Lazy, lazy Boris

Has anyone else read this, from the Financial Times?

Inside Westminster’s coronavirus blame game

What went wrong with the UK government’s pandemic response and why? As an inquiry looms, the search for a scapegoat is on

www.ft.com/content/aa53173b-eb39-4055-b112-0001c1f6de1b

It's free.

It's quite a long read but interesting. Especially in respect of the lockdown 'date'

No jane you weren't being naive. That's exactly what I meant.

It's not the first time this poster has had a little rant directed at me. I have no idea what her problem is.

Peardrop Unfortunately, there are enough intellectually challenged people who will only listen to the message they want to hear'. Run out of Guardian quotes for today - resort to nastiness - twas ever thus

Why did you choose to take Growstuff’s comment so personally?

Perhaps naively, I took the comment to refer to people who are fed up with lockdown etc & will seize on the Prime Minister’s words to do what they like, without considering the evidence presented by the scientists that a second wave is probable.

Peardrop50

Growstuff says 'Unfortunately, there are enough intellectually challenged people who will only listen to the message they want to hear'.
Run out of Guardian quotes for today - resort to nastiness - twas ever thus.
This is what closes a debate and why decent folk choose not to post and I say goodnight.

There are plenty of decent folk who post on GN. I can't help it if you don't choose to belong to them.

Thanks Varian but I was hoping for an opinion column, not just reporting.

Oh dear Peardrop Are you stalking me? If you are, you don't seem to have done a very good job of noting my sources . Wasn't it you who suggested I'm a Labour supporter? You're not a very good detective, are you?

Yes calling people stupid was a brilliant strategy in the last election. Well done.

Peardrop50

Dinahmo

Peardrop50

No Growstuff, I am suggesting that a large percentage of your posts come directly from the Guardian which most often is Tory bashing.

Perhaps you could find articles of a similar nature in one of Murdoch's papers just to balance the info gathered from the Guardian.

I prefer to read and listen to various media outlets, and form my own opinion thank you.

Obviously we all prefer to form or own opinion. I was asking you to pass some of your opinion forming sources to us, for our edification. Maybe some of us could learn something!

Growstuff says 'Unfortunately, there are enough intellectually challenged people who will only listen to the message they want to hear'.
Run out of Guardian quotes for today - resort to nastiness - twas ever thus.
This is what closes a debate and why decent folk choose not to post and I say goodnight.

I agree with you Dollymc. People don't just need to feel confident about going back to work, eating out, etc. They need to know they're safe. The kind of allegedly motivating rhetoric and stupid jokes the public is getting at the moment might be OK for an under 7s football team, but nobody with any sense has any confidence in it.

Iain Duncan Smith is now trying to "blame" the scientists. Who's next, I wonder?

Fortunately, it looks as though people like Chris Whitty, some Conservative backbenchers and others are beginning to speak out. It's about time.

You know this is such a dreadfully worrying time, that being fed rhetoric and lies on an almost daily basis, simply adds to the fear
I know that the economy needs to reboot, but surely for that to happen, we need to be able to trust and have confidence in the Government
How can you trust a proven liar though?

Quite growstuff

varian The herd immunity plan obviously isn't working fast enough.

It's downright irresponsible to make that kid of statement. Unfortunately, there are enough intellectually challenged people who will only listen to the message they want to hear.

For the poster who wanted to hear from a Murdoch newspaper (ie not the Guardian) here is something from The Sun

BORIS Johnson has today called on bosses to get Brits back to work - and claimed life could be back to normal by Christmas.

The Prime Minister this morning called for the nation to return to “near-normal” from August 1 to help boost Britain’s ailing economy which has been ravaged by the pandemic.

www.thesun.co.uk/news/12149564/boris-back-to-work/

Am I being a tad sceptical, or even not optimistic enough, to doubt whether life in the UK will be back to normal by Xmas?

Pearldrop50
Government is not only just like a huge business but also has to deal with informing the public, fighting opposition from other parties quite often for the sake of it, answering the same pointless questions from an aggressive press and not only that but having life outside the job scrutinised, often twisted and gossiped about.

