Realistically how long can he keep his job?

[Liamo]

Found on Twitter:

"I think I’ve worked it out...

* 4 year olds can go to school but university students who have paid for their tuition and the accommodation that they aren’t living in, can’t go back to university.

* I can go to school with many 4 year olds that I’m not related to but can’t see one 4 year old that I am related to.

* I can sit in a park, but not tomorrow or Tuesday but by Wednesday that’ll be fine.

* I can meet one person from another household for a chat or to sunbathe but not two people so if I know two people from another household I have to pick my favourite. Hopefully, I’m also their favourite person from my household or this could be awkward. But possibly I’m not. In fact, thinking about it, I definitely wouldn’t be. But as I can’t go closer than 2m to the one I choose anyway so you wouldn’t think having the other one sat next to them would matter - unless two people would restrict my eyeline too much and prevent me from being alert.

* I can work all day with my colleagues but I can’t sit in their garden for a chat after work.

* I can now do unlimited exercise when quite frankly just doing an hour a day felt like I was some kind of fitness guru. I can think of lots of things that I would like to be unlimited but exercise definitely isn’t one of them.

* I can drive to other destinations although which destinations is unclear. I was supposed to be in Brighton this weekend. Can I drive there? It’s hundreds of miles away but no one has said that’s wrong.

* The buses are still running past my house but I shouldn’t get on one. We should just let empty buses drive around so bus drivers aren’t doing nothing.

* It will soon be time to quarantine people coming into the country by air... but not yet. It’s too soon. And not ever if you’re coming from France because... well, I don’t do know why, actually. Because the French version of coronavirus wouldn’t come to the UK maybe.

* Our youngest children go back to school first because... they are notoriously good at not touching things they shouldn’t, maintain personal space at all times and never randomly lick you.

* We are somewhere in between 3.5 and 4.5 on a five point scale where 5 is all of the virus and 1 is none of the virus but 2,3 and 4 can be anything you’d like it to be really. Some of the virus? A bit of the virus? Just enough virus to see off those over 70s who were told to self isolate but now we’ve realised that they’ve done that a bit too well despite us offloading coronavirus patients into care homes and now we are claiming that was never said in the first place, even though it’s in writing in the stay at home guidance.

* The slogan isn’t stay at home any more.So we don’t have to say at home. Except we do. Unless we can’t. In which case we should go out. But there will be fines if we break the rules. So don’t do that.

Don’t forget...

Stay alert... which Robert Jenrick has explained actually means Stay home as much as possible. Obviously.

Control the virus. Well, I can’t even control my dogs and I can actually see them. Plus I know a bit about dogs and very little about controlling viruses.

Save lives. Always preferable to not saving lives, I’d say, so I’ll try my best with that
one, although hopefully I don’t need telling to do that. I know I’m bragging now but not NOT saving lives is something I do every day.

So there you are. If you’re the weirdo wanting unlimited exercise then enjoy. But not until Wednesday. Obviously.

PS When can Year 7 go back to school? Not even asking for a friend!"

 

[FabioPorkpie]

Would anyone else have done any better than Johnson?

In terms of conveying a clear, concise message and showing measured leadership in a time when the country is desperate for some, absolutely, yes, many would have done much much better than Johnson! In fact I can’t imagine many people could have done worse than he has in that respect! The confusion sewn over the last couple of days and multiple efforts to clear it up by himself and Raab have been absolutely embarrassingly shambolic!

 

[hopesoboro]

Granted. But 1945 Britain is very different as the one today. Either way, there will be another 4 years of Conservative rule over this country. Even if we ended up (God forbid) with the highest number of cases and fatalities in the world, I still can't see any Conservative MP even contemplating the idea of replacing him.

Labour have a lot of hard work to do in the next four years, Starmer has got off to a good start but then again so did Red Ed and Corbyn.

What's this "Red Ed" business?

