Time to trust people more. Time to control people less.

I will post this morning the text of my speech yesterday in Parliament about the planned extension to the lockdown. I joined with others to vote against the measures, and spoke in favour of an alternative approach.

Yesterday with full Opposition backing Parliament voted to delay the return of a full Parliament. All the time we are encouraged to join remotely, all the time seats are very limited in the chamber, all the time you need to bid for a speaking slot in advance and find your name on a published list, the scope for spontaneity and more challenge to government is limited. Parliament thrives on the  momentum of causes, on the noise of support and opposition, on the heat of the moment remark or intervention. Much of this is lost with a largely remote Parliament.

The Opposition parties supported the government and most Labour MPs did not bother to join the debate. The few who did just wanted to exploit the latest  Cummings Revelations. It fell to Conservative MPs to question the policy and to make the case for a restoration of Parliament.

Now the government has said we will have to live with the virus, and has stated it cannot be completely eradicated, the question is why not start doing that now? We accept all sorts of other risks in our lives. We all know there is no guarantee of immortality, and no government can protect us from all harms. Every time we cross a road, drive a car, fly in a plane, prepare food, stay in a railway carriage or on a bus with people with flu we run a risk of harm. It is important to let people decide for themselves how much risk of this virus they want to run, and offer them several ways of minimising that risk.

We n ow want to get on with our lives. We now need to let people go to work and rebuild our prosperity.

165 Comments

  1. Cheshire Girl
    June 17, 2021

    Unfortunately, I missed most of the Debate. I got the last 30 minutes or so of it. I will try to watch it today on Parliament TV.
    I am always interested in your views, they are balanced, and carefully thought out.
    I’m not quite sure how I stand on the extension. I can see both sides. It’s a really tricky one. However, I fear that if it goes on much longer, the public will just ignore it and do their own thing. Indeed, some of them are already doing so.

    1. Lifelogic
      June 17, 2021

      I too can see both sides, but it is surely very clear that continuing the lock down does far more harm than good to both health and the economy (which will have further negative impacts on health too). All cause deaths, July 2020 to date (when adjusted for population and age) are entirely within the normal range. So what on earth are the Gov. hiding from.

      1. Nig l
        June 17, 2021

        +1

      2. Jim Whitehead
        June 17, 2021

        LL, +1
        Our useless and unTory government is acting like a child pulling the blankets over its head because of fear of Monsters.
        MPs? What’s the point of them?
        My inarticulacy conceals my contempt and despair.

      3. Ed M
        June 17, 2021

        Lifelogic, you’re not addressing Long Covid. Is it real? If not, how does government persuade people to leave their homes etc. Government can lift restrictions but means nowt if people are still scared. Boris has dealt brilliantly with this fear by getting everyone double-jabbed as quick as possible. Nearly there. Tories need to get behind Boris now. It’s the jabs that will get the economy back to normal. Not anything or anyone else.

    2. Brian Tomkinson
      June 17, 2021

      The government clearly cannot see both sides as they march on with more authoritarian state control.

      1. QIan Wragg
        June 17, 2021

        Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
        The government won’t give up its new found powers easily.
        I for one will refuse to obey after 21st June.
        The justification for extending the lockdown was based on doctored graphs and pseudo science.
        They will be back with more of the same in 4 weeks.
        They are already scanning the world for the next variant, probably being mutated at Porton Down.

        1. MiC
          June 17, 2021

          Your first two lines have been proven repeatedly throughout history.

          Why then, do you so vehemently oppose the moderation of absolute national governmental power by its pooling in agreed, non-controversial matters, along with twenty-seven other perhaps more civilised countries?

          1. Micky Taking
            June 17, 2021

            CIVILISED?
            Nationally supported bullfighting, nationally supported mass shooting of migrant birds, the origins of and still existing organised crime, an island with religious physical border through the middle, another where pregnancy resulting from rape of schoolgirls cannot be aborted, one where live frogs have their legs unceremoniously cut off for restaurant eating, another where racial and religious persecution continues.

          2. jerry
            June 17, 2021

            @MiC; Duh… If you mean allow a Federated EU to have total governance over the best part of western and central Europe why not just say so. But surely, if we want moderation of absolute national governmental power then we need to move to the Swiss model of using more referenda – not swap several groups of moderate of autocrats for the absolute autocracy that is the EC?! The Treaty of Lisbon was meant to change how the EU was run, or at least that was the hype and sales pitch, 14 years on the ‘citizens of the EU’ are yet to get a democratically elected EU President never mind anything more meaningful.

    3. MiC
      June 17, 2021

      The Tories have a majority of EIGHTY.

      There may be a handful of voices like John’s amongst them, but for him to try to claim that an unpopular decision by his party’s Government is the Opposition’s fault – as he so often does – is comically absurd, I think.

      In any case these decisions do not require Parliament’s consent. They are covered by the “Ministers may make rules” provisions in existing law.

      1. a-tracy
        June 17, 2021

        Martin, John didn’t ‘blame’ the opposition he tried holding his own government to account and voted against them – he said the opposition put up no challenge and voted with the government he also said ‘most Labour MPs did not bother to join the debate’.

      2. Philip P.
        June 17, 2021

        MiC – I read SJR’s post as simply saying that the ‘Opposition’ failed to oppose the government, who as he says wanted the extension. That’s just factual. There were sixty MPs, including six Labour, who had the courage to vote against this stupid measure, justified as usual by out-of-date figures and misleading presentation to the public. That’s a lot more than a ‘handful of voices’, and they speak for many people in the country if you talk to them, though YouGov pollsters won’t. For me the most important thing in his post was that it showed very clearly how parliamentary democracy is being gutted under Johnson’s rule. (Not that that would bother a post-democrat like our MiC, of course.)

        1. Andy
          June 17, 2021

          The job of the opposition is to oppose when the government is wrong. Not to oppose for opposition’s sake.

          The mistake this government has made throughout is to listen too much to the lockdown sceptics – who, miraculously, significantly overlap with Brexitists and climate change deniers.

          Who’d have thought people who are wrong about everything would be wrong about this too?

        2. MiC
          June 17, 2021

          With a majority of eighty the Tories can wallow in the luxury of allowing a few dissenting voices such as John’s and appearing like an inclusive party.

          Labour largely didn’t join the debate because there was little point on that basis.

      3. acorn
        June 17, 2021

        Our unelected Rt Hon. Lord Frost, Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, summed up just how feeble the House of Commons (HoC) is. He told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that he was doing them a courtesy by appearing before them. He had more important things he should be doing for senior ranking committees. (So what is the point of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee exactly.)

        As debates in the HoC rarely change anything Downing Street doesn’t want changed. And, when it does change something, it usually makes a Horlicks of it, like the Northern Ireland Protocol and the devolution diluting United Kingdom Internal Markets Act.

        With that in mind, could we speed things up by having the votes before the debate. As Mr Speaker decides who is going to win by the amendments he picks, why not vote on all the amendments like the EU Parliament does? The snag with that is it takes 20 minutes to vote in the HoC about 10 – 20 seconds in the EU Parliament’s mid-day voting marathon.

        At the end of voting time, Members of the EU Parliament who so request, may take the floor again to give an explanation of their vote and to make their analysis and explain their choice or that of their group. Just imagine the time and money that could be saved if the HoC adopted this procedure.

