Well you give back Stella, in other ways 
doing my best… 
When my MIL died we found her national blood service badges, and showed she’d been giving blood regularly all her life - but just never really mentioned it. We’ve kept them to pass on to grandchildren when they get old enough.
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Do they still give badges? 
I remember my Mum telling me when I was young that I should donate because of our blood group.
But I’m sure she said she had certificates I could be wrong, it was years ago when she told me.
No, I think they stopped sometime in the 70’s. Quite pretty enamelled things.
Do you live in France? Well if you do, then respect the rules.
I give blood here for research purposes. They are very happy to have it, and I was recently invited to a local award ceremony for 75 donations. I regularly discuss this situation with the doctor at the donation session and they nearly all agree that while it’s a very cautious approach it still seems to be the right one. One of the doctors however told me that she had a donor who is Polish and who can no longer give blood in Poland because he has spent too long in France and therefore he may be carrying CJD. It might change at some point, but for now those are the rules here and they don’t bother me too much.
I’m not sure who that was addressed at, but rather brusque perhaps? Of course you should as a generalisation, but sometimes rules need to be questioned. Would you say to the Hong Kong protesters that they live in what is now Chinese territory so they must respect all Chinese rules?
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[quote=“JJones, post:69, topic:26965, full:true”] Of course you should as a generalisation, but sometimes rules need to be questioned. Would you say to the Hong Kong protesters that they live in was is now Chinese territory so they must respect all Chinese rules?
[/quote]
It’s a vexed question, and an alarming confrontation, I agree.
It needs to be acknowledged that Hong Kong was an imperialist acquisition, and the treaty allowed for a gradual transition to People’s Republic sovereignty over several decades, so change has to be accepted by the population, and many do.
We have seen mass protest of a peaceful kind degenerate into violent assault on the HK police in shirt sleeves and wearing minimal protection, hugely outnumbered by the crowds, and using restrained techniques of crowd control in the interests of public safety.
The police are now being attacked with petrol bombs, stones taken up from the street paving, and wanton vandalism of public amenities. I think (from the evidence of TV) that the protests have descended into violent lawlessness, and have to be subdued. And the law can not be undermined by violence, nor should it be. It would not be allowed in any Western democracy on the scale being demonstrated on the streets of HK, I think.
I’m talking about the fact that I don’t see that they were wrong to start these protests which, as you say, were originally peaceful.
The way protests turn violent can be complicated to untangle, especially when all we have to go on is the media stories. And how accurate are these?
The protestors are unhappy at the prospect of being deported to mainland China which is at the heart of the current problems in Hong Kong. If I was a young person living there now I’d do my damnedest to get out before China takes full control.
Maybe Rt Hon Pritti Patel MP will come up with a scheme to fast-track their asylum applications to UK or better still give them British Passports or make them eligible as former subjects of her Imperial Majesty and Commonwealth Head permanent right to remain in UK. And their extended families.
In your dreams.
@JaneJones “The way protests turn violent can be complicated to untangle, especially when all we have to go on is the media stories. And how accurate are these?”
That’s a fair point about media stories, Jane. It’s my impression that the stories and images have all been from Western sources.
Almost all have shown the police to be hugely outnumbered by protestors, lightly armed, in defensive mode, acting to stop the forward movement of crowds who are using street furniture as weapons, or smashing windows, setting fires etc. Or policemen with shields and tear gas pushing the disorderly crowds back.
Police spokespersons and local politicians that I’ve seen have been calm, sensible and measured in their comments. As has Carrie Lam the Chief Executive, a small, calm and eminently reasonable and non-confrontational individual as one could hope to encounter under such volatile circumstances.
One might be justified in wondering whether “foreign interference” may perhaps be playing a part in this unfolding scenario.
Extremely important activity in France in 1848…
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There are some parallels, I agree, but perhaps some distance, and only a little material equivalence in terms of the reasons for the uprising?
Ditto.
I started giving blood in 1975 and remember getting a silver badge for my 25th donation.
Unfortunately I could not donate after my vegetarianism was effecting the quality (their words)of my blood!
The reason I gave blood was because my Mother received many transfusions during her short life.
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I suggest you have a read before you kick this off. In humans it takes 15 years to manifest. I know that 30 years ago but I did not eat infected meat as I could not afford lots of beef in those days. However my French half does not want my blood…https://www.thedailybeast.com/10-facts-about-mad-cow-diseases
I did read the report, @Carol_Lavinia_Fraser, and it did NOT state that “In humans it takes 15 years to manifest” as you reproduced it, it said that it “can take” 15 years to manifest, which is completely different.
You don’t do your argument any favours when you misrepresent the facts, I suggest.
I think the point that you might have overlooked is that the disease also existed and continues to exist in France, but unless you autopsy people you can’t prove whether or not they died of CJD. So highly possible that they were diagnosed with Alzheimers instead… So French blood may not in fact be that much safer than English blood.
Oh yes - but the state has to be seen to do something esp after the contaminated blood scandal.