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

this feels like getting al capone for tax fraud, ngl

also dunno how much the tories are truly listening to the demographic that they cheerfully decided to lead to its own extinction earlier this year

Cummings knows where the bodies are buried. The wagons are already circled.

Capone went to prison, lost his marbles due to syphilis, died a dribbling vegetable. Don't see the problem there.

also dunno how much the tories are truly listening to the demographic that they cheerfully decided to lead to its own extinction earlier this year

And who are cheerfully still supporting them.

That's the thing - I don't think they are circled. People on the payroll (and Lolico) are speaking up, but as far as I can see hardly anybody else is, most of the usual outriders are calling for him to go.

"It's not a crime to look after your children" is a terrible message to a set of people that haven't seen adult children+ grandchildren for months — and who you are asking to continue not seeing them. A route out of this might have been "yes he did wrong but", but this lot are literally incapable of admitting even the tiniest error, let alone this.

i think there are two components to the defence: 1. to obfuscate exactly what he did and 2. to emphasise how what he did was nbd

so how he gets nailed is if it can be shown very clearly 1. what he did and 2. why it is a bd

Tory backbenchers are getting restless and aggy as well, you can tell. And a lot of them hate Cummings, so there's hay to be made there.

One of the reasons Starmer was able to force a u-turn on the NHS surcharge was because Johnson was already weak there - it was already a bone of contention on the Conservative benches (plus it was unpopular with the wider country).

what i am not understanding at all is the 'travelled 250 miles so his parents could help with childcare'

were they travelling in the opposite direction? did his children come with him? this is so nuts i can't even cope with the reasoning

I would expect Dominic Cummings' children to have been able to show sufficient fight and self-sufficiency to look after themselves if both their parents were incapacitated and if the house burned down in the meantime then too bad. After all they could just rebuild it themselves.

if he resigns he'll only come back again, like he did last time

Like coronavirus.

It's telling that some Randian-lite blowhard is considered an irreplaceable intellectual giant among the Tory ranks, the thought of Johnson flailing to make some kind of sense without old pumpkin-face Wormtongue whispering in his ear is cringe-inducing.

Today Michael @MichaelRosenYes has been in hospital for 8 weeks & I'm v happy to say he left ICU yesterday after a long & difficult 47 days.His recovery is continuing on the Ward & will take time. He has done so well to get through this but please don't expect him back here yet❤️

— Emma-Louise Williams (@Underthecranes) May 23, 2020

they saved him when his bum popped :)

eight weeks, jesus

glad he’s on the mend, we need him back tirelessly harassing john mann on twitter

Laura K deserves to be sent into orbit for what she did last night, but she won’t because this is a normal country.

Is it true that hundreds of bots started tweeting about Stephen Kinnock at the point at which this story broke last night?

Don't get me wrong, anything that shows up Stephen Kinnock is fine with me but still...

even soulless bot-egg armies on twitter possess more political integrity and genuine sentience than Skinnock tbf to them

In what way is Skinnock not an eggbot himself?

lol!

Keep baldies out of politics.

https://media1.tenor.com/images/4fc7b63cd70014008ea60b77d58e2496/tenor.gif

*tugs collar*

If you are concerned about people ignoring social distancing rules in our parks and open spaces, please ☎️ our anti-social behaviour line on 020 7527 7272.

https://t.co/MaOwCGm9wD

#LondonTogether #SocialDistancing #COVID19

— Islington Council (@IslingtonBC) May 23, 2020

I can't think of any prominent slaphead nazis, plenty of receding shiny foreheads but not full on members of the egg community.

Julius Streicher

oh yeah he was a proper Col Blimp mofo!

Author Michael Rosen out of intensive care after 47 days https://t.co/jL9bK94zTW

— Guardian Books (@GuardianBooks) May 23, 2020

Sturridge has gone to Chelsea BTW.

You'd a decent shine out of Il Duce.

that zarah sultana video doing the rounds is pretty righteous

if only there was some way to share it here on the ilxor dot com uk politics thraed

F--k She's so right! pic.twitter.com/ofOukU4nzb

— cabbieaz (@azizbassman70) May 22, 2020

It's great if Michael Rosen is recovering.

A terrific, courageous, principled, critical commentator on the terrible things that happen in our country.

xp Zarah Sultana getting praised by cabbies was not a development I expected

Fantastic seeing faces from all over the world at @borussia_en pic.twitter.com/7J9GVfbZyN

— David 🇸🇷 (@di1cox) May 23, 2020

Watching the government briefing on periscope and the comments are furious, my God

Hold up is Cummings' son really 24 lmao

Ah no there's a four year old ok

Not surprised by the comments tbh, if you wanted to design a lightning conductor for rage you could hardly do better than this. If it goes badly for Cummings it's going to be like the expenses scandal x10 and all on the head of one man.

This is doing some numbers right now:

My whole family went into isolation for 2 weeks when I had symptoms including my sons who both have respiratory health concerns. I didn’t send them to my parents despite being petrified I’d pass it on to them. He was wrong to travel & you are wrong to undermine your own advice. https://t.co/jzsfZYDeYq

— 🌈 Angela Rayner 🌈 (@AngelaRayner) May 23, 2020

Lol they took three tough questions in a row and then a transport one, Shapps is sweating lol

Looks like Boris has sent out instruction to die on Dom's hill.

Jenny getting ever-closer to just saying "was the child at extreme risk? no"

Jenny is a disgrace.

Not one person asked if he stopped for a piss, come on now. Total disaster.

Sam Coates actually asked if classic Dom had infected anyone on the way to Durham and did it matter.

“Did he stop to take a piss or are you taking it now?”

They’re retconning the medical advice. It’s amazing.

Follow the guidelines to the best of your ability. You can go somewhere when infected as long as you stay there until you are better. Up to the individual to decide if they have enough support. The guidance has a common sense element.

Q. Are you saying that anyone who becomes ill with the virus, they can go closer to relatives – no matter how far away that is?

Shapps says the rules have subsequently changed anyway.

Q. What are the risks of travelling if you have the virus and would you recommend it?

Harries says if people have symptoms, they should self-isolate immediately and stay in their homes.

The only exception around this is around risk, i.e. the issue of safeguarding for children or adults, she adds.