To be shocked and bemused by the mentality of some people?

[Bbq1]

I am as horrified as most other people are, by the hordes of people descending on beaches around the UK and behaving worse than animals in many cases. Scum who defecate and urinate in public places, leave tonnes of litter and fight and drink. All for 3rd degree sunburn and possibly Coronavirus. I am just bemused by their mentality of these people. Are they selfish, thick, just don't care? I heard the most unbelievable thing on the radio earlier. The presenter lives in Bournemouth and was approached by 2 guys in their 20s early this morning asking where they could get a bacon butty. She said they were a bit early and they said they had slept on the beach on towels. After seeing Bournemouth on the news last night they had jumped in their car at 10pm and driven straight to Bournemouth from London "to join the party"...WTAF?! A party?! Who and what are these people that think that type of idea is actually a good one?

I think we all know the answer to that question

To be devils advocate: for lots of people in their early 20’s
(a) you feel immortal,
(b) CV isn’t a big risk to you personally and
(c) you’re social life till March involved clubs etc-plenty of people, crowds, buzzy atmosphere.

So then you see an opportunity to be Out, and perceive Bournemouth as a middle-class retirement base for right-wing Boomers, so you don’t much care if you annoy them, even if the thought of local residents enters your head.

after sitting home playing board games with your mum in a too-small house for three months, I can see the mentality. NB - I’m NOT defending it, it’s selfish and dumb, but some people are selfish and dumb.

YANBU. At all.

However, in defence of the people making those questionable choices, our lockdown as a whole has been ineffective and pointless because we didn't do it quickly or harshly enough, and no amount of beach gatherings is going to convince me that anyone is more responsible for the blasé attitudes of the public than our Government.

They have led us poorly and ineffectively throughout and the result is that not all of us have taken it seriously. I have relatives in France and Italy - the early easing of lockdown in both countries was still more limiting than our total lockdown and they seem to have eased it gradually and whilst both countries have been through the mill, we are being held up across Europe as a definite example of how not to handle this disaster.

You know what they say. There are two things that govern COVID spread: the density of the population and the density of the population.

Just can't believe anyone would hear there was a major incident at Bournemouth beach due to the crowds and say in all seriousness, "let's join in". And go! Whether they've been stuck in for 3 months playing board games or not!

Some people aren't very intelligent - there's no pleasant way to put it. They're dimwits who are led by selfish impulses, with no idea of applying caution, common sense or judgement.

Oh look here is another Mumsnetter here to show us just how much better she is than the masses who behave differently than she does.

I don't condone everyone flocking to the beaches but i think calling these people things like scum, selfish, thick, and worse than animals makes you pretty scummy yourself.

Well, I don't defecate and urinate on the beach/in peoples gardens. I don't get into drunken fights, I don't leave mounds of litter on the beach, just dropping it where I sit. I don't spit at and attack people trying to empty bins and clean up. You might notice that upthread lots of pp agree. Before you go calling us all 'scummy', you might want to re-evaluate your definition of scum.

I’m not going to define ‘scum’ as ‘Dominic Cummings’, but I think the government defence of his actions was the point at which people started to ignore the guidelines in large numbers. Poor leadership leads to poor compliance.

I live in the area. There's NO WAY I ever go to the beach in the summer!!! LOL.

There are lots of quiet beaches we had a lovely day on Thursday on near empty beach just a few other families clean empty loo and socially distanced fish and chips. Took our litter home didn’t see any litter on the beach at all.

I think the media portrays them as disgusting animals when in fact they've had enough of lockdown. Lockdown has been much worse for a section of society. I don't for one second condone what they're doing but you've got to understand these people are desperate. I mean, they must be! They probably think no one gives a toss about them, which is true if you think about it.

I agree op. I asked the same after the footage of the incident at Durdle door.

People jumping off the cliff, massive incident. Helicopters, etc.

Next day, let's go jump of the cliff!!

Surely it's more bemusing that beaches weren't shut? Hancock (?) has the authority to do it but didn't because of a combination of

1. he's a politician and this doesn't affect him
2. he wants people to catch it now.
3. after no spike in infections after VE Day, protests and other Durdle Door incidents so he's going to chance it.
4. they are about to announce air bridges and holidays starting. These litter louts will help stimulate local economies and why shouldn't some tourist money go to UK destinations and save the necessity for government to feel pressured to help later?

The cynic in me thinks he wants to use these people as data to evaluate whether other big gatherings can recommence eg people attending footie matches

OP, I’m with you on this - disrespectful attitude towards other people and their property, our environment, the law and law enforcement officers is really worrying. The tensions are building all around with the society polarisation steadily progressing. Financial troubles, unemployment and closure of education institutions will not make the situation any better sadly.
Young people especially have a lot of energy that needs to be channelled somewhere. If it’s not into education, sports, work, then it will be directed somewhere else. I speak as a mother of a teen who is lucky enough to have carried on with her schooling and hobbies online, however, sadly millions of youths in this country, have been left to their own devices.

I think they are scummy. Obviously it’s not the majority but the few who are behaving this way. Defecating in public places, leaving huge piles of rubbish and getting in to brawls is anti-social ‘scummy’ behaviour. Also unacceptable. Yes, we’ve all been locked in for a while but that doesn’t mean we need to act like selfish loons.

Drivers and their passengers shower the hedgerows with a cascade of litter, including bottles of urine, therefore all vehicle users are scummy.

I agree that the littering and fighting is disgraceful. Toileting outside also grim but if you have to go you have to go. With a lack of facilities open and that many people queuing for the limited public toilets that are available, I can see how this could happen.

It's a mixture between poor personal responsibility and shocking leadership by the government. The messages have been so unclear throughout. We have well and truly been failed. Wild horses wouldn't have dragged me on a beach like that, it looked hellish but I can see the 'mentality' in people wanting to go to the beach on the hottest day of the year after months of being indoors.

Having said that there is no excuse for the littering and behaviour and the sheer amount of numbers was frightening.

I don't condone everyone flocking to the beaches but i think calling these people things like scum, selfish, thick, and worse than animals makes you pretty scummy yourself.

Really - what do you call people who behave in such a disgusting and obnoxious way?

What shocked me was the article I read about the volunteers at Littlestone lifeboat station having to clean up human waste before they could launch the lifeboats for an emergency call. These people give up their time to save lives and this is the thanks and respect they get?

I think the littering is disgusting but can't get worked up about the crowds. Every time there's an event people have been saying there will be a spike in cases - Easter, VE day, the May bank holidays, BLM protests. There hasn't been one.

Seriously, change the record. I went to the beach on Thursday, stop judging everyone and every beach on the scenes in Bournemouth.

I am getting completely fed up of being lumped together with those shown on the news.

And as for closing beaches, how the hell do you do that?

I don't excuse the litter, it's one of my bug bears and probably the harshest thing I came down on when my children were young. But close the public toilets and people need somewhere to go.

Young people, especially men are generally not socially responsible. As said they consider themselves immortal, are short on empathy, understanding, a bit selfish and all about a good time.

The families I can understand, because nothing else is open.

We've been fucked over. Even Chris Whitty, the governments nodding dog, doesn't fully agree with us relaxing the rules. There's no science or research behind keeping schools closed and opening pubs. People have had enough.

People are starting to argue about were to sit on the buses, masks aren't being worn. The distancing in shops is going. It's one big social experiment and if there's a cull, then so be it, seems to be the attitude of the government.

Interestingly one of the heads of WHO said that he wasn't worried about the beach activity, it was the use of toilets that was the risk. So as long as you go outside, it's fine.