WA Government - Lockdown Information
WA Government Infographic - Summary
WA Health - Locations visited by confirmed cases
HealthyWA - COVID Clinic Locations / Operating Hours
Lockdown Rules Summary (ABC News)
ABC COVID Live Blog - Sunday 31/01
Premier's Annoucement:
--- IMPORTANT UPDATE REGARDING COMMUNITY CASE OF COVID-19 IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA, AND PERTH, PEEL AND SOUTH-WEST FIVE-DAY LOCKDOWN ---
This morning, I convened an urgent meeting of the Emergency Management Team.
We have a serious update to provide the WA community.
This morning we received news of a positive COVID-19 test result.
That positive result has come from a male hotel quarantine security guard, in his 20s.
The information we have is fast-evolving. As you can understand, immediately our teams moved into place to begin contact tracing and put in place emergency response systems.
This is all underway, and I ask everyone to be cooperative and understanding of what is going to take place.
Here is what we know about the male who tested positive:
He was working at one of the State’s hotel quarantine facilities – the Sheraton Four Points in the city. He had tested negative for COVID-19 on January Friday 15, January Sunday 17 and Saturday January 23 – as part of the weekly testing system in place. When the man was working at this hotel, there were four active cases of COVID-19. Of those four cases, we have at least three confirmed variant strains, two UK and one South African. We are told the guard was working on the same floor, as a positive UK variant case. The guard completed two 12-hours shifts on both the 26th and 27th of January. Exactly how the infection was acquired remains under investigation.
The Health Department contact tracing team has pulled together a list of potential exposure sites of where this positive case has been in recent days. These locations currently include:

• Coles Maylands supermarket on 25 January from 8pm to 10pm
  
• KFC Maylands on 27 January from 6pm to midnight
  
• Mitsubishi Motors car dealership in Midland on 27 January from 7pm to close
  
• Spudshed, Coventry Village in Morley on 27 January from 8pm to midnight
  
• ECU Joondalup on 28 January from 11am to 2pm
  
• Consulate General of India on St Georges Terrace in Perth on 28 January from 12pm to 5pm
  
• Halal Grocery Store in Cloverdale on 28 January from 7pm to 9pm
  
• Venus Ladies and Gentleman Hair Design Maylands hairdressers on 29 January from 1pm to 3pm
  
• Perth Convention Centre on 29 January from 4pm to 6pm
  
• Nedlands Family Practice GP surgery on 29 January from 5pm to 6pm
  
• Chemist Warehouse North Perth Pharmacy on 29 January from 5.30pm to 7.30pm
  
• 7-Eleven Ascot petrol station on 29 January from 8pm to 9pm
  
• Coles Maylands supermarket on 29 January from 8pm 9pm
  
• Puma Service Station in Burswood on 30 January from 11am to 12 midday.
  
• Coles Express/Shell Service Station in Cloverdale on 30 January from 12 midday to 3pm
  
• Pharmacy 777 at Maylands Park Shopping Centre 30 January from 2.30pm to 4pm.
  

People who have been to these venues on these dates and times must get tested.
In addition, people who live or work in the Falkirk Avenue, Maylands area including Coles, Liquorland and the Maylands shopping precinct should present for a test. They must then go home and isolate until their negative test results are returned.
The investigation is on-going by our public health team, and it is likely more locations will be added following further discussions with the man.
Close contacts will be contacted by public health officials and asked to quarantine for 14 days.
More information on testing clinics will be available on our website – the WA Health and WA Gov websites.
The man’s immediate household contacts have been contacted, tested and placed in isolation at State managed quarantine facilities to complete a 14-day quarantine period in a quarantine facility.
All three have tested negative this morning. However, we can expect that they will become positive in coming days.
Genome sequencing is underway on the positive case and results will be known by Tuesday morning.
However, based on the information we have, it appears possible that this new positive case has the highly transmissible UK variant.
The past year has been unlike any other – Western Australia has done an incredible job. It’s something I am so proud of.
But as we have always known with COVID – it can change very quickly.
Today – we need to go back to what we know best, to ensure we limit community transmission of COVID-19 in our State.
Even though it was nearly 10 months ago – WA has experienced community transmission of this virus before.
We all did the right thing and we crushed it.
And it worked.
So beginning at 6pm tonight, the whole Perth metropolitan area, the Peel region and the South West region will be going into a full lockdown.
This lockdown will run until 6pm on Friday.
A five-day lockdown.
It’s crucial we act quickly, to keep the community safe.
We cannot forget how quickly this virus can spread, nor the devastation it can cause.
Following our discussions with the Chief Health Officer and Police Commissioner, the following measures will be put in place from 6pm for people in Perth, Peel and the South West:
People in these regions are required to stay home, except for the following four reasons:

• Shopping for essentials like groceries, medicine and necessary supplies.
  
• Medical or health care needs including compassionate requirements and looking after the vulnerable.
  
• Exercise, within their neighbourhood, but only with one other person and only for one hour per day.
  
• Work, where you cannot work from home or remotely.
  

In addition to this Stay Home rule.
If you do leave home, for one of the four reasons you will be required to wear a mask at all times outside and if you need to work indoors, then wearing a mask in the workplace is also mandatory.
To be clear, mask wearing on public transport is also mandatory.
People in the Perth, Peel or South West region need to stay inside their region for the next five days, unless for an essential reason.
We are strongly encouraging that everyone in this area, who is from another WA region, stay here and do not travel further outside of this area until the lockdown is over.
If you do need to travel outside the region you are in now, that can only occur if you need to return to your place of residence or exceptional circumstances.
The transport of essential goods into this region, is permitted, under our existing transport guidelines.
This lockdown means the following businesses, venues and locations in the relevant regions need to close for the next five days:

• Pubs, bars and clubs
• Gyms and indoor sporting venues
• Playgrounds, skate parks and outdoor recreational facilities
• Cinemas, entertainment venues, and casinos
• Large religious gatherings and places of worship
• Libraries and cultural institutions

Restaurants and cafes will close, and provide takeaway service only.
10 people can attend funerals, weddings are cancelled for the next five days.
No visitors are permitted to your home, unless caring for someone vulnerable or an emergency.
No visitors will be allowed in aged care homes, unless exceptional circumstances.
No visitors to hospitals and/or disability facilities, unless exceptional circumstances.
Elective surgery and procedures for categories 2 and 3 will be suspended from Tuesday, 2 February. Category 1 and urgent category 2 surgery will continue.
For a majority of schools in these regions, school was due to start tomorrow.
That has now been put on hold and schools will be closed until next week – following the lockdown measures.
It is, in effect, an extension of the school holidays.
I have been in contact with the Prime Minister and my fellow State and Territory colleagues to advise them of this situation.
I have recommended that they put a stop to any travel into WA – as an extra precautionary measure.
Border controls are important here – and I 100% support them to ensure we can get through this.
All these measures will be reviewed regularly and the Chief Health Officer will continue to monitor the serious situation and provide more ongoing advice. This is an extremely fast-moving situation.
I know for many Western Australians this is going to come as a shock.
Western Australians have done so well for so long but this week it is absolutely crucial that we stay home, maintain physical distancing and personal hygiene and get tested if you have symptoms.
This is a very serious situation and each and every one of us has to do everything we personally can to help stop the spread in the community.
We have acted decisively and swiftly given these circumstances.
I want to thank everyone in advance for their patience.
In effect, for a short period of time, we are going back to what we experienced in March and April.
This is a highly unpredictable virus. But it is important to act calmly and take sensible precautions.
Leaving your home to purchase food and essentials will be permitted during the lockdown.
I say this, so people understand that you do not need to rush to the supermarket today.
Take care of your loved ones and be respectful of others including those who are working, to keep essential services and supplies ticking over.
Our State is well equipped to handle this situation.
We have systems in place throughout the health system that are swinging into action as we speak.
We have the capacity to manage this situation.
Throughout the pandemic, the response of Western Australians has been second-to-none.
The community has done everything we have asked of them.
They have made great sacrifices, and it has kept our State safe.
I could not be more proud and thankful of the way Western Australians have carried themselves.
Now we’re asking for your help once again.
We will provide further updates as they come to hand.
All relevant information will be posted on websites as it comes to hand.
Thank you WA.

