Boris Johnson to hold press conference at 4pm

[Wardy's twin]

Heard this argument today, young people’s lives and businesses are being ruined to protect the elderly at the end of their years. One old girl even apologised saying the younger ones have already sacrificed so much they need to live their lives now.

With millions on the breadline no business no income no home in some cases when is enough enough

Equally there are people making millions out of the problem. Tax the wealthy and super rich.

 

[Swansman]

Communication along the course of this have not been very good at times - few can dispute that. But once again, I do have synpathy for the government when almost everyone calls for decisions and certainty and then, weeks later with the benefit of considerable hindsight, comes back and snipes.

Yes, it would have been far better to give a message like "We would like to be able to allow people to enjoy a cautious, small 'normal' Christmas, and to facilitate that we are going to do X, Y and Z. However if, when we get into mid-December, the spread of the virus is higher than we'd like and if hospitals are stressed then we will not be able to do that."

However, had that message had been delivered, the government would have been pilloried by many, including the leader of the opposition, for dithering, being indecisive and not allowing people to plan with certainty.

Like almost every element of this, our government, like many others, is damned whatever they say and do, as they would be if they did anything different.

This.

If the other guy, Kermit Stremer or whatever his name is, was in charge, then everyone would be dicusscing his incompetence.

The whole "Boris shouldnt have promised us Christmas if it wasnt 100% sure!!!" shit is not only dumb but straight up infantile. If I tell someone to have a nice day and suddenly some random maniac comes around and puts twelve bullets in their skull, its not really my fault. And since we are in the middle of a pandemic people should understand that "shit could happen" without being outright told so. Most of the critisism against Boris could be summarised as "he should have timetravelled backwards or foreseen the future". With those expectations its fair to say that neither Kleber Strebl or anyone else would have done a job recieving the applause from sixty million British people.

Its possible to criticise anyone and BJ has probably not done the perfect job but again, who would have when no one really knows what the "perfect" way of dealing with the situation is?

Frankly I think that if people cared less about what Boris Johnson (or Trump in the US, or Löfven in Sweden, or Macron in France and so on) did or didnt do and more about what they themselves do or dont, it would probably have far better consequences than moaning about the lack of some poorly undefined political Messiah to magically save everyone from this pandemic.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Equally there are people making millions out of the problem. Tax the wealthy and super rich.

That would be a major change from the current policy of awarding them Government contracts. Almost a U-turn

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

This.

If the other guy, Kermit Stremer or whatever his name is, was in charge, then everyone would be dicusscing his incompetence.

The whole "Boris shouldnt have promised us Christmas if it wasnt 100% sure!!!" shit is not only dumb but straight up infantile. If I tell someone to have a nice day and suddenly some random maniac comes around and puts twelve bullets in their skull, its not really my fault. And since we are in the middle of a pandemic people should understand that "shit could happen" without being outright told so. Most of the critisism against Boris could be summarised as "he should have timetravelled backwards or foreseen the future". With those expectations its fair to say that neither Kleber Strebl or anyone else would have done a job recieving the applause from sixty million British people.

Its possible to criticise anyone and BJ has probably not done the perfect job but again, who would have when no one really knows what the "perfect" way of dealing with the situation is?

Frankly I think that if people cared less about what Boris Johnson (or Trump in the US, or Löfven in Sweden, or Macron in France and so on) did or didnt do and more about what they themselves do or dont, it would probably have far better consequences than moaning about the lack of some poorly undefined political Messiah to magically save everyone from this pandemic.

Amusing and largely correct. But if you lived in the UK or had elderly parents you may find you had a dog in the (political and medical) fight. Judging by your declarations of going out to parties to get you leg over when we were going into first lockdown, I suspect you don't.

 

[JC Footy Genius]

My company gave all our staff that worked throughout lockdown a £250 Christmas bonus. Unfortunately it did not go down with those who were furloughed.

Well done them. Rather sums up this whole lockdown experience there will always be people complaining about something.

 

[R. Slicker]

Well done them. Rather sums up this whole lockdown experience there will always be people complaining about something.

That's fair enough, but it continues the rhetoric that was being pushed at the time, that people on furlough were lazy ******** who spent all their time at the beach. I can assure you I didn't want to be on furlough for 13 weeks, nor was it much fun seeing my job no longer exist at the end of it.

 

[JC Footy Genius]

That's fair enough, but it continues the rhetoric that was being pushed at the time, that people on furlough were lazy ******** who spent all their time at the beach. I can assure you I didn't want to be on furlough for 13 weeks, nor was it much fun seeing my job no longer exist at the end of it.

No one I knew used that rhetoric and I don't remember seeing it in the press. I think we all realise most who were furloughed had no choice but giving people who did work all the way through an extra thankyou payment seems reasonable. Hope you find a new job soon.

 

[Justice]

I'm sorry to hear that.

They seem to have had two choices - lock us all down till we have a vaccine (and pay people to be locked down) or shield the old and vulnerable (properly, with support - not just lock people in care homes and leave them to die) and let everyone else get on with it. They have done neither, and have tried to game it. I suppose that's what all governments have done, albeit ours have been worse than the rest judging by cases and deaths. It doesn't bode well.

