Political Ramifications of Covid-19 Pandemic

[foreveryoung]

On 27/04/2020 at 14:01, It's Your Round said:

Recycled it obvs!*

 

 

 

*some word removed nicked it. 

Off topic.

Mine fell in the back on the bin lorry when they were emptying it. I knew this cause I caught in on my cctv one morning. I thought this is going to be hard work explaining where it had gone. But shockingly they had a report and was sending me a new one within 5 working days, an they did.

[chrisp65]

Nation

People should just let the law take its course and stop criticising.

Quote

A teenager in Oxford was wrongly convicted and sentenced – under coronavirus legislation that only applies to Wales.

Lewis Brown, 18, was arrested by Thames Valley Police after visiting his vulnerable mother to give her money, the Times reported.

But the officers charged him with offences under paragraph 67 of the Coronavirus Act, which only relates to potentially infectious people in Wales.

The teenager pleaded guilty when he appeared at Oxford magistrates’ court on April 20, two days after his arrest. District judge Kamlesh Rana fined him £100 and ordered him to pay £119 in a victim surcharge and costs. 

 

[snowychap]

21 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Nation

People should just let the law take its course and stop criticising.

Quote

A teenager in Oxford was wrongly convicted and sentenced – under coronavirus legislation that only applies to Wales.

 

Probably best not to ask any of those officers for directions.

[chrisp65]

On 22/04/2020 at 14:34, chrisp65 said:

Everybody working frontline jobs for the Vale of Glamorgan council is having a 10% temporary pay rise for the duration.

Good call, that. 

 

...and 2 weeks later:

Quote

 social care workers (In Wales) will get a cash bonus of £500 each, First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced.

The payments will be made to more than 64,000 workers

...government catching up, possibly, having been nudged by local authorities. Sometimes, taking a lead can improve the lot of others, rather than the usual theory of denying benefits due to ‘others deserve it more’ top trumps.

 

 

[chrisp65]

 

 

[Xann]

[Chindie]

I suspect the ultimate political ramification of Covid-19 will be **** all.

And if it's more than **** all, it'll be bad.

[chrisp65]

 

[chrisp65]

We now cut live to the Severn Bridge, where the people of Bristol, Swindon and Cheltenham have been told they can drive to the beach for a nice day out....

 

 

[mjmooney]

Interview with Starmer on last night's BBC news was interesting. Not so much for what he said, but for Huw Edwards' demeanour - he was very respectful, and rounded off with a hearty "Lovely to talk to you, Sir Keir". Can you imagine a similar "Lovely to talk to you Jeremy" had it been Corbyn? 

I smell the wind changing. 

[blandy]

32 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Interview with Starmer on last night's BBC news was interesting. Not so much for what he said, but for Huw Edwards' demeanour - he was very respectful, and rounded off with a hearty "Lovely to talk to you, Sir Keir". Can you imagine a similar "Lovely to talk to you Jeremy" had it been Corbyn? 

I smell the wind changing. 

There's angles to this, aren't there? I mean possibly the media are "nicer" to Starmer as you imply. Is that because he's nicer to them? is that because they see him as more of a force to be reckoned with? is it because of the virus crisis? is it because Corbyn basically didn't do media, unless he absolutely had to? is it because Corbyn was a bit part time, insisting on having his time off? Is it because the media see Labour as more credible now? Is it because the tories under Johnson avoid the media?

But yeah, whatever the answers we might feel to those questions and others, the wind is changing, and for the better IMO.

 

[mjmooney]

5 minutes ago, blandy said:

There's angles to this, aren't there? I mean possibly the media are "nicer" to Starmer as you imply. Is that because he's nicer to them? is that because they see him as more of a force to be reckoned with? is it because of the virus crisis? is it because Corbyn basically didn't do media, unless he absolutely had to? is it because Corbyn was a bit part time, insisting on having his time off? Is it because the media see Labour as more credible now? Is it because the tories under Johnson avoid the media?

But yeah, whatever the answers we might feel to those questions and others, the wind is changing, and for the better IMO.

