I reported an overzealous guard on a LNER service. They did not even acknowledge that the guard existed. A complete waste of time.
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New lockdown in England, including school closures, announced by Johnson, 4/1/21
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I was previously assuming that we'd reach 100k by the end of the month, but since he's predicted it I've actually developed some hope that it won't happen
Scotrail12
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Was he for real with that prediction? I don't know how he could have gotten it that wrong.
From the Wikipeda page for Professor Pantsdown.
He was comparing the death toll for the 1918 - 1920 Spanish Flu Pandemic and the world population at the time, and multiplying the death toll by 6 to take account of the increase in the world population between 1920 and 2005.
Which is completely unscientific, as it takes no account of the improvements to hygiene (few people had bathrooms in 1920), healthcare (NHS created in 1948) and the processing and sharing of information.
One transmission vector for the 1918 - 1920 Spanish Flu pandemic was troop movements at the end of the First World War.
Which makes me think that it is almost certain the Olympic Games will be cancelled this summer, as no-one will want people from all over the world travelling to Japan, mixing with each other, potentially picking up new strains of the virus, and then taking it back to their home countries.
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Philip Elliott
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The bird flu prediction was for if it should become trasmissable from human-to-human which thankfully it never did. It did however kill 60% of those infected (mainly through breathing in dessicated bird poo).
brad465
Veteran Member
Steve Baker of the CRG is openly saying Johnson could be subjected to a leadership challenge over lockdown:
www.independent.co.uk
At the moment he is supportive of Johnson, particularly in belief the vaccination programme will help end this, but this does show the longer this goes on the more likely Johnson will be ousted.
Boris Johnson could face leadership challenge over lockdown, Tory MP warns
Steve Baker organised rebellions on Brexit that helped bring down Theresa May
www.independent.co.uk
Boris Johnson could face a leadership challenge if he does not bow to lockdown sceptics in his party and lift restrictions, a backbench Tory MP has said.
Steve Baker, who led Eurosceptic rebellions on Brexit that brought down Theresa May, said people in the party were "losing faith" in the prime minister's leadership.
“It's inevitable the prime minister’s leadership will be on the table," Mr Baker is said to have privately told colleagues, according to a report in The Sun.
“People are telling me they are losing faith in our Conservative Party leadership.”
Mr Baker was one of the ministers to set up the Covid Recovery Group (CRG) of Tory MPs, who agitate to water down government measures to fight the virus.
The actual influence of the lockdown sceptics is questionable however, as rebellions have been limited and the government's large majority has never failed to carry restrictions over the line in parliament.
Consistent support from the opposition Labour Party also makes it very difficult for the government to lose on coronavirus votes.
The latest lockdown regulations in January got through parliament by a huge 524 votes to 16.
Nevertheless, in a note to his lockdown-sceptic colleagues, Mr Baker called for "a guarantee that this strategy will not be used again next winter".
“Government has adopted a strategy devoid of any commitment to liberty without any clarification about when our most basic freedoms will be restored and with no guarantee that they will never be taken away again," he said.
“People are telling me they are losing faith in our Conservative Party leadership because they are not standing up for our values as a party."
“If we continue forward with a strategy that hammers freedom, hammers the private sector, hammers small business owners and hammers the poor, inevitably the Prime Minister’s leadership will be on the table.
"We strongly do not want that after all we have been through as a country.”
But following the publication of the note Mr Baker took to social media to publicly endorse the prime minister's leadership.
"What this country needs is the complete success of Boris Johnson, with his excellent EU deal, a successful vaccination programme and a road to recovery back to freedom," he posted.
"I am clear Boris is the only person to lead us out of these difficulties and I support him in that endeavour."
Angela Rayner, Labour's deputy leaders said the Tories should focus on running the country rather than “fighting amongst themselves”.
“The Conservatives have presided over the worst recession of any major economy and worst excess death rate in Europe," she said.
“The British people need a government that is committed to defeating this virus and getting Britain vaccinated. Instead, the day after our country recorded the highest daily death toll since this crisis started, the Conservatives are playing politics and fighting amongst themselves.
“Labour is focusing on getting Britain vaccinated so we can secure our economy, protect our NHS and rebuild our country.”
At the moment he is supportive of Johnson, particularly in belief the vaccination programme will help end this, but this does show the longer this goes on the more likely Johnson will be ousted.
This is good to hear, the more pressure the Tory backbenchers put on Boris the better, especially given that Her Majesty's Opposition refuse to provide any real opposition. Ironic that Starmer, a human rights lawyer, never actually speaks up for human rights!
