Was it even unlimited exercise? I thought there was a period where you were only supposed to go out once a day for it. And it had to be local, which wasn't exactly helpful if you were in the middle of London, or whatever.
Locked down or not locked down is a semantic point to some degree, people will have their own definitions. But while lockdown as a phrase is applied too widely where restrictions would make more sense, it seems pretty reasonable to regard severe limitations on where you can go and for what reason you can leave your house as lockdown at the least.
What is beyond that? Literally not being permitted to leave for any reason? It's setting a preposterous standard, like if we applied a scale as to what constituted a beating, where being hit 100 times didn't count because, hey, it could have been 1000 times.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Wouldn't surprise me at all. The sort of fellow who finds he has left his wallet at home when it's his turn to buy a round.
Apparently he had a reputation for doing that at the Telegraph - the interns had to buy the drinks.
Would have thought if Johnson had just survived a near death illness, he would be taking it easy on the parties. Another of the oddities with this story.
From the article - so the person responsible is being shifted rather than fired or resigning.
Reynolds, who previously served as Johnson’s private secretary at the Foreign Office, is expected to be moved to a new position in the civil service. One official said he was being lined up for an ambassadorial role.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
The “we were never locked down” cliche. Absolute garbage. It was illegal to have guests in your own home at one point. All schools and pubs were forcibly closed by the government.
Get real.
You get real. Being allowed out for unlimited exercise or to go shop is not locked down. We had restrictions - a lot of them. But the door was not locked with the police saying you can't go out.
Go shop?!?!
Your idea of lockdown would've led to mass starvation.
I think my definition still stands: if you have to meet your friends in a freezing Scottish park then you are locked down.
What's wrong with freezing Scottish parks? It's good for you. None of this nasty UV skin cancer shite.
When it got really depressing was when some of them had barriers round them, like kids playparks.
Was it even unlimited exercise? I thought there was a period where you were only supposed to go out once a day for it. And it had to be local, which wasn't exactly helpful if you were in the middle of London, or whatever.
Twice a day for exercise is loads I think. Day that ended I did 10k in the morning and 10k in the evening.
When your hotel room has a kitchenette, the hotel wants to be covid-safe, but didn’t get the memo about aerosol importance. That’s really a toaster wrapped in clingfilm. The cutlery is similarly wrapped.
That's insane genius levels of crazy covid WTAF
I hope the person dispensing the cling film didn’t have Covid.
Thankfully, the cleaning materials are kept scrupulously, er, clean.
Was it even unlimited exercise? I thought there was a period where you were only supposed to go out once a day for it. And it had to be local, which wasn't exactly helpful if you were in the middle of London, or whatever.
Yes, it wasn't actual law, but at one point the government was advising exercise of just one hour, max
And at other moments you were only allowed to meet one other person, outside. And you couldn't sit on a park bench and chat together
"It has been regularly reported in the media and remarked by people that we were only permitted one hour of exercise per day during the full lockdown. But one of the main drivers for a historian is curiosity, and I am curious to track back why our belief in what we are actually allowed is so different from the reality.
“Revisiting the actual sources confirms that the law passed to underpin the lockdown allowed exercise as one of the excuses for leaving your home, but this was not limited by frequency, length, distance or time. This law has been embellished, and phrased as only one form of exercise being permitted for each person per day. Although Boris Johnson stated ‘one form of exercise’ would be permitted in his public broadcast on March 22 to announce the start of lockdown, he also did not specify a time limit.
“So where does the credence for the one hour of exercise emerge from? It appears that the hour was first suggested by Michael Gove when interviewed outside his house on 29 March by Andrew Marr. Gove mentioned his own 25-minute run that day, and suggested: ‘I would have thought that for most people, a walk of up to an hour, or a run of 30 minutes or a cycle ride of between that, depending on their level of fitness is appropriate’.
“It seems surprising that such a statement went on to underpin the so called rule of one hour of exercise a day, but historians know that myths generally have very flimsy foundations.
“What is interesting is the fact most people respected this restriction, despite the fact it was never legally enforceable
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
The “we were never locked down” cliche. Absolute garbage. It was illegal to have guests in your own home at one point. All schools and pubs were forcibly closed by the government.
Get real.
You get real. Being allowed out for unlimited exercise or to go shop is not locked down. We had restrictions - a lot of them. But the door was not locked with the police saying you can't go out.
Go shop?!?!
Your idea of lockdown would've led to mass starvation.
I think my definition still stands: if you have to meet your friends in a freezing Scottish park then you are locked down.
What's wrong with freezing Scottish parks? It's good for you. None of this nasty UV skin cancer shite.
My worst ever sun burn was on a freezing Scottish mountain. Lesson learnt for 18-year old Eabhal.
He will as long as he continues to refuse to impose any new restrictions, especially not on the vaccinated. If he does not his base will still back him, if he does however the hypocrisy and restrictions will move many of them back to RefUK or DK and a VONC would be inevitable
The same way he's survived everything else. By having no shame, by having surrounded himself with incompetent loyalists, and by inspiring fear of reprisals if his backbenchers step out of line. He should have resigned or been shoved into the brine multiple times already, why would this be any different?
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
I loathed that period, too. I have a nice house and a good sunny garden, but was working throughout. In any case, the weather seemed like a waste when we could meet friends and enjoy it. How we would have all revelled in the sunshine!
Was it even unlimited exercise? I thought there was a period where you were only supposed to go out once a day for it. And it had to be local, which wasn't exactly helpful if you were in the middle of London, or whatever.
In practice unlimited but the law was once per day plus shopping. The idea that we weren't in lockdown is for the birds. It's a standard tactic of people who want permanent NPIs to downplay our lockdowns and other measures so when they talk about putting them back in place it's not a "real" lockdown and the NPIs are "low cost".
Rochdale seems to have fallen into the camp of saying he's against lockdowns but using the pro permanent NPI arguments at the same time. It's a little bit odd, I take him at his word that he's happy to have no more measures and a roll back of plan b. I think he's just reverted to being anti government because the government has said no restrictions.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
Absolutely- no doubt some people will try to argue that however. Many of us were at breaking point during the winter lockdown. It was utter hell for many. Yet according to ‘Rochdale Pioneers’, the bloke on the internet, it was not a lockdown.
I had a mental breakdown in summer 2020 caused by what I agree was utter hell, thanks.
But it was not lockdown in the definitions of the term. As even "you need to wear a mask" has been described as "lockdown" the term has evolved. But whatever.
It was such a surreal period. Free to go out and run. Which I did, a lot. Free to go to the shops and we wandered round with no masks in the early months, with that long queue to get in. But nothing to do other than essential jobs and essential businesses everything else was shut.
Kept supporting local takeaways by having one every weekend. In the car, drive into town, chat to the guys in the pizza place, drive home. Very few people about because the pubs and restaurants were shut, but you could go out. There just wasn't any point in doing so a lot of the time. You call that lockdown if it makes you happy.
I said from the start of this, this is how I thought they got to a stage of having these parties, that the Boris basically was saying, we are all working jolly hard chaps and chapesses, I don't think there is anything wrong with a drink and some nibbles...and then it became regular drinking sessions when pubs were closed.
EXCL: Email obtained by @itvnews proves over 100 staff were invited to drinks party in No 10 garden at height of lockdown to “make the most of the lovely weather”.
We’re told PM and his wife attended, with staff invited to “bring your own booze!”
· 8m Replying to @PaulBrandITV Email was sent by the PM's Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds. 30-40 staff attended, eating picnic food and drinking in the garden.
Less than an hour earlier, Oliver Dowden had told the public at the daily press conference to stick to meeting in pairs outdoors.
This is the party Cummings was going on about, isn't it?
It's perfectly possible that the source is someone who isn't Dom.
