Where is Boris??

[SubjectMatterExpert]

Have we had any update on his condition?? I would have expected him to do video/Skype briefings if he is only mild? How long has it been now??

More to the point is, where is the Queen and how is she?

I think Boris has done a good job. Followed the science.

Of course there’s a shortage of PPE and testing kits - we didn’t know this was coming, it’s not like we had thousands in storage sitting ready and everyone else in the world is after the same stuff. Simple supply chain logistics, not the governments fault.

He didnt follow the science. Saying the words we followed the science doesn't make it true.

I am an 8 foot tall giraffe. I can say it. Doesn't make it true.

They have wilfully underfunded the NHS, ignored experts who told them we were ill equipped for a respiratory pandemic. They failed to make suitable plans every step of the way. Everything has been too little too late. That many other governments haven't done much better isn't an excuse.

And they did know this was coming! In general and this particular one. We had time. They squandered it.

He can say all the things about the equipment but I wish he would bloody apologise for all the merciless cuts to the NHS and for the failure to start getting ready for this properly in January!!!

I started giving my son his top dose of asthma preventer meds in January so I am pretty sure the government were given ample warning and just chose to ignore it.

@PianoTuner567 the likelihood (inevitability I would say) has been there since late Jan/early Feb.

And emergency planners have had "pandemic" as the highest risk (in terms of both likelihood and severity of impact) for over a decade! it was covered in every emergency plannjng course I went on (am a "reserve" for emergency planning responses albeit on the paperwork side of things). Emergency planners have been tracking this since the start of the new year at least. The government had plenty of time if they had wanted it. We should all be furious with them right now.

More importantly, where is Chris Whitty the CMO finally paralysed from head to foot by botox. You've seen him in the ads? 9nly his mouth moves.

I think he looked unwell and I know the armchair experts on here could do better but he's doing well for an experienced politician trying to make sure he has the best advice at all times.
He must be exhausted and that won't be helping him recover
Jeremy Corbyn on the other hand obviously doesn't have to take the same protective steps as other people his age because he's Corbyn.

It’s all so easy from your armchair isn’t it?

They ‘knew’ in late January - what did they know? A new virus was circulating in China and starting to spread overseas a bit. Just like bird flu, swine flu, SARS.....but looks a bit more infectious. China is secretive and unreliable with their data. On 31 Jan, China says it has around 11,000 cases and 250 deaths - in a population of 1.3bn. Several other countries have a handful of cases, brought by travellers from China. One case in the UK.

Are you suggesting at this point the UK government should have ordered millions of pounds worth of PPE, testing kits, ventilators and the rest of it? Or would you wait and see a bit rather than spending all that taxpayers money?

You might’ve done the former but it certainly wasn’t unreasonable to do the latter.

The idea that Boris should not be criticised is frankly bonkers. He is PM. It’s as if some people experience some trauma bonding or something? Is it a form of S ET lad protection? ...just blindly accepting that he is doing the best thing???

SubjectMatterExpert yes he is PM so it's ultimately his responsibility, but that isn't the same as 'all his fault'. As for doing the right thing that's impossible to know until afterwards when you can post on a forum what you would have done.

Not good enough. Most people aren't on Twitter. I can't put into words how badly I think he's managed this all.

You want him to roll himself out, to give a Downing Street briefing in front of a press corps?

You do realise this isn’t just a mild flu?

It’s one thing to criticise if you think he has dealt with it badly so far, but to suggest he isn’t doing enough at a time when he is actually sick, and has other people who can take over in his absence is ridiculous. If he ends up in hospital, do you want a video of him from his ICU bed?

I actually think him dragging himself out of his sick bed to do this sort of stuff sends a very dangerous message to the nation. Especially to the employers who take the attitude that people should just soldier on. “Well, Boris is managing to do his job, what do you mean you aren’t available to do a four hour conference call this afternoon”

PianoTuner - they knew in January that China had started to panic and was going to extreme measures to contain the virus; they knew at that point that it had already spread overseas; they knew that other countries in the region with experience of recent respiratory viruses were beginning to panic and take extreme measures, too; they knew it was propaganda to say the NHS was well prepared, given the warnings we had had all winter prior to that point had been that there was insufficient capacity in the NHS to cope with a winter crisis (ie more flu cases than usual, let alone a worldwide pandemic of a novel virus that nobody knew how to treat effectively). So there is certainly scope to argue they were frighteningly slow to catch on to what was happening.

The most worrying thing about all this, though, is not this country’s reaction, it’s the lack of worldwide co-ordination. How can we trust there will continue to be food and supplies when we are utterly reliant on the rest of the world to sustain our lives? We don’t produce enough food or other things to survive on our little island without the rest of the world functioning.

"Mild" covers a lot of ground w CORVID 19. I am a mild case, I have been in bed for 15 days now and am nowhere near better.

Mammamia2020 - I'm not on Twitter, but I saw the video on the BBC website. I don't think the PM would be allowed to have a cameraman and a sound recordist in his vicinity at the moment for a proper broadcast. He's using the medium available to him surely?

Pahaha... of course he has the IT to give a brief to us. No one is asking for a ‘4 hour conference call’ are they @MintyMabel

@LastTrainEast and no one has said ‘it is all his fault’

@PickAChew I guess you are a supermodel with an Nobel level intelligence in perfect heath with no stress at work otherwise where the fuck do you get off criticising someone for their appearance, not least a person working really hard to help the country like that? Are you that shallow?

Jeez I'm no fan of Boris but I'd like to see people on here working and broadcasting themselves when they feel like utter shit. He is ill, give the man a break!

It doesn't take a genius to have looked at the news in January and seen what's happened in Wuhan, and -if your job was running the country- thought shit this is a contagious illness and we're having flights in from there, what should we do to start to prepare. That's a basic.

We're better off without Boris.

Let him take to his bed and get better. The grown ups can sort it out without him.

If he can't run the country he should have a top quality back up team who can It's no good just saying he's ill. He filled his cabinet with second rate yes men and this is the result.

He filled his cabinet with second rate yes men and this is the result.

And one grade A psychopath, don't forget the psychopath.

No one is asking for a ‘4 hour conference call’ are they @MintyMabel**

How do you know that? You think all bosses are being fair to employees?