Boris is back at the helm

‘Tis the start of another Lockdown Week – but this time it will be different! After all, Johnson is back in No10 and will make decisions – about the Lockdown and about Brexit. There’ll be a ‘honeymoon’ where Our MSM will refrain from tearing him to pieces. That’ll last for three days at most.

However – the usual suspects have been hard at work, trying to ‘frame the narrative’, i.e. telling the MSM what they expect the PM to do, under the guise of “he should be doing this but we don’t know that he will, so we’ll put our suggestions out there now, never mind that these are based on our vested interests”. These helpful ‘advisers’ are nameless, faceless, with no job description – except for one: Professor Neil Ferguson. More on his latest ‘advice’ below.

Let’s first look at what they ‘expect’ Johnson to do. Here’s The ever helpful Times according to which Johnson:

“… must swiftly seize control of coronavirus planning to counter allegations of drift at the top of the government. He will chair the morning coronavirus war committee with senior officials each day. While he is not expected to speak at the 5pm televised press briefing today or tomorrow, he is likely to appear before the end of the week. An overflowing in-tray awaits him, alongside a cabinet split between those concerned about the impact of lockdown on business and the economy and those who fear that easing it would prompt a new surge of cases that could overwhelm the NHS.” (link, paywalled)

Oooh – a ‘split cabinet’! Translated this means: there’ll be blood on the cabinet carpet! The MSM vultures are gathering already. Here are ‘allies’ of the PM (no names …), also sneakily putting their oars in as to what the PM might or should do:

“Allies have hinted that he could decide to “modify” elements of the lockdown before the May 7 deadline as he is increasingly bullish about the possibility of altering restrictions if scientific advice allows for it. One ally of Mr Johnson said: “May 7 is the day when the Government is legally obliged to review the lockdown measures but if Boris wants to change the restrictions earlier than that, or at least announce something before that, then he could go sooner.” (link)

There you have the first date: May 7th. ‘Tis the Thursday before the May Bank Holiday which is on Friday May 8th – I’m sure the reason for the change from the usual Monday to this Friday doesn’t need to be explained to our readers!

Note that this might mean ‘back to work’ on Monday 11th May. Of course, by now the pundits in ‘Our MSM’ have forgotten that the wannabe Napoleon across the Channel has decreed long since that La France will start going back to work on May 11th …

Meanwhile, the inanity of ‘protecting lives’ and ‘protecting our NHS’ flourishes unabated. There’s one astounding  item of utter idiocy, illustrating two things: a) that ‘Big Business’ and ‘Big Trade Union’ are happily working together while b) regarding the paying public as a horde of rapacious beasts bent on stampeding through the shops as soon as they’re let off their chains:

“Shoppers may have to buy clothes without trying them on when stores reopen under strict social-distancing guidelines issued to retailers. […] Retail chiefs have also been told that they may need to employ security guards to manage entrances and to ensure that queueing customers keep at least two metres apart. The guidance, drawn up by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the shop workers’ union Usdaw, is designed to help shop managers to prepare for the expected reopening “of a greater breadth of stores”.’”(link, paywalled)

That’ll help the High Street survive the Lockdown! Will clothes not become ‘infected’ when they’re returned after trying them on at home? Perhaps the buying of clothes should be prohibited altogether! This ‘advice’ is based on ‘government guidance’ – so there’s the handy scapegoat when things go down the drain: ‘not our fault, Guv’.

And so to Professor Neil Ferguson and his latest advice on the Lockdown and the lifting of same. Yes, as expected: he tells us that ‘people will die’ – up to 100,000 of them this time. Yes, that’s according to his latest model. The first one, you remember, was that 500,000 of us would die if measures weren’t taken – leading to this Lockdown we’re all suffering from. His explanation is astounding – savour the twisting-in-the-wind:

“Neil Ferguson […] said: “We are modelling exactly those scenarios and in practical terms you would require a very high level of effective shielding for that [lifting of Lockdown restrictions]  to be a viable strategy. The most vulnerable people are also the people who most need care and have most interaction with the health system and are least able to really be truly isolated. I’m very sceptical we can get to the level of shielding which would make that a viable strategy. In theory, it might be, but until I see a country or even a community do a better job than we’ve seen so far, then I remain sceptical that it’s achievable. And if you achieve just 80 per cent shielding, 80 per cent reduction in infection risk in those groups, we’d still project you get well over 100,000 deaths later this year through that sort of strategy.” (link, paywalled)

In other words – no matter what the PM decides now, ‘people will die’ and Ferguson is on record that he’s said so all along, before the Lockdown is even partially lifted. I’m puzzled as to which group needs to achieve that 80% ‘reduction in risk’: the vulnerable or the healthy? And why 80% anyway?

