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!?

@ghostmous3

bunch of fucking fruit loops

Oh please. A lot of us poor Welsh are at best mildly pissed off, we are not having hissy fits about this.

Actually many many of us are. You dont speak for everyone welsh

Also, why "us Welsh"? Lots of people living in Wales are not Welsh!

Nicola S is always cute enough to say "the people of Scotland". Not "Scottish people". Plaid Cymru - you've a lot to learn.

How does it protect public health to stop people buying kettles in supermarkets, particularly given that they can easily get them from other shops that are permitted to stay open?

Once again. The closure of non-essential shops is there to protect public health. The prevention of big supermarkets from selling non-essentials is to stop them from capitalizing on the lack of competition from other shops - to create fairness.

When we had countrywide lockdown there were none of these stupid distinctions and covid numbers came down quite successfully

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52090441 Coronavirus Easter Egg Crackdown.

Yes. There. Were*

There were no rules about Easter Eggs, except some that some MNers made up, as well as a few police officers overreaching themselves.

And "once again" (for the hard of hearing on here) stopping people buying stuff in supermarkets does not help the small businesses. It helps Amazon, and has a disproportionale impact on people who need things today and not when Amazon can deliver.

Actually the pjs for the kid in hospital example is a reasonable one. Few years ago I had an accident, smashed my knee up. Hospitalised for a week. DH had to go out straight away and buy me night shirts - they're not something I wear so I don't own any, but due to the massive leg brace and complete inability to move my leg pjs weren't an option. I needed them, and immediately. But you wouldn't think "adult nightwear, totally essential. Folk will definitely need to buy that immediately".

I have LPA for relative in late 80s. Earlier this year she had an accident and broke her hip. I am 200 miles away and spoke to the Sister on the ward and said I couldn't get there till the next day (I'm also my husbands carer so couldn't just go) I was told not to worry they would supply her with night gowns, tooth brush, tooth paste and any other essentials which they keep on the ward. I don't know if this is all hospitals but it certainly was a weight off my mind.

When I got there she did have a hospital nightdress, toothbrush and tooth past and also a lip salve as her mouth was dry, a moisturiser as her skin is dry, flannel towels etc.

There was bugger all in mine - drafty open back gown was all they had. They'd probably have had basic toiletries but I didn't ask.

But clothing is a basic human need and there are many situations where people might need something fairly urgently. Household items are the same - a large proportion of the popular live very close to long hour/24 hour supermarkets so many of us don't keep spares of everything in the way we might have done in the past because most things you'd need urgently can be picked up. I don't have spare duvets - they take up lots of space to store and I live 10 minutes from a 24 hour asda. Why would I have a spare huge duvet just in case? My daughter only has one pair of trainers, mainly cos she's growing like a weed! If she wrecks them (whole sole off has been seen) then a new pair is needed for school next day as they do sport 4 days a week.

The whole fairness for closed shops thing is a nonsense as in most cases people won't wait, they'll just buy online.

The Welsh government and their fascist buddies, the Welsh police have arrested and charged the man taking the plastic coverings off the children's clothes.

www.thesun.co.uk/news/13013124/tesco-shopper-rips-coverings-off-wales-charged-coronavirus/

Dickford says he hasn't told the supermarkets which items should be covered.

The North Wales cops are also promising to patrol Chester football club, to keep drive-in cinema goers out of the toilets, which are just across the Welsh border, so must not be visited, even if it's ok to use the part of the car park which is in England

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/24/cross-border-toilet-trips-at-chester-cinema-fall-foul-of-welsh-covid-rules

I'm fine. I have a wet stocked craft cupboard and plenty of storage space. I've been able to plan ahead and get some entertainment stuff in but I can imagine plenty of situations where people need to buy things that I have:

Primary school child takes bottom of school shoes when scooting. Needs a new pair because they're back in school before lockdown ends.

