What would you like to hear from Boris Johnson's announcement on Sunday evening?

[Mitchell Hurd]

Sadly, with the decline in church attendance in recent years, some churches in both rural and the more difficult urban areas are struggling to get as many as 10 people to any service. Once you take the people shielding and the over 70’s into consideration I think many churches will have numbers in single figures.

The livelier churches in more affluent areas with younger clergy, and large younger computer literate congregations, have found lots of innovative ways to live stream services and use social media to keep going. However, there are also churches where struggling elderly congregations will find it very difficult to get their churches open and functioning again even in a limited way. The financial burden and maintaining large buildings and churchyards is also going to cause problems. Also many churches have for years relied on the services of elderly retired clergy who will not at first be available.

It has also been difficult for some people to understand why there can be huge queues at supermarkets and even the local B & Q can be open, and yet the churches are locked so that people cannot even go inside to be quiet, say a prayer or light a candle at this difficult time.

Church would be definitely a great place to unwind for what 15 minutes.

 

[Ianno87]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but McDonalds didn't have to close. They probably took the view that it wasn't profitable to remain open. Once the furlough scheme ramps down, places will have to open again. That's the point at which many will go bankrupt.

At the moment, I'd rather hand over my money to local takeaways than big chains. I don't want my favourite curry house to shut down.

No they didn’t have to close, but did so to protect the safety of their staff and presumably customers.

Presumably echoes back to McLibel when doing what was *technically* completely in the right ended up causing huge reputation damage.

Best avoiding the "Maccy Ds gave me Covid!" headlines...

If nothing else I'd like a minor change, so that parents could take their primary school aged children out for exercise in addition to their own exercise for the day.

(Although I do think that there'll be more of a release on lockdown than that, but probably not too much, so probably not pubs - sorry).

I don't think that has ever *not* been permitted... Given that getting to a park in the first place involves a walk and therefore exercise. Even if it was technically not permitted, a ridiculous petty thing to try and enforce in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Bikeman78]

I'd have a job too as mine are 200 miles away, I'm not allowed to go there anyway. Even if I was I'd think twice at the moment.

But plenty of people have them a lot nearer, or might live with them. A lot of the advertising aimed at twentysomethings has pushed that - "girlfriend has severe asthma", "lives with his Nan" etc.

The problem is that we have no idea how many people have had it. I don't see how testing 0.15% of the population per day will help, especially not if it takes two days for the results to come back. I only know two people that have definitely had it. My wife is a possible third but she didn't have a test. So I suspect that either very few people actually have it/have had it, or an awful lot have had it without even noticing.

The government has backed itself into a corner. Any easing of restrictions will almost certainly result in an increase in the number of cases. I don't see what will really have changed in three weeks, or six weeks for that matter. As the weeks go by, more people will flout it so I wonder if lockdown will end by default.

Getting back on topic, the one thing I'd like to see sooner rather than later is kids going back to school. The prospect of working from home until September with young kids in the house 24/7 does not fill me with joy. However, I cannot see how it's even remotely possible to keep kids apart in a class of four and five year olds.

 

[Ianno87]

Getting back on topic, the one thing I'd like to see sooner rather than later is kids going back to school. The prospect of working from home until September with young kids in the house 24/7 does not fill me with joy. However, I cannot see how it's even remotely possible to keep kids apart in a class of four and five year olds.

You and me both. As lovely as it is to be around them more, I'm running on fumes.

Compromise would be to have 20% of kids attend Monday only, 20% on Tuesday only, etc. with full classroom cleaning after each day.

 

[thejuggler]

Considering the whole news agenda has been dominated by a slogan which means absolutely nothing, is confused and is in green rather than red I expect Boris to bluster away as usual. Its another dead cat on the table moment. Forget the detail, just have a slogan. Where is the science behind what is being proposed?

I can see tomorrow being the start of a 'normal' day for millions. I won't be going anywhere until I have seen the effect of this new slogan, it could turn out to be another moment we realise it wasn't a wise thing to do.

 

[yorkie]

I don't think that has ever *not* been permitted... Given that getting to a park in the first place involves a walk and therefore exercise. Even if it was technically not permitted, a ridiculous petty thing to try and enforce in the grand scheme of things.

I agree it's petty but some police forces were out yesterday moving people on if they were sat down for too long in the middle of their exercise. If they are socially distancing then it really is doing no harm, so we need a formal change in the rules to make it explicitly clear that this is allowed.

Getting back on topic, the one thing I'd like to see sooner rather than later is kids going back to school. The prospect of working from home until September with young kids in the house 24/7 does not fill me with joy. However, I cannot see how it's even remotely possible to keep kids apart in a class of four and five year olds.

We need to get as many children back to school as possible; the social distancing rules are not proportionate and are harming children. The risks to children through not attending school are great. But the risks to them through attending school, while not fully understood, are looking to be very small based on the evidence available so far...

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01354-0

A study of a cluster of cases in the French Alps describes one nine-year-old who attended three schools and a skiing class while showing symptoms of COVID-19, but did not infect a single person. “It would be almost unheard of for an adult to be exposed to that many people and not infect anyone else,” says Munro.

