Holidays abroad are illegal from Monday

[Dugee]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9389921/Ban-leaving-UK-amid-new-coronavirus-laws-force-week.html

Along with any other unnecessary travel abroad.

I thought they'd were illegal already and had been for some time

Yes, because they were covered by the 'stay at home' unless for approved purpose, and holidays never formed part of that.

The Tories will,want to get travel up,and running as soon as possible - before airlines go irrevocably bust. It's too important a sector to be allowed to fail. Spending on British holidays will of course be welcome -as will every bit of 'buy British'. But that's making the best of a bad lot, not the aim

Isn't this the only way to control the virus? do people want to live in permanent lock down? children off school again? After all the efforts the UK has done with the vaccine, other countries have not even started vaccinating yet.

Australia did this and it is pretty normal there now, apart from a few restrictions.

I love holidays and both set of grandparents are overseas so this is not ideal, I would like to see my family and friends, but I do not want to live in permanent lock down.

@MaxNormal please educate yourself about North Korea. The horrific brutal violence suffered by people is beyond anything imaginable to us in the UK. People are put in prison camps carrying out awful physical forced labour for years with beatings, physical and psychological abuse. Their crime for a perceived slight against the regime. Rape as a punishment. Sterilisation as punishment. Children taught to inform on parents. And it's happening today. Right now as you make glib comparisons about not being allowed to Majorca for a year or so. I fucking hate the Tories. I hate the new criminal justice bill and do see it as a slip into worrying changes but to compare it to the evil that is North Korea is a huge insult to the people who live there.

Let’s put it into context. We are wearing masks nearly everyone complies. We have telephone appointments with GP’s. We must stay local. We are fined if we have coffee with a friend in our own garden. Police have been entering people’s homes on the flimsiest of excuses. I’m not talking parties.

This was a no brainier from the beginning. Our vaccination program is ahead of the rest of the world so it would be fool hardy to allow people out into other countries to bring back vaccine resistive strains.

The government are spending billions vaccinating the entire population ASAP. It will all be for nothing of someone rushes off to Brazil for a jolly and bring back a strain that doesn’t respond to the vaccine.

Expect some parts of the world to be off limits for a while.

@Mrbob

Maybe if that had been implemented a year ago 100000 less people would have died. This isn’t some conspiracy to take away your freedoms it’s a way to try and stop you DYING. Jesus. It’s like the right to bear arms crowd in America. It’s not some slippery slope. I live in a country where the borders have been closed for a year and I am so utterly grateful for that. Terrified of what could happen if my family in the UK became unwell but entirely happy to give up overseas (and interstate) holidays temporarily so we don’t get sick and our healthcare system doesn’t fall apart

This isn’t some conspiracy to take away your freedoms it’s a way to try and stop you DYING. Jesus. It’s like the right to bear arms crowd in America.

It's interesting you make that comparison. I think gun laws are all wrong in the US, but I have some sympathy, and even admiration for, the constitutional reasoning behind them: the constitution says that citizens should be able to bear arms to protect themselves against their own government if that government becomes tyrannical and threatens citizens' god given freedom.

So, yes, an intriguing comparison!

Yes, the regulation is part of our very very slow opening up of a few things (I have been against the CV19 mandatory legislation since March 2020) and this set of regulations reads even more like big brother than the ones before. www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/364/pdfs/uksi_20210364_en.pdf Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021

What is life without liberty?

I just pray flights don't start getting cancelled as DH and I have to sing and play music at a family funeral in August in the States - I'm dreading it. Would much rather my lovely uncle was still here

We have a strong successful vaccination. Programme. Millions have been vaccinated. My concern has always been will we need to be vaccinated every year as with a flu jab? We have had no non essential shops open for the best part of a year. We have been unable to see family or friends for nearly a year.
And now we cannot travel or take a holiday.

Anyone else getting concerned?

@Flyonawalk

Another one deeply concerned about limits on basic freedom and government disregard for civil liberties and personal responsibility.

Posters are objecting to comments which draw parallels with North Korea. But many repressive regimes have started with the populace accepting government ‘making them safe’ through repression. Just as the U.K. is doing at the moment.

Hear, hear.

I for one are pleased. The fact that some people were posting selfie’s from South Africa in December while I was banned from seeing my family in the next town left somewhat of a bitter taste.

People don’t even follow the guidance as it is now. Numerous ‘support’ bubbles, mixing inside, play dates at the park etc etc the list goes on.

I don’t want another lockdown. My business can’t operate and my mental health is shot to pieces. I want my DC to be in school. Banning holidays abroad is no big deal. I can’t believe it wasn’t made illegal sooner.

I'm glad that they are not allowing foreign holidays for the time being.

After the year we've had, especially winter lockdown and home schooling, shops and gyms still shut not having seen friends and family in over a year we don't need people out on a jolly, partying, not SD and bringing home some horrible variant.

We are on track with the vaccines and need to be careful not to import any further variants until we know we've got his under control. It's better to keep schools and universities open and UK business afloat. Reducing flights is also a great idea in terms of carbon emission.

I'd think people who have family abroad have a valid reason to travel but other than that, no, we've lost too much already. Many people who go on holiday end up drinking and partying so not SD , which is hardly a good idea in a pandemic.

Many other European countries did not have a winter lockdown, their kids were at school and shops were open. They're now going into a lockdown when we're coming out. NOT a good time to go abroad (FFS).

@ItsMarch so do you think by banning holidays the virus will go ? We’ve not had holidays since December when it was banned (enforced now) and yet the virus keeps going. As you say people are not following the rules hence every day we have thousands of new cases ...

