Boris is right

[redgin]

And I bet he's desperate to tell everyone to stop being stupidly selfish.

[MrsFezziwig]

I thought it was, on the whole, a good speech (though that’s more a compliment for the speech writer).

The only thing I thought would have been better expressed would have been to emphasise the potential damage to the economy if we get thousands upon thousands of cases of Covid. Judging from the threads on here, that would make more of an impression on people who clearly don’t give a toss about the elderly and vulnerable.

[nancy75]

It’s always been heading towards blaming us, he is a man that can’t & won’t put his hands up and admit he made grave mistakes from the start.

[nancy75]

I'd be really interested to know what you'd have done exactly?

I’d have looked at South Korea, a country with previous experience of controlling this type of viral outbreak.
I’d have looked at their test, track & trace, I’d even have spoken to the people that designed the app they use - bought it off them if necessary.
At the start we were in a good position - we had other countries that we could have learnt from.
Instead we have procurement of PPE to people that run a sweatshop & decided to come up with our own app - that we are still waiting for.

[CaptainNelson]

I'd be really interested to know what you'd have done exactly?
I'd have not pretended the pandemic wasn't coming in Jan/Feb and started sorting out testing labs and buying PPE
I'd have accepted that Brexit needed to go on hold and focussed on controlling the pandemic
I'd not have given huge contracts to companies just because they're mates with my mates, but actually used capacity being offered locally
I'd have not centralised everything but given local areas powers and capacity to set up testing, track and trace, etc
Shall I go on?

[MadameBlobby]

@redgin

And I bet he's desperate to tell everyone to stop being stupidly selfish.

He’s got a fucking cheek

[MadameBlobby]

@SomethingM1ss1ng

Looks like I need to watch his speech..never thought I’ll see a day when people think that Boris made sense

I wouldn’t waste the 5 minutes of your precious life on it. It was as much bumbling and bollocks as ever.

[Miljea]

The sound of a stable door slamming.

Is that you, Dominic?

[SonjaMorgan]

Going off topic, do you think he's had some highlights put in? It looks blonder than ever

Been in the sunshine 😉

I need some Italian sunshine!

[MadameBlobby]

I liked the prod at the those who have caused the breaches and not obeyed the rules in a sort of ‘yes, we are aware of you morons’ way.


Does this include his own adviser?

Honestly I despair if people watched that guff tonight and think it showed Boris as doing a good job.

[nancy75]

To continue what I’d have done - had the good sense to realise that any form of virus is probably going to be more dangerous to the elderly & thought about care homes. Carers spreading the virus is not something that was hard to predict.
I have a friend in her 70’s, husband with Alzheimer’s in February she cancelled all the carers that came in to their home because she was worried about them bringing the virus in. If a 75 year old woman can see this might be an issue why couldn’t our government?

[AlohaMolly]

I hate Boris and almost everything he stands for, but I thought his tone was much better tonight and there was a lot less bluster. I appreciated him (almost) talking to us like adults. I appreciated that it was mostly straight talking and only what, seven minutes long?

What I didn’t appreciate though is the very direct blaming of the public. Test and bastard trace!!! Wales and Scotland have a much better system because they didn’t outsource, and he knows it. I’m sure I heard the welsh health minister say ours has an over 90% success rate.

While I don’t envy his position and while I actually think the messaging for the summer was pretty good (the economy needed a massive boost while the sun shone etc) I think he suffers from a huge amount of British arrogance and can’t see beyond his own privilege a lot of the time, so giving his mates the contracts seemed like an ace idea at the time...

[FlyingFlamingo]

What would I have done, exactly?

Where do I even start? I wouldn’t have given the responsibility for testing, tracking and tracing to a woman who lost hundreds of thousands of people's data for a start. Then I wouldn’t have constantly called it the NHS Track and Trace so that the NHS get the blame for it being an absolute failure. Then I wouldn’t have stood up in parliament when asked about the failure of said project and said that the reason Italy and Germany are doing better than us is because we like freedom more

I would also have sacked my advisor who brazenly broke lockdown rules whilst actually suffering with coronavirus instead of defending him.

