So lockdown worked!

Daisymae, yep, that's the plan.
Why didn't Mr J acknowledge how much families/friends want to get together at this time of year but ask us to continue to follow tier 3/or lockdown guidance is a mystery to me. There could have been some sensible recognition that rules would be bent a bit. The police are usually well skilled in managing those situations and I doubt they'd be wanting to fine people who had a sightly larger group than the rule of six for example.
Its dispiriting to be led by a crazy general who uses the language of ancient battles in an attempt to keep us all quiet.

Worry not someone will be along soon to tell us only those with underlying conditions die so that’s ok. Or that they won’t be having the vaccine as they know better than the scientists ....

Whoa whoa, yes shops will be open but pubs and restaurants won't be, so there will be no mingling there. Hotels are closed so there will be little traveling for pleasure. Peoples homes are off limits. Theatres and sports still minimal. etc. It's a gradual easing, not a free for all. Mr J does have a plan.

Lucca, spot on comment about those with underlying health conditions. We should know better and remain locked away from our loved ones. In truth, everyone I know in that category, including over 70's who don't have underlying conditions - we're all staying home.

Yes Mr J has a plan, a cunning plan that couldn't possibly fail Blackadder.

What Lucca said 👏

Yes, Daisymae, that's the plan. It's like watching a train crash in slow motion. No, Lillie, he doesn't have a plan (or a clue either).

I'm not sure how much lockdown has worked, though.

My only explanation for the decrease in infection rates is that so many of the population have already had the virus.

They will have a few months natural immunity, at least, so the rate of infection would decrease anyway.

The government won't introduce rules that will be ignored. There is no way to effectively enforce them anyway.

Ignore the advice and just stay away from people (including family) as much as possible. That's the only sensible 'plan'.

Mr J having a plan - that's satire, right?

Lockdown does appear to have worked Hetty, you just have to look at the daily figures for that. Nothing like enough of us have had the virus yet to cause the numbers to come down as rapidly as they have.

Advising anybody to "ignore the advice" when talking about coronavirus is rather silly. It gives people excuses.

Bur what about the areas where the infection rate hasn't fallen?? Here in the North West we suffered when Mr J ended the first lockdown everywhere because London rates were down but they weren't the same in the North West as we were a couple of weeks or so behind London and we hadn't got control of the virus as they had in other places but he ended our lockdown as well, so we were at a disadvantage straightaway and playing catch-up. I dread what may happen in the New Year with the 5 day break at Christmas - I hope we don't have to pay for it but somehow I can't see that happening and I'm worried about it all.

Mr J having a plan - that's satire, right?

Alegrias2 that comment made me laugh out loud!

Alegrias2, sorry, I should have said:

'Ignore the advice regarding the five day Christmas free for all of visiting/hosting family'

It completely contradicts the efforts made so far, doesn't it? Being cooped up indoors with others is just asking for trouble!

Hetty 👍

We're in agreement there!

The thing with lockdown is it only works while we all remain in lockdown; the minute any kind of normality reduces up shoot the rates again. The only way lockdown would truly work is for it to be indefinite and I am talking absolute minimum of a year if not many more

Hasn’t worked at all around where I live - Braintree in Essex. Rates have gone up massively in the last week - doubling from the previous new high.

What about the riots in London which resulted in 150 people getting arrested? They were demanding freedom to catch covid. And probably a lot of them will after all that close contact and not a mask between them.

Where is all the money to come from to pay for a total year long lockdown? The numbers have definitely come down - this time last month our infection rate in Trafford was 430 per 100,000. Now it's down to 156 and falling every day.
Once this is all over and we have to start getting our economy back on it's feet, there will be people moaning about the measures the government have to take to achieve this. Are the Australians right? Are we just a nation of "moaning poms"?

Did someone say rule of 6? We haven't had that here for a long time. At least we didn't suffer the indignity of moving from tier 1 to tier 3, and only jumped up one.

Well, I think it’s rather thoughtful of the PM to give families the opportunity to have a big get together over Christmas with the chance to be able to see each other to say a proper goodbye before some of the family members are buried in January and February ....

Even the ‘plan’ that Johnson does have is being opposed by many Conservative MP’s. So, at a time when he has a massive majority in parliament he’s having to rely on Labour to support him. It amuses me to imagine the grovelling phone calls he’s making with Keir Starmer at the moment. Discussing the current situation with my son and daughter we reached the conclusion that people that are still working, have children in school or nursery and go to supermarkets seem to exist in a different COVID world to those of us that have been shielding for months.

Boris can’t win. If he had said families can’t mix over Christmas there would have been an outcry over that. Now he has said they can people are still not happy. It’s a new situation that no one has ever dealt with before so basically the powers that be are just trying to do their best whether they are right or wrong. COVID numbers in Norfolk have fallen over lockdown

Daisymae

Widely reported that infection rates have dramatically fallen in many areas. This is good news. Now we are getting set to make sure that we have a second wave in January by dashing to the shops in the next few weeks then locking ourselves in with those we love the most for a few days. This is the plan right???

Too right.

Especially locking ourselves in with up to two other households for up to five days. Some of these households could be from high risk areas!

We are remaining by ourselves and planning a get-together with our families when it is far safer.

Jan16

Boris can’t win. If he had said families can’t mix over Christmas there would have been an outcry over that. Now he has said they can people are still not happy. It’s a new situation that no one has ever dealt with before so basically the powers that be are just trying to do their best whether they are right or wrong. COVID numbers in Norfolk have fallen over lockdown

Wrong. I would have said “thank goodness a sensible decision at last.” I’ve said before it’s nothing to do with politics, I am sort of centre ish and loathed thatcher but I reckon she’d have done a better job of managing the pandemic.

Daisy are, I’m convinced it’s our culture of extremes that is the problem. It’s not so much lockdown that alters thing but our all or nothing lifestyle. Too much drinking, socialising, shopping, eating, travelling, overcrowding, consuming...not just covid related but in ordinary times as well. If we could get to a moderate way of life, I don’t believe we would need to keep swinging from one extreme to another in our covid restrictions.

Sorry Daisymae...predictive text!

The Government are 'damned if they do and damned if they don't'. As a nation we aren't being forced to follow the Christmas 5-day plan. I have chosen to spend Christmas without family simply because I don't want them, or us, to get or spread the virus any further. Simple as that! The virus thrives via human contact - that's not difficult to understand, surely?!