Barnsley town centre this morning...

The smaller local ‘supermarkets’ seem to have plenty of everything.

 

Where would you like them to shop?

Youll struggle to get home delivery slots.

Asda and Morrisons are a cross between Old mother hubbards house and a mad max style distopia.

Lidl looked like it had been looted by 9am

And not every one wants to have a WWE style brawl in Iceland over a bag of 23% chicken nuggets.

I was in the market first thing as I had to attend to other matters in town as well.

It was busy. The busiest ive seen it even at Christmas. Yet there was no panic no rasied voices. Everyone was calm and measured. Bit more respectful over personal space but it was very much people trying to get on with their lives the best they can in the circumstances.

I trust that some of those on here advocating a lockdown will be going out of their way to help local businesses while they are still trading trying to ensure folk get some wage if/when they get government help.

Or are we just sticking to calling each other names over an internet forum?

 

Hello? Social distancing? Not seemingly happening? The government already said there’s plenty of food so why do folk see the need to do this? May as well carry on as normal if this is acceptable behaviour don’t you reckon?

 

No they haven't. Its the minority who are doing this and some of them are so lame that they'd panic no matter how much reassurance they were given.

 

I was in town between 11:00 and 12:30 today and there were no queues anywhere. The market was pleasant and I got the fruit I needed.

 

The Daily Mail front page headline on Thursday was the most irresponsible and inflammatory imaginable. We need the media to convey the seriousness, but not to engender panic and Thursday's headline was the gutter press at its worst. Certainly will have stirred up panic. What was your motive, Daily Mail? To raise the profile of the seriousness of the situation? Don't think so. More likely just to see how many papers you could sell with a seeming 'scoop' headline. Terrible journalism and not what the country, or any country, needs at the moment.

 

Looks like the link isn’t working. Great pity because it might cause one or two on here to think again.

 

Over here, Trump tried to play it down at first and was criticized for ignoring it. He then said it was real and he's now accused of causing panic. He can't win.

I'm following news in countries important to me; USA, UK and Australia. Comments from citizens all accuse their leader, Trump, Boris or ScoMo and their leadership, and think every other country is doing a better job. They are not.

I've lived through MERS, SARS, H1N1, Asian Flu, Swine Flu (some of those may be redundant) and Ebola. Nothing has been like this. None of the others caused mass closure of businesses, shut down of airlines, Shelter in place, etc. I believe every government is learning as they go; some better than others. Some could have been better prepared, but they weren't.

Also, over here, as it is an election year, instead of the old wartime spirit of everyone pulling together, the opposition are taking ever opportunity to sow discord. This is not helping.

 

Percy turners. Xmas eve 2019 was longer than that.
There’s a picture out there. If someone can get hold of it and post.

 

Here’s my prediction for the next four weeks because of the ludicrous policies adopted by Western governments:

1) Beginnings of a food crisis driven by panic buying in turn driven by ridiculous authoritarian over zealous measures.

2) Protecting their own self-interests, countries begin to ban food exports. This in turn pushes a feedback loop into 1) above, driving the shortage and crisis further.

3) Panic buying deepens. Those people who have acted responsibly start to experience genuine food shortages. Others stockpile heavily.

4) Half a million frail, knackered in people, who would have died anyway, die, it’s erroneously labelled as Coronavirus deaths, driving the panic deeper.

5) We get full blown civil disobedience, looting, and have to bring even more extreme and draconian methods in to maintain order and feed those who are going hungry.

But hey, we’re flattening the curve. Ffs.

 

https://www.thepaperboy.com/uk/daily-mail/front-pages-today.cfm?frontpage=59580

They made six points and all were correct.

 

All this within a month? I doubt it. The panic food buying is an issue. It may be necessary to adopt rationing measures as they did during the last war but I suppose you would call this - "Ridiculous authoritarian over zealous measures?" Well that's your opinion. The reasons for the suggested measures have been clearly explained in terms of how this disease can be managed and the dangers of allowing it to spread without control. How many people do you want to die? If the NHS is overwhelmed with coronavirus patients then the whole system is in danger. Western governments? China adopted a much stronger response in Wuhan with a military enforced lock down and severe restrictions on movement. They are now seeing a sharp fall in casea. Other Asian countries have taken measures similar to the UK, so it's not just Western governments.

 

Good post. Like you say this is all too familiar across the world. What I would say is that most people aren't panicking, don't take what is in the media (especially the written press) as gospel, listen to government advice (broadly) and don't sink to petty political point scoring.

 

I happened to mention the other day that the town was full of selfish shoppers. Today, couldn’t buy cockles for love nor money
This post may lead to the panic buying of hearing aids, you read it here first!

 

Thank gooddness .Sanity has returned at last. ..well to some.

 

I've been in the house a day and I'm already going mental.

 

Try memorising the ingredients on the 56 different cans of soup you are hoarding, all of a sudden.

Then take my dog for a walk.

 

Is it frowned upon to panic sup? Can't wait for tomorrow.

 

Oh no he won’t