Westministenders: Crisis, which crisis ?

[BigChocFrenzy]

Main crises facing the government:

. Negotiating a Brexit deal with the EU
. Coronoavirus
. Floods
. Allegations of some ministers - and Cummings - bullying civil servants
. More trouble threatened from Turkey / Syria

Unfortunately with all these parallel crises, we have a workshy lying arse as PM
and the worst collection yet of incompetents in Cabinet
who seem to have decided on a strategy of bullying their civil servants to avoid hearing any facts that don't fit with current Tory party ideology

It's also crystal clear that current government action is primarily intended to protect the government, not the population.

It's with a rather bitter smile I'm reading post after outraged post from people who are bewailing the selfish nature of people stockpiling and people profiteering and the lack of consideration for the less well off.

Where were these bastards when they were putting their "X" in a box less than 3 months ago ?

Speaking of disgusting stories about profiteering, who remembers Arron Banks ?

scramnews.com/millionaire-brexiteer-arron-banks-coronavirus

One of Brexit’s biggest bankrollers is now involved in a new money-spinning exercise – attempting to profit from coronavirus.

According to the Telegraph, Arron Banks is attempting to take over an iodine producer and sell its produce as a disinfectant to those concerned about the coronavirus outbreak.

(contd)

Moving from one scam to another ....

Johnson heckled with shouts of "traitor" as he visits flood hit Worcester

news.sky.com/story/traitor-boris-johnson-heckled-as-he-visits-flood-hit-area-of-worcestershire-11952918

There's definitely a "you're on your own" feeling coming from the government more so than usual

For Tories

Looking at the various panic buying threads on MN, am I alone in wondering how many posters had to refrain from typing "but why should poor people be allowed to buy sanitiser" as they complain ?

I'm just loving the branches of the tree bowing under the weight of the maths roosters joining the science roosters. The problem being compounded by the ignorance roosters that never left.

It doesn't matter how many teaspoons of 40% vodka you add to your essential oil cocktail, it will never get to 60%

One useful thing that will come out of COVID is that its an instant comparator of healthcare systems

and in the context of healthcare systems I suspect that the USA model is going to come out looking very bad and very racist

which will make the UK team more willing to tell Trump's folks to take a hike on access to the NHS
which will be a good thing

and in the context of healthcare systems I suspect that the USA model is going to come out looking very bad and very racist

You mean this USA ?

Sadly yes .... The USA is not testing people because then it might have to treat them far better to let the uninsured die and call it something other than COVID and in cities like DC which are incredibly racially segregated, the pattern of diease will vary block by lock

To be fair - the nutty woman's quote has been taken out of context;

"We should look to the past. So, let’s just take the free lunch program that we have in our schools. It started out being pushed by the unions and their friends for poor children. Well, 28 years ago, I had two students in my class on free lunch.Today almost every single child is on free breakfast and free lunch. So what the unions are trying to do, they’re pushing something called community schools. And in these community schools, we’re giving children free health care, we’re giving them free food, free emotional support, and by the way free political indoctrination for their parents. And so, if these unions and their friends, their politicians, get their way, they would like our schools to be open 24/7.They want to replace the family and families raising their children with our own virtues, they want to replace that with the state. With union-controlled government-run schools.That’s dangerous.That’s communism when you think about it."

That’s communism when you think about it.
If you say so Clav

I wonder how the world would fare if in a few months, the Chinese government announced that following the lessons learned from COVID, they have decided to relax all their economic and industrial output targets indefinitely, as the health of their nation Trumps the wealth of their nation ? (We'll assume they are being sincere, not merely using it for leverage ).

Closer to home, if a lot of faux homeworking restrictions being lifted leads to a permanent shift in employment behaviour, will HS2 still be needed ?

I wonder if anyone has noticed if the roads have been significantly quieter of late ?

and in the context of healthcare systems I suspect that the USA model is going to come out looking very bad and very racist
Except, if comfortable white people come out of this better than everyone else because their health care system isn't cluttered up with poor people, that model might be very appealing to a certain type of voter.

"Quitting the EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme would “blow a hole” in the UK’s economy, taking away income of £243m a year and depriving 17,000 British young people of valuable work experience, according to a group of education and business leaders."

"Universities UK International (UUKI), the umbrella group representing higher education providers, said membership of Erasmus gave a bonus to the British economy worth £243m a year, after subtracting membership costs from the £420m generated by EU students visiting the UK under the programme."
www.theguardian.com/education/2020/mar/08/quitting-eu-erasmus-scheme-would-blow-a-hole-in-uk-economy

Wonder whether the gvmt will realise that COVID-19 has just made it even more difficult to set up parallel versions of all the EU institutions and programmes the UK was part of over the next 9 months, or whether they'll just blunder on, defining priorities as they go and discarding other promises.
Things like this wouldn't be anywhere near the top of the list...

