Guilt Free Railing 17

[WouldBeGood]

Happy New Thread, Railers!

I admit to having a chuckle at the boris nobody told me bbc headline, mind you, does he have any credulity to lose at this point?

@Scottishskifun

Oh the skeleton cupboard is firmly controlled by someone very senior.....who knows if its all at once the out roar is large but short lived and more survivable then bit at a time and sit back and watch!

The must be working bloody hard to keep it closed right now then 😆

@Scottishskifun

Oh the skeleton cupboard is firmly controlled by someone very senior.....who knows if its all at once the out roar is large but short lived and more survivable then bit at a time and sit back and watch!

Yes, this! It's the tory sleaze of the 1990s all over again... Bit by bit has much more impact than a big splurge that's just brushed off as "oh, what are they like, eh..." and quickly forgotten.

Someone cummings will be nailing the cupboard shut after each revelation, to stem the tide I assume the next ones will be after Sue Gray's report is published, to make sure that any exoneration is short lived.

I bet Randy Andy is sitting thinking - could I use the "nobody told me line"

Back to the point apparently most restrictions in Scotland are to be lifted - is it beyond home to think it might include education 🤔

@Lockdownbear

I bet Randy Andy is sitting thinking - could I use the "nobody told me line"

Back to the point apparently most restrictions in Scotland are to be lifted - is it beyond home to think it might include education 🤔

Haha! Never pass up an opportunity for a potentially outrageous excuse.

I didn't hear anything about masks in schools. It seemed to be just the omicron restrictions and guidance that have been lifted (adult sports, table service, closure of nightclubs, 3 households etc). The "baseline" restrictions (sorry, protections) which now seem to include masks in schools for all I can make out, are kept. (.. "for a maximum of six weeks..."- aye right).

They aren't extending the vaccine passports to other sectors, apparently. Though actually, passports are now required in places with a dance floor but that aren't using it (because it wasn't feasible for them to do the extra checks, or whatever). So basically nightclubs that were operating as pubs so they could remain open are counted as nightclubs and not pubs. So that's nice for them. So it does seem that actually they HAVE extended the passport scheme to a subsection of pubs.

There wasn't anything about masks in schools, that's why you didn't hear anything.

Back to clubbing, restaurants, 60k people in Celtic Park/Ibrox, end of social distancing.

Yet secondary school pupils still masked up 6 hours a day.

Clearly shows where her priorities lie, doesn't it? Hideously awful woman who spouts off about putting education/young people first and quite clearly is talking bollocks.

Fair play to Anas Sarwar for suggesting that clear trigger points for further restrictions are needed in the upcoming 'framework', that there should be a full debate about the framework and decisions can't just be ad hoc. Her majesty is resisting it of course, doesn't want to have to justify her reasoning despite being criticised by the information commissioner for not being transparent with the data. Makes me wonder what exactly is in the data that she doesn't want us to know about, or perhaps the problem is that a lot of her decisions are made more on instinct without a firm evidence base at all.

Yeah. To be fair I went to take a phone call mid-way, so I thought I could have missed something! I agree with you, on her priorities. She just seems to be trying to pretend it isn't actually still in place or something... she hasn't addressed it directly for ages now, and none of the opposition really seem to be pushing her on it. It is disgusting, given what IS now allowed, as you say.

Did anyone clock her saying that the number of positive PCRs has declined by 64%? Yeah cos people have been told not to get a PCR to confirm a positive LFT! How is she allowed to spin the data like this to support whatever statement she's making on the day? It's despicable

@Y0uCann0tBeSer10us

Fair play to Anas Sarwar for suggesting that clear trigger points for further restrictions are needed in the upcoming 'framework', that there should be a full debate about the framework and decisions can't just be ad hoc. Her majesty is resisting it of course, doesn't want to have to justify her reasoning despite being criticised by the information commissioner for not being transparent with the data. Makes me wonder what exactly is in the data that she doesn't want us to know about, or perhaps the problem is that a lot of her decisions are made more on instinct without a firm evidence base at all.