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for a place where misadventure could begin, you can’t go past Mbargo. The nightclub’s streetfront is painted a purple so bright you’ll see it in your dreams. Strings of giant sequins shimmer in the breeze. Its phonically inventive name is spelt in silver letters that climb its three-storey terrace facade. Inside are strips of burning neon, a few booths, floorboards so marinated in drink that they have an ingredients list. Bristol is a student city on England’s south coast crowded with music and nightlife and street art. This is Banksy’s home town, and the tourism board suggests in rather strong terms that ‘you would be a fool not to see his amazing work firsthand’. The same organisation describes Mbargo as ‘intimate’, which is fair for a place where you can catch an STI standing up. Students cram into its modest dimensions while people with names like DJ Klaud battle for billing with £1.50 drink deals over seven sloppy nights a week. To get a sense of the story about to come, consider that it’s the kind of place open until two o’clock on a Monday morning, and that at two o’clock on a Monday morning, Ben Stokes still thought it had closed too early.
The Ashes of 2017–18 had disciplinary bookends. It was after that series that Australia’s two leaders went off the rails in South Africa. It was a few weeks before that Ashes tour that England’s biggest star windmilled his way into his own disaster.
In the early hours of 25 September 2017, Stokes and teammate Alex Hales were barred from re-entering Mbargo after a night out on the piss. A Sunday thrashing of an abject West Indies in an ignored series at the fag-end of the season apparently required ample celebration. After arguing with the bouncer and hanging about at the door for a while, they wandered off to find a casino in the hope of more drinking. They’d barely made it around the corner before getting in the middle of a conflict between four locals. As is said on the internet, it escalated quickly.
The 26 September reporting was bloodless. Withholding names, police stated that a man ‘was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm’ while another went to hospital with facial injuries. England’s director of cricket Andrew Strauss separately confirmed that Stokes was the arrestee, adding that he had been released without charge and that Hales had gamely offered to ‘help police with their enquiries’. Administrators had a good chance of hiding behind that investigation, and the next day Stokes was named in the upcoming Ashes squad as expected. But that night the video emerged.
Bristol student Max Wilson had shot it on his phone, then offered it to The Sun. What he thought was playing hardball was actually lowball: his opening price of £3000 was snapped up by a tabloid that would have paid ten times that. The Sun went on to make a mint by syndicating the rights worldwide. From a window above the fray, the vision showed six men on the street below performing the muddled choreography of a melee. One was right at the centre of it. One was waving a bottle, one dipped in and out, one tried to calm it. Two others floated around the edges. The central figure was unmistakable: red hair burning even in the streetlight as he launched into a series of blows against two of the men, falling to grapple with them on the ground, then following both across the street, swinging punches the whole way. Hales trailed behind, repeatedly and impotently shouting ‘Stokes! Stop! Stokes! Enough!’ The ECB could fudge issues that existed only in thickets of legalese, but not those captured in moving colour. Stokes was stood down from the next West Indies match, then suspended indefinitely. It emerged that he had broken his hand during the fight, something he’d done twice before while punching objects in dressing rooms.
The response in Australia was fierce: Stokes was a thug, a lowlife, a selection that would disgrace England. It was not entirely coincidental that a ban for England’s best player would be handy for the Aussie team, but there was also a cultural split. In England, plenty of people still minimise pub fights as lads letting off steam. In Australia, heavy media coverage as a succession of young men were killed had inverted that tolerance. The discourse now saw any punch as potentially deadly and accordingly reckless. This was more poignant in a cricket context given that David Hookes, the dashing Test batsman and state coach, was killed in 2004 by a pub bouncer’s fist.
The PR situation was bad for Stokes as details emerged of the injuries to the men he’d hit, and that one was a young war veteran and father. Stokes wasn’t officially removed from the Ashes squad through October but stayed behind when his teammates left, hoping for police to dismiss the matter in time for a late dash to Australia. His annual contract was renewed on the due date in case that came to pass. Then 29 October brought a twist in the tale.
‘Ben Stokes praised by gay couple after defending them from homophobic thugs,’ ran the headline. Kai Barry and Billy O’Connell had emerged. Not entirely out of nowhere: while Stokes had made no public comment, this story in his defence had initially been leaked to TV host Piers Morgan after the fight, as soon as the video appeared. Police body-camera footage played in court would later show that Stokes had given the same story to the arresting officer on the night. But no-one knew the identities of the fifth and sixth men in the video, and police appeals had turned up nothing.
It was The Sun again with the breakthrough. Kai and Billy were perfect for a readership not keen on nuance. ‘We couldn’t believe it when we found out they were famous cricketers. I just thought Ben and Alex were quite hot, fit guys,’ said Kai, who was memorably described as a ‘former House of Fraser sales assistant’. The paper had the pair do a full photo shoot: layering the fake tan, showing off chest waxes, mixing Ralph Lauren and Louis Vuitton into a range of outfits. Their best shot had them standing back to back, heads turned to the camera, in a mirror-image Zoolander moment.
Suddenly The Sun was the England team’s best friend. ‘Their claims could lead to the all-rounder being cleared over the punch-up and freed to play in the First Test in Australia next month,’ it gushed, then gave a tasting platter of quotes: ‘We were so grateful to Ben for stepping in to help. He was a real hero.’ ‘If Ben hadn’t intervened it could have been a lot worse for us.’ ‘We could’ve been in real trouble. Ben was a real gentleman.’ Would it be known forever as Kai and Billy’s Ashes? No. While the Bristol boys provided spin for Stokes’ reputation they didn’t influence the police. With charges still pending there was little choice – not given Strauss had previously sacked Kevin Pietersen for being annoying. Stokes remained suspended through the Ashes and a one-day series in Australia, and lost the vice-captaincy. It was January 2018 before the Crown Prosecution Service laid a charge.
That charge surprisingly came in as affray, a crime that can carry prison time but is classified as ‘a breach of the peace as a result of disorderly conduct’. The men he had punched, Ryan Ali and Ryan Hale, faced the same count, charged as equal participants in a fight rather than Stokes being charged with assaulting them. Alex Hales was not charged, despite being seen in the video to aim several kicks when Ryan Ali was lying on the ground. Given the underwhelming standing of the offence, Stokes was cleared by the ECB to tour New Zealand, and kept playing until his trial in August 2018, which he missed a Test to attend. None of the three defendants would be convicted.
The reasoning behind the charges was never released and was attributed vaguely to ‘CPS lawyers’. The service gave the case to Alison Morgan, a prosecutor of a class known as Treasury Counsel who usually handle serious criminal matters. Morgan had a scheduling clash and never ended up court for the case, but in 2018 and 2019 she would go on to win damages and admissions of libel from The Daily Mail, The Times and The Daily Telegraph variously for incorrectly reporting that she had been responsible for the inadequate and inconsistent charging decisions.
Morgan’s successor on the case was Nicholas Corsellis QC, who on the first day of trial was permitted by the CPS to request two assault charges be added against Stokes. ‘Upon further review,’ claimed a CPS statement, ‘we considered that additional assault charges would also be appropriate.’ This was patent nonsense from the service that eight months earlier had chosen the lesser charge. Any lawyer knows that no judge will allow new charges once a trial has begun, because the defence hasn’t had time to prepare. But such a request could deflect criticism of the prosecution service by technically making the judge the one who disallows the charge.
Working through the story from the trial and the tape is complicated. You had a Ryan and a Ryan, a Hale and a Hales, a Billy and a Barry and a Ben. You had several versions of events as to who knew whom, who was drinking with whom, who had insulted whom and who had merely engaged in ‘banter’, a word that in modern Britain has to do an unconscionable amount of lifting. The reporting had constantly mixed up the Ryans as to who had which injury, who was in hospital, who had played which part in the fight, and whose mum had which stern words to say about it.
Let’s agree that from now Ryan Ali is Ryan One, the firefighter who ended up with a fractured eye socket and a cracked tooth. Ryan Two can be Ryan Hale, the soldier who scored concussion and facial lacerations. Mr Barry and Mr O’Connell are best known per The Sun as Kai and Billy. In scorecard parlance we’ll leave the cricketers as Stokes and Hales.
Amid the confusion, Stokes and his lawyers built his case in a straightforward way. The UK legal definition of affray is ‘if a person threatens or uses unlawful violence or force towards another person, which causes another person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for their safety’. That means it doesn’t account for violence that harms a target, but violence that might frighten a theoretical bystander. The wiggle room for Stokes was with ‘unlawful’, because the charge excuses violence in defending oneself or others.
This interpretation hinged on the beginning of the video, where Ryan One waves a beer bottle about and takes a swing at Kai. The version from Stokes was that he was minding his own business walking down the street when he heard homophobic abuse. He intervened verbally and was threatened verbally by Ryan One – something that Ryan One denied but that couldn’t be proved or disproved. In fear for his safety Stokes had to nullify that threat by bashing Ryan One before it went the other way. He registered Ryan Two in his peripheral vision as another possible threat, and again had only one recourse.
Stokes also had to convince the jury to disregard testimony from Mbargo’s bouncer that he had been looking for a fight. A solid lump of a man, Andrew Cunningham had not enjoyed his patron’s attempts to get back into the club after the bouncer declined an offer of a bribe. ‘He got a bit verbally abusive towards myself. He mentioned my gold teeth and he said I looked like a cunt and I replied, “Thank you very much.” He just looked at me and told me my tattoos were shit and to look at my job.’ Cunningham described these words as coming in ‘a spiteful tone, quite an angry tone’, and said that Stokes still seemed angry as he walked away.
These were details the doorman had nothing to gain by inventing, but each of them Stokes denied. By his own accounting he had drunk a beer at the game and three pints at his hotel, then ‘potentially had some Jägerbombs’ along with half a dozen vodkas at the club. He insisted that after all of this he was not drunk.
If I may take a moment here to call upon the wisdom of experience – a person who cannot definitively say whether they have had any Jägerbombs has definitely had some Jägerbombs. A Jägerbomb is an experience that does not pass one by. Further to that, a person who says they have ‘potentially’ done something has definitely done that thing and doesn’t want to admit it. A person who has had between 15 and 24 standard drinks in one evening is shitfaced. A person who tries to bribe a bouncer £300 – three hundred quid! – to get into Mbargo – Mbargo! – is beyond shitfaced.
If Stokes admitted that he was drunk then the prosecution could say he was out of control. He claimed clear recall of assessing a threat, feeling fear and deciding to protect himself with force. He confidently denied details from the bouncer’s testimony, like using the word ‘cunt’ or mentioning gold teeth. Yet on other details he claimed a ‘significant memory blackout’. He didn’t remember the punch that saw Ryan One taken away by ambulance. He didn’t remember what the Ryans had said to Kai and Billy, only that those words were homophobic. With no head injury, as one of the few people who hadn’t been hit, he had supposedly suffered this memory loss despite being sober.
The version from Kai and Billy was compatible but vague: they had been walking along, they ‘heard … shouts’ of abuse from an unspecified source, then Stokes ‘stepped in’ and thus they avoided possible harm. They claimed to have been bought a drink by Stokes at Mbargo, although CCTV showed them meeting outside. The overall implication from both accounts was that the cricketers had been pals with Kai and Billy, while the Ryans as per The Sun’s headline were a roving band of thugs.
The reality though is that the Ryans were the ones hanging out with Kai and Billy at Mbargo. Police discussed CCTV from inside the club in questioning and at trial. On that footage the four Bristolians bought drinks for one another, danced together, and Kai was noted to have variously touched Ryan Two’s crotch and Ryan One’s buttock. Ryan One told police that all of this was taken lightheartedly and wasn’t a problem. Indeed, when the Ryans called it a night the other two left with them.
This much is clear from footage out the front of Mbargo, which shows Kai and Billy exit the club and start talking with a subdued Hales and a demonstrative Stokes, who are stuck outside. The vision was played in court to determine whether Stokes was antagonistic towards Kai and Billy, as he appears to impersonate them and to throw a lit cigarette their way. More interesting is that after a few minutes the Ryans emerge, and all six actors in the fight video briefly form a prequel in the one frame.
Ryan Two pats Billy on the chest in friendly fashion with his right hand before clapping him on the back with his left. He moves past and does the same to Kai before leaving the shot. Ryan One stops to speak to Kai. They lean in for a moment, talking, then Kai turns and they walk out of frame together. Billy hangs around for a few seconds at the door and then looks after them and races to catch up. Stokes and Hales remain outside the club to remonstrate further with the bouncers. Whatever discord develops around the corner is between four men who left amicably together minutes earlier.
There’s no way to know what caused that friction. If Ryan One did use homophobic slurs, he might have been drunkenly obnoxious for no reason. He might have had an insecure macho response to some extra flirtation. He might have thought unkindness was funny – ‘banter’ once again. Or he might have said something that was misunderstood, as both Ryans insisted in court that they had not used nor had the impulse to use any abusive language.
What clearly didn’t happen was an attack by bigots on random passers-by. This kind of crime is regular enough that an audience understands the horror of it, and this is what was evoked by the public accounts of Stokes, Billy and Kai. All we know is that there was some verbal dispute among the Bristol locals, and that Stokes came along behind them and put himself in the middle of it. Ryan One responded to the interference aggressively and away they went. There are plenty of reasons to look sideways at the idea that Stokes was a saviour. Foremost, neither Kai nor Billy was called upon as witnesses in court. You’d think it would be ideal to have Stokes’ story backed up by those who benefited from his selflessness. But his defence team had developed the impression that the pair had shown a changeable recall of events amid a hard-partying lifestyle, and would be dismantled by the prosecution on the stand.
That raises the question of whether The Sun coached their quotes for the 2017 interview. Despite missing court, Kai and Billy clearly enjoyed the attention. In 2018 after the trial they did a follow-up spread in the same paper about how poor Ben had been mistreated. They got a television spot on Good Morning Britain and glowed about his heroism. In 2019 The Sun wheeled them out once more to say that Stokes should get a knighthood. In 2017 they had ‘never watched cricket’ but by 2019 were supposedly volunteering sentences like, ‘He saved us, now he’s saved the Ashes.’ Whether they were paid for these appearances is not known, but the chance to be famous for a day can be lure enough.
If you find this cynical, consider that on the night in question, the Bristol boys were so deeply moved and thankful for Ben’s intervention that they left him to be arrested and never attempted to find out who he was. Seconds after the video ended, an off-duty policeman reached the scene. You might think that someone grateful to a saviour would speak on his behalf. Instead, said Kai, ‘it all got a bit scary so we walked off. It was too much for me and we went to Quigley’s takeaway for chicken burgers and cheesy chips.’ They didn’t give their hero a thought for over a month while police issued multiple appeals for witnesses.
As for Stokes, he told his arresting officer that ‘his friends’ had been attacked. After three minutes of chat outside a nightclub, these friends were so dear to him that he has never contacted them again: not after the newspaper piece, not after the verdict. He didn’t want to see how they were or thank them for their support. He didn’t mention them by name in his solicitor’s statement after the trial.
The Stokes defence rested on Ryan One’s bottle, which he had carried out of Mbargo to finish a beer, not to use in a Sharks versus Jets amateur production. But once he turned it over to hold it by the neck it became a weapon. Intent and interpretation can change the material nature of things. Part of Stokes’ justification in court was that the bottle implied that the two Ryans might have ‘other weapons’ hidden away. You can understand how a jury could decide that created doubt.
Not being convicted, though, doesn’t give the contents of the video a big green tick. It does not, as his lawyer claimed, vindicate Stokes. Looking in detail, Ryan One is belligerent but his movements telegraph a bluff. Hales is the person he’s gesturing at, but they’re several metres apart when Ryan One cocks his arm ostentatiously, showing off the bottle rather than bracing to swing. He skips forward but Hales skips back and Ryan One doesn’t follow. Kai stretches out an arm to impede Ryan One, who has a drunken stumble, nearly eats pavement, then staggers towards Kai and hits him in the back. That hand is still holding the bottle, but his strike is a side-arm cuff on a soft part of the body. It’s all pretty tame.
This is where Stokes gets involved. Having moved across to protect Hales, he now takes three large steps to run around Kai and booms his first punch at Ryan One. They fall to the ground and the bottle clinks away. Stokes gets to his feet to punch down at the fallen man, while Hales arrives to kick him ineffectively then runs off across the street for some unknown reason. Ice-cream van? Stokes is soon back in the grapple having his shirt pulled up to show off his Durham tan. Ryan Two steps in for the first time to pull Stokes away, prompting a couple more random punches at this new target, then Stokes trips backwards over Ryan One and sprawls in the street. Hales chooses this moment to return and aim some solid kicks at the head of the man on the ground. Nothing so far is a triumph of moral philosophy or the pugilistic arts. But if it all stopped here, perhaps you could say it was somewhere approaching fair. Ryan One has behaved like a turnip and it’s not an entirely unjust world that would give him a whack across the chops. The antagonists have disentangled, Stokes has some distance, it’s time to dust off and go home. Ryan Two steps forward for this purpose with his palm raised in conciliatory style and says, ‘Settle down, stop.’
So Stokes punches him.
It’s roughly his fifth punch overall, and he really winds up into this one. He misses so hard that he stumbles away into the shadows of the shop awnings along the road.
Hales starts shouting for him to stop. Ryan Two backs into the street, still holding his palm up. Stokes closes on him from about five metres away, six large steps, to where Ryan Two is standing on his own. Stokes pushes him a couple of times, as Ryan Two keeps trying to placate him and saying ‘Stop.’ Stokes throws his sixth punch, largely missing as his target ducks.
Ryan Two keeps pulling away and reversing, into the middle of the street now. Stokes follows him, grabbing his sleeve to drag him back. By this point Ryan One has found his feet and walked around behind his friend. Both of them are in the same line of sight for Stokes, and both are backing away. Stokes aims his seventh and his eighth punches, which Ryan Two tries to deflect, as Hales walks up behind Stokes to grab him.
Stokes yanks away from his friend and switches to Ryan One instead, taking seven paces to grab him before throwing his ninth punch of the night. He grabs again; Ryan One blocks that arm and pushes himself back away from Stokes. Ryan Two again intercedes, putting himself between the two with his palms up and his arm extended.
Stokes throws his tenth punch, a right-hander at the face of Ryan Two, then shoves him backwards. Ryan Two backs away once more, four paces. Stokes follows, steadies, lines up, then launches his strongest punch yet, his eleventh, a proper right hook from a solid base, one that cracks across the man’s head and gives him concussion. Ryan Two ends up flat on his back in the middle of the street, his hands still outstretched for a moment in useless protest until they twitch and drop to the blacktop.
Stokes isn’t done. He once more shoves away the restraining Hales and follows Ryan One, who keeps backing away saying, ‘Alright, alright, alright.’ Five more paces from Stokes before another blow at the man’s head. Kai and Billy are now standing over the poleaxed Ryan Two. The video ends, but seconds later Stokes will punch Ryan One hard enough to knock him out too, before off-duty cop Andrew Spure arrives on the scene to bring down the curtain. When the body-camera footage kicks in some minutes later, Stokes is in handcuffs but Ryan One is still laid out in the street. Ryan Two has regained consciousness, folded his shirt under his friend’s head and is asking police for an ambulance.
‘At this point, I felt vulnerable and frightened. I was concerned for myself and others.’ This was how Stokes described that sequence to the court. An elite athlete with years of gym work and training to snap a bat through the line of a ball with astounding power and precision, swinging fists as hard as he can at men with none of those advantages. Punching so hard that he breaks his hand, and repeatedly shoving away a friend so he can punch some more. Frightened and threatened by two targets shouting ‘Get back!’ and ‘Stop!’
The off-duty officer testified that Stokes ‘seemed to be the main aggressor or was progressing forward trying to get to’ Ryan One, who was ‘trying to back away or get away from the situation’. The student who filmed the video can be heard on the tape at one stage exclaiming ‘Fuck!’ and testified that it was because ‘I felt a little bit sorry about the lad that had been punched and it looked like he had his hands up’. That tallied with the prosecutor’s depiction of ‘a sustained episode of significant violence that left onlookers shocked at what was taking place’.
The defendant stuck to his strategy. ‘No, my sole focus was to protect myself.’ All up, in the 33 seconds of footage after he falls over, Stokes takes 35 steps forward to keep hitting two men who keep trying to get away. Not once is he hit back.
After the verdict, Stokes’ solicitor positioned him as the victim. It had been ‘an eleven-month ordeal for Ben … The jury’s decision fairly reflects the truth of what happened that night … He was minding his own business … It was only when others came under threat that Ben became physically engaged. The steps that he took were solely aimed at ensuring the safety of himself and the others present …’ The statement was impossibly self-righteous and self-absorbed.
If there was anyone to feel sorry for it was Ryan Hale, the second of our two Ryans. He’s the one who emerged from the club with a friendly arm around the shoulder for Kai and Billy. He’s the one who interposed himself to end the fight, then kept putting himself back in the firing line, trying to calm an intimidating stranger while dodging blows. For his show of restraint he got laid out regardless, concussed in the street, then was issued a criminal charge equal to that of the man who hit him, and described in national media as a violent bigot in an untested story to support that man’s defence.
Lawyers for Ryan Two made a more convincing post-trial statement, noting that Kai and Billy, ‘neither of whom were relied upon by the prosecution or the defence team for Mr Stokes, have taken the opportunity to speak with various media outlets about the alleged homophobic abuse that they received in the early hours of September 25. Mr Hale has passionately denied this allegation throughout the course of this case,’ it continued.
‘It is upsetting to Mr Hale that although he was acquitted, the accusation that he was the author of such abuse remains. Both Mr Hale and Mr Ali were knocked unconscious by Mr Stokes, and although Mr Stokes has been acquitted of an affray, Mr Hale struggles with the reasons why the Crown Prosecution Service did not treat him as a victim of an unlawful assault.’Good question. Avon and Somerset police were the investigating force, and they were frustrated by the decision. Ryan Two was filmed clearly not hurting anyone, but police were instructed by the CPS to proceed with a charge. Hales (the cricketer) was filmed fighting but ‘a decision was made at a senior level of the CPS’ not to proceed. Police expected Stokes to be charged with assault but the CPS declined. It doesn’t take a wild cynic to think that placing the same lukewarm charge on three men for vastly divergent behaviour might ensure that none would be convicted, even as the trial would maintain the pretence that a defendant of influential standing had not been given a free pass.
A couple of years down the line, the original interview with Kai and Billy has disappeared. All traces have been scrubbed from The Sun website, its social media history, and even from the Wayback Machine internet archive. Given its headline of ‘homophobic thugs’ and text that names Ryan Two but not Ryan One, the libel liability isn’t hard to spot. Later interviews with Kai and Billy take the passive voice – they ‘suffered homophobic slurs outside a Bristol nightclub’.
The article that was once claimed to exonerate brave Ben Stokes now links only to a missing content page, with a picture of a dropped ice-cream cone and the phrase ‘legal removal’ inserted into the web URL. In terms of consequences, Stokes missed one tour. When he resumed his career in January 2018, the Australians hadn’t yet ruined theirs. Their year-long bans looked much more stringent. But the Stokes case dragged on in other ways. With no criminal liability, the Australians confessed promptly enough for the sporting world to give them the full length of the lash. Their situation was ugly but there was closure. Stokes got stuck in legal stasis, unable to be fully backed or condemned. Instead his issue was always present, a browser full of open tabs that the ECB swore they would read any day now.
Through 2018 Stokes was back but he wasn’t back, in the sunglasses and finger-guns sense. In his return one-day series he nearly cost England a match with 39 from 73 balls in Wellington. His first Test hit was a duck as England got rolled in Auckland for 58. At Trent Bridge while Stokes was injured, England posted a world record 481 against Australia. With Stokes three weeks later at the same ground they made 268. He crawled to 50 from 103, the second-slowest any Englishman had reached that milestone in 20 years. That span covered Alastair Cook’s whole career. It was apologetic batting, acting out responsibility via the scorecard. Stokes was creeping back into the team like he’d been kicked out in a blazing row and was hoping to tip-toe to the sofa.
It was December 2018 before the ECB disciplinary committee ruled on him and Hales. In a ‘remarkable coincidence’, wrote Simon Heffer in The Telegraph, ‘the punishment both players faced in terms of bans from playing at international level was covered by the amount of games they had already missed when dropped by England’s selectors, in the furore that followed the incident’. The verdict compounded the omissions around the case by not addressing the violence at its heart. Nor did Stokes, apologising only ‘to my team-mates, coaches and support staff’, and then ‘to England supporters and to the public for bringing the game into disrepute’.
The implicit next step was to rebuild that reputation. It might have been easier had his court defence not meant that he wasn’t game to admit any fault at all. It might have been easier if he or his advisers had been willing to change tack once the trial was done. Imagine a world where Stokes had stood outside court and apologised for overreacting, for the injuries he’d caused, and for the time and energy he had sucked out of other people’s lives. That would have been a show of responsibility beyond a scorecard. When the time came around to assess forgiveness, it might have meant forgiveness was deserved.

