Tuesday 26 May 2020

Johnson the worst ever!

There have been plenty of awful ones before, but after only a few months in office, Johnson has proved himself, with his  basic incompetence, and arrogant, cavalier attitude to work and responsibility, one of the worst British prime ministers of all time.
    Most of the 19th century PMs were of a similar ilk, too arrogant to appreciate both the needs of ordinary people, and their value in turning Britain into one of the most wealthy and powerful countries in the world. Spencer Perceval is mostly remembered for being assassinated, but not before taking draconian measures against hungry workers, whilst the even more reactionary Wellington refused an extension of the franchise and the reform of parliament, even though places like Dunwich which had been eroded into the sea, still had two MPs representing it in the house of Commons!
 In more modern times, Balfour, Eden, Douglas-Home, Cameron and May would attract little other than criticism, even from members of their own Tory party, but they all could, on occasion, hold their own in a debate, or make themselves understood with a certain degree of clarity. We now have at Number 10 someone who, even after delivering a pre-recorded televised speech, watched by over 20 million, has to go to parliament to explain what he meant, and then return to the medium of television for a press conference to explain further. Even then, headlines in the Star focussed on his obfuscation and "vague" advice, whilst the Guardian criticised the lack of "clear" direction.
    Of course, we are facing an unprecedented crisis, which would test the ability of any leader, but even before the seriousness of the coronavirus was known, Johnson was up to his old trick of "winging it". Colleagues and friends have long acknowledged that this is what Johnson did at school, university and whilst a journalist, so was anyone surprised by his long stay at Mustique over the new year? The trouble is that when the nature of the deadly disease was known, and spreading throughout Europe, part-time PM, Johnson, was spending time at the country retreats of Chequers and Chevening, the latter being a 115-room lakeside mansion, set on 3,500 acres, where he was staying after Storm Dennis, rather than visiting victims of the devastating floods. Even the Daily Mail had a headline about him "skipping five Cobra meetings at the start of the coronavirus outbreak", whilst the Times claimed that Britain had "sleepwalked into disaster". Now he of all people is the one telling British people to get back to work! If only he`d started sooner!
What follows is well known, and all errors can be attributed to the man in charge: the World Health Organisation`s advice to "test, test, test" arrogantly ignored; protective gear insufficient and none ordered, despite offers from British firms; 80% respirators out of date; ventilator panic; Heathrow bringing in passengers from all over the world, including virus "hotspots" like New York and Madrid every day, despite lockdown, without tests or quarantine; lockdown ordered too late; care homes ignored; testing chaos, with firms like Deloitte and Serco given contracts; figures manipulated to ensure testing target is met, once at least; lockdown restrictions lifted too early; totally confusing messages make second wave highly likely; many workers forced back to work, despite unsafe travel and unsafe workplaces. 
 Johnson`s bluster and confusion now mean the rich can have their nannies and cleaners in their houses but ordinary folk can`t visit their parents in their gardens. People must use their common sense, he says, but never does himself, with joined-up thinking seemingly an impossibility!
    Jokes abound about his confused messaging, but the sad thing is that our PM is a laughing stock, with other countries` press having a field day ridiculing, not just the PM, but the country which elected him. He may be funny from afar, but the sight of overcrowded buses and trains, with people being told to go back to work, means a second spike is almost inevitable. His careless talk does, indeed, cost lives!
 Different messages in Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland and either a refusal to publish Sage meetings` minutes or redacting their recommendations are further evidence, if any were needed, of his position in the PMs` league table.
Remember how he boasted in July last year that his mission was to create the "greatest place to live", where there was the "best healthcare and the most compassionate approach to care of elderly people". Readers can guess Corbyn`s reply at the time: "our country needs competence". Wise words indeed!

