UK Politics Thread XII: The Lockdown

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

I'm assuming the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia isn't one of the people we are using sanctions against.

No! We can't displease our arms companies who have knowingly assisted the murder of thousands of Yemeni children, because they donate shit tons of money to our politicians.

Yes we are going to resume selling arms to Saudi Arabia after a humanitarian review.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53324251

Liz Truss reckons

"In the light of all that information and analysis, I have concluded that...Saudi Arabia has a genuine intent and the capacity to comply with international humanitarian law," she said.

"On that basis, I have assessed that there is not a clear risk that the export of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia might be used in the commission of a serious violation."

What a bunch of cunts.

[Agarntrop]

No! We can't displease our arms companies who have knowingly assisted the murder of thousands of Yemeni children, because they donate shit tons of money to our politicians.

Yes we are going to resume selling arms to Saudi Arabia after a humanitarian review.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53324251

Liz Truss reckons

"In the light of all that information and analysis, I have concluded that...Saudi Arabia has a genuine intent and the capacity to comply with international humanitarian law," she said.

"On that basis, I have assessed that there is not a clear risk that the export of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia might be used in the commission of a serious violation."

What a bunch of cunts.

Its because they get donations (bribes) from oil and arms companies who profit from this.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

Yes we are going to resume selling arms to Saudi Arabia after a humanitarian review.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53324251

Liz Truss reckons

"In the light of all that information and analysis, I have concluded that...Saudi Arabia has a genuine intent and the capacity to comply with international humanitarian law," she said.

"On that basis, I have assessed that there is not a clear risk that the export of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia might be used in the commission of a serious violation."

What a bunch of cunts.

Its because they get donations (bribes) from oil and arms companies who profit from this.

The arms companies in turn pay percentages of the profits back in bribes to whichever member of the Saudi royal family set up the deal.

It corruption all the way down while contributing to the world's worst humanitarian crisis in the Yemen.

[Souseiseki]

we only rarely mention it but the fact we simp so much to saudi arabia for that black gold is one of the biggest proofs that the UK does not really give a shit what it says and does not have any principles. of course you could say this applies to all international actors, but the fact that the UK carries itself with an aura of smug superiority and new age white saviour energy makes it very annoying to see them pretend to give a shit beyond when it is convenient for them.

[Ostroeuropa]

The media deciding to characterize a letter signed by Salman Rushdie, Noam Chomsky, and Attwood decrying cancel culture and supporting free speech as "JK Rowlings letter" is pretty good evidence of their duplicity and bad faith tbh.

[Loben The 2nd]

we only rarely mention it but the fact we simp so much to saudi arabia for that black gold is one of the biggest proofs that the UK does not really give a shit what it says and does not have any principles. of course you could say this applies to all international actors, but the fact that the UK carries itself with an aura of smug superiority and new age white saviour energy makes it very annoying to see them pretend to give a shit beyond when it is convenient for them.

You’re surprised by this?

[Agarntrop]

we only rarely mention it but the fact we simp so much to saudi arabia for that black gold is one of the biggest proofs that the UK does not really give a shit what it says and does not have any principles. of course you could say this applies to all international actors, but the fact that the UK carries itself with an aura of smug superiority and new age white saviour energy makes it very annoying to see them pretend to give a shit beyond when it is convenient for them.

You’re surprised by this?

Not really

This applies to the US even moreso, however.

[Souseiseki]

we only rarely mention it but the fact we simp so much to saudi arabia for that black gold is one of the biggest proofs that the UK does not really give a shit what it says and does not have any principles. of course you could say this applies to all international actors, but the fact that the UK carries itself with an aura of smug superiority and new age white saviour energy makes it very annoying to see them pretend to give a shit beyond when it is convenient for them.

You’re surprised by this?

i'm not surprised just annoyed

[CoraSpia]

You’re surprised by this?

i'm not surprised just annoyed

The only country that principles when it comes down to the Saudis is Canada seemingly.

[Philjia]

The government have announced a paltry list of The Thick of It level policies to give token resistance to oncoming recession:
- Jobs Retention Bonus, giving £1,000 to businesses who bring back employees from furlough
- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)
- Taking the threshold of stamp duty from £125,000 to £500,000
- A "kickstart scheme" to get unemployed 16 to 24-year-old into work
- New payments for businesses hiring apprentices

[Greed and Death]

The government have announced a paltry list of The Thick of It level policies to give token resistance to oncoming recession:
- Jobs Retention Bonus, giving £1,000 to businesses who bring back employees from furlough
- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)
- Taking the threshold of stamp duty from £125,000 to £500,000
- A "kickstart scheme" to get unemployed 16 to 24-year-old into work
- New payments for businesses hiring apprentices

- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)

Is your government trying to spread the Coronavirus because that seems to me how you spread the coronavirus?

[Philjia]

The government have announced a paltry list of The Thick of It level policies to give token resistance to oncoming recession:
- Jobs Retention Bonus, giving £1,000 to businesses who bring back employees from furlough
- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)
- Taking the threshold of stamp duty from £125,000 to £500,000
- A "kickstart scheme" to get unemployed 16 to 24-year-old into work
- New payments for businesses hiring apprentices

- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)

Is your government trying to spread the Coronavirus because that seems to me how you spread the coronavirus?

"Have you tried "kill all the poor"?"

