Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
This seems like the sort of thing the government should be throwing the kitchen sink at, yet I have seen surprisingly little effective advertising to convince people to get the vaccine.
If anti vaxxers really are apologising as they're hooked up to the machines, someone should get their consent to be filmed and put together a tv commercial that's just a hard hitting reel of people on their death beds telling people to get jabbed. And it should be running 24/7. Every ad break. Every youtube preroll. Saturation coverage.
Since it became apparent that the Omicron variant was both less virulent and spreading very easily and rapidly, the drive to get people vaccinated has eased right off - understandably, in my view, especially given its infectiousness. It's ripping through the population so quickly (indeed, so fast that it looks like we may already be through the peak caseload) that it's too late for the jabs to save most of the remaining unvaccinated people who are going to get it. Thus the incentive to hurry along has been removed. Or, to look at it another way, it was one thing to get the boosters through all the elderly, middle-aged and vulnerable people who hadn't yet had them and were desperate for their turn; now we're down to third jabs for unconcerned youngsters and trying to persuade the heel-diggers to have their firsts, the imperative simply isn't there anymore.
I've previously spoken of the possible benefits of mandatory vaccination, not for the sake of the refusers but to prevent the healthcare system from crashing and to avert the re-imposition of drastic lockdown measures that immiserate the whole community. Now that it's become apparent both that the pressure on the healthcare system from illness amongst the unvaccinated (as significant as it is) is not as drastic as was feared, and that lockdowns won't be making a comeback anyway because they don't work very well against Omicron, I'm content to allow the refusers to face the consequences of their choices.
There is arguably a place for coercive measures in a period of emergency where there is a clear and substantial threat to the community, or for people in a position of particular responsibility: I remain in favour of mandatory jabs for health and care staff, who can always avoid them by the expedient of quitting if they're really determined not to have them. However, things get a great deal more murky if we're contemplating subjecting the unwilling to medical interventions primarily for the sake of convenience, or saving money, or saving them from themselves. We could do wonders for the nation's health and the wider economy if only we forced everyone to get weighed each year and imposed punitive taxes on fat people, for example, but excessive state intrusion into people's private lives should give us all pause for thought.
A Russian invasion of Ukraine looks pretty imminent...
Based on what?
I was at lunch and one of my nervous friends opined the Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to the worst crisis since Cuba and we'd all be facing incineration by this time next month.
I'm much less convinced - Putin will be aware of significant non-military consequences if he moves into the whole of Ukraine. Strengthening the Russian hold around Dombass is a maybe but Russian tanks driving into Kiev - I still can't see it.
What I can't get my head around - although I am sure others will understand it better than I do - is why Putin decided to demand things he knows the West cannot deliver. He could have said that Ukraine was in the Russian sphere of influence and that the West had no right to interfere. NATO and the EU may not have liked that but they would not go to war over it. But the demand that NATO pull out of all the former Eastern Bloc countries was just fantasy. There is simply no way they would agree to that. There is no way under the Treaty they could. So why make such unacceptable demands?
EDIT: I reckon they knew the tsunami was coming (check the lifebelts) and they staged it all, trying to get the most hair-raising tsunami video. And they succeeded
I saw that on Reddit a few days ago.
It’s not today’s tsunami. Some idiot on Twitter. Seriously, why do people do this sort of thing?
I fear for this country having a former leader of the CPS as PM.
So you’re not worried about what’s going on now with several bills going through parliament . What exactly is Starmer likely to do that could be worse than what the Tories are doing ?
I'm not particlulary concerned about any bills no. Starmer having no ideology is much more dangerous than Boris will ever be.
You're not a Dual National then?
I don't think so - unless you're referring to me being Scottish/British
A Russian invasion of Ukraine looks pretty imminent...
Based on what?
I was at lunch and one of my nervous friends opined the Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to the worst crisis since Cuba and we'd all be facing incineration by this time next month.
I'm much less convinced - Putin will be aware of significant non-military consequences if he moves into the whole of Ukraine. Strengthening the Russian hold around Dombass is a maybe but Russian tanks driving into Kiev - I still can't see it.
What I can't get my head around - although I am sure others will understand it better than I do - is why Putin decided to demand things he knows the West cannot deliver. He could have said that Ukraine was in the Russian sphere of influence and that the West had no right to interfere. NATO and the EU may not have liked that but they would not go to war over it. But the demand that NATO pull out of all the former Eastern Bloc countries was just fantasy. There is simply no way they would agree to that. There is no way under the Treaty they could. So why make such unacceptable demands?
Because he's lost touch with reality and sees himself as heir to Peter the Great.
A Russian invasion of Ukraine looks pretty imminent...
Based on what?
I was at lunch and one of my nervous friends opined the Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to the worst crisis since Cuba and we'd all be facing incineration by this time next month.
