Last month, leading SAGE member and renowned Communist Susan Michie caused a stir (among sceptics, at least) by suggesting that mask-wearing and social distancing should become part of our “normal” routine behaviour and stay in place “forever“. Unfortunately, her view is not quite as fringe as we might hope.
New polling by Ipsos MORI for the Economist suggests that a high percentage of Brits believe a number of lockdown restrictions should stay in place “permanently”, including nighttime curfews (19%), travel quarantine (35%), and face masks (a whopping 40%!). Well over 40% of Brits also believe that only those who have been vaccinated against Covid – and are able to prove it – should be allowed to travel abroad (“permanently”).
Matthew Holehouse, a British Politics Correspondent at the Economist, says this could be an anomalous result because we’re living through a “very strange time for public opinion”: “Do some people struggle to differentiate how they feel now from how they’ll feel once covid is gone?” Either way, the results are alarming.
The write-up from the Economist is worth reading if you can get past the paywall.
Stop Press: There’s bad news from YouGov, too. Its latest polling suggests that more than one-fifth of Brits are “very nervous” about lockdown restrictions ending and more than 50% are either “very nervous” or “fairly nervous”.
What kind of nation have we become?
The YouGov findings are also worth viewing in full.
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Once upon a time we were a free country – but even now i suspect people who want to stay in perpetual lockdown will be permitted to to so
If THEY want to stay in perpetual lockdown, let em!!!
Just leave the rest of us to TRY to return to NORMAL.
Less cars on the road. Less people at the places you want to go to. Less people all over the place. Winnner-winner,
Fewer maybe?
I’ve been waiting to use this
:))
It’s a good job that apostrophe is correctly placed
Better grammar a requirement!
Are you using grammar as a verb there?
Less of a quantity, fewer of a number. Less potato, fewer potatoes or, as in the government’s case, less stupidity, fewer idiots.
Absolutely right. I am sitting in the bar of a hotel near Aviemore; you wouldn’t believe the behaviour of some of the guests, mainly English, who are convinced that the virus is slumbering until you stand up. One woman has put her mask on to move from one chair to another, less than one foot away, because a friend was joining her for a drink. Honestly, it was almost comedic. But these people, retired and well-spoken so possibly intelligent, are the kind of people who think we should all stay hiding behind our sofas for years.
nailed it
I recently watched a couple, who were sat outside drinking, put masks on to get up and walk 10 paces, take the masks off to smoke a cigarette, then put the masks back on to return to their table. Utterly moronic.
as long as they were filtered cigarettes – that keeps the smoke out
“who were sat”?
Since we’re in pedant mode today it’s “who were sitting”.
Apologies for being a Dick!
PS I did give your comment the thumbs up.
They can. In fact, I hope they do.
They gave chosen the country of the living dead.
We belong to the land of the living.
I’ve seen a man forget for a second that there was a deadly pandemic ongoing within the cafe I had visited for lunch. he made his way to a free table and as the waitress came over, “Oh no, my mask!” he said. “Don’t worry, you’ve made it here now” replied the smiling unmasked waitress.
“No, no. My fault” as he takes out a mask from his pocket and puts it on.
Orders his food.
She leaves.
He takes it off.
I am looking at this with my jaw on the floor.
The insanity continues. Scenes like this will make wonderful material for a sketch show in the future provided we’re not going to censor humour as well. It really is too ridiculous.
I’m not sure they actually ‘believe’ it in any real sense. It doesn’t reach that level of cognitive process. They just ‘do’ it when ordered.
‘Ja, mein Fuhrer!”
Just came across I nice quotation from one of the Rebus novels :
“… it was so much the underworld that you had to fear so much as the overworld”
It’s frightening how easily brainwashed most people are.
If there is a brain to wash.
Exactly.
“well-spoken so possibly intelligent” – quite, as I pointed out to a “gentleman” who informed us “oiks” on the way back from the London march that he was “well educated” (so obviously knew better than us) – education does not necessarily equal intelligence.
