The COVID-19 File: Parts 1 and 2
The COVID-19 File: Part 1
In the year 2020, the world was stricken with a deadly virus, originally called a novo coronavirus. Then, as a local epidemic became a global pandemic, it was given the name COVID-19. Originating in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the virus spread worldwide with rapidity and, since there was no known antidote, inevitably the disease was fatal to thousands of people; especially those with compromised immune systems and other underlying health issues. We were seeing history in the making, and following are some candid thoughts from Old Barnsburians.
James Sanderson
Must admit, the Government put the frighteners on everyone some three weeks ago when they went 'all serious and deadly.' You must stay at home if you are vulnerable! So we stay at home. Eventually I got round to thinking about what happens next? The three weeks are up and I still cannot go out anywhere other than a very careful, occasional walk round the block. The weeks will go by and then more after that. How long will this last? Will people get so fed up that [hopefully] on hearing the news that deaths and other cases are falling because of everyone doing the right thing and staying in, will they then begin to venture out more? And maybe do so more frequently? Then what happens if the death tolls start to rise again as a self evident cause of wanting normalcy? Further, more stringent self-isolation? Then what? Money worries, loneliness, depression and a rising suicide rate?
It brings me round in a complete circle to my original gut instinct when the virus first became a major problem: should we let it run its course and keep the economy going? In extremis, staying as we are, will there be fewer jobs and companies left to go back to for the younger population? Will we see raging inflation and a government printing money like there was no tomorrow? Remember Germany's history after the first world war? In 1922, a loaf of bread cost 163 marks. By September 1923, during hyperinflation, the price rose to 1,500,000 marks, and at the peak of hyperinflation in November 1923, a loaf of bread cost 200,000,000,000 marks. I exaggerate of course, but we all know what followed that.
Drastic thinking on my part and there are many reasons why it should not happen like that, and our government with the full force of science behind them, know more than we will ever do. But what of the social costs of constant, recurring, self-isolation and people being only able to take so much of it? Who the hell is going to stay indoors for that length of time when the odds on them catching the virus are not exactly huge and the chances of catching and dying from it are even smaller? How many people died of cancer yesterday? How many people died of flu?
A terrible decision to make I know, but I can see it happening more and more if a vaccine is not found in the near term - which is most likely if one believes the experts. On my walk round the block yesterday young people in pairs were out and about. A family of three were carrying on as normal. And why not? This virus mostly affects the old, infirm and susceptible. Fuck me, that's us. The rare death of someone who is not in that bracket and not on the front line, is not going to stop people eventually doing what comes naturally. We've all seen the news with police patrolling parks, dispersing people who gather. My initial thought was that I didn't know we had that many police to spare, and then I realised that the unintentional bonus of empty streets and closed businesses is less crime.
I've got a garden and there's always something to do there with summer around the corner, but what of people who live in flats and have young families? Add to that, the worries about no money and the problem of how much food is needed or can be got. Will the divorce rate climb? Then again, maybe not. After all, if couples split up where would they go and how would they get there? And would they have the money to do it? Probably not, so would that lead to a rise in domestic violence?
And what about old people on their own? I know of a very old lady who lives on her own and has been taken into hospital for safety because she keeps falling over and only the paramedics are now allowed into her flat, which I believe is in some kind of care facility. She doesn't have COVID-19. Well, at the moment she doesn't.
There is no definitive answer to my rant and, like all of you, I shall carry on as best as possible, but boy, it is starting to get to me already. I snapped at my wife today and she didn't deserve it. Now I'm in the doghouse.
So tell us how you feel, what you think. A social commentary - our social commentary, will be a worthwhile contribution to our website. We've written of our youth, what conditions were like at the various schools we went to. About what we did in the fifties and how our families coped post World War Two. How we enjoyed the freedom of the sixties, unconsciously shaping the future we moved into.
I have always said that our generation was the luckiest ever and nothing has happened to make me change my mind. So, therefore, are we the best equipped to survive this current crisis? As I write this, our prime Minister has just been admitted into hospital, obviously unable to shake the virus off. What happens next, then?
In the year 2020, the world was stricken with a deadly virus, originally called a novo coronavirus. Then, as a local epidemic became a global pandemic, it was given the name COVID-19. Originating in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the virus spread worldwide with rapidity and, since there was no known antidote, inevitably the disease was fatal to thousands of people; especially those with compromised immune systems and other underlying health issues. We were seeing history in the making, and following are some candid thoughts from Old Barnsburians.
James Sanderson
Must admit, the Government put the frighteners on everyone some three weeks ago when they went 'all serious and deadly.' You must stay at home if you are vulnerable! So we stay at home. Eventually I got round to thinking about what happens next? The three weeks are up and I still cannot go out anywhere other than a very careful, occasional walk round the block. The weeks will go by and then more after that. How long will this last? Will people get so fed up that [hopefully] on hearing the news that deaths and other cases are falling because of everyone doing the right thing and staying in, will they then begin to venture out more? And maybe do so more frequently? Then what happens if the death tolls start to rise again as a self evident cause of wanting normalcy? Further, more stringent self-isolation? Then what? Money worries, loneliness, depression and a rising suicide rate?
It brings me round in a complete circle to my original gut instinct when the virus first became a major problem: should we let it run its course and keep the economy going? In extremis, staying as we are, will there be fewer jobs and companies left to go back to for the younger population? Will we see raging inflation and a government printing money like there was no tomorrow? Remember Germany's history after the first world war? In 1922, a loaf of bread cost 163 marks. By September 1923, during hyperinflation, the price rose to 1,500,000 marks, and at the peak of hyperinflation in November 1923, a loaf of bread cost 200,000,000,000 marks. I exaggerate of course, but we all know what followed that.
Drastic thinking on my part and there are many reasons why it should not happen like that, and our government with the full force of science behind them, know more than we will ever do. But what of the social costs of constant, recurring, self-isolation and people being only able to take so much of it? Who the hell is going to stay indoors for that length of time when the odds on them catching the virus are not exactly huge and the chances of catching and dying from it are even smaller? How many people died of cancer yesterday? How many people died of flu?
A terrible decision to make I know, but I can see it happening more and more if a vaccine is not found in the near term - which is most likely if one believes the experts. On my walk round the block yesterday young people in pairs were out and about. A family of three were carrying on as normal. And why not? This virus mostly affects the old, infirm and susceptible. Fuck me, that's us. The rare death of someone who is not in that bracket and not on the front line, is not going to stop people eventually doing what comes naturally. We've all seen the news with police patrolling parks, dispersing people who gather. My initial thought was that I didn't know we had that many police to spare, and then I realised that the unintentional bonus of empty streets and closed businesses is less crime.
I've got a garden and there's always something to do there with summer around the corner, but what of people who live in flats and have young families? Add to that, the worries about no money and the problem of how much food is needed or can be got. Will the divorce rate climb? Then again, maybe not. After all, if couples split up where would they go and how would they get there? And would they have the money to do it? Probably not, so would that lead to a rise in domestic violence?
And what about old people on their own? I know of a very old lady who lives on her own and has been taken into hospital for safety because she keeps falling over and only the paramedics are now allowed into her flat, which I believe is in some kind of care facility. She doesn't have COVID-19. Well, at the moment she doesn't.
There is no definitive answer to my rant and, like all of you, I shall carry on as best as possible, but boy, it is starting to get to me already. I snapped at my wife today and she didn't deserve it. Now I'm in the doghouse.
So tell us how you feel, what you think. A social commentary - our social commentary, will be a worthwhile contribution to our website. We've written of our youth, what conditions were like at the various schools we went to. About what we did in the fifties and how our families coped post World War Two. How we enjoyed the freedom of the sixties, unconsciously shaping the future we moved into.
I have always said that our generation was the luckiest ever and nothing has happened to make me change my mind. So, therefore, are we the best equipped to survive this current crisis? As I write this, our prime Minister has just been admitted into hospital, obviously unable to shake the virus off. What happens next, then?
Keith Morgan in LA
Astute commentary, as always, Mr. Sanderson, and well written, thank you; and I can echo your thoughts from here stateside. I was just at the liquor store picking up some Scotch and a couple packs of cigarettes for my wife and the parking lot was virtually empty. There are four restaurants in that shopping center, they are all struggling to stay in business but still offering deliveries.
I’m still a working stiff, so out among ‘em inspecting buildings, it’s kinda business as ‘semi’ normal for me, other than I have to double up on my protective gear; respirator, surgical gloves, footwear coverings and a full hood-to-foot ‘Tyvek’ hazmat 3-micron jump suit. There are a lot of ‘panicky’ people out there, and one does one’s best to offer a little levity whenever possible.
I am a man of faith (COE, if y’all couldn’t have guessed) and today (Palm Sunday) affected many who would otherwise gather to worship. In quite a few of our states, cities and small town community houses of worship have been banned from conducting services. Also, many or our school districts have suspended classes, which means all the little blighters are confined to their homes.
Other than a couple of families in our neighborhood, one an active duty law enforcement officer (dog handler patrolling schools and universities), and a guy across the street who does IT work and can easily function from home, most are retirees. Our next door neighbor (a local magistrate judge hearing labor law cases) is on limited furlough as her courtroom is shut down.
Above and beyond it all, hope springs eternal; so for now and the foreseeable future it’s ‘stiff upper lip’ and ‘sally forth’, full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes. And FWIW gentlemen, it’s happy hour here (about 6:00 p.m.) on the west coast, and I raise a glass of my favorite tipple (Teachers Highland Cream) to all y’all GOBBs. Continued good health! Stay safe, and be well! . . .
My very Best Regards . . . Keith in LA.
James Sanderson
Great reply and just what I was hoping for. Your reporting of daily life is such a contrast to here. No strolling in to make a purchase - most places are closed anyway. Orderly queues at the supermarkets and two metres between everyone. Person on the door ensuring it is one person out, one person in. Hygienic wipes for the trolley handles and gloves on where possible [plus masks if you have them]. No doubt you have seen this already on TV or on the web. It took us three weeks to get through online to get a delivery slot at Sainsburys so that we can have our food delivered.
As I mentioned, I have been out for a few walks - feeling guilty as I do so, but other than that, it's self-isolation indoors now and for the foreseeable future. Who would have thought it? And do you know what I really miss? The weekend newspapers. Reading them can take me days; now I am re-reading books in my small collection. And in case you are wondering why I can't get my newspapers, I don't have them delivered, buying them forms part of my daily walk at the weekend and, anyway, all the newsagents are shut. I did ask my grandson to get for me a couple of weeks ago, but now it is too much hassle due to the queues and the fact that you are only supposed to go out for essentials like medicine and food. Oh, well.
Once again Keith, many thanks for your reply. It was most welcome. And do keep us up to date with how things progress out there on the west coast. It is history in the making. Kindest Regards, James
Billy Pitt-Jones
Hi Keith
Your description of life in your part of L.A. at this time has pricked my curiosity.
I'm sure the great majority of GoBBs in our circle are as pig ignorant as I am about health care in the U.S.A. We know there is no NHS as we know it in the U.K. We also know that there is medical insurance (like Bupa over here). But what if you have not got a job? What if you can not afford the treatment? What if you cannot afford even the basic insurance? Is there any safety net?
I have heard/read that many discontented employees in America are tied to their jobs for fear of losing the medical insurance cover that the job guarantees.
Having been born into our welfare state and knowing for the last 70 years that - ''Its illness itself (and then only the most serious) that brings fear, not the crippling cost of treatment'' (Aneurin Bevan) - It would horrify me if we lost the NHS. This isn’t a criticism of Uncle Sam, just a reflection of my thoughts so you understand the reasons for my curiosity.
Looking forward to hearing your views, Keith. And above all stay well.
John Tythe
Staying in!? Not me, as I have a job that is essential, testing PPE for the Fire & Rescue Services, but as I work alone, with no physical customer facing interface, I am still isolated. Having just got to 70 on April 1st, you may wonder why I haven’t retired yet – well it pays for cruises!
We did one of the last cruises that went without a hitch, off to the Arctic circle to Alta, northern Norway. The temperature was down to -24°C with the wind chill. A bit of dog sledding and snowmobiling, snowball fights on board ship, with 6” of snow on deck, all good fun! And that was the last time we went out anywhere together.
Four days after we got home, Val developed a cough and felt a bit rough for a week, but she is well once more. Oddly I was unaffected. A cough, a cold, seasonal flu, or the dreaded COVID-19? Who knows, not us, that’s for sure! Though no one seems to get anything other than COVID-19 nowadays.
With the growing number of news leaks about getting the vulnerable to sign their lives away on DNR forms, and the elderly not being offered a place in hospital, let alone a ventilator, we all need to keep ourselves protected from the infected. It’s getting scarier by the day!
Still, on the bright side, it will solve the pension crisis, the housing shortage and care home problems if all the old people pop their clogs, so maybe that’s why the UK seems to be dragging it’s feet a bit. Well, I for one will resist that outcome as much as I can.
Hopefully (but probably not), it will be over by August, as the next cruise is booked for then. The December one may not go ahead either, but with luck we’ll be back in Alta next March and off to Canada on a 24 day cruise in September 2021.
Stay safe & well people.
Roger Bartlett
Hi, Currently, there is no solution to this pandemic, not in China, Europe or the USA.
Staying at home deprives the virus of anyone to attack. We can’t all stay indoors or close to home because of shopping and medical needs, but where necessary stay safe. The alternative, play health roulette, ignore the advice, risk spreading the virus. The downside, like all other countries, nobody was prepared or reacted quick enough.
There are insufficient devices to save us all, if the pandemic gets fully out of control by people thinking their need outweigh others, there is only one realistic solution. Save who you can, and that is not our generation, but obviously the youth. Our generation will be allowed to take our chances at home. Good luck, hope your neighbours and colleagues are listening to advice. If they are, we may yet see 2021.
James Sanderson
Many, many thanks for your reply, it was most welcome. I really don't think it is our generation that will cause future problems. At our time of life, we are much too shrewd to take chances. The younger generation, as ever, think they are immortal and just don't care. In the past we had wars to cull populations, now we have deadly viruses.
After seeing pictures on TV I am glad I am not a member of the sub-continent population, they are so overcrowded and in the big cities, have nowhere to go. Thought: what might happen if the 'western' world recovers and disadvantaged countries experience continued explosions of the virus? The spread beginning its cycle all over again?
Stay healthy and once again, thanks for your reply. Keep us posted if anything occurs that you think we should all know about. Or anything humorous or interesting.
Kindest Regards, James
Billy Pitt-Jones
Thank you James, for sharing your fears and hopes of our current situation in your normal honest and succinct way. I think you have confronted the worries and dark thoughts we have all had about the future, especially for our children. I found this piece about the 1918 'Spanish Flu' pandemic an interesting read.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2018/03-04/history-spanish-flu-pandemic/
To me it highlights the thought process of governments. In those days, wartime censorship could hide the truth of the situation from the people. Nowadays with social media its more difficult to do so.
In those days, doctors, Hospital stays and medicine had to be paid for by the patient. Your average person could not afford it and died at home, unnoticed by the rest of society, who had to to go on earning a living to keep their families from poverty. (No Benefits Systems, no Dole Money). So the 'economy' was not threatened.
Today's 'Lock Downs' are there probably because the world’s Hospital services are doing such a wonderful job.
“Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune the cost of which should be shared by the community.” Aneurin Bevan.
Stay well ...and may your god go with you....(Pinched that bit from the comedian Dave Allen; remember him?)
Martin "Bertie" Worster
Just a short message. I take your comments on board, James. They bring to mind Churchill’s famous dictum, “Keep buggering on “ although not very PC in today’s world, it was true then. Another thought. Our generation are the baby boomers from post war Britain. With 99% + housebound, surely we are in for a second baby boom?
Keep safe and well. With every good wish, Bertie.
James Sanderson
Great to hear from you again. Keep buggering on; love it.
Yes, that is a most pertinent thought. The second baby boom generation.
And why not? Helps to pass the time - if I remember properly.
Because of the nature of the beast, our generation knows the need to behave in the correct manner, but I fear for the young generation, a lot of whom just want to carry on as before.
'Going down the park now, mum. See my mates.'
'OK dear, don't forget to stay well apart.'
One mutation could shift the direction of the virus from the old etc., to everyone. Then we would be well and truly buggered. Doesn't bear thinking about.
You take care and keep in touch. We have a website that chronicles our youth; I want to add to that with one that chronicles our continued good sense in old age.
The 'Stech' Tribute Act
James, You really shouldn’t ask what goes on in my fertile mind, it could unleash worry and suspicion about everything!
My thoughts with this, is much as I thought when AIDS first reared its head. A man modified virus as a weapon that causes no collateral damage. AIDS to try to rid the world of gay people and drug addicts, which to some extent was working, but not enough. It was always known that it would spill over into society. The treatment was there, before its release upon mankind, as it would be a money spinner.
COVID-19 released in China (not by the Chinese) as an experiment to see how a unique and traceable virus, would spread throughout the world and how quickly and how it would affect the world economy.
Human life/death and suffering is of no consequence in this instance, although 80% of people will not suffer any serious effects, as they will be mildly infected & recovered - immune, or not be infected at all. Of the other 20%, 1 – 2 % may not recover. Around 133,00 to 266,000 in the UK, if I’ve done the maths correctly. That’s still a lot of people that won’t be here for much longer. 2020 is going to be a sad year. The figures are what has been suggested in the news outlets over the past few weeks.
It will affect the unlucky who initially & unwittingly caught the virus, the stupid who don’t stay in and their friends and families infected by them. Healthcare and supermarket workers and possibly their families will be amongst those that get infected through no fault of their own. That’s a bit personally concerning, as my step-daughter is a nurse and her whole hospital has COVID-19 patients on all the wards. She & her husband have two young children (our grandchildren). My ex-wife is working at a - and she lives with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, which is all a worry. We can only hope for the best.
I strongly suspect that the treatment for COVID-19 is already in existence, and with a worldwide market who will willingly pay for the ‘Cure. It will rake in huge profits for the big Pharma who manufacture it and will, of course, hold the patents on it. For a successful marketing initiative, millions worldwide will have to first die.
It’s all about potential for war and money. Who started it – well looking at where the cure originates will be a pointer.
Why do I think like this? Well, I reason that if I can think of it, someone out there is already doing it! I don’t think that it will long before we have the troops on the streets and check points restricting our movements.
See what happens when you ask! Take care, stay safe and stay in.
James Sanderson
I appreciate your honesty. Always a good trait in a Barnsbury boy. So what you are saying in essence is that instead of wars, viruses are released to cull the population. And you believe that the cures are already out there? Hmmm. Putting a lot of businesses through the mill for very little gain. After all, what is the main reason for any activity like this? Money. Profit. The 'what's in it for me' syndrome. Surely a 'cure' would be out there now, raking in Billions. Bit pointless otherwise.
I guess the proof will be in the pudding, so we shall wait and see what happens. Obviously I do not agree with you - there are too many ifs and buts.
If I was looking at the bigger picture, I would say that we cannot continue over-populating this beautiful planet of ours. The plastic waste, hell, the human waste and of course, the pollution. Maybe nature automatically installs its own checks and balances. We've only been around for two minutes and look what a mess we have made. So the question is, how long can we carry on like this? How many warnings will we get?
Barry Page
Dear GoBBs worldwide: (06/04/20)
Here in the Great White North, the Canadian authorities, together with the general population, are making a supreme effort to try and ‘flatten the curve.’ Stringent measures were brought into effect quite soon after it was seen that the pandemic was spreading rapidly. Some say not soon enough, but the federal and provincial governments were relatively proactive, given the usual bickering that goes on between the two – issues such as control over natural resources and festering inter-provincial rivalries.
There was a rolling lockdown program that started with non-essential businesses, schools, universities and voluntary closing of manufacturing and retail operations. As time went by, further closures were announced, and only services deemed essential were allowed to continue. Citizens not involved in these activities were strongly recommended to stay at home and exercise self- imposed isolation. The social distancing rule was invoked – not more than two metres (6 feet) between individuals. Eventually groups of more than five were prohibited and, to enforce this, the police and special bylaw officers were empowered to stop and ticket transgressors with a fine of $1,000 (£575.00p) each. Any vehicle found parked in no-go areas were towed away and the owner fined $5,000 (£2,879.00p). Furthermore, several neighbouring provinces and territories were closing their borders to casual travellers – only trucks with goods were allowed across.
