Trump is handling coronavirus so badly, he almost makes Johnson look good
The only thing protecting the prime minister from harsher criticism of his failures is that the US president’s are even worse
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...lures-president

Why universal basic income could help us fight the next wave of economic shocks
The coronavirus crisis has put insecurity at the heart of tens of millions of lives
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...onavirus-shocks

New Zealand vs Britain COVID Response:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQDPQ8bz...dce2Xf_EvIV808M

The difference is shocking.

Coronavirus lockdown: The world reacts to Britain’s ‘incomprehensible’ response, botched testing and care home crisis
While there is sympathy for Britain’s health workers, there is disbelief that Prime Minister Boris Johnson squandered vital weeks

No country has been spared the ravaging coronavirus pandemic, but some have handled it better than others, and there is almost universal agreement amongst the world’s media that Britain’s response has been abysmal.

As Britain this week recorded the highest death rate in Europe – and the second in the world behind the US – an incredulous foreign press described the situation using colourful invective: it is “a shambles”, “a nightmare” reflecting “negligence”, “complacency” and “stupidity”. ...
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/coronavi...2JCcYcOsu5-JFwo

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYEL9OIWkAE6...=png&name=small

Government’s handling of Covid-19 is a very British disaster
Claims by Downing Street and Public Health England that they ‘got it right’ cannot be allowed to stand

British exceptionalism has brought an exceptional outcome. We have both an eye-watering number of avoidable deaths and a staggering amount of avoidable economic damage. The purported trade-off between lives and jobs – always a false choice – has instead spared neither. It is the worst of both.

Boris Johnson is in a sense right to resist calls for a premature lifting of containment measures. The fissures within the four nations of the union would become dangerous if he did otherwise. This determination to see it through is becoming his Churchillian test but it is not the fight he expected and it does not obscure the long list of errors that led to this unhappy pass. There should never have been a lockdown in the first place.

The British public have been remarkably forgiving. Emmanuel Macron has on balance done slightly better yet faces a blizzard of abuse and reproach. The Tory party knows full well that indulgence in this country cannot last and that there will be an almighty reckoning when the political post mortem comes.
https://outline.com/38a3fF

This from the Tory supporting Telegraph.

Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #4731

---

Government’s handling of Covid-19 is a very British disaster
Claims by Downing Street and Public Health England that they ‘got it right’ cannot be allowed to stand

British exceptionalism has brought an exceptional outcome. We have both an eye-watering number of avoidable deaths and a staggering amount of avoidable economic damage. The purported trade-off between lives and jobs – always a false choice – has instead spared neither. It is the worst of both.

Boris Johnson is in a sense right to resist calls for a premature lifting of containment measures. The fissures within the four nations of the union would become dangerous if he did otherwise. This determination to see it through is becoming his Churchillian test but it is not the fight he expected and it does not obscure the long list of errors that led to this unhappy pass. There should never have been a lockdown in the first place.

The British public have been remarkably forgiving. Emmanuel Macron has on balance done slightly better yet faces a blizzard of abuse and reproach. The Tory party knows full well that indulgence in this country cannot last and that there will be an almighty reckoning when the political post mortem comes.
https://outline.com/38a3fF

This from the Tory supporting Telegraph.

---

The 'lockdown sceptics' want a culture war, with experts as the enemy
The dismissal of coronavirus expertise, the pitting of ‘elites’ against ‘the people’ – it’s Brexit all over again for the high-profile contrarians
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...obox=1589812426

‘Lying through their back teeth’ Piers Morgan slams Government
There hasn’t been a day when you have tested 100,000 people.”

This morning TV presenter Piers Morgan played a clip of work and pensions secretary Ms Coffey speaking to the BBC earlier on Tuesday morning, during which she claimed the government had hit its daily target of testing 100,000 people on “a handful of days”.

In fact the UK is yet to reach this target. He even interrupted his own programme following the BBC broadcast and accused Ms Coffey of not having “the guts” to speak to him.

