O/T:- ⚠️Impressed with the leadership [The UK Party Politics Thread]

[drillerpie]

Don't disagree with that. It's a possibility that shouldn't be completely discounted, though there's no direct evidence for it at the moment and nothing in the virus that points to genetic engineering.

My point was just that the theory that it might be a lab leak is not widely accepted by scientists, or even anywhere close.

But I definitely agree that the mood music around it has changed over the years in exactly the way that drillerpie describes, and it's now taken more seriously.

It shouldn't be discounted at all, given that the report by the US intellligence community states that all its agencies find it to be a plausible hypothesis.

I think 5 agencies found the Pangolin explanation to be the most plausible, 2 found the lab leak the most plausible (including the FBI) and the rest (including the CIA) couldn't decide.

Some of the agencies found that there was evidence of laboratory adaptation (taking a virus found in nature and playing with it to provoke the desired mutations) of the virus, which is distinct from genetically engineering a virus (creating it from scratch in a lab) which all agencies agreed did not happen.

The US intelligence community concluded there were concerns about adherence to the correct safety practices at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the lead up to the pandemic.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology took down the database of viruses it had been working with in, ahem, autumn 2019.

It is probably more accurate to say that the lab leak is not publicly accepted by a majority of scientists.

[drillerpie]

Given that the virus wiped out China's economy I think we can safely rule out a money making exercise from the possible motivations for a deliberate release.

In fact, given the sheer damage it's done to China in general, we can pretty safely rule out a deliberate release ordered by authorities there.

Yes I agree with that. It'll be the classic 'Chernobyl' scenario, whereby low ranking bureaucrats working in autocratic regimes are very reluctant to give bad new to their bosses, so lie and end up making things much worse than they could've ever imagined.

[Magpies1959]

I must have missed all those headlines saying that China's economy was wiped out by the virus lol. I would love to know what damage it has done to China, seeing as the whole world seems to rely on their cheap produce at the expense of their population.

If as so many still seem to think the possibility is it spread from the wet market. Why has there been a deafening silence about sorting out their wet markets so that this sort of thing cannot happen again.

[SwalePie]

I must have missed all those headlines saying that China's economy was wiped out by the virus lol. I would love to know what damage it has done to China, seeing as the whole world seems to rely on their cheap produce at the expense of their population.

If as so many still seem to think the possibility is it spread from the wet market. Why has there been a deafening silence about sorting out their wet markets so that this sort of thing cannot happen again.

The Chinese economy has been hit very hard. I speak with Chinese colleagues daily. There is huge youth unemployment due to factory slowdowns and closures.

[Elite_Pie]

The Chinese economy has been hit very hard. I speak with Chinese colleagues daily. There is huge youth unemployment due to factory slowdowns and closures.

I wonder if that was reported on the totally unbiased GB News?

[Jampie]

I must have missed all those headlines saying that China's economy was wiped out by the virus lol.

Given the sheer quantity of said headlines I've seen, that must have required an extraordinary effort on your part. Or maybe you really need to add a few new news sources, perhaps the ones you are using are very carefully curating what you see?

[Magpies1959]

Just give it a rest EP. I didn't say I inhabited the centre ground, some of my views are to the left and some are to the right. I suppose you would just prefer no balance in news reporting.

Fair dos Swale I bow to your inside knowledge .

[Elite_Pie]

Just give it a rest EP. I didn't say I inhabited the centre ground, some of my views are to the left and some are to the right. I suppose you would just prefer no balance in news reporting.

Lets get real here. You are espousing GB News as "balanced" reporting, when it's plainly a right wing propaganda machine. Presenters like Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lee Anderson are as far to the right as you can get before entering BNP and EDL territory. So where are the far left presenters they give airtime to?

Out of interest, what left wing views do you claim to support?

[magpie_mania]

Lets get real here. You are espousing GB News as "balanced" reporting, when it's plainly a right wing propaganda machine. Presenters like Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lee Anderson are as far to the right as you can get before entering BNP and EDL territory. So where are the far left presenters they give airtime to?

Out of interest, what left wing views do you claim to support?

My best left wing views include Arthur Mann and Adrian Thorpe.

[Elite_Pie]

My best left wing views include Arthur Mann and Adrian Thorpe.

Ian Scanlon deserves a mention.