Originally Posted by PxC (Post 33056725)

As I enquired about above, I popped into the pharmacy earlier just before close and they had 5 AZ vaccines going spare so me and my friend have now both been jabbed! I believe they used the other three as well, to save them being thrown away

Originally Posted by Internaut (Post 33056390)

He's effectively ensured he will not come under any pressure to ease restrictions sooner. That in no way means won't, given opportunity. Sturgeon has fewer worries in this respect; it seems the one true religion is not as strong in Scotland.

Originally Posted by paulaf (Post 33056729)

Good for you, do you mind me asking where roughly you live and what age group - i.e. are you strictly speaking too young at the moment to qualify?

Originally Posted by enviroian (Post 33056839)

My mom was telling me today she was attempting to make both or either lunch or dinner reservations at a number of restaurants off the high street in Tenterden but they are already booked until late May! Every pub back yard is going to be a total party come April 12th and there after.

Originally Posted by HB7 (Post 33056162)

Not a single person here said Flyertalk is any form of barometer. Not one. Neither did they compare YouGov to Flyertalk - not a single person.

I would say most people on this forum are aware that the majority of posters here are possibly more inclined to want to be free to travel sooner rather than later. One poster discussed the YouGov poll and a few of us commented on the poll. Once again - how did anyone compare the YouGov poll to Flyertalk as a barometer?

Originally Posted by HB7 (Post 33056162)

..... its important to realise that the YouGov poll had a sample size of 3923 people - that's not even one tenth of a percent of the English adult population - anyone can make the argument that the poll is completely irrelevant, particularly when it is taken hours after the lockdown plan has been revealed.

Originally Posted by paulaf (Post 33056259)

I still don't understand why BJ can't or won't say the same regarding easing.

Originally Posted by 8420PR (Post 33058035)

Last year, Boris delayed taking difficult decisions and told people what they wanted to hear, which has resulted in one of the longest lockdowns, greatest economic damage and loss of live in all Europe.

This year there are new people in number 10 and elections to win in May, so the strategy is under promise and then over deliver. The Conservatives have decided they want to be loosening restrictions at the end of April, instead of unexpectedly tightening them.

Originally Posted by ahmetdouas (Post 33057306)

What happens if cases collapse. Do we speed the programme up? Will be hard to justify keeping things closed if the cases are right down as they plan on doing now. And any risk of a 'surge', well how can there be a 'surge' if there is hardly any COVID in the country to begin with?

Originally Posted by IAN-UK (Post 33057415)

Maybe chat-memes on the lines of "everyone i know wants...." / "what we need.." / "people won't stand for ..." suggest the views of regular posters here are in some way representative of the wider mood.



I believe it was a survey from an internet panel, weighted to reflect key demographics. As such it was fraught with the usual sampling errors, but sample size really wasn't an issue. All in all it was a transparent effort to gauge how well the timetable for lifting the lockdown had gone down: no more, no less. No doubt opinions will change over the next weeks, and that change will be reflected in future surveys.

The survey suggested over three-quarters of the population approved of the timetable, thought it was a tad ambitious or had no particular opinion about the timing: fewer than one in five supported the idea that the release from lockdown was too slow.

Originally Posted by 13901 (Post 33058103)

I concur. We're all happy about the vaccine success but it's the only light in an otherwise catastrophic handling of the pandemic. I've lost count of the U-turns, cock-ups, political faux-pas and shady businesses that went on in the last few months... it's good to see HMG learning from its mistakes.



History suggests that opening brings an increase in cases. It seems to me they're trying to balance out the expected rise in cases (and hospitalisations) with the ongoing progress of the vaccination campaign. I imagine these two as curves on a graph, with one (cases/hospitalisations) constant or decreasing and the one steadily ascending. But if the one that's meant to go down suddenly stops, or even rises too much, then we've got a problem. Schools are the big tests: if you look at Italy, for example, their caseload jumped massively in early October, after having been broadly flat throughout the summer. Schools started on September 14th. Hopefully, by March 8th, most grannies, slightly infirm uncles and the older parents will have been vaccinated when little Ollie returns from school with the sniffles...

Originally Posted by DaveS (Post 33058107)

Something else to note, according to reporting on the easing timeline, the Imperial College models that the government based decision making on did not take into account seasonality. Seasonality will be one of the most important factors in the next few months, suggesting the timetable will end up being overly conservative. I hope so!

Originally Posted by ahmetdouas (Post 33058165)

yes for sure it’s spring so cases naturally fall .