Did anyone watch Peston tonight?

[Likeoneofyourfrenchgirls]

I don’t recommend it.

I now can’t sleep as I feel so depressed by it all.

Professor John Edmunds of SAGE implying we’ve got another year of this and we’ll be lucky to have rule of 6 by autumn. Even with vaccines. What’s the point?

@Katie517

They are talking about rule of 6 outdoors for March according to the leak (and confirmed by sources) article In last weekends Times. Sage need to stop being allowed to voice personal opinions in the main stream media they are a group and as with any group individual voices have different opinions. This will not happen, the government know support for lockdowns is wearing thin both with the public and their own ministers and MPs and the cost of this whole thing is eye watering.

What is happening at the moment is typical psychological games, they know people are hearing good news about the vaccine and cases dropping they don’t want us to take it upon ourselves to start doing as we please so they drip feed things like this to keep people in line. Please remember last year no vaccines and a fairly good summer. This year we have vaccines (stop talking about variants there have always been variants we are only now looking for them). It’s only just over a week until they put out the roadmap so a great tip for anyone’s mental health would be stop listening to random people from sage or people on mumsnet and wait and see.

Great post - well said.

Right, yes - they are just spoiling your fun for the sake of it hmm. You sound like a toddler having a tantrum because mean old Mummy won't let him play with a knife or chuck himself out of a window.

Fine. I don’t believe these people are acting with honest motives. I don’t trust them. I think they’re pretty sinister actually.

Plus SAGE are the government’s advisers. They have no locus to be speaking to the populace at all.

In addition to the vaccination programme there is progress is reviewing and authorising treatments for COVID–19 (MHRA, NICE, and NIHR) that will contribute to it being a mild illness that should reduce both severity and risk of hospitalisations.

@RedcurrantPuff

Right, yes - they are just spoiling your fun for the sake of it hmm. You sound like a toddler having a tantrum because mean old Mummy won't let him play with a knife or chuck himself out of a window.

Fine. I don’t believe these people are acting with honest motives. I don’t trust them. I think they’re pretty sinister actually.

Almost every other country in Europe has the same sort of restrictions as here. Some have been a lot stricter. There is an international consensus that lockdown is necessary. We might look back and think that was wrong, but blaming SAGE is ridiculous and childish. If their guidance around closing our borders and against the ridiculous Eat Out to Help Out campaign had been followed, we might not be in such a mess.

Why villainize SAGE when they answer to Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

Honestly I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again- our death rate is comparable to that of the US which has had sporadic on/off lockdowns and none at all in the republican states. 95% of the world is not on lockdown and our economy is in tatters. Instead of scaremongering learn from the rest of the world and make better choices. All this throwing their hands in the air saying there is nothing they can do - while the rest of the world is business as usual- is embarrassing. There are plenty of other choices they could make but are choosing not to. Meanwhile our rights are eroded.

@Katie517

They are talking about rule of 6 outdoors for March according to the leak (and confirmed by sources) article In last weekends Times. Sage need to stop being allowed to voice personal opinions in the main stream media they are a group and as with any group individual voices have different opinions. This will not happen, the government know support for lockdowns is wearing thin both with the public and their own ministers and MPs and the cost of this whole thing is eye watering.

What is happening at the moment is typical psychological games, they know people are hearing good news about the vaccine and cases dropping they don’t want us to take it upon ourselves to start doing as we please so they drip feed things like this to keep people in line. Please remember last year no vaccines and a fairly good summer. This year we have vaccines (stop talking about variants there have always been variants we are only now looking for them). It’s only just over a week until they put out the roadmap so a great tip for anyone’s mental health would be stop listening to random people from sage or people on mumsnet and wait and see.

This, this is exactly it.

MissLucy - in both Spain and France children are in school. So what you are saying is not really true.

I don’t believe these people are acting with honest motives. I don’t trust them. I think they’re pretty sinister actually.

What on earth do think their motives really are ? @RedcurrantPuff

@Createsuser

Honestly I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again- our death rate is comparable to that of the US which has had sporadic on/off lockdowns and none at all in the republican states. 95% of the world is not on lockdown and our economy is in tatters. Instead of scaremongering learn from the rest of the world and make better choices. All this throwing their hands in the air saying there is nothing they can do - while the rest of the world is business as usual- is embarrassing. There are plenty of other choices they could make but are choosing not to. Meanwhile our rights are eroded.

I have an open mind as to whether lockdown was the right approach - I'm not saying that it necessarily was. But that is different from blaming SAGE or attributing 'sinister motives' to them.

And all US states apart from South Dakota have had restrictions at times when Covid rates have been high. You cannot meaningfully compare England - population density 432/km sq with South Dakota - population density 11.

