Sajid Javid

But my kitchen is very very old.

I'm angrier about the fact that schoolchildren have been used as herd immunity fodder than I am about people being able to eat in a restaurant.

And as for university students ... my son has had no face-to-face tuition for over a year. Of course I'm angry about that.

Galaxy

But my kitchen is very very old.

I live in a rented house and have no control over the state of my kitchen.

Yes, they do matter, which is why money should have been invested in good ventilation and home computers when face-to-face learning was impossible

Has no-one picked up on the fact that Amazon were and are disposing of thousands of pounds worth of goods every week, including laptops which could have been donated to children who needed them for schoolwork?
Now, that is what makes me

action.greenpeace.org.uk/Amazonwaste

Presumably they didn't. Schools were promised laptops, which were never delivered.

Nobody has ever given away good ventilation systems or bigger classrooms, as far as I know.

Schools had to pay for extra cleaning out of their own budgets, which impacted on how much could be spent on staffing or other equipment. The formula for funding already put schools with most need at a disadvantage.

It took a footballer to make sure the most disadvantaged children had food.

The above makes me angry.

So why didn't governments contact Amazon and do some kind of deal for the "waste" products?

No-one knew about it; Amazon have consistently denied that it happened.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jun/22/amazon-faces-mps-scrutiny-after-destroying-laptops-tablets-and-books

Listening to his speech in parliament just now I got the impression that he regards himself as the ‘economic health’ minister not the health minister.

Callistemon

No-one knew about it; Amazon have consistently denied that it happened.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jun/22/amazon-faces-mps-scrutiny-after-destroying-laptops-tablets-and-books

Well, that's your answer. Schools didn't know there was a mountain of laptops about to be destroyed. They were waiting for the laptops the government promised.

MayBee70

Listening to his speech in parliament just now I got the impression that he regards himself as the ‘economic health’ minister not the health minister.

In that case, we need to strap ourselves in (mask up?) for a rocky ride.

Don’t worry about it posters, it’s because I said it!

So no, I’m not jealous about crowds going to any sporting events because I don’t like watching sport, on television or live. I wouldn’t choose to attend a live sporting event Covid or no Covid.

Knowing the rules, we didn’t even attempt to go out for lunch yesterday as obviously the party of seven would not have been allowed. We had afternoon tea at my elderly mother’s sheltered apartment instead. And only five of us were there. We instructed the rest of the family not to call round to see our visiting cousins, who none of us have seen since pre Covid. It’s a shame that my 93 year old mother was unable to see all her family together, because at her age, she may not ever do so again, but that’s Covid for us.

In my opinion, government should have been making sure that no inconsistencies were allowed to arise under Covid regulations, but unfortunately they haven’t done that. Plenty of people, including Gransnetters, are annoyed at the inconsistency of Matt Hancock’s behaviour; telling us all to socially distance but not following the rules himself. That’s why he’s resigned, inconsistently! One rule for him and another for everyone else. The sporting events are no different, inconsistency! Thousands at sporting events, six in the restaurants.

maddyone I agree it’s the inconsistencies

I agree that the inconsistencies are maddening. People need to understand why they are being asked to do things, rather than follow instructions blindly.

At the risk of banging the same drum, though, I feel that there is inconsistency between asking one generation to restrict their lives to protect another, but not the other way round. Even apart from being inconsistent it’s downright rude.

Where have the complaints been about the inconsistencies which have been apparent all along? The virus has affected disadvantaged communities disproportionately. These are people who didn't have gardens, who couldn't go off sick because they couldn't survive on sick pay (or no pay). What about those self-employed who have had no help at all? What about all those teachers and school staff who have been demonised by the gutter press, but have had to go unsafe classrooms, provide remote work and had GCSE and A level assessment dumped on them? What about the third of the population who have really struggled to pay rent, etc., while another third has become richer? People have had to toughen up and "suck it up" - maybe they, at least, know how to ignore the unfairness of Wimbledon or Ascot because they're used to it.

How is being angry about the things in your post inconsistent with recognising that people want to know the logic behind football matches going ahead when family occasions may not?

Not posting on here to say 'I am furious with Amazon' doesn't mean that any or all of us is not furious with Amazon. I don't think that you can extrapolate from people not posting to state the obvious (ie Amazon is generally A bad Thing) that they aren't upset about the waste of laptops, or that if they are angry about it that it means that they don't also think that the government should have provided them to every child who needs them.

Similarly, expressing annoyance at the lack of consistency between a rule being applied to one group and not another, or expecting one generation to sacrifice jobs, education, freedoms etc to protect a generation who argue that they shouldn't do the same in return does not imply a lack of sympathy for 'have nots', and it's not fair to suggest that it does.

Whataboutery is more usually used to excuse politicians their bad behaviour, but it is just as iniquitous when it is used against posters to suggest a logical link between what they objecting to and other objectional states of affairs.

You've missed my point Doodledog. It's not necessarily inconsistent, but I find it curious that people only bother about certain inconsistencies - maybe only when they affect them. Other people recognise inconsistencies, but for the sake of their own sanity have learnt to deal with them. They have been living with inconsistencies and unfairness since the year dot. Why haven't all the people who are bothered now been campaigning about the principles of fairness?

My posts haven't been intended as "whataboutery". I was trying to raise serious issues, namely that people only seem to bother about perceived unfairness when it affects them personally. It hasn't escaped my notice that some of the posters complaining about inconsistencies now have in the pas dismissed posts about unfairness to others.

Just curious...... Does everyone think the dismantling of the offending office camera was necessarily a good thing?

No, Kim19, it seems to be a building wide system, with no sound, just camera, I can’t see why it would be a problem to leave it there, it’s no doubt in all the offices.

Thank you GrannyGravy and Doodledog. it’s heartening to know that there are posters on Gransnet who have understood what I said. I was beginning to think I’m incapable of expressing myself coherently

Hancock was a banker. Javid was a banker.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Health Minster who knows something about health or the NHS?

Javid actually has working class roots. His dad was a bus driver in Bedminster in Bristol. Then they had a shop in Easton where a lot of Asians live. He went to an ordinary secondary school before going to Exeter University where he studied Economics and Politics before going into banking. He knows what it’s like to be poor but joined the Conservative party whilst at Exeter. The D of H doesn’t just cover the NHS. It is the Department of Health and Social Care.

25Avalon

Javid actually has working class roots. His dad was a bus driver in Bedminster in Bristol. Then they had a shop in Easton where a lot of Asians live. He went to an ordinary secondary school before going to Exeter University where he studied Economics and Politics before going into banking. He knows what it’s like to be poor but joined the Conservative party whilst at Exeter. The D of H doesn’t just cover the NHS. It is the Department of Health and Social Care.

You could have been talking about Sadiq Khan there Avalon25. Working roots, bus driver dad, Asian, ordinary school, university etc. Except the last bit. Khan joined the Labour Party and is centre left.
It just goes to show different people with extremely similar backgrounds can choose to have opposite political views.

Very true Ellianne. Just shows we should not make assumptions based on backgrounds or anything else come to that.

So “irreversible Javid” suggests to me that the Tories are considering letting the virus have freedom to spread without hinderance in schools.

We know that children are largely unaffected by the virus, but many are and these children will go onto have long covid, a serious and debilitating affect and or be hospitalised, taking up staff, beds and money that could be usefully used to try to clear the biggest backlog the NHS has ever experienced, undoubtedly leading to more death, pain and illness by those who were not treated in time.