Lockdown

[sinkov]

How accurate are these figures? Nobody asked me, my wife, any of the neighbours, none of my family in various parts of the country, none of my friend ---yes I do have a few -----and yet it is quoted that 72% support the lockdown. They make it up as they go along and then they have the audacity to put it into print as though it is gospel truth.
Nowhere on that report does it say just how many people were questioned!

I couldn't even be bothered to respond to 59's post Sub, and I can start an argument in an empty room. The polls have been wrong on every major political vote for the last 5/6 years at least, if Biden wins it will be the first one they've called right in years, they're virtually meaningless these days.

There was one I saw a couple of months ago that said 36% were wearing face masks on the streets. I'd done my own little surveys, to relieve the boredom while Mrs S was shopping, in Clitheroe, York, Preston and Lancaster. I must have counted not far off 1,000 people on 8 different occasions, I found the % wearing them was always between 15-20%, not once did I find more than 20% never mind 36%, I can only assume they manipulate the figures to suit their own agenda, or the agenda of those paying for the survey.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

You are spot on with this sinkov.

Many moons ago I was doing serious marketing research with empirical evidence properly gathered and researched.

The results were astonishing and the company I worked for had an absolute bumper financial year because the data was bang on the money and it responded accordingly. My bonus was reflected in the results.

Fast forward to about 2015 and I tried exactly the same technique to canvas support for the Labour Party. The "researchers" tell you what you want to hear and the hours and hours of hard work were flushed straight down the toilet.

Because I'm wrong in the head, occasionally I run my own little surveys. Following one of my last ones I told our CLP we would lose our seat at the last General Election because they were completely wrong on evaluating potential Labour voters Brexit worries following doorstep canvassing.

They said their "data" would show us winning by 3500, I lost my rag and told them they were all ****ing eejits. We lost by 300 votes, simply because the data was "fatally flawed" and the CLP and Labour HQ were telling themselves porkies and living in Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Moral of this story: Empirical evidence must be harvested either qualitatively or quantitively by neutral researchers working to a proper protocol and brief. Then and only then can we trust the "science".

Sadly I see no evidence whatsoever of this type of data gathering relational to the UK and the virus. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are producing conflicting data and "science," while we have Johnson producing figures out of thin air, and he really believes we are daft enough to fall for it.

Unfortunately, just by using snapshot techniques we can see on here the gullible fall for this nonsense with hardly a whimper. 72% my arse.

[1959_60]

I couldn't even be bothered to respond to 59's post Sub, and I can start an argument in an empty room. The polls have been wrong on every major political vote for the last 5/6 years at least, if Biden wins it will be the first one they've called right in years, they're virtually meaningless these days.

There was one I saw a couple of months ago that said 36% were wearing face masks on the streets. I'd done my own little surveys, to relieve the boredom while Mrs S was shopping, in Clitheroe, York, Preston and Lancaster. I must have counted not far off 1,000 people on 8 different occasions, I found the % wearing them was always between 15-20%, not once did I find more than 20% never mind 36%, I can only assume they manipulate the figures to suit their own agenda, or the agenda of those paying for the survey.

Well, on a personal level, the info I have from people I have chatted to backs up those results. In fact, apart from Clarets-Mad, I haven't spoken to anyone who thinks that we shouldn't have a lockdown. To be fair, I haven't spoken to anyone in the Ribble Valley or Bolton so I haven't got a vox pop for there.

I actually partly agree with you, that we can expect a surge in cases/deaths now that we are entering the winter months. But this doesn't mean that we should throw our hands in the air and do nowt. And limiting contact with each other seems to me to be a very sensible thing to do to stop the NHS/care services being overwhelmed in the very near future.

BT would simply let it rip which would certainly mean that the NHS couldn't cope...alas, a minority of people agree with him. If the NHS/care services collapsed then the impact on our society would be grave.

And yes, there is not 100% consensus between the "experts" on the lockdown. There is not 100% consensus on lots of stuff including climate change. But the vast majority of the Governments advisors have produced very compelling evidence that if we do nothing then the result will be dire. And if you were PM then you would have to be led by them or risk being responsible for tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths and the collapse of the NHS . They are our best hope.