And intelligence does not, necessarily, correlate with rationality. It’s the latter that’s in short supply these days, at least among those classes of people that are attempting to run our society. As Orwell wrote in 1984: “If there is hope, it lies with the Proles”.
It’s good old fashioned “common sense” that’s seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth
I don’t disagree, I was using “rationality” as a synonym for “common sense”. But I stand by my thesis: you’re more likely to find rationality among the ‘lumpenproletariat’ (as the middle class wokerati tend to characterise the good yeomen of this land), than amongst the Guardian-munching, lentil-reading classes of Islington, Hampstead, etc.
As an old boss of mine used to say “the trouble with common sense is it’s not very common”.
Good point Ed T thank you.
Sometimes quite the opposite in fact.
This is one of the most idiotic ‘rules’ there is. I would like to interview some of these obedient people to see what theories they come up for its existence. Might be good for a laugh!
Almost as idiotic as the ‘one way’ barbecue system recommended by some ‘expert’ last year !
True Story: 22 Days Inside a New Zealand Quarantine Facility
Dr. Sam Bailey
The shocking, true story of what happened to Mary Jane Newman inside a New Zealand Managed Isolation Quarantine facility (MIQ).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ocDKEFsUY
Stand in South Hill Park Bracknell every Sunday from 10am meet fellow lockdown sceptics, keep yourself sane, make new friends and have a laugh.
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I don’t understand telegram, i happen to sit in a church on a Sunday morning with rather a lot of lockdown sceptics – i take your point though
139 pages of rules and regulations for “returnees” in NZs MIQ https://www.miq.govt.nz/assets/operations-framework-managed-isolation-and-quarantine-facilities.pdf
You need a free Press to have a free country!
Can one have a free press under private ownership?
Under government ownership, then?
Good God No!
“What kind of nation have we become?” Regrettably one to get out of if it becomes possible.
We did (get out of Blair’s Britain) 20 years ago. Here in Spain it’s not much better. Our 26 yr old son manages a nightclub on the costas. The owner has passed on the Catalunya edict that he must either be subject to the gene therapy, or undergo a daily antibody test at €8 a pop. He’s opted for the latter.
Still less than 50%, though!!
Exactly. Let’s focus instead on the fact that the majority don’t want any of that rubbish.
52% wanted Brexit FFS and that was considered a mandate. So let’s push on and kill off all of those horrible measures.
I voted for Brexit but I wanted hard, fast and total. Our vote certainly put the wind up the globalists (G’s) and contributed to our current plight. The G’s thought their Reset was under threat and the shit-show started.
That is why Brexit is being thwarted at every opportunity. That is why the Union will be destroyed before 2030. And also why our population will be destroyed before 2030.
Under UK first past the post 52% is a mandate.
One where we listen to a self selected set of people who answer polls as though it is actual public opinion.
In a GDPR world is impossible for marketeers to get a representative sample without breaking the law.
You may as well canvas opinion on Twitter. Probably the same set.
I do yougov polls and they don’t stop you replying to the same survey multiple times … They’re meaningless …
“once covid is gone” Covid has gone, in the sense of a public health emergency requiring special measures. Arguably it was such a thing for a few weeks in spring 2020.
The results are not at all surprising. Propaganda works, and the total exposure to covid propaganda on TV, radio, posters, newspapers and all over social media has probably surpassed any propaganda campaign in history.
The UK govt, led by that well-known closet Libertarian Boris Johnson, was a major financial and political and intellectual contributor to that campaign. A PM often seemingly defended by LS as the hapless victim of nasty bullies.
Yeah think they missed an answer on the Economist multiple choice poll
a) For a month after July 19th
b) Until covid-19 is under control globally
c) Permanently, regardless of covid-19
or
d) Stick your restrictions up your arse!
Millions of these gutless, small-minded, cowardly wimps should be marched off over the nearest cliff. These people are lemmings.
