rodshaw
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Well, Attenbourough did up the ante on the final programme of A Perfect Planet. Kind of. The whole episode was about the various ways in which “humans” are spoiling the planet. Lots of examples of people doing worthy, sincere things to buck the trend, and a talking head who said governments need financial incentives to do more. Needless to say, not a mention of capitalism.
Except by me…I ended up shouting at the TV and mentioning socialism, which for some reason always upsets my wife.
I was watching a live match earlier and spread across part of West Brom’s crowdless stand, in large letters, was a banner saying “The Lord is My Shepherd”.
I know football is often said to be another religion but this is really taking it literally.“My Dad’s just had his first AstraZeneca jab with the second one due on 11 April…”
Interesting that he’s already got a date for the second jab. Did he get this when he had his first one? I don’t know whether there’s a policy on how soon you get a date for the second one.
“There wasn’t time for rigorous testing. Would socialism wait an extra year and a million more deaths before approving a vaccine? Hardly. If you want a vaccine fast, you have to accept some unknowns. That would be just as true in socialism as now.”
Fair point.
I daresay they have to say this because of the lower proportion of older people in the tests. Could there be any medical justification for saying that you suddenly reach 65 and the vaccine is no longer effective? Sounds like witchcraft. If there’s any truth in it, it will surely be on some kind of sliding age scale.
Anyway, it’s what I’ve had so I’m stuck with it now. If I get the virus despite the jab I’ll never know if I had an 82% chance of getting it, a 30% chance of getting it or some other percent chance of getting it through carelessness. Same the other way round if I don’t get it – would it be because of the jabs or simply through precaution? Best to boost your chances of not getting it as best you can anyway.
The chances of such confusion in a socialist society would hopefully be far less through more rigorous testing of vaccines and the like.
“The latest is from Germany with the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) assessment to show the AstraZeneca vaccine to be only 8% effective among the over-65s.”
This could be just a dodgy figure leaked by someone who got their facts wrong. The German govt and Astrazenica are saying the 8% figure refers to the percentage of people taking part in the tests who were over 65.
Anyway, why should it only be 8% effective for older people?
Not that I trust the pharmaceutical industry but this does seem to be a bit of a stretch of credulity.
Meanwhile we get the same platitudes on nature programmes about how we can all do our bit. Such well-meaning effort, what a shame. Attenborough’s latest series, A Perfect Planet, if anything has a weaker message than his one last year. Unless he ups the ante in the final episode on Sunday.
Yes, indeed – we can all do our bit by joining the campaign for world socialism. If only.It’s interesting to compare the current pandemic with previous ones.
Asian flu in the late 50s (which I remember very vaguely) – an estimated 1-4 million deaths worldwide. A vaccine was developed within a few months. Lasted a couple of years and then went more or less dormant until it morphed into
Hong Kong flu late 60s (which I don’t remember at all actually) – again lasted a couple of years with an estimated 1-4 million deaths. A vaccine was again developed after a few months. Eventually changed into a weaker form and was dealt with from then on by the annual flu vaccine.
I don’t remember much fuss in the UK about those two though.
So we could well see Covid lasting for another year or so and then going quiet…until the next one.US freight infrastructure is something else entirely. Maintenance? What maintenance?
There are lots of video clips like this:
I was amazed to get asked last week to make a jab appointment for this week. I’m having it on Wednesday. I’m only just 70. Also it’s at a local GP practice, though not the one I’m registered with.
Could this mean that a lot of older or vulnerable people have decided not to have it and they’ve moved down early to the people in group 4?
I was also surprised by a stat that said nearly half a million people have had their second jabs. How can this be? Hardly a month has passed since they started the rollout, let alone 12 weeks.
The pet industry is, I suppose, like any other in capitalism – producing ever different and supposedly more appealing products to keep buyers hooked. I daresay there’s a lot of industry-induced guilt associated with keeping pets too, just like with bringing up children.
Meanwhile, not that I dislike animals, but I prefer inanimate pets in the form of model trains. They only need feeding with modest amounts of electricity, they don’t wee on the grass and they only move when you want them to (well, usually anyway). Though that industry is equally mad.
Eating insects and other small creatures may well become more normal but obviously isn’t any good for the seemingly growing number of vegetarians.
Rational decisions on the keeping and eating of animals can only be made when the pressures of capitalism are no longer there.
It’s consciousness, Jim, but not as we know it.
In a way this kind of thing is the same as, for example, the cells of our body ‘knowing’ where to go inside us so we stay more or less in shape. Or, for that matter, a computer program ‘knowing’ the difference between a click and a double click.
There is some kind of programming going on but it would also be interesting to know if there were any self-awareness involved.Maybe they are socialists by nature.
There are people who think you kill a plant when you pick it and eat it, and that it screams.
If more people start going down this way soon there’ll be nothing left to eat.“..in barely sixty years socialism has won itself a position which makes its victory absolutely certain.”
Try telling the young ones that today, they’ll not believe you.
According to YouGov a majority who expressed an opinion now think the decision to leave was wrong:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-55416939
