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For those without a Sunday Times subscription...

... the article headlined 'Coronavirus: 38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disaster' can be found here:https://archive.is/20200418182037/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/coronavirus-38-days-when-britain-sleepwalked-into-disaster-hq3b9tlghSpoiler alert - Johnson's disciples may prefer to look away.

Ken Munn ● 2391d56 Comments

If you want to read an article on a Newspaper subscriber pay site then just turn javascript off in your browser for that web address and visit the normal link.

Andrew Craig ● 2391d

Reluctant as I would be to ever defend Boris Johnson this has the smell of a palace coup. There is a lot of seemingly well-informed talk on social media that Murdoch has decided that Michael Gove is now his preferred choice for Prime Minister. The Telegraph is going full on Boris cheerleader partially as a response. Quite what the dynamics are in all this court intrigue are is really difficult to know but a friend who is a civil servant was telling me at the time of Johnson's confinement that a major split had already taken place in the cabinet which explained the lack of communication between Raab his temporary successor and Johnson. They hadn't spoken for several days before Johnson was taken to hospital. The speculation is that, inevitably, this is about Brexit. Johnson and Sunak were becoming increasingly concerned that pressing ahead with departure and as a result have no deal would be the final nail in the coffin of the UK economy. Against this pragmatic faction were the hardliners, Gove, Raab, Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel who  want to charge on whatever the consequences. The problem Johnson has is that, having sidelined anyone who is capable of a nuanced view of Brexit and packed his cabinet with people who owe their position to how uncompromising they are on the issue, he has undermined support for a rational approach. It is hard not to smile ruefully at the comic irony of this while mourning for the position the country finds itself in.

Dan Evans ● 2391d

In the current climate from politics to the general welfare of people and all those big issues in between id rather come back and read the article in 38 days time.Sometimes an article takes only a week at best to unravel.

Julian Pavey ● 2391d

Having read this this morning, what really comes across is the government's total obsession with bloody Brexit, and their insistence that they stick to going out at the end of this year with the economy in a pretty perilous state. Leaving aside all the false assurances that everything was just peachy............

Vanessa Smith ● 2391d

We have a pandemic.

Janice Evans ● 2391d

"We have a pandemic."Well, that's a useful contribution.Have you read the article, Janice?

Ken Munn ● 2391d

Ive seen no contibution from you ken other than waking up,wetting your pants in excitement, and posting about an article in the Times and making sure we all read it and post back with thoughts you hope will excite you even more.

Julian Pavey ● 2391d

'We have a pandemic.'And your point is?

Vanessa Smith ● 2391d

Brexit made no sense before we had a pandemic. It makes even less sense now.So, Janice, do you agree that we should reassess our plans in the light of changed circumstances?Or should we pursue a "Charge of the Light Brigade" policy? "We made the decision, so we must stick with it".Even the most adamant Brexiteers I know personally now agree that now is not now the time.

T P Howell ● 2390d

Nothing should change, one thing at a time,, and stop trying to panic everyone.

Janice Evans ● 2390d

Thanks for the link, Ken. It’s a devastating read.

Kerry Chandler ● 2390d

Indeed, thanks very much Ken for a very interesting and informative read.The article can be quickly found in Iris’s ‘Thanks ...’ posting.

Alastair Banton ● 2390d

What a crass comment, Julian.

Alastair Banton ● 2390d

It would be better if more people bought the paper than trying to get access to it for free. Good journalism is vital to us more than every and nothing undermines it more than people dodging paying for it.That said having read the article in my copy of the paper I was a bit underwhelmed. It confirmed my view that Johnson is lazy, incapable of proper leadership and totally uninterested in the detail of government but surely this is common knowledge by now? There is no real smoking gun in it. Ultimately who orders what equipment when is not a ministerial level decision and unless we see a memo from a cabinet minister blocking requests this looks much more like a systemic failure of government rather than something that is down to a particular individual.The turning of the Murdoch papers against Johnson is interesting but they don't have the power that they used to (partly because so few people buy them these days) so a Gove coup seems highly unlikely. If Johnson is losing his nerve on Brexit he will quickly come back to line if he thinks his job is at risk as he wants to be Churchill not Chamberlain.

