Coronavirus

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

that represents a chance of 1 in 478, 000 of it killing you, based on a population of 67,000,000.

That 478,000 will be reducing every day anyone dies from this pandemic. How much does it need to reduce to make one uncomfortable?

Taking age into account reduces that figure for us retirees and even further if in less than 100% healthy condition prior to succumbing to the virus.

Add to that the odds of getting use of a respirator if over 65 while with a large number of hospitalised cases under 65.

It is already uncomfortable for me.

Edited By not done it yet on 20/03/2020 17:30:15

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Martin, I don’t know anyone who has died from the virus yet but I am sure it won’t be long with the rate at which the figures are escalating.
Dave W

[JAParticipant @ja]

Posted by blowlamp on 20/03/2020 17:25:25:

Does anyone know anyone who's died of this thing yet?

Martin.

My niece in London, in her mid 20s, is making a full recovery.

JA

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Anyone with a 3D printer might want to make one of these little door opener keyring hooks and maybe for friends and family (I found myself pulling my jumper into odd shapes to avoid touching the doorhandles when leaving a public loo yesterday…)

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4192643

Wouldn't be difficult to knock up a few in the workshop. Wood might be a good material as its less conducive to the virus than metal or plastic?

Neil

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Our chance to save the human race by staying in bed, watching TV, or driving a lathe. What's not to like?

Dave

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Posted by duncan webster on 20/03/2020 16:40:24:

Perhaps those who refuse to practice social distancing should have to sign a register waiving their right to NHS treatment for respiratory illness?

Should be charging the greedy sods ones who are stuffing trolleys day in day out and clearing the shelves forcing the rest of us to keep going out shopping regularly in crowded stores trying to hunt down enough food to survive😢

Social distancing! Can’t do that in crowded supermarkets and no home delivery slots left😢

Edited By V8Eng on 20/03/2020 22:37:50

Edited By V8Eng on 20/03/2020 22:40:00

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

To the above post.

Steve.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Just got home from the last night down the pub for a while, it’s not looking good for the guy running the pub, his best offer was hand the keys back. As many of us are in the happy position of being pensioners we could be in quite a good place compared to many.

Mike

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Posted by Mike Poole on 21/03/2020 00:38:38:

Just got home from the last night down the pub for a while, it’s not looking good for the guy running the pub, his best offer was hand the keys back. As many of us are in the happy position of being pensioners we could be in quite a good place compared to many.

Mike

I can't see the low peaks strategy lasting, it's going to take too long

Within 6 weeks millions are going to be seriously skint and have cabin fever

Would martial law work in the uk?

Eventually they'll use the old system, let it run rampant and come what may

Want money from the government because your pension has suddenly become zero pounds per week?

Here's a 43 page form sir, we'll process it within 8 weeks and let you know

Edited By Ady1 on 21/03/2020 02:09:01

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

Doesn’t this lock down and reduction in services give the ideal opportunity for rail and roads to be worked on. Alright people will be working in close proximity but they should be using ppe anyway. Perhaps if some one knows an mp or two they could have a word. But knowing how these things work they will wait until everyone has to get back to work before shutting down at the weekends to do critical work.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi HOWARDT, PPE should be the last consideration i.e. if no other way of doing a particular operation can be done; and should also be considered during a risk assessment prior to doing any job. The proper use of any PPE must also be considered before it is assumed it can be used.

Regards Nick.

 

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 21/03/2020 08:25:32

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

And as usual most of the sacrificing in this war is being done by the youngsters in the form of financial armageddon

While the main net beneficiaries in this war are the oldies who live in relative financial luxury

I would spread the pain

Do something along the lines of a 50% reduction to every public and private pension in the land

This cash gets diverted into a war chest which helps with the national cost of this war

We're all in it together kinda thing

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Ady1, slashing my pensions by 50% would put myself in financial hardship and besides which, I paid for my private pension during my employment with the company that pays it to me now and during the early years of paying it, made an impact of available funds in my younger days.

Regards Nick.

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Being a lazy old whatsit I get my groceries delivered by Tesco. Tried to book a slot today for delivery and the earliest I can get is 15th April. Presumably I shall have to starve or break the Governments "social distancing" advice. Can't even book click and collect as these are all booked as well!

John

[Pete RimmerParticipant @peterimmer30576]

Posted by Ady1 on 21/03/2020 08:23:55:

And as usual most of the sacrificing in this war is being done by the youngsters in the form of financial armageddon

While the main net beneficiaries in this war are the oldies who live in relative financial luxury

I would spread the pain

Do something along the lines of a 50% reduction to every public and private pension in the land

This cash gets diverted into a war chest which helps with the national cost of this war

We're all in it together kinda thing

That could have far-reaching repercussions, not that I think it could ever happen the idea is preposterous.

Not only would you plunge millions who have lived their life responsibly, taking care of their financial future into hardship (people who are currently the last-resort backstop for a lot of people about to face becoming destitute) but you'd also remove the incentive for the following generations to make contributions towards their own future when they face the prospect of having THEIR pension pot snatched out from under them on a whim.

[John OlsenParticipant @johnolsen79199]

Here's a light hearted approach to isolation by Colin Furze:

Colins isolation chamber

John

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Ady1:

Some of us did our working and frugal living way back when so we could have a comfortable retirement. While I concede that I managed to end up privileged I did a lot of that by being 'careful' and putting a larger proportion than most into savings and retirement funds. Those have already been knocked back 1/3 by the stock market crash and may well drop further. Suggesting I sacrifice another half of what is left doesn't have my support.

