OK, this is all getting a bit heated. We actually all agree (I think) that:
1. For some people (M%), lockdown was absolute hell, and it damaged schooling in particular as well as in many cases having a major impact on mental health. 2. For some people (N%), lockdown was unproblematic, and even had benefits in terms of seeing more of the family than in a normal working pattern 3. For many people (100-M-N) it was unpleasant but not hell. 3. Lockdown probably led to a reduction in premature death (compared to no lockdown) by X years for Y people.
We can argue what M, N, X and Y are, and what the relative importance of them is. But I'm not sure we can ever really reach an objective conclusion that justifies us slagging off people (or even Ministers or scientists) who reached a different conclusion.
You miss one out.
5. Lockdown probably led to an increase in premature death (compared to no lockdown) by A years for B people.
Some people want to deny that A/B exists. I believe it does exist.
Yes, and also 6. By making us poorer, lockdown will lead to a loss of life C life years in the long term.
But on Nick's point, yes, the relative size and importance of M, N, X and Y can be argued. But in 2020, this wasn't done. The costs of lockdown were ignored. It was all about what will minimise - not just deaths, but deaths attributable to covid. That was the only metric which was considered.
I do wonder - genuinely - if there is an equation here
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
I still feel psychologically scarred by lockdown. It's weird, I have never really got over it, even though it ended a year or more ago now.
I feel similarly about it. At the beginning of the pandemic I felt psychologically prepared for how bad it would be in terms of the death toll, but not for the effect of the restrictions lasting so long.
As a long term, PB competition… on what date will the UK COVID-19 Inquiry publish its final report? A suitable prize to be determined nearer the time based on the state of penury in which we are living..
I do wonder - genuinely - if there is an equation here
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
Age and garden size far bigger factors than personality type, but yes of course that was a factor too.
The only people who really enjoyed lockdown are fat smelly weirdos like @Richard_Tyndall who have zero social life due to their body hygiene issues, and lack of personal wit, and generally live a miserable life due to being friendless
Suddenly during lockdown their grotesque social isolation became a kind of virtue, and their stage 5 obesity was disguised by everyone else getting fat, as well
I genuinely believe this. Lockdown was enjoyed by pungent, repressed, unpopular, warty-faced, hog-like, worm-sucking, anti-social sexual perverts like @Richard_Tyndall
It was the Revenge of the Nerds. It was the Revenge of the Richard Tyndalls. Him and his favourite uncle, the founder of the National Front. I hope they both enjoyed it, they probably spent it together
Glad to see I touched a nerve Mr Thomas.
I am sure that come the next crisis you will be there on your knees wetting yourself yet again whilst the rest of us just get on with things as best we can.
Leon is exhibiting Liz Truss level revisionism, has the boy thought of a career in politics?
The only people who really enjoyed lockdown are fat smelly weirdos like @Richard_Tyndall who have zero social life due to their body hygiene issues, and lack of personal wit, and generally live a miserable life due to being friendless
Suddenly during lockdown their grotesque social isolation became a kind of virtue, and their stage 5 obesity was disguised by everyone else getting fat, as well
I genuinely believe this. Lockdown was enjoyed by pungent, repressed, unpopular, warty-faced, hog-like, worm-sucking, anti-social sexual perverts like @Richard_Tyndall
It was the Revenge of the Nerds. It was the Revenge of the Richard Tyndalls. Him and his favourite uncle, the founder of the National Front. I hope they both enjoyed it, they probably spent it together
Have you met Leon, who posted this a few minutes later?
"Everyone should just calm down. This is getting out of hand. I hate this rancour and frankly it’s not necessary "
Vox pop in Thetford - it's not great for Ms Truss. As always, one wonders about the sampling, but the chap who wants Mr J back does at least suggest some range to it.
It is in the Guardian! My favourite paper but I do need to have a bowl of salt beside me to take a pinch of every so often!
NickPalmer - You may want to add another category: During the school closings in the US, a minority of students appear to have benefitted from the change. "We’ve been hearing that a lot. Increasingly, teachers in our audience are reporting that a handful of their students—shy kids, hyperactive kids, highly creative kids—are suddenly doing better with remote learning than they were doing in the physical classroom. “It’s been awesome to see some of my kids finally find their niche in education,” said Holli Ross, a first-year high school teacher in northern California, echoing the sentiments of dozens of teachers we’ve heard from." source: https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-are-some-kids-thriving-during-remote-learning
(That's just the first example I found in a quick search. There are many others.)
Similarly, it is possible that the UK lockdowns benefitted a minority of adults, for example, those who had always wanted to work from home.
(I do feel teribly sorry for the old people in your care homes who did not get letters, emails, phone calls, or video calls. Judging by some of the comments I've read here, their relatives and friends must have neglected them, just when they most needed those kinds of contacts.)
Just noticed the above. Increase in workload of RSPCA (presumably E&W as SSPCA does it up north) thanks to abandoned pets. And not looking forward to the energy bills on top of the extra Whiskas and carrots.
Oddly, much more pussies and bunnies than doggies pro rata, for no reason that I can imagine.
I do wonder - genuinely - if there is an equation here
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
In this case, no. I'm quite introverted, indeed have a touch of social anxiety, but anyone who remembers my posts on here in April 2020 knows I was in a very very dark place indeed through lockdown. Enjoy travel though, but haven't been abroad since Feb 2020 because of a now 16 year old dog who is too gaga for kennels but still enjoys trips round this island.
I do wonder - genuinely - if there is an equation here
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
I don't know about being inverted, though you're right about personality types. The poor, of course, got the shitty end of the stick throughout.
In any event, the technology we have now, that we didn't have a couple of year ago, ought to raise considerably the bar for any future lockdowns, whatever your opinions on what's passed. And it needn't be particularly expensive to deploy.
