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Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

Wolf said:
Excuse my lengthy reply & please don't think I'm jumping on the band wagon here bashing you or your son. As i think the support you and Mrs SiLH are willing to give him is admirable, and I can understand to a degree what you feel. There is a big BUT though and that seems almost like your having an apologetic attitude to his plight with constant lack of work(income) & by keeping ploughing your hard earned life savings into his what seems a somewhat pipe dream career, you're merely adding to the thought of "oh well if it doesn't work mum & dad will bail me out as usual". It's not helping him take responsibility for his own life, finances or long term future.

We've often heard you blame the government for his financial plight, now we're hearing you believe the government need get their finger out and help retrain in an industry he has no experience and has no short term future let alone long term. His lack of income through his dream career choice has nothing to do with any government letting him down & keep blaming government for his potential future short term career is equally unhealthy, surely its time as a grown man in his mid 20s its time for him to accept its his own choices to continue working in an industry that offers no security and keeps him running back to you for financial support is actually a poor life choice, that he gave it a go but now its time to change whilst he's young enough to take advantage of a new opportunity. He could continue to do his dream as a side project so he wouldn't need to let that passion go.

My own daughter is 20 and at 18 won a dance scholarship to a very well known national academy which was her dream, but she made an incredibly grown up decision that as much as that's all she had wanted to do she understood that the risk of that career choice and future income was just to unstable. So she got herself a job in Wilkinsons, nothing great as jobs go but 2 years later she earns £11ph & has paid her own way through a 2 year college diploma that's due to finish this month and has a new career lined up that will be something she can achieve a lot of success in. I use her as an example as its a similar industry to your sons and is something she still does on the side now as a hobby and passion.

As I've said this isn't bashing your son or the support you as a parent give lovingly, but I'd suggest now is time to have a hard conversation, stop blaming or seeking answers from government and if you wish to help him financially, rather than pouring your money into another dream of music production with no guarantees, that money could still be given as support if you wish but instead to perhaps help him retrain in a career that helps him have stability and stand on his on 2 feet forever more.

Whatever choice is made I wish you and him well, I hope you all manage to resolve it and have future success and less troubles ??
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Thanks @Wolf. My son is continuing seeing what he can do in his dream job line.

He is not looking for ANYTHING from the government. In fact it is only since he lost all of his income when venue and clubs closed that he started to claim benefits - benefits that he could have been claiming for YEARS but chose to not do so as he wanted to take responsibility for his own life. So please do not think for one second that he is sitting whinging about the government not doing anything for him. He is not. He is extremely grateful for the support he is getting through UC at the moment, but wants to get off it and back to work as soon as possible

So he - along with maybe 3,000,000 others will start looking for alternatives. But given that jobs are going and not being created, that 3,000,000 are going to find it tough getting a new job - especially when there will be many newly redundant with relevant experience chasing every job.

So what is the government going to do?

It might simply choose to do nothing and let market forces run their course. And if that is what it chooses to do then in the current environment I fear that that will mean a lot of people kicking their heels for a long time. But that is a choice that the government can make.

Alternatively the government might choose to look to see where it can create new roles required for managing the country through the crisis. And by such I mean such as 22,000 Contact Tracers. And so likewise if schools need additional temporary teaching support to reopen in September then the government could if it chooses provide schools with additional funding for the new positions; and schools could get on with recruiting that support; getting new recruits cleared for working with children; and trained in the basics of managing a group of students.; what they can do with students and what they can't.

There are things that the government can do under new job/role creation required and re-skilling training programmes in a time of Covid - they just need to work with those in every sector to identify what is required and get on with it.
 
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SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Thanks @Wolf. My son is continuing seeing what he can do in his dream job line.

He is not looking for ANYTHING from the government. In fact it is only since he lost all of his income when venue and clubs closed that he started to claim benefits - benefits that he could have been claiming for YEARS but chose to not do so as he wanted to take responsibility for his own life. So please do not think for one second that he is sitting whinging about the government not doing anything for him. He is not. He is extremely grateful for the support he is getting through UC at the moment, but wants to get off it and back to work as soon as possible

So he - along with maybe 3,000,000 others will start looking for alternatives. But given that jobs are going and not being created, that 3,000,000 are going to find it tough getting a new job - especially when there will be many newly redundant with relevant experience chasing every job.

