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

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"

they thought they had that 4th champions league slot locked down!

correction there are at least a million in West Yorkshire not subject to new lockdown

Lol please follow this poorly communicated advice. Never mind I said it's bad comms just follow it!

Covid is being blamed on 'dirty' BAME and the obese (at the start of the week). Great week!

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

Man in pub said it was real. Can anyone explain to me what the point of these fake tweets are? And who is doing them?

disgusting racist scapegoating from Burnham too pic.twitter.com/nmlld7yISe

— Jake May (@__jakemay) July 31, 2020

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EeP8tfrWAAA2Neo?format=jpg&name=medium

"in multi-generational houses" you say?

Novara had Paul Mason on yesterday to self-immolate trying to pitch Starmer to the left. Not gonna waste my time but if anyone feels like a hatelisten...

I suspect the pubs are gonna be as rammed as they're allowed to be today and all

Mason sounded pragmatic insofar as he was saying: you have to back this if you want Labour to win.

But I don't see much difference between that and saying: let's face it, we have to go back to Tony Blair - winning is what matters.

Mason says KS can bring a 'left government' but can't point to any evidence that KS would do that.

He's an endearing character but I fear that he's living in a kind of fantasy if he thinks his pragmatic pro-KS outlook and sociaist values are aligned here. They're ever further apart.

[sp: socialist]

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

Hi djh - how did you get/see the council message?

I haven't seen anything from the council but I did get a text from my GP, which may be the same:

The number of coronavirus cases in Oxfordshire is rising. It is up to each of us to stop the virus spreading - we must act now to protect ourselves and others. Our safety is literally in our own hands - wash your hands regularly, avoid busy gatherings, keep your distance and wear a face covering where appropriate. If you have any symptoms, you must self-isolate immediately and call 119 to book a test. <name of GP surgery>

I guess the text is supplied by some govt/NHS body as I can't imagine any of the staff I've met there would be writing this "literally in our own hands, so wash them, DO YOU SEE" stuff.

Meanwhile a lot of people seem to have given up on distancing whenever I go outside. At least most people are wearing masks in shops, but not all, and hardly any masks outside shops.

And my o/h goes back to work along with his whole department in a week or so - should have been back already but is waiting on some paperwork from the facilities dept. Apparently the advice is "no need to wear masks but look away from each other when someone comes in the room", because the desks nearest the door are within 1m of the door/aisle.

We're all gonna - oh yeah, that thing it traditionally said in the thread title. Hope someone will break the door down to rescue my cat and not put her down as an infection risk.

peerages for Kate Hoey and Claire Fox

And also:

#Breaking Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s brother Jo Johnson, former England cricketer Sir Ian Botham and newspaper owner Evgeny Lebedev are among 36 nominations for peerages announced by the Government pic.twitter.com/6QrBOyLuQU

— PA Media (@PA) July 31, 2020

they just do whatever they want now

Frank Field, Ian Austin, John Woodcock...thank you for your service

Peerages for Evgeny Lebedev, Eddie Lister, Dame Louise Casey, ex-Brexit Party MEP Claire Fox, Boris's brother Jo, Ken Clarke, Philip Hammond, Nick Herbert, Mark Lancaster, Patrick McLoughlin, ex-Corbyn staffer Katy Clark, & many more

A knighthood for Theresa May's husband Philip

— John Stevens (@johnestevens) July 31, 2020

How could you Ken? After all your resistance to Brexit?!

All the others are like fine and expected, but it's the Claire Fox one that is just the most real, most pure one of the lot.

Gisela Stuart too.

(xp) Yeah, Dame Claire Fox, what a joke, I assume we can see more Provo supporting ex-Marxists being ennobled in the future.

L. Prague - We received an email at work, from being on an OCC mailing list for something.

It was essentially this news story:

https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxford-residents-urged-to-follow-social-distancing-to-avoid-local-control-measures/

Unhelpfully, if you go to their news page, the story has been bumped down the page. I have to confess I'm anticipating some form of local lock down.

This tweet really highlights the madness of it all:

In Manchester, you can be sacked for refusing to go and sit with someone in an office, fined £100 for sitting with them at home, and given a money-off deal to sit with them in a busy restaurant.

— Old Git (@toooldforit) July 31, 2020

The worst thing about this is the suggestion that Rishi Sunak is a tall man https://t.co/NM7FDWmi74 pic.twitter.com/53eprI9PNj

— JJ (@boringdystopian) July 31, 2020

Googling to find out how tall Sunak is and the press is saying he’s 5’7”, lollllllll

we are going to see Lord O'Neill and Lord Furedi before the end of this parliament aren't we?

"Boris's brother Jo."

I'm feeling trolled by this government.

The guy who literally resigned for saying his brother wasn't up to running the country.

Staycations .... UKations ... this is the year to find your inner explorer and discover the U.K.

🎧 https://t.co/fZ2jS8SX1n 🎧 pic.twitter.com/fFHX9FCMSs

— Esther McVey (@EstherMcVey1) July 31, 2020

What the fuck is going on???