AIBU to think people will blame the PM for relaxing the rules rather than take personal responsibility if someone they see at Christmas is hospitalised with covid?

[PrincessNutNuts]

I think people will blame the government generally, and the Prime Minister personally, for relaxing the rules for five days at Christmas if the Christmas they had leads to a loved one being seriously ill with covid.

"The government shouldn't have let us do it if it wasn't safe." they'll say.

They won't take personal responsibility for it and admit they knew it wasn't safe - for instance - to mix school age children with elderly or Shielding people who don't see them regularly, and haven't seen people indoors for months.

What do you think? Will people hold their hands up and take responsibility for putting their loved ones at risk?

Or blame Boris?

@LolaSmiles, everything is their fault, yet they take responsibility for nothing.😆😬

If I finished work today, had to get a tube to my elderly parents would I consider it? No

If I can self isolate for 14 days & then meet up with family who have done the same would I? Yes

I also think they don't want mass rule breaking.

Yes definitely, a lot of people will carry on as normal then when the shit hits the fan, it's never their fault. X

I wouldn't blame the government.
I wouldn't blame the electorate either.

Have a think about where the virus came from.

If my relatives get covid it won't because I have it to them as we're all currently isolating for 14 days before we meet.

So no, I won't be blaming myself but then I don't tend to place blame in that way. Nobody here asked for this did they?

Yes, the people will blame the government and the government will blame the people. So even-stevens. 🤷‍♀️

@SpnBaby1967

I wont blame anyone for someone I know for catching a virus, given this is what viruses do. Its nobodies "fault".

Because if you blame the person giving the elderly the virus, you should blame the person who caught the virus equally for also being around that person.

Therefore, I blame no one because I'm a decent human being.

We don't have to take the risk to deliver the virus to an elderly relative though, do we?

I’m not seeing anyone. I will blame Boris AND the people who took advantage of the Christmas rules. Just because you’re allowed to do something doesn’t mean you should. It’s very clear that the Christmas rules are dangerous and foolish but too many selfish dicks would ignore any Christmas lockdown anyway and Boris wants to be praised for “saving Christmas”

Stay the fuck at home. It’s ONE Christmas

Lola I am aware of all of that but that still does not preclude you or I or anyone else from exercising caution over the festive break.

Stop calling him Boris. He is not a cuddly uncle he is a cunning bastard who is leaving a good portion of this country in financial penury and basing his foreign trade policy on whether or not his hedge fund will profit from it. That's number one.

Number two is you don't have and pay for a government to organise a response to things like a global pandemic for you and then expect 50 million people to each take personal responsibility for its spread. If you don't want people to mix over xmas you legislate for it and you put all the safety nets and provision that people will need as a result of that in place. Mental health provision. Money for people who will lose out on xmas trade. You don't insist on having children in school until the last possible moment and then allow mixing over xmas. You don't encourage people to go xmas shopping and you don't allow your cronies to persuade you to let them open their pub chains when you know perfectly well they should be closed.

Lola I am aware of all of that but that still does not preclude you or I or anyone else from exercising caution over the festive break..
It doesn't, but it does matter when his fan club will be clutching their pearls and joining in his inevitable blaming of the british public for a situation caused by his own staggering incompetence.

You can see it already in this thread, some people are all ready to stick the boot into people who do choose to follow the 3 household rules over Christmas.

All the way through this pandemic he knows he has enough of the British public who will believe whatever shit he says to deflect responsibility because they think he's some loveable buffoon. He's gaslighting the nation.

Nowaynothappening posted:

"Totally agree and I’m no fan of the Tories.

They would have been completely slammed if they didn’t relax the rules over Christmas and, let’s face it, people would have broken the rules anyway. They will get slammed in the new year for relaxing the rules because Boris has some sort of misplaced trust in the ‘common sense of the British public’."

@Nowaynothappening Yep, he can't win, no matter what he does or says. Anyway, it would be impossible to police strict rules against households mixing - there aren't enough police to enforce such rules. I think his words of caution today were pretty reasonable and hope that people will heed them.

@TheRubyRedshoes

Lola I am aware of all of that but that still does not preclude you or I or anyone else from exercising caution over the festive break.

If thats the case, why have any guidelines or rules? after all we can all exercise caution......

Johnson wants to be popular, the headlines when he relaxed restrictions were "Boris Saves Christmas" he likes that sort of thing.

He relaxed the rules BEFORE we knew the effects following the lockdown.

Now we have the guidelines contradicting the rules, once again the message is a mess.