The biggest headache was the en masse return of holidaymakers from the sun spots around the world – mainly so called ‘snowbirds’ returning from Florida, Arizona, Texas, Mexico, etc., and, of course, cruise ships. Emergency charter flights were organized, because the airline industry was shutting down most operations, and thousands of Canadians were clamouring for the government to get them home. This was painstaking, but eventually happened over time. Returning ‘snowbirds’ were required to go straight home and enter a 14 day quarantine period. However, there were many who ignored this and stopped en route to the supermarket or even visited friends and relations – not good.
As in other countries, much respect and appreciation has been showered on the front line workers – especially those involved in health care - hospitals, long-term care homes, paramedics and other first responders. Furthermore, there has been a daily televised update given by the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and many other dignitaries and medical experts. This is seen as essential PR work, especially for those locked in isolation with only the TV or Internet to provide news. Today, the PM announced the rolling out of the federal benefits package that pays $2,000 (£1,151.00p) a month to eligible recipients (those laid off, graduating students, etc.), together with other cheques for child and elder support. Billions of dollars are being allocated to these funds. Apparently, applying for these benefits online hasn’t been a problem, and cheques will be sent out by the end of the week. Certain banks and financial institutions are lowering their lending rates and reducing mortgage/credit card interest fees – all to help mitigate monthly expenses.
So, how am I and the missus affected? Well, very little in terms of inconvenience. The weekly supermarket trip and personal banking (I don’t do online banking) are still doable, and social distancing is feasible. We miss visiting restaurants and, with the public library closed, a little hamstrung where reading material is concerned. Otherwise, it’s business as usual, and riding out this storm is not as much as challenge for us as those with families and other responsibilities. H.M. the Queen gave an uplifting speech, and I hope you all derived some solace from it. In a few months time – after it has ended – we will be able to look back at this dark period and know that we have survived.
Best wishes to all, and please stay safe. Barry
Robert Kirkwood
Previous generations were asked to sit in water filled trenches for months on end shared with lice, rats, mortar shells, rotting corpses and the occasional German soldier armed with a rifle and a bayonet.
And now history repeats itself with our generation being asked to sit at home with central heating, feathered pillows, cushioned sofas and clean underpants.
Not sure how long we can put up with this.
Our Queen seems to think we are as resilient as those who came before us. Perhaps she’s right.
We are, after all, a generation hardened by full employment, free education, the NHS, full paid holidays, the dole, and this may be enough deprivation to help us all through the battles to come.
I do occasionally make patrols into No Man's Land looking for food and, at the age of 72, I feel like a soldier ‘sitting on a step ladder wearing a luminous shirt and smoking a fag.'
It’s a risky business this shopping, but armed with perfumed hand wipes, marigold gloves, galoshes and a dusk mask I’ve given myself every chance of survival.
If not, I will at least go out in style.
Alan French
I still think the Government’s message is gravely wrong. They’re saying “stay in to protect the NHS.” That’s a political decision, to appear they care about the NHS. Many people don’t. The message should be “stay in or you could die.”
It would be good if after this is over, Government recognised that the least paid are the ones who are actually keeping any resemblance of an economy going. But they won’t.
The only damage this will do to the economy is to show the obscene wealth gap, and who really matters.
Paul Kenealy
In response to your inclusion of that anonymous entry for the website, I was reminded of something I heard on Radio 4 today.
Apparently David Eyke, that well known conspiracy theory unmasker has been given his own show on London Live, the TV station paid for by the Evening Standard, whose editor is George Osborn.
As the white rabbit said - Curiouser and Curiouser.
Keep well, stay indoors and listen to music, Paul K.
Tony Bernie
There’s far too much to take in for me to have a clear opinion.
What do we know and what are we being told?
For me, I’d like to know who killed JFK, and why were there teams of ‘Israeli builders’ on more than one floor in each of the twin towers for many months pre 9/11.
So, will we ever know the truth behind COVID-19? I’m hugely doubtful.
I’m rambling James, but I’ve probably put my position to you as a disbeliever, therefore:
I don’t believe it’s a bat soup virus.
I don’t believe news from China.
Also I’ve changed by view of late that Islam was my worst fear for our kids/kids future
This virus is the game changer.
I’m coping well thanks, missing personal stuff with my family, though, but catch them up with FaceTime. Stay safe. Tony
Griff Lewis
I hope that despite the outset of this year having the makings of an "annus horribilis", it might settle and that we may put this wretched COVID-19 pandemic behind us.
For my part, my bad year started just into the second week of January. I had been suffering from dizziness and occasional loss of consciousness since last October. Went to Docs, and was admitted to hospital a couple of times and they suggested I might need a pacemaker. But they f*cked around saying they wanted me to have further tests. Well, in the end I was getting nowhere with getting the pacemaker fitted; the hospital and doctor kept saying they wanted to conduct further tests since the times that I was monitored I had no episodes. Well that was until the Saturday in January when I had a really bad episode. I was lucky that the ambulance was local so they got to me in minutes because I lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest. The EMT crew called a paramedic and after some CPR revived me and rushed me to hospital. I understand that I arrested quite a few more times before they got me stabilised by inserting a temporary external pacemaker and ventilator, and put me into an induced coma. It was more than a little frightening for the family as they suggested it would be a good idea if Gareth (our son) came down from Leeds, in case I didn't pull through.
Anyway, I did come out of it and now have permanent pacemaker fitted and have had no further problems, and hopefully back to a normal life again. A lucky escape and all power to NHS; they were bloody marvellous.
The surgeon and anaesthetist were both at home on night off, but they came in to save my life. So don't ever knock the dedication of NHS staff and get out there tonight and give them a big clap.
Having got that behind me, we had a cruise booked to Caribbean and Panama Canal in March to look forward to, but, of course, COVID-19 came on to the scene, and my wife and I had decided that a cruise ship was not the place to be and the prospect of being quarantined in our cabin, balcony or not, was not for us, and were on the point of biting the bullet and cancelling when the cruise company emailed saying they were cancelling the cruise and would refund our money AND give a future cruise credit. So we once again got lucky.
But now here we are virtually quarantined at home, and going from day to day. We spent the first week clearing the clutter from my study and redecorating it. I cleared a whole book case of books, I had intended to take them to our local Oxfam shop, but it is closed. So now they are stuck in the garage.
I also intended to clear out the garage, but the household waste sites (tips) are closed. Thought I would cut the grass, but my green bin is already full, as are my two composting bins and the frigging tips are shut so can't dispose of the cuttings. Took a couple of days washing and waxing and generally poncing up both my wife's car and my own. I have read a few books and gone for a walk each day. We are lucky that just have to cross over the road and we are out onto open fields and woods.
Big day out is taking life into ones hands and going to the supermarket. I did look at trying to get on a list for food deliveries for elderly and vulnerable people, given my diabetes, heart condition and asthma, but got half way through filling in the questionnaire and realised maybe I am not really that bad and abandoned it. However, I am sure that there are some who will have applied with a stubbed toe.
So where do we go from here? More walks, still got about 50 books on my Kindle to read. Got quite a lot of TV progs and films recorded to watch sometime, but can't bring myself to watching TV in the daytime. Well, while the weather is good will have to make do with lazing with a book in the garden and taking afternoon constitutionals over the fields.
The one thing I will be sure to do is try to avoid physical contact with anyone outside of our household until this pestilence is over. I got lucky twice already this year: I don't want to push my luck.
Ramble over, going to sit out in sunshine in front garden as pic.
Stay at home, Protect the NHS, and yourself, Save Lives.
May your God bless you all, Griff
Michael Stewart
I think it gets us nowhere following these wild-eyed conspiracy theories; it just makes matters worse. There is an hour-long documentary on BBC 2 tonight (Thursday) at 9:00 pm which attempts to explain the facts and give us the scientific theories relating to the Coronavirus. The presenters include mathematician Hanna Fry and medical journalist Michael Moseley.
Try and stay sane healthy during these hellish times, Michael
Martin "Bertie" Worster
My personal feeling is that if a member wishes to write an anonymous article then it should not be published. It creates a bad precedence which is not in the spirit of our friendship and camaraderie.
We live in a free and democratic country and, if an article is written, then the author should stand up and be counted and have the courage to append his name to the piece. I see no reason for anonymous articles.
Best wishes and keep well Bertie
James Sanderson
I should clarify matters. It was my suggestion that, as the article was 'a little' different from the norm, it might be better if the person who wrote it kept his name off it. In fact, I asked him if he actually wanted it published or have it just for my eyes only. He replied that he didn't want it published.
Fair enough, but I am one of the editors of our fine magazine and I knew that it would get a few people venting if it was published, so as I wrote earlier, I suggested he could publish it anonymously. Publish and be damned, he replied, bless him.
The Stech Tribute act was added later as he thought it was just the kind of anarchic article that Stech was famous for. No harm was ever intended against the good man's name. Ever.
But let's be honest, it did just what I wanted it to do; get people writing in. Why, you may ask? Because I strongly felt that a matter as serious as COVID-19 deserved coverage as seen from our baby boomer's perspective. Who better, I thought, than us good people getting the worst of it? But getting you lot to tap a few lines into a computer appears to be too much to ask.
So to those of you who have replied, I thank you from the bottom of my proverbial.
Raymond Silk
Well peeps, very interesting times we are going through and an interesting theory from anonymous. Mine is similar. I fail to comprehend how someone in Wuhan ate a bat and within a matter of weeks thousands were dying in Italy and Spain. It seems to me, with my admittedly zero knowledge of viruses, that this could be possible, (but what do I know, I went to Barnsbury). It could be that this virus was 'planted' hence the 'hotspots' around the world, at times not too far apart. The only people who could be happy with how things are at the moment are the environmental lobby, some of them openly say the planet is overpopulated and 'something needs to be done!' Few planes in the sky, no traffic on the road and apparently you can see the Himalayas from India, a good outcome for some. Right or wrong it doesn't matter, just my humble opinion.
Regarding how the government is handling things, I reckon quite well, apart from the virus testing, that is. Imagine if Abbott & Costello (sorry Corbyn) were running the country along with the odious McDonnell? And if that upsets the lefties, it has made my day.
Regarding the 'lockdown', it seems odd that thousands are flying into the country on a daily basis from China and Italy, not to mention the illegals crossing the channel, and all the while we have coppers threatening to arrest a lady for graffiti for putting chalk lines 2 metres apart outside her shop to aid 'social distancing’. And the ridiculous brain dead Chief Constable who wants his officers to rummage down your shopping trolley to make sure you only have 'essential' items. Rant over; everybody stay safe (including my leftie friends).
Paul Kenealy
Hi Griff,
So sorry to hear about your annus horribilis, sounds worrying and great that you have made good progress. The timing; although not good at the time; in retrospect sounds good. If you had gone on the cruise then had the problems, who knows what would happen.
My sister Gillian lost her husband Michael at New Year, but he was older than all of us at 85 and had been in a 'home' for a few months. Another old friend, Les Picking, died this week of multiple problems including Alzheimer's, so not such a shock to his wife, he had been in a home for nearly a year.
All these stories just remind us all how precious our heath is.
Hopefully, when this present problem is over, we all can meet up to congratulate each other for our sensible attitude.
Stay at home, Stay safe, and love your families.
[and later…]
For what it's worth here is my two-penneth regarding our present position. I came from a family where my Mother; God rest her; always voted Tory. In those days you had to be 21 to vote. I was married at 18, old enough to get called up (fortunately National Service had finished by then), old enough to marry but unable to vote. My dad on the other hand having spent 39 - 45 fighting the war had no time for Churchill, so voted Labour in 1945.
I went the way of my mother and voted Tory. In 1968 it must've been Wilson v Heath, Heath lost. By 1970 at age 22 I had bought my first house, having lived in Islington and realised my wife and I had no chance of a council flat, so I worked hard and saved the deposit, I continued to vote Tory, and in March '70 Ted Heath (God save us) got in. We moved into our OWN house in August 1970, one of the baby boom home owners.
Heath then ran the county into the ground, ending up with the three day week. Heath continued in No. 10, playing his piano and sailing his yacht, like Nero who fiddled when Rome burnt. Wilson managed to edge Heath out in '74 to '76 when his useless chancellor James Callaghan took over.
Things went slowly downhill till good ol' Maggie got in in May 1979. She did great things in her first term. Selling us things we already owned; BT, Gas, Electric, Council Houses. How to make money - sell people stuff they already own but don't appreciate it. I will freely admit that as one of the home owning elite I fell for the bait ( except council houses as I didn't have one). When she tried to sell us Water I thought that was the last straw. What next? Fresh Air?
All political careers end in failure, and hers spectacularly failed when her 'grey man' chancellor Major booted her out in 1990. Nobody thought he would last a term, but in '92 he came up against that Welsh wizard Neil Pillock - 'The NEXT Prime Minster.' What a joke, fell in the sea during a publicity shoot. What the hell would he have done for the country.
This is when it all changed for me. 1987, Tony Blair - the new way, the middle way. I have always been a union man, USDAW when I worked in a shop, TGWU when I first started driving a cab, then LTDA, I am still a member although retired. I believe we can all help each other. Tony Blair got a lot of things right in his first two terms. Allowing the Welsh and the Scots to have their own assemblies. Creating the London Mayor (whatever you think of the incumbents, they made a difference).
Then we had the black days of Gordon Brown saving the world from another Crash, Then the coalition and lastly the hung parliament of Cameron, May and Johnson. At least now we have a majority government, whether you voted for them or not. However this history does not explain our current mess.
I blame Wall Street.
Read a book by J K Galbraith - the great crash of 1929 and you will see the genesis of the world's problems. J P Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Leman Brothers and many more. These firms both in 1929 and in 2008 parcelled up their bad loans into bundles to be sold off at a discount to the amount owed. In 1929 it was bundles of shares in failing companies with the backing of the banks, in 2008 it was mortgages on houses sold to people who had no prospect of ever paying them off.
If you want proof of that you only have to go for a walk around our old neighbourhood to see the prices of houses, which in our time would have been dilapidated run down multi-family dwellings, which are now unsaleable, with mortgages which may never be paid.
Who ever spread this virus will probably never be discovered, but it will change our live for ever.
I'm happy to be a 'Leftie'; actually I voted Liberal last two elections. I believe we should all contribute. From those that can - to those that need. Boris Johnson and his new Chancellor have proved that government by the people, for the people is the way forward. I just feel sorry for our grandchildren who will have to foot the bill for many, many years to come.
Stay home, keep well. The good times will return.
Billy Pitt-Jones
I feel blessed. With reasonable health and just the two of us living in a spacious 4 bedroom house with gardens back and front. From my back windows I look through the stand of trees at the farms, fields and rolling countryside of verdant Essex. To the front, across the road I look at my neighbour's beautiful 12 ft. high 'Beech' hedge, which turns a lovely 'Copper' in the winter. In fact, when we purchased the property I had made my mind up before I even inspected the inside.
Living just off the High Street of Ingatestone with its pubs Social/Working mans Community Club, 2 decent sized Supermarkets and a plethora of small shops is very convenient. Fortunately, we have been 'on-line' shopping with a number of the large supermarkets for a few years. So although getting on to the website can be a bit of problem, we are not deprived of very much.
Most of the people living here are 'the well to do' retired on good pensions, or white collar city workers working from home on good salaries. They have all got enough money in the bank to go a good couple of months with no wages. Every Thursday night we stand in our front gardens and clap the good people working in the NHS.
In other words the lockdown has had very little effect on us.
My thoughts are with the people in the densely populated areas of the big city. Those are the people most at risk simply because of the close proximity of their fellow citizens. Those who live in tower blocks and concrete estates with no gardens or open space of their own. Those with young families under their feet and those who cannot visit their elderly relatives. Those in areas with just a small number of food stores but populated a large number of people. Most of all though, those who have lost their jobs and can't afford to buy the food they need. They are the ones suffering the most, and they are probably the ones doing the important menial jobs that keep the hospitals working.
Mickey Isaacs
Well things are trundling on here. Luckily the virus has only hit us in East Sussex in a limited way with 376 cases and 76 deaths. Of course, one death is one too many, but so far we have got off relatively lightly; bearing in mind this includes the towns of Hastings, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Lewes and Seaford (but not Brighton). I suppose compared to London, the density of population is much lower and there is a lot less reliance on public transport. After the initial ludicrous panic buying, supplies of food etc., are good.
Eastbourne normally has large amounts of foreign students coming over to stay in the summer. That of course, has all gone, along with the hotel trade which catered mostly coach parties of elderly people coming from the North. Therefore, our local economy is effectively wrecked and, of course, unlike a factory that can catch up on some production when back working, that trade is lost forever.
There has been a lot of discussion and speculation among ourselves recently but, chewing the cud over, conspiracy theories are a complete waste of time and effort. Investigations into the death of Glen Miller, JFK and the horror of 9/11, have borne little fruit at all. You could be sure that if someone did stumble onto an astonishing fact it would be quickly quashed by the authorities if said fact did not suit them or fit in with the history.
One thing that I hope does come about is the realisation that apart from NHS staff, others too have worth. The Eastern Europeans manning our care homes, Delivery Drivers, Supermarket Workers, Refuse Collectors, Bus Drivers, Posties; a lot of whom earn poverty wages. Makes you wonder if all the CEOs are REALLY worth their astronomical wages?
With the way things are, I would hope that even THIS government would stop trying to dismantle the NHS and pay the people that work in it decently. BUT WILL THEY when the fuss dies down and they think people have forgotten?
Keep safe and best wishes to you and yours, Mickey
Billy Pitt-Jones
I agree with all of that Mick, and ask myself the same question.
Paul Kenealy
Hi Mick, good to hear from you in far away East Sussex.
A good friend of mine, our age, recently moved to Bexhill-on-Sea. He says he and his wife, also our age, are the youngest of their neighbours. He recently sent me this birthday card. All the best, keep well and stay indoors.
Roger Bartlett
All too often I read comments about this government's attempts to dismantle the NHS. Most, not all, are unsupported in fact and are hearsay or politically motivated. I do, however, have some first hand knowledge that drives my views. I worked in the NHS with the Beds and Herts Ambulance Service/East of England Ambulance Service as a High Dependency Ambulance Driver/Attendant, stationed in West Hertfordshire from 2003 to 2010.
Living in Hatfield, we had a Conservative Member of Parliament, a Mr. Evans. As a constituency MP he was as useful as a chocolate teapot. So, along with many other constituency members, I supported the Labour candidate at the next election, Melanie Johnson, who was duly elected.
She was parachuted in as a highflying, young hopeful, full of vigour and promise. As stated, she was successful in unseating Mr. Evans and that was the last we saw of her. She sat in Parliament to the exclusion of her constituency. So, at the next election, the electorate did a U-turn and supported the Conservative candidate; thus unseating the highflying Labour MP.
Here is where my point comes in. Whilst returning a Conservative MP, he sat on the government opposition benches. During Miss Johnson’s short tenure, the Labour government had promised West Herts, and particularly Hatfield, a new Super Hospital, complete with all medical departments represented. This would be the Premier Hospital for Hertfordshire with Watford General and St. Albans City Hospital in support, covering the main arterial routes of A41, A1, A5, A6, A1, A1000, the M1 and the M25.
It was further suggested that in the near future, West Herts and The North and East Herts Trusts could merge into a super, more efficient, Hertfordshire entity; increasing efficiency and cutting back on duplication.
Hope? Or just pie in the sky?
Within months of the Labour high-flyer being unseated, the then Labour Government announced the cancellation of the Super Hospital - a fit of pique or what? In its place was the building of a new extension to Labour held Watford, whose Hospital is next to Watford FC/Saracens ground in the traffic-snarled centre of Watford.
