Seen in the News

[Stanley]

Which I agreed with Ian.
Far too much in the news to comment on, you've all seen and heard it. However, one point, they keep escalating response but even now I don't think they have recognised the full extent of what could happen.
One small thing stood out, the cancellation indefinitely of EU trade talks..... Could be a crack in the dam Tiz!

[Stanley]

Later, a lot of comment about the fact that the government give-away is not as generous as it sounds as most of it is loan guarantees, at the lower end what is needed is a cheque yesterday!

[PanBiker]

Nothing for the populace that are in rental accommodation and there are quite a few of them.

[Stanley]

And even the measures announced yesterday are feeble. What good does it do a family to simply postpone their eviction for three months?
In PE the question of housing was raised. This being submerged in the more fashionable concentration on Covid19. Investment in affordable homes will still be £500million less than what it was under Labour even when the latest budget increases are applied. Advertised as the biggest increase in a 'generation' which is bare faced lie.
Ask yourself what will the levels of homeless families and rough sleepers be next November? All right, there is an immediate crisis but good governance means that normal planning for the future should not suffer. If nothing is done it is one more crisis down the road.
Did anybody notice Johnson's reaction in the news conference yesterday when he was asked about the affects on Brexit. Answer was there none apart from a classic Johnson burst of waffle and harrumphing that made no sense and was not an answer. He will have to face this sooner rather than later. Brexit as a sensible concept is dead but it won't lie down!

[Stanley]

Rishi Sunak and the Treasury are having to react to criticisms from all sides.
Johnson ignores the fact that there appears to be widespread ignoring of strictures on gatherings and travel in London.
Was it my imagination or did he appear to retreat even further into generalisations at yesterday's three podium event? Even more waffle and incomplete sentences.
The poorest are still excluded from immediate non-debt producing aid.

[Stanley]

Heard actually. A very informative discussion of the effects of Trump's tariff wars broadcast on World service.
There are some excellent discussions on World Service which don't seem to make it to mainstream BBC.
Look for 'The Real Story' on BBC sounds.
See THIS BBC report about US senators taking advantage of advanced knowledge of Covid19 and dumping shares before the news hit the markets. There's always someone isn't there...

[Tizer]

All this and the National Trust has also had to close its gardens because they've been getting large numbers of people getting too close.
`Coronavirus: 'Unprecedented scenes' on Welsh hills' LINK
`Car parks and trails could be shut to stop people from visiting Snowdonia National Park after "unprecedented scenes" on Saturday, according to bosses. There were so many people on mountain summits it was "impossible to maintain effective social distancing". Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons was also busy with visitors on Saturday. Welsh ministers are considering their legal powers to force people to stay away during the coronavirus outbreak...'.

[Stanley]

That fits in with reports of people fleeing the cities in favour of second homes. As I said yesterday, a typical medieval reaction to plague. Some things don't change....

[Big Kev]

These people need removing from society, coughing and spitting at the police...

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/cr ... 8bziIlKOpk

[Tizer]

Such people have felt themselves `on the up' ever since the Brexit Referendum and Trump becoming POTUS. Our equivalent of the US Tea Party.
This is the American situation...
`Coronavirus: Huge queues as Americans panic buy guns amid virus outbreak: People buying more guns and ammunition have reportedly said they are preparing for a breakdown in public order over COVID-19.' LINK

[Stanley]

Quite right Kev. Animals like these infest society and it worries me. I don't know what the solution is, I suspect there isn't one. And just think, if and when they are hospitalised they will get the same care as anyone else.

[Cathy]

Sign them up for compulsory armed forces duty, a sergeant major or two will soon sort them out.

[Stanley]

They certainly need some form of discipline Cathy and that could be one way to do it. Question is, have we the resources to do something like that?

[Cathy]

Well I imagine that the Prisons are a bit crowded, or soon will be. Anyway in Prison they just meet more people like themselves.
Round em up, sort em out!

[PanBiker]

One thing is certain, this emergency shows folk who the real key workers and heroes are. I only hope they remember when we get to the other side.

[Tizer]

Question is, have we the resources to do something like that?

The church up the road from us still has stocks (in fact it has 5 holes so the village must have had a one-legged vandal at some stage). Perhaps setting up stocks in town centres would be a cheap way of dealing with the prats.

[Stanley]

I like it and would vote for it as long as the miscreant(s) were sprayed with disinfectant first. (The stronger smelling the better.)

[PanBiker]

A taser hit would be a better deterrent, As Jules would say in Pulp Fiction. "I will get evil on your arse and smite thee"

[Tizer]

Daily Mirror an hour ago...
`Coronavirus help for self-employed set to finally be announced tomorrow' Self-employed

[Stanley]

And about bloody time too! They keep telling us how difficult it is. How about sending them all £500 a month and saying that anybody still in trouble should contact them? Too many bean counters trying to make it complicated!

[Big Kev]

And about bloody time too! They keep telling us how difficult it is. How about sending them all £500 a month and saying that anybody still in trouble should contact them? Too many bean counters trying to make it complicated!

£500 a month won't go far though, nearly all of them would be contacting them

[Stanley]

All right, double it then. It's the principle that counts not the amount Kev.
Just been listening to Max Hastings hectoring us on World at One. His basic thesis is that old people should not be allowed to be a drag on the young in terms of health care. In some ways I agree but what if this principle was generally applied? Don't treat chronically ill, drunks, drug-takers, criminals and smokers? Who would make that decision? Why not just ask the young? They might not be as self-opinionated as him. It's just possible they might have equal compassion for everyone.

[Tizer]

The Chancellor has previously promised that the measures for the self-employed would match the 80% of earnings that are protected for `furloughed' staff workers, but with a monthly cap on payments which is lower than the £2500 for staff employees. Not all self-employed will get this new assistance because they already get it from other sources. Let's see what it turns out to be...

[Stanley]

I watched Sunak and as soon as I realised how niggardly and inadequate his 'solution' is, in particular no cash to the first claimants until at least late June I turned him off because I was so angry. What wasn't mentioned is that the 'grant' is means tested in that anyone with any other source of income like a small pension is cut back. I know one deserving case, a care worker, who was offered 46p a week when he applied for income credit.
How about an automatic deduction at source of a punitive rate of capital gains tax in any settlement for short trading, exactly like a VAT payment? Ignoring the screams from the markets of course. See THIS CNBC report on just one short trader making $2 billion net in a couple of days then recognise that he is a small fish compared to the big hedge funds.
Did you hear the case of the man who was offered a bail out loan at an interest rate of more than 22% by his bank instead of the government assisted loan he had applied for?
Is it any wonder I am angry? It's the old story writ large, one law for the rich and privileged and another for the poor.
To quote the old song; 'It's the rich that gets the money, it's the poor what gets the blame...'.

[Stanley]

Puzzling reports in the BET this morning of an outbreak of arson in Colne, multiple cars set alight in the street. A consequence of stress on society? Or just a lone nutter who has picked a bad time? I hope they find the bugger quickly, bad memories of the Fire Bug in the 50s. Problem is they can get away before the fire starts and thus escape detection.