Proceedings of the Castle Aching Parish Council, 1905

[Edwardian]

Katie Hopkins; something of a National Embarrassment for some of us, but the fact that she has been given air-time shows that right-wing nationalist popularism is alive and well. 

 

The Independent has found diplomatic language to sum her up; ''professional controversialist''.

 

She is a product of celebrity culture, in particular of The Apprentice, which, so far as I can tell, is a format that requires a grumpy failed businessman (Alan Sugar or Donald Trump) to humiliate a bunch of arrogant young morons, whose main qualification is an ego that significantly outstrips their meagre intelligence and ability (i.e. rather like Alan Sugar or Donald Trump).  

 

Hopkins never seems to have understood that her media platform owes everything to her selection as a figure of derision on this ludicrous piece of television. However, self-insight is not a quality that contestants on The Apprentice tend to exhibit.

 

Some of the 'highlights' of her fascist drivelling: Most Controversial Moments

 

In the news today, however, the Domster has apparently revealed Whastsap messages from the Prime Minister, who, apparently, when resisting a lock-down, had a real Hopkins moment (that special quality of callous stupidity) commenting that Covid would only kill the over 80s if we didn't lock-down.  

 

Dominic Cummings .... said the prime minister had messaged him to say: "I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff."

 

Mr Johnson had wanted to let Covid "wash through the country" rather than destroy the economy, Mr Cummings said.

 

The claims came in an interview with BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg.

 

...

 

Covid cases dipped last summer but began to rise rapidly again as autumn started, prompting a debate within government about what measures were needed.

Mr Cummings told the BBC that he, UK chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty had pushed for tougher restrictions from mid-September - Sir Patrick and Professor Whitty declined to comment.

 

Mr Cummings went on to allege Mr Johnson had said: "No, no no, no, no, I'm not doing it."

 

...

 

In a WhatsApp message sent on 15 October, shared with the BBC, Mr Johnson appears to have described himself as "slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities".

 

The "median age" for those dying was between 81 and 82 for men and 85 for women, the prime minister allegedly wrote, adding: "That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and Live longer.

 

"Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital... and of those virtually all survive. And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. Folks I think we may need to recalibrate... There are max 3m in this country aged over 80."

 

He reportedly went on to write: "It shows we don't go for nationwide lockdown."

 

BBC News

 

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by Edwardian
Reference found

[Ian Simpson]

2 hours ago, Edwardian said:

The "median age" for those dying was between 81 and 82 for men and 85 for women, the prime minister allegedly wrote, adding: "That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and Live longer.

To be fair, life expectancy has long been a factor in medical decisions, including policy ones. And Johnson could reasonably have pointed to some of the mental health impacts of lockdown and isolation on the other side of the balance sheet, as well as the economic effects of lockdown.

Not that any of that changes my own view that he is an incompetent bungler who is hopelessly out of his depth during a major crisis. 

[Nearholmer]

Citing a median alone isn’t very helpful to understanding, especially as the meaning of the word is widely misunderstood and misinterpreted ……. Including by people whose education was heavy on Ancient Greek philosophers, and light on Ancient Greek mathematicians.

 

But, I do think it is necessary to keep the shape of the age- mortality curve for this beast in mind when thinking about what it has done and is doing - basically, catching it when not vaccinated roughly doubles (maybe even trebles for Delta) your chance of dying in the coming year. If you are 20, that is doubling next door to nothing; if you are 80, it is doubling an already highly significant figure.

Edited July 20, 2021 by Nearholmer

[wagonman]

Perhaps someone should tell Johnson that Alan B'Stard was satire, not a role model...

 

[alastairq]

In order to confound the system and our beloved ever-so-perfect society.....[going by contributions on here,at any rate?]  I intend to live a lot longer than any medians. Or relatives. 

 

The big issue isn't about the over -80's being allowed to 'die off' and all the moralistic arguments for & against.

 

It's about saving taxpayers' money, pure & simple.

The biggest financial worry  for any UK government is, how do we pay for all the prolonged State pensions [or support anybody else's ability to accrue a private pension?]

 

I'm willing to bet an awful  lot of younger voters secretly wish all the over-80 bloodsuckers would s@d off and die.....to ease the tax burden?

 

One Only has to look at the vilification that is created every time an aged driver has a crash with a youngster? [Whether actually  to blame or not]...

 

It's like everything our Society is wedded to....money! Pure & simple!

[One only has to look at how a person who has declared bankruptcy is treated, compared to someone who is divorced. On the one hand , vilified and discriminated against...on the other hand glorified and supported.]

