James O'Brien's lighthearted debate with caller over the clarity of PM's Covid measures
29 September 2020, 12:24
James O'Brien debates caller over clarity of Covid-19 regulations
This was James O'Brien's lighthearted debate with a caller over the clarity of England's coronavirus measures after the caller insisted he has "no time" for those who do not know their local restrictions.
Rob in Shrewsbury told James that we have regional variation and the alternative is a full national lockdown: "I think we'd all appreciate a position from Government that reflected the local situation because we all know certain cities and communities...can be very different than another."
Rob told James, "I've not got a great deal of time for all these people who are saying 'I don't know what the rules are'...if you go on to coronavirus.gov.uk, latest updates, you click on there, there's a list in chronological date order of all the updates."
He continued: "Most people book their holidays online, a lot of people book their shopping online, they buy their lottery tickets online."
James responded, "If I buy my holiday online on a Sunday night and I'm going to Ibiza, when I log on on Monday morning it hasn't been suddenly changed to Magaluf."
The caller said that this is because we're in a pandemic, and James pointed out that he was the one who brought up holidays.
James said, "If it changes at midnight you can forgive people for being confused, can't you?"
Rob said that "of course" people can be forgiven for not knowing instant changes but "I think we need to take a step back" and acknowledge that people would hit back at the Government if it was suggested the whole nation went into lockdown every few weeks.
To counter Rob's claims that the regulations are easy to understand, James played an interview of Government minister Gillian Keegan, who was unable to recount on national radio the latest lockdown measures.
Rob responded, "I didn't say it was easy to understand, my suggestion was if you want to find out it's not that difficult. Secondly I don't think there's anybody in the country...that could stand up and say right for the next ten minutes I'm going to give you a forensic breakdown and list region by region, pound by pound...because it's complicated."
