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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To feel awful for Boris

410 replies

YouDoYou18 · 15/04/2020 07:08

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?

OP posts:
LivingOnAnIsland · 15/04/2020 08:55

First time I've ever heard of sheep bullying

Perhaps you've never been in a primary school playground.

60sPony · 15/04/2020 08:57

I have absolutely no sympathy for him at all. It is likely that if he had been admitted as late to A&E as members of the general public are he would be dead right now. He is very lucky that an institution he and his party have celebrated underfunding gave him special treatment.

YinMnBlue · 15/04/2020 08:58

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

Oh FGS. It had only just started.

Boris was already walking into a disaster. Brexit isn’t just dotting the i s and crossing the t s, they’re is mountains of negotiating, financial and legal arguments to be had, Ireland, Scotland, and then the ongoing fall out.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe · 15/04/2020 08:58

I don't feel sorry for him, no. He wanted the job, angled for it for years and he got it. He's not going to save the country, none of our current politicians seem capable or even motivated to do that.

When his term is over, he's alight Jack.

So no, I don't feel sorry for him. I feel nothing but respect and admiration for everybody rushing around trying to pull their own corners together, with none of his wealth and privilege.

BubblesBuddy · 15/04/2020 09:00

I do think we needed centres of excellence though where clinicians work together and learn from each other. Outcomes for patients are nearly always better. So travelling can be awkward for some but I would much rather have a centre of excellence than some local outpost with no expertise and equipment.

I also think this crisis will tell us we have expected too much from the NHS. Visits to A&E and even quite a few GP appointments were not always necessary. My GP prescribe has used phone consultations for years but plenty don’t. We need a service that works smarter and a public that understands how to value it. Not be clapping but by actions.

No politicians will be able to give us everything. The NHS will consume more and more and more and with the country now in the state it is, I think a re-evaluation of services is now due. All governments put off the difficult choices and there never has been a time in my life time that people haven’t moaned about funding. It really isn’t just the last 10 years.

Peregrina · 15/04/2020 09:02

First time I've ever heard of sheep bullying

Wasn't Margaret Thatcher brought down by bullying from a dead sheep, otherwise known as Douglas Howe?

MarthasGinYard · 15/04/2020 09:03

I get what you are saying Op

Quite like Bojo though

Laaf80 · 15/04/2020 09:04

I feel sorry for any leader dealing with this right now regardless of what colour rosette they wear.

However Johnson wanted this job and lied and schemed to get it.

I still cannot get over how he regards CSE investigations as spaffing money up a wall. His disregard for people is astounding this includes his children (how many?) ex wife and his partner (remember the domestic?)

And now he is responsible for us all.

I’ll save my picaninny water melon smile, just now and feel sympathy for the country.

For those facing this awful disease, for those being lied to, for those being failed by our current society and for those who are scared as we do not trust our leaders.

We can and have been better than this. What future do we face now Sad

If that makes me a snow flake lefty then so be it.

TheLadyAnneNeville · 15/04/2020 09:09

I don’t think it’s personal. I’m pleased he is recovering. However, the NHS and social care could barely cope with the usual winter flu, thanks to Cameron/Osborne, Hunt, May ... basically austerity. Ten years of cuts to ALL services have meant we are not in any position to cope with this.

Also, the PPE scandal to come will be spun and whitewashed into oblivion. I dislike what the Tories have done. What they are. A Communities and Housing Minister with a multimillion pound property portfolio, taking money from the tax payer to cover the cost of a “second residence” for work purposes...when he COULD live in or near his constituency but refuses to (he said he’d move there BEFORE he won his seat). No, Conservatism is not for me.

jasjas1973 · 15/04/2020 09:18

He and his party didn't feel sorry for that guy who died because he lost his benefits and couldn't keep his insulin chilled or the mental ill denied treatment who then top themselves.

And they certainly didn't feel sorry for all the NHS staff who didn't get a pay rise from 2010, whilst they gave themselves double digit ones.. (they could have voted down the pay review bodies recommendation)

He wanted the job and can always resign and go live off his millions, topping it up with after dinner speeches at 200k per evening like Cameron did.

