JOHNSON AND HANCOCK - LESSONS FOR ALL OF US

 Two short videos that encapsulate so much that's wrong with this horror-show of misgovernment are on offer in this blog-post. How can you resist?!?

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PM makes reference to Vallance and Whitty's press conference last night - then ignores Vallance's number for new daily infections and quotes much lower one

(Tuesday, 22 September 2020)

 Boris Johnson's new coronavirus measures have been rightly derided as an inadequate sham - leaving schools, workplaces and indoor hospitality open but telling pubs and restaurants to close an hour early will not make a meaningful scratch on the rise in new infections, let alone reverse exponential growth.

But even in his speech to launch them, Johnson couldn't make it even a minute and a half into his speech before he was misleading - to put it kindly - again:

Even though his Chief Scientific Adviser has now acknowledged that the number of daily new infections is far higher than the government's meaningless official figure - a constant con at the best of times - and even

though he referred to Vallance's press conference in his speech to MPs, Johnson reeled off the lower figure without hesitation.

But then both Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Whitty are said to be on the verge of resignation because Johnson ignores their scientific advice, so it's a pattern.

Con artists con. Liars lie. But these are not the people we should trust in a national crisis - let alone unconditionally support on whatever he decides to do, as Keir Starmer has promised. 

Health Secretary empty-headed and full of BS

(Sunday, 20 September 2020)

Health Secretary Matt Hancock did not know what the UK's coronavirus alert level is supposed to be, when he was asked about it this morning. And when he took a guess, he was a whole two levels wrong - claiming it's 3 when in fact, because infections are rising and restrictions are being increased, it should be 5.

Worse, he was entirely ignorant of the fact that the number of UK deaths from COVID-19 complications has doubled on the week before - just like the number of infections and the number of hospitalisations.

When asked whether more people are now dying, he replied:

Not yet.

Hancock's performance - as so often - encapsulates the arrogance, ignorance, incompetence, wilful blindness, outright dishonesty and downright malignancy of the Tories and their approach to the pandemic crisis:

Marr entirely failed to challenge him on either point - which encapsulates the frequent utter failure of our so-called 'mainstream' media to hold Establishment politicians to account, no matter what nonsense they spout.

Again.

People are dying. More will die. And the UK will continue to be lied to by its government and failed by its media, while the drivers of the new wave of the pandemic go unchanged and unchallenged. It is unforgivable.

SOME GOOD NEWS TO REPORT:

Sources close to SAGE report discontent

Both of the government's top advisers in the pandemic are on the verge of resigning because of Boris Johnson's reckless refusal to implement tighter restrictions as scientists warn of 50,000-100,000 new cases per day by October if the spread of the coronavirus is not controlled, according to sources in and around the government's 'SAGE' science group.

Whitty has gone public recently with recommendations for reduced social contact and is reportedly deeply frustrated with the determination of Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock to ignore advice.

Vallance is said to be in a similarly dissatisfied, though he is considered less likely to quit as his closeness to Dominic Cummings - seen in Vallance's early advocacy of 'herd immunity' - may hold him back.

The Tories are dragging their heels over any national lockdown measures, even though weeks of localised restrictions have done nothing to prevent the UK seeing a second wave of exponential growth.

They do not intend to re-close schools or indoor hospitality venues, even though SAGE scientists know these are primary drivers of transmission.

Infections, hospitalisations and deaths are now doubling every week or so, while 80% of schools are believed to have cases.

The Department of Health and Social Care has denied the reports.

THE OVERALL PICTURE COULD NOT BE BLEAKER:

Tories' measures clearly inadequate - and leading medic says effective test-and-trace is missing key to defeating virus

(Wednesday, 23 September 2020)

The number of new confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK in the last 24 hours was 6,178 - the third-highest since the pandemic hit this country - and an increase of over 20% in a single day, as the exponential growth of the second wave continues:

OMG

Today's figure has not been exceeded since 1 May - and underlines the utter inadequacy of Boris Johnson's fiddling with pub closing times as a measure to reverse the growth while leaving open the main drivers of the surge: schools, workplaces and indoor hospitality.

And the dire shambles of the UK's privatised, largely Serco-run test-and-trace system is also at the centre of the catastrophe, according to leading medic and honorary BMA vice-president Dr Kailash Chand. Dr Chand told RT that a properly functioning, locally-coordinated system is essential for any successful fight against the virus, but that the 'fiasco' of the current UK system is not fit for purpose and the Tories are pouring billions down the drain of private profits.

Johnson's constant pantomime in place of real action simply will not do - nor will Labour's tame willingness to simply endorse everything Johnson does instead of shouting from the rooftops to make the public aware of his failure and of what really needs to be done.