111–120 of 161 posts
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Emergency powers should override that.
Can't wait until the next financial meltdown (no, not this one) and worker rights are rolled back because it's an "emergency".
There's a very obvious and very real additional factor at play here.
Taiwan, which has one of the best medical systems in the world, is heavily reliant on civil society -- which is many things, but one of which is heavy participation by unpaid volunteers. Social capital is a real thing and a valuable thing.
One of the problems the UK has is that "The Big Society" was used as a political punchline for the best part of the last decade.
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Aka: people who already have money provide the best free services.
I would recommend volunteering even to people who aren't wealthy. It has to do with what you said, most people who volunteer are doing so because they have the money to do it instead of work at that moment. So, volunteering potentially puts you around wealthy people who may provide opportunities to you in the future. Not always the case of course, but I would still be pretty broke if it weren't for some job opportuni…
Volunteering can be good for your mental health, see https://duckduckgo.com/?q=volunteering+improves+mental+healt...
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This is misinformation, immunity works like it does for everything else. The virus is new to us, not magic.
Viruses can mutate, changing their protein coating so as not to be recognized by your immune system. Why do you think the common cold has not gone away, or why new flu shots are needed every season? We simply do not know what this virus will do. The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 came in waves, and they were different.
Wouldn’t it be more appropriate just to hire people and set them to work in the NHS? It’s way past time the government stopped messing around and just hired all the spare labour - which can then be directed to assist the NHS or directed to stay at home as required. When there are so many people without work that want it we need to stop QE’ing Gilts and start QE’ing workers hours instead. All this could be done with a…
What will they spend it on? They can't go out, can't spend it on anything but essentials and some percentage of those essentials are difficult to get anyway.
The government has not declared a rent holiday ..
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At the time of me writing this comment, yours is light grey (due to downvotes I presume - is there any other possible cause?). A statement that includes explicit acknowledgement of uncertainty should not be downvoted (unless there is another reason contained within), full stop. If this was /r/politics, fine, but it isn't. This is causing harm to society that we have very little means of seeing (at least not without a…
In HN, insubstantial comments are downvoted, irrespective of politeness or reasonable disclaimers. For instance, say, "I fully acknowledge that this is just bunk told in jest to small children, but perhaps the Moon could really be made of Roquefort cheese." is not a HN-worthy comment.
That is undoubtedly true. It may even be consistent with official site guidelines (which I don't think make any claim to be perfect - "perfect is the opposite of good" as they say).
Might this also be true: "In HN, comments are sometimes downvoted, irrespective of whether the comment is insubstantial, off-topic, or incorrect. The reasons behind this are incredibly complex."
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These burdens are put in place to prevent employer (as in superiors, not the folks you serve) abuse. They would abuse government servants here and there if it were easily replaced.
You mean like instead of abusing them by asking them to volunteer?
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The pre-existence of a volunteer (or other flavors) culture in a society may also contribute to superior widespread compliance with the various directives issues by governments. Asian countries seemed to have reacted better in this case - undoubtedly a major chunk of that was due to prior outbreaks in that region, but is that the only variable that contributed to the outcome?
I don’t believe anyone here has claimed there is only one variable that explains any countries better or worse ability with regard to this pandemic, or anything for that matter. Edit to add: okay, so a sibling comment claims the reason is a Confucian , culture. But that’s narrow, everything is always multi-factorial. It’s good to see and discuss one aspect, but not at the expense of other considerations.
I don't believe I said "anyone here has claimed there is only one variable that explains any countries better or worse ability with regard to this pandemic."
I propose that something very interesting is going on here, at the object level. I also propose, more speculatively and provocatively, that something very interesting is also happening at the meta-level: a reluctance to discuss the phenomenon.
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There are antibody tests. The UK just ordered 3.5 million of them https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/24/uk-buys-3500000-antibody-test...
Right, but they’re not available yet.
Taiwan, which has one of the best medical systems in the world, is heavily reliant on civil society -- which is many things, but one of which is heavy participation by unpaid volunteers. Social capital is a real thing and a valuable thing.
One of the problems the UK has is that "The Big Society" was used as a political punchline for the best part of the last decade.