Zero deaths!

I just want to visit our AC who unfortunately are in a Red list country, their AC (our GC) has been stuck in what is now an Amber Country for 15 months, enough is enough!!!

I for one am not stamping my feet like a ‘petulant child’ demanding a holiday abroad. I’m just concerned because this virus will apparently contantly mutate so there will always be some variant or other.

The travel industry is all but decimated. Jobs are at stake here.

I’m happy. The sun is shining, I can sit outside a bar, book a table in a restaurant, go for a drive out.

But I think it’s time to open everything fully now.

Urmstongran I can’t agree about mask wearing, even if you live in a very low Covid area ( I do) we should all follow the same rules countrywide.Actually I like the mask wearing in busy places and have got through a whole year without so much as a sniffle!
We can cautiously celebrate the day of zero deaths and the very low numbers since then.
We went out today to a local pottery and gift shop to buy presents and followed it with tea and cake, then on to a garden centre to buy more hanging basket plants, then home again.
Nothing special, but it felt great to act normally ( yes, masks on inside but that’s ok.) We have hope now thanks to the vaccination programme.
On Portugal and countries on the amber and red lists, people always knew that things could change and that they took a chance when they booked ahead.Taking a holiday at home was the sensible option this year ( or none at all).

Is this a first?
I find myself in total agreement PippaZ !

Urmstongran, there must have been people during the war who, after one night without bombing, rushed out shouting "it's over, it's over. Switch on the lights, take down the blackout blinds and throw a street party."

What is the problem with taking things a step at a time? We seem to be okay at the stage we have got to - except for the issue of variants of interest. So we are better off than we were but we need to rest there for a while and take the long view. We need to make decisions on the facts and not on the hysteria wound up by the media. How many people actually wanted a holiday abroad? How much damage will it actually do to them not to go? We seem to be a country full of small children stamping their feet when someone else tells them they are hard done by.

nanna8

Have to say we went for many, many weeks not just with zero deaths but zero cases. Look at us now, back to hard lockdown over a few dozen cases all up. We have never got back to pre Covid normal unlike the UK where everyone seems to just crowd around with no social distancing.

But surely, for most of the past year or so Australians have led a near normal life compared to the rest of the world. So isn’t an occasional lockdown a small price to pay for that?

www.thesun.co.uk/news/13850389/australia-day-thousands-beaches-temperatures-40c-stay-home/

Oz seems completely draconian. Are they waiting for zero cases? If so, it won’t be unlocking to allow visitors in for years.

Have to say we went for many, many weeks not just with zero deaths but zero cases. Look at us now, back to hard lockdown over a few dozen cases all up. We have never got back to pre Covid normal unlike the UK where everyone seems to just crowd around with no social distancing.

I voted for Boris to Get Brexit Done.

Not for a green economy. Nor decimation of the UK travel industry.

We will never be free of coved variants. It’s time to come out from under our beds and throw our masks away.

Last night on SKY news it said two-thirds of hospital admissions due to covid were with unvaccinated people.

I’m being to think there’s a separate agenda for us plebs. Is it all part of the Great Reset?

It's what you voted for, Ug. Is the penny dropping now?

PippaZ

Have your thought Ellianne? I would be interested to know.

Yes, PippaZ, you were very articulate there and I think I got what you were saying. I am happy to leave the fact finding to those who are more more inclined that way, and I do agree it should not be a case of boasting winners or sad losers. No one gains from putting the other side down all the time. We are all probably wanting to see the same sort of result, just going up different staircases to achieve it.
In the smaller picture there will be those of us who are more impulsive, more impatient than others, who maybe don't always think things through or look for facts/truths in the first instance. What I was trying to say is that this is not a case of spreading lies or untruths. It maybe a knee jerk type reaction but sometimes instincts are to be trusted too. There is a lot of shouting down of creative comments and even labelling as stupid.
I too think communities are definitely coming together more and a certain pride is ensuing. This is not really something that can be formally taught at school or implemented by government, it comes from within our very souls. If everyone only acted after first analysing all the facts we would never get anything done for the common good.

For some time I’ve suspected the agenda is to slash air travel as part of carbon reduction plans. This confirms it for me. Anyone getting a vaccine to get back to normal is kidding themselves. This will be our summer and then we’re conveniently back to flu season...

Absolutely no justification for this scapegoating of Portugal. There’s more chance of catching coved here in the North West where numbers are higher (Bolton, Blackburn etc).

And the G7 summit - all the world and his wife flying in to visit Cornwall.

I’m being to think there’s a separate agenda for us plebs. Is it all part of the Great Reset?

