John Swinney, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, has called on Scots not to cross the border into England to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Doing so goes against the “spirit” of the Scottish Government’s Covid restrictions, he says. (No, really?!?) BBC News has more.
Scots have been urged not to travel to England for New Year celebrations to get around the more stringent Covid restrictions north of the border.
There is no travel ban currently in place to stop people going to England, where nightclubs are still open.
But Deputy First Minister John Swinney said doing so would go against the “spirit” of Scottish Covid measures.
He said travelling would be “the wrong course of action” due to the “serious situation” with the Omicron variant.
Case numbers in Scotland hit “alarming” record highs over Christmas and Boxing Day, with the faster-spreading strain now accounting for the majority of all infections.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is to update MSPs in a virtual sitting of the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, said she expected the figures to rise even more in the days ahead.
Scots have been encouraged to stay at home as much as possible, and to limit any social gatherings to no more than three households.
Large events such as Edinburgh’s traditional Hogmanay street party have been cancelled, with extra curbs in hospitality settings and nightclubs shut down entirely.
Clubs remain open south of the border, where no new restrictions are being imposed, but Swinney told BBC Breakfast that he would “discourage” anyone from travelling to England to see in the new year.
He said: “People are free to make their own judgments. But what we have got recognise is that Omicron is a serious threat to absolutely everybody within our society and we have all got to take measures to protect ourselves by limiting our social contacts and connections and by complying with the restrictions we have in place.
“I think it is the wrong course of action for people to take because we have a serious situation we have got to manage and we encourage everybody to play their part in addressing that.”
People in England have been urged to be “cautious” while socialising, by taking lateral flow tests and sticking to well-ventilated areas.
Ms Sturgeon is to update MSPs on the latest data and plans when Holyrood is recalled from recess for a virtual sitting at 14:00.
Worth reading in full.
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This is exactly what needs to happen. I hope there’s an exodus. Maybe then they might start to realise that we’ve had enough and we’re putting up with no more of this crazy nonesense.
The authoritarian Sturgeon has revived the old Samuel Johnson quote “The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!”
Even if it’s just for Hogmanay.
2022 will see the unravelling of the SNP administration as their failed lockdowns become resented by a population who wakes up to the dire economic consequences. I would no longer be surprised if the next First Minister is actually a Conservative. For any Scottish politician: lockdown sceptic is the only way to go.
First fish’s extra restrictions going well are they?
Make sure we can get them home again, don’t want them deciding to stay 😉
Seriously, what would Braveheart say?
The Dutch have closed noessetional shops bars and the rest of the good things in life. Belgium has not. Guess what is happening.
Belgium’s economy is doing better at the moment.
So I’ll be seeing a lot of scots down me pub then, LOL. Come on lads. You’re welcome. Come and have some English cheer !
You have to laugh at a politician whingeing about the ‘spirit’ of restrictions unlawfully introduced to interfere with personal sovereignty and freedom of movement and association. Seriously?
I wouldn’t put it past either the krankie or drakeford to station police cars at the borders doing stops as a form of intimidation. I can also imagine Welsh and Scottish taxi drivers might be threatened with the loss of their taxi licences too if they do cross border business. How many vehicles will be pulled over and searched? Loads, I bet.
Meanwhile, if people far from the borders still decide to celebrate, come what may, imagine how bad it would look for the respective governments if they came down hard on ‘illegal’ revellers and were filmed arresting or rough housing blameless and healthy residents who just want to see in the new year with friends. It will certainly be an interesting night anyway.
Also the trains – they could easily impose cancellations on Friday for those from Scotland (harder for Wales, as the trains between south and north Wales run through England for a large part of the journey).
Both borders are crossed by innumerable minor roads. Good luck policing them all.
Actually, there are very, very few roads that cross the England-Scotland border.
14 roads and 2 rail lines cross the England-Scotland border.
We are having a NYE party here, in Wales, just as we always do. No jumped up hurtyn is dictating whether we celebrate or not!
Time for the curtain twitchers and snitches to dob in their neighbours!
Telegraph has an article By Dr Chris Smith a virologist. As a commenter puts it it’s good to hear from real experts in disease and treatment like him , Profs Hunter and Heneghan. Also from qualified epidemiologists like Prof Gupta and Kuldorf. He and they know science cannot become an enabler of political leaders who wish to manipulate us through fear. The reference to Haque and the sociologists of Alt SAGE shows that many of these people are in fact hacks. As a Scot I am reading the daily prognostications of our Chief Clinical Advisor “Professor” Jason Leitch or the “Dentist of Doom” as many of us know him. His professorial title is honorary but he uses it shamelessly because he knows many ordinary citizens don’t know the difference. Leitch seems annoyed by the good news from SA , Denmark and the Edinburgh study. He he has been featured without criticism in The media ramping up the fear to back up the Scottish Governments policy of Panic First. He waves terms like ‘attack rate” and “exponential” like shrouds, entirely out of their scientific context primarily to scare.
These restrictions are still being based on case numbers. Inspection of the official data shows that hospitalisations , ICU rates and deaths “with” are… Read more »
Its all part of the Natzis core skillset of sowing division & hatred of the other.
As they all practice starting a fight in an empty room, the opportunity to highlight difference is manna to them.
It seems to worry the Natzis, that the more Scots who go to England, have a good time and consider further visits, the better for the UK.
I’m glad the Scots and the Welsh have England to come to for their NYE, its unbelievable that its ok for billions around the world to get together for NY when these tinpot dictators are actually telling them not to
I for one welcome our Scottish (and Welsh, and Northern Irish, if they can make it) friends.
