What's even more stupid is that today we actually had pretty good information on the level of immunity escape that Omicron has, it's much better than was initially feared with two and three doses of vaccine or natural immunity providing a pretty big shield against severe disease. I simply don't see what Plan B achieves in a largely vaccinated or naturally immune population.
Because very high transmission and not as high health impacts still creates a tidal wave of people sick and in hospital and dying. The scenario seems to be that fewer people will get really sick from Omicron than Delta, but if as transmittable as suggested there will be a lot of them.
You keep saying this, but your conclusion rests entirely what the ratio is. If it's twice as many infections, with half the hospitalisation rate, then nothing has changed.
Unfortunately the number doesn't stay constant. If Neil Ferguson's estimate today is right, if the number of Omicron infections is twice as many on a given day, it will be 14 times as many a week later.
Well the current number is 1/32nd of the delta total so there's plenty of doubling slack in the system. And anyone who thinks it's going to keep doubling forever has not been paying attention.
Indeed, they said that about Delta, that it would double until we got to 200-300k cases per day and 2000-3000 hospitalisations per day. Yet that never happened. Now we go into the Omicron wave with average case severity down significantly because of vaccines and prior infection, this is nothing more than a plan to divert attention away from the Xmas party.
The scary thing is how would new restrictions ever get released? We're not waiting for vaccines, we're not waiting for hospital numbers to decline - there will never be a non arbitrary time to remove restrictions which were created arbitrarily.
I am not advocating another lockdown, but what you say is not true. The first wave abated by June 2020, with no vaccines for another 6 months.
It is the nature of pandemic waves that they peak and then decline.
My point is that there isn't a pandemic wave (of hospitalisations) triggering this. I appreciate the current covid levels in hospitals aren't making your life any easier, but it's 6k in England vs 34k at peak, and it's not rising yet. If you lockdown before a wave starts, and it never comes, when and why do you unlock.
I can't really see a good way out of this for the Tories.
What a mess.
Boris gets pushed out.
And the Tories probably face a decade or more in opposition.
Removing proven election winners rarely works. After forcing Thatcher out the Tories lost 3 out of 4 of the next general elections, after Blair went Labour has lost 4 General elections in a row.
There is a reason non Tories want Boris out as he is the most successful Tory election winner since Thatcher and also the leader with most appeal to the RedWall. Remove him and Starmer's job becomes easier
I concur.
Keep Boris. Please.
HYUFD as tone death as ever is see.
HYUFD - I’ve voted conservative. Consistently. Not anymore.
And there’s plenty more who’ll do the same until Bojo is gone. It was funny when he was mayor and plummeting down zip wires. It stopped being funny when he became prime minister
Do you live in a RedWall seat or seat in the top 100 Labour targets or a seat in the top 50 LD targets? If not then your opinion does not really matter under FPTP, your seat will stay Tory or Labour anyway however you vote
I live in a Red Wall seat. 3 Cyclefree family votes.
I look forward to my opinion now mattering to the Tory party.
Did you vote Tory in 2019? No.
Your opinion only matters if you not only live in those seats but voted for the Tory MP in 2019 too
Bullshit!
Everyone has a vote and everybody's votes matters. Everyone starts from zero votes when they get counted.
If anyone's vote didn't matter it'd be yours as someone who never changes how they vote and lives in a safe seat and can be completely taken for granted.
Under FPTP it doesn't matter if you win a seat by 80-20 or 60-40 or 50-30-20.
This creates an unhealthy set of incentives for the parties to prioritise only that small number of constituencies that are currently competitive.
It also creates an unhealthy set of incentives for the voters to vote negatively against things, rather than positively for things, and this means that weak candidates can prosper where they wear the right colour of rosette.
A number of alternative voting systems, like STV, or open-list PR, solve these and other problems. Obviously we wouldn't want to use some abomination of a closed list PR system.
Out of curiosity any idea what proportion of seats have never changed hands from 1992 to today? Ie covering both Labour gaining power last time they did, and the Tories doing so, to date.