If gov do what you suggest then there is no point in folk saving for pensions ever again..might just spend it all week by week and then whine at gov for help when it's all gone. If gov does it once then they'll do it every time they run short of vanity project cash.

I have no sympathy for the members of the generation that buys take-away coffee fashionable smartphones, booze cruises and foreign stag-dos and spends £20K on a wedding or changes their car every 3 yrs or 'have it large' in clubs, sports matches, concerts etc

I was the generation that went thrugh gazumping, buying a small house I could just afford and spent the next years after work (and I often finished after 9pm) up ladders wire-brushing cast iron guttering and digging out wood-rot 'cos i couldn't afford to change it. This was also the generation that lived through 15%+ mortgages, used my annual holiday to do locum work so i could afford second hand appliances…

Yes it all worked out well for me when I finally managed to buy a business. It took off but like a lot of self-employed it was because I worked 12 hr days and 24/7 available for emergencies and dossed in a crappy room upstairs while my wife and kids lived 30 miles away and I saw them once a fortnight for a few hours for the first couple of years. And I'm still having to support my kids financially because they can;t learn that life is tough.

[Martin of WickParticipant @martinofwick]

Posted by Ady1 on 21/03/2020 08:23:55:

And as usual most of the sacrificing in this war is being done by the youngsters in the form of financial armageddon

While the main net beneficiaries in this war are the oldies who live in relative financial luxury

Well it is a point of view, and I would be enlightened to learn exactly how the over 65s are supposed to be benefiting from these depressing circumstances?

As has been pointed out by others, pension savings were made by forgoing other forms of instant gratification to prepare for a future that may not be benign.

You may rest assured that this crisis will be paid for, and primarily paid for by those that have scrimped and saved rather than those that lived in a dream world of no tomorrow and where debt was considered a form of free money.

Life is about to change and the era of low taxation and low inflation is about to abruptly end.

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

The prudent pensioners are the section of society most at risk from the virus. Pension fund managers must be thinking 'in every cloud…'. There will be spare capacity in retirement villages. In the future, the seasonal melt-down of the NHS will be mitigated. Perhaps the moderators ought to remove this…

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

PGK,PGK, I suffered much the same route to yourself to get the position that I am now in retirement. When we bought our first house I was 36 and worked 7 days a week at a variety of jobs in order to get a mortgage, and yes I remember only too well 15% mortgages, money was extremely tight in my younger days, we couldn’t spend money as wastefully as people do today, my daughters still call me a Scrooge because old habits die hard. I would like to know what planet Ady 1 is living on, no way I will give up any percentage of my hard earned pension.
Dave W

[SakuraParticipant @sakura]

I have no sympathy for the members of the generation that buys take-away coffee fashionable smartphones, booze cruises and foreign stag-dos and spends £20K on a wedding or changes their car every 3 yrs or 'have it large' in clubs, sports matches, concerts etc

I was the generation that went thrugh gazumping, buying a small house I could just afford and spent the next years after work (and I often finished after 9pm) up ladders wire-brushing cast iron guttering and digging out wood-rot 'cos i couldn't afford to change it. This was also the generation that lived through 15%+ mortgages, used my annual holiday to do locum work so i could afford second hand appliances…

Yes, we had it so easy!!

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

All in it together

All making sacrifices to win this war

otherwise the youngsters are going to get saddled with the long term war debt which could run into trillions

It's only for a year or so, a temporary arrangement for extraordinary times

Edited By Ady1 on 21/03/2020 10:16:59

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Posted by Ady1 on 21/03/2020 10:14:17:

All in it together

All making sacrifices to win this war

otherwise the youngsters are going to get saddled with the long term war debt which could run into trillions

It's only for a year or so, a temporary arrangement for extraordinary times

Perhaps timely to remind you that we made the last lend lease payment only in 2006.

Also that the cost of WW2 and the deals that the UK struck were directly responsible for the loss of empire.
The public may not have been aware of it but they have been making sacrifices all that time.

So I don't have a problem with the next generation paying for this..we paid for the last generation.

Now that doesn't mean we shouldn't pull together through this and every crisis but it's poor management and the guys at the top lining their own pockets that leads to a lack of preparedness and as you point out the poor bloody infantry that pays the price. vanity projects like the millenium dome, Boris water cannon, garden bridges absurd numbers of peers etc instead of hospitals and contingencies. the 2008 crash was entirely foreseeable – indeed a decade of warnings about easy credit and excessive loans. In a similar vein this crisis was entirely foreseeable with SARS, Ebola and 1918 and 1957/8

pgk

[LimpetParticipant @limpet]

Ady1

If you think that the pensioners have it easy just think of all who already have and those about to give up their lives due to the virus – are you volunteering for that.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Shouldn’t worry the FU Generation will likely have starved us oldies to death with their shop raiding, if that doesn’t work we are the most likely to die of the virus not them.

The young have lifetime ahead of them us oldies do not and large chunk of anything we leave will end up in the state coffers anyway.

Just as an aside to rest of the usual lefty bull about wealthy lifestyles etc, I remember my hard up parents waiting decades to get their money back from compulsory war bonds (or some similar name) anything taken by the state is in limbo and probably frittered away anyway.

Do not forget all the years our taxes have helped support the state and the many who have frittered away their earnings to leave themselves as a continuing burden on the rest of us.

If we have to into care home those with a bit of money are charged extra apparently to help pay for the ones put there by the councils and therefore paid for by taxpayers in the first place.

leaving this this thread and un-bookmarking it now.

Edited By V8Eng on 21/03/2020 11:22:17

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