Coronavirus (OLD)

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

There are rumours flying about that he is having an affair with a Russian musician and that he is close to resigning because he is finding it difficult to live on the PM salary of £150,000 a year, is fed up of Brexit and the pandemic.

Originally Posted by Julian

Links please.

Because it is rumoured that there is super-injunction* in place, you will find it hard to find definite links about the violinist.

Re the "difficult to live on £150k a year", it was in the Times - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/o...lues-r9jl63m2q

* from Wikipedia - In English tort law, a super-injunction is a type of injunction that prevents publication of information that is in issue and also prevents the reporting of the fact that the injunction exists at all

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

There are rumours flying about that he is having an affair with a Russian musician and that he is close to resigning because he is finding it difficult to live on the PM salary of £150,000 a year, is fed up of Brexit and the pandemic.

Well if he's managed to fit that in, he's gone up in my estimation !

Anyway, he says all we need is 'Resolve', isn't that a hangover cure ? Well done Bozza, he's a genius, he's found the cure and managed to have a great time.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

There are rumours flying about that he is having an affair with a Russian musician and that he is close to resigning because he is finding it difficult to live on the PM salary of £150,000 a year, is fed up of Brexit and the pandemic.

Do you inject or snort?

[jfman]

In fairness all except the affair were in the Times at the weekend citing “friends and colleagues” of the Tory leader. Unless you think he is above having an affair I don’t think Richard adding it to the conversation is that sensational.

We get that you are upset at criticism of dear leader, except of course his coronavirus response, but I don’t really see the issue with the comments given the press coverage.

[Julian]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Because it is rumoured that there is super-injunction* in place, you will find it hard to find definite links about the violinist.

Re the "difficult to live on £150k a year", it was in the Times - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/o...lues-r9jl63m2q

* from Wikipedia - In English tort law, a super-injunction is a type of injunction that prevents publication of information that is in issue and also prevents the reporting of the fact that the injunction exists at all

Ah Boris and Olga the inspiration for Dr Zhivago 😁

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by jfman

In fairness all except the affair were in the Times at the weekend citing “friends and colleagues” of the Tory leader. Unless you think he is above having an affair I don’t think Richard adding it to the conversation is that sensational.

We get that you are upset at criticism of dear leader, except of course his coronavirus response, but I don’t really see the issue with the comments given the press coverage.

I couldn’t give two fcuk’s about our ‘dear leader” or any other politician, at any level. As anyone that enters public office with big ideas of making the world a better place is soon suckling from the teet of money for nothing. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in both houses, are a waste of money. Most are Ill experienced or knowledgeable to do their jobs.

The real power in government lies with the Civil servants, this is what upset Cummings so much. Governments come and go, but the civil servants in the government departments are forever.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Pierre

I couldn’t give two fcuk’s about our ‘dear leader” or any other politician, at any level. As anyone that enters public office with big ideas of making the world a better place is soon suckling from the teet of money for nothing. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in both houses, are a waste of money. Most are Ill experienced or knowledgeable to do their jobs.

The real power in government lies with the Civil servants, this is what upset Cummings so much. Governments come and go, but the civil servants in the government departments are forever.

I’m not sure what this has to do with asking Richard if he injects or snorts.

I’m with you though, more power to our leading Civil Servants like the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Adviser. True experts in their fields. Knob politicians in the 1922 Committee and others in the pockets of big business and property developers are ill experienced and lack the knowledge to deal with a global pandemic.

How about we get back to the topic.

Originally Posted by jfman

I’m not sure what this has to do with asking Richard if he injects or snorts.

I’m with you though, more power to our leading Civil Servants like the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Adviser. True experts in their fields. Knob politicians in the 1922 Committee and others in the pockets of big business and property developers are ill experienced and lack the knowledge to deal with a global pandemic.

The chief medical and scientific officers of the UK are not civil servants, as in they are not permanent employees of HM Civil Service. They are government advisers. They feed in to the policy making process (very visibly so in the case of Covid response) but they lack the expertise to convert policy intentions into workable practices with a statutory or regulatory footing.

