So Much For 'Keep Calm And Carry On'...

Oh, Jerry, if only you'd known...

...but then, that was for when the Luftwaffe were dropping 1000lb bombs, not really serious things like a bad flu with a 97% recovery rate.

In a grim address to the nation from Downing Street, Mr Johnson said family reunions, weddings, baptisms and other social events must be cancelled to stop the NHS collapsing under the strain. Funerals can go ahead attended by just a handful of closest relatives.

The government just threw the UK economy and everyone's rights under a bus to protect ... the NHS.

Am I missing something here?

Going out for exercise will be allowed once a day, but parks will be patrolled to make sure there is no abuse of the rules.

Really? You mean the local councils that let yobs and drug addicts have free rein in our local parks for years will now open up cupboards and haul, blinking, into the sunlight the beloved old 'parkie', all set and raring to go'?

Police will have powers to fine those who do not fall into line, and disperse any public gatherings.

Yes, those same police who stood by while London burned several years ago and people lost their livelihoods, their homes, their pets and their loved ones will now stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage, then lend the eye a terrible aspect and ... fine little Mabel who they think might have taken more than the maximum one permitted walk per day?

...closing all shops selling non-essential goods,​ including clothing and electronic stores, and other premises including libraries, playgrounds and outdoor gyms, and places of worship

And here we see the terrible gulf between those who rule us and ordinary life. Who think they can be the ones to define what are 'essential goods'.

"But Tamara, if we close libraries, what will the people stuck at home do for entertainment?"

"Oh, Tarquin, you are silly! They all have Amazon Prime on their Kindles, yah?" 

We are governed by utter morons. Cinemas, I could understand. People go to those in groups. But libraries?

And have we forgotten that modern libraries are not just book repositories, but places where people have been encouraged to go to access vital services, get internet access for job searching and banking, etc?

Run the country? These people couldn't run a bath...

As Longrider says:

"Somewhere between “we’re all going to dieeeeee!” and “there isn’t a problem.” was a sensible and pragmatic approach: Isolating the vulnerable and allowing the healthy to get sick, thereby building herd immunity. However, they have chosen a path that fascists across the world will applaud. This evening, any belief that we live in a free country died as we all submitted with barely a whimper to indefinite house arrest."

We live in interesting times. Hmmm. That's an old Chinese curse, isn't it?