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

the most sickening thing is commentariat arseholes that comment like austerity had some endpoint and when some tory cunt says: no we are not going back to austerity they guilelessly go along with this narrative. Because either they don't know what austerity is or they are thick UI's or they are just Tory cunts.

Kate Green appearing to suggest that unions are wrong to say teachers should be allowed to wear masks.

Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green says the Labour party does not believe face masks are necessary in schools.#KayBurley

Read today's top stories: https://t.co/4ozTbgvoxl pic.twitter.com/7SUusCsBrQ

— SkyNews (@SkyNews) July 30, 2020

ffs!

Possibly one of the sadder consequences of Labour's apparent determination to embarrass everyone to the left of Barry Gardiner into leaving the party is that it means more spare subs for any grifter with an ego matched only by their persecution complex. pic.twitter.com/jwHqRwnw2S

— SW Carver (@invisibleste) July 30, 2020

another one to add to the stubborn diseases that never go away list

Sometimes people take the view that this - *gestures widely at thread* is unhelpful and just a load of us whinging, but it’s difficult to find solutions when the political class have pretty clearly said they’ve had quite enough of public involvement and get back in your box, pleb. The rage I feel at that masks in schools thing is indescribable and I’d like to know, seriously, how anything constructive can be done with a party that’s stopped listening to the unions and the evidence because they don’t want to scare the 4% of 5g conspiracy theorists that were never going to vote for them anyway.

"Sometimes people take the view that this - *gestures widely at thread* is unhelpful and just a load of us whinging"

Is that so?

Re: Kate Green. Let's see what the union says, they should not go along with it.

And this might explain why the Tories still maintain a lead too.

I don't understand who this statement is 'for' at all. It's clearly not for the Toby Youngs of the world. Masks make it more likely, not less, that the country will be able to get kids back to school properly and safely in September.

Masks in schools is likely to have overwhelming support among parents, who will be used to their kids masking up in public places now. And it's going to provoke awkward conversations when some children start asking why they need to wear a mask in a shop when they don't wear them in schools, and parents will have no clear answer. And I doubt the majority of parents want to see their school become a vector for rona spread or their teachers forced to take weeks or even months off school when children are already behind. And it might be a precondition of getting the support of teachers unions in any case.

I can only assume one of two things a) Green has gone off message here or b) it's specifically intended to provoke a confrontation with teachers unions on the basis that they will have pissed the public off by September, and I just can't see that happening for reasons I've outlined before. I just don't believe that people view teachers unions in the same way they view, say, transport unions for one thing.

There's also the possibility that the government might make masks compulsory anyway, leaving Labour in an awkward position. If there's scientific evidence that it's going to be safe and then publish it, but that doesn't appear to be the case yet, probably because it doesn't exist.

The government is almost inevitably going to perform a confusing u-turn on this that Labour can denounce as shambolic so just let them get on with it.

Also, lives are at stake so don't do anything that encourages the government to endanger them more than they are already.

It might be possible that Green sincerely believes that masks do more harm than good with children but it seems inexcusable, when teachers are fighting for the right to wear them if they want to, not to explicitly back that.

When the market for Frozen/Paw Patrol/cute Pikachu masks goes overdrive then kids will be demanding they can take them to school.

🙄

Today’s verdict is one that brings profound sorrow. It ends my 25 year marriage to the only man I have ever loved.

I would ask for some personal space and time to come to terms with the shocking events of the last 3 years.

I will not be commenting further.

— Natalie Elphicke MP (@NatalieElphicke) July 30, 2020

that makes it sound like if he had got away scot free after committing multiple sexual assaults, she wouldn't have divorced him!

At least she spared a thought for the victims

Really, what a disgusting tweet.

well of course she is the real victim here.

Perfect Tory wife.

has she even given a moment's consideration to poor Boris Johnson who might possibly feel slightly embarrassed in the unlikely event someone mentions it to him when he's in front of a camera?

New lock down measures in Greater Manchester/parts of West Yorkshire. Seemingly just "don't go in other people's homes" unless I'm missing something and with a definite message of "You've been a bit naughty".

Am expecting a lock down in Oxford (County Council messaging "Social distance or else ..." and I didn't really notice any distancing today).

Blackburn with Darwen
Burnley
Hyndburn
Pendle
Rossendale

Bradford
Calderdale
Kirklees

all back under some kind of nonsense partial lockdown. It's absolute violence to my ears when I hear London based tories refer to Kirklees like it is a town or a city, there are multiple regions in Kirklees that all have reasonable grievances that mainly all the funding goes to Hudds! And why isn't Leeds subject to this as well, it isn't like The Rona get's bored of infecting ppl when it gets to Shaw Cross.

So as I understand it you can't meet people in their house but you can go the pub as long as you don't meet people from another household?

well that's pretty much it! It's beyond a joke really

People on Twitter mentioning it’s Eid tomorrow and lots of these areas have significant Muslim populations, fu Hatt Mancock for fucking up all their family plans.

