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Category: Coronavirus

If this trend goes on Johnson’s CON government will soon have a net negative approval rating

If this trend goes on Johnson’s CON government will soon have a net negative approval rating

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Ministers struggling to maintain public support The above chart is based on the weekly YouGov polling in which those sampled are asked to state whether they approve or disapprove of the government. As can be seen at the start of the lockout there was considerable backing for what Johnson had done and the policies that were being pursued. This has now moved from a net 26% to 7% in the latest survey in seven weeks. It looks as though that…

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Saving lives and protecting the NHS

Saving lives and protecting the NHS

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In Lord Denning’s 1980 judgement preventing the Birmingham Six from suing the police for injuries while in custody, he stated:  “Just consider………if their action were to proceed to trial………If they won, it would mean that the police were guilty of perjury; that they were guilty of violence and threats; that the confessions were involuntary and improperly admitted in evidence; and that the convictions were erroneous…….That was such an appalling vista that every sensible person would say, ‘It cannot be right that…

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Get well soon, Prime Minister

Get well soon, Prime Minister

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Six words brought down a Prime Minister: “Don’t you think she looks tired?” Alright, she was the entirely fictional Prime Minister Harriet Jones in Doctor Who, but the point is a good one. Boris Johnson does not need the interference of a Time Lord for the public to be questioning his health. He looks terrible. For many years, he has traded off looking rumpled. He now looks dishevelled and haunted. Poor man. He succumbed to exactly the virus from which he was supposed to…

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The voting intention polls since LAB got its new leader

The voting intention polls since LAB got its new leader

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Although there has been no big breakthrough for LAB since double election loser Corbyn was replaced by Starmer a positive is that the party is now out of the 20s and the CON share is edging down. Inevitably during a crisis like this one it is hard for the opposition leader to get a look in because just about the only story being covered by the national media has been the pandemic. A worry for the Tories is the growing…

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The pandemic costs: Who bears the risk?

The pandemic costs: Who bears the risk?

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A look at the huge financial commitment One of the criticisms of the 2008 bank bailouts was that banks had privatised the profits but nationalised the losses. It wasn’t entirely accurate: shareholders and plenty of bank staff lost money and jobs. Had banks failed, plenty of other businesses would have failed too. But it was broadly true. Those whose key job it was to manage risk failed abysmally, took insane risks, pocketed unjustifiably high rewards which did not accurately reflect…

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Boris is going to struggle dealing with the ever so polite but forensic Starmer

Boris is going to struggle dealing with the ever so polite but forensic Starmer

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Today the new Labour leader, Keir Starmer, faced Boris Johnson for the first time at PMQs. Last week the PM wasn’t there because of the birth of his new baby.  This was no ordinary session because clearly, the House was largely empty as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and some MPs were asking their questions by video links.  It also came on a difficult day for the government as the UK became the top of the league table for…

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Not good pandemic front pages for the government this morning

Not good pandemic front pages for the government this morning

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So far during the coronavirus crisis the government has had pretty good front pages. We are facing a massive challenges as a nation and generally papers from across the political spectrum have until now been broadly supportive. That, I wonder, might be about to change. The resignation of one of the government leading scientists together with the the UK death toll now being the highest in Europe combine to make this quite a difficult day for the government which, of…

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