Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

Really doesn't make sense to do any shifts like this, the world in 2024 will be v different and perhaps far more hostile to austerity.

He agrees that images of hampers being shared on Twitter are unacceptable.

Marcus m8 it's not the images that are unacceptable

Morning Call this morning makes the point that it would be a hell of a lot more efficient for the government to just give people the money directly and then they could buy the food themselves, rather than subcontracting people to buy the food, assemble hampers, deliver it, etc

Exactly - and there's so little justification to do this so early anyway. If you want a point of clear differentation from the Tories that isn't Brexit ... well, there must be something else they're catastrophically mismanaging you could pick, surely.
― stet, Wednesday, 13 January 2021 bookmarkflaglink

Having had a look at the convo and it seems the Starmer bench want to articulate progressive policy in opaque technocratic language so that it doesn't attract hostility from the press. Which is not Ed Balls though the political outcome has every chance of being so.

Who could have predicted this!

Keir Starmer challenges Johnson on why he was so slow to call for a lockdown. Boris Johnson points out Starmer wanted schools open for as long as Johnson did.

— Michael Walker (@michaeljswalker) January 13, 2021

> Marcus m8 it's not the images that are unacceptable

also, calling them 'hampers' is taking the piss.

Kieth is that forensic that he forgets what his position was last week

Now free school meals. PM says Marcus Rashford is doing a better job at holding the government to account on these issues than Starmer.

— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) January 13, 2021

lol!

Someone tell me what the point of a 24/7 vaccination centre is again, why not just open more vaccination stations?

If the goal is to get to max vax as fast as possible you want to be able to cater easily to people who can't fit in appointments 0800-2000, whether because of job, childcare, general fear of being out with the unmasked hordes, whatever. There are 3m odd night workers, who could get done on their breaks, etc.

Not sure the cost/benefit stacks up against the night-vaccinator being an additional person to help during the day shifts, but if you can find some of those who prefer nights/aren't able to work during the days then its win/win

My only beef with night vaccinations is that I am sure they don’t have the staff or the vaccinations, or they’d be doing this already. I’d be quite happy to get a vaccine in the middle of the night tbh?

they should just run it like polling stations once sufficient vaccine is available

Sir Keir is like an SAS sniper. Luring his target out of cover into the world, forcing him into a mistake and taking him down with a clean shot to the head #PMQs

— ᴀᴀʀᴏɴ ʙᴏᴡᴇʀ (@AaronBower) January 13, 2021

SAS Kieth with his spud gun

sorry for dril tweet but... there's always a dril tweet

the sniper lifestyle requires perfect animal instincts and also smoking. dont join my sniper squad if u havent forsaken humanity& dont smoke

— wint (@dril) September 9, 2013

Aaron Bower getting a savage ratioing for that thirsty thirsty tweet

I would imagine some volunteer staff might be better placed to give vaccines at non-working times as well. If they finish their 60+ hours of online training...

Johnson says he is not happy with them. He thanks Marcus Rashford for highlighting the problem. He claim Rashford is doing a better job at holding him to account than Starmer.

There it is. The actual PM getting one over on the LOTO for government failings.

"Frankly Mr Speaker when I asked Mr Rashford how many children I have, I have to say his guesstimate was far closer than that of my right honourable friend's."

Morning Call this morning makes the point that it would be a hell of a lot more efficient for the government to just give people the money directly and then they could buy the food themselves, rather than subcontracting people to buy the food, assemble hampers, deliver it, etc

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 13 January 2021 12:20 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Somewhat missing the point. Govt spending dictated by the actual govt is about ensuring the correct contracts get awarded rather than efficient provision of services.

Thats the meat of the scandal because the actual visible output in terms of the food provided speaks volumes for itself

There has been a debate about cash-in-hand because furlough money has been an universal transfer of payment to those that might have lost their livelihoods

The govt is about, insofar that it's about anything, about ticking things over for business and generating growth for their donors. Anything else -- like food for those that need it -- gets little to no oversight.

