Sajid Javid - arrogant, insensitive?

[RoisinD]

SJ coming under fire from many for his tweet yesterday following his full recovery from his Covid-19 diagnosis. As Health Secretary he should have chosen his words more carefully and been more sensitive to those who lost loved ones, suffering long covid etc
Link to his tweet

twitter.com/sajidjavid/status/1418932718847541248

Link to Yvette Cooper Labour MP's retweet and response

twitter.com/YvetteCooperMP/status/1419064768837599235

twitter.com/sajidjavid/status/1419242451068506120?s=21

He's apologised.

He apologised because he was forced to. He meant what he said.

That tweet was up for far too long to be accidental

Yes the tweet has served its purpose.

I feel sorry for the people of England, they have been thrown to the wolves.

@foxandbee

I feel sorry for the people of England, they have been thrown to the wolves.

In what way?

In the way that all restrictions in England have been lifted in one fell swoop, Noterook. The rest of the UK is being more cautious.

I agree that he meant what he said. He's a politician, he knows the power of words. If he doesn't he is in the wrong job.

I still think taking Hancock out was an inside job to change policy at department of health.

I don't like javid at all don't trust him.
My local hospital is not coping.

I'm beginning to think you might be right 3asAbird.

@foxandbee

In the way that all restrictions in England have been lifted in one fell swoop, Noterook. The rest of the UK is being more cautious.

They haven't made it illegal to wear a mask or for businesses to impose social distancing though, just that's it's no longer legally enforcable; of which the vast majority of people who didn't wear masks just as they didn't want to weren't fined anyway so no real change. Just anecdotally but everywhere I've been since "freedom day" as many people as usual have been wearing masks, shops still have measures in place. The real difference is hospitality, but there comes a point when they reopen, in the summer whilst schools are out doesn't seem the worst time. Not saying it's a good strategy, just I think the drama of thrown to the wolves is a bit much.

@foxandbee

In the way that all restrictions in England have been lifted in one fell swoop, Noterook. The rest of the UK is being more cautious.

They haven't though have they. This is step four, and we still have travel restrictions, testing, isolation, guidance on mask wearing and wfh, and mixing. Like many have said on other threads, not much has actually changed this week at all.

Well perhaps it is a bit dramatic and it could all be OK. Let's hope the wolves aren't very hungry. though as I still think it is a risky strategy. It's not been even a week yet, so let's wait and see.

@foxandbee

Well perhaps it is a bit dramatic and it could all be OK. Let's hope the wolves aren't very hungry. though as I still think it is a risky strategy. It's not been even a week yet, so let's wait and see.

I think for me it's more than it being illegal for certain stuff made no difference as there was never enough police capacity to enforce it. So in actual fact not much has changed in many places like supermarkets etc.

They haven't though have they. This is step four, and we still have travel restrictions, testing, isolation, guidance on mask wearing and wfh, and mixing. Like many have said on other threads, not much has actually changed this week at all

Aprt from indoor mixing, night clubs, hospitality restrictions all lifted, mask and SD removed.

Nope not much at all.

Rather than compare ourselves with Slovakia etc, how about Germany or Japan

Fencing in migrant factory workers who tested positive and firing water cannons during Covid protests (Germany) - that sort of comparison?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53177628

news.sky.com/story/covid-19-german-police-fire-water-cannon-at-restriction-protesters-12135666

Japan's obesity rate is about 4% - we could copy their 'fat law'?

www.wsj.com/articles/BL-HEB-2814
www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/world/asia/13fat.html

More people died in the second wave than the first.
Despite knowing what to do and how to manage things, the government preferred to let the bodies pile up in their thousands.

Germany's death toll in the first wave was 7,869 - now they have 92,000 deaths. Did the German government prefer to let the bodies pile up in their thousands?

Did the German government prefer to let the bodies pile up in their thousands?

I can't imagine Angela Merkel, unlike Boris, saying that was her preference to taking decisive action.

Also, bigger country, fewer deaths.

Forced to apologise for his flippant tweet which was disrespectful to people's sacrifices, just as last week his cabinet colleagues had to backtrack on their plans to avoid isolation which took the piss out of those who had done what was asked.

What a government.

OK, BigWoollyJumpers I should have said most of the remaining restrictions have been lifted in one fell swoop. Although some of what you mention is guidance so are not restrictions at all. Also, it has been less than a week. Will people continue to observe the guidance? I hope so.

England's experiment will help inform the other UK governments final decisions on the next stage for their countries. I have a feeling though that none will go quite as far as England.

I can't imagine Angela Merkel, unlike Boris, saying that was her preference to taking decisive action.

Boris Johnson has denied making that remark and you posted;
Despite knowing what to do and how to manage things - I can't see how that translates to Germany's Covid response after the first wave.

Mr Javid has apologised.

More than Mr Johnson has ever done for the many insensitive remarks he has made, many in newspaper articles so not heat of the moment.

I don’t see the issue with the tweet personally. Too many people have been scared by the narrative over the last 18 months.

The reality is that covid has always been a mild illness in the vast majority, and this is even more so the case following vaccines.

@Noterook I agree that many of the changes in step 4 have been minimal, and certainly less than step 2 or step 3. It still does not make them the right decision, and indeed keeping the legal obligation to wear face coverings, keeping social distancing and restrictions on large gatherings were decisions outside the 'step' framework, so to keep them would not have been backtracking or postponing anything.

@noblegiraffe

That's no an answer.

What level is acceptable? Put a number down.

No.

Trying to pin me to an 'acceptable' level of deaths to avoid responding to the fact that many of the deaths were caused by mismanagement by the government isn't going to work. You're not throwing it back on me.

Was it acceptable to discharge positive cases into care homes? Clearly not.

Was it acceptable to avoid scientific advice because you'd rather see bodies pile up in their thousands (which they did)? Clearly not.

You said: due to his government's mismanagement of the crisis, nearly 130,000 people have died

You specifically mentioned a number of deaths, therefore you must have some ballpark figure as to what doesn't count as "mismangement".

He shouldn't have apologised. Show some backbone. Stand up to what you're saying.

noblegiraffe
What a government

As a teacher yourself, you will probably remember that Labour's shadow education secretary previously apologised for suggesting the Covid-19 pandemic could be a "good crisis" for the Labour Party.

What an opposition.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54324079