@sirfredfredgeorge
How about weekly veg box deliveries to places like food banks and refuges?
No, money, just money, actual support for poor, so far almost all the financial subsidy has gone to the wealthy. House prices propped up, mortgage interest rates cuts, secure jobs furloughed. A house owner was even allowed to take a break on their mortgage at borrow that money at maybe 2% over the next 20 years. Insanely cheap Government loans to private equity companies, so the extremely wealthy don't lose out.
Whereas a renter, just got told, "well we'll not let your landlord take possession for 6 months, you'll still owe them the full rent, but...", the zero hours contract person just got zero hours. Eventually access to 74 quid a week, or maybe a bit more if you're lucky.
A veg box doesn't prevent the rising inequality caused by covid.
I realise now why when people talk about "economy and covid" on the data thread I find people talking past each other - the data posted when people say the economy is important is always the GDP / national / equity economy, if the country will fall 5% or 10%. It's just not the relevant fact.
I think this is very relevant. I thought yesterday's press conference against Manchester was all about smearing the city and making out it was unreasonable. Johnson offer of financial assistance for closed business looks on the surface for t3 to match the furlough scheme. But it doesn't. It only helps people in certain businesses directly. What it doesn't do is help those in connecting businesses who are left high and dry with nothing. Nor does Johnson address the council financial crisis which is looming. The Greater Manchester Councils were struggling before covid. They were promised money by the government but reneged on it, leaving these councils high and dry and THEN the local lockdowns started. So god knows what state they are in now. That means even services such as social care and child welfare which are the very last to be cut are in danger. There really is that little left. (Worth pointing out here Greater Manchester has a significant stake in Manchester Airport and they generate a lot of income from that).
It was the slight of hand with the 80% figure which has really got to me. Its presentation of numbers in a misleading way.
I just felt Johnson wasn't pitching to Manchester citizens at all. People in Greater Manchester will be well aware of how friends and family are up shit creek and will be seeing notices going up saying places are permanently closed. Even those in the wealthy bits in insulated jobs will be aware of it to some degree. When you have Tory MPs on the same side as the Labour City Leadership it is a big clue as to a problem. Its only older pensioners who perhaps aren't in social circles with people of working age that can escape what they see happening around them.
It definitely felt like it was pitched past Greater Manchester and more at those in areas so far more unaffected around Manchester and more precisely at those in the Home Counties who haven't got a clue whats going on and feeds into their prejudices about the north.
I am torn between thinking its born of an outright contempt for those who are poor or a complete blindness for the lives of those who are poor. I am inclined to lean towards the latter only because the government and senior individuals in it, are so incompetent and out of touch when it comes to practical reality and supply chains that they are incapable of understanding concepts such as people not having 'other money' or a means to get another job because they cannot afford the bus fare or they haven't got a nanny to pick the kids up from school. Im not sure thats any better than malicious contempt for the poor.
I will urge people to consider going forward the details on stuff like this and who they are pitched at because i do think it significant.
Its relevant to data because seriously undermined public trust in government will start to have an effect on public engagement with whats happening. Thats stuff like using track and trace and complying with rules. Thats everything from isolation to where gyms open illegally etc. We know poverty doesn't just affect your risk factor due to your health. It affects you due to your job or lack of financial ability to isolate. That affects R rates etc etc. Its not a coincidence that the ward of Knowsley Village is tracking at more than 1000 cases per 100,000 atm.
I did think it interesting that the Telegraph today said that the government backed off t3 for Manchester after a telephone call with the head of Greater Manchester police who said if the council were not fully onboard it would make it impossible to enforce t3 restrictions.
I also note the story which was headlining the Manchester Evening News online for much of the day yesterday. There has been some graffiti in piccadily gardens in the centre of the city which states that manchester is not a petri-dish. The response from councillors was that they understood the sentiment and the angee behind it and that the graffiti would remain in place for some days.
I do grow deeply uncomfortable about how the government is deliberately stoking divisions and how local lockdowns are causing tensions which im not sure everyone outside realises.
In Warrington they have announced they will have police 'monitoring the border areas' and they will patrol the town centre for people coming in from outside this weekend. I cant help feel uncomfortable with it. There is no legal reason that people from t3 cant leave the area. Its only guidance, so what legal basis do cheshire police have to even speak to anyone they think is from out of town. Is this going to mean hassle or prejudices towards anyone with the wrong accent? I find it worrying.
I really don't like the way this is developing and the complete lack of interest in the data that connects poverty and deprivation with higher rates of covid and higher risks of death. This needs to be more seriously considered.
Financial issues are hugely relevant to this, because if you increase poverty and deprivation as part of trying to control the spread of the virus, you risk making the problem worse not better. And im not entirely sure how much this is being considered as its beyond the remit of sage, even in terms of behavioural science because they cant predict the degree to which the government will deliberately facilitate and engage in social division though their policy making and rhetoric.
We have the prospect of food price hikes and supply chain shock upcoming in a few weeks too.
I find myself feeling quite scared not because of the virus, but because of what widespread restrictions will do to local communities and how desperate people will become. I live in an area which is a commuter area - people move about a lot here and its close to numerous different councils. Dh and I have worked in no less than 9 in the years we've lived the area we do. We've had to get our heads around the rules in 5 different areas to continue living under restrictions since August. The new tier system was supposed to make it easier but i can't see that being the case. Theres already two versions of t3. Dh has been training in Wales too in the last 2 months, so thats another layer of complications. Am i going to start being careful where i go, not simply because of the virus but will i be hassled by police or locals for not being in the right place (even if i have a legitimate reason to be there)?
This is something that has crept in over 2 months. It was a bit of joke when Manchester was first put under restrictions in my circle of friends. Now its starting to take a turn i find much darker and more sinister. Saying local lockdowns are better really neglects all of this and social cohesion. I doubt this is being monitored or measured in any kind if data format, but its something i think exists beyond anecdotes. There is a rising anger happening in the north west and i find it unnerving.
I am really starting to despair over what is being overlooked, neglected and ignored in terms of what we know in favour of stuff like this which is not reducing problems but increasing them.
Perhaps this post isnt in the spirit of this thread as much as every poster would like, but i have a growing sense of how important the financial impact is and feel it needs to be stated in the context of where data driven science is leading us and where its limits lie due to the politics playing in here.
I hope people do understand why i feel the need to make it.