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

No we’ve had our 5 minutes of appreciating the nhs now

That's a lot of hand-washing, there's gonna be another run on gel

perhaps it's kind of therapeutic, makes you feel like you're doing something? they could call it the clap clinic

guess if it's alright by the big man...
https://www.facebook.com/JeremyCorbynMP/videos/3161797813832010/

if we start clapping rozzers though..........

in the “other countries” spark lines charts in the FT i wanna know what got the denmark curve to do a right angle.

Coronavirus tracked: the latest figures as the pandemic spreads | Free to read https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest?shareType=nongift

sounds miserable for fred rn with choir member, but i’d be intrigued to know what the response was (economic response looks solid).

USA trajectory is terrifying and as rich nations go they are probably the least well equipped to go about dealing with it.

I believe Denmark shut down early and took the lead in covering everyone's wages in order to incentivise that, right?

The government is going to be absolutely draping itself in touchy feely NHS sentiment for the next few years so get used to those contradictions.

didn’t clap. feel sheepish about that sort of thing at the best of times

USA trajectory is terrifying and as rich nations go they are probably the least well equipped to go about dealing with it.

I believe Denmark shut down early and took the lead in covering everyone's wages in order to incentivise that, right?

The government is going to be absolutely draping itself in touchy feely NHS sentiment for the next few years so get used to those contradictions.

imagine philip hammond was still chancellor

tbh the clapping is what it is, no harm in it, but I've already seen some self-righteous policing of inadequate applause on social media, the whole country is like Dad's Army now

“We love OUR NHS, so that’s why we want our nurses to try to keep those death rates down!”

god forbid we're still clapping come armistice day xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGP7nLtJNow

This should warm everyone’s cockles a bit

Better get our fucking 40 hospitals now and no “we didn’t close 40 so that’s 40 extra ones” bullshit

do commandeered conference centres count in the total?

No WRVS bookshop no credibility

the whole country is like Dad's Army now

Led by Sgt Wilson to boot - "now, if you chaps could all just see your way to self-isolate, so kind"

A lot of those proposed hospitals are cottage hospitals without beds.

Cllr Justin Johnson
2 hrs ·

Giving it's success tonight - I have set up a petition to send to the Government to support the idea that we should all clap for one minute every Thursday at 8pm in support of all NHS workers who we are so proud of - pls can you support my petition. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitio…/310571/sponsors/new…

guess which party this lad represents

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/west-midlands-emerges-as-a-hotspot-for-coronavirus-deaths

‘Religious convictions’ seems like a cop-out explanation for an apparently much higher death rate in Muslim and Sikh communities. Something like 70% of older Asian people live in multi-generational households. All the people dying at the moment will likely have been infected when the government was still telling parents to send their kids to school.

That’s before you get to the broader class implications of keeping your kids away from their grandparents when millions of people also rely on grandparents for childcare even if they’re not all living in the same house.

perhaps it's kind of therapeutic, makes you feel like you're doing something? they could call it the clap clinic

― ymo sumac (NickB), Thursday, March 26, 2020 9:19 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

A++

Britain's love for the NHS is apolitical and that's ultimately what will kill it.

— Jack Saundrs ❤🖤 (@jack_saundrs) March 27, 2020

Don't know if I wholly agree with this but it's definitely a point. And enough people cared about leaving the European Union more. Labour definitely said 'this is under threat', but it seemed to be too little too late.

In France though it's events and cold hard cash that follows:

Emmanuel Macron live on television announcing that, when this crisis is over, the French state will make a massive long-term investment in the nation's hospital and health system and its workers.

— Matthew Fraser (@frasermatthew) March 25, 2020

So it seems Johnson launched his appeal for British-built ventilators three days before an EU ventilator buying scheme closed and two days after Brussels publicly said Britain was free to join. Hard to square with No. 10 claims of “communication problems” https://t.co/zjhOmb9uM8 pic.twitter.com/gY9HJiNBoW

— Simon Nixon (@Simon_Nixon) March 27, 2020

Don't know if I wholly agree with this but it's definitely a point. And enough people cared about leaving the European Union more. Labour definitely said 'this is under threat', but it seemed to be too little too late.

― xyzzzz__,

Its partly true but I think its something slightly different. People who voted Boris but 'love the NHS' think the problems with the NHS are down to overuse (by other people), but also just didn't really believe Labour saying 'this is under threat'. There may be elements of they wouldnt really do that would they in that - (that Leopards Eating Peoples Faces Party thing)

Large sections of the public can't conceptualize the idea of the NHS being under threat, and consider any suggestions it might be as histrionic and made up - certainly not from the opposition but even to some extent if the Tories came right out and said 'this is what we're going to do'

I'm probably missing something but the link to the 100 deaths in a day that SV posted also says that roughly 90 percent of the tests carried out so far have come back negative which seems weird if they're only testing people with severe symptoms idgi.

