For a lot of people, it took BorisWineGate before they were able to feel any compassion for those who suffered due to some of the OTT restrictions of 2020

[greenteafiend]

Because there are a number of people (on here and in other places) who are now finally happy to show sympathy for those who gave birth alone, died alone or were unable to say goodbye to loved ones or hug a suicidal friend, even though they spent most of 2020 supporting even the most insane measures, repeatedly calling for even harsher ones, and saying the most horrible things to people who tried to talk about how desperate they were feeling. And then spent most of 2021 demanding more and tougher restrictions too.

You know who you are. And you can sod off with Boris, frankly.

I see that ghastly Owen Jones (the eternal barometer of weasle-word turncoat politics) is now trying to pivot in this way on Twitter. I'm happy to say that he's being mocked soundly.

@sashagabadon

It’s funny as although I credit the left generally with a lot of this madness authoritarian stuff (as in they were mostly calling for longer harder restrictions and actively campaigned against schools opening fully in June 2020 which I was furious about at the time and remain furious now) there are many left wing commentators finally seeing the light on some of this stuff. I bet many are busy scrubbing their Twitter history from that time! Labour should never have had a pro lockdown position. I couldn’t believe it took this position at the time as it was so anti normal working people and so anti children and the young.

So true

@sashagabadon

Yes there was Viking. Me for starters! But it became a “right wing” thing to be lockdown critical or even say maybe we shouldn’t do this or that. It was only the right that spoke out against it. Yes you had piers Corbin et all but there should have been more centrist left wing voices speaking out too,

There absolutely should. As it was, even the ones in favour of restrictions could've at least acknowledged it was a trade off between the welfare of some vulnerable groups and others, and that the harms of lockdown would be significantly impacted by a person's race, class and sex. If this had been talked about more perhaps we could've mitigated some of the worst excesses.

I’m glad this is coming to light now as I felt it was only the right that we’re calling for freedom across the globe. The republican states in the US seem to be a lot less restricted than the democratic ones. Even in Europe, it seems to be the right that are against restrictions while the left have removed many rights.
I don’t know the details but this is what my perception is.
It’s bizarre as I always assumed it would be the other way around.

I think I know what you mean OP.

It's not that people followed the rules, or even thought that some restrictions were necessary, it was the whole "come on, it's not hard!" "Who cares if kids are 'behind'? They're all behind together, they'll catch up" "all you are being asked to do is sit on your sofa, not fight a war" then if anyone suggested they were struggling, or that there were any negative consequences to lockdown, they'd either be accused of being a Covid denier, breaking the rules, not caring about the vulnerable, or it'd be "at least you're not in ICU!" "go and say that to someone who's just lost someone to COVID!" "stop whining, at least you're not on the front line in NHS!"

Not everyone was like this, most weren't, but for some, and it still is the case for a few, you couldn't even admit you were finding aspects hard, let alone suggest any of the rules went too far, without being branded "selfish".

I get that many acted from a place of fear but the utter stifling of any debate on the issue, the whole "unless you agree wholeheartedly with the harshest measures and also never criticise them or struggle with them in any way, then you don't care about the vulnerable, you're part of the problem, you're One Of Them" was disturbing and still is.

Sadly you are right OP.

What I would say is that had there been prompt action in March and September 2020 and some understanding of real life, the restrictions could have been much shorter in duration, and had less of an impact.

Funeral restrictions come to mind but I am sure there are others.

I completely disagree. I gave birth mostly alone (DH made it for the final screaming reveal but I did the rest solo) and shielded for over 18 months. And it sucked. But the restrictions were the right thing to do, and Boris shows contempt for every single one of us in not ensuring that it was followed to a t everywhere

Did they need to resort to taping off areas in other countries?

I think the op is def right, only the other day there was a poster claiming action to tackle covid was the same as “having to wear a seatbelt in a car”…there just has been a group of pro lockdowners who decided to downplay what was being asked as a means to convince people shutting down the country is no big deal…and therefore we can do it time and time again.

