Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Do you feel sorry for Boris?

999 replies

User133847 · 27/01/2021 12:56

Seeing the headlines in the papers today and there seems a lot of sympathy for him. The front pages see him looking really forlorn and sorrow regarding the death toll.

When you think a year ago he was planning on ushering in what he deemed as a golden age of Britain. Now 12 months later it's in tatters.

I can understand the sympathy, but wonder whether a Labour PM would be offered the same.

OP posts:
Jellybaby4 · 28/01/2021 08:47

Yes, I do, a lot of these posts are pretty nasty really. Okay so mistakes have been made and missed, but god, what an awful job hes had, cant imagine the pressure and stress on him.

barretbonden · 28/01/2021 08:47

Hahahaha, as if.

user1477391263 · 28/01/2021 08:47

Yes--he was very slow to change course even as the evidence changed, which is why he also deserves a very large share of the blame.

If he had followed the (poor) initial advice (masks increase infections, countries should keep borders open, it's all about handwashing!) but then changed course more quickly once it became clear that this advice was wrong, I'd have far more patience and respect for him.

My post was definitely not about absolving him from blame, but more about pointing out that there are a lot of people to blame in addition to BJ.

DoTheNextRightThing · 28/01/2021 08:50

Lol no.

echt · 28/01/2021 08:53

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@ilovesooty what a nice person you must be.[/quote]
Actually, ilovesooty is a very nice person.

HTH.

EnjoyingTheSilence · 28/01/2021 08:54

Omfg. Mistakes have been made, seriously?

100,000 people are dead. Many more are ill, with long term heath conditions. 1,000’s more have other health issues that have been made worse by not being able to get treatment on time because the nhs is overwhelmed.

Many have lost, jobs, homes, companies gone out of business. Mental health has suffered, children’s education has suffered.

Some fucking mistakes 🤬

Jellybaby4 · 28/01/2021 08:55

And you'd all do a much better job I'm assuming

echt · 28/01/2021 08:56

@Whythesadface

Your acting like Boris is a dictator. There are many people who advise and are experts, on schools , health, the economy and transport to name but a few. No matter who was at the helm this same experts would really be in charge. Boris just gives people someone to scream at. We are all part of the problem.
Bollocks.

The PM is meant to be a leader, which he has repeatedly show he is not.

echt · 28/01/2021 08:56

[quote trulydelicious]@IncludeWomenInTheSequel

Racism

Yes, absolutely[/quote]
Where? When?

Do tell.

Iggly · 28/01/2021 08:58

@Jellybaby4

And you'd all do a much better job I'm assuming
Last time I checked, the government were voted in because the majority felt that they were up to it.

If they fail, then we as the electorate can and should complain.

Unless you think we should live in a dictatorship and just put up with it?

Nah.

Jellybaby4 · 28/01/2021 08:58

The mistakes being made are largely by people not following the rules, it's all over the news ever day.
How dare you associate my comment of mistakes have been made with the cases and deaths.
Do you really belive that's solely down to him, and nothing to do with the millions of republic.

Jellybaby4 · 28/01/2021 09:02

I really doubt they were expecting any of this when they were elected. How would anyone know if they were upto this before it happened?
Of course I am happy to go along with the rules and restrictions for however long this will take, the problem is I know I'm also in the minority and theres lots of selfish people who are saying they are done with it now.

niceupthedance · 28/01/2021 09:04

No. He's incompetent

NoWordForFluffy · 28/01/2021 09:04

Utter nonsense. But way to go that they've persuaded you of that, @Jellybaby4. You're their favourite kind of voter.

EnjoyingTheSilence · 28/01/2021 09:06

You know what @Jellybaby4 I reckon a lot of us could do a much better job.

For a start, I’d have listened to the experts

I wouldn’t have waited until June to introduce quarantine for anyone coming into the country.

I would have sacked anyone working for me who blatantly broke the rules

I wouldn’t have opened everything up as quickly as he did.

I wouldn’t have bragged about shaking hands with covid patients, we knew how this transmitted, did he think he was doing a Princess Di shaking hands with AIDS patients?

I wouldn’t have ended the furlough scheme in October.

