Westminstenders: Where are we now?

[RedToothBrush]

Twenty thousand people
Cross Bösebrücke
Fingers are crossed
Just in case
Walking the dead

Where are we now, where are we now?
The moment you know, you know, you know

Just that.

Don't really want to reflect more than that right now.

Was that depicting Major constantly grey and in his underpants Listening? Agree those things, and TV had real punch then.

As an aside, getting back to 2020....

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/16/boris-johnson-faces-tory-rebellion-over-marcus-rashfords-school-meals-call

Read little further than the headline but I have to admit I didn’t expect that!! Interesting that they chose to characterise this as a “humiliating U-turn”, can be seen like that for sure, but I think this can be a “good” news story for the Govt as well.

Louise
Yup, the grey man.

And YYYY to the £15 per week per child vouchers - trivial amount in the big scheme but essential to those families.

Now we just need the list of big Furlough recipient companies ;-)

.

"France now lets UK citizens in (starting yesterday), with 2 weeks' voluntary self-isolation"

Macron has lost his marbles re "voluntary" isolation
even though I presume that is for retired people etc intending to stay for some months

(No holiday-maker from any country is going to voluntarily isolate for 2 weeks, because that's all / nearly all of most holidays)

All politicians should have learned that people will rarely isolate if it means they suffer significant loss - financial, convenience etc

Countries that actually want people to isolate, whether visitors or residents, make it mandatory with stiff penalties for non-compliance

I'm reminded (because it really wasn't that long ago) of the behaviour of Brits abroad in Spain when the virus started hitting. Because that is what we will see again.

Exellent news about Covid treatment

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53061281

A cheap and widely availanle drug, dexamethasone, appears to reduce damage of cytokine storm
(so helps the most serious cases, although not the milder ones)

Very significant:
"For patients on ventilators, it cut the risk of death from 40% to 28%.
For patients needing oxygen, it cut the risk of death from 25% to 20%."

Exellent news about Covid treatment

Indeed. I burst into tears when I read it. I'm high risk and so is my daughter. I didn't realise quite how much worry and fear I was bottling up.

Excellent news about summer fsm too

Brilliant, Marcus Rashford ! 👏🏼

He didn't pull up the ladder after him; he pulled others up the ladder
A lot of kids saved from going hungry this summer vacation

Ideally in a modern developed country, kids shouldn't need fsm to avoid hunger,
but we must deal with the world as it is, not as we dream it should be

Macron has plummeted in the ratings here and I think he is giving in to pressure to return to normal, which for a lot of French people who rely heavily on UK tourists for income means letting them in.
I think it's batshit and agree no one is going to voluntarily self-isolate. (TBH, the UK says that travellers from France have to undergo mandatory quarantine, but I bet they won't check.)

My DSis and her partner have booked the first possible Eurotunnel crossing in July and are going to drive down here without stopping to refuel or go to the loo, spend 2 weeks in self-isolation in my house and then drive to the EU country where she has lived for the last 18 years.
They will not let her in directly from the UK, because they are not under the same pressure as France, not being a major summer tourist destination. They are not letting people coming from the UK, Sweden or Portugal in.
If she doesn't get there before Aug 1st, she will lose her work permit, as she is now a non-EU citizen and, having got stuck in the UK on a quick trip there at the start of lockdown, will have spent too long out of her country of residence as of that date. She has built up a one-woman enterprise with a very loyal client base and is at risk of losing it all if she doesn't get back before the cut-off.

In the Auld family, there is precious little sympathy for Brexit voters.

