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I actually feel sorry for Boris Johnson

username47781

I feel sorry for Boris personally, has gotta make a lot of tough calls etc I feel he is doing the best he can

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Reply 1

Euphoria101

...that’s kinda the job of a PM though, no?

Reply 2

username47781

Original post by Euphoria101

...that’s kinda the job of a PM though, no?

True but he's had a lot to deal with lately, brexit now this coronavirus and he has a partner in the early stages of pregnancy

Reply 3

Oxford Mum

Original post by Rock Fan

I feel sorry for Boris personally, has gotta make a lot of tough calls etc I feel he is doing the best he can

And Theresa May thought she had it bad with Brexit...

Reply 4

RazzzBerries

Chat Forum Helper

Original post by Rock Fan

I feel sorry for Boris personally, has gotta make a lot of tough calls etc

I agree, world leaders are being put on a big strain right now. :frown:

However, I don’t agree with some of the action plans he’s put in place!

Reply 5

username47781

Original post by Oxford Mum

And Theresa May thought she had it bad with Brexit...

Theresa May on the other hand, I shudder to think what it would be like under her strong and stable leadership in all this chaos.

Reply 6

Em.-.

The prime minister doesn’t actually make decisions all by himself though, but it’s kinda sad he takes all the heat from it. Nevertheless he wanted the job. 🤷*♀️

Reply 7

Euphoria101

Original post by Rock Fan

True but he's had a lot to deal with lately, brexit now this coronavirus and he has a partner in the early stages of pregnancy

I understand what you mean, but not to sound like a complete a*s, I don’t feel bad. When you’re in the process of becoming PM, you gotta think about the worst case scenarios

But maybe I’m saying this because I hate the guy.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 8

KJEKJE Says Hi

Original post by Rock Fan

I feel sorry for Boris personally, has gotta make a lot of tough calls etc I feel he is doing the best he can

While I agree that the position he is in holds a heck of a lot of responsibilities, I feel that the calls he has made have simply been too passive and too late. By taking a reactive rather than a proactive stance on the situation, he now must face the consequences of said slow inaction.

Must really suck, but hey, who said this gig was ever going to be easy?

Reply 9

Oxford Mum

Original post by Rock Fan

Theresa May on the other hand, I shudder to think what it would be like under her strong and stable leadership in all this chaos.

I see what you mean. I saw the press conference just now on the BBC, and it was so painful to watch I just had to switch it off. He has a difficult job all right.

Reply 10

Em.-.

Original post by Rock Fan

Theresa May on the other hand, I shudder to think what it would be like under her strong and stable leadership in all this chaos.

I’d imagine she’d show up to the coronavirus conference dancing to ABBA.

Reply 11

acelenny

Original post by Em.-.

I’d imagine she’d show up to the coronavirus conference dancing to ABBA.

Given the current situation, I think that 'Put the bodies in the boat' would be a more appropriate choice.

Reply 12

Sinnoh

Hmm I think he's a little excited on the inside, he wants to be that Churchill-esque emergency PM

Reply 13

the beer

Yeah, it's hard not to feel sorry for someone so completely out of their depth.

Reply 14

MidgetFever

I do too, there's so much pressure on him to act. No matter what he does there's going to be someone complaining.

Reply 15

David Getling

He needs to allay all the panic by shaking hands with lots of people and going down the pub for a pint. I'd certainly do both with him to help diffuse this nonsense.

Reply 16

Rakas21

Original post by Rock Fan

I feel sorry for Boris personally, has gotta make a lot of tough calls etc I feel he is doing the best he can

I agree.

Although not terribly for or against him (he was not in my top 3 leadership picks from the contest and he is a populist rather than anybody with a true vision - though an optimistic populist which makes a change vs say Trump) he is governing in what could be the worst national emergency in more than 75 years and in a country where half the politically engaged people are snowflakes who think we should copy other countries regardless of evidence doubting its effectiveness (closing schools for example is one of the least effective ways to deal with a pandemic, especially one where they are disproportionately likely to be unharmed) and the other half of politically engaged people will be demanding that their liberty to go to the pub be upheld because nobody there has the virus (or so they think).

It's incredibly difficult and i mildly support his actions thus far. We got phase 1 correct relative to most countries and while a little behind the curve on phase 2, there's no actual evidence outside Wuhan (where people were literally locked inside and prevented from working) that the quarantine approach works yet in the short term, let alone the long term (perhaps cases just come back). Only in recent days has the growth in active Italian cases began to slow markedly (not even in nominal terms yet though).

Original post by Oxford Mum

And Theresa May thought she had it bad with Brexit...

May was a woman who looked at detail quite hard so i expect she'd cope well however we should be glad we had the election in December. Just imagine how much the opposition would be playing politics if they were not electorally irrelevant anymore.

Original post by Sinnoh

Hmm I think he's a little excited on the inside, he wants to be that Churchill-esque emergency PM

Paradoxically it may increase the chances of a short but successful premiership. Instead of doing a divisive Brexit and having to get a second term to get a decent legacy if he handles this virus as well as our peer economies then he could remembered as a great and with a higher likelyhood of losing the majority in 2024 due to the lingering economic impacts he may well decide to hand over with his legacy secured and not needing to risk anything electorally.

Reply 17

mrpopsicle

As much as I dislike him, he hasn't looked particularly well over the last few days. He seems exhausted.

Reply 18

username1799249

Original post by Rock Fan

I feel sorry for Boris personally, has gotta make a lot of tough calls etc I feel he is doing the best he can

Nah. His job is easy. He is simply the spokesperson for the people who have to make tough decisions. The only thing that he stands to lose is his pkace in history as a leader to remember for the right reasons.