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Original poster

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:
CeriseClementine · 15/04/2020 10:05

I think he’s done the best he can.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and he’s in the position of being unable to please everyone.

If he’d locked down when there were only a handful of CV cases in the UK people would be screaming about the overreaction putting people out of jobs and business for something the UK was largely unaffected by. The bloke literally can’t win.

Everyone (especially on MN) thinks they could have done a better job/made better decisions.

I don’t think anyone could have. I think he’s done pretty well with the shitty hand he was dealt.

DdraigGoch · 15/04/2020 10:09

If it were a war do you think there would be a lack of guns?
@joystir59 anything the public sector is involved in the procurement of is likely to go wrong. Plenty of equipment issues in the armed forces.

Lynda07 · 15/04/2020 10:11

AnyOldSpartabix Wed 15-Apr-20 10:05:43
He’s an arrogant man, born into extreme privilege, who appears to have no empathy for anyone outside of his own privileged circle. I suspect he wanted power, not to help others, but for its own sake, and because he felt it was some kind of birthright.
-
Bollox to that. Don't be such a defensive snob! Have you seen his dad, Stanley? You'd never say that about him.

Boris is an almost-upper class twit and buffoon but having caught coronavirus, life will have changed for him. illness is a great leveller.

Doesn't mean his politics will improve but fair's fair.

ChocolateQuiltedShitPig · 15/04/2020 10:12

This has to be a joke?

Peregrina · 15/04/2020 10:12

Those saying it serves him right, that he caught the virus, are total morons.

I think there has only been one poster like that. If someone plays with fire, gets warned that they might get burnt, then does get burnt, most people would manage to suppress an "I told you so", but wouldn't have much time for people who tried to say that fire didn't burn or only sometimes burnt, or it was unlucky that this person got burnt.

I agree that this would be a challenge for any PM, but Johnson in his vanity has surrounded himself with apparatchiks or place-men and not sought out the best people for the jobs.

Joliany · 15/04/2020 10:13

Looking at the shower of shite that labour has become, I'm glad Boris got in. And I'm glad he's getting better now. I dread to think what a mess labour would have made of this if they had got in. Labour have gone completely downhill since the infiltration by the woke. No thanks.

Vanhi · 15/04/2020 10:15

No one saw this coming and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy to be honest

There have been epidemics and pandemics throughout human history. This one was so predictable that governments throughout the world had disaster plans for it. We've already been through flu epidemics and corona virus epidemics in the last 20 years. Governments knew what would be needed. There is no excuse for the lack of preparedness for this.

He must have thought it was going to be relatively easy

Anyone who thinks leading a country of 67 million people is going to be any degree of easy is either very naive or extremely arrogant. Neither of these are traits to look for in a leader.

brexit was almost over

It had barely begun. Negotiating the exit deal is just the start.

then the world fell into one of the biggest disasters in recent history

If you take on the job of prime minister, you have to accept that anything might come your way. It's part of the job and as I said above, this was a predictable part. We know how diseases spread, we know that viruses mutate. We know that if epidemics are uncontained they become pandemics. If he didn't want to lead during a crisis, he shouldn't have tried to lead at all.

And whilst I wouldn't wish this illness on anyone, I just bear in mind that if I die of COVID 19 Mr Johnson will not give one shiny shit. I don't really see the point in feeling sentimental about someone who thought watching thousands die would be 'taking it on the chin'.

christmassausages · 15/04/2020 10:16

Serious question. Was the NHS well funded under Labour?

Peregrina · 15/04/2020 10:19

If he’d locked down when there were only a handful of CV cases in the UK people would be screaming about the overreaction putting people out of jobs and business for something the UK was largely unaffected by.

Testing? More Testing? And even more testing? Even now they are not doing all that many tests. Tracing contacts and isolating them?Learning lessons from Taiwan and South Korea? There are things they could have done if they weren't so arrogant.

1forsorrow · 15/04/2020 10:19

If he’d locked down when there were only a handful of CV cases in the UK people would be screaming about the overreaction putting people out of jobs and business for something the UK was largely unaffected by. The bloke literally can’t win. The week of the Cheltenham Festival everyone was saying he should it down, it was on here, TV interviews etc. Top flight football and rugby cancelled matches that weekend due to the threat of spreading the infection. Maybe footballers really are worth the money they get paid, they can read a situation better than the PM. We should all thank them as if those matches had gone ahead we would likely be in a worse position.

peperethecat · 15/04/2020 10:20

Those saying that he has been incompetent, in the way he has dealt with things, do you really think that he made these decisions by himself? If you do, then you are really giving him a lot more credit than you should. What does he really know about the virus and how to deal with it? The answer is very little!

The same applies to any world leader and yet others are dealing with this much better. Look at Angela Merkel, Leo Varadkar, Jacinda Ardern. Look at South Korea's response. All of them took it much more seriously at an earlier stage. Even accounting for factors like population density, the UK's death toll is really not great, and it's continuing to climb, whereas even Italy, Spain and France seem to be flattening the curve somewhat.

He has taken advice from the ‘experts’ on how to best deal with this. The same experts who would be giving, whichever PM and party was in power, advice!