Seriously? Have you actually heard them answer a question? I haven't - all I hear are meaningless pre-prepared soundbites that don't even begin to answer whatever question has been asked!

Dinahmo

Peardrop50

No Growstuff, I am suggesting that a large percentage of your posts come directly from the Guardian which most often is Tory bashing.

Perhaps you could find articles of a similar nature in one of Murdoch's papers just to balance the info gathered from the Guardian.

I prefer to read and listen to various media outlets, and form my own opinion thank you.

Well of course he can speak well Lemon if reading from notes/teleprompter. The reasons he doesn't cope well with questions from the press male or female, is he doesn't have the facts or know the answers. Does that not concern you?

I don't for one minute think it's because he doesn't want to upset anyone - since when did he have a reputation for sensitivity!

Peardrop50

No Growstuff, I am suggesting that a large percentage of your posts come directly from the Guardian which most often is Tory bashing.

Perhaps you could find articles of a similar nature in one of Murdoch's papers just to balance the info gathered from the Guardian.

Really good posts Peardrop ??

I thought that in his speech today ( lunchtime) Johnson spoke well.He doesn’t cope so well with questions from journalists/ random people, especially, I have noticed if they are women.
I think he never wants to upset anyone, and while an admirable aspiration, you can’t do that in politics.
He needs to learn to be succinct.
As for reading pages and pages of documents on absolutely anything and everything ,that’s what a PM has staff for.

growstuff

Now Lord Andrew Lansley, the former Conservative Health Secretary, has pitched in, claiming that the attempt to blame the NHS is an attempt to take pressure of the government's failings.

He also says that governmental failure to tackle problems such as housing, education, deprivation and Britain’s rising tide of illness were behind the NHS’s struggle to cope with the demand for care

The person responsible for removing between 60 and 80 billions from the NHS and transferring those funds to clinical commissioning groups. Some of those were groups of GPs but the Health and Social Care Act of 2012 allowed many private businesses in to the health system.

There's a lot of Tories like him coming out of the woodwork now to criticise the govt. Fair enough, no problems with that, but why didn't they do it when they were in office.

I do admire nurses, doctors, auxiliary staff, paramedics, etc. I also admire the dedicated work of care home staff but I think it is right to question the poor performance of management in the NHS and in care homes. The government can't be held responsible for everything that goes on in every aspect of life.
One of my sons is a services manager for a large city council. He has no particular contacts but does listen to the TV news and became aware of this potential crisis back in January. He procured enough PPE for all of his refuse collectors, park wardens and office staff to such an extent that when he heard that a neighbouring borough was without he was able to share. If he could do that why did highly paid procurement managers in the NHS and care homes fail so miserably.

Growstuff I stopped going out on 18th March
Ditto. I cancelled lunch out with a friend on the Thursday and cancelled friends who were coming round for a meal on the Friday.
Everyone concerned was relieved but hadn’t wanted to be the ones to cancel. I really didn’t want to cancel the restaurant booking & in mitigation said that both my friend & I were over 70 & felt vulnerable. The restaurant owner was lovely about it though and said she only wished her own mother was as sensible! Everyone was already aware of the dangers.
I’ll never forget that week - the feeling that something about which we knew so little, but which had the potential to be catastrophic, was coming, and the only safe place was home.

The Government merely followed public opinion and example, as it is doing now, and the link that Dinahmo posted illustrates the extent to which the government disregarded the scientists’ advice.

No Growstuff, I am suggesting that a large percentage of your posts come directly from the Guardian which most often is Tory bashing.

Hahaha! In what way is the team Johnson has put together good? They're totally inept.

And I don't need a pound shop comedian to drive me with optimism and positivity (not that Johnson does anyway).

Peardrop50

Seem to spend much time on these threads arguing with the Guardian. Original thought and opinion might be more interesting.

I could have paraphrased it if you preferred Peardrop, but it wouldn't have been an efficient use of my time. Are you suggesting that the Guardian has misquoted Lansley?