(05-06-2020, 20:07)St Charles Owl Wrote:

(05-06-2020, 17:17)ritchiebaby Wrote: PHE this week issued a report which confirmed this week that people from ethnic minorities are at higher risk of dying from coronavirus. The report showed that age remains the biggest risk factor, while being male is another.

Labour's shadow equalities minister Marsha De Cordova called for an action plan, adding: "The government must not wait any longer to address underlying racial and socioeconomic injustices, so that no more lives are lost." Absolute garbage. She seems to be saying that BAME people cannot understand the basic premise that the best way to fight the virus is to be as healthy and/or safe as possible. I am a white elderly man and have potentially underlying health conditions and I manage to take extra precautions to protect myself. No guarantee in this bit I'm giving myself a better chance. At yesterday's press conference, a BBC reporter took the same attitude about BAME people, ie wait for the Government to do something

Surely BAME people should be encouraged to look after themselves. Whether Government or NHS , do it yourself as much as possible.

I have heard the same thing over here with regards to ethnic minorities being higher risk.  What I have yet to see are the reasons why this is the case?  I am guessing a certain amount of it is general health, poverty, lack of healthcare options (obviously a big problem here rather than the UK) and the fact that they are more likely in lower grade jobs such as checkout personnel at supermarkets or cleaners at hospitals, so have had to work throughout this pandemic.  But is there anything genetically that makes them more at risk or is it just lifestyle either by choice or circumstance?

(05-06-2020, 20:36)spireitematt Wrote:

(05-06-2020, 18:52)hibeejim21 Wrote: To be fair though matt its hard to know what your mind is because it seems like its all over the shop. You more than anyone on here has argued with passion the case for brexit and argued the farage/daily mail narratives even when they were shown to be bullshit.

I'm not trying to have a go at you, I just genuinely don't know what your trying to say. If I was as eurosceptic as you seem to be no way would I have voted remain.

And its not particularly Neo-liberalism thats the problem here.....The EU is less Neo-liberal than the conservatives, in that it at least tries to make big organisations pay tax and look after the environment. Anyway even if that wasn't so leaving the EU wouldn't change the course of the ship. If anything it would make us more vulnerable to neoliberal pressures.

Yes I want us to leave the EU but not cut full on ties with them, we still need to trade with them and have a relationship on good terms. I never argued the Farage and Daily Mail narratives. I don't like the direction that the EU is going in, they constantly keep going on about further integration and expanding the membership. I don't like the political aspect of the EU, the red tape and bureaucracy. I believe it should be a commonwealth, a commonwealth of Europe. I very much dislike the behaviour of the European Central Bank and the way they treated southern European countries especially Greece and Italy and forced austerity on them. They also have pro-competition laws where it can make nationalisation difficult. The EU are lobbied by multi-national companies as is our Government and Parliament.

That view of Brexit was never heard as it was Johnson, Rees-Mogg, Gove and Farage whose view of Brexit was heard by the media and the people. I guess they never cared about those things I wrote above as with them it was about turning us into a low tax, low regulation offshore country.

The EU has a president and a militarised police force, it's pushing for it's own army, helped stir up the crisis in Ukraine with it's expansionism. The single currency has been a disaster for millions of people across and Europe. They called the Greeks lazy and forced them to make cuts to there public services in exchange for more loans. José Manuel Barroso when he was the European Commission president said "I like to compare the EU as a creation to the organisation of empire. We have the dimension of empire." A EU superstate would suit the US, it's multi-nationals and it's military as one leader would be easier to deal with then 50 separate one's, the same argument would go for a single currency as well.

To sum it up. I would like the EU to go back to being just a trading bloc with freedom of movement without the political side of it or the red tape or bureaucracy. I don't want to see the EU break up as a whole or for countries to go nationalistic like we had during the World Wars.

By the way I voted Remain because I thought the whole thing could be reformed and the fact that I didn't trust the tories and still don't. I am not on my own with this view either, I know several people who are eurosceptic who voted Remain. I don't agree with how the Tories have handled Brexit and they will make a mess of this country and turn us into a banana republic.

(10-06-2020, 00:43)hibeejim21 Wrote: Just to add insult to injury Mr Brexit himself, Nigel Farage, was on tv this morning describing the 'Black Lives Matter' movement as like the Taliban and a "Marxist organisation". This is the mentality behind Brexit, and the thinking of the people who are working Boris behind the scenes. They don't give a xxxx, just get him to lie through his teeth to the people.