@Katie517

They are talking about rule of 6 outdoors for March according to the leak (and confirmed by sources) article In last weekends Times. Sage need to stop being allowed to voice personal opinions in the main stream media they are a group and as with any group individual voices have different opinions. This will not happen, the government know support for lockdowns is wearing thin both with the public and their own ministers and MPs and the cost of this whole thing is eye watering.

What is happening at the moment is typical psychological games, they know people are hearing good news about the vaccine and cases dropping they don’t want us to take it upon ourselves to start doing as we please so they drip feed things like this to keep people in line. Please remember last year no vaccines and a fairly good summer. This year we have vaccines (stop talking about variants there have always been variants we are only now looking for them). It’s only just over a week until they put out the roadmap so a great tip for anyone’s mental health would be stop listening to random people from sage or people on mumsnet and wait and see.

This!!

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow I hear you but I am saying they are suggesting there are no alternatives- there are plenty of alternatives! Also perhaps due to lack of furlough but there hasn’t been a lockdown UK style.

@Pleasedontputthatthere

MissLucy - in both Spain and France children are in school. So what you are saying is not really true.

Some schools are open in France at the moment though it is variable - my nephews and nieces have not been in school since October. But the French and Spanish lockdowns were much harsher than the UK in other ways. In France, you couldn't leave your house at all without a certificate.

And, again, my point isn't about whether lockdown will ultimately prove to be the right approach, but about whether it is reasonable to blame SAGE.

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow re France and the need for a certificate to leave your house. How does that work in reality? How do you get a certificate? And what happens if you suddenly realise you have to go out, eg to buy nappies/medicine?

[quote TooManyPlatesInMotion]@MissLucyEyelesbarrow re France and the need for a certificate to leave your house. How does that work in reality? How do you get a certificate? And what happens if you suddenly realise you have to go out, eg to buy nappies/medicine?[/quote]
You could print it off yourself and I think you could have it on your phone too. The police did check for them.

Anyone else thinking 'sinister sage' sounds like a F&B paint colour name ?

@Likeoneofyourfrenchgirls

I don’t recommend it.

I now can’t sleep as I feel so depressed by it all.

Professor John Edmunds of SAGE implying we’ve got another year of this and we’ll be lucky to have rule of 6 by autumn. Even with vaccines. What’s the point?

John Edmunds is a twat and only thinking like a scientist it can't go on as we have no money

Same goes to peston

I agree it did make very depressing viewing. Especially when they showed the graphs on easing lockdown and timescales and how far into the future high death rates would occur.

It set me back a bit frankly what Professor Edmunds was saying versus say Chris Whitty. I'm also beginning to think that last year the Government opened up too quickly, had travel corridors etc and this year they quite simply cannot afford to do the same and then be back with a third wave, especially since the virus has mutated. Hence I really do think it will be a cautious approach.

@RedcurrantPuff

SAGE are pricks

Unelected unaccountable people with secure jobs and a full education looking to deprive the rest of society of the same. I seriously doubt their motives and would take no notice of them.

This

@Katie517

They are talking about rule of 6 outdoors for March according to the leak (and confirmed by sources) article In last weekends Times. Sage need to stop being allowed to voice personal opinions in the main stream media they are a group and as with any group individual voices have different opinions. This will not happen, the government know support for lockdowns is wearing thin both with the public and their own ministers and MPs and the cost of this whole thing is eye watering.

What is happening at the moment is typical psychological games, they know people are hearing good news about the vaccine and cases dropping they don’t want us to take it upon ourselves to start doing as we please so they drip feed things like this to keep people in line. Please remember last year no vaccines and a fairly good summer. This year we have vaccines (stop talking about variants there have always been variants we are only now looking for them). It’s only just over a week until they put out the roadmap so a great tip for anyone’s mental health would be stop listening to random people from sage or people on mumsnet and wait and see.

This

Sorry wrong one some of sage are pricks but I do like whitty and van tam every scientist had a different view
Edmunds and fergusson are just total doom

@frumpety

Anyone else thinking 'sinister sage' sounds like a F&B paint colour name ?

Green with a hint of killjoy.

I think the government will really be very careful this time with opening of lockdown, they will not want another one, If people stopped getting their hopes up for this spring/summer, they will not get despondent, The existing vaccines have been produced to tackle the original virus and I presume that behind the scenes they are working to see if the vaccine works against the new virus, no point in letting everyone out if they can be hospitalised by the new variations

@Createsuser

Honestly I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again- our death rate is comparable to that of the US which has had sporadic on/off lockdowns and none at all in the republican states. 95% of the world is not on lockdown and our economy is in tatters. Instead of scaremongering learn from the rest of the world and make better choices. All this throwing their hands in the air saying there is nothing they can do - while the rest of the world is business as usual- is embarrassing. There are plenty of other choices they could make but are choosing not to. Meanwhile our rights are eroded.

Yep. Worth mentioning that France has no laws on who you can have in your house. And Germany has not removed the right to protest, because it is a constitutional right. We have no protections at all from an overbearing executive.