No need to march them. Just tell them that at the bottom of the cliff they’ll be saaaaaaaafe.
In order to save lives and protect the nhs you have to throw yourself off the nearest cliff………
I’ve been saying the same for 12 months and I think some actually would. It’s the logical thing to do if you genuinely believe that you are responsible for the health others.
No need for anything except waiting until the next virus activates the ADE in the jabbed.
This is a blatant insult to lemmings!
Another one of those “worth reading full” links which means registering .
Don’t worry, it’s another one of those that really aren’t worth reading in full as it will make your blood boil.
First, polls should always be taken with a large pinch of salt.
Second, they’re sheep. Even at 40% they’re in a minority, and as less and less people wear a pointless mask, the sheep will just follow the herd.
There will of course remain a hardcore of fanatics, but once they’re in a tiny minority they will be forced back to hanging around on street corners crying “the end of the world is nigh” or whatever else they were doing before Covid.
I read somewhere about one of the baltic states (Estonia maybe?) dropping the mask requirement. The poster said that at first a lot of people carried on, but within a couple of weeks, hardly anyone was left. So, I think you are right about the herd.
I have noticed that months ago at the private school through whose grounds I pass daily: once a noticeable minority didn’t bother to wear masks anymore though still being mandated, the vast majority did so within a week, and the few holdouts then gave in a week later.
In a town in Somerset known for its free-thinking etc, masks are not mandated everywhere and actually I entered a shop maskless, despite seeing everyone else all masked up, went up to counter where the maskless sales woman dealt with my order with a smile and without batting an eyelid. The same went for a bookshop. I think the herd need to see some maskless people going about their business boldly and happily before they remove theirs. It is the herd looking for confirmation thing…
The timid watch the brave until they feel it is absolutely safe to get back in the water. They are likely the same people who buy at the very peak of the stock market.
Reminded me of local elections, in which the majority don’t actually vote, with turnouts being around 30% or so in many places.
And people wonder how the nazis ever came to power… It’s also strange how the start of lockdowns throughout Europe happened almost 100 years to the day after the founding of the Nazi Party… Our society is blind and forgetful.
I had a feeling that extremism would rear its ugly head this decade (the world was rapidly becoming economically and morally bankrupt). By other means maybe, but be in no doubt that this is a form of (effectively totalitarian) extremism we are living through. And maybe worse to come.
History repeating itself?.. never..
Through a PR electoral system.
“New polling by Ipsos MORI for the Economist”
Ha ha ha ha ha!
I mean, Ipsos MORI! Take a look at who funds this, to see how it moulds to the narrative!
Just another one of those coincidences that Ipsos mori translates to “they die”.
No it doesn’t. You could just about force it to mean ‘[somebody wants] those same people to die’, but basically it’s meaningless – just like their polls.
Polling paid for by the Economist…I think that says it all. These Economist-funded poll results just happen to indicate the public are hot to trot for more restrictions. Hogwash. None of this junk can be trusted at this point. Polling is being used as social engineering.
”and what result do you want this pole to achieve sir?”
I’m generally sceptical about a lot of these types of polls, in the sense that I don’t attach much value to their results (which is different to whether I agree or disagree with any particular position),
For instance, how nervous do you feel about covid-19 restrictions lifting. What counts as nervous? Nervous you will get infected and die? Nervous that you will get ill? Nervous that you will get a lot of hassle for behaving “normally”. The questions (or maybe the presentation of the results) is so vague as to be meaningless.
And in the bar graphs, most of them add up to over 100%. I’d guess that the numbers are overlapped (so “until covid is over” includes “for a month” because covid will not be over in a month), but it is pretty strange.
Plus, I expect the reality to be that, once restrictions are eased, the nervous nellies will relax pretty quickly.
Re. you last paragraph – it depends very much on leadership and it’s aims.
‘Nuff said.
