Mike Ashley has no relevance to the country in the next few months. Buying a new pair of Nike trainers is NOT an essential service, and for him to say so is an insult to all the really essential workers like doctors and nurses.
However, this underlines the need for more precision from the government.
They say groups of more than 2 are to be dispersed, but that could prove to be a huge policing challenge, given the limits of police staffing, and also the fact that 20-30% of police may themselves be off sick, or isolated because a family member is sick, at any one time around the height of the crisis.
People travelling: how will police know if they're legit or not, unless they set up road blocks? And how will they know if people are telling the truth about essential travel, if there is no permit system or documentation?
And how will people on the Underground be stopped, unless it becomes pass-based with checks at entry and exit points?
So there's quite a lot of vagueness about implementation and enforcement, and Mike Ashley's (in my opinion disgusting) attempt to (in my opinion) dodge the shut down... that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Let's hope people really do take note, and police really do come down hard on selfish people who ignore the instructions.
Death is coming to people we love. 'Policing by consent' sounds nice, and we hope for consent, but without definite enforcement, and systems to make that possible (like how do you tell if a person has good reason to travel, or can people just do what they like) then it's all a bit loose, and where the spreading of the virus remains loose, the danger of very bad death rates remains real.
More precision, and more coercion needed.
One more thing: "get deliveries from supermarkets if you can" is all very well. Elderly people shouldn't be going out to food shops at all. Prioritise them for deliveries? Or surely the army have thousands of trucks and the manpower to escalate deliveries hugely, working with supermarkets and their supply chains. Many supermarkets at present have no available delivery slots for a month. And then after that, the new ones will get booked up, if a million or more households are trying to get deliveries.
I want to support the government because it's not an easy situation at all, but I do think things still need to be firmed up more.