    4. No Longer Anonymous
      June 17, 2021

      Lots of people are ignoring it now and growing by the day. It is idiotic that people can mingle on a high street but cannot stand on an empty railway platform in tropical heat without a mask on.

      The reduced trains that run are airless and packed but we have nappies on our faces so we’re OK.

      Masks are now political. Arse covering for the Tories.

  2. Peter
    June 17, 2021

    I think the whole purpose is to control people more under the cover of a worldwide medical emergency.

    As for parliament it might suit the government to avoid challenges with a largely remote parliament and an eighty seat majority.

    I expect another delay when the next deadline arrives. Johnson says there will not be – but he is unreliable.

    1. Lifelogic
      June 17, 2021

      Of late we can rely on Boris to do the wrong thing on almost every single issue it seems.

    2. Ed M
      June 17, 2021

      You’re unfair to Boris. He’s done a great job with the jabs. The jabs will ultimately get us out of this mess.
      (And thanks to Boris, we’ll be able to keep Labour out of power).

  3. J Bush
    June 17, 2021

    There is an article on the conservative woman site about a 47 year old, who had no underlying health conditions, but developed blood clots which eventually killed her within 3 weeks of the jab. Yes, I know there are some who will say, but this is rare and only a minority die. My response is, tell that to her family.

    I understand Johnson, Hancock & Co would like another 10 million jabbed during this extended lockdown. Why? To pressurise those who have already had the virus, so are effectively immune? Those who would prefer to wait until all the trials on this experimental ‘vaccine’ have been completed and the results published in full? Hancock is now on record, in effect stating, he would prefer to have jabbing mandatory on children and health care workers and those that refuse to have it, should be denied NHS treatment!

    This is not just about protecting you from getting a virus that has a 99% survival rate. IMO, quite frankly, Hancock is coming across as somewhat deranged.

    1. jerry
      June 17, 2021

      @J Bush; Your first and last paragraphs are oxymoron, the data shows 99% of people who has both doses of one of the vaccines do not suffer a life threatening reaction, you claim 99% of people survive CV19 – My response is, tell that to family of those who do die of or due to CV19.

      Jeremy Hunt summed the situation up very well, in reply to Matt Hancock earlier this week, the govt should not be suggesting unlocking will never be rolled-back, given the virus is still active and is known to be mutating, it only needs a mutation to learn how to evade the current vaccines…

      1. J Bush
        June 17, 2021

        Yes sadly, people have died Of this virus. However dying With it, based on a ‘positive test’ in the previous 28 days and reporting it as a ‘covid’ death is data manipulation, and was no doubt designed to frighten people into compliance.

        That is bad enough, but being pressured by politicians into taking an experimental gene therapy that is only authorised for emergency use, which ultimately kills the recipient, is something else. If you can’t see the difference between unavoidable and avoidable, I’m afraid there is nothing more to say.

        1. jerry
          June 17, 2021

          @J Bush; “If you can’t see the difference between unavoidable and avoidable”

          Talk about the pot calling the kettle filthy, funny how we stopped people flying back from Ebola hit countries a few years ago but failed to do so with CV19 until to late, and compare our CV19 response to that of Australia and NZ. The other week, I think Melbourn, was in lockdown due to one person testing positive but not having all their known contacts traced and isolated.

          You also appear totally ignorant to the fact that someone with say pre-existing, but perhaps undiagnosed, heart disease is more likely to die of that condition having been infected with (and thus tested positive for) CV19 due to the added stress such serious infection places on the body. No one needed to die from CV19 a year ago, no one needs to die of it or due to it today.

          As for your claims of data manipulation, indeed those trying to down play the CV19 virus are attempting to manipulate the data, there is nothing more to say, other than to suggest you broaden your reading choices, do not just read op-eds that agree with your pre-conceived opinions that keep you within your comfort zone, non so blind as those who choose not to see…

      2. Richard II
        June 17, 2021

        Jerry: Your statistical argument doesn’t work. There is no publicly available data on the proportion of all people suffering life-threatening reactions, out of people vaccinated, only on those vaccine adverse reactions that have been REPORTED to the MRHA yellow card scheme. The medical authorities acknowledge that adverse reactions are greatly under-reported. So we might know the true denominator (all those vaccinated), but we don’t know the true numerator (all those suffering life-threatening adverse reactions).

        J. Bush’s statement that Covid has a 99% survival rate is not a claim, it’s a fact.

        Your statement that Covid vaccines are 99% free of life-threatening adverse reactions is not a fact, it’s a claim. I hope you’re right, and even that the figure is nearer 100%, but the point is, we don’t know yet.

        1. jerry
          June 17, 2021

          @Richard II; “J. Bush’s statement that Covid has a 99% survival rate is not a claim, it’s a fact.”

          No it is not, and that’s my point (I was trying to demonstrate the original oxymoron), we do not know the true figures. The govt is only counting those who died within 28 days of a Positive test, so if someone tested positive but dies on the 29th day or later sorry they apparently have not died of or due to CV19 (even if in hospital on a ventilator), nor did they die of or due to CV19 if they were never tested, despite having all the symptoms!

          Then of course we simply do not know how many people might have had a problem anyway, post vaccine. Thrombosis (and aneurysms) do have a habit of occurring unannounced. Those who are down playing CV19 can not have it both ways, they can not claim some people recorded of dying with or from CV19 would have died from their known or unknown co-memorabilities anyway but then claim those who have died post inoculation from a Thrombosis were due only from having had a CV19 vaccine.

      3. No Longer Anonymous
        June 17, 2021

        Jerry.

        Mind how you go. Can’t be too careful.

        He who seeks safety at the cost of freedom deserves neither and will get neither.

        Hide away if you want to.

        Wear an N95 if you want to… with a visor over the top … if you want to…

        Wear latex gloves too…

        I’m living like a normal human being now and ignoring you because you’re deranged and risk averse to the point of illogicality.

        I would be the first to mask up if this were airborne ebola.

        1. jerry
          June 17, 2021

          @NLA; Given that, in my line of work, wearing masks, wearing Nitrile gloves, even wearing a visor in certain situations is normal PPE perhaps that is why my perversive is different, some of us actually had to (or should have) manage personal risk decades before Covid.

          Anyway it is not just about ones self, it is about others, having empathy, that otherwise anonymous person without mask or vaccine might not be a ‘refusenik’ (colloquial) but someone with a medical dispensation, are they not allowed to be ‘human’ in your world, should they have to hide away simply because you hate wearing masks or whatever your issue is?

    2. Lifelogic
      June 17, 2021

      An average 47 year old woman has about 1/5,400 chance of dying within 28 days (this even without any jab) so if you vaccinate a million you would expect about 170 deaths within 28 days even even if the vaccine is 100% safe. Not always easy to separate out the real cause.

      1. J Bush
        June 17, 2021

        “Her death certificate states the cause of death as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and vaccine associated thrombosis with thrombocytopenia, which is a blood clot on the brain and extremely low blood platelet count.” I take it you are better qualified than the Doctors who wrote the above.

    3. Sea_Warrior
      June 17, 2021

      Sir John, may I suggest that future blogs include your comments on:
      (1) The unwelcome extension of the eviction ban for commercial property, which seems to pay no respect to the property rights of the landlords, who have their own bills to pay.
      (2) The unwelcome government promotion of WFH, which has a large number of adverse effects on the economy.