 

Money is more important to our society than any individual's welfare.  

Which is wrong, in my view.

[Nearholmer]

1 hour ago, alastairq said:

The biggest financial worry  for any UK government is, how do we pay for all the prolonged State pensions

I’d reckon that the NHS costs are, as or more, important.
 

Old people are like old cars: the maintenance, repair, and replacement costs per annum shoot-up at a certain point, when they need a new gearbox etc, or the human equivalent, probably somewhere in the late-70s in the case of people. A person in their 80s costs vastly more to keep on the road than a person in their 30s, for instance.

 

Heres a graph, and this is only ‘health care’, not allied social care.

 

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

10 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

I’d reckon that the NHS costs are, as or more, important.
 

Old people are like old cars: the maintenance, repair, and replacement costs per annum shoot-up at a certain point, when they need a new gearbox etc, or the human equivalent, probably somewhere in the late-70s in the case of people. A person in their 80s costs vastly more to keep on the road than a person in their 30s, for instance.

 

We become uninsurable and uneconomic to repair!

 

Perhaps HMG could commission an algorithm (we know they're good at that) to calculate the average cost to the NHS of babies and children at certain ages, and of old folk, and determine at what age the cost of the elderly exceeds the cost of the young by a pre-determined differential.

 

We then cull them. 

 

We could have a trade deal with China whereby, in return for ignoring genocide and human rights abuse, we get a supply of the latest bat-derived, lab-concocted virus (full sequencing history, one careless owner) and use the NHS track and trace App to ping old folk so they know when to report to a local infection centre.

 

Then we could cut carbon emissions and produce green energy by feeding them into an anaerobic digester.  

 

Katie Hopkins would, presumably, be all for it. Boris would be nervous, but once the Mail and the Telegraph swung behind the idea, I reckon he'd come on board. 

 

 

[Nearholmer]

Be careful what you wish for.

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

Boris would be nervous, but once the Mail and the Telegraph swung behind the idea, I reckon he'd come on board. 

Til he got to 80.

 

We apparently get all your winners because Alan Sugar is here thanks to the same TV station that imports Katie Hopkins's, to do an Australian Apprentice. 

 

We did however manage to offload mad monk ex PM  Tony Abbott as revenge on you. He reckons that the economic cost of an old person being treated in hospital for covid should be looked at in relation to what the lockdown costs the economy, I think he came up with $250,000 per sick elderly person or something and then used that to question if we were getting value for money out of them. 

 

Every day I give thanks that his own party sacked him for being too crazy before we got a pandemic.

Edited July 20, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[Northroader]

4 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

We become uninsurable and uneconomic to repair!

 

Perhaps HMG could commission an algorithm (we know they're good at that) to calculate the average cost to the NHS of babies and children at certain ages, and of old folk, and determine at what age the cost of the elderly exceeds the cost of the young by a pre-determined differential.

 

We then cull them. 

 

We could have a trade deal with China whereby, in return for ignoring genocide and human rights abuse, we get a supply of the latest bat-derived, lab-concocted virus (full sequencing history, one careless owner) and use the NHS track and trace App to ping old folk so they know when to report to a local infection centre.

 

Then we could cut carbon emissions and produce green energy by feeding them into an anaerobic digester.  

 

Katie Hopkins would, presumably, be all for it. Boris would be nervous, but once the Mail and the Telegraph swung behind the idea, I reckon he'd come on board. 

 

 

[TT-Pete]

6 hours ago, Edwardian said:

We then cull them. 

 

Boris would be nervous, but once the Mail and the Telegraph swung behind the idea, I reckon he'd come on board.

 

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Til he got to 80.

 

Hmm, I wonder how he'd fare against these two if he did decide to run...

 

 

[Andy Hayter]

2 minutes ago, Ian Simpson said:

When the first Old Age Pensions came in, working men tended to lick the bucket a couple of years after retirement. Now we're living longer and costing the State a lot more. 

No wonder Boris isn't too fussed if we snuff it.

(Alth

 

Actually not as good as that.  When the OAP was first introduced average life expectancy for a 14 year old male (someone who might be expected to start contributing to his OAP) was 62 years versus a pension age of 65, so broadly more than half would never receive a penny of their contributions.  

 

Life expectancy for males born in that year was below 50 due to high infant mortality levels.  

[Edwardian]

Catching up on The Interview.

 

Love the comment that a lot of the MPs on Dom's side of the B----T debate were "absolute morons"!

 

All the briefing to the media about his arrogance and colossal ego seem borne out by his performance, and he operates without ethics to a degree that would trouble Machiavelli, as a sort of high-functioning sociopath who just doesn't understand what is wrong with his actions, nevertheless, his assessments of incompetence of the other characters in Downing Street seems all too credible.   

