He better not die. The johnson family doesn't need a martyr to pad their ego ********. On the other hand, maybe a high profile death would motivate people to, I dunno, be less ****ing stupid about this pandemic.
I don't recall saying it was funny? Given the circles he runs in, the behaviour of his family thus far, if Boris went now he would be absolutely treated as a martyr. I guarantee at least one headline will, or has been, "if wed left the EU like Boris wanted her never have died" or some variation of it. I think he's a despicable person, but I don't wish death on him. I don't see the world being particularly worse without him, but I definitely do see people trading in sympathy for his death for publicity because of who he surrounded himself with.
You're probably right, but we have left the EU, not that the people writing the headlines will notice. I have to admit I find this all darkly amusing. The same pattern of lies, misdirection, arrogance and burying of expert advice that got him his precious Brexit and made him Prime Minister have put him in intensive care. It says a lot about the man that until a few hours ago speculating about whether or not he was faking to avoid decision making was an entirely reasonable discussion to be having.
I can't remember who here suggested a bit of research into the progectef cabinet death toll based on their ages. Or suggesting his illness might be faked for sympathy. Would it be as funny if Corbyn had won in December and a conservative voter was making jokes about him being at risk? Honestly this is a horrible situation. I'm not sunbathing,working I'm at the desk all day to try and be able to pay staff and suppliers and I'm happy that the government is following the naturally ever changing scientific advice as best as is possible. And I suspect a Labour government would be doing much of the same actions right now. And this is reflected it the attitude of a lot of Labour MPs when interview on the subject recently.
https://news.sky.com/video/coronavirus-i-shook-hands-with-everybody-11948548 Could perhaps have taken the whole thing a bit more seriously to start with. Seriously, I've got a DoH document on influenza pandemic planning from 2009 on my desk. We also have scenario planning documents going back to 2016. The government basically ignored its recommendations. It ignored WHO recommendations on COVID-19. It's "herd immunity" strategy, called by its correct scientific definition, was a "natural selection" strategy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52191147 Now this I find less amusing. If you take paid time off, we will make you work for nothing later to retrieve those hours. I am fairly sure that's not legal, to say nothing of the options for recovering some or all of that money via government schemes. It does seem to be the default action in crisis for a company is to start bullying the people on the bottom rungs as much as possible.
Well they will have to delay the usual plans for street parties to celebrate this time with the lockdown restrictions.
I don't believe any of the choices in politician at the last election would have changed much other than the names in the papers. None of them would have been the right choice. What's making me somewhat less empathetic about Boris and his situation is that he did everything wrong. Shook hands with anyone and everyone. Didn't get involved in the buying of ventilators with the eu. Dismissed the risk and opted for herd immunity strategies. Didn't change his response fast enough when it was even more clear that the Chinese numbers were being heavily fudged. Didn't even have the podiums the recommended distance apart for the daily conferences. Edit: is also definitely in one or more risk categories because he is clearly obese and Ill be damned if he doesn't have underlying conditions because of it. He played an irresponsible, stupid, game and is now left with the prize.
We basically only need Hancock and Sunak anyway right now, Hancock to give the NHS everything they need and Sunak to ramp up the bailouts (because the UK will suffer tremendously if we have less bailouts than other countries). The rest of the cabinet can sit around and twiddle thumbs while waiting for the country to be restarted.
I wonder what the odds are of the Tories euphemistically citing reduced NHS staff numbers, caused by their negligence, as being an additional reason to privatise post-Brexit?
Well the Torygraph are already claiming the lockdown is because NHS is rigid and in flexible and unable to cope.
I had this exact argument with my other half earlier. She is of the opinion that now is not the time for political or ideological scrutiny, and we should leave that be until we're through the worst of this. I couldn't disagree more... I am not about to become an apologist or let the government off the hook because the Prime Minister is in intensive care. That fact is alarming, of course it is, and I in no way wish for harm to come to him or any other high-profile politician/government figure. Yes this is a situation which is unprecedented in this country's recent history (last 50/60 years or so), yes things are changing very quickly, yes lots of people are dying, and no it isn't funny or amusing. But none of that means that the government should not face scrutiny and that past sins are forgiven. We should not ignore the fact that the government was slow to react, did not follow the latest advice/guidance, and in some cases blatantly lied (see: the EU-wide medical supply purchasing scheme). Nor should we ignore the fact that successive Conservative governments have spent the last 10 years doing their best to dismantle public services, under-fund the NHS, and pursue an ideological 'austerity' policy that is in no way based in any kind of evidence. A policy that had demonstrably led to loss of life long before SARS-COV2 was even discovered. Would we be better off if the NHS had been better funded for the last 10 years? Maybe, maybe not. Would the situation have been different if we'd had another 10 years of Labour government? Again, maybe, and yet maybe not. Would I be making the same criticisms if it had been a Labour government which made the same mistakes? You can absolutely bet your @rse I would. And just for good measure let's say that whatever government is in power had not made these mistakes, would that have improved the situation we're facing now? Well guess what: maybe, maybe not. Ultimately, political ideology, of any kind, does not trump science and evidence. An international health crisis does not mean that the government should no longer be held to account, so long as this does not impede or obstruct actions to solve/mitigate the crisis.
They've been doing that for years anyway, waiting times, ambulance response times, bed availability etc. They haven't even stopped while this is going on. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52191147 Well that didn't take long.
Another shipment of masks intercepted by the American. This time we're talking about 500 000 N95 destined to Ontario who has less than a week worth of them. Just for the records, 3M Canada produces the fabric used by 3M to make their bloody masks! I hope someone in the Gov is thinking about a takeover.