The Fall was founded by one Mark E. Smith back in 1976, after seeing the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall (The same gig attended by Ian Curtis and Peter Hook of Joy Division, Morrissey of the Smiths, and Tony Wilson, who founded the highly influential indie label Factory Records. Basically, Mark was at one of the more important gigs of the past 50 years, as this gig inspired all of those previously mentioned to either start bands or get involved in the punk scene, and changing the course of British indie music.). Over their 40+ years of operation, the band had Mark E. Smith at its helm as the sole constant member throughout it's existence. The band would become known for its classic assortment of records, with the tight musicianship by members such as guitarist Craig Scanlon and drummer Karl Burns (shown in the beginning of this clip from MTV's Cutting Edge) and Mark's esoteric lyricism, the witty, while often-times volatile and difficult, personality of Mark E. Smith, and the constant changing lineup of its members as a result of Mark's volatility. They would also remain to be the favorite band of legendary DJ John Peel, with the band holding the record of the most Peel sessions by a band, which is 24 sessions. The Fall would ultimately come to an end with the untimely death of Mark E. Smith in 2018 due to kidney and lung cancer.
The Fall are a significant band in the history of Post Punk, with a wide catalog of music to listen to released throughout the different eras of the band. I have decided to make a write-up going through the many eras of the Fall, while giving some recommendations from each era to start you off.
(1976 - early 1979 - Early Beginnings: The Martin Bramah Era)
during these years, the Fall were just getting their start with their sound. Their early material leans more towards the punk side of the sword rather than the post punk of their later years, but the embryo of the Fall's sound is clearly present. This can possibly be attributed to the guitar style of Martin Bramah in their early releases, which has a high pitched and trebly sound to the guitars. Their first recorded released came on a live album on the last day of operation for the Electric Circus, then they released their debut EP Bingo Master's Breakout then a single called It's The New Thing all in 1978. They finally released their debut album Live at the Witch Trials in March 1979 before Martin Bramah left in April 1979 due to increasing tensions with Mark E. Smith. He would then go on to found a band by the name of Blue Orchids with another former Fall member Una Baines, who he was dating at the time. Martin would prove to not be the only member to leave because of Mark's controlling demeanor in the band's future.
Here's some tracks to introduce you to this era's punky edge:
Last Orders
Bingo Master's Breakout EP (The entire EP's good to check out)
It's The New Thing
Rebellious Jukebox
Futures and Pasts
Mother-Sister
(mid 1979 - 1982 - The First Golden era: the Marc Riley Era)
I'm calling this the Marc Riley era because, even though Marc Riley was a part of the Bramah era, after Martin Bramah left, Riley would become the main guitarist instead of his previous role as bassist. This would open the door for members like Craig Scanlon to join on rhythm guitar and Steve Hanley on bass. This would end up transforming the sound of the band into the post-punk sound most people are familiar with the band. After releasing Rowche Rumble and the album Dragnet in 1979, the band would end up releasing a string of classic singles in 1980, such as Fiery Jack, How I Wrote Elastic Man, and probably their most well-known song, Totally Wired, as well as releasing the great album Grotesque (After the Gramme). 1981 would also prove to be a good year, with the release of the single Lie Dream of a Casino Soul and the 10-inch EP Slates. The band would end up travelling to Iceland for a string of gigs, which would lead to the recording of some songs for probably their best album Hex Enduction Hour, with tracks like Hip Priest and The Classical displaying the Fall's power in full force. The band would also released the album Room To Live and the single Look, Know. However, this year would prove to be the last with Marc Riley on lead guitar. After learning of their chart success in New Zealand (which was about 300 copies sold to get in the top 20), the band travelled there to play a few gigs in Australia and New Zealand. While there, increasing tensions between Smith and Riley came to a head in Australia when Riley punched Smith in the face for slapping the band for dancing to the Clash (yes, really). There is even a television interview where Mark's black eye is visible (even with heavy makeup). This tour would end up being released as a live album by the legendary New Zealand label Flying Nun Records as the album Fall in a Hole in 1983 (Which Smith would eventually threaten legal action for and forced Flying Nun to pay all of the revenue from the record, effectively almost killing Flying Nun in its infancy). Marc would end up being sacked by the end of the year. This left a hole to be filled for the lead guitar role, and that would be filled after a trip to America.
Here's some tracks to check out to introduce you to the classic Fall sound:
Rowche Rumble
How I Wrote Elastic Man
Totally Wired
New Face in Hell
Prole Art Threat
Lie Dream of a Casino Soul
Hip Priest
The Classical (N-Word Warning)
Iceland
Winter
Marquis Cha-Cha
(1983 - 1989 - The Second Golden era: The Brix Smith Era)
The band would soldier on without Marc Riley into 1983, with Craig Scanlon taking his place on lead guitar. This period would lead to the release of singles like The Man Whose Head Expanded and the Kicker Conspiracy EP. During the Fall's first American tour without Marc Riley, Mark E Smith was introduced to Brix Smith after a gig in Chicago in April. Within three months, Brix would move to England and end up marrying Mark. She would eventually join the band in September of that year and would first appear on their album Perverted by Language, albeit with minimal involvement and only appearing on one track. Her introduction to the band would end up bringing a pop sensibility to the band, as she would eventually become a major songwriting contributor along with Mark and she would try and push the Fall into a more commercially viable direction.
This period would lead to some of the band's most critically acclaimed,as well as their most commerically successful, material. early singles like C.R.E.E.P and Oh! Brother in 1984 display the early shift into the pop sphere for the band. The band would also release the album The Wonderful and Frightening World Of in 1984. By 1985, the band were starting to hit their stride in the commercial sphere, with singles like Cruiser's Creek and Couldn't Get Ahead appearing in the singles charts and the great album This Nation's Saving Grace receiving critical acclaim and decent sales. The band would continue to release increasingly pop-oriented records between 1986-1987, with singles like Mr. Pharmacist, Hit the North and Hey! Luciani reaching the lower ends of the charts, There's a Ghost In My House giving the band their highest singles chart peak, and the album Bend Sinister reaching the Top 40. However, 1988 would prove to be a banner year for the band, with the album The Frenz Experiment reaching the top 20, and the single of the Kinks song Victoria also reaching the top 40. However, this era would eventually come to an end in 1989, when Mark E Smith and Brix Smith ended up divorcing and Brix left the band. Her last record in this era would prove to be the album I am Kurious Oranj, a collaboration with the Michael Clark dance group. However, the trajectory that Brix set the band upon would let their success continue into the 90s, With the band eventually reaching their peak in commercial popularity. However, not all good things are meant to last.
Here's some songs to check out to introduce you to this era's pop-leaning sound:
The Man Whose Head Expanded
Kicker Conspiracy
Eat Y'self Fitter
C.R.E.E.P
2 X 4
Cruiser's Creek
No Bulbs
Spoilt Victorian Child
My New House
I am Damo Suzuki
Shoulder Pads #1
Mr. Pharmacist
Hey! Luciani
There's a Ghost in my House
Hit The North
Victoria
Big New Prinz
Dead Beat Descendant
(1990 - 1994 - The Peak, followed by the Fall: The Major Label years)
After Brix left the band, Martin Bramah was brought back into the fold to fill in her place, and would be featured on the album Extricate, which led to songs like Telephone Thing, which shows influence from the Madchester scene of that time period, which included the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays, and the love song Bill is Dead, which possibly reflects upon his divorce the previous year. However, Martin Bramah would not be staying for long, as he would end up being kicked out of the band that same year for having a relationship with the keyboardist. This album marked the period when the band would be featured on a major label, with the band being signed to Fontana. The Fall would continue on to have success during this period, with the aforementioned Extricate reaching the top 40, albums like Shift-Work and Code: Selfish reaching the top 30, and singles like White Lightning and Free Range reaching in the single charts, with Free Range being the bands last top 40 single. Their commercial peak would come with the album The Infotainment Scan, which contained a cover of Lost in Music by Sister Sledge, giving the Fall their first and only top 10 hit album. Mark would also be featured on a top 20 single, which was I Want You by the Inspiral Carpets. However, Mark E. Smith's speed and alcohol addiction, which persisted over the previous decade, started to take its toll. The bands fortunes started to dwindle with the album Middle Class Revolt, Which only reach number 48 in the charts, a far cry from their previous Top 10 success. With this album, the Fall would begin to go downhill, both in their commercial performance and their critical stature.
Here's some songs to check out from this banner period for the Fall:
Telephone Thing
I'm Frank
Bill is Dead
Edinburgh Man
Free Range
Lost in Music
Hey! Student
15 Ways
(1995-1998 - The Low Point: The Brownies Years)
By this point, Mark E. Smith begins to go downhill with the previously mentioned drug and alcohol addiction, and its effect on the music shows. Brix Smith returns around this time period and would come back on the album Cerebral Caustic. Even with her involvement in the band, the album got middling reviews and performed worse than Middle Class Revolt. Smith would also dismiss the long time guitarist Craig Scanlon, who had co-written 120 songs with Smith over the previous 16 years. Smith would later say that he regretted this decision. By the time of The Light User Syndrome, Brix had enough of Mark E. Smith's degrading state and behavior due to alcohol abuse, and would leave on the tour supporting this album. This period would be wrought with increasing tensions in the band and financial troubles, which ultimately came to a head on the US tour supporting the album Levitate at an infamous gig at the New York venue Brownies in April of 1998. Smith ended up appearing drunk at the gig, and did everything in his power to make it hard for the band to play. It came to a head when drummer Karl Burns, who returned to the band when Middle Class Revolt was made, ended up shoving Smith for messing with his drum kit. Burns and long-time/essential bassist Steve Hanley would end up leaving the band and never returning. After this gig, the next few years are marked with the band remaining a low profile for the most part, where would eventually return to form by 2003.
Here's some tracks to check out (if you want to) from this era:
Don't Call me Darling
Rainmaster
D.I.Y Meat
The Chiselers
Powder Keg
Masquerade
(1998 - 2002 - Touch Sensitive: The Long Lull)
During this period of the Fall, the band was just starting to be put back together by Mark after the debacle that was the Brownies gig. The band was able to achieve some form of critical favor with their album The Marshall Suite in 1999, with Touch Sensitive being a particular standout on the album and being featured in a Volkswagen commercial. The band would then release their album The Unutterable, which also started to gain the critic's favor back. The next album Are You Are Missing Winner, however, didn't do the band any favors, as it was recorded when the band was tight on funds. It was considered a misstep by the Fall after the acclaim that the last album received. However, this would ultimately lead to the start of a new era of the fall that would effectively renew their relevance as a band in the public's eye.
Here's some tracks to check out from this transitional period of the bands history:
Touch Sensitive
W.B
Sons of Temperance
Dr. Bucks Letter
Bourgeois Town
(2003 - 2009 - A return to grace: The Third Golden Age)
This era of the fall proved to be a rebirthing of the band's relevance and quality, with Mark writing some of the best material the band had in years. This era starts with the album The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click) in 2003, which provided the band with some late era classics, such as Mountain Energei and Theme From Sparta F.C. Around this period, the DJ John Peel, who was one of the band's biggest supporters from the beginning, died of a heart attack, but not before the Fall could release one more Peel session a couple months before his death. The Fall would then release Fall Heads Roll in 2005, which also provided the band with another late-era classic in the form of Blindness. The band would also release albums like Reformation Post TLC and Imperial Wax Solvent within the same period. Imperial Wax Solvent would end up being the first Fall album in 15 years to reach the top 40. This would lead into the final era of the Fall leading up to Mark E. Smith's untimely death.
Here's some tracks to check out from this era:
Mountain Energei
Theme From Sparta F.C.
Blindness
Clasp Hands
Fall Sound
Latchkey Kid
Is This New
Strange Town
(2010 - 2018 - The Witching Hour: The Domino and Cherry Red/final years)
In 2010, the Fall would release Your Future Our Clutter on Domino Records, the same label that releases records by the Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand, Two bands heavily influenced by the Fall. Mark E. Smith would also end up recording vocals for Glitter Freeze on the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach, which was released in 2010. The band would eventually move to Cherry Red records, which would remain the label of the band until its dissolution. On Cherry Red, the Fall would release album such as Ersatz GB, Re-Mit, Sub-Lingual Tablet, and New Facts Emerge. The latter album would prove to be the band's last record. Over this period, Mark began to develop significant health problems, and would eventually be diagnosed with terminal lung and kidney cancer. This is probably due to the fact that Mark E. Smith was a heavy smoker for most of his life, and his previous problems with drugs and alcohol didn't help either. Mark would perform his final gig with the Fall in November of 2017, and would eventually succumb to his illnesses on January 24th, 2018. Mark E. Smith would leave behind a long history of innovation, wit, and volatility and large catalog of great music for others to be inspired by.
Here's some tracks to check out from the final era of the Fall:
Bury Pts. 2 + 4
Nate Will Not Return
Loadstones
Fibre Book Troll
New Facts Emerge
(Final Remarks)
So that's my write-up for the Fall. I discovered this band about 3-4 years ago and I have fallen in love with them ever since, and I just felt like that they deserved some attention. I wrote this post for anyone who may be interested in checking out the band and giving them a place to start from no matter the era. May Mark E. Smith rest in peace, for he wrote "Northern white crap that talks back" and dug repetition.
P.S: For any fans of the fall, what is your favorite album/song by the fall and why?
If you want to, you can come check out my subreddit Collectionhauls, where I've been posting vinyl finds I've had at the flea market, and have been posting music to check out since March. If you want, you can come post something from your collections to show to others. Anyway, goodbye and I hope you enjoyed my post and possibly enjoy the Fall even more.

