To have no sympathy?

[1981m]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-cornwall-52089487

Do you feel sorry for these people trapped abroad due to the Coronavirus? I keep reading articles about people trapped who say they are running out of money and that the Uk government should be paying for them to get home.

I don't think they should, depending on when they left that is. These people left for a month at the beginning of March, another young man left for Morocco on March 15th! Surely it was stupidity to fly at that time? It was obvious we would go into lockdown imminently, lots of other European countries were going into lockdown by then. Now they are moaning that they are stranded and want to be bailed out. Surely it's totally there own fault. They must have been told not to fly especially by March 15th.

I feel more sorry for those trapped because they were away for business or travelling around the world. But not those who decided to go on holiday in the middle of a pandemic.

Sorry, they chose to go. It is not up to us to bring them back.

I think there was a lot of bravado involved in not letting a virus outbreak "affect my plans".
There were so many threads on here asking whether people should still take their holidays well into March, and replies saying Yes I would still go.

Individuals need to be accountable for their own actions ..... the Nanny state cannot possibly be responsible for everyone.

And I speak as someone who cancelled a 2 week trip abroad commencing mid March, and lost a shed load of money in so doing.

If the Foreign Office are repatriation people then the rescued should pay, not the poor old tax payer.

I think it was pretty reckless to travel in circumstances where you wouldn’t be covered by insurance.

The WHO declared a pandemic in early/mid March and nearly all insurance policies clearly state that they won’t cover costs arising from a pandemic.

Anyone who travelled after 11th March (the date the WHO declared a pandemic), was utterly stupid. But until we went into lock down here there were people on MN saying 'If the plane is going, I'm planning to be on it' and similar. If flights aren't actually cancelled and if the government doesn't actually tell people 'You must not travel', there will always be a proportion who will go - and insurance won't pay out until the FCO advises against travel. So yes, the government is complicit, but so are people sticking their fingers in their ears and singing 'La, la, la' and hoping for the best.

My 78-year-old aunt was all packed and ready to head off on a cruise around the Caribbean until the government said that no one over 70 should go on cruises. That advice came out on Thurs evening and she was due to leave at 3.30am on Friday morning. If it had come out just 24 hours later she'd have already arrived in Barbados!

Sorry, they chose to go. It is not up to us to bring them back.

What about people sent with work ?

I don’t understand why people went on those cruise ships after what had happened the several others weeks before, and then to act shocked when it happened to them?

I feel sorry for those who had been travelling for a long time and have been trying to get back for several weeks now.

I didn’t really understand the trainee priest guy who’s stuck on the islands where they don’t even have one case of Covid19, moaning he can’t get home, surely he’s should stay put and hope the virus doesn’t hit there?

The Foreign Office was totally remiss in not advising people to travel and now we’re seeing the result. It has a responsibility to get British citizens safely home and once again it’s dragging its heels. Some people on this thread have an incredibly low bar when it comes to holding the government to account.

Who cares whether you, OP, 'don't have sympathy' or not? You don't. Great. Get on with your life unaffected by what these people can or can't now do. No need to gloat or back-pat yourself so hard.

This site is full of really mean-minded posts.

Are all those people declaring that "hindsight is a wonderful thing" the same posters who sneered at those of us expressing "foresight" back in January/February?

I agree. I seen people debating about going in their holidays in early March (as late as the 10th when Italy was in lockdown) - there was clearly enough information about otherwise they wouldn't have been having the debate - and they said it was worth the risk going ahead because they couldn't afford to lose the money (moot point, the money was already gone).

So in my eyes, if you were willing to take the risk then you have to be prepared to face the consequences of that risk. Theres an interesting aspect to normalcy bias, where people think something will never happen to them - even when presented with enormous amounts of evidence that it could - that when it does, they blame everyone else and expect to be rescued by those who took it seriously.

And yes, perhaps the government should have banned travel sooner. But what sort of backlash would they have had? Unfortunately in a democracy to a certain extent they have to follow public opinion, and people a month ago just weren't taking it seriously. Even still people aren't taking it seriously. (I'm not excusing the governments actions, they should be held accountable for their lack of action, but individual responsibility applies here too). Look at some of the posts there have been about our human rights being taken away under the social distancing measures. People are adamant they dont want a nanny state making their decisions for them, but still expect the tax payers to foot the bill for the consequences of their own selfish decisions.

Look at the businesses going under, the people out of jobs, homes and livelihoods lost, through no fault of their own. Why should money be diverted away from them to help people who should have known better, but wanted one last hurrah before the shit hit the fan.

We cancelled our family holiday to Disney land. It was shit and it sucked (try telling a 5 year old they're not going to disney land over something the cant understand) and we "lost" money. We might have been ok, but it wasnt the responsible or sensible thing to do to still go ahead.

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

Actually, the taxpayer is being asked to bail these people out so I’d say the wider electorate’s views are pretty important.

To the extent that people either travelled against government advice or without valid insurance (ie their policy carved out pandemics and they left after 13 March), I cannot see why they are not being charged personally for any government assistance.

So what do you think should happen, OP? It's not a matter of these people just being unwilling to pay for a ticket on a flight back, it's a matter of there being no rescue flights happening. Should they just be left to die?

