Relaxing/hardening of lockdown

[malumbu]

Well I've had me haircut, been to the pub, gone abroad but now I'm not allowed to go to a cricket match. It seems OK for 10,000s to go to the beach but not for a 1000 people to congregate in very well controlled environment. Far be it for me to moan, and use the forum as a soap box but I'd be interested in how others feel we are handling it. Fortunately I'm not typing from Spain which must be a complete bummer if you've just gone there on your hols.

[malumbu]

Funny how in the first month of lockdown this website had only one main topic of interest yet now on the eve of another lockdown very little activity. I spose it sums up society as a whole, I've not caught it, nobody in my immediate family/neighbours has got it*, the government have given us a veiled green light to return to normal and I've got other things on my mind.

To throw down the gauntlet a little the thread on Spain came across as rather snobbish/pompous as if those who go out to the Costas are from another planet. Reinforcing the view that it wont happen to me.

To return to the subject of the thread, and some further views, we've sort of got it right on lots of fronts with avoiding mass gatherings in the work place, entertainment and travel. Set some rules up for pubs, shops and restaurants which are variable in their enforcement.

I was jumped on for questioning why we had closed our borders to those countries with lower rates than us on the continent. Was this due to catching coronavirus whilst traveling or when in that country? It seems to me that the two key things still apply social distancing and good hygiene, wherever you are.

And that this seems to have gone for many in our population. So cancelling pilot spectator events and opening of a few other businesses appears to be a drop in the ocean/tokenistic when tens of thousands are gathering on our beaches and others, in particular those under 30 are in close contact.

* Contacts who had it: Person in street (after returning from Italy), two colleagues and one son of a colleague (all untested), one cycle buddy (untested).

Anyway feel free to shout me down. Interested in how others see things.

[seenbeen]

the irony is that the younger ones are spreading it about but it's older people who will get locked down!

[KalamityKel]

Just don't get me started...!

[JohnL]

I haven't been anywhere except Tesco to buy essentials (and that's just below my flat) since march.

I love pubs usually but can't see the point of sitting alone on a table - may as well stay in and play ps4.

[JohnL]

Hmmm - we didn't do what we should have done somewhere along the line according to this, or maybe it's just UK culture, or is it something in the stats of testing.

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality

[Spartacus]

seenbeen Wrote:

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> the irony is that the younger ones are spreading

> it about but it's older people who will get locked

> down!

Can you imagine the complaints by the young if it was the other way around..

"You oldies have ruined this planet now you are killing us"

Maybe us oldies should start a similar cry

"The cotton wool generation are trying to wipe us out" or something similar 😆

[JohnL]

The Prime Ministers spokesman was asked about over 50s

"He also dismissed reports at the weekend that people over 50 might be asked to shield in the event of rising infections in the winter as inaccurate."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/03/english-pubs-likely-to-be-spared-new-covid-19-restrictions-no-10-says

[diable rouge]

It's not young v old though is it, there's a vast swathe in between. If you had to choose between quarantining oldies or the rest, oldies wins every time for the simple reason they are more vulnerable to the virus...

[JohnL]

My understanding was they were considering assessing the vulnerability of people over 50.

Anyway 50 isn't old (he says hopefully)

[diable rouge]

Allegedly that was war gaming a worst case scenario, probably deliberately leaked to see the reaction from the public, that's how this populist Gov rolls. The problem with that is when the inevitable row back happens they come across as dithering, haven't known a Gov perform so many u-turns over it's lifetime yet alone in it's first year, never a good look. Populism has always been easy answers/promises to difficult problems/situations. It can thrive under a concept like Brexit but withers when it meets reality, in this case, Covid. Johnson assumed his premiership would be defined by delivering an 'oven ready Brexit' (which, surprise, surprise, doesn't exist) and instead it's been trumped by Covid...

[Nigello]

What's wrong with a U-turn, especially if it's in your favour? Those who whine when a party they do not vote for reviews its stance to be in line with their views waste oxygen. I didn't vote for this government but I am glad when it changes policy to something I think is more responsible -- but not to the point of crowing. Much better to accept it and move on.

