Our Prime Minister has just announced that the UK is effectively going into lockdown.
As from tonight, everyone who is not required to go to work to perform essential tasks must stay in their homes. Only shops selling food, pharmacies, banks, and post offices will be allowed to remain open, and individuals will only be allowed out:
This will initially be for three weeks, but is very likely to last much longer.
To all my regular blog readers, may I hope that you can keep safe and keep well.
As from tonight, everyone who is not required to go to work to perform essential tasks must stay in their homes. Only shops selling food, pharmacies, banks, and post offices will be allowed to remain open, and individuals will only be allowed out:
- To buy food (preferably only once a week)
- To exercise once per day on their own or with members of their household
- To get medical assistance or to care from someone
- To perform essential work in the health services, the food supply network, and the utilities.
This will initially be for three weeks, but is very likely to last much longer.
To all my regular blog readers, may I hope that you can keep safe and keep well.
Funerals are still allowed but unsure as to how many mourners can gather. It's been coming but still a shock. Let's all hope we can stay safe.
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteI thought that the limit was two people, and it wasn’t clear if that included the celebrant, the undertaker, and mourners, or only applied to the latter.
No doubt it will all become clear over the day or so.
Stay safe and stay well,
Bob
Also the government website that has just ben updated says you can travel to work if you can't work at home. The essential work categories were in respect of who can still send their children to school. I think!!!
DeleteCheers and stay safe to all. Simon
Simon,
DeleteI hope that they won’t allow all people who cannot work from home to go to work. It should only be those whose work is essential. My neighbour is a builder, and his staff cannot work from home ... so they ought to stay at home.
Keep safe and keep we’ll,
Bob
Hopefully common sense will prevail and there will be a distinction between large numbers on a building site and a lone builder working on a barn in the middle of a field. Meanwhile I hope that model paint supplies don't run out as I feel I may need a lot of them! Cheers
DeleteSimon
There does seem to be some confusion here; only key workers can send their children to school. Workers generally are told to work at home at possible, and we are also told that non- key workers should avoid public transport. Many non key workers will have had their workplace closed anyway though.
DeleteSimon,
DeleteJudging by the photographs of the crowds on the Tube this morning, common sense seems to be noticeable by its absence, with far too many people travelling to work. Surely they cannot all be essential workers!
Keep safe and keep well,
Bob
PS. I bought a load of paint a couple of weeks ago ‘just in case’. It might turn out to have been a very good idea indeed.
Nigel Drury,
DeleteIs it down to a confused message from government or the spin put on it by the media? Last night I watched Newsnight, and heard Emily Maitlis make provably misleading statements about what the PM has said ... and this is by no means the exception rather than the rule. The list on the government website seemed fairly clear to me; stay at home unless you comply with a short list of exceptions.
I wonder how many people are going to have to die before the danger of the pandemic finally hits home with everyone.
Stay safe and stay well,
Bob
Stay safe Bob.
ReplyDeleteRay Rousell,
DeleteMay I wish the same you and your family, and all the other members of the Rejects.
Be safe and keep well,
Bob
A stay at home policy is not a problem for me directly, I'm largely doing that already. My wife and I normally look after our grandson 3 days a week and usually seem him most other days as well. That will stop. My daughter will literally spend all her time at home with her son. Her husband has to work from home but finds it difficult when disturbed by others at home. It just gets worse and worse.
ReplyDeleteJim Duncan,
DeleteLike you, my wife and I have been doing this for some time, so it won’t be a massive change for us.
We don’t have any family who live nearby, so we are not used to seeing them very often. It must be a terrible wrench for you to not to see your grandson, and it sounds as if your daughter and son-in-law are not going to find things easy for the foreseeable future.
May I hope that you and your family stay safe and stay well.
All the best,
Bob
Stay safe and well Bob.
ReplyDeleteTamsin P.,
DeleteI look forward to hearing that you remain fit and well, and come out of this crisis without having caught the virus,
All the best,
Bob
Keep safe Bob.
