So all the mood-music is pointing toward another lockdown. Sigh. All of this was avoidable.

Let's run through how this happened. Failure to create a functioning test-and-trace system. Failure to organise a central quarantine system. Eat Out To Help Out. Get a cough to save Pret! Barnard Castle eye tests! The list goes on and on.

Yes, centrists, before you dogpile this thread, I'm sure you still deeply believe "but they're Librul Tories, really!" If nothing in the last decade has shaken that opinion, I know nothing I write will influence it either.

Quite simply, the problems here are systemic, and they go right to the top. This was avoidable. Elsewhere, Covid is under control. South Korea managed it. Taiwan managed it. New Zealand managed it. Even Australia's doing better. Then there's us, the fuckfest of the week.

That things have got so bad is, quite simply, down to the cupidity and uselessness of the people and the party that's in charge. It's a systemic and structural failure, and nothing will improve as long as these people stay where they are.

This thread brought to you by someone who hasn't left the city since Januray, hasn't seen any of his friends in months, and has spent most of this year in a two-room flat with cracks on the walls, mad neighbours, broken plumbing and failing heating.