To think "it's alright for you" for those who want lockdown for now until eternity?

[GlummyMcGlummerson]

I've seen, on both MN and social media, outrage after the PM announcement last night that strict lockdown won't be in place any more. Lots of sensationalist "great so now people can come to the Dales and kill us all" type posts. Furious that builders can go back to work and school children can go back to school in June to "kills us all". People are saying we should have lockdown until there's a vaccine, or until September. All these people on social media either:

• work from home anyway
• run their business from home
• didn't work anyway

AIBU in thinking "yeah it's alright for you!". Some of us need to return to work to keep a living and roof over our heads. I am furloughed until the end of the month but if my workplace can't re-open by around July then my job is basically fucked. I'm a single parent to 2, my ex runs a business that also relies on lockdown being eased, so if he loses his business then I lose maintenance payments.

I think it also shows a woeful misunderstanding of what lockdown is for. It wasn't implemented so that we could stay at home while the virus fairy magicked corona virus away. It was never the expectation that lockdown would solve the virus problem. There will be a second peak - NHS barely survives flu season as it is, it's important that the next peak doesn't coincide with the inevitable flu peak

I'm furloughed on full pay and I admit it's much easier to hope for a further lock down if there's money coming in.
I can't imagine the desperation of people not in that situation.
It's a very difficult time.

@corythatwas, and some of those NHS ICU workers are already exhibiting signs of PTSD from having to witness people dying in greater numbers than anyone ever envisaged.

Their mental health matters, too.

Can I add though, I didnt ask to be furloughed, I hadn't a choice. Making it sound like a life of luxury is wrong too.

Yes the fear is real but so is the treat of massive depression so we have to try and do something. People will adjust. People will get used to behaving differently.

There may be surges but controlled surges rather than the free for all we had before shutdown hopefully will be rare.

Public transport is a worry tho. But on the plus side if you live in a city then walking should be possible for a small percent and many will still be working from home.

Who exactly is stopping you from working foodandwine89?
Unless you are a hairdresser, or an air hostess, I can't think of many areas where people have actually stopped working?

Lakie, I work for a large retailer. My main two safety concerns will be the behaviour of customers and the work we are requested to do.

The unions have said abuse from customers has doubled under corona . Anecdotally the Tesco delivery man yesterday told me that both the drivers and the store staff are getting constant abuse from customers, and that customers won’t abide by social distancing rules and constantly approach/touch staff. I know that even before this happened we didn’t have anywhere near enough security staff or managers to deal with abusive and previously banned customers. That won’t change under corona.

My second concern will be the work. I work in Sales but not on a till. My work is 25% admin, 25% customer service and 50% recovery (cleaning up all the mess customers make by moving stock around, ripping down displays, pulling stuff out of packaging). 75% of my job should in theory be able to be completed when the store is closed to customers, but I have to be available to customers at all time. So I will have to stand on an open shop floor so they can approach me, and clean up all the mess and work on a computer (wall based, not behind a desk) while they walk up to me.

So my employer will be reorganising where the stock is situated to provide wider areas between customers, but my role remains the same.

@OneandTwenty I have not stopped working. My message is aimed at those who say they don't want to go back to work. Fine. Quit your job and stay home but you can't expect me to fund 80% of your salary indefinitely.

@OneandTwenty Restaurants, cafes and pubs have closed, and hotels? Anything in the hospitality industry really.

I expect all the people who are saying "you'll get universal credit" have never been on Universal credit themselves. It doesn't even cover rent for most areas in the country as private rent costs are so high

Which is precisely why the government have made additional funds available specifically for this purpose. Anyone who has to go onto UC because of Covid and has a shortfall between their rent and their housing costs should apply to their local authority for a discretionary housing payment. A circular has been sent to all relevant councils spelling this out, so they should be aware.

For mortgage payers, the best they can hope for is a 3-month mortgage holiday (thanks to Cameron's government, who stopped paying the interest element of mortgages for claimants), although some banks appear to be being flexible with regard to allowing people to go on to interest only temporarily.

Having supported clients to challenge mortgage possession proceedings, my experience has always been that the bank/building society is most reluctant to repossess, and if there is any way of avoiding it, they do. In the current circumstances, I suspect they would be even more amenable.

The last thing the government will want is the bad publicity that will arise if banks start repossessing houses, so I fully expect they will be having a word with their friends in the City if this goes on for so long that that looks like a realistic possibility.

Surroundedbycats -There appear to be certain parts of society that want lockdown enforced forever. They appear to be mainly of the boomer generation sitting in their big houses, big pension. Fine their risk is higher, you stay in in. They can't comprehend that life is not like that for other people.

Or maybe their just concerned? My fil got a crap pension pay out, so is still working in construction part-time in his 70's with an underlying health condition, and is a carer for MIL also of similar age with early dementia/hearing loss. Both who have lived worked and contributed to this country.

Your comments are patronising, ageist, discriminatory, divisive and bigoted.

@Nameofchanges, hopefully, they will only allow a few shoppers in at a time, and provide you with, at the very least, a face mask. And I think you will have to be vigilant about shoppers maintaining social distance.

I hope that USDAW will be standing up for their members on this. Employers should not be putting staff, and by extension, their families, at risk for the sake of plastic tat!