Whomever is leaking is unaware of the mantra that snitches get stitches.
'Whoever'?
I'm blaming autocorrect.
I've already used a grocer's apostrophe the other day.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Swings and roundabouts tho. I sincerely sympathise with you on that first lockdown but my third lockdown was way more miserable than most. Stuck indoors on my tod in a one bed flat in the winter (no garden), meeting friends once or twice a week for a walk in the fucking sleet in a half roped off park, for three/four months
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
Hence, presumably, the rumours that relevant Civil Servant is being moved, not sacked.
If he had any shame, Boris would now apologise, resign, and disappear to a life of quiet good works.
But if he had any shame, he wouldn't have got where he has. And it will be a) impossible to prove whose idea it was and b) find anyone with the power to pull the trigger on BoJo.
George Parker @GeorgeWParker · 1h Great scoop by @PaulBrandITV...unbelievably the party was being prepared in the Downing St garden while @OliverDowden was inside Number 10 telling the country: "You can meet one person outside of your household in an outdoor, public place, provided you stay 2m apart."
Locked down or not locked down is a semantic point to some degree, people will have their own definitions. But while lockdown as a phrase is applied too widely where restrictions would make more sense, it seems pretty reasonable to regard severe limitations on where you can go and for what reason you can leave your house as lockdown at the least.
What is beyond that? Literally not being permitted to leave for any reason? It's setting a preposterous standard, like if we applied a scale as to what constituted a beating, where being hit 100 times didn't count because, hey, it could have been 1000 times.
I'm defining it as needing authorisation to go out. I could swan about the supermarkets all I liked. My f-in-law in Spain could only do that by exception with the polis actively stopping cars and checking they had shopping. And then once people started driving round with a boot full asking for the receipt for the shopping.
However bad things got here - and with respect to @leon and @Anabobazina I genuinely did go bonkers under the stress of it all - it wasn't remotely that bad. Or like in tthe countries like where @sandpit lives where you couldn't go out full stop.
So you can all call me going out without being acosted by the police lockdown if you want. Don't care that much. Am honestly bemused by the faux moral superiority thrown about by a few of you as if I actually care what you say about me.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
I loathed that period, too. I have a nice house and a good sunny garden, but was working throughout. In any case, the weather seemed like a waste when we could meet friends and enjoy it. How we would have all revelled in the sunshine!
Imagine. Would've been one of the greatest springs in memory.
And the following winter we had some of the best snow ever. Bleak videos of the ski instructors at Cairngorm cruising down, alone.
At least the first lockdown was mad exciting. Then we had the US election, the assault on the capitol. Stuff like that cheers me up, weirdly. It's why I'd encourage the alien chat, and the flesh eating Xian thing.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
I loathed that period, too. I have a nice house and a good sunny garden, but was working throughout. In any case, the weather seemed like a waste when we could meet friends and enjoy it. How we would have all revelled in the sunshine!
Thank you for reminding me that I was also very blessed. I have the space. I know a couple who had just moved into a tiny flat at the top of a tenement. They had basically a bedroom, a bathroom and a combined kitchen/living room. They both had to work in the same room. It was baking hot and there was no way to keep the heat out. It was awful for them. I didn't suffer at all, compared to some.
He will as long as he continues to refuse to impose any new restrictions, especially not on the vaccinated. If he does not his base will still back him, if he does however the hypocrisy and restrictions will move many of them back to RefUK or DK and a VONC would be inevitable
That's one heck of a low bar you set. AIUI. No party is calling for restrictions. He couldn't get it past his Cabinet never mind the backbenchers. It isn't necessary, wouldn't work, and, even if it did it is too late anyways. So. If he doesn't do what he doesn't want to do, nor is able to do, nor anyone much wants him to do he'll be fine. Folk have moved on. It's all the cost of living now.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
Absolutely- no doubt some people will try to argue that however. Many of us were at breaking point during the winter lockdown. It was utter hell for many. Yet according to ‘Rochdale Pioneers’, the bloke on the internet, it was not a lockdown.
I had a mental breakdown in summer 2020 caused by what I agree was utter hell, thanks.
But it was not lockdown in the definitions of the term. As even "you need to wear a mask" has been described as "lockdown" the term has evolved. But whatever.
It was such a surreal period. Free to go out and run. Which I did, a lot. Free to go to the shops and we wandered round with no masks in the early months, with that long queue to get in. But nothing to do other than essential jobs and essential businesses everything else was shut.
Kept supporting local takeaways by having one every weekend. In the car, drive into town, chat to the guys in the pizza place, drive home. Very few people about because the pubs and restaurants were shut, but you could go out. There just wasn't any point in doing so a lot of the time. You call that lockdown if it makes you happy.
That's a lockdown. The government forcibly closed all non-essential businesses and made the nation work from home. The idea that only China did a lockdown because they welded people into the flats is ridiculous. We took in my wife's best friend for almost three months in lockdown 3 because my wife was worried she'd jump in front of a train due to social isolation. Tell her that lockdown 1 wasn't a lockdown.
George Parker @GeorgeWParker · 1h Great scoop by @PaulBrandITV...unbelievably the party was being prepared in the Downing St garden while @OliverDowden was inside Number 10 telling the country: "You can meet one person outside of your household in an outdoor, public place, provided you stay 2m apart."
It is quite incredible.
Trumpian, frankly.
Rot starts at the top; Boris is corrupting the country. He needs to take a v long break at a weight loss sanitorium, preferably outside the country.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
Absolutely- no doubt some people will try to argue that however. Many of us were at breaking point during the winter lockdown. It was utter hell for many. Yet according to ‘Rochdale Pioneers’, the bloke on the internet, it was not a lockdown.
I had a mental breakdown in summer 2020 caused by what I agree was utter hell, thanks.
But it was not lockdown in the definitions of the term. As even "you need to wear a mask" has been described as "lockdown" the term has evolved. But whatever.
It was such a surreal period. Free to go out and run. Which I did, a lot. Free to go to the shops and we wandered round with no masks in the early months, with that long queue to get in. But nothing to do other than essential jobs and essential businesses everything else was shut.
Kept supporting local takeaways by having one every weekend. In the car, drive into town, chat to the guys in the pizza place, drive home. Very few people about because the pubs and restaurants were shut, but you could go out. There just wasn't any point in doing so a lot of the time. You call that lockdown if it makes you happy.
I'm pretty happy to accept that where we're at now, masks isn't lockdown. Nightclubs shut and enforced working from home isn't lockdown. Being only able to meet up with three households in total indoors (Scotland) isn't lockdown. It's all utterly horrible and shite, but it isn't lockdown.
But what we had in those early months was definitely lockdown as far as I am. It might not have been uber Chinese hardcore lockdown, but by the standards of our free society, it was lockdown.
Hence, presumably, the rumours that relevant Civil Servant is being moved, not sacked.
If he had any shame, Boris would now apologise, resign, and disappear to a life of quiet good works.
But if he had any shame, he wouldn't have got where he has. And it will be a) impossible to prove whose idea it was and b) find anyone with the power to pull the trigger on BoJo.
There are only three problems with Johnson pursuing a life of "quiet good works".
Was it even unlimited exercise? I thought there was a period where you were only supposed to go out once a day for it. And it had to be local, which wasn't exactly helpful if you were in the middle of London, or whatever.
In practice unlimited but the law was once per day plus shopping. The idea that we weren't in lockdown is for the birds. It's a standard tactic of people who want permanent NPIs to downplay our lockdowns and other measures so when they talk about putting them back in place it's not a "real" lockdown and the NPIs are "low cost".
Rochdale seems to have fallen into the camp of saying he's against lockdowns but using the pro permanent NPI arguments at the same time. It's a little bit odd, I take him at his word that he's happy to have no more measures and a roll back of plan b. I think he's just reverted to being anti government because the government has said no restrictions.
