Westminstenders: Political vacuums are very bad things

[RedToothBrush]

Johnson has been notible (once again) but his absence.

Whilst we appreciate he has been ill and has a new baby, we are in the midst of a national crisis and a sense of leadership and guidance from our prime minister has been lacking.

And its not gone unnoticed.

Not just by the press. And not just by opposition. Nor NHS and care managers. But on the ground where it matters.

The lack of the sense of seriousness has dissipated. The sense of duty to country to behave. The idea that it will some how be all over this week when it doesn't appear to be the government strategy. The total lack of policy for a week whilst it's become clear bit by bit that these things have been under discussion and decided upon prior to the supposed key meeting on Thursday from the announcements from the regional assemblies. All in favour of a TV stunt tomorrow night.

Let's see how that goes.

The grandstanding isn't a substitute for detail and substance in a crisis. And we still have the looming show down at the end of June over extension of transition. More optics. More lack of practicality at a time when things will really be on the brink.

The next month will be telling and we hit the wall of economic reality which will bring the whole world crashing in on the lives of so many people.

This is the calm before the storm. Enough the sunshine. Enjoy the time with families. Before this is over everything will have changed for so many.

This is just the start of things unravelling and it needs someone to take control and draw up solid blueprints for all our futures. Is a man who is so frequently awol from where he is supposed to be and doesn't take commitments and responsibilities seriously, really the man for that?

Churchill had a vision for the country that cited housing as our second social service, the NHS being our first.

Will Johnson manage to some how forge out so grand new venture which gives the resource and rewards it deserves to the NHS (beyond lipservice and empty platitudes and clapping, that recognises the importance of social care and can stop the almost inevitable coming wave of homelessness and unemployment

And can he do it without selling us off as a basement bargain to the us?

Exasperating that the 50-page document, - aka the long explanatory notes required after any BJ speech - was not published immediately the broadcast finished [] I can only assume because it hadn't been written ?

Coloured in, most likely.

"what trade off might you propose to placate those of us who don’t share such a viewpoint?"

Louise An extension is fully in the interests of the UK economy, not because of some pro-EU ideology

Tradeoffs could include keeping your job and access to current levels of public services...
avoiding a Sterling crash, rocketing food prices, mass bankruptcies, mass unemployment ...

Do you really need some inducement to accept that ?

LC 28: what trade off might you propose to placate those of us who don’t share such a viewpoint?

Food in the shops, business not losing access to biggest trade partners ... help sourcing PPE as this bunch of numpties can't organise the proverbial in a brewery ...

Piss ups and Breweries spring to mind...

Alex Wickham @alexwickham
Dominic Raab contradicts PM/No10 on two key points of guidance...

— Raab says you can meet both parents in park if socially distanced. No10 last night said you can only meet one person
— Raab says people should return to work Wednesday if they can’t work from home. PM said today

Alex Wickham @alexwickham
Clarification from team Raab: people can sit in parks 2m away from one parent, not both at the same time — so No10 policy from last night stands

Lewis Goodall @lewis_goodall
Email from Cab Sec Mark Sedwill to all civil servants. Says that “the good news is lockdown has worked, all the data shows we are past the peak” and “from today-those who cannot world from home...are being encouraged to go to work.”

So not Wednesday as Raab suggested on Today...

Alex Wickham @alexwickham
Suggestions from one former SpAd: "Do statement Monday not Sunday. Publish docs online as soon as PM finishes statement. No ministers on broadcast before docs online. No background briefings for Lobby before PM statement and docs online. Briefing after to clear up any issues."

If only we had rocket scientists leading this country...

Basically avoiding making the Uk suffer even "worse" damage in this crisis than its neighbours,
all because of a political / nationalist ideology

It shouldn't be a pro / anti EU issue:

If it were some perverse Sky Fairy belief about to cause similar additional damage,
it would be equally important to focus on the practical, not the ideology

"Publish docs online as soon as PM finishes statement. "

Totally obvious to Westministenders

Totally obvious to Westministenders

I think perhaps it was obvious to just about everyone last night tbh...

They are due to be published at 2pm.

So we have another 2 and a half hours of this before we see if the documents are worth the paper they are written on.

