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

hm that's monthly i think actually

battle for labour continues apace https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52742562

At this stage online figures are probably a better guide to a newspaper's influence and readership but the online ad market is in freefall and won't replace more lucrative print ads in any case. I wouldn't be surprised to see at least one paper fold.

The drop in the FT circulation is absolutely gigantic but that's probably down to commuter numbers and they have a subscription model that broadly works.

How has the Guardian only lost 23k? Whoever it is who is still buying the physical paper must be very attached to it.

do those circulation numbers take into account papers supplied free on UK flights? think british airways may have stopped doing the FT actually

Yep, they got the huff about a story related to their financial performance and stopped iirc.

It must be the kakuro and quick crossword in the G2 they are addicted to rather than top notch journalism

i forget where exactly you live tom but i think social practice mask-wise in my area may be somewhat skewed being so close to a large london hospital

Near the Swimmer, mark!

... not the nice houses though >:(

I just went into to town to post some of my wife's family photos and a family tree document to my brother-in-law, mainly just to get him to stop fucking pestering me about it, and pretty much nobody was wearing a mask. I took one with me but figured I'd see what other people were doing so I didn't end up wearing it. there weren't a whole lot of people in town though

The Times, stop giving politicians children column space challenge pic.twitter.com/XRgyas470K

— 'Client Journalism' Expert (@PopulismExpert) May 21, 2020

I'll pick the crops as long as rich brats like Euan Blair and Flora Gill are liquidated and used as fertiliser.

I took one with me but figured I'd see what other people were doing so I didn't end up wearing it.

I'd take a look at what people are doing in countries that don't have a raging, out-of-control pandemic sweeping through them! HK, Taiwan etc. Then do that, which is what I've been doing. Even if only 10% of Brits are like "Boris said we can do what we want now" that's still a lot of people!

Roche antibody test deal confirmed by the government.

there is a fucking ice cream van that is torturing me, it plays an industrially loud Popeye theme song and goes by the trading name of Mr Popeye. Do you likes a bit of the spinach with your rona infected mr whippy gloop? AAAHuuUUH GUhGuhGuhGuh!

xxp I'm probably a bit complacent because nobody has it where I live, and I don't care if I get it, but I don't want to infect other people so I should probably care a bit more

heard an ice cream van last night for the first time in forever, tbh if i'd got cash in the house i'd've gone for one, probly not a Whippy tho

guardian have upped their puzzle game in the saturday edition during lockdown. that said, it's half the thickness it used to be but still the same price (to the point where i'd be better off with the radiotimes probably)

"Gloves certainly seem to be a bad idea, at least for shopping"

put them on before you go inside the shop/supermarket, chuck them into the nearest bin when you leave, as long as you aren't touching your face with them I think they are good imo

The demand for puzzles must be through the roof right now tbf.

and as if by magic here's the ice cream van

Saw an ice-cream van the other day and all I could think of was that League of Gentleman episode where his nose starts bleeding all over the Mr Whippy.

In Scotland the ice cream van is often a front for drug deliveries

it's the same in lots of places but frankly as long as they've got ice cream idgaf

https://www.addtoevent.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/one_third/public/user/374299/supplier/images/d7a0c911-acce-4c20-9312-2b6aae7603c4.jpeg

Francis Rossi from yer Quo is related to this bunch, dodgy fuckers I believe

The PM has asked the Home Office and the Department for Health and Social Care to remove NHS and care workers from the NHS surcharge as soon as possible.

it's the same in lots of places but frankly as long as they've got heroin idgaf

profiles in courage xp

encouraging this mass fetishisation of an institution they are hellbent on privatising and destroying, as a distraction ploy from their own monumental incompetence is going to cause embarrassing u-turns. Until everyone get's bored with clapping.

they seem to be managing

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/04/uk-government-using-crisis-to-transfer-nhs-duties-to-private-sector

I'd sort of missed that it's a Bank Holiday on Monday (face it, a day is a day right now) and that's going to be an absolute clusterfuck if the weather stays this good.

