THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO

DWP Faces A High Court Challenge From Family

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The family of a man who starved to death after his benefits were suspended have started a High Court action against the DWP.

Errol Graham weighed less than five stone when bailiffs found his body in June 2018, eight months after his ESA disabled benefit was suspended for missing an appointment.

The 57-year-old, who had severe mental health difficulties, had just a couple of five-year-old tins of fish in his cupboard and now his daughter in law Alison Turner will argue it was unlawful to stop his benefits because it failed to have regard for his disability under the Equality Act.

She will further argue it breached the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to life and the right against inhuman or degrading treatment.

A claim has been issued for judicial review and Alison Turner faces a wait to see if it will proceed.

She said that she saw disturbing things when she attended Errol’s flat following his death which would always stay with her and it was apparent that he was in extreme mental distress and pain and that it was impossible to see how the policy could be lawful.

A harrowing witness statement from Alison Turner said that she found a cardboard box containing two of her father in law’s teeth and a pair of pliers.

She said that she looked at it and then realised that Errol must have pulled out his teeth and she said that when she found the teeth she felt ill and that it made her feel sick and that she couldn’t begin to picture how much agony he must have been in, and to her, that was an indicator of how critical his mental health problems were at the time and that he couldn’t have been in the right frame of mind.

Errol Graham’s death has been referred to a Serious Case Panel but its membership is unknown and the DWP has declined to say if Alison Turner will be permitted to see the findings.

The family’s solicitor Tessa Gregory, of Leigh Day, said: “Our client is being forced to pursue legal action because the DWP has so far refused to make any real changes to the safeguarding policies which allowed her loved one, Errol, to fall through the safety net with such devastating consequences.

“Like so many other families affected by benefit-related deaths, the conduct of the DWP following Errol’s death has had a profound impact on our client and her family.

“She has been appalled by the lack of engagement and transparency.

“She hopes this case will make the Government realise that it can no longer ignore bereaved families and it must urgently address their concerns to ensure that the vulnerable are protected.”

Errol Graham’s death has sparked renewed calls for an independent inquiry into benefit claimant’s deaths.

His family said he was outgoing before his depression worsened following his dad’s passing in 2005. After he was sectioned in 2015 and Alison Turner said he simply shut her out and that she last saw him in 2016, despite repeated efforts to make contact.

The spiral towards losing his benefits started on 31 August 2017, when he failed to attend a fit for work examination for his ESA. The DWP sent Errol Graham reminders in September and October 2017 asking why he didn’t attend but had no response.

Benefit officers then carried out two safeguarding visits at his residence on 16 and 17 October, again with no response but despite the inconclusive visits, his ESA stopped from 10 October, some days earlier.

In a letter discovered following his death, Errol Graham said he dreaded any mail coming through the door and sometimes he couldn’t bear to even hear the washing machine. The letter further added that most days he went to bed starving.

It’s tragic when anyone dies, particularly when it was preventable. What’s even more disturbing is that this likely will be resolved, as so many cases before, with the blaming of an unrelated government body with some rule changes that do nothing to sort things out and the inevitability that it will continue to happen.

This woman is not just fighting for Errol but for the thousands of others who are cast aside by the DWP and who are left with no support and just look at how the safety net has failed them. This is the fault of the Tory government because this man was undoubtedly mentally ill and couldn’t interact with the DWP and it could happen to anyone.

The point is, if the DWP came to Errol Graham’s home on two occasions for safeguarding visits, knowing full well that he had mental health problems and they never got a response, then logic would dictate to phone the police to kick down the door.

Let’s not mince our words now, this was simply another innocent person killed off by Tory policy.

Enraged Paramedic Still Waiting For Coronavirus Test Result

A paramedic who’s supposedly still waiting for his coronavirus result five weeks after taking the test has slammed the Government for abandoning NHS staff from the beginning.

Dan Bradshaw, from Leeds, was one of several health care workers to write into the BBC’s Question Time to reprimand the response to the pandemic and according to figures, Britain could be set to have the highest mortality rate from COVID 19 across all of Europe, even though Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the country is passed the peak, yet the Government is still failing to give PPE and sufficient testing to frontline health care workers.

Dan Bradshaw is a frontline health care worker and was tested around five weeks ago, but still hasn’t had his results and demanded, “When is the Government going to get a grip?”.

It came after leading geneticist Sir Paul Nurse criticised the UK for being unprepared and playing catch up for this whole pandemic and he pointed to the unpublished findings of Exercise Cygnus in 2016, which inferred that Britain could be easily defeated in a health crisis due to absence of preparation and resources.

Was the NHS well enough funded to take that report seriously and lead when the pandemic took place, in actually getting on the front foot? Because we’ve been playing catch up for this entire pandemic and when it’s analysed we’ll see that the government didn’t do particularly well, and it was the government’s lack of preparation which was the source of our trouble.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps stated the point was to have tests available and stated that the United Kingdom was on course to get at least pretty close to the 100,000 tests per day by the end of the month.