Has he though? He seems to have ignored quite a lot of it. Or at least delayed acting on it, which will have cost lives.

Personally, I think we should all be very grateful that we haven’t got an idiot like Trump calling the shots!!

I'm not sure there's all that much difference between them. Compared to most other EU leaders, Jacinda Ardern, Justin Trudeau etc, I'd say he has more in common with Trump.

1forsorrow · 15/04/2020 10:21

Serious question. Was the NHS well funded under Labour? How far back do you want to go to try and defend them?

PicturesOfCats · 15/04/2020 10:21

Labour funded the NHS with today’s money.
It might have received super satisfaction surveys at the time, but I don’t think they cares then that we’d still be paying for it now.
Neither them or the tories have ever funded the NHS properly.
One scrimps and saves, the other begs and borrows, and we’ll worry about it tomorrow

Youcunnyfunt · 15/04/2020 10:22

I don’t feel sorry for him at all. He’s wanted the bloody job for years, this is what it entails! Leading the country, come what may.
I felt (slightly) bad for him getting the virus, but that was also his own fault by his own admission... Mixing company and shaking hands with infected people (exactly what we are being told not to do!), so it was of his own making.

redcarbluecar · 15/04/2020 10:22

I would never say ‘it serves him right’ (about any ill person) but there’s no need for sentimentality about BJ. He is a ruthless, power-hungry individual who has got what he wanted. He and his government should be held accountable for their actions and their response to this crisis in every appropriate way, just as any government would be.

BoingBoingyBoing · 15/04/2020 10:22

I'm not glad he got sick, because ultimately he is a human being and I wouldn't wish illness on anyone.

Apart from that.... fuck no.

He WANTED to be PM. He WANTED the shitshow that was and is brexit, and although he didn't ask for a pandemic, if he can't cope when things go south he can fucking resign and live off his trust fund. The country would be a better place if he did, the bumbling idiot.

1forsorrow · 15/04/2020 10:23

Do people really think the scientific advice was, "You have to do this this and this and don't do that that and that." Or do you think it was more likely to be, "If you do this then this is likely to happen but that could happen and if you do that we hope this will happen but it isn't guaranteed." and he then chose which bits to follow?

peperethecat · 15/04/2020 10:24

Labour funded the NHS with today’s money.

Whilst this is not great as an economic strategy, it's better than funding Brexit with tomorrow's money, which is what the Tories have done.

cryinglightning · 15/04/2020 10:24

I'm no Conservative and I dislike Boris.

However, he is a politician who is having to manage his country through a severe pandemic. I would feel sorry for anyone in that extremely difficult position.

NiteFlights · 15/04/2020 10:24

Everyone (especially on MN) thinks they could have done a better job/made better decisions.

I don’t think this is true. A lot of people are saying they think the PM and the government could have done a better job & made better decisions, though.

Vanhi · 15/04/2020 10:25

I don’t think anyone could have. I think he’s done pretty well with the shitty hand he was dealt.

His party have been in power for 10 years now. If his hand was shitty, you might want to hold prior Tory governments to account for this. If you look at the transmission and death rates in other countries most are far lower. Demonstrably other people in other countries have done better, even when many other factors are comparable. We really need a strong press in the this country who will hold this man to account. The information is actually out there, but you won't find it in the UK press. You have to look further afield.

BananaChocolateLump · 15/04/2020 10:26

The man SHOOK HANDS with CORONAVIRUS PATIENTS.

If he didn't expect to catch it he is a damn fool. I'm glad he is alright and all that but he is a fucking idiot.

AnyOldSpartabix · 15/04/2020 10:26

Boris is an almost-upper class twit and buffoon but having caught coronavirus, life will have changed for him. illness is a great leveller.

I had quite a privileged life. Born to intelligent parents who had raised themselves up from working-class roots, I received a competent state education and got a university degree at a time when the state was still paying.

Three years ago, I became chronically sick. It was serious enough that I lost my good job and was briefly unemployed. Due to my privileged situation, I was offered another job fairly quickly. I now work in a factory on a production line alongside other decent people who have no qualifications, but are getting along as best they can.

Johnson was ill for a few days, received the best care, and has now been returned to his privileged life. The nation’s press are fawning over his recovery. You really think he’s suffered so much hardship it’s going to have any impact?

You call me a defensive snob. Well you can fuck right off with that.

FliesandPies · 15/04/2020 10:26

He just can’t catch a break!

Well he's currently having a nice break at a country mansion, seemingly relieved of any requirement to do the job he was elected to do. He's a selfish wanker and and a waster and apart from being glad he didn't die I have absolutely ZERO sympathy for him.

I reserve my sympathy for the people who have died and those suffering from 10 years of tory mismanagement of the country and the shocking mess they are making of dealing with CV

Stop fawning and use your intelligence.

christmassausages · 15/04/2020 10:27

@1forsorrow like I said, it was a serious question. I'm not accusing or defending anyone. Just seems that no matter which party is in government they are always wrong. Labour remembered for the 2009 crash. Torys remembered for Covid. Labour will be the next government until they have a major crisis and then the Torys will be back. Swings and roundabouts.