Coronavirus

[Benchwayze]

I placed myself on 'lock-down'.
I've had no symptoms so far, and the only personal contact I've had is with my home-help, who takes sensible precautions. Nothing is certain, I know, but I can't see any other way of curtailing the spread of this virus until a vaccine is found. What angers me most is the crowd of vultures that clears supermarket shelves so folk like me can't even just replenish supplies.

I read that one selfish old toad, in my age group, has evicted his tenant who is an NHS worker, because he is scared of contracting the virus. I would like to live to a ripe old age myself, but life is about accepting what comes along, doing your best and hoping it's enough. I am in my 82nd year so I can't complain. I am just glad I have nothing to be scared of with regard to the afterlife; if there is going to be one!

Cheers

John (hammer)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My mother always said she wasn't afraid of death - she'd go either to heaven and meet Jesus or to hell and meet her freinds.

 

[AES]

Personally, I agree with a lot of what you've said above Andy Kev, but IMO it goes even deeper than that.

I'm going to be really old-fashioned here, but it seems to me that a root problem (perhaps not the only one) is lack of discipline in the home.

For example, I'm not sure what the laws are in Switzerland and in UK, but I understand that in Germany these days (my wife has both friends and relations with kids there) that it's against the law to "bash" your kids.

Now I'm NOT suggesting "bashing them around the head with an iron bar" (!!!) but when I was a kid, if I was really naughty I got a slap around the back of the knees with an open hand - stung like hell for 5 minutes, but I (usually) thoroughly deserved it! And that could be either parents or teacher. And as someone said earlier in this (or a similar thread) if a bobby caught you misbehaving you'd get a very stern talking to and/or a belt across the backside. Not any more apparently.

Now when I started military service we were (sternly) taught that there's no self-discipline without having first been "taught" discipline and respect for authority - note again please, NOT kow-towing to authority, but also not saying to, for example, a policeman "you can't make me". So not a lot of self-discipline there!

Yup, pretty old-fashioned concepts, but IMO a lot of parents either don't have the time or the "interest" to discipline their own kids, therefore when "outsiders" such as teachers or police get to have to handle these kids then they not only have an uphill task but also get no support from the "authorities" above them when trying to handle them "sensibly".

Not true in ALL cases of course, but I venture to suggest - without any real evidence to support the feeling - true in a lot, if not the majority of cases.

Yup, I admit it, in such matters I'm pretty old-fashioned, but I am NOT suggesting "back to the good old days, because as I also experienced myself sometimes, the "good old days" were sometimes not quite so good!

Dunno really, just my take on some of "today's problems".

 

[Cheshirechappie]

"Rights" are in the end pretty meaningless without "responsibilities".

There are too many people banging on about their "rights" but not willing to exercise any "responsibility".

 

[Andy Kev.]

AES,

I agree entirely. When I see slovenly, foul-mouthed morons in tracksuits dragging their kids around towns, I fear that I am looking at the future collapse of civilisation.

 

[RogerS]

I just wonder..

How much do those c**p TV soaps 'set' standards of what is acceptable behaviour

or do they reflect the behaviour in society out there already ?

I suspect the latter but that is then reinforced by the former.

 

[Chris152]

I just wonder..

How much do those c**p TV soaps 'set' standards of what is acceptable behaviour

or do they reflect the behaviour in society out there already ?

I suspect the latter but that is then reinforced by the former.

I think the latter, but in doing so they normalise its more extreme forms, even glamourise them, and thus it becomes the former. If that makes sense.

 

[MikeG.]

"Rights" are in the end pretty meaningless without "responsibilities".

There are too many people banging on about their "rights" but not willing to exercise any "responsibility".

Absolutely. Spot on. The UDHR and the ECHR were outstanding documents of their time, but flawed. They should have codified our obligations as well as our rights, and made it clear that there was a relationship between the two.