So what is the government going to do?

It might simply choose to do nothing and let market forces run their course. And if that is what it chooses to do then in the current environment I fear that that will mean a lot of people kicking their heels for a long time. But that is a choice that the government can make.

Alternatively the government might choose to look to see where it can create new roles required for managing the country through the crisis. And by such I mean such as 22,000 Contact Tracers. And so likewise if schools need additional temporary teaching support to reopen in September then the government could if it chooses provide schools with additional funding for the new positions; and schools could get on with recruiting that support; getting new recruits cleared for working with children; and trained in the basics of managing a group of students.; what they can do with students and what they can't.

There are things that the government can do under new job/role creation required and re-skilling training programmes in a time of Covid - they just need to work with those in every sector to identify what is required and get on with it.
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I'm sorry if you read that as me saying your son in whingeing, because if you had you've read it through defensive glasses and not taken on board any point I've made.

Your opening line is indicative of his plight, whilst admirable he wants to continue to follow his it also shows a lack of acceptance on what ultimately is needed in life and thats to pay the bills. Which over the last 2 years alone we've heard you on here bemoaning the fact he continually cannot do so and you've had to often help financially. Regardless of Covid-19 that shows his plight isn't new and that his dream career had been faltering for a long time, but seems there is an apparent lack of acceptance that something else needs doing.

Then you have continued with your reply that the government needs to do something to create new jobs, the government should retrain people or help in schools.

Your sons been in this circle for a number of years, his choice to remain in an industry that he has already struggled in to point of parental bail outs and is now actively choosing to continue to do so. Many on here have offered advice snd solutions over the recent years, but nothing is ever heeded, instead its deflected onto others and usually the government.

I don't know what you think schools are going to need in order to employ all these so called new assistants, schools only have a finite amount of space, they certainly won't have enough room to employ all these extra people.

The government will provide help to your son as they have with UC, but instead of defence and deflection it's seems to me and I'd argue many others on here that your son needs to look introspectively and take charge of his own career, life and acceptance of his lack of income as it was pre covid19 that the industry is not providing financial support and regardless of Covid-19 that decisions is his and his responsibility alone not the governments.

I'll bail on this subject now, because in the 2 years I've been on here and seen you post about it, there never seems to be any change or acceptance just blame passed elsewhere. I wish you all well but I'll say one last thing "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results"

Hope it works out for him ??
 
Wolf said:
I'm sorry if you read that as me saying your son in whingeing, because if you had you've read it through defensive glasses and not taken on board any point I've made.

Your opening line is indicative of his plight, whilst admirable he wants to continue to follow his it also shows a lack of acceptance on what ultimately is needed in life and thats to pay the bills. Which over the last 2 years alone we've heard you on here bemoaning the fact he continually cannot do so and you've had to often help financially. Regardless of Covid-19 that shows his plight isn't new and that his dream career had been faltering for a long time, but seems there is an apparent lack of acceptance that something else needs doing.

Then you have continued with your reply that the government needs to do something to create new jobs, the government should retrain people or help in schools.

Your sons been in this circle for a number of years, his choice to remain in an industry that he has already struggled in to point of parental bail outs and is now actively choosing to continue to do so. Many on here have offered advice snd solutions over the recent years, but nothing is ever heeded, instead its deflected onto others and usually the government.

I don't know what you think schools are going to need in order to employ all these so called new assistants, schools only have a finite amount of space, they certainly won't have enough room to employ all these extra people.

The government will provide help to your son as they have with UC, but instead of defence and deflection it's seems to me and I'd argue many others on here that your son needs to look introspectively and take charge of his own career, life and acceptance of his lack of income as it was pre covid19 that the industry is not providing financial support and regardless of Covid-19 that decisions is his and his responsibility alone not the governments.

I'll bail on this subject now, because in the 2 years I've been on here and seen you post about it, there never seems to be any change or acceptance just blame passed elsewhere. I wish you all well but I'll say one last thing "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results"

Hope it works out for him ??
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On this I agree. But if secondary schools are going to open in September how are they going to do it? Some might have temp accommodation on-site - some might take on additional accommodation outside of the school - and so as for hospital and the building of Nightingale Hospitals - there needs to be a focus on what s required to enable schools to cope.

