Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson

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  • Probably not - though I don't seem to be getting the spam adverts for Viagra that I used to...
    Telepath wrote: »
    With no ill wish to him... I'm TRYING, ok?... this shone like a beacon of hope:

    Dominic Goings

    A Horrid (and Hellish) Thought has just occurred to me. Is the egregious Cummings fleeing the scene of a Close Encounter with a part, or parts, of Boris' anatomy, having just been informed that Boris has The Plague?

    (*If brain bleach is no longer available at your local supermarket, I have a few 1 litre bottles for sale. £100 per bottle, plus postage).
  • EutychusEutychus Shipmate
    I think you're all making a bit too much of Cummings being late for some appointment or other.
  • Probably, but we need a bit of hope...
  • TelepathTelepath Shipmate
    BF, I'm all for taboo exploration through fanfic but real-person-fic is a step too far at the best of times.
  • Was Johnson practicing the 2m / 6ft distancing? at all? consistently? If he wasn't, and this includes all news conferences and meetings, can he be sued?
    Earlier this month he was insisting on shaking hands, even when visiting a hospital. link
  • Was Johnson practicing the 2m / 6ft distancing? at all? consistently? If he wasn't, and this includes all news conferences and meetings, can he be sued?
    Earlier this month he was insisting on shaking hands, even when visiting a hospital. link

    What an asshole.
  • Cathscats wrote: »
    They also managed to test a man in his early 70s who ignored the clearly expressed wishes of rural communities and the advice of government that people shouldn't go to second homes in the country.

    I suspect that the specific rural community to which that particular man has gone is happy to have him there, which is certainly of more relevance than the opinion of "rural communities" on whether "second home owners" should travel there.


    Noooo, I don’t think so. It has been interesting to hear how Radio Scotland news programmes have covered this story, interviews with locals etc, compared to how the BBC online news puts it, even in the Scotland section. The radio carries the rage. But that family does not understand how much less loved they are up north (with possibly one exception, who is the sister of the man in question). There is a lot of anger at this story locally. @North East Quine would you agree?

    I haven't been listening to the radio. Any comment I've heard has been negative, if he travelled knowing he had symptoms. There will also be a lot of negative comment if he ends up in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, having queue jumped all the way. It will make the Queen Mother being admitted to hospital with a fish bone in her throat pale into insignificance.

    But that family does not understand how much less loved they are up north

    I thought that one of the attractions of Balmoral for the Royal family is that people generally can't be arsed with them, and so they can go shopping etc in Ballater unbothered.

    The former orphanage opened in the C19th for the babies foisted on local servant lassies by the toffs is in your neck of the woods isn't it? I think that adds to the cynicism.
  • And in other news a medical fetish company has donated its entire stock of disposable scrubs to an NHS hospital, after being contacted by a branch of NHS procurement - yes, really.

    I imagine procurement must have some really interesting internet search history at the moment.
  • And/or members of staff with inside knowledge of the subject...
    :mrgreen:
  • EirenistEirenist Shipmate
    Charles, for better or worse, is heir to the throne, for Heaven's sake. The family have been dispersed following an emergency plan which will have been drawn up in advance. I doubt if any of the chain of events has been a result of his personal choice.
  • Quite so. Full marks to HM for carrying on carrying on.
  • EirenistEirenist Shipmate
    The Prince of Wales is not 'a private person' He is the next head of state, barring accidents. Would you rather he was not tested or treated?
  • I didn't vote for him.
  • Well only about 25,000 people actually voted for Boris himself.

    I can understand testing the Prime Minister even when he wouldn't normally be - there would be too many rumours if it was left to an educated guess.
  • The same, I suppose, should apply to any Prime Minister at a time of National Emergency™, whoever he, she, or it* might be.

    *Just in case we are actually being led at the moment by a Humming Bean, and not by Dread Cthulhu, or an avatar of any other of the Great Old Ones. Well, you never know...
  • Eirenist wrote: »
    The Prince of Wales is not 'a private person' He is the next head of state, barring accidents. Would you rather he was not tested or treated?

    I'm not against him being tested. But, if it's correct that he decided to come to Balmoral after he started having symptoms, that seems to be a foolish disregarding of the current rules.

  • I have no problem with the Prime Minister getting tested. He is the democratically elected leader (God help us all) of the country.

    Charles Windsor is multiply redundant by design, and engaged in virus-spreading behaviour because of unearned privilege.
  • Well, with any Luck™, the current Emergency will sort out the sheep from the goats...

    God hell pus all, indeed.
    :grimace:
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Well, with any Luck™, the current Emergency will sort out the sheep from the goats...

