Personally, all I see is anti Tory forum members bashing the Tories like rabid dogs. Same as always.

 

There are a handful of countries that I'd say have handled this well. That's it.

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And to go one further, there were several on here that spotted this looming disaster in JANUARY whilst other members ridiculed them.

People in glass houses should not throw stones.

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So are you saying that Johnson is beyond reproach to anyone that didn’t vote Conservative?

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/18/how-did-britain-get-its-response-to-coronavirus-so-wrong

Basically what Ive been saying all along - Brexit masturbation and power grabbing from itself - the government is an embarrassing shambles and is responsible for thousands of deaths through its incompetence.

The supine right wing press is a disgrace also.  

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If that was aimed in my direction I will just point out that I've voted for the Conservatives in every GE for almost half a century.  Unfortunately there wasn't a Conservative party at the most recent GE.

 

Very, very few countries have handled the first phase of the pandemic well.  It is far too early to judge what the long-term outlook will reveal.

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But this about expectations. People were saying earlier a policeman should lose his job because he said he would fabricate evidence. The Scottish Health Minister lost her job because she didn't strictly follow the rules and her own advice. Where does not turning up to FIVE ! Cobra meetings and pretty much skiving fit in with the job requirements of a PM in a crisis the Government themselves likened to a war? It's about personal standards not Tory bashing.

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My guess is that Johnson is now being seen as a threat by some in the party who initially thought his buffoonery would be his undoing. However, we've seen good support for him from the electorate and I don't think this was ever meant to be the case.

 

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A very good, yet sobering article. 

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But why does it all have to be brought back to Brexit, time and again? It's really time to move on. The EU have hardly been a shining beacon of light in all of this.

It's no time for politicising with partisan debate. The enemy is this virus, not each other, not the Tories, not the EU...the virus.

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Hmm, a number quick to attack. Remainers who will never heal!

Just remember, it was China who unleashed this on the world, China, not our govt. Don't you dare say anyone here has blood on his hands over this. China are the ones we should be going after.

And more popular than ever before. 

Normal rules were suspended in 2016 and a lot of the commentariat still don't get it

Look at Trumps latest press conference! Incredible stuff. Accusing Hussein Obama of not leaving any ventilators or ammunition for the army. Accusing Muslims of getting special treatment on social distancing. Accusing Democrats of taking away guns in Virginia, which is not true

Facts no longer matter. Its a culture war. Liberals and minorities are taking over and White working class are second class citizens in their own country. Simple as that. It matters not that its nonsense.  Its why he will win again

 

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Brexit is barely mentioned really. 

Yes it mentions that the Tories were riding the wave of the their stunning election victory, and were distracted by our looming departure from the EU. That is almost certainly true when this crisis was evolving in China. 

We do of course have the benefit of hindsight and it’s not like there was 100% consensus amongst the scientific community, but we implemented all the lockdown measures a week or so too late. 

Hopefully we can get the next phase right. 

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Chant of “Fire Fauci!” pic.twitter.com/Vj4aQhtQs7

— Manny Fernandez (@mannyNYT) April 18, 2020

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I voted to leave. 

I’ll say again, the government has blood on its hands. They sat by when thousands of people were allowed to attend Cheltenham festival when clearly this was a mistake.

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This is such a disgusting comment. I couldn't care less about party politics right now, it's not like there will be an election soon or that there is any prospect of a change in the leadership.

This is a story of the serious mistakes made and how they could make Britain the worst affected country in Europe. 

The scientific advice was changing daily. Then it was considered safe to hold events outside and the Liverpool v Atletico match was also allowed to go on as well. Now, they would not have done it as this nightmare is playing out. People like Blair DO have our boys blood on their hands, agreeing to send them into war when there were never any WMD.

All countries would do things differently now, there is no script for this thing. If China had closed its international borders rather than just its internal ones, we would never be having these conversations now.

Strange as the express had the 5 cobra meetings story as their main headline, but its gone now. The BBC are very late with their Sunday paper headlines which are usually published on their site about an hour ago.

Even the Times haven’t used it as their main splash and it’s their story!

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Yet you manage an unwarranted and unjustified dig at the EU?

It will never be time to ‘move on’ because the whole process was unsatisfactory and leaving the EU is not in our interests.

We may he in a battle with a pandemic but nothing else has changed: we have an incompetent leader of a party shorn if it’s traditional broad church and a government of 2nd and 3rd rate people. 

The mostly substandard response to the Covid-19 crisis just undermines the inadequacies. A lot more honesty would help.

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Just spotted it is still on the Express site, but has been placed some way down.

Still no updates on the BBC. I can imagine they are scribbling away and want to get their teeth into this one.