Live on air he used his mobile phone to play the clip of what Ms Coffey said, Morgan said: “Theresa Coffey, if you’d been on our programme, if you’d had the guts to come on, I would have said to you: ‘There’s been no days, zero, nada, nil. What you just said was a lie.’

“You just told BBC viewers that there had been a handful of days when over 100,000 people had been tested. No, there have been a handful of days when you have conducted, apparently, over 100,000 tests. There hasn’t been a day when you have tested 100,000 people.”

He also said: “That’s another government minister avoiding us, lying through her back teeth to the country about what they’re doing with testing. It’s easy to be proud, if you’re basing it on a pack of lies.”
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/m...2mwo9NbMdrI1M7w

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t...504&oe=5EEC558F

‘Who is in charge?’: Leading UK scientist launches scathing attack on government’s coronavirus response
'It was little like pass the parcel. No clear lines of responsibility,' Nobel Prize winner says
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po...184NHfEcEeIU5f8

Wenn Populismus in der Gefolgschaft den altbekannten irren Wahn aufbluehen laesst:

Bishops reveal hate mail and death threats after criticising Dominic Cummings
Senior Church of England bishops have claimed they have received hate mail and death threats after speaking out about Dominic Cummings’ lockdown travels.

The bishops were among a number of Church of England representatives who had condemned the PM for standing by his adviser over a trip from London to County Durham during the national lockdown.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics...75tHw1cZOz8JHBw

John Inge@BishopWorcester
Received a delightful e-mail earlier: ‘Stay out of politics or we’ll kill you.’
For me the whole Cummings drama is not about politics but life and death.
If trust in Government guidance is eroded we’ll have a second spike and 1000s of lives will be lost.
12:29 PM · May 25, 2020


Christine Hardman@BishopNewcastle
Replying to @BishopWorcester
I too received such an email.
I feel concern for the person who sent it and will hold him or her in prayer.
2:44 PM · May 25, 2020

Siob, Princess of Yorkshire@Sillyshib
Replying to @BishopWorcester
It’s coordinated. The British people are being prepared for what comes next.
Welcome to 1930s Germany
2:44 AM · May 26, 2020

Tory privatisation is at the heart of the UK's disastrous coronavirus response
From PPE failures to care home tragedies, this crisis has exposed the pernicious role of corporate power in public policy

Amid the smog of lies and contradictions, there is one question we should never stop asking: why has the government of the United Kingdom so spectacularly failed to defend people’s lives? Why has “this fortress built by Nature for herself against infection”, as Shakespeare described our islands, succumbed to a greater extent than any other European nation to a foreseeable and containable pandemic? ...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...9nF23Hz_qLmwrdg

Wer verlässt als nächstes die EU?

Michel Barnier: UK needs to get real if it wants a Brexit deal
An agreement by the end of the year will be ‘very difficult, but it is possible,’ EU negotiator says.

“The British have not understood, or they do not want to understand, that Brexit has consequences for them,” EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said in a punchy reaction to recent public statements by his British counterpart David Frost.
Speaking to German radio Deutschlandfunk Friday morning, Barnier demanded “more realism in London in the near future if they want an orderly agreement to withdraw from the single market and the customs union.”

U.K. chief negotiator David Frost told MPs on the House of Commons' Brexit committee Wednesday that Brussels' negotiating mandate would “need to evolve” in order for an agreement to be reached, or else the U.K. would walk away from negotiations.

Barnier said Friday that such changes are “out of question.”
“I would remind you that the United Kingdom is leaving the internal market and the customs union … it’s not us leaving the United Kingdom,” he said. “A third country, the United Kingdom, will not dictate the conditions of access to our market for British goods, services, data or for workers and businesses … We remain sovereign. This is my mandate.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/michel-b...nternal-market/

Einfacher als Barnier im vorstehenden es ausdrueckt, kann man es nicht sagen.
Mir scheint dass die Britische Regierung z. Zt. irgendwie in einer grandiosen delusion gefangen ist und die Zeichen der Zeit nicht erkennt. Das ist ausserordendlich bemerkenswert und fuer mich nicht richtig nachvollziehbar.
Wie kann das sein, dass die so im Nebel stehen? Ich fass' es nicht.

