Current Affairs

[Ranchi]

As I understand it most European countries have a personal insurance based health service rather than a national health service. Most of the actions taken in UK have been linked with protecting the NHS. I wonder how the decisions made by the government ( a number of which have been criticised) would have been different if we hadn’t had a national health service which is ultimately funded by the government.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Don't know but however it's funded we have seen the near collapse of health services in some other countries.

[Manoverboard]

It is being discussed as per the link,

It was discussed, they decided the best course of action, end of. Everything else is Twitter Twaddle

[Gill W]

It wasn’t ‘just discussed’ though.

It was a number 10 press release at 8am yesterday

[oldbluefox]

Over the past few days I have never heard such a load of claptrap from the media which is happily picked up by others. Are we really incapable of making decisions for ourselves and exercising responsibility for ourselves and others? What has happened to common sense or do we need the powers that be to constantly lead us by the hand. As a nation we need to get a grip.
Seeing the celebrations in London at midnight I'm not surprised if infections do rise.

[Mervyn and Trish]

According to the Zoe app that we use every day cases in our area, which had been high, have started to fall. And we won't be out hugging strangers in pubs.

[Stephen]

I’m off to pick up my lottery winnings from Morrison’s in a little while. I will be wearing a face mask.


Don’t start sending the begging letters just yet, it was only a free lucky dip and £5. Better than a kick up the bum though

[Gill W]

Over the past few days I have never heard such a load of claptrap from the media which is happily picked up by others. Are we really incapable of making decisions for ourselves and exercising responsibility for ourselves and others? What has happened to common sense or do we need the powers that be to constantly lead us by the hand. As a nation we need to get a grip.
Seeing the celebrations in London at midnight I'm not surprised if infections do rise.

The trouble is, people’s risk assessments may be different to our own. Those people in the clubs have made decisions for themselves and they think it is fine to go clubbing.

We are still in a public health crisis - this wave of the pandemic is still getting bigger. No matter how hard the spin for ‘freedom day’, these are not normal times. The government has an obligation to keep us safe. However, they seem to have got bored of this.

Unless you think all rules for collective safety are unacceptable. Should we be making our own choices regarding smoking inside public buildings, wearing seat belts and what side of the road we drive on.

These people in the clubs are perfectly entitled to go there for their night out. The government has removed all legal curbs on mask wearing and social distancing and reduced capacity. Fans of the economy should be pleased that nightclub businesses have been allowed to start trading again.

It’s hard cheese for the rest of us who will now feel the need to limit some of our activities, and I’m quite angry that the government has allowed this situation to arise.

But there’s nothing I can do about it, unfortunately

[barney]

We need a change of mindset.
Those who have concerns, live as if you have concerns.
Those who want to get back to some sort of normality, go for it.
99% of retail and food outlets will continue with the current precautions.
Nightclubs will open for those who want to go to nightclubs.
If you personally have concerns about a family member who has gone clubbing, avoid them.

[david63]

99% of retail and food outlets will continue with the current precautions.

There are two points here:

1. Having just returned from a trip to a retail park there was a noticeable number of customers, and staff, not wearing masks. At a rough estimate I would put it at 25% no masks, 75% masks with the majority of non mask wears being at the lower end of the age spectrum.

2. I believe that the wearing of masks will decline over time and I would make a prediction that only the "die hards" will still be wearing them by the end of August.

[Bensham33]

It's a wonderful day, it's warm and sunny (although that won't last long) and it's 'freedom day'.

Be careful but live your life. Be lucky.

https://youtu.be/b-YwLRjEeEk

[barney]

99% of retail and food outlets will continue with the current precautions.

There are two points here:

1. Having just returned from a trip to a retail park there was a noticeable number of customers, and staff, not wearing masks. At a rough estimate I would put it at 25% no masks, 75% masks with the majority of non mask wears being at the lower end of the age spectrum.

2. I believe that the wearing of masks will decline over time and I would make a prediction that only the "die hards" will still be wearing them by the end of August.