Paul Corcoran ● 2390d

For the moment I don't much care that the Government sat on their hands in Feb. What we should worry about is that they are still sitting on their hands in April. The last 2 days we have seen 5,599 and 5,525 new cases. This is the 3rd & 4th highest days we've had. As our testing is so poor most of these cases will be the ones their admitting to hospitals. About 13% of known cases in UK result in death. So at end of April we are likely to still be seeing 700-800 deaths a day.Yet the media seem to  have swallowed the line of a plateau and talk optimistically about relaxing the lockdown and schools going back.As a result people are swallowing this sense of things getting better and are relaxing & even maybe planning to meet up in next weeks.But more people in UK are getting the virus in Apirl than in March. So either the rules of the lockdown are wrong or people are not following them.I believe it's mainly the former.This week the government should use it's succesful "double down on lies" strategy and apply it to doubling down on the lockdown. Stricter measures on lockdown are the only way to shorten the lockdown and get this virus under control.

Richard Potts ● 2390d

As the Russians say: "a fish rots from the head".

T P Howell ● 2390d

'Nothing should change, one thing at a time,, and stop trying to panic everyone.'Echoes of one T.(nothing has changed) May - and about as stupid too.

Vanessa Smith ● 2390d

Whats with the Times front page headline then. They say kids could start going back to school in three weeks time to gradually ease the lockdown. Kids and parents are now asking questions about how this can be as we stand now and the government is saying the article is not correct. Let us say they do go back in three weeks gradually for argument's sake. Surely they will be walking straight back out the gates for 6 weeks because its the summer holidays. Oh by the way, non bias Maajid Nawaz has done a proper journalistic job in questioning the article of the moment everyone is talking about. He started tweeting how damming this article was. That was until he started digesting investigating and dissecting the article. The only agreement is for a good thorough enquiry when appropiate

Julian Pavey ● 2390d

To be fair to the government, Richard, the rate of increase, both of new cases and deaths, appears to be slowing. Perhaps the lockdown is at last restoring some control.

Robert Fish ● 2390d

A question the statistics don't answer is what effect the increased number of tests of frontline staff has had on the number of new cases. At one point it was only hospital admission that led to testing. Now there are a growing number of testing centres for NHS and care staff. Distinguishing between these two sources in the daily stats would give a clearer picture.

John Connelly ● 2390d

RobertI will always be fair to the government but what they are telling us is deliverately misleading.The number of new cases each day is not slowing.Last 3 days...17th April 5599 cases18th April 5525 casesToday    5850 casesThe only days higher than these were "anomaly" days on April 5th, 5905 and April 10th, 8950 cases - when they added a catch up of cases. To be fair, as someone just pointed out, they are testing more NHS staff and I read somewhere that 6,000 NHS staff have tested positive. Hopefully there are more mild cases being confrimed than previously.BUT I don't understand why the Government is giving these positive misleading messages that will lead to pressure to end the lockdown and people relaxing their discipline.

Richard Potts ● 2390d

Agree with you Paul. What I found far more alarming was the other article on the front page about the number of people flying into the UK from corona hotspots with no controls, tests or quarantine measures, unlike in other countries.

Claire Moran ● 2390d

Clare, That's down to UK Border Force, under the control of the HomeSec. A certain Priti Patel who seemed frightfully keen on taking control of our borders. And now seems to be directing her efforts solely at stopping refugees entering the country by attempting to cross the Channel. Those who come in with air tickets seem to be no concern of hers."The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure. The Home Office has been at the front line of this endeavour since 1782. As such, the Home Office plays a fundamental role in the security and economic prosperity of the United Kingdom."Oh, really?

Ken Munn ● 2390d

Richard, we are talking at cross purposes. You are talking about the daily increasing trend, which still continues, but I am talking about the rate of increase. This is definitely going down. If it had continued at the rate seen up until about 10 days ago, we'd probably be at about 12,000 new cases per day by now. I'm a cynic, and I assume that this government is trying to pull the wool over our eyes most of the time, but I don't think their observations on the trend are misleading. The lockdown definitely seems to have halted the exponential growth of infection, which will help to reduce the pressure on the NHS. I suspect we're not far off a plateau, after which we can hope to see the sort of decline in daily new cases now apparent in Spain and Italy.

Robert Fish ● 2390d

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52319575

Julian Pavey ● 2390d

Are there still down-in-the-dumps Remainers at large crying "Whoopee! Thank goodness for pandemics" in seeing that the Corvid-19 fortuitously provides a welcome opportunity that could, against all the odds, see Brexit thrown into confusion - even reversal? Gosh! You horrid, nasty Remainers!

