The amount of posters who want support bubbles banned is shocking...

[ToHellinahandbasket]

And quite frankly appalling.
Is it just me seeing a lot of this?
The many threads about further restrictions seem to all be posters suggesting things that don’t affect them and insisting those be the things that should go.
It’s a real eye opener.

I benefit from a support bubble as my son was under one on the 2nd December. I had PND and was already suffering from anxiety due to a previous TFMR which developed into quite bad health anxiety. Without my support bubble I don’t know what would have happened tbh, and I’m still not back to normal now so I dread to think how it will be if they do take them away.

I don’t get takeaway coffee but I’m not shouting from the rooftops for it to be banned. I don’t meet a friend for a socially distanced walk, but I’m not shouting about that either.

There just seems to be a very narrow minded view at the moment, I don’t know if it’s just on here, where people are airily dismissing things without a thought for how it can affect other people or their mental health or situations.

I feel like people bandied together a bit to begin with and now it’s flipped completely. It’s eye opening and seriously depressing.

Is it just on mumsnet do you think? I don’t know what I’m hoping to achieve by posting this tbh I just feel really unsettled by some of the attitudes I’ve seen on here tonight and some of the things I’ve read

I know people are allowed their own opinions, of course and that’s what is great about an online forum, but there seems to be a definite lean one way of late. I even saw a few posters proclaiming we should get the army on the streets to “manage” people and ensure that people don’t break the rules if support bubbles are stopped.

There doesn’t seem to be much compassion left :(

I don’t know anybody who wants support bubbles stopped. It is just an unrealistic MN opinion.

@Tearsfortiers unfortunately due to the different UK governments having different rules and support bubbles changing since the first lockdown lots of people have misinformation on what a support bubble is.

I've sent a few people a copy of the government rules to back up my explanation of what a support bubble is.

@cyclingmad
To suggest that everyone who lives with others lives with people who they would want (or be able) to hug comes from a place of privilege itself. It is noticeable that those in support bubbles largely cannot understand how it can be just as isolating to live in shared accommodation with people who you may not actually like (or even be able to communicate with as many of those who have no choice but to live in such accommodation are immigrants with poor English and who may not speak the same language as those they live with) as it can to live alone.

I think quite a few people bend the rules which then mucks up for the rest of the people who genuinely need the support.

I was in a bubble with my single friend but she repeatedly broke the rules so that was stopped.

The issue is that people are fed up but then lash out at what they see as unfair because rather than give the benefit of doubt or speak to the person they prefer to shout.

No one in real life wants them ending. Its mn madness at it again. People on other threads saying ban support bubbles, shut down supermarkets and ban outdoor excercise. Its fucking insane. They cant genuinely want people locked up in their homes for 2 months surely.

And yes its always the im alright jack ones. The ones who have a perfect marriage, well behaved children, a large house full of food and crafts and entertainment systems and they are lucky they work for their husband who earns a bazillion squids a year and wont ever lose his job.

I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for the support bubble.

@StatisticalSense you seem to be suggesting that because everyone can’t benefit from support bubbles then no one should have them?

I know from my own and friend’s experiences that shared housing can be horrible experience but that doesn’t have any baring or link to how horrible living alone in a pandemic is. Those two things are not linked. My experience this year is that those unhappy in shared houses have either moved shared house or moved in with friends or family temporarily. That’s a lot easier to do than when you’re living alone and paying mortgage/ rent and bills on an entire property. I’m aware that’s not an option for everyone but it’s a viable option for many.

Without my bubble I would have had zero face to face contact with anyone this week and to make that illegal is in humane.

Kfp clearly you don't understand what a support bubble is?! It's nothing to do with childcare, it is when a single adult household bubbles up with one other household for support. There doesn't need to be childcare and there is no "bending" it.
You are getting confused with childcare bubbles

Statisticalsense I understand what you're saying but it appears too difficult to allow. A support bubble of a person who lives alone means there will be no spread of the disease, the disease should stay within those households. A support bubble for a person who lives in a shared household means total spread of the disease to multiple households, and it's impossible to police.