Anyone who gets abusive with retail staff is just a twat. We all need to show some forbearance and understanding.

Unless you are a hairdresser, or an air hostess, I can't think of many areas where people have actually stopped working?

Beauty salons, dentists, quite a chunk of retail spring to mind. We have a family member who works for a company that maintains palyground equipment, they've all been furloughed and the county council have closed the tips, so I daresay the men working there are furloughed, too.

Question for the furloughed:
Exactly how long do you think the working population should fund your extended holiday via taxation ?
How long do you think is reasonable?
Until next year when the vaccine is available?
Presumably children will not be educated until then either?
Presumably I'm paying £9000 in uni fees for an online course until then too?

@Grendlsmother what has this got to do with the furloughed? I'm on furlough and I want to go back to work and get DS back in school asap.

Grendl, I would like furlough to be extended for the vulnerable group. I would like the government to be clear on that. I would be happy for furlough to be reduced to universal credit level.

I would also be happy for the government to train any long term furloughed people up in government tasks they could do at home, where that is possible.

My dd is at university. I expect she will be taught in google hangouts or similar. I appreciate that is not a solution for practical courses. Her lecturers have not been furloughed.

@Grendlsmother Ds is also furloughed and cannot wait to get back to the office !
Don’t assume everyone who is furloughed is happy about it , it’s a bloody risky position to be in and some don’t know if they’ll ever have a job to go back to !

@Fluffybutter I assume she means those on furlough who do not want to go back to work and continue being furloughed

Lakie, of course most customers will behave like reasonable human beings. But there is always going to be a core section of society who are dysfunctional, or who think the rules don’t apply to them.

And in any job where you deal with large numbers of people, you have to deal with that core.

I am hoping USDAW will step up, but at the moment it seems as if employers have a great deal of freedom in deciding what is safe.

Unless you are a hairdresser, or an air hostess, I can't think of many areas where people have actually stopped working?

@OneandTwenty Let's see:

• All non-essential retail (clothing, jewellery, outdoors, furniture, books, arts and crafts, carpets, curtains, to name a few).
• Hospitality - bars, cafes, pubs and restaurants.
• Cinemas.
• Theatres.
• Personal grooming - hairdressers, beauty salons, barbers, spas.
• Fitness - gyms, swimming pools, leisure centres, fitness instructors.
• Lots of animal workers are now out of work as people have cancelled holidays - so people who work as dog walkers, daycare owners, dog boarders or at a kennels. Add groomers onto the list too as DEFRA guidance means they've had to close as well.
• Anyone working in tourism - hotel owners, cleaners, room attendants, waitresses, bar staff. Anyone working in a B&B or who runs a holiday cottage. Also add anyone working at a tourist attraction or theme park or zoo.

That's just off the top of my head. I'm a dog walker/pet sitter and haven't worked since the end of March. There's strict DEFRA guidance on how dog-walkers are allowed to operate, plus all my clients are now at home and don't need a dog walker at the moment. All my summer sitting jobs have been cancelled too as people are no longer going away.

We never had a lockdown fgs, we could leave our houses without permits, take our wains out for walks etc, go to flippin B and Q, look at Spain/Italy, now that was a lockdown.

Restaurants, cafes and pubs have closed, and hotels? Anything in the hospitality industry really.

all still working here, they offer take-away and deliveries instead.
I don't know what their financial situation is, but they are all working.
A few pubs have also started to offer care or vegetable boxes and deliver them

Hotels opened at reduced rate to key workers.

All retail outlets are still offering non-contact sales and deliveries locally.
They don't get anywhere near the business they had, but they are not closed either and are going through their stock.

maddiemookins16mum

don't say that, some posters on this forum love to shriek they have been on house arrest for months...

Don't be so naive. The English government, as it's only currently England that is lifting lockdown measures, putting kids back to school and telling people to go back to work, is shifting the onus from themselves onto the public. When there's a second wave, which there will be because Dominic bloody Raab is telling people they can meet up with their friends and family at parks etc so everything will have to shut down again, the kids will be pulled from school again and this time the NHS will be overwhelmed.

Why not just do it once? Get the death rate very low, the infection rate very low, concrete systems in place, full proof PPE methods THEN open the gates. It's what Wales, N.Ireland and Scotland is doing. Boris is only doing this because he's a yes man. He likes to bring good news and knew the English public was riled up for lockdown ending and if he didn't ease measures slightly and make promises, it would be carnage. Thankfully the other devolved governments have balls and told the public NO. They don't care what we've read or what we expected, lockdown is still on.

Good luck England. It will cost more in the long run to deal with a second wave than it will be to deal with one wave for longer.

I have a health problem (musculoskeletal) which is getting and will get worse the longer I can't access a physio, gym and swimming pool. My covid risk is tiny. Do you, because you're frightened of a virus that you can stay in to avoid, have the right to demand that I'm in increasing pain for months? Do you than have the right to demand that I risk permenant injury? If so, why? Why does your fear trump my pain?

Beauty salons are offering online lessons and tutorials, and delivering self-care "package. Not the same business, but people trying to earn a few pounds and the hampers are flying through the shelves!

Fitness instructors and gyms all offering online classes here - proven quite busy and popular with regular and new clients.

I am not pretending everything is back as normal and all wonderful, but I genuinely do not know many people who are actually not working.