British hopes of summer holidays abroad quashed!

[Kilkis]

...They took a photo of one pub where people were outside too close together...

You don't appear to have appreciated what the story was about. It absolutely wasn't "one pub where people were outside too close together". It was a picture along the length of Old Compton Street in Soho, which is about 300 m long and absolutely packed with bars and restaurants. All the surrounding streets are also full of bars and restaurants and were similarly packed with people in the street. Altogether there were thousands of people moving around the area, mingling closely with each other, going in and out of different bars. The fact that it happened is not a media fiction. It was well documented including by the police. It is exactly the sort of situation that caused a spike in cases in Seoul when the government opened up a bar and club area there. They had really effective test-trace-isolate plus tracking, which the UK doesn't currently have, so they managed to suppress the spike very quickly. We will see what happens in this case.

The concern is that release of lockdown will cause an increase in cases. It is events like that in Soho that could cause an increase in cases. People deciding to stay home is not likely to cause an increase in cases. That is why the media report the Soho event and don't report people having a glass of wine with a meal in their own dinning room.

You don't seem to understand the meaning of the word exaggerate. If there are ten people in a park and the media report that there were a thousand people in the park then that is exaggeration. If there are thousands of people circulating around Soho all in close proximity to each other and there is both photographic evidence and independent assessments, the media reporting the fact is not exaggeration. It is simply reporting the worst example of the behaviour that could cause increased spread of the virus. If there was a terrorist attack in London and five people were stabbed would you say the media were exaggerating by reporting it because there weren't any terrorist attacks elsewhere?

Warwick

[ros21m]

chrissyg here's the link to the article Warwick was talking about & which has been shown all over Greek TV & news sites! https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53296689?fb ... ac1QZsuRCQ

[DJ]

Middle of July......perhaps
https://news.gtp.gr/2020/07/03/greek-mi ... 7-64985457

[chrissyg]

Damnation, my last post has disappeared so if my reply comes up twice, apologies.
No, Warwick, the facts of stabbings are indesputable and this is not comparable.Once again you have taken out part of a sentence and slammed it. I dont deny that a crowd at the moment is risky, but by putting that on the front cover of a newspaper and the things they said implied that this was what is happening because we opened pubs. And yes i do understand the word exaggerate, maybe you don't. One paper even gave free sick bags out with their paper on sunday for all our hangovers. I actually know of some pubs and cafes that are having issues enticing people back so this is not typical and even in this photo you can see that although crowded a lot of people are in small groups with their backs to others and it is outside.I am once again again not condoning it, but call it what you like, exaggeration, or distortion of the whole picture, the british press is famous for it, they have enormous influence over the public,and i am not the one being naiive here.

[evansmr1]

Warick quoted
I can't imagine that happening. Boozy party types coming to Greece on holiday. Never heard of that occurring.

Not heard of the town of Malie, 50k east of Heraklion?. Had a terrible reputation for young Brits partying, stabbings, punch-ups etc. Thankfully 2 years ago the Police stated that they were going to stop the mad drunkenness also they would stop the Booze trips, organised walking trips, bar to bar.
7 years ago my son stayed with us and told us he was going to spend a couple of Nights in Malia with some friends who were holidaying there. After about 5 hours he telephoned me and asked to be picked up, he had changed his mind about staying. He enjoys a drink, but not to the amount he saw poured down throats.
He still visits us, but never goes to Malia.
Last year Malia had started to behave.

[ros21m]

Unfortunately it didn't work too well Mike! Normally July & August it's still full of groups of 18-30ish partying Brits, getting drunk, fighting etc. The only thing that has changed, is that they can no longer go there on an organised 18-30 holiday. I visit a friend of mine who has a small hotel in Malia, normally several times during the season. The booze cruises are still running! Malia is holding it's breath this year, hoping for an older, more select clientile.

[Maud]

I think you missed the irony in Warwicks post Mike!

Over twenty years ago, (whilst he was a student at Athens University) , a young friend from Hania asked me why youths from the U.K. go out for the evening in Greece and get drunk? He said that when he is at home, he and friends go down to the harbour in Hania to meet up. They might have a beer or two, but then drink coffee. (He said it is the same in Athens). Only the previous evening he had seen British men behaving in a drunken way in Hania. He asked if they behaved the same way when in the U.K? I had to confess that sadly many did.

It says a lot about the ‘culture’ of the U.K. when so much emphasis has been placed on opening pubs over recent weeks. I appreciate they are important to the country’s economy, but people have not been rushing back to pubs to spend their money, - they have been doing it to drink alcohol and socialise. It is a shame that the British attitude to drink seems to be that excessive consumption is acceptable , and socialising seldom takes place over a coffee.....and mostly involves alcohol.

[chrissyg]

Absolutely Maud. That and football! I was hoping they would consider gyms and swimming pools before pubs. Makes more sense and i miss my local pool terribly.

[DJ]

Update: Greece allowing Brits in on July 15
https://greece.greekreporter.com/2020/0 ... FLyXi-92eo

[Kamisiana]

Anyone want to slate the Greeks for having a rather large fiesta near Athens over the weekend
https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2020/ ... k-fiestas/

[Kilkis]

I'm sure it's just the media exaggerating, Kamisiana?

Warwick

[bobscott]

I'm sure it's just the media exaggerating, Kamisiana?

Warwick

Come on old chap - get with it! It's FAKE NEWS!
Bob.

[ros21m]

It must be fake news, just like all the similar stories coming out of the UK, so we are being told!

[Kilkis]

Earlier in this thread I posted:

...It's looking like it is going to be a close finish between Belgium, the USA and the UK and my money is on the USA to take the gold and a toss up between Belgium and the UK for silver and bronze. You can't rule out the outsider Brazil so it could be worth a small each way punt on them if you can get good odds but I wouldn't risk a big bet...

Since I set myself up as a tipster in the "Deaths per Million Stakes" I thought an update might be worthwhile. The USA has continued to move up steadily and it has now overtaken France and Sweden and is rapidly catching Italy. As I suggested might happen the outsider Brazil has also moved up and overtaken both the USA and Italy.

Unfortunately I totally missed two other outsiders, Chile and Peru. Both accelerated past many other countries with Chile now just above Brazil and Peru out front in first place ahead of Belgium.

The UK dropped back badly by the simple expedient of reclassifying who qualifies as dying of COVID-19. Under the old system anybody who died was classified as dying of COVID-19 if they had ever had a positive COVID-19 test, even if they were run over by a bus. Clearly an idiotic system. Now someone is only classified as dying of COVID-19 if they died within 28 days of having a positive COVID-19 test. Given what we increasingly know about the long term effects of COVID-19, clearly an equally stupid criterion but one that is more attractive to government because it shows a lower death toll. This is how the government figures are produced. In parallel the ONS record deaths due to COVID-19 on the basis of whether COVID-19 is included as a contributory cause on the death certificate. Doctors use clinical judgement to decide if COVID-19 did contribute. Doctors aren't perfect but I trust their clinical judgement better than government arbitrary criteria.

It shows just how difficult the job of a tipster is but the race is not over yet.

Warwick