• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

UK cut off from EU, due to concerns over new Coronavirus strain

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

bramling

Veteran Member
Joined
5 Mar 2012
Messages
17,686
Location
Hertfordshire / Teesdale
Let's hope some of those Tory backbenchers kick up a fuss as soon as parliament is sitting againm

This needs to be scotched sooner than that.

Even thinking about lockdown til Easter (which seems to be the current narrative gaining traction) is completely unacceptable. It’s simply not a viable option on a number of counts.

Unfortunately BJ has well and truly boxed himself into a corner. The clumsiness of himself and Hancock has now got them, and unfortunately all of us by association, into proper serious trouble. Notwithstanding the border issues, which should be resolvable, it’s going to be hard to dial back now we have a subset of the population properly terrified again. No wonder BJ looked properly f’d on today’s press conference.
 

bramling

Veteran Member
Joined
5 Mar 2012
Messages
17,686
Location
Hertfordshire / Teesdale
All the alternatives were objectively worse.

Did anyone go into the 2019 election voting for anything other than “least worst” option?

I hoped BJ would turn out okay, though deep down I had in my mind Portillo commenting something along the lines of Johnson for PM filling him with utter horror. Come back Theresa May all is forgiven, for all her faults she wasn’t this bad, and I think deep down was a decent person.
 

Richard Scott

Established Member
Joined
13 Dec 2018
Messages
3,673
I see the WHO have actually said that this mutation is no cause for alarm. Wonder what next move is now for all these countries including our own?
 

brad465

Established Member
Joined
11 Aug 2010
Messages
6,970
Location
Taunton or Kent
I see the WHO have actually said that this mutation is no cause for alarm. Wonder what next move is now for all these countries including our own?
It doesn't seem to be significant news at the moment, which would have to change to see any ramifications for us and others.
 

bb21

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Messages
24,151
I see the WHO have actually said that this mutation is no cause for alarm. Wonder what next move is now for all these countries including our own?
Accuse the WHO of being the Tory party's puppet.

Seems the fashion atm.
 

ABB125

Established Member
Joined
23 Jul 2016
Messages
3,746
Location
University of Birmingham
I see the WHO have actually said that this mutation is no cause for alarm. Wonder what next move is now for all these countries including our own?
Apologise, admit that they were wrong, and compensate Britain for the economic damage done due the Dover being closed etc.

I can just see the French laughing hysterically at this idea...:D
 

Yew

Established Member
Joined
12 Mar 2011
Messages
6,539
Location
UK
I see the WHO have actually said that this mutation is no cause for alarm. Wonder what next move is now for all these countries including our own?
I'm already seeing the 'herd immunity can't work due to mutations'.
 

kristiang85

Established Member
Joined
23 Jan 2018
Messages
2,651
I'm already seeing the 'herd immunity can't work due to mutations'.

I do worry about the rhetoric coming out of the WHO.

There is work out there with fairly solid proof that immunity to COVID can be developed from bouts of other coronaviruses, not COVID-19, and yet they say that variants may negate this immunity.

Even without going into the world of academic research, given there have been nearly 13,000 variants so far, there should be many cases of reinfection if this is the case. There isn't - literally just a handful.

If the WHO of all people don't alleviate the concern over this, you do wonder what's going on sometimes.
 

bramling

Veteran Member
Joined
5 Mar 2012
Messages
17,686
Location
Hertfordshire / Teesdale
I spoiled my ballot given there was no options other than the two big dinosaurs and pro-EU nutjobs

I have done that in the most recent council elections. Until now I’d be reluctant to do it in a GE, though that may now change.

The trouble is spoiled papers don’t really do that much (IMO) other than featuring in the declaration. It’s not as sexy for the news media as “big gains for UKIP”.
 

MikeWM

Established Member
Joined
26 Mar 2010
Messages
4,382
Location
Ely
I do worry about the rhetoric coming out of the WHO.

They've now apparently unilaterally decided to redefine 'herd immunity' as a concept that only applies to vaccinations. I'm not sure how the human race survived before vaccinations, but here we are.

https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/herd-immunity-lockdowns-and-covid-19
‘Herd immunity’, also known as ‘population immunity’, is a concept used for vaccination, in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached.

Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it.

I'm starting to think Trump had the right idea about the WHO (though probably not for quite the same reasons...)
 

Yorkshire222

Member
Joined
19 Nov 2019
Messages
30
Location
Yorkshire
With Eurostar shutdown for outbound trains, I've been wondering if this has affected railfreight. I don't know how this normally operates - is there some switch between French & UK locos at some point? It would seem an easy matter to isolate drivers in locos to ensure freight keeps running. Hopefully this would encourage goods shippers on the continent to move to the more reliable rail freight and away from unreliable and heavily polluting HGVs.
 

