Westministenders: Reployed back to No Deal Planning

[RedToothBrush]

Now Covid-19 is over (yeah I know right) lots of civil servants who were switched from brexit no deal planning to covid-19 planning have been switched back to their original remit.

For some reason this doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

We've also seen yet another doubling down on the EU not being flexible and how they need to make a deal. And lots of rhetoric about being serious about no transiton planning.

Remember we have something of a deadline looming at the end of next month.

So before we are even out of this crisis, the government have lost interest. Today's press conference was an eye opener - Van Tam openly said that the time taken to get test results was too long and wasn't good enough yet and meant track and trace wasnt still operational despite it being such a crucial factor in being able to go into the next phase as planned on 1st June.

Another deadline we won't make - the Manchester Nightgale still has patients and the local authorities in the NW are going mental. So the government is playing more silly buggers over blame and villianising the evil workshy teachers. Noting the government guidance for teachers on how to teacher children at home says fuck all and the guidance on reopening schools makes a Theresa May dog ate my homework style document look positively well thought out, in terms of practicality. (Not even going to touch on the question of whether its safe - the whether its workable one is more important).

I guess that means things are getting back to normal at least.

A recession looms, but workers rights are now fair game and fully in the government cross hairs - as we see from a lack of PPE for the 'heroes' and the attacks on the teachers. As well as the carers who were sold down river. That'll be the ununionised carers...

Taking back control.

The question is whether he will recover in the next couple of months.

Can you recover from being a workshy lazy shit?

Can you recover from being a workshy lazy shit?

Nope. But you wouldn’t have to resign over it either.

Or Trump would be long gone.

I thought there was some twee story about this child (named Ceddy iirc) feeding his parents soup?

At a time when our leaders should be setting an example, they think the rules aren’t for them.

ABJ doesn't think, he knows that the rules aren't for him (tbf, he's never stuck to the rules his whole life and it's worked well) so by extension the rules don't apply to DC who is not going anywhere. Gove and Rees Mogg need him as the key architect of no exit and in managing the wider public's acceptance of a no deal exit. Haven't we already had one successful example of their careful media communications on this thread?

Oh Dear

It seems the elite are getting up a lot of faux outrage over infected Dom and his infected wife (we know she was infected because she wrote about it in the Speccie) taking their infected kids 250 miles up the A1 to stay with Dom's vulnerable parents while Mr and Mrs Dom hung out in one of the properties on his dad's baronial estate.

That's the elite for you. They're probably just jealous because they only have the one home and its not even a castle.

Meanwhile, probably still infected Boris wants to go to Washington to meet the maskless fool, which might end up in a good way.

JHB big hitter

Have they found that missing consonant yet?

JHB, fancy art pencil?

There's likely to be quite a few WM / ex WM folks happy an opportunity to seek revenge on someone who, by reputation, has been rather unpleasant. Saj for instance?

Well, we were wondering why he was so quiet. I bet he shat his pants when heads started rolling over merely visiting second homes

So, he had contact with his sister, parents and police officers in Durham at the very least. If I lived in the area I would be creating a huge stink. Driving when ill should also receive a fine IMO, endangering their child too.

A&E is its usual bonkers self again; stabbings, overdoses, druggies, alcoholics, head injuries, all that. Lockdown feels over.

I don't feel that personally outraged about the cummings story but I am outraged at the hypocrisy. Here's how it is:

Scottish medical officer breaches lockdown - resigns
Tory minister breaches lockdown - no problem, continues giving daily briefings
Johnsons breaches lockdown rules - that's ok
SAGE scientist breaches lockdown (actually his girlfriend not him) - resigns in hysterical outpouring of shaming by media (including pics of hot girlfirned because it's the tabloids)
Cummings breaches lockdown - no that's fine, say the people who castigated the above

Do you remember Hancock's po-faced "I am so incredibly disappointed and sad and support police action against him" about Ferguson? What's he said about CUmmings?

Excuse typos

I don't feel that personally outraged about the cummings story but I am outraged at the hypocrisy.

I don’t feel outraged, I just want him to resign. I wouldn’t even care if it wasn’t true.

I really hope the majority of people will see the government as trying to take us for fools with this DC story. There will always be some who will defend them no matter what but I'm hoping those like myself who haven't seen family since lockdown will see through the bullshit and be furious. It's good that people like JHB and Piers Morgan are onto it.

LK has tweeted about 'family staying in a seperate house' but the police statement stated when they spoke to the parents of DC they said he was self isolating in another part of the house.

The whole thing stinks.

Meanwhile over on another thread, a desperate Torybot is trying a pathetic smear against Keir Starmer - this time it's because he sends his kids to (state) school because he and his wife are key workers but wants the actual science to support full scale opening of schools.

Torybot is mostly getting their arse handed to them.

@TatianaBis

I mean, I am outraged about plenty of OTHER things Cummings has done to the country and the sooner he's gone the better but I'm not hodlding my breath!

he was self isolating in another part of the house.

Which is entirely practical when you live in a castle.

Doesn't everyone?

Even if he was staying in a separate farmhouse and never actually saw his elderly parents, wasn’t he worried his child might transmit the virus from him and his wife to them, during childcare?

I would have been.

I am outraged by it all, the hypocrisy, the bullshit, the lies, treating the public like fools and with utter contempt, the danger that it gives a green light to people who don't want to stick to lockdown measures and the supposedly impartial, leading political journalist from the BBC acting like a Tory mouthpiece.

The comments on the DM are interesting. A fair bit of condemnation.

@squid4

If I thought holding my breath would get rid of him I would.

I'm not defending him to be clear, I just didn't particularly think Ferguson should have resigned and I don't want to be hypocritical myself

I think he needs to answer questions and apologise at a minimum. Obviously they will just double down and deny / throw hissy fits instead.

I am weary. Of this country. I used to love being British, think it was really cool.

A friend and I catch up every Friday for a video chat. We were laughing (hysterically) a couple of weeks ago at "what's the world coming too when we agree with Piers"

I can't really abide the man - but he is doing a good job at the moment- which I find so surprising.

Ugh. I am sleep deprived and not making sense. There are hundreds of reasons why Cummings should resign and this is just another.

I am annoyed at the journalists who think Ferguson breaking lockdown is career destroying and this isn't. Was trying not to be so partisan myself.

The article by his wife lying through her teeth is pretty grim. BBC immediately defending him is grim too.

Do you remember Hancock's po-faced "I am so incredibly disappointed and sad and support police action against him" about Ferguson? What's he said about CUmmings?

Is that the same Matt Hancock who said he could never support a Boris Johnson led government two weeks before endorsing him for his choice for PM because he knew he'd get a good job out of it?

That Matt Hancock?

I think I have a fair idea of where Matt Hancock's moral compass loses its way.