No, I'm not in favour of "permanent NPI" - can you define NPI btw as I'm unsure what the acronym is - because we're smashing Omicron down with the booster campaign which I said at the time it was announced was a "ballsy" strategy that had to work.
We need to stay vigilant against this, we're likely to need to keep plan B / C / D in our back pockets for future variants and a 4th jab if needed. But every time we get another wave we come out better afterwards, isn't that clear to everyone?
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Swings and roundabouts tho. I sincerely sympathise with you on that first lockdown but my third lockdown was way more miserable than most. Stuck indoors on my tod in a one bed flat in the winter (no garden), meeting friends once or twice a week for a walk in the fucking sleet in a half roped off park, for three/four months
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
Just think, if you'd been a heroin addict, at least you'd have had something to look forward to.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
Absolutely- no doubt some people will try to argue that however. Many of us were at breaking point during the winter lockdown. It was utter hell for many. Yet according to ‘Rochdale Pioneers’, the bloke on the internet, it was not a lockdown.
I had a mental breakdown in summer 2020 caused by what I agree was utter hell, thanks.
But it was not lockdown in the definitions of the term. As even "you need to wear a mask" has been described as "lockdown" the term has evolved. But whatever.
It was such a surreal period. Free to go out and run. Which I did, a lot. Free to go to the shops and we wandered round with no masks in the early months, with that long queue to get in. But nothing to do other than essential jobs and essential businesses everything else was shut.
Kept supporting local takeaways by having one every weekend. In the car, drive into town, chat to the guys in the pizza place, drive home. Very few people about because the pubs and restaurants were shut, but you could go out. There just wasn't any point in doing so a lot of the time. You call that lockdown if it makes you happy.
That's a lockdown. The government forcibly closed all non-essential businesses and made the nation work from home. The idea that only China did a lockdown because they welded people into the flats is ridiculous. We took in my wife's best friend for almost three months in lockdown 3 because my wife was worried she'd jump in front of a train due to social isolation. Tell her that lockdown 1 wasn't a lockdown.
Plus: closed schools. All those young minds permanently damaged (I fear). And home-schooling. And domestic abuse. And marriages plunged towards divorce. And the rest
It was a fucking LOCKDOWN
They LOCKED the schools, the pubs, the cafes, the non essential shops, the playing fields, the churches, the stadiums, the bloody park benches, and they said to all of us: right, keep your fucking heads DOWN
Was it even unlimited exercise? I thought there was a period where you were only supposed to go out once a day for it. And it had to be local, which wasn't exactly helpful if you were in the middle of London, or whatever.
In practice unlimited but the law was once per day plus shopping. The idea that we weren't in lockdown is for the birds. It's a standard tactic of people who want permanent NPIs to downplay our lockdowns and other measures so when they talk about putting them back in place it's not a "real" lockdown and the NPIs are "low cost".
Rochdale seems to have fallen into the camp of saying he's against lockdowns but using the pro permanent NPI arguments at the same time. It's a little bit odd, I take him at his word that he's happy to have no more measures and a roll back of plan b. I think he's just reverted to being anti government because the government has said no restrictions.
No, I'm not in favour of "permanent NPI" - can you define NPI btw as I'm unsure what the acronym is - because we're smashing Omicron down with the booster campaign which I said at the time it was announced was a "ballsy" strategy that had to work.
We need to stay vigilant against this, we're likely to need to keep plan B / C / D in our back pockets for future variants and a 4th jab if needed. But every time we get another wave we come out better afterwards, isn't that clear to everyone?
Non-pharmaceutical intervention. Stuff like masks, vaccine passports, social distancing and limitations on interactions.
As I said, I'm happy to take your words at face value because I'm pretty sure you aren't in favour of permanent NPIs but you do sound like someone who is a lot of the time.
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
As many as 100 invited to Johnson's party BBC now saying.
Christ on a bike. This is exploding.
Only 30 went though.
If you are annoyed by this you are likely already voting Labour anyway after the last garden party photos. The 33 to 35% still voting Tory likely will not care less as long as Boris continues not to impose any new restrictions
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Swings and roundabouts tho. I sincerely sympathise with you on that first lockdown but my third lockdown was way more miserable than most. Stuck indoors on my tod in a one bed flat in the winter (no garden), meeting friends once or twice a week for a walk in the fucking sleet in a half roped off park, for three/four months
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
I agree that 12 months back was far worse than in the March. Dark and cold outside and Covid cases where I lived were so high that it might as well have been radioactive I was that unhappy about going out.
My favourite (?) memory of Lockdown One was walking round our local marina, where there are benches to sit and watch the boats etc. On each bench was a thin piece of red tape, and a printed notice sellotaped on declaring THIS BENCH IS CLOSED.
I don't know why, but the idea of a closed bench gave us the giggles for weeks.
George Parker @GeorgeWParker · 1h Great scoop by @PaulBrandITV...unbelievably the party was being prepared in the Downing St garden while @OliverDowden was inside Number 10 telling the country: "You can meet one person outside of your household in an outdoor, public place, provided you stay 2m apart."
It is quite incredible.
Trumpian, frankly.
Rot starts at the top; Boris is corrupting the country. He needs to take a v long break at a weight loss sanitorium, preferably outside the country.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Swings and roundabouts tho. I sincerely sympathise with you on that first lockdown but my third lockdown was way more miserable than most. Stuck indoors on my tod in a one bed flat in the winter (no garden), meeting friends once or twice a week for a walk in the fucking sleet in a half roped off park, for three/four months
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
Just think, if you'd been a heroin addict, at least you'd have had something to look forward to.
Trust me, there were MANY days during lockdown 3 when I would happily have returned to heroin. If I'd known a dealer nearby.... it was a lucky escape that I did not
Was it even unlimited exercise? I thought there was a period where you were only supposed to go out once a day for it. And it had to be local, which wasn't exactly helpful if you were in the middle of London, or whatever.
In practice unlimited but the law was once per day plus shopping. The idea that we weren't in lockdown is for the birds. It's a standard tactic of people who want permanent NPIs to downplay our lockdowns and other measures so when they talk about putting them back in place it's not a "real" lockdown and the NPIs are "low cost".
Rochdale seems to have fallen into the camp of saying he's against lockdowns but using the pro permanent NPI arguments at the same time. It's a little bit odd, I take him at his word that he's happy to have no more measures and a roll back of plan b. I think he's just reverted to being anti government because the government has said no restrictions.
No, I'm not in favour of "permanent NPI" - can you define NPI btw as I'm unsure what the acronym is - because we're smashing Omicron down with the booster campaign which I said at the time it was announced was a "ballsy" strategy that had to work.
We need to stay vigilant against this, we're likely to need to keep plan B / C / D in our back pockets for future variants and a 4th jab if needed. But every time we get another wave we come out better afterwards, isn't that clear to everyone?
Non-pharmaceutical intervention. Stuff like masks, vaccine passports, social distancing and limitations on interactions.
As I said, I'm happy to take your words at face value because I'm pretty sure you aren't in favour of permanent NPIs but you do sound like someone who is a lot of the time.
Thinking that they might be needed / imposed for a period is miles and miles away from being "in favour of permanent NPIs". Seriously, you and a couple of others seem to read what is being posted but interpret as something else having fixated on a perspective.
Nobody wants to have to wear masks forever, they are bloody awful confining hate objects. But that doesn't change my opinion that England should have kept them as most of the rest of the world did last year. But they really need to go this year.
George Parker @GeorgeWParker · 1h Great scoop by @PaulBrandITV...unbelievably the party was being prepared in the Downing St garden while @OliverDowden was inside Number 10 telling the country: "You can meet one person outside of your household in an outdoor, public place, provided you stay 2m apart."
It is quite incredible.
Trumpian, frankly.
