U Turn after U Turn after U Turn......

[Beamer]

We have seen 4 significant "U Turns" by this government in the last few weeks.
How many more before Boris has to move aside? Or, is this a new style of government? Doesn't do a lot for confidence?

The "U Turns" are summarised below plus additional information follows.

1.  Marcus Rashford and the "free school meals fiasco". At the daily briefing yesterday, (Tuesday), Boris even said he was not aware of the issue until "today".

2.  Blatant lies from Hancock as regards the number of Coronavirus tests. See below.

3.  Jenrick states a massive order of PPE items due "tomorrow" from Turkey. 
When gowns eventually arrived they were not of high enough standard to be used by the NHS.

4.   Patel stated NHS porters, cleaners and social care staff were excluded from the Home Office scheme, granting families of health workers indefinite leave to remain in the UK if they die of Covid-19. Just 32 minutes after the end of the press conference, the Home Office announced the decision was reversed.



Additional information:
1.   School meal voucher scheme
Following the initial public comments by Marcus Rashford.
Grant Shapps said: "It is usually the case that over the summer holidays, free school meals are not available, schools are not there."
Just a few thours after Mr Shapps insisted the government would not be extending the school meals voucher programme, they did just that.

2.    Coronavirus tests
Pledge
Matt Hancock: "We will reach 100,000 coronavirus tests per day by 1st May."
What actually happened
With just a few days to go, the government were well short of that number. Indeed on April 28th, fewer than half that number were carried out. But the numbers shot up and on 1st May, the government proudly pronounced that they had carried out 122,347.
That claim quickly fell apart however. It was revealed that only 73,191 individuals were actually tests, with the government counting both nose and throat swabs taken on the same person twice. It also included 27,497 home testing kits which had been posted, but had not actually been carried out processed.

3.     PPE delivery
Robert Jenrick stated: "A very large consignment of PPE is due to arrive in the UK from Turkey tomorrow."
What actually happened
This shipment was supposed to contain 84 tonnes of safety equipment, including 400,000 gowns, to protect healthcare workers complaining about the lack of kit.
That shipment didn't arrive the next day, or the day after or the day after that.
Most worryingly, despite being inspected by British officials in Istanbul, it was later acknowledged that the gowns were not of high enough standard to be used by the NHS.



4.   Priti Patel states: NHS porters, cleaners and social care staff were excluded from the Home Office scheme, granting families of health workers indefinite leave to remain in the UK if they die of Covid-19.
What actually happened
Critics complained the policy was unfair and LBC's Ben Kentish asked about this at the Downing Street briefing. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden simply said it was under review.
Just 32 minutes after the end of the press conference, the Home Office announced they were extending the scheme to all NHS support staff, with Ms Patel saying: "There are many, many heroes within the NHS, not just doctors and nurses."

[NIK]

We have seen 4 significant "U Turns" by this government in the last few weeks.
How many more before Boris has to move aside? Or, is this a new style of government? Doesn't do a lot for confidence?

The "U Turns" are summarised below plus additional information follows.

1.  Marcus Rashford and the "free school meals fiasco". At the daily briefing yesterday, (Tuesday), Boris even said he was not aware of the issue until "today".

2.  Blatant lies from Hancock as regards the number of Coronavirus tests. See below.

3.  Jenrick states a massive order of PPE items due "tomorrow" from Turkey. 
When gowns eventually arrived they were not of high enough standard to be used by the NHS.

4.   Patel stated NHS porters, cleaners and social care staff were excluded from the Home Office scheme, granting families of health workers indefinite leave to remain in the UK if they die of Covid-19. Just 32 minutes after the end of the press conference, the Home Office announced the decision was reversed.



Additional information:
1.   School meal voucher scheme
Following the initial public comments by Marcus Rashford.
Grant Shapps said: "It is usually the case that over the summer holidays, free school meals are not available, schools are not there."
Just a few thours after Mr Shapps insisted the government would not be extending the school meals voucher programme, they did just that.