He stated that the testing capacity was there but stated that it was a tremendous struggle to build this up and that ideally if they could do this all again, they would have wanted 100,000 testing capacity from the outset.

Nevertheless, he revealed he didn’t know what had happened in the case of Dan Bradshaw’s test results but urged all health care workers to go online and arrange to test and he added that the new tracing app will be ready in the middle of May, describing it as an essential part of taking us forward.

However, Sir Paul Nurse said that the 100,000 mark is simply a figure with a bunch of noughts in it and it appears as if it was a bit of a PR stunt which has gone a tad wrong.

It simply sounds good but we shouldn’t get hung up on that. The real truth is that if we’d had local testing connected to local hospitals we could have made hospitals a safe place but the former Chancellor and now editor of the Evening Standard George Osborne stated that the picture wasn’t necessarily as grim as the one Sir Paul Nurse outlined, implying Britain’s response had been somewhere in the middle.

But these people are Tory party members and activists, and they’re simply sniping and point-scoring which antagonises people, even more so with the pandemic and they offer blank solutions beyond their sniping and point-scoring, which further weakens everything they say.

And why is little snorting George Osborne giving his appraisal? He was hopeless when he was an MP and I suppose his current job is simply a title while proper grown-ups actually run the newspaper.

Don’t Leave Disabled People Behind

The Government has decided to concentrate on new claimants by providing an additional £20 a week for people Claiming Universal Credit. By doing this, they’re discriminating against millions of disabled people on other out of work disability benefits.

Disabled people are experiencing extra expenses and risks as a consequence of COVID 19, but are without the additional support they need to manage these. As a result, people are having to choose between heating their home, or paying for a taxi to go and get their medication because public transport is too unsafe.

And they’re having to put themselves in danger by going to their local store because they can’t afford the minimum spend required to get free food delivery.

Disabled people have been expected to endure on meagre benefit level for years and it’s unacceptable that now, in a time of national crisis they are being left behind.

The Government have, by raising the rate for some, admitted that people require more financial help but they must now provide a more reliable safety net for everyone and not just for some.

MP’s and over 100 disability organisations have now called on the Government to provide parity between the support given to new benefit claimants and the millions of people who were already on disability benefits.

What we need is a fair society for all and if nothing else, this new disease tells us that everyone could and should be valued and that within our fundamental similarities and differences we’re all equal as human beings and that the Government shouldn’t leave the disabled people behind.

And as we face the trials of the pandemic, most people are afraid that it will hit our families or friends. Who will get sick, seriously sick or die? Will we or our loved ones be alone as the disease does its worst, and will we or those we care about, die alone?

And it’s less the social isolation that weighs on us as the dread of being isolated from those we love, in sickness and death.

But you can judge a country by the way it treats its most defenceless citizens and one of the rules by which to gauge a society’s reverence for human rights and to assess its level of maturity and generosity of spirit is the standing it gives to the most defenceless members of society such as disabled people, senior citizens and children, and the idea of a caring society is increased when we acknowledge that disabled people enjoy the same freedoms as everyone else and that their quality of life should be encouraged.

This Man Is Traumatised

There have been loads of people saying that they’re not permitted to see their loved ones who are dying in hospital from terminal cancer, and then there are posts from people who are saying that they’re doing this same thing in care homes, that they’re killing off old people with morphine overdoses, but then I guess it’s more affordable than healing them!

Putting people to sleep, like they’re taking their pet to the vet at the end of their life. The only time that you don’t treat someone is when they have a DNR in place but now it seems it’s down to the doctor’s discretion and if they believe the treatment will cause the patient more harm than good, like suffering, then they won’t.

This is insane because life is a life, however old that person is and no doctor or human being has the right to take another human beings life and euthanasia in the United Kingdom for human beings is not legal.

And it’s a good job this man and his family were there because it’s becoming obvious now why the government won’t allow the family to visit.

Admittedly, this video was from a few years ago, but it explains how hospitals work. My mother was also put on morphine to end her life, but I was extremely fortunate, I’d had numerous discussions with my mother before she even got ill and I knew it was her wish not to suffer or be left in a vegetative state, but it never made me feel any better once she had passed.

Euthanasia should be the voice of the patient, not the doctor treating the patient, that’s why people have DNR’s in place.

Matt Hancock Says Asking Him To Apologise For Care Home Deaths Is Illogical

Matt Hancock has refused to atone for the Government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and he refused to apologise to the relative of a frontline NHS worker who fought for more PPE.

Approximately 3,096 people have died from the coronavirus in care homes since the inception of the pandemic and when Matt Hancock was asked if testing was inept or if he planned to apologise, he stated that the Government had not left people unprotected.

And when asked if he would apologise to the families of care home residents who had died because the Government hadn’t properly protected them, he stated that he thought it was an unreasonable question and stated that care homes had been a top priority right from the start.

