Coronavirus Death Thread

[Shindig]

It’s a very contagious disease. That hasn’t changed just because people have lost the fear and are comfortable about getting back to normal.

It won't surprise you to know this cluster is another one linked to a marketplace. Even if it stops circulating amongst humans, it's in the wildlife.

[Kikó]

This feels like it's building up to one of those confusing online reviews.

"Felt like a king. 2/5"

:D

[Jimmy Floyd]

Marcus has won his victory. It really is a shambolic failure of leadership that a footballer has to make these things happen. There is an incontrovertible Conservative case for shoring up the weakest in society - free school meals is not commie redistribution, it's affording everyone the most basic of opportunity - but with this lot it's Brexit do nothing Brexit do nothing.

[Waffdon]

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-12007880

Mon the pubs

[mugbull]

Marcus has won his victory. It really is a shambolic failure of leadership that a footballer has to make these things happen. There is an incontrovertible Conservative case for shoring up the weakest in society - free school meals is not commie redistribution, it's affording everyone the most basic of opportunity - but with this lot it's Brexit do nothing Brexit do nothing.

Free school meals are fucking huge. My potential future thesis advisor did a lot of groundwork in India doing RCTs relating to free school lunches for children and found that that policy alone had a dramatic impact on future wellbeing and productivity. Equivalent to something like 3 additional years of schooling. Not to mention the simple moral imperative of not letting kids walk around emaciated

[Baz]

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-12007880

Mon the pubsEveryone will just have glaucoma and early cataracts instead.

[Lewis]

You can have your free school meal in school. On the other hand, the Foreign Office has absorbed the Department for International Development, so I'll put off calling Boris Johnson shit for another week, by which time it will have turned out that the absorption went the other way and overseas policy is now subject to a gayness audit.

[Spikey M]

Starmer is donning Borris senseless since he took over.

[Spoonsky]

Marcus has won his victory. It really is a shambolic failure of leadership that a footballer has to make these things happen. There is an incontrovertible Conservative case for shoring up the weakest in society - free school meals is not commie redistribution, it's affording everyone the most basic of opportunity - but with this lot it's Brexit do nothing Brexit do nothing.

You've never met an American conservative in that case.

Come to think of it, Giggles would fit in perfectly in rural America. Swap Irish football for the local high school baseball team and you'd be set.

[Giggles]

You've never met an American conservative in that case.

Come to think of it, Giggles would fit in perfectly in rural America. Swap Irish football for the local high school baseball team and you'd be set.

You could have at least given me high school football instead of that swill.

[Queenslander]

This cunt thinks he is the Mayor of New York.


Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has ignited a cross-border war of words, questioning why anyone would want to go to South Australia after its borders were opened to travellers from some states but not others.



Key points:

Daniel Andrews questioned why people would want to visit South Australia

His comments have prompted a backlash from some, including the SA Premier

South Australia reopened its borders to WA, NT and Tasmania overnight


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-17/victorian-premier-takes-swipe-at-sa-over-borders-reopening/12363630

[Queenslander]

Ooff what a headline!


Jacinda Ardern assigns military leader to oversee NZ quarantine after two travellers with coronavirus released to visit dying parent

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-17/jacinda-ardern-coronavirus-new-zealand-travellers-britain/12364838

[Jimmy Floyd]

You've never met an American conservative in that case.

Come to think of it, Giggles would fit in perfectly in rural America. Swap Irish football for the local high school baseball team and you'd be set.

My vision of proper conservatism is about keeping things the same, which to my mind means a mixture of A. staying out of people's lives and money (for example by not taxing it and spending on ill-advised shite), but B. also having the capacity to stop people from falling off cliffs, whether of their own making or otherwise.

The key to both is removing the ego from the politician/body politic. British Conservatives have been awful for some time, with one faction (the David Cameron types) wanting to follow Blair in being deeply involved in A, while the other (Boris Brexiteers) are fine with A but not interested in B. The two have to come hand-in-hand, because a sink-or-swim society generally only rewards luck or existing wealth, but a heavily interventionist or socialist setup stifles talent and innovation.

American conservatism seems to me more like some warped form of enforced libertarianism which forms the worst of both worlds - insistent on keeping people in line, especially if they're poor or black, but with no interest in keeping them afloat. 'The American dream' is just rich men justifying themselves.

[randomlegend]

That post is what rubs me the wrong way about your politics.

You can see the conservatives are "awful", you can see they are currently allowing vulnerable people to go off their various cliffs unhelped, but you will still just vote for them anyway. It comes across like "yeah I guess that's kind of bad for kids to starve but I don't care enough to not actively support the people responsible".

[Lewis]

It's consistent with viewing them as the least shit option.

[Jimmy Floyd]

You're voting for a government and the interests of the most vulnerable are only one of many things that go into your decision. Welfare is only part of a government's job. I think socialism (especially of the type put forward by J.Corbyn in the last election) is more morally wrong than most other things and it would need to be the least bad option on the table before I voted for it.

At its heart, socialism is Person Y in an office somewhere deciding they know better than Person X what Person X's interests are, and giving themselves the power to enforce that opinion. Social democracy is the same thing but with a few more checks. I don't think I will ever be able to get on board with that philosophy as long as I live.

[Jimmy Floyd]

And on the point about kids starving, let's be fully honest with ourselves here. Do any of us really care about kids starving?

I think we all would prefer it if fewer or ideally no kids starved. Can we do anything about the fact that kids starve? Yes, we can - I could volunteer at a food bank, or I could donate to charities that prevent kids from starving. Doing this would have a direct impact on the number of starving kids - you could probably even quantify the number of kids that you personally had prevented from starving, if you really wanted to. So why don't I do either of those things? I can only conclude that it's because I just don't care enough about kids starving that I do not prioritise other things (mainly my own needs and wants) ahead of it.

Why, then, would I pretend that I'm a good person and that stopping kids from starving is my priority by convincing myself that a certain general election vote every five years is the way to do it? It's just dishonesty.

The most moral thing I do is work and pay taxes and trust the government of the day to allocate them appropriately for everyone's benefit.

[randomlegend]

The most moral thing I do is work and pay taxes and trust the government of the day to allocate them appropriately for everyone's benefit.

Well, no, as you've already made clear you vote for a government you fully believe won't allocate the funds for everyone's benefit.

The "volunteering for a charity" thing is a red herring if an argument, given its something extra you'd actively have to do, whilst voting is something you already do.

You essentially say yourself there that no, you don't really care. Which is what I've always said comes across, and what I've always said I find unlikeable about you, so it's nice to see it laid out.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Do YOU care more, and if so, do you do anything differently to me about it other than voting Labour, the effectiveness of which is pretty much solely to make you feel good about yourself?

What you are doing is confusing 'the benefit of the most vulnerable' with 'the benefit of everyone', which is not the same thing at all and gives one a saviour complex which I don't think is terribly helpful.

[randomlegend]

Do YOU care more, and if so, do you do anything differently to me about it other than voting Labour, the effectiveness of which is pretty much solely to make you feel good about yourself?

I've been giving to the food bank regularly which we've set up at work for a charity which helps to feed kids. But no I'm not going to pretend to be a superhero.

