Is the new government narrative to blame the public/put pressure on the public with rules a deflection tactic?

[User158340]

Now, we're in a really bad place with Covid this month and it's serious. The government are largely responsible given the decisions they've made and Boris's cowardice in making the decisions that need making until it's too late.

Now they seem intent on blaming the public for this. Is a lot of this smoke and mirrors to turn people against each other, rather than blame the government?

Yes, divide and conquer. They want people to believe it is caused by taking walks with a friend without wearing a mask, or getting a takeout coffee because otherwise people will start to wonder where the spread is really happening i.e. in hospitals, care homes and amongst the general working public who HAVE to go to work to keep the economy going. And we cant do much about that. It was always inevitable this was going to be much worse in winter as per any virus - it was already "out there" and wont be going away, it is just about managing it now when outbreaks occur and trying to get through winter without the nhs getting "overwhelmed". Hopefully the vaccine will make a big difference to numbers although imo the numbers would steadily decrease as it gets warmer anyway. The jab should protect the elderly and vulnerable and will possibly have to be tweaked and re-administered every year as per the flu jab.

Is a lot of this smoke and mirrors to turn people against each other, rather than blame the government?

Yes

Can they plan anything to that extent?

There was a British doctor speaking to a french newspaper yesterday about the underfunding of the NHS which is a big part of the problem and the problems it's caused in the pandemic

"France has three times as many hospital beds as the United Kingdom [which has only between 2.6 and 2.7 beds per 1,000 inhabitants] and twice as many intensive care beds as we do. . Here, we often look with envy at the French system, insists Dr. Oliver"

www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2021/01/11/covid-19-le-cri-d-alarme-d-un-medecin-britannique_6065822_3210.html

Covid-19: the cry of alarm from a British doctor facing a public hospital on the verge of saturation
Doctor Oliver expresses his fear of having to choose between patients who can access intensive care and deplores the lack of resources and staff at the hospital in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

David Oliver is a senior doctor at the NHS (National Health Service), the British public hospital. He has been working for months in the "Covid-19" department of a hospital in the south-east of England, a few tens of kilometers from London, where the incidence rates of the virus, and in particular of its variant " British ”, much more contagious, are the most important.

He agreed to testify (on condition that the name of his establishment is not cited), while the death toll from Covid-19 has just exceeded 80,000 in the United Kingdom and hospitals across the country are facing a much larger wave than in spring 2020 (with now more than 32,000 hospitalized).

Yes, while we are all finger pointing at each other those responsible for criminal negligence will sneak out the backdoor.

Does a government have any duty of care towards it's citizens?
Are they in breach of this?
Could it be argued that their insistence on ignoring scientific evidence and advice has led to the deaths of those they owe a duty of care to?

Why are they paying out £60,000 in compensation to NHS staff.

Of course they want us confused. Then they can "share" the blame with us thus insuring they can not be fully accountable. This is why they brought in the tier system and said that local authorities would be part of the decision making process and that local authorities could augment the guidance with further rules. Then they pointed to the tier system and said that if the tiers failed to bring down transmission it is because 1) the local authorities are not strengthening the guidance with extra restrictions 2) Local authorities and police forces are not enforcing the restrictions......"not our fault"

A divided demoralised populace is so much easier to control. This will come in handy when the full economic damage is starting to really be felt.

Also, the government going in hard about enforcing rules and even tightening the borders at last. If things have been so lax, a lack of enforcement has been part of the problem. Why have they waited for things to get really out of control before they decide they might actually have to enforce a few things?

And let's not forget it was only 8 days ago they sent the children back to school for the Spring term, which the PM had assured the day before was perfectly safe.

Yes, but also the vaccine which isn't going to change anything.

@MrsWobble3

It doesn’t matter if that closeness is within the rules or not - the virus doesn’t care

^This and everything you said

Yes, but also the vaccine which isn't going to change anything.
The government will pretend it is, though. They'll fiddle the figures in the opposite direction, and reverse the scaremongering spin machine, to coincide with virus levels falling with warmer weather, saying "it's your civic duty to go out and spend".

@User158340

Why have they waited for things to get really out of control before they decide they might actually have to enforce a few things

Because otherwise people would complain they would be 'breaching human rights' unnecessarily and all the usual bollocks. They can't win really

[quote trulydelicious]@User158340

Why have they waited for things to get really out of control before they decide they might actually have to enforce a few things

Because otherwise people would complain they would be 'breaching human rights' unnecessarily and all the usual bollocks. They can't win really[/quote]
Public opinion (i.e. the vast majority of the people who have and are following the rules) has always been that the rules are too lax and the enforcement too light, going back to the summer. It was only in the spring the government took it seriously. Now they've decided to take it seriously again, due to this situation of their own making.

