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Original poster

The north/south divide still alive and well

206 replies

Heatheronthehill · 15/12/2020 22:03

So infections are dropping considerably where I live in the North West, we’ve had some sort of restrictions in place since July. Now that London and the South East have an increase in infections they are considering not allowing the mixing of households at Christmas time, my question is would they do the same if the situation was reversed?
I’m also angry that there’s an uproar over tier 3 and how dreadful it is, when we’ve been living with the same up here for months.

I suppose many will disagree, but I feel there’s a real bias towards the North unfortunately.

OP posts:
lemonsaretheonlyfruit · 15/12/2020 23:58

Agreed with those that seem to very anti London! I echo what others say. We might live here but we don't live in Downing Street or have any say in anything. Blame the government if you want to but don't let those awful people (who I and most people I know would never vote for) who make the rules divide us further.

For what it's worth, I thought it was ridiculous that London was excluded from tier 3 a couple of weeks ago when our R rate was higher than many of those in the north. Unacceptable.

Can we not come together on this? Very happy to be north/ south/ SW or whoever against Boris and his brigade.

eagle27 · 16/12/2020 01:04

@nancy75

Maybe all the new Tory MPs in the North of the country should be on the receiving end of this vitriol.
To be honest, I'm fairly left wing but where I'm from in the North East we were happily in Tier 2 (during the earlier tier system) until the Labour councillors pushed for Tier 3 purely to make a point and defy the Tories. Unfortunately the Labour councils care about nothing but political point scoring
bumblingbovine49 · 16/12/2020 02:06

@Heatheronthehill

So infections are dropping considerably where I live in the North West, we’ve had some sort of restrictions in place since July. Now that London and the South East have an increase in infections they are considering not allowing the mixing of households at Christmas time, my question is would they do the same if the situation was reversed? I’m also angry that there’s an uproar over tier 3 and how dreadful it is, when we’ve been living with the same up here for months.

I suppose many will disagree, but I feel there’s a real bias towards the North unfortunately.

I just don't understand this argument. We just recently came out of a 3 week lockdown across England with all non essential.shpps shut because the numbers in the north were so.high.. Numbers in London and the South East were nowhere near as high at that point but they were subjected to the full set of restrictions as well. How is that different to imposing restrictions because numbers in the South are rising
Waxonwaxoff0 · 16/12/2020 05:59

It is pretty frustrating. I'm in Derbyshire and really our case numbers don't warrant tier 3 but we always get forgotten about in the midlands!

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 16/12/2020 06:23

I live in Lincolnshire. We went into Tier3 after the latest Lockdown die to the high cases in Boston and Lincoln.. the 400-500 cases per 100,000 mark. In the Top 10 highest in the country. The rest of the (largest in the UK) county rates were relatively low. Since then... None of promised testing. No help for schools (in the hotspots).

Cases ae now rising in our part of Lincolnshire. I think the coastal region might be ok still... Maybe they will split that off. But geographically, it's madness to call Lincolnshire one place.

And despite all this... They are still trying to force through the closure of our local hospital (sorry, downgrade. The A&E is only open during the day for example. Nearest alternatives are Peterborough, Lincoln, Nottingham.)

SOmuchsparkle · 16/12/2020 06:43

Oh FFS!

Please do stop with the London/South chip on your shoulders people!!!

Rates were higher up North before so you were put in tier 3 🤷🏻‍♀️

Now they are higher down South. So we are in tier 3 🤷🏻‍♀️

Most people down here think we should have been put into tier 3 sooner.

Our bastard Tory government do whatever they do. They don't ask us Londoners first you know?! 🤷🏻‍♀️

By the way you lot up North, if you could NOT vote Tory next time that would be much appreciated!

Love from,
The South XXX

SOmuchsparkle · 16/12/2020 06:44

P.S: Voting for Brexit was also a shit idea!

Waxonwaxoff0 · 16/12/2020 07:08

@SOmuchsparkle er, I didn't vote for Tory OR Brexit. Not everyone here did. Just as some people in London DID vote Tory and Brexit.

ChloeCrocodile · 16/12/2020 07:12

As long as the southerners are miserable it's all good, eh?

Nobody wants southerners to be miserable. Just like (I hope) nobody wanted people in the north to be miserable when we were put in to tier 3 in October.

However, it is hard to listen to all the media talk of cancelling Christmas when the cases here are really low, and the only justification is that cases elsewhere are high and/or rising. And it is even harder when you remember all the talk about how non-compliance was the reason cases rose in the north, whereas that doesn’t seem to be considered a reason when cases are rising in London.

It does feel a bit like the government / media have a double standard - when the north is placed in stricter measures it is the fault of the people who live there and everyone else can be free to live relatively normal lives. Whereas when London needs extra restrictions the citizens don’t get the blame, and we all get threatened with the removal of the Christmas relaxation.

TheSultanofPingu · 16/12/2020 07:13

We should be allowed to vent our frustrations on here without being accused of having a chip on our shoulder! I don't really see people slagging off Londoners/Southerners on this thread, they are just highlighting the fact that it seems pretty unfair. A lot of areas do seem to be forgotten about, stuck in tier 3.

