Westministenders: Crisis, which crisis ?

[BigChocFrenzy]

Main crises facing the government:

. Negotiating a Brexit deal with the EU
. Coronoavirus
. Floods
. Allegations of some ministers - and Cummings - bullying civil servants
. More trouble threatened from Turkey / Syria

Unfortunately with all these parallel crises, we have a workshy lying arse as PM
and the worst collection yet of incompetents in Cabinet
who seem to have decided on a strategy of bullying their civil servants to avoid hearing any facts that don't fit with current Tory party ideology

Compare his speech and movement in 2016 to now....he is a very ill man

...and I think there are many who regret their vote for him but they stay quiet.

And of course the dem nominee will be a man, which will help. Can't ever see a former trump voter voting for a woman

Compare his speech and movement in 2016 to now....he is a very ill man

He has a tic where he verbally messes up, hitches his right shoulder and flaps his right arm. It’s very noticeable now.

Plus reading the official White House verbatim records of what he says shows just how incoherent he is now.

But they’ll still vote for him

I just watched that video. He looks and sounds like someone you'd bump into in the pub.

"Compare his speech and movement in 2016 to now...."

His voters don't seem to care

With A levels and gcses looming hope they do not shut schools yet! They haven't finished teaching content yet!! P.s Dgd holding offers for Bristol, Kings College London, Manchester and Nottingham All RG for integrated Msc in neuroscience and psychology . So proud! Just got to make her mind up!

American presidents tend to get reelected if the economy is doing well.

Coronavirus will screw that up.

It depends on where Bernie or Biden gets the Democratic nod. Both have real problems with wide appeal. Bernie is viewed as a dirty socialist (communist) and isn't so popular with BAME groups. Biden isn't so popular with youth and is associated with the Obama presidency (which has pluses and minuses). He is also dogged by sexism claims.

But of course a coronavirus pandemic means all bets are off. With no healthcare for many that could yet end up being the election issue.

I would not have said that a couple of months ago but this is a rapidly changing situation and I think the goalposts are moving in the US.

I thought Trump was a shoe in at Christmas. Now I'm less sure.

American presidents tend to get reelected if the economy is doing well.

Or appears to be doing well. As the reply to this tweet shows, COVID appears to be having a rather unwelcome spotlight effect ... with the UK government following and having to issue "COVID advice for the homeless". Where - rather surprisingly, given the lack of shame Tories feel - the first tip isn't "don't be homeless". Well, not yet.

(Incidentally, I haven't actually checked. But if that figure of 114,000 is anywhere near accurate then I am a little bit stunned. Just in case anyone thought I was the sort of poster to simply threw quotes around without any thought ...)

Looks like the 114,000 homeless children in NYC figure is correct:

www.ny1.com/nyc/brooklyn/news/2019/10/29/one-in-10-nyc-public-school-students-are-homeless--report-says

That’s 1 in 10 school children.

*Whatever we personally think, in this emergency we need to follow public health instructions,
so we don't waste anyone's time, get into arguments which may escalate

• or get ourselves in trouble if there are indeed penalties*

I completely agree, but I think that behavioural aspects will be a factor in government decisions. No European country has a large enough army to impose isolation, they have to have cooperation from the wider population and that means that measures need to be seen to be proportionate and need not to last too long (IMO this is why other countries have not yet followed Italy: because 3-4 weeks is realistically your window of compliance and you need to use that window wisely).

Looks like the 114,000 homeless children in NYC figure is correct

My common-sense filter took the population of NYC as being 10-20 million which would make 100,000 between 1 in a 100 and 1 in 200 (people, not just children) . Which (wrongly, it turns out) I though could not possibly be the figure for a city in the most developed country in the world.

Can't say my regard for USAians has gone up much, although it may have changed. And yes, splinters in eyes (as always) applies.

Whatever we personally think, in this emergency we need to follow public health instructions, so we don't waste anyone's time, get into arguments which may escalate - or get ourselves in trouble if there are indeed penalties

"I think the public have had enough of experts"

Impossible to argue against really. Especially as the little shit that put that into the public mind hasn't retracted it (so presumably still stands by it)

Don’t be fooled by “most developed country in the world”. I lived in its 7th biggest city and some residents still didn’t have a clean public drinking water supply.