Hello this is me from the past before I wrote the review talking right now, just wanted to say I'm betting100 caps on this getting downvoted enough where it gets no attention or people simply not caring, oh well my dad always said "Just keep moving forward", he got hit by a biker because he walked into the street after he said that. Besides that, I had also reviewed Fallout 4 and I forgot about a lot of the key features like songs etc. planning on making this one better. But without further wait let's continue!
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"Too many people have an opinion on things they know nothing about. And the more ignorant they are, the more opinions they have." -Scientist man from Camp McCarran
Fallout New Vegas was released by Obsidian Entertainment on October 19th, 2010 for North American audiences and released on October 21st for Australia and the next day for European audiences.
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Let me just first of all shoot down the time restraints argument, 1. Bethesda had given them full access to their engine meaning a large amount of work was prebuilt for them 2. The bros working on the game had even said the engine was great to work with 3. They built an entire sewer system for Vegas instead of working on things that should have been more important, it wasn't Bethesda's whole fault, Obsidian bit off more than they could chew. Now that's out of the way let's start with the good
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DA GOOD:
New Vegas has awesome writing, the main quest is well written sure but the real star is the side quests. New Vegas has about 75 unique side quests compared to the 17(?) 3 had and each one shares a unique story. You could be scouting competition for a show in a casino, finding prostitutes, helping ghouls go to the moon, or doing mercenary work for the NCR. What is even better is most quests had multiple ways to finish them, weather that be through skill checks, or other manners. It gave you a good amount of role playing freedom to develop your character how you desire. This leads me into the point that every NPC can be killed so you can really turn you character into a jackass, it makes it so you have consequences for every action you take.
Obsidian really struck home with the amount of small details as well, for example when your gun jams you use actual techniques to unjam them from real life. They even added in a unique card game called caravan and 3 different types of currency.
3 is regarded as the darkest game in the franchise, while the atmosphere is darkest, I believe NV takes the cake for darkest theme. It touches subjects on things like slavery, racism, prostitution, corruption and politics that you don't normally see in other games. It is grim as fuck and I appreciate the game for taking a look at the dark themes the apocalypse can bring.
DA BAD:
Like fallout 3 NV's combat has a lot left to be desired, it is reliant on vats and can be bothersome. At least it added crosshairs though
Another issue is how damn empty the map is. It feels like most of the map is located north near Vegas and the southern portion is empty as hell, It almost feels like it was designed for an isometric view like Fallout 1, and 2. I get it, the Mojave desert is an empty fucking place but jesus you could have taken the initiative and added more tribal stuff, or combat zones where everyone was wiped out, or war memorials or something. As well as the amount of invisible walls on mountains is just annoying.
Caesars Legion is also so underdeveloped it is sad. Going with the Legion basically locks you out of 75% of the map since it is all NCR controlled. They made an entire empty sewer but skimped out on a main faction.
I hear a lot of people always complain about bugs but I saw no less than any other Bethesda game so idk maybe I'm lucky.
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Probably done. Remember this is just my opinion and anyone is allowed to disagree, feel free to discuss in the comments.

