Is no one even a little concerned about the intrusion and removal of freedoms?

[DoubleAction]

I know needs must and we're in a real crisis situation but it does make me a little uneasy to see how easy it has been to remove all freedoms.

The real shocker for me today was the text messages. I've spent the last year or so working on GDPR stuff and all the "threats" associated with that. Who gave the government all our numbers?!

I know it's insignificant in the scheme of things now but is it right that it's so easy?

[Gin96]

And you never hear of all the people who have recovered, which is probably far more than the people who have died, why is that?

[RuffleCrow]

I'm with you op. It is absolutely shocking how quickly and quietly we've given up our liberty. I think it's based on a few different factors:

A) it happened gradually.
B) we've been led to believe it's a temporary state of affairs.
C) we've been led to believe Boris is a libertarian at heart and wouldn't be telling us to give our freedoms up unless absolutely necessary.
D) we're scared.

[MarginalGain]

We're not allowed on public transport unless key workers Marginal.

Oh good grief this is not true.

[LouQoo]

@rufflecrow

Do you not think Boris is a libertarian? If you look at his writing (going back several years, before he was even mayor) he seems pretty libertarian to me. Problem is, he was outvoted by other MPs, they basically threatened mutiny if he didn’t announce a lockdown.

[MarginalGain]

I used to think Boris had liberal instincts, I'm no longer sure.

If this were true, he would understand that a lockdown cannot be anything but temporary.

[LouQoo]

I think he does understand that. I’m not sure about some of the people around him though. We shall see...

[salsmum]

Not at all the size of the XL arena being filled with beds and the amount of ventilators being made to meet the demand tells me that if myself and my daughter ( who's already been in SI for over two weeks due to her disabilities) need to stay in to keep alive then so be it.

[MelbaToast]

For those who want a stricter lockdown I want to ask what the actual fuck you want to happen? We are only be able to go out for shopping, exercise once a day, essential work, or helping a vulnerable person or face a fine if your journey isn't essential.

I'm assuming you want the Police standing on street corners tazering you when you're on the way to do your weekly shop? Or maybe schools should be closed completely, including for key worker children? Or how about you're literally not allowed to leave the house / flat at all (you would go insane)?

What it comes down to, is that people need to eat and moderate exercise is good for your immune system and mental health (I'm sure there's going to be an increase in suicides before we're done with this). We also need the NHS to be fully operational and functioning.

[Inkpaperstars]

For those who want a stricter lockdown I want to ask what the actual fuck you want to happen? We are only be able to go out for shopping, exercise once a day, essential work, or helping a vulnerable person or face a fine if your journey isn't essential.

I don't think anyone wants a stricter lockdown, but some would rather accept that the the alternative if the one we have now is not enough to limit transmission.

As for what the measures would be I don't know. I guess similar to Spain or China. Probably be no exercise or only within 50m of the home, only one person allowed to leave every few days for supplies. I don't know and I hope it won't come to that. For those who have mobility problems it would be very difficult to recover from periods of no exercise, and walking is mostly all they can do.

More effective than that would probably be what I think they did in China where people in individual homes have their temperatures taken and if high, or other Covid symptoms, they were removed or quarantined. Can't really see us doing that on a big scale but more testing and contact tracing is probably more effective than further lockdown. Lockdown is needed right now but it is a very very blunt instrument.

[Dongdingdong]

Not concerned at all, because I don’t want to kill people or be killed. It’s that simple.

[Parker231]

I don’t want a stricter lockdown. I’m supportive of the current arrangements but want them enforced without idiots thinking they don’t apply to them. The more often people don’t stay at home, the longer the arrangements will remain in place.

[Gwenhwyfar]

I don't want a stricter lockdown, but there are some loopholes in the current one e.g. tradespeople are allowed to work in people's homes doing non-emergency work. Why is that Ok but visits aren't. There are probably still some organisations open that shouldn't be and some that could be doing social distance but aren't so we probably need a tidy up of the current rules first of all.

[DGRossetti]

Interesting and amusing analysis of this judicial cockup, by Matthew
Scott.

"Nowhere in the 102 sections and 29 schedules of the Coronavirus Act are
police officers given any power to demand that anyone provides their
identity, or the reasons for their travel. Nor, for that matter, is such a
power contained in the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restriction)
Regulations, which contains the “lockdown” laws to which we have all been
subject over the last two weeks."

barristerblogger.com/2020/04/07/lessons-for-open-justice-from-the-marie-dinou-case/

[Parker231]

Legislation needs tightened up then as it’s been reported today that more people are back out shopping and the number of deaths continues to go up.

[DGRossetti]

Legislation needs tightened up then as it’s been reported today that more people are back out shopping and the number of deaths continues to go up.

I don't think "tightening up" is going to do it. I think it needs to be scrapped completely, and then some grown ups found somewhere to draft it properly and resubmit it. It's clearly not only not fit for purpose, but was never meant to be. This is what you happen when you don't allow proper scrutiny of laws.

I wonder how many millions of pounds in compensation are going to be paid to to people - like Ms. Dinou - who were criminalised by this comedy legislation ?

[Parker231]

No time for any rewrites when another 828 have died in the last 24 hours. As some idiots won’t follow the stay at home messages, there should be tougher inforcement.

[DGRossetti]

No time for any rewrites when another 828 have died in the last 24 hours. As some idiots won’t follow the stay at home messages, there should be tougher inforcement.

You can't enforce bad laws without serious injustice. If everyone is more than happy to do that dance - well, we know how democracy works in the UK. But I'd be a tad peeved if my career was ruined because a policeman decided to enforce an imaginary law against me.

[Parker231]

What is your suggestion?

[DGRossetti]

What is your suggestion?

My suggestion is that the people that are paid to write laws - with a collective millennia or two of experience - should have done their job properly, rather than treating it as a bit of a boys own adventure. Especially since it's hardly like it snuck up on us, is it ?

There is a point to spending eye-watering amounts of taxpayers money on things like disaster planning. And that's to have a plan for when there are disasters. If I can deliver a Business Continuity Plan to my board that has a line for alien invasion in it (which I did) then where in Gods name were the supposed planners for the UK ?

We maintain a very expensive and totally useless fleet of nuclear submarines to give the world we are prepare for a nuclear war, when "pandemic" has been repeated ranked as a more likely scenario for over a decade.

For all the good it has done, that money for disaster planning might as well have been spend on redecorating civil servants houses. Which to be honest, I can't be sure it wasn't.