Yes they will. It is mainly his and his governments fault for not acting appropriately ever since the pandemic hit. The Christmas will we / won't we shitshow has simply shone a light on the fact that absolutely none of them "at the top" have a fucking clue what they are doing and never have. So I blame Boris too because he is a prize prick.

It is mainly his and his governments fault for not acting appropriately ever since the pandemic hit. The Christmas will we / won't we shitshow has simply shone a light on the fact that absolutely none of them "at the top" have a fucking clue what they are doing and never have. So I blame Boris too because he is a prize prick.
👏👏
I'm all up for personal responsibility and challenging people who are trying to argue that they can see 5 families over Christmas, just like I'm all up for personal responsibility when it came to mixing after the last lockdown. Even on the current restrictions my view was just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

However our current government have been full of contradictions and U turns, go out, stay in, eat out to help out... oops naughty naughty now we have to lock you down again, see families at Christmas, travel across the country, but we might lock you down in January (so people who might otherwise have stayed home and seen family after lockdown eases now feel their choice is Christmas or nothing for an indefinite period), ok so we keep the mixing it try not to mix. Just remember if the cases go up it has nothing to do with us here in government, if people die then it's your fault

Of course Boris and this incompetent government is and will be to blame.

All through this pandemic it's been a series of deliberately vague messaging and thus is just another case of 'it'll be the publics fault'.

Vague and confusing messaging on purpose.

@ItsIgginningtolookalotlikeXmas

So should I blame myself when I go back to work in early January and catch Covid off a youngster, and then bring that home to a vulnerable relative? The problem is that the people getting sick won't necessarily be the ones who fannied about over Christmas

Exactly if only it was as simple as the person or people mixing with lots of people then catching Covid it'll be these people that pass onto someone in the supermarket or work and these people could of seen nobody at all . So as much as I'm saying it makes sense not to mix households I bet the ones mixing will probably be not ill they will just pass onto those poor people that have tried to stay safe . Unfortunately we will all have to be in contact with people occasionally it's inevitable .

Absolutely. The people who are daft enough to still be mixing aren't generally people who take responsibility seriously. It will never be their own fault.

I’m far from a fan of the government and all the mixed messages like ‘don’t go to the Boxing Day sales’ but still allowing the shops to be open really don’t help.

But ffs this pandemic really has showed how selfish and/or stupid a large percentage of this country is. Sensible people are making their own decisions based on what’s safe for them and whoever they come into contact with, unfortunately there are plenty of idiots who’ll blindly do what the gov says or what the hell they feel like with very little rational thought behind it.

@ItsIgginningtolookalotlikeXmas

So should I blame myself when I go back to work in early January and catch Covid off a youngster, and then bring that home to a vulnerable relative? The problem is that the people getting sick won't necessarily be the ones who fannied about over Christmas

This in bucket loads,

What’s personal responsibly can I take? When I welcome all my children back in January. And yes I will be blaming Boris because I’m certainly not to blame.

@Hoppinggreen

I think his whole strategy is designed so that nothing is actually his responsibility or fault They could make the rules stronger but by issuing guidelines instead it means whatever happens isn’t the Governments fault

This. With bells on.

I agree with you OP. I think cases would rise anyway after Xmas regardless of whether Boris relaxed the rules or not because people would have met up with families anyway. But now people have someone to blame by saying that they were allowed instead of using some common sense.

It is totally unfair to blame the Govt for the relaxing of rules at Christmas. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Yet they will be blamed by those lacking in intelligence, personal responsibility (or both).

If the Govt initiated stricter measures then lots of people would, after months of measures, ignore them and decide they are celebrating Christmas. This would undermine the Government.

We live in a free country where we try not to have unnecessary restrictions on freedom but many people enjoy freedom but don't want to exercise any personal responsibility.

I note the leader of the opposition isn't prepared to come out and say what he would do but is happy to criticise the Govt.

Everybody needs to exercise personal responsibility. Any party that was in Govt would be scared to impose the measures needed to protect the population of our country because of the delicate balance between lives versus the economy.

I am fed up of hearing that people are confused about the rules, they aren't clear, blah blah, blah. The Govt don't want the economy to be fucked. Who would? They are doing the best they can in difficult circumstances. We all need to pull out all the stops to help get this situation under control.

Calmandmeasured1

We have one of the highest death tolls in the world (per capita) So its pretty clear we are not exercising "Personal Responsibility"

They should have just left it as it was, Johnson relaxed before it was known how the virus was spreading.

The Govt undermined itself by not sacking Cummings and then giving him a 40% pay rise....

Its not the opposition's job to propose policy, they are not in full possession of the facts, Johnson wont release the modelling on xmas relaxation.
Their job is to hold the Govt to account and ask the questions we cannot.