I'm sure they exist. If I actually believed a mask that leaks like a sieve could protect me from a virus that actually was as bad as they make Covid out to be , I'd wear one. I certainly wouldn't demand that everyone else did, though.
Ordinary Left and Right becomes pretty meaningless in something more akin to a Civil Rights/liberties issue. The most thorough Danish study on masks can’t get itself published in The Lancet etc. ostensibly because it has ‘not been peer reviewed’ (itself a new requirement simply to be published) but quite clearly because it does not support current guidance. Its authors were genuinely trying to establish ‘the facts’. PC however is more important than scientific objectivity. The entire basis of scientific method is to stand an idea up and see how it withstands attack. We are now preventing the very attack that establishes its strength. It doesn’t take an Einstein to work out why. We need to be ‘saved’ by the vaccine to get policy makers off the hook, bury their mistakes and enriched the pharmaceuticals. From cock up to cover up......
@Callumity Would be interesting to read the Danish study, we need more of these to prevent people from guessing but more so, to make a good decision when to wear a mask or not to. In Sweden there has been uproar in some places cuz out government doesn't enforce masks (and by US measurements our government is more left than anything of what a US citizen would consider to be left. Were almost Commies ;-) ) Their standpoint has been more that a mask can give a false sense of security and that the evidence of how effective it is hasn't been proven. But at the same time they made it clear that its ok to wear a mask, but its your choice and there might be benefits of doing so in some situations. I think the problem is more that many want a simple do or don't choice, while the reality isn't that simple.
I don't know whether masks work or not and I don't know whether the various Governments around the world are taking the right decisions or not. I suspect they are all making it up as they go along but what else to do? What I do know is that everyone making the decision to lock down and close the economy are on the public purse, senior health officials and politicians. No matter how much they empathise on TV it is an easy thing to do with a camera in your face. Their income will never change, their pension contribution will never change, they can sit at home for the next two years if they have to and they will never be financially challenged by the pandemic either now or in their retirement. They will never have to face the consequences of their actions or worry about where the next pay packet comes from or worry about how they will pay the mortgage. I'm not anti public servant and have a family member as a nurse, we need them for a normal society, but to say "we are all in this together" is garbage. If the various Governments really cared about the people all income would be socialised at a fixed living income for the duration of the pandemic for everyone, including all the senior civil servants and politicians. That would really focus the mind and convince everyone we really were all in this together. Once over we can go back to normal.
Socialized income is a horrible idea. You know once the government enacts something they almost never go back -I.e. income tax and welfare -which were both supposed to be temporary.
I fully agree in normal times. Those who make money will just leave a nation if brought in, it's like raising taxes too much. I do mean temporarily and if there was a will I see no reason why a Gov couldn't justify it on a short term basis.
I fully agree in normal times, it is a terrible idea. Those who make money will just leave a nation if brought in, it's like raising taxes too much. I do mean temporarily and if there was a will I see no reason why a Gov couldn't justify it on a short term basis.
Except it is not really about ‘justification’. It is 100% about effect. It has been said various ways but the problem with socialism is that eventually they run out of other people’s money. It doesn’t matter what nominal complexion a government is, it cannot indefinitely spend more than it collects and that includes the borrowings it passes on to its successors. The central lie of almost all politicians is that ‘expenditure’ and ‘investment’ are the same thing. No government truly invests. Businesses and individuals do that in the expectation of a return. Government bestrides a public sector paid for entirely by the private sector which alone has the capacity to increase the size of the economy. The Soviet Union collapsed because it could not compete economically and lost all legitimacy having impoverished its people. China learnt the lesson and unleashed State capitalism but now rides a tiger of rising expectations. The whole thing is inflated by funny money, corruption and gangsterism. Lockdowns just kick the can down the road. Our problem is that the entire pandemic edifice and scary numbers is built on a test so unreliable its numbers are literally incredible. Covid, Covid, Covid but flu seems to have been eradicated along with other seasonal respiratory infections and daily deaths are in line with the norms of the last 20 years, just like admissions, bed occupancy etc. Our politicians are in a complete funk buying into flawed ‘science’ but why? Whisper it over here but The Donald is right.
I completely agree with you, I do, I'm no radical socialist. I am self employed and have nice things, I have worked all my life for what I have. What I am pointing out is that there is only one type of person who is going to pay the entire bill for the next few decades. There are going to be millions and millions of people who will not be financially inconvenienced by this pandemic whatsoever, that doesn't seem right. We are definitely not all in this together. As for someone else's money, the Government are already spending somebody else's money, it's all borrowed, all of it.
The Republic may be run on totally borrowed money but the UK is not! We are certainly enriching a bunch of shysters from a fast dwindling pot.
I have Irish on my mothers side and English on my fathers. On that debt, are you sure you are not running on borrowed money? "UK debt stands, at at the end of July 2020, debt was £2,004.0 billion, £227.6 billion more than at the same point last year". Scary counter here! https://www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk/
National debt and current account are different things. Credit worthiness determines how much you can borrow and the rate..... And ‘Austerity’ was anything but. Just political smoke and mirrors.
It wouldn't be temporary if the government and the people who gain without input have anything to do with it. Note how we always hear about our social security running dry but never hear that we'll run out of money for welfare.
Yep. And that is why when corporate (money-making) methods are applied to government/military (money SPENDING) operations, they inevitably fail. Sadly, most of our politicians either do not see it or don't care.