But he then stated that testing would finally be made available to all care home residents and staff in England, including those with no symptoms. He further stated that the Government would include the number of deaths in care homes and the community in its daily figures, to bring as much clarity as possible to the data.

It came only hours after Matt Hancock was confronted live on air by the son of a doctor who died after begging for PPE.

Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury warned the government about the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS staff days before his passing.

The 53-year-old consultant urologist is one of more than 100 NHS and social care workers who have died after getting coronavirus and his son Intisar asked for the Health Secretary to make a public apology during a phone-in on LBC Radio.

Intisar stated that when his father was sick he penned an open letter to the Prime Minister urging for more PPE for NHS frontline workers but it was a request that was disregarded and two weeks later his father passed away from the coronavirus.

Since then, over 100 NHS and social care workers have passed away from getting the virus.

Intisar said, “Do you regret not taking my dad’s concerns, my 11-year-old sister dad’s concerns and my wife’s husband’s concerns seriously enough for my dad that we’ve all lost?”

The Health Secretary seemed momentarily lost for words before he responded: “Intisar, I’m really sorry about your dad’s death.

“I have seen the comments you’ve made and what you’ve said in public and I think it’s very brave of you to be speaking out in public.

“We took it very very seriously what your father said and we’ve been working around the clock to ensure that there’s enough protective equipment and in the case of anybody who works in the NHS or in social care and has died from coronavirus we look into it in each case to find out the reasons where they might have caught it and what lessons we can learn.”

He continued the government was “constantly looking and learning” and it was a “very complicated logistical effort”.

But Intisar said he just wanted the Health Secretary to admit mistakes were made and he told the Health Secretary: “Mr Hancock, the public is not expecting the government to handle this perfectly.

“None of us is expecting perfection – we’re expecting progression.

“We just want you to openly acknowledge that there have been mistakes in handling the virus.

“It’s actually for me and so many families who’ve lost so many loved ones as a result of this virus and probably as a result of the government not handling it seriously.

“Openly acknowledging a mistake is not an admission of guilt. It’s genuinely just making you more human.

“So could you please do that for me, maybe today at the press conference today? Maybe a public apology?”

Matt Hancock faltered temporarily before replying: “I think it is very important that we’re constantly learning about how to do these things better.

“And I think listening to the voices on the frontline is a very very important part of how we improve.”

Matt Hancock was asked by host Nick Ferrari whether he accepted that blunders were made in the preparation of PPE.

He responded: “Well, there are things that we’ve changed as we’ve gone through, both because we’ve learnt more things about the virus, also because things didn’t work out as we expected.”

Matt Hancock gave the example of changing guidance on funeral attendance after seeing 13-year-old Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab buried without his family due to the earlier unclear guidance.

Pressed by Mr Ferrari on whether mistakes were made with PPE, Matt Hancock stated: “A huge amount of people are doing everything they can and have done since the start of this crisis, and of course this is a very, very complicated logistical effort but I don’t want to play down the enormous efforts of many thousands of people.”

The 53-year-old was a locum urologist who worked at Homerton Hospital in East London. He died at Queen’s Hospital in Romford after testing positive for coronavirus. He was survived by his wife and two children.

Taking to Facebook last month, Dr Chowdhury penned: “Dear and Respectable Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“Please ensure urgently Personal Protective Equipment [PPE] for each and every NHS health worker in the UK.

“Remember we may be doctor/nurse/HCA/allied health workers who are in direct contact with patients but we are also human beings trying to live in this world disease-free with our family and friends.

“People appreciate us and salute us for our rewarding jobs which is very inspirational, but I would like to say we have to protect ourselves and our families in this global disaster.”

The Muslim Doctors Association gave praise to him in a statement, saying: “We are deeply saddened by the death of Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, Consultant Urologist at Homerton Hospital, after fighting for his life from Covid-19.

“He leaves behind his wife and two children. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

“Two weeks before his admission to hospital he wrote a message to the Prime Minister urging for better PPE.

“May he rest in peace.”

The preponderance of care homes in the United Kingdom are privately run and usually, the care and protection of the elderly people, staff and provision of PPE, cleaning materials et cetera would be the establishment’s responsibility, but in situations like this government should be holding out their hands, providing free provisions because this is a grave pandemic and if one gets sick, we all get sick or die.

Matt Hancock should be getting his finger out of his backside, but then he’s only the monkey but the buck stops with the organ grinder and Boris Johnson should atone for the way his inept government has handled this and then quit his position completely because the buck does stop with him.

The problem is these rich fellows are so superior and misled and who think of themselves as self-entitled and they’re full of disdain for anyone that didn’t go to a public school.

In fact, there’s no point in him trying to apologise because we all know that at best he failed dreadfully, at worst he simply didn’t care because it wasn’t his family dying and it wasn’t his family on the front line.

And how this man Matt Hancock has the temerity to stand and answer interrogatories regards his direct responsibility for many of the deaths simply by allowing infected COVID 19 patients to be released from hospital straight back or into care homes is shameful.

