Current Affairs

[screwy]

Working on the 5 day incubation period, I probably picked it up in Lisbon, Seville or on Ventura.

[Mervyn and Trish]

On the ship has to be favourite. Indoor environment with lots of people.

[Kendhni]

He might win it but his majority is going to be greatly reduced. I think that between them Labour, Lib Dems and other parties will win more seats between them than the Tories.

One thing's for certain, Labours best chance of winning is if Johnson is still in office.

Johnson always has the ability to surprise, as Michael Heseltine said, Johnsons looks for those that exude greatness and then tries to associate with them in the hope some rubs off on him ... we have seen quite a bit of that lately. We also know that the UK electorate are incredibly fickle and more prone to vote against something rather than for what they actually want (a claim levelled by both the Tories and Labour).

Starmer has not exactly set the world on fire, although Labour does have clearly laid out policy for many things ... while much of it may need a refresh, it is in contrast to the Tory party that just makes policy up depending on which way the wind is blowing ... and then u-turns when the wind changes direction.

I have heard many Tory party faithful saying that Johnson is their best chance ... I would be inclined to agree with that ... there is a total lack of political talent in the Tory party at the minute and very little real leadership material ... just a lot of underachievers like Truss, Rabb, Patel, Hunt etc.

My best guess (and it is 100% guess) is that he might win but, like Teresa May, go back in with a minority government. Who would trust him though to form any kind of coalition?

[Manoverboard]

Coalition with whom I wonder ... the opposition are useless and Remoaners to boot

[oldbluefox]

Coalition with whom I wonder ... the opposition are useless and Remoaners to boot

Ed Davy's Yellow Army

[Kendhni]

Coalition with whom I wonder ... the opposition are useless and Remoaners to boot

To be fair we already know the government is useless and brexitards to boot.

[Gill W]

From today daily covid updates will be replaced with weekly updates.

With covid going through the roof again perhaps the Government should reconsider the feel-good slogan of “keep life moving” and replace it with “here we go Again”?

The majority don't seem to care very much, anyway. They heard 'Omicron was mild' and switched off at that point.

It seems as if the current BA.5 variant may be causing people to feel more ill in the acute stage. But I think the real problem is what we are storing up for the future. Many 'scientists believe that repeated infections damage people's immune systems. Not to mention Long Covid and other Covid induced damage and illness. Give it 2 - 3 years - can't help thinking the problems will be very apparent by then.

My plan is to try not to get infected, and if I do get infected, try not to get infected again.

[Gill W]

I have heard many Tory party faithful saying that Johnson is their best chance ...

Can't help wondering what the party faithful in the shires will think if this story gets fully out into the newspapers or the BBC

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/m ... d8067357b1

Put it this way, it makes me feel physically sick every time I think about it. In fact I'm trying to bleach it from my mind.

[Frank Manning]

I was at a meeting on Thursday and at the end we discussed this subject of a potential election, and of the Tory party leadership. There was a mix of political persuasions, but on one thing we were all agreed. Johnson despite his hype, is no leader. He is a trickster for sure, but a lot of the floating voters have rumbled him. The people who are still diehard Tory voters will vote Tory whatever, and similarly the die Labour will vote Labour. It seemed to us that it is the middle ground who hold the key. Whatever, we agreed that the winners will have a small majority. The Brexiteer, Remoaner arguments are a distraction. This country needs a strategy to meet the situation as it is, and it needs all sides, left, right, brexit and remain to contribute and then buy into it, anything else is just navel gazing, and we cant afford to navel gaze any longer.

[Onelife]

I think most are now taking the attitude that because the Government have given up trying to contain the virus, we have no choice but to do the same.

I was told today that some care homes are struggling to cope with staff shortages and as a consequence some line managers are allowing staff to return to work while staff are still covid positive. : shock:

[Onelife]

I have heard many Tory party faithful saying that Johnson is their best chance ...

Can't help wondering what the party faithful in the shires will think if this story gets fully out into the newspapers or the BBC

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/m ... d8067357b1

Put it this way, it makes me feel physically sick every time I think about it. In fact I'm trying to bleach it from my mind.

….at least it wasn’t his male butler

[Bensham33]

Don't write off the Lib Dems, if that by-election result at Tiverton & Honiton is anything to go by. That was amazing even for a mid term by-election.

[oldbluefox]

I wouldn't take too much notice of that. What people vote for in a bye election and in a general election are two different beasts. I cannot see the Lib Dems being a credible alternative in government, certainly not under Ed Davy.

[towny44]

I have heard many Tory party faithful saying that Johnson is their best chance ...

Can't help wondering what the party faithful in the shires will think if this story gets fully out into the newspapers or the BBC

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/m ... d8067357b1

Put it this way, it makes me feel physically sick every time I think about it. In fact I'm trying to bleach it from my mind.

What is wrong with a normal heterosexual relationship between 2 people. As for foreign govts being interested in the relationship, clearly ts not only MPs who get their kicks from watching sex videos.

