Boris will probably be seen as strong and decisive and get a poll boost if he sacks Hancock for this - but if he doesn’t it could be the end of him
Johnson sacking somebody for philandering would lay him wide open to the charge of being a rank hypocrite.
There is absolutely no reason somebody should be sacked for philadering.
The bigger charge is that Hancock broke the law he introduced. That makes it more complicated if the action was illegal.
No. The bigger charge is that Matt Hancock totally abused the increased powers he seized from the British people with the connivance of most MPs at Westminster, except the Bakerite tories.
That is the charge. And that is why labour and the liberal democrats have been so slow to knife Hancock
British productivity can basically be reduced to poor incentives for capital investment, and a low-skilled workforce.
Single market membership helped compensate for the latter, somewhat.
By supplying the low-skilled workforce.
Not really. I suspect rather that the net impact was to increased the average skill level.
Nonsense. The UK is a highly educated country which spends billions on education.
Importing people who have skills does increase the average, hence the skills list for immigration including things like Doctors. Importing people who don't but are willing to work for minimum wage does not.
Or, even worse, importing people who are skilled to work in unskilled jobs, because it pays more than skilled jobs in their home countries.
A long running joke this, see this short clip from 2008, but this is a very serious point. Skilled people coming to do unskilled jobs is bad news for their home nation, bad news for the unskilled here, good news for the migrant but they're not using their skills, and good news for the employer who can use them rather than pay more to get the job done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZd8sDquNYw
Shouldn't the unskilled upskill?
Shouldn’t employers invest in training their workforce?
+1 - the truely unskilled won't know what and how to upskill - if employers want skilled workers they need to help them do so.
After all that is the entire point of the Apprenticeship Levy, here is money that you should be using to upskill your staff.
Except that employers without training schemes aggressively poach if you train staff. A relative in the building business has gone through this - since most in the industry do very little....
He would very much agree that, very often, the employer ends up pushing training on the workforce. This is one of those things that university graduates find to be outside their experience - the workers are often a bit resistant to going on courses etc. Even if paid for completely by the company.....
This is why we used to have an extensive government supported FE sector.
God we are a country of lily-livered aren't we...its 10 sodding days, watch sodding Netflix, piss about on the internet. It hardly like you are in solitary Steve McQueen stylee.
The food situation in the quarantine hotels does seem to be awful. I heard from my colleague who went through it that they would hear people in other rooms shouting out at midnight that they still hadn't received any food for the evening.
There's no excuse for not being able to run the places properly, but some mate of the government has the contract and their determined to wring as much money from it as possible.
I do wonder whether this "government by contracts to mates from uni" will finally do for this shower?
Boris will probably be seen as strong and decisive and get a poll boost if he sacks Hancock for this - but if he doesn’t it could be the end of him
Johnson sacking somebody for philandering would lay him wide open to the charge of being a rank hypocrite.
Not at all, because the problem here is not morality but the touchy feeliness with skneknd outside his immediate household during the ‘ don’t hug granny’ era
Was he actually going home, or staying somewhere in London? Wiki suggests the family home is in Suffolk.
I see the micro logic that says Trump will be the GOP nominee but my macro intuition says he won't be. I trust it so I continue to lay him. As his odds come in, I just top up. On my way to quite a big short.
Mind you, I'm going off the most obvious alternative - DeSantis - too after hearing him speak following this building collapse in Miami. What an irritating voice.
DeSantis looks like he should be cast as the obnoxious boyfriend in a romantic comedy.
“I don’t think those who campaigned five years ago for Brexit drove the analysis, drove the politics of it. I think they are surprised, quite often, to find relations are in the state they’re in,” said Frost.
It's almost as if they expected us to keep our word...
Frost is the perfect embodiment of the incurious mediocrity of the British managerial class that has done so much to make us so uncompetitive as a country.
When trying to explain the success of the Nordic countries to disbelieving American, Australian and English visitors (“how come you’re so rich when you pay such high taxes?”), I usually start with explaining the difference in productivity. And to do that I explain how Nordic managers are generally competent, curious, pleasant, cooperative and… most importantly… display every sign of actually liking their fellow human beings.
The contrast with English managerial culture could not be starker, where it seems to be obligatory to shut down curious emploees; and a criterion for getting the job is that you are a greedy bastard who despises human beings lower down the hierarchy than yourself.
This is so true. And it applies to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland just as much as to England.
And it's not only expressed within the organisation that's being managed, but also in any kind of relation with "members of the public". If in Sweden, say, someone who is not in the social elite has to see someone at the local authority about something, or at a bank branch, or at a police station, the experience will be how you describe it: you will see someone who is pleasant to you, could easily imagine themselves in your position, smiles in a genuine way, has no problem leaving you in their office while they go out to check something - and if they are a woman the office is likely to be very "homely" and as often as not it will have some teddy bears for some reason. In Britain the attitude will be one of passive aggression, as if you are trying to get one over on them, and you will be unlikely ever to get a genuine smile with the eyes as well as the mouth, or any feeling that you are talking to another human being who respects you as being in the same species and could easily imagine your positions being reversed. It's like a cultural neocolonialism.
It is a commonplace observation but nonetheless true that an organisation wherein every manager sh*ts on those of lower rank than his own is likely to have junior public-facing staff who for obvious psychological reasons tend to treat "the public" in the same way.
I'm afraid this just isn't my experience in the UK.
Do you live in London or similar? I have found somewhat greater rudeness there.
Re: the Hancock affair. Popbitch had an item yesterday that are rumours that all is not well with the Gove/Vine union. The timing seems a bit of a coincidence.