The proposal of a future new, out-of-town Watford Hospital, adjacent the M25 access with the A41, was abandoned in favour of in-town congestion, as the proposed development was too close to a Conservative constituency. At the same time, Hemel Hempstead, a Liberal constituency, had its hospital closed to a diagnostic unit so that funds could be diverted to the Watford extension.
To add further insult, the St. Albans Hospital in a Liberal constituency was reduced to Elected and Minor surgery units with out-patient clinics. Both Hemel Hempstead and St. Albans lost their A&E departments in favour of trekking emergencies through the Watford congestion. (Try gaining access on match days and evenings).
The overall result: the loss of a Super Hospital and the abandonment of an additional Hospital, was the net loss of seventy (70) existing beds, and the loss of two hundred and fifty (250) existing nursing staff and the birth of numerous protest groups.
Labours view of progress.
To add to the misery, Welwyn Garden City Hospital (Cons) was closed in favour of a PPI initiative at Lister Hospital in Stevenage, a Labour seat. (This initiative with a house building group failed after a few years and had to be rescued by the NHS). The Closure further added to the bed and personnel losses in Hertfordshire, along with its A&E department. Our nearest unit is now 20/50 minutes away depending on rush hour traffic.
You would think a caring socialist Government might call it a day with this decimation having been put in place, but no, it continued. Hospital Day-Care units were closed at Hemel, St. Albans, Welwyn Garden City and Welwyn, along with many other hospitals all over the country, in favour of non-existent care in the community.
Every day we ambulance personnel transported 15/20 needy, elderly patients to the day hospital at Hemel with other crews taking slightly less patients to St. Albans. The local authorities catered for similar numbers.
Within the units, five medical staff could cater for all the patients’ needs with direct access to treatment if required. In the community, that number increased to three times that with unqualified, but well meaning carers.
From my perspective, I know from first hand the party that played the biggest roll in damaging the NHS. I lived it, I saw the distress it caused in patients and I learned of the premature deaths of those patients whose only contact with others was via the day hospitals. Whose only contact was reduced from an all-day experience, having their medical and mental welfare catered for, to two ten-minute visits a day.
Throwing money at the NHS is not the answer. Reducing waste, centralising buying to cut costs, letting medical professionals control the medical needs, independent of politician’s interference may be. But cutting back essential services and then blaming the opposition is not one of them. Every Government from Bevan onward has something to answer for, but let’s also be fair in our condemnation and effusive in our praise.
For the record I have played my part over the years in electing a Labour Government, a Conservative Government and even supported a coalition when I felt the extremes of the major parties needed controlling. (That was a mistake, it was like the committee that designed the camel). So, my allegiances are to no political party, but to fair, progressive government. And there is no place for blame for past actions. That is destructive, unless a lesson is learnt and unfortunately, we all know how history has a tendency to repeat itself, because said lessons just aren’t learnt.
Martin "Bertie" Worster
Well documented Roger. Yes the NHS has been a political football since it’s inception. My view is that a successful business man should be put in charge to streamline and cut out the tremendous waste to make it efficient and cost effective ( without privatisation). We should all be extremely thankful for the courage, service and dedication displayed at present by all those committed to beating this awful virus.
Best wishes Bertie.
James Sanderson
Roger, superb article. Unbiased and written by one who has seen it happen.
David Chapman
I am new to this site so I hope you won’t mind me tossing in a few comments so soon!
What Roger has referred to throughout both his thought-provoking pieces regarding the NHS is what I believe is known as managerialism, which was ushered into business and economics in a big way with the advent of monetarism and Margaret Thatcher; alongside globalisation. I understand managerialism to be that which wants to know the price of everything, but in so doing ignores the value of anything. It explains the extraordinary changes which have dogged the work of the NHS throughout its recent history and well highlighted by Roger’s examples, which, I might add, is replicated throughout all public services and professions including local government, police, education, social care and welfare etc.
These services were to be managed by “managers”; people who did not know the value of what they were running. Generally, they weren’t doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, police officers, etc. They did not know the service and its demands and constraints but saw only income and expenditure and balance sheets. When these managers were on occasion drawn from the various professions they were bought off by increased salaries. Rewarding good professional practice was abandoned; earning more money was through the managerial route. This meant leaving professional beliefs and values behind in favour of “budgetary control”; the belief that it is possible to spend less but still maintain and even increase the level of service. Every five years or so there is “re-organisation” which often means returning to methods employed a few years earlier! An unnecessary exercise which meets any challenge with the retort that people can’t accept change. But it does give the manager something to do!
Managerialism was introduced in parallel with the political attack on public services which advocated “small government” and promoting privatisation as good and public services as bad. And many people bought into it propping up the Tory governments for years after 1979. Whole communities which were on the left of centre of politics became, overnight, right of centre. The wholesale privatisation of social housing and other state run services (owned by us all) put money into the pockets of many lucky enough to have some money and/or be in a council house at the right time, without thought for those who would need social housing and care in the future. And so spiralled exponentially over the past forty years the gap between rich and poor, both here and abroad, which in my view is grossly immoral and shaming. What we are left with is a society that values wealth no matter how it is obtained at the expense of a caring community; profit is everything...…...that is until a deadly virus arrived in our midst.
Shortly before lockdown I saw Ken Loach’s most recent film “Sorry I Missed You”, which holds a mirror to our society, brilliantly portraying the trials of a couple trying to raise their two children. Dad works all hours in the gig economy as a delivery driver and mum is a home carer wiping the arses of those who sadly couldn’t do it for themselves. They were at the bottom of the economic heap with no safety net and considered of little value by those in power. Yet, when the virus arrived, these were the very people we needed; CEOs and the gamblers of Paternoster Square were suddenly seen as emperors with no clothes.
Only weeks before said arrival, those political parties supporting nationalisation, public services, etc, were ridiculed as promoting “banana republic economics”. Any swifter moves away from carbon were condemned and any support for free broadband was laughed at. (And how have we looked to that to keep us in touch with each other!) But, with the arrival of our society being threatened and overwhelmed, a Tory hard right government was given no alternative but to introduce those very policies! Never forget, the Tories and many Doctors, had to be carried kicking and screaming into accepting the need for the NHS. Privatisation prioritises investors and profits, not the service. Whilst the Blair government threw money at the NHS, I would hardly call him a Liberal let alone anywhere near a socialist. And along came a virus……..
I for one do not wish to return to “normalcy.” I do wish to bring about a society which values everyone including the planet and its fragile ecosystem. I’m with George Bernard Shaw who argued that we should all be paid the same with everything held in common. If we are genuinely all in it together how can you value one job against another? I’d like to think that a person who wants to be a doctor will work towards being one without the economic motive. But the person who removes our waste is just as important to the maintenance of a civilised society.
Perhaps we need to look at life and its meaning through a different lens, rather than from a purely economic/monetary view. Why do we encourage skilled workers away from poor countries who need them more than we do? Why aren’t we training more workers here instead of “stealing” from our neighbours?
We are all born into, and we are going to leave, this beautiful world of ours. Surely the time between should not be reduced to “having” more than the next person, or our country “having” more than another? Isn’t our short time span here about exploring “being” rather than “having”? We live on a finite planet; unlimited consumption is unattainable. Happiness and harmony can be had without “stuff.” We need an alternative melody to the theme tune we experienced before this virus. Any thoughts?
Michael Stewart
What a great article David wrote. I agree with all of it, especially the part on managerialism. The hiving off of parts of the NHS to private concerns is ruinous and leads to cutting corners and going for the cheapest option much of the time. Surely a more centralised management run mainly by people with a medical background would work better? This article illustrates what I meant by all governments, whoever is in power, should be held to account. Otherwise, how are we to progress? The coronavirus is a great leveller in more senses than one..
Ken Pratley
Hi guys, here is the pandemic story from the "lucky country.” [Australia] So far so good; let's hope it bloody well stays that way.
Watching the virus take hold in China and realising that considerable numbers of Chinese students come to Australia. My wife, Pam, and I thought it would not be long before the virus appeared here. When it did, the government in Canberra would have been just as slow to act as many other governments were. Luckily, the medical advice that they received was insistent in the public domain, and spurred them into action. The state governments took responsibility for organising restrictions in their respective states. A disastrous cockup in NSW caused 700 infections and over 20 deaths across Australia when 2,700 passengers were let loose from the Ruby Princess, a known infected cruise ship. Apart from that incident, the states seem to have done quite well. Here in Western Australia (WA), we have had our own problems with cruise ships and returning Aussies flown in to quarantine in Perth. Considering that the Northern Territory and South Australia had no such problems I think that our state government did pretty well. Probably the only time I will ever say anything good about any government.
Hard borders were put into place both in WA and nationally, and WA was divided up into restricted travel zones, The vast distances, isolated communities, and lack of health facilities would have posed a massive problem if the virus had gained a foothold in remote WA. I had a glimpse of the internal travel controls myself a few days ago when I took the car for a spin to charge up the batteries, as it has been somewhat idle lately. Upon turning onto the Great Eastern Highway a few kilometres from where I live, I was waved into a roadblock manned by police and the military. It was a real Checkpoint Charlie moment as I was questioned as to my reasons for travel. I didn’t have my driver’s license in the car, and they seemed unimpressed when I proffered my local tip pass as evidence that I lived in the area. The cops were called over and went around to the back of the car to check the number plate. I watched them in the mirror as they paid particular attention to a perforation in the number plate that looked remarkably like a bullet hole. I had managed to hole it when attempting to do a three-point turn in a creek bed, and backed up against a tree with spiky bits of branch protruding. However they didn’t comment and let me go when my ownership of the car and residential status were apparently confirmed. A 1,000 dollar fine awaited if they decided that my journey was non-essential.
There was a demonstration against lockdown in Melbourne conducted by a load of selfish bastards defying social distancing measures. Apart from that, however, restrictions seem to have been widely accepted as necessary. Pam and I are lucky as we have a reasonable amount of land to roam around on, and social isolation is mostly the norm for us, so not much has changed. It’s usual for us to go up to the Ningaloo Reef and travel around the Pilbara district at this time of year. So, in spite of being surrounded by bush (open land), we are both experiencing itchy feet and can’t wait to get away. It may be another month until internal travel (which has already been partly extended) lets us get as far as the mid-west and the Pilbara.
As I write this, Australia has been lucky, with fewer than 100 deaths nationally. Restrictions are disappearing, but there have recently been a few outbreaks in the eastern states. So, I hope that caution isn’t thrown to the wind and we start to see the infection rate rise again. If another state of emergency is declared, we could be stuck out in the boondocks and not allowed to travel back home. We probably wouldn’t know anyway, as we don’t have any means of getting information. In the past few years just about every time we we get back we find there is a different prime minister.
The UK seems to be in a terrible mess, but not as bad as the US, where there is an appalling tragedy unfolding. The country is now run by a total **ckwit, who every time he hears something that he doesn’t want to hear, shoots the messenger and ignores the best medical advice. I'm afraid that the train wreck occurring in the US has a long way to go before it’s fully played out.
With the high mortality rate in the UK I have been worried about my sister and her family now living in Blackpool. I speak with her once a week and she says she is managing okay. If things get really out of hand it would be bad news for anyone in the most vulnerable section of the population. I hope the optimism that the UK government are expressing over the present situation isn’t misplaced.
Hopefully, we will soon be swimming, as usual, in the shark infested waters near Exmouth. Then exploring the Pilbara canyons riddled with death adders, whip snakes and king brown snakes (to mention just a few.) However, there’s no way you would get me on a cruise ship these days under any circumstances.
Good luck to everyone and stay safe.
Roger Bartlett
Just had my Sunday evening constantly interrupted by the incessant pinging of incoming mail. I could say the content was interesting, but that would be an exaggeration of the truth as was some of the content. It was more of a disappointment.
Education is a wonderful thing, and I thought Barnsbury did a better than average job, just look at what they had to work with. But like horses and water, it cannot be forced into one. Views can be developed by research and debate, where questions are more powerful than the answers. To force one’s views on others, does nothing but denigrate the intelligence of those you wish to impress, particularly if those views can so easily be countered or proven to be less than truthful or propaganda regurgitated to impress a less intelligent recipient.
We come back to what is the message and who do you wish to impress. If it is laced with fiction dressed up as fact, or a rehash of someone else views, the only clear point is the intelligence, or lack of it, from the perpetrator.
I, for one, thought Barnsbury taught me to listen first, question second, go away and research and then form an opinion. It also taught me that first opinions may not always be those views you move forward with. In fact, most intelligent individuals’ views and opinions constantly change as more and more facts and information becomes available.
That is exactly what will inevitably happen with COVID-19, so there is little point in throwing out accusations at this early juncture in its development.
With regard to political affiliations, I am happy in the knowledge that the majority of the electorate had as good an education as I did. Over the years of our lifetime, free thinking electors have changed governments when the belief and trust in the current incumbent has passed its sell-by date: hence the demise of Atlee, Churchill, Eden, Macmillan, Douglas-Home, Heath, Wilson, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron and May; all of them the person for the hour, but eventually out of time.
The electorate also had the intelligence to see beyond the false promises and rhetoric of extremists along the way. I am, therefore, encouraged that no matter how loud or persistent those peddling extremist views – from either the right or left of politics – will be seen through by the electorate, and the correct government for the time at hand elected.
This could be evidenced by the last election that was fought on one issue but is now having to deal with something completely different whilst still complying with the electorate’s wishes. I think it’s a matter of keep the faith, and common sense will prevail. If not, there will come the chance to change it.
The COVID-19 File: Part 2
James Sanderson, October 2020.
Here we are, six months further along and so far we have not had any virus deaths to report. That’s not to say that someone we knew didn’t (officially) die of it; it’s just that we have not been informed. If it had been one of us, then it is highly unlikely our surviving spouse or partner would really be bothered to make contact, especially when you consider the constant grief that they would be experiencing.
Recently our small crowd of friends, ones that Max and I saw regularly, dined with and took holidays with, was diminished by another death, leaving six from the original eight. He didn’t die of the virus, but seeing again the devastation that it brings to family and friends, plus the fact we couldn’t even go to his funeral, and worse still - thank you Covid-19 - we couldn’t hug or share our tears, it does make me wonder if it is all worth it. Socially distancing, we did manage the six in the room rule so that we could reminisce, laugh and cry, but we cannot even do that now. (October 25th)
So where does that leave us all? The medical teams now know how to handle admissions better, the scientists are still promising miracles tomorrow, and so earnestly, too. The government, in the main, is still contradicting itself on a weekly basis and I am sure that Boris, in spite of having contracted the virus, wouldn’t know a detail if he saw one. The man is a walking platitude. The one bright light is our chancellor who comes across as one who actually knows his brief. Save the economy. Support the jobs, support the population and thus save the United Kingdom. Actually, we’re not so united, are we? But that is a road I do not care to go down right now.
Prior to writing this, I re-read the first Covid-19 article. Supposition became fact. Too much so. Therefore what we now know is, there is no panacea for our situation, although it seems that every modern country in the world is trying to provide one. Jam tomorrow. So should we have kept the economy going as Sweden did? Sacrificed the few for the many? Accepted mankind’s lot and just got on with it? We are a caring society so we did not do that. We try to look after the elderly and the sick, and that is how it should be. But wait a minute, what about the corollary illnesses like depression and anxiety, all caused by the current state of affairs? In doing the right thing have we caused more grief than anyone ever thought possible? The side effects are always the ones that creep up and surprise you. Oooh, didn’t think of that. Neither did most of the worlds’ governments.
Thanks to a lovely summer, Max and I have coped okay. Ventured deep into several nurseries and spent money on the garden that otherwise would have gone on a holiday. The cruise we had booked for May was cancelled and ninety days later we got our money back. We do wonder exactly when will it be safe enough to step back onboard? The thought of spending most of the holiday in a cabin does not amuse. Wouldn’t get our money back then. Another thought: all of the travel companies shares are dirt cheap right now. No surprise there; they are haemorrhaging money and I wonder how many can survive. Some will though and when better times arrive, their share prices will rocket. The profit from those shares should pay for a holiday or two. Caveat: not for the faint hearted.
Autumn will turn to winter and they are talking of a ‘bubble’ Christmas. I doubt it. I seriously doubt it. We are a social animal, we need each other. What government would be foolish enough to even attempt to frighten us into a frugal Christmas? It’s bad enough that the shops and departmental stores will suffer from lost sales in December; the knock-on effect being grief for their employees as their jobs disappear before their eyes. I hope said businesses have been smart enough to develop online windows. Amazon must be making a fortune. Actually, Amazon is making a fortune and I confess that we have most of our food delivered now and I consider it politic that we continue doing so just in case things get worse and there are no slots available due to increased demand. Meaning regular customers get priority.
Along with everyone else, I do not know how this will all end. Or how long it will last. We will continue being careful, but that is no guarantee, is it? We visited our eldest daughter’s home today (the front drive) so that we could see our middle granddaughter who is home from Bristol University after beginning her first year last month. She caught Covid-19 within days of arriving and although the fourteen days have passed, I still kept my distance. A cuddle would have been nice though, but….
Paul Kenealy
As a volunteer at Isabel Hospice in Welwyn Garden City, I can add some personal interest to your article.
The hospice have shut down all their ‘outreach’ services. I am a ‘compassionate neighbour’, which means that I am responsible not only for driving clients to the day services centres in WGC, Waltham Cross, Hoddesdon and Bishops Stortford, but also for visiting clients in their homes, not for any medical reasons, but for company. As soon as Boris told us to ‘stay at home’ the hospice decided to follow suit. We were told in no uncertain terms not to visit our clients. This rule did not forbid use by phone so I, along with many other volunteers, have been contacting our clients on the phone. I volunteered to help the NHS, and also my local pharmacy, but was told by both that as an ‘over 70’ my services were not allowed by the government.
I have to report that five of my clients have sadly died in the past six months. However, none have died of Covid-19. Their ages ranged from 25 to 90 and they all had terminal cancer. I have, like all of us, a reasonably large group of friends and relations. None of them have died of Covid-19. Despite the sad numbers being broadcast on television news every night I am pleased to say that I cannot recall knowing anyone having even a positive test. I suffer from vertigo, and one bout I had in April made me think I was going down with it, so I applied for a test. I had to drive to Stansted Airport to be tested, and I am pleased to say my test came back 48 hours later as negative. I have not had an episode of vertigo since my doctor changed my pills. I do not hide from what is happening, but we are not told how many additional non-Covid deaths there have been since the pandemic first started.
I have not seen my grandchildren in six months. Two live in Ireland which is effectively ‘locked down’. If I fly to Dublin I cannot travel to my son’s house in County Meath, and he and his family cannot travel to Dublin. There is a 5km limit to private travel anywhere in the Republic. I suppose there must be allowances for deliveries of food etc., but travel, even for work is discouraged. Ireland has a lot of toll roads, so Police road blocks are to be seen at them and people are turned back. My other two grandchildren are in Wales and Portsmouth universities. Wales in completely locked down and my grandson in Portsmouth has decided to stay put with his five housemates in their ‘bubble’.
It would seem that our generation, whilst probably being the luckiest in history with no child labour, no wars, a good education, free health care and plenty of choice of jobs etc., are now being ‘locked away’ from our families. I have many friends I go walking with; I have some good neighbours, but I can only sit in the pub with people that I live with, and I live alone, so I may as well stay at home. It seems to me that our so called ‘betters’ (none are elder) do not have any idea how a proper family lives. You don’t socialise with people in your own household, you socialise with friends. You go to the pub to meet your friends or people you occasionally meet. I despair just thinking about when we will get back to ‘Normal.’
Micky Simmonds
Paul, I think you would know, as you are living alone, that you are allowed to visit other people with this silly thing called a bubble. I visit my Son and his family because I am allowed to do this. The thing that does annoy me most is the government are giving out figures which in some cases are probably blatant lies. I know this is something we have never faced before, but this government I feel, are the worst we have had for a lot of years. I always thought that Jeremy Hunt was bad, but I think Matt Hancock is the worst health secretary we have had. He keeps on saying that we have got a world beating track and trace record and no matter what, he will not admit he is wrong. I know a lot of you might disagree and I will not get into an argument over this, because as we know, politics causes lots of rifts. Finally Paul, well done for all the hard work you have done in trying to help those hospices in need.