I'm much less convinced - Putin will be aware of significant non-military consequences if he moves into the whole of Ukraine. Strengthening the Russian hold around Dombass is a maybe but Russian tanks driving into Kiev - I still can't see it.
What I can't get my head around - although I am sure others will understand it better than I do - is why Putin decided to demand things he knows the West cannot deliver. He could have said that Ukraine was in the Russian sphere of influence and that the West had no right to interfere. NATO and the EU may not have liked that but they would not go to war over it. But the demand that NATO pull out of all the former Eastern Bloc countries was just fantasy. There is simply no way they would agree to that. There is no way under the Treaty they could. So why make such unacceptable demands?
The two usual reasons are, because he is willing to settle for less, or because he wants to be turned down.
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
800 clinical and 200 non clinical at my Trust it seems.
April is a very bad month to have a baby.
800 clinical? Bloody hell.
Javid needs a way around this.
The simplest answer often the best. Quietly abandon mandatory vaccination for NHS workers next week alongside the end of Plan B measures and hope no one really notices...
Fuck 'em. If they're so blooming stoopid as not to get vaccinated for *reasons*, and are medical staff, then they should be nowhere near patients.
Never let them work in medicine again. See how they like working on a shelf-stackers wage at Tescos.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
Though Heath's achievement was unwound in time.
As for Johnson's...
I don't know where this 'Boris achieved Brexit' notion comes from. Dave called the referendum, the public voted Leave and Theresa triggered Article 50. Thereafter Brexit was nailed on. All Boris did was cobble together a rather naff EU trade agreement.
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
This seems like the sort of thing the government should be throwing the kitchen sink at, yet I have seen surprisingly little effective advertising to convince people to get the vaccine.
If anti vaxxers really are apologising as they're hooked up to the machines, someone should get their consent to be filmed and put together a tv commercial that's just a hard hitting reel of people on their death beds telling people to get jabbed. And it should be running 24/7. Every ad break. Every youtube preroll. Saturation coverage.
I agree.
I suppose the 'nudge' unit are telling them that saturation will make things worse, but feck it. At least it would make the rest of us feel something was being done about a group of people who seemed determined to force another lockdown on England if they can.
Again I am reminded of the way the Thatcher Government reacted to AIDS and decided to go for the hard sell.
Scaring the wits out of people works.
"Don't die of ignorance" would be just as apt a catchphrase now as it was back in the 80s.
I have no idea of actual numbers, but say, saturation adverts targeted at the anti-v refusers telling them they are going to die converts say 20%, but, it makes the other 80% even more determined to literally die in the ditch on this (well ICU anyway) - is that worse than now?
I fear for this country having a former leader of the CPS as PM.
So you’re not worried about what’s going on now with several bills going through parliament . What exactly is Starmer likely to do that could be worse than what the Tories are doing ?
I'm not particlulary concerned about any bills no. Starmer having no ideology is much more dangerous than Boris will ever be.
You're not a Dual National then?
I don't think so - unless you're referring to me being Scottish/British
No I wasn't. I'm a Dual National though (British/French), and if Priti "Gays shouldn't have the right to get married" Patel gets her way, she'll be able to strip me of my British citizenship on a whim without the courtesy of telling me.
EDIT: I reckon they knew the tsunami was coming (check the lifebelts) and they staged it all, trying to get the most hair-raising tsunami video. And they succeeded
I saw that on Reddit a few days ago.
It’s not today’s tsunami. Some idiot on Twitter. Seriously, why do people do this sort of thing?
See below, looks like it's a tidal bore in Indonesia not the Tongan tsunami. That chimes with the hijab on the girl - Muslim?
That also explains why they take the risk. It's not as bad as it looks. A bore is predictable, you basically know what it will do. Doing this with a tsunami would be insane, you have no idea how bad it will be, there could easily be wave after wave and you drown quite horribly
Nonetheless I still have a sneaking admiration for the girl with the selfie stick. Takes some courage, however crazy
EDIT: I reckon they knew the tsunami was coming (check the lifebelts) and they staged it all, trying to get the most hair-raising tsunami video. And they succeeded
I saw that on Reddit a few days ago.
It’s not today’s tsunami. Some idiot on Twitter. Seriously, why do people do this sort of thing?
Labour’s @RachelReevesMP says @thefabians conference that a govt led by Keir Starmer would take firms who failed to deliver on PPE contracts during the Covid crisis to court so the Treasury gets the cash back
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
800 clinical and 200 non clinical at my Trust it seems.
April is a very bad month to have a baby.
800 clinical? Bloody hell.
Javid needs a way around this.
The simplest answer often the best. Quietly abandon mandatory vaccination for NHS workers next week alongside the end of Plan B measures and hope no one really notices...
