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

also possibly to the change can be effected thru parliamentary democracy crowd

"A&E attendances at hospitals in England were down 42% last month compared with a year ago, new figures show. A total of 1.3m attendances were recorded in May 2020, down from 2.2m in May 2019."

People aren't even going to A&E and they aren't going to Primark either, whether 2m distance rule is scrapped or not.

hmmm i seem to remember that time kids' school records were being secretly shared w the home office to deport them (btw this is still happening) ...anyway, @AngelaRayner 's response was... "schools shouldn't take the place of the borders agency" 🧐 https://t.co/wH1dfIPbsV

— gracie mae bradley (@graciemaybe) June 10, 2020

nice response from Rayner there for the benefit of imago who thinks she has been unfairly derided on here!

So the Tory backbenchers are edging ever closer to just publicly saying it and damn the consequences - get out there, get our investments the economy moving again and who cares if a few OAPs die make a sacrifice, you bloody shirkers. Can't wait for Starmer to give them a Stern Look when the distancing rules are bunged in the bin. Expecting the R rate to remain as stubbornly unshiftable as a middle-aged man's paunch.

The Conservatives aren't too worried about Labour because a) they have a hefty majority and no reason to call an election for four and a half years and b) they have other things to worry about right now, and conclude that if they fuck those up badly enough then they are screwed almost regardless of what Labour does. I suspect the thing driving the Sunak line is the (probably accurate) perception that the country is on the verge of an economic catastrophe. But this all seems to be based around the misconception that it's the lockdown itself that is suppressing economic activity, rather than the virus. But I think it's more likely that if they bungle the transition of lockdown then they will end up with a raging public health disaster AND an economic disaster at the same time.

This is interesting as well:

https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/public-favourability-towards-boris-johnson-continues-fall

In terms of the parties themselves, 44% of Britons now have an unfavourable opinion of the Conservative Party, compared to 39% in May. Now, only a third (33%) are favourable towards the party, down from 36%. Labour numbers are consistent over the past two months having improved following Jeremy Corbyn’s departure as leader. 31% are favourable towards the party and 39% unfavourable. In ‘net favourability’ terms, the Conservative figure of -11 is identical to that seen shortly after last December’s General Election but Labour’s figure of -8 is significantly improved from -27.

But also...

Meanwhile, 46% of Britons are favourable towards Chancellor Rishi Sunak, 19% are unfavourable. 32% are favourable towards Health Secretary Matt Hancock and 38% are unfavourable.

32% for Hancock, fucking hell.

Usual caveats about polling behind unreliable etc etc.

'Trying to stop people dying but not doing so very effectively' vs 'not trying to stop people dying and knocking it out of the park'.

If they just change their KPIs to read 'kill loads of people' they'll be looking at a five-star appraisal at the end of the year.

‘He’s just knocking things out of the park and people can’t stand it’

This audience member says Boris Johnson has done a ‘brilliant job’. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/ut0vZY6hVT

— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) October 17, 2019

"knocking it out of the park"

scarily well did

Question Time 2048 pic.twitter.com/URDFi6VC8C

— Dr. Jennie Bujold🌹🏳️‍🌈 (@JennieBujold) June 10, 2020

lmao

Farage fired from LBC.

silenced by the establishment yet again

thanked for his service

Times or TalkRadio to the rescue perhaps, or he's off to the States for the rest of the year.

throw him in the harbour ffs

UK about to slip into the bronze medal position in the Coronalympics btw, what with Brazil steaming up on the inside and almost topping 40,000 deaths already. I have a feeling plucky Mexico might beat us to the podium over the long run too. #FlatteningTheCurve

India coming through fast as well.

UK applying for silver medal.

Rishi Sunak held a 1½ hour session with 1922 committee today:

* He suggested 2m rule should be cut to save jobs and help schools reopen

* Warned 3.5million people could lose their jobs

* Urged Tory MPs to encourage constituents to go shopping next week

— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) June 10, 2020

Tory MPs driving round their constituencies in those megaphone cars shouting "GET TO ARGOS YOU FUCKING COWARDS"

*doing absolutely nothing to prevent getting covid when going to IKEA* please go to IKEA 🙏

3.5m is a fuck of a lot of additional job losses, that's more than were officially unemployed at any point during the early 80s.

