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

The status quo is over, you can't claw the money back, people paying tax in 2080 will still be paying for the response to this crisis, and that's fine. It requires a fundamental change in our attitude to government debt and the money supply more generally. What happens to the economy from now on is 100% dependent on what the government does. Obviously this doesn't necessarily mean the return of the social democratic consensus - what's coming might be considerably worse than the status quo.

Make sure you let Johnson, Cummings et al clear on that dude.

Are they particularly interested in or driven by austerity? Serious question. Obviously they're no fans of the welfare state itself but Cummings doesn't appear to be cut from the same ideological cloth as Osbourne.

But yes I think in general that they and the party behind them lack the capability to think long-term about what this crisis means for the relationship between government, business and individuals. Subsequent governments might not.

He seems like a classic Internet libertarian to me. Probably not interested in the kind of bovine punish-the-poor shit of your IDS types but I feel like the opportunity to reframe the social contract will be irresistible to Cummings, and why would Johnson, a vain moron fixated on personal legacy, not want to buy into that?

You're probably right, the question is whether internet libertarianism is really compatible with the gigantic amounts of government intervention that will be required to prevent Boris's legacy being 'PM of a pile of smouldering rubble'. Unlike in 2008-2010 there probably won't be a change of government between the intervention and the clear-up, so they can't blame the deficit on previous incumbents.

For the avoidance of doubt I don't think even the best case scenario is leading us anywhere good, but wherever it is it won't be a return to the status quo.

Sure, I'm just quite concerned that we'll end up looking back fondly on this shit show status quo. Apart from their likely incompetence this is the worst imaginable government to be running this crisis and the aftermath, possibly for a long time, with the most likely near-future change in direction only coming from within the Tory Party itself. And that's before we factor in the vast tranche of the UK electorate filled with masochism and love of the jackboot.

The strategy of leaking stuff as a trial balloon, officially denying it, and then u-turning on that is also making everything worse, as a lot of people have access to multiple contradictory statements, and are muddling through (and muddling through on the side of "doing what I want to do").

On of the journos attempted to get the PM to call his father immoral.

This is regarding the "I'm going to go to the pub no matter what" from Stanley Johnson? The tragedy of Boris is that he'd be far more comfortable in his father's position. Well, the tragedy other than the fact that he's not hanging from a lamppost, but it's early days.

We'll know we're fucked when there's a glowing Polly Toynbee article proclaiming a bright new political consensus.

I'm sorry, this performative despair isn't helping either. Every crisis is, in some sense, an opportunity to effect change for the better, at least in theory.

My landlord, Golden Equity Properties, is sending eviction notices out in the middle of a pandemic. Today, they shut our water off without notice again, the third time since #COVID19 crisis started. pic.twitter.com/WUWOGo7ApK

— Emina Gamulin (@EminaKosjenka) March 19, 2020

At least now lovers of Mao's deadly but effective approach to land reform wont be so against the grain! Ready to pour one out for the first millionaire landlord/property company scum that get's strung up on a DIY gallows.

(I meant *my* despair, to be clear)

lol alltime top 10 dn there

Who exactly do Golden Equity Properties think is going to be contemplating moving or viewing houses right now? The only people looking will be other people made homeless because they can't pay their rent.

probably cut their losses and sell them off to some dodgy billionaire using them as the oligarch equivalent of shoe-boxes full of money under the floorboards.

AF going full xyzzzzz is it? We do love to see it.

Golden Equity Properties setting up all the conditions for a rent strike.

That sucks, but it's in Canada

My landlord or rather letting agent has sent me an urgent questionnaire I have to fill in, tbf it's mostly about whether I'm in a vulnerable group rather than outright saying are you planning to pay rent next month. I guess this means I have to tell them my wife died, although I dunno if that would actually change my tenancy at all

I don't think my mum is going to survive this, she's a recentish breast cancer survivor in her late 70's. Her partner is a cantankerous old Ukippy type fuck who still goes to the library every day to read all the newspapers, then the pubs, then the "funhouse". She's not self-isolating and when her I told it's quite likely going to be as deadly here as in Italy, she was quite dismissive + said "you can only do your best, no point worrying".

I was thinking yesterday in the absence of bog roll we may see a resurgence for UK newspapers

Make a killing, start buying shares in Izal.

using newspaper as bog roll is more like 70's nostalgia, which is good honest nostalgia imo - unlike all that propaganda hangover ww2 shite!

