Will no one hold UK Govt to account over virus failings?
That's the title of a column by Ruth Wishart in today's National. I'm a big fan of Ruth Wishart: she writes well, and usually stays 'on topic,' as journalists would have it. The problem I have with this column is she doesn't answer her own question.
Who could hold the UK government to account over their failings in the management of the Covid 19 epidemic?
Well, let's start with Westminster. Where is the UK parliament during this disaster? On holiday, as far as the voters can see. Awarding themselves an extra 10,000 quid as well. (And no, I don't think that's what's happening but politicians are held in such low esteem that voters expect them to be on the fiddle and just make the occasional pointless complaint when they see it happening).
The biggest problem the voters have with the UK Parliament is really that its members have no power. Tory party members seem to have been shut up by the party managers. They have a good life - nice salary, good expenses, the promise of re-election for years to come if they toe the line.
There are no Tory party rebels these days. The last one was John Bercow. He wasn't even a Tory in the end since he was the Speaker of the House and paid to stand up for elected members but, since he'd been a Tory and dared to rebel against the party, the Tories made sure they got rid of him.
There's no opposition to the Tories in Parliament. I can't even begin to call the Labour party an opposition, since it seems to spend its entire time fighting within itself. The SNP do their best, given that Labour are useless, but the Tories just bat them aside.
Then there's the TV media. If you're still watching BBC and ITV news and current affairs programmes and believe they report what's happening, then you're not watching the same programmes as me. Why were news journalists wearing black clothes last week when Boris Johnson was taken into hospital? Why the sad faces? And why the doleful discussion of his fate - not to mention the rejoicing when it looked as if he was recovering? Is that real reporting? The last TV contributions by Emily Maitlis and Robert Peston came as a relief but only these two and the reporters for C4 News dare to say things the Tory government might find fault with.
And then there's the UK press - almost entirely foreign-owned and Tory-obsessed. Apart from the occasional column in the Guardian and the Independent, you're looking at wall-to-wall Tory supporters and some of them belong to the extreme right-wing of the party, like Toby Young who is happy to talk about eugenics - that is, killing off the old and the disabled. (Question: why is it the most horrible right-wing people always look like folk you wouldn't allow in your house?)
In case anyone's forgotten: Boris Johnson is a journalist. He was always pleased to trot into a room full of journalists from the start of the Covid 19 disaster because he's one of their own. He lied in his sessions with the press - showing off like a schoolboy - and his cabinet members have continued to do so. He knew he would get away with it and so did they.
In the end, Ruth Wishart is also a journalist. She has a boss and her boss has a boss - and they all have an interest in not answering her question because they all have an interest in keeping their business alive. It's not going to work though. I'm sorry to see that the National will be one of the first newspapers to go down the tubes, whereas I'd stand by and applaud if it was the S*n or the Mail.
Up till now, I've only found one truly independent article about how the Covid 19 pandemic is being fought by the UK and that's from reuters.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-path-speci/special-report-johnson-listened-to-his-scientists-about-coronavirus-but-they-were-slow-to-sound-the-alarm-idUSKBN21P1VF?fbclid=IwAR3BUFMM7gNURzUMU_9q8DipaDjxaXNdWxh24bWcB_e48Qnq_84agUKGwX4
I would say 'enjoy' but you won't.
Who could hold the UK government to account over their failings in the management of the Covid 19 epidemic?
Well, let's start with Westminster. Where is the UK parliament during this disaster? On holiday, as far as the voters can see. Awarding themselves an extra 10,000 quid as well. (And no, I don't think that's what's happening but politicians are held in such low esteem that voters expect them to be on the fiddle and just make the occasional pointless complaint when they see it happening).
The biggest problem the voters have with the UK Parliament is really that its members have no power. Tory party members seem to have been shut up by the party managers. They have a good life - nice salary, good expenses, the promise of re-election for years to come if they toe the line.
There are no Tory party rebels these days. The last one was John Bercow. He wasn't even a Tory in the end since he was the Speaker of the House and paid to stand up for elected members but, since he'd been a Tory and dared to rebel against the party, the Tories made sure they got rid of him.
There's no opposition to the Tories in Parliament. I can't even begin to call the Labour party an opposition, since it seems to spend its entire time fighting within itself. The SNP do their best, given that Labour are useless, but the Tories just bat them aside.
Then there's the TV media. If you're still watching BBC and ITV news and current affairs programmes and believe they report what's happening, then you're not watching the same programmes as me. Why were news journalists wearing black clothes last week when Boris Johnson was taken into hospital? Why the sad faces? And why the doleful discussion of his fate - not to mention the rejoicing when it looked as if he was recovering? Is that real reporting? The last TV contributions by Emily Maitlis and Robert Peston came as a relief but only these two and the reporters for C4 News dare to say things the Tory government might find fault with.
And then there's the UK press - almost entirely foreign-owned and Tory-obsessed. Apart from the occasional column in the Guardian and the Independent, you're looking at wall-to-wall Tory supporters and some of them belong to the extreme right-wing of the party, like Toby Young who is happy to talk about eugenics - that is, killing off the old and the disabled. (Question: why is it the most horrible right-wing people always look like folk you wouldn't allow in your house?)
In case anyone's forgotten: Boris Johnson is a journalist. He was always pleased to trot into a room full of journalists from the start of the Covid 19 disaster because he's one of their own. He lied in his sessions with the press - showing off like a schoolboy - and his cabinet members have continued to do so. He knew he would get away with it and so did they.
In the end, Ruth Wishart is also a journalist. She has a boss and her boss has a boss - and they all have an interest in not answering her question because they all have an interest in keeping their business alive. It's not going to work though. I'm sorry to see that the National will be one of the first newspapers to go down the tubes, whereas I'd stand by and applaud if it was the S*n or the Mail.
Up till now, I've only found one truly independent article about how the Covid 19 pandemic is being fought by the UK and that's from reuters.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-path-speci/special-report-johnson-listened-to-his-scientists-about-coronavirus-but-they-were-slow-to-sound-the-alarm-idUSKBN21P1VF?fbclid=IwAR3BUFMM7gNURzUMU_9q8DipaDjxaXNdWxh24bWcB_e48Qnq_84agUKGwX4
I would say 'enjoy' but you won't.
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