Then I may have avoided telling people to get back to work and changed my mind a few short weeks later.

I may also have considered extending the transition period so that in the middle of all this crap we didn’t also face food and medicine shortages.

I would also have taken the time at some point during the last 10 weeks to speak to the leaders of the devolved governments who are pretty pissed off that people in lockdown areas are allowed to travel out of those areas and into our non lockdown areas that until now had lower cases.

These are just a few things I may have done differently but give me time and I am likely to think of many more. Boris isn’t fit to lead a dog never mind a whole country and people are dying as a result. But yes, today he made a speech. Well done Boris

[MadameBlobby]

What happened to the world beating Track and Trace and Operation Moonshot?

Operation Cumshot still happening. Apparently.

[redlockscelt]

@treebarking

I agree. He said a lot of the things that needed to be said publicly.

At the end of everything that government says, does or not - it's on us to use common sense and have collective responsibility and stop trying to spite the government for not being perfect.

That's never going to happen

[AlohaMolly]

@CaptainNelson

I'd be really interested to know what you'd have done exactly?
I'd have not pretended the pandemic wasn't coming in Jan/Feb and started sorting out testing labs and buying PPE
I'd have accepted that Brexit needed to go on hold and focussed on controlling the pandemic
I'd not have given huge contracts to companies just because they're mates with my mates, but actually used capacity being offered locally
I'd have not centralised everything but given local areas powers and capacity to set up testing, track and trace, etc
Shall I go on?

I would go further back than Jan/Feb tbh. People on the prepper boards alerted me to it back then, so you can’t tell me that Boris didn’t have intelligence from China at least at Christmas 2019.

[nancy75]

Yes good point, I’d definitely have found time to hold a Cobra meeting since May ( perhaps just before I was on my way to the way to the airport in Perugia?)

[SonjaMorgan]

@MadameBlobby the bar has been set so low he could only improve.

[MadameBlobby]

What does it matter what I’d have done differently? What a stupid thing to say.

[MadameBlobby]

[quote SonjaMorgan]@MadameBlobby the bar has been set so low he could only improve.[/quote]
I wouldn’t bet on it

[Piggypower]

I actually agree. I swear at the screen pretty much every time he’s on but I thought his speech and delivery were pretty good. He could have kept his hands still but I’m sure there’ll be other opportunities for him to improve!

I think sadly a lot of people do need a bit of a kick up the backside. Yes cases won’t have been helped by EOTHO and getting back to work but these things were done as a part of a balancing act to help out the economy during a time when the risk of Covid was lower due to weather.
People have understandably become fatigued of social distancing and careless.

And it sucks balls but minimising social contact is one thing we can do that doesn’t screw the economy any further.

I get the impact on MH-mine is shot after lockdown but we need to be innovative and take enjoyment in what we can whilst getting our heads down for the long haul.

[redgin]

None of the things you suggest wouldve stopped it spreading though.

You have no idea.

[Unsure33]

I thought it was ok .
Just a note on the appalling media .

It is NOT a u turn if you do something you said you would do if the tide turns .

And other countries with different governments are struggling as well .

It’s easy to criticise ,but harder to give a better answer .

[compulsiveliar2019]

@redgin

What would I have done differently???

I'd have fired Cummings to start with.
I would have surrounded myself with competent people.
I would have made test and trace my absolute priority.
I wouldn't have created mass hysteria over this.
I wouldn't have discharge thousands of vulnerable and covid positive patients from hospital to their care homes to spread the virus.
I wouldn't have shut the schools for so long.
I would have made securing PPE one of the highest priorities.
I would have adequately funded the NHS. And social care in the years leading up to this so that they would have been better resourced to deal with it.
I would be giving out much more information and letting people make informed decisions about the level of risk they were prepared to take.

Is that enough for you???

[Emmie12345]

Heheheh

[compulsiveliar2019]

@redgin

None of the things you suggest wouldve stopped it spreading though.

You have no idea.

Why do you think YOU have any better idea than the rest of us 🙄 please enlighten me!!!