Helen Whately.

Just watched an interview with Piers Morgan. Forgive me for the Morgan bit. But, she wouldnt even acknowledge that when this is all over health workers should be properly paid. She was asked at least 5 times but just couldnt bring herself to say yes.

Who votes for these cretins?

Teachers all over the country have for years been funding extra resources out of their own pockets and yet as soon as they can the politicians give themselves extra expense money.
Just in case they can't be arsed to take a laptop home from their other house in their huge effing cars.

Probably the cretins that took one look at Corbyn and co and thought, 'you know what, I will stick with plan A'. The fabulous Labour party. The Tories best friend.

Look man. Go and have a watch of the interview. Then come back with your response. And if it doesnt make you cringe then I know exactly where you sit.

Just for some balance. I am very impressed with Rishi Sunak.

HOUSE!!!

Sorry I’m just playing Pooly_Imp Corbyn bingo.

I’m won’t be doing the drinking game again I could hardly walk the other day.

Careful Mr Afar, that could be construed as racist and sexist unless you are also impressed with pretty Patel.
Sunak seems pretty sound to me too, but I'll wait to see the backlash of all this for confirmation.

Priti Patel is thick as mince. I doubt even the tories on here would defend her.

Agree about Sunak though. His credibility will be put to the test after this is over.

Already the banks, Llooyds in particular, have declined the vast majority of business loans they were supposed to approve. They need to be publicly named and shamed.

It seems we arent all in this together afterall.

I said on another thread Sunak looks the best of a bad bunch or even a rose amongst thorns. His career history doesn't make for good reading though and would negate any negativity from the haters towards Starmer fpr being a millionaire etc.. Sunak having in a former life worked for Goldman Sachs and a hedge fund management firm. His dad is also an Indian billionaire in that country that acts as a beacon to the rest of the world for its fairness , equality and social cohesion, India.

Starmer used his intelligence to become a Human Rights Lawyer, Sunak used his to screw people over.

Surely even the most inept Labour party could manage to work that to their advantage.

"Starmer used his intelligence to become a Human Rights Lawyer, Sunak used his to screw people over."

Good point Mr Horden

Rishi Sunaks dad is a GP his wifes dad is a billionaire he meet her at university and they married.

When starmer was CPS maybe he should have looked into jimmy saville more han he did.

I will when I get chance. I absolutely believe you though. I hold great hope for change at the next election.

However, I would not have had hope if the previous lot had remained at the helm of the Labour party. They turned many people away from them, brexiteer and remainer alike.

Things have to change, including the attitude of Labour supporters. Constant shouty tory bashing is counterproductive and years of evidence suggests it doesn't work. Starmer is leading the way already. Follow his example. Belittling and insulting conservative voters is couterproductive too. Just remeber it's all very well slagging off folks who didnt vote labour with your mates joining in and patting you on the back for it but your mates already vote Labour. You dont need to win them over. You've just alienated the important person in the equation.

Right now the the next election is completely irrelevant.

Nothing other than this situation matters.

Most of the current government look completely out of their depth all the cabinet apart from Sunak including the Prime Minister look like rabbits in the headlights and lack the experience in senior government to deal with a crisis like this. That is understandable it’s a newly formed cabinet and this is a crisis of unprecedented scale in modern times.They would go way up in my estimation if they brought in experienced people to help them irregardless of political allegiance, just the best people.

Set up a covid-19 cabinet don’t front up junior MP’s to get slaughtered on TV because senior cabinet members are avoiding scrutiny because at the end of the day what does that achieve?

I remember once watching Kenny Johnson weaving his way through the Darlo defence and somebody shouted "shoot, Kenny" A guy near me responded " why shoot Kenny, shoot the bloody lot".
I've got to admit that I have called for MPs to be shot before now. And others .
Especially the ones who destroyed the Labour party's electability, thus handing carte blanche to the Tories
I think some people's rifle sights need adjusting.

It was a very poor performance from her. I don't like Piers but sometimes he just tells it as it

Piers Morgan is his own worst enemy. He switches people off and therefore his contribution is lost. John Prescott, in his prime, would have chinned him as would Mr Skinner.

Have you watched the film Snatch.

Is that you the sneaky @ucking russian boris the bullit dodger, no its boris the bat flu dodger

No and errrm No

Sorry derwent the post was not directed at you personally.

No problems mate... I've never heard of the film or the character you refer to.

She was given plenty of opportunities to answer one very simple question. Should nurses pay go up after this pandemic is over. Yes or no?

7 times she was asked.

She didnt answer it once.

