[Politics] People who have impressed/surprised you so far through this crisis (and who's been crap)

[Jim in the West]

Sunak has been impressive.

Surprised so many on here have been impressed by Hancock. The guy is COMPLETELY out of his depth. He keeps promising things which he patently has no clue whether they can be delivered, and then - when the target is missed - he lies by saying he never promised it!

He promised 25,000 tests/day by mid-April, but yesterday's report was fewer than 16,000, and Hancock claimed that no commitment to 25,000 had been made - despite the fact it is on the government website. Now he seems to be rowing back from the 100,000 target at end-April, by saying it's an "aspiration". Germany is testing over 70,000/day, and Italy over 50,000/day.

And what about the Antibody tests - we bought 17.5m of them, but none work!!

The UK's response at governmental level has been almost completely shambolic. The continued lack of PPE is an absolute scandal. The BBC (with a few notable exceptions) seems to be aligning itself with the Daily Mail and the "red tops" (eg: huge focus on Bojo, and even Bojo's father, rather than telling the story of what's actually happening in hospitals and care homes).

But on the plus side, our village shop and the local pub are amazing - they have had to completely re-engineer their businesses, and are now delivering all sorts of stuff (on foot) throughout the village

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

It's possible to support both sides here. Think Sunak absolutely looks and sounds the part but he needs to deliver. Same with Hancock, I think it's too early to call either way but they're doing alright.

Starmer has immediately shown the benefit of having a coherent opposition instead of some hardline rabble rousers who only appeal to their core supporters. The public have no appetite for party political sniping and I think they've judged the mood well. Jon Ashworth and Andy Burnham come across very well every time I see them, what they say is always constructive.

I agree. We won't be able to judge how well any of the government side have done until we are through this, and even then it will be very hard to know how much worse or better things could have been. There certainly seems to be a serious time lag between promise and delivery, on testing, PPE, financial support ... well, just about everything really. .

Whether this is down to the undeniable fact that things take a while to set up with the UK's legendary layers of red tape, or that they are following the Cameron doctrine of introducing initiatives to Parliament in the morning that were forgotten about by tea-time, I can't say. But their track record of lying about everything before all this blew up hardly inspires confidence in the idea that they've suddenly learned to tell the truth.

As usual, Labour has managed to mess things up for itself with the revelation (although hardly surprising) of infighting. Starmer needs to take as long as necessary to sort it and in the meantime concentrate on keeping the government honest. Well, as honest as they can be,

 

[Diablo]

Surprised so many on here have been impressed by Hancock. The guy is COMPLETELY out of his depth. He keeps promising things which he patently has no clue whether they can be delivered, and then - when the target is missed - he lies by saying he never promised it!

Who wouldn`t be out of his depth? Would you expect anyone to be able to deliver everything when the whole world is wanting.

He`s got a job no one would envy at the best of times. IMO he`s doing pretty well. Instead of berating him get behind him and everybody trying to work their way through this nightmare scenario !!

 

[LlcoolJ]

Sunak has been impressive.

Surprised so many on here have been impressed by Hancock. The guy is COMPLETELY out of his depth. He keeps promising things which he patently has no clue whether they can be delivered, and then - when the target is missed - he lies by saying he never promised it!

He promised 25,000 tests/day by mid-April, but yesterday's report was fewer than 16,000, and Hancock claimed that no commitment to 25,000 had been made - despite the fact it is on the government website. Now he seems to be rowing back from the 100,000 target at end-April, by saying it's an "aspiration". Germany is testing over 70,000/day, and Italy over 50,000/day.

And what about the Antibody tests - we bought 17.5m of them, but none work!!

The UK's response at governmental level has been almost completely shambolic. The continued lack of PPE is an absolute scandal. The BBC (with a few notable exceptions) seems to be aligning itself with the Daily Mail and the "red tops" (eg: huge focus on Bojo, and even Bojo's father, rather than telling the story of what's actually happening in hospitals and care homes).

