A third wave is going to happen regardless of what we do, but thanks to high levels of immunity in all the most vulnerable groups, serious illness and deaths will be a fraction of the previous waves, even if case numbers are high. Boris even said there would inevitably be a rise in cases and deaths as life gets back to normal, so what has changed?
My sense from talking to people and from observing others when out and about is that people are taking back their lives regardless of what the government decrees.
The Daily Telegraph's lead is: "June 21 unlocking called off".
It says a delay to the further easing of Covid restrictions in England - expected to be confirmed on Monday - is happening because the government "doesn't want to do anything that risks going backwards".
The paper asks where is the "freedom-loving, bulldog spirit" that Prime Minister Boris Johnson showed before he became PM?
It says he has now resigned himself to a four-week delay in the lifting of Covid restrictions.
"Summer freedom on hold till July", says the Daily Mail.
It reports that the move is likely to enrage MPs, business leaders and hospitality chiefs.
Under the headline "be bold, Boris, and end our nightmare", its leader sees irony in the fact that the prime minister, whom it describes as "liberty-loving", may "refuse to cast off the country's shackles".
No doubt they've leaked that a 4 week delay is being considered so that we're all grateful when a 2 week delay is announced. But then when the new 'freedom day' approaches it will be pushed back again.
SIR GRAHAM BRADY: There is no excuse for this further catastrophic delay to liberty. It's time to treat us all like grown-ups
SIR GRAHAM BRADY: At first the justification for extreme measures was that it was just for a few weeks while NHS capacity was expanded to meet the challenge. Then it shifted to a drive to get infections really low (Ministers always insist that they aren't pursuing 'zero-Covid', but the result is the same). Then it was necessary to lock down until the vulnerable groups were vaccinated. Now they have moved on to avoiding not just this 'variant of concern' but every one that might ever develop in the future. If we accept this logic we will either never be released, or at best we'll be doomed to a never-ending hokey-cokey of lockdown and reopening. Once we accept that Covid is now an endemic disease that will return every year, sometimes in a mild form, sometimes in a more serious strain, we have to find a sensible way of living with it while using common sense measures to mitigate its effect. Improved hygiene and booster vaccines for the more vulnerable will be key to this effort, just as they are in the response to seasonal flu.
Several papers pick up on comments made by the Leader of the Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, about the delay to fully lifting lockdown restrictions in England.
Mr Rees-Mogg told a podcast on the Conservative Home website that you shouldn't "run society purely to stop the hospitals being full" - adding that "the NHS is there to serve the British people," rather than the other way around.
The Times says that with "discomfort over the plan spreading beyond the hardcore of lockdown sceptics", the prime minister is working to convince moderate MPs to vote in favour of his plan to extend the restrictions on Wednesday.
Comments
My sense from talking to people and from observing others when out and about is that people are taking back their lives regardless of what the government decrees.
At some point bullets have to be bitten although it would appear that standing on the edge dithering is Boris' preferred method of Governing.
The Daily Telegraph's lead is: "June 21 unlocking called off".
It says a delay to the further easing of Covid restrictions in England - expected to be confirmed on Monday - is happening because the government "doesn't want to do anything that risks going backwards".
The paper asks where is the "freedom-loving, bulldog spirit" that Prime Minister Boris Johnson showed before he became PM?
It says he has now resigned himself to a four-week delay in the lifting of Covid restrictions.
"Summer freedom on hold till July", says the Daily Mail.
It reports that the move is likely to enrage MPs, business leaders and hospitality chiefs.
Under the headline "be bold, Boris, and end our nightmare", its leader sees irony in the fact that the prime minister, whom it describes as "liberty-loving", may "refuse to cast off the country's shackles".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-57449963
The world playbook.
SIR GRAHAM BRADY: At first the justification for extreme measures was that it was just for a few weeks while NHS capacity was expanded to meet the challenge. Then it shifted to a drive to get infections really low (Ministers always insist that they aren't pursuing 'zero-Covid', but the result is the same). Then it was necessary to lock down until the vulnerable groups were vaccinated. Now they have moved on to avoiding not just this 'variant of concern' but every one that might ever develop in the future. If we accept this logic we will either never be released, or at best we'll be doomed to a never-ending hokey-cokey of lockdown and reopening. Once we accept that Covid is now an endemic disease that will return every year, sometimes in a mild form, sometimes in a more serious strain, we have to find a sensible way of living with it while using common sense measures to mitigate its effect. Improved hygiene and booster vaccines for the more vulnerable will be key to this effort, just as they are in the response to seasonal flu.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9680137/SIR-GRAHAM-BRADY-no-excuse-delay-liberty.html
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/fury-as-boris-johnson-is-set-to-delay-freedom-day-for-a-month/ar-AAL0vRh?ocid=msedgntp
Mr Rees-Mogg told a podcast on the Conservative Home website that you shouldn't "run society purely to stop the hospitals being full" - adding that "the NHS is there to serve the British people," rather than the other way around.
The Times says that with "discomfort over the plan spreading beyond the hardcore of lockdown sceptics", the prime minister is working to convince moderate MPs to vote in favour of his plan to extend the restrictions on Wednesday.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-57492239