    God hell pus all, indeed.
    :grimace:
    No, because as I've just commented on another thread, evil doesn't do justice. Those 'sorted' as you put it, will be a random selection from both sheep and goats.

    "The rain it raineth on the just
    And also on the unjust fella;
    But chiefly on the just, because
    The unjust hath the just’s umbrella."


    (attributed to Charles Synge Bowen L.J. 1835-94 and therefore out of copyright)
  • EirenistEirenist Shipmate
    But what makes you think it was Charles' personal decision to travel to Scotland?
  • EirenistEirenist Shipmate
    But I forgot - you're all Jacobites, aren't you?
  • Hehe...
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    Why has the Queen not done a ‘we’re all in this together’ broadcast?
  • Eirenist wrote: »
    But I forgot - you're all Jacobites, aren't you?

    I'm a piskie. It's compulsory.
  • Because it would mean exposing both the queen and the technicians, outside broadcasters and a whole lot more involved in an outside broadcast to the virus.

    The people who are putting their own shows on are tech savvy. (And some seem desperate for company / an audience - e.g. John Finnemore's Cabin Fever sessions. It's a continuation of Cabin Fever.)
  • We're all in this together, although I do have more spondulacks than you, and various retreats, so it goes.
  • EutychusEutychus Shipmate
    Yes it does, but spondalacks turn out not to buy either immunity or more overall mental health. We are not all equal in the face of this, but the inequalities aren't necessarily the ones that leap out at us.
  • I just hope there's some morphine left, if I end up in a hospital corridor.
  • HugalHugal Shipmate
    Not many Boris fans around here. Practically every one I talk to about it wish he had it worse. Much worse.
  • EutychusEutychus Shipmate
    Thus showing that nastiness is not the monopoly of any political party or hue.
  • ThunderBunkThunderBunk Shipmate
    edited March 2020
    Eutychus wrote: »
    Thus showing that nastiness is not the monopoly of any political party or hue.

    and/or that hell is not the place to look for the best in anyone. Apparently, especially not the terminally sententious.
  • EutychusEutychus Shipmate
    I don't think Hugal's acquaintances are in Hell.
  • Eutychus wrote: »
    Thus showing that nastiness is not the monopoly of any political party or hue.

    I don't actively wish anyone ill. I do fear the Darwinian conclusions Johnson - being a narcissist - may draw in the aftermath of his own survival. I think it would have been better had he never been infected.
  • TelepathTelepath Shipmate
    Eutychus wrote: »
    Thus showing that nastiness is not the monopoly of any political party or hue.

    I don't actively wish anyone ill. I do fear the Darwinian conclusions Johnson - being a narcissist - may draw in the aftermath of his own survival. I think it would have been better had he never been infected.

    This.
  • EutychusEutychus Shipmate
    edited March 2020
    Eutychus wrote: »
    Thus showing that nastiness is not the monopoly of any political party or hue.

    I don't actively wish anyone ill. I do fear the Darwinian conclusions Johnson - being a narcissist - may draw in the aftermath of his own survival. I think it would have been better had he never been infected.

    Yes. From a purely utilitarian point of view, I'd prefer him to be at least seriously ill, because of the message that would send about taking the pandemic seriously, but charitableness towards a fellow human being restrains me. Just.
  • jay_emmjay_emm Shipmate
    If the Ventilator mix-up were motivated by gain and responsible for the deaths of many of my fellow country people, forgiveness will be very hard. Similarly for the lack of PPEquipment (although at least, you could understand them not expecting to be tested on that) and the herd immunity plans (again, kind of explainable). If he is caught in his own net then at least I could have some sympathy (even though it probably means he adds deaths by those he passed in on to, and those whose ventilator he needs).
  • Eutychus wrote: »
    Thus showing that nastiness is not the monopoly of any political party or hue.

    This is a false equivalence. I am not condoning wishing Johnson ill but I can understand it. The background is important.

    The Conservative party systematically demonised the poor and disabled. The Tory benches cheered very loudly both when benefit cuts were passed and when they blocked a pay rise for nurses. Whether or not either was a good policy, the cheering was unseemly and it is not surprising that people took it personally. Johnson has been slow to make critical decisions, has not given clear leadership and has given misleading statements during this crisis. And as I have been saying for a while now, the wholesale vandalism of the NHS (especially public health) puts us in a much poorer position than we could be to face this horrific situation.

    When the Conservatives are collectively - and Johnson personally - responsible for making things worse and almost certainly causing a higher body count, it is asking a lot of people to be upset that he himself may also suffer from his foolishness as many of us will.

    I do not wish him ill but I understand the raw anger that underpins this nastiness. To suggest that is the same as treating people like shit for political gain is unhelpful and plain wrong.

