Like seatbelts and speed limits? 
they are government imposed restrictions.
See what I did there? Used something to push my agenda. If people stopped doing that and just followed science insteadā¦
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I think we can all agree that propaganda and coercion, whichever side youāre on, is a bad thing.
Our vaccine rate in the UK is actually pretty good, and arguably one of the reasons we are doing well relative to the continent at present is the fact that our politicians didnāt spread anti-AZ propoganda. Our most at-risk population members have therefore had the optimal vaccine for them.
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Why would anyone be comfortable with restrictionsā¦ they are a means to an end. The problem is without everyone following them the end sails further and futher into the sunset.
I dont like restrictions but I understand why they are needed and see many of them as sensible (not all, there are quite a few stupid ones)
Its not a one or the other, you can dislike them but agree they are needed.
I respect everyoneās right to choose (to a point) but I dont have to respect their choice. Everyone has the freedom to drink and drive even though its mandated/law you cant but I dont have to respect them for making the choice nor do I have to like it and I will be quite happy to point it out (as will the police)
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Yeah they screwed up by trying to say they didnt help, they (govās) were facing massive mask issues themselves and when you see the scalping that went on during that time it didnt help.
They should have taken control of distribution and travel but many govs had poor leaders (trump/boris) so that helped compound the problems.
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I donāt agree neccesarily. Restrictions tend to fail (and therefore come to an end) because they are ignored wholesale by enough of the population.
Just reminds me of the old adage, Opinions are like ars*holes ā Everyoneās got one
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Understand where you are coming from, but I do think comparing a respiratory virus with driving a 1.5 tonne lethal weapon is a little extreme.
And risking the wrath of @Revels by mentioning buses, I drive a 10 tonne vehicle that isnāt even fitted with a seatbelt 
In a way but you could be a lower risk than if you went around for 7 days spreading covid to unvaccinated (no sensible measures like masks/distancing etc) in say London with your work, tube, home, pubs, shops all innocently risking themselves because you dont care, you could have much more contact with direct implications for more.
At least drink drivers realise what they are doing is wrong, quite a few hardcore anti-vax nuts dont and dont care.
Hell think about patient zero for the kent strain of covid, it had to start somewhere and it ripped through a lot of people.
At least we agree on one thing 
Specifically with masks, LFT tests etc, I think the argument is pretty simple.
The NHS is on the brink, we are in November, the worst of this yearās crises - by all accounts far worse than anything in the NHSā history, will be in January - February. Even a small rise in cases could be disastrous.
Itās a careful line of course. You could say, for example, that people who are overweight should lose weight because their condition is likely (as is well proven) to cause significant strain on the NHS. You could say that smokers are far more likely to suffer sever syptoms and/or medical conditions and therefore should be forced to stop - but obviously we donāt want those things, thereās still needs to be an amount of personal choice even where that puts a strain on society.
But we are still in a pandemic, and that warrants special measures that are not usually in place, in order to protect society. Another lockdown - which really is not off the cards at all - will hurt businesses and affect all of our basic freedoms. For that reason, small sacrifices now like mandatory mask wearing is staving off bigger potential problems over winter. I do think vaccination has become over stigmatised and over focussed on, but on the other hand something has to be done or we may end up with a non-functional healthcare system by mid feb (we already may almost have one).
If we had a well funded healthcare system, a low hospitalisation rate, lots of beds, doctors, nurses and an NHS saying āsure, bring this on we can copeā, Iād feel very differently, but lets face it that is not the reality we are in right now. If you or me or someone we love gets cancer before the end of the year, and they arenāt able to get basic surgery because all the beds and surgeries are full then weād probably feel far more strongly about forcing such measures.
Ultimately not everyone can have a choice. Lots of people choosing to not care about covid means other people will probably die unnecessarily when they certainly didnāt choose to. We are still in crises, in a global pandemic, and therefore for a limited time itās perfectly justifiable to limit some peopleās choices in order to preserve life and keep society working.
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If youāve had anything other than Covid, weāve effectively had a non-functional healthcare system for the last 20 months. So many friends have had to resort to e.g. paying the excess and going via Bupa, rather than wait forever for minor surgery on the NHS.
There comes a point (and I would say weāve already passed it) where continued restrictions only succeed in making the problems worse.
My bold - I donāt believe it is justified. At all. It might have been justified in Mar 2020, but now, post-vaccine, in a world where people have ādone their bitā by complying with 2020ās restrictions, and willingly taking the vaccine, it really is time the government stepped up and did its bit.
What do we get instead? A moribund NHS and a government drowning in corruption and sleaze.
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Totally agree with this.
The NHS needs funding and not stripped for parts to private companies.
Letās improve the NHS, so we donāt get a disaster every winter
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With so many broken promises and mixed messages from our illustrious leaders is it any wonder that so many people have such different ideas/opinions.
Maybe what we really need is someone who can get all the information out to the people.
I donāt disagree they need to fund the NHS properly at all. They wonāt - they want to see it die so they can sell it off to their friends.
But also itās too late for this winter. Even if they pumped a huge amount of money in right now, thereād still be a bed shortage and staff shortage for the next several months at least. It takes years to grow the healthcare system, we donāt have that.
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We donāt have that, I agree, but itās because of the prior state of the NHS. The Covid issue exacerbates the problem, but is not the direct cause. Which is why I donāt agree with restrictions.
I donāt really get how these things directly relate, though. The NHS is underfunded so we should just let it die?
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Not at all. But we fix it by dealing with the issues, not by enforcing sociopathic restrictions on the populace.
Iād love that, but again I just donāt see any fix that would be quick enough to get us through winter. I know Ā£1000 payments to retain staff were mentioned, but they only stop it getting worse.
The latest bill the Tories are shoving through is essentially privatisation by stealth.
Itās the culmination of a long game the Tories have played since they got back in government after the Blair/Brown years. Massively cutting funding and running down services, so they can claim is not working and private business is the only way.
Itās an absolute disgrace.
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Agreed, but imagine the cost of having LFTs every other day. Perhaps unvaccinated people should have to pay to have LFTs every other day!
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