Via 🔐, it seems that the answer to the question all the econometricians were asking about "how can this be an additive rather than multiplicative factor" is "it wasn't" https://t.co/5NZhwxUJ51

— Dan Davies (@dsquareddigest) January 13, 2021

I saw that too, but not familiar with the embedded source to see if it’s legit?

the voucher system reminds me of how the Family Trust Fund went to shit. At the start of this decade if you had a disabled child in your family you could apply for a pretty generous one-off annual payment towards a holiday, a home improvement or just basically anything that improves their life in some way. The last time I could apply for it it had degenerated into a voucher sytem and that you can only use at one specific retailer and it was restricted to whatever dud items the (no doubt tory donor owned) retailer was wanting to get shut of.

I think the debate will go on, is my takeaway xp

I'm a bit of a new variant sceptic or at least I think it has been cynically used as a cover for the govt's ham-fisted handling of the pandemic since autumn, well since it started to be more accurate.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Erm8mXUXEAABDgf?format=jpg&name=large
I didn’t think Kate Hoey was notably interested in the constitutional position of NI? Also, it’s not a province, ghoul.

47,525 new COVID19 positive cases, and 1,564 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, have been reported today across the UK.

And Keith has been owned by Boris

Cases by specimen date at least are down from the 70-80k reported on a couple of recent days. However where I am has been rising and rising recently with no signs of getting over the peak. (I remember when cases approaching 5k was worrying :( )

Some of the highest death days (by date of death) about a week or so ago are 800+ and still rising.

Almost one in 660 people in the UK have died from Covid or Covid-related causes so far during the pandemic. The UK now has one of the worst Covid mortality rates in the world, at 151 per 100,000 people, ahead of the US, Spain and Mexico where there are 116, 113 and 108 deaths per 100,000 people respectively.

It's from this:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/13/uk-coronavirus-deaths-pass-100000

xp 2,639,309 vaccines as of yesterday though.

Christ it's depressing isn't it? I had a friend in Germany who was letting me know what they were doing in the first wave and it was so much better managed with relatively few deaths.

have you seen the death toll for new zealand (25) or taiwan (1/3rd population of uk, 7 deaths total)?

I have now!

hitting six figures in deaths even after fucking with the stats so that people who died with covid outwith four weeks of diagnosis is some achievement, well done uk

er, deaths outwith four weeks don’t count, I meant to say

Well done us

Feel like we might have 3000+ deaths per day before the end of the month at this rate, while Tories brag about the vaccination rate.

ONS still records it by death cert but there's more of a lag.

great

Keir Starmer is set to have a weekly column in The Telegraph

Via @Independent pic.twitter.com/VluRdHNCbQ

— Politics For All (@PoliticsForAlI) January 13, 2021

hmmm wonder what message this sends out

It's almost as if ...

having the option of voting for one of two Tory parties, the fucking LibDems or whatever Farage's latest grift is - the state of UK parliamentary democracy in 2021

Can't be a banana republic if you can't actually redeem the banana

One thing I touched on with the Prime Minister was ways to course correct on the voucher scheme. If families can't access food consistently likelihood is they do not have access to a printer to print the vouchers at home. @10DowningStreet agreed to look into this.

— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) January 13, 2021

Who the fuck has a printer these days anyway? Well maybe everybody idk but I haven't had one for over ten years.

Kier would be twenty points ahead if he was leading the Conservative Party

Really doesn't make sense to do any shifts like this, the world in 2024 will be v different and perhaps far more hostile to austerity.

I'm a bit of a new variant sceptic or at least I think it has been cynically used as a cover for the govt's ham-fisted handling of the pandemic since autumn, well since it started to be more accurate.

Dodds is still banging on about caution and reminding us all that the zero interest rates won't last forever, maybe true but I get the feeling some of these wankers are so fond of making "difficult decisions" they'll make them long before that happens and she needs to stop talking the Tory line on New Labour - that they were fiscally irresponsible - it's a pointless self own and a lie.

Did you listen to any of those Carney Grief Lectures on R4 Fizzles? Economists and bankers these days often find ways of saying fuck all with plenty of words, but this mediocre cunt is like some malfunctioning corporate AI bot that is scared it might self-destruct if it says something original or interesting.

it's my own fault for listening of course