Christmas IS going to be cancelled - last minute.

[Elephant4]

Isn't it?

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/18/boris-johnson-calls-crisis-meeting-to-discuss-response-to-new-covid-strain

They're panicking now.

Nothing will be changed now.
They are discussing lockdown after Christmas.

@BethlehemIsInTier1

A new strain? Yeah right, more like every one in the country knows London should never have been put in Tier 2 to begin with, so now to cover their arses for making a huge mistake, a new strain in London justifies them being put in Tier 3.

PHE is saying the strain originated in Kent, not London. Day trippers/Christmas shoppers in Oxford Street* brought it into the city from Kent.

*I say this with conviction because Londoners know never goes anywhere near OS at Christmas.

In recent years people lived as if death didn't exist, we moved it from homes into hospitals, care homes and hospices and bought in the professionals, we built the cult of eternal youth through healthy eating and exercise. We exulted in living and ignored death as much as we possibly could.

But covid has bought death front and centre, just the way every society before ours new it, and we cannot cope.

@Crowsandshivers

Totally agree about the offending people. There has already been so many awkward discussions and at the moment we end up looking overdramatic for trying to keep our family safe. I hope they make a decision today. I don't think it should come as a shock to anyone- the cases have been rising for a while. I have been handing out presents whenever I can 'just in case we go into lockdown.'

Have you lost the ability to analyse and risk assess yourself?

@storminabuttercup

So much anger on this thread.

They won't 'cancel Christmas' they told us we can mix, now they advise against it, people will still meet up then when there's a massive spike they can blame Joe Public and reading the comments on this thread it looks like we will just take it. Turning us plebs against each other is typical of this shower of shite.

Let's remember what got us to the state we are in now.

But as shown by the numerous posts on MN, no matter what the government says people should do, there will be a huge amount of non compliance.

I've been shocked for months by the posters here flouting the rules.

It IS Joe Public to blame because too many people ignore the rules and guidance.

The government cannot control people's behaviour 100%.

@BethlehemIsInTier1

Talk about people assessing their own risk, I know if the truly wanted too be careful, people could. True story this, I worked the Millennium Nightshift in A&E, we had anticipated it to be horrendous and had a lot of extra staff in....... we had not 1 patient in at all.

Are you referring to ... the Millennium Bug? You're aware that's not contagious or even a medical condition? How is it relevant?

@JinglingHellsBells I dont know. A week ago I would have said the same. With the way other European countries are changing their recommendations, and the way the media is setting us up, I think BJ is about to do a u turn.

This so much!!

We're staying put for Christmas - usually we'd visit family in the run up to Christmas Day but have just called that off. DMum is very elderly and shielding (and booked for her first jab next week) and DC's term ended too recently for any f us to feel comfortable.

Depending on how things go, it might be safe enough to visit her in about 5 weeks time but will have to follow whatever rules are then in place.

Still deciding about whether to go and see the other GPs just after Christmas

We normally spend Christmas just us, so I was going to say little change. Except there is - no Midnight Mass and no parkrun

I bloody hope so but I don't think they have the balls.

They will instead blame the public for the increased figures in January, say we did not follow their advice and lock us down.

I am working Christmas, sticking to all the rules and have a lovely trip to Isle of Wight planned for January which was moved from November thanks to lockdown. I can see that being cancelled again due to another lockdown and it pisses me off. I don't understand why people can't just stay at home.

Sorry was trying to quote a previous poster and failed

Are you referring to ... the Millennium Bug? You're aware that's not contagious or even a medical condition? How is it relevant?

Equipment failures leading to accidents (RTA and others), fires etc

@Crowsandshivers

Totally agree about the offending people. There has already been so many awkward discussions and at the moment we end up looking overdramatic for trying to keep our family safe. I hope they make a decision today. I don't think it should come as a shock to anyone- the cases have been rising for a while. I have been handing out presents whenever I can 'just in case we go into lockdown.'

Yes agree - posts here often seem very polarised but surely there are many people who are confused, not sure what to do for the best - heard on the radio this morning behavioural scientists saying what nonsense it is to expect people to make these decisions for themselves, to protect all of society.

For example many assume they are more likely to catch Covid from strangers in the supermarket than their own family... inevitably everyone justifies their own decisions - and many don’t want to let down other family members.

