Boris Johnson's address to the nation - Friday 17th July 11am

[Class 33]

Expected to give HUGE Coronavirus announcement. Let's see. Hopefully some good news!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Expected to give HUGE Coronavirus announcement. Let's see. Hopefully some good news!

There's some discussion of this in the Matt Hancock thread about today's Leicester announcement. It'll almost certainly be leaked by about 3pm if not before, but it seems likely that it's not an announcement per se but an encouragement to start doing stuff again but with masks on and other precautions taken.

 

[Freightmaster]

...it seems likely that it's not an announcement per se but an encouragement to start doing stuff again..

Possibly with some of quote from his hero thrown in?

8 Of Winston Churchill's Best Speeches – Chosen By His Grandson | HistoryExtra

Winston Churchill delivered some of the most inspirational speeches in history, but which of his orations were the most important? Here, Winston S Churchill – grandson of the famous prime minister – selects eight of the very best...

www.historyextra.com

MARK

 

[Huntergreed]

This could potentially be the initial announcement of expected changes effective as of August 1st?

 

[Ianno87]

It's Boris... so must be good news as he saves those for himself

 

[Mag_seven]

but it seems likely that it's not an announcement per se but an encouragement to start doing stuff again but with masks on and other precautions taken.

I suspect that too - I think it has dawned on the government that there are still loads of people frightened to go out and that the resulting lack of economic activity is seriously damaging the economic future of the country.

 

[thejuggler]

I'd rather it had dawned on them that performance to date has been appalling and they are now going to actually have a strategy.

 

[Mag_seven]

I'd rather it had dawned on them that performance to date has been appalling and they are now going to actually have a strategy.

Well a clear "road map" is what is required telling us when we can expect things like face coverings and social distancing to go would be a start. What I want to see as the end game is to be back to "Jan 2020 normal" not some dystopian "new normal". I appreciate we have a strategy document but that appears to be 60 pages of waffle:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/884760/Our_plan_to_rebuild_The_UK_Government_s_COVID-19_recovery_strategy.pdf

Link above is to the UK Governments Document entitled:

OUR PLAN TO REBUILD: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy

 

[PHILIPE]

There's some discussion of this in the Matt Hancock thread about today's Leicester announcement. It'll almost certainly be leaked by about 3pm if not before, but it seems likely that it's not an announcement per se but an encouragement to start doing stuff again but with masks on and other precautions taken.

It probably won't be leaked as Boris will say what comes into his head as he goes along.

 

[Busaholic]

I think, probably goaded by Cummings, Johnson will come out fighting from his paper bag about the importance of returning to work where at all possible, specifically to counteract Sir Patrick Vallance's advice today that it's too early for all those home workers to return to offices and other work environments; as part of this strategy I expect him to state categorically that face masks won't become mandatory in office settings (unless Mrs Sturgeon brings in such a policy to great acclaim, of course.)

 

[Jamesrob637]

If masks are necessary in summer I'd rather do as much stuff alone or just with my partner. Winter is more understandable

 

[BJames]

It probably won't be leaked as Boris will say what comes into his head as he goes along.

Precisely.

If I'm speculating, he will probably set out his version of a "road-map" which will be whatever he could think of 10 minutes before the conference starts. They'll put the same amount of preparation into this conference as Cummings did when announcing his trip to Barnard Castle. I hope to be pleasantly surprised and that he will give clear dates for when we will move through stages such as axing social distancing and mandatory masks. I suspect not however. It's more likely going to be a "you know when we said don't use public transport? That was all wrong. It's been completely safe all along and I can't understand why only 15% of you are using it."

 

[Andyh82]

It probably won't be leaked as Boris will say what comes into his head as he goes along.

If it’s “an address to the nation” then I would doubt it, as the previous two weren’t, they were scripted and pre-recorded

If it a press conference, then the first part before the questions is usually written as well

 

[Huntergreed]

If it’s “an address to the nation” then I would doubt it, as the previous two weren’t, they were scripted and pre-recorded

If it a press conference, then the first part before the questions is usually written as well

Fair point, I never considered the possibility it might be.

I imagine it'll be something like 'this is the toughest time we've faced for 80 years, we've done well, we can't give up because the death rate isn't -5 a day yet, a look back at what we've done, one or two vague announcements about future phases, ending with a 'stay alert, control the virus, save lives'.

