People on Furlough can only borrow £4.50.

[dugsbody]

12 minutes ago, HovelinHove said:

It is one of a number of reasons:

1. Yes an NWO conspiracy theory materialising before our eyes. Likelihood - 20%

2. These governments realise that they have destroyed our economies for no reason and can’t bring themselves to admit it. Likelihood - 30%

3. A mixture of opinion polls approving of endless lockdown (i.e. furlough) and scientific advice from advisors whose only mandate is public health, not economic health, is driving governments to continue on this illogical path. -30%

4. They haven’t got a clue and are making it up as they go along. 20%

In my view it is a mixture of all these. To deny there is a liberal elite trying to push its agenda is pretty bonkers. There is also a conservative elite trying to push its agenda. It happens. The BBC and civil service has an over representation of the former, and so will be using this crisis, consciously or subconsciously to try to further its worldview of liberal social democracy (or increasingly socialism). Also, I suspect with respect to 2, many governments are starting to realise they have over reacted and are trying to figure out a way out of this while trying to save face. On 3, I think this is actually going on while they figure out 2. the public support this insanity so why not carry on? there is also an element of 4.

The whole thing is a clusterf%^k.

Every government in the world? 

Personally, I think that is a bit of a stretch (*) but hey, maybe I need to read more order-order or 4chan.

(*) By bit of a stretch I mean you probably have to be detached from reality to believe it.

[HovelinHove]

2 minutes ago, msi said:

+1  Plenty of Right wing ones too.  They are less articulate, relying on soundbites and unable to explain them further than the Tabloid headline they've read.

I agree. 2019 was the first time in my life I voted Tory. I voted liberal or Labour for the previous 30 years. I have too many anti-vaxxer friends who I have to tolerate who drive me potty. I am a scientist and am only interested in facts. I will change my mind if I am presented with data that shows my views are wrong. I started out very scared of COVID, but as the data has emerged I have changed that view. The same with Hydroxychloroquine. I was inclined to believe based on some positive studies that it might have effect. What I have come to realise is the fact these studies were conducted in different populations. Raoult, the French doctor who started it all, had been giving everyone HCQ who turned up to the clinic with mild symptoms. He claimed his CFR of 1% vs the global CFR of 3-7% of the time, was due to his use of HCQ, but what we now know is that the untreated CFR of those with mild symptoms is 1%. The HCQ was doing nothing. I still want to see the data from an RCT in very early use before I completely discount HCQ...but the point is I changed my mind with emerging data. Lots of people do not do that.

[simon2]

In some ways I don't believe the government care about the masses of people. But they cannot have this shown in public.

People are easily led though, and throwing out some crumbs like furlough payments keeps the heat off.

I do feel the response overall has been absurd, although some may argue hindsight is a wonderful thing. We probably would have kept most of the economy together by only locking down the vulnerable and the older age groups. 

Even now the current eat out to help out stuff just contradicts the governments obesity drive. Most of the beneficiaries will be the fast food places. A 'fine dining' meal is still expensive because of the maximum discount. For the chavs, £10 now buys enough KFC for dinners for a week. Keeps the masses happy.

The NHS is a convenient shield for the government to deflect blame. Politically, it cannot be attacked without public sentiment going against you.

 

[HovelinHove]

4 minutes ago, dugsbody said:

Every government in the world? 

Personally, I think that is a bit of a stretch (*) but hey, maybe I need to read more order-order or 4chan.

(*) By bit of a stretch I mean you probably have to be detached from reality to believe it.

I don’t even know what order order and 4chan are. These are my own conclusions from watching this whole mess emerge.

[HovelinHove]

1 minute ago, simon2 said:

In some ways I don't believe the government care about the masses of people. But they cannot have this shown in public.

People are easily led though, and throwing out some crumbs like furlough payments keeps the heat off.

I do feel the response overall has been absurd, although some may argue hindsight is a wonderful thing. We probably would have kept most of the economy together by only locking down the vulnerable and the older age groups. 

Even now the current eat out to help out stuff just contradicts the governments obesity drive. Most of the beneficiaries will be the fast food places. A 'fine dining' meal is still expensive because of the maximum discount. For the chavs, £10 now buys enough KFC for dinners for a week. Keeps the masses happy.

The NHS is a convenient shield for the government to deflect blame. Politically, it cannot be attacked without public sentiment going against you.

 

Yep.