Barry Page
I reviewed Part One on the BBS website, which elicited many responses. I suppose Part Two could be centred on the ‘second wave’ now scourging the world. Here, in Canada, we’re faring almost as badly regarding casualties as the second wave progresses. Despite warnings from the health authorities, irrational behaviour at the last public holiday (Thanksgiving) caused a spike in positive cases.
It’s fully recognised that social interaction is a basic human trait, but there is also something called Common Sense. Yes, we all like to visit friends and relations. Yes, we all like to congregate in bars, restaurants, at parties, etc. However, sacrifices must be made in order to survive. I know it depends on the individual, and my lifestyle is probably far removed from the average John Q. Public’s family environment, but I think the key is adapting and, in some situations, learning to live without certain conveniences.
The health authorities here in Canada are trying their hardest to balance all kinds of scenarios; from long term care (a major source of concern) to safe schooling practices, and other economy driven situations. Politicians can be a help or a hindrance, but they are also people with human frailties, which we see daily.
My own postscript is that Covid-19 will eventually be conquered, and when it’s all over, the so called ‘new normal’ will be as familiar as the ‘old one.’ We will survive, as our parents did, under even more straightened circumstances.
John Tythe
As the infection rate continues to rise all over the UK, here in the Principality, we are on total lockdown, no meeting people inside, or out. Restricted shopping for essential items only. No eating out, all the pubs are closed, buses on a Sunday Timetable every day, except for Sundays, when there are none!
Our lockdown is only for 17 days, when they will review it, but they are already considering another lockdown in January, (if we ever get out of this one, that is).
I’m still working and as a key worker (testing rubber gloves for the Fire & Rescue Services), I am allowed to travel in and out of locked down areas, which makes it a bit more bearable, or else Val would have me doing more work in the garden. I lost 25lbs over the summer whilst working in the garden, which I needed to lose, but I’ve put on 10lbs since, so it looks like I’m going to be doing a bit more very soon.
As I’ve mentioned in the BT newsletter I write, both Val & I have probably had Covid-19 but don’t know for sure.
Our nursey daughter caught it from a patient, and apart from feeling very exhausted with flu-like aches, recovered. Her family didn’t catch it from her at all. Her best friend, also a nurse, currently has it and has passed it on to her husband and one of her two children. Val’s son has it at the moment – he has been working from home for months, but had to attend a meeting in London, and has brought it home. One of Val’s nurse colleagues caught it. He had said, when asked what PPE he had, replied gloves, mask and a plastic pinny – he died!
Staying away from other people is the answer, but it has to be everyone, everywhere, at the same time, but people won’t do it and so the pandemic will continue, which is a bit of bugger when we went to cruise. Hopefully we will get away in September and get to Canada on board the Arcadia.
Johnny Pearce
(To John Tythe in Wales) Very interesting account although I cannot see people here adhering to the rules of lockdown that you are undergoing. I do not write on here very much but I was interested to read PK’s account. Paul carry on doing your good work; hopefully we will join up one day and catch up. I was sorry to hear about you not being able to see your grandchildren. I am lucky, mine live next door and they are frequently shouting out or calling to us over the garden fence. I remember when we first moved into our little semi in the middle of an industrial estate; not a salubrious area, but a unique little cul-de-sac where the kids play in the street and everybody knows everybody else. People said, OMG that's a bit near to your son????? What do they say now?
We do not mind staying in. I now find that outside it is not that friendly or exciting. I have a lovely garden which takes up a lot of my time and also a few hobbies. I have two wonderful best friends, both from my school days, who seem to look after me.
Well I am finding this part of my life quite interesting, but like all of us, will be glad when it is all over. I wish you all well.
Mickey Isaacs
As ever James's well written item was well worthy of a serious read.
Where I live the virus has almost passed us by, although obviously the restrictions have not. Currently Eastbourne has two people in hospital with the virus, Hastings four.
Being the age we are, I think we must come to terms with the fact that Covid-19 will be with us and most other countries for the rest of our lives in some form or another. My personal opinion is that life has irrevocably changed. Remember Flu and AIDS have never been cured; both are still out there even though we now have medication that can moderate or stop both illnesses.
It is plain that a lot of expertise has been built up in a relatively short time, so the virus is less of a killer than it once was, but nonetheless, it is still a killer, and we gents, are on the front line!!
Some of you might remember our parents talking about pre-war days and saying how things were better (a moot point) and I think people in the future will talk about pre Covid days in the same way. I think that rather like wartime with its many technical developments, the virus has speeded up changes that would have happened anyway; especially in retail and working conditions, and in some cases this is no bad thing, but for others, it has become a disaster
Life for me has carried on much as normal, although with less travel and socialising. My garden and going to the beach and having a swim have been a real boon, although I am not looking forward to the long winter to come. In the words of The Who's song, to a certain extent we are all "Helpless Dancers.”
Good luck all
Ray Silk
There is a "must watch" documentary on BBC2 about the coronavirus on Friday 13th November at 10.00pm.
Two brothers from the Wuhan research centre, where Trump suspects it was engineered, David Wong and Soso Wong were due to get on Flight MH370 that miraculously disappeared. The brothers were the brains behind the development of COVID-19 and the plan to use it as a weapon. Apparently, someone caught wind of their plans and purposefully downed the plane. But...neither of them got on the flight.
What really happened to MH370? Who took it down and was it COVID-19 related?
The documentary is called Two Wongs Don't Make a Flight.
Astute commentary, as always, Mr. Sanderson, and well written, thank you; and I can echo your thoughts from here stateside. I was just at the liquor store picking up some Scotch and a couple packs of cigarettes for my wife and the parking lot was virtually empty. There are four restaurants in that shopping center, they are all struggling to stay in business but still offering deliveries.
I’m still a working stiff, so out among ‘em inspecting buildings, it’s kinda business as ‘semi’ normal for me, other than I have to double up on my protective gear; respirator, surgical gloves, footwear coverings and a full hood-to-foot ‘Tyvek’ hazmat 3-micron jump suit. There are a lot of ‘panicky’ people out there, and one does one’s best to offer a little levity whenever possible.
I am a man of faith (COE, if y’all couldn’t have guessed) and today (Palm Sunday) affected many who would otherwise gather to worship. In quite a few of our states, cities and small town community houses of worship have been banned from conducting services. Also, many or our school districts have suspended classes, which means all the little blighters are confined to their homes.
Other than a couple of families in our neighborhood, one an active duty law enforcement officer (dog handler patrolling schools and universities), and a guy across the street who does IT work and can easily function from home, most are retirees. Our next door neighbor (a local magistrate judge hearing labor law cases) is on limited furlough as her courtroom is shut down.
Above and beyond it all, hope springs eternal; so for now and the foreseeable future it’s ‘stiff upper lip’ and ‘sally forth’, full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes. And FWIW gentlemen, it’s happy hour here (about 6:00 p.m.) on the west coast, and I raise a glass of my favorite tipple (Teachers Highland Cream) to all y’all GOBBs. Continued good health! Stay safe, and be well! . . .
My very Best Regards . . . Keith in LA.
James Sanderson
Great reply and just what I was hoping for. Your reporting of daily life is such a contrast to here. No strolling in to make a purchase - most places are closed anyway. Orderly queues at the supermarkets and two metres between everyone. Person on the door ensuring it is one person out, one person in. Hygienic wipes for the trolley handles and gloves on where possible [plus masks if you have them]. No doubt you have seen this already on TV or on the web. It took us three weeks to get through online to get a delivery slot at Sainsburys so that we can have our food delivered.
As I mentioned, I have been out for a few walks - feeling guilty as I do so, but other than that, it's self-isolation indoors now and for the foreseeable future. Who would have thought it? And do you know what I really miss? The weekend newspapers. Reading them can take me days; now I am re-reading books in my small collection. And in case you are wondering why I can't get my newspapers, I don't have them delivered, buying them forms part of my daily walk at the weekend and, anyway, all the newsagents are shut. I did ask my grandson to get for me a couple of weeks ago, but now it is too much hassle due to the queues and the fact that you are only supposed to go out for essentials like medicine and food. Oh, well.
Once again Keith, many thanks for your reply. It was most welcome. And do keep us up to date with how things progress out there on the west coast. It is history in the making. Kindest Regards, James
Billy Pitt-Jones
Hi Keith
Your description of life in your part of L.A. at this time has pricked my curiosity.
I'm sure the great majority of GoBBs in our circle are as pig ignorant as I am about health care in the U.S.A. We know there is no NHS as we know it in the U.K. We also know that there is medical insurance (like Bupa over here). But what if you have not got a job? What if you can not afford the treatment? What if you cannot afford even the basic insurance? Is there any safety net?
I have heard/read that many discontented employees in America are tied to their jobs for fear of losing the medical insurance cover that the job guarantees.
Having been born into our welfare state and knowing for the last 70 years that - ''Its illness itself (and then only the most serious) that brings fear, not the crippling cost of treatment'' (Aneurin Bevan) - It would horrify me if we lost the NHS. This isn’t a criticism of Uncle Sam, just a reflection of my thoughts so you understand the reasons for my curiosity.
Looking forward to hearing your views, Keith. And above all stay well.
John Tythe
Staying in!? Not me, as I have a job that is essential, testing PPE for the Fire & Rescue Services, but as I work alone, with no physical customer facing interface, I am still isolated. Having just got to 70 on April 1st, you may wonder why I haven’t retired yet – well it pays for cruises!
We did one of the last cruises that went without a hitch, off to the Arctic circle to Alta, northern Norway. The temperature was down to -24°C with the wind chill. A bit of dog sledding and snowmobiling, snowball fights on board ship, with 6” of snow on deck, all good fun! And that was the last time we went out anywhere together.
Four days after we got home, Val developed a cough and felt a bit rough for a week, but she is well once more. Oddly I was unaffected. A cough, a cold, seasonal flu, or the dreaded COVID-19? Who knows, not us, that’s for sure! Though no one seems to get anything other than COVID-19 nowadays.
With the growing number of news leaks about getting the vulnerable to sign their lives away on DNR forms, and the elderly not being offered a place in hospital, let alone a ventilator, we all need to keep ourselves protected from the infected. It’s getting scarier by the day!
Still, on the bright side, it will solve the pension crisis, the housing shortage and care home problems if all the old people pop their clogs, so maybe that’s why the UK seems to be dragging it’s feet a bit. Well, I for one will resist that outcome as much as I can.
Hopefully (but probably not), it will be over by August, as the next cruise is booked for then. The December one may not go ahead either, but with luck we’ll be back in Alta next March and off to Canada on a 24 day cruise in September 2021.
Stay safe & well people.
Roger Bartlett
Hi, Currently, there is no solution to this pandemic, not in China, Europe or the USA.
Staying at home deprives the virus of anyone to attack. We can’t all stay indoors or close to home because of shopping and medical needs, but where necessary stay safe. The alternative, play health roulette, ignore the advice, risk spreading the virus. The downside, like all other countries, nobody was prepared or reacted quick enough.
There are insufficient devices to save us all, if the pandemic gets fully out of control by people thinking their need outweigh others, there is only one realistic solution. Save who you can, and that is not our generation, but obviously the youth. Our generation will be allowed to take our chances at home. Good luck, hope your neighbours and colleagues are listening to advice. If they are, we may yet see 2021.
James Sanderson
Many, many thanks for your reply, it was most welcome. I really don't think it is our generation that will cause future problems. At our time of life, we are much too shrewd to take chances. The younger generation, as ever, think they are immortal and just don't care. In the past we had wars to cull populations, now we have deadly viruses.
After seeing pictures on TV I am glad I am not a member of the sub-continent population, they are so overcrowded and in the big cities, have nowhere to go. Thought: what might happen if the 'western' world recovers and disadvantaged countries experience continued explosions of the virus? The spread beginning its cycle all over again?
Stay healthy and once again, thanks for your reply. Keep us posted if anything occurs that you think we should all know about. Or anything humorous or interesting.
Kindest Regards, James
Billy Pitt-Jones
Thank you James, for sharing your fears and hopes of our current situation in your normal honest and succinct way. I think you have confronted the worries and dark thoughts we have all had about the future, especially for our children. I found this piece about the 1918 'Spanish Flu' pandemic an interesting read.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2018/03-04/history-spanish-flu-pandemic/
To me it highlights the thought process of governments. In those days, wartime censorship could hide the truth of the situation from the people. Nowadays with social media its more difficult to do so.
In those days, doctors, Hospital stays and medicine had to be paid for by the patient. Your average person could not afford it and died at home, unnoticed by the rest of society, who had to to go on earning a living to keep their families from poverty. (No Benefits Systems, no Dole Money). So the 'economy' was not threatened.
Today's 'Lock Downs' are there probably because the world’s Hospital services are doing such a wonderful job.
“Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune the cost of which should be shared by the community.” Aneurin Bevan.
Stay well ...and may your god go with you....(Pinched that bit from the comedian Dave Allen; remember him?)
Martin "Bertie" Worster
Just a short message. I take your comments on board, James. They bring to mind Churchill’s famous dictum, “Keep buggering on “ although not very PC in today’s world, it was true then. Another thought. Our generation are the baby boomers from post war Britain. With 99% + housebound, surely we are in for a second baby boom?
Keep safe and well. With every good wish, Bertie.
James Sanderson
Great to hear from you again. Keep buggering on; love it.
Yes, that is a most pertinent thought. The second baby boom generation.
And why not? Helps to pass the time - if I remember properly.
Because of the nature of the beast, our generation knows the need to behave in the correct manner, but I fear for the young generation, a lot of whom just want to carry on as before.
'Going down the park now, mum. See my mates.'
'OK dear, don't forget to stay well apart.'
One mutation could shift the direction of the virus from the old etc., to everyone. Then we would be well and truly buggered. Doesn't bear thinking about.
You take care and keep in touch. We have a website that chronicles our youth; I want to add to that with one that chronicles our continued good sense in old age.
The 'Stech' Tribute Act
James, You really shouldn’t ask what goes on in my fertile mind, it could unleash worry and suspicion about everything!
My thoughts with this, is much as I thought when AIDS first reared its head. A man modified virus as a weapon that causes no collateral damage. AIDS to try to rid the world of gay people and drug addicts, which to some extent was working, but not enough. It was always known that it would spill over into society. The treatment was there, before its release upon mankind, as it would be a money spinner.
COVID-19 released in China (not by the Chinese) as an experiment to see how a unique and traceable virus, would spread throughout the world and how quickly and how it would affect the world economy.
Human life/death and suffering is of no consequence in this instance, although 80% of people will not suffer any serious effects, as they will be mildly infected & recovered - immune, or not be infected at all. Of the other 20%, 1 – 2 % may not recover. Around 133,00 to 266,000 in the UK, if I’ve done the maths correctly. That’s still a lot of people that won’t be here for much longer. 2020 is going to be a sad year. The figures are what has been suggested in the news outlets over the past few weeks.
It will affect the unlucky who initially & unwittingly caught the virus, the stupid who don’t stay in and their friends and families infected by them. Healthcare and supermarket workers and possibly their families will be amongst those that get infected through no fault of their own. That’s a bit personally concerning, as my step-daughter is a nurse and her whole hospital has COVID-19 patients on all the wards. She & her husband have two young children (our grandchildren). My ex-wife is working at a - and she lives with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, which is all a worry. We can only hope for the best.
I strongly suspect that the treatment for COVID-19 is already in existence, and with a worldwide market who will willingly pay for the ‘Cure. It will rake in huge profits for the big Pharma who manufacture it and will, of course, hold the patents on it. For a successful marketing initiative, millions worldwide will have to first die.
It’s all about potential for war and money. Who started it – well looking at where the cure originates will be a pointer.
Why do I think like this? Well, I reason that if I can think of it, someone out there is already doing it! I don’t think that it will long before we have the troops on the streets and check points restricting our movements.
See what happens when you ask! Take care, stay safe and stay in.
James Sanderson
I appreciate your honesty. Always a good trait in a Barnsbury boy. So what you are saying in essence is that instead of wars, viruses are released to cull the population. And you believe that the cures are already out there? Hmmm. Putting a lot of businesses through the mill for very little gain. After all, what is the main reason for any activity like this? Money. Profit. The 'what's in it for me' syndrome. Surely a 'cure' would be out there now, raking in Billions. Bit pointless otherwise.
I guess the proof will be in the pudding, so we shall wait and see what happens. Obviously I do not agree with you - there are too many ifs and buts.
If I was looking at the bigger picture, I would say that we cannot continue over-populating this beautiful planet of ours. The plastic waste, hell, the human waste and of course, the pollution. Maybe nature automatically installs its own checks and balances. We've only been around for two minutes and look what a mess we have made. So the question is, how long can we carry on like this? How many warnings will we get?
Barry Page
Dear GoBBs worldwide: (06/04/20)
Here in the Great White North, the Canadian authorities, together with the general population, are making a supreme effort to try and ‘flatten the curve.’ Stringent measures were brought into effect quite soon after it was seen that the pandemic was spreading rapidly. Some say not soon enough, but the federal and provincial governments were relatively proactive, given the usual bickering that goes on between the two – issues such as control over natural resources and festering inter-provincial rivalries.
There was a rolling lockdown program that started with non-essential businesses, schools, universities and voluntary closing of manufacturing and retail operations. As time went by, further closures were announced, and only services deemed essential were allowed to continue. Citizens not involved in these activities were strongly recommended to stay at home and exercise self- imposed isolation. The social distancing rule was invoked – not more than two metres (6 feet) between individuals. Eventually groups of more than five were prohibited and, to enforce this, the police and special bylaw officers were empowered to stop and ticket transgressors with a fine of $1,000 (£575.00p) each. Any vehicle found parked in no-go areas were towed away and the owner fined $5,000 (£2,879.00p). Furthermore, several neighbouring provinces and territories were closing their borders to casual travellers – only trucks with goods were allowed across.
The biggest headache was the en masse return of holidaymakers from the sun spots around the world – mainly so called ‘snowbirds’ returning from Florida, Arizona, Texas, Mexico, etc., and, of course, cruise ships. Emergency charter flights were organized, because the airline industry was shutting down most operations, and thousands of Canadians were clamouring for the government to get them home. This was painstaking, but eventually happened over time. Returning ‘snowbirds’ were required to go straight home and enter a 14 day quarantine period. However, there were many who ignored this and stopped en route to the supermarket or even visited friends and relations – not good.
As in other countries, much respect and appreciation has been showered on the front line workers – especially those involved in health care - hospitals, long-term care homes, paramedics and other first responders. Furthermore, there has been a daily televised update given by the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and many other dignitaries and medical experts. This is seen as essential PR work, especially for those locked in isolation with only the TV or Internet to provide news. Today, the PM announced the rolling out of the federal benefits package that pays $2,000 (£1,151.00p) a month to eligible recipients (those laid off, graduating students, etc.), together with other cheques for child and elder support. Billions of dollars are being allocated to these funds. Apparently, applying for these benefits online hasn’t been a problem, and cheques will be sent out by the end of the week. Certain banks and financial institutions are lowering their lending rates and reducing mortgage/credit card interest fees – all to help mitigate monthly expenses.
So, how am I and the missus affected? Well, very little in terms of inconvenience. The weekly supermarket trip and personal banking (I don’t do online banking) are still doable, and social distancing is feasible. We miss visiting restaurants and, with the public library closed, a little hamstrung where reading material is concerned. Otherwise, it’s business as usual, and riding out this storm is not as much as challenge for us as those with families and other responsibilities. H.M. the Queen gave an uplifting speech, and I hope you all derived some solace from it. In a few months time – after it has ended – we will be able to look back at this dark period and know that we have survived.
Best wishes to all, and please stay safe. Barry
Robert Kirkwood
Previous generations were asked to sit in water filled trenches for months on end shared with lice, rats, mortar shells, rotting corpses and the occasional German soldier armed with a rifle and a bayonet.
And now history repeats itself with our generation being asked to sit at home with central heating, feathered pillows, cushioned sofas and clean underpants.
