Close the F-ing boarder!!

[ilovesouthlondon]

Not sure why I'm using AIBU because I've already made up my mind that i'm not, but interested to hear the thoughts of others...my friend is an air stewardess and says she flys to India regularly in an empty plane but comes back with the plane full! I was surprised as I wrongly assumed that with all systems go prepared for the 21st, travel to the UK from India would be banned unless you are returning home to quarantine or had an emergency family/business issue to attend to. WTF is flying in from a scientifically proven covid varient hot spot still allowed when we're preparing to free ourselves from bondage? Also how come the USA is never on the red list (of course we all know why, I'm just being sarcastic). Rant over!!!

This is my biggest irritation why is it always folks moaning about refugees etc . Who can not spell it. If you care so much about the border learn to spell it .

[quote NannyAndJohn]@ilovesouthlondon If the government were to act fact and reintroduce some low level restrictions now then we could avoid it.

But like usual they'll leave it until the last minute and have no choice other than to implement another lockdown.[/quote]
That is my concern. You've hit the nail on the head...nobody I know wants another lock down.

[quote Bekindbepositive]@ilovesouthlondon So you don’t disagree that u don’t know any air stewardess. 😁

And as far as closing borders are concerned I think our govt officials and civil authorities are better educated than people here to make a informed decision.[/quote]
You think govt officials are better educated to make informed decisions about covid! looool...you obviously didn't hear Dominic Cummings have his day in "court" lool.
No I'm not a liar in regards to my friend I could have just said this is my view without the back story...

@WuhanClanAintNothingToFuckWith

I do get the argument for closing the borders, but isn’t it shortsighted? I mean...how long do u think we should close down our economy for? Forever? It’s the basis of our whole economy and globalised way of life! There’s no easy answers is there!

I agree that it's difficult but we're planning to drop all restrictions on the 21st so I think that anything perceived as high risk (I understand that plenty of people do not think travelling to the UK from known hot spots is high risk but that's their look out) should be avoided otherwise we are back to square 1, then the economy and people's mental health take another drawn out beating. This is weirdly all my post was about!

@ilovesouthlondon - if we have another lockdown, it will be because India was not put on the red list until several days after it was obvious to any human being on the planet that it should have been put on the red list several days before...

@MareofBeasttown

I am amazed that you would write a long and angry ' rant' about the need for quarantine without checking if there was indeed such quarantine. It would have taken you seconds.

I'm amazed you read this thread and decided to make this second hand comment without realising it was already covered on page 2..this is page 7..

@ShastaBeast

So Biden closed the US borders but he’s not racist? However, if we restrict entry from hot spots it’s because we are racist?

I mentioned this rhetoric to a friend with Indian family and she thinks it’s ridiculous. If we were talking about a Canadian variant the issue would be exactly the same. We need to restrict entry and apply control. Border should be closed unless absolutely essential, eg coming home/to work here - we’re recruiting Indian nurses for example.

As for quarantine. It’s believed some are catching covid in the hotels and leaving while infected because they caught it later, after testing would be effective. And PCR tests aren’t 100% anyway.

The situation in india is heartbreakingly awful. Not helped because they didn’t lock down cities earlier. This is down to the leadership in the country, not because the people are in anyway bad. Same as Trump did. Countries should do whatever they can to prevent this happening elsewhere regardless of skin colour or religious beliefs - India’s elected leader being a racist/islamaphobe would have no problem closing borders.

Exports and imports would always be allowed as covid safe measures can be used for planes and sea freight. Lorries are trickier but can be managed with some imagination. It’s much easier to track these people than hundreds of the general public. And we know travellers in home quarantine aren’t being checked.

OP I have a child with dyslexia and I find border/boarder tricky too, among many others. In fact dyslexics can often have more trouble spelling “basic” words than longer ones.

You are spot on. Those of you who live to argue, complain, insult and shout racist need to read this post until it sinks in...

And now, our government is supposedly worried about 12 cases of a possible new variant in Portugal when it wasn’t worried about hospitals actually being overwhelmed and mass panic in India. It’s very hard not to have zero faith in their decision making, really, especially when the UK has identified more cases of this possible new variant already in the UK than in Portugal.

