Westministenders: Lockdown continues

[BigChocFrenzy]

The UK has been on lockdown since 23 March,
with no end in sight.

The deaths peak is predicted to be around 17 April,
with the controversial IHME prediction that the UK will have considerably more total deaths - 66,000 - by summer than other European countries.

Supermarkets are struggling to satisfy demand for online slots for the vulnerable
and to keep shelves supplied for other customers

Like all countries, the UK economy is being hammered and heading for a deep recession.
Estimates are for UK GDP to fall 15% this year.

A million people have applied for Universal Credit
The self-employed and small - and some large - businesses are struggling to stay solvent.

They don't know how long to plan for.

The PM is in ICU and Raab has taken over as stand-in, but needs Cabinet approval for decisions.
Probably BJ will be unfit to resume his duties as PM for several weeks, if ever.

WIll he stand down soon and let the Cabinet choose a new PM,
or will the UK continue for weeks with a stand-in leader during the worst crisis since WW2

What's the plan, anybody?

boatyard
John Lewis click and collect is a decent bet

Did someone in Priti Ugli Patel's team read MN and realise that they had to wheel her out?

Strewth, they might wheel out Rees-Mogg tomorrow! Maybe he's not yet got over the shock of being asked to keep a 2 metre distance, when it ought to be half a chain or some such.

The answer that the National Medical Director has just given about PPE gives the lie to the Government's previous claim that enough PPE had been procured for all front line workers as he said that they were still defining how much was required and then how it should be distributed

I did wonder, and I can confirm she is standing on a box.

A little glimpse of character with her "I'm sorry if people think there is a problem!" the stress and tone make the meaning clear: Why are you useless bastards complaining?

Boatyard - I had the same issue with my DD - I did John Lewis - but had it delivered (I am not sure click and collect is available at the moment) as I didn't want to have to go into Waitrose

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/11/us-institute-revises-down-forecast-for-uk-coronavirus-deaths?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

She is isn’t she?! I’m absolutey sure that platform thing wasn’t there yesterday . Not a fan of her, at all, I could well, well believe she’s a bully to her staff.

She could have asked Larry to borrow his lectern.

From Sky News:
Asked about PPE, she said: "I'm sorry if people feel there have^ been failing^s"

That's the classic non-apology apology.

...and she's been working "Virtually every day. Seven Days a Week. ...Three days a week actually."

I looked up her height and lits of sources claim she is 5 ft 6.

BJ is 1.75m (5ft 9in)

"I am sorry if people feel there have been failings' on PPE"

And there we have it. No fucks given. Can't even pretend, can she?

"they were still defining how much was required and then how it should be distributed"

So they hadn't got as far as even defining the purchase order, let alone sending it out 🤦🏻‍♀️

cf "we think we have enough for today, but are trying to work out how to get some for tomorrow."
If they obfuscated less, it would be better, because they are so transparent...

That's a summary of his answer but that was essentially what he said in justification as the reason why he couldn't give a definitive answer on numbers

"I am sorry if people feel there have been failings' on PPE"

Classic twisty weasel answer

never admit a mistake, never apologise,
never even acknowledge that there is a problem - just sigh that some silly people "feel" there is

The NHS staff just "feel" they aren't wearing PPE
because they are silly
Or they played strip poker for it and forget where they left the stakes

I’m also not sure which elections you think have been won by a few hundred voters. The last one was won by 3.7 million votes

That's because you're not thinking. UK parliamentary elections are not assessed by number of votes cast for a party, but by seats won - party with most seats wins.

Looking at the number of voters that gave the Tories their current majority of 39, we actually discover that the number of votes that swung it was ... 52228. Put simply, if you could nobble that many voters, you could have completely swung the election. Okay, I was a little under with "hundreds", but at least I was more accurate - both politically and mathematically.
(commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8749/)

When you start thinking like that, the real power of the Facebook and chums analytical data starts to hove into view. if you could identify those individuals in those constituencies, you would buy yourself an election, my friend.

So let's dispense with this "majority of millions" nonsense. If you want to be able to claim that without hearing fart noises in reply, then change the UK system to one that counts every vote.

(Incidentally, it's worth remembering that no one ever gets to vote for the US president either. But that's for another day ....)

The theme of the NHS staff "abusing" PPE equipment is an echo of Trump blaming NYC hospital staff of stealing the kit ...

Is this where the Uk will go ?

USA: "I’ve read the plans to reopen the economy. They’re scary.
There is no plan to return to normal."

https://www.vox.com/2020/4/10/21215494/coronavirus-plans-social-distancing-economy-recession-depression-unemployment

All of them then imagine a phase two, which relaxes - but does not end - social distancing
while implementing testing and surveillance on a mass scale.

This is where you must begin imagining the almost unimaginable.

The CAP and Harvard plans both foresee a digital pandemic surveillance state in which virtually every American downloads an app to their phone that geotracks their movements,

so if they come into contact with anyone who later is found to have Covid-19, they can be alerted and a period of social quarantine can begin.

Similarly, people would scan QR codes when boarding mass transit or entering other high-risk public areas.
And GPS tracking could be used to enforce quarantine on those who test positive with the disease
as is being done in Taiwan.

Maybe everyone will be tagged, to prevent people leaving phones at home,
as SKorea has already started

www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/coronavirus-south-korea-to-strap-tracking-wristbands-on-those-who-violate-quarantine

twitter.com/MarkerJParker/status/1249007688920576001
On running out of PPE tomorrow...
MN thread on Priti Patel's address suggests she has crashed and burned.

BCF I've said before I fully expect us to be microchipped.

Which is that thread? I bet she's hoping she has so that she needn't be let out again.

I wonder if Johnson recovers will he give her the boot? He probably needs to shuffle Sunak sideways - can't have someone competent in Government.

Peregrina It's called Priti Patel address.
Haven't read all of it, but it seemed pretty unanimous.