Quote:
Originally Posted by Mick
Damien, I’m not saying the government cannot be held to account, hell, I don’t agree with our borders being open, people not being adequately tested if they’re from hot CV zones.
But if people want to be critical, they have to be correct and fair in their criticism. That means, if they’re going to accuse the Prime Minister of not listening, when he actually was, then need to be spot on in their assertions.
That Sunday Times hit piece was an absolute disgrace, did you watch the clip of Maajid Nawaz, I linked to above?
He is absolutely spot on, I urge people to listen to what he says. Again, it highlights hindsight is a good thing, but we cannot blame any one for not having it, including the UK Government, for not having hindsight, but the Sunday Times is trying to rewrite history here and it’s is totally wrong.
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I did listen to the clip but I think it's nuts to suggest Murdoch wants Boris Johnson out. It overstates the degree to which a newspaper owner imposes their own politics onto each and every edition, they may have an editorial line in favour of the owner but that doesn't mean every article is in pursuit of that goal. The Times especially has a greater degree of independence than The Sun. It would be the latter that would be making moves if this really was a goal of Murdoch.
As for judging in hindsight then if we're not careful then you can use that to excuse anything. It just becomes an excuse to never to critique the Government because they'll never know everything that's about to happen. The questions are the degree to which they could have predicted future events, the role their existing management of the country helped or hindered a response to those events and what they did when those events occurred.
In hindsight Labour couldn't have predicted the 2008 crash. However should they have paid more attention to regulation of the financial crisis before it? Should they have paid more attention to the warning lights flashing in the year or so preceding the collapse of Lehman Brothers? Are they to blame for the state of the economy and it's ability to cope when the crash did occur?
The Government will in time face similar questions. Did they pay enough attention in the early part of the year? Should the NHS have been in a better position to respond? Did they pay enough attention to the reported results where we simulated the impact of a viral pandemic?
I think the Government did well when the crisis did come but the question of if we could have been better prepared is still open.