Tin Ear over Corona Virus and Boris Johnson

Like so many others on GN, I am not a Boris fan, but I am more reassured by what I have just heard and seen. Seemed to me he is doing is best, is prepared to listen to the scientific advisers - even pointedly deferring to them when he was out of his depth. This is uncharted territory for us all, but he is particularly in the firing line. Wouldn't want his job (and yes, I do know he chose it!) for any money!

Can you imagine Corbin being in charge right now? Scary thought. Boris is deferring to the experts who are doing their very best to minimise the effects of this disease. So easy for those with no actual responsibilities to try to undermine the advice being given. So arrogant to not care what effect they are having on those suffering from anxiety and those who feel that none of the precautions apply to them because of their stupidity and ignorance.

POG; how dare you, at this moment in time and with the crisis we're in accuse me of saying what I did because I loathe the man. He was bumbling and embarrassing; all the hand waving etc is totally out of place. Did I criticise the other two men? No, I did not because they spoke and behaved in a way that I would expect professional people to behave in a crisis. We're constantly one step behind the advise that the WHO are giving. For what it's worth I wish Jeremy Hunt was PM. The fact is Johnson is out of his depth. And he didn't answer the question as to why we weren't prepared for this by eg having adequate numbers of ventilators.

Labiak
Reading your post you admit you loath BJ. It seems that your loathing is preventing you from actually listening to him and as a result you seem to dismiss his every utterance which, in this case will not have been crafted by him personally, but by educated and eminent civil servants taking the messages emanating from the earlier COBRA meeting. As mentioned by others he does defer to more knowledgeable when he cannot answer specific questions. There are millions who gesticulate to emphasise points, Prince Charles being a master gesticulator, does this make him loathsome?

With respect I did listen to him. And what has Prince Charles got to do with it....

trisher Mon 16-Mar-20 18:27:

POGS your adoration of BJ is showing! How many threads do you want about him?
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Well I started this one and asked if anybody was watching the Live speech today so I guess that counts as 2.

I do not ' adore Johnson but I do speak as I find.

By the way trisher most threads on Boris Johnson and the Tory Party in general are not threads I usually post on. I will post if I see posters ' twisting ' or ' taking things out of context ' but I do that about any individual or political party because those who promote propaganda over facts deserve to be challenged.

because those who promote propaganda over facts deserve to be challenged.
On a thread about BJ that has to be ironic!
Do you know why he hasn't yet said that emergency legislation will go to Parliament tomorrow and explained what it will involve?

We're being drip fed...….

Labaik you do seem to constantly comment on how you dislike BJ....fair enough ( I felt the same about the awful Corbyn) but whoever was PM and having to lead on this virus isn’t putting his own personal or political views forward,
But being guided by those who do know something about the spread of viruses.
The fact that BJ uses his hands a lot when talking is simply a characteristic ( the French tend to do it a lot)?

I will always give credit where credit is due. But I'd prefer to have some sort of grown up person leading the country at the moment....

Could I suggest that the phrase 'grown-up person' is not one to be applied to any of our current political leaders at present , regardless of political persuasion.

Wow when you think of the insults hurled at Corbyn in the past accusing BJ of not being a 'grown up' is mild in comparison. And if we have reached the stage where we can't criticise politicians I really think I might just throw in the towel anyway. No one any comment about why he didn't outline the legislation?

'No one any comment about why he didn't outline the legislation?'
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No idea trisher but it probably has been ' leaked' and if that was on purpose, it needs to stop. If it was not on purpose it equay needs to stop.

And don't you think it matters POGS This will be very restrictive legislation which will be for a fixed period but it would have been much more informative and accurate than the pretending that things are going to be voluntary because very soon they won't be.

As I said. Drip feeding so that when that legislation is passed it won't shock everyone....

trisher Mon 16-Mar-20 21:01:48
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' And don't you think it matters POGS '
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I did not say I think it does not matter! There's the' twist and not using context ' ploy again.

I said ' but it probably has been ' leaked' and if that was on purpose, it needs to stop. If it was not on purpose it equally needs to stop. '

trisher how is it ‘pretending’ when at the moment it is voluntary?
It may come that legislation has to be followed, i.e. we must follow government instructions.
I doubt anyone will be ‘shocked’ Labaik as they can see what’s happening in other countries.

Actually I've realised why BJ didn't announce the proposed legislation yesterday, he is so used to being duplicitous and having 2 seperate ideas/women/policies running at the same time that he simply can't stop it. So he announces voluntary measures whilst planning legislative changes, announcing the legislative proposals would just have been too honest!

I have had a day or two away from GN. More important things to do. However, having just had a quick read of this thread it’s depressing. Same old, same old Tory bashing. At a time like this when the country, nay the world, is in meltdown and many are very frightened of what may lie ahead, there are certain posters making a great fuss of BJ waving his hands around - so what? I’m surprised that the usual suspects don’t find a way of blaming him for starting the outbreak. FGS give it a rest and get back to Boris bashing when it’s over. Just because his advisors are doing things differently doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Our figures are nowhere near as bad as our European neighbours at present.

tickingbird only because we are somewhat behind the rest of the EU, in terms of infection spread unless you live in London where it has just been revealed they are approx 2 weeks ahead of the rest of us. And the Mayor of London was only allowed into COBRA for the first time yesterday! But let's not bash the Tories!!!

I think there is an issue with insurance for pubs, theatres, restaurants and so on, that they can't claim on their insurance unless there is legislation to close them, rather than advising people not to go. I wonder if that affected the government's thinking? The insurance companies may be paying out big time.

No trisher let’s not bash the tories. Let’s try and pull together. At the end of the day we have the government we have and the virus sweeping the world. I just don’t see how all this tooing and froing of political stuff helps. When it’s over we can (hopefully we’re all still here) vote them out or possibly praise them for leading us through. Only time will tell.

So it's OK if they make a hash of everything tickingbird? Including not realising how bad things are in London?

If course it isn’t OK if they make a hash of it but if they do or they don’t there’s nothing we can do on here. Some of the people on here are depressed enough as it is. As I stated last week, no government can stop this. We need to heed the advice and stay safe. No need to keep banging on about Boris. Whatever you say won’t alter government strategy. Personal responsibility is what’s necessary and looking out for those that can’t help themselves.

GreeneyedGirl, I agree. Advice rather than legislation also means that anyone who's booked on a trip, holiday or outing can't claim on their insurance based on 'advice' not to go.

Seems like the insurance sector is being protected so far.