Stealth Omicron

[wheelnut]

That's the stereotypical impression of expats that people like to imagine exists, and maybe they do in Spain and France, but IME that's not what expats I know are about. I always intended to retire to the UK, but from my perspective it's getting worse and worse, and at the moment I think it would be a bad choice to retire to somewhere where you can't get a doctors appointment and crime is high, plus old people are not respected or catered for very well - it might have always been like that, but having lived abroad in a place where it's not like that at all, then now I notice it very much.

So my moaning about the UK is because I want it to be the best place in the world, but it genuinely is (in many ways) a third world country in terms of services and infrastructure. This is aside from the tabloid driven pitchfork mentality that seems to be in fashion these days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Dubai

Sounds lovely.

[wheelnut]

Problem is that if this approach is taken every time there are new variants, as there are sure to be frequently in the future, the collateral damage to the economy and the nation's health will be catastrophic. The current backlog in non-Covid treatments is staggering, we simply can not go on like this, something will have to give.

So you have a choice when a new variant apperars that looks like it could be an issue, you either do nothing and hope for the best or you try and take sensible steps to minimise spread as a precaution until the facts emerge.

You're talking as though a full on lockdown has been introduced.

[Horse]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Dubai

Sounds lovely.

When I was working out there, there was us (2 Brits, 2 local - one an Emirati) inside an SUV, and three guys with a lorry

We were in an otherwise empty car park. Big high wall along one side.

"Please put your camera away" I was told "This is the sheik's palace car park, you cannot take pictures here."

I'd heard stories about the prisons and legal system, wasn't going to argue

[wheelnut]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Dubai

Sounds lovely.

When I was working out there, there was us (2 Brits, 2 local - one an Emirati) inside an SUV, and three guys with a lorry

We were in an otherwise empty car park. Big high wall along one side.

"Please put your camera away" I was told "This is the sheik's palace car park, you cannot take pictures here."

I'd heard stories about the prisons and legal system, wasn't going to argue

I'm sure on the surface it's lovely, and (as long as you're not gay, or poor) you're allowed to live your life as you want. Iccy will be along shortly to say everything in the wiki entry is all made up; he loves it there and doesn't recognise the UAE in the wiki entry.

Just as I don't recognise the UK that he (constantly) describes.

[Yorick]

Good bait today

[weeksy]

Yeah ok, carry on, I'm genuinely grateful to you slower thinking chaps because if it wasn't for below average thinkers then I'd have to try harder

You're all statue defenders, standing around your little English statues and terrified that someone might change things and you won't know what to do.
I wish you could all step away from where you are for a few years and look back and see how scared and small you sound. You know when occasionally you flick Jeremy Kyle on just to see how bad shit can get for people that are a bit dim? That's why I come to this part of the forum.

But hey, I hear Guatemala has some issues, so keep doing what you're doing because little England is better than there right?

So you don't have the solution then ?

[weeksy]

Yeah ok, carry on, I'm genuinely grateful to you slower thinking chaps because if it wasn't for below average thinkers then I'd have to try harder

You're all statue defenders, standing around your little English statues and terrified that someone might change things and you won't know what to do.
I wish you could all step away from where you are for a few years and look back and see how scared and small you sound. You know when occasionally you flick Jeremy Kyle on just to see how bad shit can get for people that are a bit dim? That's why I come to this part of the forum.

But hey, I hear Guatemala has some issues, so keep doing what you're doing because little England is better than there right?

So you don't have the solution then ?

I've given you a few simple ones, but you don't want to listen, it gets labelled as bait and the statue defenders come out to play.

I'd normally not be arsed at all but I've got family in the UK and in the new year there is likely to be a shit storm because of this stupidity.

you said "close the pubs, don't allow standing at the bars, stop with the mask wearing"

That's not a solution. If the pubs are closed then you can't stand at the bar anyway.

So we're closing hospitality now ? and office buildings ? how about supermarkets ?

