Sajid Javid has said that the Government is “nowhere near” bringing back full lockdown restrictions in the U.K., saying that the measures “carry a very heavy price”, such as economic damage and negative mental health outcomes. The Health Secretary also said that “people should continue with their plans as normal for Christmas” despite the emergence of the Omicron variant. The Sun has the story.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said “we’re nowhere near” reintroducing working from home or social distancing measures to combat Covid.
He told Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday: “We know now those types of measures do carry a very heavy price, both economically, socially, in terms of non-Covid health outcomes such as impact on mental health.
“So, if one was to make decisions like that they would have to be done very, very carefully and we’re not there yet, we’re nowhere near that.”
He added that people should plan for Christmas as “normal”.
“I think it’s fair to say that the nature of this pandemic is it would be irresponsible to make guarantees,” Javid said.
“As for Christmas, I think people should continue with their plans as normal for Christmas, I think it’s going to be a great Christmas.”
It comes as compulsory mask-wearing is set to return next week in a bid to save Christmas from a super-mutant coronavirus.
Boris Johnson ordered the move after at least two cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant were found in the U.K.
He also urged people to get booster jabs, saying: “It’s more vital than ever.”
Mask-wearing will again be compulsory in shops and buses, trains and taxis in England from Tuesday.
Overseas travel and self-isolation rules have been tightened after the first two cases of the super-strain were detected in Britain.
Scientists will explore how the booster programme can be extended, including to those as young as 18 years-old.
Omicron, discovered only days ago in southern Africa, has been declared the worst variant yet by one expert, while there are fears it might reduce vaccine protection over time.
The Prime Minister’s measures, outlined at a Downing Street briefing, aim to slow down its spread until scientists know just how dangerous it is.
But Johnson stopped short of imposing a devastating shutdown of pubs and restaurants in the run-up to Christmas.
He insisted that if the public stick to the rules and get their jabs, there will be no need for another last-gasp festive lockdown…
Despite the reassurances, the mere prospect of fresh Covid curbs will send shockwaves through the hospitality industry which saw takings fall by almost 80% in the festive period last year.
Johnson refused to give any guarantees but he is clear that there will be no lockdown like last year, and people were not being asked to work from home.
In a further move, he announced plans to step up the pace of the jabs programme.
Worth reading in full.
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I suspect there may be such a large crowd in London this Saturday demanding our freedom from lockdown, that the police’s problems policing crowds to date will appear rather trivial by comparison.
Let’s hope so!!
Fingers crossed. Thinking of heading down myself
Let’s hope so, Arthur.
Just the kind of sand in the gears we want to see!
Meanwhile just one death with Covid reported in England today.
#Clownworld
Panic, Panic; Lockdown, Lockdown!!!
PCP Set To Be Listed For Hearing At Bromley Magistrates Court
https://www.thebernician.net/pcp-set-to-be-listed-for-hearing-at-bromley-magistrates-court/
“One week ago, we were informed by telephone that PUB’s PCP papers are now with the designated court’s listings department, who expect a case number will soon be issued, following checks by the legal team at Bromley Magistrates, to which it was transferred for processing and listing by the Westminster court where the case was laid last month.
Effectively, this means that the case files contained enough prima facie evidence of pandemic fraud for Westminster to transfer the case to Bromley, for the purposes of performing the final legal checks [the initial checks having been done by the south London court’s legal department] and listing the first hearing of the case at the Kent court.”
……….
Good work, but why are they not also trying to prosecute Boris Johnson?
I had been wondering where our Corona Committee was. I salute you all. I won’t wish you luck. I wish you justice. And if thoughts, appreciation and admiration were fuel, you’d go a long way on mine..
“Social distancing rules”….”Covid rules”….”Social distancing guidelines”…
The usual blurring of lines from the media Police exist to keep the peace and enforce the LAW. Last time I read all the silly Statutory Instruments they use as “law” none of them mentioned distancing.
yeah – I’m a bit confused. My understanding is that social distancing is not a legal requirement – it’s only guidance – so we can all cheerfully ignore it if we so choose. Have I got it wrong?
I don’t think it was ever/is law as applied to individuals. I don’t know what law if any there was that applied to say a pub, which put its tables too close together. They may be liable to forced closure on Health & Safety grounds but I think there’s a process to go through there. A lot of it is just govt laziness and bullying, with a complicit media.
I guess as applicable to individuals it’s sort of law indirectly as gatherings of > 2 were illegal if from different households, now > 6 unless only from 2 households etc, so if you were in the park less than 2m away from others maybe you could be accused of gathering. I don’t know what a gathering is in legal terms.
The whole thing shows that the law is not a suitable vehicle for micromanaging human interactions.
That’ my understanding – the police have no remit on this.
“The local councils have made it easy for people to do pretty much what they want.”
Such bitterness and resentment over people doing something they want to do. Is that where we’re at?
What some people want to do is go inside a bar, listen to a DJ, and dance till 6am. So how is sitting in the gutter like a prostitute, shivering in a hat and gloves, doing what you want?
I love how the coppers feel the need to ‘police’ peaceful crowds. Pity they don’t have the same urge when it comes to burglary. Notice too the Telegraph’s insinuating description as ‘revellers’ of law-abiding customers sitting at tables.
