He was damned if he did and damned if he didnt

[Trekkerbabe]

That is all I have to say.

Yep. He was never going to win.

Still wish he'd locked down earlier but hey ho this new strain would probably have happened either way.

I agree.

Of course he was. Couldn’t win either way.

I'm depressed by tier 4 but more depressed by the reasons. Because it had to be done.

Well he knew about this new strand and it’s virulence a while ago as Matt Hancock has been going on about it all week, and as late as Wednesday he was ridiculing Starmer for ‘wanting to cancel Christmas’, which would apparently be ‘inhumane’. Three days later, under the pretence that he’d only just heard about this, he cancels christmas himself. The guy’s a joke. I’m not sure why people are sticking up for him.

He took this drastic step a mere few days before Christmas in the full knowledge that people would have made plans and bought food. Also, the fact that so many travelled out of tier 4 last night on fully packed trains means that it would probably have been safer to leave the initial plans in place and just urged caution. Now the new virus will already be spreading across the UK.

The outrage from some has nothing to do with the pandemic.

He wants to be liked far too much. Weak leadership in time of a crisis.

Perhaps I'm being too charitable but maybe they were hoping cases wouldn't continue to rise. On a cynical level allowing people to believe in Christmas meant they have likely spent far more then they would if no Christmas was on the table in Nov.

He would have been better to under promise and over deliver. Saying there would be five days of mixing, even as late as Wednesday, was crackers.

He had to do it, agreed. He left it far too late again. Very weak leadership.

Yup, he should have just been totally bold and cancelled all mixing except those living alone

Johnson is a weak leader. He wants to be liked and is a massive indecisive idiot

Well, let's see,

• We could have had an earlier lockdown in the Spring. That would have saved,ooh, thousands of lives. Bot no, more important to keep Cheltenham Festival going.

• We could have had a planned, funded, safe re-opening of schools. But no, no money for that.

• Funds went instead to EHTHO. Which was fun,I agree, but which also helped out with the spread of the virus.

• Sacking Dominic Cummings rather earlier would have been a good idea.

• Following advice for a short circuit break in September would have been good, the "earlier the better" wasn't learnt from March.

• Letting parents homeschool if they want to would have been and would still be helpful in a pandemic, especially if CEV and no social service concerns etc.

• Following WHO advice on schools would be good (wearing masks is not that expensive).

• The exams were a shit show.

• We are an island. We could have limited entry far more than we have done, or checked for symptoms more on arrival, or quarantined more.

• Banning Greenwich from closing schools days before national curbs on Christmas celebrations? really dumb.

I agree. But it was obvious from when it was announced that the five-day free for all over Christmas was a stupid idea and should never have been dangled at the public. Viruses don't give a shit about politics and people will do what the fuck they want anyway which just causes more bad feeling.

Never has our society been so divided.

@snowisfallingallaroundus

He wants to be liked far too much. Weak leadership in time of a crisis.

Yes, absolutely this.

@millymokk

Perhaps I'm being too charitable but maybe they were hoping cases wouldn't continue to rise. On a cynical level allowing people to believe in Christmas meant they have likely spent far more then they would if no Christmas was on the table in Nov.

‘Hoping cases wouldn’t rise’. He has access to top scientific advice. His cabinet has been saying all week that cases are rising and he ignored it. If he hoped that cases wouldn’t rise its only because he is an idiot.

Yes, damned if he did it if he didn't.

But that doesn't excuse his rhetoric earlier this week (dint believe he did not know thus was possibly in the pipeline, even if they were waiting for more data) and it most definitely does not excuse his Education Sec threatening Greenwich schools with prosecution when they wanted to act on the doubling every 4 days and shut schools (which were already affected) 3 days earlier for the Christmas holidays

So damned because his decisions were predictably disastrous, at the time they were being made (not hindsight) and because his performance was crap.

That's all x

I strongly disagree. The problem is not the new measures but that he didn't do them sooner and waited until the last weekend before Christmas! Also all the nonsense he came up with in the weeks leading up to this about the "inhumanity" of cancelling Christmas. It is confused messaging.

I'm a Brit in Germany (with all my family back home in London - Tier 4). Merkel put us into a strict lockdown but her approval ratings are high because the government messaging has been clear and logical.

Johnson has created so much confusion with his dithering and indecision. I feel so sorry for everyone in the UK.

@herecomestheSon

Well, let's see,

• We could have had an earlier lockdown in the Spring. That would have saved,ooh, thousands of lives. Bot no, more important to keep Cheltenham Festival going.

• We could have had a planned, funded, safe re-opening of schools. But no, no money for that.

• Funds went instead to EHTHO. Which was fun,I agree, but which also helped out with the spread of the virus.

• Sacking Dominic Cummings rather earlier would have been a good idea.

• Following advice for a short circuit break in September would have been good, the "earlier the better" wasn't learnt from March.

• Letting parents homeschool if they want to would have been and would still be helpful in a pandemic, especially if CEV and no social service concerns etc.

• Following WHO advice on schools would be good (wearing masks is not that expensive).

• The exams were a shit show.

• We are an island. We could have limited entry far more than we have done, or checked for symptoms more on arrival, or quarantined more.

• Banning Greenwich from closing schools days before national curbs on Christmas celebrations? really dumb.

All of the above! This is excellent 👏👏

tbf @RealityNotEssentialism there are regional variations. The whole country is not in Tier 4.

The man is an incompetent and @herecomestheSon is absolutely right in their synopsis of his handling of the situation.

He has demonstrated consistently that he can’t make timely decisions and is more interested in enriching his cronies than leading the country. Sound bites and word salads don’t steer us through a pandemic or brexit. He needs to go along with the rest of them IMO.

@ElliePhillips

I strongly disagree. The problem is not the new measures but that he didn't do them sooner and waited until the last weekend before Christmas! Also all the nonsense he came up with in the weeks leading up to this about the "inhumanity" of cancelling Christmas. It is confused messaging.

I'm a Brit in Germany (with all my family back home in London - Tier 4). Merkel put us into a strict lockdown but her approval ratings are high because the government messaging has been clear and logical.

Johnson has created so much confusion with his dithering and indecision. I feel so sorry for everyone in the UK.

Exactly ElliePhillips & herecomestheSon my thoughts too

Germany is different to here because their first wave was not as bad, same applies to eg Switzerland. The population will still have a bit more respect for/fear factor as regards the virus.

Problem in England now is that people are starting to feel manipulated eg create false hope of families reuniting at Christmas/cancel it all over night etc. I can see why they are doing it - basically the constant changes are there to make people feel like stuff is happening, there is hope, bam fear factor- new strain etc.... it is basically trying to break down the 18 month period it will take to get anywhere with this virus. However, I think people are tired and angry now and even this morning, in Tier 4, there were loads of cars on the road, packed playgrounds and tennis courts. Although it is essentially meant to be like lockdown 1, people just are not treating it that way.