Westminstenders: All bets are off

[RedToothBrush]

We are seeking an extension. Apparently. No prizes for guessing why.

There is no news but COVID news. And that's all there will be for a long time.

Enjoy your stockpile and your sunny uplands it brought.

Keep safe.

PMK with borrowed cat. The children are making him some kind of assault course out of cardboard boxes.
I was just wondering this morning if it was safe to use what's in the brexit boxes so thanks Red. Brexit has taken a huge step back in my thoughts but is always there at the back of my mind.

I think we all know what happens to ladies who place their trust (along with everything else) in BJ's hands.

Just ask Jennifer the IT lesson-giver.

Nah, apparently we’re all anxious and hysterical women on MN and not at all representative of real life.

I have entered a weird parallel dimension were IDS asks for universal credit to actually function, Bernard Jenkins gives a fuck and a Tory MP publicly says 'we should do like Europe' without being strung up immediately for being a traitor.
In the same morning.

^^ This.

Mockers In Parliament now, beyond satire, Priti Patel says she will make the Home Office a kinder and more respectful place to work.

I wonder if she knows that if you want to set the world to rights you need to start with what's nearest?

France has warned it may start turning travellers from Britain away unless the UK adopts a similar near-total lockdown to those in place in other European countries.

With EU governments including Italy, Spain and France requiring citizens to stay at home to contain the coronavirus, and Italy threatening to tighten restrictions even further, the French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, said if the UK did not follow suit soon, arrivals from Britain could be refused entry.

“Everyone in the EU must adopt logical methods and processes to fight against the epidemic,” Philippe said. “It’s obvious that if neighbouring states like the UK leave it too long, we would have difficulty allowing British citizens who are moving freely around their country to come to France.”

Guardian at 1334

Remember the mantra about how we needed proper businessmen in politics, as they were most capable.

I think if nothing else, the pisspoor management of all major supermarkets (threads passim) has pretty much exploded that myth.

Be curious to know how many organisations have suddenly discovered the cost "saving" of not testing their disaster recover and business continuity plans has been not only wiped out, but reversed by current events ?

(DS has just posted a vid of his local Morrisons which is merely a display outlet for shelving ...)

France has warned it may start turning travellers from Britain away unless the UK adopts a similar near-total lockdown to those in place in other European countries.

As predicted.

You really have to admire the French ... they really are trying to be nice (fuck knows why). They could have simply waited (since it's obvious Boris is still in "fuck all" mode) and announced it as a done deal.

When they do shut the UK out, it will be fascinating to see how many people are "surprised" ...

Trust in Johnson is evaporating quickly.

Just for old times’ sake, you peculiar people - social media is not real life. Hope you’re all keeping safe and well!

Britain Elects
@britainelects
Public satisfaction with...

Boris Johnson
Satisfied: 52% (+5)
Dissatisfied: 38% (-6)

Jeremy Corbyn
Satisfied: 19% (+3)
Dissatisfied: 68% (-7)

HM Government
Satisfied: 48%
Dissatisfied: 41%

via
@IpsosMORI

Chgs. w/ Feb
2:12 pm · 19 Mar 2020

Britain Elects
@britainelects
Westminster voting intention:

CON: 52% (+5)
LAB: 30% (-)
LDEM: 9% (-2)
GRN: 4% (-1)
BREX: 0% (-1)

via
@IpsosMORI
, 13 - 16 Mar
Chgs. w/ 03 Feb

CendrillonSings
Those figures will be interesting to compare in 2-3 weeks' time. It's obvious, whatever your political leanings, that the UK gvmt are mishandling this, for whatever reasons. People here in France are baffled and horrified.
Whether that will shake people's faith in BJ is perhaps another matter, given the level of awareness and ability to decode that I've seen displayed by many when I venture beyond these threads.

"My understanding is that panic buying is much worse in the UK than elsewhere in Europe including Italy."

I've been surprised by all the reports on MN of no meat, veg, nappies etc

I shooped Tuesday and talking to others as well:

• there are usually only a a few solitary packs of loo rolls

• not much pasta on the shelves.

• much less choice in soap

• otherwise, shelves / freezers / fridges full as normal

• loads of meat, fish, veg, fruit, spuds, frozen meals, drinks, junky snacks etc

When I got tissues, there were plenty of nappies and sanpro nearby

DS has just posted a video of a walk around his local Morrisons.

Old Mother Hubbard springs to mind ...

