Brexit
Express
RED Wall Tory MPs have warned Labour would drag Britain “kicking and screaming” back into the EU despite Sir Keir Starmer’s new Brexit plan.
The Labour leader on Monday insisted he would not reverse the UK’s departure from the bloc as he set out a five-point plan to “make Brexit work”. Sir Keir ruled out rejoining the EU, single market or customs union as he vowed to move on from “arguments of the past”.
But Red Wall Tory MPs have cast doubt over the former shadow Brexit secretary’s new stance, highlighting how he tried to force a second referendum.
Ashfield MP Lee Anderson accused Sir Keir of “pandering” to Brexit-backing Red Wall voters who abandoned his party in 2019 and warned he would return the UK to the EU “through the backdoor”.
The former coal miner and Labour activist told Express.co.uk: “This is the man who campaigned for four years to stop Brexit, then he campaigned against a no deal Brexit, then he campaigned for a second referendum to give people that confirmatory vote.
Boris
Express
BORIS JOHNSON has faced his “worst day” as Prime Minister as former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and former Health Secretary Sajid Javid handed in their resignations.
The subsequent Cabinet reshuffle has seen Nadeem Zahawi, the Education Secretary, promoted to Chancellor of the Exchequer and Cabinet Minister and Mr Johnson’s Chief of Staff Steve Barclay appointed as Health Secretary. Alongside the senior Tory ministers resigning, junior members of the party have also resigned as ministers flee the sinking ship of the Conservative party under Boris Johnson’s leadership.
According to political editor of Sky News Beth Rigby, this was the “worst day for him since becoming Prime Minister” and that “the civil war within the party is now really blown open”.
Telegraph
Boris Johnson was battling to save his premiership on Tuesday night after two of his most senior Cabinet ministers resigned within 10 minutes of each other.
First Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, and then Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, published letters on their Twitter accounts explaining why they could not remain in their posts.
Mr Johnson scrambled to fill the gaps on the front bench even as further resignations from government positions were announced.
Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, was named as the new Chancellor. It is understood Mr Johnson and Mr Zahawi agreed on the need for tax cuts to secure growth in their one-on-one meeting on Tuesday night.
Times
Boris Johnson’s premiership is on the line after Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid turned on the prime minister and resigned from cabinet.
The chancellor and the health secretary resigned within ten minutes of each other in an apparently co-ordinated move that dealt a potentially fatal blow to the prime minister.
Both attacked Johnson’s integrity, with Sunak saying he had resigned because high standards in politics were “worth fighting for” and that “we cannot continue like this”. Javid said the British people had the right to “expect integrity from their government” and that the Conservative Party was “bigger than any one individual”.
Sun
BORIS Johnson’s day opened with a prayer and ended with him clinging to the grim hope he might still survive.
In between, he lost his Chancellor and Health Secretary and was left waiting anxiously to discover if any more ministers — all so ashen faced throughout the morning Cabinet meeting — might go.
Battered by days of sex scandal, and waking to more dreadful headlines, the beleaguered PM made his way to Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast.
Sitting just yards from where Charles I was condemned to death, one line from the hymn would have stuck in the craw as it echoed around Westminster Hall: “rescue us from all our foes.”
Mirror
Even Boris Johnson’s most blinkered allies “know it’s all over” for him, a Tory MP says.
The Prime Minister was left seriously wounded tonight after Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid quit the Cabinet.
The two top Tories launched their coup amid fury over Mr Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal.
The resignations came within minutes of the PM finally admitting it was a “mistake” to appoint his ally Mr Pincher as deputy chief whip.
The Partygate scandal had left Mr Johnson in the last chance saloon with many of his MPs.
Senior Tories were last night saying the PM is fatally damaged and would be gone by the weekend.
Some loyalists such as Deputy PM Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Housing Secretary Michael Gove are sticking by him for now.
Guardian
Boris Johnson’s premiership was on the brink of collapse after the chancellor, the health secretary and a string of Conservative aides dramatically quit, dealing a crushing blow to his authority after a slew of self-inflicted scandals.