2.    Coronavirus tests
Pledge
Matt Hancock: "We will reach 100,000 coronavirus tests per day by 1st May."
What actually happened
With just a few days to go, the government were well short of that number. Indeed on April 28th, fewer than half that number were carried out. But the numbers shot up and on 1st May, the government proudly pronounced that they had carried out 122,347.
That claim quickly fell apart however. It was revealed that only 73,191 individuals were actually tests, with the government counting both nose and throat swabs taken on the same person twice. It also included 27,497 home testing kits which had been posted, but had not actually been carried out processed.

3.     PPE delivery
Robert Jenrick stated: "A very large consignment of PPE is due to arrive in the UK from Turkey tomorrow."
What actually happened
This shipment was supposed to contain 84 tonnes of safety equipment, including 400,000 gowns, to protect healthcare workers complaining about the lack of kit.
That shipment didn't arrive the next day, or the day after or the day after that.
Most worryingly, despite being inspected by British officials in Istanbul, it was later acknowledged that the gowns were not of high enough standard to be used by the NHS.



4.   Priti Patel states: NHS porters, cleaners and social care staff were excluded from the Home Office scheme, granting families of health workers indefinite leave to remain in the UK if they die of Covid-19.
What actually happened
Critics complained the policy was unfair and LBC's Ben Kentish asked about this at the Downing Street briefing. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden simply said it was under review.
Just 32 minutes after the end of the press conference, the Home Office announced they were extending the scheme to all NHS support staff, with Ms Patel saying: "There are many, many heroes within the NHS, not just doctors and nurses."

Perhaps they are just a listening government?   

Seriously, I really would love to have seen how Corby and his merry band of misfits would have dealt with it.

[Beamer]

Perhaps they are just a listening government?   

Seriously, I really would love to have seen how Corby and his merry band of misfits would have dealt with it.

Doesn't bear thinking about.
Corbyn couldn't organise the proverbial. I also saw Long-Bailey on TV yesterday. She is a  bigger liability than ever. Lucky escape there!

[nbarnes]

Doesn't bear thinking about.
Corbyn couldn't organise the proverbial. I also saw Long-Bailey on TV yesterday. She is a  bigger liability than ever. Lucky escape there!

He's not without his faults - but Corbyn listens to experts and wants public services funded correctly.

Bashing him now he is out of office on a hypothetical situation is unfair in the extreme - most people know little about him except what they've been told to believe by the completely unbiased, fair and objective British media.

[David1970]

He's not without his faults - but Corbyn listens to experts and wants public services funded correctly.

Bashing him now he is out of office on a hypothetical situation is unfair in the extreme - most people know little about him except what they've been told to believe by the completely unbiased, fair and objective British media.

He would have been a disastrous PM, we would have been like Venezuela within 2 years.
But saying that the British print media made up shit about him and lied about him, they subverted democracy in this country.
Take for the example he was against the illegal occupation of Palestine by the Apartheid Zionist government and suddenly he is being accused of being ant-Jewish.

[winkywanky]

He would have been a disastrous PM, we would have been like Venezuela within 2 years.
But saying that the British print media made up shit about him and lied about him, they subverted democracy in this country.
Take for the example he was against the illegal occupation of Palestine by the Apartheid Zionist government and suddenly he is being accused of being ant-Jewish.

I think the main point to be drawn from the 'anti-Semitic' fiasco within Labour, was that there were clearly some anti-Semites in the party but Corbyn was either unwilling or unable to deal with them. Neither of those is a good look.

I suspect the latter, but the problem was that it was largely to do with Momentum which was effectively his powerbase within the party. So in effect he was powerless to really speak out about it.

Just as well as it turned out, because even without all that shit happening I don't think Labour had a cat in hell's chance of being elected. At least with Starmer they can make a fresh start in building some kind of credibility, and being an effective opposition.

[David1970]

I think the main point to be drawn from the 'anti-Semitic' fiasco within Labour, was that there were clearly some anti-Semites in the party but Corbyn was either unwilling or unable to deal with them. Neither of those is a good look.

