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Food shops never needed to be "essential" to open. They, along with all manner of other shops were never required to close in the first place, as shops selling food were on the "allowed to stay open" list. That was regardless of what "food" they sold. It certainly never had to be "essential"...

Do it really doesn't. No govt can be expected to bankroll every individual and every business owner. Anyone expecting the Govt to pay a business all it's lost income is deluded. The business rates grant was intended to cover fixed costs of the premises (rent, power, utilities, security...

But the Govt support has been pretty impressive. They'd get between £10k and £50k business rates grant, plus being able to furlough their staff, plus self employment income support grant, plus government backed low interest loans. No other country has come close to that level of support.

I quite liked the way the Amsterdam Heineken experience manages it. They give you three tokens on a wristband when you do in. You exchange a token for each bottle of Heineken. Once you've had your 3, you're not getting any more. UK pubs could easily do the same. Of course, you'll have some...

There are loads of signs on our canal footpath telling cyclings to slow down and give priority to walkers - completely ignored by the lycra louts, some of whom are doing fitbit time trials etc so aren't stopping or slowing down for anyone.

Well don't take offence when you're not wearing a mask and people don't want to sit/stand near you, and don't take offence when someone doesn't want to shake your hand.

Personally, I think there should be a lot more emphasis on personal hygiene/cleanliness etc., such as finding ways of making people wash their hands, making people respect personal space, etc. Also, getting rid of social expectations such as hand-shaking and hugging relative strangers etc. We...

Amsterdam may be good for cyclists, but it's hell for pedestrians. There are cyclists doing crazy things everywhere - cycling on pavements, ignoring traffic lights and one way signs. At least in the UK, there aren't that many of them, in Amsterdam there were thousands. We saw numerous...

Well the police came to our village pub to shut it down on that last Friday evening back in March when they were told to close. In a nearby town, a pub started selling "takeaway" beer, and when a crowd congregated outside, the council arrived to instruct the pub to stop serving. So, there's 2...

The NHS.

It was no better when local authorities ran the local bus services, so you really can't blame privatisation. I remember having to get off one bus (operated by town A) and walk for 5 minutes to get on another bus (operated by town B) on my way home from school. Neither town council would allow...

Surely the test and trace system will be able to highlight where people have been infected, i.e. if several new infections all happened to be on flight ABC101 on 18 June, or if several new infections all shopped at M&S in Tunbridge Wells on 18/6/20, it's pretty obvious that's the common link.

I think the lockdown was necessary to protect the NHS as some people have said their hospitals were short staffed by up to 40% due to staff off sick and self isolating. That wasn't sustainable. The problem has been that the NHS has been painfully slow to restore services and lack of...

And often completely unrelated to what has just been announced. The last I watched was a couple of weeks ago when a relaxation of lockdown (shops I think) was announced, which was pretty important, immediately followed by Laura Kuensberg asking an irrelevant question (can't remember what it...

I certainly think the blue badge scheme should be extended to included those on the "most vulnerable" list.

Fully agree. The ability of people to ignore even the simplest of precautions is what has got us into this mess.

I agree - when our R number is low enough, close the borders and have VERY tight restrictions as to who can come and go with enforced quarantine in hotels etc upon return for EVERYONE. None of this exemptions for key workers like doctors who are then able to go and spread it around hospitals...

But who pays for that "insurance"? It doesn't help that funding of SSP was stopped a few years ago - at least before then, small businesses could claim back the SSP they paid to staff, but no longer (until Covid). SSP just became another business cost of employing people, hence why employers...

That makes no sense. Furlough only covers the cost of employee wages. It doesn't cover all the other business costs, such as rent, rates, power, insurance, subscriptions/professional fees, bank charges & loan interest, equipment leasing, potential wastage of goods past their shelf lives, etc...

Quite a high proportion of today's pensioners have final salary/gold plated public sector pensions, so won't be affected by market conditions.