Saturday 19 December 2020

Boris Johnson's Tier Four Fears

I've given up trying to fathom the depth of my hatred for the Tories. Every time Boris Johnson opens his mouth, the antipathy sinks deeper and deeper, and this was no less the case with this evening's press conference. Having traded barbs and banter with Keir Starmer at PMQs in which Johnson accused the Labour leader of wanting to cancel Christmas because, sensibly, he was calling for tougher Coronavirus restrictions, now Johnson has gone cap in hand to the nation for forgiveness. Thanks to surging infections in London and the South East, tonight will see a new tier introduced along the lines of November's second lockdown. Irony of ironies, the Prime Minister finds himself horned by his hubris as tier four means no unnecessary travel, the closure of non-essential retail, and no meeting up for Christmas. So much for all those plans he was encouraging people to make.

Why are we here then? The rapid dissemination of the new variant Covid-19, which is up to 70% more infectious than the "original" strain but, thankfully, appears to be no more severe nor more resistant to vaccines, is to blame. This is what's driving a huge tick upwards in infection and necessitating a tougher approach. What Johnson conveniently fails to mention, which naturally the stenographers and courtiers of the loyal hack pack did not pick up on, was how the second lockdown was full of holes and the existent three-tier system is pretty anaemic. Insisting on keeping schools open, when the teaching unions were spelling out how this was preparing the grounds for a public health disaster, undermined the efficacy of the lockdown. Opening up colleges and universities, and letting students circulate around the country while insisting on a minimum of in-person teaching sessions was a case of precipitating catastrophe. And allowing pretty much everywhere outside of tier three to open themselves up following the second lockdown, unsurprisingly, saw infections shoot up.

Will the introduction of tier four work? Despite the problems of the last lockdown, infections were suppressed up to a point before plateauing and charging again. By limiting mobility at a time of mass migration out of the cities to here, there, and everywhere visiting families for the festive period, Johnson is going to be calling on the luck of all the talismans he can muster that this pushes the R number down. After so many rash promises, neither the Tory base nor many in the marginals are likely to be impressed. The tier four zone covers London and the Home Counties, and naturally if people - especially young people - can't fan out from the capital this will have knock on effects on Johnson's popularity everywhere a family were expecting loved ones. Having escaped accountability for the government's actions so far, hiding behind the new variant and pretending it's responsible for the sudden about-turn was the most natural and predictable course of action. Whether it works, time will tell. But useful to note Johnson announced this after the last pre-Christmas Saturday shopping spree took place.

As said many times before, public health has played second fiddle to the politics of public health. Since the first lockdown, the business support schemes, and the furlough programme - now extended to April on the last day of term - the Tories' primary concern has been the preservation of labour discipline and rentier capitalism. Those falling outside their "generous support package", so genereous this is repeated at every possible juncture, are left to the mercies of destitution and food banks with no recourse to help or, in some cases, the pathetically inadequate Universal Credit. Where the life and limb of millions have brushed up against the interests of the miserable sectional concerns of the Tory base among employers and landlords, the latter have won out each time. And yet even here, there might be trouble at the mill. Despite Johnson serving his class and their petit bourgeois hangers on, junior lieutenants on the backbenches rumble with grumble. Even here, there's only so much foolishness and incoherence they can take. Might this be the final straw then, the moment where finally the Tory coalition starts cracking? An awful shame it's taken a terrible toll, much of it preventable, to bring us to this point.

14 comments:

BCFG said...

Keir Starmer spent the entire peak of the first wave demanding the Tories presented their exit strategies.

As 900 people a day were dying Starmer wanted to know when we could all go back shopping for utterly useless shit that we absolutely do not need and would in fact much of the time be better off without!

Starmers adviser said it was important we all got back shopping!

Starmers fellow traveller and slimey opportunist Andy Burnham was moaning that Manchester would be put into Tier 3 even as the regions spare hospital beds drastically vanishing.

