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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think Matt Hancock looks knackered

206 replies

chomalungma · 20/12/2020 10:26

Just watched Marr show
Tetchy, knackered
Obvious why - he must have an enormous workload and responsibility

But being knackered and tetchy can't be good for decision making.

OP posts:
millymollymoomoo · 20/12/2020 12:24

I think he refers in this and is delighted. Incompetent

millymollymoomoo · 20/12/2020 12:24

Revels not refers

Frazzled2207 · 20/12/2020 12:28

@Orf1abc

he’s just trying his best

His best is shit. He's still being reactive rather than proactive, every step is weeks too late. We need leaders that we can have confidence in, that people trust. Once you have that, you'll find the population far more compliant.

Agree. He's one of the better ones in government IMO. He is trying his best, but his best isn't good enough.

A good move would be to delegate properly - I don't see any evidence of him doing this.

But arguably he's got a tougher job than Boris right now.

edwinbear · 20/12/2020 12:33

Currently sat in gridlocked traffic for the Chichester test centre. We’ve driven 1.5 hrs from London, to get tested. Along with everyone else from T4 it seems, this was the closest place we could get one. This shit show is far from over.

Yohoheaveho · 20/12/2020 12:35

@FoxyTheFox

When this government won the election they had one goal, get Brexit over the line. Boris Johnson and the cabinet expected to get his oven ready deal done then ride out the rest of their term shaking hands with carefully selected well-wishers and staging photo ops. It was supposed to be a piece of piss. Boris Johnson would have then stepped down and gone off to a career on the lecture circuit, Gove would get his turn at being leader, and Rishi Sunak would start being groomed to be next in line. Instead Covid turned up and shat all over that plan, unfortunately the crisis required effective leadership and a competent, united government neither of which we have.
In a nutshell!
emeraldcity2000 · 20/12/2020 12:38

It's a shame boris had a cabinet made of blindly loyal idiots rather than the more talented members of the party.
It's also a shame boris and Hancock can't take decisive action. They wait until there is no alternative so they can blame the unprecedented circumstances rather than take accountability.
It's a shame they use endless sound bites to attack the opposition rather than engage in constructive debate - starmer isn't captain hindsight. He didn't want to 'inhumanly cancel Christmas' etc etc
And it's a shame they have lost the confidence of the public so they have to legislate rather than ask people to behave in the interests of society.

Theluggage15 · 20/12/2020 12:39

Oh poor Hancock. He’s absolutely useless, should have resigned months ago just like the rest of the useless idiots.

damnthemanatee · 20/12/2020 12:40

@Astressie

I think he looked extremely emotional as he did when they announced we had a vaccine. It must be taking a huge emotional toll on him and others in government knowing that their actions and inactions of having such a huge impact on people's lives. Just imagine deciding for millions of people they can't have Christmas. I think they have been crap but still have to be humane about how we feel for them!!
That fake crying about the vaccine was embarrassing!
optimisticpessimist01 · 20/12/2020 12:45

He looks absolutely knackered. For what its worth, I think he's an absolute wally but I don't think he's the worst out of them. I do genuinely think he's trying his best and doing what he believes (rightly or wrongly) is best for the country. What a time to be health minister.

ineedaholidaynow · 20/12/2020 12:47

What qualifications do you need to be a politician? Bearing in mind when they have a cabinet reshuffle they put people in very different roles, so they can’t have qualifications that suit all the roles they can end up having.

EvilPea · 20/12/2020 12:49

@ineedaholidaynow

What qualifications do you need to be a politician? Bearing in mind when they have a cabinet reshuffle they put people in very different roles, so they can’t have qualifications that suit all the roles they can end up having.
This is my issue with politicians. It’s bollocks. There is no other profession you can make decisions that are so consequential without having some training or knowledge it’s bollocks
LindaEllen · 20/12/2020 12:51

Of course he's knackered. I actually feel quite sorry for the government at the moment. Nothing they do is right (according to the social media scientists, at least).

Perhaps we should have locked down sooner and harder in March, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and you can guarantee people would have kicked off anyway if we'd approached lockdown the same way as other countries.