ReplyDeleteTradgardmastare (Alan),
DeleteI hope that you and your family come through this safe and well.
All the best,
Bob
I’m one of the lucky ones who can work at home and have been for a couple of weeks. My daughters have been off school since last Wednesday when their school sent year 9 and 10 students (13-15 year olds) home due to lack of staff. As such they’ve had extra time to get used to operating with Google Classroom.
ReplyDeleteWe also have the space at home to not annoy each other whilst working and have plenty of garden space. I am really thankful for my lot in life.
My wife cannot do her work at home and part of her week is working as a self-employed gardener. A few years ago she was a care worker on a zero hours contract. So we have a good idea what is facing millions of people throughout Britain. Fortunately we don’t depend on her income like lots of families. I hope the government bails out everyone in the ‘gig economy’, on zero-hours contracts and self-employed like it did the banks. Time got another round of QE, but this time for ordinary people. Otherwise there’s going to be a lot of non-compliance, poverty and crime.
Nundanket,
DeletePart of me thinks that over the past week, the government was trying to prepare the ground for a total lockdown. Unfortunately, some people (and quite a few, from what I’ve seen of the photographs of the Tube today) are disregarding the lockdown because they are afraid that if they don’t work, they won’t get paid, or because they think that they are essential workers.
I have great sympathy for workers who are self-employed. Until I was retired, I ran a small business with just two employees (my wife and I) that operated on short-term contracts where we were only paid when we worked. Luckily, we also had pensions to fall back on and our house was paid for.
There must be a way to ease the situation of the self-employed, either by income tax refunds or the introduction of a National Wage for everyone. If not, then there will be non-compliance with the lockdown and civil unrest.
Keep safe and keep well,
Bob
I think a National wage is the easiest way to go Bob. It does mean that people who don’t need it will get a benefit but if it’s only temporary it’s worth the fiscal pain. If the government said everyone with an NI number will get it but it counts towards your gross income and therefore your tax liability may increase if your regular income stays the same, then at least some will be clawed back through tax.
DeleteNundanket,
DeleteThat sounds like an excellent solution, and would be worth the short-term cost.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteWe're basically House-Bound here too- apart from visiting the Doctors, Chemist and Supermarket. Glad we have a Hobby which can keep us busy and entertained- hope to make a start on painting my 25mm British Foot Guards for MARS 1860 this evening.
These are trying times - I've heard it said that we are about 2 to 3 weeks behind Italy - so we're bracing for the worst in the next few weeks. Stay Well there Bob and Sue. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteDespite the lockdown, there are still lots of people ignoring it ... and we are all going to pay the price for this non-compliance. There are far too many people who are either scared that if they don’t work, they will have no income, or think that they are essential workers ... and aren’t!
It is estimated that the UK (and London in particular) is also two weeks behind Italy, which means that we can expect a rapid rise in infections and deaths over the next week or so. Perhaps people will then realise why the ‘stay at home’ message/lockdown needs to be complied with.
Keep safe and keep well,
Bob
Time to get all those hobbying jobs that we have been putting off finally done , good luck and stay safe , Tony
ReplyDeleteThe Good Soldier Svjek (Tony),
DeleteThat sounds like an excellent plan ... just as long as the supplies of paint etc., don’t run out!
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteGreat news that at last BJ is taking some action. Though from here in Spain it does seem half hearted and perhaps too little too late.
Our lockdown was imposed overnight. No warning and no preparation. Confined to house, except to go to doctor or buy food. And then only one person in each car. No outside exercise allowed, even on our own. And the policy imposed with instant fines of 300 to 600 euro. So everyone takes it very seriously. And to be honest I am really glad that they are doing so.
It still gets worse day by day here. At present we are following the Italian model. Hopefully they have started to fall, or at least level out.
And it looks like the UK is following the Spanish model. If so you should expect more restrictions soon. It will all depend on how much the casualty numbers increase.
Unfortunately it takes two weeks for any new measures to take effect. So too little, too late could be really serious.
I wish you and your family all the very best. And do keep up the blog. As I know from experience, it makes you feel better to share.
