New 4-tier system for England

[Yew]

At least that slimey good-for-nothing Andy Burnham won't be getting on his soapbox in Granada land - ranting at Westminster saying the North is being treated differently!!!

CJ

Don't be mean, he's the closest to political objection we've got!

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

They say is L&SE issue currently so why have northern Tier 3 areas been moved up a tier?

 

[Yew]

I can never not laugh at "Next slide please". That was the running joke at my secondary school assemblies!

It does conjure an image of handwritten 'overhead projector' transparencies...

 

[kristiang85]

I love how that in tiers 1-2 you can only meet up in houses on Christmas day rather than 5 days, but if you're with the same people the whole time, what difference does it make?!

 

[brad465]

I wonder how long it will be before media opinion turns, now it's London bearing the brunt of restictions...

Not to mention all the Tory MPs and their safe seat voters bearing the brunt too.

 

[Bantamzen]

Now then, who wants to bet that, within a few days, the whole of England is plunged into Tier 4 restrictions?

News conference at 4pm on Christmas Eve, with Ebenezer Scrooge Johnson announcing that everyone must stay at home and weld themselves into their house until Easter, all pubs still open must close until judgement day, and you are only allowed out to do essential shopping for 5 minutes once a fortnight?

Or perhaps he will go further and cancel the Queen's Christmas broadcast and announce more restrictions on Christmas Day at 3pm, just to "..keep this deadly killer virus under control and make sure that we are all safe.."

Christmas Eve 20:02

Johnson: "I am addressing you this evening to regretfully inform you that because you lot can't be trusted not to go about your business without the horrifying act of breathing, we have decided that a mandatory curfew will be imposed from midnight tonight, lasting 2,500 years. The newly formed Ministry of Love will be delivering boxes approximately 6 and a half feet long, and a couple of feet wide. Once you have you received your "Covid-Safety Box", you must remain in it until such time that we your Masters, erm government deem it safe for you to leave. You may not eat, drink, defecate or engage in any other biological functions without express permission from Professor Whitless, copied in duplicate, filed, lost, found, buried in peat and finally turned into firelighters. Prof Whitless, anything to add?"

Whitless: "I know this will come as a shock to you all, but thanks to some of the dodgiest forecasting know to mankind & a promise that once this is all over I can get a few gigs on the after dinner speech network, we simply cannot allow you unclean, horrible people to function normally. Plus, I get my freak on at the thought of controlling all of you. I am your God, bow before me you unworthy wretches. Muuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhaaaaaa!!!!"

 

[duncanp]

Mass non-abidance approaches.

And I will denigrate nobody for it.

The train from Birmingham New Street to Hereford this morning was quite busy.

Can't think why though.

And what about people who have made arrangements to travel at Christmas and now find themselves having to cancel their arrangements at the last minute?

There are going to be a lot of seriously cheesed off voters people who are not going to forget this in a hurry.

 

[Envy123]

One thing that the national lockdowns did right over the Tier 4 thing - we were given some notice to move our goods home and sell online from home. Now we have to scramble as many goods as we could physically carry back home, as we were given less than an hour.

Couldn't they have at least imposed the Tier 4 restrictions a day or 2 after the announcement to give nonessential shops time to prepare?

 

[DB]

The train from Birmingham New Street to Hereford this morning was quite busy.

Can't think why though.

And what about people who have made arrangements to travel at Christmas and now find themselves having to cancel their arrangements at the last minute?

There are going to be a lot of seriously cheesed off voters people who are not going to forget this in a hurry.

Unless they stop the trains running, I predict that a lot of people will be travelling anyway. The rules basically ban anyone without a car (or within walking distance) from spending christmas with their families.

This could be the point at which there really is mass ignoring of the rules, to a level well above what has been seen so far.

 

[island]

They say is L&SE issue currently so why have northern Tier 3 areas been moved up a tier?

I don’t believe they have.

 

[nlogax]

Unbelieveable!

Think many of us saw this coming - or at least couldn't put any faith in the advance Christmas guidance re. three households. I was having a conversation with someone only a week ago who wasn't convinced that London would even go to tier 3.. and now look where we are. It's impossible to rely on government advice sticking for more than a couple of days. A lot of goalposts are moving at lightning speed.

 

[duncanp]

Unless they stop the trains running, I predict that a lot of people will be travelling anyway. The rules basically ban anyone without a car (or within walking distance) from spending christmas with their families.

This could be the point at which there really is mass ignoring of the rules, to a level well above what has been seen so far.

Yes, people who have already made arrangements, perhaps spending hundreds of pounds on train tickets and accommodation, plus their families who have spent a lot of money on food and booze, are just going to tell Ebenezer Johnson to stick his Tier 4 somewhere where the sun doesn't shine.

