Thursday 7th May 2020
There is much talk in the media – UK, European and International – about preparations and plans to lift lockdown measures such as travel bans and social distancing in an attempt to bring some semblance of normality back to economies damaged beyond belief by Covid-19. There is a growing undercurrent in the Tory heartlands of the UK to lift lockdown measures almost immediately, purely to protect the interests of business as indicated by Graham Brady’s recent contribution to the struggles we face with Covid-19. He’s more interested in getting people back to work to start generating profits again, regardless of whether the proper safeguards are in place. Remember he’s the Chairman of the Tory 1992 Committee – that rabid bunch of Brexiteering no-brainers. He’s now as good as calling all of you who have struggled with lockdown by Staying at Home, Protecting the NHS and Saving Lives as being workshy. What a twat! Then there’s Hancock – who tries ever so hard to convince us all he’s doig his best, straining every sinew and supporting the NHS wholeheartedly when, behind the scenes, he’s busy outsourcing the pandemic to his mates at G4S and Serco – read this if you read none of the other links in this missive. Outrageous!
I fully appreciate that the economy is in dire straits but I remain fully supportive of the lockdown and the oft told 5 steps that need to be met before it can be lifted – and it is these that we must ensure are fully complied with if Lockdown isn’t going to be replaced by a Jailbreak.
You hear them every night at the Tory Leadership auditions – sorry – Corona virus briefings but they bear repeating;
- Making sure the NHS can cope
- A sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rate
- Rate of infection decreasing to manageable levels
- Ensuring the supply of PPE and Tests can meet future demands
- Being sure any adjustments will not risk a second peak
Johnson has stated quite clearly that all 5 need to be met before we can ‘fire up’ the UK’s economy but then his talk of loosening restrictions sends out mixed messages (again).
First and foremost the tests are more than open-ended – what are ‘manageable levels’ for instance? I would be wanting a period of a fortnight with no infections recorded (the incubation period of the virus) before I’d dare wander away from the security of my house and garden. Clearly the ‘test, track and trace’ app needs to be properly in place and working (it’s only just started trialling in the Isle of Wight and doesn’t work properly with iOS devices) hasn’t been proven yet and looks like it breaks data privacy laws. Nor have the 15,000 ‘trackers and tracers’ been recruited, trained and mobilised – so even by that simple reckoning we are months away from being able to say Step 3 has been met. And then it occured to me tha I haven’t even thrown Matt Hancocks 100,000 tests a day scam yet – as it is now blatantly obvious that he lied about exceeding his ambitious target. It would have been so much better to own up to missing it – at least he had a good go. He’s knackered now though as his boss has gone and doubled it for him! Whoops!
There remain serious concerns about the provision of PPE, regardless of Johnson’s assertion that we haven’t run out of stock for a single item throughout the pandemic – as he claimed at PMQ’s yesterday. As an aside – he really didn’t look comfortable without his braying horde behind him did he? Covid-19 has had one benefit – the House of Commons can concentrate on doing its job rather than try to shout down opposition voices. So for me Step 4 remains an open issue.
Step 2 is also looking dodgy. The Governments inability to properly log and count ALL deaths is, I believe, hiding the true cost of Covid-19. Deaths in Care Homes and the Community will prove to be enormous – as I have said in earlier blogs – and no amount of slippy shouldered Ministerial or Expert answers to questions will hide that fact – and expect more ducking and diving around deaths in Care Homes tonight after this expose from The Guardian this afternoon. This Government has, I believe, been criminal in its deliberate mishandling of the health and safety of the most vulnerable people of the UK.
Lockdown needs to stay in place and managed a little more firmly for a while longer yet – until ALL 5 steps can be seen to have been met when measured against agreed and published parameters – agreed by the House of Commons after all the scientific evidence has been made available. Johnson and his cronies have been exposed internationally for being inept – late to recognise the risk, late to test, late to lockdown, late to provide PPE – need I go on – and we cannot afford for them to get the next stage wrong or try to heap the blame on their advisors – who they continue to stand up for knocking down when the time for recriminations arrives.
I know it’s difficult, I know lockdown is affecting schooling (my own Grandkids have all complained to me about missing school) but returning to school now would prove to be a mistake, of that I am convinced. Yes it looks like kids don’t get the disease like others but there’s no denying the risk to teachers, other school staff and the parents who congregate outside the school gates mornings and afternoons. There is no evidence that asymptomatic little ones don’t pass it on to adults and until there is it’s too dangerous – in my humble opinion I hasten to add.
Before moving on I’d like to add my thoughts on Kier Starmer’s first outing against Johnson yesterday. After dismantling Raab and leaving him looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights last week I felt his cool, calm and polite questioning of Johnson left the Prime Minister almost intellectually naked in his inability to find a meaningful answer to any of the points put to him. All he had in his armoury was to infer a lack of common sense in the voicing of a question. A bit rich coming from the man who showed absolutely no sense, never mind common sense, when shaking hands with hospital patients at the same time as advocating singing Happy Birthday to time the washing of hands as the first protection from the virus!
One thing I found really cringe-worthy yesterday was all the congratulations heaped on Johnson for spawning yet another sprog – but in the best interests of the very best of investigative journalism I have managed to unearth the first picture of Wilf Johnson:
Those of you of a certain age will recognise this cheeky face and hopefully have to stifle a little chuckle. I struggled to find a scathing mix of pictures of his parental gene-pit – I thought delving into the Muppets photo archive might have got me in trouble 🙂
Well that’s all for today except to say that after 16 months my pressure sore has finally healed up! Hoo-bloody-ray is all I can say. It’s still a little fragile as scars go so will need to be cleaned and dressed for a while longer but that’s one thing less for Karen and I to worry about.
Expect a new set of buzz-words from Johnson soon but please take no notice of his attempt at downgrading the severity of the threat posed by Covid-19, instead
STAY HOME – PROTECT THE NHS – SAVE LIVES
You know it makes sense
Jems Juke Box this week features the late, great George Harrison
Stay safe
Jem