I still feel psychologically scarred by lockdown. It's weird, I have never really got over it, even though it ended a year or more ago now.
Agree.
I feel like a different person after the experience, better in some ways (having been through hell and come out the other side) but also deeply damaged. I'm a lot more nervous and skittish, and definitely more prone to bouts of uncontrollable anger. I find it harder to focus, and I only work part time now (the amount of tax the government is taking off me has declined substantially since the pandemic began).
In some respects I feel like someone getting out of prison after being wrongfully imprisoned. Full of anger and resentment at my experience, about the time lost, about the bastards who imprisoned me. But also giddy with excitement at living in "the real world" again and keen to see and do and experience new things in a way I wasn't before being locked up.
It was a traumatic experience. Absolutely horrible. And in my view, unjustifiable - certainly after the first few weeks once the CFR and risk profile was well known. But I'm trying my best to move on from the trauma and to be a better version of myself because of it.
As a long term, PB competition… on what date will the UK COVID-19 Inquiry publish its final report? A suitable prize to be determined nearer the time based on the state of penury in which we are living..
Given most of the key players have moved on, or will do so shortly, it ought not to take too long.
NickPalmer - You may want to add another category: During the school closings in the US, a minority of students appear to have benefitted from the change. "We’ve been hearing that a lot. Increasingly, teachers in our audience are reporting that a handful of their students—shy kids, hyperactive kids, highly creative kids—are suddenly doing better with remote learning than they were doing in the physical classroom. “It’s been awesome to see some of my kids finally find their niche in education,” said Holli Ross, a first-year high school teacher in northern California, echoing the sentiments of dozens of teachers we’ve heard from." source: https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-are-some-kids-thriving-during-remote-learning
(That's just the first example I found in a quick search. There are many others.)
Similarly, it is possible that the UK lockdowns benefitted a minority of adults, for example, those who had always wanted to work from home.
(I do feel teribly sorry for the old people in your care homes who did not get letters, emails, phone calls, or video calls. Judging by some of the comments I've read here, their relatives and friends must have neglected them, just when they most needed those kinds of contacts.)
As far as we two OAPs were concerned, Zoom was a boon!
Just noticed the above. Increase in workload of RSPCA (presumably E&W as SSPCA does it up north) thanks to abandoned pets. And not looking forward to the energy bills on top of the extra Whiskas and carrots.
Oddly, much more pussies and bunnies than doggies pro rata, for no reason that I can imagine.
I assume that's because they are less emotionally involved than a dog - and so are easier to give up sooner. I suspect that the dog abandonment's will come in due course, when there are vets bills that people can't afford etc.
OK, this is all getting a bit heated. We actually all agree (I think) that:
1. For some people (M%), lockdown was absolute hell, and it damaged schooling in particular as well as in many cases having a major impact on mental health. 2. For some people (N%), lockdown was unproblematic, and even had benefits in terms of seeing more of the family than in a normal working pattern 3. For many people (100-M-N) it was unpleasant but not hell. 3. Lockdown probably led to a reduction in premature death (compared to no lockdown) by X years for Y people.
We can argue what M, N, X and Y are, and what the relative importance of them is. But I'm not sure we can ever really reach an objective conclusion that justifies us slagging off people (or even Ministers or scientists) who reached a different conclusion.
I agree with that. Though I would add as others have that lockdown led to an increase in premature death for others too.
My issue though is that some people say that X and Y are the only thing matters and that M etc can't possible be more important than X, under any circumstances. Some people act like its "infantile" or immoral to value M over X.
Having a balanced overview means considering all the factors, not one to the exclusion of all others.
With the possibility of John Redwood returning to the front bench, his frequently updated blog takes on more significance. This piece (also on Conhome) is a polite but devastating summary of Rishi Sunak's leadership campaign. Everything here reads true and it should be read by anybody who feels that Sunak is a 'safe pair of hands'. https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/08/23/my-conservative-home-article-2/
The only people who really enjoyed lockdown are fat smelly weirdos like @Richard_Tyndall who have zero social life due to their body hygiene issues, and lack of personal wit, and generally live a miserable life due to being friendless
Suddenly during lockdown their grotesque social isolation became a kind of virtue, and their stage 5 obesity was disguised by everyone else getting fat, as well
I genuinely believe this. Lockdown was enjoyed by pungent, repressed, unpopular, warty-faced, hog-like, worm-sucking, anti-social sexual perverts like @Richard_Tyndall
It was the Revenge of the Nerds. It was the Revenge of the Richard Tyndalls. Him and his favourite uncle, the founder of the National Front. I hope they both enjoyed it, they probably spent it together
Revenge of the virus, sadly. As someone with a better way with words than me put it, Covid can smell out complacency.
Here's one of those Financial Times graphs, Britain vs France. L3 was grim, even grimmer than I remember it;
And I do blame the UK government for that one. The attempt to relax in December led to a horrible hangover in January and February. Wanting to do something led to the opposite happening.
(The other odd thing is that yes the UK stared relaxing earlier than France in 2021 but from a higher base. The conditions roughly tracked each other on the way down.)
Vox pop in Thetford - it's not great for Ms Truss. As always, one wonders about the sampling, but the chap who wants Mr J back does at least suggest some range to it.
For some background in my neck of the woods, Thetford is very much itself a marginal, Labour took a traditional back and forth ward a few weeks ago. There is some real crushing poverty. The rest of the constituency is as blue as it gets. Looking at the people the Guardian found, i think we can assume they werent aiming for a balanced sample. Or rather from their balanced sample they selected a narrative. I reckon one afternoon chatting to the good burghers of St Pancras and i'll find some stridently anti Starmer types. Truss tbf to her IS popular in SW Norfolk (not with me although im not in the constituency), shes added votes at each of the last 3 elections and is way way above what Gillian Shepherd was getting here. This is Grauniad mischief making imo
Just noticed the above. Increase in workload of RSPCA (presumably E&W as SSPCA does it up north) thanks to abandoned pets. And not looking forward to the energy bills on top of the extra Whiskas and carrots.
