I know what you are feeling.I get my kicks from TGG who cuts n pastes
WTF is happening in the UK?
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
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TheGreenGoblin
- Chief Pilot
- Posts: 17596
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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
Let music be our byline...
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
Polarized British public turns on frontline workers as Covid misinformation intensifies
Covid misinformation takes its toll on British doctors, teachers
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/covi ... s-n1254568
Covid misinformation takes its toll on British doctors, teachers
"In the U.K., we can look at the U.S. and take that as a warning sign of where things may be heading," one misinformation expert said.
Jan. 18, 2021, 8:31 AM MST
By Alexander Smith
LONDON — British front-line workers who were applauded on doorsteps in the early weeks of the pandemic now confront a torrent of polarization and misinformation.
Doctors, teachers and other exhausted workers say they are feeling incredibly demoralized after reading social media posts insisting Covid-19 is a hoax or overblown. And that has had serious, real-world consequences in recent weeks, with demonstrators picketing hospitals and hurling abuse at health care staff.
Some researchers say the polarization between British people who are sucked in by these ideas and those who aren't is becoming more extreme — and in turn more like the United States.
"In the U.K., we can look at the U.S. and take that as a warning sign of where things may be heading if we're not careful enough," said Sander van der Linden, a professor of social psychology in society at the University of Cambridge.
This spiraling "infodemic" — as the World Health Organization calls it — comes as the United Kingdom deals with a surge in coronavirus cases, forcing the country to enter its third national lockdown and pushing its beloved, publicly funded National Health Service close to the breaking point.
To date, the country has recorded more than 80,000 coronavirus deaths, one of the highest per capita rates in the world.
Conspiracy theories are far from new here, and Britain has grappled with coronavirus-related misinformation since the start of the pandemic. But now "the polarization has become more intense, and more like the U.S.," van der Linden said.
American attitudes about the coronavirus have long been divided along partisan lines, with liberals more likely to support masks and lockdown measures and conservatives saying they want to prioritize the economy. A YouGov poll in May suggested that Republican voters were more likely than Democrats to believe several conspiracy theories about Covid-19.
That hasn't always been the case in Britain, and support for masks and other lockdown measures here remains very high.
But van der Linden says that research he's conducted in recent months suggests that British people are becoming more fiercely divided along political lines, too. For example, those who identify as left-wing are more likely to accept that vaccines are safe than those on the right.
'Covid is a hoax'
The tenor of misinformation in Britain has traditionally been far less extreme than in the U.S.
Anti-lockdown protests hit Europe throughout last year, and in the U.K., dozens of 5G cell towers were attacked by those who believe they are somehow linked to the spread of the virus.
However, this winter has brought what feels like a sea change. A number of British hospitals reported that people had gained access to their buildings, filming corridors that happened to be empty in the hope of exposing the "hoax" that they were overrun with coronavirus patients.
On New Year's Eve, a group of anti-vaccine campaigners gathered outside St. Thomas' Hospital in central London and shouted "Covid is a hoax" at the doctors and nurses departing the building.
Dr. Rachel Clarke, a palliative care specialist at a hospital in Oxfordshire, says the public's treatment of NHS workers has shifted dramatically since last year.
The first wave "was hard, but knowing the community was behind you was so wonderful for morale," she told NBC News. "But now, the claps are long gone and instead you come home to abuse if you dare speak out about Covid-19 on social media."
Being confronted with this torrent of misinformation is hugely dispiriting for people like Russell Sears, a high-school teacher in the English county of Norfolk, northeast of London.
Russell Sears says he has considered moving abroad, partly because of the misinformation that's becoming rife in Britain.
Sears, 43, has considered quitting his job several times during the pandemic. Like many in his profession, he's angry the government has not done more to protect staff, frustrated that it was slow to close schools even as the virus ripped through the country, killing tens of thousands and forcing millions more to stay at home.