 

Yep. All of those things. But mainly, the media (even the Murdoch media) like to (a) back a winner, and (b) play kingmaker. I think they're falling out of love with the current, foundering version of the Tories, and are warming to the idea of a soft Labour, just as they did with Blair. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by mjmooney

[Wainy316]

4 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Yep. All of those things. But mainly, the media (even the Murdoch media) like to (a) back a winner, and (b) play kingmaker. I think they're falling out of love with the current, foundering version of the Tories, and are warming to the idea of a soft Labour, just as they did with Blair. 

I get all that but Starmer's commitment to the principles of the 2017 manifesto still positions him as far closer to Corbyn than Blair policy wise.  Therefore I don't get how this seems to be softening the right wings medias stance on Labour so much. 

[chrisp65]

Barring absolute political collapse, there’s a massive house majority and 4 years before an election.

They can only use Labour for some compare and contrast leverage on this government.

What’s the most anyone is seriously hoping for here? Johnson’s backers persuade him to step down and give Gove a turn? Or just that he’s forced to step up to the plate and work a full 5 day week?

[blandy]

13 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

I think they're falling out of love with the current, foundering version of the Tories, and are warming to the idea of a soft Labour, just as they did with Blair. 

They're definitely seeing the incompetence of the tories and also seeing (IMO) the Starmer is [thinks of polite way to put this, without using words like "incompetent arse"] er, not um, of the same ilk as Corbyn. I think the "soft Labour" thing is the interesting part - because a couple of things have kind of come to light because of virus - firstly the NHS and delivery drivers and carers and shop workers - absolutely everyone can see these low paid people are the ones keeping us going - so the long standing tory hostility to those people and sections of society now looks what it's always been and Labour's longstanding support for them looks like a much better fit. The other thing is that (IMO) take away a few of the daft Corbynite policies and Labour's manifesto is going to chime with huge swathes of the population. Essentially, if that's TL;DR Corbyn was an electoral liability and Starmer isn't. Who know how he'll do over the coming years, but he's way smarter than Corbyn, is happy to engage with the media and doesn't have the same baggage. The media can see that.

[blandy]

2 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

They can only use Labour for some compare and contrast leverage on this government.

Obviously they can compare and contrast, you're right. But leverage? Not so sure - I mean they could start being all nice about Labour and nasty about the tories, I guess. But to get what? Because Labour won't give them things like more press freedom, or lower taxes, or more nastiness to foreigners, or whatever. I don't see them as having leverage, really. What am I missing?

[chrisp65]

2 minutes ago, blandy said:

Obviously they can compare and contrast, you're right. But leverage? Not so sure - I mean they could start being all nice about Labour and nasty about the tories, I guess. But to get what? Because Labour won't give them things like more press freedom, or lower taxes, or more nastiness to foreigners, or whatever. I don't see them as having leverage, really. What am I missing?

Sorry, the leverage was to get a tory to turn up to interviews.

Adam Price had a post Johnson 10 minute interview on the Beeb yesterday evening. This morning the Beeb had a complaint from Welsh Conservatives that they had a Plaid but not a tory view on the analysis programme and this was bias. 

BBC pointed out they’d invited the tories to join but they declined the offer, then moaned publicly about bias.

That sort of stuff.

 

[blandy]

Just now, chrisp65 said:

the leverage was to get a tory to turn up to interviews.....BBC pointed out they’d invited the tories to join but they declined

Good luck to them with that! It's got to be one of the most uttered phrases on TV "...but the government said no one was available".

[HanoiVillan]

32 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

mainly, the media (even the Murdoch media) like to (a) back a winner, and (b) play kingmaker. I think they're falling out of love with the current, foundering version of the Tories, and are warming to the idea of a soft Labour, just as they did with Blair. 

I haven't seen any evidence of this at all on the part of 'the Murdoch media', and don't expect to either. What have you seen?

[chrisp65]

9 minutes ago, blandy said:

take away a few of the daft Corbynite policies and Labour's manifesto is going to chime with huge swathes of the population.

I supported the broadband idea at the time. Still looking more sensible than a fast train to London for anyone willing to first get a slow train to Birmingham.

A National Care Service? Lot’s of clapping every Thursday.

A hike in the minimum wage for key workers? Thursday claps.

Better transport infrastructure, more local public transport? Could be handy.

More houses? Could be handy.

Right to remain for key workers? Could be handy.

Nationalise some key utilities? Mmm, debatable.

 

I think there was far more of a problem with Corbyn than with the 2019 manifesto.