ariotofmyown

They have restrictions on entering from outside the USA but internally it’s so what you want - and there is a lot of movement going on. (Family live in LA).
California is removing all restrictions and returning to normal middle of June.
I watch a little bit of US Sport and seeing the golf and baseball with good size crowds (or full crowds in Texas) is amazing... and then you look at the numbers which just keep falling even in these States.
I don’t buy the winter/Summer too much over there (I do here) - in Texas, Florida, California it’s pretty much summer all year round.
What I see, and when chatting to friends over there is that people don’t talk about Covid or get caught up in it. They have literally returned to normal. The narrative has changed.
Honestly - if we no longer published the daily case total (we don’t publish daily deaths for any other type of illness/reason and we don’t publish daily flu cases and never have we done), so if we stopped publishing Corona Stats, people would soon start talking about other things and returning to their old behaviours.
For the record - I’m still saying if you have symptoms, get a PCR, isolate and if you don’t follow that rule, big fines.

You forgot Derby top of the table at the end of the summer on 20th September having won 10 games straight,

Apologies, I didn't word that very well. I meant that no one would have had any issues with a delay when the dates were originally announced, especially if a new variant caused an increase in cases. But now we are close to the date itself, that initial caution disappears.

That's what they did say, though:
Only when the government is sure that it is safe to move from one step to the next will the final decision be made. The decision will be based on four tests:
the vaccine deployment programme continues successfully evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS our assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new Variants of Concern and...
Step 4 - not before 21 June
Social contact
By Step 4 which will take place no earlier than 21 June, the government hopes to be in a position to remove all legal limits on social contact.
Taken from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021-summary
 
I've just googled it and this list was widely reported at the time (Feb)

Sorry I don't accept that the messaging was unclear or confusing. Deliberately or otherwise.
The roadmap was designed to have steps of unlocking, 5 weeks apart in order to assess the impact of the previous one. It was always going to be not earlier than June 21st - if all went well. This is supposed to make the process irreversible because, while opening up could be delayed, the last thing anyone wants is to take backward steps again - which hasn't (and in my view) shouldn't happen.
If the tabloids have made it confusing for clicks, then it's not the fault of the official messaging. I think on this, the government has been quite clear from the beginning. Surprisingly.

They didn't. They said they wanted the opening up roadmap to be irreversible and the full removal of restrictions would be 21st June at the earliest (5 weeks after the previous "unlocking").
21st June has never been a guaranteed date.
I agree though that the removal of all restirctions isn't going to make much of a difference to me either. The first thing I look for in a pub is somewhere to sit down, so it doesn't bother me that I can't stand at the bar!

I'm slightly puzzled as to why people (in general rather than specifically on here) are getting so cross about the prospect of the 21 June date getting put back
From what I can work out, the only additional things you would be able to do then that you can't do now are major events and full scale weddings/funerals. Otherwise, life feels pretty much bearable again to me. I can visit my friends/family in their homes, and I can go to the pub and sit inside.
The stupid thing IMO was that they ever announced 21st June as an "irreversible" date where all restrictions would be lifted - back in February. If they can't promise it now - at 3 weeks  away - why the hell did they promise it on Feb 22nd?
 
But on balance, I'd far rather spend the summer like we are today, than lift all restrictions on June 21st (for stuff I'm not planning to do anyway) and have us end up in another bloody lockdown within weeks
 
 
 
 

Maybe a bit pedantic on my part, but 9 months ago (about the 1st of September) the message from the government was if you don't go back into the office, then don't be surprised if you lose you job.
Then the message throughout September was that there would be no 2nd wave and no lockdown.
Towards the end of October, the message was Starmer wants to destroy the economy by following scientific advice that a new lockdown is needed.
Then a few days later there was a lockdown for the whole of November announced.
If the lockdown doesn't end at the end of June, then it should spell the end of the government. Travel from Pakistan and Bangladesh stopped, but Indian travel allowed for another 2 weeks or so. Pure coincidence that Johnson was supposed to be going there to attempt some trade deals.
So many screwups, many of them being to a non-existent border policy. People allowed to fly in from Northern Italy in early March without a single restriction or check.
Did you see how on the first day of international travel earlier in the month? We had passport queues mixed with people arriving from red, amber and green countries. They had months of no travel to plan for this.
So much incompetence. So many people who have done nothing worthwhile in charge. Perhaps we should have put the military in charge in March. Or some successful business who had worked their way up, rather than just been educated at some posh school.

