Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Todd_is_God]

 

[Bert Raccoon]

They really have completely fucked it, only way to get any semblance of credibility back would be to come out and admit they've got it wrong 

 

Spoiler

Well obviously they won't 

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Bert Raccoon

[Elixir]

13 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

 

I genuinely believe if we (or any country) done what Sweden had, our end result would have been no different/worse - purely down to two simple facts. First is that cases can't just keep rising forever, they inevitably peak and fall. Second is that, contrary to popular belief, the public began taking matters into their own hands anyway in terms of cutting social contacts.

 

[Thane of Cawdor]

6 hours ago, Detournement said:

Sturgeon probably doesn't know what Quantative Easing is tbh. 

You might want to edit your post mate, or people might suspect you don't know what it is either.

[Distant Doonhamer]

20 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

 

That's very interesting and  will be impressive if it ultimately proves to be the case.

For the record I think it will be but we've had a number of "Sweden's way is the way forward" before.

We just don't know 

[Blue Brazil Forever]

2 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

To add to the above

If England do go ahead and sail through this with no issues, serious questions need to be asked of the SNP about this.

The health service is quite clearly in desperate need of investment. Taking money from it instead to support businesses they unnecessarily caused to be in need of that support would be unforgiveable.

Oh dear. More austerity!!

[Frankie S]

So, Scottish nightclubs have been instructed to close for 3 weeks from December 27th, unless they implement all-seating arrangements with table service and 1m social distancing between groups and no dancing i.e. repurposing themselves as socially-distanced bars, despite having diligently enforced the vaccine passport scheme for months and spent millions on improved ventilation and other mitigations.

According to John Swinney yesterday (though he is admittedly less reliable than a bust wristwatch, I doubt he’s ever been right about anything once let alone twice in 24hrs) those nightclubs that elect to close will receive as yet undisclosed amounts in grant support for closing, while those that repurpose themselves as socially-distanced live music bars won’t, although presumably they might still attract the 4.5k and 6.8k (depending on rateable value) support grants already pledged to hospitality, although that’s just guesswork.

However those of us that operate nightclubs have absolutely no idea how much compensation those nightclubs that elect to close stand to be awarded, and how much nightclubs that choose to repurpose themselves stand to lose, as the government presumably haven’t decided yet. We also have no idea when we can expect the promised grants to materialise.

So, Scottish businesses are faced with the choice of either turning off the cash flow taps completely in the hope of receiving vaguely adequate funding at some yet to be specified later date, or attempting to trade their way through the (at minimum) three week period (with greatly diminished returns), as at least that gives staff a few hours at a time when there is no furlough safety net, and enables a little income to filter into cash-starved businesses after the normally lucrative Christmas period was completely torpedoed by Scot Gov and Public Health Scotland telling everyone to stay home and avoid hospitality venues / nightclubs etc.

An impossible calculation then, to elect between the Scylla of closing, or the Charybdis of continued trading at greatly reduced levels. And going on the basis of the derisory amounts promised so far, we can safely assume that such funding as will be offered will be nowhere near enough to cover the sector’s losses.

Leaving aside the fact that it’s becoming increasingly clear that the torching of the Scottish hospitality, live music, event and nightclub sectors was a knee-jerk over-reaction, as well as a thinly-veiled attempt to extract political capital by implementing a more restrictive regime than Westminster, with the associated squabbling over funding (and lamentations that an independent Scotland could and would have gone further if only it had control of the purse strings), as numerous U.K. studies (including one by Edinburgh Uni, which presumably will exert more influence on the SNP than the English and South African equivalents) now confirm the South African data (which was available in the public domain weeks ago) that Omicron is considerably milder than Delta (with the Scottish population already amongst the most highly vaccinated in the world), and leaving aside the fact that shutting nightclubs will surely drive people from highly regulated vaccine passport controlled venues into unregulated, uncontrolled private house parties, there is simply no defence for the utter contempt with which the Scottish government continues to treat the Scottish hospitality, nightclub, live music and and events sectors.

Scottish nightclubs have a right to know what compensation they stand to gain by closing their doors, and what compensation they stand to lose by attempting to trade through the next few weeks, and they must have this information at their disposal to make an informed choice between the distinctly unappetising options open to them. At the moment we don’t have a clue which option is likely to be the lesser of the two evils, and the Scottish government seems to be in no hurry to clarify matters.

On the upside, it’s becoming crystal clear that Sturgeon has overplayed her hand on Omicron, and the tide of popular opinion is now turning.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Frankie S

[Todd_is_God]

16 minutes ago, Frankie S said:

those nightclubs that elect to close will receive... undisclosed amounts in grant support for closing, while those that repurpose themselves as socially-distanced live music bars won’t

That's genuinely an atrocious situation to be placed in. What are the SG doing here?

