One thing that we seem to agree on is people getting "stuck" abroad and/or having to quarantine upon their return.
At this point, it should be made clear to ANYONE travelling abroad is that, in respect of Covid, they do so at their own risk.
For me, people shouldn't be travelling abroad at all currently.
Even though cases may be slowing in the UK, there is a serious and growing pandemic around the world and if "we" cant/dont prevent people travelling, the very minimum should be that additional costs borne by holidaymakers, due to lock down and other virus consequences, should have to pay any additional costs and not expect to simply return to work without consequences.

We would all love to fly abroad and catch a few rays but, doing so at the moment will simply perpetuate the spread of the virus, or worse.

There are politics going on here, rather then protecting the population.

Getting back to NHS front line staff in particular,regardless of the state of the public purse, of course their should be some monetary reward for their efforts during this crisis.and all those that liked to clap on a Thursday evening should be very pleased to contribute, unless, of course,, it was yet more cheap words and deeds, all the way down from the PM.

To suggest that their reward is to still have a job when others may be losing theirs seems just a little bit grubby.
When Johnson talks about a debt of thanks, a bit of clapping on Thursday doesn't really cut it, especially on the back of a 10 year pay freeze that the Tories had already imposed.

As you say we agree on people travelling abroad.

No intention to sound grubby,so i will have another go.
I don't think any pay rise for NHS front line workers should be linked to their performance through a pandemic.
I just don't see how you can justify singling out one public sector should be given a financial reward for doing their job through the crisis.Imagine our armed forces are embroiled in a long running military conflict - when its finished,should we award them a pay rise to thank them for their efforts ?
Now,I'm not saying we pay our NHS staff well enough,i don't think we do.

This this and this a million times over. All these labour supporters on here are just embarassing. Their party heroes are literally child abusing, racist war mongering, expense fiddling whoppers yet according to them. Are Salt of the earth

That’s why you lost by the biggest margin ever. Because you are embarassing

Let's get back to A levels - how difficult would it have been to allow these kids to take these exams - not really - papers were already written - plenty of space to allow for social distancing - plenty of teachers with time on their hands. Sadly not the will on the part of the teachers - they should hang their head in shame.

As I recall, when I did my A levels it was in a gym with small desks pretty much 1m apart, with a teacher wandering around generally doing f'k all. In fact, most of my education involved reading books written by someone else whilst the teacher generally did f'k all except tell us which page to start from and then hand out questions, written by someone else and recycled over the years.

What did you want them to do in your exams? Tell you the answers? Write them on the paper for you?

State education needs fully bringing up to the 21st century. It has improved massively, but there are still areas where kids are still learning the same useless rubbish I was learning over 25 years ago. We were on the cusp of the information age and we were being prepared for work in coal mines, power stations and on spinning jennies as if the industrial revolution was in full swing! It's only when I went to college that I really started learning.

Who made the decision to cancel the exams? I'm pretty certain the teachers in our trust would have facilitated the A Level exams if allowed to. I think you believe teachers actually have more power then they do. Where are you getting all these 'teachers are to blame' attack lines from?

[iGavin Williamson, Education Secretary, said cancelling SATs, GCSEs, A levels and AS levels would "save people's lives".[/i

I think if the teaching unions who are the ones with the grunt had said "let's get the A Levels done" they would have happened but sadly the teaching unions seem to want to put any obstacle in the way of teachers returning to normality.

To say the unions have no power doesn't represent the true situation

Hang on a minute. You're always telling us that unions have too much power and need reigning in. Now you're telling us that the unions should flex their power to get schools open. Make your mind up.

Really? South Korean evidence showed the opposite and that 12-13 yea4 old were the biggest spreaders.

I will make a prediction - if schools reopen on a ‘business as usual’ basis the infection rate nationally will increase significantly. I made a prediction in writing back in March that the UK would have one of the highest death rates and the most affected economies in the developed world, which have this far proved correct. It was blatantly obvious then that our inept government was ignoring evidence from around the world, as they still are.