Just watched the last episode of Mare of Easttown. 
What a brilliant series. 
Bravo! 

I work for an independent cinema, without the furlough scheme, I would have been out of a job a loooooong time ago. 

Bang on, but Bozo the Dozo would still get elected if there was an election tomorrow, how sad is that?
I know lads who are in with a serious chance of being unemployed when furlough ends and they think he's wonderful! It makes me want to weep. They must think he developed the vaccine on his own?

I won't defend him where I think he has treated people unfairly.
Where you say he has treated legitimate taxpayers unfairly you may recall that a lot who missed out were people taking low salaries and high dividends to avoid paying tax/national insurance in the first place.
As for my own personal situation, I have worked throughout the whole pandemic, working for a company where all but 2 of us were furloughed, so wouldn't say I am a something for nothing merchant. 

There in lies your problem , yourself and others have decided protecting themselves ( fear based) is them protecting all of us ,pretending they are on some moral high ground , there’s plenty who believe we are being over protected and don’t want you protecting us anymore thanks ??‍♂️

I'm not saying he is in anyway great. But just look at the others lot. The rest of the cabinet come across of hopeless too. Sunak may have well got things wrong, but he as least doesn't come across as hapless.

Sunak? What the guy did to those millions he made ineligible for furlough payments after refusing to move an arbitrary cut off date is still an absolute disgrace.
And the Eat Out to Help Out scheme which caused a spike in the Covid cases wasn't the cleverest move either. 

I fear another mini lockdown, mainly so the government can say they acted swiftly to fight the Indian variant.  Even though we probably don’t need one, but they can then say, “Arh but we did act swiftly in June 2021!” At the enquiry in 2030.

Yeah I am still really angry with the way the media have behaved throughout the pandemic but I've made the point, no need to keep mentioning it in every post.
I've never said they are the real problem though and have been very critical of the Government when I think they have made mistakes, I find that is more objective than just jumping on every decision they make as a way to attack Boris Johnson (who I actually think has been a terrible leader throughout the pandemic).
 

Haven't you got some media outlet to be furious about? We all know they are the real problem!

Ziggy, your self-sacrifice is so much appreciated in these austere times.

I’d keep Knight. He’s good at football. Eventually we’ll get a manager who realises this.

Im surprised that any of you actually still believe that @ariotofmyownposts are actually Covid related and not just thinly veiled policital posts!
In fact they arent even veiled, 4 out of the last 6 posts have been direct attacks on Boris Johnson.

I think the argument is that relaxing restrictions will increase infection rates and, whilst the mortality rate might not increase significantly, hospitalisations might which would hinder the current plan to clear the massive backlog of non Covid cases/operations. 

I might have to take the baton here, I think he is in London and won’t travel outside, ever again. I will rack up in his front garden on one of those plastic patio chairs and put him right.

Australia has bought itself time. Imagine what could have been achieved in this country if we'd started with Australia levels of infection and kept it low with strict measures, and topped it off with the kind of vaccination regime the NHS has rolled out? 

Few more random picks buddy - some daft as hell but great fun binge material like The Punisher and Banshee. Very watchable without being worthy in any way.  Others are really strong shows and deffo worth checking out IMO. I've starred the latter. 
Narcos*
Narcos Mexico*
Animal Kingdom*
Peaky Blinders
The Boys
Fargo*
Better Call Saul*
Boardwalk Empire
Snowfall*
McMafia*
Oz*
Banshee 
The Punisher
Warrior