I don't think that the Government will back down. It would require ministers to explain (a) why the heel-diggers in the care sector have already been got rid of when, by the logic of letting the NHS off the hook, this was not necessary, and (b) why vaccination to protect often very vulnerable patients no longer matters. There's also only so much mileage to be got from the "Omicron has changed everything" excuse, given that the Government was in a total flap (and rightly so) about getting the general population through their boosters before Christmas.
Johnson might possibly be flexible (or shameless) enough to waffle his way out of such an obvious volte face, but I don't think that Javid will do it.
I fear for this country having a former leader of the CPS as PM.
So you’re not worried about what’s going on now with several bills going through parliament . What exactly is Starmer likely to do that could be worse than what the Tories are doing ?
I'm not particlulary concerned about any bills no. Starmer having no ideology is much more dangerous than Boris will ever be.
You're not a Dual National then?
I don't think so - unless you're referring to me being Scottish/British
No I wasn't. I am a Dual National though (British/French), and if Priti "Gays shouldn't have the right to get married" Patel gets her way, she'll be able to strip me of my British citizenship on a whim without the courtesy of telling me.
Does sound a bit harsh.
Perhaps if the media hadn't been so busy Boris bashing I would have known more about it and cared about it a bit more.
Inflation watch: my regular buy uncle bens microwave rice has just increased in price by 15% at Tesco. Raging.
It’s Ben’s, not Uncle Bens. Name changed for the same reason Aunt Jemima products were changed. Tilda packs are still a quid. Still a quid in Sainsbury’s too
The latest poll is not just the largest Labour lead we have recorded this parliament, but the largest Labour lead in any @OpiniumResearch poll since October 2013.
Just perusing the 10/1 about Everton and wondering.
Do it, if Everton go down, you'll have money to drown your sorrows.
Today plumbed new depths. We've had a crippling time with injuries, true. But we're back to close to full strength (as near as any can hope to be at this time of year). Yet we were totally outplayed by Norwich.
When were Everton last relegated? I think it is unlikely myself.
Benitez will go, but it isn't him that's the problem. Something toxic is going on.
The two Premiership teams I always hope to lose are Everton and Chelsea. It’s because Glasgow Rangers types support them.
Most Rangers fans I know support Liverpool as their EPL team.
The Prime Minister’s net approval rating has fallen to -42, down from -24 a week ago. This is same as the worst score we recorded for Theresa May in May 2019.
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
800 clinical and 200 non clinical at my Trust it seems.
April is a very bad month to have a baby.
800 clinical? Bloody hell.
Javid needs a way around this.
The simplest answer often the best. Quietly abandon mandatory vaccination for NHS workers next week alongside the end of Plan B measures and hope no one really notices...
Fuck 'em. If they're so blooming stoopid as not to get vaccinated for *reasons*, and are medical staff, then they should be nowhere near patients.
Never let them work in medicine again. See how they like working on a shelf-stackers wage at Tescos.
Nose spite my to face cut off my.
Who you going to replace them with Genius? Nurses from China. Doctors from Eastern Europe?
Labour’s @RachelReevesMP says @thefabians conference that a govt led by Keir Starmer would take firms who failed to deliver on PPE contracts during the Covid crisis to court so the Treasury gets the cash back
Meanwhile, Starmer’s net approval rating is +4, almost unchanged from the +3 we recorded last week. However, this is the highest % we have seen approving of the job he is doing since before last year’s local elections
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
I don't think that Javid will back down on this (the principle of mandatory vaccination to protect vulnerable people) and a lot of the heel-diggers won't back down, either. So, lots of sackings coming in a health service that's already desperately short-staffed.
Don't know if this, in and of itself, will be politically important though. The wave of departures from the care sector over vaccine refuser sentiment didn't cause much blow-back, after all. And Labour will find it hard to attack the Government over these sackings without making it look as if they're more interested in the obstinacy of the workforce than the welfare of the patients.
My hunch is it won’t be that many doctors. I’d hope they are more sensible. But we will see.
Midwives are notoriously anti-medical. Much harder to cover too as the work won't wait.
The social care staffing issue is a large part of why we cannot discharge, and hospitals are full.
Labour’s @RachelReevesMP says @thefabians conference that a govt led by Keir Starmer would take firms who failed to deliver on PPE contracts during the Covid crisis to court so the Treasury gets the cash back
Labour’s @RachelReevesMP says @thefabians conference that a govt led by Keir Starmer would take firms who failed to deliver on PPE contracts during the Covid crisis to court so the Treasury gets the cash back
I imagine the real fly by night individuals set up a dedicated company for this opportunity and have long since taken the money out of it and shut it down. And will be able to claim excpetional circumstances, conned by Chinese companies who sent faked goods or bait and switched.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
"Achievement" is such an inappropriate word for Johnson's adventure with Europe. Perhaps "legacy"?
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
800 clinical and 200 non clinical at my Trust it seems.
April is a very bad month to have a baby.
800 clinical? Bloody hell.
Javid needs a way around this.
