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Following on from Boris Johnson's performance yesterday evening the comments from so many can be summed up by saying "What an idiot". Totally lacking in clarity, yet more spin designed to try make the government look better. I've been watching Good Morning Britain just now. The more we see the more it becomes apparent that they really haven't got much of a clue. Moderate Tories, Labour and others in Parliament need to force a change in government with a coalition of common sense pending a general election when the truth has come out.
The problems can be traced back to the Thatcher era when profits, privatisation and a lack of caring for society was the mantra. Brexit was just the latest example of not caring about the good of the country. Recent austerity for the sake of saving a few pence on income tax left the country unprepared for any sort of emergency let alone a pandemic.
The performance of the UK must be compared with that of Germany, South Korea and other countries who have handled the situation so much better. They have for years maintained Health and Care systems at a level with capacity to react, kept a manufacturing sector vibrant and seen an over reliance on the service sector as bad for their countries.
We should have tested from the start and where resources were limited tested where it really mattered. Assume that those in hospital with symptoms were positive and only testing those who were likely to pass the infection on. The true of deaths can only be estimated based on compariing this year's figures with those of recent years.
It will take years for Britain to regain the status it squandered away. We have the talent, may have the right type of leadership in some as yet less well known politicians. No quick fix just a slow gradual return to values that really matter.
So write to / email your MP's asking them to take a lesson from 1940 and form a government of National Unity, cancel Brexit and call a general election when and only when the situation is properly under control. Only parliament, if they have the courage, can call the executive to account.
No, Brexit it cannot be cancelled, the documents he been signed. To go back into the EU we would have to reapply and wait our turn and be treated like any other new country. We would of course have to adopt the Euro and any other conditions imposed on us without too much say in the matter. In other words our position would be quite different to the one we left. Not much hope for fishing!!!
This thread produced a wider spectrum of views than I had expected. It has been restrospective but our current situation is a consequence of past mistakes and actions taken correctly. There is no easy way out but in any case we have to learn from and admit to past mistakes as well as continuing good practice.
The lockdown has to be eased with inevitable risks. It appears that it was deliberate policy to move Covid positive patients into the community and to care homes. In the community the risk is balanced but in care homes it was unforgivable to knowingly let anyone with Covid in.
Our statistics are bad but compiled differently from other countries so comparison is not valid. Relying on tests must be tempered with the delay between taking the test and getting the result. Catch up is therefore not fully possible.
Our lack of preparedness was due to austerity which was not necessary if the government had not been terrified of putting a couple of pence on income tax. Increaing the money supply by printing money simply causes inflation, remember "Barber the Printer". The taxation levels in the 1950's and 1960's kept the economy better balanced. Some overpaid people of dubious talent may have moaned and left but as a country we do not miss them.
Common sense has to rule the way forward. Individual responsibility, difficult with so many people who don't care, is the key to a successful containment of Covid.
Finally the biggest past mistake is Brexit which the majority of the population recognise. Brexit can be cancelled if there is a will. Most of us would be relieved. I do not wish Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees Mogg, Nigel Farage or even Dominic Cummings harm but the country will be better off when they are out of the picture.
For those of you that seem to have a way out of this differently, can you share what you think needs doing now, not respectively. Just whom do you think has the personality and attributes to do this.
Jabberwok, Boris is a member of the Tory party. Supports their values and focuses. He is not new and different, he's part of the Tory status quo. They have been in for 10 years and have caused the financial mess we're in and are now killing off a huge number of the population.
Fair enough, you support them politically, but I fail to see how you can support the huge mess they're making now.
And get over Jeremy Corbyn. Blimey. You're more obsessed than a Corbynista!
Brexit cannot at this stage be cancelled, but the least that a responsible government should do is to extends the transition period until such time that the pandemic is over and we can then resume sensible negotiations.
To allow the final exit from the EU to go forward without proper negotiations would be nothing short of criminal. We could, in effect, end up with a no-deal brexit which would damage our country for generations to come and only benefit the vultures of disaster capitalism who conspired to fool decent folk into voting for this disaster.
It would have been a disaster without the pandemic but should now be, to any patriotic politician, totally unthinkable.
Ok , keep your hair on! How do we cancel brexit and instigate a General Election!
On Sunday the PM clearly stated that workers, particularly construction workers, could go back to work today, Monday. That speech was pre -recorded and honed - no blustering, waffling or bumbling. And yet no one noticed his error, put right today, that Wednesday was the day he meant. Perhaps Cummings wants to get rid of him? A conspiracy perhaps?
