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

What's interesting is how some areas of the UK - especially London - are now back to a rate of COVID-19 cases last seen in *early* March - several weeks before lockdown. pic.twitter.com/9f6bbrS1Rr

— Russ Garrett (@russss) July 5, 2020

the govt's idea of controlling COVID - 19 is just basically working it towards 300 - 500 dying from it daily being normalised, but don't worry our largely underpaid NHS can cope with that, keep squelching turds between yr hands!

Thanks for responding and helping the arts @RishiSunak 👏🏻👏🏻

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 6, 2020

is this like a "thanks for washing your hands" sign?

a victory for civility!

next time ask them very nicely and politely to all please kill themselves, gary. And then kill yourself.

Keir Starmer tells LBC he will undergo unconscious bias training in the wake of his Black Lives Matter comments (will be available to everyone else in the party too)

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) July 6, 2020

God he's unconscious enough already

it's not his fault, he got mesmerised by a hypnotist decades ago who managed to convince him he isn't a deeply conservative reactionary and a languorous middle manager cunt with no personality.

the govt's idea of controlling COVID - 19 is just basically working it towards 300 - 500 dying from it daily being normalised

The time to control it was in February and March, everything else is just playing catch-up sadly.

Hasn't Germany allocated something like 50bn?

https://frieze.com/article/can-germanys-cultural-bailout-set-groundwork-21st-century-new-deal

fucking hell!

those radical christian democrats in Germany eh?

starmer undergoing unconscious bias training is a perfect encapsulation of his tendency to forever choose the option that spares him having to listen to, learn from, and understand people who don't think just like he does

it's not his fault, he got mesmerised by a hypnotist decades ago who managed to convince him he isn't a deeply conservative reactionary and a languorous middle manager cunt with no personality.

― calzino, Monday, 6 July 2020 09:24 (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

much more the latter than the former. not that the latter isn't hugely damaging (and in itself quite reactionary)

Germany's might be wider in scope that the UK's, which appears focused on venues specifically, but we'll see.

Gonna be a lot of pressure on theatres to reopen now and that's an insanely difficult call to make, given what happens if just one actor gets the rona.

After 15 years of resisting every Smart Person telling her to loosen her fiscal policy, spend more money and nudge up inflation, I'm guessing Angela Merkel feels like she's sitting on about a dozen big bags of I-Told-You-So

Not that that is any consolation to the generation of underemployed young people in Greece, Spain and France of course

good luck observing physical distancing rules in the orchestra pit

That thread that Nashwan linked to yesterday is pretty reassuring, especially given the higher levels of testing. Provided (and this is the big if) the data is being shared comprehensively and actively, which appeared to be the problem in Leicester. (Also bloody hell, look at Leicester on that visualisation).

Keir Starmer says he hasn't seen the tweet where shadow Communities Minister Steve Reed allegedly sent an anti-Semitic trope.

The Labour leader says he “hasn’t seen it, but will take a look at it” and speak to Steve after the interview.#CallKeir| https://t.co/cEAAm0zjQ6 pic.twitter.com/EumMpadh3V

— LBC (@LBC) July 6, 2020

Starmer's face between about 22 seconds and 28 seconds suggests he might actually not have heard about this, which seems bizarre.

approve of user calzino's hate-ray but pls focus it on starmer's truest failings: his lily-livered refusal to commit to anything, and his weak yet limply authoritarian demeanour

this latest concocted gotcha is ludicrous of course but steve reed has to go #cometoathens

so now really Rishi needs to retract "world-leading" and replace it with "relatively quite stingy really, but what do expect from austerity loving tory shits, a gold encrusted Ferrero Rocher box with a diamond turd in it?"

But he did commit to something.

He instantly fired the highest-ranking left-winger in the Labour Party.

I'd prefer Starmer if he was genuinely indecisive and reluctant to commit to things, rather than a ruthless, treacherous, reactionary bastard.

commit to anything meaningful, substantial or progressive - the firing of RLB was still a symbolic act of weak resolve imo, the stronger and more decisive ploy would have been to defend her position while condemning her retweet

give it to the tories, they've made the commentariat grateful for anything

when Starmer was campaigning for the leadership he pledged to be a unity candidate (while his team did foul underhand dog-whistle/sexist attacks on RLB) and that he has proved to be so nakedly factional is no surprise to me.

pinched from the guardian:

https://i.ibb.co/kqzFkwN/Capture.jpg

who needs an opposition party when we have Lineker and Francis fucking Barber politely asking the tories to be nicer

Starmer's face between about 22 seconds and 28 seconds suggests he might actually not have heard about this, which seems bizarre.

Oh he definitely hasn't heard about it, you can see the precise moment when he switches from fury about the tweet to fury that he hasn't been told, then he just looks embarrassed.

Any Shadow Minister tweeting the phrase 'puppet master' in 2020, after everything that's happened over the past few years, is a fucking idiot and should probably be fired for being too stupid for the job.

the majority of his shadow cabinet selection hasn't been about their capabilities, it's all about their proximity to the right of the party.

calling ppl stupid is genius

if Reed isn't gone in the next few hours then you need to reconsider your own position Starmzy

Whoops pic.twitter.com/0Ihkzj7tJY

— I Am Damo Godzuki ⬛🔴 (@b11ckchps) July 6, 2020

ah one from the archives

it is incredible watching the realisation dawn on kieth's face that from now on antisemitism is going to be used to take down any and everyone from his cabinetpic.twitter.com/qv42geBhE9

— aarjan #FBPKCG (@aarjanistan) July 6, 2020

pls gif seconds 22-28

Yeah Lansman got all sorts of shit thrown at him, Rhea Wolfson got a lot of straight-up antisemitic abuse as well. More generally I think we all know Campbell's got form for signing off on antisemitic campaign material and also only noticing it when it suits him.

pic.twitter.com/xn1Stl6raP

— kojima of gay descent (@socialistbangrs) July 6, 2020

that vid is delicious

the original i mean

egregious linkin park shade from user NV

that one were alright but i feel like they could've done better in post

"give it to the Tories"

how many times can you deliberately misread tone to get a response. loads apparently

He's just shaming your lack of capitalization.

I commit to calling imago a Tory (capitalization included)

Lol @ that Starmer clip. Sounds like his LBC appearances will be something to look forward to.

Ffs lads it’s capitalisation, ye should all be ashamed of yourselves.

Matt - right, and James Schneider as well!

Posting again:

pic.twitter.com/pIG97cv7hO https://t.co/sUuq0sq026

— Louis (@Louis_Allday) July 6, 2020

On the arts bailout and the BBC story:

"He said institutions would have to apply through industry bodies and would be asked to prove how they contribute to wider economic growth."

So basically there will still be quite a lot of redundancies. Ideology on what the arts are, the good they provide, etc. will be applied as some grants are approved and others are denied.

No further action to be taken against @SteveReedMP. Labour spox says: "Steve deleted the tweet and did not mean to cause any offence.”

Understand he deleted tweet after sending - and before Labour party knew about it - and regrets language used. https://t.co/gdyuA25BW6

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) July 6, 2020

I knew that was gonna happen