And why has none of the big kahuna’s (journalists) asked Matt Hancock if he’s guilty of gross neglect in office, and he should quit for numerous catastrophic reasons?

Royal Mail Scraps Saturday Letter Deliveries

Royal Mail has scrapped Saturday letter deliveries until further notice due to coronavirus and from this weekend onwards, the group will provisionally no longer deliver letters on a Saturday.

Deliveries already don’t happen on a Sunday, so more people will face waiting into the following week for their letters to arrive. Nevertheless, Royal Mail maintained that most packages, as well as Special Delivery, Tracked and all non-account services, will continue being delivered six days a week.

Saturday collections from businesses, post office branches and post boxes also remain as normal and it’s understood the firm decided to reduce the strain on its workers.

The nature of some posties work has had to shift due to social distancing practices and some are also off sick or self-isolating due to the virus, which means there is less staff to deal with incoming mail.

However, the move was blasted by the Communication Workers Union which stewards posties and warned it could even lead to a walkout, and a CWU spokesperson said: “We will be seeking urgent discussions with the government on this issue. The reduction of the Universal Service Obligation was a key factor in our live national strike ballot.

“The last thing we want to do is call strike action at this point but we will not sit back and see our members’ jobs put at threat and the service to the public worsened.”

The CWU announced in March that household deliveries would be lowered to a three day week because of the COVID 19.

A union spokesperson maintained the service would have still run six days a week under that plan, but that deliveries would have happened on alternate days, rather than being dropped on Saturday.

The CWU stated it has since dropped that request after further adjustments were put in place and it’s believed managers were told the move had been settled on Tuesday afternoon.

In a video for staff, Nick Landon, Royal Mail’s chief customer officer, said posties have been under “incredible pressure” for a month and “need some relief”.

And now it appears they want to reduce the load for deliveries across that weekend making them focus on the packages to clear all of that traffic.

The video said there will be some “temporary changes” to delivery duties from May 11 and that staff would be given more information soon.

Postmen and postwomen are working extremely hard across the United Kingdom particularly in these challenging conditions and of course, there’s bound to be disruption to services because of the coronavirus.

Customers should, of course, continue to post both letters and packages as normal on Saturday because the post office will still be continuing their Saturday collections from businesses, post offices and post boxes as normal.

And we should be giving a thought to our lads and lasses at the Royal Mail because they always do a splendid job all year round and it’s heavy work on the arms, legs and back, trudging up and down garden paths, rapping on people’s doors because their doorbells don’t work.

So, give a big shout for Postman Pat, and I think it’s prudent to restrict our postie’s movements as they’re possibly delivering COVID 19 contaminated packages and letters to our door, going into flats, houses and residential areas emitting spritzes of the virus amongst the general population.

We may even see Sunday Trading laws abolished just to kickstart our economy once this virus has been destroyed.

But Postman Pat won’t be getting rest, they’ll still be delivering packages, special deliveries and so forth, plus Saturday’s letters will be delivered along with Monday’s mail, so two days delivery in one.

Carrie Symonds Gives Birth To A Baby Boy

Boris Johnson’s fiancée Carrie Symonds has today given birth to a healthy baby boy with compliments flooding in from across the political divide, which happened earlier than was widely expected in Westminster.

The baby arrived only days after Boris Johnson returned to work following an intensive care battle with coronavirus and it’s understood that the 55-year-old Prime Minister was by Carrie Symond’s side during the delivery at a London hospital and both mother and baby are doing extremely well.

It comes weeks after the Prime Minister emerged from intensive care with coronavirus and Boris Johnson will miss PMQs in the Commons today with his deputy Dominic Raab taking his position.

The baby appeared two months to the day after the couple announced she was pregnant and they were engaged and at the time, the couple said the baby, her first and at least his sixth, was expected in early summer, that implies the arrival may have been a few weeks early.

But Carrie Symond’s due date was never openly published, and today’s announcement comes nearly nine months to the day after the couple moved into No 11.

It’s not yet been established whether Boris Johnson will take paternity leave but when questioned in March if he would, he stated that he most certainly would.

But the country has since been overwhelmed by the coronavirus crisis and Boris Johnson has only recently regained the wheel after almost a month off, where he’d recovered from COVID 19.

And it comes three weeks after Boris Johnson was sick in intensive care with coronavirus. Carrie Symonds also experienced symptoms and sent him letters before they were reunited at his country escape Chequers just over two weeks ago.

It’s understood the baby was not born at St Thomas’s Hospital, where the Prime Minister battled coronavirus but which hospital the delivery happened has not been published, nor whether it was an NHS or private hospital.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends that partners can be present throughout the birth if they don’t have symptoms, but some hospitals have constraints on how long they can stay.

Hospitals also have limitations on birthing partners visiting antenatal or postnatal wards.

The birth also comes weeks after the Prime Minister concluded his divorce from wife of 25 years Marina Wheeler, first announced in September 2018.

The court gave Marina Wheeler, the mother of four of Boris Johnson’s children consent to formally terminate the marriage in February after the pair settled a disagreement over their finances.