[Souseiseki]

The government have announced a paltry list of The Thick of It level policies to give token resistance to oncoming recession:
- Jobs Retention Bonus, giving £1,000 to businesses who bring back employees from furlough
- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)
- Taking the threshold of stamp duty from £125,000 to £500,000
- A "kickstart scheme" to get unemployed 16 to 24-year-old into work
- New payments for businesses hiring apprentices

- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)

Is your government trying to spread the Coronavirus because that seems to me how you spread the coronavirus?

unironically one of the theories is that the government wants to pursue herd immunity, has always wanted to pursue herd immunity and is secretly trying to undermine the lockdown to make it happen

[Agarntrop]

i'm not surprised just annoyed

The only country that principles when it comes down to the Saudis is Canada seemingly.

Nah, only Germany and the Netherlands have stopped weapons sales.

[The New California Republic]

The government have announced a paltry list of The Thick of It level policies to give token resistance to oncoming recession:
- Jobs Retention Bonus, giving £1,000 to businesses who bring back employees from furlough
- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)
- Taking the threshold of stamp duty from £125,000 to £500,000
- A "kickstart scheme" to get unemployed 16 to 24-year-old into work
- New payments for businesses hiring apprentices

- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)

Is your government trying to spread the Coronavirus because that seems to me how you spread the coronavirus?

That's exactly what I first thought when this was announced. They are encouraging people to be in places where the risk is greater.

Folk getting sacrificed to the god of squiggly lines again.

[Vassenor]

Is your government trying to spread the Coronavirus because that seems to me how you spread the coronavirus?

unironically one of the theories is that the government wants to pursue herd immunity, has always wanted to pursue herd immunity and is secretly trying to undermine the lockdown to make it happen

Even as the science shows that Herd Immunity isn't a thing this time. Something about only 5% of survivors having detectable antibodies.

[Fartsniffage]

unironically one of the theories is that the government wants to pursue herd immunity, has always wanted to pursue herd immunity and is secretly trying to undermine the lockdown to make it happen

Even as the science shows that Herd Immunity isn't a thing this time. Something about only 5% of survivors having detectable antibodies.

Really? I saw the thing about only 5% of the Spanish population having anti-bodies but nothing about 5% of infected having them?

[CoraSpia]

The government have announced a paltry list of The Thick of It level policies to give token resistance to oncoming recession:
- Jobs Retention Bonus, giving £1,000 to businesses who bring back employees from furlough
- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)
- Taking the threshold of stamp duty from £125,000 to £500,000
- A "kickstart scheme" to get unemployed 16 to 24-year-old into work
- New payments for businesses hiring apprentices

Tastecard be like...Why?

[CoraSpia]

The government have announced a paltry list of The Thick of It level policies to give token resistance to oncoming recession:
- Jobs Retention Bonus, giving £1,000 to businesses who bring back employees from furlough
- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)
- Taking the threshold of stamp duty from £125,000 to £500,000
- A "kickstart scheme" to get unemployed 16 to 24-year-old into work
- New payments for businesses hiring apprentices

- Temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
- "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs (This is the most easily mockable policy)

Is your government trying to spread the Coronavirus because that seems to me how you spread the coronavirus?

The eat out to help out thing is only applicable from Monday to Wednesday. I would imagine that the theory is, since restaurants are typically pretty dead on those days, it'll help spread the numbers of people wishing to visit them out.
If it functions like that, this could actually end up being a really helpful policy: restaurants are still limited to the amount of people they can safely have in while maintaining social distancing however it means that people would consider eating out on days they typically would cook at home. This means that bookings for the limited amount of tables restaurants are allowed to have open won't all be crammed into a couple of days, so restaurants get to serve more people safely. It also applies to takeaway food apparently, however I struggle to see how that'll be worked out given that most people order takeout using a few apps now. So yeah, it's not quite as stupid as it appears on first glance.

[Gormwood]

Is your government trying to spread the Coronavirus because that seems to me how you spread the coronavirus?

That's exactly what I first thought when this was announced. They are encouraging people to be in places where the risk is greater.

Folk getting sacrificed to the god of squiggly lines again.

It would not be shocking if some people unironically support the very purpose.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

I tend towards paranoia, but the government sure seems to be using these pandemic schemes as an opportunity to collect, and connect together, lots of personal data about us.

[Hirota]

I tend towards paranoia, but the government sure seems to be using these pandemic schemes as an opportunity to collect, and connect together, lots of personal data about us.

Could be worse I suppose: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heal ... SKCN22519X

[Fartsniffage]

I tend towards paranoia, but the government sure seems to be using these pandemic schemes as an opportunity to collect, and connect together, lots of personal data about us.

Could be worse I suppose: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heal ... SKCN22519X

That's not all that different from an id card that lets you only open certain doors or access certain software.

[The New California Republic]

Could be worse I suppose: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heal ... SKCN22519X

That's not all that different from an id card that lets you only open certain doors or access certain software.

While I don't think they actually do it because I doubt they have the resources to do it in real time for everyone, but I'm certain that if my work wanted to specifically track me for some purpose then they could track my progress around the place every time I use my ID for the dozens of door access readers that I use every day. Patch it in to the CCTV system and just about the only place that I couldn't get tracked is the toilets, but they'd definitely know I went in there.

[Fartsniffage]

That's not all that different from an id card that lets you only open certain doors or access certain software.

While I don't think they actually do it because I doubt they have the resources to do it in real time for everyone, but I'm certain that if my work wanted to specifically track me for some purpose then they could track my progress around the place every time I use my ID for the dozens of door access readers that I use every day. Patch it in to the CCTV system and just about the only place that I couldn't get tracked is the toilets, but they'd definitely know I went in there.

They certainly could. I've seen it done with exception of the CCTV cameras because we didn't have them. Don't do things wrong in an office with RFID ID cards. They will track you either in real time or with a super simple search.