People talk about "safe seats" but the reality is the number of constituencies that can change are a lot larger than people realise.
If we only relied upon the swing seats of the past then the Conservatives would never have bothered campaigning in seats like Leigh last election, would they?
Thirty years is a long time to wait for, possibly, a change of party. I know that no seat I've voted in has ever changed hands at an election in which I've voted, nor even looked close, and that's been four different seats in six different general elections.
A lot of the time when a seat does change hands it has been because of "demographic change" - so different voters living there, which means that people's personal experience of being able to create change is even lower than looking at the seats would suggest.
If a seat doesn't change hands that simply means the voters there haven't changed their minds. There's nothing wrong with that.
What's even more stupid is that today we actually had pretty good information on the level of immunity escape that Omicron has, it's much better than was initially feared with two and three doses of vaccine or natural immunity providing a pretty big shield against severe disease. I simply don't see what Plan B achieves in a largely vaccinated or naturally immune population.
Because very high transmission and not as high health impacts still creates a tidal wave of people sick and in hospital and dying. The scenario seems to be that fewer people will get really sick from Omicron than Delta, but if as transmittable as suggested there will be a lot of them.
You keep saying this, but your conclusion rests entirely what the ratio is. If it's twice as many infections, with half the hospitalisation rate, then nothing has changed.
Unfortunately the number doesn't stay constant. If Neil Ferguson's estimate today is right, if the number of Omicron infections is twice as many on a given day, it will be 14 times as many a week later.
Well the current number is 1/32nd of the delta total so there's plenty of doubling slack in the system. And anyone who thinks it's going to keep doubling forever has not been paying attention.
Indeed, they said that about Delta, that it would double until we got to 200-300k cases per day and 2000-3000 hospitalisations per day. Yet that never happened. Now we go into the Omicron wave with average case severity down significantly because of vaccines and prior infection, this is nothing more than a plan to divert attention away from the Xmas party.
The scary thing is how would new restrictions ever get released? We're not waiting for vaccines, we're not waiting for hospital numbers to decline - there will never be a non arbitrary time to remove restrictions which were created arbitrarily.
Indeed, last time they said "this is until the vaccine", this time I'm not really sure what the break point is, this is going to become the new normal just as it has become all across Europe and all because the PM couldn't tell his wife to get fucked about those animals and sack those No 10 staffers who had the Xmas party.
The break point would be rollout of a mRNA Omicron-targeted vaccine booster shot to the vulnerable bits of the population, but that's basically a year away. There's no way the country will tolerate that.
What's even more stupid is that today we actually had pretty good information on the level of immunity escape that Omicron has, it's much better than was initially feared with two and three doses of vaccine or natural immunity providing a pretty big shield against severe disease. I simply don't see what Plan B achieves in a largely vaccinated or naturally immune population.
Because very high transmission and not as high health impacts still creates a tidal wave of people sick and in hospital and dying. The scenario seems to be that fewer people will get really sick from Omicron than Delta, but if as transmittable as suggested there will be a lot of them.
You keep saying this, but your conclusion rests entirely what the ratio is. If it's twice as many infections, with half the hospitalisation rate, then nothing has changed.
Unfortunately the number doesn't stay constant. If Neil Ferguson's estimate today is right, if the number of Omicron infections is twice as many on a given day, it will be 14 times as many a week later.
Well the current number is 1/32nd of the delta total so there's plenty of doubling slack in the system. And anyone who thinks it's going to keep doubling forever has not been paying attention.
Indeed, they said that about Delta, that it would double until we got to 200-300k cases per day and 2000-3000 hospitalisations per day. Yet that never happened. Now we go into the Omicron wave with average case severity down significantly because of vaccines and prior infection, this is nothing more than a plan to divert attention away from the Xmas party.
The scary thing is how would new restrictions ever get released? We're not waiting for vaccines, we're not waiting for hospital numbers to decline - there will never be a non arbitrary time to remove restrictions which were created arbitrarily.