--- IMPORTANT UPDATE REGARDING COVID-19 IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA, AND PERTH, PEEL AND SOUTH-WEST FIVE-DAY LOCKDOWN ---
This morning, I convened an urgent meeting of the Emergency Management Team.
We have a serious update to provide the WA community.
This morning we received news of a positive COVID-19 test result.
That positive result has come from a male hotel quarantine security guard, in his 20s.
The information we have is fast-evolving. As you can understand, immediately our teams moved into place to begin contact tracing and put in place emergency response systems.
This is all underway, and I ask everyone to be cooperative and understanding of what is going to take place.
Here is what we know about the male who tested positive:
He was working at one of the State’s hotel quarantine facilities – the Sheraton Four Points in the city.
He had tested negative for COVID-19 on January Friday 15, January Sunday 17 and Saturday January 23 – as part of the weekly testing system in place.
When the man was working at this hotel, there were four active cases of COVID-19.
Of those four cases, we have at least three confirmed variant strains, two UK and one South African.
We are told the guard was working on the same floor, as a positive UK variant case.
The guard completed two 12-hours shifts on both the 26th and 27th of January.
Exactly how the infection was acquired remains under investigation.
The Health Department contact tracing team has pulled together a list of potential exposure sites of where this positive case has been in recent days.
These locations currently include: -Coles Maylands supermarket on 25 January from 8pm to 10pm -KFC Maylands on 27 January from 6pm to midnight -Mitsubishi Motors car dealership in Midland on 27 January from 7pm to close -Spudshed, Coventry Village in Morley on 27 January from 8pm to midnight -ECU Joondalup on 28 January from 11am to 2pm -Consulate General of India on St Georges Terrace in Perth on 28 January from 12pm to 5pm -Halal Grocery Store in Cloverdale on 28 January from 7pm to 9pm -Venus Ladies and Gentleman Hair Design Maylands hairdressers on 29 January from 1pm to 3pm -Perth Convention Centre on 29 January from 4pm to 6pm -Nedlands Family Practice GP surgery on 29 January from 5pm to 6pm -Chemist Warehouse North Perth Pharmacy on 29 January from 5.30pm to 7.30pm -7-Eleven Ascot petrol station on 29 January from 8pm to 9pm -Coles Maylands supermarket on 29 January from 8pm 9pm -Puma Service Station in Burswood on 30 January from 11am to 12 midday. -Coles Express/Shell Service Station in Cloverdale on 30 January from 12 midday to 3pm -Pharmacy 777 at Maylands Park Shopping Centre 30 January from 2.30pm to 4pm.
People who have been to these venues on these dates and times must get tested.
In addition, people who live or work in the Falkirk Avenue, Maylands area including Coles, Liquorland and the Maylands shopping precinct should present for a test.
They must then go home and isolate until their negative test results are returned.
The investigation is on-going by our public health team, and it is likely more locations will be added following further discussions with the man.
Close contacts will be contacted by public health officials and asked to quarantine for 14 days.
More information on testing clinics will be available on our website – the WA Health and WA Gov websites.
The man’s immediate household contacts have been contacted, tested and placed in isolation at State managed quarantine facilities to complete a 14-day quarantine period in a quarantine facility.
All three have tested negative this morning. However, we can expect that they will become positive in coming days.
Genome sequencing is underway on the positive case and results will be known by Tuesday morning.
However, based on the information we have, it appears possible that this new positive case has the highly transmissible UK variant.
The past year has been unlike any other – Western Australia has done an incredible job. It’s something I am so proud of.
But as we have always known with COVID – it can change very quickly.
Today – we need to go back to what we know best, to ensure we limit community transmission of COVID-19 in our State.
Even though it was nearly 10 months ago – WA has experienced community transmission of this virus before.
We all did the right thing and we crushed it.
And it worked.
So beginning at 6pm tonight, the whole Perth metropolitan area, the Peel region and the South West region will be going into a full lockdown.
This lockdown will run until 6pm on Friday.
A five-day lockdown.
It’s crucial we act quickly, to keep the community safe.
We cannot forget how quickly this virus can spread, nor the devastation it can cause.
Following our discussions with the Chief Health Officer and Police Commissioner, the following measures will be put in place from 6pm for people in Perth, Peel and the South West:
People in these regions are required to stay home, except for the following four reasons: - Shopping for essentials like groceries, medicine and necessary supplies. - Medical or health care needs including compassionate requirements and looking after the vulnerable. - Exercise, within their neighbourhood, but only with one other person and only for one hour per day. - Work, where you cannot work from home or remotely.
In addition to this Stay Home rule.
If you do leave home, for one of the four reasons you will be required to wear a mask at all times outside and if you need to work indoors, then wearing a mask in the workplace is also mandatory.
To be clear, mask wearing on public transport is also mandatory.
People in the Perth, Peel or South West region need to stay inside their region for the next five days, unless for an essential reason.
We are strongly encouraging that everyone in this area, who is from another WA region, stay here and do not travel further outside of this area until the lockdown is over.
If you do need to travel outside the region you are in now, that can only occur if you need to return to your place of residence or exceptional circumstances.
The transport of essential goods into this region, is permitted, under our existing transport guidelines.
This lockdown means the following businesses, venues and locations in the relevant regions need to close for the next five days: - Pubs, bars and clubs - Gyms and indoor sporting venues - Playgrounds, skate parks and outdoor recreational facilities - Cinemas, entertainment venues, and casinos - Large religious gatherings and places of worship - Libraries and cultural institutions
Restaurants and cafes will close, and provide takeaway service only.
10 people can attend funerals, weddings are cancelled for the next five days.
No visitors are permitted to your home, unless caring for someone vulnerable or an emergency.
No visitors will be allowed in aged care homes, unless exceptional circumstances.
No visitors to hospitals and/or disability facilities, unless exceptional circumstances.
Elective surgery and procedures for categories 2 and 3 will be suspended from Tuesday, 2 February. Category 1 and urgent category 2 surgery will continue.
For a majority of schools in these regions, school was due to start tomorrow.
That has now been put on hold and schools will be closed until next week – following the lockdown measures.
It is, in effect, an extension of the school holidays.
I have been in contact with the Prime Minister and my fellow State and Territory colleagues to advise them of this situation.
I have recommended that they put a stop to any travel into WA – as an extra precautionary measure.
Border controls are important here – and I 100% support them to ensure we can get through this.
All these measures will be reviewed regularly and the Chief Health Officer will continue to monitor the serious situation and provide more ongoing advice.
This is an extremely fast-moving situation.
I know for many Western Australians this is going to come as a shock.
Western Australians have done so well for so long but this week it is absolutely crucial that we stay home, maintain physical distancing and personal hygiene and get tested if you have symptoms.
This is a very serious situation and each and every one of us has to do everything we personally can to help stop the spread in the community.
We have acted decisively and swiftly given these circumstances.
I want to thank everyone in advance for their patience.
In effect, for a short period of time, we are going back to what we experienced in March and April.
This is a highly unpredictable virus. But it is important to act calmly and take sensible precautions.
Leaving your home to purchase food and essentials will be permitted during the lockdown.
I say this, so people understand that you do not need to rush to the supermarket today.
Take care of your loved ones and be respectful of others including those who are working, to keep essential services and supplies ticking over.
Our State is well equipped to handle this situation.
We have systems in place throughout the health system that are swinging into action as we speak.
We have the capacity to manage this situation.
Throughout the pandemic, the response of Western Australians has been second-to-none.
The community has done everything we have asked of them.
They have made great sacrifices, and it has kept our State safe.
I could not be more proud and thankful of the way Western Australians have carried themselves.
Now we’re asking for your help once again.
We will provide further updates as they come to hand.
All relevant information will be posted on websites as it comes to hand.
Thank you WA.

