Mrs Roops

I thought that was marked for demolition.

As much as I enjoy a throbbing beast betwixt my thighs, I'm afraid I lost my nerve after temporally giving up biking for motherhood reasons,

@Stubby Pecker, you seem to have gone into full vendetta mode by infecting several noms, with content that is contrary to the rules. Cease and desist please.

…and therein lies the crux of the matter. 2020 is Presidential election year. Normally incumbent presidents are re-elected*, that is as long as the economy is sort of functioning which is why Trump is desperately keen to lift the lockdown. Trump has lost the BAME and the female vote and is relying on his small town America and redneck voter base but it is they who's employment has been hardest hit by the restrictions. Remember, whilst Trump won the last election, he did in fact lose the popular vote... * Two recent exceptions to this was Carter who lost because he was perceived to be weak after the failure of the Iran hostage recue and H W Bush who's re-election should have been guaranteed as the conquering hero post First Iraqi War but was seen as economically out of touch. The mantra, "read my lips, no more taxes" before breaking his promise by raising taxes was the final nail in the coffin.

Its going to take several years of analysis to determine why transmission and fatality rates vary from county to country as well as factors of race, age, gender and socio-economic conditions. Until then its' informed guesswork that calls the shots. Sweden's approach was always risky but they had two factors in their favour. Firstly, the Swedes are more sensible in following social distance advice compared to say the selfish chavtastic Brits. Secondly, the Swedes are generally considered one of the healthiest countries in the world. Lets hope it works out 'cos if it doesn't then sudden lockdown will throw up another problem - a large proportion of health professionals commute daily from neighbouring Finland.

It has always been anticipated that 80% of the population would be infected. Boris' Plan A was to let that happen, the theory being that such action would not only develop a national "herd immunity" but also be less damaging to the economy but once the medical statisticians has calculated the extent to which the NHS' capacity would be swamped by several factors, Plan B was put into action to "flatten the curve" and keep the caseload within NHS and ICU operational limits. Sweden has gone down the Plan A route though the jury is out on that one.

Some context would be welcome...

Multi-tasking Eddie, multitasking, besides you don't get to wear the trousers in this set up. Dish-washer emptied? Recycle boxes loaded? Grass cut? C'mon, quicksticks now.

That came well after the event when bog-roll shortage was a major talking point. You only volunteered your economic soothsayer stuff when it was bleeding obvious. Your initial premise was that coronavirus was nothing to worry about. So again, stop deflecting, stop lying and answer the question.

After the fixed "election" of Ursula von der Leyen, constitutional reform is currently on the table. We'll wait and see...

Well, excuse me for taking a jaundiced view on this but I remember the words of wisdom of "Sir Barry", another "mate" of yours and how well that panned out for you...

Indeed, one of the reasons why Italy and Spain have done so badly out of this is the high incidence of intergenerational households.

Scratch that idea boyo, thanks to Google Street View I've seen your home...detached, tidy with blue merc (s-class?) parked outside but the words "wendy" and "house" spring to mind...

On the basis of birds of a feather flock together you'll have to excuse if sane people do not pay too much attention to your "mates" findings...

Your two OP's on Covid-19 made no mention of the potential economic costs, presumably on the erroneous basis that the virus was as potent as seasonal flu. Stop deflecting, stop lying and answer the question.

Well, the EU President's mailbox isn't exactly stuffed with envelopes containing Article 50 Notices. Member countries are not going to cut off their supply of free money either. Surprisingly one EU member state that everyone is looking to is Greece which has recorded one of the lowest Covid-19 transmission and fatality rates in the world. Greece, unlike most countries, went into lockdown mode immediately after the first coronavirus patient died. It also was quietly knuckling down to sort out its economic problems and the light was beginning to show at the end of the tunnel so the latest crisis is doubly unfortunate.

There's no doubting you're a talented wordsmith, LCS - on par with Decs, but like him you're brittle and you resurrect grudges. Don't be like Decs.

No, but it gives you a greater insight than most as to what goes on during a heart transplant. Similarly Trucking Funt would've been party to insider details regardless of his qualifications.

Well, in this instance through the simple expedient of viewing the event that B.King was describing. What I found and his take were two completely different things. Haven't we crossed swords before? I recall commenting that all you've done was to say "I know something" whilst tapping the side of your nose. You did PM as promised and whilst the contents of a PM must remain confidential, I have to say I was none the wiser as to what you may or may not know.

I volunteered ideas on that could make the EU more prosperous. That doesn't mean I was advocating a policy of splendid isolation. Any constitutional reform should not be determined by localised regional issues.

Your campaign to rail against "fake news" is a worthy subject but if you are going to go down that route you need to be meticulous in your research or maybe the irony of fake news criticism underpinned by even more fake news is lost on you.

This is a complete misinterpretation in terms of what was said and the context in which the message was given. Here is the WHO press briefing to which you refer to:- Govt and agency media briefings on matters of public health are by necessity dull but worthy affairs but the 6th April press conference was different on account of Lady Gaga attending as one of the talking heads. Whilst suitably dressed in bluestocking attire as befitting the sombre subject at hand, her presentation was an unwelcome distraction... The press conference lasted more than an hour and to be honest I couldn't be arsed to sit through the whole tedious affair, however I did read the transcript which shone a different light on what was reported. Dr Ryan actually said, "having Covid-19 is not anybody's fault" (22.00) whilst commenting of victims of Covid-19 and health workers being subject to violence motivated by fear. As for the other quote being attributed to him, I could find no reference in the transcript. What Dr Ryan was commenting on was the role of general lockdowns which has it place as an immediate and effective tool in combating the spread of the virus, however long term such universal actions does have the potential on causing "great economic hardship" and that that there should be greater emphasis on active case finding, testing, isolation of cases, tracking of contacts, quarantining of contacts as well as strong community education. One interesting but telling postscript was a question put to Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus by a representative of the Xinhua news agency, who fishing for complements for his country, asked if he had any comments for the Chinese health workers and others around the world. Dr Tedros pointedly complimented all health workers with special reference to 2020 being the year of the nurse and midwife.

Personally, I think the EU would prosper if it was smaller and tighter, restricting membership to France, Germany, Benelux, Austria and some of the Nordic states. Keep free trade within frictionless borders, do away with the parasitic Mediterranean states together with the economic and constitutional basket cases and invest the Parliament with supreme authority.

Hang on, only a few days ago you were saying that Covid-19 was a "disappointing disease". No doubt after checking with your 'o' level school text books you've been trotting the Trump line that coronavirus is nothing to worry about, something no worse than seasonal flu you said, nothing that couldn't be sorted by boiling water and a sachet of Lemsip you said. Now you're giving the impression that the world has been visited upon by one of the four horseman of the apocalypse. So, what bought on your epiphany?

Probably because the article is a balanced viewpoint. As much as I welcomed the Brexit referendum result the current inter-nation spat cannot under any stretch of the imagination be described as on "the verge of a complete collapse". The euro-club have always had disagreements on a variety of issues. If anything the answer is pretty obvious - power should be invested into parliament away from the Commission and the Eurocrats. At present Parliament is a glorified talking shop. The Eurozone's single currency makes complete disintegration almost impossible. Another issue is that a one-size fits all simply does not work and is too large and diverse.