[Misc] Piers Morgan v Matt Hancock

[amexer]

I am new to day time TV but after watching that interview will never watch Good Morning again. This virus is a one off thing and have no doubt government are doing there best. Like all countries things will not be perfect. Absolutely atrocious how Hancock was spoken to. I have been in business for 30 years and have never been spoken to like that. Of course if I had would have option to walk out. Ministers dont and have to sit and take that crap. The bit about footballers was a joke. Hancock made it clear he didnt bring this up but was asked in an interview about what he thinks footballers should do and he answered the question. I would say ministers are mad to go on the show but Morgan would then spout of that they were scared to come on.
I think although Morgan is the worst, the media have apart from a few exceptions been terrible. They are just all trying to make an impression and increase there profile

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

They only followed the advice of the ‘experts’ that they chose to follow. The World Health Organisation, and a huge majority of actual experts (in the specific fields of virology and infectious diseases) advocated a very different path, but our ‘hero’ knew better, and choose to delay, delay and delay the clearly necessary lockdown, in the interests of duck knows what.

They had the benefit of seeing what Spain and Italy got wrong, but blew that advantage completely. The Italian people saw what was happening and BEGGED us to lock down to avoid their mistakes. But ‘Boris’ and his acolytes knew better and kept the pubs and the schools open for two weeks too long.

I agree with the sentiment of that. But I won't bang on about it like some as though it will do any good whatsoever atm. Lessons will be learned I am sure, it is just a tragedy that people may have lost their lives unnecessarily. However depending upon the nature of the virus return or a vaccine being found or that perhaps we have sufficient 'herd immunity' as more of us were infected than previously thought, those lives lost may actually contribute to an overall balance of mortality that is more favourable in the long run. Who knows?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I can’t disagree with your opinion on Morgan. Spot on.

Not so much on our government. ‘Everyone is learning as they go along’, you say.

The issue is, they DIDNT learn, from the (unavoidable) mistakes of others. And tens of thousands of our citizens will die because of it. That really is the bottom line, and no amount of free money, or clapping on the steps of member ten, will ever, ever make up for that, IMO.

They only followed the advice of the ‘experts’ that they chose to follow. The World Health Organisation, and a huge majority of actual experts (in the specific fields of virology and infectious diseases) advocated a very different path, but our ‘hero’ knew better, and choose to delay, delay and delay the clearly necessary lockdown, in the interests of duck knows what.

They had the benefit of seeing what Spain and Italy got wrong, but blew that advantage completely. The Italian people saw what was happening and BEGGED us to lock down to avoid their mistakes. But ‘Boris’ and his acolytes knew better and kept the pubs and the schools open for two weeks too long.

Personally I’m not sure behaving like a hysterical school girl at every turn of this situation constitutes good behaviour no matter how much tough questioning he delivers. Right now is not the time for public point scoring or finger pointing.

Let them get on with their job of dealing with this situation. For every example of left wing media government bashing - around PPE for example - there have been countless examples of Joe public saying my wife/husband/sister/cousin etc works at X hospital and they have what they need.

In any crisis there will inevitably be failures of both policy, response, preparedness and the supply chain but all in all I just can’t see his approach being very helpful in the long run.

And when the dust settles and he really goes after people I will think of him nothing other than a hypocritical idiot trying to erase the public memory of his leadership in one of the most heinous examples of press manipulation and injustice this country has ever seen. Despicable bell end as far as I’m concerned.

Two very thoughtful posts (sorry, I don't have the skill of others with multiquoting).

My view is folk are swinging too far in both direction - some are criticising the government to the point of distructive whataboutery, while others are too credulous and think we need to accept every government choice without demur, like good little patriots.

Personally I can't blame the government for not locking down sooner. There were two issues: some were thinking that letting people get sick to create herd immunity might be a plan, and others feared that a sudden swift lockdown here would trigger a cockwomble revolt where the whole country behaved like the population of some towns in the midlands and north, ignoring the rules, with this snowballing into real and widespread civil unrest.

I think the government were wrong in both cases, but I really don't blame them.

The opposition do need to challenge decisions as Starmer has said, but 'noting' issue is the most they should do for now. The time for recrimination will come (and the ten years of absurd austerity will be first up for examination). But that time is not yet.

I am not keen on cheerleading, whether it be for Boris or Hancock, nor am I interested in joining a lynch mob behind the likes of Piers Morgan. Luckily I don't read or listen to working class trash media (apart from radio 5), or middle class political campaigning (Grauniad etc), so the only time I'm likely to come across the views of Dorries, Morgan, Farrage etc is on NSC. I think we need to be stoic, locally proactive with our neighbours and family, and we should follow the rules as best we can without moaning. For now.

