Westminstenders: Events...

[RedToothBrush]

Events have taken over. EU / UK negotiation have been put on ice due to covid-19.

The US has banned all travel from Europe - apart from to the uk and Ireland - in a manner which is highly political to drive wedges.

The effects of leaving the European Medicines Agency may be much more serious than anyone could have anticipated.

There's a oil price war going on between Saudi Arabia and Russia which has further driven market fears led by covid-19.

There the crisis in Turkey with Syrian refugees which is also distracting the EU.

We are facing lockdown and economic turmoil over the next weeks and months.

Johnson is having his leadership moment with deaths projected to possibly exceed UK WW2 deaths.

We are desperately trying to recruit negotiators as it's suddenly become apparent we don't have enough to carry out all the trade deals we want.

The civil service will be stretched to its limited by covid-19. Yet we also have Brexit to consider.

Where next? How bad are things going to get?

I suspect that TM is counting her lucky stars to not be the PM in the middle of this crisis

The CV threads on here are scary. What will it take?

Covid-19 makes no deal Brexit look like a gentle stroll in the park

And where is Johnson?

Doesn't work weekends. Too busy shagging Carrie whilst he can.

^German govt ordered massive ramping up of production of ventilators, masks etc
... from firms who make them^

Tory HQ have instructed a twitter campaign this morning getting their MPs to ask anyone who can make ventilators to help them.

No I'm not kidding.

Great pr to show they are working hard to get more ventilators...

I've a shed and some bits of wood and plastic, shall I volunteer?

Thanks for replies re JCB.
I don't really have any words for what is going on in the UK, TBH, and am very worried about my parents.

Yoikes
Just to let you know that LeClerc is most definitely lurking but is eating much less cake now

He asked me to pop this onto the thread
Please could you post this link onto the MN Brexit Westminsterenders thread about the so called Spanish flu of 1918.

It makes quite scary watching as the later mutations of that flu would kill a perfectly healthy person within 12 hours with bleeding from multiple 'weak points' (eyes, ears etc). At 675 Million dead, it completely overshadowed most of the first world war casualties worldwide and I suspect it would have been underreported in India, China and Russia, just because it was so widespread and fast moving. It seems that it originated in the USA with pig farmers but then transported globally where it then mutated and got more virulent. The story is interesting if somewhat scary. If I remember correctly it got named Spanish flu partly because as Spain was Neutral in WW1 it's press was allowed to report the flu epidemic whereas the countries engaged in WW1 prevented reporting.

I see R4 managed to get Johnson on the Today programme.

Rachel Johnson that is.

I am staying in a hotel which has had a HUGE number of cancellations in the last week.
BUT
People still have to eat and a lot of elderly people eat out because cooking is too hard when they are frail.
The hotelier reckons he can cope till about May and by then people will be ignoring advice unless they can see the personal benefits.

I see that in NYC the restaurants are closed to it in customers but allowing collections and deliveries

• a nice way around

and a school board in the US is allowing collection of three cold meals a day for the pupils in need

good, sensible lateral thinking

The government is relying too heavily on community spirit. I did not see community spirit yesterday in the heaving supermarkets. Undoubtably there are many who will help others but it won't be enough. Strange and trying times ahead for all. Let's hope enough people keep their humanity, empathy and truly caring side of themselves through hardships to come.

Sos
THe best way for you to avoid Covid will be to avoid crowds so plenty of sunshine and fresh air / chill time - which will be better for your mental health as well.
Its shitty what 10 years of Tory austerity has done to Adult social care and the NHS
but its only a few weeks till Magic Grandpa is no longer sitting on the opposition front bench and we might get some holding to account
and politicians willing to speak up for other than the super rich

Just got new work guideline (UK company), way stricter than U.K. govt advice:

• all employees must home work if possible (except in China where there are local policies)
• no travel at all except to your main site of work and only if home working is impossible
• no visitors on site without senior management/EHS approval and a health check
• total ban on entering any work site with ANY cold or flu symptoms
• all meetings must be via Skype or Teams if possible
• no more than 20 people in any enclosed work environment

I see R4 managed to get Johnson on the Today programme: Rachel Johnson.

The third or fourth best Johnson. Better than nothing but still not up to much.

The government is relying too heavily on community spirit.

A community spirit they were only too happy to piss on 4 months ago.

Boris - "or one of his team" - will be be giving daily briefings from the coronabunker, apparently.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51901818

Funny how quiet - and I mean deathly quiet - all those cheerleaders for Brexit have gone. For a while I could have believed they'd deliberately started this covid thing just to prove they were right ?

And it is at times like these that a functioning opposition would be nice.

Yeah.
Bad time to have left the worlds largest and most powerful trading bloc? Eh?

Still here thanks :-) These threads don't essentially seem to be about Brexit just at the moment tho, so posting on the subject seems to be a distraction when most people seem to want to talk about Covid 19.

Bad time to have left the worlds largest and most powerful trading bloc?

Well we've already cut off access to any medical equipment we need. I wonder what else ?

Incidentally, at what point do folk feel there should be talk of a government of national unity ? On the basis that it's almost the elephant in the room because MSM doesn't seem to like to talk about it ?

Hi Louise, there’s not much to talk about in the Brexit department at the moment (apart from how we've shot ourselves in the foot by cutting ourselves off from a supply of respirators and have to ask car manufacturers to make them ), and this thread is a good source of info that I for one have come to trust.

I think a national unity govt is vanishingly unlikely tbh.

Over half a million have signed this now - surely it’s only a matter of time before schools close? Public pressure will be hard to ignore.

Close Schools/Colleges down for an appropriate amount of time amidst COVID19

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300403

Fair point Queen yeah I get that. Seems to be mostly lots of government bashing the last few threads I've looked at.

I really don't want them to close the schools. Certainly not because of public pressure.

Sorry, but why on earth would we want to be closing schools unless we absolutely have to? One of the effects of this would be to reduce the availability of NHS workers and other key workers, and this would be at just the point we need them most?

Thank you everyone for the good wishes, it’s much appreciated 💐

I think a national unity govt is vanishingly unlikely tbh.

Thank goodness for that. For a moment there I thought we really were going full on WW2 and actually pulling together to win. So pleased that isn't the case and we can carry on to play party politics with a crisis that is claiming lives.

Makes is so much more ... real somehow. Like you really are fighting for survival. All we need now is to rebrand the BBC as Hunger Games:LIVE and it will be complete.