 

[Lons]

I've just had a telephone conversation with my brother in Sydney, they're several weeks behind us so no reason not to have learned from the rest of the world but despite all the warnings about social distancing etc. there were thousands crowded on to Bondi Beach. the authorities closed it so the hoards moved into the nearest pubs, police closed them so they've moved in droves into the city bars and they're having to close them systematically. They clearly haven't learned and will need to shut everything down now!
What they have done is start to close the borders between states but the schools are still open, panic buying is widespread, can't even get Ventolin inhalers which is a concern as wife and 2 of his kids have asthma.
I said I had thought the first thing the Ozzies would stockpile is booze and he said they have, someone put out a fake rumour that alcohol and barbecued kangaroo meat killed the virus. :lol:

 

[Nigel Burden]

Personally, I agree with a lot of what you've said above Andy Kev, but IMO it goes even deeper than that.

I'm going to be really old-fashioned here, but it seems to me that a root problem (perhaps not the only one) is lack of discipline in the home.

For example, I'm not sure what the laws are in Switzerland and in UK, but I understand that in Germany these days (my wife has both friends and relations with kids there) that it's against the law to "bash" your kids.

Now I'm NOT suggesting "bashing them around the head with an iron bar" (!!!) but when I was a kid, if I was really naughty I got a slap around the back of the knees with an open hand - stung like hell for 5 minutes, but I (usually) thoroughly deserved it! And that could be either parents or teacher. And as someone said earlier in this (or a similar thread) if a bobby caught you misbehaving you'd get a very stern talking to and/or a belt across the backside. Not any more apparently.

Now when I started military service we were (sternly) taught that there's no self-discipline without having first been "taught" discipline and respect for authority - note again please, NOT kow-towing to authority, but also not saying to, for example, a policeman "you can't make me". So not a lot of self-discipline there!

Yup, pretty old-fashioned concepts, but IMO a lot of parents either don't have the time or the "interest" to discipline their own kids, therefore when "outsiders" such as teachers or police get to have to handle these kids then they not only have an uphill task but also get no support from the "authorities" above them when trying to handle them "sensibly".

Not true in ALL cases of course, but I venture to suggest - without any real evidence to support the feeling - true in a lot, if not the majority of cases.

Yup, I admit it, in such matters I'm pretty old-fashioned, but I am NOT suggesting "back to the good old days, because as I also experienced myself sometimes, the "good old days" were sometimes not quite so good!

Dunno really, just my take on some of "today's problems".

I couldn't agree more.

My children are both in their mid thirties and they both got a hand on the back of the leg or wrist, and they'll both say that it did them no harm. Smacking is illegal in the UK, but the problem is, that the campaigners who campaigned to abolish smacking fail to realise that those that are going to beat or abuse a child will do it regardless of whether there is a law banning it or not.

I personally think that corporal punishment should be brought back in schools, and people who carry out crimes of violence should be birched. I remember years ago a youth in the Isle of Man who had broken a shop window being interviewed saying that he wouldn't be back for a second dose.

Nigel.

 

[Lons]

when I was a kid, if I was really naughty I got a slap around the back of the knees with an open hand - stung like hell for 5 minutes, but I (usually) thoroughly deserved it! And that could be either parents or teacher. And as someone said earlier in this (or a similar thread) if a bobby caught you misbehaving you'd get a very stern talking to and/or a belt across the backside.

Brings back memories.

When I was about 12 a couple of us climbed into a large ancient pear tree in the local pub gardens and stuffed our pockets with fruit, the village bobby saw us, we were caught red handed and marched home in turn after a stern lecture. My dad gave me a slap for daring to "shame the family by bringing the police to our door". I never pinched fruit, or anything else ever again and the slap across the backside did me no harm!

The worst of it was the fruit in that tree was never harvested and the damn pears were hard as hell and inedible. #-o

 

[Chris152]

Just saw this on FB:

Striplings!

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Just saw this on FB:
View attachment 90694203
Striplings!

The general population is supposed to be better educated, these days. I sometimes wonder, though. Teaching a few more "responsibilities" might not go amiss. Basic discipline in schools would be a good start.

