Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[NotThePars]

I'm still gone at someone claiming foreign holidays were a necessity. I think I must've missed it in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

[Left Back]

5 minutes ago, Elixir said:

You need a shotgun to get in there.

The Centurion?  Never once saw a bit of bother in there or got any grief whatsoever, despite not being local.  Wouldn’t be everyones cup of tea granted but was great for having a pint with your mate and watching a match.

[Glen Sannox]

3 minutes ago, Left Back said:

The Centurion?  Never once saw a bit of bother in there or got any grief whatsoever, despite not being local.  Wouldn’t be everyones cup of tea granted but was great for having a pint with your mate and watching a match.

It can be a bit “colourful” in the Public Bar, but for the most part it’s fine. You generally get left alone. It’s certainly not for the faint hearted at times. 

[djchapsticks]

3 hours ago, Bairnardo said:

Yeah, I will admit finding myself thinking in ever more conspiratorial undertones and that's not me at all.
 

Yeah. I don't for a minute subscribe to it but I can indeed understand why people think it. However, if there was something covert going on in the background, then playing it out the way they are doing would make not one lick of sense. 

I legitimately think that the language and tone is still fear driven and laced with trepidation and pessimistic tones as a result of just that. Fear of a show of optimism leading to public complacency and spiking cases mainly. 

I do think that in spring of 2021 we will be in a much better position to open up society again and the language will slowly shift to reflect that. 

Edited January 28, 2021 by djchapsticks

[Left Back]

44 minutes ago, Glen Sannox said:

It can be a bit “colourful” in the Public Bar, but for the most part it’s fine. You generally get left alone. It’s certainly not for the faint hearted at times. 

Saturday nights were bouncing.  Great days.

[AFCDannyFTH]

4 hours ago, Soapy FFC said:

On the news just now, they were interviewing a man who just arrived in the UK from Brazil. He had come via Germany, so I assume under the new proposals he would have to quarantine in a hotel, but everyone else on the plane from Germany could just go on their merry way. What’s the point of that? If he is infected then he’s already exposed everyone else on the plane to it but they have no real restrictions placed on them.

There are definitely worse planes to have been on

[Theroadlesstravelled]

1 hour ago, AFCDannyFTH said:

There are definitely worse planes to have been on

Is that real? How does it get through ?

[Guest TheJTS98]

The available figures don't show that the UK is at any risk of people just binning compliance with restrictions.

The latest polling from Ipsos Mori on the issue shows that 85% think the restrictions are either about right or should be tighter. That suggests the authorities still have a bit of leeway in terms of what to do over the next few months, and to possibly extend.

https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/most-britons-continue-say-they-are-following-coronavirus-rules-almost-half-believe-lockdown

I understand people feeling fed up and it getting to folk in the head. I'm on my third lockdown now and mine have been more restrictive than the lockdowns in the UK, so I do understand. But I think we need to be careful of developing a narrative on this thread that people are about to just sack off the restrictions. Some people will, sure, but the figures don't suggest this is going to be a big problem.

Edited January 28, 2021 by TheJTS98

[djchapsticks]

53 minutes ago, TheJTS98 said:

The available figures don't show that the UK is at any risk of people just binning compliance with restrictions.

The latest polling from Ipsos Mori on the issue shows that 85% think the restrictions are either about right or should be tighter. That suggests the authorities still have a bit of leeway in terms of what to do over the next few months, and to possibly extend.

https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/most-britons-continue-say-they-are-following-coronavirus-rules-almost-half-believe-lockdown

I understand people feeling fed up and it getting to folk in the head. I'm on my third lockdown now and mine have been more restrictive than the lockdowns in the UK, so I do understand. But I think we need to be careful of developing a narrative on this thread that people are about to just sack off the restrictions. Some people will, sure, but the figures don't suggest this is going to be a big problem.

No one is denying that. Most of the complainants on this thread would also still be in that 85%. Myself included. 

At the current time. 

