Here is a picture of where I live.
You will note that it is a small island.
I doubt that I will surprise you, dear reader, by disclosing that your humble correspondent does not recognise the artificial political boundary in the North East as in any way natural.
For the avoidance of doubt neither does COVID-19.
If we are going to get in front of this thing then it will take a 32 county approach.
Unfortunately, in the North East of this little island, there are some people in local political power who think differently.
Rather bizarrely, many of them have an issue with science itself.
For example, several senior DUP folks think that the planet is only 4000 years old.
Here is one of them here.
Now, in normal times it is perfectly adequate to just snigger at folk who probably think that the boy Jesus had a pet brontosaurus in Galilee.
However, these are not normal times.
The scuttlebutt here in the Republic is that a proper Spanish style lockdown is only days away.
The shamefully irresponsible scenes last night in Temple Bar has brought a swift response.
Pubs and clubs should be closed and that is in keeping with the science.
Although public health is a devolved matter in the Six Counties the DUP folk appears to be taking their advice from the Malthusians in Whitehall.
Therefore, this is the current situation:
Schools are closed here in Donegal, but not across the Border.
This fella nails it here in a tweet.
We in Ireland will get through this crisis.
However, because the DUP are by taking their lead from London people will die on this island who would otherwise have survived COVID-19.
Once more, England is the never-ending source of all our ills.
Sadly, not everyone on this island gets that yet.
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Countries on lockdown itchy trigger fingers on guns and big mushroom’s. They will make a film on this, oh wait need to catch up on walking dead sevco are trying to get in on acting careers, now they’ve got a proper knuckle dragger on board. Stay safe out there. HH
I have removed my youngest from school. They have many underlying medical conditions that have required life saving surgery. I am not taking a risk with this and the lack of proper effective governance in the UK.
I may be over reacting but they will hopefully have rest of their life to enjoy their education.
They will also have relief from the systematic and relentless bullying they have to endure.
I noticed this morning how empty the train to work was, it looks like many are working from home by their own volition. We all had our laptops and hand held devices upgraded last week, as was our systems room, in order that we can remotely continue our work.
We should already be in lockdown and containment till we get a proper handle on this. The lack of testing is a disgrace. The attitude of our elected members is a disgrace. They should be screaming from the rooftops, but alas nothing.
I include Holyrood in these criticisms too. We need leadership, if we don’t have the powers to deal with this due to restrictions or unwillingness to use all of the powers available we should be properly communicating with the populace to tell them why.
This isn’t about political point scoring or self preservation anymore, it’s about life and death.
It’s high time all of our elected members got a grip of themselves and started actually caring for their communities and constituents.
The economic catastrophe will need addressing too.
Goodness only knows where this is going, but the “sounding out” for general opinion and reaction by favoured press poodles is a shocking way for the government to behave.
You include Holyrood? In a previous post you blamed them entirely and had not a single word of criticism for for Westminster. Nice to see you’ve taken at least one blinker off.
The main scientific disagreement on the virus is how best to slow or attempt to halt its progress. Yes, there is scientific disagreement, but the evidence is also patchy making counter arguments difficult. What is clear is that Westminster is out of step with the rest of the world, and is putting citizens at greater risk than would otherwise be the case. Lockdown seems the logical move, it is just a matter of when.
PS On evolution…..there is plenty of fossil evidence, and clear progression from hominid to hominid. Using the Bible as a source of evidence would be like using The Flintstones as a historical document in paleological research. Wilma!!!
The bold Boris may be playing a long game here. Without testing, the true number of those who actually become infected with the virus will never be known. By logical extension the true number of those who actually die from it will also never be known.
When the next election comes around he will claim that the UK had fewer deaths from it than any other large population in Europe because of the strong Tory leadership.
Medical experts will have a fairly accurate idea of the true number but without the statistical figures to back it up no one will be able to prove anything.
Although an average of 17,000 die from the flu each year the actual figure in any specific year can vary wildly. Last winter just over 1,700 five years ago over 28,000.
80,000 infected and 3,200 dead in China, in all provinces of 1.2billion people.
If we have more than 80,000 infected and more than 3,200 dead then the herd immunity strategy is manslaughter and the EU and WHO and 300 scientists were right.
