Pritti Patel now saying we can't walk with another person

[whenwillthemadnessend]

Anyone see this morning today. In her interview she claimed that we should walk cycle and run alone

I understood the rules to allow a walk with one other person.

I walk my dog twice a week with a friend. Rest of the time I'm alone with dog on walks and it's the only thing that keeps me sane at the moment. Take that away and I dont think I can cope for much longer.

Make the rules clearer ffs!!!

@tatutata

It's exactly this sort of crap that just makes me think the government is incompetent ans is trying to set people against each other to distract from their inability to manage hospital infection, terrible and chronic understaffing, not paying people to isolate, fucking up the arrivals testing. Ffs why am I being lectured about going for a walk, whilst thousands of people arrive from all over the world and do whatever the fuck they like.

oh god agree they've not done the NHS proud and ignore those who have to work, like they're some underclass to be sacrificed. but...it is what it is and it won't stop me doing the right thing (and that includes not voting for them)

Fuck off Pritti, lying little bully bum.

No one gives a shit about what you think.

There’s no point in legislating if something can’t be enforced.

But these messages like ‘Don’t let a coffee cost a life’ or ‘Don’t Kill a Granny’ can be effective in making people think about and adjust their behaviour.

People need to be prepared to limit themselves beyond what the law says. When we hear about cancer patients having their treatment delayed which means more will die if it, we need to realise we must stop Covid spreading. How? By staying at home more and having less contacts.

Individuals must choose to do less. Lots of people think they are being good and sticking to the law...but they can stay at home much more if they try. The law cannot legislate for every reason people might leave their house so needs to rely on people choosing to minimise not maximise.

Covid is a socially transmitted disease. If you socialise you are more likely to catch it, however careful you think you are being. To stop it spreading we need to stop seeing other people unless it is essential.
Socialising is not essential.
My friend and I that dog walk and do coffee together, under normal circumstances, live 40mins from each other. We regularly catch up using FaceTime at the moment rather than meeting up for a walk. It’s safer, no need to drive, and we don’t risk passing any virus to each other. We both have expensive coffee machines we can use to make a decent coffee in a proper mug.
Oh and we wear Dubarry not Hunter

@WombatChocolate

"The law might not expressly say you can’t see someone outside....but are you interested in the letter of the law or doing what will help reduce the spread."

I'm interested in both. We either live in a society where the rule of law means something, or we don't. The law protects us all, way beyond anything covid related, it matters. Because if it doesn't then we live in a completely lawless police state. So yes, I'm in favour of the police knowing the law and enforcing it. I'm also greatly in favour of taking personal responsibility for the effects of our behaviours on others around us. I am not in favour of the police or ministers trying to use non existent law to intimidate and frighten the populace.

I shop once a week, run alone three times a week week, and walk with my husband every day. That's it. If, after not having a meaningful conversation with another human being inside a fortnight, I choose to do a 2hr dog walk with a friend, I will do so for as long as it remains the law.

I wish she and other MPs would stop trying to make up their own fucking laws, it's bad enough members of the public doing it!

@Robbybobtail someone I know has it and has literally just been to the supermarket a 3 times in 3 weeks. @WombatChocolate's post is really relevant i am sorry to be a pita and I am jealous of you having such a nice time! I think I think am known as being police-y among a certain group of friends. we can say its a personal choice of it makes it better.

But loneliness is terrible for your immunity as is being sedentary.

Part of our nation's problem with covid is a population with an very unhealthy baseline going into the pandemic.

I will continue to walk (at some distance
and not facing each other) with my friend as long as she is willing and it's legal.

I walk far further in her company than I manage in my own. Especially in the current weather I find it hard to even get out of the door on my own tbh. Yes it's the dreaded mental health..

@Bonkerz
I think it was clear the 2 women who got Starbucks and went outside their county were doing it as a social thing rather than exercise. That's what Patel was condemning this morning.

Who are you to judge their motives? (and FYI the women have had their fines cancelled, so obviously not an opinion shared by those who actually uphold the law).

Clearly if two people are allowed to meet then it must involve a degree of socialising, otherwise you could just exercise alone. I look on it as a way of both exercising and as a chance to see another person in a safer environment than going to their homes - not everyone is in a position to have a support bubble and I’m fed up of all the judgey people who have an entire household to socialise with but want to pontificate about people who may not speak to another person in real life for days on end.

It’s an interesting point regarding the safety of exercising alone - a lot of women I know would only run with a club/friend and not alone when it’s dusk/dark (which is pretty much all the time after work/school hours if you have to wait for another adult member of the household to get home). Therefore taking away the exercise with another person rule will take away a lot of people’s (particularly mothers and vulnerable people) opportunity to exercise and get out of the house at all. I suppose what I’m questioning is whether the government would consider exercise as such a significant contributor to transmission that its worth the impact on health and well-being ?

Should add we have fairly low rates in our part of the world and I am at home the rest of the time with kids off school. So not a socially connected person, the very opposite in fact.

But do you think the law can specify down to the nth degree how many times someone can go shopping, or visit the garden centre, or define every single item which can be sold? Can it specify how many times we can leave the house?

