Did anyone watch Peston tonight?

[Likeoneofyourfrenchgirls]

I don’t recommend it.

I now can’t sleep as I feel so depressed by it all.

Professor John Edmunds of SAGE implying we’ve got another year of this and we’ll be lucky to have rule of 6 by autumn. Even with vaccines. What’s the point?

I don't watch Peston. Can't stand the man. I watch Newsnight instead.

John Edmunds is very downbeat - but he's also usually fairly spot on with stuff.

I can't work out what's going on at the moment. It's all starting to feel a bit strange.

Don’t take any notice of Peston he’s a complete drama queen. He’s so OTT it’s beyond ridiculous. I can’t watch him and his show. He catastrophes’ everything.

The last time I watched Peston he was claiming this would go on, “for years” so at least now it’s not plural anymore

And in fact article here about it www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.kentonline.co.uk/news/national/amp/uk-should-be-more-or-less-free-of-coronavirus-crisis-by-christmas-scientist-23428/ sounds optimistic and saying over by Christmas which would mean restrictions loosing well before then I’d imagine.

Peston is a waste of space. Sperm

I watched it and I agree that the interview with Professor Edmunds was really worrying. The fact that the Bristol variant may be more contagious, more able to infect vaccinated people or those with some immunity from Covid post infection. Peston can be quite dramatic but I focused more on what the professor was saying and I feel like there’s another sleepless night ahead for me now!

Ah the ray of sunshine that is Edmunds..............again.

SAGE are pricks

Unelected unaccountable people with secure jobs and a full education looking to deprive the rest of society of the same. I seriously doubt their motives and would take no notice of them.

And as for his comments about schools and the R number - so? Given kids actually need to go back to school, we will just need to accept the R number going up.

So in a nutshell Covid is getting up to twice as 'strong' but vaccines for v1 will cut in half then we're back to stage 1 are we not. Hence the fact they are majoring on social distancing for a good deal longer than we'd hoped.

It was extremely depressing and I wish I’d never watched it.

It is so depressing. Talk of us not being able to book a holiday even in this country this summer is awful. I feel like I've resigned myself to the fact the whole of this year will be a write-off, and anything we manage to leave the house for and enjoy will be a bonus!

@LouLou198 but what about next year when another variant pops up that vaccines don’t work against?

I think we will have UK holidays, but not abroad this year. It’s only February! We hadn’t even locked down by this time last year and holidays still went ahead in the summer.

So in one breath he's said we'll me 'more or less out of this by Christmas' and in the next that some restrictions will remain in place 'probably forever'? WTF?? Is his idea of 'more or less out of this' living like we did last summer- yes some things were open but SD is such a limiting factor for so many industries and businesses to survive.

I honestly don't see the point in anything any more if life is going to be this shit for years to come. Is what we had last summer the best we can hope for from now on? Personally I hated it, it felt far from normal and there were still lots of restrictions in place. I hate this new normal. If it weren't for my daughter I don't think I'd be here any more.

Restrictions in place “probably forever”

Hahahaha

Why would that be exactly. Restrictions haven’t remained in place following previous pandemics

These people are wired to the moon and will just say any old crap to keep themselves relevant.

@JuneMoonstone

I honestly don't see the point in anything any more if life is going to be this shit for years to come. Is what we had last summer the best we can hope for from now on? Personally I hated it, it felt far from normal and there were still lots of restrictions in place. I hate this new normal. If it weren't for my daughter I don't think I'd be here any more.

Agreed that last summer was shit- yes you could go to the pub but still had to SD/ put mask on for trips to the loo - people couldn't mix with any other households either depending on local restrictions. Most office workers still WFH - with the knock-on effect for the businesses that rely on footfall in city centres. If last summer is the best we can hope for I despair.

It’s now headline news on various papers “Professor John Edmonds said...”

We managed a holiday in the UK last Summer and it was lovely, booked to go back this Summer. Like Matt Hancock we booked it month's ago and I am not giving up hope that we will get to go, we will see where the land lies in another 6 months

[quote Likeoneofyourfrenchgirls]@LouLou198 but what about next year when another variant pops up that vaccines don’t work against?

I think we will have UK holidays, but not abroad this year. It’s only February! We hadn’t even locked down by this time last year and holidays still went ahead in the summer.[/quote]
Holidays went ahead in the summer but to our massive detriment in the winter. Maybe they're trying to get to a situation where the essentials (education) will continue undisturbed even in peak winter months.

"Restrictions haven’t remained in place following previous pandemics"

... because we didn't expect to shut whole economy down or that most people (who would otherwise have died) could be saved . 2021 is different. The expectation now is that we should move heaven & Earth to stop death of relatively few. And suffering of fair amount of others, too, I acknowledge.

That goal wouldn't have been considered reasonable in 1919 because of the high economic cost... it is pursued today.

Not what I want. I object to strict Lockdown & Zero Covid etc. But strong suppression is what most UK people want and the pain of achieving it is strongly advocated often. This is currently being sold as the maximum gain for the most people. They advocate this by constant harping on about 'normal life' in Australia, for instance, even if lots of Australians abroad are stranded and there are internal travel restrictions, rolling mini-lockdowns, and struggles to put on an international sport competition.

If my dad (lives far away) dies, I wonder if I'd be able to attend the funeral. The high chance it wouldn't be possible for me to attend is what I need to work on living with. If it has to happen, it will be easier to accept if I'm used to the idea.

I like Peston... as much as any presenter anyway.

@Prrrambulate and you think that means we won’t be able to go away in this country? I doubt abroad will be on the cards, but tourism in this country will go bust if they miss out on summer. Who will pay for the fall out?

Forever may be understood in the context that there isn't a vaccine for HIV but effective drug therapies are available but aren't exactly pleasant. So don't practice unprotected sex 40 years on down the road.

There is much more firepower being put towards solving this problem so forever might just be 5 years before we have it fully beaten but like the flu it will take its annual toll of the very frail and very weak. Edmunds also said it would effectively be licked for most people by Christmas. Let's hope so.

@RedcurrantPuff

SAGE are pricks

Unelected unaccountable people with secure jobs and a full education looking to deprive the rest of society of the same. I seriously doubt their motives and would take no notice of them.

Right, yes - they are just spoiling your fun for the sake of it . You sound like a toddler having a tantrum because mean old Mummy won't let him play with a knife or chuck himself out of a window.

They are talking about rule of 6 outdoors for March according to the leak (and confirmed by sources) article In last weekends Times. Sage need to stop being allowed to voice personal opinions in the main stream media they are a group and as with any group individual voices have different opinions. This will not happen, the government know support for lockdowns is wearing thin both with the public and their own ministers and MPs and the cost of this whole thing is eye watering.

What is happening at the moment is typical psychological games, they know people are hearing good news about the vaccine and cases dropping they don’t want us to take it upon ourselves to start doing as we please so they drip feed things like this to keep people in line. Please remember last year no vaccines and a fairly good summer. This year we have vaccines (stop talking about variants there have always been variants we are only now looking for them). It’s only just over a week until they put out the roadmap so a great tip for anyone’s mental health would be stop listening to random people from sage or people on mumsnet and wait and see.