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

lol challenge accepted

Sorry to C&P from a random "nhs worker" on FB but I kind if like this explanation (probably because my brain works best with video games and process managenent):

The plan is to segregate all vulnerable people (older, ill, disabled and at risk) let’s call this group A

Anyone looking after the older, ill and at risk can be group B

The general population / generally healthy can be group C

Group C needs to go about its business keeping the country moving, kids at school, us at work

Group B looks after group A and avoids contact with C

Group C is allowed to contract the virus and because it’s generally healthy it can cope with it better than group A

Group A and B are almost self isolating without the virus to avoid putting strain on the NHS and reducing the risk of getting the virus and then needing the NHS

Group C (the generally healthy) go through the cycle of contracting the virus, self-isolating and being looked after by healthy family members, friends and the local community

Anyone who has complications gets looked after by the NHS while groups A and B are kept away The NHS are not strained by A and B while it's looking after complicated cases in C

As group C comes full circle and recovers it divides in to groups that take group B’s position looking after group A allowing group B to go though the cycle

With B and C though the cycle, A is free to have NHS to itself because B and C are now clear from illness and infection and hopefully have a degree of immunity from getting it again this season.

from guardian liveblog:

Islington food bank in north London has announced it is to close after running low on food stocks and losing many of its volunteers who have been forced to self-isolate to avoid coronavirus infection.

The food bank, part of the Trussell trust network, is understood to be the first of the trust’s 426 food banks to close. The trust said no others had yet reported difficulties but it was carrying out a rapid survey of its members to gauge “pressure points”.

Oh, fuck.

That's been a thing over here for some days now, too. Supplies have completely dried up due to hoarding in the supermarkets.

the tory govt for the last decade have always dithered over a full Universal Credit rollout to pull in all the millions of legacy claimants in what the DWP sugarcoats it as a proposed "managed migration". They keep putting it off imo because i/ the system probably can't deal with the numbers without breaking down and ii/ plunging too many people into to such a shitty system at once brings a risk of increasing social unrest and all the extra costs associated with increased poverty. Just my bullshit opinion!

But now there will be millions of people from all the tourism, hospitality/events industries - I saw a list the other day and it's at least 5 million + jobs that will be toast and they can't all become fucking *m*z*n delivery drivers. This is why the Tories are shitting themselves right now and Raab is saying nice things about Cuba. Of course it is a monumental crisis that has landed on them, but many more people than previously or than they ever expected are going to be exposed to how fucking evil and completely inadequate the benefits system has become after ten years of their reforms, fucking chickens coming home to roost time imo!

Mutual aid groups already falling into yer leftist org pattern of being both overstructured and chaotic. Had to go from Facebook to Whatsapp to Slack. Still it's great to see ppl are helping each other out.

Hackney foodbank desperately asking for both donations and volunteers rn.

I was talking about this yesterday; I will stay in as much as I can but if the antibody test was widely available then we would know for sure if we’d had it or have it. I’d love to help out with something like that but it’s so frustrating because of the risk of endangering people, and so unless I get very sick or hospitalised, what do I do?

Royal Mail staff union says they have voted to become an emergency service, delivering essential supplies etc

They won’t test people unless they are hospitalised or there is confirmed community transmission in the area, right, which latter can only be confirmed... by testing? More like COVID-22 imo

Group B looks after group A and avoids contact with C

This strikes me as pretty much impossible and where the whole strategy falls down?

It's not the most nuanced plan but in big buckets of minimising contact rather than eliminating it I can see it would help to manage the demand.

All probably moot though as it all seems too late to me

Why 'plague' and not 'cholera'?

here we go

Sunak: "This effort will be underpinned with government intervention in the economy unimaginable only months ago"

Says it's "not a time for ideology or orthodoxy". Get ready for some mega, mega spending...

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) March 17, 2020

I'm going to bet I could imagine them a few weeks ago

Rishi : 330 billion govt backed loans for businesses

he really needs a fucking editor, he takes 1000 words and hasn't got to a single factual announcement yet xp ok 1

specific support for restaurants, pubs, etc, and those insured should be covered

not a word about people yet

https://images.app.goo.gl/pvKjMquTAZ2QpZmZ8

3-mo mortgage holiday

(for those affected)

you'd think COVID 19 was a virus that just attacks businesses after listening to that long-winded cunt.