“I don’t think those who campaigned five years ago for Brexit drove the analysis, drove the politics of it. I think they are surprised, quite often, to find relations are in the state they’re in,” said Frost.
It's almost as if they expected us to keep our word...
Frost is the perfect embodiment of the incurious mediocrity of the British managerial class that has done so much to make us so uncompetitive as a country.
When trying to explain the success of the Nordic countries to disbelieving American, Australian and English visitors (“how come you’re so rich when you pay such high taxes?”), I usually start with explaining the difference in productivity. And to do that I explain how Nordic managers are generally competent, curious, pleasant, cooperative and… most importantly… display every sign of actually liking their fellow human beings.
The contrast with English managerial culture could not be starker, where it seems to be obligatory to shut down curious emploees; and a criterion for getting the job is that you are a greedy bastard who despises human beings lower down the hierarchy than yourself.
This is so true. And it applies to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland just as much as to England.
And it's not only expressed within the organisation that's being managed, but also in any kind of relation with "members of the public". If in Sweden, say, someone who is not in the social elite has to see someone at the local authority about something, or at a bank branch, or at a police station, the experience will be how you describe it: you will see someone who is pleasant to you, could easily imagine themselves in your position, smiles in a genuine way, has no problem leaving you in their office while they go out to check something - and if they are a woman the office is likely to be very "homely" and as often as not it will have some teddy bears for some reason. In Britain the attitude will be one of passive aggression, as if you are trying to get one over on them, and you will be unlikely ever to get a genuine smile with the eyes as well as the mouth, or any feeling that you are talking to another human being who respects you as being in the same species and could easily imagine your positions being reversed. It's like a cultural neocolonialism.
It is a commonplace observation but nonetheless true that an organisation wherein every manager sh*ts on those of lower rank than his own is likely to have junior public-facing staff who for obvious psychological reasons tend to treat "the public" in the same way.
The above broadly corresponds with my experience of Nordic countries (and Switzerland too). I think it generalises too much in the UK - every experience is different, but I've found nothing but helpfulness in dealing with Cornwall Social Services (about my uncle's care - they couldn't have been kinder if they'd been in my own family) and HMRC (about my own taxes). And I've certainly never encountered the kind of management you describe, though in Britain I've only worked in Parliament and the 3rd sector. Brits tend to be a bit warier and more cynical than I've found in other countries, but I wouldn't put it more strongly than that.
Also, despite all that many of us think about aspects of American culture, on the whole you encounter a degree of almost naive warmth there which always pleasantly surprises me.
"The timing of the embrace was in clear breach of the Government's social distancing rules on embracing someone from outside his social bubble.
The guidance in place since March 2020 had ordered people to stay two metres apart from anyone outside their household or bubble. The rules were only relaxed on May 17."
Telegraph.
Sack him. Today.
How can he possibly be sent out to tell people to continue with restrictions or take on new ones now?
I said early this morning he should be sacked and nothing has changed my mind to the contary
How on earth can Hancock make that admission and not resign. Completely ridiculous.
Politicians rallying round about how awful this is for their families. Well they did this to their families, and now he compounds it by lacking the character to respond appropriately.
"The timing of the embrace was in clear breach of the Government's social distancing rules on embracing someone from outside his social bubble.
The guidance in place since March 2020 had ordered people to stay two metres apart from anyone outside their household or bubble. The rules were only relaxed on May 17."
Telegraph.
Sack him. Today.
How can he possibly be sent out to tell people to continue with restrictions or take on new ones now?
The delay here speaks volumes about the Johnson regime.
Boris will probably be seen as strong and decisive and get a poll boost if he sacks Hancock for this - but if he doesn’t it could be the end of him
If Hancock falls, there is no way it will be framed as Johnson sacking him. It will be framed as on reflection it appeared to Hancock that resignation was the best thing for his family or something like that.
Surely Johnson can't sack people for dropping their pants and cheating on their spouses when he's so notorious for dropping his own, not being able to keep his hands to himself, being "unsafe in taxis", not having needed to pleasure himself for 20 years, and other euphemisms.
But then again, Cummings, in a question and answer session open only to people who paid him to participate (sic), accused Johnson of being a figure in "the entertainment industry", and I don't recall a single pundit making the obvious point about hypocrisy.
Interesting, the Popbitch piece about Gove. Something has to break soon. Goodness knows what it will be. Could it really happen that Gove takes over and invites Cummings back in to Number 10/Number 70? It seems extremely improbable that an "adviser" who gets his camera out to take photos of a whiteboard in the PM's study and then publishes them on Twitter in some kind of snipefest would ever be welcomed back by any future leader, but ... we live in strange times.
The latest YouGov polling, pretty much in line with all the others, contains little comfort for Labour, or the LDs. Obvs sub samples are dodgy, but outside London Labour and LD are doing conspicuously badly in 'Rest of South' which is exactly where the blue wall needs to be crumbling. Far too much is being read into C&A result, which in time will look like another in the long line of byelection frolics.
Far too much is being read into 'educated people don't vote Tory'. The ABCDE split just shows that the Tories have a solid spectrum of support across the social split. The Remain vote is split 4 or five ways (Tories second favourite among them!), while the Leave vote isn't.
"Rest of South" is a big area. Calling all Tory-held seats in the south the "Blue Wall" is a journalistic soundbite but not a very illuminating one.
The Lib Dems' appeal in this area is to a particular set of seats that have higher numbers of graduates and professionals with strong links to London. Southend, Slough and Swindon are not going LD any time soon. Much of the south-west is not returning to the LDs, either, though I think they still have a chance in a couple of places like St Ives.
