Johnson and the Great Escape?

We've been going downhill since 2010. There is no doubt that Covid has done for Johnson as it did for Trump and many other leaders. The only difference is that Johnson won an election immediately before. Without Covid, Johnson may have achieved what people hoped we was going to do, but clearly he has failed, partly because of Covid, partly through his own stupidity (and I suspect his wife's) of assuming he and his team was immune from the opprobrium that would inevitably descent when news of the parties got out.

The energy crisis is the result of many governments of Red, Yellow/Blue and Blue hues making stupid short term decisions. That is the issue now and it is not being fixed properly and Sunak should get a grip.

Interestingly I was chatting online with the head of valuation for the Israeli government yesterday. He is very senior in international valuation matters and we were discussing the difference in cultures between the UK and Israel when it came to property valuation. His view of the UK is "England is traditional - after all you still have a monarch! This is probably a strength as it stresses continuity, moderation and gradualism. There has been political and social stability for centuries. The UK is an admirable country, at least outwardly."

Given all the mess we have been through in recent months I thought is a surprising comment. (PS - like 99% of foreigners, he thinks that England = UK.. Don't tell Nicola!)

I think we are on the way to what you want. I hope for your sake a slim Tory majority is not the outcome and for my sake, a coalition with Labour/SNP.

Bear in mind the Swedes had a very good Covid and still their PM was booted out... The history of Covid is now being written and John Hopkins University (I think it was them) says that lockdowns had barely any effect on the death rate; peoples voluntary actions of self-isolation and taking care had more effect than enforced lockdown. Nothing we can do about it, we can't bring the dead back and we can't get the missed life events back. It should be a lesson to future politicians.

The economy didn't suffer anywhere like competing economies... they messed up the care homes but the rest of society was much freer than ours .

I'd have thought it was both. Or all.

Delaying the spread in order to give the health services a chance as well as more time for drugs/vaccines to be developed along with not driving either the economy or people's mental health into the dirt would seem to be the broad goal.

Which probably means that nobody had a "good" pandemic. Some were just less disastrous in some areas.

I think we forget that we had never done this before and nobody either expected it or was prepared for it this time.

And awful lot of hindsight expertise touted around these days.

I’m with Esp: in years to come we might look back and see that Boris had a pretty good Covid. First country to get mass vaccination underway, after having erected temporary nightingale hospital facilities that weren’t (thankfully) needed. The NHS survived, as it always will. No oppressive lockdowns like some countries.

That we the people don’t pull together and respect the rules is a whole different societal problem.

…and proper insulation in the walls? And rainwater collection and reuse? Surely not because the housebuilders are Tory donors and like to keep their costs as low as they’re allowed.

There are housebuilders donating to Labour?

Is there any evidence of comparable or even significant donation compared to what goes to the Conservatives?