Domh245

Established Member
Joined
6 Apr 2013
Messages
8,426
Location
nowhere
I'm starting to think Trump had the right idea about the WHO (though probably not for quite the same reasons...)

I'm really wondering what's gone wrong with the world when I find myself agreeing with Trump, Farage and Piers Morgan! :s
 

Yew

Established Member
Joined
12 Mar 2011
Messages
6,539
Location
UK

EssexGonzo

Member
Joined
9 May 2012
Messages
636
With Eurostar shutdown for outbound trains, I've been wondering if this has affected railfreight. I don't know how this normally operates - is there some switch between French & UK locos at some point? It would seem an easy matter to isolate drivers in locos to ensure freight keeps running. Hopefully this would encourage goods shippers on the continent to move to the more reliable rail freight and away from unreliable and heavily polluting HGVs.


I can’t say I’ve seen the details but unaccompanied freight is still flowing, so we’re told. I’d class rail freight as this.
 

Lucan

Established Member
Joined
21 Feb 2018
Messages
1,211
Location
Wales
The BBC TV news this morning said that "Eurotunnel" is not operating. However, I don't know if that means just the services operated by Eurotunnel (the shuttle carrying lorries) and obviously Eurostar trains, or all trains. I cannot see any reason why through freight trains could not continue to run with locos changed close to one side or the other.

In two days of news about the French blockade, it was the first time I have heard the tunnel mentioned. It woud not surprise me if the TV journos are unaware of the existence (at least normally) of through rail freight, only of through passenger trains and the lorry shuttle, so they would think it goes without saying that the blockade would stop all tunnel trains.
 

Darandio

Established Member
Joined
24 Feb 2007
Messages
10,674
Location
Redcar
Eurotunnel is still operating normally from France to the UK, it's the other way that is the issue. Therefore I imagine that something like the 'Reefer Express' from Spain is still running?
 

trebor79

Established Member
Joined
8 Mar 2018
Messages
4,435
Even without going into the world of academic research, given there have been nearly 13,000 variants so far, there should be many cases of reinfection if this is the case. There isn't - literally just a handful.
It depends where the mutations are. If the mutations are in locations that are involved in antigen response, then it's possible that immunity could be reduced. In the context of COVID, the various vaccines are intended to produce an immune response to the spike protein, which is where some of the mutations in this variant are located. However, it's likely that the immune system recognises various parts of the spike, to complete "antigen escape" is unlikely at present.
 

jon0844

Veteran Member
Joined
1 Feb 2009
Messages
28,013
Location
UK
Seems the EU has stepped in to save us, recommending the borders are opened to let essential goods through and to help get people home for Christmas.
 

jon0844

Veteran Member
Joined
1 Feb 2009
Messages
28,013
Location
UK
They didn’t survive very well.

I did discover thanks to some Facebook expert that everyone who received the smallpox vaccine in 1796 went on to later die. Indeed, none of them are alive today.

Makes you think...
 

Ianno87

Veteran Member
Joined
3 May 2015
Messages
15,215
They didn’t survive very well.

I did discover thanks to some Facebook expert that everyone who received the smallpox vaccine in 1796 went on to later die. Indeed, none of them are alive today.

Makes you think...


Well, immunisations first started in the 18th/19th centuries, which conincides with the start of the rapid growth in global population following industrialisation.


So mass vaccinations are *part* (but not all of) the reason why the global population has exploded over the last ~200 years, as well as many other quality of life and health factors.
 

kristiang85

Established Member
Joined
23 Jan 2018
Messages
2,651
Well, immunisations first started in the 18th/19th centuries, which conincides with the start of the rapid growth in global population following industrialisation.


So mass vaccinations are *part* (but not all of) the reason why the global population has exploded over the last ~200 years, as well as many other quality of life and health factors.

Part of the theory of why India's COVID deaths trailed off a lot and that parts of Africa are doing really well too are that poor sanitation/hygiene mean that peoples' immune systems dealt with it a lot better - this is still yet to be proven, but it is a working theory with some solid science behind it. Human bodies are amazing things, and whilst mass vaccinations could contribute in a small way to the explosion of the population, it is much more down to increased standards of living. Otherwise we wouldn't have made it as species up to the 18th century.

Personally I think if we become a nation of constant sanitisers (and social distancers) out of habit, it's going to lower our immune response to many simple viruses in the future.
 

LAX54

Established Member
Joined
15 Jan 2008
Messages
3,754
It may well explain some of the recent growth in places like Italy and Germany , - but maybe not picked up by their health monitors.?
A news item on Sky last night said that for some reason, only the UK had the facilty to pick up the new virus, due to way we test ? If so, and it 'started' in Kent. bearing in mind the stark increase in the EU, it was brought over here and spread, the EU sort of shutting the door after horse has bolted !
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top