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

People are waiting for hours on the #UniversalCredit helpline or placed up to 78,000th in an online queue.

Cuts of nearly 50,000 staff from the DWP since 2010 have created a failing system even before this crisis.

People need financial security if they're expected to stay home.

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) March 24, 2020

just thinking about how Corbyn and McD would slate Universal Credit on a daily basis in quite plain language and remembering how Starmer once called it "deeply flawed" and then called for it to be scrapped once, in the heat of a Labour leadership election. Such a huge volume of extra people getting exposed to its deliberate dysfunctional design flaws at the same time was probably never part of the plan.

He actually had a pretty good tip about putting your trolley behind you when unloading at the checkout so that the person behind can't get too near xp

at least when this has passed millions of people will be radicalized and will recognize the injustice and cruelty of the benefits system and demand change

probably more likely they'll be radicalised towards the right and calling for homeless corpses to be converted into bio-fuel for Drax. But I do believe many people will actually have their eyes opened by this.

i was being sarcy and i think most people will snuggle back into "normality" with a sigh of relief and heavy amnesia

Ideally you'd have two trolleys, one in front and one behind
xpost

The UK electorate do seem to have a preternatural gift for not seeing dead people

"What we did in Italy was to let the virus spread – we intervened too late and that’s why we ended up where we are."

Our latest episode features TP contributor @luxrub, currently in isolation in Italy: find the full episode here → https://t.co/tThVBQWQs1 #CoronavirusLockdown pic.twitter.com/5qmtBN66is

— Talking Politics (@TPpodcast_) March 24, 2020

what this podcast lacks in the startling insights of Ashley Young it gains by almost covering every blade of grass re: the story of the Italian response to COVID 19

uk symptoms tracker: https://covid.joinzoe.com/

(full in daily even if well)

I'm helping *Ralph Wiggum voice*

Anecdotally there seem to be lots of people in Brixton getting this right now - two couples I know and Miranda Sawyer.

lol the fucking app doesn't work *not Ralph Wiggum voice*

crossing out "guy's" and writing in "lads"

Anecdotally there seem to be lots of people in Brixton getting this right now - two couples I know and Miranda Sawyer.

― santa clause four (suzy), Wednesday, 25 March 2020 bookmarkflaglink

No surprises there, the virus probably originated in the Hootenanny pub

Prince Charles has tested positive.

The virus keeps on giving

Andrew next please.

Being incapable of sweating is going to really benefit him when the fever hits.

please do the queen, based COVID-19

I don't think anybody wants a dead queen while we're stuck inside in front of the telly

I've put my symptoms in the app too. Everything bar the fever, it seems. Is there any way to see the results?

I mean what's the point if we can't have a day off and a street party?

critical support for comrade covid-19

luv to see virus on virus violence

Parliament rising today until 21 April so last Jez PMQs at noon.

Astonishing it's still open.

The government has also updated the list of premises which are allowed to stay open to include off licenses, which is kind of the perfect encapsulation of "We will be very strict unless you don't want us to be".

On which note I can absolutely see all of this called off for a full Dead Monarch street parade.

> I don't think anybody wants a dead queen while we're stuck inside in front of the telly

it's bad enough with charles. the same 5 minute clip of him shaking hands with most of a small welsh town is currently being shown on a loop.

Charles and Camilla are 'self-isolating' - presumably just them and all their staff then?

Charles getting cv should hit the 65+ approval ratings of the handling.

fuck the Times but this could be not-shit news

Neil Ferguson of Imperial says his modelling shows that with NHS ICU surge and new national lockdown, Covid-19 demand on hospitals likely to be "within capacity"

This could work...

— Chris Smyth (@Smyth_Chris) March 25, 2020

"This" could work? The "this" that the government ineptly managed and were forced to enact totally against their will?

if you think it'll work, why not shut the fuck up about it for a little while longer so people aren't tempted to go out and start it all up again

(also full credit to nv for an incredible screen-name i've only just noticed)

aw shucks, just trying to lift the nation's spirits during this traumatic Royal family scare

Fatality estimates with lockdown now 20,000 but "it could be substantially lower than that"

— Chris Smyth (@Smyth_Chris) March 25, 2020

that's still a lot of people, and it could have been less if boris wasn't such a fumbling dipshit

just two days ago i think a doctor on the radio was saying 20k would be 'a miracle'

Too much optimism going on for my liking >:(

yeah i find it very hard to square this sudden sunny-uplands talk with the ongoing stories of vastly under-resourced nhs staff and facilities just a couple of days after the extremely loose lockdown began

also with the ucl study's prediction of ongoing periodic lockdowns for the next 18 months

it's almost as if the media narrative is desperately supportive of the government

The "this" that the government ineptly managed and were forced to enact totally against their will?

And reading between the lines I think they still want to get back to managed immunity. This time with actual testing and quarantine, tbf

critical support for comrade... julia hartley-brewer???

It is immoral and wrong for Prince Charles to have used a coronavirus test when he has only mild symptoms & they are scarce. No one else would be eligible for such a test with mild symptoms. That test could have been better used by a frontline NHS worker or supermarket worker. https://t.co/uhaKHPVzEK

— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) March 25, 2020

I was wondering how the cunt got tested

An Italian view of Britain's virus response: It's been a slow motion train crash, says @FerdiGiugliano https://t.co/8XWXFk2Pkx via @bopinion

— Jonathan Hopkin (@jrhopkin) March 25, 2020

Harley Street doing its magic for the rich and celebs as usual. The Royals have permanent medical staff and can get checked out on demand.

Twitter full of grovelling twats defending him

Crazy Dom makes a great spectre of death

They should give him the full Seventh Seal make-up, he's a natural

But Chris Whitty, the U.K.’s chief medical officer, and Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific adviser, share the blame. It is normal for politicians to dither as they try to balance different interests — above all, keeping the economy humming. But why were the official scientists not screaming from the rooftop? Did they get their advice wrong, or did they fail to speak truth to power and to the public?

fucking gallows for these cunts