The one thing I can do which could actually make a significant difference is voting to try and elect a government which is more caring of the vulnerable. Unfortunately it is ineffective, because the majority seem to care more about GETTING BREXIT DONE and having a bit more of their own disposable income than they do other people.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Even that act of minor superhero-dom will be far more effective than any Labour vote you ever put into the ballot box, even when they win power again. Similarly, the Tories always disappoint me as outlined above, but that doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to stop voting for them until something else presents itself more in line with what I believe central government should be about.

[Lewis]

Wouldn't you vote for one of the even more demented socialist parties if you really, really cared?

[randomlegend]

I don't see any point in voting for a party which has literally no hope of winning anything. I wrongly hoped Labour had some actual chance of being elected last time out.

I'm not a communist, btw.

[Boydy]

Didn't the New Labour years see a large reduction in child poverty?

[mugbull]

The goodness of a society is obviously measured by the quality of care afforded to the worst off and most disadvantaged. Rich people will always be fine. The only valid point that any conservative party has is that too much help makes an economy inefficient (distortions!!1) and unable to compete, which down the road could make everyone worse off. Which would be a good argument in some universe, but certainly not in our mind-bogglingly unequal world, and due to the inherent/inherited benefits of wealth we'll probably never be at a point in a Western country where more support for the poorest (and thus an improvement the productivity and usefulness of the poorest, if you want to think about it in those terms) will send a nation into pauper territory

[Spikey M]

Didn't the New Labour years see a large reduction in child poverty?

Not in Iraq.

[Don]

https://media.tenor.com/images/910146edeae371662a3508dd2a56d251/tenor.gif

[Jimmy Floyd]

Didn't the New Labour years see a large reduction in child poverty?

New Labour did loads of great stuff around welfare which the Corbyn people like to ignore thanks to Iraq - which is exactly what I'm saying about central government being much more than a welfare dispenser.

[Boydy]

Not in Iraq.

:D

Ffs

[randomlegend]

Has Taz done a blank post there? Good representation of his overall contribution.

[Don]

Someone confirm that's a technical issue on RL's part so I can shit up his nostrils appropriately.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I see it.

[Giggles]

I am also unfortunately seeing Taz posts.

[Don]

God, I'm so wet rn. Come with a towel of the finest premium Egyptian cotton and a mighty mighty threadcount, RL.

[randomlegend]

I reckon you could still amuse yourself for an afternoon looking up rude words in the dictionary.

[randomlegend]

Fucking hell I'm such a miserable cunt on here lately. I'm sure you're all lovely people.

[Giggles]

Fucking hell I'm such a miserable cunt on here lately. I'm sure you're all lovely people.

We’re clearly not.

Keep it up :drool:

[Shindig]

The thought of museums being all one-way, single-file systems boils my blood.

[Disco]

Of all the restrictions it's museums in particular that gets you going?

When they came for Greggs I was silent...

[Shindig]

Greggs is out of my life now. There's something about a single-file system that implies a commitment. Sometimes I just want to look at shit or skip shit entirely. I don't want to be stuck at an exhibition on prehistoric housing because the queue feeds me there.

[Luca]

IKEA would do your head in.

[Shindig]

It does. It's a windowless pine prison.

[Kikó]

Good luck getting a look in with the Chinese tourists anyway taking a picture of everything.

[Don]

https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2020/06/peter-hitchens-as-the-left-now-controls-every-lever-of-power-we-face-nothing-less-than-regime-change.html

https://twitter.com/ArchRose90/status/1273318460265766912?s=20

[Baz]

Sacking it off and having my parents and Mike round for breakfast in the garden on Sunday.

RIP mum.

[Kikó]

I've been at my grandma's for the past 4 days. Will report back in 10.

[mugbull]

https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2020/06/peter-hitchens-as-the-left-now-controls-every-lever-of-power-we-face-nothing-less-than-regime-change.html

https://twitter.com/ArchRose90/status/1273318460265766912?s=20

I'm sure this guy is a known specimen in the UK, but i hadn't heard of him before this. Did a little skimming what a lunatic he is:


Hitchens is an outspoken opponent of British Summer Time and describes the practice as "fanatical and dictatorial" and says the system amounts to "lying about the time".

This is what happens when you let 'libertarians' think they're smart

[Queenslander]

What does that even mean?

[Spikey M]

We put our clocks forward by an hour in the spring, then back an hour in the autumn. He's right about it being a waste of time and it isn't even in the top 1000 things that he's been an insufferable cunt about.

[Queenslander]

Damn that sucks.

We dont have day light savings time in QLD. :cool:

[Lewis]

Peter Hitchens is the least 'libertarian' conservative in England, and he would happily tell you so himself.

[mugbull]

He himself may not be (I really don't know who he is), but the obsession with describing every harmless central mandate as dictatorial (preferably also as the first step on the road to serfdom, which was the genesis story of this retardation) is a dear hobby of libertarians the world over

[Waffdon]

Beer gardens should be getting announced today. Pls be effective from tomorrow ��

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-53083614/coronavirus-we-need-a-designated-shielding-hour

The more of this dystopian bullshit I read, the more I think Hitchens and his fellow travellers might be onto something.

[Spikey M]

Can we have a National No Silly-Bollocks hour?

[Yevrah]

It's good practice for when the Chinese and their lovely wet market practices unleash something properly deadly on the world and that'll be our only option.

[Don]

The podgy white man promoting industrial farming and antibiotic resistant bacteria will hopefully wipe us all out first so us coloured folk can take the final victory.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, either way, it's coming.

I'll be long since dead more than likely mind, so hey ho.

[Magic]

Beer gardens should be getting announced today. Pls be effective from tomorrow ��

She's a fucking cunt I swear to God man. Fucking cow, fuck the SNP absolute fucking bastards.

[Ian]

Imagine being this angry because you can't go to the pub.

[Don]

Yep blew my mind that the NHS felt they could build something better than Apple or Google. I get the idea that it can be used in conjunction with better testing and tracing to manage things but it’s far from a magic bullet on its own.

6 weeks later...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/18/uk-poised-to-abandon-coronavirus-app-in-favour-of-apple-and-google-models

:D

[niko_cee]

The BBC article made it sound like both competing models were absolute gak, although for differing reasons.

[Spikey M]

Yev is going to love this

[Yevrah]

More incompetence? I won't believe it.

[Smjffy]

I wonder if they ever watch themselves back on TV and cringe.

[Spikey M]

They probably laugh that they're getting away with it q

[Boydy]

Hairdressers re-opening here from 6th July. Whilst my hair is getting annoyingly long, not a fucking chance I'm going near them yet.

Schools are apparently going to have 1m distancing between pupils here when they re-open as well. Although that won't be until late August/early September.

[Waffdon]

Why?

[Lewis]

I wonder what else the NHS is actually quite crap at.

[Luke Emia]

6 weeks later...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/18/uk-poised-to-abandon-coronavirus-app-in-favour-of-apple-and-google-models

:D

Yep, it’s been like the one thing I called early on in all of this. Anything government run is always terrible and inefficient. So what on earth made them thing they could build a cutting edge app in little to no time? Also loving the fact it was originally penned in for the middle of May and has now been pushed back to the autumn. Expect to see it on the 30th November at best you’d imagine.

[Shindig]

I can understand now why they outsource just about everything. Not that ... that improves efficiency in my job.

[Giggles]

Fucking knob.

1274056193669988352

[Shindig]

Man Lindsay Lohan looked so nice before the cocaine.

[niko_cee]

That just prompted me to see what she looks like now.

Yikes. She's only 33 as well.

[Baz]

She was 18 in mean girls.