A family is fleeing from abuse and needs cheap basics to resupply. They only have cash because the abusive partner refused them a credit card.

A foster carer is phoned and told that they should expect 2 children in a few hours. They'll be arriving with nothing but pyjamas.

Someone is allocated a room because they are homeless. They don't have a stove to boil water and the kettle breaks. They don't have a bank account because they don't have a fixed address.

Just because I'm fine it doesn't take much imagination to see why my 'non essentials' are vital for someone else or why Amazon isn't a solution for everyone.

During national lockdown being able to buy some summer clothes when it got extremely hot, some trainers for our long daily walks, a coffee machine and some board games etc is what helped us get through it.

Shutting these things off in supermarkets doesn't make sense.

In fact surely it concentrates everyone in store into a smaller area because there is less to browse ?

There is zero extra risk selling clothes etc if the customers are buying food anyway, it is just utter madness!!! If you need a jumper because you are cold and winter is now here, and you can't buy one - how is that not essential?! It is just utterly unbelievable.

Gloucestershire Police now positioning themselves to enforce this kind of action is outrageous. I am writing to them separately. How can you stop a mother crossing the border for essential supplies because the power mad muppet has deemed her essentials as invalid!

It is outrageous. I would not be putting up with it here in England. There would be protests at every supermarket until he changed his mind.

Drakeford needs to be removed, he is not fit for office. I can see Sturgeon following suit, so watch out Scotland. The whole thing has taken a whole new level of twisted dystopian socialism.

I didn't see any places restricting "non-essential" goods at the start of lockdown here, however I did see plenty of bootlickers on here and elsewhere getting themselves into a froth that people were daring to have things like Easter eggs in their trolleys though, probably incensed that the people didn't just come out of their house once a month to only get the ingredients to make a gruel like substance that could sustain them during lockdown. I'd imagine if places were restricting items at the start it was short lived because it was deemed to be fucking pure lunacy when the rest of the shop is still functioning as it always did.

Also "the spirit of lockdown"? Are you fucking kidding me? Take that saying and shove it up your arse where it belongs.

Why are they patrolling Chester football club?! They’re not in Wales. Wrexham football club, Bangor, Rhyl Town etc fair enough. But Chester is in sodding England!

Who are these people who throw out gloves after winter then buy another pair when the weather gets colder? The people with just one set of bedding? No cheap back up tin opener just in case their normal one breaks at any other time of the year?
A cheap/travel hairdryer in case their normal one packs in when drying their hair?

Average working class folk on average wages with no spare cash to stock up on spares just in case???

Is it really so hard to emerge from your little wealthy bubble to imagine a world where people can't afford to buy extras like a spare duvet "just in case"? When millions are struggling just to pay rent, bills and buy food.

I despair.

@Rhine

Why are they patrolling Chester football club?! They’re not in Wales. Wrexham football club, Bangor, Rhyl Town etc fair enough. But Chester is in sodding England!

Apparently it came to light that the toilets are in Wales so maybe the police were guarding the toilets, they had to get some portaloos for the English side and make sure the drive in cinema was in the right bit. And of course make sure no errant people from Wales snuck in. It’s like some farce.

That’s ridiculous!

@SebastianTheCrab

I thought he was until I read that he did it because smaller stores are being forced to shut so this stops supermarkets being given yet more of an advantage. It may be untrue though, I don't know.

But surely that’s double standards, how can it be non essential in a supermarket but essential in a smaller shop?

Why are they patrolling Chester football club?! They’re not in Wales. Wrexham football club, Bangor, Rhyl Town etc fair enough. But Chester is in sodding England!

The hot dog stand and the toilets are in Wales, as in fact is the stadium itself, although there's no way to get into the stadium without going into England.

