Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[SpookyFrank]

Did anyone else get a text from 'the government' this morning about testing?

No, just another email from HMRC telling me to register for something I can't apply for yet, and for I which I already registered anyway.

 

[little_legs]

Where is that from? 'An increasingly formidable Keira starmer' if I didnt laugh I'd cry.

It's from the Times. Not having read the entire article I am guessing it's a jokey dig at Starmer.

 

[little_legs]

What's the difference between that and Stay at Home?

 

[quimcunx]

The garden centre stuff is probably also because they havent got much wiggle room in regards what to reopen, and stuff that is outdoors is generally less risky, so its one of the few things they could possibly do at this stage.

I'm ok with garden centres opening as long the usual precautions.... yada yada.... But if you can have a saunter round a garden centre you can have a sit on the grass in the bloody park. I guess no one can make money out of sitting in parks though.

I sat on the grass in brockwell park this morning. #bloodonmyhands

 

[planetgeli]

Eslewhere in 'good old Sussex filth protecting the public' news, they've made driving like a cunt legal.

Police cancel speeding fines due to coronavirus

Speeding drivers have been let off fines as police struggle with their workloads during the coronavirus outbreak.

www.sussexexpress.co.uk

Not sure you read beyond the catchy clickbait headlines in that article.

Nowhere does it refer to Sussex police.

But it does say,

We (ESSEX police) are now enforcing all road traffic offences, including all speeding thresholds, and offenders will be prosecuted in line with national guidelines

 

[editor]

Brixton last night, 2am. Well pissed people around the offie shouting and kicking off, cops turning up en masse. Just like the lockdown never happened.

 

[quimcunx]

Did they not think to look up alert in the dictionary first?

 

[Dogsauce]

It’s all a bit ‘taking back control’ isn’t it? Like they only have one trick. Is this really the limit of Cumming’s genius?

 

[Spandex]

Stay Alert by staying home as much as possible?

After staying home for the last seven weeks trying to occupy 2 young kids the last thing I feel is alert.

 

[SpookyFrank]

It’s all a bit ‘taking back control’ isn’t it? Like they only have one trick. Is this really the limit of Cumming’s genius?

It's a great slogan for a completely different crisis tbf.

 

[little_legs]

Did they think to look up alert in the dictionary first?

It's all coming from a single cell Johnson has got left in his mush brain:

 

[SpookyFrank]

A minute ago Johnson was supposedly the main voice in cabinet opposed to easing the lockdown too early as well. The man really is incapable of sticking to anything for more than a week.

 

[Raheem]

Where is that from? 'An increasingly formidable Keira starmer' if I didnt laugh I'd cry.

It's all relative, though.

 

[Edie]

Stay at Home is changing to Stay Alert

Is this the roadmap out of lockdown, or is he gonna “address the nation” with that at some point later on? And if so anyone know what time? (Trying to plan my roast!).

 

[Raheem]

A minute ago Johnson was supposedly the main voice in cabinet opposed to easing the lockdown too early as well. The man really is incapable of sticking to anything for more than a week.

He's really good at sticking to opposite and contradictory things.

 

[planetgeli]

Are we all in for a government mailshot of free amphetamines?

 

[SpookyFrank]

Is this the roadmap out of lockdown, or is he gonna “address the nation” with that at some point later on? And if so anyone know what time? (Trying to plan my roast!).

I assume 5pm ish but it all gets a bit vague when Johnson himself is involved. I assume it's mostly a function of when they can drag him away from his baby. And by baby I obviously don't mean his actual baby, I mean his drinks cabinet.

 

[maomao]

A minute ago Johnson was supposedly the main voice in cabinet opposed to easing the lockdown too early as well. The man really is incapable of sticking to anything for more than a week.

He just says yes to everyone, lies through his teeth and then does whatever he wants anyway. That's how you end up with however many families too.