[Don]

How old in Parent Trap? :drool:

[Giggles]

How old in Parent Trap? :drool:

Too old for you.

[Don]

I swear I don't access to Giggles' account. Do an IP check if you need proof.

[Spikey M]

America doing everything they can to make the 2nd wave nation wide.

[Shindig]

That would imply their first wave has ended. We're holding steady which is alright considering how much stuff has opened back up. Although Covid Live's tracker appears to have put all of today's cases in Scotland and Hampshire. So ... erm ... Waff and Magic can carry on seething.

[Boydy]

Germany's R rate up to 1.79 apparently.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Haven't they had a huge outbreak in an abbatoir? That will be behind that.

Abbatoirs, like care homes but for animals.

[Shindig]

That meat factory's got to account for most of that.

[Giggles]

Is there something about meat processing that helps it (heat cold heat cold, etc)? We had a couple of big ones here in them too, though a lot of that was factories pulling the piss.

[Lewis]

They can't distance on the production line can they?

[Shindig]

It's an assembly line so I'd imagine many people will come into contract with meat pieces. Livestock might also be carrying the disease which then allows for easier transmission.

[Giggles]

A lot of factories need production lines where you can’t distance but you always just hear of the big outbreaks with meat ones. Like shinners says though, probably something in the product being a carrier as opposed to objects or vegetables, etc.

One of the ones here had all the Brazilian workforce living together (normal enough in food production) but they were having them take paracetamol before their temperature tests so they could work away.

[Disco]

Surely an abattoir is the very opposite of an assembly line.

Anyway, the common factor is immigrant workforces that all live together and nobody really cares about. We had it with Bulgarians here fairly recently, they and the people who recruit them (lets charitably call them gang leaders) just want the work and don't care much about anything boring like working conditions.

[Giggles]

Surely an abattoir is the very opposite of an assembly line.

Anyway, the common factor is immigrant workforces that all live together and nobody really cares about. We had it with Bulgarians here fairly recently, they and the people who recruit them (lets charitably call them gang leaders) just want the work and don't care much about anything boring like working conditions.

Was it an abbatoir? I’d read processing plant, though that could have been what was meant. A lot of them that kill on the same site as packaging are basically assembly lines anyway.

[Lewis]

Oh yeah, that as well.

[Boydy]

Haven't they had a huge outbreak in an abbatoir? That will be behind that.

Abbatoirs, like care homes but for animals.

Didn't the same thing happen at a few places in England and Wales?

[Smjffy]

Yep. 75 in Anglesey I think it was/is. It's ongoing.

[Don]

Reports of a terrorist attack in Reading. Think we're safe to put this one down to lockdown fuses blowing rather than my brothers.

[niko_cee]

Surely an abattoir is the very opposite of an assembly line.


:D

[Lewis]

Reports of a terrorist attack in Reading. Think we're safe to put this one down to lockdown fuses blowing rather than my brothers.

They would have said by now if it wasn't one of your mob.

[Smjffy]

Is this some new persona you've got going on or are you actually being legit, Lewis? You're the sort to say what you think so it bothers me a little bit that you're not entirely joking with your recent comments.

[Lewis]

You what?

[Giggles]

Reports of a terrorist attack in Reading. Think we're safe to put this one down to lockdown fuses blowing rather than my brothers.

Only in the door and seen no news and I’d hazard a guess it was your lot.

[Giggles]

Actually, only noticed now it barely registers as a headline.

Only more of Taz jumping up and down begging for someone to love him, or at least look at him.

[Smjffy]

You what?

Specifically in this and the USA thread, you just come across as a racist piece of shit. Hopefully I'm as wrong as ever but there's been more than one occasion in recent weeks that I've read a post of yours and shook my head.

[Lewis]

Hardly a 'new persona' though.

[Smjffy]

Hardly a 'new persona' though.

I've genuinely never noticed before but maybe that says more about me than you.

Either way it's a shame. You're better than that.

[Lewis]

I don't think I was saying anything racist in that thread. Anyway, this stabber appears to be a Libyan national, so presumably the media will be whipping everyone into a frenzy about it like when a policeman kills someone ten thousand miles away.

[Smjffy]

I'll have £2 on mental illness please.

[Smjffy]

Klopp said: “I was not worried for one second that the *Government could cost us the title because I was worried about the numbers who were dying – and I’m still worried.

“I didn’t vote for this *Government. This Government was the choice of other people. And the problem I had was that I got the news from England and the news from Germany.
“If aliens looked at us both from the outside, they would think we came from two different planets.
“From a personal point of view, I don’t understand why we started wearing face masks in closed areas on June 15 when five or six weeks ago all the other countries were doing it.

“You can argue about whether it makes sense to wear them, but all *countries who started wearing face masks earlier have smaller casualty numbers than here in England. That’s the truth.
“When I see the numbers here in *England and then in Germany, I think.
“Look, it’s not perfect in Germany, people have died and have been ill. But, in terms of living your life, it is completely different.”
He added: “If you want to enter a shop in Germany, but don’t wear a face mask, then you aren’t allowed in.
“With a face mask, you can go in all the shops you want. You can go to the hairdresser, wherever.
“They wear a face mask, you wear a face mask, and sometimes the people in the shop will have even more *protection like a screen.
“When I go to the petrol *station in England, I am the only one wearing a face mask and I’m the only one with gloves – I feel like an alien.
“I will not stop doing that until someone tells me it’s over. But inside the club, we are safe. We are tested twice a week and it is a safe *environment.”


I wonder what Klopp would have been if he never entered football.

[Shindig]

£10 on cultural misunderstanding.

[Disco]

He'd be a random German you've never heard of. Someone in football strings two words together and people think they're the second coming.

[Lewis]

He'd be bald and toothless as well.

[Jimmy Floyd]

He probably doesn't even believe half of that shit, he just knows his audience.

[Smjffy]

He'd be a random German you've never heard of. Someone in football strings two words together and people think they're the second coming.

He was a random German I'd never heard of before he joined Liverpool tbf. I was alluding more to the fact that he see's people as human beings. This is just another example of it. I don't know what it is about him as I'll still follow him if and when he leaves too, Rafa didn't even get that luxury and I loved the bloke.

[Smjffy]

He probably doesn't even believe half of that shit, he just knows his audience.

Klopp is more infectious than Covid. :wub:

[Don]

Global pandemic and Raheem Sterling fighting social injustices through the medium of shaving adverts and we still have the power to send a brethren to take down a few in fucking Reading and rattle Giggles. I'm looking at the West Bank for my next fix of 2020 killings.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Reading around twitter is weird as fuck at the moment. Many (almost all with obvious name/avatar pointers to being on the left of politics) seem to want to stay in lockdown for as long as possible, and indeed seemed to be relishing the lack of freedom that comes/came with it. Do they actually think that, or is just because we have a Tory government and so they need to oppose whatever they do?

Or is it just people who don't have lives and were loving nobody else having lives either?

If we 2m social distance for any longer then there will be MASS unemployment, like, fucking millions. It will be pretty bad anyway, not necessarily because of covid but because companies will have realised that half their staff are dead wood.

[Smjffy]

Reading around twitter is weird as fuck at the moment. Many (almost all with obvious name/avatar pointers to being on the left of politics) seem to want to stay in lockdown for as long as possible, and indeed seemed to be relishing the lack of freedom that comes/came with it. Do they actually think that, or is just because we have a Tory government and so they need to oppose whatever they do?