One thing that's kept him going was the newfound respect for front-line workers that the pandemic seemed to inculcate in Britain. But whereas Brits once gathered for the ritual doorstep applause for "key workers" at 8 p.m. every Thursday night, Sears says many of those clapping are now peddling fake news.
"Seeing all of it flying around led me to question: Should I just hit the eject button and leave the U.K. and go somewhere that doesn't have these crazy conspiracy theories?" Sears, who is known as "Siv" to friends, said. "At least then, I wouldn't feel like the attitude of other people is exposing me to risk."
'Erosion of trust'
This comes at a time when Britain is buckling under one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks on the planet. The country has been hit with the double whammy of a new, fast-spreading variant of the virus and, according to critics, repeated government incompetence and hesitancy to take necessary action to stop it.
As well as reacting too slowly, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has been accused of favoring the personal contacts of Cabinet ministers when awarding lucrative health care procurement contracts. In the eyes of many, Johnson is also guilty of hypocrisy, berating people to follow the rules but then failing to fire his top adviser who appeared to flagrantly break them.
Maria Sole, 4, holds up a homemade sign at London's Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in May.Dan Kitwood / Getty Images file
This perceived mishandling has led to an "erosion of trust" that's allowed misinformation to thrive, according to Maria Kyriakidou, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Culture.
Regular polling by King's College London and Ipsos Mori shows how its support has crashed over the course of the pandemic, with just 38 percent of respondents saying in November that they trusted the British government to some extent, down from 69 percent in April.
"It is this lack of trust that I'm afraid can be weaponized then by anti-vaxxers and Covid-deniers," Kyriakidou said.
As bad as things are, Britain and Europe "are just about clinging on to the sensible center ground" when it comes to misinformation, according to Damian Tambini, a distinguished policy fellow at the London School of Economics' department of media and communications. "There is a crisis going on — but it's not as bad in the U.S."
Part of the reason for this is that these places have "completely different traditions of freedom of speech," he said.
While conspiracy theories can spread easily on social media and right-wing news sites, the fact that TV and radio in Britain are heavily regulated by the government has meant that misinformation has historically not been able to gain such an easy foothold on this side of the pond, Tambini believes.
Alice Salvini quit her job because of the stress of teaching during the pandemic.
These favorable transatlantic comparisons are little comfort to front-line British workers.
Alice Salvini, 27, a high-school science teacher in the English county of Derbyshire, says the proliferation of these ideas added to her anxiety surrounding the virus.
"I was going into a work environment, teaching 100 kids a day and not knowing how many of the families of these kids were believing this stuff, taking absolutely no precautions and doing whatever the hell they wanted," she said. "I'd be driving to work and I'd get to the car park and I just felt like I couldn't get out of the car. Then I started having panic attacks in school."
In the fall, her doctor authorized her to take a leave of absence from work on mental health grounds. And a month later, she resigned.
"It's a very dangerous message that people are spreading, because they're basically saying: Don't worry about it, it doesn't matter, go do what you want," she said. "And that's kind of a problem."
PP
Covid misinformation takes its toll on British doctors, teachers
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/covi ... s-n1254568
Covid misinformation takes its toll on British doctors, teachers
"In the U.K., we can look at the U.S. and take that as a warning sign of where things may be heading," one misinformation expert said.
Jan. 18, 2021, 8:31 AM MST
By Alexander Smith
LONDON — British front-line workers who were applauded on doorsteps in the early weeks of the pandemic now confront a torrent of polarization and misinformation.
Doctors, teachers and other exhausted workers say they are feeling incredibly demoralized after reading social media posts insisting Covid-19 is a hoax or overblown. And that has had serious, real-world consequences in recent weeks, with demonstrators picketing hospitals and hurling abuse at health care staff.
Some researchers say the polarization between British people who are sucked in by these ideas and those who aren't is becoming more extreme — and in turn more like the United States.
"In the U.K., we can look at the U.S. and take that as a warning sign of where things may be heading if we're not careful enough," said Sander van der Linden, a professor of social psychology in society at the University of Cambridge.
