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

reading the mood of the nation by hanging out with everybody's favourite Tim Wetherspoon while Gove nervously clutches his milk stout and wonders which end you drink out of

even more so than Theresa May, Gove is very bad weird and I say this as a confirmed weirdo myself! He always looks like he's just hatched out of an egg and using a drinking receptacle for the first time in his life.

timmy spoons rubbing his hands together there looks like a composite of all the sheriffs of nottingham from cinema history

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/comedy/2015-08/28aug/comedy%20duos/burke-enfield.jpg?imwidth=450

L-R: Gove, Martin

Well well

Why Rebecca Long-Bailey had to go, by Paul Masonhttps://t.co/8xsx2yTycG

— The Spectator (@spectator) July 4, 2020

Sorry I meant to the revive the British right-wing pundits thread

I think to encourage social distancing in pubs they should place a sat down model of Mason at every second table! It's hilarious looking at some of his old posts on Starmer from back in February/March, he is such sad old bullshit merchant I almost feel sorry for him and then you see him writing in The Spectator.

stoya come to Spoons

imagine if you bumped into him irl and he pulled out a bag of spice and said get some of this snorted up and we'll talk some politics!

also he thinks Homeland is the greatest tv series ever, fuck me that is most dismal US centist bullshit propaganda since the West Wing.

lol whut

Claire Danes performance in Homeland has to stand as a landmark in 21st century acting / dramatising a thing most ppl don't even know exists, via a vulnerability that is all too familiar. Homeland is over but the reality it portrays sadly not... pic.twitter.com/iW9QNfVlHw

— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) May 3, 2020

Claire Danes come to Spoons looking confused and annoyed

first two series of WW at least have some p funny sit-com-style ensemble work abt how wonks who consider themselves super-smart and in certain specific (wonkish) ways *are* super-smart, are also often p dumb

i was gonna joke it was a Danes crush even before you shared that tweet calz lol transparent

I’ve spoken to regulars Chris and Jimmy. Jimmy hasn’t gone to bed after his night shift tarmacking the roads. He had a shower and came straight here. He described the taste of his first Carling as being like an ‘angel p***ing on the tip of his tongue’ @MENnewsdesk #citybacktolife pic.twitter.com/sUAKwlstwt

— Rebecca Day (@RebeccaDayMEN) July 4, 2020

I have bumped into him and my (probably unreliable) memory is that he’s about 5’5”.

homeland ruined clare danes who was good in MY SO-CALLED LIFE (1994) and er also TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES (2003)

tbf if stoya had gone to athens everything might be different

I think they are on season 8 now or something now, Mark, it's a different show to the first two seasons. And yeah Mason should just log on to Xhamster the stupid old ridiculous man!

i will never watch HOMELAND (2011- )

my critical objectivity is at stake

i thought it had finished now idk i only see the endless trailers when it's on Channel 4, tbf Claire Danes is very good at looking confused and annoyed at the same time unless that's just her face

I see some lefty types who enjoy it as guilty pleasure trash, but not making any high minded claims about what the show is or Danes apparent tour de force!

FBPeeps tweeting calmly as they always do

1.08m leavers are dead
0.36m remainers are dead
0.38m leavers turned 18
1.53m remainers turned 18
1.05m leavers are now remainers
0.16m remainers are now leavers

The Brexit vote is now 54% to 46% in favour of remaining in the EU & rising.

Still @10DowningStreet pursues Brexit?

— Steve Lawrence (@SteveLawrence_) July 3, 2020

fuck me The Rona is an FBPE

I have bumped into him and my (probably unreliable) memory is that he’s about 5’5”.

Who, Jimmy?

Would buy Jimmy a pint of angel piss sounds like hes doing life right tbh.

tbf I think the changing electorate/dubious mandate problem does undermine the already piss weak claims of living in a proper representative democracy so its one of the fbpe points I'm most sympathetic to

i will never watch HOMELAND (2011- )

HOMELAND (2011-the infinite) is one of those grown-up adult realpolitik shows that thinks having bipolar disorder gives you superpowers

I bailed after 3 but I was going through a stage where I watched lots of garbage TV, including goth vampire shite and that crap about oh noes for some inexplicable reason the electricity has stopped working on all of planet earth!

But I used to watch this garbage when on the exercise bike, I don't do that any more!

as recent portrayals of bipolar go I think "makes you a super spy" ranks above "makes you murder your parents and kill yourself" but I think it still leaves something to be desired

My furrowed brow impression of Saul "just don't wanna see Carrie getting hurt again, she's been through enough, but yeah get her on that next one way plane to Afghan"

Danes tangent > duck tangent

rip fred b :(

Just been out for lunch. It was weird but not that weird. All the staff had welders mask looking things on, spoke to a few of them, they all said they were really happy to be able to work again but were nervous as well and hoped customers were going to be understanding about all the new measures they had in place. Restaurant manager (who we’ve got to know a bit over the years) was more concerned about her missing absentee ballot for the Polish elections. Not sure how often I’ll be eating out over the next while, but when I do go out I’ll be staying local and tipping a lot more than normal. Still unsure about pubs.

"they were really happy to be able to work again"

clearly the management were lurking nearby

That wasn’t my impression at all, they spoke very freely about the nerves they felt - this is a little neighbourhood place whose staff have mostly been there for years and clearly love their work, having spent years in the industry myself I don’t find it hard to believe people are excited to be back at it. Obviously on the whole working in kitchens makes social distancing basically impossible and staff welfare is a massive concern, but that isn’t even purely covid-specific. I hope that lots of places will use this as an opportunity to make their workplaces better and safer environments for their staff in general and to improve working conditions.

spoke to a few of them, they all said they were really happy to be able to work again but were nervous as well and hoped customers were going to be understanding about all the new measures they had in place and not talk to them too much.

Are you not talking to anyone these days AF?! They did seem a bit perturbed by all the handshakes tbf.

"Why Rosa Luxembourg had to die", Paul Mason in the Spectator

— Tee Em (@tedsplitter) July 4, 2020

Unusually, Mason hasn't linked to that disgraceful article on his own Twitter page.

Kerching! Money in the bank, no real need for him to draw attention to it now.

I see Farage broke his quarantine today to get a photo of himself with a pint in a pub

Happy #PubsReopening Day 🎉 pic.twitter.com/gjPk6IhFJQ

— McKatzen (@TonePolicing) July 4, 2020

I don’t know why anyone bothers writing a ‘pinion for the Spec unless Paul Mason needed an extra £75 for spice.

I bet Taki gets paid more than that, but he's an out member of the fash.

Mason is a nobody, even Stoya wouldn't know him from Adam