I suspect the latter, but the problem was that it was largely to do with Momentum which was effectively his powerbase within the party. So in effect he was powerless to really speak out about it.

Just as well as it turned out, because even without all that shit happening I don't think Labour had a cat in hell's chance of being elected. At least with Starmer they can make a fresh start in building some kind of credibility, and being an effective opposition.

I think the print media turned supporting legitimate Palestinian rights into racism which it was not. The vocal Zionist lobby in this country claims anyone who supports the legitimate rights of Palestinian is some how anti-Jewish. The print media used this to bash Cordyn unfairly.
I will say again I would have never voted for him, he would have been a disaster of a PM.

[winkywanky]

I think the print media turned supporting legitimate Palestinian rights into racism which it was not. The vocal Zionist lobby in this country claims anyone who supports the legitimate rights of Palestinian is some how anti-Jewish. The print media used this to bash Cordyn unfairly.
I will say again I would have never voted for him, he would have been a disaster of a PM.

I get that.

But as I said, I think there definitely was/is some anti-Semitism within the Labour Party (there were some leaked recordings?) and they couldn't get Corbyn to admit to it or deal with it. I tend to agree with your assessment of Corbyn's view of speaking up for Palestinian rights, but from what I saw others within his party went a lot further than that.

And as Leader, you need to be able to deal with that, and he either didn't or couldn't.

[David1970]

I get that.

But as I said, I think there definitely was/is some anti-Semitism within the Labour Party (there were some leaked recordings?) and they couldn't get Corbyn to admit to it or deal with it. I tend to agree with your assessment of Corbyn's view of speaking up for Palestinian rights, but from what I saw others within his party went a lot further than that.

And as Leader, you need to be able to deal with that, and he either didn't or couldn't.

Let’s agree to disagree as I don’t want to get into a discussion about race, r*cism or r*ligion, on this site.

[Matrix]

He's not without his faults - but Corbyn listens to experts and wants public services funded correctly.

Bashing him now he is out of office on a hypothetical situation is unfair in the extreme - most people know little about him except what they've been told to believe by the completely unbiased, fair and objective British media.

True, most people are unaware that Corbyn's net worth is a hell of a lot more than Boris.  In spite of him being a "socialist".

[winkywanky]

Let’s agree to disagree as I don’t want to get into a discussion about race, r*cism or r*ligion, on this site.

Yes, we await the result of the UKP Off-Topic Referendum with keen anticipation! 

[winkywanky]

True, most people are unaware that Corbyn's net worth is a hell of a lot more than Boris.  In spite of him being a "socialist".

Really?

Pray, do tell.

[David1970]

True, most people are unaware that Corbyn's net worth is a hell of a lot more than Boris.  In spite of him being a "socialist".

I never knew that, have you got a link to the information from credible sources?

[Beamer]

I never knew that, have you got a link to the information from credible sources?

Can't seem to add a link from google but Corbyn net worth is said to be north of £3m and double that of Boris. 

[LLPunting]

We have seen 4 significant "U Turns" by this government in the last few weeks.
How many more before Boris has to move aside? Or, is this a new style of government? Doesn't do a lot for confidence?
...

It's all a cunning plan, they say anything they like at the outset of an issue, they see how the base and the majority react and then choose whether to about face or push along a little farther.  Keeps the opposition exercised, they never know what's a real issue to mobilise for or allow to pass and avoid their own gaffes and overspending effort and resources.  They may not fully retreat but tack somewhat backwards which means they still get something even when they have to sop the proletariat with a "win".  Like now; "We follow the science on opening up", people show signs of revolt, "We open up more of the economy but you need to be responsible, especially because we aren't ready with the T&T app yet, but we're trusting you, we can be great again", infections go up, media continue to turn on the scientists for not convincing the politicians, "A few of you reprobates are taking the piss, policy option now is we re-engage lockdown or make the app mandatory", Screams of public outrage at another lockdown, "Ok, everyone install the app then."  "Hello? Nick?  Stop scarfing Suckaturds cock for a moment and ask what kind of deal he'll offer for every UK occupant on a platter?"

