Prime Minister to make an announcement tonight at 5 p.m.

[Calmandmeasured1]

The Express reports:
"No indication has been given as to why the briefing has suddenly been called, however, it comes less than 24 hours after false reports in the German media caused alarm by claiming the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was ineffective among over-65s."

It could also be to make the announcement about hotel quarantining for those entering the country. I would imagine both subjects.

truly Depends if you call Australia and New Zealand western, I do, though perhaps not with such a heavy dollop of western exceptionalism....

Donewith There is a difference between closing your borders to control a virus and closing borders to win populist brownie points. In fact the great irony is that we left the EU to control our borders but then when there was an actual threat to the people of our sovereign island we left them open to whoever wants to come in on a tourist visa for a Covid spreading spree....

How about he actually says something along the lines of 'sorry folks I am man enough to say,this is not a job for one person '

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@thedancingbear no its at all politicians on this thread alone people have been personal , priti got bought into it as well.
[/quote]
Nah. Abbott is uniquely belittled and abused, because she's a black woman in a position of power.

Pointing out that Patel gets some of the same treatment (though on nothing like the scale) doesn't help you tbh.

Yvette Cooper,Michael Heseltine, Tony Blair,there you go.

@Emilyontmoor

Who takes over and what do they do now? There's always loads of lists of where he went wrong and how terrible he is and what a dreadful hash he's made of things prior to where we are now, but no one seems to want to say what they themselves would do now in his place, or who they'd like to take his place when he resigns as demanded and what they would want to see the incumbent do.

OK. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Covid took hours of hours of evidence from all parts of society on the effects of covid and the lessons that could be learned, so there is a sensible expert driven plan in place. appgcoronavirus.marchforchange.uk/interim_report As a start he needs to accept that his testing factories are not working because their processes are unsafe and they are short of staff because they do not train them adequately and treat them like commodities, but that there are a host of public labs who have the staff and highly effective processes but can't get the machines they need because they are all tied up in the superlabs. So fund the small labs and put them in charge of the superlabs and get rid of the inexperienced private sector managers trying to run them like callcentres. Then put track and trace under the control of public health officials who know the local ground. Third provide funding to make sure people do not have a choice between getting food on the table and isolating, then make isolation compulsory and introduce monitoring systems to ensure compliance. Manage the borders and ensure compliance with quarantine on arrival. If all this is in place then you keep the R number down and you can have an open economy. in fact Taiwan never locked down, the above control were enough.

Thank you.

I will look at that report now.

The majority haven’t been following the rules though, have they? I would say a large percentage haven’t, some not as much as others, but as someone upthread said, Boris definitely over estimated the intelligence of the general public. Some people are too stupid to understand the consequences of what they’re doing, and no leader can do anything about that.

metro.co.uk/2020/10/22/police-chiefs-admit-even-they-dont-understand-covid-rules-13466368/

@HmmSureJan

I have dreams about this....he stands down, and someone capable takes over.............

Who?

Who takes over and what do they do now? There's always loads of lists of where he went wrong and how terrible he is and what a dreadful hash he's made of things prior to where we are now, but no one seems to want to say what they themselves would do now in his place, or who they'd like to take his place when he resigns as demanded and what they would want to see the incumbent do.

I never thought I'd say this, but bring back Teresa May!

He dumped all the grown ups out of government and we are left with the incompetent third rate twats to deal with this challenge. Too busy wanking over Brexit to actually show any leadership.

Yvette Cooper is a good call. She was brilliant in a select committee I watched.

[quote myrtleWilson]**@StealthPolarBear* @GabsAlot* the reviews happen (legally) every two weeks still I think - but unless there is any change there is just a written ministerial statement - there was a tweet about the last one last week I think (not from a minister, but a journo who shared a link to the review)

Found the tweet
twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1352242639769317377?s=20[/quote]
thanks @myrtleWilson

Can you imagine a woman pitching up with an inch of root regrowth and a shabby suit? She would be annhilated

I would be wondering how come she gets her hair done and the rest of us cant. The bloody hairdressers are shut. And it would certainly affect my compliance.

I think Yvette Cooper would be good too.