Well, if the poor are going to die they better get on with it and decrease the surplus population, eh?

Sorry, feeling a bit dickensian about it all today.

Agree with DG ....those who voted this shower of fuckwits into govt will soon have the leisure to regret it.

I just have to somehow stay healthy for the next three months and DH stay very healthy for the next month
and pray that no clients cancel bookings
and that for my work, if they do, the Legislative deadlines are allowed to flex.

I presume that COVID-19 will be/is already massively- underreported in the States as it costs individuals to get tested - and unless they're insured, they may just choose to keep their heads down. It's risking an uncontrolled spread of the virus, due to its healthcare system.

Wonder whether the gvmt will realise that COVID-19 has just made it even more difficult to set up parallel versions of all the EU institutions and programmes the UK was part of over the next 9 months, or whether they'll just blunder on, defining priorities as they go and discarding other promises.

I don't think Cummings master plan has any room or sympathy for replacing anything lost by Brexit ... all the quicker to his New British Order.

I really have to sound a note of admiration, since he's going to get the hardcore Brexiteers to help him push the bus off the cliff before they realise they are in it.

He must think it's divine providence - possibly a holy destiny - that COVID has emerged to cloak the real intentions.

I'm guessing that the UK is going to pull out of anything which has the word European in it - totally backed by the braindead breixteers. By the time time damage is done it will be too late. Companies will have folded. Expertise will have been lost. And the revolution, comrades, will be a day closer.

Enjoy watching it - you may as well, you can't do anything about it.

A shave under 3 years ago my DM was dying by agonizing degrees in hospital. Mercifully unaware of all that was happening. I alternate between missing her, and thanking whatever cruel deity decided on dementia that she's not here for this.

Can’t we all just positively emote COVID-19 away, maybe with some jolly wordclouds?

Just read a quote from Matt Hancock - how they would do everything possible to prevent the spread of the disease...... except obviously the hugely unpopular act of cancelling the massive sporting matches that have happened over the weekend. Maybe because Bozo was looking forward to watching the rugby.....

I think the government are being hugely slow and stupid in dealing with this. Failing to look at the patterns the virus has followed in other countries and act accordingly .
I have wondered reading comments on local Facebook page if British exceptionalism comes into play with the attitudes about this virus....

Can’t we all just positively emote COVID-19 away, maybe with some jolly wordclouds?

Funny how no one has dared shout "project fear" about COVID.

Remainers must be sick as parrots thinking how this could have played out a year ago.

From the BBC:

Tesco, the UK's largest grocer, has begun rationing essential food and household items as a result of coronavirus stockpiling.

Shoppers are limited to buying no more than five of each of the rationed goods, including antibacterial gels, wipes and sprays, dry pasta, UHT milk and some tinned vegetables

The rules apply in stores and online.

Waitrose has introduced a temporary cap on some items on its website, including some anti-bacterial soaps and wipes.

Fun times.

Prettybird
Yup, the Economist and new Scientist are both really worried about the USA
Sick Pay does not exist for around 30% of the workforce
so people will carry on going to work and hide their symptoms
people like
waiting staff ~ taxi / bus drivers ~ carers ~ cleaners
so it will spread like wildfire among the old and the ill

Tesco, the UK's largest grocer, has begun rationing essential food and household items as a result of coronavirus stockpiling.

Thanks to Brexit, sensible appetites, the ability to use a cooker, and general good housekeeping, we're fairly well provisioned. Also helped by the fact that we don't seem to have this rather Freudian obsession with toilet paper that has gripped the UK (it really does answer a few questions the rest of the world has been asking for years).

I did a little science last week, and 80%+ alcohol is no problem, (if you don't mind a little off smells).

All we are really low on is coffee beans and bacon (which is usually a Lidl trip). Which is more critical than it might sound.

Where's all this WW2 spirit those moronic Brexiteers were droning on about a few months ago ? I'd happily volunteer to help out any housebound folk by getting them some shopping, but it doesn't seem anyone has even started to suggest that. (I would do it myself, but there are reasons I can't, making me a follower, but not a leader )

If this is a crashing airliner situation, then of course the usual advice is to put your own oxygen mask on before helping others.

Project Fear

I can’t help but wonder how many posters on the various Coronavirus threads were (and probably still are ) simultaneously Brexitatious Patriots fervently BlitzSpiriting and PositiveEmoting about No Deal Brexit.