The couple, who married in 1993, have four children together. Laura, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches, and Theodore Apollo but Boris Johnson has also had many affairs, including the one with Petronella Wyatt which led to a pregnancy that was terminated.

A 2013 court judgment further said the people were entitled to know about allegations that one affair, with art consultant Helen Macintyre, produced a daughter who was Boris Johnson’s.

While they were not romantically associated until early 2019, Carrie Symond’s and Boris Johnson have known each other for some years and as ex-Conservative Party Director of Communications, Carrie Symonds served on the Prime Minister’s triumphant crusade to be re-elected as London mayor in 2012.

She stayed working in politics after, first as a special advisor to then-Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, and then to Sajid Javid. Carrie Symonds ultimately became the Head of Communications for the Conservative Party HQ but left the position in 2018 to work for ocean conservation charity Oceana.

Boris Johnson turned headlines when he attended Carrie Symonds 30th birthday party before they were romantically entangled but the couple scored the headlines again last June when police were called to a domestic disturbance at Carrie Symond’s south London flat where neighbours could hear crashing and yelling from inside the property.

Boris Johnson will be the first Prime Minister in nearly 200 years to get married in office, but certainly not the first to have a baby.

The last Prime Minister to have a baby while in office was David Cameron whose wife Samantha gave birth to their daughter Florence in the summer of 2010, several months after he entered Downing Street.

Tony Blair and his wife Cherie welcomed Leo into the world in May 2000, three years after he became Prime Minister.

Cherie Blair infamously announced that the child was superfetated while they were visiting with the Queen and Prince Philip at Balmoral.

Political associates and rivals hurried to felicitate the Prime Minister. Keir Starmer sent his well-wishings, the congratulations of the Labour Party and everyone in his House to the Prime Minister and Carrie Symonds.

And he stated that whatever disagreements they have in the House, as human beings, it was thought that they should understand the fear the Prime Minister and Carrie Symonds must have gone through in the past few weeks and the unbelievable stress and he hoped that the new baby could bring them unimaginable happiness and pleasure.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock tweeted: “So thrilled for Boris and Carrie. Wonderful to have a moment of unalloyed joy!” Chancellor Rishi Sunak added: “Great to hear Downing Street is getting a new resident.”

Sir Ed Davey, the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, tweeted: “Many congratulations to the PM & Carrie Symonds on the birth of their son!”

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “Some good news – sending congratulations to Carrie and the PM. And wishing health and happiness to the wee one.”

The Prime Minister’s father, Stanley Johnson, told the PA news agency that he was delighted and excited by the birth of his grandson.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: “Such happy news amid so much uncertainty – 2020 is certainly a year they will never forget.”

The arrival derailed Boris Johnson’s first prospective Commons clash with Labour leader Keir Starmer, so the Prime Minister has opted to send First Secretary Domonic Raab to field Prime Minister’s Questions instead.

However Downing Street left it less than three hours before PMQs to confirmed with the Labour leader’s office that the Prime Minister would not be attending and it was considered No 10 was leaving it late to evaluate Boris Johnson’s well-being ahead of the exhausting 30-minute assembly in the chamber.

Nevertheless, it later became clear the mystery was because of the approaching baby.

Dominic Raab will encounter difficult questions over whether the Government will meet its promise to carry out 100,000 COVID 19 tests a day by Thursday and the tally won’t be known before the weekend but ministers face a tremendous struggle to hit the benchmark, announced by Health Secretary Matt Hancock earlier this month.

Congratulations to Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds, it’s a wonderful thing giving birth to this new bundle of delight, but how many other women are out there giving birth? – the majority of them won’t be born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but let’s touch our tresses, bow and celebrate, there’s another Boris in the world, way to go!

And we have more pressing matters at hand, other than Boris Johnson having another baby with his unwed live-in lover and another reason for him to disappear from scrutiny.

That was one auspicious birth daddy who now doesn’t have to face Prime Minister Question time again. Now he’ll get two weeks off for paternity leave, just in time to be back to give out the news the country has been waiting for, the first stages of lifting lockdown – then he’ll look the hero again.

It only takes one appendage to produce a child, it takes expertise to manage a country.

And this must have been the fastest pregnancy ever, talk about having children haphazardly and how does Boris Johnson expect people to believe that he’s solid in his way of managing the country when he has children all over the place, and if he can’t stay with his wife and partners he unquestionably won’t stay with this country and this will be another overprivileged child who’ll be taught it’s his destiny to rule over us.

Although it’s not the baby’s fault, he didn’t choose his parents but hats off to the Prime Minister and of course, Carrie Symonds. Now there’s a bouncing baby boy to append to the acquisition of children and no doubt he will soon be back in the saddle to add to the merry ensemble.

I guess every parent has the right to bond with their child and work should always come second regardless of whether he’s Prime Minister or not but he is the Prime Minister and his role as Prime Minister must always come first particularly when the country is in crisis.

