coronavirus

[gingerjon]

10 hours ago, ckn said:

I agree with you. They’re after the clip that shows them getting the grand scoop, especially knowing Raab isn’t known for his media savvy. 

It’s like the weasels chasing down everyone who is a serving doctor trying to get them to say on record how screwed Johnson is. 

Even the FT’s journos are at it. Their journo who does the scatter plots and so on posted some grim stats tonight about survival rates in direct reply to the news of Johnson in ITU. 

Filth, the lot of them. Carrion birds at the first scent of their name as the one who got the story out first, regardless of the harm they cause. 

But Johnson being in intensive care is news. And if that's too grim: the man who is supposedly leading the government whilst sick had not spoken with the man giving the press conference (who is his designated replacement) for over 48 hours before said press conference.

That's news. That is the thing it is literally their job to find out and expose. Because, and this is the important bit, we're not North Korea.

Now, if one of them had just asked why the government are concerned about Russian interference about their covid-19 messaging but have still failed to release the Russian interference report that would have been just dandy.

[ckn]

4 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

That "filth" nailed Dr Catherine Calderwood. The latest in a very long line of influential hypocrites exposed by the Press. Plenty more to follow. Well done, the Scottish Sun. And well done, Nicola Sturgeon, for insisting the breathtakingly arrogant Calderwood did the right thing. Eventually.

The same ones driving around the country to get shots of people breaking the lockdown? 

The same ones who won’t criticise Prince Chuck for escaping to his 2nd home in Scotland?

I could go on for a long time. 

[ckn]

6 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

But Johnson being in intensive care is news. And if that's too grim: the man who is supposedly leading the government whilst sick had not spoken with the man giving the press conference (who is his designated replacement) for over 48 hours before said press conference.

That's news. That is the thing it is literally their job to find out and expose. Because, and this is the important bit, we're not North Korea.

Now, if one of them had just asked why the government are concerned about Russian interference about their covid-19 messaging but have still failed to release the Russian interference report that would have been just dandy.

This was before Johnson’s hospitalisation. And since his move to ITU they’ve been dredging through any doctor who has ever been on TV hoping to get one to say Johnson is screwed. 

If they genuinely were holding the government to account then I wouldn’t mind but they’re not. They’re simply not asking the right questions and insisting on sending their political correspondents rather than health ones because it’s more important to catch out a minister, or suck up to them, than get proper answers. 

This isn’t a political point, it just refers to politics, their “performance” at Brexit proved their level of trustworthiness. And that’s both sides of the divide. 

[tim2]

Another DAISNAID politician, in NZ

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52194407

 

[Griff9of13]

4 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

That "filth" nailed Dr Catherine Calderwood. The latest in a very long line of influential hypocrites exposed by the Press. Plenty more to follow. Well done, the Scottish Sun. And well done, Nicola Sturgeon, for insisting the breathtakingly arrogant Calderwood did the right thing. Eventually.

Presumably by doing exactly what Dr Calderwood had done, unless the reporter just happened to live next door to her holiday home. I wonder what punishment the said reporter received?

[Bob8]

2 minutes ago, Griff9of13 said:

Presumably by doing exactly what Dr Calderwood had done, unless the reporter just happened to live next door to her holiday home. I wonder what punishment the said reporter received?

Of course, for Sun reporters, being scummy is part of the job description. It is not part of Dr Calderwood's job description.

[gingerjon]

16 minutes ago, ckn said:

The same ones driving around the country to get shots of people breaking the lockdown? 

The same ones who won’t criticise Prince Chuck for escaping to his 2nd home in Scotland?

I could go on for a long time. 

There has been criticism of Charles in the Scottish press though, I think? Muted, and not as loud as it should be, but there.

Getting a photo of the Scottish CMO is legitimate. No issue with that.

[gingerjon]

10 minutes ago, ckn said:

This was before Johnson’s hospitalisation. And since his move to ITU they’ve been dredging through any doctor who has ever been on TV hoping to get one to say Johnson is screwed. 

If they genuinely were holding the government to account then I wouldn’t mind but they’re not. They’re simply not asking the right questions and insisting on sending their political correspondents rather than health ones because it’s more important to catch out a minister, or suck up to them, than get proper answers. 

This isn’t a political point, it just refers to politics, their “performance” at Brexit proved their level of trustworthiness. And that’s both sides of the divide. 

I absolutely agree that the press has utterly failed over many years - usually by being obsessed with Westminster Village gossip over and above anything else. 100% agree it's a failing to have conferences given over to the same pack that only talk to politicians and amongst each other.

