How dare you sing! You’re granny killers!

 

The madness continues. ‘New’ restrictions with more fines have been revealed and there’s confusion in the House of Peacocks – all right, nothing new in that. There are more talks starting in Brussels and there’s more, truly disgusting Post-Covid Madness.

Firstly and briefly – those EU talks. Well, at one minute to midnight, Barnier is said to have started ‘working’ on a draft for a legal text – how amazing! RemainCentral reports:

“The decision by Brussels to consent to begin work on a legal text suggests an acknowledgement that if a deal is to be ratified by the end of the transition period in December then detailed work needs to begin on it now. Previously, the UK side saw Mr Barnier’s refusal to begin drafting a legal text — even in uncontroversial areas where there is already agreement — as leverage to get the government to make further concessions. That appears now to have been dropped.” (link, paywalled)

Gawd – the graciousness of Brussels as described above knows no bounds! I hope Lord Frost is suitably grateful! Also, after Mr Gove told EU officials that the Internal Trade Bill would not be open to Brussels interference, there’s this:

“The EU has also backed away from a threat to suspend trade and security talks because of government legislation breaching the Brexit withdrawal treaty.” (link, paywalled)

Well, it certainly was a ‘worthy’ Brussels attempt! We’ll know by the end of this week how things work out. Meanwhile, there’s ‘Covid News’ – and they’ve made me hit the roof, several times. 

In case you wondered – yes, we’re not only living in a country where ‘1984’ seems to have become the manual of Mandarins and Covid-politicians, some officials have also recreated ‘Animal Farm’. Apparently there’s a blanket ban by police forces, on officers downloading the ‘fab app’ on their work phones – surely that’s common sense? – because it may not work on some of those phones. Fair enough, you might say, but one police force has given this advice to their officers:

“The BBC reported that Lancashire Constabulary had told its officers not to carry their personal phones on duty if they had activated the app, and to ignore it if it told them to self-isolate.” (link, paywalled)

So police officers are told to ignore that app when it tells them to self-isolate? How does that fit in with the even more stringent measures and fines imposed on the rest of us? Are those officers above ‘Teh Rulz’? Or is it because some doubt has crept into the minds of some bureaucrats – not about the tests, you understand, but doubts about how efficient that ‘fab app’ is:

“An IT specialist has questioned how well the app works. Doug Leith, chair of computer systems at Trinity College Dublin, said that its warning system was as “good as random”, due to the mistakes it can make about how close people are to each other. ” (link, paywalled)

It’s to do with the app’s use of ‘bluetooth’ – but that doubt seems to apply only to some police officers, don’t you peasants dare doubt the app! See what ‘covid government’ says about it:

“The Department of Health and Social Care said that “everyone who is contacted [by the app] will have been in close contact with someone who has a confirmed case of coronavirus”. (link, paywalled)

Yep – the app is fine, and never mind asking how ‘close’ is ‘close’, nor if there are other groups of people in contact with us plebs who’re told to disregard the app’s order to self-isolate! That would be interesting to know, especially when we read that ‘covid government’ has introduced seven (!) more covid-offences, all coming with heavy fines:

“People self-isolating with coronavirus who behave “recklessly” face instant fines of £4,000 under new Government rules. Anyone infected with coronavirus who leaves self-isolation in a way that puts someone else in danger will be committing a crime, with the fine rising to £10,000 for a second offence. Other [offences] include bans on dancing, loud music and singing in pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes as well as maliciously reporting people and failing to ensure your children stay in self-isolation – all of which carry fines of £1,000. Ministers have yet to specify precisely what will amount to recklessness but No 10 indicated that nipping to the supermarket after being instructed to self-isolate could merit a £4,000 fine.” (paywalled link)

It’s exemplary governance – not! – to produce a catalogue of hefty fines for ‘offences’ which aren’t even properly defined. The ‘rule’ about singing and dancing is beyond parody:

“The rules require pubs, bars, restaurants and members’ clubs to take “all reasonable measures” to stop singing on the premises by groups of more than six and dancing […] They are also barred from playing music that exceeds 85 decibels in order to prevent people from shouting at each other or getting too close to speak,“ (paywalled link)

No drinking, no singing, no dancing, no shouting and no sex – let no-one have any fun as long as there’s ‘covid’! Moreover, pub-goers chucked out at 10pm are apparently too slow to disperse – how could anyone have predicted that!

