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

this paradigm shift some where predicting in March ain't happening, we might have start killing some of them instead

it has demonstrated to me that even tho i only make just above min wage i'd prob take 55% of my current salary to never work again, but then again i am single, own where i live and p much never go out, which applies to v few people

Another problem for economists is that literally no one fully understands the behaviour of the key variable here, the virus. Not just the extent to which it could spread or persist - and what effect that will have on the economy - but also what the long term health consequences of surviving covid will be for thousands of people, what that will mean for their capacity to work (or do anything else) and the pressure on the NHS in the future.

Probably one of the reasons why Sunak barely mentioned the virus on Wednesday.

I'm pretty sure thousands of previously healthy people now finding it difficult to walk short distances without getting shortness of breath will be a massive boost for the UK's already dire levels of productivity. Boris will be telling them to "man up" no doubt.

there might be a point where Boris stretches this - got a huge working majority, can say what I fucking like - to the point where there is a backlash.

I don't think saying what he fucking likes is about the majority, it's Boris doing the Trump thing of relying on his personal following and his proven ability to get away with stuff other politicians can't get away with.

I've been so calm and peaceful during lockdown, even despite the background noise of constant deaths, my partner's long-term depression getting worse and fears for my job security. I went back to work this week to prepare for re-opening on Monday (thanks for holding off, Sturgeon!) and within an hour I had lost any sense of calmness I'd developed over the past three months. I hate my job but I hadn't realised how much, and actually the prospect of getting paid off and a decent redundancy fills me with joy more than anxiety now. I've also never actually had this much money left over at the end of the month even though my income is reduced - not just because I've been staying in and not doing gigs/clubs/pubs, but even just the little pick-me-ups like a trip to Greggs when I feel too done in to make a lunch the night before. Now we can visit people and I don't feel so isolated, I'm with oscar bravo, I would happily live a minimal and simple life if it meant I never had to deal with the public and a hierarchy of management again.

I've been fine with the lockdown until the last month or so when I've probably been more bored than I've been at any time in my life.

The things I miss most about working are the people I work with and having something to keep me occupied during the daytime.

Wonder whether this is going to rub against companies that now would actually like their employees to stay home as it might save on office costs?

I mean, this is us, but we're not going to pay a blind bit of notice because everyone can work from home, like afaict the whole of the City.

NV otm - one of the depressing things about that "at least Corbyn isn't in charge" piece in the Guardian during the week is the idea of what changes John McDonnell might've been able to jimmy open at this point.

I don't think saying what he fucking likes is about the majority, it's Boris doing the Trump thing of relying on his personal following and his proven ability to get away with stuff other politicians can't get away with.

Yeah, he doesn't think the Boris Field is powered by the majority, as far as he's concerned the Boris Field emanates throughout the universe.

A few friends on Facebook have been talking about how the last month has been the worst - going into lockdown together gave some sense of 'unity', but now that different parts of society are not just pulling in different directions but accelerating, the shearing effects are really getting to them.

To an extent that's been the case all the way through though - going to the supermarket to get the weekly shop in a mask means ignoring that none of the staff have them.

(also there's the weird British-to-the-point-of-Miéville about people going "I'm in a queue, I'm six feet from the people behind and ahead of me, I'm fine, other people are going past all the time but they're not in the queue so they're not a concern" but that's not really relevant)

Enjoyed that cunt being in intensive care, ngl

The only enjoyment we'll be allowed for the next four years till Starmer loses, it's like a little treat.

If only the ventilator had malfunctioned or some pissed off NHS staff accidentally dropped it on his head, multiple times

If Kier got the Rona there would an emergency focus group ready to go into action

He would try to reason with the virus and understand its motivations and why it's been so successful.

... and die accordingly.

I’d love to get paid without having to work, all else being equal, but it’s not exactly like a normal holiday if you can’t go out and do things and you can’t separate the not-working from the ongoing crisis that is killing people. Even the people I know who say they’ve been enjoying the lockdown are upset that they haven’t been able to see family, for instance.

I really hated trying to work from home, I’ve never done it before and my job is like 95% practical lab-based activity anyway, plus my flat is tiny so there was no way to have a separate work & living area. I got on better with my 3 weeks on furlough, but I just didn’t have the concentration for the flat-bound pastimes I really enjoy. In that respect I guess I’m glad to be back at work? Although I’m knackered and stressed and about to be much more knackered and stressed once our busy season starts.

tl;dr foad boris

Yeah Boris can fuck himself imo

EXC 🚨 Keir Starmer has launched a boycott of Facebook in solidarity with Black Lives Matter

Leaked email says Labour backs "complete boycott" because of hate speech on FB, so no paid ads "at all"

Party spent >£1m on FB last year

Call made last week but not publicly announced

— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) July 11, 2020

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EcrIBV3WsAIQyfi?format=jpg&name=medium

oh dear here we go again.

if only this was foreseeable

like as if Tories suddenly started losing sleep over the terrible working conditions they have done so much to stimulate in the last decade and blame it on local pc labour councils and the pigs!

Regulators In this country are so underfunded that an employer can expect to wait 500 years for a minimum wage inspection but, yeah, blame political correctness. https://t.co/epGTuEt5tF

— Aditya Chakrabortty (@chakrabortty) July 11, 2020

Gordon Brown warned allies of Sir Keir Starmer not to appoint Ed Miliband to the shadow cabinet after concluding that he was “unprincipled”, “useless” and had “trashed his achievements”, according to friends of the former prime minister.

