I’ve just read that Boris Johnson has been taken into intensive care.
Now, I’ve no time for the man. As a politician, he’s a complete incompetent, absolutely lacking in judgement, almost as bad as Trump. As a person, he’s a downright unpleasant racist, homophobe and overgrown posh boy with a dubious past in dealing with people. An utter clown of a man.
Looking back I’ve had my differences with most prime ministers in the UK over the last 30 years. Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, but, at a time of crisis any of them would have been a better bet than Johnson.
However, I wouldn’t wish COVID19 on my worst enemy.
So tonight, I wish Boris Johnson, (along with everyone else in the country and across the world who has fallen victim to the awful disease), all the very best in the fight against the virus and a speedy and complete recovery.
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
BUTT if he needs a ventilator they will have one on hand.
The numbers suggest it is a 50/50 outcome IF the use of a ventilator.
Like you I’d like everyone who gets this to recover but 5000 deaths so far suggest it’s not a foregone conclusion.
Reminds me of an incident a few years ago in the flying world where a duplicate instrument was declared non essential but the primary failed.
The person that declared the instrument non essential was the pilot.
So the initial ‘herd immunity’ decision and his ego may contribute to the outcome.
Hope if he recovers he then finds the truth that he’s just a human and not superman.
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Yes. I’m sure there will always be a ventilator for anyone “important”.
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What’s the chance of a random normal person getting a ventilator at the moment?
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I’m not sure. In Scotland not too bad, at least at Ninewells, so my doctor mate was saying… at least a week or so ago.
Not so good in England. and certainly not London where there are so many cases.
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I believe Munguin has his own ventilator.
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Several, actually 🙂
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Like you, I don’t wish this bug on anybody and there’s a very good chance he’s fighting for his life right now. That aside and in the cold light of practicality however, his potential replacements are all talent free, and terrifying. Are they more talent free and terrifying than him, well that’s another question? At any rate should Boris Johnson’s luck have finally run out we’ll end up with another self serving clueless pile of misery getting their strings pulled by those in the wings.
There’ll no doubt be a bit of manoeuvring in progress already. No one, perish the thought, wants the worst to happen but it’s jolly sensible to be prepared should worst fears come to pass. Life goes on, this great nation needs (insert name here) at the helm steering Battleship Blighty through the storm to come toward a better Britain, promoting the national (rich peoples) interest, forging trade deals, getting Brexit done, etc, etc….. rhubarb, rhubarb😭🤮
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I seriously can’t think of one of them that is even slightly talented in leadership.
Raab is a vaccuous idiot. Other senior figures as bad. Patel is plain evil. The chancellor I don’t know much about yet. He brought in lot of measures but I don’t think any of them is working.
I can’t help but think that this is a time for national government and Starmer and Blackford should be involved.
I think they should put their political differences on one side and try to work together.
And the Northern Irish should be involved.
I’d prefer an independent Scotland working with the EU, but things are the way they are.
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As the PM is appointed by “One”, maybe “One” will appoint a non politician, such as A Salmond for example.
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The irony of the situation does not escape me.
He is Leader of the Party which applied Austerity on the NHS as aethod of defunding it so as privatise it and make some filthy lucre for themselves
They knew the NHS could not withstand a SARS like epidemic and needed thousands of respirators and millions of PPEas well as strategic chemicals for tests
They filed it in the bin and continued their merry way to make loads of money for themselves
Now Johnson’s life may well on the line and a hollowed out NHS hospital and staff are battling to save his life.
The irony does not escape me.
Socialised medicine is vital in the modern World and the US extreme capitalist model is broken.
Something good might come from this but these bottom feeding Tories will still press on with their pillage.
They represent the suicide stampede of the Buffalo I to the canton.
Scotland must break the Union and leave England to its delusions
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Absolutely BtP. I never use the word hate, but the so-called outpouring of grief for this frankly repulsive individual is , for me at least, vomit inducing. They, the tories, and their fellow travellers at Westminster, have reduced the E.N.H.S to a shadow of its former self. That, coupled with the ongoing destruction of what used to be described as the Welfare State, leaving the most vulnerable in our society even more at risk during this pandemic. So no, while I don’t wish for his death, I hope he, and his like, suffer as much as real people are having to do during this emergency.
