love* in the time of plague (and by love* i mean brexit* and other dreary matters of uk politics)

I was talking about Mayday and being a bit sarcastic since I bet there are going to be a lot of hotspots this weekend if the weather stays as good as it looks outside. Rain has just been a couple of showers when it has happened.
So expecting a resurgence in a couple of weeks.

Bank holiday Friday doesn't sound great.

I've been a workshy layabout for so long now that bank holidays long since lost any significance to me. When I was self-employed they used to be a pain in the arse when I wasn't making enough money and didn't get paid for them. I forget that normal people like to do stuff on bank holidays!

there's a spring bank holiday at the end of the may as well (in england anyway). the 26th, in that "article", is the tuesday after BH Monday.

Fair play. Great leadership. https://t.co/4zJgrSeF4j

— Tom Watson (@tom_watson) May 1, 2020

If by 'exceeding' he means 'counting tests we haven't even sent out yet' then fair play indeed.

tom thinks falsely inflating figures by posting 40000 tests out is great leadership? even The Mail are calling bullshit on that manoeuvre.

Intending to post

another cunt who wandered into the Labour party by mistake except he was like this at age 20

London’s Nightingale Hospital is effectively being wound down after taking no new patients.
Was it just a PR stunt?
Facilities must not be taken down. They must be use to clear huge waiting list for treatments. We must not return to huge NHS queues. https://t.co/CaMPlYYAzl

— Prem Sikka (@premnsikka) May 2, 2020

more great leadership for Tom W to admire here.

we must keep this facility, which we never had the nhs manpower to properly staff to begin with, open at all costs

another testament to great leadership ..here's to Priti Patel and current UK immigration policies which are serving this country so well

The crisis has really shown up what good leadership actually looks like. The countries that are well governed appear to have got a grip on the crisis and saved thousands of lives in the process.

The UK has had the absolute opposite of good leadership and its leaders are being fawned over even as thousands of people continue to die. The only conclusion to draw is that the British, or at least English, concept of leadership is both fucked and entirely delusional.

Also I was going to say yesterday that Starmer can afford to basically ignore the Zoom controversy because no one seriously believes he's in the pocket of the Big Muslim Conspiracy but seeing today's papers apparently not.

Pretty much everything about the UK and how it sees itself is delusional.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EXA5maYXgAQGAd5?format=jpg&name=medium

from the pointless letters account, lets not dwell on thousands of people dying - here is the news 63.97 million people have not died today!

The only conclusion to draw is that the British, or at least English, concept of leadership is both fucked and entirely delusional.

― Matt DC, Saturday, 2 May 2020 bookmarkflaglink

A lot of countries are backing their leaders whatever it is they are doing, and seem to be doing so for a notion of unity at a difficult time. Think a few countries in Europe have fucked up but no heads are rolling yet.

People aren't going to spend much, unemployment will be high, there could be a housing crash with a mismanaged easing of the lockdown. Plenty of time for people to turn on their leaders.

At the moment deaths are rising in Sweden and some are blaming immigrants rather than the govt bad strategy.

The notion of whether our leaders will continue to popular isn't really what I was talking about (I don't think they will) it's what's hailed as "leadership" that feels particularly stupid here.

"No one saw it coming" is the best bit in that letter.

The good cops & bad cops of Haringey trying out their latest social distancing measures

We have the pleasure of 20 new recruits across the BCU who just completed their final training on street duties.

Normally they have a parade ceremony at Hendon but made do with some crackers & cheese☺️😩

We wish them every success on their new journey & stay safe. #NewRecruits pic.twitter.com/deCG4QKDUC

— MPS Haringey |#StayHomeSaveLives (@MPSHaringey) May 2, 2020

In other news, the latest Johnson sprog has been named...Wilfred?!

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7bzIQJebe-g/WT7GVwOpq3I/AAAAAAAAUtA/d7zyQBRydqIJavN9fX_kuP_SzKG6cJCbwCLcB/s400/01.png

This is Belgium.

Meanwhile in Belgium... their deputy prime minister getting to grips with the situation. pic.twitter.com/NPnelc6shd

— Laura Round (@LauraRound) May 1, 2020

Was this on here before.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-testing-figures-uk-target-criticism-hancock-a9495621.html?fbclid=IwAR0WI7Lt-0qo07uu-33wPfipHst57nHFY3BZlstV6uLuglu1awzf-waCpVw

‘we want to support the aviation industry any way we can’ says jenrick at today’s press conference

can’t wait for government to nationalise the airlines for the benefit of the nation

made the mistake of listening to 15 minutes of PM. the steady drip of stories about how capitalism can be saved asap started making me feel ill.

