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Brexit

Westminstenders: Following the EU lead

969 replies

RedToothBrush · 02/05/2020 17:50

Coronavirus poses a particularly Irish shaped question. How the UK responds to Irish plans for ending lockdown and whether Arlene continues to back an all Ireland plan will be fascinating to watch and see justified regardless of which way we go.

The UK for all its new found independence is looking very closely to the success / failure of EU strategies before making our own plan public. Mainly because we've yet to write one.

Johnson hasn't led much. He's delegated. Yet he gets all the praise for doing the sum total of fuck all and never being the bad guy. There always another fall guy to blame.

Economically we are stuffed and promises of a very quick bounce back don't look likely based on public confidence and willingness to return to places like pubs restaurants and shops.

Our ability to adapt to new conditions at short notice has been tested and businesses can not afford to do this again soon.

This is the background to which we go into talks. Both sides need an extension to serve their best interests. Johnson is determined to cut our nose of to spite our face for the sake of his legacy and to keep those paying the back handers and dodging tax happy.

OP posts:
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DGRossetti · 03/05/2020 14:55

You know when you hear or read something, and it's like being slapped with the truth ?

Westminstenders: Following the EU lead
RedToothBrush · 03/05/2020 15:21

The app will be enforced by a combination of peer pressure and emotional blackmail.

Legally I don't think they can say you can only do x, y or z if you have the app.

We can't use the app anyway as it compromises DH professionally.

OP posts:
Tanith · 03/05/2020 15:22

You can freeze flour. I came across this article a while ago: they recommend freezing for 48 hours to kill any weevils, then storing it. You can use it from frozen, apparently, and keep it frozen for 2 years. It’s an American site, mind you - I’ve only once in 30 years come across weevils.
www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-store-flour-1389337

DGRossetti · 03/05/2020 15:29

The app will be enforced by a combination of peer pressure and emotional blackmail.

Be curious as to what the standard the output of the "app" will be viewed as.

I bet that if someone where to be prosecuted for a criminal offence, the "app" and it's data would not be sufficient for alibi evidence.

HesterThrale · 03/05/2020 15:36

Letter to the Guardian

As men are more vulnerable to Covid-19, has anyone considered allowing women and children out of lockdown first? We could run the country for a few weeks and see how things go while men stay at home baking banana bread and clapping.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/30/a-small-and-lousy-source-of-protein

But in reality I could see a situation where people learn to accept an extent of normal life commensurate with their susceptibility.

missclimpson · 03/05/2020 16:18

Banana bread and clapping at the same time? 😱

SwedishEdith · 03/05/2020 16:28

As men are more vulnerable to Covid-19, has anyone considered allowing women and children out of lockdown first? We could run the country for a few weeks and see how things go while men stay at home baking banana bread and clapping.

I know that's a deliberately provocative joke but it would be hilarious if that happened to hack off the 'strong men' Brexiter libertarians. Having said that, I don't bake to banana bread or do the cooking in this house. And Petronella Wyatt (who'd know quite a bit about adulterous men) is probably right.

Piggywaspushed · 03/05/2020 16:31

Running in late to say Gove definitely sounds Scottish to me. Private school Scottish accent.

JeSuisPoulet · 03/05/2020 16:32

My word, I've just taken a look for Public Health jobs locally. Given that when I graduated I was told I was over qualified for admin and if I wanted to do "actual" Public Health I would have to work at PHE in London, there's suddenly a plethora (well 2) within a 40mile radius! Sorry, I'm particularly gobsmacked at this as I've been asked at every turn what my degree actually "does", so to see comprehensive jobs with things I have actually done in my degree is a bit Shock. I suppose at least it means I can actually use my degree and be of some use (I gave up job hunting a while ago, wrote the degree off as a fail and decided to stay at home with dd) but now schools are out and I'm sole carer...it's complicated. I'm assuming they'd be interviewing online?

Piggywaspushed · 03/05/2020 16:34

I am always puzzled by Powis' accent. he has Scottish vowels in there but Wikipedia has no references to Scotland.

DGRossetti · 03/05/2020 16:39

I'm assuming they'd be interviewing online?

You know what they say about "assume" Smile

Unlike some of the (presumably younger and more idealistic posters here ?) I have very little belief that we are going to see a new normal in employment anytime soon. It won't be long before the dinosaur bosses are "requiring" staff to be in the office, and inventing new ways to decline flexible working requests.

Incidentally, anyone seen the reporting from the US about the 4-step plan ... posted here so we can all see what's coming down the track. I reckon we are a week from step one ...

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/03/donald-trump-reopen-us-economy-lethal-robert-reich

Step 1
Remove income support, so people have no choice but to return to work.

Trump’s labor department has decided that furloughed employees “must accept” an employer’s offer to return to work and therefore forfeit unemployment benefits, regardless of Covid-19.

Trump’s ally, Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, says employees cannot refuse to return to work for fear of contracting the disease. “That’s a voluntary quit,” making someone ineligible for benefits.
GOP officials in Oklahoma are even threatening to withhold the $600 a week of extra unemployment benefits Congress has provided workers, if an employer wants to hire them. Safety is irrelevant.
“If the employer will contact us … we will cut off their benefits,” says Teresa Thomas Keller of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.
Forcing people to choose between getting Covid-19 or losing their livelihood is inhumane. It is also nonsensical. Public health still depends on as many workers as possible staying home. That’s a big reason why Congress provided the extra benefits.

