Westministenders: The Virus

[RedToothBrush]

Its like living in a Bad Disaster B Movie.

If you thought Brexit on your TV every day was Bad, The Virus is a whole new level.

The 5pm broadcast with Johnson and friends, and the public infomation video with the unblicking Chris Witty (who has such unfortunate mannerism he makes me think he's me a Dr Who alien akin to the Slitheen).

Who knows what will happen. Just that everything has changed and our entire economy is now on life support whilst we figure out how to deal with the crisis and what on earth our exit strategy is.

Johnson has however refused to join a joint EU purchase scheme designed to assist countries through the crisis.

Meanwhile the US is about to go nuts... so what does that do to a trade deal?

More money for the NHS? More hospitals?

Well its possible that might just happen...

[Sostenueto]

Sorry bigchoc I missed that post. Saw on another thread about figures.

[BigChocFrenzy]

re changing the UK Coronavirus figures:

Is this reminding anyone else (who is also ancient or a politics geek) of how MrsT's govt kept tinkering with the unemployment figures ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UnemploymentinntheUniteddKingdom

"It has been retrospectively estimated that the official measure for calculating the unemployment rate was changed at least 29 times between 1979 and 1989"

It was said at the time that maybe the tinkering wasn't always intentional, but just being overwhelmed with collating rapidly changing figures from everywhere

I was cynical even then, though - it's more difficult to highlight a crisis when the basis of the available data keeps changing

[BigChocFrenzy]

Missing out on EU procurement could have been cockup as well as conspiracy

• but the cockup wouldn't have happened if the conspiracy hadn't been present in the first place

[CanadianJohn]

Re Mexican citizens protesting at the border with US... I wish we had the guts to do the same. I live in a border city, we have 5 cases locally, and 4 of the 5 had recently been to the US for work or vacation. Unfortunately, the US is far too important a trade partner for Canada to protest, at least openly.

The US has over 13,000 new cases today, and now has more cases than China, though less deaths. With the peculiar US mosaic of health systems, it is likely that the actual number of cases is very much higher than the published numbers.

[HoneysuckIejasmine]

I didn't hear Sunak's announcement. How is the SE bailout going down? We on MN know there are deadbeat Dads people who falsely declare their income in order to dodge CM and taxes... Is this their chickens coming home to roost, or is the safety net sufficiently generous that they'll be ok anyway?

(I used to be self employed myself and know very many honest, hard working SE people who have been desperate to hear how they'll be kept afloat)

[Peregrina]

Missing out on EU procurement could have been cockup as well as conspiracy

So to cover they came up with the hogwash, "We are not in the EU, we can do it without the EU"? Then to be called out by 1) a UK firm saying that they can obtain ventilators but no one bothered to get in touch and 2) someone coming up with a more catchy three word soundbite Brexit over breathing.

Mind you, 2) could offer Johnson a get out clause for Brexit - Breathing over Brexit when he finds he has to ask for an extension.

[ListeningQuietly]

Honeysuckle
Its neat and well designed.
Shock horror he appears to have listened to experts.
Nobody "applies"
basically come June they will have used the SA data for the last 3 years to work out who is eligible and will pay them a monthly grant
its taxable so they will get it back automatically from those whose income has not dropped
but it will help those in need
with sod all compliance cost.

[BigChocFrenzy]

These foreigners, plotting to make us applaud the NHS ... 👏🏼

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/millions-of-britons-clap-for-carers-on-coronavirus-frontline

The organiser of the viral campaign, Annemarie Plas, a Dutch woman living in south London,
said she was “so grateful” to see what originated as an idea between a few friends reach national proportions.

Plas was inspired by similar efforts from her friends and family in the Netherlands,
as well as watching footage of people coming together to thank their health professionals in Spain and France.

[BigChocFrenzy]

What do they live on until June ?

[Peregrina]

.... used the SA data for the last 3 years....

So karma will get the deadbeat dads and tax dodgers?

[BigChocFrenzy]

I thought it would be much simpler and less work for the SE and HMRC simply to pay them 80% or even 100% of NMW for a 40-hr week,
since the average SE person reports quite low profits

[ICouldHaveBeenAContender]

Re the EU procurement scheme - I'm concerned that they're only "considering" participating in "future" rounds. Not exactually reassuring. Mix up my arse.

[TokyoSushi]

PMK

[BigChocFrenzy]

Universal credit: 'almost impossible' to complete claim as more than 500,000 apply

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/universal-credit-claims-almost-impossible-as-more-than-500000-apply

Only a fraction of applicants have been able to start claim online or get through to DWP on phone

[BoreOfWhabylon]

Thanks Red

I suspect Boris can't wait to get away from all this and will use being "unable to deliver Brexit on time as promised" to nobly stand down as PM.

[Peregrina]

Or will the Tory party just quickly stab him in the back? They enjoy a good blood letting. Let's hope that Priti Patel goes too.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Christ, someone blind & disabled started a thread about how her carer company have abandoned her since early March

She had fainted with hunger and has been in the same clothes for 16 days

With encouragement from MN, she now has received some help and one carer has turned up too.

Her Labour MP sent someone within the hour to do shopping

• and I hope he also raises hell about care firms who just abandon their helpless clients
  
  Reminds me of the reports from Spain of care companies abandoning residents in care homes, later found dead

[boatyardblues]

Regular lurker popping in to PMK.

[Sostenueto]

Well DD just got home from her 4 th 12 hour shift this week to say care home completely ran out of gloves aprons and cleaning stuff and could she possibly bring her own soap tomorrow and see if she can buy some gloves on line.........suffice to say it's not a council care home but a private one.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Home evictions rising in Covid-19 crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/evictions-rising-in-covid-19-crisis-warns-shadow-housing-secretary

That's kicking those who are down

In Germany the government has ruled that noone can be evicted due to rent arrears from the Corona crisis:

[colouringinpro]

pmk

[BurneyFanny]

Rishi’s SE help isn’t much use to anyone who has been going for less than three years. What do they do?

[QuestionMarkNow]

PMK

I can’t believe that the government thinks it’s ok ‘oh there was a mix up/lost email so we miss the deadline’
It makes them look like a bunch of incompetent twats. One that aren’t even able to own up their own decisions/beliefs.

The very first answer ‘were not because we are not in the eu’ is closer to the mark imo.

[QuestionMarkNow]

The bailout for self employed is atrocious. Looks great from afar, similar to employed people (bar the. ‘Just wait until June’)
Except that what he has done is cut of a large part of SE. Anyone SE with a good enough accountant and an income just above the average wage of £24k will have created a Ltd company and set themselves as company director. These people are excluded from the deal which means a lot of people who are doing relatively well are excluded. You also need to have been running for at least 4 years (3 years registered by HMRC). Can you imagine saying to employed people they will only get some money if they have been working in the same company for 4 years and their income will be the average of the last 3 years? Tough if you got a promotion, changed jobs, got ill/ML etc..

For many, it has read as ‘we will help the big companies, the rich. The others can fuck off’

[QuestionMarkNow]

@BurneyFanny, I am SE and have many friends in that position.
The answer is you struggle through UC (which is near impossible atm) and pray.
A friend of mine is a single parent with 4 kids. She has no money and is shitting herself.

Once again the people who will struggle are women, esp single parents, and the poorest/most vulnerable.