"this is no time for ideology" ..pretty much sounded like prioritising our precious wealth creators to me.

Nothing about people on rent or their bills?

Not that I heard, it was all about our poor beleaguered wealth creators to my ears.

such as anyone instructed to get a flu jab each year

do they not advise flu shots for everyone over there? Seems silly.

The measures are necessary because the alternative is a gigantic spike in unemployment and the collapse of some sectors, but the lack of rent measures is outrageous, particularly when mortgage holidays are already on the table.

Nothing about statutory sick pay either?

so landlords stop paying their mortgages but renters have to keep paying them rent?

"Sunak insisted that an employment support package was on its way, and that he needed to finalise the details first with business and the unions"

£330m doesn't feel like anywhere near enough.

someone is dying and dr sunak is trying to negotiate terms and conditions with them before he agrees to any emergency treatment

The measures are necessary because the alternative is a gigantic spike in unemployment and the collapse of some sectors

this is both true and a key reason why fuck this society at the same time

many more people than previously or than they ever expected are going to be exposed to how fucking evil and completely inadequate the benefits system has become

This is key

No it was a big clanking typo on the BBC website, although £330bn doesn't feel like enough either.

For the first time in any of our lives this is a moment where the government actively NEEDS GDP and economic activity to fall, because the alternative is the spread of the virus, the question is what you do to help it rebound.

More to the point what do you do if this carries on longer than the two or three months projected?

“well Matt that would be unsustainable”

the lack of rent measures is outrageous, particularly when mortgage holidays are already on the table.

Mortgage holidays don't really cost anybody anything aiui. All it means is that if you have a break for hardship, you extend the term of the loan. Start subsidising rent (which is a good idea) and you get to the question of why you aren't also paying towards mortgages.

Some form of UBI is probably the best option here. Stick everyone a couple of grand to use as they see fit.

more chance of them bringing back rationing imo

Republicans are proposing $1000 per person.

Will read this later

Giving this a bump from y'day, it still applies- the coronavirus crisis is no mere recession, not even an institutional failure like 2008-9, but a fundamental crisis of economic organisation that will necessitate a dramatic restructuring of the economy: https://t.co/Et8vAu73ot

— James Meadway (@meadwaj) March 17, 2020

No it was a big clanking typo on the BBC website, although £330bn doesn't feel like enough either.

For the first time in any of our lives this is a moment where the government actively NEEDS GDP and economic activity to fall, because the alternative is the spread of the virus, the question is what you do to help it rebound.

Also worth stressing that the £330bn seems to be for loans, which will start to accrue interest charges after six months.

I guess one of the challenges with stimulating economic activity at the moment is that there's not much you can spend money on, other than rent and grocery deliveries, if you're stuck at home. I guess it's possible that they're timing a stimulus for when we're allowed to leave the house.

do they not advise flu shots for everyone over there? Seems silly.

― silby, Tuesday, 17 March 2020 17:53 (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes i was puzzled by that when i first read it silby -- they tell me to get a jab every year

but in fact on the gov.uk website theres a list which doesn't include me and they're making a difference between "advised" (e.g. me) and "instructed" (e.g. someone who recently had an actual real heart attack or routinely needs steroid injections for lung stuff)

I suppose the thing is that it isn't really a stimulus because you don't want to stimulate activity now, you want to make sure that when demand does return (and people are going to be fucking desperate to go out and do stuff) the places to spend that money still exist.

Also that can't happen if everyone's lost their job in the meantime.

Still got it:

The government has announced a mortgage holiday for homeowners but it must suspend rents too.

Millions of people rent in the UK.

Suspend rents. Ban evictions. Now.

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) March 17, 2020

I enjoy looking at the first few replies to these tweets of his and sending them to my Corbyn- and landlord-hating friend to radicalise him.

Corbyn doesn't need a 2nd thought on attacking the fucking tories, Starmer on the other hand, at the moment is trying his best not to offend them.