But the issue about Raab not having spoken to Johnson for 48 hours plus, and the very obvious lie that a clearly sick man was 'running' the country, was worth the delving. TBH, I've not see the press since.

[ckn]

22 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I absolutely agree that the press has utterly failed over many years - usually by being obsessed with Westminster Village gossip over and above anything else. 100% agree it's a failing to have conferences given over to the same pack that only talk to politicians and amongst each other.

But the issue about Raab not having spoken to Johnson for 48 hours plus, and the very obvious lie that a clearly sick man was 'running' the country, was worth the delving. TBH, I've not see the press since.

I do see your point about pushing for an answer but I like to think it the other way, if Johnson could trust the media not to panic-stir over the news then he may have released notes about his increasing illness earlier. There's some excellent health media folk in most of the media companies present at these but the companies insist on sending the likes of Kuenssberg and Peston even if they're asking nothing questions.

[Hopping Mad]

46 minutes ago, ckn said:

The same ones driving around the country to get shots of people breaking the lockdown? 

The same ones who won’t criticise Prince Chuck for escaping to his 2nd home in Scotland?

I could go on for a long time. 

Permanent Earlsferry residents, who had seen Calderwood and other second home owners invading their community, flouting the SD advice, probably wouldn’t agree with you. As I understand it, the picture of Calderwood and her family was taken by a local not a travelling ‘pap’.

Why PC got a free ride, I don’t know.

[gingerjon]

5 minutes ago, ckn said:

if Johnson could trust the media

Johnson is the media. I mean, that's his entire background. That they are as they are is a key reason why he's our Prime Minister.

(The rest of your post: yup, okay. But there's no distinction for me between Johnson and the group interviewing him.)

[ckn]

1 minute ago, Hopping Mad said:

Permanent Earlsferry residents, who had seen Calderwood and other second home owners invading their community, flouting the SD advice, probably wouldn’t agree with you. As I understand it, the picture of Calderwood and her family was taken by a local not a travelling ‘pap’.

Why PC got a free ride, I don’t know.

I'm not griping at you here, please understand that.

What I am griping at are the media photographers going round parks for perfect shots of families perfectly socially distancing that they can then perspective con with other families into looking like groups of families together. Things like that and the constant chasing of clickbait stories and new ad sales.

[JohnM]

I'd like to exclude Peston from my earlier remarks about reporters at the daily press conference. Yesterday, his Horace Wimp mumblings and ramblings but wihout a voice from above, were a complete embarrassment.  

Professional and competent reporters can play a vital role in getting answers from politicians. The daily press conference is well run now, as after each reporter has exhausted their questions,  they are asked if they have anything to add, whereas when the press conferences first started, that wasn't the case. It used to be -question -answer-next please. Now it's -question- answer - anything more to ask/add -next please, which is better in my view.

However, the fact remains that after the initial and quite proper and necessary question,  these reporters still search for that headline : PM/CSO/CMO/ whoever refuses/denies/u-turn etc. Boris admits he got it wrong....They also want ministers, agency bosses/civil servants to trip up, make contradictory comments etc. Govt estimates are reported as Boris's promises, CMO explanations  are reported as set in stone for all time, NHS targets are reported as immutible guarantees.

My sympathy lies very much with whoever is being questioned by these reporters at the press conference. Their unfailing politeness is remarkable when in reality I'd rather them say "what sort of ######question is that, you fool? Are you stupid or what? No, don't answer that."

[ckn]

Just now, JohnM said:

I'd like to exclude Peston from my earlier remarks about reporters at the daily press conference. Yesterday, his Horace Wimp mumblings and ramblings but wihout a voice from above, were a complete embarrassment.  

Professional and competent reporters can play a vital role in getting answers from politicians. The daily press conference is well run now, as after each reporter has exhausted their questions,  they are asked if they have anything to add, whereas when the press conferences first started, that wasn't the case. It used to be -question -answer-next please. Now it's -question- answer - anything more to ask/add -next please, which is better in my view.

However, the fact remains that after the initial and quite proper and necessary question,  these reporters still search for that headline : PM/CSO/CMO/ whoever refuses/denies/u-turn etc. Boris admits he got it wrong....They also want ministers, agency bosses/civil servants to trip up, make contradictory comments etc. Govt estimates are reported as Boris's promises, CMO explanations  are reported as set in stone, NHS targets are reported as Conservative guarantees.

