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"Covid rising in England" - let's stop the fear mongering

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Razorblades

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Blair has a history of weaponising things, doesn't he. And looking somewhat demonic, as others have suggested, it should have been no surprise that he has a history of attempting to demonise, via the MSM, anyone who dares to question his version of the 'narrative.'

Rehabilitation? - the evil has-been needs to shut up.
 
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kez19

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Tony Blair is an attention seeker who is trying to compensate for the fact his reputation was ruined.

He has completely misjudged the mood of the population (again) and is only making himself even less popular.

If masks were so popular, more people would be wearing them.

If mask mandates were effective at reducing transmission, we would see much lower Covid rates in mask-mad countries like Spain, Italy, Germany and Portugal, compared to countries which ditched masks a long time ago.

People like Tony Blair don't seem to understand that the virus cannot be suppressed and that the only way forward is to live with this virus in the same way that we live with similar viruses which caused pandemics in the past.

Am I worried people will listen to Tony Blair? No, not at all.

In terms of living with COVID the only people I see kicking up more fuss is some politicians and mostly the media, I wonder why in particular some in the media want this, what are they getting out of it?, then again if memory serves me correctly the media treated the briefings as theatre and demanded restrictions and asking for more not less, I’ll bet there is trouble coming for the media, well we haven’t had a media scandal in a while have we, once Boris is gone the media will eat themselves next when things come out.

Blair has a history of weaponising things, doesn't he. And looking somewhat demonic, as others have suggested, it should have been no surprise that he has a history of attempting to demonise, via the MSM, anyone who dares to question his version of the 'narrative.'

Rehabilitation? - the evil has-been needs to shut up.


What bothers me is how the media have forgotten about his own past when he was in government, he wasn’t as clean cut but yet the media seem to be taking his word but then I forget the media don’t criticise other politicians or parties unless you are Conservative.

I generally found this by accident but..

Quick search Googled - Tony Blair/Bill Gates…


and..



The 3 months to save the NHS, who remembers the media frothing every autumn and winter over the NHS? I’m guessing nothing has been learnt from last 2 years but now we need 3 months? Or does the 3 months to save the NHS mean something else ie selling it more off? Again media have never painted that picture for the NHS have they since COVID hit?

Executive Summary​

The National Health Service (NHS) is on the brink of disaster and the government must immediately prepare for an existential crisis this winter. The service is fast approaching what is likely to be the most challenging period in its 74-year history. A perfect storm of acute pressures driven by Covid-19, a resurgent flu epidemic and the indirect effect of the cost-of-living crisis will combine with the unprecedented elective-care backlog and a workforce that is already depleted and exhausted.
The new prime minister will be announced on 5 September, leaving little time to prepare before winter. While Rishi Sunak has pledgedto put the country on a “crisis footing” from the first day of taking office, there has been little detailed discussion between the two shortlisted Conservative candidates on plans to address the impending health emergency the UK faces.
The NHS and social-care system is already in real trouble, as seen by the record ambulance-response times, growing waiting lists, increased staff absences and workforce burnout. With circumstances expected to deteriorate further over the coming months, the government must act immediately to avoid catastrophe. This call for immediate action has been echoed by the Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee Jeremy Hunt.
Considering the situation beyond the NHS, both resurgent Covid-19 and flu pose a significant threat to the labour market and the economy at a time of growing economic instability. A recent report from the Bank of England found a staggering 17 per centof the UK’s working population was self-reporting as long-term sick in the first quarter of 2022, with Long Covid making a growing contribution to this figure. It is vital therefore that we minimise the spread of Covid-19 and flu this winter.
Last week, NHS England set out a package of measures to boost capacity ahead of winter, including plans to increase available hospital beds, bolster 111- and 999-response staff, expand international recruitment and provide more funding for mental-health services. While these are all helpful policies, they will be insufficient and the government must go further to support the NHS and help it manage the unprecedented pressures it faces this winter.
Here, we set out our action plan to save the NHS this winter. We call for the government to immediately: focus leadership; minimise demand on the service; improve patient flow and efficiency; and maximise capacity. We propose 12 actions that will require the collaboration and commitment of national and local government, the NHS and the private sector – and which together will give the NHS the best possible chance to survive this winter.

