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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

If there was no end in sight for ending lockdown would you protest?

126 replies

GreyFrenchique · 12/02/2021 00:12

Disclaimer: I'm not organising anything of the sort and have no plans to attend one.. I'm a regular poster which MN can verify but I've NC.

My post is prompted by a conversation I had with my friend tonight who is, like many of us, sick and tired of living this way.

If the 'roadmap' set out on Feb 22nd is bleak and offers no encouraging plans to end lockdown, would you attend a protest if there were one? Wearing a mask obviously.

YANBU - yes
YABU - no

OP posts:
givemesteel · 12/02/2021 07:26

It depends. I'm willing to put up with a lot of restrictions if the schools go back and there is some sort of guarantee that we won't have to homeschool anymore.

But my whole life is on hold at the moment because of the homeschooling situation, I've lost a year of my life.

Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow · 12/02/2021 07:27

fripp no i don’t and well done for noticing. I wouldn’t have closed primary schools to begin with. Appalling decision that history will judge us shamefully for.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 12/02/2021 07:48

Personally I want exact facts and figures.

Presuming that measures will start to be relaxed when infection rates are low enough. I want exact numbers. What exactly is "low enough". 1000 a day? 500 a day? Same with hospitalizations.

You can't just pluck a date out of thin air and say restrictions will end on this day - because if infection rates are still high they won't end and will carry on.

GreenlandTheMovie · 12/02/2021 08:05

Yes, I would. I think what is now happening in the UK has gone beyond what is necessary to protect us from the virus, and is more about protecting politicians from any possible blame and keeping them electable.

The fact that countries such as France have decided not to go back into full lockdien and there is no internal travel ban.

I will always stand up for human rights and argue against the long term suspension of them. I am sick of hearing from unelected scientists and doctors who demonstrate too many signs of god complex syndrome for my liking. I'd rather hear a more balanced response from experts on human rights and the legality of kickdown and disproportionate measures. The suspension of human rights has historically always resulted in far more deaths over a far longer period than the presumed problem it is supposed to tackle.

Mind you, its going to be difficult to protest in the UK against anything, since the Right to Protest is banned and people are being fined and arrested by the police for travelling a few miles from their homes to go for a walk in a country park.

LakieLady · 12/02/2021 08:15

@AStudyinPink

In the end, yes I would. As temporary measures these things are rough but just about justifiable. Governments can’t institute permanent bans on seeing family, forming relationships, travel etc. It’s against human rights and an abuse of their mandate.
I'm not aware of any government talking about permanent bans.

A government has a duty to protect the safety of its citizens. Providing that the measures are proportionate, I am content to have lockdown to prevent death and life-changing illness.

No democratic government would want restrictions to carry on longer than they considered necessary because of the long-term economic impact. This is particularly pertinent when it comes to a Tory government, because they tend to value wealth above welfare.

It's also important to reduce the number of people in hospital with Covid so that the NHS has capacity to treat non-Covid health problems in a timely manner. Failure to get Covid under control would have serious implications for anyone who becomes seriously ill or needs surgery.

Even when all the vulnerable have been vaccinated, there is still the risk that a new variant that is resistant to existing vaccines may emerge, and restrictions may need to be reimposed until vaccines are tweaked so that they're effective against those.

I can live with that. I hate it, but if it proved necessary, I could live with it.

I also think that if it was children and young people that were worst affected, people would be more accepting of restrictions. I think there's an element of ageism at work in many people's response to restrictions.

PicsInRed · 12/02/2021 08:16

Yes. And like many, I'll eventually take the mask off and simply return to living my life as I see fit. Soon enough, there will be so many independent shops open that there won't be enough police to shut them and the government will have to announce a reopening.

This is why they "allowed" Christmas. They knew people would do it anyway, then any veneer of authority would be wrecked - so they had to pretend they were "permitting" it.

I've seen the same in NZ with Sunday close, Easter trading and the television licence - when people simply stop complying, the government cannot deal with everyone at once.

AStudyinPink · 12/02/2021 08:17

I'm not aware of any government talking about permanent bans.

Nor am I. No government is ever going to say, “This is permanent”. The premise of the thread is whether I would protest if there appeared to be no end in sight.

Beaniecats · 12/02/2021 08:18

Yes

Bluesername · 12/02/2021 08:19

No. Covid won't be listening to any protests, because it is a virus.

PicsInRed · 12/02/2021 08:19

I also think that if it was children and young people that were worst affected

Whevener there is an outbreak of whooping cough (known to be largely harmlessly housed in the older adult population) absoutely nothing is done by wider society to protect babies. The mums are told to keep them home until they're vaccinated. So, no. I don't think we'd do this for kids. Women would be told to stay home with them - as they are now.

AStudyinPink · 12/02/2021 08:20

Covid won't be listening to any protests, because it is a virus.

