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

Mason sounded pragmatic insofar as he was saying: you have to back this if you want Labour to win.

But I don't see much difference between that and saying: let's face it, we have to go back to Tony Blair - winning is what matters.

Mason says KS can bring a 'left government' but can't point to any evidence that KS would do that.

He's an endearing character but I fear that he's living in a kind of fantasy if he thinks his pragmatic pro-KS outlook and sociaist values are aligned here. They're ever further apart.

[sp: socialist]

Am expecting a lock down in Oxford (County Council messaging "Social distance or else ..." and I didn't really notice any distancing today).

Hi djh - how did you get/see the council message?

I haven't seen anything from the council but I did get a text from my GP, which may be the same:

The number of coronavirus cases in Oxfordshire is rising. It is up to each of us to stop the virus spreading - we must act now to protect ourselves and others. Our safety is literally in our own hands - wash your hands regularly, avoid busy gatherings, keep your distance and wear a face covering where appropriate. If you have any symptoms, you must self-isolate immediately and call 119 to book a test. <name of GP surgery>

I guess the text is supplied by some govt/NHS body as I can't imagine any of the staff I've met there would be writing this "literally in our own hands, so wash them, DO YOU SEE" stuff.

Meanwhile a lot of people seem to have given up on distancing whenever I go outside. At least most people are wearing masks in shops, but not all, and hardly any masks outside shops.

And my o/h goes back to work along with his whole department in a week or so - should have been back already but is waiting on some paperwork from the facilities dept. Apparently the advice is "no need to wear masks but look away from each other when someone comes in the room", because the desks nearest the door are within 1m of the door/aisle.

We're all gonna - oh yeah, that thing it traditionally said in the thread title. Hope someone will break the door down to rescue my cat and not put her down as an infection risk.

peerages for Kate Hoey and Claire Fox

And also:

#Breaking Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s brother Jo Johnson, former England cricketer Sir Ian Botham and newspaper owner Evgeny Lebedev are among 36 nominations for peerages announced by the Government pic.twitter.com/6QrBOyLuQU

— PA Media (@PA) July 31, 2020

they just do whatever they want now

Frank Field, Ian Austin, John Woodcock...thank you for your service

Peerages for Evgeny Lebedev, Eddie Lister, Dame Louise Casey, ex-Brexit Party MEP Claire Fox, Boris's brother Jo, Ken Clarke, Philip Hammond, Nick Herbert, Mark Lancaster, Patrick McLoughlin, ex-Corbyn staffer Katy Clark, & many more

A knighthood for Theresa May's husband Philip

— John Stevens (@johnestevens) July 31, 2020

How could you Ken? After all your resistance to Brexit?!

All the others are like fine and expected, but it's the Claire Fox one that is just the most real, most pure one of the lot.

Gisela Stuart too.

(xp) Yeah, Dame Claire Fox, what a joke, I assume we can see more Provo supporting ex-Marxists being ennobled in the future.

L. Prague - We received an email at work, from being on an OCC mailing list for something.

It was essentially this news story:

https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxford-residents-urged-to-follow-social-distancing-to-avoid-local-control-measures/

Unhelpfully, if you go to their news page, the story has been bumped down the page. I have to confess I'm anticipating some form of local lock down.

This tweet really highlights the madness of it all:

In Manchester, you can be sacked for refusing to go and sit with someone in an office, fined £100 for sitting with them at home, and given a money-off deal to sit with them in a busy restaurant.

— Old Git (@toooldforit) July 31, 2020

The worst thing about this is the suggestion that Rishi Sunak is a tall man https://t.co/NM7FDWmi74 pic.twitter.com/53eprI9PNj

— JJ (@boringdystopian) July 31, 2020

Googling to find out how tall Sunak is and the press is saying he’s 5’7”, lollllllll

we are going to see Lord O'Neill and Lord Furedi before the end of this parliament aren't we?

"Boris's brother Jo."

I'm feeling trolled by this government.

The guy who literally resigned for saying his brother wasn't up to running the country.

Staycations .... UKations ... this is the year to find your inner explorer and discover the U.K.

🎧 https://t.co/fZ2jS8SX1n 🎧 pic.twitter.com/fFHX9FCMSs

— Esther McVey (@EstherMcVey1) July 31, 2020

What the fuck is going on???

Sorry i*m late, not reading back, but Claire Fox is the most naked evil bullshit of all time

we are going to see Lord O'Neill and Lord Furedi before the end of this parliament aren't we?

Baron O'Neill and Count Furedi.

That McVey video is unfortunately good not bad.

Not even wearing a fucking seatbelt. Peppa Pig all over again.

Rishi has never seen 5"7 and to be more precise (and lol when you type his name, height is at the top of the google search tree) he is 5"57743 although he might round it up - I'm a stickler for accurate decimal places!

the old Lowry cartoons of Stalin made him look 6"4 as well, but even that diminutive Georgian towered over Rishi.

not Lowry I meant David Low obv!

Dame Ruth Davidson.

McVey: complete lack of dignity and/or Cummings made her do it.

It's absolute violence to my ears when I hear London based tories refer to Kirklees like it is a town or a city

I'm with you. Same down here when they report on the news an incident in Newham or Havering or Haringay or whatever. Those are just made up names of councils. If something happened in East Ham or Romford or Tottenham, just say that.

https://www.redpepper.org.uk/how-corbyn-unmasked-comedy/

little summary of why all British comedy is bad by Juliet Jacques, the recurring theme is when faced with the prospect of a centre-left government they all (including Stewart Lee) shit the bed and revealed themselves to be a bunch of posturing establishment lackey arsewipes. Not much of a reveal but correct.

Josie Long erasure.

I've got no idea who she is, but no doubt will have heard her on R4 at some point when I'm having an apoplectic fit of laughter!

Not mad at anyone who doesn't find her funny, just saying she's a name who stayed 100% pro Corbyn through the whole time and deserves credit for that.

ah I see

Iannucci and Brooker. I would happily take them both out NKVD style bullet through the back of the head, although my hatred of Brooker predates Corbynism.

for balance i would like to add that Mark Thomas never knowingly made anybody laugh ever

Chris Morris dismissed him as "just someone who bullies receptionists" which was probably correct!

Geoff Norcott makes being a Tory his USP, like as if he works in a field full of lefties/radicals and openly being a Tory twat makes him a real enigma.

I saw Mark Thomas a couple of years ago in Stratford. It wasn't comedy, though, it was a staged history of his attempt to start a comedy club with Palestinian refugees in Jenin. Two of them had come with him to do the show. I thought it was incredible and parts were very very funny.

Jeremy Hardy(RIP), Alexei Sayle, Josie Long.. that's probably the shortlist covered!

Mark Thomas’ bit when he was going up against the serious organised come and police act cane round on the BBC recently, and I still think it’s funny although memories of simpler times.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007760g

Not mad at anyone who doesn't find her funny

Well that's me off the hook then.

yes we are aware :)

was just about to post that redpepper piece

Rob Delaney's probably had the biggest pro-Jez uptick of any comedian I can think in the leftysphere.

yup

Mark Thomas is a thing apart.

There's a double cd of his tales wrt Palestinian refugees and all sorts, it's stunning stuff.

I've been reading quite a lot of Swift this year and it occurs to me that saying "both Corbyn and Johnson are terrible" is very much a kinda world-gone-to-hell thing that satire (at least Swift's) often does. That disgust of the state of things, perhaps? I'm still processing Swift tbh, but I think that's what all these people were aiming for.

And if you cross with FBPE and Europe being the only thing in your imagination then it's unlikely you'd be able to distinguish sides.