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

Has Naomi just come out of a coma?

So it looks like Johnson either just outright lied to Starmer about govt advice over care homes or didn't know the answer, bullshitted and got it wrong.

It feels like one of those things that will ultimately have no affect on his support at all, but it will be nice watching him sweat about it (Labour has now demanded he answer for it in Commons)

There’ll be a lot of not feeling the mood of the country, playing politics bollocks levelled at anyone questioning the government’s approach. It’ll be ramped up even more if Starmer is effective.

If he's effective, it'll become more obvious than ever that the mood of the country is "let's not die, eh?" and it's the government that's not feeling it

I think there will be a steady erosion of trust in the govt's handling of things (there is already!) but this is likely to just be another stage in that rather than a turning point. This has its dangers as well as people are more likely to go "fuck it, they don't know they're what they're talking about, I'm going out".

There's surely only so far you can spin a performance like Johnson's, but i guess we'll find out. I can't imagine he'll continue to get minced for an hour a week for the foreseeable future without trying to find a way out of it.

need to hear what the big brain of Charles Moore is thinking about this!

it's hard to tell how effective discrediting the tories is, given how capable the tories have been at harnessing public cynicism. the SNP have made use of a lot of purely negative anti-politics sentiment by focusing it on constitutional issues, but there's no sign of much appetite for that from starmer and if he's just trying to earn trust, which seems quaint in 2020, then performances at PMQs, which are basically a wholly negative exercise (at least how he's doing them atm), or even the actions within parliament are not that relevant

I guess the Tories have suddenly been forced into the position of depending on credibility - politicians can’t use distrust in politicians to (successfully) fight a pandemic.

Also, even if it doesn’t win the election getting to watch a drubbing is good for the soul.

how has starmzy got a hairchop

So @BootsUK want volunteers to risk catching #COVIDー19 whilst testing people and not pay them a penny. They want volunteers to work at least 32 hours a week. People should be paid to do this and Boots can afford to pay people. Awful. https://t.co/MQP8x7FaF5

— Charlotte Hughes. The Poor Side Of life (@charlotteh71) May 13, 2020

Boots trying to tap into that Big Society energy slave labour for dangerous work requiring a 32 hour week. cunts.

The Tories' big asset is their ruthlessness and consequent ability to renew themselves - don't like these Tories? Fine, we'll get new ones. This lot have managed to get where they are partly due to distrust but also heavily on hot air and that isn't going to cut it any longer. But if it looks like it's going seriously wrong in the eyes of the electorate once the pandemic is receding then they won't hesitate to try and oust him.

They might be a little thin in terms of bench strength by now though.

how can you say that when Chris Grayling is still in the playing squad?

Chris Grayling has never announced his retirement from international football.

oh they'll go for Sunak like a shot. He is already making the right noises about protecting money above all else, he's across the detail and the melts wet themselves about him

He's also the key person behind the 'remove lockdown, let them all die' wing of the party aiui, which i guess will come out more in the event there was a leadership election.

Johnson is a last roll of the dice for Tories in some respect. That 'star quality' aspect so many seem to think he has is completely absent in anyone else within the party. They will gamble everything to maintain control but...who are the Etonians coming up to replace the class of 10+ years ago if any?

you won't know until it's too late

there's Prue Leith's son Danny Kruger for one

Toby Young in a backwards baseball cap.

https://twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/1260567659516747787

"My own advice was misquoted to me so, er, I had to lie"

No 10 says Starmer 'inaccurately + selectively' quoted the March 12th guidance - see it in full for yourself here - https://t.co/JJ8c9cLLeL

— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) May 13, 2020

The document which was published Feb 25th then withdrawn on Mar 13th says twice that it is very unlikely people in care homes would get infected because there was no community transmission of the virus at that stage

— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) May 13, 2020

Johnson, Sunak, some other Etonian...it all works for the Tories (or Labour) as long as there is enough money for enough of the population to live on. Whatever the growth, whatever the recession, whatever the austerity that has pretty much been the case. Even the Furlough at 80% will be too little for a lot of small companies the longer this goes on. At the moment there is a fake re-start of the economy going on and when that fails there is another -- and always the ultimate -- test, i.e. how long does that magic money tree keep running on for, and does that make it through to enough people.

