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

Jerembly Crobryn, you have made it impossible for me to oppose plunging millions into poverty https://t.co/8v9E0bJXfs pic.twitter.com/eK669cUI3o

— tom (@malaiseforever) June 16, 2020

Oh the cuddly nicey nicey tories are blaming Jez for toryism rn. Oh hang on a minute the DWP was his brief whilst the biggest UC unrolling happened but nothing to do with him!

Pretty sure Gauke is behind that "Young" Blue Labour account now.

The Scottish Covid Deaths over the past week were Wednesday 1, Thursday 5, Friday 3, Sat 4, Sun 5, Mon 0, Tuesday 5

― Heavy Messages (jed_), Tuesday, 16 June 2020 16:22 (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

wow

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 16 June 2020 16:23 (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Still a high total figure overall though.

― Heavy Messages (jed_), Tuesday, 16 June 2020 16:24 (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's worth adding here that we were slightly below the rate for the rest of GB (above NI) until we diverged strategies) (and I also know there's an additional caveat that Scotland were being more honest in declaring figures, which makes it harder to draw out) but I adjusted the figures roughly per capita (England + Wales combined having about 12x the population of Scotland and the figures being given at the westminster briefings are for E+W) but since the divergance our figures are about 1/5th to 1/4 of those in E+W.

There were the 6,000 person (combined) raves in Manchester last weekend. On the other hand I saw footage of youngsters doing conga lines in Glasgow parks over the weekend and I'm sure illegal raves will happen up here too.

let's assume that people across all social/political/demographic groups are crossing the lockdown advice now but there's a very specific focus on the transgressions that the mainstream media chooses to report

They were saying that it's still illegal to have gatherings of more than 6 people, were using it to arrest people at the London demonstrations last weekend.

Do those Scottish numbers include care homes etc or are they just hospitals? If so that's roughly similar to London which has been in single daily figures for a few weeks now (compared to hundreds of deaths a day in April).

It appears that the NW, NE and Midlands have had the worst of it for a while now. Not sure about Wales.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-daily-deaths/

At some point it might occur to the government that the areas where infection rates are higher include a lot of former Red Wall seats that are going to be hit worst if they're rushing the transition of of lockdown.

Since the Conservative party's been taken over by someone with no real affiliation to them above his own ambitions (Cummings), I don't think they're looking any further ahead than the forthcoming Brexit calamity. The next election's probably 4+ years away, worry about it when it comes.

well done daniel rashford

At least he managed not to describe "Danny" as very articulate!

Hancock is an embarrassment.

eat the rich

https://i.ibb.co/TbpzRC3/Screenshot-2020-06-17-at-10-46-21.png

https://www.ft.com/content/8ea1c992-89f8-11ea-a109-483c62d17528

how nice it must be to be so completely oblivious

I like how it's a harmless but unflinchingly honest portrayal of super-rich disconnect up until the point where she tells her ageing mother, on the other side of the world, to rewrite her will just in case.

this piece is wild +harrowing enough in of itself without the fact that @DWP// @dwppressoffice refused to give a comment unless they were provided with the ADDRESSES and NATIONAL INSURANCE NUMBERS of those interviewed for the piece. we obviously declined. https://t.co/VU12hdk4Ne

— Ben Smoke (@bencsmoke) June 17, 2020

some of ordinary practises of the DWP in the last decade have been taking a more sinister turn, for example offering "deals" to stressed out learning disabled claimants where they get a fraction of what they are entitled to or requesting the names and NI numbers of claimants who are interviewed for articles that highlight their immoral shitty conduct.

https://t.co/8tjwxvuHea pic.twitter.com/VApmFM0f5B

— Your Mum says Black Lives Matter (@judeinlondon2) June 17, 2020

Right now I bet you Alistair Campbell is telling everyone who will listen that you wouldn't have caught a senior minister not knowing the name of an England footballer in his day.

Mandelson

What is Gazza?

Matt Hancock demonstrating the part of his 2m social distancing rule that says 'stand as close as possible and pat them on the shoulder'. pic.twitter.com/2eMimLmzsU

— Parody Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson_MP) June 17, 2020

Mandellson probably thought people still wore rosettes and brought rattlers to football matches in the 90's

get his (car's) arse

Bois Johnson in car crash at Parliament. Just now. Security drives into back of his car as Kurdish protester runs into road. pic.twitter.com/k1kCplzyZ5

— Steve Bray #HoldThemToAccount (@snb19692) June 17, 2020

LOL Keystone Cops

Go Kurd Team

"Failing to stop at the scene of an accident involving injury or damage is an offence which carries a maximum penalty of 6 months imprisonment. If you are charged with failing to stop after an accident you should seek legal advice as soon as possible."

Cops are such tools

https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/17/private-rents-england-record-high-coronavirus-lockdown?

thisisfine.jpg

this is why i'm staying in Hull

Might have to live there...one day

Oh and:

BREAKING Cecil Rhodes statue will be taken down at Oxford's Oriel College #RhodesMustFall #RhodesWillFall

— Camilla Tominey (@CamillaTominey) June 17, 2020

Honestly surprised by that given oriel’s rep.

wow! you'll be able to see the piss boiling from satellite pics.

Will Labour keep to its 2019 election campaign pledge of free broadband for all?

“I was sceptical in that campaign” says MP Stella Creasy “There are ways we can deal with the pricing”#Politics Live https://t.co/QXHpQBgJgq pic.twitter.com/Jw2ghpiXtG

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) June 17, 2020

Stella didn't approve of the free broadband policy under Corbyn and seems to think there was any inequality in terms of access to it, pre-Rona, another fucking clueless melt.

*wasn't*

just admit that you let factionalism distort what was a very good policy by your party leader, rather than talking a load of convoluted crap to cover your embarrassment.

lol just turned om r4 and the first thing i heard was the unmistakable voice of Matthew Parris saying "Rhodes was a bit of a rascal"

A rascal without a statue to him, read it and weep, Parris.

i don't understand how that is even a question now given that labour can't really do anything until at least 2024

^ re free broadband

I know, nothing of what the very conservative and cautious leader of the opposition nor any of their MP's says publicly has any significance, I just keep forgetting. Any ideas of offering anything radically different to what we currently have to the electorate is an exercise in futility..

it's a quite a pertinent question because she publicly dismissed the free broadband policy of Corbyn's during an election campaign, but is now saying it is a good policy.

but here is me feigning outrage that a hypocritical melt tosser like her doesn't seem to have any kind of moral consistency or ideological beliefs underpinning her "politics".

it's easy media money to just get the new shadow cabinet to distance from the previous one by saying their ideas are bad and they should feel bad

she didn't make it into the current shadow cabinet through recently having a child I think, but she would have been odds on in there otherwise. probably a stalking horse for RLB's education brief going by the way she has been undermined by Reeves recently.

It is factional bullshit to some extent - it nearly always is - but offering free broadband on pre-existing networks to deprived parents with school age children during a school-closing pandemic is not the same policy as building a national broadband network and offering it to everyone in the country for free.

Why she couldn't just say that instead of spinning out multiple rhetorical contortions is beyond me.

because she's a melt is the simple answer. Oh right the universalism of nationalised broadband was bad then was it? lol!

sorry if I'm being rude Matt, but she's Tory slime to the core imo

that was a brilliant policy idea and making out you could oppose it previously because there wasn't a global pandemic is just nonsense.

broadband inequality existed long before the Rona, she's a fucking wanker and I can't take anything she says in good faith, like about 90% of Labour MP's.