Coronavirus Thread (Off Topic, Politics) (119 Viewers)

“China has approved the use of bear bile to treat critically ill coronavirus patients. The National Health Commission has recommended the use of Tan Re Qing - an injection that contains bear bile, goat horn and herbs - to treat patients with Covid-19. But there is no evidence the mixture has any medicinal value. Bear bile, which is produced in the liver and stored in the gall bladder, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years and fetches a high price in the illegal international market. The move to approve its use has angered animal rights activists and comes just weeks after the country banned the sale of wild animals for food.”

Ring Of Steel said:

“China has approved the use of bear bile to treat critically ill coronavirus patients. The National Health Commission has recommended the use of Tan Re Qing - an injection that contains bear bile, goat horn and herbs - to treat patients with Covid-19. But there is no evidence the mixture has any medicinal value. Bear bile, which is produced in the liver and stored in the gall bladder, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years and fetches a high price in the illegal international market. The move to approve its use has angered animal rights activists and comes just weeks after the country banned the sale of wild animals for food.”

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The method of "harvesting" is downright barbaric as well - makes foie gras seem humane !!!

While the NHS staff continue to be truly remarkable, I think this crisis has certainly brought some of the massive inefficiencies within the organisation into sharp focus.
Hospitals have been struggling for months/years to discharge fully fit patients & free up bed space.....then as if by magic, a layer of lower clip-board management go home to self isolate & the clinicians remove a few pointless tick-box exercises & bingo......mass exodus of bed blockers.

I think (and hope) this crisis will precipitate the true modernisation of the NHS across the full spectrum of services.
GP phone/skype triage to filter appointments, Dedicated express discharge teams, Greater partnerships with private innovators & tech start-ups,
better deals from suppliers bullied by unrivalled centralised buying power.....the opportunities for improvement appear endless....

......Nice dream I suppose.

TomRad85 said:

My experiences are all in broadcast media, not met many from the written media. That said, representing the left you have The Guardian, The Independent, The Mirror... so theres plenty coming at it from your viewpoint too.

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“Plenty”

Ring Of Steel said:

“China has approved the use of bear bile to treat critically ill coronavirus patients. The National Health Commission has recommended the use of Tan Re Qing - an injection that contains bear bile, goat horn and herbs - to treat patients with Covid-19. But there is no evidence the mixture has any medicinal value. Bear bile, which is produced in the liver and stored in the gall bladder, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years and fetches a high price in the illegal international market. The move to approve its use has angered animal rights activists and comes just weeks after the country banned the sale of wild animals for food.”

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Poor bears will go through terrible pain, I've seen some the way they are locked up in tiny cages....Considering there is no evidence it has any value its utterly shameful

tisza said:

The method of "harvesting" is downright barbaric as well - makes foie gras seem humane !!!

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China and inhuman treatment of animals.

where's the pretends to be shocked meme when you need it.

shmmeee said:

“Plenty”

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Channel 4 too...

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jordan210 said:

China and inhuman treatment of animals.

where's the pretends to be shocked meme when you need it.

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shmmeee said:

“Plenty”

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so the obvious question is "why has the left stopped reading its own papers"

jordan210 said:

China and inhuman treatment of animals.

where's the pretends to be shocked meme when you need it.

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I didn't know they'd banned the sale of live animals for food

jordan210 said:

China and inhuman treatment of animals.

where's the pretends to be shocked meme when you need it.

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Truly awful, all the markets have reopened too even though they are apparently 'banned'

Grendel said:

That said, representing the left you have The Guardian, The Independent, The Mirror... so theres plenty coming at it from your viewpoint too.

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The Independent hasn't been printed for 4 years!

tisza said:

so the obvious question is "why has the left stopped reading its own papers"

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I didn't see the graph, sorry shmmee. But yes was about to make the same point, you can't force people to buy papers.

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The political landscape will change significantly once this virus issue goes away, the front line NHS worker, the care worker, the essential driver, the cleaner, the zero hour worker most of whom amongst the lowest paid plus the new unemployed using the inept universal credit for the first time and others affected by this crisis will and are become powerful they will become more organised in my opinion and once the inquests, reasons, ineptitude, ramifications happen heads will roll, ministers might run, might dodge but can’t hide the whole country has watched.
As for our present PM. he will flourish for a while that won’t last even his mate Mr Trump is now pointing an accusing finger his way.

Apparently we all could be told to wear masks in Public even though it was earlier stated that they didn't work

So there's a Govt minister who got her sister a senior job in a certain ministry.
This particular country doesn't have enough facemasks , disposable gloves or hand sanitizer for its GPs or nurses.
Govt says they've ordered enough so supplies have to be somewhere.
Said sister's husband suddenly bulk selling these items on Instagram at a hefty price. (having never dealt in this area before).
Hajra Magyarorzsag!!!!

