Did it seem a bit odd that the tone of today's announcement was so sombre?

[secretintrovert]

Bojo should have been doing his victory dance for freedom day! Instead the three of them looked as miserable as sin. There's trouble afoot methinks. This will be very very temporary

Winter is coming...

They're telling us what we want to hear, because they know they've lost most support for the restrictions anyway.

I agree OP. I mean I couldn’t really believe what I was watching. So they clearly think that masks should be worn and social distancing maintained in certain circumstances. So why not make it mandatory? The majority of people won’t wear them if they don’t have to.

Meanwhile we are being primed for cases going ever higher with corresponding deaths etc. Seems very odd to me. I just kinda feel like they’ve just waved us off with a ‘good luck lads and lasses’. I think we are gonna need it because we are on our own now.

@GiantToadstool

Winter is coming...

Yup.. summer of ‘Freedom’ ..possible winter of discontent.

It felt like they were saying that's it, there's nothing else we can do. Off you go. Last one out turn the light off.

That's just so irresponsible it's astounding! Actually dreading the next few months now

I didn’t get to see much but did check Twitter a while after and the consensus was the scientists were on a completely different page to what Boris was saying. Whitty always looks nervy but he said something about ministers deciding not scientists, which I’m sure he’s done before.

His actions are going to kill and disable a lot of people.

Sombre is appropriate.

Whitty always looks nervy but he said something about ministers deciding not scientists, which I’m sure he’s done before. yeah he said something like that before, I can't remember when but it made me think "uh oh" when he did

My heart is breaking for my son, CEV, 6 months away from turning 16, he can’t have the vaccine until then. We will be spending the summer holidays in the back garden, strangely it’s made somewhat easier that he has severe learning difficulties so won’t ask to go anywhere but still so very unfair.
I feel him and thousands like him have been forgotten about and left behind.

It's really tricky Isn't it? Boris says we'll leave it to your comm9n s3nse everyone says he's bonkers. Boris says you're locked up for another 3 months . Everyone says ' no i've had enough' . I'm not a big fan but really he can't do right can he? .....

It was measured. Which i think is appropriate.

How would it look if hed been really excited whilst also simultaneously saying that lots of deaths are still baked in because there is a limit to how effective the vaccines are?

I thought it realistic. The thing thats out of step is the way the tabloid press have promoted it as 'freedom day' and wound the public up to have unrealistic expected which need to be talked down.

It was the right tone. Even if people didn't expect that tone.

The whole idea was to prevent the nhs collapsing, not ‘saving lives’, whatever we might have been told to the contrary.

The nhs is looking like it will be able to cope, but yes, there will be more deaths.

Covid is here to stay, we will just have to get used to the elderly and vulnerable dying earlier than they would have in the pre covid era.

This is why the message was sombre - out of respect to those who will lose their lives to Covid. It’s a truly awful situation, but there isn’t really any alternative.

The CEV (that's 2.5 million people) have been left high and dry.

Agree with what Keir Starmer and the unions are saying

It should be sombre. They're going against the science. They know the numbers are rising and that it's only going to get worse. They have failed the country, the vulnerable and the economy.
But never mind, the paid-for shills will be along any minute telling us how delighted they are that they can act like selfish gits and that they don't care about the vulnerable, the elderly, the children

Lets hope this is an end to the madness. All this mask wearing and social distancing is bound to have created EVEN more health obsessed anxious people. Lets hope the focus is shifted to addressing the climate change crisis. And I really hope all the extra plastic waste comes to an end (masks, disposable towels in hairdressers - just to name a small fraction of the extra waste created.

What GreenWillow said.

I really wish people would stop talking about ‘The Science‘ like there’s any kind of consensus there.

It’s so facile.

@GreenWillow

The whole idea was to prevent the nhs collapsing, not ‘saving lives’, whatever we might have been told to the contrary.

The nhs is looking like it will be able to cope, but yes, there will be more deaths.

Covid is here to stay, we will just have to get used to the elderly and vulnerable dying earlier than they would have in the pre covid era.

This is why the message was sombre - out of respect to those who will lose their lives to Covid. It’s a truly awful situation, but there isn’t really any alternative.

Perfectly put! Yes of course death is sad but peoples livelihoods and mental health is crumbling in these restrictions, we have to get on now and try and create a new normal!

@Dramallama4

My heart is breaking for my son, CEV, 6 months away from turning 16, he can’t have the vaccine until then. We will be spending the summer holidays in the back garden, strangely it’s made somewhat easier that he has severe learning difficulties so won’t ask to go anywhere but still so very unfair. I feel him and thousands like him have been forgotten about and left behind.

So sorry @Dramallama4

It's really not ok the way CEV and CV children are being overlooked.

We might not have enough vaccine supply yet for all children but we should be giving it to those who are CEV.

@TheGlassBlowersDaughter

It should be sombre. They're going against the science. They know the numbers are rising and that it's only going to get worse. They have failed the country, the vulnerable and the economy. But never mind, the paid-for shills will be along any minute telling us how delighted they are that they can act like selfish gits and that they don't care about the vulnerable, the elderly, the children

Numbers are rising because we vaccinated the elderly first- we could have kept transmission numbers low and deaths high by vaccinating the young first!

My DF is in the care home and honestly I can't see things changing too much in the way of restrictions, if the care home is taking proper precautions. When I spoke to DF about it this evening his view was he doesn't want to see all restrictions swept away, it's too rapid. I guess it comes down to what's important to different individual circumstances. I think we are all on our own to a degree. 😬

About 8 months ago I was talking to DH about what the future would look like and he reckoned it would be varying forms of restrictions for up to a couple of years. I said I thought the PM and the government would just get totally bored of the whole thing within a year and would move on. Looks like I was right!

@GreenWillow perfectly put, the most sensible and realistic post I have seen.

Those of you thinking he's being reckless, what do you expect/want to happen? The economy is down the shitter, businesses have crumbled, widespread mental health issues...we have the vaccine now, there is nothing else that can be done.