Westminstenders: Operation Shock and Awe

[RedToothBrush]

The government is launching its get ready for the end of transition campaign which has been dubbed a 'shock and awe' campaign.

In this campaign we will learn all about what Brexit means and what amazing opportunities lie for having increased customs and borders, beaucracy and increased costs. Bet you are all really excited and looking forward to this.

We will also get a 'Farage Garage' in Kent to cope with these wonderful opportunities in traffic jams. This will be something that businesses throughout the country will be super excited to plan for in their socially distanced Zoom meetings or across warehouses with their face masks on. And banks will be delighted to see an uptick in applications in CCJs and debt reconstruction plans.

It will be a super fun time for the under 30s who have zero hours contracts, worked in retail or hospitality. Or should I say 'worked'.

Meanwhile the right to a jury trial has been binned due to 'long covid delays' which are shorter than they were several years ago. The NHS isn't getting the funding it expected, and waiting lists are longer than ever with no way to clear them. The plan to build more hospitals seems to have disappeared with the Nightingales. Many councils are about to go into insolvency and be taken over by accountancy firms. The civil service is being dismantled and conservative loyalists with no experience being put in charge of important functions of state. Communications with the press are being 'streamlined' to make them incredible of holding power to account and only able to repeat government public announcements.

Anyone looking forward to Christmas? When you write a letter to Santa remember to add 'visa application form', 'a sleeping bag for use at Dover', 'tinned tomatoes' and 'packets of seeds to grow your own' to the list.

Roussette posted this on the current trump thread:
johnpavlovitz.com/2020/03/19/it-shouldnt-take-a-disaster-to-remove-a-disaster/

I shouldn't have been surprised by how many parallels there are with the uk :(

Very flat PMK
Thanks Red

.

Ds1s driving lessons are going well.
So strange seeing him driving off...
The timid little one who wouldn't move more than 2 feet from me for the 1st 3 years of his life!
(Weeps)
I've had wine

Ah, good for MiniYoikes 👍

PMK thanks RTB

PMK. Dd has 2 hrs of school this morning! Not even sure what that gives me time to do but I intend to do it on my own, whoop!

Enjoy @JeSuisPoulet

Ds had 3 hours of School today but is too anxious to go in :(
Poor bugger. He has had 4 x 3 hour sessions (Y10) and has done 50%

Scottish schools go back in 4 weeks time - current plans are for full time

Fingers crossed that the gradual relaxation of lockdown continues to progress well. No deaths here for 5 days although 2 of those are weekend

I'm back from dropping her off and just sitting here. Haven't a scooby what to do! It's raining here so plans to sit in the hammock and read are out, ditto long and fast paced dog walk... Looks like pulling up old lino tiles might be on the not very exciting agenda!

Some excellent news for once

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/14/no-dss-ruled-unlawful-after-mother-rejected-by-lettings-agency

"What's also clear from the two 200 pages of detailed instructions is that any hope there would be less paperwork and red tape after leaving the EU seems misplaced."

Where are led by donkeys to give us a nice montage of:

Jacob Rees-Mogg saying Britain is strangled by EU red tape.

Iain Duncan Smith saying we need to “whittle away” EU rules to remove the “burden” on business

Even Cameron promised to “kill off the safety culture for good” with another “bonfire of red tape”.

If it wasn't for the pandemic would the people who voted for this spin be up in arms as they wanted less red tape ( of the kind which protected them anyway)?

@prettybird

I wonder if they will? Perhaps for a term but if the R rate goes up then maybe 'blended learning' for Spring term?

At least Scotland has a Plan A and Plan B!!!

I have asked re my kids current English School and the DHT says: 'awaiting further guidance on 11th Aug'.
Am meeting Senco Friday (last day of term, natch) to see what they say but basically I think it will be 'no idea before 11th Aug'. Ooof.

"The U.S. and U.K. Were the Two Best Prepared Nations to Tackle a Pandemic—What Went Wrong?"