Focus Leadership​

  1. Set up a winter-crisis taskforce and settle additional funding early.

Minimise Demand​

  1. Campaign for widespread and early Covid-19 and flu vaccinations across the NHS workforce.
  2. Extend public-facing Covid-19 and flu-vaccination strategies to all those aged over 18.
  3. Mandate FFP2/3 face-mask wearing for NHS staff in health-care settings.
  4. Be prepared to re-introduce the mandating of mask wearing on public transport and in confined spaces.

Improve Patient Flow and Efficiency​

  1. Improve the speed and consistency of access to primary care.
  2. Roll out technology to release capacity and manage patient demand.
  3. Increase support for social-care services and expedite patient discharges.
  4. Identify and enable the flexible use of regional surge capacity.

Maximise Capacity​

  1. Stand up a volunteer and reservist workforce.
  2. Expand use of private-sector capacity.
  3. Prioritise staff retention.
 
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Hans

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Blair has never recovered from losing a vote to impose mandatory ID on everyone - he is using the covid situation to further his plans for digital ID, with a huge does of bash the Tories in the process.

The media, especially the papers, suffered a loss of advertising revenue for 2 years, or they would have done had the government not paid them for publishing the various government ads, no wonder they did not question what was happening, easy money. I expect much of the media/papers wish the status quo to continue, and for many the bash the Tories narrative would also apply!

The media have never been able to control the narrative so much, I am sure they like the control and do not wish to lose it hence the continued call for further restrictions.
 

MikeWM

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From Blair's 'plan', the 'improve efficiency' and 'maximise capacity' parts sound perfectly reasonable and match what many of us have been saying for years now (though I'd rather the NHS spent money increasing its own capacity rather than paying £££ continually to take over private capacity). But it never actually happens, indeed it just gets worse and worse, as anyone who has tried to communicate in any way with a GP surgery recently knows from experience.

And you can't 'expedite' discharging patients to social care facilities that don't exist. As far as I can see, such facilities haven't recovered from the massive attrition caused by last year's vaccine mandate (which I'm sure Blair fully supported, without considering the consequences).

Ditto for NHS staff retention. Hang the potential of vaccine mandates over them continually, and as suggested in the other points force them to wear FFP masks all day every day for evermore, and I'm not convinced that's going to do much for retention either.

Basically, the people in charge rolled out a whole collection of really stupid ideas and broke pretty much everything, as many of us predicted at the time. I don't think we should listen to those same people now as to how to fix the mess that they themselves created.
 

kez19

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Blair has never recovered from losing a vote to impose mandatory ID on everyone - he is using the covid situation to further his plans for digital ID, with a huge does of bash the Tories in the process.

The media, especially the papers, suffered a loss of advertising revenue for 2 years, or they would have done had the government not paid them for publishing the various government ads, no wonder they did not question what was happening, easy money. I expect much of the media/papers wish the status quo to continue, and for many the bash the Tories narrative would also apply!

The media have never been able to control the narrative so much, I am sure they like the control and do not wish to lose it hence the continued call for further restrictions.

I forgot it was him with the digital ID stuff wasn’t that after 9/11 that came about and it was quashed?

As for media and revenue (tough I’d say as people have lost their livelihoods now it’s their turn to go down the sinking ship), the thing that got me was the last Boris conference and both Peston and Laura were calling for restrictions (similar here in Scotland different correspondents), the media are still wanting this control, they don’t care if people lose their jobs or people dying from other illnesses as long as they can make a profit out of it, it’s a win/win to them (I don’t know how this affects the BBC as it’s licensed based but am sure there is some affect into them too). The thing is why no positive stories from the media than the constant negativity, it’s like some sort of thrill they get out of it (they may perceive that’s not the case but even I can see through this now).
 

Class 33

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It’s not just public transport; the call is for masks in all indoor public spaces - “In a more controversial proposal, the paper says that “the strategic implementation of mask mandates should be considered for this autumn and winter”, with members of the public legally required to wear a face covering on public transport and other enclosed public spaces in the event that there is a wave of Covid hospitalisations or a dangerous new variant”. Basically back to December 21. The article also says it is the job of society to reduce demand on the NHS. No. Just no.

This just can't be allowed to happen this year(or indeed any year from now on!) Mandatory face masks/coverings restrictions/laws should now be consigned to the history books for good. We put up with that pointless dystoptian nonsense for long enough before. The problem also is IF this nonsense is brought back for just a 7 week period like it was late last year/early this year, even when the restrictions/laws are scrapped again, there will be a repeat of what happened when the restrictions/laws were scrapped back in January, there will be train operators(like LNER in particular), supermarkets, etc still keeping up their "Must wear a face mask" signage and PA announcements for MONTHS after again!!! We really don't need this all over again!!!

