Re: Coronavirus
 

Not by this Govt's continuing incompetence Den. At least they're consistent.....

Re: Coronavirus
 

Rafael Behr summed it up well today "When the qualification for joining the government is loyalty to bad ideas, it is no surprise that Britain is badly governed."
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...e_iOSApp_Other

But I think it is important to get the app right before launching it as people, won't give it a second chance. I'm not sure how France and Germany are progressing with theirs, but they would be the obvious countries to benchmark us to before judging our performance here.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Well you don’t need any qualifications or experience to become an MP, so why be surprised when you have a Parliament full of idiots.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Well, quite. However this Government has essentially filtered out anyone who wanted to remain in the EU, regardless of the fact that some could have remained competent Ministers leading Departments in a range of policy areas where they needn’t have felt compromised.

Indeed, I’m sure many Ministers of many Governments (both sides) of the past have ploughed through and implemented manifesto commitments they may not have personally agreed with.

The poison of the Brexit debate isn’t exclusively for internet forums, it would appear.

Re: Coronavirus
 

They all seem to come from a humanities background so when it comes to questions of history, philosophy, economics and political theory they're probably all pretty good.

It's anything else they seem to struggle on. Especially science and technology. It reminds me of the encryption debate where they kept saying they wanted the most secure encryption to protect us but with exceptions for police. And kept arguing as if this a concession that can be made. It's just not in their mindset that you can't just argue a technological concept into something else.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Sadly, infections are not decreasing in the US. We need every country to be in a good position so that travel can be resumed. A set back in such a key country impacts the entire world.
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status...60497094144000

Re: Coronavirus
 

The problem there was that ministers with remain tendencies were stalling where it wasn't needed to try to keep us in the EU. If they focussed on their brief they may have remained in office.

Re: Coronavirus
 

That's how I see it too, they backed the wrong horse and lost their stake ;)

Re: Coronavirus
 

Nope. There was a very strict inclusion criteria to join Johnson's government. This made the talent pool far smaller than usual for a government with predictable results. Be it Dominic Raab thinking that taking the knee came from Game of Thrones or the culture secretary Oliver Dowden phoning Google about the Churchill photo removal this is not the A Team by any stretch of the imagination.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Gosh . . oh lordy lordy . . you don't mean he wanted to surround himself with 'yes' men do you?

I'm gobsmacked that any political group or business would have the audacity to do that :p:

Re: Coronavirus
 

Thatcher didn't do that

Quote from Norman Fowler

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...2&d=1592479267

And Blair was the same - he and Brown didn't get on, but they worked together.

When I managed large departments, it was important to have colleagues that would challenge you (in a positive "how can we fix this" way) - if a manager doesn't accept constructive critiques, they are doomed to failure.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

I wish Boris would exchange them for some of the hapless souls disgracing the front benches then! A Foreign Secretary who didn't know the importance of the Dover-Calais route and thinks that taking the knee is derived from Game of Throwns is ill-suited to such a pivotal role.

Re: Coronavirus
 

It's official: https://twitter.com/ruskin147/status...92249755021314

Looks like it will be ready for winter....

Re: Coronavirus
 

So why did they not heed the advice that they were given in the first place as they must have been the only ones who though their own contact tracing app would be a success.