IOM Covid removing restrictions

[Annoymouse]

3 hours ago, Roxanne said:

A friend was told to do that today by a medic friend. Feeling rough but LFT’s all negative. Medic suggested throat swab. (Off duty medic). 

Seems a bad idea without using a longer swab which is actually designed for the throat, unless you have no gag reflex and then you'll probably be ok…..

Edited December 31, 2021 by Annoymouse

[hissingsid]

Happy New Year to all members and our hard working Moderator I hope this year brings some interesting topics and good humored discussions, I am aware this is premature but I will be asleep before midnight, if the plonker down the road stops setting his fireworks off at the rate of one every ten minutes, he must be intent on keeping his little display going until 12.00 😴.

 

[Non-Believer]

39 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

The swab should stop just before the gagging starts. You’re aiming for ‘the arch’ and avoiding the tongue. Apparently. 

Isn't that what all the ladies say to start with....? 😂

[Paulos The Great]

8 minutes ago, hissingsid said:

if the plonker down the road stops setting his fireworks off at the rate of one every ten minutes, he must be intent on keeping his little display going until 12.00 😴.

 

There’s some miserable plonker in Ashley Park just said the same on Facebook. 

[The Voice of Reason]

8 hours ago, Gladys said:

Parting can be such sweet sorrow. 

Said one lady to her underwear on Marine Drive😀

Edited December 31, 2021 by The Voice of Reason

[Gladys]

26 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Said one lady to her underwear on Marine Drive😀

For the umpteenth time, it was not my underwear on Marine Drive.  It was a pair of knickers hung on a fence up there.  At the time I wondered how they got there - a spare pair fell out of someone's bag, someone forgot to put them back on, they fell off unnoticed, blew off in a high wind, some cad had them in his pocket after a carnal encounter and discarded them,  etc. etc.

 

 

Edited December 31, 2021 by Gladys

[The Voice of Reason]

3 hours ago, Cambon said:

I feel sorry for you. Leaving the EU was never going to be easy or quick. However, all those billions paid out by Brussels have to come from somewhere, and they have lost their second biggest contributor. The EU is on the brink of collapse. It has been for years. I think Ireland will be next, in the next few years, and they will form an alliance with the uk. 

I could go on, give reasons, but cannot be bothered. Let's just see what happens after tomorrow. 

Perfectly put

[manxman34]

55 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Perfectly put

Is that short for putrid?

[Roger Mexico]

5 hours ago, Cambon said:

The EU is on the brink of collapse. It has been for years. I think Ireland will be next, in the next few years, and they will form an alliance with the uk. 

Let's ignore the obvious point that if something has been on the brink of collapse for years, then either it really wasn't or it's proving surprisingly resistant to falling over that brink.  The the meaninglessness of the phrase is telling though.

But factually, we do have a lot of opinion polling evidence about what people in the remaining EU countries think.  The most recent one I could find about how people would vote in an exit referendum was from 2019.    The lowest percentages to stay in (in France and the Czech Republic) was 68%.  In other words more than two to one in favour of staying.  Ireland was even more enthusiastic with 86%.

More recent polling shows continued support.  One from this Summer (downloads, p 13):

Shows 70% of Irish voters with a positive view of the EU and only 8% with a negative one.  So believing that they will suddenly change their minds and reject the EU and opt for the UK they left 100 years ago, does seem a little ..... hopeful.

Oddly this does bring us back to the topic of Covid.  Because the only reason that people believe such tosh as that Ireland is about to leave the EU is because the media tell them such nonsense.  Similarly all sorts of tall tales with little evidence regarding Covid are fed to the readers and beyond and repeated by those believing they have come up with the ideas, even though they are using the same words as everyone else.

Edited January 1, 2022 by Roger Mexico
Last line lost

[John Wright]

11 hours ago, Cambon said:

I feel sorry for you. Leaving the EU was never going to be easy or quick. However, all those billions paid out by Brussels have to come from somewhere, and they have lost their second biggest contributor. The EU is on the brink of collapse. It has been for years. I think Ireland will be next, in the next few years, and they will form an alliance with the uk. 

I could go on, give reasons, but cannot be bothered. Let's just see what happens after tomorrow. 

 

5 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

Let's ignore the obvious point that if something has been on the brink of collapse for years, then either it really wasn't or it's proving surprisingly resistant to falling over that brink.  The the meaninglessness of the phrase is telling though.

But factually, we do have a lot of opinion polling evidence about what people in the remaining EU countries think.  The most recent one I could find about how people would vote in an exit referendum was from 2019.    The lowest percentages to stay in (in France and the Czech Republic) was 68%.  In other words more than two to one in favour of staying.  Ireland was even more enthusiastic with 86%.

