To think the govt has no right to tell me who I'm allowed to have in my home?

[HumanFemale1]

Anyone else feels the same? I just don't think this is OK. Govt making the rules of who I am allowed to have in my home or how many people I'm allowed to have in...

Especially when it's to keep a virus from spreading when the average death of a virus is higher than the life expectancy. But for any reason really. If the govt was making this rule for any other reason people would be horiffied.

@cologne4711 we weren’t overwhelmed with flu cases 3 years ago as I have described. 2017/18 had a bad flu season yes with high excess winter mortality but we didn’t get overwhelmed. Neither did we in the swine flu pandemic of 2009/10.

What we are facing now if left unchecked is exactly what I have described.

If someone offered you a lifejacket on a sinking ship would you tell them "you cant tell me what to wear"?

Anyway there's no point engaging with people like this. The penny will never drop.

OP, I agree with you. The government (and other governments) are in my view grossly overstepping. However, following rules makes a lot of people feel safe, which is probably why there isn’t more opposition.

The excellent Jonathan Sumption (former judge and critic of lockdown) believes that current covid measures will be seen as ‘a monument of collective hysteria and folly’.

He pointed out recently that countries lose freedoms not when they are taken but when they are willingly given up, as we are giving up our freedoms now.

@HumanFemale1
it’s like Groundhog Day on here .

You don’t hug or kiss or share cups and cutlery or chat for a long time in a confined room with other commuters or customers .

It’s all about minimising spread and as much as possible keep people in their jobs .

There have been loads of pictures of people in bars / clubs etc ignoring all the rules . Perhaps if they had not done that we might not be where we are now .

@MerchantOfVenom

I’m in NZ.

We went hard and we went early. We stayed home and saved lives. Have we eradicated the virus? No, because we will always have people arriving into NZ from pandemic-riddle countries (who definitely do not have it under control).

But - it’s being managed at the border. And in the meantime, life has returned to normal here.

We see our friends, we go out, we eat out, we socialise. The kids go to school. Play weekend sports.

Life is normal for us here as we head into summer, except no overseas holidays.

Just offering an alternative perspective - in the interests of debate.

We came together (very metaphorically) for our communities, and the greater good - by giving up our freedoms for a short while, and staying apart.

Yes, it’s easier to manage in an isolated island nation with a small population, yada, yada. But that does not mean that we didn’t all make unprecedented sacrifices.

But because when we did do it, we meant business, we haven’t since been fucking around, never getting it under control. And then going into lockdown anyway.

We went hard and we went early. And we’ve been rewarded as a country-wide team by returning to life as normal.

Isn’t that what everyone wants?

I doubt it was much different to here just very early on curve but around same date. So not that much foresight in comparison. Just later globally.

I am more concerned about people who saw fit to call the police on people during lockdown. (I'm not talking about massive house parties with 50 people having a brawl on the street) The types who left nasty messages on cars when the person was going to work or the type that saw their neighbour take out non-essential shopping out the boot. I remember reading that 200k calls were made to the police during Lockdown 1 and couldn't believe it.

Flu does not spread as quickly as this virus .

We have a supplier with 2000 in a factory . 600 are ill or isolating .

So stop with the comparisons

It does scare me slightly how quickly a new law can be introduced
The laws have to change, to keep pace with the changing rates of infections.
I don't believe the government is trying to control people's lives, they are trying to control spread of the virus, and there is no way of doing that, that doesn't impinge on human contact. Surely most reasonable, logical people can see that?

UK is not the only country with social distancing rules that includes not mixing households. Actually UK has been more reasonable than others, allowing going out for exercise, specially on the first lockdown. Because I know for my own family that in other places it has been close to a lockin. And there was no any mingling of households or even getting your child out for a walk ( you actually had to ask permission to get your child out for a walk)
I do understand people whose family members need help or are ill, and thanks goodness there are allowances for this, and you still can bubble with them.
But if the family is healthy, I think we should stick to skype and similar.