The Fall was founded by one Mark E. Smith back in 1976, after seeing the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall (The same gig attended by Ian Curtis and Peter Hook of Joy Division, Morrissey of the Smiths, and Tony Wilson, who founded the highly influential indie label Factory Records. Basically, Mark was at one of the more important gigs of the past 50 years, as this gig inspired all of those previously mentioned to either start bands or get involved in the punk scene, and changing the course of British indie music.). Over their 40+ years of operation, the band had Mark E. Smith at its helm as the sole constant member throughout it's existence. The band would become known for its classic assortment of records, with the tight musicianship by members such as guitarist Craig Scanlon and drummer Karl Burns (shown in the beginning of this clip from MTV's Cutting Edge) and Mark's esoteric lyricism, the witty, while often-times volatile and difficult, personality of Mark E. Smith, and the constant changing lineup of its members as a result of Mark's volatility. They would also remain to be the favorite band of legendary DJ John Peel, with the band holding the record of the most Peel sessions by a band, which is 24 sessions. The Fall would ultimately come to an end with the untimely death of Mark E. Smith in 2018 due to kidney and lung cancer.
The Fall are a significant band in the history of Post Punk, with a wide catalog of music to listen to released throughout the different eras of the band. I have decided to make a write-up going through the many eras of the Fall, while giving some recommendations from each era to start you off.
(1976 - early 1979 - Early Beginnings: The Martin Bramah Era)
during these years, the Fall were just getting their start with their sound. Their early material leans more towards the punk side of the sword rather than the post punk of their later years, but the embryo of the Fall's sound is clearly present. This can possibly be attributed to the guitar style of Martin Bramah in their early releases, which has a high pitched and trebly sound to the guitars. Their first recorded released came on a live album on the last day of operation for the Electric Circus, then they released their debut EP Bingo Master's Breakout then a single called It's The New Thing all in 1978. They finally released their debut album Live at the Witch Trials in March 1979 before Martin Bramah left in April 1979 due to increasing tensions with Mark E. Smith. He would then go on to found a band by the name of Blue Orchids with another former Fall member Una Baines, who he was dating at the time. Martin would prove to not be the only member to leave because of Mark's controlling demeanor in the band's future.
Here's some tracks to introduce you to this era's punky edge:
Last Orders
Bingo Master's Breakout EP (The entire EP's good to check out)
It's The New Thing
Rebellious Jukebox
Futures and Pasts
Mother-Sister
(mid 1979 - 1982 - The First Golden era: the Marc Riley Era)
I'm calling this the Marc Riley era because, even though Marc Riley was a part of the Bramah era, after Martin Bramah left, Riley would become the main guitarist instead of his previous role as bassist. This would open the door for members like Craig Scanlon to join on rhythm guitar and Steve Hanley on bass. This would end up transforming the sound of the band into the post-punk sound most people are familiar with the band. After releasing Rowche Rumble and the album Dragnet in 1979, the band would end up releasing a string of classic singles in 1980, such as Fiery Jack, How I Wrote Elastic Man, and probably their most well-known song, Totally Wired, as well as releasing the great album Grotesque (After the Gramme). 1981 would also prove to be a good year, with the release of the single Lie Dream of a Casino Soul and the 10-inch EP Slates. The band would end up travelling to Iceland for a string of gigs, which would lead to the recording of some songs for probably their best album Hex Enduction Hour, with tracks like Hip Priest and The Classical displaying the Fall's power in full force. The band would also released the album Room To Live and the single Look, Know. However, this year would prove to be the last with Marc Riley on lead guitar. After learning of their chart success in New Zealand (which was about 300 copies sold to get in the top 20), the band travelled there to play a few gigs in Australia and New Zealand. While there, increasing tensions between Smith and Riley came to a head in Australia when Riley punched Smith in the face for slapping the band for dancing to the Clash (yes, really). There is even a television interview where Mark's black eye is visible (even with heavy makeup). This tour would end up being released as a live album by the legendary New Zealand label Flying Nun Records as the album Fall in a Hole in 1983 (Which Smith would eventually threaten legal action for and forced Flying Nun to pay all of the revenue from the record, effectively almost killing Flying Nun in its infancy). Marc would end up being sacked by the end of the year. This left a hole to be filled for the lead guitar role, and that would be filled after a trip to America.
Here's some tracks to check out to introduce you to the classic Fall sound:
Rowche Rumble
How I Wrote Elastic Man
Totally Wired
New Face in Hell
Prole Art Threat
Lie Dream of a Casino Soul
Hip Priest
The Classical (N-Word Warning)
Iceland
Winter
Marquis Cha-Cha
(1983 - 1989 - The Second Golden era: The Brix Smith Era)
The band would soldier on without Marc Riley into 1983, with Craig Scanlon taking his place on lead guitar. This period would lead to the release of singles like The Man Whose Head Expanded and the Kicker Conspiracy EP. During the Fall's first American tour without Marc Riley, Mark E Smith was introduced to Brix Smith after a gig in Chicago in April. Within three months, Brix would move to England and end up marrying Mark. She would eventually join the band in September of that year and would first appear on their album Perverted by Language, albeit with minimal involvement and only appearing on one track. Her introduction to the band would end up bringing a pop sensibility to the band, as she would eventually become a major songwriting contributor along with Mark and she would try and push the Fall into a more commercially viable direction.
This period would lead to some of the band's most critically acclaimed,as well as their most commerically successful, material. early singles like C.R.E.E.P and Oh! Brother in 1984 display the early shift into the pop sphere for the band. The band would also release the album The Wonderful and Frightening World Of in 1984. By 1985, the band were starting to hit their stride in the commercial sphere, with singles like Cruiser's Creek and Couldn't Get Ahead appearing in the singles charts and the great album This Nation's Saving Grace receiving critical acclaim and decent sales. The band would continue to release increasingly pop-oriented records between 1986-1987, with singles like Mr. Pharmacist, Hit the North and Hey! Luciani reaching the lower ends of the charts, There's a Ghost In My House giving the band their highest singles chart peak, and the album Bend Sinister reaching the Top 40. However, 1988 would prove to be a banner year for the band, with the album The Frenz Experiment reaching the top 20, and the single of the Kinks song Victoria also reaching the top 40. However, this era would eventually come to an end in 1989, when Mark E Smith and Brix Smith ended up divorcing and Brix left the band. Her last record in this era would prove to be the album I am Kurious Oranj, a collaboration with the Michael Clark dance group. However, the trajectory that Brix set the band upon would let their success continue into the 90s, With the band eventually reaching their peak in commercial popularity. However, not all good things are meant to last.
Here's some songs to check out to introduce you to this era's pop-leaning sound:
The Man Whose Head Expanded
Kicker Conspiracy
Eat Y'self Fitter
C.R.E.E.P
2 X 4
Cruiser's Creek
No Bulbs
Spoilt Victorian Child
My New House
I am Damo Suzuki
Shoulder Pads #1
Mr. Pharmacist
Hey! Luciani
There's a Ghost in my House
Hit The North
Victoria
Big New Prinz
Dead Beat Descendant
(1990 - 1994 - The Peak, followed by the Fall: The Major Label years)
After Brix left the band, Martin Bramah was brought back into the fold to fill in her place, and would be featured on the album Extricate, which led to songs like Telephone Thing, which shows influence from the Madchester scene of that time period, which included the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays, and the love song Bill is Dead, which possibly reflects upon his divorce the previous year. However, Martin Bramah would not be staying for long, as he would end up being kicked out of the band that same year for having a relationship with the keyboardist. This album marked the period when the band would be featured on a major label, with the band being signed to Fontana. The Fall would continue on to have success during this period, with the aforementioned Extricate reaching the top 40, albums like Shift-Work and Code: Selfish reaching the top 30, and singles like White Lightning and Free Range reaching in the single charts, with Free Range being the bands last top 40 single. Their commercial peak would come with the album The Infotainment Scan, which contained a cover of Lost in Music by Sister Sledge, giving the Fall their first and only top 10 hit album. Mark would also be featured on a top 20 single, which was I Want You by the Inspiral Carpets. However, Mark E. Smith's speed and alcohol addiction, which persisted over the previous decade, started to take its toll. The bands fortunes started to dwindle with the album Middle Class Revolt, Which only reach number 48 in the charts, a far cry from their previous Top 10 success. With this album, the Fall would begin to go downhill, both in their commercial performance and their critical stature.
Here's some songs to check out from this banner period for the Fall:
Telephone Thing
I'm Frank
Bill is Dead
Edinburgh Man
Free Range
Lost in Music
Hey! Student
15 Ways
(1995-1998 - The Low Point: The Brownies Years)
By this point, Mark E. Smith begins to go downhill with the previously mentioned drug and alcohol addiction, and its effect on the music shows. Brix Smith returns around this time period and would come back on the album Cerebral Caustic. Even with her involvement in the band, the album got middling reviews and performed worse than Middle Class Revolt. Smith would also dismiss the long time guitarist Craig Scanlon, who had co-written 120 songs with Smith over the previous 16 years. Smith would later say that he regretted this decision. By the time of The Light User Syndrome, Brix had enough of Mark E. Smith's degrading state and behavior due to alcohol abuse, and would leave on the tour supporting this album. This period would be wrought with increasing tensions in the band and financial troubles, which ultimately came to a head on the US tour supporting the album Levitate at an infamous gig at the New York venue Brownies in April of 1998. Smith ended up appearing drunk at the gig, and did everything in his power to make it hard for the band to play. It came to a head when drummer Karl Burns, who returned to the band when Middle Class Revolt was made, ended up shoving Smith for messing with his drum kit. Burns and long-time/essential bassist Steve Hanley would end up leaving the band and never returning. After this gig, the next few years are marked with the band remaining a low profile for the most part, where would eventually return to form by 2003.
Here's some tracks to check out (if you want to) from this era:
Don't Call me Darling
Rainmaster
D.I.Y Meat
The Chiselers
Powder Keg
Masquerade
(1998 - 2002 - Touch Sensitive: The Long Lull)
During this period of the Fall, the band was just starting to be put back together by Mark after the debacle that was the Brownies gig. The band was able to achieve some form of critical favor with their album The Marshall Suite in 1999, with Touch Sensitive being a particular standout on the album and being featured in a Volkswagen commercial. The band would then release their album The Unutterable, which also started to gain the critic's favor back. The next album Are You Are Missing Winner, however, didn't do the band any favors, as it was recorded when the band was tight on funds. It was considered a misstep by the Fall after the acclaim that the last album received. However, this would ultimately lead to the start of a new era of the fall that would effectively renew their relevance as a band in the public's eye.
Here's some tracks to check out from this transitional period of the bands history:
Touch Sensitive
W.B
Sons of Temperance
Dr. Bucks Letter
Bourgeois Town
(2003 - 2009 - A return to grace: The Third Golden Age)
This era of the fall proved to be a rebirthing of the band's relevance and quality, with Mark writing some of the best material the band had in years. This era starts with the album The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click) in 2003, which provided the band with some late era classics, such as Mountain Energei and Theme From Sparta F.C. Around this period, the DJ John Peel, who was one of the band's biggest supporters from the beginning, died of a heart attack, but not before the Fall could release one more Peel session a couple months before his death. The Fall would then release Fall Heads Roll in 2005, which also provided the band with another late-era classic in the form of Blindness. The band would also release albums like Reformation Post TLC and Imperial Wax Solvent within the same period. Imperial Wax Solvent would end up being the first Fall album in 15 years to reach the top 40. This would lead into the final era of the Fall leading up to Mark E. Smith's untimely death.
Here's some tracks to check out from this era:
Mountain Energei
Theme From Sparta F.C.
Blindness
Clasp Hands
Fall Sound
Latchkey Kid
Is This New
Strange Town
(2010 - 2018 - The Witching Hour: The Domino and Cherry Red/final years)
In 2010, the Fall would release Your Future Our Clutter on Domino Records, the same label that releases records by the Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand, Two bands heavily influenced by the Fall. Mark E. Smith would also end up recording vocals for Glitter Freeze on the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach, which was released in 2010. The band would eventually move to Cherry Red records, which would remain the label of the band until its dissolution. On Cherry Red, the Fall would release album such as Ersatz GB, Re-Mit, Sub-Lingual Tablet, and New Facts Emerge. The latter album would prove to be the band's last record. Over this period, Mark began to develop significant health problems, and would eventually be diagnosed with terminal lung and kidney cancer. This is probably due to the fact that Mark E. Smith was a heavy smoker for most of his life, and his previous problems with drugs and alcohol didn't help either. Mark would perform his final gig with the Fall in November of 2017, and would eventually succumb to his illnesses on January 24th, 2018. Mark E. Smith would leave behind a long history of innovation, wit, and volatility and large catalog of great music for others to be inspired by.
Here's some tracks to check out from the final era of the Fall:
Bury Pts. 2 + 4
Nate Will Not Return
Loadstones
Fibre Book Troll
New Facts Emerge
(Final Remarks)
So that's my write-up for the Fall. I discovered this band about 3-4 years ago and I have fallen in love with them ever since, and I just felt like that they deserved some attention. I wrote this post for anyone who may be interested in checking out the band and giving them a place to start from no matter the era. May Mark E. Smith rest in peace, for he wrote "Northern white crap that talks back" and dug repetition.
I personally believe that the Fall, while revered in Post-Punk circles and UK indie music, I feel that they are still highly underappreciated in popular music. I feel that they should have been on the same level as the Cure or Joy Division in their cultural significance to music in general. However, what we do have from the Fall is great and I can say that I love them dearly.
For any fans of the fall, what is your opinion on the significance of the Fall to popular music? What do you find to be your favorite aspect of the Fall's music?