I can only assume that they are still being written and printed as we speak hence the delay. Which in its self is staggering. The only reasonable excuse for that was to avoid leaks. But this isn't much different to what was leaked all last week and the plan from a couple of weeks ago and the Irish plan. So no need for the smoke and mirrors anyway.

Decisions about how to make the plans happen operationally still need to flow through the depts. Maybe that's what's happening now, given that all of the most influential ministers haven't been in charge of their briefs long enough to really understand how their depts work yet?

Louise An extension is fully in the interests of the UK economy, not because of some pro-EU ideology

The problem is it's clear that the people running the country - for whatever reasons - have no interest in it's economy doing well. They've all been bankrolled by people who get richer the poorer the UK gets.

Sorry BigChoc but I disagree, it really, really is. By the end of June I will have been waiting to leave the European Union for 4 years.

Those advocating for an further extension will have one hell of a job convincing me that this is not just another delaying tactic from them. So, again, what are we to be offered in return for accepting this?

Andy Burnham on R5 Live this morning was making the point that the NW has most definitely not peaked and he's most unhappy about BJ speech

twitter.com/AndyBurnhamGM/status/1259777596625227777

People in Scotland and Wales, how do you feel about the idea of possibly thousands of English walkers/joggers/water sports enthusiasts rocking up across your landmarks?

I hope they dont come here, I live in Snowdonia so its popular at the best of times Im vulnerable but not shielded so I'm a little anxious ngl

Forgot to also post this

www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/police-boss-thinks-englands-lockdown-18230414

Healthcare workers are not the most at risk workers from the look of data from the ONS.

Ed Conway @EdConwaySky
Security guards, workers in food processing plants, taxi drivers: the occupations facing the highest #COVID19 death rates.
^Social care workers face more than 2x the average death rate but death rates among NHS workers are in line with the average
Striking new findings from @ONS^

^Since far more men are dying of #COVID19 there’s less @ONS
data on female deaths by occupation, but hairdressers face the highest rates:^

• hairdressing: 18.1 deaths per 100k^

- process plant workers: 15.6 - social care workers: 9.6 - female average: 5.2 - health workers: 4.8

And here's the link to the ONS page with the data

www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/whichoccupationshavethehighestpotentialexposuretothecoronaviruscovid19/2020-05-11

Louise "So, again, what are we to be offered in return for accepting this?"

Nothing, if you want to kick your own country when it's down, your decision

Louise you were supposed to be the sensible Brexiteer! How can you not see that piling a second economic disaster on top of the COVID one is not a good idea? This shouldn't be about ideology, but about damage limitation. There's a lot of damage to limit.

Louise you were supposed to be the sensible Brexiteer!

There never was such a thing. However, there's nothing to be done rehashing the Brexit debate. Louise need have no fear that they will ever be consulted about anything important, for a start, and for a finish as noted, there isn't a parliamentary dynamic to repeal the bill forbidding Boris from asking for an extension.

By the end of June I will have been waiting to leave the European Union for 4 years.

Your wait was over on 31st January this year. Now you have to take whatever Johnson decrees is good for you. The transition is supposedly about the time to get the trade deals sorted. Johnson's Government doesn't seem very interested however; much more exciting to them is selling off as much of the UK to the USA as they can get away with.

Bit of advice ...

Just seen a poster on another thread blaming the experts not boris for the handling of this crisis and how our experts are all shit.

Or maybe, just maybe, Brexit wasn't such a great idea in the first place ...
Which is why it's all starting to unravel.

Very interesting response from Westministenders to my earlier question.

I can appreciate the economic argument, though FWIW if Leaving were to be an economic disaster (which I don’t think it will be) then it is going to be virtually indistinguishable from the present one anyway.

Some seem to expect that those who aspire to be outside of the EU should just give up in the face of COVID?

Incredible. Louise didn't realise we've already left the EU? That explains quite a bit.

louise
You won.
Get over it.

Where were you Louise at the end of January? I know that Boris's scheme of bunging a bob for a Big Ben bong failed, but he made sure that the country celebrated. I was (deliberately) out of the country so that I could avoid the Little England Jingoism fest, but wasn't he on television doing his fake Churchill act?