Missing in-action

Whitewavemark2

Aveline

So what can he possibly contribute?

Well in theory, leadership and to ensure coordination etc.

In fact Johnson has never provided anything positive.

What Whitewavemark2 said.

He insisted on staying, he is being paid (by us) to stay, and it should be the least we can expect that he should try to look interested.

Casdon

Baggs

Doodledog

Yes, it's a lot wider ranging than care homes.

Even if it weren't though, the PM should be on the case in a national emergency. What does he think his job description includes?

I don't regard a summer heatwave as a national emergency. I guess that's a pretty big difference between us.

People who look after vulnerable others know what they need to do without all the catastrophizing language.

I suspect the government knows more than any of us do about what the risks are, so if they say it is then we have to accept that surely?

No, in general terms, I don't agree that government (any government) knows more about the risks of getting too hot than the rest of us.

In evolutionary terms we are tropical animals. Millions of us live in exceedingly hot places all the time and survive.

Baggs

Casdon

Baggs

Doodledog

Yes, it's a lot wider ranging than care homes.

Even if it weren't though, the PM should be on the case in a national emergency. What does he think his job description includes?

I don't regard a summer heatwave as a national emergency. I guess that's a pretty big difference between us.

People who look after vulnerable others know what they need to do without all the catastrophizing language.

I suspect the government knows more than any of us do about what the risks are, so if they say it is then we have to accept that surely?

No, in general terms, I don't agree that government (any government) knows more about the risks of getting too hot than the rest of us.

In evolutionary terms we are tropical animals. Millions of us live in exceedingly hot places all the time and survive.

You misunderstand Baggs. It’s not the risks to people I was talking about, it’s the risks to infrastructure. If roads melt, people are stuck by their cars and get heatstroke it affects them obviously, but it also brings traffic to a standstill, the roads has to be repaired, delays goods the next day, wastes food on refrigerated trucks, etc. etc.

What exactly would people have the PM do right now about the heatwave? Put aside for a moment the fact that it's Boris Johnson. What would you have any PM do in a summer heatwave that isn't already being done?

The Met Office has been warning people for days. I don't have a telly but I expect there has been masses of advice on how to stay cool enough to survive.

Yes, there are especially vulnerable people such as babies and very old people but they are being (or should be) looked after already.

Just seen your latest post, casdon. If roads melt that much there will certainly be problems but, again, what exactly is government supposed to do about that right now?

I've recently seen stuff about road-making in India where they have used waste plastic in road surfaces. Apparently the surfaces last much longer and are less likely to get pot-holey, etc. India's a hot country. We, that is our government, could perhaps pay attention to such innovations, learn a thing or two, and act upon this new knowledge for future reference.

Meanwhile, what is the news about melting roads? No telly and it's not hot here. I have doubts that road melting will be such an issue that it's a national emergency but am happy to be better informed.

So are we just accepting now that our Prime Minister is so useless that it doesn't matter whether he is present at Cobra meetings, because he has nothing of value to contribute.

Maybe Boris is busy in other ways? This, in the Telegraph just now:

“But I hear of another, more exciting, plan: Johnson, below, could set up a new political party to take on his enemies in the establishment, copying Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche! which upset the French ruling elite in 2016. One sympathetic Conservative donor, who has given hundreds of thousands of pounds to the party, tells me he would happily support a Johnson-led political movement: “If he did, I would back him”.

A tightlipped spokesman for Johnson says he “is Prime Minister until Sept 5. He will have a serious think about his future after that point”.

Johnson’s support among the grass roots “puts him in a very powerful position,” the donor says. “Boris is holding all the aces.” En marche, Boris!”

- Well he’s still very popular and a vote winner in many quarters (just not on here ?).

It would split the Tory vote. Maybe that’s how Keir Starmer would be able to take the reins!

Spot on, Ilovecheese. That's exactly what he is.

Baggs

What exactly would people have the PM do right now about the heatwave? Put aside for a moment the fact that it's Boris Johnson. What would you have any PM do in a summer heatwave that isn't already being done?

The Met Office has been warning people for days. I don't have a telly but I expect there has been masses of advice on how to stay cool enough to survive.

Yes, there are especially vulnerable people such as babies and very old people but they are being (or should be) looked after already.

Exactly Baggs.
Surely we use are own common sense.
Like a puppy chewing at a slipper Boris, they just can't let go can they.

Johnson decided to stay in his role as PM till September. He’s drawing a salary and should be earning it. His contempt for Cobra meetings is clear.
The Uk infrastructure isn’t set up for extreme weather because we get little of it. This Cobra was focussed on managing and protecting the infra structure. Eg our rail lines may buckle in the kind of temps predicted, train times to be doubled in the hope slowing the trains protects the infrastructure and people using it.
CEO ‘s of large organisations get sacked for avoiding stuff they find boring.

Iam64

Johnson decided to stay in his role as PM till September. He’s drawing a salary and should be earning it. His contempt for Cobra meetings is clear.
The Uk infrastructure isn’t set up for extreme weather because we get little of it. This Cobra was focussed on managing and protecting the infra structure. Eg our rail lines may buckle in the kind of temps predicted, train times to be doubled in the hope slowing the trains protects the infrastructure and people using it.
CEO ‘s of large organisations get sacked for avoiding stuff they find boring.

