New Zealand records two new coronavirus cases – both from UK – and Spain planning mandatory two-week quarantine for UK arrivals
The UK is fast becoming an international pariah because of Boris Johnson’s catastrophic mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.
New Zealand has recorded its first two new cases of the virus in 24 days since Jacinda Ardern’s staggeringly successful handling of the crisis showed what the UK is missing – and both had just arrived from the UK after only being allowed to enter because they were given special permission to attend a funeral.
Meanwhile, having initially said that UK tourists would be allowed into the country from next weekend, the Spanish government is now looking at forcing any arrivals from this country to stay in quarantine for two weeks – effectively killing 99.9% of Spanish holiday tourism by UK residents:
Johnson, Hancock and co can boast of their pride in their ‘achievements’ all they like. The rest of the world knows what an absolute disaster they and their ‘herd immunity’ strategy have been.
How many other countries will follow Spain’s and New Zealand’s example?
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Very soon the UK coastline will start to suffer erosion as we are poked by extraordinarly-long barge poles.
What Labour can learn from Jacinda Ardern and New Zealand
In the age of the Trumps, Johnsons and Bolsonaros, there has seldom been a bigger gulf in political and moral leadership at an international level. This vacuum has been hugely evident in the lack of global coordination and leadership in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Though there is little doubt that we are indeed living in the age of populists – trading in easy answers to complex questions – there remains a small group of leaders who continue to stand out. Merkel in Germany is, of course, the obvious example. But I’m sure if you were to take a straw poll and ask who has impressed most during the Covid-19 crisis, Jacinda Ardern would be the near the top of many people’s lists.”
“In reality, the real difference between New Zealand and the UK is decisive leadership. New Zealand acted fast and early to deal with the virus, going into lockdown almost immediately, to save lives. Here, we were told that going into lockdown too soon would cost jobs and damage the economy. New Zealand is now out of lockdown and has just ended social distancing, suffering only 22 deaths. The UK has the second-highest death rate in the world and is on course to suffer the worst economic damage of any developed country in the world. Leadership matters.
Ardern’s approach in dealing with coronavirus has been a lesson to the world in leadership, as was her response to the tragic Christchurch terrorist attack in 2019. But her domestic record is just as impressive, and there are lessons here too – particularly for UK Labour. Before Ardern become leader, the New Zealand Labour Party had been out of power for nine years, lacking credibility on key issues like the economy and immigration. In changing this, she has had to show flexibility – putting aside ideological purity in favour of pragmatism – while still managing to put forward a radical policy agenda.
Ardern is a social progressive first and foremost, but recognises the importance of community and that many people have been left feeling uncomfortable with certain elements of globalisation and deep flaws in the neoliberal model. This is something that UK Labour failed to do when last in government. Ardern has highlighted how unchecked capitalism has seen rises in homelessness and had a profound impact on the environment. She has also favoured stronger controls on migration, focusing on skilled immigration, and recognised that increases in the number of people coming to New Zealand has put considerable pressure on public services. Crucially though, rather than simply blaming immigrants and immigration, her government has invested in housing, infrastructure, public services and provided training for New Zealanders – so that local people can help fill skill gaps in the economy rather than relying on labour from abroad.
https://labourlist.org/2020/06/what-labour-can-learn-from-jacinda-ardern-and-new-zealand/
“In reality, the real difference between New Zealand and the UK is decisive leadership.”
Indeed, because with stammer we’d get: ‘Err…Well…We’d have to look into that’ when asked if he felt people should be put at risk by going back to work too early.
You wanna know what labour ought to have learned by now? You DON’T fuck with the wishes of the electorate and renege on promises – especially when you’re the opposition.
Should read :’Do not make promises you cannot or will not keep, be honest about things from the start’.
“You wanna know what labour ought to have learned by now?”
That workers are starting to understand the value of their labour as they take on board two points: i) the firm’s right to make money does not supersede their right to life and ii) without staff doing the work, no firm will make any money.
https://eurofree3.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/england-ventures-out-of-lockdown/
Counties like NZ face a huge problem because their success in suppressing the outbreak leaves their populations in pristine condition and wide open to imported infection. Their difficulties are compounded by Govts like those in the UK and the US in reality pursuing herd immunity policies. Do they keep themselves isolated for years to come or will they be forced to adopt similar policies if they are to survive internationally?
“…isolated for years to come” assumes there will be no vaccine for ‘years to come’.
I think that’s unduly pessimistic given the global effort and the promising progress to date.
beat me to it ……..well said
And is anyone surprised? Just about every nation on the planet pished themselves laughing when de piffle was promoted to foreign sec. They weren’t anywhere near as amused when he made it to PM; let alone was returned to that post last December, ffs.
But stammer, watson and the precious 70% just HAD to bollocks everything up, didn’t they?
Toffee – Have you watched what Jeremy Corbyn has had to say about your concerns.
No – And I’ve got no intention of doing so.
Corbyn’s gone. Because of you – he’s now an irrelevance. You’re trying to use him as a relevance now merely to score points, when only a few moths ago you allowed the likes of stammer and watson to undermine him at every opportunity, you miserable little shit.
Toffee – Your comment quite neatly sums up your whole attitude to life.
Stic to the topic if the original post. It’s about pariahs.
And you’re certainly the expert in alienating the electorate from your party.
Toffee – You’ve already clearly told us that you’ll be voting Tory at the next GE so who gives a flying f’ what you think Tory Boy.
