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Omicron variant and the measures implemented in response to it

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Huntergreed

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I’m very glad to see the back of masks and vaccine passports in England. This is a long overdue change which should be welcomed and I hope will never return.

I do, however, find this slightly depressing as a resident of Scotland who could be facing masks for 6 years!
 
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greyman42

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Big victory even if it was for the wrong reasons today. Masks are useless and should have gone long ago.
Richard Burgon (Labour) has just stood up in parliament and said that people are going to die because of the removal of the mask mandate!
 

island

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Wonder what the London Major will do with the TfL, are we back to the byelaw enforcement and have to continue to endure the non stop messaging on the London buses and underground?
Sadiq will huff and puff about it, people who want to wear masks will wear them and people who don't, won't.

It isn't a byelaw, so the only thing they can do with anyone not wearing a mask is ask them to leave the network.
 

greyman42

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The reason for the timing is of course crystal clear, and is nothing to do with Covid. The bribe will not work (though in all honesty I have no problems with masks anyway, though I do have a problem with vaccine passports on civil liberties grounds).
Well it's good enough for me, masks are awful things. Under Labour we would of been locked down for xmas and still locked down now.
 

AlterEgo

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Richard Burgon (Labour) has just stood up in parliament and said that people are going to die because of the removal of the mask mandate!
Pooh pooh to him, tell him to look at Wales and Scotland where there has been pip-all difference in rates with increased mask wearing.
 

nw1

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Pooh pooh to him, tell him to look at Wales and Scotland where there has been pip-all difference in rates with increased mask wearing.

While I'm neutral on masks, I think Labour's strategy to gain success now needs to be to focus on the hypocrisy of Johnson and other senior members of the government (e.g. Hancock). A pro-restriction line is unlikely to gain too much support now; I hope Keir Starmer realises this.
 

danm14

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Sadiq will huff and puff about it, people who want to wear masks will wear them and people who don't, won't.

It isn't a byelaw, so the only thing they can do with anyone not wearing a mask is ask them to leave the network.
And of course as the Conditions of Carriage state that exemptions apply, in practice they can't even do that, unless you admit that you simply don't want to wear one.
 

AlterEgo

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While I'm neutral on masks, I think Labour's strategy to gain success now needs to be to focus on the hypocrisy of Johnson and other senior members of the government (e.g. Hancock). A pro-restriction line is unlikely to gain too much support now; I hope Keir Starmer realises this.
Yes. It's a battle they need to bury and refocus, I agree.
 

greyman42

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Sadiq will huff and puff about it, people who want to wear masks will wear them and people who don't, won't.

It isn't a byelaw, so the only thing they can do with anyone not wearing a mask is ask them to leave the network.
Just claim an exemption.
 

brad465

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Of course this move means both Plan B's introduction and removal have been announced at times where a distraction/face-saving exercise has been needed.
 

nw1

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Of course this move means both Plan B's introduction and removal have been announced at times where a distraction/face-saving exercise has been needed.

Indeed. Funny that. Plan B = plan "save Boris" or plan "save Big Dog".
 

VauxhallandI

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Surprisingly, I am eligible for a free flu jab, probably based only on my DOB; though given how infrequently I am affected badly by viruses (including Delta which was no worse than a moderate cold) I have not taken it. Maybe they should better target free flu jabs to those who actually need it based on illness history, obesity, asthma, etc rather than use a blunt instrument like DOB? (unless you are in a clear high-risk category such as being of pensionable age).
There is, I have been offered the flu jab since I was in my 30's
 

takno

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While I'm neutral on masks, I think Labour's strategy to gain success now needs to be to focus on the hypocrisy of Johnson and other senior members of the government (e.g. Hancock). A pro-restriction line is unlikely to gain too much support now; I hope Keir Starmer realises this.
If you don't mind masks but do care about the rights of minorities then you probably shouldn't be neutral on masks - it's important not only to stand up for things that affect you. I only mention this because you curretnly seem to prefix every post with a note about how much you don't mind them.

Labour's response seems to be to not oppose the relaxation outright, but to suggest that the science should be made available so we all know it's a sensible course of action rather than an attempt by Boris to save his own skin. That seems like a reasonable line. If the government isn't even organised enough to cobble together some scientific support for their actions now, from a widely-fractured scientific and medical community, then they probably should all resign.

More prominently and importantly Starmer had a response that focused on doing relatively sensible non-disruptive things, many of which would help reduce disease spread and pandemic preparedness generally, like better ventilation in schools, better sick pay and UK sources of test kits etc.
 