And if that requires additional accommodation on site or off-site then it is going to have to be staffed - and especially if that accommodation is off-site that will require new temporary resource. And that new temporary resource needs advertising, engaged, checked and trained. All I am saying is there should be a bit of advance planning and joined up thinking for such as schooling that creates opportunity to employ many thousands of currently - perhaps temporarily - unemployed skilled resource.

On training - well if the government is not going to create and/or fund training schemes then who is - because sure as heck the unemployed on Universal Credit aren't going to be able to afford to pay for training - at least not up front.

There is no blame from either myself or my son being directed towards the government on job losses. I do not know how many times I have to say that. There no complaining from either of us that the government is not doing something on the job creation or training.

There is a hope that the government will be able to identify where the country has needs and do something about it - there are many hundreds of thousands out there feeling very vulnerable and asking 'what next' for their future work and livelihood.

It's all very well saying my son has to take control of his own career. I 100% agree and so would he - as he has done seeking absolutely no support from the government for the last 7 years. None whatsoever. And taking control in a job market where jobs are disappearing and unemployed numbers could be 3,000,000 is tough. These are not normal times - and he is looking at what he might be able to move to.

The government can help by creating alternative new possibilities based upon what the country needs - albeit temporary alternatives - but these could be alternatives that many might look to take advantage of until the future for their currently knacked sectors becomes clearer.

That is all I am hoping to hear from the government in the coming weeks as it looks at reducing social distancing and what that might mean for the sectors currently at a dead stop as the risk remains too high.

Please don't misunderstand. If the government feels it need do nothing for the newly unemployed over the coming months then so be it. My son will plough his own furrow as he has done the last 7 years. He is lucky to have us. Many do not have a Bank of MaD. It is they that need help more than he.
 
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SwingsitlikeHogan said:
On this I agree. But if secondary schools are going to open in September how are they going to do it? Some might have temp accommodation on-site - some might take on additional accommodation outside of the school - and so as for hospital and the building of Nightingale Hospitals - there needs to be a focus on what s required to enable schools to cope.

And if that requires additional accommodation on site or off-site then it is going to have to be staffed - and especially if that accommodation is off-site that will require new temporary resource. And that new temporary resource needs advertising, engaged, checked and trained. All I am saying is there should be a bit of advance planning and joined up thinking for such as schooling that creates opportunity to employ many thousands of currently - perhaps temporarily - unemployed skilled resource.

On training - well if the government is not going to create and/or fund training schemes then who is - because sure as heck the unemployed on Universal Credit aren't going to be able to afford to pay for training - at least not up front.

There is no blame from either myself or my son being directed towards the government on job losses. I do not know how many times I have to say that. There no complaining from either of us that the government is not doing something on the job creation or training.

There is a hope that the government will be able to identify where the country has needs and do something about it - there are many hundreds of thousands out there feeling very vulnerable and asking 'what next' for their future work and livelihood.

It's all very well saying my son has to take control of his own career. I 100% agree and so would he - as he has done seeking absolutely no support from the government for the last 7 years. None whatsoever. And taking control in a job market where jobs are disappearing and unemployed numbers could be 3,000,000 is tough. These are not normal times - and he is looking at what he might be able to move to.

The government can help by creating alternative new possibilities based upon what the country needs - albeit temporary alternatives - but these could be alternatives that many might look to take advantage of until the future for their currently knacked sectors becomes clearer.

That is all I am hoping to hear from the government in the coming weeks as it looks at reducing social distancing and what that might mean for the sectors currently at a dead stop as the risk remains too high.

Please don't misunderstand. If the government feels it need do nothing for the newly unemployed over the coming months then so be it. My son will plough his own furrow as he has done the last 7 years. He is lucky to have us. Many do not have a Bank of MaD. It is they that need help more than he.
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Creating temporary jobs merely kicks the can down the road.

If the businesses were profitable before Covid-19 then it suggests there was a demand. New businesses may move in to fill the gap. It will take a bit of time and Government may be able to kick-start such activities. Mickey mouse creation won't work
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
On this I agree. But if secondary schools are going to open in September how are they going to do it? Some might have temp accommodation on-site - some might take on additional accommodation outside of the school - and so as for hospital and the building of Nightingale Hospitals - there needs to be a focus on what s required to enable schools to cope.

