Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

there is a horrible layer of irony wherein even Jessbabs is...not wrong...to tell the FBPEewees to give it up now ffs, but obviously there's more than enough plague going round for both their houses

Did anyone get a FBPE in the new years honours

I think big Dunty told them to chillax as well.. a lot of them won't be reasoned with and now that Corbyn has been marginalised they need someone to kick.

The defeat of Corbynism won't be good for Babs career either.. Now there is no point to her people who previously liked her now see her as the self publicising vacuous fule she is.

Wonder if 2021 will see another doomed breakaway party, most likely people are too dispirited at this point, but you never know.

The main problem with starting a new political party in the UK is that it's always going to be the first 50-100 years that is a hard and pointless slog for absolutely nothing!

also the next 100 years after that, and the next, and so on

As we saw the last few years, there’s an endless pool of money for any number of centrist projects

Joylon might start a Barristers that think Kieth is a Tory cunt clique, but that wouldn't count as a party.

when we get near another election somebody might decide it's worth a few quid just to muddy the waters some more, why take risks when you've got all the money and there's an endless supply of idiots who want their wallets inspecting?

Surely top rich melts like the visionary who made a few quid posting dvds through letterboxes wouldn't need a new centrist project now Kieth is running the show.

pic.twitter.com/Y3KDO36Ngv

— Sarah_Woolley (@Sarah_Woolley) January 1, 2021

is that bernie

it's the constellation known as the old nonce!

Could Britain rejoin the EU? It seems like a hopelessly lost cause – but so did leaving
Jonathan Freedland

"Did anyone get a FBPE in the new years honours"

someone needs to put in a good word for this lad

this fucking guy

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/5/21/1400698424922/Jonathan-Freedland-009.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=f0f6c5ef45cc7dbc31e79b67d3f24eae

he has a look in his eye like he waking while watching you get converted into a cyberman

waking = wanking

autocorrect on my phone has clearly sided with him

Another government u-turn! London primary schools this time, what a shock. This is like yer lads doing doughnuts in stolen cars at this point.

they need to close them in the rest of the country as well ffs! maybe they'll save that announcement for a day before they are due back

Took the threat of legal actions by council's too.

Thinking there has to be a U-turn in the vaccine roll out too.

I hope so re the latter, where is the pressure coming from tho? They don’t listen to scientists

I know, it's really grim

I have been reading a little about that and apparently there might be some benefit to extending the intervals?

This issue is, appropriately, contentious. As a vaccinologist - & citizen & relative of people in at-risk groups - I fully support the UK decision to increase dose intervals of both our Ox/AZ product and the Pfizer product. I'd happily receive either with a >8w gap. Here's why 🧵 https://t.co/PZaxgGJUj4

— Sandy Douglas (@sandyddouglas) January 1, 2021

I'm not the only immunologist happy enough with it. I get the tories have been awful through the pandemic but its important to bear in mind this was not a political choice, it was advice given by the MHRA. https://t.co/UWVkahRjHV

— Dr 「サマンサ」Sammie 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈➡️🇺🇸 (@curexcomplex) December 31, 2020

would I be rude in suggesting a UK covid thread? I can't keep up with the general ukpol one but the covid stuff is useful to me. however I understand if it'd get too messy.

> this too

Based upon the biology, I'd eat my hat if the Pfizer vaccine is substantially less effective with a longer dose interval. Most vaccines induce stronger immune responses with longer intervals. A couple of examples below. There are more. pic.twitter.com/pxJTqjchpz

— Sandy Douglas (@sandyddouglas) January 1, 2021

i guess we’re gonna find out one way or another

https://i.imgur.com/37bSTa0.jpg

Thanks, that’s quite persuasive as far as ultimate efficacy - but the worrying thing is still the potential for vaccine resistant strains to evolve if millions of people are going around for months not fully vaccinated, no?

Yeah was thinking we could use a UK Covid thread even though it’s massively political anyway. (I wouldn’t put it past them to somehow fuck up the second dose in the name of the economy)

It'd only end up being about the US anyway.

the Outbreak thread is quite US-centric already tho

Yes, I'm joking but...

xp I agree but they don’t seem too concerned about it? I wonder if there was the same concern about MMR vaccines where the spacing is years apart? My practice asked me (as they don’t have my vaccination records) if I had had the MMR booster, incidentally, and I said I thought I had but wasn’t sure, but they want me to get it anyway because there’s always outbreaks in the area.

Idk if we need a separate UK covid thread? There’s already a couple of covid threads knocking around and I’m sure I’m not the only one who eyerolls at the USilx tendency to have multiple threads of theirs on the go.

chalk up another U-turn in the 'wasn't forced by the labour party' column

should be no USilx threads on the go imo

Otm

We could have separate covid threads for each of the home nations maybe? Devolved threads, as it were.