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To start, yes we should have implemented these much sooner. Yes the UCP shouldn't have started a fight with healthcare workers. Yes we should have far more contact tracers. Yes Kenney said a lot of BS in hopes to win votes. Yes, elderly care homes needed to be protected a lot better than they were. And yes, Kenney needed to be out in public a lot more. These are all things they should be held accountable for in the next election. I will also add that if people can't follow these guidelines we will likely have no choice but to do a hard shutdown in 3 weeks, which I am not sure Kenney wants to do. Additionally, I won't be linking a lot of sources that are pro-lockdown, primarily because I don't really have the time to go find all of them, and most people here have better sources than I do for those anyways, but please feel free to share them below as I like to be as informed as possible.
Now, on to the actual topic. Whether you like it or not, locking down is a lot more complex issue than many here seem to think it is. There are implications that are far more than "just" money. David Nabarro, a medical doctor and Special Envoy on Covid-19 for the WHO specifically states:

lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never, ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer. Look what’s happened to smallholder farmers all over the world. Look what’s happening to poverty levels. It seems that we may well have a doubling of world poverty by next year. We may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition.

He also said

We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus... The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it.

source
We've had months to prepare (which Kenney threw away), would anything change over the lockdown, or would it just become our primary way of combatting covid?
Additionally, we have research from a local Albertan, Dr. Ari Joffe, an expert in infectious disease and critical care, Dr. Ari Joffe of the Stollery Children’s Hospital and the University of Alberta. In his paper, he states

The most affected by the pandemic response are “the poor, the marginalized, and the vulnerable,” while we in high-income countries have shifted “negative effects… to places where they are less visible and presumably less serious.”10 We must open up society to save many more lives than we can by attempting to avoid every case (or even most cases) of COVID-19. It is past time to take an effortful pause, calibrate our response to the true risk, make rational cost-benefit analyses of the trade-offs, and end the lockdown groupthink.

You can read the preprint paper here.
Now, we have also seen cases where lockdowns work, we saw it in New Zealand, Victoria Australia, Quebec, Italy, China (though I don't think any of us want the restrictions that went on there), and many other places, but most times lockdowns went on for months. I don't have any sources on impacts to health of people in those areas, but if someone has some sources I would love to read them (regardless of what they say). There's also been research done that shows that historically (from the spanish flu) that places implemented restrictions faster were able to rebound faster source actual paper - pre-review and potentially even came back stronger than those who took longer. It does state that

NPIs implemented in 1918 were milder than the measures adopted in some countries during COVID-19.

We have also seen places like Hong Kong and South Korea repeatedly fight off covid with limited shutdown of businesses and no real lockdowns. They are very different than us and we wouldn't be able to implement the same measures, but it's still something to keep in mind.
Schools are another factor I see a lot of people talk about, but again, there's a lot of research for both closing them and keeping them open. You can read a bunch on why children may not be as large of spreaders as you think in this article which links to several studies. At the same time, there are studies that show kids are huge drivers of covid. There's also studies that show kids need the interaction of schools and are falling very behind. During the Nov 6 update (41 ish minute mark), Hinshaw makes it pretty clear that schools aren't driving spread here, and while our data isn't great anymore, it does seem to line up with both other jurisdictions with similar measures, and some of the studies in that article.
Restaurants are another biggie I see people talk about. There was the study in China which showed 3 different family groups all at different tables got sick due to the AC, and that paper recommends spacing tables apart and getting better ventilation (which we have spaced tables out here). And they definitely were super spreaders at the beginning. But new studies show that with cap limits (which we should have but for some reason don't, the table spacing should be good though) should make restaurants less of a transmission problem. study 1 summary and discussion. This also breifly discusses how small home gatherings are in fact one of the biggest drivers of covid, which can be demonstrated by looking at all the jurisdictions banning them, and even the CDC head stating similar scroll down to household get-togethers...
As for the rules, it's stated that public gatherings are banned at all indoor locations. That means you can't legally meet up with people at your house, at a restaurant, at a bar, or at a casino. You can only do these with your household or if you live alone, your 2 people.
Now, let me finish by saying that if the numbers keep going up we may have no choice but to lockdown, but I believe we need to at least try other measures first (which again, should have been implemented sooner). I hope that those of you who read this can at least understand why some people think the way they do, and that these decisions aren't as easy as some think they are. If all of us could educate ourselves fully on the issue I feel the world would be a much better place.

Yes, you are.
I'm slowly gaining control of my life again and organizing all the beautiful mail you've sent me. I used to be in such a bad mental state back then, that I would stress out because of grammar, spelling and being the perfect brat I'm not, and made a lot of unfinished drafts that are all over the place. I am really, really sorry for that.
​
u/HoneyGirlLZ Thanks for the Vancouver postcard. Ohhh, how I wish I could travel to Canada! My two sisters did an english course there but I got so good with English by myself and so bad at graduating at anything, I never got the “graduation gift” that was some sort of tradition. Wait... I haven't actually graduated yet....
u/ImOkReally Thank you so much for this wonderful piece of mail. Your envelopes are just so amazing, they feel like cards themselves. I wish I could decorate like that, but I am very insecure and never make up my mind with my designs. I love the colors youu use, I love your sensibility, your patters, the combinations, everything. They're just so amazing. I try to open them soooo carefully so not to tear them apart. Love it it love it love it. You're so talented, believe me. Inside you told me about yourself and some memories. I read it at my grandma's house and I felt so cozy reading it. I replied to it with what I found around. I sometimes stay at her house when I have to work. I'm gonna try some day doing those cool patters with those stickers and lovely stuff you sent me, hopefully when the festive season ends. I did something similar during october and I found it so relaxing, problem is that when I decorate postcards, I'm left with no space left to writem, haha. I'm planning on buying stamps online, but still can't make up my mind, there are so many and so pretty! I actually have to write a mail to the woman in charge of them at the office and indicate a lot of things manually. Your mails always make me smile and cheer me up Thank you so much.
u/LeeElla Lol, thank you for the Raoc birthday postcard. There you told me about the kid that cried for not being able to blow the candles. Lol, some kids are like that. When I was little I hated that if kids did that, some poeple would light them up again and have them blow them too, and I was horrified because they were not the birthday boys... like stealing the birthday wishes! How dare them! Now I'd be annoyed to see blatant spoiliage of kids. Dunno if I'm using the correct verb, please someone correct me, haha. I'm amazed the wax seal made it safe and sound! it's so cool. I learnt that word finally: Hidrangea. They're one of my favorite flowers. They bring me sooo many childhood memories. So many houses grew them in the south and I loved seeing these flowers made of lots of tiny flowers. My grandma also loved putting some in the dinner table. I also used to like playing hide and seek behind them... until I got scared of spiders. Lol, grandma used to have an apt in a town that actually means "place of spiders" in native's language, hahaha, and I went there many summers. Now it's become so pupular, and badly regulated, they destroyed it. They covered it in buildings and apartments and casinos and entertainment, but the town's capacity was never improved, so now you need 3 hours just to get to the other nearest town, and it's a nightmare, when it used to be 20 -30 mins in this tiny curved road. Also, thanks for the washi and the pretty stamps, I love them so much! what is this one of ""Strawberry driving?"" lol. I wonder what that is supposed to mean, haha
u/Lonelytwatwaffle Yoo!! got your Random-Random acts of cards-card for being random. Thank you so much! I still like doing it. I like thinking that randomizers are like destiny telling me who needs a smile and some love sent from here. I ADORE the dragon stamps you put, so adorable and pretty! Oh, right before quarantine we got a boiler (or heater) when we can set the temperature, so yay, that's how I discovered the wonders of green tea. I used to hate it, but that's because it was burnt! Wow. Quarantine discovery. I ended up liking tea so much, I use a french press to brew my tea, haha, so I get a full liter. So I'll be able to enjoy your tea now! Thank you so much! I also find it super funny all the labels and warnings and adjectives your American teas have, lol. ""Oh no! My tea has 14 mg of naturally occurring caffeine! But it's not coffee!!"". ""Oh no, I'm a pregnant breastfeeding woman, I need to consult my *healthcare practitioneer * (lol, what a long name) to drink tea, or I won't be legible for suing the traditional medicinals makers done by herbalists""."" I'm gonna OPEN this TAMPER EVIDENT-MOISTURE PROOF WRAPPED Tea Bag and POUR freshly boiled water in it. COVER it, STEEP it for 10 mins and SQUEEZE it to ENJOY 3-4 cups daily."" Is this bag telling me me how many I have to drink per day?? Wait... do I have to repeat this process 3-4 per day with this single bag??. ROFL. Oh gosh, I'm enjoying this too much. What the hell. So thanks for this HERBAL SUPPLEMENT, with *daily values not established for organic green tea"" and 0 calories!! Hahahahaa. Did you feel worn after scrutinizing all the offers to make this batch of cards? That was quite a nice thing you did. Also, thanks for the sticks and washi, I like the summer vibe they have, I'm going to take them to my vacations.
Edit: The mail didn't lose it. It was me. It got burried in my depressive mess and finding it during this time I haven't got any mail was like getting mail again. Such a huge adrenaline rush, it was awesome. I think life holds these surprises for the moments we need them the most.
u/ninajyang u/shadesoflanternhill Oh wow guys! I had forgotten you guys met! How was is? What did you do together? Oh wow, can't believe it was this same year. Such a weird year. I thought it was going to be the year of the meetups... so many were happening back then! And I was about to do some myself once in Australia and Asia xD. Well, I'm glad to know I have a spare bed in Japan waiting for me now, haha. And a bigger fridge to store a yummy cake I could bake, so you can try it, 'cause you must. Nina, have you set up your next destinations once all this is over? The only one I have for sure is Europe 2023 with friends... and if I can try and stay longer, the better. I actually wish I could go there next year, but who knows!
u/talkingroses Thank you for your adorable little crab postcard with a review of Percy Jackson. I was thinking in seeing if I could find it in the library, but then I remembered my card got expired and I'm not a student anymore so.... I'll have to check other ways of getting my hands on it. (I dun wanna read it in spanish.... so many things get lost in translation sometimes). I can't wait to be able to send to Australia again. Man, who'd have thought? I'd be living there right now if nothing of this had happened.
u/vickiiiie (x3) I'm happy to know my test postcard made it your way the other day, and that mail is working again, because I once promised to try to write the “Rat” Character once I got this cool year of the rat postcard, where you told me it was the hardest character of the zodiac. Challenge accepted! I hope I don't horrify you with all my aberrations xD It looks like a rat skiing. I also loved the cool red envelope with cute stickers and, no kidding, I spent like 5 minutes just staring at the envelope and its texture. Do they have a specific purpose there? The flowers are the same of the rat in the envelope (love it), do those flowers mean something too? Thank you so much for such nice mail!
Also, thank you so much for the 29th of February postcard! You also added a cute cactus seal. So cool, I wanna try one day doing them. I actually wondered.... if you work in February, any February, if you get paid monthly, are they actually paying you more for that month every year? Or they adjust that? Hmmm.... Well, here February is the month were almost everyone, or at least the government, takes vacations, so nobody is worrying too much about that. Well... you might get a day or less of vacations. We didn't because we only took 2 weeks this February, and it got cut short because my cousin decided to get married the 1st, so pretty much everyone in the family had to start their vacations 2 days late, since you spend a whole day traveling. We usually try to travel the 31st. How long you were quarantined? Many people here are still working at home, and I just recently started working in the kitchens again. It's been fun, and I like cooking with a mask on. Feels more clean.
And least but lot last, The first HK RAoC meetup card with u/vickiiiie and u/chikadatte !! I loved it so much when I got it! Oh, gosh, crazy times back then! Haha, I wonder why nobody guessed you were going to an American dinner for bacon and eggs. I sent some test cards both your ways, but it seems they haven't made it yet. I wanna give it another try. I need to know if you both are keeping your same addresses though, I have some unsent mail waiting for you guys. Oh, I was sooo looking forward to traveling to HK next year, but my trip to Australia and then Asia got.... cancelled until... who knows when and who knows if that's ever going to work out. Who knows? Maybe the future awaits me with some surprises I haven't imagined yet. Maybe it's better that what I was going to do. Who knows? We'll see.