The simplest answer often the best. Quietly abandon mandatory vaccination for NHS workers next week alongside the end of Plan B measures and hope no one really notices...
Fuck 'em. If they're so blooming stoopid as not to get vaccinated for *reasons*, and are medical staff, then they should be nowhere near patients.
Never let them work in medicine again. See how they like working on a shelf-stackers wage at Tescos.
Nose spite my to face cut off my.
Who you going to replace them with Genius? Nurses from China. Doctors from Eastern Europe?
Or shelf stickers from Tesco
Yes, that's an issue. But it is one that will sort itself out in the end.
On the other hand: I really would rather not get treatment from someone so stupid as not to get vaccinated. What else are they making bad medical judgment calls on? They evidently don't care much for their patients, either.
The latest @OpiniumResearch / @ObserverUK poll shows a Labour lead of 10 points, up from 5 points a week ago.
Con 31% (-3) Lab 41% (+2) Lib Dem 9% (-2) Green 6% (+1)
Changes on 5-7 January.
What should worry the Tories is that Labour appear to have exorcized the ghost of Corbyn. Despite Boris's current PR disasters, I can't believe Labour would be getting these numbers if Jezza and Momentum were still strongly linked to the Labour brand. Sir Keir might now be in the position where he merely has to count the days.
Hey, Rochdale, sorry to hear about your Mom, glad she's doing better - she's lucky to have you there for her.
Re: health & public safety service & COVID, in particular Omicron surge, a HUGE problem in UK, US and no doubt elsewhere right now.
Looking down the roads, would seem there will be a correspondingly big need to recruit and train an new cadre of nurses, docs, cops, EMTs, etc., etc to refill the ranks and reestablish key services for the brave new world ahead - in possible (and it is) on a better, higher level.
Sunak the only alternative Tory leader to Boris more voters think would make a good than bad PM Opinium finds. Though still less than half, 45%, think he would make a good PM.
Hunt, Javid, Truss, Gove and Patel all have more voters thinking they would make bad than good PMs
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
"Achievement" is such an inappropriate word for Johnson's adventure with Europe. Perhaps "legacy"?
Many of us would say the same about Heath and his European legacy.
The Prime Minister’s net approval rating has fallen to -42, down from -24 a week ago. This is same as the worst score we recorded for Theresa May in May 2019.
Approve 22% (-8) Disapprove 64% (+10)
Changes on 5-7 January.
Surely no one has ever fallen from achieving a big landslide to approval ratings like that anywhere nearly as quickly?
This is Starmer’s largest lead to date, beating his previous 7 point lead from early December.
Also noticeable is the fact Starmer's polling hasn't budged. 30. Not amazing
Whereas "None" is leading both by 6 and combined with DK = 49%!!
This strongly suggests that if the Tories can find a plausible leader who Is Not Boris and Never Went To A Lockdown Party, then they could quite easily move back into the lead. But they need to do it soonish, I imagine
The Prime Minister’s net approval rating has fallen to -42, down from -24 a week ago. This is same as the worst score we recorded for Theresa May in May 2019.
Approve 22% (-8) Disapprove 64% (+10)
Changes on 5-7 January.
Surely no one has ever fallen from achieving a big landslide to approval ratings like that anywhere nearly as quickly?
I'm on my mobile, I think Thatcher did between 1983 and early 1986 (Westland).
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
This seems like the sort of thing the government should be throwing the kitchen sink at, yet I have seen surprisingly little effective advertising to convince people to get the vaccine.
If anti vaxxers really are apologising as they're hooked up to the machines, someone should get their consent to be filmed and put together a tv commercial that's just a hard hitting reel of people on their death beds telling people to get jabbed. And it should be running 24/7. Every ad break. Every youtube preroll. Saturation coverage.
I agree.
I suppose the 'nudge' unit are telling them that saturation will make things worse, but feck it. At least it would make the rest of us feel something was being done about a group of people who seemed determined to force another lockdown on England if they can.
Again I am reminded of the way the Thatcher Government reacted to AIDS and decided to go for the hard sell.
Scaring the wits out of people works.
"Don't die of ignorance" would be just as apt a catchphrase now as it was back in the 80s.
I have no idea of actual numbers, but say, saturation adverts targeted at the anti-v refusers telling them they are going to die converts say 20%, but, it makes the other 80% even more determined to literally die in the ditch on this (well ICU anyway) - is that worse than now?
No, it's better. Because you have saved 20% of them. The other 80% were probably never going to be persuaded whatever was said.
The Prime Minister’s net approval rating has fallen to -42, down from -24 a week ago. This is same as the worst score we recorded for Theresa May in May 2019.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
"Achievement" is such an inappropriate word for Johnson's adventure with Europe. Perhaps "legacy"?
Well, we may have to wait for a few decades to see whether Brexit lasts longer than our membership of the EEC/EU.
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
800 clinical and 200 non clinical at my Trust it seems.