Why are buckling rails and doubling train times the government's responsibility? Why aren't they the responsibility of rail makers and train-running companies?

Hot countries, like India, have railways. How do they manage their extremely hot temperatures?

I suppose ministers, including the PM, could put rescue operations in place when they hear about buckling rails and stuck trains full of stuck people. But I daresay they will do that.

Unless multiple rails and multiple trains and hordesof people are affected, it's still not a national emergency.

You’re not listening to what people are saying Baggs, I’m not sure if it’s because it doesn’t fit your narrative about the PM, or if it’s because you don’t think that a meeting of the National Emergencies Committee is necessary? If it’s the latter then you’re wrong, that is what Cobra is there to do, to contingency plan for the potentially direst consequences of whatever the country is facing. It’s not relevant that it’s more likely things won’t happen than that they will, and disputing specific issues is unhelpful, because we don’t actually know the detail of what the potential consequences might be, do we?

Just for the record, Mumbai in India and Uganda (on the Equator) are both cooler at the moment than the expected temperatures in the UK Monday and Tuesday.

But the meeting went ahead didn’t it?

Whether or not the PM showed up decisions were made regardless.

Not being sympathetic to BJ but he isn’t the one who comes up with the solutions to the problems that may or may not be caused by the Weather, I’m sure there are experts who will make the decisions and be held accountable if it all goes pear shaped. ( like the railway lines).

Baggs -weather (or other things) that threaten life are what Cobra does

Mind you I see the missing PM has gone missing before now.

Report in the Observer today.

The Salisbury poisoning, prompted a high profile meeting of the NATO chiefs and foreign ministers of NATO countries - attack one you attack all, and Salisbury was considered a chemical attack on a NATO country.

Jordon was the foreign minister.

Immediately after the meeting Johnson along with NATO documents went missing - without his security people etc.

In fact he flew to a residence owned by a high ranking KGB member and spent the weekend with him.

Johnson was seen and photoed by a British traveller, on his apparent return to the U.K.
Johnson looked “very much worse for wear, and as if he’d slept in his clothes”

In my opinion, Johnson has a huge amount to answer, and deliberately missing Cobra meetings are the least of our worries.

The Russia report was never fully published. We need answers.

Of course national emergencies should be taken seriously.

Unquestionably.

Ilovecheese

So are we just accepting now that our Prime Minister is so useless that it doesn't matter whether he is present at Cobra meetings, because he has nothing of value to contribute.

I don’t accept it. I am bloody furious that we have to put up with such an apology for a prime minister, who frankly is taking the p..s.

Those talking about using ones common sense etc sound like those saying the country’s budget is just a matter of good housekeeping???

It’s already been declared a national
emergency, whether individuals think it should be or not.

So the role of the government (via COBRA) is to decide on responses at a national level. So, for example, one of the things that COBRA chose to do was to make national funding available to allow more emergency call centre staff to be able to work.

I’m not sure how putting something on the TV would have done that. And no, local police and ambulance services can’t afford to pay for it from their own budgets.

Isn’t Parliament about to go into its summer recess anyway for 6 weeks? Business as usual behind the scenes but effectively a pretty fallow time till the first week of September. I’m sure everything will tick over as per.

One thing I hope they addressed are the enormous Brexit queues of lorries in Kent. The poor drivers will really suffer in the heat.

Baggs

If social services and carers (visiting or in homes for the elderly) are doing their jobs properly, why does government need to be involved in looking after (how, anyway?) old people at risk from the effects of a summer heatwave?

... but the heatwave isn't just about the elderly.

It's having an effect on transport (thus travel), work, supplies, schools, etc.

The PM is not expected to 'look after' anyone, but in an emergency, he needs to be informed and capable of dealing with whatever might arise from it.

mokryna

Hé should leave now and let someone who is more suitable stand in until September, T. May?

I'll second that but I doubt she would want to they asked her the other evening and she said no.

sharon103

Baggs

What exactly would people have the PM do right now about the heatwave? Put aside for a moment the fact that it's Boris Johnson. What would you have any PM do in a summer heatwave that isn't already being done?

The Met Office has been warning people for days. I don't have a telly but I expect there has been masses of advice on how to stay cool enough to survive.

Yes, there are especially vulnerable people such as babies and very old people but they are being (or should be) looked after already.

Exactly Baggs.
Surely we use are own common sense.
Like a puppy chewing at a slipper Boris, they just can't let go can they.

Well you could use some of that common sense to understand that an infrastructure needs to function - especially those bits of it that might physically be affected by the heat like roads (tarmac is melting so they are out gritting it), rail lines, etc.
And a heatwave affects power supplies... an increase in heat, increases resistance, and that means less power gets through, so there could be outages.

The idea is that someone co-ordinates all of these responses if necessary, which is what governments do - hence COBRA.

And as Johnson is the Prime Minister, he should be there conducting the orchestra.