Indeed, last time they said "this is until the vaccine", this time I'm not really sure what the break point is, this is going to become the new normal just as it has become all across Europe and all because the PM couldn't tell his wife to get fucked about those animals and sack those No 10 staffers who had the Xmas party.
Yeh, I say you have the measure of it. If only Laura K would blurt that out on World at One.
Boris tells the Commons if it turns out attendees at the Downing Street party last year broke lockdown rules in force then they will face disciplinary action.
What's even more stupid is that today we actually had pretty good information on the level of immunity escape that Omicron has, it's much better than was initially feared with two and three doses of vaccine or natural immunity providing a pretty big shield against severe disease. I simply don't see what Plan B achieves in a largely vaccinated or naturally immune population.
Because very high transmission and not as high health impacts still creates a tidal wave of people sick and in hospital and dying. The scenario seems to be that fewer people will get really sick from Omicron than Delta, but if as transmittable as suggested there will be a lot of them.
You keep saying this, but your conclusion rests entirely what the ratio is. If it's twice as many infections, with half the hospitalisation rate, then nothing has changed.
Unfortunately the number doesn't stay constant. If Neil Ferguson's estimate today is right, if the number of Omicron infections is twice as many on a given day, it will be 14 times as many a week later.
Well the current number is 1/32nd of the delta total so there's plenty of doubling slack in the system. And anyone who thinks it's going to keep doubling forever has not been paying attention.
Indeed, they said that about Delta, that it would double until we got to 200-300k cases per day and 2000-3000 hospitalisations per day. Yet that never happened.
Largely because vaccination reduced the susceptible population so that the R number fell to about one.
What do you suppose is going to reduce the susceptible population drastically for Omicron in the next month?
Vaccination probably. Cases in South Africa appear to have peaked and not managed to spread beyond the young.
And if we go to plan B, and cases fall, that will of course be "thanks to plan B". We just need to vaccinate vaccinate vaccinate. That always was, and continues to be, the way out.
So he is apologising that the clip was leaked. But there was no party and no rules were broken. Now the cabinet secretary will have to investigate and how dare anyone say anything until he reports back in 2029.
Boris tells the Commons if it turns out attendees at the Downing Street party last year broke lockdown rules in force then they will face disciplinary action.
What's even more stupid is that today we actually had pretty good information on the level of immunity escape that Omicron has, it's much better than was initially feared with two and three doses of vaccine or natural immunity providing a pretty big shield against severe disease. I simply don't see what Plan B achieves in a largely vaccinated or naturally immune population.
Because very high transmission and not as high health impacts still creates a tidal wave of people sick and in hospital and dying. The scenario seems to be that fewer people will get really sick from Omicron than Delta, but if as transmittable as suggested there will be a lot of them.
You keep saying this, but your conclusion rests entirely what the ratio is. If it's twice as many infections, with half the hospitalisation rate, then nothing has changed.
Unfortunately the number doesn't stay constant. If Neil Ferguson's estimate today is right, if the number of Omicron infections is twice as many on a given day, it will be 14 times as many a week later.
Well the current number is 1/32nd of the delta total so there's plenty of doubling slack in the system. And anyone who thinks it's going to keep doubling forever has not been paying attention.
Indeed, they said that about Delta, that it would double until we got to 200-300k cases per day and 2000-3000 hospitalisations per day. Yet that never happened. Now we go into the Omicron wave with average case severity down significantly because of vaccines and prior infection, this is nothing more than a plan to divert attention away from the Xmas party.
The scary thing is how would new restrictions ever get released? We're not waiting for vaccines, we're not waiting for hospital numbers to decline - there will never be a non arbitrary time to remove restrictions which were created arbitrarily.
I am not advocating another lockdown, but what you say is not true. The first wave abated by June 2020, with no vaccines for another 6 months.
It is the nature of pandemic waves that they peak and then decline.