April is a very bad month to have a baby.
800 clinical? Bloody hell.
Javid needs a way around this.
The simplest answer often the best. Quietly abandon mandatory vaccination for NHS workers next week alongside the end of Plan B measures and hope no one really notices...
Fuck 'em. If they're so blooming stoopid as not to get vaccinated for *reasons*, and are medical staff, then they should be nowhere near patients.
Never let them work in medicine again. See how they like working on a shelf-stackers wage at Tescos.
Nose spite my to face cut off my.
Who you going to replace them with Genius? Nurses from China. Doctors from Eastern Europe?
Or shelf stickers from Tesco
Yes, that's an issue. But it is one that will sort itself out in the end.
On the other hand: I really would rather not get treatment from someone so stupid as not to get vaccinated. What else are they making bad medical judgment calls on? They evidently don't care much for their patients, either.
Your short term option is maybe risk an unvaccinated person or find there is nobody to treat you at all.
This sort of policy is fine where there is an infinite supply of qualified vaccinated clinicians.
Long term we train people and make it contractual requirement to be vaccinated short term we can't as there are already massive vacancies
The Prime Minister’s net approval rating has fallen to -42, down from -24 a week ago. This is same as the worst score we recorded for Theresa May in May 2019.
Approve 22% (-8) Disapprove 64% (+10)
Changes on 5-7 January.
Surely no one has ever fallen from achieving a big landslide to approval ratings like that anywhere nearly as quickly?
Noone has ever made quite the arse of themselves that Boris has before either.
I will say though that not everything lumped his way is entirely fair, and he is being ganged-up upon by the media. Nonetheless it's a piss-poor performance.
Labour’s @RachelReevesMP says @thefabians conference that a govt led by Keir Starmer would take firms who failed to deliver on PPE contracts during the Covid crisis to court so the Treasury gets the cash back
Hey, Rochdale, sorry to hear about your Mom, glad she's doing better - she's lucky to have you there for her.
Re: health & public safety service & COVID, in particular Omicron surge, a HUGE problem in UK, US and no doubt elsewhere right now.
Looking down the roads, would seem there will be a correspondingly big need to recruit and train an new cadre of nurses, docs, cops, EMTs, etc., etc to refill the ranks and reestablish key services for the brave new world ahead - in possible (and it is) on a better, higher level.
We need more NHS spending. End of. We were caught with our pants down, and have just scraped through.
But the NHS is not the only area that needs help; most of the public sector does.
And that means we're going to need some hefty tax rises. Any party that tries to deny this is lying - and I would prefer parties to be honest about the necessity.
Having accepted that, my vote in the next GE will probably come down to one thing: which party do I trust most to spend the money wisely?
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
"Achievement" is such an inappropriate word for Johnson's adventure with Europe. Perhaps "legacy"?
I cannot recall a PM suffer a leader ratings drop like that in a week.
Gordon Brown in October 2007 is nearest I can recall.
A couple of people on here said it earlier in the week. People hate hypocrisy. It’s not just the usual suspects who are attacking Johnson.
That, and the insult to the Queen.
The coincidence in scheduling for last rites of Queens's Consort and Boris hosting his backyard bacchanalia by itself is proof positive, that the PM and his entire cabal from cabinet to chambermaid are WAY to freaking stupid to poor piss from a boot, let alone run a government.
The latest @OpiniumResearch / @ObserverUK poll shows a Labour lead of 10 points, up from 5 points a week ago.
Con 31% (-3) Lab 41% (+2) Lib Dem 9% (-2) Green 6% (+1)
Changes on 5-7 January.
What should worry the Tories is that Labour appear to have exorcized the ghost of Corbyn. Despite Boris's current PR disasters, I can't believe Labour would be getting these numbers if Jezza and Momentum were still strongly linked to the Labour brand. Sir Keir might now be in the position where he merely has to count the days.
Quite right. Like all rational voters I have no idea how I will vote in a GE, but if asked today I would say Labour. That would be the first time this millennium. The appearance of a Black Swan has arrived, though not yet landed and confirmed. That Boris, who we all knew can get away with almost anything, should be sunk by a failure to comprehend the optics of something transparent to a 9 year old and requiring minimal self discipline - much less than is required to become PM in the first place - is amazing.
Properly of course the Black Swan event would be a Labour victory. A Lab led centre left victory has always been a strong possibility. Neither has yet happened and as of today, of the various choices a Tory victory outright is the bookies favourite (15/8) with 3/1 the field.
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
800 clinical and 200 non clinical at my Trust it seems.
April is a very bad month to have a baby.
800 clinical? Bloody hell.
Javid needs a way around this.
The simplest answer often the best. Quietly abandon mandatory vaccination for NHS workers next week alongside the end of Plan B measures and hope no one really notices...
Fuck 'em. If they're so blooming stoopid as not to get vaccinated for *reasons*, and are medical staff, then they should be nowhere near patients.