Or is it just people who don't have lives and were loving nobody else having lives either?

If we 2m social distance for any longer then there will be MASS unemployment, like, fucking millions. It will be pretty bad anyway, not necessarily because of covid but because companies will have realised that half their staff are dead wood.

Spot the conservative voter. Am I right?

I imagine it's a variety of reasons. Some people are better off financially staying at home being one. Lazy idle bastards being another. It's not something I think you can put down to any political allegiance. I'd even suggest that a number of proper lifelong conservative voters are second guessing themselves, even Brexiteer's for that matter (I know I am)

Social distancing as I understand it is officially ended over in Guernsey completely so I don't really understand why we're still at it. I also don't see how we're going to not have massive unemployment and it's because of industries like mine. This country is so reliant on services of varying degrees that the mass unemployment is going to happen because so many industries that bring in the money, the employment (ie, hospitality, tourism, arts, etc) simply haven't been protected during this pandemic whether it be the Job Retention stuff I got screwed by or the business loans that numerous owners have. Arts and theatre one surprised me given it's not something I'm that interest in, I never knew how much those industries brought into the country.

If you're on Twitter now Jimmy, search for #ExcludedUK and you'll see just how bad it is and how bad things actually are. There's no stopping the millions that are going to be unemployment and what's even worse is when they discover our supposed support system. What a fucking minefield that is!

[John Arne]

I'm genuinely starting to feel a little bit sorry for you guys. Sound like lockdown, and the associated circus around it is dragging on now.

[niko_cee]

Social distancing as I understand it is officially ended over in Guernsey completely so I don't really understand why we're still at it.

Well, we haven't had a new case of covid for 51 days or something and there has been no detectable presence of the virus for nearly a month (ie active case) so I reckon we are going to be one of the first places in the world to be able to say we have technically eliminated the virus*, but yeah, the UK is just fucking the exit up as much as the entry into lockdown.

I was reading/listening to something the other day which was saying that the way the government has been fudging the testing figures to get to the levels they promised/wanted is now making it look like there is a lot more covid than there really is as every case is counted in triplicate (to satisfy the testing numbers) so actual cases are also being tripled. :cab:

You couldn't make it up.

*and we still have a large-ish section of numpties who are pushing for basically permanent adoption of some of the lockdown shit.

[Shindig]

I've wondered about that as well. BBC ran a thing about how their system might accidentally duplicate cases. So our case total is not as accurate as it should be. The only stat I can really have any faith in is the hospital occupancy ones.

[Lewis]

Dickhead Twitter is ultimately fine with it all because they won't be the ones losing their livelihoods.

[Spikey M]

1274642896155742208?s=19

[Jimmy Floyd]

Matt Hancock clearly gave up weeks ago, realising his job is more or less completely impossible and even if it was possible, he isn't the man to do it. He just goes through the motions now, talking wank on TV, praying for the sack which never comes.

[Smjffy]

Isn't that pretty much every member of the front bench? Each and every one of them are either completely inexperienced or just have no knowledge in certain areas.

You can start with Sunak who yeah, he's done well for some but he only got that job because that Sajid fella grew a conscience overnight and the other two potentials were Jinrak(?) the chap who just gave away £80M odd and Cameron's former adviser who's not the culture secretary or whatever. Forget the education bint, she's beyond clueless, or is it that lanky streak of shit guy?

Either way. Every single one of them is absolutely useless but with a majority what on earth can you do. I don't bloody know but they've all given up even trying to disguise the lies.

[Giggles]

1274749342205837313

[Don]

Auf wieder schnitzel der thomas hassler.

[Spikey M]

Die Scheiße hat den Fan getroffen

[Luca]

Eins, Zwei, Polizei

[Spoonsky]

I find it fascinating that the posters who love criticizing 'Twitter' are also the ones who seem to spend all their free time on it.

[mugbull]

I find it fascinating that the posters who love criticizing 'Twitter' are also the ones who seem to spend all their free time on it.

Yeah. Not ever having had a Twitter account is the best decision of my life. The few times i’ve read someone’s Twitter timeline i’ve felt myself getting stupider with every firing of a neuron

[Shindig]

I have one but I only check in for terrible MotoGP coverage (crash at turn 2. Rider ok) or to see what words of wisdom Damon Hill has.

[Spoonsky]

Yeah. Not ever having had a Twitter account is the best decision of my life. The few times i’ve read someone’s Twitter timeline i’ve felt myself getting stupider with every firing of a neuron

You always hear the stat that ~95% of the posts on Twitter come from 10% of the users, what they don't mention is that the remaining 90% spend most of their days seething in silent rage at those 10%.

[Luca]

Does Twitter hide post counts now? There were some shameful totals from people with (ostensibly) much better things to do.

[Smjffy]

Twitter is ace but a cesspit. I can't keep an account on it for too long though as it starts to affect the mind but I'd like to have an account that I have set up properly with my interests and nobheads blocked. Helps that I can't waffle on Twitter but also so many unhinged fuckers that I come across as stable.

[Queenslander]

Victoria's dailys are going up again and they have upped restrictions. Even NSW want to put a hard border in place...

Melbourne Storm have been forced to relocate to Sydney for this weekends round.

[Giggles]

There’s nothing better than Twitter to give you everything you want to know concisely and in one place.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I find it fascinating that the posters who love criticizing 'Twitter' are also the ones who seem to spend all their free time on it.

It's a great information tool but it's so hard to avoid the virtue signalling blob while using it. I have cut my feed down to about 200 mostly sport related accounts, muted the word 'Brexit', and taken all other precautions but it's still impossible.

I think there's a visceral need for left wing people to tell each other how left wing they are, whereas people with other views are largely capable of shutting the fuck up.

[Spikey M]

You always hear the stat that ~95% of the posts on Twitter come from 10% of the users, what they don't mention is that the remaining 90% spend most of their days seething in silent rage at those 10%.

Sounds like this place.

[Giggles]

We manage to post more rubbish.

[Baz]

Yeah people who don’t like Twitter (and equally, Reddit) clearly haven’t bothered setting it up for them.

Follow what and who you want and you’re gold.

[Kikó]

It's a great information tool but it's so hard to avoid the virtue signalling blob while using it. I have cut my feed down to about 200 mostly sport related accounts, muted the word 'Brexit', and taken all other precautions but it's still impossible.

I think there's a visceral need for left wing people to tell each other how left wing they are, whereas people with other views are largely capable of shutting the fuck up.

I think there's a similar need for the right wing people to do similar. You've just got a bias prism* on your followers like all of us.

Twitter is similar to YouTube in the comment today. I'm sure most comments are just the bot army saying stuff to gather the plebs it needs to reinforce views and stoke the ones it doesn't so it can be quoted on some website somewhere.

There's also a fantastic need to post something that seemingly is outrageous and then you read 2 comments into the replies and the person has taken a terrible take but isn't going to delete the original tweet.




*a what?

[Giggles]

Yeah people who don’t like Twitter (and equally, Reddit) clearly haven’t bothered setting it up for them.

Follow what and who you want and you’re gold.

Yep, this.
I do like the odd rummage through all the headcases but it’s a deliberate choice. With the following mechanism and the muting options anyone who’s seeing things they don’t want to is just a mong.

