Return to England Local Lockdowns?
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggests going down the tiers in a national way may be better this time round.
- Boris Johnson says that the disease is a lot more of a national phenomenon now and is why a national approach could be the way.
- Roadmap for relaxing lockdown measures is expected in the week beginning 22nd February. Boris Johnson is also hoping that children will be able to return to school from 8th March.
My view
I think it would make sense to go the national approach from now on. I think the local tier system worked around about decently for the original coronavirus, but clearly the new much more contagious England variant was still able to spread a lot more under the local lockdown system even after a tier 4 was introduced, and so continuing a national approach against this new variant seems the more competent path, especially with fears of community spread of the new South Africa variant in some parts of England now.
I also ultimately think national lockdowns are less chaotic and confusing and people are more likely to break local lockdowns rather than national ones. So I do hope that the government decides on continuing a national approach.
South Africa Variant Community Spread Fears
- There are fears of community transmission of the South Africa variant of the coronavirus after a small number of people with no travel links were found to have the disease.
- This has prompted the government to roll out household testing in parts of England where the spread is feared to be. All those in these areas who are over age 16 will be asked to have a PCR test.
- The surge testing scheme will begin in Ealing, Haringey, Croydon, Walsall, Broxbourne, Maidstone, Guildford, and Preston.
- The above announcement comes after Surrey County Council announced two people had the variant with no links to travel. People living in Goldsworth Park and St Johns areas of Woking will have tests posted through letterboxes and collected the same day by officials. This will be extended to Egham.
- Kent County Council will also have police officers visiting households in the ME15 postcode district to urge people to carry out PCR tests now and again.
- Department for Health & Social Care says there is currently no evidence that suggests the variant is more serious or that the regulated vaccine will not protect against it.
- Up until now there had been 105 cases of the new SA variant but all had been connected to travel from South Africa up until now.
My view
To me it’s unfortunate but not super surprising, I was expecting at some point that this would be inevitable, now it’s all about slowing the spread as much as possible and getting people, the most vulnerable and key people, vaccinated as quick as possible.
Mandatory Hotel Quarantine for all was (maybe) Recommended, Depending on who you Ask
- It has emerged, apparently, that scientists had warned that only mandatory hotel quarantine for all travallers (not just for those returning from Red-List areas) would come close to preventing new COVID variants.
- Many had called for a full UK border closure and hotel quarantine for all travellers
- SAGE had alledgedly warned a week before government plans were announced that geographically targeted reactive travel bans cannot be relied on to prevent all variants.
- Scientists apparently say this is due to a lag between emergency and identification and indirect travel to the UK via third countries.
- Universities Minister claims SAGE said it would actually be ineffective to close borders, which was also the same advice given by the World Health Org.
- Number 10 sources have also claimed that the PM was not advised by SAGE to close all travel across borders. They also claimed that SAGE actually said travel bans should not be relied on.
My view
So there seems to be conflicting points of who said what and who didn’t say what and what they actually said. So I don’t really know what to make of this, but with there now being worries of community spread of the South Africa variant in the UK it’s, if the case, a bit of an embarrasment for the UK government. But it is a delicate situation to balance, perhaps introducing a full border lockdown while vaccines were given out to the most vulnerable would have been the better idea. But also at the same time it’s a great balancing act with the economy as well.
We’ll just have to see what happens for now with the South Africa variant in the UK to see if the UK Government could or should have done more to prevent its entry sooner or on a wider scale.
Northern Ireland Loyalist Tensions
- Threats against staff working at Belfast and Larne ports have been condemned by the NI government and led to the suspension of BREXIT checks.
- Local Council staff assisting checks at Larne port were withdrawn from duties with immediate effect. EU officials have also temporarily been withdrawn from duties at Northern Irish ports due to security concerns.
- It comes after the discovery of sinister graffiti describing port staff as targets as well as concerns over individuals recording down vehicle number plates, and other troubling behaviour over recent weeks.
- This follows the implemnetation of post-Brexit arrangements such as the Northern Ireland Protocol for the Irish border which have angered loyalists. Authorities had warned last month of growing discontent.
My view
Once again the controversial part of the BREXIT Deal related to Northern Ireland rears its ugly head and threatens to if not controlled become something possibly dangerous, we have seen in the past obviously with The Troubles how bad things can get, and the Good Friday Agreement being potentially disrupted by the Northern Ireland Protocol could break a delicate balance.
Of course I hope this can be resolved peacefully as no one in their right mind wants to see a return to violence in Ireland. It is another of the unfortunate and touchy effects of post-BREXIT UK. Ireland has been doing relatively well since the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and although there’s the odd troublemaker, tragic incident or flare-ups now and again but overall the balance has so far remained. So this development will be worrying to many.
Joanna Cherry Sacked, SNP Tensions Continue
- Joanna Cherry, one of the SNP’s most high-profile MPs, has been sacked from a top post at Westminster.
- This move could inflame tensions between supporters of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and former First Minister Alex Salmond, as Joanna Cherry is a strong supporter of his.
- Joanna Cherry was removed from the position of spokesperson on home affairs and justice.
- No mention was even made of her removal, accept that a “reshuffle” had taken place. Cherry announced herself she had been sacked on her Twitter account.
- It is also notable after this reshuffle that all SNP MPs have a frontbench role apart from three closest to Salmond – Ms Cherry, Mr MacAskill, and Mr MacNeil.
- A number of SNP MPs see her sacking as punishment for her strong allegience to Alex Salmond. Many also said she was seen as a rival and possible successor to Sturgeon.
- Nicola Sturgeon is currently embroiled in a Scottish government inquiry related to the Salmond Allegations involving a possible cover-up over alledged interference into the Salmond Sexual Misconduct trial against Salmond.
- Cherry was blocked by the SNP high command last year from standing in the Scottish Parliament elections that will take place in May, with it being insisted she would need to quit as a Westminster MP. Others saw it as a move to thrawt a challenge of the party leadership against Sturgeon.
My view
Things are certainly getting a bit more exciting here. As I said before I am going to be keeping my eye on this as it could easily embroil the party into two opposing factions and the current investigation into possible Scottish government interference into the Salmond sexual misconduct trial that could possibly bring down the Sturgeon administration.
Most importantly next week the former first minister Alex Salmond will be heard at the Holyrood investigation where he is expected to claim that Nicola Sturgeon misled the Scottish parliament over when she knew about the Salmond allegations.
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