Is Sunak thick or malicious, you have to wonder. It's going to be both, as always with this shower. Better 3.5m lost jobs than 1m dead

TBH I think what will happen is that a lot of people will get a sense of what non-essential socially-distanced shopping is actually like and go "fuck this, I'm ordering off the internet".

I don't enjoy shopping at the best of times, but speaking as someone who is absolutely desperate to go to the pub again the very idea of a socially distanced pub feels like such a profoundly joyless experience you might as well not bother.

yeah i've been pondering that sad vision

however if the rain would just fuck off again i am prepared to sit on me own in a beer garden with a book for a month or two

Is Sunak thick or malicious, you have to wonder. It's going to be both, as always with this shower. Better 3.5m lost jobs than 1m dead

― stet, Thursday, 11 June 2020 bookmarkflaglink

If he could sacrifice a 1m people so that our IKEA shopping experience is back to normal he'd do it yesterday, and a lot of the population would be like 'jolly good show'.

"Rishi Sunak held 3 separate sessions with groups of around 20 Tory MPs a time to ensure social distancing rules were observed

They were impressed

One Tory MP said it was a 'star-turn' and he was 'incredibly well-briefed'"

You really have to laugh.

maybe ikea should start selling flatpack coffins. grab a bag of charcoal on your way out and you're all set

They aren't going to be able to keep the shops open in the event of a spike and even if they do no one will go.

not (chortle) even if their (choke) Tory MPs beg them to?

Seventy years of Tory rule, with the leader changed every eighteen months to someone who absolutely isn't like the last one, honest.

Other European countries appear to still be on the decline after relaxing lockdowns but they relaxed from a much lower base and with wider social distancing still in place. Chucking the 2m rule out of the window would just be asking for trouble.

Their lockdowns were in general more comprehensive as well. Remember in France, needing a piece of paper just to leave your house?

something something French toilets gag

Tories still on a solid 40% despite everything, they'll push it as much as possible.

Getting a strong sense of deja vu about all this - Johnson very possibly out next year, to be replaced by placeholder/ventriloquist's dummy Gove, followed by a few years of declining popularity then a soft Tory Labour leader coming in. History repeats itself etc., the difference being that this time it's after the end of the world re: climate change, not the oblivious run-up to it.

Keir is Labour to the core and knows how to write the agenda for a climate change enquiry

the war boys will take immaculate minutes when immortan joe’s inquiry into the people eater’s tax affairs kicks off

Only on ILX could we get a sense of deja vu during a once in a lifetime pandemic.

speaking as someone who is absolutely desperate to go to the pub again

I hear you, brother.

NV and once the enquiry takes place he can write the minutes!

58% want the two metre rule to continue in latest YouGov poll, the tory govt is effectively giving people permission to copulate during this shambles. If we had a decent opposition leader, Labour would be ....points ahead right now .. blah blah!

As the flood waters close over my head i ask, "is Starmer condemning this strongly enough?".

https://covid.joinzoe.com/post/covid-cases-uk

Has there really been a 47% decline in new cases in a week or is this just flawed methodology?

the Isle of Man has completely defeated the Rona and is now ending social distancing. Perhaps the Rona struggles with narrow gene pools.

Maybe the virus decided to go easy out of respect for the online gambling industry.

xp v sus imo

their own version of the swastika flag is pretty otm seeing as Churchill imprisoned lots of German Jews in camps there in '39 :

On Sept. 3, 1939, England declared war on Germany. As the Nazis marched across Europe, details emerged of traitors and spies in Norway, Holland and other countries assisting Hitler. British newspapers initiated editorial campaigns, demonizing them to a public woefully ignorant of Hitler’s policy of Jewish persecution. Subjected to tribunals and screenings, 99 percent of the Jewish and German refugees were classified “as posing no threat,” to no avail.

Fueled by anti-Semitism, hysteria escalated until Winston Churchill issued an order to “collar the lot,” arresting both the dangerous and the harmless. Men were taken from homes and offices in police cars, while crowds gathered in the streets to jeer.

It doesn't sound sus to me, they just love freedom!