[Steve2]

Can't seem to add a link from google but Corbyn net worth is said to be north of £3m and double that of Boris.

External Link/Members Only

[David1970]

Can't seem to add a link from google but Corbyn net worth is said to be north of £3m and double that of Boris.

I found this about Johnson earnings plus property

External Link/Members Only

[David1970]

External Link/Members Only

£3 million seems to be the total of his MPs expenses over 30 years, £100,000 a year in expenses.
That’s not wealth it’s not even income, my company pays for my parking, that’s not income or wealth, it’s expenses.

[nbarnes]

True, most people are unaware that Corbyn's net worth is a hell of a lot more than Boris.  In spite of him being a "socialist".

True. He's also always been a Eurosceptic and remember, he's been in politics for 30 years, he is a competent politician (they keep electing him anyway.)

As for being a champagne socialist - oddly enough Russell Brand put it best.

"When I was poor and complained about inequality; I was bitter and envious.
When I was rich and complained about inequality; I was a hypocrite. They just want to shut down discussion about it."

On a side note - this is a nice chilled discussion about politics. It's nice after all the extremist crap that's been on Facey during C19 recently.

[David1970]

True. He's also always been a Eurosceptic and remember, he's been in politics for 30 years, he is a competent politician (they keep electing him anyway.)

As for being a champagne socialist - oddly enough Russell Brand put it best.

"When I was poor and complained about inequality; I was bitter and envious.
When I was rich and complained about inequality; I was a hypocrite. They just want to shut down discussion about it."

On a side note - this is a nice chilled discussion about politics. It's nice after all the extremist crap that's been on Facey during C19 recently.

Have you got a creditable link to his wealth please?

[Matrix]

Have you got a creditable link to his wealth please?

Nice pun! 

[David1970]

True, most people are unaware that Corbyn's net worth is a hell of a lot more than Boris.  In spite of him being a "socialist".

Do you have a credible link to this as I am interested?

[Matrix]

Do you have a credible link to this as I am interested?

That depends on your definition of credible.

I'm actually very busy so perhaps have a wee gander yourself, if you're interested.

[David1970]

That depends on your definition of credible.

I'm actually very busy so perhaps have a wee gander yourself, if you're interested.

I could only find the Sun, Express and the Daily Mail which are not credible as you.
Can I ask where you got the information you posted about his wealth?
Thanks

[GreyDave]

Doesn't bear thinking about.
Corbyn couldn't organise the proverbial. I also saw Long-Bailey on TV yesterday. She is a  bigger liability than ever. Lucky escape there!

Surpised she wasnt in the Primark line

[Beamer]

Is there a politician with morals left? On either side of the house?

What a waste of c£1m!!

A makeover for the military plane used by Boris Johnson and senior politicians will cost £900,000, Downing Street has revealed.

Sky News reported on Tuesday on the plan to transform the RAF Voyager from grey to a Union Jack-inspired red, white and blue design on the rear of its fuselage and on the tail.

Mr Johnson's spokesman has now said it will cost £900,000.

He told reporters the bill "incorporates the cost of creating a design that will promote the UK around the world without compromising the plane's vital military role".

"This will mean that the plane can better represent the UK around the world with national branding, similar to many other leaders' planes, while also retaining its military air-to-air refuelling capability," said the spokesman.

[Doc Holliday]

 ...and yet another U turn

External Link/Members Only

[winkywanky]

Seemed somewhat inevitable.

Let's hope too much credibility hasn't already been lost, for people not to want to download it.

Oh, the wasted time 

Google and Apple, the names you can trust, over and above any govt...  

[Beamer]

...and yet another U turn

External Link/Members Only

I assume that the name associated with yet another mess is Hancock?
Where do we find these people? If he was in business he would last all of 5 minutes 

[Doc Holliday]

Google and Apple, the names you can trust, over and above any govt...  

