ANGER

You don't have to look far tickingbird. He's a bully boy, after all.

I suppose everyone’s entitled to a rant OP but banging on about the government murdering people through their ineptitude is laughable.

The lockdown isn’t lax and it’s causing misery for a large number of people. It can’t go on indefinitely and the sooner it’s lifted the better.

I’m not aware of any of this. I am shocked. I think we can all find anything we want, to suit whatever agenda we wish to promote, but to state our PM is a drug addict is going too far. I am genuinely interested in the source of this ‘information’.

There are some wild accusations being flung about on this thread.

You don't have to look far tickingbird. He's a bully boy, after all

I now realise that certain quarters have been going easy on BJ whilst he’s been so ill. Now he’s on the road to recovery there’s no holding back it seems.

Narcissist
Drug Addict
Bully
Psychopath.
Not bad going so early in the day.

I think we can all find anything we want, to suit whatever agenda we wish to promote,

True.

As to those suggesting the OP can feel angry, I totally agree.

She can feel whatever emotion she wants

However she was telling us all to be angry

And nobody should be telling me what emotion I should be feeling either

Someone has stated that Boris has a drug habit. It appears they said it is a cocaine habit. The effects that cocaine has on the body are to make someone energised also the cocaine when taken often rapidly increases the heart rate and can lead to heart disease and in some cases heart failure. Then there is the effects of the cocaine on the nasal passage and the loss of tissue which can be seen to deteriorate around the nasal area.

Is someone suggesting that Boris was admitted to I.C.U with heart problems associated with cocaine addiction?
I am not a great fan of Boris but I do not have him down as an addict and am pleased he made it out of the I.C.U.

Isn't there just Merlotgran.

tickingbird
Thank you, I didn’t really realise that narc also meant a drug habit, I just thought it means narcissistic.
Well like you tickingbird I don’t know how anyone could possibly know that Boris uses drugs. For my money, I don’t think he does. After all, where is there any evidence of that. I’m afraid unless and until someone comes up with reliable evidence that he uses drugs, I will maintain my own position, which is that without evidence to the contrary, Boris no more uses drugs than I do. Well, I have some prescription medicines, but I’ve never touched illegal drugs in my life, and I’ve no intention to start now.

For heavens sake!
Is it really in order to accuse the Prime Minister of a cocaine habit and the whole administration of systemised lying?
Some people either have overactive imaginations, too much time on their hands or a tenuous grip on realty.
I think this is why I am finding much of GN very unappealing these days.

MawB
Quite.

Leaving aside any this speculation about Boris’ habits or not, I certainly do not agree with your assessment Jane.

This is about leadership which requires much more than blindly following, what turned out to be, bad advice from one set of scientists.

Leadership requires judgement, awareness, lateral thinking, assessment of all facts and opinions. Not all scientists agrees with his initial herd immunity approach. Indeed when those words were first uttered on a daily briefing I was horrified to hear them, and luckily many from the scientific community shouted out in alarm.

Only then did Boris wake up. But it was onky a partial awakening. He again didn’t take in the full extent of the problem. He didn’t look at resources, how to source them and the logistics of supply and transport. He dithered about lockdown until the horse was out of the stable.

I know he is a classics man, not a scientist, but he took on the role willingly and when handed this poisoned chalice did not rise to the challenge. He could have shown leadership, but two weeks in he was still laughing about singing happy birthday and sombreros and jolly old Blighty will prevail.

Lives were lost. One of them, a couple of days ago, a friend of mine. That’s the reality. If we look at the way Moon Jae-in or Angela Merkel has risen the the challenge, that is what leadership is about. Those who think he got it right are like sheep led by asses.

Well we shall see, this week, as the government are due to make a decision on whether we ease up on restrictions or not. Given that there has been pressure by businesses to ease up because of the harm its doing the the economy I reckon we will some restrictions lifted rather than waiting. So we will see if the statement the government are making a pigs ear of this is right or wrong, after all money is what the Tories care about.