But don’t suck the comfort blanket of thinking the polls are the problem.
I’m not sucking on “the comfort blanket of thinking the polls are the problem”. My point so far as they are concerned is that I don’t attach much value to the results on way or the other. They are, essentially, just white noise.
And re. my last paragraph, maybe i should have said once/if.
My point is that I find that the poll results as reported are very much in line with what I see happening, and what I hear people saying. I don’t like it, but it looks pretty representative.
I agree that this could change if….. but current political leaders are at best weak poll followers of little courage or brain – not brave leaders.
I know the polls ask leading questions because I’m a YouGov member, but I agree that they do reflect people’s views to a fairly large extent. I think it’s wishful thinking to dismiss them as fake. That said, I also believe many people’s minds can and will be changed, given time and the right stimulus.
Minds? What minds?
Well, whatever people have between the ears. It baffles me, but I guess we’re all different.
My view, too. Polling organisations need to make a profit – being serially wrong is not in their interests.
Apart from that, the general findings gel with experience. Which is not to say that there can’t be a sudden tipping point to a different general perception : the GBP is infinitely malleable, and current ‘leadership’ is without intellectual or moral compass – attracted by any passing magnet.
Probably, but I think that so much depends on the framing of the question as most people are easily led- ask any salesman or woman!
The questions are skewed. I no longer do it.
I’m a building surveyor and a large amount of my work comes from social housing providers (housing associations, local authorities etc) and despite the fact that it has always been perfectly within the rules to continue to survey their properties, they are by nature bed-wetting, busy body virtue signallers, so most of my work dried up until this April. Since then, I have found, almost without exception, that nobody wants me to wear a mask when I enter their homes and everyone is absolutely sick of this. The sense that we have been taken for a ride seems to be taking hold, especially since ‘freedom day’ was postponed amd the G7 shenanigans.
I don’t believe the opinion polls in the least. I meet and converse with hundreds of people each week and nobody (except for a few obvious nutters) is actually on board any more.
I was in Scotland seeing family this week. My sister (a doctor) is also keen for restrictions to continue. I didn’t push the issue as I was there to take the kids on holiday to help with her mental health issues partly caused by lockdowns. Sounded like a BBC narrative though.
Saw my uncle who is on oxygen for a terminal lung condition and will likely die this year regardless. He’s keen on masks but is quite keen that people live a life rather than try to protect him. I did a test before seeing him and will get a stock of the tests before my next visit.
There are retirement bungalows next door to my house. They are all fed up with the whole thing and would not wish for anyone to have their life ruined to protect them. They most want to play golf and see their family.
People who want restrictions to continue are just utterly selfish.
I was surprised by my sister’s view. She is not selfish. She gives more than she gets. I think it’s the propaganda.
Point taken.
Most of them are well-off, have company at home, jobs and incomes largely unaffected by restrictions and plenty of private space.
‘I’m all right, Jack!’
Ain’t that just the case? Those I know, who are loving their lockdown, are mostly retired with comfortable homes. Mind you they all had their jabs but are still waiting to go on holiday…
They’re pensioners and they’ve had their jabs? That’s another drain on the treasury taken care of then)
I am semi-retired, I have a comfortable home, I have not had ‘the jabs’, nor will I, and I have been against this nonsense even before it started.
Definitely. My sister in law admitted this without realising when the ‘delay’ was announced, saying that it was the right thing to do and she could still go out for tea, shopping, visits and so on. I have to admit I nearly lost it with her- pointing out that there are people living in bedsits in big cities or business owners that may have used the last of their cash reserves preparing for ‘freedom day’ that could well be feeling suicidal right now, but apparently it won’t hurt them to wait a few weeks…
Don’t forget Jill.
In the spirit of political correctness, etc.
For many it’s fear, for some of what they believe to be an existential threat to mankind, for others of being thought delinquent.
True.
How many of them are public-sector jobsworths?
