So how do we feel about Sajid Javid telling us not to ‘cower’ from Covid

JenniferEccles

Oh yes the perpetually offended!
They appear to spend their lives hunting for something and then triumphantly turn to social media to share their outrage!

It was just a comment, a throwaway remark.

Absolutely no need to read too much into it.

So we're in agreement. Ignore the health secretary.

People seem rather offended that people might be offended and we can't be having that!

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. The unexamined government is not worth having. I am not offended by the cowering remark, I am angry and reserve the right to be. A ‘nothing to see here, folks,’ attitude is quite dangerous and I would be alarmed if such posts were in the majority on this thread.

Nezumi65

Lemongrove - my son who is in a group with eight times the death rate doesn’t have any choice to be ‘cautious’. He just has to risk it.

I would expect the health secretary to have some insight into people in his position. It is his job.

Not offended - just furious at lack of understanding of the position this government had put people in through their repeated mishandling of the pandemic.

Let’s just hope their gamble re vaccine resistant strains pays off - otherwise plague island is going to be even less popular worldwide (if that is possible).

My DGS too, come to that and yes, life is unfair for some.They will have to do all they can to stay safe...that’s a given.
We have to remember that millions are not the same though and must start to live life as normally as they can.
If javid had sent your DS a personal message saying that he shouldn't cower from Covid then that would be quite different.

Has anyone on the thread said that they were 'offended' by the word?

People have said that the attitude behind it is insensitive (and clearly Javid either agrees or is insincere in his apology), but I don't think anyone has taken offence.

Yeah he apologised once it was picked up by ITV etc. It’s provided an insight into the policy though. They really do want everyone to get it now.

Similar to the PMs non isolation gaffe.

Rather late he has apologised!!

It gives insight into the way no 10 is thinking. People at risk are expendable.

And before anyone accuses me of cowering I have requested to spend September to December on hospital wards.

here here should have been hear hear flipping predictive text ?

Not the best choice of words, to put it mildly!
Really makes the fact that many peoples mental health has been badly affected seem like he believes the old adage of "pull yourself together" applies.
Why should we have expected anything less from this government?
From BJ's treating the whole thing as if it was a jolly rugger game, with his rather pathetic jokey comments from the start, rather than actually making an impression on how devastating it was likely to be, to several (and no doubt more) members of the cabinet, not forgetting the hanger-on, deciding that they didn't have to stick to the rules, this last comment must really make people feel even worse than they already do!

Not the best choice of words, to put it mildly!
Really makes the fact that many peoples mental health has been badly affected seem like he believes the old adage of "pull yourself together" applies.
Why should we have expected anything less from this government?
From BJ's treating the whole thing as if it was a jolly rugger game, with his rather pathetic jokey comments from the start, rather than actually making an impression on how devastating it was likely to be, to several (and no doubt more) members of the cabinet, not forgetting the hanger-on, deciding that they didn't have to stick to the rules, this last comment must really make people feel even worse than they already do!

Lemongrove - my son who is in a group with eight times the death rate doesn’t have any choice to be ‘cautious’. He just has to risk it.

I would expect the health secretary to have some insight into people in his position. It is his job.

Not offended - just furious at lack of understanding of the position this government had put people in through their repeated mishandling of the pandemic.

Let’s just hope their gamble re vaccine resistant strains pays off - otherwise plague island is going to be even less popular worldwide (if that is possible).

I think the traditional Conservative Party has been brought into disrepute by our present government GG.

Oh yes the perpetually offended!
They appear to spend their lives hunting for something and then triumphantly turn to social media to share their outrage!

It was just a comment, a throwaway remark.

Absolutely no need to read too much into it.

People can only use their “common sense” so far. For example they cannot choose whether their workplace environment, or public buildings, shops and restaurants they use are adequately ventilated, because there is. no requirement for this.

Here Here Lemongrove there are some folks both on here and in real life who actively look for reasons to be offended , especially if it can be pinned on a Conservative!!!

I know exactly what Javid means, and see no problem in saying we shouldn’t cower. As others say, you know when you are needing to be really cautious if you are older or have health issues, but why do so many people now enjoy being offended by a word, is the world so PC ( yes...it’s going that way) that they take everything ‘personally’.
There are many younger and healthy people, millions and millions, who can use their common sense and personal responsibility but still get out and about and enjoy the Summer.

He could have posted he had been advised his infection from covid was less severe and milder because of having the vaccine. There is really no need for the use of this sort of language. Language is important

Perhaps he's suffering from post-covid brain damage...

The Prime Minister was admitted to hospital with it, was he a cowardly custard ?

It is just so random isn't it? No one knows how they are going to 'get' covid. I know people who have been really ill, people who have unfortunately died, people who have had a mild-moderate infection and then people who have had it very mild with very little symptoms at all. The fact is though, Savid Javid is in good health I presume and has good living conditions that aren't overcrowded and good living standards. He doesn't have to go and work in a crowded and unclean working environment and I presume he doesn't have go out into crowded places shopping with those people either. Lets not pretend we all have an 'equal outcome' wrt covid because we don't. That doesn't go to say even with the right conditions you wont react badly to the virus either.

I don't think people have much of a clue wrt people with LDs though.

Other than the word cower? ?

Other than the word cower Which was in my opinion definitely a poor choice, his tweet was encouraging folks to get the vaccine in order to lead a life as close to pre Covid normal as possible.

It’s really not a sensible or realistic statement. For starters it isn’t sensible to assume that vaccination will remain the golden ticket out of this if you allow transmission rates to climb incredibly high. If you wanted to produce a vaccine resistant strain that is exactly what you would do.

And using the word ‘cower’ for anyone who is taking a cautious approach (for whatever reason) is revolting. The health secretary should surely be on the side of those who are clinically vulnerable or who are at increased risk.

It’s only a sensible or realistic statement if you see a good portion of the population as expendable.

We can only have a healthy economy if the population is healthy and the mayhem caused with contact tracing was predictable after “opening up”, with no clear policy in place.
There are, according to ONS, around 385,000 who are suffering from post Covid symptoms, since contracting Covid a year ago, and it is not unreasonable to think that this will increase.
Javid was lucky, and it was crass of him to tweet this.
The signalling from the government is that this infection is not serious, go to crowded, unventilated nightclubs and so on, get infected and get on with your life. It just isn’t so simple, and the NHS may be treating chronic post Covid illnesses for years to come. There are a lot of unknowns about this virus yet.