Publishing damning resignation letters within minutes of each other, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid pointed to a lack of grip in Downing Street.
The prime minister attempted to recover his authority by swiftly appointing Nadhim Zahawi as his chancellor and Steve Barclay as health secretary. But the credibility of the move was undermined as reports emerged that Zahawi had threatened to quit unless he got the job instead of the foreign secretary, Liz Truss.
The resignations of Javid and Sunak, both considered potential future leadership contenders, come at a moment of significant danger for the prime minister. Elections to the 1922 Committee executive next week are expected to strengthen the hand of rebels hoping to call another vote of no confidence.
ITV News
Boris Johnson’s leadership has been rocked by a string of resignations, led by two of his most senior Cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak.
The pair quit within minutes of each other on Tuesday night, citing standards and integrity as their reasoning.
Many believe the resignations of Mr Sunak and Mr Javid – just one month after the PM scraped through a no confidence vote – could prove fatal, and indeed at least ten other Conservatives have followed suit and quit their roles.
Mr Johnson moved quickly on Tuesday night to shore up support. Nadhim Zahawi, formerly the education secretary, was promoted to chancellor and Michelle Donelan, who was the universities minister, has replaced him.
Steve Barclay has stepped into the vacant health secretary role.
Mr Sunak and Mr Javid told the PM they had lost confidence in him, after months spent by Number 10 fighting to extinguish the flames of repeated scandals, such as Partygate and the recent Chris Pincher revelations.
Independent
Boris Johnson is clinging to power by a thread after the twin resignations of his chancellor and health secretary over the Chris Pincher scandal plunged him into his biggest crisis yet.
The disintegration of the cabinet – long seen as the event most likely to force the prime minister out of No 10 – dramatically cut the odds on his premiership ending imminently.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, walked out telling Mr Johnson the Conservative party is “bigger than any one individual” – while Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, protested that “standards are worth fighting for”.
Earlier on Tuesday, No 10 had admitted the prime minister knew a misconduct complaint had been upheld against Mr Pincher when he appointed him to the whips’ office, triggering an eruption of Tory anger.
Mail
Boris Johnson faces a backbench mutiny as he attempts to cling onto power after a nightmare double resignation by Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid yesterday.
Rebel Tory MPs last night warned the PM that they will change the party’s rules so he can be ousted as leader if he tries to carry on as leader – with some saying he could even be ‘gone by the weekend’.
They told the Prime Minister he faces the threat of another confidence vote next week, which would trigger a leadership contest if he loses. Asked what will happen if Mr Johnson refuses to quit, a rebel ringleader last night replied: ‘War.’
The PM is engaged in a desperate damage limitation battle in the wake of the bombshells from the now-former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who walked out within minutes of each other berating his lack of ‘integrity’ and competence.
Express
ALLIES OF BORIS JOHNSON have slammed Rishi Sunak after the ex-Chancellor joined former Health Secretary Sajid Javid in resigning from the Prime Minister’s Cabinet.
Boris Johnson has been hit by a raft of resignations after it emerged the Prime Minister appointed Tamworth MP Chris Pincher to a key welfare role in Government despite being aware of specific allegations of sexual assault made against him. Downing Street claimed the Prime Minister was unaware of allegations in a briefing last Friday but eventually conceded Mr Johnson forgot about the allegations after ex-Foreign Office permanent under-secretary Lord Simon McDonald described Number 10’s earlier claim as “inaccurate”. Addressing the Pincher debacle, Mr Johnson said: “I think it was a mistake and I apologise for it, I think in hindsight it was the wrong thing to do.”
Rishi Sunak led the ministerial charge against the Prime Minister as the Chancellor cited competency in his resignation letter.
Telegraph
“It was a mistake and I apologise.” In a clip filmed for the 6pm news, an unusually deflated Prime Minister finally said sorry over his handling of the Chris Pincher scandal that has brought his government to crisis point.
