“Patrick Vallance said he and others faced repeated problems getting Johnson to understand the science.
“I think I’m right in saying that the prime minister gave up science at 15,” he said. “I think he’d be the first to admit it wasn’t his forte and that he struggled with the concepts and we did need to repeat them — often.”
In extracts from his diary that were relayed to the inquiry, Vallance said Johnson was “bamboozled” by the graphs and data and that watching him “get his head round stats is awful.”
The problem with Boris isn’t so much his lack of understanding in certain matters its that, either because of hubris or fear, he did not seem willing to delegate matters to those who did not share his lack of understanding.
There’s a lot to criticise Johnson for but I don’t think this is one of them. Unless you’re an expert in the field, it’s always going to be tough to grasp something which is evolving so quickly.
It’s more worrying that he struggled to to interpret the data.
He’s “bamboozled” about everything.
The only part of that word he understands is “Booz” feckless pisshead that he is.
He knew enough to take an unwarranted dump on pre COVID Vax Anti-Vaxers at his 2919 UN speech. The one where he defined the UK path/want to control & lead the 4th Industrial Revolution with Bio-Tech leading the world.. for a revenue stream no doubt.
I get the feeling he gets bamboozled by a lot of things.
Am I thinking what I am thinking? I feel so sorry for bojo. Everything just crashed down on him. Surrounded by all the wrong people?
There is quite a stark message in this article which goes beyond Boris, the UK, and COVID:
> “I would also say that the meeting that sticks in my mind was with fellow advisers from across Europe, when one of them — and I won’t say which country – declared that the leader of that country had enormous problems with exponential curves, and the telephone call burst into laughter, because it was true in every country”
The fact that leaders across Europe do not understand exponential curves is shocking. More people with a basic background in STEM need to enter politics. We are being led by people who do not grasp fundamental concepts necessary to understand many of the major issues of our time.
I think all of this is a load of crap.
Let’s look at the following:
* Life expectancy growth was already reversed and the covid death toll was *greatly* added to by the weakened services and inferior state of public health caused by austerity between 2010 and 2016. This was spearheaded by Prime Minister Cameron, who is now back in government. In other words, he belongs to the very opposite wing of the Tory Party from Boris Johnson.
* The previous Tory administrations paid absolutely no mind to public health. Public health experts were consistently ignored on everything from the Health and Social Care Act to the bedroom tax. A “bonfire of housing regulations” was announced. Virtually no account was taken of human life and well-being. Many in the political right and on the Tory Party were against any lockdown. The fact that Johnson listened to scientists as much as he did, might be seen as unusual for a Tory.
* Johnson was taken down in the end over a party, which other Tories like Sunak were also involved in but somehow haven’t paid for it politically. Meanwhile, far worse scandals, like those surrounding Cameron and Sunak over conflicts of interest, are glossed over.
So this seems to be an internal Tory Party spat, with the liberal-corporatist-Thatcherite wing against the One Nation Tory Johnson-Brexiter wing. IMO Johnson was the least malign strain of Tory since whatever he got wrong seems to have been far less malicious and destructive than austerity. Cameron has many other blunders too, for instance in the realm of foreign policy, to take his intervention in Libya.
Foolishly, a lot of left-liberals on Reddit are being led and acting as if Johnson is the enemy. not realising that they are implicitly siding with the Sunak-Cameron corporate-Thatcherite wing.
9 comments
“Patrick Vallance said he and others faced repeated problems getting Johnson to understand the science.
“I think I’m right in saying that the prime minister gave up science at 15,” he said. “I think he’d be the first to admit it wasn’t his forte and that he struggled with the concepts and we did need to repeat them — often.”
In extracts from his diary that were relayed to the inquiry, Vallance said Johnson was “bamboozled” by the graphs and data and that watching him “get his head round stats is awful.”
The problem with Boris isn’t so much his lack of understanding in certain matters its that, either because of hubris or fear, he did not seem willing to delegate matters to those who did not share his lack of understanding.
There’s a lot to criticise Johnson for but I don’t think this is one of them. Unless you’re an expert in the field, it’s always going to be tough to grasp something which is evolving so quickly.
It’s more worrying that he struggled to to interpret the data.
He’s “bamboozled” about everything.
The only part of that word he understands is “Booz” feckless pisshead that he is.
He knew enough to take an unwarranted dump on pre COVID Vax Anti-Vaxers at his 2919 UN speech. The one where he defined the UK path/want to control & lead the 4th Industrial Revolution with Bio-Tech leading the world.. for a revenue stream no doubt.
I get the feeling he gets bamboozled by a lot of things.
Am I thinking what I am thinking? I feel so sorry for bojo. Everything just crashed down on him. Surrounded by all the wrong people?
There is quite a stark message in this article which goes beyond Boris, the UK, and COVID:
> “I would also say that the meeting that sticks in my mind was with fellow advisers from across Europe, when one of them — and I won’t say which country – declared that the leader of that country had enormous problems with exponential curves, and the telephone call burst into laughter, because it was true in every country”
The fact that leaders across Europe do not understand exponential curves is shocking. More people with a basic background in STEM need to enter politics. We are being led by people who do not grasp fundamental concepts necessary to understand many of the major issues of our time.
I think all of this is a load of crap.
Let’s look at the following:
* Life expectancy growth was already reversed and the covid death toll was *greatly* added to by the weakened services and inferior state of public health caused by austerity between 2010 and 2016. This was spearheaded by Prime Minister Cameron, who is now back in government. In other words, he belongs to the very opposite wing of the Tory Party from Boris Johnson.
* The previous Tory administrations paid absolutely no mind to public health. Public health experts were consistently ignored on everything from the Health and Social Care Act to the bedroom tax. A “bonfire of housing regulations” was announced. Virtually no account was taken of human life and well-being. Many in the political right and on the Tory Party were against any lockdown. The fact that Johnson listened to scientists as much as he did, might be seen as unusual for a Tory.
* Johnson was taken down in the end over a party, which other Tories like Sunak were also involved in but somehow haven’t paid for it politically. Meanwhile, far worse scandals, like those surrounding Cameron and Sunak over conflicts of interest, are glossed over.
So this seems to be an internal Tory Party spat, with the liberal-corporatist-Thatcherite wing against the One Nation Tory Johnson-Brexiter wing. IMO Johnson was the least malign strain of Tory since whatever he got wrong seems to have been far less malicious and destructive than austerity. Cameron has many other blunders too, for instance in the realm of foreign policy, to take his intervention in Libya.
Foolishly, a lot of left-liberals on Reddit are being led and acting as if Johnson is the enemy. not realising that they are implicitly siding with the Sunak-Cameron corporate-Thatcherite wing.