Possible reasons for UK supermarket issues:

• Something gone awry with supply chain - UK only produces half its food, so maybe other countries keeping more food for themselves ?

• BJ being so useless compared to other leaders has caused more panic & uncertainty

• Supermarkets can't ramp up what they buy in time to keep up with shoppers,
  which causes shortages, which causes more panic, which ....

Corbyn has been demonised to an extent exceeded only by the virus

Opinion polls once Starmer (hopefully) is elected are likely to be different.

Also, in a criisis, I've nticed over the decades that the public initially ramp up loyalty to the govt, whether Tory or Labour,
but then that can rebound savagely if the govt is thought to have messed up

Possible reasons for UK supermarket issues:

That has nothing to do with the puff pieces from the marketing department (I really hope their logins have been revoked) that turned out to be at best useless. At worst they will have caused elderly and vulnerable people to travel to their local store (as advised) with the risks that entails, only to find they're judging a "cleanest shelves" competition.

That's plain and simple incompetence. Our next generation of leaders in waiting, from the looks of it.

Nothing illustrates the danger we are in more than Tories from all wings of the party calling for basically socialist & European policies

massive public spending to help those they've deliberately hammered in the past ....

I was wondering if the Tories have run away to the Antarctic (no cases) and the Corbynistas had sneaked in wearing Tory masks

Looks like Barnier's team has it too,
don't know if the UK met them often enough to catch anything !

Should finally make extension inevitable
[[https://twitter.com/MichelBarnier
Michel Barnier]]r@MichelBarnier*

I would like to inform you that I have tested positive for #COVID19.
I am doing well and in good spirits.

I am following all the necessary instructions, as is my team.

For all those affected already, and for all those currently in isolation, we will get through this together.

Reports are that CV is significantly raising the usual daily death rate from all causes in Italy,
by about 20% atm in Italy overall , but 80% in Lombardy

AND the overloaded system may not find all CV deaths in nursing homes:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-italy-homes-insigh/uncounted-among-coronavirus-victims-deaths-sweep-through-italys-nursing-homes-idUSKBN2152V0

While no detailed data is available, officials, nurses and relatives say
there has been a spike in nursing home deaths in the worst affected regions of northern Italy since the virus emerged,
and they are not showing up in coronavirus statistics.

“There are significant numbers of people who have died but whose death hasn’t been attributed to the coronavirus

because they died at home or in a nursing home and so they weren’t swabbed,”
said Giorgio Gori, mayor of the town of Bergamo.

Gori said there had been 164 deaths in his town in the first two weeks of March this year,
of which 31 were attributed to the coronavirus.

That compares with 56 deaths over the same period last year.

Reports are that CV is significantly raising the usual daily death rate from all causes in Italy, by about 20% atm in Italy overall , but 80% in Lombardy

I wonder if will writers are coining it in ? And the fundraisers for charities should be on the ball too, really, or they aren't doing their jobs ...

And growing evidence that adults of all ages are getting infected.

And I managed to cancel my Sky Sports despite being on an 18 month contract. They do their best to keep this a secret. Nothing on their website but the local paper in Edinburgh (Near Sky Call Centre) has the secret phone number.

And I managed to cancel my Sky Sports despite being on an 18 month contract. They do their best to keep this a secret. Nothing on their website but the local paper in Edinburgh (Near Sky Call Centre) has the secret phone number.

Could you not share that with other MNetters who might find it useful ?

Call 0800 151 2747 and get ready for a long wait now it's starting to e reported more widely.

www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/sky-sports-you-can-pause-your-subscription-free-during-coronavirus-outbreak-2485232

He sums it up !

Nassim Nicholas Talebb@nntaleb*

UK Policy is a speculative lunacy.

Playing with the toy standard epidemiological SIR model.

We have no idea how model parameters cause a yuuuge variation in ourcomes.

We don't even know the central parameters/whether stochastic.

Try to add perturbations for "herd immunity"

It's really weird watching the panic buying in the U.K.

Here in France everything is deathly calm. My DD went out for a walk in Paris this morning and the streets were virtually empty. There don't appear to be any significant shortages and my usual supermarket has been texting me to say that there are no supply issues.

It's sunny here and I can hear kids playing in gardens, but almost no cars. About to have a trot round the recreation ground, with my passport and official form.

It's sunny here and I can hear kids playing in gardens, but almost no cars.

If you screw your eye - or ears up very very heard, you can almost hear ....