The very nasty Laurence Fox

I think nanna8 is talking about the Australian Open.

I really don't know how the competitors brought Covid with them as surely they were tested before they got on the plane and again before they left the airport?
They must have been quarantined when they arrived, too.

Tennis Australia chartered 15 flights to bring players and their entourages into the country, but three flights had passengers who later tested positive for the virus.

There is no point in blaming the players - Tennis Australia organised this.

As if tennis is an essential activity.

I should say there is a huge amount of resentment at the tennis people coming here and bringing Covid but the government, in it’s wisdom,has allowed them in. We are all just waiting for the nasties to start up again and we don’t trust the lockdowns they have in place.

Where we are everyone wears masks. No more outdoors but in all shopping centres etc. Other parts of Australia are different, different rules for each separate state. Ours, Victoria, is the strictest because our population is high. It is a very large country.

GranyRose, paying more alongside a sensible review. By that. I do not mean bringing in the friends of government ministers, throwing a load of our money at them, then concluding we only need an nhs for the poor and destitute, everyone else pays in tax, national insurance and gets nowt.

JaneJudge

he is the biggest self entitled wanker in wanktown

Hey, don’t beat about the bush Jane!!

Callistemon

Oh, thanks for the update Lucca
It's reassuring but worrying.

Think NSW is pretty clear but they can’t go interstate. Gold Coast holiday is cancelled so a few days on the NSW coast instead. Australia have done well I think. I know it’s totally different etc but the decisive swift action and tough enforcement is praiseworthy.

Excellent Janejudge

Oh, thanks for the update Lucca
It's reassuring but worrying.

Callistemon

^I can tell you isolating and doing all these boring things like wearing masks DOES work. Ask any Australian^
Were Australians wearing masks?
A few months ago my DD flew interstate, ensured she had her mask on then noticed that no-one else on the flight was wearing one. Yes, the numbers were extremely low but I haven't heard much about mask wearing.

Quarantining at the incomers' expense, closing borders, locking down quickly etc are what seemed to have worked.

My son in Sydney says masks are compulsory now in shops etc plus shopping malls railway stations etc. Fines are issued on the spot, none of your quiet chat business !

GagaJo

I like your style JaneJudge.

lol yes

I can tell you isolating and doing all these boring things like wearing masks DOES work. Ask any Australian
Were Australians wearing masks?
A few months ago my DD flew interstate, ensured she had her mask on then noticed that no-one else on the flight was wearing one. Yes, the numbers were extremely low but I haven't heard much about mask wearing.

Quarantining at the incomers' expense, closing borders, locking down quickly etc are what seemed to have worked.

I like your style JaneJudge.

god I hadn't realised there were more pages

he is the biggest self entitled wanker in wanktown

BUT also the government needs to stop diverting the National Insurance we pay to their mates for incredibly poor service / products.
I think most of the funding for the NHS comes from general taxation, although you'd think it comes from NI.

Yes, we need to pay more.

If it is too late that’s because it’s been deliberately run down with contracts sold off at mates rates and then when it’s on it’s knees ‘ they’ can say it’s beyond saving and a form of insurance should take its place. Heaven help us if it’s a US form of insurance,
Staff hadnt had a pay rise for ten years, do we not remember the Tories actually laughing as they refused them any raise whilst raising their own pay. This has been a plan for a long while now. It scares me and should all who care for what is and has been a great institution.

Iam64

No we don’t need to privatise, we need everyone to pay a little more To fund the NHS

I'm afraid I don't agree with you there. I would love to think that paying a bit more would transform the health service. And I would do it gladly, especially if we could be sure everything we paid went towards the NHS as Gagajo said. But I fear it is too late for that. The whole institution needs to be re-structured.

Iam64

No we don’t need to privatise, we need everyone to pay a little more To fund the NHS

Totally agree.

Have you forgotten Prof Neil Ferguson’s original prediction that without intervention half a million people would die? He was doubted but it looks as though he was right after all.

That’s what I said about Neil Ferguson GrannyRose.
Your vicious words say more about you than about him.

janeainsworth

You didn't just quote Neil Ferguson at me did you? That attention seeking, charlatan. If he told me it was raining I'd have to go out and check.

Iam64

No we don’t need to privatise, we need everyone to pay a little more To fund the NHS

LOVE this. Yes. We do.

BUT also the government needs to stop diverting the National Insurance we pay to their mates for incredibly poor service / products.

nanna8 I can tell you isolating and doing all these boring things like wearing masks DOES work. Ask any Australian
I agree, Nanna8. My friend lives in Perth WA & life is just about normal there. They haven’t had a case for months.
What the Australians have done which we failed to do was impose & enforce strict quarantine regulations on people entering the country (2 weeks isolation in a hotel at your own expense, anyone?) with electronic tags to check on your movements.
That would have gone down like a lead balloon with all the Brits returning from Spain and Italy last year.
As MD wrote in Private Eye, the British psyche has a rebellious streak and some of us don’t take kindly to being told what to do, even when it’s in our own best interests.

I agree Iam, it is slowly being run into the ground by the selling off of services to private companies combined with lack of funding over many years.