[Magic]

I love Twitter. :drool:

[Spikey M]

What's the point in Twitter without the nutters? That's half the fun.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If I follow 100 cricket/football/whatever accounts and 80 of them are sound, and the other 20 are usually sound on the subject I follow them for but also spend day and night whingeing about Boris Johnson being a callous murderer, is that my fault for not setting it up right? I don't think so, it's their fault for thinking politics is the be all and end all. I probably follow more left wing people than right wing, because I don't actually care what people's views are until they drone on about them ad nauseam.

I blocked President Trump a long time ago but I still have his shite forced down my neck constantly on the platform.

[Shindig]

My day isn't complete without looking at the DHSC daily figures and seeing the "29 DAYS WITHOUT PEOPLE TESTED!" reply from some bearded smugmonster.

[Mike]

Twitter improved a huge amount, on iPhone anyway, if you ditch the first party app and use something like Tweetbot. No adverts, no promoted tweets, just people you follow in the order they tweeted.

[Giggles]

Twitter improved a huge amount, on iPhone anyway, if you ditch the first party app and use something like Tweetbot. No adverts, no promoted tweets, just people you follow in the order they tweeted.

I tried a good few but probably didn’t give them enough of a chance. They just never seemed as polished as the official app to me. Might give one another go through, I’ve a few bought, as this constant switching back to “Top Tweets” is a pain in the hole. I always used Flamingo on Android and it was very good but took time to get used to.

[Magic]

Omg my toothache is back with a vengeance. This is the third bout of extreme pain. Hopefully have a dentist appt today but only to make a plan for when they can do the work. :cry:

[Queenslander]

It feels like a lot of Kiwis were holding onto the zero covid cases a bit too tightly...

[niko_cee]

I think the transition from being completely closed to the outside world in a bubble of covid free smugness to some sort of normality is going to be the hardest thing for many jurisdictions (well, those that make it into the smug bubble). Our folk are talking a good game here about how positive tests won't be a bad thing, but rather evidence of an effective testing system, which should then enable the track and trace infrastructure to shine, but it's not been put to the test yet.

Some talk of 80% of cases being detectable after 7 days so we might lessen the mandatory quarantine period, which would be a good start.

It'd be nice to be able to go somewhere at some point this year. We need an air-bridge to FNQ, although I think we're getting one to the Isle of Man. Underwhelming.

[Queenslander]

Our State is stupidly lucky that QLD Health were onto community tracing very early on so I guess it does work if you have that infrustucture in place. The shit talking between States has to stop down here especially coming from Western Australia of all bloody places lolol.

Hopefully we will be open for tourism sooner rather than later as the unemployment numbers are tragic atm. And to contradict myself I would laugh so hard if we open up to New Zealand and Britain before Victoria and NSW.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The next stage of the pandemic (probably globally) will be people gradually realising that - having avoided doomsday plague pit scenarios - yes, the economy now really is more important than health.

[Magic]

The next stage of the pandemic (probably globally) will be people gradually realising that - having avoided doomsday plague pit scenarios - yes, the economy now really is more important than health.

And other health is more important than COVID health.

[Jimmy Floyd]

That too.

[Giggles]

What, mental? :harold:

[Smjffy]

The next stage of the pandemic (probably globally) will be people gradually realising that - having avoided doomsday plague pit scenarios - yes, the economy now really is more important than health.

Have we avoided it?

Austerity itself caused 130,000 avoidable deaths and given we're going to be in even more trouble than when the banks crashed, the projected number of deaths as a result of the unemployment etc that's due to come is scary. Doomsday is coming either way.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Yes, we have. The bodies piling up in the street thing hasn't happened. All the complaining you have been doing from day 1 (justified I'm sure) has been economy-related.

[Magic]

Have we avoided it?

Austerity itself caused 130,000 avoidable deaths and given we're going to be in even more trouble than when the banks crashed, the projected number of deaths as a result of the unemployment etc that's due to come is scary. Doomsday is coming either way.

I think that's what Jimmy meant. We've caused the bodies in the street by acting to avoid the bodies in the street that wouldn't have happened.

[Magic]

What, mental? :harold:

Yes, and everything else you know like physical rehab for injuries, screenings, ongoing treatments that all went to fuck. Not to worry I'm sure you'll be suffering from something that will require one of those soon enough.

[Giggles]

Yes, and everything else you know like physical rehab for injuries, screenings, ongoing treatments that all went to fuck. Not to worry I'm sure you'll be suffering from something that will require one of those soon enough.

Most people will. You can let me know how your young one gets on when she's talking to a professional about you in later years.

[Kikó]

That's snide.

[Giggles]

That's snide.

Which one?

[Kikó]

>You can let me know how your young one gets on when she's talking to a professional about you in later years.

[Boydy]

I lolled

[Giggles]

>You can let me know how your young one gets on when she's talking to a professional about you in later years.

True. I'm the one one that's fair game, I'd forgot.

[Magic]

Most people will. You can let me know how your young one gets on when she's talking to a professional about you in later years.

I'd encourage her to do so, everyone would benefit from some form of counselling.

[Smjffy]

Yes, we have. The bodies piling up in the street thing hasn't happened. All the complaining you have been doing from day 1 (justified I'm sure) has been economy-related.

I don't think we've avoided it and with the mass protests, people swarming the beaches...we'll be Germany with our no longer 'that' important R rate soon enough, not that we'll know since government will hide it and paint a different picture. The bodies piling up in the street might not have happened but that's because we launched them into care homes instead and shit the bed when we realised we'd got it wrong hence the late lock down. If we had gone the route we were initially going then it would have been even worse, no?

As for my complaining...far from economy related really but I give up with mentioning that on here because I know I am right and the part that's hurt me the most is the damage it caused directly to so many people, not just me. BBC are all over it now so the wider public will see for themselves soon enough. Wednesday is an important day after the treasury released their report and now BBC are actively hunting out those affected.

I still don't see a happy ending, basically but maybe that's because my doomsday already occurred so there's a small chance I'm blinded. I don't think I am though. I swear being an empath of sorts fucks me over just as much as I do myself.

[Smjffy]

>You can let me know how your young one gets on when she's talking to a professional about you in later years.

You can't say it's wrong though. It took me a long long time to come to terms with my father and his history which clearly had an affect on me in my developing years. Father's Day and the like just a yearly reminder. Nothing on MJ as I'm sure he's a decent enough father himself but just his break up alone has probably had a huge affect on his daughter.

That's all I'll say though as it doesn't feel right talking about a kid.

[Smjffy]

I'd encourage her to do so, everyone would benefit from some form of counselling.

Good job. Perhaps when she's older enough and if she's unlucky enough to have to it won't be so stigmatised as it tends to be.

See a counsellor and the general consensus still appears to be - mentals. It's not though.

[Smjffy]

You always hear the stat that ~95% of the posts on Twitter come from 10% of the users, what they don't mention is that the remaining 90% spend most of their days seething in silent rage at those 10%.

Many of which are bots, all coming from the same place, fighting the same cause, defending the same people.....

I noticed this hugely during the height of the Dominic Cummings incident. Prior to that I never even knew you got robots on Twitter.

[Magic]

I'm training to be a counsellor lol.

[Smjffy]

:|

I didn't see that coming.

[Magic]

"...it sounds like you'd be better off dead. Let's digest that for a moment."

[Magic]

You can't say it's wrong though. It took me a long long time to come to terms with my father and his history which clearly had an affect on me in my developing years. Father's Day and the like just a yearly reminder. Nothing on MJ as I'm sure he's a decent enough father himself but just his break up alone has probably had a huge affect on his daughter.

