Flight of Wild Swans.

It has been repeatedly argued that, "We're all in this together!" that we all must, "Observe social distancing and wash our hands, often!" As far as I'm aware, those that have been 'bold,' or 'brave,' enough to question the UK government have not broadly disagreed with the veneered sentiment. More, they have sought to pick apart the underlying dogma that, like some sort of parasitic infestation, has eaten its way into the chest cavity that was formerly occupied by the heart of government.

They are right to have done so! Even in 'these times of national unity' they are right to have done so. Otherwise this UK Government remains, unaccountable. Untrustworthy, and unaccountable!

So, even as people continue to die, now is the only time to pull away the screens and to stare, into the dark moral void of government. Collectively, we are in a dark place, but look more closely, the darkness has shades. There may be black, but there is also grey, and some of the grey is actually almost vibrant. Stare discernibly enough into the lighter-greys and one may also be able to detect that some of it is far more benign. Stare into the right corners and one might even detect that perfect shade that trembles just above the horizon, prior to the most perfect dawn!

Whether it is viewed from Branson's tax-exile Necker Island, or Rees Mogg's West Harptree (Brexit hedge fund) Somerset estate, the deathly grey may almost, when viewed from the right angle, appear rather 'splendid.' Watch those wild swans slide across the predawn sky and dip below the horizon. Ne'er to be seen again! Or were they instead, and yet again, the misdirected tax breaks of the billionaires?

Whether it is Tesco's use of the emergency Coronavirus tax break, in order to line the pockets of its major shareholders, Branson's Caribbean poverty plea, or Rees Mogg's Ruffer Investment Coronavirus rake-in of £2.4 billion, the darkness has shades. Skindeep Patel (apologies to Dorothy Parker) knew of those rosier shades, whilst she was hacking up false sentiment ("... sorry if people feel there have been failings") and fantasy figures ("Through the government ongoing monitoring and testing programme, as of 9am today, there have been 300,000; 34; 974,000 tests carried out." Calculator, please? The darkness has shades, so why not also shine a light upon those shades?

During October 2016, when Jeremy Hunt (Health Secretary) was frantically running down the NHS- under instruction from Cameron, later May- Exercise Cygnus took place. The exercise was a 'National Tier 1 Pandemic Influenza Exercise.' Its purpose was to 'assess' the UK's medical standing, in the light of a potential influenza pandemic.

If we were extremely naive, perhaps stupid, we might have dismissed this exercise as somewhat alarmist. Something along the lines that Trump is currently taking with the WHO, blaming those who are trying to save us as somehow culpable- smoke and mirrors, tears and projected spittle! The World Health Organisation has been warning for years that the eventuality of such a pandemic outbreak should be considered far more along the lines of 'when,' rather than 'if.'

Indeed, such has been the suspected likelihood of pandemic outbreak, that reports on the UK's resilience were drawn up in 2007 (Winter Willow), 2011, 2012 and 2014. And yet, under Hunt's tutelage- curiously now critical of this 'same' government's handling of the Coronavirus crisis- the value of the NHS's pandemic stockpile was reduced by 40% (£325 million), even prior to the outset, creaking under the strain back in March 2019.

Exercise Cygnus found that the then better prepared- although far from properly prepared- 2016 NHS was woefully short, specifically, of Personal Protective Equipment, intensive care beds and ventilators, storage for the sheer volume of dead bodies was found to be pitifully inadequate- since when four in ten items have (effectively) been sliced away! So, when Skindeep Patel smirks that she is, "sorry (sic) if people feel there have been failings," all thinking citizens should be able to expect the UK's Main Stream Media to instantly cut the void down to size! Instead, we find that Laura Kuenssberg, Robert Peston and a nefarious selection of Express, Sun and Mail pseudo-journalists repeatedly permit various government ministers to skip around the specifics of adequate provision, playing nebulous dodgems. "Yes minister, but precisely how does that abstract sum equate to provision of life-saving equipment?" might better be ventured.

Matt Hancock- he of the free pass appearance- has now overplayed his hand- clenched buttocks, chin to the fore- entirely too often he has further chastened our mitigating MSM with his, "... delivering the right PPE, to the right hospital, at the right time!" Does nobody waiting in line have the wit to mention that the 'right time' has long since passed?

When, I think it was Alok Sharma, perhaps it was Dominic Raab, it matters not, was asked why it was that Germany was coping so very much better than was the UK, the spokesperson-of-the-day stared into the black beyond and, without the merest trace of irony or gallows humour, selected evasion 1A, "Germany and the UK are on entirely different trajectories!" No excrement minister! 

