The British government is continuing their tyrannical behavior over COVID, with pubs being forced to check people’s phones for contact tracing, and a potential ban on hugging indoors on the way.
As Brits are expecting their country to open up more following the national lockdown, more regulations designed to clamp down on their freedoms are being announced. The next victims of the COVID rules appear to be pubs, with the new guidance regarding the implication of the government’s contact tracing plans. Pub staff, when they reopen outdoors next week, will be expected to check the phones of customers who log in via the NHS Test and Trace app before they can be served.
All customers will now have to sign in for contact tracing, instead of just one person per group, as was the case previously when the pubs last opened up last year. The option to sign in manually via a paper form will still be available. “This is putting high onus on individual staff working in premises to check people’s phones, and we are continuing to work with the Government to try and get a more pragmatic, proportionate and reasonable solution,” said Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UK hospitality. “We’re concerned to ensure that we minimise chances of harassment or abuse of staff.”
It’s not just pubs where new regulations are popping up. Fraser Nelson, the editor of the right-leaning magazine The Spectator, reported on an internal government meeting, in which “there was serious discussion about new rules for hugging,” and whether hugging should only be allowed “outdoors, but not indoors.” Andrew Neil, the veteran British broadcaster, sarcastly commented that it was “so reassuring to know the Tories don’t believe in an intrusive state.”
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The recent announcements regarding the new COVID regulations are no surprise. Despite the UK’s very high vaccination rate, Mary Ramsay, the head of immunizations for Public Health England, claimed that “low-level restrictions” could be maintained “for years” in the future. Ramsay warned that the government should be even more cautious than their current plans, and “look very carefully before any restrictions are lifted.”
Last week, police in London forcefully shut down a Good Friday church service, storming the sanctuary and threatening the Polish Christians who had gathered their with fines or arrest if they refused to cooperate and give their details to the authorities. In the video, the police are heard loudly disrupting the service. “This, uh, gathering, is unfortunately lawful, unlawful, under the coronavirus regulations we have currently. You’re not allowed to meet inside with this many people under law. At this point in time you need to go home,” an officer was heard saying.