Rot starts at the top; Boris is corrupting the country. He needs to take a v long break at a weight loss sanitorium, preferably outside the country.
Serbia?
Maybe further. I believe Transnistria is very pleasant at this time of year.
As many as 100 invited to Johnson's party BBC now saying.
Christ on a bike. This is exploding.
Only 30 went though.
If you are annoyed by this you are likely already voting Labour anyway after the last garden party photos. The 33 to 35% still voting Tory likely will not care less as long as Boris continues not to impose any new restrictions
This has way more than the usual Suspects on twitter attacking Boris - it seems to have really annoyed people given the 5pm press conference and the 3pm met police tweet.
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
Lots of workplaces were like that, but not allowed garden drinks parties.
It's plain old "one rule for them..."
Obvious complicity or incompetence by journalists to either turn a blind eye or notice it.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Swings and roundabouts tho. I sincerely sympathise with you on that first lockdown but my third lockdown was way more miserable than most. Stuck indoors on my tod in a one bed flat in the winter (no garden), meeting friends once or twice a week for a walk in the fucking sleet in a half roped off park, for three/four months
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
Just think, if you'd been a heroin addict, at least you'd have had something to look forward to.
Trust me, there were MANY days during lockdown 3 when I would happily have returned to heroin. If I'd known a dealer nearby.... it was a lucky escape that I did not
I thought I was being daring when I decided to relive my youth and buy a popper from the local corner shop.
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
They could have televised them at the same time as the press conferences telling everyone else not to meet up in groups. That would have been lovely for us all.
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
I'm pretty bothered. The arch-shagger stopped me having a shag for months. MONTHS.
My favourite (?) memory of Lockdown One was walking round our local marina, where there are benches to sit and watch the boats etc. On each bench was a thin piece of red tape, and a printed notice sellotaped on declaring THIS BENCH IS CLOSED.
I don't know why, but the idea of a closed bench gave us the giggles for weeks.
There were council bench police in Enfield where my parents live! The busy bodies were out in parks making sure people weren't sitting on them anyway despite the red tape signalling that the bench was, err, closed. My mum tried explaining to one of them that person she was sitting with was my dad and that they're married and living together so whether they sit on this bench or at home makes no difference. My dad said he kept quiet because he would have ended up lamping the guy in the face if he'd got into an argument about it.
George Parker @GeorgeWParker · 1h Great scoop by @PaulBrandITV...unbelievably the party was being prepared in the Downing St garden while @OliverDowden was inside Number 10 telling the country: "You can meet one person outside of your household in an outdoor, public place, provided you stay 2m apart."
It is quite incredible.
Trumpian, frankly.
Rot starts at the top; Boris is corrupting the country. He needs to take a v long break at a weight loss sanitorium, preferably outside the country.
Serbia?
Maybe further. I believe Transnistria is very pleasant at this time of year.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
Absolutely- no doubt some people will try to argue that however. Many of us were at breaking point during the winter lockdown. It was utter hell for many. Yet according to ‘Rochdale Pioneers’, the bloke on the internet, it was not a lockdown.
I had a mental breakdown in summer 2020 caused by what I agree was utter hell, thanks.
But it was not lockdown in the definitions of the term. As even "you need to wear a mask" has been described as "lockdown" the term has evolved. But whatever.
It was such a surreal period. Free to go out and run. Which I did, a lot. Free to go to the shops and we wandered round with no masks in the early months, with that long queue to get in. But nothing to do other than essential jobs and essential businesses everything else was shut.
Kept supporting local takeaways by having one every weekend. In the car, drive into town, chat to the guys in the pizza place, drive home. Very few people about because the pubs and restaurants were shut, but you could go out. There just wasn't any point in doing so a lot of the time. You call that lockdown if it makes you happy.
I'm pretty happy to accept that where we're at now, masks isn't lockdown. Nightclubs shut and enforced working from home isn't lockdown. Being only able to meet up with three households in total indoors (Scotland) isn't lockdown. It's all utterly horrible and shite, but it isn't lockdown.
But what we had in those early months was definitely lockdown as far as I am. It might not have been uber Chinese hardcore lockdown, but by the standards of our free society, it was lockdown.
What brought it home to me that it was serious was drinking in a bar in Paphos (the last day it was open, as it happens) chatting with the owner about how the Belgians had closed the bars. That didn't seem possible.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
The “we were never locked down” cliche. Absolute garbage. It was illegal to have guests in your own home at one point. All schools and pubs were forcibly closed by the government.
Get real.
You get real. Being allowed out for unlimited exercise or to go shop is not locked down. We had restrictions - a lot of them. But the door was not locked with the police saying you can't go out.
Go shop?!?!
Your idea of lockdown would've led to mass starvation.
I think my definition still stands: if you have to meet your friends in a freezing Scottish park then you are locked down.
But you are outside, so how can you be "locked down"? Where are you locked?
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
Lots of workplaces were like that, but not allowed garden drinks parties.
It's plain old "one rule for them..."
Obvious complicity or incompetence by journalists to either turn a blind eye or notice it.
Yeah, wtf were the press up to. Would've been story of the decade, no?
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
Absolutely- no doubt some people will try to argue that however. Many of us were at breaking point during the winter lockdown. It was utter hell for many. Yet according to ‘Rochdale Pioneers’, the bloke on the internet, it was not a lockdown.
I had a mental breakdown in summer 2020 caused by what I agree was utter hell, thanks.
But it was not lockdown in the definitions of the term. As even "you need to wear a mask" has been described as "lockdown" the term has evolved. But whatever.
It was such a surreal period. Free to go out and run. Which I did, a lot. Free to go to the shops and we wandered round with no masks in the early months, with that long queue to get in. But nothing to do other than essential jobs and essential businesses everything else was shut.
Kept supporting local takeaways by having one every weekend. In the car, drive into town, chat to the guys in the pizza place, drive home. Very few people about because the pubs and restaurants were shut, but you could go out. There just wasn't any point in doing so a lot of the time. You call that lockdown if it makes you happy.
That's a lockdown. The government forcibly closed all non-essential businesses and made the nation work from home. The idea that only China did a lockdown because they welded people into the flats is ridiculous. We took in my wife's best friend for almost three months in lockdown 3 because my wife was worried she'd jump in front of a train due to social isolation. Tell her that lockdown 1 wasn't a lockdown.
Plus: closed schools. All those young minds permanently damaged (I fear). And home-schooling. And domestic abuse. And marriages plunged towards divorce. And the rest
It was a fucking LOCKDOWN
They LOCKED the schools, the pubs, the cafes, the non essential shops, the playing fields, the churches, the stadiums, the bloody park benches, and they said to all of us: right, keep your fucking heads DOWN
Yet you managed to mishear ‘stay at home’ as ‘go on holiday’, and showed the same contempt for the regulations that we now see in the PM.
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
Its the absolute fucking hypocrisy that bothers me and many other people. There are millions of people all over the country who were working just as hard, if not harder, than those inside number 10 and were being told you cannot meet your loved ones even outside whilst these fuckers were having a party. Even Cummings knew this was a stupid idea and said so. So they can hardly claim they weren't warned.
And if it is full of panic and confusion then whose fault is that? It is the job of those at the top to make sure the place is NOT filled with panic and confusion. Leadership, not picnics and booze ups, are what was needed and what was clearly sadly lacking.
As many as 100 invited to Johnson's party BBC now saying.
Christ on a bike. This is exploding.
Only 30 went though.
If you are annoyed by this you are likely already voting Labour anyway after the last garden party photos. The 33 to 35% still voting Tory likely will not care less as long as Boris continues not to impose any new restrictions
This has way more than the usual Suspects on twitter attacking Boris - it seems to have really annoyed people given the 5pm press conference and the 3pm met police tweet.