The German nation, as have other further-sighted nations, has listened to the World Health Organisation and practised "Testing, testing, testing!" tracing and locking down at source. Whereas the mighty UK, three times and counting (apparently), has failed to involve itself in the EU bid for much needed provision of PPE and ventilators. It could be surmised that this is what happens when an entire political cabinet is picked with the sole-same one narrow dogma in mind. "Which was it, minister? Three overlooked calendar dates or Brexit bravado, that has cost the nation so dear?"

Understand, with the likely exception of Skindeep Patel and IDS, it is not so much that this government wants people to die. But, as with the Grenfell Tower fire, it is more that they do not care enough! Monetary gains will instead, every time, be afforded absolute supremacy! Profit over people! Every time!

John Pilger laid it out, clear as day, in his documentary, 'The Dirty War on the National Health System.' Clear as day- alarmingly so- but curiously not televised until 10:45 at night (ITV1). Although the 106 minute broadcast was released two full weeks prior to the 2019 General Election it was suppressed until post electoral farce! At the very dawn of the predicted pandemic, still our government were slicing deep into the bone!

For those who could be bothered to look away from their phones the thankfully disbanded, Cambridge Analytica perfectly demonstrated that one only ever needs to mislead,  fool, whatever, just enough of the population. Something that Rupert Murdoch has understood and been exploiting for many decades. We may well have heard it pompously claimed all too often, "I know that my choice of daily newspaper may not be politically neutral, but blah, blah, blah..." But nothing, chances are you're a political idiot or, at the very least, funding the conversion of future cannon fodder for millionaires. Rupert Murdoch has always been one for 'profit over people,' would it really be too much to hope that this time he's bitten off more than he can chew?

Returning, finally, to the rather cryptically alluded to title of my posting, back in 2017, when the findings of Exercise Cygnus were revealed to Hunt et al, the numbers were found to be terrifying! 'Too horrifying ever to be published!' In the model the pandemic had still to reach the peak of its harvesting capacity, and still the NHS was crumbling under the strain, the bodies piling up! What to do, Jezza? Shall we just pretend the whole thing never happened, hope the evidence just goes away? As the insider trading thing did with BSkyB? Bury the findings? True to form the Conservative Government managed to find a rather worse angle, instead they simply continued to hack away at the NHS provisions, as if the whole exercise had been but a dream. A governmental dream, which has translated into a public (and global) nightmare!

We are where we are! Of course, we are, how could we not be? But where we are, we really can't know- we'll have a better idea than the private-provision US- we're barely aware of the UK's care home status. We know that certain homes- woefully under PPE'd- are fearful of receipt of too many positive cases that the over-stretched hospitals are having to discharge into their care. We know that many people, single, or else wary of troubling the NHS- are ending their days at home. But, 'we are where we are!'

We are where we are! Hancock and Johnson may well, as face dictates, like to milk the public show of affection, and woefully belated appreciation for the NHS, but we should judge this government more accurately upon how they have led the nation up to the point of pandemic invasion. They may well stand and clap for the NHS, in front of the TV camera crews; the show may present like a moment of awakening but, seriously, it really isn't! Was Phil Green joining in? Was Richard Branson there, or was it prerecorded? Wow, we really are, 'all in this together!' 

We are where we are! Yes, we are, but how did we get here? Judge Hancock and Johnson and their cabal more on how they clapped and cheered when the nurse's pay cap was retained in the House of Commons, less than a year after the findings of Exercise Cygnus (still largely classified) were being suppressed. Open-wallet Rishi- remember that it's our wallet- was there in 2017. 'Our wallet' that MPs are again dipping in to- £10,000 for working from home, extra! Not merely 80% of that extra £10,000. Maybe the £10,000 working-from-home allowance is the government's way of compensating itself, now that it can no longer max-out on travel expenses? Meanwhile children who were dependent upon free-school meals are getting vouchers for £3 a day, not extra! £3 that many parents are unable to access, via another crashed site! Watch and judge the conjurers' slight of hand!

We are where we are! But where are we going next? Lessons learned? I seriously doubt it! If the pandemic should pass, judge 'our' government also on how soon they revert to type!

Alok Down!

The Business Secretary, Alok Sharma, stepped to the fore yesterday. More likely he was pushed, in the light of his previous performance. But, the Government is struggling at the moment. And, so am I, I really should be painting.

Johnson's cabal of bigots and dogmatists seem uniformly incapable of mustering any semblance of leadership or competence, in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic. But, we shouldn't be surprised, Johnson and Cummings hand vetted the bunch of bigots and entitled-types for just the one purpose, and that purpose has been snatched from their grasp, as the distraction of pandemic death spirals ever further from their understanding!

