Winston Churchill wrote a poem about Spanish Flu. Here's a verse:

For though it ravaged far and wide
Both village, town and countryside,
Its power to kill was o'er;
And with the favouring winds of Spring
(Blest is the time of which I sing)
It left our native shore.

https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/winston-churchill-the-influenza-poem.html

Roger

Thanks, Nouska. Good to have a "source". I am now considering changing my prophylactic medication from Scotch to something with quinine in it - a G&T perhaps? Message to the credulous: Only joking!

Are you saying he he is a convicted paedophile? God help you if that is the level of your discourse. 

Another issue here now.

My broadband speed here is usually  cira 45 M/S (FTTC).  It has been dropping for days and is now  circa  3 MB/S.

If it falls any more, then  the basics will become  very difficult - streaming is already  impossible !  Maybe  they are starting to ration  bandwidth  to keep a basic service running ?

A lot of comparisons with Italy on the internet today. All lagged 14 days and showing similar trajectories.

Two days ago Boris was talking about seeing his mum today. Now the message is not to visit loved ones. Things are moving at a rapid pace and the UK government is citing the example of Italy and saying we are only a couple of weeks behind. The change in mood and strategy has been immense in the last week or so.

Maybe an issue with your ISP? No slowdowns on my FTTC (Google reporting >70Mbps) or my FTTP (just under 300Mbps).

My ISPs are Merula for the FTTC and Cerberus for the FTTP.

Speeds normal here - 2 pcs and a tablet working, one pc streaming radio. 30mbs down, 10mbs up. Good to keep an eye on this tho', BG. R.

He should be addressing the nation directly on camera. But I wonder if he is able to be serious enough. 

Agreed. There is still a question in my mind about whether advanced western economies with democratic governments can react quickly or forcefully enough to respond adequately to this. Populations accustomed to treating the state as an interference rather than an authority are not psychologically well placed to respond either.

The human race will survive this but the world won't be the same ever again.

Normal here too. I worry though, that if something fails in a cabinet in the street, whether anyone will come to fix it.

And just to bring it up to date, we are now at 233 deaths and at the same period Italy was at 233. From now on it gets 'interesting' as Italy began to ramp up - daily increases of 100+

We should of been at least two weeks ahead of Italy in planning... not two weeks behind the death curve

Normal here too - 31mbs down and 6mbs up

I expect a shelter-in-place order to be issued by the UK government within 48 hours and all non-essential shops to close ASAP. I'd be amazed if people like Doc and Retron have to physically be at the schools where they work during the coming week.

I wrote on 18th March:
"Thinking of civil unrest, Brian, I consider the situation in prisons and detention centres is already an issue needing urgent attention. Our penal system has needed improving for years, but the trigger of CO-19 is a very dangerous addition to the mix. Both inmates and staff could be in increasing danger. The University of Wiki says: the total prison population [2018] was roughly 93,000, with a total prison capacity of around 96,000. I think there is a strong case for the release of low risk prisoners now, if only to make room for all the miscreants we are about to arrest! But that's only an interim solution to a huge and intractable problem."

I note the following from the Grauniad:

Home Office releases 300 from detention centres amid Covid-19 pandemic
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/home-office-releases-300-detention-123243762.html

I wonder whether they will be any safer out? And what comes next?

Roger

It's making me wonder if "let it rip" is actually the only available path in a free democracy. The central control to bring resources to bear on a problem like this just doesn't exist here. HMG may call in the army but how many of them are there and what resources do they have? Deployed to the streets, they'd be stretched very thin.

We will see. I fully expect to be there all week but as you say things are changing quickly and some authorities have completely shut.

I am genuinely puzzled why people are only just waking up to this.

It's been clear from the comparative trajectory graphs for days.

It will require drones, helicopters and the army to enforce and anonymised GPS tracking. In all honesty I now see no alternative so this has to be tried. Exceptions? As few as possible but that's for the experts to decide.

Yes, but 'let it rip' could savage society and destroy democracy itself if it kills millions of people. Fortunately, we'll never know.

The UK (and most other western countries) are essentially now turning into some sort of quasi communist regimes (the state paying people etc.) and with increasingly authoritarian measures and the state controlling more and more aspects of the daily life of people. I see this as necessary and temporary and I trust our democracy.