Mrs Roops

Eh? After some extensive audits, no embezzlement was found though some of the funding decisions by the GLA were found to be "inappropriate" due to conflicts on interest.

The problem conversing with you is that one should make a special effort and couch terms in a way a small child or a labrador understands... I do not agree that "every article about someone dying" from covid mentions underlying health issues. Its a moot point in any case as such articles never mentions the life expectancy of the deceased had they not contracted coronavirus. There are many people with chronic conditions who with the appropriate medication and/or lifestyle adjustments lead long and productive lives - or they did until covid-19 hit them.

Ah...the clash of the titans has been postponed as one of the participants has been committed to enforced isolation.

HS2 is a deeply flawed undertaking in all respects IMO. Still, it would have been simpler to say, "oops, I didn't check" as the premise relies on some as yet unquantified assumptions, not least a predictive analysis on a "what if" scenario where no lockdown protocols were enacted. What would have been the "R" factor and subsequent deaths if no emergency regulations were in force? What would the non-covid mortality rate be with a swamped NHS hampered by a large proportion of staff out of action through contracting the disease? On balance I think the scientists and politicos having stared into the abyss before them had no choice but to take the steps they did.

C'mon Stubbs, you can do better than that. A man with your science background knows full well that the stats are useless for backing up your premise. How do the figures compare against all deaths during the same period past and present? In other words you need to provide a control dataset to support your POV. People might think you are a mere data collator who leaves the insightful executive summary to a better qualified colleague when presenting co-authored scientific papers.

Damn the illuminati, damn them .

I would have thought if the mortality rate was x3 of the seasonal types of flu then the world's response with lockdown, demands for PPE etc would be somewhat muted compared to what's been happening over the past few months. On a different note I don't buy the conspiracy of inflated death rates either - if anything such institutional machinations would want to massage the death count downwards in view of criticisms levelled at government for its relaxed approach to dealing with a threatened pandemic at the outset. Setting aside the obvious harm to the economy, Boris, for all his faults, is a libertarian who would find the experts' advice of rigid lockdowns and the micro-managing the individual's lifestyle and social behaviour an anathema contrary to his core beliefs.

I like the way you ignore the rather salient point of mortality rate...anyway ...what he said.

Give it up, Walt. If that truly is the case you wouldn't try to backtrack...that and losing your temper from time to time.

@Ape™️, I was truly sorry to read this. From my ivory tower it never occurred to me that the lockdown restrictions would have such an extreme impact on a punter's mental health. If you don't mind I'll pass on your details to your local social services who will, hopefully, reach out to you and provide some sort of normal and friendly social interaction.

Its a source of constant regret that I read very little fiction. I know there is of world of riches to be found in the printed word. I need to relax more...

I guess that the entire community of epidemiologists and micro-biologists have got it wrong then... Except that its mortality rate is fifty times that of seasonal flu, but my - what a twitchy and volatile dumb fuck you are, but no worries MS, there is little chance you'll contract coronavirus as everyone in your circle were practicing social distancing with you long before the pandemic became known. I'd imagine your relatives draw lots each year to see who had to have you over for Xmas.

That sorta absolves yourself of any responsibility. You may have not robbed old ladies but what about your "clients"? Where did they get their funding? Its not as if you ran a credit check or means tested punters prior to making a grubby sale.

Ok, I admit it - influences from Fleabag and the Architect character in Matrix Reloaded there.

The writer relaxed and lent back from the keyboard. “Brilliant”, he sighed. He thought of the eighty punters who would see his inaugural magnum opus. Ten of them might even read it. After a night of Red Bull and poppers he could at last reward himself with two fingers of Mexican Bollock Shaker and a spliff… “So now you're reduced to writing Penny Dreadfuls,” a voice came from the fetid gloom behind him – a voice that was piercing, sharp yet strangely soft as well. The writer bolted up straight, stiff from fear. He started to shake and clenched his buttocks from the overwhelming need to evacuate his bowels. Then he realised who was behind him. He felt his face redden, tears began to well up in his eyes. “So how old are you, kid?” the voice asked. “Thirty-” The voice cut him off before he could finish. “Really? I thought you were ten years younger,” the voice said matter of factly. “Turn around and face me.” The writer slowly turned his swivel chair around and infused with the adrenalin now coursing through his veins, screamed, “This isn’t fucking fair, this is my world and you can’t come in, you just can’t!” “Well colour me tiresome, but I just did. This might be your world but it occupies a dimension controlled by others. I am...The Administrator.” The writer stared into the cold green eyes of his tormentor, a harshly coiffured, slightly built woman dressed in an immaculately tailored uniform by Hugo Boss. A black leather holster and belt by Gucci of Florence strapped to her waist, which probably contained a H&K compact thingy that his weird friend, permanently dressed in surplus camo, would constantly drone on about… “Your mind is wandering – stay with the script” the administrator ordered curtly. “This dimension,” the writer answered, “are we talking string theory, bosonic string theory or M-theory ?” “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” the administrator replied rolling her eyes, “we’re exceeding the average punter’s attention span as it is. Anyway...time to depart”. The writer realising the inevitable had arrived, calmly fell to his knees and bowed his head forward and steeled himself for the bullet that would end his being. The Administrator gazed down at the figure of despondency beneath her and sighed, “Well there’s no need for that, but I like your thinking – must dash.”

You'll have to join a very long queue of Mitty's who say they were being "ironic" after they've been caught out.

Welcome to the site JG74, maybe next time you should add some narrative to the nom?

I think I read amongst the news froth that the woman who instigated the viral campaign "to applaud the NHS on Thursday evening" has stated it should stop as its has run its course and has been hijacked by gesture politics.

Its generally accepted that a post-covid enquiry is inevitable.

I'll tell you now several people on this site has been personally affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Leave it at that. Whilst I have not been so unfortunate I'm aware of two distant relatives and an in-law who have passed away, all of them elderly. I also know a family who have lost a loved one who was in fact an NHS employee and I know a mother whose toddler son contracted the virus but thankfully presented mild symptoms. Its more than statistics in the paper and on TV.

Can we cease the blatant use of racist pejoratives please.

I'm not entirely sure that a barrow-boy chancer who admitted to helping himself to the delights of sex workers and has left a trail of broken marriages and families in his wake is in a position to call anyone a "slag".

Many apologies Monumental Cunt, I had forgotten that you are a Chartered Surveyor, so respected in fact that you count knighted Oxbridge academics amongst your regular dining companions. The fact that you professed to never using computers in your line of work and that you were unable to correctly identify the building material used in the construction of your home should of course not be employed to infer that you are a mendacious simpleton who sources "facts" from Daily Star headlines and a YouTube vid presented by Sid Bonkers. Do Fruitloops grow on trees?

...or maybe I'm in yours. You're certainly enamoured enough.

Gosh, what on earth would make you want to write that?