But not nearly as annoying as it would be if the story had come out at the time, which lest we forget was at the height of the Barnard Castle affair. As 100 were now apparently invited, of which maybe 70 sensibly steered well clear, it would only have taken one of those people to spill the beans.
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
Lots of workplaces were like that, but not allowed garden drinks parties.
It's plain old "one rule for them..."
Obvious complicity or incompetence by journalists to either turn a blind eye or notice it.
Yeah, wtf were the press up to. Would've been story of the decade, no?
D notice? Or were they on the email?
More likely many people knew but Cummings kept control of the information, as he was still on board with the government at the time, I think.
Just as a matter of interest who were the party goers
Were they all civil servants working at Downing Street plus Boris and Carrie as alleged, or were journalists and politicians also in attendance
Sack the fucking lot of them.
Johnson looks to be presiding over a debauched circus of entitled cretins.
Public sector though
If Reynolds falls on his sword it should be enough to save Johnson.
Although I do remember the demands on here for Steve Kinnock's nuts when he delivered a birthday cake (sorry, organised a massive street party) for Neil.
As many as 100 invited to Johnson's party BBC now saying.
Christ on a bike. This is exploding.
Only 30 went though.
If you are annoyed by this you are likely already voting Labour anyway after the last garden party photos. The 33 to 35% still voting Tory likely will not care less as long as Boris continues not to impose any new restrictions
70% of Tory politicians and officials are law abiding, is something for you to hang onto, I guess. Just a shame about the 30%.
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
Lots of workplaces were like that, but not allowed garden drinks parties.
It's plain old "one rule for them..."
Obvious complicity or incompetence by journalists to either turn a blind eye or notice it.
Yes, I recognise that. I just can't get angry about someone else having a good time (as long as nobody is harmed in the process).
As many as 100 invited to Johnson's party BBC now saying.
Christ on a bike. This is exploding.
Only 30 went though.
If you are annoyed by this you are likely already voting Labour anyway after the last garden party photos. The 33 to 35% still voting Tory likely will not care less as long as Boris continues not to impose any new restrictions
This has way more than the usual Suspects on twitter attacking Boris - it seems to have really annoyed people given the 5pm press conference and the 3pm met police tweet.
I doubt any of the tweeters were Tory voters yesterday either. Boris has imposed no new restrictions and as long as that continues he will likely survive
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Swings and roundabouts tho. I sincerely sympathise with you on that first lockdown but my third lockdown was way more miserable than most. Stuck indoors on my tod in a one bed flat in the winter (no garden), meeting friends once or twice a week for a walk in the fucking sleet in a half roped off park, for three/four months
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
Just think, if you'd been a heroin addict, at least you'd have had something to look forward to.
Trust me, there were MANY days during lockdown 3 when I would happily have returned to heroin. If I'd known a dealer nearby.... it was a lucky escape that I did not
With hindsight, Lockdown 1 was exciting and heroic. The weather helped, but there was also the working out how to live in this situation, the clapping, and (for most of us, I suspect) the benefit of stepping off the treadmill for a bit. I even enjoyed the homeschooling bit, which was amusingly anarchic. And it was nice not to disinfect hands every five minutes.
Lockdown 3, on the other hand, sucked. It was lockdown imagined by Puritans. Children plugged into Zoom. Everything plugged into Zoom. And January is always rubbish.
But if that is the worst thing in our lives (and please let it be so), our generations are still pretty blessed.
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
Attacking the PM/No 10 for a garden party would be utterly fucking ridiculous, if it wasn't for the fact they were putting such massively draconian rules in in the first place to deny others that very same right.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
Absolutely- no doubt some people will try to argue that however. Many of us were at breaking point during the winter lockdown. It was utter hell for many. Yet according to ‘Rochdale Pioneers’, the bloke on the internet, it was not a lockdown.
I had a mental breakdown in summer 2020 caused by what I agree was utter hell, thanks.
But it was not lockdown in the definitions of the term. As even "you need to wear a mask" has been described as "lockdown" the term has evolved. But whatever.
It was such a surreal period. Free to go out and run. Which I did, a lot. Free to go to the shops and we wandered round with no masks in the early months, with that long queue to get in. But nothing to do other than essential jobs and essential businesses everything else was shut.
Kept supporting local takeaways by having one every weekend. In the car, drive into town, chat to the guys in the pizza place, drive home. Very few people about because the pubs and restaurants were shut, but you could go out. There just wasn't any point in doing so a lot of the time. You call that lockdown if it makes you happy.
That's a lockdown. The government forcibly closed all non-essential businesses and made the nation work from home. The idea that only China did a lockdown because they welded people into the flats is ridiculous. We took in my wife's best friend for almost three months in lockdown 3 because my wife was worried she'd jump in front of a train due to social isolation. Tell her that lockdown 1 wasn't a lockdown.
To be fair, Australia had lockdowns that were 99% of the hardness of China, where people were legally not allowed outside of their homes, and the police would stop people on the street if they were wandering.
Hence, presumably, the rumours that relevant Civil Servant is being moved, not sacked.
If he had any shame, Boris would now apologise, resign, and disappear to a life of quiet good works.
But if he had any shame, he wouldn't have got where he has. And it will be a) impossible to prove whose idea it was and b) find anyone with the power to pull the trigger on BoJo.
There are only three problems with Johnson pursuing a life of "quiet good works".
Firstly, it involves him being quiet.
Secondly, it involves him being good.
Thirdly, it involves him doing some work.
Perhaps some Gladstonian work with fallen women?
I had cause to go to a couple of AA meetings with a relative a few years ago. One thing someone said remained with me, that everyone in that situation had to find their lowest point themselves, and realise it. Being ministered to by BJ would qualify as a lowest point for sure.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
The “we were never locked down” cliche. Absolute garbage. It was illegal to have guests in your own home at one point. All schools and pubs were forcibly closed by the government.
Get real.
You get real. Being allowed out for unlimited exercise or to go shop is not locked down. We had restrictions - a lot of them. But the door was not locked with the police saying you can't go out.
Go shop?!?!
Your idea of lockdown would've led to mass starvation.
I think my definition still stands: if you have to meet your friends in a freezing Scottish park then you are locked down.
But you are outside, so how can you be "locked down"? Where are you locked?
Businesses and leisure were shut. So whilst you could go out (with general restrictions) there were few places to actually go. My inlaws in Spain didn't even have that - polis were stopping people going anywhere and issuing fines if they caught you. When Derbyshire tried that they got slapped down as there was no reason in law to stop people walking where the drone "caught" them. Very different. And as for the UAE...
As many as 100 invited to Johnson's party BBC now saying.
Christ on a bike. This is exploding.
Only 30 went though.
If you are annoyed by this you are likely already voting Labour anyway after the last garden party photos. The 33 to 35% still voting Tory likely will not care less as long as Boris continues not to impose any new restrictions
This has way more than the usual Suspects on twitter attacking Boris - it seems to have really annoyed people given the 5pm press conference and the 3pm met police tweet.
I doubt any of the tweeters were Tory voters yesterday either. Boris has imposed no new restrictions and as long as that continues he will likely survive
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Swings and roundabouts tho. I sincerely sympathise with you on that first lockdown but my third lockdown was way more miserable than most. Stuck indoors on my tod in a one bed flat in the winter (no garden), meeting friends once or twice a week for a walk in the fucking sleet in a half roped off park, for three/four months
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
I agree that 12 months back was far worse than in the March. Dark and cold outside and Covid cases where I lived were so high that it might as well have been radioactive I was that unhappy about going out.