And no matter how rubbish he is, he should be at the rudder but now it appears as if we will have to deal with the virus with a Prime Minister in name only and please Boris, do us a favour, don’t send your son to Eton, pupil’s there have a history of leaving without any common sense.

To be fair, perhaps we should let Boris Johnson go because he’s been as much use to us as a chocolate fireguard anyhow and I often wonder if he took time off to bond with his other children. Let’s face it, he just loves taking time off and he doesn’t seem to need much of an excuse.

Boris Johnson is the Prime Minister of this country, although God knows how and whilst NHS workers are endangering their lives every day, the very least he could do is do his job.

UK Lockdown: Government Promises More Detail

The government has promised more detail in the coming days around its strategy for when and how to facilitate the UK’s coronavirus lockdown.

Ministers are supposed to set out more information by the end of the week after Boris Johnson faced requests to name a strategy and in his first statement since returning to work, the Prime Minister announced the government would be announcing much more about this in the coming days.

He gave little detail and neither did No 10, but his spokesperson gave a few further hints about the nature of the information that might be coming shortly. The spokesperson further stated any modification to the lockdown would mean refining it, not axing it altogether and emphasised it could be tightened in some areas and relaxed in others.

The No 10 spokesperson continued that the next set of documents and evidence from the government’s scientific advisors, SAGE, would be published this week.

SAGE’s advice is a critical tool in determining whether the United Kingdom has met the government’s five tests before lockdown can be relaxed, and they are that the NHS can cope, that there must be a continued fall in deaths, that new infections are plummeting enough, sufficient testing and PPE as well as there being no chance of a second peak.

SAGE’s minutes are not being published in full, provoking a dispute over the lack of clarity at the core of government. Nevertheless, the government is also anticipating a report from the Office for National Statistics on the infection rate in early May, this is set to be published in full.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson stated that the key is clearly to have satisfied the five tests and to be certain that in refining the social distancing measures we won’t be doing anything that could lead to a second peak.

The Prime Minister’s spokesperson said there could be an easing in some regions and toughening in other regions but that we would not be immediately returning to life as we once knew it.

People will have to acclimatise to what Dominic Raab called a new normal.

The law says the UK lockdown must be examined by May 7. Measures could be eased, strengthened or not altered at all, and asked when the changes might be revealed, a No 10 spokesperson stated that May 7 was the time where they’re expected to have conducted the review.

It’s understood that it will be made transparent by the end of the week how ministers will assess the ability to move into the second phase.

The Prime Minister returned to Downing Street three weeks after being taken to hospital and it’s understood that his fiancee Carrie Symonds is back living with him at their No 11 Downing Street flat after they spent weeks apart with symptoms.

They were reunited at the Prime Minister’s country retreat Chequers about two weeks ago and he’s now back full time, and in terms of obligations and responsibilities, he will be doing all of those.

Boris Johnson is supposed to chair Cabinet this week, but the plan for PMQs is not yet transparent.

He’s been under extreme pressure from Tory MPs to set out how the lockdown will be eased to prop up the economy, while still protecting lives, but Boris Johnson indicated that it would be a creeping process and promised the best possible transparency with attempts to seek consensus across party lines.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has been invited for a briefing with the Prime Minister and medical chiefs next week, followed by more briefing with other opposition leaders next week.

And more Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) participants will be named in the coming days, though only if they’re happy to be identified.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said: “This is to safeguard the personal security for the individuals and to protect them from lobbying which may hinder their ability to give impartial advice.”

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson and everyone who works in government will take part in a minute’s silence for NHS staff, carers and key workers who’ve died of coronavirus on the frontline.

Mr Johnson said: “When we are sure that this first phase is over and that we are meeting our five tests… then that will be the time to move on to the second phase.

“In which we continue to suppress the disease and keep the reproduction rate down, but begin gradually to refine the economic and social restrictions and one by one to fire up the engines of this vast UK economy.

“And in that process, difficult judgments will be made.

“We simply cannot spell out now how fast or slow or even when those changes will be made, though clearly, the Government will be saying much more about this in the coming days.”

However, COVID 19 could reconstruct our social and economic model forever because it’s such a devastating virus, and the nature of it is deadly and none of us has any idea when this virus will be over and primarily experts don’t have a clue either.

All we do know is that it’s going to be baby steps at first but if the lockdown is lifted too quickly we’ll be back to square one, but then if we wait for a vaccine to be proven to work, what on earth will happen to our economy?

Boris Johnson Returns To No 10

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It was a subdued, thinner and washed out Boris Johnson who stepped out from behind the world’s most prominent front door – the Prime Minister is back following his very real skirmish with death, and his priority was to give a hurriedly, orchestrated televised speech as a real display he had recovered and was very much in charge.

His two weeks in rural recuperation at Chequers in the Buckinghamshire countryside may have revived him mentally, but he looked like he was making a Monday morning effort as he greeted the country from a podium in Downing Street.

