One of the reasons I was uncomfortable with the praise being showered on Johnson here in the last couple of days is that I've been baffled by the apparently continued implication, without any credible explanation, that the epidemic can be dealt with over the summer. Ever since the numbers were laid out in the Imperial paper no journalist has really tried to pin this down in the Q&A.
The three ideas that 60%-80% can catch it, that deaths can be in the tens of thousands rather than hundreds, and that this can be achieved in 6 months let alone 3, just do not compute.
I've finally stumbled across an article, hopefully from a non-swivel-eyed source, that articulates this:
www.technologyreview.com/s/615370/coronavirus-pandemic-social-distancing-18-months/?fbclid=IwAR0ZUyvIb7fuPC_RIOi-OrJ0qcOljt8LFFFD0q1tS9B1CP6td7GyusQhh7w
Johnson looked uncomfortable he was gently challenged on the 3 month timescale, and he then came out with his Churchillian reassurance. I'd guess that words have since been had behind the scenes and we'll hear rather less about it next week.
Any notion that Johnson can be trusted with this is IMO mistaken. Andrew Gimson, his biographer, said this morning on The Week in Westminster "He likes danger, he likes risk, he likes things to be happening, and of course he absolutely loves being at the centre of events...so in many ways he is psychologically rather well suited to a crisis...". - I'm not sure what Gimson's qualifications in psychology are, but I'd rather have a PM who isn't enjoying it quite so much.
Johnson has zero integrity. Can there be any question about that? It doesn't take five minutes to assemble a long list of his past outright lies and fantasies. He is the nation's champion liar, it was his occupation as a columnist for decades and he has done it constantly in his political career so why would any sane person assume that he has now become trustworthy?
More importantly, unless something really big turns up, this will not be over in 3 months or anywhere near it.
Let's hope the experts can prevail. There is no one in the cabinet who looks remotely able to restrain him, and who knows where Cummings is in all this but I suspect he's lost control of Johnson anyway.
If anyone has a rational explanation of how we can be over the worst in 3 or 4 months I'd be glad to hear it.
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