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

I'll never forget the bbc's muted coverage of the UN rapporteur on poverty, and totally blanking out the BMJ report on PIP reform disabled deaths when we actually had an opposition party that was pushing them hard on this every week. They all go fuck themselves forever.

It's the difference between the same sentiments or even the same policy coming from People Who Understand How The World Works vs Overgrown Students And Geography Teachers. People whose natural home is either in the technocratic centre or the corporatist right, and who look and sound the part, are given the benefit of the doubt that they know what they're talking about, everyone else isn't.

There’s still tons of spiders out there even after the country has left the EU!

what were Spiders? that unfunny fake email complaint dude?

also rhetoric above action because all these cunts are the "i want to talk to the manager" crew, their problem is not that a manager and an exploitative hierarchy exists, they just want it to serve them properly?

oh no now i remember the spider brooch

ffs

That and people listing bell and Sebastian song titles on the slack have ruined my birthday

A tweet by Tim Burgess of Emily Maitlis. Quality stuff.

i work tirelessly to bring u the highest-quality tweets

Have you got anything by the singer of the Bluetones?

That and people listing bell and Sebastian song titles on the slack have ruined my birthday

Mornington Crescent.

Mornington Crescent.

Why did that post twice?! It wasn't funny the first time.

It was funny the second time.

It was even funnier the second time!

Do Newsnight presenters write their own links/introductions?

Not usually but sometimes. Ros Atkins writes a lot of his own links for Outside Source. It depends on the presenter and the story - no way to know in this case unless you work on the show. Frankly it's more heartening to me if it came from a producer as they usually are doing what they hope their bosses will like, so it kind of (hopefully) signals a deeper understanding within the show of the issues - rather than Maitlis 'going off on one'.

Have you got anything by the singer of the Bluetones?

― Did somebody just say eat? (Tom D.), Thursday, 9 April 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Will have a look

Dude from the Longpigs stood in the EU Elections for Change UK, try asking him.

real talk (not the linked article)

Covid-19 transmission is happening in call centres, building sites, detention centres. But police don’t go there - they go to the beach. https://t.co/Bt5ynJvkdJ

— Simon Cox *isolate but organise* (@SimonFRCox) April 8, 2020

Have you got anything by the singer of the Bluetones?

A perfect day to get some washing on the line... pic.twitter.com/24cPPkLyqn

— Mark Morriss (@TheQuill) April 7, 2020

if this is going to turn into the Britpop reminiscence hour i *will* start FPing people

i’m sure nez from heavy stereo has some valuable insight to share tho

shed seven was a gulag reference

there's a perfectly "good" board just down there

vvvvv

I doubt someone who was asking "where is Jess Phillips in this shadow cabinet?" will turn around and write that intro a couple of days later but who knows really.

Anyway it does hit home that the aftermath of this will need to involve cookies for us. Tories will need to do a significant amount (far more than they would've wanted to a few weeks ago) to patch things up so they can keep the show going. It's a question of whether they will be able to, or what the repercussions of a severe shortfall would be.

xps to Tracer - bg...thank you for your service

maitlis was tweeting terf talking points a few months ago and was as fucking useless as everyone else during the election so ¯\(◉‿◉)/¯

— mark wood sexy kitten ultras (@iggigg) April 9, 2020

not clear why Martin Rossiter was tweeting this gif at Tim Shipman, but

@ShippersUnbound pic.twitter.com/hOU4GTJOYX

— Martin Rossiter (@MartinRossiter) March 29, 2020

god Twitter is a cesspit

It's important for someone to say these words. You'd just wish that someone was in the opposition.

Tories will need to do a significant amount (far more than they would've wanted to a few weeks ago) to patch things up so they can keep the show going. It's a question of whether they will be able to, or what the repercussions of a severe shortfall would be.

They will have to do an absolute shit ton, way more than they have already, but the chances of the nation joining hands and deciding that shop workers and delivery people are the real key workers and should be paid accordingly feels vanishingly small*. The government will have to make major changes to the welfare system because it will be unacceptable to the millions of middle class white collar workers who will be put out of work imminently if the existing furlough measures turn out to be inadequate. In general it's still better to keep people nominally in employment but if the lockdown maintains for six months or longer then that might just become unfeasible.

The only shortfall would occur if the government decides to stop spending, or if the sheer scale of spending required exceeds the market for gilts and tbh where else is that investor cash going to go at the moment?