(But football is allowed under Welsh rules, because it's elite sport, even though Chester FC is not a professional club, and are in about the tenth division)

You can see the stadium here: www.google.com/maps/place/Swansway+Chester+Stadium/@53.1893229,-2.9276603,16z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x487add83d55a26cf:0xddda2860bc09f432!8m2!3d53.1893229!4d-2.9232829

It seems that the source of the issue is the land reclamation from the 18th century - the land was once the River Dee, but now lies east of the Dee, and should logically be in England, however the original pre-18th century course of the river means that Flintshire police have to stop people going to the toilet on the wrong side of where a river used to be hundreds of years ago.

There are other places with issues - Offa's Dyke which was built by the King of Mercia in the 8th century , and is now the A483, runs through Llanmynech, and you've got the Cross Keys & the Bradford Arms on the right hand side of the road (England), which are open, and then the Dolphin Inn which is on the left-hand side of the road which has been closed down.

Also people living on the wrong side of the road are not supposed to cross the road to go to the pub, but it doesn't seem like the publican should or could enforce that. www.wired.co.uk/article/wales-lockdown-pubs

The Presbyterians are banned from worshipping, because the Ebenezer Chapel is on the Welsh side of the road, but St Agatha's CofE is fully in England, www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2363171/st.-agatha-churchyard

This explains about Nathaniel Kinderley & Company's River Dee channel, which means that people can't buy a hot dog after going to the drive-in
sealandcommunitycouncil.co.uk/about/local-history/

So who decided what’s essential and what’s not? I saw a photo of books being covered, surely to someone isolating at home with none to talk to, books would be essential. My DU in his 70s was so lonely during the last lockdown, I felt so bad I couldn’t see him but I could send him some books, he loves to read, will go through a book in a day or 2. The same with my elderly neighbour, I bought her some books & puzzle books, she was so great full as she was going stir crazy. These are people who don’t have, sky, Netflix, amazon prime etc...

@cologne4711

Once again. The closure of non-essential shops is there to protect public health.
Point me to the evidence that CV was rampant in shops.

The prevention of big supermarkets from selling non-essentials is to stop them from capitalizing on the lack of competition from other shops - to create fairness.
Winston Churchill once said that "the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of misery". Clearly Drakeford still subscribes to the dogma that equality matters above all else, even when the way to achieve it is to make everything equally shit all around. This policy doesn't benefit small businesses in the slightest, the only winner is Amazon.

No what he has done is helped people spend money more with likes of Amazon and other companies that can do next day delivery so I find the whole thing pointless what he's done.

I agree hugely that the only place to benefit from this will be Amazon. What baffled mr yesterday was going to Sainsburys and all non-food cordened off including birthday cards and baby bottles (which I needed!) and then on the drive home noticing that B&M is open.... And bar a few items all aisles are still open. So actually all this will do is encourage people to go to more than one store to try and get things, which surely increases the risk of spread. As much as it pains me I am in support of this lockdown as I believe something had to be done to slow the virus, however if people are going to the supermarket when they need to stock up on food anyway it makes zero sense to me for someone to decide what constitutes essential items for all.

That's shocking that baby bottles were covered, FFS.

@Rhine

Why are they patrolling Chester football club?! They’re not in Wales. Wrexham football club, Bangor, Rhyl Town etc fair enough. But Chester is in sodding England!

Chester football club sits right on the border. The car park is in England, the stadium in Wales.

That’s interesting StandWitch but pita if you live in these areas at the moment

Service station in South Wales. Very silly indeed.

Surely we can be resourceful enough to survive, boil saucepans of water if kettles break, most tins have ring pulls, seriously, some perspective here, I'm sure we can cope!

Any suggestions how the elderly or disabled manage with a bloody saucepan of boiling water? DM could just about use a kettle but no way could she have safely carried a saucepan from the cooker to the worktop.

I can’t help but wonder that shops have taken this a bit to literally? Back in March I went to Sainsbury’s, and the clothing department was all in darkness, presumably to discourage anyone from going in there. There was no need for all this cellophane and wrapping to cover it all up.