Edit to add - also true to say that basic human nature doesn't change much. You'd hope that the broader outlook that comes with some education would modify things a bit, but it clearly doesn't work on some. Is that the fault of the people or the system of education, and some parents, I wonder?

 

[Nigel Burden]

With regards to social distancing. I live in a large village on the edge of the country, so it's not too difficult to keep a distance from other people, you can always cross the road. I took my daughters dog, a German Wirehaired Pointer, out this morning and it was eerily quiet out there. At no point did I have to pass within more than about five metres of anyone. Most of the walk was done on the heathland about 200 metres from home. We had two joggers pass on a tarmac path but we were on grass a good ten metres away, another dogwalker on the heath who pulled back into a cutting, a man with two children in the distance, and an elderly couple to whom we were able to avoid as there was plenty of width.

Nigel.

 

[Geoff_S]

I live in suburbia, and to be fair, it's not so difficult here.

 

[Nigel Burden]

when I was a kid, if I was really naughty I got a slap around the back of the knees with an open hand - stung like hell for 5 minutes, but I (usually) thoroughly deserved it! And that could be either parents or teacher. And as someone said earlier in this (or a similar thread) if a bobby caught you misbehaving you'd get a very stern talking to and/or a belt across the backside.

Brings back memories.

When I was about 12 a couple of us climbed into a large ancient pear tree in the local pub gardens and stuffed our pockets with fruit, the village bobby saw us, we were caught red handed and marched home in turn after a stern lecture. My dad gave me a slap for daring to "shame the family by bringing the police to our door". I never pinched fruit, or anything else ever again and the slap across the backside did me no harm!

The worst of it was the fruit in that tree was never harvested and the damn pears were hard as hell and inedible. #-o

I did a similar thing although these pears were ripe. Father didn't know what I'd done until I wouldn't eat my dinner, and we were not allowed to waste food. He made me sit there until I'd eaten it. I did feel ill afterwards.

Nigel.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Cause here for a little glimmer of cautious optimism. The Los Angeles Times reports that a Nobel Laureate chemist has been looking at the Coronavirus figures, and suggests that the pandemic may not be quite as serious or long-lasting as some of the doom mongers are predicting. He does say that control of infection rates will be influenced heavily by social distancing measures, but they may help very significantly in quick control. The article also compares flu death rates in the USA (which go virtually unreported) with the daily media sensationalism around Covid 19.

It might just be that the Prime Minister's suggestion that 12 weeks will be enough to significantly control the epidemic may not be wholly misplaced.

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2 ... l-laureate

 

[Lons]

We were little bu**ars really, lived in a small mining village fields and countryside all around and we got up to usual mischief.
The worst thing we ever did and I'm quite ashamed now was a gang of us dug up a load of potatoes from a farmers field, built a large bonfire and roasted them until the skins were burned black to about 1/2" thick. We ate them and I then had to eat dinner afterwards, I remember being really sick and my mother kept me off school the next day as she thought I was coming down with something.
Never did tell her the truth! :wink:

 

[lurker]

Cause here for a little glimmer of cautious optimism. The Los Angeles Times reports that a Nobel Laureate chemist has been looking at the Coronavirus figures, and suggests that the pandemic may not be quite as serious or long-lasting as some of the doom mongers are predicting. He does say that control of infection rates will be influenced heavily by social distancing measures, but they may help very significantly in quick control. The article also compares flu death rates in the USA (which go virtually unreported) with the daily media sensationalism around Covid 19.

It might just be that the Prime Minister's suggestion that 12 weeks will be enough to significantly control the epidemic may not be wholly misplaced.

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2 ... l-laureate

You said chemist and I thought they would know nothing about this.
But the article says he is a bio physicist so he probably does.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Good luck to anyone attempting to work from home, the internet being as it is - my wife has just given up trying and gone to work. We can't even listen to the radio without its breaking up, let alone watch the TV.
Amusing, in a sad sort of way - governments of all hues have been telling people for years it's best they work from home and now they need to they can't. Still, £100bn+ on HS2 hasn't yet had the plug pulled - better they ensure the whole Country has good internet speed and decent phone signals.