So basically the government are removing themselves?

[princesstwinkle]

So Boris has just tweeted what I presume is going to be announced later. To me it is the government removing the responsibility from themselves so that they can blame to public when a second wave occurs. All very vague and unhelpful!

@princesstwinkle Oh okay.

@pigsDOfly very strange, very mixed messages!

@LastTrainEast I think you misunderstood that my question was rhetorical.

It was in view of what was written in that tweet, the words of which were all pretty meaningless.

Do this, if it's possible. Avoid that, if it's possible. It's all absolutely meaningless and actually bears no relationship to what he said in his speech.

however expecting people to go back and be able to interact with colleagues will hit hard for the fact you can't do that within your families

Going to work and interacting with colleagues at a safe distance means that the economy will not suffer as much so arguably worth the risk. Interacting with family just increases the risk infection with no effect on the economy.

We face a huge issue, furlough can’t be extended again so it makes sense to start work back up. But keep other areas as low as possible wrt R.

@mrpumblechook not to mention how difficult it is going to be if you have school age children...

To me it's a mixed message. You can travel and stay outside all you want but don't see family. You can go back to work but don't use public transport but you should go in. Lots of people don't drive.

I don't see how it's a mixed message . Staying outside doesn't increase the risk of infection much. Seeing family does. Going to work does increase the risk of infection but may be necessary for the economy. Public transport increases the risk so obviously they want people to avoid it as much as possible. Many people can drive or cycle or walk.

not to mention how difficult it is going to be if you have school age children...

Not all school-age children. At secondary school age they can stay at home without parents usually.

I think it’s clear they are encouraging people to be sensible

@mrpumblechook Not all school-age children.

Obviously not all, however even parents of year 9 upwards have voiced concerns about leaving them at home by themselves all day

Whatever happens, which every way this is done, it not going to suit everyone. But we have to get the economy moving and we have to get people out of their homes and some of them into work.

We've been told how things might move forward, been given some level of timelines and warned that it might not work.

Can't see what else they could have done tbh.

And no, I'm not a Tory voter and am no fan of BJ.

@pigsDOfly I think his biggest mistakes were

1. Announcing on Wednesday that this was coming and so people went wild over the weekend
2. Posting the infographic on Twitter
3. Giving people 12 hours notice that they are to go back to work tomorrow whilst then saying I will provide clearer guidance tomorrow after meeting with parliament.

@MarshaBradyo you’re back. And you’re right!

We face a huge issue, furlough can’t be extended again so it makes sense to start work back up. But keep other areas as low as possible wrt R.

Expecting a big spike in about 3 weeks.

Surely he is only talking about jobs in construction and manufacturing ,Most construction companies are already back and manufacturing will only go back in a factory wide basis. People are already working in shops and no new shops are opening so that’s no change . Office work can be done largely at home so those people should not go to work . I think the danger will be if employers start to pressure people

Ha Bool I thought you’d gone too! How funny. Good to see you : )

@MarshaBradyo good to see you too! I missed you! Maybe we were on different threads.

The return to work tomorrow is so soon - why not Wednesday like the other measures ?

So this 1-5 thing is about turning the taps on and off. We are turning them on again. Then if we go out of control we switch them off again. Up and down. This is about 65% of us getting the virus in a controlled manner so we don’t overwhelm the health service. We either get that via a vaccine or through catching it. Sorry folks but herd immunity is the outcome. Either through a vaccine (not here yet) or through slowly catching it.

Obviously not all, however even parents of year 9 upwards have voiced concerns about leaving them at home by themselves all day

What do they do in the school holidays then as childcare is not available for children of year 9 and older. Regardless, it's not a good reason to keep work places shut. They will have to come to an arrangement with their employer.

@mrpumblechook my argument is 12 hours is not enough. Most rely on other family members who chi is obviously out of the picture or take holiday around it etc.

Also they have a whole year to plan for it, not less than a day!

@princesstwinkle Yes agree, he should have kept quiet about everything before tonight.

I really can't see how people can just return to work tomorrow either, not after 2 months away.

If I'm honest, I didn't notice that he said people should return to work tomorrow. I was feeding the dog at the time though so might have missed certain things.

Surely, a lot of work places are going to need a bit of reorganising before people can just turn up and get on with things. And how will people know if their work places are actually going to open straight away tomorrow.

People can't just turn up and everyone pile in. Completely unreasonable to expect them to.

@Peaseblossom22 that's the problem it was too vague!!!

From what I understood it was all jobs outside of hospitality who couldn't work from home and could implement the guidelines of safe working.

my argument is 12 hours is not enough. Most rely on other family members who chi is obviously out of the picture or take holiday around it etc.

Not from year 9 they don't. The great majority of children that age look after themselves at that age. Anyway, as I said it isn't a good reason for workplaces not to open.

@mrpumblechook we obviously won't agree but lots of parents even in MN have said that they wouldn't feel comfortable leaving their year 9 children at the moment.
And it still stands that 12 hours notice simply is not enough time.