Oddly, much more pussies and bunnies than doggies pro rata, for no reason that I can imagine.
That is odd because how do you recognise an abandoned cat, and why is the fox population not sorting out the rabbits?
I am expecting the same with horses once people start paying for winter feed
I do wonder - genuinely - if there is an equation here
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
To answer reasonably and accept your request that we calm things down.
I don't think so. Although no where near your level I am probably more widely travelled than the median of people on PB. And in spite of your gentle jibes, I do enjoy getting out meeting friends and family, pubs, going to the cinema or concerts (I love live music) and am considered extroverted.
But I am also completely comfortable in my own skin and can just as happily spend a day alone reading, writing or working as with others. I enjoy the company of others but I don't need it. In part this is because I spent too much of my younger life travelling.
And as Topping mentioned I have room to enjoy so lockdown was never going to be as hard for me as for others. The cleaner air, lack of traffic noise and pollution and enforced time with my family without pressure to be elsewhere doing stuff all contributed hugely.
As for the spectrum. You and I are both on it I suspect.
Just noticed the above. Increase in workload of RSPCA (presumably E&W as SSPCA does it up north) thanks to abandoned pets. And not looking forward to the energy bills on top of the extra Whiskas and carrots.
Oddly, much more pussies and bunnies than doggies pro rata, for no reason that I can imagine.
I assume that's because they are less emotionally involved than a dog - and so are easier to give up sooner. I suspect that the dog abandonment's will come in due course, when there are vets bills that people can't afford etc.
Ah, that's a thought, yes, thank you. I do know people who are very fond of their mogs and buns. But it's hard to think of anything else. It's not as if carrots are that expensive (yet).
Just noticed the above. Increase in workload of RSPCA (presumably E&W as SSPCA does it up north) thanks to abandoned pets. And not looking forward to the energy bills on top of the extra Whiskas and carrots.
Oddly, much more pussies and bunnies than doggies pro rata, for no reason that I can imagine.
That is odd because how do you recognise an abandoned cat, and why is the fox population not sorting out the rabbits?
I am expecting the same with horses once people start paying for winter feed
Abandoned = dumped in cardboard box, taken to the local RSPCA, etc. I imagine. So in addition to feeding the foxes as you say.
I still feel psychologically scarred by lockdown. It's weird, I have never really got over it, even though it ended a year or more ago now.
Agree.
I feel like a different person after the experience, better in some ways (having been through hell and come out the other side) but also deeply damaged. I'm a lot more nervous and skittish, and definitely more prone to bouts of uncontrollable anger. I find it harder to focus, and I only work part time now (the amount of tax the government is taking off me has declined substantially since the pandemic began).
In some respects I feel like someone getting out of prison after being wrongfully imprisoned. Full of anger and resentment at my experience, about the time lost, about the bastards who imprisoned me. But also giddy with excitement at living in "the real world" again and keen to see and do and experience new things in a way I wasn't before being locked up.
It was a traumatic experience. Absolutely horrible. And in my view, unjustifiable - certainly after the first few weeks once the CFR and risk profile was well known. But I'm trying my best to move on from the trauma and to be a better version of myself because of it.
“In some respects I feel like someone getting out of prison after being wrongfully imprisoned”
The only people who really enjoyed lockdown are fat smelly weirdos like @Richard_Tyndall who have zero social life due to their body hygiene issues, and lack of personal wit, and generally live a miserable life due to being friendless
Suddenly during lockdown their grotesque social isolation became a kind of virtue, and their stage 5 obesity was disguised by everyone else getting fat, as well
I genuinely believe this. Lockdown was enjoyed by pungent, repressed, unpopular, warty-faced, hog-like, worm-sucking, anti-social sexual perverts like @Richard_Tyndall
It was the Revenge of the Nerds. It was the Revenge of the Richard Tyndalls. Him and his favourite uncle, the founder of the National Front. I hope they both enjoyed it, they probably spent it together
Revenge of the virus, sadly. As someone with a better way with words than me put it, Covid can smell out complacency.
Here's one of those Financial Times graphs, Britain vs France. L3 was grim, even grimmer than I remember it;
And I do blame the UK government for that one. The attempt to relax in December led to a horrible hangover in January and February. Wanting to do something led to the opposite happening.
(The other odd thing is that yes the UK stared relaxing earlier than France in 2021 but from a higher base. The conditions roughly tracked each other on the way down.)
That chart - by the way - should be extremely embarrassing to HMG.
We got the vulnerable jabbed way earlier than the French. And yet we basically did no better at removing restrictions.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
Hmm, my father was there in Plymouth at the time ... Such towns, being smaller, were much more heavily affected more quickly pro rata than London.
I do wonder - genuinely - if there is an equation here
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
To answer reasonably and accept your request that we calm things down.
I don't think so. Although no where near your level I am probably more widely travelled than the median of people on PB. And in spite of your gentle jibes, I do enjoy getting out meeting friends and family, pubs, going to the cinema or concerts (I love live music) and am considered extroverted.
But I am also completely comfortable in my own skin and can just as happily spend a day alone reading, writing or working as with others. I enjoy the company of others but I don't need it. In part this is because I spent too much of my younger life travelling.
And as Topping mentioned I have room to enjoy so lockdown was never going to be as hard for me as for others. The cleaner air, lack of traffic noise and pollution and enforced time with my family without pressure to be elsewhere doing stuff all contributed hugely.
As for the spectrum. You and I are both on it I suspect.