  

Of course it always made sense to develop your own app from scratch in a few weeks, given Apple and Google's lack of experience of mobile phone technology. 

[Doc Holliday]

If he was in business he would last all of 5 minutes 

He wouldn't even be selected for interview 

[Beamer]

He wouldn't even be selected for interview 

Very true......

[David1970]

Just looked this clown Hancock up on Wikipedia and copied this

On 27 July, he announced protection from fracking for National Parks[15]—seen as a method of reducing anger in Conservative constituencies ahead of the election.[16] Interviewed on the Radio 4 Today programme, he rejected the suggestion that fracking was highly unpopular but when challenged was unable to name a single village which supported it.[16][17]
In his role as Minister of State for Energy, he was criticised for hiring a private jet to fly back from a climate conference[18] and accepting money[19] from a key backer of climate change denial organisation Global Warming Policy Foundation. In October 2014, he apologised after retweeting a poem suggesting that the Labour Party was "full of queers", describing his actions as a "total accident".[17][20]

[Doc Holliday]

He was on form today. If you fast forward to around 10.50 where he discusses the slide on hospital admissions by area of the UK ... he looses it completely and talks absolute gibberish before quickly giving up and moving to the next slide.

External Link/Members Only

[LLPunting]

...and yet another U turn

External Link/Members Only

As the article points out and other reporting has confirmed the decentralised offering is also struggling to be reliably consistent and thus trustworthy and useful.

[AnthG]

Seriously, I really would love to have seen how Corby and his merry band of misfits would have dealt with it.

Imagine Diane Abbott doing the Covid press conference.

So there has been a total of 8,000 deaths in hospitals, and 3,000 deaths in care homes. So that makes a total of 4,500 deaths so far....

[winkywanky]

Ouch! 

[sub_marine]

True, most people are unaware that Corbyn's net worth is a hell of a lot more than Boris.  In spite of him being a "socialist".

I thought I read that Corbyn still lived in the same ex-council house in his constituancy that he has lived in for 45 years.  must be hiding his wealth well if he wont even spend it on a house.

And if Bojos wealth comes back at anything less than £10M then his financial advisers are doing there job correctly, just like any good blue nose his wealth will be hidden away in the Caymans or somewhere out out of prying eyes.

[kippydon]

This government cannot be trusted on anything, each Minsister goes on TV and tell lies, the biggest one is Hancock, everything he says are lies,

People cannot say Labour may or maynot have done a better job,  but i am sure they would not have fucked up big time like this shower,

These lot have no compassion, and the buffoon Boris, just does not care, he does know know what going on around the world, just take a few examples

he was not aware that some visas do not let people have recourse to public funds, did not know about the Rashford campaign

i am sorry , but he is not fit to lead this country, the guy is a embarrassment just like trump,

[bhudda]

Whether or not corbyn would have done a bad job is completely fucking irrelevent to this thread or to anyone with a grip on reality.

He isnt, never has been and never will be responsible for running the country.

Continuing to slag him off merely distracts people from the appalling fucking mess the current bunch of incompetents are making of doing the job.

[David1970]

Whether or not corbyn would have done a bad job is completely fucking irrelevent to this thread or to anyone with a grip on reality.

He isnt, never has been and never will be responsible for running the country.

Continuing to slag him off merely distracts people from the appalling fucking mess the current bunch of incompetents are making of doing the job.

I think that is why Boris supporters keep bring up Corbyn, to deflect criticism away from the total shambles this government has made of the pandemic.

[kippydon]

I think that is why Boris supporters keep bring up Corbyn, to deflect criticism away from the total shambles this government has made of the pandemic.

i agree, the government know they have just been shambolic through all of this,

instead of owning up that they have messed up, they keep on lying and lying

[Beamer]

Latest lies from Hancock. 
This is getting serious now. Thankfully he isn't in charge of Defence!

BBC News: Apple 'not told' about UK's latest app plans

External Link/Members Only

[lostandfound]

Not covering themselves in glory.

