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Original poster

To feel sorry for Boris Johnson

325 replies

LonerGirl · 28/03/2020 21:13

I know people didn’t have a high opinion of him, tbf neither did I before this, but he’s doing his best. He’s doing what experts are advising him to do. He’s ordered temporary hospitals to be built & thousands of ventilators, asked for help through NHS volunteering.

I think he’s coping okay despite his wife being pregnant too, now he’s unwell himself.

What are your opinions?

I don’t want any fights or arguments I’m
Just curious to what others are thinking

OP posts:
Flowersforpowers · 29/03/2020 14:26

I think he's terrified - he's wanted to be PM since he was a boy and has thought it would be jolly good fun, without any obvious consideration of the shitty side of it. Now he's PM at one of the most difficult times in history! I'm very glad he's dropped all the crap about civil servants and realised he needs to listen to experts and do what they advise.

Helpmechangemymindsetplease · 29/03/2020 14:30

Ah, of course - if you can’t win the game, blame the rules! Very mature.

I am aware that FPTP is the “game” - I am also not a Labour or Tory voter.

However it remains true that the majority of the voting population did not vote for the Tory party and Boris Johnson.

DGRossetti · 29/03/2020 14:33

DGR you should know by now that it's heresy in certain parts of MN to say that Dunkirk was not our finest moment! Hot coals will be heaped on your head when you say that militarily it was a rout. Obviously getting the personnel involved back was a huge achievement.

Well, yes. But you have to ask why it was needed in the first place. At which point the room goes quiet. It was only needed because of the utter incompetence of the top brass.

Helpmechangemymindsetplease · 29/03/2020 14:33

No government could have been prepared for this.

This is not true - the writing was on the wall from the end of last year. Our government could have been better prepared than it was / is.

And places like South Korea show what might have been possible.

Helpmechangemymindsetplease · 29/03/2020 14:34

Being critical of the government also doesn’t mean that people are not complying with the rules / volunteering etc... Why this thread would have to be pulled - on what basis?

Tigerty · 29/03/2020 14:36

I hope Boris and everyone else who has covid-19 get better with the minimum of suffering. He’s followed the advice of scientists who had to recalculate quickly once Italy began to be overwhelmed. Then again once more data came in.

I’m sure once this is over then with hindsight some things would be done differently but I do believe they were doing what they thought was best based on the evidence at that point in time.

DameXanaduBramble · 29/03/2020 14:39

@beautifulteeth - so people don't agree with your brown nosing of the PM? Get over it. Boris is a prize twat.

DGRossetti · 29/03/2020 14:40

No government could have been prepared for this.

Bollocks. Planning for disasters of any stripe is what governments are paid for.

If I can put a line into a Business Continuity Plan for alien invasion (which ironically would have presumed a similar scenario to now) then surely the highly paid ministers who rule over us could have done similar ?

It's not as if a worldwide pandemic hasn't been warned of for years anyway. It was James Burkes #1 "threat to mankind" in 1998, for example. (From memory, it was the only serious threat too).

If anyone - anyone - is even mildly surprised that in a world were we shuttle(d) people around the globe willy nilly - a pandemic arose, then they clearly weren't looking at the evidence.

See also: climate change.

Going back - into my history, we were told the government had planned for a nuclear war and the millions of deaths that would bring. This should really be a walk in the park compared with that. Especially as the nuclear "preparations" essentially involved counting the dead and dying since you couldn't treat them.

jasjas1973 · 29/03/2020 14:47

On a human level i wish him well but the tory administration since 2010 have not planned for this whatsoever and this will lead to extra deaths, which they wont be accountable for, same as all the deaths caused by austerity or all the women denied a refuge after they closed them down.

So no, don't feel sorry for him at all, especially as he will have access to care that few of us will ever get (rightly so, as he is PM)

Peregrina · 29/03/2020 14:49

You can moan about the Tories and Johnson all you like but it doesn’t change the fact they were and still are, the least worst option.

But they could certainly find someone better to lead - rather than a man who chose to stay on holiday when the crisis was brewing. Sunak appears competent. Julian Smith as Sec of State for NI was accepted as having done a good job, in what must be one of the more challenging Govt posts. Even Jeremy Hunt appears to have grasped the measure of the crisis unfolding. Just as well, considering that as a former Health Secretary he can take some responsibility for the state the NHS is in.

Peregrina · 29/03/2020 14:55

Especially as the nuclear "preparations" essentially involved counting the dead and dying since you couldn't treat them.

Those of my age may well recall the Govt leaflet "Protect and Survive." It's a pity I haven't kept a copy. It was a joke. I recall it told you to take a door off its hinges and shelter under that. Yes, right.

SerendipityJane · 29/03/2020 15:00

You can moan about the Tories and Johnson all you like but it doesn’t change the fact they were and still are, the least worst option.

But as I noted, they are effectively bringing in parts of the Labour manifesto - a manifesto which the cheerleaders of democracy here will note was rejected last year.

