After the lockdown ...

C

catalog

Well-known member
I have seen odd people on the bus, yesterday a really old guy, way too old to be out alone, missed the bus cos he wasn't fast enough, complete disbelief that driver just went
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
catalog said:
I have seen odd people on the bus, yesterday a really old guy, way too old to be out alone, missed the bus cos he wasn't fast enough, complete disbelief that driver just went
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It's mostly the very old that depend on buses. People don't have a choice in any of this. That's why I can't stand hearing people whinging about stay indoors. If we all had a job that allowed us to go online and have a wank at home and get paid for it obviously that's what we would do.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
Wild that we live in a time where the introduction of universal basic income would increase the value of Sterling.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
It's encouraging how quickly nature reasserts itself once we get out of the way,
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Yeah this is one of (maybe the only good point) - we just saw some kind of soaring bird of prey (buzzard or black kite maybe) from our balcony which is a first. Might be just coincidence but it could be cos the bit of land he was flying over is much quieter than usual... I'd like to think so at least.
I've been wondering how it will be afterwards... in political terms yes, but also on personal and human terms. Will people want to celebrate, will they be too exhausted and drained and worried about their finances? Will they be emerging from their houses and hugging strangers... or will this thing about staying 1.5m away and basically immediately worrying every time you see someone have sunk too deep? I read years ago about the effects on people of living in a gated community, how it doesn't improve your sense of security but actually just makes you less secure and worried about strangers who haven't been vetted by the gate when you leave. Made quite an impression on me and I keep thinking of that when I see this kind of fear of strangers now... not of them of course, of being infected, but it becomes the same thing.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
It's the cash in hand grafters and the self employed that are really in big trouble.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
"Sunak said the state would pay grants covering up to 80% of the salary of workers kept on by companies, up to a total of £2,500 per month, just above the median income."

Again, very company- and full-time employee- focused, nothing about freelancers of various kinds afaik, or about people who have already been laid off. And it's taking the piss that this wasn't announced earlier in the week - stringing people along day by day like it's a fucking cliffhanger.
All deliberate no doubt, up to a point - grateful subjects who have seen the abyss and then been 'saved' is what they want.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
Possibly, although I think it's partly just that the scale of this thing is taking time to dawn on them.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Yeah, not a plan as such, but I think they spy an opportunity in the back of their minds

seeing small business owners going on Twitter and treating Sunak like he's the second coming. Which is not to say what he's done wasn't needed, but we should be *expecting* it
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
Plus it takes a complete 180 turnaround from Tory instincts and ideology. So I don't think it's necessarily all an evil plan. They're having to swallow several very bitter pills and it's going to be hard to get them down.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
The thing about a virus is it really does mean we are all in it together. Not that the rich can't isolate more easily, get better care etc but if it's out there and spreading they are in danger and their assets are in danger.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Yep, definitely the evil plan aspect is only a part - the substance is fine (up to a point), to me it's the manner in which it's been done that looks suspect. That whole thing about 500,000 people might die, and then pretending it hadn't really been said, or not meant in that way - it's all very weird

On the 180 degree turn -definitely, and it's not clear that Johnson is that bothered about free market dogma tbh, even before all this. Psycho yes, Friedman/Hayek disciple probably not. So it is unpredictable from that point of view.

definitely the rich have a lot to lose too, so there's a bit of levelling involved with the virus itself. But it's the NHS collapse that will potentially kill more than the virus alone
 
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luka

luka

Well-known member
baboon2004 said:
Yep, definitely the evil plan aspect is only a part - the substance is fine (up to a point), to me it's the manner in which it's been done that looks suspect. That whole thing about 500,000 people might die, and then pretending it hadn't really been said, or not meant in that way - it's all very weird

definitely the rich have a lot to lose too, so there's a bit of levelling involved with the virus itself. But it's the NHS collapse that will potentially kill more than the virus alone
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As I mentioned earlier they have given themselves the power to demand any given business (eg national express coaches) ferry corpses. They know there's a real possibility of a gargantuan body count and they've made some panic provision for that. But because we don't have the manufacturing base of a China we can't (seemingly) build hospitals in ten days and equip them like China did.
 
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