[weeksy]

I haven't got the time or inclination to write you a dissertation on risk, and even if I did you wouldn't want to hear it, all I'd get back is some sort of patriotic shite about how Britannia doesn't behead slaves, or something.

From me ? lol have a word with yourself.

So close the pubs... what happens to the economy ? we go back to furlough ? who's paying that this time ?

[Mr Moofo]

So you don't have the solution then ?

I've given you a few simple ones, but you don't want to listen, it gets labelled as bait and the statue defenders come out to play.

I'd normally not be arsed at all but I've got family in the UK and in the new year there is likely to be a shit storm because of this stupidity.

you said "close the pubs, don't allow standing at the bars, stop with the mask wearing"

That's not a solution. If the pubs are closed then you can't stand at the bar anyway.

So we're closing hospitality now ? and office buildings ? how about supermarkets ?

Strange , isn't it. The government are working us up for a lock down - and whilst infections are going though the roof, hospitalisations aren't. Death rate was "1" the other day. so it has a low mortality great - that is good news. 80% of those in ICU are non- vaccinated. Ah well. 2-3 jabs are deemed to reduce changes by 80%. So why are we bothering with the immunisation program if the end game is not normal life?
Essentially we are going to be locked down because our heath service cannot cope with the fist lockdown and now the backlog of issues it need to deal with. I suspect more people are dying from poor cancer treatment per day than omicron.

The virus is mutating - they all do. And they all seem to get faster to pass on though that lifecycle - and weaker in symptoms. Evidence from RSA suggest that is exactly what we have here.
TBH unless we grow set of balls and start living with it , then the Western world is fucked. It it here and it is going to be around for a while. But it is not Ebola.

[Count Steer]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Dubai

Sounds lovely.

When I was working out there, there was us (2 Brits, 2 local - one an Emirati) inside an SUV, and three guys with a lorry

We were in an otherwise empty car park. Big high wall along one side.

"Please put your camera away" I was told "This is the sheik's palace car park, you cannot take pictures here."

I'd heard stories about the prisons and legal system, wasn't going to argue

The flip side of the coin with some of these authoritarian places is that if you know the rules and stay within them there are often benefits too. People used to wail and gnash their teeth about Singapore...chewing gum spitting etc. TBH the place was better without both and felt safer than lots of democratic countries. My BiL loved living and working in Oman and Singapore. I guess you roll with the downside and enjoy the upside.

[irie]

Problem is that if this approach is taken every time there are new variants, as there are sure to be frequently in the future, the collateral damage to the economy and the nation's health will be catastrophic. The current backlog in non-Covid treatments is staggering, we simply can not go on like this, something will have to give.

So you have a choice when a new variant apperars that looks like it could be an issue, you either do nothing and hope for the best or you try and take sensible steps to minimise spread as a precaution until the facts emerge.

You're talking as though a full on lockdown has been introduced.

Those "sensible steps to minimise spread as a precaution" are, as said above, guaranteed to be a death sentence for many awaiting treatment for known conditions.

As for not being a full on lockdown, it is not a lockdown in name only.

Steps first taken to minimise Covid deaths have now morphed in steps taken to minimise Covid infections with collateral increasing non-Covid deaths ignored.

[Supermofo]

I haven't got the time or inclination to write you a dissertation on risk, and even if I did you wouldn't want to hear it, all I'd get back is some sort of patriotic shite about how Britannia doesn't behead slaves, or something.

From me ? lol have a word with yourself.

So close the pubs... what happens to the economy ? we go back to furlough ? who's paying that this time ?

Answers aren't bait so he's all out. It's all average thinkers and little Englanders. Which means he's picked up the ball and trudged off for tea even though it's hours off. But it's definitely not that he doesn't have the answers, we're just too thick to understand

[Yorick]

Answers aren't bait so he's all out. It's all average thinkers and little Englanders. Which means he's picked up the ball and trudged off for tea even though it's hours off. But it's definitely not that he doesn't have the answers, we're just too thick to understand

I'm decorating actually and Mrs Potter keeps bollocking me for shirking my bit.

