This isn’t really a proper blog this week, it is a rant:
I’ve just watched the televised announcement from Boris Johnson twice and still don’t understand it. I think he’s lost the plot. I can’t see how you can have a plan to ease restrictions when the restrictions weren’t put in place early enough or strictly enforced in the first place. His whole ‘plan’ from the outset has been totally half-hearted, at best. I know that many people don’t like me comparing Spain’s handling of this crisis to the UK’s – but it is black and white. This isn’t a ‘political’ criticism of Boris. It’s a question of common sense. Spain had a lockdown. A real lockdown. You could have been fined a minimum of €600 just for going out for a walk for the wrong reasons – during a period of over 43 days for kids, and 48 days for adults. Spain is actually currently STILL in lockdown until 24 May but it is being ‘phased’ out of it in four phases over the next 8 weeks. It all depends on the region and province – and on the progress of all the same criteria that Boris says the UK has to monitor, including the ‘R’ rate. [Please read how the ‘phases’ are structured in the report below, to really understand it]. But you know what? Most importantly, Spain is now able to try and ‘phase itself’ out of the lockdown because it HAD a proper lockdown in the first place. In the UK, it has been a farce. I’m not saying Spain is out of the woods yet, but I really fear for the UK. Just ‘staying alert’ is not going to work. Telling people to go back to work but not use public transport does NOT work. It is absurd. The government of Boris is failing terribly on this issue. To all my UK friends and family, please be careful. Be very careful.
And if you are interested, click here to see how Spain is handling it.