Unlike 1966, in which the UK and (West) Germany competed for the FIFA World Cup (yes, I know, I know: we won!!!), in 2020 we are not in competition with Germany, or anybody else for that matter.

Nevertheless, the score board for the virus  bears some scrutiny.  As of  9 April :

Germany:  Total cases 118,235.   Deaths 2,607  (31 per 1m of the population)

UK:  Total cases 65,077.  Deaths 7,978 (118 per 1m pop’n).

The difference?  I’m no doctor, but it seems the critical difference is the level of testing.  Our Brexit focussed, incompetent, dissimulating politicians are going to have some explaining to do.

I do not care what his excuse is, a cabinet minister (cabinet minister for Heaven’s sake, the whole bunch of them together aren’t a match for  a troop of Brownies) who fails to follow “advice” issued to the public has got to go – all the more so when he himself issued it.   And if he does not resign, effective immediate, he should be sacked.

Robert Jenrick has demonstrated the integrity that he brings to public life.

For the last 5 years we have watched government ministers lying, cheating, hiding, committing acts of cowardice.  The crisis over the virus is a chance for them to demonstrate at last an  ounce of integrity (I won’t say “honour,” that’s long gone).  And now, with his jaunt from London to Hereford, and on to Ludlow, for nothing that a neighbour could not – would not – have done  Jenrick has blown even that final straw away and into the wind. I would to God he’d follow it and get out of public life.

“There is no magic Money Tree,” at least that’s what the Grim Leader (for new readers, Mrs May) told us; but it seems the Tories can produce the old spondulicks when required; or when they require.

And that is precisely my point: they were happy to trash the welfare state; close libraries, lay off police, cut real terms funding of the health and care services… I could go on; but now faced with a pandemic which might affect them, which has laid their leader low, there is no stopping the amount they are prepared to spend

If you believe what you read in the right wing press, you might imagine the prime minister was doing St Thomas’s Hospital a favour by dropping in on the intensive care ward.   This is a man, so dedicated to his role and his country that even as he was wheeled into the ward he was calling for another red box of government papers; so full of joyful vitality is he that other desperately ill patients in the ward responded with a spontaneous conger and chorus of the Lambeth Walk.

Codswallop.  Johnson has been transferred to the intensive ward care because he is suffering from a severe attack of coronavirus.  He was careless with his safety – and that of his pregnant mistress: which begs the question how careful has he been with that of the rest of the country?  It is ironic that a man who has made his career on the back of simplistic lies is now lying – on his tummy as I understand it –  to save himself, the subject of simplistic lies and half truths.  Even in his illness there is something phoney about Johnson.

One thing is for sure: he ain’t superman

On a personal level, I am deeply sorry for Boris Johnson and his family.  Being in intensive care is no joke, and with the virus, nobody really knows what to expect.  I wish him and his family well.

That having been said, Raab, the 3-Minute-Wonder, is not a fit and proper person to charge with prime ministerial duties.  Whatever the Tory press, and failed former ministers, Iain Duncan-Nip-Off-Smith and the like,  may say, he has not the experience, and he has not the judgement.

At risk of stating what is sometimes referred to as the “bleedin’ obvious,” and with due respect to H M Queen, pandemics are solved with scientific knowledge and medical practice. Sing the national anthem until you  are blue in the face and it will not protect you for one instant against the virus.

That is not to say that will power and self discipline do not come into it.  They do, but in terms of life style – to digress for a moment; it is for that reason that it is absolutely right and proper that the chief medical officer in Scotland has resigned having failed to follow her own advice.  Will power does not generate an invisible shield, as the prime minister is, at this very minute, discovering.

The p.m. has been, we are told, admitted “for tests” having failed to shake the virus off within the 7 day “normal” period.   They expect him to be out in a day or two.  He may be, but I doubt that he will be in a fit state to run the government, if he is.  It is not a controversial statement – you could call it a statement of the “bleedin’ obvious”  – to say that it is a rare event for a prime minister to be admitted to hospital, and that if he – or she – is, there must be a serious reason behind it.  I do not wish to sound alarmist, but it is now known that during the ’39-45 war, Churchill suffered a heart attack and pneumonia amongst other medical issues, of which the public was told not a word.

But Churchill had a designated, competent and respected deputy, Attlee.  Johnson has the 3-Minute-Wonder, Dominic Raab; who is neither designated to be his replacement, competent,  nor respected.   Muddle is the hallmark of Johnson’s administration.  It is high time he was held to account for it.

And as Kier Starmer starts to name his team it is looking as if the Tories will indeed find themselves being required to explain their behaviour and their shambolic attempt at government.  Annelise Dodds, Nick Thomas-Symonds and Lisa Nandy make up the most formidable front bench team we have seen since the 1960’s: able, experienced and motivated.

Last, but not least,   the contrast between Johnson’s behaviour – he carried on shaking hands, and sitting in close proximity with colleagues long after this was known to be ill-advised – with that of Irish premier Leo Varadkar,  a qualified doctor, who is returning to hospital work one day a week, could hardly be greater.

Labour’s Leader, Kier Starmer (how it cheers me to write those words), will announce his front bench team tomorrow.  Anticipation is in the air.

There some very able people that I hope Starmer will includet: Yvette Cooper, Rachel Reeves, Hilary Benn, Rosena Allin-Khan, and Liz Kendall amongst others.

By Jingo he’s done it: Keir Starmer elected Labour leader with 56% of the vote.  That’s a good clear result.  Labour has come to its senses

As mentioned previously (Candidates), Starmer’s the man for the job, and there is certainly plenty of work for him to be getting on with.  The Flatulent Leader’s holiday in office is over, as of now.

Don’t say you weren’t warned: Pee-pee Patel is not up to her job.   Whether through stupidity, as I suspect, or unfortunate oversight, people arriving in the UK from virus hotspots such as New York or Italy are not required to self-isolate.  That is the responsibility of the Home Office, and it will almost certainly result in unnecessary deaths.

The Flatulent Leader is presiding over a shambolic government of incompetence beyond compare.  It is worth remembering the prophetic words of Sir Max Hastings on his erstwhile employee, “His chaotic public persona is not an act – he is, indeed, manically disorganised about everything except his own image management.”