I wouldn’t have gone on tv to implore parents to send their kids back to school to them close them all the next day.

No one is saying this is easy. Yes it’s a tough job, yes the pressure must be huge. But he is not up for the job at all and should go

IncludeWomenInTheSequel · 28/01/2021 09:08

@Jellybaby4

I really doubt they were expecting any of this when they were elected. How would anyone know if they were upto this before it happened? Of course I am happy to go along with the rules and restrictions for however long this will take, the problem is I know I'm also in the minority and theres lots of selfish people who are saying they are done with it now.
Johnson' government literally scrapped the pandemic committee six months before it happened. That's planning to fail.
C0NNIE · 28/01/2021 09:11

Excellent post @EnjoyingTheSilence

Jellybaby4 · 28/01/2021 09:13

Well I'm out, it was only my opinion, you all know much more than I do.
What a ridiculous thing to say @enjoythesilence , your saying all that with hindsight, at the time of these decisions being made nobody knew what would happen, and of course you wouldn't make any mistakes, would you.

Sooverthemill · 28/01/2021 09:14

No

novaparty12 · 28/01/2021 09:14

Yes. I don't actually know if anyone could have done any better apart from perhaps Priti Patel, but she would have been so hard and not showed an ounce of sympathy that she would have been slagged off for being as hard as nails with not a care in the world for peoples financial or mental health circumstances. I think Boris has tried his best to do what was best for the pandemic but also trying to not hurt the economy either and ok the outcome could have been better but this was completely unknown territory for any Prime Minister,

GrumblyMumblyisnotJumbly · 28/01/2021 09:14

@Jellybaby4 please explain why, according to your logic, the public in the UK have been less compliant with rules than all the other populations of countries worldwide with lower death rates than here?

baroqueandblue · 28/01/2021 09:18

I really doubt they were expecting any of this when they were elected.

Tough shit. If you want to run a country the very least you could do is avail yourself of a reality check. Shit happens, history is very clear about that, and there should always be a deep streak of realism involved in taking on the kind of power that people like Johnson love when it makes them look good, but not so much when it challenges them to actually step up in a time of national emergency/crisis. Thing is, voters are often pretty selfish too. They vote for their own interests (fair enough) but they have no right to defend gross incompetence in those they vote for when it happens.

The writing was on the wall for years - Johnson couldn't give a fuck about people or business unless they serve his own particular fantasies of omnipotence, and neither can he be bothered to do the job he's paid for unless it's obscenely easy money. As a nation we have now paid for his narcissism, and even as recently as yesterday he couldn't stand up in Parliament and own his litany of deadly decisions.

So keep apologising for him Jellybaby4. You're just the type of useful idiot he needs to save his rancid skin.

Sooverthemill · 28/01/2021 09:19

@Jellybaby4

The mistakes being made are largely by people not following the rules, it's all over the news ever day. How dare you associate my comment of mistakes have been made with the cases and deaths. Do you really belive that's solely down to him, and nothing to do with the millions of republic.
The mistakes made by the PM and the Cabinet have been: lack of planning; not following advice of experts immediately; shoving out 'poor us' messages when people have relatives dying or in really serious MH situations who don't have the cash or the clout to get help; not sacking or disassociating themselves from each and every person who broke or bent the rules immediately; not being honest at outset that this would be minimum of 2 years hard work from every single person; not increasing staffing levels in NHS and first responders; not putting in place immediately PPE procurement that was fit for purpose; not stating clearly who is a key worker; allowing schools to stay open beyond advice; not listening to experts even if not official advisers; allowing holidays last year ffs; not closing borders in march

Oh and being conservatives

IncludeWomenInTheSequel · 28/01/2021 09:19

The people droning on about hindsight being a wonderful thing -

Don't you think things would have worked out better if foresight has been used? For some reason he seems to get a pass on that. Not even foresight - making swift decisions in real time would have done it.

IncludeWomenInTheSequel · 28/01/2021 09:21

Oh and being conservatives

Excellent point. They spent a decade stripping public services down to the absolute bone, then somehow conned people into magical thinking, that those who vaunted 'clapping' and having an ancient guy doing laps of his garden were in the moral right.