What Starmer should have been demanding all along was a lockdown strategy, how do we stay locked down and still deliver the essentials. But that would have provoked too much systemic questioning for the most obedient servants of neo liberalism.

Anyone still in the shit show that is the Labour party should just put on a blue rosette and their twitter tag should be #ShyTory or maybe #SheepishTory or maybe #BashfulTory.

Whatever, most certainly Tory!

unclerbh said...

How enlightening. Back to your Lego if you don't mind.

Dipper said...

I am relieved we have a PM who wants removal of freedoms to be as brief and as light as possible. I don't get the constant criticism of him for not locking up harder and longer. There isn't any evidence this would 'work'.

I didn't think it was possible to dislike Starmer more than I do already, but this morning with his opportunistic sanctimonious drivel he managed it. Starmer wants us all locked up as long as possible. When Covid is over, it will be the Climate Emergency, when we will be locked up until Greta says we have been punished enough.

If Starmer wants to win then he needs to do better than say he is better at handling government than Johnson. He needs an actual political philosophy. I'm waiting ....

Anonymous said...

Lets hope that Keir and Labour MPs will make sure that there will be an independent investigation into the very high death toll in the UK. It would be useful and good to hear more about this from them. Representation is important.

Anonymous said...

"Having traded barbs and banter with Keir Starmer at PMQs"

Starmer says that Johnson is a clown and an incompetent; Johnson replies that Starmer is a cipher and a political non-entity (I'm paraphrasing but that's the gist). They are both, for once, correct. Johnson is no Prime Minister and Starmer is no Leader of the Opposition.

What they are is fitting representatives of their respective factions: a government that is literally destroying the country and an opposition that can't be bothered to oppose because they think it's much more of a priority to crush the left wing of their own party.

Both demonstrate the tota; decadence of the UK's political institutiojs.

Claire Jones said...

Excellent article. It is unfathomable how anyone can continue to support the Carry On Catastrophe of Boris Johnson's pandemic management. The only explanation for the support shown in the comments above is a level of fanatical alliegance that is completely impervious to the truth. What is the matter with you people? The actions required - circuit breakers, proper(full!) lockdowns, adequate protection for people unable to work, etc etc - have been screaming at the PM since March but consistently ignored or acted on too late. He isn't doing 'his best'. We aren't 'doing as well as other countries'. These excuses will not wash. We are the 6th wealthiest country in the world yet we have the highest death toll and the worst economic hit in the whole of Europe. These are facts. STOP making excuses for this excuse of a PM and WAKE UP. I am not saying the because I am Left but because so much more AVOIDABLE death and hardship is on the horizon. This is no longer about politics. So stop with the blind faith in your leader and your blind contempt for the opposition and accept that this is NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Dipper said...

"Lets hope that Keir and Labour MPs will make sure that there will be an independent investigation into the very high death toll in the UK."

and who, exactly, is independent? If you think I'm going to accept a bunch of Corbyn supporting pro-EU academics as 'independent' you can forget it. I will happily chair an 'independent' inquiry into the 'independent' inquiry.

Dipper said...

@ Claire Jones "yet we have the highest death toll and the worst economic hit in the whole of Europe. These are facts. ".

No they're not.

Anonymous said...

Why do we have such a high death toll? Who will speak up for the dead? Who will speak up for their families? Speak up.

Anonymous said...

There needs to be an independent (non party political, objective) inquiry as to why we have such a high death toll in the UK.

Dipper said...

"There needs to be an independent (non party political, objective) inquiry as to why we have such a high death toll in the UK."

hahahahahah. First find your 'independent non party political objective' people.

Anonymous said...

Ask the families of those that died.

Anonymous said...

'Herd immunity'. Of course there needs to be an investigation regarding the high level of deaths in the UK.

Anonymous said...

We are going into the New Year with over 70 thousand people dead in the UK. There bloody better be an independent inquiry . Peoples lives do matter .