Who, let it NOT be forgotten, have not suffered any financial penalty for the past 16 months.
Exactly! I hate how the vulnerable and the elderly are used to push their disgusting agenda. I’m classed as “vulnerable” as I take an immune-suppressant drug to control RA but I have never, EVER, expected anyone to behave in such a way to “protect” me! My health is my responsibility, and mine alone. I look after myself and take necessary precautions like hand washing but not using that sanitising gloop, and I have never worn a filthy face nappy. I’ve been absolutely fine, trying to live life as best as I can.
My Dad also takes a drug for RA – his comment on all of this is that it is the biggest farce in history. He will have no truck with it & never has!
‘My sister (a doctor) is also keen for restrictions to continue … I was there … to help with her mental health issues partly caused by lockdowns.’ Sounds like a form of Stockholm syndrome, where captives, as Huxley foretold, come to love their captivity, even though they are free to come and go. I hope her problems are temporary and not too serious and she makes a full recovery. The lockdowns have had a debilitating effect on millions, including me, however, I’m sixty five, have arthritis, an enlarged prostate, a back injury, some undiagnosed liver or kidney problem, undiagnosed chest / throat problems, some minor neurological problem that gives me numbness and tingling in the little and ring fingers in both hands and other problems about which the NHS is inclined to do bugger all. I’m not jabbed and have never had a test. I don’t wear a mask unless I think the shop staff are going to make a fuss, I don’t bother about keeping my distance from others, I hug and shake hands and I’m not soiling my nappy at the thought that I could be killed by an inattentive HGV driver, a falling satellite, a badly wired… Read more »
I think all the ‘permanently’ proponents can safely be diagnosed as having a permanent mental health problem.
When such a significant proportion of the population exhibit such raw and stunning stupidity, democratic civilisation is doomed.
I am of that opinion since encountering the first teenage Millennials.
The majority of people have always been stunningly stupid. If democracy ‘worked’ before Covid, it was because the gibberings of the stunningly stupid were largely ignored.
Hopefully yes. Imagine a world without idiots. Oh bliss.
I think it goes way deeper than that.
The old saying that the majority of people are idiots has been irrevocably confirmed over the course of this shitshow.
We are surrounded by imbeciles, morons and idiots – some of them are our families.
Rats or feral pidgeons have more sense of self-preservation than our virtuous, shallow members of this so called “society”.
The trouble is, social media amplifies the problem as the bedwetters set each other off on an endless trajectory of panicking unnecessarily,
The biggest problem I’ve had in understanding the bogus Covid hocus pocus is whether those of us who are refusing the jabs are Orwell’s IngSoc party members or his living-on-the-fringes outcast proles.
Indeed- I don’t ‘do’ Facebook or Twitter and most of my close fiends are the same so our views are invisible to those who live on social media.
It’s nature’s way. We’ve lifted ourselves above the basic threats to survival so another evolutionary mechanism is required and nature has the solution: suicidal stupidity. The idiots have the jabs and the jabs take out the stupid, just as vaccines take out the very old, the terminally ill and the constitutionally weak.
PS: ‘just as vaccines take out the very old … ‘ should have read: just as viruses …
I like your take on this. Looking back, worrying about survival, providing for yourself and yours, feathering the nest – those were the focal points of humanity. These days – worrying about correct pronouns.
Fuck them. We cannot do the thinking for them, they’ve already given the task to the state.
That was the objective of SPI-B – the induction of mental illness.
““Do some people struggle to differentiate how they feel now from how they’ll feel once covid is gone?” I suspect some people struggle to realise there are different positions to differentiate!
Some academics have argued that humans only because truly self conscious around the time of the early Greeks. Personally, I suspect a lot of people still have not.
Sadly, I think your last statement is close to the mark. They are not conscious higher entities, they are just husks, running on survival algorithms and no more advanced than your average alley-cat.
Top Cat begs to differ …..
What about “Brain”?