And we didn't all vote Tory in the north you know, and plenty in the south did as well. Please don't forget that.

Daisy829 · 16/12/2020 07:15

I agree op. My dh & I were commenting last night that it’s interesting they are reporting rises in our area (north) just in time for Boris to keep us in tier 3 for longer. Sounds horrid of me but I’m also frustrated that they can suddenly roll out testing at secondary schools in London when it gets bad but we didn’t get the same help in the north.

SueEllenMishke · 16/12/2020 07:43

Nobody on this thread is saying they want southerners to suffer. We're just pointing out inequality where we see it..... and it is there, you don't even need to look too hard.

The real test will be today. If parts of the NW don't move into tier 2 then it's an absolute disgrace.

starfish4 · 16/12/2020 07:45

We're south (not south east) and have very low numbers, but we're now in tier 2 (like many due to another area in our county having higher figures (lower than uk average though) and we don't one border. It's not great but we have to do whatever we can do keep numbers down, stop too many being ill. Being in a tier, even cancelling Xmas bubble all helps. It's really not making sense now that we're allowed to travel wherever in the UK, into different tiers and mix.

In answer to your question, I'd like to think they'd consider the restrictions, whichever areas are involved.

Eve · 16/12/2020 07:47

@TicTacTwo

The NW suffered a spike when students brought the virus there. Do they have plans to prevent the same thing happening again in Jan?
My DS got an email from his uni yesterday, every student being tested on return.

His uni is in the midlands we are South.

SueEllenMishke · 16/12/2020 07:48

I live in an area where the figures warrant tier 1 yet we've been in tier 3/additional restrictions since July and it's decimating our local economy.
People are starting to get angry.

SueEllenMishke · 16/12/2020 07:49

The NW suffered a spike when students brought the virus there. Do they have plans to prevent the same thing happening again in Jan?

Universities are offering staggered start dates in jan and most have testing centres on site.

SugarCanes · 16/12/2020 07:57

London is the capital city so of course it's going to be regarded differently, seeing as that's where the most money is made.

But the rest of the south gets no special treatment - look at Kent which was all been put in tier 3, despite being a huge county with some areas having no or very little covid cases.

SueEllenMishke · 16/12/2020 08:04

@SugarCanes

London is the capital city so of course it's going to be regarded differently, seeing as that's where the most money is made.

But the rest of the south gets no special treatment - look at Kent which was all been put in tier 3, despite being a huge county with some areas having no or very little covid cases.

Manchester's contribution to the economy is hardly insignificant yet we've been thrown under a bus.
User158340 · 16/12/2020 08:08

@Whattimeisdinner

I cannot believe that London went into tier 2 at all. I’ve been reading about/ watching the reactions online and it’s as if this is a new thing! Loads of sob stories about people losing money. The North has been dealing with this for weeks if not months. We should have all been in this together from the start. A level playing field.
London in case terms should never have been put into tier 2, but it was an economic decision. By trying to make economic savings it's cost them more in the long run. Again.
Whattimeisdinner · 16/12/2020 08:10

London in case terms should never have been put into tier 2, but it was an economic decision. By trying to make economic savings it's cost them more in the long run. Again.

Agree.
My contempt for them grows each day.

vjg13 · 16/12/2020 08:11

I'm in GM and in one of the lowest infection rate areas but would rather we didn't move into tier 2 until after Xmas and new year if the numbers still indicate that would be safe. Some of our regions have plateaued and some are slightly increasing.

x2boys · 16/12/2020 08:13

Yep ,try being in Bolton we have been under tier three restrictions for months even longer than the rest of greater Manchester because of our massive spike in September ,our rates have come down considerably ,but London suffers so the rest of the country has too 🙄

Whattimeisdinner · 16/12/2020 08:13

I can’t remember how I came across this... maybe a link here? It’s worth a look anyway.
London in tier 2 was NEVER going to work.

www.timeout.com/london/blog/five-maps-that-quantify-exactly-how-rammed-london-is-021816

LooseMooseHoose · 16/12/2020 08:15

I think what has pissed me off the most (as usual) about it is the media response. The media does so much harm when it comes to the north/south divide.

When the NW cases were high, the media was full of reports of people socialising in pubs and houses. There was an undercurrent of "it's their own fault".

London's cases are rising and the (London) media is full of reports of a new strain of Covid. Despite the fact that different strains (which weren't well publicised) have been found repeatedly in previous months. The attitude is that it isn't London's "fault" cases are so bad. The BBC's reporter was walking round a street full of packed restaurants and didn't mention social distancing at all.

And that's just one example. When you start noticing this shit you see it all the time.

SueEllenMishke · 16/12/2020 08:21

@x2boys

Yep ,try being in Bolton we have been under tier three restrictions for months even longer than the rest of greater Manchester because of our massive spike in September ,our rates have come down considerably ,but London suffers so the rest of the country has too 🙄
Or being classed as Oldham and being under additional restrictions since July despite living in an area where numbers are consistently well below the national average.

It's utterly shit