OT a frightening thought

[swaledale]

Of course I would in your head. Perhaps you have been looting with BLM and beating up pensioners?

ps, I will be back in the sunshine in Thailand as soon as I can. At the moment I don't fancy self isolating in Phuket before moving on to my place.

Will you be going back to the Reichstag, errrrrrrrrm I mean Brussels this summer?

Make up your mind, either the EU is a hotbed of leftism or its fascist! If it were the latter than you'd fit right in, mind you perhaps given the nature of government in Thailand you'd be not so keen to go there as you allegedly object to political systems that control the population and infringe on people's liberty?

Ah but then being an ill informed hypocrite who follows dog whistle politics with scant understanding of what they are talking about that would require a level of thought that is clearly beyond you!

[swaledale]

I think you've missed the point. I agree why not use a geographical description - but then why pillory Trump for describing Covid itself as the Chinese virus? This isn't about defending Trump, its about double standards

Mm sometimes when you post, you do reveal an alarming lack of a coherent thought process! I take it the not so subtle way trump says things has been missed by you then?

[Andy_Faber]

Mm sometimes when you post, you do reveal an alarming lack of a coherent thought process! I take it the not so subtle way trump says things has been missed by you then?

Hello Swale, have you recovered from that crap you wrote about vaccination numbers the other day, that everyone here pointed out was wrong? Thought you’d been quiet. I made a numerical error yesterday, fessed up immediately. You do the same, go awol. Says it all...

[MadAmster]

Yes I can see that, and probably agree, the comments from him I have seen didn't hide his dislike for China very well. Don't see Merkel et al having the balls/consistency to refer to 'The UK (or ZA) strain of the Chinese virus' and that's double standards, basically rooted on dont hit on someone who might hit you back harder

So, you agree that Trump came up with his CF and KF taunts to have a dig at China.

Yesterday, the Dutch PM referred to the "Britse variant" several times in his press conference and even referred to it as the "Engelse variant" on 2 occasions. The "Zuid Afrikaanse variant" was also called just that. Apart from DJT, I haven't heard or read of any other political leader in the world refer to CV-19 as "Chinese" anything. I did in the early days see journo's newspaper articles refer to it as Wuhan flu but I don't recall a politician doing such. Do you think it's because they're all too afraid to do so? I doubt that.

[Andy_Faber]

So, you agree that Trump came up with his CF and KF taunts to have a dig at China.

Yesterday, the Dutch PM referred to the "Britse variant" several times in his press conference and even referred to it as the "Engelse variant" on 2 occasions. The "Zuid Afrikaanse variant" was also called just that. Apart from DJT, I haven't heard or read of any other political leader in the world refer to CV-19 as "Chinese" anything. I did in the early days see journo's newspaper articles refer to it as Wuhan flu but I don't recall a politician doing such. Do you think it's because they're all too afraid to do so? I doubt that.

Not exactly, but I am concerned that there will continue to be (because there is) a PR push to divert attention from China as yet again the source of a potentially world-ending virus, and there’s very little push back. Back on my usual anti PC soapbox, this PC is at nation level and I’m concerned that thoughts of the (amongst others) trade power of China has pushed nations into a silence regarding this. Maybe I only see the surface and there’s lots happening beneath it, I hope so because I don’t want to escape this pandemic and be wiped out by the next one. So I think Trump was doing the right thing for the wrong reason

[ramAnag]

Your ‘anti PC soapbox’ has become a strange place to be, AF.
Just this week you’ve stood on it to call Trump ‘odious’ but now you’re saying he was ‘doing the right thing for the wrong reason’.
You’ve castigated Graham Norton for having a pop at Priti Patel but then proceeded to describe her as ‘Unpriti Patel’ and you’ve decided it’s okay for you to describe Norton as ‘unfunny’ - as subjective a comment as can be - whilst launching a campaign for objectivity.

I’m not sure I dare ask this...but how do you suggest we react to China and are you actually suggesting that Covid-19 is the result of some sort of germ warfare?

[Geoff Parkstone]

I think it’s you who’ve missed the point, Andy. Either that or you’re being enormously over sensitive
There are likely to be more of these variants unfortunately...do you actually think people (reporters, politicians, clinicians etc) are going to have the time and inclination to refer to ‘The UK (or ZA) strain of the Chinese virus’, ‘The South African strain of the Chinese virus’, ‘The Californian strain of the Chinese virus’ etc etc. Really?
No double standards at all...just clarity.

..............and as for people calling the post world war 1 flu "Asian Flu" that's just racist, Swine Flu are just speciesist. Its a simple way to differentiate he strains, and Trum's use of the word Chinese was just a way of calling corona something that people understood. In each geographic case its simply for clarity - unless you have an agenda to pursue

[Andy_Faber]

No not at all re germ warfare, my extremely uninformed opinion veers towards poor social habits with accidental release of the virus as a long shot, my concern is that through lack of resolve (being ‘frit’) we will never know therefore will never learn. I work with a Chinese company who’s nationals have altered their opinions on the virus, to use the current phrase, ‘in lock step’, so under instruction imo to defend a position or deny a truth. Trump’s words stem from his xenophobia (in fact his disdain for anyone who isn’t him) but they were also factually correct and keeping the root ‘cause’ in the public eye therefore ‘right’ in effect not in intention

I’ll give up on late night witticisms

[Geoff Parkstone]

Your ‘anti PC soapbox’ has become a strange place to be, AF.
Just this week you’ve stood on it to call Trump ‘odious’ but now you’re saying he was ‘doing the right thing for the wrong reason’.
You’ve castigated Graham Norton for having a pop at Priti Patel but then proceeded to describe her as ‘Unpriti Patel’ and you’ve decided it’s okay for you to describe Norton as ‘unfunny’ - as subjective a comment as can be - whilst launching a campaign for objectivity.

I’m not sure I dare ask this...but how do you suggest we react to China and are you actually suggesting that Covid-19 is the result of some sort of germ warfare?

Id say describing Graham Norton as unfunny is far from subjective. It almost as objective as possible. Rather like describing Mrs Brown's Boys as unfunny. Totally factually and objectively accurate!

[Geoff Parkstone]

Is COVID 19 Sino Germ Warfare? A year ago I would have dismissed such as suggestion as delusional. Now, given the way it seems to be capable of intelligent mutation, I'm not so sure. If it isn't germ warfare, then its sure as hell convenient and economically advantageous for the country of origin. Is nano-tech this advanced - I have no idea, and if, like Ebola, COVID had started in an area with little to gain economically Id dismiss the idea out of hand. But it originated in a country at economic and trade war with USA and one who has a huge amount to gain by "recovering first".

No evidence whatsoever to support this (as with all conspiracy theories) but its a great fit