While you enjoy ...

Your socially distanced BBQ with another household or 5 of your mates spare a thought for Matt Handycock.

He has until 10am Tuesday to provide a response to the evidence presented to the judge by Sacha Lord regarding the delayed opening of hospitality venues...

Theres no concessions granted for the bank holiday.

What a shame.

 

Given that hospitality venues can open six weeks tomorrow under the roadmap I can't think Mr Hancock will have much difficulty defending his position. The European Convention on Human Rights (to which we are still subscribed, so far as I am aware) sets out "the protection of health or morals" as an exception to most of the rights in the Convention. So Mr Lord's self-publicising campaign will likely expire - just like his last one.

 

Whilst.. lockdown hasn’t robbed us of good grammar.

 

You do realise he won his last "self publicising campaign"

Its to get the venues to open up and allow inside seating as soon as the shops are allowed to do so. Asking for DHSC to provide evidence to justify their stance for the delayed opening.

Even you have to agree its a utter shitshow that these venues are without a shadow of doubt being continually used as a scapegoat.

 

And the root cause??

elect clowns. Get a circus.

 

It's not apparent to me that he won it. Can you point me to a report of judgement being made in his favour? So far as I could see his last action was quietly dropped, but I'm happy to stand corrected if you can evidence that. The fact is that Mr Lord's action was based upon the Tier system, which disappeared once we went into national lockdown. The current restrictions are not (and are not expected to be) replaced by further 'Tier' arrangements. So Mr Lord's action was simply outrun by the course of events.

As far as scapegoating is concerned, it's surely a matter of the most obvious common sense that crowded nighttime venues where much drink is taken and people's inhibitions drop must on any view be a useful breeding ground for infection. To suggest otherwise flies in the face of reason. But given that reopening is scheduled to take place in six weeks, I don't think the Health Secretary will have any trouble fending off this latest Quixotic attempt by the self-publicist Mr Lord.

 

Ten deaths today. Lowest infections on a Saturday since September 5th. Lowest deaths on a Saturday since September 12th. Yet we still have to wait six weeks before we can go indoors anywhere such as another house, pub, restaurant, cinema etc. It just defies logic.

 

How about waiting till people have stopped dying of this thing?

 

We were down to single figure deaths around August time. Then what happened?

 

100% agree with you.

People whinge because the pubs/hospitality aren't open. If they are open and we end up with a third wave, the same people will whinge because we're having a third wave and say we shouldn't have opened them.

Edit: And blame the government either way.......

 

No he doesnt. He has minions to deal with fripperies like that. He'll be in his garden like everybody else having a barbecue with a "few" mates. All socially distanced of course.

 

Wonder if he's invited Dom?

 

We had low deaths over the summer and then mid September a few weeks after education settings had opened again it kept rising.

 

if you are 20 year-old you can't have anyone round your house at all
If you're 85 and vulnerable in a care home you can have two random people and 10 kids

 

If you are 20 you probably haven't been vaccinated.

If you're 85, you probably have.

 

I'm 41. No one gives a t0ss about me....

 

Well now. If someone's campaign is ill-thought-out and unlikely to succeed - as Mr Lord's was - then I think it's not unreasonable to wonder what their motives are. I don't think that is pouring scorn on someone. I think it is questioning their motives. We are all pissed off with the restrictions, but I think common sense dictates that we have to go with them, based as they are on scientific and medical advice. Is that advice always right? Probably not. But is this the time to be taking chances and risking yet another lockdown? Hell, no. I'd sooner we got on top of it and arrived at Boris's self-proclaimed "irreversible" exit from lockdown. I don't think people like Mr Lord are assisting anything by agitating for what amounts to just six weeks' more drinking.

 

The government treat hospitality I believe in statistics of what a study showed in the far east in early 2020, which should play no part in decisions here and now. They got court to get the government to end the substantial meal rule and will hopefully win this case too. That court are rushing Hancock to reply quickly even though it's a bank holiday is a good sign.

 

A simple government application to the Court of Appeal (to be dropped after 17 May) takes us beyond the six weeks for which hospitality restrictions are currently slated to last. The 'substantial meal' rule wasn't struck down - it was superseded by the national lockdown.