UK's Johnson says Hong Kong citizens would be welcome if China clamps down
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is offering safe haven for Hong Kong citizens if China enacts a national security law.

“Many people in Hong Kong fear their way of life — which China pledged to uphold — is under threat,” Johnson wrote in a column that was published in the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based newspaper. “If China proceeds to justify their fears, then Britain could not in good conscience shrug our shoulders and walk away.”
https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/02/med...gainst-rioters/

Boris Johnson says 3m people in Hong Kong will get path to British citizenship
PM offered to make what he says would be one of the "biggest changes" in the history of the British visa system

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06...t-path-british/

China accuses UK of gross interference over Hong Kong citizenship offer
‘Serious representations’ made after worries offer could trigger brain drain from region
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/j...tizenship-offer

Da haben die beiden sicherlich grosse Gemeinsamkeiten im neuen Jahr, wenn das bei dann no-deal brexitierte UK neue Marktvereinbarungen braucht.

Der Brexit trägt die ersten Früchte.

https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article20...britannien.html

Even Tories increasingly fear they have inflicted the worst of all worlds on Britain
There is mounting dread that we will emerge from the coronavirus crisis with a higher death rate than comparable countries and a more ravaged economy
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...w0Qz6da1JJSuHf0

Und es sind nur noch 6 Monate -bis der Brexit Hammer faellt.

Johnson and May ignored claims Russia had 'likely hold' over Trump, ex-spy alleges
Exclusive: Christopher Steele claims May government turned blind eye to Trump allegations

Boris Johnson and Theresa May ignored claims the Kremlin had a “likely hold” over Donald Trump and may have covertly funded Brexit, the former spy Christopher Steele alleges in secret evidence given to MPs who drew up the Russia report.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/j...r-steele-claims

Japan rushes UK to agree first post-Brexit trade deal
Britain under pressure to meet Tokyo’s 6-week timetable, meaning key areas such as agriculture may suffer

Japan has given the UK just six weeks to strike a post-Brexit deal, putting Boris Johnson’s government under pressure to agree one of the fastest trade negotiations in history — and Britain’s first in more than 40 years.
Time is so short that both sides will need to “limit their ambitions”, warned Hiroshi Matsuura, Tokyo’s chief negotiator, in comments that dash UK hopes of winning deep trade liberalisation from Japan.

While meeting the timetable would hand Mr Johnson an early trade victory, it also highlights the risk of the UK being bounced into bad deals before the Brexit transition expires at the end of the year.

Striking a trade agreement with Japan is one of the main priorities for Liz Truss, the UK’s trade secretary, who hailed the start of talks as a “historic moment” for both countries. When the talks began two weeks ago, she said the UK and Japan had signed up to an “ambitious timeline” to complete the negotiations.

Most comprehensive free trade deals normally take years to agree, but Mr Matsuura said there was almost no time left if Japan was going to ratify a deal this year.
“To avoid a gap in January, we must pass this in the autumn session of the Diet [the Japanese parliament],” he told the Financial Times. “That means we must complete negotiations by the end of July.”
https://www.ft.com/content/a70e644e-f585...51-9e3972004f4f

Europäern und Briten droht Rückfall in die Fahndungs-Steinzeit
Ein harter Brexit wird immer wahrscheinlicher - und damit steht auch die europäisch-britische Zusammenarbeit in der Verbrechensbekämpfung vor dem Aus. Plan B ist wenig überzeugend.

... Doch wie er die Kooperation mit der EU gleichwertig zu ersetzen gedenke, konnte Brokenshire auch auf mehrfache Nachfrage nicht schlüssig beantworten. Stattdessen sieht derzeit alles danach aus, als würden die Briten den Zugang zu allen Strafverfolgungsnetzwerken der EU verlieren, wenn am 31. Dezember die Übergangsphase nach dem Brexit endet.