    AFZ
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Am I alone in wondering if ABdePJ's diagnosis isn't just a tad too convenient, coming as it did just when it became known that he'd refused lost the e-mail inviting the UK to be part of the EU procurement scheme? When he spoke from Downing Street, he didn't cough once, or look particularly feverish.

    Or am I just spending too long on the interweb?
  • EutychusEutychus Shipmate
    Much too long ;) Besides, I read stories of people whose condition worsens considerably after quite some time being relatively midly ill.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    I have a first person account of him looking very poorly, so it is unlikely to have been conveniently timed.
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Eutychus wrote: »
    Thus showing that nastiness is not the monopoly of any political party or hue.

    This is a false equivalence. I am not condoning wishing Johnson ill but I can understand it. The background is important.

    The Conservative party systematically demonised the poor and disabled. The Tory benches cheered very loudly both when benefit cuts were passed and when they blocked a pay rise for nurses. Whether or not either was a good policy, the cheering was unseemly and it is not surprising that people took it personally. Johnson has been slow to make critical decisions, has not given clear leadership and has given misleading statements during this crisis. And as I have been saying for a while now, the wholesale vandalism of the NHS (especially public health) puts us in a much poorer position than we could be to face this horrific situation.

    When the Conservatives are collectively - and Johnson personally - responsible for making things worse and almost certainly causing a higher body count, it is asking a lot of people to be upset that he himself may also suffer from his foolishness as many of us will.

    I do not wish him ill but I understand the raw anger that underpins this nastiness. To suggest that is the same as treating people like shit for political gain is unhelpful and plain wrong.

    AFZ

    This.
  • I know this is Hell but even so we're talking about a man with an infection for which there is no magic cure whose other half is pregnant, and who is trying to do a job which is the ultimate poisoned chalice.
  • I know this is Hell but even so we're talking about a man with an infection for which there is no magic cure whose other half is pregnant, and who is trying to do a job which is the ultimate poisoned chalice.

    Yes, we are. Are you going to concede the point made earlier about respirators, or does your cheerleeding for this incompetent spiv with blood on his hands know no bounds?
  • I know this is Hell but even so we're talking about a man with an infection for which there is no magic cure whose other half is pregnant, and who is trying to do a job which is the ultimate poisoned chalice.

    A job he lied, plotted and schemed to get for at least a decade.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    It's a poisoned chalice of his own (party's) making and nobody forced him to take it up.

    As for his other half - they have a big house, I'm sure they'll find a way of avoiding each other.
  • I know this is Hell but even so we're talking about a man with an infection for which there is no magic cure whose other half is pregnant, and who is trying to do a job which is the ultimate poisoned chalice.

    I think most people here have demonstrated far more charity to him than he has to the least of these.

    But how do those boots taste?
  • HugalHugal Shipmate
    It is a shame he got the virus. He is only doing what any PM should do at a time like this. He is also having to make up for his party’s underinvestment in the NHS. He is still leading, he still takes the job with the highs and lows
  • Hugal wrote: »
    It is a shame he got the virus. He is only doing what any PM should do at a time like this.

    Wasting time, being indecisive, that's what a PM should do? :confused:
  • Doc Tor wrote: »
    I know this is Hell but even so we're talking about a man with an infection for which there is no magic cure whose other half is pregnant, and who is trying to do a job which is the ultimate poisoned chalice.

    Yes, we are. Are you going to concede the point made earlier about respirators, or does your cheerleeding for this incompetent spiv with blood on his hands know no bounds?

    Eh? I haven't said anything about respirators, nor am I likely to knowing nothing about them other than that the largest number in the UK is those in use by the fire service.

    FWIW I consider it a source for national shame that we have so little basic equipment, in which I'd include respirators, for front line staff of whom we ask so much. As for the lack of equipment facing carers, words fail.

    Ventilators, the same applies: scandalous shortage that should have been addressed long before the country faced a crisis. The only good news is that it looks as if UCLHospital and the Mercedes F1 team have come up with a positive pressure breathing aid that works and can be made quickly. Staggering that the medicines approval people have been able to give it the green light in days, as opposed to the usual years - another thing that needs to change in the post-virus world.

    I wouldn't cheerlead for any politician on principle. I do feel sorry for anyone, of whatever stripe, who is infected with the virus.
  • JonahManJonahMan Shipmate
    Well, according to the Guardian: https://theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/advice-on-protective-gear-for-nhs-staff-was-rejected-owing-to-cost the expert advice was that we should stock up on such equipment. But the government decided against on the grounds of cost, which in hindsight is a definitely a bad decision, but even at the time was surely based more on ideology than science.
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