COVID-19 (The artist formally known as Coronavirus)

[Glen-i]

7 hours ago, Cube said:

A Tory MP wants to overturn two referendums and close the Welsh parliament just so he can go to a Welsh beach.

If you're gonna do that, why not do it so you can go to a better beach?

[Dog-amoto]

Edited May 12, 2020 by Dog-amoto

[Ashley]

2 hours ago, Glen-i said:

If you're gonna do that, why not do it so you can go to a better beach?

I don't think you appreciate the pain of living in the Midlands. We're so far from any beach! 

[Agent Gibbs]

I don't see why they needed to change slogans and word everything how they did

The jist of it seems to be nothing has changed, but now the construction industry, some manufacturing industries etc that cannot work from home can return to work IF their employees can safely accommodate it. They are also loosening restrictions on recreational exercise, to remove the sily instances of one bloke sat in a field sunbathing/picnicking being fined.

Its still stay at home save the NHS

however for some insane reason, we now have stay alert, control the virus, something or other and the Matt Lucas parody statement, which is just all mixed messages and nonsense.

The main issue i have is NOW we are quarantining travelers coming in to the country, i honestly thought this was already the case and if not why the hell not? i've seen several pundits on tv interviews saying that many countries already did this at the start and that helps control the virus and that our government seems to have gone the other way and is doing it at the end to prevent a second wave. With nobody really having an explanation why it just couldn't have been in place from the start to the end.

Its like they've panicked over how well other countries have done, how bad we've done and how we at some point need to reopen our economy roughly in line with others to avoid an utter depression post brexit and just gone with the fuck it approach let the people leak out of lockdown and we can blame it on them when it goes tits up

[bob]

The schools reopening is bullshit. Is Italy reopening schools? Is Spain? No, because schools are virus and disease cesspits, and there's no way you can keep 5 year olds to socially distance.

Hancock said on the news this morning that it would be fine, since the science shows that children don't transmit the virus (What science? Where's the report?). Then the next sentence says that we can't have grandparents looking after children, as they would give them the disease. Well can they transmit it or not Matthew?!

[Goafer]

The Tory government still trying to keep up the "Good ol' British buffoonery" image that Boris loves so much:

[sumo73]

11 hours ago, Agent Gibbs said:

I don't see why they needed to change slogans and word everything how they did

The jist of it seems to be nothing has changed, but now the construction industry, some manufacturing industries etc that cannot work from home can return to work IF their employees can safely accommodate it. They are also loosening restrictions on recreational exercise, to remove the sily instances of one bloke sat in a field sunbathing/picnicking being fined.

Its still stay at home save the NHS

however for some insane reason, we now have stay alert, control the virus, something or other and the Matt Lucas parody statement, which is just all mixed messages and nonsense.

The main issue i have is NOW we are quarantining travelers coming in to the country, i honestly thought this was already the case and if not why the hell not? i've seen several pundits on tv interviews saying that many countries already did this at the start and that helps control the virus and that our government seems to have gone the other way and is doing it at the end to prevent a second wave. With nobody really having an explanation why it just couldn't have been in place from the start to the end.

Its like they've panicked over how well other countries have done, how bad we've done and how we at some point need to reopen our economy roughly in line with others to avoid an utter depression post brexit and just gone with the fuck it approach let the people leak out of lockdown and we can blame it on them when it goes tits up

The new logo is yellow. I don't drive but I know that for some green = go, yellow/amber = green and red = don't go yet and this has already filtered down to the general public about this virus and social distancing seems to have been lost on some already and the new rules don't come into effect until Wednesday.

Regarding quaranting travellers to the UK that currently isn't the case from what I've read. The government said that new measures regarding people coming into the UK will not come into force on Wednesday 13th May and that the government will set out new measures in due course. 'The scientific advice shows that when domestic transmission is high, cases from abroad represent a small amount of the overall total and make no significant difference to the epidemic'.(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do)

If that is the case that travellers to the UK represent no significant difference to the epidemic why are you introducing new measures then? The government however does go into why they are introducing new measures but they should have been stricker to begin with.

I just hope that once we have reached the next stage in all of this the PM fully consults with other parts of the UK and goes through the new measures so that there is zero ambiguity including the next slogan. Fingers crossed! 

Edited May 12, 2020 by sumo73

[Agent Gibbs]

22 hours ago, bob said:

The schools reopening is bullshit. Is Italy reopening schools? Is Spain? No, because schools are virus and disease cesspits, and there's no way you can keep 5 year olds to socially distance.

Hancock said on the news this morning that it would be fine, since the science shows that children don't transmit the virus (What science? Where's the report?). Then the next sentence says that we can't have grandparents looking after children, as they would give them the disease. Well can they transmit it or not Matthew?!
 