And what about the Free State?

I didn’t have long to wait for them to fuck about with the second dose some more: apparently we are now going to mix and match vaccines?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/health/coronavirus-vaccines-britain.html

without knowing much about the science of vaccination, that sounds very bad practise.

lmao we’re just going all-out to try and create a world-ending supermutant strain, never been more proud to be british

Maybe this is the real post-Brexit strategy, lay waste to the world so we're starting from a level playing field

The immediate issue again is not that these may be legitimate strategies for vaccination but that there's no communication or evidence coming from the government itself.

I'm sure our media will chase them up on it tho

Hopefully they’ll leak something to the Telegraph soon

I hate to do this again but (bold mine):

Previous incomplete vaccination

If the course is interrupted or delayed, it should be resumed using the same vaccine but the first dose should not be repeated. There is no evidence on the interchangeability of the COVID-19 vaccines although studies are underway. Therefore, every effort should be made to determine which vaccine the individual received and to complete with the same vaccine. For individuals who started the schedule and who attend for vaccination at a site where the same vaccine is not available, or if the first product received is unknown, it is reasonable to offer one dose of the locally available product to complete the schedule. This option is preferred if the individual is likely to be at immediate high risk or is considered unlikely to attend again.

In these circumstances, as both the vaccines are based on the spike protein, it is likely the second dose will help to boost the response to the first dose. For this reason, until additional information becomes available, further doses would not then be required.
Individuals who are participating in a clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccines who present for vaccination should be referred back to the investigators. Eligible persons who are enrolled in vaccine trials should then be provided with written advice on whether and when they can be safely vaccinated in the routine programme.

The good thing about the mRNA vaccine is that if you prime with it, you can boost with other types of vaccines (viral vectored, DNA, mRNA…etc). In the future, a mixed prime boost vaccine strategies can be tested to provide long term protective immunity. (9/n)

— Prof. Akiko Iwasaki (@VirusesImmunity) January 1, 2021

I'm thinking if we don't have a proper national lockdown again and close schools in other tiered zones outside of that there Londonium and the SE, then by mid January we might be having more daily deaths than in Brazil. They probably don't count many of the deaths inside their huge favelas idk, but still running close to fucking things up as badly as a country with 3 and half times the population and led by a covid-hawk fascist lunatic would be truly Global Britaining it.

Schools being open also gives rise to the mindset of 'oh well the kids are mixing in schools so it's ok to mix with their parents/break X rule' etc.
As shit as it is having kids off school, and I don't underestimate the longterm problems of this, I do think it's madness to send them back within 10 days of the Christmas free-for-all.
I'm pretty set on keeping mine off for the first week, whatever happens, even though cases are low in my immediate area.

not really fair on the ESL is that

they had a coherent plan that was a terrible miscalculation, this cunt apparently just does everything on the fly.

pic.twitter.com/YR5Y01T5vL

— Queers for Keir (@Queers4Keir) May 6, 2021

What an end to the night.

So Shaun Bailey, after the worst election campaign I’ve ever seen — made truly dire by carrying on for an extra year — manages to poll higher than Goldsmith did in 2016.

— Elvis Buñuelo (@Mr_Considerate) May 8, 2021

Seems to have been forgotten that the people of London elected one Boris Johnson as their mayor, twice, quite recently.

so many white liberals really fucking loved boris in those days. they have an interest in it being forgotten

he was like kipper the dog or something, a knockabout fun cartoon racist

Still is.

In london shaun bailey loses, lib dems lose their deposit, and tha youtuber i voted for out of sheer spite beats laurence fox- pretty pleased w all that

hey is this the first election result its been possible to enjoy in like forever?

(with the usual caveats)

anyway please make jess phillips shadow home secretary i dont fucking care any more

calling for sanctions against Belize because her deliveroo was 17 minutes late, that's the kind of opposition we need!

just saying gibberish in a slight but at times exaggerated birmingham accent. random stuff, mostly about politics as a customer complaints process but dont complain to me alright because im just keeping it real and authentic.

hey is this the first election result its been possible to enjoy in like forever?

I don't know, Alex Salmond and George Galloway and their respective vanity projects/parties falling flat on their arses is pretty enjoyable too.

I can’t support this.https://t.co/mbmGHaROdL

— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) May 8, 2021

oh dear the popular mayor has turned on kieth

*against* Freudian slip!

hey is this the first election result its been possible to enjoy in like forever?

I don't know, Alex Salmond and George Galloway and their respective vanity projects/parties falling flat on their arses is pretty enjoyable too.

