[KevS]

I must admit, Johnson looked absolutely broken by it all

I might have had a spot of sympathy if it wasn't for the fact that my best friend hadn't just told me her grandmother had succumbed about an hour before. On her own. In her home.

She went into hospital about three weeks ago, and then caught Covid whilst there. They sent her home as she wasn't showing major symptoms. They found her unresponsive this afternoon and called the paramedics. She passed away at 4pm.

My friend asked me if I could have a word with my brother, as he works for the Co-op Funeral folk. He explained that at the moment, they are so stretched, their overflow mortuary is overflowing itself. Funerals are taking three to four weeks to get sorted.

As I deal with Life Insurance claims, I said I'd check on our systems to see if she had a policy with us that she may have forgotten about. Normally on a Monday, we would take 80-90 phone calls. This Monday we took 183. We're so overwhelmed that the IT systems can't cope. I'm speaking to people on a daily basis who are in a state of shock that things have happened so quickly. I know we're not as vital to things as the NHS, and indeed, my brother, but we have been going at 986mph for months now. We are exhausted, mentally and emotionally.

Fuck you, Johnson. And the Covid deniers. And the fuckers who want the lockdown lifted early as they think that a daily death toll of say 600 is an acceptable price to pay so they can go to Primark. Fuck you, Laurence Fox, Julia Hartley-Brewer, Toby Young and the rest. You evil, evil cunts.

Fuck you all.

[Bones McCoy]

I must admit, Johnson looked absolutely broken by it all

I might have had a spot of sympathy if it wasn't for the fact that my best friend hadn't just told me her grandmother had succumbed about an hour before. On her own. In her home.

She went into hospital about three weeks ago, and then caught Covid whilst there. They sent her home as she wasn't showing major symptoms. They found her unresponsive this afternoon and called the paramedics. She passed away at 4pm.

My friend asked me if I could have a word with my brother, as he works for the Co-op Funeral folk. He explained that at the moment, they are so stretched, their overflow mortuary is overflowing itself. Funerals are taking three to four weeks to get sorted.

As I deal with Life Insurance claims, I said I'd check on our systems to see if she had a policy with us that she may have forgotten about. Normally on a Monday, we would take 80-90 phone calls. This Monday we took 183. We're so overwhelmed that the IT systems can't cope. I'm speaking to people on a daily basis who are in a state of shock that things have happened so quickly. I know we're not as vital to things as the NHS, and indeed, my brother, but we have been going at 986mph for months now. We are exhausted, mentally and emotionally.

Fuck you, Johnson. And the Covid deniers. And the fuckers who want the lockdown lifted early as they think that a daily death toll of say 600 is an acceptable price to pay so they can go to Primark. Fuck you, Laurence Fox, Julia Hartley-Brewer, Toby Young and the rest. You evil, evil cunts.

Fuck you all.

Are you in London Kev?
The funeral Director doing the work of 9 with an overflowing Mortuary (See yesterday's post) was there.

[Bones McCoy]

Gone down well with the twittervolk, I see.

I hope he does time for his murderous mismanagement.

I figure this is a highly inappropriate day to mention "Operation last gasp".

Stepping back, much of the groundwork for that 100,000 was laid down in the last decade of austerity.
Shaving down NHS spare bed capacity to what actuaries calculated we could get away with in a typical year.
Failing to address the social care crisis, especially for the elderly.
The growth of the gig economy and its impact on people being unable to isolate/quarantine when needed.
The related increase of in-work poverty.
The continuing growth of the rentier sector pressing down on the poorest.

[satnav]

Johnson claimed that the NHS had received record funding in the year before the pandemic but this extra funding went nowhere near to cover the shortfall in funding in the years from 2010-2019.

He also spoke about vast sums of money being spent on helping pupils to catch up on lost learning but I've yet to see any evidence of this money actually arriving in schools, our school advertised for one to one tutors in September but no appointments were made probably because there were no guaranteed hours. I have not seen any other local schools advertising for one to one tutors so they have either not received the money or the catch up has been done using existing staff so that schools can balance their books.

[davidjay]

I have much the same feelings for Johnson that the World War One infantry had for Earl Haig.

[Oblomov]

To paraphrase Captain Blackadder, his immediate resignation and suicide would lift some spirits.

[oboogie]

Johnson is claiming that he is the first European leader to get a phone call from Joe Biden and he's even got the photographic evidence to prove it!



Is the taxpayer really picking up the tab for all these staged photographs of the legend?

Not staged, photoshopped.
Badly.
Look at the mirror, why can't we see the phone cable descending from Johnson's wrist?
We're paying £100,000 for this photographer.
And they're shite.
I wonder who it is?
Does anyone know if Dido Harding owns a camera?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I have much the same feelings for Johnson that the World War One infantry had for Earl Haig.

Umm...

All the evidence would be that that was considerable loyalty and affection...

Strange but true.

[davidjay]

I have much the same feelings for Johnson that the World War One infantry had for Earl Haig.

Umm...

All the evidence would be that that was considerable loyalty and affection...

Strange but true.

Deference to their 'betters'?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Not really. They thought he was OK as a commander. He was certainly better than most of his British (not Canadian or Australian) contemporaries. The Somme and 3rd Ypres were costly, almost Pyrrhic victories, but Arras and the Hundred Days were great triumphs. There are technical reasons for the vast loss of life and the stagnating battles, but they don't seem to have harmed his reputation.

A million people turned out for his funeral in London in 1928. The Haig Fund raised millions of pounds to help ex-servicemen.

The 'Butcher Haig' story was created by - you've guessed - the Daily Mail in the 1930s. And it stuck, and was reinforced by 'Oh What A Lovely War' in the sixties, and Alan Clark's imbecilic 'Lions Led By Donkeys' take.

[Bones McCoy]

Not looking very Churchillian today:

Unless you take an ANZAC or Bengali* perspective of Winston.


* Galipolli, and the Famine respectively - M'lud.

[youngian]

What are the consequences of taking full responsibility in Boris World?

Will it be praise from the Tory press for his Churchilian bravery ("I have nothing to offer but..")?

Not looking very Churchillian today:

Unless you take an ANZAC or Bengali* perspective of Winston.

* Galipolli, and the Famine respectively - M'lud.

[Watchman]

Well Deedes in the Mail referred to it as his "darkest hour"

[crabcakes_windermere]

Johnson is claiming that he is the first European leader to get a phone call from Joe Biden and he's even got the photographic evidence to prove it!



Is the taxpayer really picking up the tab for all these staged photographs of the legend?

Not staged, photoshopped.
Badly.
Look at the mirror, why can't we see the phone cable descending from Johnson's wrist?
We're paying £100,000 for this photographer.
And they're shite.
I wonder who it is?
Does anyone know if Dido Harding owns a camera?

Much as I dislike Johnson, the photo is legit - you can see the phone cable, it's just running in a straight line down rather than across because of the angle. It's still a hideously contrived load of bollocks, but not fake. Or at least the photo wasn't fake - the call may have ended when it was taken,

[Andy McDandy]

You know how it will go. "I said I'm sorry! Stop banging on about it!"