In solemn memorium of the terrible events of May 2020, the Mayday bank holiday will be cancelled henceforth.

A good thread on how isolation has been out of the conversation, as a thing.

This is a really good thread, thanks for it, xyzzzz__

forecast is for a bit of a cooling off but still

i keep remembering and forgetting it's a bank holiday

bg otm re smack

I noticed at the start of the lockdown a lot of local heroin users were in disarray and hanging around fields to score on a regular basis. But that was obv just some nervous dealer teething problems that have been sorted now.

we could all learn a lot from those bold entrepreneurs

I keep hearing how construction is often lumped with outdoor work, the other day Varadkar said housebuilding is essentially outdoor work. That is so wrong, and to quote the guy with diabetes who works in the structural steel side of construction I was talking to yesterday: "how do you do social distancing sat in a van full of cunts for 2 hours every day".

seen a lot of non-essential building this week, also surprised at how essential estate agents apparently are

It's the oils.

huh

NHS staff and care workers from overseas to be exempt from having to pay surcharge to use health service https://t.co/zefM57g5GT

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) May 21, 2020

Amazing u-turn and makes johnson look more of a cunt for ruling it out when challenged on it by Starmer before giving way just hours later. Win win.

Among the leading voices calling for a U-turn on the policy was Hunt, who introduced the fee in 2015 during his time as health secretary. The now chair of the health select committee urged the government to change its mind just as No 10 announced it was dropping the surcharge

I noticed at the start of the lockdown a lot of local heroin users were in disarray and hanging around fields to score on a regular basis. But that was obv just some nervous dealer teething problems that have been sorted now.

― calzino, Thursday, 21 May 2020 17:36 (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

There is a churchyard in Bethnal Green where I can no longer walk Winston that can sort anyone out in these unprecedented times

Although tbf it was getting worse and worse for the past couple months pre-c19 as they raided the brick lane nomadic gardens to death

is Winston a labradoodle puppy perhaps now slightly grown up i have some vague recollection of ?

have wondered what people are doing here now or at least when the lockdown first started and police seemed to be more actively enforcing it

I don't live right in the middle of the heroin epicentre of the south anymore I am about a mile away from it and we don't really have that much trouble, sometimes they come to the alleyways near me but I think only because the heat is on somewhere else and it's a temporary alternative. at least I haven't seen any of those spoon things on the ground lately

Winston is a 9 month all black labradoodle, yeah :) Size of a bloody horse, or so I thought until he got obsessed with the police horses they walk around here.

I remember asking when you first got him : is he a big labradoodle? yeah because the big ones are huge big beasts, smaller ones just as manically energetic but much smaller! all variants of Labradors make me laugh, the funniest dogs, like hanging out with a f/t clown!

At 9 months he’s at about 22 kilos and still growing, way above knee height. He’s already as big as a standard lab when I meet one in the park. Currently going through his twee teenager period, smelling flowers like anyone finds it cute and then rubbing his face like crazy on anything he can dirty (the vet got me some meds today). He isn’t that bad when it comes to being energetic but he has a worrying habit when he hasn’t worked it out in the park and going too fast around the horse, running head first into something solid without breaking that will slow him down for the rest of the day, whether he likes it or not. Nearly knocked over the TV yesterday giving himself a massive bump on the head yesterday; I went to go catch the TV, my gf went to go catch the dog, we ended up head butting each other!

How’s your lab? Oh wait, sorry for ruining the lol we are all gonna die thread

Melts, ey?

Douglas is a huge beast by lab standards. he's still intact so he's hard work at times. But i have introduced a snacky treats regime to his walk to condition him not to go doolally every time he get's a scent and run off. He's adjusting very well and is a vgb, he's grown into a stunningly beautiful dog, he's well socialised with other dogs, a bit of a handful at times but never grumpy. I might have topped myself by now without him. He brings me much more cheer than any humans do rn!

kier starmer is an insipid tory prick and I genuinely hope he dies a painful death btw.