The dreaded lurgy thread

[smb]

Well, I would prefer to be able to take my mind off the relentless doom and gloom of the corona virus when I spend time on my own website. But, I do risk being accused of having my head in the sand - or worse - if I say nothing and completely ignore the subject.

So here's my take on the war against the virus... And then we can move on to something else, if you please??!

 

Panic slowly...

 

Let's hope that there is still a life - or at least, a job - to come back to in three months from now - when "they" will have to start letting people get back to work - with or without the damn virus.

 

I could well be marooned for ages, onboard the ship where I have been working for the last couple of months. I have no idea when or where I will be able to get off. And I will be coming off pay soon enough - just like most people.

 

I am lucky, in as much as someone will will have to feed me whilst I am still onboard the ship... But how long I will be able to support my kids and and pay my bills is anyone's guess?

 

The world is now in a complete global economic meltdown - and most people seem to think that everything will be alright in a few weeks time. Or in a few months, at worst? Well, I really hope that I am wrong but, if you ask me; the economic impact of this collective madness will far outweigh the massive, directly inflicted human cost of the disease itself. And it is going to be years rather than months before we get back to any semblance of normality - whatever the new "normal" will happen to be, by then...

 

Yes, we do need to stop Covid 19 - but a functioning world economy might be a useful ally in the war against the disease??

 

 

If you must panic - then do it  S - L - O - W - L - Y...!!

 

 

 

 

[smb]

Damn virus!! I just can't get away from it.

So let's fight this thing head-on...

 

The UK Government were on the right track, to begin with...

 

What they should do now is to declare war on the virus.

 

Use their war powers to issue food rationing vouchers. (Electronic ones, in this day and age...)

 

Monitor the movements of all people and enforce a black-out on all know carriers.

 

Sequester as many hotels and UK registered ships - especially ferries and cruise ships - (if there are any left under the UK flag?) - as they need - and turn them into make-shift hospitals.

 

Use all the redundant British flight attendants, hotel staff and passenger ship crews to man the makeshift hospitals... If nothing else - the flight attendants and the ship's crews in particular - all have excellent and comprehensive first-aid training and, they are well-trained in crowd control.

 

Take over large swathes of industry to manufacture the ammunition that they will need... In short, medical supplies, respirators, protective gear (masks, coveralls etc.) - and crematoriums.

 

Draft every unemployed able-bodied person without any meaningful work - and give them something useful to do in the war effort.

 

Get the economy working again, albeit on a war footing - before the country slips into anarchy.

 

Show the world that we are British! The world managed to survive through two world wars... Now the British can show them how to win this one.

 

 

And keep the beer   and the (imported) tea 🍵  flowing... We will need it!

 

 

 

[smb]

Yep! Time for the Air Raid Wardens to come back...

(Checking your temperature and monitoring your every move, this time...)

 

I am sure there will be a few people up for that! It could be a useful job for all of those now surplus Traffic Wardens?!!

[smb]

Philip Stephens in the ft today:

"Closed borders and go-it-alone fiscal stimulus packages do not match the scale of the emergency."

https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/act

I agree with Philip Stephens.

 

China, the USA and Europe, need to take the lead and the whole world needs to work together on this.

This is now a world war - not against each other - but against the virus. And we need to do something fast, in order to prevent a complete melt-down in the world economy.

Damn right... "go-it-alone fiscal stimulus won't help." I would go a stage further than that and say that fiscal stimulus of any kind is a complete waste of money. We should be using that money to pay the millions of unemployed a working salary, so that they can help in the war effort.

And put all those useless carbon-belching cruise ships to a more useful purpose.

[smb]

I agree with social distancing and taking sensible precautions to slow the spread as best we can. But the damn thing is already out there... They are too late - by about two and a half months!! Blind stupidity and panic won't help at this stage of the game.

 

The way everyone is carrying on right now, the 99.9% of the population who are going to actually survive the virus - will find that there is not much of a country left for them when this is all over.

 

So let's get on with it and start "carrying-on" as best we can?

[smb]

During WWII, they were training young men, who these days would probably still be in college or just starting out on their first job - on how to fly Spitfires...

 

Well now some of this idle mob that are lounging around at home and doing their best to crash the internet with all-day streaming and video games should start getting crash courses in nursing and crowd control - or whatever else is needed!

 

The wiz-kids among them can come up with an electronic food and bog-roll voucher system too - if people can't learn how to control their panic buying. (With paper tickets only for the elderly and anyone who can't use a cellphone for whatever reason...)