Yes, precisely. She says there can't be trigger points as it depends on the nature of the variant... But surely that's not how they have behaved previously. Even though we had (what turned out to be) a milder variant, they put in restrictions very rapidly, because it COULD have been bad, and then relaxed them a few weeks after they realised it actually wasn't too bad after all. So why isn't it possible to say "we will do x if cases double in y time/ hospitalisations increase z%" coupled with "we will stop doing x when cases halve from their peak". Or whatever an appropriate trigger/ relaxation point is. Of course everyone can argue over the relevance of various triggers and what measures would be put in place at them, but it seems fairer to hospitality/sports etc to know where they stand, and what measures will be brought in at certain points, rather than being on a knife edge for months wondering if they'll be closed down next week (seemingly) on a whim...

Is there any word on her lifting wfh ..or is that just the norm in Scotland now, will we never go back to working with our colleague

@frasersmummy

Is there any word on her lifting wfh ..or is that just the norm in Scotland now, will we never go back to working with our colleague

I think she was asked about this but the work from home guidance remains because it's 'obvious'. Personally it's clear to me that this has all been a massive overreaction, and so I'm going to start going back into the office anyway - if I wait for her permission I'll never be back in!

So, basically no change except table service and nightclubs…???

Defo WFH till end of month. Then they will engage with business to form more hybrid approach. So more maybes really.

The data stuff really irritates me. Some of my degree has stats modules and my god my lecturer would have me failed if I attempted to spin data like that.

I think the WFH thing is highly employer and industry specific.

Nobody in my industry has worked from home since last January, but my friends in other industries are not likely to go back before the spring.

I wonder how all these people will feel? If they've been able to stay out of office life for so long they might feel quite vulnerable at first, like a lot of us did I suppose. But times marches on and you get used to it. I'm sure plenty will also love it!

@IKeptYouLikeAnOath I haven't been allowed in my office since March 2020....... it sucks!!!!

We are due to go hybrid for return but given we only opened up for welfare reasons in Sept then it's going to be a long time yet! Risk assessments galore as well as justification application in order to get in! DH is exactly the same no date given.

Tbh we are sick of wfh our bills are through the roof, there is no disconnect between work and home no destress time and we both end up working longer hours and through lunches etc.

Work perspective it makes some things extremely hard especially if it's new and complicated.

My colleagues are split about a 3rd would happily wfh forever but 2/3 want back a few days a week at least!

I am absolutely raging about no mention at all of schools. Really angry.

I can't imagine that now. I'll admit to being really worried when my new employer was open throughout; I started in August 2020 and it just felt so wrong! My old employer, by contrast, has no concrete plans to open any office around the world, so a lot of my friends are amazed that I'm working in an office and you know, still alive!

@Cismyfatarse I’m with you. It’s a disgrace. It’s like she’s forgotten children.

I wonder if it never occurs to her to mention that children are still in masks all day because in her mind it isn’t a ‘proper’ restriction and so she doesn’t think it counts. Her dismissive statements on masks in the past would certainly suggest so. Except it does matter, a lot. It makes teaching and learning really difficult and impairs social interactions, affects health and concentration, not to mention that you can’t tell if a person is worried etc. if you can’t see their face. Opposition politicians and journalists etc. should be demanding risk assessments and strong evidence that this helps, is needed, and does no harm. (There won’t be any as we actually know now that they don’t stop spread and do do harm.) The contrasts to the freedoms in the rest of society just make it even more absurd.

I know I’m not permitted to say this but I think she’d be different on this if she had children.

Did anyone ask her about masks? I'd imagine a good percentage of them in the chamber are parents.

Another railing at the lack of mention of children in masks. I think I'm going to write to all the non-SNP MSPs in my region for a rail. Just to do something. There's no point writing to any of my SNP ones as none of the local ones will engage with any disagreement with government policy.

Anyone got any links to any relevant findings on impact of masks in school on children, learning etc.?

I don't have much on how masks impact learning but there was a survey with 75% of kids and 80% of teachers saying they were impacting learning.

And if you hit H&S the other way, basically there are no guarantees that masks and the particals they shed are safe to breathe in - that really worries me.

A lot of teachers still in favour of masks tho. (Not me!) Are masks still compulsory in offices?