The Politics of Covid 19

[pulisa]

No I'm serious. Would you have preferred Corbyn ..Seriously? There's far too much choice as to what people can and can't do but imagine the outrage if we were all actually told what to do and put in prison if we disobeyed the rules.

[Lencoboy]

I didn't post it...

My mistake, I meant to respond to Hollow.

[MyNameIsTerry]

No I'm serious. Would you have preferred Corbyn ..Seriously? There's far too much choice as to what people can and can't do but imagine the outrage if we were all actually told what to do and put in prison if we disobeyed the rules.

Thats Labour who still couldn't clearly state their Brexit position into the election campaign after 4 years of dithering over it.

The problem for them was their front bench wanted to cancel it or reluctantly water it down so far as to be pointless. And their heads in the sand over those of us outside of London or their membership. Seriously who cares what 500k members think? To form party policy those 50ok completely matter and should be listened to but outside in the election world those numbers are tiny. They kept saying Labour members voted Remain but forgot the vast majority of Labour voters aren't members and as proven by their disastrous defeat shouldn't have been sacrificed to try to retain London Remain votes and such.

We had the Lib Dems cancel policy, the Tories promising to honour it and a Labour party you didn't know either way. So traditional Labour seats fell to those promising to enact what they voted for previously (something many on all sides tried their best to work out of).

Northern & Midland Leave voters were left having to vote Tory because of this. There is still the Corbyn issue, also very unpopular, but it was more a Brexit election.

[Lencoboy]

No I'm serious. Would you have preferred Corbyn ..Seriously? There's far too much choice as to what people can and can't do but imagine the outrage if we were all actually told what to do and put in prison if we disobeyed the rules.

I completely agree with your last sentence, Pulisa.

I don't think a lot of people in this country quite realise how fortunate they actually are in the grand scheme of things, when it comes to choice and basic human rights, but get all touchy about being denied non-essential things, such as their perennial trips to other countries like Spain this year, which, especially before the 90s, was still a luxury for the vast majority of the population whom even used to consider a trip to the British coast just for a few days a big event!!

Yes we have our problems and injustices, but at least for the most part, the balance is right as far as our policing is concerned, where our 'law' doesn't generally support the 'wade in all guns blazing' tactic, unlike many other countries throughout the world.

And we're definitely far removed from being thrown in jail willy-nilly for the slightest breach of the rules.

[pulisa]

My sister tells me that in Cape Verde people are being locked up for going for runs in the main squares..because they are on lockdown. Not LINO lockdown or PYLON lockdown (please yourself lockdown or not). The police there crack down hard and people know what happens if they break the rules. Of course there are far less people and jails are less overcrowded.

[Lencoboy]

I was talking to this other guy on the phone this morning, who I have known for years, and he was moaning non-stop about having to wear face masks whenever he visits shops and said 'Well, infection rates are still going up anyway so what's the point in even bothering to wear them'. I replied with 'Well, had the wearing of face masks in indoor public places here in England not become mandatory since 24th July, the upward trend in infection rates could have been even greater by now'!!

But unfortunately, he was having none of it, and persisted in his opinionated stubbornness.

BTW, this is that very same person who I had a bit of a disagreement with just prior to last December's GE, who said that the current (Tory) govt are the worst govt he has ever known within his lifetime, but was (and still is) adamant that things would be even worse under Labour!!

For the record, that person in question is only just a few years older than me and doesn't have any form of disability.

What he does have though is a penchant for confrontations and for being a right know-it-all!!

[Lencoboy]

Back to COVID-19. Even though I personally believe that Labour probably would have handled this crisis far better that the current Tory lot, I have a horrible feeling that popular opinion would probably have been the complete opposite, had Labour actually been in power right now, especially as they were hauled over the coals over their perceived handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis in 2001, the the second Iraq war in 2003 (which still to this day remains a subject of much debate and division) and many also (wrongly) believed that they were responsible for 'engineering' the Global Financial Crisis towards the end of the decade, which of course, like this current pandemic, was a global phenomenon that wasn't just UK-specific, nor of UK origin.

And of course, the media like to pander to many people's fears and prejudices.

[Pamplemousse]

You also have to look at who owns the Fourth Estate and their political leanings - the origins of the collapse of the global economy originated in the US thanks to their practice of lending money to people who could ill afford it (so-called 'sub-prime' lending). Whilst Gordon Brown was foolish to de-regulate the banks as much as he did (never trust gamblers and spivs with your cash!) it is conveniently forgotten by his detractors that he was praised for his handling of that disaster the world over by people better qualified to judge than newspaper editors. Instead he's just remembered for "selling all the gold".

[Lencoboy]

You also have to look at who owns the Fourth Estate and their political leanings - the origins of the collapse of the global economy originated in the US thanks to their practice of lending money to people who could ill afford it (so-called 'sub-prime' lending). Whilst Gordon Brown was foolish to de-regulate the banks as much as he did (never trust gamblers and spivs with your cash!) it is conveniently forgotten by his detractors that he was praised for his handling of that disaster the world over by people better qualified to judge than newspaper editors. Instead he's just remembered for "selling all the gold".

And many of Brown and Co's detractors are still to this very day stubbornly adamant that they (New Labour) bankrupted this country in the guise of the Global Financial Crisis and continue to talk bull about their perceived pandering to the likes of benefit scroungers, foreigners, etc as one of the main causes of the crisis in their opinion.

And misinformation/fake news was already a big thing back then in the late 2000s (and before), despite still not being widely acknowledged by the authorities at the time and the terms only entering common parlance around 2016 or so.

And the crisis most certainly had its origins across the pond, despite what all the anti-Labour camps still keep insisting.

[nomorepanic]

This post was reported a couple of times so the video and all further posts quoting it etc have been removed.