The English Disease ...

sunny-dave | 15:46 Sat 19th Sep 2020 | ChatterBank

131 Answers

... a view from an expatriate living in Ireland.

I haven't posted much about Covid recently - I have no desire either to get in an argument with any individual or even just exchange fire from increasingly entrenched positions in 'News'.

But I do find myself increasingly disappointed by the attitudes to Covid restrictions evinced by many people on here (and seemingly shared by all too many people in the wider community).

I can summarise what I see as :

1. If it's only a guideline (with no legal enforcement) then I will claim special circumstances and so ignore the guideline whenever it suits me - because I am actually special.

2. If it's a law (with penalties attached) then I'll go looking with a fine-tooth-comb for the ambiguities and loopholes which will allow me to circumvent the law, so that I can behave as it suits me.

In neither case will I consider abiding by the spirit of the regulations and curbing my activities, as the guideline requests or the law requires - instead I'll regard all attempts to circumscribe my behaviour 'for the greater good' as a personal attack on my liberty which is not to be tolerated and which is to be avoided/evaded at any time when it suits me.

England is not alone in this attitude (over here I see some parts of Dublin seem to be developing the same contempt for Covid mitigation measures) - but it does seem to have become a regrettable part of the English psyche that 'rules are for other people' and 'if it isn't very specifically prohibited then it's OK to do it'.

Rant over - time for a cup of tea and a bun.

Still Bored,Lol.

Smoking

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AuntPollyGrey

Dave //you are simply giving oxygen to the naysayers by your nitpicking and pettifogging about the details of the law, rather than encouraging adherence to the spirit/objectives of said law.//

I genuinely don't understand what you mean by this. I've re-read my 2 posts and can't understand where you conclude I'm nit-picking about certain aspects of the advisories/law. Its not my place to encourage anyone to do anything, I was merely observing the ridiculousness of certain aspects of these new laws as are the majority of the UK to be honest.

//I know you like little better than a good argument and can often be disputatious for the sake of it, but surely our own self-interests (and that of the populace as a whole) are better served by my approach than yours?/

I concede I don't suffer fools gladly and lack perhaps the finesse of one who has English as their first language (coupled with the fact I am, apparently, one of those grumpy Québécoise ) but prefer debate rather than argument. I think you will find my 'approach' is not so dissimilar from yours regarding Covid but prefere to abstain from Preaching.

New Judge

//I totally understand "the spirit" of it.//

If you're talking about the so-called "Rule of Six", Pixie, you're one up on me because I don't. It tells me I cannot gather - either indoors or outside - with more than five other people. It actually takes about ten pages to tell me that but that's the gist of it. It doesn't say they must always be the same five; it doesn't say I have to restrict myself to one lot of five in any given period; it doesn't say I must restrict myself to one lot of five for each or any location I visit. I fact it says nothing at all like that. So what is "the spirit of it"?

This is not "nitpicking". There are no nits to pick. What am I expected to do? What is the "spirit" of the law I must abide by? In trying to comply with that spirit, if I have five people in my house for tea and cakes, how long is it before anybody else may enter after they've gone? Help me with this.