Are we still in lockdown?

[Emcont]

Are we still in lockdown?

What are we still not allowed to do?

The lines are so blurred!

@EnlightenedOwl I kind of understand what you are getting at. The emotion involved when you lose someone close is extremely real and raw and I really wouldn't seek to minimise the feelings that some PP have felt as a result of losing someone to COVID19. But as harsh as it sounds, those voices are not necessarily the only voices that should be heard. Someone who has lost someone to alcoholism wouldn't be the most rational voice on alcohol policy, a soldier who suffered PTSD is not the best person to advise on whether we should go to war. They have a very small, personal micro-perspective of a situation, and will find it hard to look at the bigger picture. I have a huge amount of sympathy those that have lost loved ones, but that doesn't mean we should hide away indefinitely.

@ IndiaMay it’s not the 4th July yet!

@IncrediblySadToo

I literally cut and pasted that from the .gov website. Why are you getting at me?

But almost everything isn't open. Restaurants aren't, museums aren't, swimming pools, gyms, spas, holiday accommodation, indoor parts of country house type places, libraries, cinemas, theatres all not open.

No events are happening (festivals, most sporting events both amateur and professional all off). Realistically, no-one can go on holiday, whether in the UK or abroad (flights might be happening, but FCO guidance is still 'do not travel' and most travel insurance is invalid, so not a practical option to most people.

All that seems to be open are shops, takeaways and medical services. How is that 'almost everything'? It sounds like 'almost nothing' to me.

@Everanewbie

I think opponents of the Conservatives and BJ use Cummings as an excuse for breaking restrictions. What Cummings did was questionable and borderline, but did what he did in a bit of a panic given that he and his wife were ill and they needed childcare and get hounded all the time.

Blaming DC seems much more 'woke' than maybe saying that they broke the restrictions given that thousands of people turned up for BLM and the government/police did nothing.

I think the subsequent, inexcusable and illegal Barnard Castle trip plus the blanket and often ridiculous support from the Cabinet was probably a bigger issue than the initial grossly irresponsible but likely legal drive. And the Cummings affair predated the BLM march. People could be being partial, or they could just be nothing the impact of chronology. I think you're also being a bit partial yourself if you think the only influence it had was on people who already opposed Johnson.

ZombieLizzieBennet the blanket cabinet response was poor, I mean there is no nuance to the responses. If I was asked by a journalist and I was in cabinet, i would have said 'yes, DC has made us look a bit silly, what he did was borderline, and the castle trip maybe slightly beyond borderline, and it embarrasses us who are trying to tell everyone to stay at home. But he has kids and he made decisions on their welfare. How can you crucify a man for that? Lets move on'

Probably why i'd never succeed in politics, following the whip and never criticising your own is too important. But i genuinely think DC's actions were not that bad and that emergency child care is being used as a stick to beat the government.

Personally, I think peoples justification for breaking the rules should be more around refusing to co-operate with an unprecedented restriction on freedoms for a disease that had peaked in mid-march with the justification for lockdown being based on discredited models and the lack of diversity of opinion within SAGE.

The thing is everanewbie, even if you think travelling the length of the country when one of you has what you believe to be covid symptoms is ok, and it probably was legal, there just isn't any excuse at all for the Barnard Castle trip. The account he gave breached the lockdown regulations, as well as raising safeguarding issues because he chose to travel on the road, with his child, whilst uncertain whether he could do so safely. Naturally, people immediately identified that. Of course it undermined the legitimacy of the rules then: if they're not important enough to stop the PM and various other Cabinet members embarrassing themselves pretending it was fine for him to break them, people then wonder how important they are. It's inevitable. That's also why Prof Diamond went even though unlike Cummings he hadn't actually broken the law.

And we can all feel however we want on how people should behave, but this is different to an argument about how they are behaving. You thinking people shouldn't reject a policy because the government clearly think it doesn't apply to people with enough power who find it inconvenient doesn't mean they didn't, and it doesn't mean people who suggest that are being politically partial. Fwiw I think social distancing was on the wane before Cumgate and wouldn't have persisted even without it, but there's no realistic argument that he plus the politicians falling in behind him didn't take a sledgehammer to what was left.

I agree with Barbara, hardly anything is open right now. 4th July a small number of types of businesses are open but it is extremely naive (and selfish) to think otherwise. That is what gets me about people deciding to completely ignore the distancing rules etc as there are many people potentially going to lose their jobs or businesses as a result of this but in peoples narrow minds it's all ok as long as they are.

My DS is a musician, he potentially won't be earning until next year, he is supposed to be having his biggest gig ever in the autumn and no one has any idea if it'll go ahead, he will have to invest money in it first though and potentially lose it. He isnt in a bad position as we support him financially but its huge set back, for some people in creative industries they'll lose their homes.

@Littlecaf. if you're in a support bubble you do not need to be socially distant.

@juneisbustingout

What on earth is common sense? An international global pandemic, killed 500k + and all we have is "common sense" to save us.

With good ole common sense, we could get rid of all driving laws, all health & safety laws, disband the Child Support Agency..... but people don't have common sense, they are selfish and only think of themselves and their immediate needs.

So we need laws and enforcement, CV should be no different but it is (in the UK) and we'll pay for this as the next few months unfold.