Not sure how long we can put up with this.
Our Queen seems to think we are as resilient as those who came before us. Perhaps she’s right.
We are, after all, a generation hardened by full employment, free education, the NHS, full paid holidays, the dole, and this may be enough deprivation to help us all through the battles to come.
I do occasionally make patrols into No Man's Land looking for food and, at the age of 72, I feel like a soldier ‘sitting on a step ladder wearing a luminous shirt and smoking a fag.'
It’s a risky business this shopping, but armed with perfumed hand wipes, marigold gloves, galoshes and a dusk mask I’ve given myself every chance of survival.
If not, I will at least go out in style.
Alan French
I still think the Government’s message is gravely wrong. They’re saying “stay in to protect the NHS.” That’s a political decision, to appear they care about the NHS. Many people don’t. The message should be “stay in or you could die.”
It would be good if after this is over, Government recognised that the least paid are the ones who are actually keeping any resemblance of an economy going. But they won’t.
The only damage this will do to the economy is to show the obscene wealth gap, and who really matters.
Paul Kenealy
In response to your inclusion of that anonymous entry for the website, I was reminded of something I heard on Radio 4 today.
Apparently David Eyke, that well known conspiracy theory unmasker has been given his own show on London Live, the TV station paid for by the Evening Standard, whose editor is George Osborn.
As the white rabbit said - Curiouser and Curiouser.
Keep well, stay indoors and listen to music, Paul K.
Tony Bernie
There’s far too much to take in for me to have a clear opinion.
What do we know and what are we being told?
For me, I’d like to know who killed JFK, and why were there teams of ‘Israeli builders’ on more than one floor in each of the twin towers for many months pre 9/11.
So, will we ever know the truth behind COVID-19? I’m hugely doubtful.
I’m rambling James, but I’ve probably put my position to you as a disbeliever, therefore:
I don’t believe it’s a bat soup virus.
I don’t believe news from China.
Also I’ve changed by view of late that Islam was my worst fear for our kids/kids future
This virus is the game changer.
I’m coping well thanks, missing personal stuff with my family, though, but catch them up with FaceTime. Stay safe. Tony
Griff Lewis
I hope that despite the outset of this year having the makings of an "annus horribilis", it might settle and that we may put this wretched COVID-19 pandemic behind us.
For my part, my bad year started just into the second week of January. I had been suffering from dizziness and occasional loss of consciousness since last October. Went to Docs, and was admitted to hospital a couple of times and they suggested I might need a pacemaker. But they f*cked around saying they wanted me to have further tests. Well, in the end I was getting nowhere with getting the pacemaker fitted; the hospital and doctor kept saying they wanted to conduct further tests since the times that I was monitored I had no episodes. Well that was until the Saturday in January when I had a really bad episode. I was lucky that the ambulance was local so they got to me in minutes because I lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest. The EMT crew called a paramedic and after some CPR revived me and rushed me to hospital. I understand that I arrested quite a few more times before they got me stabilised by inserting a temporary external pacemaker and ventilator, and put me into an induced coma. It was more than a little frightening for the family as they suggested it would be a good idea if Gareth (our son) came down from Leeds, in case I didn't pull through.
Anyway, I did come out of it and now have permanent pacemaker fitted and have had no further problems, and hopefully back to a normal life again. A lucky escape and all power to NHS; they were bloody marvellous.
The surgeon and anaesthetist were both at home on night off, but they came in to save my life. So don't ever knock the dedication of NHS staff and get out there tonight and give them a big clap.
Having got that behind me, we had a cruise booked to Caribbean and Panama Canal in March to look forward to, but, of course, COVID-19 came on to the scene, and my wife and I had decided that a cruise ship was not the place to be and the prospect of being quarantined in our cabin, balcony or not, was not for us, and were on the point of biting the bullet and cancelling when the cruise company emailed saying they were cancelling the cruise and would refund our money AND give a future cruise credit. So we once again got lucky.
But now here we are virtually quarantined at home, and going from day to day. We spent the first week clearing the clutter from my study and redecorating it. I cleared a whole book case of books, I had intended to take them to our local Oxfam shop, but it is closed. So now they are stuck in the garage.
I also intended to clear out the garage, but the household waste sites (tips) are closed. Thought I would cut the grass, but my green bin is already full, as are my two composting bins and the frigging tips are shut so can't dispose of the cuttings. Took a couple of days washing and waxing and generally poncing up both my wife's car and my own. I have read a few books and gone for a walk each day. We are lucky that just have to cross over the road and we are out onto open fields and woods.
Big day out is taking life into ones hands and going to the supermarket. I did look at trying to get on a list for food deliveries for elderly and vulnerable people, given my diabetes, heart condition and asthma, but got half way through filling in the questionnaire and realised maybe I am not really that bad and abandoned it. However, I am sure that there are some who will have applied with a stubbed toe.
So where do we go from here? More walks, still got about 50 books on my Kindle to read. Got quite a lot of TV progs and films recorded to watch sometime, but can't bring myself to watching TV in the daytime. Well, while the weather is good will have to make do with lazing with a book in the garden and taking afternoon constitutionals over the fields.
The one thing I will be sure to do is try to avoid physical contact with anyone outside of our household until this pestilence is over. I got lucky twice already this year: I don't want to push my luck.
Ramble over, going to sit out in sunshine in front garden as pic.
Stay at home, Protect the NHS, and yourself, Save Lives.
May your God bless you all, Griff
Michael Stewart
I think it gets us nowhere following these wild-eyed conspiracy theories; it just makes matters worse. There is an hour-long documentary on BBC 2 tonight (Thursday) at 9:00 pm which attempts to explain the facts and give us the scientific theories relating to the Coronavirus. The presenters include mathematician Hanna Fry and medical journalist Michael Moseley.
Try and stay sane healthy during these hellish times, Michael
Martin "Bertie" Worster
My personal feeling is that if a member wishes to write an anonymous article then it should not be published. It creates a bad precedence which is not in the spirit of our friendship and camaraderie.
We live in a free and democratic country and, if an article is written, then the author should stand up and be counted and have the courage to append his name to the piece. I see no reason for anonymous articles.
Best wishes and keep well Bertie
James Sanderson
I should clarify matters. It was my suggestion that, as the article was 'a little' different from the norm, it might be better if the person who wrote it kept his name off it. In fact, I asked him if he actually wanted it published or have it just for my eyes only. He replied that he didn't want it published.
Fair enough, but I am one of the editors of our fine magazine and I knew that it would get a few people venting if it was published, so as I wrote earlier, I suggested he could publish it anonymously. Publish and be damned, he replied, bless him.
The Stech Tribute act was added later as he thought it was just the kind of anarchic article that Stech was famous for. No harm was ever intended against the good man's name. Ever.
But let's be honest, it did just what I wanted it to do; get people writing in. Why, you may ask? Because I strongly felt that a matter as serious as COVID-19 deserved coverage as seen from our baby boomer's perspective. Who better, I thought, than us good people getting the worst of it? But getting you lot to tap a few lines into a computer appears to be too much to ask.
So to those of you who have replied, I thank you from the bottom of my proverbial.
Raymond Silk
Well peeps, very interesting times we are going through and an interesting theory from anonymous. Mine is similar. I fail to comprehend how someone in Wuhan ate a bat and within a matter of weeks thousands were dying in Italy and Spain. It seems to me, with my admittedly zero knowledge of viruses, that this could be possible, (but what do I know, I went to Barnsbury). It could be that this virus was 'planted' hence the 'hotspots' around the world, at times not too far apart. The only people who could be happy with how things are at the moment are the environmental lobby, some of them openly say the planet is overpopulated and 'something needs to be done!' Few planes in the sky, no traffic on the road and apparently you can see the Himalayas from India, a good outcome for some. Right or wrong it doesn't matter, just my humble opinion.
Regarding how the government is handling things, I reckon quite well, apart from the virus testing, that is. Imagine if Abbott & Costello (sorry Corbyn) were running the country along with the odious McDonnell? And if that upsets the lefties, it has made my day.
Regarding the 'lockdown', it seems odd that thousands are flying into the country on a daily basis from China and Italy, not to mention the illegals crossing the channel, and all the while we have coppers threatening to arrest a lady for graffiti for putting chalk lines 2 metres apart outside her shop to aid 'social distancing’. And the ridiculous brain dead Chief Constable who wants his officers to rummage down your shopping trolley to make sure you only have 'essential' items. Rant over; everybody stay safe (including my leftie friends).
Paul Kenealy
Hi Griff,
So sorry to hear about your annus horribilis, sounds worrying and great that you have made good progress. The timing; although not good at the time; in retrospect sounds good. If you had gone on the cruise then had the problems, who knows what would happen.
My sister Gillian lost her husband Michael at New Year, but he was older than all of us at 85 and had been in a 'home' for a few months. Another old friend, Les Picking, died this week of multiple problems including Alzheimer's, so not such a shock to his wife, he had been in a home for nearly a year.
All these stories just remind us all how precious our heath is.
Hopefully, when this present problem is over, we all can meet up to congratulate each other for our sensible attitude.
Stay at home, Stay safe, and love your families.
[and later…]
For what it's worth here is my two-penneth regarding our present position. I came from a family where my Mother; God rest her; always voted Tory. In those days you had to be 21 to vote. I was married at 18, old enough to get called up (fortunately National Service had finished by then), old enough to marry but unable to vote. My dad on the other hand having spent 39 - 45 fighting the war had no time for Churchill, so voted Labour in 1945.
I went the way of my mother and voted Tory. In 1968 it must've been Wilson v Heath, Heath lost. By 1970 at age 22 I had bought my first house, having lived in Islington and realised my wife and I had no chance of a council flat, so I worked hard and saved the deposit, I continued to vote Tory, and in March '70 Ted Heath (God save us) got in. We moved into our OWN house in August 1970, one of the baby boom home owners.
Heath then ran the county into the ground, ending up with the three day week. Heath continued in No. 10, playing his piano and sailing his yacht, like Nero who fiddled when Rome burnt. Wilson managed to edge Heath out in '74 to '76 when his useless chancellor James Callaghan took over.
Things went slowly downhill till good ol' Maggie got in in May 1979. She did great things in her first term. Selling us things we already owned; BT, Gas, Electric, Council Houses. How to make money - sell people stuff they already own but don't appreciate it. I will freely admit that as one of the home owning elite I fell for the bait ( except council houses as I didn't have one). When she tried to sell us Water I thought that was the last straw. What next? Fresh Air?
All political careers end in failure, and hers spectacularly failed when her 'grey man' chancellor Major booted her out in 1990. Nobody thought he would last a term, but in '92 he came up against that Welsh wizard Neil Pillock - 'The NEXT Prime Minster.' What a joke, fell in the sea during a publicity shoot. What the hell would he have done for the country.
This is when it all changed for me. 1987, Tony Blair - the new way, the middle way. I have always been a union man, USDAW when I worked in a shop, TGWU when I first started driving a cab, then LTDA, I am still a member although retired. I believe we can all help each other. Tony Blair got a lot of things right in his first two terms. Allowing the Welsh and the Scots to have their own assemblies. Creating the London Mayor (whatever you think of the incumbents, they made a difference).
Then we had the black days of Gordon Brown saving the world from another Crash, Then the coalition and lastly the hung parliament of Cameron, May and Johnson. At least now we have a majority government, whether you voted for them or not. However this history does not explain our current mess.
I blame Wall Street.
Read a book by J K Galbraith - the great crash of 1929 and you will see the genesis of the world's problems. J P Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Leman Brothers and many more. These firms both in 1929 and in 2008 parcelled up their bad loans into bundles to be sold off at a discount to the amount owed. In 1929 it was bundles of shares in failing companies with the backing of the banks, in 2008 it was mortgages on houses sold to people who had no prospect of ever paying them off.
If you want proof of that you only have to go for a walk around our old neighbourhood to see the prices of houses, which in our time would have been dilapidated run down multi-family dwellings, which are now unsaleable, with mortgages which may never be paid.
Who ever spread this virus will probably never be discovered, but it will change our live for ever.
I'm happy to be a 'Leftie'; actually I voted Liberal last two elections. I believe we should all contribute. From those that can - to those that need. Boris Johnson and his new Chancellor have proved that government by the people, for the people is the way forward. I just feel sorry for our grandchildren who will have to foot the bill for many, many years to come.
Stay home, keep well. The good times will return.
Billy Pitt-Jones
I feel blessed. With reasonable health and just the two of us living in a spacious 4 bedroom house with gardens back and front. From my back windows I look through the stand of trees at the farms, fields and rolling countryside of verdant Essex. To the front, across the road I look at my neighbour's beautiful 12 ft. high 'Beech' hedge, which turns a lovely 'Copper' in the winter. In fact, when we purchased the property I had made my mind up before I even inspected the inside.
Living just off the High Street of Ingatestone with its pubs Social/Working mans Community Club, 2 decent sized Supermarkets and a plethora of small shops is very convenient. Fortunately, we have been 'on-line' shopping with a number of the large supermarkets for a few years. So although getting on to the website can be a bit of problem, we are not deprived of very much.
Most of the people living here are 'the well to do' retired on good pensions, or white collar city workers working from home on good salaries. They have all got enough money in the bank to go a good couple of months with no wages. Every Thursday night we stand in our front gardens and clap the good people working in the NHS.
In other words the lockdown has had very little effect on us.
My thoughts are with the people in the densely populated areas of the big city. Those are the people most at risk simply because of the close proximity of their fellow citizens. Those who live in tower blocks and concrete estates with no gardens or open space of their own. Those with young families under their feet and those who cannot visit their elderly relatives. Those in areas with just a small number of food stores but populated a large number of people. Most of all though, those who have lost their jobs and can't afford to buy the food they need. They are the ones suffering the most, and they are probably the ones doing the important menial jobs that keep the hospitals working.
Mickey Isaacs
Well things are trundling on here. Luckily the virus has only hit us in East Sussex in a limited way with 376 cases and 76 deaths. Of course, one death is one too many, but so far we have got off relatively lightly; bearing in mind this includes the towns of Hastings, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Lewes and Seaford (but not Brighton). I suppose compared to London, the density of population is much lower and there is a lot less reliance on public transport. After the initial ludicrous panic buying, supplies of food etc., are good.
Eastbourne normally has large amounts of foreign students coming over to stay in the summer. That of course, has all gone, along with the hotel trade which catered mostly coach parties of elderly people coming from the North. Therefore, our local economy is effectively wrecked and, of course, unlike a factory that can catch up on some production when back working, that trade is lost forever.
There has been a lot of discussion and speculation among ourselves recently but, chewing the cud over, conspiracy theories are a complete waste of time and effort. Investigations into the death of Glen Miller, JFK and the horror of 9/11, have borne little fruit at all. You could be sure that if someone did stumble onto an astonishing fact it would be quickly quashed by the authorities if said fact did not suit them or fit in with the history.
One thing that I hope does come about is the realisation that apart from NHS staff, others too have worth. The Eastern Europeans manning our care homes, Delivery Drivers, Supermarket Workers, Refuse Collectors, Bus Drivers, Posties; a lot of whom earn poverty wages. Makes you wonder if all the CEOs are REALLY worth their astronomical wages?
With the way things are, I would hope that even THIS government would stop trying to dismantle the NHS and pay the people that work in it decently. BUT WILL THEY when the fuss dies down and they think people have forgotten?
Keep safe and best wishes to you and yours, Mickey
Billy Pitt-Jones
I agree with all of that Mick, and ask myself the same question.
Paul Kenealy
Hi Mick, good to hear from you in far away East Sussex.
A good friend of mine, our age, recently moved to Bexhill-on-Sea. He says he and his wife, also our age, are the youngest of their neighbours. He recently sent me this birthday card. All the best, keep well and stay indoors.
Roger Bartlett
All too often I read comments about this government's attempts to dismantle the NHS. Most, not all, are unsupported in fact and are hearsay or politically motivated. I do, however, have some first hand knowledge that drives my views. I worked in the NHS with the Beds and Herts Ambulance Service/East of England Ambulance Service as a High Dependency Ambulance Driver/Attendant, stationed in West Hertfordshire from 2003 to 2010.
Living in Hatfield, we had a Conservative Member of Parliament, a Mr. Evans. As a constituency MP he was as useful as a chocolate teapot. So, along with many other constituency members, I supported the Labour candidate at the next election, Melanie Johnson, who was duly elected.
She was parachuted in as a highflying, young hopeful, full of vigour and promise. As stated, she was successful in unseating Mr. Evans and that was the last we saw of her. She sat in Parliament to the exclusion of her constituency. So, at the next election, the electorate did a U-turn and supported the Conservative candidate; thus unseating the highflying Labour MP.
Here is where my point comes in. Whilst returning a Conservative MP, he sat on the government opposition benches. During Miss Johnson’s short tenure, the Labour government had promised West Herts, and particularly Hatfield, a new Super Hospital, complete with all medical departments represented. This would be the Premier Hospital for Hertfordshire with Watford General and St. Albans City Hospital in support, covering the main arterial routes of A41, A1, A5, A6, A1, A1000, the M1 and the M25.
It was further suggested that in the near future, West Herts and The North and East Herts Trusts could merge into a super, more efficient, Hertfordshire entity; increasing efficiency and cutting back on duplication.
Hope? Or just pie in the sky?
Within months of the Labour high-flyer being unseated, the then Labour Government announced the cancellation of the Super Hospital - a fit of pique or what? In its place was the building of a new extension to Labour held Watford, whose Hospital is next to Watford FC/Saracens ground in the traffic-snarled centre of Watford.
The proposal of a future new, out-of-town Watford Hospital, adjacent the M25 access with the A41, was abandoned in favour of in-town congestion, as the proposed development was too close to a Conservative constituency. At the same time, Hemel Hempstead, a Liberal constituency, had its hospital closed to a diagnostic unit so that funds could be diverted to the Watford extension.
To add further insult, the St. Albans Hospital in a Liberal constituency was reduced to Elected and Minor surgery units with out-patient clinics. Both Hemel Hempstead and St. Albans lost their A&E departments in favour of trekking emergencies through the Watford congestion. (Try gaining access on match days and evenings).
The overall result: the loss of a Super Hospital and the abandonment of an additional Hospital, was the net loss of seventy (70) existing beds, and the loss of two hundred and fifty (250) existing nursing staff and the birth of numerous protest groups.
Labours view of progress.
To add to the misery, Welwyn Garden City Hospital (Cons) was closed in favour of a PPI initiative at Lister Hospital in Stevenage, a Labour seat. (This initiative with a house building group failed after a few years and had to be rescued by the NHS). The Closure further added to the bed and personnel losses in Hertfordshire, along with its A&E department. Our nearest unit is now 20/50 minutes away depending on rush hour traffic.
You would think a caring socialist Government might call it a day with this decimation having been put in place, but no, it continued. Hospital Day-Care units were closed at Hemel, St. Albans, Welwyn Garden City and Welwyn, along with many other hospitals all over the country, in favour of non-existent care in the community.
Every day we ambulance personnel transported 15/20 needy, elderly patients to the day hospital at Hemel with other crews taking slightly less patients to St. Albans. The local authorities catered for similar numbers.
Within the units, five medical staff could cater for all the patients’ needs with direct access to treatment if required. In the community, that number increased to three times that with unqualified, but well meaning carers.
From my perspective, I know from first hand the party that played the biggest roll in damaging the NHS. I lived it, I saw the distress it caused in patients and I learned of the premature deaths of those patients whose only contact with others was via the day hospitals. Whose only contact was reduced from an all-day experience, having their medical and mental welfare catered for, to two ten-minute visits a day.
Throwing money at the NHS is not the answer. Reducing waste, centralising buying to cut costs, letting medical professionals control the medical needs, independent of politician’s interference may be. But cutting back essential services and then blaming the opposition is not one of them. Every Government from Bevan onward has something to answer for, but let’s also be fair in our condemnation and effusive in our praise.
