News footage yesterday didn't look like sociall distancing - or was that just a trick of the camera?

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As others said in the last thread yesterday was a debacle and anyone wanting to visit the UK right now should be quarantined on mental health grounds. 

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On the 04 May. IDS:

‘It’s time to unlock the lockdown and trust the sense of the British People’

This aged badly.

Why is it always IDS harping on about ending lockdown. I wonder what major investments he has in big business?

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Why is it always IDS harping on about ending lockdown. I wonder what major investments he has in big business?

Is he Opus Dei? That would account for his apparent disdain for humanity.

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On R4 just now they said that people arriving in the UK will not be quarantined but simply, "Asked to self-isolate".

Not really the same thing is it?

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On R4 just now they said that people arriving in the UK will not be quarantined but simply, "Asked to self-isolate".

Not really the same thing is it?

Sounds weak and pointless !

If Govt. isn't taking this seriously, how the hell do they expect anyone else to ?

I despair, I really do ! 

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On R4 just now they said that people arriving in the UK will not be quarantined but simply, "Asked to self-isolate".

Not really the same thing is it?

It is the old Tory trick of trying to divert attention from their own ineptitude by making it all about furriners. Just witness how our dear Maunder cannot bring himself to acknowledge the catastrophic insouciance towards life of his party but just bangs on and on about how the only mistake was not closing our borders.

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Poland has postponed it's presidential election.
https://www.france24.com/en/20200506-poland-postpones-may-10-presidential-election-over-covid-19-fears 

How long before our lot spot the opportunity being presented here? They've previously struggled to find excuses to end democracy in the UK, only succeeding in limited cases, but I'm sure the effective policy implementation being carried out by covid-19 will not be lost on them.

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This is egregious.

 

If the UK was in the EU, it would top the table. What is the BBC playing at here? https://t.co/jZIq3WDAu9

— Jessica Simor QC (@JMPSimor) May 8, 2020

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Sounds weak and pointless !

If Govt. isn't taking this seriously, how the hell do they expect anyone else to ?

I despair, I really do ! 

I have to say that this is one difference between our government and yours. In Ireland, we haven't managed this virus half as well as some here like to think. However, one thing that our government here has managed to do is to keep sending out one consistent message. Obviously, that alone isn't any kind of panacea by itself. However, it does at least help in getting the public to follow the medical aadvice. It's remarkable that a one party government can't seem to quite agree on such a vital matter. 

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On R4 just now they said that people arriving in the UK will not be quarantined but simply, "Asked to self-isolate".

Not really the same thing is it?

What did you expect, locking people up?

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What did you expect, locking people up?

The point is that the language used creates an image in the readers mind and is intended to make it seem as if the proposed measures will be more effective than they really are. "Quarantine" as a word, has certain implications which are not matched by some weak measure relying on the whims of random individuals.

The impression people will get is that the government has taken tangible action to ensure our safety when the reality is that they have carefully and deliberately passed responsibility to the individual and done precisely sweet FA.

It is a perfect example of the Libertarian ethos which drives this government.

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On R4 just now they said that people arriving in the UK will not be quarantined but simply, "Asked to self-isolate".

Not really the same thing is it?

That’s exactly the same as it was at the beginning of February when I returned from holiday. 

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What did you expect, locking people up?

Well there are all those cruise ships doing nothing.
We could put the cross channel illegals in one of those with any other arrivals for a month or so.

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Well there are all those cruise ships doing nothing.
We could put the cross channel illegals in one of those with any other arrivals for a month or so.

Would be cheaper to isolate them on remote farms in the North Yorkshire Moors.

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Well there are all those cruise ships doing nothing.
We could put the cross channel illegals in one of those with any other arrivals for a month or so.

I thought most of those were parked up in the Philippines.

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The point is that the language used creates an image in the readers mind and is intended to make it seem as if the proposed measures will be more effective than they really are. "Quarantine" as a word, has certain implications which are not matched by some weak measure relying on the whims of random individuals.

The impression people will get is that the government has taken tangible action to ensure our safety when the reality is that they have carefully and deliberately passed responsibility to the individual and done precisely sweet FA.

It is a perfect example of the Libertarian ethos which drives this government.

The point is that it is basically quarantine not a sinister Libertarian plot. 

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The point is that it is basically quarantine not a sinister Libertarian plot. 

sshh - you're spoiling the story

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It is the old Tory trick of trying to divert attention from their own ineptitude by making it all about furriners. Just witness how our dear Maunder cannot bring himself to acknowledge the catastrophic insouciance towards life of his party but just bangs on and on about how the only mistake was not closing our borders.

Quite.

But what I find totally bizarre is why they think this is needed now if it wasn’t deemed necessary back in January?

The lurches in policy are inexplicable and undermine what little credibility the government has.

Some interesting extremes in views chatting (from 2 metres+) with friends in the village over the last couple of days. One or two thinking the government has done quite well but others saying it’s been a disaster and a shambles.

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The point is that it is basically quarantine not a sinister Libertarian plot. 

But is it quarantine if it's entirely voluntary? Obviously, nobody's talking about locking people up, but you could have measures to take details of people arriving in the country, recording their proposed address and having the possibility of having these people visited by a health official during the two week quarantine period. 

I'm not sure that it's such a big issue at the moment given that there's little international travel. However, if Ireland was mainly virus free in the coming weeks while the disease was very active elsewhere, I would want our government to have some method of tracking people entering the country. 

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