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I think that my feelings are that it doesn’t matter who the person is, whether it’s Prince Charmless or Johnson, old Mrs McGinty at number 37 or some bloke living in Montevideo, you don’t, as a rule, wish suffering on anyone.
But I 100% agree that the way that they have decimated the NHS, particularly in England, and sold chunks of it off to make profits for their mates, is deplorable.
There’s very little to be proud of in the UK, but the health service WAS an exception.
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I dunno if this is true, but I reckon that if people in Scotland were asked what they appreciate most, I think there’s a fair chance that they would say, the health service.
What has happened to it over the last ten years is nothing by comparison to what happened to the English health service, according to some of my mates who live there.
When I was a kid I had an elderly relative who remembered what it was like before the NHS was introduced. He remembered that the man of the house got to see the doctor if it was serious. He was the bread winner and without him everyone went hungry. The the kids got seen. They after all, were the pension for when the parents were too old to work.
Finally the woman was seen, if there was enough money to pay for the consultation and then medicine.
Imagine being illo but not being able to afford to call the doctor.
But yes, it’s definitely what at least some of the Tories would like.
And we all know how many Tories Scotland voted in.
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Kismet
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It’s not really, Niko.
After all, the Tories may have cut the NHS, but Johnson was still admitted to hospital “as a precaution”.
Not many others are getting that.
OK, in fairness, the statement put out by Downing Street was probably a lie.
In any case, Johnson is so well off that he could easily have paid for his treatment.
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Is there nothing in British law that specifies how the governing executive power is exercised when the PM is incapacitated? In this case, it’s reported that Johnson had time to “deputize” the Foreign Secretary to function in that capacity “where necessary.” Seems like a very informal and offhand way to handle it, especially if a national emergency is involved. There’s the pandemic emergency……and for that matter who has the nuclear codes?
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I agree with your commendable sentiments. I don’t like him, his government, attitude, ethos or personality either, but not to wish him well at this moment would be churlish and inhuman. So I wish him all the very best!
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Is Johnson human or is he a botched master race breeding program that includes Trump.
There are certain visual markers
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Well, BTP, if they are, it went horribly wrong.
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Exactly.
You can hate someone’s politics and their complete unsuitability for the job which can directly affect you, but still not wish them personal harm.
I’m always struck by how utterly silly some of the moon howlers are on Twitter when they wish misfortune on Nicola.
You can guarantee that they have around 7 followers.
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Apparently not
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No, Danny, the “flexible” British constitution, which they make up as they go along, doesn’t (strangely for a class-ridden society) actually have a laid out pecking order.
Clearly, the PM is at the top, and the “great offices of state” are Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary, but none is automatically designated survivor.
John Major had a deputy PM, Michael Heseltine, Cameron had Nick Clegg because of the coalition.
Dominic Raab, a rather vacuous character, but a massive supporter of Brexit, was for reasons known only to Dominic Cummings (the PM’s puppet master), named First Secretary in this clown show.
I assume that is as near Deputy Prime Minister as anyone was likely to get.
Each PM does as he likes over the positions.
In Scotland we have a Deputy First Minister.
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Tris……Yes, I had a hunch that they were just making it up as they go along. 😉
Having two Dominics running around is confusing BTW!
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I reckon it will be confusing for them too, Danny.
Certainly for Raab.
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As above “One” could intervene and make an appointment if necessary.
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A royal “one?” 😉
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I believe, Kangaroo, that she indeed can.
It has always been dismissed as it would cause a constitutional crisis, but we’re kind of up to our ears in crises at the moment, so another one wouldn’t be noticed.
I’m not sure if that would be legal in Scotland though, where in theory at least, she “rules” at the will of the people, rather than”by the grace of god”, as she does in England and Wales.
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Boris Johnson is an example to us all. No I’ve not lost my mind but 2/3 weeks ago he boasted of going to visit hospitals and shaking the hands of Covid 19 patients. So, you know, don’t do that. Don’t copy his stupidity.