The reason the exams didn't take place was in part due to union pressure. The unions have issued a 200 point - yes 200 - document that unless everyone of these 200 - yes 200 points are not adopted they will stop their members returning to work. Yes their power needs reigning in even Stevie Wonder can see their objectives - get Williamson out.

Nostradamus speaks - we have a very densely populated country with a service based economy - you remove the people then the service sector is going to suffer - it doesn't take a highly attuned mind to predict what will happen

So do we wait for a vaccine for the kids to go back to school?

Seems we have a government that could not though.

you really are an eegit.

I think the government thought release lockdown and the normality will return - sadly not. Towns are still empty people have got used to shopping on line and they don't want the commute either. Plus if the schools don't go back their parents cant go to work - what happens if the schools haven't gone back by the end of furlough?

If it hasn't sunk in yet, we're not going back to how it was in 2019. As desperate as our great leaders are to get back to the good old days, it just isn't going to happen. People's priorities have changed. No longer will they want to waste money on retail trinkets and sit for hours on trains and buses, in cars for hours on their way to jobs which they can just so easily do at home, and save themselves a massive percentage of their earnings while doing it.

and what do you know about work? freeloading and shirking all your life? all you care about is the supply of werthers originals.

Please read your PM.

I completely agree with you - the world has moved on - this has significant implications as commercial property underpins much in the finance of this country - if that sector had a crash things could get very interesting.

We already see the reduction of demand for retail space will we see the same for commercial and office space?

The potential threat of commercial and office spaces being empty is driving the return to the office, in my opinion. If that market collapses it will be carnage. But I just can't see companies carrying on paying for tens of thousands of square metres of office space when they can just rent a small 'hub' office, and have employees come and go as they please while doing the majority of their work from home. A mate of mine has already terminated the contract of his office in favour of paying an hourly rate for meeting rooms, as and when required, for his staff who are now working from home. It'll save him a fortune.

On a personal level, I haven't been in my work office since late March. I may only get in in single figures for the remainder of the year. There is nothing of any note I haven't been able to do from home. Even my biggest yearly projects have been completed and ordered while sat at my kitchen table. My home and work Macs are almost identically specced and fully synched up. It's the same working interface whether I'm at home or in the office.

I suppose the big test will come in the Winter when people working from home are having to heat and light their own houses for the majority of the working day. If companies downsize their offices, saving them fortunes, will they subsidise home workers' utility bills in the Winter?

My thoughts exactly - my wife has been at home since February - it hasn't impacted her ability to deliver on her role - in fact quite the opposite.

I agree, I can't see business keep on on spending on office space which they quite simply don't need.Another thing I have noticed is meetings (on Zoom or Teams) are a lot shorter and achieve more, people are actually doing more when they work from home. They tend to log on early and be around until later, no more 2 hour commutes, buffet lunches etc. The biggest concern is the lack of human interaction, society is changing, even dating etc. is completely different now, no more eyes meeting across a crowded room.

We're finding out that we can do so much with so little. We no longer need long commutes, skyscrapers and Michelin starred restaurants in city centres to have a productive workforce. I hope this pandemic, and change in working culture, sees a steady flow of hospitality business out of the cities and into the surrounding villages and towns. If people are going to be working from home more, they will need these businesses for the after-work social element. The tea room/cafe round the corner from us is doing a roaring trade with takeaways now they've reopened.

We are certainly in for a good few years of change, the high street and towns were already struggling because of online shopping, and that has only increased, we have been incredibly lucky with the weather during the pandemic (well, the early stages, I think it is far from over). Will be interesting to see what Autumn/Winter brings and how behaviour changes even more one it's cold and wet (and windy and snowy).

I've noticed a significant hange in how people are spending, and what they are spending it on, people are now used to 4 cans for £5 instead of £3 a pint, they are drinking more, but they are doing it at home in the garden.

If commercial property collapses, which I believe it will, there will become pension funds and hedge funds that struggle, it seems strange that Apple has exceeded $1tn in value and will only get stronger, crazy times in an increasingly crazy world!