And I predict a sudden increase in sales for day returns from Woking (Tier 4) to Farnborough and Fleet (Tier 2).

 

[kristiang85]

I just had this message from a friend:


My sister works in Waitrose in Sussex and she said they had to close the doors because the stockpilers were stampeding

How predictable.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

Look on the bright side.

371 days until Christmas.

 

[DB]

I just had this message from a friend:


My sister works in Waitrose in Sussex and she said they had to close the doors because the stockpilers were stampeding

How predictable.

What will be the must-have items this time? The old favourites of bogrolls and pasta, or will there be a christmas theme?

 

[brad465]

Do we technically need to change the title of this thread to "New 4-tier system for England"?

 

[Scotrail12]

Went onto Twitter and it looks to have went down like a cold bucket of sick with pretty much everyone. Might this be the turning point?

 

[MattA7]

Does anyone know if Surgeon had piped up yet about her plans for Scotland. I know she had already announced that the “new variant” has been detected in Scotland and everyone knows she loves to go stricter than Borris.

I personally don’t celebrate Christmas however as the vast majority of the population do I predict the new restrictions may upset a lot of people even the moderately pro-restriction types. Obviously the extreme pro-restriction will be thinking this is wonderful.

 

[Domh245]

Look on the bright side.

371 days until Christmas.

I admire your optimism!

 

[peters]

Given trains don't operate late on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Boxing Day and that many people have already purchased tickets for travel to relatives over Christmas, I can envisage a lot of people ignoring the new Christmas rules if the train operators are unwilling to refuse to give refunds.

 

[Crossover]

Think many of us saw this coming - or at least couldn't put any faith in the advance Christmas guidance re. three households. I was having a conversation with someone only a week ago who wasn't convinced that London would even go to tier 3.. and now look where we are. It's impossible to rely on government advice sticking for more than a couple of days. A lot of goalposts are moving at lightning speed.

I wholeheartedly agree that we couldn’t trust the prevailing conditions as far as we could throw them

 

[brad465]

Went onto Twitter and it looks to have went down like a cold bucket of sick with pretty much everyone. Might this be the turning point?

Are they people who typically have been generally supportive of the whole thing so far (If you can tell)? They might not have to be if the outrage from those already against the whole thing sees them take action to another level.

 

[DB]

Given trains don't operate late on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Boxing Day and that many people have already purchased tickets for travel to relatives over Christmas, I can envisage a lot of people ignoring the new Christmas rules if the train operators are unwilling to refuse to give refunds.

And even if they are willing to give refunds! For many it won't be about the money.

 

[Sanatogen]

One thing that the national lockdowns did right over the Tier 4 thing - we were given some notice to move our goods home and sell online from home. Now we have to scramble as many goods as we could physically carry back home, as we were given less than an hour.

Couldn't they have at least imposed the Tier 4 restrictions a day or 2 after the announcement to give nonessential shops time to prepare?

As you can travel for work purposes surely you can make as many trips as necessary.

 

[peters]

And even if they are willing to give refunds! For many it won't be about the money.

Agreed the money's not the most important thing but being able to get a refund or not may make the difference for whether some people take note of the new rules or ignore them.

 

[Kite159]

Given trains don't operate late on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Boxing Day and that many people have already purchased tickets for travel to relatives over Christmas, I can envisage a lot of people ignoring the new Christmas rules if the train operators are unwilling to refuse to give refunds.

It will probably be the DFT who will have to decide to allow refunds, even into the shape of credit notes/RTVs.

No doubt they will only go down the lines of "you can change it for free" which for some is as much use as a chocolate teapot

 

[DB]

As you can travel for work purposes surely you can make as many trips as necessary.

Depends what the legislation actually says when they publish it at 11.59 on the evening before it comes into force, but there may well be nothing to prevent shop owners from going to the shop to package and dispatch online orders.

 

[peters]

I personally don’t celebrate Christmas however as the vast majority of the population do I predict the new restrictions may upset a lot of people even the moderately pro-restriction types. Obviously the extreme pro-restriction will be thinking this is wonderful.

I know Muslims who see both Easter and Christmas as guaranteed time off work to spend with family, even though they aren't celebrating a religious festival.

 

[farleigh]

Third time lucky then

 

[DustyBin]

This is absolutely ridiculous. I have an Aunt who lives alone (widowed) in London who struggles a bit at Christmas and really relies on spending the day with either her friend or her cousin. As far as I’m concerned what they’ve done is inhumane. The best bit is that my Aunt works in a hospital where she risks contracting the virus on a daily basis, but when it comes to needing a little support through (limited) social interaction that’s too much to ask? This really has made me very angry. But of course, nothing matters but covid....