Kite159

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Starmer ummed and ahhed about it sayong he wanted to see the scientific evidence for dropping plan B. In my opinion, he did not like it but dared not say so.

Labour will hate it, as they are the party of restrictions.

No doubt they will be carrying on wearing masks for official photos only to remove them when they think the camera is turned off
 

Jonny

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Pooh pooh to him, tell him to look at Wales and Scotland where there has been pip-all difference in rates with increased mask wearing.
Their continuation has frankly been ridiculous, and political.

Labour will hate it, as they are the party of restrictions.

No doubt they will be carrying on wearing masks for official photos only to remove them when they think the camera is turned off
Which says it all about the opposition party - they would be locking us down over a few cases. England's response has been tempered even compared to Wales (Labour-run) and Scotland.
 

MikeWM

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Of course this move means both Plan B's introduction and removal have been announced at times where a distraction/face-saving exercise has been needed.

Indeed - though all the evidence was pointing to Johnson putting plan B in place after Parliament had gone away for Christmas (some were saying at the time it was 'nailed on'). Bringing it forward as he did meant we had the votes and the massive rebellion before Christmas, which has no doubt helped significantly to it going away again now.

It is ridiculous that it is plainly more about politics than science or public health, but then if that is in our favour I'm not going to complain too much :)
 

Crossover

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Starmer ummed and ahhed about it sayong he wanted to see the scientific evidence for dropping plan B. In my opinion, he did not like it but dared not say so.

All well and good, but does anyone know whether Starmer demanded to "see the science" when Pkan B was imposed last year, to make sure the science backed up the restrictions being put forward?
 

greyman42

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Of course this move means both Plan B's introduction and removal have been announced at times where a distraction/face-saving exercise has been needed.
So are you suggesting that plan B should never of been introduced or that plan B should not be removed?

Labour's response seems to be to not oppose the relaxation outright, but to suggest that the science should be made available so we all know it's a sensible course of action rather than an attempt by Boris to save his own skin.
This sounds like Labour are just sitting on the fence.
As for the Conservatives lifting restrictions, this would of happened regardless of the situation with Boris, as there is no evidence to suggest that we need to carry on with restrictions.
 
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kristiang85

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This sounds like Labour are just sitting on the fence.

Oh absolutely. And they will pivot to wherever the political winds are blowing when it suits them. You can see they are already trying to make people forget they were asking for more restrictions only a month ago.

COVID has made people forget how splintered Labour's backsides were with fence posts over Brexit.
 

Bikeman78

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That’s better than them being mandated of course, but I actually found it extremely divisive as it created a “grey area” and confused a lot of people. It also empowered the petty authoritarians to continue telling others what to do. What we really need is for the government to say “it’s your choice but there’s no requirement” and leave it at that.
I'm never had any hassle to be honest. But then I do seem to be invisible to 99.9% of society which suits me most of the time, especially in the past two years!
 

nw1

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So are you suggesting that plan B should never of been introduced or that plan B should not be removed?


This sounds like Labour are just sitting on the fence.
Which they probably need to as part of their strategy. It wouldn't look good to be pro-restriction, but it also wouldn't look good to make a dramatic U-turn. They need to move little by little until hopefully things other than Covid will dominate the agenda.
As for the Conservatives lifting restrictions, this would of happened regardless of the situation with Boris, as there is no evidence to suggest that we need to carry on with restrictions.
This also applies to other countries, though, and they are carrying on with restrictions despite little evidence they are needed. Let us not forget the Tory government "look them in the eye" campaign last year (laying on guilt-trips for 'unnecessary' (?) visits to the supermarket) and the police harrassment of outdoor coffee-drinkers in a bubble in quiet country parks. To me, the Tories as a whole (with some exceptions in the form of the rebels last month) are not anti-restrictionists and I suspect we'd have things such as wider use of vaccine passports had Big Dog's misdemeanours not slipped out.
 
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stuartl

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I see Sadiq Khan has said that masks will remain compulsory on tfl, 'to keep us all protected'
 

DustyBin

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I'm never had any hassle to be honest. But then I do seem to be invisible to 99.9% of society which suits me most of the time, especially in the past two years!

To be honest I've never been on the receiving end personally but I think it creates an atmosphere where some people think they can dictate to others (such people tend to be very selective when it coms to choosing their targets).
 

Bikeman78

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I see Sadiq Khan has said that masks will remain compulsory on tfl, 'to keep us all protected'
He's deluded, see quote below. Can anyone think of an example where they have prevented further restrictions? Didn't make a jot of difference in Wales.

He says he's asking people in the capital "to do the right thing... to keep us all protected and to prevent further restrictions from being necessary later down the line."
 
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