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Not at all. Those are the most minor, trivial aspects of what has happened over the last year in the UK, and what continues to happen as we speak. How about w

Not at all. Those are the most minor, trivial aspects of what has happened over the last year in the UK, and what continues to happen as we speak. How about we make a trade. I'll wear a mask in situations where others are concerned, take my vaccine, and you may distance from me as much as you'd like. You know, like I am and have been doing for eleven months now. In return - I want my life back. Let's reinstate the democratic process, let's make it legal for me to go for a walk without an excuse, run my own business without having goons lock the doors, you know, stuff like that. You keep your end of the bargain, I keep mine. Fair trade? Or is this the part whereby you call me names, shout at me, and expect me to respond in kind? I am choosing to do this, for you. It does not benefit me. Take it for granted at your own peril.

chillfox 6y ago
Ah, the UK, It has been interesting to watch your "circus" from the other side of the planet. IMO, the UK handled Covid exceptionally poorly by repeatedly being afraid to act until it was too late. Here in Australia (Specifically the Northern Territory) we locked down hard early on while we had around 20 cases, I think it was for 2 months, after which no further lock downs have been required. Quarantine for travelers has prevented Covid getting in to the community. Basically due to how we have handled it life is pretty much the same as before Covid here, restaurants are open, the shopping mall is packed and the only thing we had to give up was 2 months and international holidays.
- nickthemagicman 6y ago
  You have more chance of dying from car accidents than Covid if you're under 55 years old. By locking down hard on age groups who aren't vulnerable to the virus you're enabling the clown world that OP is referring to. Sure lock down the elderly that's fine but making national health policy based on one demographic is full on straight clown world stuff.
  - chillfox 6y ago
    COVID is not just about deaths, it also has a risk of lung/heart damage. Also, even if people don’t die or gain lung/heart damage they can still take up hospital capacity until there’s not enough capacity for the people who can survive with hospital care but won’t without. Anyway, my point is that the UK choose their current situation by being afraid to act back when small steps could have made a huge difference.
    - nickthemagicman 6y ago
      Oh right and Covid toes? No no it doesn't. What is the percentage of people who have that type of reaction? Have you even looked at that? It's miniscule. It's argued not to be from Covid directly but by comorbidities and would happen with any illness. The news media blew it up out of proportion to scare you and millions of other people like you who have a poor grasp ofstatistics and risk... for money and it worked! Welcome to clown world. Honk honk!
      - chillfox 6y ago
        Honestly, the only people who seem to be in clown world now are the people living in states that did not take it seriously early. Your leaders not taking it seriously to begin with is the reason you are in this situation now. Where I am we took this seriously early last year, and as a result have been able to live life mostly like normal since. Anyway, you live in a democracy, so maybe convince as many people as possible to vote someone else in at the next opportunity. And if you think they are all stupid then run yourself.
        nickthemagicman 6y ago
        Borders closed is not really somewhat normal. Honk honk!
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    Car accident rate doesn't grow exponentially, with doubling time measured in days. With an infectious disease like this, what you want is to curb its ability to spread. That means disrupting the entire social network, because while the virus is most dangerous to the elderly, it spreads best through the young. Also lung damage, the fact that small chance of disability or death multiplied by whole country getting infected equals to more harm than inconveniencing everyone a bit and nipping the problem in the bud, yadda yadda. These are all tired points. The main way UK (and US, and a chunk of EU) response was a "clown world" was pretending there's no problem until it was too late, and then doing too little, and then doing stupid things that nullified the effect of previous interventions.
Jochim 6y ago
I'm curious as to how your opinion has changed during the course of the lockdowns? I'm tired of it as well, but rather I feel the length of the lockdown is a result of the prevarication that took place in the beginning and a continuing series of poor choices intended to save political face afterwards. My opinion is that had we locked down hard and early, banning foreign arrivals until the pandemic passed globally, we'd have quickly been able to meet without putting anyone's health at risk and at a lower economic cost.
- esotericn 6y ago
  Mostly, my mental condition has declined as I've started to realise that we have increasingly slid into considering perpetual lockdowns and cessation of democracy to be a normal state, rather than a state of emergency. Initially, at the start of the lockdown in March 2020, people voluntarily acted far in excess of legal requirements, or even guidelines. I think that this made sense, and I'm proud of our behaviour on that front. I remember walking out of the house, once a week, in my homemade mask, to do the weekly shop. Beyond that, as we learned more about the virus, but bizarrely went the other way and started to make everyday activities unlawful in an attempt to control the population, well, I've been increasingly choosing not to comply for the sake of retaining my sanity. The Government simply does not get to decide on my behalf whether I have my friends and family over for dinner. I don't give them that power; if they wish to send men with guns like an authoritarian despot, that's their choice. I think that if we'd enacted sane policies it wouldn't bother me as much. Amazon, Deliveroo, Uber etc should have had an 80-90% windfall tax for the duration given that their competition is essentially illegal. Tenants with no income should have had their rent cancelled. Not delayed - cancelled. Working from home policies should have been optional for employees. Students should not have been required to pay full rent and full fees for Zoom calls. But we haven't done any of that. We've taken a public health crisis and used it to absolutely destroy the country.
  - loopz 6y ago
    UK half-assed the lockdown response since March. So when a country lose control, their hands get forced. This leads to even worse outcomes. Witness consequences in US too. It's a leadership problem, and hard to fix for regular Joe.