      1. jerry
        June 17, 2021

        @S_W; You first point is moot, you assume the Landlord will be able to re-let the property, and if not UBR falls to the landlord, who I hope would not be allowed CV19 UBR support, having caused another business to collapse! As for your second point, WFH has many advantages to both employee and employer, although I agree landlords might well loose tenants. Are you a commercial landlord by any chance?

        1. Sea_Warrior
          June 17, 2021

          No, I’m a pro-business conservative. And I’m not a buy-to-letter either. Sadly, many people who are able to pay their rent have stiffed their landlords, safe in the knowledge that they can’t be evicted.

          1. jerry
            June 17, 2021

            @S_W; Some tenants might be playing the system but many will not be, there are other ways to deal with what is basically fraud.

    4. Micky Taking
      June 17, 2021

      not so much as deranged, more as incompetent. In fact thinking of incompetence, add Johnson and the Cabinet. How can the 80 seat majority sit on hands and watch this tragicomedy continue?

      1. Jim Whitehead
        June 17, 2021

        MT, +1

    5. Old Albion
      June 17, 2021

      Two years ago (pre-covid) I crashed to the floor of our kitchen unable to get any oxygen into my body. It turned out I had a Pulmonary Embolism. My life was saved by several bottles of Oxygen administered by the Paramedics.
      No explanation for the Embolism was ever found/offered. It was, as far the medical world were concerned, a random occurrence. I now take blood thinners daily.
      I don’t cite this as evidence against the ‘vaccinations cause blood clots’ I’m not medically qualified to do so. But I think the narrative linking the two is not clear cut.

      1. J Bush
        June 17, 2021

        In this case, yes it was clear cut. The death certificate specifically states “the cause of death as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and vaccine associated thrombosis with thrombocytopenia”

    6. Hat man
      June 17, 2021

      Regardless of what they say, the government are planning to introduce a vaccine passport/Green pass, as in the EU. That is why months ago they commissioned companies to come up with possible models for it. Another four weeks’ worth of vaccinating people means it will be that much easier to get a vaccine passport accepted, because the numbers of those not entitled to it will have shrunk to a clear minority. That is the real reason for the Covid restrictions extension, I think.

      1. Lar
        June 17, 2021

        Yes Hat Man.. and we can be sure the new UK vaccine passport will look very like the EU vaccine passport just to fit in.. do you see my point

  4. DOM
    June 17, 2021

    SJR

    Thank you for taking the only just and moral stance on this most sinister of policies. Those voting in accordance with this government on this issue are complicit.

    We are being treated like animals, herded, prodded and whipped by a government with sinister intent and a Socialist client state packed with organisations and people determined that this opportunity to impose collectivism on the UK shall not be wasted

    We are here today, teetering, primarily because the voter simply doesn’t understand that by voting for the two party status quo rather than choosing one vision over another they are inadvertently endorsing the power of an unelected client state. Tory and Labour are very much singing the same hymn sheet and not enough is being done to expose this deceit

    The targeting of the new GB News channel by Marxist BBC-Marxist Labour allied organisations is beyond concerning

    The Tories are captured and therefore unable to speak out. If they don’t speak out this Marxist grip can only get worse and that grip over the Tories will strengthen.

    God help us if at some point the voter turns back to Labour thinking it offers a different vision.

    1. jerry
      June 17, 2021

      @DOM; “God help us if at some point the voter turns back to Labour thinking it offers a different vision.”

      Which voter will do if the right allows a third/fourth wave of a totally preventable virus simply because some people want to fly off on jollies or have indoor parties!

      1. beresford
        June 17, 2021

        How is the virus ‘totally preventable’? Which respiratory viruses have ever been successfully eliminated? We know that this virus has a reservoir in wild and domestic animals. Meanwhile in countries without covid restrictions the sky has not fallen in. Our only way out of the grip of SAGE seems to be when we look increasingly ridiculous as restrictions elsewhere in the world are dropped. In New York the Mets baseball team are about to return to full capacity crowds without social distancing, the only bit of silliness being that the unvaxxed will be required to wear the pointless face masks.

        1. jerry
          June 17, 2021

          @beresford; Try re reading what I actually did say! No one is suggesting now, that we can exist CV19 free, what we can do though is prevent waves of mass-infections that cause our hospitals to fill up, deigning non CV19 patients their treatments, or causing entire production lines to close etc.

      2. No Longer Anonymous
        June 17, 2021

        No they won’t vote Labour, Jerry.

        People want their freedom back and the Tories returning those freedoms would kill Labour off for good and strike at the very heart of the Liberal elite.

        1. MiC
          June 17, 2021

          If a load on Old Etonians are not “the elite”, then who is, please?

          1. Lar
            June 17, 2021

            Old Etonians are not the elite in my book.. plain old fashioned decency is the thing to watch for but not much of it in the tory echelons these days

        2. jerry
          June 17, 2021

          @NLA; Except I suspect most people do not want their “freedoms back” if it means putting their good health at risk, which might also then puts non CV19 patients at risk (of non treatment), something both the majority of voters and the Labour party do understand. Those who think like you are a very narrow and small demographic of voter.

          1. No Longer Anonymous
            June 17, 2021

            Cautious to the point of making life misery, Jerry.

            As I say. Wear a mask, stay at home and self isolate if you want to.

            Let the rest of us get on with it.

      3. Peter2
        June 17, 2021

        By the words ” the right” do you mean the Government elected recently with an 80 seat majority Jerry.

    2. Christine
      June 17, 2021

      It’s disgusting that some companies are pulling their advertising from GB News based on a campaign from a group that was set up even before the new channel even started broadcasting.

      I’ve written to all the companies pulling their advertising asking them:

      I’d like to understand the reasoning behind your company’s decision to boycott advertising on the new GB News channel? Have you even watched it? I have and have been pleased with its content and balanced reporting. The subjects covered so far include a discussion on the problem of male suicide, the recent rise in anti-Semitism, the pros and cons of the new Australian trade deal. Can you please explain why you are against debating these subjects? I await your reply in anticipation and until I receive an explanation I will reciprocate by boycotting all your products.

      1. MiC
        June 17, 2021

        You don’t like being compelled to pay a TV licence.

        These companies wouldn’t like your implication that they should be compelled to support this network either, I’d guess.

        1. Mark
          June 17, 2021

          The issue is not whether they choose to advertise, but that they choose to advertise that they claim to agree with the hate website that is promoting the false idea that GB News is a source of “hate” and that they are deciding not to advertise as a matter of so-called principle.

    3. Jim Whitehead
      June 17, 2021

      DOM, +1

      Again, trenchant, targeted, and true.
      The BBC must be defunded in order to defang it. There is no other alternative because it will not change and it will allow of no change in the country which dares to contradict its pernicious aims.

  5. Mark B
    June 17, 2021

    Good morning.

    . . . Parliament voted to delay the return of a full Parliament.

    The it is time to cut your wages.

    Now the government has said we will have to live with the virus . . .

    Just like we have to live with the Common Cold, Influenza and other ailments. We all could have told you this a very long, long time ago.

    I see my short post with one link did not make it yesterday. Again, too close to the truth !

    1. agricola
      June 17, 2021

      Mark,
      I too have found that challenging thought often gets cancelled to the bin of forbiden thinking.
      The outrageous and vile sail through unmolested, presumably as a balance that gives normal thought greater credability.