Step 2

Hide the facts.
No one knows how many Americans are infected because the Trump administration continues to drag its heels on testing. To date only 6.5m tests have been completed in a population of more than 200 million adults.
Florida, one of the first states to reopen, has stopped releasing medical examiners’ statistics on the number of Covid-19 victims because the figures are higher than the state’s official count.
But it’s impossible to fight the virus without adequate data. Dr Anthony Fauci, the administration’s leading infectious disease expert, warns that reopening poses “a really significant risk” without more testing.
Not surprisingly, the White House has blocked Fauci from testifying before the House.

Step 3

Pretend it’s about “freedom”.

Weeks ago, Trump called on citizens to “LIBERATE” states like Michigan, whose Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, imposed strict stay-at-home rules.
Michigan has the third-highest number of Covid-19 deaths in America, although it is 10th in population. When on Thursday Whitmer extended the rules to 28 May, gun-toting protesters rushed the state house chanting: “Lock her up!”
Rather than condemn their behavior, Trump suggested Whitmer “make a deal” with them.

“The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire,” he tweeted. “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely!”

Meanwhile, the attorney general, William Barr, has directed the justice department to take legal action against any state or local authorities imposing lockdown measures that “could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens”.
Making this about “freedom” is absurd. Freedom is meaningless for people who have no choice but to accept a job that risks their health.

Step 4

Shield businesses against lawsuits for spreading the infection.
Trump is pushing to give businesses that reopen a “liability shield” against legal action by workers or customers who get infected by the virus.

This week, he announced he would use the Defense Production Act to force meat-processing plants to remain open, despite high rates of Covid-19 infections and deaths among meatpackers.
“We’re going to sign an executive order today, I believe, and that’ll solve any liability problems,” Trump said.
The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, insists that proposed legislation giving state and local governments funding they desperately needs to include legal immunity for corporations that cause workers or consumers to become infected.

“We have a red line on liability,”
McConnell said. “It won’t pass the Senate without it.”

But how can the economy safely reopen if companies don’t have an incentive to keep people safe? Promises to provide protective gear and other safeguards are worthless absent the threat of damages if workers or customers become infected.

DGRossetti · 03/05/2020 16:42

I am always puzzled by Powis' accent. he has Scottish vowels in there but Wikipedia has no references to Scotland.

DS was born and bred in Brum, and sounds totally unBrummie (and that ain't an accident). By the same token, DW was born and bought up until the age of 4 in Liverpool before moving to Brum. And sounds neither Scouse, nor Brummie.

Piggywaspushed · 03/05/2020 16:43

But Powis sounds Scottish... so he must have been there at some point!

Piggywaspushed · 03/05/2020 16:44

The numbers don't make sense today? Gove said 315 more deaths? But there were 325 in England? Eh?

ListeningQuietly · 03/05/2020 16:44

We could run the country for a few weeks and see how things go while men stay at home baking banana bread and clapping.
DH and DS say yes please Grin

Peregrina · 03/05/2020 16:46

I was told by someone from Birmingham who had what sounded like a fairly neutral accent, that this was the genuine Birmingham accent. What people think of as a Birmingham accent is in reality a Black Country accent, which is not the same place.

DGRossetti · 03/05/2020 16:59

What people think of as a Birmingham accent is in reality a Black Country accent, which is not the same place.

Yeah, well a lot of people (sadly especially native English) have cloth ears.

JeSuisPoulet · 03/05/2020 17:11

It's a terrible stereotype but I always mentally do the "I've just won the lottery" with a Brum accent. Was it Jasper Carrot's joke?

I've emailed for more info re the job and am strangely excited. I'll let you know what happens. Would be nice to assume I could actually get a job in exchange for my 50k debt!

JeSuisPoulet · 03/05/2020 17:14

Second use of assume was deliberate Wink I'm still cynically thinking the govt has no intention of properly testing on increasing health workers.

DGRossetti · 03/05/2020 17:16

Can't speak for anyone else, but this kind of restored my faith in the publics critical thinking ...

www.facebook.com/MikeGalsworthyPublic/videos/3077333062325538/

TheMShip · 03/05/2020 17:18

Good luck JeSuis! Star

JeSuisPoulet · 03/05/2020 17:25

Thank you @Mship!

DGR, yes, this is why Gogglebox is my absolute fave and I've mentioned a few times how it restores my faith in the public - along with @mrslaughan Grin

DGRossetti · 03/05/2020 17:36

Generally I swerve FB videos. Lifes too short, and they are rarely very accessibly friendly. But it was the MG prompt which made me check it out, and I was pleased I did.

it's nice to know there's a younger generation of cynics, critics and querents out there to carry the baton after I'm pushing up daisies.

I think lockdown is getting to me too. I made the mistake of commenting on an FB story that popped up, and am now being hammered by replies. All I said was that fish was good enough for Jehovah ... Grin

Tanith · 03/05/2020 17:53

DH was in the middle of replying to a post on FB that was mildly critical of the Government when it was deleted.
I was surprised to see that very anti-media propaganda post being sent out by a friend of mine. I asked her later if she’d actually read it. She says she hasn’t used FB in ages.

BoreOfWhabylon · 03/05/2020 17:57

pmk