UK Politics in General

**PopTart** · by **PopTart** » 1 November 2020, 08:38

I'm actually really disappointed about the lockdown myself.

My workplace has already made a 3rd of it's workforce redundant and we have seen first hand the impact on the economy with many if our former customers and business partners going out of business.

I now think it highly likely I'll be out of work by the new year :cry:

It wouldn't be so bad, if my local area didn't have one of the lowest infection rates in the British Isles. :rolleyes:

**Brenden** · by **Brenden** » 1 November 2020, 14:32

It's stupid. They're keeping schools and universities open, even though it's quite clear by the timing of this second wave that schools and universities being back in session was the primary cause.

**Jasper1** · by **Jasper1** » 1 November 2020, 14:34

This new lockdown is crap really.

As usual the ones who will pay for it are those in low paid jobs who don’t have an option to work from home. I would have preferred the government to have the guts to carry on with their local lockdown plans and deal with those who are ignoring even the simplest of rules but of course they need to keep their media friends happy so here’s another u-turn and here we go again.

However, the writing was on the wall when France and Germany went into a national lockdown so their hand was forced to an extent.

Today I popped out to get a few bits, my usual Sunday shop and those wankers are again filling up trolleys with anything they can get their hands on. Absolute imbeciles!

**Jasper1** · by **Jasper1** » 1 November 2020, 14:38

Brenden wrote:It's stupid. They're keeping schools and universities open, even though it's quite clear by the timing of this second wave that schools and universities being back in session was the primary cause.

I live near a school and the mums have been out in force walking in groups, no face mask, no social distancing, so as I understand it, we go into another lockdown, more job losses etc and parents of school kids continue as normal. I know who I would be testing!!!!!

**PopTart** · by **PopTart** » 1 November 2020, 16:02

I have to admit that school children around here, simply don't bother with any form of distancing or face masks. I should imagine half the dirty little oiks don't bother sanitising their hands either :rofl:

Most everyone else has been pretty good locally. You see a few people pop into shops without face masks and they have that defiant look that some people get, when they think they are the only ones in the know :facepalm2:

I'd have supported targeted lockdowns rather than nationwide. I say this as someone in the critically vulnerable group, But it's done.

I will find out tomorrow maybe, what, if anything, our business intends to do about the new lockdown, short of allude to likely redundancies. :argh:

**Magic J** · by **Magic J** » 1 November 2020, 16:50

Jasper1 wrote:As usual the ones who will pay for it are those in low paid jobs who don’t have an option to work from home.

One of my main worries is that there are lots of people who'll simply continue working if they contract the virus (that is, if they remain well enough to), or after they've been alerted to isolate after coming into contact with an infected person. We work mainly on construction sites, and so there's limited ability to work from home. Worryingly, sick pay has recently been reduced to statutory levels at my company, and we've not been able to contest that. That's a big hit to your wages if you're forced to self-isolate. In cases like this, some will likely make the calculation and decide that they can't afford to miss work. How can you blame them?

Brenden wrote:It's stupid. They're keeping schools and universities open, even though it's quite clear by the timing of this second wave that schools and universities being back in session was the primary cause.

It's always been clear that opening schools would raise the rate of infection, even with the research indicating relatively lower rates of transmission among children. I accept that prioritising children's education is a legitimate political choice, I think the arguments for it are pretty strong in terms of keeping educational inequality down. I just wish that there hadn't been this fantasy being peddled: that we would be able to send children back to school without increasing transmission. Of course it would.

PopTart wrote:I now think it highly likely I'll be out of work by the new year

I hope not. Good luck.

For our part, we've managed to avoid redundancies so far, but there's a few arch companies down in south and midlands who've announced them. Seems to be the London and South England-based units who're being worst effected, north of England and Scotland much less so for some complicated reasons I have no idea about. Perhaps the margins are slimmer in London, idk.

**Magic J** · by **Magic J** » 14 November 2020, 15:21

Well, that's Cummings gone. Very weird amalgamation of populist, will-based politics, and technocratic, reductive number-crunching with this guy. With his never ending campaign against the civil service, we got big, "radical" ideas, without the concrete means to actually bring them about. And where were those ideas going? Where did he want to get to? He couldn't say. There didn't seem to be anything underpinning it all, no vision or encompassing principles to it, just an anemic managerialism masquerading as radical politics. But a canny operator, all the same, and an interesting guy with ideas worth thinking about. Bastard, but interesting.

Certainly not the right guy to be leading the country's COVID response. I wonder which unelected official will be in power now?

**Magic J** · by **Magic J** » 21 November 2020, 20:48

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-55026137

Shenanigans in No. 10? Boris Johnson alleged to have interfered in an independent enquiry into Home Sec Patel's breaches of Ministerial conduct. Has he done a Corbyn? Find out next week. Very exciting.

**Severelius** · by **Severelius** » 21 November 2020, 20:58

Magic J wrote:https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-55026137

Shenanigans in No. 10? Boris Johnson alleged to have interfered in an independent enquiry into Home Sec Patel's breaches of Ministerial conduct. Has he done a Corbyn? Find out next week. Very exciting.

