What s wromg with the UK?

Dinahmo We had been slowly stocking up for several weeks so tomorrow will be the first trip out for eight days.
I walk in the village with a French friend some afternoons and we decided it was against the rules to go together, so went separately! Did you see the lunchtime news today with the gendarmes cracking down on the people going to the beach to walk? I think you now have to stay within 15 minutes of home. The Parisians are definitely unpopular for going to their second homes for lockdown.

Oopsminty. The people out in the parks of Paris happened over last weekend.

Yes, Mamie

But we're behind France and other countries

Whether that was wise is certainly questionable but we are late to the table as such and even now we're not in a serious lockdown compared to other EU countries

Not fair to suggest that Europeans are behaving better or worse

suziewoozie I take your point and you are right. I think Windrush as been discussed before. It's just that I was enraged by the news and let it all (or nearly all) hang out.

Mamie My OH went shopping this morning. I gave him a list of suggestions and he came back with everything! It wasn't a long list and not huge quantities. It seems fairer to just shop for 2 or 3 days, rather than buy masses of stuff.

Din but I honestly don’t think we can have a coherent discussion about Windrush on a general thread which inevitably will skew towards CV. I’m not being critical - just would like WR to be a proper discussion

There are still some shortages because a lot of people went panic buying on Tuesday morning. Tomorrow DH will go to pick up an online shop. He has to go alone, with his self-certificate for shopping. If he goes to any other shops, people queue a metre apart. All shops are closed except food and pharmacy. All bars and restaurants are shut.

Oopsminty. The people out in the parks of Paris happened over last weekend. Lockdown started here on Tuesday. The police are now everywhere. I have to say that people were taking it seriously round here before that, but Paris is where the journalists seem to go for their stories.
Believe me it is very serious now.

www.rfi.fr/en/france/20200317-panic-buying-grips-paris-as-coronavirus-lockdown-kicks-in

No, WW2

Panic buying all over the world

My friend is in Alaska and has the exact same problems that we're seeing here

Dinahmo I posted a thread similar to yours on Feb 16!

It disappeared almost immediately. Nobody interested.

The shops still have plenty of food for the health workers though, unlike here

If France, Spain and others can accept closures and strict restrictions on movement then why can't the UK?

But they couldn't, Mamie! This is 'fake news'!

We mustn't be selective and criticise our behaviour when European countries were doing exactly the same.

The fact that social isolation wasn't being adhered to is why this major lockdown has been implemented

Plenty of articles about this

Here's just one for you

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/19/the-end-of-joie-de-vivre-france-gets-serious-on-coronavirus

I am genuinely interested to know why the UK is acting differently.

We're not acting differently

Mamie So am I (also on the other side).

Suziewoozie I included Windrush because it's one of the many things that's wrong with the UK. Thjis thread isn't meant to be just about cv.

The nephew of one of my friends works in a large Tesco, doing the shopping for the home delivery orders. On one list he had a request for 90 packs of hand wipes (it was for an individual rather than a care home)

Have to say from the other side of the channel it looks terrible. If France, Spain and others can accept closures and strict restrictions on movement then why can't the UK? People don't like it here but most seem to accept that it is for the greater good. I am genuinely interested to know why the UK is acting differently.

What is wrong with the U.K.?

That nurse who had just finished 48 exhausting hours in the HDU and can’t find enough food to feed herself because of all the selfish b..........s

That tells you all you need to know

I don’t want to talk about Windrush on this thread - it’s treating it like the people themselves were treated - it seems disrespectful and sidelining them. It should have its own thread. I know why you included it OP but it’s too big an issue to be intertwined with CV.

The fact that many pensioners live in poverty is an ongoing and shameful situation.
At least all pensioners know that they have a regular income (albeit inadequate).
I feel for young families who at the moment have no income while their children may or may not get their free meals and food banks are desperately short of supplies.
Or families relying on the income from a small independent business.
Arrangements are needed immediately for a basic income for all who need it.

Dinahamo, I agree with everything you have written. For the first time in my very long life I am actually ashamed of our Nation. The greed of some people appalls me.

Just checked and my assumption doesn't seem to have been far out. Whole page of references from yesterday and the day before.

Sounds like PP's apology was spot on as to timing.

Baggs She's a bit late. We've been hearing for a long time about the Windrush problems.

I had assumed she was apologising soon after the publication of the report that set out what was wrong in Home Office, why Windrush happened, and how to fix it.

The nephew of one of my friends works in a large Tesco, doing the shopping for the home delivery orders. On one list he had a request for 90 packs of hand wipes (it was for an individual rather than a care home)

Baggs She's a bit late. We've been hearing for a long time about the Windrush problems.

Wiltshiregran Would you be able to find a local support group on Facebook? I know we have one in my area and people are trying to identify those in need and organise a team of volunteers. There might be one in your area.

I had naively hoped that maybe "all being in it together" would have resulted in people being kinder and more respectful to each other. However, having seen how the supermarkets have been stripped bare, the nasty comments about certain groups on social media and the fact that some people won't do as they're asked, as a matter of principle to defy the "nanny state", I'm really not very optimistic.

We'll be lucky if the epidemic itself has died down by this time next year, but the repercussions of deaths, bankruptcies, massive unemployment etc are going to change life in ways we can't yet imagine.