Also IF this nonsense is brought back again. Then I fear we'll have this nonsense repeated during autumn/winter every year for at least the next few years. NO, this can NOT happen! We need to get through the upcoming autumn and winter and through to the spring without ANY of this Covid restrictions nonsense being brought back again. Then perhaps the MINISCULE amount of people calling for these nonsense restrictions to be brought back again, can get the message that these restrictions will never be returning again, and can finally shut up calling for these restrictions to return every time "Covid cases rise"!!!

In the meantime Covid cases are continuing to fall and fall! I think this about the 7th consecutive week in a row they've fallen now. Though the press and media are barely even mentioning this. We're in fact only 2 weeks away from autumn, and cases are still absolutely PLUMETTING! But there may be a time soon when cases suddenly start rising again for a short period. And I can bet that even if the first week of cases rising is only about 5%, they'll immediately start all their "Covid cases on the rise again" fear mongering all over again along with their "Calls for Covid restrictions to return IMMEDIATELY to protect the NHS, experts warn" headline articles nonsense again!!!!
 
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farleigh

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Can anybody explain what the NHS being 'overwhelmed' would look like?



I think I would prefer that it was overwhelmed'now so that i would not have to keep listening to people saying it could be overwhelmed in the future.

Has it ever been overwhelmed in the past? If so it must have passed me by.
 

kez19

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This just can't be allowed to happen this year(or indeed any year from now on!) Mandatory face masks/coverings restrictions/laws should now be consigned to the history books for good. We put up with that pointless dystoptian nonsense for long enough before. The problem also is IF this nonsense is brought back for just a 7 week period like it was late last year/early this year, even when the restrictions/laws are scrapped again, there will be a repeat of what happened when the restrictions/laws were scrapped back in January, there will be train operators(like LNER in particular), supermarkets, etc still keeping up their "Must wear a face mask" signage and PA announcements for MONTHS after again!!! We really don't need this all over again!!!

Also IF this nonsense is brought back again. Then I fear we'll have this nonsense repeated during autumn/winter every year for at least the next few years. NO, this can NOT happen! We need to get through the upcoming autumn and winter and through to the spring without ANY of this Covid restrictions nonsense being brought back again. Then perhaps the MINISCULE amount of people calling for these nonsense restrictions to be brought back again, can get the message that these restrictions will never be returning again, and can finally shut up calling for these restrictions to return every time "Covid cases rise"!!!

In the meantime Covid cases are continuing to fall and fall! I think this about the 7th consecutive week in a row they've fallen now. Though the press and media are barely even mentioning this. We're in fact only 2 weeks away from autumn, and cases are still absolutely PLUMETTING! But there may be a time soon when cases suddenly start rising again for a short period. And I can bet that even if the first week of cases rising is only about 5%, they'll immediately start all their "Covid cases on the rise again" fear mongering all over again along with their "Calls for Covid restrictions to return IMMEDIATELY to protect the NHS, experts warn" headline articles nonsense again!!!!

You raise a point and again the lack of questioning is unbelievable, why are the media so much in the dark when cases drop but are on it immediately when cases rise? (yet under the same thing is the lack of causing panic on other health matters), it’s COVID central regardless.

It’s as I said before on this thread media couldn’t give a toss if someone suffers with mental or physical health unless it makes a good story to milk it.

Remember when the media was all over the #bekind movement to then be consigned to the bin? Similar again with CALM, if media were that serious about issues like this they would keep focus on it but mental and physical health to media is like acting like a false charity, claim to back these issues but if it’s strictly COVID, it’s pushed to the side and has more importance, where is equality in this? There is none and as I say media share this responsibility of owning the issues we are facing today even 2 years on.
 

duncanp

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This just can't be allowed to happen this year(or indeed any year from now on!) Mandatory face masks/coverings restrictions/laws should now be consigned to the history books for good. We put up with that pointless dystoptian nonsense for long enough before. The problem also is IF this nonsense is brought back for just a 7 week period like it was late last year/early this year, even when the restrictions/laws are scrapped again, there will be a repeat of what happened when the restrictions/laws were scrapped back in January, there will be train operators(like LNER in particular), supermarkets, etc still keeping up their "Must wear a face mask" signage and PA announcements for MONTHS after again!!! We really don't need this all over again!!!