I think the government advised mid March for people traveling to get home before borders were closed. In the end you are responsible for yourself.

There are always going to be some issues where people are stranded and it is not totally their fault and in exceptional circumstances the government should help. I have some sympathy for backpackers and long term travels, those going on a 2 week jolly to Spain mid March, no.

If you travel with work it is your organization's responsibility to get you home.

In the end you need to be responsible for yourself.

I have family memebers who travelled to Austraila just after Christmas and are now stuck there when their flights were suddenly cancelled after being told they wouldn't be and are now stuck.

Every situation is different and lots of people didn't see this coming at all. I spoke to a friend in february about the likely hood of a long planned holiday of hers to singapore being cancelled and she looked at me like i was insane as did everyone else, now of course it is cancelled and not likely to happen for at least a year. To be fair to these people our own government was very slow to act or take the threat of coronavirus seriously and while some of us saw it coming from a long way off. If it had all gone differently we would be the ones with egg on our face and not the other way around.

YABU !
This in an unprecedented situation that none of us have ever experienced, unless you are WW age 😫.
You can not sympathise ?
This is the disease of the world ! People like you judging others!

Specially in these times we need to sympathise or at least make an effort to learn about the meaning of sympathising !

My only hope is that this situation brings the best of thick people and the world becomes a better place to live, with better, kinder and nicer people around !

I haven't come on to gloat, I am interested in other people's opinions.

I can see why people still went in February as it wasn't being taken seriously but for me those who went in March were just stupid. They should 100% pay for their own flights home. If they can't afford it then all the more reason not to have gone. I don't understand why they didn't think ahead and anticipate that it's all very well there was no travel advice telling them not to fly when they went but who knows what it would be like in one/two/three weeks time. No one knew so they took a risk.

No one is talking about people who have been stuck because of business travel. I do feel for them, their company should be paying for them to get home.

I am talking about people who chose to take a holiday I the middle of a pandemic

If it's an unprecedented situation, no one can predict then even more reason not to go on bloody holiday.

I agree there is a difference between people who have been away long term doing charity work, for example, and someone who saw a chance for a cheap holiday when it was clear the way things were going. I have no sympathy for those people. You took a risk and it didn't pay off.

I don't understand why people keep wittering about government overreach and 'terrifying' authoritarianism, and yet at the same time moaning that unless the govt ordered them not to travel/prevented them, how were they supposed to know to stop? I've really started to get what 'whingeing pom' means in the past few weeks, the govt can't do right for doing wrong.

There were clear mentions in parliament speeches broadcast some days before lockdown saying 'come home now' if you were abroad, and there were plenty of people on MN saying they were going anyway while plenty of responses were saying be prepared to be stuck there. Yes, some people went for work - in which case its their employer's problem to foot the bill and deal with the bad decision they made - but those stuck on holiday I don't have much sympathy for.

Leaving aside the worry now about getting home, you have to wonder how relaxing any holiday could have been during a pandemic anyway.

Judy- no not left to die. I guess a flight should be found if they can and safe accommodation if they aren't safe. But it should 100% be paid for by the individual.

I do have sympathy. I have sympathy for the nhs workers and teachers risking their lives, the children/adults who's home isn't a safe place for them and the already homeless, poor, elderly, vulnerable and sick. Plus those relatives of people who have already died. My sympathy is in the right place. I do not have sympathy of those who decided to risk a holiday to get some sun.

Talk about just reading headlines. What a nasty and unpleasant post, are you bored OP?

My dad and stepmum are stuck in Australia, they went weeks before it was obvious as to the effects of the virus. Homeward flights booked for end of May. Cheapest flight to get home is £7000 each, they dont have the money for this. Travel agents and insurance are useless.

This pandemic is bringing out the best and worst in some people, you obviously chose the latter.

Oh yes, the 'visionaries'... they keep quiet when their predictions aren't correct though, don't they, CallmeAngelina? As if people come to MN for guidance... not if they have sense they don't. It's a chatboard. I personally don't and wouldn't use it for 'reference' purposes.

The fact is, yes, Balhammon, tax payers will be made to fund this. I pay tax, so do most people - this isn't and wasn't a foreseeable situation and we have to deal with the outfall.

Knit away, 1981m and congratulate yourself that you didn't go on holiday.

Well said, Michelleoftheresistance and I'm out of the thread now, it's nauseating.

I would have been delighted to have been worrying needlessly and proved wrong on this one, LyingWitchintheWardrobe.

On a separate point, I have sympathy with anyone who is stuck abroad at the moment, regardless of when they went.

I’m struggling to understand why people still went away in the wake of the diamond princess and Tenerife hotel cv cases. Those, who were abroad longer term also needed to get their act together and get / change flights. However I agree it is far more problematic for them and i am definitely not without sympath.

The sunk cost fallacy doesn’t wash with me for those, who went away. Weighing up between potentially losing your life plus several thousand pounds and a frightening stay in a germ infested soup ship vs staying home and safe is no contest for me.

The Zaandam set sail on 7th March. The diamond princess cv infection was reported on 4th feb. My reaction on watching the retired? couple interviewed on the Zaandam or Rotterdam, petrified because the US wouldn’t allow them to dock and now so relieved was : you fucking irresponsible idiots!!