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Several things are simultaneously true:
1) the stay at home message was powerful, almost too powerful, and us not helpful when trying to open elements of the economy
1) the stay at home message was powerful, almost too powerful, and us not helpful when trying to open elements of the economy
2) Stay Alert is a reasonable crack at a message to emphasise both that things are changing, but *aren& #39;t* back to normal. It& #39;s not an easy message to land and I& #39;m struggling to think of an alternative that does that job
3) it *is* more important to get the economy moving than people meeting. It may be safer to see your parents than go to work, but the cumulative pain of the latter not happening is greater than the individual pain of the former. Gov should be honest about this *because* its tough
3b) (as an aside, an element of this that does worry me is how "returning to work" is going to be unevenly spread, with nice comfortable middle class jobs able the work from home for the foreseeable future)
4) you can& #39;t make statements detailing prospective changes of policy and not make the written guidance available at the same time. You especially can& #39;t be surprised if people are then confused and asking questions
4b) the press may well be asking frustrating and trouble making questions, but we live in a world where we should expect the press to do that. Prepare accordingly