 

[hopesoboro]

This is very true. Most people live in echo chambers. They see/hear/read what backs up their own opinion whether that is their choice of newspaper, forum or social group. They then don't discuss/mix with other people that think differently and they gang up and frighten away anyone that disagrees with them until they can return to their mutual backslapping. It is a large cause of the division that we see in politics and usually ends in polarisation where people pick sides instead of being able to look at each situation independently. Just look at this board at times where only negative topics about the government are posted and most of them have someone calling out Cooper to defend it.

And you're not affected by any of this are you Mike!

 

[hopesoboro]

Boromike you have pretty much nailed it with that post. If you could go back say 4 years and pull out the political predictions you would see that FMTTM is a graveyard of them. You have the Brexit (remain) ones and then subsequent belief of a 2nd referendum threads all proved incorrect. You have trump not winning the election, not lasting a year, then 2 years, then he’s done for now so n so is giving evidence etc etc. All proved incorrect. Then you have Johnson and the election. He won’t win the leadership, campaign, won’t win the election it’s 2017 all over again, the polls are close etc and it was nothing like that, all incorrect.

Johnson will be going nowhere. Whatever your political beliefs or what you think of him (majority of the country don’t care about the day to day political world) for people with little interest in politics he is the equivalent of a political rock star which makes him very popular and the tories know that.

At the moment Starmer has been in a few weeks and already predictions on here he’s tearing Johnson apart and he’s fantastic. That might be true but the majority of the country wouldn’t know who starmer was if you showed them a picture, they know Johnson though and when it comes to voting popularism is a huge player. Nobody watches PMQs so fawning over how good or bad someone performs Wong make a jot of difference in reality which I think gets lost on most on here as mike points out perfectly

So we're knackered!

 

[SmallTown]

Would anyone else have done any better than Johnson?

Yes. Short of the Presidents of Turkmenistan and Belorussia I can’t think of a government that has met the crisis with such muddled thinking, confusing messages, lack of action and hiding when things go wrong.

So, yes, roughly 200 people ARE doing a better job than Johnson.

 

[anonn]

That’s because sadly, the majority of people are just not very well informed, and are unable to do any research or see beyond manipulative sound bites, Facebook propaganda or self serving media ‘guidance’

In no fault of Fabio but bit ironic that the next post is a someone copying and pasting an anti government Facebook propaganda post

Please tell me how what I posted is an 'anti government Facebook propaganda' post? Firstly its not from Facebook but that doesn't matter. Secondly, it simply points out Johnson's actions at each step of the way that have lead us to where we are now. The fact that it comes across as 'anti government' just goes to show how much of an appalling job he and his government have done in dealing with this pandemic.

Interesting that you opted to dismiss it as anti government Facebook propaganda than instead discuss or advise an alternative view. Easier to dismiss as such I suppose because surely no PM would actually do all of the things listed in my original post

 

[Cooper671]

Firstly I seen it on my Facebook before you posted it so I can happily state it’s on Facebook. I’ve also seen the one posed by Liamo on it.

Of course it’s easy to dismiss as it’s not your post. You have like a sheep just copied and pasted it probably across various social media platforms. There is nothing to discuss when it’s somebody else’s work. Why should I spend time discussing something that took you 10 seconds to paste?

Funny how it’s stated about the government using social media as a propaganda machine but the only thing I have seen are anti government propaganda posts. Liamo one is a perfect one of people pretending they can’t follow a simple message for political purposes. If you can’t follow the instructions you have a lot more to worry about than Covid-19 I’m afraid

 

[American_Mary]

Firstly I seen it on my Facebook before you posted it so I can happily state it’s on Facebook. I’ve also seen the one posed by Liamo on it.

Of course it’s easy to dismiss as it’s not your post. You have like a sheep just copied and pasted it probably across various social media platforms. There is nothing to discuss when it’s somebody else’s work. Why should I spend time discussing something that took you 10 seconds to paste?