    2. Everhopeful
      June 17, 2021

      Its Monkey Pox next apparently.
      Now, that one will be challenging because it is clinically very easily identified
.by ghastly looking blistery spots, in visible places like hands. So you know who has got it! ( What would the variants look like I wonder?)
      Hmmm
clinical diagnosis has been a big problem with covid
a very flexible little virus. You have to stick chemical-laden sticks up noses to find it!
      And if you sneeze
well that might just be the common cold or flu.

      1. Narrow Shoulders
        June 17, 2021

        Monkey pox has visited us since the 80s @ever.

        It is just more difficult to catch without bodily fluid contact

        1. Everhopeful
          June 17, 2021

          +1
          Yes..next emergency in their sights?
          Coronavirus has been around forever.

    3. jerry
      June 17, 2021

      @Mark B; Why should MPs have their pay cut due to the virtual parliament system?! They are still doing their work, appearing on the floor of the house or committee room etc. is just a small part of their jobs, one that often prevents them from doing their constituency work, for example our host spoke twice ‘on the floor of the house’ yesterday according to the published call list, that means he still had to follow the debates virtually before he spoke.

      1. SM
        June 17, 2021

        +1

    4. Jim Whitehead
      June 17, 2021

      Mark B, +1 !!

  6. agricola
    June 17, 2021

    Years ago I worked as an instructor in an organisation dedicated to making young people aware of their abilities through training and exposure to real physical danger. It involved rock climbing, mountain rescue, navigation, canoeing, sailing, and survival training. We saw to it that it was done safely but in the eyes and minds of the participants it was a month of real challenge. The pupils ended the course with an infinitely greater awareness of their capabilities which they were then encouraged to apply in principal to future lifes challenges.

    It worked well, we did not kill anyone, there were a very small number of sprains and even more blisters. The end result justified it.

    On visiting the establishment many years later I discovered that many of the activities had been diluted to the point of meaninglessness. The reason given was our old friend Health & Safety. My conclusion was in line with yours today, we have been marshalled into a totally risk averse society, and it is very bad for the human soul.

    Be thankful for the very small number who get out and indulge in extreme sports that in my dotage would terrify me. To the large majority, suffering from what our dearly departed Duke of Edinburgh called “Spectatoris” , I would suggest that progress comes through taking risk. Think of the Wright Brothers when you jet off to Benidorm if this risk averse government ever let you. There is a certain hypochracy in preventing Parliament meeting, but cavorting unrestrained on the beach at Carbis Bay with people who have jetted in from all over an infectious World.

    1. agricola
      June 17, 2021

      Posted before 07.00 , why no moderation.

    2. agricola
      June 17, 2021

      Your moderation policy for all the talk remains a complete mystery. It is about time you showed some respect to those who try to give positive informed responses to your entries.

  7. Lifelogic
    June 17, 2021

    Well done JR exactly right.

    What on earth has driven Boris mad on this lockdown and on his insane expensive energy and net zero plant food agenda. Is it Carrie, Sage or catching Covid perhaps?

    Even the CCC.org.uk seems to have finally worked out we will not have enough low carbon electricity to charge or power all these very expensive electric car and heat pumps (and other climate non solutions) that the government (and CCC.org.uk) are foolishly forcing onto people at vast expense.

    Real conservatives should stand for far less government, freedom of choice, a bonfire of red tape, law and order, strong defences, sound borders, lower simple taxes, sound money, well run public services, and far fewer parasitic jobs
 we seem to be getting the complete opposite from Boris and this fake Conservative Government.

    1. Lifelogic
      June 17, 2021

      Alas only 49 Tories with the sense & courage to vote against this totally counterproductive and vastly expensive lockdown.

    2. agricola
      June 17, 2021

      Spot on last para LL. +++

    3. Everhopeful
      June 17, 2021

      Never before has such a large man done so many quick 360 degree on pointe turns.
      Reading his past opinions his actions are utterly bizarre.
      Could he really change that much?
      Imagine being his partner
you’d never know WHAT he might do next!

      1. Bill B.
        June 17, 2021

        Careful, Everhopeful: If you make a 360 degree turn you end up the same as before!

        Then again, come to think of it, since 23rd March last year Johnson’s policies have consistently undermined our rights, lives and livelihoods, so yes, perhaps he has been going in the same ruinous direction all along. Not sure if it’s what you meant, but that would fit.

        1. Everhopeful
          June 17, 2021

          Yes..exactly.
          +1

    4. Lifelogic
      June 17, 2021

      Sunak was asked yesterday by Andrew Neil about the £trillions cost of the Net Zero madness, he replied “there are items on the other side of the ledger” what are these items I wondered, he did not elaborate? Nothing much that I can see. Is he actually going to do some cost benefit analysis of this insane policy. Good to see the sensible Matt Ridley on GBnews this morning debunking it.

      A cost benefit analysis of lockdown too would be good too.

      1. Lifelogic
        June 17, 2021

        The net zero carbon lunacy will for certain be a huge net destroyer and exporter of real jobs and will massively damage living UK standards and damage the UK’s ability to compete in so many industries. So what exactly are these ledger positives Sunak? He even thinks that carbon capture and storage and green carbon are the “jobs of the future”, these deluded PPE graduates! Job destroyers of the future in fact.

      2. Mark
        June 17, 2021

        Since I remain unaware of any vaguely reliable estimate made by any government department or quango of the likely true cost of Net Zero, and I assume Sunak doesn’t have the time to research it for himself, I think he can temporarily be excused for not having an adequate briefing. However, I did note that former Civil Servant Gus O’Donnell was reported as remarking:

        “How do we stop someone approving HS2 when on the basis of cost estimates that everyone knows is wildly optimistic
this document is quite heavy on the responsible owner part, which I think is a good thing, but you can be the responsible owner but can be dealing with a project that should never have gotten started. And my god, we end up with some big white elephants
“

        I can think of no bigger white elephant than Net Zero. And everyone knows that the government cost estimates are wildly, wildly optimistic.

        Still, as the Andrew Neil interview and analysis pointed out, if government debt starts escalating too wildly the consequences on financing costs, inflation, devaluation of sterling etc. will force the government to rein in spending. Are they going to cancel pensions and the NHS and the forces and keep Net Zero?

    5. David Cooper
      June 17, 2021

      It is difficult to avoid concluding that the Conservative Party’s drift to the left – higher taxes, fewer freedoms, government by elites, green religion worship – has created a vacancy on the centre-right for a party offering what you have summed up. What if the likes of Reform, Reclaim and Heritage came together under the banner of the Quality of Life Alliance? This would even have an immediate memorable acronym in the form of QUOLA.