And if that requires additional accommodation on site or off-site then it is going to have to be staffed - and especially if that accommodation is off-site that will require new temporary resource. And that new temporary resource needs advertising, engaged, checked and trained. All I am saying is there should be a bit of advance planning and joined up thinking for such as schooling that creates opportunity to employ many thousands of currently - perhaps temporarily - unemployed skilled resource.

On training - well if the government is not going to create and/or fund training schemes then who is - because sure as heck the unemployed on Universal Credit aren't going to be able to afford to pay for training - at least not up front.

There is no blame from either myself or my son being directed towards the government on job losses. I do not know how many times I have to say that. There no complaining from either of us that the government is not doing something on the job creation or training.

There is a hope that the government will be able to identify where the country has needs and do something about it - there are many hundreds of thousands out there feeling very vulnerable and asking 'what next' for their future work and livelihood.

It's all very well saying my son has to take control of his own career. I 100% agree and so would he - as he has done seeking absolutely no support from the government for the last 7 years. None whatsoever. And taking control in a job market where jobs are disappearing and unemployed numbers could be 3,000,000 is tough. These are not normal times - and he is looking at what he might be able to move to.

The government can help by creating alternative new possibilities based upon what the country needs - albeit temporary alternatives - but these could be alternatives that many might look to take advantage of until the future for their currently knacked sectors becomes clearer.

That is all I am hoping to hear from the government in the coming weeks as it looks at reducing social distancing and what that might mean for the sectors currently at a dead stop as the risk remains too high.

Please don't misunderstand. If the government feels it need do nothing for the newly unemployed over the coming months then so be it. My son will plough his own furrow as he has done the last 7 years. He is lucky to have us. Many do not have a Bank of MaD. It is they that need help more than he.
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Has your son ploughed his own furrow or have you bailed him out too much? If it wasn’t for the bank of mum and dad he’d be in a different career by now - he’d have had to.

Like you, and no doubt many others, I’ve had to bail a ‘child’ out but there has to be a limit to the bail outs.

You’ve supported his business venture. You’ve bailed him out with his mobile. You’ve ‘bailed’ him out with his tax return. And you’ve ‘bailed’ him out with his dodgy girlfriend. Is he 16 years old?

Whilst you do what you do, as admirable as it is, you are making his future very difficult. One day he will get a huge shock, and you will be largely to blame for that.

How you manage your relationship, and your family, is 100% up to you but what happens when you’re retired or dead? Who does he go to then? Your choice, but ultimately I don’t Think you’re doing him any favours.
 
We are very well aware of the risks in continuing to support him - but at this point we recognise the very difficult situation that he and many hundreds of thousands have been put in. Their income has disappeared.

Living off UC is very tough (though some would have us believe it is a lifestyle choice that is preferable to actually working...) and so we do what we can to provide a little bit extra as we recognise that there is little he can do at this moment to improve his situation other than start to look at alternative careers. And he is doing that as well as trying to earn a little money by making his music available for download - and we can support him doing that.

But he and his partner will not live off us. That stopped last year. To suggest that we should just ignore the situation our son is in where that situation is no fault of his or anyone else? Well I would consider myself callous were I to do that. And so I will not. And likewise government. They have not ignored the need of those in the same situation and had they not doe what they have done they would be considered callous. And so the government is 'bailing out' all of those now unemployed and with no or significantly reduced income.

There seems to be a view prevalent here among quite a few that those whose work has disappeared - even for the time being - need to just forget what they were doing and look for a new source of income. Oh were that as easy as it is to type the words. Never easy but in the current employment environment?

Meanwhile it is surely a responsibility of any government to do whatever it can on training and job generation for all of those made redundant or, if self-employed, who have lost all of their income. And that is all that I am hoping that the government will do. The alternative being to pay 3 million to sit on UC doing nothing.

On the temporary jobs. If the country only needs new roles for a short period of time whilst we re-organise much of our daily life, and manage such as education, in the context of the virus then these jobs are going to be, by definition, temporary jobs but they are the correct solution.

