Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

I think they said other side of the country tho?

"
Stay at home order ends but people encouraged to stay local wherever they can
"

Going across the country to see parents that you haven't seen for many months (possibly over a year) is not a frivolous journey.

Might take a tent

Gotcha, missed that bit. As they are then opening holiday lets a couple weeks later that request to stay local seems slightly pointless...

I don't think I've seen more than 30s of announcements from the gov anyway and those were only replayed on satirical tv comedy shows so I'd have no idea if everyone was allowed out last month or everyone was already zombies.

Is the current government even clever enough to deliver this kind of wonderful spin?

Expect some explanatory briefings from unbriefed Ministers in the next few days.

'You don't have to drink coffee if you meet, outside, with another adult, 'Not for exercise''.
Other warm to hot beverages qualify.
'Are Scotch eggs compulsory if 6 adults are meeting outside?'
'I'm very rich. Am I allowed to travel abroad?
Thank you for your question, Stanley, ...'
'We have our own outdoor swimming pool.
How many adults can mix, if they all bring their own Scotch eggs?'

Inside, yep. I can only hope that @Stonehedge is right, and that after getting their hands burnt several times lifting restrictions too early this is a very conservative plan.

However, the argument for spacing out the relaxations is based on making the changes then allowing time to make sure that they haven't resulted in infection rates increasing, as recommended by Chris Whitty.

Hopefully this is an exercise in expectation management, and if things go faster than 'expected' the relaxations will happen faster.

Personally I'm worried I'll go nuts if I have to wait this long for the relaxations.

I bet a crisp fiver, donated to the forum, that the 17th May date is secretly intended to be brought forward so that the government can spin it and claim it as some sort of victory and that they have overdelivered on their plan.

What date are the local elections again?

If lockdown extends long enough maybe we'll all get agoraphobic and not want to go back to them anyway.

Depends, it's quite clear from the behaviours that we've seen that the UK population covers the full spectrum from "sticking to the letter and spirit of the guidelines" through "sticking to the letter and spirit of the law", "sticking to the letter of the law", "roughly sticking to the law/guidelines", "doing what they want", all the way to "fuck da police".

Much like speed limits. The fact that a significant proportion of people break the speed limits, it's not a reason to get rid of them. If you frame the requirements in such a way that you expect a certain percentage of people to break/push them then you can take those into account for the eventual behaviour that will, on average, exceed the limits but to a manageable extent.

[EDIT] For example, if you want to get average speeds on a road below 40mph then setting the speed limit for that road to 40mph will get you average speeds somewhere between 40mph and 50mph. So you set the speed limit to 30mph and you end up with average speeds under 40mph. Job done.

After 12 long months what another 3 eh.

Thursday 6th May.

What date are the local elections again?

Ha! 6th May. Hmmm...

local elections

I guess you've got the person who already made that point on ignore...

They'd be better off doing them during lockdown when campaigning by other political parties is banned because Covid, and continuing with the televised press conferences. Like in Scotland.

I bet that they'll do everything they can to deliver "Boris Brings Britain Back!" headlines on the 5th of May.

Personally I'm worried I'll go nuts if I have to wait this long for the relaxations.

I guess it depends on your situation.

Amongst parents of school age children (based on my Whatsapp chats with friends/family) it's bordering on euphoria. Getting children out of the house and back into school in a couple of weeks restores a lot of sanity for both children and parents. Relaxations in time for the summer holidays. The summer half term (May 29 - June 6) also nicely after another set of restrictions lifted.

They'd be better off doing them during lockdown when campaigning by other political parties is banned because Covid, and continuing with the televised press conferences. Like in Scotland.

Wait, are you suggesting that the Sturgeon shouldn't have been holding daily press briefings during the pandemic? Not sure I understand what the problem is.

Edit: Isn't there a similar ban on campaigning in England?

Yeah this my single friends or those without children less impressed.

I await the plans for Quarantine rules for visiting family abroad now.

The summer half term (May 29 - June 6) also nicely after another set of restrictions lifted.

I'm supposed to be away that week with my sister-in-law, her family and my in-laws. The cottage was booked for her 40th last year but delayed. Looks like it can't happen this year either. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or relived.

Not sure I understand what the problem is.

Purdah! There is an established precedent in the run up to an election that for six weeks politicians don't do any media because it could affect the outcome of the election by giving them an unfair platform. Sturgeon appears to have every intention of ignoring this and continuing the daily briefings. It will be interesting to see what happens.

If she gets away with it the effect will be even worse because campaigning is (effectively) banned.

For balance - I'd be entirely unsurprised if the Tories try the same thing.

Sturgeon appears to have every intention of ignoring this and continuing the daily briefings.

Is it unreasonable to expect an exception for this during times of national crisis?

Is it unreasonable to expect fair elections?

From the Wikipedia entry which is worth a read if you're not familiar with the concept:

Purdah has been imposed in ministerial guidance since at least the early 20th century reflecting an earlier "self-denying ordinance", and has considerable moral authority, its breach carrying with it in worst cases the possibility of actions for abuse of power and misconduct in public office.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purdah_(pre-election_period)

if you're not familiar with the concept

I used to receive reminders of my Purdah obligations before election cycles when I was a civil servant. So I'm quite familiar with it. I just don't see why a government should stop one of their main methods of public health messaging during a pandemic just because there is an election coming up.

Selfish part of me would quite like foreign holidays to be cancelled till after August, we are due to go to Greek islands start of August, postponed from last year, we now have another baby on the way in July, so no way we can go away...