We have to realise that the government has other compulsions than solely the health of the population. They will have one eye on the effect on the economy etc. They will of course dress it up to sound like our welfare is the priority but I think they will be looking at it in a more holistic way, which may or may not be the right thing for the country as a whole in the long run but in the short term it may be devastating to the population.
My own feeling is that this is a large part of the UK government's thinking. Rightly or wrongly, depending on how you view things.
Here in Ireland we closed down creches and schools last Friday and bars/pubs last night. There is already an estimated 140,000 people out of work as a result. This will rise when restaurants and cafes close and all the suppliers of these establishments will probably also lay off staff.
The airlines and airport staff are going to be affected soon.
The fact that the government here have issued the recommendations means there is already measures to give a job seekers allowance. However if people up north decide to get ahead of the curve and take there kids out of school or creches, if pubs close earlier than directed etc., then the NI Assembly does not have entitlement to funds released from Westminster to aid those laid off.
I understand the predicament Arlene Foster & Co are in and although I would love an all island approach as I can't see anything else being effective, they are caught between a rock and a hard place, although I do suspect that their default position is to do what they're told by the UK government anyway.
This is going to hit big in everyone's pockets as well as our concerns for our elderly loved ones. This will wipe out businesses and people's livelihoods too if a cohesive plan is not there from all governments on how to deal with all aspects of this crisis.
I don't go with the conspiracy theory element that the UK government don't care about the elderly. I don't see much difference in what their aim is TBH to the rest of the world, it's just the timing and I don't understand their delay of a week to two weeks behind everyone else, as I see the courses of action they will take as inevitable anyway.
Where I think they have failed is in the first step of putting the Collective Action Strategy into operation. That is you have to first convince everyone that what you are doing is the right action. They were poor or at least very slow to communicate their reasoning and have still not convinced their population that they are expecting compliance from.
This has led to organisations taking steps themselves ahead of the government advice and the government now seemingly following behind public opinion in some cases.
I think we are all heading the same direction and ultimately there will be a kind of shutdown across Europe. We will need a coordinated effort to deal with the long term.
The short term disagreements won't mean much when we're all in the same boat.