It has been done. No lockdown. Too little too late. Economy over people. The opportunity to do the correct action has gone. We’re all infected.
The Chinese had 5% deaths of those infected. If the plan is to have tens of millions infected then it’s going to be millions dead. Compared to 3,200 in China.
Will Boris Johnstone and Dominic Cumming wash their hands of it in August whilst singing happy birthday?
Probably. I completely agree with EVERYTHING you said there. I simply NEVER thought of doing those sums.
I could still be right though. I believe this crowd are cold enough to realise this is an opportunity to get rid of tens of thousands of the people who cost the NHS most. I would put NOTHING past that bastard!!
The issue is about proximity and not palaeontology. Given that your readership is largely intelligent and switched on, I really don’t know if people are at the wind-up when debating the time-line of deities and imaginary friends. Keep safe and love each other,
Ah, Phil, you poor deluded fool.
You really never will learn will you?
All that indoctrination went to your head and you’ll never be able to get it back out again.
You think you’re clever when you’re thicker than ever.
Poor you.
Who is to say the Earth didn’t age 4 billion years between Genesis and Exodus?
The Bible doesn’t state the age of the world. Scholars worked it out to around 6,000 years from the ‘begets’.
If we are descendants of 40,000 year old hominids two feet high in Africa, then why aren’t there tens of thousands of skeletons of everybody in between? Everywhere we dig we should be finding the ancestors. There should be millions of em from all the ages if Darwin’s evolution is to be believed, all over the world.
Few skeletons are found anywhere.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_evolution_fossils
Your a bit of a spanner aren’t you.
Skeletons normally don’t survive well in the ground, especially if the soil is a little acidic.
40,000 years ago, humans were exactly the same as us, with the same brain function and intelligence.
The Hominids I think you are referring to are around 1,500,000 years old.
Now if you want to believe in a book that was written around 400 years after the death of Jesus, that’s on you. Don’t try and mix science with a book of fiction.
Now if you want to discuss religion can you answer one question. If Jesus was Jewish and was the son of God, why is their Christianity. A new religion that follows the teachings of a practicing Jew. Why are all christians not Jewish
I prefer to believe the scientific approach to the planet’s origins, lifeform-wise.
If the scientists are to be believed, when the first lifeforms roamed the earth, it was humid and swampy. I’d guess that that is ideal conditions for fine particles of wet mud to seep into the porous cavities within bone structure, hence we have fossilised remains of dinosaurs and early man. As the earth cooled, and pangea split into the continents as we now know them, the water from the swamps drained into what are now our oceans, and the mud dried out, creating land mass. Mass volcanic eruptions and pyroclastic flows piled more soil and ash on top of what was already there, and the weight pressed down onto the existing surface, compacting and squeezing out any remaining moisture from the fossilising remains, leaving a permanent reminder behind.
It could be that, because of extinction of the various hominid species took place under different climactic conditions, the corpses naturally decomposed into dust, as there was no mud to seep into the bones of those corpses, nor catastrophic volcanic activity to provide that further heavy layer of what is now solid rock, to squeeze out any moisture in the same way as what is assumed to have happened to the dinosaurs.
…but then again, what do I know?
All I can state is that you won’t read anything like this on a sevco website – it requires some sort of thought process, a talent that they are sadly lacking, as demonstrated by Prof. K Boyd (who wants to go watch football behind closed doors?), and Dr. Alexander Rae and his collapsing horses? 😂😂😂
Few skeletons are found full stop unless deliberately buried in such a way that they will be preserved for at least some period of time.
Other than road kill, have you ever come across the skeleton of a squirrel, a fox, a deer, a badger or ANY of the other common creatures Scotland is almost overrun by.
I called my parents in Andalusia this afternoon the local police are driving around the streets telling folk to stay indoors unless they need medicine and food , they fear for a few friends who have businesses that are already close to the wall ,closure of all bars in Spain is dramatic ,it’s a part of the culture also the suppliers for tapas foods will also suffer. I assume here in Bonnie Dundee the closure of the bars may be a good thing to reduce pressure on the hospitals of a weekend , when we reach the lockdown phase which I expect Boris to change tack on this week there will be a heavy handed enforcement with new emergency laws to be announced also this week.