12 months ago there was some hope of it getting better, though. It took ages, and the speed at which we were unlocked was glacial, but we knew what the problem was, what the solutions were - vaccines - and we could watch the steady tick, tick, tick as the population got vaccinated. Whereas lockdown 1 - was this it, forever? It also helped that in lockdown 2 two of my three children were coping with it so poorly that the school found places for them.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
Absolutely- no doubt some people will try to argue that however. Many of us were at breaking point during the winter lockdown. It was utter hell for many. Yet according to ‘Rochdale Pioneers’, the bloke on the internet, it was not a lockdown.
I had a mental breakdown in summer 2020 caused by what I agree was utter hell, thanks.
But it was not lockdown in the definitions of the term. As even "you need to wear a mask" has been described as "lockdown" the term has evolved. But whatever.
It was such a surreal period. Free to go out and run. Which I did, a lot. Free to go to the shops and we wandered round with no masks in the early months, with that long queue to get in. But nothing to do other than essential jobs and essential businesses everything else was shut.
Kept supporting local takeaways by having one every weekend. In the car, drive into town, chat to the guys in the pizza place, drive home. Very few people about because the pubs and restaurants were shut, but you could go out. There just wasn't any point in doing so a lot of the time. You call that lockdown if it makes you happy.
That's a lockdown. The government forcibly closed all non-essential businesses and made the nation work from home. The idea that only China did a lockdown because they welded people into the flats is ridiculous. We took in my wife's best friend for almost three months in lockdown 3 because my wife was worried she'd jump in front of a train due to social isolation. Tell her that lockdown 1 wasn't a lockdown.
To be fair, Australia had lockdowns that were 99% of the hardness of China, where people were legally not allowed outside of their homes, and the police would stop people on the street if they were wandering.
Cue Crocodile Dundee, smiling at the various punters on here waving lockdown at them. "That's not a lockdown" [pulls out mad Aussie rules] - "*That's* a lockdown"
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
Lots of workplaces were like that, but not allowed garden drinks parties.
It's plain old "one rule for them..."
Obvious complicity or incompetence by journalists to either turn a blind eye or notice it.
Yes, I recognise that. I just can't get angry about someone else having a good time (as long as nobody is harmed in the process).
As many as 100 invited to Johnson's party BBC now saying.
Christ on a bike. This is exploding.
Only 30 went though.
If you are annoyed by this you are likely already voting Labour anyway after the last garden party photos. The 33 to 35% still voting Tory likely will not care less as long as Boris continues not to impose any new restrictions
This has way more than the usual Suspects on twitter attacking Boris - it seems to have really annoyed people given the 5pm press conference and the 3pm met police tweet.
I disagree with HYUFD that the 33% still voting Tory will not care less. I'd suggest most of them will be pretty annoyed. It may not stop them voting Tory this time, but it will be one incident closer to the time when they can stomach no more. Obviously I'm not going to be voting Labour over this, or we'll be wearing masks forever. But it further slices away at any possibility I might vote Tory.
Is anyone else not that bothered about the outdoor party? Number 10 always seems like a hellish place to work, full of panic and overwork and confusion - the sort of place where they need a picnic. If they had more, perhaps it would be less dysfunctional.
Its the absolute fucking hypocrisy that bothers me and many other people. There are millions of people all over the country who were working just as hard, if not harder, than those inside number 10 and were being told you cannot meet your loved ones even outside whilst these fuckers were having a party. Even Cummings knew this was a stupid idea and said so. So they can hardly claim they weren't warned.
And if it is full of panic and confusion then whose fault is that? It is the job of those at the top to make sure the place is NOT filled with panic and confusion. Leadership, not picnics and booze ups, are what was needed and what was clearly sadly lacking.
Leadership and picnics are not mutually exclusive. Mood is important in any workplace. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do, I am saying I can't feel angry about some people bringing a drink and having an outdoor gathering.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
Absolutely- no doubt some people will try to argue that however. Many of us were at breaking point during the winter lockdown. It was utter hell for many. Yet according to ‘Rochdale Pioneers’, the bloke on the internet, it was not a lockdown.
I had a mental breakdown in summer 2020 caused by what I agree was utter hell, thanks.
But it was not lockdown in the definitions of the term. As even "you need to wear a mask" has been described as "lockdown" the term has evolved. But whatever.
It was such a surreal period. Free to go out and run. Which I did, a lot. Free to go to the shops and we wandered round with no masks in the early months, with that long queue to get in. But nothing to do other than essential jobs and essential businesses everything else was shut.
Kept supporting local takeaways by having one every weekend. In the car, drive into town, chat to the guys in the pizza place, drive home. Very few people about because the pubs and restaurants were shut, but you could go out. There just wasn't any point in doing so a lot of the time. You call that lockdown if it makes you happy.
I'm pretty happy to accept that where we're at now, masks isn't lockdown. Nightclubs shut and enforced working from home isn't lockdown. Being only able to meet up with three households in total indoors (Scotland) isn't lockdown. It's all utterly horrible and shite, but it isn't lockdown.
But what we had in those early months was definitely lockdown as far as I am. It might not have been uber Chinese hardcore lockdown, but by the standards of our free society, it was lockdown.
What brought it home to me that it was serious was drinking in a bar in Paphos (the last day it was open, as it happens) chatting with the owner about how the Belgians had closed the bars. That didn't seem possible.
I remember the day Boris announced formal lockdown (23rd March 2020 I think?).
My dad had died in late February (not covid related) and we only just had time to get the funeral done mid-March before they stopped letting you have proper congregations at funerals.
I got back to work in the office for about two days, head still totally mince, before we were voluntarily and then forcibly working from home.
On the day of Boris announcing it I had just managed to get some shopping in a supermarket which was empty in a way I hadn't seen outside The Walking Dead or 28 Days Later.
There was then a power cut at my house for about an hour with it coming back just before Boris came on the telly.
OK was totally coincidental, but did nothing for my nerves. I honestly thought that day perhaps it really was all heading for the end of the world.
And the F1 season had only a few days earlier essentially been canned (as it seemed at the time anyway) on the day it was supposed to start, as the entire sporting calendar ground to a halt.
Thankfully it became pretty clear that it was bad but not quite that apocalyptically bad, but just for that period in particular it was the most god awful period of my life.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Swings and roundabouts tho. I sincerely sympathise with you on that first lockdown but my third lockdown was way more miserable than most. Stuck indoors on my tod in a one bed flat in the winter (no garden), meeting friends once or twice a week for a walk in the fucking sleet in a half roped off park, for three/four months
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
Just think, if you'd been a heroin addict, at least you'd have had something to look forward to.
Trust me, there were MANY days during lockdown 3 when I would happily have returned to heroin. If I'd known a dealer nearby.... it was a lucky escape that I did not
With hindsight, Lockdown 1 was exciting and heroic. The weather helped, but there was also the working out how to live in this situation, the clapping, and (for most of us, I suspect) the benefit of stepping off the treadmill for a bit. I even enjoyed the homeschooling bit, which was amusingly anarchic. And it was nice not to disinfect hands every five minutes.
Lockdown 3, on the other hand, sucked. It was lockdown imagined by Puritans. Children plugged into Zoom. Everything plugged into Zoom. And January is always rubbish.
But if that is the worst thing in our lives (and please let it be so), our generations are still pretty blessed.
Not disputing that lockdown three was pants (January 6th was the nadir for me, personally) but I generally find January to be a great time of year. The days start to get longer. There's a sense of new beginnings, second chances. November is my least favourite month. Dark and getting darker. Christmas still ages away. Sodding wet.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
The “we were never locked down” cliche. Absolute garbage. It was illegal to have guests in your own home at one point. All schools and pubs were forcibly closed by the government.
Get real.
You get real. Being allowed out for unlimited exercise or to go shop is not locked down. We had restrictions - a lot of them. But the door was not locked with the police saying you can't go out.
Go shop?!?!
Your idea of lockdown would've led to mass starvation.
I think my definition still stands: if you have to meet your friends in a freezing Scottish park then you are locked down.
