Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Glen Sannox]

15 minutes ago, Sherrif John Bunnell said:

Maybe he's just a big fan of the council and has bought the replica top?

It is quite a smart top this season to be fair.

[Thorongil]

1 hour ago, Snafu said:

I'm sure your opinions will be noted by the Sturgeon and her massive.

So I take it you would vote Alba?

I would. Poverty level reversal and anti-transparency agenda still not enough to justify criticism of Sturgeon?

[DeeTillEhDeh]

I'm sure your opinions will be noted by the Sturgeon and her massive.
So I take it you would vote Alba?

Of course he would - he's a yer da' who blithely ignores the transphobes, racists and roasters in Alba.

[welshbairn]

8 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

Of course he would - he's a yer da' who blithely ignores the transphobes

Au contraire mon ami, he's with them all the way..

[Billy Jean King]

He had a navy blue polo shirt on with the Edinburgh council logo on it

I suspect he was just being a dick and it was nothing to do with his work. Well outwith anyones remit out in the street.

[Dons_1988]

Endemic Covid: Is the pandemic entering its endgame? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59970281
 

can someone email this article to Jason and nicola? 

[Elixir]

The Beeb really have been putting out good articles lately. The Diet SAGE lot and their disciples must be seething.

 

[Kenneth840]

2 hours ago, Snafu said:

Knock yourself out.

Increasing numbers of people falling into poverty and those in poverty even worse off (the binning of universal credit) along with increasing mental health concerns has been given very little coverage from any government update and any simpering government supporting media, starting to look more like collateral every week as poor people problems don't matter since our need to be protected from the current shan mouse flu outweighs absolutely everything else including putting food on the table or having a roof over heads.

Vote for Alba then, cos the snp are doing f**k all.

[Kenneth840]

Good read.

https://commonweal.scot/restrictions-a-mistake/

https://robinmcalpine.org/the-pandemic-must-now-be-a-debate-not-a-decree/

 

Over the course of two difficult years the impact of Covid on public decision-making is significant. The threshold for ‘acceptable action’ just keeps dropping. Make no mistake, everyone should get the vaccine unless told not to by a qualified medic, but it is on the verge of no longer being a personal choice at all. Lockdowns and severe restrictions are now the go-to of some governments. In fact it can be quite hard to identify what it is other than these blunt instruments which has been done barring rolling out a vaccine programme and an insufficient test and trace system.

At the beginning of the crisis we had no option but to take measures which very substantially restricted civil liberties – we didn’t have enough information and were ill-prepared. But as time passed it was always going to be the case that the civil liberties issue would become more pressing; history is utterly littered with people who dismissed fears of creeping authoritarianism and few didn’t regret it.

Nor is any of this a matter of ‘following the science’, because science is not monolithic. The impact of lost education on a very large generation of children is now likely to echo down the generations. The psychological impact on everyone has been serious, with the young and the isolated old at serious risk. The impact on poverty and the cost of living is beyond alarming. The economic impacts we may only really understand in years to come. The social impact we haven’t even begun to assess. The impact on other NHS procedures will kill people and we don’t know the scale of that yet.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Kenneth840

[Elixir]

1 hour ago, Kenneth840 said:

Good read.

https://commonweal.scot/restrictions-a-mistake/

https://robinmcalpine.org/the-pandemic-must-now-be-a-debate-not-a-decree/

 

Over the course of two difficult years the impact of Covid on public decision-making is significant. The threshold for ‘acceptable action’ just keeps dropping. Make no mistake, everyone should get the vaccine unless told not to by a qualified medic, but it is on the verge of no longer being a personal choice at all. Lockdowns and severe restrictions are now the go-to of some governments. In fact it can be quite hard to identify what it is other than these blunt instruments which has been done barring rolling out a vaccine programme and an insufficient test and trace system.

At the beginning of the crisis we had no option but to take measures which very substantially restricted civil liberties – we didn’t have enough information and were ill-prepared. But as time passed it was always going to be the case that the civil liberties issue would become more pressing; history is utterly littered with people who dismissed fears of creeping authoritarianism and few didn’t regret it.

Nor is any of this a matter of ‘following the science’, because science is not monolithic. The impact of lost education on a very large generation of children is now likely to echo down the generations. The psychological impact on everyone has been serious, with the young and the isolated old at serious risk. The impact on poverty and the cost of living is beyond alarming. The economic impacts we may only really understand in years to come. The social impact we haven’t even begun to assess. The impact on other NHS procedures will kill people and we don’t know the scale of that yet.

Pretty shocked at those articles, tbh. Wonder how the diehard independence supporters will feel about them.

Edit: and I should add that this becoming mainstream within the SNP is the only way they could make me vote for them again. I'm sure that goes for a fair few on here, but they will have to change their outlook and fast, or it's a nope.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Elixir

[Elixir]

 

[anotherchance]

33 minutes ago, Elixir said:

Pretty shocked at those articles, tbh. Wonder how the diehard independence supporters will feel about them.

Edit: and I should add that this becoming mainstream within the SNP is the only way they could make me vote for them again. I'm sure that goes for a fair few on here, but they will have to change their outlook and fast, or it's a nope.

It’ll take a huge change of outlook for so many in the SNP or Indy movement for that to happen.

Ever since indyref there’s a sizeable proportion who’ve not had their way politically and feel vindictive as a result - they consider Brexit, Unionists, Tory voters, even Trumpists as the enemy and, crucially, those that have had things their way for too long. They now throw in “the unvaccinated” and anyone who questions any measures in the same boat, and wrongly consider these people to automatically crossover with the Brexit, Tory types - and now, in true bully victim style, they see restrictions as a chance to unleash bitter revenge on them, with the usual helping of moral superiority thrown in.

Previously respected politicians are acting like children which enables the sanctimonious virtue signallers who live among us, As I say, it needs a total mindshift back towards being fair and reasonable, I’d love to see it but it’s not really looking likely.

[vikingTON]

I'm pretty sure there's some batshit mental skeleton in the closet view that got McAlpine banished to the periphery of the independence movement, but the (admittedly handful) of articles that I've read are always thought-provoking and challenge the complacency that is replicating itself in the SNP as a governing party. 

His point about spending so much money on the Louisa Jordan instead of expanding capacity in permanent locations is an excellent one. Decisions like this explain the lack of capacity in proper hospitals that the SG mewls about, blames Westminster for and then imposes nonsense restrictions on the public. Plus the fact that COP would swallow up this emergency capacity within twelve months - so that's £100 million effectively down the swanny with no long-term benefit. 

[Dons_1988]

It’s quite worrying that the article is an outlier tbh. 

The fundamental idea that lockdowns/restrictions should be subject to a very high threshold seems to me like fairly simple common sense. 

It’s quite bewildering what we’re seeing just now. 

[Ray Patterson]

Finally found Patient Zero of Omicron

[Left Back]

Express front page tomorrow saying all restrictions in England being binned in 10 days.

[mizfit]

Express front page tomorrow saying all restrictions in England being binned in 10 days.

Something tells me this wouldn’t have happened had the parties not been leaked.

[Michael W]

9 minutes ago, Left Back said:

Express front page tomorrow saying all restrictions in England being binned in 10 days.

Sounds like there's a PM in desperate need of a distraction. 

[jimbaxters]

Do you lads not get fed up of this thread? It's Saturday night!

[Lyle Lanley]

28 minutes ago, Left Back said:

Express front page tomorrow saying all restrictions in England being binned in 10 days.

Do we think the SG will follow England eventually?