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

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Times Leader is calmly posting thrash as usual:

I think this Times leader is the result of many, many people in the senior ranks at that paper having taken lax notice of the lockdown rules. pic.twitter.com/M10RkwFRAf

— Mic Wright (@brokenbottleboy) May 25, 2020

xyzzzz__, Monday, 25 May 2020 10:17 (three years ago) link

well another way of thinking about it then is that Cummings is just being positioned as the culture war scapegoat position, standing in as the neighbor that has been out exercising as much as they want. while it would be poetic justice for the Tories to become victims of the curtain twitching they've encouraged it doesn't fill me with optimism for a brighter tomorrow

plax (ico), Monday, 25 May 2020 10:20 (three years ago) link

Right now the story has weakened, not strenghtened, the curtain twitchers. General stance is well fuck this then there's no rules I'm just gonna do what the fuck I want, which is concerning for different reasons but yeah, the scolds shouting about too many people in the park have gone very silent.

I'd be more concerned about Cummings being positioned as a sacrifical lamb if there was the slightest indication that they're willing to sacrifice him.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 25 May 2020 10:27 (three years ago) link

but the thing about the curtain twitchers is that they are the embodiment of something I saw James butler say that the only thing the English believe in more than rules is that those rules apply to everyone but themselves. Cummings has made a mug of everyone who went along with the lockdown, however halfheartedly, and anyone who has been negatively affected by it in any way (seemingly everyone but me, guiltily I fn love it) I think this has the same 'energy' and it doesn't necessarily emanate from a feeling towards justice or equality

plax (ico), Monday, 25 May 2020 10:33 (three years ago) link

xps

It’s likely to be every arts venue. The South Bank centre isn’t going to put on anything before before Spring next year even if it had the money to do so. I can’t envisage any theatre or concert hall will. The entire sector will be bankrupt long before then without intervention.

You’d assume that this is not top of the list of government priorities but ‘culture’ plays a huge role in keeping London’s position as a financial hub strong, even if you don’t care about intrinsic value.

ShariVari, Monday, 25 May 2020 10:35 (three years ago) link

I don't think the curtain twitchers actually are that. From what I can tell they seem to be very content in following the guidelines, mostly because that kind of person has no joy in their life anyway so what would be the point for them to go to the park or visit friends when they could be having a much better time lecturing people online?

The energy I think for many people is one of personal betrayal and grief at not having been able to say goodbye to their loved ones - this doesn't translate into more abstract feelings of justice or equality necessiarly but it also doesn't need to, it is valid on its own.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 25 May 2020 10:46 (three years ago) link

I saw a link about theatres on their knees a few days ago. I'm guessing because of the way 'culture' works with finance that some bits of it will get bailed out xp

xyzzzz__, Monday, 25 May 2020 10:47 (three years ago) link

I think we're basically agreeing, there's something happening that is partly collective and partly about individualist injury (whether real trauma or pettiness about curtailment of 'freedom') and there's some dissonance between the two that seems to be playing out in a way that would have been hard to predict, at least for bbclaurak

plax (ico), Monday, 25 May 2020 10:54 (three years ago) link

Some of the more prominent venues might be able to get by with the help of some big donations from the extremely wealthy. Theatre in particular is absolutely central to London and its self-image so you would expect cheap money to be flowing in that direction reasonably quickly when things can get going again, but no one has the slightest clue when that is right now.

A lot of smaller venues might be fucked and of course there are huge consequences for performers and others whose livelihoods depend upon them.

Booming Plax posts today BTW. (xposts)

Matt DC, Monday, 25 May 2020 10:55 (three years ago) link

Some of the National Theatre plays have been doing mad numbers on YouTube in the space of a week so they can at least point to pent up demand (even if they are free).

Matt DC, Monday, 25 May 2020 10:58 (three years ago) link

Just realised it's two weeks since bloody conga VE day, so if we're going to see an infection spike from that it should be imminent

stet, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:01 (three years ago) link

the black lace noose of death tightens...

calzino, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:07 (three years ago) link

the national theatre online program has been crap when I've checked it (I saw that rubbish Jane Eyre production at the time, total nonsense) but the schaubuhne have a daily showing and many have English subtitles definitely worth checking (haven't watched in a couple of weeks, presume they're still going on....) I'm already concerned that the next documenta will be cancelled, they've already delayed the Venice biennale until 2022

plax (ico), Monday, 25 May 2020 11:10 (three years ago) link

not that I'm arsed about the Venice biennale

plax (ico), Monday, 25 May 2020 11:11 (three years ago) link

Wrote to my MP pic.twitter.com/y5xfH3wu8c

— John Wilson (@tug) May 25, 2020



Plaxico otm, and stet i posted a tweet upthread indicating cases back up in the West Country.

gyac, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:11 (three years ago) link

so you did, sorry gyac. right on time otm

stet, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:13 (three years ago) link

I remember enjoying that Jane Eyre at the time, up until the exact point at which they started singing Gnarls Barkley for no reason and then it rendered the entire production shit for me. The Magnolia of theatre adaptations.

