J D Wetherspoon plan to open in June

Workers used to fear going on strike for fear of losing their jobs. Now they fear returning to work in fear of losing their lives.

Keith Parkins
Light on a Dark Mountain
3 min readMay 1, 2020

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10 Questions for Wetherspoons
10 Questions for Wetherspoons

J D Wetherspoon plan to open in June.

Greed writ large. Not an essential business.

No end of lockdown in sight nevertheless J D Wetherspoon plan to open in June, bailed out by taxpayers.

J D Wetherspoon have form.

One of the main causes of high death rate from covid-19 was the failure to close pubs bars clubs sooner.

To open, J D Wetherspoon would be putting at risk staff and clientele.

J D Wetherspoon staff have put forward a 10-point plan to be implemented before they return to work.

Workers used to fear going on strike for fear of losing their jobs. Now they fear returning to work in fear of losing their lives.

There can be no relaxation of lockdown until daily death toll drops into tens, currently running at several hundred a day, with UK headed to be the worst country in Europe for deaths from coronavirus.

  • indie specialty coffee shops outside tables
  • local independent businesses
  • restaurants
  • pubs bars clubs

We already see some local businesses open, what can be described as essential, butcher, baker, pharmacy, fruit and vegetable stalls. Wetherspoon is not an essential businesses.

Coffee shops only outside tables spaced 2 metres apart, not meeting with friends. Served take away only, contactless payment, much as it goes against the grain to recommend either, but reduces risk of covid-19 infection, needs must and was standard practice before lockdown. Coffee shops because dwell time short.

Small indie businesses, for example bookshops.

Restaurant next, same rules as coffee shops.

Last and at the earliest next year, pubs, and even then phased, small indie pubs, binge drinking bars the very last.

For those who wish for a drink, small craft breweries, for example Neon Rapture on-line deliveries and off-sales.

At each phase there would have to be a pause to asses.

There would have to be mass testing in place.

  • frontline at risk staff
  • people displaying symptoms
  • random testing

Random testing essential otherwise do not know what is happening within the community. And testing on its own not sufficient, need to test, trace, isolate.

J D Wetherpoon by no means the only rogue company.

Zombie tour company tui is offering for May non-existent holidays in Spain.

  • lockdown cannot travel to airport
  • FCO advice no overseas travel indefinite
  • nigh impossible to obtain travel insurance and it will exclude covid-19
  • expired passports not being renewed
  • too risky passing through busy airport packed like sardines on an aircraft for several hours
  • risk of being stranded overseas
  • will have to quarantine for 14 days on return to UK

Spain is in lockdown. If we look to Tenerife, if and when hotels open, it will be for locals, then Spain, with Brits not welcome being one of the worst affected countries.

Fools and their money easily parted. Any who pay for a non-existent holidays will then have problems obtaining a refund when cancelled.

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Keith Parkins
Light on a Dark Mountain

Writer, thinker, deep ecologist, social commentator, activist, enjoys music, literature and good food.