Patrick Christys: New measures have been brought in without any due democratic process

So the new Omicron Covid restrictions came into force at 4am this morning. Which is interesting, because MPs won’t actually get to vote on whether or not they should be made legal until much later this afternoon.

Interesting, isn’t it, that the government felt so concerned about this new variant that it was unfathomable that they could have waiting just 12 more hours to bring these restrictions in, allowing our politicians to debate them, and then vote for whether or not they want them to be introduced…like a normal democracy.

The measures include mandatory face coverings in shops and on public transport and the return of day two PCR tests for anyone who enters the UK from abroad. Travellers returning to the country will be required to self-isolate until they get a negative result, while those who come into contact with someone who tests positive for the Omicron variant will need to self-isolate for 10 days - even if they are fully vaccinated.

And that last point there is the real kicker for me. This is a return to the pingdemic – and the pingdemic is worse than the pandemic.

New research shows that another pingdemic could cost us £2bn. It will wrap its tentacles around every single aspect of our society and our economy and slowly but surely suck the life out it.

We’re entering what is supposed to be one of the busiest times of year for retail – the Christmas period. Finally, after a couple of years of suffering, business was looking forward to making hay, to hearing the pinging of their tills, not the pinging of their phones. It will mean labour shortages. But more than that, it’s almost like a type of psychological warfare.

As things stand, we don’t really know much about Omicron, aside from the fact that it sounds like Bond villain. I do find it staggering how much mixed messaging there already is about it though.

The South African scientist who discovered it is saying that it’s very mild and that we’re overreacting. We were initially told it was called the Botswana variant and it originated in the bodies of people with HIV, that was until the Botswana government came out and said that the people who tested positive for it were travelling to the country and didn’t have HIV.

I can understand why the government wants to be cautious, it looks as though Omicron at least has the potential to be very dangerous, and they would be slammed if they didn’t take it seriously. Especially by the vast majority of the media who appear to have some kind of lockdown fetish.

These people on incredibly high salaries who would be exempt from any lockdown measures anyway as they’d be classed as key workers are urging the government to lock down for the sake of public health…despite the fact that another lockdown would mean longer GP waiting times, catastrophic mental health issues and people losing their jobs and generally becoming poorer.

Just to return to my main point – there are three main problems for me with the new measures. They’ve been brought in without any due democratic process. They will cause a pingdemic that will cost us billions. But also, it’s like psychological warfare.

People are already cancelling their Christmas parties, while Boris goes maskless to the theatre and drinks wine with his chums. People's holiday plans are, once again, up in the air. People are now wondering whether or not they’ll hug their family at Christmas – in fact, the government was trialling an advertising campaign entitled don’t bring Covid home for Christmas.

And it’s that bit where I draw the line – this government and SAGE are deliberately playing roulette with our nation’s mental health. And that’s unacceptable.