More recent polling shows continued support.  One from this Summer (downloads, p 13):

Shows 70% of Irish voters with a positive view of the EU and only 8% with a negative one.  So believing that they will suddenly change their minds and reject the EU and opt for the UK they left 100 years ago, does seem a little ..... hopeful.

Oddly this does bring us back to the topic of Covid.  Because the only reason that people believe such tosh as that Ireland is about to leave the EU is because the media tell them such nonsense.  Similarly all sorts of tall tales with little evidence regarding Covid are fed to the readers and beyond and repeated by those believing they have come up with the ideas, even though they are using the same words as everyone else.

Obviously my “evidence” is anecdotal. But here I am in Catalonia, where, 20 years ago today,  I swapped from pesetas to the Euro.

Yes, half of Catalans want independence, from Spain, but they want it within the EU. 

Indeed from my experience and chats with friends, family, professional colleagues, the EU is seen as a guarantor of economic success, reform, stability, integration, security, freedom, and against extremism and local excess.

2 more countries are due to enter the Euro, Croatia, a year today, Bulgaria, two years today. Romania has remained in the waiting room as it hasn’t met the criteria.

In 20012-14 we were told that the euro would collapse, the austerity imposed on the likes of Greece, Ireland, spain, Portugal would cause revolution, and the demise of the Euro. In fact, painful though it was all those economies are now in full recovery. Most people recognise that the tough response and bad tasting medicine was better than the old, devalue, hike interest rates, huge borrowing cycles of old.

None of the interviews and opinion pieces are anti Euro or anti EU. They’re all pro. The pieces by economists debunk the lies of massive inflation at changeover.

Yes, it’s not all cohesion, and there are fault lines in Hungary and Poland. But even there it’s about social conservatism and populism. No one suggest leaving the EU.

Id suggest the rise of the far right and populism is over. It’s peaked. The advantages of the EU and economic and social integration are clearly seen across the EU. The next big thing will be how to make the institutions more directly democratically answerable.

Based on evidence to date I think they’ll get there. There’ll be missteps, set backs. But it’s come a long way and done pretty well over the last 66 years and 20 years.

[Lost Login]

16 hours ago, Ramseyboi said:

Serious question looking for an honest answer.

Were you expecting an increase or decrease in cases today compared to yesterday? Which way do you expect them to go tomorrow?

I have no expectations as I can see arguments for an increase, the current strand appears to be very contagious but equally I can see the logic of numbers decreasing. People are being more cautious, schools and many work places have been closed for a period, or operating with much lower numbers, so there is less mingling, it is over a week since the end of the Christmas party, drinking, shopping season and 5 days since boxing day so I expect much less mingling in place. Because of that I am hopeful that daily cases may have peaked but I say that with a huge caveat, see final paragraph.

What I try to avoid doing is to making statements or predictions as if they are authorative  rather than simply guestimations. You appear to have an agenda and simply pick figures or explain them away to meet your agenda. e,g. people in hospital being treated for Covid are really people in hospital for other reasons who have since tested for Covid.

One of the things I am fairly certain about is that day to day changes in figures are not necessarily good for reporting a trend. I would be looking for a tend over a few days or a week. I am also of the view that the IoM Government dashboard is not a true indication of numbers although it may more accurate with regards to trends. There is no requirement to report a positive LFT and unless you need to report so you get your isolation order for work etc I am sure many do not. Similarly the symptoms for many are fairly mild, i.e. cold like, and I am sure that there are plenty who will not be testing. I am fairly sure that there are a couple who I work with who see it as basically flu and having caught it once think they are immune so as far as they are concerned they will just act and treat as they would for a cold.  

[Ramseyboi]

5 minutes ago, Lost Login said:

You appear to have an agenda and simply pick figures or explain them away to meet your agenda. e,g. people in hospital being treated for Covid are really people in hospital for other reasons who have since tested for Covid.

Where have I ever said that?  You need to read more carefully and stop jumping to conclusions (like most on here)

[Zarley]

@Ramseyboi, are you still intent on going for an illegal NYD beach walk? The Isle of Man Constabulary would like to know. 

[Ramseyboi]

1 minute ago, Zarley said:

@Ramseyboi, are you still intent on going for an illegal NYD beach walk? The Isle of Man Constabulary would like to know. 

Testing is voluntary.  Plenty of people aren’t testing at all.

I am yet to produce a positive test as per the instructions on the LFT.

Yes.  I have had a walk on the beach this morning.  We passed one other car on the road so unless COVID jumped out of my car into theirs (they are as likely to have it as me anyway) and at a closing speed of about 90mph in the brief second we were within 15 feet of each other I can’t really see any harm done.

[Happier diner]

42 minutes ago, Ramseyboi said:

  stop jumping to conclusions (like most on here)

Now you are at it too😀