However, as cases will inevitably fall and hospitals will once again empty out, you are going to absolutely see people's patience and resolve being tested if restrictions are kept in place longer than they must. They will only have leeway to extend if serious cases, hospitalisations and deaths remain high. 

Say we reach March and there are still around 2000 people per day catching it but due to the vaccination now taking it's effect in vulnerable groups, serious illness has been driven down to the stage where only a couple of people require hospital treatment, that sort of scenario in the eyes of most rational people really should not warrant ongoing lockdowns and mass restrictions. However the fear being borne out of their constant narrative is that it would continue even in a scenario such as this. 

These fears could easily be put at ease at any point. That they are not easing these fears is what's concerning people. 

Edited January 28, 2021 by djchapsticks

[Donathan]

The available figures don't show that the UK is at any risk of people just binning compliance with restrictions.
The latest polling from Ipsos Mori on the issue shows that 85% think the restrictions are either about right or should be tighter. That suggests the authorities still have a bit of leeway in terms of what to do over the next few months, and to possibly extend.
https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/most-britons-continue-say-they-are-following-coronavirus-rules-almost-half-believe-lockdown
I understand people feeling fed up and it getting to folk in the head. I'm on my third lockdown now and mine have been more restrictive than the lockdowns in the UK, so I do understand. But I think we need to be careful of developing a narrative on this thread that people are about to just sack off the restrictions. Some people will, sure, but the figures don't suggest this is going to be a big problem.

Does people thinking they should be tighter actually correlate with compliance though?

I reckon there’s a fairly significant minority that want tighter restrictions on everyone else but still plan to ignore them.

[superbigal]

Is anyone else finding it really hard to feel positive or optimistic right now? NS would do well to try and use some positivity in her messaging, if this negativity continues a lot more people will hit f**k it.

Ever since we started vaccinations it's been bad news after bad news, and trying to generate compliance through fear mongering isn't going to help rational discussion going forward.

It is even worse when I keep publishing that England is in more than twice as bad a state as Scotland for infections, hospital admissions and deaths.
So we keep stoom and let the doom from Ingurland be heard as the loudest voice.
Add to that the sustained daily drop in infections for 3 weeks now. Well over 40% lower than the peak. That peak I hasten to add was still lower than England today.
Cities like Edinburgh being back to the levels where they were screaming for tier 2 previously.
The R rate was clearly below 1 when she was using old stats to say 1.4.
Fear fear fear. In a way it's working, but come next Tuesday when all metrics will point to reopening of Schools and a return to the 5 levels etc, this rhetoric should stop.

[101]

Apparently Boris will be trying to get into a Scottish vaccine center, I am for once thankful that Scotland trains it's GP receptionists as the world's toughest bouncers. There's no chance he will get past them as I'm sure you have to be dead if you just rock up and expect to be seen.

[Guest TheJTS98]

17 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

These fears could easily be put at ease at any point. That they are not easing these fears is what's concerning people. 

I think it would be counter-productive for the government to publicly say 'We're going to ease off soon, cheer up everybody'.

For two reasons.

Firstly, many people will hear 'ease up soon' and understand 'ease up now'. And secondly, things can change quickly, as we've seen. There's no sense in promising or hinting at things that may or may not happen. Building people's hopes up and having to row back is a lot more difficult than being a bit more pessimistic and then surprising people with good news.

[Theroadlesstravelled]

Preggos shouldn’t get the vaccine. That rules out the entirety of the females aged 14-25 in Lanarkshire.

[djchapsticks]

17 minutes ago, TheJTS98 said:

I think it would be counter-productive for the government to publicly say 'We're going to ease off soon, cheer up everybody'.

For two reasons.

Firstly, many people will hear 'ease up soon' and understand 'ease up now'. And secondly, things can change quickly, as we've seen. There's no sense in promising or hinting at things that may or may not happen. Building people's hopes up and having to row back is a lot more difficult than being a bit more pessimistic and then surprising people with good news.

There is a massive amount of middle ground to be found between what you are saying and the noises currently coming out of the government though. 