It is totally heartless thinking. I know some people will and have misused the idea of support bubbles but there are some very good reasons the government introduced them. Lets hope the government remember that.

Truely what do you mean by misusing support bubbles? I can't work out how you could misuse them?

No one in real life wants them ending. Its mn madness at it again. People on other threads saying ban support bubbles, shut down supermarkets and ban outdoor excercise. Its fucking insane. They cant genuinely want people locked up in their homes for 2 months surely

Sharp elbow syndrome
They are frightened they wont get an NHS bed if they get ill.

Or jealousy Bit like the benefits threads/council housing threads.

Yeah, I am with you and I dont even have a bubble.
The other ideas on that thread are pretty scary too. God help us if the government is looking here to gauge public opinion.

I think the problem lies with the people who have multiple support bubbles, and change them regularly. The thought of support bubbles stopping scares me. I lost my dad 6 weeks ago, and, as his sole carer, I spent the vast majority of 2020 just trying to keep him safe. 14yo ds was deregistered from school and we literally saw nobody other than my dad up until he died.

Since then, I’ve had what the doctor says would have once upon a time been described as a nervous breakdown. I’m really not functioning very well at all at the minute, and have “bubbled” with my cousin and her husband, as I’ve needed support to arrange the funeral, sort his house etc etc. I don’t think I could cope without them at the minute.

What is more risk? Me and my DD bubbling with my single friend who works between outdoor and home office, takes her dog for a walk and goes to the Co-Op or a family where members are going out to work and school?

My (different) friend's elderly mother deteriorated physically and mentally to a dangerous degree during the first lockdown. She went from being on holiday just before lockdown started to a suicidal husk who needed carers to wash and dress her. Her son had followed the rules by dropping essentials on her doorstep and having a very quick chat and then leaving. Allowing people human contact is vital.

@40somethingJBJ Im so sorry to hear that

What they need to do it make it much clearer that it is one support bubble allowed

If you read on here people have lots. Sister is single so bubbles with parents. Then parents bubble with other daughter( married dh 2 x children) for childcare, and third daughter as she is a single parent of 2, then fourth daughter who has a dh and child under one. So that’s 13 in a bubble

In fact if they bubble with thier single daughter they can’t bubble with anyone rise.

That’s the real issue

@40somethingJBJ
Nobody has multiple support bubbles as the rules don’t make that possible.

It seems to me from reading here that it sounds like lots of people are just breaking the rules and mixing with people and calling it a “bubble”. This isn’t a support bubble. A support bubble is forming a fixed single household only allowed in very specific circumstances. There is no additional risk from support bubbles as you can’t be in more than one so they don’t cause cross household mixing.

@Goldendeliciousness

Truely what do you mean by misusing support bubbles? I can't work out how you could misuse them?

I mean the people that have several going at once. Basically not following the rules and not in the spirit to which they were meant.

Obviously support bubbles should exist to support those that need support.

People taking the piss ruin this for everyone. I think we just have to put up with that though. These bubbles are much needed. More children died in the first lockdown at the hands of their parents than of covid.

I have ONE. With my parents household.

I wonder if now the whole 'bubble' system has become stretched and misused by some, it would help to keep the concept but come up with a different name and reset the rules. So, something like: bubbles no longer allowed, but if you're living alone you can now have a 'bond' with one other household only, no changes, no staying over, and so on.

If they close support bubbles I shall be putting two fingers up to that. My widowed mum lives on her own, she has no one to talk to or see other than us. First lockdown we didn’t see her until we were allowed and it almost broke her. I shall not be taking any notice of rules that say I cannot support her when she needs it most.

@Butterymuffin Cue loads of stories in the media showing sandwich generation women being fined for the unpaid care they provide.

Nobody has multiple support bubbles as the rules don’t make that possible.

No, but what is unhelpful is the government/media choosing to use the word "bubble" for scenarios where you can't freely mix. "School bubble", "childcare bubble", "Christmas bubble". Half expecting "exercise bubble" to come next. It's very confusing and the word "bubble" implies you can mix within it.

There should be a clear distinction between when you can mix freely and behave as if it is your household (support bubble for single adults, single parents or families with a child under 1) and when you cannot.