To feel awful for Boris

[YouDoYou18]

A few people I know have said some awful things like ‘it serves him right’

I didn’t vote conservative, and to be honest I’ve never been a big fan of BJ himself.. but Christ do I feel awful for the poor man.

He must have thought it was going to be relatively easy, brexit was almost over and we just had to get through the last little bit and then the world fell into one of the biggest disasters in recent history...

He’s got to balance trying to save a big percentage of the population with making sure they have an economy to return to when this is over, he’s got to pull unprecedented amounts of money from thin air to support everyone through this time, everyone thinks they can do a better job and then to top it off he catches the virus himself and ends up hospitalised!

He just can’t catch a break! Whether you like him or not surely I’m not being unreasonable in feeling pretty bad for the guy?

Fair point bill.

Globalisation slows so we are not so reliant on other countries particularly for medicine and medical equipment

It’s globalisation that’s brought us the advances, though, so it’s not straightforward. I do agree with all your points, though.

Some countries gave fared better but I actually think Germany have skewed figures. The only country I feel have been amazing are South Korea

You can think what you like but there isn't a shred of evidence Germany has skewed its figures, they are, after 4 weeks, coming out of lockdown, their success is that they tested and traced and never gave up on that strategy, the UK in mid march, moved from community testing and focused entirely on the NHS and even then only partially.

We had a 3 week head start on Italy and wasted it, hence our death toll will exceed theirs and we are no nearer the 100k tests per day than we were at the beginning of the month, smaller labs still not being used, refusal to take part in international procurement programs.

But i guess the real difference between Germany and the UK is we have a PM on a zip wire and Germany has a former scientist in charge.

As I head past week 3 of recovering from the virus, still really quite exhausted but nevertheless having to work, do laundry, hoover, feed my family, help with home educating etc., I've decided that my answer is 'no, I don't feel sorry for Johnson'.

Being at a country mansion to rest and recover, bird watching by all accounts, having cooks and servants to do all the dreary daily living tasks, someone else looking after all my kids, lovely grounds, and comfortable and spacious living accommodation would be really quite appealing.

"But medical experts say another key factor is the number of hospitals in Germany. The country boasts a total of 497,000 hospital beds for general and acute care: by contrast, the UK has 101,255, 44 per cent fewer than it had in 1988. All three tiers of the German system — the big “maximum-care” and general care hospitals and the smaller, primary care facilities — have been treating Covid-19 patients, since even smaller institutions have intensive care units (ICUs)."

@DrBlackbird I see what you are saying but actually you are lucky to be able to do those things. I'm on day 28 after symptoms first appeared and I'm still really struggling to do anything much. I begrudge Boris many things, but not the chance to take the time he needs to recover. Quite a few people are still really quite poorly after 6 or 8 weeks.

@BillStickersIsInnocent... we have strict rules at our markets. It’s a fish market. Meat market. Fowl market. My father worked the markets.

The Chinese wet markets have dogs, cats, pangolin, alligator, wild cats...everything crushed together, in cages. They do not normally co-exist/share bacteria and viruses.

I’ve looked a at/listened to the news today. Matt Hancock and Jeremy Hunt. The UCL Prof. Anthony Costello. What come across over and over is lack of funding to nhs over a decade, lack of planning, strategy based not on scientific advice so much as an empty store cupboard (PPE/testing facilities). Germany has had fewer than 4K deaths. Everyone can request and get, a test. We can’t even test all those who work with the public never mind those who think they’ve had it.

Disgraceful.

And... we are STILL allowing thousands of people into the country from all over the world WITH NO QUARANTINE... just allowed to disperse into the community.

And... we are STILL allowing thousands of people into the country from all over the world WITH NO QUARANTINE... just allowed to disperse into the community

That bears repeating

Porcupine it's not nice and I hope you feel better soon. I still don't feel sorry for Boris Johnson who was recently photographed whilst strolling along a canal path walking his dog with Carrie. That doesn't seem to be in struggling territory to me.

Now is the time to hear that he's working on his Red Boxes - not the time when he was in hospital and supposedly at death's door!.