Peace is declared. Tho you were quite annoying with your earlier remarks. Remember there are people on here - not talking about me, I can deal with the banter - who had a horrifically miserable time during lockdown. In general, those who enjoyed lockdown should stay quiet about it. It’s like making money during a war
If nothing else it’s just bad manners to exult in something so obviously grim for so many
As for “the spectrum”, no. I have an entire portfolio of mental oddities - somewhat bipolar, prone to addictions, hysterical boredom, etc, but that’s not one of them
On the upside, I now have the perfect line to interject whenever PB spats get too heated, and people are issuing blood curdling threats
Just noticed the above. Increase in workload of RSPCA (presumably E&W as SSPCA does it up north) thanks to abandoned pets. And not looking forward to the energy bills on top of the extra Whiskas and carrots.
Oddly, much more pussies and bunnies than doggies pro rata, for no reason that I can imagine.
Dogs have a role as burglar deterrents, cats and rabbits not so much.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
Because those are the only inhabited bits of Cornwall? Good point, on two different counts.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
But I said Cornwall, not Plymouth or Exeter. I chose it deliberately
A few bombs fell on Cornwall. But just a few. My Dad can remember one of them
The only people who really enjoyed lockdown are fat smelly weirdos like @Richard_Tyndall who have zero social life due to their body hygiene issues, and lack of personal wit, and generally live a miserable life due to being friendless
Suddenly during lockdown their grotesque social isolation became a kind of virtue, and their stage 5 obesity was disguised by everyone else getting fat, as well
I genuinely believe this. Lockdown was enjoyed by pungent, repressed, unpopular, warty-faced, hog-like, worm-sucking, anti-social sexual perverts like @Richard_Tyndall
It was the Revenge of the Nerds. It was the Revenge of the Richard Tyndalls. Him and his favourite uncle, the founder of the National Front. I hope they both enjoyed it, they probably spent it together
Revenge of the virus, sadly. As someone with a better way with words than me put it, Covid can smell out complacency.
Here's one of those Financial Times graphs, Britain vs France. L3 was grim, even grimmer than I remember it;
And I do blame the UK government for that one. The attempt to relax in December led to a horrible hangover in January and February. Wanting to do something led to the opposite happening.
(The other odd thing is that yes the UK stared relaxing earlier than France in 2021 but from a higher base. The conditions roughly tracked each other on the way down.)
That chart - by the way - should be extremely embarrassing to HMG.
We got the vulnerable jabbed way earlier than the French. And yet we basically did no better at removing restrictions.
The UK government completely lost control in December 2020, and it's hard to escape the conclusion that they were obsessed with Crimbo Lollibobs. Given that the vaccines were brewing in their vats (or whatever), that was unforgivably foolish.
Hardly anyone wants lockdowns; they're the price you pay for failing to do stuff to prevent them.
I still feel psychologically scarred by lockdown. It's weird, I have never really got over it, even though it ended a year or more ago now.
It's not weird. It's because you know that this (and more likely a future) government has it in their toolbox now.
Possibly some truth in that. I do often feel like I’m looking over my shoulder, even guiltily checking the now-ludicrous ‘Covid Daily Update’ every fortnight or so to see when the next ‘wave’ will begin and we’ll be subject to yet more calls to make human beings hide their faces and ‘stay home’.
Anyone else have a strong desire to celebrate the rain earlier by running naked into the downpour and lying on one's back to soak it in? No? Okay then.
I do wonder - genuinely - if there is an equation here
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
It's asymmetrical though because lockdown fans can largely recreate the experience for themselves at any time, anti lockdowners not so much.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
And occasionally they would get lost and just randomly bomb the crap out of a small hamlet in East Lothian or something.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
Stan's 6 year old brother was killed by a German bomb. In Liverpool. My Dad's earliest memory was walking to the top of the street with his Dad to watch Liverpool burn.
Not great granted I can't understand his utter silence regarding the gang culture issue currently in the news. Although for context, can you remind me of Corbyn's approval rating in the six months prior to GE 2019?
Oh, and your King of the North is being an enormous annoying tw*t at the moment. What we need are CoL protests and marches...my a***!
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
Same with Bristol in the 1980s; centre was never quite rebuilt, perhaps not even now, and there is still at least one ruined kirk there today. The scars are still very visible today in Clydebank and Devonport to name just two others, though the modern architect and motorway engineer has done his best to obliterate them in many towns, along with much else.
Just noticed the above. Increase in workload of RSPCA (presumably E&W as SSPCA does it up north) thanks to abandoned pets. And not looking forward to the energy bills on top of the extra Whiskas and carrots.
Oddly, much more pussies and bunnies than doggies pro rata, for no reason that I can imagine.
Dogs have a role as burglar deterrents, cats and rabbits not so much.
Cats and rabbits you can have on your lap to keep you nice and warm!
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
And occasionally they would get lost and just randomly bomb the crap out of a small hamlet in East Lothian or something.
IIRC the first civvy death in the UK was a chap in one of the cottages here.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
And occasionally they would get lost and just randomly bomb the crap out of a small hamlet in East Lothian or something.
I know a place where a stick of three bombs was dropped in a wood - not much strategic value there.
IIRC the first civvy death in the UK was a chap in one of the cottages here.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
And occasionally they would get lost and just randomly bomb the crap out of a small hamlet in East Lothian or something.
I know a place where a stick of three bombs was dropped in a wood - not much strategic value there.
IIRC the first civvy death in the UK was a chap in one of the cottages here.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
And occasionally they would get lost and just randomly bomb the crap out of a small hamlet in East Lothian or something.
I know a place where a stick of three bombs was dropped in a wood - not much strategic value there.
IIRC the first civvy death in the UK was a chap in one of the cottages here.
As a 6 month old baby my mother, father and sister cowered under a steel table in Manchester when one of Hitler's bombs stopped over our home, we escaped but 6 neighbours were killed
I do wonder - genuinely - if there is an equation here
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
It's asymmetrical though because lockdown fans can largely recreate the experience for themselves at any time, anti lockdowners not so much.
