Spikecollie

Because that's their culture. As I said before, the Chinese eat everything that moves and hence sell it at their markets. We may abhor it but as others have pointed out, we are not perfect in out animal husbandy efforts either. I might not like it but having visited and experienced the loveliness of the people, I have cultural ethical issue in condeming. There are meat markets much just as bad closer to home. Fly-ridden heads of anmals on sale in Morocco and Tunisia. Just because you don't like it or eat it you can't say it is wrong because that accords to your cultural values not other's. There was a butcher's shop in Skipon which used to sell whole rabbits with plastic bags over their heads to keep the flies from eating their eyes out.

Drug companies always do nicely. We're on all generics here (all but essential). Nice because people can see the names of the molecules rather than a brand name. I'm quite "socialist" about drugs - they should be multinationalised by governments (i.e. all nations own them), funded by the previous profits of the pharmas and sold below cost (free to those in most need).

How many European countries could do that, though? Not that I'm endorsing the approach and I I know what China is like from first and second hand experience. 17 subway cleaners over about 100 metres (Hangzhou), the floors and ceilings were so clean they could be meal tables...

Get mowing lad while the wind dries the grass! Mine's going to need it by the end of Feb. but it's just too wet right now.

Buds are budding here on the fruit trees and the Forsythia is in full bloom. I worry for the fruit trees as a late frost after an early bloom will not be good. We've got strong winds here but a very warm day, 16c, the frisbee hsd just flown well and Mylo is happy and did all the running! I am allowed to go out despite my sick note (some for serial fakers say no) - no running until Wednesday but we did a few gente laps of the Stade after frisbee...

I agree, the 2019-nCoV has plenty of time and opportunity to mutate. I had the 'flu vaccine before leaving the UK (I knew what work I was coming back to and wnated to protect myself and others) and it covers all European varieties too, but there isn't a vaccine against everything. Neither my doctor nor I know what I have got right now - it's a non-specific throat infection (most likely not streptococcal) but it's not nice. There's no danger as I am very fit and well otherwise (I'm always so proud of my 55 BPM resting heart rate and he never fails to comment especially during my visit today after Mylo and I having met him while we were out running the other day!), it's just nasty and I've been signed off work until Wednesday to avoid spreading it to the clients I work with who may be vulnerable. I think this new virus will be a real issue for people with pre-existing medical conditions and there are many of those people around. For most of us, even if we get it, it will be a good outcome.

Apparently the B 'flu virus that's in the US at the moment is more frequently fatal for young children than the A one. Presumably a high percentage of children who die will have pre-existing conditions. I heard last week of three people who died (in this small village) after contracting 'flu in December. All three were elderly and had other medical conditions but were not debilitated. They got pneumonia, one died a day after being admitted to hospital, the other two within a week. It's rampant here at the moment along with other nasties (one of which I have bloomin' got) and the latest French stats say around 10,000 people die here every year due to it or it's syndrome.

Get those cats mobilised. My dog, Mylo,is better at getting rid of meece than those two. Correction, he sees them, goes up to them and then is scared when they move. He's scared of most things that move - plastic bags and "stop signs" wavering in my headtorch in the night become monsters...

Not really freaked at all. What annoys/freaks me is the number of folks posting needlessly alarmist stuff. Bon nuit!!!

Coronavirus: How social apps tackle fake claims WWW.BBC.CO.UK Platforms are increasing efforts to block false information as the outbreak spreads and fear grows.

Hey, no Ryanair bashing. It's our bus service! I went on Watchdog several years ago to defend it and will still do so! I can't defend their HR policies but their business model is sound in my mind - book a bus, pay for a bus, accept the services of a bus... Please don't deviate, we can talk about this somewhere else...

Disgusting beyond belief...

More mad social media content, no doubt. Let it go. No one should dare threaten innocent people aboard an aircraft - in fact isn't that a crime in most countries? Though maybe inciting/wishing the military to do it is a way out and the silly person knows that. Social media will be our downfall, not a cluster of hurriedly mutated DNA!

Think what they would do in their ultra polite and face saving culture and do the same. Sit down and enjoy your flippin' meal for the universe's sake...

You might have missed my comments regarding China where people "eat anything that moves". I think it was probably the one country which I have visited where I experienced true culture shock. I visited Hangzhou for a week's work but as usual I made the absolute most of the time I had. I will never forget going to one supermarket which stocked normal brands like Coca Cola and Budweiser (not that I would buy either of those brands!) and having a wander around the fruit and veg areas. Nearby were some large plastic tubs containg dozens of enormous toads which were clambering on each other in order to get out of the tubs. There were toads hopping about on the floor! While the animal husbandry practices of many countries go against my own beliefs and I would like to see much more worldwide respect for our fellow sentient beings, it is a morally difficult terrain to navigate - who are we to say what you can eat and kill and how... There is no doubt that the food habits in China can and do contribute toward outbreaks of species jumping disease. Over population adds to this. Unless we address these issues as a global community the resultant problems will not go away.

