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A thread to catalogue the eloquence, dignity, diplomacy and wisdom of Boris Johnson

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Paul L said:
I’m not obese or diabetic, old or have underlying conditions so yes I do, naively if there’s genuine data to support your condescension. I genuinely can’t tell amidst the chaos out there.
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Sorry you thought it was condescending, I was trying to keep it light with the Dirty Harry stuff, but in any event that view is a somewhat self-centred one and doesn't really go to the point. The point was that you were asking, on the basis of flu deaths, is COVID really so much worse so as to justify the extreme measures we've seen. My response, despite the 'do you feel lucky' schtick, was not really about your personal risk (frankly, if it had been about the risk to you personally, I'd not be quite so in favour of a national lockdown, no offense...) but about the risk to millions of people. You'll note that despite these fairly extreme measures something like twice as many people have died due to Covid, than would be expected to die due to flu. Imagine what those numbers would have looked like if we hadn't taken these steps.

Genuinely surprised, by the way, that you don't know there's data out there that supports my assertion as to infectiousness and deadliness.
 
notaclue said:
Amidst the unfolding disaster, Johnson shows us who he is by showing us who he deems worthy of his respect https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1349267504020025344

But even in doing that he can't help but bring things back to himself with the "independence of this country" quip.

An awful man. The slow-motion Trump and I reckon the damage he will do to the UK will be far worse.
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Salutations: “Sir David was a great tobacconist, painter decorator, doer upper, landlord and property flipper. Knew how to make a bob or two and generously bunged me a few hundred thou’ a year as a retainer. We shall miss him but Aidan handles the cheque book now”.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
Sorry you thought it was condescending, I was trying to keep it light with the Dirty Harry stuff, but in any event that view is a somewhat self-centred one and doesn't really go to the point. The point was that you were asking, on the basis of flu deaths, is COVID really so much worse so as to justify the extreme measures we've seen. My response, despite the 'do you feel lucky' schtick, was not really about your personal risk (frankly, if it had been about the risk to you personally, I'd not be quite so in favour of a national lockdown, no offense...) but about the risk to millions of people. You'll note that despite these fairly extreme measures something like twice as many people have died due to Covid, than would be expected to die due to flu. Imagine what those numbers would have looked like if we hadn't taken these steps.

Genuinely surprised, by the way, that you don't know there's data out there that supports my assertion as to infectiousness and deadliness.
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More or Less put the 2017 - 2018 flu deaths at 10k, I think today? Might be wrong on that though.
 
ff1d1l said:
More or Less put the 2017 - 2018 flu deaths at 10k, I think today? Might be wrong on that though.
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Probably, was listening but not closely. But I think a rolling average of excess flu deaths is around 20k p/a, and as we're in the second year of Covid, I thought to take 2 years-worth for flu, in the interests of fairness.

Edit, according to Greenwich NHS, the annual figure is around 10k, not 20k.
 
There seemed to be a national anger at the Dominic Cummings drive to Bernard Castle fiasco, but not the same anger and questioning of the Prime Ministers drive to the Olympic Park for a bike ride.

What’s the difference?
 
The negative with Johnson’s behaviour is he’ll no doubt have full armed security details etc trailing his every move, so he is actually placing others at covid risk. I’ve no idea how big a PM’s security detail is, but I’d expect 20-30 people once remote backup etc is factored-in. Given this I’d have though an exercise bike at home was a far more responsible approach.
 
The crux of this is not precisely about the breaching of regulations, but the optics of showing the absolute maximum of irresponsibility in actions, that is still likely to be arguably with the rules.

At one moment we have Chris Witty begging people to stay home, and then we have the Prime Minister not doing so ...

I am sure Mr Johnson will get away with his cycle ride, but it gives those who want to push up to the limits of the regulations the example they can quote as justification.

Most people will continue to act with a high degree of responsibility at this difficult time, but a minority of Covidiots will join the arch Covidiot - Mr Boris Johnson - in their defiance of anything responsible and sensible, citing [or not] the example of the Prime Minister. Such actions will simply lead to more deaths before the vaccine can help in reducing the risks.