Never let them work in medicine again. See how they like working on a shelf-stackers wage at Tescos.
Nose spite my to face cut off my.
Who you going to replace them with Genius? Nurses from China. Doctors from Eastern Europe?
Or shelf stickers from Tesco
Yes, that's an issue. But it is one that will sort itself out in the end.
On the other hand: I really would rather not get treatment from someone so stupid as not to get vaccinated. What else are they making bad medical judgment calls on? They evidently don't care much for their patients, either.
Your short term option is maybe risk an unvaccinated person or find there is nobody to treat you at all.
This sort of policy is fine where there is an infinite supply of qualified vaccinated clinicians.
Long term we train people and make it contractual requirement to be vaccinated short term we can't as there are already massive vacancies
As I said, fuck 'em. They've chosen to be unvaccinated. They've made this stupid, insane decision, in perhaps the occupation where it is most beneficial - for themselves and their patients.
I repeat: if they cannot even do the right thing on vaccination, I cannot trust them to do the right thing with my treatment. We're better off not having them. And the consequences for the health service are on them.
This is Starmer’s largest lead to date, beating his previous 7 point lead from early December.
Also noticeable is the fact Starmer's polling hasn't budged. 30. Not amazing
Whereas "None" is leading both by 6 and combined with DK = 49%!!
This strongly suggests that if the Tories can find a plausible leader who Is Not Boris and Never Went To A Lockdown Party, then they could quite easily move back into the lead. But they need to do it soonish, I imagine
I think it's a long road back. The background of a relatively poor (although improving) Labour party, and a completely hopeless LD party (at least their leader) should mean it's impossible to lose support at this rate. Unfortunately it's all about distaste. (I've layed most seats and overall majority - hard to see the chances improving in either, and they may get worse)
Labour’s @RachelReevesMP says @thefabians conference that a govt led by Keir Starmer would take firms who failed to deliver on PPE contracts during the Covid crisis to court so the Treasury gets the cash back
Hey, Rochdale, sorry to hear about your Mom, glad she's doing better - she's lucky to have you there for her.
Re: health & public safety service & COVID, in particular Omicron surge, a HUGE problem in UK, US and no doubt elsewhere right now.
Looking down the roads, would seem there will be a correspondingly big need to recruit and train an new cadre of nurses, docs, cops, EMTs, etc., etc to refill the ranks and reestablish key services for the brave new world ahead - in possible (and it is) on a better, higher level.
We need more NHS spending. End of. We were caught with our pants down, and have just scraped through.
But the NHS is not the only area that needs help; most of the public sector does.
And that means we're going to need some hefty tax rises. Any party that tries to deny this is lying - and I would prefer parties to be honest about the necessity.
Having accepted that, my vote in the next GE will probably come down to one thing: which party do I trust most to spend the money wisely?
Listen to R4 Today programme. Every day loads of people want more spent on each and every matter. They, like the above post, need costing. Until then they are fanciful wish lists.
We currently have max debt, max tax, max borrowing, max government spending. So how much more, and from whom?
Hey, Rochdale, sorry to hear about your Mom, glad she's doing better - she's lucky to have you there for her.
Re: health & public safety service & COVID, in particular Omicron surge, a HUGE problem in UK, US and no doubt elsewhere right now.
Looking down the roads, would seem there will be a correspondingly big need to recruit and train an new cadre of nurses, docs, cops, EMTs, etc., etc to refill the ranks and reestablish key services for the brave new world ahead - in possible (and it is) on a better, higher level.
We need more NHS spending. End of. We were caught with our pants down, and have just scraped through.
But the NHS is not the only area that needs help; most of the public sector does.
And that means we're going to need some hefty tax rises. Any party that tries to deny this is lying - and I would prefer parties to be honest about the necessity.
Having accepted that, my vote in the next GE will probably come down to one thing: which party do I trust most to spend the money wisely?
I think the nhs needs more surge capacity. Paring everything to the bone might impress management, but it’s no good when the black swan turns up. As a country we need an honest discussion about a lot of stuff. Tax, and how much we spend on health and social care are top of the list.
Genuine thoughts and prayers for the Tory councillors up for election this May, they are the bloody infantry of the party.
Boris Johnson = Douglas Haig
There will still be fewer Tory councillors losing their seats than 2019 on this poll when there were more up and the Tories only got a 28% NEV
Yes, they probably can't do worse than that. The losses will be heavily concentrated in northern metropolitan boroughs like Trafford but they won't lose too many seats. I can't see the Tories doing worse than 25% in London for example, which is not much lower than the 26.4% they got in 2014 or the 28.8% they got in 2018.
They could still hold Barnet and even Wandsworth ( Labour mysteriously underperformed there in a recent by election).
I'm some ways I feel this round of elections is more critical for the LDs who really need to get a NEV of 20%.