Did anyone see the front page of The Mail after the zero deaths day? Can’t quite remember what it said but I just feel that every time there is an improvement in the situation people drop their guard and go crazy. We drove through a popular holiday destination yesterday on our way home and it was even busier than it normally is. Then there was the football match in Portugal that has resulted in fans travelling there and back, dispersing to both ends of the country, when the game could have been played in the U.K. And Portugal has now gone amber. It’s ridiculous decisions like this which could result in wave after wave of the virus. Decisions that you and I look at and wonder how on earth anyone could make such a stupid one. Especially when we’ve seen the effects of similar things over the past 18 months.

That should have been Have you thought ... of course.

I get what you are saying PippaZ

Although regarding your last paragraph, I think that over the last 15 months communities have come together, there is a real sense of looking out for each other.

I`m not sure if i believe it tbh.
But would welcome it with open arms if it`s true.

Have your thought Ellianne? I would be interested to know.

Impressive PippaZ I need to think about that .
I agree about the "winners" comment. Too often everything becomes a competition.

That's an interesting viewpoint. It would be right to say that all ideas are not false facts. Some are views we hold in common with almost everyone else. So we might agree on what we are all entitled to as human beings irrespective of our nationality, race, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, citizenship, or another status - human rights as a shorthand.

We need to understand how the majority have come to that consensus. We haven't been able to look at human rights and say - see, there are human rights, they are a truth, they exist. But we do generally agree this idea is not a false fact, neither, though, is it a personal opinion, such as not liking vegetables.

We come to agreements about what is right and good by discussing the subject but this agreement depends on one thing more than the ability to argue, empathise or dealing with difficult truths. Agreement relies on truth.

We have seen so much dishonesty in politics which has spilt over to the way people debate on forums. I think the answer to why so many want actual facts to even start the negotiation that is a discussion is because they have seen the use of so many lies and deceptions.

Why do people lie and dissemble? It seems to be simply to win. We have seen our country get into the hands of those who want to win at all costs. Why? What will they do with that win? They don't know. That is not what they have thought about; they only thought about winning. David Cameron didn't know what to do with power and walked away when it got difficult and Johnson has no idea how to deal with an emergency such as Covid. That is not what they were in it for. They were in it to win; that was the end game.

In the same way, many on here told others "we won, shut up". That was all that mattered. No policies; no aims for the common good; just winning.

I think a slight obsession with provable facts is no surprise when faced with people who only want to be winners; who don't appear to care about the others or have any policies to deal with future needs.

One recent example is education. How can you "level up" without it? How can you "build back better" if you don't invest in our future? The words and slogans won the race but now they have nothing. Their lies have put us in a place where the normal human instinct for community and for working to a common end is dying under the foot of those for whom winning is their final aim - after that, they have nothing to offer and the world will become very averse to lies and liars and, not unreasonably, we crave facts.

Thanks Casdon. That's a balanced reply.
Zero deaths was a significant milestone so I guess it was bound to trigger happy emotive responses and positivity from those made that way. And a scientist can surely show that overwhelming emotion too, which is good to know.

It depends on what the topic is Ellianne. On a thread like this you would think that everybody knows that one day without reported deaths is a big milestone, but also realises how fragile it is - it’s just that some people have more positive attitudes than others to acknowledging that fact?

I do think it’s important to fact check though, as even in ‘chat’ posts some people on Gransnet post untrue, even libelous rumours about public figures, and information that has no basis in truth, and we all have a responsibility to call them out when that happens - as long as trustworthy information sources are used to refute what they say.

I not entering into any specific arguments here because I have already said my piece.

What I do find strange on GN is the knee jerk reactions of posters who scurry off to find reports, articles and facts to substantiate their claims. Isn't that type of reaction just as instinctive, and almost as much without thought, as someone coming on with a heartfelt opinion? Especially on a non political, non factual thread?
Just saying, as I don't think anyone on here was saying zero deaths meant the pandemic was over.

Alegrias1

Eh?

Listening to Rory Stewart talking clarifying and debating ideas in the right way he says that to form partnerships around ideas of what is noble, beautiful, fine or good, which he sees as fundamental to our humanity he suggests that, among other things, we must listen and be generous to views that may not be fully articulated. I think the above quote comes into this so I will explain.

You Alegrias1, put words in my mouth and then argued with them. I find this a less than honest attempt to put an argument forward.

I hope that clarifies.

For me I think trust is a big issue. I just don't trust our govt. Why wasn't India on the red list when Pakistan and Bangladesh were? Was that a good decision or our govt playing about to suit their own agenda - trade deals? I work in the care industry, we are told this govt put a protective shield round us and the people we care for - not my experience. Education is a priority, really £50 a child a priority, some people probably got more than that last summer on eat out to help out.

So I suppose that makes me a bit wary or cynical about good news but yes I want good news but I want good news, or bad news, that I can trust.