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

If it a press conference, then the first part before the questions is usually written as well

That doesn't necessarily mean he reads it word for word, though

 

[Huntergreed]

That doesn't necessarily mean he reads it word for word, though

Is it just me or would they be a lot better off reading from an autocue than those fancy looking documents with their scripts that they pretend to write questions down on (which they clearly don't because they don't answer most of them!)

 

[Andyh82]

Is it just me or would they be a lot better off reading from an autocue than those fancy looking documents with their scripts that they pretend to write questions down on (which they clearly don't because they don't answer most of them!)

To be fair they need to write the questions down, as one question per person usually turns into about 4, and then another 3 follow ups!

 

[ashkeba]

I hope to be pleasantly surprised and that he will give clear dates for when we will move through stages such as axing social distancing and mandatory masks.

Has coronavirus sent Boris its schedule then?

 

[BJames]

Has coronavirus sent Boris its schedule then?

Sorry - I meant dates as in "when we reach this point, we will do this" - such as when we get less than 10 deaths a day for "insert how many days", we start relaxing things further. People need a goal otherwise compliance will fall.

 

[Huntergreed]

Sorry - I meant dates as in "when we reach this point, we will do this" - such as when we get less than 10 deaths a day for "insert how many days", we start relaxing things further. People need a goal otherwise compliance will fall.

Following this logic, masks in Scotland shouldn't even have been introduced and distancing should be gone by now! (We're stricter than England!!)

This is true though, right now it seems to be the case that they're playing around with things for no real purpose.

 

[BJames]

Following this logic, masks in Scotland shouldn't even have been introduced and distancing should be gone by now! (We're stricter than England!!)

This is true though, right now it seems to be the case that they're playing around with things for no real purpose.

True. But they shouldn't have been in my opinion that's going back to the same discussion as before though.

There's only so long we can continue in this middling state. I expect from the changing messaging that they're really worried about the economy and this conference will be some further attempt at getting people back out and about - will it be successful though? Probably not, but it remains to be seen.

 

[brad465]

Sorry - I meant dates as in "when we reach this point, we will do this" - such as when we get less than 10 deaths a day for "insert how many days", we start relaxing things further. People need a goal otherwise compliance will fall.

That's the sensible way to do it, although the road-map out of lockdown was done on dates rather than figures, relying solely on the trend rather than actual numbers infected.

 

[DerekC]

There are rumours in the medical world of good news on the vaccine front. But expect it to be hoorayed up and oversold as usual.

 

[High Dyke]

Well I'm not expecting an apology for dithering over some of the decisions that Government has made. Perhaps they're going to attempt to put some spin on how we can all help the economy to grow, by an increase in taxation - either through the pay packet, for those fortunate to still have a job, or by increasing VAT on everything. Perhaps I'm too cynical. I gave up caring about politicians many years ago.

 

[Huntergreed]

Well I'm not expecting an apology for dithering over some of the decisions that Government has made. Perhaps they're going to attempt to put some spin on how we can all help the economy to grow, by an increase in taxation - either through the pay packet, for those fortunate to still have a job, or by increasing VAT on everything. Perhaps I'm too cynical. I gave up caring about politicians many years ago.

They've actually been making considerable effort to decrease VAT, long may it continue! Anything to get the more fearful back out and enjoying life again.

 

[richw]

I’ve been led to believe that one of the messages tomorrow will be “travel safe this summer on public transport”. I’ve seen it leaked on Facebook by a reputable source

 

[westv]

I’ve been led to believe that one of the messages tomorrow will be “travel safe this summer on public transport”. I’ve seen it leaked on Facebook by a reputable source

That message was mentioned somewhere on here this morning.

 

[richw]

That message was mentioned somewhere on here this morning.

The person who mentioned it on Facebook is a member of a passenger transport users board, he’s normally pretty accurate with his leaks

 

[Mag_seven]

There are rumours in the medical world of good news on the vaccine front. But expect it to be hoorayed up and oversold as usual.

These are not rumours - see this post in the COVID Good News thread:

COVID 19 Good News Stories

That I think gives a distinct possibility we may see a zero figure on Sunday or Monday. I know that's a quirk of the figures, but it would still be a big psychological step. If we see that (God I'd love to) will we see a double-digit figure next Tuesday also?!

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[D841 Roebuck]

The "announcement" will be whatever he and his advisors consider to be most likely to distract from his seemingly being a traitor who puts the interests of his Russian and American paymasters ahead of those of the people he purports to represent...