I know some here don’t think petitions do any good, don’t think demos do any good, etc, but this French petition against vaccine passports is quite close to a million signatures now. ‘A million’ has a psychological impact if nothing else, and helps motivate those who are fighting. Please help them. [Petition] NO TO THE VACCINE PASS! (leslignesbougent.org)
Does Nicola Sturgeon sign on-line petitions to make ‘things happen’ ?
I sense this New Year’s Eve will be seen as a pivotal moment. People may literally vote with their feet and it will be an unofficial indicator of their attitude towards the restrictions, and of course the actions of their political leaders.
Or they are sick to death of living in socialist purgatory and want some fun…
Police Scotland 31/12/21 14.00 until further notice. All leave cancelled.
Every available Police Scotland vehicle, supported by civilian tow trucks, to be stationed on all approach roads to England at distances of 15-20 miles. Officers to use initiative to stop and search as many as vehicles as possible for illicit drugs, child abduction, stolen goods, Pirate Videos, smuggled wet fish, insurance and tax infrigements etc.
Spot checking any scratched or otherwise damaged vehicle for roadworthines and, when faults found, vehicle to he impounded, towed five miles by said civilian contractors them dumped before coming back for more.
Drivers and passengers to make their own further arrangements.
The Sturgeon.
The petition against the vaccine pass in France has had over 827000 signatures.
Nearly 829,000 less than 10 mins later
Over 830,000 now. Well done!
Now, how about if those 830,000 had descended onto their Parliament instead of signing a petition that’s just going to disappear into the Black Hole of Cyberspace?
This deserves a lot more votes. Get this trending folks!
https://t.co/vu5PWsTxtR
These gov petitions….
I signed the ‘no vaccine passport’ petition, then listened to Nadhim Zawahi reassure us that passports would never be used in this country and that we could ‘hold him to that’…
Fauci lying about vaccines stopping transmission in july 2021 (9:47 in the video)
The whole vid is worth a watch too.
There is still time for them to put up roadblocks on NYE.
Go and get fucked Nicola.
The edifice is crumbing.
Jabs have not worked as the spike protein in the Omicron mutation is too dissimilar to the spike protein in the jabs.
Thankfully Omicron is no worse than a cold.
Masks are mere window dressing to maintain fear and compliance.
Those parliamentarians and members of SAGE holding shares in Pfizer, AZ and Moderna should be tried for treason.
Sweden got it right.
Nature has triumphed over nonsense.
Sunetra Gupta richly deserves a dame hood.
I’ve redesigned the road sign for Führer Sturgeon. I think she might even actually like it.
Very apt. And note the ANPR camera on the bridge. So the bastards are logging details of all vehicles passing between the two countries. Why?
The Master’s must know where their cattle are at every hour of the day and night. The ANPR camera’s will be nothing, though, to the Social Credit Passport system if they ever manage to get it introduced.
And when they get us into electric cars that will be connected to the cloud, the Master’s will be able to track our every move in real-time.
And isn’t it amazing how the Master’s got all the protesters that used to push-back against big banks and greedy corporations to now fight for the introduction of all of above?
The thickos that used to call for the burning down of banks, are now more vociferously calling for us all to be injected with gene control serums.
Maybe these national socialists can build some kind of wall to prevent non-breaches of non-laws?
Got to see the funny side. The SNP leaders’ attitude is
“Don’t game the law with us, you disobedient filth. Do whatever we WANT you to do when we give you a command. We don’t need no stinking lawbooks or badges.“
No prizes for guessing what they’d be like if they got an independent country under their control.
And this is from types who’ve never in their whole lives filled in an expenses form or grant application without fiddling the hell out of it to maximise how much goes into their pockets from the public purse.
Illustration shows Samuel Johnson’s favourite view.
🙂
Many English people who’ve lived in Scotland and returned to England tend to seek out the Build Hadrian’s Wall Ten Foot Higher Society.
Wogs begin at the Wall.
Is a Wog a Worker Objecting to Genocide?
I get the feeling that simply to prove a point Sturgeon would have people strung up if it meant she was doing more than England. What is her problem? Doesn’t she have enough issues to fix with the mess she has made of Scotland? Her time would be better spent actually making Scotland work instead of wrecking peoples lives.
The more she wrecks Scotland the more money she begs (and gets) from the British government. And the money doesn’t go into de-wrecking Scotland either. What happens is that she then does the same again.
Don’t these people remember ANY history?
This is a re-rum of 1989 with thousands of East Germans (now Scots and Welsh) voting with their feet.
Swinney and his crew are sufficiently old to remember the TV pictures of that wonderful year and the total collapse of the ancien regime.
Look how that ended Swinney.
Give in now, and ENCOURAGE your country men to celebrate Hogmanay.
Yes, the East Germans also wanted the population to understand the spirit of their laws but they built a wall with watchtowers and snipers, you know, for those that didn’t totally get the spirit of the law.
I bet you Sturgeon would love to build a wall with armed sentires so she can better care for her flock…
And shoot people who try to get out.
The ‘spirit’ of restrictions? I watched someone who had great ‘spirit’ for restrictions yesterday as he walked alongside a road in the pouring rain, wearing a thoroughly sodden mask. Remember, the message is that the mask is worn to safeguard others, not the wearer. There wasn’t a single other person within sight, just cars rushing by, spraying him with even more water.
This is the psychosis the Scottish government want to see. That’s the spirit you fucking lunatic.
How does this work for Berwick Rangers FC? They are based in England but play at some level in Scotland. Therefore they could legitimately invite their opponents on Saturday to come over the border on Friday evening. The supporter base for Swansea City, Cardiff City and Wrexham will suddenly increase by several thousand if those teams are playing away against English teams over the weekend.