Restrictions to be eased at Easter *MNHQ title edit to remind everyone not to get their hopes up.*

[sally067]

Not sure if it was mentioned in another thread but I saw tonight that it looks like the Government plans are that we will see this lockdown lifted at the beginning of April.

twitter.com/tnewtondunn/status/1351313981894483970

This thread of tweets seems to suggest that cities will likely only go back into Tier's 3 and 4 though so we'll still be in a lockdown of sorts until May regardless of the vaccine rollout due to the shear number of cases at present. I guess any hope of things opening in February or March were a bit of a long shot with the new variant.

All seems so endless. Easter is 12 weeks or 51 working days away. I've never wished my life away so much and really hope we get an early Spring.

God this is bleak

Isn't it just. I wish I hadn't carried on reading this thread. Life is so very very miserable. Go to work, come home, sleep, go to work, come home etc. etc. This isn't living.

Schools must open first. A repeat of last summer with some children still shut out of the classroom while people drank in the pub, shopped, holidayed and kids from different schools mixed at extra-curricular clubs would absolutely not be acceptable.

They are dreaming if they think they'll get compliance until April or May and I say that as someone who lives in what has been an ongoing city hotspot and have been ultra-cautious for a year. First sign of sun by March, everyone will spill outside to mix and I don't blame them. The mental health of all my DCs is suffering.

Many small businesses need to reopen within weeks to survive. Should be schools reopening after half-term once the most vulnerable are vaccinated, all businesses open by Easter. Happy to live under tier 2 restrictions (though I know that's difficult for hospitality businesses), wear masks and socially distance for the long-term this year but everyone needs to get out, learn, work, live.

The success of our vaccination programme so far is wonderful and I have absolute faith in it's continued development. Lockdowns over the first year of the pandemic have been necessary but no more.

@randomer

I can't see anything offensive in *@wanderings* post? It seems sensible.

For me it was the replacement of the letter s with th in the quote, imitating /poking fun at a speech impediment.

@Tempnamelady

We are in the NW so effectively been in lockdown of sorts since November , I can’t tell you how depressing it has been. I coped well-ish till the gyms shut and since then it’s just been so bloody grim.

We are in Leicester and never really been out of lock down since last March.

@wanderings

Regarding my imitation of Saint Boris: No apologies, no regrets.

Should the cartoonists who satirise him every day apologise to him?

But they are satirising his actual appearance. He doesn't have a speech impediment so you changing a to th makes it seem as if you think that having one is a negative or bad thing.

I agree that schools need to be priority over pubs, education and children’s mental health should be priority. Another 5/6 months of no school this year would be awful.

We came out of lockdown last time straight into restrictions like Leicester that's been our shit lives ever since

Goodness, I seem to have ruffled some feathers with my comment! I'm quite well, thank you to those who have asked (so kind!). I'm aware of the economic ramifications of staying in lockdown for much longer but for me, the health of the population comes above. Obviously people are finding it incredibly hard and there are impacts on businesses, mental health, education etc. In my mind though, surely it's better to stay in lockdown whilst everyone (ehem) gets vaccinated and we are 100% certain that we won't be locked down again. It's ruining businesses as it is with all this back and forth and I imagine those who are struggling mentally would find it equally as hard wondering if they'll be banned from seeing people within a few days of being able to do so. I suppose you either fall on the side of either economy or health and I'm on the side of health. I'm also not in a secure job, have a child to take care of whilst trying to work full time in a job that is hanging on by a thread - for those who decided they knew me well enough from one post to make an assumption of my situation 😏 this is just my opinion though, I know it won't be popular but I'm not asking anyone to agree with me, simply putting my point of view out there where a question was asked.

Who has a speech impediment?

@randomer

Who has a speech impediment?

Not Boris. But a PP typed out a sort of quote from him with th replacing the s, as if it were spoken with a lisp. No idea why, given that he doesn't have a lisp, but it comes across as if the PP thinks a lisp is a negative, bad or amusing thing to have.

Schools must open first. A repeat of last summer with some children still shut out of the classroom while people drank in the pub, shopped, holidayed and kids from different schools mixed at extra-curricular clubs would absolutely not be acceptable.

Not be acceptable to parents maybe but those people who will lose their business or job if the economy does not reopen fast enough may disagree with you.

@KatherineJaneway

Schools must open first. A repeat of last summer with some children still shut out of the classroom while people drank in the pub, shopped, holidayed and kids from different schools mixed at extra-curricular clubs would absolutely not be acceptable.

Not be acceptable to parents maybe but those people who will lose their business or job if the economy does not reopen fast enough may disagree with you.

What about business owners who can't run their business because they have to stay at home to look after their kids, or businesses whose staff can't work because of childcare, etc.

You can't look at anything in isolation, you have to look at the bigger picture.

Blimey I am so confuddled. The PM doesn't have a lisp so @wanderings, mocked somebody who has a lisp but it wasn't the PM, it was a person pretending to be the PM.

The title of this thread of does not get my hopes up in anyway! How depressing to think of being locked up for months ☹️

This thread read like "kill yourself now, there's no point in living".

Predictions of lockdowns and school closures etc into 2022?!

Why did Mnhq edit title? Was Easter too hopeful for them or something else

All so depressing

I just want a vaccine.

Apparently that is not allowed and I need to wait my turn (although plenty aren't).

Lifting restrictions while the virus is circulating widely without vaccinating middle-aged people (who are in critical care units in large numbers, if not dying in numbers) won't make me happy or feel safe.

The vaccination drive should be 24/7, drive-through, big marquees etc. I am fully aware of supply issues etc. I am allowed to wish for more than is being done at the moment.

@MarshaBradyo it feels utterly patronising.

The issue is if you lockdown and save lives and there’s no negative implications I think everyone would be totally on board regardless how many or how long the lockdowns last but it just isn’t that simply. Chris Whitty himself said it’s a balancing act and there will come a point where lockdowns cost more lives than they save.

How are peopl enot waiting their turn for a vaccine?

Argh I’m wracking my brain for the name of the other scientist who’s quite softly spoken who has a slight lisp and did some of the daily briefings - I’m thinking the lisp reference was for him?

@barbites

The title of this thread of does not get my hopes up in anyway! How depressing to think of being locked up for months ☹️

Me too , Easter does NOT GET MY HOPES UP! who the fuck is happy or excited about lockdown being on until then ?

This is just never ending

@IceDiscoSkater yep, it really is. The goalposts keep moving further away and what we are meant to be saving changes all the time too.
I've had it. The utter monotony, day in day out while my teenagers disengage with their education and become more isolated. Yes other people have it worse but my sympathy and empathy meter is running low.

@barbites Yes , my DC are becoming disillusioned with home learning too.

Another 3/4 months of that alone is enough to send me round the twist.
Poor kids

I have a little horrible thought at the back of my head like : if all under 50’s and no kids are getting the vaccine ( which is the vast majority of working and education population ) then how on earth will we all get back to work and school normally ?
I’m trying not to give it too much headspace.

Baby steps day by day is the only way we are getting through it

But Easter ! fuck me it’s utterly crap
And the way things go they say one date but it really means two months later because we already started off with 1 Feb here as a goalpost in Scotland ...

* I think if we had another couple of years of lockdowns people would generally comply and follow the rules.*

This is truly idiotic