It hasn't been an edifying day with Boris ambushed for the "party" and Allegra taking a hit for the team while the known unknown omicron looms ever larger in the run up to Christmas. Even so, looking at the alternatives available within his own party and across the aisle I'd stick with Boris. And I hope he toughs it out. That said, North Shropshire is probably on a knife-edge after today.
If Boris wins North Shropshire after this it would be a triumph
It could definitely still happen if Labour's vote holds up at around 15-20%.
And for that to happen there would have to be literally thousands of Labour voters at the Tim Nice But Exceedingly Dim level. 😆
If Starmer suddenly resigned tomorrow, and was replaced by someone who was against a 2nd referendum such as Nandy or (if she were still in the Commons) Caroline Flint... then then the PB'ers calling Starmer a treacherous quisling would still find some excuse not to vote Labour. If you're still banging on about Labour remainers, and are *particularly* anti-lockdown and anti-woke, then Labour would be wasting their time chasing after your vote. They'll instead hope you'll just remain at home or vote for Reform instead.
The modern world generally feels a bit rubbish, but here’s a (hopefully) heartwarming tale. My youngest son 13 has written a book, which he intends to give as gifts. He uploaded the file to Amazon and paid out the money he has earned in chores for someone to design a cover. He is having real paperbacks made for his mum, brother and aunt.
None of this would have been thinkable for adults a few years ago, but here we are with a 13yr old doing all this off completely of his own bat.
In all the horrors of Covid and nonsense of populist politics, we forget the miracles around us. Our world is amazing. There is so much out there.
Nah. Fuck off you Remainr scum you don't -
Only joking. Kudos to your lad. I hope he is writing a ghost story. It is apparently the new vogue in publishing.
Not a cloud in the sky at the cricket....Australia 350/3 at the end of the day.
I wonder what the odds are one Australian gets a personal score higher than the whole England score?
Probably about evens.
Only one....No Broad or Anderson, no left pace bowler, Jack Leach is never a test wicket taker. As soon as the ball goes soft, it will be a piece of piss for Australia.
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
OT, a value bet for tomorrow’s footie - Midtjylland to win their Europa League group at 9/1 on Bet365. The two (very possible) results that will bring about this are a combined 5.13/1. As ever, DYOR.
The modern world generally feels a bit rubbish, but here’s a (hopefully) heartwarming tale. My youngest son 13 has written a book, which he intends to give as gifts. He uploaded the file to Amazon and paid out the money he has earned in chores for someone to design a cover. He is having real paperbacks made for his mum, brother and aunt.
None of this would have been thinkable for adults a few years ago, but here we are with a 13yr old doing all this off completely of his own bat.
In all the horrors of Covid and nonsense of populist politics, we forget the miracles around us. Our world is amazing. There is so much out there.
How incredibly wonderful! What genre is it?
Tolkienesque fantasy I think. He’s a bit that way inclined. He had done the Amazon bit and research artists totally on his own, I found out today. His older brother was apparently in on it and - usually a stern critic - says it is actually good.
Also - the Instagram index rates the Boris party as very highly engaging. All of the meme pages, stories from real friends and other randoms are on it. This isn't going away and plan b has magnified the errors. It's exactly what I expected to happen, this announcement would end up making it worse for Boris rather than distracting everyone.
I am so furious at all this. These restrictions will likely harm Daughter's business again if people take fright and stay away. But no support this time.
And Eldest Son is now worried about his job - in Canary Wharf - in retail. What happens if people stay away?
And all this for what? To protect someone who doesn't have the decency to admit a mistake and say sorry but throws everyone around him under the bus.
It's infuriating and pathetic and wrong.
It is also utterly ludicrous. So I suppose there is nothing to do but sit back and enjoy or endure the Italianisation of our politics. We have our very own Berlusconi in charge. It shames us as a nation. But it's what people voted for.
Not me, though. At least I can say I didn't vote for this lot. It's something I suppose.
There are no changes for shops or pubs or restaurants tonight.
The only changes are vax passports for nightclubs and large events and facemasks for cinemas and theatres.
Plenty in Canary Wharf were wfh much of the week already
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
England probably lost the Ashes with the first ball bowled. Could have done with losing the toss. I mean Smith would have been 150 not out at the end of the day but it would have been less psychologically crushing than Burns' royal duck.
Also - the Instagram index rates the Boris party as very highly engaging. All of the meme pages, stories from real friends and other randoms are on it. This isn't going away and plan b has magnified the errors. It's exactly what I expected to happen, this announcement would end up making it worse for Boris rather than distracting everyone.
My wife is livid tonight and has said she's going to vote for Starmer next time.
England probably lost the Ashes with the first ball bowled. Could have done with losing the toss. I mean Smith would have been 150 not out at the end of the day but it would have been less psychologically crushing than Burns' royal duck.
England had lost the Ashes before they got on the plane.
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
The modern world generally feels a bit rubbish, but here’s a (hopefully) heartwarming tale. My youngest son 13 has written a book, which he intends to give as gifts. He uploaded the file to Amazon and paid out the money he has earned in chores for someone to design a cover. He is having real paperbacks made for his mum, brother and aunt.
None of this would have been thinkable for adults a few years ago, but here we are with a 13yr old doing all this off completely of his own bat.
In all the horrors of Covid and nonsense of populist politics, we forget the miracles around us. Our world is amazing. There is so much out there.
How incredibly wonderful! What genre is it?
Tolkienesque fantasy I think. He’s a bit that way inclined. He had done the Amazon bit and research artists totally on his own, I found out today. His older brother was apparently in on it and - usually a stern critic - says it is actually good.
Good lad! I tried doing something like that when I was about 13 and wrote something like 2 pages before I gave up!
It hasn't been an edifying day with Boris ambushed for the "party" and Allegra taking a hit for the team while the known unknown omicron looms ever larger in the run up to Christmas. Even so, looking at the alternatives available within his own party and across the aisle I'd stick with Boris. And I hope he toughs it out. That said, North Shropshire is probably on a knife-edge after today.
How come Geoff? Johnson has always been the worst of the worst and today was his crowning glory.
Any one of Starmer, Hunt, Sunak, Truss... or heaven forbid Gove or even Raab would be head and shoulders better than Johnson. I might draw the line at Steve Baker but even that is a close call.
Unquestionably the most incompetent Prime Minister (including Lord North).
It will not happen overnight or even in the next few months and it could struggle on for a while beyond that; but we have entered the beginning of the end of Boris Johnson.
The modern world generally feels a bit rubbish, but here’s a (hopefully) heartwarming tale. My youngest son 13 has written a book, which he intends to give as gifts. He uploaded the file to Amazon and paid out the money he has earned in chores for someone to design a cover. He is having real paperbacks made for his mum, brother and aunt.
None of this would have been thinkable for adults a few years ago, but here we are with a 13yr old doing all this off completely of his own bat.
In all the horrors of Covid and nonsense of populist politics, we forget the miracles around us. Our world is amazing. There is so much out there.
How incredibly wonderful! What genre is it?
Tolkienesque fantasy I think. He’s a bit that way inclined. He had done the Amazon bit and research artists totally on his own, I found out today. His older brother was apparently in on it and - usually a stern critic - says it is actually good.
Would you mind linking it? I think a few of us here would like to support him by buying/reading it. It's a genre that's pretty popular on PB too!
Letters going in by sound of Nick Watts on Newsnight
After the last 24 hours though, how does this story maintain legs and not fizzle out?
drip drip drip...whatsapp message saying bob was wankered at the party, couldn't walk home.... drip drip drip....somebody says well I was there and i saw Boris walk past the door....
There are 100+ journalists out there who now strongly suspect there is a single smoking gun that could bring down a Prime Minister.
That is career-defining. That is the ultimate prize, a British Watergate with the same adulation for whoever finds it. No British journalist has achieved that since... when?
If that smoking gun exists, for this reason I am convinced it will be found.
