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I'm not sure why people who purport to be bright can't understand that.

Do you know much about secondary schools and tertiary? What's fucking with the students is threefold in most respects. 1) They can be in bubbles all day with their friends but can't walk home with them nor see them out of school. It's "safe" for them to be with 30 odd kids all day in classrooms, with 150 in a year bubble, with no masks but they can't see friends or family. That doesn't make sense to them and it scares them. Why is one scenario safe and the other isn't? 2) Uncertainty. Kids like rules and structure and the constant in/out of bubbles and mixed messages causes confusion and fear. 3) Exams. Will they/won't they. Far too many feel they've missed so much and can't catch up. They're right too. They see exams in Wales and Scotland cancelled and question as to when or if theirs been cancelled. So many have so much riding on the months ahead and they're scared after seeing this summers mammoth fuck up. This is all from the perspective of a northern education manager in a major hotspot. There are no easy answers to any of this, god knows we've been trying since March to find them.

Problem is, that haven't done either. We've seem to have done everything half measure since the 1st lockdown and then even those measures seem to have been driven by the needs of the government to placate backers. The whole "get back to the office" / "save the city centres" looked more the agenda of the Tufton St cabal than it did of the government and of course, not long afterwards, it was dropped. That seems pretty atypical of their actions to me and their communication has been woeful. I just hope that as the vaccination rollout gains momentum that we start to regain some sort of normality. As for hospitals and long COVID. Of the staff we've had contract it, and we've had a way bigger number than many places alas, we've had 1 fatality and quite a number hospitalised and 2 of my own team still really struggling despite being home since late October. One of whom has been back in twice now. These were all under 60, way under 60 in some cases and no underlying health issues.

That's a good summary of my position.

I think most people cut them some slack at the start of it all but as it's gone along it's just become more WTF day after day.

We've just cancelled our flights to LA at Easter and rebooked for October. Just got to accept that we were a wee bit optimistic. Similar for a trip to Rome which will get rolled over too.

Pardoning convicted fraudsters who support him is bad enough, but pardoning the Blackwater team responsible for the murder of women and kids??

Duckhunter, sorry, Farage, is correct in one respect, there was never going to be "no deal". When all the nationalistic chest thumping has died down and the details show through, I just hope it secures high value manufacturing jobs in the UK. All this just because a bunch of older white folk and younger thick racists hate Johnny Foreigner, although they hide behind "sovereignty" as they lack the gonads to say otherwise. What a colossal waste of time and money for the sake of a blue passport.

That can't be right. Schools and colleges are entirely COVID secure. The government told us so. I wonder how many grandparents will be infected by grandkids over Xmas without them even knowing they had it? We've made the decision not to visit just in case, especially considering we both teach in the hottest of hotspots and the kids school and 6th form have been rife with it.

Had to go to North London today as my lad had a medical appointment. All I can say if that is T4 then we are fucked as it was as busy as it always is. Also, how Staffordshire has stayed out of T4 is beyond me as it's way worse were I am than it is in Soton.

It's fun to drive around town and you can hoof it about but not a lot of fun on a motorway and lacks grunt.

Oh I don't know, I've got a Fiat 500.

Eurotunnel and Dover closed to outgoing traffic for at least 48hrs. That'll be the same for all crossings to France from 23.00 tonight.

Going to work To help contain the virus, everyone who can work effectively from home should do so. Where people cannot do so - including, but not limited to, people who work in critical national infrastructure, construction, or manufacturing - they should continue to travel to their workplace. This is essential to keeping the country operating and supporting sectors and employers. Public sector employees working in essential services, including childcare or education, should continue to go into work. Where it is necessary for you to work in other people's homes - for example, for nannies, cleaners or tradespeople - you can do so. Otherwise, you should avoid meeting for work in a private home or garden, where COVID-19 Secure measures may not be in place. The risk of transmission can be substantially reduced if COVID-19 secure guidelines are followed closely. Extra consideration should be given to those people at higher risk.

Anyone else doing the Festive 500?

Johnson made a rod for his own back when he played politics regarding Starmer wanting to cancel Xmas.

When I was diagnosed with cancer back in May 2016 I simply asked 3 question. 1) Can you cure it? 2) If you can't cure it can it be managed long term? 3) If the answer is no to questions 1 and 2 how long have I got? My wife was listening to all the details of the cancer, treatment etc. I just heard blah, blah, blah as my mind was racing as to where the will was, how much was my Death In Service worth etc. Thankfully an operation, 6 weeks of daily radiotherapy and weekly 14hr chemo sessions sorted me out as we'd got it early but I won't pretend it wasn't very scary for me, my wife and my kids. It's an awful thing for those going through it but even worse for those who love them.

Similar to one of my mates. 2 to 4 in 72hrs and now his Mrs, who is in the RAF and up in Jockland, can't come home on Xmas leave apparently.

That's proper shit.

Lanes absolutely awash today in Staffordshire and Shropshire. A canoe or hovercraft would have been very useful at times. Nice to see the sun though although the wind was a bitch, yet again.

One thing is for sure, there is a ruck of men in London and the SE shitting themselves about Xmas shopping for the Mrs.

Government goes ballistic when Labour controlled London Boroughs want to close schools 2 days early, nothing said about the tory councils doing the same, due to the big spike in cases. 4 days later it cancels Xmas. Fucking clueless.

Or more about not wanting to disrupt our own kids schooling for our own whims.

Interesting read. 1st time I've seen it explained like that.