They’d do it with Sunak just so they could have the first BAME PM. Though everyone else is a busted flush and he’s relatively new, I don’t know who else there would or could be.

i agree and even hope that it will implode sooner rather than later. what i question is whether the upshot will be anything other than starmer's labour in power

Fucking hell you know it's bad when Laura K is pointing out the govt's bullshit.

We had a decade of zombie 'growth' based on rock bottom interest rates that enriched the 1% while the public sector was endlessly looted and workers' rights pared to the bone

We now have simply formalised the zombieness of our economy, while going ahead and letting actual people just die, paid UBI for a few months for jobs that won't exist later as they contemplate a life on UC

They’d do it with Sunak just so they could have the first BAME PM. Though everyone else is a busted flush and he’s relatively new, I don’t know who else there would or could be.

― gyac, Wednesday, 13 May 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Is being Asian enough of an issue for the core Tory voters though?

Given the age and risk profile of most core Tory voters that might not be an issue by then.

They could be stuffed whoever is in charge if that becomes the case. But Covid is killing people in cities (mostly Lab) and a lot of BAME workers too.

(That's my assumption I haven't checked the figures as broken down by area lately)

I'm talking about the people who actually vote in Tory leadership elections, but I was also being a bit facetious. My gut feeling is they won't go for him but you never know.

they go for sunak if they decide they can beat like with like (not that he is starmer's exact like but the voters may see it thus)

they go for some sort of joffreyesque young psycho 'character' str8 outta eton (or girls school equiv) if...if they think british affection to those types will never truly fade idk

there are alternatives. one of which is phoenix bojo

They’d do it with Sunak just so they could have the first BAME PM. Though everyone else is a busted flush and he’s relatively new, I don’t know who else there would or could be.

― gyac, Wednesday, 13 May 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Is being Asian enough of an issue for the core Tory voters though?

I love this song:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/13/packed-tube-trains-prompt-union-anger-at-johnsons-back-to-work-message-coronavirus-lockdown

I think the only way Sunak wins is via the Theresa May route: a contest where everyone but him drops before it goes to membership vote.

what if him vs gove goes to a vote

“I think if they haven’t got sick by now, they think they’ve got away with it,” she said.

think this is going to be a lot of ppl's thinking. have caught myself thinking it even - v.silly and complacent

Myself also, even tho 3 seconds with a calculator says the recorded cases is .3% of the population, and while it'll be higher - a lot higher - even 100 times that is a 1/3 chance that I've had it.

He’s not Muslim, so no. They’d happily vote for Patel if she made the ballot.

This is 100% true, though the psychosexual turmoil might cause another few thousand to shuffle off.

Jenrick says people (in England) can now move house if they want to.

He says they have to follow the guidelines on the government’s website.

He says he can understand why people might think it is odd to be allowed to visit a stranger’s house (if they are buying), but not a relative’s.

But, he says, in the first instance buyers should inspect a house online. There should be no open viewings, and no speculative viewings, he says.

All viewings are speculative! How does anyone prove they're not? And does this apply to moving into house-shares? Can't be arsed attempting to traverse the govt website to find out tbh

here’s the Johnson reply, urging Starmer to stick to his pledge to work “constructively” with the government: “The public expect us to work together.” pic.twitter.com/o285c9ylYh

— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) May 13, 2020

starmer ‘missing the mood of the nation’ claims boris

The government has privately conceded there will be checks on goods crossing the Irish sea post Brexit

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"That's a very mean question and you are mean for asking", where have we heard that before

Trying to beat Sir Forensic with pedantry isn't going to work so he's resorting to shame, but the fact that Starmer felt confident enough to try that question is because he knows the public is getting angry.

^this coming from someone who 1 week ago typed the words 'when Boris beats Starmer' to this very thread ;)