As a former pupil at the School that Brother Walfrid taught at. I was under the impression that the world was created in 1888.
However on a serious note I live on the next smallest of the British Isles and as of yet the Virus has not been detected on the Island yet. Despite this I am unable to buy soap, pasta, any form of processed tomato or bean and of course paracetamol or toilet roll.
No matter what Boris or Nichola say people will do what they want to do based on what level of expectation will happen, for example why loo roll when the symptoms don’t include the ‘runs’.
On the shortage of that particular commodity particular I did recall that when i was young a visit to my maternal grandparents shared water closet meant an abundance of cut up newspaper, found hanging from a string, did the trick.
Good Luck to all
You are advised in the absence of a tissue to cough into the crook of your arm. So thousands of people run out and buy toilet rolls by the dozen………..clearly CAN’T tell their arse from their elbow!!
Phil,
I live in a so called border area myself .
We both know the only reason the DUP
won’t close schools is because they dont want to be seen as doing the same thing as the fenians the south..
Totally entrenched in their bigoted beliefs.
HH and keep safe
Massively irresponsible of them.
Shameful.
Stay safe mo chara.
Herd Immunity presumes people cannot get infected for a second time. It seems to be happening here and there in Asia for numerous reasons. No one knows enough about this disease yet.
Effective Herd Immunity requires about 80% to catch the disease (a deadly disease). Given the fatalities in China have been 5% of infected, that indicates a deliberate infection mortality of 1.4 million.
If the UK suffers more fatalities from this than nations of the rest of the world then Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnston & the three medical guys should be jailed for life.
China are exiting their outbreak with only 3,199 deaths. The UK should have much much less or they’ve got it wrong and negligently killed people.
Let’s wait and see…
some of us may not be around to see.
For herd immunity to work, 80% of the population need to get vaccinated.
THERE IS NO VACCINE.
the UK government is putting money before health, it’s as simple as that
So many different views and opinions abound about how to tackle Covid-19 that it’s time for W.H.O. to insist on the same global strategy for everyone’s benefit. Stay healthy. HH
Well Phil the government and all there wisdom allowed Cheltenham race course to let 60 thousand people through their doors from all over Britain and of course Ireland . Very strange under the circumstances IAm afraid I would not let Boris Johnson be in charge of the remote control of my television never mind the country yours Daniel hill
And disperse like the Red Arrows and head home & go spread it all points of the compass
On a more serious note. You are100% right. Knowing Donegal as I do, and knowing that many families, including my own, have multiple connections either side of the border, separate approaches to this potentially catastrophic problem is mind bogglingly stupid. It’s a disaster waiting to happen and could undermine EVERYTHING the Republic is trying desperately to achieve. It’s beyond irresponsible.
When I read your first sentence my heart literally skipped a beat. My initial thought was, “Aw Jesus NO. Don’t have put a photo of your house online.”
I almost laughed out loud at my own stupidity when I saw the map of the Emerald Isle.
I apologise for not immediately realising you’ve got more sense.
It’s only a cold ffs
On a lighter note,just watched a fantastic nature programme focussing on the West coast of Ireland. Donegal in particular looks absolutely stunning.
There’s a wild beauty in it. A poet, can’t remember which one, Ireland’s had so many, once called it “The County God forgot to finish.”
I defy ANYONE to beat that description.
It is
Phil, you are starting to sound like a little-Irelander… I am no fan of the Tories/Cummings/Johnson but they are following a strategy based on their medical advice. The medical details behind the UK approach is being released this week so let’s see how it stands up to “expert” scrutiny. Hail Hail!
Phil love your blogs mostly .. Who are you to blasphemy the bible as 6000 years old through the chronology of Adam to Noah too Jesus ..
Shame on you !!!
Mr Poots is quoted in the Guardian interview that I linked by stating that he believes that the planet is FOUR thousand years old.
I have seen creationists regularly use 6000 and 12000.
All nonsense of course…
If you prefer geology, astronomy, astrophysics and science on planet age then perhaps you agree with the UK scientific approach to corona virus?
However, 300 scientists publicly disagree. 🙂
How do you know who’s right and wrong about this?
Science
Science is a joke shop.
They’re all wearing masks.
Fooled you though.
All I know is: I trust scientists and doctors ahead of any politician.