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Let’s stop this faux outrage over Boris being seen cycling 7 miles from Downing Street – politicalbe

SystemSystem Posts: 11,002
edited January 2021 in General
imageLet’s stop this faux outrage over Boris being seen cycling 7 miles from Downing Street – politicalbetting.com

There’s been a lot of fuss over the past 24 hours over the PM being spotted cycling near the Olympic park which is about seven miles from Downing Street. LAB MPs and those opposed to him have accused Johnson of following a “Do as I say not as I do” approach to the lockdown restrictions.

Read the full story here

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Comments

  • swing_voterswing_voter Posts: 1,435
    am I first......?
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,328
    Some pretty sloppy writing from Politico:

    "Instead, Trump is relying heavily on advice from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former top campaign aides Jason Miller and Steve Cortes, as well as a small team of lawyers, led by Giuliani, the former New York mayor, who continues to tell Trump he won the election even though he, in fact, lost, according to two people."

    So, just two people think Trump lost the election ...????
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279
    What a stupid comment:

    "Considering the current situation with Covid I was shocked to see him cycling around looking so care-free."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55620138
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    And on total numbers of vaccines, UK is 9% of the global total, behind only USA and China.


  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    Another excellent thread Mike. I totally agree.

    There are plenty of things to be irritated with the Government about. Boris' cycling trip shouldn't be one of them.
  • swing_voterswing_voter Posts: 1,435
    Not sure what Keir Starmer could do to get a look in.....Derbyshire Police should be able to rustle up a charge of some sort or other.... agreed with original post. BJ's bicycle antics are hardly on par with DC's Durham trip.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,841
    Is seven miles a long way in London or something ?
    The reporting seems to imply he's gone to a different planet or some such.
  • TomsToms Posts: 2,478

    I'm just wondering:

    What's the dope on Israel & the jab? In particular:

    Which flu jab do they use?
    What percentage so far are covered?
    What's the timing & how is their infection rate now? By age?
    They appear to be following a focussed coherent policy do they not?

    Footnote: it looks like Bojo is getting his mojo back. Better that than the other possibility I reckon.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    Toms said:


    I'm just wondering:

    What's the dope on Israel & the jab? In particular:

    Which flu jab do they use?
    What percentage so far are covered?
    What's the timing & how is their infection rate now? By age?
    They appear to be following a focussed coherent policy do they not?

    Footnote: it looks like Bojo is getting his mojo back. Better that than the other possibility I reckon.

    Israel are on the Pfizer jab.
    They’re up to 21% of the population so far (although some will have had two jabs).
    They’re prioritising elderly and vulnerable groups, but allowing others to queue up.
    Their infection rate is around the same as the UK, and holding steady.
  • JACK_WJACK_W Posts: 651
    I'd certainly be outraged if Boris was cycling across the nations capital in lycra. Londoners have suffered enough !!!!
  • Pulpstar said:

    Is seven miles a long way in London or something ?
    The reporting seems to imply he's gone to a different planet or some such.

    The PM has clearly done nothing wrong by cycling around town.

    The govts message jars when they are trying to sell stay local, dont condemn a police force charging people for being 5 miles from home that has to rescind its illegal fines, and then the PM is cycling about town and travelling to Bristol.

    Nothing wrong personally, but not exactly joined up govt communication and the criticism was entirely predictable, even inevitable, if unfair personally.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    Yesterday Downing Street were also unable to confirm if the PM cycled there, or if he took and car and then got on his bike.

    All to deliver the message, STAY AT HOME.
  • Keir Starmer will have to resign after May’s local elections because he will severely underperform what Ed Miliband achieved on Derbyshire county council in 2013 when Labour when 43 out of 65 then. Labour will be lucky to make gain decent gains in High Peak and Belper and not lose any seats especially in NE Derbyshire which bigjohnowls will attest to.
  • swing_voterswing_voter Posts: 1,435

    Keir Starmer will have to resign after May’s local elections because he will severely underperform what Ed Miliband achieved on Derbyshire county council in 2013 when Labour when 43 out of 65 then. Labour will be lucky to make gain decent gains in High Peak and Belper and not lose any seats especially in NE Derbyshire which bigjohnowls will attest to.

    Good chance the elections may not happen (again). Only about 7 or 8 weeks till nomination papers need to be in etc. not sure I agree but a good chance of a postponement in my opinion.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279

    Keir Starmer will have to resign after May’s local elections because he will severely underperform what Ed Miliband achieved on Derbyshire county council in 2013 when Labour when 43 out of 65 then. Labour will be lucky to make gain decent gains in High Peak and Belper and not lose any seats especially in NE Derbyshire which bigjohnowls will attest to.