Labour is harder to assess because... well, what actually is Labour these days?
One aspect to consider with Hancock is that, if he's on the backbenches, he no longer has to toe the government line to keep his job. This could ratchet up the infighting over who was to blame for various mistakes and failures in the pandemic response.
In whose interest is it to have a disgruntled Hancock telling select committees that Sunak, or whoever, blocked earlier action to save lives last autumn?
Re: the Hancock affair. Popbitch had an item yesterday that are rumours that all is not well with the Gove/Vine union. The timing seems a bit of a coincidence.
The rumours I could tell you! Hah
I heard you were writing a book about a fictional government minister and a journalist. Would you mind sharing some of the plot points you are thinking about?
“I don’t think those who campaigned five years ago for Brexit drove the analysis, drove the politics of it. I think they are surprised, quite often, to find relations are in the state they’re in,” said Frost.
It's almost as if they expected us to keep our word...
Frost is the perfect embodiment of the incurious mediocrity of the British managerial class that has done so much to make us so uncompetitive as a country.
When trying to explain the success of the Nordic countries to disbelieving American, Australian and English visitors (“how come you’re so rich when you pay such high taxes?”), I usually start with explaining the difference in productivity. And to do that I explain how Nordic managers are generally competent, curious, pleasant, cooperative and… most importantly… display every sign of actually liking their fellow human beings.
The contrast with English managerial culture could not be starker, where it seems to be obligatory to shut down curious emploees; and a criterion for getting the job is that you are a greedy bastard who despises human beings lower down the hierarchy than yourself.
This is so true. And it applies to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland just as much as to England.
And it's not only expressed within the organisation that's being managed, but also in any kind of relation with "members of the public". If in Sweden, say, someone who is not in the social elite has to see someone at the local authority about something, or at a bank branch, or at a police station, the experience will be how you describe it: you will see someone who is pleasant to you, could easily imagine themselves in your position, smiles in a genuine way, has no problem leaving you in their office while they go out to check something - and if they are a woman the office is likely to be very "homely" and as often as not it will have some teddy bears for some reason. In Britain the attitude will be one of passive aggression, as if you are trying to get one over on them, and you will be unlikely ever to get a genuine smile with the eyes as well as the mouth, or any feeling that you are talking to another human being who respects you as being in the same species and could easily imagine your positions being reversed. It's like a cultural neocolonialism.
It is a commonplace observation but nonetheless true that an organisation wherein every manager sh*ts on those of lower rank than his own is likely to have junior public-facing staff who for obvious psychological reasons tend to treat "the public" in the same way.
The above broadly corresponds with my experience of Nordic countries (and Switzerland too). I think it generalises too much in the UK - every experience is different, but I've found nothing but helpfulness in dealing with Cornwall Social Services (about my uncle's care - they couldn't have been kinder if they'd been in my own family) and HMRC (about my own taxes). And I've certainly never encountered the kind of management you describe, though in Britain I've only worked in Parliament and the 3rd sector. Brits tend to be a bit warier and more cynical than I've found in other countries, but I wouldn't put it more strongly than that.
Also, despite all that many of us think about aspects of American culture, on the whole you encounter a degree of almost naive warmth there which always pleasantly surprises me.
In my experience, the problem with British bureaucracy and officialdom is not mean-ness or nastiness or passive aggression - not at all. The Brits are affable, in the main
The problem is that we cheerfully accept a high level of bumbling incompetence. It's peculiarly British. "Muddling through". Oh well never mind! etc etc
The upside of this is that no one gets terribly upset and everyone remains pretty calm (apart from me). The downside is that a whole load of things aren't as good as they should be, given our wealth and history
What time is Cressida Dick sending police to question Hancock on breaking covid law?
Given his figurehead role on this the maximum fine is appropriate before you even get in to misappropriation of public funds if this pre-dates her appointment.
“I accept that I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances. I have let people down and am very sorry. I remain focused on working to get the country out of this pandemic, and would be grateful for privacy for my family on this personal matter.”
The latest YouGov polling, pretty much in line with all the others, contains little comfort for Labour, or the LDs. Obvs sub samples are dodgy, but outside London Labour and LD are doing conspicuously badly in 'Rest of South' which is exactly where the blue wall needs to be crumbling. Far too much is being read into C&A result, which in time will look like another in the long line of byelection frolics.
Far too much is being read into 'educated people don't vote Tory'. The ABCDE split just shows that the Tories have a solid spectrum of support across the social split. The Remain vote is split 4 or five ways (Tories second favourite among them!), while the Leave vote isn't.
"Rest of South" is a big area. Calling all Tory-held seats in the south the "Blue Wall" is a journalistic soundbite but not a very illuminating one.
The Lib Dems' appeal in this area is to a particular set of seats that have higher numbers of graduates and professionals with strong links to London. Southend, Slough and Swindon are not going LD any time soon. Much of the south-west is not returning to the LDs, either, though I think they still have a chance in a couple of places like St Ives.
Good points. Even in the book 'Beyond the Red Wall' the point is made that what constitutes the Red Wall is not universally agreed (some don't like the term at all), but it was generally applied to an area of traditional Labour strength but not every single part of that wider region.
In searching for a counterpoint 'Blue Wall' is definitely being applied too broadly at the moment, for all there are definitely some vulnerabilities.
God we are a country of lily-livered aren't we...its 10 sodding days, watch sodding Netflix, piss about on the internet. It hardly like you are in solitary Steve McQueen stylee.