As for opening up on 21st June - that is guaranteed to result in a rapid rise in cases and mutations, some of which will officially become variants, regardless of whether or not we let flights in and out of the country in large numbers or any numbers at all, because covid is endemic and numbers are already rising now, before we have fully opened up again. Even Victoria in Australia has locked down again. Vaccination being capable of preventing serious illness and death is our only hope at this moment in time.

@BritWifeinUSA

So your “friend” is OK with the airline flying in and out of India and making a quick buck selling tickets for the flights, and she’s ok making a living by flying back and forth to India, but woe betide anyone else who wants to fly? Bet your mate will be the first to complain if she’s made redundant because all the borders are closed.

Yes she's happy to continue working (I wouldn't be if I were her but I didn't push the issue as it's her job and I don't pay her bills). I doubt she would be made redundant if a border to India closed as there are other routes to less risky (at the moment) destinations. She is at work so are you suggesting that people who need to fly back from India for valid reasons should be on a plane with no staff? She's not out on a jolly.. when you say "anyone else who wants to fly" are you suggesting people coming to the UK from a hotspot for a holiday because I've already covered the need for essential travel? Some of you have excellent spelling but are lacking in comprehension...

[quote Walkaround]@ilovesouthlondon - the problem with your posts is, you are having knee jerk reactions to anything that is said to you, by anyone whatsoever, without making any apparent attempts whatsoever to educate yourself by searching for the facts, rather than just relying on anecdote. Don’t “avoid the news” if what you mean by that is, actually, invent the news for yourself by cobbling together your own panicked interpretation of other people’s comments, all of which you have misunderstood, because you avoid facts and news.

And fwiw, you probably panicked because your friend is going to India, coming back with a planeload of people, and is not quarantining, because she is exempt from that as working cabin crew... just like lorry drivers are exempt and a great many other essential workers travelling in and out of the country (and then around the country, seeing friends and relatives like everyone else). Why would you therefore, without looking into it, assume everyone else on the plane has to spend the next 10 days quarantining in a hotel?[/quote]
Receipts please? I've been on here for over 5 years so please give me the list of knee jerk reactions with cobbled together evidence? You sound like a loyal follower by the sound of it. You're just eager to say something negative on this thread.

I do not need to worry about her passing anything on to me as she lives nowhere near me. I am worried about her health, another lockdown, further deaths, mental health etc which is what my thread essentially is all about or is there no argument in that one for you?

@ispepsiokay

I don't understand the nastiness on this thread for both grammar and the content, the op had a concern and asked a question, it was simple enough to say that those flying from red zones have to quarantine on return.

Exactly but they just couldn't resist. If this was a face to face conversation it would never have come to this lool. You know what some people are like behind a keyboard 🙄

@ilovesouthlondon - you were worried about the lack of quarantine. Then worried about people flying here via other countries. All because of comments and anecdotes and all while admitting on this thread you avoid the news. In what way is my post inaccurate?

I would demand the government comes up with a plan for reducing the population and make us self sufficient.

UK hasn't been food-self-sufficient since something like 1850.

As someone with family overseas who I should have seen twice in last 18m but only see on WhatsApp now, the borders feel very closed to me. The logistics of seeing each other is just too challenging, so many extra barriers among them (cost isn't the biggest problem). Getting DC's passports renewed is the huge obstacle.

Plus relatives don't want anyone visiting who isn't double-vaccinated, long quarantine duration each way, not sure what travel insurance to get in case we have to cancel trip due to someone becoming +covid, arranging covid tests each way, being prepared for all the infection control measures each way.

PP are rewriting history because the Delta variant wasn't recognised as VoC as early as PP think it was.

@RoseAndRose

OP doesn't seem to have responded to any of my questions, and now it transpires she didn't know there was hotel quarantine.

And probably also doesn't know that some airports even have separate terminals for Red arrivals

I'm not ignoring you I've replied to as many people as I can - as you can see this is an 8 page thread and I do have a life...