    Why do you think he'll do so badly? The current opinion polls are okay for the party.
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,480
    edited January 2021
    Amid the general catastrophe, the light-relief "Pelosi Loves Trump" trend that has emerged is really quite genuinely amusing. There are thousands of photos and videos like this of the past few years.

    https://twitter.com/eurodre/status/1348831731218960386

  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279
    edited January 2021
    Toms said:


    I'm just wondering:

    What's the dope on Israel & the jab? In particular:

    Which flu jab do they use?
    What percentage so far are covered?
    What's the timing & how is their infection rate now? By age?
    They appear to be following a focussed coherent policy do they not?

    Footnote: it looks like Bojo is getting his mojo back. Better that than the other possibility I reckon.

    Information is on this page. Israel = 21% / 1.9 million doses.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/
  • also can't wait to see the mental gymnastics from Rottenborough, southamobserver etc if it's only a score draw this year under starmer with the tories in the NEV as occured in 2016 and 2018 under Corbyn.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,557
    Biden will have a far more difficult task than our government in accelerating vaccine delivery.
    https://twitter.com/sciencecohen/status/1348831712227201026
  • RobDRobD Posts: 58,941
    edited January 2021
    Sandpit said:

    Great news on the vaccines, maybe this is what everyone should be talking about.

    4th in the world on vaccines per capita, behind two small nations and one tiny one, and well ahead of all the G20 and EU27 nations.

    Sadly, good news doesn’t generate clicks or sell papers.

    I'm sure the NY Times is writing an article on Britain's "sputtering" vaccine roll-out as we speak.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 58,941
    Scott_xP said:
    But what he did was within the rules.
  • tlg86 said:

    Even better would be to not even mention a story like this...

    Yep, it's not like taking your mask off & talking to some old biddies for a few seconds at a funeral which should be a resigning matter, I read.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,557
    And we never had so much as a single thread on this election....
    https://twitter.com/StephenMcDonell/status/1348871905789399040
  • The only way this could have kicked off more is if he was eating a Scotch Egg as well.

  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715
    edited January 2021

    tlg86 said:

    Even better would be to not even mention a story like this...

    Yep, it's not like taking your mask off & talking to some old biddies for a few seconds at a funeral which should be a resigning matter, I read.
    While one can understand Johnson going for a cycle ride....... I wish I could .......in his position and just after the shenanigans over exercise recently, it was a damn' fool thing to do. He doesn't really look dressed for it either; it's almost as though he, the ultimate author of the rules, were sticking two fingers up to them.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    Nigelb said:

    Biden will have a far more difficult task than our government in accelerating vaccine delivery.
    https://twitter.com/sciencecohen/status/1348831712227201026

    The fragmentation of the US healthcare system is particularly ill-suited to something like a vaccine programme.

    Some authority, whether it be state, county or city, needs to set up a priority list and secure access to the vaccines themselves - but that requires funding and political will.
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 7,879
    Meh. No Dom Cummings he.

    For those in the market for something a little more potent - try Bagehot column entitled "The British right needs to come clean about its links with Trumpism".
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,812

    tlg86 said:

    Even better would be to not even mention a story like this...

    Yep, it's not like taking your mask off & talking to some old biddies for a few seconds at a funeral which should be a resigning matter, I read.
    While one can understand Johnson going for a cycle ride....... I wish I could .......in his position and just after the shenanigans over exercise recently, it was a damn' fool thing to do. He doesn't really look dressed for it either; it's almost as though he, the ultimate author of the rules, were sticking two fingers up to them.
    If you are talking about the photo upthread, I don’t believe that’s actual footage of the supposed infraction.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    The only way this could have kicked off more is if he was eating a Scotch Egg as well.

    Well, I dunno. A pizza with pineapple on it might have been worse still.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    On topic, I’m all in favour of criticising him over that dumb trip to Bristol, which was daft. But if I can cycle to Rugeley Trent Valley and back in an hour on a cheap bike on the less than smooth and level trails of Cannock Chase, I don’t think Johnson will have had too much trouble doing 7 miles in half an hour with probably quite a costly bike on smooth and level pavements in London.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715
    edited January 2021

    tlg86 said:

    Even better would be to not even mention a story like this...

    Yep, it's not like taking your mask off & talking to some old biddies for a few seconds at a funeral which should be a resigning matter, I read.
    While one can understand Johnson going for a cycle ride....... I wish I could .......in his position and just after the shenanigans over exercise recently, it was a damn' fool thing to do. He doesn't really look dressed for it either; it's almost as though he, the ultimate author of the rules, were sticking two fingers up to them.
    If you are talking about the photo upthread, I don’t believe that’s actual footage of the supposed infraction.
    It's very similar to the one in the Guardian. Yes, I know!