chillfox 6y ago

Ah, the UK, It has been interesting to watch your "circus" from the other side of the planet. IMO, the UK handled Covid exceptionally poorly by repeatedly being afraid to act until it was too late. Here in Australia (Specifically the Northern Territory) we locked down hard early on while we had around 20 cases, I think it was for 2 months, after which no further lock downs have been required. Quarantine for travelers has prevented Covid getting in to the community. Basically due to how we have handled it life is pretty much the same as before Covid here, restaurants are open, the shopping mall is packed and the only thing we had to give up was 2 months and international holidays.

nickthemagicman 6y ago
You have more chance of dying from car accidents than Covid if you're under 55 years old. By locking down hard on age groups who aren't vulnerable to the virus you're enabling the clown world that OP is referring to. Sure lock down the elderly that's fine but making national health policy based on one demographic is full on straight clown world stuff.
- chillfox 6y ago
  COVID is not just about deaths, it also has a risk of lung/heart damage. Also, even if people don’t die or gain lung/heart damage they can still take up hospital capacity until there’s not enough capacity for the people who can survive with hospital care but won’t without. Anyway, my point is that the UK choose their current situation by being afraid to act back when small steps could have made a huge difference.
  - nickthemagicman 6y ago
    Oh right and Covid toes? No no it doesn't. What is the percentage of people who have that type of reaction? Have you even looked at that? It's miniscule. It's argued not to be from Covid directly but by comorbidities and would happen with any illness. The news media blew it up out of proportion to scare you and millions of other people like you who have a poor grasp ofstatistics and risk... for money and it worked! Welcome to clown world. Honk honk!
    - chillfox 6y ago
      Honestly, the only people who seem to be in clown world now are the people living in states that did not take it seriously early. Your leaders not taking it seriously to begin with is the reason you are in this situation now. Where I am we took this seriously early last year, and as a result have been able to live life mostly like normal since. Anyway, you live in a democracy, so maybe convince as many people as possible to vote someone else in at the next opportunity. And if you think they are all stupid then run yourself.
      - nickthemagicman 6y ago
        Borders closed is not really somewhat normal. Honk honk!
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  Car accident rate doesn't grow exponentially, with doubling time measured in days. With an infectious disease like this, what you want is to curb its ability to spread. That means disrupting the entire social network, because while the virus is most dangerous to the elderly, it spreads best through the young. Also lung damage, the fact that small chance of disability or death multiplied by whole country getting infected equals to more harm than inconveniencing everyone a bit and nipping the problem in the bud, yadda yadda. These are all tired points. The main way UK (and US, and a chunk of EU) response was a "clown world" was pretending there's no problem until it was too late, and then doing too little, and then doing stupid things that nullified the effect of previous interventions.

Jochim 6y ago

I'm curious as to how your opinion has changed during the course of the lockdowns? I'm tired of it as well, but rather I feel the length of the lockdown is a result of the prevarication that took place in the beginning and a continuing series of poor choices intended to save political face afterwards. My opinion is that had we locked down hard and early, banning foreign arrivals until the pandemic passed globally, we'd have quickly been able to meet without putting anyone's health at risk and at a lower economic cost.

esotericn 6y ago
Mostly, my mental condition has declined as I've started to realise that we have increasingly slid into considering perpetual lockdowns and cessation of democracy to be a normal state, rather than a state of emergency. Initially, at the start of the lockdown in March 2020, people voluntarily acted far in excess of legal requirements, or even guidelines. I think that this made sense, and I'm proud of our behaviour on that front. I remember walking out of the house, once a week, in my homemade mask, to do the weekly shop. Beyond that, as we learned more about the virus, but bizarrely went the other way and started to make everyday activities unlawful in an attempt to control the population, well, I've been increasingly choosing not to comply for the sake of retaining my sanity. The Government simply does not get to decide on my behalf whether I have my friends and family over for dinner. I don't give them that power; if they wish to send men with guns like an authoritarian despot, that's their choice. I think that if we'd enacted sane policies it wouldn't bother me as much. Amazon, Deliveroo, Uber etc should have had an 80-90% windfall tax for the duration given that their competition is essentially illegal. Tenants with no income should have had their rent cancelled. Not delayed - cancelled. Working from home policies should have been optional for employees. Students should not have been required to pay full rent and full fees for Zoom calls. But we haven't done any of that. We've taken a public health crisis and used it to absolutely destroy the country.
- loopz 6y ago
  UK half-assed the lockdown response since March. So when a country lose control, their hands get forced. This leads to even worse outcomes. Witness consequences in US too. It's a leadership problem, and hard to fix for regular Joe.