International travel possible on 17th May if anyone has notions on going abroad George Best airport may be the answer.
I’ll be off my tits in the titanic quarter in Belfast the June bank holiday weekend and every weekend after that until we open up for 3 weeks in October before going back under the bed.
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Newcastle & Portstewart will be like Santa Ponsa
2 fantastic places. I was in Port Stewart last October for a couple of games of golf when we were in lockdown here. I’d have a preference for Newcastle though. Beautiful part of the country. Sliabh Donard is a good place to stay or there are many quality AirBnBs there as well.
Newcastle is handy for hiking Slieve Donard. Like the rest of NI though, I would leave it asap as possible and return to the south once I’m done
The Glens of Antrim and the Causeway coast is a nice trip for a few days as well.
We stayed in the slieve donard a while back and I’d happily go back again no problem. Have recommended it to a few as well. Very nice place, and Newcastle is a grand little town
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I had a glance recently and it was around €170 per room. Is that a Covid markup or is it a top quality spot?
It’s nice alright. Literally on the beach as well, and just on the edge of town. 4 star I think. Savage pool
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This is a mad story in some respects. This jumped out at me though.
Unlike its European neighbours, Sweden declined to impose hard lockdowns and only recently has adopted additional measures such as face masks on public transport. The country of 10 million has 12,713 registered deaths from Covid-19, nearly five times higher than the combined death toll of its Nordic neighbours.
That’s a pretty shocking figure for deaths surely. @Batigol?
I thought this was the mad bit
Begg says he is “exhausted but relieved” to be back in Ireland where, with its clear rules and restrictions, he feels safer.
It is quite high. As discussed to death on this forum it’s a moderately high amount in European terms.
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Five times the death toll of its neighbours? Come on, that’s pretty stark you have to admit.
It’s high yes. Taken purely as a raw figure it would look stark, assuming Sweden’s only neighbors are confined to Fennoscandia only and not across the Baltic or north seas (most Swedes would be closer to Germany as they are to Northern Norway or Northern Finland)
You do accept, surely, that the most comparable countries to Sweden are Norway and Finland?
There is a really stark difference in outcomes between those three countries, right?
No. Finland and Sweden share a land border but it’s practically in the Arctic Circle. No one would drive from Stockholm to Helsinki. They would fly over the gulf. In preactical terms, most Swedes are as close to Germany.
Norway’s population centers are closer but still much higher up than the main cities of Sweden. Norway’s population lives on or close to the Atlantic coast.
It’s lazy georgraphy to automatically assume those countries are automatically comparable.
Most Swedes would be as close to Germany and Poland in practical terms as they are to big cities in Norway like Bergen or Trondheim.
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I find this a bit bizarre. Surely you are not suggesting that Germany or Poland are more similar to Sweden than Norway or Finland?
You’ve been an advocate for Sweden’s approach and of valuing individual freedoms over risk to human life to some degree. That’s a view you can defend. But you have to accept the outcomes that are apparent from that approach.
Worst death toll in 150 years and gives times the combined death toll of its neighbours. Those are the results, you can’t deny those.
I’ve never once denied the results.
I’m denying how close most Swedes live to Norway and especially Finland. It’s very arbitrary way of comparing countries’ results when it comes to COVID.
It’s not unique to that region either. Belgium’s deaths per 100k is double that of the Netherlands. Poland’s is over five times that of Belarus.
Distance of inhabitants to various places is hardly the most important aspect is it? I’d nearly go so far as to say it’s hardly relevant in light of other factors.
Now that Mr Begg is back in Ireland, perhaps he can address the appalling death toll in his native country. Ireland has the same population as Norway, yet has 7 times the death toll. Clearly this is due to Ireland pursuing the longest lockdown in the world except for Cuba.
Why does Limerick produce so many halfwits?
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