Novak Djokovic and Downing street parties

[klondike]

I see Novak Djokovic got an airing in the other place but nobody raised the topic here. Maybe it isn't seen as important but I think it does raise some important issues and as me discussing anything over there is like wading through a treacle swamp I'll make my points here. Comment or ignore that is down to you but at least consider because it isn't the actual cases that matter but the issues behind them.

I see parallels between Novak Djokovic and the Downing street parties because both hinge on the same thing and throw up just how the Covid regulations are drawn up and the people who draw them up.

In both cases we have the rich and powerful thinking they should be able to bypass inconvenient regulations which were in theory based on science and put in place to save lives. I'll do the parties first as that is more straightforward in some ways.

The parties
We have a bunch of rich and powerful individuals want a Christmas get together. There is a snag. They have put in place regulations supposedly based on "the science" which makes them impossible. Their solution is to ignore their own regulations and have their party anyway. So does this mean the regulations are fit only for toilet paper and they know it? Are they only for the little people because important people are immune or more likely can afford better treatment? Either way I'd say those people are not fit to hold office and have the power to regulate our lives.

Novak Djokovic
Here we have a rich tennis player attempting to bypass the laws of a country he wants to visit. Now IMO nobody should be able to ride roughshod over the laws of a country. End of story. What is intersting though is his reasoning for why he should be able to and that casts doubt on the Australian regulations and those of many other countries.

Djokovic had Covid and recovered. That he recovered is obvious and we can assume he can prove that he had it. The Australians argue that having the disease and recovering is irrelevant which by their law it is. I have even seen arguments that the vaccine provides better protection than having the disease. SFAIK there is no evidence to back that up.

Vaccines were first developed when Jenner noticed that milkmaids didn't catch smallpox and figured out that the cowpox they did get provided them with immunity. If you catch any of the childhood diseases you'll have pretty much lifelong immunity to them without vaccination. Before I was given a TB shot I had a test that everybody got so I imagine that you all did too - a sort of six pronged torture device that punctured the skin letting it the stuff they had swabbed on it. I showed positive - ie I'd encountered some sort of TB and was immune already. Why did they do it?
Well I'm not sure but it would either be the cost of the vaccine or to avoid bad reactions. Remembering the scar on my wife's arm from her TB shot though I'd say it was the latter.

So the Australian and other countries regulations take no account of prior immunity yet they are supposed to be based on "the science". I'd say that they aren't. They are largely based on knee jerk political reactions because the politicians prefer to destroy economies and in the process probably more lives than this damned Chinese virus.

Enough of my rant. I want to do something more positive next.

As an afterthtought why have I just copied all of this long post before hitting post? Guess it must be force of habit picked up from experience elsewhere.

[Cassandra]

He has now been given leave to entry, which is what he applied for prior to leaving Serbia and was advised he could so do by National Gov't. Someone with a socially adjusted opinion down the line has made a big song and dance over it because they support lockdowns and the general misery that accompanies them.

From Djokovic's point of view he asked "can I come in on Wednesday" and they said Yes, then No after he arrived Friday. To me at the very least a poor demonstration of trust and reliability.

Why didn't they just cancel the Tournament completely?  No one can go and watch it. You can't even travel further than three miles from your home! If you do go out, even a few yards the Covid Stasi give you 2 minutes to justify what your doing as being 'necessary' anyway!

The Premier says yes and the pious Immigration minister, Alex Hawke has said he reserves 'personal powers' to eject him, even after he won his right to stay ...

[klondike]

Although Australia has a low deaths per million figure at 92 putting them 167 out of 224 on the site below it doesn't seem to me that their isolation from the world and each other is working. They appear to be entering the same peak everybody else did but nearly 2 years later and around their midsummer too. I wonder how they will get on. One thing is certain and that is that their economy is facing a lot longer lockdown than the rest of the world.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/australia/

[crabbyob]

can i just say that even if he does play, his mothers claims that he was tortured while being incarsinated will certainly turn the Aussie crowd against him...

