The Sunday Times article. Can anyone defend Johnson after reading this?

It certainly shakes one's faith in the collective wisdom of the electorate...

There are a huge number of voters in the USA who intend to vote for Trump. It defies logic. It comes close to destroying one's belief in democracy.

Yogadatti, so you'll vote again - for a government you are 'appalled by', because you always vote for them? Please explain - I can't get my head around that!

and:

mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-times-of-london/

lemongrove, read and digest please:

yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2017/03/07/how-left-or-right-wing-are-uks-newspapers

It’s a rhetorical question where the right wingers are concerned.

MaizieD 'Can anyone defend Johnson after reading this?

Oh, they will, you know. They made up their minds (then closed them) long ago, so will defend him to the bitter end - whatever he does.

No.

You can say that again ExD! Really stupid comments on here all supposition! Pathetic!

Oh DO stop it all of you.

Maizie you are absolutely right, I had completely failed to grasp the reworking of the word ‘leader’ in this context

Well he was too busy , and PMs don’t have to attend, even when it’s the biggest national emergency since WW2. He was trying to organise Big Ben to bong for Brexit and plan how to tell his ex and children about the new sprog.

MaizieD Nice one!!

What you are failing to understand, SirChenjin, is that the whole concept of 'leader' has been rewritten. A leader is now a person who puts together a team of subordinates who will do all the work while he provides the necessary boost to morale by being a good fun cheeky chappy bounding with enthusiasm and optimism and having an 'interesting' personal life which everyone can gossip about and ooh and ahh over.

It helps if he's a bit posh because his willingness to look like a big t*t from time to time proves that he's so normal and like 'one of us', likes a bit of a laugh.

It really doesn't matter if he's not sufficiently interested in, or worried about, a potential emergency situation which has been forecast for years, and which may wipe out a significant portion of the population of the country he's leading, to actually attend any meetings about planning for dealing with it. Hell, no, he's got Ministers to that for him.

COBR meetings? They're for the little people...

Besides which, he's rather preoccupied with sorting out his divorce and his pregnant girlfriend, so as to provide his following with another 'ooh, aah' moment.

I just had a very quick scan of the Tory Govt’s rebuttal of the criticism directed at it but I note it still doesn’t explain why our PM missed 5 COBRA meetings during a pandemic in which many thousands of people have died.

In the interest of balance, folk may like to read this rebuttal of the Sunday Times article discussed here yesterday

healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/04/19/response-to-sunday-times-insight-article/

Gove is someone I would wish to see a long way from the corridors of power after watching what he did to education.

trisher - I absolutely agree that austerity left us poorly prepared (apart from all the other dreadful results) and "long term cuts and short term planning" have led to this situation.

I do however disagree about the idea that national budgets can be likened to household budgets - this is what triggered the austerity measures in the first place. Economists argue a lot about this, but borrowing and investing in infrastructure and preparation and prevention creates jobs and stimulates the economy - this is a sound economic policy embraced by many.

Further back on this thread someone chose to praise Michael Gove who appeared on this morning's Andrew Marr Show.

I watched the show and was appalled at Gove's pathetic performance. He was by far the weakest of the contributors.

Just check out BBC i-player and listen to Professor Sarah Gilbert of Oxford University explaining how vaccines are developed, then watch Sir David Attenburgh and LP shadow chancellor Annelise Dodds, They all talked in a straightforward way about the truth of our situation.

Then we heard Gove spout meaningless propaganda, enough to make any thinking viewer despair. Anyone who voted for this appallingly incompetent government should be ashamed.

The ST article is not just abut missing COBRA meetings. That's the Independent article.

Swine flu obvs

During the last swine epidemic in the U.K. which happened to be during 2009/10 Gordon Brown PM attended every single Cobra meeting.

No ‘perhaps’ about it.

Did he say why BJ felt it appropriate to miss 5 Cobra meetings during a pandemic? Although it’s normal for PMs not to attend every one these as far from normal times - I’d have thought that he would have insist on being present, even if he wasn’t actually chairing for some reason.

Alex Wickham is hardly neutral and non-partisan

Perhaps not. I wouldn't know. But other sources that I've seen since that one have corroborated what he's saying in that thread.

The ST article is just accusation, not, it appears, based on actual knowledge of how Cobras work.

Ah well MaizieD.
I suppose I Have to say in return I’m so glad that we didn’t get Corbyn, thanks to voters like you.
?

Voters like you, Ug are one of the reasons why I don't want an elected second chamber.