Government can't win

[Greysparkles]

In a nutshell

Government criticized for moving too slowly in initial lockdown

Government criticised for locking down to fast with holiday quarantine, rules on weddings etc

What do people want 😂

People want to pretend it's not there anymore.

None of us are liking it but if people choose to go on holiday, re-book weddings knowing that rules can change then I'm sorry, I can't be that sympathetic.

If people just grew up and acted responsibly then we wouldn't need all these last minute changes.

Also both: "The government don't care about BAME communities re covid/anything" then many saying "It's wrong that households can't mix to celebrate an important religious festival - the gov shouldn't have imposed these new restrictions!"

A bit more notice wouldn’t have gone a miss. My parents travelled over 200 miles to see us yesterday (when that was allowed) Today they have had to go home as they are now not allowed to be in our home. Having more than two hours notice would have helped us make an informed choice

The holiday quarantine too. They did warn of changes, and people took risks, and now are moaning.

Did the government make mistakes? Yes.

But it seems they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

It's like everybody's common sense has died a lonely death and everybody is whinging about everything.

I just think he needs to be real about September and schools. He's annoying me by panicking about all this yet our kids can just go to school in four weeks or get a fine

Is he panicking?

He hasn't ordered full lockdown or anything.

They would do better if they were consistent with the guidelines and admitted their mistakes.

Imagine they imposed a lockdown at 9pm on Christmas Eve and then wonder why some Muslims are a bit annoyed.

I've only read articles saying we've got to deal with the threat straight away. Other countries are spiking again. So therefore he shouldn't be telling parents schools returning. Get home packs sorted and do it gradually. All kids in part time to start with if it's safe. September is just a few weeks away and it's already looking a disaster.

Of course it' is annoying but the stricter rules are happening to protect the Muslim community. Otherwise the infections there will spike again and they will be accused of lack of care for that same community.

And yes, it would be very annoying if it happened over Christmas, and it might. Shit happens.

I think they're right to act fast as they have this week, but it's the mixed messages. Now telling people to go back to the office when they can work from home. It'll all be over by Christmas.

Its one extreme to the other from one day to the next.

I agree, they can’t win

I just wish people would follow the advise, and that includes everyone on her who think the rules don’t apply and just use common sense

That common sense may well have just got us to where we are now

They can win. They could have a well thought out plan and then they could stick to it. That way everyone would know roughly where they stood.

But they only had a half arsed plan and then they haven't even be following it. Opening things up ahead of their own plan. So now it's all coming back to bite them on the arse.

They aren't winning because they haven't got a clue what they're doing, are too arrogant to properly follow the advice of experts, and are making the rules up as they go along. They are all in positions well above their abilities.

You can't stick to a plan in a situation that changes.

Maybe the plan was to go back to work and to open up more, but the infection rate increased.

This is happening everywhere, I'm afraid.

One thing I want to see though is enforcing the rules. When TFL tells me to wear a mask I expect them to enforce it, and not be so wooly about ot.

Totally agree Annabel. The flip-flopping makes life unmanageable. One moment everything will be fiiiiiiine, and sorted by Christmas, the next we have three hours notice that we must evict guests (who are staying here because they’re avoiding non-essential travel on public transport, it’s rural and plenty of fresh air and space...).
The guidance is NOT clear (or at least is definitely open to interpretation).
I actually don’t mind if the guidance is for total lockdown again - as long as they don’t keep trying to simultaneously deliver false positive messages.

The government made an incompetent mess of this from the beginning - that is not likely to lead to anyone “winning”.

Yes, they were to slow to lockdown, then wasted months not getting a decent test, track & trace system in place, and now they are flailing around and have no credibility left.

They have put themselves - and all of us - in this mess.

Well on the one hand they are saying that 2 households (say 8 people) can't meet Indoors because people aren't socially distancing and are transmitting the virus.

On the other they claim that having 300 teenagers ( who can't socially distance due to Lack of room) indoors for hours at a time and and say 10 adult who won't be able to socially distance at least some of the time is low risk.

Not for the adults it isn't and nor is it for the households they go back to. In most cases no one will realise they are infected until the person they pass it on to get symptoms and goes for a test!

I think it's the consistently awful way the government has communicated their plans and strategies. For the first few months it was fluffy guidelines, then 'you must wear masks the week after next in shops" to then suddenly change to lockdowns and quarantines with a few hours notice without the details of those matters worked out. Today's north east lockdown was announced on Twitter 3 hours before being imposed!! Where was the press conference detailing why and what would be happening?

Quite frankly I don't even think it's COVID people a pissed off with, it's the absolute shambles way our government has dealt with it.

Only a few days ago they were begging people to get beck to work in the office!

You can't stick to a plan in a situation that changes.

You can if your plan includes what happens when the situation changes.

Maybe the plan was to go back to work and to open up more, but the infection rate increased.

They opened up before the infection rates dropped to the level the scientists said was needed. They abandoned 'following the science' to 'being guided by the science [but doing whatever the hell we like]'.

I’m gutted but they’ve done the right thing.

I’ve spent the last week organising a birthday party for ds, including bowling. Now it’s cancelled and nothing else is available

But I don’t want any of our friends to get ill, so we’ll just have to put up with it.

Government criticized for moving too slowly in initial lockdown

Those most heavily criticising the Government are those who opposed the lockdown. Because people are divided, the Government will never be able to please everyone.

They would get a lot less pushback if they used effective communication. To give an example.

I'm in Leicester, we've been in lockdown from the very beginning with only a few days break in June.

Yesterday was the review date, it was originally 1st August but the government changed it to 30th a July on the guidance.

So a city of 400,000 and Oadby & Wigston so another 75,000 were on tenterhooks all day yesterday waiting to find out.

By 5pm we're getting edgy, by 6pm frustrated, by 7pm really annoyed, by 9pm extremely pissed off and forgotten about.

At 10pm Hancock tells the NW that they're not allowed to have friends round anymore and when asked if there's anything else he says no and walks off. Then he publishes a status update on twitter confirming the NW lockdown and with a line at the bottom saying 'this will apply to City of Leicester too'.

Twitter and Facebook are up in arms, swearing everywhere, people are fucked right off.

10.30pm we get a breaking news style headline to say Oadby & Wigston released, City of Leicester will remain in lockdown but some restrictions lifted.

This morning we had published guidance but still lots of gaps, this afternoon MPs and council leaders are still chasing DHSC to get the finer details on what has and what has not been lifted.

This is not effective communication and it leads to every person affected by the issue hating the government with a fiery passion.

How anyone can still defend the government is beyond me.

What do people want?

Competance.

For goodness sake, how can anyone, no matter how true blue, suggest that this isn't a shambles? In half the areas that the new lockdown were announced, late at night a few hours before they happened, by tweet if you will, the figures were high yes... But they were already going down from what they were two weeks ago when they didn't impose a local lockdown! And people can't visit family and friends either in their homes or in their gardens even if socially distancing (seriously, why not gardens?) but the same people are cordially invited to get back to work, stop shielding, get out to pubs and restaurants, and go shopping, providing they don't do any of those things with someone from another household. What this is makes a shambles look thought through.