*What does feel more likely and perhaps inevitable is big class action settlements for the families of people who have died because they've been forced to keep going into work but that's not going to be any help to the poor bastards themselves.

even the fucking Large Hadron Collider couldn't detect the presence of Starmer

actually I’ll think you’ll find the collider just accelerates and collides particles, it’s the ATLAS, ALICE, LHCb and CMS systems that do the detecting

It's important for someone to say these words. You'd just wish that someone was in the opposition.

xp
well done, did Tim Burgess tell you that!

simon from the longpigs iirc

I think for me the question is not whether they will stop spending but on what they will spend the cash available on. Tories clearly don't want to restructure the economy but if the housing market takes a permanent dive what then?

So yes welfare changes, for one, but a significant number of white collar workers will be 'downgraded' in a global recession that may last for much of this parliament.

It's one of the reasons I think you're right about the hit the government will take from this. It's less about their handling of the crisis and more about the transition OUT of the crisis, the disgruntlement and resentment that will build between the end of the lockdown and the point at which people really feel like their lives are approaching normality again. That period could go on for years.

Typically, the letter says, DWP would expect 55,000 calls in a week.

The letter reveals that between 23-27 March inclusive approximately *1.8 million* calls were made to the Universal Credit Helpline.

On 30 March they received 2.2 million calls.

On 31 March 1.8 million calls.

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) April 8, 2020

I'd imagine for many getting exposed to Universal Credit recently - it might be their first time and it will likely be a bit of an eyeopener for them. I bet if YouGov did a "is Universal Credit a fair and functional element of the UK welfare state y/n?" poll the answers would be a bit more informed and in the negative than usual. It was only designed to treat the lower orders like shit, not everyone else as well!

In general it's still better to keep people nominally in employment but if the lockdown maintains for six months or longer then that might just become unfeasible.

Do you mean economically or just "this looks bad"?

lol, time to both-sides the fuck out of this

A majority of Britons are in favour of a government of national unity being formed for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, a new poll from YouGov suggests.

In a survey, 63% of 1,609 people indicated they would be in support of representatives from all of the main political parties being brought into the fold.

A total of 31% said they would be strongly support such a move, whilst only 17% stated that they would be opposed.

Of those polled who voted for the Conservatives at the general election last year, 54% said that they would back plans to govern in unison during the crisis.

Meanwhile, 76% of Labour voters outlined that they would support such a move, with a majority of Liberal Democrat voters polled (84%) also giving their backing.

xps, idk if the government can put any kind of time-limit of assistance to companies, tbh. Even if this goes on for eighteen months, you need a functional economy at the end of it. Forcing huge numbers of businesses into bankruptcy, or effectively forcing them to lay off staff and re-recruit, is likely a worse outcome than racking up decades of national debt. Whether that can be done for all businesses, or whether there'd have to be some kind of vetting on commercial viability post-lockdown, is a huge question, though.

Do you mean economically or just "this looks bad"?

Economically. If everyone is out of work and vast numbers of employers have collapsed then it makes it much more difficult for the country to rebound. If people can just return to work at the end of their furlough period then it's easier. Its the difference between a sharp recession and a long depression.

Some good proximity to power correlation there.

I'm definitely missing something, Matt - if furlough is better for business (and better for the Tories wrt keeping nice white-collar people away from welfare) and if they can keep printing money (because what are the alternatives) then why would it become economically unfeasable?

It's mostly there in SV's post right above mine.

idk if the government can put any kind of time-limit of assistance to companies, tbh. Even if this goes on for eighteen months, you need a functional economy at the end of it. Forcing huge numbers of businesses into bankruptcy, or effectively forcing them to lay off staff and re-recruit, is likely a worse outcome than racking up decades of national debt. Whether that can be done for all businesses, or whether there'd have to be some kind of vetting on commercial viability post-lockdown, is a huge question, though.

Yeah they will have to keep the money going, there's going to be ballooning national debt whatever happens but if everything collapses there's going to be no tax revenue to pay it off. Also if the government is seen to be switching off life support for employers then it really will impact upon them at the ballot box, because people aren't going to forget that shit.

Tell you what, though.

Remember Dominic Cummings?

You'll not be seeing him again.

Huh, I took his post as arguing with yours: "In general it's still better to keep people nominally in employment but if the lockdown maintains for six months or longer then that might just become unfeasible."

A lot of 'rules' will be written then replaced by other ones.