Boris and his lockdown birthday party

MayBee70

I sometimes see cartoons from other countries about Johnson. Since Trump departed I don’t recall seeing cartoons about other world leaders so surely that means that he is regarded as a figure if fun both here and abroad?

Perhaps you don't look in the right places, MayBee70

I am in no way defending Johnson as can be seen from my posts but just saying that other politicians and leaders around the world receive the same derision.

Point of order.

100 people did not vote against the covid regulations in December.

100 people voted against the imposition of vaccine passes and if I'd been an MP I would have joined them.

Callistemon21

MayBee70

I sometimes see cartoons from other countries about Johnson. Since Trump departed I don’t recall seeing cartoons about other world leaders so surely that means that he is regarded as a figure if fun both here and abroad?

Perhaps you don't look in the right places, MayBee70

I am in no way defending Johnson as can be seen from my posts but just saying that other politicians and leaders around the world receive the same derision.

So what? How low do we want to go?

Urmstongran

^They are pretty much the people who voted against the Covid Regulations in December. 100 of them^

And huge thanks to them from many. The best response ever in Europe.
Look where we are and our FREEDOMS!
Excellent.

You mean the freedom to go round randomly infecting other people? Weird!

Now far be it from me to be seen to be agreeing with Urmstongran twice in one week, and I certainly don't want to he seen to be agreeing with Johnson, but Denmark are planning to lift all their restrictions from next Tuesday.

Things have changed.

Better it seems than buttoning down & mask wearing outside (!) as in Europe. Have you seen their figures? We did exactly the right thing in my opinion, of course.

Alegrias ?

growstuff

railman

GG13 - because the alternative was unthinkable. ??

Most of the Johnson plans are actually recycled from Corbyn's manifesto and policies - so I'm guessing the current plans must be "unthinkable" as well.

Er? I don't think Corbyn had plans to clamp down on protest, undermine the judiciary, refuse to help people drowning or increase tax (via NICs) for the poorest, stop funding the BBC or sell off the NHS.

growstuff - I was referring to the "massive rollout of broadband" across the country.

This is something Johnson makes clear, along with his claim about world beating this and that, and the vaccine rollout race, yah boo sucks to Johnny Foreigner bombast.

I know that Corbyn - as one of the supporters - would not have this approach.

My fault, I should have made this clearer in my post.

Oh look - now the unions want their card carrying civil servants removed from the report. When they asked for a report on parties, everyone knew they meant "only the parties where we can get Boris".

This is starting to look much worse for the civil service than Boris himself.

*^So what? How low do we want to go^?

My point too, growstuff but the bar has been set pretty low.

Urmstongran

Better it seems than buttoning down & mask wearing outside (!) as in Europe. Have you seen their figures? We did exactly the right thing in my opinion, of course.

You mean that you think it's a good thing to infect people? I shall be giving everybody like you a very wide berth.

Alegrias1

Now far be it from me to be seen to be agreeing with Urmstongran twice in one week, and I certainly don't want to he seen to be agreeing with Johnson, but Denmark are planning to lift all their restrictions from next Tuesday.

Things have changed.

It will be interesting to see the figures after 31 January, when re-infections will be included in the stats.

No it’s not looking much worse for the civil service than it is for Boris, how can it? He is the PM, he sets the culture for the civil service particularly those working at No10 and his own personal private secretary(!) , he authorised and attended some of these parties. It can’t get much worse for him can it - until the next revelation which is no doubt in the wings.

growstuff

Alegrias1

Now far be it from me to be seen to be agreeing with Urmstongran twice in one week, and I certainly don't want to he seen to be agreeing with Johnson, but Denmark are planning to lift all their restrictions from next Tuesday.

Things have changed.

It will be interesting to see the figures after 31 January, when re-infections will be included in the stats.

Yes it will growstuff. And even if we are only recording half or a third of all the infections, we'll still be at a lower level than Denmark. (And France, BTW)

And the level of people in hospital and ICU will still be the same and will be significantly lower than during other waves. We need to be concentrating on different metrics, not just cases. We can't take stringent measures "in case" things get worse, only when there are real risks that they will.

I was talking to a friend in Romania. He told me that the people in Ukraine absolutely love us.

MerylStreep

I was talking to a friend in Romania. He told me that the people in Ukraine absolutely love us.

Oh well,that makes everything ok then

Well perhaps not everything but it does illustrate a balance of opinion.

One person’s view, from Romania

I know people from Spain, France, Germany, Australia....lots of places.

They all love us but they still think we've lost our marbles.

MerylStreep ?

There are so many dreadful things happening in the world that most people are concerned about what is going on in their own countries.

Politicians come and go but this particular one isn't going fast enough imo. I think he's glued himself to the post of PM.

Alegrias1

growstuff

Alegrias1

Now far be it from me to be seen to be agreeing with Urmstongran twice in one week, and I certainly don't want to he seen to be agreeing with Johnson, but Denmark are planning to lift all their restrictions from next Tuesday.

Things have changed.

It will be interesting to see the figures after 31 January, when re-infections will be included in the stats.

Yes it will growstuff. And even if we are only recording half or a third of all the infections, we'll still be at a lower level than Denmark. (And France, BTW)

And the level of people in hospital and ICU will still be the same and will be significantly lower than during other waves. We need to be concentrating on different metrics, not just cases. We can't take stringent measures "in case" things get worse, only when there are real risks that they will.

I agree. Cases are a bit meaningless at the moment anyway because there's anecdotal evidence that people can't get hold of tests. I'd prefer that deaths and hospitalisations were showing a very clear decrease. At the moment, they're not. Deaths are still stubbornly high and aren't showing a marked decrease.

FWIW I'm not advocating lockdown or vaccine passports or anything very intrusive/disruptive - just mask wearing in enclosed spaces and somebody for once caring about what's going on in schools. Thankfully, I think most people will be cautious and many will continue wearing a mask and avoiding crowded spaces. I've also heard that many schools (in England at least) are continuing to encourage pupils to wear masks, despite what the DfE threatens.

Hopefully, we'll get through this despite what the government says, not because of what it says.

growstuff ?

Woke in the early hours so listened to a podcast in which someone said something I thought relevant to all this. She said her elderly mum was at home alone throughout lockdown but was fine about it because unlike normal times, everyone was in the same boat. But they weren’t were they, because some people, including the PM, felt the rules didn’t apply to them. So you don’t have to have to have been in a situation where you’ve sadly, lost a loved one at that time to feel angry and upset. It’s interesting listening to podcasts that were recorded during lockdowns as it’s slowly disappearing from memory. Just as a lot of people, now that the virus does seem to be morphing into a less life threatening one, are starting to forget how frightening it was when there were no vaccinations and we weren’t sure what was driving infections.

Why are the English apparently so scared of masks.

Are they seriously trying to suggest it affects their mental health?

For people who need to lip read, and for supermarkets or other places where shoppers/customers come who have hearing problems - there are transparent face shields.

www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-60159228
from 2006
if the link works.