@HumanFemale1

If we should be doing what we can to save lives than gyms should be open, alcohol and cigarettes should be banned, driving and junk food too and we should have mandatory one hour exercises. This would save millions of lives.

Nope this is totally illogical @HumanFemale1 People have a choice to smoke, eat junk food or drink, go to the gym or not,

I don't have much of a choice not to breathe in your breath-laden virus particles if you are next to me in a shop, train, bus, office AND YOU ARE ASYMPTOMATIC AND SPREADING IT.

@JinglingHellsBells

Are you American, *@HumanFemale1*

You write 'Mom'.

Mom is common UK usage as well- predomiantely in West Midlands.

My Dad called his Mother Mom - I called my Mother Mum as she did hers in another bit of mildands - DH came from a northern part of the midlands as calls his mother mam.

There have been many MN threads on this issue over the years.

I don't understand why so many think questioning the rules means you're automatically breaking them.

We've followed everything - which has led to us not seeing extended family since December - different counrties, rules on public transport etc when we usually see them every month.

I completely understand how the government got to this point - I just think we might want to stop and think about where we are and if we really are comfortable here and I accept that some people will be fine here and even further down the road.

Mom is common UK usage as well- predomiantely in West Midlands.

Oh well, never heard of it.
Asian community? It's not common UK usage elsewhere, but in the north people say Mam.

@HumanFemale1 What do you feel about the government judging your driving, and only allowing you to drive if it thinks you’re competent? And even then insisting you spend £££ on insurance and road worthiness, and not just trusting your common sense to do so but demanding paperwork proving so? And having the right not just to rely on your commons sense to not drive impaired but the right to stop you driving, test to see if you’ve drunk too much and send you to prison if you have- even if you haven’t hurt anyone?

People have a choice to smoke, eat junk food or drink, go to the gym or not,
Actually we don't @JinglingHellsBells gyms are closed.

@etopp

I can't believe that people can trivialise this with comments such as "yawn".

Nor me. It's terrifying.

@Girlonit

People have a choice to smoke, eat junk food or drink, go to the gym or not, Actually we don't *@JinglingHellsBells* gyms are closed.

Oh haha very funny.

She was meaning in general- not NOW.

You can do exercise at home- most people I know have made gyms in their garages or spare rooms, or use parks

It does scare me slightly how quickly a new law can be introduced

I honestly wonder on which planet some people are living. HOW is that ever a surprise?

If nothing else, this pandemic has shown how self-centred some people can be. Unless they are touched directly by something, they are blissfully willing to stay ignorant of everything and anything.

I'm also very obedient and would have voluntarily limited my contacts law or no law.
But i am alarmed by how easily some of these laws are made and I do think its really important to properly scrutinise the government and hold them to account to make sure they are revoked. I think the potential for misuse is really high.

I've never awarded one of these before in 8 years of membership here. But this post.... really...

I despair. I watched the film "Idiocracy" years ago and chuckled away at the very notion that critical thinking could ever be dumbed down to that point.

Yeah, well...

I just wish we could have a debate without people throwing insults at each other.

If the govt was making this rule for any other reason people would be horiffied.

But they didn't. They made it for this reason.

@ConquestEmpireHungerPlague

If the govt was making this rule for any other reason people would be horiffied.

But they didn't. They made it for this reason.

I agree. Looking at socialisation indoors makes sense.

I agree that the situation is difficult. I personally haven't been going to pubs or restaurants, I barely go to the shop as I shop online, I've been seeing only 3 people, my adult daughter who lives with me and doesn't go out, my mum who doesn't go out and a friend, who also isn't mixing with many others. Obviously there is always going to be a risk unless we don't meet with anyone at all, but I know that I've kept my risk very low.

I don't actually think not having people outside my family in my home just for jollies is a serious restriction anyway? Of all the lockdown rules and guidelines I find this one quite easy to accept.