August is the time when plans and priorities for the winter are needed. Instead, the Prime Minister has little to offer a sloppy idea and a stupid photocall.
Last modified on Tuesday, August 11, 2020 at 15.53 CEST
For Britain and Covid-19, August is the month of change. What happens in August is essential for efforts to create a balance between the main threat to fitness and a controlled reopening of the country as autumn and winter take over. In the UK, new examples are beginning to emerge again. Although new cases in England may be stabilizing, according to the Office of National Statistics on Friday, ONS figures are not final because they have an insufficient testing formula and do not come with cases of NHS or nursing homes. The only certainty is that the figures remain uncertain.
Meanwhile, the occasions highlight the continued volatility of the stage on a daily basis. Local epidemics broke out, first in Leicester, then in Greater Manchester and elsewhere, and now in Aberdeen and Preston. Others will stick. Once, the excellent weather has encouraged many other people to come together in a harmful way. This will continue to appear new instances. Meanwhile, in neighbouring European countries, infection rates are also increasing. The viability of “air bridges” between the UK and other parts of Europe remains incredibly delicate, with France now on the front line. Returning British tourists will possibly be asked to isolate the property for 14 days, there is no selection procedure to make sure they do, or any monetary arrangement to help them. In fact, other Covid-19 infections will also be kept here.
Amid this uncertainty, the slide into recession is gaining momentum. Already this week, there have been primary layoffs at Hays Travel, DW Sports, Pizza Express, WH Smith, the Evening Standard and the Arsenal football club. On Friday, British Airways surpassed them all, brutally exploiting the existing collapse of air transport to succeed in thousands of task cuts and large pay cuts across the company; even the conservative chairman of the Commons Restricted Transportation Committee, Huw Merriman, called it “putting a gun” on the heads of employees. And things can only get worse if the holiday program is canceled until October as planned. On Thursday, even the bank of England, which is sometimes Panglosian, said he was only expecting a steady return to the 2021 expansion.
All of this adds to a desperately fragile scenario for the country as autumn begins to loom. Most scientists and legislators expect Covid-19 instances and Covid-related deaths to rise again. Seasonal illnesses and a huge buildup of elective remedies mean the NHS will be under new pressure. Economic recovery will avoid at best. Unemployment will soon worsen. Government income will remain low, forcing the chancellor to borrow or tax more. Meanwhile, young Britain is not easy to resume schooling from which she has been at a disadvantage since March, and a generation of parents returns to painting, if the painting is still there, before schools and schools reopen.
This requires fair and mature leadership from a government that puts others in the face of difficult decisions, prioritizes, explains the prices in question, and urges others to continue to do their component while the government protects them. It requires leadership that drives the state, nationally and locally. August is the month to sharpen the fight opposed to the virus by the fall, to launch new measures to safeguard employment and the economy, and show that the government already has a winter roadmap that will come into force in early September.
Instead, Britain has Boris Johnson. Mr. Johnson’s record through the pandemic remains consistent only with his negligence. This week was no exception. As it has become increasingly transparent that new social restrictions would be needed to ensure the reopening of schools, and it was increasingly urgent that the permit be extended, the prime minister liked to do stupid photo shoots in a gym and a structure site. This isn’t smart enough. Besides, the public feels it. No wonder Keir Starmer has now overtaken him in the polls. If Johnson needs to avoid dragging Britain into a fall of discontent, he will now have to prove that he is capable of recovering. If you don’t, even your own group will start looking for someone who’s more ready for the job.
This article was amended on 11 August 2020 to remove the reference to the deaths that are beginning to accumulate, to explain that accumulation in new instances is for the UK total and to replace the description of the “defective” verification formula. “inadequate.”