Genuine Q: If both my teenage sons had symptomatic Covid in Aug with positive PCRs as proof, why do they now *need* to be vaxxed if that won’t stop them from either getting it again sometime, or passing it on? 🤷♀️
@MattHancock
Oh DO shut up. You have all the gravitas of a man who has just been exposed as both a hypocrite and a cheat. Fuck off to the back benches and never tell anybody what to do ever again…
Over 25 years ago Ursula was my editor at Picador for The Heart-Shaped Bullet. She was both brilliant and incredibly supportive of me at a difficult time in my life. She has always championed women and deserves legal support in these darkly deranged times…
I have lodged a claim at the employment tribunal against my former employer, Hachette, on the grounds of sex and belief discrimination - full story below. I need to raise money towards legal fees. If you can share and/or donate, that would be brilliant💜
Also, why is *get a booster* worthy of a primetime Prime Ministerial Address to the Nation?
Maybe it’s so the PM looks like a bit more like an actual PM instead of a contemptible fucking 🤡
Just putting it out there 🤷♀️
*Dear Great Grandma. So sorry I couldn’t buy you a card for your 100th birthday next week, but Wales wouldn’t let me - the florist is shut too. Never mind, I’ll pop by and wave thru the window at the Care Home! Looking forward to seeing you next year for your 101st...* 🤯😱🙏
Just to be 100% clear... if tomorrow I *identified* as a unicorn and galloped and gambolled in my lovely new ‘Fantasia’ world, I would not actually *be* a four-legged hooved-and-horned fantasy ruminant. No, I would still be a person with XX chromosomes. That is to say, A WOMAN.
I’m 57, double-jabbed & no anti-vaxxer, however I’m angry that my kids will have to declare their health status simply in order to live their best teenage lives. I just signed up as a supporter of
@BigBrotherWatch
(gifts an unexpected bonus, frankly) 👊
Listening to Starmer & Johnson sparring about Tiers and R-rates, Circuit Breakers and *bringing the virus under control* would be laughable if it weren’t UTTERLY DEMENTED. For the week ending Oct 9 there were 19 fewer overall deaths than in the same week in 2019 (ONS)
I don’t understand twice-weekly testing for the vaccinated displaying no symptoms as we move into the seasons when respiratory illness rates are traditionally low. I’m not being glib, not looking to provoke & I don’t do conspiracies but perhaps somebody explain the thinking here?
Really important this statement (from the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health) is shared in order to counteract the hysterical nonsense about hospitals filling up with sick kids... 🙄🙏
Why are extended restrictions decided by 5 men behind closed doors?MPs are prob so cowed that they’d vote for the ongoing restrictions anyway, but at least a vote would *look* like democracy. That pic of the G7 at their beach party has tipped me over the edge; this is madness now
Chat with senior staffer at my 14 year old/Year 10 son’s school: ‘The fact is *homeschooling* doesn’t work for students, teachers or parents. We’re all desperate to get them back and we have testing in place, if required. We’ve told our MP. No reply yet...’
#UsForThem
@EmmaKennedy
@emmakennytv
Why conflate lockdown scepticism with Covid-denial? Denial is pure idiocy - Covid exists, can even kill. However, sceptical questioning around how the state handles this is a hallmark of a healthy democracy, just as cancelling voices who challenge the status quo is undemocratic.
@Baddiel
My mum was born in Australia, in 1939. At boarding school in Oz in 1949 she was being taught maths by a brilliant young German teacher whom she adored. When a new girl joined the class & asked Miss ‘why do you do sums on your arm?’ the class, who knew, fell silent... 1/2
@allisonpearson
I thought this. But didn’t dare say it. What parent lets their child lie on a hospital floor... unless they’re lookig to make a point? Don’t use your sick child to score political points. It sucks...
I’m thinking Mancock has never had a smear... 🤔 Perhaps Mrs Mancock would like to explain to her husband (veeeeery slooooowly) why this is a total non-starter...
Over 31,000 women will be offered kits to carry out smear tests in the privacy & convenience of their own homes in a trial.
Cervical screening is life-saving, so this is a great step forward
But this isn’t entirely true, is it?! Why should my son rack up a 2nd year of student debt in order to study for an *online* physics degree?
There is no reason why you, or any other Uni, should be doing this now. Why are you treating your students with such contempt?
Open up!
Want to study at an innovative university in a city students love? Shape your future at Cardiff.
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➡️
Why isn’t an antibodies test being routinely offered to everyone? That is surely one of the most obvious ways in which we can navigate through this mess.