On the basis of the evidence, Munro says children should be allowed back to school. “Children have the least to gain from lockdowns, and they have a lot to lose,” such as missing out on education and not getting added social support ...

In my opinion, those opposed to getting children back into school are not thinking logically when it comes to evaluating risks, are not putting the children first, do not fully understand what actually goes on in schools.

While I am not suggesting all children should be back on 1st of June, we do have to start somewhere, and I'd like to see a reasonable number back in school on that date. The numbers in school right now are worryingly low in my opinion.

 

[DannyMich2018]

I also think mobile phone shops MUST be allowed to re-open ASAP. It's very hard for example if you're phone reaches the end of it's life or you drop it etc. During this crisis people need their phones so we really do need these to re-open.I'm also disgusted at my town Hinckley the local Superdrug (an essential shop) has closed and they are diverting customers to the store in Nuneaton, absolutely disgusting and not saying opening now till end of May. It's been closed since lockdown 7 week's ago.

 

[yorksrob]

Phone shops are an interesting one. I rely on mine to be able to work from home, so if it breaks and I can't get it fixed, no home working.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

I would like to know who these "pro-lockdown" people are. Do they work, have children of school or uni age or are they mostly retirees who are quite comfortable sitting at home?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Very much agreed; this is all common sense, so may not happen. The 2m rule is ridiculous when WHO advises 1m.

Just been out for a walk, and it seems in practice to have changed from a strict 2m with people stopping at narrow bits to "just move to the extreme edge of the path". People aren't even really going on the grass to avoid people any more.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I would like to know who these "pro-lockdown" people are. Do they work, have children of school or uni age or are they mostly retirees who are quite comfortable sitting at home?

People who live in a permanent state of fear. You can see them on FB, they are the ones who won't let their kids play out, who won't walk round their small, middle class Cotswold village for fear of crime, even though the only crime there is a "drive by shouting"[1] about once a year or two, and so on. They seem to be overridingly women in their 20s and early 30s, though it seems to be spreading to their other halves in this situation too, possibly because they dare not say they're being over the top.

[1]

Chatteris by Half Man, Half Biscuit

 

[Ianno87]

I would like to know who these "pro-lockdown" people are. Do they work, have children of school or uni age or are they mostly retirees who are quite comfortable sitting at home?

I get the impression it is generally people up to roughly their 40s who aren't massively negatively affected by lockdown changes (e.g. can work from home to near usual capacity, living with a partner, no kids or kids of secondary school age or higher) who think everybody else is exactly like them and can adapt as easily (and are just not trying hard enough if they don't)

Edit: Also, the sort of people who like or retweet an article based on the headline without actually reading the content.

 

[Bikeman78]

I would like to know who these "pro-lockdown" people are. Do they work, have children of school or uni age or are they mostly retirees who are quite comfortable sitting at home?

There's a few on my Facebook friends list unfortunately. Mostly of working age. Comments like "I'm not sending my kids back to school even if they do open." How do they plan to work? Or pay bills?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Church would be definitely a great place to unwind for what 15 minutes.

I don't see what's difficult about social distancing in your average Christian church. Congregations are typically very small and the buildings are massive due to the demand having reduced so much over the years as they die off and people don't replace them.

The trouble is I suppose that they can't favour one religion over another - and people packing into a mosque on a daily basis would be a huge spread vector, and is said to possibly be the reason for Birmingham being an early hotspot.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

The other thing with respect to christian churches is that priests/vicars etc. rely on offertory collections, Easter gifting, special services, weddings etc for regular income.

And a lot of people need spiritual release, quiet and prayer, such as to mourn departed loved ones.

I would hope Boris will make some concessions here

 

[Islineclear3_1]

There's a few on my Facebook friends list unfortunately. Mostly of working age. Comments like "I'm not sending my kids back to school even if they do open." How do they plan to work? Or pay bills?

Pot, kettle, black comes to mind with these people. Potential child abusers perhaps by denying their education. Thank goodness I don't do FB

 

[C J Snarzell]

I can't see there being a massive change but my own theories will be as follows -

- Social distancing to remain in place.
- Some businesses allowed to reopen such as clothing & electrical stores.
- workers being allowed to return to work as long as social distancing is enforced and maintained.
- relax of out door restrictions, where people can actually have a drive out to the country & not be stopped & turned away by the police.
- new procedures for using public transport, such as segregated seating.
- Schools, pubs, restaurants, gyms, leisure facilities, museums, libraries, social attractions, etc to still remain closed until further notice.
- Food outlets (like McDonald's) can open for drive thru or takeaway only.
- Hotels & B&Bs to operate but cannot provide meals or room service.
- Barbers to operator a 'one in & one our policy'. Hairdressers to do something similar but they cannot have more than three clients in the salon at anyone time.
- Care homes to be 'ring fenced' - all care home buildings to be lockdown to protect residents & staff will have to undergo regular testing.

CJ

 

[Bletchleyite]

Barbers can move to a system of appointments. Female hairdressers have done for years.

