Castle certain Folau sacking was right call but admits she would 'do some things differently'

Ken, it's a 'stills' original but I just took the patent off it so that you can use it. Others need to apply and I warn them, originals for nothing ain't gonna happen to just anyone!

Hey sheek Yeah one of the downsides of rugby going professional, becoming a business and a brand more than a sport.

I think you make some well considered points here, LP. I will say with Sweden, that there is the counter of a moving economy and children being kept under normal education, and Sweden faired much better lately with some herd immunity, having slightly less cases of death in the last few months compared to Finland and Norway, but the first wave and delta wave should’ve had lockdown measures in place, as 167 countries have a lower death rate than Sweden! . I will also say that Pfizer has made 35 Billion dollars, and they sponsor a great deal of mainstream media, and offer financial incentives to governments. If there is any conspiracy, it is just the normal motive of greed, which doesn’t need any world wide coordination, just people willing to say yes to fill their pockets, and all the other conspiracy theories are from those with already preconceived ideologies that they like to fit their narrative into :silly: . It appears now with Omicron though, that it is too contagious for lockdowns and masks to do much to slow the spread, as the UK has found out, hence why more and more countries are deciding to open up and let normal life continue, and I think it is time we do the same.

Amen

The thing is, that Omicron is so infectious, that we will all get it, whether that is from the unvaccinated or vaccinated. The BA-2 variant that is taking over from the BA-1 first Omicron variant is twice as infectious again (some say 5 times more infectious, but I don’t know if that is consensus). The only problem is overloading the ICU’s with very high number of cases in a short time span, but the UK and SA are already past peak cases with less hospitalization than Delta, despite far more cases. . Those that are healthy and not elderly will not clog up the health system because of the low risk, and those that are health compromised should be mostly vaccinated, considering the high vax rate.

I don't agree with what Izzy did, but what makes me sadder is that society is so quick to pile on when someone dares have a different opinion that what 'society deems appropriate' It is not illegal to have a bible, or to have a priest read from it in church. All politicians are happy to go to church and praise it (as long as there are cameras there!). I could sit on a street corner and read from it and wouldn't be breaking any laws. If you are a sportstar and put a post on social media, the police will not bat an eyelid. However, if you are that same sportstar and you put a quote from it on social media, the world will come crashing down and you will get you contract ripped up (and then paid out, but that is another story!). RC says it was important because "Rugby Australia had values and we stood up to them and they meant something and we were prepared to act on it". What a lot of political correct drivel. Can only assume she is talking about the executives and sponsors of Rugby Australia, because I am not sure she speaks on behalf of the Australian rugby fans. It is pretty clear that RC was just pushing the agenda of the Qantas CEO who ironically stopped their sponsorship of the Wallabies 12 months later anyway. It would have been cheaper, easier and better for Australian Rugby for RC to tell Qantas that if they didn't like it they could leave.

PT, I am not a scientist, but the most recent data from several studies (including the CDC) show that you are right. Vaccinations do not stop you catching or spreading the virus and the viral load is about the same. However, these same reports also show that vaccinated people are not only less likely to be hospitalised, but they are also less likely to spread it. Why? The time they are infectious is shorter. Again I am not a scientist, but it makes sense that regardless of whether you are just as infectious at the peak, if you aren't infectious for as long then you will infect less people. Don't you love (or hate) data.

LP – The vaccines don’t stop you catching or spreading the virus, and the latest studies show little decrease in the viral load spread from the unvaxed to the vaxed. Being vaccinated protects you from severe infection, which is why if you are health compromised, you should take it. The argument doesn’t hold to force the healthy to take it, when ALL medical treatment has risks, and you spread vaxed or unvaxed. At what stage do we access the risk of vaccines to children who have almost a zero percent risk from the virus? (remember that Pfizer has been taken to court in some of the biggest medical lawsuits for inadequate testing and misleading the public, so their history isn’t the most trustworthy for saftey) . Of course it is sad when anyone dies, but my point was that the elderly should be protected with vaccination, and most of those deaths were before the vaccines, and the key point is that if you are under 50 and heathy, you have an extremely low chance of serious infection. That is a fact. I guess our views really differ re the viral loads spread from vax/unvax, but with Omicron, the official sources such as the CDC say that the vaccines do little to stop the spread, but it does a good job to protect the vulnerable.

Sorry, but I am pretty lazy. In layman terms, can you spell out how deep and how far back all this goes. The reason I am a bit sceptical is politicians are generally pretty poor with delivering anything and coordinating anything within their own little patch (let alone across other departments/governments). I find it hard to believe the (but open to seeing it) that politicians across the world have been able to pull this off.

