The BBC is a joke on so many fronts.
To hopefully amuse someone at this difficult time:
You probably need to know a bit about the UK culture 
LeSving wrote:
It’s easy for us to be armchair experts and say this or that.
That’s also what the director of the Danish Public Health Authority says…
There’s a Flybe aircraft being held “hostage” at EGNS at the moment, apparently Flybe owe the Isle of Man Government a six-figure sum for airport fees.
BeechBaby wrote:
6. Eliminate 40% of population.
I always thought that Thanos’ plan to eliminate 50% of the universe’s population – literally – at the snap of a finger was falling way short of what is required… so does this :-/
[I-don’t-really-beleave-either-of-the-above-emoticon here]
gallois wrote:
I wonder why the countries of the west have been slow to follow this experience,
I think its more like govt inertia. I need this form signed by____ and then it has to go to_____ then back here so we can have a consensus vote _____ before we can pass it onto the next department at_________.
OR
“Its not my job to make that decision. Its above my pay grade.”
But at least in the EU you dont have to worry about an embedded 5th column in the govt whose sole purpose is to resist the current administration.
That is another variable to consider in the US.
LeSving wrote:
The right to live
It is quite interesting to see how differently we value lives in different situations. E.g. a major source of untimely deaths in the western world are road traffic accidents. We know pretty well what it takes to reduce such risks, how many lives will be spared and how much it will cost. Still, only so much money is spent on road improvements. But when it comes to an epidemic, then suddenly the sky is the limit when it comes to save lives.
Of course I know that human psychology is such that it is easy to accept a steady and predictable stream of preventable deaths but difficult to accept sudden or unpredictable events (witness reactions to terrorist attacks) but still…
Well having to navigate the British Airways refund website they have cut off the cancel/refund links on the manage your booking page!
Obviously the switchboards are in meltdown.
Better hope my unsecured creditors claim finds some pence in the pound with the eventual administrator (gallows humour emoji)
Peter wrote:
Sadly, the Master (Tom Clancy) is not around anymore so there is an opening for just this sort of thing
He described a bio attack in Executive Orders. If more people in high places would have read that, the whole thing would be over by now. Lockdown immediately and let it burn out before it goes out of control.
Airborne_Again wrote:
It is quite interesting to see how differently we value lives in different situations. E.g. a major source of untimely deaths in the western world are road traffic accidents. We know pretty well what it takes to reduce such risks, how many lives will be spared and how much it will cost. Still, only so much money is spent on road improvements. But when it comes to an epidemic, then suddenly the sky is the limit when it comes to save lives.Of course I know that human psychology is such that it is easy to accept a steady and predictable stream of preventable deaths but difficult to accept sudden or unpredictable events (witness reactions to terrorist attacks) but still…
And then there of those of us who travel the world looking for less safe roads on which to entertain ourselves, enhancing our lives by doing so
Governments have now done what I predicted, irrationally overreacting in many countries, completely screwing up the productive economy for who knows how long, and increasing ballooning government debt still more. Its going to be interesting to see how they can (and in many places if they will) unwind the mess they’ve created.
It’s not simply a question of saving lives. It’s a question of saving the lives of the weak, and the solidarity that we all need to provide to them. This pandemic may well demonstrate how much we as society are prepared to protect the weak, and how much we support government action to do so.
We make a judgement every day when we start the car motor, having considered the risks. Each of us has a choice to reduce the personal risk. But those who are at risk today, the elderly and/or sick (e.g. asthma & other respiratory illnesses, immune system weakness for whatever reason), have less ability to avoid that risk.