I agree. Anger is the only rational response. Anger has to lead to action. Without that you get dampening phrases like 'it's all in the past'. 'We have to look forward' etc. It must not be brushed under the carpet as Windrush was after a weak promise to compensate or do something about it that was only partially kept.
There is often a need for righteous anger and it will be when it can be used constructively.
There are ways that such anger is dampened down to prevent action like satire which makes people believe that the problem has been noticed. In practice that is all it does.
There will also be an inquiry (which there should be) but they are used to delay while people's anger (and interest) are dissipated so the pressure lessens.
Without anger people will not follow through with a demand for consequences.

Great post Pikachu (IMO)!

The government will probably (I hope, anyway) defer any decision about easing up on restrictions because the boss is supposed to be resting. There still isn't any clear pattern about the number of infections and deaths. Until there is, I think any easing up would be stupid. Personally, I'd make them even more restrictive, although I don't suppose the supermarket bosses would agree (but I'm not PM and am never likely to be).

Add Grenfell to Windrush.

There is a difference between saying that "X is a YYYY" as a fact, and stating your opinion that X is a YYYY. If you just wish to air an opinion you say "It looks to me as if X is a YYYY" or I would guess that . . . " or even "I believe that . ."

If you state it as a bald sentence containing a fact, then you have to be prepared to prove in a court of law that it is so and that you didn't just make that up this morning to blacken X's character - in other words, that you are not libelling X. Publishing a libel on anyone publicly is a crime.

If you were to state as a serious fact, without saying that it is just "your opinion", that a Gransnet poster (giving their real name) is in the habit of drinking twelve vodkas a night and cruising down the Royal Mile in the small hours picking up prosperous-looking strange men to take home and pick their pockets, then they would be justified in having you charged with libel - and convicted too, unless the embarrassed tourists gave evidence that they had indeed been conned. (I hasten to add that I don't actually know any Gransnetters whose career this is. At our average age, it probably wouldn't be all that successful )

As they say - damned if they do, damned if they don’t. It’s very easy to snipe from the sidelines without being in possession of ALL the facts. Do you know that on the first day of the Battle of the Somme - that’s just one day - 57,470 men died??? Now that’s an almost unbelievable figure and raises/raised huge questions regarding leadership. I would not have BJ’s job for all the tea in China.......

I'm angry that the government didn't impose a lockdown sooner. I'm angry that the government said on 9th February that 'the government and NHS are well prepared to deal with this virus' I'm angry that they stopped testing at a time when the WHO told countries to 'test test test'. I'm angry that health care workers still do not appear to have adequate PPE and, when they complain the Health Secretary blames them for not using it properly. I'm angry that some people [eg Michael Goves daughter] are tested for the virus when health care workers aren't. I'm angry that people are put into care homes to recuperate therefore endangering the lives of vulnerable people in those care homes. I'm angry that this government deliberately ran down the sort of supplies needed if there was a pandemic even though it was warned not to. I'm angry that, when everyone was being told to wash their hands and avoid contact with people, the PM of this country boasted that he was still shaking hands with everyone. I'm angry that the government spent millions of pounds sending out a letter to everyone in this country when that money could have been spent on PPE for our NHS. Don't tell me not to be angry. This government doesn't want people to hold it to account for it's shambolic response to this pandemic.

Good post labaik

Anger is a total waste of emotion. people getting wrought-up, unreasonable and unamenable to reason.

What we need is cold calm reason, and a determination to work together to insist on change. Far to many movements for change that start with righteous anger end in disaster, think Syria, Libya, further back Portugal and Yugoslavia.

So it's unreasonable to be angry that 1,000 people a day are dying in this country? And that we have been lied to and are still being lied to. That John Humphreys has said the BBC have been told to 'go easy on politicians' and that Priti Patel refused to apologise for the number of NHS workers that are dying...and that we were told that the government and NHS were well prepared for a pandemic...

Good point M0nica, anger can be very destructive. I’m sure the govt is well aware of all the criticism thrown at them for doing this or not doing that but I still maintain they are working towards doing their best for the country in these stormy and uncharted waters.

So those paragons if virtue with their emotion well and truly under control, what is the appropriate emotional reaction to what many perceive as the governments complicity in the death of thousands?

I still haven’t seen a figure of 1000 deaths here. I know it’s high but it never reached 1000 and it’s dropping now and, hopefully, will continue to do so.