Has BJ broken the spell?

[BeElBeeBub]

The latest bill of mortality has 210 dead, which is the lowest figure for over 6 weeks. So well done Boris

as papasmurf said, the "daily" figures fluctuate due to weekends and bank holidays.



The true figure is likely to be much higher although considerably down from the peak of around 1000 a day.



For example, the week 25 April - 1st May had 4,718 deaths announced but we now know 6,035 died with around 8,000 extra deaths overall.

[Javert]

Pretty much this ^



I don't expect a government to get every single thing right.  Mistakes will be made, bad luck will occur.



But nobody can look at the government's actions, and in particular their communications and think - "not much wrong with that"



With the exception of the US and probably Russia, no other developed country has performed as poorly as the UK.  We had the advantage of being an island and of seeing other close neighbors struggle with this.



They initially pursued this not through the lens of "this is a major crisis, we must minimise the damage" but through the lens of "how can we use this to our advantage?".

 

To a large extent they are still in that mindset.

Don't worry BeElBeeBub - I stand corrected.  Matt Hancock was interviewed this morning and he informed me that everything is going fantastic and that we all of course totally agree that the UK's response to the pandemic has been perfection itself, and not only that, we are doing better than all other countries on a couple of measures for which he doesn't quite have the data in front of him, but only because to reveal the numbers would be too embarrassing for all the other countries like Germany and so on.



I actually sometimes feel a bit sorry for him because, although this is not saying much, he has probably done the best visible job of all the Cabinet, and yet I suspect he will be hung out to dry - can't have people showing signs of competence as rivals.

[papasmurf]

The latest bill of mortality has 210 dead, which is the lowest figure for over 6 weeks. So well done Boris

Low figure after a bank holiday, plus the number of infections being found by testing given how few test are being carried out is worrying.

[Borchester]

When BJ was made Conservative party leader many groaned. Then full of energy etc he called an election and romped home. He got Brexit moving and looked set to steam ahead. Then the virus hit and worse than that he got sick and is still in recovery I would imagine. I would be surprised if he is yet working full time.



A baby arrived, he put paternity leave on hold, but somehow things are not where they once were. The overall atmosphere in Westminster, spread thinly as it is across the country and meeting via Zoom or whatever, has lost it's impact. It feels as if little is happening outside of the daily updates. The media are stuck in a virus laden loop no matter which country they talk about and yet there is a feeling that power around the globe could be shifting.



For a while BJ had a good following, now this country and the world is quite different and I can't help but wonder now with a different opposition leader also limited by the lack of energy in Westminster, has even so, created a little drop of cold water on BJ's party.



We are in uncharted territory there seems no clear path forward and little merit in going back, but with this are we about to see a loss of faith yet again as this government struggles to find a future?  The thing that is striking me more than anything else is the incompetency that seems to invade all corners of Whitehall. The lack of coherent message from Ministers. What has happened to collective responsibility?  I feel that the Cabinet is full of rather weak individuals and not a strong team that is pulling together. Today tomorrow next week are pretty predictable - the virus will hold us back in all sorts of ways - but where are we headed long term? There was once a dream with BJ at the helm, sailing us all to Utopia. The fog seems to have descended.  Where do we go from here? Can anyone see a long term view yet?

The latest bill of mortality has 210 dead, which is the lowest figure for over 6 weeks. So well done Boris

[BeElBeeBub]

Although it's not BJ's fault that the pandemic exists:



The woeful communication is BJ's fault - he is in charge of the government.  



The incompetency of the cabinet (and himself) is BJ's fault - he appointed them.  He appointed them in the deliberate approach that blindly supporting his policy was the main requirement, and any level of competency merely coincidental.  On a macro view, this is by far the most incompetent cabinet we've every had in this country.



It is BJ's fault that the UK lost about 6 weeks of preparation time between the end of January and mid March - in the last days of January the Lancet published very detailed information about this virus and the threat it posed, and on 30th January the WHO declared their highest level of alert.  Meanwhile BJ was drinking champagne to celebrate Brexit and taking a "working holiday" to sort out his divorce with his ex-wife.  



He has blood on his hands.  If Johnson had taken correct action in February and/or introduced the lockdown a week or two earlier, the death rate would be half what it is now - all those lives are his decision.

Pretty much this ^



I don't expect a government to get every single thing right.  Mistakes will be made, bad luck will occur.



But nobody can look at the government's actions, and in particular their communications and think - "not much wrong with that"



With the exception of the US and probably Russia, no other developed country has performed as poorly as the UK.  We had the advantage of being an island and of seeing other close neighbors struggle with this.