Funny how it’s stated about the government using social media as a propaganda machine but the only thing I have seen are anti government propaganda posts. Liamo one is a perfect one of people pretending they can’t follow a simple message for political purposes. If you can’t follow the instructions you have a lot more to worry about than Covid-19 I’m afraid

So let’s not look at the facts of the post, regardless of author but attack the poster who reproduces it, you’ve possibly only seen anti-government posts on social media, I myself have seen plenty in support, because they’ve got an awful lot wrong, also by your rationale anything written by anyone else is not allowed to be discussed as it’s not an original piece, which is a very strange stand point for anyone with a wider interest of the world to take.

With the greatest of respect there’s a huge amount of contradiction in the instructions, why is the Prime Minister telling me to drive where I like and picnic as long as I obey social distancing but Conservative MP’s in places I’d like to go telling me not to...do I listen to the PM or to the MP ???

 

[anonn]

Firstly I seen it on my Facebook before you posted it so I can happily state it’s on Facebook. I’ve also seen the one posed by Liamo on it.

Of course it’s easy to dismiss as it’s not your post. You have like a sheep just copied and pasted it probably across various social media platforms. There is nothing to discuss when it’s somebody else’s work. Why should I spend time discussing something that took you 10 seconds to paste?

Funny how it’s stated about the government using social media as a propaganda machine but the only thing I have seen are anti government propaganda posts. Liamo one is a perfect one of people pretending they can’t follow a simple message for political purposes. If you can’t follow the instructions you have a lot more to worry about than Covid-19 I’m afraid

Some absolutely world class deflection. I didn't get it from Facebook so my original point still stands. Not that it really matters at all whether it's from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit or I wrote it myself.

It's not an opinion piece, it's a (hopefully) quite easy timeline to follow and understand. It hasn't been embellished with details demonising Johnson, it doesn't have any made up points, the fact of the matter is he did miss the Cobra meetings, he did tell people to 'wash their hands and business as usual', he did push for herd immunity, he did end up in intensive care, he did preside over the highest death toll in Europe etc....

To not address any of these points and either discuss them or educate a 'sheep' like me because you have seen the same point made on Facebook just comes across as lazy and strange. Where do we draw the line on what we are allowed to discuss then? Should I not respond to or discuss any of the posts above because I didn't write them myself?

 

[FabioPorkpie]

Judging from the replies above, I’m guessing Cooper has managed to derail another thread by not addressing a single point, yet again?

See, I don’t often agree with Br14 or Boromike85, but I enjoy their posts because they often raise valid points and at least try to argue their case and debate the issue. Posters like those two occasionally cause me to alter my view of things or at least understand why the opposing view is formed, and that has to be a healthy thing.
But coops brings nothing other than distraction from the debate.

 

[Laughing]

Judging from the replies above, I’m guessing Cooper has managed to derail another thread by not addressing a single point, yet again?

See, I don’t often agree with Br14 or Boroboymike, but I enjoy their posts because they often raise valid points and at least try to argue their case and debate the issue. Posters like those two occasionally cause me to alter my view of things or at least understand why the opposing view is formed, and that has to be a healthy thing.
But coops brings nothing other than distraction from the debate.

Thats a very good point Fabio.

 

[Cooper671]

No it's a very bad point and no surprise you agree. As you can see I addressed the topic of this thread on the last page in a very long post very on point with what the thread title is alongside boromikes point. Anon comes along and pastes something doing the rounds on social media. What has that got to do with the thread? The thread is to discuss how long Johnson has got in the job (which I addressed in my post) It offered nothing to the discussion but i'm supposed to discuss it? Then I am the one taking the thread of course. I don't think I have and I have no reason too. Unfortunately for some of you Johnson won't be going anywhere anytime soon (as explained on the last page) if you bother reading it and the suggestions he might be will be consigned to the FMTTM graveyard of political predictions

 

[hopesoboro]

Some absolutely world class deflection. I didn't get it from Facebook so my original point still stands. Not that it really matters at all whether it's from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit or I wrote it myself.