So, who else is there? Clearly, Robotic Raab- who's exit was more like a break in transmission- has entirely too much of the terminator about him. And, do we think that Skin-deep Patel would be capable of suppressing her smirk for the duration of the daily death counts? Even Michael Gove doesn't believe what Michael Gove is saying. Matt Hancock wasn't even capable of waving, when he was so obviously drowning. Andrea Leadsom... no, move on! Liz Truss, seriously? Nicky Morgan's previously all-too-painfully demonstrated her woeful inability to count... although, maybe this is just what we've been looking for. James Cleverly, a man who's name doesn't even finish it's own misinformation statement. Grant Shapps, Jesus Christ! At least Rees Mogg has the right hat for the spiralling death counts, but it's unlikely that he'll be able to keep that note of triumphalism from rising to the fore, or is it just misplaced 'superiority?'

No, it had to be Alok Sharma again, the man who even other members of the cabinet do not seem to recognise. Maybe he's an example of 'last in first out' in enactment? Perhaps he would be able to circumvent the word, 'unprecedented.'

Not quite!



Instead, we were treated to a self-satisfied schoolboy opening delivery on the merits of 'business opportunity in a crisis.' For those at home, surviving care of 'drinking games,' anyone using 'business' or 'businesses' as a trigger, lot's of water, sit quietly in a darkened room, paracetamol... smaller measures next time? Twenty times the bugger squeezed the word into his opening salvo. Twenty bloody times! So desperate was he to push the government's economy sub-plot that he never had the wit to substitute 'firm' more than the once.

What did we learn, that this government's mantra has 'always' been, 'Test, test, test!' Except when it wasn't, when it was instead to cease testing immediately and instead sacrifice half-a-million people, so that the vastly slimmed down British population could steal a run upon genetic engineering, with Cummings's 'herd immunity' damnation!

And then we got to the bit where ministers are required to either evade or instead to pretend that they've been asked an entirely different question. As awful as this is, both to witness, and to have to live with the consequences of, it wouldn't be quite so God-awfully life-draining if the questions ministers pretended they'd been asked were instead actually answered.

Kuenssberg led with the ongoing lack of PPE for frontline staff, the elusive specifics of quite how many masks have actually arrived, and the morning mists duly rose about the Business Secretary and his medical fielder, Yvonne something-or-other. ITV's Peston wanted to know about the elusive- bought-but-not-employed- antibody tests. The usual floundering escalated! Professor Doyle, PHE Medical Director, visibly winced as the ball was repeatedly thrown into her ill-prepared lap!



Paraphrasing slightly, Professor Doyle spoke again about, "A bad test being worse than no test." She did not elaborate upon this by saying that, "Worse still, might be a blind, money saving, reliance upon herd immunity," which the whole team are now forbidden to even acknowledge. Almost as if it was never actual stated policy in the first place. The UK is now expected to yet again demonstrate 'herd amnesia.'

Painful as the briefings are, made all the more painful by the news of the rising death rate, there was still something ever-so-slightly valuable that occurred. Perhaps it has already occurred to others.

I thought that the most well considered question was put by The Evening Standard's Joe Murphy. He wanted to know why it currently is that Germany appears to be so much better at dealing with just about every aspect of this pandemic? He asked why they were so much more 'on it,' so much better at starting and accelerating testing and at targeting testing? He wanted to know why Germany had managed to procure so much more of the reagents required, in order to build more testing kits. Joe wanted to know if the British Government's apparent incompetency was actually a governmental choice? Had we chosen to allow so many people to contract Covid-19 and to die? Obviously, he didn't bother to go on to compare twenty years of German investment with twenty years of British slashing! Small steps.

Obviously, he wasn't answered. Alok Sharma, Business Secretary, thanked Joe for his question, before completely failing to answer another far easier question.

So, I learned this. As the UK government clearly has a united approach to the pandemic- at least this is the face they wish to present- so the questioning journalists should form a united approach. Imagine, wouldn't it tell us a great deal more about 'our' government, either how they are really tackling (or not) the pandemic or, far more likely, how far they are prepared to go in order to deceive the public? The journalists should ask the same question repeatedly, each journalist precisely the same question. Perhaps they could, in turn, refer to a shared tick chart and escalate the rhetoric by prefixing each repeat with something along the lines of, "Minister, as you have failed to address ******'s question regarding ********, I would like to repeat... " See, how many times the chosen face can thank the journalist for further highlighting exactly the same governmental inadequacy?

Governments that (pretend to) represent a democratic population should be held to account. Otherwise we end up with a bunch of utter (Brexit) incompetents!

This virus does not discriminate, it will attack thinking Remainers as well as well as attention-deficite Brexiters.