Hey, Rochdale, sorry to hear about your Mom, glad she's doing better - she's lucky to have you there for her.
Re: health & public safety service & COVID, in particular Omicron surge, a HUGE problem in UK, US and no doubt elsewhere right now.
Looking down the roads, would seem there will be a correspondingly big need to recruit and train an new cadre of nurses, docs, cops, EMTs, etc., etc to refill the ranks and reestablish key services for the brave new world ahead - in possible (and it is) on a better, higher level.
We need more NHS spending. End of. We were caught with our pants down, and have just scraped through.
But the NHS is not the only area that needs help; most of the public sector does.
And that means we're going to need some hefty tax rises. Any party that tries to deny this is lying - and I would prefer parties to be honest about the necessity.
Having accepted that, my vote in the next GE will probably come down to one thing: which party do I trust most to spend the money wisely?
Listen to R4 Today programme. Every day loads of people want more spent on each and every matter. They, like the above post, need costing. Until then they are fanciful wish lists.
We currently have max debt, max tax, max borrowing, max government spending. So how much more, and from whom?
I know where you're coming from, and I'm not the usual increase-taxes improve-services type.
But something has to give. I also disagree that we're at either 'max tax' or 'max government spending'.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
Ted Heath took us into Europe yet is barely remembered. Even PB Tories talk only of Heath "sulking".
Conservative politicians should be talking about how they made the right decisions about Omicron and how the economy and society benefitted from it while demanding the removal of all remaining restrictions.
Instead they're having to deal with the consequences of stupidity and immaturity from Downing Street.
Ironic isn't it.
Yet that plank jn Wales called it a ‘dangerous experiment’.
The Welsh and Scottish administrations got it wrong and sacrificed their hospitality industry at the critical time of year for those businesses to own the Tories. They failed. The press needs to hold them to account.
You mean apart from BBC Scotland amplifying the complaints of every hospitality representative and their granny day in and day out, or sending camera crews to follow any partying Jock they could find in Carlisle on 31/12/21?
Am I wrong, or is PB full of people who think that Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon ordered the pub doors to be welded up?
You are not wrong.
Some not-taking-the-SNP-to-account from a surprising source.
Pretty amazing coming from Leask.
I think Leask’s been pretty turned off by the riper end of Cyberbritnattery, and he feels validated by the splitting off of Wings from mainstream Indy support. Wouldn’t put him in our camp yet but a rare open mind on the Herald is to be welcomed.
Oh for the days of Bell and McIlvanney.
Indeed, the Herald used to be a great paper. Loved the Diary and Jack McLean.
BREAKING: The people being investigated by police for dressing up as Boris Johnson outside Downing Street have explained someone dressed up as Sue Gray is investigating them first and if she doesn't find evidence of criminality, the Met can't do anything x
Comments
I've previously spoken of the possible benefits of mandatory vaccination, not for the sake of the refusers but to prevent the healthcare system from crashing and to avert the re-imposition of drastic lockdown measures that immiserate the whole community. Now that it's become apparent both that the pressure on the healthcare system from illness amongst the unvaccinated (as significant as it is) is not as drastic as was feared, and that lockdowns won't be making a comeback anyway because they don't work very well against Omicron, I'm content to allow the refusers to face the consequences of their choices.
There is arguably a place for coercive measures in a period of emergency where there is a clear and substantial threat to the community, or for people in a position of particular responsibility: I remain in favour of mandatory jabs for health and care staff, who can always avoid them by the expedient of quitting if they're really determined not to have them. However, things get a great deal more murky if we're contemplating subjecting the unwilling to medical interventions primarily for the sake of convenience, or saving money, or saving them from themselves. We could do wonders for the nation's health and the wider economy if only we forced everyone to get weighed each year and imposed punitive taxes on fat people, for example, but excessive state intrusion into people's private lives should give us all pause for thought.
https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-face-masks-make-people-look-more-attractive-study-suggests-12515676
It’s not today’s tsunami. Some idiot on Twitter. Seriously, why do people do this sort of thing?
Never let them work in medicine again. See how they like working on a shelf-stackers wage at Tescos.
I fear there may be worse to come thanks to the complacency of Bailey et al.
Wow.
It was about a 1mb jump (followed by a 2mb drop) so it should be easily visible on traces across the UK. From half a world away...
That also explains why they take the risk. It's not as bad as it looks. A bore is predictable, you basically know what it will do. Doing this with a tsunami would be insane, you have no idea how bad it will be, there could easily be wave after wave and you drown quite horribly
Nonetheless I still have a sneaking admiration for the girl with the selfie stick. Takes some courage, however crazy
Labour’s @RachelReevesMP says @thefabians conference that a govt led by Keir Starmer would take firms who failed to deliver on PPE contracts during the Covid crisis to court so the Treasury gets the cash back
https://twitter.com/REWearmouth/status/1482389809469534216
And NOT just because of the Bay of Fundy?