I don't think it would save capitalism but would like to propose an experiment to launch Wilfred into space and see if he makes a better satellite than his useless fucking dad has a PM so far.

The aviation issue is interesting. BA seems to be opposed to taking any government money (though parent company IAG has received some from Spain) and is using it as an excuse to sack staff and decrease pay / conditions. It sounds like Virgin is in serious trouble and the government has made it fairly clear it won’t help - not unreasonably, given that they’ve barely paid any tax or made a profit at any point over the last few years.

My occasional whippet Wilf objects to those idiots and their spawn, who have ruined a perfectly good dog’s name.

so sorry about that suzy. These lowlife ruin everything they touch.

not that you could ruin a beautiful whippet just by name association!

The pic of Embarrassed Wilf is over on the birdie hellsite, as is the custom.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/03/uk-lockdown-must-not-be-lifted-until-covid-19-transmission-is-understood-say-scientists?CMP

50% of new confirmed cases in the UK are now healthcare workers - so a lack of PPE is directly affecting the country's ability put the worst of the outbreak behind it.

Interview with Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East and the youngest MP in the Commons, who has returned to care work during the crisis (it's what she was doing directly before the December election).

https://www.leftlion.co.uk/read/2020/may/nadia-whittome-nottingham-east-mp-covid-19-coronavirus-response/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/03/uk-lockdown-must-not-be-lifted-until-covid-19-transmission-is-understood-say-scientists?CMP🕸

50% of new confirmed cases in the UK are now healthcare workers - so a lack of PPE is directly affecting the country's ability put the worst of the outbreak behind it.

xp
she was on AQ on Friday night, she's my hero - she's so brilliant and fuck about 99% of MPs who aren't worth shit next to her.

Watching some of the news this morning and a bit of Andrew Marr, I just don't see the prospect of the Tories being held to account over any of this, they're getting away with murder (no pun intended) right now, I can see them coming out of this stronger than ever. People on this thread keep saying, "Ah but just wait until unemployment goes through the roof! Or the housing market crashes! The economy tanks!" but they've probably got the single greatest get-out clause any British government has ever had. Plus Boris Johnson almost died! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it! And, by the way, did you know Boris Johnson almost died?

otm i.e. “now is not the time for negativity”

I don't know about nearly died, wasn't a doctor quoted as saying he might have been "gilding the lily" and using a bit of "poetic licence" by hogging a precious bed in ICU.

I think there's an awful lot of wishful thinking itt... but it's understandable because what's the alternative?

(xp) You obviously haven't heard about the cunt's interview with the Sun that's vying with Wilfred the 7th, 8th, 10th for space on today's front pages.

Starmer's approach on this will fuck Labour as much as standing with the Tories on Scottish independence. He's put himself in a position where all he can gain is a pat of the head for being a grown up.

If our response is deemed (or spun) as a success we'll stick with Boris Churchill for Getting Covid Done.
If it's as expected the worst in Europe and second only to US globally then politely and respectfully and forensically holding hands with Boris makes you part of the problem.

It already is the worst in Europe and it already is being spun as a success.

British journalist discovers the outcome of British journalism. https://t.co/U397gmnL2q

— epiplexis (@epiplexis_) May 3, 2020

the senseless fucked up duplexity of the british public will keep the tories in power for at least another decade, no matter how weak their leadership is.

I was allowing for the dust to settle in a year or so and someone to do all the above average death calculations as each country is counting differently but yes, it's terrible and probably the worst.

xp

According to Grant Shapps this morning, the reason the death rate looks so bad in comparison to other countries is because we've got really good statisticians in the UK. No joke.

for a start those germans have traditionally been not very competent at the old game of counting corpses

People on this thread keep saying, "Ah but just wait until unemployment goes through the roof! Or the housing market crashes! The economy tanks!" but they've probably got the single greatest get-out clause any British government has ever had. Plus Boris Johnson almost died! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it! And, by the way, did you know Boris Johnson almost died?

― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Sunday, 3 May 2020 bookmarkflaglink

How does this make sense? People aren't going to cut Boris slack if they are struggling in a recession because his life was in danger lol.

I am counting on the cruelty if the British public here.

This crisis has hardly started to work itself through.

The cardinal error you're making is assuming politics has to make sense, I would have thought the last few years would have disavowed you of that notion.