How sad that we have reached a day when a Prime Minister seems oblivious at best, or contemptuous at worst, of what once was called decency. An old fashioned idea by now.

Best wishes from George
 
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I have to say, I'd expect a bike ride that took me <10 miles from home would be acceptable under the rules, but that'd be starting and finishing at home, not getting a lift to somewhere then riding somewhere else. And I don't have a security detail to bother about, either.
 
If Mr Johnson had ridden to and from 10 Downing Street to the Olympic Park, that would be one thing - albeit still a silly thing to do when in London one in thirty people seem to have the virus - but if he was given a lift so as to exercise seven miles from home that is entirely another. Either way it would be responsible to get an exercise bike into 10 Downing Street and open a widow to simulate the effect of being out.

No-one in the Downing Street seems able to confirm that Mr Johnson did his exercise on a bike from, and back to, his front door, and that presumably because they cannot be sure of any photographic evidence that might emerge to scotch any untruth told about it. One therefore assumes that he was given a lift ... No information largely equates to no as yet known evidence one way or the other. Typical fudging ...

Oh dear, oh dear! ...
 
Paul L said:
PSB and Ks, no problem with your counterpoints. I’m speculating like everyone else. I saw another scaremongering headline an hour or so, 85,000 excess deaths in 2020. Taking flu as an analogy, the Independent wrote in Nov I think it was that lack of flu jabs the previous winter caused 55,000 excess deaths, same profile of those succumbing presumably ie. old and vulnerable. Except flu would not have been stated as the cause or dies with flu within 28 days where a heart attack or other major symptom were recorded. So, if measured like COVID that number would be considerably higher.

In other words, is it really worse than flu for most of us, do we need proper lockdown? The media and medical staff given a voice continuously say so but I’m genuinely scratching my head on whether most of us should going about ordinary lives. Meanwhile I’m obeying the rules and have done so since the beginning and will take the jab when available.
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This misses the point that those flu related excess deaths were in the absence of any measures to curtail it other than the usual annual flu vaccination. That there are this many deaths with (hate to use this overused word but...) unprecedented measures is proof (were it needed) that covid is rather more than the annual flu problem.
 
George J said:
If Mr Johnson had ridden to and from 10 Downing Street to the Olympic Park, that would be one thing - albeit still a silly thing to do when in London one in thirty people seem to have the virus - but if he was given a lift so as to exercise seven miles from home that is entirely another. Either way it would be responsible to get an exercise bike into 10 Downing Street and open a widow to simulate the effect of being out.

No-one in the Downing Street seems able to confirm that Mr Johnson did his exercise on a bike from, and back to, his front door, and that presumably because they cannot be sure of any photographic evidence that might emerge to scotch any untruth told about it. One therefore assumes that he was given a lift ... No information largely equates to no as yet known evidence one way or the other. Typical fudging ...

Oh dear, oh dear! ...
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billo said:
I really do wish people would stop using such sexist language, Jennifer Arcuri is a fine human being;)
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Did his ride take him to the vicinity of her pole dancing flat by any chance, after he got a txt, ‘hi Boris, back in town, drop by. xxJen’.
 
kabayiri said:
The prevailing narrative in the first weeks of Covid was "herd immunity" and "no need for restrictions at airports".

I don't think Boris was smart enough to dream this up by himself. There was an expert viewpoint they drew upon.

A rubbish one perhaps, but still a viewpoint.
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I suspect that 'expert' could have been Dominic Cummings.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
Probably, was listening but not closely. But I think a rolling average of excess flu deaths is around 20k p/a, and as we're in the second year of Covid, I thought to take 2 years-worth for flu, in the interests of fairness.

Edit, according to Greenwich NHS, the annual figure is around 10k, not 20k.
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I was listening to More or Less and they quoted the numbers showing that COVID-19 in 8 months or so has 10 times more deaths than the worst of the recent winter flu seasons (2017 IIRC).
 
In today’s episode of ‘Tories Gonna Tory’ Conservative Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey suggests the homeless save up £5k for a deposit on a new home (Guardian). Because Tory.
 
They see it (free food for poor kids) as a perverse battle of attrition. It costs almost nothing but cannot vastly inflate the wealth of their pals. They are truly evil.
 
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