For the record I have played my part over the years in electing a Labour Government, a Conservative Government and even supported a coalition when I felt the extremes of the major parties needed controlling. (That was a mistake, it was like the committee that designed the camel). So, my allegiances are to no political party, but to fair, progressive government. And there is no place for blame for past actions. That is destructive, unless a lesson is learnt and unfortunately, we all know how history has a tendency to repeat itself, because said lessons just aren’t learnt.
Martin "Bertie" Worster
Well documented Roger. Yes the NHS has been a political football since it’s inception. My view is that a successful business man should be put in charge to streamline and cut out the tremendous waste to make it efficient and cost effective ( without privatisation). We should all be extremely thankful for the courage, service and dedication displayed at present by all those committed to beating this awful virus.
Best wishes Bertie.
James Sanderson
Roger, superb article. Unbiased and written by one who has seen it happen.
David Chapman
I am new to this site so I hope you won’t mind me tossing in a few comments so soon!
What Roger has referred to throughout both his thought-provoking pieces regarding the NHS is what I believe is known as managerialism, which was ushered into business and economics in a big way with the advent of monetarism and Margaret Thatcher; alongside globalisation. I understand managerialism to be that which wants to know the price of everything, but in so doing ignores the value of anything. It explains the extraordinary changes which have dogged the work of the NHS throughout its recent history and well highlighted by Roger’s examples, which, I might add, is replicated throughout all public services and professions including local government, police, education, social care and welfare etc.
These services were to be managed by “managers”; people who did not know the value of what they were running. Generally, they weren’t doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, police officers, etc. They did not know the service and its demands and constraints but saw only income and expenditure and balance sheets. When these managers were on occasion drawn from the various professions they were bought off by increased salaries. Rewarding good professional practice was abandoned; earning more money was through the managerial route. This meant leaving professional beliefs and values behind in favour of “budgetary control”; the belief that it is possible to spend less but still maintain and even increase the level of service. Every five years or so there is “re-organisation” which often means returning to methods employed a few years earlier! An unnecessary exercise which meets any challenge with the retort that people can’t accept change. But it does give the manager something to do!
Managerialism was introduced in parallel with the political attack on public services which advocated “small government” and promoting privatisation as good and public services as bad. And many people bought into it propping up the Tory governments for years after 1979. Whole communities which were on the left of centre of politics became, overnight, right of centre. The wholesale privatisation of social housing and other state run services (owned by us all) put money into the pockets of many lucky enough to have some money and/or be in a council house at the right time, without thought for those who would need social housing and care in the future. And so spiralled exponentially over the past forty years the gap between rich and poor, both here and abroad, which in my view is grossly immoral and shaming. What we are left with is a society that values wealth no matter how it is obtained at the expense of a caring community; profit is everything...…...that is until a deadly virus arrived in our midst.
Shortly before lockdown I saw Ken Loach’s most recent film “Sorry I Missed You”, which holds a mirror to our society, brilliantly portraying the trials of a couple trying to raise their two children. Dad works all hours in the gig economy as a delivery driver and mum is a home carer wiping the arses of those who sadly couldn’t do it for themselves. They were at the bottom of the economic heap with no safety net and considered of little value by those in power. Yet, when the virus arrived, these were the very people we needed; CEOs and the gamblers of Paternoster Square were suddenly seen as emperors with no clothes.
Only weeks before said arrival, those political parties supporting nationalisation, public services, etc, were ridiculed as promoting “banana republic economics”. Any swifter moves away from carbon were condemned and any support for free broadband was laughed at. (And how have we looked to that to keep us in touch with each other!) But, with the arrival of our society being threatened and overwhelmed, a Tory hard right government was given no alternative but to introduce those very policies! Never forget, the Tories and many Doctors, had to be carried kicking and screaming into accepting the need for the NHS. Privatisation prioritises investors and profits, not the service. Whilst the Blair government threw money at the NHS, I would hardly call him a Liberal let alone anywhere near a socialist. And along came a virus……..
I for one do not wish to return to “normalcy.” I do wish to bring about a society which values everyone including the planet and its fragile ecosystem. I’m with George Bernard Shaw who argued that we should all be paid the same with everything held in common. If we are genuinely all in it together how can you value one job against another? I’d like to think that a person who wants to be a doctor will work towards being one without the economic motive. But the person who removes our waste is just as important to the maintenance of a civilised society.
Perhaps we need to look at life and its meaning through a different lens, rather than from a purely economic/monetary view. Why do we encourage skilled workers away from poor countries who need them more than we do? Why aren’t we training more workers here instead of “stealing” from our neighbours?
We are all born into, and we are going to leave, this beautiful world of ours. Surely the time between should not be reduced to “having” more than the next person, or our country “having” more than another? Isn’t our short time span here about exploring “being” rather than “having”? We live on a finite planet; unlimited consumption is unattainable. Happiness and harmony can be had without “stuff.” We need an alternative melody to the theme tune we experienced before this virus. Any thoughts?
Michael Stewart
What a great article David wrote. I agree with all of it, especially the part on managerialism. The hiving off of parts of the NHS to private concerns is ruinous and leads to cutting corners and going for the cheapest option much of the time. Surely a more centralised management run mainly by people with a medical background would work better? This article illustrates what I meant by all governments, whoever is in power, should be held to account. Otherwise, how are we to progress? The coronavirus is a great leveller in more senses than one..
Ken Pratley
Hi guys, here is the pandemic story from the "lucky country.” [Australia] So far so good; let's hope it bloody well stays that way.
Watching the virus take hold in China and realising that considerable numbers of Chinese students come to Australia. My wife, Pam, and I thought it would not be long before the virus appeared here. When it did, the government in Canberra would have been just as slow to act as many other governments were. Luckily, the medical advice that they received was insistent in the public domain, and spurred them into action. The state governments took responsibility for organising restrictions in their respective states. A disastrous cockup in NSW caused 700 infections and over 20 deaths across Australia when 2,700 passengers were let loose from the Ruby Princess, a known infected cruise ship. Apart from that incident, the states seem to have done quite well. Here in Western Australia (WA), we have had our own problems with cruise ships and returning Aussies flown in to quarantine in Perth. Considering that the Northern Territory and South Australia had no such problems I think that our state government did pretty well. Probably the only time I will ever say anything good about any government.
Hard borders were put into place both in WA and nationally, and WA was divided up into restricted travel zones, The vast distances, isolated communities, and lack of health facilities would have posed a massive problem if the virus had gained a foothold in remote WA. I had a glimpse of the internal travel controls myself a few days ago when I took the car for a spin to charge up the batteries, as it has been somewhat idle lately. Upon turning onto the Great Eastern Highway a few kilometres from where I live, I was waved into a roadblock manned by police and the military. It was a real Checkpoint Charlie moment as I was questioned as to my reasons for travel. I didn’t have my driver’s license in the car, and they seemed unimpressed when I proffered my local tip pass as evidence that I lived in the area. The cops were called over and went around to the back of the car to check the number plate. I watched them in the mirror as they paid particular attention to a perforation in the number plate that looked remarkably like a bullet hole. I had managed to hole it when attempting to do a three-point turn in a creek bed, and backed up against a tree with spiky bits of branch protruding. However they didn’t comment and let me go when my ownership of the car and residential status were apparently confirmed. A 1,000 dollar fine awaited if they decided that my journey was non-essential.
There was a demonstration against lockdown in Melbourne conducted by a load of selfish bastards defying social distancing measures. Apart from that, however, restrictions seem to have been widely accepted as necessary. Pam and I are lucky as we have a reasonable amount of land to roam around on, and social isolation is mostly the norm for us, so not much has changed. It’s usual for us to go up to the Ningaloo Reef and travel around the Pilbara district at this time of year. So, in spite of being surrounded by bush (open land), we are both experiencing itchy feet and can’t wait to get away. It may be another month until internal travel (which has already been partly extended) lets us get as far as the mid-west and the Pilbara.
As I write this, Australia has been lucky, with fewer than 100 deaths nationally. Restrictions are disappearing, but there have recently been a few outbreaks in the eastern states. So, I hope that caution isn’t thrown to the wind and we start to see the infection rate rise again. If another state of emergency is declared, we could be stuck out in the boondocks and not allowed to travel back home. We probably wouldn’t know anyway, as we don’t have any means of getting information. In the past few years just about every time we we get back we find there is a different prime minister.
The UK seems to be in a terrible mess, but not as bad as the US, where there is an appalling tragedy unfolding. The country is now run by a total **ckwit, who every time he hears something that he doesn’t want to hear, shoots the messenger and ignores the best medical advice. I'm afraid that the train wreck occurring in the US has a long way to go before it’s fully played out.
With the high mortality rate in the UK I have been worried about my sister and her family now living in Blackpool. I speak with her once a week and she says she is managing okay. If things get really out of hand it would be bad news for anyone in the most vulnerable section of the population. I hope the optimism that the UK government are expressing over the present situation isn’t misplaced.
Hopefully, we will soon be swimming, as usual, in the shark infested waters near Exmouth. Then exploring the Pilbara canyons riddled with death adders, whip snakes and king brown snakes (to mention just a few.) However, there’s no way you would get me on a cruise ship these days under any circumstances.
Good luck to everyone and stay safe.
Roger Bartlett
Just had my Sunday evening constantly interrupted by the incessant pinging of incoming mail. I could say the content was interesting, but that would be an exaggeration of the truth as was some of the content. It was more of a disappointment.
Education is a wonderful thing, and I thought Barnsbury did a better than average job, just look at what they had to work with. But like horses and water, it cannot be forced into one. Views can be developed by research and debate, where questions are more powerful than the answers. To force one’s views on others, does nothing but denigrate the intelligence of those you wish to impress, particularly if those views can so easily be countered or proven to be less than truthful or propaganda regurgitated to impress a less intelligent recipient.
We come back to what is the message and who do you wish to impress. If it is laced with fiction dressed up as fact, or a rehash of someone else views, the only clear point is the intelligence, or lack of it, from the perpetrator.
I, for one, thought Barnsbury taught me to listen first, question second, go away and research and then form an opinion. It also taught me that first opinions may not always be those views you move forward with. In fact, most intelligent individuals’ views and opinions constantly change as more and more facts and information becomes available.
That is exactly what will inevitably happen with COVID-19, so there is little point in throwing out accusations at this early juncture in its development.
With regard to political affiliations, I am happy in the knowledge that the majority of the electorate had as good an education as I did. Over the years of our lifetime, free thinking electors have changed governments when the belief and trust in the current incumbent has passed its sell-by date: hence the demise of Atlee, Churchill, Eden, Macmillan, Douglas-Home, Heath, Wilson, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron and May; all of them the person for the hour, but eventually out of time.
The electorate also had the intelligence to see beyond the false promises and rhetoric of extremists along the way. I am, therefore, encouraged that no matter how loud or persistent those peddling extremist views – from either the right or left of politics – will be seen through by the electorate, and the correct government for the time at hand elected.
This could be evidenced by the last election that was fought on one issue but is now having to deal with something completely different whilst still complying with the electorate’s wishes. I think it’s a matter of keep the faith, and common sense will prevail. If not, there will come the chance to change it.
The COVID-19 File: Part 2
James Sanderson, October 2020.
Here we are, six months further along and so far we have not had any virus deaths to report. That’s not to say that someone we knew didn’t (officially) die of it; it’s just that we have not been informed. If it had been one of us, then it is highly unlikely our surviving spouse or partner would really be bothered to make contact, especially when you consider the constant grief that they would be experiencing.
Recently our small crowd of friends, ones that Max and I saw regularly, dined with and took holidays with, was diminished by another death, leaving six from the original eight. He didn’t die of the virus, but seeing again the devastation that it brings to family and friends, plus the fact we couldn’t even go to his funeral, and worse still - thank you Covid-19 - we couldn’t hug or share our tears, it does make me wonder if it is all worth it. Socially distancing, we did manage the six in the room rule so that we could reminisce, laugh and cry, but we cannot even do that now. (October 25th)
So where does that leave us all? The medical teams now know how to handle admissions better, the scientists are still promising miracles tomorrow, and so earnestly, too. The government, in the main, is still contradicting itself on a weekly basis and I am sure that Boris, in spite of having contracted the virus, wouldn’t know a detail if he saw one. The man is a walking platitude. The one bright light is our chancellor who comes across as one who actually knows his brief. Save the economy. Support the jobs, support the population and thus save the United Kingdom. Actually, we’re not so united, are we? But that is a road I do not care to go down right now.
Prior to writing this, I re-read the first Covid-19 article. Supposition became fact. Too much so. Therefore what we now know is, there is no panacea for our situation, although it seems that every modern country in the world is trying to provide one. Jam tomorrow. So should we have kept the economy going as Sweden did? Sacrificed the few for the many? Accepted mankind’s lot and just got on with it? We are a caring society so we did not do that. We try to look after the elderly and the sick, and that is how it should be. But wait a minute, what about the corollary illnesses like depression and anxiety, all caused by the current state of affairs? In doing the right thing have we caused more grief than anyone ever thought possible? The side effects are always the ones that creep up and surprise you. Oooh, didn’t think of that. Neither did most of the worlds’ governments.
Thanks to a lovely summer, Max and I have coped okay. Ventured deep into several nurseries and spent money on the garden that otherwise would have gone on a holiday. The cruise we had booked for May was cancelled and ninety days later we got our money back. We do wonder exactly when will it be safe enough to step back onboard? The thought of spending most of the holiday in a cabin does not amuse. Wouldn’t get our money back then. Another thought: all of the travel companies shares are dirt cheap right now. No surprise there; they are haemorrhaging money and I wonder how many can survive. Some will though and when better times arrive, their share prices will rocket. The profit from those shares should pay for a holiday or two. Caveat: not for the faint hearted.
Autumn will turn to winter and they are talking of a ‘bubble’ Christmas. I doubt it. I seriously doubt it. We are a social animal, we need each other. What government would be foolish enough to even attempt to frighten us into a frugal Christmas? It’s bad enough that the shops and departmental stores will suffer from lost sales in December; the knock-on effect being grief for their employees as their jobs disappear before their eyes. I hope said businesses have been smart enough to develop online windows. Amazon must be making a fortune. Actually, Amazon is making a fortune and I confess that we have most of our food delivered now and I consider it politic that we continue doing so just in case things get worse and there are no slots available due to increased demand. Meaning regular customers get priority.
Along with everyone else, I do not know how this will all end. Or how long it will last. We will continue being careful, but that is no guarantee, is it? We visited our eldest daughter’s home today (the front drive) so that we could see our middle granddaughter who is home from Bristol University after beginning her first year last month. She caught Covid-19 within days of arriving and although the fourteen days have passed, I still kept my distance. A cuddle would have been nice though, but….
Paul Kenealy
As a volunteer at Isabel Hospice in Welwyn Garden City, I can add some personal interest to your article.
The hospice have shut down all their ‘outreach’ services. I am a ‘compassionate neighbour’, which means that I am responsible not only for driving clients to the day services centres in WGC, Waltham Cross, Hoddesdon and Bishops Stortford, but also for visiting clients in their homes, not for any medical reasons, but for company. As soon as Boris told us to ‘stay at home’ the hospice decided to follow suit. We were told in no uncertain terms not to visit our clients. This rule did not forbid use by phone so I, along with many other volunteers, have been contacting our clients on the phone. I volunteered to help the NHS, and also my local pharmacy, but was told by both that as an ‘over 70’ my services were not allowed by the government.
I have to report that five of my clients have sadly died in the past six months. However, none have died of Covid-19. Their ages ranged from 25 to 90 and they all had terminal cancer. I have, like all of us, a reasonably large group of friends and relations. None of them have died of Covid-19. Despite the sad numbers being broadcast on television news every night I am pleased to say that I cannot recall knowing anyone having even a positive test. I suffer from vertigo, and one bout I had in April made me think I was going down with it, so I applied for a test. I had to drive to Stansted Airport to be tested, and I am pleased to say my test came back 48 hours later as negative. I have not had an episode of vertigo since my doctor changed my pills. I do not hide from what is happening, but we are not told how many additional non-Covid deaths there have been since the pandemic first started.
I have not seen my grandchildren in six months. Two live in Ireland which is effectively ‘locked down’. If I fly to Dublin I cannot travel to my son’s house in County Meath, and he and his family cannot travel to Dublin. There is a 5km limit to private travel anywhere in the Republic. I suppose there must be allowances for deliveries of food etc., but travel, even for work is discouraged. Ireland has a lot of toll roads, so Police road blocks are to be seen at them and people are turned back. My other two grandchildren are in Wales and Portsmouth universities. Wales in completely locked down and my grandson in Portsmouth has decided to stay put with his five housemates in their ‘bubble’.
It would seem that our generation, whilst probably being the luckiest in history with no child labour, no wars, a good education, free health care and plenty of choice of jobs etc., are now being ‘locked away’ from our families. I have many friends I go walking with; I have some good neighbours, but I can only sit in the pub with people that I live with, and I live alone, so I may as well stay at home. It seems to me that our so called ‘betters’ (none are elder) do not have any idea how a proper family lives. You don’t socialise with people in your own household, you socialise with friends. You go to the pub to meet your friends or people you occasionally meet. I despair just thinking about when we will get back to ‘Normal.’
Micky Simmonds
Paul, I think you would know, as you are living alone, that you are allowed to visit other people with this silly thing called a bubble. I visit my Son and his family because I am allowed to do this. The thing that does annoy me most is the government are giving out figures which in some cases are probably blatant lies. I know this is something we have never faced before, but this government I feel, are the worst we have had for a lot of years. I always thought that Jeremy Hunt was bad, but I think Matt Hancock is the worst health secretary we have had. He keeps on saying that we have got a world beating track and trace record and no matter what, he will not admit he is wrong. I know a lot of you might disagree and I will not get into an argument over this, because as we know, politics causes lots of rifts. Finally Paul, well done for all the hard work you have done in trying to help those hospices in need.
Barry Page
I reviewed Part One on the BBS website, which elicited many responses. I suppose Part Two could be centred on the ‘second wave’ now scourging the world. Here, in Canada, we’re faring almost as badly regarding casualties as the second wave progresses. Despite warnings from the health authorities, irrational behaviour at the last public holiday (Thanksgiving) caused a spike in positive cases.
It’s fully recognised that social interaction is a basic human trait, but there is also something called Common Sense. Yes, we all like to visit friends and relations. Yes, we all like to congregate in bars, restaurants, at parties, etc. However, sacrifices must be made in order to survive. I know it depends on the individual, and my lifestyle is probably far removed from the average John Q. Public’s family environment, but I think the key is adapting and, in some situations, learning to live without certain conveniences.
The health authorities here in Canada are trying their hardest to balance all kinds of scenarios; from long term care (a major source of concern) to safe schooling practices, and other economy driven situations. Politicians can be a help or a hindrance, but they are also people with human frailties, which we see daily.
My own postscript is that Covid-19 will eventually be conquered, and when it’s all over, the so called ‘new normal’ will be as familiar as the ‘old one.’ We will survive, as our parents did, under even more straightened circumstances.
John Tythe
As the infection rate continues to rise all over the UK, here in the Principality, we are on total lockdown, no meeting people inside, or out. Restricted shopping for essential items only. No eating out, all the pubs are closed, buses on a Sunday Timetable every day, except for Sundays, when there are none!
Our lockdown is only for 17 days, when they will review it, but they are already considering another lockdown in January, (if we ever get out of this one, that is).
I’m still working and as a key worker (testing rubber gloves for the Fire & Rescue Services), I am allowed to travel in and out of locked down areas, which makes it a bit more bearable, or else Val would have me doing more work in the garden. I lost 25lbs over the summer whilst working in the garden, which I needed to lose, but I’ve put on 10lbs since, so it looks like I’m going to be doing a bit more very soon.
As I’ve mentioned in the BT newsletter I write, both Val & I have probably had Covid-19 but don’t know for sure.
Our nursey daughter caught it from a patient, and apart from feeling very exhausted with flu-like aches, recovered. Her family didn’t catch it from her at all. Her best friend, also a nurse, currently has it and has passed it on to her husband and one of her two children. Val’s son has it at the moment – he has been working from home for months, but had to attend a meeting in London, and has brought it home. One of Val’s nurse colleagues caught it. He had said, when asked what PPE he had, replied gloves, mask and a plastic pinny – he died!