I'm writing this because the Reddit threads on this topic are outdated and more people should know what I now know about the "new" timeshares. This is what it's like to be on the receiving end of a Wyndham timeshare sales pitch. Here goes:
I vaguely knew what I was getting in to. My girlfriend and I arrived at an MGM owned casino. We get a bite to eat and as soon as we began our exploration of the Casino someone approached us offering vouchers for free play in the casino worth $75. I'm usually hesitant to ever get sucked into something like this but my girlfriend insisted that we do it. "They give it to you for showing up, we'll just say no, I've got friends who did this too, etc." I went along and decided to keep an open mind about it.
We talk to this guy who convinces people to attend this "seminar" for two hours and you'll receive the vouchers, plus a hotel room for a few nights from a selection of locations, plus free breakfast. He insists that all you need to do is say "no, not interested" once the 2 hours are up and you can just leave with your vouchers. Obviously his incentive isn't to sell anything but fill the buses with as many people as possible.
The next day we get on the bus to the seminar location. My initial thought was that we'd all crowd into a room and watch some presentation before given the opportunity to bounce. I was caught off guard when every couple was assigned a salesperson. We meet our salesman and he immediately compliments us, is incredibly impressed by any of the words we string together, and has now become our fake best friend.
We go into the presentation and the speaker does his thing. And everyone here should be aware that much of what he said was true, but his conclusions were abhorrent. He pointed out that in America we do not use all of our vacation days. We tend to waste them. We are also constantly putting off that one trip to our dream destination to "someday", but "someday" never comes. Next, he points out that most people, dying people, regret working so much and wish they spent more time with their families. These are true facts.
But then he concluded by suggesting we should all buy into this program which will allow us to take these dream vacations. It was the kind of sound financial advice you'd expect from someone who would directly benefit from the purchase and would never hear from you again.
I want to note, the speaker was talented and entertaining. He was loaded with jokes, self-deprecating humor. It was funny, but holy shit. Looking around the room were the salespeople with the obnoxious fake laughter. They saw this probably a hundred times. It was creepy. It was surreal. 1/3 of the audience was in on the sales pitch.
The salespeople used every joke as an opportunity to measure the responses on the faces on their paired couple. The speaker would crack a joke and all the sales people would simultaneously throw their back out laughing before turning to the couple they were with to see if they were laughing too.
There were no opportunities for me to speak with my girlfriend without the salesman eavesdropping. The presentation moved fast enough that looking anything up seemed like too much of a distraction. As skilled as they seemed at controlling my behavior, the whole thing was throwing up red flags.
Anyway, the presentation ended and our salesman led us to a table. On the way over there were other couples sitting out in the open with their assigned salesperson. They seemed excited about what they were hearing and excitedly signing papers. It was...weird.
We sit down and the salesman goes through the program in more detail. Here's where I get genuinely turned off. I work in IT, I'm about to finish my bachelor's degree, I don't think I'm a sucker but my love of science puts me at odds with a person who's giving me overwhelmingly biased information. He reiterates all of the great things about this program. He turns to my girlfriend, "what do you think about that?" "It sounds great!" Then he turns to me. "And what do you think about that? Is it something you'd want to do?" And I reply "Depending on the cost, yes, I'd do it!"
Next, he has us estimate the cost of a hotel we normally pay for. Then he asks us how many vacation days we take per year. This is fine and easy math. If the average cost is $115 per night, and you take 10 days, it's $1,150 per year in hotel costs. The "program" (timeshare but they completely avoid the term) lasts 20 years. It's still vague at this part but the salesman insists on focusing on how much we are gonna pay for these hotel rooms over the next 20 years.
Cost per year multiplied by 20 years is 23,000. But that's not the equation they're doing. They're not accounting for interest! Ah! It would be more over that time! How much does it really cost? About $250,000. They estimate that the hospitality industry has an inflation rate of 11%!! Everyone should have it ingrained in their heads that inflation across the entire economy (in America) has been around 3% per year.
He was willing to tinker with the numbers but, generally speaking, we're spending a fuck ton of money on just hotels according to their calculations. And any close observers would note that the number should have been much lower. $1,300×20 years×1.1²⁰ = $174,914.99. I could have been wrong in my calculation but their cost estimate was obscenely high.
Disclaimer: As several people pointed out, some of that math is off and I used the incorrect equation (this does not change the conclusions). Here is a better description from a more qualified redditor mowscut:

As an actuary, both yours and their calculators bothered me. No idea where 250k comes from, but your calculation assumes you’re paying the fully inflated price (in 20 years) for every payment. The full value is a simple future value of annuity certain formula which is P[(1+i)n -1]/i where i is the interest, n the number of payments and P the payment amount. This gives 1,300(1.120 -1)/.11~83,000. Which is also a crazy number, but formulaically appropriate.

Then he asks if we have any more questions. Uh, yeah, how much are we talking about here? They never mentioned up to this point how much it costs! But I'm skeptical and the questions I'm asking are things like how do you actually book a vacation? What happens if I change my mind about it? Is it transferrable? The salesman doesn't know the answers to these questions so a higher level salesman comes over. He's very happy to meet us. He loves the outfit I'm wearing. He compliments various other features and, with the limited amount of information I've provided, seems completely ready to compete with the other salesman for the title of my new best friend.
He answers some of my questions but can't provide any documentation to back up his claims. They still won't provide a price but they hand an iPad to my girlfriend to start filling out personal information. I look over and as soon as I see there's a field for the social security number I damn near slap it out of her hands. They were literally going to do a credit check to see how much the cost would be for us! Huge red flag for me. First, the inquiry shows up on your credit report. While that may not be so bad, I want to be informed on making a purchase and at least know a price range before taking that kind of step.
This throws the salesman off. Apparently, no one stops at this part of the process. The head sales guy says it's fine, and offers for us to check out a room which would be the type of room we'd be staying in if we join this program. I still don't know how much this program costs. We go and the salesman leaves my girlfriend and I alone to explore at our own pace.
This is where I frantically looked for the Reddit thread where personal finance gurus say "GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE, THEY KIDNAP REDDITORS LIKE YOU AND YOUR CLONE BECOMES A SALESMAN". I found a few threads, and they did warn against this, but they were at least a year old and it didn't all seem timely.
I couldn't find costs online either, so I thought to myself "how much per month would I be willing to pay for something like this?" I concluded $45 per month. But I still had misgivings about making a big commitment on such short notice when I couldn't even read anything like a contract. I'd rather go home and read independent reviews so I can be confident in my decision. I couldn't get to that point.
Once again we end up back at the table but this time the salesman has a laminated piece of paper with prices on it! I immediately I see huge numbers and realize why they waited so long to show it. They wanted approximately $130,000 for the total program. It would be $13,000 down to get started, and almost $500 per month.
(Note: when I did the math later, the actual cost we'd likely pay is around what they wanted for the program. But we'd be paying a fortune upfront and have a monthly payment. We could only go to where Wyndham had properties, which was in America or Australia or some islands, but if we wanted to go to Europe it would be through RCI, which cost about $300 per week. That's about the cost of an AirBnB in some locations, so if you're a smart traveller it may not be worth it at all.)
"Would you rather pay this?" The head salesman circles the $174,000. "Or this", he circles the $130,000. Ooga not want pay big number when ooga pay small number instead. I didn't want it. $45 dollars was as high as I'd go.
This is the part where they tried to pit my girlfriend against me in an amateurish attempt at manipulation. First, they go through the list of everything we ever told them about what we liked about the program (before we ever heard a price). They even sneak in a "you should be willing to sacrifice something for it" and gave a few examples like eating out less or having fewer cups of coffee from Starbucks. So I'm telling the salesman that this is way too expensive and once again the head sales guy shows up. He says things like "I thought you said you liked the program? You said it was a 10/10. Are you saying it's not a 10/10? You said you'd be willing to sacrifice for this!" He was getting irritated. Then he turned to my girlfriend and says "it doesn't sound like he's as rich as he says he is". At this point I was infuriated. Best friends don't say things like this to each other. But I held my cool. I looked him dead in the eye and firmly said "I'm gonna pass".
But damn, the manipulation didn't stop and they didn't give up. They leave us alone to fill out a brief survey with a guy who definitely doesn't sell anything. So this guy shows up, introduces himself, and asks us about why we didn't buy it. I was truthful, it was too expensive and I wasn't willing to spend all that for it. I also felt pressured to make a big commitment on something that hours earlier I knew nothing about. So then he offers to sell us a "trial" program. It's a fraction of the price and it only lasts two years. It starts to be appealing, but then it is also limited to certain locations. I ask to see the contract and the guy says "what do you want me to do, sit here and read you a contract"? At that point he gets frustrated and offers to walk us to the exit. It had been 4 hours. We get our vouchers and leave.
Tl;dr: it would have been a bad financial decision.
Edit: There are a TON of stories in this thread from people who have had experiences with timeshares. They are all worth reading!