COVID-19

Sorry but I don’t agree. As someone who’s been looking for a labour candidate that I could support, I’m starting to believe that KS is a viable option for PM.
There’s still quite a bit of ‘tidying of loose ends’ to do in the LP, but next election is not going to be a smooth as some people think.
I’d have to see what’s in the manifesto, but so far I’m impressed with what I see.
The only thing that the CP have gotten right in this whole shitshow is to throw money at the problem.

 

not sure if that quote is accurate as I have seen it previously with the headline Two teachers rather than one.

 

Well obviously his peers do as they overwhelmingly voted him into the job and consequently the general public agreed and supported him leading him to an 80 seat majority,
Democracy again, it's a bloody nuisance to some isn't it...?

 

Based upon the complete ineptitude of the opposition’s candidate.
He’s on his way out and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him jack it in, using the old ‘health’ reasons.

 

He's obviously not yet fully recovered but I don't see a quitter...

 

You may need to read up on his previous - he’s a bottler.

 

Even if you're correct, it's still a lot of people affected.

 

No problem with you disagreeing, the damage was done under Corbyn and his handling of Brexit, it will take Labour years to win back the loyal die inthe wool Labour supporters who didn't trust what they were saying.
I'm not sure the next election will be based on what Labour put forward in their manifesto BUT how well or poorly the Tory party have done with their manifesto promises.

 

You've completely avoided my question.

I know that his Conservative peers voted him in as their leader, despite many of them having severe reservations about his character and competence. I also know that the electorate voted him into power as PM. Both of these things happened because he offered a way out of the Brexit impasse that the whole country was sick of and because Corbyn had become too toxic to be electable.

But what I asked was what you, personally, think are his qualities to be a leader at a time of national emergency. Not compared to Corbyn, but compared to any other vaguely competent politician. From MacMillan to May, I can't think of any PM in my lifetime less suitable to be our leader in current circumstances, whereas you seem to find it possible to find fault with him. I'm interested in why that is.

 

It's too early to judge. But, just as Obama's presidency was stymied and characterised by the aftermath of the global banking crash, I think this government will be defined by its response to Covid 19.

The economic consequences will be with us for years. How many die; whether there's a second wave; whether the government is prepared for it; how many businesses fail; how much unemployment etc etc.

At the moment, many people are prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, despite all the evidence that they shirked their responsibilities in February/early March. That won't wash a second time. If there is a second wave later in the year people will rightly expect them to have better planning, better PPE, better testing & contact tracing and better decision-making. If they don't deliver on those things the consequences will be horrendous and I think they'll be toast at the next election, 80 seat majority or not.

 

my point was is it true? The school with one teacher never closed, no one else had to isolate, just rooms involved given a clean.

the school with two teachers was a special needs school

 

The economical consequences will be with every continent/country in the world, its not unique to the UK.
So we agree the Tory party will be judged on their term in office and how they dealt with things, there is no doubt that this pan demic will be a major test going forward but it seems to me when reporters go out onto the streets and ask Joe public how they believe Boris this his government have handled Covid-19 the vast majority are backing him.

 

The electorate in this country amuse me. We're quite willing to say that the politicians don't live in our world, they weren't born into our world, they're all pigs in the same trough etc. Politicians of every colour, faction, wing, party whatever you might call them were caught up in the expenses and second home scandal a few years ago. They're an elite old boys' club and have been for generations. Right now our future Prime Minister is a spotty Herbert at Eton. Imagine that. Right now at Eton our future PM! Could you say that about any other school in this country? That's how awash our system is with inequality. Note as an aside that our glorious politicians' children won't be going back to school until it is fully safe to do so at their elite private establishments. We wouldn't want our future PM or Chancellor getting ill.

As soon as there was a chance to change this elite the electorate blew it! And now they've chosen an identikit 'Leader' for the opposition who's good at arguing due to his legal background. Status Quo maintained. Plebs happy.

 

Not sure the voting public got it wrong they had a pretty clear choice, Brexit will be delivered by one party and one party only, the remain vote was split between the other parties.
Although many say it was not as clear cut as a vote to leave or remain plenty of ex Labour MPs have openly said that Labour did not get there point over and as the election drew nearer they tried to buy votes with their free broadband for all rubbish,.
Even the leader who was very sceptical with regards the EU and unelected bureaucrats suddenly became Brexit neutral, this was the Labour party leader and on the most important issues during the last 3 years he was neutral, dont blame the electorate mate look no further than the so called leaders.

 

The best Prime Minister in my lifetime was a grocer's daughter knocking your theory to bits

 

Should hope not as it happened in 1957.

 

I think he means the Hong Kong flu epidemic of 1969.

 

But it won't affect every country equally. Those that shut down early and decisively will have lesser economic consequences than those which didn't.
Johnson prevaricated for several weeks, giving people notice that the pubs will shut next week etc, so loads of people went out socialising and to events like Cheltenham and Twickenham, when they should have been socially distanced. That dithering caused something like a five times increase in infections in just a week.
So we have had a much longer and deeper period of economic inactivity than many countries, which is bound to hit us harder.

As I acknowledged in my earlier post, people are giving them the benefit of the doubt at the moment. But that won't happen a second time. Also, despite that support, surveys suggest that many people are very cautious and fearful of resuming normal activities. And many have been financially damaged. So even when restrictions are further eased it will be a long time before shops, pubs, restaurants, theatres etc are back to full trading conditions and demand returns to normal.
So expect a long, slow economic recovery. Especially if the Tories revert to their default austerity mode, which is the ingrained instinct for many of them.
Regardless of what happens with Brexit, or anything else that we can't predict along the way, I'm pretty sure that the aftermath of Covid 19 will have a significant impact on the next election, even though it's 4.5 years away.

 

I see Superdrug have just started selling the anti-body test kit. £69

 

Maggie lover. Jees.