Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

"dither and delay" is another recent Johnson slogan that now has been repetitively adopted by Zoo-meister Flex aka Uncool Kieth

They won't even back the unions now.

apart from GMB who probably think he's too left wing!

tbf he's no Owen Smith, but he'll do for now!

Being at 0% ICU capacity means one bad car accident, one bad fall, one bad allergic reaction, etc. where you’d otherwise survive could literally kill you. 0% ICU capacity affects EVERYONE not just those who get covid

— marina (@marinara_sawce) January 3, 2021

Green's position is completely bizarre to me. Labour may think there's an angle in pretending that schools can remain open if the government follows Labour's advice (knowing that schools are going to close anyway so they will be able to say 'i told you so') but they can't even properly articulate what that advice is meant to be. Everyone from teachers to below-the-line commentators on Kent Online articles knows that, given infection rates, there's no form of national lockdown that can keep schools open safely. There's a series of open goals (failure to properly COVID-proof schools, failure to support parents expected to work while schools are shut, failure to better facilitate online learning, etc), they're missing.

All I can imagine is that Labour a) considers ever standing with unions to be part of the toxic brand they need to shake off and b) thinks overworked parents will be grateful not to have the kids at home.

These Labour right types sure do love taking executive jobs at trade unions and the party and doing fuck all to inspire members of either, don’t they?

ladies and gentlemen, I present our greatest living political satirist

This situation is dangerously out of control, and we need to pool all our resources, expertise and talent. This is a wartime situation and we need a government of National Unity now.

— Armando Iannucci (@Aiannucci) January 4, 2021

we could just try doing _something_ first idk

i think he is joking tho right

we have a government of national unity in all but name iirc

xp don't think he is joking

In a de facto one party state each half of the party patiently waits for its turn to govern, no need for any of this gnunsense

Presumably Starmer could agree with Boris during the same press conference which really streamlines stuff

— Thursday Night LEGEND!!! (@ElRobak) January 4, 2021

When Lab had a plan

1/7 We know that the longer children are out of the classroom, the faster existing inequalities between children will widen which is why getting back to school when it is safe to do so is so important,

— Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey) May 18, 2020

is the Ianucci thing serious bc it seems too real to be a joke. I know everyone is numb to this wartime rhetoric by now but it’s so awful, literally nothing is outside The War these days. seriously unwell country

Westminster Voting Intention:

CON: 43% (+6)
LAB: 38% (=)
GRN: 5% (+1)
SNP: 5% (+1)
LDM: 4% (-5)
BXP: 3% (=)

Via @DeltapollUK, 26-30 Dec.
Changes w/ 26-28 Nov.

— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) January 4, 2021

hook it into my veins

Libs voting Tory is it

I'm guessing the 3% of BXP respondents are by extension voting for white nationalism, or the nearest thing they can get to it.

No deal truthers

british xenophobic party

I see Jeremy Hunt's repositioning himself as the saviour of the NHS now.

Scotland in full lockdown now at least for all January

that Zoo exit poll is going to be even more brutal for Kieth

And still, almost a year later, major policy announcements first to public attention via a journalist's DMs.https://t.co/ugu8GZtg3e

— Dave (@MediocreDave) January 4, 2021

im just saying zoos to myself here to keep spirits up

'zoos'

zooze

I heard Keith's fave band is Orange Zoos

are they gonna close schools after presumably at least some opened today?
(inset days pretty common on first day of Jan after holidays and some voluntarily closed I believe?)

Yep, Pesto says schools are shutting.

Yup, some have opened but I get the impression that union activity over the weekend got quite a few to close. That just forces the government's hand too

PM will be directly addressing the nation. It won’t be a press conference. Tier 4 restrictions will be imposed everywhere. Schools closed. No more team games in parks. But outdoor exercise will still be allowed. https://t.co/dhKbH2lkgC

— Robert Peston (@Peston) January 4, 2021

Shambolic how some schools have opened today so you will get who knows how many cases.

all this stuff about teachers and teachers unions as hotbeds of loony leftists and do-gooders is so funny to me having worked in schools. the last school i worked in, senior management just changed their titles (and pay) every year. i never got an increment while i was there, bar once when i had to have several meetings with the deputy head who threw me out of her office lol. the headteacher and deputy head are currently called 'executive headteacher' and 'associate headteacher.'

Luckily my kids' school has scheduled INSETT days today and tomorrow, sure loads have opened across Cambridgeshire though.

yah i know lots of schools have moved insett days scheduled later in the year today on the assumption that there will be a change

Have to say that announcing a nationwide closing down of schools on the day they re-opened anyway because you were adamant they had to is a special kind of 'lol nothing matters', and we've had quite some special ones already

imagine if they'd just invested in making schools safe.

the whole christmas period to get this right and yet it's a balls up on day one

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy (schoolchildren)

Have to say that announcing a nationwide closing down of schools _on the day_ they re-opened anyway because you were adamant they had to is a special kind of 'lol nothing matters', and we've had quite some special ones already

lmao I see

I take no pleasure in Rafael Behr being right, but

So he made the schools and teachers do all that prep for effectively one or two days - even yesterday saying perfectly safe etc.

An absolute charlatan. I saw this a day or two ago - it’s absolutely spot on. pic.twitter.com/nI353yCxze

— Steve B is staying in... (@sargeantbennett) January 4, 2021

It’s been said earlier and better by better people than Rafael Behr

I actually didn't believe even they would do this - open for one day

surely there's something to be said for accepting agreement from even the wrong people

Schools already had to use an INSET day from later in the year (they get a set amount) the Friday before Christmas to avoid a Christmas day track & trace cock-up, i.e. they are the ones contacted to put lists together of who sits near the positive case child etc.