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

This "I'll be the PM of the whole nation" is going to play v. well for Scot Nats. Especially now England is the last country in Europe with "extremely high" excess deaths.

It seems his announcements only really apply to England so he is the Prime Minister of the whole nation of England.

I think that's a ref to Sturgeon's public dissing of "Stay Awake" or whatever it is, and her demand it not be used in Scotland.

My interpretation of Boris Johnson this evening: the pandemic of COVID-19 in the UK is much more serious than we have been led to believe. Johnson was unusually serious, fists clenched, no jokes about squashing sombreros.

— richard horton (@richardhorton1) May 10, 2020

He recorded the message before Sturgeon's "diss"

Just watched boris hands for 15 mins pic.twitter.com/BZpUiKMyK0

— John McGinn (@jmcginn7) May 10, 2020

I felt like I was in the room and he was talking to me...what a brilliant speech @BorisJohnson well done 👏

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) May 10, 2020

That corkie must have hit his head hard

Horton is right, I think. In practice all secondary school and most primary school has been cancelled for the academic year. Restaurants aren’t going to reopen for two months. It’s an admission that the U.K. is absolutely nowhere near being ready for the end of lockdown and wouldn’t be out of step with the suggestion in the ST this morning that the real rate of new infections is 18k per day. That’s the context Johnson’s telling people to go back to work in.

Poor people, mostly

Working class people in the likes of construction are going to risk getting this disease and die, whereas people who can work from home can jog more than once a day. Seems fair.

from the comments to horton’s tweet thread

Rightful #VEDay75 focus on #WW2 sacrifices puts #covid_19 UK tragedy in chilling perspective: civilian deaths in 6 years - 60,595; excess deaths in 7 weeks - 55,000 @ChrisGiles_
Photo: Jonathan David Shepherd pic.twitter.com/0kNvBx9QEA

— Nigel Taylor (@SilverLotheni) May 8, 2020

Did anyone here seriously believe that bars and restaurants would be open in July? Does anyone believe it now?

people in England will be allowed to sit in parks within their household groups, to drive to beauty spots for walks, and to take unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise. People will be able to meet and sit down with a single other person from another household outdoors as long as they stay two metres apart.

this is all already happening

people who cannot work at home will now be “actively encouraged” to get back to work with social distancing where possible, an announcement that prompted trade unions to raise concerns about employee safety.

this is beyond fucked up. where’s the enforcement mechanism? let’s just trust the boss to sort it out????

^also already happening tbf

shithole country

Law prof says this is a tightening not a relaxation. Wonder if they know that, or are just incompetent beyond all measure.

I’m also confused after Boris’ speech: (1) going to work when you can’t work from home was already the position but now you should avoid public transport: that’s an additional rule not a relaxation; and [Thread] https://t.co/1tFaGOXqwU

— Tom Hickman (@TomRHickman) May 10, 2020

Gone unlocked to state the following:

* Familiaraise yourself with s44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
* If you do not feel safe to go to work and you are an employee - then do not go. State your reasons in writing and send an email to your manager, cc-ing HR (1/?)

— Magic Money Tree 🌳 (@charlottor) May 10, 2020

This is what happened!!!! pic.twitter.com/YcNAZE1TP4

— lovelife (@Rashidhussain69) May 10, 2020

That lawyer thread - isn't this a relaxation of rules for outdoor activity and a slight tightening for enclosed spaces? The risk involved in sitting in the park at a safe distance for everyone else feels pretty low.

In out in out shake it all about

The public transport guidance is presumably only advice. They aren’t going to stop people using it.

Over 100 mosques threaten to boycott Labour over Kashmir https://t.co/QXm5T0yEAm

— AssedBaig (@AssedBaig) May 10, 2020

how are people who can’t work from home supposed to go to work if their kids are home?

“Go to work but don’t use public transport.” pic.twitter.com/DIqCrjfpTq

— Gwdihŵ 🦉 (@youwouldknow) May 10, 2020

here’s a helpful thread on who is going back to work

On the economic side the news is 1) work from home if you can 2) go to work if not UNLESS 3) your work is closed by terms of the lockdown (non-food shops/restaurants).

