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

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where is the VE day spike? I don't want to see anyone ill or die, but I also can't believe that letting people have street congas to mourn the wartime dead during a pandemic is going to have no consequences when people I know are unable to attend family funerals

boxedjoy, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:02 (four years ago) link

it takes a few days to show symptoms, then 1-2 weeks before hospital admittance, then another 1-2 weeks before you cark it

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:06 (four years ago) link

^posting from beyond the grave

imago, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:07 (four years ago) link

"I don't want to see anyone ill or die"

wishing death on English arseholes from the tory heartlands is the only thing that is keeping me going right now!

calzino, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:09 (four years ago) link

The parties weren't huge everywhere and everyone else was still obeying most of the guidance most of the time so VE day may have slowed the decline rather than created a spike.

Average time to death in severe cases is hugely variable - anywhere between 14 and 50 days, so there may still be many VE day related deaths to come.

xp

BRAVE THE AFRIAD (onimo), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:10 (four years ago) link

some of the VE day bbc footage was pretty shocking but I didn't see anything like that in my local tory zone.

calzino, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:14 (four years ago) link

I could imagine similar scenes in villages in Devon like South Brent - which is the only village in Devon i really know!

calzino, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:18 (four years ago) link

OK this is fucking terrible from Starmer

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-dominic-cummings-broke-22097178

(Amounts to “we should move on”)

stet, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:26 (four years ago) link

dismal

I was thinking it was fine until the word "constructively" came up and just pulled the rug out from under it. The rest of it was like some PR stump article from six weeks ago. It didn't even fit together coherently.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:40 (four years ago) link

multiple xps I've really struggled with being so angry about it. In my neck of the woods I see a lot of people out and about, acting like there is no lockdown and there never was. But then a lot of the flats around here are tiny and neglected, and the gardens shared by multiple tenants, so I get why people need to go out. But those aren't the people who've been flocking to the beach and having street parties. More than anything, I don't want to see people die purely because while they're in hospital being treated for it they're still taking up beds that people who've been cautious and unmoronic could actually use

boxedjoy, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:42 (four years ago) link

I don't think it's unreasonable for Starmer to say "let's not focus on Dominic Cummings when people are still dying and our plan is shite" - the pressure on Dominic Cummings is going to be coming from other angles anyway, no-one gives a fuck what his views are on that. The problem is that no-one gives a fuck what The Labour Promise is on Coronavirus either, and the plans he has are a half-step better than the ones that Johnson is already not reaching.

Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:43 (four years ago) link

"(For Labour) It means recruiting an army of over 50,000 so-called ‘contract tracers’."

we'd have recruited more contract tracers, even though I sound quite dismissive of their effectiveness here. I know what he's trying to say but yet another gr8 example of crystal clear message discipline from those masters of spin the Labour melts. he's fucking shit.

calzino, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:46 (four years ago) link

It’s bad but i can imagine someone being reassured by how pedestrian it is. if they can remember having read it of course.

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:50 (four years ago) link

mdc otm that there’s at least one simple editing fail that renders it incoherent in places

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:52 (four years ago) link

" I don't want to see people die purely because while they're in hospital being treated for it they're still taking up beds"

aye that is a fair point.

calzino, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:52 (four years ago) link

"at time of huge anxiety."

he really going for that Red Wall here!

calzino, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:54 (four years ago) link

some of the VE day bbc footage was pretty shocking but I didn't see anything like that in my local tory zone.

― calzino, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 21:14 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol, all my downstairs neighbours with gardens had parties in them, there's some grass at the back of the flats with a lane where i take my dog to have a wee before bed and there were dealers loitering. i have never seen that happen pre-lockdown!

plax (ico), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:30 (four years ago) link

All I saw was some pretty lightweight window dressing, no actual multiple gen gatherings in the street like in some of that bbc footage from deep tory heartlands. but this is yorkshire where anyone who has ever attended a Rugby League game or has tribal tatts, even if they vote tories, live in a 350 grand house with stables connecting to the 30 acre garden and have deep savings and four cars - they are still working class to the core!

calzino, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:46 (four years ago) link

All of these articles are clearly written or at least edited by the same person and they need to fire whoever that person is because they're all bland to the point of incomprehensibility.

