Criminally Negligent: What Jacob Rees Mogg Said! ?

Yes he might. But if you and others wore one he’d be protected.

No that’s not true. The majority would if they thought it was helping others I live here . You don’t.

Vaccination is the key, rather than masking, particularly the sort of thin cotton masks that most people wear ( and rarely wash I bet.)
It’s a divisive subject that we all have differing opinions about.

We have vaccination and it does work but we have to protect our most vulnerable. I feel very strongly about this. I’d do whatever it tool to protect those that can’t protect themselves.
And to have listen to jrm spotting nonsense well you can’t make sense of nonsense as my mum used to say. I Hr should hang his head in shame.

Sorry for the typos.

I'm afraid I don't understand why wearing a mask is such an ordeal, Lemongrove. If we end up wearing masks for years it isn't the greatest hardship we will have suffered. Wearing a mask and being able to go out where you want must be better than not wearing one and ending back in lockdown or worse. I don't particularly like wearing them but even if it doesn't stop Covid, it might stop the serious winter bugs that put a strain on the Health Service.

lemongrove

Vaccination is the key, rather than masking, particularly the sort of thin cotton masks that most people wear ( and rarely wash I bet.)
It’s a divisive subject that we all have differing opinions about.

But we're not all right!

lemongrove

You will have to take that up with his constituency voters in Somerset Scones.

Trouble is I am in Somerset (not Mogg's part thankfully before I get the blame) and actually know some of them. They seem like such nice people I can't believe they would support those views.

Vaccinations reduce the severity for symptoms in most people, but the best way to avoid being infected in the first place is to avoid contact with other people's exhaled droplets. Ideally, we should keep away from other people completely, but that's not possible, so the next best option is to create a barrier between infected droplets and oneself. It's not difficult to understand. It's not either/or with vaccinations and masks/social distancing. It's both.

Scones

lemongrove

You will have to take that up with his constituency voters in Somerset Scones.

Trouble is I am in Somerset (not Mogg's part thankfully before I get the blame) and actually know some of them. They seem like such nice people I can't believe they would support those views.

Maybe they didn't vote for him. 27,948 people (49.6% of those who voted) in his constituency didn't and 23.6% of the electorate didn't vote at all.

icanhandthemback

I'm afraid I don't understand why wearing a mask is such an ordeal, Lemongrove. If we end up wearing masks for years it isn't the greatest hardship we will have suffered. Wearing a mask and being able to go out where you want must be better than not wearing one and ending back in lockdown or worse. I don't particularly like wearing them but even if it doesn't stop Covid, it might stop the serious winter bugs that put a strain on the Health Service.

I have already said that I wear a mask if going into a shop/ dentist/ GP etc which is my choice.
It’s not the law in England that you have to wear one, but most people that I see in shops/ buses seem to have one on.
Some find them horribly restrictive and don’t wear one, especially younger people ( from teens to forties) but older people often do.

And that's the problem isn't it Growstuff. We have to live with this system which won't change.

Barely anyone I see wears a mask any more outside of hospital settings (where people seem suddenly capable of wearing one for extended lengths of time).

I don't think the Tory 'snowflakes' mentality around masks - which is where JRM is coming from is remotely helpful.

It's such an odd stance to take. Masks protect others. Why wouldn't mask wearing be encouraged?

It’s not the law in England that you have to wear one, but most people that I see in shops/ buses seem to have one on

And most people I see don’t.

Sorry I misunderstood, Lemongrove, I misread the tone of your last post before mine.

Scones

And that's the problem isn't it Growstuff. We have to live with this system which won't change.

Indeed! The problem the UK has at the moment is that a small majority of voters in certain constituencies has resulted in a huge majority in the HoC, which is not representative of the electorate. People like JRM can get away with saying what he does because he can't be challenged in a meaningful way. His persona hides some real nastiness. A smaller majority would result in some compromises and MPs' being more accountable.

I’ve been pondering on this throughout the evening. And I just can’t comprehend why so many people think that JRM is a kind caring person who cares about the people of this country. I’m baffled by it.

growstuff

Scones

And that's the problem isn't it Growstuff. We have to live with this system which won't change.

Indeed! The problem the UK has at the moment is that a small majority of voters in certain constituencies has resulted in a huge majority in the HoC, which is not representative of the electorate. People like JRM can get away with saying what he does because he can't be challenged in a meaningful way. His persona hides some real nastiness. A smaller majority would result in some compromises and MPs' being more accountable.