    However, even if he was more suitably dressed, I stick by my first conclusion; in current circumstance 'it was a damn' fool thing to do!'
  • FossFoss Posts: 694

    tlg86 said:

    Even better would be to not even mention a story like this...

    Yep, it's not like taking your mask off & talking to some old biddies for a few seconds at a funeral which should be a resigning matter, I read.
    While one can understand Johnson going for a cycle ride....... I wish I could .......in his position and just after the shenanigans over exercise recently, it was a damn' fool thing to do. He doesn't really look dressed for it either; it's almost as though he, the ultimate author of the rules, were sticking two fingers up to them.
    If you are talking about the photo upthread, I don’t believe that’s actual footage of the supposed infraction.
    It looks to be from a cycle scheme launch last July.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    Good thread and absolutely.

    Can't help feeling that it needed a trigger warning for @Dura_Ace though.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 14,911
    He was stupid to do anything that could create any sense of ambiguity about the stay at home message or add to the sense that there is one rule for the elite and another for everyone else. It's not a resigning matter but it's another example of why Johnson is such a poor PM.
  • Sandpit said:

    Nigelb said:

    Biden will have a far more difficult task than our government in accelerating vaccine delivery.
    https://twitter.com/sciencecohen/status/1348831712227201026

    The fragmentation of the US healthcare system is particularly ill-suited to something like a vaccine programme.

    Some authority, whether it be state, county or city, needs to set up a priority list and secure access to the vaccines themselves - but that requires funding and political will.
    Yes, the centralised nature of the NHS is a massive benefit for the UK when it comes to organising the rapid distribution of a vaccine.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited January 2021
    Scott_xP said:
    Would that have been taken by his personal photographer who we are financing at £100.000 a year? It doesn't have the look of a snap taken by a casual walker. Do people bump into Prime ministers cycling in suits along country lanes?

    There's more tokenism in that photo than the 'burning the midnight oil' ones fed to and gobbled up so often by the Telegraph.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    Question: It is said that if Trump is impeached he can never run for president again. But he`s already been impeached once, so why isn`t he already disqualified?
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,876
    edited January 2021
    The government will have to hope that this is a demonstrable one-off rather than the standard state of affairs. If it is the latter it is a genuine scandal:
    https://twitter.com/RoadsideMum/status/1348646428084760576
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    Stocky said:

    Question: It is said that if Trump is impeached he can never run for president again. But he`s already been impeached once, so why isn`t he already disqualified?

    He needs to be convicted by the Senate, which he wasn't last time
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 12,880
    TOPPING said:

    Good thread and absolutely.

    Can't help feeling that it needed a trigger warning for @Dura_Ace though.

    I had to have a Silkwood Shower after seeing Johnson's Halfords contraption.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Good morning, everyone.

    F1: Imola back on the calendar, Oz and China delayed.

    https://twitter.com/LukeSmithF1/status/1348902882523930624
  • Pulpstar said:

    Is seven miles a long way in London or something ?
    The reporting seems to imply he's gone to a different planet or some such.

    Seven miles in London is seven miles. However, the guidance also says, "Stay local means stay in the ... part of the city where you live."
    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home

    Stratford is not in the same part of London as Westminster.

    So first, it is politically stupid. Second, it is naive to think there would not be questions so the Press office should have been briefed. Third, and most important, is the restrictions are too vague if the Prime Minister, his police protection officers, and pb's OGH (and several commentators below the line) do not know what is what.

    It is the same with the women fined for drinking coffee up north or sitting on a bench down south. The rules are too vague and incoherent for police, public and politicians to understand and follow.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    Stocky said:

    Question: It is said that if Trump is impeached he can never run for president again. But he`s already been impeached once, so why isn`t he already disqualified?

    Found not guilty?
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    edited January 2021
    Re header: Agreed. Best to regurgitate and endorse @Anabobazina `s excellent post from a couple of threads back:

    "I see we are back on to ludicrous rules-shaming, this time with Boris, who apparently broke rules by going on a bike ride.

    I mean, FFS, who cares? The amount of energy that has been wasted on tea-drinking blondes, bike-riding premiers, and weak-bladdered newswomen is beyond ridiculous. One day, when we look back on all this, history will read as farce."
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080
    Scott_xP said:
    They clearly dont want to establish a 'seven mile rule' (although it is probably too late). Seven miles in London ought to be considered a bigger deal than seven miles if you live in the middle of nowhere.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,052

    If he cycled to the Olympic Park, there's no issue at all. If he was driven there and then had a bike around, it's poor stuff, but hardly the biggest deal in the world.