It's not an opinion piece, it's a (hopefully) quite easy timeline to follow and understand. It hasn't been embellished with details demonising Johnson, it doesn't have any made up points, the fact of the matter is he did miss the Cobra meetings, he did tell people to 'wash their hands and business as usual', he did push for herd immunity, he did end up in intensive care, he did preside over the highest death toll in Europe etc....

To not address any of these points and either discuss them or educate a 'sheep' like me because you have seen the same point made on Facebook just comes across as lazy and strange. Where do we draw the line on what we are allowed to discuss then? Should I not respond to or discuss any of the posts above because I didn't write them myself?

He's a character that Coops the wiseacre!

 

[Laughing]

No it's a very bad point and no surprise you agree. As you can see I addressed the topic of this thread on the last page in a very long post very on point with what the thread title is alongside boromikes point. Anon comes along and pastes something doing the rounds on social media. What has that got to do with the thread? The thread is to discuss how long Johnson has got in the job (which I addressed in my post) It offered nothing to the discussion but i'm supposed to discuss it? Then I am the one taking the thread of course. I don't think I have and I have no reason too. Unfortunately for some of you Johnson won't be going anywhere anytime soon (as explained on the last page) if you bother reading it and the suggestions he might be will be consigned to the FMTTM graveyard of political predictions

Fabio makes a point, that you offer very little to the debate, I agree, you don't offer very much. And you are right, no surprise I agree, because you don't offer very much!

 

[American_Mary]

No it's a very bad point and no surprise you agree. As you can see I addressed the topic of this thread on the last page in a very long post very on point with what the thread title is alongside boromikes point. Anon comes along and pastes something doing the rounds on social media. What has that got to do with the thread? The thread is to discuss how long Johnson has got in the job (which I addressed in my post) It offered nothing to the discussion but i'm supposed to discuss it? Then I am the one taking the thread of course. I don't think I have and I have no reason too. Unfortunately for some of you Johnson won't be going anywhere anytime soon (as explained on the last page) if you bother reading it and the suggestions he might be will be consigned to the FMTTM graveyard of political predictions

I disagree about Johnson not going anywhere soon as I pointed out in my post, he rarely goes full term on a situation so I don’t see him staying beyond 12/18 months from now, he’s not one for hard work and rolling his sleeves up when the going gets tough Johnson tends to get going, the detail of planning and long term rebuilding arcs are just not his thing, hopefully his replacement will have those skills and make good a bad situation.

 

[SuperStu]

I don't think Boris's reputation will suffer at all for his handling of corona virus - simply because I don't think many (any?) people support him based on thinking he's really effective or hardworking. Like has already been said, he's a political rockstar and his supporters like his comedy persona.

Not sure what people are seeing when they're talking up Kier Starmer's performance so far. Mostly he's just been eager to tell everyone how much he supports the government hasn't he? Can see the "opposition for oppositions sake" phrase coming back to haunt him in the same way that "gentler, kinder politics" did for Corbyn.

Piers Morgan bizarrely seems to be the public figure doing the best job of holding the government to account. Bet that doesn't appear on any 2015-2019 political predictions!

 

[SuperStu]

he rarely goes full term on a situation so I don’t see him staying beyond 12/18 months from now

Don't disagree with you about him not being keen on hard work, but he did 8 years as Mayor of London. I'd expect him to want to stay on as PM longer if he can.

 

[Laughing]

I still believe the Tories are going to have to offer up someone for the current debacle. I still believe it will be Johnson, but we will see.

On the subject of Piers Morgan, I watched him interview Robert Winston, he still interrupted him way too much. The public want to hear what Winston had to say, but Morgan spoke over him. It was frustrating. He made some valid points this morning about the boycott from Hancock of GMB though.

 

[Randy]

Yep, Tory supporters are blinkered if they think the current cabinet lineup will be the same after all of this.