Staying away from other people is the answer, but it has to be everyone, everywhere, at the same time, but people won’t do it and so the pandemic will continue, which is a bit of bugger when we went to cruise. Hopefully we will get away in September and get to Canada on board the Arcadia.
Johnny Pearce
(To John Tythe in Wales) Very interesting account although I cannot see people here adhering to the rules of lockdown that you are undergoing. I do not write on here very much but I was interested to read PK’s account. Paul carry on doing your good work; hopefully we will join up one day and catch up. I was sorry to hear about you not being able to see your grandchildren. I am lucky, mine live next door and they are frequently shouting out or calling to us over the garden fence. I remember when we first moved into our little semi in the middle of an industrial estate; not a salubrious area, but a unique little cul-de-sac where the kids play in the street and everybody knows everybody else. People said, OMG that's a bit near to your son????? What do they say now?
We do not mind staying in. I now find that outside it is not that friendly or exciting. I have a lovely garden which takes up a lot of my time and also a few hobbies. I have two wonderful best friends, both from my school days, who seem to look after me.
Well I am finding this part of my life quite interesting, but like all of us, will be glad when it is all over. I wish you all well.
Mickey Isaacs
As ever James's well written item was well worthy of a serious read.
Where I live the virus has almost passed us by, although obviously the restrictions have not. Currently Eastbourne has two people in hospital with the virus, Hastings four.
Being the age we are, I think we must come to terms with the fact that Covid-19 will be with us and most other countries for the rest of our lives in some form or another. My personal opinion is that life has irrevocably changed. Remember Flu and AIDS have never been cured; both are still out there even though we now have medication that can moderate or stop both illnesses.
It is plain that a lot of expertise has been built up in a relatively short time, so the virus is less of a killer than it once was, but nonetheless, it is still a killer, and we gents, are on the front line!!
Some of you might remember our parents talking about pre-war days and saying how things were better (a moot point) and I think people in the future will talk about pre Covid days in the same way. I think that rather like wartime with its many technical developments, the virus has speeded up changes that would have happened anyway; especially in retail and working conditions, and in some cases this is no bad thing, but for others, it has become a disaster
Life for me has carried on much as normal, although with less travel and socialising. My garden and going to the beach and having a swim have been a real boon, although I am not looking forward to the long winter to come. In the words of The Who's song, to a certain extent we are all "Helpless Dancers.”
Good luck all
Ray Silk
There is a "must watch" documentary on BBC2 about the coronavirus on Friday 13th November at 10.00pm.
Two brothers from the Wuhan research centre, where Trump suspects it was engineered, David Wong and Soso Wong were due to get on Flight MH370 that miraculously disappeared. The brothers were the brains behind the development of COVID-19 and the plan to use it as a weapon. Apparently, someone caught wind of their plans and purposefully downed the plane. But...neither of them got on the flight.
What really happened to MH370? Who took it down and was it COVID-19 related?
The documentary is called Two Wongs Don't Make a Flight.
The following are comments made by members when vaccinations began in earnest.
29th January 2021
Ken Clover
Hi James, just recovering from covid which nearly put me in a wooden overcoat. Doctors worked on me for nine hours in A&E on a trolly, then I stayed in a ward for four days on full oxygen. It’s damaged my left lung and attacked my kidneys and I still have trouble breathing, but not as bad as before. Doctors say it will take six months to a year for me to recover properly. Good news today is I tested negative, so now I can book my vaccine. Take care all you gobbs, this virus is a killer.
Griff Lewis
Yayyyyyyyy, got my covid jab appointment for next Wednesday
Micky Isaacs
To be honest I still haven't decided whether to have it or not. I don't like the messing around with the intervals between doses (against the makers recommendation). Also there is talk afoot of having the first one dose with one type of vaccine and the second with a different one, if there are availability problems, which does not sound right to me. Of course, the other unknown is the long term effects. We cannot possibly know what the reactions will be in (say) three years time simply because neither the vaccine or the virus have been around for that long. By the way, I am not a conspiracy theorist, or an anti-vaxer, but it all seems very rushed to me.
Anyway my concerns are academic at the moment as our local CCG has not even started vaccinating yet. Good luck all
Paul Lomas
I am with Micky on this one & I have already seen reports of the side effects so it’s a no from me as it’s been rushed through & there is also no compensation if things go wrong, I do wish you all well.
Roger Bartlett
Hi, in our youth the health scare was Polio, the vaccine lowered the contagion rate to that minimal numbers. Iron lungs are almost unheard of now. Then came Mumps, Measles, Rubella and Meningitis. All have had their effectiveness reduced by vaccines. Why would the medical profession want to make us worse off? If by refusing the vaccine, would you also refuse hospitalisation should you get it? If only to save the NHS who are already stretched? I wonder?
Terry Plumb
I agree with Roger. I have had the vaccine. The development of the vaccine did not start from scratch. A lot of work had been done on the SARS virus which is a relative to Covid. Big thanks to all the volunteers who were brave enough to take part in the trials. We are lucky to live in a country where we can all freely choose. My daughter’s friends partner died last week of Covid; he was forty-eight years old. I feel for us to get back to anything near normal, if only for our children’s and grandchildren’s sake, it was a decision I was happy to make. And it was my decision solely, so if anything went wrong, neither I nor my family would be looking for compensation.
Alan Dawson
Had my jab on Wednesday, few side affects, headache and aching limbs. Not a lot to put up with, especially considering our age bracket. It beats the alternative, should you be unfortunate to get the dreaded virus.
Stay safe and well everyone, we all need to be at the next reunion.
Paul Tully
Had my first injection yesterday. Felt a slight scratch as the needle went in. I have experienced none of the possible after effects that you are told you might have to contend with. There was a very small dot of blood on the cotton wool pad that is taped to the needles’ point of entry - no transfusion was necessary. So all in all, I think them and me did very well.
In the nineties I had a hernia operation. The repair using gauze was not available to me because although AMERICA had been using this method for some time, for us to use a new method it had to be used/tested for fifteen years. Back to the Covid vaccine. Could it be that the speed it has been brought in and used, is because it is very closely related to the flu vaccine that we have all been having for years and just needs a slight tweak here and there and so avoids the fifteen-year testing period?
I think that it is a good thing.
Alan Weyman
Got my first vaccine at 20.10 tonight. The Pfizer one. Hope all keep safe and Covid free. Until enough have the vaccine this lockdown is not going to end. It’s not doing much for our mental health, either.
Ken Clover
Well done Alan, how I survived this virus is down to the two doctors in A&E that fought for my life for nine hours, pumping steroids on a drip in me, and then full oxygen for four days in a ward. I owe my life to them and will thank them when it’s safe to do so, they are heroes to me. Take care all of you gobbs 👍
John Tythe
A friend of ours went for her vaccine jab yesterday and was asked a shed load of questions about allergies and was told she couldn’t have it as it was the Pfizer vaccine. She was told to go back to her GP and get them to book her an Astra-Zeneca one. In the meantime we’re still waiting for the Wales NHS to give us a call! Happy jabbing.
Leslie Wallage
Firstly, I think I may have had this virus the last week of 2019, the whole of January 2020, and for about two to three weeks of February 2020. I had a really bad cough, could not taste my food, lost 21lbs in weight. I did manage to get to see a Medical Nurse who prescribed a blue inhaler to "help" with the cough. I used that for two days only as it seemed to make the cough worse. Secondly, as some of you may already know, I have my vaccination on Monday 1st February, so I am not against vaccines. I also had my flu jab last September. I do not want to be seen as a killjoy, or doom monger, but I must point out that this vaccine still might not stop people catching the virus, or spreading it. It has not been tested long enough for Doctors and Scientists to know.
Paul Lomas
I am a vaccine doubter and according to James, a mug, and I can’t believe the number of you that have gone along with this scam. The media & government have been lying and I would like to ask how many of you have carried out research? I locked down for months until I started to carry out my own research and thankfully I woke up from this nightmare, but unfortunately things will never be going back to normal & I doubt if any of you will ever be shaking hands again as the elbow greeting is now here to stay the same as social distancing. Please feel free to try to convince me that I am wrong and rather than call me names let’s be grown up and have a debate. I would like to invite anyone of you to debate me on a live radio show that I am involved in, as I have enough evidence to show that this is a scamdemic. Come on lads, who will be the first to come onto the live show to debate with me. All the best to those that have had the vaccine, but please do not put your fear onto me.
Billy Pitt-Jones
I don't quite understand what you are arguing about. You state that you are a vaccine doubter, but don't say why. But then veer off that subject to berate the merits of the measures the government has imposed on us to help prevent the Hospitals from being over whelmed. Then you give us a list of the things the vaccine has not done. My point is, the mass vaccine 'roll - out' has only just started. So logic tells me the vaccine cannot be held responsible for some thing that happened before it was developed. Or have I misread your email?
Roger Bartlett
Hi all the vaccine does is to try and save lives, mainly ours because of our age. I was disappointed to find that it did not include a location chip. It means they will never be able to find me if I get lost. If you listened to all the conspiracy theories and scare mongering ,we will never survive beyond yesterday.
Michael Stewart
This virus is not the only menace that's infecting the world. So-called 'social media' is another plague with its viral misinformation and crack-brained conspiracy theories. These days I fail to see anything good in it at all; millions of gullible people being fed crap by blokes probably inventing it for a laugh. Look at what happened at the Capitol building? It’s deadly dangerous. People are addicted to it like a drug; a friend of mine actually believes the world is flat because he is told so by one of these sites. If this virus is a scam are we meant to believe that the scientists are in it together with doctors, the people world-wide who produce the virus, all the chemists involved in the process, the press in every country, not to mention the politicians? Some conspiracy!
Chris. Zindilis
My wife and I also had the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week. We suffered no after effects at all. I believe we have made the right choice under these terrible circumstances, which I believe gives us the edge and a chance of survival, than not having it and put our lives at risk.
This is my thinking behind my decision to have had the vaccine and in no way would I want to try to persuade any of you that my way and my choosing is the right way. I just want to share my story with you all as to why I chose to have the vaccine.
It might be very difficult to comprehend that the very first Corona family viruses go back to about 8000BC. It was only until science and technology came into play that the 'Corona' word itself - which comes from the Greek word - which translates 'Crown,' because of it's shape, like the Sun shaped Crown. I believe that it was named so because of it's shape, like our sun and its flares.
From 1965 these kind of round shaped viruses, have been identified and classified by their scientific name as Corona, and have been catalogued since the 1960's. But in those early days it was of a very completely different type of a viruses, similar to the common cold strain and since then all different kinds of viruses that have appeared during the years, have been catalogued under the Corona heading and this is why this dangerous one we have now as the pandemic one is catalogued and it's known as number 19.
Another deadly virus was the Sars one and then Ebola, which are as deadly as this one and have been around for some years now. They have similarities and lots of research has been done over the years which has already helped the scientists to understand better the Covid 19 virus.
I took a lot of time to read all about the testing and the production of the vaccine in a very serious and comprehensive way and also read most of the writings from all different virologist and of some of the top professor's reviews and personal views on the subject, and these new vaccines give us a chance and an edge at fighting this terrible virus; they are no more dangerous than the old type of vaccines like flu jab and all the other vaccines that have been developed over the years that have saved lives and have served us well since then and now all over the world.
I read in some of our GOBB'S emails pointing out your concerns about the speed that these vaccines have been produced.
Well, as we all know, traditionally producing a vaccine it's a slow process. I remember listening on tv at the joint Commons and Lords national security strategy committee speech last October, Sir Patrick Vallance saying that before Covid, it took an average of about 10 years to develop a completely new vaccine, with the process never before achieved in less than about five years.
So you may ask; how has it been possible to develop vaccines against Covid-19 in less than a year? A key consideration was funding – public and private cash which has been poured into the race for a Covid vaccine, pushing aside the usual financial concerns facing pharmaceutical companies for many years in waiting to get funding. What’s more, demand and urgency were high.
The fact that governments pre-bought the vaccines, meant that because of the present situation, people could take greater risks with what they did at an earlier stage of the process without having to take one step at a time. These were the spoken words by Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
We know that traditionally, the old type vaccines were developed by weakening, or killing a virus, or by producing part of the virus in the lab. However this was time consuming.
Instead, both the Oxford University/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines were already ahead in development using different “platform technologies” that involve slotting genetic material from the virus into a tried and tested delivery package. Once introduced into the human body this genetic material is used by the protein-making machinery in our cells to churn out the coronavirus “spike protein”, triggering an immune response.
This approach was aided by the speed at which scientists in China identified and shared the genetic sequence of the previous Sars and Ebola and the new coronavirus, work that was already under way on other coronaviruses. But while such platform technologies are a non-traditional approach, that does not mean they are untested.
I am not saying that with the aid of the vaccine our lives will be back to normal. No, far from it. But my belief is that the these modern vaccines gives us a chance and a light at the end of the tunnel, as they say. This virus is going to be with us for a long time and we have to adjust our lives and learn to live with it; like the common cold, and with booster jabs like we do with the flu.
So we all have a choice and the responsibility at the moment to act wisely and think not only of our safety but also of the safety of our fellow humans; especially at our age, and therefore, to have the vaccine.
I can see that in the near future, that governments all around the world will produce a special vaccination register, cataloguing all names of vaccinated people the world over, and it looks like it might be an impossibility to travel abroad without having to prove that you have been vaccinated. These are the things to come, believe you me.
As for myself, and after doing much research, I have taken the view that at my age it's much safer to have the vaccination than not.
I hope that this was of interest to you all. Take good care of yourselves and stay safe.
Leon Wagstaff’s take on COVID-19, September 2021
I have just passed my 79th birthday. I am in relative good health apart from a Macular Degeneration problem in both eyes, which necessitates injections in them from time to time; but as one eye is not so bad as the other I am still allowed to drive our car, so clearly (excuse the pun) I am not anti-vax.
When news broke about COVID-19, initially, like every one else, I was shocked and I complied willingly with all restrictions. However after several weeks of non-stop mainly negative, scaremongering and, dare I say, suspect information coming from the Government, scientists, mainstream press and TV, I began to feel that something was not right.
Now, I like to deal in fact not theories, but they are linked as one can become the other. I have done a lot of research over the last 18 months, and I have dismissed the Mainstream Media because generally they follow the narrative and do not seem to question anything serious about the virus, and give none or scant information for instance, about the tens of thousands of people who hold generally peaceful protest marches in London and other UK cities and around the world, about lockdowns, vaccines, etc. And those people being dealt with at times harshly by the police. But the Media gave good copy to the INSULATE BRITAIN sit-down protesters as they blocked the M25 for hours while the Police looked on and guarded them. Hmm… Anyway, I digress.
Eventually, I found information on YouTube. Now I know they get a bad press for some of their content, but there are some serious contributions about COVID-19 from people such as eminent Epidemiologists, University Professors such as Professor Norman Fenton of Queen Mary University London, who has some compelling thoughts on the COVID-19 fatalities data issued by the government, Dan Astin Gregory and others, which can be searched for on YouTube or Googled.
From my own and my wife’s perspective, we decided not to have the vaccine. Happily for us, our immediate family made the same decision, and it is a personal decision. As stated previously I am not anti-vax, but this one, no thank you. We have little trust in the official line given out by the Government and other bodies. We feel that there are political agendas behind it. I find this obsession – short of actually holding you down – to jab everybody, worrying. I cannot help feeling it is less about concerns for the health of the nation. There is a well known saying: “follow the money.” How is it that Boris Johnson can stand on his doorstep clapping health workers and proclaiming them as Heroes, and then some months later telling them get double jabbed or get the sack?!
Influenced by the general situation, my wife and I also decided not to have the Flu Vaccine last winter for the first time in about 15 years. We thought we would try out our own immune systems on the basis of ‘use it or lose it.’ I, in particular, have generally not reacted well to them. I can report that health wise, we had one of the best winters for some time.
Finally, we have never stopped kissing or hugging family and friends. We ditched the masks over a year ago, and I will shake hands with anyone willing to. I will not give the ‘elbow’ because I associate that with people I don’t like. Have we just been lucky?
Roger Bartlett's response to Leon
Everybody is entitled to a viewpoint, and it is to be applauded that in arriving at that state, they conduct personal research to advance their knowledge. It is however, important to try and identify fact from fiction or propaganda, in support of a particular viewpoint. With regard to Covid 19, exhaustive independent research has identified that the Covid virus is a naturally occurring organism in flying mammals in some areas of the world. Its use, primarily, to subdue a potential food source in the wild. This organism was the centre of a research program to see if it could be controlled or even harnessed for other potential uses.
One of the conspiracy theories promotes its use as a biological weapon, but how effective would it be, if the subdued recipient then had to be fully supported by its attacker.
The problem was it escaped its secure laboratory conditions, infecting some of the local population, coinciding with a time of local social gathering. (New Year celebrations) Mismanaged attempts to isolate it were slow, allowing a panic dispersal of individuals to locations all over the globe. The pandemic was initiated and growing exponentially. It then became an international attempt to find a solution, lead by scientists, clinicians and researchers, and conveyed to the public by heads of state and appointed ministers.
(Don’t blame the messengers, they are as much in the dark as the rest of us)
This also involved bringing in the media, who published the information on how to tackle the spread of infection, the introduction of restrictions of movement, with the inevitable partisan political affiliations. Unfortunately this was also edited and broken down in support of one particular view over another and used personalities as targets to focus opinion.
From my days at school I was taught that if something being peddled seemed odd, check it out, do your own research. To distrust the official line or plough a furrow through the mixed media for information for perceived bias, and then trust something trawled from the web pedalling an opposing opinion seems counter intuitive. So, with so much misinformation, innuendo, partisan reporting and propaganda, I tried to isolate the facts.
Fact. The Covid virus was not new, this strain was a mutation from the natural world. It was the jump to the human population that was new.
In the wild it attacked the respiratory systems of potential food sources. Unfortunately this mutation was deadly to humans, particularly for the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions, and further mutations expanded its effectiveness.
As this variant had not been encountered before, and because of its speed of spread, concerted efforts of scientist and medical researchers worldwide were marshalled to find a solution.
Vaccination had proved successful in the past to tackle conditions such as Polio, Diphtheria, Whooping Cough, and numerous strains of Flu etc, where small live doses of the offending virus were introduced to see if the human immune system, our natural defences, could identify and neutralise it.
From previous immunisation programs, it was identified that it did not require live virus samples, but was equally effective if the sample was dead, as is the current case, with the multi strain Flu vaccination. That formed the basis of the current research, which is proving as successful as the earlier program.
Fact, with such a virus as Covid, it was established early on that transmission was from close contact, driven by particles from in infected individuals. Separation, isolation and face masks combated this transmission. These precautions not only protected the individual but also those they may come in contact with. To deny these precautions puts others at risk.
If it was only the individual affected, that is their choice. If they personally wish to accept the risk, which is a deadly risk, so be it, but to pass that risk to others, family and strangers, it becomes an unacceptable and a selfish attitude.
It is therefore not unreasonable to say to those in a position where the safety of others is compromised, that they reduce that risk, either by accepting the vaccination and public safety measures or move to a position where that does not impact on others. Hospital staff, Care Home workers and Service industries come to mind.
It is antisocial to want to avoid the conditions suggested to the population, yet still take advantage of the benefits of the Public Health Services in an effort to avoid a deadly personal outcome.
To protect in one case, the NHS for the benefit of our safety, but allow members of staff individually unprotected to serve on the same wards defeats the containment objective.
Fact, since the introduction of the vaccine the contraction figures have still remained high, but the death rate of those with double jabs has significantly reduced as has the number of hospitalised cases. A recent survey from the NHS suggested of all the recent deaths in hospitals the vast majority, were in those who had declined that which was offered. A bit late for the dying to change their minds, but a mad rush for their families to get on board with the program.
Fact, when the country went into total lockdown the cases dropped dramatically, death rates fell and there was the inevitable clamour of the detractors, business’s and the misinformed, to disregard the advice and get things back to normal.
