Dear James,
We all like good news and, let’s face it, there isn’t much of it about these days. But when bad news is covered up as good news the blood boils. And that is what we’ve been getting this week, courtesy of the latest outbreak of the ‘booster virus’ that has plagued our land in the last three or more years.
The first example came on Wednesday when a much diminished Boris Johnson come to the daily coronavirus podium
Read MoreDear James,
So he’s back. Booster Boris, pneumatically reconfigured to reventilate his sorry parade of jaded ministers, is back amongst us, eager for the natural sympathy we have all allowed him following his recent near death experience. Welcome back Boris for your second electoral honeymoon. Don’t get carried away though. It won’t last.
Read MoreDear James,
One stark winter’s day in January 1943, a highly decorated German officer was chosen by the encircled Sixth Army at Stalingrad to fly to Hitler and deliver the bad news. The officer was warned by his fellow officers to be wary of Hitler’s ‘Sunray Cure’. The ‘Sunray Cure’ has been described by historians as ‘the mesmerizing optimism’ with which
Read MoreDear James,
Three bombs have just gone off under Boris Johnson. The first to explode was the Care Home bomb. That went off two days ago when it was found that the number of deaths in care homes throughout the UK have been consistently and massively understated. Government statistics admit to 217 cases so far but a specialist ‘Care Home Forum’ says that the real figure is probably in the region of 4000.
Read MoreDear James,
They troop in, they troop out. Every day at 5pm, the sad triumvirate of politician and two advisers walks out stage left, 2 meters apart, and departs, stage left, in the same way. Between arrival and departure we listen to the halting explanation of statistics and plans and then watch as selected journalists are called forth from their bedrooms
Read MoreDear James,
Statistics? Who’s interested in statistics? Well, if we’re not already, we soon will be. The Coronavirus pandemic is continuing to be one of the most minutely recorded crises in world history. Every detail of the Covid 19 outbreak has been recorded statistically from the moment it first reared its head in Wuhan last November to today’s breakouts in the UK and the USA.
Read MoreDear James,
The graphs are beginning to go in the right direction. Road transport is down by 95%, deaths are levelling off and new hospital admissions are flattening. Medically speaking, there are signs that the great lockdown is beginning to succeed. However, each day of falling graphs, is one more day when the economy is stalled. Eventually the
Read MoreDear James,
First of all, let me add my name to the list of well wishers to Boris Johnson who last night was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit of St. Thomas’s hospital. Despite my severe reservations of him as a leader, I would wish no one to be faced with what he is facing. Get well soon Boris!
Read MoreDear James,
You have to feel sorry for any politician who puts their head above the parapet in this era of Coronavirus. Especially if that politician is ambitious, as without a doubt, Matt Hancock is. Yesterday, after the Sharma disaster of the day before, he appeared at the daily conference rostrum looking as if he had just been whipped and beaten by a gang of
Read MoreDear James,
It was painful to watch. Yesterday Mr Alok Sharma and his supporting ‘expert of the day’, Dr Yvonne Doyle of Public Health England, fronted the daily Coronavirus Press Conference at Downing Street. These conferences are designed primarily to convince
Read MoreDear James,
We are living in historic times. Nothing quite like this has been experienced in recent generations and, rarely before, has such a natural disaster caused such chaos and disruption. The Coronavirus emergency has become the Great Disruptor amongst many smaller disruptors. But if there is one thing that this crisis is already teaching us, it is that everything is possible and that good can come out of bad as long as we all behave well.
Read MoreDear James,
At 8 o’clock last night, the sounds of clapping and the tinkling of bells rippled along our lane as residents came out from temporary self-isolation to applaud everyone who works in the NHS and the Emergency Services. These people – each and every one of them from the cleaners to the consultants - are putting their lives at risk for our own safety. We are all eternally grateful
Read MoreDear James,
Last night the message at last got through to us all. ‘Shut all doors! Stay home! Stay put!’ Thank you Boris, your message is finally, loud and clear even though, to deliver it, your minders had to put you in the straightjacket of a recorded address. I wonder how many takes it took to erase the smirk,
Read MoreDear James,
This morning the sun is rising over the Suffolk countryside, birds are singing and clouds of white blossom bloom against a clear blue sky. In front of my window, daffodils are nodding their glorious affirmations to anyone or no one, rabbits are high tailing it across the meadow and the tiny leaves of rose bushes are emerging unblemished into their early prime.
Read MoreDear James,
‘The lamps are going out all over Europe’? That is the phrase uttered by Sir Edward Grey on the eve of the First World War? What is its modern day equivalent? How about, ‘Doors, gates and borders are slamming shut across the world?’ It hasn’t got quite the same ring, but its message is the same. The world as we know it is closing down
Read MoreDear James,
When Harold Macmillan asked Rab Butler, his Home Secretary, what represented the greatest challenge for a statesman, Butler replied: 'Events, dear boy, events'. We are now in one of the biggest ‘events’ in recent history. The world is in chaos, the markets are in meltdown and governments everywhere are in confusion.
Read MoreDear James,
You certainly get around a lot. First it was PPS to Jeremy Hunt, then the same for Ben Wallis and then, yesterday, I caught a glimpse of you standing, a little sheepishly, at the end of the line outside No.11 as Mr Sunak held up his red despatch box prior to delivering his spend, spend, spend budget
Read MoreDear James,
Apparently back in the good old days -1998 to be precise – a man named Wolstenholme, called on the construction industry to use the Great Recession of that time as an opportunity to improve the image of its dismal performance. The phrase, ‘Never waste a good crisis’ has now entered the political lexicon. Boris has certainly been keen to put it to good use.
Read MoreDear James,
Today the government is sending out the cavalry. With tails up and pennants flying they will charge into the ‘enemy ranks’ in Brussels and strike fear into the hearts of the Americans in Washington. 100 British negotiators are heading to Brussels to begin the negotiations for a future trade deal with the EU. Almost simultaneously other negotiators, fronted by the plucky Liz Truss,
Read MoreDear James,
Do you ever get angry? You know, suddenly, violently, lose-it-all, red mist angry? Probably never that bad I guess? You seem to be a pretty balanced, middle of the road sort of guy who probably gets frustrated at times - you know, the kids, the missus, small problems at work. But rarely do you lose it all.
Read More