The food situation in the quarantine hotels does seem to be awful. I heard from my colleague who went through it that they would hear people in other rooms shouting out at midnight that they still hadn't received any food for the evening.
There's no excuse for not being able to run the places properly, but some mate of the government has the contract and their determined to wring as much money from it as possible.
I do wonder whether this "government by contracts to mates from uni" will finally do for this shower?
I think there’s a huge amount of leeway from the public on procurement processes during a pandemic, but they expect the usual due process to be followed afterwards.
What time is Cressida Dick sending police to question Hancock on breaking covid law?
And she should have resigned last week
How did the media just manage to move on from that story? Normally they would be going at "RESIGN RESIGN RESIGN" for days...as they will be with Hancock. It totally disappeared after one day, despite the family calling for her resignation and the report being damning.
“I accept that I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances. I have let people down and am very sorry. I remain focused on working to get the country out of this pandemic, and would be grateful for privacy for my family on this personal matter.”
F*ck off.
That's my response.
Sack him now.
That dreadful, arrogant, disgusting response tells us all we need to know about this government.
People were unable to embrace dying relatives, or those suffering in care homes while Hancock was doing this. Who the f8ck does he think he is?
What time is Cressida Dick sending police to question Hancock on breaking covid law?
Given his figurehead role on this the maximum fine is appropriate before you even get in to misappropriation of public funds if this pre-dates her appointment.
Yes.
It’s a fair question to ask, given her appointment - when did your affair start, mr Hancock?
From the BBC live page. Look at the Scotland figures.
Estimates from the Office for National Statistics suggest about 153,000 people in the UK would test positive for coronavirus in the week to 19 June, up from 119,000 people the previous week.
This is 0.24% of the population – or one in 420 people.
As they did last week, the ONS says the percentage of people testing positive has “increased” in England and Scotland, whereas the “trend is uncertain” in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Here are the figures:
England: 1-in-440 are estimated to be testing positive for coronavirus vs 1-in-520 last week
This is the Register of Interests of Members' Secretaries & Research Assistants for June 2019 for staff who hold a parliamentary pass that is sponsored by an MP 👇
Gina Tress is the married name of Gina Coladangelo.
"The timing of the embrace was in clear breach of the Government's social distancing rules on embracing someone from outside his social bubble.
The guidance in place since March 2020 had ordered people to stay two metres apart from anyone outside their household or bubble. The rules were only relaxed on May 17."
Telegraph.
Sack him. Today.
How can he possibly be sent out to tell people to continue with restrictions or take on new ones now?
I said early this morning he should be sacked and nothing has changed my mind to the contary
I wonder whether Johnson will attempt to keep him over the weekend but when backbenchers get buttonholed this Saturday by incandescent tory members (who are already fuming over the delay to unlocking don't forget) by phone, email and in person at the local market will be forced to axe him on Monday?
How on earth can Hancock make that admission and not resign. Completely ridiculous.
Politicians rallying round about how awful this is for their families. Well they did this to their families, and now he compounds it by lacking the character to respond appropriately.
I am generally in favour of people not automatically being sacked or resigning even when they have made a mistake, but given where we are on the pandemic if there was a time he could be shifted it is probably now, and his own words on others breaching things earlier are a millstone it is hard to get away from - no one is perfect in compliance (leaving aside the reason for his breach being a moral failing), but most people aren't also in a prominent position enforcing government messaging on being tough on those who don't comply.
From the BBC live page. Look at the Scotland figures.
Estimates from the Office for National Statistics suggest about 153,000 people in the UK would test positive for coronavirus in the week to 19 June, up from 119,000 people the previous week.
This is 0.24% of the population – or one in 420 people.
As they did last week, the ONS says the percentage of people testing positive has “increased” in England and Scotland, whereas the “trend is uncertain” in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Here are the figures:
England: 1-in-440 are estimated to be testing positive for coronavirus vs 1-in-520 last week
Wales: 1-in-830 vs 1-in-1,500
Northern Ireland: 1-in-720 vs 1-in-610
Scotland: 1-in-220 vs 1-in-600 last week
Scotland's out the Euros now which will probably reduce transmission
What time is Cressida Dick sending police to question Hancock on breaking covid law?
And she should have resigned last week
How did the media just manage to move on from that story? Normally they would be going at "RESIGN RESIGN RESIGN" for days...as they will be with Hancock. It totally disappeared after one day, despite the family calling for her resignation and the report being damning.
It's because it involves the police - people are aware of all manner of issues, and get genuinely upset, but the public and media don't seem to like hammering on about police matters as if it undermines the service (rather than, I would argue, help improve it) to bang on about it. For the same reason I assume opposition politicians at senior level won't want to belabour the point, and without that the media lose interest, plus we can all focus ire on the Home Secretary (who may well deserve plenty, but not all of it).
“I accept that I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances. I have let people down and am very sorry. I remain focused on working to get the country out of this pandemic, and would be grateful for privacy for my family on this personal matter.”
F*ck off.
That's my response.
Sack him now.
That dreadful, arrogant, disgusting response tells us all we need to know about this government.
People were unable to embrace dying relatives, or those suffering in care homes while Hancock was doing this. Who the f8ck does he think he is?
Exactly.
You could be fined and arrested by police for kissing or dancing at a bloody wedding a few weeks ago when this was taking place allegedly.
Political commentator @JohnRentoul : “And it was his rule! @MattHancock probably won’t resign today, but I don’t think he’ll be Secretary of State for long.”
Good to see that, under Boris' leadership, his core principles of lying, adultery and lack of accountability have started to filter through to the rest of the Cabinet. Really speaks to the importance of workplace culture.
