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

EXCLUSIVE 🚨🚨🚨 The government has abandoned its pledge to conduct regular testing in care homes this summer

A civil service whistleblower reveals more than 60% of care homes have not received a new test, risking thousands of deaths in second wave

Story with @andrewgregory https://t.co/MR1HID2Jhl

— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) August 1, 2020

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

business as usual in other words.

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

yet he's still there.

when you don't want to upset the bad apple cart having just been given an orchard

https://t.co/SFDDOBmMA6 pic.twitter.com/6T13IFiC6c

— 'Client Journalism' Expert (@ClientJournoExp) August 2, 2020

there isn't really much benefit when every other news outlet in the UK is reporting "Tory MP arrested" but I suppose it is just showing a bit of gratitude to the PM and giving a Tory rapist an even break.

I gotta say given the number of dirtbags and sex offenders in the PLP I would avoid trying to score political points off this if I was team social democracy

I saw the edgelord of Bolsover joking about it how it can't be Grayling ho ho ho, isn't rape hilarious

Apparently easy to work out and it's some nonentity.

From now on when a public figure on multiple rape charges is afforded anonymity then Cliff Richard will be trending

Twitter seems to think it knows who the MP is, and if it's true, well, let's say you couldn't wish for anyone more suitable to suffer public disgrace.

Obviously if he did it then it's still terrible & disgusting

https://worldofcrapblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/123025_mfi_store_300_elvis.jpg?w=474&h=283

MFI

The company I work for decided to get rid of half of the employees last week (despite saying they see a return to normality in Q1 2021)

Now they're putting back their decision another week while they decide what to do. Their original statement doesn't make sense to me. If they think normality is returning in 6 months, dismantling a successful team (that you can furlough for 3 of those 6 months) seems counter-productive

They either think normality isn't returning for much longer than 6 months, or they're getting cold feet and want to be ready to scale up when recovery happens. Or more likely they're split between the two camps and can't decide what to do

Twitter seems to think it knows who the MP is, and if it's true, well, let's say you couldn't wish for anyone more suitable to suffer public disgrace.

― Anti-Cop Ponceortium (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, August 3, 2020 12:51 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Can someone explain why this is kept under covers? UK tabloids otherwise don't exactly hold back shaming someone w/ full name and photo. Is it one of the perks of being a PM? Why is there no outrage about this?

I think they can't be named till they've been charged.

Hmm, ok.

Regular people can, just not MPs aiui.

Twitter has a very good idea of who it is, n’est ce pas?

that's the most plausible one i think

so much stupid tho on Twitter i'll believe nothing until there's confirmation

quelle domage!

At least Twitter has taken his name out of the "Trending With" bit now, after about 18 hours.

It was "trending with 'Penfold'" last night.

cripes

OK so it is him then.

Unnamed tory MP still hasn't had their whip suspended. Also not seen anything from zero tolerance Starmer over one of his MPs making an antisemitic comment.

Until now purely on the basis of his name, I thought Barry Sheerman was Jewish?

NEW REPORT: Academic freedom in the UK

Protecting viewpoint diversity

By @RemiAdekoya1, @epkaufm and Tom Simpson

Foreword by @RuthSmeeth https://t.co/500ddnsdW9

— Policy Exchange (@Policy_Exchange) August 3, 2020

As @jim_dickinson and others have pointed out, the new @Policy_Exchange report features some truly incredible quotes from anonymous academics. pic.twitter.com/nirGjRvuT5

— Steven Jones (@StevenJones_MCR) August 3, 2020

worst Pistols cover ever

Sheer waste is neither Jewish nor has he read the bible, as claimed in his transparently phoney defence.

Both Weetman and Sheerman revealed themselves as the worst biblical scholars ever this weekend

pic.twitter.com/MQsfyyMdpk

— The Trashies (@TheTrashiesUK) August 2, 2020

if only he hadn't re-read the entire bible during lockdown

so much stupid tho on Twitter

NV OTM.

Can someone explain why this is kept under covers? UK tabloids otherwise don't exactly hold back shaming someone w/ full name and photo. Is it one of the perks of being a PM? Why is there no outrage about this?

The best reason I've heard is that because the allegations involve his own ministerial personal assistant you can't name/sack the MP without effectively naming the assistant and infringing her right to privacy.

Not saying that was actually the govt's first priority, though. Wouldn't seem out of character for something more unpleasant to have been the main motivation.

also, ffs at mysterious culture-war-stoking think tanks

APS, that makes sense I suppose, esp if this is because of the victim's privacy. Though I doubt that's why he can't be named though.

The tiptoeing around the obvious just struck me as odd; though it's probably UK libel law making everyone so docile. Making tweets like "hey what is 54 year old Tory and ex-minister Mark Francois who deleted his twitter account up to today #justwondering" seem naughty.

allegedly the victim is very upset that the MP has not had the whip suspended.

It's absolutely about libel law – and the police haven't named him yet which would give papers more cover. Failing that an MP naming him under parliamentary privilege would do it.

Having the whip suspended is something that gets reported so same principle as not naming, I guess.

Haven't looked up the deets but did the Cliff Richard case give publishers pause?

It's not libelous to say someone has been arrested if they have. It's libelous to say that they have been arrested if they haven't.

It's much more of a grey area if someone is under investigation but hasn't been arrested - as per Cliff.

Is this not why they can't be named?

https://policehour.co.uk/2020/08/in-2016-parliament-decided-to-keep-mps-arrests-secret-from-the-public-thats-why-we-cant-name-the-mp-arrested/

that's why

That was my first thought as well but i don't think it's correct, tbh.

Grayling's law, aiui, removes the obligation for arrested MPs to be named in the House, it doesn't create a right to anonymity.

after sally bercow, everyone is wisely playing it safe, for now

What did she do?

Pride of our alley iirc

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McAlpine_v_Bercow