Hammy, of course there can't be any long-term studies into the effect of the vaccination. Just as there is no long-term studies into the new flu vaccines they put out each year. Just as there is no long-term studies in to the effect of contracting Covid and surviving. Just as there is no long-term study into the use of mobile phones with 4g (it's only the 5g that's the problem right). To hide behind this (and call people that don't agree with you sheep) is a pretty lazy argument. I take it by your affiliation with RD that you are anti lockdown, anti-vacc and pretty much anti anything the government says. That's ok, I am not a big fan of governments either and wish they would but out. However, there is no way to steer the country through a pandemic like this and not make mistakes - I am ok with this as long as they learn from them for next time. Further, I find the conspiracy theorists that talk about world dominance and vaccines with microchips quite laughable. Governments and most large businesses can't organise themselves let along co-ordinate a mass takeover of our beings. Finally, I am glad I live in Australia where we have had 145 people die with covid/million population compared to places like the US where they had 2,700/million, or the UK where it was 2,270/million. People often hold up Sweden as being the best country in terms of staying open whilst other countries were locked down. Comparing their 1,600 deaths/million to their neighbours of Norway (262) and Finland (358) doesn't make it look like it was the roaring success the freedom seekers claim. I am not trying to convert you, but hope to show that most people that disagree with you are pretty rational and like you have "done our own research."

Sadly but true that so many in our society, even bothered to listen to that known toilet stalker Jones & his deranged views. He might have taken the Wallabies to their first grand slam, but in truth, that team, was virtually put in place by one, Bob Dwyer.

Then again Madiba was a great man, who I actually had the pleasure, of just seeing him, when I was in the Republic.

Pinetree, you said that "only 17,371 died from Covid in 2020/21 without any other underling cause" I let it sink in and I feel extremely sad for the 17,371 families in the UK that lost a parent, grandparent, brother or sister for a virus that supposedly isn't a big problem. Just because they were 'old' doesn't mean the Government and society in general shouldn't be doing everything we can to protect them. Each to their own, but I am willing to get a vaccine or three, not go out as much to try and keep my parents safe.

Yes I wont be going unless something happened to Dad. Sadly it means I dont get to see many of my family and may never see dad again. We were in NZ in March 2020 when it hit and we got back 2 days before anyone had to quarantine and my daughter and family got back to "at home" isolation a few days later. We were lucky.

By condemning homosexuals, drunks etc isn't he essentially policing the publics behaviour? If he is going to stick his head out and cast moral judgment on others then perhaps he could have a look at his own followers in doing so. Like many of Folua's lot his views do not stand up to even the mot mild of examinations.

Well Jacko, Bro, my missus flew back to Aotearoa, to Kawerau, last year for her brothers tangi, & even then she would have never got onto a flight unless she was vaxxed. As it was she was lucky to get back, as the flight back had to turn back for some undercarriage problems. So on landing they were told that if they disembarked they would not be able to come back aboard, as a flight had arrived from Sydney with positive cases on board. ( Yeh from the " super spreader State again ) . So she along with all the other passengers ' waited it out', to fly back to Brisbane. So Bro I would advise, you do all your homework before crossing & returning over the ditch. It's pretty tricky ATM.

Raelene Castle on this issue made a dogs breakfast of it.

Yes I had similar thoughts. I wanted to be able to travel back to NZ and my grandkids are also very important of course. I have 8 GCs and 1 has had Covid. He is under 2 and both powering thru. Am I able to travel? Is NZ open to me visiting my dad? It seems getting fully vaxed may well have been a complete waste of time as Im not allowed to do what I got vaxed for ( and they told me I could ) and its certainly not stopped me from getting covid. Any idea what vax rate NZ is wanting before it opens? They certainly dont. NZ is over 90% fully vaxed so at what point is it going to open

Also – those deaths (tragic) are short term, immediate side effects to the vaccine. Not long term… See the difference. Now, compare the pair (using rough google numbers for USA and your unsourced 20000 figure): Covid – 883,000 dead out of 74.3 million cases. death rate = 1.18% Covid vaccine – 20,000 dead for 249 million vaccinations. death rate = 0.008% These back of the envelope numbers say you’re 147.5x more likely to die from covid then the vaccine. Yep, I’m glad I got the shot.

Well Bro one of the main reasons our bubble got, vaccinated, was due to us being grandparents raising grandchildren. We are not that selfish to realise, it's not all about us, as many apparently think, in these times. OK it's their decision, of which we are all entitled to, but being realistic, it can be a decision based on ' Fk you Jack, I'm all right' , which IMO is selfish.