Mashedpotato There is about 1 in a million risk for children and still v v low risk for young adults

Age is so dominant a risk factor that even being 10-15 years older would be riskier than all but the most serious health conditions

Risk of dying from COVID, if infected, increases at 11–12% each year
==> risk doubles every 6–7 years
==> risk multiplies x ~ 8 every 20 years

==> a 50-year-old has ~ 8 x the risk of a 30-year-old
==> a 62-year-old has ~ 64 x the risk of a 22-year-old
(I remember this in the gym !)
==> an 80-year-old has ~ 500 x the risk of a 20-year-old

For comparison, one of the most serious relevant conditions for COVID is T1
.... T1 increases risk by 3 x
so about the same as a healthy person 10 years older

Auld I assumed he had to mean UK visitors must somehow show intention to stay for months, e.g. retired and renting / owning a French home,

• because obviously noone holidaying for the usual 1-3 weeks will isolate at all

Otherwise, he is just putting up a transparent figleaf

Mashedpotato There is about 1 in a million risk for children and still v v low risk for young adults

My DD is 26 and last year had a viral infection which sent her immune system haywire. She spent months in hospital, had her spleen removed and has been on immuno-suppressants ever since. She's also a teacher and has had to work throughout. I've been trying to keep positive but it's hard.

BCF It's not v clear, as he announced lots of things on Sun evening and the details are to follow.
That includes obligatory nursery, primary and middle school for all as of Mon, which no one knew about until he announced it.

It may well be a v transparent fig leaf. I think he's also thinking the UK will drop its quarantine rules for people travelling from France and then France will do the same for those from the UK, as it's a tit-for-tat measure. But given the respective figures, the risks are not the same...

Macron is quite good at see-through fig leaves, TBH.

@BigChocFrenzy

Excellent news about summer fsm too

Brilliant, Marcus Rashford ! 👏🏼

He didn't pull up the ladder after him; he pulled others up the ladder
A lot of kids saved from going hungry this summer vacation

Ideally in a modern developed country, kids shouldn't need fsm to avoid hunger,
but we must deal with the world as it is, not as we dream it should be

I completely agree, what a wonderful person he is - this country needs more role models like him. Marcus Rashford’s attitude is the antithesis of the ‘I’m alright Jack’ mentality that leads to these selfish bastards getting re-elected over and over again.

Finding the Rashford love in amusing, the guy is a very, very well paid footballer let’s not forget. Personally I’m much more interested in what people do with their money than their public advocacy.

Btw today is the anniversary of the death of Jo Cox.

Its funny how quickly events like Grenfell and Jo Cox's murder have moved out of the public conscious.

Finding the Rashford love in amusing, the guy is a very, very well paid footballer let’s not forget.

I think the one thing that wasn't forgotten was 2.7 million twitter followers ... (now 2.8). I say one thing, but there may have been something else may have been at work here too, given recent events ?

Btw today is the anniversary of the death of Jo Cox.

Now there is a statue we should see.

Louise These are not communist party threads

I don't expect - or even wish - every rich person to give up their money, or even a chunk of it

Feeding the poor kids in any country requires government action;
even several millionaire footballers could only provide a drop in the ocean

His campaign has achieved 10,000 x more than the meals he could have ever financed from his own pay

... which btw could drop to permanent zero after a serious training or match injury.

Now there is a statue we should see.

Yep.

And you think I'm a communist you really are having a bloody laugh.

the anniversary of the death of Jo Cox

Soon air-brushed away as an embarassment,
because it was a far-right Brexiter terrorist who murdered her

No communists here ...

I've no idea why Louise imagined we thought being rich would detract from doing genuine good

We've even praised billionaire Bill Gates for his charitable foundation work

Marcus R does already spend some of his money on such things as a private individual, I believe.

Fancy not being able to be praised for a good deed unless you are absolutely saint like. And yet, Louise says the U-turn on not letting children starve is a good news story for the government. No such standards apply there.

The point about twitter DGR makes is a very good one, unquestionably an important part of the power of his advocacy and, if people are going to use their public platforms for advocacy then advocating for something like feeding schoolchildren does seem a very positive use of such power.

Now here’s the difference, when private citizens advocate from a position of great wealth and power/celebrity for their government to spend more public money or x or y, then I absolutely do think they should also be prepared to be spending some of their own money in supporting the cause they advocate for.