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[Hiberno-Britannic Politics] Let’s Do The Lockdown Again
Bogart
Streetwise HerculesRegistered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
Streetwise HerculesRegistered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
It's all going swimmingly, isn't it?
Bogart on
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James is a presenter for radio station LBC.
That'll probably explain how the government suddenly hit their testing targets.
I saw the "don't criticise the government and by government I mean me" letter but nothing beyond that..
Reminds me of the thing someone linked late last thread about the Dutch government advising people to have someone to shack up with.
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The Independent had a good article about that a few days ago.
https://www.indy100.com/article/boris-johnson-common-sense-lockdown-coronavirus-brexit-austerity-9518091
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It's not a binary question the other way either, people do still buy higher priced food products, from buying brand names in place of store brands, to buying fresh foods over canned or frozen, to buying 'organic' or otherwise premium foods. The market can handle a range of food prices despite how substitutable it is. All corporations have an incentive to maximize profits and minimize costs, and do so regardless of the previously mentioned factors.
But people resist increases in prices partly on principle (nobody likes spending more money than they need to) but also because many people are acutely aware of the limitations of their budgets, but people are less sensitive to those increases, and so are less likely to protest against them when they occur when they make more money, and have a more comfortable buffer, and are less likely to be impacted in an immediate and negative way by it. Yes, food is a price sensitive and substitutable product, but people with more money are often more willing to buy more expensive food. You CAN substitute canned tomatoes for fresh ones, but for people able to afford not to, they often do. If more people could afford fresh tomatoes, they would buy them. If everyone was better off, if wealth were distributed more equitably, society would better be able to afford to push for improvements in the industry chain that might lead to increased prices, like better pay and conditions for workers, better conditions and treatment for animals, better and more thorough food safety standards, etc.
Companies will usually not make these kinds of changes themselves, and will only do so if it is profitable in some regard (such as selling higher priced organic foods) and as such, cannot be relied upon to make such changes, realistically the government has to step in and enact regulations to make those changes, but people will not support those changes if they result in higher food prices particularly if they are already having a hard time affording food as it is.
Especially during a Pandemic.
Obviously paying attention to this, being married to a teacher and having a couple of other teachers in the family
I'm really interested in what is actually going to happen with the schools
I think there is a strong chance that, whatever the government says, they simply ... won't reopen
At the moment it looks like a combination of the teaching unions encouraging teachers not to return to work, local authorities being unwilling to coerce them to do so (and some, like Liverpool City Council staying outright that their schools shouldn't reopen), and parents being equivocal on actually sending their kids back
I think we're heading towards a situation where the government's general lack of credibility starts to mean people just don't do what they say anymore, andI don't think that this government is particularly well equipped to deal with that. It would be kind of fitting if the thing that toppled it was everybody just deciding that they weren't worth listening to.
They had some assistance with the 'rally around the flag' effect and a fairly definitive (if belated) lockdown. Ever since Johnson's speech though it has been a compelte mess. Nobody knows what the actual guidance is anymore - and this is largely because he rushed into lifting the lockdown without consulting anyone. Ignoring the usless and confusing slogans, we immediately had divergence between all of the devolved regions and westminister because they weren't consulted in advance. They rejected the changes, but you now have two conflicting sets of guidelines. Which do people follow? Likely whichever they heard first or whichever is closest to what they want to hear. Added complication in that the westminister message tends to drown out others. Likewise with the school reopening. They set a deadline and everything - except this time they didn't consult the local authourities or the teachers before announcing it, they were just told to do it. Naturally, they had differing opinions.
The only real conclusion is, once again, that this lot are too incompetent to govern anything.
The great thing is that when they decide to stay closed because there's no fucking way they can open safely, the buck has been passed to the schools. Buck-passing is one think that Boris knows how to do well (at least when it comes to him not being the one holding the ball when it goes bad). That he's still trying it as PM is impressive in a horrible way.
And I don't think this government does
There's as much chance that it makes them look incompetent by giving directions that were so obviously stupid that no reasonable person would have complied with them
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Edit: if nothing else, this whole incident appears to be as good a confirmation that you're ever likely to get that Peston and Kuenssberg's "no 10 source" is, in fact, Cummings himself
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Of course, if you're a scientist instead, or a Scot, then no it's unacceptable. English and Tory? Go for it.
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I've seen other journalists tweet out this exact point though, something is definitely happening somewhere with the Telegraph turning against Boris in some editorials. I think their Trump tactics to get a favourable press ahead of all this did them no favours.
Whether it'll be enough? Guess we'll see. I've more hope than I've got the US as I don't think we've got so many critical political faults yet, despite Brexit, and this is something that hits directly at journalists.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
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He just lost his leadership office, but that might not be fully related.
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Absolutely fucking rancid by LauraK.
Some of her "anonymous source" briefings during Boris's tenure have been beneath contempt, simply trotting out government attack lines whilst shielding the government, but this should (but won't be) career ending.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Of course it is, but she has given him
deniability for any lies he might have told.
Utter stooge.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Didn't we establish that renaming your account to whatever you like is fine during the GE? I seem to remember the tories imitating a fact checking account during the debates and they faced absolutely no consequences.
Ah but see that was okay because reasons.
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I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
The Downing Street statement is Dominic's new excuse after a night and a morning to strategise.