I went for a meal with my brother tonight (we can do that now in Weeyals) and was relieved that he is up for the vaccine when it’s rolled out. He’s still frustrated with how things are now but he hasn’t gone down the rabbit hole with my parents into conspiracy theories.

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson will outline a roadmap tomorrow to bring back “normal life” by Easter next year. It will leave “most people” unable to mix with family and friends before then, except for a brief period at Christmas.

 

The prime minister will confirm an end to the national lockdown on December 2 but announce plans for three new tiers of local restrictions, which will all be tougher than those in place in October.

 

The tiers will be suspended for between three and five days over Christmas, to allow families to celebrate, but will then be reimposed between January and March.

 

Tens of millions of people will be told on Thursday that they are in tier 2 or tier 3, where they will be banned from mixing with other households indoors. As well as making the tiers tougher, more areas will be placed in the higher tiers to keep the virus under control. “Most people will be in tier 2 or tier 3,” a senior government source said. “The tiers get switched off over Christmas and then switched back on again.”

 

The length of the Christmas “armistice” is being thrashed out between f***witted Pob lookalike Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, and the devolved administrations running Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. “A lot of people will need to go from England to Scotland or to Wales, so the rules need to be the same,” one official said.

 

 

The plan will discussed and signed off by the cabinet today before Johnson’s speech in parliament on Monday. At the same time the Sage committee of scientists will publish papers showing why the previous tiers were not tough enough. The final decision about which regions are put in which tiers will not be made until the Office for National Statistics hands ministers the latest data on Wednesday evening.

 

Provided vaccines are approved by regulators, ministers expect the first injections to be made next month before being rolled out widely in the new year.

 

 

Plans are also being drawn up to give “Covid passports” to those who have received the vaccination. The documents will enable them to go to work and socialise more freely than those who refuse the jab.

 

Johnson’s plans put him dramatically at odds with backbench Tory MPs, 70 of whom have signed a letter this weekend demanding that he rules out regional tiered lockdowns, let alone a national one.

 

 

The MPs on the Covid Recovery Group, led by the former chief whip Mark Harper and Steve Baker, who led backbench rebellions against the Cameron and May governments, say they will support the new tiers only if ministers publish a cost-benefit analysis showing that they work.

 

In an open challenge to the prime minister’s authority, the MPs write: “The lockdown cure prescribed runs the very real risk of being worse than the disease.”

 

A government source said: “This is the plan to get us through to Easter when hopefully we will have vaccines in people’s arms. That will allow us to get life back to something close to normal.”

 

I think this one was leaked on purpose.

Where’d you get it? I was told there was none left when I phoned?

 

I got it from my local pharmacy in North Belfast (they'd literally only received it that morning). I had to pay for it, but was happy enough for the peace of mind.

Any symptoms after getting it? That’s my biggest worry!

Any symptoms after getting it? That’s my biggest worry!

 

 

No, Steve, at least I've never had any after-effects. It doesn't give you flu if that's what you're thinking.

Any symptoms after getting it? That’s my biggest worry!

 

No symptoms like drowsiness or the such. My arm was a little bit tender the next day, but that was about it.

Yeh that’s what my wife said!

Oxford data could be anywhere between 62%-90% - but averages out at 70% bit mad really, but it's a far cheaper vaccine and also far more data has been released in to the public eyes than the Pfizer/Moderna ones (and it is not for commerical gain).

There is a combination of doses that hits 90% so that’s promising. (Think it’s low then high which they can’t quite explain why that works better)

 

Aside from being cheaper it’s also significantly easier to transport and store. This is the early forerunner to be the vaccine that vaccinated the world. Poorer countries with less developed infrastructure that can’t handle the RNA jags will take this one. As will areas with hard to access populations. Could see this being the jag delivered through the Highlands and Islands as well as into Argyll and Bute for example.

 

Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna will go to the western nations. Especially the Pfizer/BioNTech one with its -70 storage requirements. That will work wonders for heavily populated areas like capital cities, Rhein-Ruhr, Greater Manchester, The M8 Corridor and into the extended Scottish Central belt.

 

Combination of vaccines will be required to get us out of this. I’m personally expecting to get the Pfizer/BioNTech one in Q2 2021

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson will outline a roadmap tomorrow to bring back “normal life” by Easter next year. It will leave “most people” unable to mix with family and friends before then,except for a brief period at Christmas.

 

But that's unfortunately all that's needed to spread the virus as many people will just forget all rules for those few days. We will be back with rises in hospitalisations and a new lockdown in January probably :(

Edited November 23, 20204 yr by JustSnakeyHoney

I never really got the Christmas fascination anyway, but with the impeding vaccine news I really don't understand it. It feels like there's now an end in sight and I'm quite happy to spend 3 more months shacked up not doing anything and life becoming more normal again as the nights draw out and it gets a bit warmer.