Some academics have argued that humans became unconscious sometime around the time that the company “Nokia” shot to stardom.
I used to think that the susceptibility to utter bollocks (in the form of propaganda) of the German population in the 1930s was an anomalous combination of circumstances.
We see now that it wasn’t – evil lies in a much wider bovine compliance that can be easily induced.
had to red it twice but well put
It’s the perpetual human condition, we were wrong to ignore those who warned us throughout history.
I guess those who want permanent restrictions should just brick up their doors and do us all favour and never go out, they probably never do anyway.
That’s the thing though – they do. In their own cars, taxis, private jets, to second homes, birthday parties (a certain Sky ‘presenter’) etc.
They have insulated incomes, lots of private space, company at home and substantial savings. Tight restrictions barely affect their quality of life at all.
For the love of God, Montresor …… do it!
Disturbing and depressing.
Of course, many of these people are well-off, have a decent amount of internal space at home and often also a garden, don’t live alone and have a job that is largely unaffected by restrictions.
What’s that expression again?
‘I’m all right, Jack!’
If anything proves party politics is dead it’s this. I thought that mind set was supposed to be Tory? I bet they aren’t Tories…
Definitely. My sister in law admitted this without realising when the ‘delay’ was announced, saying that it was the right thing to do and she could still go out for tea, shopping, visits and so on. I have to admit I nearly lost it with her- pointing out that there are people living in bedsits in big cities or business owners that may have used the last of their cash reserves preparing for ‘freedom day’ that could well be feeling suicidal right now, but apparently it won’t hurt them to wait a few weeks…
A nation of bedwetters!
I thought the B-word was banned here?
Blundering bedwetters bedazzled by bastards.
Bullshitting bloated bastards?
The waitress at the pub at which we have just eaten says that she will continue to wear a mask even if restrictions are lifted as she just feels safer with one on. She knows three people with ”long Covid” and is terrified of catching it herself. I can sympathise with her because she is on her own and there is no one to look after her if she is ill, but she would be in the same situation if she had flu or glandular fever or a whole host of other diseases or infections which could incapacitate her. She is also middle aged, morbidly obese and struggles to breathe in her mask.
I’m not angry with her for BEING frightened but I am furious that she has BEEN frightened deliberately by the PTB.
When we could all have been frightened into losing weight instead, which at least would have had some benefits.
Sighs, and goes to see if there is a Magnum left.
And today’s total of deaths with morbid obesity…
I think the coming ‘global food crisis’, with panicky reports of ‘supply chain’ shortages and interruptions, rationing to protect our ‘food security’ (Queue, Wait, Eat?), is going to ensure that the war on obesity is waged with vigour. Supermarkets will be converted into distribution centres for prepared (and medicated) ready meals that we can reheat in our low carbon footprint micro ovens.
In five years time the streets will be clogged with hordes of shuffling zombies whose folds of loose skin are decorated with dead flat, intensely coloured tattoos rather like the designs on deflated balloons.
Masks have never been effective inbound. Even the fanatics don’t claim that.
Ordinary people think they are though
They do- ‘small price to pay if it keeps us alive!’ was one comment I heard just after the mandate was introduced. ‘How?’ I asked, while trying to hide my incredulity. ‘They must help block the virus’ was the reply. How can you argue with that? The bloke in question was sat in a cafe waiting for his coffee, took his mask off to drink it, then put it back on again, safe in the belief that what he had just done would keep him safe from Covid.
Ideology/Quasi-religion.
The bloke in question was sitting in a cafe. Present tense. Please.
Tilly dear,
Tell your mother that that was the imperfect….
🙂
Morbidly obese?
So she’s a fucking idiot who is incapable of making good life choices as she eats herself to early grave and wears a mask between bites.
Good riddance.
Dear Leader’s hero is Churchill, as we all know. Churchill inspired courage when there was reason to feel fear; Johnson inspired fear when there was reason to hope*
*really this should be ‘when there was no reason to feel fear’, but that doesn’t sound as good.