Monday 25 May 2020

Tories and disadvantaged pupils(2)

Star readers probably thought government ministers urging people to applaud the NHS staff after they`d spent ten years in cutting their pay and resources was the height of hypocrisy, but their "return to school" campaign is up there too! Teaching unions are, of course, right to complain about the lack of "stringent guidelines" for schools, when it has been provided for employers across the UK. The government clearly want the return of as many children to school as possible to free up their parents, and its sudden concern about the education of disadvantaged children is too much to swallow. Posing as the "champions of the disadvantaged", as the Star editorial states, simply "won`t wash" (Star, 16/05/20)!
          The ten years of underfunding education, and freezing the pay of teachers, leading to massive recruitment problems, especially in the poorer areas, allied with Gove`s unnecessary assessment reforms and the cuts leading to the closure of many Sure Start centres, created insurmountable obstacles for disadvantaged children. Where was the concern then?
     Similarly, the government`s refusal to force universities to change their admissions procedures, not even insisting on Gove`s recently reformed and highly regulated A-levels being the only academic qualification permitted, has ensured pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds rarely get places in our top universities. Much research, including some done by the MP David Lammy has shown how these universities are  crammed with pupils from the private sector, and from state schools in the more affluent areas. The chances of a pupil  eligible for free school meals getting into these universities are as remote as ever. How any education secretary can allow private schools to by-pass A-level s by taking Pre-U examinations where the percentage of A*/A grades in every subject is far higher, and then claim to be on the side of the disadvantaged pupils, beggars belief!
      Either Gavin Williamson has had a Damascene conversion, or yet another "political decision", with scant regard for people`s safety, is being made, with little scientific backing, and plenty of political whitewash!

Sunday 24 May 2020

The sacking of Cummings

Even before the arrival of Jonathan Freedland`s predicted moral tests for Johnson, "automatic visa extension" problems and army veterans` NHS bills, the blatant disregard for lockdown rules displayed by Cummings means the prime minister has only one option open to him to avoid losing all public support (Johnson may get away with being useless, but not cruel too, 23/05/20). With so much advice ignored, foreign examples not followed, and so many of what Freedland calls "cart-before-horse" instances, when obviously unattainable promises have been made and pre-preparation instructions issued, Johnson`s administration is already losing the trust of the public at a time no government has possibly needed it more. Figures about the daily number of tests and the disappearance of graphs showing comparisons with other countries are subject to widespread ridicule, a situation likely to increase tenfold unless Johnson does the right thing now.

       One of the many problems, however, of being a totally arrogant, incompetent and workshy prime minister is that it is difficult to sack advisers or ministers with similar traits. Johnson doesn`t have the courage to sack Cummings, so Labour and the press must demand the adviser`s resignation. If any action "undermined the government`s lockdown messages", his was it, and his removal is the only chance of avoiding a second, more lethal surge of the disease (Police talked to Cummings over lockdown breach, 22/05/20)!

Friday 22 May 2020

Chaos will continue without sackings

In the not too unlikely event of this country being threatened militarily, and the government found to have carried out few if any of the recommendations made after a dummy run on the threat of invasion, similar to Exercise Cygnus on the threat of a pandemic, and the prime minister had reacted without one iota of urgency, there would be furious and immediate demands for resignations, from both the press and the opposition parties. Yet the attitude in today`s ever deepening crisis appears to be that criticism of ministers working apparently "around the clock" would be unfair and unpatriotic!
    One of the many troubles with having a totally incompetent and workshy prime minister is that it is difficult for him to sack ministers who are found lacking. However, without firing ministers, or demanding resignations, the chaotic situation continues, and the death toll rises inexorably towards six figures
    The same people who clearly mishandled the pandemic crisis early in the year are still in charge, and still making mistakes, and the longer the Opposition delays demanding resignations, the more likely they are to end up sharing some blame. As Polly Toynbee says, "this is the most unfit government in living memory" to cope with crisis of any sort (How can we trust Johnson and his floundering crew of fibbers? 19/05/20). With more people returning to workplaces, and despite another promise from Johnson, no safety checks from the Health and Safety Executive having taken place or likely, Starmer must provide more than "constructive criticism". Rule by a government lacking competence, "honesty and transparency" cannot be allowed to continue!

Wednesday 20 May 2020

Tories and disadvantaged pupils(1)

Teaching unions are, of course, right to complain about the lack of "stringent guidelines" for schools, when it has been provided for "employers across the UK" (Teaching union says it may delay return to schools,15/05/20). The government clearly want the return of as many children to school as possible to free up their parents, and its sudden concern about the education of disadvantaged children is too much to swallow. The ten years of underfunding education, and freezing the pay of teachers, leading to recruitment problems, especially in the poorer areas, allied with Gove`s assessment reforms and the cuts leading to the closure of many Sure Start centres, created insurmountable obstacles for disadvantaged children. Where was the concern then?
     Similarly, the government`s refusal to force universities to change their admissions procedures, not even insisting on the highly regulated A-levels being the only academic qualification permitted, has ensured pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds rarely get places in our top universities, crammed as they are with pupils from the private sector, and from state schools in the more affluent areas. Either Gavin Williamson has had a Damascene conversion, or yet another "political decision" is being made, with little scientific backing, and plenty of political whitewash!