      1. Ed M
        June 19, 2021

        We need to get the Tory Party back to the values of great traditional-Christian Conservatives such as Jane Austen, promoting:
        1) Work Ethic
        2) Family, Marriage, Masculinity & Feminity
        3) Patriotism
        4) Training in Effective Skills / Apprenticeships
        4) National Service
        5) Arts, Great Architecture and Tree Planting and looking after nature everywhere
        And more

        1. Ed M
          June 19, 2021

          And Wit / Humour / Cheerfulness /Good Manner – people are much more aggressive now, and more cynical / sarcastic, gloomy, vulgar, infantile, and so on.
          Instead of being like bees making honey as a civilisation, we’re now more like rats, gnawing and clawing at each other

    6. majorfrustration
      June 17, 2021

      I wish

    7. Ed M
      June 17, 2021

      ‘Real conservatives should stand for far less government, freedom of choice, a bonfire of red tape, law and order, strong defences, sound borders, lower simple taxes, sound money, well run public services’

      – This is a kind of subjective, anti-Socialism type of Conservatism.
      Conservatism is much deeper and richer and more objective than this. It’s also about Cultural Attitudes about the Role of The Family, Patriotism, Relying on Self and Family instead of State, creating more Masculine Men and more Feminine Women, of preserving and celebrating what is best about our Greco-Roman heritage and classical Judaeo-Christian values – and not just in politics, but also in Education, the Media, the Arts etc ..
      It’s easy to lower taxes politically, for example, and if you lower them too much too quickly, it can lead to over-heating of the economy – and BUST. Such is human nature (as well as anarchy from the poor). Rather, taxes have to be lowered more slowly by building up the cultural values of its people first (as mentioned in last paragraph) and encouragement in growth of high tech / digital which in the long-term could lead to a great reduction in taxes, a much smaller government and a much stronger, more diverse, more productive and sustainable economy.

      1. Ed M
        June 17, 2021

        The modern emphasis on politics alone being able to solve the great problems of public life is a mistake – a heresy. It’s much, much deeper than that – and requires far, far more work than what can be achieved in politics (and try and solve everything by politics, and you create new problems for the future – for example, ministers can over-heat an economy by their economic policy). Conservatism is much bigger than politics – or should be. For the Renaissance man, building a strong economy was based on creating a strong civilisation (the two grow together, really, depend on each other for their growth). And a strong civilisation is based on the cultural values of its people, and on education, the media, the arts – not just politics (important as that is of course).

    8. Jim Whitehead
      June 17, 2021

      LL, you can add me to the endorsers of your comment.
      Good to know that you’re not intimidated when your repetition of good conservative sense is criticised. As long as it is good sense it bears repetition until notice is taken.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        June 17, 2021

        I totally agree Jim.

  8. Everhopeful
    June 17, 2021

    Perhaps to get more jabs in arms? Playing for time before the YELLOW card is served? ÂŁÂŁÂŁs
    ( I personally know of one Bell’s Palsy and one stroke).
    One thing 
every Tory MP’s wife/partner should be saying now
.
    “Why on earth did you ever trust that man??”

    1. Micky Taking
      June 17, 2021

      Covid messed with his brain. He went from an outspoken, sometimes comedian, to a docile outmaneuvered stooge.
      Not fit for purpose.

      1. MiC
        June 17, 2021

        Reality gave him a few troubles, yes.

        You remain blissfully untouched in that respect, it seems.

        1. Micky Taking
          June 17, 2021

          If you don’t recognise the man’s failings I fear for any judgement you may once have had.
          Had Covid yourself?

          1. MiC
            June 17, 2021

            How could anyone miss them?

            That isn’t the point.

      2. Everhopeful
        June 17, 2021

        +1
        Indeed.

  9. jerry
    June 17, 2021

    Our host made a better speech than most of those who objected to the extension, far to many simply lied, claiming for example weddings can not go ahead yet, despite the fact that weddings have been able to go ahead for months – just not the partying, singing the hokey-cokey etc… The legal act of getting married requires just 5 people, the 2 people getting married, 2 witnesses, 1 registrar/priest. One MP even suggested some members of SAGE are simply seeking the media spotlight, telling them to “get of the SAGE”! đŸ˜„

    1. jerry
      June 17, 2021

      OT; The Daily Star, of all ‘newspapers’ (!) has the best opinion on the ongoing row about who said what, when, and about whom; Hopeless bloke said hopeless bloke in hopeless, says hopeless bloke.

      1. MiC
        June 17, 2021

        It’s hard to cap that, yes.

      2. Peter2
        June 17, 2021

        We still have a better roll out of the vaccine by the excellent NHS than nearly every country in the EU Jerry.

    2. agricola
      June 17, 2021

      Jerry,
      You maybe quite correct on wedding numbers, but not in the traditions of our fellow citizens from the sub continent. 500 would be a nearer ballpark figure from some of the events I have attended in the past. All very enjoyable, crippling on the brides father, but it is tradition and families are known and extensive. Such that one indian friend once complained that with weddings and funerals he never had a free weekend.

    3. Narrow Shoulders
      June 17, 2021

      You are right Jerry – weddings do not need to be large affairs. Neither do people need to get married as there is civil union available (which also seems to require a party). But most brides and many grooms have grown up dreaming of a big day followed by the trip of a lifetime. This is being denied them although the restrictions are followed more in some areas than others.

    4. No Longer Anonymous
      June 17, 2021

      I think you know full well what they meant by ‘wedding’, Jerry.

      You’re just playing semantics now.

      Ones where people get a little drunk and don’t (anti) socially distance.

  10. Everhopeful
    June 17, 2021

    Sir Edward Leigh.
    “This whole debate is a mortal threat to the Conservative Party. There’s been too much shifting of goal posts, too many fatuous rules based not on science, but on populism.

    “Our society should be free and open, and there’s a real danger the public will increasingly ignore this. The Government will be a government of the emperor without clothes.”

    Great comment
.but for goodness sake
.15 months later..much wailing and gnashing of teeth
one ruined country
.we could all see which way the wind blew immediately.

    Take back your seats as they were meant to be used.
    You all won them fairly and squarely for us!
    You are being locked out.
    Democracy is crumbling.
    Zoom indeed!!!

  11. Roy Grainger
    June 17, 2021

    The decision made by Parliament to extend the lockdown will bankrupt businesses and cause more people to lose their jobs. When I watched part of the debate I was shocked to see the opposition benches were literally empty, the Labour Party are so indifferent Government-imposed job losses that they couldn’t even be bothered to turn up to justify their decision to support them.

    One problem is this: the Government know that prolonging the lockdown and travel restrictions (for the next year at least) will damage the airlines, possibly fatally, but they actually WANT this to happen to meet their Net Zero targets. Without Covid they’d just tax them into bankruptcy instead. So why is there any urgency to unlock ? They don’t want any deaths at all from Covid and they want *all* travel minimised forever. It is Win/Win. They personally can still fly around unrestricted of course, beach parties in Cornwall, holidays in Portugal etc.

  12. nota#
    June 17, 2021

    Agreed Sir John – time to move on.

    The science as pronounced by Government meant that the first lock-down, coupled with proper isolation and quarantine on entry into the country would defeat the virus.

    However, some are so anti common sense and a dictatorial government they have chosen to fight the government on the same terms as the government fights the people. This logically means we need a different tack and learn to live with the virus, as has been said by so-called scientist in the last few days the virus will keep mutating to survive. We have to move on.

  13. Beecee
    June 17, 2021

    Surely, when it comes to a virus, it is not a case of what risk somebody is to themselves, but the risk they are to others?

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      June 17, 2021

      And we have inoculated the vulnerable and taken inoculations even if we were at low risk – the promise was that we’d be released. It is time for people who think they are at risk to lock themselves away and wear N95s and latex gloves – but only if they want to.

      Let the young and the healthy return to living like normal human beings.

