Why does this lockdown feel so different to the first lockdown?

There are more people about and more cars on the road. Death figures and hospital admissions are appallingly high.

Just a few views:

There appear to be twice as many children in school because of the change in interpretation of “key workers“. I have no problem with that except school staff should be vaccinated and all children should be regularly tested. Some parents are apparently refusing testing for their children.

Are take away coffee shops really essential retail? I get concerned when I see queues outside. Similarly florists and some other shops that are open without, in my view, justification.

Could more businesses agree to people working from home?

I read somewhere that Barclays wanted more of their staff back in the office.

Vaccination hubs are doing a fantastic jobs but from what we see on television the long queues outside do not appear to be socially distancing or indeed always wearing masks.

I have never understood the apparent conflict between covid control and preserving business. To me lives are more important than jobs and in any event failure to really clamp down on the virus means that the damage to business might be less but will continue for much longer.

In summary there are gaps in our defences and the travel quarantine is just another reaction which is too late. We need to tighten the lockdown as we already have the worst deaths per million figure in the world, if the published data is correct.

Uk is party to hundreds of trade deals each one of which involves a dilution of our sovereignty to a degree. We can’t expect a trade deal with the EU to be more advantageous than the position when we were members.

How many brexiteers prefer “no deal” to remaining?

I personally think there will be a deal but it will be damaging to our economy and will be incapable of being implemented by 31st December.

I have belatedly watched Simon Reeve’s TV series on Cornwall. I was disturbed by the high level of usage of food banks which has obviously been increased by Covid.

Questions were raised in my mind to which I don’t know the answers.

1 Is it correct that Universal Credit is insufficient to feed say a single mum with two children?

2 Is the benefit system fit for purpose?

3 What is the criteria applied to determine if someone can access free food from a food bank?

4 Is there any data to show whether people are accessing free food to free up cash for less necessary expenditure because it is available?

5 How can one of the biggest economies in the world have so many people in poverty particularly children?

6 How do we compare with other countries in terms of use of food banks or their equivalents?

7 How many people using food banks are in employment and how many of those are on zero hour contracts?

Simon really brought home to me the state of our country and I found it distressing and depressing. Covid has obviously made it worse. Will Brexit do the same?

Labour challenges Liz Truss over benefits to UK from Japan FTA. Govt study indicates Japanese exporters will get 83% of the benefit & UK exporters just 17%!

Easy to sign deals when you’re giving away the lion’s share.

Administration of EFL is a joke. Now we find secret behind closed doors discussions to change the structure of our national game without consultation have been taking place. Secondly, an offer of investment in our struggling clubs is rejected without even telling the clubs about it. Thirdly, no policy on how covid affected matches are dealt with. Fourthly, changing the rules of the leagues part way through the season and doing so retrospectively. Not fit for purpose. No wonder the CEO has resigned.

Throughout the pandemic the UK has followed about three weeks behind France and Spain. This should give us a big advantage in implementing control measures in that three week window of opportunity. But no, as the number of infections in France and Spain increased significantly we continued to relax our lockdown measures and now our infection numbers are rising rapidly. Once again we are too late despite the early warning system that is in place.

Once again the government dithers. It is obvious that if masks are needed in shops and other public buildings they are required in schools in areas where children and staff will find it difficult to socially distance. Every school building is different. Let the headteachers, staff, governors and parents decide rather than wait for guidance from the Secretary of State.