Churchill was a war criminal and a traitor. History will not look kindly upon him.
Traitor?
Just goes to show how many people have fallen for government lies about Covid.
More bullshit polling
The poll suggesting a high percentage of Brits want restrictions to stay is more indicative of what the government want to happen as the poll is fabricated propaganda,
there is a scary number of people who are completely under the covid propaganda spell
It’s circular though – people want it because the government has spent 18 months (and a fortune) scaring them shitless. The government can now claim that it’s what people want, and carry on with it. The only thing which may end this destructive spiral is a big financial shock – which surely is coming.
The polling questions are often loaded. Something to the effect of “would you want continued restrictions if it saves lives and prevents the NHS from being overwhelmed?” I think these pollsters should reveal the questions they ask.
Dream on. The compliance level is massive.
some people see their online businesses booming, why would they want to go back?
It’s mainly the big players – especially Amazon – who have done well out of this.
What use is a booming business if you can’t enjoy the benefits and get on with living your life?
You think Jeff Bezos is affected by this?
Not surprising really. You have to wonder how they phrased the questions and how they selected the respondents; but in any case the figures show that a majority do not support the restrictions.
True Story: 22 Days Inside a New Zealand Quarantine Facility
Dr. Sam Bailey
The shocking, true story of what happened to Mary Jane Newman inside a New Zealand Managed Isolation Quarantine facility (MIQ).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ocDKEFsUY
Stand in South Hill Park Bracknell every Sunday from 10am meet fellow lockdown sceptics, keep yourself sane, make new friends and have a laugh.
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A government poll has shown that 110% of the population trust government polls.
This whole sorry hysterical episode in our history has alway been about deceit and upwardly manipulating the numbers, big numbers hold the headlines and capture the attention. I know of no-one who actively wants this to continue….Methinks tis all a big fat fib.
So many living in an illusion. The only pandemic is on TV…the real world is continuing as usual.
This whole “freedom day” makes you laugh when you consider everything is open, everyone is socialising, working and travelling and no one is dropping dead in the streets.
So long as you don’t watch the news, the pandemic isn’t on TV. How many programmes/ads do you see that feature the muzzled, shackled, covid world? Particularly the ads. The advertisers know that covid hysteria doesn’t sell.
Although I dwell on the pessimistic side, having recently sampled a lot of motorway services on the run north from Bristol to Yorkshire (I pee a lot), I do note that face masks in advertisements seem to be getting rarer. A sign?
I’ve noticed that too. I think advertisers instinctively prefer to show faces. The human social instinct is strong and I think will win in the end.
Would you buy a used car from a masked man, or woman?
FAKE NEWS!
I’m seeing more and more bare faces on the London Underground. I am rarely (if ever) challenged when I take my bare face into a shop, bank or place of worship. There is hope.
Since the beginning of the mask mandate and up until recently, I’ve been too cowardly to go into shops, pubs etc without my lanyard on (I don’t like confrontation). I have hated every minute of being in those places, and just avoided going in shops as much as possible. On the original freedom day, after some encouragement from reading BTL comments on this site, I decided to cast off the lanyard and embrace the old normal, and I haven’t looked back since. Never once stopped or questioned, and I’ve found a new confidence, exhilaration even just going round the supermarket. I smile to myself and others. I like to think there are masked people looking at me with curiosity and envy, thinking “I remember what that was like in the old normal, could I get away with that myself”? We can and do influence people so keep it up, my friends!
The lanyard is a contemporary form of yellow star or pink triangle.
My local fish shop insists on a mask so I comply, although I do make throw-away remarks about how silly they are because they don’t work, are a health hazard themselves, a future environmental problem &c &c &c. However, I don’t bother elsewhere and even the otherwise unemployable goons in hi-vis at the supermarket seem to have tired of making a fuss.
I bet IKEA are doing a roaring trade in tables for these types to hide under.