Not so sure on this one. I am leaving the market well alone.
After Nov20 I initially thought laying trump would be a brain dead obvious move but the GOP have decided to go all in on the Big Lie and the Biden admin have signalled they are going to the whole "Not prosecuting obvious crimes of the previous administration" thing.
So suddenly Trump at 25% looks a bit tasty.
But it's a nightmare market with too many unknowns for me.
Later in the year, America is going to be on fire. On fire.
Whatever you think of the election result, that Maricopa audit is not being held to endorse it. Many other legislatures were at the audit, going to school on the Arizona model.
Trump is going to hold a series of huge rallies later in the year when he will use the audit's results to try to take Biden's legitimacy away.
I take it you missed the GOP controlled Michigan Senate investigation which completely demolished every single election conspiracy theory as applied to Michigan?
“I accept that I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances. I have let people down and am very sorry. I remain focused on working to get the country out of this pandemic, and would be grateful for privacy for my family on this personal matter.”
F*ck off.
That's my response.
Sack him now.
That dreadful, arrogant, disgusting response tells us all we need to know about this government.
People were unable to embrace dying relatives, or those suffering in care homes while Hancock was doing this. Who the f8ck does he think he is?
Exactly.
You could be fined and arrested by police for kissing or dancing at a bloody wedding a few weeks ago when this was taking place allegedly.
Mr Rotten I don't just blame the tories, I blame labour too. They have underwritten this government for 18 months as they quietly rot away as a political movement. They were clearly planning as many six month unchallenged power as the tories wanted, right up to 2024. Now they might actually have to oppose. You can see the reluctance on their faces.
Party politics in Britain really is in a dire state. Post Brexit we need a new politics.
Not so sure on this one. I am leaving the market well alone.
After Nov20 I initially thought laying trump would be a brain dead obvious move but the GOP have decided to go all in on the Big Lie and the Biden admin have signalled they are going to the whole "Not prosecuting obvious crimes of the previous administration" thing.
So suddenly Trump at 25% looks a bit tasty.
But it's a nightmare market with too many unknowns for me.
Have the rules in Georgia (Or any other red state legistlature) been changed to a republican victory no matter the votes for the next presidential election yet ? Also if the GOP controls the House after the midterms ... Biden does hold the hot-seat though so there is that to consider.
Yeah, Georgia election officials are already being replaced under the new laws. Amazingly they seem to be almost entirely Black Democrats being turfed out and replaced with white Republicans.
What time is Cressida Dick sending police to question Hancock on breaking covid law?
And she should have resigned last week
How did the media just manage to move on from that story? Normally they would be going at "RESIGN RESIGN RESIGN" for days...as they will be with Hancock. It totally disappeared after one day, despite the family calling for her resignation and the report being damning.
It's because it involves the police - people are aware of all manner of issues, and get genuinely upset, but the public and media don't seem to like hammering on about police matters as if it undermines the service (rather than, I would argue, help improve it) to bang on about it. For the same reason I assume opposition politicians at senior level won't want to belabour the point, and without that the media lose interest, plus we can all focus ire on the Home Secretary (who may well deserve plenty, but not all of it).
The police are coated in teflon sometimes.
Also the police have a certain way with those who are not their friends. Not sure that Stramer & Co. want a Xth Front with the Police.
Remember the story at about ACPOo and the Coalition government?
I had hoped that after 3 days of no increase in the hospitalisation rates for England, that (if this trend continued over the week end, they may look again at the extension of the lockdown.
I understand that there was something of a 'review and brake clorse' off the 5th July, which presumably means the disition would be taken a week in advance i.e. Monday 28th.
With this new revelation I don't see that happening
German health minister: 'Delta variant will have the upper hand over the summer' The more infectious Delta coronavirus variant will become dominant in Germany over the summer, health minister Jens Spahn said this morning.
“The Delta variant will have the upper hand over the summer, it’s more a matter of weeks than months,” Spahn told a news conference, adding the variant currently makes up more than 15% of coronavirus cases reported in Germany.
---
But its ok, everybody to the beaches and nightclubs of Southern Europe to intermingle.....
Crowding the unvaccinated youth of Europe in the 10,000 capacity nightclubs of Ibiza, definitely isn’t going to result in a massive new wave of infection all over the continent.
Political commentator @JohnRentoul : “And it was his rule! @MattHancock probably won’t resign today, but I don’t think he’ll be Secretary of State for long.”
After July 19th perhaps - Freedom from Cabinet Responsibilities Day.
Not so sure on this one. I am leaving the market well alone.
After Nov20 I initially thought laying trump would be a brain dead obvious move but the GOP have decided to go all in on the Big Lie and the Biden admin have signalled they are going to the whole "Not prosecuting obvious crimes of the previous administration" thing.
So suddenly Trump at 25% looks a bit tasty.
But it's a nightmare market with too many unknowns for me.
Later in the year, America is going to be on fire. On fire.
Whatever you think of the election result, that Maricopa audit is not being held to endorse it. Many other legislatures were at the audit, going to school on the Arizona model.
Trump is going to hold a series of huge rallies later in the year when he will use the audit's results to try to take Biden's legitimacy away.
I take it you missed the GOP controlled Michigan Senate investigation which completely demolished every single election conspiracy theory as applied to Michigan?
It would be funny, wouldn't it, if Maricopa came up with the same verdict. It might happen...?
German health minister: 'Delta variant will have the upper hand over the summer' The more infectious Delta coronavirus variant will become dominant in Germany over the summer, health minister Jens Spahn said this morning.