What about the nonsense when he qas quizzd on seeing one other person from another household? how do you choose between parents and at first he see one in the morning and the other in the afternoon! So the Virus goes oh shit, he's only seeing one so i won't transmit? Christ its all over the place, i could go to work and stand 2m from a group of work men (all standing two meters from each other) and its fine but we clock out? wooo woo here come the police your breaking the law! Seeing both parents at any time? nope illegal

Science isn't driving some of these weird choices and i honestly don't know what is, perhaps they are hoping we are all so confused we stay in our homes in fear

[Ashley]

15 minutes ago, Agent Gibbs said:

What about the nonsense when he qas quizzd on seeing one other person from another household? how do you choose between parents and at first he see one in the morning and the other in the afternoon! So the Virus goes oh shit, he's only seeing one so i won't transmit? Christ its all over the place, i could go to work and stand 2m from a group of work men (all standing two meters from each other) and its fine but we clock out? wooo woo here come the police your breaking the law! Seeing both parents at any time? nope illegal

Science isn't driving some of these weird choices and i honestly don't know what is, perhaps they are hoping we are all so confused we stay in our homes in fear

I got in a discussion with someone on Twitter about this and their argument was "we need to get people working so yes you have to go to work and you will be with multiple people while travelling/working there but we need to counter that by limiting social contact" which I guess is an argument to be made, but pretty flimsy. If you were to go and see both of your parents and one of the three of you had the virus you're just as likely to pass it if you do it one-on-one or two-on-one. It's these inconsistencies and the "well that doesn't make sense..." feelings that will result in people ignoring the recommendations because they don't pass the sniff test. 

I wonder how much cut through the counter-argument "you can see your boss but not your parents" will have. 

[Cookyman]

So this year I turned 50 (I know you all can't believe it, I'm so young looking). 

Me earlier this year after workout  I may have lied about statement above lol

Anyway I had been planning and saving for a number of years to go on holiday to Canada (on my own just me and a backpack) .  As time got closer I planned things out in more detail I'd go to Calgary first for the Calgary Stampede, then a wee break in the country for a few days, fly to Vancouver for a couple then up to Whistler for 5 to spend time in the mountains, then another flight to Ottawa for a couple of days then Torornto for 4 (get my first tattoo there too) then a trainride to Niagra Falls and finish off with 5 days in New York.  

Then Coronavirus hit and after the Calgary Stampede was cancelled for the first time in 100 yearsI thought I better cancel my trip of a lifetime.  At this moment I'm about £1000 pound down and still waiting to hear from British Airways.  A couple of the hotels I'd booked point blank refused to give any refunds (Air BNB on the other hand were great) and one of the Air Canada flights gave me $15 back!

So yeah just my luck and Covid is being a cunt, but with the money I got back I bought a 55" 4K TV and will get a PS5 on day one, something I was not intending to do this year - I reckon I deserve it.  

Edited May 29, 2020 by Cookyman

[bob]

So this year I turned 50 (I know you all can't believe it, I'm so young looking). 
Me earlier this year after workout  I may have lied about statement above lol
 
Anyway I had been planning and saving for a number of years to go on holiday to Canada (on my own just me and a backpack) .  As time got closer I planned things out in more detail I'd go to Calgary first for the Calgary Stampede, then a wee break in the country for a few days, fly to Vancouver for a couple then up to Whistler for 5 to spend time in the mountains, then another flight to Ottawa for a couple of days then Torornto for 4 (get my first tattoo there too) then a trainride to Niagra Falls and finish off with 5 days in New York.  
Then Coronavirus hit and after the Calgary Stampede was cancelled for the first time in 100 yearsI thought I better cancel my trip of a lifetime.  At this moment I'm about £1000 pound down and still waiting to hear from British Airways.  A couple of the hotels I'd booked point blank refused to give any refunds (Air BNB on the other hand were great) and one of the Air Canada flights gave me $15 back!
So yeah just my luck and Covid is being a cunt, but with the money I got back I bought a 55" 4K TV and will get a PS5 on day one, something I was not intending to do this year - I reckon I deserve it.  

We got vouchers from British Airways (and i believe they have to offer you a refund instead if you want it, you just have to find the right section on their website) so i think you should be ok there.

[Cookyman]

17 minutes ago, bob said:

We got vouchers from British Airways (and i believe they have to offer you a refund instead if you want it, you just have to find the right section on their website) so i think you should be ok there.

Yeah BA flights were through Travel Up - I'm sure they'll be fine.  It was these bloody hotels I booked, just point blank no refunds.  Air BNB were far better some of them gave half money back but a few gave full refunds.  I'm gonna look into these hotels further, they are gettng money for nothing.  

Edited May 13, 2020 by Cookyman

[Sheikah]

57 minutes ago, Cookyman said:

So this year I turned 50 (I know you all can't believe it, I'm so young looking). 

Me earlier this year after workout  I may have lied about statement above lol

Anyway I had been planning and saving for a number of years to go on holiday to Canada (on my own just me and a backpack) .  As time got closer I planned things out in more detail I'd go to Calgary first for the Calgary Stampede, then a wee break in the country for a few days, fly to Vancouver for a couple then up to Whistler for 5 to spend time in the mountains, then another flight to Ottawa for a couple of days then Torornto for 4 (get my first tattoo there too) then a trainride to Niagra Falls and finish off with 5 days in New York.  

