that this is happening for political reasons. So whilst "loving this health crisis" might be boiling it down a bit far, if you are able to sit and calculate potential political gains and use your position in charge of pandemic response for ends other than preventing the collapse of the health service, its reaosnable to assume you are happy to be doing this, otherwise...... Well you wouldnt be doing it. 

[Am Featha Taigh Nan Clach]

It's fine to want all restrictions binned without faux concerns for hospitality or mental health. 

[ICTChris]

Absolutely agree with what’s said about dementia sufferers. We have a member of our family with dementia and they have deteriorated during the pandemic, obviously it’s a degenerative disease and there’s no way of proving it but I think the boredom and lack of stimulation has had a big impact.

Sadly, it now seems likely that this family member has probably got Covid, they are waiting for a PCR and isolating. Not much to be doing other than Hoping it all goes as well as it can.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Remember "not a minute longer than absolutely neccessary"

I do.

I dont remember the statement where that transitioned to "put in place to score some political points, held in place to save some face".

Watching the SNP and various covid nutters have what appears to be a pandemic thats very precious to them, peeled away bit by bit would be great, if it wasnt for the fact that this isnt just a wee political game, its the critical recovery phase of the greatest global crisis in loving memory.

Watching Pagel cheerleading draconian Chinese lunacy, Gurdasani actively willing Omicron to show some signs of super deadliness, Preaching w**k Leitch never off the telly and Sturgeon/Humza/BST et al having absolutely no idea which way to turn as actual scientific data and the path of the virus itself leaves them standing their with the collective cock in their hand is all just depressing as f**k.

In addition to that, if this thread IS representative of a cross section of society at all, then there are a significant number of your pals, family, workmates etc who have somehow become so entrenched in the political capital side of the pandemic that they will claim you are "right wing" for pointing out that Scottish Policy has diverged from available data, and you would prefer a life of personal risk management rather than legally mandated social restrictions.

The real issue isn't that the pandemic is precious to the SNP but that Sturgeon and the SNP leadership are quite reactionary - they don't set the agenda but respond to it. That's down to their innate cautiousness - we've seen throughout this pandemic that everything is framed around "just in case" and not being too radical.

If you look at wider policy areas, apart from the debate around the constitution and issues such as transgender, there isn't a significant difference between them and other political parties. Look at Education where they have pretty much carried on the policies they inherited from SLab.

It's not just that cautiousness though but the increasingly Stalinist nature of the SNP - outside of the usual suspects like McNeil and Cherry there really are no dissenting voices. My own experience within the party organisation is that dissent, even internally, is frowned upon.

That is not healthy.

[Monkey Tennis]

11 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

As I have said before, I believe there are people who are welded to Spring 2019 in their mindset, and that this is mostly because they do not believe they have made the political ground they think they are entitled to. Nicola Sturgeon saw her popularity skyrocket during the first wave, and I believe she now sees herself as being in some sort of "I can do no wrong" position, applying the same attitude and mantras to a phase of the pandemic that is clearly wildly different. 

So whilst that might not expicitly fit the box of "she wants this to keep on going" I think its pretty clear that certain aspects of the pandemic response are going on beyond what is actually justifiable, and that this is happening for political reasons. So whilst "loving this health crisis" might be boiling it down a bit far, if you are able to sit and calculate potential political gains and use your position in charge of pandemic response for ends other than preventing the collapse of the health service, its reaosnable to assume you are happy to be doing this, otherwise...... Well you wouldnt be doing it. 

Ok, would that also apply in the other European countries making similar decisions right now?

[Jan Vojáček]

4 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

Absolutely agree with what’s said about dementia sufferers. We have a member of our family with dementia and they have deteriorated during the pandemic, obviously it’s a degenerative disease and there’s no way of proving it but I think the boredom and lack of stimulation has had a big impact.

Sadly, it now seems likely that this family member has probably got Covid, they are waiting for a PCR and isolating. Not much to be doing other than Hoping it all goes as well as it can.

I've noticed a huge deterioration in my Papa too. And he's barely left the house, save for hospital visits, since last March. He's lost his interest in football and church (which were the only places he socialised) and, from speaking to a family member who is a doctor last week, we think he's now suffering from anxiety too.

As you say, there's no way of proving it. But I have absolutely no doubt that a lack of stimulation and taking him out of his routine with football on a Saturday, visits to and from family members during the week etc has increased the speed of his deterioration. 

[lithgierose]

1 hour ago, Jan Vojáček said:

That is possibly the most damning interview I've seen with anyone from the SG during the whole pandemic.

It feels to me like he knows the figures, but they can't un-cancel Hogmanay - so they've got to play the 'we just don't know' card for a few weeks to justify their panicking.

Just as the FM's address yesterday was meant to be a further tightening of restrictions after Westminster admitted they got it wrong and tightened theirs on Boxing Day. 

It's all politics and saving face at this stage. And Humza hasn't even done much of a job of hiding that fact in that interview.

The ministers being interviewed should be hooked upto the mains. And told answer my questions. Yes or No. Anything else and I throw the switch.

[Billy Jean King]

As I have said before, I believe there are people who are welded to Spring 2019 in their mindset, and that this is mostly because they do not believe they have made the political ground they think they are entitled to. Nicola Sturgeon saw her popularity skyrocket during the first wave, and I believe she now sees herself as being in some sort of "I can do no wrong" position, applying the same attitude and mantras to a phase of the pandemic that is clearly wildly different. 
So whilst that might not expicitly fit the box of "she wants this to keep on going" I think its pretty clear that certain aspects of the pandemic response are going on beyond what is actually justifiable, and that this is happening for political reasons. So whilst "loving this health crisis" might be boiling it down a bit far, if you are able to sit and calculate potential political gains and use your position in charge of pandemic response for ends other than preventing the collapse of the health service, its reaosnable to assume you are happy to be doing this, otherwise...... Well you wouldnt be doing it. 

That might be a reasonable stance if our current approach was an outlier in comparison to the rest of Europe but in comparison our restrictions are fairly standard. Are you seriously saying that the political leaders in Denmark, Holland, Portugal etc are all doing what they are doing for political gain rather than what might be misguided public health reasons ?

Anywhere with similar or more stringent restrictions than here (no / very limited crowds at football in Germany and Holland for ages now as one example) can't simply be dismissed as only putting those restrictions in place for political gain. This is Scotland, a more fanatical football loving nation you would struggle to find. We probably have a higher proportion of folk who actively support teams than anywhere else so surely an "attack" on football here would have the exact opposite effect.

Absolutely the restrictions on football are 100% overkill as are those on other sectors with this new strain but to suggest it's a purely political move rather than a totally misguided public health move is pretty wild. There may well be an element of attempting to justify, save face as it were but that's pretty normal political maneuvering as virtually no political party ever admits to a mistake as we have seen for our lifetimes.

[Hard Graft]

1 hour ago, UsedToGoToCentralPark said:

Interview with a man who has something to hide, either he was completely unprepared, possible, or he knows fine well the data won't back up the restrictions.

The answer here is clearly he needs to go on an interview skills training course at Public expense so he can confidently bat away this kind of questioning.

Yet another inept, clueless, trying to deceive, SNP minister.