External Link/Members Only

[sub_marine]

I agree that Hancock is a complete bellend, and thinks the general public are all just plebs.  Two instances of him have really proved to me how dangerous he is. 

One of the questions he got on a briefing was from a member of the public with a foreign name.  He introduced the guy and invited him to ask his question.  As the guy started speaking the first thing he did was corect the pronounciation of his name.  In my view there is absolutely no shame in not knowing the exact pronouciation of every name in the phone book, but then Hancock butted in and said he knew the correct pronounciation and then stuttered and mumbled some shit about having dyslexia, which is a lie, he does not have dysexia.  He just has an attitude problem and can never be wronged by anybody.

Second big issue for me was when a BBC reporter asked if the UK could have learned lessons from other nations which seemed to have faired better on certain aspects of the virus response.  He replied by saying absolutely not and that the UKs response was the best in the world.  Not sure if has been smoking crack but if he cant admit that there are things UK could have handled better then we are f***ed when the 2nd wave comes.  Countries in Asia like South Korea handled the outbreak like pros as they have had 2 previous scares with SARS and MERS.  UK has never had a reason to become competent at combatting a novell virus with no cure so there is no shame in saying that of course lessons could have been learned.  To insist like he did that UKs response was the best is ignorant and dangerous

[LLPunting]

...
He told reporters the bill "incorporates the cost of creating a design that will promote the UK around the world without compromising the plane's vital military role".

"This will mean that the plane can better represent the UK around the world with national branding, similar to many other leaders' planes, while also retaining its military air-to-air refuelling capability," said the spokesman.

Hang on a minute, I thought it was just a new paint job not pimp my ride.   £900k to paint the outside of a plane that we don't even own!?  Someone is lining someone's pockets.

[David1970]

I agree that Hancock is a complete bellend, and thinks the general public are all just plebs.  Two instances of him have really proved to me how dangerous he is. 

One of the questions he got on a briefing was from a member of the public with a foreign name.  He introduced the guy and invited him to ask his question.  As the guy started speaking the first thing he did was corect the pronounciation of his name.  In my view there is absolutely no shame in not knowing the exact pronouciation of every name in the phone book, but then Hancock butted in and said he knew the correct pronounciation and then stuttered and mumbled some shit about having dyslexia, which is a lie, he does not have dysexia.  He just has an attitude problem and can never be wronged by anybody.

Second big issue for me was when a BBC reporter asked if the UK could have learned lessons from other nations which seemed to have faired better on certain aspects of the virus response.  He replied by saying absolutely not and that the UKs response was the best in the world.  Not sure if has been smoking crack but if he cant admit that there are things UK could have handled better then we are f***ed when the 2nd wave comes.  Countries in Asia like South Korea handled the outbreak like pros as they have had 2 previous scares with SARS and MERS.  UK has never had a reason to become competent at combatting a novell virus with no cure so there is no shame in saying that of course lessons could have been learned.  To insist like he did that UKs response was the best is ignorant and dangerous

He is a dick but he is also got dyslexia as per this piece in The Telegraph from 2018

External Link/Members Only

[Davey Dykes]

I suppose that's better than buying some German water cannons that turned out to not be legal here for some reason. Didn't the EEC cover most legal requirements? Does anyone know if they got sold on or scrapped?

[David1970]

Hang on a minute, I thought it was just a new paint job not pimp my ride.   £900k to paint the outside of a plane that we don't even own!?  Someone is lining someone's pockets.

I don’t know to much about painting a plane but I would guess that you would not nip down to Halfords and get a lot of spray cans of paint, it will be expensive.
It pains me to say this but, I don’t think it presents a good image of the country if the British PM turns up to meetings in a military transport plane. Changing the colours to red white and blue I think will project a better image and I take it the Royal Family can use it.

[David1970]

I suppose that's better than buying some German water cannons that turned out to not be legal here for some reason. Didn't the EEC cover most legal requirements? Does anyone know if they got sold on or scrapped?

Bought by Boris for £320,000 and sold for scrap for £11,000 4 years later