The conversation the last few days has certainly challenged that narrative as I have never seen it before. I think that stories of distraught relatives crying in car parks as they are denied the last chance to see a dying love one rather goes against the that “well we do things all the time to prevent death like put up road safety signs”

Ultimately what was done to prevent covid -whether necessary or not- was unprecedented and caused serious hardship. So it should never again be downplayed as “it’s just watching Netflix”, “it’s a relief you lot were not around in the war” etc etc. the last few days does feel like it has changed the narrative and I hope it stays that way so we have a fairer reflection of what the last two years involved.

I credit the left generally with a lot of this madness

Ah yes. Whatever a rightwing government does, it's the left's fault.

After all, everything else is, isn't it? So I wondered when we were going to start hearing this about the management of Covid too.

Poor little disempowered Tory government with a stonking majority.

@GirlInACountrySong

Did they need to resort to taping off areas in other countries?

Certainly other countries had similar or perhaps more draconian restrictions than the UK early in 2020.

If you are are asking about blocked aisles/tape in places in supermarkets then it went on in France during lockdown number one...

Not sure if we also had tape on outside facilities such as playgrounds/benches but if you lived in a town and were out on your legally allowed period of exercise there was a very high probability of encountering Police/Gendarmes and being asked to produce your attestation which detailed your reasons for being away from your house.

Rightly or wrongly tight, onerous restrictions and all that went with it were not just a UK phenomenon.

It must be fantastic to know how other people feel in such detail and to be able to monitor their compassion levels and motivations over a 2-year period. You knew all along we could have done things so much better and everything would have worked out. The view from the summit must be amazing, OP.

Nope. I hate Boris and what’s happened but haven’t changed my mind.

I do still think that if we’d locked down sooner every time we could have done it in a far less harsh way for less time. I hate Boris for that too.

We did it to protect the vulnerable and the NHS. The un shocking news that no 10 didn’t care about protecting others doesn’t mean we were wrong to care at all.

They thought they were invincible because most of them caught it when Boris did and they also don’t care about the vulnerable.m or padding it into others. That’s why they broke the rules. Not because it was some conspiracy

or protecting

Not padding!

@Aimeehedge

Nope. I hate Boris and what’s happened but haven’t changed my mind.

I do still think that if we’d locked down sooner every time we could have done it in a far less harsh way for less time. I hate Boris for that too.

We did it to protect the vulnerable and the NHS. The un shocking news that no 10 didn’t care about protecting others doesn’t mean we were wrong to care at all.

They thought they were invincible because most of them caught it when Boris did and they also don’t care about the vulnerable.m or padding it into others. That’s why they broke the rules. Not because it was some conspiracy

'The vulnerable' aren't one cohort with the same interests. We locked down to prioritise the welfare of some of them over that of others, let's have it right.

I'm really pleased that I didn't follow restrictions on seeing my family throughout lockdown.

Agree with you OP, absolutely. You had people shouting at single parents in the supermarkets who took their children shopping with them.

I used to meet with friends and family in the woods. We let our children play freely. To think some children were kept in for months.

The very left and the very right wing were anti lockdown all the way through . Piers Corbyn and all his crowd were in the papers yesterday with some awful woman who'd been charged for anti Semitic comments about grenfell and it was mentioned that she'd attacked the police at anti lockdown protests and then you have all your telegraph types and us for them types . Plus the unions have had a lot of influence over schools etc
It does seem like the majority of people in between the hard left and hard right have had the difficult job of weighing up the sacrifices needed to protect the nhs and the vulnerable. And generally have made choices that were tough at the time .
The thing with a lot of the rules though is as soon as you are s close contact they actually make a bit of sense. Eg we caught it from dh car sharing on way to a football match which a few days before seemed unlikely to go ahead cos of covid and I was a bit pissed off thar he still went and brought covid home. Had the football been called off or had they worn masks in the car or travelled separately we wouldn't have caught it. Luckily now with omicron it wasn't the end of the world but with original covid and pre vaccines we could have been very ill in the same situation .
From the Very few people I know that had covid in early 2020 they were extremely poorly and had ambulances out so it is very easy to forget how dangerous things seemed at the time. Now most people are more worried about the impact of restrictions whereas at the start it was the fear of illness or death. And most other countries were a lot stricter- not being allowed out the house , curfews etc

There were a lot of people who felt this way in 2020 and 2021. We were all over on the AD anti-dementor threads being called a bunch of heartless Granny killers. But reading those threads back they seem to echo the sentiment now, just 18 months too soon. And I don't think I will ever get back to normal completely knowing that it can be taken away so easily.

