Dianne Abbott just google her and "gaffes" there's plenty of fun there whilst we isolate over the weekend she is beyond being a complete fool and one of Jeremy's 'close allies' .....great judgement.

The real question though was not whether they would "have done any worse than Johnson and his pals", I probably think that they wouldn't despite their obvious failings, as others would have (hopefully) risen to the challenge although looking at the current state of the Labour Party it's a small pool Starmer Ashworth Nandy and being reactive is sometimes easier than forward planning .... but whether the NHS and the country would be better prepared the forward planning bit then again I'd say probably not.

In short, I don't think that the current situation is a political issue and it wouldn't have mattered who's been in charge for the previous ten years.

I know that the opposition has recently elected a new leader who doesn't seem that bad, him and his new Shadow Cabinet don't seem to be overly critical ATM or too keen to engage on the front foot. Whether that lasts remains to be seen I'm sure that once we are through it the recriminations will begin

Quote ="lefty goldblatt"[i[uOH, THANK YOU[/u[/i I WAS enjoying my tea!!!!'" Sincerely hope you have finished your tea:- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/0 ... o-impress/

Quote ="lefty goldblatt"[i[uOH, THANK YOU[/u[/i I WAS enjoying my tea!!!!'" Sincerely hope you have finished your tea:- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/0 ... o-impress/

Quote ="Boss Hog"Sincerely hope you have finished your tea:- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/0 ... o-impress/'" As Nick Ross used to say on Crime watch UK. "DON'T HAVE NIGHTMARES..... DO SLEEP WELL" Fat chance of that, now. The nation needs therapy.

Quote ="Boss Hog"Sincerely hope you have finished your tea:- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/0 ... o-impress/'" As Nick Ross used to say on Crime watch UK. "DON'T HAVE NIGHTMARES..... DO SLEEP WELL" Fat chance of that, now. The nation needs therapy.

A Corbyn government would have likely made a shambles of this. Corbyn himself was a poor leader, indecisive, disorganised, the way he and his inner circle managed the Labour Remain campaign during the referendum and his first Shadow Cabinet (and the Parliamentary party in general) was complete chaos, mixed messages, lack of communication. The only thing Corbyn was good at was campaigning in rallies. If they had been in office now we'd have Barry Gardiner and Richard Burgon doing those daily press conferences just slagging off the last decade of Tory government.

In crisis management the premium is on competence not who is good at political campaigning or controlling the message. The recent PMs who would have been best in this situation are Gordon Brown and Theresa May. Neither were good at politics but I think either of them would have acted more quickly when this started to break, they took issues of threats and security very seriously. This would have been on their radar as a massive priority from the moment it first came about in China, they'd have been poring over every source of intelligence back in January/February, not focusing on whether Big Ben should bong for Brexit or building a bridge across the Irish sea like Boris who is naturally more carefree. Cameron was a bit like Boris too so he wouldn't have been great.

There's also a lack of talent in the current Cabinet because Boris purged the party of opponents and he just used Ministerial posts to reward his supporters in the leadership campaign. Rishi Sunak seems like a bright guy but some of the others are rabbits in the headlights.

In a crisis situation like this the kind of Ministers who would be good would be Oliver Letwin, William Hague and David Willetts from the Tories, and Hilary Benn and Andrew Adonis from Labour. They would all be good at dealing with complexity and could take the politics out of it and work with the scientific community and the food suppliers, medical equipment manufacturers to get a path forward.

Just a quick update for anybody interested in how this is riding out...

.. On day 10 now and can safely say this is now as bad as the 2 serious flu occasions I've had in my lifetime - First 3 days were a piece of cake to be honest. Apart from slight temperature, the main issue was being very fatigued, almost like jet lag.

However from day 4 until now, the fever has really kicked in - Temperature is consistently in the high 38's, with an actual high of 39.2 - Because of such a high temperature it makes actual sleep and rest very, very difficult, which in turn creates a catch 22 where the body gets very little recovery time.

Paracetamol is pretty much useless and eating and drinking is nigh on impossible because of a total lack of appetite, which obviously is causing hydration issues. (Even drinking water is a huge effort and I'm now having to resort to sucking ice cubes to both cool down and get some water on board).

The only positive so far is that while my cough is still persistent, it hasn't affected my breathing yet. Hopefully if it stays as so, then I can try to ride this out at home.

Both kids are pretty much 100 % now, though they had very mild symptoms. My wife, who's about 3 or 4 days ahead of me, is finally showing signs of coming out the other side, though 14 days in , she is far from being recovered- her appetite is pretty restricted to toast and fruit.

In summary, I think if somebody can advise how to ride out a sky high temperature, then I might just be fine with this!!

It is a political issue though. Let's be quite clear, the present government has been in power for 10+ years, not other parties. The readiness or lack of to deal with this virus is down to them and no body else. The lack of hospitals, nurses, doctors, PPE, ventilators, testing kit is down to them and no body else.

You say it would have been no different whoever had been in charge for the last 10 years but how would that be considering every policy Labour wanted to implement would've improved infrastructure and public service then yeah, of course they would have done differently, far better.

As I’ve said before I’m no Corbyn fan but it amazes me how much abuse he gets over Johnson. Mind boggling.

I think being from Warrington and knowing Corbyn's links with the IRA, might suggest he wasn't the most suitable to be leading our country?

