You really should stop listening to the mainstream media. How on earth do you think we know that a ward in south Liverpool had 20 cases in one week, which at the time represented half the cases in the whole of Liverpool, other than by means of track and trace? Do you think a Martian landed and ferreted out all the cases, telling the local public health team that it was those terraced houses again, mixing it all up in their house parties? And that is just one example of excellent track and trace data being available to local public health teams who have spent weeks moaning about wanting to take control of matters. So they can now take control of matters.

Maybe but do we really want to risk finding out - again? After all, there are still a lot of people in elderly care homes and there were also a lot of people aged 50 plus who died of this thing. There are a whole heap of 50 plus people knocking about in the UK just now.

What are you confused about? I find it all quite straightforward. If a country meets the criteria (as listed by the Transport Secretary just today for those who struggle with such concepts) then that country is taken off the travel bridge and put under it as a travel troll. When it starts to behave itself it is reinstated on the bridge again, as Portugal has been although it may not want us now because we have actually breached one of the criteria we set for other countries (our rate has gone up to 21, above the 20 cut off - which actually means we are now on Norway's naughty step).

Everybody was warned right from the outset, when pressure was being applied to form these travel bridges in the first place, that things could change and change quickly and that the government wouldn't hesitate to change things as quickly as needed. So far, the government has been right. Look at the hysteria when Spain was taken off the bridge. NOW look at it: LARGE numbers, including the islands (around 100 new cases a day last week on Majorca). France too is zipping along.

We are struggling ourselves but that is down to specific regions and food processing plants. That is a change for us because during the height of the pandemic pretty much everywhere was badly hit bar the South West. And I'm struggling not to scoff at Jimmy Cranky up north after her digs at England given that Scotland has just had its biggest jump in cases over the last 24 hours since the height of the pandemic. She should be a bit less of a smart arse and more humble. We may be banning Scots from travelling THIS way if things continue as they are up in the badlands.

And Ireland is actually 'performing' worse than us at the moment but we have consistently been on their naughty step even though we have welcomed them here.

Absolutely. That didn't occur to our media outlets when they were busy stirring up yet more angst against the government.

Well said!

So basically what the article is saying is that being a liberal is better than being a social conservative or cultural conservative or whatever else the author used as a slightly snide dig at people who favoured stable family groupings over what is often chaos.

That is happening with all the prospective vaccines and is more to do with the number needed. If a problem did develop with a vaccine down the line and hundreds of millions had been produced, any subsequent litigation would probably destroy a company. These days both the US and UK populations are very litigious and so I don't blame pharmaceutical companies covering their backs.

I'd accept a vaccine from Oxford Uni in a heartbeat if it meant the chances of life returning to normal was a real possibility without risking the death of my parents or other loved ones.

I agree. And the media has encouraged that attitude consistently.

It wasn't a suggestion in the sense you appear to mean. It was more of a warning from the behavioural subgroup; a kind of 'watch out things could get nasty' warning.

That's sad for your wife (and her colleagues). My guess is that they won't be the last to find themselves in that situation. Things are bound to get worse before they get better unfortunately. I hope your wife manages to find something else where working from home would be fine although it could be a while before options present themselves.