I went from being told there was no treatment for my PNA PND because of lockdown to now having a nearly 3 year old with a speech delay and a doctor saying there's no point in seeking speech therapy as the therapist will still be in a mask (not UK so not sure if it will be the same) and he thinks the issue is seeing exactly how the mouth moves to produce the sounds. I also lost an uncle in the pandemic because his cancer wasn't caught or treated in time. He wasn't even 60. I still haven't seen my grandma except through a window as only 3 visitors are allowed in her care home, still, nearly 2 years on from the pandemic.

I agree the government and scientists (including Mr doom himself, shagger Ferguson) knew the risks to themselves and behaved accordingly. They just didn't tell the rest of us.

And I also still wonder how much of a difference the restrictions made given the peaks consistently happened before the toughest restrictions. But sure, keep playgrounds taped up nearly 6 months after the peak. Remember the playgrounds were still taped up when the pubs reopened.

@LethargeMarg

The very left and the very right wing were anti lockdown all the way through . Piers Corbyn and all his crowd were in the papers yesterday with some awful woman who'd been charged for anti Semitic comments about grenfell and it was mentioned that she'd attacked the police at anti lockdown protests and then you have all your telegraph types and us for them types . Plus the unions have had a lot of influence over schools etc It does seem like the majority of people in between the hard left and hard right have had the difficult job of weighing up the sacrifices needed to protect the nhs and the vulnerable. And generally have made choices that were tough at the time . The thing with a lot of the rules though is as soon as you are s close contact they actually make a bit of sense. Eg we caught it from dh car sharing on way to a football match which a few days before seemed unlikely to go ahead cos of covid and I was a bit pissed off thar he still went and brought covid home. Had the football been called off or had they worn masks in the car or travelled separately we wouldn't have caught it. Luckily now with omicron it wasn't the end of the world but with original covid and pre vaccines we could have been very ill in the same situation . From the Very few people I know that had covid in early 2020 they were extremely poorly and had ambulances out so it is very easy to forget how dangerous things seemed at the time. Now most people are more worried about the impact of restrictions whereas at the start it was the fear of illness or death. And most other countries were a lot stricter- not being allowed out the house , curfews etc

I disagree. I know many people who are broadly in the centre of politics who from very early on in this pandemic, certainly from summer 2020 were against lockdown and restrictions. I abided by the first lockdown as it seemed like the sensible thing to do in the face of a novel virus which was raging through an elderly and clinically vulnerable population. But from summer of 2020 I began to realise that something was off and started to become aware of the damage to society's health as a result of lockdown. Don't try and paint those of us who thought like me as extreme right or left wing.

Lilifer I agree with you. Re being centre but also starting to get concerned about other elements eg education and cost of lockdown

Back then that is

Not far right or left but after the initial period never agreed with lockdown. Especially seeing the harm it was doing to children, young people and society at large. The restrictions were disproportionate, harmful and unnecessary, I always have and always will stand by that and argue my point. Luckily the majority of my friends feel the same bar a couple who I just avoid seeing. Healthy individuals at very low risk who seemed to revel in all the drama, banging on about being "safe" all the time. No interest in spending time with people who I thought were intelligent but lost all their powers of critical thinking when this whole thing kicked in. The vulnerability of children, those with mental health problems and numerous other sections of society was not considered at all.

I agree, after the initial few weeks I totally disagreed with lockdown and have always been very central in my political alligence. Now I'm politically homeless.

Agree with you OP, absolutely. You had people shouting at single parents in the supermarkets who took their children shopping with them.

I'd like to see a Venn diagram of "people who used to lead internet pile-ons criticising someone who let an older child sit in a car for 60 seconds while they paid for petrol" and "people telling single parents to leave their 4yo outside in the car while they go round the supermarket," except that that particular Venn diagram would probably be a circle so no point.