But on the plus side, our village shop and the local pub are amazing - they have had to completely re-engineer their businesses, and are now delivering all sorts of stuff (on foot) throughout the village

If you run a small business (with the notable exceptions mentioned previously) then you would be lumping him in with the shambolic quote.

It's very easy to talk the talk........

 

[Baker lite]

I agree. We won't be able to judge how well any of the government side have done until we are through this, and even then it will be very hard to know how much worse or better things could have been. There certainly seems to be a serious time lag between promise and delivery, on testing, PPE, financial support ... well, just about everything really. .

Whether this is down to the undeniable fact that things take a while to set up with the UK's legendary layers of red tape, or that they are following the Cameron doctrine of introducing initiatives to Parliament in the morning that were forgotten about by tea-time, I can't say. But their track record of lying about everything before all this blew up hardly inspires confidence in the idea that they've suddenly learned to tell the truth.

As usual, Labour has managed to mess things up for itself with the revelation (although hardly surprising) of infighting. Starmer needs to take as long as necessary to sort it and in the meantime concentrate on keeping the government honest. Well, as honest as they can be,

I’ve certainly not been impressed by you, disgusting human

 

[Mike Small]

Gavin Williamson is the tarantula keeper. He was sacked for leaking information from the National Security Council.

Thought I should have checked that claim first! Fitted his persona. What animal would Raab keep in his office then? A tiger, lizard, rabbit staring into his table lamp?

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Sunak has been impressive.

Surprised so many on here have been impressed by Hancock. The guy is COMPLETELY out of his depth. He keeps promising things which he patently has no clue whether they can be delivered, and then - when the target is missed - he lies by saying he never promised it!

He promised 25,000 tests/day by mid-April, but yesterday's report was fewer than 16,000, and Hancock claimed that no commitment to 25,000 had been made - despite the fact it is on the government website. Now he seems to be rowing back from the 100,000 target at end-April, by saying it's an "aspiration". Germany is testing over 70,000/day, and Italy over 50,000/day.

And what about the Antibody tests - we bought 17.5m of them, but none work!!

The UK's response at governmental level has been almost completely shambolic. The continued lack of PPE is an absolute scandal. The BBC (with a few notable exceptions) seems to be aligning itself with the Daily Mail and the "red tops" (eg: huge focus on Bojo, and even Bojo's father, rather than telling the story of what's actually happening in hospitals and care homes).

But on the plus side, our village shop and the local pub are amazing - they have had to completely re-engineer their businesses, and are now delivering all sorts of stuff (on foot) throughout the village

You're fishing, right?

The govt didn't cause this crisis and have acted, given the circumstances, superbly.

Yes, not everything is right, it was never going to be even if we had months to prepare for it.

I've had support for my staff, the ability to borrow to keep the business afloat and the govt have successfully created The Nightingale Hospital and the NEC, for the love of whoever your maker is what did you expect?

 

[Diablo]

The continued lack of PPE is an absolute scandal. T

You`ve not noticed ?? "The whole World is chasing PPE" At a guess worldwide usage ten times as much as normal. Ten fold production increase distribution is not easy.

 

[Jim in the West]

Who wouldn`t be out of his depth? Would you expect anyone to be able to deliver everything when the whole world is wanting.

He`s got a job no one would envy at the best of times. IMO he`s doing pretty well. Instead of berating him get behind him and everybody trying to work their way through this nightmare scenario !!

Don't worry - I'm willing him to succeed. But I watch quite a bit of French TV, and also listen to Irish Radio (RTE 1, mainly). I am frequently impressed by the calm, authoritative approach many French and Irish ministers seem to have. Unfortunately we have got very used to low grade politicians, and we end up cutting them too much slack. But mostly, I just detest the lies and the obfuscation (including the way the government is putting gagging orders on NHS staff in an attempt to stop them telling us the truth about the current nightmare). Having said all that, I have a huge amount of sympathy for leaders generally at the moment - it's a horrendous situation to have to deal with. I'm not saying I'd do any better (although I'd try not to lie so much).