It hasn't been an edifying day with Boris ambushed for the "party" and Allegra taking a hit for the team while the known unknown omicron looms ever larger in the run up to Christmas. Even so, looking at the alternatives available within his own party and across the aisle I'd stick with Boris. And I hope he toughs it out. That said, North Shropshire is probably on a knife-edge after today.
If Boris wins North Shropshire after this it would be a triumph
It could definitely still happen if Labour's vote holds up at around 15-20%.
And for that to happen there would have to be literally thousands of Labour voters at the Tim Nice But Exceedingly Dim level. 😆
I think only around half of Labour voters would go tactically, and even in shire England there is a hard-core Labour vote. Add in a bit of swing to Lab since 2019 and 15% is really quite likely.
Lab did get 31% in the 2017 GE, at peak Jezzmania, and 22% even in the worst result in postwar history of 2019. so there is quite a strong Labour vote. I have a modest sum on a Con win, and may top up further if the odds shift further to the LDs. This really is donkey with a blue rosette territory.
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
Or a Covid tax that isn't paid by the vaccinated. £600 per annum poll tax levied on every adult, with the vaccinated getting a £600 per annum credit against that tax.
You can stay unvaccinated if you want, but you'll pay £50 a month every month in tax to support the NHS just as smokers have to.
Letters going in by sound of Nick Watts on Newsnight
After the last 24 hours though, how does this story maintain legs and not fizzle out?
They need a photo or a video of Boris at one of these parties. Without that, it might well fizzle
No he is boxed in now that he absolutely never knew anything about anything about a party. Any evidence that he was at any point in time he was aware a party went on, he is stuffed.
And it seems highly unlikely that a) he didn't know in advance and b) that what they had a piss up and nobody ever mentioned at any point ever.
On the day of the Christmas Party, he was apparently out of #10 during the day (in Derby I believe), but came back in the evening.
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
Or a Covid tax that isn't paid by the vaccinated. £600 per annum poll tax levied on every adult, with the vaccinated getting a £600 per annum credit against that tax.
You can stay unvaccinated if you want, but you'll pay £50 a month every month in tax to support the NHS just as smokers have to.
I'd triple it, but yes, make it payable by everyone over 18 not in full time education and a full rebate for fully vaccinated people.
Do we know how the Christmas party story came out? It's pretty great timing, before the next Christmas so it's topical and right before a potential new lockdown.
Loads of hacks must have known about it the whole time so why now?
They must have thought that they had got away with it, but someone enjoys their revenge served cold and has timed it perfectly.
It does show how hand in glove our media are with our political masters. It really is quite an astonishingly small clique that runs the country. Circles within circles.
Nothing about this years two videos, Hancock’s hand in cookie jar, and amazing Mrs Allegra, you actually consider unfairly iffy in their leaking?
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
There's various things they could do but it seems they want to pander to anti-vaxxers.
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Also - the Instagram index rates the Boris party as very highly engaging. All of the meme pages, stories from real friends and other randoms are on it. This isn't going away and plan b has magnified the errors. It's exactly what I expected to happen, this announcement would end up making it worse for Boris rather than distracting everyone.
My wife is livid tonight and has said she's going to vote for Starmer next time.
Mrs Foxy was nearly in tears earlier watching the news. She loathes Johnson, but the thought of his partying away while she couldn't see her mother in a Nursing home last Christmas, her final Christmas brought it all back. That anger is real with the British public, just listen to any vox pop or phone in.
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
I am so furious at all this. These restrictions will likely harm Daughter's business again if people take fright and stay away. But no support this time.
And Eldest Son is now worried about his job - in Canary Wharf - in retail. What happens if people stay away?
And all this for what? To protect someone who doesn't have the decency to admit a mistake and say sorry but throws everyone around him under the bus.
It's infuriating and pathetic and wrong.
It is also utterly ludicrous. So I suppose there is nothing to do but sit back and enjoy or endure the Italianisation of our politics. We have our very own Berlusconi in charge. It shames us as a nation. But it's what people voted for.
Not me, though. At least I can say I didn't vote for this lot. It's something I suppose.
There are no changes for shops or pubs or restaurants tonight.
The only changes are vax passports for nightclubs and large events and facemasks for cinemas and theatres.
Plenty in Canary Wharf were wfh much of the week already
You appear to have absolutely no comprehension of the effect that this drip feeding of measures has on public confidence. It's only about five minutes since the mask mandate came back for public transport, and now we have it for a scattergun assortment of entertainment venues, plus the introduction of vaxports and the return of WFH orders.
The frightened element of the population is now going to assume that Omicron must be really dangerous and it's time to brick themselves up in their houses until next August; most of the rest of us will conclude that there will be more restrictions in the next couple of weeks, and then more after that, and more after that, and there's no point in looking forward to or planning anything, because it's only going to take one exceedingly dodgy set of made-up scary numbers from Warwick University to have your hero telling us all to sit and rot at home for the whole of the rest of the Winter.
Masks in museums and Covid passes to get into nightclubs have achieved the square root of f*** all elsewhere in our own country and they'll achieve nothing useful against this wretched disease in England, either. The only thing they do is remind everyone of the end of 2020 and think "Here we go again."
gabyhinsliff @gabyhinsliff · 3h Polite reminder that if you know someone who really struggled during last lot of restrictions, call them. We’re all feeling a bit depressed about it coming back but some will be absolutely dreading the next few weeks.
Letters going in by sound of Nick Watts on Newsnight
After the last 24 hours though, how does this story maintain legs and not fizzle out?
They need a photo or a video of Boris at one of these parties. Without that, it might well fizzle
No he is boxed in now that he absolutely never knew anything about anything about a party. Any evidence that he was at any point in time he was aware a party went on, he is stuffed.
And it seems highly unlikely that a) he didn't know in advance and b) that what they had a piss up and nobody ever mentioned at any point ever.
I dunno. I keep veering between opinions. (Yes, I know this is unusual)
This feels terminal, but what if Bojo just says Fuck off, I'm staying. Does anyone in the Tory party really have the guts or the confidence or even the power to bring him down? Some PB-ers may laugh at HYUFD, but he represents a significant slice of Tory activists: the ones grateful to Boris for winning a large majority. Just as there are others who are grateful to him for finalising Brexit. These are not small things. Blair had a large loyal following even after Iraq
And Boris wins elections. And he has weird luck. And he has no obvious rivals. Thatcher had the demonic weirdo Heseltine, with Howe to assassinate her. Major had innumerable potent foes (and lost anyway). Cameron had, well, Boris
Who is Boris' obvious nemesis, who is his obvious successor?
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
It possibly was. They seem to be utterly against the idea that antivaxxers should own the consequences of their choices.
Unless the Cabinet were given radically different data from yesterday's Cabinet meeting (which is not impossible but unlikely), it's difficult to see why the PM convened them today to make the restrictions announcement.
Letters going in by sound of Nick Watts on Newsnight
After the last 24 hours though, how does this story maintain legs and not fizzle out?
They need a photo or a video of Boris at one of these parties. Without that, it might well fizzle
No he is boxed in now that he absolutely never knew anything about anything about a party. Any evidence that he was at any point in time he was aware a party went on, he is stuffed.
And it seems highly unlikely that a) he didn't know in advance and b) that what they had a piss up and nobody ever mentioned at any point ever.
I dunno. I keep veering between opinions. (Yes, I know this is unusual)
This feels terminal, but what if Bojo just says Fuck off, I'm staying. Does anyone in the Tory party really have the guts or the confidence or even the power to bring him down? Some PB-ers may laugh at HYUFD, but he represents a significant slice of Tory activists: the ones grateful to Boris for winning a large majority. Just as there are others who are grateful to him for finalising Brexit. These are not small things. Blair had a large loyal following even after Iraq
And Boris wins elections. And he has weird luck. And he has no obvious rivals. Thatcher had the demonic weirdo Heseltine, with Howe to assassinate her. Major had innumerable potent foes (and lost anyway). Cameron had, well, Boris
Who is Boris' obvious nemesis, who is his obvious successor?
