only if your nanny allows you too.
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During the Second World War there was a thriving black market for food and other restricted goods, that serviced members of âthe greatest generationâ who did not want to play by the rules that everyone had been asked to play by to help the country get through a crisis.
The Government at the time did not make things worse by fucking up the messaging, encouraging people to use the black market, or getting caught using the black market themselves.
Of course you have selfish people. You always do. Thatâs life, sadly. I know people round my neck of the woods (mostly older people, actually) who didnât miss a fucking step during the pandemic. It might as well have been not happening as far as they were concerned. And itâs for this reason why in times of crisis Governments have to absolutely clear in their messages and how they communicate.
A year into the pandemic, people were strung out, fed up and desperate. When the Government starts saying âHey everyone. Go out and have a nice meal. Weâll even pick up half the billâ of course people are going to think itâs OK. Itâs nothing to do with them being selfish. Iâd have absolutely fucking loved to have gone out for a nice meal at that point. Iâm not going to blame people for not being as cynical and untrusting of the Governmentâs motives and competence as me. They are following the Governmentâs lead, and the Government was telling them, despite experts advising it was a bad idea, that it was fine.
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MG - apologies but come to think of it you may as well add MJâŚ
Mick Jagger
Too old for the UK. He can run for president in the US instead.
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Looks like the last act of a desperate man.
Fortunately, we bought into âbroad churchâ Labour and we have an efficient opposition.
Har har har.
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Sort of. Vast majority did what they were told. People were told they could go out for a meal, so they did. Remember the timing of this as well. It was well into the pandemic.
Cheltenham happened because people in charge said it was ok, not because people rebelled against the advice or rules.
A small minority pushed the limits, or blatantly took the piss.
There is a difference
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Or.
Thousands, from all over the country attended Anfield and Cheltenham, despite the risks, then took the virus back home, country wide.
TBH, those 2 events alone were probably enough to make a gigantic snowball.
Neither of those events were under any regulations (in spite of Kloppâs serious misgivings over the football).
I get your point that individuals chose to go to those events but they werenât prevented from taking place by the government or anyone else. The responsibility for public health measures stops with the government - they are the ones that can determine what should or should not be permitted.
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Agreed.
Just illustrating that despite concerns for the healthof themselves and others, people went to those events and spead Covid nation wide.
Unfortunately too many people are like lemmings.
Unless told to, or led in a certain direction, theyâll just follow the crowd, putting their own selfish desires before anything.
I wouldnât have gone to either event, nor would the majority of responsible people.
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There were clear failures on the part of the government and the public during covid. It is fair enough to highlight that there will always be people who do what they want anyway.
The particularly galling thing is that plenty of them were in government positions. Thatâs what is so infuriating. Elected officials should be held to a different standard. They are serving the country. They have access to the best information. They have the power to make consequential decisions.
Missteps in an unprecedented pandemic can be forgiven, in the sense that it was real time and people were adjusting. But the actions of the UK government went way beyond that. Three things from afar, without going into details:
- Communication was bad. Do this. Oh no, donât do it. Oops.
- Opportunism was rife, with contracts for friends to make lots of money.
- Hypocrisy was blatant, while the people were in lockdown, lots of government people enjoyed drinks, parties, travel, and so on. It was appalling, and completely undermined any sense that we are all in this together.
Yes, members of the public will always do things they shouldnât. Itâs a fact of life.
But we should rightly expect the government to lead much better than it did during the pandemic. All those memories will surely be in mind when the public has a chance to give their opinion at the next GE.
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Was there guidance from the government for those events? No. Why not?
When the UK needed leadership we had Boris Johnson. Someone who is wholly unsuited to any kind of management role, let alone an MP or PM.
I agree with you that people in general are lemmings but letâs also remember our discussion here started because of âEat out to help outâ. It was government policy to deliberately allow people to go to restaurants in the height of a pandemic with an airborne virus.
When you say it like that you realise how utterly stupid the policy was. It was at best an act of gross negligence. If anyone of us negligently put people at risk in our work place and that resulted in deaths weâd be facing a manslaughter charge.
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Let the infighting begin! Hopefully, this will render the Tories completely unelectable for a generation, if not longer.
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But just think about the corollary of what you are saying.
If we should ignore the Government telling us something is fine, and make our own assessment of the risks, should we also ignore the Government when they are telling us something is a danger, and make our own assessment of the risks?
Everyone thinks the clever thing to say is âI do my own researchâ but of course we donât, not on everything. We canât. There isnât enough hours in the day.
Weâre all reliant in some way on there being a bond of trust between people and Government. We all need Government to be competent and acting in good faith, especially around public health.
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We forget these thing so easily, such is the onslaught of fuck up-ery, but a big reason why Britain was slow off the mark was that Boris Johnson did not turn up to six Cobra meetings. Because he was otherwise engaged trying to patch up his relationship after yet another tawdry incident of Johnson being rather too cavalier with his tummy banana.
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Indeed but on top of that it is also clear is that he just us completely unable to manage anything. By definition the PM is leader and would have some level of management skills. Johnson couldnât manage his way out of a paper bag (or fridge).
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We should do the thing which is safest, best for our own health, and the health of those we will be in contact with.
No-one should need to be told that.
If in any doubt, choose the safest option.
if you only knew the half of it. I had a very interesting, first-hand conversation on the weekend which would 
She is unhinged
I just wonder if this is likely a correct sentiment or possibility. People have short memories and a term is a long time for outlook and outcomes to change and sustain any momentum. Is there any hope that the economy will start to boom in 2024/25??? If not I fear a swing back to Boris and coâŚ
Call me cynical (wait, have overstepped?) but Iâm not sure the other side is offering a clear vision beyond we canât be as bad as them⌠which is likely correct but still.