Don't get the logic. The latter can do it easily by just staying at home, can't he?
Now the rain has passed can I encourage one or two posters active this afternoon to take a walk outside?
It rained for about 7 hours non-stop in east London earlier (say 5.30 to 12.30), especially heavy before 7am. Preceded by a couple of lively thunder showers around 3 am and 4 am.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
And occasionally they would get lost and just randomly bomb the crap out of a small hamlet in East Lothian or something.
I know a place where a stick of three bombs was dropped in a wood - not much strategic value there.
IIRC the first civvy death in the UK was a chap in one of the cottages here.
I the fields just behind Lambley in Nottinghamshire you can still see the remains of 'fake Nottingham' which was a site set up to convince German night time bombers that they were over the city and so drop their bombs on open countryside. They were called Starfish decoys. Not sure I would have been too chuffed about that if I had lived nearby given how inaccurate the bombing was anyway.
Apparently most of the major provincial cities had fake versions set up using lights and decoys in nearby countryside. Nottingham had a second at Cropwell Butler.
I do wonder - genuinely - if there is an equation here
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
It's asymmetrical though because lockdown fans can largely recreate the experience for themselves at any time, anti lockdowners not so much.
Don't get the logic. The latter can do it easily by just staying at home, can't he?
I do wonder - genuinely - if there is an equation here
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
It's asymmetrical though because lockdown fans can largely recreate the experience for themselves at any time, anti lockdowners not so much.
Don't get the logic. The latter can do it easily by just staying at home, can't he?
No, I mean you can't usefully pretend that there isn't a lockdown on when there is. The experiment hits a wall when you try to go to the pub
Mind you the worst thing for me was no foreign travel and UK lockdown status was pretty irrelevant to that.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
But I said Cornwall, not Plymouth or Exeter. I chose it deliberately
A few bombs fell on Cornwall. But just a few. My Dad can remember one of them
The Nazis also bombed Dublin a few times "by mistake".
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
But I said Cornwall, not Plymouth or Exeter. I chose it deliberately
A few bombs fell on Cornwall. But just a few. My Dad can remember one of them
The Nazis also bombed Dublin a few times "by mistake".
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
Norwich got hit pretty badly in the Baedecker raids of 1942, of 35,000 homes in the city only 5,000 were completely undamaged, City Train Station was completely destroyed. Curls department store was completely destroyed and remained a big hole in the ground till 1955 when rebuilt and later became Debenhams. Its a huge empty unfunctional blob today for different reasons. City Hall was undamaged and Hitler had ordered it not to be attacked earlier in the war as it has a very Germanic design and he had planned to make his victory speech from it.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
And occasionally they would get lost and just randomly bomb the crap out of a small hamlet in East Lothian or something.
I know a place where a stick of three bombs was dropped in a wood - not much strategic value there.
IIRC the first civvy death in the UK was a chap in one of the cottages here.
I the fields just behind Lambley in Nottinghamshire you can still see the remains of 'fake Nottingham' which was a site set up to convince German night time bombers that they were over the city and so drop their bombs on open countryside. They were called Starfish decoys. Not sure I would have been too chuffed about that if I had lived nearby given how inaccurate the bombing was anyway.
Apparently most of the major provincial cities had fake versions set up using lights and decoys in nearby countryside. Nottingham had a second at Cropwell Butler.
Oh, yes, indeed. I recently came across htis paper about the Bristol equivalent, and its added rockets to get the bombers.
It's astonishing that LAB are only 7% ahead. It shows that Keir hasn't yet sealed the deal.
No it’s actually spectacular good for Labour, 40% from Kantor and LLG of 60. The Opinium had LLG of 59. Now the polls are in they all marry up into an extraordinary shift, not even the Kantor has gone stubbornly rogue with a small Lab lead and %. 😦
Is it like Woolie says, down to the Zombie government doing nowt and leaderership election going on and on so the electorate merely saying ffs? A real government with actual decisions arrests this Tory collapse?
Or, there has to be a chance, Charismaless Truss and Kwarteng not selling the necessary belt tightening can truly plunge Tories into twenties?
It's astonishing that LAB are only 7% ahead. It shows that Keir hasn't yet sealed the deal.
No it’s actually spectacular good for Labour, 40% from Kantor and LLG of 60. The Opinium had LLG of 59. Now the polls are in they all marry up into an extraordinary shift, not even the Kantor has gone stubbornly rogue with a small Lab lead and %. 😦
Todays Redfield is back to LLG 59 and a 9 lead. Things look to be stabilising again following 'le shift'
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
And occasionally they would get lost and just randomly bomb the crap out of a small hamlet in East Lothian or something.
I know a place where a stick of three bombs was dropped in a wood - not much strategic value there.
IIRC the first civvy death in the UK was a chap in one of the cottages here.
I the fields just behind Lambley in Nottinghamshire you can still see the remains of 'fake Nottingham' which was a site set up to convince German night time bombers that they were over the city and so drop their bombs on open countryside. They were called Starfish decoys. Not sure I would have been too chuffed about that if I had lived nearby given how inaccurate the bombing was anyway.
Apparently most of the major provincial cities had fake versions set up using lights and decoys in nearby countryside. Nottingham had a second at Cropwell Butler.
Oh, yes, indeed. I recently came across htis paper about the Bristol equivalent, and its added rockets to get the bombers.
The same thing was set up in Derby, to the west of the British Celenese plant. I've been told that Derby had more barrage balloons over it than any other city in Britain, due to the presence of Rolls Royce, the railway, Celenese and other industry. They therefore built a fake city between Celenese and Derby to attract bombers (where the sewage works now is).
I was also told (no evidence) that the only machine capable of making the crankshafts for Merlin engines was at RR in Derby (*), and the government were concerned about it. (Shades of a post-war film where an engineer goes to France at the time of Dunkirk to get some vital machinery out - anyone remember the name?)