    However, if I were a Tory today I'd much rather the focus was on Johnson's cycling than on the disgraceful £5 food packages private contractors are sending out to vulnerable kids at a cost of £30 per package to the taxpayer. That is a genuine scandal.

    Yes it is. Apart from the rip off pricing, it is hard to see how to make much of an edible meal from the Chartwell package.

    https://twitter.com/Munchbunch87/status/1348747916563918849?s=19
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    The government will have to hope that this is a demonstrable one-off rather than the standard state of affairs. If it is the latter it is a genuine scandal:
    https://twitter.com/RoadsideMum/status/1348646428084760576

    My shopping for a week for a full meal and two large-size snack style meals every day comes to around £30. (Admittedly I do bake my own bread.)

    If they spent £30 on that, they must have had it delivered in a gold truck.

    I’m not even sure that’s worth a fiver. I think I could get everything in that photo for about £3.50.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,263
    edited January 2021

    He was stupid to do anything that could create any sense of ambiguity about the stay at home message or add to the sense that there is one rule for the elite and another for everyone else. It's not a resigning matter but it's another example of why Johnson is such a poor PM.

    I've not commented on this up to now as I don't think that targeting individuals (even the PM) is usually helpeful, but since Mike raises it, I think OLB's argument is the point, not the 7 miles itself. The policy is ambiguous (originally it was announced with a time limit which disappeared in the detailed guidance), there is no definition of local, and advice on whether you can drive to a spot where you'd like to walk and how far that can be is missing. To highlight an ambiguous policy with the PM's behaviour pushing at the boundary, and then refuse to give details simply adds to the confusion.

    If the rule was "You can exercise on foot or by bike for N hours" or "at a distance of X", then I'm absolutely in favour of Johnson being able to do exactly that without anyone hassling him. But the position is unclear and the PM and his spokespeople are evasive about it, which absolurtely encourages people to do the sort of dodgy compromise with the semi-formulated rules that is perpetuating the pandemic longer than necessary.

    Personally I favour a limit of say 4 miles, and if you want to exercise more, you can go round again. That's boring, someone might say? Don't waste our time with piffle - people are putting up with much worse. But any reasonable, clear rule would also be fine.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080
    Stocky said:

    Question: It is said that if Trump is impeached he can never run for president again. But he`s already been impeached once, so why isn`t he already disqualified?

    Because being impeached is the beginning of the process; being found guilty is what leads to disqualification
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    Dura_Ace said:

    TOPPING said:

    Good thread and absolutely.

    Can't help feeling that it needed a trigger warning for @Dura_Ace though.

    I had to have a Silkwood Shower after seeing Johnson's Halfords contraption.
    To google or not to google...
  • ydoethur said:

    The only way this could have kicked off more is if he was eating a Scotch Egg as well.

    Well, I dunno. A pizza with pineapple on it might have been worse still.
    SHITPOST KLAXON
  • JACK_WJACK_W Posts: 651
    Scott_xP said:
    If it's "preposterous" for the public not to understand "the rules" then how much worse is it for the police not to be able to differentiate between laws, guidance and policy.

    I regret to say that some officers have not covered themselves in glory and such poor policing damages the trust between the wider public and the constabulary.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    edited January 2021

    ydoethur said:

    The only way this could have kicked off more is if he was eating a Scotch Egg as well.

    Well, I dunno. A pizza with pineapple on it might have been worse still.
    SHITPOST KLAXON
    Is that the same as a Scottish Tory Subsample Surge KLAXON, which mysteriously was not sounded the other day when a whole three Scots were found to be voting for them?
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    edited January 2021

    He was stupid to do anything that could create any sense of ambiguity about the stay at home message or add to the sense that there is one rule for the elite and another for everyone else. It's not a resigning matter but it's another example of why Johnson is such a poor PM.

    I've not commented on this up to now as I don't think that targeting individuals (even the PM) is usually helpeful, but since Mike raises it, I think OLB's argument is the point, not the 7 miles itself. The policy is ambiguous (originally it was announced with a time limit which disappeared in the detailed guidance), there is no definition of local, and advice on whether you can drive to a spot where you'd like to walk and how far that can be is missing. To highlight an ambiguous policy with the PM's behaviour pushing at the boundary, and then refuse to give details simply adds to the confusion.