I don't see why we should all sacrifice our summers because Boris left the door open.

@plinkplinkfizzer

This is my biggest irritation why is it always folks moaning about refugees etc . Who can not spell it. If you care so much about the border learn to spell it .

My even bigger irritation are people like you who make up complete sentences...who "moaned about refugees"??? You are the first person on here to mention refugees. You need to learn how to interpret what you're reading! I'm pleased to dissapoint you but this is not about race or nationality, it's about health and the economy. Border being spelt in correctly (boarder) says the same word, so unless you've got something useful to add on this topic crawl back into your hole and search for something else to scream about.

Great that you're not ignoring me, and perhaps it's silly and selfish to expect answers.

The thread was of course still on the first page when I posted, and many of the posts before that had been tangential.

[quote Walkaround]@ilovesouthlondon - you were worried about the lack of quarantine. Then worried about people flying here via other countries. All because of comments and anecdotes and all while admitting on this thread you avoid the news. In what way is my post inaccurate?[/quote]
Recipts please of my "knee jerk reactions with cobbled evidence " as you say, which cover my 5 years on here. Did you not read that part of my response?

I'm worried about all of the things that you noted and with good reason. Yes I avoid the news but watch/listen in small doses. That's how I try to manage this situation and I don't owe you any explanation. Why are you more worried about what I think than you are about another possible lockdown/more people dying? Despite my spelling inaccuracies and lack of knowledge about quarantine can you not see what the spirit of my thread is about??

@RoseAndRose no problem, I have tried to reply to everyone but there's a lot on here! I'm dissapointed that the focus has changed and I'm being called a xenophobic racist, thick twat among other things when I'm only concerned about further lockdowns.

@lljkk

I would demand the government comes up with a plan for reducing the population and make us self sufficient.

UK hasn't been food-self-sufficient since something like 1850.

As someone with family overseas who I should have seen twice in last 18m but only see on WhatsApp now, the borders feel very closed to me. The logistics of seeing each other is just too challenging, so many extra barriers among them (cost isn't the biggest problem). Getting DC's passports renewed is the huge obstacle.

Plus relatives don't want anyone visiting who isn't double-vaccinated, long quarantine duration each way, not sure what travel insurance to get in case we have to cancel trip due to someone becoming +covid, arranging covid tests each way, being prepared for all the infection control measures each way.

PP are rewriting history because the Delta variant wasn't recognised as VoC as early as PP think it was.

I agree with most of what you say @lljkk. However, the “Nepal variant” is not a recognised variant of concern anywhere but the UK. Everywhere else thinks it’s a mutation. Yet the UK has closed its borders to Portugal due to something that may become a VOC, whereas it wanted to wait and see whether or not a variant already causing massive problems in India was definitely a VOC before red listing India, despite already having red listed other countries bordering India that had lower case rates. It was ridiculous to keep letting people fly in from India and go straight home at a time this was supposedly unsafe for people to do so from neighbouring countries just because nobody was yet certain that what is most definitely now considered a VOC, was a VOC. Just the level of covid cases being reported in India at the time should surely have been enough to red list it?!

@ilovesouthlondon - I have never commented on your spelling, never accused you of racism, and it is against the rules of mumsnet to trawl your posting history, so why are you dragging all that into comments directed at me and asking me to search your history on mumsnet? You have started a post and then continued it very much in a style where you misinterpret reality, panic about it and write a post, admit your anxiety was caused by not being aware of reality, and overreact to the next thing you read instead. And you ignore a lot of the posts that provide you with more information in favour of picking out the posts that are not about what you say you want the thread to be about. I have written several comments on this thread, yet you are the one who keeps choosing to focus on the one you claim is irrelevant to the point you claim to be making.

@MaybeCrazy2

People who point out grammar are dicks. Not everyone was in a private education- shame manners wasn’t taught to any of you.

"Shame manners weren't taught to any of you"

@MaybeCrazy2

People who point out grammar are dicks. Not everyone was in a private education- shame manners wasn’t taught to any of you.

Huh? Since when was reasonable grammar only available through private education?