Sir Peter Lampl of the Sutton Trust rightly says that any cap on university places needs to be "carefully implemented to minimise the impact on disadvantaged students" (No to bailout but yes to full tuition fees, universities told, 04/05/20). As the lockdown and schools` shutdown have amply demonstrated, underprivileged pupils suffer from lack of resources at home, and with pupils entered for GCSE and A-level examinations now having their grades awarded by a combination of teacher assessment, their class rank and past performance of their schools, "disadvantaged students" are again the ones "most likely to miss out" (Ofqual lays out system for grading GCSEs and A-levels, 04/04/20).
    There is some news, however, which does point the way at least to  "A-level playing field" in the future; a visit to Cambridge Assessment`s website reveals that the examinations favoured by most private schools in preference to the highly regulated A-levels, Pre-U examinations, are being withdrawn, in low-entry subjects in 2022, and the rest a year later.  A government that care for disadvantaged students as much as this one professes to do, would insist now that the only academic qualifications required for university entrance were the recently reformed  A-levels!

Tuesday 19 May 2020

Danger of being a "bystander"

Stephen Bush`s opinion that Keir Starmer "had a good week", because his call for the government "to publish its lockdown exit plan" was validated, shows to what depths our expectations of UK politicians have sunk (Johnson and Starmer both know a true exit plan means reducing our freedoms, 10.05.20). In that same week, thousands died, many of them unnecessarily, because of the government`s failure both to react sufficiently quickly to a worldwide virus alert, and to take advice from the World Health Organisation, and because the prime minister preferred to spend time at Chevening than attend Cobra meetings about how the country should respond to the impending crisis. Yet the leader of the Opposition chooses only to offer "constructive criticism"!
     Starmer has avoided so far being linked with any of the government`s Covid measures, but when there is a risk that ministerial ineptitude will take the death toll to six figures, he needs to be doing much more. There is absolutely no doubt how history will judge this government`s handling of the crisis, and the prime minister suitability for the role, and unless Starmer goes on the offensive and demands resignations for such blatant incompetence, his ineffective opposition will be seen as a contributing factor in the causes of the second spike.
  Electorally, too, being a bystander can be as disastrous as being a "collaborator"!

I have no sympathy whatsoever with Kyle Walker, but I do find it strange that his breaking of "coronavirus protocol" manages to attract more media attention than that of a cabinet minister who made media appearances to tell the public to stay at home (The Kyle Walker case: why not all lockdown offenders are made equal, 12/05/20). Robert Jenrick, the Communities Secretary, like Walker defied the rules twice, by leaving his £2.5 million townhouse in London, where his wife works and his children go to school, for his second home in Herefordshire, from where he visited his parents who live forty miles away! , 
 Chris Whitehouse , the managing director of a consultancy communications agency, who described Johnson`s "address" as sowing "doubt, confusion and uncertainty", also reminded us of a much underused F-word these days (PM`s address a "dog`s dinner" say strategists, 12/05/20). He said that whoever came up with the "stay alert" slogan "deserves to be fired". Perhaps more to the point, ministers who disobey their own rules deserve that fate, and the one who chooses to serve up the "dog`s dinner", first in a pre-recorded televised speech, then to parliament, and then a third time back on television, has to be asked to resign!

Paying for it!