The 'civil liberties crowd are not the majority. Not in the height of a pandemic when people are trying to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.

User158340, they are going to have to go in hard with more restrictions and enforcing those restrictions now only because they sat back in November and allowed it to get out of control. Plus as trulydelicious points out.

When some teachers were trying to present the stats on schools transmission and make the case that schools were not covid secure (bollocks bloody meme) and that schools were driving community transmission parents accused them of being work shy. Back in September parents on here took up the agenda of Us4them and were desperately repeating in parrot fashion "Schools are safe" and that is just the issue of schools. Then you add the political interests of those on the margins banging on about civil liberties, and the "Oh my head can't take it" brigade with the mental health slant and that is without the more material concerns over jobs and housing. There is no leadership, just leaks to media to test public opinion. Bojo is more concerned with being liked than he is in being respected. If you consider the adage "the people get the leaders they deserve" then you need to extend that to "the people know not what they need" and assume they need leadership. And if we don't need leadership or disagree with the leadership then we must challenge it. I really hope this government is made accountable for their decisions because the cynic in me refuses to call the dithering and back peddling, lies and misuse of public money a mistake.

User158340, they are going to have to go in hard with more restrictions and enforcing those restrictions now only because they sat back in November and allowed it to get out of control.

Yep, this is what I mean. It's not about the public, ultimately, it's about their own negligence.

If things have been so lax, a lack of enforcement has been part of the problem. Why have they waited for things to get really out of control before they decide they might actually have to enforce a few things?

Perhaps because, if it was to be done thoroughly, that would involve confronting folk they'd rather not?

Much easier to tackle soft targets, in the hope it'll prove an example to everyone else

100% this. It’s their only strategy.

@estornudar

Yes, but I don't think this is a new narrative. The government have been blaming the public for months to cover up a string of failures on their part.

Sorry, accidentally removed quote when posting. Was agreeing with this ^ post.

Oh, and they are really ramping up the fear factor now, the whole "yes, police will fine you if you step even slightly out of line" spiel. Has anyone just seen the speech Priti Patel gave about the poor hard-working police and how the government are completely in support of them issuing fines? No question of whether its actually against the law - there will be no excuses according to Priti. Never mind how vague the "guidelines" are and that most people dont know what 'local' means or whether having a takeout coffee constitutes a picnic! If the police decide you are doing something wrong, well its up to them to decide isnt it?
They really need to scare people now who are even thinking about stepping foot out of the door theyre getting that desperate. But dont let the fact that this is still mainly being spread in hospitals and care homes get in the way of their plan to confuse and bully the country into submission.

I have never felt so strongly that i would like to emigrate!

Yes some people have been twats about not following the rules, but the majority are following them.

SAGE told the government to lockdown on December 22nd. The government did not. The Gov were advised to do a circuit breaker in September, they did not. The Gov were advised to lock down earlier in March. They did not.

So here we are, worst death rate in Europe!

Headlines on BBC is to fact check the message that people are breaking the rules

www.bbc.co.uk/news/55626008

In addition the report says:

The same survey shows that over the course of the pandemic (even when rules were loosened) around nine in 10 people say they have consistently followed social distancing and contact rules.

There is a lot of anger growing in working class communities. Getting blamed for something that they didnt cause or create while having to take the risk of going into their low paid job (if they still have one) having to ask for help to feed their kids and then receiving a box of something that wouldnt even cover two days all the while being hassled and bullied into having to buy face masks while having to worry about being evicted because they cant afford to pay their rent while the so called protection from eviction isnt there in yet another lockdown. And all ppl care about is that they continue to wear face masks to protect their "betters"

@MercyBooth

There is a lot of anger growing in working class communities

Rules are being broken by all social classess.

Maybe the anger of working class communities is being fuelled by posts similar to yours written by agitators across social media?

I live in one FFS.

@trulydelicious
Are you serious? Can you not see that the brunt of this is borne by those who work in close proximity to other people, for less money? Who have to work because they don’t have the cushion of savings or property? Whose partner can’t afford to support them when they have to stop work to car for children or a vulnerable loved one??
It isn’t hard to look beyond your own circumstance to see how hard this must be for some people.