[Onelife]

I have heard many Tory party faithful saying that Johnson is their best chance ...

Can't help wondering what the party faithful in the shires will think if this story gets fully out into the newspapers or the BBC

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/m ... d8067357b1

Put it this way, it makes me feel physically sick every time I think about it. In fact I'm trying to bleach it from my mind.

What is wrong with a normal heterosexual relationship between 2 people. As for foreign govts being interested in the relationship, clearly ts not only MPs who get their kicks from watching sex videos.

I know what you mean John…. I stumbled across one yesterday.... and three times the day before

[Gill W]

What is wrong with a normal heterosexual relationship between 2 people. As for foreign govts being interested in the relationship, clearly ts not only MPs who get their kicks from watching sex videos.

I think the problem here is that Johnson wanted to give a senior job to the person he was pursuing the relationship with, and they were er…… pursuing** the relationship in Johnson’s office while he was Foreign Secretary, while he was still married to his previous wife who was receiving cancer treatment.

**The Times printed this story last weekend, but it appears that they were pressurised into removing it, although it appeared in some early editions. Private Eye have reported that Johnson was panicked because he thought The Times was going to go into detail regarding what happened when he and Carrie were caught in flagrante. The Times didn’t give detail, but, by panicking Johnson has drawn more attention to the story. Private Eye says what they were doing - and in any other work place they would have been sacked.

Non of this has been denied by No 10.

[Kendhni]

Johnson despite his hype, is no leader. He is a trickster for sure, but a lot of the floating voters have rumbled him. The people who are still diehard Tory voters will vote Tory whatever, and similarly the die Labour will vote Labour. It seemed to us that it is the middle ground who hold the key. Whatever, we agreed that the winners will have a small majority.

I have always said that Johnson is a conman (also often said by those that actually know him) ... sadly those that are waking up to this are probably a few years too late ... much of the damage has already been done. I posted a while back that whoever occupied the middle ground will be the key to the next election. Labour had been pushing to the left (although they seem to be backing away from that a bit) and the Tories have been pushing whatever way the wind blows, but at the minute there is nobody genuinely occupying the middle ground ... not even the libdems.

This country needs a strategy to meet the situation as it is, and it needs all sides, left, right, brexit and remain to contribute and then buy into it, anything else is just navel gazing, and we cant afford to navel gaze any longer.

Indeed, I have never liked the tribal form of government in the UK and would much prefer to see a collaborative government. One of the big problems is to stop focussing on short term popular gains for the grey-vote and start focussing on the long term and meeting the stretch-goals required to rebuild the UK for the next generation. The other problem is how do they bring integrity and honesty back into government ... something that has been sorely missing for the last few years.

[oldbluefox]

Can you think of any country where a collaborative government has been a success? Sounds good in theory but an effective alternative?

[Manoverboard]

My plan is to try not to get infected, and if I do get infected, try not to get infected again.

That's our plan too.

[david63]

My plan is to try not to get infected, and if I do get infected, try not to get infected again.

I would hazard a guess that that is the plan for 99% of the population, although not sure how you can do that without becoming a hermit.

[Ranchi]

Last week we took our second cruise and our first bus ride. During the pandemic we had been very much risk averse. Hardly been in a shop (Sainsbug’s deliveries,) had about four pints the whole period and each of those outdoors etc. even gave up my season ticket as I really didn’t fancy the half time and full time crushes through enclosed areas. Our first cruise was on QM2 and was only a 3 nighter with the port on the penultimate day. Cunard (our first time with them) had all bases touched. You took all MDR meals at the same table so we were effectively in a bubble of (+2) and the theatre was sparsely filled with staff reminding passengers of mask requirements during performances.
Last week we were on Ventura & things have moved on quite a bit. We only went to the theatre once as a) we didn’t really fancy the acts much & b) the theatre was pretty full. We happily listened to the acts from an adjacent seating area. We had fixed dining option so a bubble of 6 for dinner but breakfast and lunch were open seating so much mixing.
Disembarked Saturday. Tested Sunday night (both OK) by Tuesday both positive. Fortunately both feeling not too bad after Weds but still not -ve.
I must admit to feeling a little bit of freedom on the horizon. I plan to make my first trip to a barbers since early 2020. I realise you can be reinfected and will remain cautious. We have another cruise (longer than Ventura’s 7 nighter) in late summer and will certainly withdraw a bit in the fortnight before.
I can say that the test at home protocol was preferable to the test at the dock side (imagine having to turn round and drive 300+ miles if you tested +ve on the dock side) I’m not sure which is the more effective.

[towny44]

As the first senior cabinet minister to resign, I imagine that Sajid Javed will be positioning himself as a more suitable PM candidate when Boris eventually goes.

[towny44]

......and Rishi Sunak follows suit!!!!

[anniec]

And who can blame them.

[screwy]

Ah Towny you’ve let me down. When the news broke, I was convinced it would be Gill who made the first comment.!

Sorry Gill.