Breaking PM Covid statement 8pm

[MissMarpletheMurderer]

Will he be on time? What will he say?

China's been back to normal for getting on for a year now. Western Europe is a shambles. Darkly ironic amid 5 years of Brexit malarkey that the one time we should have "declared our independence" from the continent by stopping all flights in March and cutting ourselves off/island isolation mode which, unlike Brexit, WOULD have been to our collective benefit, we didn't.

Full lockdown starting tonight at midnight.

Alas.

Why the fuck are people panic buying? It was evident from the first lockdown that we don't actually need to.

I just got back from Tesco and M&S and there was no panic buying going on. Both were really quiet.

South Coast if it helps.

I e had message today special school opening and can keep kids home if you choose.

They really need to be clear if they close schools as treat special/specialist/PRU as separate. And make it clear what they should do.

It's all very well saying primary do x, secondary do x and college do x. The school is all 3.

This speaks volumes, just logged in for my regular order edit...

Festive season
Ocado does realise 'tis not the season to be jolly right now

I’m pro-taking necessary measures but I’m not convinced new restrictions are necessary. I’m in Kent, we’ve been in tier 4 the longest and our cases are dropping quite hard across most of the county.

But China is now back to normal and has been for quite some time.

Says who? The Chinese government?

8pm: will that he GMT or Boris time?

On the BBC website now:

*The prime minister is expected to announce a set of new national restrictions for England at 20:00 GMT, similar to the national lockdown in March, that he is likely to urge the public to follow from midnight.

It’s expected that people will be told to work from home unless they are a key worker, or it is not possible for them to do so, for example if they work on a construction site.

Schools will close again for most pupils.*

I think once it has made it to the BBC the writing is on the wall.

@Dongdingdong

But China is now back to normal and has been for quite some time.

Says who? The Chinese government?

Exactly. They also said they've had 50,000 cases. Recently read there's an investigation as it's believed to be more like 500,000.

I haven't seen the queue like that since March 2020. There was a tiny queue over Christmas but wow....

The fool wanted all this...the flags in the background, the shiny wood everywhere, his sidekicks,the address the nation schtick.

@GrumblyMumblyisnotJumbly

I’d say yay me for being right but it just goes to show how predictable this chaos (trying to avoid the less PG phrase that springs to mind) is. Depressing really.

@LittleRen you scared me so I just tried the same with Tesco and it was fine...... Got straight in and booked click and collect.

Fingers crossed people are sensible.

@ivefuckinghadenoughnow

FFS my daughters head teacher has spent all day on calls arranging things for tomorrow so the younger ones can return and the older ones go to online, if they close them all now that's all her time and effort wasted :-( I still think Reception, Y1 and Y2 should be in school!

Why do you think that but not the other primary years??

Well, if they shut schools now, because between yesterday morning and today Boris Johnson has realised he’s a fucking twat for telling primaries to stay fully open in areas like the one I live in, with over 800 cases per 100,000 in a tier 4 area , then I think he owes schools and parents a massive apology for lying about the safety of keeping so many schools open and making everyone’s lives more unpredictable for the sake of one lousy day.

Marina Hyde is spot on about the "alas" thing:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/01/boris-johnson-victim-emotions A snippet:

“I hate having to be the one who suggests we shall fight them on the beaches … I deeply regret having to indicate we may be required to fight them on the landing grounds … Nobody likes being the one whose job it is to announce we shall never surrender …” It is fair to say that Churchill was not unburdened by self-regard, yet he seems to have realised that what the people really needed to hear in their hour of need was not how it was all making HIM feel.

Will make no difference to me whatever he says/does- it hasn't since last may when lots more kids came back to school and we were all in full hours.. I'll still be working as usual ( teacher)

I am generally a Tory voter. If he closes schools a little after 24 hours after saying they should stay open he is going to lose significant credibility. I am now starting to get really cross with the lack of strategy and anything that looks like a cohesive approach. I also cannot believe that #sackwithy seems to be trending. Our scientists, as opposed to our politicians have an inconvenient habit of speaking the truth!

This is really, really embarrassing.