    If the rule was "You can exercise on foot or by bike for N hours" or "at a distance of X", then I'm absolutely in favour of Johnson being able to do exactly that without anyone hassling him. But the position is unclear and the PM and his spokespeople are evasive about it, which absolurtely encourages people to do the sort of dodgy compromise with the semi-formulated rules that is perpetuating the pandemic longer than necessary.

    Personally I favour a limit of say 4 miles, and if you want to exercise more, you can go round again. That's boring, someone might say? Don't waste our time with piffle - people are putting up with much worse. But any reasonable, clear rule would also be fine.
    Why are we even discussing this? Transmitting Covid whilst riding a bike would be quite a challenge, whether it be 5, 7 or 20 miles. Who cares?

    Shouldn`t we focus on basement parties and covert bars - you know, those indoor groupy things?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950

    He was stupid to do anything that could create any sense of ambiguity about the stay at home message or add to the sense that there is one rule for the elite and another for everyone else. It's not a resigning matter but it's another example of why Johnson is such a poor PM.

    I've not commented on this up to now as I don't think that targeting individuals (even the PM) is usually helpeful, but since Mike raises it, I think OLB's argument is the point, not the 7 miles itself. The policy is ambiguous (originally it was announced with a time limit which disappeared in the detailed guidance), there is no definition of local, and advice on whether you can drive to a spot where you'd like to walk and how far that can be is missing. To highlight an ambiguous policy with the PM's behaviour pushing at the boundary, and then refuse to give details simply adds to the confusion.

    If the rule was "You can exercise on foot or by bike for N hours" or "at a distance of X", then I'm absolutely in favour of Johnson being able to do exactly that without anyone hassling him. But the position is unclear and the PM and his spokespeople are evasive about it, which absolurtely encourages people to do the sort of dodgy compromise with the semi-formulated rules that is perpetuating the pandemic longer than necessary.

    Personally I favour a limit of say 4 miles, and if you want to exercise more, you can go round again. That's boring, someone might say? Don't waste our time with piffle - people are putting up with much worse. But any reasonable, clear rule would also be fine.
    You would then be inundated with stories of people whose local wood/park/sports ground was X.1 miles away.

    OLB's point is well made although I can see Boris thinking I'm setting an example by taking exercise in a non-toff (ie Green/Hyde Park) area.

    Better people think oh the PM is exercising I should also. Those who think right that's it I'll travel 2X miles to do so? Less of a risk.
  • ydoethur said:

    The government will have to hope that this is a demonstrable one-off rather than the standard state of affairs. If it is the latter it is a genuine scandal:
    https://twitter.com/RoadsideMum/status/1348646428084760576

    My shopping for a week for a full meal and two large-size snack style meals every day comes to around £30. (Admittedly I do bake my own bread.)

    If they spent £30 on that, they must have had it delivered in a gold truck.

    I’m not even sure that’s worth a fiver. I think I could get everything in that photo for about £3.50.

    Why spend public money on feeding hungry kids when you can give it to company shareholders instead?

  • JohnLilburneJohnLilburne Posts: 5,997

    tlg86 said:

    Even better would be to not even mention a story like this...

    Yep, it's not like taking your mask off & talking to some old biddies for a few seconds at a funeral which should be a resigning matter, I read.
    While one can understand Johnson going for a cycle ride....... I wish I could .......in his position and just after the shenanigans over exercise recently, it was a damn' fool thing to do. He doesn't really look dressed for it either; it's almost as though he, the ultimate author of the rules, were sticking two fingers up to them.
    On the contrary... as Mike suggests, for a cyclist being 7 miles from home is no big deal. Even a runner. On my last Sunday long run I was 6.2 miles from home at the furthest point, according to Google Maps.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,052
    edited January 2021

    He was stupid to do anything that could create any sense of ambiguity about the stay at home message or add to the sense that there is one rule for the elite and another for everyone else. It's not a resigning matter but it's another example of why Johnson is such a poor PM.

    I've not commented on this up to now as I don't think that targeting individuals (even the PM) is usually helpeful, but since Mike raises it, I think OLB's argument is the point, not the 7 miles itself. The policy is ambiguous (originally it was announced with a time limit which disappeared in the detailed guidance), there is no definition of local, and advice on whether you can drive to a spot where you'd like to walk and how far that can be is missing. To highlight an ambiguous policy with the PM's behaviour pushing at the boundary, and then refuse to give details simply adds to the confusion.

    If the rule was "You can exercise on foot or by bike for N hours" or "at a distance of X", then I'm absolutely in favour of Johnson being able to do exactly that without anyone hassling him. But the position is unclear and the PM and his spokespeople are evasive about it, which absolurtely encourages people to do the sort of dodgy compromise with the semi-formulated rules that is perpetuating the pandemic longer than necessary.