Now he is reliant on expert nursing care when 3 years ago the Tories, and quite possibly him, were cheering after they voted against a pay rise for nursing staff.
Whilst we are offering him some compassion in his illness, let’s also not forgot the 120,000 people who died directly as a result of austerity.
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Compassion, like respect, something you give for something you get. I don’t wish Bojo any physical harm but it would be nice to think he’ll learn a lesson from his plight. Frankly, I doubt that.
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I doubt he’ll learn the lesson either. Either his symptoms are far worse than is being admitted or he is getting care he doesn’t need. If the latter, he’ll probably assume the NHS is in fine fettle because of his treatment rather than because he is getting VIP treatment.
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I’ll bet he doesn’t, Andi.
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Agreed.
From day 1 he was an idiot over this pandemic.
Pah, it’s nothing. Just like the flu. Cummings must have got the script from the White House.
Rather typical Eton Oxford exceptionalism.
But they don’t learn.
Someone brought up the subject of giving nurses a pay rise and the English Heath Secretary said “now is not the time”.
Must have learned that from his Auntie Theresa.
It is the time, or rather it was the time 3 years ago.
I recall that MPs got a massive pay rise around that time.
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See the hand cock is saying ‘Now is Not the Time’ to have pay negotiations with the health unions.
They can’t give up the old ideas, that’s why they’re called conservatives.
Keep the old stuff alive as we’re in charge.
The austerity programme was a failed political dogma, see for yourself.
The new chancer has great spin projects but the Ts&Cs group behind the scenes limit what it actually means in practice.
Universal Credit for the people who voted in the doris, wonder how long it will take before they realise they’ve been had.
The doris is in a ENHS facility that , it all probability, has been starved of funding.
The reports on the media this morning are that the great man has spoken the words of wisdom, raab will carry out the instructions, biblical certainty of the word.
Oh we’re doomed, the king is dead, oh, long live the new king, or our prayers have been answered, the great lord has spared him.
We can but await the result.
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Yes, I’ve read that the financial measures which sounded quite reasonable when they were announced, and largely got backing from across the house, actually turn out not to be working.
One of the massive casualties is foodbanks.
There are tens of thousands of people waiting 5 weeks for their first payments of UC, turning to food banks, to find that they have nothing.
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just in case you thought Munguin was the only one to give his slave the runaround.
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Adorable!!!
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Johnson wanted to infect the whole of the UK with the coronavirus which would have seen 100,000’s die. He is a neo capitalist which means he is dedicated to imposing poverty on the most vulnerable and for continuing death and destruction in middle eastern countries. Why would anyone wish him well.
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Because, I guess, he’s a human, Rab, and because we’re better than him for all his money and posh education. It could be any of us in there. You don;t have to be an idiot to catch this killer.
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Well,he seems to have achieved his initial desires with the virus moooving through the population.
I am pretty sure however that he never considered himself as being part of the herd but immune to all things which afflict commoners.
I see Spain is to introduce a universal income for everyone and not just for Xmas but as a permanent feature.
The Tories in England won’t do that,even if it is the only sane way to preserve economic activity and ensure that everyone can afford to eat.
They are completely welded to the “free market” where nothing is free unless you have lots of money or are a large donor to the Tory party.
People will not stand for his proposed hard Brexit because what we have seen with food and medicine shortages so far, will be nothing compared to what will then happen.
They will need the army to protect themselves from the wrath of people in England should they go ahead with it.
Just as we Scots have put independence on hold,so will the Brexiteers have to with their isolationist proposals.
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I’m sure that he and the others in his circle, including the idiot prince, never imagined that anyone as important as THEM would catch it.
This is a taste of some of what Brexit will mean. Empty shelves, closures, etc… Fortunately, though, no fear of catching something from someone you brush against on the bus.
I think that putting independence on hold was a good idea.
The Cabinet has enough to do with Covid without trying to run a referendum campaign. Who could go chapping doors? Who could march? Who wants leaflets through their doors? In my opinion, the likes of Carlaw would be quite within his rights to say “day job” had it proceeded.