Boris Johnson, with his hair neatly clipped and a sombre tone of voice, said he had made a big mistake with the appointment of his deputy chief whip and “if I had my time again I would think back on it” and do things differently.
It was the moment the PM and his allies hoped would douse the embers of a ministerial rebellion and screw the lid tightly down on five days of chaos that have fanned the flames of discontent within the party.
Instead, just two minutes after broadcasters began playing his remarks out to the country, No 10 was stunned by the shock resignation of Sajid Javid, who said he could no longer “in good conscience” remain in post.
Labour Party
Express
SIR KEIR STARMER has reignited civil war within Labour after his latest statement on the EU.
The Labour leader vowed to “make Brexit work” and ruled out a push to rejoin the bloc should he become Prime Minister. It marked it his firmest rejection of ‘remain’ policies since becoming leader, despite pushing for a second referendum while under Jeremy Corbyn in 2019.
In Sir Keir’s speech about the EU, he argued he could remove trade and travel barriers as Prime Minister because the EU would trust him.
On Monday evening, he pledged to tackle what he called a “fatberg of red tape and bureaucracy” caused by Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.
Sir Keir said he was an “honest broker”, able to reach better compromises on key areas of disagreement with the EU such as the Northern Ireland protocol, while the Government’s approach had “eroded” trust in the UK.
Covid
Mail
Covid cases are on the rise in some of the UK’s favourite holiday hotspots, raising concerns of yet more travel chaos for millions this summer.
Spain, France and Germany are all currently logging a rise in infections, while outbreaks are growing bigger in popular Caribbean islands.
Sunseekers no longer need to prove they’re Covid-free and vaccinated to be allowed into many of the country’s best-loved destinations, who have followed Britain’s lead in ushering in the post-pandemic era.
Yet health chiefs on the continent — who are alarmed about the resurgence — have already called for a return of masks.
Experts told MailOnline travellers could easily face restrictions in their destination this summer, if officials feel the rise warrants action over the coming weeks.
Mirror
A major Covid rule has been reintroduced in some areas amid soaring cases and a surge in hospitalisations.
While mask wearing is now a personal choice as opposed to a mandatory rule, some hospitals are requiring their patients to wear a face covering on the premises.
Hospitals in Hampshire, Wales, Cambridge and Cornwall have introduced mandatory masks for patients, staff and visitors.
Dr Lara Alloway, chief medical officer at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said the “significant” rise in Covid cases and the growing rates of staff sickness also meant social distancing was being strongly encouraged.
Times
All over-50s are likely to get another coronavirus booster in the autumn after Sajid Javid warned the cabinet about rising infections yesterday.
An extra six million middle-aged people are expected to be offered a fourth dose as an Omicron sub-variant continues to push up cases and hospital admissions.
Javid, hours before he resigned as health secretary, updated the cabinet on Covid-19 for the first time in months as a new wave of infections piles pressure on the NHS. Sources said that there would be no “dramatic change in approach” and further restrictions are not being considered.
Instead health advisers expect the autumn vaccination programme to be widened to reduce hospital admissions over the busy winter period.
Flu jabs could also be offered to all over-50s.
Cancer
Independent
A personalised cancer vaccine that uses similar technology to the Covid jabs has produced “really hopeful” early results, researchers say.
The vaccine was given to eight head and neck cancer patients at the NHS’ Clatterbridge Cancer Centre after they had received standard treatment. None of the patients went on to relapse several months later.
However, two patients in a control group who didn’t receive the vaccine saw their cancer return.
Professor Christian Ottensmeier, a consultant medical oncologist and director of clinical research at the centre, told Sky News he was “cautiously optimistic” about the findings.
“I am really hopeful, yes,” he said. “I am quite excited about it. All the data are pointing in the right direction.”
Education
Telegraph
Children at the end of primary school have seen a record fall in Sats results in the wake of the pandemic.
Only 59 per cent of pupils in England met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths this year compared with 65 per cent the last time the exams were conducted in 2019.
The decline of around 10 per cent, or six percentage points, in pupils achieving the expected standard is the steepest fall in the main measure of attainment for the Key Stage 2 tests since they were introduced in 1995, analysis by The Telegraph has found.