    Personally I favour a limit of say 4 miles, and if you want to exercise more, you can go round again. That's boring, someone might say? Don't waste our time with piffle - people are putting up with much worse. But any reasonable, clear rule would also be fine.
    Far easier to enforce is geography than time, and far more important. It is people moving about that is spreading the bug.

    Within 2 miles of your home seems about right.
  • Foxy said:

    If he cycled to the Olympic Park, there's no issue at all. If he was driven there and then had a bike around, it's poor stuff, but hardly the biggest deal in the world.

    However, if I were a Tory today I'd much rather the focus was on Johnson's cycling than on the disgraceful £5 food packages private contractors are sending out to vulnerable kids at a cost of £30 per package to the taxpayer. That is a genuine scandal.

    Yes it is. Apart from the rip off pricing, it is hard to see how to make much of an edible meal from the Chartwell package.

    https://twitter.com/Munchbunch87/status/1348747916563918849?s=19

    And all because Tory MPs thought that parents would spend any money given to them directly on crack cocaine instead of feeding their kids.

  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    TOPPING said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    TOPPING said:

    Good thread and absolutely.

    Can't help feeling that it needed a trigger warning for @Dura_Ace though.

    I had to have a Silkwood Shower after seeing Johnson's Halfords contraption.
    To google or not to google...
    Ha - I`m thinking exactly the same.

    I`m doing it ...
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    ydoethur said:

    The government will have to hope that this is a demonstrable one-off rather than the standard state of affairs. If it is the latter it is a genuine scandal:
    https://twitter.com/RoadsideMum/status/1348646428084760576

    My shopping for a week for a full meal and two large-size snack style meals every day comes to around £30. (Admittedly I do bake my own bread.)

    If they spent £30 on that, they must have had it delivered in a gold truck.

    I’m not even sure that’s worth a fiver. I think I could get everything in that photo for about £3.50.

    Why spend public money on feeding hungry kids when you can give it to company shareholders instead?

    What I don’t get is why they didn’t do both. Wetherspoons could do seven largish meals for £30, knock a bit off for table service and add it on for delivery. Admittedly the quality would be awful but at least it would be food. How many thousands of much better pubs in urban areas would jump at the chance to do FSMs to survive lockdown? Or wedding caterers?

    This policy is by contrast just a joke.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    Stocky said:

    He was stupid to do anything that could create any sense of ambiguity about the stay at home message or add to the sense that there is one rule for the elite and another for everyone else. It's not a resigning matter but it's another example of why Johnson is such a poor PM.

    I've not commented on this up to now as I don't think that targeting individuals (even the PM) is usually helpeful, but since Mike raises it, I think OLB's argument is the point, not the 7 miles itself. The policy is ambiguous (originally it was announced with a time limit which disappeared in the detailed guidance), there is no definition of local, and advice on whether you can drive to a spot where you'd like to walk and how far that can be is missing. To highlight an ambiguous policy with the PM's behaviour pushing at the boundary, and then refuse to give details simply adds to the confusion.

    If the rule was "You can exercise on foot or by bike for N hours" or "at a distance of X", then I'm absolutely in favour of Johnson being able to do exactly that without anyone hassling him. But the position is unclear and the PM and his spokespeople are evasive about it, which absolurtely encourages people to do the sort of dodgy compromise with the semi-formulated rules that is perpetuating the pandemic longer than necessary.

    Personally I favour a limit of say 4 miles, and if you want to exercise more, you can go round again. That's boring, someone might say? Don't waste our time with piffle - people are putting up with much worse. But any reasonable, clear rule would also be fine.
    Why are we even discussing this? Transmitting Covid whilst riding a bike would be quite a challenge, whether it be 5, 7 or 20 miles. Who cares?

    Shouldn`t we focus on basement parties and covert bars - you know, those indoor groupy things?
    I would have thought, given the depth and regularity of breathing involved, plus 5e energetic expulsion of air from lungs, that it would actually be rather easy to spread Covid while riding a bike.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    Foxy said:

    If he cycled to the Olympic Park, there's no issue at all. If he was driven there and then had a bike around, it's poor stuff, but hardly the biggest deal in the world.

    However, if I were a Tory today I'd much rather the focus was on Johnson's cycling than on the disgraceful £5 food packages private contractors are sending out to vulnerable kids at a cost of £30 per package to the taxpayer. That is a genuine scandal.

