FlyTheNest

Morning all.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning.


Link to the lockdown guidance, as willow posted last night.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lo ... ay-at-home" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Has anyone seen a definition of 'local area'?
Supermarkets other than the Co-op are at least 10 miles away and the ones in our district council area are 20m.

I suppose they must count as "local" then?

Certainly you could argue that if anybody asked you about it, I would have thought.

someone tweet our thoughts and prayers for Johnson
his India tour is cancelled

HG Wells fans spot numerous errors on Royal Mint's new £2 coin

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/ ... new-2-coin

Observant fans of HG Wells have questioned how a new coin from the Royal Mint commemorating The War of the Worlds author could be released with multiple errors, including giving his “monstrous tripod” four legs.

https://twitter.com/HolBolDoTweet/statu ... 4474810370


AAAAAARRRRGH!!!!

WHY DOES EVERYTHING WE DO HAVE TO BE SO SHIT?

I mean how is it possible to go through the entire process of producing a commemorative coin and at no point bother to read the book, look at any pictures, or even do a 5 second google search?

What next? Why not celebrate Virginia Woolf with a picture of an actual wolf howling at Orlando Bloom.

The wolf would have to have five legs obviously. Or three.

Now speculation that the elections due in May could be postponed until September.

Outrageous, and the opposition parties should oppose it if proposed - an all-postal ballot in four months should certainly be possible.

De facto dictatorship.



Came across this today, what a sensible govt might do.

COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment
200-350 euros/week.
Can apply for Jobseekers allowance instead if have dependents.

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Now speculation that the elections due in May could be postponed until September.

Outrageous, and the opposition parties should oppose it if proposed - an all-postal ballot in four months should certainly be possible.

Unless they can get the agreement of the Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies it would seem unfeasibly stupid for Westminister alone to try force a delay on the Scottish election, so I expect that's exactly what they'll do.

Powers to determine the manner and timings of elections in Scotland/Wales/NI are devolved, so the Westminster government can't do that even if it wants to.

And a minister in the relevant department said just today that the English polls *will* go ahead as planned.

But given their behaviour over Xmas and schools, don't take it for granted *just* yet

830 new deaths were announced today within a 28-day cutoff
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

absolutely horrifying

Thanks AK, I wondered if Westminister had some kind of veto over elections in the devolved regions and potential skulduggery was afoot.

It's reassuring to know that's beyond their power.

It was also reassuring to hear that Trump won't be using Scotland as a bolthole after Sturgeon's comments today. Poor Donald must be very confused, under Salmond the SNP loved him.

Now looking like the English elections might be postponed after all - FFS

Georgia voters head to polls in critical Senate runoffs (Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -elections

Both sides claiming to be confident, looks like it could be another close run thing.

On Newsnight Emily Maitlis quoted Toby Young's words back to him from last July where he claimed there would be no second spike and social distancing was unnecessary, he admitted he'd been wrong, but it didn't make a jot of difference. With his trademark red faced, sour beligerence he just ploughed on as if he hadn't just been made to look like a bullshiting fuckwit once again.

The segment was about free speech, and while I'm all for people like Toby being allowed to humiliate themselves in public for money, there does come a point during a national health emergency where willingly spreading misinformation comes with some form of sanction. I'm not talking censorship, some form of public shaming would be my method of choice. Every time Toby says something untrue or irresponsible that could lead to further deaths then make him dance naked to a tune chosen by the public (with his knob blurred out obviously, nobody wants to see that).

Thankfully, as Ian Dunt pointed out, very few people are listening to Toby and his cohort of anti-lockdown cretins and judging by the polling even that small number is dwindling by the day.

IanDunt challenges lockdown sceptics on their conduct amid debate over pandemic freedom of speech.

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status ... 5718892546

"You shouldn't be publishing it, you have no basis to do it and I don't know how I'd sleep at night if I was someone writing it myself."

Sadly, they will almost certainly sleep very easily.

Sociopaths normally can.

Toby Young, the king of "rational and proportionate".

It's the scientists who really make me angry, like Gupta and Heneghan, they're trained to think. People like Toby Young I regard to be like high functioning insects. All they're capable of doing is responding to stimuli in a highly predictable way. Just because Young uses words to do so doesn't make his behaviour any more complex or less predictable than an ant given the choice between some jam or some vinegar. If it were possible to bet on what Toby Young or Claire Fox were going to say on any given subject we would all be very rich indeed.

I sleep very easily . . .

So do cats but that doesn't make them all sociopaths.

Actually come to think of it...