Philip
On Moderation
Steve Baker of the CRG is openly saying Johnson could be subjected to a leadership challenge over lockdown:
Boris Johnson could face leadership challenge over lockdown, Tory MP warns
Steve Baker organised rebellions on Brexit that helped bring down Theresa May
At the moment he is supportive of Johnson, particularly in belief the vaccination programme will help end this, but this does show the longer this goes on the more likely Johnson will be ousted.
A leadership contest is the last thing the country needs right now. Regardless of what people think of Johnson, we need stability. Stability is the best route for getting on top of this wave of cases and ultimately the easing of restrictions as soon as possible.
py_megapixel
Established Member
which Johnson is entirely failing to deliver
Philip
On Moderation
How so? The situation is ever changing because of things like more transmissable varients emerging and many unknowns, which makes it very difficult to keep a consistent approach. I think the Johnson/the government are standing up reasonably well considering.
Agreed. Just needs to stand up to the lockdown lovers that advise him.
py_megapixel
Established Member
This government is an absolute farce. Throughout this entire event, starting from the first lockdown, none of the government's messaging has been consistent for more than a month or two at a time. We've had too many slogans, too many systems of tiers and levels, too many changes in the rules, and no consistency whatsoever in how they separate what is required and what isn't with this blending of laws and guidance. gov.uk says one thing, the speeches say another, the actual law says another.
Boris is incompetent, self-entitled, and not fit to run a country. To be fair, so are/were most government ministers over the past few years.
Philip
On Moderation
Which we have in the form of the vaccine!
And if there's an issue with the vaccine, such as a delay whilst it's reconfigured for a mutation for example ?
They need an alternative plan B to more lockdowns.
Philip
On Moderation
I think that is a bridge we cross if we come to it. No point worrying about it when so far it hasn't presented a problem. And even if it does happen, the vaccine companies have said they are confident they can tweak their vaccines in a matter of weeks or months to cope with this.
Really, we're very fortunate to have the vaccines by this point in the first place, thanks to hard work and research.
I think we've gone too far to give the Government that leeway. This is lockdown 3 afterall.
brad465
Veteran Member
Johnson will be going eventually before the next election, and likely this year, either because he's forced out as a liability to his party, or because he's running away from all his mess.
Providing it works well enough long term and rolling out it to enough people that isn't the whole population sees everything lifted with nothing to return.
Or because he is mentally broken from all the effort.
One may argue mentally broken generally!
Allowing us as much freedom to do things as they dared is how I'd put it.
I also support the tier system approach rather than full lockdown.
It's because the silly media get hooked up on the rules having to cover off every possible eventuality when over zealous plods and their actions are front page. No wonder it's now over 100 pages!
The constant rhetoric of 'people are confused' trotted out by TV presenters is crap, and designed to reinforce their opinion that more restrictions are needed. A minority may be confused, probably from reading so called experts on Facebook.
Exercise is the best one; Stay local, meet only one person you don't live with in a public place and keep your 2m distance. Local further defined as village, town or city. Seems fairly clear to me.
There are drink drive laws, but that doesn't mean I have to drink and then drive. There is guidance on support bubbles but it doesn't mean I need to form one.
Appreciate some people are thick, travelling to Wales from Leicester being one of them.
This is true - though I think the threat of a leadership content is probably better than an actual contest at this point. I don't see any of the likely candidates actually being any better than Johnson, and some would probably be worse. (In terms of outcome that is. I'm sure most of them would be more professional and competent, but see eg. Sturgeon or Macron - that doesn't help much).
Indeed - he has been a severe disappointment. Though most human rights lawyers and organisations have been deeply disappointing over the last year.
It's been pretty disappointing, but he's up against a strength of public opinion, driven by the press and international trends. If he'd been leader at the start he might have been able to have more influence, but in a lot of ways our course has been set since March.
The only problem with the stay in your village, town or city message is that for many villages in particular staying in the village might not be an option. There are many with few, if any amenities, and so people living there have no option but to leave them or struggle for online delivery slots. Even defining a local radius could be problematic for many places. Better just to ask people to stay as local as possible.
No I agree with you there. The rant was more about the media's claim that it isn't clear guidance when it is. I definitely don't agree with it
Personally speaking my golf club is in the next city as is my workplace.
Envy123
Member
I live in the regions and my good private doctors who specialise in my condition are 70+ miles away. That's the disadvantage of living out in the sticks.
I hope I'm not breaking any guidance by travelling by train to Farringdon for a medical appointment!
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