My point is that there isn't a pandemic wave (of hospitalisations) triggering this. I appreciate the current covid levels in hospitals aren't making your life any easier, but it's 6k in England vs 34k at peak, and it's not rising yet. If you lockdown before a wave starts, and it never comes, when and why do you unlock.
Admission are beginning to rise....
This is actually a social emergency as well as a democratic emergency. To have any public consensus on what measures need to be applied, at all, from the very mildest to the most severe, he needs to go.
I can't really see a good way out of this for the Tories.
What a mess.
Boris gets pushed out.
And the Tories probably face a decade or more in opposition.
Removing proven election winners rarely works. After forcing Thatcher out the Tories lost 3 out of 4 of the next general elections, after Blair went Labour has lost 4 General elections in a row.
There is a reason non Tories want Boris out as he is the most successful Tory election winner since Thatcher and also the leader with most appeal to the RedWall. Remove him and Starmer's job becomes easier
I concur.
Keep Boris. Please.
HYUFD as tone death as ever is see.
HYUFD - I’ve voted conservative. Consistently. Not anymore.
And there’s plenty more who’ll do the same until Bojo is gone. It was funny when he was mayor and plummeting down zip wires. It stopped being funny when he became prime minister
Do you live in a RedWall seat or seat in the top 100 Labour targets or a seat in the top 50 LD targets? If not then your opinion does not really matter under FPTP, your seat will stay Tory or Labour anyway however you vote
I live in a Red Wall seat. 3 Cyclefree family votes.
I look forward to my opinion now mattering to the Tory party.
Did you vote Tory in 2019? No.
Your opinion only matters if you not only live in those seats but voted for the Tory MP in 2019 too
Bullshit!
Everyone has a vote and everybody's votes matters. Everyone starts from zero votes when they get counted.
If anyone's vote didn't matter it'd be yours as someone who never changes how they vote and lives in a safe seat and can be completely taken for granted.
Under FPTP it doesn't matter if you win a seat by 80-20 or 60-40 or 50-30-20.
This creates an unhealthy set of incentives for the parties to prioritise only that small number of constituencies that are currently competitive.
It also creates an unhealthy set of incentives for the voters to vote negatively against things, rather than positively for things, and this means that weak candidates can prosper where they wear the right colour of rosette.
A number of alternative voting systems, like STV, or open-list PR, solve these and other problems. Obviously we wouldn't want to use some abomination of a closed list PR system.
Out of curiosity any idea what proportion of seats have never changed hands from 1992 to today? Ie covering both Labour gaining power last time they did, and the Tories doing so, to date.
People talk about "safe seats" but the reality is the number of constituencies that can change are a lot larger than people realise.
If we only relied upon the swing seats of the past then the Conservatives would never have bothered campaigning in seats like Leigh last election, would they?
Thirty years is a long time to wait for, possibly, a change of party. I know that no seat I've voted in has ever changed hands at an election in which I've voted, nor even looked close, and that's been four different seats in six different general elections.
A lot of the time when a seat does change hands it has been because of "demographic change" - so different voters living there, which means that people's personal experience of being able to create change is even lower than looking at the seats would suggest.
If a seat doesn't change hands that simply means the voters there haven't changed their minds. There's nothing wrong with that.
Unless it stays Conservative next time after years of Johnson's bullshit - there's an awful lot wrong with that.
What's even more stupid is that today we actually had pretty good information on the level of immunity escape that Omicron has, it's much better than was initially feared with two and three doses of vaccine or natural immunity providing a pretty big shield against severe disease. I simply don't see what Plan B achieves in a largely vaccinated or naturally immune population.
Because very high transmission and not as high health impacts still creates a tidal wave of people sick and in hospital and dying. The scenario seems to be that fewer people will get really sick from Omicron than Delta, but if as transmittable as suggested there will be a lot of them.
You keep saying this, but your conclusion rests entirely what the ratio is. If it's twice as many infections, with half the hospitalisation rate, then nothing has changed.
If Omicron is very dangerous we need to protect the NHS. If Omicron in not so dangerous we need to protect the NHS.