The Department for Education said it recognised “that pupils have missed a critical period of their education due to the pandemic and the Government is now driving forward work to get children back on track”.
People smugglers
Mail
A ‘highly lucrative’ smuggling operation which illegally shipped 10,000 people across the English Channel has been crushed following the ‘biggest ever’ internationally coordinated crackdown of its kind, spanning five European countries.
Officers in Belgium, Britain, France, the Netherlands and Germany staged dawn raids involving ‘hundreds of officers’, according to police in the northwestern German city of Osnabrueck, considered a major hub for the illegal networks.
According the the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), officers arrested six men and a woman in the Docklands and Catford areas of London as part of the police operation on Tuesday.
They included a 26-year-old man, who was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration, in Rushey Green, Catford, alongside a 22-year-old man in St Davids Square, on the Isle of Dogs.
Telegraph
A people-smuggling gang believed to be behind a quarter of the migrants arriving in Britain has been smashed in the biggest ever international police operation of its kind.
More than 900 officers from Britain, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany staged dawn raids on Tuesday to arrest gang members suspected of smuggling 10,000 people to Britain across the Channel on small boats – a quarter of the 40,000 arrivals since the start of last year.
German police deployed their elite GSG 9 unit and special forces to target the ringleaders of the operation, who were feared to be armed and violent, in Osnabruck, according to newspaper reports in Germany.
The gang used Germany to warehouse boats, engines and other equipment brought in via Turkey before moving the vessels to the north coast of France for the migrants to set off for Britain.
Strikes
Mail
Fears of a summer of crippling ‘super strikes’ on the railways grew yesterday as three union barons threatened co-ordinated walkouts.
RMT boss Mick Lynch rallied rail workers by urging them to gear up for ‘the fight of our lifetime’ in an incendiary speech at the union’s AGM.
In a sign that talks with rail bosses have broken down, he said pay offers ‘do not take into account the cost of living crisis’ and primed 50,000 members for a summer of walkouts. He also accused industry bosses of threatening to further roll out driver-only trains.
Mick Whelan, boss of the train drivers’ union Aslef, told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s up to Grant Shapps, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to ensure there isn’t a summer of discontent on Britain’s railways.
Mail
Thousands of Royal Mail managers will go on strike later this month in a dispute over plans to cut 700 jobs and slash pay by £7,000 – as the Unite union slams a ‘culture of greed’.
The union has said 2,400 managers will work to rule over five days from July 15 to July 19, before strike action over the following three days from July 20 to July 22.
Staff at the postal service decided to back walkouts by 86 per cent in England, Scotland and Wales and 89 per cent in Northern Ireland last week.
General secretary Sharon Graham today said: ‘This business is awash with cash but it is putting profits and dividends for the few at the top ahead of its duties as a public service.
‘There is not a single aspect of these cuts which is about improving customer service.
Mirror
British Airways is believed to be talking to union officials today to avert possible strikes that would bring more air misery.
Airline chiefs are understood to be meeting the Unite union over a pay row involving about 500 check-in staff at Heathrow and issues raised by other BA workers.
Last month a Unite ballot of its 16,000 BA staff received 97% backing for potential industrial action.
A source said: “It will be a pretty important meeting. If they want to buy themselves some time they can do something on pay but there are a lot of other issues to resolve.”
Those issues cover everything from rosters to meal allowances.
I’ll tell you who Boris reminds me of and that is Bilko
Remember Sergeant Bilko TV comedy programme, the overblown buffoon who could manipulate everyone to fall in with his get rich schemes, but the emphasis is on trickery and, should I say it,? LIES
I loved the programmes wish it was still on, unfortunately it doesn’t lend itself to serious politics …….. For very long
The reason for the witch hunt is the pure ignorance of our politicians and their Civil Servants, Not one of whom have a single clue about how to solve even one of the raft of problems facing Boris and the country .But just want to blame and tear at someone else
PS Find me anyone in gov’t who knows what to do about Unions, or tax,or justice, or economy or in fact, anything at all other than getting upset because they dare not clout a queer. because of cretinous wokery.
