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

Shamika, Kiesha, Tara, Shonda, Sabrina, Crystal, Derhonda, Lisa, Felicia, Tonisha, Shavon, Monica, Monique, Christina, Yolonda

Wight Dorke

Jesus Christ that PPT.

are we blaming rampant discrimination against ppl w “non english” names on the parents who were too unpatriotic to name their son Steve or w/e

the problem with these people is they just don't want to be integrated

By 2030 every single one of us will be a white English man called Steve having a loud work-related telephone conversation on a train travelling through Leighton Buzzard

ah, the dream

The ‘problem’ he is aiming to solve is people who either ‘incorrectly’ identify themselves as white British or who don’t feel comfortable as identifying as anything else - so software analysis of names is being positioned as a better way to track people’s ethnic origins than their own self-reporting. In theory, that might uncover bias against people who think they have integrated but...it seems bizarre, particularly for this investigation and with that astonishing PowerPoint. I can’t see it as anything other than cronyism.

Someone get big John his own twitch account

Making gaming great again https://t.co/d4Q12xvO6P from @redpeppermag

— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) April 30, 2020

:O <3

NV can't help reading that emoji as a surprised person with a very large nutsack

that's what i was going for

https://sociorocketnewsen.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/tanukiscrotum.jpg

:O

yr a legend in medieval japan NV

disappointed we've not heard from any of ilx's 6+ starmer fans

“disappointed”

Labour appears to have been shuffling away from the Kashmir conference motion for a while, Starmer's "repositioning" seems basically the same as the "clarification" Ian Lavery made before Christmas? Even Corbyn seemed queasy about the wording of the motion, although he has at least acknowledged that human rights abuses are taking place. I wonder if this is less about a calculated trade-off between Muslim and Hindu Labour votes and more Starmer positioning himself for future diplomatic relations with India. Still grim af, mind.

Starmer currently facing calls to suspend Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy for being on the same Zoom call as Jackie Walker.

I get why he wants to triangulate on India, appalling it is, but the idea the Tory-BJP alliance will stop pestering Labour if he does is fanciful.

lol The Sun

Who do people most trust for information on Coronavirus? pic.twitter.com/PLy7t9y7Mh

— Survation. (@Survation) April 30, 2020

The Tory/BoD alliance isn’t going to leave the Labour left alone until a similar reverse ferret happens wrt recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Labour should not 'shy away' from patriotism, says Starmer

🚮

Labour should "shy away" from Starmer, say human beings

we get it labour lost by not being racist enough, just say it coward fuck this weaselly approach

Tony Lloyd talks about getting hammered by covid-19, sounds absolutely horrific but great he’s recovered.

https://theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/30/coronavirus-i-feel-a-tremendous-sense-of-humility-mp-tony-lloyd-on-how-nhs-saved-his-life

wow. what a decent sounding guy.

that’s a tremendous piece

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EW4ubFHWsAEZcKs?format=jpg&name=medium

when bovine apolitical numpty Starmer voters start realising they do actually feel quite strongly about conviction politics after all!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EW4ubFHWsAEZcKs?format=jpg&name=medium

If you are Labour shadow chancellor sitting next to George Osborne and are asked whether his cuts to public services affected our pandemic preparedness... don’t change the subject! https://t.co/oizM2qLgkP

— Michael Walker (@michaeljswalker) April 30, 2020

I worry a lot about how lame this lot are going to be on the next wave of austerity, she's obv following *message discipline* there and it's weak as piss.

I'm not really saying she's done bad there, just that the impetus from above from the rosy cheeked knight of the realm to not point fingers at that piece of shit when it is handed to you on a plate is so weak and they wouldn't spurn such an opportunity to attack if the tables were turned. I know some of you lot have your theories about the correct way to win over the electorate, but that's all just meaningless anyway when you have such a pathetic cunt leading the Labour party.

They wouldn't spurn the opportunity to attack but they have the full force of the media behind them which would gleefully clap along rather than clutching its pearls and feigning outrage. Its just different for Labour.