This was a contrast from the typically rambunctious and enthusiastic figure who has always seemed fired up and enthusiastic, and with who we have become so accustomed over the past decade.

Frantic to communicate an air of authority, the Prime Minister’s wooden podium bore the Government seal rather than a hazard labelled “Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives” slogan which has been radiated into our living rooms for the last month.

“Good morning, I am sorry I’ve been away from my desk for much longer than I would’ve liked,” he stated, looking straight into the camera in his first public words for 15 days since a Twitter video following his Easter Sunday release from St Thomas’ Hospital, London.

There were flashes of the old, pre-COVID 19 campaigners, as he attempted to use strong imagery to communicate a pressing point.

“If this virus were a physical assailant, an unexpected, invisible mugger – which I can tell you from personal experience it is – then this is the moment when we have begun together to wrestle it to the floor,” he explained.

But it seemed constructed and forced rather than the friendly, cracker-barrel manner on which he prides himself and behind the Prime Minister’s left stood a policeman, much more than the necessary two-metre range.

And in the Downing Street windows were displayed children’s portraits of spectra, a logo of the support which has supported the country at these most challenging, unfamiliar and unusual times.

Boris Johnson’s idol is supposed to be Winston Churchill, the leader who led Britain through the Second World War.

Conscious of the modern-day parallels that the country is locked in the fight of a generation, it will have been no accident that Boris Johnson adopted from Winston Churchill for a segment of his eight-minute, 23-second speech.

Talking to the Commons after victory at El Alamein in November 1942, Winston Churchill told MPs: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Boris Johnson told viewers: “I believe we are coming to the end of the first phase of this conflict, and despite all the suffering we have so nearly succeeded.”

Boris Johnson had three aims in his address, to thank the country for its efforts so far, to convince people to stick with the lockdown for a while longer, and to offer them support.

He further wanted to face down commentators and critics demanding an exit plan, promising “maximum transparency” as the Government charted a course out of the shutdown.

But the prevailing message was to keep going: “I know it is tough – and I want to get this economy moving as fast as I can, but I refuse to throw away all the effort and the sacrifice of the British people and to risk a second major outbreak and huge loss of life and the overwhelming of the NHS.”

It’s great that he’s back, but now comes the laborious work, and it starts now and let’s hope that Boris Johnson is well enough to carry on with what he was doing before he became unwell.

This Is Our Future!

These are all faces of frontline workers who have selflessly laid down their lives in the fight against COVID 19, as the death toll amongst NHS staff and private care workers rise, it brings home the horrifying hazards these warriors face every day.

And that’s why the Sunday Mirror is starting a campaign for a scheme to be launched to reward them now, the same way in which our heroic troops are paid more for risking death in battle.

The campaign is asking for a special daily allowance to be paid immediately to nurses, doctors, support staff and care workers who are putting their lives on the line to get us through the coronavirus crisis.

The campaign will be taken up in Parliament, in a Commons motion deferred by senior Labour MP Jon Trickett.

Health workers are our first defence in the struggle against this disease and they require much more relief presently.

Mr Trickett, a former Shadow Cabinet minister, stated: “Next week is May Day.

“What better way to celebrate the new month and the internationally recognised workers’ day than by supporting this excellent initiative by the Sunday Mirror?”

And Fire Brigades Union leader Matt Wrack added: “Clapping is great, but clapping is not enough.”

Delivering the special supplement would be based on the extra tax-free daily operational allowance given to our Armed Forces in war zones.

Acting Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey stated: “I fully support the Sunday Mirror’s campaign to recognise the bravery of Britain’s health and care workers.“

The General, Municipal, Boilermakers (GMB) union, which stewards more than 100,000 workers in the NHS and care sector, also back them, and if we sincerely value these workers they need a service allowance now.

The calls for more money came as tributes were given to two of the newest health warriors to give their lives.

Married father Larni Zuniga, 54, who was a senior nurse at a care home, died at St Thomas’s Hospital in London, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson was treated.

Larni, of Godalming, Surrey, was praised by his NHS theatre nurse cousin Christian as a true professional who touched the lives of many. His wife Edith said he was now enjoying Heaven while daughter Mutya said she couldn’t stop crying because it was too raw.

Meanwhile, it emerged that the most recent victims had included a nurse who had kept valiantly working at 66.

Mahadaye Jagroop, who was known as Mary, died at Birmingham’s Heartlands Hospital, where she had cared relentlessly for coronavirus victims.

Former co-worker Thalia Zong composed in a eulogy to her: “The memory of you and your beautiful smile, which has always inspired me, will continue to do so through these tough times.”

While it’s now widely acknowledged that all frontline workers warrant a more generous pay deal reviews will take time to be introduced. This way those most at risk in caring for coronavirus victims would get extra money in their pockets now – there’s a precedent for finding money rapidly.

When banks faced collapse through the financial crash of October 2008 they got an immediate £500 billion in bailouts and with 44,000 nursing posts vacant, frontline medical workers were already overstretched even before the coronavirus crisis started.

