Yes I have been following him for a while; he talks great sense. And please keep plugging away on your platform too JK.

People need to wake up and realise what they should be frightened of; they are looking in the wrong direction...

The thing I have learned during this lockdown is just how very, very few people are able to think for themselves.

This is the scariest thing of all.

He can be the best of commentators; he can be the worst of commentators.

Peter Hitchens is being his usual contrarian self - surprise surprise. He says that the over 70s have been banned from giving blood for their own good in one breath, and then in a poor attempt at irony, in the next sentence bemoans what he sees as officialdom's assumption that people in this age group are senile. On this occasion he is letting his libertarian ideology muddy his thinking; the fact is that the over 70s, being more vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19 (more likely to die), are being given this advice to stop them from catching the virus in the first place. If like Ken, he believes in a minimal version of lockdown, then he should believe that this group should also self-isolate. Isn't that what the official advice against giving blood is doing?

Should we not be frightened of a new and unknown disease that:-


- has infected over 3.5 million people

- is prevalent in every country on earth

- has killed 250,000 people

- is spreading at an unprecedented rate

- has no cure or vaccine

- is likely to mutate again


All in less than 20 weeks?

No we should not be frightened; that tends to lead to over reacting. We should treat it in a sensible fashion as we did with Flu.

Death is not always the worst that can happen.

A life ruled purely by emotions brings far more misery than death.

md wrote:
A life ruled purely by emotions brings far more misery than death.

Unless all the emotions are contentment and happiness MD! But get what you mean..

Chris Hitch wrote:
He can be the best of commentators; he can be the worst of commentators.

Peter Hitchens is being his usual contrarian self - surprise surprise. He says that the over 70s have been banned from giving blood for their own good in one breath, and then in a poor attempt at irony, in the next sentence bemoans what he sees as officialdom's assumption that people in this age group are senile. On this occasion he is letting his libertarian ideology muddy his thinking; the fact is that the over 70s, being more vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19 (more likely to die), are being given this advice to stop them from catching the virus in the first place. If like Ken, he believes in a minimal version of lockdown, then he should believe that this group should also self-isolate. Isn't that what the official advice against giving blood is doing?

I'm with Mr Hitch on Peter.

But I prefer him to his late brother who I thought could have Bored For England.

wyot wrote:
md wrote:
A life ruled purely by emotions brings far more misery than death.

Unless all the emotions are contentment and happiness MD! But get what you mean..

As far as I’m aware there are two types of contentment and happiness. It's easy to mistake one for the other. There’s the illusory kind that springs from the ‘light side’ of the shallow ego level of the mind (the opposite of the so-called ‘dark side’ of fear, anger, hate etc). Real bliss exists at a deeper level to both these sides and isn’t emotion at all as it doesn't fluctuate or oscillate. It simply exists.