Am I missing something here?

I don’t understand why the government is still “considering” doing Australia has done for months. Just flipping get on with it. I feel like the current cabinet could all be knighted for services to procrastination.

(Friend refers to them as the currant cabinet pudding.)

This has been common practice in other, sensible, countries and I have not read of any major uprisings.

This cabinet's political commitment to 'liberalism' is causing more bloody restrictions all the time.

deny an entire generation of our children and young people their basic right to an education , freedom of outdoor activity

How so?
Teachers are working their socks off at the moment to continue to provide the best education for their children that is possible while the pandemic rages on. My daughter, who teaches primary age children, has received many many emails from parents who are delighted with the quality of teaching their children are receiving in this lockdown.

Grannylaine I completely agree with you . Your daughter and her colleagues have been asked to do an incredibly challenging job over the past year and counting . My point was the enforced house arrest for children and their teachers , not the quality of provision .

My grandchildren are so close to the edge now, their teachers are doing the best they can, but the 11 year old is shut away in her room all day trying to work, and the 9 year old needs constant help that his single parent mum cannot give him. We help out where we can, but I can see them both shrivelling up like underwatered plants. These normally happy and outgoing children are lost without their friends and after school activities, and it is breaking my heart.

Daffonanna, spot on, you're missing nothing. It would seem that being an 'international travel hub' is far more important than we all thought!

I don’t really understand why Borders weren’t closed weeks or even months ago. The reason that the virus is worldwide is purely down to air travel and contact with people. I know that the economy is important, but to shut down quickly and sharply surely would have made a big difference?

Some children are thriving at home others are really not and most are in between. It is an unsatisfactory situation and not helped by an indecisive and flappy government.

precisely my thoughts daffona and yes some children are learning at home but school is not all about learning things in isolation its about learning to socialise and be a person .

Spot on Daffonanna. I can't understand where all these people at Heathrow were coming from/going to and why they are not being quarantined somewhere where they can be looked after and supervised to see that they are properly tested. I know that some of the photos of crowded beaches in the summer were taken in such a way as to make the crowding worse than it was, but even if that were true in Heathrow recently, it still looked like an awful lot of people.

My DGC are all getting a fair amount of teaching and so far their parents are coping, but I would rather see proper quarantine for essential travellers, no inessential travel, and schools back as soon as safely possible.

I must firstly address the idea that teachers are having to work from home.
If there are any, I would say they are in the minority - many teachers, including my niece are still working in schools basically doing a double job - teaching the children of key workers in the classroom as well as preparing lessons and supplying them online . She has been doing this for nearly a year since the beginning of the first lockdown, including working through what would usually be the school holidays as some schools are still open for keyworkers children even then!
On the quarantine issue - it's well known by now that when someone is "advised " to quarantine, they won't and unless there is enough staff to check every single person that enters the country , enforced quarantine or complete closure of the borders is the only way to go.

The government has taken vital steps to prevent infection spread, far too late, at every stage of this pandemic! Why should now be any different?
They find it essential to first consult a load of 'experts', then hold meetings to formulate a plan, then debate it in the houses of parliament, in order to pass a bill, then give several days warning of the event!

Have a look at how New Zealand handles its borders. Nobody complains about hotel quarantine. It keeps the virus out of the community and lets life continue as normal..

On Radio 4 this morning, this was discussed.

Around 8,000 people arrive into London Heathrow per day.

There are around 10,000 hotel beds in hotels near the airport. So where are they supposed to put up to 80,000 people while they all do their 10 day quarantine?

I too was wondering why so many people are still flying in and out of the UK when the rest of us are locked down in our houses. It’s supposed to be essential travel only ie for work or medical reasons, not winter sun holidays in Dubai or the Bahamas!

Hopefully there will be an announcement today and that the get decide to adopt the Australia model, ie 10 days quarantine in a hotel paid for by the traveller.

My son and his family returned from Singapore before Christmas - filled in forms on plane but these were not collected and No Questions or Checks on arrival at Heathrow. He could hardly believe it after all the precautions and regulations in Singapore

geekesse

On Radio 4 this morning, this was discussed.

Around 8,000 people arrive into London Heathrow per day.

There are around 10,000 hotel beds in hotels near the airport. So where are they supposed to put up to 80,000 people while they all do their 10 day quarantine?

But how many of those 8,000 people are flying for essential reasons? Maybe some of them should not be flying and won’t be if they have to pay to stay in a hotel?

I think that a lot less than 8000 a day would arrive if there was an enforced quarantine.

The ERG - shades of Trump supporters - are calling for an ease of lockdown.

Schools should be re-opening.

We have the highest death rates per million in the world, yet they continue to call for greater mixing.

I am beginning to doubt their sanity quite honestly

If other countries can do so then I think that we should. If it helps contain this damn thing then why on earth not? Use hotels as other countries do. If we can use them for all the illegals that one paper reported then surely it is just as easy to quarantine any one flying in from another country? Get a grip Boris & Co please!

I could easily fall into utter despair..

slightly off subject, I did think of posting a separate thread

but.. these fines that are "issued" how many are paid?
not dissimilar to the quarantine/lockups question!

I have never understood why we didn't from the beginning use the benefits of being an island nation - surely an advantage in a pandemic - and close our borders. We could have done this early on, apart from allowing entry of desperate cases and our own nationals who live here, and all who are allowed in be forced to quarantine in a way we could monitor effectively.

Spot on Applegran. I wonder how many lives could have been saved if we had closed our borders.

I also agree with you. I accept some people will have had to fly for some real reason but nowhere near all of the people we see on the TV.

Teachers are, I fully recognise, doing a fabulous job but it will be so much better for all concerned when the schoolchildren can actually attend school. Yes, some children may learn better at home and be escaping bullying but I am making a general point.

I think the borders should have been closed much earlier on.