“The Delta variant will have the upper hand over the summer, it’s more a matter of weeks than months,” Spahn told a news conference, adding the variant currently makes up more than 15% of coronavirus cases reported in Germany.
---
But its ok, everybody to the beaches and nightclubs of Southern Europe to intermingle.....
Crowding the unvaccinated youth of Europe in the 10,000 capacity nightclubs of Ibiza, definitely isn’t going to result in a massive new wave of infection all over the continent.
Its is unfathomable idiocy....Mutti has gone way down in my estimation over the past year. Remember when some people used to bang on about because she is a scientist she understands all this COVID stuff way better than our moronic politicians.
And yet, last summer, idiot decision lead to a importing a new variant and increase in cases, and now despite saying well it looks dicey, this Indian variant look bad, you need two jabs and we haven't got anywhere near that yet with the young, everybody to the aeroplanes, towels down by sun up....
I had hoped that after 3 days of no increase in the hospitalisation rates for England, that (if this trend continued over the week end, they may look again at the extension of the lockdown.
I understand that there was something of a 'review and brake clorse' off the 5th July, which presumably means the disition would be taken a week in advance i.e. Monday 28th.
With this new revelation I don't see that happening
I think they will want to see a sustained *fall* in hospitalisation rates before easing restrictions.
I wonder how many people who said Cummings should have apologised will graciously accept Hancock's apology?
It is not enough
Even Burley left Sky for 6 months when she breached covid rules
And this is the person who is responsible for them
I cannot see how any conservative can defend him and this conservative does not
100% spot on. This is completely indefensible. I can see Mr Thompson is going down a libertarian anti-purience line, but even leaving the infidelity aspect to one side, the breaking of regs which he is personally responsible for, and have been incredibly onerous and inhumane to so many others, is unforgivable without a resignation.
Would handy cock have been in as much trouble if he was quietly having this affair out of office hours?
Slightly less, but the Covid breach would still apply so not much.
I thought you were allowed to hook up under the rules? Two households can stay under one roof can't they?
I am less concerned about the "breaking of social distancing", as we hear on here everybody seems to be doing it now. My issue is more he is doing this blatantly in the office, during office hours in the middle of a pandemic, with a co-worker. That is an absolute no no in basically every work place...let alone when you are supposed to be 110% focused on killer virus spreading the nation.
More seriously, good to see in the ONS infection survey that the increase in cases has been driven primarily by the Year 12 (age 16-17) to age 24 cohort that will have not been vaccinated at the time of the study.
In contrast, cases within ages 25-34 have stated to drop back down slightly from their peak. Infection rates for older age groups remain low.
The rate at which young adults are getting Covid will surely burn out in a few weeks through a combination of vaccines and infections.
I wonder how many people who said Cummings should have apologised will graciously accept Hancock's apology?
It is not enough
Even Burley left Sky for 6 months when she breached covid rules
And this is the person who is responsible for them
I cannot see how any conservative can defend him and this conservative does not
100% spot on. This is completely indefensible. I can see Mr Thompson is going down a libertarian anti-purience line, but even leaving the infidelity aspect to one side, the breaking of regs which he is personally responsible for, and have been incredibly onerous and inhumane to so many others, is unforgivable without a resignation.
Wiki says he has 3 kids, I assume are school age. That’s gonna be nasty for them.
Where is the proof that Hancock is actually bonking this lady? Many will get involved to the extent of a good snog - which is all this CCTV shows - without taking things so far as a full physical relationship. At what point does it become adultery? Before or after the people concerned have slept together? Until the mid-1960s many couples engaged in 'courtship' for years and managed to abstain from full sex until the wedding night.
The Hancock affair shows that this government has a huge vested interest in hanging on to the extraordinary powers given to it, over and above any considerations with regard to the pandemic. A Huge vested interest.
It should be deprived of those powers immediately.
Wiki says he has 3 kids, I assume are school age. That’s gonna be nasty for them.
Wow how naive are you....
I feel sorry for the many many people who were not allowed to embrace their dying relatives under lockkdown. Matt Hancock was the architect of that system
It now turns out he completely flouted his own rules, and clearly got off on the power he was given.
What were his priorities then? What are they now?
Why do any of these points make you feel less sorry for 3 kids who are going to have a horrible time?
German health minister: 'Delta variant will have the upper hand over the summer' The more infectious Delta coronavirus variant will become dominant in Germany over the summer, health minister Jens Spahn said this morning.
“The Delta variant will have the upper hand over the summer, it’s more a matter of weeks than months,” Spahn told a news conference, adding the variant currently makes up more than 15% of coronavirus cases reported in Germany.
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But its ok, everybody to the beaches and nightclubs of Southern Europe to intermingle.....
Crowding the unvaccinated youth of Europe in the 10,000 capacity nightclubs of Ibiza, definitely isn’t going to result in a massive new wave of infection all over the continent.
Its is unfathomable idiocy....Mutti has gone way down in my estimation over the past year. Remember when some people used to bang on about because she is a scientist she understands all this COVID stuff way better than our moronic politicians.
And yet, last summer, idiot decision lead to a importing a new variant and increase in cases, and now despite saying well it looks dicey, this Indian variant look bad, you need two jabs and we haven't got anywhere near that yet with the young, everybody to the aeroplanes, towels down by sun up....
She's bullet proof because Germany's stats are still better than Italy, Spain, France and UK, the comparable nations. Any critique of her actions can be met with that distraction.
I wonder how many people who said Cummings should have apologised will graciously accept Hancock's apology?
Cumming's mistake was that he didn't resign (having been told that Boris wouldn't accept it due to the pandemic).