For those arguing that no government could have foreseen a pandemic - sorry but as some posters have pointed out, it has long been acknowledged as a serious and likely risk - it was just expected to be an influenza pandemic. Pic from a 2008 Cabinet Office brief.

@CuriousaboutSamphire

Oh stop. He hasn't killed anyone, a fucking virus has.

And no... I didn't vote for him and I don't think our government has done any better or any worse than any comparable country.

An unbiased read of world news tells you that!

And, again, the real numbers won't be known anywhere for a few years, and even then it will remain a best guess, given how many different recording procedures are being used.

It's depressing enough without politically based finger pointing.

Stand up and do the job if you think you could have done better, in real time, no hindsight.

Thank you for a minority voice of reason - which will not be called reasonable by most, unfortunately.

What Boris did wrong was agreeing to have the virus. None of the other leaders did. That's why no other country is suffering at all. It's all only happening in the UK.

If only Teresa May were in charge.... or Nicola Sturgeon... or maybe Santa Claus? They would have just told the virus to go away and not let it inconvenience everyone. It's just so UNFAIR!

Thank you for a minority voice of reason - which will not be called reasonable by most, unfortunatel

I would look at a system to support those excluded.
I would try and address the reasons why people aren't self isolating.

They're doing daily press conferences. Yet every day somebody posts on here about an 'announcement' to bring the drama.

@Viviennemary

I'm really glad I voted out of the EU. It's shocking they are using vaccines as a weapon. Though I'm afraid it doesn't surprise me.

Thank heavens you've been able to cast around, to scrabble about and finally find a justification for your vote!

Well done.

Pity we're only effectively giving half-doses, but heigh-ho.

@thedancingbear abbott messed up more than once and I don't know one single person that says it just because she is a black woman.
NS gets loads of crap so does boris , Corbyn got it even worse

Has Boris resigned?
Never watch briefings, tv, news.

@GetOffYourHighHorse That said Johnson may appear bumbling but he is very intelligent and sharp. He always knows the details of what he is talking about at pmqs. You mustn't be taken in by his messy hair do and umms and aahs

You've said yourself earlier in the thread he should undertake media training. It really doesn't help any of us that we have a PM who can't give a clear answer to a question. What is entertaining in an after dinner speaker is inappropriate in a time of national crisis when clear messaging is called for.

Not all the public will comply and they have behavioural scientists in SAGE to advise them about this but the Government are the only ones with the power to act swiftly and decisively - they called lockdown too late in March (while allowing international football, rugby at Twickenham and Cheltenham to go ahead) it was Government policy to release Covid positive and untested patients into care homes and they chose not to introduce airport testing or quarantine. The Government approved multi-household indoor mixing at Christmas when we were already in a situation serious enough that we were in lockdown in November (and hadn't been in other peoples houses for months!) and then they allowed nearly all sectors to reopen in December. After Christmas mixing Johnson told primary school children to go to school as normal (no masks/no rotas to allow distancing/no precautinary tests for staff) on 4th January and by the 5th called a national lockdown. Yes there will be people who break the (ever-changing) rules but Johnson and his Cabinet deserve to take responsibility for their bungled response and the resulting world beating death rate.

rosie 1959

(CuriousaboutSamphire):
'Oh stop. He hasn't killed anyone, a fucking virus has.

And no... I didn't vote for him and I don't think our government has done any better or any worse than any comparable country.

An unbiased read of world news tells you that!

And, again, the real numbers won't be known anywhere for a few years, and even then it will remain a best guess, given how many different recording procedures are being used.

It's depressing enough without politically based finger pointing.

Stand up and do the job if you think you could have done better, in real time, no hindsight.'

Totally agree so many thinking they are experts and could do better.

Well, the rest of the planet has pretty much 'done better', hasn't it??

@emilyontmoor but people forget that we are a travel hub and that makes it hard for us with the amount of flights that come in.
Isn't track and trace being moved locallY ? Labs we outsourced too much , these things show why you should always have some things kept in your own country ,

@Miljea not really no maybe half have , some countries per capita slightly worse many others not that far behind, especially europe who we have the most in common with.

@GrumblyMumblyisnotJumbly some of us had been in peoples houses or able to mix inside we were not all in the same tiers before xmas and not in same ones over either