I don't think anybody could answer that question about nurses pay or the pay of any other key workers. Until we know what we are left with at the end of all this we haven't a clue.
It is easy to say yes it should go up but people are suggesting massive austerity and tax rises will be the result, so in fact their pay might go down if their taxes go up.
Personally I think nurses pay and others like bin men etc should go up but the next question is by how much, followed by how would you pay for it etc etc. No one has the answers to those questions at this time and she did right not to answer them. We have to get sensible about this and deal with this pandemic and the potential aftermath in an orderly fashion, taking each eventuality as it arises. The OBR has forecasted massive dents in our economy are on the horizon. The first question should be how do we feed, house and shelter the population, not who should we give pay rises to, no matter how fantastic that would be.

She did right not to answer it? Are you even real? Of course the answer is yes. 99.99999% of the world would say yes.

I accept nobody can say by how much, but to not answer yes just shows how little regard some have for what should be the highest paid workers in this country.

I say it should be yes and you say it should be yes because there are no repercussions on us but she can't because the likes of Piers Morgan will hold her to it. She is not the government spokesman on pay or future pay.

And it's yes for the lorry drivers who have kept food etc being supplied to the shops and it's yes for the checkout girls who serve the public at risk to themselves with no PPE, and it's yes to the Police who are keeping us safe, and the fire brigade, and the pharmacy workers, and the transport workers and the care workers and the delivery drivers calling at doorsteps and the posties etc etc etc etc.

In other news we could have over two million unemployed,as companies struggle to get back on their feet. You yourself cited the plight that under 30s will face, people losing their homes, jobs. The mental effect all that will have.
That's what we are going to be faced with.
When we have solved all that and paid for it we can then look at what we can do about pay rises.
Why don't we ask Piers Morgan and the other fat cat smart arses to donate the part of their salary over £30k per annum until we are back on our feet Yes or no Piers.

Only you could try and make that very simple question complicated.

Bollocks to the nurses I’m just glad today the green light has been given to go ahead and spend £100 billion on the HS2 project.

Because now more than ever it’s crucial we spend that sort of money shaving twenty minutes off a train journey between London and Birmingham.

Isn't that the fact of it though? It is complicated, very complicated. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make it all go away but it is real and I'm not Merlin the magician.
It would have been very easy for her to say yes and as an individual she probably would but she wasn't on the show as an individual, was she.
I agree totally with the sentiment but there is a bigger picture to that simple question.

I am not an economist, nor am I involved in the exit plan on how we get out of this but it just could be that part of the exit plan is to create more jobs and HS2 could be part of that.
I am not fantastically excited about HS2, probably because I'll never see it completed but if it creates the jobs and boosts the future economy of the North then I wish it well. If it was scrapped tomorrow I probably wouldn't lose any sleep. As I am no expert on the subject I can't debate its worth or otherwise on here.
We must remember that whilst we must focus intensely on the current crisis we also have to keep an eye on the future, else some people will accuse the government of neglecting other responsibilities.

and back. Dont forget the reverse journey.

And remember all of those people living in London that commute to Birmingham. Thats central Birmingham. Not the outskirts that need a local train as well.

There must be dozens of them that do that.

I am unable to answer that due to respecting the call to make my points without name calling and with respect to the fact that other people may have a different opinion to me.
How you respond to the call to be civil is of course entirely up to you.

This has surely made us realised people should not move around as much and as we now have this "white heat of technology" other more remote ways of communication are equally productive. I am sure some employers will have seen some benefits of work from home etc (yes some wont) but we must do something to stop all this unnecessary travel both economically and environmentally.
HS2 is about creating more capacity in terms of bums on seats rather than reduced travel time.
Most "business" trips are just jollies (well mine were )

Have noticed wild animals seem a bit tamer and different species not normally seen are around.
Also just seen two Starlings shagging in the garden.........i am sure he said "thats the best two seconds you will ever have"

so much has been spent going from london to birmingham already. be sensible to finish it at brum and shelve anything further north before real work starts. HS2 is something i have not heard one person in favor of from day 1.

I have heard arguments for and against it and am not convinced either way but other countries have done it and maybe they are right. If it is more eco friendly then that could be a positive. It is a huge amount of money though.

And whose government was it that shelved our original HST plans back in the 80s after throwing money at an unachievable project? Eh?

I actually have no idea. I just wanted to see what it feels like to stir the shite.

HS2 wont be finished for ten years and the cost will be far more than currently predicted. Probably double.

Try working out how much its going to cost to dig up all that land between london and birmingham without actually knowing what's underneath the top soil. It's hilarious.

Can I see your detailed projections please. Just email me your reworked spreadsheet model.

You tell me what the expected cost is now and then let's discuss it when its complete. If we live that long.

That's not entirely true though is it?

I had a big dislike of him before this as thousands of others did, but he is doing the right thing, not rolling over and giving the government tickles on the tum for a pish covered performance
He isn't making this about him or his dislike of the Labour Party, which is what is needed

I've always had a big dislike for him and still have. I'm going to take a bit more convincing before I start applying to be a member of his fan club. One swallow doesn't make a summer. We'll see.