Hancock's mistake is that he forced others to resign for the exact "crime" he has himself committed. Worse Ferguson was single so wasn't hurting anyone while unless things differ from what we know this news will have rather hurt his family.
I wonder how many people who said Cummings should have apologised will graciously accept Hancock's apology?
Cummings should've gone then. Hancock should go now.
Edit: I'm sure they're both sorry. More probably sorry they ever got caught. It's the hypocrisy and refusal to accept responsibility for their actions that really grates.
Fuck Hancock. Rules for thee not for me. Should be sacked immediately. He was making the fucking rules as the minister in charge of the pandemic response and then chose to break them for his mistress. Imposed misery in millions while he was happy shagging someone outside of his family bubble and telling randy teenagers they weren't allowed to meet people outside of their family bubbles at all.
"The timing of the embrace was in clear breach of the Government's social distancing rules on embracing someone from outside his social bubble.
The guidance in place since March 2020 had ordered people to stay two metres apart from anyone outside their household or bubble. The rules were only relaxed on May 17."
Telegraph.
Sack him. Today.
How can he possibly be sent out to tell people to continue with restrictions or take on new ones now?
The Health secretary is caught having an affair and had to resign not because of the affair, but because he had legislated to make it illegal for two people from different households to gather indoors?
Another bizarre tale to send back a few years and see what the reaction is.
The Hancock affair shows that this government has a huge vested interest in hanging on to the extraordinary powers given to it, over and above any considerations with regard to the pandemic. A Huge vested interest.
It should be deprived of those powers immediately.
It shows the complete opposite!
The only reason this story is newsworthy (besides prurient nonsense) is because Hancock broke his own rules and that is serious.
Had the rules not been there, there'd be no issue for Hancock. That's an incentive to scrap the rules, not keep them.
What a shambles this government is. Will no one rid me of this troublesome government, of course I am not advocating four knights kill Johnson, but best he avoid Canterbury, to be on the safe side.
Canterbury’s got a Labour MP so they’re not getting any attention from this government
Wiki says he has 3 kids, I assume are school age. That’s gonna be nasty for them.
Wow how naive are you....
I feel sorry for the many many people who were not allowed to embrace their dying relatives under lockkdown. Matt Hancock was the architect of that system
It now turns out he completely flouted his own rules, and clearly got off on the power he was given.
What were his priorities then? What are they now?
Why do any of these points make you feel less sorry for 3 kids who are going to have a horrible time?
If Hancock cares about his family he needs to resign - whilst still in place there is a legitimate public interest in media scrutiny of his life.
His statement makes clear he is still only thinking about himself.
I think the Hancock story is quite a blow for the government. I reckon it's 50:50 whether he hangs on. But whether he stays or goes, it doesn't look good. Staying may be more damaging. But him having to resign, or be sacked, essentially for breaking his own Covid rules/guidance is also not a good look with the pandemic still on.
I imagine Boris, struggling with the decision, quietly humming his adapted Clash song: "Should he stay or should he go?" A very tricky decision for him.
Cummings should always have gone, but everything he did WAS to try and help his family - bit different to Hancock's behaviour today...
If Big Dom had just come out and said I did for my family, I was scared, I was afraid, but I broke the rules and so I have to resign. He would be back in government now, and probably got some sympathy, as I think over the course of the past 15 months everybody has been shit scared at some point or bent the rules for what they thought was the right thing to do.
I wonder how many people who said Cummings should have apologised will graciously accept Hancock's apology?
Cumming's mistake was that he didn't resign (having been told that Boris wouldn't accept it due to the pandemic).
Does that mean he wanted to resign but didn't because Boris said I won't let you go, or he never considered resigning because he'd been told Boris wouldn't accept it anyway?
Wiki says he has 3 kids, I assume are school age. That’s gonna be nasty for them.
Where is the proof that Hancock is actually bonking this lady? Many will get involved to the extent of a good snog - which is all this CCTV shows - without taking things so far as a full physical relationship. At what point does it become adultery? Before or after the people concerned have slept together? Until the mid-1960s many couples engaged in 'courtship' for years and managed to abstain from full sex until the wedding night.
The proof he broke his own covid rules is in the public domain
Wiki says he has 3 kids, I assume are school age. That’s gonna be nasty for them.
Wow how naive are you....
I feel sorry for the many many people who were not allowed to embrace their dying relatives under lockkdown. Matt Hancock was the architect of that system
It now turns out he completely flouted his own rules, and clearly got off on the power he was given.
What were his priorities then? What are they now?
Why do any of these points make you feel less sorry for 3 kids who are going to have a horrible time?
How could you possibly know whether his kids are going to have a horrible time, how could you possibly know the situation they are in? Many kids have had a horrible time because of Hancock's laws, I don't see you posting about them
Sorry but this is too important. Way too important.
Hancock used covid to seize extraordinary powers over the people of Great Britain. He has mightily abused those powers as people who get extraordinary powers usually do.
Comments
That is the charge. And that is why labour and the liberal democrats have been so slow to knife Hancock
They are the underwriters of this f8cking mess.
Do you live in London or similar? I have found somewhat greater rudeness there.
Ooh-err.
Also, despite all that many of us think about aspects of American culture, on the whole you encounter a degree of almost naive warmth there which always pleasantly surprises me.
Politicians rallying round about how awful this is for their families. Well they did this to their families, and now he compounds it by lacking the character to respond appropriately.
Surely Johnson can't sack people for dropping their pants and cheating on their spouses when he's so notorious for dropping his own, not being able to keep his hands to himself, being "unsafe in taxis", not having needed to pleasure himself for 20 years, and other euphemisms.
