the most over the top restrictions introduced

[MikeWM]

Amongst many other measures. I'm not sure how you can look at any graph like the ones shown and say that clearly masks don't work. I don't think there's really any scientific way of proving that poorly fitted masks work or don't work because of all the background variables which can't be controlled. If they do work, the likelihood is they have a minimal impact on transmission (but this could still be valuable), and the only way we would know is if we could compare an identical population in an identical environment with every other factor remaining the same which to me seems impossible.

I agree that correlation doesn't mean causation, for the reasons you mention and others, but the question isn't whether masks (and the other things) don't work, the question is whether they do.

If you're going to make something mandatory, and back it up with laws, police, fines and (in some cases, fortunately not here yet) prison sentences, you have to be able to show a significant positive effect for doing so. And the evidence is increasingly obvious that there isn't.

 

[VauxhallandI]

Message from someone I know on our group chat

“Just had two.police officers to the door thanks to a nosey neighbour about breaking Covid Tier 4 rules. We are in a support bubble with 96 year old father in law and three grandchildren and that's who were here as parents had to leave them. PCs were embarrassed. So looks like we are on our way to a Big Brother regime where snooping on your neighbours is encouraged.”

I hope the busy bodies on here are proud of what they have bread, the monster is out of its cage.

 

[6862]

Message from someone I know on our group chat

“Just had two.police officers to the door thanks to a nosey neighbour about breaking Covid Tier 4 rules. We are in a support bubble with 96 year old father in law and three grandchildren and that's who were here as parents had to leave them. PCs were embarrassed. So looks like we are on our way to a Big Brother regime where snooping on your neighbours is encouraged.”

I hope the busy bodies on here are proud of what they have bread, the monster is out of its cage.

This is very disturbing. It is never right, under any circumstances, for it to be illegal for us to meet with our family. We are walking open eyed into a dystopian nightmare.

 

[Richard Scott]

Message from someone I know on our group chat

“Just had two.police officers to the door thanks to a nosey neighbour about breaking Covid Tier 4 rules. We are in a support bubble with 96 year old father in law and three grandchildren and that's who were here as parents had to leave them. PCs were embarrassed. So looks like we are on our way to a Big Brother regime where snooping on your neighbours is encouraged.”

I hope the busy bodies on here are proud of what they have bread, the monster is out of its cage.

Absolutely disgraceful, got no time for people like this. Usually the first to moan if it happens to them.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

Absolutely disgraceful, got no time for people like this. Usually the first to moan if it happens to them.

If I was previously friends or even only on speaking terms with a neighbour who ‘grassed me up’, I would never forgive them. That behaviour is totally unacceptable in my eyes.

 

[SurreyCommuter]

What I said was more of the media standpoint, this will be the next spin to bring in fear, next they’ll be cancelling games.

I'm a fan of the NFL which has just got to the end of it's regular season right when it should have done. This has been done without postponing or cancelling any games. If teams have been found to have been violating the agreed protocols then they have been forced to play without certain positional players. The most extreme case of this where one team had one of it's Quarterbacks test positive and the other Quarterbacks were forced to self-isolate for 10 days as they had all been in close contact in the same meeting room which broke protocols. Therefore they had to play their next game effectively without a recognised Quarterback. For those of you not familiar with American Football most positions are highly specialized with the QB being one of if not the most important player on the field. What they ended up doing was getting someone who had played QB at the college (amateur) level but had since converted to a different position. Predictably the game was a complete massacre.

To convert that to our football it would be akin to a Premier League team having all of it's goalkeepers unavailable for a match meaning an outfield player would likely end up in goal for the 90 minutes.

 

[Scotrail12]

Apparently now at McDonald's, you can only get a delivery or DriveThru. Can't walk into to get a takeaway. Seems ridiculous, I don't drive so have to pay a higher fee for a delivery. Every other place is still allowing you to walk in.

 

[Bantamzen]

Apparently now at McDonald's, you can only get a delivery or DriveThru. Can't walk into to get a takeaway. Seems ridiculous, I don't drive so have to pay a higher fee for a delivery. Every other place is still allowing you to walk in.

Just a tip, if you sign up for UberEats they often offer free delivery or 15/25/50% off orders.

 

[island]

Apparently now at McDonald's, you can only get a delivery or DriveThru. Can't walk into to get a takeaway. Seems ridiculous, I don't drive so have to pay a higher fee for a delivery. Every other place is still allowing you to walk in.