We have already cancelled our plans with family, we have unanimously agreed it’s not worth this risk despite the government maintaining that it’s allowed. All the evidence suggests it’s a ludicrous idea and we don’t want to be that family that contributed to the statistics of someone dying because of Christmas.

Makes no difference to me.
I have been in tier 3 for 12 weeks now.
We decided weeks ago to keep to our bubble for christmas, despite the relaxation rules.

Hard lockdown after christmas in inevitable now.
Despite being in tier 3 for 12 weeks covid cases have tripled in my area in the past 10 days.

@JinglingHellsBells

Nothing will be changed now. They are discussing lockdown after Christmas.

Always amazes me when people make such authoritative statements... how do you know? The media are reporting that they are discussing travel restrictions now, not after Christmas.

But as shown by the numerous posts on MN, no matter what the government says people should do, there will be a huge amount of non compliance.

I've been shocked for months by the posters here flouting the rules.

It IS Joe Public to blame because too many people ignore the rules and guidance.

The government cannot control people's behaviour 100%.

I agree with you, JinglingHellsBells. So many posters love to blame Boris et al. for all the problems. Some of the problems, okay. But be honest - the level of compliance with basic guidelines has been shaky at best. You cannot blame Boris for that. These things cause infections to recirculate, then lockdowns need to reimposed, and the population turn on Boris again ...

Christmas isn't cancelled and won't be. Mingling could be though.

[quote MummaBear4321]@JinglingHellsBells I dont know. A week ago I would have said the same. With the way other European countries are changing their recommendations, and the way the media is setting us up, I think BJ is about to do a u turn. [/quote]
But the point is, families should not need the government to set rules!

It's time people started acting like adults and did what they need to , to reduce risks.

Time after time on MN we have had literally hundreds of posters saying they are going to ignore any rules- going right back 9 months- so anything the government says is going to be ignored anyway by some people.

The virus is spread by PEOPLE.
It's not the government!

It's actually very simple - too many people flout the rules or bend them a little bit and that's why we are where we are now.

Making new rules is unlikely to make a jot of difference.

Sensible people will carry on being sensible and the idiots will carry on regardless.

@frostythesnowman I mentioned supermarkets in the context of my family isolating for 2 weeks first, so we are more likely to catch it in the supermarket or anywhere else. Also I'm not justifying it, I don't feel I need to, I'm just explaining my rationale... just in case it was my post you were referring to :)

Like a lot of people we have been mixing with my parents as they have been providing childcare for our two (3 and 1) once a week, to keep nursery costs down. This was while they have been both attending nursery. We've taken them out of nursery now - mainly to rid the house of the typical 'nursery snot' they always get at the time of year.
We will have Xmas lunch with my parents and it will be lower risk to them than the childcare has been.
If we still had grandparents alive, I think we wouldn't go and see them this year. I do think less people will go and visit the elderly this year.

I'm going to my parents on Christmas day, I'm single, so should I spend the day alone at home getting depressed. I have no children or husband(he is stbx), my lodger is going to her daughter's. It is okay for those who have partners and children to say they want Christmas cancelled but there are many people like me who would be alone if it was and quite frankly our mental health has suffered enough this year and I'm not sure how much more it can take.

I imagine that, with less than a week to go they aren’t going to change the rules. Too much non-compliance and too many people would have spent money already.

I imagine instead there will be a stern directive not to mix where possible.

It makes no odds to me - we are staying home on our own for the first time ever. I was planning on seeing parents in the garden on Christmas Eve (already isolating) but now thinking not to.

Dp's son contacted me yesterday to say screw the rules we're coming to visit (he's an adult living in T3 btw). He says we'll only be they're 4th household but that is very unlikely- he's not counting all the households being seen by the households he's visiting prior to us. (If that makes sense but I think
It's a common mistake). And that's even supposing the rules are a good idea. It's nuts. And I honestly find myself in a difficult position. We'd arranged to meet them for a walk instead but they don't like being outside.

People cannot weigh up risk - they take all sorts of nonsense into account as pp said, such as how nice someone is or how well they know them. It's not even about intelligence - it's all Of us - humans are crap at assessing risk and this virus is a tricky one.

JinglingHellsBells

I agree to some extent, sensible people will do sensible things regardless of the "rules". There will alsways be some that wont give a shit regardless,
The government does have power though- like sudent movement, testing, people piling into Heathrow then no follow up on quarantine, and the stupid "Eat out to Spread it About" scheme.