Jabberwok How many more times? The financial crisis was not caused by Gordon Brown. It was a direct result of the failure of sub prime mortages in the US - fannie mae and freddie mac.
Austerity was a political decision on hte part of the right wing of the Tory Party.
Oh, FFS. Not the bl**dy Financial Crisis!
When are people goign to stop believing in this utter nonsense and spouting economically illiterate tory propaganda about it.
It was a GLOBAL finacial crisis. If it hadn't have been for the quick thinking of Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown in initiating £245billion of Quantitative Easing the major banks in the UK would have failed. Which means that everyone who had accounts with them would have lost all their money. Then you might have had a genuine reason for castigating Labour.
As it is, 'austerity' was completely unnecessary as we have a sovereign currency and are able to issue as much as we like of it. The QE wasn't borrowed from anyone; there was notheing to 'pay back'. All that austerity did was to hinder recovery; because recovery from a recession depends on people and governments spending money and as the tories cut everything they possibly could they deprived the economy of money.
A national economy is not like a household economy. There is no national credit card to 'max out'. There is no limit to the money a government can spend. The only way that could damage the economy and cause inflation would be if there was nothing to spend it on.
The tories are completely and utterly responsible for the utter mess that the NHS is in today.
Incidentally, how do you cancel Brexit? We've already left and would have to apply to rejoin! Another GE?!! How can the present government be unseated with an 80 seat majority?!! Don't think I'll be worrying my MP with these rather absurd proposals!!
Boris has been in charge for 8 months, 5 of which were a minority government. How can he be responsible for the financial crisis which occurred in 2008 under the Labour administration of Gordon Brown which led to austerity, none of which was the making of his or the present government? Thank goodness JC and his merry band are gone,at least that is something to be grateful for! Now they really were the worse set of politicians in anyone's lifetime, including HM!!
I don't think anyone who voted for Boris thought he had principles. They might have expected him to be able to be a politician though.
The virus though, I agree, any government would have struggled. But given that the current incumbents have spent 10 years stripping the country of its assets, they had nothing left to fall back on.
trisher funny he hadn't a clue what he was talking about
lemongrove if the best you can do to support this shower is to accuse someone of being a Corbyn fan it's a bit pathetic. He's gone. Unfortunately we are left with the worst politicians I have seen in my life time. Still I suppose that's what you get when you vote in someone who has never had any principles.
maybe the queen should take back the power to make the laws.
Grany That Matt Lucas is great Have you seen Matt Hancock being helped by Mike Spicer?
www.facebook.com/TheDailyPolitik/videos/696837141128958/UzpfSTcyNDkwMzc2ODoxMDE1ODQ1Nzk0MjY2ODc2OQ/?notif_id=1589145667464799¬if_t=feedback_reaction_generic
Ah but they managed a 100000 tests didn't they - well for one day they did. Of course if anyone actually got the results of those tests no one knows. After all we had to send some off to the US and think how long those results would take to get back. There needs to be a consistent trace and test policy and practice but that won't bloody happen.
I agree with her point about testing. We STILL aren't doing it properly! How hard can it be? My Swiss school is testing every adult and child that returns. They stay locked in their room until their test comes back clear.
Tell that to the OP ! Or perhaps you are doing.?
I never fail to be amazed by some people. Global pandemic? Staring death in the face? Political bickering.
Cindersdad...I seem to remember that you were an avid Jeremy Corbyn fan who often posted about the iniquities (real or imagined) of the Conservative Party, so your remarks hardly come as a surprise.?
Jeez. 31 and a half THOUSAND.
I AGREE! China were to blame.
HOWEVER, if my next door neighbour had started it, it would make NO difference.
Fighting it in England is what we need to do. We live here. We need to focus on what WE are doing to try to overcome this.
Bickering about who is to blame is doing nothing. It is what TRUMP is doing for gods sake and he is regarded as a brain dead buffoon.
We live in the UK. 31 and a half UK citizens have died and you want to continue arguing about who started it instead of focusing on the fight? That isn't strategy. It's Colonel Blimpism.
Our government are the ones that are directly affecting the current British battle against this disease. We have some slight effect on their policies (I say slight, because Cummings is in charge and he doesn't seem to give a toss about anyone other than the wealthy) through public opinion and pressure.
But by all means looking back instead of how we can move forwards through this. Whatever gets you through.
Well said Jabberwok.
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