What's wrong with freezing Scottish parks? It's good for you. None of this nasty UV skin cancer shite.
When it got really depressing was when some of them had barriers round them, like kids playparks.
That was pretty fucking bleak.
You’ve reminded my how petty some of the measures were. As well as chaining up the swings, the local council left the grass uncut to stop children playing. By the time the grass wash cut it was well above knee high.
The problem with NPI's, as they have been described, is that where they are mandated by law they represent an unacceptable level of intrusion in to private freedom. They also have a tendency for mission creep - the idea that we can "keep the public safe" by controlling all kinds of disease through controls on human behaviour and biosurveillance is almost irresistable, after normalisation caused by 2 years of such measures being in place. And the idea that such measures are necessitated as they are an alternative to 'lockdowns' is also very useful and convenient, for those in power who seek to effect change of whatever sort. So to my mind at least, and on a philosophical level, NPIs are actually a greater danger than lockdowns.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Swings and roundabouts tho. I sincerely sympathise with you on that first lockdown but my third lockdown was way more miserable than most. Stuck indoors on my tod in a one bed flat in the winter (no garden), meeting friends once or twice a week for a walk in the fucking sleet in a half roped off park, for three/four months
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
Just think, if you'd been a heroin addict, at least you'd have had something to look forward to.
Trust me, there were MANY days during lockdown 3 when I would happily have returned to heroin. If I'd known a dealer nearby.... it was a lucky escape that I did not
With hindsight, Lockdown 1 was exciting and heroic. The weather helped, but there was also the working out how to live in this situation, the clapping, and (for most of us, I suspect) the benefit of stepping off the treadmill for a bit. I even enjoyed the homeschooling bit, which was amusingly anarchic. And it was nice not to disinfect hands every five minutes.
Lockdown 3, on the other hand, sucked. It was lockdown imagined by Puritans. Children plugged into Zoom. Everything plugged into Zoom. And January is always rubbish.
But if that is the worst thing in our lives (and please let it be so), our generations are still pretty blessed.
Not disputing that lockdown three was pants (January 6th was the nadir for me, personally) but I generally find January to be a great time of year. The days start to get longer. There's a sense of new beginnings, second chances. November is my least favourite month. Dark and getting darker. Christmas still ages away. Sodding wet.
Lol. In the south at least, last November was the driest for ages - and one of the driest months of the year, whereas the wettest day in December was Christmas Day.
Still have to pick at the word "lockdown". Even during the first "you must stay at home" mandate you didn't have to stay at home. You could go out and exercise and go and shop without someone from the government* telling you that you couldn't. Out running in those first few weeks, or bobbing into town to pick up takeaway was very very odd - but not lockdown.
So only China actually does ‘lockdown’?
Bollocks. If I can’t meet friends indoors, or in a pub, and people are working from home, that’s a lockdown. A total perversion of normal human life
Let's establish some simple rules shall we:
Lockdown means a general restriction on people to meet with who they like, when they like, where they like.
So a curfew is a form of lockdown.
Mask mandates on public transport, by contrast, are not lockdowns.
That is a restriction, but not a lockdown.
Likewise, requirements to show vaccination status before going to a mass gathering are a restriction, not a lockdown.
And, for the record, mask mandates in shops and public transport do not count as "Christmas cancelled" (for the benefit of @MISTY/@Contrarian).
Yes, we went through this, and yes I agree with you
The idea we didn't have "a lockdown" last winter "because we were still allowed to exercise and to shop" is insulting piffle
Maybe they aren't on "real lockdown" in Xi'an, given that one member of every household is still allowed out once every three days? Those Chinese, so pathetically feeble, can't do proper lockdowns
In spring 2020 I was locked down. You went on holiday.
In spring 2020 we were all locked down, and yet nearly all of us went on holiday. A surreal holiday of zero work, silent streets, and endless, glorious, unearthly sunshine....
I will remember that first lockdown until I die. I shall do my living utmost to forget the other two
Fuck that, it was work work work for me. Half my company was on furlough; I was one of the unlucky ones who wasn't. And, as a consequence, not allowed to take any leave. I even had my long-booked leave cancelled. It was hell. I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Swings and roundabouts tho. I sincerely sympathise with you on that first lockdown but my third lockdown was way more miserable than most. Stuck indoors on my tod in a one bed flat in the winter (no garden), meeting friends once or twice a week for a walk in the fucking sleet in a half roped off park, for three/four months
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
Just think, if you'd been a heroin addict, at least you'd have had something to look forward to.
Trust me, there were MANY days during lockdown 3 when I would happily have returned to heroin. If I'd known a dealer nearby.... it was a lucky escape that I did not
With hindsight, Lockdown 1 was exciting and heroic. The weather helped, but there was also the working out how to live in this situation, the clapping, and (for most of us, I suspect) the benefit of stepping off the treadmill for a bit. I even enjoyed the homeschooling bit, which was amusingly anarchic. And it was nice not to disinfect hands every five minutes.
Lockdown 3, on the other hand, sucked. It was lockdown imagined by Puritans. Children plugged into Zoom. Everything plugged into Zoom. And January is always rubbish.
But if that is the worst thing in our lives (and please let it be so), our generations are still pretty blessed.
Not disputing that lockdown three was pants (January 6th was the nadir for me, personally) but I generally find January to be a great time of year. The days start to get longer. There's a sense of new beginnings, second chances. November is my least favourite month. Dark and getting darker. Christmas still ages away. Sodding wet.
Lol. In the south at least, last November was the driest for ages - and one of the driest months of the year, whereas the wettest day in December was Christmas Day.
Yes. Weather varies greatly from year to year. The main thing you can say with any certainty from the long-term rainfall statistics is that autumn (Sep-Nov) is the wettest season and spring (Mar-May) is the driest season, with, I think, a long-term trend towards drier summers and wetter winters.
Possibly it is also true that the wetter months of autumn are September and October - before the sea has cooled too much - but I haven't looked at the long-term statistics in that detail. So, November is wet (and it's cold rain).
Comments
Were they all civil servants working at Downing Street plus Boris and Carrie as alleged, or were journalists and politicians also in attendance
What is beyond that? Literally not being permitted to leave for any reason? It's setting a preposterous standard, like if we applied a scale as to what constituted a beating, where being hit 100 times didn't count because, hey, it could have been 1000 times.
I had a look at my movements (I track my location) for the 20th May. I went for a 2 mile trudge at lunchtime to work off some of the frustration, and was back at my desk in short order. Keeping the bastard lights on whilst half the rest of the world was sunbathing in their pants on a bastard Wednesday afternoon. Bastards.
Would have thought if Johnson had just survived a near death illness, he would be taking it easy on the parties. Another of the oddities with this story.
That was pretty fucking bleak.
The PM attended. He should resign for not only breaching the rules himself but failing to shut the gathering down.
Johnson looks to be presiding over a debauched circus of entitled cretins.
Thankfully, the cleaning materials are kept scrupulously, er, clean.
Important spot from @rowenamason that our leaked email says "WE thought it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather."
Who is "we"? The Principal Private Secretary serves the PM and often conveys messages on his behalf. Were the drinks partly Boris Johnson's idea?
https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1480627031365013504
And at other moments you were only allowed to meet one other person, outside. And you couldn't sit on a park bench and chat together
Looking back, our obedience was remarkable
https://www.reading.ac.uk/news-and-events/releases/PR841058.aspx
"It has been regularly reported in the media and remarked by people that we were only permitted one hour of exercise per day during the full lockdown. But one of the main drivers for a historian is curiosity, and I am curious to track back why our belief in what we are actually allowed is so different from the reality.