I mean on saturday night I saw a hundred + people in a field getting shitfaced with a big marquee + with Jermaine Stewart blasting out the sound system. No pigs hassled them because they are white and middle class, but it was reckless behaviour in current conditions.

You can go to the pub or a restaurant, but stay within your household bubble... eh?

usually drink usually dance usually bubble er nevermind

Still no details yet. You might well ask about the efficacy of announcing this change on twitter three hours before bringing it in...

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) July 30, 2020

There definitely feels like there's an Eid al-Adha element to this (which I'm feeling as being punishing to the communities that celebrate that rather than protective but maybe it is something inbetween).

NEW FROM GOVERNMENT SOURCE:
“Eid was discussed in the gold command meeting today, and was a factor towards the decision to implement these restrictions particularly because of household transmission.” @SkyNews

— Inzamam Rashid (@inzyrashid) July 30, 2020

i downloaded a pdf of jess phillips book and she's got some very interesting ideas about prison reform pic.twitter.com/GZJYTuU1tO

— gart/barfield (@wurrance) July 30, 2020

if you want to read more like this, you too can illegally download the Jess Phillips ebook from libgen proxy .com

the curious case of Kent having over 3000 more cumulative cases of Rona than Bradford in the last week but not being subject to le prank lockdown pretty much sums up this failed state and the increasingly desperate attempts of the UK govt to use all means possible to deflect their incompetence through fat-shaming, racial scapegoating .. whatever works for them.

The garden of England cannot be shut down, especially when the gvt. are actively endeavouring to build three huge customs lorry parks on it while also pretending that nothing is happening although it's most likely that nothing is actually happening. All very confusing with many caveats, like any sentence from the PM.

Kent’s total historical number of positive tests is higher (8k vs 5k) but the running weekly total is lower (approx 150 vs 250) and Kent has five times as many people as Bradford.

Has that been proven with mice though?

was just talking to my son's Asian school transport escort, Anisha, and she feels very attacked by the timing of this and the ridiculous pub/house discrepancies.

500 jobs to go at NatWest, the first ones I've heard of in banking since covid began

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jul/31/natwest-pushed-to-loss-by-coronavirus-crisis

Well, as Bob Marley once sang, "I'm going underground"

Matt Hancock has confirmed that households in the areas affected cannot visit each other at home – but they can visit households outside the affected areas as long as they observe social distancing.

— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) July 31, 2020

This makes no sense at all. So you can't meet people and spread the rona inside the restricted areas but you can go and spread it in other parts of the country?

I clicked through to that tweet about JP because I thought it was off that it refers to a clash song as a weller reference, and saw a bunch of people pointing out it’s clearly fake - which yeah it clearly is, but funny it was only the song part that registered as such on first glance

xp, it's unenforceable any other way, i think, even if it's illogical.

Hancock was jabbering about some mysterious stats that indicate more people have been getting infected in other people's homes. Are these stats from when every pub in the country was closed or after because I'm pretty sure pubs have become the worst places for practising social distancing since they opened up again. I can't bear to listen to him.

Read a funny comment the other night: the tories have finally taught you English people what it is like to be ruled by the British!

honestly can't discern between real/fake Jess. Someone said it was real!

lots of butthurt racist white tories from the Holme Valley part of Hudds really don't like being associated with the riff raff in the Heavy Woollen District who are fault for the Rona for working in bed factories and food processing plants that have had outbreaks. Fuck 'em all and fuck their last summer wine as well!

This makes no sense at all. So you can't meet people and spread the rona inside the restricted areas but you can go and spread it in other parts of the country?

Makes no sense and is wrong

It’s not what it says in their official guidance which says that is illegal! pic.twitter.com/WJIue7ibCI

— Abbie Jones (@abbiedjones) July 31, 2020

https://t.co/l8eCYc6aiD pic.twitter.com/z3Z15OGYUY

— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) July 31, 2020

It's a fucking shambles

This is officially a disaster of comms

Just got off phone with another Dept of health source. They’re saying that neither briefing given to me (you can meet in pubs) nor that given to others (that you can’t) is completely wrong.

No, I don’t understand either.

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) July 30, 2020

But at least it's racist

You know what’s really infuriating me w/ this last min lockdown rule for people (ie Muslims) up North is not only seeing the use of racially-coded lang but also these blatantly racialised images of, mostly women, in hijabs, niqabs, shalwar kameezes,etc. The utter incompetence smh pic.twitter.com/0amOBUCChn

— Fatima Rajina (@DrFatimaRajina) July 30, 2020

Decolonize The Guardian images department

Despite poor communication from the government, it's crucial that we all follow the advice to help prevent another outbreak.

If you live in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire, West Yorkshire or Leicester City please follow the new restrictions.

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 31, 2020

Starmer doesn't seem to realise it isn't West Yorkshire that has been locked down, talk about poor communication ya fucking tool!

there are at least 750 000 in West Yorkshire that have not been subject to the new lockdown ftr mr forensic

"Leicester City"