Late to this but the brilliant BBC doc by
@Baddiel
should be shown in all schools. I don’t entirely comprehend the concept of
#HolocaustDenial
(simply because of, y’know, THE FUCKING FACTS) but that doesn’t really matter because by the end I was in tears...
#AndINeverSawHerAgain
@krishgm
I’d just go straight to Easter holiday mode a few days early - there’s a reason teachers are teachers and most parents aren’t. I liked the guy who suggested teaching kids life skills instead (as riffed upon by
@gilescoren
in ydays Times )
If anyone in pubs/restaurants/hospitality (inc PRs) whom I do/don’t already follow would like to make their presence felt, I’d REALLY like to hear from you (I’ll follow back). If as is likely the Gov follows Nicola Sturgeon & shuts English pubs/restaurants let’s mobilise*... 🍽🥂
@DeborahJaneOrr
Tell him to come over. Invite about 10 females round, arriving just before he does, with wine. Gather coven in kitchen & on arrival hand him the stickers & say, *go ahead, be my guest. We’re here if you need any help*. Gone in 5 mins, guaranteed. Tosser.
Son just phoned Russell Group Uni to be told by Clearing Officer that ‘I have no idea how we’ll fill our places. We’ve been told to be tough. It’s madness. I’m so sorry’.
That presser was nothing short of shit. Rubbish, ugly, impenetrably opaque graphics, stats that are spun to fit this insane narrative, a PM who looks utterly broken, if not entirely unconvinced. It is 9000% bollocks. Anyway, enjoy Strictly... 💃
Finally, it’s Watching Bowie at Glasto that has broken me. Crying for all the magical stuff we’ve lost - Bowie included (meeting him a peak lifetime experience). So profoundly sad for not being able to experience live music
#BowieForever
#Glastonbury2020
#GlastoAtHome
@JamesMelville
This is my local park. I know people who have been ranting about these *covidiots* but who were also thoroughly OK with the gathering at Clapham. Cos obvs there’s one rule for some kinds of gatherings and another bunch of rules for everything else... 😉
@MichaelPSenger
I would have liked to have the opportunity to say goodbye to my mother, who died in Australia in 2020, in person rather than on the phone from 12000 miles away
I’m still struggling to locate ‘The Science’ behind Tier 2 pubs needing to serve a *substantial meal*. Is that a well-known anti-viral strategy? Anyone?... 🤷♀️
All the massive love on here for my mate Deborah Jane Orr - who buggered off on Saturday, far too fucking soon - is still not quite testament to her all-round magnificence. God, she made me laugh. And cry. ❤️🌻
FFS. This is what happens when Sturgeon’s battle for political supremacy over Westminster tips into deranged control-freakery. Enough of destroying livelihoods and people’s quality of life.
As my town enters Tier 3 I’m already nostalgic for the fill-your-boots *last supper* at my local. While complying with the regs, pubs & restaurants offer so much more to communities than merely food & drink, including the warmth of connectivity & sanity of a virtual hug 🍽🍻❤️🎄
Does anyone else (as old + sad) suffer from Daylight Saving lag, whereby you have to go to bed at 9.26 because it’s *really* 10.26? I’m a mother of teenagers behaving like a Nan. Nighty-night… 👵🏼
Universities Minister
@michelledonelan
says students should *behave* before being allowed home at end of term. They have behaved MAGNIFICENTLY already and continue to do so despite overwhelming evidence that says they should simply be allowed to get on with their lives... 👇
@SuzanneEvans1
@AllisonPearson
To *revoke* June 21 is particularly specious behaviour by our Overlords. Mask-free un-socially-distanced world leaders at a party is evidence that they know it, too. I have had two jabs and I’m done with this nonsense
In other news, my 18 year old son invested a chunk of his student grant in Bitcoin in January and has now earned 100% more than I have earned this year. Am currently looking forward to early retirement and an Aston Martin 💥
Breaking: Out of the three charming chaps from south London who just dropped off my IKEA delivery in Hastings, two tell me they have applied to train as HGV drivers 👏🚛
@pjakma
I’m no expert tho I have always been told that immunity to diseases acquired naturally when young is best for long term health. I’m not anti-vaxx - my kids have had the normal jabs & I’m double vaxxed - but this fact is being effectively *unlearned* so am trying to understand!
Would it be too much to suggest driving a bit less and eating different food instead of panic-buying like morons? That way perhaps we’ll collectively overcome *crises* which are, frankly, a couple of minor first-world lifestyle glitches. Get a bloody grip, Britain.