It can’t do this and enforce it. And they can’t do it because the answer won’t be exactly the same for everyone. People who live alone might need to go out more and see people, but those who live with a family or go out to work and have contact might be able to stay in more.

Isn’t the point that all of us need to go out less and stay in more. We all need to consider if we really need to go out each time and be willing to make sacrifices and stay in...even if we are feeling a bit lonely sometimes and might fancy seeing someone or a going for a packet of crisps. Personal responsibility is required and an understanding of the principle of reducing contacts, rather than purely going by the letter of the law and pushing everything from the limit of what the law says, so we can smugly say we have done the right thing and stick to it, whilst still seeing 40 people over the course of the week.

I think it was Charlie Brooker who said Priti Patel is the sort of person who’d switch off your life support if she needed the plug to charge her phone. I think of that every time I see her.

Why are we only talking about pp? It's rumoured that Gov are talking of increasingly restrictions. Because it's not working. Not that I'm sure tighter restrictions is the answer, but hey.

I bet you, this will be one of the next one Boris announces soon.

@Canwecancel2020 "I’m questioning is whether the government would consider exercise as such a significant contributor to transmission that its worth the impact on health and well-being ?"
no its the 'pushing-it" people who are finding ways around it, daily walks coz they want to see a friend , getting coffees etc. imo anyway

I will continue to walk (at some distance
and not facing each other) with my friend as long as she is willing and it's legal.

I don't even know any more but I'd not risk it in Winchester if I were you!

Robbybobtail someone I know has it and has literally just been to the supermarket a 3 times in 3 weeks.

Well, for starters you don’t know that - you only know what they’re telling people. It’s my belief that many people are socialising indoors etc and this is where they are catching it but of course they aren’t going to admit to that. Also do they have dc’s in school? A partner who goes to work? Are they travelling on public transport? All much more likely reasons to have caught it.

Going out to buy food is essential, we have to do this and yes you can probably catch it from the supermarket - but the risk of catching COVID from meeting a friend for a walk outdoors or getting a takeout coffee is absolutely miniscule. The government are deflecting and highlighting things like this as “bad” as they have to be seen to be doing something and to push the blame onto us. Because then we won’t look to the real problems and why this has happened. Also not forgetting this is a virus and it is winter. Of course numbers were going to be extremely high. As it gets warmer numbers will fall, and it will not be because people stopped going for a takeout coffee or meeting one person for a walk.

I think it was Charlie Brooker who said Priti Patel is the sort of person who’d switch off your life support if she needed the plug to charge her phone. I think of that every time I see her.

I completely agree with this, absolutely ruthless - I’m all for powerful, strong women but she just seems completely heartless.

I was speaking to a care home worker today. The sad thing is that because of our inability to follow guidance the care home residents are being looked after by careers who have to wear PPE effectively dehumanising them. So not only are they at a massive risk they have no human contact.
Most of these so called responsibly socialising individuals driving to country settings to have a catch up have families to go back to. They don’t have to physically isolate, they can have a hug, see the face of who they are talking to.
The same goes for people living alone. I have no problem with people who live alone and have no one to bubble with meeting up outside, but if you have family at home or are bubbled is it really necessary.

@Robbybobtail we agree on pritti at least. you're right I dont know all the facts of that person but hadn't thought they were lying. agree food is essential, but also think coffee and strolling with a friend is not within the spirit of what we are all wanting, which is to get the numbers down ( new cases have fallen 3 days in a row!) and sort this out.

I was speaking to a care home worker today. The sad thing is that because of our inability to follow guidance the care home residents are being looked after by careers who have to wear PPE effectively dehumanising them. So not only are they at a massive risk they have no human contact.
Most of these so called responsibly socialising individuals driving to country settings to have a catch up have families to go back to. They don’t have to physically isolate, they can have a hug, see the face of who they are talking to.

But surely the old people in care homes are catching it from care home staff? Their families are not allowed to visit so your post doesn’t make sense.

It doesn't matter what she said. It's the official guidance you need to be lookin' at.

@Stovetopespresso I am doing the right thing. I met one friend in September. That's it for the entire year, mainly because nine of my friends walk and I wouldn't do the playground meet. If the science on meeting a friend outside has changed, then maybe we à) get a scientist explaining it, and/or b) change the rules. Having a government minister lecture us on things that are completely legal I find is more about the minister enjoy herself. She creeps me out.

*none not nine!!

@Angrymum22

I was speaking to a care home worker today. The sad thing is that because of our inability to follow guidance the care home residents are being looked after by careers who have to wear PPE effectively dehumanising them. So not only are they at a massive risk they have no human contact. Most of these so called responsibly socialising individuals driving to country settings to have a catch up have families to go back to. They don’t have to physically isolate, they can have a hug, see the face of who they are talking to. The same goes for people living alone. I have no problem with people who live alone and have no one to bubble with meeting up outside, but if you have family at home or are bubbled is it really necessary.

It is well known that Covid rips through care homes. You can't blame that on 2 people having a socially distanced walk in the country. Your care worker friend should be looking closer to home for the blame for that.

Also, just because someone is in a support bubble does not mean they have real social contact on tap. Many people are bubbled with people miles away. And just because someone has family at home does not mean they are happy and not struggling.