Politics

[The Doctor]

Today's Government message is that we aren't to stay at home anymore but must go to work to "fire up the economic engines of the UK" (Source: Michael Gove). Any pretence of caring about public health has gone completely out the window by this point.

-Ralph

[Fortmax2020]

Apparently if we are all in offices we will all go to the cafes and newsagents and resurrect the economy by buying a Mars bar and a cup of tea.

[The Doctor]

I haven't had a Mars Bar for a while.

-Ralph

[Fortmax2020]

My white Snickers in the fridge went out of date last November it turned out when I checked them the other day.

[Bogatan]

They'll be fine.

[Fortmax2020]

Send me your address.

[The Doctor]

It has finally been announced that face masks will be compulsory in shops in England! No, wait, that was just the announcement last night about the announcement that is coming later today about a thing that then won't happen for another 11 days! But Michael Gove just two days ago said it wouldn't be compulsory!

Ralph wants to know why we now live in an episode of 'Yes, Minister'. He is very impressed by how Scotland is managing things though.

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Usually when a person or group is condemned for doing or not doing something, there is an argument to be put for the other side, and that person or group has its defenders - not always in the same place on the Internet, as people tend to form self-reinforcing echo chambers, but they usually do have them.

So it's refreshing that David Mitchell writing in today's Observer has identified a group for condemnation that cannot, in my mind, have defenders of any political persuasion anywhere on the Internet. The people he singles out for criticism, if they ask for a fair hearing, should rather be fined double for wasting the court's time.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/19/restaurant-no-shows-are-people-i-can-really-sink-my-teeth-into

Martin

[Fortmax2020]

So the Government has cocked up BTECs this year too. They have apparently emailed schools and colleges late today telling them not to hand out any grades for them, err... at 9am tomorrow.

Let's see what they do with the GCSEs now..m

[The Doctor]

I find it interesting that Johnson is lecturing parents that it is their "moral duty" to get kids back to school when this is a man who has never been able to answer the question about how many children he has.

-Ralph

[Fortmax2020]

Or wear a baby carrier in a way that doesn't endanger the child.

[KnightBeat]

Or takes his new-born child on a camping holiday in a Scottish field

(though some claim the holiday tent was a cover for a short stay on a Russian yacht seen in the area).

[Fortmax2020]

Or the three story house a few metres away.

[Philip Ayres]

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NicholasPegg/status/1298647435829563393

Can anyone identify the fifth book along on the top shelf? Because apart from that one, top shelf from left to right goes: The Subtle Knife, Fahrenheit 451, Betrayed, The Resistance, The Toll, Crisis Point, Glass Houses, and The Twits. Supreme trolling from the school librarian.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NicholasPegg/status/1298650814907650050

Thanks to @libchs_Chryston for identifying the mystery book as Exodus by Julie Bertagna: set in a dystopian future in which global warming has caused the oceans to rise and the heroes are dispossessed migrants desperately seeking refuge by boat. Fancy that.

[Pinwig]

I could have told you that was Exodus. Before I was dept head at my last place the old head bought copies in a hurry because we needed a global warming themed text to read with year 8. She wouldn't let me read it first, she just bought it. Dull as ditch water. We read half of it, once, then I had 150 of the bloody things sat in my stock cupboard that I couldn't even give away for years afterwards. That cover is burned into my soul.

[The Doctor]

Johnson blaming a "mutant algorithm" when he fucked off when the exam results imploded. Can't believe we have at least another 4 years of this prick.

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Aug 26, 2020 18:07:07 GMT The Doctor said:

Can't believe we have at least another 4 years of this prick.

That's far from certain.

Martin

[The Doctor]

He's giving the racists what they wanted: a no-deal Brexit. We're stuck with him.

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

We'll see. I've just got a feeling. No reason for 2021 to be any more predictable than 2020.

Martin

[browny87]

Aug 26, 2020 16:56:44 GMT Pinwig said:

I could have told you that was Exodus. Before I was dept head at my last place the old head bought copies in a hurry because we needed a global warming themed text to read with year 8. She wouldn't let me read it first, she just bought it. Dull as ditch water. We read half of it, once, then I had 150 of the bloody things sat in my stock cupboard that I couldn't even give away for years afterwards. That cover is burned into my soul.

we buy so much rubbish that gets chucked in a cupboard

[The Doctor]

Update on the librarin story.

www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/28/librarian-books-boris-johnson-school

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

What a twist!

This is what happens when you mess with the help desk.

#Closingin20minutes

[The Doctor]

Words fail me:

www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/01/tony-abbott-some-elderly-covid-patients-could-be-left-to-die-naturally

-Ralph

[Benn]

I have never been keen on putting a price on life, but now it's government policy... Sad times.

[The Doctor]

Hits the nail on the head:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/02/the-guardian-view-on-local-lockdowns-devolve-power-trust-people

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Trump tests positive for Covid. I wish him and his wife a swift and complete recovery, and an equally swift and complete retirement from politics.

Martin

[Toph]

I think it's a play.

1) Get out of the next debate
2) all he has left are nazis, his cultists, and the absurdly far right. If the moderate republicans think he'll die soon, they may be more likely to hold their noses and gamble Pence will be sworn in sometime next year
3) He can pop out in a week and say "I'm fine! No big deal covid is a hoax! I told you all so!"
4) Everything in the last four years says that if he actually had it, they'd lie and cover it up like his strokes last year.

[Toph]

Maybe it isn't fake. He's being taken to the hospital with reportedly "mild" symptoms.

If he's being taken to the hospital, this is something that even an honest administration would downplay. Meaning he's probably worse than they're saying.

[Pinwig]

We had that here with Boris. When he was in hospital we were told he was fine, in bed working. It was only afterwards it became obvious it had been a bit more serious than that.

[Bogatan]

Yeah that will stay the story till reality makes the lie impossible.