The newspapers have changed their tune this morning

[Ifeel1000yearsold]

Just that really. Headlines now saying lockdown until June. Very different from yesterday’s headlines.

The car dealership down the road from me filled their lot up with cars again yesterday! It was completely empty for the past month. Presumptuous or what!

The newspapers are run by owners who want to dictate to the government how they should control the crisis. Totally agree with this, it is becoming so transparent now.

they are just saying what they have been briefed to say by the government

This is not entirely true. Several of their statements about schools have been demonstrably false - as in totally made up.

Why does anyone read the gutter press?
This government are beholden to major investors, they themselves are major investors. They are too scared to act with any authority or confidence.
Where is Borris?
How anybody could vote for him after this debacle is mind numbing.
His hands are tied. The electorate care more about profit than lives.
All this bloody clapping for the NHS, it’s laughable. In years to come when future generations look back at this period of history and ask why the clapping?
What will historians reply?
Well it’s like when women were tried for being a witch. The electorate voted to descimate the NHS because they were selfish preferring to vote for a government who spent billions on arms and Brexit and a train line which nobody wanted, lining their own pockets, and then when they actually needed the NHS, the people stood on their doorsteps at a set time every week and clapped and banged saucepans and cheered and preyed that the mystical powers that be would save them.
Meanwhile the government whilst supposedly putting all their efforts into controlling this deadly virus, pushed through such helpful legislation as authorising the go ahead of the multi billion pound fast train, which nobody wanted( well other than the Tory investors who stand to make huge profits from it).

I think it's misleading to talk about opening and closing 'lockdown'.

We have much more freedom now than in some other countries, but even with a loosening of restrictions, some people will still have to be shielded for months, and many businesses within sectors that were specifically closed by the government because they involve "prolonged social contact" will still find it very difficult to operate within social distancing requirements.

Many businesses are 'open' now. The lockdown restrictions always allowed people to go to work if they couldn't work from home.

Then the furloughing and mortgage breaks/rent evictions hold end and the shit really hits the fan. Dominic Cummings is in clover. The poor in the shit as well as the old and sick. Eugenicists' paradise.

With the cherry on top it affects the BAME population disproportionately too.

I really hope Cummings believes in a God now.

Looks like Boris has the solution.

The media caused the confusion re who can and can't work right at the beginning. That caused huge numbers of businesses to close down unnecessarily as they were fed the message of key/essential workers only which of course was only for deciding whose kids could continue going to school. Most businesses could have stayed open if they could respect social distancing. I think Boris needs to hammer that message home on Sunday. Pointless offering scraps of potential easings whilst businesses that didn't need to close are still closed.

I'm extremely cynical and think rather than it being the papers pushing for easing, No. 10 brief them with potential plans to read the public mood and then act accordingly.

I do not accept for a second that there is actually a plan in place.

@cheeseycracker I agree with a previous poster there is no one news source that’s completely reliable and then you would have to consider your own personal bias about the original source. Foreign media can often give a perspective you wouldn’t necessarily have come across here.

Completely agree. For a government that prides itself on succinct messaging, the mixups between ‘key workers’, ‘non-essential shops’, ‘travelling for essential reasons’ has been disastrous.

Look at this quote from The Guardian last month:

“ A lockdown, under which all non-essential workers were urged to stay at home, was announced by Boris Johnson on 24 March.”

Unbelievable.

Supposedly putting all their efforts into controlling this deadly virus
In the event of a crisis those who are of a predatory bent smell opportunity, the fear chaos and confusion makes it a great time to get away with doing what they wanted to do all along.
As ever we are pawns in the games of the powerful.

The government need to have a proper plan in place and inform the public. Even if they don't know the exact dates it will happen. It's beyond a joke they are keeping us in the dark. I am very law abiding but won't be doing much more of this not even being able to see your own family.

There's going to be hell to pay... all over the world

Things must be getting better as the next bad news story is coming to the fore I.e. economy

After that, it will be finger pointing 😳

Bad news sells papers, good news does not 😳

I think part of the problem is that a significant number of Johnson's political supporters (back bench MPs, lobbyists, party donors) want 'the economy to be opened', without being able to explain what that means.

Maybe it just means 'make an announcement to boost the stock market'.

I agree the newspapers have been appalling and the responsibility lies with the govt for the messaging.

But all these people who have run away with the conclusion it's all being lifted on Monday...and it's ok to have all these reunions...how stupid must they be? I know the govt have to account for that, so it's a side issue, but it's quite a worrying one really. Some people will just be trying to get away with what they can, but anyone who thinks it is remotely feasible all restrictions lift on Monday...they can't really be anyone like that surely.

Sorry, there can't

Can there?

I knew the headlines yesterday were nonsense as I have a family member working on high level lockdown planning in a major city and they told me at the beginning of the week that the annoucement would be 'no change this month'. I'm not sure what set the press off on giving details of a non-existent plan (what some referred to sounded like the Irish 'roadmap', which is feasible there)

Boris must be fuming that the Telegraph is headlining a quote from Keir Starmer today.

Headlines now saying lockdown until June

Right, so another 3 weeks then. Based on not reading a load of trashy red tops, that's the message that has been coming from government, but including a few gradual tweaks (possibly on a weekly basis) to what "lock down" has meant up until now, and continuing to use whatever data is available to inform the decisions.

I'd say that's reasonable and people continuing to come out with "I just CANT carry on" need to calm down, because we all have to carry on, we have no choice.

Don't forget, the virus won't be going away even if the Government were to remove the lockdown. It won't get "back to normal" and it's amazing people are putting head-in-sand and believing it will. Facts and data! Not tabloids!

All the messaging from the government has been poor.

The vulnerable/shielded/high risk messaging is very confused. I read one poster on here the other day saying that because 60% of the population are overweight the majority are vulnerable. This idea of “vulnerable” has taken on a life of its own but it’s very unclear what it actually means or what people in that group should actually do.

The, slow the spread, protect the NHS message is also flawed in my view. It gives the impression they plan on everyone getting the virus, they just need to get it slowly so the nhs is not overwhelmed. That feeds into the idea of herd immunity and people thinking (understandably) that as they keep banging on about how the nhs is coping and the Nightingales are empty why can’t we move more quickly?

Add to that essential/non essential/key workers used randomly and in some cases interchangeably and I don’t think anyone really has any idea who is supposed to be doing what.

They need to reset on Sunday. Get those that have always been able to work back at work. Throw a few bones if they must, more Outdoor exercise, picnics within households, that sort of thing but everything just needs to be much, much clearer.

It should have been Boris, saying “we’ve reviewed, lockdown stays. I’ll announce roadmap on Sunday”
If I heard that prat say anything my first instinct would be to ignore it...
or do the opposite. Raab is marginally more credible.

Cam77

I’m no fan either Cam - but it would have been the right thing to do.

A previous poster says 'the press have been a fucking disgrace'.

No. It is the Government who have been the 'fucking disgrace'.