IOM Covid removing restrictions

[The Voice of Reason]

21 minutes ago, Uhtred said:

Point about the Telegraph made!

Don’t you want to know what the advert was about first ?

[Gladys]

8 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Don’t you want to know what the advert was about first ?

Was it advertising for health professionals?

[Out of the blue]

1 hour ago, Utah 01 said:

I apologise; I wasn't aware that the link was restricted. And for the record, I have never alleged 'conspiracy', rather gross incompetence, obfuscation, deceit and manipulation of the population by media and the closing down of open debate (defined as 'dictatorship' - check it out).  If that is 'conspiracy' in your minds then so be it.

I shan't reproduce the article in full but here is the gist:

'Failures in the UK’s pandemic response are not hard to identify, but on one front the Government’s success is undeniable: persuading a fearful nation to stay locked indoors for much of the past year.  The daily diet of statistics on deaths, hospitalisations and Covid cases has been so effective that compliance with lockdown has gone far beyond
what ministers expected.'

'Whether frightening the public was a deliberate – or honest – tactic has become the subject of intense debate, and dozens of psychologists have now accused ministers of using “covert psychological strategies” to manipulate the public’s behaviour.'

'They believe the Government, acting on the advice of behavioural experts, has emphasised the threat from Covid without putting the risks in sufficient context, leaving the country in “a state of heightened anxiety”.'

'They also claim that “inflated fear levels will be responsible for the‘collateral’ deaths of many thousands of people
with non-Covid illnesses” who are “too frightened to attend hospital”.

They are so concerned that the British public has been the subject of a mass experiment in the use of strategies that operate “below their level of awareness” that they have made a formal complaint to their professional body, which will now rule on whether government advisers have been guilty of a breach of ethics.

One of the key pieces of evidence cited by those who have complained about “covert” tactics comes from a document prepared for the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) at the beginning of the pandemic a year ago.

Dated March 22, the paper written by the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) stated: “A substantial number of people still do not feel sufficiently personally threatened; it could be that they are reassured by the low death rate in their demographic group, although levels of concern may be rising … the perceived level of
personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging. To be effective this must alsoempower people by making clear the actions they can take to reduce the
threat.”

The same document presented a grid of 14 options for increasing compliance which included “use media to increase sense of personal threat”, a tactic which was seen as having a “high” effectiveness though
spill-over effects “could be negative”.

Some Sage participants now admit to feeling “embarrassed” by such advice.

One regular Sage attendee said: “The British people have been subjected
to an unevaluated psychological experiment without being told that is
what’s happening.

Laura Dodsworth, who has spent the past year researching this subject
for a forthcoming book called A State of Fear: How the UK Government
Weaponised Fear During the Covid-19 Pandemic, said: “I have interviewed
people who have been undone by fear, people who have had to be talked
down from suicide and people who have developed agoraphobia.

“The problem with fear is that it clouds rational thinking. You become
more reliant on government messaging, which makes you more frightened,
which makes you even more reliant on their messaging, creating a doom
loop. We have forgotten how to analyse risk.”

.........and so it goes on. It's not 'conspiracy theory' - it is fact - if only you would open your eyes and ears beyond this afternoon's number of cases.

If you believe that this is an honourable and trustworthy way for a supposedly liberal and 'democratic' western government to act: then you deserve whatever comes your way.  These are the methods of totalitarian dictatorships - period - and we, the sheep, have lapped it up.

Apologies, I wasn’t referring to you as a conspiracy theorist, rather was just stating my belief that I did not think that neither the UK or IoM government  had any pre planned agenda and have started off with the best intentions, and hopefully still retain them. I broadly agree with the Telegraph article and have been uncomfortable with their data presentation and messaging tactics in order to achieve compliance. We are certainly heading towards a less free society, in that we will be subject to more overt state surveillance and tracking, but it is worth mentioning that the state previously had this ability, albeit in a less joined up manner. 

[finlo]

11 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Don’t you want to know what the advert was about first ?

Guarantee it was bullshit.

[Non-Believer]

"Experienced Spin Doctors required urgently. Long and Short Term Contracts available.