”You’ve already clearly told us that you’ll be voting Tory at the next GE”
Again – provide definitive proof.
PROOF that i said I WILL vote toerag. Not that I’d RATHER, but that I WILL.
Because if you don’t you – for the cunteenth time – are gonna make yourself look an even bigger gobshite than humanly possible.
Toffee – You can dance around on the he head of a pin to your heart;’s content but it won’t alter what you said.
But seeing as you’re mentioning voting toerag and the subject is making pariahs of people – Why does this poster say they DEFINITELY WILL VOTE TOERAG?
https://skwawkbox.org/2020/06/11/excl-starmers-diversity-panel-so-far-set-to-be-all-white-and-partys-most-senior-bame-employee-sidelined/#comment-149166
And as I asked in a post next but one further down from the linked post…
The Toffee (597)12/06/2020 AT 11:28 AM
Aha! Someone who actually says they WILL vote toerag…
Your thoughts on you and your 70% that have driven people to this, stevey boy?
Any feelings of culpability; any contrition on offer? No?
Thought not.
You didn’t answer… no wonder really, is it?
Now remind me – WHO’s the tory?
No, no, stevey boy – You see, YOU are accusing ME.
Now, you MUST provide the evidence – Or admit to being the totally childish bollockite you are.
Just writing ‘tory boy’ doesn’t cut it. You need to PROVE it, sunshine.
So – We need to see evidence where I’ve said I WILL vote toerag ; NOT evidence I said I’d RATHER vote toerag.
They are NOT one and the same, are they, idiot?
A judge’d hang you for wasting the court’s time and I’m not allowing you to accuse me without evidence…You utter weirdo.
Toffee – No, no, stevey boy – You see, YOU are accusing ME.
It is rather unfortunate that you are having problems in recollecting our prevvios conversation on this subject but if you think hard you may recall that we had this self same discussion just a few days ago when you first expressed you preference for a Tory government at the next GE. You may also recall that at the time I provided you with both direct quotes & links to the relevant comments that you’d made.
Ooops typo/sellcheck
It is rather unfortunate that you are having problems in recollecting our
prevviosprevious conversation on this subjectTypical shithouse cop-out once again.
I’ve gone from ‘definitely voting toerag’ to ‘expressing a preference for a toerag govt’
You’re a slimy little twat, just like your brave sir knight, who, between the both of you, have managed to alienate the electorate.
And it’s no fucking wonder, neither.
Toffee – Ignorance isn’t bliss it just makes you look stupid. As I’ve said elsewhere it is more than a little disappointing that your support for Corbyn has proved to be so fickle. Who would have guessed that in your opinion Corbyn would go from being your hero to being so irrelevant that his first hand account on what you are constantly pontificating about isn’t (in your opinion) worth listening to
At the weekend I had to apologise to a friend about recommending Off-Guardian to him. He complained it was full of right wing conspiracy theories which is of course now sadly true. I was about to recommend S-Box but thought I’d wait until this silly to and fro ends or he will rightly blame me again for wasting his time. I support The Toffee but none of this gets anybody anywhere.
and the disappointing thing is it all started off so politely before ………….
So I’ll spell it out again.
SteveH16/06/2020 AT 1:22 PM
Toffee – You’ve already clearly told us that you’ll be voting Tory at the next GE so who gives a flying f’ what you think Tory Boy.
Now, take note of these words…
‘You’ll be voting.’
As in ‘You WILL be voting.’ … WILL be voting…WILL.
AGAIN – WILL.
WHICH IS COMPLETELY FUCKING DIFFERENT FROM: ‘Expressing a preference for a toerag government’. Which IS NOT voting for one, is it, idiot?
Not that there’s any discernable difference from stammer and the toerags anyway, whereas you’re too blind to see it. That’s your problem.
But you’ve just made a shite attempt to conflate your stammer preferences with my voting intentions as though they’re one and the same, when they’re patently not, you weirdo.
And writing ‘tory boy’ every other sentece in reply to me, and bolding & italicising them doesn’t actually make it a fact. It just grasses you up as a childish little shitehawk that has nothing on anyone.
Toffee – You really should stop digging, everyone had ample opportunity to see what you actually said.
ps – I have only mentioned your new affiliation to the Tories once today and the previous occasion was several days ago.. How many times have mentioned it on this page. You doth protest too much, methinks.
The Toffee597, I hope you properly stamped your feet. And in my view JC is and remains relevant.
and it might be very educational for you to watch the interview. Listen and learn.
How can you successfully ‘lock-down’ -‘This Island Fortress’? This must have been a difficult question for ‘Body-Bag Boris’, watching it being successfully done by many other countries, with great results. After all, it’s not as though we live on an island.
It wasn’t a mistake but deliberate policy to further herd immunity. Millions arrived at Heathrow from all over the World and were politely directed to the Piccadilly Line tube and advised it was the quickest route to Central London. 18 million I heard. At every station Londoners piled on squeezed as usual like sardines but this time hard against people from China and Italy many of whom were carrying the virus. Might Patel at least order temperature checks? I forget what the reason was but that was deemed ‘unacceptable’ and ‘inappropriate’. It certainly was inappropriate for a Govt intent on spreading the disease so the ‘weak’ would die and the fittest survive. May Pol Pot Johnson never sleep comfortably again. He must know mass murderers end up paying the price eventually.
Unfortunate people with Covid deliberately transferred from hospital to care homes!
These comment sections are being ruined by personal arguments – any chance of a moderator?