Eh? Covid didn’t mandate the lockdown either.

HOkieCOkie · 12/02/2021 08:21

I wouldn’t protest but I would simply take back control of my life buy seeing friends and visiting family etc. I think we’ve given the nhs a year of our life’s and we all want our lives back now.

tatutata · 12/02/2021 08:23

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ as it repeats a deleted post.

BeakyWinder · 12/02/2021 08:26

Cases are a fraction of the December peak now, we are going to hit the first vaccine target this week, the weather will improve soon. All these things make me hopeful restrictions will be lifted before summer. However the number of people in hospital with covid is still way above the April peak, and I think that is the measurement the govt. will use. It's frustrating, I'm fed up, but I can't see how else it will go. We are back to "protect the NHS" in this hell loop.

DaisyHeadMaisy · 12/02/2021 08:28

PicsInRed

You can already tell by the lax attitude of people who have had thier vaccine, several times this week I have had people get far too close to me and my children when I am trying to social distance, it's like now that covid is not a risk to them, they don't care if they can pass it to anyone else. If this was an illness that affected children, only schools and soft plays would be closed, only children and most likely mothers would be under house arrest.

AuntieStella · 12/02/2021 08:29

If I though the virus would be taking the slightest notice of a demonstration, then yes I wouid.

If I thought we did not have a government that instinctively sides with business and keeping the economy going, then maybe.

But whilst we have the 'nasty' Tories, who care about profit not people, at the helm, and while we are in step with the rest of the world in approach and duration of measures, then of course it's a 'no'

AuntieStella · 12/02/2021 08:32

You seriously think that is who anyone who is concerned about the wholesale removal of rights with no end date is?

Those won't be British posters, because the overarching Westminster legislation (which covers all home nations) has a sunset clause, and organisations such as Liberty are OK with it

TitusPullo · 12/02/2021 08:33

For me it’s never been about following the rules, it’s been about not wanting to get ill. I think a lot of people, including on here, scream and shout whenever anyone so much as walks onto their driveway (hyperbole, sort of!) rather than thinking where is the risk here to me and others. I haven’t had people round to socialise inside because I don’t want to get sick. I have limited my trips to the supermarket etc. I wear my mask inside shops and outside in busier areas. But I have taken unnecessary trips to drop off some baby bits for a friend or stand in my Mum’s garden so she could see her first grandchild from a distance, so arrest me. If this lockdown showed no signs of ending I would continue as I have been. I understand that we need to make sacrifices for this but I am also human and sometimes the risks of coronavirus are outweighed.

JemimaRacktool · 12/02/2021 08:34

The government didn't make the virus.

So many posts on here about C- 19 worded as if it is something designed by Westminster to keep us all under the cosh.

If the NHS is overwhelmed, doctors will have to make decisions about who gets treatment. You don't really need to know anything more about the virus than that.

AStudyinPink · 12/02/2021 08:34

But whilst we have the 'nasty' Tories, who care about profit not people, at the helm, and while we are in step with the rest of the world in approach and duration of measures, then of course it's a 'no'

This is completely illogical. The Tories have shut down the economy to protect people.

halfwaythrough2 · 12/02/2021 08:43

Yes I would and will when the time comes. We are under house arrest and it's funny how the pubs can open but gyms etc cannot hmmmm

AStudyinPink · 12/02/2021 08:43

If the NHS is overwhelmed, doctors will have to make decisions about who gets treatment. You don't really need to know anything more about the virus than that.

That might be you satisfied to live the next forty years under house arrest, but don’t speak for me, please.

AStudyinPink · 12/02/2021 08:44

If this lockdown showed no signs of ending I would continue as I have been

Forever?

SarahBellam · 12/02/2021 08:44

A thousand people died of Covid yesterday. Why the fuck would I go on a protest? It’s hard enough getting people to follow the fairly shit basic rules we have now, without herding them all into Trafalgar Square or whatever, which it why we’re not containing it. These chat boards are jammed full of people who are still doing online dating (how many times have I seen, “We went for a socially distant walk and one thing led to another and we ended up back at mine shagging our brains out”, or “It’s ok because I’m in a bubble with my mum, my mother in law, my aunt, the cat’s vet and Norma the next door neighbour”). We are never going to control this until we catch ourselves on and follow the rules properly for a month or so.

AuntieStella · 12/02/2021 08:48

@AStudyinPink

But whilst we have the 'nasty' Tories, who care about profit not people, at the helm, and while we are in step with the rest of the world in approach and duration of measures, then of course it's a 'no'

This is completely illogical. The Tories have shut down the economy to protect people.

You miss my point - the 'nasty' party has done this.

Acting against all its instincts and usual priorities (which also include small government and maximum freedom to the individual - they're not a party of social control)

So what does it tell you about the magnitude of the risk that it could knock the Tories off their usual path that's all about wealth and individualism?