Also in other words: it’s ‘impossible’ because those ‘most vulnerable’ require the most contact with health workers and cannot be truly isolated anyway – that’s why the rest must stay indoors! Have these ‘most vulnerable’ (ooh – you can hear the swish-swish of virtue-signalling shroud waving here!) not been looked after during these past five Lockdown weeks?

And who are these ‘most vulnerable’ precisely? All the over-70s, fit or not? Does the Professor include the young who are seriously ill with diabetes and high blood pressure due to obesity, or the poor BAME – an expression which is now deemed to be racist in itself – who die disproportionally from this racist virus?

Ferguson’s advice is to do as South Korea did, namely do the ‘tick-tack-tock’ which the WHO is now promulgating, i.e. ‘test-track-trace’. The usual suspects are already on the case anyway:

“Meanwhile, Tory donors, Cabinet ministers, and Sir Keir Starmer have all urged Boris Johnson to publish his strategy for loosening restrictions – with the shielding approach among the options suggested – as the Prime Minister prepares to return to work.” (link)

It’s: “tell us, Johnson, so we can criticise” – back to normal, back to the battle of ‘Our MSM’ against the elected PM. Nothing new there – with one difference: because ‘Our MSM’ have been fuelling panic and hysteria, because TV ‘pundits’ especially have been trying to score ‘gotcha’ points during the daily government PR performance, ever fewer peasants are trusting the MSM and are switching off the BBC and the rest while cancelling their subscriptions to the broadsheets.

And so to Brexit! Oh yes, Remain hasn’t stopped and won’t stop! Firstly, to give you the proper background to the ongoing negotiations, read the Sunday editorial by our friend at facst4eu. I love the headline:

“Barnier is rattled as Britain’s Brexit Bulldog ramps up the pressure – Boris’s Brexit Iceman blasts cold air all over Barnier’s faux-Brexit Brûlée” (link)

In contrast, RemainCentral’s Brussels correspondent has penned an article headlined: “Johnson will take charge of Brexit Talks”. He mentions ‘a source’ once, but it’s left unclear if that source is a cabinet or ‘senior ministers’ or even a ‘EU diplomat’. Here’s a quote:

“The prime minister will be advised by David Frost, his chief negotiator, that after deadlocked talks last week it is time to inject fresh “political impetus” into the process before June. Details of the new strategy have not yet been worked out in Downing Street but they are expected to focus on finding new ways to “inject energy” and to “short circuit” rigid formal negotiations that are running out of time.” (link, paywalled)

So Remain doesn’t know the details but knows what David Frost will advise …? Interesting …! It is however ‘known’ that the PM will talk to Ms vdLeyen and what he’ll say – or rather it’s what ‘sources’ hope he’ll say: ask for an extension because of CV-19. That’s the assumption, that’s how they’re trying to ‘frame the narrative’, their aim being revealed in this last quote:

“If the negotiations have not produced any breakthroughs by June, then both Britain and the EU will be headed for a trade cliff edge at the end of the year. Germany, which takes over the presidency of the EU in July, will press hard for the transition period to be extended to keep Britain in the single market and customs union until as late as 2023.” (link, paywalled)

Look – “Teh Cliff” is back! I don’t need to remind you that we’ll not only have to pay hefty sums of Danegeld which will be raised because the EU is running out of money – we’ll also be made liable to shoulder the burden of keeping the mediterranead countries afloat, after the economic devastation of CV-10. That’s Macron’s dream – and Germany needs allies against him – allies with money! 

The various ‘narratives’ have been ‘framed’ by vested interests, hoping to influence Johnson even before he’s met his cabinet. Thus this coming week will be extremely important. At the weekend we’ll know if Johnson will end up as worse PM than Ms May or if he can sustain that image of Churchillian hero which won him the GE last year. We’ll see ….

KBO!

Photo by UK Prime Minister