The conga line and VE Day in and of themselves are not going to cause a spike in cases, but the confusion caused by government announcements since then might.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:47 (four years ago) link

re newspaper editing styles, I have only, since this cumming thing got big, realised how demented daily mail articles are stylistically a result of having to scroll down endlessly through the main article to find the comments.

plax (ico), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 22:50 (four years ago) link

All of these articles are clearly written or at least edited by the same person and they need to fire whoever that person is because they're all bland to the point of incomprehensibility.

keir starmer iirc

||||||||, Thursday, 28 May 2020 03:45 (four years ago) link

That 412 needs a bit of unpacking - is that hospital deaths alone? There did appear to be a precipitous drop in the daily death rate over the past couple of days so I guess this is the data catching up?


yes, isn’t it the usual weekend (in this case plus bank holiday) pattern?

Fizzles, Thursday, 28 May 2020 06:10 (four years ago) link

i used to quite enjoy reading those old paid for advertorials in the papers. very odd style. “come to/invest in x place - everyone is happy and it’s very stable” usually wrt falling apart failed states. obv also objectively hilarious the government are reserving paid for positive news space in the *Mail*.

having to pay the Mail to run your propaganda is an interesting position for a Conservative government to be in. https://t.co/rMLFDkOEKW

— jamie k (@jkbloodtreasure) May 27, 2020

Fizzles, Thursday, 28 May 2020 06:15 (four years ago) link

i find myself oddly relaxed about the Starmer approach to Cummings, even if the rest is ridiculously melty. The Tories and press will get him fired or not, and i do wonder if there’s something to be said for having a Cummings weak spot to attack whenever you want.

otoh like Tom D sort of said upthread, get your fun and victories where you can. It’ll make everyone feel better and larger victories are made up of smaller victories. no need to overthink it.

Fizzles, Thursday, 28 May 2020 06:17 (four years ago) link

There is a sense that people are waiting for Starmer to unload at PMQs, where he has the reputation for making a bigger fool of BJ.

santa clause four (suzy), Thursday, 28 May 2020 06:22 (four years ago) link

Pmqs though is two weeks away due to recess - and by that time there will almost certainly be something else.

gyac, Thursday, 28 May 2020 06:27 (four years ago) link

Hrsy

Mark G, Thursday, 28 May 2020 06:29 (four years ago) link

No, it’s next week on 3 June.

santa clause four (suzy), Thursday, 28 May 2020 06:37 (four years ago) link

Yeah I guess what I said was true...last week. Lockdown is fucking up any sense of time. Still, point stands that they’ll have tried to shift to something else, and KS seems keen to go along with that.

gyac, Thursday, 28 May 2020 07:00 (four years ago) link

that UK gov paid for advertorial content elsewhere too:

They're also paying The Guardian, albeit a little more opaquely under the name 'All in, all together'.

(Michael Gove said of this: "With this campaign we are both saving lives by providing essential information to the public, and supporting cherished local institutions.") pic.twitter.com/2gXb2bYg9Q

— dan barker (@danbarker) May 27, 2020



gove’s comment is weird. it’s not clear from the All In All Together branding it’s government information? everything about this government is so *strange* (including all the people in it and associated with it obv)

Fizzles, Thursday, 28 May 2020 07:35 (four years ago) link

If Cummings thinks he’s getting all the numbers and emails in my phone he can get fucked. Screw your app to hell and back.

— Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) May 27, 2020

looks like AntiCum could be the new AntiVax

Children of Bo-Dom (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 28 May 2020 08:00 (four years ago) link

The excellent Huw Lemmey on the function of hecklers:

https://huw.substack.com/p/what-have-you-got-to-say-to-that

santa clause four (suzy), Thursday, 28 May 2020 08:05 (four years ago) link

"So where does this leave us over the next few months? With Re so close to 1.0 there are basically two options. First, we could try to accelerate the decline in the number of infected people – bringing Re down further – so that efficient test, trace and isolate measures combined with the quarantine of new arrivals might give us a chance of suppressing the virus to the point of virtual elimination, as has been done in South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and perhaps China.

It became clear from the prime minister’s announcement on 10 May on easing the lockdown that the government has chosen instead to open up the economy when there are still large numbers of infected people who do not know they carry the virus – guaranteeing ongoing infections and the inability to suppress the virus. As a consequence, the Covid-19 death rate will stabilise but may not drop much lower, and the threat to older people and those in care homes will remain serious."

