To think that Mark Drakeford is a power mad dictator?

[LittleLapwing]

Half the shops covered in plastic. Can’t buy clothes, duvets, books, DVDs, tins but not tin openers.
All the Halloween and bonfire night stuff that’s just been stocked is behind a cordon. Presumably now destined for landfill.

Autumn half term after a shitty year and I can’t even do a few seasonal treats for the kids.

AIBU to think that Mark Drakeford is a power mad dictator, and that his ridiculous game of Covid oneupmanship with Nicola and Boris needs to stop!?

@TeddyIsaHe

I’ve seen the photos and it’s utterly ridiculous. Cling-filmed baby clothes?! I mean ffs. Some people can’t/won’t order online, so their infants can’t be dressed?

This whole shite is giving me the rage.

I asked this on a similar thread and was told clothes weren't essential for babies 🤣

I spoke to a track and trace person who said its because they want to stop halloween and bonfire night. Fun police.

YANBU. As a welsh person living in Wales he effectively exiled us by banning travel, disputing it was a political stunt despite half the country being under restrictions anyway and enforcing a lockdown a few days later! He will want independence next. Mental.

Also, his son was jailed for rape and child sex offences in 2018 are you saying his parents are culpable?

The laughable thing is, you're very unlikely to catch Covid in a shop where masks are mandated. It's mostly spread via prolonged close contact amongst friends and family, which is why we're seeing spreads in schools and households. Schools are staying open in the Welsh circuit breaker (apart from half term) so it's unlikely to have a massive difference, except to Jeff Bezos' pockets of course.

@Noideawottodo

Inwas so invested in this thread, that when I went to Sainsbury's earlier I was momentarily surprised to see the toy, book and cd aisle open. Then I remembered that I live in England.

This made me 😆. I needed that. Diolch/thanks!

The idea that people have 'nothing' in their houses, but were still planning to go out and do a spending spree over half term is ridiculous. The terms of this 17 day, I repeat 17 day measure was well publicised in advance so if you thought you needed craft materials for half term you could have bought them. The idea that children won't have any clothes because people can't buy them for 17 days is utterly ludicrous and makes the much more imprtant and valid arguent about chldren going hungry harder to get across. Basically, people are fed up because their entertainment shopping is being curtailed. And the arhument that we .need people to spread out their Xmas shopping' doesn't stand up, because if they were planning Xmas shopping in the next 17 days, they can put the money aside and do it later. And if anyone os desperate they can shop online, although if you're not happy about using Amazon on principle, then it shows how wobbly your principles are if they can be overcome in 17 days. of course there will be some genuine problemd e.g. child being sick on duvet but there ar eother ways to get over this than HAVING to physically go to a shop and buy one. History will look back on this and conclude we were very lacking.

@sunstreaming Do you seriously, in all honesty, think that stopping people from buying a bloody magazine in a supermarket they have entered anyway is going to make the most minute difference to infection rates? If anything this kind of nonsense will undermine the effectiveness of restrictions by making them objects of ridicule.

I just find it so worrying how people can be in positions of power and yet so.....hard of thinking. Inability to think logically. If you can go to the supermarket to buy food, obviously also buying a kettle or a pen or some clothing for your child or whatever whilst you're there.....makes fuck all difference to whether Covid will be spread or not. In positions of power and able to makes these batshit but very very controlling rulings.

If he's trying to demonstrate that an independent Wales, presumably led by him and his, is a good idea ... well it isn't doing what he thinks it's doing.

History will look back on this and conclude we were very lacking.

History will look back and think we all lost the fucking plot and that we were lead by absolute fucking power crazed wankers.

[quote SomewhereEast]@sunstreaming Do you seriously, in all honesty, think that stopping people from buying a bloody magazine in a supermarket they have entered anyway is going to make the most minute difference to infection rates? If anything this kind of nonsense will undermine the effectiveness of restrictions by making them objects of ridicule.[/quote]
This. If you make batshit rulings that have zero logic to them and are overly draconian, then people will just stop following any of the measures which might have some effect too.

@Elphame

Damn the lack of an edit

What I meant was he has no electoral mandate to be FM. We in Wales had this Corbinist thrust upon us by his party who have the tiniest margin possible in the Senedd. I expect they'll lose a lot of seats to Plaid in the May election

Sorry- don’t normally follow Welsh politics. That makes it even worse and I AM EVEN MORE RAGING FOR YOU NOW!

