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.

Wow - a post deleted within 4 minutes !

Talk about poking my nosey nerve ...

It was just spam - and probably porn spam at that (although I didn't click on the link).

EU has a warning after its list of stakeholder preparedness notices
(which are far more comprehensive than what the UK gives to the various sectors)

ec.europa.eu/info/european-union-and-united-kingdom-forging-new-partnership/future-partnership/getting-ready-end-transition-period_en

Last updated on: 12 June 2020

If the European Union and the United Kingdom fail to reach an agreement by 31 December 2020, the changes at the end of the transition period would be even more far-reaching

imo, Whitty and Vallance may resign as much for self-preservation as concerns about dropping 2m
They see the writing on the wall:

The govt is obviously hunting for scapegoats
e.g. teachers atm

If either COVID or the economy are worse than expected - and both are already among the worst in the developed world - that hunt will become vicous and merciless
and teachers won't be nearly enough.

Avoiding blame for their own actions is the one area where the Tory party has been "world-beating"

I am wondering how much more food we can stash. Especially veg/ fruit. No garden just a window sill. And ex's concrete yard.

We need to hear how it isn't the fault of the party that has been in charge these past 5 years (see how kind I am to exclude "The Coalition Years" ...).

But Corbyn ...

A bigger question is why would the greatest country in the world even waste time talking to a loser like the UK ?

Teachers will get the blame for schools not reopening fully. Nothing to do with school buildings being full. Nor budgets for staff.

why would the greatest country in the world even waste time talking to a loser like the UK ?

Denmark?
New Zealand?
Finland?

WHO warning the Uk about its lack of effective contact tracing - very unusual for them to do this to specific countries:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/14/who-cautions-against-further-lifting-lockdown-england

.... coronavirus lockdown should not be further lifted until the government’s contact-tracing system has proven to be “robust and effective”
....
Dr Hans Kluge, the WHO’s director for Europe, cautioned that the UK remained in a “very active phase of the pandemic”.

www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-red-wall-overwhelmingly-opposes-a-no-deal-brexit

...
A poll given to The Spectator today by the Best for Britain think tank shows the gap between ‘Red Wall’ voters and the Tory elite in London is dizzyingly wide. It reports overwhelming opposition to a no-deal Brexit in the seats that put Johnson in Downing Street. As striking is the widespread concern about living standards and equally valid worries about the Conservatives tying Britain to the Trump administration.

Best for Britain’s pollsters interviewed 5,317 people across the country from 9 May to 5 June. Its researchers employed the most respected and intensive polling technique – multilevel regression and post-stratification analysis, which uses statistics on past votes and demographics, as well as the poll results. They focused on 44 constituencies which the Conservatives won in 2019 from Labour in the North and Midlands.

I’ll give you the findings first and then my analysis of why opinion is moving. 70 per cent of Red Wall voters said they wanted to work with Europe, whereas only 20 per cent said America should be the UK's main partner.
...

Lockdown conditions are now being reimposed in parts of India as well as China, as new cases surge.

apparently ...

I guess I herd it on the grapevine ...

I've a private suspicion that a lot of the Red Wall swing was voters determined to keep Corbyn out of No 10,
rather than being in favour of BJ's sabre-rattling about No Extension

• most would have reasonably assumed that no PM would be so irresponsible as to choose No Deal

However, for at least the last 3 Tory PMs, it's difficult to over-estimate their irresponsibility - and blundering - on key issues for the nation.

It reports overwhelming opposition to a no-deal Brexit in the seats that put Johnson in Downing Street.

Shows what utter fucking muppets they were in voting Tory doesn't it.

... grapevine here, DG

www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/jun/15/coronavirus-live-news-beijing-enters-extraordinary-period-as-it-races-to-contain-new-covid-19-outbreak

But they are not getting second peak/wave cos that is the argument for reopening schools and ending lockdown NOW...."they" haven't had a second wave so we won't...it's not like flu pandemic of 1918....... and,and (insert country) is opening schools (change for institution of choice) so we should get back to normal too.

Apparently...

I've a private suspicion that a lot of the Red Wall swing was voters determined to keep Corbyn out of No 10, rather than being in favour of BJ's sabre-rattling about No Extension

Do you know something ?

I frankly don't give a damn at this stage. Unless those MPs seriously threaten Boris majority they can suck it up with their constituents and best of British to them too.

Meanwhile, is this a foretaste of the next few months in the (southern) US ?

Are we allowed to do a Boo for Brexit next Tuesday night
the 4th anniversary of the vote ?

The state of democracy in the USA is just desperately sad. With us not too far behind...

Are we allowed to do a Boo for Brexit next Tuesday night the 4th anniversary of the vote ?

Personally I think a much better idea would be to flood social media - all media - with loads of questions asking Where's my unicorn ?

Paul Brand @PaulBrandITV
BREAKING: Boris Johnson says the UK's cut-off date for a Brexit deal is July.

"I certainly don't want to see it going on until the autumn/winter as perhaps in Brussels they would like. I don't see any point in that."

That allows just 6 weeks to reach a trade deal.

PM says he told the EU today to "put a tiger in the tank".

And he believes the chances of getting a deal are "very good, provided we focus now".

But others will ask if this is a realistic timetable, given very limited progress so far.

Jon Worth @jonworth
I know journalists like to report on what the PM has said, and still somehow have to report it as significant, but this is complete bullshit.

Johnson has made this up on a whim. We even know there are talks scheduled for August!

David Henig @DavidHenigUK
That instinct to say something silly about EU talks for domestic consumption is still there. Particularly as negotiators already agreed to a round in talks in August.

Also

The Independent @Independent
FDA revokes emergency use of Trump-promoted drug amid growing evidence of deadly side effects

And

Pippa Crerar @PippaCrerar
^"You haven't asked me a question I can't answer yet," says leading epidemiologist Dominic Raab, when quizzed by @janemerrick23
on why Government scientists are appearing less frequently at the No 10 briefings.^

Hugo Gye @HugoGye
Asked by @janemerrick23 why scientists have largely vanished from the daily press conferences, Raab says: "Scientists will continue to come and attend these press conferences." But he insists the "judgement calls" have to be taken by politicians.