Also IF this nonsense is brought back again. Then I fear we'll have this nonsense repeated during autumn/winter every year for at least the next few years. NO, this can NOT happen! We need to get through the upcoming autumn and winter and through to the spring without ANY of this Covid restrictions nonsense being brought back again. Then perhaps the MINISCULE amount of people calling for these nonsense restrictions to be brought back again, can get the message that these restrictions will never be returning again, and can finally shut up calling for these restrictions to return every time "Covid cases rise"!!!

In the meantime Covid cases are continuing to fall and fall! I think this about the 7th consecutive week in a row they've fallen now. Though the press and media are barely even mentioning this. We're in fact only 2 weeks away from autumn, and cases are still absolutely PLUMETTING! But there may be a time soon when cases suddenly start rising again for a short period. And I can bet that even if the first week of cases rising is only about 5%, they'll immediately start all their "Covid cases on the rise again" fear mongering all over again along with their "Calls for Covid restrictions to return IMMEDIATELY to protect the NHS, experts warn" headline articles nonsense again!!!!

I think people will be far more worried about putting food on the table and keeping warm this winter to worry about a virus which, for the vast majority of people, is no worse than a bad cold.

The high inflation, airport delays and industrial disputes that we are seeing at the moment are a direct consequence of the COVID restrictions over the past two years, so anyone who thinks we can go back to those restrictions on a long term basis has completely lost touch with reality.

Fortunately I think that Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are not going to be so easily led by the SAGE doom mongers as Boris Johnson was.
 

Bikeman78

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Can anybody explain what the NHS being 'overwhelmed' would look like?



I think I would prefer that it was overwhelmed'now so that i would not have to keep listening to people saying it could be overwhelmed in the future.

Has it ever been overwhelmed in the past? If so it must have passed me by.
It already is overwhelmed. In my book, no one should wait more than 30 minutes for an ambulance or three month for an operation. We are nowhere near either of those targets. It's a farce.
 

Hans

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Fortunately I think that Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are not going to be so easily led by the SAGE doom mongers as Boris Johnson was.
Sunak was a major player in causing the economic problems the country finds itself in, he had plenty of opportunity to say no to providing "free" money for people to do nothing for 2 years and yet he did not. I very much doubt he will U turn, he has become very happy with the "print as much money as I want" government credit card. I hope he does not become PM but if he does I expect he will very quickly give in to the doom and gloom, hysterical calls for restrictions.
 

Eyersey468

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It already is overwhelmed. In my book, no one should wait more than 30 minutes for an ambulance or three month for an operation. We are nowhere near either of those targets. It's a farce.
A lot of that is down to the backlog from suspending other treatments
 

Eyersey468

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Sunak was a major player in causing the economic problems the country finds itself in, he had plenty of opportunity to say no to providing "free" money for people to do nothing for 2 years and yet he did not. I very much doubt he will U turn, he has become very happy with the "print as much money as I want" government credit card. I hope he does not become PM but if he does I expect he will very quickly give in to the doom and gloom, hysterical calls for restrictions.
I agree regarding Sunak being one of the major players although in March 2020 things like furlough were necessary, though I do think it dragged on too long. If furlough hadn't been brought in millions would have lost their jobs when businesses ran out of money.

Ironic isn’t it, the NHS is overwhelmed due to the extreme measures we imposed to prevent the NHS from becoming overwhelmed!
The irony hasn't escaped me
 

Freightmaster

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Can anybody explain what the NHS being 'overwhelmed' would look like?
...
Has it ever been overwhelmed in the past? If so it must have passed me by.

It's hardly ever not been overwhelmed in recent years:

image-asset.png
h
(image shows a montage of newspaper front pages with 'NHS in crisis' style headlines)








MARK
 

MikeWM

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Did any health service, anywhere, end up 'overwhelmed' in the apocalyptic way we were continually told they were 2-3 weeks away from? If they had, I'm fairly sure the media would have been all over it, and I can't say I recall that. Odd, despite all the various severity of measures (and indeed none) that various countries/states followed; you'd almost think they didn't really have any effect at all...

I suppose a few parts of India looked a bit dodgy at one point. Any others?