Again, through the last several pages, many people have expressed concern at the tone being used and the sheer level of negativity instilling not only fear, but a 'f**k it' attitude. 

It's possible to maintain the focus on the current graveness of the situation but also allowing for some optimism of lifting restrictions and a full return to normality (not 'a greater level of normal') without putting a date on it. 

[TheScarf]

10 hours ago, djchapsticks said:

My partner is a sole trading hairdresser who is newly self employed. Becuase she doesn't have a business premises and works from a separate facility in our garden, she cannot claim any sort of relief whatsoever. She is fully registered and insured as well as compliant with regulations but has not worked a scratch from the first week in December other than the two weeks in December she was allowed when lockdown was eased. 

She is expected to close under duress and because she is not a business premesis no relief provided for her sacrifice. I understand the need to close presently but do not understand why she cannot be helped in terms of relief. If she's important and high risk enough to be forced to close then surely she should also qualify for help. We are lucky to have a very modest amount of savings but this is going to wipe us out in very quick time. If we reach March and she is still forced to close without any sort of relief, what are we supposed to do to pay our mortgage and bills? It's fucking ridiculous to be made to feel like you are a massive criminal and are making some sort of morally corrupt choice by considering whether you cut someone's hair or not. 

That is where we are as a society right now. People the length and breadth of the country made to feel like criminals for wanting to survive. This cannot continue. 

IMO, if you're self employed you should be eligible for Government help. end of story.

[Guest TheJTS98]

9 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

There is a massive amount of middle ground to be found between what you are saying and the noises currently coming out of the government though. 

Again, through the last several pages, many people have expressed concern at the tone being used and the sheer level of negativity instilling not only fear, but a 'f**k it' attitude. 

It's possible to maintain the focus on the current graveness of the situation but also allowing for some optimism of lifting restrictions and a full return to normality (not 'a greater level of normal') without putting a date on it. 

I don't really see what they could usefully say.

I listen to podcasts and read things with experts from plenty of different parts of the world and the recurring theme when it comes to easing of restrictions (in loads of countries) is that it's too early in the process to know when different things will be possible. This is not just a UK issue. There is general agreement about this.

I mentioned on this thread a while back that one current complication in the UK is the picking apart of the impact of the vaccination programme from the impact of the current lockdown situation. That makes reading what's happening quite tricky at the moment, and no country has a good answer to that. I mentioned before that Bristol University are doing some work in this area, but it'll take a while to get anything useful.

One thing that comes up again and again around the world is that it's more complicated than 'We get to X number of hospitalisations and then ease restrictions'. Because there are more moving parts to this and it's simply pretty complicated. There is still a lot that is simply unknown about vaccinations. People are asking for a level of certainty that doesn't exist.

If the government hint at any kind of target for, say, re-opening pubs, they are simply creating a rod for their own back in a process where the future is very hard to read, and risking further demoralising the public and taking shitloads of grief if they have to row back on it.

I don't see what they can do.

Edited January 28, 2021 by TheJTS98

[mizfit]

Apparently Boris will be trying to get into a Scottish vaccine center, I am for once thankful that Scotland trains it's GP receptionists as the world's toughest bouncers. There's no chance he will get past them as I'm sure you have to be dead if you just rock up and expect to be seen.

Last April I called my GO Surgery because I had a sinus infection that hadn’t shifted in 2 weeks. Receptionist didn’t even say hello before saying “if you’ve Covid symptoms follow the advice or book a test.”

[Elixir]

9 hours ago, NotThePars said:

I'm still gone at someone claiming foreign holidays were a necessity. I think I must've missed it in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Err, while no-one has a 'given right' to enter a country, the last 50 years of increasing globalisation and the fact that so many people have family ties across borders facilitates the fact that in reality, being able to travel is a necessity. Most people also work to live. If the main result of that for some is to pish away their free time loafing about inside or down the pub then that's up to them, but most want off this cold, rain and wind soaked island every now and then.

[Marshmallo]

1 hour ago, TheJTS98 said:

I listen to podcasts and read things with experts from plenty of different parts of the world