Es sei denn, es gibt rechtzeitig ein umfassendes Abkommen, das die bisherigen Vereinbarungen ersetzt. Danach aber sieht es derzeit nicht aus, im Gegenteil. Eine Verlängerung der Übergangsfrist hat die britische Regierung kürzlich offiziell ausgeschlossen. Damit droht zum Jahresende erneut ein harter Brexit ohne Abkommen.
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschla...15-6144d46df3c3

Machtkampf zwischen Edinburgh und London
Ein Königreich für Schottland
Boris Johnson wollte sein Land vereinen. Aber sein Schlingerkurs in der Coronakrise hat das Gegenteil bewirkt. Selten war die schottische Unabhängigkeitsbewegung so stark.

... Vor allem die dortige Regierungschefin Nicola Sturgeon von der linksliberalen Schottischen Nationalpartei (SNP) hob sich, auch aus Sicht vieler Konservativer, wohltuend vom irrlichternden Johnson ab. Wo dieser nichtssagende Slogans hinausposaunte, überzeugte Sturgeon mit kühler Sachlichkeit. Während Johnson Zielvorgaben machte, die nicht eingehalten wurden und sich in haarsträubende Widersprüche verstrickte, gewann Sturgeon mit Geradlinigkeit das Vertrauen der Schotten.

Zwar wütete das Virus auch nördlich des Hadrianswalls; mit rund 2500 Toten gehört Schottland gemessen an der Einwohnerzahl zu den meistbetroffenen Ländern der Welt. Aber: Seit einer Woche verzeichneten die dortigen Behörden keinen einzigen Covid-19-Todesfall mehr, während in England noch immer täglich eine dreistellige Zahl von Menschen dem Virus erliegt. Virologen, die Johnson beraten haben, glauben, dass rund die Hälfte der mehr als 40.000 Toten in England noch leben könnten, hätte der Premier schneller und entschiedener gehandelt.

54 Prozent der Schotten wollen die Unabhängigkeit
Die viermonatige Gesundheitskrise könnte nun zusätzlich dramatische politische Folgen zeitigen: Während Johnsons Zustimmungswerte immer weiter absacken, ist die seit sechs Jahren in Edinburgh regierende Sturgeon so beliebt wie selten zuvor. Damit ist die Frau, die Johnson, wie sie dem SPIEGEL sagte, immer schon für "imkompetent" hielt, ihrem größten politischen Ziel ein Riesenstück nähergekommen - Schottland endlich in die Unabhängigkeit zu führen. ...

... Der Wahlforscher John Curtice warnte die in London regierenden Tories daher jüngst unmissverständlich: "Noch nie war die öffentliche Unterstützung für die Union so schwach wie derzeit."
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/c...5a-cdae6600e454

Now the NYT has covered the latest UK lockdown announcements in the same spirit of malice and misrepresentation. Its report on the Prime Minister’s Sunday evening address is headlined ‘Bafflement greets Boris Johnson’s plan for reopening Britain.’

Where is the evidence of this ‘bafflement’? Who are the critics referred to in the ensuing sub-heading? Well one of them is a man called ‘Keir Starmer’. Even with the NYT’s current level of insight into British politics you might have expected them to know that the leader of the opposition could be expected to oppose.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/coro...to-bash-britain

Unsere Progressiven werden den Briten, allzumal den Engländern (und Walisern) den Brexit nicht vergeben. Die Strafe muss das Auseinanderbrechen des Vereinigten Königreichs sein, nichts weniger. Und natürlich werden sie den Tories und vor allem Boris Johnson nicht vergeben, kein zweites Referendum durchgeführt zu haben, nachdem die Alten, Dummen, Abgehängten das erste Referendum versaut hatten. Daher ist die Konservative Partei, die älteste Partei der Welt, ein Sammelbecken von Fanatikern und Sektierern, Boris Johnson eine Art Diktator à la Erdogan und Nigel Farage die mächtigste Figur in der britischen Politik. Und dass die Coronakrise nicht besser gemeistert wurde, liegt selbstverständlich auch am Brexit. :-)