Nations could also default on their debts to them and will only pay when they cease live animal markets and bring in stringent safety standards and allow international inspections to ensure compliance. This is where the US could wield its power to exert massive pressure on the Chinese.

This virus is their fault!

I strongly suggest that we don't raise the subject of reparations with China.

I think the conversation could be somewhat, er, strained.

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I haven't but I read it online so I'm not waiting behind the letterbox.

I wonder if any Americans have got their check (sic) from Trump so they can go and buy more guns.

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They might start mentioning the reparations they are owed for the British involvement in the Opium Wars.

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I wouldn't dismiss the idea.

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Thank you for doing your bit in the fight against #coronavirus.

Stay home, protect the NHS and save lives.
#StayHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/5p2dsucMbK

— Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) April 5, 2020

As Frankie Boyle wrote earlier, as the letter originates from what seems to be the Covid capital of the UK (Whitehall*) I might be tempted to open mine from safe distance with a pair of snooker cues 😀

 

*I acknowledge they will be a mail merge from some random distribution centre in the middle of nowhere!

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I would not be at all surprised if Johnson does not make it. His BMI must be over 30 and I suspect he now has pneumonia.

To be clear, I sincerely hope he pulls through. But it doesn’t sound good.

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Anyone heard how Chris Witty is doing as well? He went down with it just about the same time.

To which the reply must be:

Thank You

Thank You

Thank You

for ensuring all NHS front line staff are adequately protected.

Nurses ‘holding breath’ as hospitals run out of masks

Medics working without adequate protection, but Government says PPE is not in short supply

• The Sunday Telegraph


• 5 Apr 2020


• By Edward Malnick

NURSES are treating coronavirus patients while “holding their breath” as a result of shortages of protective masks, doctors have claimed.

A dossier being compiled by the Doctors’ Association UK, a lobbying group, contains claims of medics being unable to access the equipment they need in the past week, to protect themselves from becoming infected.

The evidence includes testimony from doctors at Manchester Royal Infirmary, Kettering General Hospital, Northants, Ealing Hospital in west London, and Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk, all warning of shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) required by national guidelines.

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These tweets are probably either automated and/or managed by his media teams.

 

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They were about 4,000 three days ago. If you look at the graph the trend last five days is steady at worst.

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Im no fan of his, to say the least.  This is not the time to list his multifarious shortcomings and flaws, as you say, let's hope he has the will to live and that can get him through.

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A good explanation of what a nasty virus this is.

 https://youtu.be/4J0d59dd-qM?t=177

Aye, the Post Office are delivering on Sundays now 

(and we were only told it was going to be sent out last week - albeit I've already seen it (posted to FB by my MP) 


As an aside, has anyone received their letter from the Govt telling us how many toilet rolls and tins of baked beans we need to survive a terrorist attack, in the wake of 9/11 yet?  I haven't and ma getting quite concerned.   

Next week the Govt will fail to tell me how to breathe and that jumping off a 5,000ft cliff into the sea is a bad idea ....

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King Boris is fine

Starmer told Marr he spoke to him on the phone and to Witty as well. They were fine

 

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Yes, he doesn't do them himself like Trump

But he is fine. We would know if he wasnt

 

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As a respected journalist, you should not be punting fake news speculation like this

If he was that ill, he wouldn't have been able to talk to Starmer on the phone today

 

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You can still hold a conversation in the early stages of pneumonia. And who said I was respected? Clearly you have been on the sauce all evening.

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They had Leffe back in Tesco today. 6.6%. 

 

 

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I hate all this speculation....utterly pointless! There is enough going on without idiotic rumour etc etc..I’ll only pass comment when there are some facts to respond to.....

I think at this point, beast has become a caricature of himself 😂

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Re what I said earlier about the lockdown being quite relaxing for me, yes it was written in haste and I appreciate many won’t be as lucky as me. (I certainly don’t have a large house though: I have a three-bed end of terrace, with two kids each with their own bedroom, and have had to move furniture around to squeeze a desk in beside my bed to work from home!). I am lucky enough to have a decent sized garden though.

From the other side of the coin, my wife heard today from one of her friends who is separated from her partner but still stuck living in the same house: reasonably amicably but of course a far from ideal situation at the best of times. They had the house on the market but of course that is all now on hold. For people in that situation, the lockdown must be pretty hellish.

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I think its time,tomorrow at the latest, for No10 to give an update on Boris`s condition purely to stop any unessesary and damaging speculation.

I sincerely hope he is ok.

Fascinating interview here from Al Jazeera with John Barry the author of "The Great Influenza" a book about the 1918 epidemic, drawing parallels with the current situation- skip the ad and ignore the first few seconds -  it gets more interesting towards the end.

"Telling the truth bluntly and transparently will only help people deal with it"

https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/SJg0bzqkZ_default/index.html?videoId=6146942198001

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