And on the outskirts people were still living in tar paper shacks with every rust bucket vehicle they’d ever owned now housing their chickens.

Well, I've finally done the ironing and I'm livid about it 😖

kali i got mine from Amazon but you can get it from e bay too.

“most developed country in the world”

That would be Dubai or some such. USA is a rusty old wreck stuck in the 1950s. Lots of people don't have clean drinking water on tap.

Upper Volta with Stealth Bombers.

Bloody hell. wrong thread!!!
Sorry!

That would be Dubai or some such.

While I am happy for my comment to be challenged (it was rather intended to be, as ironic) of all the countries in the world I might want to consider "developed", I would not have chosen a middle eastern one. Unless parity of human right is a factor.

HenHarrier That is

I suppose in the USA, if they run short of critical care beds, those without (adequate) insurance won't get a look in

Maybe even just enough beds for the top 20% or so with the top level comprehensive insurance,
since they don't seem to have any soet of effective policy under Trump / Pence

Those official stats of the USA & UK being #1 and #2 in preparedness

Maybe refers to plans by a previous generation of public health officials who had the resources to plan

Both countries have a small group of elite public health experts who are tops in their line
That doesn't translate to having a health service & auxiliary services with the resources to carry out previous plans and treat large numbers of people

In the UK, it ptobably includes having the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, as this enables any UK govt to react v quickly with regulations in emergency

However, I read that the US's FEMA & CDC have been slashed by Trump ?
That and CDC may have been what put the USA in the #1 spot

Currently in the US and Trump is actively working against the CDC hard line advice by requiring it to be deleted from public advice statements or significantly watered down. As a result the serious CDC advice is being given to the Press by unnamed experts.

Currently in the US and Trump is actively working against the CDC hard line advice by requiring it to be deleted from public advice statements or significantly watered down. As a result the serious CDC advice is being given to the Press by unnamed experts.

Since this is a Brexit board, that echoes the Cameron decision to prevent the civil service planning for a Leave victory.

Just heard, on the France Inter news, an interview with an MEP and a former MEP, who've both worked on health-related commissions and bodies.

Big videoconference scheduled this afternoon between EU heads of state to coordinate action on COVID-19.

Health policy is not the EU's remit, as they repeated regularly, so it can't impose measures.
However:
One thing that seems to have been decided is collective purchasing by the EU of medical supplies, to drive down costs.
And preparing funds to help member states most affected.
And pledging more money for research (stable door, horse bolted...)

In the "lessons we might learn" section: planning expected to intensify on how to handle a "post-globalisation" world, with the term "EU economic sovereignty" used by both interviewees, directly quoting from Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, who mentioned this in December.
Clear references made to the need to shift away from the current reliance on China for medical and other supplies, while accepting the impossibility of returning to an old pre-globalisation style economy.

What happens in the coming months and years will really be an interesting litmus test for that plucky, go-it-alone Dunkirk spirit.

go-it-alone Dunkirk spirit

Not really;
03 February 2020

"CEPI and GSK announce collaboration to strengthen the global effort to develop a vaccine for the 2019-nCoV virus."

"GSK to make adjuvant technology available to support rapid development of candidate vaccines,"

"Oslo, Norway; London, UK" + University of Queensland

www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/press-releases/cepi-and-gsk-announce-collaboration-to-strengthen-the-global-effort-to-develop-a-vaccine-for-the-2019-ncov-virus/

European Pharmaceutical Review;

4 Feb 2020 "UK government pledges £20m to CEPI for coronavirus vaccine research."

www.europeanpharmaceuticalreview.com/news/112051/uk-government-pledges-20m-to-cepi-for-coronavirus-vaccine-research/

6th March
"The British government on Friday announced another 20 million pounds ($26 million) of additional funding, beyond 30 million of funding it had previously given to CEPI, and urged other donors to join the efforts to find a vaccine."

A friend is stuck in Rome at the moment.
People without food storage in their apartments are still going out to the early morning veg markets.
The supermarkets are still open.
The restaurants are still open till 6pm

Self Isolation has been thought up by those who have no concept of living

• with no money to bulk buy food
• with no secure food storage- cupboards or fridge
• with shared bathroom facilities
• with no space other than bedrooms to live in.

Its a bit like the Mayor of New Orleans telling everybody to leave in their cars
and then being surprised when the people without cars drowned