But then again, Cummings, in a question and answer session open only to people who paid him to participate (sic), accused Johnson of being a figure in "the entertainment industry", and I don't recall a single pundit making the obvious point about hypocrisy.
Interesting, the Popbitch piece about Gove. Something has to break soon. Goodness knows what it will be. Could it really happen that Gove takes over and invites Cummings back in to Number 10/Number 70? It seems extremely improbable that an "adviser" who gets his camera out to take photos of a whiteboard in the PM's study and then publishes them on Twitter in some kind of snipefest would ever be welcomed back by any future leader, but ... we live in strange times.
In whose interest is it to have a disgruntled Hancock telling select committees that Sunak, or whoever, blocked earlier action to save lives last autumn?
The problem is that we cheerfully accept a high level of bumbling incompetence. It's peculiarly British. "Muddling through". Oh well never mind! etc etc
The upside of this is that no one gets terribly upset and everyone remains pretty calm (apart from me). The downside is that a whole load of things aren't as good as they should be, given our wealth and history
That's my response.
Sack him now.
CH4 ask Galloway some questions....
What an odious guy
In searching for a counterpoint 'Blue Wall' is definitely being applied too broadly at the moment, for all there are definitely some vulnerabilities.
People were unable to embrace dying relatives, or those suffering in care homes while Hancock was doing this. Who the f8ck does he think he is?
It’s a fair question to ask, given her appointment - when did your affair start, mr Hancock?
He’s gonna have to either lie or resign, I recon.
This is 0.24% of the population – or one in 420 people.
As they did last week, the ONS says the percentage of people testing positive has “increased” in England and Scotland, whereas the “trend is uncertain” in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Here are the figures:
England: 1-in-440 are estimated to be testing positive for coronavirus vs 1-in-520 last week
Wales: 1-in-830 vs 1-in-1,500
Northern Ireland: 1-in-720 vs 1-in-610
Scotland: 1-in-220 vs 1-in-600 last week
Gina Tress is the married name of Gina Coladangelo.
She was appointed Non-Exec Director at DHSC in Sept 2020. https://twitter.com/robpowellnews/status/1408387828745228289/photo/1
Arsenal is offering tour of its stadium as it becomes a pop-up mass Covid vaccination clinic.
Well that's one way of describing it.
The police are coated in teflon sometimes.
You could be fined and arrested by police for kissing or dancing at a bloody wedding a few weeks ago when this was taking place allegedly.
@JohnRentoul
: “And it was his rule!
@MattHancock
probably won’t resign today, but I don’t think he’ll be Secretary of State for long.”
Adam Brooks
@EssexPR
·
1h
I think tomorrow’s London walk just got a lot bigger.. hypocrites
"I fear the Minister was tired and emotional whilst breaking social distancing rules during the Ugandan discussions".
Could be important.
Whose up for funding a private prosecution?
Hope he is doing ok
Party politics in Britain really is in a dire state. Post Brexit we need a new politics.
Remember the story at about ACPOo and the Coalition government?
I wonder how many people who said Cummings should have apologised will graciously accept Hancock's apology?
I understand that there was something of a 'review and brake clorse' off the 5th July, which presumably means the disition would be taken a week in advance i.e. Monday 28th.
With this new revelation I don't see that happening
And yet, last summer, idiot decision lead to a importing a new variant and increase in cases, and now despite saying well it looks dicey, this Indian variant look bad, you need two jabs and we haven't got anywhere near that yet with the young, everybody to the aeroplanes, towels down by sun up....
Even Burley left Sky for 6 months when she breached covid rules
And this is the person who is responsible for them
I cannot see how any conservative can defend him and this conservative does not
I would.
I am less concerned about the "breaking of social distancing", as we hear on here everybody seems to be doing it now. My issue is more he is doing this blatantly in the office, during office hours in the middle of a pandemic, with a co-worker. That is an absolute no no in basically every work place...let alone when you are supposed to be 110% focused on killer virus spreading the nation.
In contrast, cases within ages 25-34 have stated to drop back down slightly from their peak. Infection rates for older age groups remain low.
The rate at which young adults are getting Covid will surely burn out in a few weeks through a combination of vaccines and infections.
His immediate acknowledgement might merely be mitigation in terms of appropriate consequence, not that there be no further consequence.
It should be deprived of those powers immediately.
Hancock's mistake is that he forced others to resign for the exact "crime" he has himself committed. Worse Ferguson was single so wasn't hurting anyone while unless things differ from what we know this news will have rather hurt his family.
Edit: I'm sure they're both sorry. More probably sorry they ever got caught. It's the hypocrisy and refusal to accept responsibility for their actions that really grates.
Wanker.
Another bizarre tale to send back a few years and see what the reaction is.
The only reason this story is newsworthy (besides prurient nonsense) is because Hancock broke his own rules and that is serious.
Had the rules not been there, there'd be no issue for Hancock. That's an incentive to scrap the rules, not keep them.
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/sydney-street-split-in-two-by-lockdown/news-story/31c9ad24e568ef5404437e3b7ba30cd9
His statement makes clear he is still only thinking about himself.
I would be surprised if he is post by monday
I imagine Boris, struggling with the decision, quietly humming his adapted Clash song: "Should he stay or should he go?" A very tricky decision for him.
And he has admitted the affair
Sorry but this is too important. Way too important.
Hancock used covid to seize extraordinary powers over the people of Great Britain. He has mightily abused those powers as people who get extraordinary powers usually do.