That might be the case at a retail park David, but in our market town, 100% of businesses have agreed to keep to current guidelines.
The local Facebook page is reinforcing this.
Welcome as usual, but with caution.

As for the end of August, I'd reckon that you are correct.
After the 16th, anyone who is in contact with someone with covid will not have to isolate, so I expect that everything will become relatively normal again.

[oldbluefox]

Instead of Freedom Day it should have been called Responsibility Day. The government cannot legislate our entire lives. There will always be those who will defy them anyway. Time to take responsibility for ourselves and get life back on track again.

[Stephen]

99% of retail and food outlets will continue with the current precautions.

There are two points here:

1. Having just returned from a trip to a retail park there was a noticeable number of customers, and staff, not wearing masks. At a rough estimate I would put it at 25% no masks, 75% masks with the majority of non mask wears being at the lower end of the age spectrum.

2. I believe that the wearing of masks will decline over time and I would make a prediction that only the "die hards" will still be wearing them by the end of August.

Agree. I was in Morrison's a while ago and was having a look round while in a queue and it was a good mixture of staff and customer wearing and not wearing masks. So any continued precautions by supermarkets are well out the window.

[screwy]

China and N Korea seem reasonable places to live if you want Government to hold your hand and tell you what to do.

[oldbluefox]

Australia aren't as soft as we are. They don't even allow their own citizens back in. Then we wonder why we struggle to keep the numbers down. Can you imagine the outcry if we imposed the same measures.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-57883692.amp

[screwy]

And Sydney and Melbourne both in Lockdown due to increasing Delta variant numbers.!
Can’t blame us for that.!

[david63]

The problem with Australia, and New Zealand, is that they believe that they will achieve zero Covid, but at the moment they have no exit plan to open up the country.

Sydney goes into panic mode when the get 100 cases of Covid - I don't know what they will do when the country opens up and they start getting cases in '000s - especially as there is massive vaccine hesitancy, due mainly to the fact that they do not have many infections so they do not see the need.

[screwy]

My cousin lives in the Sydney region at the beginning of the Blue Mountains, they’re in lockdown till the end of the month with no cases in that area,both had their second jabs.

[oldbluefox]

My cousin lives in the Sydney region at the beginning of the Blue Mountains, they’re in lockdown till the end of the month with no cases in that area,both had their second jabs.

And then our lockdown rules are described as 'draconian'.

[towny44]

Over the past few days I have never heard such a load of claptrap from the media which is happily picked up by others. Are we really incapable of making decisions for ourselves and exercising responsibility for ourselves and others? What has happened to common sense or do we need the powers that be to constantly lead us by the hand. As a nation we need to get a grip.
Seeing the celebrations in London at midnight I'm not surprised if infections do rise.

The trouble is, people’s risk assessments may be different to our own. Those people in the clubs have made decisions for themselves and they think it is fine to go clubbing.

We are still in a public health crisis - this wave of the pandemic is still getting bigger. No matter how hard the spin for ‘freedom day’, these are not normal times. The government has an obligation to keep us safe. However, they seem to have got bored of this.

Unless you think all rules for collective safety are unacceptable. Should we be making our own choices regarding smoking inside public buildings, wearing seat belts and what side of the road we drive on.

These people in the clubs are perfectly entitled to go there for their night out. The government has removed all legal curbs on mask wearing and social distancing and reduced capacity. Fans of the economy should be pleased that nightclub businesses have been allowed to start trading again.

It’s hard cheese for the rest of us who will now feel the need to limit some of our activities, and I’m quite angry that the government has allowed this situation to arise.

But there’s nothing I can do about it, unfortunately

This is all simply repetitive Gill, I think we all know your views about the relaxing of lockdown, but keeping saying the same thing over and over is not going to influence those of us who want to try an alternative to lockdown. You continue to view all the experts views through your own blinkered glasses, whilst I found Fergusons interview with Marr to be supportive of the end of lockdown, and that he is hopeful that the pandemic will shortly run out of steam as we approach herd immunity, you picked up only on his comments that we should continue to exercise caution especially in crowded indoor settings.