NEW: Sunak says the Housing Secretary will be making a statement in the coming days "to protect renters in these difficult times"

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) March 17, 2020

I'm sure jenrick has some real radical proposals and landlords will be shitting it.

Charlie Elphicke's going to jail, doo-dah, doo dah!

"an" = achaic word for "if"

An it harm none, do what ye will

so this person who is now gone (bcz also archaic?) was right not wrong

thanks for that Mark - I was doing them a disservice!

Osborne was always meant to be Cameron’s successor, Gove wasn’t a Cameronite, he was the price of satiating Murdoch.

Meant to be in their heads, sure, but after a Blair-Brown transfer not an election loss, I'd have thought.

Charlie Elphicke applied for legal aid and it was refused. He owes his estranged wife Natalie £100,000 which she loaned him for legal fees, he owes more than that to his lawyers.

His family home in Kent is being sold, with £400,000 equity to be split by divorcing couple

— Tristan Kirk (@kirkkorner) September 15, 2020

I'm sure he'll still be fine when he gets out of jail next year, probably have a cushy job waiting for him as soon as he's out of the gates

Ebbsfleet coronavirus testing centre in Kent closed to make way for lorry park for post-Brexit customs checkshttps://t.co/YqKcR0inGQ

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 15, 2020

That is beautiful.

The Tories know their people.

this fucking country

Anticipating the story about clearing that lorry park to make way for the coffins

lol like they'd let mass death get in the way of commerce

Very clear the stats for cases are going to get suppressed which will enable the govt to avoid a 2/3 week lockdown for as long as possible.

To follow up, here's the letter we've sent to @BorisJohnson. We don't need a 'moonshot', just ability for residents to access a test locally, while national system was a mess & not everyone knew they could walk in, stopping it without warning is a scandal. https://t.co/V2MZfFo6Gk pic.twitter.com/bHlmND3HZg

— Mayor of Hackney (@mayorofhackney) September 14, 2020

Charlie Elphicke applied for legal aid and it was refused. He owes his estranged wife Natalie £100,000 which she loaned him for legal fees, he owes more than that to his lawyers.

His family home in Kent is being sold, with £400,000 equity to be split by divorcing couple

Poetic justice after he consistently voted to restrict and reduce legal aid. It would be funny if it wasn't destroying innocent lives.

gang of at least a dozen hanging in the little park by me just now, got a good mind to report them to Ed Mili

mrs g’s cousin has just reported on fb that her son’s primary school is closed until the 24th because every teacher has the rona

great work everyone

Saw a weird clip of Patel seeming to claim the rule of six would do nothing to prevent infections but that she'd narc people out anyway.

I mean that's vmic

"The daily number of coronavirus cases has risen above 3,000 again. Today’s count is 3,105, up from 2,621 yesterday. Today’s total is lower than was recorded at the end of last week, but it is still only the fourth time the daily total has been above 3,000 since the end of May. The recent trend - a sharp increase - is being maintained."

And given many can't get a test..

Was completely impossible for me to get a test when I checked last night, and I'm in suburban London

“My worry is that we’ve demonstrated that a better world is possible” says senior Tory pic.twitter.com/MKzbW3gi1Y

— Ollie (@O_lloyd) September 15, 2020

this fucking country

lol who could have seen this coming

Care home firm that sacked MP for raising PPE fears admits it did have shortagehttps://t.co/pvYOsQMOi0 pic.twitter.com/VzNfL5BUl6

— Mirror Politics (@MirrorPolitics) September 15, 2020

Grenfell files ‘lost forever’ after laptop wiped, inquiry hearshttps://t.co/RBKJnizXtg

— ITV London (@itvlondon) September 14, 2020

That sounds like it's nothing to do with the wiping of the laptop and everything to do with crucial files no longer being on the server where they were supposed to be.

Nice double punch of nothing matters there.

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (13983 of them)

are we waiting until bj gets covid a second time

i mean god willing but

a new thread? but literally nothing matters

Reference the six or nothing truly matters

Forensix Oppostion

^

Quite sobering to realise I was literally travelling home from work that day from our office and haven’t been back since.

ForenSix Opposition - Politics in the Soon To Be Former UK in Autumn 2020