Also what people don't seem to understand is that unless you can eradicate the virus COMPLETELY, which is practically impossible seeing as not every single person can stay at home for two weeks, we will never get rid of it. We can lower the numbers with lockdowns and social distancing, but so long as there is one single person with the virus, it will spread again when the lockdown ends.

These lockdowns were never a method of eradication, simply a damage limitation as far as hospitalisations and deaths were concerned.

The only way we're getting back to normal is herd immunity, whether that's with the vaccine (preferable) or through so many people having had it already (which would obviously be dangerous to lots of people).

My assumption is that the most vulnerable will receive an annual vaccine, while the younger population will achieve herd immunity the natural way - as let's face it, there will never be time for everyone to get the vaccine, and by the time it gets to younger age groups, the older ones will need their next vaccine.

So yeah, I'm not bloody surprised he looks knackered. He has an impossible task on his hands, and I doubt anyone could have done any better.

EvilPea · 20/12/2020 12:54

Giving him the benefit of the doubt (which is probably more than he deserves)
We are assuming that Hancock is actually allowed to be proactive and is choosing to be reactive.

Maybe boris johnson isn’t allowing him to actually make the decisions that need to be made. I would love to hear wittys side.

thetoughhaveleft · 20/12/2020 12:54

I think the problem with this government's approach is that it's been half baked all the way. "Stay at home unless you can't" "don't travel abroad unless it's for work". The messages have been so half baked that "lockdowns" have been nowhere close to those that other countries have managed. Schools should not have gone back full time in September. Every graph I have seen shows clearly the rate amongst secondary age children and yet it's taken so long for even an admittance that schools are not Covid safe and that yes, children do get it and pass it on.

It's been a total farce and a bloody dangerous one as this implication is that so many people are now openly saying the won't follow the rules anymore because they don't believe in them. This government had to get the nation behind them. They had to act confidently and decisively. They had to be willing to make decisions that some people wouldn't like. They didn't and couldn't and here we are.

PhilCornwall1 · 20/12/2020 12:57
  • Just watched Marr show Tetchy, knackered Obvious why - he must have an enormous workload and responsibility*

The poor chap. Said no one ever.

nosswith · 20/12/2020 13:03

@EvilPea it will be interesting in a few years time to read Chris Whitty's account of how much his advice has been ignored.

As for Matt Hancock, he is out of his depth.

EvilPea · 20/12/2020 13:05

@nosswith
My thoughts exactly, he’s clearly a brilliant man and I genuinely trust him unlike the government

Yohoheaveho · 20/12/2020 13:06

He's out of his depth
I agree, but I also think he's in an impossible position, he has no choice but to be Boris's bitch, Boris will do everything he can to keep his own hands clean and push the dirt onto others

megletthesecond · 20/12/2020 13:20

He's out of his depth. But I think he's been in the middle of Johnson, Cummings, Whitty and Sunack who are fighting like cat and dog over what to do. I hope he spills the beans in the future.

He's a placemaker in that job because no one else will do it.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 20/12/2020 13:54

He could have been our PM...he was in the running for it.

PhilCornwall1 · 20/12/2020 14:11

@DobbyTheHouseElk

He could have been our PM...he was in the running for it.
That's more frightening than the one we have now!
onwheels · 20/12/2020 14:19

he sounded exhausted and defeated too.

IrmaFayLear · 20/12/2020 14:25

Agree with @LindaEllen .

Just when we have a tiny spot of light at the end of the tunnel, just a tiny one, the virus mutation hits us and we’ve slid all the way down the longest snake on the board.

And, just to let you know, every country similar to us is in a total pile of shit too. My family in north Italy have had “Christmas cancelled” and they have to show a permit to go anywhere in the town; they are banned from leaving their immediate locality.

chomalungma · 20/12/2020 15:36

I worry that someone who has to make important decisions that affect the lives of all of us is not 'at their best'.

I know that there is probably little rest and he gets no time out. But that can't be good for strategic decision making as it's often just reacting to new information and taking decisions when tired and angry.

Those aren't always the best decisions.

OP posts:
Backbee · 20/12/2020 15:42

They are human @chomalungma, I agree that they haven't done well during all of this and have made some ridiculous decisions, but what do you recommend to help them back to their best? Do we elect 2 of everyone in case?

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