I dont want an holiday, I dont give a shit about it, I just want to see all my family. ☹️

Covid is now seen as the priority to the exclusion of all else, the deaths that will surely result from frayed operations and lack of screening will be huge. Life has been put on hold - holidays are part of normal life as is going out, young people locked away is abnormal. We have lost our freedom and I doubt whether we will get it all back. The protests for whatever reason have made it worse as they have given the government even greater justification to increase controls

[quote millenialblush]@MagpieSong vaccination is absolutely being forced onto you if you are a care home worker, and it's a slippery slope. If they introduce vaccines for travel the people will have to get it to see families. It's not just about holidays, it's about travelling for work and to see loved ones.

It's easy to write everything off as reasonable during a pandemic, but the government are using fear to introduce laws unlawfully, it's becoming more and more ridiculous each week but thankfully people are starting to wake up. Will you feel so compliant if they bring in the October lockdown law extension on Thursday?[/quote]
Good question. I don’t feel compliant with all of it already, so no, in some ways. I just feel holidays are the least of the concerns I have and far more supportable/understandable. The care sector is very tricky re vaccines, it’s not technically forcing, but putting people in the position where they can lose their job if they don’t get it is obviously a rock and a hard place. At the same time, there is a need for encouragement but I feel that area is heavy handed. I don’t write everything off, but there are some things that make more sense than others. I think a third wave of infections utterly untouched by the vaccine is less likely, which is why I’d be less happy with the lockdown extension. However, I expect this government to be more heavy handed as a (pretty blooming) right wing government - it’s why I didn’t vote them in and wouldn’t. Their policies are more economy focused rather than people focused - look at the homeless communities priority for a vaccine! - which I dislike, but I think the policy on holidays is less the point. The restrictions on driving for a walk in certain areas is pretty ridiculous and the powers the police have exercised around arresting/penalising people for being in low risk, outdoor areas with a flask is ridiculous.

ItsMarch but it is a big deal. It’s yet another loss of our liberty and freedom. My family have had three deaths in the last year. None were from Covid. We were unable to hold wakes after their funerals. It was a pretty big deal for us not to be able to hold what I consider to be a proper send off for them. They were much loved and we were unable to properly mourn their passing.
Now we are unable to even have a couple of days away.

I'm always sceptical of the DM but in the midst of a pandemic, global travel should have been off the table from day 1.
We should be in a position where we are lifting restrictions, but having made a complete hash of managing the situation, it seems we may need to get used to sudden changes and limitations to what we can and can't do.
If we were not in a pandemic situation, then travel should legally be unlimited. Morally it is environmentally damaging. But people can make up their own minds about the necessity of travel.

[quote Pinchoftums]@MaxNormal please educate yourself about North Korea. The horrific brutal violence suffered by people is beyond anything imaginable to us in the UK. People are put in prison camps carrying out awful physical forced labour for years with beatings, physical and psychological abuse. Their crime for a perceived slight against the regime. Rape as a punishment. Sterilisation as punishment. Children taught to inform on parents. And it's happening today. Right now as you make glib comparisons about not being allowed to Majorca for a year or so. I fucking hate the Tories. I hate the new criminal justice bill and do see it as a slip into worrying changes but to compare it to the evil that is North Korea is a huge insult to the people who live there.[/quote]
Well said.

There are people living under dreadful regimes, and in conditions that we can't even begin to speculate about, because they are so far from our sphere of reference it wouldn't enter our heads.

However we need to remember that this sort of totalitarian corruption can happen anywhere, and that we have a careful balancing act between curtailment of some personal freedoms, and crushing of all personal freedoms.

We mustn't let the government - any government - sneak in anything extreme, or which can be interpreted to their own advantage, through the back door, so to speak.

When is someone going to address the deaths through lack of cancer care and screening. It’s truly appalling.

But many repressive regimes have started with the populace accepting government ‘making them safe’ through repression. Just as the U.K. is doing at the moment

But WHY would the government want to keep us locked down any longer than is needed? It makes no sense to think this because a)it is killing the economy - the government needs out out there earning, paying taxes, spending b) this level of state interference in our lives is against everything that the Tories usually hold dear, hence the pressure Johnson is under from the likes of the CRG

Can you explain your reasoning @Flyonawalk?

us out there not out out there

Trapping people in their own country, but hey, it's safe

Unless you have a second home. Second home owners are allowed to continue holidaying in their holiday homes abroad.

Good to understand the government's priorities.

@pinkearedcow

But many repressive regimes have started with the populace accepting government ‘making them safe’ through repression. Just as the U.K. is doing at the moment

But WHY would the government want to keep us locked down any longer than is needed? It makes no sense to think this because a)it is killing the economy - the government needs out out there earning, paying taxes, spending b) this level of state interference in our lives is against everything that the Tories usually hold dear, hence the pressure Johnson is under from the likes of the CRG

Can you explain your reasoning @Flyonawalk?

The Tories have also never been sentimental, shall we say, about the NHS. So yes, you are right, none of this makes sense whatsoever.

I admire those (but in some ways disagree) with those who think this is all worth it to save COVID deaths. But I just can't believe this is why the Tories are doing it. It just doesn't make sense.

Complaining about not being able to hold a proper funeral = reasonable

Complaining about not being about to go on a package holiday = totally unreasonable

If people can't see that if there'd been less of the latter, the former might have remained possible then they're not very bright. In Australia, which imposed travel restrictions (not ban, you have to quarantine when you enter for 2 weeks at your own cost) have had a much more normal life and fewer deaths from covid and the consequences of covid.

I just wish they'd done it earlier.

You can still travel abroad for funerals, of course.