I'd love to hang around on the shop floor and show you how to assess risk and argue about which rule is the silliest but I don't have the time.

H&S stuff is banned over here

[Supermofo]

Answers aren't bait so he's all out. It's all average thinkers and little Englanders. Which means he's picked up the ball and trudged off for tea even though it's hours off. But it's definitely not that he doesn't have the answers, we're just too thick to understand

I'm decorating actually and Mrs Potter keeps bollocking me for shirking my bit.

I'd love to hang around on the shop floor and show you how to assess risk and argue about which rule is the silliest but I don't have the time.

Nah that's alright you keep going with that paintbrush

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Answers aren't bait so he's all out. It's all average thinkers and little Englanders. Which means he's picked up the ball and trudged off for tea even though it's hours off. But it's definitely not that he doesn't have the answers, we're just too thick to understand

I'm decorating actually and Mrs Potter keeps bollocking me for shirking my bit.

I'd love to hang around on the shop floor and show you how to assess risk and argue about which rule is the silliest but I don't have the time.

Nah that's alright you keep going with that paintbrush

Are you sure it isn't a euphemism for shagging the missus when she's on the blob?

[DefTrap]

80% of those in ICU are non- vaccinated.

I keep hearing this. If we're being callous - at some point the unvaccinated:
- 1- get tired of hiding at home
- 2- have had it and survived, and are now in-vin-cible!
- 3 - have died

... probably in that order.
The rest of us still stand some risk even if we keep up with the boosters.

If the unvaccinated could just hurry up and get to item 3.

[weeksy]

80% of those in ICU are non- vaccinated.

I keep hearing this. If we're being callous - at some point the unvaccinated:
- 1- get tired of hiding at home
- 2- have had it and survived, and are now in-vin-cible!
- 3 - have died

... probably in that order.
The rest of us still stand some risk even if we keep up with the boosters.

If the unvaccinated could just hurry up and get to item 3.

Not all of them are unvaccinated through choice.

Think of sick people, old people, pregnant women, people who are disabled, either mentally or physically, people on cancer drugs, people on other meds.

[Asian Boss]

Yeah ok, carry on, I'm genuinely grateful to you slower thinking chaps because if it wasn't for below average thinkers then I'd have to try harder

You're all statue defenders, standing around your little English statues and terrified that someone might change things and you won't know what to do.
I wish you could all step away from where you are for a few years and look back and see how scared and small you sound. You know when occasionally you flick Jeremy Kyle on just to see how bad shit can get for people that are a bit dim? That's why I come to this part of the forum.

But hey, I hear Guatemala has some issues, so keep doing what you're doing because little England is better than there right?

So you don't have the solution then ?

I've given you a few simple ones, but you don't want to listen, it gets labelled as bait and the statue defenders come out to play.

I'd normally not be arsed at all but I've got family in the UK and in the new year there is likely to be a shit storm because of this stupidity.

Statue defenders, hoooooooooo!

(Like the Thundercats - the cartoon, not the wank mid range Yamaha).

[slowsider]

Yeah ok, carry on, I'm genuinely grateful to you slower thinking chaps because if it wasn't for below average thinkers then I'd have to try harder

You're all statue defenders, standing around your little English statues and terrified that someone might change things and you won't know what to do.
I wish you could all step away from where you are for a few years and look back and see how scared and small you sound. You know when occasionally you flick Jeremy Kyle on just to see how bad shit can get for people that are a bit dim? That's why I come to this part of the forum.

But hey, I hear Guatemala has some issues, so keep doing what you're doing because little England is better than there right?

So you don't have the solution then ?

I've given you a few simple ones, but you don't want to listen, it gets labelled as bait and the statue defenders come out to play.

I'd normally not be arsed at all but I've got family in the UK and in the new year there is likely to be a shit storm because of this stupidity.

Weren't you out in the pub with your lad ?

[Yorick]

While you are all arguing in that cold England place, I'm just having a couple of cold 'uns by the pool. Carry on