Corona Virus

[Lionator]

Just now, Dahnsouff said:

Hopefully just worst case planning

True, rather have it there for if it's needed than not at all.

 

I guess that's the pragmatism that makes Sunak stand out compared to his cabinet colleagues.

[VLC86]

14 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Furlough scheme extended to October. 

I would imagine there will be some conditions and this will only be for industries that can’t go back.

[Dahnsouff]

1 minute ago, Lionator said:

True, rather have it there for if it's needed than not at all.

 

I guess that's the pragmatism that makes Sunak stand out compared to his cabinet colleagues.

He just needs to get his blustering and waffling up to scratch now.....

[Paninistickers]

1 hour ago, rachhere said:

It's frustrating. We are being asked to use our common sense - so can't I use my common sense to conclude it will be easier to keep 2m apart in my spacious back garden which can be accessed without going through the house, rather than meeting someone in a park where there's no benches long enough to sit down and stay that far apart, and there will be countless other people walking around trying to do the same thing. 

That's just it. There's a large minority in the UK who are incapable of using common sense. They want a handwritten, personalised SOP. 

 

The radio phone ins are full of punters who have - all at once  -  diabetes, mental health issues, dogs, kids, parents who need care, living in Wales with grandkids in England etc etc.....and are demanding a bespoke policy for themselves.

[Innovindil]

7.5million on the scheme right now. That's what...£10-15billion a month? 

[Voll Blau]

Hopefully puts a few worried people at ease for a while. Fair play to Sunak for that.

[Innovindil]

Employers currently using the scheme would be able to bring furloughed employees back part-time.

 

This is excellent. That means we can run at half capacity so we can distance properly and just have 3 days of work each.

[Leicester_Loyal]

39 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Not enough right wing content for me!

Now you're speaking my language Stan

 

Furlough extended until October?! Surely 85% + of us will be back at work by the end of July? I'd hope this is just for the small few that work at places with large public gatherings etc.

 

 

[Dahnsouff]

1 minute ago, Voll Blau said:

Hopefully puts a few worried people at ease for a while. Fair play to Sunak for that.

You do know its not his money - right? 

[filbertway]

The cynic in me thinks the tories have plans with all this debt we're building up haha.

 

Looking forward to seeing more details about the furlough scheme.

[Carl the Llama]

1 minute ago, Costock_Fox said:

I would imagine there will be some conditions and this will only be for industries that can’t go back.

One thing that's going to be a problem is a lot of high street retailers will be operating under social distance measures, meaning shorter opening hours plus less staff working a given shift, severely hitting the number of hours available.  I don't know if it's the same for all companies but our furlough contract is such that anybody coming off furlough to start opening shops up again must do so voluntarily.  People aren't going to come off furlough if the 80% of their average hours they get for staying home where they're safe from the virus ends up being less than they'd get working the available hours.

 

2 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

Employers currently using the scheme would be able to bring furloughed employees back part-time.

 

This is excellent. That means we can run at half capacity so we can distance properly and just have 3 days of work each.

This could be a fix, does this mean they'd get full pay for working plus furlough pay for the 'missing' hours?

[CosbehFox]

1 minute ago, Innovindil said:

Employers currently using the scheme would be able to bring furloughed employees back part-time.

 

This is excellent. That means we can run at half capacity so we can distance properly and just have 3 days of work each.

Sensible that - means employers don’t have the awkward choice of staff back in and hope the econmony provides work or hold off and go into furlough until July 

[StanSP]

4 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Now you're speaking my language Stan

 

Furlough extended until October?! Surely 85% + of us will be back at work by the end of July? I'd hope this is just for the small few that work at places with large public gatherings etc.

 

 

Yeah as @Dahnsouff said I think it's worst case and they don't expect everyone on furlough now to still not be able to work by October. I guess it covers businesses that still can't open up or function properly at that time too. 

[Guest Fktf]

2 hours ago, Nalis said:

I know the immunity question is one being looked at but I wonder if its stops you being a 'surface' for carrying it?

 

For an extreme example, if you have had it (and recovered) and you shake someones hand who has it then you may not get it if immunity is a thing. However if you shake some elses hand straight away afterwards, I wonder if you could pass it to them? I was possibly think yes?

Of course. Having immunity doesn't mean your body can kill off the virus as soon as it comes into contact with your skin. Like you say, in this example your hand is just like any other surface that may be contaminated. 

[Leeds Fox]

30 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

A rare moment of praise from me 

 

Good to see the workplace advice placed online - will leaf through after lunch as it could be a source of work for myself and my employer. Starmer pointed this out on PMQs and its been acted upon (being ready for Wednesday) An example of how parliamentary democracy should function. 

I agree that the questions were valid and it would’ve settled the minds of employees/ers who were probably in the dark. 
 

If the relevant people weren’t already working on getting that information out by today then I’d be seriously worried about the state of our leaders. They’d just finished making the announcements of the plan moving forward, they hadn’t had the chance to outline the strategies planned to implement it. 
 

