A question of understanding.

I think it fairly safe to say that the coronavirus pandemic has affected all of us. Admittedly some more than others, but we have all been affected to some extent!
For me, one of the very early changes to my life style was ceasing to buy the Daily Mail newspaper on Saturday. The reason? It was not an essential purchase and therefore there was no reason to risk going to the village shop as risk contracting the virus. In point of fact I did not actually buy the DM for it’s news coverage. I bought it for the TV guide entitled “Weekend” which was supplied with the paper. This because having been born in 1955 I am of the generation that prefers to read print on paper and not a VGA screen! However, COVID-19 forced an unwilling change and therefore I took to with some regularity surfing to this website: https://www.freeview.co.uk/tv-guide
Yesterday when I surfed onto the website to peruse what the limited selection of terrestrial TV channels the local repeater transmitter sends to the TV aerial in my roof, I noticed a movie that would have had the excellent and late Mrs Mary Whitehouse, CBE write a letter of furious indignation to the poor unfortunate programme controller. This because the movie was about a man and woman indulging – I think the word enjoying in inappropriate here – in sadomasochistic practices. Something which is now widely referred to by the acronym “BDSM” – which of course brings us to the reason for selecting the image of Angelina Jolie at the top of this post.
BG readers will of course know that I have topped posts with similar or concocted images in the past referring to this bizarre sexual practice, which IF one was to refer to it as “deviant” would bring condemnation and IF “perverse”, result in a knock on the door from the local police!
So without further ado, I will enlighten you Dear Reader on precisely why I have from time to time, used such images: As biting satire of the incompetent imbeciles that unfortunately have comprised the governments of the benighted UK for far too long now!
NB: It is NOT because I have an interest in the activity myself. Which is the reason why I did not watch the movie!
Another thing BG readers will know is that I regularly mention the excellent Doctor Richard North and his blogging. Today, Dr. North once again excoriates and calls out the incompetence of the government this time about their handling of the pandemic: https://www.turbulenttimes.co.uk/news/corona/politics-the-mess-were-in/
HOWEVER
It is all very well for bloggers like Dr. North and myself to excoriate the government but it is also important to understand the behaviour of people whose actions – to us – appear inexplicable.
By trying to understand the actions of others does not mean and need/should not entail agreeing with them or going along with them or in relation to the aforementioned movie, “trying it”!
For instance, I do not have to jump off a tall building to test if I really will accelerate at 32 feet per second, per second towards the ground below. Although I admit, there are many Europhiles and Greens who would wish me to do so!
Therefore insofar as the actions of this Prime Minister is concerned, we can understand the actions if we understand the man. Of course, there are many readers who hold or have held positions of leadership and management and do not need me to tell them this. The phrase “teaching granny to suck eggs” comes to mind!
Of this PM, this is a man of whom it can be said, “does not do detail.”
When in a position of authority – as he is now – it is something he delegates to subordinates. Thus the contrast between this PM and the UK’s first female PM is stark!
What the PM does do – and he does it very very well – is to present the government’s message. In other words, he comes across well. His affable, bumbling, self deprecating upper class twit act is precisely that – an act. I know I’ve called him “Boris the Buffoon” but I’ve also drawn readers attention to the fact that he is in fact a highly educated and intelligent man who went up to Oxford and got a very good degree. Since his father had paid for his son’s education from his own means and did not rely on the taxpayer, at least Mr Johnson Snr. can at least content himself that he did get his money’s worth – and given the high fees that Eton charges, doubtless he will be relieved!
The other thing that readers have to be aware of is that it is all very well to have a plan but it is quite another to put that plan into effect. To do so one needs resources and that Dear Reader is the root of the UK’s problem insofar as COVID-19 is concerned!
You see, one reason why “test and trace” has not worked is that to coin a phrase, the state “did not have the staff!” Years and years of trimming the public finances to the bone has left the country very exposed to crises and emergencies. Unlike Germany which did have the staff the UK was unable to redirect manpower resources to where it was needed during those first precious weeks.
Fighting COVID-19 has by some commentators been compared to fighting a war. I don’t like using military analogies but I will in this instance: The previous ship to bear the name Prince of Wales was a battleship that was sunk with the battle-cruiser HMS Repulse on 10th December 1941 in the South China Sea off the east coast of Malaya. Japan had declared war days before and the reason why the ships were sunk was that they had no air cover to ward off an attack by long range bombers. The man in ultimate charge, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound was not incompetent – it was just that the nation’s air resources were stretched too far and Malaya’s air space could not be defended.
Returning to 2020 and the present crisis, the government has constantly been playing “catch up”. The other thing that it’s critics have ignored is the obvious: a pandemic such as COVID-19 was always going to hit the UK very severely. This for the simple FACT that is apparent to any person who as sat in a window seat in an aircraft coming into land at one of London’s airports! That the UK is a very very densely populated country!
The other FACT these politically motivated critics ignore – yes, Black Lives Matter protesters, I mean you lot – is that racism is not an issue here. The reason why those now categorised as BAME appear to have suffered more severely than others is due to the FACTS that they are more likely to live in densely populated areas, more likely to have day to day contact with others, and if of South Asian heritage are more likely to live in multi-generational households and to have – due to their fondness of their particular cuisine – suffer from diabetes.
Of course, it is the job of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition to oppose, but a friendly word of advice to Sir Keith; “hindsight is the wisdom of fools.”