Something I have been wondering for a while is how big a factor were the Chinese New Year celebrations back in late January in the worldwide spread of the disease.

By this time, the Chinese government knew full well that there was a major health crisis developing in their country and it was around time that Wuhan was put into lockdown. I imagine though that many people would very likely have already left the country to travel to many other locations in the world before the Wuhan lockdown came into force.

Originally Posted by: David M Porter 

I think you should buy him a new pair of trainers, poor old sod! 

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

I don’t think I’ve ever felt as patriotic as I do at the moment. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as much love & admiration towards the UK population. I’ve been moved to tears when clapping on my doorstep, thinking about those who work in the NHS and in care homes etc. I also think this crisis has gone some way to bring the 4 nations of the UK closer together - at the moment we feel like very much one country. 

However - it’s important to criticise and hold the Government to account when necessary. I think most agree now that we acted too slowly at the start of this crisis, everything happened a week or so too late and we are now paying the price. 

And yes I know you know all this. :D 

Originally Posted by: Joe Bloggs 

Does the media lead public opinion or is the opposite true? At the moment it's clear! Appetite for the lockdown remains strong according to opinion polls. In fact people are rightly fearful of the corona virus and therefore want the restrictions to remain in place. However, publishers are taking an absolute hammering and are increasingly keen to move the agenda on. Hence we are hearing more about people who will die from other causes, issues with domestic violence and how the poor will suffer the most. There is of course some truth in all of those things but perhaps the credibility of publishers would be increased by admitting their views are partly influenced by their own financial considerations. 

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

 As I've repeatedly said I didn't want to have any association with the Cheltenham Festival this year. Normally I run a feature on TWO and provide a few quotes about the weather prospects to the media. This year I thought it would be wrong to do that. In years to come people will look back at what happened.

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

Priti's first and only press briefing. back in the freezer she goes

That number again: 300,034,974,000pic.twitter.com/tzg1HFrtVI

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) April 11, 2020

Originally Posted by: The Beast from the East 

Glad my book got published a couple of months before this all kicked in! I'd've been mighty pssed off if it had all been stalled at such a late stage.

Originally Posted by: NickR 

I don’t think I’ve ever felt as patriotic as I do at the moment. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as much love & admiration towards the UK population. I’ve been moved to tears when clapping on my doorstep, thinking about those who work in the NHS and in care homes etc. I also think this crisis has gone some way to bring the 4 nations of the UK closer together - at the moment we feel like very much one country. 

However - it’s important to criticise and hold the Government to account when necessary. I think most agree now that we acted too slowly at the start of this crisis, everything happened a week or so too late and we are now paying the price. 

And yes I know you know all this. :D 

Originally Posted by: Joe Bloggs 

I read a new verb to describe joggers “coronaing” everywhere. 

Originally Posted by: John p 

If you think appropriate feel free to post a link. 

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

The real warning to our government IMO was when the disease began to get out of control in Italy. That was the point when any thoughts that the disease might not spread much, if at all, beyond the far east should have been dispelled.

I know that it is easy for anyone to be a so-called armchair critic and I know that hindsight always gives 20/20 vision. However, the warning signs from China, Asia and Italy were evident for many weeks before the UK government first raised the alarm in this country. My guess is that having reached the UK in late January at the latest, it was probably spreading quite widely among communities in England and then elsewhere in the UK throughout February. Yet, we heard very little if anything from HMG at that time about the preparations they were making.

Originally Posted by: David M Porter 

A decision you should be proud of Brian. Some things are more important than profit and profile.

Originally Posted by: NickR 

Reminds of my son when I showed him my first book a few years ago: 'Yes, but, have you written a proper book... like "The Dinosaur Who Pooped a Planet"'

Originally Posted by: NickR 

That’s not quite true David. When I arrived back from Asia in early February, there was already advice about self isolating for 14 days. My daughter was in hospital and I wasn’t allowed to visit her as hospitals had stopped any access to people who had returned from certain countries, or anyone who had been in contact with those recently returning.  

By mid February there were Coronavirus pods outside hospitals and advice to ring 111 if you were presenting symptoms.  So they were well aware of the dangers outside Asia and had begun measures.  However, it soon became clear the virus had already spread, even before the February half term holiday when people went skiing in Italy!  

Originally Posted by: Caz 

Does the media lead public opinion or is the opposite true? At the moment it's clear! Appetite for the lockdown remains strong according to opinion polls. In fact people are rightly fearful of the corona virus and therefore want the restrictions to remain in place. However, publishers are taking an absolute hammering and are increasingly keen to move the agenda on. Hence we are hearing more about people who will die from other causes, issues with domestic violence and how the poor will suffer the most. There is of course some truth in all of those things but perhaps the credibility of publishers would be increased by admitting their views are partly influenced by their own financial considerations. 

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

As some of you will know I worked in the newspaper industry for nearly 20 years. Incredibly happy that I managed to secure redundancy at the end of February!

Originally Posted by: Rob K 

I think I saw that number - it was on the side of a big red bus that drove by

Originally Posted by: fairweather 

Does the media lead public opinion or is the opposite true? At the moment it's clear! Appetite for the lockdown remains strong according to opinion polls. In fact people are rightly fearful of the corona virus and therefore want the restrictions to remain in place. However, publishers are taking an absolute hammering and are increasingly keen to move the agenda on. Hence we are hearing more about people who will die from other causes, issues with domestic violence and how the poor will suffer the most. There is of course some truth in all of those things but perhaps the credibility of publishers would be increased by admitting their views are partly influenced by their own financial considerations. 

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

Tim Brooke-Taylor dead after contracting coronavirus.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2020/apr/12/coronavirus-live-news-nhs-staff-deaths-boris-johnson-latest-updates

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze