Off Topic Thread 5.0

Yeah it seems they were a problem pretty much everywhere they exist

molloyjh wrote: »

The problem is that we simply dont have the resources to enforce this stuff the way it needs to be enforced. We just dont police that way. Our Gardai & laws are, by design, a lot more passive and collegial (not the right word, but you get the point) than strict and combative. The aim was always to work with the public rather than strictly police them.

Now there's def an argument for that approach being outdated, but that doesn't change where we are now. Which is simply not in a place to do a whole lot else.

That said, people shouldn't need to be forced to do the right thing. If they need that then the problem certainly doesn't lie with the police or the Gov. Some personal responsibility would go a hell of a long way. Without that, there's really only so much that can be done.

Policing in Ireland and the UK is normally by consent rather than by military type actions. The populations as a rule are reasonable and do the right thing when asked. Booze and stupidity vie with cretinous arrogance in a few to ruin it for the many.

I can see it being completely cancelled. Just because it would be hilariously cruel to Buccaneers fans

Thanks to Boris Johnson, there is now more than enough room in Britain to house any asylum seekers, experts have today confirmed.

Responding to the ongoing far-right claim that Britain is ‘overcrowded’ and cannot take on another single dinghy of up to a dozen desperate asylum seekers, Home Secretary Priti Useless yesterday appointed a ‘Clandestine Channel Threat Commander’, which sounds like the kind of title Mark 'The Poison Dwarf @blunderwank.****wit' Francois would bestow upon himself to make himself feel important during a day trip to Dover.

“We’re not overcrowded, though, not even remotely,” laughed statistician and rational human Simon Williams. “Even before the pandemic, we had plenty of space for people seeking refuge. Only around six per cent of Great Britain is built on – we’re hardly down town Manhattan.” He explained, “What a lot of people don’t realise is that people leave the country as well as come into it. All the European doctors and nurses who went back to their country of birth as they felt unwelcome following the Brexit vote, for a start. And Tommy Robinson, or whatever his name is, is heading to Spain soon, so that’ll free up a bit of space as well. And Boris himself has created loads of room for these asylum seekers to stay, by causing around thirty thousand excess deaths in care homes from his abysmal handling of the pandemic. So those rooms are going begging, too.”

Asked for comment, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage responded, “But they are not asylum seekers, they are illegal immigrants. How can I tell? Asylum seekers are always white, like my great-great-grandparents were when they came to Britain from Germany penniless and hoping for a better life. These ones we see in dinghies aren’t.”

In a bid to tackle the unstoppable flow of immigrants on tiny inflatable dinghies into the country, Britain First have taken matters into their own hands by taking to the high seas themselves.

The so-called ‘invasion’ of migrants has been documented daily by Nigel Farage, who in the absence of having any friends has taken it upon himself to film dinghies sometimes carrying up to four or five terrified asylum seekers landing on England’s beaches.

“We are being invaded, so we wanted to do something about it to let these illegals know they’re not welcome here,” explained Britain First member, football hooligan and captain of the vessel, Bigsteve7369922. “We officially named and launched the vessel ‘HMS Diffendor Of Are Cuntry’ yesterday morning by smashing a can of lager across the bow, and when we’re not patrolling the channel you’ll find us patriotically moored up as near as we can get to the Wetherspoons in Ramsgate.”

He continued, “I’ve got a tough crew of hardened sailors who are going to scare these illegals into retreating.
Barry, my second in command has even brought his own BB gun. And we’ve got a flag that reads “Your not welcum hear until you can speek Inglish!1!”, which I think sends a clear message to anyone trying to get to our shores.

So...any takers for Russia’s Covid vaccine? If it’s good enough for Putin’s daughter...

irishbucsfan wrote: »

It’s a clearly dangerous and awful approach for the Russians BUT if it works and it produces a viable vaccine... then what?

They sadly die of radiation poisoning.

Just laughing at lunchtime about Putin's "miracle" vaccine. Gives it to the daughter....

"how do you feel now?"

"Not great"

"I'll ask you again...how do you feel now"

"I'm fine"

Yep that's ready now lads.

Biden names Kamala Harris as his VP pick. That will certainly rub some people the wrong way. Personally, I look forward to her debating Pence with glee.

irishbucsfan wrote: »

It’s a clearly dangerous and awful approach for the Russians BUT if it works and it produces a viable vaccine... then what?

We'll never know if it works. There's no control if they just go and jab everyone. .

A similar argument is spreading around US Twitter, saying people should just be allowed use whatever vaccine they want, before efficacy is established in a large controlled experiment. The argument is that we will learn faster if they work. But the whole reason to wait for the RCT results is that you have no other way of knowing that the treatment caused the change.

So you would presumably not compare "Russia vs The World", because you want to establish the vaccine is the difference between getting the virus or not, when you are faced with the same exposure. For this, you want to compare Russia with countries where people had a similar risk of catching the virus. (E.g., New Zealand's numbers are so good without a vaccine; hard for Russia to beat them.)

So how do you decide that two countries have similar risk? Population density, immigration dynamics, social customs, age, government restrictions - these will all play a part.

But the hardest thing to nail down in a retrospective comparison like this are the dynamics of the virus at baseline. For starters, how close to herd immunity were both countries to begin with? That's going to be a massive confound. Then, how fast was it spreading in the two countries when you administered the vaccine? How did the spread evolve as you carried out the vaccinations (it will take a while to jab 150m people), did any super spreading events occur during this time period that might muddy the comparison? Any changes in government restrictions? Etc. etc.

By the time you narrow it all down, the only country that could realistically serve as a control for Russia, is Russia. Get a bunch of Russians of all shapes and sizes, split the group in half, give half of them the vaccine, the other half salt water, let everyone go live similar lives, come back in a few months and compare.

20 years I've owned mobile phones. 20 years and I've never dropped one of them and broken the screen.....


Until tonight.

Feck it.

Neil3030 wrote: »

Hittin the beers on a Thursday night, mfc?

Unfortunately not!! Never had a phone with a broken screen before and it is killing me here.

stephen_n wrote: »

Or possibly if I repeat a lie enough times people will believe it’s true.

Well, we've seen that that's true in the UK and the US over the last few years.

It's worked for him so far, he's PM.

Why would he change?