National Lockdown to be announced next week?

Sorry I put a National lockdown but I meant for U.K not Wales Scotland and N. Ireland.

I think it's too late into the pandemic to be excusing our government on the grounds of 'it's a new virus, no-one knows how to deal with it'. It's been known about for nearly a year now and thousands of scientists in all sorts of fields have been hard at work on it, producing papers, models, articles etc. We have excellent examples of countries that have contained the virus and kept deaths at a minimum but we don't seem to want to take any notice of them, I suspect because of some unspoken racism as they just happen to be mostly Asian.

So I really don't think the 'ignorance' argument will wash any more.

I think we should be incandescent about the £10 -£12 spent on a useless Test, Track, Trace and Isolate system imposed for ideological (and heave some money at our mates) reasons when we know that local authorities had efficient and effective structures already in place, (some of which have been implemented and have a far higher success rate) which a fraction of the wasted £billions could have expanded to cope with the workload. The salient feature of all the 'successful' countries has been their highly efficient test and trace systems.

I'll remind you opposition knockers that the leader of the opposition has been banging on about our dreadful TTI record for weeks and weeks and asked for a circuit breaker lockdown over half term three weeks ago

Sitting back saying that they couldn't help it poor dears and we should accept our fate is, IMO, utterly pathetic...

Alegrias2 sorry if I upset you. I didn’t mean any particular part of the country.
I have relatives in each part of the UK, except for NI-but do have some in Ireland. They all feed into family Whatsapp discussions of what they see going on in their part of the world and it doesn’t always match what we are told by the media.
The ‘I know how to do it better’ group are those who decide that, regardless of current guidance by ANY government, they are the ones who know how to go out safely, to meet up indoors or outdoors, to choose whether or not to wear masks, to obey or not to obey the guidelines etc.

Why dont they just get on with it, something they should have done ages ago, feels like "bolting the stable door."I can imagine the poor retailers from now until Wednesday, I wonder if loo rolls will go first again this time.

Obviously I'm pathetic then. Alternatively, like the government, I don't have a crystal ball. ?

Glad to say our government ( Sweden) are at last seeing some sense, we have never had a lock down, and now the restrictions are being made more noticeable, only guidelines, so nobody will adhere to them,we should have had a real lockdown ages ago,and laws made for people to respect them.

Jane10

Obviously I'm pathetic then. Alternatively, like the government, I don't have a crystal ball. ?

You're not listening, Jane10. This virus has been studied, in detail and intensively for at least ten months. It's progress has been entirely predictable from what is known about it specifically and the behaviour of viruses in general. That is the entire point of all the studying, so that people can predict what might happen.

'Crystal ball' is hogwash...Believe that no-one can predict the future and you'll live your entire life in a complete fog...

Princess pickles moving from Wales to England

We are supposed to be moving from England to Wales! Bought our bungalow last May and have been moving things ever since. Goodness knows when we can go permanently and get this house sold.

Good luck Princess

Thank you Mollygo I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions

We have had a circuit breaker here in N.Ireland, but it's not really made much difference. Kids got 2 weeks off half term, but they are running the streets and in shops together so might as well be in school. Bars, restaurants, etc, closed, so everyone seems to be shopping as there are long queues to get in them. To me full lockdown or don't bother.

Jane10

Obviously I'm pathetic then. Alternatively, like the government, I don't have a crystal ball. ?

Forward planning for different eventualities is what people like actuaries, statisticians , scientists all do as their job.
It is absolutely true that while the way this virus has developed and spread may be different from previous epidemics, plotting the progress and making contingency plans is what government is about. You don’t wait for disaster to happen and just “react”
No excuses - apart from the experience of other countries, of the real thing as well as dry runs in the past - ignorance is not an option.

The panic has already started. My daughter has been stuck in a traffic queue to get to Morrison’s which (even though it’s Saturday) is not the usual. She had to queue again to get into the shop. She only wanted milk, bread and a few bits. Normal time for this about 20 mins, today just over one hour. It hasn’t even been confirmed by the government yet and already folk are going crazy. Next thing will be no available slots on the supermarkets grocery delivery, and no toilet rolls again. Good grief, I wish people would calm down and carry on.

Announcements made on Friday to give the general populous time vent their spleen and calm down over the weekend.

The Government are holding a cabinet meeting now and there will be an announcement at 4pm today!!!

Foxyferret

The panic has already started. My daughter has been stuck in a traffic queue to get to Morrison’s which (even though it’s Saturday) is not the usual. She had to queue again to get into the shop. She only wanted milk, bread and a few bits. Normal time for this about 20 mins, today just over one hour. It hasn’t even been confirmed by the government yet and already folk are going crazy. Next thing will be no available slots on the supermarkets grocery delivery, and no toilet rolls again. Good grief, I wish people would calm down and carry on.

Just come back from our Sainsburys local
it was empty as was the butchers and the car park.

We could go to the supermarket during the first lockdown, so what's the issue!
I can't see shielding (which was only ever advice) being reintroduced.
Biggest fear for many will be the forced closure of businesses deemed non essential, as furlough now finishes.
If educational establishments are to remain open, then informal childcare arrangements will have to remain exempted, surely.

I am far less frightened than I was during last lockdown. Maybe it is because we got through that, maybe it is because I now know how many lies have and are still being told, and how much money is being made out of this crisis by the government members and their cronies. Maybe it is just because I am so tired of all the scare stories, whIether real or not.
Whatever, I just find myself feeling resigned, but not frightened. Do think there will be a much lower compliance this time than there was back then. For many reasons.
So, I will just carry on as I am for another month - must admit, for me, the weather does not encourage me to go out in any case. Really expect a lightening up for Christmas week.

How wonderful it must be to know everything MawB and MaizieD! What a pity it is that you aren't running the country as its clearly so blatantly obvious what is required. Would you consider offering your considerable knowledge and experience to other countries as they're mysteriously in the same predicament as us?

Honestly, panic buying is just ridiculous isn’t it?
What surprises me though is our government’s constant preference for “too little too late”

The draconian measures in March right across Europe were catastrophic for both my London daughters’ careers , but I would still rather have my family alive and now that it is not just us Grans who are at risk, we cannot just say we personally will hunker down and isolate.
The latest regional lockdowns seem to have resulted in a lose-lose situation.
I wish I had an answer, but if I did, perhaps Johnson, Van Tam,Hancock, Whitty etc would be seeking my wisdom!

Jane10

How wonderful it must be to know everything MawB and MaizieD! What a pity it is that you aren't running the country as its clearly so blatantly obvious what is required. Would you consider offering your considerable knowledge and experience to other countries as they're mysteriously in the same predicament as us?

Unnecessary sarcasm Jane10.

This time the Test and Trace system MUST be up and running efficiently by the time lockdown ends.

If it doesn’t then imo the government should resign in its entirety.

What an unholy mess !

jane10 oh dear

Jane10

How wonderful it must be to know everything MawB and MaizieD! What a pity it is that you aren't running the country as its clearly so blatantly obvious what is required. Would you consider offering your considerable knowledge and experience to other countries as they're mysteriously in the same predicament as us?

Um, they have had 10 months and the first wave to work stuff out.

Hardly 'Put on the spit'.

Don’t bank on T & T Whitewavemark2 France have abandoned their system and Germany have admitted to tracing less than 40% of contacts with their system.

They both have the same faults human error