My sympathy lies very much with whoever is being questioned by these reporters at the press conference. Their unfailing politeness is remarkable when in reality I'd rather them say "what sort of ######question is that, you fool? Are you stupid or what? No, don't answer that."

You can see the look in their eyes, especially those not really good at shielding expressions like Matt Hancock, "erm, were you on mute winding yourself up to ask that and miss the person before you asking EXACTLY the same question?"

There's some truly critical questions that need to be asked of that panel, e.g. "are you confident that the oxygen supplies and capacity is enough for now and immediate future?", "how accurate are the death statistics?" and "are there any clinicians still seeing patients with inadequate levels of PPE?"

[ckn]

I think this has been posted... if not, well, have fun. If yes, sorry, my brain is fried.

Also, I smell a fib in there. No squaddie since the invention of explosives has ever said "no, don't use more explosives".

[Bedford Roughyed]

The unwritten constitution has a few gaps in it...

[ckn]

2 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

The unwritten constitution has a few gaps in it...

To be fair to the government, we knew weeks ago that Raab was designated survivor for if Johnson went down. Very good disaster planning for senior levels! It'd have to be a spectacularly ambitious thwaite of a minister that tried to lever out Raab from that job until Johnson is better.

[tim2]

From the USA (not Trumpy News)

An estimated additional 180 - 195 deaths per day occurring at home in New York City due to COVID-19 are not being counted in the official figures. "Early on in this crisis we were able to swab people who died at home, and thus got a coronavirus reading. But those days are long gone. We simply don't have the testing capacity for the large numbers dying at home. Now only those few who had a test confirmation *before* dying are marked as victims of coronavirus on their death certificate. This almost certainly means we are undercounting the total number of victims of this pandemic," said Mark Levine, Chair of New York City Council health committee

[Bedford Roughyed]

4 minutes ago, ckn said:

To be fair to the government, we knew weeks ago that Raab was designated survivor for if Johnson went down. Very good disaster planning for senior levels! It'd have to be a spectacularly ambitious thwaite of a minister that tried to lever out Raab from that job until Johnson is better.

I think, from brief reading, is that 'designated survivor' has little to none actual meaning (legally).  Even if Johnson was out of action for a few weeks, Raab wouldn't have full authority to do what the PM does.  Luckily the cabinet and secretaries of state have lots of freedom to make decisions.  

[Saintslass]

Just now, Bedford Roughyed said:

I think, from brief reading, is that 'designated survivor' has little to none actual meaning (legally).  Even if Johnson was out of action for a few weeks, Raab wouldn't have full authority to do what the PM does.  Luckily the cabinet and secretaries of state have lots of freedom to make decisions.  

As has been said on a few occasions this morning by experts in the field of our delightful constitution, the PM is first among equals, he isn't a president.  The cabinet is the governing body in this country and so it will be the cabinet which continues to govern whether or not the PM is there.  Raab simply has the authority to make decisions where they are needed.

[Saintslass]

9 minutes ago, tim2 said:

From the USA (not Trumpy News)

An estimated additional 180 - 195 deaths per day occurring at home in New York City due to COVID-19 are not being counted in the official figures. "Early on in this crisis we were able to swab people who died at home, and thus got a coronavirus reading. But those days are long gone. We simply don't have the testing capacity for the large numbers dying at home. Now only those few who had a test confirmation *before* dying are marked as victims of coronavirus on their death certificate. This almost certainly means we are undercounting the total number of victims of this pandemic," said Mark Levine, Chair of New York City Council health committee

That could be a paragraph written for Italy, Spain, France or us.  We're all in the same situation.

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

I think, from brief reading, is that 'designated survivor' has little to none actual meaning (legally).  Even if Johnson was out of action for a few weeks, Raab wouldn't have full authority to do what the PM does.  Luckily the cabinet and secretaries of state have lots of freedom to make decisions.  

Technically, they're all acting on powers delegated from the Queen? But someone needs to be the one she's delegated the government forming to. This isn't some hippy commune after all.

[bobbruce]

2 minutes ago, Saintslass said:

That could be a paragraph written for Italy, Spain, France or us.  We're all in the same situation.

In the last couple of days we’ve been adding died in hospital when giving out the daily totals. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

18 minutes ago, ckn said:

To be fair to the government, we knew weeks ago that Raab was designated survivor for if Johnson went down. Very good disaster planning for senior levels! It'd have to be a spectacularly ambitious thwaite of a minister that tried to lever out Raab from that job until Johnson is better.

I take it you mean Gove.

[Bedford Roughyed]