It's long wound me up that wasting half an hour sitting and waiting is a mostly mandatory part of a male haircut.

 

[Darandio]

- Food outlets (like McDonald's) can open for drive thru or takeaway only.

This doesn't need to be included, they've been allowed to operate like this anyway.

 

[yorkie]

I would like to know who these "pro-lockdown" people are. Do they work, have children of school or uni age or are they mostly retirees who are quite comfortable sitting at home?

Assuming you mean people who want to lockdown indefinitely / until a vaccine is found, it's a combination of those, and an inability to see the 'bigger picture'. There are loads of them on social media feeds; a selection can be found here.

While I'm firmly opposed to the 'lockdown until a vaccine is available' brigade, I can understand the reasons for the current lockdown (with sensible easements) continuing until the end of May, but I think that enough is enough by that point. We could lockdown until a vaccine is available and we'd still have deaths from this disease but sooner or later we have to look at the bigger picture.

There are loads of low risk things I'd like to be able to do with others which I am currently unable to do, and I hope I can do at least some of these things from 1st June.

 

[Llanigraham]

It would probably be based on postcode areas so for example, anywhere in the BH area would have Bournemouth as it’s key town. You would have situations however where two villages only a few miles apart would have completely different key towns, which is why I think some borders should be different to those of postcode areas.

That isn't going to work with many rural post codes.
For example, the SY post code goes all the way from Shrewsbury to Machynlleth!!

 

[Mag_seven]

This doesn't need to be included, they've been allowed to operate like this anyway.

I wouldn't put it past him though to announce it as if it wasn't.

 

[backontrack]

From the exit strategy predictions thread:


And now have have another slogan:



"Stay alert, control the virus, save lives" replaces "Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives".

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've never known anything as porous as the Government. There's barely any point in the speech, most of it's already been leaked.

 

[bramling]

I get the impression it is generally people up to roughly their 40s who aren't massively negatively affected by lockdown changes (e.g. can work from home to near usual capacity, living with a partner, no kids or kids of secondary school age or higher) who think everybody else is exactly like them and can adapt as easily (and are just not trying hard enough if they don't)

From experience, yes the above group, and you can possibly add to that:
* Older and elderly people especially those with underlying issues who think they'll be toast if they get it
* Some key workers who are quite enjoying for the first time in their lives being able to go to work without getting abused by problem people all day (and you can't help but see their point!)
* Those on furlough who relish the idea of every day being a paid public holiday

I also wouldn't be surprised if you could also add a
* People in rural areas who are enjoying being able to enjoy their local area in fine weather without hoards of tourists every day

I think you may be underestimating how many people do like the lockdown. Of course in some cases no doubt people are picking the aspects of it which benefit them, and disregarding those which don't. I wonder how many are out enjoying family picnics when they're really meant to be delivering work output from home.

 

[PeterC]

Barbers can move to a system of appointments. Female hairdressers have done for years.

It's long wound me up that wasting half an hour sitting and waiting is a mostly mandatory part of a male haircut.

I remember having to make an appointment for a haircut over 30 years ago. This century men's hairdressers seem to have made a thing about going back to a "walk up" service.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I remember having to make an appointment for a haircut over 30 years ago. This century men's hairdressers seem to have made a thing about going back to a "walk up" service.

When I was a kid my Mum made an appointment for me, but that's because it wasn't really a barber, it was a female hairdresser's that also had a bit at one side that did men's clipper cuts, short back and sides etc. (It was actually at one point walled off from the women's bit by a 4' high partition!)

The women's side had those things that go over their head to do perms and stuff too, all very traditional.

These days it seems an ideal thing for a phone app (or ring up if you must) - most people are loyal to one barber so downloading it once is no big thing and would save a load of everyone's time as well as reducing spread.

 

[PeterC]

I don't expect much from the announcement.
- recycling centres to reopen (already happening)
- garden centres to reopen (already announced)
- possibly masks on public transport

The interesting thing will be other shops. My choice would be to let the independents open with distancing but keep the indoor "destination" malls like Westgate closed until the infection rate drops a bit more.

 

[C J Snarzell]

When I was a kid my Mum made an appointment for me, but that's because it wasn't really a barber, it was a female hairdresser's that also had a bit at one side that did men's clipper cuts, short back and sides etc. (It was actually at one point walled off from the women's bit by a 4' high partition!)

The women's side had those things that go over their head to do perms and stuff too, all very traditional.

These days it seems an ideal thing for a phone app (or ring up if you must) - most people are loyal to one barber so downloading it once is no big thing and would save a load of everyone's time as well as reducing spread.

I've never quite understood why men need to have their hair washed prior to having a trim. The first thing I do after a trip to the barbers is have a shower & wash my hair anyway to remove all the lose hair. It seems pointless having your hair washed prior to it being cut. A good hair cut always needs a good wash afterwards to bring out the shape & texture of the hair follicles to make the style look good.

CJ

 

[Huntergreed]

I was hoping for a reduction from 2m distancing to 1m as this has been proven to be just as effective by the WHO and would make reopening the economy and the use of public transport much easier, but it seems from the messages today that this isn’t changing which I find disappointing.