February only has 28 days, which means less time for the usual misery, torment, and governmental ineptitude… yes, time for another Art of Politics…
Infections and impeachments were the order of the day going into February, with the US sending a second impeachment to the Senate (where everyone knew exactly what would happen) and the world looking at their infection rates for Covid and hoping the vaccine would help to bring them down.
And going towards the end of the month, we had the tragic milestone of 500,000 deaths in the USA, whilst the end of the month saw us here in the UK moving tentatively, and subject to another government cock-up, towards an end to lockdown and a return to a new (vaccinated) normal.
But back to the start of February and, here in the UK, Boris and his muppets were deciding what to do about border controls and how to tighten them up, eventually coming to the conclusion that they would tighten them up for some coming into the country, including the idea of quarantine hotels, but leaving the implementation of that till the middle of the month…
The Health Minister, Matt Hancock, even went as far as telling the country that those breaking the new immigration and entry rules would get jail sentences up to 10 years… which is rather steep when you think that the sentences for violent crimes and sexual crimes often have sentences far below that.
Martin Rowson again…
And to make everything even worse, Matt Hancock decided that now was just the right time to talk about reorganising the NHS. Seriously, the only reason the vaccine rollout in the UK has been so successful is that the NHS are being allowed to organise it – so of course Hancock thinks it’s time to reorganise – and by reorganise, you can read privatise.
Peter Brookes sums up the role of the NHS so well, saying that against all odds the NHS vaccination roll out might just save Boris…
Meanwhile, a report showed that gender equality was being hit hard during the pandemic, with women taking the lion’s share of home caring and being impacted far more in inequalities in the labour market during the pandemic…
Boris basically appears (what a surprise) to be floundering amidst Covid, lockdown flip-flopping, Brexit, and the basic idea of running the country.
All the British people really want is some leadership, yet the whole Covid mess and Boris continually being vague on the response is anything but…
Finally, after weeks of speculation, Boris came out and announced the country’s plans for getting out of lockdown and onto the road for recovery – fingers crossed it’s going to work, hopefully nothing will come along to throw another spanner in the works…
One thing that’s slowly coming to light now in the UK is just how wasteful, how corrupt, how criminal the government have acted in the past Covid year, with all sorts of investigations into various government contracts for all sorts of pandemic related things coming under scrutiny and the public finding out that the government’s criteria for awarding contracts ran along the lines of, ‘He’s my mate from school, he’ll do fine in providing vital, life-saving equipment or care or services that he’s never done before… well worth a couple of billion quid.
And let’s not forget the whole test and trace farago. As many people online pointed out… 2.2 billion got the USA a functioning probe on Mars, whilst the UK spent 22 billion – TWENTY-TWO BILLION – pounds on a completely not fit for purpose test and trace system.
Morten Morland on the whole jobs for the boys thing…
And of course, there’s still the old Brexit issue hitting Britain as hard as all those accused of ‘Project Fear’ said it would…
Morten Morland… riffing off that idiot Michael Gove talking about the Brexit debate pre-Brexit, saying that he thought the country was tired of experts…
Over in the USA, the House had already sent the articles of Impeachment (over the Jan 6 insurrection at the Capitol) over to the Senate where, to the shock and surprise of absolutely no one with a brain, the vote of 57-43 was nowhere near the two-thirds majority needed to impeach Trump. It seems the Republicans just can’t extricate themselves from the toxic shadow of the former President any time soon.
The failure to convict leaves the way open for Trump to campaign for office again…
Dave Brown (after Charles Edmund Brock)…
And Dave Brown again…
Kal…
And finally, in other news…
Rather lost in all the Covid and Impeachment news was the terrible news of the military coup in Myanmar, with democratically elected leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, thrown into detention, protestors threatened with up to 20 years’ imprisonment, armoured vehicles on the streets, and the country under the control of the military, led by General Min Aung Hlaing.
Kal…
Similarly lost amongst impeachment and infection news, the reports of a Princess of the United Arab Emirates ruling family, Princess Latifa, being held under effective house arrest after an attempted escape from the country, whose laws regarding the freedom of women could best be described as archaic and vile… (BBC News)
Steve Bell points out the uncomfortable links between the UK establishment, Royalty, and government and the rulers of the UAE…
And finally, Jeff Bezos steps down as head of Amazon…
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