Must logically be a sweet spot somewhere in between - or are we being run the NHS now?
Yes, the UK is now basically an NHS with a country attached.
And the rest of the developed world (apart from the US) wondering why the hell they do it like that.
What's even more stupid is that today we actually had pretty good information on the level of immunity escape that Omicron has, it's much better than was initially feared with two and three doses of vaccine or natural immunity providing a pretty big shield against severe disease. I simply don't see what Plan B achieves in a largely vaccinated or naturally immune population.
Because very high transmission and not as high health impacts still creates a tidal wave of people sick and in hospital and dying. The scenario seems to be that fewer people will get really sick from Omicron than Delta, but if as transmittable as suggested there will be a lot of them.
You keep saying this, but your conclusion rests entirely what the ratio is. If it's twice as many infections, with half the hospitalisation rate, then nothing has changed.
Unfortunately the number doesn't stay constant. If Neil Ferguson's estimate today is right, if the number of Omicron infections is twice as many on a given day, it will be 14 times as many a week later.
Well the current number is 1/32nd of the delta total so there's plenty of doubling slack in the system. And anyone who thinks it's going to keep doubling forever has not been paying attention.
Indeed, they said that about Delta, that it would double until we got to 200-300k cases per day and 2000-3000 hospitalisations per day. Yet that never happened.
Largely because vaccination reduced the susceptible population so that the R number fell to about one.
What do you suppose is going to reduce the susceptible population drastically for Omicron in the next month?
I receive my third dose this evening. The more people who do the same the more immunity Omnicron will be faced with, and the less people will need hospital treatment.
We have vaccines. They work. We concentrate on using the vaccines and we can reduce both the health harms from Omnicron, and the social and economic harms from social restrictions, whether government or self imposed.
Wowsers. This is the weakest defence imaginable. "I know nothing, but there was NO PARTY. Once the cabinet secretary investigates I will sack people if it did take place"
What's even more stupid is that today we actually had pretty good information on the level of immunity escape that Omicron has, it's much better than was initially feared with two and three doses of vaccine or natural immunity providing a pretty big shield against severe disease. I simply don't see what Plan B achieves in a largely vaccinated or naturally immune population.
Because very high transmission and not as high health impacts still creates a tidal wave of people sick and in hospital and dying. The scenario seems to be that fewer people will get really sick from Omicron than Delta, but if as transmittable as suggested there will be a lot of them.
You keep saying this, but your conclusion rests entirely what the ratio is. If it's twice as many infections, with half the hospitalisation rate, then nothing has changed.
If Omicron is very dangerous we need to protect the NHS. If Omicron in not so dangerous we need to protect the NHS.
Must logically be a sweet spot somewhere in between - or are we being run the NHS now?
Yes, the UK is now basically an NHS with a country attached.
And the rest of the developed world (apart from the US) wondering why the hell they do it like that.
Numbers of developed countries are locking down in the face of a surge in COVID. To prevent their health systems being overwhelmed.
If a photo emerges now of Johnson at that party he is done. Gone. Finished.
He must be pretty sure there isn't one.
If I had to guess what's happened is Boris probably said something like well folks you have all been working jolly hard, now we can't have a Christmas party, but if the ball was to come out of the back of the scrum when I wasn't here, a few drinks and nibbles had already been ordered and it would be a shame for them to go to waste.... nudge nudge wink wink....vroom vroom...
So he is then stuck because he wasn't there, but if he throws people under the bus, they will say he egged them on.
Wowsers. This is the weakest defence imaginable. "I know nothing, but there was NO PARTY. Once the cabinet secretary investigates I will sack people if it did take place"
Oh no, not an "investigation by the cabinet secretary". Truly pathetic.
When I asked one senior Tory source why Downing Street kept denying the party happened or at least set out what they think did happen- they said very simply- “because they thought they’d get away with it”.
I can't really see a good way out of this for the Tories.
What a mess.
Boris gets pushed out.
And the Tories probably face a decade or more in opposition.