The NHS does increasingly look like rather a disaster, and I'm very glad I got my various health issues out of the way before Covid came along as I doubt I'd get the same level/quality of treatment now, but as with most things this is almost entirely due to the *response* to Covid rather than Covid itself.
 

Hans

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I agree regarding Sunak being one of the major players although in March 2020 things like furlough were necessary, though I do think it dragged on too long. If furlough hadn't been brought in millions would have lost their jobs when businesses ran out of money.


The irony hasn't escaped me
Furlough should never have been brought in because the restrictions should never have happened. The economic situation and the backlog of treatments would then not have occurred. There were no cost risk assessment undertaken at all, an experienced chancellor would have realised the damage the restrictions would cause from the very beginning, the fact they continued for so long with Sunak not saying a word has caused such dire economic consequences the country is going to take an extremely long time to recover from.

I am sure someone will post, we had to have restrictions, no we did not - the NHS is supposedly overwhelmed every year with winter respiratory viruses (as the paper front papers posted above state) covid was no different to any other year - the only difference was the hysterical over reaction.
 

Eyersey468

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Furlough should never have been brought in because the restrictions should never have happened. The economic situation and the backlog of treatments would then not have occurred. There were no cost risk assessment undertaken at all, an experienced chancellor would have realised the damage the restrictions would cause from the very beginning, the fact they continued for so long with Sunak not saying a word has caused such dire economic consequences the country is going to take an extremely long time to recover from.

I am sure someone will post, we had to have restrictions, no we did not - the NHS is supposedly overwhelmed every year with winter respiratory viruses (as the paper front papers posted above state) covid was no different to any other year - the only difference was the hysterical over reaction.
I agree the restrictions and lockdown should never have happened, I have been against lockdowns from day 1, I was meaning once the lockdown was announced
 

Cdd89

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I agree the restrictions and lockdown should never have happened, I have been against lockdowns from day 1, I was meaning once the lockdown was announced
I was not entirely against restrictions pre-vaccine, I thought there should probably be some measures at the peak of each pre-vax wave along the lines of closing businesses and restricting gatherings. (Not restricting travel or schools!).

However, experience has shown that once restrictions are given an inch, they will take a mile with fallacies like “lock down earlier to lock down less long”, “lock down hard to reduce deaths faster” and “cases need to be almost zero before we can unlock”. So what could have been a handful of three-week controls becomes 11 months of hard lockdown. Based on this precedent I could never support more restrictions and have become very anti-public health.
 

Dent

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Sunak was a major player in causing the economic problems the country finds itself in, he had plenty of opportunity to say no to providing "free" money for people to do nothing for 2 years and yet he did not.

To be fair to Sunak, the blame doesn't lie with him for introducing the restrictions which made furlough a practical necessity, the blame there is with Johnson.
 

kristiang85

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Yes, I think Sunak was one of the anti-restriction members of the cabinet as he knew of the economic damage it would cause. I certainly felt the furlough measures he put in place were with a heavy heart rather than with any gusto.
 

duncanp

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Yes, I think Sunak was one of the anti-restriction members of the cabinet as he knew of the economic damage it would cause. I certainly felt the furlough measures he put in place were with a heavy heart rather than with any gusto.
Rishi Sunak had to cut short his holiday in the United States at Christmas last year to get back to London and stop Boris Johnson from imposing another lockdown.

It was the weekend, and Boris was going to give in to the SAGE doom mongers an announce the lockdown on the Monday.

So we should give Rishi Sunak some credit for that.


.
 

Eyersey468

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I was not entirely against restrictions pre-vaccine, I thought there should probably be some measures at the peak of each pre-vax wave along the lines of closing businesses and restricting gatherings. (Not restricting travel or schools!).

However, experience has shown that once restrictions are given an inch, they will take a mile with fallacies like “lock down earlier to lock down less long”, “lock down hard to reduce deaths faster” and “cases need to be almost zero before we can unlock”. So what could have been a handful of three-week controls becomes 11 months of hard lockdown. Based on this precedent I could never support more restrictions and have become very anti-public health.
I agree some measures like restricting gatherings and closing the highest risk settings were necessary in March 2020 though schools should never have closed and I don't see what benefit closing most businesses had.
To be fair to Sunak, the blame doesn't lie with him for introducing the restrictions which made furlough a practical necessity, the blame there is with Johnson.
I agree

Yes, I think Sunak was one of the anti-restriction members of the cabinet as he knew of the economic damage it would cause. I certainly felt the furlough measures he put in place were with a heavy heart rather than with any gusto.
I agree, I also think he was very reluctant to extend furlough each time as well and only did so because he had to
 
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greyman42

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Fortunately I think that Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are not going to be so easily led by the SAGE doom mongers as Boris Johnson was.
I agree but should Kier Starmer become prime minister, it would be a different story.
 

duncanp

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I agree but should Kier Starmer become prime minister, it would be a different story.

