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Brexit

Westminstenders: Political vacuums are very bad things

987 replies

RedToothBrush · 09/05/2020 23:18

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
74
prettybird · 10/05/2020 19:15

I can see why Nicola was saying that she had said to BJ that she didn't want any advertising of the (WM) Government's "new" advice in Scotland.

LouiseCollins28 · 10/05/2020 19:18

I wonder how many takes were needed for that. So what did you all think?

MockersxxxxxxxSocialDistancing · 10/05/2020 19:19

Driving to "Exercise" is the biggest load of bollocks in Creation.

ClashCityRocker · 10/05/2020 19:22

No big changes - happy with that.

But yes, driving to exercise is fecking stupid without a 'stay local' message.

OhLookHeKickedTheBall · 10/05/2020 19:23

Did I miss it or did he not mention Churchill?

prettybird · 10/05/2020 19:25

He didn't mention Churchill - I got that wrong Confused

....but I bet he wants the speech to be remembered as Churchillian which it wasn't

LouiseCollins28 · 10/05/2020 19:26

No mention of Churchill, or VE or anything like it

AuldAlliance · 10/05/2020 19:28

Driving to exercise is, on a certain level, intrinsically daft.

Getting in your car, instead of using your muscles to move (because that is transport) in order to then use your muscles (but call it exercise)...

I can see why people do it.
I can also see why, viewed from another perspective, it makes no sense.

MaxNormal · 10/05/2020 19:32

Someone brushed his hair! It was less burst-couch-like than usual.

yoikes · 10/05/2020 19:34

Well...

What a ridiculous performance.

And - make no mistake - performance it is

OhLookHeKickedTheBall · 10/05/2020 19:47

I had a gin on the ready to take a shot every time he mentioned or quote Churchill. I'm sober 😂

LouiseCollins28 · 10/05/2020 19:47

Why ridiculous yoikes?

BigChocFrenzy · 10/05/2020 19:48

I actually understood what he wanted to say
(when he piffles, it can be very difficult with a hearing disability)

For BJ, that was as good a performance as it gets - and yes, always a performance

ListeningQuietly · 10/05/2020 19:50

1973
Pushing the car to the petrol station to fill up
family hitchiking to visit grandparents
the 3 day week
pasta with butter and cheddar for supper every night I did not eat potatoes
cor nostalia is great

LouiseCollins28 · 10/05/2020 19:58

A total aside which I think will appeal to Westministders regulars, I know many WMenders are cat people but here is the fabulous Andrew Cotter with his misbehaving Labradors Grin Apparently it’s called “the walk of shame”

m.youtube.com/watch?v=26FIEX6muAo

OldLace · 10/05/2020 20:00

Good performance.
Rubbish content, I thought.
Not clear - everyone who can back to work - tomorrow or Weds?
How do they get there if they cant walk drive or cycle?
When in June are Y1,6,10 going back?
Have the Unions agreed all this?
The devolved nations didn't, surely?
I live on the Scottish English border.
So, I can drive as far as i like for exercise (as much as I like from Weds) - can I drive across the Border then?
Can people drive to their 2nd homes now? Holiday cottages? Caravans? Perhaps Im being stupid but i thought a lot was unclear?

HesterThrale · 10/05/2020 20:03

A scientist speaks.

Westminstenders: Political vacuums are very bad things
KonTikki · 10/05/2020 20:05

I'll just stare at the trees, and think about getting a cat
Brilliant !

BigChocFrenzy · 10/05/2020 20:10

I'll have to post this again for @clavinova who completely misunderstood AGAIN
her copy and paste on another thread about flu:

The discrepancy in flu deaths

Germany, the UK and USA uses a mathematical algorithm to estimate flu deaths
from the excess deaths recorded that year and from dcotors appintments etc

The actual flu deaths recorded for each country, e.g. ONS for the UK, are very small, because flu is hidden

For England:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/839350/SurveillanceeofinfluenzaaandotherrrespiratoryvirusessintheeUK20188to_2019-FINAL.pdf

Page 24 lists flu deaths as a few hundred annually over each of the last few years
and then

Page 51 lists estimated deaths for those samyears as up to nearly 30,000 via the FLUMOMO algorithm

Westminstenders: Political vacuums are very bad things
Westminstenders: Political vacuums are very bad things
GeistohneGrenzen · 10/05/2020 20:16

PMK and as lonelyplanetmum said on the first page

Thank-you to all for keeping the lifeline going

BigChocFrenzy · 10/05/2020 20:19

Jeez, the ignorance and fantasies by the Tory trolls get ridiculous sometimes

BigChocFrenzy · 10/05/2020 20:26

Sorry, geist didn't mean to startle you !

Nothing wrong with not knowing something, but our visiting C & P merchant has weaved a fantasy of fake COVID totals due to her ignorance of how flu statistics are done.

AuldAlliance · 10/05/2020 20:32

A quick skim of what's trending on MN provides insight into how well BJ has done:

Well that was clear as mud, so is meeting family allowed now or what??

Year R and Year 1 back to school

Why only primary school going back?

WTF was that all about?

7pm Boris speech thread - anyone want to join?

BigChocFrenzy · 10/05/2020 20:38

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/10/italians-uk-coronavirus-response-boris-johnson-government-covid-19

NN and the Sydney Morning Herald ask: “Where did it go wrong for the UK on coronavirus?”

Reuters investigates why the UK left “its weakest exposed” in care homes.

My own newspaper, La Repubblica, acknowledged the “grave errors” made in Italy, but observed that the “confusion and contradictions displayed by the British government in the past few months have few equals”.

The way the world is looking at the UK is not the way the UK is looking at itself.

Despite becoming the worst-hit country in Europe, Boris Johnson is enjoying the peak of his popularity curve, according to a latest Edelman poll.

< maybe the public just love his slogans ? >

BigChocFrenzy · 10/05/2020 20:42

And yet he's still so popular in the polls

Surely even the "it's just flu" trolls have gone off him because of his extending the lockdown,
which is in fact the correct decision - but he's confused a lot of people about what changes / doesn't

The papers last week didn't help though, presenting their wish to end lockdown as actual news

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