webcraft
Well-known member
Current Affairs. Still a huge believer in Scotland being a real country, but not under Queen Nicola.
- W
Never going home?
- Thread starter webcraft
- Start date
Current Affairs. Still a huge believer in Scotland being a real country, but not under Queen Nicola.
- W
webcraft
Well-known member
Zero Covid in Scotland means a very hard border. Not going to happen, there would be civil unrest.
- W
Tranona
Well-known member
Interesting bit on quarantine in the paper today. Everyone knows of Nicola's grandstanding about how tough she is compared with Boris on the subject. My suspicions on the relevance of quarantine to Scotland confirmed as of the 822 rooms she has block booked only 14 are occupied! This compares with around 5000 booked in England with 58000 on standby and an expected daily arrivals of 1425 - although of course too early to say how many will actually fly here to take advantage of the cut price hotel room offers.
At least it shows how attractive Scotland is as so few people from outside the UK (not just the Red countries) want to go there.
webcraft
Well-known member
No-one in their right minds will fly direct to Scotland from a non 'red list' country.
I bet the airlines with Scottish routes are very unhappy.
- W
I bet the airlines with Scottish routes are very unhappy.
- W
Clancy Moped
Well-known member
Talk of Spain going on the Red list now.
webcraft
Well-known member
Clancy Moped
Well-known member
nortada
Well-known member
And US.
Think Boris is building 'Fortress Britain' and Nicola is constructing the inner keep.
What are they going to do when the inmates make a mass break-out (summer holidays) and then demand right of entry () on their return.
Tranona
Well-known member
Yes, but win-win for Nicola as those who do want to will come via England and then she can blame everything on Boris - like she (or one of her sidekicks) blamed the the slow roll out of vaccines on the hassle and chaos caused by Boris's recent visit!
Sandy
Well-known member
I thought she led the way. Christmas was canceled in Scotland quite some time before Boris capitulate and followed her lead.
I read somewhere that Scotland had almost got the infection rate down to zero last summer, but then everybody went on holiday and reinfected the country.
In Pandemic 101, the first thing you do to protect your population is close your borders. I don't think the UK government has invested in a copy.
Tranona
Well-known member
That is what she wants you to believe. I wonder why we never hear of any criticism when her whole strategy is based on scoring political points. What is Boris doing as I want to do something different. This is a good example - there are not any significant international passenger movements direct into Scotland so zero real cost to say you have a blanket quarantine.
steve yates
Well-known member
Ive aklways found your posts reasoned, even if I didnt agree with them. But thats just ridiculous, yes I'm sure she is not averse to taking political advantage from the differences in message and approach, but I dont think her covid response is based upon it. Boris has been a dithering fool, you'd have to be dumb to just wait and copy everything he does.
mountain
Well-known member
Sandy
Well-known member
So why is the UK government not having a total blanket quarantine?
We all know that Heathrow is the main entry point for the UK.
webcraft
Well-known member
mountain
Well-known member
Tranona
Well-known member
Don't get me wrong - I think she is doing a brilliant job. In reality what she does is essentially the same as in the rest of the UK - the only differences are at the margins of timing and severity. as a result the progression of the pandemic has been little different across the UK, and what differences there are reflect the differing variables in the regions (of England as well as the other countries). For example, I live in the South West and for most of the pandemic the stats have been comparable with the non urban areas of Scotland and Wales. I have no objection to there being differing detail policies in different regions reflecting local conditions, but there is no fundamental difference in strategy because all 4 governments work to the same scientific advice. My point is that she uses the powers she has to be different and has made a very good job of it, It is clear that some of the local policy decisions have not been good, but that gets lost because there is not the welter of criticism or opposition experienced in England.
Anyway straying outside this topic.
Tranona
Well-known member
I think you will find that is because the dominant scientific thinking is (and always has been) that closing borders would never be effective for the UK and the current policy is an attempt to prevent known new variants from getting a foothold in this country.
The strategy seems to be pretty clear - reduce the level of infections, reduce the level of hospitalisations by a mixture of lockdown and vaccination. If you listen to Chris Witty, once the virus is in the country it will spread, and the possibly infected people coming in make little difference to the total number of cases. Stopping new variants is the current worry as you can see from resources being applied to contain them when they have been identified.
The concern for members here is about international travel, and a very specific issue for this thread. I think we have to recognise that any form of international travel and particularly the sort of holiday travel many want will inevitably lead to a rise in cases after the summer - just as it did last year. Vaccines (and passports) may reduce the impact on individuals, but they will typically be less than half of the travelling population, and likely even lower proportion of the population in destination countries so inevitable the virus will come back.
The reality is we probably have to go through another annual cycle to know how to cope with the virus and how much international travel can be tolerated.
Fascadale
Well-known member
A question against the grain......
Rather than getting from Portugal to Scotland I’m concerned with getting to Portugal from Scotland
In October, fully vaccinated with an EU passport but a (still) UK flagged vessel
I suspect the only answer is “Who knows?” But I live in hope
Rather than getting from Portugal to Scotland I’m concerned with getting to Portugal from Scotland
In October, fully vaccinated with an EU passport but a (still) UK flagged vessel
I suspect the only answer is “Who knows?” But I live in hope
webcraft
Well-known member
Foreign flagged vessels on passage are still moving, even during lockdown.
A friend of mine in Albufeira said he took the lines of a Swede who had come from Nazaré and said he was on his way to the Med. He left a few days later, apparently unhindered.
I don't think arrival in Portugal in October will be a problem. But who know, the Bhutan Variant may be running amok by then.
- W
