'I'm not sticking to the rules anymore.'

[WindFlower92]

It's amazed me on here today how many people only seem to have stuck to the rules of lockdown because they were rules. So many people frothing with anger because they would have seen their families 'if they had known' and will be seeing them this weekend. I'd love to see my family but I won't. Not because of any 'rules', but because there us a virus that operates outside of rules or government! It's still here, whether the government says you can go to the shops or not, they didn't make it go away! So yes, we should hold the government to account where they are lying to us and breaking the rules, but why cut your own nose off to spite your face? Why put family members at risk because someone else did? I don't understand this logic

Kind of YANBU. But on the other hand, don't you want people to stick to the rules 'just because they are the rules'? Because otherwise you're encouraging the people who don't agree with the rules to think for themselves and break them! That's kind of what laws are for - to be obeyed even if you don't agree with them!

Isn't this a TAAT?

It won’t change what I do but I’m so annoyed, still. It’s the obvious contempt for us and Johnson’s inability to survive without Cummings which is irritating me.

But no I wont change what I do.

How did he put family members at risk? He self isolated in a house away from parents and other family with his wife and kid.

I think people stuck to the rules because they were the rules and because they trusted that the guidance they were been given was correct and necessary for the greater good. Now that trust has gone.

That kind of response is what I’d expect from a petulant child like Trump.
Be angry with what Dominic Cummings has done by all means but to use it as an excuse (not reason) to disregard measures in place is puerile. At best.

The more I see threads like this, the more I'm convinced this is a scheme by DC to get people out of their houses. Nothing motivates like vengeful rage.

What's a TAAT? Good point @lazylinguist!

Of course we can be angry, but don't let it lead to you throwing away months of sacrifice just because someone else was an idiot!

The rules where I am pretty much went out the window on V.E. Day , everyone's pretty much done what they liked since then
So brazen about it too
I must admit , I'm relaxing more , except I couldn't give a shiny one whether or not I see certain family members again so where before I felt I had to visit ,I'm not bothering

TAAT
Means a Thread About A Thread

The people raging about how awful he is and how disgraceful he has been and how they are now going to break the rules themselves are really no better than him. Is that what they want to be like?

I suppose people are now saying they will use their own judgement. I have been isolating for weeks now as have my parents - just by nature of our jobs we’ve been working from home and not going out. We hadn’t met up as they live an hour and half away and it wasn’t permitted. Now I think we will as realistically it’s safe. We weren’t doing it as we thought the rules were the law I guess and didn’t want to break them. Now it’s more that the rules are a guideline and can be interpreted accordingly.

Exactly @SoupDragon you can't complain how terrible he is then go and break the rules yourself , said this to dh this morning.
If you want to justify breaking the rules go for it.
I've just been for a run and I saw 3 people walking and while passing I saw 1 person hug the other and say so nice to see you today . I mean your not supposed to be in contact with others .
I think so many don't follow the rules because either they don't understand or have had enough.
I'm going to meet my mum this week for a walk but I won't hug her .
I'd feel terrible if I gave her the virus and vice versa do people really want that on their conscience?.
The lockdown is relaxing and the coming weeks will be further relaxed so can we hold off for a bit longer .

The people raging about how awful he is and how disgraceful he has been and how they are now going to break the rules themselves are really no better than him.

It’s ridiculous isn’t it. Who knew the UK was a nation of petulant children.

They're mostly being disingenuous I suspect. Many will be the same people arguing about it being unsafe to return to work or for schools to go back, monitoring the daily rates and reading everything they can find to back up why they don't think public toilets should be open.

They're being petulant claiming they're suddenly going to throw parties or kiss their 90 year old Mum because of Dominic Cummings.

I dont think it's tit for tatt, I think people faith that the rules are important has been broken.

A lot of people are stupid. And a lot of people do things just because the law tells them to. There’s a huge overlap between the two groups above. Some people genuinely believe that it’s morally wrong to break the law. I don’t get it but I’m glad they do think like that, just imagine what moronic things they’d get up to otherwise.

I agree op, ask the "DC did X so I can do it" reminds me of being young and doing something cos your mates did and my mom saying "and if they jumped off a cliff would you follow them?

Those who see it as an excuse to throw caution to the wind and start living their lives as they did before the virus are indeed petulant, foolish and selfish. However, yesterday, for the first time since lockdown, I sat in my parent's garden (about 4 metres apart) and did not feel a deep sense of guilt. If you are making the rules then you blody well should stick to them or all credibility and trust is lost. Because we have so many in the country who love someone to blame for their own actions expect a huge increase in infections. The sense of them and us has never been more palpable than it is now.

I am angry, I’ll admit that. I haven’t seen my parents since the start of March, DH hasn’t seen his children since lockdown. But we are still not going to say sod it let’s do it because the virus is still there. Yes we followed advice but we didn’t stay home and do this entirely because of the rules it was also because of the risk. Those risks are still there so we won’t be changing our behaviour just because Dominic Cummings doesn’t care

I think a lot of people are forgetting why we did lockdown in the first place - it was sold to the public as 'we don't want to overwhelm the NHS' but they have been under capacity for weeks now in most places. Scientists are saying that they can't get a vaccine as the virus is dying out too quickly.

The media and government have done such a good spin on 'deadly virus killing everyone' when that's not why we did lock down. Use your judgement and be sensible. I really don't like DC but I wouldn't be surprised as one pp said, part of a master plan to get people back out their houses and mix again.

I agree, OP. I'm not rushing over to see my parents as they are far more likely to be at risk from me and the children, not the other way around. We have two shielded people in that household, I wouldn't dream of risking their lives to spite DC and his stupid government!

Equally, I assess my own risk to be fairly low/children's to be very low, so they are meeting one friend in the park, waving hi from the road not going in. I don't have any friends who are desperate to meet up anyway, many either have health problems or we are chatting on the phone lots, and are not so desperate to see each other we need to go to the park to do so.

I'm shopping online a storm, hope that's contributing to the economy, hated shopping in person anyway so no desire to tramp round Ikea, hated it before, hate it now!

I can't imagine being so desperate for a BBQ I would risk family members.

In all fairness, though, I am at home with two very easy going teens, if I was living alone and hadn't seen anyone for 7 weeks, I would be going for any socially distanced walk/event going. I think it's been very hard for people living on their own.