Colonel I'm so sorry.

provided they are in joint possession of one (1) human soul they will respond by leaving you the fuck alone for six months or so

This was my commute to work in London this morning @BorisJohnson. This is what you get on London underground when you reduce the service but people still have to go to work. There was a lot of coughing too.

How do we stay safe in this environment?#CoronaVirusUpdate pic.twitter.com/wT345MEjND

— David Riley (@DRileyamusing) March 20, 2020

Incredible.

CP feel free to forward that questionnaire to your MP and ask them straight out what they’re going to do about it

hastings mp = the tory who succeeded (hence is even worse than) amber rudd

which is not to say don't bombard em with this stuff, love and solidarity CP and everyone else

Pubs, restaurants, gyms, leisure centres and cinemas across London will be told to close in a massive ramping up of measures to slow the coronavirus surge.

Boris Johnson chaired an emergency meeting this morning to decide what will be the most drastic action yet to try to shield the capital’s NHS from being overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients.

Shops are not expected to be in the first wave of closure, but it is understood that non-essential stores could be included if they fail to stop customers handling items that could then pass on the virus.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/coronavirus-clampdown-london-cinemas-pubs-shut-a4392981.html

I don't really understand the way of communication here. If this is the decision, why not make it known yourself immediately? Or is the Standard just guessing here?

All the best to you CP

it is understood that non-essential stores could be included if they fail to stop customers handling items that could then pass on the virus

you what?

Routers, radios, tv's spread the virus across the seven seas!

Best wishes to you Colonel. I'm very sorry to hear that.

Tellys and freezers spread diseases

So sorry, CP

Best wishes CP.

Been thinking of you CP, sorry you have to deal with this shit on top of everything else

Letting agents are scum

Our housing manager is about to retire so the Housing Association our building was a part of (which is very small and would I’m sure have done right by us) is being taken on by a much bigger HA. They have a lot more money but I have no idea what they’re like to deal with and I’ve had no communication from them about Coronavirus, though I did get something through my door confirming that my standing order had been set up

This article doesn’t inspire much confidence in the larger ones

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/17/housing-associations-under-pressure-to-offer-covid-19-rent-holidays

This is a report on Germany's response (not looked at yet):

I asked this question on here the other day and got a bunch of conspiracy theories and over-complicated answers in my mentions. Basic answers: massive testing (up to 160,000 per week) catching cases early, demography (young ppl) and high hospital capacity. https://t.co/zTPiIunMs0

— Ben Gook (@bengook) March 20, 2020

I was thinking yesterday in the absence of bog roll we may see a resurgence for UK newspapers

I stopped doing the free-if-you-spend-£10 newspaper offer from Waitrose, because I never get round to reading them and they're just clutter/a waste of paper - but on the way home from failing to buy some loo rolls there it occurred to me that I should've taken my free inky alternative instead.

When they evicted us from the office to work from home I did nick one pack from a small pile of sealed double-packs of cheap nasty loo roll from work, and felt guilty all the way down the stairs until I saw there was a giant pallet of loo roll and cleaning products beneath the stairs, for a mostly-empty building. (There are still a few people left working there so hopefully they won't go entirely to waste and people will help themselves or redistribute them to other buildings.)

Sorry Col. Poo, good luck wins.

UK govt response really disappointing/worrying - hard to know how much due to incompetence and how much because they really don't care (or worse), but it's really not looking good for the future. ugh - good luck everyone.

just thinking about great stockpilers from political history. When Yagoda's Kremlin apartment was raided by his own NKVD agents during the great terror they found 3904 pornographic photographs, 11 pornographic movies, 399 "foreign music records", 37 pairs of imported gloves, 101 imported children's games, 1229 bottles of wine (some vintages dating back to 1897), 11075 cigarettes + 8 boxes of tobacco and 165 pipes (including some made out of elephant tusks). this lad was ready to self-isolate, although toilet rolls are not mentioned.

101 imported children's games

this is a lot of children's game!

unless they were all themed versions of monopoly

tim farron self-isolation update: still alive, if you can call this living

When in self-isolation it's important to exercise, get fresh air and stay positive! pic.twitter.com/08pvat0HNA

— Tim Farron (@timfarron) March 19, 2020

I like to stay positive by imagining Tories dying

Capitalism - it's great.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/hospitality-giant-g1-group-axe-21725911

g1 group are and always have been a bunch of cunts, so mass phone-sackings vmic

(Daily Record making sure they print the most enormous pictures of pretty sacked worker possible, of course)