Of course, Brexit is a done deal, and unless the EU agrees to another extension (which it probably will), the Brits are powerless to act alone, unlike Nicola/Patrick and the others in the YES campaign.
But from what I have read, there are no plans to ask for an extension, because what Cummings wanted all along was a no deal Brexit.
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Words to chill the blood. “Rabb is in charge, confirms Gove”.
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But it could be worse, Alex.
GOVE is in charge, confirms Raab.
I wonder if you will sleep tonight…
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IN A SAFE AND DIGNIFIED MANNER
If we think that POLITICIANS are lousy at making medical decisions about political matters, it could be worse. We could have DOCTORS making political decisions about medical matters.
This idiot doctor is apparently still employed by the World Health Organization. It shows that even Ireland produces crazy people, and….occasionally…..FOX News outrage makes a lot of sense.
Tucker Carlson has some commendable libertarian instincts on occasion.
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LOL. Rich coming from Fox, which, as I recall, didn’t much care about Trump separating children from parents, putting them in cages and sending them miles away. But the orange god can rarely do any wrong for Fox!
Seriously, unpalatable though it be, I can see what the doctor was saying, and he didn’t say exactly what the host suggested he had said.
Although rarely in Britain (I’m not sure about the USA), in many countries three generations live together in one house. In the UK houses, as a rule, are too small for that kind of large family group, and in any case, there are loads of Old People’s Homes to farm elderly relatives off to.
I can see how dangerous it would be for elderly grandparents living in the same house as teenagers who sneak out to meet their buddies or their girl/boyfriends. I see teens in the park walking closely together, holding hands, kissing, staring at a phone, heads close together. They get the virus. It does little to them, but they pass it to their grandparents and … bye-bye grandad.
It’s bad enough in two-generation households. Brothers or sisters sleep in the same room. Parents sleep in the same bed. Even self-isolating people have to go to the shops so the virus gets into the home and does the rounds.
But I guess that’s not so bad as long as no one has an underlying condition.
My neighbours, a couple in their 20s, are safe you would say, but the guy has asthma, and his wife is a teacher, who is having to do duty with kids who cannot be at home because their parents work in, for example, health. They worry that at some stage she is going to catch it from one of the kids and she will bring it home and her partner will be VERY ill.
But my question would be, having separated the kids or the old people (more likely, as they are the ones at risk) whatcha gonna do with them, doctor? Where will you isolate them?
Fortunately, Munguin lives in one of the turrets, and I live in the cellar. It makes for a long trek with his champagne, but at least we are socially isolated. 🙂
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“Now we need to find those people [in the family] who may be sick AND REMOVE THEM IN A SAFE AND DIGNIFIED MANNER.”
I’m giving the guy every benefit of the doubt that I can find, but unless this doctor dude is planning on a little due process and voluntary participation that he apparently feels no need to tell us about, this sounds like something straight out of Nazi Germany. I have a hunch he actually heard what he was saying and appended the “safe and dignified” BS for the benefit of the media.
Tris…..Your point about the irony of a guy on FOX News being concerned about taking children from parents is VERY well taken. 😉 And I totally agree about the problem of the spread of disease in multi-generational families. Nevertheless, if I were a top official at WHO, I would invite this doctor into my office for a long talk about legal due process and human rights, not to mention medical ethics.
Truth is, I have a little more sympathy for the politicians than I’m seeing these days, and a little less sympathy for doctors.
A science professor of mine at university pointed out that medicine is much more of an art than a science. Medical doctors in family practice know surprisingly little basic science, and even less mathematics and statistics. And there’s a couple of things they know even less about than science and math…….namely, economics and politics. So it was very easy for doctors to declare that EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY has to stay home and EVERY BUSINESS IN THE COUNTRY has to close down. It was the sensible MEDICAL thing to do.
On the other hand, politicians were faced with the sure and certain knowledge that this would lead to the greatest economic calamity in living memory. In time, they did what they had to do, but they were in uncharted territory, and if they were a little slow at adopting such draconian measures, I have some sympathy for that.