Porcupineinwaiting · 15/04/2020 09:19

Guess it's a good case of "be careful what you wish for".

HarrySnotter · 15/04/2020 09:21

@LivingOnAnIsland again, who is doing the bullying and who are they bullying?

Assuming you know the meaning of the word bullying.

RufustheLanglovingreindeer · 15/04/2020 09:21

No I don’t feel sorry for him

I am glad he is recovering

MrsNettle · 15/04/2020 09:23

If you are a leader, you take responsibility for your team's actions. Boris can't only get the prestige and nice stuff that comes from being a PM, he is now responsible for the failings too. So I can't feel sorry for him as a PM.
To the posters who said that NHS hasn't been underfunded and the government is handling it well:
-they refused to take part in bulk buying the PPE with the EU. Yes, there is a world wide demand but who do you think a manufacturer will prioritise when processing orders? A smaller order from the UK or a massive one from the EU?

  • when Italy and Spain were recording 900+ deaths a day, nobody said that they are handing it well. Our daily death toll is at that level now and (some) people think the government is doing a great job! What a disgusting think to say, especially to the families who have lost their loved ones. Some deaths could have been avoided.
  • tens of thousands of nursing vacancies has been unfilled for years yet nothing has been done in the last decade to fund nursing degrees to encourage more students
HannahStern · 15/04/2020 09:23

Boris relies on the fact that there are plenty of fools who will feel 'awful for him'.

RufustheLanglovingreindeer · 15/04/2020 09:23

You dont have to be a hard leftie to criticise Tories. I am fairly central in my politics

And this

Astrabees · 15/04/2020 09:23

I'm sorry he was ill, and wish him a good recovery. As far as he is personally concerned he is a serial adulterer, and was shagging around when his wife was having cancer treatment, don't get me started on the political side.

Vincent05 · 15/04/2020 09:25

He had warning back in January in the paper published in The Lancet by Chinese scientists about this potential pandemic, he did nothing. He is a victim of his own herd immunity bollocks. He will go down in history as the PM that killed granny!!!!

MaxNormal · 15/04/2020 09:25

Last little bit of Brexit? Oh god that's hilarious, he was about to drag us into an absolute mess, largely of his making. He then sat with his thumb up his arse doing nothing while the Covid juggernaut headed towards us at speed.

Kljnmw3459 · 15/04/2020 09:26

I'm glad he's recovering and look forward to seeing how he will handle the aftermath of all this.

luckylavender · 15/04/2020 09:26

@Peregrina - Geoffrey Howe

SemperIdem · 15/04/2020 09:29

I’m glad he is recovering because to wish death on the man is a bit much. But he does not have my sympathy for being in the job he is. It is the after all, what he has always wanted.

@Lexijayde44 who do you think is above Johnson in this scenario? The Illuminati?

CeibaTree · 15/04/2020 09:29

He is a classic case of 'be careful what you wish for' not in terms of getting C-19 of course, but his constant lying etc on his journey to becoming PM. I have no sympathy for him at all. Who I do have sympathy for are the families of people who have died due to the government's initial inaction, and NHS staff on the frontline without adequate PPE.

Zinniasout yes I agree it's ridiculous that he has gone to Chequers with Carrie apparently joining him, when they have a house in SW London where she had been self-isolating. So the choice clearly wasn't between 'a flat above no 10' or Chequers. Just another example of Boris' deception and fudging of the truth.

EggBaconBeans · 15/04/2020 09:31

Why on earth would you post this on such a left wing site?

The only responses you get will be exactly that. Haters will always hate.

I'm sure people do this just to stir up more nastiness.

FWIW I voted conservative and and was genuinely worried when Boris was in hospital.

The responses you get will be vile but thankfully this isn't representative in RL hence why Labour lost 80 seats at the last election and they simply can't get over it....

echt · 15/04/2020 09:31

I'm not sorry he's not dead, but he's a shite PM and is responsible for the COVID-19 fuck-up in the UK.

He has blood on his hands.

People are so confusing his close shave with death and his cynical twattery as a PM.