Coronavirus - Here for life (In high population density areas)

Current Affairs
4998

That’s because it was 4 years ago mike

4999

Fuck it. Im going for a pint

5000

Fuckin ginger abos

5001

Any specific mentions of schools today bar a few broad hints? You’d imagine something thats directly going to effect 1 million people would be explained more clearly and a decision made in plenty of time . As it is I’m preparing the lunches for Feb 1st

5002

For what it’s worth I’ll explain my problems with the Irish Zero Covid movement:

  • There’s a group on Twitter called Zero Covid Ireland. This group went along with the “leave the schools open” plan and the rationale behind that. We were told that the most cutting-edge thinking was that transmission couldn’t happen in schools. The intial explanation for this was that young people were very unlikely to transmit the virus. Remarkably, we were later told that virus transmission happen at the school gates, so be very careful at the school gates. Zero Covid Ireland went along with this also. Zero Covid Ireland want us to follow Australia. They neglect to mention that Australia closed the schools for months. If the most up-to-date scientific thinking was that transmission couldn’t happen in schools, why were Australia contemporaneously closing their schools for months? Zero Covid recently tweeted a list of reasons why the first lockdown was most effective that the November lockdown, which gave reasons such as a breakdown in tracing, but did not mention that schools were shut for the first lockdown. In other words, they can’t admit that they’re wrong. Zero Covid Ireland are now supporting closing the schools, just because numbers are so high currently that this step has somehow become justified.

  • This leads on to my second problem, that Zero Covid Ireland, by their own admission, aren’t actually a zero-covid lobby group at all. There is a very real risk that following their approach would just result in even stricter restrictions that would last forever.

  • I haven’t mentioned the biggest problem with the Irish zero-covid movement however, which is their approach to the border situation. They say bluntly that an all-Ireland approach hasn’t been “properly explored”. The DUP have very clearly ruled this out. There is a century of history here. Over the past 30 years the Irish government has poured more energy into developing its relationship with Northern Ireland than any other issue. To just say that it hasn’t been properly explored, over the past century the past 30 years, or the past year, and now the zero-Covid people are going to come in and change everything, is 100% hurling from the ditch and not credible. Many (not all) of the zero-covid people are very trendy types who wanted absolutely nothing to do with Northern Ireland politics because they thought they were above it. Now they are discovering it for the first time, like an American arriving in Ireland for St Patrick’s Day and declaring it to be stupid. It obviously is stupid and that’s why it’s been the biggest theme in Irish politics for over a century, but to dismiss Paisley-ism, loyalism and Ulster Unionism as something that could be sorted out very quickly if the Irish government just “properly explored” the situation is massively, massively disrespectful to absolutely everyone involved in the Northern Ireland situation for the past century, but especially to Northern Nationalists. The Irish Simpsons Fans meme of Gerry Adams slapping himself and saying “A United Ireland! Why didn’t I think of that!?” was a good one. Zero-Covid Ireland know so little about Northern Irish relations that they are very confused as to why there are two approaches to covid on Ireland but yet they still know so much about Northern Irish relations that they can say with certainty that the Irish government have not adequately explored the zero-covid approach with their Northern Irish counterparts.

  • As discussed here there are also incredible practical problems with a hard border with the EU, which would take a long time to be resolved and occupy a radically different position in the world from Australia and New Zealand.

The Irish Zero-Covid movement is fundamentally about escaping from reality.

7 Likes
5003

Is operationalisation a real word? Just hear it from Meehole on Newstalk. Cc @Bandage

1 Like
5004

Reality is shit tho. Innit.

1 Like
5005

Maybe they need to get into psychedlics.

5006
5007

We need to put the virus on the run. No more Mr Nice Citizens.

1 Like
5008

The opposition parties have lost the plot

5009

She could do with a run herself

5010

Kelly has burnt his good TFK capital it seems

3 Likes
5011

Nassty comment

1 Like
5012

928/90

1 Like
5013

Kiss my NASS

5014

I’m disappointed in Kelly. This is bullshit. The chorus for stronger restrictions, or unreasonably strong restrictions that will have no impact (“close the borders!”) is getting stronger. It’s easy to advocate for a bullshit strategy that will never be implemented safe in the knowledge that you can always smuglybfall back on “well it was never tried”.

There is a real air of agitation creeping into public discourse. Politicians are cracking.

10 Likes
5015

Rudderless politicians.

5016

Łączy nass piłka

1 Like
5017

Absolute nonsense from Helen McEntee on the news there. All we’re doing with arrivals through the airport is saying that they should quarantine at home. They’ll be walking out of the airport laughing as they go about their business as normal.