Anyway. **** it. Now I'm proselytising like all the other silly buggers

 

[The Wizard]

As somebody who is not overtly political I find politics hilarious, how can it be that every single political party in human history gets voted in, then gets savaged on a daily basis by many of you? People moan no matter what the government does, I bet it would have been the exact same had Labour won. Doesn’t it ever get boring?

Piers Morgan is a piece of shit, regardless of whether he is right occasionally, the guy is a disgrace to journalism and throughout this whole thing his social media’s have been a bunch of scaremongering sensationalist desperate for likes bollocks.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I can’t disagree with your opinion on Morgan. Spot on.

Not so much on our government. ‘Everyone is learning as they go along’, you say.

The issue is, they DIDNT learn, from the (unavoidable) mistakes of others. And tens of thousands of our citizens will die because of it. That really is the bottom line, and no amount of free money, or clapping on the steps of member ten, will ever, ever make up for that, IMO.

They only followed the advice of the ‘experts’ that they chose to follow. The World Health Organisation, and a huge majority of actual experts (in the specific fields of virology and infectious diseases) advocated a very different path, but our ‘hero’ knew better, and choose to delay, delay and delay the clearly necessary lockdown, in the interests of duck knows what.

They had the benefit of seeing what Spain and Italy got wrong, but blew that advantage completely. The Italian people saw what was happening and BEGGED us to lock down to avoid their mistakes. But ‘Boris’ and his acolytes knew better and kept the pubs and the schools open for two weeks too long.

I agree with the sentiment of that. But I won't bang on about it like some as though it will do any good whatsoever atm. Lessons will be learned I am sure, it is just a tragedy that people may have lost their lives unnecessarily. However depending upon the nature of the virus return or a vaccine being found or that perhaps we have sufficient 'herd immunity' as more of us were infected than previously thought, those lives lost may actually contribute to an overall balance of mortality that is more favourable in the long run. Who knows?

This is fantasy. See my various long tedious posts with spreadsheets and calculations. More than 99% of cases would need to be asymptomatic for this to be a real and impactful phenomenon.

That said the rate of infection may have just peaked, which I find hard to explain but am close to accepting.

 

[Acker79]

As somebody who is not overtly political I find politics hilarious, how can it be that every single political party in human history gets voted in, then gets savaged on a daily basis by many of you?

It's not that illogical, to be honest. When there's more than two candidates for every seat, and voting isn't compulsory, there's usually more people who didn't vote for the winner than there is who did vote for them. Those that voted are happy if they do what they promised they would, but everyone else (i.e usually the majority) isn't happy. Sometimes they discover the promises were empty, or have proven more difficult to implement than the voters thought, then everyone is upset.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

This is fantasy. See my various long tedious posts with spreadsheets and calculations. More than 99% of cases would need to be asymptomatic for this to be a real and impactful phenomenon.

That said the rate of infection may have just peaked, which I find hard to explain but am close to accepting.

Well I bow to your superior knowledge obviously!

 

[pb21]

I agree with the sentiment of that. But I won't bang on about it like some as though it will do any good whatsoever atm. Lessons will be learned I am sure, it is just a tragedy that people may have lost their lives unnecessarily. However depending upon the nature of the virus return or a vaccine being found or that perhaps we have sufficient 'herd immunity' as more of us were infected than previously thought, those lives lost may actually contribute to an overall balance of mortality that is more favourable in the long run. Who knows?

For herd immunity to be effective for Covid-19 it would require ~60 to 80% of people to be immune, either through having had it or through vaccination (on the basis the R0 is between 2.5 and 5, if its higher the percentage is higher).

Whilst IMO a significant proportion have had the virus I don't think we are anywhere near that level. In addition my understanding is that the R0 value does not decrease linearly as the number immune increases, although I could be wrong on this?

 

[Mr Banana]

I am new to day time TV but after watching that interview will never watch Good Morning again. This virus is a one off thing and have no doubt government are doing there best. Like all countries things will not be perfect. Absolutely atrocious how Hancock was spoken to. I have been in business for 30 years and have never been spoken to like that. Of course if I had would have option to walk out. Ministers dont and have to sit and take that crap. The bit about footballers was a joke. Hancock made it clear he didnt bring this up but was asked in an interview about what he thinks footballers should do and he answered the question. I would say ministers are mad to go on the show but Morgan would then spout of that they were scared to come on.

On a day to day level, Piers is a very unhappy person, and everything he does is just an outpouring of that, rather than anything meaningful. He's never known any tone other than bullying/sneering. His life isn't easy. So it's really up to people not to watch, interviewees not to engage and commissioners to change things, if they are ever going to change.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Two very thoughtful posts (sorry, I don't have the skill of others with multiquoting).

My view is folk are swinging too far in both direction - some are criticising the government to the point of distructive whataboutery, while others are too credulous and think we need to accept every government choice without demur, like good little patriots.