Ring Of Steel said:

“China has approved the use of bear bile to treat critically ill coronavirus patients. The National Health Commission has recommended the use of Tan Re Qing - an injection that contains bear bile, goat horn and herbs - to treat patients with Covid-19. But there is no evidence the mixture has any medicinal value. Bear bile, which is produced in the liver and stored in the gall bladder, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years and fetches a high price in the illegal international market. The move to approve its use has angered animal rights activists and comes just weeks after the country banned the sale of wild animals for food.”

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Actually saw this before you posted but was gonna leave it as didn't want to get in another China debate

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SkyBlueDom26 said:

Apparently we all could be told to wear masks in Public even though it was earlier stated that they didn't work

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Was it stated they don’t work? In the states the message is “don’t take stock from people who need them”. They’re part of PPE for healthcare pros so I assume they do something.

Nick said:

Ohhhhhhhh Jeremy Cooorrrrrrbbynnn....

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“Bozza”
“BoJo”
“Boris”

Just as cringe. Politicians aren’t your mate.

Lets hope Spain's numbers are down today, Yesterday was an awful day for them

shmmeee said:

Now to see if Keir really was about to spring into action like his supporters claim or if he’s actually useless in a crisis like his detractors do.

Will be nice to actually have some opposition, if only there were a Parliament.

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Who knows. Expectations very low as a charlatan is needed and we ain’t got any

tisza said:

so the obvious question is "why has the left stopped reading its own papers"

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The bottom line in this particular debate is simple. The conservatives are better than all the others at winning elections and getting their point across clearly and simply. Nobody can touch them.

The last few weeks have proved in a very visible way what was always obvious anyway- they are incompetent, liars, deceitful, cowardly, and completely untrustworthy. But they would still get back into power if there was an election next week- by a long way. They would destroy everyone else.

They are so efficient, so well oiled and so bloody good at making people think they are the best option- the only option- that they remain in power, aided and abetted by one of the most biased & corrupt medias in the world. You see examples of it on here- point anything out about their terrible performance and the Tory drones are on deflecting and filibustering & whatabouterying- its second nature to them and they do it well. They are the supreme force in hiding failure and presenting a face of efficiency and leadership- they understand that its perception thats important, not actual achievement. Only a minority actually look at manifestos, most go on their gut/ emotional feeling about who should be in charge. The Tories are ruthlessly brilliant at getting into power- I mean come on, they've successfully convinced millions that they now need to correct the mistakes of previous governments.. when it was the Tories in power themselves- thats a special kind of manipulation and nobody does it better,

They are patently rubbish and they have blatantly made a mess of Coronavirus just like everything else they touch, but it doesn't matter because the one thing they know how to do very well is win elections, and nothing else really matters. And a lot of that goes down to the shocking, terrible opposition. I am not a big political guy but Labour? Completely unelectable, its like a gift from the gods for Boris, they don't appear to have a single clue what they're doing. The Tories are election machines, but any half decent opposition would be all over this crisis and be playing a smart game to alter perceptions, but they just can't get their act together.

shmmeee said:

Was it stated they don’t work? In the states the message is “don’t take stock from people who need them”. They’re part of PPE for healthcare pros so I assume they do something.

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It was stated that they weren't that effective by several scientists - one of which I saw on Sky News around 3 weeks ago and he also reiterated that they more or less didn't work. Chris Whitty also stated they're only effective if you have the virus: Don't wear face masks in response to coronavirus, says chief medical officer

Professor Chris Whitty told Sky News on Wednesday that wearing a face mask had almost no effect on reducing the risk of contracting the illness.

Prof Whitty said: “In terms of wearing a mask, our advice is clear: that wearing a mask if you don’t have an infection reduces the risk almost not at all. So we do not advise that.”

“The only people we do sometimes use masks for are people who have got an infection and that is to help them to stop it spreading around," he added.

shmmeee said:

Was it stated they don’t work? In the states the message is “don’t take stock from people who need them”. They’re part of PPE for healthcare pros so I assume they do something.

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To be fair thats not the government, I think thats come from the WHO

CCFCSteve said:

All the left need to do Clint is offer up a decent alternative. The Tories should never have had a chance of getting back in after 10 years in power, part coalition (after years of austerity), yet won by a massive majority. That isn’t just because a large proportion of the voting public are ‘subservient brainless cunts’

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Have to disagree Steve in 2017 they were offered a raft of costed policies they liked along with a commitment to respect the referendum result and they voted in Theresa May who ran on continued cuts to public services.