What a bunch of absolute c***s they are showing themselves to be.

[cambozpar]

45 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

That's genuinely an atrocious situation to be placed in. What are the SG doing here?

What a bunch of absolute c***s they are showing themselves to be.

More than likely doubling down and blaming wesssstmiiinssterr, 

[Bairnardo]

1 hour ago, Todd_is_God said:

That's genuinely an atrocious situation to be placed in. What are the SG doing here?

What a bunch of absolute c***s they are showing themselves to be.

Aye. Basically telling businesses to gamble a closure for whats in the mystery box, or spend cash to stay open, changing your entire business in the process for a totally unpredictable return, then have to spend cash putting it back again. 

What a way to treat folk. All because wanted firstly to score some points, then because you are too big to admit you were wrong. Jobs and businesses sacrificed PURELY to save face for Sturgeon. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Bairnardo

[Empty It]

How stupid must you be to get played by Boris Johnson?

I'd question if the man can tie his own shoelaces.

[Scosha]

Anyone had the Moderna booster and been unable to sleep afterwards? Had mine yesterday at 9am and have ended up doing an all nighter.. cannot sleep whatsoever which is never usually a problem 

[LongTimeLurker]

The positive side of that is that if it is effecting you in a big way it is definitely working in immune system response terms.

[Ross.]

10 hours ago, Abdul_Latif said:

As much as that may be true, the big Edinburgh v Glasgow rugby games are also crowd free during Christmas / New Year as is the Dundee v Fife ice hockey.

I don’t believe it’s a witch hunt against football alone, it’s simply against anything regular folk take interest in or enjoyment from to try and make a point about reckless Tories.

Gloriously that tired line seems to have blown right up in their faces.

It’s an attack on football without being an attack on football. They have already admitted that they had to set an example and that the number they came up with has zero scientific basis for being used. f**k them.

[mizfit]

The fact they used football as the example means it was in all honesty an attack on football.

I notice Devi has took a Twitter break. Something tells me she’s been the driving force behind these restrictions and her Twitter break is absolutely not coincidental.

[FK1Bairn]

9 hours ago, Abdul_Latif said:

Without being disrespectful to your mother and forgive me if I’m generalising, but it’s easy to be in favour of restrictions on nightclubs and the football etc, if they don’t effect you.

Won't hear me disagreeing with that. I suspect its the scaremongering and words used like Tsunami, Tidal Wave, record breaking that have got some of the older generation scared to leave their houses leaving then with nothing else to do than watching news coverage all day which causes them more worries despite being triple jagged

[TheScarf]

2 minutes ago, FK1Bairn said:

Won't hear me disagreeing with that. I suspect its the scaremongering and words used like Tsunami, Tidal Wave, record breaking that have got some of the older generation scared to leave their houses leaving then with nothing else to do than watching news coverage all day which causes them more worries despite being triple jagged

My parents are the same, triple jagged but in their late 60s and every time I go round it's 'aww we need another lockdown, the cases are rising'.  It's the feart constantly being fearmongered. 

[deegee]

Some really insightful posts in the past few hours, particularly the news that the Scottish Government may have diverted money from health to cover their funds for the current restrictions, and as always Frankie offers a real-world update on hospitality businesses’ dilemmas and the impossible position they are in re staff, opening and financial risk and liabilities.

It is not just football, nightclubs and boozy drinkers being affected, which is probably how Sturgeon thinks she will get away with “doing something “. I received an email from Scottish Ballet; their Nutcracker show is stopping after Xmas and means a few remaining nights’ shows in Edinburgh are off as well as a fortnight of performances in Theatre Royal, Glasgow. You have the impact of lost revenue for the performers, musicians, backstage and venue staff, reimbursed tickets and lost money for venues. Not to mention the capacity of the venues are circa 1500 (Glasgow) and 1900 (Edinburgh) so lots of families, travel costs and plans in tatters.

Just to allow Sturgeon to make a quick ill-thought political point.

[lithgierose]

25 minutes ago, FK1Bairn said:

Won't hear me disagreeing with that. I suspect its the scaremongering and words used like Tsunami, Tidal Wave, record breaking that have got some of the older generation scared to leave their houses leaving then with nothing else to do than watching news coverage all day which causes them more worries despite being triple jagged

Aye and I seen someone in sainsbury wearing an exemption card and lanyard. With a mask on. 

[effeffsee_the2nd]

2 hours ago, Empty It said:

How stupid must you be to get played by Boris Johnson?

I'd question if the man can tie his own shoelaces.

The torrys might be shite at delivering a good government to their people. but they are excellent at holding onto power, which is what it's really all about. the SNP are much less experienced and have no real opposition. every time they have played with the big boys they have been utterly schooled