Perhaps you take too much notice of the news, Muddy. I don’t have a TV, and I only listen to the radio when I’m driving. I have never read newspapers. I don’t have a clue about what’s happening in the world unless I inadvertently see it here, or somewhere similar. I just go about my life in ignorance of most of the things that everybody seems to get all worked up about. These world problems just come and go without me knowing about most of them, and nothing really changes much for me. The world, or what I see of it, just keeps turning pretty much the same as it’s always done. In the great scheme of things, the era we are living through now is no more worrying or dangerous than past eras, it’s just that we can only experience our own.
Every little helps - better than a defeatist attitude. I don’t suppose you’re going to rollover and welcome the chinks into Oz any time soon? If every country reduced their consumption of Chinese products - China would notice it…but it wouldn’t be overtly significant enough for retaliation (hopefully).
Australia runs a massive trade surplus with China, We export $10 billion more goods to China than we import from them. How is that defeatist?
Excellent but shame you’re dependent on them for your exports. I distrust and dislike the Chinese more than any other nation and suspect they will take offensive action pretty soon.
Unfortunately for the UK consumer, many so called UK manufacturers have dedicated agreements for their ‘branded’ goods to be made in China and where ‘Made in China’ used to be declared somewhere on the packaging, this is no longer general practice. Even those good that are either part or fully assembled in the UK still use components made in China.
@LongDriver , Not only UK manufacturers LD, US and EU
companies are doing the same !!
I don’t know what the answer is to this?
It seems like your country comes second one days, and profits first !
Donkeyman! 
There never will be an answer unless government legislate that the county of origin MUST be displayed on all retail products sold in the UK. That will never happen due to all the huge money involved in the retail trade.
It does no harm to try and find products which are made wholly in the UK. I joined a BUY BRITISH group on Facebook after finding it almost impossible to buy a British made Christmas Card. ALL cards sold at Clinton Cards Shops are from China! I found only ONE British company which produced Christmas Cards and they are Elle Media Group in Essex who sell through the Heritage Press - they have a FB page and I think you can buy direct, though they also use Amazon (which is sad!). Note: Most Charity Christmas Cards are also from China - avoid!
Yes. Annoying isn’t it? To find a product which is wholly British made you need to write to the MD of the company producing the product.
I bought something of Etsy. I was intrigued that it was being shipped by Royal Mail, and I have never ordered anything from across the pond. OK they didn’t ship it from overseas, is what I mean. Surprisingly it got here rather fast. What was more surprising was when I unwrapped it one of the first things I noticed was Made In China. Disappointing. 
If I am forced to order from China due to lack of UK product, I’ve found SpeedPAK from China to be a very quick delivery Economy SpeedPAK tracking from China (parcelsapp.com)
Most of my orders are for somewhat unusual electrical/electronic products from a suppler in Shenzhen and I really cannot fault them for quality, packing and delivery. Unfortunately, trying to find UK items made/supplied to the same quality and on the shelves is about that same as for hen’s teeth.
Is the virus part of the self-regulation of Gaia?
Definitely, it’s a matter of sources and sinks. The source is the multiplication of the virus and the sink is anything we can do to get rid of it, which is not at the moment very effective. This is all part of evolution as Darwin saw it. You are not going to get a new species flourishing unless it has a food supply. In a sense that is what we are becoming. We are the food. I could easily make you a model and demonstrate that as the human population on the planet grew larger and larger, the probability of a virus evolving that would cut back the population is quite marked. We’re not exactly a desirable animal to let loose in unlimited numbers on the planet. Malthus was about right. In his day, when the human population was much smaller and distributed less densely across the planet, I don’t think Covid would have had a chance.
China is planning world domination.
@Cinderella ,. Whilst l agree with the theory cinders, l don’t think covid is going
to be the undoing of the human race, reason being it is not lethal enough !!
With population growth now reaching exponential figures, we are outbreeding
the virus !!
In other words, we are now the virus that will be the undoing of all other
life forms ??
Donkeyman! 
A fair point, Donkeyman. Flu pandemics have been worse.
Bringing this thread round to climate change/global warming, I have just received an email from one of my American friends with this link attached. It makes for very plausible reading.
“Out of space, out of time” Edgar Allan Poe
Surely, for there to be an “End” to the Earth, it must be Flat mustn’t it? 