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.
Sally Bercow had to pay compensation to Lord McAlpine for retweeting something which suggested he was a paedophile. All she did was retweet it with the comment "innocent face".
It took hold in Italy because, prior to lockdown people moved en masse from one area to another. Hong Kong have had hardly any deaths. It is incredibly densely populated but masks have been worn since January because they saw what was happening and took swift action. There is still no excuse for seeing what was happening in Italy and doing absolutely nothing; even stopping doing testing in March.
If UK is a shambles and Govt useless, how do you explain the high death rates in Italy, Spain and France as well. It strikes me that there is some underlying reason why the virus took a big hold on these neighbouring countries not least the amount of travel and freight between these countries all of which are in UK top travel destinations. One wonders to what extent it was already in the country before first notification.
We'll all be wishing we still had outside lavvies purely for the use of our visiting relatives. Maybe there'll be a market for them soon. Either way I'm glad I've got my shee weeand pee bol because there's no way that I'll be using a public loo for the foreseeable future.
lemongrove I assume the Mail can't print out and out lies. I expect if I had quoted the Guardian, that would have elicited some sceptical comments also.
I did not say Dorries "doctored" the video. But she re-tweeted it and made a comment. If you re-tweet something, you presumably agree with it and are giving it credence and further exposure by sharing it. It might have been advisable for her to check the claim properly first.
Sneering at Corbyn and McDonnell and the Labour party doesn't disguise the fact that Johnson et al have made an almighty hash of dealing with this virus - and the whole world is saying the same thing.
I just found this:
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick:
Quote: I appreciate it's frustrating for some that they can't go to a family member's home and sit in the garden there, or even enter the home, but this is just the first phase, we hope, if we can keep the infection under control, we may be able to ease even further in the weeks ahead. But this is a first step in the right direction of making life easier and enabling people to have a bit more contact with people outside of their households."
Asked why parks and not people's gardens, Mr Jenrick replied: "Well, we're chosen to do it in parks because they're public, open spaces. End quote.
Full article here: www.itv.com › news › why-can-i-go-to-work-but-not-s
No one is obsessed by Corbyn, just thankful to be rid of him and McDonnell. A narrow escape indeed!
So if a couple who live together are out for a walk and meet a single friend, stopping min 2m apart for a chat, the couple are not breaking any rules but the friend is as he is meeting two people!
OH and I met with two friends in a local park. We figured, if the other woman and I talk and stroll together, and OH and the other man do likewise, we are each meeting one other person. No?
However, a spokesperson clearly said (I think it was BBC news) that you should not sit in people's gardens.
They should have put that in the guidance then, shouldn't they? My British Commonsense tells me that a garden is outdoors and that if it can be accessed without going through the house and distancing is properly observed it is no more hazardous than any other outdoor location. I though this lot were supposed to be doing away with micro managing?
Still more Corbyn obsession.
Or The Marx Brothers, as I call them janpt ?
Eloethan you are quoting the DM as a reliable source??
It wasn’t doctored by Dorries, but re-tweeted by her.
MaizieD I’m not a pearl clutcher on GN ( or anywhere else)?
In any case, I have commented on this already ( probably on the thread about it.)
janpt????
Boris Johnson is by far the best person to run the country. Thank God we didn't end up with the Marxist idiots Corbyn and Mcdonnel.
”You cannot visit friends and family in their homes.” The word 'homes' is a bit difficult here. I always think your garden is part of your home. Is this not the case?
Apparently the rule is that we can only meet one person from another household in a public space. So if a couple who live together are out for a walk and meet a single friend, stopping min 2m apart for a chat, the couple are not breaking any rules but the friend is as he is meeting two people!
This is the sort of nonsense that leads people to ignore sensible rules.
You are right, the 'guidance' says ”As with before, you cannot visit friends and family in their homes”. However, a spokesperson clearly said (I think it was BBC news) that you should not sit in people's gardens. He clarified it by saying that if somebody sits in your garden a situation could arise when he/she asks to use the toilet and therefore needed to go indoors. There could be other reasons why they went indoors. Situations like that would increase the risk.
I haven't seen this written down but it was definitely said.
That appears to allow close family and friends to socialise in their gardens, provided they maintain the 2 metre distance rule.
I'd agree with that interpretation, Eloethan. When I looked at the 'guidance' it said nothing about gardens, just that you couldn't meet family in the home
^ As with before, you cannot:visit friends and family in their homes^
Nothing about gardens..
The there's that silly thing about only being able to meet one person not in your household so long as you are outdoors.
The 'guidance' is here if anyone wants to check.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do
The Telegraph reported:
"In a 50-page document, entitled Our Plan To Rebuild: The UK Government's Covid-19 recovery strategy, the Prime Minister says that, from Wednesday, people can visit a grandparent, a girlfriend or a boyfriend from outside their household if they sit two metres apart and remain outdoors.
"The strategy says that the Government's scientific advisers - Sage - have said that "the risk of infection outside is significantly lower than inside"
That appears to allow close family and friends to socialise in their gardens, provided they maintain the 2 metre distance rule.
I think it has been a huge shame that people had previously been instructed to take only one hour's exercise, particularly when the weather has been so nice. I believe walking in the open air - avoiding crowded areas and maintaining at least a 2 metre distance - is much healthier than staying inside breathing stale air and becoming physically and mentally unfit.
HollyMolly: ”Does anyone know whether we can drive to our grown up children's house to visit the teenage grandchildren? …
You can drive to their house but not entering the house or the garden. You can meet one other person in a public space outdoors.
Where I live I now see family members/friends entering people's houses and gardens so I don't think that message has gone home.
It'll get worse. For the Tories it's power however they get it. That's what they have Dominic Cummings for. Lies, smoke, mirrors until we end up with people unfit to govern.
I am interested to see if Boris has had an epiphany with his C19 tho. It won't be extreme because he's just the puppet of DC.
'They' started on Starmer as soon as he was announced as leader of the LP. They don't seem to have an awful lot to go on; he's a bit short of distinctive features really. Milliband is Jewish with a well known left wing academic father, lots of fertile ground there; while Corbyn was an absolute gift.
But Starmer? They're struggling a bit. He's unremarkable. All they have is his stint as DPP.
If I recall rightly, Guido Fawkes was straight off the mark;, his slurs and insinuations about Starmer's tenure being faithfully copied onto this forum by Boris' number one fan within days of his election. But it's been quite quiet since. And now the best they can come up with is a doctored video...
Does anyone know whether we can drive to our grown up children's house to visit the teenage grandchildren? In their house, garden or park? What is the actual situation?
Still obese, with a BMI of 33, he can't exactly lead by example!
Interesting to see Mr Johnson changing his mind, but in a good way.... he has now decided that obesity is a massive problem given that so many of the Covid casualties were diabetic/overweight. He includes himself in this having been 17 stone and only 5ft 9in before his Covid illness. He has now lost a stone since leaving hospital and his latest slogan is “don’t be a fatty in your fifties”. This was the chap who supported mothers pushing pies etc through the school gates when the school tried to set up healthy eating. Let’s hope he can follow this up with positive action.
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