Yes, this is very vexing. If they are genuinely concerned about people gathering indoors they could still do app orders and bring things to people waiting outside.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Apparently now at McDonald's, you can only get a delivery or DriveThru. Can't walk into to get a takeaway. Seems ridiculous, I don't drive so have to pay a higher fee for a delivery. Every other place is still allowing you to walk in.

To be fair to them - given the issues many McDonald's restaurants have with anti social behaviour, and the locations of some of them, I'm not really surprised they have put in place this blanket policy.

Yes, this is very vexing. If they are genuinely concerned about people gathering indoors they could still do app orders and bring things to people waiting outside.

That would have to be location dependent as not all places have areas where people can safely wait outside. Much simpler to have a blanket policy.

 

[Peter0124]

Just a tip, if you sign up for UberEats they often offer free delivery or 15/25/50% off orders.

UberEats doesn't deliver to my local area

 

[Mojo]

UberEats doesn't deliver to my local area

Also not particularly helpful if you’re at work and can’t guarantee deliveries to a certain address. It’s also substantially more expensive. One on my local high street says “This restaurant is quite far away, so the delivery fee is £3.99” despite only being 10 Min walk away, which would represent an 88% increase in price of something I ordinarily order.

 

[Scotrail12]

To be fair to them - given the issues many McDonald's restaurants have with anti social behaviour, and the locations of some of them, I'm not really surprised they have put in place this blanket policy.

By that logic then - we never open the McDonalds restaurants again? Not denying that there is anti social behaviour around some of them but plenty that aren't and anti social behaviour is hardly a COVID specific issue.

 

[Bikeman78]

Not sure which is the best thread to put this on. Welsh Water is currently refusing to enter people's homes to install a water meter. My house has a shared supply pipe so they cannot fit one outside. Meanwhile, Magnet is quite happy to visit for several days to rip out the kitchen and fit a new one.

 

[trainophile]

We have a boiler service booked for tomorrow, haven't been told of any cancellation yet but I will be quite surprised if it goes ahead.

 

[philjo]

We have a boiler service booked for tomorrow, haven't been told of any cancellation yet but I will be quite surprised if it goes ahead.

British Gas are still servicing boilers to comply with gas safety regulations.
Our boiler was serviced as usual in the summer - the fitter wore a mask indoors and sanitised before arrival.
The only issue may be availability of any parts needed.

 

[trainophile]

British Gas are still servicing boilers to comply with gas safety regulations.
Our boiler was serviced as usual in the summer - the fitter wore a mask indoors and sanitised before arrival.
The only issue may be availability of any parts needed.

It's not BG it's a private local firm, and it's a fairly new boiler, so hoping for the best. (We cancelled the BG contract we'd had for years after the renewal was for over £600, and even on appeal they only reduced it to just under £550.)

 

[Mojo]

It's not BG it's a private local firm, and it's a fairly new boiler, so hoping for the best. (We cancelled the BG contract we'd had for years after the renewal was for over £600, and even on appeal they only reduced it to just under £550.)

I'd have thought local firms would be more sensible and reasonable than large companies.

 

[trainophile]

I'd have thought local firms would be more sensible and reasonable than large companies.

Yes hopefully. We don't have emergency cover now so will just pay for things as they crop up.

Anyway back to topic...

 

[VauxhallandI]

The latest doing something for somethings sake is upon us with this article about banning celebrations in football games! Well the article is actually the Cardiff manager calling it out as the farce that it is. I felt that was the better article than the one talking about doing it

Stopping players celebrating a 'joke'

Cardiff City manager Neil Harris says efforts to curtail footballers from celebrating goals are "a joke."

www.bbc.co.uk

Cardiff City manager Neil Harris has dubbed efforts to stop footballers from celebrating goals as "a joke".

Premier League clubs have been reminded "handshakes, high fives and hugs must be avoided".
EFL chief executive Trevor Birch wrote to clubs warning them against "complacency" over Covid-19 protocols.

But former Millwall and Cardiff striker Harris believes its impossible to control goal celebrations, saying: "If they are that worried, stop the game."

 

[kez19]

The latest doing something for somethings sake is upon us with this article about banning celebrations in football games! Well the article is actually the Cardiff manager calling it out as the farce that it is. I felt that was the better article than the one talking about doing it

Stopping players celebrating a 'joke'

Cardiff City manager Neil Harris says efforts to curtail footballers from celebrating goals are "a joke."

www.bbc.co.uk

Cardiff City manager Neil Harris has dubbed efforts to stop footballers from celebrating goals as "a joke".