"Come friendly bombs and fall on this waste! It never been fit for humans now, There's plenty of grass to graze a cow. Swarm over, Death!"
(*) Until the yanks started building their version of the Merlin
Clydebank perhaps scores highest in the UK? It had only 8 out of 12000 houses undamaged: roughly a third completely destroyed, a third severely dmaged and a third just damaged.
But it doesn't count as a city, though. And would have had some repair by 1945.
It's astonishing that LAB are only 7% ahead. It shows that Keir hasn't yet sealed the deal.
No it’s actually spectacular good for Labour, 40% from Kantor and LLG of 60. The Opinium had LLG of 59. Now the polls are in they all marry up into an extraordinary shift, not even the Kantor has gone stubbornly rogue with a small Lab lead and %. 😦
Todays Redfield is back to LLG 59 and a 9 lead. Things look to be stabilising again following 'le shift'
If the GOP fail to take the House or Senate it will be a disaster for them. It would also be a huge boost for Biden, the only time a President's party has won both Chambers of Congress in the last 40 years in the President's first midterm was George W Bush in 2002
It's astonishing that LAB are only 7% ahead. It shows that Keir hasn't yet sealed the deal.
No it’s actually spectacular good for Labour, 40% from Kantor and LLG of 60. The Opinium had LLG of 59. Now the polls are in they all marry up into an extraordinary shift, not even the Kantor has gone stubbornly rogue with a small Lab lead and %. 😦
Todays Redfield is back to LLG 59 and a 9 lead. Things look to be stabilising again following 'le shift'
The 9% Redfield is the current outlier!
9% Redfield is in line with a 7% Kantar as it goes. The YouGov is the current outlier in truth as its the only one at the moment finding a sub 30 Tory score.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
And occasionally they would get lost and just randomly bomb the crap out of a small hamlet in East Lothian or something.
I know a place where a stick of three bombs was dropped in a wood - not much strategic value there.
IIRC the first civvy death in the UK was a chap in one of the cottages here.
I the fields just behind Lambley in Nottinghamshire you can still see the remains of 'fake Nottingham' which was a site set up to convince German night time bombers that they were over the city and so drop their bombs on open countryside. They were called Starfish decoys. Not sure I would have been too chuffed about that if I had lived nearby given how inaccurate the bombing was anyway.
Apparently most of the major provincial cities had fake versions set up using lights and decoys in nearby countryside. Nottingham had a second at Cropwell Butler.
Oh, yes, indeed. I recently came across htis paper about the Bristol equivalent, and its added rockets to get the bombers.
The same thing was set up in Derby, to the west of the British Celenese plant. I've been told that Derby had more barrage balloons over it than any other city in Britain, due to the presence of Rolls Royce, the railway, Celenese and other industry. They therefore built a fake city between Celenese and Derby to attract bombers (where the sewage works now is).
I was also told (no evidence) that the only machine capable of making the crankshafts for Merlin engines was at RR in Derby (*), and the government were concerned about it. (Shades of a post-war film where an engineer goes to France at the time of Dunkirk to get some vital machinery out - anyone remember the name?)
"Come friendly bombs and fall on this waste! It never been fit for humans now, There's plenty of grass to graze a cow. Swarm over, Death!"
(*) Until the yanks started building their version of the Merlin
If the GOP fail to take the House or Senate it will be a disaster for them. It would also be a huge boost for Biden, the only time a President's party has won both Chambers of Congress in the last 50 years in the President's first midterm was George W Bush in 2002
It would be bloody hilarious, enlivened by my having laid the GOP House majority at 1.15.
Whilst on a walk across the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border area a few years back, I came across a memorial outside an old school to the first World War One soldier to die on the Home Front, the rather magnificently named Theophilus Jones
If the GOP fail to take the House or Senate it will be a disaster for them. It would also be a huge boost for Biden, the only time a President's party has won both Chambers of Congress in the last 40 years in the President's first midterm was George W Bush in 2002
One thing you can be sure of is the usual suspects in America will be claiming it is because of fraud.
If the GOP fail to take the House or Senate it will be a disaster for them. It would also be a huge boost for Biden, the only time a President's party has won both Chambers of Congress in the last 50 years in the President's first midterm was George W Bush in 2002
It would be bloody hilarious, enlivened by my having laid the GOP House majority at 1.15.
It would also possibly lead to Trump not running again in 2024, as without GOP control of Congress he has no chance of trying to overturn the EC results and as it would likely suggest Biden would be re elected
Starmer just 1% ahead of Truss now as preferred PM. If translated into votes it would see the Tories lose their majority but still win most seats
What’s the “now” mean? It’s zero movement here, unless you calling it big drop from recent figure in other firms measurements? Which you can’t do of course.
I have just read a post from @NickPalmer calling lockdown "a minor inconvenience". I am as much of a fan or Dr Nick as the next man, but this de trop satire simply jumps the shark I'm afraid Nick!
A minor inconvenience is a fifteen minute queue at the pharmacy, or having to get your second pair of glasses fixed.
No-one with kids would call lockdown a minor inconvenience. Show me the parent who didn't find himself sat at the top of the stairs, crying. Show me the parent who didn't wake up with the hollow dread of another empty day; or, worse, another day in which he was required to do both his own job, from home, and also his kids' teachers job, and also cook, clean and look after the house. Show me the parent who would describe a lost 18 months of his children's life opportunities as a 'minor inconvenience'.
It still makes me shudder to think of it.
I’ve grown to amiably tolerate @NickPalmer over the years, but “minor inconvenience” is bloody insulting. It’s probably true in his case - elderly affluent bachelor, Surrey, no kids - but it’s tin-eared to the point of idiocy
It’s like someone in Cornwall telling Londoners the Blitz was “mildly annoying”
I am sure the bombing of Plymouth and Exeter was also mildly annoying, and also a bit inconvenient for the inhabitants. Everybody was affected by it, just like the covid lockdown.