Edited July 20, 2021 by Edwardian

[Nearholmer]

It is worth considering the possibility that at least some of it is delusional.

Possibly not in the sense of being totally fictitious, but in the sense of being heavily warped by his self-obsession …….. the lens through which he sees the world might be a very distorting one, to the degree whereby others seeing/hearing the same things might see/hear them very differently.

 

My good lady tells me that he strongly reminds her of a guy she knew a long while back who eventually tipped over completely, and got sectioned after standing in the middle of a runway shouting at aeroplanes.

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by Nearholmer

[burgundy]

8 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

Boris would be nervous, but once the Mail and the Telegraph swung behind the idea, I reckon he'd come on board. 

But wouldn't this decimate their readership? Bad for the circulation figures surely?

Best wishes 

Eric

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, TT-Pete said:

Hmm, I wonder how he'd fare against these two if he did decide to run...

 

 

 

Setting aside the last few days, we've in general not got the climate for the outfits...

 

... you all know where this is going, so you can make your own way there.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

the lens through which he sees the world might be a very distorting one

 

I thought he'd popped up north to have that sorted last year?

 

 

[Edwardian]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

It is worth considering the possibility that at least some of it is delusional.

Possibly not in the sense of being totally fictitious, but in the sense of being heavily warped by his self-obsession …….. the lens through which he sees the world might be a very distorting one, to the degree whereby others seeing/hearing the same things might see/hear them very differently.

 

My good lady tells me that he strongly reminds her of a guy she new a long while back who eventually tipped over completely, and got sectioned after standing in the middle of a runway shouting at aeroplanes.

 

 

I found compelling Cummings's description of the PM as a ''shopping trolley'', skittering about hopelessly as Cummings, with delusional hubris, cast himself as a latter day Warwick Kingmaker, and Carrie Symonds descended into an equally deranged Lady MacBeth, who then fought each other for control of the rudderless fool nominally in charge. 

 

Neither of them, seemingly, questioned their right to try to rule the country through the straw-stuffed scarecrow the electorate had put in charge, and Cummings, who was simply chilling in his complete inability to perceive the outrageousness of his own attitudes and actions, showed that he clearly has a bit missing up top. 

 

He may be a high-functioning sociopath. He may simply be insane.  Maybe, just maybe he's just one hollowed-out volcano and a Nehru suit away from being the next Bond villain.

 

It was like watching Gollum turn into Blofeld right before your eyes. Scary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by Edwardian
Grammar

[alastairq]

As an aside,  I think Donald Pleasance was the most brilliant ''epitome of evil'' actor  ever.

He also had an uncanny ability to produce the blank stare of a blind man....

 

Superb!

[rocor]

13 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Setting aside the last few days, we've in general not got the climate for the outfits...

 

... you all know where this is going, so you can make your own way there.

 

The posting of an image of a character, that featured in the 1976 film Logan's Run?

 

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, rocor said:

 

The posting of an image of a character, that featured in the 1976 film Logan's Run?

 

 

Yes, and no...

[Hroth]

7 hours ago, alastairq said:

As an aside,  I think Donald Pleasance was the most brilliant ''epitome of evil'' actor  ever.

He also had an uncanny ability to produce the blank stare of a blind man....

 

Superb!

 

We always used to call him "Donald Unpleasance" because of his way with evil.

 

Althought I'm not a "cat person", I always felt sorry for his moggy.  Just think, if Blofeld had been introduced to a suitable breed of dog when young, say a Border Terrier or a Westie, he might have developed into a much nicer person.  Of course if it had been a red-eyed slavering hound of evil...

 

[Caley Jim]

8 minutes ago, Hroth said:

say a Border Terrier .....

My daughter (a dog lover) calls them 'Border Terrorists'!

 

Jim

[CKPR]

6 hours ago, Hroth said:

Although I'm not a "cat person", I always felt sorry for his moggy.

 

Mind you, said moggy became a role model for those cats with an latent interest in world domination i.e. most of them.

Edited July 21, 2021 by CKPR

[Hroth]

5 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

My daughter (a dog lover) calls them 'Border Terrorists'!

 

Never had any problems with them... 

Just don't let 'em near any rodents, or small fowl.

 

4 hours ago, CKPR said:

Mind said moggy became a role model for those cats with an latent interest in world domination i.e. most of them.

 

With cats, thats been innate since the time of the Pharoes*...

 

* And they got around you know, "Pharisle, Pharoes, South East Iceland"...