Still, the ‘covid government’ is giving another £60m to the police, to enforce ‘teh rulz’. After all, we can’t have more than six people singing in the pub – or is it singing generally that’s forbidden? Can people sing in the streets? Who knows! And is it now forbidden to be on the streets after 10pm? Has the use  of ‘curfew’, applied to pub closures, now taken on a wider definition, in some sort of mission creep, indicating surreptitiously that everybody has to be behind their locked doors at 10pm? 

Compare and contrast Ms Patel’s firm support for this whole series of fines, this getting ‘tough on covid criminals’,  when, at the same time, she only ‘vows’ to ‘block Channel-crossing illegals’ (link, paywalled). More ‘Animal Farm’, methinks.

However, there’s a serious aspect to these latest announcements by the ‘covid government’:

“UCL’s Constitution Unit noted that the new powers enacted fines of up to £10,000 on people leaving self-isolation through 12 pages of dense legalistic text, published seven hours before coming into effect without any Parliamentary scrutiny.” (paywalled link)

That ought to be water on the mills of the Tory rebels who demand an end to this covid-governing by decree, especially when that same government is twisting and turning when asked for explanations:

“Asked why the Government had not previously disclosed the new offences contained in regulations published overnight, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “The regulations have obviously been published in full and in terms of Parliamentary scrutiny… the regulations will lapse if they are not supported by MPs.  […] Pressed on whether it was sensible to introduce new restrictions without communicating them first, the spokesman said: “We set out the reasons for the introduction of financial penalties for self-isolating a week ago,” (paywalled link)

What beautiful non-answer! ‘Setting out the reasons’ for fines is not = imposing new rules by decree, is it! However, this Tory ‘rebellion’ is already looking to be doomed – the Guardian (I went there so you don’t have to) reports:

“More than 50 Conservative MPs, and other cross-party parliamentarians, had been expected to rebel in the Commons on Wednesday, voting for an amendment to the law setting out some coronavirus restrictions, which would give them a vote on future changes. But on Monday night, constitutional experts said the Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, would be unlikely to allow a vote on the amendment. There were signs that ministers could make concessions, however, as the health secretary, Matt Hancock, and Commons leader, Jacob Rees-Mogg, held a meeting with key rebels including Steve Baker.” (link)

My blood boiled when I read this – it’s as if the ‘covid government’ is trying to pacify MPs by graciously permitting them to say a few words, after the fact. Their patronising, top-down attitude is only enhanced by the obfuscation with which ‘Our MSM’ report this.

Hancock – who else! – made this clear, showing that he still has understood nothing: not about that virus nor about the fully justified claims by MPs to stop the ‘covid government’ ruling by decree:

“Matt Hancock hinted at a compromise but issued a warning to MPs unhappy with coronavirus restrictions, insisting that there was no alternative to the measures. “The exponential growth of the virus means that there are in reality only two paths: either to control the virus or to let it rip. There is no middle option.” He said that “letting the virus rip would leave a death toll too big to bear”. (link, paywalled)

Words fail me! I do wonder though if, like an undisciplined brat, he is more and more transgressing boundaries, becoming ever more obnoxious, in the hope that someone ‘in authority’, like a parent or teacher, might finally force him out of his misery. 

I leave you with the news that Labour Mayors, e.g. in Birmingham or indeed in London, apparently incapable of getting the virus ‘under control’ even with the Lockdown powers given them by the ‘covid government’, are now clamouring for a National Lockdown – that ‘would only be fair’, right? Let everybody suffer!

To crown today’s gloom & doom news (sorry!), here’s the latest example of how ‘Our MSM’, in concert with the ‘covid government’, have created a new shortage, thanks to their incessant fear & hysteria. PHE had released a study that covid patients had a higher ‘chance’ of dying if they caught flu and covid at the same time. That was splashed across ‘Our MSM’ – with this totally unforeseeable consequence:

“The flu vaccine is running short across parts of the UK, causing fears that pensioners could face delays in getting the jab. Surging demand caused by coronavirus has prompted high street pharmacies Boots and Lloyds to suspend bookings for those aged 65 and over, while the waiting list at some GP surgeries stands at several weeks. The shortages leave swathes of the most vulnerable in the population with no immediate prospect of an flu jab, despite a Government promise that they would be at the front of the queue.” (paywalled link)

Ah well, never mind: the elderly should ‘shield’ themselves in their homes anyway and not go out to catch the flu, correct? Those working from home are in more urgent need of that protection, correct? After all, if gramps stays behind locked doors, if granny stops going out to buy groceries, they’ll be perfectly fine! 

Will no-one rid us of this troublesome, nauseating ‘covid government’?

 

KBO!

 

Photo by gabork

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