25 February 2021
Diary of a Corbynista
Furlough until we fire you
by Don Urquhart
25 February
The most recent SAGE minutes tell us: *SPI-M’s consensus view remains that the opening of primary and secondary schools is likely to increase effective R by a factor of 1.1 to 1.5 (10% to 50%).
By taking this action with Covid-19 cases at a high level, Johnson is trading thousands of lives for congratulatory headlines in the gutter press. It will be people in deprived areas who pay the price. Soon there will be plague ghettoes throughout the land.
* Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M)
26 February
John Trickett MP tweeted yesterday:
During the pandemic:
- 1,000 Billionaires’ wealth soared £2.76 trillion
- Lost workers’ wages were £2.62 trillion.
Follow the brass and you’ll see what’s been going on whilst we were all focussing on the virus.
I don’t think it’s too rash an assumption that if our billionaires forewent their pandemic dividend not one of them would be on the breadline.
If John’s numbers are right and if the Treasury could get their hands on the loot they could pay each man, woman and child in the United Kingdom £40,000 thus solving most of our social problems at a stroke.
27 February
Novara Media reports on parasitic landlordism. They put the point of view that landlords should not be exploiting those who need somewhere to live. If you find that point of view ludicrous just carry on being a Tory – it’s still legal.
28 February
On Monday Jonathan Van-Tam told us that while, in general Coronavirus cases were reducing, but that was not true in 20% of boroughs. Here is the interactive map that tells you where cases are increasing, for example much of Glasgow and Edinburgh, York, Bradford, Bury, Peterborough, Belfast and Thurrock.
Re-opening schools in these places might not be the brightest idea.
1 March
Jonathan Van-Tam was back this evening alongside Health Secretary Hancock. The hot topic was the aggressive P1 variant originating in Brazil. 6 cases had been detected in the UK. Another piece of information we were vouchsafed was that 1/3 of positive Coronavirus tests are sent for genome sequencing, so it would be fair to assume that the actual number of P1 cases in the UK from positive tests is closer to 18.
In response to suggestions that our border controls are a bit on the flaccid side, Hancock repeated the mantra that ours are among the most robust. Someone pointed out that there are quite a few countries with the P1 variant that haven’t made it on to the red list of countries whose inhabitants we quarantine. These were dismissed as having insignificant numbers of P1 cases. But given that the UK has that world beating genomic sequencing regimen it’s pretty sure that these other guys haven’t a clue how many P1 cases they have.
2 March
On Politics Live the talking heads discussed the next day’s budget. MP Laura Farris repeated that disingenuous platitude about the Government putting its arms round everyone throughout the pandemic. History will record the 122,000 unnecessary deaths, the chronic incompetence and constant self-aggrandisement of Johnson and his ministers as they limited their embraces to cronies and party donors.
3 March
It is Budget Day and later Mr Sunak will reveal all.
One can confidently predict that he will extend the furlough scheme for a few months.
Dame Louise Casey described the benefits system as offering little pots of complicated money. The furlough scheme is the same sort of thing. The people Sunak is putting his arms round are the owners of big businesses.
Yesterday on Politics Live Jo Coburn sought to skewer Richard Walker, the Iceland CEO by asking him why he was not joining other retailers in refunding some of the Business Rates Relief to the Treasury. Mr Walker explained that Iceland could not afford to do so and pointed out that some of the firms making this apparently altruistic gesture were also making people redundant.
This is certainly the case at ASDA, where 5,000 job losses are planned. At Tesco it could be 15,000. Sainsbury’s are letting 3,500 go.