BORIS:
I am no fan of Boris Johnson and think he’s wasted the 80 seat majority given by the democratic vote. However, the relentless witch hunting campaign by the MSM, rejoiners and particularly the Boris Bashing Corporation (BBC) is deplorable and reminiscent of the attempts to overturn the Brexit vote and the anti-Trump campaign in the USA. If a democratic vote does not reflect their wishes then it must be thwarted by any other means. It is becoming apparent that any Government is powerless unless it reflects the policies of the media, political classes and the judiciary. Votes count for nothing. Democracy is just an illusion, but that comes as no surprise to many of us.
Let’s face it, Doris was an open goal for the MSM who can scent a wounded PM a mile away. They sensed even his own supporters were becoming embarassed with his incompetence and lies.
It was he and he alone that failed to finish Brexit and rubbed the noses of those who voted for him in the dirt as he went cuckoo on net zero, emptied the treasury and continues allowing immigrants legal and illegal to flood the country. There isn’t a conservative bone in his body. Chuck him and his party of guttertrash in the Thames for all I care.
Thanks JB for saving me typing time. +100 support.
What! Are you still here Boris?
Of course you are. Your handlers won’t let you go yet. They have been grooming you for a very long time, (Matt 4:8-9…the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”) You haven’t yet completed the task they set you; the utter destruction of this once great nation; mentally, morally, physically and economically.
You and your Party were elected on the promise that you would get Brexit done. That was a lie.
You and your Party were elected on the promise that taxes would be lowered. That was a lie.
You and your Party were elected on the promise that immigration would be controlled. That was a lie.
Your first act; you quite brazenly installed your mistress in No. 10. So much for moral standards.
You and your Party introduced crippling “Green” policies, thus destroying our manufacturing and agricultural industries,
You and your Party have presided over the dangerous reduction and emasculation of our Armed Forces
You and your Party have enabled, or condoned the indoctrination of our children with the LGBT agenda and CRT (a Marxist doctrine)
You and your Party have encouraged, or condoned “Woke” in all its forms.
The CONservative party needs to have a good look at itself. It needs to choose a LEADER. Someone who puts the interests of the UK FIRST. None of those jockeying for position at the moment are in any way suitable.
Perhaps the BEST person for the job doesn’t want it, but if he is capable, then persuade him. (Lord Frost, or David Davis spring to mind.)
The Tories only do conservatism at election time and then put it away until the next election.
Oddly enough Richard Mawdsley, I’ve read somewhere that before those resignations landed BJ attended House of Commons Prayers !!
Makes you wonder doesn’t it !!
THANK YOU DEBBIE. GET WELL SOON VIV.
Now I am feeling a bit more hopeful. The new Chancellor has past experience in BUSINESS. So hopefully he will realise the right way to get more money out of us is to CUT taxes, so we earn and spend more.
It is so glaringly obvious that taking VAT of ALL fuel and energy would go a long way to resolve the cost of living ‘crisis’ too.
It was before Jabbit resigned that we were being told more of us (not me) would be jabbed again. Maybe that is now changed.
There are other idiocies not mentioned of course.
Trying to run U.K. on sun and wind alone.
Sending military help to Ukraine instead of defending our own coasts.
Northern Ireland and fishing still lost to the U.K.
As I understood it pervs have the whip hand theses days (LBGQXTZ.) & rainbow flags etc.
So surely doing perverted things is OK now? One should expect and welcome groping, it will become the social norm soon? 🙂
Harsh but fair. LOL
In Uruguay a judge has demanded data and evidence on the efficacy of the Pfizer jab by later today.
https://en.mercopress.com/2022/07/04/uruguayan-judge-demands-explanations-regarding-pfizer-s-covid-19-vax
Let’s hope that is the first of many countries to do so.
On Mark Steyn on GB News the whole programme from 8 – 9 pm is about vaccine injuries and deaths.
