This episode is up so I guess podcasts are an essential service

Pandemicageddon

• Newstart is being doubled, and work for the dole requirements are suspended!
• The U.K. government’s plan to pursue “herd imunity” at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives has been dropped.
• COVID-19’s incubation period is usually about 5 days, though can be up to 14.

People spouting bullshit

• Venice’s canals may be clean, but don’t forget it’s because thousands of people are dying.
• Former National Party leader Barnaby Joyce said snakes are more of a threat than coronavirus.
• Radio goblin Alan Jones has called Coroanvirus the “health version of global warming” (which means he thinks it’s a hoax, not that we need dramatic action, right now).
• Right-wing commentator Andrew Bolt went from denial to freaking out within a week.
• AFL team president and TV star Eddie McGuire has called for dangerous herd immunity tactics similar to the UK’s abandoned plan.
• Howard-era ghoul Bronwyn Bishop thinks that Coronavirus is a Chinese bioweapon.

People doing good things

• British ex-footballer Gary Neville is making his hotels available for free to health workers.
• Shane Warne is switching his gin distillery (!?) into making pure alcohol for hand sanitiser.

Big money, big problems

• Crown Casino holds a lot of politcal sway in Victoria, which explains the government’s unwillingness to close it until Sunday evening.
• Van Badham defended the regressive tax that are pokie machines as a “working-class habit”.
• The if the government is throwing billions of dollars taxpayer to private industry, we should get something out of that.
• Cartoon villan and vape merchant Simon Breheny says that price gouging is good, actually.
• A lot of economic modeling is based on a spherical cow view of the world.

Bushfires and gas

• The smoke from Australian bushfires killed 400 people, and put 4000 people in hospital, in addition to the 33 people who died in the fires.
• Victoria has banned fracking, but lifted the ban of onshore gas exploration and drilling. Gas is bad, folks.
• Victoria’s Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes has declared that gas drilling “will not harm our environment”.
• Drag superstar RuPaul is heavily invested in fracking.

Action items

• Moisturise your hands. We’re going to be in this for long run, don’t let your skin fall off!
• Don’t go out! Protect the people around you who need protecting, by not being around them.
• Join a union, and if you feel like your boss isn’t taking your concerns seriously, talk to your co-workers. Chances are they’ve got the same concerns as you.
• Check out Sean Bedlam’s new podcast They’re Gunna Kill Us. Solidaritus et podcastus ✊
• Respect your supermarket workers.