Is this good news?

So, which of my Daughters and her family shall I leave out ? Will they choose to see us or their In-laws ? Do we include DH’s mother or choose a very dear friend ? If I choose someone who lives 500 miles away , shall I drive to se him/her.
Totally unworkable.

I did not say that NS proposes such an exercise. I did say that she is 'making the same noises', which, if our government mouthpieces are anything to go by, means that interference (such as that snowing effect on old TVs) will make a nonsense of any meaningful dialogue.

I worked it out with my small family: me, two adult children, two partners with two parents and one sibling each, two step-children plus their mother and partner and their parents and I think I reached about eighteen, before I gave up, all living locally. I know there are great-grandparents as well, not to mention close friends.
Can't see how it can work.
There is a definite loosening of restrictions; B&Q open, garden refuse being collected next week; my hairdresser making tentative bookings for the future. Hope it isn't all too soon, but I appreciate people being desperate to get back to earning money. Pensioners, over seventies, do have a guaranteed income so it is fairer if we are the ones to continue isolating.

For people who have mentioned New Zealand. I started a thread about this and I have since said that I was mistaken in some of the information. They have been doing the bubble thing already but it is only between two households within 50metres of each other. For those who don’t have close family someone is nominated to help out elderly etc.

Yes, my cousin in New Zealand lives alone and is now allowed to go out with a sibling or a vulnerable person. They are reducing from level 4 to level 3 next week, but that is a completely different country from the UK.
Yes, it is good news that family contact is being taken seriously but I fear people will make up the rules as they go along.
Even better news in my part of the country is that the 200 bed Nightingale hospital on an exhibition site is now not going ahead because it was deemed there just wouldn't be enough enough cases. They are now converting a smaller DIY store instead. A glimmer of hope.

GagaJo. When I closed my door on 20th March our lockdown was for 12 weeks. No health problems. But aged 70+. I’ve seen no change to that for us.

Of course there would be some people who would try to take advantage and bend the rules but they are probably doing that already. I see no reason why those of us who would obey the rules and limit the number of family that we see should suffer continuing isolation for the sake of a few idiots.

Ok Bossyrossy
You choose 5 and your OH chooses 5 named people.
Will you agree?
Will any of those 10 want to include you two in their 10?
Will the wider families of your 10 (in-laws, step-children if any) want to be excluded and choose friends to join their bubble?
It's a minefield, one which cannot possibly be policed.
Better to have a free for all.
Wouldn't you be irked if neighbours had all and sundry round and you were stuck seeing the same 10? Don't tell me you wouldn't care.

We’ve been cycling the same route for the last 5 weeks. Since the last lockdown measures were put in place, the numbers of cars on the road, and people out and about, has steadily increased. It always will no matter what laws are put in place. People can’t be contained forever. No matter what anyone’s view, that is reality.

Surely people working in key jobs (eg nurses) are already in little 'bubbles' of up to 10 people? If each of those nurses goes off and joins a family bubble of 10 people that's 100 people exposed to a potentially fatal illness?
I was never an expert mathematician but that's how I'm seeing it.

Mr Rossy and I would not have a problem choosing the same five, Gabriella, and those five would be in agreement. Anyone left out would be ok with that because they would understand why we had to have a limit. Why should we have to remain in isolation because some people are going to squabble over who to include in their group.

My thoughts are that all these bubbles would become like a giant Venn diagram and that also The Bubble itself might be a threat unleashed on us if we transgress by going outside our own bubble, as per the 1960’s series The Prisoner. ?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_(The_Prisoner)

The thing is this is only a suggestion so people can chose not to do it and stay in isolation if they feel that is better for them.

Anyway as I understand it, this is only one of several ideas being mooted.

We all know this lockdown can’t just drag on and on or the economy will be irreparably damaged, taking years and years to recover.

That’s in nobody’s interest is it?

I’m pleased to see shops like B and Q reopening, and would love to see the same for garden centres and possibly some small shops.

It would be possible to operate the same system as we have with supermarkets with restricted numbers allowed in at a time.

The people I would really like to share a bubble with live at the other end of the country.

We have 4 adults in our house so how on earth could we work that out? We don’t have any local family apart from FIL who would obviously be one of the people for us all but who else to choose. We all work so have very diverse social groups.

If the majority or a goodly proportion of people choose to ignore isolation 'rules', then we who isolate will find that our daily exercise is compromised by those numbers who are ignoring the 2 metre (or whatever) distance advice. It would make it difficult for those who wish to isolate.

I'm happy with lockdown. Let the others catch whatever and see how they fare.

GabriellaG, that's a really unkind thing to say

The whole point of the lockdown is to prevent the NHS from being totally overwhelmed by the crisis and through that save lives.

The point of the lockdown was to postpone inevitable admissions while they reconfigured, which they should have done by now.

Interestingly the new Nightingale hospitals have been largely empty so far.

It must have been so difficult for the government to anticipate just much demand would be placed on existing hospitals, and I guess they preferred to err on the side of caution.

Good news that Boris is back to work on Monday.

Dollymc1
Do I care?
Not a lot
In fact, not a jot.
Do they care about me?
Do they care about rules made with our health, safety and welfare in mind?
Are they the kind to ignore other rules?
I have no time for people who flout guidance and rules and have no care for the safety of others.
How can I take my daily run with the possibility of dozens of others on the same route not keeping to a 2 metre+ distance?
Even now, some GNers are seeing many more walkers on their outings to woods and other places where during lockdown, fewer would be seen.
This ignorant free for all could start another wave of a possibly mutated virus.

Some are in fairly comfortable circumstances for lockdown, others are in intolerable conditions. Mental health torment, and the likelihood of suicides is a real concern. Some are only concerned with how this affects them personally, others are concerned with the wider community. Some are just pontificating on websites, others are sewing for the NHS. People are people, the responsible will still act responsibly, the irresponsible will act irresponsibly. I have revised my opinion of so many in their reaction to this current situation. Empathy with those in different circumstances is a revealer of the ars*holes I used to interact with.

Just to clear up some misinformation, in New Zealand we are still (Sunday, 26 April) at Alert Level 4: social distancing, staying local, no one other than residents in your home, no public gatherings, schools and public venues, such as libraries, closed and, for shopping, only pharmacies and supermarkets open.

At midnight tomorrow the Alert Level will be reduced to 3. Restrictions are only very slightly reduced. Still no mass gatherings, public venues remain closed, most shops remain closed, as do bars, restaurants, cinemas, etc. If necessary, one or two close family members may be allowed into our homes but we should still keep 2 metres apart. No one is to change the person(s) who are allowed into their "bubble" in order to see other family members. Schools and early learning centres will probably re-open but with very limited numbers. People can return to work but only if they will not be interfacing with the public and only with social distancing within the workplace. I think the airports will remain shut. Restaurants and other cooked food providers can open for takeaways with precautions on delivery or collection.

Seems very sensible absent. I'd just like to be able to include my sister-in-law into my bubble. She's getting very depressed, is fairly immobile, and really needs to see/interact with her brother and me. She hasn't been outside her house for 6 weeks, knows we've visited supermarkets once every 10-14 days but would love to see us. I really fear for her mental health if that doesn't happen soon.

I’ve posted this on another thread but will say it again on this thread. If your family includes key workers, medics or shop workers for example, how would that work? If there is a key worker in your bubble/group they would be much more likely to bring the virus home and then infect the entire group. Surely keeping entirely to your own home is safer.