Hm
Nah he has over done it now....its just a matter of now or a bit later.
Do we know how the Christmas party story came out? It's pretty great timing, before the next Christmas so it's topical and right before a potential new lockdown.
Loads of hacks must have known about it the whole time so why now?
They must have thought that they had got away with it, but someone enjoys their revenge served cold and has timed it perfectly.
It does show how hand in glove our media are with our political masters. It really is quite an astonishingly small clique that runs the country. Circles within circles.
Nothing about this years two videos, Hancock’s hand in cookie jar, and amazing Mrs Allegra, you actually consider unfairly iffy in their leaking?
Clearly there are a few plotters wanting revenge, and Johnson must be sweating that more will emerge. Whoever is leaking this has good timing.
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
I would say so.
There is a grim inevitability feel to this. By, say 18th, we will be being told to keep to small gatherings (rule of 6) and so on.
OT, a value bet for tomorrow’s footie - Midtjylland to win their Europa League group at 9/1 on Bet365. The two (very possible) results that will bring about this are a combined 5.13/1. As ever, DYOR.
Well spotted. Love these quirky little mispricings.
Unpopular opinion: as soon as Boris goes - like, within about 3 weeks - lots of people will miss him, a lot
For all his manifold flaws - which are now destroying him - he cheered people. Made them smile. That's what we will miss. I once read in a book by that awful Tom Knox dude that "the friends you miss most are the friends that made you laugh". It is true. And Boris was that person for plenty of Britons
Instead it will be Boring Kir Royale Starmer versus boring Rishi Sunak or Michael Gove or whoever, and it will all seem terribly grey and dull. And we will mourn
Four years ago it looked possible that a future general election (after the 2017 disaster for May, and Corbyn therefore staying on) that it could be Rees-Mogg v Corbyn.
I said to a friend at the time that I'd pay £50 to be part of such a General Election campaign (which of course would in reality would be free for me being a British citizen) so hyped was I by the utter comedy of Corbyn v Mogg in some hypothetical debates.
I suppose I might miss the comedy of Boris, but in reality I'd like him gone. I didn't want him in 2019, and I don't want him now.
But no one cares what I think, certainly not in Bootle.
Also - the Instagram index rates the Boris party as very highly engaging. All of the meme pages, stories from real friends and other randoms are on it. This isn't going away and plan b has magnified the errors. It's exactly what I expected to happen, this announcement would end up making it worse for Boris rather than distracting everyone.
My wife is livid tonight and has said she's going to vote for Starmer next time.
Mrs Foxy was nearly in tears earlier watching the news. She loathes Johnson, but the thought of his partying away while she couldn't see her mother in a Nursing home last Christmas, her final Christmas brought it all back. That anger is real with the British public, just listen to any vox pop or phone in.
Yup, this is worse than Barnard Castle. That at least had a weird story involving sick children and possible but not believable childcare issues. A lot of parents can sympathise with irrational behaviour so while it cut through I don't think it was terminal. This feels absolutely terminal for Boris, partying while the rest of the nation suffered through lockdown and isolation over Xmas after being told we would be able to have it then it being cancelled 3 days before was terrible.
The fact that he, nor anyone else, stopped and thought that what they were doing was wrong having just told the nation to stay home and not see their families is telling of the man and the government.
Unless the Cabinet were given radically different data from yesterday's Cabinet meeting (which is not impossible but unlikely), it's difficult to see why the PM convened them today to make the restrictions announcement.
They have....but I don't think that's the reason for today.
Since yesterday we have had several studies on vaccines and also there is new data on state of play in SA.
I am so furious at all this. These restrictions will likely harm Daughter's business again if people take fright and stay away. But no support this time.
And Eldest Son is now worried about his job - in Canary Wharf - in retail. What happens if people stay away?
And all this for what? To protect someone who doesn't have the decency to admit a mistake and say sorry but throws everyone around him under the bus.
It's infuriating and pathetic and wrong.
It is also utterly ludicrous. So I suppose there is nothing to do but sit back and enjoy or endure the Italianisation of our politics. We have our very own Berlusconi in charge. It shames us as a nation. But it's what people voted for.
Not me, though. At least I can say I didn't vote for this lot. It's something I suppose.
There are no changes for shops or pubs or restaurants tonight.
The only changes are vax passports for nightclubs and large events and facemasks for cinemas and theatres.
Plenty in Canary Wharf were wfh much of the week already
You appear to have absolutely no comprehension of the effect that this drip feeding of measures has on public confidence. It's only about five minutes since the mask mandate came back for public transport, and now we have it for a scattergun assortment of entertainment venues, plus the introduction of vaxports and the return of WFH orders.
The frightened element of the population is now going to assume that Omicron must be really dangerous and it's time to brick themselves up in their houses until next August; most of the rest of us will conclude that there will be more restrictions in the next couple of weeks, and then more after that, and more after that, and there's no point in looking forward to or planning anything, because it's only going to take one exceedingly dodgy set of made-up scary numbers from Warwick University to have your hero telling us all to sit and rot at home for the whole of the rest of the Winter.
Masks in museums and Covid passes to get into nightclubs have achieved the square root of f*** all elsewhere in our own country and they'll achieve nothing useful against this wretched disease in England, either. The only thing they do is remind everyone of the end of 2020 and think "Here we go again."
The only action which would work is action against anti-vaxxers.
It hasn't been an edifying day with Boris ambushed for the "party" and Allegra taking a hit for the team while the known unknown omicron looms ever larger in the run up to Christmas. Even so, looking at the alternatives available within his own party and across the aisle I'd stick with Boris. And I hope he toughs it out. That said, North Shropshire is probably on a knife-edge after today.
If Boris wins North Shropshire after this it would be a triumph
It could definitely still happen if Labour's vote holds up at around 15-20%.
And for that to happen there would have to be literally thousands of Labour voters at the Tim Nice But Exceedingly Dim level. 😆
I think only around half of Labour voters would go tactically, and even in shire England there is a hard-core Labour vote. Add in a bit of swing to Lab since 2019 and 15% is really quite likely.
Lab did get 31% in the 2017 GE, at peak Jezzmania, and 22% even in the worst result in postwar history of 2019. so there is quite a strong Labour vote. I have a modest sum on a Con win, and may top up further if the odds shift further to the LDs. This really is donkey with a blue rosette territory.
The Tories really do need that Labour vote holding up I think now. And I think you are wrong. It’s going to bee squeezed till the pips squeak.
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
Or a Covid tax that isn't paid by the vaccinated. £600 per annum poll tax levied on every adult, with the vaccinated getting a £600 per annum credit against that tax.
You can stay unvaccinated if you want, but you'll pay £50 a month every month in tax to support the NHS just as smokers have to.
I'd triple it, but yes, make it payable by everyone over 18 not in full time education and a full rebate for fully vaccinated people.
This is the point HYFUD spectacularly missed earlier. Use a proper and effective lever to improve vaccination rates that doesn’t infringe on the rest of us i.e. the opposite of vaxports. And he’d have gone some way to moving on from this scandal. Certainly he’d have been safer from backbench mutiny than he is tonight.
Instead he’s dug his hole twice as deep. There’s no political skill in this operation any more, much less effective policy making.
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
There's various things they could do but it seems they want to pander to anti-vaxxers.
Don't understand it.
If you go after the anti-vax in the ways mentioned above, it makes the problem worse. Many are just hesitant rather than Piers Corbyn level swivel-eyed lunatics. Better to try to persuade than hit with a big stick.
Letters going in by sound of Nick Watts on Newsnight
After the last 24 hours though, how does this story maintain legs and not fizzle out?
They need a photo or a video of Boris at one of these parties. Without that, it might well fizzle
No he is boxed in now that he absolutely never knew anything about anything about a party. Any evidence that he was at any point in time he was aware a party went on, he is stuffed.
And it seems highly unlikely that a) he didn't know in advance and b) that what they had a piss up and nobody ever mentioned at any point ever.
