An English lockdown in November?

[Workingman]

The rumour is all over the media. Papers from Friday's cabinet meeting were leaked (The Times) and there is to be an emergency cabinet meeting today, so it is all looking very likely.

The numbers in the governments own assessments are much worse than those from the ONS or the ones we were talking about on here from ICL. If further restrictions are not introduced then there is a fear of between 2,000 and 4,000 death per day by the end of the year.

If this news is true, and we will find out later, it will look as though the three tier system was only a temporary measure for worse to come. It will also look as though we were not given the whole truth about the situation.

[TheOstrich]

I've felt for some time now that it's become inevitable. People have not behaved responsibly, that much is obvious; a second wave was perhaps inevitable, but society in general has done nothing by its general behaviour to come anywhere near mitigating the worst effects of a resurgence .

And the lockdown needs to be for a minimum of a month, none of this circuit-breaker or 14 day period. They are saying that schools and universities will remain open though - which I think is a nonsense. I've seen graphs showing that cases are rising fast in the 10-19 and 20-29 age groups.

We shall find out more when Boris addresses a press conference at 4:00 pm today. If he prevaricates in any way, though, Gawd help us.

EDIT - bought more toilet rolls last week in anticipation .....

[Kaz]

I think it's inevitable. A one month lockdown, probably starting Wednesday, is being mooted as the most likely scenario.

[cromwell]

I have come to the conclusion that we have gone mad.
The average life expectancy in 2017 in the UK was 81.7 years old.
The average age of a covid victim is 82.4 years old.
Covid kills less than two in a hundred victims.

We are being pushed by a bunch of halfwit scientists and clueless politicians into bankrupting our country.
SAGE and University College London have used deliberately inflammatory language to try and scare people - they are as bad as the media.

Cases doubling every day? Didn't happen. FOUR THOUSAND DEATHS A DAY! Is the latest.
Sorry, I don't believe it.

If Johnson goes along with this I can only hope that he is gotten rid of ASAP.

We are bankrupting businesses, ruining education and breeding a nation of Stasi-like informers; and there is still no exit strategy, just a mad re-application of something that has been proved not to work.

It is insane.

eta - MrsC has been to Lidl with our daughter and the car park was rammed, people are panicking again.

[Workingman]

4 o'clock put back to 5 o'clock put back to ? o'clock. It did not look good.

And it wasn't.

We are all going into lockdown (or T 4) for a month. End of. Will it work? Well, it might go some way to stop the rises in cases and deaths, but it will not stop the virus. We are hoping to delay until Spring to save us - oh, and a vaccine or two.

And can we all stop banging on about Christmas! In the grand scheme of things it is just another day in the year. Yes, it is a great time and important to our happiness and wellbeing, but saving lives is so much more important. Die on the 24th of November, pah, die on Christmas Day, OMG!!!!!

[cromwell]

So we are still having to "protect the NHS".
Wonderful.
So everything we have done in the last nine months has been for nothing!
We need a change of direction and quickly.

[Suff]

Nothing has changed, it is all a holding action until we get a vaccine. As for waiting for spring, why? The very worst deaths were in spring. It is like a Turkey voting for Christmas.

If anyone can remember back to last spring we had a triple crisis. We did not know what we could treat the virus with, we did not have the levels of protective equipment, or ventilators, required to cope with the virus and finally everyone else was in the same situation so everyone was vying for the same resources.

7 months later and? We are acting as if nothing has changed since April. But, in fact, almost everything has changed.

The only things that have not changed are the cross UK political pissing competitions and the think tanks pouring out statistical models for potential worst cases without accounting for the fact that the hardest hit are far better protected now.

The whole problem here is that nobody in power, except possibly the Swedes, are willing to tell the people the truth. The sad truth is that nothing is going to change until one or two conditions are met. One, that over half the population has been infected or Two, over half the people have been inoculated.

In order to save political face, politicians are offering up lives, economy and jobs.

You can't just blame Bojo, they are all at it, but he takes the most stick because of Brexit and also that he doesn't take care not to make himself a target.

Contrast Blair, when he took a chance and crawled out from under his shell, people were horrified.

It is what it is and until the politicians, global, grow a pair and tell us how it is, this will continue.

[cromwell]

The whole problem here is that nobody in power, except possibly the Swedes, are willing to tell the people the truth. The sad truth is that nothing is going to change until one or two conditions are met. One, that over half the population has been infected or Two, over half the people have been inoculated.

In order to save political face, politicians are offering up lives, economy and jobs.

Yes. It's political cowardice. What to do, take a very hard decision, or kick the can down the road? Clang!!

You can't just blame Bojo, they are all at it

True, they are. Starmer has only said that Boris is wrong because he should have doe it earlier- not that he shouldn't be doing it.
Plus all over Europe with the exception of Sweden and Norway, they are locking down.
And people all over Europe are getting very angry too.

"Protect the NHS". From what, doing the job that it was set up to do?
We should be listening to Carl Hennegan, who says merely that we should be going on facts, not predictions.

I didn't watch the latest press conference - do they actually take questions?

[Workingman]

Suff, when I mentioned Spring I meant it in the sense of that is what we are being sold by the talking heads: "If we get through till Spring all will be well" It is not that far away and is believable / acceptable to many of us compared to say Autumn 2021 or later. And let us not forget that we absolutely must have a 'normal' Christmas as a priority otherwise it will, literally, be the end of the world.

It it true that many things have changed since last March and April and one of the most telling things is the peoples' attitude to the pandemic and the restrictions. There was a time when the majority would readily comply with just about any restriction. Today a lot of us have turned 180º - sanitise, what me?, masks, pah, distance, pah, street party, bring it on.

What this lockdown has done is thrown us all in the same leaky lifeboat to show that we are "all in it together"; and we now learn that is it not only for a month, it is open ended. The true nature of the lockdown is to get the R number below 1, and that is probably the same for all lockdowns wherever they are being applied.

The solution to all of this rest with us, not with politicians, scientists and the media with all their differing numbers, graphs, models and takes on things. We, the overwhelming majority of us, need to be doing the right and sensible things, and we all know what those things are.

Cromwell, they did take questions, from the usual suspects, and their answers simply referred back to the presentation just given, as is normally the case.

[cromwell]

The solution to all of this rest with us, not with politicians, scientists and the media with all their differing numbers, graphs, models and takes on things. We, the overwhelming majority of us, need to be doing the right and sensible things, and we all know what those things are .

Yes we do Frank, and we have been doing them. Well, some of us have, some have been carrying on not giving a toss. Which does upset me somewhat.
Like these guys.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/uknews/13 ... ovid-fine/
And these guys.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... r-18775483

Cromwell, they did take questions, from the usual suspects, and their answers simply referred back to the presentation just given, as is normally the case.

I wish I could ask the sods a couple of questions!

Meanwhile Europeans are getting very upset indeed.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/europes-gover ... 15394.html