― oscar bravo, Thursday, 26 March 2020 21:14 (yesterday)

I was wondering about this too - anyone have any idea how/why?

'too little too late' is a lot of the reason people didn't believe. The release of those documents showing us/uk government in talks functioned as a one day spectacle in an election campaign. The existential threat it's under doesn't hit the mark xp

something I hear a lot and am sometimes guilty of saying myself is "politicians are all the same" "they're all liars, you can't trust anything they tell you" which, I mean, we've certainly seen plenty of evidence for that kind of sentiment

but it turns into "all politicians will do exactly the same bad things no matter what their stated beliefs or policy, so I may as well just vote for whoever I like best", and then you hear - well, I've heard - "well I don't like Boris and I don't think he's doing a very good job with this virus thing, but I dislike Corbyn even more so he'd have done exactly the same bad things but even worse"

and one day, if it happens soon enough for Corbyn to still be in that nation's memory as That Very Bad Man Who Would Have Been Very Bad For Our Country, we'll hear "I think it's bad that the Tories have privatised the NHS, but Corbyn was very bad, so he'd have done it too, except he'd have spent the money on jam jars, and the lids wouldn't even have fitted properly" or something

Large sections of the public can't conceptualize the idea of the NHS being under threat, and consider any suggestions it might be as histrionic and made up

"they'd never be foolish enough to dismantle it!"

never going to forget the woman I met in A&E who within a minute of striking up conversation pivoted to "letting all these people in (to the country)" as to why we had a three hour wait on a Saturday evening

it's one of the most effective political lies ever, you kinda have to respect the craft

I got that from someone once in a hospital setting and just said, ‘unlike you, I was invited.’ The goldfish mouth on the bigot was very satisfying.

Just makes me long for them to have their faces rubbed in it, unfortunately the collateral damage would make that bad not good.
Younger generations look like they might be better humans, I suppose.

Doesn’t even help if you’re working in the damn NHS. My sister mentioned once that a patient had said of her that he wanted a nurse “who could speak English”, so you can imagine how bad it is for nurses who aren’t white and/or native English speakers.

I’ve just had a member of staff refused acknowledgement of her NHS status with her RPS letter with my stamp on it. “Anyone could make that up” she was told as everyone booed her. Poor kid is on the front counter serving the people who booed her.
So much for last night’s clap

— Tony Schofield (@tony_schofield) March 27, 2020

but it turns into "all politicians will do exactly the same bad things no matter what their stated beliefs or policy, so I may as well just vote for whoever I like best", and then you hear - well, I've heard - "well I don't like Boris and I don't think he's doing a very good job with this virus thing, but I dislike Corbyn even more so he'd have done exactly the same bad things but even worse"

and one day, if it happens soon enough for Corbyn to still be in that nation's memory as That Very Bad Man Who Would Have Been Very Bad For Our Country, we'll hear "I think it's bad that the Tories have privatised the NHS, but Corbyn was very bad, so he'd have done it too, except he'd have spent the money on jam jars, and the lids wouldn't even have fitted properly" or something

I know people who work in the NHS who voted for Johnson because "at least" he wasn't Jeremy Hunt ("who would have been a disaster for the NHS") and "was the best option available". This is pretty much exactly the thought process. If more people had felt they could rely upon Corbyn delivering upon his good intentions, then that NHS document might have made a difference but the constant attacks from the right worked and the Labour approach didn't, so we are where we are.

FWIW I think the world has changed fundamentally now and there's no going back to even two or three months ago for either party, so god knows what happens even if they get the crisis under control.

bozza got the rona

Boris Johnson has a new girlfriend: her name is Rona.

bingo!

Angela Rayner self-reporting too apparently

All right, who made a wish while they were clapping last night?

comrade covid-19, u have yr orders

covid we can believe in

had we but the technology to harness this sudden vast cheering wave of schadenfreude

is this like the time he got that dog?

I liked the cheering mostly because I haven’t been able to leave my flat in days and it was nice to hear all those human voices around.

Yeah, this is selfish I know but I just enjoyed getting to say hi to the neighbour at the balcony next door.

it's a hard time for dealers and smackheads right now in my neck of the woods. 

The right opportunity to post this amazing message that a friend from Berlin fwd me from his coke dealer:

We have taken the following measures to deliver to you as safely as possible:

Our drivers are equipped with disinfectants to clean important contact surfaces before and during their shift.

Our drivers wear gloves for protection.

Our drivers are of course also obliged to follow the recommended protective measures of the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) and to stay at home if they feel uncomfortable.

We also ask for your support: please only order if you feel fit and behave in the vehicle with due regard to the driver's health.

^ wow!