Vaccination passports to be ditched.

[Workingman]

So says Saddo Javid. It's a definite maybe, though, as they will be kept "in reserve" in case they are needed in the autumn or winter. Then later today we are to get the shiny new Winter Plan. It is rumoured that it will include details of boosters and the flu jab. It could also see the repeal of the Coronavirus Act, but only the bits we don't need.... And "it is hoped" that there will be no more lockdowns, but some "restrictions" might have to be put in place should the data require them.

It all sounds a bit like saying things for saying things sake.

[cromwell]

The Conservatives have just had a big shock. After the NI hike a poll has shown them behind Labour.
So to avoid an even worse poll they are now going in for a spot of the old word mangling, a bit of the old if, but and maybe.
I don't believe for one minute that they will drop vaccine passports - it's less than a week since they were defending them!

[Suff]

Vaccine passports are part of a sensible and progressive move to get everyone vaccinated. Only then will everyone have taken the greatest precaution to protect everyone else and themselves.

Masks are useless at this. Witness Scotland, from where I have recently returned. Masks are MANDATORY you know. Because it's different from England and more responsible you know. Of course magically, in the same room as everyone else, it becomes perfectly acceptable to take the mask off and eat a meal. At that point viral load and water droplet dispersal cease to exist.

Note that Scotland, with MANDATORY masks, has record numbers of new cases, way higher than the rest of the UK.

We need to get vaccinated and get over it. If passports are the only way to force this, then passports it will have to be. Even the Tories know that.

The rest of the stuff is the same BS it has always been. But that BS was all we had. Now we have vaccines. They are not BS. The only other reliable and viable method is to totally cease social contact. Otherwise known as a full lockdown. But that is less effective than a vaccine, as OZ and NZ are finding.

All of this hand wringing and surveying is doing nothing but getting people wound up. It even masks the fact that the government is ditching covid laws as the recovery speeds up.

I don't like big government. But I have the EU app and the certification. Very useful coming back over. Either show your certificates or write out a form similar to the UK locator form and commit to taking a PCR test. We showed our certificates. Job done.

[Workingman]

In order to have a plan 'B' you first need plan 'A', but we are getting a plan 'B' anyway.

As per:

• Lockdowns "as a last resort"

• Making face coverings legally mandatory in certain settings

• Asking people to work from home if they can, for a limited period

• Introducing mandatory vaccine certificates for certain settings

• Communicating clearly and urgently the level of risk has increased, so more caution needs to be taken.

So, not much different from last winter, except for the last clause. That is brand new, but better late than never - and already broken!

Subject to modification, amendment or updating, obviously, as and when the data or the wind changes. No mention of the 2m rule or group of six as yet, they are probably 'in reserve'; and much of it could happen in the autumn, which starts next week. Clear?

[cromwell]

The Government's winter covid plan in full:-

1. Take deep breath.
2. Start lying.
3. Return to point 1 above.

Honestly, you can't believe a word they say. We weren't going to have vaccine passports. Now we are.
Parents were going to be given the decision on their children's vaccination - now they aren't.
The triple lock on pensions was guaranteed. Now it isn't.
Taxes weren't going to go up. Now they are.

Next up, I expect the "irreversible path to freedom" to suddenly become very reversible indeed. My guess for the next lockdown is 4th November.

[Workingman]

My guess for the next lockdown is 4th November.

Is that to stop another "5th" taking place? asked Guido Fawkes Esq.

[Suff]

Is that to stop another "5th" taking place? asked Guido Fawkes Esq.

It is all very fluid at the moment. Decisions are being made on two fronts. One front is how the governing party is reacting and the second front is how the surveys are showing people reacting the possibility.

None of this will be based on actual numbers until we get very close to the "plan B" time.

You will note, I hope, that we are a month past the time that the "screaming headlines" told us we'd have 200,000 new cases every day and 1,000 dead a day.

Remember those predictions? Remember when they didn't happen? Pointed out clearly wasn't it? NOT.

Think about this logically (as far as logic will get you with Covid and Governments) and you will see that Plan A is in full swing. No masks, little control, light touch border controls to Amber countries if fully vaccinated and essentially a relatively moderate return to normality.

Plan B is if winter heralds a massive spike in infections and things go to the dogs. This is Very unlikely. The vaccines work. The main issue is with the number of the population who are not vaccinated and the bulk of these are now minors. If the minors get vaccinated, the infections will fall radically. If they don't? Well we shall see. This is also what the vaccine passports were about. They were to force people to become vaccinated to ensure that we don't go back to 60,000 per day cases. Whilst it looked like 40,000 was going to spike to 50 and 60, the idea of passports was being firmed up. When it did not happen, the idea went away.

You can be very sure that if infections start to drop to single digit thousands, then Plan B will become very dusty. If they go in the other direction, Plan B will be bright, shiny and implemented.

You don't see it but I did. I came from France to a relatively unregulated England where my Mask was at risk of being left behind. I travelled to Scotland where it became used very much more as it was mandatory everywhere. Except of course in packed rooms full of people eating. Clearly no risk there. I then travelled back to England and into a much more comfortable environment. Only to have to return to France and be back to a suffocating environment of masks, notices on the supermarket door saying "240 people max in the shop" and people walking around everywhere with masks on and even in their cars when driving.

Expect what is being said and done to fluctuate with the numbers. It is the only game in town.

[Workingman]

Suff, you don't do sarcasm, do you?

Remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and plot: 1605.

If we are in lockdown on the 4th of November, as Cromwell suggests, there cannot be a repeat 416 years later.... Not many would like to see the back of Liz II that way, as they did with James I, but BoJoke?

Circle the wagons.

[Suff]

Sorry lack of time forces lack of humour...

Let me predict.

There will be no more lock downs for Covid-19 in England. Ever.

Everything said about it is either to sell news or force vaccines.

[cromwell]

You are lucky you're in France Suff.
We get the gloomsters 24/7 on TV and radio over here. SAGE love it.
It's got so bad lots of people have stopped listening to the TV news.