Personally I can't blame the government for not locking down sooner. There were two issues: some were thinking that letting people get sick to create herd immunity might be a plan, and others feared that a sudden swift lockdown here would trigger a cockwomble revolt where the whole country behaved like the population of some towns in the midlands and north, ignoring the rules, with this snowballing into real and widespread civil unrest.

I think the government were wrong in both cases, but I really don't blame them.

The opposition do need to challenge decisions as Starmer has said, but 'noting' issue is the most they should do for now. The time for recrimination will come (and the ten years of absurd austerity will be first up for examination). But that time is not yet.

I am not keen on cheerleading, whether it be for Boris or Hancock, nor am I interested in joining a lynch mob behind the likes of Piers Morgan. Luckily I don't read or listen to working class trash media (apart from radio 5), or middle class political campaigning (Grauniad etc), so the only time I'm likely to come across the views of Dorries, Morgan, Farrage etc is on NSC. I think we need to be stoic, locally proactive with our neighbours and family, and we should follow the rules as best we can without moaning. For now.

Anyway. **** it. Now I'm proselytising like all the other silly buggers

Gawd you had me with everything up until using a big word in that last sentence

 

[amexer]

As somebody who is not overtly political I find politics hilarious, how can it be that every single political party in human history gets voted in, then gets savaged on a daily basis by many of you? People moan no matter what the government does, I bet it would have been the exact same had Labour won. Doesn’t it ever get boring?

Piers Morgan is a piece of shit, regardless of whether he is right occasionally, the guy is a disgrace to journalism and throughout this whole thing his social media’s have been a bunch of scaremongering sensationalist desperate for likes bollocks.

Very well said. I to am amazed how critical people are about governments just after an election. As far as I am concerned would give any government at least a year of a 5yr term before I formed an opinion. 100% agree about Morgan Certainly has chosen this virus as the wrong subject to be an arse

 

[dazzer6666]

I can’t disagree with your opinion on Morgan. Spot on.

Not so much on our government. ‘Everyone is learning as they go along’, you say.

The issue is, they DIDNT learn, from the (unavoidable) mistakes of others. And tens of thousands of our citizens will die because of it. That really is the bottom line, and no amount of free money, or clapping on the steps of member ten, will ever, ever make up for that, IMO.

They only followed the advice of the ‘experts’ that they chose to follow. The World Health Organisation, and a huge majority of actual experts (in the specific fields of virology and infectious diseases) advocated a very different path, but our ‘hero’ knew better, and choose to delay, delay and delay the clearly necessary lockdown, in the interests of duck knows what.

They had the benefit of seeing what Spain and Italy got wrong, but blew that advantage completely. The Italian people saw what was happening and BEGGED us to lock down to avoid their mistakes. But ‘Boris’ and his acolytes knew better and kept the pubs and the schools open for two weeks too long.

Maybe, maybe not. Point for me is I'm not personally going to get into any blame game at this stage or vent my anger publicly - people at the top are having to make horrifically challenging decisions with dire consequences regardless of those decisions, often taking the 'least worst' option and often without the benefit of unequivocal information on which to base those decisions. Hindsight will be fabulous in helping all of us decide whether those decisions were good, bad or indifferent but for me now isn't the time to be calling out some of those decisions to the extent some people are - decisions which still may or may not be proved to be good or bad. Maybe our strategy turns out to be better than many ? How many of the 'better' countries will get a nasty second or third wave ? It's way too early to tell IMO - for example the amazing Singapore model that everyone was raving about 3/4 weeks ago has just resulted into them having to declare a full lockdown............

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Gawd you had me with everything up until using a big word in that last sentence

Everything I have posted on COVID can be criticised (as it is all back of the envelope calculations with all sorts of assumptions and hypothesizing) and I'm aware of that, and I am also aware I feel like I'm preaching. That's all.

 

[Wrong-Direction]

Where's the they're both ***** option?

Sent from my SM-A600FN using Tapatalk

 

[LamieRobertson]

Everything I have posted on COVID can be criticised (as it is all back of the envelope calculations with all sorts of assumptions and hypothesizing) and I'm aware of that, and I am also aware I feel like I'm preaching. That's all.

Noooo was excellent post ...but that word....well I’m a little dim

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

The unspeakable in pursuit of the unelectable.

 

[southstandandy]

For Piers Morgan see Katie Hopkins

 

[Diablo]

Morgan has been fantastic throughout this crisis [emoji106]

It is very easy to be when all you do is talk . It is a bit harder when you have to do !!

 

[A1X]

To be honest. I don't give a monkeys. My sentiment is that this is a time of crisis and whoever were in power I would support them.

But they're not above questioning and criticism. That's more North Korea than I would like.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Morgan is the classic pantomime villain/marmite figure.

But regardless of whether you love him or hate, he's asking all the necessary questions at this time.

As for the Tory bashing on here, IMHO if Uncle Jeremy had won back in December we'd have rioting in the streets by now.