Stranded Brits ?

[Observer II]

Starting to see reports and interviews with "stranded Brits", who can't get back to the UK, due to airport closures or lack of flights.   What did they expect when they booked their trips in the first place ?

[asperity]

I assume they expected their holidays to go without a hitch, I doubt any of them have crystal balls. It is disappointing the sense of entitlement that a lot of them show, "I'm special and the government needs to see to my needs first" though!

[Observer II]

Didn't take a lot of working out Asp; as to what would happen, once it escaped from China; but your right about their sense of entitlement.      😷

[Latchford Locks]

Once this is all over I do wonder what effect it will have on British holidaymakers and whether they will slip back into old ways or maybe consider vacations nearer home for the next few years after all the UK has some wonderful places to visit that have been virtually ignored for the past 20 years.

[Evil Sid]

"These things don't concern us we're British don't chanow"..🧐

One of the many reasons for brits to go to war torn/terrorist ridden/plague countries. They are brits not foreigners. They are civilized, not like the rest of the world who are savages at best...🤭

[Davy51]

Us Brits generally follow the good weather that is rare in the UK & the value for money prices.

[Observer II]

Seems there are about a million of these idiots around the world, and it's now going to cost us £75million to get them home.     😷

[Davy51]

Some of the blame has to be laid at the feet of the holiday companies for not acting soon enough in cancelling flights & holidays. The travellers would have had to wait for cancellation to be imposed in order to claim on their insurance policies.

[Observer II]

Think we need to worry about the control or lack of it by HMG - seems when these stranded trippers return to the UK; they won't be tested for the virus or quarantined; just told to self isolate if they feel symptoms,  while they mix with the community en route home.   The Chinese are now doing extensive testing, because they've identified spreaders that show no symptoms of infection.   

[asperity]

Are the Chinese using the same test kits they've "donated" to other countries that have been found to be faulty? Just asking for a friend.

[Observer II]

Well. we're not using any on these returnees, and have insuficient to test essential workers;  we now have a worldwide lottery on securing equipment, with an e-bay style bidding war between States in the US -  to say we were unprepared and behind the curve would be an understatement.         😷

[asperity]

It's easy to say that we were unprepared but when the WHO itself was covering up for the CCP's lies about this virus until it had spread to the rest of the world, how could anyone be expected to mass produce a test for an unknown virus? China produced test kits but many of these have proved to be faulty so the world outside of China has had to start from scratch and have been hampered by the delays encouraged by the WHO which seems determined to fight China's corner for some reason.

[Observer II]

I suspect this virus was around at least 3 months before China admitted to it's existence, and that their death rate has been understated to-date, in order to save embarrassment to the CCP; which makes it possible that folk were dying of it here earlier.   But the argument about lack of preparation still holds, as we've had SARS and MERS  in the not too distant past;  and pandemics have been a feature of human history for as long as history has been recorded.  So  planning and preparation, and an adequate emergency infrastructure should have been in place imo.  Two main factors are - 1) The level of food hygene and cultural practises in some Countries and 2) the levels of global travel by modern societies.  The latter has been encouraged by capitalist economics and by liberal internationalism;   where National borders and consequent checks have been eroded, if they ever existed.   Self isolation in these circumstances can apply to Nation States just as it does now to individuals.  So now the genie is out of the bottle, and most survive this episode,  the lessons will be there to ensure we're prepared for the next one. As for the future, this will be an economic hit greater than the 2008 crash, and no doubt will have to be paid for by a generation, the question will be how it will be paid for, and who will pay.     😷

[Davy51]

This crisis should be a wake up call to the nation that having sleep walked ,over the last 50 years ,into being a country that has relied on imports, we need to have a certain amount of self reliance contained within our economic manufacturing base. The Falklands should have been a wake up call.