Edited November 23, 20204 yr by RabbitFurCoat

There would literally be riots on the streets if the government cancelled Christmas. Gotta remember thousands of families haven't seen each other in almost a year already so if they can't at Christmas then when can they.

Edited November 23, 20204 yr by Dobbo

There would literally be riots on the streets if the government cancelled Christmas. Gotta remember thousands of families haven't seen each other in almost a year already so if they can't at Christmas then when can they.

 

Yeah I agree and the Government gets that. From my own point of view, I get it but I also don't see why people just cannot have a smaller Christmas with immediate family for one year too. There is no reason to invite your Uncle Bob or Auntie Karen just for the sake of it. People are too set in their ways. I get it that families want to meet, but there's also the risk that you're going to spread the virus so people have to be willing to accept the consequences. Which imo is just all a bit daft for one day. It's just another day afterall.

The government are in a bit of a no-win situation over Christmas.

 

Logically, they should keep the measures (whatever they may be) in place over the Christmas period. After all, China pretty much banned New Year celebrations and Saudi Arabia cancelled the annual Hajj pilgrimage. It really shouldn't be any different for people in the UK (and much of the western world) to do the same for Christmas. There is, after all, reason to hope it would be for one year only.

 

OTOH, we all know that a lot of people won't look at it logically and will just do as they please over Christmas. They won't be bothered about the extra pressure that is bound to put on the NHS and its staff in January. After all, the number of people who will be vaccinated by then will be pretty low.

Both Belgium and The Netherlands will "cancel" christmas if the numbers aren't low enough. In Belgium officers are legally allowed to knock on the door and check the people if they deem the noise as too loud I think

*puts pedantic Catholic hat on. Which is a lovely hat by the way*.

 

Ahem. You can't "cancel" Christmas. What you can do is limit the celebration of the Holy Day. Christmas will be celebrated regardless of how many people you eat brussels sprouts with on 25th.

 

*takes Catholic hat off*.

 

Here's an out-of-the-box idea - for one year only, we agree as a nation to rename Christmas to Winterval. Then get the government to cancel Winterval. That way we can encourage people not to go mad over December, those of us who wish to celebrate Christmas can still do so in our own way, and the tabloids can turn their annual hatred of the alleged "Winterval" into a force for good.

 

I'm still available for consultancy work for a reasonable fee.

*puts pedantic Catholic hat on. Which is a lovely hat by the way*.

 

Ahem. You can't "cancel" Christmas. What you can do is limit the celebration of the Holy Day. Christmas will be celebrated regardless of how many people you eat brussels sprouts with on 25th.

 

*takes Catholic hat off*.

 

Here's an out-of-the-box idea - for one year only, we agree as a nation to rename Christmas to Winterval. Then get the government to cancel Winterval. That way we can encourage people not to go mad over December, those of us who wish to celebrate Christmas can still do so in our own way, and the tabloids can turn their annual hatred of the alleged "Winterval" into a force for good.

 

I'm still available for consultancy work for a reasonable fee.

The beauty of that is that tabloid editors will get so conflicted that their heads will explode :lol:

The government are in a bit of a no-win situation over Christmas.

 

Logically, they should keep the measures (whatever they may be) in place over the Christmas period. After all, China pretty much banned New Year celebrations and Saudi Arabia cancelled the annual Hajj pilgrimage. It really shouldn't be any different for people in the UK (and much of the western world) to do the same for Christmas. There is, after all, reason to hope it would be for one year only.

 

OTOH, we all know that a lot of people won't look at it logically and will just do as they please over Christmas. They won't be bothered about the extra pressure that is bound to put on the NHS and its staff in January. After all, the number of people who will be vaccinated by then will be pretty low.

 

It is totally a no-win situation, the Government and devolved administrations have done the most sensible thing they can imagine and try and mitigate the risk as much as possible. If you banned Christmas outright, you would just lose the public who would quite rightly riot. I'm not against people not celebrating Christmas, I just think it's mad to get the whole extended family round this year but you know millions of people will do it.

It is totally a no-win situation, the Government and devolved administrations have done the most sensible thing they can imagine and try and mitigate the risk as much as possible. If you banned Christmas outright, you would just lose the public who would quite rightly riot. I'm not against people not celebrating Christmas, I just think it's mad to get the whole extended family round this year but you know millions of people will do it.

 

 

They will do it regardless of what rules are in force that day. I'll be alone as wife goes to her friends. I wish someone would invite us to a turkey diner though as I miss it. :(

Edited November 23, 20204 yr by Sixth Sense

Even if you have a Christmas with just immediate family, for a LOT of people that requires travel.

 

I would say probably a sizeable majority of people aged 18-30 at least don't live in the same region, city, or even country as their parents, whether through work or study. And then a certain proportion of people of other ages or professions, e.g. anyone who works in oil or military.