As we currently say in Spain
Stay Home - Stay Safe
best regards
Paul
Thistlebarrow (Paul),
DeleteWe had plenty of warning that this was going to happen, but it was still a shock for some people ... especially those who don’t read newspapers or watch the TV news. I think that the £30.00 fines are pathetic ... but no doubt there will be complaints about their severity.
(I got a £60.00 fine for parking in a parking bay and not paying the fee ... supposedly two minutes before it was free to park in, although my watch said that I was three minutes into the fee-free time. I lost on appeal, even though the council had to admit that they had a record of when the machine the ticket issuer had used to issue the ticket had last been calibrated.)
They are currently debating as whether or not building workers should be at work. In my opinion, if the site they are working on is secure, they should be at home. They work close to each other in an dirty environment, and that seems to be an ideal environment for the infection to spread.
They are gearing up for it to get a lot worse in London. ExCel is being converted - by the army - into a 2,000 bed hospital, and they are expecting to take their first patients by the end of the week.
I hope that you and Jan keep well, and can avoid getting infected. I hope to keep on wargaming and blogging for as long as I can.
As people are now saying in the UK, keep safe and keep well,
Bob
I don't really understand the UK approach to this whole problem. Judging from the TV daily briefing, BJ simply does not want to impose any restrictions. When he does he clearly does not support them. He may say that they are necessary, but he immediately undermines them. For example "draconian lockdown", then anyone who cannot work from home can travel to work. To do so many have to travel in overcrowded public transport, the ideal way to pass the virus.
ReplyDeleteYour example of £60 fine for minor parking offence, but only £30 for breaking lockdown rules. And immediately it is imposed the police go on TV to tell everyone they cannot, and will not, enforce it because of lack of policemen.
I despair how much the UK has changed in recent years. A country once proud of its reputation for being a very civilised country, seems to have become one self obsessed and selfish.
I know most people are not like that, but it is how the world sees the UK now. And the general behaviour in this curent crisis does nothing to change that opinion.
Keep safe, and keep blogging
best regards
Paul
Thistlebarrow (Paul),
DeleteThe messages has been confusing at times, and there is no reason why the construction industry remains working except on priority and pandemic-related projects. I understand that the police are at major public transport hubs in London asking the purpose of journeys and asking people to turn back if it is not an essential journey,
One thing that is noticeable this morning is the reduction in the number of cars, vans, lorries, and people who are passing our house. It would appear that the people living in my part of London are obeying the rules. That said, there are still some idiots out there who are gathering in groups, not keeping as safe distance between them, and generally being stupid.
I suspect that the police will be reluctant to come down too heavy handedly in case they end up triggering civil unrest ... which would put a massive strain on their resources.
The UK has become a much more ‘me’ place, where the supposed rights of the individual - but not their responsibilities - are paramount, and transcend the rights of others. It seemed to come about on the back of the growth of the ‘celebrity’ culture, where people who are famous for being famous are seen as important, and whose views and opinions are treated by some as being of almost Olympian importance.
The pandemic might just jolt the system enough to make people realise that society has to change ... but that is a hope rather than an expectation.
I hope that both of you keep safe and keep well,
Bob
Hope you're staying safe and well Bob.
ReplyDeleteI already work from home so it hasn't had such a drastic impact on us yet but the charity sector (which I work in) has taken a massive hit as donations which we rely on have understandably dried up. Sadly this is exactly the time that the most vulnerable need support from charity groups and we may not be in a position to offer it.
Alastair,
DeleteMy wife and are are well, and at present we’re not finding being in purdah too irksome. We’ve been retired for some time, and both have hobbies that we can do at home.
I must admit that it hadn’t struck me that charitable giving would dry up during a crisis, but at least lots of people are volunteering to help others, which is encouraging.
I hope that you are able to find the necessary income streams for your charity.
Stay safe and stay well,
Bob
Keep safe Bob
ReplyDeleteGeordie an Exile FoG,
DeleteCheers!
Keep safe and keep well,
Bob