You are writing from a position of extreme comfort. I don't think you have any idea of the number of people out there who have to keep things going in order for you to be able to spend a year shielding. Strangling our economy hits the poor hardest and they have lost the most, them and the young.
Actually no Selwyn, and I'm annoyed that you presume to know my circumstances. At the beginning of last year I had a somewhat comfortable amount in savings, enough to keep me going in the event of injury or prolonged sickness as I am self employed; by the end of the year that amount had dwindled to just ONE MONTH, including getting 2x £1200 in SEISS, and it was only the easing of the lockdown just before Xmas to work, plus another SEISS, that saw me through the second lockdown.
My finances were such, that had the first lockdown not eased when it did, and had then gone into the second, that I would then have been in a situation of having almost no money to feed myself, AND be getting in arrears with my rent, utility bills etc etc.
I wouldn't call that "extreme comfort" at all, because I sure as crap didn't FEEL comfortable about it AT ALL, infact more than a few "OH CRAP" and "wtf can I do about this" difficult nights.
However, as I said multiple time in my posts about the lockdown, I WOULD STILL have chosen to go into arrears than advocate lifting it in favor of "letting old people die".
You know what
I would call "extreme comfort"? Living in your own home, without the threat of eviction for unpaid rent - and if you beleive that no-one got evicted during the lockdown for unpaid rent then you are naive in the extreme, the landlords just didn't go through the courts to do it - possibly, probably having a pension or other income in your case Selwyn, or being furloughed on 80% of salary for all those people who were employed, and for those who were made unemployed, the benefits system.
I'd wind your neck in and stick to stuff you actually have facts for, you're starting to sound like our favorite forum troll.
LOL "masks do nothing?" tell that to every NHS worker, or Dental worker, or those working in the food production facilities, or basically anywhere else where coughing can occur and needs to be contained.
Masks don't protect you from them - THEY PROTECT THEM FROM YOU.[redacted][redacted][redacted][redacted].
If you think I'm talking BS, go to any supermarket now, take your mask off and start coughing loudly, I'll bet you'll clear an aisle in less than 5 seconds, or be told to put your mask on, or be told by a fellow shopper to GTFO.