Reminds me of my experience on jury service (in central London). Case nearly done by Friday lunchtime, come 2pm the judge says "Im sure we all have our homes in the country to head to so lets adjourn for the weekend". Everyone has to come back for an hour on Monday. I was flabbergasted.
New cases in Washington. Adolescent, initially wasn't tested due to not being in contact with a diagnosed victim. Returned to school before being pulled out after a positive test.
The US seems remarkably stingy in its testing - looks like the U.K. tests anyone that might be possibly infected while in the US there are multiple criteria to be satisfied before a test is carried out. Yesterday alone the U.K. carried out nearly twice the number of tests that the US has conducted since the start of the outbreak. If the US was testing at the same rate as the U.K. they would have carried out over 45,000 tests, not the 455 they have done.
The US is absolutely fucked. As a country it stinks. Sorry to Robert, but I really think that. I was appalled on my last trip: just a complete disintegration in anything resembling a decent society.
You have been going to the wrong places then .
The USA is a wonderful country full of The entries spectrum of different kinds people just like the Uk.
I'm afraid it really isn't. And if you call the wrong places major states and NYC then there's not a lot of the US left.
It's utterly fucked. A dystopian nightmare of social inequality where 'the American Dream is benefiting from someone else's misfortune' (John Green). The amount of homeless has rocketed. The middle classes try to have them bused out of the suburbs into the town centres so that the WASPS don't have to see them - which is probably why you think it's all rosy.
I compare it to how the white South Africans viewed their country during apartheid: oblivious to the real human tragedy and social disintegration going on around them.
America's one saving grace is that its people are quite lovely. Apart from the idiot in the White House.
The severe homelessness and poverty in US downtowns is utterly harrowing. In Atlanta, I saw amputees wheeling around with begging bowls, daily. Perhaps a dose of ‘socialism‘ (ie basic healthcare and state decency) might be good for the country.
Has it not occured to the know-alls that there might be a reason for the meeting being held on Monday? I would guess that it will be discussing plans that many civil servants are working on around the clock to have ready for the meeting. We are going to see some emergency legislation next week it seems, so there is clearly a lot going on in government.
I'm no fan of Boris, but there is a lot of ill-informed criticism being made of him and other ministers, and it is at odds with the action we have seen taken, which so far appears to have been proportionate and effective.
The USA is a wonderful country full of The entries spectrum of different kinds people just like the Uk.
I'm afraid it really isn't. And if you call the wrong places major states and NYC then there's not a lot of the US left.
I
I cthem.
America's one saving grace is that its people are quite lovely. Apart from the idiot in the White House.
We get it - you don’t like America or Americans -
Which part of 'Americans are lovely' did you not read? They're fabulous people.
America is absolutely fucked though. Go to NYC. Walk around. Open your eyes. Heck, do the same thing Upstate. Go to supposedly middle class places like Hartford CT and, again, walk around ... if you dare.
The country is in a god-awful absolute shithole mess.
Yes I can see you have travelled extensively within a ... checks notes ... 100 mile radius of a country 3000 miles wide and 1,500 North to South.
You should change your moniker to Mystic Judith Chalmers.
Drove 2800 miles in the USA this year alone. A place of wonder and spirit. Maybe losing the edge it had. But that’s everywhere in the west with maybe the exception of London.
I did 6,088 miles, and I'd echo that. It's strange how the assumptions you make about people's attitudes, which mostly fly in Europe, don't always seem to fit in the US. People there are quite different, but very friendly.
The US is the only place in the world where I feel actively European!
I didn't feel that way in Canada where I felt I was amongst kindred spirits.
Agree - I found myself in a food court in a Toronto mall and thought "this could almost be Dundee" - the other country that feels remarkably similar is New Zealand. Which may help explain why the Anglosphere, despite no freedom of movement is the most popular choice for British expats and emigrants.
You say “despite no freedom of movement”, but the government subsidised over a million people to move to Australia and New Zealand between 1945 and 1982.
I always feel I should do something special on 29th February, something I wouldn't normally do. Went and fed otters at the local sanctuary four years ago. Anybody doing anything of note?
My wife is threatening to propose to me again.
I will have a rib eye with pepper sauce and a few glasses of a nice red, but would have done so regardless of date I reckon.
New cases in Washington. Adolescent, initially wasn't tested due to not being in contact with a diagnosed victim. Returned to school before being pulled out after a positive test.
The US
The US is absolutely fucked. As a country it stinks. Sorry to Robert, but I really think that. I was appalled on my last trip: just a complete disintegration in anything resembling a decent society.
You have been going to the wrong places then .
The USA is a wonderful country full of The entries spectrum of different kinds people just like the Uk.
I'm afraid it really isn't. And if you call the wrong places major states and NYC then there's not a lot of the US left.
I
I cthem.
America's one saving grace is that its people are quite lovely. Apart from the idiot in the White House.
We get it - you don’t like America or Americans -
Yes I can see you have travelled extensively within a ... checks notes ... 100 mile radius of a country 3000 miles wide and 1,500 North to South.
You should change your moniker to Mystic Judith Chalmers.
Drove 2800 miles in the USA this year alone. A place of wonder and spirit. Maybe losing the edge it had. But that’s everywhere in the west with maybe the exception of London.
Snip
The US is the only place in the world where I feel actively European!
I didn't feel that way in Canada where I felt I was amongst kindred spirits.
——popular choice for British expats and emigrants.
I find the comparison with NZ hugely overstated; bar the similar language and weather.
NZ has great landscapes but is culturally deathly boring. Endless faceless towns with barely a decent pub or restaurant between them; mundane architecture; crap beer; rampant newness.
It’s really nothing like England, which is one of the loveliest, cosiest, countries on Earth.
Comments
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51687287
I am stockpiling.
I'm no fan of Boris, but there is a lot of ill-informed criticism being made of him and other ministers, and it is at odds with the action we have seen taken, which so far appears to have been proportionate and effective.
Come the Olympics, there were, it seems, none to be found.
I'm pretty stealthy, though, what with wearing bright white lace decked with ribbons and bells.
The question of the moment: "Which would win, 100,000 ducks or ten million locusts?"