The north/south divide still alive and well

[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.

We've been taken out of tier 3 but I'm still annoyed that because it's London they will review after a week when we had to wait 3, despite having a rate under 100! Not that we can use our new found freedom because we can't risk getting sick

I didn’t see London was being reviewed after a week, can you link to that please?

@Gobacktothe90s They don't need to justify anything though do they, they just do it regardless. Boris has well and truly had our pants down.

All of the papers saying London reviewed at the same time as everywhere else, not after a week?

I’ve asked for the link to London being reviewed in a week, so far it’s not been forthcoming - can’t think why.

I don't think it's London being reviewed in a week - all tiers have to be reviewed every two weeks but they are going to review next week. I can't give you a link because I heard it from friends last night. I suspect if they review next Wednesday my area will end up in tier 3 - we are now surrounded by tier 3 with one little neighbouring enclave of Surrey still tier 2.

Anyway, those of you annoyed about not enough of the south being in tier 3 must be happy that leafy Surrey and Hertfordshire commuterville are now in tier 3.

I can’t find anything saying extra review next week, restrictions don’t start in the places that have moved until Saturday so it would be a bit quick after that.

But the spite and anger hadn’t arisen out of nowhere.

No one hates Cornwall ( except they voted leave😏) but the country is run from and exists in a London centric media bubble. Nowhere else matters. And viewing from the North l feel it’s true.

Small and trivial point, but it really really pisses me off when the media go on about how hot and sunny it is when it’s nice weather in London. We’re usually stuck under pudding rain when this happens.

That is a small but important point. So magnify that over Covid.

Anyone who thinks people in The North are glad London is in T3 now is (mostly) wrong
I am only pissed off because the threshold for putting London in T3 seems so much higher than for up here. We have been more or less in Lockdown since April apart from August but our R rate now has really dropped. It’s lower than London was when it was in T2
I am sorry for anyone anywhere faced with losing their job/business but we have had this a lot longer but it seems that once London is affected it’s a huge disaster

So depressed about this. North west just abandoned in tier three despite dropping rates. It’s so sad.

Hoppinggreen so looking at the figures posted earlier today (above) showing areas in Manchester going back up & then taking in to account the total relaxing of rules for 5 days next week, do you honestly think it would have been the right thing to move that area down to tier 2?
Forget about comparing it with London or anywhere else - just based on those facts, would it really be the right move to open pubs right now?

Medstudent rates are dropping where l live in S Yorks. Sheffield is t even in the top 100 anymore, but we’re still in Tier 3.

Hospitals are pulled out

Anyone who thinks people in The North are glad London is in T3 now is (mostly) wrong

This.

To me it seems like the rest of the country has been given higher restrictions in order to allow london to stay in Tier 2. Control the virus elsewhere to protect the capital.

If London had been given tighter restrictions earlier would the spread have been better controlled there and everywhere else?

I just want to get back to gym classes, and my over 18’s want to get back to training with their clubs. They say fitness it good for protection against covid.

It's really bothering me that many people in the north seem to have an almost vindictive desire for London to be restricted. We didn't choose what happened and this "fuck London" attitude is incredibly stupid, given it'll further damage the economy.

@Burpeesshmurpees

It's pretty shitty if lockdown over Christmas is forced on people especially when you're in an area that doesn't have too many cases. What I don't understand though is that lots of people from other areas seem to actually want Londoners to have to suffer. Yes it's been totally awful for other areas especially Leicester but do you want revenge? You know not everyone in London is a politician or a banker right? It's not the average London / south eastener's fault that the North has had such a rough time...

That's what I meant.

@roarfeckingroarr

It's really bothering me that many people in the north seem to have an almost vindictive desire for London to be restricted. We didn't choose what happened and this "fuck London" attitude is incredibly stupid, given it'll further damage the economy.

I don't want London to be restricted, I would just like the rules to be consistent for tiers.

@roarfeckingroarr I live in the north and don't know one single person rubbing their hands in glee saying, "ha fuck you London", I feel desperately sorry for the hospitality industry down there, they will have thought they were in with a chance of Xmas trade and now it’s been taken away suddenly.

I don't want London to be restricted, I would just like the rules to be consistent for tiers.

This.
From what I've read, two weeks ago the threshold for tier 2 was 209 but now it's 150...

How is that fair or transparent? How can businesses be expected to plan effectively?
It's a joke

nancy75 I am not in Manchester
Our rate has fallen a lot, the thing that pisses me off is that when London had our rate it was in T2

@Hoppinggreen

nancy75 I am not in Manchester Our rate has fallen a lot, the thing that pisses me off is that when London had our rate it was in T2

What was the hospital bed situation in London compared to yours? It’s not just about 1 base number. If your hospitals are close to capacity would it be a good idea to open up now, even if the number of infections is down? London has a younger population than most of the country & a lot of hospitals - I think we have more beds per capita than most of the country (that in itself is wrong but not relevant to the tier decision)

Without the restrictions it’s frightening how fast the numbers grow. In September my borough (350k people) had 12 cases (not per 100k, just 12 cases in total) despite lockdown in November & tier 2 restrictions it has rocketed to over 1000 cases. I wish they’d put restrictions here earlier because now it is out of control.
Your numbers have gone down, but I’m guessing they are still much higher than 4 in every 100k? (That’s what we were on) in a couple of weeks you could easily be back to totally out of control- especially with the 5 days of Xmas next week.

Plenty of capacity in the hospitals from what HCP friends tell me.
Look, it’s not that I want or celebrate London going into T3 but all I am saying that sticking is in and leaving us there doesn’t seem to have given BJ et al a minutes pause.

BJ & his cronies don’t give a shit about any of us, it doesn’t matter where we live. London is about the money - not the people to him. If he thought he could get away with it he’d let everyone in London die if it kept the money rolling in.

Bottom line is they’ve made a massive mistake with the 5 day Xmas thing, they are too scared to change it & they are terrified of what’s going to happen next