Great to see Boris looking so well. He doesn't appear to have lost too much weight which is something of a surprise. However, I'll throw a spanner in the works and say I found the speech to be nauseous at times.

I’m no fan, cynical as they come and found a lot of the news released during his stay slightly dubious , but I couldn’t find a problem with today’s speech?

Can't fault his speech which I thought was excellent given what he's been through but sadly it bears no resemblance to the care my 90 year old neighbour received just before the lockdown. He died of hospital acquired sepsis in a side ward with no visitors. He was left alone for most of the time before that. Nobody ever sat with him and he was stressed because he just couldn't understand what many of the nurses were saying to him. Like me, he made it clear he wasn't racist, but he found it very frustrating. He said he often had to wait an hour after pressing his buzzer when he wanted to go to the toilet. He was missing the TLC that only I and his niece could give him. He lost that after the lockdown and died a week later.

I would expect the Prime Minister to get preferential treatment, especially in a top teaching hospital, but I'm afraid not everybody will get the Utopian care that Boris received.

That’s a very good point and probably what Brian was referring to. 

Hi Caz

Firstly, I am sorry to hear that your daughter was in hospital a couple of months ago. I hope she has recovered now.

My own recollection is that the government only went more public about it in the early days of March. I recall seeing a news conference at Downing Street with BJ, Chris Witty and Patrick Vallance on the news in which one of them stated they felt there was likely to be a significant outbreak od Covid-19 in the UK, or words to that effect. Prior to this point, I hadn't really been concerned about the disease at all and had assumed that the government would have had things under control so that if it did arrive here (it did in late January), there would be a minimal effect on this country.

With hindsight, allowing people to travel to Italy back in mid-February was a mistake for sure. I also think that many sports events should have been suspended or cancelled a while before they eventually were. Responsibility for sports though lies with the governing bodies for those sports first and foremost. The Liverpool v Athletico Madrid CL match just before mid-March should never have taken place for example, and Brian has already mentioned the Cheltenham Festival. Quite possibly, the Six Nations rugby union competition should have been halted an an earlier time as well.

Me neither actually although it will be interesting to see where he goes from here. Will he apologise for putting so many NHS workers into extra harm by being slow with the lockdown? I know that some people on here brush aside NHS workers dying/being on a ventilator as just people bickering but i don't. Have wondered if he may be a changed person/have a different outlook from here on.

Perhaps like me, you have seen some less glorious treatment of the elderly in particular, during their stay in a provincial hospital?

I don' t blame the NHS but the fact remains for a variety of reasons including training, working practices, staffing levels, supervision and monitoring and no doubt funding in some areas it's not as perfect as Boris is saying. 

Better chance of things improving from now on though I think.

Another 5.2K positives tests. While it’s steady it’s still high. A worry.

There were 737 reported deaths. Slightly higher than reported earlier.

I'm a cynical b'stard  and far from being a Tory,  but I can't fault Boris's speech.

Glad he made it through

Yes, same here.

Hope he is back to 100% strength soon.

I really don’t think it’s the behaviour of the British public which is leading us to the worst death rate in Europe. 

I think we need to call that lie out as soon as it attempts to surface, as it will probably surface a lot. 

The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust has become the first in the UK to record over 400 deaths from Covid-19 as of 5pm on Saturday they had recorded 404 deaths.

4 more trust have between 200 & 300 Covid-19 deaths

• London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (272)


• Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (267)


• King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (237)


• Barts Health NHS Trust (230)

Thank you for saying that. 🙂 Hope Easter Sunday is treating you well. 

It's certainly playing a role. I definitely blame HMG for their complacency early on. They wasted valuable time when they should have stopped flights from Italy and China when those cases took off. Their reluctance to call the lockdown was also utterly reckless.

However the idiots that are out flouting the rules also need to pinned with a fair amount of blame for this. That includes both those who are going out when they shouldn't be, and the people who still don't understand what social distancing means. To give them an easy ride and pin the whole blame on HMG would be ill-deserved.

I have seen some horrific treatment of the elderly on the NHS. I've also experienced incompetence as well as forced into the private sector myself.  

Also, I detest the term "our NHS" which he uses twice I think. Whilst I fully support universal healthcare I see social insurance as a much better model than a centralised monolith which is what we have. 

Finally, he talks about the battle which the country is fighting and will be victorious in. Or words to that effect. The truth is if he'd embraced lockdown earlier we probably wouldn't now be in the running to have Europe's "worst corona virus death rate". 

I am delighted for Boris and his loved ones.  However, I continue to think the government he leads has handled the corona virus epidemic poorly. Obviously my view won't be a popular one but that is tough! I pay the bills around here. 

There are idiots around, and like I said I uncharacteristically shouted at some strangers on Friday, who clearly don’t understand what social distancing means.

However, beware of blaming this ongoing health catastrophe on the British public. In my view that’s both misguided and insulting. 

Maybe the reason you’re not familiar with the timeline and what was being done, is that it was less relevant to you then and nobody ever expected it to get this bad.  On the other hand, it was personal to me, having been cruising round Asia.  So I was watching developments and was very much aware as it was relevant to me, having to spend 14 days self isolating in mid February.  

Also, my husband was due for an operation in late February but it was postponed due to the hospital making resources available for possible Covid patients.  So I was very much aware that HMG were taking action then.  You probably only took note following the first cobra meeting in early March but the fact it didn’t concern you before that, doesn’t mean nothing was being done.  I can assure you it was.

Yes, I agree that people going to Italy in mid February wasn’t wise and some later events should not have gone ahead but it’s too late to change that now.  We can only move forward now because regrets solve nothing. 

As you say you pay the bills.

PS. I've just been seeing if I can suspend you  

I agree with you 100%, Brian.

Like everyone, I am delighted that Boris seems to have recovered and is now returning home. His fiance and family must have been beside themselves with worry for a time last week when his condition was at its worst.

One thing is for sure now though, and that is if Boris and the others in his government were under any illusions a couple of months ago about how dangerous Covid-19 is, he and they will not be under any now. What Boris has just endured plus the fact that his Health Secretary, communications chief and Chris Witty all tested positive, not to mention the many, many deaths there have been from it only IMO serves to highlight why Prof John Ashton was so annoyed with the government's initial response a month ago.

Very true and I agree there must have been an awful lot of contagion being spread in them pre lockdown and imo even now there are far far too many people in any one store at any given time for social distancing to be of any protection.Yes we have to eat but at what price and what risks we are having to endure to do so. Iam doing more and more shopping at the small local shops which most times only have 1 other person in and often im the only one and I feel much safer!

Surely they could have waited a minute or two and got it totally empty?

I have to admit I have just got back from breaking the rules: put my 2-year-old in the car and went out for a 10-minute drive around the local streets which was enough to get him to sleep. Peace reigns at last.