Brown cautioned against Miliband’s improbable return to frontline politics earlier this year. His former aide and successor as leader has since been appointed shadow business secretary.

Two sources said Brown’s stance stemmed from Miliband’s decision to distance himself from his mentor’s record during his time as party leader and his failure to speak out against Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

I already knew Broon was a thin skinned churlish bitter bastard, but lol what a doggedly bitter bastard he is!

grim times ahead when Sir Kier is going to be put under pressure by right wing Labour grandees to purge the shadow cabinet of "troublesome lefties" like poor old Ed is considered to be trouble by these horrible grim bastards that aren't happy enough that they got extremely lucrative jobs in top 20 hedge funds after leaving government.

Did anyone find Miliband's return improbable?

Not especially tbh, Stephen Bush pointed out that bringing Miliband back into the fold ensured the headlines for Starmer were 'Miliband' s Back' rather than 'Purge' and it seemed the sort of thing that might conceivably happen even under Corbyn.

Brown kept Miliband in his Cabinet for his entire Premiership so I'd take that with a pinch of salt. "Sources close" to Brown could include some of the worst people in Labour politics who have an axe to grind going back a decade.

Like Gordon Brown?

I've not read that Observer piece on Starmer so I don't know what his favourite colour is. But at least from the pic it looks like he's fixing to be 20 pints ahead, what a normal bloke!

Hmm something tells me Labour are not actually going to cede the entire Facebook playing field to Dominic Cummings for the next four years so let's see what happens here.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/11/competent-likeable-decisive-keir-starmer-beating-boris-johnson-on-all-counts?CMP

This doesn't actually look good for Johnson at all except for the section on the economy. Wonder how that would look if they asked the same questions for Sunak vs Starmer though. (Also I can still see the Tories doing something genuinely deranged like going for Priti Patel next time round).

tbf no-one knows who Annelise Dodds is

Those Starmer numbers just look like honeymoon type numbers to me. And again, yes, it's unlikely Johnson will stay on anyway.

One thing that will drag Starmer down is the kind of in-fighting from the right of the party. RLB today, Red Ed tomorrow, and on it goes. Poor performance at council elections is another potential opportunity for them too.

That's assuming any of those things happen - if Labour do well in local elections (and the conditions might be right for them by then) then the right of the party will have to keep quiet whether they like what's going on or not, or risk looking like the churlish wreckers they are. Depends what happens in any by-elections along the way as well.

Who from the Labour right would they think they could replace him with? I find it hard to imagine a resurgence of interest in Dan Jarvis.

Pretty sure Jarv can do more press-ups than Starmzy.

"Who from the Labour right would they think they could replace him with?"

Doubt they are capable of reflection, which is also why they wouldn't stop either.

Those Starmer numbers just look like honeymoon type numbers to me. And again, yes, it's unlikely Johnson will stay on anyway.

It's almost impossible to imagine Boris serving a full term. "I do like that Keir fellow why I might even consider voting for him thats right!"

the right of the party will have to keep quiet whether they like what's going on or not, or risk looking like the churlish wreckers they are

It's only the difference between overt and covert. Having said that, covert is more difficult due to limited intelligence

Re: local councils. Unless the Labour (and let's face it, the Lab left) can organise opposition that really shifts public mood all you end up with is central govt shifting blame to local govt, and Lab councils. As with that story on Leicester.

This was a good piece on Ted Knight, who died recently and led Lambeth through the 80s.

https://newsocialist.org.uk/comrade-ted-knight-labour-left-and-local-government/

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/education-53348709?

Marxist Academies Unis are going to the wall then.

It’s not necessarily a bad idea if you have a) high-quality technical education and b) a manufacturing industry. We have little of either.

Could there be a way through Tories blaming Labour councils for cuts eg. ‘Tories think the public are stupid and don’t pay attention, but everyone knows it’s them setting budgets and expecting Labour councils to take the blame for the austerity they created.’

I don't think people do blame local councils for cuts anyway.

By and large, that is.

agree with SV the HE system could do with a major restructure, obv this won't be it

The problem for Labour is a psychological one as much as anything else - on the face of it there's potential mileage in the "they think you're stupid" line but I don't think it works because it implies that voters who switched from Labour to the Tories have been taken for idiots.

That's going to make a lot of them more likely to double on the decision next time round because the idea that you personally might have fucked up is humiliating. It's one reason why Remainers failed so unambiguously to covert many people to their cause post-2016.

good lord, that Reeves is fucking awful. Just the idea that there might be some element of harm reduction in putting on a nose peg and voting for a party that nominates her to talk over the entire shadow cabinet, fuck that shit. Previously you wouldn't need to ask if Labour would be raising taxes for 80k+ earners and Sir Kier committed to maintaining the redistributive agenda of the previous leader during the leadership election.

like some people are saying if they just keep replying "there won't be an election for years" without putting across to electorate what they are wanting to deliver, and just being completely neutral on every shitty tory policy, then gl because they'll need a lot of it!

Why is Reeves giving an opinion on everything from tax to education?

it's fucking ridiculous, she's the most right-wing reactionary and completely unpleasant member of the shadow cabinet, needs to be seen less of imo, and not undermining everyone else. Has Starmer lost faith with Dodds now? i wasn't paying attention but i saw some commenting she put in a very rocky performance the other day, others saying she did well.

I don't think it works because it implies that voters who switched from Labour to the Tories have been taken for idiots.

Is there much to suggest those particular voters would ever switch back? It seems unlikely, under any circumstances