PICS: Brits head to packed nightclubs at midnight on ‘Freedom Day’

Clubs return, but common sense departs.

The UK's so-called 'Freedom Day' is here - and so is the long awaited return of nightclubs. While here in Ireland outdoor dining remains the norm for most, across the sea, the stroke of midnight saw clubs across the UK reopen for the first time in almost one and a half years. [caption id="attachment_281159" align="alignnone" width="2048"] The queue outside the Egg London nightclub in the early hours of July 19/Via Getty[/caption] With cases rising, experts criticising the government's decisions to go ahead with the country's reopening, and the Delta variant still a rising problem, the UK is still very much still in the trenches. [caption id="attachment_281161" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Pryzm nightclub/Via Getty[/caption] Don't get me wrong, we all want to be sweating in a club, our shoes sticking to the floor as someone we are not even vaguely interested in tells us about how they were very nearly a professional footballer. But over 1,200 scientists said that the UK's "Freedom Day" was a mistake, with many saying it was outright dangerous. [caption id="attachment_281162" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Via Getty[/caption] [caption id="attachment_281164" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Via Getty[/caption] Professor Christina Pagel, a member of the Independent UK Sage panel, said: “Because of our position of a global travel hub, any variant that becomes dominant in the UK will likely spread to the rest of the world. “We saw it with Alpha variant. I’m absolutely sure that we have contributed to the rise of the Delta variant in North America and Europe. UK [government] policy doesn’t just affect us – it affects everybody.” [caption id="attachment_281165" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Via Getty[/caption]