My best wishes, for what they are worth.

Cheers Harry lets hope the boys in blue can give us something to cheer about today.

 

[KZNSeagull]

According to a scientist on Marr, it was only confirmed to the government that this new strain is highly transmittable and is behind the rapid increase in infections in the South East 2 days ago.

 

[R. Slicker]

No one I knew used that rhetoric and I don't remember seeing it in the press. I think we all realise most who were furloughed had no choice but giving people who did work all the way through an extra thankyou payment seems reasonable. Hope you find a new job soon.

Thankfully back in work Thank you, (much less pay though )
We obviously get our info in different areas but My Twitter feed was full of it at the time, alongside Teachers being attacked for being wary of returning to school too soon, I'm sure you must have seen that one.

 

[Sorrel]

Though I try not to be annoyed by political comment, I have found the people arguing politically that as the new variant was identified in September that we should have done something about it then very disingenuous.

The identification of the new variant in September was the point that it was spotted in results. New variants are spotted in results all the time - and it is only in the last two weeks that this variant has been recognised as an alarming trend. The UK notified the WHO about it on Friday the 18th of December (see: https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1340422517442420737).

The idea that the UK should have done something about it in September/October/November is like saying that we should have done something about Stalin when he was five years old. While the variant was known to exist earlier in the Autumn, no-one knew it was important then.

 

[drew]

Though I try not to be annoyed by political comment, I have found the people arguing politically that as the new variant was identified in September that we should have done something about it then very disingenuous.

The identification of the new variant in September was the point that it was spotted in results. New variants are spotted in results all the time - and it is only in the last two weeks that this variant has been recognised as an alarming trend. The UK notified the WHO about it on Friday the 18th of December (see: https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1340422517442420737).

The idea that the UK should have done something about it in September/October/November is like saying that we should have done something about Stalin when he was five years old. While the variant was known to exist earlier in the Autumn, no-one knew it was important then.

That's fair enough but Johnson still delayed changing the xmas plans which were stupid anyway. Think the science has been saying for a few weeks that 5 days at xmas was a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[beorhthelm]

According to a scientist on Marr, it was only confirmed to the government that this new strain is highly transmittable and is behind the rapid increase in infections in the South East 2 days ago.

so situation has changed and government reacted to change. isnt that what we want to happen? apart from the puritans that wanted full lockdown since March of course.

 

[Weststander]

Porton Down was warning the government of the virus mutation a few weeks ago, but Johnson likes being popular and wanted to be known as ‘saving Christmas’. He left it until the last possible moment, which built up hope. Now many feel very let down.
He shouldn’t have promised anything but said the situation will be monitored.

Sturgeon and Drakeford are party to the same information, they’ve thanked Downing Street throughout for the sharing of all scientific and public information in real time. Question for you, why did Wales and Scotland also only act last night then in dramatically curtailing Christmas?

I suspect it was new information from the scientists.

 

[Sorrel]

That's fair enough but Johnson still delayed changing the xmas plans which were stupid anyway. Think the science has been saying for a few weeks that 5 days at xmas was a disaster waiting to happen.

Yes, I agree the statements the PM made on Wednesday were foolish - and I'm sure things could have been handled better. Getting the exact right path through all the competing advice and factions is not easy.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Sturgeon and Drakeford are party to the same information, they’ve thanked Downing Street throughout for the sharing of all scientific and public information in real time. Question for you, why did Wales and Scotland also only act last night then in dramatically curtailing Christmas?

I suspect it was new information from the scientists.

Wales had a full months lockdown before trying to curb the spread. It is difficult fighting a virus for any leader but they aren’t making promises and then backing down.

 

[beorhthelm]

Wales had a full months lockdown before trying to curb the spread. It is difficult fighting a virus for any leader but they aren’t making promises and then backing down.

south wales have the highest rates in the UK, some 800-1000+ per 100k. what ever they are doing is not working either.

 

[Driver 8]

south wales have the highest rates in the UK, some 800-1000+ per 100k. what ever they are doing is not working either.

North Wales has some of the lowest in the country. Still getting locked down though. [emoji849]

 

[Weststander]

Wales had a full months lockdown before trying to curb the spread. It is difficult fighting a virus for any leader but they aren’t making promises and then backing down.

Sturgeon promised a 5 day Christmas, changed last night to one day, and she's not even one of those dastardly Tories. What's your view on Sturgeon's very late in the day breaking of the promise?

Wales - the CV19 capital of the UK, horrendous stats. The two week circuit breaker, lauded on NSC as an amazing thing to do, did nothing in the medium term. Instead the Welsh went bananas doing whatever they pleased once it was over.

 

[pastafarian]

According to a scientist on Marr, it was only confirmed to the government that this new strain is highly transmittable and is behind the rapid increase in infections in the South East 2 days ago.

In conclusion then and what most people seem to realise anyway.
There has been new updated information from the scientists resulting in England, Wales and Scotland all having to announce new measures yesterday.