United Kingdom VI: Summer Lovin'

[Zaki]

I'm still waiting for the oven-ready deal.

Don't worry, this country will be burnt beyond recognition soon.

[CMcK]

Stock up peeps, the Second National Lockdown is coming and it's going to destroy Christmas.

Who cares about Christmas when people's lives and livelyhoods are at stake?

[Hirst]

Why not both?

[Protocol Penguin]

Ugh, PandemicIsOverUK is trending on Twitter, with a bunch of arseholes basically saying they've had enough, and it's "over" now, because they say so, and it's time to go back to regular life.

Y'know... In 2012, when the Olympic games happened, I really had faith in this country. I mean sure, we still had problems; racism, our colonial legacy, what-have-you - but everything felt like while things were bad, they were all moving in the right direction, even if inexorably slowly. The last 2 years have completely eroded that faith.

The UK probably needs breaking up into 5 or more smaller countries. Well, admittedly Brexit when fully implemented is going to do that anyway. I just hope that the inevitable collapse of the British state ends up as peaceful and free of bloodshed as it can be.

[cutmymilk]

That's not true at all. We just need a fairer allocation of funds from westminster. It would be nice if older people from poor areas stopped voting tory. Then we wouldn't need to discuss it.

[Asura]

That's not true at all. We just need a fairer allocation of funds from westminster. It would be nice if older people from poor areas stopped voting tory. Then we wouldn't need to discuss it.

We also need to move the seat of government somewhere else, somewhere cheaper for a start, and put them in a modern, functional building - not a relic that would serve the national interest better as a museum.

Lots of countries don't have their seat of government in their "capital" city.

[QualityChimp]

Y'know... In 2012, when the Olympic games happened, I really had faith in this country.

Funny you say that, because the Olympics is the last time it feels like we had anything to be proud of, but I also feel it stoked the fire of patriotism that lead to Brexit.
Just my opinion, mind.

[Hirst]

I reckon the United Kingdom will break up within my lifetime, maybe within the next 20 years or so. I think Northern Ireland will be the first to go as it's already being put in a strange position by Brexit. Scotland will probably follow as they were already close to the idea of fancying independence. I'm 50:50 whether Wales will do it, I think they'd want to, but maybe wouldn't want to risk it. In any case, I think 100% it would have been the actions of the current government that set the ball rolling and I hope that's what they're ultimately remembered for.

I didn't count on them being as useless as other regions in England also wanting to become independent, but I think this is also a possibility further down the line (maybe not within my lifetime).

[Asura]

Funny you say that, because the Olympics is the last time it feels like we had anything to be proud of, but I also feel it stoked the fire of patriotism that lead to Brexit.
Just my opinion, mind.

I wouldn't say you're wrong, even though I don't totally agree.

For instance, I was unhappy with how the armed forces were involved in the opening ceremony, especially after so many people voiced displeasure that the People's Liberation Army were involved in the Chinese one. This isn't a dig at the armed forces per se, but rather I feel that the military has no place at the modern Olympics. It aspires to a future where such things are unnecessary.

I did feel, though, that it repaired something we all felt over the Millennium Dome; that when it came to big projects, the UK was useless. It started to feel like some things were getting back on track. We'd made great strides in areas like racial equality. We'd legalised same-sex marriage. Neither of these things were even close to suggesting we'd reached some kind of egalitarian utopia, but it felt as though we were marching in the right direction.

[Protocol Penguin]

That's not true at all. We just need a fairer allocation of funds from westminster. It would be nice if older people from poor areas stopped voting tory. Then we wouldn't need to discuss it.

Well, the UK could’ve been saved had we had proper decentralised government, i.e. federalism (think Germany) – having decentralisation and symmetrical layers of regional government would’ve kept a lot of major issues in check, such as reducing feelings of alienation of discontent in many regions, narrowed inequality between have and have-not regions and (more recently) helped with issues related to keeping the pandemic in check. However, the damage of over-centralisation has probably gone too far to save the UK, seeing that we’re hurtling towards no-deal Brexit and also have the UK government being openly contemptuous towards the north of England during a global pandemic.

[Zaki]

It would be nice if older people from poor areas stopped voting tory.

With the way they're handling this pandemic, that may just happen next time...I know that's dark, but it's going that way.

[MartyG]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/19/wales-to-go-into-national-firebreak-covid-lockdown

Meanwhile in England

[Dogg Thang]

Feels important to understand the different tiers:

Embedded Tweet

[Neon Ignition]

It makes my brain ache, the emphasis that is put on pubs during all this in lieu of, well, anything that is actually spreading the virus

[MartyG]

It makes my brain ache, the emphasis that is put on pubs during all this in lieu of, well, anything that is actually spreading the virus

Such as several people being in the same room breathing in an airborne transmissable virus?