[klondike]

TBH I don't give a rat's fart whether he plays or not or wins or not but it is time that the Aussies admit they have some covid discomfort in the offing despite wrapping the country in cling film this last two years. There is no way to stop it all they have done is put their economy on hold for 2 years. By the time the counting gets done that will have achieved nothing.

[Alex]

I'm tired of reading about it, even Farage is always ranting on about it.  Because I don't bother reading anymore, is it still a  case of one rule for celebrities and another rule for everyone else  ?

[zoony]

A series of errors on both sides is how I read it..Alex Hawke has done himself no favours though.. 'Storm in a bloody tea-cup' might be the right description.

[Alex]

He had a positive test in December didn't he ? but was photographed with kids the next day.  I feel sorry for the Aussies who haven't been able to see their families for over a year, then this rich guy flies in and "apparently" rules are bent.

[klondike]

I saw what Farage had to say. Prior to that it was just bits from radio news. Oddly I've been preoccupied with stuff other than reading news sites recently. Anyway as is usually the case Farage's comments made sense to me. Here is what he said (or at least what I'm pretty sure it is. Not being Arnie I'm not blessed with Total Recall).

Djokovic had covid as evidenced by that test. It is unlear if he had the results at the time he met with the kids but I doubt he had much in the way of symptoms and probably didn't). He applied for an Oz visa on the grounds of having had covid within 6 months and a hegative test. He was granted the visa and flew there. On arrival it seems the Oz authorities changed their minds, arrested him and stuck him in an isolation hotel. In other words treated shamefully IMO. An Oz judge thought so too as he ordered him released and allowed in.

Any earlier comments I made were before I had that information.

[Flying Bomb]

BJ is in the deep sh*t.
A bumbling liar. UK deserves better.
There were over 350 deaths on that date of the
party....bring your own booze.

[Alex]

I suppose they'll be going on about this until June 

[klondike]

The papers will keep on banging on about this stuff till they hound him out of office. It's what they do.

On this occasion I feel no sympathy whatsoever.
On the date of the latest one we were limited to meeting 2 folks outside by regulations imposed by decree by HMG. There were 100 invites to that party and apparently BoJo and Mrs. BoJo were there too. So were the regulations just so much horse manure they could just be ignored by all or only ignored by important folk?

In truth I expect they were widely ignored as this was not the first lockdown which did get broad compliance (I base my judgements on traffic volume going past my house) but it wasn't the little people who were going on TV and coming out with a load of old [censored] it was those attending BoJos jollies.

BTW I censored that not the forum 

[Cassandra]

Djokovic received no favours, regardless of wealth, which has nothing to do with this facile episode. To be factual he was granted a 'temporary activity sub-class 408 Visa' by the Australian Govt and then had to complete tests prior to travel, to their diktat in addition. Having complied to their terms throughout, the man was therefore entitled to think he could arrive in Australia unassailed.

Be clear you can't even book a plane seat to Kangerooland these days without producing a Visa when you order the ticket.

In between him boarding the plane and the hours he was in flight the 'Drayford/Sturgeon' dept decided they would revoke the Visa. When he landed he was promptly escorted to the 'Lubianka' hotel with it's accompanying remits of penury.

His lawyers rightfully contested this aberration of ideology and the dishonour it correlated. The 'Justice' who heard his case found for the appellant and well done him - QED.

I believe Djokovic has behaved throughout in a diplomatic manner with a calm politeness. Unlike his infantile opponents in the Australian administration. They attempted to use him as a punchbag scapegoat for their ludicrous policies and it has gone South for them.

A small victory for freedom and international credence.

[Alex]

Is it fake news then that Djokovic lied on his visa application form  ? 

[Cassandra]

Is it fake news then that Djokovic lied on his visa application form  ? 

I don't know - do you?