  14. John Miller
    June 17, 2021

    I don’t hold with conspiracy theories. Cock up and blunders are generally to blame. In this case, the scientist’s models are certainly in the cock up category. Boris must use his judgement, before people take the law into their own hands, which is where it really resides anyway.

    1. anon
      June 17, 2021

      Seems like the difference between conspiracy theory and fact is time , about 6 -12 months. The label conspiracy theory was coined to discredit logical conjecture based on information available.

  15. Brian Tomkinson
    June 17, 2021

    Thank you for speaking out and voting against the government yesterda. However, we no longer live in a functioning democracy but an elective dictatorship. I never envisaged the day when a UK government (least of all a supposedly Conservative one) would take authoritarian state control. The Chinese Communist Party must be looking on in admiration.

  16. oldtimer
    June 17, 2021

    Agreed 100%. The decision to extend the restrictions is unacceptable. The Conservative party needs to replace Johnson with someone who will rebuild a private enterprise economy and rescue it from the misguided policies of the incumbent Prime Minister.

  17. GilesB
    June 17, 2021

    We should apply the ‘proportionality principle’.

    Lockdown has benefits:
    – health: reduces the spread of the virus
    – economic: reduces time and resources for commuting
    – environment: reduces carbon footprint
    – social order: increases government control over individual behaviour
    – liberty: working from home gives people more control over their working hours and practices

    Lockdown has disadvantages:
    – health: delays treatments
    – health: increases alienation, depression and stress
    – economy: reduces people in work, and productivity of teamwork
    – environment: wastes resources on home deliveries
    – social order: decreases trust in Government
    – liberty: lockdown restricts freedoms on where to go, what to wear and how to behave

    Lockdown effects each syndicate (age group, class, region etc ) differently.

    A political judgement is needed.

    The decision cannot be based on specialists from any one particular dimension.

  18. Nig l
    June 17, 2021

    Spot on and as usual many MPs voted looking after their own careers rather than our wider interests.and to sum everything up Boris defends Hancock who he says is ‘effing useless’

    Gutless Boris as ever pointing both ways with proven dissembling from Hancock, clear lack of direction and accountability plus appealing bureaucracy and lack of planning in the heart of government equals too many people have died unnecessarily. It is now being covered up and denied.

    Tory MPs should be ashamed of themselves.

  19. Narrow Shoulders
    June 17, 2021

    As this was never about deaths and always about hospital capacity, to form an opinion I need to know why younger people are being hospitalised, for how long and in what proportion to case numbers which are indeed rising again as some areas flout the regulations that the rest of us are expected to abide by. My feeling is that opening up is the right thing to do, but I thought that in January, let the virus run its course and move on. We possibly don’t have the hospital capacity for that.

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      June 17, 2021

      What I’m hearing is that patients are being looked at and sent home by enlarge. Alas we aren’t given the details.

      But don’t fool yourself that we ‘saved the NHS’. It shut itself down and personal experience tells me that there is very little service going on.

      Pray you or a loved one doesn’t get cancer now.

      An orthopaedic condition is going to result in a very long delay in treatment and painful complications over the five years it is going to take on a waiting list.

  20. Narrow Shoulders
    June 17, 2021

    I see that the middle classes who have so enjoyed the lockdown in the gardens are now being given the right to “work from home” forever unless it is not possible to do their job at home. What about innovation and mentoring? what about spontaneity and collaboration? You don’t get that on video chat. The bank boss had it right when he said, if you can go out for a meal you can come into the office.

    1. Dave Andrews
      June 17, 2021

      Someone working from home is disengaged from the workplace. Mentoring both ways is damaged. The employee working from home can’t be properly supervised if they are learning, and they can’t supervise anyone else. So, if they have built up experience in their work, they won’t be training up anyone else. Like, you have a new apprentice joining and then you tell them their supervisor responsible to do the training works from home. It’s not going to work is it, obviously.
      If it works for employer and employee, perhaps the employee can work from home, at least for a bit, but let it be worked out between them, not even more red tape with which to lash the backs of the employers.

    2. a-tracy
      June 17, 2021

      Parents won’t want to go back into the office. The savings on childcare and travel are so high, they can ‘pop out’ and pick their own children up from school and keep an eye on them whilst working which they can’t do at the office. They can put a load of washing in it only takes 5 mins, put the washing on the line, its only 5 minutes. If they’ve been at home for 18 months how can the boss say the job can’t be done from home? Trouble is a lot of the productivity losses have been turned a blind eye to, some people are carrying others in the department especially the childless being expected to pick up the slack for the same reward, this has been very trying on people and won’t be tolerated forever.

  21. David Magauran
    June 17, 2021

    Where are all the hospitalisation and death statistics from Covid that the government used to like telling us? That’s all all gone quiet. Unless our MPs wake up we will be run by SAGE forever. Most of our MPs are not fit for purpose anyway.

    1. Nig l
      June 17, 2021

      +1

    2. No Longer Anonymous
      June 17, 2021

      +1

    3. Denis Cooper
      June 17, 2021

      I was looking at them only yesterday:

      https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

      So far it is only case numbers which show a potentially worrying exponential rise with the Indian variant, and personally I am waiting to see to what extent the hospitalisations and deaths will eventually follow.

      I quietly note that the reported mortality rate in India, with its almost entirely unvaccinated population and an inadequate and collapsing healthcare system, has been lower than in the UK with the previous variants.

      1. a-tracy
        June 17, 2021

        Denis life expectancy in India is a lot lower 71 years of age, most UK cases were aged over India’s life expectancy and the UK’s life expectancy is 81 years of age. WHO 2020 Dec.

        1. Denis Cooper
          June 18, 2021

          Just from the TV it seemed that the Indian variant was affecting younger age groups.

          1. a-tracy
            June 18, 2021

            How many under 70’s has it killed in either Country?

        2. Denis Cooper
          June 19, 2021

          A very fair point, and we might have had some answers to important questions like that if our researchers had looked to see what the Indian researchers had learned from their close to 30 million recorded cases, rather than saying that we will have to wait until we have had enough Indian variant cases here for them to analyse.

          Mainly Indian variant in India with an inadequate and collapsing healthcare system:

          https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/india/

          385,167 deaths from 29,823,546 cases = 1.3%

          Mostly Kent variant in the UK with a far superior even if stressed healthcare system:

          https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

          127,956 deaths from 4,610,893 cases = 2.8%.

      2. Mark
        June 17, 2021

        I learned from Prof Tim Spector on GB News that the government are indeed hiding many important details that he is able to see from the data in the self-reporting app his team run in relation to the ages of those being infected, and the nature of the hospitalised patients, the severity of symptoms (mainly minor), the much shorter lengths of hospital stays, etc.

        There was definitely a big reduction in hospital data being made public and big publication delays for a lot of it, although it was being collected daily and doubtless viewable by SAGE.

        1. Denis Cooper
          June 19, 2021

          Well, it is only a thought but I suspect the government may prefer to keep quite about anything that would tend to discourage people from getting vaccinated. For example, my own speculation that although the Indian variant spreads more quickly it may be rather less severe on average even for unvaccinated people. And I can reluctantly accept that, because even if the Indian variant is more infectious but less virulent the next variant which comes along may be both more infectious and more deadly, so the more we are all vaccinated the better. And I include children in that.

