As I feared, people were flouting the lock down ‘rules’ in Leeds parks yesterday and, according the BBC, also in east London. I haven’t yet found out whether this was true in the Yorkshire Dales, places like Malham Cove being overrun at Easter.
It doesn’t take a behavioural scientist to say that substitution of ‘stay alert’ for ‘stay home’ would confuse the message, though at least one advising the Government has said it.
I will be extremely disappointed if Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirms this in this evening’s broadcast. It is even more stupid than the multiple hints that something might change after this weekend, magnified by the media.
We do not need a Prime Minister or Government which can be bullied by the media and opposition Parliamentary benches into changing the previously absolutely clear message.
I have little sympathy with the people using the lame excuse ‘the message is confusing’ for their errant behaviour. It was absolutely clear to anyone speaking English.
Grumpytyke 
May 13, 2020 at 9:28 am
To live in London with the high death rate and the prospect of the Nightingale hospital nearby certainly focused us to stay in, exercise once per day outside for no more than one hour and then only with George, twice per week we combined with a fresh food shop. I’ve missed meeting my brother who is a 20 minute walk away but I shout up to him if I walk that way. It is hard in a flat especially for those with children and no balcony and more so on very hot sunny days. People are generally keeping their distance down here but sometimes when you’re out the pavements aren’t wide enough to pass so I have a mask 😷 I can put on when walking in narrow rows or the small mini-markets we have to use. Anyway you stay safe give our best to Petronella 🙋🏼♀️
May 10, 2020 at 11:58 am
On the contrary, while the medical advice was clear, the advice on permitted exercise was extremely vague. I speak English and I spent some time trying to find out what was or wasn’t permitted or approved. “STAY AT HOME” and “you may leave the house for exercise once a day” don’t obviously mesh. It required the Crown Prosecution Service to issue advice to Chief Constables pointing out what was in the emergency regulations and they could enforce, and what, if enforced, had no basis in law – for example, stopping people buying “non-essentials” in the shop where they were buying essentials or driving a few miles to a quiet place for exercise instead of walking to a quite crowded one. One assumes the government approved of its own emergency regulations and put in them, what it wanted to enforce.
That some people are acting irresponsibly is certainly true: in my supermarket, about 60% were doing their best to avoid getting close and about 40% were ignoring this.
I’m surprised Mr Johnson had your vote to start with. He’d never have mine.
May 10, 2020 at 12:19 pm
Thanks Simon. I didn’t say Boris had my vote; in fact no-one did. I agree that the message on exercising was ambiguous, but that’s not an excuse for ignoring common sense. I saw that attendees at a street party after Spain lifted some of the restrictions were fined €1,000. The ‘parking fines’ here would deter few of the people incurring them; it certainly made the job of the police much more difficult.
What I do think is that any Government would have made mistakes; I would certainly not have wished to make them.