I dunno. I keep veering between opinions. (Yes, I know this is unusual)
This feels terminal, but what if Bojo just says Fuck off, I'm staying. Does anyone in the Tory party really have the guts or the confidence or even the power to bring him down? Some PB-ers may laugh at HYUFD, but he represents a significant slice of Tory activists: the ones grateful to Boris for winning a large majority. Just as there are others who are grateful to him for finalising Brexit. These are not small things. Blair had a large loyal following even after Iraq
And Boris wins elections. And he has weird luck. And he has no obvious rivals. Thatcher had the demonic weirdo Heseltine, with Howe to assassinate her. Major had innumerable potent foes (and lost anyway). Cameron had, well, Boris
Who is Boris' obvious nemesis, who is his obvious successor?
Hm
Nah he has over done it now....its just a matter of now or a bit later.
He is a dead man walking now, and knows it. Like May though he will hang on for a long time before someone puts him out of our misery.
Also - the Instagram index rates the Boris party as very highly engaging. All of the meme pages, stories from real friends and other randoms are on it. This isn't going away and plan b has magnified the errors. It's exactly what I expected to happen, this announcement would end up making it worse for Boris rather than distracting everyone.
My wife is livid tonight and has said she's going to vote for Starmer next time.
Mrs Foxy was nearly in tears earlier watching the news. She loathes Johnson, but the thought of his partying away while she couldn't see her mother in a Nursing home last Christmas, her final Christmas brought it all back. That anger is real with the British public, just listen to any vox pop or phone in.
Yup, this is worse than Barnard Castle. That at least had a weird story involving sick children and possible but not believable childcare issues. A lot of parents can sympathise with irrational behaviour so while it cut through I don't think it was terminal. This feels absolutely terminal for Boris, partying while the rest of the nation suffered through lockdown and isolation over Xmas after being told we would be able to have it then it being cancelled 3 days before was terrible.
The fact that he, nor anyone else, stopped and thought that what they were doing was wrong having just told the nation to stay home and not see their families is telling of the man and the government.
I think Big Dom would have been able to come back if he had just stuck to the scared, child care, made a mistake, very sorry. He could have really laid it on thick with threats to his life in post resignation interviews. If he had stepped down and come 6-12 months down the line.
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
I'm sure you're right. At one point in the Press Conference earlier, Whitty or Vallance (can't remember which) said people should do what they can to reduce their social contacts. Moments later, Boris said Christmas parties should go ahead. Whatever one's views, that's poor mixed messaging.
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
I'm sure you're right. At one point in the Press Conference earlier, Whitty or Vallance (can't remember which) said people should do what they can to reduce their social contacts. Moments later, Boris said Christmas parties should go ahead. Whatever one's views, that's poor mixed messaging.
For me, it was clear Witty was really quite negative and crucially he made a big point of saying "the cabinet signed off on these measures" i.e. don't blame me, I didn't ask for these here nor there lot.
Unless the Cabinet were given radically different data from yesterday's Cabinet meeting (which is not impossible but unlikely), it's difficult to see why the PM convened them today to make the restrictions announcement.
They have....but I don't think that's the reason for today.
Since yesterday we have had several studies on vaccines and also there is new data on state of play in SA.
Yes. I reckon this Plan B announcement was coming this week at some point, anyway. The charts from Whitty were off-the-dial alarming. No government could sit idle. Plan B is probably the very least they can get away with, psychologically - it is still way less than most of mainland Europe as things stand
Did they shift the Plan B announcemt backwards or forwards by a few hours to suit the politics? Maybe. Who cares. The rules don't come into place immediately, everyone has a few days to get acquainted with them
Lots about this is scandalous, the timing is not, indeed it is possibly MIS-timed by the government, as the two issues intertangle - Partygate meets Plan B
Letters going in by sound of Nick Watts on Newsnight
After the last 24 hours though, how does this story maintain legs and not fizzle out?
They need a photo or a video of Boris at one of these parties. Without that, it might well fizzle
No he is boxed in now that he absolutely never knew anything about anything about a party. Any evidence that he was at any point in time he was aware a party went on, he is stuffed.
And it seems highly unlikely that a) he didn't know in advance and b) that what they had a piss up and nobody ever mentioned at any point ever.
I dunno. I keep veering between opinions. (Yes, I know this is unusual)
This feels terminal, but what if Bojo just says Fuck off, I'm staying. Does anyone in the Tory party really have the guts or the confidence or even the power to bring him down? Some PB-ers may laugh at HYUFD, but he represents a significant slice of Tory activists: the ones grateful to Boris for winning a large majority. Just as there are others who are grateful to him for finalising Brexit. These are not small things. Blair had a large loyal following even after Iraq
And Boris wins elections. And he has weird luck. And he has no obvious rivals. Thatcher had the demonic weirdo Heseltine, with Howe to assassinate her. Major had innumerable potent foes (and lost anyway). Cameron had, well, Boris
Who is Boris' obvious nemesis, who is his obvious successor?
Hm
Nah he has over done it now....its just a matter of now or a bit later.
He is a dead man walking now, and knows it. Like May though he will hang on for a long time before someone puts him out of our misery.
Johnson is in a retrievable position given all his gifts but on the other hand it probably is not retrievable because of all his vices.
I doubt anyone on PB would be able to say he is as likely to be leading them into 2023/4 tonight as he was this time last week.
Unpopular opinion: as soon as Boris goes - like, within about 3 weeks - lots of people will miss him, a lot
For all his manifold flaws - which are now destroying him - he cheered people. Made them smile. That's what we will miss. I once read in a book by that awful Tom Knox dude that "the friends you miss most are the friends that made you laugh". It is true. And Boris was that person for plenty of Britons
Instead it will be Boring Kir Royale Starmer versus boring Rishi Sunak or Michael Gove or whoever, and it will all seem terribly grey and dull. And we will mourn
Four years ago it looked possible that a future general election (after the 2017 disaster for May, and Corbyn therefore staying on) that it could be Rees-Mogg v Corbyn.
I said to a friend at the time that I'd pay £50 to be part of such a General Election campaign (which of course would in reality would be free for me being a British citizen) so hyped was I by the utter comedy of Corbyn v Mogg in some hypothetical debates.
I suppose I might miss the comedy of Boris, but in reality I'd like him gone. I didn't want him in 2019, and I don't want him now.
But no one cares what I think, certainly not in Bootle.
Letters going in by sound of Nick Watts on Newsnight
After the last 24 hours though, how does this story maintain legs and not fizzle out?
They need a photo or a video of Boris at one of these parties. Without that, it might well fizzle
No he is boxed in now that he absolutely never knew anything about anything about a party. Any evidence that he was at any point in time he was aware a party went on, he is stuffed.
And it seems highly unlikely that a) he didn't know in advance and b) that what they had a piss up and nobody ever mentioned at any point ever.
I dunno. I keep veering between opinions. (Yes, I know this is unusual)
This feels terminal, but what if Bojo just says Fuck off, I'm staying. Does anyone in the Tory party really have the guts or the confidence or even the power to bring him down? Some PB-ers may laugh at HYUFD, but he represents a significant slice of Tory activists: the ones grateful to Boris for winning a large majority. Just as there are others who are grateful to him for finalising Brexit. These are not small things. Blair had a large loyal following even after Iraq
And Boris wins elections. And he has weird luck. And he has no obvious rivals. Thatcher had the demonic weirdo Heseltine, with Howe to assassinate her. Major had innumerable potent foes (and lost anyway). Cameron had, well, Boris
Who is Boris' obvious nemesis, who is his obvious successor?
Hm
Nah he has over done it now....its just a matter of now or a bit later.
He is a dead man walking now, and knows it. Like May though he will hang on for a long time before someone puts him out of our misery.
Johnson is in a retrievable position given all his gifts but on the other hand it probably is not retrievable because of all his vices.
I doubt anyone on PB would be able to say he is as likely to be leading them into 2023/4 tonight as he was this time last week.