The way some seem to believe that only London was bombed is really weird.
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
And occasionally they would get lost and just randomly bomb the crap out of a small hamlet in East Lothian or something.
I know a place where a stick of three bombs was dropped in a wood - not much strategic value there.
IIRC the first civvy death in the UK was a chap in one of the cottages here.
I the fields just behind Lambley in Nottinghamshire you can still see the remains of 'fake Nottingham' which was a site set up to convince German night time bombers that they were over the city and so drop their bombs on open countryside. They were called Starfish decoys. Not sure I would have been too chuffed about that if I had lived nearby given how inaccurate the bombing was anyway.
Apparently most of the major provincial cities had fake versions set up using lights and decoys in nearby countryside. Nottingham had a second at Cropwell Butler.
Oh, yes, indeed. I recently came across htis paper about the Bristol equivalent, and its added rockets to get the bombers.
The same thing was set up in Derby, to the west of the British Celenese plant. I've been told that Derby had more barrage balloons over it than any other city in Britain, due to the presence of Rolls Royce, the railway, Celenese and other industry. They therefore built a fake city between Celenese and Derby to attract bombers (where the sewage works now is).
I was also told (no evidence) that the only machine capable of making the crankshafts for Merlin engines was at RR in Derby (*), and the government were concerned about it. (Shades of a post-war film where an engineer goes to France at the time of Dunkirk to get some vital machinery out - anyone remember the name?)
"Come friendly bombs and fall on this waste! It never been fit for humans now, There's plenty of grass to graze a cow. Swarm over, Death!"
(*) Until the yanks started building their version of the Merlin
The Foreman Went to France. Made in 1942.
Brilliant, thanks. So it was during the war, not after.
I'd love to know if the Merlin crankshaft story was true - I've been told it since I was a kid. It does make sense, given Rolls Royce's connection with Derby and the unimportance of the Merlin engine before 1938/9. On the other hand, was the Merlin's crankshaft so unusual it could not be made on other machines?
It's astonishing that LAB are only 7% ahead. It shows that Keir hasn't yet sealed the deal.
No it’s actually spectacular good for Labour, 40% from Kantor and LLG of 60. The Opinium had LLG of 59. Now the polls are in they all marry up into an extraordinary shift, not even the Kantor has gone stubbornly rogue with a small Lab lead and %. 😦
Todays Redfield is back to LLG 59 and a 9 lead. Things look to be stabilising again following 'le shift'
The 9% Redfield is the current outlier!
9% Redfield is in line with a 7% Kantar as it goes. The YouGov is the current outlier in truth as its the only one at the moment finding a sub 30 Tory score.
You are right, it’s merely in line, not a “stabilising movement” at all. Talking of stabilising based on one poll is surely same as Londonpubman laughing at labour only have 7% lead, based on a Kantor?
Question is will it stabilise or still get worse during interminable last weeks of the zombie government with its zero action?
Comments
6. By making us poorer, lockdown will lead to a loss of life C life years in the long term.
But on Nick's point, yes, the relative size and importance of M, N, X and Y can be argued. But in 2020, this wasn't done. The costs of lockdown were ignored. It was all about what will minimise - not just deaths, but deaths attributable to covid. That was the only metric which was considered.
Extroversion and social popularity are inversely proportionate to the “enjoyment of lockdown”
If you travel and go out a lot and have plenty of friends then you hated lockdown. Certainly, all the people I know who seemed to “enjoy” lockdown are the introverts, the geeks, with fewer friends, no desire to travel, and plenty of them are on the spectrum
This is not a judgement. Society needs all types and, in general, society is kinder to the popular extroverts and often quite cruel to the more introverted. So for a while the social order was inverted? Perhaps there is a kind of justice there
Norway has overtaken Russia as Europe's biggest supplier of natural gas
Its gas production is set to rise 8% this year
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1562833449450639360
"Everyone should just calm down. This is getting out of hand. I hate this rancour and frankly it’s not necessary "
source: https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-are-some-kids-thriving-during-remote-learning
(That's just the first example I found in a quick search. There are many others.)
Similarly, it is possible that the UK lockdowns benefitted a minority of adults, for example, those who had always wanted to work from home.
(I do feel teribly sorry for the old people in your care homes who did not get letters, emails, phone calls, or video calls. Judging by some of the comments I've read here, their relatives and friends must have neglected them, just when they most needed those kinds of contacts.)
Just noticed the above. Increase in workload of RSPCA (presumably E&W as SSPCA does it up north) thanks to abandoned pets. And not looking forward to the energy bills on top of the extra Whiskas and carrots.
Oddly, much more pussies and bunnies than doggies pro rata, for no reason that I can imagine.
The poor, of course, got the shitty end of the stick throughout.
In any event, the technology we have now, that we didn't have a couple of year ago, ought to raise considerably the bar for any future lockdowns, whatever your opinions on what's passed.
And it needn't be particularly expensive to deploy.
I feel like a different person after the experience, better in some ways (having been through hell and come out the other side) but also deeply damaged. I'm a lot more nervous and skittish, and definitely more prone to bouts of uncontrollable anger. I find it harder to focus, and I only work part time now (the amount of tax the government is taking off me has declined substantially since the pandemic began).
In some respects I feel like someone getting out of prison after being wrongfully imprisoned. Full of anger and resentment at my experience, about the time lost, about the bastards who imprisoned me. But also giddy with excitement at living in "the real world" again and keen to see and do and experience new things in a way I wasn't before being locked up.
It was a traumatic experience. Absolutely horrible. And in my view, unjustifiable - certainly after the first few weeks once the CFR and risk profile was well known. But I'm trying my best to move on from the trauma and to be a better version of myself because of it.
