I am completely behind Boris on the self-isolation. I am staying at home and only venturing out for my daily walk, but going much earlier in the morning in this beautiful spring weather. However, Boris needs to clarify immediately what the blooming advice is.
We should have been put in a full Italian and Spanish style lockdown with an overnight curfew last night, not this liberal policy which has more holes and loopholes in it than a piece of cheese in a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
More Stick, Less Carrot
Idiots will always try and exploit these loopholes. So, you have to create policies combined with deterrents that really hurt otherwise you get scenes like we saw at seaside resorts and in parks last weekend which led to this soft lockdown speech last night.
I appreciate that these are unprecedented times and that no government could ever had envisaged having to deal with something like this but nothing excuses the pathetic and confused appearance of Michael Gove on GMTV this morning.
Gove was making up policy on the hoof about divorced parents, kids and builders. To be fair to him he apologised by the time he got onto the BBC but I am sorry he is the man at the epicentre of our country’s fight back against this disease and in normal times we would all be calling for his head.
Boris no longer reminds me of Corporal Jones in Dads Army; he has morphed into Sergeant Wilson the way he is being ever so polite to people who are putting all our lives at risk with his “Excuse me gentleman, would you mind awfully chaps, falling in line so that you could possibly help in a small way to save lives?”
Being polite simply does NOT work in a life and death situation people want confidence and clear instructions not consensus and debate. That is called leadership.
So, we need an Italian/Spanish style lockdown with much more stick and less carrot.
Boris needs to define in black and white what is and is not an essential job. Then fat chancers like Mike Ashley of Sports Direct (the Private Joe Walker spiv of this sorry saga, with less charm) wouldn’t be able to play the system and then only be forced to close down his shops by Piers Morgan beating up Michael Gove on live TV.
Remove Shopping Trolleys
And also, please Boris, tell me what is the point of us all self-isolating when the airports are still open and people are coming in from China, Italy and Iran. Why are they still not getting checked and why are they allowed to jump straight on to public transport?
It is a complete and utter joke and if this continues we are in Private Frazer territory, “we’re all doomed, doomed!”
We need absolute clarity on construction workers and the simplest way of doing this is to state categorically that only essential repairs and safety work should be carried out. All new construction should be halted.
Of course, for this to work we need the position of the self-employed to be sorted out like yesterday. I don’t know why this is taking so long it seems to me that the simplest option would be to base self-employed workers 80 percent wage/fee supplement on their previous self-assessment declarations. This of course could be applied to cabbies, gig workers and other freelancers and self-employed sole traders.
We need to close down all public transport and that includes the Tube and trains. Essential workers would be able to get to work much more quickly in their cars if the rest of us got off the roads. Also, what about using cabbies, who are desperate for work, to transport our NHS heroes to work as many do in normal times by taking kids to school on council contracts.
The middle-class morons who are racing to the southwest or Scotland to stay in their second homes should have their car keys taken off them and made to walk home. I am of course joking but what is the mentality of these selfish snobs that they think they can self-isolate in their second homes and increase hospital demand in sparsely inhabited areas? It is a disgrace and should be stopped and if that requires police checkpoints in Devon, Cornwall and Berwick upon Tweed, then so be it.
As for the supermarket shelf strippers and hoarders I would chop their hands-off Sharia style in the supermarket car park! That’s a joke but you get my point. Perhaps a less drastic way of dealing with it is that we remove all the shopping trollies and only allow people to use a basket.
Likewise, those shops that have inflated the price of toilet rolls or paracetamol should be closed down immediately by local councils.
There is a world of difference between looking after your family and being prepared, and hoarding and depriving others of food.
However, it is also clear that Boris and indeed the whole political class did not prepare enough for this pandemic when it first emerged in China. This will need to be dealt with as soon as the virus is defeated.
We all need to do our bit
However, it is completely outrageous that our medical heroes do not have protective gear.
My friend who is a GP spent all day yesterday travelling around Coventry and Warwickshire’s hardware shops looking to buy any form of mask for himself and his colleagues.
This is Great Britain not a third world hell hole, isn’t it?
If a Doctor hasn’t got the gear what about nurses, paramedics and our coppers who are meant to be policing the streets?
We now even have yobbos spitting and coughing over police officers in the street. These yobbos need tough action but how are the Cops meant to deal with all of this and police the new confused policies detailed by Boris last night?
Our Cops police by consent and the need for consent has never been greater. We must all do our bit by abiding by Boris’ new rules but he must give more clarity at the same time.
In simple terms if we stay at home we obviously reduce the pressure not only on the NHS but also the coppers who are not having to waste their time asking us how many times we have been to the shops.
And please don’t look for ways for how you can circumvent the order just comply and do your bit for the Nation, don’t be a ‘mini me’ Mike Ashley, just buckle down and take the hit.
However, this is a two-way street and we need Boris to be clearer and much more precise in his instructions so there can be no wiggle room for anyone.
For our part we need to put aside all these nonsense discussions about losing our freedoms and human rights and concentrate on the fight for humanity and especially our elders.
You’re not being asked to jump in a trench and wait to go over the top to your slaughter; you are just being asked to stay home and watch bloody Netflix! Is that too much of a hardship?
Let’s do it.