Actually, since COVID, Boris doesn't have those powers anymore. He makes mistake after mistake after mistake when speaking (I don't mean stats, I mean he just totally forgets what he is saying) and isn't quick witted very often e.g. today he advocated that people should vote Labour at PMQs.
Boris "super power" was he could do a funny at the right time to get himself off the hook. He looks lost most of the time.
Final post of the night - the UK with no restrictions has got 7.4k people in hospital with around 700 people per day being hospitalised and the funnel being overall fairly stable. France which has had plan b style restrictions for months has got almost 13k in hospital with about 1.5k entering per day and less than half leaving per day. That was with cases at about 30k per day two weeks ago, now they're at 60k cases per day.
Someone explain to me exactly how France having plan b measures has made the slightest bit of difference? This isn't just happening in France either, per capita the UK has got one of the lowest hospitalisation rates and in hospital rates. Plan A actually worked, yet the government has fucked it.
Also - the Instagram index rates the Boris party as very highly engaging. All of the meme pages, stories from real friends and other randoms are on it. This isn't going away and plan b has magnified the errors. It's exactly what I expected to happen, this announcement would end up making it worse for Boris rather than distracting everyone.
My wife is livid tonight and has said she's going to vote for Starmer next time.
Mrs Foxy was nearly in tears earlier watching the news. She loathes Johnson, but the thought of his partying away while she couldn't see her mother in a Nursing home last Christmas, her final Christmas brought it all back. That anger is real with the British public, just listen to any vox pop or phone in.
Yup, this is worse than Barnard Castle. That at least had a weird story involving sick children and possible but not believable childcare issues. A lot of parents can sympathise with irrational behaviour so while it cut through I don't think it was terminal. This feels absolutely terminal for Boris, partying while the rest of the nation suffered through lockdown and isolation over Xmas after being told we would be able to have it then it being cancelled 3 days before was terrible.
The fact that he, nor anyone else, stopped and thought that what they were doing was wrong having just told the nation to stay home and not see their families is telling of the man and the government.
How politically dangerous is Boris open mind on compulsory vaccination? The Telegraph has certainly splashed a headline?
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
There's various things they could do but it seems they want to pander to anti-vaxxers.
Don't understand it.
If you go after the anti-vax in the ways mentioned above, it makes the problem worse. Many are just hesitant rather than Piers Corbyn level swivel-eyed lunatics. Better to try to persuade than hit with a big stick.
We've had persuasion for twelve months now. Today is the anniversary of the vaccine rollout beginning.
If they're not persuaded by now, when will they be?
Its absolutely wrong to compel people to get a vaccine they don't want, but to charge people a tax to pay for their choices (as we do with tobacco, alcohol and others) is entirely reasonable.
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
I would say so.
There is a grim inevitability feel to this. By, say 18th, we will be being told to keep to small gatherings (rule of 6) and so on.
I am very low tonight.
Quite honestly, who knows with this bunch of poisonous clowns? They might announce something else next week; they might just as easily let hospitality have the festive season and then implement a repeat of last Winter's lockdown, starting on the 3rd of January and lasting until Easter.
The rules change from week to week, they're capricious and they're arbitrary. You never know when you're going to be hit and it's impossible to plan for or look forward to pretty much any activity that can't be done through effing Zoom. All we can do is ignore them to the best of our ability, although the poor bloody businesses, which are sitting ducks for this kind of regulation, don't have that option.
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
I'm sure you're right. At one point in the Press Conference earlier, Whitty or Vallance (can't remember which) said people should do what they can to reduce their social contacts. Moments later, Boris said Christmas parties should go ahead. Whatever one's views, that's poor mixed messaging.
Johnson just cannot bring himself to deliver the bad news.
What sort of fecked up logic says it is ok to go to a dinner party on Friday with ten people but not go to work on Monday?
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
There's various things they could do but it seems they want to pander to anti-vaxxers.
Don't understand it.
If you go after the anti-vax in the ways mentioned above, it makes the problem worse. Many are just hesitant rather than Piers Corbyn level swivel-eyed lunatics. Better to try to persuade than hit with a big stick.
We've had persuasion for twelve months now. Today is the anniversary of the vaccine rollout beginning.
If they're not persuaded by now, when will they be?
Its absolutely wrong to compel people to get a vaccine they don't want, but to charge people a tax to pay for their choices (as we do with tobacco, alcohol and others) is entirely reasonable.
If we end up in another lockdown because the hospitals are clogged up again, and it turns out that we're still in the position where the large majority of the Covid patients are unvaccinated, then the gloves can and should come off as far as I'm concerned. Bring in vaxports to access work and to claim benefits and let the hardcore heel diggers starve. Fuck em all.
Also - the Instagram index rates the Boris party as very highly engaging. All of the meme pages, stories from real friends and other randoms are on it. This isn't going away and plan b has magnified the errors. It's exactly what I expected to happen, this announcement would end up making it worse for Boris rather than distracting everyone.
My wife is livid tonight and has said she's going to vote for Starmer next time.
Mrs Foxy was nearly in tears earlier watching the news. She loathes Johnson, but the thought of his partying away while she couldn't see her mother in a Nursing home last Christmas, her final Christmas brought it all back. That anger is real with the British public, just listen to any vox pop or phone in.
🙁. I can appreciate how this could bring back bad memories with a sense of injustice.
Where do you stand on compulsory Covid vaccination ahead of this debate kicking off Foxy? Where should libdems stand on it?
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
I would say so.
There is a grim inevitability feel to this. By, say 18th, we will be being told to keep to small gatherings (rule of 6) and so on.
I am very low tonight.
Quite honestly, who knows with this bunch of poisonous clowns? They might announce something else next week; they might just as easily let hospitality have the festive season and then implement a repeat of last Winter's lockdown, starting on the 3rd of January and lasting until Easter.
The rules change from week to week, they're capricious and they're arbitrary. You never know when you're going to be hit and it's impossible to plan for or look forward to pretty much any activity that can't be done through effing Zoom. All we can do is ignore them to the best of our ability, although the poor bloody businesses, which are sitting ducks for this kind of regulation, don't have that option.
You might be right about giving the hospitality trade the xmas season. Then hard lockdown on 3rd Jan.
Hopefully, Sunak will resign in protest and we can have a leadership election.
Final post of the night - the UK with no restrictions has got 7.4k people in hospital with around 700 people per day being hospitalised and the funnel being overall fairly stable. France which has had plan b style restrictions for months has got almost 13k in hospital with about 1.5k entering per day and less than half leaving per day. That was with cases at about 30k per day two weeks ago, now they're at 60k cases per day.
Someone explain to me exactly how France having plan b measures has made the slightest bit of difference? This isn't just happening in France either, per capita the UK has got one of the lowest hospitalisation rates and in hospital rates. Plan A actually worked, yet the government has fucked it.
Cheer up. I m trying to cheer up.
If you actually examine the Plan B proposals they aren't that bad. Yes we have crossed the Rubicon of vaxports but it is for limited circumstances and you can also present a negative test. The border is tightened. Of course it is. Working From Home is stupid but there we are, people and companies were probably going to do it anyway as the scary Omicron news floats around the world
We still have one of the most relaxed set of restrictions in Europe. The Dutch are in a fierce curfew, France has masks outdoors, Germany plays football without fans. We may yet pull through in our muddled, liberal but sometimes victorious British way. We can but hope
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
There's various things they could do but it seems they want to pander to anti-vaxxers.
Don't understand it.
If you go after the anti-vax in the ways mentioned above, it makes the problem worse. Many are just hesitant rather than Piers Corbyn level swivel-eyed lunatics. Better to try to persuade than hit with a big stick.
Persuasion comes from a stick as well as a carrot.
There is no way that financially hitting anti-vaxxers can make the situation worse.
Nobody is going to stop getting vaccinated who otherwise would have done and some who wouldn't might now do so.
