Why is Boris actively advising people to go against his own government’s official message?

[Ethelfleda]

From PMQs:

“The prime minister also told the nation to go back to work, emphasising that the message to stay at home had outlived its usefulness and “people should try to lead their lives more normally”

From Govt website:

stay at home as much as possible
work from home if you can

So... are we expecting them to change the ‘stay alert’ message now??
Did he mean get back to work if furloughed or back to your place of work if you’ve been WFH?

I really wish the message was clearer

Johnson’s been utterly rubbish at every job he’s held. Was anyone really expecting the leopard to change his spots?
He’s best ignored.

@BarbaraofSeville

Like London says, without office workers commuting, trade in coffee and lunch shops is massively down and threatens the viability of those businesses.

The top brass at Costa, Pret, Greggs, Subway etc are probably bending his ear.

But people have realised they can live without all this and have saved a fortune so many now prefer to work from home and make their own coffee and sandwiches.

This. Possibly with an additional benefit of helping people lose weight as well.

@laidbacklife Not sure it is really possible to ignore the person running the country, as much as I would like to!

Some businesses closed that didn't need to.
My car mechanics shut shop for 3 months. They could have stayed open throughout.
I bet there are a lot like that. Still haven't reopened although could.

And trying to implement the new guidelines is a giant nightmare for many businesses, not even sure if they can physically or financially do it. Less painful to stay shut down with furloughed workers for as long as possible.

How does one ignore the Prime Minister?

It’s so utterly ridiculous. I work for a large organisation in central London, >2k staff. At the moment we’re all WFH and it’s going okay. Do they really want thousands more people who can successfully WFH getting on the tube and exposing people to unnecessary risk just for the sake of the lunchtime trade?

@lljkk

Some businesses closed that didn't need to. My car mechanics shut shop for 3 months. They could have stayed open throughout. I bet there are a lot like that. Still haven't reopened although could.

And trying to implement the new guidelines is a giant nightmare for many businesses, not even sure if they can physically or financially do it. Less painful to stay shut down with furloughed workers for as long as possible.

Maybe it is businesses like this he was referring to? I do wish they'd be clearer, it is so draining trying to work out what he means

The problem is many offices have realised how much cheaper it could be to have the majority of staff working from home and they aren't keen to go back to the old way.
Companies would be far better working our ways to adapt to this change - ie what can they offer on delivery if people aren't coming into the store or cafe? How can they entice people to order from home etc

We've spent a fortune during lockdown, toys etc to keep DC busy and entertained, kit for our office so DH can work in their properly, had to replace some things at home because we are all spending so much more time using things. Our bills have also shot up for the sheer fact we are all at home so using services more.
Food shopping is more expensive now too and all clothes etc have been purchased online (for DS as he was growing like a weird) and due to stock levels spent more than we normally would
Due to this I'm not keen to start throwing my money around eating out etc when I don't have to because who knows what the next few months are going to bring
We've done a bit of spending due to circumstance and now this sudden push to get back to normal is having the opposite effect on me - I want to save my cash and see how the land lies, I don't want to go spending unnecessarily incase we get a second wave/job losses happen etc

Basically I can't see how they can undo the STAY HOME TO SAVE LIVES messaging now that they've hammered home for the last four months

Because he doesn’t want to play anymore😀

lljkk exactly that - there are many companies that I have tried to use within my employment area that are unavailable due to their staff being furloughed. I work in vehicle maintenance which was never advised to close, my particular establishment is struggling because of this and as a result half the staff were also put on furlough. We just couldn’t acquire the resources to complete the numbers of jobs required to pay everyone and break even, despite having the potential of a roaring trade.

There are too many companies taking the piss now which is why the country is not going to recover, economically, any time soon. But there are always the minority who will take the piss. What can BJ do about that without punishing everyone?

@LondonJax

DH and I assumed he meant he wanted people to get back to work as, if you're working from home, you're not buying your morning coffee/sandwich/breakfast pastry or whatever. Because a lot of those town centre shops aren't getting the footfall they used to get. Then there's the after work drink on a Friday.

