James O'Brien 10am - 1pm
Caller furious at seeing people already drinking with "zero social distancing"
3 July 2020, 18:59 | Updated: 3 July 2020, 19:01
Caller tells Rachel Johnson he's seeing people drinking in crowds
This caller told Rachel Johnson he's been driving through London and already seen people drinking outside in thick crowds.
The government has announced that from 6am tomorrow morning pubs will be allowed to reopen as England further eases lockdown.
Speaking tonight in a Downing Street briefing, the Prime Minister urged people to maintain social distancing and "stay safe this summer."
Gideon from Westminster said, "There is absolutely zero social distancing. You're right, alcohol and coronavirus is not a good mix and we've seen that in America.
"The refusal by this government to actually understand what's happening in other countries and take heed is beyond belief."
Rachel observed that the virus does not seem to spread as easily in the open air, "but from tomorrow you can go inside."
"This is adding another layer of risk," she remarked.
Gideon said that if the government had opened beer gardens "that would have been an entirely different matter".
He asked, "What was the point in everyone going out and clapping on a Thursday night?"
Rachel told him it was to give a sense of national collective effort to shield the NHS from being overwhelmed by too many cases at a time where the virus might be peaking.
"But it only takes one person to cause a pandemic and we've seen that across the world," Gideon said, "until we have virtually zero cases it's not over."