Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[strichener]

50 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

 

I’m sure there are some on here who will think those decision are not driven by populism and the latest slump in the polls.

Claims the UK are driven by populism whilst posting about Scottish political party polling as evidence of doing the right thing.

Was going to post a picture of my irony meter but it has just exploded into a 1000000 pieces.

 

[Todd_is_God]

2 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

13 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

Could it not be he needs to convince foreign governments / airlines / unions / lovejoys that they are no longer needed?

It's not the fit to fly tests (LFT) AFAIK those will remain this is the UK day 2 PCR once back in the country so those stakeholders are pretty much irrelevant.

Then this is a largely pointless exercise.

As has been highlightee by others its not the type of test that is holding tourism back, but the threat of being stranded abroad at the drop of a hat.

Dropping PCR testing is a start, but until all testing is binned (likely for vaccinated travellers first, then for everyone), its not the answer.

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

It would be quite an unexpected development for the SG to announce the same at the same time up here.
Wonder how NS will react when Scottish travellers inevitably book holidays from English airports when this is announced.

She'll go on about reckless tories no doubt and how she's keeping us safe and makes no apologies for doing so and won't take any lectures because wE jUsT dOn'T kNoW.

[Elixir]

1 hour ago, Billy Jean King said:

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-anfield-premier-league-change-21344507

They have the exact same in the EPL !

 

53 minutes ago, Wee Bully said:

Is it just me, or is just about every @Elixir claim about what is happening south of the border demonstrably not true.  That’s 2 this morning.

I know he is desperate for “normality - aren’t we all - but just making shit up isn’t helping his credibility here.

lol wut

There is quite clearly no massive gaps of supporters around the dugout down south like there is up here.

 

11 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

22 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

Could it not be he needs to convince foreign governments / airlines / unions / lovejoys that they are no longer needed?

It's not the fit to fly tests (LFT) AFAIK those will remain this is the UK day 2 PCR once back in the country so those stakeholders are pretty much irrelevant.

No, they will be going as well.

 

6 minutes ago, TheBruce said:

You are indeed the angry little man with your constant personal abuse of posters when they don't fit with your myopic world view. 

Hate to think what your state when indy arrives at the station. 

Peace and love.

^^^ idiot found

Edited September 12, 2021 by Elixir

[Billy Jean King]

It would be quite an unexpected development for the SG to announce the same at the same time up here.
Wonder how NS will react when Scottish travellers inevitably book holidays from English airports when this is announced.

It's been a 4 nations uk wide travel policy up to now, there has been little or no deviation since the sector opened back up under the traffic lights system.

[Billy Jean King]

^^^ idiot found

Where have you seen an announcement the fit to fly LFTs are going. Javid etc are being very specific in talking about the day 2 uk PCR tests. The Airlines and their unions are in favour of the fit to fly tests, I'd be surprised to see movement on those given for UK travellers they are taken outwith the UK.

Would be good if they were but I suspect it's more wishful thinking again.

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

Could it not be he needs to convince foreign governments / airlines / unions / lovejoys that they are no longer needed?

The Foreign Governments and Airlines want tests removed ASAP as none are required for travel within the EU.

Yes, it's welcome that they're talking about removing the need for the day 2 PCR, however why a requirement for a LFT and why wait until the school holidays in October and not remove them immediately / from Monday ??

Where's "the science" in that ???

[Todd_is_God]

9 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

19 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

It would be quite an unexpected development for the SG to announce the same at the same time up here.
Wonder how NS will react when Scottish travellers inevitably book holidays from English airports when this is announced.

It's been a 4 nations uk wide travel policy up to now, there has been little or no deviation since the sector opened back up under the traffic lights system.

This is true, but a dramatic loosening like this is something that NS has avoided (or made noises about not doing) throughout.

She has also been quite consistent in her messaging that people really shouldn't be travelling atm, and has never (that I can think of) given any indication that something like this was on her radar.

[Billy Jean King]

This is true, but a dramatic loosening like this is something that NS has avoided (or made noises about not doing) throughout.
She has also been quite consistent in her messaging that people really shouldn't be travelling atm, and has never (that I can think of) given any indication that something like this was on her radar.

Time will tell I suppose. Actually has to become reality first. Going to be too late for Longchamp unfortunately but we have 3 weeks off in November and Canaries looks distinctly possible now.

[Michael W]

42 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

Could it not be he needs to convince foreign governments / airlines / unions / lovejoys that they are no longer needed?

Foreign governments will I imagine be totally ambivalent given that these requirements are UK requirements and most EU countries don't seem to be demanding these tests for returning passengers. It's about time they were binned - an exercise to print money for some cowboy testing companies dressed up as 'government cares about stopping variants'. Variants which as ever do not render the vaccine null and void. 

https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/08/mu-covid-variant-more-than-50-cases-found-in-uk-15223390/

Oh look, it didn't work again! But in the meantime let's just keep paying all the same. 