Which means I think some people really need to ask themselves some searching questions about what they think they were voting for ? It clearly wasn't policies, was it. After all we're being repeatedly told how >90% of the public support the governments handling.

DGRossetti · 29/03/2020 15:05

Those of my age may well recall the Govt leaflet "Protect and Survive." It's a pity I haven't kept a copy. It was a joke. I recall it told you to take a door off its hinges and shelter under that. Yes, right.

You could buy dosimeters in Exchange and Mart, and I did make a crude Geiger counter in (extra curricular) electronics at school in 1981. I can't recall if they had a tube anyway, or it had to be ordered.

NBC suits were supposedly available. Impregnated with activated charcoal to absorb BC agents, and IIRC foil for alpha and beta radiation.

But it was more fallout that would kill - as we saw in Chernobyl. ingesting ionizing radiation isn't really recommended.

Bearbehind · 29/03/2020 15:26

But they could certainly find someone better to lead

PMSL at the irony of that comment

If Labour had found someone better to lead we probably wouldn’t even have a Tory government

Sunak is coming across very well but was an unknown during the Tory leadership contest. Johnson was the best of the Tory candidates once Rory Stewart was out of the running

I don’t think Johnson is the best leader we could have and I do wish he’d stop with his mantras as, like I said previously, I feel he’s cried wolf by doing that with ‘Take back control’ and ‘Get Brexit done’

Now it’s actually really serious, he just comes across as insincere

Having said that, I fail to see what continually slagging off everything the government does, actually achieves

These are completely unprecedented times and only hindsight will be able to tell us if the right moves were made

Bearbehind · 29/03/2020 15:31

But as I noted, they are effectively bringing in parts of the Labour manifesto - a manifesto which the cheerleaders of democracy here will note was rejected last year.

Eh? The current government is taking drastic action to keep the economy going during the largest global pandemic most of us have ever seen and which we all will be repaying for a long time to come

How is that remotely comparable with Labour’s manifesto?

And even if you believe it is comparable, all it proves is Labour planned to get the country into massive debt that would need to be repaid at some point

SerendipityJane · 29/03/2020 15:35

And even if you believe it is comparable, all it proves is Labour planned to get the country into massive debt that would need to be repaid at some point

Well, the Tories have saved them the bother, haven't they ? ... luckily they were elected not to drag the country into debt etc etc.

Bearbehind · 29/03/2020 15:38

luckily they were elected not to drag the country into debt etc etc.

FFS - they literally can’t win can they?

What would you prefer they did?

Left all of those who’ve got no work now with no income at all?

The UK have one of the most generous support packages in the world and even that’s not enough for the Tory bashers

Freshairimportanttoo · 29/03/2020 15:52

Yes I have feel sorry for him and I think he has been let down by Sir Partick and his models.
Something has been stuck in government, late to order ppe, late tomorrow order ventilators. Sloppy.
No boarding cards for new arrivals, no contract tracing. I think when this is over we will find out sir Patrick has been grossly negligent because he set such a defeatist relaxed tone... Esp with regards to race meets.

One week we are being told the risk of infection is very small from 70 thousand people mixing at Cheltenham, in schools, 7 thousand fans mixing at Liverpool /Madrid.
The next, people are being slammed and vilified for going into a park. Hmm

People who had been forced into cramped school corridors etc.

rwalker · 29/03/2020 15:53

I feel sorry for anyone in that role constantly in the firing line .
Everybody an expert on what they should do all based on half truths, unconfirmed press stories and policy bitterness .

Gilead · 29/03/2020 16:17

interesting article

DameXanaduBramble · 29/03/2020 16:19

@rwalker. Oh give over. They actively courted attention.

Bargebill19 · 29/03/2020 16:22

I’m pleasantly surprised with how the government as a whole is coping. Not sure any other parties would be doing as well - certainly they wouldn’t be doing better.

Helmetbymidnight · 29/03/2020 16:32

I'm appalled at him - and I hoped he'd deal with this better - but true to form he hasn't.

We're about to lose thousands and thousands of people - and you know what, many of them will be NHS workers who don't have the right protection. And you know in other countries they ARE wearing protective clothing. Not here, though, not here. He is not following WHO's advice and we're all going to suffer for it - and still the ill-informed will be like, ooh but he's such a nice fella.

The NHS are crowd-funding for equipment ffs. They were offered ventilators, but no, they've decided to ask mate James Dyson to make them. Better British than Eu, eh.

He's a liar, a crook, a con-man, a cheat - but oh, he comes across so nicely.

Needmoresleep · 29/03/2020 16:40

Helmet, who would you prefer to be running the country.

Genuinely interested. Boris would not have been my first choice. But he does seem to be listening to scientists and medics.

Bearbehind · 29/03/2020 16:41

helmet do you have sources for any of the above or is it all just hearsay and adding your own embellishment to stories?