Farooq said:

Leon said:

SandyRentool said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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!

Anabobazina said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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.

VAR kills football. Was at Forest yesterday, so nice to remember what it used to be like.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Stark_Dawning said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Stuartinromford said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

eek said:

Love to know who ITV News' source is

https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1480596421766176769

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!”

https://itv.com/news/2022-01-10/email-proves-downing-street-staff-held-drinks-party-at-height-of-lockdown

·
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.

Does the Grocer in question want it back?

Scott_xP said:

3ChordTrick said:

The PM attended. He should resign for not only breaching the rules himself but failing to shut the gathering down.

There is a suggestion BoZo instigated it



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

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.

Fucking shameless wankers.



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."

Anabobazina said:

Farooq said:

Leon said:

SandyRentool said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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.

RochdalePioneers said:

Anabobazina said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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.

RochdalePioneers said:

Anabobazina said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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.

As many as 100 invited to Johnson's party BBC now saying.

Christ on a bike. This is exploding.

Gardenwalker said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

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

MaxPB said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Anabobazina said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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

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.

rottenborough said:

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

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.

Big_G_NorthWales said:

Gardenwalker said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

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

Yep. I pay for them. They can do one.
It’s not as if Reynolds, Case et al were actually qualified for the job.

They were appointed for their useless pliability.

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

Farooq said:

Leon said:

SandyRentool said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Gardenwalker said:

rottenborough said:

Fucking shameless wankers.



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.

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

Farooq said:

Leon said:

SandyRentool said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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.

Luckyguy1983 said:

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.

Northern_Al said:

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.

solarflare said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Anabobazina said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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.

Foxy said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

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?

Leon said:

MaxPB said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Anabobazina said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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.

eek said:

HYUFD said:

rottenborough said:

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.

Mind-boggling recklessness.

Big_G_NorthWales said:

Gardenwalker said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

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.

Gardenwalker said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

Gardenwalker said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

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

Yep. I pay for them. They can do one.
It’s not as if Reynolds, Case et al were actually qualified for the job.

They were appointed for their useless pliability.

In an alternative universe, if Simon Case got it together with Mrs Johnson and had children, would they name them Nut Nut-Case?

eek said:

HYUFD said:

rottenborough said:

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

Luckyguy1983 said:

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.

SirNorfolkPassmore said:

Stuartinromford said:

Scott_xP said:

3ChordTrick said:

The PM attended. He should resign for not only breaching the rules himself but failing to shut the gathering down.

There is a suggestion BoZo instigated it



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

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.

New Thread!

RochdalePioneers said:

Leon said:

Farooq said:

Leon said:

SandyRentool said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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.

eek said:

HYUFD said:

rottenborough said:

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.

JohnLilburne said:

solarflare said:

RochdalePioneers said:

Anabobazina said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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.

tlg86 said:

VAR kills football. Was at Forest yesterday, so nice to remember what it used to be like.

Would it be any better if they used the cricket system, where each captain has a limited number of appeals to VAR?

Or would the delays still break the rhythm of the game?

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.

IanB2 said:

LostPassword said:

Stuartinromford said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

Farooq said:

Leon said:

SandyRentool said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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).