This spiraling "infodemic" — as the World Health Organization calls it — comes as the United Kingdom deals with a surge in coronavirus cases, forcing the country to enter its third national lockdown and pushing its beloved, publicly funded National Health Service close to the breaking point.
To date, the country has recorded more than 80,000 coronavirus deaths, one of the highest per capita rates in the world.
Conspiracy theories are far from new here, and Britain has grappled with coronavirus-related misinformation since the start of the pandemic. But now "the polarization has become more intense, and more like the U.S.," van der Linden said.
American attitudes about the coronavirus have long been divided along partisan lines, with liberals more likely to support masks and lockdown measures and conservatives saying they want to prioritize the economy. A YouGov poll in May suggested that Republican voters were more likely than Democrats to believe several conspiracy theories about Covid-19.
That hasn't always been the case in Britain, and support for masks and other lockdown measures here remains very high.
But van der Linden says that research he's conducted in recent months suggests that British people are becoming more fiercely divided along political lines, too. For example, those who identify as left-wing are more likely to accept that vaccines are safe than those on the right.
'Covid is a hoax'
The tenor of misinformation in Britain has traditionally been far less extreme than in the U.S.
Anti-lockdown protests hit Europe throughout last year, and in the U.K., dozens of 5G cell towers were attacked by those who believe they are somehow linked to the spread of the virus.
However, this winter has brought what feels like a sea change. A number of British hospitals reported that people had gained access to their buildings, filming corridors that happened to be empty in the hope of exposing the "hoax" that they were overrun with coronavirus patients.
On New Year's Eve, a group of anti-vaccine campaigners gathered outside St. Thomas' Hospital in central London and shouted "Covid is a hoax" at the doctors and nurses departing the building.
Dr. Rachel Clarke, a palliative care specialist at a hospital in Oxfordshire, says the public's treatment of NHS workers has shifted dramatically since last year.
The first wave "was hard, but knowing the community was behind you was so wonderful for morale," she told NBC News. "But now, the claps are long gone and instead you come home to abuse if you dare speak out about Covid-19 on social media."
Being confronted with this torrent of misinformation is hugely dispiriting for people like Russell Sears, a high-school teacher in the English county of Norfolk, northeast of London.
Russell Sears says he has considered moving abroad, partly because of the misinformation that's becoming rife in Britain.
Sears, 43, has considered quitting his job several times during the pandemic. Like many in his profession, he's angry the government has not done more to protect staff, frustrated that it was slow to close schools even as the virus ripped through the country, killing tens of thousands and forcing millions more to stay at home.
One thing that's kept him going was the newfound respect for front-line workers that the pandemic seemed to inculcate in Britain. But whereas Brits once gathered for the ritual doorstep applause for "key workers" at 8 p.m. every Thursday night, Sears says many of those clapping are now peddling fake news.
"Seeing all of it flying around led me to question: Should I just hit the eject button and leave the U.K. and go somewhere that doesn't have these crazy conspiracy theories?" Sears, who is known as "Siv" to friends, said. "At least then, I wouldn't feel like the attitude of other people is exposing me to risk."
'Erosion of trust'
This comes at a time when Britain is buckling under one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks on the planet. The country has been hit with the double whammy of a new, fast-spreading variant of the virus and, according to critics, repeated government incompetence and hesitancy to take necessary action to stop it.
As well as reacting too slowly, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has been accused of favoring the personal contacts of Cabinet ministers when awarding lucrative health care procurement contracts. In the eyes of many, Johnson is also guilty of hypocrisy, berating people to follow the rules but then failing to fire his top adviser who appeared to flagrantly break them.
Maria Sole, 4, holds up a homemade sign at London's Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in May.Dan Kitwood / Getty Images file
This perceived mishandling has led to an "erosion of trust" that's allowed misinformation to thrive, according to Maria Kyriakidou, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Culture.