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 28 May 2020 08:06 (four years ago) link

Huw Lemmey piece is great, watching The Hecklers now

Children of Bo-Dom (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 28 May 2020 08:16 (four years ago) link

"all in" is a gambling term, right? are they using it with a difft meaning i'm unaware of? do they mean "all inside"?

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 May 2020 08:21 (four years ago) link

"all in" could be from poker - "i am gambling everything on this one hand" or in slightly more dated slang it means "i am knackered and at the end of my resources"

i mean either way, good choice

Children of Bo-Dom (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 28 May 2020 08:31 (four years ago) link

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/28/alarm-over-five-suicides-in-six-days-at-prisons-in-england-and-wales

having the loosest and most confused lockdown in Western Europe doesn't go as far as our prisons where there is a highly restrictive lockdown regime and five inmates have committed suicide in the last six days.

calzino, Thursday, 28 May 2020 08:55 (four years ago) link

Still, point stands that they’ll have tried to shift to something else, and KS seems keen to go along with that.


DC apptly saying if he is still the story on Sunday he’ll go. So, yeah, surviving until the weekend is literally their strategy now. Hence the actively dangerous early release of T&T etc. This is going to be such a endless bit of the inquiry - “Did you release early to save Dom?” is going to add six months of distraction.

One new bit of info on Saturday, come on people of Durham.

stet, Thursday, 28 May 2020 09:05 (four years ago) link

xp to self!

the danger is nobody gives a shit about prisoners getting locked down during a pandemic (it's probably a pc gone mad non-issue to some) but we aren't meant to be killing them or putting them through such brutal isolation they will come out with PTSD

calzino, Thursday, 28 May 2020 09:09 (four years ago) link

https://t.co/g0pZJHaGmr pic.twitter.com/eqAzH6U7D6

— isaac rose (@_isaacrose) May 28, 2020

?

groovypanda, Thursday, 28 May 2020 09:26 (four years ago) link

jokerfiying on live tv

glumdalclitch, Thursday, 28 May 2020 09:41 (four years ago) link

looks like AntiCum could be the new AntiVax

I was properly shocked that when a friend asked on Facebook "when the app comes out will you use it?" and no-one said they will (unless you need it to get into restaurants etc) - I mean the people who won't are going to be louder than the people who will, but still...

Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 28 May 2020 09:42 (four years ago) link

The whole 'do your civic duty' line from Johnson is just... the gall of it.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Thursday, 28 May 2020 09:47 (four years ago) link

I was properly shocked that when a friend asked on Facebook "when the app comes out will you use it?" and no-one said they will (unless you need it to get into restaurants etc) - I mean the people who won't are going to be louder than the people who will, but still...

I would have no qualms about using it even if I were in a country with a right wing govt like Germany or France - but here? That NHS Angels app that is almost impossible to use but quite competent at spying on your data sets a precedent.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 28 May 2020 09:52 (four years ago) link

I'm not convinced by the app at all. There's the issue of data privacy and security. There's the issue of people who won't take it seriously - "me, self-isolate? Nah I don't feel ill, I'm off for a street conga" - or people who can't because the SSP offered to them means being off work is financially impossible. It runs on Bluetooth - if I'm working a 9-6 and it takes 30 mins journey each way, I won't have battery to have it run in the background on the bus home. And people who work in retail/service jobs are usually not allowed to have their phone on them anyway, and even if managers are sensible and allow it in their pockets, a lot of staff may not feel comfortable on their shop floor or whatever having it on them for all kinds of reasons anyway.

boxedjoy, Thursday, 28 May 2020 09:55 (four years ago) link

also - it's a stereotype based in some level of truth, the most at-risk people are the least tech-savvy. In my experience, so many older people react to being asked for an email address or advice to go online to find something with "oh, I can't be doing with all that, it's not for me" type self-exclusionary disinterest

boxedjoy, Thursday, 28 May 2020 09:58 (four years ago) link

The US and UK pushing against a global patent pool has a real "are we the baddies?" energy to it.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 28 May 2020 10:16 (four years ago) link

I feel like Britain would be better at prolonged lockdown of everyone than it will be at individual lockdowns. "My mates are in the boozer? fuck this I feel fine"

stet, Thursday, 28 May 2020 10:16 (four years ago) link


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