If you cannot take on liquids then this must be a real struggle! Get fluids down you in whatever way can. Hope you and your partner both improve very soon.

Yes, it's a real struggle - Problem is, when I go to bed my body is usually very cold, but then, half hour later, I'm literally sweating buckets... this back and forth then pretty much lasts all night, so that when I eventually rise next day my body feels absolutely worn out.

Firstly.
A speedy recovery to you and yours, dsm, whatever you're (or anybody else) is suffering from, be it COVID 19, or anything else. The world needs decent people.

Now, to the political football that IS the NHS.

It really has become a joke. People willy measuring about how [itheir[/i party is the best for the NHS's sake. "It'd be SO much better, run by ???????????". Unless I'm missing something, isn't the NHS [irun[/i by the NHS. As far as my apolitical mind knows, the Minister for Health (of whichever political party is in charge) is merely a figurehead, and at most, an advisor. He/she (and their government) doesn't go round hospitals saying "Oh, you're a dialysis unit short, here", or "You have too many Opthalmic doctors" and it doesn't audit levels of PPE.
THATS FOR THE NHS TO DO [u ITSELF[/u Not for some Whitehall bureaucrat to do. As far as I know, Government (of whichever colour) allocates a HUGE amount of tax payers money, for the NHS to spend. The Government can't [ihold the NHS's hand[/i, while the money is spent.

The "political football" analogy does make me smile.
I'm reminded of the [imomentous day[/i of 2/5/97, when Tony Blair said "We've 24 hours to save the NHS"


To quote Albert Steptoe "COBBLERS".

With regards to posts from page 37 onwards, regarding personal responsibility.

THE BRITISH PUBLIC DON'T WANT TO KNOW..

Successive Governments can scream their mantras until they're blue/red in the face.

In the mid 80's, AIDS ( mostly spread by homosexuality/drug misuse, and then passed on to others) was DRILLED into the general public's psyche. ITS A KILLER...guess what ?AIDS cases rose.

Year on year, school kids are warned about unprotected sex, leading to pregnancy. It's (forgive the pun) DRILLED into them. Guess what. Schoolgirl pregnancies rose, year on year.

Obesity levels and healthy living is DRILLED into people. Guess what? Obesity/diabetes cases soar.

The dangers of COVID 19 have been DRILLED into people for the last month, yet people IGNORE advice, because they know better. We are told to stay in, unless our journeys are essential, yet, on tonight's news, a traffic policeman was shown in persuit of someone with A CANOE on his roof rack!!!!! Essential journey?

Talk to the British public, or talk to a dog.
I know which one will obey.

Sounds really tough and nothing anybody else says on here will really help. But if your wife has nearly come through and it's not gone to your chest, then you can see the end of the tunnel. All the best, keep fighting.

Mo Molan and many other politicians had talks with the IRA, so why are they not being criticized? Do you seriously believe that Corbyn didn't want to end the violence associated with the troubles?

come on folks, lets keep this civil and on topic, if you want to discuss (or bitch) about politics, please head over to the sin bin.

Thanks for that

Quote ="Boss Hog"Sincerely hope you have finished your tea:- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/0 ... o-impress/'" Is that it? Ale house banter Even one of boris Johnson’s abandoned daughters says he’s a despicable person, she should know, eh?

Quote ="Boss Hog"Sincerely hope you have finished your tea:- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/0 ... o-impress/'" Is that it? Ale house banter Even one of boris Johnson’s abandoned daughters says he’s a despicable person, she should know, eh?

Are you meaning genuine links or right wing media character assassination type links?

Or perhaps peace pursuit links as a forerunner to the likes of Bill Clinton, John Major, Tony Blair, Mo Mowlam, And even representatives of the Warrington Peace Centre

A 50:50 Chance ?

Last night at the briefing Patrick Vallance guestimated the number of people likely to be asymptomatic as 30%. On top of that we know a lot of people suffer only very mild symptoms (as opposed to mild which is 'flu-like') . Add the two together and perhaps there are around 50% of us that will receive immunity via infection but without suffering any serious consequences. Considering we will probably have to wait a further 12 months before any vaccine is available that sounds like good news to me.

You list actual presidents, ex-PM's & a Northern Ireland Secretary of State, who actually had the political authority to negotiate with terrorists.

And then there was pointless backbench MP, Corbyn, the great peace negotiator, who was so good at negotiating he only ever spoke to one side during his talks.

He was also a man who was happy to parade his killer friends around the mainland just days after they attempted to murder the British government.

He was never a peace negotiator, he was Republican supporter and if you try to deny that then you really are deluded.

Hope you recover asap..just a thought is it possible for your family to get outside I.e in back garden for fresh air rather than being indoors...fingers crossed for you

So that’s Right Wing Media Character Assassination then

How can it be a character assassination when it's true???

Pretty sure a mod has said to stop discussing politics on this thread!

Thanks... yes, probably the one bit of respite is the half decent weather providing an opportunity to get away from the 4 walls!!

Actually had my first decent night's sleep for about a week last night and temperature is down to acceptable level (37.5) for first time in an age too, so like you, I've got my fingers crossed.

I apologise, I'm bored and fed up with this virus and to be honest, there's not a lot of RL to discuss, is there?