That's all I'll say though as it doesn't feel right talking about a kid.

I didn't see her yesterday which tore me up a bit. Especially when I swapped my days so she could spend Mother's day with her.

[Smjffy]

I didn't see her yesterday which tore me up a bit. Especially when I swapped my days so she could spend Mother's day with her.

I can't relate as I don't have children but I can imagine it was worse for her and even more so if you and your ex are still at loggerheads. I've seen it all too often over the years of warring parents using their kids as the weapons to get at one another meanwhile some poor soul is stuck in the middle of it thinking her father doesn't love her because he never visited on X Y Z or whatever, especially as you say you swapped days so I'm assuming something sly occurred from your ex?

Another reason why I'll never have kids tbh. Firstly because they are snotty little shits but mostly because I know it'll never be like I imagined.

[Spikey M]

I'm training to be a counsellor lol.

Well, my job has taught me that only the people you'd least want to be Social Workers become Social Workers, so maybe this is just how these things go.

[Spikey M]

I can't relate as I don't have children but I can imagine it was worse for her and even more so if you and your ex are still at loggerheads. I've seen it all too often over the years of warring parents using their kids as the weapons to get at one another meanwhile some poor soul is stuck in the middle of it thinking her father doesn't love her because he never visited on X Y Z or whatever, especially as you say you swapped days so I'm assuming something sly occurred from your ex?

Another reason why I'll never have kids tbh. Firstly because they are snotty little shits but mostly because I know it'll never be like I imagined.

The secret is not having kids with a cunt.

Well, I mean, you have to, but you know what I mean.

[hfswjyr]

It feels like a lot of Kiwis were holding onto the zero covid cases a bit too tightly...

All new cases are people who have just come into the country and under quarantine (except a silly couple from the UK who broke quarantine). No community transmission yet.
Just goes to show, it still requires careful management. It is a bit weird to be back to normal life, but still reading headlines of this war raging against the virus overseas. I quickly browse over the headlines now, barely following it, as it doesn't make a massive difference in my life anymore.

[Queenslander]

All new cases are people who have just come into the country and under quarantine (except a silly couple from the UK who broke quarantine). No community transmission yet.
Just goes to show, it still requires careful management. It is a bit weird to be back to normal life, but still reading headlines of this war raging against the virus overseas. I quickly browse over the headlines now, barely following it, as it doesn't make a massive difference in my life anymore.

I know New Zealand is fine we have the same intense number crunching over here by the social media users. Im just teasing

[Jimmy Floyd]

The latest thing is all the FBPEs telling us that it's 'greed before people' to reduce the social distancing from 2m to 1m. Do these people genuinely think that economic activity constitutes 'greed'? How can they afford to eat and pay for their broadband?

[Byron]

I can guarantee you they all work from home on full pay and are oblivious to all that.

[Magic]

Well, my job has taught me that only the people you'd least want to be Social Workers become Social Workers, so maybe this is just how these things go.

I find it's more the people that could have desperately done with counselling (or good counselling as opposed to NHS shit) will go on to at least learn about it or even go on to train so others don't experience how awful life can be.

[Magic]

Our local council has said they've stopped all grass cutting in the city to make 'biodiversity zones'.

Then the local paper released a 'poll' saying the city is in favour on the basis of a few lunatics e-mailing SNP councillors saying they were in favour (who even has their local councillors e-mail, SNP freaks that's who) of this cost-cutting measure.

So no public grass has been cut since March and the whole city looks like a fucking jungle. It's mental and as far as I can see the only one in the whole of Scotland that's decided to stop all activities? Absolute SNP cretins.

[Don]

That aim't to do purely with cost-cutting. It helps the environment and is actually more aesthetically pleasing once you fucking inbred cunts take off your Hollywood manufactured capitalist tinted spectacles that make you think nature needs to be managed with some overkeen neanderthal armed with a strimmer every week.

[Magic]

That aim't to do purely with cost-cutting. It helps the environment and is actually more aesthetically pleasing once you fucking inbred cunts take off your Hollywood manufactured capitalist tinted spectacles that make you think nature needs to be managed with some overkeen neanderthal armed with a strimmer every week.

Not in PUBLIC PARKS and alongside pavements etc. I want my terrorists to see who they're hacking up.

[Spikey M]

I find it's more the people that could have desperately done with counselling (or good counselling as opposed to NHS shit) will go on to at least learn about it or even go on to train so others don't experience how awful life can be.

Granted. But it's a one way trip to depression.

[Magic]

Granted. But it's a one way trip to depression.

Hence why they have to be counselled themselves once/twice a month or so.

[Smjffy]

The latest thing is all the FBPEs telling us that it's 'greed before people' to reduce the social distancing from 2m to 1m. Do these people genuinely think that economic activity constitutes 'greed'? How can they afford to eat and pay for their broadband?

This is catch 22. If it's not reduced then many businesses close down especially the pubs and restaurants, theatres etc which are huge industries in this country and the difference is one of surviving and breaking even/getting by or going out of business. You simply aren't going to win whichever way you go about it, I feel.

2M you kill the economy and mass unemployment goes ahead.
1M you potentially bring the R back up, infections = deaths = back to square one with lock down etc so economy fucked regardless.

I find it all rather worrying.

[Spikey M]

Hence why they have to be counselled themselves once/twice a month or so.

Is this not going to be a fairly substantial pay cut for you anyway?

[Spikey M]

This is catch 22. If it's not reduced then many businesses close down especially the pubs and restaurants, theatres etc which are huge industries in this country and the difference is one of surviving and breaking even/getting by or going out of business. You simply aren't going to win whichever way you go about it, I feel.

2M you kill the economy and mass unemployment goes ahead.
1M you potentially bring the R back up, infections = deaths = back to square one with lock down etc so economy fucked regardless.

I find it all rather worrying.

I think the public at large are in a position where they'd accept increasing death rates to put an end to this shit and that's probably what they're basing their decisions on. Not that they'd admit it.

They'd just lock down individual towns/cities/counties if shit gets too far out of hand.

[Disco]

The 2m thing is adhered to only where shitty crosses gave been taped to the floor, it's being largely ignored everywhere else when it's even vaguely inconvenient. People have realised we haven't all dropped dead and are acting accordingly.

Some lump in Sainsbury's actually brushed past me while I was at the checkout, when I looked up she had PLEASE KEEP YOUR DISTANCE emblazoned on the back of her shirt.

[Jimmy Floyd]

We won't lock down again, no chance. We did it to deal with the unknown but it's now not the unknown.

Start of lockdown to now has been 0.8% of my lifetime, or 1.2% of a 21 year old's lifetime, or 2.5% of a 10 year old's lifetime, this isn't a trivial amount of time for people of those ages to be shut indoors to protect largely the old and already ill.

[Smjffy]

I think the public at large are in a position where they'd accept increasing death rates to put an end to this shit and that's probably what they're basing their decisions on. Not that they'd admit it.

They'd just lock down individual towns/cities/counties if shit gets too far out of hand.

All cities bar one, you'd imagine. I'm inclined to agree and if it was a decision between knowingly letting people die to save many more then that's sick but understandable, kind of, especially given those who are most at risk but that's the part that makes me uncomfortable as why should our lives be any more valuable just because we're seen as less 'at risk'.