And if they still wont get vaccinated then there will at least be more money raised from an unpopular group.
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
I would say so.
There is a grim inevitability feel to this. By, say 18th, we will be being told to keep to small gatherings (rule of 6) and so on.
I am very low tonight.
Quite honestly, who knows with this bunch of poisonous clowns? They might announce something else next week; they might just as easily let hospitality have the festive season and then implement a repeat of last Winter's lockdown, starting on the 3rd of January and lasting until Easter.
The rules change from week to week, they're capricious and they're arbitrary. You never know when you're going to be hit and it's impossible to plan for or look forward to pretty much any activity that can't be done through effing Zoom. All we can do is ignore them to the best of our ability, although the poor bloody businesses, which are sitting ducks for this kind of regulation, don't have that option.
You might be right about giving the hospitality trade the xmas season. Then hard lockdown on 3rd Jan.
Hopefully, Sunak will resign in protest and we can have a leadership election.
That's my assumption. Give pubs and caffs and the rest a chance to make a decent Xmas income. Total lockdown in early Jan as Omicron bites, like a dominatrix on Ket
The lockdown will be shorter than last year because Omicron is much brisker in its business. Six weeks not 16? Still fucking grim to the max
“ “I’ve made it clear that at this stage, at this 11th hour, any deal that comes through from this government ought to be subject to the lock of a confirmatory vote,” Sir Keir said.
The shadow minister said that “probably 120 if not 150” of the party’s 229 MPs could vote against the deal unless it was linked to a second referendum.
“If the point of the exercise is to get a sustainable majority, over several weeks or months of delivering on the implementation, you can’t leave a confirmatory vote out of the package,” he said.”
God, what weasel worded traitorous garbage. Just put a fucking buffalo horn helmet on, and march on Westminster, to cancel an election, you fucking lying piece of Woke Labourite Remainer shit
At least the Trumpites were honest in their debauchery of democracy. Remoaners like Der Starmer? With their Enabling Acts? YUK
Calm down, man. You won FFS.
So did Biden. But the Democrats are not forgiving the Trumpites wbo marched on the Capitol - and they are right to be vengeful and vigilant.
British democrats cannot and must not forget - let alone forgive - the Remoaners: the 2nd voters and the Revokers. They would have shattered British democratic history in one go. Whyever would you bother voting again if that vote can simply be ignored and annulled by the elite?
These Remainer fuckers need to be brought to justice, at some point. They need to feel severe pain. Starmer is one of them
Final post of the night - the UK with no restrictions has got 7.4k people in hospital with around 700 people per day being hospitalised and the funnel being overall fairly stable. France which has had plan b style restrictions for months has got almost 13k in hospital with about 1.5k entering per day and less than half leaving per day. That was with cases at about 30k per day two weeks ago, now they're at 60k cases per day.
Someone explain to me exactly how France having plan b measures has made the slightest bit of difference? This isn't just happening in France either, per capita the UK has got one of the lowest hospitalisation rates and in hospital rates. Plan A actually worked, yet the government has fucked it.
I doubt Boris and his gang have any clue as to the hospital data of other countries and how it compares with the UK.
I suspect the only thing they look at is the number of daily cases.
And then they probably don't even adjust for different population numbers per country.
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
There's various things they could do but it seems they want to pander to anti-vaxxers.
Don't understand it.
If you go after the anti-vax in the ways mentioned above, it makes the problem worse. Many are just hesitant rather than Piers Corbyn level swivel-eyed lunatics. Better to try to persuade than hit with a big stick.
Persuasion comes from a stick as well as a carrot.
There is no way that financially hitting anti-vaxxers can make the situation worse.
Nobody is going to stop getting vaccinated who otherwise would have done and some who wouldn't might now do so.
And if they still wont get vaccinated then there will at least be more money raised from an unpopular group.
Trying to raise money from them to help pay for their healthcare is a useless measure. The overriding imperative, in keeping the system afloat and avoiding heavier and heavier restrictions, is to reduce the number of patients in the first place. You do that by finding means to force those unvaccinated through choice to change their minds by making their lives impossible, or you explicitly deny them some forms of care, or both.
If society is not prepared to take such measures then it has to live with the consequences of having a large pool of disease susceptible persons permanently amongst it. If we find ourselves in a situation where Covid doesn't evolve into a tame enough form to be ignored, and instead we have to vaccinate regularly to try to keep a lid on it, then this may mean restrictions of varying severity, repeating in regular cycles, forever.
Final post of the night - the UK with no restrictions has got 7.4k people in hospital with around 700 people per day being hospitalised and the funnel being overall fairly stable. France which has had plan b style restrictions for months has got almost 13k in hospital with about 1.5k entering per day and less than half leaving per day. That was with cases at about 30k per day two weeks ago, now they're at 60k cases per day.
Someone explain to me exactly how France having plan b measures has made the slightest bit of difference? This isn't just happening in France either, per capita the UK has got one of the lowest hospitalisation rates and in hospital rates. Plan A actually worked, yet the government has fucked it.
I doubt Boris and his gang have any clue as to the hospital data of other countries and how it compares with the UK.
I suspect the only thing they look at is the number of daily cases.
And then they probably don't even adjust for different population numbers per country.
They literally had stats from SA in the press conference.
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
I would say so.
There is a grim inevitability feel to this. By, say 18th, we will be being told to keep to small gatherings (rule of 6) and so on.
I am very low tonight.
Quite honestly, who knows with this bunch of poisonous clowns? They might announce something else next week; they might just as easily let hospitality have the festive season and then implement a repeat of last Winter's lockdown, starting on the 3rd of January and lasting until Easter.
The rules change from week to week, they're capricious and they're arbitrary. You never know when you're going to be hit and it's impossible to plan for or look forward to pretty much any activity that can't be done through effing Zoom. All we can do is ignore them to the best of our ability, although the poor bloody businesses, which are sitting ducks for this kind of regulation, don't have that option.
Your last sentence is one of the reasons why Daughter will not be renewing her lease when it expires this March. Why have another year battling to do business with one hand tied behind your back every few weeks.
Enough of this shit. She's made some money, learnt a hell of a lot, proved herself an astute business woman, developed enormous resilience and toughness and still has more integrity and common-sense in her little finger than Boris has in his whole body.
She will look for the next opportunity. She's a grafter and would grace any organisation sensible enough to employ her. And she'd like to have a bit more of a social life. She is, of course, very beautiful too and it is time for her to have some fun. She's missed out on so much these last 2 years, as all our younglings have.
Any brilliant ideas for Ms Cyclefree Junior send them my way. To be honest she could run the country better than the PM though, admittedly, that's a low bar these days.
Final post of the night - the UK with no restrictions has got 7.4k people in hospital with around 700 people per day being hospitalised and the funnel being overall fairly stable. France which has had plan b style restrictions for months has got almost 13k in hospital with about 1.5k entering per day and less than half leaving per day. That was with cases at about 30k per day two weeks ago, now they're at 60k cases per day.
Someone explain to me exactly how France having plan b measures has made the slightest bit of difference? This isn't just happening in France either, per capita the UK has got one of the lowest hospitalisation rates and in hospital rates. Plan A actually worked, yet the government has fucked it.
I doubt Boris and his gang have any clue as to the hospital data of other countries and how it compares with the UK.
I suspect the only thing they look at is the number of daily cases.
And then they probably don't even adjust for different population numbers per country.
They literally had stats from SA in the press conference.
Yes but that's not the issue.
The issue is comparing the UK without "Plan B" with those countries (Scot, Wales, NI and continental Europe) which have done Plan B as their Plan A.
Plan B doesn't work. The rest of Europe have already proved that.
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
There's various things they could do but it seems they want to pander to anti-vaxxers.
Don't understand it.
If you go after the anti-vax in the ways mentioned above, it makes the problem worse. Many are just hesitant rather than Piers Corbyn level swivel-eyed lunatics. Better to try to persuade than hit with a big stick.
We've had persuasion for twelve months now. Today is the anniversary of the vaccine rollout beginning.