Removing proven election winners rarely works. After forcing Thatcher out the Tories lost 3 out of 4 of the next general elections, after Blair went Labour has lost 4 General elections in a row.
There is a reason non Tories want Boris out as he is the most successful Tory election winner since Thatcher and also the leader with most appeal to the RedWall. Remove him and Starmer's job becomes easier
I concur.
Keep Boris. Please.
HYUFD as tone death as ever is see.
HYUFD - I’ve voted conservative. Consistently. Not anymore.
And there’s plenty more who’ll do the same until Bojo is gone. It was funny when he was mayor and plummeting down zip wires. It stopped being funny when he became prime minister
Do you live in a RedWall seat or seat in the top 100 Labour targets or a seat in the top 50 LD targets? If not then your opinion does not really matter under FPTP, your seat will stay Tory or Labour anyway however you vote
I live in a Red Wall seat. 3 Cyclefree family votes.
I look forward to my opinion now mattering to the Tory party.
Did you vote Tory in 2019? No.
Your opinion only matters if you not only live in those seats but voted for the Tory MP in 2019 too
I'm looking forward to your admitting after the next election that your opinion matters not one jot.
Here we go. Its all Labour's fault. Starmer is muddying the water and confusing the public. He's actually going on about people following the rules. Its a red rag to a very angry bull...
It’s difficult to know who to believe; the staffers who assured Johnson no party took place or the ones who were privately joking about it taking place at the time.
What's even more stupid is that today we actually had pretty good information on the level of immunity escape that Omicron has, it's much better than was initially feared with two and three doses of vaccine or natural immunity providing a pretty big shield against severe disease. I simply don't see what Plan B achieves in a largely vaccinated or naturally immune population.
Because very high transmission and not as high health impacts still creates a tidal wave of people sick and in hospital and dying. The scenario seems to be that fewer people will get really sick from Omicron than Delta, but if as transmittable as suggested there will be a lot of them.
You keep saying this, but your conclusion rests entirely what the ratio is. If it's twice as many infections, with half the hospitalisation rate, then nothing has changed.
If Omicron is very dangerous we need to protect the NHS. If Omicron in not so dangerous we need to protect the NHS.
Must logically be a sweet spot somewhere in between - or are we being run the NHS now?
Yes, the UK is now basically an NHS with a country attached.
And the rest of the developed world (apart from the US) wondering why the hell they do it like that.
Numbers of developed countries are locking down in the face of a surge in COVID. To prevent their health systems being overwhelmed.
Don't do that! Let people enjoy their "nhs with a country attached" in peace.
(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 4m This was always going to be a tough session for Boris. But it’s hard to see how it could have gone worse. He looks broken. In contrast Starmer is putting in one of his best performances. Utterly brutal.
I wonder which journalists were at this party, squeaky bum time for them too....
The Sun had a big old knees up too apparently, which is why they're leading on the weather. The Telegraph is part of the same incestuous cabal that includes the speccie and so forth, all besties with No 10 I think.
That was shocking. I expected a rough ride but it was something beyond.
Obviously the internal enquiry is a classic Johnson moment of distancing himself in order to throw the perps under the bus. On this he has form. But it just leaves the ludicrous notion that having now admitted to the party he knew nothing about it.
Clearly Starmer would be the better PM, this is clearly not in doubt to anyone sane
I'm calling for Boris to go, but I still doubt that.
That's like saying clearly a shit sandwich is better than shit on toast.
Starmer's answer to everything for the past two years is to lock us up. He can piss right off too, if the answer is Starmer you're asking the wrong question.
Quote: Starmer's answer to everything for the past two years is to lock us up.
What else would you expect of a prosecuting barrister?
You'd hope the years in human rights would push him the other way, though...
How to interpret Sunak’s body language and face? Shame because he was involved? Or shame that he’s the next most senior member of this government?
If the latter, then i think bojo could be done by next weekend with a coronation given the state of play on covid. If the former, they’ll all go down together on the same sinking ship.