Our nurses are on £11.63 an hour, that’s less than other countries because in Germany, for instance, they get £12.60 an hour.

Australia pays their nurses £14.80 an hour, in Italy, their nurses get £14.86. Norway their nurses get £18.64 and Sweden £23.95, that’s nearly twice what our nurses get and hospital support staff are on pitifully poor earnings with porters, healthcare assistants and cleaners getting around just £18,005 a year.

Care work is an immense enterprise with about a million workers supporting some of the most vulnerable people in society, usually for incredibly low payment and now there’s a real opportunity to create a lasting difference in the sector.

Numerous carers are paid what the Government calls its National Living Wage, the legal lowest for workers aged 25 and over is £8.72 an hour. Workers aged 21 to 24 on the minimum salary get just £8.20 an hour, while those aged 18 to 20 are paid only £6.45.

In contrast, the Real Living Wage, a voluntary rate determined by independent experts as the minimum needed for a decent standard of living is £9.30 an hour for all ages, arising to £10.75 in London.

A poll for the GMB union revealed that 79 per cent of workers in the care sector fear it will be plunged into a manpower deficit, with workers reluctant to put themselves at risk for poverty levels of pay.

The army expects to have enough guns and ammunition when they go to war, in the same way, that health workers expect to have satisfactory protection when they asked to treat people who are infected with a dangerous and extremely deadly virus and to not give them this protection is felonious.

I realise that the Sunday Mirror wants our brilliant frontline warriors to get a cash reward because they’re jeopardising their lives to fight coronavirus, but it’s not only nurses and doctors that brave the frontline, it’s the firemen and the police et cetera, the list is endless and that’s how everything is working right now, but if they all quit, then everything would come to a crunching standstill, and the government should remember that because without these extremely talented people the world would go to pot.

Whoever we are, whatever we do, whatever walk of life we come from, we all put something into our society, including our children who are our tomorrow. The dilemma is we don’t treat our future with the reverence they merit, yet our government control them.

And whoever we are, we allow the government to be alive in our minds, we walk with our government and we bring meaning and vitality to their thoughts, and we are moulded by their presence in whatever we do, and whatever we see.

And then there’s our children’s schools and education and the problems that arise from the lack of resources, reduced academic achievement and language difficulties – these are the things that are regulated by our governments, and without us even realising it governments directly or indirectly controls YOU!

Clearly, we don’t own our children, but as parents, we’re given the wonderful privilege and responsibility of taking care of them as best we can, but now parents have a partnership with their government.

There was a time when parents could provide their children with a healthy, stable and balanced home to live in, but now our governments have taken that away from us, and most are living in poverty or out on the streets.

Children must be allowed to play in the open, no longer tortured by pangs of starvation or destroyed by illness or threatened with the punishment of ignorance, molestation or exploitation.

Our children are the foundation on which our future is built and they’re the greatest asset as a nation. Some will become leaders of our country and many of whom will care for and defend the people.

Our children who sleep on the streets, reduced to begging to make a living, are a declaration to an unfinished job and that’s a reminder that the past lingers to plague the present.

All around the world is known for its beauty, its true legacy and productive resources, but equally, the image of its suffering children permeate the conscience of our world.

And our governments should be reaching out to these children, doing whatever they can to support their struggle to climb above their hurt and misery because they’re the future of each country, who will guide us into the next century if only our governments would allow them to.

Because the true character of society is revealed on how it treats its children and each of us has a purpose to play in shaping a better world for our children.

Our children are our greatest wealth, they’re are our future and those that exploit them tear at the fabric of our society and weaken our nation.

Then we have the families of 20 to 40,000 victims of the deliberate heard of death policy, or maybe those that have been slain by the DWP with sanctions or being pronounced fit for work as they step into their coffins, or the poor hammered with bedroom tax because they’re unable to move to a more modest property, or the thousands sleeping on the streets due to government and local council disregard.

With politicians giving themselves a 10K pay increase when this pandemic started and these nefarious criminals should give that money back and give the NHS more money and this country is being run pretty crudely with politicians believing they can steal or just take and take.

What – does it take a pandemic to show the excellence of every NHS worker. Yes, they might have signed up for the work that they do but they certainly do need a permanent pay increase despite what they do, day in and day out because they work tirelessly to serve others and never get acknowledged for it.

They do an astounding job and should be given more money, but the dilemma is that this country is going to be broke after the coronavirus has gone, and there will be huge tax hikes to cover what’s been spent or lost, so there will be no money in the pot to give to these people that have put their lives on the line to serve others in need.

And it’s got absurd now because where’s all the money going to come from? The NHS is already dirt-poor, so who’s going to pay for it?

While we’re at it we may as well say that they’re going to build more houses as well, eradicate food banks whilst they’re at it, it’s simply not going to happen but all carers or anybody who’s dealing with COVID 19 should be entitled to a pay increase because carers don’t get enough praise and they’re on paltry wages and it’s utterly shameful.

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