To think that a personality cult has developed around Boris Johnson?

[Applejaxx]

I know this sounds completley ridiculous but have a quick look around social media and in particular Twitter, and you will see a disturbing number of people with lots of union flags in their twitter handle name who effectively think that the sun shines out of his arse, that he can do no wrong and that any justifiable criticism of his or his governments handling of the current crisis is part of a massive 'leftie' conspiracy against him.

They are terrified of 'lefties's and 'liberals' and think all of the media are out to get Boris and his government, it is just bat shit. Its not just Twitter either, I had to unfriend someone on Facebook after they told me that I should 'show Boris some fucking respect' a few weeks ago. This was after I'd shared something criticising his handling of the pandemic. Thankfully it was somone I don't really know that well and never have to see again, but still!

If im honest it all a bit disturbing. Its reminscent of a personality cult IMO, 'how dare you disrespect our glorious leader'.

Judging by this morning's Daily Mail, I guess the next difficult questions will be why are people being turned away from the new Nightingale hospitals?

The Daily Mail and the Sun seem to be asking awkward questions. And normally they are cheerleaders for Boris.

When the Express turns, we know things are bad

I am glad we have the journalists who do hold this Government to account. You mean like Piers Morgan? He's the one roasting politicians on GMB.

If you had your way, we’d have been holding public inquiries and sacking the Prime Minister during the Blitz!

Good point... oh hang on! we did sack the PM in the May of 1940...... thank goodness for all those hindsight Generals eh? lol!

We can do 100,000 tests per day. That's what we said we would. Ignoring the fact that we can't get the people who need the tests to the test centres.

Perhaps you missed yesterdays press conference where Matt Hancock said there'll be home tests for people in care homes etc who can't get to the centres.

Perhaps you missed yesterdays press conference where Matt Hancock said there'll be home tests for people in care homes etc who can't get to the centres

Because there have been questions about it.
And they have been challenged on it.

The Mumsnet Remainer Labourites are back in full cry.
Anyone who supports the government is deluded stupid and shouldn't be allowed to vote.
Carry on, that attitude's worked well in the past.

They’re really testing that “definition of insanity” thing to destruction, aren’t they?

One more push, comrades!

And we will see it when it happens..

The next question is how reliable the RT-PCR tests actually are.

Because it seems that there is a question of false negatives - due to the test components.

Perhaps you missed yesterdays press conference where Matt Hancock said there'll be home tests for people in care homes etc who can't get to the centres

When? he promises a lot and delivers little.

That will require either the Govt knowing where to send the tests or people applying for them, neither ideal.
Perhaps it might be better to have more test centres? say at every hospital?

Seems like there are a bunch of Brexit watchmen on this site making sure no one questions our dear leader or points out when the govt are lying through their teeth.
I wonder if they wear berets at their keyboards and keep flowcharts of peoples political persuasions 👀

You mean like Piers Morgan? He's the one roasting politicians on GMB

I wonder who will be the politician on the 1st May on that programme if they don't deliver 100,000 tests (which is not 100,000 people) by the end of April.

Will they draw lots?

Cummings does want an “internet army” to defend dear leaders reputation but I think he was fantasising about youthful fey nerds who could hack and destroy his critics not a bunch of decrepit farts harping on about the war.

not a bunch of decrepit farts harping on about the war.

Most of our large European neighbours - Germany is the exception - have much higher death rates per capita than we do: France, Italy, Spain, and Belgium too

Four countries that also got it wrong - and even having watched them get it wrong, the UK government refused to see that there were 'lessons to be learned.'

There is no point just comparing the UK with the countries that have been as bad as the UK at tackling the virus. Anyone who wants to improve, whether it is an individual, a business, a health service or a government, needs to look at what their successful peers are doing and learn from them. Being less-crap than your worst peers is nowhere near the same as being good, or even good enough, and no grounds for complacency.

But Sweden has done herd immunity and it seems to be working.
Boris tried it here, numbers went up, he had to resort to lockdown.
Had his plan worked we would all be saying how great he was to not have over reacted.
Another case of this is something new, that no one way is the grail.

That 'brilliant article' is harking back to when we had censored press in this country, Cendrillon. Is that what you're advocating? Churchill should have been sacked, he was an utter shitshow.

Another case of this is something new, that no one way is the grail

Agreed.

We were promised 100,000 tests by the end of April.
They haven't materialised yet.
The testing capacity has been shown to have issues in people getting to them.

Journalists have questioned this.

This is being looked at.

Do you agree that it is good that Governments are held to account for promises they make?

And challenged when their promises are broken?

And since you all love that cosy war bollocks, we're nearly matching the death rate of the Blitz

Churchill should have been sacked, he was an utter shitshow

Like I said before, thank God we had people like him, and not people like you

I'm looking forward to seeing how Keir Starmar fares today at PMQ. He's a highly experienced human rights barrister so he should be in his element, I think.

He's a highly experienced human rights barrister so he should be in his element, I think.

Yep, he’ll sue the virus for damages in no time flat...

Like I said before, thank God we had people like him, and not people like you

If we are going to talk about the war, then you will know that it was the pilots of the RAF who played a major role in keeping the Germans at bay after the defeat at Dunkirk.

Then we had the fall of Singapore - a major fuck up, when we lost the Malay peninsula against the Japanese - we sent troops there that surrendered a few days after arrival.

But yes - good at speeches and not giving up.

But meanwhile, back to what the Government is doing now

And not to forget so appreciated by the troops they kicked him out at the first opportunity.

@CendrillonSings

Regardless of which party we're supporting, we need a good opposition to push for answers about what the government is doing. We didn't have that before because the Labour Party were focused on choosing a new leader. Now that we have an opposition leader, who appears to be competent, hopefully he will do a good job when it comes to seeking answers about residential home deaths and testing.

I wasn't making a political point there (although admittedly I've never been a Tory supporter. It's in everyone's interests to have a strong opposition to hold the government to account.

Interestingly - Churchill wanted to be on the ships when they attacked on D Day.

Just to see what was going on - and to be part of it.

It took the King to persuade him that was a damn stupid idea

Churchill was also a harsh critic of the Government during the pre-war years - and was warning people that war was inevitable and we should prepare.

His warnings were ignored. He was a journalist during the pre - war years - no doubt some people on here would have criticised him for criticising the Government of the day.

Meanwhile the first person that Johnson phoned on feeling better was Trump, in order to update him on the latest Exit Strategy - i.e. Johnson's own personal exit strategy. He too has a 6-point plan;

1. Stay out of Parliament / press conferences / public eye etc for as long as possible, except to do some more photo ops where he claps and praises the NHS staff for being heroes by managing not to die whilst on the job,
2. Early June: Cuddle latest squeeze and look doe-eyed at new sprog - 'The Child He Feared He'd Never See' (Daily Mail, Telegraph, Sun, Express etc) - another great hospital-based photo op here too,
3. Late June: Tell the EU to bugger off, he won't agree to the Brexit extension (that they never asked for),
4. 4th July: Joint announcement from Johnson and Trump triumphally declaring the Anschluss, sorry 'Free Trade Agreement,' between the USA and Johnson's backers.
5. Late July: Announce that due to ongoing effects of Coronavirus, and having achieved the twin goals of Brexit and the USA FTA, he wants to devote more time to the things that he values in life - and is therefore resigning with immediate effect,
6. Autumn 2020: Relocation to New York, where he can support Trump's election campaign, write fantasy columns for the Telegraph criticising the EU and the new PM Gove as the UK descends into chaos -and where he can milk the lecture circuit for even more millions.