Bobbie Carnegie ● 2390d

What a brilliant idea! Never thought of that! You're definitely onto something there!  What with the virus crisis, it seems only sensible to put the whole Brexit thing on hold until we can straighten everything else out. Might even find it's not such a good idea after all!  Interesting thought!

Peter Evans ● 2390d

Thanks for that link, Julian

Ken Munn ● 2390d

Contrary to what one might think,your very welcome.I did do some research about the article on 545 private biz jets entering the UK since lockdown began on March 23. What the mail did was count evey plane that entered the likes of Luton,biggin hill,Farnborough,exeter,oxford and a few more since the lockdown and made a story from it. Most are still at these airports which shows you that like all planes,they have to go somewhere for their own lockdown,very few have left.biggin hill has 107 parked up,thats a lot

Julian Pavey ● 2390d

The government has issued a point by point rebuttal to the Sunday Times article.  It starts with this statement: "This article contains a series of falsehoods and errors and actively misrepresents the enormous amount of work which was going on in government at the earliest stages of the Coronavirus outbreak." Rebuttal in full: https://healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/04/19/response-to-sunday-times-insight-article/Jojoanna.biddolph@hounslow.gov.uk

Joanna Biddolph ● 2390d

the fact that you are on here Jo defending Boris suggests that there must be some truth in the Sunday Times story. Anyway, i thought local Cons Cllr's only commented on local issues or are things that bad @ No10. It seems Boris has other more important personal matters he deemed more important than covid19.

James Smith-Jones ● 2390d

Whatever the protestations coming from Government (you'd hardly expect them to confirm the ST story, after all) the results are there for all to see. 15,000 dead and climbing.From the gov.uk website: 'The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure.'They've failed.

Ken Munn ● 2390d

In your dreams.

Janice Evans ● 2390d

No10 may well be able to respond to the allegations levied against the PM in the  Sunday Times article but when those allegations are stacked up against the PM's speech delivered in early Feb in Greenwich it all starts to look very suspicious.In that speech Boris basically said the UK could keep trade going and seize opportunities (like Clark Kent transforming into Superman was the description) from countries who have slowed down their economies due to Coronavirus panic.  In the same speech he also declared that reactions to tackling COVID may be completely irrational,  little would he know that 6 weeks later he be in hospital himself fighting for his life. I am sorry to say this but I have no confidence in him and am tired of his theatrics and hollow bombastic language.

Matthew Swain ● 2390d

'In your dreams.'is that another defence of the indefensible?

Vanessa Smith ● 2390d

'In your dreams.'Is that another defence of the indefensible?

Vanessa Smith ● 2390d

'The government has issued a point by point rebuttal to the Sunday Times article.  It starts with this statement:"This article contains a series of falsehoods and errors and actively misrepresents the enormous amount of work which was going on in government at the earliest stages of the Coronavirus outbreak."'You would say that wouldn't you?

Vanessa Smith ● 2390d

You hate them anyhow so you would say that wouldn't you.

Janice Evans ● 2390d

It is very difficult to find reasons to believe that this government is doing a good job and that these ministers are capable. Take testing as an example. Our macho ministers have been claiming the UK will be achieving 100,000 tests a day in 2-3 weeks time for more than 2-3 weeks. What is worse is that they should know that this is not an achievable number. They should know what infrastructure improvements are needed to more than quadruple current testing levels. They should know what actions the government needs to take. They appear to simply rely on proclaiming a big number and hope that impresses everyone. Testing in the UK is close to a disaster with failed tests, wrong test kits being bought and under utilised test capacity. A badly managed mess.

Alan Clark ● 2390d

Not in my dreams. On a Government website.https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about

Ken Munn ● 2390d

the fact that Boris did not bother to attend any of the COBRA meetings at a time of an international disaster sums it all up.What makes it even more laughable is Gove and  Ian D-S trying to defend Boris, a  bit like calling a board meeting but the Chairman not bothering to turn up!

James Smith-Jones ● 2390d

Will defend him until I know different, there is testing but not for the likes of us yet, he was newly elected and think you are all ignoring that other issues were in hand.