― Are Animated Dads Getting Hotter? (Tom D.), Sunday, 9 May 2021 00:30 (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh i meant the results of the polling day in gen. many little joys if you can lose sight for a moment of how its part of a larger deeply depressing picture

What I feel has changed overall for KS is -- almost everyone is laughing at him.

Some people (Toynbee) used to respect him, some (Tribune) to resent him, maybe for a while some Cons even feared him. But now think his official opponents, the people he spends his time purging, and even his own supporters, think he has become a joke. Something about this is peculiarly damaging.

Hard to come back from it.

'turned on keith' was fine and non-freudian, but large image of rayner throwing our calz off obv

you have to wonder when you look at the approach they've taken to this election if they even saw winning as an aim. if the goal was to purge the left, to undermine any residual support or goodwill the left have for labour then they've done very well. I wonder if 'the preston model' will be in the LOTO's sights next, not as something to be emulated across the country but as a sign of successful tenacity for regional independence and leftwing autonomous innovation and consequently the next thing to be crushed.

Labour (or at least parts of it) have seemed curiously disinterested in winning as an aim for years (maybe for different reasons at different times). This feels more deep seated than just wanting to purge the left. Strong Department of the Opposition vibes for sure, but I don't know how much of that is actually 4D chess though (unless making himself a laughing stock and leaving himself vulnerable to leadership challenges is all part of the plan)

Feels a larger part of the disarray is just smoothbrains in action (at least the frontpeople that we see anyway)

The line is that "Angela Rayner has not been sacked". Right.

— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) May 9, 2021

the clot thickens

Labour's new line this morning is that Angela Rayner is actually being given a big promotion

Shadow Cabinet minister Ian Murray tells @SophyRidgeSky she will be going from a backroom role as party chairman to a new public facing role

— John Stevens (@johnestevens) May 9, 2021

make up this shit ... couldn't

pic.twitter.com/bVhXIeMMBo

— bread and poses (@breadandposes) May 8, 2021

(no apologies if that was already posted, this thread is now WAY too long and my NEW laptop can't handle it when the hidden replies are unhidden)

proposed new thread: "we'll change the things that need changing and that's all we'll change": the paSUKification of post-brexit politics 2021

my sense is that politics and labour in particular is so populated by a huge array of think tank people PR hype men and career politicians shuttling back and forth between lobbying westminster and charity, desperately clinging on to the narrow idea world that supports their careers. anything that really challenges this status quo is the real enemy. The ideals of centrism and neoliberalism were supposed to craft a fairly comfortable niche in the end of history for all these people, the overarching hostility to 'populism' etc I think is borne of this. Anything transformative of this status quo is much more challenging to their position than labour becoming even more defanged than they currently are. I think the vaccillating anxiety around what the current tory government are doing from this point of view comes from the way in which they are obvioulsy both in the business of shredding norms (human rights, 'standards') and fortifying others (corporate hegemony, cultural conservatism).

But yeah I agree that they are deeply uninterested in winning power, they already have the kind of power they are interested in. and I agree that its not some 4d chess they're up to just knee-jerk aversion and hostility to anything that upsets basic tenets of what they consider modern approaches (c. 1996) and can thus bizarrely construct the notion of 'free broadband' as something dessicated and backward. They're sincere whey they say this isn't 'grown up' 'sensible' politics but what they mean is really because it upsets their idea of what it is to be a grown up, to move smoothly through a professionalised world where they wear a suit and say things with confidence. I think the career of chuka umunna is pretty instructive. anyway, i'm pretty sure this is the end of the line for the nhs so there's going to be a hell of a lot of consultancy roles for them to fight over once they've completely collapsed the labour party.

Did I see correctly Sadiq Khan was advising people not to vote Labour as far back as 2010? (framed in a "we dont currently deserve power" kind of way)? And we've had other Labour figures advising the public not to vote Labour (and not just in the Corbyn years). So there's definitely at least a section that is actively opposed to being in power.

With much of the rest seem like winning or losing is tangential, unrelated to the real aims - the Arsenal of political parties

(apologies if I've been the victim of misinformation and got Sadiq wrong, saw it in last day or so and didn't verity its veracity)

no he has previous for that, and when he won his first Mayoral election he snubbed Corbyn and then taunted him in a speech where he used the word "power" about 63 times to illustrate that getting into power is something Corbz was incapable of.

there's a new and very good thread lads

Starmer has that weirdo obsession with 'power' (the word, he has no idea what to do to get it)

Lock thread

let's hear everyone's best impressions of keir starmer having sex

— Ed (@ted_pen) May 8, 2021

Labour's new strategy director... https://t.co/eakW0JIbvo

— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) May 9, 2021

lol