I’m in North Wales, usually work over the border, now wfh, for what it’s worth no one I know objects to this. No one I know has come into contact with Rona. Drakefords handling of the pandemic has seen his personal ratings go through the roof. BTW it was a Tory, requesting the action, on behalf of the some small business federation that kicked it all off.

@Lemonyfuckit it’s very hard to take a Government seriously when it’s debating with Tescos over the legality of birthday cards!

@Lurkerlot the Tory wanted small shops to be allowed to stay open as they’re such low risk and desperately need the income. This knee jerk reaction was all Welsh Labour.

Carbon monoxide monitors covered. Obviously not essential

@sunstreaming

The idea that people have 'nothing' in their houses, but were still planning to go out and do a spending spree over half term is ridiculous. The terms of this 17 day, I repeat 17 day measure was well publicised in advance so if you thought you needed craft materials for half term you could have bought them. The idea that children won't have any clothes because people can't buy them for 17 days is utterly ludicrous and makes the much more imprtant and valid arguent about chldren going hungry harder to get across. Basically, people are fed up because their entertainment shopping is being curtailed. And the arhument that we .need people to spread out their Xmas shopping' doesn't stand up, because if they were planning Xmas shopping in the next 17 days, they can put the money aside and do it later. And if anyone os desperate they can shop online, although if you're not happy about using Amazon on principle, then it shows how wobbly your principles are if they can be overcome in 17 days. of course there will be some genuine problemd e.g. child being sick on duvet but there ar eother ways to get over this than HAVING to physically go to a shop and buy one. History will look back on this and conclude we were very lacking.

Plenty people waiting for an end of the month pay day probably were waiting for half term before they replaced stuff or bought that winter coat.

I'm afraid Nicola Sturgeon is not far behind with her 5 tiers. From what I understand tier 4 is pretty much lockdown so god help us if we have to implement tier 5.

And to some of the sanctimonious posters who think MD is reasonable - what about people who don't have / can't use the internet, ditto those who don't have credit cards / like to use cash, those who don't have much money to stock up on 'non-essential' things in advance, people who have medical conditions that results in problems with memory / planning ahead. Just because you find something OK doesn't mean it won't impact negatively on someone else

The terms of this 17 day, I repeat 17 day measure was well publicised in advance

Not quite true that, is it?
We were told with less than 24 hours that we would only be allowed to buy what King Mark deemed necessary, and the vague details of what these items were weren’t published until around ten mins AFTER lockdown began.

And I’ll believe the alleged 17 days when I see it.

I think MD is actually a decent, well-intentioned bloke who is way out of his depth. I don't know of one person who is in favour of these restrictions but here we all are again, getting on with it.

I think part of the trouble is that Labour has such a hold in the Senedd it's very difficult to challenge any of these decisions. Everything is stage-managed and the press are afraid to rock the boat. There's a petition though with 30000 signatures.

What's the betting that the next Election will be postponed?

I think another part of the problem is that MD is also unimaginative. He's not dynamic or forward thinking which has left Wales weakened and economically vulnerable. Our M4 relief road is not going ahead, but and we've still not got a decent road to the airport.

We haven't even got a bus station in our capital city ffs. We're like a third world country, with a tin pot dictator we're stuck with.

For what it's worth - Mark Drakeford most certainly does not want Welsh independence.

This short circuit breaker lockdown was recommended by SAGE on 21st September. The Government ignored them:

Minutes from a 21 September meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), published on the government website on Monday night, showed that a short period of lockdown was at the top of a list of measures to be considered for "immediate introduction".

SAGE, which has provided scientific and technical advice to ministers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, warned that "not acting now" would result in a "very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences" amid a rising number of coronavirus cases.

Drakeford is simply following the best scientific advice to avoid the "catastrophic consequences" for Wales.

I'm grateful to him for his action. England will follow suit within a few weeks when it becomes obvious that they have no other option.

I think Mark Drakeford is doing the right thing. I think people have difficulty seeing the bigger picture, lacking any kind of insight into the strategy and science behind decisions because they are blighted with their own fear and anger.