Indeed are Contact Tracers Permanent jobs or Temporary jobs. I'd say that the majority are temporary jobs as hopefully the numbers currently employed will not be required once a vaccine has been identified and the risk of infection in the community drops significantly. But these roles were needed. I'm not talking about inventing jobs for the sake of it. But create jobs where there is a NEED. As there was for Contact Tracers. That's all. Nothing else.
 
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drive4show said:
Yes, don't understand why Devon is so low but Dorset isn't.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-coronavirus-cases-falling-or-rising-near-you
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Cases are really low tho, therefore one case can be a massive weekly increase that that article is writing a headline on.

On your link Dorset had 1 case last week and 2 this week. 'Wow' its a 100% increase but the real truth is there has been 2 cases this week and 1 case last week. Almost pointless talking about % increases as it is misleading when numbers are so low IMHO.

Hopefully that's good news to hear.:)

Another goodish website to access daily figures(for tests that can be allocated to areas, as loads of tests are not allocated to areas by government:rolleyes:) :-

https://www.getthedata.com/covid-19/dorset-coronavirus-cases
https://www.getthedata.com/covid-19/devon-coronavirus-cases
https://www.getthedata.com/covid-19/cornwall-and-isles-of-scilly-coronavirus-cases

In Shropshire we have more daily cases than that . :(
 
DRW said:
Cases are really low tho, therefore one case can be a massive weekly increase that that article is writing a headline on.

On your link Dorset had 1 case last week and 2 this week. 'Wow' its a 100% increase but the real truth is there has been 2 cases this week and 1 case last week. Almost pointless talking about % increases as it is misleading when numbers are so low IMHO.

Hopefully that's good news to hear.:)

Another goodish website to access daily figures(for tests that can be allocated to areas, as loads of tests are not allocated to areas by government:rolleyes:) :-

https://www.getthedata.com/covid-19/dorset-coronavirus-cases
https://www.getthedata.com/covid-19/devon-coronavirus-cases
https://www.getthedata.com/covid-19/cornwall-and-isles-of-scilly-coronavirus-cases

In Shropshire we have more daily cases than that . :(
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Thanks for your comprehensive analysis, the numbers will rise over the next few weeks as the beaches down here have been absolutely rammed over the last few weekends.
 
drive4show said:
Thanks for your comprehensive analysis, the numbers will rise over the next few weeks as the beaches down here have been absolutely rammed over the last few weekends.
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That seems like a massive assumption, so far we have meant to see massive increases following VE day, the May bank holiday, the sunny weekend after lockdown was more significantly relaxed and now we are over a week after the initial BLM protests and that massive rise has not happened.
 
 
drive4show said:
Thanks for your comprehensive analysis, the numbers will rise over the next few weeks as the beaches down here have been absolutely rammed over the last few weekends.
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Did you all go out and hug them? Did they cough over you all through open windows?
I'm curious as to what the infecting mechanisms were.
 
GB72 said:
That seems like a massive assumption, so far we have meant to see massive increases following VE day, the May bank holiday, the sunny weekend after lockdown was more significantly relaxed and now we are over a week after the initial BLM protests and that massive rise has not happened.
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Agree, the VE parties that were splashed across the front pages of the papers where meant to be the beginning of the end, or at least the beginning of the start of Covid: Spike Two. We had loads of them in our area and no discernible rise in numbers and the newspapers aren't nearly as quick to report the lack of the spike.
 
road2ruin said:
Agree, the VE parties that were splashed across the front pages of the papers where meant to be the beginning of the end, or at least the beginning of the start of Covid: Spike Two. We had loads of them in our area and no discernible rise in numbers and the newspapers aren't nearly as quick to report the lack of the spike.
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I am going to be interested to see how we react if there is no spike in the next 2 weeks. If there is not, we would have had thousands of people meeting in the open air at the BLM protests with little social distancing and no spike. Surely that is pretty good evidence that outside restrictions really are not necessary. As I said, that is a massive hope that there will be no spike but, to my mind, these protests have become an impromptu test on how the virus is spreading now among crowds in an outside environment.
 
GB72 said:
When were these pictures from, looking at the weather compared to what we have now, I am guessing May bank holiday or the weekend after. That, do date, appears to have resulted in 2 cases.
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Those particular pictures were from the May BH weekend however it has been like that every weekend since as we have been enjoying great weather.
 
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