Butch

Exactly right. C-19 was here in the UK, actively infecting before it started to make the headlines. By the time we saw what Italy was going through, it began to emerge Europe wide. Now, normally, a public health response is triggered by a few cases of something, anything from an increase in the number of bee stings through to ebola emerging in a specific area, or maybe an "act" such as, say, a poison Gas cloud, or events giving cause to issues like sunburn during the summer etc. More to the point, the NHS are forewarned and can be prepared. something like an "act" like a gas cloud, or even terrorist act is going to be localised and as such the effect upon local resource can be mitigated easily by sticking someone in an ambulance and sending them elsewhere. C-19 came out of nowhere with a high infection rate, a high fatality rate as seen in Italy (the only solid information to go on, given that the Chinese were acting like wankers) and the reaction needed to be swift and decisive. Although it wasn't really swift, it was pretty decisive. and as mentioned, the whole point of lockdown was to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed when there was a massive shortage of PPE, which would lead to Medical professionals dropping like flies and then ultimately civil unrest, corpses in the streets and then it's a case of Martial Law. When people talk about the Nightingale hospitals being empty, that's not actually a bad thing. a few million quid is peanuts compared to the cost of getting caught short without one in place. Now, one can reasonably argue this has cost a bloody fortune. Lockdown became too draconian and went on for too long. Questions need to be asked, and a learning curve established because this is not going to be the last time the Globe faces an epidemic, and if you think C-19 was bad, then the next one might well make it look like a picnic.

The Govt and Public health England worked on the information they had at the time. People seem to forget the utter clusterfuck that was Italy and grabbed all the headlines, plus a lot of the disinformation coming from China, they had to work on an exponentially fatal disease which was transmitted in air, something they had planned for but not on a National scale, as these kind of outbreaks and planning for such a scenario are based upon it being largely localised, not National and Europe wide. Remember, the NHS puts into place major policies given by PHE, they can't really argue them. the NHS also provide the RAW data which the PHE them correlate and , ahem, do whatever they want with. A public health response is a measured, pre planned response for different scenarios, such as perhaps a Typhoid or Cholera outbreak, or an outbreak within a certain demographic. That is something which can be managed easily and with pre planned strategies. For example, in areas near to Nuclear Power Stations there are "MAJAC" policies in case of an accident, coupled with a public health response to deal with any (literally speaking) fallout. Each NHS Trust has national guidelines to follow for these events, but when the guidelines are being written and published on a day by day basis, putting them into practice takes time, as was the case with C-19. The Govt called the shots on Lockdown, not the NHS. The Govt and PHE decided to build the Nightingale Hospitals, it's slightly unfair to bring the doctors and Nurses into this, as many gave their lives and died of C-19 in their line of duty. It's also worth noting that the whole point of lockdown was to stop the NHS becoming overwhelmed, and in response to people dying because they had their treatment postponed, that is not a decision the Hospital makes, it is a decision and guideline given to them by PHE. There was a policy of DNR on patients with C-19 over the age of 55, such was the expected tidal wave of patients that never came, but they were working with the info they had, and at the time the info coming through, the data and numbers being crunched, infection rates, mortality rates, the mutation of the virus made very sobering reading. The Govt were damned if they did, and damned if they didn't, so erring on the side of caution, they put the lockdown into place. When it was seen to be working, they kept it in place. Arguably for too long, I agree, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Also, it is about risk management. Bringing people in for operations can expose staff and relatives to more risk of C-19, and could therefore increase the risk to others. It is not (IMO) the right thing to do either, and it needs to be scrutinised as the system has obviously failed and lives have been lost because of it. Also, a lot of cancer patients went without treatment, the reason for this is because cancer wards tend to be single room occupancy wards for the dignity of the patient and families, thus they are the easiest to convert into isolation wards, just close the bloody doors and run infection control. as many patients in cancer wards are at the stage of palliative care, it made somewhat simple yet uncomfortable sense to move them into hospices or private hospitals with smaller capacities and the ability to care for them (private hospitals are usually not equipped to deal with infectious diseases, that's why they were not used as C-19 hospitals). Things have settled down, and the NHS is in a good position to deal with a second wave, for example, the Wife's Hospital can now get any ward C-19 isolation ready within 5 hours, that's everything from patient transfer through to deep clean and isolation units and ventilators hooked up to the air system and the A/C ventilation in that ward being put onto a separate circuit, PPE distribution and staff rota. Not bad going, so it's not all about Nurses doing the Conga up the corridor. The problem with Covid was that it came without warning, and by the time it was identified as being so dangerous, it was too late to try and manage on an localised and specific scale. Had China been more open about it, then things would have been different, but they kept their mouths shut until Italy was knee deep in corpses and society was a danger to itself. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see where mistakes were made. It was a trade off, do nothing and if C-19 was as bad as predicted then we'd all be working as part time gravediggers, but it went the other way. Lockdown worked, there is no doubt of that, C-19 is deadly, have a look at Italy, Brazil or the USA. Did the Govt over react? Possibly, but I'll go with that rather than the alternative.