Soon after the next election, I expect.
My issue though is that some people say that X and Y are the only thing matters and that M etc can't possible be more important than X, under any circumstances. Some people act like its "infantile" or immoral to value M over X.
Having a balanced overview means considering all the factors, not one to the exclusion of all others.
Here's one of those Financial Times graphs, Britain vs France. L3 was grim, even grimmer than I remember it;
And I do blame the UK government for that one. The attempt to relax in December led to a horrible hangover in January and February. Wanting to do something led to the opposite happening.
(The other odd thing is that yes the UK stared relaxing earlier than France in 2021 but from a higher base. The conditions roughly tracked each other on the way down.)
https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1562837298160750598
Truss tbf to her IS popular in SW Norfolk (not with me although im not in the constituency), shes added votes at each of the last 3 elections and is way way above what Gillian Shepherd was getting here.
This is Grauniad mischief making imo
I am expecting the same with horses once people start paying for winter feed
I don't think so. Although no where near your level I am probably more widely travelled than the median of people on PB. And in spite of your gentle jibes, I do enjoy getting out meeting friends and family, pubs, going to the cinema or concerts (I love live music) and am considered extroverted.
But I am also completely comfortable in my own skin and can just as happily spend a day alone reading, writing or working as with others. I enjoy the company of others but I don't need it. In part this is because I spent too much of my younger life travelling.
And as Topping mentioned I have room to enjoy so lockdown was never going to be as hard for me as for others. The cleaner air, lack of traffic noise and pollution and enforced time with my family without pressure to be elsewhere doing stuff all contributed hugely.
As for the spectrum. You and I are both on it I suspect.
But I do think we were too cautious at opening up once we had the most vulnerable jabbed in Spring 2021.
It was a compliment ?
“In some respects I feel like someone getting out of prison after being wrongfully imprisoned”
That’s an excellent analogy
We got the vulnerable jabbed way earlier than the French. And yet we basically did no better at removing restrictions.
If nothing else it’s just bad manners to exult in something so obviously grim for so many
As for “the spectrum”, no. I have an entire portfolio of mental oddities - somewhat bipolar, prone to addictions, hysterical boredom, etc, but that’s not
one of them
On the upside, I now have the perfect line to interject whenever PB spats get too heated, and people are issuing blood curdling threats
“And how are the orchards, Richard?”
There were parts of Merseyside still not rebuilt from being bombed in the 80s when I was young. There possibly always will be now with the ruined Church that's never likely to get rebuilt or demolished.
Or, as Stan Boardman put it, "the Germans bombed our chippy", that was true for more than just London.
A few bombs fell on Cornwall. But just a few. My Dad can remember one of them
Hardly anyone wants lockdowns; they're the price you pay for failing to do stuff to prevent them.
I don't even have a picture of tomato plants to post to reignite the rancour.
My Dad's earliest memory was walking to the top of the street with his Dad to watch Liverpool burn.
Oh, and your King of the North is being an enormous annoying tw*t at the moment. What we need are CoL protests and marches...my a***!
IIRC the first civvy death in the UK was a chap in one of the cottages here.
https://www.google.com/maps/@58.9824274,-3.2518816,3a,75y,162.7h,83.34t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZYFmTw9yNTVB3s5uyzbZ5g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
And fall on Wick
https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/84248
Welcome to Politicalbetting.com, is this your first day here? 😇
Apparently most of the major provincial cities had fake versions set up using lights and decoys in nearby countryside. Nottingham had a second at Cropwell Butler.
Mind you the worst thing for me was no foreign travel and UK lockdown status was pretty irrelevant to that.
City Hall was undamaged and Hitler had ordered it not to be attacked earlier in the war as it has a very Germanic design and he had planned to make his victory speech from it.
The Queen about 3 years to go, on average.
https://sanhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/4-Webster.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5i9k7s9X_A
Is it like Woolie says, down to the Zombie government doing nowt and leaderership election going on and on so the electorate merely saying ffs? A real government with actual decisions arrests this Tory collapse?
Or, there has to be a chance, Charismaless Truss and Kwarteng not selling the necessary belt tightening can truly plunge Tories into twenties?
Dems now have a 5-point advantage over Republicans, 47%-42%
Last week: 4 points, 46%-42%
Two weeks ago: 1 point, 44%-43%
https://twitter.com/morningconsult/status/1562788932982820868?s=21&t=KXeLPensIrVM53zrMv6ZFw
I was also told (no evidence) that the only machine capable of making the crankshafts for Merlin engines was at RR in Derby (*), and the government were concerned about it. (Shades of a post-war film where an engineer goes to France at the time of Dunkirk to get some vital machinery out - anyone remember the name?)
"Come friendly bombs and fall on this waste!
It never been fit for humans now,
There's plenty of grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!"
(*) Until the yanks started building their version of the Merlin
But it doesn't count as a city, though. And would have had some repair by 1945.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89A-PZL90_Q (The Sun)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaWMKChiAIg (Talk TV)
other downstreaming sites will be available.
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/the-famous-lime-trees-on-the-unter-den-linden-in-berlin-news-photo/3400498
https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1562845017625939970?s=20&t=c0rJLjZ-voAQR6S0NxyI8g
http://www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryid=99&articleid=1395&displayorder=5
War touches everywhere.
https://thehill.com/homenews/3614769-trump-calls-for-mcconnell-to-be-ousted-as-gop-leader-immediately/
I'd love to know if the Merlin crankshaft story was true - I've been told it since I was a kid. It does make sense, given Rolls Royce's connection with Derby and the unimportance of the Merlin engine before 1938/9. On the other hand, was the Merlin's crankshaft so unusual it could not be made on other machines?
Question is will it stabilise or still get worse during interminable last weeks of the zombie government with its zero action?