If they're not persuaded by now, when will they be?
Its absolutely wrong to compel people to get a vaccine they don't want, but to charge people a tax to pay for their choices (as we do with tobacco, alcohol and others) is entirely reasonable.
If we end up in another lockdown because the hospitals are clogged up again, and it turns out that we're still in the position where the large majority of the Covid patients are unvaccinated, then the gloves can and should come off as far as I'm concerned. Bring in vaxports to access work and to claim benefits and let the hardcore heel diggers starve. Fuck em all.
I'm baffled why there aren't Conservative politicians advocating this.
After all the number of Conservative voters who are anti-vaxxers must be miniscule.
Then again I never understood why Conservative politicians preferred locking down the country to restricting international travel.
Also - the Instagram index rates the Boris party as very highly engaging. All of the meme pages, stories from real friends and other randoms are on it. This isn't going away and plan b has magnified the errors. It's exactly what I expected to happen, this announcement would end up making it worse for Boris rather than distracting everyone.
My wife is livid tonight and has said she's going to vote for Starmer next time.
Mrs Foxy was nearly in tears earlier watching the news. She loathes Johnson, but the thought of his partying away while she couldn't see her mother in a Nursing home last Christmas, her final Christmas brought it all back. That anger is real with the British public, just listen to any vox pop or phone in.
🙁. I can appreciate how this could bring back bad memories with a sense of injustice.
Where do you stand on compulsory Covid vaccination ahead of this debate kicking off Foxy? Where should libdems stand on it?
We can watch other countries to see if it works. But even if it works there may be liberal reasons not to do it? We already have great rates in this country for getting vaxxed which others might not have? I know other twenty somethings who unlike me not vaxxed, but they aren’t anti vaxxers just havn’t got round to it, can I invent term lazyvaxxer because soon as you get it more priority to them, you can’t go snowboarding in February then they go straight down walk in centre. So I’m thinking I am against compulsion
Final post of the night - the UK with no restrictions has got 7.4k people in hospital with around 700 people per day being hospitalised and the funnel being overall fairly stable. France which has had plan b style restrictions for months has got almost 13k in hospital with about 1.5k entering per day and less than half leaving per day. That was with cases at about 30k per day two weeks ago, now they're at 60k cases per day.
Someone explain to me exactly how France having plan b measures has made the slightest bit of difference? This isn't just happening in France either, per capita the UK has got one of the lowest hospitalisation rates and in hospital rates. Plan A actually worked, yet the government has fucked it.
I doubt Boris and his gang have any clue as to the hospital data of other countries and how it compares with the UK.
I suspect the only thing they look at is the number of daily cases.
And then they probably don't even adjust for different population numbers per country.
They literally had stats from SA in the press conference.
They're always capable of feeding Boris scary graphs which extrapolate to infinity when they want to impose extra restrictions.
Don’t go to work, but do go to parties, says Boris Johnson Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
There is no way Chris Witty et al advice was this. I bet there advice was back to WFH + rule of 6 type thing.
I would say so.
There is a grim inevitability feel to this. By, say 18th, we will be being told to keep to small gatherings (rule of 6) and so on.
I am very low tonight.
Quite honestly, who knows with this bunch of poisonous clowns? They might announce something else next week; they might just as easily let hospitality have the festive season and then implement a repeat of last Winter's lockdown, starting on the 3rd of January and lasting until Easter.
The rules change from week to week, they're capricious and they're arbitrary. You never know when you're going to be hit and it's impossible to plan for or look forward to pretty much any activity that can't be done through effing Zoom. All we can do is ignore them to the best of our ability, although the poor bloody businesses, which are sitting ducks for this kind of regulation, don't have that option.
You might be right about giving the hospitality trade the xmas season. Then hard lockdown on 3rd Jan.
Hopefully, Sunak will resign in protest and we can have a leadership election.
That's my assumption. Give pubs and caffs and the rest a chance to make a decent Xmas income. Total lockdown in early Jan as Omicron bites, like a dominatrix on Ket
The lockdown will be shorter than last year because Omicron is much brisker in its business. Six weeks not 16? Still fucking grim to the max
Of course, the other problem if they embark on the lockdown route is the glacial pace of unlockdown. Another sodding "roadmap" lasting until about August, with months and months of two metre rules and facemask rules and rules of six. Bullshit for most of the year, a few weeks off in the Autumn, and then off we go again.
Interestingly, did no one in No 10 (when they had put down their cheese straws and glass of plonk) think that the headlines would end up being along the lines of 'they disobey the rules, while they give us new rules'?
I had a rare disagreement with @MaxPB earlier because he thought new rules would come in as a dead cat while I thought the events of the day meant that new restrictions were less likely as surely they'd see just how damaging the juxtaposition of new rules and broken rules would be?
Mea culpa, it seems Max was right and I was wrong. But I still think that the juxtaposition of broken rules and new rules is a catastrophically stupid idea and I can't believe they were too thick not to spot it!
It seems they're even less intelligent than I thought, and I'd already lost a lot of respect.
If they were clever they would have brought in restrictions on health treatment of anti-vaxxers.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Waiting list for antivaxxers.
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Private insurance is still the best route. Make not having the vaccine have monetary consequences.
There's various things they could do but it seems they want to pander to anti-vaxxers.
Don't understand it.
If you go after the anti-vax in the ways mentioned above, it makes the problem worse. Many are just hesitant rather than Piers Corbyn level swivel-eyed lunatics. Better to try to persuade than hit with a big stick.
We've had persuasion for twelve months now. Today is the anniversary of the vaccine rollout beginning.
If they're not persuaded by now, when will they be?
Its absolutely wrong to compel people to get a vaccine they don't want, but to charge people a tax to pay for their choices (as we do with tobacco, alcohol and others) is entirely reasonable.
If we end up in another lockdown because the hospitals are clogged up again, and it turns out that we're still in the position where the large majority of the Covid patients are unvaccinated, then the gloves can and should come off as far as I'm concerned. Bring in vaxports to access work and to claim benefits and let the hardcore heel diggers starve. Fuck em all.
I'm baffled why there aren't Conservative politicians advocating this.
After all the number of Conservative voters who are anti-vaxxers must be miniscule.
Then again I never understood why Conservative politicians preferred locking down the country to restricting international travel.
Charles Walker is unvaccinated AFAIK. Lost all respect for him as a lockdown sceptic when I found that out.
Saw him say its because he doesn't like needles instead of being against vaccines, and that he'd get a vaccine if it was a nasal spray.
Comments
If you're still banging on about Labour remainers, and are *particularly* anti-lockdown and anti-woke, then Labour would be wasting their time chasing after your vote. They'll instead hope you'll just remain at home or vote for Reform instead.
Only joking. Kudos to your lad. I hope he is writing a ghost story. It is apparently the new vogue in publishing.
Probably about evens.
Which would have got lots of attention, been widely popular but opposed by Labour.
Tories = England
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-09/mining-camp-designers-plan-covid-19-quarantine-hub-in-wa/100119364
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/world/australia/howard-springs-quarantine.html
The only changes are vax passports for nightclubs and large events and facemasks for cinemas and theatres.
Plenty in Canary Wharf were wfh much of the week already
"Oh you need oxygen? Haven't had your vaccine I see. We'll have a bed with some oxygen available for you in 3 months, have a nice day."
Any one of Starmer, Hunt, Sunak, Truss... or heaven forbid Gove or even Raab would be head and shoulders better than Johnson. I might draw the line at Steve Baker but even that is a close call.
Unquestionably the most incompetent Prime Minister (including Lord North).
https://twitter.com/afneil/status/1468716975341854720?s=20
Hate the Mail.
Brilliant headline.
drip drip drip....somebody says well I was there and i saw Boris walk past the door....
There are 100+ journalists out there who now strongly suspect there is a single smoking gun that could bring down a Prime Minister.
That is career-defining. That is the ultimate prize, a British Watergate with the same adulation for whoever finds it. No British journalist has achieved that since... when?
