Are BJ and his team speaking today?

Boris is attempting not to turn a drama into a crisis, but he is going to have to be more authoritarian following yesterday's ridiculous behaviour.
Whole families taking to the countryside, including friends of mine on the at risk list with seriously ill husbands, who went out with adult children and grandchildren to local beauty spots. They were planning a walk today but fortunately have abandoned it.

Sorry, if this isn't a crisis what is?

It is the job of government to govern.

Quite honestly I have been shocked at the behaviour of our PM, throughout this developing crisis. He has lacked any authoritity, seems unsure of his message and always seems one step behind what is happening.

He gives bumbling mixed messages, with no clear direction. Yesterday he said keep 2 metres apart, but children can go into playgrounds, people into parks, enjoy the sunshine! He told us a few days ago he may pop in to his mother on Mothers Day!

Has everyone seen the streets in Italy and Spain? We are closely following I'm sorry to say.

Anniebach, I agree, it's a struggle to find out the situation in Wales but the BBC seems to give a lot of airtime to Scotland and Sturgeon in particular, and not just presently.

We have local news after the main news. I’m surprised that Wales doesn’t have that

Johnson is not and never has been an authoritative figure, preferring to play the fool.

Totally unsuited to the type of crises we are living through.

5 minutes? Doesn't tell us much.
My point is that Sturgeon gets a lot of airtime on the main news, always has.
BBC Scotland will also have their five minutes of local news after the main news, so if it's enough for Wales it should be enough for Scotland.

I think the main news should cover the whole country generally.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

I agree, Flexiblefriend, he is listening to the best advice available to him and responding accordingly.

Some people eg in Scotland may speak in a more authoritative manner but it doesn't mean they are any better advised or know any more or that people take any more notice.

Allyson Pollock

COVID-19 - the public health response

The government’s scientific evidence for its actions on COVID-19 sheds light on the catastrophe unfolding economically, socially, and health wise. We can see the lack of public health input and the effects of the decimation of the speciality and expertise in communicable disease control prior to and after the Health & Social Care Act 2012. There appears to be no public health evidence from experienced physicians in communicable disease control and their teams.

It seems our government and its task force has failed to learn from and apply the meticulous lessons of the China WHO report that fundamental to tackling COVI-19 is “extremely proactive surveillance to immediately detect cases, very rapid diagnosis and immediate case isolation, rigorous tracking and quarantine of close contacts”.

The outbreak is being centrally managed rather than centrally coordinated, with insufficient foot soldiers on the ground. In England local authorities cannot tailor responses to the local situation and are subject to central policy decisions. This, combined with the devastating cuts to community-based communicable disease control and its fragmentation, has created a perfect storm. National and local expertise has been lost. The government has not applied the lessons from the H1N1 epidemic that the advice of operational public health experts be incorporated alongside that of modellers.

Read more

I think under the circumstances Boris is doing a good job of a dreadful situation. It’s not just him giving out information, he has lots of well informed people behind him who are giving out calm and measured accounts of what to do and what not to do, Prof Chris Witty, to name just one.

He is better than I'd thought he'd be.

Surprisingly

Totally agree with FlexibleFriend! People on here are so quick to sneer and criticise Boris for dealing with an unprecedented crisis, one that no one in living memory has had to even contemplate, that came virtually out of the blue, which changes from hour to hour, making concrete decisions almost impossible. This, together with a selfish mindless section of the population, makes tackling this extremely difficult. As for China?!!! Who knows what goes on in that sinister country, ditto Russia. Faith in the Chinese would be very touching if it wasn't so blatantly stupid! Nicola may sound more articulate, but even clever old her has only just tumbled to the fact that the Scots are also going to need a big stick to isolate! Being articulate does not equal being clever as this clearly demonstrates!

When we look at other European countries, their leaders are giving clear unambiguous directions to their population, and ours is not.

Personally, I am not sneering at Mr Johnson. I don't want " appealing to common sense" and " deferring to experts". The deferring thing is just cover up. When the chancellor spoke he didn't defer, he looked into the camera and spoke.

I want a clear, unambiguous message and some hope.

Greymar as BJ isn’t a Doctor or a Scientist I’m pleased that he is deferring to experts, I’m assuming that the Chancellor is an expert on Finance, However , I’m sure he has people giving him advice too, just not on Camera.

This is and has to be a team effort, not just the people we see on screen.

If BJ stood up alone, you would be asking what he knows about Science and Medecine.

He doesn’t appear to know much about anything that’s the trouble?

OK, it's beyond me how people look at him and see inspiration, hope, information. Yes we are in unprecedented times, so we need an unprecendented and simple, clear realistic but hopeful message.

They wanted power, he wanted to be number one. Is this the best we can manage?

Some people can sound authoritative but know little - it is just that they are good at flannelling.

At least he defers to those who do know instead of trying to pretend he is a doctor or scientist.

Yes and some people can sound authoritive and know a great deal and some people can marry great intellect with the ability to read a situation and empathise.

If Boris created a miracle people on here and elsewhere would still criticise and find fault! What they're actually doing is showing up their loathing of a Tory government and Boris in particular! Simple as that! Now if Jeremy were in charge?!! Bearing in mind the foot and mouth outbreak!!! At least we've been spared that!

What's the point of giving a hopeful message that he can't deliver because morons think they have the right to do as they please. He could stand there and tell you everything will be fine but unless people start listening things will be far from fine.
Personally I don't want a pm who tells fairy tales when the truth suffices quite well.

Jabberwok, no, Mr Corbyn, Uncle Tom Cobley, or whoever would not be a good leader right now. That is not the point.

I wasn't asking for fairytales, I would like brief, clear information combined with some basic humanity.

It seems to me the problem is that Boris Johnson has put himself at the centre of every government information . broadcast, and I don't think he's very good at dealing with questions on the hoof. Look how he avoided them during the election campaign!

Also, I get the feeling that the strategy is being made up day by day, so it's hard to get a straight answer from any of the people on the podiums. On Sunday they were very clear about the letters going to people about shielding for the very vulnerable. But when questions were asked about how it was going to work, and how these people were going to be fed and looked after, tumbleweed. It doesn't inspire confidence in me. (Although I'll admit he has never inspired confidence in me in any circumstances.)

@Jabberwok, I'm not asking for, or expecting, a miracle. Just plain, honest, common-or-garden competence. I can think of plenty of Tory PMs who could have provided that in an emergency.