Then Coronavirus hit and after the Calgary Stampede was cancelled for the first time in 100 yearsI thought I better cancel my trip of a lifetime.  At this moment I'm about £1000 pound down and still waiting to hear from British Airways.  A couple of the hotels I'd booked point blank refused to give any refunds (Air BNB on the other hand were great) and one of the Air Canada flights gave me $15 back!

So yeah just my luck and Covid is being a cunt, but with the money I got back I bought a 55" 4K TV and will get a PS5 on day one, something I was not intending to do this year - I reckon I deserve it.  

Did you book any of these things on a credit card? You may be able to get your money back for any individual purchases over 100 pounds. Full information here.

You basically contact your credit card company and you should be covered, so long as you used the credit card to pay for the purchases (and not a debit card). Martin Lewis has gone into detail about this a number of times and success rates are really high.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Sheikah

[Cookyman]

5 hours ago, Sheikah said:

Did you book any of these things on a credit card? You may be able to get your money back for any individual purchases over 100 pounds. Full information here.

You basically contact your credit card company and you should be covered, so long as you used the credit card to pay for the purchases (and not a debit card). Martin Lewis has gone into detail about this a number of times and success rates are really high.

Nah debit card mate - I don't have any credit cards.  

[Will]

Sorry to hear about that @Cookyman - sounds like you had an awesome trip planned. Hopefully when things recover you'll be able to get it done. I'd keep up with complaining and trying to speak to whoever you can on the bookings, a lot of the companies will try their luck at keeping as much money as they can while quietly sorting it out with those who shout loudest about it.

The new TV and PS5 will be a pretty good consolation prize - you definitely deserve it and hope you enjoy them!

[Glen-i]

BoJo there, getting upset that Starmer dared to call him out yesterday.

Simply put, he's saying, "Keir is a big meanie because he said he'd work constructively with me, but now he's saying I'm wrong, that ain't constructive!"

EDIT: My word, did the Health Minister really just say "a bad test is better than no test" on the BBC?

Even I understand the dangers of false negatives, for crying out loud!

I guess if that catchphrase worked for Brexit...

Edited May 14, 2020 by Glen-i

[Sheikah]

8 hours ago, Cookyman said:

Nah debit card mate - I don't have any credit cards.  

Sorry to hear that. Just for the future, I would recommend getting one (they can be set up to be paid in full automatically so no worry of getting in debt). It's worth it for this kind of protection, and you can also get one that charges 0% on foreign transactions (good for spending abroad).

[Will]

32 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

Sorry to hear that. Just for the future, I would recommend getting one (they can be set up to be paid in full automatically so no worry of getting in debt). It's worth it for this kind of protection, and you can also get one that charges 0% on foreign transactions (good for spending abroad).

I'd second this. It's worth it for everyone to have a credit card for protection on large purchases and as an emergency backup. No need to use them at any other time if you don't want to, and managed properly they are no issue at all.

[Eenuh]

I agree about the credit cards, I tend to use them for big purchases now. If you look around, you might also be able to get some that offer 0% interest for a year or so, which can help to pay off a bigger purchase over a longer time.  

[Ashley]

N-Europe 2005: "hehe thread about masturbating"

N-Europe 2020: "you should get a credit card, it will help for big purchases... Anyway, can you believe this global pandemic eh?"

What a journey we've all been on together. 

[Glen-i]

Anyone catch Charlie Brooker's Antiviral Wipe yesterday? He's still got it, wish he'd wipe more often.

I lost it at "Singing Happy Birthday Twice"

[drahkon]

After two months of social-distancing/self-isolation I decided it's time to get back out there  

Met with my best friend on Monday and another friend on Wednesday.

While I'm no stranger to spending a few days per week alone in my room playing video games, these past two months have been a little difficult so it was great to see some of my friends again. Tomorrow I'll get on a train and visit my mom  

I'll obiously still follow all the regulations but I'll slowly ramp up my social life again. 

[Beast]

I've been going out running or shopping for what I need but I haven't seen anybody I knew. I've been feeling down and stuff lately so I drove to my friend's house and stood outside whilst they were inside. Her and her family were so happy to see me. It felt a little odd at first but we spoke and had a laugh for half an hour. It's the first actual human interaction with a friend I've had with someone outside of my house. It was just nice to actually have a bit of a laugh. Cheered me up a little after the shit couple of weeks I've had. 

[Rummy]

Latest RummySingh update on lockdown shopping(also london was on fire but i fucked the bit i thought i was filming that);

 

Also; ofc realise I was one of two people contributing along with everyone else to this - shops were pretty mad crazy/busy as usual last night between maybe 7-8 30ish. Didn't film owt there was just trying to get in get stuff get out but yeah. Curious to actually go out and see it for realz but kinda realises unavoidable...

(no entrance queues for stores anymore it seemed)

[Ashley]

There's only one 'F' in KFC Rummy.