The "scorecard" hadn't considered both countries being led by populist fools,

..... but also Western arrogance didn't consider that some E Asian countries could do so much better than the West.

A reminder to us all that some ratings & "tests" are, even if unconsciously, rigged in favour of the West, especially the Anglosphere.

https://time.com/5861697/us-uk-failed-coronavirus-response/

On Oct. 24, 2019 - 45 days before the world’s first suspected case of COVID-19 was announced -
a new “scorecard” was published called the Global Health Security Index.

The scorecard ranked countries on how prepared they were to tackle a serious outbreak,
based on a range of measures, including how quickly a country was likely to respond and how well its health care system would “treat the sick and protect health workers.”

The U.S. was ranked first out of 195 nations, and the U.K. was ranked second.
.....
Clearly, we need to re-examine what “preparedness” means.

Countries that kept their COVID-19 death rates very low ranked poorly on the preparedness scorecardd^, like Mongolia (ranked 46), Vietnam (50), and Iceland (58).

The catastrophic U.S. and U.K. responses to COVID-19 show that
when we give out future grades to countries on how well prepared they are to handle the next pandemic,

we need to account for a country’s political decision-making as one of the most important determining factors.

And for more reality - Alaister Campbell videoed the trucks are the Swiss boarder - coming to a road near you in Kent

twitter.com/campbellclaret/status/1282976386102120451?s=21

I see to recall a number of high profile Brexiters and their acolytes on here claiming that there was no "real" border between Switzerland and the EU and that it was "proof" that the UK could leave the Single Market and not be inconvenienced.

@OldLace

Our school had an online assembly last week and a head teacher letter home to explain arrangements for full time school in September, based on current guidance.

Essentially, year groups will remain in the same areas within the school for classes and break times as far as possible (obviously some subjects require specialist rooms), with teachers moving between the groups. Kids on school transport (which covers a lot of kids as the catchment area is something like 500 square miles) will form their own bubbles on the bus, but there will be several bubbles on each bus.

It’s a very modern school, big and spacious, so I think that has made things slightly easier.

DS is also Yr 10 and has been going in for one day a week recently, but just to do set work under supervision. Not much use as only one of his teachers has been in, but he’s enjoyed seeing his mates and they’ve played a fair bit of sport (luckily the weather has been kind).

Two hours to yourself @JeSuisPoulet - am so jealous! 🤣

The pandemic scorecard is interesting @BigChocFrenzy I think the British/US exceptionalism can’t have helped (along with the populist idiots of course!)

I ended up reading for a whole hour (!) completely guilt free. I find I get niggling guilt when reading while I am meant to be home schooling - my anxiety I suspect. I then dropped off 2 punnets of raspberries and a jar of home made jam to a friend who's son was sent home from school with a sore throat yesterday (his test came back negative) and then it was pick up time again. She really enjoyed it and still managed to forget her PE bag

I think the visuals for that boarder are very important. Could have used those several years ago tbh!

I see shops are now meant to be holding people to account for mask wearing like that's going to work!

PMK, thanks as always!

You couldn't make it up

Gove has, well, a lot of nothing to say on the Kent Lorry Park www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3689025931113488

I have an observation to make...Re: housing market.

I live in a very normal Midlands town. Market buoyant prior to covid-19. Lots of new builds.

Now lockdown has been lifted and the govt stamp duty give away the prices have gone MENTAL

No idea what that there London prices must be like if 3 bed semi detached houses here are selling in 2/3 days for £250k!

These houses are - imho - being over valued by £60-80k.

Mad.

Yoikes very interesting you say that as I was just looking at a huge new development here on the drive to my friends and wondering how banks are giving mortgages given so many are furloughed and economy tanking etc. How odd!

I'm baffled tbh jesuis

Admittedly, most of the housing stock for sale here atm is either ex council houses or overpriced new builds.
One of the housesI mentioned is behind mine in a cul de sac and the current owners bought it 9 years ago for £150k (which I thought was overpriced then!) Nice profit 📈