I wonder which journalists were at this party, squeaky bum time for them too....
The Sun had a big old knees up too apparently, which is why they're leading on the weather. The Telegraph is part of the same incestuous cabal that includes the speccie and so forth, all besties with No 10 I think.
If a photo emerges now of Johnson at that party he is done. Gone. Finished.
He must be pretty sure there isn't one.
If I had to guess what's happened is Boris probably said something like well folks you have all been working jolly hard, now we can't have a Christmas party, but if the ball was to come out of the back of the scrum when I wasn't here, a few drinks and nibbles had already been ordered and it would be a shame for them to go to waste.... nudge nudge wink wink....vroom vroom...
So he is then stuck because he wasn't there, but if he throws people under the bus, they will say he egged them on.
The false fond intimacy is pretty strong here. The power of Brand Boris in action. Remember my test - does the post still flow if you insert 'good old' before the 'Boris'? If Yes - it's written by someone who has succumbed to the brand (supporter or not).
Edit: Sorry, Francis, not picking on you. Happens all the time with many people and this is simply to illustrate. For general site educational purposes.
From the BBC: Johnson continues to accuse the Labour leader of "playing politics", saying he has "muddied the waters" and "confused the public" during the pandemic.
??? Most of the public barely know Starmer from Adam. It's the Gov't they pay attention to for better or ill at times of national crisis.
Comments
Statement.
He confirms he did not attend the party
We just need to vaccinate vaccinate vaccinate. That always was, and continues to be, the way out.
Thats absolutely not going to cut it.
But not sure saying that he was clueless about his own government's activities is a winning one.
And the rest of the developed world (apart from the US) wondering why the hell they do it like that.
In reality Lab are sunk, and it is a Con / Ind marginal.
Cons already lost any chance of my vote by canning HS2 NE, which was one of my redlines.
Yeh. Right.
Not good enough
He must be pretty sure there isn't one.
We have vaccines. They work. We concentrate on using the vaccines and we can reduce both the health harms from Omnicron, and the social and economic harms from social restrictions, whether government or self imposed.
People which play by the rules have given up so much.
Sir Keir Starmer: "It's obvious what happened. Even Ant & Dec are ahead of the Prime Minister on this."
Time to get rid methinks!
So he is then stuck because he wasn't there, but if he throws people under the bus, they will say he egged them on.
So there's that.
Damning. Absolutely damning.
https://twitter.com/AnushkaAsthana/status/1468554282924445710
https://twitter.com/aljwhite/status/1468554281112453124
Or are there two people who think like that?
Boris making the best of a very bad situation here now with the apology and investigation, but the whole situation is shambolic.
Still, when in a hole, stop digging. At least he's not made the situation worse, but it is a shambles.
(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges
·
4m
This was always going to be a tough session for Boris. But it’s hard to see how it could have gone worse. He looks broken. In contrast Starmer is putting in one of his best performances. Utterly brutal.
He's a top lawyer and lawyers are awesome.
Cut through.
I was thinking 3 party, 3 kabul, but he was right to go all 6 on party
Johnson can reward himself with and hour or two of campaign dressing up for nipping that problem in the bud.
PM in 2024.
Obviously the internal enquiry is a classic Johnson moment of distancing himself in order to throw the perps under the bus. On this he has form. But it just leaves the ludicrous notion that having now admitted to the party he knew nothing about it.
So only question now, Boris to step down when?
Bravo the researchers.
If the latter, then i think bojo could be done by next weekend with a coronation given the state of play on covid. If the former, they’ll all go down together on the same sinking ship.
Edit: Sorry, Francis, not picking on you. Happens all the time with many people and this is simply to illustrate. For general site educational purposes.
How much of this can he take?
Johnson continues to accuse the Labour leader of "playing politics", saying he has "muddied the waters" and "confused the public" during the pandemic.
??? Most of the public barely know Starmer from Adam. It's the Gov't they pay attention to for better or ill at times of national crisis.
What a bizzare line.