To think rich people should have to quarantine?

[sally067]

Tweet tonight from Grant Shapps/Michael Green/Sebastian Fox:

twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1334543848333332482

I'm assuming that it will mean that essentially rich people won't have to quarantine when arriving back in the UK whereas the plebs will still be expected to.

@MayYouLiveInInterestingTimes

This is exactly how the virus came here from the other side of the world in the first place. The economy of the rich has been allowed to destroy the economy for ordinary people. We really should be more angry.

I think tourism accounts for quite a significant chunk of international movement. Business travellers account for 12% of passengers : www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/041315/how-much-revenue-airline-industry-comes-business-travelers-compared-leisure-travelers.asp

Most of which will be mass (cheap) tourism.

I can imagine the bitching and whining now if all international travel had been clamped down on in February. It was bad enough people complaining about how much they "needed" some sun over the summer (after we'd just had a ridiculously hot period of weather).

@MayYouLiveInInterestingTimes

This is exactly how the virus came here from the other side of the world in the first place. The economy of the rich has been allowed to destroy the economy for ordinary people. We really should be more angry.

This.

And anybody important enough to need to go on an in-person impossible to conduct remotely ski trip/winter jolly business meeting can afford to quarantine after. It's not as if they'll be quarantined in a hovel. 7-14 days of home comforts. Hardly a chore.

There are a surprising number and variety of jobs that are exempt from quarantining.

Agreed, this isn't a new list - right from the get go in the spring the "exempt" list included a variety of occupations ...we are talking about people like HGV drivers, train drivers (eurotunnel), technicians involved with things like air traffic systems, nuclear power, hospital equipment, crew members on flights bringing stuff like PPE into the UK, the list goes on...the business travellers /sports people etc have just been tacked on, (rightly or wrongly).

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules#new-domestic-elite-sportspersons

And people wonder why we have one of the highest death rates in the world. And why our 'lockdowns' haven't worked better...

What a joke! They aren't even pretending any more are they? Just treating you with open contempt. Bloody Tories.

His name is Rona, he is a spreader
With a cough that is to scare, he’s been here and there
And while he tries to be a star, death watches from afar
Across a crowded globe, he coughs more and more
He is rich and he has the money
Who could ask for more?

At the Rona Coronarona
The wealthy death giv’a
At the Rona Coronarona
Business and travelling were always the fashion
At the Rona... jetting everywhere

Her name was At Risk, but didn’t know it
Rona was on a dining chair, At Risk was workin’ there
And when she came in, he called her over
But At Risk went a bit too near, thinking there was nowt to fear
Then the aerosols flew as he spoke right on cue
Now she is ill on a respirator
Just who had a clue?

At the Rona Coronarona
The wealthy infected death giv’a
At the Rona Coronarona
Business and travelling were always the fashion
At the Rona... killing everywhere

His name is Rona, he was a spreader
But that was months ago, when he was a beau
There’s still business, but not for Rona
His mansion he never leaves, oxygen mask to help him breathe
He lost his health and he lost his drive
Now he’s lost his mind!

At the Rona Coronarona
The wealthy death giv’a
At the Rona Coronarona
Business and jetting were always the fashion
At the Rona.. don’t get too near

Rona
Don’t get too near
Coronarona
Coronarona

I think the issue now, in Dec 2020, is does adding certain business people (whose travel might be beneficial for UK plc) and certain athletes to the already sizeable list of those necessarily "exempt" change the risk now to the UK in any measurable way, and does that slightly increased risk now potentially bring benefits for you and me?

As for the idea it's the rich that caused this, I guess it depends on your definition of rich.

At the start of the year, Jan/Feb, I'd suggest there were far more "ordinary" people arriving into the UK and Europe from the Far east by air in the rear cabins of aircraft than "high rollers" up the front...it was the back end of the Christmas travel period and many Brits would have been coming home having visited family in places like Aus or NZ.

Then we got to half term and as I recall it having spent some time working at a UK airport in Feb it didn't look to me as if it was just the rich and famous and business people going skiing, there were certainly a lot of Mums, Dads, kids and also school trips, going through the airport.

.

They aren't exactly going to be milling around the local pubs and shops are they

How on earth do you work that one out?

Why the fuck do mask threads really take off and people salivate with fury over people who cant wear one or wont wear one yet this which clearly shows complete contempt for the public struggles to get to three pages.

On the face of it, this sounds utterly ridiculous.

One rule for them and one rule for the rest aka the obedient masses