Coronavirus Pandemic

[Mac76]

inverted snobbery appears to be alive and well...

[Ollie the Optimist]

Painful.

I actually said, "The environment changes but the intent and the consequences never change.", but you have fixated on an idea to the exclusion of all else. I'm betting you are a university graduate.

You quite literally asked if someone had read a history book on Germany from 1918 to 1933.


When challenged on that, you now resort to saying, well when i asked if you read about Nazi germany, i didnt actually mean nazi germany and babble on about something else.

[Letters]

However, it is never a good thing to be ignorant and yet confident in your perception of reality, despite the absence of facts.

I'd say that's fair, and you're right, I am lamentably ignorant of history.
But I think Ollie's also right in that there were some quite extreme conditions which contributed to the rise of Hitler. And I'd suggest that he as a leader is an outlier, most politicians aren't as cray cray or power hungry as he was - or not in the same way.
Boris is, I reckon, pretty intelligent. But he's lazy and can't be bothered with the details and he has little regard for the truth - those are worrying traits for someone with his power.
But he's not authoritarian, he was actually pushing back against lockdowns. And actually, while people are outraged at the leaked texts which Cummings is leaking, I actually think Boris questioning whether lockdowns were needed, given the consequences of them, is a good thing - even if he did do it in a very Borisy way.

Historically we have never had a regime in this country which is interested in interfering in our day to day lives, or not to the level you imply at times on here. Sure they make rules and laws - abiding by those is the price of living in a society. I accept I must pay tax it I want roads and other infrastructure to be built and the bins to be collected, for example. You can argue about whether they take too much and how they take it - and I agree things like inheritance tax are taking the piss. But the principle of taxation seems reasonable to me. In general unless there have been extreme circumstances the government have basically let people do as they please. When there have been extreme circumstances like a World War or a Pandemic then sure, extraordinary measures have been put in place. And you can argue about whether they're the right ones, but I do think they needed to respond to the situation in some way and as I've said throughout this there hasn't been a one way march towards micro-management of our day to day lives. The level of restrictions have consistently followed the data - if anything they haven't followed them closely enough.

So...I just haven't seen anything which is going to make any difference to me - or anyone else - going about my day to day life, and I'm doubtful I will. I guess we will see who is right.

[Letters]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57937342

It’s good that they’re not just making it up as they’re going along

[Niall_Quinn]

You quite literally asked if someone had read a history book on Germany from 1918 to 1933.


When challenged on that, you now resort to saying, well when i asked if you read about Nazi germany, i didnt actually mean nazi germany and babble on about something else.

And I said, "Or Russia leading up to 1917...", thus making it more than clear I was talking about the cyclical nature of history - which I went on to also confirm. I suspect you read the first sentence but nothing else, and responded based on that. Now you are trying to defend your lack of diligence by focusing solely on the misinterpreted context as if it was the actual intent. Either way you've shifted the focus from the people who lived through and, in the main, tolerated those events (the "good" Germans), to a mundane he-said, she-said childish spat.

Well done.

[Niall_Quinn]

I'd say that's fair, and you're right, I am lamentably ignorant of history.
But I think Ollie's also right in that there were some quite extreme conditions which contributed to the rise of Hitler. And I'd suggest that he as a leader is an outlier, most politicians aren't as cray cray or power hungry as he was - or not in the same way.
Boris is, I reckon, pretty intelligent. But he's lazy and can't be bothered with the details and he has little regard for the truth - those are worrying traits for someone with his power.
But he's not authoritarian, he was actually pushing back against lockdowns. And actually, while people are outraged at the leaked texts which Cummings is leaking, I actually think Boris questioning whether lockdowns were needed, given the consequences of them, is a good thing - even if he did do it in a very Borisy way.

Historically we have never had a regime in this country which is interested in interfering in our day to day lives, or not to the level you imply at times on here. Sure they make rules and laws - abiding by those is the price of living in a society. I accept I must pay tax it I want roads and other infrastructure to be built and the bins to be collected, for example. You can argue about whether they take too much and how they take it - and I agree things like inheritance tax are taking the piss. But the principle of taxation seems reasonable to me. In general unless there have been extreme circumstances the government have basically let people do as they please. When there have been extreme circumstances like a World War or a Pandemic then sure, extraordinary measures have been put in place. And you can argue about whether they're the right ones, but I do think they needed to respond to the situation in some way and as I've said throughout this there hasn't been a one way march towards micro-management of our day to day lives. The level of restrictions have consistently followed the data - if anything they haven't followed them closely enough.

So...I just haven't seen anything which is going to make any difference to me - or anyone else - going about my day to day life, and I'm doubtful I will. I guess we will see who is right.

You are turning it into a debate on the consequences by taking the initial premise as factual. It's perfectly possible to create plausible arguments either way but in your case it is imperative for Boris Johnson to actually be controlling the decision making process and you assume this is the case. And yet you might also hold the common belief, like many, that no matter who is "in charge" nothing changes. This should give you at least pause to consider the faulty premise.

[Letters]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57940657

[GP]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57940657

She seems nice

[LDG]

She wouldn’t stop my pathogens

[Letters]

I’d like to double jab her