  22. Old Albion
    June 17, 2021

    Sir John, I too was deeply disappointed with the extension of government restrictions, purely for selfish reasons. My plans for June have been scuppered.
    Of course I realise many people’s plans have been scuppered for eighteen months now and a huge amount of far more serious damage has been done to individuals livelihoods.
    The decision is made. July 19th is the new ‘freedom day’ Your job now, along with all right thinking politicians, is to ensure this date does not move again. It must be set in stone, it’s gone on for long enough.

  23. Hat Man
    June 17, 2021

    I see the LibDems went AWOL yesterday. Could be they’re hoping not to upset anybody before today’s Chesham and Amersham by-election?

    1. MiC
      June 17, 2021

      It was a completely moot debate.

      The Government do not need Parliament’s consent for these possible measures.

      They are possible under “Ministers may make rules” provisions of existing law.

      So a lack of interest is understandable.

      1. Micky Taking
        June 17, 2021

        I think you mean ‘lack of responsibility to challenge’? Isn’t that what Opposition parties traditionally do?

  24. Alan Jutson
    June 17, 2021

    Yes John you should be able to trust the people, you should also be able to trust the Government, trust the doctors, trust the schools, trust the criminal justice system, trust the scientists, etc etc etc.

    Unfortunately so many of the above all seem to be failing in some way or another, with either conflicting information, statistics, diagnosis, or their own actions, so many of us do not have a clue who to trust any more.
    Eventually people will make up their own minds about what to do, indeed it has been happening for some time now.

    1. MiC
      June 17, 2021

      Look, I’m the last to support a Tory government.

      However, the world is complex, chaotic, and not accurately predictable.

      People who want absolutes such as “do this and everything will be fine” are infantile.

      What we are faced with is a range of imperfection, ranging from significant – e.g. Germany’s response – to the criminally reckless in my opinion – e.g. Bolsonaro’s nonsense in Brazil.

      Where the UK’s governance sits on that scale will be a matter for serious analysis.

      There are no questions to be asked about New Zealand, Vietnam, etc., however.

      1. Alan Jutson
        June 17, 2021

        MiC

        I agree with your points, which is why I agree we should be able to trust the people, but government and all the other examples I gave, do not help themselves when they act in the opposite manner to the advice/facts they promote, and give out to others.

  25. Fred Finder
    June 17, 2021

    Our host and fellow readers and commenters, please consult the information provided by Dr Tess Lawrie, which indicates how to minimise the harm of this virus and the motivation for the lockdown.

    1. Denis Cooper
      June 17, 2021

      You forced me to google, and this was among the references which came up:

      https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/ivermectin-isnt-a-highly-effective-drug-for-treating-covid-19-tess-lawrie/

      “Ivermectin isn’t a highly effective drug for treating COVID-19”

  26. Nig l
    June 17, 2021

    And in other news, no pun intended we see the savage onslaught from the Left showing its true colours trying to silence Brillo’s new news service and the weak kneed capitulation by some advertisers.

    All good publicity for the new service and demonstrates that it is needed.

    1. Jim Whitehead
      June 17, 2021

      The Left took their gloves off long ago and they are relentless in their determination to prevail by any means whatever. How has the Left managed to infiltrate large companies with such success? Are CEOs and the Boardrooms so pathetically ignorant of the pernicious purpose of such activism?

      1. MiC
        June 17, 2021

        The Left are very poorly represented generally at management level across most spheres.

        However, from the extreme, lunatic fringe of the Right, everything even remotely sane looks to be Left, I suppose.

        If your intentions were not so baleful then I might have sympathy, but there you are.

        1. Peter2
          June 17, 2021

          The reason the extreme left are “poorly represented ” MiC is that no one votes for them to be represented or wants them involved in top management because they are generally unqualified
          Left or righ it is about suitability.
          You understand how democracy works?

        2. steve
          June 17, 2021

          MiC

          And so you infer that the Left has no extreme lunatic fringe.

          1. MiC
            June 18, 2021

            No, of course it has but they are generally neurotics here rather than violent criminals atm.

      2. anon
        June 17, 2021

        Every putative ruling regime requires its helpers. This can be a global phenomena, completely unattached to democratic wishes of national populations. Those helpers may benefit monetarily and otherwise.

  27. majorfrustration
    June 17, 2021

    Trash the economy but save the NHS again – how many times?

  28. Bryan Harris
    June 17, 2021

    The Tory party is still one of two parts, one part follows the herd while those that can think for themselves question direction. Time the government listened to reason.

    Given that the HoC’s has not returned to normal begs the question are MP’s taking their own advice as regards vaccination. Have they been vaccinated? Surely by the government’s own thinking they could now occupy all seats available. After all we do know the virus is air-bound, and not passed on by contact.

    Perhaps I should send the Speaker some alternative data to help him getting Parliament working better.

  29. Nig l
    June 17, 2021

    And in an Understanding Society survey from 6000 people who sent in blood samples 72% showed they had Covid antibodies predominately from the vaccine. A small percentage also had had Covid.

  30. Micky Taking
    June 17, 2021

    The time has come,’ the Walrus said,
    To talk of many things:
    Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —
    Of cabbages — and kings —
    And why the sea is boiling hot —
    And whether pigs have wings.’

    ( The Walrus and the Carpenter
    By Lewis Carroll).

    1. Everhopeful
      June 17, 2021

      Oh lovely!
      That is exactly how I see it.
      And of course the little oysters got eaten.

      1. Micky Taking
        June 17, 2021

        oysters = voters. Glad you remember.

        1. Everhopeful
          June 17, 2021

          +1

  31. GilesB
    June 17, 2021

    Off topic, but only slightly, the report from the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform is excellent.

    Best set of recommendations for improving the Public Sector that I have seen for a very long time.

    Need to get all of the parliamentary party behind it and embed the principles quickly, and even more importantly, deeply and pervasively.

  32. Andy
    June 17, 2021

    Today I’ll do my democratic duty and will put a cross in the box of the candidate most likely to beat the Tories. Today it’ll be the Lib Dem’s who’ll get my support – but if it were the Greens or Starmer’s Labour best placed to defeat a Tory charlatan then either of them would get my vote too.

    I expect the Tories to win here in Chesham and Amersham – with a minority of the vote – but having seen the campaign I suspect it will be uncomfortably close for them in what is the bluest of blue seats. I expect the Lib, Lab, Green vote to exceed the Tory vote.

    Proof again that with a progressive alliance we can annihilate the Conservative Party – consigning it to the history books where it belongs.

    The list of Tories we can remove at the next election by working together is long and includes many of those we need removed from Parliament. Mr Starmer, Mr Davey, Ms Berry – your country needs you.

  33. DOM
    June 17, 2021

    A captured Tory party is a direct threat to this nation. If the party continues to pander to extremists like Michie then what is the point of the Tory party?

    How can a Marxist be chosen by a Tory PM to take these pivotal decisions that affect our lives and why do Tory MPs remain silent on this most serious of developments?