 

[little_legs]

I think they've got a few things right, mostly in the areas of preventing (or trying to prevent) non-pandemic damage to society such as the furlough schemes, mortgage holidays, bans on eviction, sweeping up and housing the homeless. I'm under no illusions that they're doing it for hard-headed business reason rather than the goodness of their hearts.
But doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is still doing the right thing. I don't think they have done too badly at managing the lockdown whilst trying not get to heavy about it.
We haven't had the army on the streets in this country. Yes with hindsight maybe something could have been managed better but they (and Labour would have been in the same position) have been in the position of always reacting to the virus rather than being out in front of it.
And that is where they have failed most abjectly, there was no planning ahead despite us being behind the rest of Europe never mind SE Asia. Opportunities to close borders, stock up on PPE etc were missed when they should have seen them coming, they dithered (not as badly as the US Govt) but definitely there seems to have been a hope it would just go away.

Don't fall for this shit, lots of people already know that when furlough ends at the end of June, many of them won't have jobs to go back to.

 

[sojourner]

Is this the roadmap out of lockdown, or is he gonna “address the nation” with that at some point later on? And if so anyone know what time? (Trying to plan my roast!).

7pm on BBC1 Edie

 

[little_legs]

The garden centre stuff is probably also because they havent got much wiggle room in regards what to reopen, and stuff that is outdoors is generally less risky, so its one of the few things they could possibly do at this stage.

It comes down to a simple Tory idea that almost everyone the virus kills is economically inactive anyway so it's totally fine if they die

 

[weepiper]

New UK slogan going down like a cup of cold sick in Scotland.

 

[andysays]

It might not be deliberate targeting though, it might just be because for their entire lives everybody they've ever known has big fuck off gardens.

Although many of them will have big enough and/or fuck off enough gardens that they will employ gardeners and not have to actually go to the garden centre themselves.

I'm a gardener, both professionally and in my leisure time, and while there have been a few times in the past six weeks when I've wished I could pop to the nearest garden centre to pick up something I want, I've somehow managed to survive, and continue doing what gardening I need to do.

Along with others, I can help suspecting that this, especially the trailing it beforehand, is as much about been seen to do something which will play reasonably well with a significant proportion of their core constituency than because they're in the pocket of the Garden Centres.

 

[Sasaferrato]

So what does the Urban massive have to say?

We have never been in this situation before, there are no previous protocols to follow.

You are the PM, we are where we are now, what are you going to do?

 

[frogwoman]

I dont think it's a necessarily a bad thing garden centres are open tbh if it's safe to do so, I kind of want to get some seeds and be as self sufficient as possible. Afaik Germany never closed harden centres and they were one of the first things to open in countries with stricter lockdowns. I dont have a problem with some stuff opening if it's safe to do so, and tbh in the uk non essential stuff was never shut down so you still have people working in highly unsafe environments to pack clothes up etc

To be honest some garden centres have been open even before the announcement, my sister said she went to one last weekend.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

So what does the Urban massive have to say?

We have never been in this situation before, there are no previous protocols to follow.

You are the PM, we are where we are now, what are you going to do?

If by some cruel mistake, I had somehow ended up PM, I'd have stepped aside and nominated Elbows back in February.

 

[Raheem]

So what does the Urban massive have to say?

We have never been in this situation before, there are no previous protocols to follow.

You are the PM, we are where we are now, what are you going to do?

Resign.

 

[Cid]

So what does the Urban massive have to say?

We have never been in this situation before, there are no previous protocols to follow.

You are the PM, we are where we are now, what are you going to do?

We’ve had an enormous amount of discussion on here about different responses and the different models other countries have used.

 

[Ax^]

You are the PM, we are where we are now, what are you going to do?

Line up the tory front bench against a wall and shoot them


Country need some good news in this situation

 

[tommers]

Those are basically the same instructions we have had for the past couple of weeks but a bit vaguer. Keep contact to a minimum, stay at home as much as possible. No more "one exercise per day, no visiting relatives".

The population do not respond well to vague instructions. Everybody's reaction to the specific instructions was how to bend them. This is just moving responsibility onto the general public. It's going to be a disaster.