I have read a convincing article that Pfizer would rather lose a billion customers for its jabs than give up the information requested to Uruguay, so we have the answer Ceri.
What can be said that hasn’t been said before. Johnson is not up to holding high office of any description, lacks basic common sense, has zero political conviction, says one thing and does another, and definitely has no backbone and allows all and sundry to ride ride roughshod over British interests, by those he laughingly calls our ‘friends and partners’. That was all just plain to see in his trade deal negotiations with the European Commission after we left the European Union on the 31st January 2020. Part of our country was annexed to the EU (Northern Ireland) with separate customs rules which still hasn’t been resolved. We don’t have 100% control of our Fishing and Territorial Waters and issued more fishing licences to French fishermen than he promised to do, and are able to fish within six miles of our shoreline. And what is more we don’t have control of our borders and the past year has seen one million people come into the country one way or another, whilst we have paid the French government millions of taxpayers money to sit on their backsides rather than pro-actively prevent illegal migrants from leaving their shores in boats. Boris Johnson’s idea of independence is NOT my idea of independence, and is certainly not the independence I, and millions of others voted for in June 2016. Now, after two senior cabinet ministers have resigned from his sham of a cabinet, he has the audacity to state that this will free him up to reduce taxes. What utter bunkum. He must think we are all as naive and stupid as he is. Why does it take something like mass resignations and being found to have broken Covid laws that he himself instigated to make him get off his fat behind, and do what he has been paid to do these past two and half years. As I have said before, Johnson promised so much, but has delivered so little, whilst converting his party from a right of centre organisation to one that is now hard left. If he doesn’t resign of his own accord, then he will have to be turfed out……..
Indeed Colin but we must also consider his enthusiasm for the globalists which seems to take precedence over our own interests.
Colin The Tories haven’t been Right of centre for 30 years to my knowledge. Doris has finished the Tories project of burying conservatism that has taken 4 PMs to complete Major, Cameron, May and Doris. The Tories only do conservatism at election time and in times of crisis to fool the credulous centre Right.
You are correct Colin, and it pains us all. The thing is Colin, they literally do not know what they are doing. No idea, no clue, but with vast ignorance and confidence, and unbelievable arrogance.
What they are, is messinger boys. With messages and excuses from Civil Service to Commons ( Regulations ) and messages from Commons ( Money will be sent by Treasury,), or Laws .. A bit like a board of directors, representing their money for best return.
All the control of the industry, its management to differing levels is by Civil Servants to and far beyond necessity.
The more money spent the more important you are ! ( Number 7.. The Bureaucrats Commandments )
I think ( As a pleb. wth mainly arms length or representational contact ). Actually finding out is difficult, and self satisfaction is abundant
Sharon Graham of Royal Mail workers Union, has it absolutely right.
And if she looked a little further she might find a lot of computers and committees and paper, all signs of excessive bureaucracy. Where all the money goes, in all bureaucracy ridden and hidden, money devouring organisations. ( Just like the nhs )
Everybody seems to forget. The conservative 80 seat majority was NOT conservatism or poor Labour. IT WAS NIGELS BREXIT PARTY STANDING DOWN IN FAVOUR OF THE SUPPOSEDLY BREXIT SUPORTING TORYS. The red wall are leavers.The Starmer idiot has worked that out.
THE SAME CAN HAPPEN AGAIN .
NOW IS A GOOD TIME and while you’re at it, bury ukips tory treachery.( no-one will miss their 1/2 % )
Any day now Boris will remember.
TG Spokes……Agreed, nobody will miss the 0.5% share of the vote of UKIP, Reform UK, Reclaim, Heritage Party etc etc until someone like Nigel Farage comes along and takes up the reins. And I wouldn’t bank on Boris Johnson remembering anything of any consequence, as he has proved time and again that he doesn’t do detail and has a mind like a sieve.
Yup.