What he isn't counting on is that some people will want to hold on to their cash just in case things get tighter as this goes on. So that won't help the economy.

This with bells on.

I'm what you would call a senior professional person, and like everyone else at my level and in my line of work, I used to spend a fortune on lunch each day. Sometimes breakfast on the go too. And sometimes dinner, delivered to the office, as there would be some sort of crisis and we wouldn't be able to go home until close to midnight.

The amount of money that people like me spent on ready-to-eat food during the working week was insanely high, because we didn't have any time to stop, breathe and make our own food.

I don't understand how this has come as as surprise to Boris.

Boris wants people like me to resume spending in the way we used to. However, with the amount of time and money I save in working from home, I can make my own healthier food which tastes better and keeps my weight down. And losing weight is one of the smartest things you can do to reduce your risk of dying from Covid. I also need to save money, because job cuts are happening in my profession, and I may need savings to live off for a bit. Everyone is worried about redundancy.

I'm not going to go back to work and spend my mornings with my face pressed into some tall bloke's armpit, and another man grinding against my butt, because Boris wants me to spend £20 on lunch at Nando's and get a tenner off.

He really should have been careful what he wished for. No one wanted to work from home - but now we've all got used to it.

The man is an idiot.

Our "extremely clever" Prime Minister has only just realised the country is screwed. People working from home aren't using shops, so the high street is well on the way to being more buggered than it is already.

All this "go out and spend" is a load of shit too. People aren't going to be doing that if they've had a reduced/no income, have been made redundant or are staring that possibility in the face.

It's been a shit show from day one of this virus effort and will continue to be, none of them have a bloody clue what they are doing.

Be interesting to see what happens with HS2 if most companies switch to home working... surely we won’t need a high speed rail network to connect the major cities if nobody has to travel for work??

@killerofmen

He probably doesn't know what the government advice is. I'm so embarrassed that he's prime minister.

This 😬

Going back to the office isn’t really an option for me when my dcs are at home with no childcare 🤷🏻‍♀️

This government, with only privileged men in the most influential positions, have no concept of having to juggle childcare and work so I’m not surprised they’ve done fuck all to assist childcare providers.

It’s like a DH who leaves all the mental load to his wife but on a much grander scale.

Our prime minister and his government are appalling.

Plus the 'get back to work' doesn't sit comfortably next to the confusing guidelines for wraparound care, childminders and holiday clubs so provision is v uneven with some parents unable to access care but being told by employers they need to go back.

It's so uncoordinated and random. Why another 2 weeks for indoor pools which are large, chlorinated spaces and they've had months to work out the SD for changing. Another 2 weeks really isn't going to make much odds. Its just a random jumble.

We're also supposed to lose a lot of weight and eat in a lot of restaurants and cafes during August.

He's definitely got a bet on with Trump to see who can stay in power longest whilst offering nothing but full-on incompetence, illogical rules and self-importance.

We're also supposed to lose a lot of weight and eat in a lot of restaurants and cafes during August.

I'd say the best way forward is to just not listen to him and his merry bunch of idiots anymore.

I gave up about two weeks in to this effort.

Plus the 'get back to work' doesn't sit comfortably next to the confusing guidelines for wraparound care, childminders and holiday clubs so provision is v uneven with some parents unable to access care but being told by employers they need to go back

^this

As ever it’s worth writing to your MP, especially if they’re a Tory, to point out their flawed approach. They do pay attention to the stuff they get.

Link fail!

I give up 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

write to your MP

Square brackets Iggly!

Thanks iggly that issue doesn't affect me personally but there was a long thread on here the other day about it. Schools not allowing a cm or gp to pick up the kid due to 'bubbles' for instance. It's clearly bonkers since siblings and school transport wreck the bubbles anyway. As ever, it's a poorly thought out 'plan' that has women primarily as the ones left struggling or at risk of losing their jobs.

If I have to spend money can't I spend it at my local shops near home? I'd rather support my local café than a big chain. I won't be able to spend if I go into work anyway as we aren't allowed outside at lunchtime.