Regular polling by King's College London and Ipsos Mori shows how its support has crashed over the course of the pandemic, with just 38 percent of respondents saying in November that they trusted the British government to some extent, down from 69 percent in April.
"It is this lack of trust that I'm afraid can be weaponized then by anti-vaxxers and Covid-deniers," Kyriakidou said.
As bad as things are, Britain and Europe "are just about clinging on to the sensible center ground" when it comes to misinformation, according to Damian Tambini, a distinguished policy fellow at the London School of Economics' department of media and communications. "There is a crisis going on — but it's not as bad in the U.S."
Part of the reason for this is that these places have "completely different traditions of freedom of speech," he said.
While conspiracy theories can spread easily on social media and right-wing news sites, the fact that TV and radio in Britain are heavily regulated by the government has meant that misinformation has historically not been able to gain such an easy foothold on this side of the pond, Tambini believes.
Alice Salvini quit her job because of the stress of teaching during the pandemic.
These favorable transatlantic comparisons are little comfort to front-line British workers.
Alice Salvini, 27, a high-school science teacher in the English county of Derbyshire, says the proliferation of these ideas added to her anxiety surrounding the virus.
"I was going into a work environment, teaching 100 kids a day and not knowing how many of the families of these kids were believing this stuff, taking absolutely no precautions and doing whatever the hell they wanted," she said. "I'd be driving to work and I'd get to the car park and I just felt like I couldn't get out of the car. Then I started having panic attacks in school."
In the fall, her doctor authorized her to take a leave of absence from work on mental health grounds. And a month later, she resigned.
"It's a very dangerous message that people are spreading, because they're basically saying: Don't worry about it, it doesn't matter, go do what you want," she said. "And that's kind of a problem."
PP
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TheGreenGoblin
- Chief Pilot
- Posts: 17596
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
- Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
There are a lot of misinformed, ignorant, poorly educated people around, that is before you take account of the rogues, the tendentious and the overtly politically malign! The British press has a lot to answer for too.
Was speaking to one of my colleagues whose daughter is a young doctor who is working in a hospital in Kent. She is shell shocked and has no time for this kind of crap. Neither should anybody of good conscience!
Not just a British phenomenon, as you say PP but there are good people in both countries doing there very level best.
Exhausted American hospital chaplains....
Was speaking to one of my colleagues whose daughter is a young doctor who is working in a hospital in Kent. She is shell shocked and has no time for this kind of crap. Neither should anybody of good conscience!
Not just a British phenomenon, as you say PP but there are good people in both countries doing there very level best.
Exhausted American hospital chaplains....
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
-
TheGreenGoblin
- Chief Pilot
- Posts: 17596
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
- Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
Their - possessive pronoun, you moron!TheGreenGoblin wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:22 am
Not just a British phenomenon, as you say PP but there are good people in both countries doing there very level best.
Exhausted American hospital chaplains....
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
-
Undried Plum
- Chief Pilot
- Posts: 7308
- Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2018 8:45 pm
- Location: 56°N 4°W
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
I hope my daughter wasn't one of those doctors.
She contracted Covid in that hospital and damn nearly died from it. It was only the brilliance and bloody hard work over long hours of her own colleagues in that ICU which saved her life.
Freedom of speech is immensely valuable in a free society, but in certain circumstances such as shouting FIRE! in a crowded theatre, or denying the existence of a pandemic which has already killed its first million of our fellow human beings, there might need to be curbs.
Covid-denying nuttery, unlike its comparably absurd bedfellows of Holocaust deniers, global warming deniers, lunar landing deniers, 9/11 deniers and flat Earthists, is diabolically dangerous.
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Woody
- Chief Pilot
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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
Wasn’t it the Sussex Flat Earth Society that had meetings in a pub called The Globe 
Don’t forget about the Chemtrail loonies as well.
Don’t forget about the Chemtrail loonies as well.
When all else fails, read the instructions.
