Seems we are not unlocking.

I think someone taking the last roast potato is the worst thing I have ever heard! How very dare they

Doodledog I agree with your post .

However I would just take us sue with this sentence “ I do know how horrible it has been to be separated from others, and whether it's by a few miles or several hundred doesn't really matter.”. Yes it does matter. When restrictions are lifted here family can be be visited pretty easily. If they’re in NZ or Oz…..you’re talking very expensive long travel. And only one visit per year at the most. So no, dustance DOES and always will make a difference.

The reason for the delay does not make sense. They had 2 large scale music events in Liverpool to assess whether cases would go up as a consequence. The media reported that they did not, and Liverpool does not feature as an area of high cases. So why the delay?

Well said Lucca...for people with children and grandchildren abroad...we aren't talking four weeks or weeks at all...Australia probably won't be possible until next year...

I agree Lucca it makes a lot of difference my family all live in the same town and apart from the first few weeks of initial lockdown I have seen them regularly since

We are all now paying for almost a million tests a day! You can see where this leads and it is not the sane house.

Our 2 daughters (one a teacher, one front line NHS) have to do mandatory tests twice a week to be able to go to work. Even without symptoms! This multiplied over the country is sheer madness. What on earth is all this costing the taxpayer?

I've just seen some photos from the Cornwall smugfest. I had no idea that it got so intimate, with all of them crammed close to each other with no masks on. Official photos demonstrate social distancing - but other than that? No.

How any person can take the restrictions seriously after this is beyond me.

A million tests a day are cheaper than hospitals full of people who caught it from someone who didn't know they had it.

farview

Well said Lucca...for people with children and grandchildren abroad...we aren't talking four weeks or weeks at all...Australia probably won't be possible until next year...

Yet again we have someone taking sneaking round the truth in order to prove a point. We wont be able to see those in Australia until Australia says so. Nothing to do with our governments choices in this.

We have to test twice a week (at least) as one of us is at school, one of us is going into work and one of us is a named caregiver. I would rather we all test in all honesty to make sure. I think the reliability of the tests appears to be a problem but those who have tested positive on these LFTs (that I know of) have gone on to develop covid a day or two later

Urmstrongran it amazes me how people stick to the rules that make absolutely no sense. Everyone seems to forget that we were told masks serve no purpose and now you see people on their own in cars wearing them!

In the last seven days less than 100 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid test.

In the last seven days thousands have died of cancer, stroke, heart failure etc…

We will never reach zero Covid, today nor in four weeks time.

The vulnerable have all been vaccinated.

These lockdowns will carry on in perpetuity at this rate.

Businesses are on their last legs, people’s livelihoods are in real danger of collapsing. Those who want to stay in their own lockdown and are fortunate enough to be able to do so, let them.

Well I hope our PM does 2weeks isolation when he returns to Australia in the same way everyone else has to. We are not allowed even one visitor in the home here though they claim the lockdown is over. You can meet in a park ,up to 10 together, or in a restaurant but not in your own homes. Masks have to be worn outside at all times but as soon as you get into a restaurant you can take it off. Go figure. We have also just had 5 days without electricity and not a dickybird from anyone on when it was coming back. It came back yesterday afternoon so thank heaven for small mercies.

rosie1959

I agree Lucca it makes a lot of difference my family all live in the same town and apart from the first few weeks of initial lockdown I have seen them regularly since

My point was that if you can't see your children (in my case because of shielding) it doesn't matter if they are next door - you are still not seeing them.

I am not at all suggesting that my circumstances should drive the government policy (and FWIW I also have close family in Australia); but but neither do I think that policy should be driven by the fact that some people have families who have moved abroad.

Those who want to stay in their own lockdown and are fortunate enough to be able to do so, let them.

Quite! I have no objection to anyone continuing to stay in lockdown if they feel safer that way, but they should not criticise others who are engaging in perfectly legal activities.

I have no objection to anyone continuing to stay in lockdown if they feel safer that way, but they should not criticise others who are engaging in perfectly legal activities.

I don't think that anyone is suggesting staying in lockdown. There is a huge difference between lockdown and staying as we are, which is far from locked down, but not able to travel abroad.