[pk]

Nigello Wrote:

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> What's wrong with a U-turn?

you don't think it's better to get things right first time around?

[KalamityKel]

pk Wrote:

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> Nigello Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > What's wrong with a U-turn?

>

> you don't think it's better to get things right

> first time around?

And what is "right"?

[Jules-and-Boo]

I just saw a sign at the Blackbird Bakery...

"wear a mask unless you're seated"...

[seenbeen]

pk Wrote:

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> Nigello Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > What's wrong with a U-turn?

>

> you don't think it's better to get things right

> first time around?

Loads of people flouted the rules from day 1 anyway and it just got worse....we had no chance since millions of infected people left China with the blessing of the WHO

[pk]

KalamityKel Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> pk Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Nigello Wrote:

> >

> --------------------------------------------------

>

> > -----

> > > What's wrong with a U-turn?

> >

> > you don't think it's better to get things right

> > first time around?

>

> And what is "right"?

Obvs it depends on what the question is

[JohnL]

U Turns just make me think of Thatcher with her categorical refusal to ever u turn on anything (in public anyway).

"You Turn if you want to The Ladies not for Turning"

[diable rouge]

seenbeen Wrote:

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> Loads of people flouted the rules from day 1

> anyway and it just got worse....we had no chance

> since millions of infected people left China with

> the blessing of the WHO

Xenophobic bollox. It's just as likely that tourists, business people brought it back with them.

Even during the lockdown we were still letting in tourists untested. The buck stops with Johnson and his cabal...

[seenbeen]

Loads of people flouted the rules from day 1 and are STILL flouting the rules as the idiots seemed to think (I wonder why???) that Dominic Cummings gave them carte blanche to do just what they liked.

So- it matters not one jot what Boris Johnson said or did because they would've done what they wanted anyway!

https://apnews.com/c42eabe1b1e1ba9fcb2ce201cd3abb72

[Spartacus]

My father used to ask , when I did something silly spurned on by my mates, if your mates jumped off a cliff would you ?

Nowadays people look for an excuse for not taking responsibility for their own actions.

So DC didn't jump off a cliff but the generic question remains. Why did you?

[malumbu]

Bit disappointed. I thought that someone would have some value to add to this thread. Some posts early on in Covid-19 were phenomenal in helping my understanding. Catching up now I've learned nothing. I've got my own views but I'd like to get others' take. Suppose I will have to leave it to future generations' interpretations, if I live long enough.

[JohnL]

A lot of repeats of the following rumour on twitter which sounds like Cummings doesn't give a t@ss. If he cares so little about ballet what chance do any of you have (unless it's his favorite pastime) ?

?I have it on good authority that at a Zoom meeting about the future of the Arts with Downing Street, Cummings told Sam Mendes that he wasn't interested and that :"the f**king ballerinas can get to the back of the queue "

[nxjen]

Interesting times indeed when the job of government has been outsourced to just one man

[diable rouge]

seenbeen Wrote:

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> Loads of people flouted the rules from day 1 and

> are STILL flouting the rules as the idiots seemed

> to think (I wonder why???) that Dominic Cummings

> gave them carte blanche to do just what they

> liked.

Care to quantify ''loads''? You're previously posted anecdotal 'evidence' of people walking around Lordship Lane is meaningless, you don't know why they were there or what they were doing, and begs the question why and what were you doing there?

The overwhelming majority of the population adhered to the lockdown, while occasionally the press would zoom in on random cases of a couple sitting on a beach, or someone driving their car to go for a walk in a beauty spot, and so on. DC's eyesight test holiday stuck two fingers up to all those who had adhered to the lockdown, so although I agree with Spartacus' point about not 'jumping off the cliff' too, I can understand why many were angry enough to do so.

None of this should distract, for that's what you're trying to do, from the Gov's failure to enforce a lockdown much sooner than it did after flip flopping from it's initial 'herd mentality' strategy. One of several reasons why this Gov has so much blood on its hands, and I see that another group of MPs has released a damning report of the Gov's shambolic role in this pandemic, and right on cue after my last post, it highlights the serious errors regarding border control and quarantining...https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53654644