Johnson might possibly be flexible (or shameless) enough to waffle his way out of such an obvious volte face, but I don't think that Javid will do it.
Perhaps if the media hadn't been so busy Boris bashing I would have known more about it and cared about it a bit more.
NEW POLL
The latest
@OpiniumResearch
/
@ObserverUK
poll shows a Labour lead of 10 points, up from 5 points a week ago.
Con 31% (-3)
Lab 41% (+2)
Lib Dem 9% (-2)
Green 6% (+1)
Changes on 5-7 January.
The Prime Minister’s net approval rating has fallen to -42, down from -24 a week ago. This is same as the worst score we recorded for Theresa May in May 2019.
Approve 22% (-8)
Disapprove 64% (+10)
Changes on 5-7 January.
Gordon Brown in October 2007 is nearest I can recall.
Who you going to replace them with Genius? Nurses from China. Doctors from Eastern Europe?
Or shelf stickers from Tesco
I expect it’s a good headline grabber but once you get into the detail there will be little coming back.
Approve 36% (+2)
Disapprover 32% (+1)
Changes on 5-7 January
The social care staffing issue is a large part of why we cannot discharge, and hospitals are full.
>76% think Johnson broke the rules (including 72% of Tory voters)
>64% think the PM isn’t telling the truth (including 50% of Tory voters)
>67% think the police should investigate (including 52% of Tory voters)
Starmer now holds a 9 point lead on the question of who would make the best Prime Minister.
Johnson 21% (-6)
Starmer 30% (-)
None 36% (+4)
Don’t know 13% (+2)
Changes on 5-7 January.
This is Starmer’s largest lead to date, beating his previous 7 point lead from early December.
On the other hand: I really would rather not get treatment from someone so stupid as not to get vaccinated. What else are they making bad medical judgment calls on? They evidently don't care much for their patients, either.
Boris Johnson = Douglas Haig
Re: health & public safety service & COVID, in particular Omicron surge, a HUGE problem in UK, US and no doubt elsewhere right now.
Looking down the roads, would seem there will be a correspondingly big need to recruit and train an new cadre of nurses, docs, cops, EMTs, etc., etc to refill the ranks and reestablish key services for the brave new world ahead - in possible (and it is) on a better, higher level.
63% now think the Prime Minister should resign, nearly three times the 22% who think he should remain as Conservative Party leader.
48% of those who voted Conservative in 2019 think he should go, with just 37% thinking he should stay.
Hunt, Javid, Truss, Gove and Patel all have more voters thinking they would make bad than good PMs
https://twitter.com/OpiniumResearch/status/1482444647351865353?s=20
Whereas "None" is leading both by 6 and combined with DK = 49%!!
This strongly suggests that if the Tories can find a plausible leader who Is Not Boris and Never Went To A Lockdown Party, then they could quite easily move back into the lead. But they need to do it soonish, I imagine
This sort of policy is fine where there is an infinite supply of qualified vaccinated clinicians.
Long term we train people and make it contractual requirement to be vaccinated short term we can't as there are already massive vacancies
I will say though that not everything lumped his way is entirely fair, and he is being ganged-up upon by the media. Nonetheless it's a piss-poor performance.
Or was it timing rather than number of doses which the vaxxed population got the benefit from this wave?
But the NHS is not the only area that needs help; most of the public sector does.
And that means we're going to need some hefty tax rises. Any party that tries to deny this is lying - and I would prefer parties to be honest about the necessity.
Having accepted that, my vote in the next GE will probably come down to one thing: which party do I trust most to spend the money wisely?
The appearance of a Black Swan has arrived, though not yet landed and confirmed. That Boris, who we all knew can get away with almost anything, should be sunk by a failure to comprehend the optics of something transparent to a 9 year old and requiring minimal self discipline - much less than is required to become PM in the first place - is amazing.
Properly of course the Black Swan event would be a Labour victory. A Lab led centre left victory has always been a strong possibility. Neither has yet happened and as of today, of the various choices a Tory victory outright is the bookies favourite (15/8) with 3/1 the field.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b09gz5nz
I repeat: if they cannot even do the right thing on vaccination, I cannot trust them to do the right thing with my treatment. We're better off not having them. And the consequences for the health service are on them.
NEW THREAD
We currently have max debt, max tax, max borrowing, max government spending. So how much more, and from whom?
As a country we need an honest discussion about a lot of stuff. Tax, and how much we spend on health and social care are top of the list.
They could still hold Barnet and even Wandsworth ( Labour mysteriously underperformed there in a recent by election).
I'm some ways I feel this round of elections is more critical for the LDs who really need to get a NEV of 20%.
But something has to give. I also disagree that we're at either 'max tax' or 'max government spending'.
https://twitter.com/BBCLauraKT/status/1482344032772792323