Who is criticising legal activities? If that was a dig at me, the only people I am criticising are those who are arguing for removing all restrictions to suit their own circumstances (whether those circumstances are that they and their loved ones are now fully vaccinated, or because they want to travel abroad to see family) and are ignoring the fact that many younger people have given up a lot in order to keep older ones safe.

Government policy is absolutely not being driven by the fact that some people have families who have moved abroad. Why on Earth would anyone make such a ridiculous comment? Many people in Britain have family living in countries on our red list. Those people cannot visit their families nor their families visit them here without extreme inconvenience, quite rightly. Even people with family in amber listed countries cannot visit freely without huge inconvenience. Only eleven countries in the world are on our green list, so how exactly is this forming a policy that in some way is driven by families who live abroad?

Doodlebug obviously I was talking in general most people are not shielding

I don’t know about anybody else, but I stopped expecting a June 21st unlocking some weeks ago, when it became fairly obvious that the Delta variant was going to be a major fly in the ointment.

Government policy is absolutely not being driven by the fact that some people have families who have moved abroad. Why on Earth would anyone make such a ridiculous comment?

I made that comment, just a couple of posts ago. As you know, so why not address me directly? And I made it not because I think that government policy is driven by people who have families who have emigrated, but because on this thread there are people like you who keep pointing out that their own family have done so, and use that as a reason why they want to restrictions to be lifted.

My opinion, which doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but as this is a discussion thread I am offering it, 'ridiculous' or not, is that the lives and quality of life of those who might get Covid if restrictions are lifted too soon are far ore important than seeing families.

I would also suggest that not seeing one's children is the same, whether you are not seeing them from a distance of a few miles or not seeing them from further away. You may disagree, but I would not call your opinion 'ridiculous', as that would be very rude.

I spoke to a lady in Malaga yesterday. She has lived there these last 20y. Her daughter & her partner arrived on Saturday from the UK. They are both front line medical staff. It cost them £400 to buy the tests needed to comply and have factored in isolation time upon return before going back to work in the hospital. Very expensive extra cost for 2 people. Most young families couldn’t factor in that kind of cost this summer. Looks like staycation year for 2021.

Biscuitmuncher

Urmstrongran it amazes me how people stick to the rules that make absolutely no sense. Everyone seems to forget that we were told masks serve no purpose and now you see people on their own in cars wearing them!

Yes. The WHO said that last year and then admitted they were wrong. If they had got more things right at the start of last year we wouldn’t have a pandemic now. We’re learning about the virus and it’s variants all the time but unfortunately some people only choose to believe what suits their own particular agenda. So people that don’t like wearing masks prefer to stick with the out of date advice about masks that probably resulted in many deaths.

nanna8

Well I hope our PM does 2weeks isolation when he returns to Australia in the same way everyone else has to. We are not allowed even one visitor in the home here though they claim the lockdown is over. You can meet in a park ,up to 10 together, or in a restaurant but not in your own homes. Masks have to be worn outside at all times but as soon as you get into a restaurant you can take it off. Go figure. We have also just had 5 days without electricity and not a dickybird from anyone on when it was coming back. It came back yesterday afternoon so thank heaven for small mercies.

Just remind me of how many people in Australia have died from covid please?

Doodledog I cannot speak for others but I absolutely have not used my family being abroad as a reason to lift restrictions, so it would benefit your argument more if you stuck to the truth. My family have moved to New Zealand (for two years initially, possibly they will stay, but they may then return.) It wouldn’t matter what the situation was here in the UK, because New Zealand is closed to tourists, which includes those of us with family there. They were able to go there as medics ie essential workers, but they still had to spend two weeks in a quarantine hotel when they arrived. Since we cannot visit our family, your argument, or point of view, that I’m using their being abroad in order to loosen restrictions is absolutely and entirely redundant.

It was a brand new virus. Nobody knew anything about it. The initial thought was that masks wouldn't help. Then they found out they probably do. Its still "probably", but I'm wearing mine just in case. If it turns out they don't, ah well, there's a pity.

As for wearing masks in your own car, if I'm driving from one place to the other and need to wear the mask in both places, I don't bother taking it off in between. Sneering not necessary, thanks.

In a 7 day period last September (8th to 14th) 83 people died with 28 days of a positive test. Quoting weekly death figures is irrelevant, unless we are taking into account the ratio between deaths and cases, which is what they are doing. So far, no complete evidence that the link is broken, so we wait.