 

[Weststander]

Morgan is a spineless reactionist who'll simply say whatever's in the public mood at any given time in order to garner approval and therefore credibility. He'll be back to his old ways the second this is over

I don't know why but I quite like him (unlike tossers such as Kelvin McKenzie & Eamonn Holmes), but he's all about Grandstanding on the mood-music view.

Opponents of the Government may have the Vaseline out just now when he interrogates ministers, but equally in the recent past I've witnessed him destroy Labour and other opposition politicians. On toast, they looked close to tears.

Good TV spectacle, I suppose.

 

[rogersix]

You're fishing, right?

The govt didn't cause this crisis and have acted, given the circumstances, superbly.

Yes, not everything is right, it was never going to be even if we had months to prepare for it.

I've had support for my staff, the ability to borrow to keep the business afloat and the govt have successfully created The Nightingale Hospital and the NEC, for the love of whoever your maker is what did you expect?

candor?

 

[robinsonsgrin]

Sunak has been the most impressive for me. Very assured in press conferences. Walked into an absolute shitshow and dealt with it well.

For me the press have been appalling. Picked and chosen how they have reported things without any accountability whatsoever. And why are the likes of Kuenssberg and Peston spoken to as if they are some kind of experts in this? They just state the bleeding obvious with solemn looks on their faces and ask stupid questions.

My son said the other day he thinks the press are getting off on this and I think he’s right.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

please make my day and tell me your son is at primary school.....

 

[Lower West Stander]

please make my day and tell me your son is at primary school.....

22 year old masters student

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

Impressed - NHS workers, care workers, captain Tom.
Unimpressed - government, reactive rather than proactive. With our scientific capabilities we should have tested many more people and earlier. Lockdown announced 2 weeks too late. Not enough ppe. They have been a total shambles and hide behind the scientists. The dithering has lead to many more deaths than there needed to be, it also means that we will come out of this later and other countries will Get the jump on us as far as economic recovery.

 

[OzMike]

Yup, complete and utter canute of the highest order.

This in spades, he is just trying to seize the opportunity again, the man is and always will be a disgrace.

 

[trueblue]

Oh my God. People rate Matt Hancock. King of the empty promise.

As far as I’m concerned, the first two syllables of the little weasel’s name are entirely redundant. Maybe it’s because my wife is frontline NHS and has been on the sharp end of the Government dithering.

Takes all sorts. Always interesting to see how perceptions can be so massively different.

 

[trueblue]

You`ve not noticed ?? "The whole World is chasing PPE" At a guess worldwide usage ten times as much as normal. Ten fold production increase distribution is not easy.

Even more reason not to have delayed so long in securing it or missed all those EU meetings about a joint effort.

 

[trueblue]

Amazing that so many people are putting Rishi on a pedestal.

1. No money has come from the government to any employer yet.

2. There's no mechanism to claim the 80% for employers yet.

3. Self employed? Well that depends. No money til June though even if you qualify.

4. How do we actually claim any of this money?

5. Err.

Also be interested to see how many of his fans don't like Tony Blair. Because he IS Tony Blair in mannerism and voice.

He's been thrown in at the deep end, but he's ex GS & he knew that his job was important before he took it.

This. I’ve taken the one day’s work I could get this month, which means I’ll even lose out on the tiny amount I could have claimed. March written off because I was working before all my bookings were cancelled for the foreseeable future. Next month, probably the same as this.

Thanks Rishi, you’ve been brilliant...

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Impressive:
Hancock, I already knew he was impressive, but this man is under so much pressure and he still has an amazing determination and gives such clarity consistently, only dumb ass Journalists pretend not to understand.

He also came back like shot out of a gun after he had Covid 19.

Dickheads: Kussenberg and virtual all journalist, not sure anyone needs an explanation on this one.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Who wouldn`t be out of his depth? Would you expect anyone to be able to deliver everything when the whole world is wanting.

He`s got a job no one would envy at the best of times. IMO he`s doing pretty well. Instead of berating him get behind him and everybody trying to work their way through this nightmare scenario !!

People might be more impressed if he was more honest, didn't promise things he was not sure he could do, and explained the difficulties there are around.