Now they complain about the consequences

SkyBlueDom26 said:

Lets hope Spain's numbers are down today, Yesterday was an awful day for them

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This whole week has been awful for them.

TomRad85 said:

If you went for a stroll around the BBC, you'd be very hard pressed to find more than a handful of Tories.

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Laughable.
It’s political editor is a Tory.
I’m sure Andrew Neil is too.

SkyBlueCRJ said:

It was stated that they weren't that effective by several scientists - one of which I saw on Sky News around 3 weeks ago and he also reiterated that they more or less didn't work. Chris Whitty also stated they're only effective if you have the virus: Don't wear face masks in response to coronavirus, says chief medical officer

Professor Chris Whitty told Sky News on Wednesday that wearing a face mask had almost no effect on reducing the risk of contracting the illness.

Prof Whitty said: “In terms of wearing a mask, our advice is clear: that wearing a mask if you don’t have an infection reduces the risk almost not at all. So we do not advise that.”

“The only people we do sometimes use masks for are people who have got an infection and that is to help them to stop it spreading around," he added.

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So you might have the infection but no symptoms which is perhaps why a mask is still wise

Skybluefaz said:

Newcastle Falcons are being promoted from the Rubgy Union Championship. Might be a good sign for us?

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I wonder why that has happened?

Following the early end of the rugby season in England as a result of COVID-19, The Rugby Football Union has announced the final league positions.

Proposals from the RFU governance committee to conclude the season for those leagues at both professional and community level were yesterday ratified by the RFU Council.

It was agreed that final standings for the Greene King IPA Championship and men’s and women’s community game would be calculated on a best playing record formula maintaining promotion and relegation for those leagues. The Tyrrells Premier 15s season has been declared null and void as there is no promotion or relegation in this league.

RFU President, Peter Wheeler, said: “We believe that the decisions made provide fair and balanced outcomes for the game and maintain the integrity of the competitions. We have listened to recommendations from the heart of the game and the approach has been ratified by the RFU Council.

“This has been a difficult decision to make in the most unprecedented of circumstances. There is no single solution that will suit every club, but the approach taken is one that we believe best reflects the nature of league rugby in England.

“With 80% of the season complete for the community game, we believe our approach is fair and the right one for our leagues. We have clubs that are clear league leaders and those who have said they would benefit from relegation to play more meaningful rugby.”



Following the early end of the rugby season in England as a result of COVID-19, The Rugby Football Union has announced the final league positions.

Proposals from the RFU governance committee to conclude the season for those leagues at both professional and community level were yesterday ratified by the RFU Council.

It was agreed that final standings for the Greene King IPA Championship and men’s and women’s community game would be calculated on a best playing record formula maintaining promotion and relegation for those leagues. The Tyrrells Premier 15s season has been declared null and void as there is no promotion or relegation in this league.

RFU President, Peter Wheeler, said: “We believe that the decisions made provide fair and balanced outcomes for the game and maintain the integrity of the competitions. We have listened to recommendations from the heart of the game and the approach has been ratified by the RFU Council.

“This has been a difficult decision to make in the most unprecedented of circumstances. There is no single solution that will suit every club, but the approach taken is one that we believe best reflects the nature of league rugby in England.

“With 80% of the season complete for the community game, we believe our approach is fair and the right one for our leagues. We have clubs that are clear league leaders and those who have said they would benefit from relegation to play more meaningful rugby.”

So why do doctors wear them out of interest?

Brighton Sky Blue said:

Have to disagree Steve in 2017 they were offered a raft of costed policies they liked along with a commitment to respect the referendum result and they voted in Theresa May who ran on continued cuts to public services.

Now they complain about the consequences

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Nobody cares about the policies, they go with their gut and its an emotional decision- Tories know how to make the masses feel sure that they are the only ones who can lead, and they have the media behind them- Labour are a million miles off the pace no matter what policies they have.

shmmeee said:

So why do doctors wear them out of interest?

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I would assume because mask is better than no mask, and even though it doesn't protect you so much, it does help prevent the spread as a mask can catch whatever comes out of your mouth & nose so preventing it from being able to infect someone else. I can see the benefit in terms of spread prevention.

Sick Boy said:

Laughable.
It’s political editor is a Tory.
I’m sure Andrew Neil is too.

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Yeah but once you get away from the flagship news programs, the staff of SpringWatch are super left wing!

shmmeee said:

So why do doctors wear them out of interest?

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Surely just in case they're infected? Think about the amount of other doctors they're coming into close quarters with during a typical shift. Something makes me think they don't have the luxury of keeping a safe 2m distance from others.

950 new deaths in spain and 8102 new cases up from yesterday, prayers for Spain