Janice Evans ● 2390d

Johnson's whole political strategy is to quote big numbers (side of a bus?) and grandiose schemes ('Get Brexit Done!') and hope people will fall for them, which depressingly they often do.  Only now has this innate irresponsibility come hard up against some dreadful reality, including his own ill health. Lots of people are now dying, not that we can trust the actual figures, and not enough is being done to stop it, despite the big numbers and 'bold schemes' being promised. The government's 'rebuttal' of the Sunday Times article doesn't seem to dispute many of the facts ('Johnson missed five COBRA meetings') but simply offers an alternative interpretation ('He didn't need to be there') to be set against the 'taking things too casually' theory offered in the ST.  Johnson's always had a dismissive attitude to illness, in himself and in others, and that's been reflected in his laid back response to this pandemic as it grew, though after his recent confrontation with mortality, maybe this will change.

Peter Evans ● 2390d

Peter, agree with you on the illness issue and is one area I would love to see an improvement.

Janice Evans ● 2390d

No doubt mistakes have been made. However, they cannot be undone. Why are the government reluctant to start to engage with us on how moving out of lockdown can be achieved and in what stages. If they fail to do this we will see more avoidable mistakes.There is clearly a need to get the economy going again as soon as possible. However, people being asked or told to come out of lockdown need to know what measures will be in place to prevent another surge. For example, if building work is to resume on a large scale will testing be available to ensure that a site affected by the virus can be isolated? If schools return will staff and pupils have access to testing to ensure no major outbreaks occur?These are just examples of the discussion that is needed over the next few weeks. Ultimately, some decisions taken may have to rely on guesswork. If the general public are consulted along the way we can bear some share of responsibility if anything goes wrong. Government must treat us like adults.

John Connelly ● 2389d

I was going to say the same as Peter. The rebuttal does not refute the reports of the PM's absence from critical meetings and his disappearances to Cheveney and Chequers when I and many others think he should have been present and actually at the "helm" as they put it. No Board would tolerate their CEO going off to their country house to sort out personal affairs and delegating to deputies to attend critical meetings at a time of unprecedented crisis.The lengths they have gone to to try to refute the report show how damaging they themselves think it is. Gove can barely conceal his glee.

Paul Campbell ● 2389d

“But I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead." M Gove July 2016When asked if he was right or wrong about that past statement, Mr Gove admitted he was "totally wrong".“I took drugs on several occasions at social events more than 20 years ago,” he told the Daily Mail. “At the time I was a young journalist. It was a mistake. I look back and I think, I wish I hadn’t done that.” M Gove  2019and we are expected to believe this back stabbing idiot are we!!!

James Smith-Jones ● 2389d

but worry not chaps our local Cllr is clearly someone who is a good judge of character and Boris is the right person to get us out of this mess.

James Smith-Jones ● 2389d

Rumour has it that Murdoch is fed up with Johnson and wants Gove instead

Claire Moran ● 2389d

Clearly it's the end of the line for Johnson now Murdoch has turned against him.  Johnson delivered Brexit and the required Tory majority so it's time for him to make way for that nice Mr Gove.

Peter Evans ● 2389d

From 'Transition' by Iain banks:"But then I saw how much more comfortable life could be as one of the exploiters rather than one of the exploited. Plus I decided that if the proles were so stupid as to let themselves be exploited, who was I to stand in their way."

Ken Munn ● 2389d

From today's 'i':'Every nation, every leader, every health system, has lessons to learn from this pandemic that has struck the planet with such destructive force. But somethings are already clear: how little the state cares for the old and disabled people; how little it values many essential workers; how responsible most citizens are in an emergency; how badly China's government behaved. And sadly, how Michael Gove was right when he originally said Johnson was not fit to lead a nation.'

Vanessa Smith ● 2389d

Think it would be bad for the Party if Boris goes, Vanessa lot of Forumers speak ill of the elderly they forget they will be old one day hopefully.

Janice Evans ● 2389d

They probably want Captain Tom to keep walking though.

Janice Evans ● 2389d

Cynical as I am I was of the impression that the billionaire off-shore money-stashing owners of popular newspapers had all bought them to promote their own political agendas.  People don't actually make money out of newspapers nowadays do they?

Philippa Bond ● 2389d

And as a fellow cynic I would say that in most cases they will make money indirectly if they are successful in persuading their readership of the rightness of their political agenda.  So if they make their money through off-shore accounts they will normally support a party that is unlikely to challenge their tax advantages.  You won’t read this in the headlines, though.

Alastair Banton ● 2389d