@caitlinmoran
@lovemyread
The best Mother’s Day gift I ever gave was flying 12,000 miles to surprise my mother at her home in Australia on Mother’s Day. She was very surprised: ‘Oh, it’s a different date here, darling. But such a lovely thought...’. 😬🙄
... was free, we became close. She would've hated to have had her funeral controlled by those who fear the power of female friendship just as much as she would've hated being erased on Twitter. Go gentle now, Deb; I am so privileged to have called you my friend... 💐❤️ X
I’ve always enjoyed her show whever I’ve listened but at the moment
@Emmabarnett
is playing a blinder on
@bbc5live
every single day - essential listening 👏
@danwootton
Sending ❤️ Dan. I’m also
#SouthernBloodyCross
My father’s ashes are still waiting to be scattered in Byron Bay - he died in 2019 - and it’s 14 months since I said ‘goodbye’ on the phone to my mum as she was dying in QL. I hope your Christmas is as good as it can be in the circs x
After a visit to some retail park behemoths near Truro, I predict post-Covid success comes to those flexible/sensible enough to not treat grown-up potential customers as potential morons/crims in an entirely empty store... 😬
My 14 year old son, a sports scholar, just received a note in the post from his school’s Head of Key Stage 4/Head of Sport... and I totally lost it.
Thanks, Mr Mercer - apparently you’re *a total Don*
It’s a peculiar process, watching
#HarryTheInterview
… On the one hand you have this very warm, engaged and engaging, likeable man who’d do a great job on the CBeebies bedtime story… On the other, almost everything he’s saying appears to be a bit deranged
This is one of the more astoundingly crap ideas among so many crap ideas that were they all to be written on a giant ball of twine would stretch from here to Mars, and back...
(Or if not actual Mars, then at least to
@elonmusk
)
@ThisisDavina
If buy-to-let landlords are given a mortgage holiday they should pass that on to their tenants... but obv there will be unscrupulous landlords... Gov must cover rent?! 🤷♀️
Dear All PRs: please can you stop sending the *why-not-stay-at-home-on-Valentines-with-Giovanni’s-romantic-heart-shaped-gluten-free pizza and-a-lovely-bottle-of-pink-Prosecco* press releases. I’m reading the room and there are definitely no fucks being given anywhere, soz 😘❤️🌹
NEW: Joint General Secretary of
@NEUnion
Mary Bousted tells me Gavin Williamson has now “lost the confidence of teachers and parents” and remaining in his post now looks “very difficult”.
As far as I can tell, no women have been involved in this process - not even the Home Secretary. Yet the negative impact of lockdowns on women’s lives/careers has been huge
The challenges facing Boris Johnson as he finalises roadmap out of Covid lockdown
If you’re in the *wrong* Tier - (and we’re all in the wrong Tier cos if the NHS had been sensibly managed and wasn’t being *run* by
@MattHancock
and SAGE we wouldn’t need any bloody *Tiers*) then write/tweet your MP urging them to vote against the Gov. I have.
@SallyAnn1066
@ben_machell
@janemerrick23
Unless a parent gives up their seat for their kid children should always give seats up for adults - just as adults should give up seats for the elderly/disabled/heavily pregnant. Kids encouraged to take seats on a busy bus/train by the parents will end up as pointy-shoed bastards
The sooner we all get past this tediously virtue-signalling *How My Christmas Will be Celebrated More Correctly Than Your Christmas* fetish the better, frankincensely... 🎄
@TheBodyShop
@jk_rowling
@paisleycurrah
Whichever Gen-Whatever social media manager put out this moronic *statement* has done a magnificent job of losing many of those Body Shop customers whose, er, bodies contain XX chromosomes: AKA women. So, yknow, a) fuck off and b) maybe read what
@jk_rowling
actually wrote...
@KirstieMAllsopp
@AlisonHernandez
I supose the people who grassed her up to the Sun were the same people who reported her to the police. And they should probably take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror and see if they like the look of the people they have become...
@devisridhar
What an absolute crock of patronising crap. Rewrite this in a curly font against a rainbow background and post it on facebook. And don’t forget: Tomorrow is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life... 🙏🕊🌈
THIS THREAD 👇
What has this country become that we let the Gov boss us around with its petty, arbitrary, all-but-nonsensical control-freakery when fewer than 1% per cent of the UK’s occupied hospital beds contain Covid patients?
The explanatory memo accompanying these regulations - approved by
@dhscgovuk
- shows that the 1st dose vaccinations Govt wants to get done ASAP won’t take place until August, so people not protected until 2/3 weeks after that.
That implies a further delay way beyond 19 July 👇
We're aiming to open many of our gardens and parks for free during this difficult time, so the nation can use open spaces to relax and refresh, while following the government’s social distancing guidance. We will be closing our houses, cafés and shops this week.