    Yes it is. Apart from the rip off pricing, it is hard to see how to make much of an edible meal from the Chartwell package.

    https://twitter.com/Munchbunch87/status/1348747916563918849?s=19

    And all because Tory MPs thought that parents would spend any money given to them directly on crack cocaine instead of feeding their kids.

    A classic case of transference?
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    In Ireland there is a clear simple rule - exercise within 5km of home. There are even a couple of parks within 5km of Johnson's town house.

    The simple rule in Ireland hasn't stopped them from having a worse infection rate, though. I'd rather the media were putting time and attention into the issue of schools - are the numbers at school still high enough to be a large source of virus spread? - and doubtless other more important issues I haven't heard about.

    Even covering the vaccination progress as good news would be worthwhile. It would give people hope that a modest period of self-restraint would be a step towards ending this thing.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    Dura_Ace said:

    TOPPING said:

    Good thread and absolutely.

    Can't help feeling that it needed a trigger warning for @Dura_Ace though.

    I had to have a Silkwood Shower after seeing Johnson's Halfords contraption.
    Isn`t a Halford`s contraption an adequate, sufficient device for a short ride completely within the rules Dura Ace?
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    Why did BoZo cycle round a park 7 miles from his residence?

    To reinforce the STAY AT HOME message...
  • NerysHughesNerysHughes Posts: 3,346

    tlg86 said:

    Even better would be to not even mention a story like this...

    Yep, it's not like taking your mask off & talking to some old biddies for a few seconds at a funeral which should be a resigning matter, I read.
    While one can understand Johnson going for a cycle ride....... I wish I could .......in his position and just after the shenanigans over exercise recently, it was a damn' fool thing to do. He doesn't really look dressed for it either; it's almost as though he, the ultimate author of the rules, were sticking two fingers up to them.
    On the contrary... as Mike suggests, for a cyclist being 7 miles from home is no big deal. Even a runner. On my last Sunday long run I was 6.2 miles from home at the furthest point, according to Google Maps.
    I trust you are going to hand yourself into the police
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080

    tlg86 said:

    Even better would be to not even mention a story like this...

    Yep, it's not like taking your mask off & talking to some old biddies for a few seconds at a funeral which should be a resigning matter, I read.
    While one can understand Johnson going for a cycle ride....... I wish I could .......in his position and just after the shenanigans over exercise recently, it was a damn' fool thing to do. He doesn't really look dressed for it either; it's almost as though he, the ultimate author of the rules, were sticking two fingers up to them.
    On the contrary... as Mike suggests, for a cyclist being 7 miles from home is no big deal. Even a runner. On my last Sunday long run I was 6.2 miles from home at the furthest point, according to Google Maps.
    Note that the question of whether he actually cycled there has been asked several times, and dodged.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    Scott_xP said:
    Well, she’s an idiot then (although TBF someone who confuses electricians and mass murderers is never going to one of history’s great thinkers).

    Because now all she’s done is introduce a second loophole.

    Go from the back door instead...
  • NerysHughesNerysHughes Posts: 3,346
    ydoethur said:

    The government will have to hope that this is a demonstrable one-off rather than the standard state of affairs. If it is the latter it is a genuine scandal:
    https://twitter.com/RoadsideMum/status/1348646428084760576

    My shopping for a week for a full meal and two large-size snack style meals every day comes to around £30. (Admittedly I do bake my own bread.)

    If they spent £30 on that, they must have had it delivered in a gold truck.

    I’m not even sure that’s worth a fiver. I think I could get everything in that photo for about £3.50.
    You are making the argument that food is proper cheap
  • Stocky said:

    He was stupid to do anything that could create any sense of ambiguity about the stay at home message or add to the sense that there is one rule for the elite and another for everyone else. It's not a resigning matter but it's another example of why Johnson is such a poor PM.

    I've not commented on this up to now as I don't think that targeting individuals (even the PM) is usually helpeful, but since Mike raises it, I think OLB's argument is the point, not the 7 miles itself. The policy is ambiguous (originally it was announced with a time limit which disappeared in the detailed guidance), there is no definition of local, and advice on whether you can drive to a spot where you'd like to walk and how far that can be is missing. To highlight an ambiguous policy with the PM's behaviour pushing at the boundary, and then refuse to give details simply adds to the confusion.

    If the rule was "You can exercise on foot or by bike for N hours" or "at a distance of X", then I'm absolutely in favour of Johnson being able to do exactly that without anyone hassling him. But the position is unclear and the PM and his spokespeople are evasive about it, which absolurtely encourages people to do the sort of dodgy compromise with the semi-formulated rules that is perpetuating the pandemic longer than necessary.