Matt DC, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:20 (three years ago) link

the first line of Jane Eyre is "there was no possibility of going for a walk that day" it's about social convention (it's raining, but the 'possibility' is something that the passive construction of the sentence referes to) there's a characteristically 19th C novel tension between the active claim made by the sentence and the role of the social in arbitrating that claim (as in "its a fact universally acknowledged

plax (ico), Monday, 25 May 2020 11:34 (three years ago) link

the first line of the play was "it's a girl"

plax (ico), Monday, 25 May 2020 11:35 (three years ago) link

Cummings to make a statement and take questions, this should be fun.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 25 May 2020 11:42 (three years ago) link

"did you order the code red"

stet, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:44 (three years ago) link

i almost admire his front tbh

imago, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:47 (three years ago) link

He'd better rustle up some charm from somewhere pretty sharpish

some infected evening (Matt #2), Monday, 25 May 2020 11:47 (three years ago) link

I’m still furious and I’m not alone - this is just some of today’s in-box. I’m with you all.

Each has a story of lockdown suffering and painful sacrifices we were prepared to make to save lives. @BorisJohnson this is one rule for us and another for you. pic.twitter.com/CJYSIx9lI2

— Fleur Anderson MP (@PutneyFleur) May 25, 2020



Dominic Cummings is expected to give a public statement and take questions later himself, as calls for him to quit and explain himself mount

— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) May 25, 2020

gyac, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:48 (three years ago) link

We're going to see some absolute brick shitting from journalists here when he gives them the eye, even over Zoom.

Matt DC, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:49 (three years ago) link

This could be awesome.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 25 May 2020 11:50 (three years ago) link

Somebody lock Peston in cellar though.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 25 May 2020 11:51 (three years ago) link

he’s gonna go full trump and call them all fake news

be interesting to see what happens when someone who doesn’t have his own slavish cult of personality tries that approach

you think he doesn't?

imago, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:52 (three years ago) link

not to the extent that trump does, not even close

the awkward, abrasive brazen overgrown-whizzkid archetype is a british standard and the public love someone who fronts up, he will come out of today much more popular than how he began it, guaranteed

imago, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:54 (three years ago) link

n.b. i am not saying that i actually like the bastard, he is ideologically menacing in a way that other tories can only aspire to be, but he has ideas and strategies on how to implement them; he has the charisma of the highly-functional

imago, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:56 (three years ago) link

I don't know who Mr John Wilson is, but that letter from him above is tremendous. Poignant, desperate, furious.

the pinefox, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:57 (three years ago) link

his is middle england iirc: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitchurch

mark s, Monday, 25 May 2020 11:59 (three years ago) link

It really is. The messaging that Cummings was only doing what any decent parent would do obviously carries the subtext for everyone who lost someone and didn’t see them before they died/didn’t attend a funeral of ‘what sort of husband/wife/child are you?’

crisp, Monday, 25 May 2020 12:00 (three years ago) link

I don't think it's possible to be more wrong than imago is being at this moment.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 25 May 2020 12:11 (three years ago) link

I have so many questions. like what is he going to wear? i hope he left the iron in Durham

stet, Monday, 25 May 2020 12:11 (three years ago) link

i'll be pleased to be wrong this time, let's see

imago, Monday, 25 May 2020 12:14 (three years ago) link

the awkward, abrasive brazen overgrown-whizzkid archetype is a british standard and the public love someone who fronts up, he will come out of today much more popular than how he began it, guaranteed


this isn’t clive sinclair answering for the failure of the sinclair c5, this smug cunt talking about why it was vital that he do everything that the rest of the country has been trying hard not to do is going to be the first time a lot of people have seen him and i don’t think it’s going to win him a lot of fans outside the leave eu hardcore who probably already buy into his myth of sinister genius

he'll selectively detail his timeline and selectively quote guidelines and legislation to support his actions then rigidly stick to both until we do the Limmy shoulder slump

BRAVE THE AFRIAD (onimo), Monday, 25 May 2020 12:21 (three years ago) link

yeah i still don’t think he’s getting fired

If they let Peston fuck it up again I’ll be so angry

gyac, Monday, 25 May 2020 12:23 (three years ago) link

struggling to remember the last time he didn’t fuck it up tbh

I reckon he'll say he's decided to step aside for the moment, in the national interest, but that the scheduled inquiry will clear him of any wrongdoing.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 25 May 2020 12:26 (three years ago) link

... Cummings that is, not Peston, though his performance is worthy of a public inquiry.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 25 May 2020 12:26 (three years ago) link

don't know if he'd take questions if he was stepping back. I think this is an attempt at giving MPs a chance to say "he has answered the public's questions fully and now it's time for us to focus on the vital task of getting the rest of you back into lockdown"

stet, Monday, 25 May 2020 12:28 (three years ago) link

It's so out of character for the charmless cunt to acknowledge other human beings even exist and are worthy of his attention that the whole taking questions thing is so weird.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 25 May 2020 12:32 (three years ago) link

Hoping for some kind of Prince Andrew special here

stet, Monday, 25 May 2020 12:35 (three years ago) link

Anyone know what time this farrago is occurring?

some infected evening (Matt #2), Monday, 25 May 2020 12:37 (three years ago) link


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