So it looks like Scotland will be locked down longer than the rest of the uk

[frasersmummy]

Judging by Nicola Sturgeons remarks today Scotland will remain In lockdown as it is now till the end of May while England will start easing up

Given we have so many less deaths in Scotland does anyone else feel Nicola is just making an independence point now

does anyone else feel Nicola is just making an independence point now

Given Brexit and now Covid-19, I think whilst Nicola Sturgeon wants independence, she is not thinking about it right now, and the only point she is trying to make is trying to save lives and not end up with a catastrophic death toll.

She'll return to independence soon enough.

Those who are accusing NS of acting politically and saying this about getting on up on Westminster, I take it you actually watch/read the entirety of her daily updates?

@Someonesayroadtrip I completely agree with you. Slow and steady needs to be the way and many aspects of life have changed forever. Not just how we normally live day to day but for many of us our future lives will be different to what they might have been.

I understand that people are scared what the future holds with all the press about how our economy is wrecked but in developed countries such as ours it will recover in the next year or so and I think we just need to hold on, grit our teeth and get through it. The majority of us will hopefully live long lives and this will be a relatively short, but significant, blip in our history. I get that it’s very difficult for people to see that when they’re struggling with day to day life.

I don’t envy any politician just now, who on earth wants to have to make these decisions? For every thing done to save one group of people there is often a negative impact on another group. The difficult thing for many to get their heads around just now is that there is no perfect answer or way of doing things. Decisions can only be made based on the facts we have in front of us and interpreted by those most qualified to understand it and recommendations made to those in authority. People talk about ‘exact science’ but if you work in the scientific community you’ll have a better understanding of how that group actually work. They are continually testing and trying to disprove their findings to make sure that it really can be trusted, that’s why scientific research so often takes decades to come up with what may seem like quite small progress. The science on this seems to change every day as information is constantly being gathered and the picture changes.

We’ve all had our realities turned upside down.

That’s us locked down for another 3 weeks then, in my area the cases haven’t risen for a few says now, there is below 5 confirmed or suspected and below 5 in intensive care, I hope come the end of this 3 weeks they can start a more relaxed approach for less hard hit areas

She’s doing exactly what England are doing

Ours will be extended 3 weeks today too with updates on Sunday

She has to update legally today as does England

They clearly don’t want people out over the BH and so saving the exit announcement til Sunday. So in meantime they have to extend

The 3 week extension for all will in effect be a 3 day one

Has she extended lockdown by another 3 weeks then?

Yep SSD

Thanks

No. It's pretty obvious that this is no time to go backwards.

Why does Scotland making decisions always have to be seen as political point scoring? It's demeaning as fuck. We're a separate country with its own government for which health is a devolved issue. The fact that it's choosing to, you know, operate, isn't a slap in the face for that psychopath in Downing St who seems to have made a policy of watching his citizens die.

Is the uk government briefing 5pm?

Couldn't agree more @AudacityOfHope! I think a lot of people are just a bit angry that Nicola has dealt with this a lot better. Kind of doesn't fit their narrative and will pick apart something that isn't even there.

The fact that it's choosing to, you know, operate, isn't a slap in the face for that psychopath in Downing St who seems to have made a policy of watching his citizens die.

And yet Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t do anything differently. All these posters feel free to criticise BJ but ignore the fact that NS is doing the same as him; lockdown at the same time, same way, lack of testing, lack of PPE, closing schools on the same day. If BJ is a psychopath then what does that make NS when she just follows suit.

@Peppafrig yes and it's not Boris but Raab who is doing it

Trichford in what way has NS “dealt with this a lot better”? What has she actually done differently?

Judging by Nicola Sturgeons remarks today Scotland will remain In lockdown as it is now till the end of May while England will start easing up

Given we have so many less deaths in Scotland does anyone else feel Nicola is just making an independence point now

No. The Scottish government is doing what they thing is best in the current circumstances to protect the citizens of Scotland.

How on earth anyone could think this is an Indy move is unbelievable.

Do you watch the briefings Aesops? And look at the daily stats; read the papers they publish?

I agree that broadly the same approach has been taken, but we seem to be executing a little better in terms of testing centres etc. I think the main difference is the communication style: you listen to a leader who speaks with knowledge and compassion and who isn't afraid to say 'I don't know' and you think - well she doesn't have all the answers but she's working on it.

You listen to the WH goverment and know they're obfuscating. It engenders distrust, ironically. It's so fucking obvious and basic but to them, saying they didn't know something is the ultimate sin, even if it means more people will die.

I wasn't much of a fan of NS before this started but she has been spot on with the messaging, and decision-making. I may not agree or like all that is being decided but i think the leadership has been good

So you are saying the difference is communication style? I would agree that NS can ‘talk the talk’ but action generally seems lacking (and not just for Covid). As far as testing centres - she could have set these up months ago not wait for the UK push over the last couple of weeks.

Well I know that there was one set up in March in Dundee, so I thought it was v strange to hear them talking about just getting going with that in recent weeks. That said, Tayside seems to have been very proactive early on.

But yes, I do think a lot of it is leadership style. Talk like a human, give people the benefit of the doubt, share evidence and statistics, and they'll buy in. Bullshit and bluster and lie and 'watch your tone' when asked questions - that just doesn't instil trust.

The ones set up open March were for testing nhs workers. They had these in England too. Over the last couple of weeks there has been a big UK push (all of Uk) to do more testing and as part of this they have set up additional testing facilities; these are not run by the local NHS trusts and test other ‘key workers’ and their families.

Ah ok.

Ha ha, @Koddii, welcome to the dark side.

I'm happy to be in lockdown for longer. We don't have easy access to INtensive care beds in a large chunk of Scotland. We don't have the same hospital infrastructure as England due to the lower population. And before anyone says that the RAF or Air Ambulance will transfer sick folk in rural areas what's better - waiting to be stable enough for a plane to come, transfer you, road transfer to Hospital with intensive care, or just being transferred within a hospital? Likewise look at the worse case projected deaths - how many undertakers and coffins do we have in stock? When they've bulk bought body bags cause regions don't have enough coffins in stock for the possible demand, I think it's safer to be locked down.

I'm relieved I live in Scotland and not England as Westminster is controlled by muppets who will end up killing us all.

I'm not sure we have any undertakers in stock.

I despair at the people who want lockdown restrictions eased as their children need to see their friends or that they need to see their family/ demented/school etc etc . I mean how fucking selfish is that.
Regardless of what I think of NS at least she has the balls to put the greater need of keeping people alive than the economy.
People will not starve if they lose their jobs.