It is the employees permanently salaried to develop and operate the policies of HMG that do this, and therefore hold often unappreciated levels of power and influence. Many of these people remain in the same place for decades and are thoroughly immersed in their department’s culture (especially those serving the Great Offices). They develop a deeply-held belief in what can and cannot be done and it can be very difficult for any but the most skilled politician to truly control their department.

[jonbxx]

We had an nteresting discussion last night as our 14 year was knocking about downstairs and watched the Prime Ministers broadcast.

Right afterwards, before we gave any thoughts, I asked what her impressions were of the speech to see what, if any, impact the speech had on an average 14 year old girl. Was it clear, was it inspiring, did you feel safer for watching, that kind of thing...

Her summary was 'it was a load of waffle' and 'it didn't really tell me anything'. Then, she showed me the government adverts on Tik Tok (boo, hiss, selling your data to China, etc.) The Government puts a LOT of adverts on that platform. Most of them are animated guides that I have seen elsewhere such as Facebook and Twitter (old peoples social media according to my daughter) But there were live action films from Matt Hancock there too. The message there was 'yes, this is rubbish but it will be worth it in the long run' and 'look after yourselves and others'. The messaging was very clear.

Obviously, the speech last night wasn't aimed at 14 year olds but it was interesting how the Government approaches communications for different groups and even more interesting having Matt Hancock as the Governments spokesman. Maybe he looks like your average geography teacher. He was very good though to be honest

[tweetiepooh]

The good old BBC Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister illustrates the relationship between the politicians and the civil service nicely for it's day and likely hasn't changed a great deal.

You at people around and generally people do look out for themselves first - panic buying, obey/disregarding rules and so on. Why should our leaders be any different? Especially in the commons they are "one of us" (yeah right!).

I think the PM is probably doing his best with lots of conflicting advice, balancing the health and "wealth" of the nation, keeping mindful of public reaction to policy, trying to negotiate "Brexit" deals, keep party in order and all the time under scrutiny with people ready to jump on any "mistake".

[papa smurf]

Coronavirus: Whitty and Vallance faced 'herd immunity' backlash, emails show

As the UK introduces fresh restrictions on social contact to curb the spread of coronavirus, controversy continues to rage about whether the government had initially considered trying a very different approach.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54252272

[downquark1]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Coronavirus: Whitty and Vallance faced 'herd immunity' backlash, emails show

As the UK introduces fresh restrictions on social contact to curb the spread of coronavirus, controversy continues to rage about whether the government had initially considered trying a very different approach.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54252272

People make jokes about "Health and Safety" culture, but we are literally being held hostage in homes because of it now.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Coronavirus: Whitty and Vallance faced 'herd immunity' backlash, emails show

As the UK introduces fresh restrictions on social contact to curb the spread of coronavirus, controversy continues to rage about whether the government had initially considered trying a very different approach.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54252272

As someone that was sceptical of the late lockdown and remains critical about the notion of herd immunity being completely unproven, I’m fairly sceptical why theee emails are coming out now. A half decent hack would have put that FOI in around May. Government response around June/July but they’ve sat on it until now...

Interesting by the Estsblishment state broadcaster. Maybe someone fancies a career shift into the private sector.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by downquark1

People make jokes about "Health and Safety" culture, but we are literally being held hostage in homes because of it now.

I'm not.

---------- Post added at 12:51 ---------- Previous post was at 12:50 ----------

Originally Posted by jfman

As someone that was sceptical of the late lockdown and remains critical about the notion of herd immunity being completely unproven, I’m fairly sceptical why theee emails are coming out now. A half decent hack would have put that FOI in around May. Government response around June/July but they’ve sat on it until now...

Interesting by the Estsblishment state broadcaster. Maybe someone fancies a career shift into the private sector.

Boris Broadcasting Corporation knows how to renew its charter.