    Personally I favour a limit of say 4 miles, and if you want to exercise more, you can go round again. That's boring, someone might say? Don't waste our time with piffle - people are putting up with much worse. But any reasonable, clear rule would also be fine.
    Why are we even discussing this? Transmitting Covid whilst riding a bike would be quite a challenge, whether it be 5, 7 or 20 miles. Who cares?

    Shouldn`t we focus on basement parties and covert bars - you know, those indoor groupy things?
    Indoor groupy things like Boris's car ride from Downing Street to Stratford with the other two cyclists pictured and his official photographer?
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653

    Sandpit said:

    Great news on the vaccines, maybe this is what everyone should be talking about.

    4th in the world on vaccines per capita, behind two small nations and one tiny one, and well ahead of all the G20 and EU27 nations.

    Sadly, good news doesn’t generate clicks or sell papers.

    The cycle-wank is BECAUSE of this good news on vaccines. There are some whose minds are so swimming in hatred, they just cannot bear the idea of our PM being seen to do a great job on something, for once. Especially when that something is the biggest challenge facing our nation.

    So there must be chaff thrown out, to hide the positive. Even at the cost of being made to look total pillocks. Retaining ther reputation doesn't matter. Trashing the PM's does.

    They are going to totally lose their shit when the voters mark his Covid scorecard: "Good start, lousy middle, strong finish."

    Optimism is out of fashion.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080
    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:
    Well, she’s an idiot then (although TBF someone who confuses electricians and mass murderers is never going to one of history’s great thinkers).

    Because now all she’s done is introduce a second loophole.

    Go from the back door instead...
    Literally, she has closed that loophole (not that it is such).
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    ydoethur said:

    The government will have to hope that this is a demonstrable one-off rather than the standard state of affairs. If it is the latter it is a genuine scandal:
    https://twitter.com/RoadsideMum/status/1348646428084760576

    My shopping for a week for a full meal and two large-size snack style meals every day comes to around £30. (Admittedly I do bake my own bread.)

    If they spent £30 on that, they must have had it delivered in a gold truck.

    I’m not even sure that’s worth a fiver. I think I could get everything in that photo for about £3.50.
    You are making the argument that food is proper cheap
    Are you, by contrast, suggesting that apples and a medium sliced loaf are *very* expensive?
  • JohnLilburneJohnLilburne Posts: 5,997

    In Ireland there is a clear simple rule - exercise within 5km of home. There are even a couple of parks within 5km of Johnson's town house.

    The simple rule in Ireland hasn't stopped them from having a worse infection rate, though. I'd rather the media were putting time and attention into the issue of schools - are the numbers at school still high enough to be a large source of virus spread? - and doubtless other more important issues I haven't heard about.

    Even covering the vaccination progress as good news would be worthwhile. It would give people hope that a modest period of self-restraint would be a step towards ending this thing.

    The problem with a "simple" rule like that is it would mean many people having to exercise where it is busy. Or dangerous due to traffic and/or a dodgy area at night. Also, as exercise is for mental health rather than just physical, there is some need for people to get some variety. The once a day thing is annoying me as it means I can't go for a walk at lunchtime as well as a run in the evening but I will stick to it.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    IanB2 said:

    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:
    Well, she’s an idiot then (although TBF someone who confuses electricians and mass murderers is never going to one of history’s great thinkers).

    Because now all she’s done is introduce a second loophole.

    Go from the back door instead...
    Literally, she has closed that loophole (not that it is such).
    So now we have to be like Lord Blackadder and go out the window?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    Stocky said:

    TOPPING said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    TOPPING said:

    Good thread and absolutely.

    Can't help feeling that it needed a trigger warning for @Dura_Ace though.

    I had to have a Silkwood Shower after seeing Johnson's Halfords contraption.
    To google or not to google...
    Ha - I`m thinking exactly the same.

    I`m doing it ...
    Please share...if you dare.

    If it's a complex gearing system, that said, perhaps leave it.
  • The government will need to get on top of this quickly:
    https://twitter.com/MarcusRashford/status/1348740116701970439
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    Stocky said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    TOPPING said:

    Good thread and absolutely.

    Can't help feeling that it needed a trigger warning for @Dura_Ace though.

    I had to have a Silkwood Shower after seeing Johnson's Halfords contraption.
    Isn`t a Halford`s contraption an adequate, sufficient device for a short ride completely within the rules Dura Ace?
    A Halford’s contraption is much better for actually keeping fit, than some lightweight £5k triathlon special, among the general population who don’t want to go 30mph and don’t care about setting national records.
This discussion has been closed.