No, he'll be cottaging. 🤣

BA are tempting at £540 for Economy Standard in October (1x 23kg checked bag), PE in at almost double (£1023). I know BA are an absolute shower, but it is direct, and the Thai Airways London offices seem to be closed, nor are they answering any emails. Not sure on the EVA offices though. Saying that, I have not taken the plunge on a flight yet, nor will I as I've re arranged my annual leave for next month. However, if all goes well we will look to the RP again for Xmas, and If Thailand opens in the meantime I may well book for next year with either EVA or BA, as I think Thai are a bit of a gamble given the current mess they are in.

I just read an article in "The Nation" about this, although the protests are relatively small, they are springing up around the Country. My Thai politics isn't really up to much, but this isn't the same as the Yellow / Red shirts from a few years ago is it?. We're now pushing into late July / August, I honestly can't see flights starting anytime soon, apart from the current repatriation ones of course. Some have mentioned October, but I reckon that will involve jumping through some fairly small and tight hoops. The GDP of Thailand is going to take a bit of a hiding this year, no doubt. No wonder people are getting edgy.

I just read that, seems like another very biased poll, only 1459 or so people polled?. Seems like the "poll" has about as much credence as a sick buffalo letter, but it makes a good headline so the Post will go with it, when in reality they're just pandering to what ever the Junta tells them to say.

I thought Brighton was more your "bag"?.

The crappy sub 40 baht to the sterling exchange rate won't help either. they could open up the borders tomorrow, but for many guys it's also a case of not wanting to go there until the rate improves slightly anyway. 38 / 39 baht to the pound isn't going to get many guys excited. I honestly think that we will see lower rates than what we are now over the next few months, but I hope I'm wrong though.

good point, the rent on the London offices must be fairly substantial, plus the staffing costs, so yep. agree it makes sense to centralise everything online to BKK. Doesn't help customers at this end much, but it is what it is I guess.

Only if it successful and approved, so the Govt are hedging their bets that it will. If it doesn't get approved it's cost the Govt nothing (well, slightly wrong of me to say that because they funded Vaccine research to the tune of 65million sovs last month). It is still on trial in Brazil with 5000 people since June 20th , nothing is certain until it's trial is over and it gets the nod for public use in humans and Man U fans. Fingers crossed.

Classroom was entirely financed by the MOD at one point it seemed. I never took a girl from Classroom, based purely upon the fact she had most probably been shagged by half of the UK's Infantry battalions at one point or another. I also remember a couple of roughnecks putting an inordinate amount of money across one of the Soi 6 bars back in the day. You're right, until a proven vaccine hits the shelves Govts will be crapping themselves in fear of having to lockdown for a second / third wave, especially when they reflect on the damage the first one has done. Tough times indeed.

The Wife asking a local builders merchant if they give NHS discount, bill was reduced by 25%. Top bloke.

It's happening in the UK, prices going up as face masks are £6.50 for 10 in Tesco, plus the gloves and sanitizer is factored in as well. As a result, hairdressers etc have added a surcharge to their prices for "customer safety". Admittedly, customers are made aware before they book the appointment but I agree in your case Pompuynarak it is pretty poor form to sting you afterwards. The thing is, facemasks last all day and there's no need to change them on a customer by customer or patient by patient basis as they "claim" to do in some establishments in the UK. All part of the "new norm" I think, not a shocker that some are using it as an excuse to charge a bit more money.

God awful cars, the only one that was half decent was the limited 500 or so Turbo models that were fairly rapid. I saw also on the wiki page that they were still sold as late as 2000, as some came from Bulgaria after BL teamed up to produce them under the "Rodacar" brand. Whatever would possess someone to buy one of these steaming piles of automotive vomitus is way beyond me. Almost as bad as the Allegro, but not quite. On par with the Alfa Arna I reckon.

Are the UK offices in London permanently closed now?. The phone numbers are all cut off and I'm not getting any email response.