The Star`s editorial rightly suggested cancelling renters` arrears and making landlords "eligible for whatever income supplement they might be entitled to under normal social security provisions" (Star, 13/05/20). Labour should be supporting such a policy rather than having private tenants being put under impossible pressure to pay back unpaid rent later.
   What the government will say, of course, is that such bankrolling by the state is unaffordable, and already, despite Johnson`s claim that he doesn`t support "the A-word", a leaked Treasury document is suggesting a two-year pay freeze for public sector workers. Labour must not allow the ridiculous Thatcherite argument about a government being like a household, and having to balance the books to avoid bankruptcy, to dominate economic thinking ever again. It was ridiculous in the 1980s, in the Cameron/Osborne years, and is even more ludicrous now!
    Although not without doubt, Johnson might support the B-word, and if he doesn't  Starmer needs to put him right. Borrowing for UK governments has never been cheaper, and with available interest rates of below 1%, Johnson, Cummings, Sunak, or whoever decides such things, must not waste the opportunity. The right wing will protest, of course, but it`s not too late for the Labour leadership team to teach the Tories some basic economics.
    Apparently, the UK`s current debt-to-GDP ratio stands at 83%, and because of current spending, likely to rise this year to 95%. Tories have long maintained that countries with over 100% debt-to-GDP ratio are reckless, and will end up like Italy and Greece after the euro crisis, with ratios of 130% and 180% respectively. Watch out for Tory propaganda about "snowballing" and "spiralling out of control".
 It is not the size of the debt, but the amount of interest needed to be paid which matters, and the increased interest can be funded with taxes on the earnings and property of the rich, not the nation as a whole, and from dealing with tax evasion and avoidance. It is worth reminding the Tories that the debt-to-GDP ratio of the world`s third largest economy, Japan, is over 250%. In the current emergency, there is little wrong if the ratio of the 6th largest rises to over 95%!

Saturday 9 May 2020

Arrogance based on ridiculous notion of exceptionalism

Guardian writers have long been rightly critical of the concept of British "exceptionalism", that somehow our country is different, with a history unlike any other country`s, and a people blessed with characteristics dissimilar from those of anyone else. With myths, like Britain fighting on alone in 1940, still popular, and the Queen recently describing such human traits as "self-discipline" and "good-humoured resolve" as "national attributes", one is nevertheless taken by surprise on learning that this exceptionalism extends even to science!

    In South Korea, where the government listened to its scientific experts and started to "test, trace and contain" in February, "life is slowly returning to some form of normality" (Seoul gives a lesson in how to get over worst, 23/04/20). The UK government, however, "led", as we are repeatedly told, "by science", chose to ignore the WHO`s advice to "test, test, test", and, as a result, "highly disruptive social distancing" is likely to be needed until next year (Social distancing until 2021 to stop new wave of virus, warns Whitty, 23/04/20).

Your editorial pointed out that the prime minister`s "indolence and indifference to advice" are well known as "established facts", but with the country likely to have the highest number of Covid 19 related deaths in Europe, many of them the result of government incompetence, it is clear that the UK`s leaders have a lot to learn (Star, 21/04/20). 
     British "indifference to advice", resulting from arrogance, must end. Remember how the World Health Organisation`s advice to "test, test, and test" was ignored? Dr Harries, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said it was "an unnecessary measure", as the advice was to "all countries across the world", but the UK had "an extremely well-developed public health system"! How could anyone in government think that guidelines for all countries were not for them?
      This arrogance has been obvious for centuries, at least since the days of empire, but it still exists, especially in the minds of the so-called ruling classes. In her talk to the nation recently, the Queen said that our "national attributes" of "self-discipline, quiet good-humoured resolve and fellow-feeling" would see us through the crisis, and no one mentioned how ridiculous this was. "National attributes"? Really, rather than merely human ones? This exceptionalism, much of it the result of the manipulation of our history, has led to racism and absurd feelings of superiority, which means we give, not take, advice! That has to change!
      School history texts have to be rewritten, ridding young minds for a start of ludicrous ideas like Britain on her own wins wars, ignoring the role of colonies and allies, and victories are won by national heroes, rather than collective and multinational effort. If ever there was a case for opening up the hidden history files, secreted away in Hanslope Park, it has to be now!

Lisa Nandy is of course right to accuse the Foreign Office of "unforgivable failings" over its handling of the Harry Dunn case (Star, 09/05/20), as indeed, she was when attacking the absurd belief held by too many with power in the UK in the myth of British exceptionalism. An earlier Star editorial pointed out that the prime minister`s "indolence and indifference to advice" are well known as "established facts", and with the country likely to have the highest number of Covid 19 related deaths in Europe, it is clear that this arrogant belief in British superiority has a lot to answer for. 
     British "indifference to advice" must end. Remember how the World Health Organisation`s advice to "test, test, and test" was ignored? Dr Harries, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said it was "an unnecessary measure", as the advice was to "all countries across the world", and that the UK had "an extremely well-developed public health system"! How could anyone in government think that guidelines for all countries were not for them?
      This arrogance has been obvious for centuries, at least since the days of empire, but it still exists, especially in the minds of the so-called ruling classes. In her talk to the nation recently, the Queen said that our "national attributes" of "self-discipline, quiet good-humoured resolve and fellow-feeling" would see us through the crisis, but no one dared to mention how ridiculous this was. "National attributes"? Really, rather than merely human ones? This exceptionalism, much of it the result of the manipulation of our history, has led to racism and ridiculous feelings of superiority, which means we give, not take, advice! That has to change!

