Thrash out this similie for us a little Harry. I’m not sure it works…aren’t all moths drawn to the light, or is there any evidence that those that are do so as a result of some lack of intelligence?
I’m sure you’re quite intelligent in your own way btw, even if you’re struggling a little in this instance)
3 Likes
Interesting to consider New Zealand and their cheerleaders. Their pandemic policy fitted neatly into their goal of attracting high net worth individuals as this Guardian article discusses.
St Jacinda and her government have recently announced that they will move away from “low skilled” migrants to “high skilled”, ie chasing wealth.
It is oppressive to the downtrodden and less well off. Indeed when NZ shut the country down, they left many tourist workers in poverty, attempting to get them to leave NZ rather than support them.
It is expressly insular and has relied on other countries, including poor ones, keeping the show on the road in international trade whilst wealthy elites and less than significantly less than 1% of the globe’s population lived in splendid isolation (so long as they could access social welfare benefits). New Zealand were slightly better than Australia in not leaving their citizens stranded abroad but long waiting lists meant a defacto undermining of the concept of citizenship.
Long term I don’t think this will be a successful policy for New Zealand as they are mistaking some positive Bloomberg articles and short term moves by the uber wealthy as a long term thing.
If you support NZ’s pandemic and long term policy, it is hard to argue that you are anything but a vile right winger.
4 Likes
Anyone who supports lockdowns supports the super wealthy getting richer and the poor getting poorer
2 Likes
It’s the modern day lock out.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
The Guardian are pretty much done with Jacinda.
Ouch, if the limp wrists at the Guardian are abandoning you there’s serious trouble ahead. Maybe lockdown number 74 isn’t the answer for St. Jac
Oooh, a gay stereotype as a slur.
Such top, top db8ing.
It’s a state of mind not a reference to sexuality. Try not to get offended so much, day to day navigation becomes much easier pal
Sure it is. As somebody who is consistently getting offended by the consistent sense I talk here, I had a wee chuckle at your second sentence there.
COVID is officially over in Sweden.
I spent last night shagging (unprotected) a ripe 21yr old with ONLY them having the first shot of two (shock, horror) so far. This couch shagging was interspersed with spitting on each others faces repeatedly as well as spitting in each other’s mouths repeatedly.
I can tell you, I feel a healing happened of some kind.
The world can breathe a sigh of relief for another hundred years until the next pandemic kicks off.
Relax the cacks.
2 Likes
I hope he didn’t have HIV pal.
6 Likes
Australia has a very serious problem with policing
1 Like
Imagine the uproar I it was the states
Policing in Victoria in particular is barbaric
1 Like
Headlines from mid / late 2020:
“The Swedish Covid-19 response is a disaster” Time
“Will there be a reckoning over Sweden’s disastrous strategy” World Politics Review
“Sweden’s renegade Covid-19 policy looks like a disaster” Business Insider
“Sweden has shown how not to tackle coronavirus” Telegraph
If only Sweden had done what Israel has done, multiple lockdowns, businesses closed, schools closed, mask mandates, vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, booster shots, etc.
At present Israel has close to 10X the number of daily cases as Sweden and roughly 5X the death rate. Israel has administered 1.6 doses of vaccine per capita while Sweden has administered 1.3 doses of vaccine per capita.
Can someone take a shot as to why Israel currently has close to 10X the number of daily cases and 5X the death rate of Sweden, given Sweden’s “disastrous” approach.
7 Likes
Sont know. Did they follow established science based WHO pandemic response protocol with a hape of vitamin d fortification thrown in?
It must be all the sun exposure they get up there in Scandinavia.
I could hazard somewhat of a guess.
Could you give us a potted description of the restrictions regimes that each have had over the last six months or so, as you see them?
If I may introduce a wee bit of nuance to the situation and introduce a qualified defence of Sweden for a change, but it seems to me that they currently actually have more restrictions than a lot of other countries.
Like as far as I can see they still have restrictions on the numbers in bars, cafes and nightclubs, and large gatherings are out - for instance if you look at the highlights of the Sweden v Spain World Cup Qualifier on September 7th, the crowd is very sparse indeed, far less than was attending matches in Dublin.
Whereas it seems to me the Israelis went stark raving mad and thought the pandemic was over when it wasn’t - you may remember the crush at some religious festival some months back in which people were killed. And that seemed to set the tone for the following months.
Another aspect to mention is the demographics of the vaccinated - it seems Israel has a problem with the precise age breakdown of who got vaccinated - they have a significant number of older people not vaccinated and distinct vaccine hesitant groups such as the Orthodox Jews and Arabs.
I don’t think that’s the case in Sweden.
I’d also return to a point I’ve made before - Israel used Pfizer with doses three weeks apart and that is not the optimum spacing in terms of protection - but at the time it was a case of needs must and that’s how they did it.
Plus Israel vaccinated earlier so on top of all that there is likely some degree of weakening of vaccine protection.
Also the Swedes are a fairly sober people compared to most - you have a walk around Malmo on a Sunday evening and see how lively it is. It makes Larne look like Las Vegas.