I'm nervous about the next couple of weeks given all the protests and mass gatherings but if it's not at the levels we had before lock down then I think it will just be a case of fuck Covid and just be completely British about it.

How does one strengthen their chin?

[Don]

It does make me think it's nice to have this thread to reflect back on our reactions. TTH COVID memoirs.

Note to my children and all my adoring followers who are reading this in 2088 in order to get an insight into my psyche:

I was a good man, a troubled yet principled man, containing multitudes as did we all. These are my brethren (Giggs included) and together we got through it in the unique way we knew how. Allow me to quote that hot little underage ginger girl on the BT advert who penned, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...(look up the rest)"

Yours truly,

[Magic]

Is this not going to be a fairly substantial pay cut for you anyway?

Aye, but I'm not actually going to do it, just to make me a better person. It's working, right?

:eyemouth:

[Spikey M]

:D ffs

[Shindig]

It'd be nice to be able to go somewhere at some point this year. We need an air-bridge to FNQ, although I think we're getting one to the Isle of Man. Underwhelming.

Belfast is back on Newcastle's arrivals board. I think my September will be me slumming around the bits of Britain I've not been to (i.e. most of it).

[Shindig]

Well, my job has taught me that only the people you'd least want to be Social Workers become Social Workers, so maybe this is just how these things go.

Doubly so in Scotland. Every crank gets one so you'd imagine the bar is low.

[Giggles]

Belfast is back on Newcastle's arrivals board. I think my September will be me slumming around the bits of Britain I've not been to (i.e. most of it).

Go to Belfast and spend not one second longer in it than it takes to hire a car. Then head for the north coast.

[Shindig]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/53131665

I'm enjoying the fallout from this.

[Yevrah]

Reading that you can't help but think Djokovic didn't want to travel to the US Open under the conditions suggested as it would have been hard for him to maintain his 'gluten free diet'.

It sure as shit doesn't look like it was because he's bothered about Coronavirus.

[Queenslander]

And this is coming from the conservative Health Minister.

Fuck!



Health Minister Greg Hunt says Australia's borders will remain closed for a "very significant" amount of time.

Mr Hunt says coronavirus infection rates are accelerating around the world.





"For the time being we are an island sanctuary," he told ABC radio on Tuesday.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-s-borders-will-be-closed-for-a-very-significant-amount-of-time-greg-hunt-says

[Queenslander]

:lol:


NSW Premier "I call on all organisations not to interact with citizens from Melbourne at this stage," Ms Berejiklian said.


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-23/nsw-told-not-to-interact-with-any-citizens-of-melbourne/12383626


She backed accommodation owners and operators taking it upon themselves to bar Melbourne travellers, reiterating that vendors are "at liberty to accept or reject any traveller".

"I would definitely encourage organisations to consider who to allow on their premises and where they're coming from," she said.

[Jimmy Floyd]

For what, tens of infections? You people are going quite mad.

[Queenslander]

For what, tens of infections? You people are going quite mad.

All the Premiers have outed themselves as small time wankers.

It is all quite funny though.

Edit: By the end of the year we might need British intervention as we become more bitter about imaginary state borders.

[Giggles]

Locking down :drool:

[Kikó]

Sama has had to go back to the office today and he's absolutely distraught. Enjoy it while you can.

[Don]

Today is like those movie scenes of people huddling around the wireless for Churchill's address. It will be today, right? My God, we'll put the US' 4th July celebrations to shame. There'll be lines racked stretching from Land's End to John o'Groats (except it'll stop at Hadrian's wall cause fucking lol at MJ and Waff).

[Jimmy Floyd]

Sama has had to go back to the office today and he's absolutely distraught. Enjoy it while you can.

Distraught about having to go to the office, or just in general?

[Ian]

When I've spoken to him he's been quite enjoying not having to commute, etc. so probably the former.

[Spikey M]

Working from home looks like it's going to be permanent for me. :drool:

They're moving all the people that HAVE to work from an office into ours as it's easier to Social Distance. The other office is still not being used and it's rented, where as they own ours.

I can see them letting the other office go and sticking with this. They keep referring to working from home as 'the new business as usual' anyway.

[Waffdon]

Sounds like I could get 4 days a week home working whenever the office opens up :drool:

[Giggles]

With everyone working from home, how long before companies realise that some people sitting out in Mumbai can do the same thing for a tenth of the cost?

[Jimmy Floyd]

This whole thing is a cost-cutting dream, that's for sure.

[Spikey M]

With everyone working from home, how long before companies realise that some people sitting out in Mumbai can do the same thing for a tenth of the cost?

Thankfully my role involves home visits and court hearings, but yes, ropey ground for fulltime office plebs.

[Don]

Problems will arise with it all in the long-run but hopefully this is the beginning of the collapse of the system. Hello UBI, my old friend.

[Jimmy Floyd]

UBI is the doomsday scenario, a total disincentive to work, the modern student lefty's wet dream.

[Smjffy]

I don't really get the left or right, I think I'd be more in the centre (possibly why I've grown disillusioned with labour tbh) but I don't support UBI for that very reason Jimmy although as I say that, I think if they did that at the beginning of this pandemic instead of these silly schemes then we'd be much better placed as a country to get the economy back up and running but it should only have been temporary.

I don't get government as for me it's not hard. Support in the bad times, invest in the good times and listen to the public, show some humility, admit to mistakes and stop politicking. Then it gets so much better in my mind.

[Don]

UBI is the doomsday scenario

Precisely why I tout it. You can chuck your incentivisation of work into the same bin as need for economic growth. We stand on the edge of the precipice and it is beautiful.

[Magic]

The lols when orgs give up their office space and come crawling back when their operation falls apart because people are mostly lazy, demotivated cunts. :harold:

Landlord's wet dream at those £££s.

[Giggles]

Yep. It’s never going to work, the world isn’t ready for it yet.

The “keeping an eye on...” mentality is far from gone.

[Magic]

Yep. It’s never going to work, the world isn’t ready for it yet.

It never will be.

Though I wonder if that 100% subordination works in Asia. Jim, do Koreans etc work from home or are they not trusted to?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Not a chance do they work from home. They don't even go there if they can avoid it. Home is for women to cook and raise the children.

[Boydy]

Yep. It’s never going to work, the world isn’t ready for it yet.

The “keeping an eye on...” mentality is far from gone.
There are plenty of technological ways to "keep an eye on" your staff if you want.

[Yevrah]

There are plenty of technological ways to "keep an eye on" your staff if you want.

What are these? I'd be surprised if businesses didn't already have them in place.

[Spikey M]

They do. Mine does, anyway. But they're easy enough to play if you know what they're monitoring.

[Lofty]

With everyone working from home, how long before companies realise that some people sitting out in Mumbai can do the same thing for a tenth of the cost?

Definite potential for that in the long run I think. Thankfully I'm a specialist in a niche industry even native English speakers from the same industry have trouble grasping so would hope mine won't be outsourced.

[Magic]

They do. Mine does, anyway. But they're easy enough to play if you know what they're monitoring.

Exactly. They can't monitor your own personal laptop at home can they? Or your smartphone? There's no way humans can be trusted to work from home unless their job involves self-sufficience (i.e sales) or 121 client dealings or something where you can work when you want for as much as you want as long as you hit target/deadlines etc.

The vast majority will be bored as fuck and will lose faith when they can't small talk or get a hold of people to ask questions.

