is it over?

[2yearpostie]

Anyone else scared at the ammount of people out today? i even had the side of van bashed because a cyclist wanted me to move!

[Cafcant]

Absolutely agree I live in the south west, and you couldn’t park anymore cars at the park near our delivery office, people really don’t care anymore, and are carrying on with there normal lives!!!

[Woody Guthrie]

Ironically this means it's going to be even longer before it's over.

Apparently you can't punch the stupid out of people but sometimes it's tempting to try.

[clashcityrocker]

I think if you had asked a behavioural psychologist at the start of all this - how long can you keep people inside without resorting to draconian policing measures? - they would probably have said a few weeks, tops.
While some people say the lockdown should have started earlier, that simply would have meant it ended earlier.
There are people on the beach, people in the park and partly because the end had to come but probably also because of the mixed messages coming out of government. The lockdown is going to be "eased". Any easing will be like a pressure valve giving way.

Perhaps it is all part of Boris' big plan to increase herd immunity by stealth.
Perhaps we will see a second wave of infections and another 30 000 dead. Who knows? Nobody really.
Scary times indeed.

[miles_peters]

not a lot of people at home who had parcel deliveries. very busy roads, and also people not giving a s**t about social distancing.

I find it a total insult to the sensible and vulnerable people who have been isolating for 7 weeks.

And also an insult to us who have been working our arses off over the past 7 weeks.

shameful.

[Woody Guthrie]

Perhaps it is all part of Boris' big plan to increase herd immunity by stealth.

The cynical part of me would say that the mixed messages were in fact completely on point and the lack of enforcement of the lockdown leading to it slowly unravelling is pretty much exactly how you would introduce herd immunity with a degree of plausible deniability.

I doubt it's Boris's plan though, that's stretching credibility too far. Boris doesn't do planning, family or otherwise.

[hans solo]

compared to spain and itay weve never been in lockdown
half arsed government policies for uk
essential workers what a laugh window cleaning gangs gardeners etc
this wont be over ever until global vacination takes place
be prepared for uk death rate of at least 60,000
and a second wave to come

[Grumpyoldmailman]

compared to spain and itay weve never been in lockdown
half arsed government policies for uk
essential workers what a laugh window cleaning gangs gardeners etc
this wont be over ever until global vacination takes place
be prepared for uk death rate of at least 60,000
and a second wave to come

I agree, I thought we would have road blocks and stuff but then I remembered the Tory’s cut the police to the bone so that was never going to happen. People have lasted longer than I though they would so have to give them some credit for that I guess. Laughable that they now want to quarantine people arriving in the country for 14 days, ffs it was obvious they should have been doing this at the end of January.

[midegarelu]

Perhaps it is all part of Boris' big plan to increase herd immunity by stealth.

The cynical part of me would say that the mixed messages were in fact completely on point and the lack of enforcement of the lockdown leading to it slowly unravelling is pretty much exactly how you would introduce herd immunity with a degree of plausible deniability.

I doubt it's Boris's plan though, that's stretching credibility too far. Boris doesn't do planning, family or otherwise.

Most of the mixed messages are coming from the Press and the don't believers on social media.

On Wednesday it was announced that Boris would brief the nation on the next steps on Sunday.
Next day headlines basically read panic over go back to normal.

Every day at the briefing we are treated to signs saying

STAY HOME - PROTECT THE NHS - SAVE LIVES

Every day during the briefing the following phrase is used by all who have been on the rostrum.

STAY HOME - PROTECT THE NHS - SAVE LIVES



Whereabouts is the mixed message in that?

The trouble is that these days common sense is something that our grandparents had, and is nothing to do with us anymore.

[SpacePhoenix]

compared to spain and itay weve never been in lockdown
half arsed government policies for uk
essential workers what a laugh window cleaning gangs gardeners etc
this wont be over ever until global vacination takes place
be prepared for uk death rate of at least 60,000
and a second wave to come

At the moment they've no idea if:

* If catching it gives someone immunity
* How long any immunity lasts for
* If someone is immune to 1 strain, does that immunity cover all strains

As it stands there's no guarantee that there will ever be a cure/vaccine, it might be a virus that we'll forever have to live with, like the norovirus or flu

Social distancing will have to be axed as once all the shops reopen and all business reopen, it won't be workable. For public transport they'll probably need at least quadruple the number of trains, buses and trams on any route if they want to maintain social distancing

[Woody Guthrie]

Most of the mixed messages are coming from the Press

The press are being briefed by the busiest minister in government who goes by the name of "an unnamed source".

It's a tried and tested means of sending messages to the public with a degree of separation. That's where the mixed messages are coming from.

That's why the government never calls the press out, because they know the source of this dubious information was originally themselves. It's not a trait particular to the Tories either, it's been going on for many years under all governments.

[paul1231]

Slipped in a day today what i usually slip in a week as theres just people everywhere and cars all over the place, Its busier then normal! It just annoying that when in a supposed lockdown the government were too soft to enforce its been the nicest weather we could of had for the time of year and id much of preferred it if it had been colder and kept people inside but its the same as all things in life theres always a minority who spoil it for the majority of people

[Woody Guthrie]

Social distancing will have to be axed as once all the shops reopen and all business reopen, it won't be workable. For public transport they'll probably need at least quadruple the number of trains, buses and trams on any route if they want to maintain social distancing

All of that is based on the new normal being the old normal.
It won't, certainly not in the short to medium term.

The 9 to 5 is finished.
Many office staff won't even return to the office.
Staggered start times for the rest. The government has just announced £250 million for cycle lanes. All of this will take the pressure off the public transport network during peak times. To be honest outside of those hours you could easily stay 2 metres away on a bus or train.

Small physical shops are pretty much finished if they rely on a high footfall but to be honest that's a trend that's been going for a long time, the high street will thin out with residential properties replacing shops, many pubs and restaurants will close and those that stay open will have to adapt their opening hours as well as their physical space.

More and more businesses will remove any physical presence if they don't really need one, most that can will move entirely online.

Most of these changes would have happened naturally, the virus has simply accelerated the process.

[wacko74]

I bet a lot of these people who are now flocking to the parks and queuing around the block for a Costa are still on furlough and claiming they're "too scared" to return to work.

[SpacePhoenix]

Social distancing will have to be axed as once all the shops reopen and all business reopen, it won't be workable. For public transport they'll probably need at least quadruple the number of trains, buses and trams on any route if they want to maintain social distancing

All of that is based on the new normal being the old normal.
It won't, certainly not in the short to medium term.

The 9 to 5 is finished.
Many office staff won't even return to the office.
Staggered start times for the rest. The government has just announced £250 million for cycle lanes. All of this will take the pressure off the public transport network during peak times. To be honest outside of those hours you could easily stay 2 metres away on a bus or train.

Small physical shops are pretty much finished if they rely on a high footfall but to be honest that's a trend that's been going for a long time, the high street will thin out with residential properties replacing shops, many pubs and restaurants will close and those that stay open will have to adapt their opening hours as well as their physical space.

More and more businesses will remove any physical presence if they don't really need one, most that can will move entirely online.

Most of these changes would have happened naturally, the virus has simply accelerated the process.

A few of the bus routes around here are busy right from the start of the morning rush hour through to early evening and good luck trying to find space for cycle routes around here, the only possible places will be cycle lanes on roads (which might not even be usuable as the cyclists will have to keep 2m from any pedestrians).

Once the furlough scheme ends, chances are that the unemployment rate is going to skyrocket