If that smoking gun exists, for this reason I am convinced it will be found.
Lab did get 31% in the 2017 GE, at peak Jezzmania, and 22% even in the worst result in postwar history of 2019. so there is quite a strong Labour vote. I have a modest sum on a Con win, and may top up further if the odds shift further to the LDs. This really is donkey with a blue rosette territory.
You can stay unvaccinated if you want, but you'll pay £50 a month every month in tax to support the NHS just as smokers have to.
And it seems highly unlikely that a) he didn't know in advance and b) that what they had a piss up and nobody ever mentioned at any point ever.
On the day of the Christmas Party, he was apparently out of #10 during the day (in Derby I believe), but came back in the evening.
Don't understand it.
Immediate backlash at ‘irrational’ new Covid rules after Prime Minister moves England to Plan B
Telegraph
The frightened element of the population is now going to assume that Omicron must be really dangerous and it's time to brick themselves up in their houses until next August; most of the rest of us will conclude that there will be more restrictions in the next couple of weeks, and then more after that, and more after that, and there's no point in looking forward to or planning anything, because it's only going to take one exceedingly dodgy set of made-up scary numbers from Warwick University to have your hero telling us all to sit and rot at home for the whole of the rest of the Winter.
Masks in museums and Covid passes to get into nightclubs have achieved the square root of f*** all elsewhere in our own country and they'll achieve nothing useful against this wretched disease in England, either. The only thing they do is remind everyone of the end of 2020 and think "Here we go again."
gabyhinsliff
@gabyhinsliff
·
3h
Polite reminder that if you know someone who really struggled during last lot of restrictions, call them. We’re all feeling a bit depressed about it coming back but some will be absolutely dreading the next few weeks.
This feels terminal, but what if Bojo just says Fuck off, I'm staying. Does anyone in the Tory party really have the guts or the confidence or even the power to bring him down? Some PB-ers may laugh at HYUFD, but he represents a significant slice of Tory activists: the ones grateful to Boris for winning a large majority. Just as there are others who are grateful to him for finalising Brexit. These are not small things. Blair had a large loyal following even after Iraq
And Boris wins elections. And he has weird luck. And he has no obvious rivals. Thatcher had the demonic weirdo Heseltine, with Howe to assassinate her. Major had innumerable potent foes (and lost anyway). Cameron had, well, Boris
Who is Boris' obvious nemesis, who is his obvious successor?
Hm
Unless the Cabinet were given radically different data from yesterday's Cabinet meeting (which is not impossible but unlikely), it's difficult to see why the PM convened them today to make the restrictions announcement.
There is a grim inevitability feel to this. By, say 18th, we will be being told to keep to small gatherings (rule of 6) and so on.
I am very low tonight.
Love these quirky little mispricings.
I said to a friend at the time that I'd pay £50 to be part of such a General Election campaign (which of course would in reality would be free for me being a British citizen) so hyped was I by the utter comedy of Corbyn v Mogg in some hypothetical debates.
I suppose I might miss the comedy of Boris, but in reality I'd like him gone. I didn't want him in 2019, and I don't want him now.
But no one cares what I think, certainly not in Bootle.
The fact that he, nor anyone else, stopped and thought that what they were doing was wrong having just told the nation to stay home and not see their families is telling of the man and the government.
Since yesterday we have had several studies on vaccines and also there is new data on state of play in SA.
Not only that it would be popular as well.
So inevitably the establishment opposes it.
I got on yellow at 3-1.
Yeeeeeeeeellooooows. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeloooooooows
Instead he’s dug his hole twice as deep. There’s no political skill in this operation any more, much less effective policy making.
Did they shift the Plan B announcemt backwards or forwards by a few hours to suit the politics? Maybe. Who cares. The rules don't come into place immediately, everyone has a few days to get acquainted with them
Lots about this is scandalous, the timing is not, indeed it is possibly MIS-timed by the government, as the two issues intertangle - Partygate meets Plan B
I doubt anyone on PB would be able to say he is as likely to be leading them into 2023/4 tonight as he was this time last week.
Boris "super power" was he could do a funny at the right time to get himself off the hook. He looks lost most of the time.
Someone explain to me exactly how France having plan b measures has made the slightest bit of difference? This isn't just happening in France either, per capita the UK has got one of the lowest hospitalisation rates and in hospital rates. Plan A actually worked, yet the government has fucked it.
If they're not persuaded by now, when will they be?
Its absolutely wrong to compel people to get a vaccine they don't want, but to charge people a tax to pay for their choices (as we do with tobacco, alcohol and others) is entirely reasonable.
The rules change from week to week, they're capricious and they're arbitrary. You never know when you're going to be hit and it's impossible to plan for or look forward to pretty much any activity that can't be done through effing Zoom. All we can do is ignore them to the best of our ability, although the poor bloody businesses, which are sitting ducks for this kind of regulation, don't have that option.
Sums it all up, no?
https://youtu.be/1oU_HFZ2Tr0
They'll be at least about 170, not exactly 150.
What sort of fecked up logic says it is ok to go to a dinner party on Friday with ten people but not go to work on Monday?
Where do you stand on compulsory Covid vaccination ahead of this debate kicking off Foxy? Where should libdems stand on it?
Hopefully, Sunak will resign in protest and we can have a leadership election.
Cheer up. I m trying to cheer up.
If you actually examine the Plan B proposals they aren't that bad. Yes we have crossed the Rubicon of vaxports but it is for limited circumstances and you can also present a negative test. The border is tightened. Of course it is. Working From Home is stupid but there we are, people and companies were probably going to do it anyway as the scary Omicron news floats around the world
We still have one of the most relaxed set of restrictions in Europe. The Dutch are in a fierce curfew, France has masks outdoors, Germany plays football without fans. We may yet pull through in our muddled, liberal but sometimes victorious British way. We can but hope
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hispanic-voters-now-evenly-split-between-parties-wsj-poll-finds-11638972769
There is no way that financially hitting anti-vaxxers can make the situation worse.
Nobody is going to stop getting vaccinated who otherwise would have done and some who wouldn't might now do so.
And if they still wont get vaccinated then there will at least be more money raised from an unpopular group.
The lockdown will be shorter than last year because Omicron is much brisker in its business. Six weeks not 16? Still fucking grim to the max
Should you visit the barber ASAP?
Tonight = 100% of those sampled.
I suspect the only thing they look at is the number of daily cases.
And then they probably don't even adjust for different population numbers per country.
If society is not prepared to take such measures then it has to live with the consequences of having a large pool of disease susceptible persons permanently amongst it. If we find ourselves in a situation where Covid doesn't evolve into a tame enough form to be ignored, and instead we have to vaccinate regularly to try to keep a lid on it, then this may mean restrictions of varying severity, repeating in regular cycles, forever.
Enough of this shit. She's made some money, learnt a hell of a lot, proved herself an astute business woman, developed enormous resilience and toughness and still has more integrity and common-sense in her little finger than Boris has in his whole body.
She will look for the next opportunity. She's a grafter and would grace any organisation sensible enough to employ her. And she'd like to have a bit more of a social life. She is, of course, very beautiful too and it is time for her to have some fun. She's missed out on so much these last 2 years, as all our younglings have.
Any brilliant ideas for Ms Cyclefree Junior send them my way. To be honest she could run the country better than the PM though, admittedly, that's a low bar these days.
The issue is comparing the UK without "Plan B" with those countries (Scot, Wales, NI and continental Europe) which have done Plan B as their Plan A.
Plan B doesn't work. The rest of Europe have already proved that.
Idiots. Somebody needs to rid us of these clowns.
After all the number of Conservative voters who are anti-vaxxers must be miniscule.
Then again I never understood why Conservative politicians preferred locking down the country to restricting international travel.
So I’m thinking I am against compulsion
Saw him say its because he doesn't like needles instead of being against vaccines, and that he'd get a vaccine if it was a nasal spray.