[Spikey M]

Exactly. They can't monitor your own personal laptop at home can they? Or your smartphone? There's no way humans can be trusted to work from home unless their job involves self-sufficience (i.e sales) or 121 client dealings or something where you can work when you want for as much as you want as long as you hit target/deadlines etc.

The vast majority will be bored as fuck and will lose faith when they can't small talk or get a hold of people to ask questions.

I use a remote desktop on my personal laptop, but all they monitor is 'cases worked' and 'actions performed'. An action can be anything from sending a 1 line email to typing up 5 years of rent history for a court hearing. If I send 20 emails it looks like I've been busy as fuck.

[Boydy]

What are these? I'd be surprised if businesses didn't already have them in place.

Many probably don't yet as they weren't prepared for a massive shift to working from home but if they decide to go down that route on a more permanent basis, you'll probably see them being brought in.

There's software that can measure click rates, typing rates, what windows are active and for how long, eye tracking via a webcam etc.

Pretty much anything you do on a computer could be quantified and sent back to your employers.

[Yevrah]

I use a remote desktop on my personal laptop, but all they monitor is 'cases worked' and 'actions performed'. An action can be anything from sending a 1 line email to typing up 5 years of rent history for a court hearing. If I send 20 emails it looks like I've been busy as fuck.

This is the sort of stuff I was getting at.

EDIT: And what Boydy's decribed.

[Lewis]

Nobody actually wants to work from home. They think they do, because they've had two months of it where you can't do fuck all else anyway, but as soon as things are back to normal people will be falling over themselves to get back into offices. I suspect it would be an even stronger urge at management level as well, since mass home-working would chew those traditional structures up.

[Yevrah]

Nobody actually wants to work from home. They think they do, because they've had two months of it where you can't do fuck all else anyway, but as soon as things are back to normal people will be falling over themselves to get back into offices. I suspect it would be an even stronger urge at management level as well, since mass home-working would chew those traditional structures up.

It's properly short sighted when you hear businesses expert wankers talk about offices being closed. They may be in the short term, but as soon as everyone realises what a huge mistake that is they'll be back.

There's a balance to be struck, but working from home, all day, every day is dogshit. For both the employer and employee.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Djokovic has the 'rona.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1275404275624087552

At least he had a good time though.

[Boydy]

Flexibility is the ideal. My last job let us do two days a week from home and that was a good balance. My current place (pre-lockdown) didn't have anything set in stone but would allow it now and again if you needed to and our managers here are sound anyway. We've been talking about having it as more of a thing when when we get back to normal though (probably along the lines of two days a week wfh) as most people quite like but don't want to be completely isolated too.

[Kikó]

With everyone working from home, how long before companies realise that some people sitting out in Mumbai can do the same thing for a tenth of the cost?

That's not new though - having low cost locations is a strategy well walked.

I think what could be new is having a dispersed workforce so you don't need as much office space in prime locations yet still can hire people from further away. I hope the wfh balance comes in rather than it being every day, the community aspect of remote working is completely lost.

[Magic]

Monitoring click rates OMFG. :D

[Baz]

4th July also a pretty big day on World Of Warcraft too. Can’t wait to collect all my Midsummer event rewards!

[Giggles]

Everyone is just feeling lazy and they want to still be able to watch Netflix all day. This will never catch on the way people hope.

[niko_cee]

Surely the thing with working from home is that, at least in professional/service industries, it works well once you have the necessary expertise to essentially be a consultant, but it doesn't work to actually get people (ie young people) to have those said skills in the first place. So you can probably have a proportion of your non-super-career focused (ie don't want to be the boss/partner/junior VP/whatever) mid-level pros on a semi-permanent WFH basis, but you also probably need a centralised corps to win work, supervise/train up the feckless n00bs and generally oversee the successful functioning of the business etc.

Also, the arse completely falling out of commercial property/major city markets will probably have catastrophic knock-on effects in terms of pension/investment exposures to said industry, not to mention all the ancillary jobs city centres support.

[SvN]

I worked from home for 5 years, and I was well and truly done with it by the end of it. It was great at first, but you really need the separation between your homelife and workplace. 1 or 2 days a week might be alright, but I much prefer being in the office.

[Spikey M]

Nobody actually wants to work from home. They think they do, because they've had two months of it where you can't do fuck all else anyway, but as soon as things are back to normal people will be falling over themselves to get back into offices. I suspect it would be an even stronger urge at management level as well, since mass home-working would chew those traditional structures up.

My day has been split between my desk and the paddling pool.

I want to work from home.

[Manc]

https://youtu.be/3_QSJyJaeD4

[Spikey M]

Surely the thing with working from home is that, at least in professional/service industries, it works well once you have the necessary expertise to essentially be a consultant, but it doesn't work to actually get people (ie young people) to have those said skills in the first place. So you can probably have a proportion of your non-super-career focused (ie don't want to be the boss/partner/junior VP/whatever) mid-level pros on a semi-permanent WFH basis, but you also probably need a centralised corps to win work, supervise/train up the feckless n00bs and generally oversee the successful functioning of the business etc.

Also, the arse completely falling out of commercial property/major city markets will probably have catastrophic knock-on effects in terms of pension/investment exposures to said industry, not to mention all the ancillary jobs city centres support.

We have a new girl starting next Wednesday. She comes from a non-housing background and will be trained by Skype whilst looking after her 2 kids.

I'm stressed out just by the thought of it.

[Luke Emia]

Many probably don't yet as they weren't prepared for a massive shift to working from home but if they decide to go down that route on a more permanent basis, you'll probably see them being brought in.

There's software that can measure click rates, typing rates, what windows are active and for how long, eye tracking via a webcam etc.

Pretty much anything you do on a computer could be quantified and sent back to your employers.

Yep my missus place measure how long any inactive periods are on your computer - mouse or keyboard not moving and if it’s more than a couple of minutes they want to know why.

[Spikey M]

"I was on the phone"

Although luckily my place don't do that.

[Luke Emia]

I think it’s more about being flexible. What this has proved for me is I can do a lot over the phone or via video call with clients. Then I can go to the office early miss the traffic do my 6/7 hours and then once that’s done do calls and stuff with clients in the afternoon from home rather than seeing face to face which makes me more productive and also gives me a better work-balance which is good.

Moving forwards I think I will only be doing client appointments in office or via video call and won’t be seeing people at their homes any more which is better for me.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The cricket community is currently in meltdown as, after we had been repeatedly briefed over the last few weeks and even up until this morning for a possible 4 July restart in some form, Boris has stood up in the Commons and said cricket is still banned because the cricket ball is 'a natural vector of disease'.

Meltdown notwithstanding, it is starting to look as though that may not actually be the position at all and he was just waffling bullshit that came into his head. #MyPM

[Yevrah]

You can get your hair cut? The Premier League can play football? But you can't play cricket?

Fuck me.

[Luke Emia]

The cricket community is currently in meltdown as, after we had been repeatedly briefed over the last few weeks and even up until this morning for a possible 4 July restart in some form, Boris has stood up in the Commons and said cricket is still banned because the cricket ball is 'a natural vector of disease'.

Meltdown notwithstanding, it is starting to look as though that may not actually be the position at all and he was just waffling bullshit that came into his head. #MyPM

He’s making the old MayBot look more and more competent by the day at the minute.

[Spikey M]

You can get your hair cut? The Premier League can play football? But you can't play cricket?

Fuck me.

We're right back at "I can't hug my nan but I can take her on the Vampire at Chessington"