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?

Westministender feline envy gorgeous cats

If people are complaining about the leaders of Scotland and Wales "jumping the gun" showing leadership and giving clear messages , then their complaint should be addressed to the leader of the WM government for the mixed messages, lack of clarity and lack of leadership that is emanating from there

While Nicola Sturgeon is correct that we should go at the pace of the slowest country within the constituent parts of the UK if we don't want divergence, I don't think that means we should lower standards and follow the lowest level of leadership

Not the snappiest of messages is it?

That's disappointing, they're usually good at slogans.

Maybe they've decided that rather than a snappy slogan they shall actually have a properly thought out plan?

Maybe they've decided that rather than a snappy slogan they shall actually have a properly thought out plan?

What do you reckon are the odds of that?

UK seems to be (at a political planning level at any rate) quite keen to avoid ANY structures that may already be in place to help in this crisis.

It seems to be a mix of Cummings' "think outside the box" obsession and a Tory desire to give their donors and friends in Big Business as much as they can get out of the bad situation. I am wondering when the tipping point will be? We need to get the people who make ventilators, the labs ready to receive swabs that never arrive, the people with masks they had to sell abroad due to lack of return correspondence from the govt, the teams of people on councils ready to carry out community testing etc etc who have been ignored - get them together and have a panel to explain to the public they are being bypassed from above. We need the communities to take over at this point in my opinion. I'd trust my council with my health over Westminster at this point.

This makes the first Stay Home, Protect the NHS slogan look clear.

How can you stay alert to, and control, and ‘invisible mugger’ as Johnson called it?
Surely it’s more the government’s job to ‘control’ it?
Are the public being asked to do something impossible and intangible here?
I think it will be taken as tacit agreement that you can go out, if you’re careful.
Worrying.

New Thread, New Slogan:

Be Alert. Your Country Needs Lerts.

PMK

Mockers 😂 😂

The infection rates are not going down relative to lockdown - either they are staying high because new counts/test areas (eg care homes) are being added or there is some infection route that is not impacted by lockdown.
Ok so we can't do full test/trace at the current level of infections, but surely a sampling approach now ought to be able to identify alternative Infection routes?

Pmk.

When lockdown is too late, it is a bugger to squash all the local infections that have spread to every region

Later should have meant stricter ...

Anthony Fauci and two other White House Covid-19 taskforce members to self-quarantine

One way to keep maximum distance from Trump !

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/10/global-report-anthony-fauci-and-two-other-white-house-covid-19-taskforce-members-to-self-quarantine

Something else happening in the vacuum
news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-tech-startups-benefit-from-lighter-regulation-during-pandemic-11985890 at a more local level.

@FrankieStein402 yes, IMO there should be community based cluster testing and zoning to get ideas of clusters. Deloittes not telling GP's is the tip of the iceberg here with big business interfering with structured local networks.

Both Mark Drakeford and Nicola Sturgeon explicitly say that the first that they heard of the change in the slogan from "Stay at Home " to "Stay Alert" was in the papers - and say that their advice is still "Stay at home".

Arlene Foster acknowledges that she wasn't told implicitly, by not answering the question

And Sky also points out that the #s around the slogan have changed from red to green. That won't have been an accident

I shall placemark with the news that yesterday we spotted our first home grown radish!

Can't help but remember:

Be alert. Your country needs lerts.

Seems to me that the government never changed their original strategy of herd immunity aka do nothing really and it will go away, eventually. The testing regime wasn't and isn't properly managed and implemented, the protection of key workers had lip service paid at best, and there is no real enforcement of social distancing, from a policing point of view. It has been a classic case of let's pretend.

However inconvenient it might be for Nicola Sturgeon, Boris Johnson is currently the PM of the UK. I get that health is a devolved matter. The Scottish Government act for Scotland on it.

For her to say that the PM decides “what is most appropriate for England” is in matters of health, strictly true. In saying that though she is diminishing his role and claiming an equivalence for hers that isn’t reality overall.

Perhaps some posters on here respect her but not him or her more than him, that’s entirely your right. I can only report what it looks like to someone on the other side of the argument, and it isn’t a good look IMO. You are not obligated to care about that at all, but some people in England will see a message like that very differently.

Yes @Jason118 with the end goal now being to blame the populace. Those silly people, ending lockdown when the govt said no such thing! Hinting isn't the same as expressly condoning it, obviously!

Oh the history lessons in the future will be interesting. Hopefully we equip kids with recognising propaganda and behavioural engineering from governments, maybe it will have a reverse effect then!

Inconveient or not, if I lived in Scotland I know who I'd be listening to.
.

But as PM of the UK, a true leader would at the very least tell, if not consult , the leaders of the devolved administrations what was being planned, in advance of telling the newspapers Especially given that the virus has direct effects onto areas of devolved responsibility .

It definitely diminishes him and shows that he doesn't understand or care about the fact that there are real and practical differences around the UK. As a result, his mixed message will kill, directly and indirectly. I've already seen posters in Scotland saying that they will only listen to the Westminster advice

Who has said the newspapers were “told?” They have found out and some chose to splash on it on Saturday, irresponsible in my view. It now seems that what they splashed with the “Happy Monday” type stuff is markedly different from the actual plan.

He is going to tell everyone at the same time what is planned in a statement at 7pm tonight and as I undserstand in the Commons tomorrow.

I agree prettybird.

With respect to NI, with it being on a separate island to the rest of the UK, it would have made much more sense for their devolved Govt to act together with the RoI, not listen to the blather which comes out of Westminster.