Also interest invited for possible Vacancies for Nursing Staff to attend to Bruised Egos"

[Hillside]

1 hour ago, pongo said:

Lately I get a couple of emails a week from them trying to tempt me back. For seemingly less and less money. Like some kind of reverse Dutch auction. The latest being £1 per month.

I’d pay that, can you post a link?

[pongo]

5 minutes ago, Hillside said:

I’d pay that, can you post a link?

No it's email offers to past subscribers. However, if you take the free trial or pay for a month at the normal rate then quit then I am guessing that over time you will also get these offers. Same as Spotify, Sky etc after you quit.

[Out of the blue]

1 hour ago, pongo said:

I used to read The Telegraph but gave up a few years ago as it went increasinly C2 - UKIP. And seemingly now written by twenty - something freelancers rather than the excellent established correspondents they were once known for. Also the awful click-bait.

Lately I get a couple of emails a week from them trying to tempt me back. For seemingly less and less money. Like some kind of reverse Dutch auction. The latest being £1 per month. They seem ever more desperate since the sale was announced. I guess that's down to them hemorrhaging their intelligent broad-church readership to The Times, Guardian and FT.

I begrudgingly subscribe to The Times, but that too is succumbing to click bait and tabloidesque articles and if my wife didn't enjoy the magazine and supplement articles so much I would stop. I have now started to read The Independent in addition to the Times to try and get some political balance, along with several assorted talk radio stations (Radio 4, 5 Live, Talk Radio and LBC). It is interesting to note that all the above tend to follow the government line, give or take the odd columnist, all except of course Talk Radio, who are hard line anti lockdown etc. It would appear that one has very few mainstream places to go if you rail against the current measures/restrictions. I am guessing that I could add the Daily Mail and The Telegraph to the anti current measures reading list, but Brexit put me off those papers for life so I wouldn't know for sure. 

[Kopek]

2 hours ago, Gladys said:

I couldn't buy a deck chair for love nor money this weekend!

Did you try Slinky? Free 2m. pitchfork with every one?

Edited April 5, 2021 by Kopek

[Nom de plume]

10 hours ago, Cambon said:

Two things. Firstly, we need to see what effect this weekend has had both here and in uk. Secondly, because uk had been in lockdown for 3 months, we have been 1 month, our figures are actually worse than theirs. Are you sure the uk want their citizens travelling here without 14 days isolation on their return? 

With respect, I think you need to revisit the figures both here & there.

The excuses & reasoning for keeping this Island locked away from the rest of the world have ran out.

May 17th should be the day unrestricted U.K. travel is reopened.

[Major Rushen]

Not going to happen... test on day 1 and day 7 until both negative you stay at home.

[Banker]

25 minutes ago, Major Rushen said:

Not going to happen... test on day 1 and day 7 until both negative you stay at home.

Says who ?

[Apple]

The problem with a lot of these 'rules' is how are you going to police it. Who checks you are self testing and negative. 

Can you imagine a pub employee barring someone or even worse asking to check someones vaccination 'passport' or 'certificate' and someone saying No thanks....

....someones going home with a different perspective.

[Barlow]

 

1 hour ago, Apple said:

The problem with a lot of these 'rules' is how are you going to police it. Who checks you are self testing and negative. 

Can you imagine a pub employee barring someone or even worse asking to check someones vaccination 'passport' or 'certificate' and someone saying No thanks....

....someones going home with a different perspective.

Interestingly (perhaps) Chris Robertshaw MHK, when he was manager of The Sefton, had an idea for ID cards for entry into pubs - not just age, but it would prevent entry to anyone banned from other pubs.

The system would be straightforward enough to implement and include vaccination info. And extended to shops, cinema &c.

[Out of the blue]

1 minute ago, Barlow said:

 

Interestingly (perhaps) Chris Robertshaw MHK, when he was manager of The Sefton, had an idea for ID cards for entry into pubs - not just age, but it would prevent entry to anyone banned from other pubs.

The system would be straightforward enough to implement and include vaccination info. And extended to shops, cinema &c.

Straightforward does not mean desirable, necessary or in anyway proportionate