Don't blame Ministers for PPE mess.

You do have to admire successive Government Ministers standing accepting criticism in relation to the lack of PPE on the front line when they could so easily point to the public servants tasked to buy all the gear and lambast them for their failure to acquire the right kit and get it to the right place at the right time.  

It’s not that the NHS procurement side of things haven’t had the time.  

I think the first instruction by a Minister to “do what is necessary” must be at least two months ago. 

We are now beginning to see the real failure of the centralised bureaucratic nature of the NHS compared, for example, to Germany’s largely non state owned and decentralised system.   

Our NHS procurement system can’t even supply basic kit to the people we clap every Thursday evening.

A misleading headline from the BBC.

On the BBC website this morning, as per usual, there is a section, Newspaper Headlines.  The headline in today’s Newspaper headlines is: “‘No 10 ignored warning’ and ‘PM takes back control’”.  Well, Boris back in control, there’s a thing.  And sure enough, the Sunday Telegraph has a banner headline “Johnson Starts To Take Back Control”. 

So I then go hunting for the other headline it flags up. ‘No 10 ignored warning’.   

Sunday Times? Nope.  They run with “Ministers plan for to reopen schools in three weeks’ time”.   
Mail on Sunday?  Nope.  Their headline is “Get Britain Moving Again”.   
The Observer? Nope.  “Don’t bet on a vaccine to protect us”.   
Sunday Express?  Nope.  “Hard Work Is Paying Off”.   
Sunday Mirror?  Nope.  “Doctors Fear We Will Run Out Of Oxygen”.   
Sunday People?  Nope.  “Too Scared To Hug Their Kids”.   
Daily Star?  Nope.  “Gogglebox Dad Fights For Life”.     

Now, am I missing something here?  Not one headline said “No 10 ignored warning”?  So why did the BBC put a headline on its article that clearly was not true?   

Answers on a postcard….

First cuckoo of spring

Just because there is a Pandemic doesn’t mean it’s time to down tools in areas where tools could quite easily be picked up and used.  And in the spirit of getting things done one has to pay tribute to the two appointed negotiators for the post leaving EU trade negotiations.  Michael Barnier and David Frost, both who have had Covid-19, are keeping things moving.    

But then, out of nowhere, the IMF decides to stick their nose into something that isn’t their business.  That happens a lot these days. I think the UK and the EU are grown up enough to not need hand holding by the IMF which has got so many of the big calls wrong over the past ten years.  Perhaps it should go into isolation for a period.   

But it’s the general thrust of this thinking.  The Labour party are asking for extensions too. 

All I’m waiting for now is the first cuckoo of spring to emerge, a deranged Remainer, and demand that with so many elderly people dying we need another referendum as the people who voted Leave are no longer with us.   

Believe me, it will happen sooner or later.

“NHS has saved my life, no question"

You can understand why Boris said that.  But it’s simply a misrepresentation of the reality of things.  The NHS has never saved anyone.  It never will.   

As Boris generously continued by naming the people who actually did save his life we can be thankful that they did just that.  People saved his life.   

But there is more to it that that.  He might well have said "Government policy saved my life, no question".  And he would have been right.   

For 70 years successive governments have poured taxpayers money into the NHS.  It is their decisions over these years that have created the current system of healthcare called the NHS.   

So we really could stand on the rooftops on Thursday and clap Labour and Conservative governments for continuing to support healthcare they way they have done.   

But as they say, if things go well, praise the NHS.  If they go badly, blame the government.

Ideology over national interest.

So Jackson Carlaw has faced criticism for speculating on the impact the coronavirus pandemic will have on next year's Holyrood election.   The Scottish Conservatives leader said it would now "look ridiculous" if the SNP pushes for independence at next year's poll.  Bad boy.   

And it was well reported on the BBC web site with the SNP calling out the remarks as inappropriate with a party spokesman saying "the last thing any Scottish politician on any side of the constitutional debate should be doing is trying to use the appalling crisis we all currently face as an argument for or against independence".  How neat, they still manage to get independance in to their response.  Although one actually suspects Ms Sturgeon is glad it won’t be this year as she in all probability would have lost.     

But hold on, one of Keir Starmer’s new shadow cabinet has just done the same thing in relation to connecting the virus with a political stance.  Perhaps hardly surprising given it is packed with hard-core EU Remainers.   

The BBC headline. “Brexit: Labour warns against 'chaotic' no deal outcome” finds the new shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds feeling confident enough to urge ministers not to put "ideology over national interest" because of the Corona virus.   

Of course she was just trotting out what MEPs had been demanding. Or as the BBC headline put it “Delay Brexit deadline amid coronavirus, say MEPs”.  

I always find ideology over national interest an amusing phrase.  What they really mean is don’t put your ideology ahead of mine.  Ms Dodds ideology is Brexit is a very bad thing.   

But there are three things she seems to have forgotten.  Brexit has already happened; we legally have left the EU.  Secondly, there is no such thing as no deal.  The EU and the UK both know that unless an agreement is reached the deal will be WTO.  Everyone knows that.  That is the legal position passed by parliament. One does hope the shadow chancellor does too and she was not just having a forgetfulness moment.   And thirdly, how come when Jackson Carlow gets a rollicking for commenting on something that is constitutional while Sir Keir and his team don’t get a similar going over in the media? 

Heir apparent? I think not.

Should Mr Johnson decide that being PM is not for him after his close run thing with Covid-19, Mr Raab cannot be assumed to be heir apparent.   

Given he never even made the last five for the election as Party leader, and therefore as candidate to be prime minister, he cannot legitimately claim Conservative party support.   

Surely a new Conservative leader, and therefore PM, has to be Mr Gove who was in 3rd place in the leadership election and the only current cabinet member in that last five other than Mr Johnson, or Mr Hunt who went on to be runner up in the contest.    

It’s either of them or another leadership election.

Don't forget the hidden supply chain.

I am sure that at 8pm tonight many of us will take to the streets to applaud.  Applaud the key workers in our nation that are dealing with the sick, the ones making sure our post gets through and those who are delivering food to supermarkets and corner shops.    

But what of the not so obvious people who are working away behind the scenes?   The private businesses that are servicing Royal Mail vehicles, police cars, ambulances.  The businesses that are suppling vital parts to the pharmaceutical industry that keeps their supply lines of essential drugs flowing.  The list goes on.   

When you start to think about it, there are actually very few parts of our industrial world that while not being vitally essential, are fundamental to ensuing that our society has what it needs when it needs it.   

So next time you see someone driving to work, don’t tut-tut the business they are going to for being open.  Just ponder, what part of the hidden supply chain is it they are supporting that is holding our nation together.