      School history texts have to be rewritten, ridding young minds for a start of ludicrous ideas like Britain on her own wins wars, ignoring the role of colonies and allies, and victories are won by national heroes, rather than collective and multinational effort. If ever there was a case for opening up the hidden history files, secreted away in Hanslope Park, it has to be now!

Thursday 7 May 2020

"New normal" likely? Really?

There has to be, as Dave Ward the Communications Workers Union`s boss says, "a revaluing of how workers in the UK are seen and recognised" when we come "out of the other side" of this crisis (Star, 29/04/20). It is obviously not enough to hear government ministers daily thanking all key workers for their wonderful efforts during this health disaster which has been intensified by our arrogant government`s refusal to follow other countries` example, and then simply return to the pre-Covid situation of underfunded health and education services, and staff so underpaid shortages reach the point of recruitment crisis.
    Does anyone really think Johnson and his cabinet of yes-men will support the measures necessary for such changes? It is all very well to borrow billions, and create billions more through quantitative easing, to protect the capitalist economy from collapsing, but to continue this policy and to make wealthy individua ls and corporations pay substantially more in tax in order to fund massive pay rises for state sector workers is unlikely to be discussed for long by this cabinet of millionaires.

 One of Labour`s many priorities has to be ensuring austerity measures, which many Tory backbenchers will still be advocating, are off the table, and key workers get their just desserts. To do so, even in the middle of the crisis, is not unpatriotic. Far from it, it is the duty of the opposition to support the rights of those the government choose to ignore.

Tuesday 5 May 2020

Fiddling figures loses trust!

How ridiculous of the government to allow critics to accuse it of artificially inflating the number of coronavirus tests, and Labour to say that "the goalposts were moved" in order for Hancock`s 100,000 test target to be reached (Star, 01/05/20)! Instead of counting tests before they were carried out, it would have been far more sensible to come out with the real figure, and stress how setting such an "audacious goal" was the only way to achieve rapid increase. 
    At a time both when public  trust in the government`s advice is needed perhaps more than ever in the country`s history, and when Labour is avoiding kneejerk and over-harsh criticism of the government, unnecessarily deceiving the public in this way simply undermines confidence, both in politicians and the advisers seemingly willing to play their part in the duplicity.
  A gradual lifting of the lockdown can only be successfully achieved if the government is truthful about  safety, and if the public, and most importantly the workers who may be putting their lives on the line, are willing to believe what is said. Risking that in order to avoid embarrassing a minister is reprehensible. Trust is one of any government`s key assets, but arrogant Tory administrations endanger it by treating the people, once again, like mugs!

Saturday 2 May 2020

Deloitte and testing

Matt Hancock`s fear of embarrassment when testing for coronavirus fails to reach 100,000 a day has led to him in part responding to Labour`s demand for "priority testing for social-care workers". However, as you would expect from a government led by the science of Dominic Cummings, outsourcing  is causing problems.These concerns, particularly at the Chessington testing centre,, show that, rather than having a government determined to reduce the coronavirus threat by implementing a test, trace and isolation policy, we have ministers desperate not to look too foolish when their promises backfire.
        How else can the hiring of accountancy firm, Deloitte, "to help scale up testing nationally", be explained? Not only is Deloitte one of the so-called "big four" accounting firms which are frequently criticised for the inaccurate auditing of firms, it was last year fined £4.2m by the watchdog for its audit of Serco during the latter`s electronic tagging scandal when the justice ministry was overcharged "tens of millions of pounds", billed for tracking the movements of people who had either returned to prison or who had died! Now we find them not only working alongside each other at Chessington, but also with Boots, well known for its tax avoidance schemes, and, as a Times investigation in 2018 showed, for charging the NHS between £1843 and £3220 for medicines bought by other pharmacists for £93.20! 
   With their willingness to maximise their takings from government, and their cavalier approach to accurate figures, these companies will no doubt hel