And how the coppers seem so stressed out at having to ‘police’ peaceful crowds.Good to know that there is so little rape, murder, robbery and violent assaults in the UK that the police get stressed out by coronavirus regulations.
Furious pub landlord yells ‘get out of my pub’ to Sir Keir Starmer on visit to Bath (msn.com)
Hopefully the start of lots more to come!
Most MPs have been hiding from their constituents for the last year under cover of the Coronavirus lockdown rules. When they start meeting their constituents face to face again I think they are going to get quite a shock about how angry many of us are. At them.
HOPE SO.
I can’t wait to see mine. But I think he knows enough to avoid my address as it’s attached to the several letters I’ve written demanding action.
Mine ran into my small close of 7 houses leafleting, missed my house completely and was out the road by the time I got to the door
a pity his business partner is a pussy.
Omg! Such a 90s thing to say!
Loved it, and over on social media, it’s all love for Rod, (bar the odd hater). I doubt they’ll ever be without customers again.
I sympathise. I had hoped that once he was in, we’d see better. But the fact is that he made Corbyn look like a adjutant. It’s like he’s been tranquillised for the last year. Maybe they forgot to put him on to charge. I don’t know. I suppose having Blair meddling can’t have done him much good, either.
Nevertheless, when you consider his former career and his Jewish family connections, you’d think he’d be less spineless. That his own history might give him moral fortitude. Maybe consider that as a lawyer there is an expectation that he not assist in the oppression of the fundamental human rights of his fellow citizens. That when people talk of Nuremberg Laws, it might ring a bell. Instead, he supinely steps back and only steps forward to enable to government.
He doesn’t have a bigger majority (sad face). It wouldn’t matter what he did, (sad face). Anyone would think he hadn’t had charge of an organisation dependant on the individual bravery of victims of crimes to step up and be witnesses, in trials whose end game IS to protect society.
Finally I understand why despite increasing understanding of consent, we see so few rape and sexual assault convictions, and the streets have become an even more dangerous place for young women than they were under the 1980-90s Conservatives. Keir Starmer has the curious distinction of being the man who made me regret the loss of Jeremy Corbyn from public life.
I will never vote Labour again. Because a vote for Labour is a vote for the Conservatives.
A vote for the Con men or a vote for the Lab rats- same difference, you end up with totalitarian pigswill.
Frightening. We are heading for the time when there will be no elections.
“The creatures outside looked from Conservative to Labour and from Labour to Conservative and from Conservative to Labour again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
‘Maybe they forgot to put him on to charge.’
Your last paragraph is spot on. Given that Labour and Cons are now ‘two cheeks of the same a**e’ people really need to be brave when next deciding where to put their cross, and stop voting for either of the cheeks.
This guy is a legend. Typical that the article wastes no time in side-lining his views, instead choosing to attempt damage limitation by focussing on his pathetic business partner’s virtue signalling.
They’re already talking about Indian variants so get ready
“There be Injun(variant)s in them thar hills”. In which case Lincolnshite will be fine, (again).
Yep, funny how one can have an Indian variant but mustn’t talk about a Chinese virus!
Also funny that the areas supposedly most affected over the last year (+) are where lots of people with Indian backgrounds live (Birmingham, Leicester, Bradford, Manchester)….
You wait, they are gearing up for the Pakistani variant and then they can blame Muslims and divide everyone that way. They already tried to blame Muslims last year by making out that large extended families were disease vectors.
They’re determined to have us herded, covid or no covid
How about reopen fully and rely on the patrons to defend their institutions? A good old fashioned pub fight with some coppers will certainly change their minds about the ease of enforcing Covid rules on pubs. Y’all Brits need to stand up, perhaps violently, like we have in America to this tyranny and not submit, not go gently into that quiet goodnight.
I guess they are no longer LEO’s (Law Enforcement Officers) but GEO’s (Guideline Enforcement Officers) …
“Look! Someone’s doing something! Judge them! Hate them!”
“ making it difficult for police to enforce social distancing guidelines. ”
Why on earth are the Police enforcing guidelines?! They have enough on their plates enforcing the law. Anti-social distancing is not the law!!!
The Government produce many guidelines for my own good and that if the NHS eg I should eat five fruit and veg a day (or is it 7 or 10 now). Prob would save more lives than not hugging a tipsy stranger, but the Police don’t take it upon themselves to come and arrest for me for not bothering to roast an f-ing aubergine today do they. Well not yet anyway…
The Wooden Tops don’t seem to have a lot of common sense (what a surprise). When we were let out of our prisons last summer, the South West was visited by hordes of tourists from the rest of the UK; without masks and not a lot of social distancing either. Was there a consequent massive outbreak of this mild respiratory virus, was there hell? So why even bother to ‘police’ these guidelines; they’re irelevant to the spread of the virus, unless you’re virtue signalling? Exactly the same virtue signallers as the local government numpties who decided to ruin childrens’ education even more by making them take LF tests and make them wear masks.
We are being ‘governed’ by a totally incompetent bunch of ignorant dick heads. And the worst thing is the alternatives in our ‘democratic’ system are no better. Grrrrrr…..