Coronavirus

[Petrushka]

If only.................erm.....

I've no idea who should replace him but we need a leader we can trust to take us through the imminent economic turbulence of Covid/Brexit and the Johnson certainly doesn't, and never has had, the qualities needed to do it. The whole thing is utterly shameful and heads should roll.

[Frances_iom]

why not try to deselect most tory MPs under the new rules that require ?10% of electors to call for it

[Dave2002]

The whole thing is utterly shameful and heads should roll.

Probably be our heads .....

Omnishambles .....

I almost feel sorry for BJ now - but he has set himself up to fail, and seems to be doing an excellent job of it.

[Petrushka]

It's highly unlikely that there would or even could be a general election in this situation, even if it were at the end of the 5-year term. The only way would be for the government to resign en masse, and say "Your turn to have a go" to Labour and the Lib Dems. Just imagine it!!!

A UK national government was mooted at one time at the height of the Brexit farrago in Parliament during May's premiership. Could a vote of no confidence be passed on Johnson's leadership, as happened to Chamberlain in 1940? That 80 seat majority might not be as strong as it looks.

[Serial_Apologist]

A UK national government was mooted at one time at the height of the Brexit farrago in Parliament during May's premiership. Could a vote of no confidence be passed on Johnson's leadership, as happened to Chamberlain in 1940? That 80 seat majority might not be as strong as it looks.

That's a possibility I had in mind, given Bojo's unpopularity among his MPs.

[Cockney Sparrow]

why not try to deselect most tory MPs under the new rules that require ?10% of electors to call for it

Nice thought (Margaret Forster still drawing her salary et al) However:

Unlike recall procedures in some other countries, the act does not allow constituents to initiate proceedings. Instead, proceedings are initiated only if an MP is found guilty of a wrongdoing that fulfils certain criteria" Elaborated here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recall_of_MPs_Act_2015

The deeply unpleasant Charles Walker MP calling for "a Minister to consider his position...." because he says they knew tier 4 would come, but got the MPs out of the way before announcing it - R4 World at One today. (Implies far too much organisation and forethought for this lot, IMV).

Hancock is the obvious candidate. He looks like the shell of a man, in a zombie state. What's the concept?- a corpse strapped to the side of the lifeboat, to satisfy the sharks. Johnson has to stay until he's delivered Brexit to the satisfaction of the ERG - we're stuck with him for a while yet, despite the real responsibility residing with him. (I've never seen the similarity to Mr Toad mentioned in relation to Johnson.....)

A snippet to finish :
Any Questions Radio 4, 19 December. Chris Mason to Brandon Lewis MP /SoS Northern Ireland (what did he do to deserve that?)
“Is the prime minister the ideal poster boy for acting responsibly and controlling one’s urges?”

[oddoneout]

Door Matt has declared the crowds at St Pancras trying to leave London before the deadline are "totally irresponsible".

He's just jealous that he didn't think of that himself...
In these parts it is assumed the plague rats will have fled to their second homes in the lowest infection rate part of a low rate county - albeit that the rates have been shooting up the past week or so.

[Anastasius]

I live in a wild, beautiful rural area and judging by what happened in last lockdown -ha! - FF is dead right. WE expect to be crowded by un-masked bikers, cyclists, mobile homes from all over.

Ha!

Must dig a few more man-traps

[Anastasius]

....- albeit that the rates have been shooting up the past week or so.

Absolutely. Ten minutes away from us is a small town called Haltwhistle. Full of K-Dose. One decided that she would after all have her (illegal) 40th birthday party. She worked at the local factory. Three weeks ago, the number of infections in Haltwhistle rose to 17, then 30, then 40, now nearer 60...placing its' infection rate at about 1100 per 100,000. Pretty good going. Infect a factory and let the workers then infect the town. Trouble is the K-Doze are still walking about the place and ignoring self-isolation.

Having seen the K-Doze fleeing London yesterday en masse to considerately take the new variant with them to the rest of the UK, I foresee another lockdown like the first one in early January. All we need is for the scientists to find out that the vaccines are ineffective against this variant then it's game over.

[Bryn]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/22/uk-government-blamed-covid-19-mutation-occur

[cloughie]

Absolutely. Ten minutes away from us is a small town called Haltwhistle. Full of K-Dose. One decided that she would after all have her (illegal) 40th birthday party. She worked at the local factory. Three weeks ago, the number of infections in Haltwhistle rose to 17, then 30, then 40, now nearer 60...placing its' infection rate at about 1100 per 100,000. Pretty good going. Infect a factory and let the workers then infect the town. Trouble is the K-Doze are still walking about the place and ignoring self-isolation.

Having seen the K-Doze fleeing London yesterday en masse to considerately take the new variant with them to the rest of the UK, I foresee another lockdown like the first one in early January. All we need is for the scientists to find out that the vaccines are ineffective against this variant then it's game over.

Excuse my ignorance, maybe its because I don’t get around much anymore - not been further east than Newquay since early March - what are K- Dose and K- Doze? - possibly every othe street-wise forumite knows but it appears to have slipped my radar!

[Bryn]

Excuse my ignorance, maybe its because I don’t get around much anymore - not been further east than Newquay since early March - what are K- Dose and K- Doze? - possibly every othe street-wise forumite knows but it appears to have slipped my radar!

Possibly related a certain 'equine tranquiliser'?

[Frances_iom]

Possibly related a certain 'equine tranquiliser'?

I'm also confused - how is this related to a birthday party in Haltwhistle

[Roslynmuse]

I think there was a reference earlier to "knuckle-dragging oxygen-stealers" - kdos...

[oddoneout]

I've just been looking at the figures for my neck of the woods reported by the local rag and rather wish I hadn't. Three districts(including the one I live in) which up to now have had low rates of infection have suddenly rocketed. Trouble is there's no meat on the reporting to suggest/explain why it might be happening - non-compliance, localised hotspots lumped in with general figures, greater rate of testing, inaccurate test results?