Guilt Free Railing 17

[WouldBeGood]

Happy New Thread, Railers!

Not to mention the scale of the mental health crisis in kids and wait times - hardly a mention of that from any govt!

Because it was obvious by then that it wasn’t deadly to most people?

I always felt very uncomfortable with the NHS dancing /singing / clap etc and slightly amazed that so many were encouraged to talk to the media, share their stories of being exhausted / at breaking point.

I'm public sector and it has always been drilled into us not to talk to the media as there are processes to be followed, to be aware not bringing the organisation into disrepute by posting inappropriate stuff on social media etc, not wearing staff id badges when not at work or expecting preferential treatment, and what we got throughout the pandemic was some NHS staff doing all of the above and it being condoned. It has made me very cynical

@WouldBeGood

Because it was obvious by then that it wasn’t deadly to most people?

Well, yes- yet, so many restrictions imposed on us from birth to end of life.

Just have to see through these current headlines- these staff gatherings at Downing St have been known of for almost two years. How strange they should come to the surface now🧐 They really do treat us as though we were born yesterday.

Whilst there are always staff in the NHS and many other key workplaces going over and above the norm and there were those during the initial pandemic that were working to their absolute limit, it's also the case that with everything else cancelled, lots of staff had very little work and were the quietest they'd ever been. In the meantime people who had lost their jobs and/or income were encouraged to be out clapping for the heroes. Now, in most cases, the quiet staff couldn't help being quiet so I am completely not saying that there was anything they could do about it, but there were a minority that lapped up all the clapping etc whilst not being any busier or in some cases less busy than usual.

Not all staff in the NHS are poorly paid and most have very good T&Cs compared to private industry and very little threat of losing your job. There are staff in some of the lower grades who could definitely do with a better salary given what they do, I'd like to see those rewarded. There are also some roles higher up the chain that probably don't get the recognition they deserve. Not everyone was or is a hero, most are very hardworking dedicated people, but like every workplace or industry there are slackers.

Anyway, do we have an answer yet on whether queen mammy went abroad at Hogmanay, shortly after telling the rest of us to stay home/not go to another part of the U.K. and imposing restrictions that have been the final straw for some businesses within those sectors? Or will my post be deleted for asking?

What was the post that was deleted? I missed it.

I'm absolutely not defending them, but I was working out of the home throughout spring 2020 and although I was obeying the rules to the letter and veering off pavements to avoid strangers, I'm sure I wasn't distancing from my colleagues. I don't remember it being a thing in the workplace. I think we were limiting group sizes in the office as much as possible and avoiding the tea room. We were still being gathered for staff meetings at that point, unmasked as masks were reserved for clinical areas only. It's mad when you look back. It's not that we weren't scared of getting covid, it's just that we had no choice but to get on with it and you can't maintain that level of fear day in day out.

As for the TikTok dances, I absolutely hated all that pish but the reality was that wards were quieter than ever in spring 2020. We'd discharged as many people as possible to clear beds for the expected onslaught of cases that hadn't quite hit yet, so there wasn't really a shit storm going through the hospitals at that point. And not having visitors reduced workload in some ways. I think for some the dancing and clapping improved morale. For the rest of us it just made us more frustrated and scunnered.

Depends on who’s spying on us @OnceUponAWhine 😉

Somebody has it in for BJ or these things wouldn't be coming into now.

But i remember a change in attitude towards covid, from initially we'll all get it once then we'll be fine, to a flatten the curve save the NHS, I remember a soap box talk thinking man we're all going to be ill I better get paracetamol & calpol.

Somebody also suggested to me in 2020 that while they were working on the vaccine which were all very similar. Keeping schools open and allowing kids to catch it was the Plan B allowing kids and by default parents to build natural immunity to it.

@ElephantOfRisk

What was the post that was deleted? I missed it.

If you mean mine from yesterday. I was a one liner, involving a person, a mask & a surgeon.

Ah I see, definitely wisnae me! Miss White in the Library with the candlestick I reckon.

I have an MSP bot @MaxNormal, I hear ya! I hope one of the others can help.

I am silently railing at everything covid related. Mostly my teen wearing a mask for over a year with no proper impact assessment nor an analysis after all this time whether it's making a difference nor any mention of it in SG briefings ever. Fuckers. All of them.

Didn't the English schools go back in the first week of June in 2020? I'm not saying it was right but I'm fairly sure that by the end of May I wasn't sticking quite so rigidly to the rules outside.
Of course they should be setting the example but I get the impression at times lockdown has almost been to satisfy the public/union pressure to 'do something' rather than because it's actually achieves a huge amount.
If it had been indoors I'd be more irate but outdoors I can't get overly worked up.
My husband worked out of home throughout and at times they had people yelling through their railings that they should be staying at home - with no idea of the manufacturing supply chain! So while we adhered to the big stuff, we've never been lockdown crazy which admittedly probably influences my opinion

@Calmdown14 yes English schools were back, in come capacity in June 2020. Not sure if it was beginning or middle of the month or if they were full-time / all years but they were back.
Remember June 2020, was the month ScotGov suggested our kids could do part-time in school come August with no consideration on who / where / or how they get educated and looked after the other half the week.

Humph my theatre outing in February has been cancelled due to the SG ongoing protective measures. Bet it's still playing in England.

Ah yes, @Lockdownbear , the 'blended learning' plan. It was all going to work because employers were going to be 'flexible' and parents could just look at ParentClub to get activity ideas about how to engage their children like that helps when you're holding down a full time job while simultaneously schooling x number of children And when it all blew up in their faces it was us who had misunderstood - of course that was never the plan.

That’s pants @rookiemere

We'll go for lunch instead @WouldBeGood so it's not the end of world, but I just wonder how the live arts can survive yet more uncertainty. I mean it wasn't until the first week of Feb so I think restrictions could be lifted by then, but of course at that point it's too late.
I don't know at this point if the theatres will still get any government money for cancelling productions and if they did, would it even apply for limbo scenarios where they've had to cancel as not enough information not to.

There was someone from the theatre industry on Radio Scotland yesterday saying the only people in their industry who've had government support this time were freelancers (which he agreed with), and they were waiting to hear who else would get help

Hospitality still hung out to dry with no money handed out

It was around 20 May that the 'blended learning' thing first got announced. I was looking back in my diary to see what I was doing on Downing Street party day, and one of the things I was doing was worrying about schools because the papers were talking about 'blended learning' already.

I think it was 21 May they released the roadmap with that in it, and then a bit later on in the summer that they sent out John Swinney to say it'd probably be for the full year, and then everything blew up and like Y0uCann0tBeSer10us said, suddenly that had never been the long-term plan at all and we were all getting ourselves in a tizzy over nothing

Oh, and speaking of ParentClub, here’s the advice they were giving for families with young children that summer when we were allowed to start meeting. I know it’s been 18 months but I am still railing at ParentClub…

Oh, Christ, I’d blanked out parent club 🤢

oh, I’ve got few screenshots of shit ParentClub advice in case you ever find yourself missing it This was December 2020.