Jacob Rees-Mogg did get a big majority, albeit reduced last time.
His majority was 14,729 and he did get over 50% of the vote, with a 76% turnout.

As I said, I believe he is a good constituency MP whatever anyone thinks of him.

A great deal of mixed messaging from government, scientists and associated ‘experts’ much of which is totally contradictory! I think that we have to make up our own minds as to the truth of the situation and I personally read quite a lot about it from various sources. Vaccination has indeed ‘ broken the link’ between excess deaths directly because of Covid, I believe, but we must not forget the (at least) five million people waiting for treatment by the beleaguered NHS, despite the billions being poured into it! There will be many more deaths indirectly because of Covid. I do not believe that mask wearing, hand washing, social distancing, lockdowns etc will do much to stop a virus that, like flu and colds, will become endemic in the population. Vaccines and treatments will improve; the strength and virulence will wane. I just do my best to keep myself and my family safe (one member of which, my daughter, is severely asthmatic and immuno compromised). And I refuse to be too scared to live my life and to h*ll with politicians!

Amalgera Why do you believe you're right about mask wearing and social distancing? The evidence and your own common sense must tell you that they provide a barrier to transmission. Masks and social distancing aren't the same as lockdowns. On the contrary, suppressing transmission avoids the need for further lockdowns and gives the NHS a chance to start clearing the backlog and for children and young people to get some kind of normal education. There is no guarantee that this virus will become less strong or virulent any time soon.

Amalgera Why do you believe you're right about mask wearing and social distancing? The evidence and your own common sense must tell you that they provide a barrier to transmission in a way that being "convivial" won't. Masks and social distancing aren't the same as lockdowns. On the contrary, suppressing transmission avoids the need for further lockdowns and gives the NHS a chance to start clearing the backlog and for children and young people to get some kind of normal education. There is no guarantee that this virus will become less strong or virulent any time soon.

Sorry about the duplication.

Callistemon

growstuff

Scones

And that's the problem isn't it Growstuff. We have to live with this system which won't change.

Indeed! The problem the UK has at the moment is that a small majority of voters in certain constituencies has resulted in a huge majority in the HoC, which is not representative of the electorate. People like JRM can get away with saying what he does because he can't be challenged in a meaningful way. His persona hides some real nastiness. A smaller majority would result in some compromises and MPs' being more accountable.

Jacob Rees-Mogg did get a big majority, albeit reduced last time.
His majority was 14,729 and he did get over 50% of the vote, with a 76% turnout.

As I said, I believe he is a good constituency MP whatever anyone thinks of him.

Yes, just over 50%, so nearly 50% of those who voted aren't being represented.

The evidence for mask wearing cutting transmission is really clear. Cummings (dreadful man, but he definitely has been close enough to the PM to know what drives him) has said that Johnson (or trolley as he calls him) doesn’t care what voters think, not even Tory ones. He only cares what Tory MPs think. And unfortunately the Tory faction with the power now are the particularly unpleasant Libertarian side of the Party who see wearing a mask as an issue of rights. I suspect much as I thought May was useless if she was still PM mask wearing rules would be similar uo the rest of Europe & we’d have lower rates of transmission.

Amalgera one of the best ways to protect access to healthcare for people with cancer etc is to reduce community transmission & number of people needing hospital treatment. Covid knocks out more hospital space than conditions such as flu & staff (PPE changes slow staff down). If staff need to be redeployed then that impacts other areas of the NHS.

So if you really care about cancer treatment wear a bloody mask. It also means you’re less likely to kill any people you stand next up in the shop who happen to be undergoing treatment at the moment. Win win.

Excellent post Nezumi65. The NHS has been hijacked by Covid. I waited 2 hours attempting to get through to my local hospital this week. I managed to get through to switchboard but the department I was being transferred to was sooooo slow. I eventually got down to “first in the queue” but waited almost an hour in that position, didn’t want to lose my place (and the time already wasted) by hanging up…..but then I was cut off ?

Hospital staff are understaffed due to Covid sickness/absenteeism. This doesn’t just mean the service will be stretched (or non-existent in my case) but that clinical staff will be passing Covid on to vulnerable sick patients, who once they get the virus will struggle to survive. We must do whatever we can to protect those who can’t protect themselves.

It’s true, if we still had May (who I thought was fairly ineffective in other respects) as PM, we would have compulsory mask wearing as she’s one of the few conservative MPs still wearing one.