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.

I certainly agree on that and he’s too much of a Populist to risk “Boris cancels Christmas “ headlines, hence the guidelines rather than rules so the massive January spike won’t be anything to do with the Government, it will be people being irresponsible

Surely london is at a higher risk generally due to people commuting? Keeping it in a lower tier seemed counter-intuitive to me as those working in London will take it out to the suburbs and commuter belts.

Plus hasn’t London Transport got a higher death rate amongst it’s staff than the NHS?

Yet they happily keep bars, restaurants, fitness clubs etc open to further spread the virus.

I live semi-rurally, with a low infection rate. This area was recently listed as one of the best areas to live from a healthcare point of view, we have 3 big teaching hospitals within 20 mins, and 3 or 4 more in 40. In this area it can’t be hospital access keeping us in Tier 3...

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

Absolutely and crazy that the Xmas 'rules' were decided weeks ago.

It's shit@MsPants . Turns out, he's not just anti Northern, he's anti - putting on his big boy pants and making important decisions until it's too fucking late to do anything sensible.

Speaks fucking volumes about his negotiating skills

Looks like we should call it the South / North divide now eh?

At least those that feel the North has been picked on will hopefully quieten down now. It always reminded me of those that continually stated that no one was dying, even when cases were first rising, and anyone with an ounce of common sense knew what would happen when the time lag caught up.

The 500 + deaths a day stopped those comments and tier 4 for the South should I expect stop the North/South devide comments.

I'm in the South and I really hope other areas are spared this new variant. It's about the virus and its spread. It always has been - not political points or favouritism. How is that so hard to understand?

• divide!

Lindy2 and DirtyDancing very well said. 👍

I feel sorry for all those in London, South East, Peterborough and Portsmouth. Especially small business owners

Christmas is cancelled in Scotland too.

I'm in the north and certainly not a 'bitter fuck' MsPants. I think what's happening atm is absolutely heartbreaking. We stayed in tier 3 when London went back into tier 2 and I'm thankful we did now. I am aware however that it could be short lived with this new strain.

The 500 + deaths a day stopped those comments and tier 4 for the South should I expect stop the North/South devide comments

It’s brutal. It’s not what anyone wanted.

My own reasoning for being pissed off that London was still Tier 2 despite much greater numbers than many Tier 3 areas was concern for exactly this. By not following the rules everyone else has been subjected to London and the SE now has an even bigger problem.

“They” should have stopped treating London as a special entity with separate rules and maybe this new variant would have been avoided like it has elsewhere.

I think it's nonsense. Dp's kids are in an area outside London that was tier 2 and had higher rates than our borough of London for ages

It isn't all about this north/south divide that you think

What’s there to be bitter about in the north? We get to have Christmas with families and the south don’t?
For what it’s worth; I think it’s absolutely shit but I hope everyone sticks to the rules for their tiers so that these shit restrictions can stop sooner rather than later.

All those saying on other threads; “well I’m still doing what I want” are the reason we’re still being subjected to this shit.

I think lots of people are thinking 'oh shit, we'll all be tier 4 soon', I am.

Let's face it the Government mishandled this from the start.
It shouldn't be North versus South etc etc. Everyone is feeling this in different ways.

Well Londoners now paying the price for not being put in Tier 3 when everyone but the Government knew they should have been....

it's ridiculous that we're turning this around and making it people's 'faults'

if this increase is because of a variant that spreads quicker, it's no one's fault fgs

and yes, if I wasn't in Tier4 now, I would be concerned that I might be heading that way if indeed there is a fast spreading variant around

and it's even more ridiculous to suggest this was about money - if it was about money, no one would have locked down and businesses would have stayed open. Locking down like this has a massive impact on the economy

if this increase is because of a variant that spreads quicker, it's no one's fault fgs

Actually I think it’s the fault of whoever made the decision to keep London at a lower tier for so long despite the infection rate putting them in 3.

I don’t know why it was done, whether they thought London hospitals were better equipped to cope, or whether it was purely selfish politicians wanting to still go to the pub or out to eat, whether it was because London and it’s economy was thought to be more important than anywhere else.

But the nature of viruses is that they do mutate. The faster they are spreading the more likely they are to further mutate. Allowing a higher spread in London may well have contributed to this new variant.

Generally, i think the govt is in a really shitty position with many balls in the air. They have to balance the advice of scientists, economists, and what the public wants. But not applying the correct Tier for infection rates in London was a big mistake that everyone will pay for.

I'm sure a lot of people who were angry at Londoners for having 'escaped' tier 3 before are feeling much happier now we got what we deserve, right?

Don't be ridiculous. You'd have to be exceptionally stupid blaming the man on the street. I feel desperately sorry for the businesses which have been affected and the people who will be alone this year at Xmas. Nobody is gloating.

"London" didn't have high infection for a long time though. DD was in Camden so I watched the infection rates and they were hovering around a lowing rate for weeks. Yes, they were rising, from the low 50/60's to 120, but that was over several weeks, same as us in Surrey. The explosion has literally occurred in the last two weeks, so it has been very sudden, and hence our change from 2 to 3 to 4 in as many days.

@userxx I disagree I'm afraid, I think @Burpeesshmurpees has a very good point. The Northerners I know (I'm a Northerner originally, migrated down to London) are rubbing their hands with glee that the smug Londoners have been locked down just before Christmas. Serves us right, frankly - and there's a lot of resistance to Londoners 'swarming' across the country, like we're a plague of locusts, with angry articles about us jamming up the trains and roads on Saturday.

I can assure you, I believe the North / South divide is alive and well. In fact, it's more of a London / rUK divide. But the hostility towards Londoners is palpable - and times like yesterday showed that clearly.