Another pleasant day in Yorkshire. not quite as sunny but only light clouds and not too cold.
I’ve spent the day editing and playing some Sean Taylor.
Since I’ve been writing this Beefheart book I’ve not had much time for reading. I have a pile of books mounting up to read. When I complete this editing I’ll have a splurge.
Meanwhile, out in Coronaland, it is heartwarming to see the loathsome Tory Party ripping itself to pieces. The bulk of the party, for one reason or another, has always loathed Boris Johnson. Some are jealous of his popularity. Some despise his cynical populism. Some think he is an inept clown and can’t see how he has got to where he is. Some just hate him because of how he has treated them. The only reason he became leader was to enable them to gain power. For some reason, despite his record of being useless, his slovenly image, his lack of morals, incessant lies and entitled greed, they could see that he appealed to a good section of the electorate. Now that his bubble has burst and people have seen him for what he really is he has become a liability. Once the realisation is out it can’t be put back in the bottle, but they know they don’t have anybody else who can reach the voters. They are staring at an abyss. Most of them want shot of him but are too terrified to make the leap. It will likely be a disaster.
Excellent.
It will be a disaster whichever way they go and they know it. The longer this pantomime continues the more damage it does.
Next week is going to be fun. Sue Gray’s report is going to be great. If it is bland enough for Johnson to think he can blag his way out of it then everyone will declare it a graywash!! If it is damning he’s going to have to go amid widespread condemnation and ridicule or else try to stagger on as a wounded beast for a while before they hatchet him to bits. Then we’ll have a bloody leadership contest between Smarmy, Nasty and Bland. That’ll be a gory episode of backstabbing and viciousness.
The Tories are in a mess. They are probably wanting to hang on to Johnson for a while longer. They’ve got the council elections, which will likely be a trouncing, the price rises, energy rises, national insurance rises, inflation and petrol prices to contend with. It’s going to throw millions into abject poverty. Brexit is proving a disaster. The Covid pandemic is far from over and has caused mayhem due to their poor handling of it. Bubbling underneath we have crises in education, the NHS and Care. I bet there are going to be strikes and protests. The country is in a right mess – mainly due to their mishandling. They’ll want to tie it all around Johnson’s neck before they throw him overboard. If he goes now the new fool will find themselves sinking in a stinking mess created by these ERG fanatics. We elected the Tory equivalent of the Taliban led by a bumbling self-serving clown. Now we pay the price!!
So, yesterday there were 95,787 new cases with 288 deaths and 17,976 hospital cases. Does that sound like it’s over to you?
France and other countries are clamping down even harder with vaccine passports and draconian restrictions while we open up completely. It’s a last-ditch gamble. Johnson is trying to bring his party on side by throwing them red meat. The Big Dog Turd that he is doesn’t care about the public. That’s obvious. I certainly remember the ‘Let The Bodies Pile Up’ jibe. What he cares about are power and wealth. Nothing more. He’d kill off all the elderly if it kept him in office!! Behind that clown’s mask is a cynical entitled Tory.
The thing is that this current pandemic might be declining but it hasn’t declined enough to warrant complete recklessness. In fact the government figures and that of the Office For National Statistics are wildly apart. In the week after Christmas the government had the figures for new cases averaging 173,400 a day; the ONS said the true figure was 479,100 – nearly three times higher.
The government figures are based on reporting from the public. Many people don’t take tests. Many don’t report positive results. In this area it has been almost impossible to get hold of tests!! The result is that the levels are greatly underreported. The ONS samples a large number and extrapolates which is likely to be far more accurate.
Who knows what the real level of virus is in the country?
Johnson has a long record of incompetent judgements – closing down too slowly, opening up too quickly, not shutting borders, dumping infected people in Care Homes. He never learns.
At a time when new variants are cropping up and the levels of infection still remain high it seems that a little more caution might be a good thing. I notice that the scientists have gone very quiet. Witty and co have probably been told to shut up. Blackmail and threats seem to be the Tory way,
Stay Safe. Not to worry. A fourth jab looks on the cards. The ones that need to worry are the unvaxxed!!