Covid:
As expected they are building the case for more destructive and ineffective lock-downs, even as Mark Woolhouse,* one of their senior scientists, concluded that lock-downs were not effective as infection control but seriously damaging otherwise. If they want to further the destruction of our economy then what better way to do that?
*In his book “The Year the World went Mad”
Right – time to turn you all in on yourselves Tory party style!
Destructive and ineffective lockdowns?
My rider – yes, they can certainly be destructive and ours, being so badly managed, certainly were. IMHO to impose one once is the clearest sign that you have failed either to control an incoming infection or introduce appropriate containment or both; to impose one more than once is utter incompetence. Ineffective? Well that depends doesn’t it?
If you look at the data, the deaths – and infection in the community, was very low during the summer of 2020. Hands up if you thought it was on its way out? Ditto from late Spring to early summer in 2021, until delta started rampaging around. Whereas now, in fact all this year, rates have been high.
Now, cat, pigeons, among! What is the difference? yes, removal not just of physical movement restrictions as in lockdowns (good, should be able to manage control without that) but all other mitigations – Brits, being Brits think no mask mandate means they don’t need one. (Well some do, every time so far, I have thought it might be OK to ditch my respirator in public indoor space, the rate shoots up again. No trolling please, I thought anti maskers wanted free choice, protecting myself is MY free choice)
So just reflect on those low rates – block a pathogen from new hosts and it dies out, as the people of Eyam understood centuries ago.
By ‘trolling’ I hope you don’t mean disagreement. By your usual standards this is a very woolly piece, but I think it means you support The Great Barrington Declaration; retreat to bed and stay out of circulation, exactly as we used to do voluntarily from common sense with flu, and anyone vulnerable to take care, as we used to do voluntarily with flu. Plus, take your vitamin D especially the elderly, and Zinc with Quercetin (as an ionophore.) But on masks stopping a virus there is a good analogy with someone trying to carry sand in a wire shopping trolley. But yes you should be free to wear one if you wish, although alone in a car is not a good look.
Boris:
Do either the shuffled ministers or Boris himself have any knowledge or experience that is really valid in the context of their appointments? Somehow I doubt it.
Labour Party:
Still media silence on “Beergate”. Seriously, how long does it take to investigate bottles of beer and a few currys ?
Ken P…….the sorry state of policing these days bears no comparison to the force that I joined 48 years ago. Then, we were subjected to a regimented type of training with a heavy emphasis on PT, had excellent training on the application of law, and were assessed every minute of the day, and if you didn’t come up to the mark you were kicked out. Today it is all bean bags, no discipline and what’s more no standards. Police forces of yesteryear were led by exceptional people who originally came from an armed services background who were highly disciplined, whereas today forces are headed up by left wing indoctrinated graduate no hopers who wouldn’t even have passed the application paper sift in my day, so from my perspective its no wonder it takes months to ascertain whether beers and curry were consumed in a group at a political gathering in contravention of the law. In my day it would have taken a few days at the most to sort out the facts and come to a decision and woe betide anyone who didn’t get off the their backside(s) and made a decision. The big problem these days apart from the worse than awful training and inept management and supervision, is that policing has been politicised and a step in the right direction would be the total abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners and returning the training to a residential regimented regime where discipline was taught.
And there we have it, the ‘re-arranging of deckchairs on the Titanic. Thanks again for your sterling work Debbie, and my best wishes to Viv to take it easy and plenty of rest.
It doesn’t seem as though Dom Cummings can be blamed for this one.
As one US President said, “The buck stops here”. In our case “here” is BoJo, no excuses.
Jake………you are entirely right there. The only person to blame is the blond buffoon in Downing Street. Johnson gave an unbelievably poor performance at that committee meeting this afternoon in the House of Commons where he was erming and ahhing displaying an inability to answer even the most basic of questions and it was quite clear that he was not in charge of his own brief, and his very obvious inadequacies were laid bare for all to see. On that basis alone he would have been out of his depth running a school tuck shop let alone running a government. He is such an embarrassment, and there he is representing this country on the international stage. In any other job he would have failed his probationary period and told to clear his desk