We/I (alone for the next two months) do have a backup generator, lots of fuel for it and many rechargeable torches plus dynamo ones. These are in case of power outages though as our area has experienced 5 days without electricity due to weather events. We have no mains gas here but we have camping stoves with many spare cylinders. This becomes second nature in a very rural and exposed area. Whenever there's bad weather forecast that may affect the power supply, I always have torches in every room and know where they are. You get used to this low level of emergency planning. I wouldn't have any problem with being cut off from online communication (and I have been for a few days when our masts were struck by lightning) but I know that would be a nightmare for some. It's a little like going out in the pouring rain for a run or walking in the deserted dark with my dog - I think nothing of it and actually enjoy it once my wet feet are warm after the water has been over my shoes or boots - being "rural" toughens you up. Too many people are a little "too soft" and fears abound. These fears extend to anything outside their small zones of control and that is what can lead to mass panic. We can't control our environments (we need to protect them though!) but I have no idea how this message can be passed on...

Whoopee! A shortage of Chinese imported goods. Now that would make people think. Unlikely though...

I think we'll see you here for a long time yet, provided you drive carefully!

Our local newspaper is already showing the story as the "most read". I think what people need to read most are the ghastly road accident reports that are a daily occurence and be far more circumspect when driving. I'm not stocking up on "canned goods" (I think that's a phrase from a rather bad Stephen King movie!) - I rarely use them and if it ever came to it, not that it will, there are plenty of ragondin to shoot and I've loads of veggie and salad seeds to plant! Being almost entirely veggie and a good baker is simply fine.

I'm certainly not jumping to ny conclusions, just not worrying about something that is actually impossible to worry about because I don't have any concrete facts. I am suggesting that others do the same which is difficult for some because they are bombarded with information (much of it of dubious quality) about something they and their bombadiiers know little about. Another little snippet! How about this quote by itself: "Prostate overtakes breast a smost common cancer" - oh no, a lot of men are going to start dying or getting sick! What's the cause - diet, environment, underpants? No - just the fact that more men are getting tested and going on to lead happy, normal lives after diagnosis and treatment, if needed...

Very probably not! A little item, if that, on the 9 o'clock news. People need to remember that the (needless) stress and anxiety caused by over inflated news stories has the capacity to make them sick, physically as well as mentally. I don't do Twitter, FB or any of the other offending items - mainly because I couldn't stand the hail of contacts and information that would be mostly unwanted but also because of the dubious quality of most of it. And of course because too many of my least favourite political figures seem to revel in it

Us gardeners are a manky bunch! The never quite free of soil finger nails, the never peeled and washed in cold water organic produce, the contents of my compost heap which I won't go into detail about - but that's living and healthy living at that -ah and having a dog. I'm pretty sure my immune system is put to its best uses and I benefit from that - I still have the dreaded allergy issues but they are inherited rather than nurtured. I'm really not terribly worried about this outbreak. I am worried about the effect of mis-information especially via social media and the reactions that will cause in people. There are a lot of ways to die and I'm pretty sure my metal, motorised box that I have to climb every day among poorly trained, distracted and debilitated fellow road users is far more of a threat.

Yes! We were hooked. A great series but our absorption in it shows our obsession with "end the the world scenarios". We love this stuff because humans are inextricably addicted to thoughts about their individual and collective mortality and how it will come about! Real events, like our current one, plug into that really well too. Add in a good dose of limited information and subjective interpretation and we're away...

I work that out as about 3% mortality. In 2012, according to the British Lung Foundation, there were over 35,000 deaths from lung cancer in the UK, over 42,000 deaths from heart and circulatory disease. 14% of people who have a myocardial infarction in the US will die from it, nearly 367,000 people a year. These are epidemics, not including diabetes, obesity - the list goes on. I feel that what we are all doing here is focusing on novelty and negativity bias - this has "an end of the world scenario" feel to it and people are getting too caught up. This psychological impact is added to by the fact that the "news" is coming from a country which is very less than open with its information. My pet hate "social media" is not going to be helping - even the fact that there is a discussion happening here among people with varying levels of expertise but also importantly varying levels of vulnerability in all its senses is not necessarily wholly good. Yes people need to talk and vent their worries but we have to be careful about causing uneccessary anguish. Maybe this is a very bad situation, maybe not - you have no cases of the virus there in the UK, we have 3 here in France. What we don't need to do is raise people's anxiety levels needlessly or without the requisite information, the latter which seems very lacking. Let's keep talking but let's keep mindful. Our beautiful world goes on out there and we should keep loving and enjoying it despite its and our woes...

“Most people feel this is somewhere on a spectrum between a relatively mild infection and SARS, which had a very high case-fatality rate,” says Mark Woolhouse at the University of Edinburgh, UK.