Leicester was a dry run.

[Workingman]

Now the big ones begin.

Greater Manchester and surrounds and parts of W. Yorkshire are now under stricter lockdowns.

300k in Leicester was manageable, but now we are in for 3 million or more in two much larger areas. And these areas butt up against other areas - Liverpool and Merseyside, Sheffield and South Yorkshire and Leeds and W. and N. Yorkshire.

This has gone from being local to being regional, and that makes things so much harder. Where next? The Midlands, Greater London, the South Coast?

Don't know about you but it's a mask, two metres (when possible) and hand sanitising / washing for me for a long while yet.

[jenniren]

Don't know about you but it's a mask, two metres (when possible) and hand sanitising / washing for me for a long while yet.

Ditto.

[miasmum]

Its also to prevent the mass gatherings at Eid. My friend is Libyan and she and her family are all off to London this weekend for Eid.

On the Wail page this morning someone was moaning they had decorated their house, hired a bouncy castle for the Eid celebrations, and now it will all be cancelled thanks to the Government. Well you shouldn't have, we are still limited to 2 families indoors and up to 6 people outdoors. If people are stupid, well you cant fix stupid

[cromwell]

Blackburn, Oldham, Dewsbury, Halifax, Bradford.
It amuses me no end to see the BBC word mangle and tippy toe around the issue.
Bring on the vaccine asap.

[Workingman]

It was breaking news on the Sky website just before midnight and now other news outlets have picked it up, including the BBC; the shock was that only three hours notice was given. Millions, up to four million, will have woken up this morning not knowing they were under new lockdown rules.

The other thing confusing people is the mixed messages coming out of government. It is not a return to full lockdown, but lockdown with a light touch. People can still go to the pub yet they cannot visit friends in a garden unless they are in some sort of bubble. News outlets are scrabbling about trying to put together "explainers" because the detail is so wishy-washy. People are also angry that it's a one-size-fits-all approach in a large area with so many differences in populations and geography. Hebden Bridge, out in the sticks, is nothing like central Oldham, that kind of thing.

One thing is clear, and the government has been keen to point this out, and that is that there will be no hesitation in putting areas back into lockdown, even severe lockdown, if the data suggest it is necessary. We have been warned.

[Workingman]

We now learn from Mr Mop-head that the easing measures due to come in this weekend have been postponed, which is probably the right thing to do. There is evidence from the ONS that there has been an increase in those testing positive in recent days and so adjustments have to be made to stabilise it again. Oh, and we got a new three word slogan: "Hands, face, space".

However, I was impressed with Chris Witty who many times had to painstakingly explain to the journalists that there was a fine balancing act to be done regarding opening up society and keeping the economy ticking over. If we open up too quickly and cases and deaths rise it hurts the economy just as much as locking down too hard would do. We also need to stop going on about a second wave as if we had exited the first one. We have not, it is still with us and that is why all these tweaks to the current measures are taking place, and that will remain the case.

[JoM]

Its also to prevent the mass gatherings at Eid. My friend is Libyan and she and her family are all off to London this weekend for Eid.

On the Wail page this morning someone was moaning they had decorated their house, hired a bouncy castle for the Eid celebrations, and now it will all be cancelled thanks to the Government. Well you shouldn't have, we are still limited to 2 families indoors and up to 6 people outdoors. If people are stupid, well you cant fix stupid

A friend of mine is Muslim, she’s a bloody intelligent woman but she’s been moaning on social media this morning about how this is obviously racially motivated and that it shouldn’t have been announced until after they’d celebrated Eid

[Workingman]

She needs telling that to be a Moslem is to follow Islam and that Islam is a religion and not a race and that anybody from any race can become a Moslem if they are daft enough to want to.

She might also need telling that other religions' festivals have been or will be affected by Sars-CoV-2: Easter (already); Diwali; Hanukkah; Christmas, and others, and that's because the virus has no concept of Gods, religions, race, skin colour or gender. It needs a host and if you are near enough it will infect you regardless of the things mentioned or which sky faerie you believe in.

[Kaz]

That's just plain daft, and quite frankly, being very politically incorrect, if the communities living in these areas had stuck to the rules up until now they wouldn't now be facing these strict measures.....

[jenniren]

However, I was impressed with Chris Witty who many times had to painstakingly explain to the journalists that there was a fine balancing act to be done regarding opening up society and keeping the economy ticking over. If we open up too quickly and cases and deaths rise it hurts the economy just as much as locking down too hard would do. We also need to stop going on about a second wave as if we had exited the first one. We have not, it is still with us and that is why all these tweaks to the current measures are taking place, and that will remain the case.

I am always impressed with Chris Witty, he and Jonathan Van-Tam have always been very straightforward and open with their explanations. I'm much less impressed with the journalists who constantly ask the same questions even after those explanations.