Boris Johnson could kick a puppy in the face on live TV and the only thing that would happen is the Conservatives would be at +1 in the following opinion poll.

**Magic J** · by **Magic J** » 21 November 2020, 21:16

Severelius wrote:Boris Johnson could kick a puppy in the face on live TV and the only thing that would happen is the Conservatives would be at +1 in the following opinion poll.

Certainly if it was an Afghan puppy, yes.

**Severelius** · by **Severelius** » 21 November 2020, 22:22

Magic J wrote:
Severelius wrote:Boris Johnson could kick a puppy in the face on live TV and the only thing that would happen is the Conservatives would be at +1 in the following opinion poll.

Certainly if it was an Afghan puppy, yes.

He'd get his ministers to all put out Twitter statements about how they think it's inappropriate for people to let their puppies wander into the path of incoming kicks and that more should be done to address this problem and that the PM is the man for that job etc etc.

Like the mealy-mouthed spineless soul-devoid cretinous dipshit psychopaths they all are.

**Magic J** · by **Magic J** » 22 November 2020, 00:41

Speaking of Bojo, what are we all thinking about the devolution being a"disaster" comment? It's absolutely hilarious. Fucking Wales is thinking about succeeding now.

**Severelius** · by **Severelius** » 22 November 2020, 00:52

I think it would be absolutely hilarious if it's the Conservative and Unionist Party that is the one who presides over the death of the union.

Or at least I'd find it hilarious if they let those of us in England who want no part of the Tory party's collective nationalist wet dream have time to arrange our affairs and move to Wales or Scotland before the splits happen.

**René** · by **René** » 22 November 2020, 00:59

Magic J wrote:Speaking of Bojo, what are we all thinking about the devolution being a"disaster" comment? It's absolutely hilarious. Fucking Wales is thinking about succeeding now.

I wish Wales every success in succeeding.

**Magic J** · by **Magic J** » 22 November 2020, 01:19

René wrote:I wish Wales every success in succeeding.

Celtic Union when? We'll also be nicking the sticky out bit of France. Sorry, France.

I only recently learned than political Pan-Celticism is a thing. It's totally mad, and so can only assume that it'll be up and running by sometime next year.

**Severelius** · by **Severelius** » 22 November 2020, 01:21

As someone from the home counties of the Tory heartland of England, my attitude towards another country in the union gearing up to try and leave said union pretty much constantly wavers between "just go, save yourselves!" and "don't leave me here with these psychopaths!"

**Brenden** · by **Brenden** » 22 November 2020, 03:59

René wrote:
Magic J wrote:Speaking of Bojo, what are we all thinking about the devolution being a"disaster" comment? It's absolutely hilarious. Fucking Wales is thinking about succeeding now.

I wish Wales every success in succeeding.

They should succeed Scotland’s success in secession.

**Severelius** · by **Severelius** » 22 November 2020, 13:26

If this whole thing reaches its logical endpoint and Scotland leaves, Wales leaves and Northern Ireland leaves to unify with Ireland, then England's Parliament would have 533 seats in it using current boundaries. Meaning a party would need 267 seats to win a majority. Just counting English seats right now the Tories have 345, with Labour on 179.

We would literally never be ruled by anyone but the Tories and I hate the idea of that more than words can describe.

**Marmaduke** · by **Marmaduke** » 22 November 2020, 15:24

Severelius wrote:If this whole thing reaches its logical endpoint and Scotland leaves, Wales leaves and Northern Ireland leaves to unify with Ireland, then England's Parliament would have 533 seats in it using current boundaries. Meaning a party would need 267 seats to win a majority. Just counting English seats right now the Tories have 345, with Labour on 179.

We would literally never be ruled by anyone but the Tories and I hate the idea of that more than words can describe.

If the United Kingdom ceases to exist, the least of our problems will be that Labour aren’t mounting an effective opposition. Each constituent nation will collapse into insular, international insignificance. Look at Brexit, that’s us leaving a coalition of nations. Can you imagine the process of devolving a nation? It’ll be petty and brutal and nobody will win, we’ll just end up resenting each other so all-consumingly that we won’t even notice the world turn its back on us.

**PopTart** · by **PopTart** » 22 November 2020, 15:44

Marmaduke wrote:
Severelius wrote:If this whole thing reaches its logical endpoint and Scotland leaves, Wales leaves and Northern Ireland leaves to unify with Ireland, then England's Parliament would have 533 seats in it using current boundaries. Meaning a party would need 267 seats to win a majority. Just counting English seats right now the Tories have 345, with Labour on 179.

We would literally never be ruled by anyone but the Tories and I hate the idea of that more than words can describe.

If the United Kingdom ceases to exist, the least of our problems will be that Labour aren’t mounting an effective opposition. Each constituent nation will collapse into insular, international insignificance. Look at Brexit, that’s us leaving a coalition of nations. Can you imagine the process of devolving a nation? It’ll be petty and brutal and nobody will win, we’ll just end up resenting each other so all-consumingly that we won’t even notice the world turn its back on us.

Believe it or not, some people actually want that.

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