News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by soVeryTired on Saturday March 14, 2020 @05:14PM (#22578754)
Stop it. This is bigger than Brexit.
Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by NullPrefix on Saturday March 14, 2020 @05:32PM (#22578882)
Stop it because it is incorrect or stop it because it is insensitive?
Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by arcticbull on Saturday March 14, 2020 @05:42PM (#22578947)
"Stop it because it's unimaginable that the UK government is intentionally trying to kill off it's old folks no matter how much money that may save the NHS, in no small part because that would be akin to a genocide for profit"
Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by netsharc on Saturday March 14, 2020 @07:55PM (#22579729)
Have you heard about the Windrush scandal?

It's (probably) not about the NHS but more about "we kicked out so many illegal immigrants last year, aren't we great?" (not that these people are illegal immigrants, but hey, let's make burden of proof tests that are hard for them to pass), but, incredible how seemingly easy it is for the Home Office to be heartless to the point of killing people via red tape.

Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by gadders on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @10:26AM (#22616982)
The burden of proof was hard to pass because the Windrush landing cards were destroyed due to a decision made under a Labour government.
Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by tiawav on Sunday March 15, 2020 @06:34PM (#22587439)
Never blame anything on maliciousness that can easily be explained by stupidity.
Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by ta999999171 on Saturday March 14, 2020 @06:17PM (#22579142)
You don't study governments much, huh
Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by arcticbull on Saturday March 14, 2020 @06:30PM (#22579234)
I uh, ... what
Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by Reason077 on Saturday March 14, 2020 @05:51PM (#22579001)
> "Stop it. This is bigger than Brexit."

Well, Brexit won't kill anybody (hopefully).

But on the other hand, a year from now, the pandemic will be largely forgotten. Brexit will still be going on.

Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by TeMPOraL on Saturday March 14, 2020 @07:37PM (#22579630)
Given the damage this pandemic has already dealt to the world economy, it's going to be remembered for a long time. It'll join black death and the Spanish flu. Brexit, in comparison, will likely end up as a footnote.
Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by Reason077 on Saturday March 14, 2020 @09:46PM (#22580453)
The Spanish Flu (H1N1) killed between 3-6% of the entire world's population. Unlike most other flu pandemics, a large portion of the victims were young and healthy adults. You really think Covid-19 is going to be that bad?

The Black Death (Bubonic Plague) lasted for decades, killed more than 1/4 of the world's population and set human civilisation back by a century or more. It took more than 200 years for Europe's population to recover to where it was before the pandemic. Many regions never recovered economically, or only recovered centuries later. You really think Covid-19 is going to be that bad?

Re:Ask HN: Is UK government insane or genius? by TeMPOraL on Sunday March 15, 2020 @03:04AM (#22581883)
Yes, I think it'll be as bad as the Spanish flu, just with different age mortality profile.