[Gill W]

We need a change of mindset.
Those who have concerns, live as if you have concerns.
Those who want to get back to some sort of normality, go for it.
99% of retail and food outlets will continue with the current precautions.
Nightclubs will open for those who want to go to nightclubs.
If you personally have concerns about a family member who has gone clubbing, avoid them.

Although I think the removal of all legal restrictions at this time is barkingly, dangerously mad and is bordering on criminal - I do agree with what you are saying.

The government has given the green light the for ‘normality’ to break out, so we can’t keep complaining if people behave normally.

This is all simply repetitive Gill, I think we all know your views about the relaxing of lockdown, but keeping saying the same thing over and over is not going to influence those of us who want to try an alternative to lockdown. You continue to view all the experts views through your own blinkered glasses, whilst I found Fergusons interview with Marr to be supportive of the end of lockdown, and that he is hopeful that the pandemic will shortly run out of steam as we approach herd immunity, you picked up only on his comments that we should continue to exercise caution especially in crowded indoor settings.

Repetitive? Pot. Kettle. Black. springs to mind

We haven’t been in lockdown for months, and I haven’t advocated going back into lockdown.

On the subject of the Ferguson interview, both Keith and Ken had the same take on it as me, and most other people off this forum did too. I think it was only you who thought it was something fully supportive of ‘freedom day’ And what’s wrong with exercising caution in crowded indoor settings.

I think you need to discuss this with OBF - he’s concerned about crowds in nightclubs and you seem to be advocating a free for all.

I look forward to your discussion with him.

[oldbluefox]

The trouble is, people’s risk assessments may be different to our own. Those people in the clubs have made decisions for themselves and they think it is fine to go clubbing.

I've no problem with that. If they want to go clubbing that is their choice but, as I said, don't be surprised if the infection rates go up, especially in that age group. The risk is their responsibility.

We are still in a public health crisis - this wave of the pandemic is still getting bigger. No matter how hard the spin for ‘freedom day’, these are not normal times. The government has an obligation to keep us safe. However, they seem to have got bored of this.

We have a responsibility to keep ourselves safe. The government does not provide a nurse maid service within a nanny state. The government has informed us what to do to keep ourselves safe.

Unless you think all rules for collective safety are unacceptable. Should we be making our own choices regarding smoking inside public buildings, wearing seat belts and what side of the road we drive on.

I don't think you can equate any of these with the relaxing of lockdown.

These people in the clubs are perfectly entitled to go there for their night out. The government has removed all legal curbs on mask wearing and social distancing and reduced capacity. Fans of the economy should be pleased that nightclub businesses have been allowed to start trading again.

It is now their responsibility to decide whether to go or not. They know the risks. Don't be surprised if the infection rates go up.

It’s hard cheese for the rest of us who will now feel the need to limit some of our activities, and I’m quite angry that the government has allowed this situation to arise.

But there’s nothing I can do about it, unfortunately

I think most of us know the risks whether we are in lockdown or not. It makes no difference whatsoever. What it does do is enable the country to open up, to allow businesses to get going again and for traders to start raking back some of their lost earnings. The rest is up to us.

[oldbluefox]

I think you need to discuss this with OBF - he’s concerned about crowds in nightclubs and you seem to be advocating a free for all.

I look forward to your discussion with him.

No need. I'm not bothered whether they go clubbing or not. All I said was not to be surprised to see the infection rates rise. Not sure where you got the idea from that I was concerned. In fact there only seems to be one on the forum who twitters on about infection rates rising.

[david63]

It’s hard cheese for the rest of us who will now feel the need to limit some of our activities

Speak for yourself and not everyone else. I for one have no plans to change any of my activities in the immediate future from what I have been allowed to do in the past - in fact after the last month my activities will be increasing.