[BigDoddyKane]

So as it stands currently from Oct flying into England you will need only the first test and no pcr test but in Scotland you will still need both?

[Suspect Device]

I assume that the PCR testing getting binned would apply to Scotland as well? 

[welshbairn]

7 minutes ago, BigDoddyKane said:

So as it stands currently from Oct flying into England you will need only the first test and no pcr test but in Scotland you will still need both?

Javid only said he wanted to get rid of them when the time was right, whenever he decides when that is,  Scotland will follow suit as they don't have the levers to enforce it on their own.

[Salt n Vinegar]

On 11/09/2021 at 12:30, oaksoft said:

Hiding under the bedsheets and whining about how others won't make you feel safe it is then.

That doesn't sound like much of a way to live TBH but it's your choice. Just keep out of my business while you are doing it. That's not too much to ask. Or is it?

As far as I know nobody is advocating hiding under bedsheets, rather it's about following as far as possible the public health rules and guidance.  A fairly basic approach, I'd have thought. 

As the actions of individuals during a global pandemic are to a large extent what helps or hinders the spread of disease, I wasn't aware that being interested the general health of the whole population was only your 'business'. Still, I'm happy to leave it there and let you get on with following or rejecting public health advice if you wish. 

Have a healthy day. 

[Abdul_Latif]

8 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

I'm not up to date on what powers are at Holyrood and what powers are reserved.

Do the SG need to ask Boris for these powers to be made permanent or do they have the right to decide themselves?

As far as I’m aware the Scottish emergency powers are only granted per the UK emergency bill.

Essentially if the bill is totally dissolved at UK level it automatically becomes the same in the devolved nations as the powers were only granted on that proviso.

[Dawson Park Boy]

2 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

Same here.

Probably just because nobody thought to run or finance the experiments.

18 months ago the advice was that masks were dangerous to use because they trap bacteria amongst other things AND that they didn't make any difference because the holes are too big and air comes in and out the sides anyway.

Within a few weeks apparently we are expected to believe that there was some miraculous breakthrough in mask research showing they definitely worked and that we should all use them. That breakthrough was so miraculous that publishing it was thought to be unnecessary.

All we've had is a few papers containing computational predictions, the results of a few tightly controlled lab experiments and a handful of people playing around with statistics putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 17. Oh and the "danger of wearing masks" message has simply been dropped as though it had never appeared.

I haven’t done any research but was there not some Danish study which showed that masks were only about a couple of percentage points beneficial.Basically a waste of time.

Governments, for whatever reason, ignored it.

[Todd_is_God]

9 minutes ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

I haven’t done any research but was there not some Danish study which showed that masks were only about a couple of percentage points beneficial.Basically a waste of time.

Governments, for whatever reason, ignored it.

There was also plenty of data from the US that showed they made little to no difference.

I don't know why, but there seems to have been a complete lack of concession from Governments than any of their advice or decisions turned out to be wrong.

Whether it is because they don't want to plant any seeds of doubt in anyone's heads about anything they have put in place I'm not sure, but it's why we are still shiting ourselves about asymptomatic transmission, and trying to stop an airborne virus spreading by sanitising the life out of surfaces and repeatedly washing our hands whilst simultaneously spending hours in a crowded room not needing to wear a magical mask because we are eating or drinking.

Beyond parody.

Edited September 12, 2021 by Todd_is_God

[Michael W]

28 minutes ago, Abdul_Latif said:

As far as I’m aware the Scottish emergency powers are only granted per the UK emergency bill.

Essentially if the bill is totally dissolved at UK level it automatically becomes the same in the devolved nations as the powers were only granted on that proviso.

They are, but I'm not certain the SG can't do anything if the Westminster Act goes. 

The coronavirus restrictions put in place were measures that were intended to protect public health. Health is a devolved matter. I can't therefore see why restrictions couldn't be introduced if the SG decided they were needed. Just don't close the churches, of course! 

The real issue is that the Coronavirus Act gives them a blunt instrument and they don't need to go back and forth with Parliament to do things, so it's no wonder they want these powers permanently. This is also exactly why they shouldn't be given them.

Edited September 12, 2021 by Michael W

[welshbairn]

22 minutes ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

I haven’t done any research but was there not some Danish study which showed that masks were only about a couple of percentage points beneficial.Basically a waste of time.

Governments, for whatever reason, ignored it.

The study ignored any possible benefits to others of an individual wearing a mask, which was a serious flaw. 

[Donathan]

The government didn’t “murder” anyone btw. Every comparably sized European country has lost at least 85,000 people to this pandemic. Our death toll is higher, but that’s largely due to being a nation of fatties with poor immune systems than anything the government has done.