As an American reading and sifting through all of this, it's somewhat refreshing to know that we are not alone in our ability to show mass incompetence at the national level. That said, I think it's a toss-up as to whether the UK or the US comes out of 2020 looking like the more inept. Your covid results are currently worse than ours(per capita), but that could change. We have the advantage of way more space, so it could be awhile before we really see the full results.
I don't think that the current government is malevolent in that I don't think they're actively willing the deaths of thousands of people, but I think that they're virtually inarguably incompetent.
There are now constituencies in the UK with no effective representation in parliament because the MPs there are following the UK rules on shielding etc.
Not confirmed as covid yet but it wouldn’t be a shock if it is. You really couldn’t make this uphttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52910303
Even I was shocked that we now have more daily deaths than the rest of the EU 27 put together ( a population of more than 400 million).
Alok Sharma is 52, BAME, and, being frank, not a waif. Fingers crossed it isn't actually covid for his sake.
Protecting one’s family is what any good parent does. The @10DowningStreet statement clarifies the situation and it is wholly inappropriate to politicise it.
After the revelations emerged over the weekend, I was glad to see Mr Cummings give an explanation as to why he acted as he did, and this has been rightly questioned by the media.Durham police have investigated the situation and have concluded that whilst there might have been a minor breach, they will take no further action. You will appreciate that owing to the operational independence of the police and my constitutional duty as lord chancellor to uphold the rule of law, it would not be appropriate for me to give a view on the merits of an individual case.I am, however, acutely conscious as to the strength of feeling on this issue, which I completely understand. This has left a deep impression on both me and colleagues in parliament and the government.
Surely it is wholly inappropriate for the Attorney General, a key role to be conducted apolitically, to make political statements in support of individual cases of unlawful behaviour? She thinks not, which surely calls into question her understanding of and fitness for her job.
One event which has attracted little interest is Suella Braverman’s tweet defending Dominic Cummings within 24 hrs of the news about his trip:https://twitter.com/SuellaBraverman/status/1264174355975671810Quote Protecting one’s family is what any good parent does. The @10DowningStreet statement clarifies the situation and it is wholly inappropriate to politicise it. Surely it is wholly inappropriate for the Attorney General, a key role to be conducted apolitically, to make political statements in support of individual cases of unlawful behaviour? She thinks not, which surely calls into question her understanding of and fitness for her job.Robert Buckland, Lord Chancellor and Justice secretary, clearly takes a different view to Braverman:Quote After the revelations emerged over the weekend, I was glad to see Mr Cummings give an explanation as to why he acted as he did, and this has been rightly questioned by the media.Durham police have investigated the situation and have concluded that whilst there might have been a minor breach, they will take no further action. You will appreciate that owing to the operational independence of the police and my constitutional duty as lord chancellor to uphold the rule of law, it would not be appropriate for me to give a view on the merits of an individual case.I am, however, acutely conscious as to the strength of feeling on this issue, which I completely understand. This has left a deep impression on both me and colleagues in parliament and the government. This is not a trivial issue in view of the importance of her job.
I wonder if this will make any impact.
Doctor quits NHS over Dominic Cummings' refusal to resign
Lockdown was effective in controlling the spread of the virus. If TTI is to effectively replace lockdown then it needs to work. The app that was meant to be the panacea is now no longer talked about, the tracing is being outsourced to Serco, and the messaging has been torpedoed from the start. What could possibly go wrong?
I wonder how anyone else feels about the mooted suspension of Sunday trading hours?
Quote from: TobyD on June 06, 2020, 10:34:53 pmI wonder how anyone else feels about the mooted suspension of Sunday trading hours? It may be a good thing in terms of extra hours available to shop workers? (as long as there’s no obligation to work them and pay is uplifted accordingly for a Sunday).
It’s just another cheap. Political. Hit. One from the orchestrated PR unlockdown machine. No strategy - no real reasons - but it gets some headlines and makes people think we may be progressing.