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
Well, Nigel Farago must be really pleased with his judgement so far on picking people to support. Will he be in Florida or DC today?
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TheGreenGoblin
- Chief Pilot
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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
Who cares where the oleaginous grifter is sucking up!
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
Some here do!
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TheGreenGoblin
- Chief Pilot
- Posts: 17596
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
- Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
I should have murdered him when I had the chance on that flight back from Johannesburg in 2013. The bastard was sitting opposite me but sawing through his carotid artery with a plastic knife might have been a mission too far!
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
Careful now with those comments GG, if anything happens to Fararse in the future you'll have an enraged BM coming after you with a sharpened flag pole
I hereby declare the U.S.A. a Pariah state.
All U.S. Citizens or persons arriving from the U.S.A. will be denied access
All U.S. Citizens or persons arriving from the U.S.A. will be denied access
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
And here is NF on the topic of Trump's proposed impeachment.
Farage on Trump
My guess is that NF is vieing to be one of the ex-President's 'friends'. With a view to monetising that role. With any luck at all Trump will set up a new political party, if only to turn his support into some form of income stream. If that happens the Republican's, who thanks to Donald have lost not only the Presidency but the Senate too, can kiss goodbye to their election chances until Trump shuffles off this mortal coil. I wish the Donald a long life.
Farage on Trump
My guess is that NF is vieing to be one of the ex-President's 'friends'. With a view to monetising that role. With any luck at all Trump will set up a new political party, if only to turn his support into some form of income stream. If that happens the Republican's, who thanks to Donald have lost not only the Presidency but the Senate too, can kiss goodbye to their election chances until Trump shuffles off this mortal coil. I wish the Donald a long life.
Persuading working people to vote against their own best interests is the primary focus of conservative politics.
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
The Farago is right - someone far worse that Trump will come along to lead a new party.
The new party is the 'Patriot Party' and the Farago could be that person.
I believe baseball hats (made in China, of course) will soon be on sale.
PS The Patriot Party began life in the 60's and was an anti-racist party, I believe.
The new party is the 'Patriot Party' and the Farago could be that person.
I believe baseball hats (made in China, of course) will soon be on sale.
PS The Patriot Party began life in the 60's and was an anti-racist party, I believe.
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OFSO
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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
When we British see Buffoon Borikovski spouting another load of pre-digested 'facts' about Corona, supplied to him by his venal and slanted medical advisors, most of us do the right thing and switch channels. I do. But tonight clips of his latest fatuous pronouncements have been repeated on German, French and Catalan news, and treated as if he was a senior statesman knowing of what he spoke, instead of a mass of distorted rubbish. They should display a banner on screen warning viewers not to take anything he says seriously. I only help that when they have hung Saddikhi el Khan from a lamppost outside City Hall they keep the rope handy for our egrarious PM.
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
You could not make it up! Good old Farcebook https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -Dyke.html
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TheGreenGoblin
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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
They obviously use a software algorithm that flagged up the word dyke! I was stupid enough to use the words ab initio in my C.V. and ever since have received entreaties from job recruitment agencies to apply for jobs associated with a software package called Ab Initio. The digital age has made idiots of all of us! These systems have no deep contextual "understanding" and are bereft of humour, nuance or subtlety.Boac wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 1:59 pmYou could not make it up! Good old Farcebook https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -Dyke.html
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
-
TheGreenGoblin
- Chief Pilot
- Posts: 17596
- Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
- Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1
Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
Bm has apparently had a nervous breakdown and another Fararse acolyte here was fulminating about me having psychically murdered the oily toe rag, by dint of abuse and threats! The toe rag being Farage, and not bm, I hasten to add. Oh me miserum, poor innocent me. You have to laugh, there is never a dull moment here midst the lunacy of the right wing nuts!
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."
-
ian16th
- Chief Pilot
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- Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:35 am
- Location: KZN South Coast with the bananas
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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?
At least Offa's Dyke served a purpose, it kept the Welsh out.
Cynicism improves with age