“Revisiting the actual sources confirms that the law passed to underpin the lockdown allowed exercise as one of the excuses for leaving your home, but this was not limited by frequency, length, distance or time. This law has been embellished, and phrased as only one form of exercise being permitted for each person per day. Although Boris Johnson stated ‘one form of exercise’ would be permitted in his public broadcast on March 22 to announce the start of lockdown, he also did not specify a time limit.
“So where does the credence for the one hour of exercise emerge from? It appears that the hour was first suggested by Michael Gove when interviewed outside his house on 29 March by Andrew Marr. Gove mentioned his own 25-minute run that day, and suggested: ‘I would have thought that for most people, a walk of up to an hour, or a run of 30 minutes or a cycle ride of between that, depending on their level of fitness is appropriate’.
“It seems surprising that such a statement went on to underpin the so called rule of one hour of exercise a day, but historians know that myths generally have very flimsy foundations.
“What is interesting is the fact most people respected this restriction, despite the fact it was never legally enforceable
Wear goggles.
Rochdale seems to have fallen into the camp of saying he's against lockdowns but using the pro permanent NPI arguments at the same time. It's a little bit odd, I take him at his word that he's happy to have no more measures and a roll back of plan b. I think he's just reverted to being anti government because the government has said no restrictions.
But it was not lockdown in the definitions of the term. As even "you need to wear a mask" has been described as "lockdown" the term has evolved. But whatever.
It was such a surreal period. Free to go out and run. Which I did, a lot. Free to go to the shops and we wandered round with no masks in the early months, with that long queue to get in. But nothing to do other than essential jobs and essential businesses everything else was shut.
Kept supporting local takeaways by having one every weekend. In the car, drive into town, chat to the guys in the pizza place, drive home. Very few people about because the pubs and restaurants were shut, but you could go out. There just wasn't any point in doing so a lot of the time. You call that lockdown if it makes you happy.
Sent me nearly mad. I would have loved a job that gave me an excuse to get out and do stuff
Never again. Even if we get Ebola-anthrax-flu I will never do it again
If he had any shame, Boris would now apologise, resign, and disappear to a life of quiet good works.
But if he had any shame, he wouldn't have got where he has. And it will be a) impossible to prove whose idea it was and b) find anyone with the power to pull the trigger on BoJo.
Sebastian Payne
@SebastianEPayne
·
1h
NEW: Ministers are optimistic than England’s Plan B restrictions will end on January 26
Govt insider: “Optimism is growing. Cabinet was presented with data where everything seems to be going in the right direction.”
George Parker
@GeorgeWParker
· 1h
Great scoop by @PaulBrandITV...unbelievably the party was being prepared in the Downing St garden while @OliverDowden was inside Number 10 telling the country: "You can meet one person outside of your household in an outdoor, public place, provided you stay 2m apart."
However bad things got here - and with respect to @leon and @Anabobazina I genuinely did go bonkers under the stress of it all - it wasn't remotely that bad. Or like in tthe countries like where @sandpit lives where you couldn't go out full stop.
So you can all call me going out without being acosted by the police lockdown if you want. Don't care that much. Am honestly bemused by the faux moral superiority thrown about by a few of you as if I actually care what you say about me.
And the following winter we had some of the best snow ever. Bleak videos of the ski instructors at Cairngorm cruising down, alone.
At least the first lockdown was mad exciting. Then we had the US election, the assault on the capitol. Stuff like that cheers me up, weirdly. It's why I'd encourage the alien chat, and the flesh eating Xian thing.
I didn't suffer at all, compared to some.
AIUI. No party is calling for restrictions. He couldn't get it past his Cabinet never mind the backbenchers. It isn't necessary, wouldn't work, and, even if it did it is too late anyways.
So. If he doesn't do what he doesn't want to do, nor is able to do, nor anyone much wants him to do he'll be fine.
Folk have moved on. It's all the cost of living now.
Trumpian, frankly.
Rot starts at the top; Boris is corrupting the country. He needs to take a v long break at a weight loss sanitorium, preferably outside the country.
But what we had in those early months was definitely lockdown as far as I am. It might not have been uber Chinese hardcore lockdown, but by the standards of our free society, it was lockdown.
Firstly, it involves him being quiet.
Secondly, it involves him being good.
Thirdly, it involves him doing some work.
Christ on a bike. This is exploding.
We need to stay vigilant against this, we're likely to need to keep plan B / C / D in our back pockets for future variants and a 4th jab if needed. But every time we get another wave we come out better afterwards, isn't that clear to everyone?
It was a fucking LOCKDOWN
They LOCKED the schools, the pubs, the cafes, the non essential shops, the playing fields, the churches, the stadiums, the bloody park benches, and they said to all of us: right, keep your fucking heads DOWN
As I said, I'm happy to take your words at face value because I'm pretty sure you aren't in favour of permanent NPIs but you do sound like someone who is a lot of the time.
If you are annoyed by this you are likely already voting Labour anyway after the last garden party photos. The 33 to 35% still voting Tory likely will not care less as long as Boris continues not to impose any new restrictions
I don't know why, but the idea of a closed bench gave us the giggles for weeks.
It’s not as if Reynolds, Case et al were actually qualified for the job.
They were appointed for their useless pliability.
Nobody wants to have to wear masks forever, they are bloody awful confining hate objects. But that doesn't change my opinion that England should have kept them as most of the rest of the world did last year. But they really need to go this year.
It's plain old "one rule for them..."
Obvious complicity or incompetence by journalists to either turn a blind eye or notice it.
I needed a fucking picnic, Christ.
D notice? Or were they on the email?
https://twitter.com/RobDotHutton/status/1480652110853251076
And if it is full of panic and confusion then whose fault is that? It is the job of those at the top to make sure the place is NOT filled with panic and confusion. Leadership, not picnics and booze ups, are what was needed and what was clearly sadly lacking.
Mind-boggling recklessness.
Although I do remember the demands on here for Steve Kinnock's nuts when he delivered a birthday cake (sorry, organised a massive street party) for Neil.
Lockdown 3, on the other hand, sucked. It was lockdown imagined by Puritans. Children plugged into Zoom. Everything plugged into Zoom. And January is always rubbish.
But if that is the worst thing in our lives (and please let it be so), our generations are still pretty blessed.
I had cause to go to a couple of AA meetings with a relative a few years ago. One thing someone said remained with me, that everyone in that situation had to find their lowest point themselves, and realise it. Being ministered to by BJ would qualify as a lowest point for sure.
New Thread!
This thread has been ejected from the party for not bringing its own booze
It also helped that in lockdown 2 two of my three children were coping with it so poorly that the school found places for them.
Panel 4: @Luckyguy1983 saying "but what's actually the problem in people having fun?"
Obviously I'm not going to be voting Labour over this, or we'll be wearing masks forever. But it further slices away at any possibility I might vote Tory.
My dad had died in late February (not covid related) and we only just had time to get the funeral done mid-March before they stopped letting you have proper congregations at funerals.
I got back to work in the office for about two days, head still totally mince, before we were voluntarily and then forcibly working from home.
On the day of Boris announcing it I had just managed to get some shopping in a supermarket which was empty in a way I hadn't seen outside The Walking Dead or 28 Days Later.
There was then a power cut at my house for about an hour with it coming back just before Boris came on the telly.
OK was totally coincidental, but did nothing for my nerves. I honestly thought that day perhaps it really was all heading for the end of the world.
And the F1 season had only a few days earlier essentially been canned (as it seemed at the time anyway) on the day it was supposed to start, as the entire sporting calendar ground to a halt.
Thankfully it became pretty clear that it was bad but not quite that apocalyptically bad, but just for that period in particular it was the most god awful period of my life.
Or would the delays still break the rhythm of the game?
Possibly it is also true that the wetter months of autumn are September and October - before the sea has cooled too much - but I haven't looked at the long-term statistics in that detail. So, November is wet (and it's cold rain).