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

We will have had two months of pubs, restaurants, hairdressers etc open by September - if the virus continues to decline for that whole period then opening socially distanced schools won't be seen as that big of a deal by the wider public. But if its come back in a major way then the government is going to have to ditch that fines policy because it will be massively unpopular and fuelling festering rage all over the country.

Also Scotland will have had them open for a month by then anyway so in theory the rest of the country should be able to learn from that - although they are probably ahead in terms of dealing with the virus it won't be gone for good.

Some talk about Scotland being Covid-free 'by the end of the summer'. How that's going to work when you have a border with England, I don't know.

Feels hubristic as hell to me.

could be a good time to start re-building the old wall!

It's not the Scottish government saying that btw, they're not that stupid.

Still we have INDEPENDENCE DAY to look forward to down here!

Beers gardens from the 6th and indoor boozing from 15th says we're going to undo all our good work (zero deaths reported since Wednesday) in jig time.

You never know, if England descends into booze fuelled anarchy on Independence Day that might be time a get out for the Scottish government.

It's weird to watch at the moment. We're really not a million miles from England in policies, legislation, guidance or timing (and we're arguably worse on care homes) but Nicola Sturgeon's handling of covid has massive support from everyone who isn't a screaming unionist.

Premier League fixtures for July 4th all look pretty sedate but that Derby Forest game is on Sky at 12.30 and is going to have people in the Midlands drinking at home early and then piling into pubs. They're not all going to be able to get in so if it's a hot day it'll just be loads of people drinking in parks.

Millwall vs Charlton is on the 3rd thank god.

oi we're the home team!

government not bringing back club cricket as 'the ball is a natural vector of disease' is the biggest load of shit btw given what they're allowing

You never know, if England descends into booze fuelled anarchy on Independence Day that might be time a get out for the Scottish government.

xp
a case of tories shielding tories!

Premier League fixtures for July 4th all look pretty sedate but that Derby Forest game is on Sky at 12.30 and is going to have people in the Midlands drinking at home early and then piling into pubs. They're not all going to be able to get in so if it's a hndence ot day it'll just be loads of people drinking in parks.

0_o at Derby v. Forest

https://ichef-bbci-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/i/s/ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/590/cpsprodpb/6ECA/production/_113126382_mos-1.jpg

Joke country

ah finally a real pic of Boris when he was in ICU

What was the Mail's response to Corbyn and O'Donnell pledging to spend money on infrastructure projects to build sustainable growth?

McDonnell, sorry

God that press ups thing is embarrassing.

anyone with a minimum awareness of mid-life crisis jokes/themes would die of embarrassment

Boris Johnson has to be an entertainer, otherwise what's the point of him?

Not exactly putin doing karate is it?

Also Kate is showing some v poor manual handling technique there, whole country has gone to shit

hope the posh arsehole does her back in!

Only a matter of time I'm afraid

well obv the lazy brat doesn't get much practice with good lifting techniques when the cameras aren't there!

Observer covers the week's scandal by asserting: 'If you pick a fight with Starmer, you'll lose'.

He picked the fight. Others then avoided escalating it.

It all makes me feel even more that he is actually a bastard.

I think that Calzino was right.

I regret to inform you

I’m looking forward to your support of the West Papuan people who’s occupation started 5 years earlier. Where Journalists are not allowed to go. Any meetings held here are attended by the Indonesian Embassy

Very different to critism of the Israeli Government which is omnipresent https://t.co/0DzBbbOwuN

— Alex Sobel says stay home (@alexsobel) June 28, 2020

The first rule of politics is: don't express an opinion on Israel unless you absolutely fucking have to, as it's a sinkhole with no bottom.

you’d think someone who obviously cares so much about west papua would notice how the people who’ve fought hardest to bring the situation to mainstream attention for years almost universally support the palestinian struggle

scrolling down the replies to that BLM tweet is like gazing into the faces of all the fash social media ogres the uk has been regrettably saddled with since brexit got popular

generally, opining about israel is a terrible idea sure but they are annexing the west bank so idk special occasions

Actually it's good that Johnson is having to prove his fitness to work in ways a rona-free PM Corbyn would inevitably have also.

pm corbyn forced to prove fitness by launching a new airstrike every week

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/27/we-are-in-desperate-need-of-a-recovery-plan-but-the-treasury-has-gone-missing?CMP

Once again I'm struck by how much more substantive and useful Brown's interventions are than Blair's.

I'm guessing the don't mention Israel quips here are at least partly tongue in cheek and I understand where they're coming from but the UK has some historic responsibilities here (which is also why De Subjectivisten should release a statement on the Indonesia/West Papua situation asap).

going off topic here Daniel Rf, have you heard that latest Sara Serpa album, recognition? it's a soundtrack to an experimental doc about Portuguese colonial history in Africa and rather beautiful in places - just saying because I lack thread discipline!

Re: Scotland this is a good review of the possibilities:
http://publicpolicypast.blogspot.com/2020/06/where-in-scotland-going.html

TLDR: digging his heels in and saying "no" has only (short-term) upsides for Johnson, even if it inevitably pushes Scots even deeper towards indy in the longer term.

calzino, I learned about it from your post on the Jazz thread, don't think she's very well known in Portugal! It's lovely stuff.

that spoken part about Queen Nzinga is so powerful, wonderful album!

The battle on the blob is beginning, that’s Sedwill out.

See also

.@michaelgove delivered the annual Ditchley Lecture last night. It was one of the most compelling critiques in modern times of the British state and its ability to deliver reform to tackle inequality. This is the "hard rain" coming to Whitehall very soon.

Some highlights:

— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) June 28, 2020

(Apols for Payne editorialising)

Blaming the Civil Service for the Tories ten years of inadequacy mostly I guess

it was the deep state wot dunnit

Setting them up to be overtly politicised is my read. The idea that the civil service doesn’t have brains able to comprehend the staggering awesomeness of the Monte Carlo method is obvious bs. The actual problem is they repeatedly produce the “wrong” answers.

DomCum plotting to chuck out The Blob, that contains deeply troubling imagery

"Britain has <....> experts"

#BLM isn’t some school project. It’s about dismantling the racism that allows something like this to happen. pic.twitter.com/3VqWGmq3kr

— Your Mum says Black Lives Matter (@judeinlondon2) June 28, 2020

I am genuinely shocked about that, I mean wtf?