Some of the questions just seemed to be people digging at things that were going to come out in due course (even though that needed to be almost immediately). Some of the questions were almost being asked on behalf of the ‘lower intelligent’ parts of society. 
 

The initial brief on Sunday wasn’t the best, but anyone with an ounce of common sense could see what the direction was. Even then, we were told that after Monday’s discussions more information would be available.
 

Regardless of what happened initially, the way we move forward, Johnson and his advisors are going to be hounded whether they turn right or left, move forward or backwards. I just hope that the decisions to come are of the interest of the country (in health terms) rather than trying to appease a frustrated population. I won’t even get into the ‘economy vs safety’ argument because that’s very much a moral one I’m far too uneducated to comment on. 

[Leicester_Loyal]

If anyone can sit at home for 6 months and not get bored, I salute you. I get bored after a few days off.

[st albans fox]

 

1 hour ago, rachhere said:

It's frustrating. We are being asked to use our common sense - so can't I use my common sense to conclude it will be easier to keep 2m apart in my spacious back garden which can be accessed without going through the house, rather than meeting someone in a park where there's no benches long enough to sit down and stay that far apart, and there will be countless other people walking around trying to do the same thing. 

 

if you are in someone’s garden, what happens if it starts to piss it down unexpectedly.......   or if the guest needs a wee ...... the temptation to ‘pop’ into the house is a problem. 
 

and the likelihood that the partner pops into the garden or the kids ..... I guess they’re trying to avoid the unpredictable consequences 

 

Will your garden guest want to sit down?  presumably you will have a wipe to apply to the chair and also the handles to the side gate .....

 

I also think that having to go to a public place makes these meetings less likely (which is fundamentally what they want)  

[Innovindil]

25 minutes ago, Carl the Llama said:

This could be a fix, does this mean they'd get full pay for working plus furlough pay for the 'missing' hours?

That would be my assumption, but tbf it doesn't spell it out in bbc's initial report. 

[Finnaldo]

Extending furlough to October is a good move, you’d imagine we’ll be seeing more people return to work over the coming weeks so the bill will shorten. Allowing part-time returns to work whilst remaining on furlough allows a lot of businesses to get the gears turning again in prep for a full return. Reboots our economy regardless of the Covid threat level. 
 

It seems a well-planned out strategy from the Chancellor, arguably been put in a harder situation than needed by colleagues in other areas but given that simply extending furlough or simply putting an end on it could have had serious backlash in different ways he seems to have manoeuvred it pretty well. I had a few friends complaining prematurely that the return to work meant an end to furlough and it’s clarified to them and I’m sure many others that whilst the support will still be there, we’ll be looking to steadily remobilise. 
 

Pragmatic and strategic leadership, very refreshing in my opinion.

[Guest MattP]

39 minutes ago, Lionator said:

I guess that's the pragmatism that makes Sunak stand out compared to his cabinet colleagues.

I think any cabinet minister would look pretty good if they only had to announce they were paying people thousands of pounds to stay at home.

 

I just hope those people remember this in a few years time when the tax rises are implemented to pay for it.

[reynard]

12 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

 

 

if you are in someone’s garden, what happens if it starts to piss it down unexpectedly.......   or if the guest needs a wee ...... the temptation to ‘pop’ into the house is a problem. 
 

and the likelihood that the partner pops into the garden or the kids ..... I guess they’re trying to avoid the unpredictable consequences 

 

Will your garden guest want to sit down?  presumably you will have a wipe to apply to the chair and also the handles to the side gate .....

 

I also think that having to go to a public place makes these meetings less likely (which is fundamentally what they want)  

Well my 90 year old mother almost certainly would in a public park, that is if she could even get there in the first place. She does though have a garden accessible from the road which would be much safer for her to meet me than in a public park. But then that's just common sense.

[Webbo]

Looks like the rubbish tips might reopen in the county on Monday.

[Dahnsouff]

Think this whole "public green space" vs "back garden green space" is a tough one. I can 100% see WHY it has been done (For many reasons previously given) but this is almost not relevant.

Just feel that the true challenge here is consistency.

Whilst there are plenty that could quite safely and conscientiously have visitors on their property, it would render those hosting and probably those visiting no need to (Sorry, but its the mantra) BE ALERT.

The whole mindset of being outside of your property, with all its facilities and familiarity, it becomes "too easy" to just grab a cuppa, follow the host to the kitchen whilst chatting, pop to the loo, fetch the newspaper, etc, etc.

So the lowest common denominator becomes to prevent all from have garden visitors and to make use of public green spaces.

[Dahnsouff]

1 minute ago, Webbo said:

Looks like the rubbish tips might reopen in the county on Monday.

My old man will be beside himself with delight 

[Webbo]

1 minute ago, Dahnsouff said:

My old man will be beside himself with delight 

Me and him both. I've got sacks of garden waste to dump.