    Johnson realises that most voters DO NOT follow politics intimately and that they receive their news from the tossers at the BBC and ITV so Johnson can act as he wishes knowing that come election time there’s no perceived damage. Of course the damage is the creation of an oppressive culture and a sinister State while buying compliance using the free-lunch tactic

    It is criminally outrageous that the Tories conceal their true nature and how they’ve been subsumed into the Socialist mire

    1. steve
      June 17, 2021

      DOM

      “It is criminally outrageous that the Tories conceal their true nature ”

      That’s because they’re,…… ‘criminals’

  34. Newmania
    June 17, 2021

    I think you are right , judging risk is a often a counterintuitive thing and the sort of risk we now face is not far form the sort of risks we habitually include in our lives .
    Unfortunately ,some people, last year, campaigned to pour an entirely unprotected population into trains and offices, even after the care home tragedy .Such people do not merit a hearing now.
    That is now the past. Right now we need the right people to start to reassure the British that we can and must get on.
    This Government is in a sense Churchillian, it is full of bumptious journalists on the make who lurch from one fiasco to another, enjoy blabbering on, but couldn’t change a light bulb . It has on the other hand got one thing 100 % right . In Churchill’s case it was his recognition of what Hitler was, and in our current case the triumphant success of the vaccine procurement and roll out .
    It may be galling for those of us who dislike Brexit populism but it was always clear ( and I said so here ) if they could just get this right, nothing else much mattered . They have, and we must be fair acknowledge that.

  35. nota#
    June 17, 2021

    This Government in particular seems to have the mindset that if it is not them personally doing everything they are not the Controllers.

    Time and time again they have wasted taxpayer money and time by trying to do in house what we can all do better and even better still if we had been given honest straightforward information. It is clear they preferer the cancel culture (Wokeisum) over common sense and the trust in the people. They need to get it in there heads that the UK’s Left leaning prima donna’s in the media are not going to help them at the next election – but a free and democratic people will.

    The Government needs to stop electioneering, stop their desires to appease the metro left and be a Government of the people for the people. Elsewhere this is call democracy

  36. Mike Wilson
    June 17, 2021

    If the scales have not fallen from your eyes yet, regarding Johnson, they never will. He is an opportunist who used Brexit to further his political career (remember the two articles- one for leaving, one for remaining) and is now PM – a role he is completely unsuitable for.

    During the COVID crisis we needed a sensible, competent, responsible man in charge. Look what you Tory voters have given us.

  37. Christine
    June 17, 2021

    Like many workers, MPs have become lazy and prefer to stay at home. It will be a monumental task to raise productivity after all the restrictions are lifted. Diverting NHS resources from other illnesses will not end well. It’s now been over 18 months since I had my 6 monthly diabetes check-up. How many preventable diseases will have been left undiagnosed leading to unnecessary deaths?

    1. Everhopeful
      June 17, 2021

      It is very sinister because far from “saving” the rotten Marxist ( and worse) NHS
think of the cost of all the catch up. Could it be that they have no intention of catching up? Ever!
      And thanks to successive governments’ obsession with said dreadful institution we have no access to alternative medical care and even ordinary OTC meds are getting scarce.

  38. BJC
    June 17, 2021

    MPs are clinging to the money and status like a dying man to a raft, but don’t want the responsibility of leadership. They’re tasked to manage the resouces of UK plc, but there’s clearly no obligation to actually do the job, so they simply can’t be bothered. This effectively leaves a totalitarian government to micr0-manage our lives with scant scrutiny. In turn, they have placed their absolute trust in the dark arts of behaviourists, who are high on the effects of power, routinely changing the data to suit their narrative. Do Mr Johnson/Hancock, et al, truly believe that their brainwashing techniques (i.e. isolation from former trusted advisers and sources of information and obedience to their exacting regimen) are only being practised on us? Think again.

    They have a single-minded belief that they can and will control the impossible, which has pushed an easily influenced government to disregard the democratic process, shelve the presumption of innocence and fuel growing conflicts. They’re restructuring our society without consent, or any idea of its ramifications. I despair.

  39. ChrisS
    June 17, 2021

    There is little point in pursuing this argument when both government and Opposition are united in supporting the extension to lockdown. The time to agitate will be if a further extension is proposed.

    By contrast, the proposal by Gove to end EVEL is at an early stage and now is the time to be arguing against this misguided suggestion which will have no effect on the SNP or support for a second referendum, other than to make Westminster look even weaker in the face of the Nationalists.

    Instead, all English democrats should be re-starting the campaign for a more equitable devolved arrangement for England.

    1. a-tracy
      June 17, 2021

      Gove is Scottish isn’t he? He wants the Scots and Welsh and Irish to have their own votes for their laws, yet he wants the English to accept different rules? Why? Has he explained? English MPs should be allowed to vote on shop opening hours in England to match what they already enjoy in Scotland. English MPs should be allowed to vote on our Healthcare decisions when the decision has already been made to carve them up into different control. This would be a betrayal of English Tory voters.

  40. paul
    June 17, 2021

    Election, May 2023 just before the economic crash which will last for years.

  41. Dennis
    June 17, 2021

    Not much to laugh about here so if you want to have a belly laugh at stupidity –
    “Let’s get this straight: How would it be if the United States were viewed by the rest of the world as interfering with the elections directly of other countries, and everybody knew it? What would it be like if we engaged in activities that he is engaged in? It diminishes the standing of a country that is desperately trying to make sure it maintains its standing as a major world power.” Good old Biden.

    The fact that the entire press corps did not erupt in side-splitting laughter at this ridiculous utterance is in itself proof that western news media is pure propaganda – but that’s not funny, it’s serious. The fact that not one person in the press pool questioned or criticized Biden’s outrageous remarks tells you everything you need to know about the western media and what its real function is.

    Also ABC, NBC, BBC, CNN, and many other Western outlets were invited for Putin’s press conference. No Russian media was invited to Biden’s press conference.

  42. Mactheknife
    June 17, 2021

    I’m afraid your pleas will fall on deaf ears. I’ve said exactly the same thing to my own MP (Cons) who says he agrees but then supports and defends the government actions.

    In one part of the press conference on Monday the PM says we must live with it, but he never gives us the opportunity to !!

  43. DOM
    June 17, 2021

    Lord Frost for PM and time to get rid of this thing called Boris Johnson that has been inflicted upon our once decent nation

    We are pissed off with Socialist command parasites who are now using racial and gender identity to justify sinister levels of intervention in our public and private lives

    For the record. I am white, hetero and male. I am not a racist. I am not homophobic. I am not a misogynist. The real bigots are the Marxist slime who exploit human identity and there differences to gain control and assert domination to force silence and then force change to remove those that are the opposition

    The Tories must end their support for this type of politics that is causing deep, deep resentment.

    1. DOM
      June 17, 2021

      ‘their’

  44. glen cullen
    June 17, 2021

    BBC reporting ‘The UK has asked the EU to extend a grace period for chilled meats exports GB-NI until the end of September

    Talk about kicking the can down the road

  45. steve
    June 17, 2021

    JR

    “Yesterday with full Opposition backing Parliament voted to delay the return of a full Parliament”

    …….turn up for work or get the sack. Simple.

  46. Garret
    June 17, 2021

    Looking at NI and the DUP looks like the party is disintegrating.. Poots the flat earther is gone.. Sinn Fein is now in the driving seat with a GE around the corner.. UK Unionism in NI is on its last legs.. looks like.. and after all the ballyhoo this is what brexit has brought us.. and all about an Irish language bill denied.

  47. glen cullen
    June 17, 2021

    If this government repeals the Scottish and Welsh language legislation then there wouldn’t be a problem in NI and it would save the taxpayer millions

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