The doctors on the other hand had it easy in a sense. Since they had no real medical solution to the problem, such as a vaccine, they simply demanded that the politicians kill the economy and take the heat for an economic mess that would take years to clean up. The people end up as collateral damage for both medical and political failure.
BTW, I like the way you and Munguin have managed the social isolation solution…..LOL.
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Whichever way, Danny, I’m sure I would not like to be either a doctor or a politician at this moment.
As for our social distance… ’twere ever thus at Munguin Towers 🙂
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Me too! 🙂
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It’s said that GP’s know lots but can do very little,
that surgeons can do lots, but know next to nothing,
and that pathologists can do anything and know everything…but always too late.
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Jake……Very good!….LOL.
At university, I was around quite a few top notch science students and professors. Also some very good mathematics guys. An almost universal attitude was that med students know very little basic science, and are more or less illiterate at math. There was however general agreement that they’re great at rote memorization.
In this pandemic, the TV news shows here are full of medical doctors opining about the subject. Mostly they just say to stay away from other people who may be sick, and will sometimes have some anecdotal evidence from their practice to pass along for what it’s worth.
I suppose that epidemiologists must surely know some serious mathematics and statistics in order to understand the computer models. but often when pressed, they won’t seriously try to defend specific predictions. Too many variables to be really reliable many are now saying.
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Yes, Danny. For example, I read that a tiger has come down with the symptoms of Corona. No one is 100% sure, but as they seem to think it started in pigs, it’s not beyond possible that the virus can travel through other animals. And when it does it will quite probably mutate.
Also no one can be sure that you can’t get it twice.
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LOL Jake
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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EU_Y-l5WAAEm01I?format=jpg&name=large
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Just a reminder that the Tribal Instincts are still to the front.
No sign of self awareness there.
Wonder how she’ll react to Putin being in the same position.
Even lizzie the last is thanking the population for continuing her Universal Credit and Pension.
Life is a delicate thing, we all live in an experimental world of change, illness is part of the possibility that a change can finish your continuation as a living being.
But as said earlier he, the doris, will not change his character IF he comes through, the selfish nature will come back when he and his crew forget that it’s the waste disposal engineers that keep the place clean and they are the lower orders.
Bankers, stock market traders and estate agents are the most important, in their book.
The websites are gradually showing signs of confusion, he’s not ill, he’s doing fine, best doctors in the world treating him, not on a ventilator, just a wee whiff of oxygen, not under sedation, raab is in charge.
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I wodner if Liz has packed all the servants off and she’s living in that big house all on her own.
I wonder too, how she manages the cooking, shopping, cleaning, etc.
Surely that’s a lot for her to learn at this stage in her life.
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I’m sorry, but I find my compassin is strangely muted. When I first hear about him going into hospital I said.
It would in my mind be the ultimate irony if Covid-19 rendered him unable to continue as PM or carried him off before he was able to “get Brexit done”.
It might possibly change if he comes out and changes tack completely, but somehow I just don’t see that happening.
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I very much doubt that will happen.
I’d not say I felt compassion for him. He has little for us and absolutely none for our movement or our country.
All I feel is that I don’t wish a painful death on anyone even if they or their policies have inflicted the same on others.
So, I wish him well.
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Sadly I don’t think he will change tack.
I suspect that he’ll rationalise it, putting his survival down to his own strength of character and a resilience and determination developed on the playing fields of Eton.
What annoys me is that his blood-mindedness, his insistence on shaking hands and defying advice on social distancing has put others risk and may yet cost some people their lives.
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Just reading about how New Zealand is in the process of eliminating the virus.
Lockdown for 4 weeks ( 2 incubation cycles) and rigid control of it’s borders.
No one allowed in without virus free testing,including NZ people who have left and then returned.
At some point we (Scotland) will have to do the same.
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If only we had at the beginning.
The Border agency still isn’t testing people who come in.
Why?
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I don’t think we have enough tests, the people to do it or the lab capacity to process them. Either that or it’s a deliberate policy… a remnant of the ” herd immunity” strategy.
This article gives some idea of the numbers. ( or at least the number who have applied to be airlifted out)
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/uk-to-evacuate-20000-citizens-starting-this-week/article31264575.ece
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