Premier League clubs have been reminded "handshakes, high fives and hugs must be avoided".
EFL chief executive Trevor Birch wrote to clubs warning them against "complacency" over Covid-19 protocols.

But former Millwall and Cardiff striker Harris believes its impossible to control goal celebrations, saying: "If they are that worried, stop the game."

The madness continues... (not into football but it’s a start who to say other sports will be targeted?)

If players can’t handshake may I suggest just raise the finger or two, wait that’ll get the media talking

In general the public can’t sing dance hug shout etc, yep it’s definitely all about the virus I keep hearing about, when can we do all this again?

 

[duncanp]

The madness continues... (not into football but it’s a start who to say other sports will be targeted?)

If players can’t handshake may I suggest just raise the finger or two, wait that’ll get the media talking

In general the public can’t sing dance hug shout etc, yep it’s definitely all about the virus I keep hearing about, when can we do all this again?

Apparently when football fans are allowed back into stadiums, they are not supposed to shout and swear at the referee if he gives a controversial decision.

This is because shouting and raising your voice releases lots of deadly virus laden aerosols.

 

[kez19]

Apparently when football fans are allowed back into stadiums, they are not supposed to shout and swear at the referee if he gives a controversial decision.

This is because shouting and raising your voice releases lots of deadly virus laden aerosols.

Giggles at the excuse ... yet what happened prior to Covid?

It’s the excuse about music in pubs that too was a giggle, keep music low not to have shouting etc, what a load of crock.

Again goes back to the politicians let’s look at their actions, I bet they still shout indoors but of course us public must obey rules!

 

[birchesgreen]

Apparently when football fans are allowed back into stadiums, they are not supposed to shout and swear at the referee if he gives a controversial decision.

This is because shouting and raising your voice releases lots of deadly virus laden aerosols.

Are they to quietly inquire as to the referee's parentage and vision?

 

[scotrail158713]

The football celebrations thing is a tricky one.
Whilst the top leagues are being tested, so it is unnecessary, it is frustrating for people watching at home to do see them doing stuff pretty much as normal - especially for those who may have had their own football stopped because it’s “unsafe”.

Apparently when football fans are allowed back into stadiums, they are not supposed to shout and swear at the referee if he gives a controversial decision.

As a referee myself this sounds marvellous

 

[VauxhallandI]

The football celebrations thing is a tricky one.
Whilst the top leagues are being tested, so it is unnecessary, it is frustrating for people watching at home to do see them doing stuff pretty much as normal - especially for those who may have had their own football stopped because it’s “unsafe”.

As a referee myself this sounds marvellous

Well I’d say the that these watchers should educate themselves of the facts and not bleat to the point where the knee jerkers start making up new pointless rules both for footballers and the public.

I’m sorry but I’m bored of living my life at the point of the lowest common denominator

On further reflection how does this work with rugby? Surely that is now just banned outright?

 

[kristiang85]

The football celebrations thing is a tricky one.
Whilst the top leagues are being tested, so it is unnecessary, it is frustrating for people watching at home to do see them doing stuff pretty much as normal - especially for those who may have had their own football stopped because it’s “unsafe”.

The thing is, we know they are tested constantly and within their team bubbles so it's slightly different. Although I guess you're right, as maybe a lot of people don't realise this.

But football is a bit of an escape from all this - I'm certainly watching more than I usually do, beyond my own teams. It's bad enough seeing the empty stadiums; if the players are banned from showing joy too, then we might as well just give up.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

Giggles at the excuse ... yet what happened prior to Covid?

It’s the excuse about music in pubs that too was a giggle, keep music low not to have shouting etc, what a load of crock.

Again goes back to the politicians let’s look at their actions, I bet they still shout indoors but of course us public must obey rules!

Pritti Patel does. Allegedly.

 

[kez19]

Pritti Patel does. Allegedly.

Pritti and Sturgeon go hand in hand

 

[Skimpot flyer]

Well I’d say the that these watchers should educate themselves of the facts and not bleat to the point where the knee jerkers start making up new pointless rules both for footballers and the public.

I’m sorry but I’m bored of living my life at the point of the lowest common denominator

On further reflection how does this work with rugby? Surely that is now just banned outright?

Footballers must not hug or high-five in celebration, yet two groups of sweaty men can link arms, lock shoulders and form a scrum ?
More ridiculous inconsistencies from the government!