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Oh how convenient
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@mikethesnow said in Coronavirus - UK:
@victor-meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
Fascinating poll in The Economist on attitudes to Lockdown in the UK. Thought @MiketheSnow might find it interesting.
Some Britons crave permanent pandemic lockdown While the government prepares for “Freedom Day”, some Britons favour lasting curbs Boris johnson can often channel John Bull, a ruddy cartoon figure from Georgian England. He personified the liberty-loving English yeoman, in opposition to Napoleonic tyranny. Announcing England’s first pandemic lockdown in March 2020, Mr Johnson lamented “taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub”. Government behavioural scientists warned that Britons would defy even modest restrictions, and fretted about disorder and looting. Bull. For 16 months Britons have complied dutifully and, for the most part, uncomplainingly. But on July 19th Mr Johnson will scrap nearly all the remaining anti-covid measures in England. Nightclubs will reopen, capacity caps will be lifted on restaurants and masks will no longer be mandatory. The tabloids have dubbed it “Freedom Day”. Conservative mps are overjoyed; many Britons are not. Polling by Ipsos mori for The Economist suggests two-thirds think masks, social distancing and travel restrictions should continue for another month (see chart). A majority would support them until covid-19 is controlled worldwide, which may take years. Even more strikingly, a sizeable minority would like personal freedoms to be restricted permanently. A quarter say nightclubs and casinos should never reopen; almost two in ten would support an indefinite ban on leaving home after 10pm “without good reason”.
Some caution is hardly surprising. Cases are rising fast and may reach 100,000 a day, according to Sajid Javid, the health secretary. That would be nearly twice as many as at the peak of the winter wave. Sir Keir Starmer, the opposition leader, calls the removal of restrictions “reckless”. Yet Britain’s exceptionally high vaccination rate will limit the rise in hospital admissions and deaths. Vaccination has driven covid-19’s fatality rate down from 0.8% of estimated infections to below 0.1%, the same as for seasonal flu. Unlocking now will mean the increase in covid-19 infections comes before winter, when flu picks up. Schools, where much transmission happens, are about to go on holiday. Public willingness to sacrifice for the common good in a time of crisis has surprised ministers. One insider says he has changed his mind on whether Britons would volunteer for war: “I’d always assumed that if my generation was shown the Kitchener poster, they’d say: ‘No chance, mate’.” But the pandemic has also revealed John Bull’s authoritarian streak. Many Britons did not go out dancing or drinking, or take overseas holidays, even before the pandemic. Nightclubs, casinos and dark streets harbour all sorts of wrongdoers. For some, it seems, endless lockdown is an acceptable price for everyone else staying home.
This is NOT my Britain
Thankfully I left before Covid. So only have good memories mostly of the UK. I use to look on mask wearers as nutters. As I felt it was a waste of time. But times change and now 40% want to make it permanent, I would support it for those who have the flu (or a bad cough) though but otherwise I hate them.
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@sparky said in Coronavirus - UK:
@tewaio Remember deaths is a lagging indicator. People who die with Covid are normally identified as having it two to three weeks beforehand. Two weeks ago there were 27,000 new cases a day so I expect UK covid deaths to reach somewhere between an average of 70 and 100 a day by the end of July.
Hopefully that will be the peak of the UK third wave. Cases and hospitalisations are ready coming down in Scotland. Normally I'm no fan.at allof Nicola Sturgeon, but she's done a brilliant job persuading Scots to follow public health procedures and get vaccinated.
Yes that is a good point, forgot about the lagging thing. Still 40 / 27k is low.
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Fuck me, the Tories really are taking the piss
Javid tests positive
BJ and Sunak get pinged
Say they're going to skip self-isolate and take part in a study instead
2hrs later they change their mind because of political backlashFFS
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Bit of a fuck-up, but to be fair, my local GP surgery is also enrolled in the non-isolation pilot and there is a case that the Cabinet ministers are likewise essential workers, I guess.
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@victor-meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
Bit of a fuck-up, but to be fair, my local GP surgery is also enrolled in the non-isolation pilot and there is a case that the Cabinet ministers are likewise essential workers, I guess.
After all the Hancockery you would have thought that if the non-isolation pilot scheme was chosen for Cabinet Ministers, then the Government would have
- Informed the country prior to getting pinged
- Explained the need for Cabinet Ministers to be on this scheme
Amateurs? Arrogant goal post moving fucksticks?
You decide
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@mikethesnow said in Coronavirus - UK:
Amateurs? Arrogant goal post moving fucksticks?
More the former I suspect. Which in many ways is more worrying than the latter...
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Freedom Day is bullshit.
It's basically the government lost control day. People have been out and about for months now, big crowds everywhere as seen in the Euro's. You can't arrest everybody so they had to ease restrictions or overwhelm the police force.
I fully expect everybody to carry on as they were previous, I've no intention of heading into London anytime soon, especially not at 50k cases a day. Maybe when that starts dropping. My job is far far too shit to risk long Covid for.
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Took a trip to England today for work.
50 / 50 split mask wearing in services and in pub
I was in the non-wearing group
To be fair social distancing was automatic so don’t think mask will have much impact
On a packed train different story
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@mikethesnow yeah just popped down to the mall and felt like a bit of a loser walking around with a mask - there was a the odd person wearing one, but most not.
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@mikethesnow said in Coronavirus - UK:
@victor-meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
Bit of a fuck-up, but to be fair, my local GP surgery is also enrolled in the non-isolation pilot and there is a case that the Cabinet ministers are likewise essential workers, I guess.
After all the Hancockery you would have thought that if the non-isolation pilot scheme was chosen for Cabinet Ministers, then the Government would have
- Informed the country prior to getting pinged
- Explained the need for Cabinet Ministers to be on this scheme
Amateurs? Arrogant goal post moving fucksticks?
You decide
The CDL was already isolating under the scheme, as reported by BBC, which seemed to have forgotten.
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@pakman said in Coronavirus - UK:
The CDL was already isolating under the scheme, as reported by BBC, which seemed to have forgotten.
Facts? Good god man, it's the UK media we are talking about here!
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@victor-meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
@pakman said in Coronavirus - UK:
The CDL was already isolating under the scheme, as reported by BBC, which seemed to have forgotten.
Facts? Good god man, it's the UK media we are talking about here!
Ooops!
Coronavirus - UK