F*cked on Race Day

E36 M3. Sublime. Wasn't an EVO was it?, all the same, hats off to you Sir.

Spot on. Marquee is my "go to" bar when meeting mates, then ponce my way down to LKM Via R-Con, which always offers another viewpoint as to how busy town can be. Sad to see it at this moment in time, but the very fact that it reopened is encouraging.

We had a 2004 Mazda 6 1.8s we got it when it was 5 years old and it had 50k on it, last year it went to the scrappy with 160k on the clock and only ever having needed (apart from service items) a new front spring, it was still on its original clutch. The rear wheelarches and subframe were really badly rusted to the point of being a massive MOT fail. I later read that the wheelarches on the pre 07 Mazda 6's had the wrong liners in them, Mazda would repair for free if the car had all the anti perforation warranty inspections done, but mine hadn't. I'd have another one tomorrow, but the Mrs wanted a change. I like the CX5, and I really like the CX3. Mazda make some great cars and their reliability is a strong point. If ever I do stop buying Subaru, Mazda will be my choice.

A bit odd, I know but: I'll probably donate it to Bovington when I'm done, but it is a really fascinating technical manual. German Engineering was really groundbreaking back then, although they had a tendency to over complicate things.

Careful, Premium Economy is the gateway drug into business lol. I totally agree, economy is a tough gig these days, especially if , like me, you suffer with lower back pain and a buggered shoulder from years of manual work which I still do. I do have a ceiling price for PE, but after each journey I always tell myself that it's worth it. I have done economy a few times, and each time I always tell myself to pay the extra and go PE the next time 🙂

Many of us have one or more cars I would guess, and something which I noticed on our trip to the USA a couple of years ago is how American guys of my generation , or of the age group of 40 upwards seem to be very loyal to a specific brand. In the UK I don't think our brand loyalty is as strong. I'm probably different in that I prefer Subaru for the reliability , good AWD system and being a strong, albeit poorly equipped car, my next car will be another Subaru, because it is a brand I trust. The wife has a Range Rover Evoque, not my choice and not something I enjoy driving. Prior to that we had a Mazda, again a reliable car mechanically but it rusted to death. In the RP though, the wife won't entertain anything other than a Toyota, it's simply off the table. Her reasoning and logic is fairly sound, she says that a majority of the Taxis in Manila are Toyotas, so if they can handle the traffic, hardship and attrition on a daily basis, then they must be good, and Taxi drivers are not known for their frivolous purchases or generosity. All our cars out there have been Toyotas, and they do have a well deserved reputation I think. I often wonder what car I'd have if I lived stateside, and what brand I'd fall into. As I had an old die cast Orange AAR Plymouth Barracuda s a kid, I'd probably be a Chrysler fan.

I like Sam, he's a great guy to follow and very well informed, but I can't see the Airline fleets doing away with A380's, they may put them into storage, but once a vaccine becomes available then these measures might not be needed as much. This might also benefit the Airlines, doing away with the food heating systems and other bits and bobs, making a fair weight saving on the Aircraft. They will also save on the cost of food I imagine, but I was under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that Business and First class are the money makers and generate the highest revenue. I can see the stuff like Menus becoming digital on the IFE screens rather than have throw away single use ones as well (I think Norwegian do this already). Hopefully these measures are temporary, and when demand improves again in time, they will no longer be needed.

The problem is that there is no standardised system for reporting deaths and classifying them. Countries classify deaths differently depending upon the criteria, for example Thailand classified a lot of deaths from "Viral Pneumonia", so C-19 not the cause. It's a global shambles tbh, an absolute mess. UK figures and the method by which they are collected is very robust and scrutinised at every level, but I don't think they were in the beginning. The WHO really dropped the ball on this one. Thanks China, way to go.

Good post and very informative, but they forgot the issue of paying off the Terrorist groups that will sting you for protection money. Nothing like owning an Island linked to Terrorist activities to land you in chokey for a few years. I know a guy (Filipino National) who has the ownership rights to an Island, and was approached by a group asking for money to avoid it, as in , placing weapons caches and mounting operations from it against the Govt. being the sensible guy he is, he pays the small stipend requested. Credit to the thugs, they will protect the Island and ensure anyone visiting is protected, and that includes not kidnapping any foreigners. In the case of any commercial development, such as beach huts etc, the price increases but the safety is guaranteed as the fishing expeditions, local labour etc is all provided at reasonable rates. As always, caveat emptor. Very often the paperwork is the easiest hurdle to overcome.