They initially pursued this not through the lens of "this is a major crisis, we must minimise the damage" but through the lens of "how can we use this to our advantage?".

 

To a large extent they are still in that mindset.

[Javert]

Although it's not BJ's fault that the pandemic exists:



The woeful communication is BJ's fault - he is in charge of the government.  



The incompetency of the cabinet (and himself) is BJ's fault - he appointed them.  He appointed them in the deliberate approach that blindly supporting his policy was the main requirement, and any level of competency merely coincidental.  On a macro view, this is by far the most incompetent cabinet we've every had in this country.



It is BJ's fault that the UK lost about 6 weeks of preparation time between the end of January and mid March - in the last days of January the Lancet published very detailed information about this virus and the threat it posed, and on 30th January the WHO declared their highest level of alert.  Meanwhile BJ was drinking champagne to celebrate Brexit and taking a "working holiday" to sort out his divorce with his ex-wife.  



He has blood on his hands.  If Johnson had taken correct action in February and/or introduced the lockdown a week or two earlier, the death rate would be half what it is now - all those lives are his decision.

[Borg Refinery]

I think the opposite.  The fog has lifted and revealed Johnson for what he is.



His skill is not and never was solving problems with clear communication, attention to detail and decision making.



It was always in distracting from problems with bluster, bravado and some half remembered Latin.



This works when the problems are purely political.



It fails badly when they are real and unavoidable.



To use another analogy



The tide has gone out and we've just discovered who hasn't got a bathing suit.

Yes, lots of pseudo intellect going on there and analogies. I think the fog (and red mist simultaneously) has descended for most where BJ is concerned and he can do no wrong, but yes the other stuff you said is right, his other idiotic analogies and the inane out-of-context references really do grate; listening to him burbling like a twerp today was irritating.

[T00ts]

I have just had a conversation with one of my daughters who is a Conservative voter as a rule. She is livid today. She has got to the end of her tether with updates and 'plans' that say very little. As far as she is concerned the message was 'hold on'.  Her husband - not a Conservative voter - is determined that his Estate agent business can re-start. As far as he is concerned last night's message told him to get going.  So there we have just two people in the same house and they both heard different things from the same update. Multiply that and we have today's traffic jams, overflowing public transport and even more chaos.



The point is that until we find a vaccine or cure there is no way out of the Russian roulette where infection just might be ok and a week off, or death or anywhere in between and there is no real way of knowing who fits which outcome. It is that basic uncertainty which is at the root of the dismay many feel.



Is this BJ's fault? Of course it isn't and I defy anyone to come up with the magic delivery that can make anyone feel better/certain at the future outcome.

[BeElBeeBub]

.... There was once a dream with BJ at the helm, sailing us all to Utopia. The fog seems to have descended....

I think the opposite.  The fog has lifted and revealed Johnson for what he is.



His skill is not and never was solving problems with clear communication, attention to detail and decision making.



It was always in distracting from problems with bluster, bravado and some half remembered Latin.



This works when the problems are purely political.



It fails badly when they are real and unavoidable.



To use another analogy



The tide has gone out and we've just discovered who hasn't got a bathing suit.

[papasmurf]

The core support for most rent-a-mobs

I am not referring to "rent-a-mobs."  When the middle classes get "the red mist," that gets dangerous.

[Borg Refinery]

That depends how angry they are.

If we really have a recession 'worse than 1707' and a second maybe a third wave of C19, then yes they'll just ignore it and go feckin berserk like they did in China, which China covered up.



Javert will be along any minute to say "no they didn't" etc...

[Borchester]

That depends how angry they are.

The core support for most rent-a-mobs is permanently angry and as such spends most of its time braying incomprehensible gibberish to the TV cameras and pissing off any potential support.



By and large most folk are conservative, regardless of how they vote. There may be a few lonely, largely lefty skinny latte ridden sheep who need the government to live their lives for them, but most people want the powers that be to F@@@ off and leave them alone. Boris knows that, so he will sit back and do not much of anything other than the occasional photo op of him and Carrie and his little lad.



Keir Starmer knows this as well, but the poor sod is such a charisma free zone that he does not know how to take advantage of the situation.

[papasmurf]

How?



You can't have a riot if everyone is standing 2 metres apart.

That depends how angry they are.

[Borchester]

Other than mass civil unrest no.

How?



You can't have a riot if everyone is standing 2 metres apart.

[papasmurf]

 Can anyone see a long term view yet?

Other than mass civil unrest no.