The Scientific and Medical professions urged caution, but business, and the inevitable political pressures prevailed and whoops a new strain, more virulent, increased infections, and a call for the heads of who were to blame ensued. Common sense did not prevail.
Fact, we are now experiencing real progress against the virus and voices are raised yet again. “I have managed not to catch it so it must be a hoax.” For those individuals, I would urge you, go to the Covid wards, volunteer to help the nursing staff; you have no worries, it doesn’t exist, you are safe, use you immunity to give others on the front line a break.
If you seek examples, use as role models, those who refused the jab and subsequently spent their last days in hospital regretting it, learn from their experiences, staring death in the face because of misguided belief in misrepresented facts or here say.
The worldwide consensus is that the virus works and Covid will remain with us, as has the Flu vaccine and inoculations for the young.
To oppose the recommendations will become, not an offence, but a blight on the individual.
Without the vaccine, contraction of the virus will be considered self inflicted.
Life insurance premiums will be hiked to astronomical proportions beyond most workers means, for those refusing the jab.
Access to events will be restricted by general consensus.
Finally, why would you want to associate with somebody who might infect and kill you and your family; the risks are too great.
David Chapman
I offer the following for publication on Leon's article.
A compelling argument for me in refuting Leon's views on Covid is that no government would spend/borrow billions to close the country down and spend billions more on developing and purchasing a vaccine if it were unnecessary.
For what purpose would they undertake this?
I would like to hear more from Leon regarding his view that there is a political and economic agenda being pursued here.
What are they and in whose interests are they being pursued?
29th January 2021
Ken Clover
Hi James, just recovering from covid which nearly put me in a wooden overcoat. Doctors worked on me for nine hours in A&E on a trolly, then I stayed in a ward for four days on full oxygen. It’s damaged my left lung and attacked my kidneys and I still have trouble breathing, but not as bad as before. Doctors say it will take six months to a year for me to recover properly. Good news today is I tested negative, so now I can book my vaccine. Take care all you gobbs, this virus is a killer.
Griff Lewis
Yayyyyyyyy, got my covid jab appointment for next Wednesday
Micky Isaacs
To be honest I still haven't decided whether to have it or not. I don't like the messing around with the intervals between doses (against the makers recommendation). Also there is talk afoot of having the first one dose with one type of vaccine and the second with a different one, if there are availability problems, which does not sound right to me. Of course, the other unknown is the long term effects. We cannot possibly know what the reactions will be in (say) three years time simply because neither the vaccine or the virus have been around for that long. By the way, I am not a conspiracy theorist, or an anti-vaxer, but it all seems very rushed to me.
Anyway my concerns are academic at the moment as our local CCG has not even started vaccinating yet. Good luck all
Paul Lomas
I am with Micky on this one & I have already seen reports of the side effects so it’s a no from me as it’s been rushed through & there is also no compensation if things go wrong, I do wish you all well.
Roger Bartlett
Hi, in our youth the health scare was Polio, the vaccine lowered the contagion rate to that minimal numbers. Iron lungs are almost unheard of now. Then came Mumps, Measles, Rubella and Meningitis. All have had their effectiveness reduced by vaccines. Why would the medical profession want to make us worse off? If by refusing the vaccine, would you also refuse hospitalisation should you get it? If only to save the NHS who are already stretched? I wonder?
Terry Plumb
I agree with Roger. I have had the vaccine. The development of the vaccine did not start from scratch. A lot of work had been done on the SARS virus which is a relative to Covid. Big thanks to all the volunteers who were brave enough to take part in the trials. We are lucky to live in a country where we can all freely choose. My daughter’s friends partner died last week of Covid; he was forty-eight years old. I feel for us to get back to anything near normal, if only for our children’s and grandchildren’s sake, it was a decision I was happy to make. And it was my decision solely, so if anything went wrong, neither I nor my family would be looking for compensation.
Alan Dawson
Had my jab on Wednesday, few side affects, headache and aching limbs. Not a lot to put up with, especially considering our age bracket. It beats the alternative, should you be unfortunate to get the dreaded virus.
Stay safe and well everyone, we all need to be at the next reunion.
Paul Tully
Had my first injection yesterday. Felt a slight scratch as the needle went in. I have experienced none of the possible after effects that you are told you might have to contend with. There was a very small dot of blood on the cotton wool pad that is taped to the needles’ point of entry - no transfusion was necessary. So all in all, I think them and me did very well.
In the nineties I had a hernia operation. The repair using gauze was not available to me because although AMERICA had been using this method for some time, for us to use a new method it had to be used/tested for fifteen years. Back to the Covid vaccine. Could it be that the speed it has been brought in and used, is because it is very closely related to the flu vaccine that we have all been having for years and just needs a slight tweak here and there and so avoids the fifteen-year testing period?
I think that it is a good thing.
Alan Weyman
Got my first vaccine at 20.10 tonight. The Pfizer one. Hope all keep safe and Covid free. Until enough have the vaccine this lockdown is not going to end. It’s not doing much for our mental health, either.
Ken Clover
Well done Alan, how I survived this virus is down to the two doctors in A&E that fought for my life for nine hours, pumping steroids on a drip in me, and then full oxygen for four days in a ward. I owe my life to them and will thank them when it’s safe to do so, they are heroes to me. Take care all of you gobbs 👍
John Tythe
A friend of ours went for her vaccine jab yesterday and was asked a shed load of questions about allergies and was told she couldn’t have it as it was the Pfizer vaccine. She was told to go back to her GP and get them to book her an Astra-Zeneca one. In the meantime we’re still waiting for the Wales NHS to give us a call! Happy jabbing.
Leslie Wallage
Firstly, I think I may have had this virus the last week of 2019, the whole of January 2020, and for about two to three weeks of February 2020. I had a really bad cough, could not taste my food, lost 21lbs in weight. I did manage to get to see a Medical Nurse who prescribed a blue inhaler to "help" with the cough. I used that for two days only as it seemed to make the cough worse. Secondly, as some of you may already know, I have my vaccination on Monday 1st February, so I am not against vaccines. I also had my flu jab last September. I do not want to be seen as a killjoy, or doom monger, but I must point out that this vaccine still might not stop people catching the virus, or spreading it. It has not been tested long enough for Doctors and Scientists to know.
Paul Lomas
I am a vaccine doubter and according to James, a mug, and I can’t believe the number of you that have gone along with this scam. The media & government have been lying and I would like to ask how many of you have carried out research? I locked down for months until I started to carry out my own research and thankfully I woke up from this nightmare, but unfortunately things will never be going back to normal & I doubt if any of you will ever be shaking hands again as the elbow greeting is now here to stay the same as social distancing. Please feel free to try to convince me that I am wrong and rather than call me names let’s be grown up and have a debate. I would like to invite anyone of you to debate me on a live radio show that I am involved in, as I have enough evidence to show that this is a scamdemic. Come on lads, who will be the first to come onto the live show to debate with me. All the best to those that have had the vaccine, but please do not put your fear onto me.
Billy Pitt-Jones
I don't quite understand what you are arguing about. You state that you are a vaccine doubter, but don't say why. But then veer off that subject to berate the merits of the measures the government has imposed on us to help prevent the Hospitals from being over whelmed. Then you give us a list of the things the vaccine has not done. My point is, the mass vaccine 'roll - out' has only just started. So logic tells me the vaccine cannot be held responsible for some thing that happened before it was developed. Or have I misread your email?
Roger Bartlett
Hi all the vaccine does is to try and save lives, mainly ours because of our age. I was disappointed to find that it did not include a location chip. It means they will never be able to find me if I get lost. If you listened to all the conspiracy theories and scare mongering ,we will never survive beyond yesterday.
Michael Stewart
This virus is not the only menace that's infecting the world. So-called 'social media' is another plague with its viral misinformation and crack-brained conspiracy theories. These days I fail to see anything good in it at all; millions of gullible people being fed crap by blokes probably inventing it for a laugh. Look at what happened at the Capitol building? It’s deadly dangerous. People are addicted to it like a drug; a friend of mine actually believes the world is flat because he is told so by one of these sites. If this virus is a scam are we meant to believe that the scientists are in it together with doctors, the people world-wide who produce the virus, all the chemists involved in the process, the press in every country, not to mention the politicians? Some conspiracy!
Chris. Zindilis
My wife and I also had the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week. We suffered no after effects at all. I believe we have made the right choice under these terrible circumstances, which I believe gives us the edge and a chance of survival, than not having it and put our lives at risk.
This is my thinking behind my decision to have had the vaccine and in no way would I want to try to persuade any of you that my way and my choosing is the right way. I just want to share my story with you all as to why I chose to have the vaccine.
It might be very difficult to comprehend that the very first Corona family viruses go back to about 8000BC. It was only until science and technology came into play that the 'Corona' word itself - which comes from the Greek word - which translates 'Crown,' because of it's shape, like the Sun shaped Crown. I believe that it was named so because of it's shape, like our sun and its flares.
From 1965 these kind of round shaped viruses, have been identified and classified by their scientific name as Corona, and have been catalogued since the 1960's. But in those early days it was of a very completely different type of a viruses, similar to the common cold strain and since then all different kinds of viruses that have appeared during the years, have been catalogued under the Corona heading and this is why this dangerous one we have now as the pandemic one is catalogued and it's known as number 19.
Another deadly virus was the Sars one and then Ebola, which are as deadly as this one and have been around for some years now. They have similarities and lots of research has been done over the years which has already helped the scientists to understand better the Covid 19 virus.
I took a lot of time to read all about the testing and the production of the vaccine in a very serious and comprehensive way and also read most of the writings from all different virologist and of some of the top professor's reviews and personal views on the subject, and these new vaccines give us a chance and an edge at fighting this terrible virus; they are no more dangerous than the old type of vaccines like flu jab and all the other vaccines that have been developed over the years that have saved lives and have served us well since then and now all over the world.
I read in some of our GOBB'S emails pointing out your concerns about the speed that these vaccines have been produced.
Well, as we all know, traditionally producing a vaccine it's a slow process. I remember listening on tv at the joint Commons and Lords national security strategy committee speech last October, Sir Patrick Vallance saying that before Covid, it took an average of about 10 years to develop a completely new vaccine, with the process never before achieved in less than about five years.
So you may ask; how has it been possible to develop vaccines against Covid-19 in less than a year? A key consideration was funding – public and private cash which has been poured into the race for a Covid vaccine, pushing aside the usual financial concerns facing pharmaceutical companies for many years in waiting to get funding. What’s more, demand and urgency were high.
The fact that governments pre-bought the vaccines, meant that because of the present situation, people could take greater risks with what they did at an earlier stage of the process without having to take one step at a time. These were the spoken words by Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
We know that traditionally, the old type vaccines were developed by weakening, or killing a virus, or by producing part of the virus in the lab. However this was time consuming.
Instead, both the Oxford University/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines were already ahead in development using different “platform technologies” that involve slotting genetic material from the virus into a tried and tested delivery package. Once introduced into the human body this genetic material is used by the protein-making machinery in our cells to churn out the coronavirus “spike protein”, triggering an immune response.
This approach was aided by the speed at which scientists in China identified and shared the genetic sequence of the previous Sars and Ebola and the new coronavirus, work that was already under way on other coronaviruses. But while such platform technologies are a non-traditional approach, that does not mean they are untested.
I am not saying that with the aid of the vaccine our lives will be back to normal. No, far from it. But my belief is that the these modern vaccines gives us a chance and a light at the end of the tunnel, as they say. This virus is going to be with us for a long time and we have to adjust our lives and learn to live with it; like the common cold, and with booster jabs like we do with the flu.
So we all have a choice and the responsibility at the moment to act wisely and think not only of our safety but also of the safety of our fellow humans; especially at our age, and therefore, to have the vaccine.
I can see that in the near future, that governments all around the world will produce a special vaccination register, cataloguing all names of vaccinated people the world over, and it looks like it might be an impossibility to travel abroad without having to prove that you have been vaccinated. These are the things to come, believe you me.
As for myself, and after doing much research, I have taken the view that at my age it's much safer to have the vaccination than not.
I hope that this was of interest to you all. Take good care of yourselves and stay safe.
Leon Wagstaff’s take on COVID-19, September 2021
I have just passed my 79th birthday. I am in relative good health apart from a Macular Degeneration problem in both eyes, which necessitates injections in them from time to time; but as one eye is not so bad as the other I am still allowed to drive our car, so clearly (excuse the pun) I am not anti-vax.
When news broke about COVID-19, initially, like every one else, I was shocked and I complied willingly with all restrictions. However after several weeks of non-stop mainly negative, scaremongering and, dare I say, suspect information coming from the Government, scientists, mainstream press and TV, I began to feel that something was not right.
Now, I like to deal in fact not theories, but they are linked as one can become the other. I have done a lot of research over the last 18 months, and I have dismissed the Mainstream Media because generally they follow the narrative and do not seem to question anything serious about the virus, and give none or scant information for instance, about the tens of thousands of people who hold generally peaceful protest marches in London and other UK cities and around the world, about lockdowns, vaccines, etc. And those people being dealt with at times harshly by the police. But the Media gave good copy to the INSULATE BRITAIN sit-down protesters as they blocked the M25 for hours while the Police looked on and guarded them. Hmm… Anyway, I digress.
Eventually, I found information on YouTube. Now I know they get a bad press for some of their content, but there are some serious contributions about COVID-19 from people such as eminent Epidemiologists, University Professors such as Professor Norman Fenton of Queen Mary University London, who has some compelling thoughts on the COVID-19 fatalities data issued by the government, Dan Astin Gregory and others, which can be searched for on YouTube or Googled.
From my own and my wife’s perspective, we decided not to have the vaccine. Happily for us, our immediate family made the same decision, and it is a personal decision. As stated previously I am not anti-vax, but this one, no thank you. We have little trust in the official line given out by the Government and other bodies. We feel that there are political agendas behind it. I find this obsession – short of actually holding you down – to jab everybody, worrying. I cannot help feeling it is less about concerns for the health of the nation. There is a well known saying: “follow the money.” How is it that Boris Johnson can stand on his doorstep clapping health workers and proclaiming them as Heroes, and then some months later telling them get double jabbed or get the sack?!
Influenced by the general situation, my wife and I also decided not to have the Flu Vaccine last winter for the first time in about 15 years. We thought we would try out our own immune systems on the basis of ‘use it or lose it.’ I, in particular, have generally not reacted well to them. I can report that health wise, we had one of the best winters for some time.
Finally, we have never stopped kissing or hugging family and friends. We ditched the masks over a year ago, and I will shake hands with anyone willing to. I will not give the ‘elbow’ because I associate that with people I don’t like. Have we just been lucky?
Roger Bartlett's response to Leon
Everybody is entitled to a viewpoint, and it is to be applauded that in arriving at that state, they conduct personal research to advance their knowledge. It is however, important to try and identify fact from fiction or propaganda, in support of a particular viewpoint. With regard to Covid 19, exhaustive independent research has identified that the Covid virus is a naturally occurring organism in flying mammals in some areas of the world. Its use, primarily, to subdue a potential food source in the wild. This organism was the centre of a research program to see if it could be controlled or even harnessed for other potential uses.
One of the conspiracy theories promotes its use as a biological weapon, but how effective would it be, if the subdued recipient then had to be fully supported by its attacker.
The problem was it escaped its secure laboratory conditions, infecting some of the local population, coinciding with a time of local social gathering. (New Year celebrations) Mismanaged attempts to isolate it were slow, allowing a panic dispersal of individuals to locations all over the globe. The pandemic was initiated and growing exponentially. It then became an international attempt to find a solution, lead by scientists, clinicians and researchers, and conveyed to the public by heads of state and appointed ministers.
(Don’t blame the messengers, they are as much in the dark as the rest of us)
This also involved bringing in the media, who published the information on how to tackle the spread of infection, the introduction of restrictions of movement, with the inevitable partisan political affiliations. Unfortunately this was also edited and broken down in support of one particular view over another and used personalities as targets to focus opinion.
From my days at school I was taught that if something being peddled seemed odd, check it out, do your own research. To distrust the official line or plough a furrow through the mixed media for information for perceived bias, and then trust something trawled from the web pedalling an opposing opinion seems counter intuitive. So, with so much misinformation, innuendo, partisan reporting and propaganda, I tried to isolate the facts.
Fact. The Covid virus was not new, this strain was a mutation from the natural world. It was the jump to the human population that was new.
In the wild it attacked the respiratory systems of potential food sources. Unfortunately this mutation was deadly to humans, particularly for the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions, and further mutations expanded its effectiveness.
As this variant had not been encountered before, and because of its speed of spread, concerted efforts of scientist and medical researchers worldwide were marshalled to find a solution.
Vaccination had proved successful in the past to tackle conditions such as Polio, Diphtheria, Whooping Cough, and numerous strains of Flu etc, where small live doses of the offending virus were introduced to see if the human immune system, our natural defences, could identify and neutralise it.
From previous immunisation programs, it was identified that it did not require live virus samples, but was equally effective if the sample was dead, as is the current case, with the multi strain Flu vaccination. That formed the basis of the current research, which is proving as successful as the earlier program.
Fact, with such a virus as Covid, it was established early on that transmission was from close contact, driven by particles from in infected individuals. Separation, isolation and face masks combated this transmission. These precautions not only protected the individual but also those they may come in contact with. To deny these precautions puts others at risk.
If it was only the individual affected, that is their choice. If they personally wish to accept the risk, which is a deadly risk, so be it, but to pass that risk to others, family and strangers, it becomes an unacceptable and a selfish attitude.
It is therefore not unreasonable to say to those in a position where the safety of others is compromised, that they reduce that risk, either by accepting the vaccination and public safety measures or move to a position where that does not impact on others. Hospital staff, Care Home workers and Service industries come to mind.
It is antisocial to want to avoid the conditions suggested to the population, yet still take advantage of the benefits of the Public Health Services in an effort to avoid a deadly personal outcome.
To protect in one case, the NHS for the benefit of our safety, but allow members of staff individually unprotected to serve on the same wards defeats the containment objective.
Fact, since the introduction of the vaccine the contraction figures have still remained high, but the death rate of those with double jabs has significantly reduced as has the number of hospitalised cases. A recent survey from the NHS suggested of all the recent deaths in hospitals the vast majority, were in those who had declined that which was offered. A bit late for the dying to change their minds, but a mad rush for their families to get on board with the program.
Fact, when the country went into total lockdown the cases dropped dramatically, death rates fell and there was the inevitable clamour of the detractors, business’s and the misinformed, to disregard the advice and get things back to normal.
The Scientific and Medical professions urged caution, but business, and the inevitable political pressures prevailed and whoops a new strain, more virulent, increased infections, and a call for the heads of who were to blame ensued. Common sense did not prevail.
Fact, we are now experiencing real progress against the virus and voices are raised yet again. “I have managed not to catch it so it must be a hoax.” For those individuals, I would urge you, go to the Covid wards, volunteer to help the nursing staff; you have no worries, it doesn’t exist, you are safe, use you immunity to give others on the front line a break.
If you seek examples, use as role models, those who refused the jab and subsequently spent their last days in hospital regretting it, learn from their experiences, staring death in the face because of misguided belief in misrepresented facts or here say.
The worldwide consensus is that the virus works and Covid will remain with us, as has the Flu vaccine and inoculations for the young.
To oppose the recommendations will become, not an offence, but a blight on the individual.
Without the vaccine, contraction of the virus will be considered self inflicted.
Life insurance premiums will be hiked to astronomical proportions beyond most workers means, for those refusing the jab.
Access to events will be restricted by general consensus.
Finally, why would you want to associate with somebody who might infect and kill you and your family; the risks are too great.
David Chapman
I offer the following for publication on Leon's article.
A compelling argument for me in refuting Leon's views on Covid is that no government would spend/borrow billions to close the country down and spend billions more on developing and purchasing a vaccine if it were unnecessary.
For what purpose would they undertake this?
I would like to hear more from Leon regarding his view that there is a political and economic agenda being pursued here.
What are they and in whose interests are they being pursued?