But St Sir Keir Starmer is not going to become prime minister before 2024 at the earliest.

So we will have bene through the winters of 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 before he gets anywhere near Downing Street.

Although there may be future COVID waves during this time, they are unlikely to present a serious threat to public health or the functioning of the NHS, especially if the most vulnerable people are vaccinated each autumn, as with flu.

If we can get through two winters with no restrictions and no serious impacts on the NHS, then there is no way that a Laobur government can contemplate introducing restrictions during their first term in office, especially as the econmic brown stuff will have well and truly hit the fan by then.
 

Hans

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To be fair to Sunak, the blame doesn't lie with him for introducing the restrictions which made furlough a practical necessity, the blame there is with Johnson.
I disagree, if Sunak really was against furlough he should have resigned, instead he signed off on it. Secondly his return from holidays to stop Christmas restrictions, I believe this is pure spin from his supporters, the reason the restrictions didn't happen were the 100 members of the Tory backbenchers who had voted against restrictions, the PM knew he was losing the support of the backbenchers, one major player being the chairman of the 1922 commitee. If Johnson was worried about Sunak all he had to do was replace him.

Sunak is responsible for the finances therefore the blame for the economical situation is his fault, the buck may stop with the PM but Sunak cannot hide from his failures. A strong (and sensible) chancellor would have insisted on risk assessments and financial impact assessments being conducted before any restrictions were contemplated, this was not done so he is as complicit as the PM (and others).

It must be remembered the restrictions were brought in based on the predictions from Neil Ferguson, who had previously got predictions for other health issues so wrong. The numbers were wrong and should not have formed the basis for government decisions.
 

duncanp

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It must be remembered the restrictions were brought in based on the predictions from Neil Ferguson, who had previously got predictions for other health issues so wrong. The numbers were wrong and should not have formed the basis for government decisions.

Yes, Professor Pantsdown has got a lot to answer for.

Anyone interested in raising a petition on GOV.UK to get said Professor put in the stocks in Parliament Square so that we can all line up and throw rotten tomatoes at him?

I wonder how long the queue would be:D:D
 

MikeWM

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Secondly his return from holidays to stop Christmas restrictions, I believe this is pure spin from his supporters,

The story was around at the time, but we know he started angling for the party leadership around then (registered his domain in December) so there may indeed be some spin/positioning going on. Still, there's something to be said for 'was against more restrictions' now being considered a positive asset, it shows the debate has (finally) moved on somewhat.

The reason the restrictions didn't happen were the 100 members of the Tory backbenchers who had voted against restrictions, the PM knew he was losing the support of the backbenchers, one major player being the chairman of the 1922 commitee.

I don't think it was remotely an accident that Johnson put up a placewoman to stand against Graham Brady in the elections for chair of the 1922 earlier in 2021. Indeed, the re-election of Brady in those elections, though it was little commented-on at the time, may well have proven to be a key turning point in all of this nonsense.
 

Hans

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The story was around at the time, but we know he started angling for the party leadership around then (registered his domain in December) so there may indeed be some spin/positioning going on. Still, there's something to be said for 'was against more restrictions' now being considered a positive asset, it shows the debate has (finally) moved on somewhat.



I don't think it was remotely an accident that Johnson put up a placewoman to stand against Graham Brady in the elections for chair of the 1922 earlier in 2021. Indeed, the re-election of Brady in those elections, though it was little commented-on at the time, may well have proven to be a key turning point in all of this nonsense.
Good points I agree totally with both of them.
 

Dent

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1,106
Sunak is responsible for the finances therefore the blame for the economical situation is his fault, the buck may stop with the PM but Sunak cannot hide from his failures. A strong (and sensible) chancellor would have insisted on risk assessments and financial impact assessments being conducted before any restrictions were contemplated, this was not done so he is as complicit as the PM (and others).
How much of that was really in Sunak's power given that Johnson seemed to just unilaterally impose restrictions whenever he felt like it without consulting anyone or following any democratic process?
 
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