Dodds was in John McDonnell's team for several years so I'm inclined to cut her a bit of slack. She's done OK there but you can just see Osborne grinning away to himself next to her. Being charitable you probably want them to be pinning it on the current administration in the public imagination rather than some guy who hasn't been in power for four years - regardless of the truth of it.

The article she wrote for the Guardian the other day was very weak and gave the distinct impression that it had been watered down so much that it was difficult to detect a message in it at all.

I did cut Dodds slack and said she's following orders from this fucking arsehole.

We asked Keir Starmer about Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson saying that council funding levels 'could cost lives' - the Labour leader said he would raise the issue with Government @GranadaReports:https://t.co/jn4cf4Jn9h pic.twitter.com/lhWB9KE7hG

— Hannah Miller (@hannahITV) April 30, 2020

resign you dismal melt, people dying because of cuts to LA funding "is a very important issue...but what the public want to hear..rah rah rah evidence ..data ..." so sick of this fucking clown.

I don't think there's any point micro-analysing everything that happens between now and another election. They're probably melt cunts calz but it means nothing without a manifesto and the remote possibility of enacting it

'Are you saying it's George's fault?' had the distinct impression of a deliberate attempt to trip up because it means the camera can go right back to Osborne who can put all the blame for austerity onto Labour again.

xp

The tone Starmer is setting now is a pretty good marker of what the manifesto will be like, I don't know about "micro-analysing" I'm just commenting on what is making my blood boil at a particular moment!

Sun Tzu's The Art of War, Machiavelli's The Prince, and Jamie Vardy's From Nowhere, My Story should be required reading before these Labour cats are allowed on television again

all Starmer will need is the Centrists book of the most useless mealy mouthed politician speak of the early 21st century. chapter one: Difficult decisions..

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/openeconomy/dont-buy-the-lockdown-lie-this-is-a-government-of-business-as-usual/

This is very good.

Starmer is often trying to minimise austerity, minimise racism everything about thus far suggests a return to the awful fucking 2015 state of the party. But yeah I should wait until the manifesto comes out until I slag him off, that would be a much better forensic + evidence based approach to posting!

like i said, i think you're right. but they're gonna chat a lot of shit over the next few years and most of it will amount to nothing.

well la-di-da!

non-essential call centre staff are key workers? that is a fucking travesty

The Opposition appear to have dropped the demand by then shadow employment minister Rachael Maskell on 31st March for “strict and enforceable closure” of non-essential workplaces, but continue to call for the current guidance around safety at work to be “strictly implemented and enforced” with the help of trade unions.

her majesty's opposition is back

brilliant piece by Caroline Molloy.

Calling bullshit on the idea that you can't operate a call centre remotely. What this is really about is a group of workers who don't have/can't afford laptops and a group of employers who can't be arsed paying for them.

Given how much activity takes place in Portakabins I'm not convinced it's even possible to run a properly socially distanced construction site. And even outside there are practical reasons why you would need two or more individuals working physically closely together.

Good piece. You would only some of this from bits and pieces on twitter.

"And there’s more to come. Whilst firms have applied to furlough 3.2 million people according to figures released last week, some employers seem to be interpreting the 3 week minimum as a maximum, and are now demanding workers return"

Control of workers for the sake of it. And people are going to die.

I'll be interested to see how the UK "half-lockdown" compares with what France, Spain, Germany and Italy have been doing. I'd guess some of them will be treating the working poor like cattle as well. There is a suggestion they could face a lot of legal cases over this *after* all this, if the UK death toll continues surging ahead of the rest of the EU countries then the UK govt's position will become increasingly untenable. i heard the other day someone saying the Boris approval rating is starting to dip slightly.

Just on a purely commercial level it's incredibly short-sighted. You lose more from having your whole workforce off with the rona at once than you do from letting people work from home. Not to mention the possibility of your workplace itself becoming uninhabitable.

"Calling bullshit on the idea that you can't operate a call centre remotely"

That sounds like investment in a workforce that is mostly paid minimum wage. Far easier to exploit them when worker rights have been cut to the bone.