— Torsten Bell (@TorstenBell) May 10, 2020

Possible the headline writer didn't make the connection. Lol @ everything, including death

I’ve been trying to write and rewrite a response to the Telegraph ripping off the title of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography to cover that incoherent Johnson speech and I just... can’t. pic.twitter.com/rskvp0ZoQ7

— Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley (@lottelydia) May 10, 2020

it's like reading the accounts of Hitler expecting relief from Wenck's Wank's 12th army during the fall of Berlin. Delusion supplanting the reality of a situation. The propaganda machine still working but all other functions of government completely gone!

LOL our CEO has had to interrupt his Sunday night to send an email to everyone in the organization to say, in spite of what Boris Johnson has just said, we don't expect anyone to come to work tomorrow. Good work, Bozzer!

These cunts aren't fit to run a tuck shop

If your work involves going into clients homes, the government updated their guidance on 4th May (but didn’t talk about it).

The headline is that you can go to work.

Glaring omissions:
• No advice re. how to obtain own childcare
• No advice re. maskshttps://t.co/OnRFXmXNtK pic.twitter.com/OObwborv5Y

— CrimeGirl (@CrimeGirI) May 11, 2020

the fucking state of this "open a window" and "social distancing" inside someone's fucking house. I contracted 2009 H1N1 working in houses where you can't avoid common surfaces or often where rooms aren't even big enough for social distancing, and cleaners going into old people's houses - what could possibly go right.

What a piece of garbage

Anyone asking why not a general rent waiver please see this thread about the consequences: https://t.co/Zzug7U8WKU

— Thangam Debbonaire (@ThangamMP) May 10, 2020

Is it wrong?

I get that 'the ECHR protects the property rights of landlords' might be a politically and morally lousy situation to be in but if it's factually correct, there's a need to work through the implications of that.

I am leaning on the politically and morally lousy implications part of your post.

Saw in the mentions ppl talk about their precarious situation. Some of these people have stopped giving a shit about Labour since Starmer came in as LOTO but there they are practically begging this woman to erm, change her tone.

the first skim thru gave me the depressing vibe of centrist arguments for the status quo but reading further i can give them the benefit of the doubt. the real problem then is the likes of Debbonaire and Starmzy whose communication to their own side is fucking useless on this, because the argument seems to be "this is the most practical approach to avoiding evictions right now, it's not the shape of post-rona housing policy" and that doesn't come across clearly at all from any shadow cabinet pundit at the moment

that's ignoring the fact that it's all hypotheticals because huge Tory majority and i lol told myself yesterday i was just gonna give up on caring about this stuff

I think that's right NV - the proposals are about putting in place a short term bar on evictions without handing much to landlords, most of which has been lost in the comms. If i was going to be a churl, i'd add that left-wing journalists borrowing from the Dan Hodges (pretending not to understand things that they do, in fact, understand) and James Ball (aggressively bad-faith pedantry) playbook is compounding the problem, though.

Labour having to go check with their focus groups to see if saving workers' lives is a vote winner https://t.co/k08AcJ0Vs7

— Nick Srnicek (@n_srnck) May 11, 2020

this clown will do all he can to ensure they will be able to maintain that majority by the next election even with 2 million less votes

his first instinct is pretty much always in the wrong direction, yep

Everything has this timid tone, it's like a slow nudge for people to vote for them.

the sound of triangulation happening in real time

This is real bald-men-fighting-over-a-comb stuff.

I see that the UK has agreed to exempt travelers from France from its quarantine plan. I gather this is mostly to assuage tourism, on both sides? Given the clumsiness of the British response to the virus, I'm not sure I think this is wise for us, but at least it's reciprocal.

👏🏻 leadership

I notice there has been some more stridently old Labour stuff coming from the likes of Andy McDonald and even Ed Milli but I don't see how it is a good tactic having such a pathetic timid melt as a leader when they'll turn the dogs on him when an election is coming anyway and oh boy will he be an easy target for ridicule.

Shame that bald men fighting over a comb have life or death implications for some.

I see that the UK has agreed to exempt travelers from France from its quarantine plan

Is this quarantine plan actually real though? Or just when you land you say "hey I'm staying at this address I won't go out for 2 weeks"

perhaps I should have written "quarantine plan". what a mess.